X-Cutioner’s Song

At La Casa Mia, the Drakes escape, while Iceman and Hiro battle the Cyburai, who want the Drakes dead to safeguard their family honor. Opal stays behind with the boys, who eventually realize that the fight is hopeless. Hiro says goodbye to Opal and tells her to leave with Iceman. Iceman promises to come back but, as they leave, Hiro initiates his self-destruct program, which kills him and the Cyburai. Meanwhile, Colossus and Mikhail go to a travel agency to make a trip to Russia. While Colossus is inside getting the tickets, Mikhail is overcome by a severe headache outside. When a pizza boy runs into him, the enraged Mikhail uses his powers to merge the boy with a tree. Forge speaks with Jean about his proposal to Storm but he is worried that Storm will say no. He asks Jean to use her telepathy to see if Storm really loves him but Jean tells him that it is not her place to say, which means to Forge that Storm doesn’t truly love him. Mystique continues to taunt Bishop, who is about to attack her when Forge intervenes. Forge realizes that Mystique needs him more than anyone and that she cannot stay in the mansion. Storm makes her decision but, before she can tell Forge, he confronts her and takes back the proposal. He tells her that she can never leave the X-Men and that she has numerous problems to sort through before she can marry him. He apologizes for even asking her and tells her that he is leaving with Mystique. After Forge leaves, the crushed Storm reveals that she was going to accept Forge’s proposal.

Now with Xavier and the original X-Men back the team seemed to be back on track, even adding a new member Bishop. But with so many member's it was hard to control so the X-Men split into two-strike teams. The X-Men Blue Team was composed of Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Beast, Psylocke, Gambit and Jubilee. The X-Men Gold Team was composed of Storm, Colossus, Iceman, Jean Grey, Archangel and Bishop.

The Morlocks attack Callisto and the Healer for betraying them and nearly beat them to death. The two reach Xavier’s mansion, where Mikhail Rasputin empathizes with Callisto, as both have lost their people. However, Mikhail is slightly mentally unbalanced, as he has been talking with the “ghosts” of all those who he has killed. The Healer uses his last strength to heal Callisto before dying but Callisto is also reverted back to her natural, ugly state. The X-Men and Xavier head to the Morlocks Tunnels, while Iceman stays to watch Callisto. Mikhail Rasputin orders Iceman to free Callisto but Iceman refuses, leaving Mikhail no other choice but to use physical force to free her. In the Tunnels, Xavier deduces that the Morlocks madness is being caused by an emotional telepathic mutant, who has linked all the Morlocks together and is causing them to kill each other. To make amends for her failure as their leader, Storm tries to calm the Morlocks down but they surround her and Storm’s claustrophobia takes over. Storm uses her lightening to free herself from the Tunnels and escape into Time Square but accidentally frees the mad Morlocks with her.

Bishop, Colossus and Jean Grey battle against the mad Morlocks in Time Square, as Storm tries to recover from her claustrophobia. Jean and Colossus battle MeMe, who can absorb living things into him and can keep them after a certain amount of time. Colossus, who is impervious to MeMe’s powers, defeats the mutant but is unable to free the innocent humans absorbed. Jean, sensing that time is almost up for the humans, mentally turns off  MeMe’s mind, freeing the humans but killing MeMe. Bishop is ordered to surrender by police officers, who are investigating the murders he is behind. Bishop tries to startle them away but accidentally explodes a cruiser. Storm saves the officers and tells Bishop that this is the last straw and she has had enough with his ultra-violent tactics. Professor Xavier finds the Morlocks responsible, a child named Brain Cell, who is in a narrow passage. Xavier crawls though but cuts his leg open. He is still able to break Brain Cell’s control on the Morlocks and ends Masque’s influence on the boy. The Morlocks retreat, but the X-Men give chase. In the mansion, Mikhail shows Iceman his true potential, but quickly subdues the man before he can interfere anymore. Mikhail and the free Callisto head to the sewers. Meanwhile, Archangel finds himself drawn to the place where his wings were broken and discovers that he is going mad.

