"Does he still not love you, Moira?" Sean asked.

"I don't think so, but he needs me." Moira answered. "Charles has given everything for his students, his X-Men. But friends, aye, that's different. Sometimes I think I'm the only one he has."

As the two kissed, they heard Xavier scream.

"No!"

"That's Charles!" Moira cried. "He's having another attack."

She went to help her old friend.

"Wait, Moira!" Sean called. "I'll go with you."

Moira shook her head. "No, Sean. His dark side may have taken over again. He might attack you out of jealousy for what you and I have together." She hugged him.

Sean wouldn't stand by and watch his fiancé walk into a dangerous situation. "It's because I love you, Moira McTaggart, that I cannot let you face trouble alone."

The two then headed to Xavier's room.

"Stop it!" Lilandra demanded as Juggernaut threw Xavier into a shelf.

"This is more fun than bumper cars." Juggernaut cheered.

"Leave Charles alone!" Lilandra tried to smack him, but Juggernaut was immune to her blows.

"Or what, honeybunch?" He taunted. "You're gonna give me a spanking?" He lifted up the bed to crush her.

"I warned you." Lilandra sent energy attacks at him, but they proved ineffective.

"Oh please!" Juggernaut snorted. "Don't warn me."

"It's no use, Lilandra." Xavier said. "His body is invulnerable. But not his mind. Aim for the helmet. Full power!"

Juggernaut threw the bed at Xavier, who dodged it by slipping out of his chair. Lilandra kept blasting Juggernaut's helmet until it came off.

"Don't make me mad, sweetheart." Juggernaut warned before smacking her. "It ain't healthy." He picked her up. "You see, I crush insects that bother me, especially when they know my brother."

"Cain!" Xavier got his attention as he connected his mind to Juggernaut's. "I am in your mind." Juggernaut screamed as he dropped Lilandra.

"Feel the ruin and the pain you have caused." Xavier said.

"Get out of my head!" Juggernaut ordered.

Xavier kept probing his mind. "You are strong, Juggernaut, but my mind is stronger."

Before Xavier could stop Juggernaut, he was hit in the back by a blast of energy, knocking him out.

Behind Xavier, in the window, was an old man with a staff in his hand. "Sure, and you should've watched your back, Charles Xavier."

He then shot another blast from his staff at Lilandra, incapacitating her as well.

"You wasted enough time smashing around like a great beast." The man scolded Juggernaut. "Now, get the woman, and we can name our price."

Juggernaut put his helmet back on. "Maybe you came here for the money, Tom, but I came here for one reason: my do-gooder half-brother." He picked up Xavier's motionless body. "There's something I've wanted to say to you for a long time. So long, Chuck!"

He threw Xavier out the window and into the water below.

Sean and Moira saw Xavier falling.

Moira pointed at him. "It's Charles!"

With a cry, Sean flew down and grabbed Xavier before he could hit the water.

Moira placed a wet cloth on Xavier's forehead. "It's alright now, Charles."

Xavier woke up. "Moira? Where's Lilandra?" He looked around his ruined room. "What have they done with her? She came to me from the depths of space, Juggernaut was going to hurt her. I tried to stop him, but someone ambushed me from behind."

"I've never seen him like this." Moira whispered to Sean. She then turned to Xavier. "There's no one here, Charles. No one has been here. You came to me because you feared you were losing control, struggling against an illusion created by your dark side."

"You must believe me!" Xavier pleaded. "I'm not going mad. I know Lilandra is real."

"How do you know?" Moira asked.

"Because I love her, Moira." Xavier revealed.

Rogue was watching Danny sleep in his hospital bed.

"I wish you could get better soon, sugar." She said.

Danny then shot up as he was surrounded by a fiery aura that was shaped like a bird.

"Danny!" Rogue cried.

Danny's eyes were closed as he spoke. "Phoenix, now we are one." The aura vanished as Danny fell back into bed.

Rogue gently took hold of his hand. "What's happening to you, Danny? What's gonna happen to us?"

Scott, Jean, Gambit, Jubilee, and Storm entered the room.

"Has there been any change in Danny's condition?" Storm asked.

"No." Rogue answered. "His strange new powers are still surfacing. He can't speak, but Phoenix can."

Rogue felt guilty for not being there for her boyfriend. "It should have been me trying to fly that shuttle. With my powers, I might have been able to..."

Gambit tried to comfort her. "Chere, you can't blame yourself. You were out on a mission. You can't be everywhere at once."

"I should have been there." Rogue still said.

"Everybody, listen up!" Logan came into the room. "The professor just called from Muir Island. He says an alien transported down to him, but was kidnapped by Juggernaut. He wants us to go there to help."

"Oh!" Gambit said. "He's worse off than we thought."

