Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

(Theme sequence)

(We open on shots of a busy city. CALLISTO pulls LEECH out of view of a police spotlight. CUT TO: A retro-style TV, playing the news.)

REPORTER: As we await more details out of Paris, we take a look back on another life cut short, Professor Charles Xavier. The mutant leader’s assassination last year by former NSA agent Henry Gyrich has spurred increased sympathy toward mutants despite their strange powers.

(CUT TO: Warehouse, EXT/NIGHT. A car pulls up. The door of the backseat opens, and we see ROBERTO in plain clothes with a power dampening collar on. MULLET pulls him roughly from the car and walks him inside.)

REPORTER (V.O.): But is mankind ready to share a future with those who science claims were born to replace us? Experts debate this and more after the break.

(ROBERTO take in the warehouse, decked out with FOH memorabilia and militia soldiers with guns.)

MULLET: The buyer’s really gonna throw down 10 grand for every mutant we nab?

DENTI: Says he’s using them for target practice.

(ROBERTO sees them welding something together as MULLET pushes him roughly into a chair.)

ROBERTO: Please don’t hurt me. I’m Roberto da Costa, heir to the Da Costa fortune. Name a price. Money’s not an issue.

DENTI: Mutie thinks it’s about cash. Funny. What’s this freak’s trick?

MULLET: No clue. Kid didn’t even try to use his powers. Collared him just in case.

DENTI: (grabs ROBERTO'S face roughly) Hear that, mutie? So long as that collar stays on, your powers are bye-bye.

ROBERTO: I’m not like the ones on TV. I’m one of the good ones.

DENTI: A good mutant? Now, that is rich.

ROBERTO: Listen, I am begging you. I didn’t ask for this, okay? I was born this way.

DENTI: Ain’t that the rub?

(DENTI charges up a blaster attached around his arm. Thunder rumbles. We can see the FOH's breath as the air gets cold.)

DENTI: Grab a Sentinel blaster and spread out!

(STORM descends from a skylight.)

STORM: I am Storm, mistress of the elements. Surrender the boy or face my fury!

DENTI: I ain’t afraid of you, you witch.

(The FOH charge up their blasters, pointing them at STORM.)

STORM: Then you are a fool.

(STORM hits DENTI with lightning. The others start shooting at her, but she dodges and flies away. BISHOP descends from the roof, returning fire.)

BISHOP: Whole announcement shtick didn’t go over so well, did it?

STORM: Pardon me, Bishop, for striving to resolve matters peacefully.

BISHOP: Real peaceful, Storm.

(STORM uses the wind to lift and throw several FOH. BISHOP is hit several times. Rather than fall, he starts glowing)

BISHOP: Keep shooting, punks.

(BISHOP blasts them with his powers.)

BISHOP: Is it me, or did these dirtbags get upgrades?

(A computer nearby explodes as it's hit. BISHOP shields STORM with his body, though they both fall. DENTI grabs ROBERTO, dragging him toward a machine covered by a tarp.)

DENTI: Boot it up, boys. X-Men are like roaches. You see one, more are coming.

(ROBERTO twists away from DENTI and starts running. An explosion knocks a hole into a wall, revealing CYCLOPS.)

ROBERTO: Meu deus. Good guy or bad guy?

CYCLOPS: Name’s Cyclops. Definitely the good guy. Hang tight.

(CYCLOPS grabs ROBERTO'S shoulder and uses his optic blast to launch them backward. He fights the FOH with a blend of optic blasts and hand-to-hand. DENTI runs to the covered machine, pulling down the tarps and revealing a severed SENTINEL hand. He messes with the wires, and it comes to life. CYCLOPS sees it starting to move.)

CYCLOPS: Kid, get down.

(CYCLOPS tackles ROBERTO out of the way of the blast, and is immediately back on his feet. DENTI traps him with a bola, and he falls, arms and legs pinned.)

