X-Corps Disengaged

Meanwhile in Paris, the X-Corps members Banshee, a survived Multiple Man, and with new recruits Avalanche, Radius (from Beta Flight), Surge (copied by Mystique), Sunpyre, Monet, Jubilee, Husk just captured the Blob. Avalanche and Blob were former ally as members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Banshee also defused him by his scream and later Blob agreed to remain in his team, same method he did with Avalanche and Surge previously. After the disbanding Generation X, Chamber became a member of X-Men squad and Monet, Husk and Jubilee stayed with Banshee.

Radius (Jared Corbo) a Canadian, can constantly generate a force field of fluctuating energy around his body, that can be reshaped into a variety of different forms

Surge (Raven Dakholme)-disguising mutant and for real she is the just escaped Mystique.

Storm's team is still searching for the remaining pages of the journal. They met the recovering- and a changed Beast. Hank McCoy was evolved to a cat-like character. Then, Piotr Nikolievitch Rasputin a.k.a. Colossus who was infected by the Legacy Virus, he then committed suicide. All X-Men presumed that he is dead but his body was not found.

The X-Men check out the new X-Corps headquarters and are welcomed by Banshee, who agrees to show them around and explains his strategy. In his opinion, the mutant population needs to be polices by mutants and he has drilled this team to function like an army. The X-men witness an alarm going off, as two mutants are registered battling each other in Berlin. Banshee sends his operatives to deal with the situation, and Avalanche, Surge and the Blob quickly defeat the battling Abyss and Fever Pitch and also deal with a local mutant hating militia. Banshee agrees that the X-Men accompany him to the battle site, yet they have to keep a certain distance and probably won’t like what they see. Once in Berlin, Banshee congratulates his team, inspects the captives and interrogates the militiamen, who are serving A.R.M., the Acculturation Resistance Movement, and they won’t stop until the last mutant is defeated. The X-men are shocked that their old friend is working with well-known criminals and at the methods he uses to achieve his goals. The next day, Warren Worthington III attends a G8 meeting in Rome to talk about the rising mutant population. He points out that among mutant society there are different philosophies, and that the X-men have dedicated themselves to Charles Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence. Actually it should not be a genetic discussion, but one about political and social evolution. In the X-Corps labs, Sunpyre has studied the two captives and tells Banshee that they both have formidable powers but might be too violent to keep in line. Banshee answers “We’ll see” and he walks into a secret chamber, where Mastermind is strapped into a tank, with cables and tubes connected to her body. He plans to use her illusion power to get both new arrivals under his control.

On their way back from Rome, Archangel and Stacy X investigate a new mutant signature in Zürich and arrive in time to prevent a young pyrokinetic getting killed by the anti-mutant militia A.R.M. Yet when a group of X-Corps operatives arrive to take the boy with them tempers flare, and again a fight starts, but it quickly ends, with the X-Corps having the advantage of their powers. Hopelessly outnumbered Stacy X and Archangel can only watch as they take the boy with them. In Paris Banshee has both Chamber and Nightcrawler as guests in the X-Corps building. He offers Jonothan (Chamber) to join and reveals that his former teammates Jubilee, Husk and Monet (M) are already there. Later while Kurt and Sean discuss their different approaches to mutant/human relations, Chamber learns from the girls that they don’t share Banshee’s methods; they only joined to keep an eye on him. Also there is something strange in the basement. Chamber decides to pretend to join and investigate, and finds Mastermind’s tank in the basement, and suddenly he is pulled in her astral scenario. Iceman follows Blob, Avalanche and Surge into a bar. Tempers flare and they almost fight, but then they calm down and reveal that Banshee has arranged full immunity for them and pays the former criminals for their involvement in the X-Corps. Later Surge travels to Zürich, where he kills A.R.M. leader Jakob Eisen and several of his followers.

The news shows a videotape of somebody posing as Jakob Eisen, leader of A.R.M., who claims that his organization exterminated X-Corps member Surge. Banshee sends Monet, Jubilee, Husk and Multiple Man to Zürich to investigate, but it’s a set-up and they have to fight an entire army of A.R.M. operatives, yet they are able to defeat them. Banshee finally snaps and uses his sonic power on one of the A.R.M. members demanding to know Eisen’s location, but Nightcrawler stops him in time and Sean finally comes to his senses. Meanwhile Sunpyre is studying Abyss in the labs, and assassinated from behind. Chamber and Martinique communicate on the astral plane, until she says she has an important appointment. She tries to lock Chamber out, but underestimated him, as he escapes from her trap. Chamber witnesses a conversation between Martinique and an unseen person, who apparently infiltrated Banshee’s organization. Chamber is discovered and knocked out by Surge’s electricity blasts, next to him are Blob, Avalanche and Fever Pitch, ready to take over.

