Scott Summers walks through the northern Alaskan wilderness, close to where he grew up. It's been a couple weeks now, since Cyclops delivered a killing blow to Mark Rogers, a human who was keeping his colleagues hostage. His wife and son were mutants. In some strange way, Mark and Scott were alike. Both have a wife and son who are mutants. Both went to extremes that disturbed their colleagues.

Either way, Scott needed time away from X-Men Alpha...even his wife, Jean Grey-Summers, also known as Phoenix.

Scott takes a deep breath and exhales the fresh, rocky mountain air. He unstraps his hiking gear and allows the pack to slump onto the ground. The thing must have weighed seventy pounds.

Scott adjusts his ruby-quartz lens glasses, shielding his eyes from the sun...not that he needed to. His mutant ability to fire optic blasts from his eyes was fueled by the sun. In the summer, the area around the North Pole has almost a full twenty-four hours of daylight. Still, the fact that there weren't patches of snow anywhere was a bit strange.

There have been reports all over the world of strange weather phenomena occurring. Perhaps it was global warming? CFCs and other greenhouse gases are finally taking their toll on the Earth?

Storm must be going crazy. Her powers make her fully aware of the weather around her. He'll deal with it later, right now he has to rest...to think. Not about the weather or his crumbling marriage, but himself.

Scott really lost control when he blasted that man down. Maybe he didn't lose anything, just found something within him all along. Scott came from a military family, it was only natural for him to adopt militaristic tactics while on the battlefield. How else would Cyclops become the X-Men's leader on more than one occasion? But when did those tactics turn into killing someone? Sure, Cyclops thought it was to save lives...but the rest of the world and the media have formed their own opinions based on the "facts."

"It seems everywhere you go, there's death," a woman's voice says to Scott.

Scott turns around, startled. It was Jean. She was wearing her X-Men uniform, a black bodysuit with a large yellow X and a leather jacket. Cyclops sighs with frustration, turning his back away from his beloved and picking up his backpack.

"I SAID I wanted to be left alone!" Scott grunts. "Or do I have to scold you telepathically?"

"We're married, Scott," Jean smiles. "We are symbolically one body, one flesh..." She walks up to Scott, who has dropped his backpack on the ground again, and runs her finger along the side of his face. She holds her lips about a half-inch from Scott's neck, causing him to gulp. Her breath on his neck tickles.

"We are together...always," Jean whispers.

When her warm, wet tongue caresses Scott's earlobe, he actually trembles with delight.

"That's my boy," Jean grins as she digs her fingers through the back of Cyclops' hair, rubbing up against him.

Scott suddenly grabs Jean's forearm, yanking her hand off his head, "I'm not in the mood for this, Jean. You're pregnant with... well, let's just say I don't want my platoon marching into that hostile situation."

"Why not?" Jean asks. "You're not acting the way you did when we met here...all those years ago."

"We never met--" Scott pauses. Scott and Jean met in Salem Center, at Xavier's school. What could she be talking about? Suddenly, his brain races with excitement and fear at the same time. His eyes bulge, causing a brief flash of his red energy signature to emanate from his ruby-quartz lenses.

"M-Madelyne?!" Scott asks.

"Y'know, there must be a directive in your head that makes you ga-ga for redheads," the clone says as she flicks the red hair out of her eyes. "How does it work?"

"W-what?" Scott asks, still astounded.

"When the wife dies...and comes back to life? I know the tune goes 'till death do us part', but... death no longer parts us. Technically... very possibly... I'm still your significant other," Madelyne says. "I hope the IRS doesn't find out, I'd hate to deal with all those tax returns."

"Stay away from me, Madelyne," Scott warns, prepared to lower his glasses just an inch to unleash his optic blasts. "I heard what you did to the Hellfire Club."

Madelyne Pryor smiles, "You really believe the tabloids, now?" she chuckles, "And I heard what YOU did, Mr. Summers. In your case, they can actually prove what you did. With me, it was a poor-judged assumption."

"What are you--?"

