Long Island, New York

It's like a scene from a movie.

A modest, two-story house in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, complete with a white picket fence. Seems almost too good to be true.

If we take a peek inside the home, we see a man sitting on a couch, watching a Clint Eastwood western on basic cable television, while inside the kitche, there sits two women. One is an older woman with gray hair and thin glasses perched on her nose that cast the image of the stereotypical librarian.

The other is an attractive young woman with red hair and green eyes. She takes a sip from her cup of coffee, while the older woman across from her speaks.

"So what are you going to do, Jean?"

Jean Grey-Summers lowered her cup slowly and looked down at the brown, steaming liquid inside. Almost as if she expected the answer to come from there. With her eyes still cast downward, she finally replied with, "I've made a decision."

"Which is?"

"I'm keeping the child."

The woman considered her young companion's words for a few moments and no emotion was cast off from her face.

"You think I'm making the wrong decision," said Jean. "Don't you, Mom?"

"It's really none of my business, Jean," replied her mother.

"I still want to know your opinion on the matter."

"Okay," said her mother as she slid her cup a little on the table. She folded her hands before her on the table and seemed to shift uncomfortably. "You're right, I don't agree with it. This... thing that did this to you, the father of your child? He's one of your greatest enemies. He's responsible for so much bloodshed in this world. From what you've told me Jean, he's evil incarnate. How will you be able to look at this child without seeing his face? Is that really something you want to deal with every day for the rest of your life? Or, God forbid, what if he decides to come for his child one day? What then?"

"Guess it all boils down to one question..." said Jean.

"What's that?"

"If you had the chance, would you kill Hitler when he was a baby?"

"I... I don't know if I can really answer that," said her mother.

"You see?" said Jean. "It's not all that cut and dried, is it?"

Jean sighed deeply before she continued.

"I... I want a child, Mom," she said. "I had something of a chance with Nathan, but it's hard to raise a child properly when you're living in a post-apocalyptic (pardon the pun) future. And, no matter how much I try to tell myself otherwise, I can't deny the fact that Nathan isn't my son, not really. I never got to see him past his twelfth birthday. And with the way things have been going with me and Scott, I'm not so sure if I'll have a chance to give birth to a Rachel Summers."

"Ever consider that this child might be Rachel?" asked her mother.

"I... no, I can't say that I have," replied Jean. "She does seem to take more after my side of the family, anyway."

"How is Scott doing?" asked her mother. "Especially after... you know..."

"I take it you heard," replied Jean.

"They were broadcasting it on every channel," said her mother. "How could I not?"

"Point taken," said Jean. "I'm not sure... he hasn't said much of anything about it since it happened. He said something about going to Alaska, something about finding himself. I don't know..."

"Well, you know how men can be someti—"

*DING*

"John, there's someone at the door, would you mind answering it?"

"Sure thing, Elaine," replied John Grey from the next room.

"Sorry," said Elaine. "Where were we?"

"We were—"

*ZAKT*

Professor John Grey came crashing through the foyer and slammed against the back wall.

"JOHN!!" exclaimed Elaine. She practically jumped from her chair and ran to her husband's side. Jean joined her.

"I'm all right..." he muttered.

"What was tha—"

Jean stopped herself once she saw the figure standing in the open doorway. He was dressed in camping clothes with short, brown hair and a black visor across his face that housed a single, ruby-quartz lens.

"Scott?" she asked.

A fire of rage appeared within Jean's pupils as she began to scan through the mind of her husband. She discovered the presence of another in his mind, once which was strikingly familiar to herself. However, the main difference was that this presence, it was dark and corrupted with the taint of evil.

"Madelyne...?"

"Ugh..." muttered Scott as he collapsed suddenly on the floor. Jean did a quick scan of the immediate area, and found the thought patterns of her doppelganger. She turned to catch a glimpse of her parents. Her mother was slowly helping her father to his feet. They would be fine.

Jean's power of telekinesis lifted her from gravity's hold and rocketed her forth from the house. Flames that took on the image of a bird seemed to surround her as she flew out.

Hovering in the air was a woman dressed in emerald body armor with a cloak that covered her face and spilled down her back. She was possessed of long, reddish hair with pale-green skin.

"Hello Jean," she said. "It's been so long since last we saw each other. I mean you don't call, you don't write, you don't invite me to the baby shower. Honestly, what kind of a template are you?"

Jean offered no verbal response. Instead, she lashed out with a powerful telekinetic blow that sent Death reeling slightly. She reached behind her cloak and pulled out a pair of golden, Middle Eastern-style blades. She slashed out with them, and Jean was surprised to feel the force of them even through her telekinetic shield. She deduced that Death must use them to channel her own psionic powers. Death struck her again, this time so hard that Jean hadn't but a brief moment to launch a counter-assault. She failed, and Death slashed down across Jean's chest. The force alone was enough to send Jean tumbling towards the ground.

Death grinned beneath her cloak, but before she was given a moment to relish in her victory, a blast of crimson energy struck her. She dodged around Cyclops's optic blasts with ease, almost as if she were teasing him.

From the ground, Jean felt something within her stomach jump. Her hands went down there, and her eyes began to lit up with the force of a supernova. Before he had a chance to unleash this power on her clone, she sensed the presence of another.

Death sensed this presence as well and dropped down to the ground.

"You can come out now, Nathan."

Cyclops and Phoenix approached their enemy, and the form of Cable stepped forth from the shadows. In his hand he held a long spear - the Psimitar.

"You know," began Death. "You really should've killed me alongwith the rest of the Hellfire Club."

Jean's eyes seemed to bulge at this comment, and she glanced over at Cable. He simply avoided her gaze and kept his eyes trained on Death.

"You weren't worth the effort," he replied. "Besides, you're a much better scapegoat."

"Come on, then," she said. Cable sensed the decrease in psionic activity which was emitted from Death's body. She had lowered her psionic shields. "Kill me."

Nathan lifted up the Psimitar and brought it to the ready, but made no motion to use it. He was considering the options. If he did kill her, who would he be killing? His mother, or Death?

Madelyne's hands suddenly went to her throat, and she pulled the cloak away. Jean could sense psionic activity around the woman's neck, and she shouted out.

"Nathan, stop! You can't just kill—"

"It's not me, Jean," replied Cable.

Jean's left hand slowly slipped down to her stomach and rubbed it. Her right hand slowly went up to her mouth, and her eyes were wide open.

"Oh God..." she muttered. "Let go."

Madelyne's hand whipped out from behind her armor, and a blade flew towards Jean. It struck her, and the impact forced her to pass out.

"BITCH!" exclaimed Cyclops. A mental command caused his visor to open the full width and unleash a full-force optic blast on their opponent. Death flew back, but recovered quickly.

"You'll pay for that, babe," she said. She mentally entered his mind and unleashed a psionic attack that caused it to overload. Scott collapsed on the ground, with drool coming from his mouth.

Madelyne then turned to Cable.

"Looks like it's down to you and me again."

"We both know you're outmatched, Madelyne," said Cable. "The only one who can stand up to me is Apocalypse himself. His little cronies won't be able to accomplish anything."

"Really?" asked Madelyne. She pulled her hand back and rammed it forward. Her pointed fingers were driven into Nathan's abdomen. The blades were sharp enough to force through his body armor.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," she said. Psionic energy flowed through her body and into Nathan's. The effect was extremely painful, and overloaded his pain centers. She removed her hand from his body and picked up the unconscious forms of Cyclops and Phoenix.