CYCLOPS: How’d scum like you get your hands on Sentinel technology?

DENTI: What? You freak shows think we wouldn’t find a way to evolve, too? Take his visor before he starts up again.

(MULLET takes CYCLOPS'S visor. He closes his eyes.)

CYCLOPS: No, don’t! I surrender! Not.

(CYCLOPS hits them with an unfiltered optic blast that blows out the windows on the warehouse.)

(CUT TO: EXT/DAY Mansion. CUT TO: the mansion's kitchen. SCOTT is setting the table as REMY fries beignets)

SCOTT: Storm and Bishop could have been hurt. We needed you out there.

REMY: You stopped the bad guys, saved the kid, got home safe. These beignets needed me more than you did, mon ami.

SCOTT: The Friends of Humanity had retrofitted Sentinel weaponry. Do you have any idea what that means, Gambit?

(ROGUE enters.)

ROGUE: Means you get to howling like a lonely kettle left on a fiery stove. We’ve rodeoed more Sentinels than I care to count. And Storm and Bishop are made of sterner stuff than you think.

REMY: Rogue always come to Gambit’s rescue.

SCOTT: Rogue, the Professor entrusted us with his dream of mutant-human coexistence. We have to stay vigilant, no matter how good things seem out there.

ROGUE: The last few months have been rough, what with the Professor being gone and all, but, sugar, if you don’t simmer down, you’re gonna die of a stroke.

(MORPH, in the form of XAVIER, enters and grabs a beignet.)

MORPH (as XAVIER): Rogue is right, Cyclops. Scott, while I trust that all my students would gladly die for my dream of a better future, where both human and mutant live free of your total disdain for fun, I would prefer it be avoided.

SCOTT: Stop being a creep, Morph.

(MORPH shifts back to their standard form and snickers. SCOTT rubs his eyes.)

REMY: Look like Cyclops about to have that stroke. Maybe this help.

(REMY charges and tosses the beignet he's holding toward SCOTT, but it's caught in an orb of blue energy and flies out the window before it can explode. CUT TO reveal JEAN, heavily pregnant, was the one who used her powers to stop it.)

JEAN: Remy, you could have hurt someone.

(REMY, whistling, gives her a salute with his tongs and turns back to his cooking.)

SCOTT: He doesn’t care, Jean. All he cares about are his stupid beignets. I don’t know who’s worse, him or Wolverine.

JEAN: Well, can everyone just please behave? This is a school, after all, and we need to be role models for our guest.

SCOTT: Jean’s right. That kid’s our only lead to where those extremists got their hands on Sentinel tech.

HANK: Salutations and welcome. I’m…

ROBERTO: Blue, very blue. Wow.

HANK: An astute observation, my boy. Hank McCoy here. Or if you prefer my friendly nom de guerre, Beast. That there at the foot of your bed is…

JUBILEE: Name’s Jubilee. And, dude, I get it. One day, life’s fresh. Then the next day, you’re waking up to a blue monkey singing Mozart as he tinkers with doohickies.

HANK: Simian analogies, Jubilee? Shame on you. And this doohickey is an elegant piece of art capable of teleporting someone through time and space.

JUBILEE: Bishop’s bling. He’s a time traveler.

(STORM and CYCLOPS enter.)

STORM: Hank, how fares the boy?

HANK: Besides a cavity and layman’s existential fear of metaphysics, Mr. Da Costa here is in perfect health.

ROBERTO: I need to go. Where’s my jacket? Tell me I didn’t lose it. Super expensive.

CYCLOPS: Roberto, we can’t let you go just yet.

ROBERTO: Oh. Right. How much?

CYCLOPS: “How much?”

ROBERTO: For the save? I was going to pay those troops to free me, so… You take checks?

CYCLOPS: We’re more interested in the weapons those creeps had. That giant arm was from a machine called a Sentinel.

STORM: Did your attackers say anything about where they acquired it?