"I can't leave Danny." Rogue said to Logan.

"You ain't the only one worried about Danny." Logan said. "Aliens and spaceships running around, messing with Xavier. The whole blasted world's turning upside down! We gotta do something."

Storm tried to calm him down. "Wolverine, this is not the time. I spoke to Moira McTaggart. She believes the professor is suffering from violent delusions created by his dark side."

Logan folded his arms. "I say we check it out."

"But Professor Xavier told us it would be dangerous to follow his orders." Storm reminded him.

"Wolverine is right." Scott said. "The professor's story has to be checked out."

Gambit couldn't believe Scott said Wolverine was right. "I don't believe my ears."

"We've seen more strange things than Dr. McTaggart can imagine." Scott said. "We may need to help Beast at the mansion if he and Dr. Corbeau locate the alien spacecraft that came through the vortex. Storm, Jean, and I will wait here. I don't know why, but I believe what's happening to Danny may hold the answer to all of our questions."

Everyone else turned to leave except Rogue.

"I'm not leaving him, Cyclops." Rogue said.

"They may need you, Rouge, please." Cyclops reasoned with her. "The three of us will make sure nothing happens to him."

"Danny could not be in more capable hands." Storm said, with Jean nodding in agreement.

"Alright." Rogue said reluctantly. She pecked her man on the cheek. "I'll be back soon, Danny. I promise."

In a castle, Tom and Juggernaut were waiting.

"Where is the man?" Tom demanded. "He said he'd pay for quick results, but now he doesn't show up!"

Eric's ship then landed as the armored being stepped out.

"I've come for the Princess Lilandra." Eric said.

"If it's the lady you mean, you'll see her after I'm paid." Tom replied.

Eric laughed. "Here is your payment!" He blasted Tom's staff out of his hand. "Now where is Lilandra?" He pulled out a gun. "Speak, or you shall feel my weapon's full power."

Juggernaut then picked up Eric. "I don't haggle with runts like you."

Eric tried to shoot at Juggernaut, but he was immune.

"Pay the man!" Juggernaut commanded. "Or do I have to squeeze the money out through your ears?" He applied pressure to Eric's waist.

"No!" Eric begged. "Stop!" He pressed a button on his glove that caused his brainwashed men to fire at Juggernaut. "You shall get that which you are due."

Juggernaut was unaffected. "Oh! You wanna play ball, huh? Well, catch!" He threw Eric at the two men. "I'll mop the floor with the whole bunch of you!"

"Juggernaut, stop!" Tom shouted. "Business before pleasure." He came up to Eric. "How about it, Eric, me boy? A sum was promised."

"I shall pay." Eric said.

"You shouldn't have come." Moira said to the X-Men as they stepped off the Blackbird. "Your presence will only reinforce Charles' delusions."

"Back off, lady." Wolverine said. "Charles said he needed us. There's a lot about this outer space mumbo jumbo that nobody knows, except maybe the professor."

Sean tried to reassure Wolverine's concerns. "Dr. McTaggart should know what's best for her..." He saw Wolverine walk away from him. "Hey! Someone needs to teach you some manners."

Jubilee facepalmed at Wolverine's behavior. "Uh-oh!"

"Plenty have tried, pal." Wolverine said as he pulled out his claws.

Moira tried to break up the fight. "Fighting won't help cure Charles' hallucinations."

Wolverine retracted his claws. "If he's seeing things, I can tell you for sure if the professor's crazy or not."

"Ten million dollars." Tom counted the money he was given. "It has such a lovely round sound with all those zeros."

Eric was getting impatient. "Yes, yes, you have your meaningless money; now bring Lilandra here."

The two then heard stomping.

"That would be me partner with the lady now." Tom said.

Juggernaut came in carrying Lilandra on a chair.

"She's still a bit under the weather, but you didn't specify what condition she had to be in, long as she was breathing." Tom pointed out.

"She shall answer to me." Eric blasted her, making her wake up. "A pleasure to see you again, Your Highness."

Lilandra recognized him. "Shakari! One of my brother's spies."

"On this miserable planet, I'm known as Eric the Red." Eric informed her. "And you, princess, are my deliverance from this wasteland. Tell me where the M'Kraan Crystal is, if you wish to live!"

Lilandra saw a crest of a stag fighting a dragon before she contacted Xavier telepathically. "Help me, Charles Xavier. Help me!"

The X-Men were looking over Xavier's room when Xavier heard Lilandra's voice in his head.

Help me, Charles Xavier."

Jubilee noticed the professor's distress. "Professor?"

Wolverine was sniffing around when he came upon a familiar scent. "Juggernaut, that half-brother of his. I can recognize his stink. There were three of them. Juggernaut, and two I never smelled before. One ain't even human."