Escape from Avalon

A group of mutants have stolen a shuttle and are being pursued by some agents. Magneto arrives and tears their ships apart before bringing them on board Asteroid M. At the mansion the X-Men are testing the building‘s defenses. They split into two teams, but only Wolverine, with Psylocke‘s help, is able to breach them. The two different crews fight on board the asteroid until Magneto stops them. One of them, Fabian Cortez, has a suggestion for Magneto.

Back at the mansion the X-Men Blue team responds to a signal that Magneto is up to something. He has raised a nuclear submarine. The X-Men confront him, but after a brief battle he flies off with the nuclear weapons. Rogue tries to follow him to talk, but is shot down by a Russian plane. Magneto is hurt and is healed by Cortez. Rogue is found in Genosha but is pursued by the newly formed Acolytes wanting her to join them. She disagrees and fights them, and the X-Men arrive to help her. Magneto turns up and declares that Asteroid M will be a haven for all mutantkind.

Magneto and the Acolytes defeat the Blue team of the X-Men and take them aboard Asteroid X. While Xavier tries to get through to Moira, they are both kidnapped by Magneto as well. Turns out that while Magneto was an infant and in Moira’s care, she manipulated his genetic structure, attempting to cure a possible instability of his central nervous system, suspecting that this condition had turned him into a villain. Magneto gets mad, having now to question his every decision since the procedure, angrily he makes Moira brainwash the Blue team into joining his Acolytes. The other half of the X-Men wonders how to help. The situation gets even more tense when Nick Fury reports that the US and Russia have decided to launch a plasma cannon against Asteroid X.

The Gold Team of the X-Men travels to Asteroid M in an undetectable space ship, desperately trying to safe their teammates, before the Russians destroy Magneto’s base with a plasma cannon. Aboard the Asteroid Xavier helplessly sees his Blue Team brainwashed by Moira into following Magneto, though some of them seem to realize that something is wrong. Magneto still suffering from injuries received by Wolverine grows more and more dependent on Fabian Cortez cures. When the Gold Team arrives they have to fight both their teammates and the Acolytes, but soon the X-Men remember themselves. Magneto stops the battle, wanting only Xavier, but then he collapses. Moira understands that Cortez has only boosted his powers to make him feel better, In the meantime Cortez has escaped, he intends to turn Magneto into a martyr and inspire mutants all around the world to follow him. As the plasma canon is fired the X-Men hurry to their spaceship. They want to rescue Magneto and the remaining Acolytes as well, but they prefer to stay aboard Asteroid M and die as it goes down.

Legion Quest

Legion builds a black dome in the Negev Desert, and the X-Men are called in to investigate. The X-Men enter the Dome and battle Legion but they are unable to stop him from opening a portal in time. Storm, Iceman, Bishop and Psylocke are sucked through it with him, whilst Jean Grey, who is left behind sends a distress call to Professor Xavier. In the Shi’Ar palace Lilandra is informed by Jahf, the M'kraan Crystal's guardian, that the end of all is coming soon.

Legion has transported himself and four of the X-Men (Storm, Bishop, Psylocke and Iceman) 20 years to the past, where they all emerged without memory.

The rest of the X-Men find Jean Grey in the desert and after receiving medical treatment she tells them what happened previously. Cable arrives to help out just as Lilandra appears to give them a warning directly from the Watchers. In the past the amnesiac Legion has been transported to the hospital in Israel where both Xavier and Eric Magnus Lehnsherr work. A touch from Lehnsherr causes a psychic backlash, resulting in illusions of Eric’s past. Magnus calls Xavier for help and when they both get back to their patient they witness more illusions, this time of the present day X-Men.