ROBERTO: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Today’s been a day and you’re coming at me with giant robot arms?

STORM: Your attackers could still be out there, child. Should we let you leave, they could find you and kill you.

ROBERTO: So now you’re kidnapping me?

JUBILEE: Kidnapping? We wanna help mutants, even arrogant yuppies like you.

CYCLOPS: Look, you’re scared, Roberto. I get it. Just give us the day to figure this out, make sure you’re safe, and then you can go do whatever a kid like you does.

ROBERTO: At least say there’s something to do around here besides listen to Mozart?

(CUT TO: ROBERTO stands in the ruins of the U.N. MAGNETO floats above him.)

MAGNETO: Hear me. Humanity’s days are over. We are nature’s favored children. Our new age begins as we build a bright mutant future.

ROBERTO: Video games are for nerds.

(JUBILEE is in an observation deck above.)

JUBILEE: Oh, it’s no game, buddy. It’s the Danger Room. It’s where we train. That’s Magneto, the Professor’s ex-bestie. They had, uh, different takes on mutant-human coexistence. So what can you do? Fly, teleport? Shoot gold balls from your body? That’d be weird.

ROBERTO: But, like, he’s not even real.

MAGNETO: You would turn your back on your own?

(MAGNETO throws an I-beam at Roberto, who barely dodges.)

JUBILEE: Better show me those powers, tough guy.

ROBERTO: Seriously, girl, get a life.

(WOLVERINE tackles ROBERTO, pinning his head to the ground with his claws.)

WOLVERINE: Show the lady some respect.

ROBERTO: Oh, so scary, Jubilee. Can we stop now?

WOLVERINE: Computer, end program.

(The simulation melts away, and ROBERTO realizes WOLVERINE isn't part of it.)

WOLVERINE: Scary enough for you, bub?

(CUT TO: What was once XAVIER'S office. SCOTT and JEAN are speaking to VAL COOPER, who is jogging on a treadmill while video calling them.)

COOPER: Agencies in the US, England and Madripoor have been catching rumors of anti-mutant militias with Sentinel weaponry. But this is the first I’ve heard of any confirmed reports.

SCOTT: How are these groups getting this tech? You said the UN destroyed all the Sentinels.

COOPER: And we did.

SCOTT: Oh, I guess I just imagined the big robot hand that almost took out my team. Someone’s putting this stuff out there.

JEAN: Dr. Cooper, what about Bolivar Trask?

COOPER: Trask’s been missing ever since his inventions tried to swap out President Kelly’s brain with a Sentinel computer. He’d need a Master Mold factory to build new Sentinels and you X-Men destroyed the only one years ago.

SCOTT: Well, when cardio wraps, maybe you can spare the calories to go make sure he didn’t build another one.

COOPER: Charles Xavier was a dear friend of mine. It’s why I urged the UN Council to work with the X-Men. A little trust, Scott.

SCOTT: The Professor loved to say, “Trust happens when actions meet words.” Cyclops out.

(SCOTT turns off the feed and goes to the window, watching several X-Men on the court below playing basketball. JEAN finds a death certificate for XAVIER on the desk.)

JEAN: Well, this certainly explains your mood.

SCOTT: Yeah, it came yesterday. You know, if he were here, the team wouldn’t be shooting hoops while slime like the Friends of Humanity are running around with Sentinel blasters.

JEAN: You’re too hard on yourself, and the team. Remember when we were young and we’d sneak down to the lake instead of doing our Danger Room drills?

SCOTT: Oh, yeah. The Professor would shout, “Your childish hijinks have cost you five demerits, young man.”

JEAN: And you’d say, “But, sir, what’s the point of being an X-Man if we’re not allowed to enjoy our lives?”

SCOTT: Whoa, whoa, I did not sound like that.