"Cable did it. Looks like he's a chip off the old block, Scottie-poo," Madelyne smiles.

"He wouldn't--"

"But he's done much worse in the past, believe me. You haven't seen his memories like I have. And stop with your denial, Nathan is a cold-blooded killer."

Cyclops sighs deeply and broods over Madelyne, "I can't say what he did was right...but if he had a good reason, or really felt they had it coming..."

"I saw it all... he used his telekinesis in ways I've never seen before. He seemed to freeze time. Sebastian Shaw was simply... halted. Nathan killed him just by looking at him. He killed Tessa, Mang, and Gloom with brute force... and set me up to take the fall," Madelyne says.

Cyclops remains still.

"You still don't believe me, do you?" Madelyne asks. "Eisenhower Hammer, whom we allied with, caused the death of Nathan's mentor, Blaquesmith."

"Blaquesmith's... dead?"

Madelyne laughs, "Oh, dry your eyes, dear. Just admit Nathan lost it when his only teacher and father figure was killed... too bad you weren't there more for him. I guess you were just taking after your own fa--"

"RRRRAAAHHHH!!!" Cyclops yells, tackling Madelyne to the ground, beginning to strangle her.

"Don't you DARE judge me. Damn it, Nathan and I were separated by forces beyond our control! You? You were too busy drunk on your own power to care about our son, and you took the easy way out by dying instead of answering for your crimes!"

Madelyne smiles, coughing, "...oh please, tighter...I've died once...almost forgot what it feels like..." She begins laughing. With the pressure applied to her windpipe, her laughter sounds ironically evil, as if she were possessed by the Devil himself.

Soon, Madelyne has had enough and telekinetically flings Scott into a boulder. Scott wipes blood from his nose, growling. His eyes begin to glow immensely.

"Come on," Maddie says, inching her finger seductively towards Scott. "Hurt me." Maddie takes off her green windbreaker, revealing a tight yellow shirt, which compliments her breasts perfectly.

Scott has his hand ready to remove his lenses, but he can't. He couldn't hurt her. Not when she looked so much like Jean. Madelyne floats over to Scott and begins to kiss him on the lips. Soon, the two are embracing.

Madelyne slips her shirt off, and unhooks her black-laced bra. Scott feels his shirt torn off by an invisible force. Madelyne unbuttons her black jeans and slips them off, flinging them onto the ground. Her panties were black, and Scott couldn't take her eyes off of her.

He begins to unstrap his belt. Madelyne giggles, "Ironically, this is how it all started out... with us. We caused my Lord Apocalypse's turmoil."

Scott stops fidgeting with his belt, "Apocalypse?!?!"

Green armor forms around Madelyne's supermodel body as her hair grows double its length and her skin turns into a pale green hue. A scarf appears as it covers the lower half of her face. Wrinkles appear around her eyes as she smiles.

Before Scott can react, a fist-sized rock is telekinetically thrown at the back of his head. The impact causes his lenses to fall off, but his eyes were already closed.

Greymalkin II

Named for the location of the Xavier Institute, Greymalkin II is the orbital base of the timelost warrior known as Cable. The ship's systems are actually alien, retrofitted with 40th century Earth technology enhancements. Prosh, formerly known as Professor and Ship, is in control of every function aboard Greymalkin. Currently, Prosh has his genetic scanning mechanism in operation. By default, the ship's cloaking device is always on to prevent unwanted attention.

Cable has already gathered nine members of the Twelve. Only three members remain. He has a good idea who most of them are, already.

"Did you find my father yet, Prosh?" Cable asks.

{{Negative,}} the sentient computer responds.

"Check Alaska," Sam Guthrie, the X-Man known as Cannonball says, "that's where he said he was going."

"Without Jeannie?" Bobby Drake, Iceman, asks.

Sam simply gives him a look that tells him to drop the subject. Bobby flicks his eyebrows, "Sorry...I didn't know."

"Scott's one of the Twelve?" Alex Summers, Havok, asks.