Legion is fighting with Eric in the Past. Whilst they are fighting the time-displaced x-men are trying to reduce the damage being caused to the surrounding area. Psylocke contacts Charles and tell him that they need to stop Legion. In the future Xavier realizes that the he and the x-men failed, the M’kraan crystal is destroying the universe and there is nothing they can do. The X-men spend their final moments with loved ones. In the Past Apocalypse decides it is the time for ascension. Legion is winning the fight when Iceman freezes him solid. The x-men believe that they have saved the day however Legion hasn't finished and he knocks them all out. He is about to kill Eric when Charles leaps in the way, and is killed instead. Legion and the X-men, apart from Bishop, disappear and the crystallize wave hits Earth in the present.

Exodus and the Acolytes have brought a mysterious, unconscious creature aboard Avalon which not everyone trusts. It soon kills Milan and Rusty Collins before waking up and breaking out of its containment field. The creature, Age of Apocalypse’s Holocaust, engages Exodus in battle, tearing Avalon apart. Amelia Voght flees to Earth, accidentally teleporting Cyclops and Phoenix back to the station.

Meanwhile, Xavier and Storm hear news of a massacre by mutants from Archangel. Rogue, channeling Gambit, tries her hand at theft but is halted by Iceman.

Xavier struggles to contact his students, despite Voght’s warnings that it is futile to try. Cyclops and Phoenix battle the Acolytes, trying to figure out what’s happening. Exodus and Holocaust continue their battle, killing Javitz in the process. Colossus and Magneto strap into an escape pod headed for Earth. Cyclops and Phoenix eventually convince the Acolytes to flee with them. Phoenix finds Skids and together they head for Earth on a piece of debris. Cyclops leads the remaining Acolytes for an escape pod, but Unuscione is forced to use her exoskeleton to save them when they find that there are no escape pods left. They all hurtle toward Earth.

In the wake of Avalon’s destruction, the station’s survivors are scattered across the globe. Colossus is discovered without Magneto by an enigmatic woman in the Antarctic near Magneto’s citadel.

Xavier struggles to find his students through a mysterious psionic haze, but the X-Men locate Jean and Skids through use of a homing signal Voght provided for them.

Cyclops and the remaining Acolytes plod through the deserted Australian Outback amid internal disagreements. They eventually reach the X-Men’s old Australian base, but not before Xavier resorts to desperate means to find them, utilizing Voght’s mist-based abilities to transform himself into pure psionic energy. After Cyclops contacts the Institute, Xavier and Voght talk philosophy before she disappears.

In Magneto’s citadel, Colossus’s assailant reveals herself to be Callisto, looking for help from Colossus and the X-Men.

Rogue and Iceman continue their cross-country journey amid arguments and painful emotions. A recuperated Gambit flies the Blackbird out to Seattle, where Rogue and Iceman end up as well. After becoming frustrated with her powers in a bar, Rogue flies away, and Gambit rescues Iceman from some mutant-hating college students who witnessed the scene. Gambit’s siphoned memories lead Rogue to an abandoned theater, where her two teammates meet her. Gambit tries to convince Rogue to move on, deal with it and return with him, but she can’t continue unless she finds out the nature of the mysterious memories that cause him so much pain. In the end, he refuses to tell her what happened in the theater, afraid it will ruin everything he has worked so hard to attain. Yet Gambit wants to give himself to her completely to convince her of his love and offers to let her touch him. Rogue refuses. Neither of them is satisfied, but she decides to leave and take some time off from the X-Men. Iceman takes the Blackbird back to Xavier’s, but Gambit remains in Seattle for a few days to sort things out. Sinister approaches him one night, warning him that it is not over. Nothing is settled. He will have to play the hand that Mister Sinister dealt him eventually.

The X-Babies

Gambit and Bishop spend a night on the town at a seedy gambling club that Remy has frequented in the past. The uneasy companions discuss Bishop’s suspicions that Gambit may be the man who ultimately betrays the X-Men and leads to their death. Their night is disturbed when they jump in to save five of Mojo’s X-Babies from an angry mob at the club. The miniature versions of the X-Men are fleeing from Gog and MaGog, who are scheduled to terminate the young remnants of Mojo’s former rule.