JEAN: Oh, yes, you did. You still sound like that. Those days have been on my mind a lot lately, darling. You and I alone. Our whole future ahead of us. The team, they’ll always be family, but with the baby coming, maybe it’s time to think of a life beyond the X-Men?

SCOTT: “Beyond”? You mean leave the team? Jean.

JEAN: It’s like you said, Scott. What have we been fighting for all these years if not the chance to finally live our lives?

SCOTT: We were the Professor’s first students. The X-Men need us here.

JEAN: The team will be fine. Our son will need us more. Deep down, you know that. And I know it hurts. But this one time, Scott… It’s okay for you to let go.

JUBILEE (from outside): Jerk!

(A basketball breaks the office window, knocking down the portrait of the original X-Men.)

(CUT TO: The basketball court. LOGAN is launched into the basketball hoop by JUBILEE'S fireworks.)

JEAN: Jubilee! What are you doing?

JUBILEE: Bozo here scared Roberto off. Cyclops, what if those creeps with the Sentinel gizmos find him?

SCOTT: Logan, take that nose of yours and go find the kid. And take Jubilee. Actually, all of you could stand to act a little more like X-Men. Go with them.

ROGUE: Hey, now, we didn’t do a dang thing.

SCOTT: Took the words right out of my mouth.

LOGAN: Jean may dig the Boy Scout routine, Summers, but I don’t much go in for being bossed around.

SCOTT: Cry me a river, Wolverine.

JEAN: Logan. Find Roberto, please.

LOGAN: What Gyrich did was pretty horrible. But want to know the worst part about the Professor being gone? You.

JEAN: He didn’t mean it.

SCOTT: Doesn’t matter. I know who we need to see to find Bolivar Trask. The man who killed Charles Xavier.

(CUT TO: JUBILEE, LOGAN, GAMBIT, ROGUE, and MORPH, in human form, arrive at a dance club.)

WOLVERINE: The kid’s here, but there are too many damn scents.

GAMBIT: Looks like we split up. Nice place to pass a good time, eh, chère?

(ROGUE and GAMBIT stand on a balcony overlooking the dance floor. ROGUE watches the dancers, while GAMBIT watches ROGUE.)

ROGUE: (sighs) If I was down there and one of ’em brushed against my skin, my power-sappin’ touch would leave ’em with a nasty hangover.

GAMBIT: Any worthwhile man would gladly suffer your hand in a dance.

(GAMBIT offers his hand, ROGUE narrows her eyes.)

ROGUE: That ain't funny! I could kill you! How many times you gotta learn your lesson, Cajun?

GAMBIT: At least once more, chère, just like always.

(ROGUE groans and walks away.)

(CUT TO: MORPH and WOLVERINE on the floor below, among the dancers.)

MORPH: Thought you were gonna slice Summers’ head off back there. Wanna talk about it?

WOLVERINE: Let’s just find this trust-fund baby and get out of here, Morph.

MORPH:(shapeshifts into JEAN) I know what’s wrong. How? Why, I’m Jean Grey, humble telepath extraordinaire, and I’m having the most beautiful baby in the world with the most boring man in the world, and, “Oh, hello, you on the sidelines, watching our exhausting perfection every day.”

WOLVERINE: Perfection? If we ain’t fighting Magneto, we’re dodging aliens and Sentinels. School’s no place for a baby. You… Jean knows as much.

MORPH: (returning to their human form) You don’t think…

WOLVERINE: They’re leaving the team, Morph. Jean’s leaving.

(DENTI, MULLET, and another FOH enter. LOGAN spots them and makes eye contact with GAMBIT on the balcony. CUT TO: ROBERTO dancing with glow sticks in his hands. JUBILEE approaches.)

ROBERTO: No, no. I’m not going back there.

JUBILEE: Dork, let’s go. You’re not safe here.

ROBERTO: One dance, then I’ll come. Promise.

(JUBILEE agrees and dances with him, letting off fireworks.)

ROBERTO: Beats that stuffy mansion, right?