While the others are away, Radius pays Stacy to do what she has done during her prostitute days, but hard as she tries, her pheromones don't enter his force field. Radius is surprised by the Blob and Avalanche, who buries him beneath the ground. The villains escape with the entire fleet of X-Corps' gunships. When Banshee and the loyal members return, they find that the X-Corps has been betrayed from within. Sunpyre is found dead in the lab and Abyss is in shock. Nightcrawler discovers the unconscious Chamber in the Blackbird, right before a time-delayed bomb goes off. Meanwhile, the villains, especially Fever Pitch, are causing mass destruction in Paris to show the world the true face of mutant pride. Turns out that they also have dozens of Multiple Men under mental control. Banshee and one of the loyal Multiple Men go to Mastermind's chamber to shut her down, but "Multiple Man" is actually Mystique in disguise. From behind she rams a knife into Banshee throat. Archangel and another Multiple Man inspect the X-Corps weaponry for something useful.

Mystique releases Mastermind III from her holding tank. With her help, Mystique has undermined Banshee's X-Corps. As they head to the command central, they leave Banshee bleeding to death from his throat injury. On the way, they kill any Madrox dupes that cross their way. In Paris, Archangel and M team up to deal with the enemies' fleet of helicopters, piloted by mind controlled Madrox dupes. One by one, M bursts through the copters and takes the pilots back to Jamie for reabsorbing. After M visits each copter, Warren blasts the empty crafts out of the sky with a bazooka. While Iceman prevents Fever Pitch from incinerating the Louvre by encasing him and the entire building in a huge block of ice, the team is unable to stop Avalanche from shattering the Eiffel Tower. Elsewhere in the X-Corps complex, Jubilee and Husk battle the Blob. Stacy comes in and joins them, still angry about how he dealt with her and Radius. Stacy uses her pheromone control to over-stimulate the Blob's pleasure centers. Meanwhile, Mystique explains her philosophies of mutant terrorism to Martinique when an alarm goes off in the lab. Mystique checks it out, and finds banshee barely standing before he collapses. With his last willpower, he dragged himself there and freed Abyss, who now sucks Mystique into his inner void. The boy is unable to control his power, and Banshee is more than willing to let himself get sucked into the blackness too. He is saved, however, when Husk and Jubilee arrive in time to hold him back. After he is taken to a hospital, the X-Men and remaining X-Corps members mourn the death of Radius and Sunpyre and wonder what became of Chamber and Nightcrawler.

To save himself and Chamber he teleports them blindly and they arrive in the German Alps. He dreams that he is being crucified on a large 'X' as the Church of Humanity march across the countryside under the looming figure of the Supreme Pontiff. Kurt wakes up to see his friend Feuer Langhagen who he was in the circus with. Nightcrawler goes outside to see Chamber watching the mountains that surround Feuer's cabin. Nightcrawler's memory can only vaguely remember the recent events involving the X-Corps, so Chamber fills him in. It is also revealed that Kurt has not yet contacted the X-Men. That night Nightcrawler and Chamber have an argument about Kurt’s attitude and Jonothan (Chamber) leaves the cabin. He telepathically contacts Stacy X who is at the X-Corps base, where Archangel and Iceman are dealing with Prodi, the president of the European commission about the recent disaster in Paris. Stacy attempts to tell Warren and Bobby of Jonothan’s message but they don’t believe her. However Archangel is contacted by Phoenix, who confirms Kurt and Jonothan’s position to be in the mountains. Feuer notices Nightcrawler brooding and Kurt tells him that he has been having doubts about Xavier's dream. Feuer encourages him to stay in the X-Men. Kurt goes outside, Chamber tells him that the reason he became so angry at dinner was because he assumed that, out of all the X-Men, Kurt was the most at peace. Nightcrawler admits that he has not been, as of late, and has been having strange nightmares. Kurt notices the approaching gunship carrying the X-Men. After a long discussion Kurt returns with the X-Men and bids Feuer farewell. Stacy is at first angry that Chamber invaded her mind, but is taken aback when he reveals to have chosen her as he felt she would be the only one to take him seriously.