"Is it really a surprise?" Ororo Munroe, Storm asks. "Both you and your brother are two of the most powerful mutants on Earth."

Alex turns to his nephew, "What was my name, again?"

"Brother of the Sun," Cable responds.

Alex sighs, "Ugh...damn it...leave it to Nostrodamus to see me as nothing but a goddamn brother."

Cable chuckles, "Actually, I didn't see it that way. It described your powers."

"Believe me," Alex says with no expression, "that makes me feel better. Really."

On the other end of the ship, in a room that looked like a regular living room, was a large entertainment system. Franklin Richards has just beaten Clarice Ferguson, Warren Worthington, III, and Wanda Maximoff - Blink, Archangel, and Scarlet Witch, respectively - in a match in the Wrestlemania X8 videogame. Lorna Dane, Polaris, watches from the background with a wide grin on her face.

Franklin giggles.

"I think my controller's broken," Blink groans, tossing the black controller on the navy blue-carpeted floor. She's sitting on the floor alongside Franklin, while Warren and Wanda were sitting on the navy blue sofa. Prosh was right when he said Cable wasn't much of a decorator.

Franklin tosses his red controller into the air, "Wooo! You guys are no fun, you always lose! Hahahahaha!"

"I'm not very skilled in this area," Wanda says in her thick Eastern European accent.

"Why'd I get the purple controller?" Warren asks.

Franklin jumps up and down in excitement before opening the Gamecube system, plucking the mini-CD out of the drive, "What game should we plays next?"

"Franklin, maybe we shouldn't--" Wanda stops herself.

"What?" Franklin asks, appearing visibly saddened, "Doncha wanna play with me?"

"We do, Franklin," Blink says, "it's just that...you're with us on Cable's ship because..."

"Cuz he told my mommy and daddy that he needed me to come to his big flying house so that mean monster that wrecked my TV won't hurt me," Franklin finishes with an innocent smile.

"Franklin," Warren says with a tone of gruffness. "There's a bigger monster out there than just Pestilence. Apocalypse and his Horsemen are the biggest threat the world has ever faced. There are twelve mutants, and only twelve, that can put a stop to them. We're going to have to fight them, Franklin."

Franklin stares at Warren with fear, wonder, and excitement.

"I don't know how or when, but we're going to have to fight. You understand, little buddy?" Warren asks. "We can't do it without you, but we'll be down there with you. I won't let you get hurt."

"None of us will," Scarlet Witch says.

"We'll protect you," Polaris declares.

Franklin looks at Warren, Lorna, and Wanda, and then Blink. Clarice nods and smiles, rubbing her hand into his blonde hair. Franklin's chin wrinkles up as tears fill his eyes, "What about my mommy and daddy...?" He wraps his arms around Blink and begins to sob.

Tears drip from the eyelids of Clarice Ferguson. In the reality she relived within her pocket dimension, her parents were killed. She knows what Franklin values when it comes to worrying about your parents. And for the first time, Warren and Wanda worry about their teammates. How were they going to get through this?

Polaris crosses her arms and walks off. All she could think about was what she and Alex would do once this was over. Talk. The anticipation was diverting Lorna's focus on the more pressing matter.

{{I have some bad news,}} Prosh begins. Cable looks back into the lounge, where the other five mutants were having refreshments.

"What? What is it?" Cable asks.

{{Scott isn't showing any signs of being alive in Alaska--}}

"He's dead?!" Cable shouts.

{{--he's elsewhere in the United States.}}

Cable stares blankly at the computer screen, at Prosh's green CGI face, "I told you I hate it when you do that."

{{Do what?}}

"Nevermind. Do you know where he is?" Cable asks.

{{Already programming the bodyslide coordinates. Hmm...interesting.}}

"What now?" Cable asks.

{{Another candidate is also near Cyclops, just by 2.5 kilometers.}}

"Then there will no doubt be a Horseman or two," Cable deduces. He extends his psimatar to lance size and turns off the safety on his 518 Juno plasma blaster. In a flash of light, he was gone.

NEXT: Matriarch of Fire