JUBILEE: Hey, at least they’re not wasting time partying when they could be helping people.

ROBERTO: And waste the best years of my life on some bald guy’s corny dream?

JUBILEE: Of course, someone like you would find a little selflessness corny.

ROBERTO: Peace, love. I get it. Does he have to make such a big stink about it?

JUBILEE: Is that why you didn’t use your powers against those goons? Didn’t want to rub their faces in it?

ROBERTO: It’s like minha mãe says, Jubilee. Viva e deixe viver. Live and let live. Sometimes people don’t get along.

LOGAN: Don’t I know it, bub?

(LOGAN, MORPH, and GAMBIT approach. LOGAN has an FOH hat stuck on one of his claws.)

LOGAN: FOH ran when they saw us coming. Dropped one of their little toys, too.

(LOGAN hands MORPH a sentinel blaster.)

GAMBIT: Pray Cyclops find where these bad boys are coming from, before things get too hot to handle.

(MORPH transforms into JUGGERNAUT and smashes the blaster.)

(BISHOP, ORORO, and SCOTT are behind a two-way mirror. On the other side, HENRY GYRICH is shackled to a table.)

BISHOP: I can’t believe this fool nearly cost us the whole future.

SCOTT: He still cost us enough.

(CUT TO: ORORO and SCOTT inside the room with GYRICH.)

GYRICH: Why would I know where Trask is?

ORORO: You helped fund his Sentinel program when you worked for the Defense Department.

SCOTT: Gyrich, you’re serving 25 years. You talk and I get it down to 10.

GYRICH: You mutants are moving up, making friends in high places. Though it’s got to hurt, offering that deal to me. Those Sentinel upgrades really threw you.

ORORO: We merely hoped some humans had evolved beyond the past.

GYRICH: Did you honestly think we’d roll over and let mutants take over the planet? That we wouldn’t fight back?

ORORO: Yet your cruelty has only made humanity more sympathetic to our cause.

GYRICH: Oh, did it? No, you’re in vogue, Storm. A fad. “Look at my mutant friend.” But under all that fashionable sympathy, normal people know the more room we make for your kind, the less we leave for ours. So we might wear tolerance on our sleeves, but we know the naked truth. Tolerance is extinction.

SCOTT: Ten years, Gyrich. Yours to win or lose.

GYRICH: I won the day I shot the man you freak shows look up to. And you get an “A” for effort, Mr. Summers, but we both know you’re no Charles Xavier.

SCOTT: You’re right. I’m not Charles Xavier. He’d reason with you. Be patient. He’d do everything in his power to save you.

GYRICH: Save me? From what, you?

(JEAN enters GYRICH'S mind telepathically.)

JEAN: Hatred weakens your mind, Mr. Gyrich. Cerebro amplifies my psychic powers, allowing me to penetrate your thoughts from any distance I please.

GYRICH: Get out of my head!

(We see flashes of GYRICH'S memories.)

TRASK (in memory): One Master Mold is not enough. We need backups.

GYRICH (in memory): I know a place.

JEAN: Something’s wrong. Someone else…

(We see flashes of images that don't make sense: a child coloring, a desert a barren moonscape. JEAN realizes that in this world she is not pregnant. She hears a baby crying and looks over to see a cradle on the moonscape, then looks down and realizes she's holding a baby. A dust cloud takes the vague form of a man.)

CLOUD: No! Not again. I’m so sorry.

(JEAN looks, and what was once a crater has become a graveyard, crowded with headstones as far as the eye can see in any direction. Behind her, MASTER MOLD erupts from the ground.)

MASTER MOLD: Behold, mutant, and despair, for I am Death. I am Master Mold.

(MASTER MOLD explodes, and in the real world, JEAN screams and throws off the Cerebro helmet.)

SCOTT (over communicator): Jean! Jean, come in!