Meanwhile, Iceman and Phoenix discuss Bobby’s concern that Emma Frost may still be lurking in his mind while they shop at a bookstore. Jean tells him that she’s probably not there, and broaches a conversation about the healthy nature at which his powers are slowly developing. Yet their night is also interrupted when two more X-Babies show up at the bookstore.

Out in the Midwest, Senator Kelly investigates some mysterious disappearances at a Sentinel research facility, only to discover that Onslaught was the perpetrator.

The X-Babies continue to flee from Gog and MaGog, who are bent on canceling them. Bishop and Gambit recuperate from their previous engagement with the two hunters and fight them again, to little avail. The X-Babies strike back, buying enough time from Bishop and Gambit to gather themselves once again, but Gog and MaGog are ultimately too powerful. Fortunately, Phoenix and Iceman arrive with two more X-Babies and stall them even more. Yet their combined might is not enough and Gog is about to swallow the X-Babies whole when Dazzler arrives. She sends the two henchmen back to the Mojoverse and offers to let the X-Babies live with her. Everyone is happy with this arrangement and they soon depart for home. Afterward, Phoenix reveals that she no longer sensed a life within the supposedly pregnant Dazzler. The four X-Men wonder how she is doing, but concludes that she has to be free to find her own way.

Back at the mansion, Xavier has come to a conclusion regarding Sabretooth and calls Boom Boom in to discuss it.

The mutant known as Bishop attacks a woman named Pamela. He tells her that he thinks she is spying on him. With tears in her eyes, she swears that she knows nothing of what he is talking about. Just then, the Beast appears on the scene and tries to talk some sense into the seemingly deranged, Bishop. Hank has no luck. In response, Bishop hurls his friend into a nearby wall, saying something about him being a pet of Apocalypse’s. Pamela comes out from behind the bar; she was cowering behind, and offers to take Bishop to her house, where the two of them can discuss how wrong he is.

Other weird things are happening elsewhere, as well, as at the Massachusetts Academy, the student known as Chamber is kidnapped by Gateway.

Back in New York, Hank McCoy escapes his unconsciousness and begins searching for his now missing ally, Bishop. Bishop is asleep in Pamela’s apartment. In a secret lair, the mutant known as the Dark Beast watches through Pamela’s eyes, Bishop distraught and unaware. With that realization, the Dark Beast commands Pamela to change back into her alter ego, Fatale. She does so and blasts the mutant out of the apartment window. Luckily, Hank is close by and he saves Bishop from a long fall. Bishop tells Hank that he knew he was right but, suddenly, Fatale stops her attack per the change in orders from the Dark Beast. Contemplating her wantonness to spy on Bishop, Hank does not know he is the one that is now being watched by the Dark Beast, who seems to be creating a devious plot to assimilate him.

Awaking in a reality that seems strange and deadly to them, four X-Men (Logan, Ororo, Bobby, and Scott) are horrified to see how much injury their bodies have taken, but the most shocking fact is they cannot remember how they got their injuries.

Back at the mansion in Westchester, Xavier awakens at the sense of his former-students’ fears, only to see the Aborigine named Gateway ready to teleport him away, as well. Luckily, for Xavier, both Bishop and Phoenix rush to his rescue and knock Gateway unconscious. After trying to interrogate the silent Aborigine, the team is informed by Hank that he believes Storm, Iceman, Cyclops and Wolverine are being tested by Onslaught. The test has begun and, at the source of Onslaught’s power, they face off against a powerful foe by the name of Post. After being thwarted repeatedly, the four mutants figure out how to defeat their opponent and rematerialize back at the mansion. After their arrival, the psionic form of Onslaught greets them and the other X-Men of the mansion. The psionic tells them that their victory was weak and, once Onslaught comes onto the scene, the world will become remade and there will be nothing the X-Men can do to stop it.