"Then Charles wasn't imagining things." Moira said. "Someone was here!"

"Lilandra!" Xavier cried as he tried to contact her. "Where are you? I know you're close."

Eric pointed his gun at Lilandra. "Why do you not answer me?" He then realized what she was doing. "You are attempting to contact someone!" He blasted her.

Xavier screamed as the connection was cut off. The only thing he could glimpse was the crest of a stag fighting a dragon.

"What is happening?" Moira asked him in concern.

"I saw a stag and a dragon." Xavier murmured.

Moira didn't understand Xavier's words. "It makes no sense."

Sean had a serious look on his face. "Xavier's woman is no illusion. I know where she is."

Wolverine came up to him. "What do you mean, you know where she is?"

"A stag fighting a dragon is the Cassidy family crest." Sean revealed. "My family. It's carved in stone above the hearth in the Great Hall of Cassidy Keep."

"She may have had time to contact Professor Xavier and that mutant rabble of his, the X-Men." Eric said to the two men he hired.

"She didn't contact nobody." Juggernaut said. "I took care of Xavier back on Muir Island, permanently." He laughed at the memory.

The X-Men were flying toward Cassidy Keep. Rogue was holding Jubilee and Gambit, while Sean was holding Wolverine.

Wolverine was getting sick of Sean's screaming; thankfully, he stopped as they landed.

"With a mouth like yours, we should have tried to sneak in here with a marching band." Wolverine said. "Still not as bad as Casper's Ghostly Wail."

"If you think that's bad, you should hear me sing." Sean joked.

"Remember, Wolverine, we're no match for Juggernaut." Rogue told him.

"Really wish we had Phantom here." Wolverine said. "He would've made short work of Juggernaut."

"I wish the same thing, but our job is to find Lilandra and get out fast." Rogue said.

"Anybody knows what she looks like?" Jubilee asked.

"She's from another galaxy." Wolverine said. "You see a woman you don't know; rescue her."

The group was then ambushed by Eric's brainwashed men.

"It's the space station zombies!" Wolverine confirmed. "We gotta take them out without hurting them!"

"Leave it to me!" Sean let out a scream that destroyed their guns and knocked them out.

The villains could hear Sean's screams.

"What was that?" Eric asked.

Tom narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like the lord of the castle has come home to be buried."

Juggernaut rubbed his hands. "It'll be my pleasure."

He went to the door only to be knocked back by it exploding, courtesy of Gambit.

"You've disgraced the Cassidy family for the last time, Black Tom!" Sean snarled.

"And you've stood in my way too long, big brother!" Black Tom retorted.

The X-Men jumped out of the way of the bad guy's fire.

Gambit then pointed at Lilandra. "There's the woman!" Gambit threw a couple of cards that pushed Eric and Black Tom away from Lilandra.

"Way to deal him out of the game, Gambit!" Jubilee complimented before she saw Juggernaut in front of her. "Oh, no!"

She fired her pyrotechnics at him before crawling under his legs as she evaded Juggernaut's attempts to grab her before he snatched her by her coat. "Ow!"

"Hands off, fat boy!" Rogue shoved Juggernaut through several walls.

Wolverine greeted the tied-up Lilandra. "You must be Lilandra. Chuck sends you his best." He pulled out his claws to free her. "Whatever you do, don't move." But before he could free her, he was knocked off his feet by Black Tom.

"Nobody gets the lady without paying for her!" Black Tom cried before firing at Sean, but it didn't affect him.

"Your powers never could hurt me, little brother." Sean said.

"Nor could yours hurt me." Black Tom replied. "Fists usually settle things."

Sean agreed. "Aye, my fists!"

The two then fought with their fists while Jubilee saw Juggernaut about to crush Rogue with a piece of rubble.

"Leave Rogue alone!" Jubilee fired her pyrotechnics at him.

"That tickles!" Juggernaut said as Rogue got Jubilee out of the way. But Juggernaut threw the rubble at Rogue, sending her flying.

"Gambit teach you some respect for a lady." Gambit said to Black Tom before Rogue was knocked into him.

"Forget these freaks!" Eric said to Juggernaut. "We must get Lilandra to my ship."

Lilandra got out of her restraints before she was grabbed by Juggernaut. "No!"

The villains then headed towards the ship, with Eric throwing a bomb at the X-Men, freezing them.

Wolverine broke out of the ice. "We can't let them get to the ship."

"They won't!" Rogue said as she broke out as well. She flew through the ceiling and got in the way between the group and the ship.

"Let Lilandra go." Wolverine said with the other X-Men by his side.

"The X-Men should have learned they can't stop me." Juggernaut said.