JEAN: I’m here. I’m here, Scott. I’m fine. What I felt… We have to stop Trask. Now.

(CUT TO: The X-Jet is flying with SCOTT, STORM, GAMBIT, ROGUE, BEAST, WOLVERINE, MORPH, and BISHOP onboard.)

CYCLOPS: Listen up, people. Jean’s psychic scan placed Trask in the Sahara Desert. We fly into the coordinates, detain Trask and shut down Master Mold for good.

WOLVERINE: I say we skip detaining and mail Trask back to the UN in little pieces.

STORM: There will be no dismembering, Wolverine.

WOLVERINE: Dismembering? Nah. Weight loss.

CYCLOPS: We get this done by working together as a team. Think you can do that, Logan?

WOLVERINE: Jeez, Dad. Keep buzzing in my ear. What would we do if we ever lost you?

(An explosion rattles the plane, blowing out the windshield. A Sentinel looms over the top of the plane.)

CYCLOPS: Hang on, people.

STORM: Cyclops!

(CYCLOPS uses his powers and blasts the Sentinel. It grabs him and pulls him out of the plane. CYCLOPS lasers the Sentinel's head in half, and it lets him and the plane go. The plane is falling out of control, but it eventually explodes, leaving the X-Men to freefall. STORM and ROGUE nod at each other as they move to catch the X-Men who can't fly. STORM catches GAMBIT as MORPH transforms into ARCHANGEL and grabs WOLVERINE. ROGUE punches through a piece of debris and grabs BISHOP and BEAST.)

ROGUE: Another “catch the X-Men” day.

CYCLOPS: Solid work, team. See you on the ground.

(CYCLOPS uses his laser beam to slow his descent.)

CYCLOPS: To me, my X-Men.

(The X-Men land around him, posed for a fight.)

(CUT TO: EXT/NIGHT junkyard. MASTER MOLD sits, powered down. TRASK stands on a scaffold high above them.)

TRASK: Gyrich warned me you were coming. Even in prison, he has friends who know the mutant agenda must be stopped.

CYCLOPS: Trask, we don’t want to fight.

(MASTER MOLD powers up.)

TRASK: You mutants may be the next step in evolution, but you’re still animals and you need to be put down.

CYCLOPS: Final warning, Trask.

SENTINELS: Surrender, mutant. Surrender, mutant. Surrender, mutant. Surrender, mutant.

(ROGUE throws one Sentinel into another and throws them both to the ground. She tears the head off one and throws it.)

ROGUE: Head’s up.

(The head hits a Sentinel and distracts it long enough for WOLVERINE to get close and tear it apart. BEAST grabs the foot of one and tosses it, then climbs onto its chest.)

BEAST: Greetings, enemy mine. Might I induce you to a change of heart?

(He tears at the wiring, then climbs inside.)

BEAST: Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful, involuntary friendship.

(He pilots the Sentinel as a mech, taking down two others. GAMBIT throws a card at a Sentinel, but it barely disorients it. It fires a blast from its hand, and BISHOP pushes him out of the way, taking the hit and charging up. He fires the blast back at the Sentinel, destroying it. The Sentinel WOLVERINE is fighting grabs and throws him, hitting BEAST inside his mech. The two of them go flying to the ground. They land near the rest of the X-Men. More Sentinels stand up.)

SENTINELS: Surrender, mutant. Surrender, mutant.

CYCLOPS (into communicator): Give ’em the forecast.

SENTINEL: Omega-level threat detected.

(Thunder rumbles. Lightning strikes the desert, turning the sand to glass as STORM approaches.)

STORM: Ancient sands, heed my command and reclaim these relics of hatred.

(A tornado tears through the junkyard, lifting the Sentinels. They smash into each other. The tornado dissipates, and pieces of the Sentinels fall like rain. MASTER MOLD stands up.)

MASTER MOLD: You underestimate us, mutant.