The Vanisher

At Worthington Industries, Archangel tries in vain to answer the flood of questions from the press concerning the recent events. Just as Warren becomes overwhelmed Nightcrawler teleports into the room and puts on a good show for the press, jokingly suggesting that the media should treat him as they would treat a celebrity, and wondering if he should get a Hollywood agent. After the conference, Warren wants to know why Kurt acted so showy, to which Kurt replies Kurt answers that he thinks of it as a return to the recklessness of his earlier days. Stacy X informs Warren that she has a “work” appointment. Warren tells Stacy that she no longer has to work as the X-Men pay for everything, but Stacy says that it is more about identity than money. Warren warns her that living that way doesn't lead anywhere and she leaves annoyed. She complains about Warren in front of Logan, who shows Stacy his old yellow costume. Logan explains that he wore it for years because he was too afraid to leave a role that everyone was used to seeing him in. Later Stacy meets her “date”, which turns out to be a mutant with age acceleration and immunity to medication, placing him in incredible pain. Stacy does as he asks and uses her pheromones on his pleasure centers, ensuring that he will feel nothing else for the next months. Later Iceman, Wolverine and Chamber pick Stacy up and tell her she did well. Nightcrawler discovers some dead bodies of teenagers who overdosed on the designer genes, the drug that the Vanisher created. He alerts Warren to it, which immediately calls in the staff of his company to try a corporate takeover of the Vanisher’s organization.

Wolverine and Chamber discuss the situation with the Vanisher. Wolverine mocks and disagrees with Warren's tactics to get to the Vanisher through his business contacts, but Chamber sides with Warren and the argument is settled. Mistaken for just another drug addict, Stacy gets close enough to the Vanisher to place him under her pheromone control. About two weeks later she releases him and tells him that Warren Worthington demands to see him. They meet in a tavern, unaware that both brought back-up as several of the Vanisher’s henchmen as well as Iceman are posing as waiters. When the Vanisher learns that Worthington has bought the designer gene trade from under him while he was in his pheromone-induced state, he tries to teleport away, but Iceman freezes him in place. The other waiters inject themselves with the drugs, transforming into mutants too, but Bobby encases them all in a block of ice. Logan agrees that Warren’s approach was the right one. At the same time, Nightcrawler investigates a church in which a few dead junkies were found. Kurt is shocked to discover that the church’s Cardinal is addicted to designer genes too, as he transforms into a huge monster. Suddenly members of the Church of Humanity teleport in and kill the Cardinal. Since their leader, the Supreme Pontiff, has special plans for Kurt, they leave him unharmed. Later Logan finds Kurt brooding. He admits that he has been putting on a front of frivolity to conceal the recent things he has learned about himself. Logan reminds him that despite everything changing, but the X-Men have saved the world before, and they will do it again.

At the Hospital, Annie sits with the catatonic Havok and tries to come to terms with her crush on him. Cyclops arrives and picks Alex up from his wheelchair, thanking Annie for giving him back his brother. She points out that he would still need a nurse and asks to accompany them. As The X-Men returns from Europe they came back with Jubilee and Paige Guthrie (Husk). Chamber and Paige rekindled there past relationship. By that time Warren went home from his leave, which had his secondary mutation after recovering from the injuries he had in Genosha, wherein he gets back his powerful wings. He have learned that Betsy Braddock (Psylocke) died in Spain.

Nurse Annie and her son arrive at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, where they are welcomes by Paige. Annie doesn’t like mutants and is concerned for her son’s safety. Right then the X-Men returns from their mission and Xavier telepathically contacts Husk to meet them in the infirmary as they have wounded aboard. While Xavier tends to Iceman‘s injuries, Annie tries to deal with Warren‘s broken limbs, though suddenly Stacy X becomes angry. She reveals that she is able to “see” others’ pheromones and obviously Husk has a crush on Warren. After being humiliated in front of everyone present, Paige starts to cry and leaves the room. However when Warren accuses Stacy of jealousy, she too is shocked and leaves. Outside on the school grounds, Wolverine tells the Juggernaut that if he dares to attack his friends in their home, he will show no mercy at all. Wolverine walks away, but Sammy and Carter stay behind, gazing up at the Juggernaut in awe, they think he is cool. Xavier enters the astral plane to pull back the mind of the comatose Havok, but he finds himself almost pulled into Alex's pain and loneliness and has to turn back. Yet he promises to Annie that he will keep trying. Charles offers Annie a position at the Institute, assuring her that the fact that she is not a mutant fits with his personal philosophy of cooperation between the races. She hesitantly accepts. Later Annie walks to Husk’s room to ask if she is okay. Paige is angry: she tells Annie that it is obvious that she doesn't care about mutants, and questions why she decided to try to comfort her in the first place. Annie admits that she doesn't generally like mutants, but insists that she doesn't like to see anyone, human or mutant, in emotional pain. Paige thanks her but prefers to be left alone. Annie walks back to her room. As she enters, she thinks to herself that she must eventually get over her mutant prejudice for "obvious reasons." Annie sits down on the bed and watches as Carter telekinetically lifts his toys into the air.

In the mansion they met Beast who is in the still recovering from mourning and his secondary mutation in his lab. Also Iceman is having his secondary mutation turning himself into a pure solid ice and Archangel returns mutated back on his original image. No more blue skin and his metals turns to feathers.