"Those who stand against the will of the emperor must be destroyed." Eric aimed his hand at the X-Men when they all heard someone approaching.

Another figure landed, he was muscular with a mohawk on his head. He wore a red and black outfit with a red cape.

"They're coming out of the woodwork!" Wolverine said at the arrival of another alien.

Eric knew who the newcomer was. "Gladiator!" He bowed to him. "It's an honor to welcome the leader of the emperor's Praetorian Guard."

"You have no honor." Gladiator stated. "Your bungling has displeased the emperor. You were ordered to have Lilandra and the crystal in your possession to greet the emperor. He comes soon. Why aren't they ready?"

"I..." Eric stammered as he tried to come up with an excuse. "I have Lilandra."

Gladiator got in Eric's face. "But where is the M'Kraan Crystal?"

"You are a warrior of honor!" Lilandra spoke to Gladiator. "Why do you serve a madman like my brother?"

"Princess, I serve the imperial throne of the Shi'ar, and D'Ken sits on the throne." Gladiator answered impassively.

Juggernaut was getting tired of hearing this guy talk. "Why are we listening to Mr. Bad Hair Day? Why don't you just flit back where you..." He punched Gladiator, but he did not move at all.

Juggernaut was perplexed. "Huh?"

Gladiator then grabbed Juggernaut's wrist as he floated into the air and tossed the big man far into the sky.

Jubilee was in awe. "Wow! I didn't think anybody could do that to Juggernaut. Except Danny, of course."

"Nobody from Earth." Gambit said.

"You will come with me, Princess." Gladiator stated to Lilandra.

"Not without a fight, she won't!" Wolverine interjected. "She's a friend of mine."

Gladiator let out a breath that blew them all back, except for Rogue, who flew into the air and charged at Gladiator. Gladiator simply shot her with lasers from his eye, knocking her to the castle roof.

Black Tom threw Lilandra at Gladiator. "Take her with my respects to the emperor." He then ran off.

Gladiator held Lilandra in his grip. "I am sorry, Princess, but you must give your brother the crystal."

"No!" Lilandra refused. "For the sake of the universe, no!"

"Lilandra!" Xavier could sense her fear. "Save her, my X-Men! You must save Lilandra!"

Danny's eyes shot open as he glowed with a red aura. "Lilandra! I must go to Cassidy Keep." Danny told his friends. "The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance."

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Scott asked. "You're in no condition to go anywhere!"

"Phoenix must go!" Danny said as he transformed, but he didn't turn into his ghost form but into his flaming form that he had back when he landed the shuttle. He then flew out the window to Cassidy Keep.

The three X-Men watched Danny leave.

"Danny!" Scott cried. "Danny!"

Danny arrived at the castle as he confronted the evildoers.

Gambit and Wolverine recognized Danny's new form, while Rogue and Jubilee didn't, as this was their first time seeing it.

"Who is that?" Rogue asked.

Jubilee saw the logo and pointed at it. "Look! On his chest!"

Rogue gazed at where Jubilee pointed and saw Danny's logo. She gasped. "Danny?"

"Yep, that's Casper, alright." Wolverine confirmed.

"Lilandra is under my protection." Danny said to Gladiator and Eric. "Depart!"

Eric was frightened. "What? What is it?"

"There is no way you can stop me." Gladiator fired his lasers at Danny, but they didn't hurt him. He tried his super breath, but to no avail.

Eric got into his ship and hightailed it out of there.

"Creature, no one defies the will of the emperor of the Shi'ar and lives." Gladiator said. "My powers are his to command, and they are invincible."

He flew towards Danny and tried to punch him, but his fists couldn't break through the shield.

"If you will serve no worthy master, then learn the power of Phoenix." Danny grabbed him by the throat as Gladiator screamed. "You may survive to tell your master to abandon his evil quest for the crystal."

Danny then threw Gladiator back into space.

Lilandra and the X-Men all observed Danny.

"Danny, is that you?" Rogue asked as she floated closer to him to get a good look. "I know you're hot, but this is ridiculous."

"I am Phoenix." Danny said.

"Are you the child of the crystal?" Lilandra asked.

"Yes." Danny confirmed.

"You are the phoenix the legends spoke of, the guardian of the M'Kraan Crystal." Lilandra realized. "You must help me to keep the crystal from falling into the hands of my brother, the emperor!"

Danny then fell to his knees as he finally had control given back to him.

"He is here." Danny said weakly.

"Where?" Lilandra panicked.

Danny pointed to the sky. "There."

Gladiator got control of his flight as he prepared to go back to Earth when he noticed a vortex appearing. A ship came out of it.

On board was D'Ken.

"The crystal is here." D'Ken said. "I can feel its power."

He laughed maniacally.