(WOLVERINE charges. GAMBIT leaps onto his back, charging his claws with kinetic energy. He draws his staff and charges it, backflipping off and throwing it like javelin. The resulting explosion launches WOLVERINE forward.)

WOLVERINE: Morph, belly up.

(MORPH transforms into the BLOB, and WOLVERINE uses them as a trampoline. He launches at MASTER MOLD'S head, decapitating it with a huge explosion. It falls backward, and its head lands at the feet of the X-Men.)

(U.N. helicopters descend from the sky. VAL COOPER is in one of them, along with several soldiers who get out and arrest TRASK.)

TRASK: You X-Men might use your gifts to protect everyone, but all you do is remind us that our days are numbered, that humanity itself is obsolete. You’ve no idea how it feels to be left behind by the future.

COOPER: Our Special Sciences Division is flying in to dismantle Master Mold. Yet again, humanity is in the X-Men’s debt.

CYCLOPS: Trask would rather humans and mutants go to war than work together. We all win when men like him fail.

COOPER: You sound like Charles. He would have been proud today.

CYCLOPS: Thank you, Dr. Cooper. But to be honest, it was a team effort. Always has been.

(CUT TO: ROBERTO is standing on the roof of the mansion. JUBILEE approaches.)

JUBILEE: Team’s on their way back. Mission accomplished.

ROBERTO: Freedom! I mean, I’ll get out of your hair.

JUBILEE: Look, I know today was strange. When I first came here, I ran away, just like you. The team had saved me from Sentinels at the mall. But this place, a place where I could be me, where a foster brat belonged, that was scarier than any killer robot. Sure, Cyclops still won’t let me fly the jet, but this isn’t some weird school. It’s a family.

ROBERTO: A family that accepts you. Sounds nice.

JUBILEE: Your parents don’t know, do they?

(ROBERTO activates his powers. His arm glows black and yellow.)

ROBERTO: Some sort of solar energy. Still figuring it out. Makes me strong, though. Really strong. Whenever I do this, it just reminds me that I’m different. That I’m lying to them. Be an X-Man, Jubilee? I don’t even want to be myself. [speaks Portuguese] Here.

(He hands her a business card.)

JUBILEE: What’s your job? Hot and rich?

ROBERTO: Don’t forget single. Page me. I got a jet, too. Maybe I’ll even let you fly it.

(CUT TO:EXT/DAY. The X-Men are gathered on the basketball court. JEAN is dressed as referee and blows her whistle.)

JEAN: Remember, no powers.

REMY: What about Gambit’s other powers? (He takes off his shirt, and ROGUE smacks him in the stomach.) Ow!

ORORO: The responsibility to choose teams falls to team leader.

(She tosses the ball to SCOTT.)

SCOTT: I know I’ve been hardheaded lately. It’s just... I didn’t know how the X-Men could go on without the Professor. Thought it was on me. But his dream doesn’t need me. It has all of you. And with that said, Jean and I have an announcement.

LOGAN: You’re bailing on us to go raise your little one someplace nice and normal.

JEAN: Logan, we’re not bailing.

JUBILEE: Uh, Cyclops and Jean were the first X-Men. If they’re gone, who the heck is going to lead the team?

(An alarm blares.)

AUTOMATED VOICE: Intruder alert!

HANK: Sensors show the intruder has breached the Professor’s old office.

(The X-Men throw open the doors to the office. ERIK is standing there, surveying the area. He uses his powers to hang the fallen portrait of the original X-Men back on the wall.)

ERIK: Charles Xavier was the finest man I knew. Despite our differences, he never ceased to have faith in our friendship, nor forgive my many failings. Perhaps that is why the old fool has done this.

SCOTT: Magneto, what are you doing in our home?

ERIK: Your home? I beg to differ, Cyclops. The last will and testament of Charles Francis Xavier. As you all will see, his fortune, his school, everything he built, everything he fought for, now belongs to me, my X-Men.