Gateway sat on top of the mansion, considering the events that were going on, and then he felt that something was awry. This in itself was not unusual, but it was the thing that was awry was the one thing that shouldn't be, and the one thing he had feared the most. Since he had been asked to keep an eye on the X-Men, he had done so and he passed on the information he had received allowing plans to be made.

The world was at a nexus point and much would depend on what happened in the next few days. The planet would be challenged and from the ashes of the old a rebirth would take place. The preparations had been made, but now the director was missing. He had hoped this would not happen, but he had been waiting for it since Wolverine was lost to them. That it had taken until now to happen had been a bonus and he had begun to believe it would not. That it had happened now, just as things were starting was typical of fate.

He would need Stick to help on this one, as he had before and as he would now.

"Oh hell," said Lydia del Ruiz as she took the message from SHIELD. Hydra had made their move and attacks were being made across the world.

There were serious moves being made in Egypt, which had been expected, but there was activity in the UK, which was being handled by Captain Britain and the other British heroes, Russia where the Winter Guard were doing what they could to handle things, Japan where Big Hero Six were at work as well as other countries. Here in the States major moves were underway, and Nick Fury himself was supposed to be attacking Washington and Excalibur were on their way there now.

There was something going down in Greenwich where they had come from and Maverick was down there fighting with the SHIELD agents on site. X-Force was needed.

"This is major," said Jubilee as she looked at the screens. "Hydra's not done anything this large in years."

"The Shadow King's been busy," said Lydia. "I've got to get my team together, Maverick needs our help."

"I'll get the X-Men," Jubilee replied, but Lydia put her hands on her shoulders.

"No," shge said. "The X-Men are going to be needed elsewhere, if not as the last line of defence against the Shadow King, but as a rescue team against the others."

"Others?" asked Jubilee. "What others?" But Lydia was gone, gone to find Marcus and Teresa.

"I'll tell you," said Stick. "Put the defences on first though."

"Why?" asked Jubilee. "Who's coming? I need to know"

"Wolverine," said Stick. "He's coming here to kill you all."

Bobby Drake had heard of the fighting that had gone on in Greenwich involving the new incarnation of the X-Men and he was heading over to the mansion to find out what was going on. He'd seen the news reports of the fight against the snake and there was only Jubilee that he recognised as anyone of the X-Men. He thought he knew who the others were and if he was right he needed to see Scott, and as he headed for the mansion he thought about what he ought to do.

Cyclops had changed the locks and everything, but that wasn't going to stop one of the original X-Men from getting in and he was pretty sure that he could get in through the woodland bit, and then he heard things happening, explosions and he hurried to the mansion, fighting his way through the trees to see Jean rip away the mansion's defences like they were nothing.

"Whoa," he said as he emerged from the trees.

"Scott, honey," Jean said from the sky, the Phoenix effect in full blaze around her and she was looking down at Cyclops who stood in the doorway, his mouth open wide in astonishment. "We need to talk."

"I knew I shoulda just done that," Bobby said as he emerged from the trees on an ice slide.

"Are you two kidding me?" asked Cyclops, looking at them both as he walked down towards them. "What the hell is going on?"

"We have trouble," said Jean, landing and powering down. "The Shadow King is back."

"The Shadow King," said Cyclops, and in his mind the voice of Logan came back to him.

"Scott, the Shadow King is making major plays to take over the world. Apocalypse tore the soul out of the X-Men. Magneto's running rampant in Genosha. The only active X-Men team is in Australia, and they've their own problems. The other X-Men, the people who could be doing something, they're gone, you got rid of them. Fer a man who holds such high standards, you seem to let a lot of people down"

"Oh no," he whispered. He'd forgotten all about it, focusing instead on the other things Logan had told him.

"You knew?" said Jean. "You knew!?"

"Easy, Jean," said Bobby getting inbetween them.

"You didn't tell me about Rachel either," said Scott.

"I left a message!" she shouted.

"I didn't get it!" Scott shouted back.

"ENOUGH!" said Emma Frost standing there. "And you're part of the original X-Men? How the Hellfire Club didn't destroy you is beyond me..."

"Now wait a minute," said Jean, focusing her anger on Emma, who smiled.

"That's better," Emma said. "Focus on an enemy rather a friend. Or husband." Jean pulled back her temper and let the anger drain away.

"I didn't come to start a fight," she said to Scott. "I came here because we need to work together."

"I came here because... I don't know why I came back," said Bobby.

"Got fed up of tending bar?" said Scott and Jean looked at him and Scott raised his hands.

"We'll need everyone," said Jean. "Hank and Warren should be here soon enough. Then we can use all our contacts and get together a team and go after the Shadow King."

"It may be too late for that," said Magma standing at the doorway. "Hydra just made a big push and X-Force says the Shadow King's behind it."

"We're running out of time," said Jean. "Scott, do you think the children are ready?"

"They're X-Men, Jean. Old as we were when we started out. They'll be ready, same as we were."

"Ready for Wolverine?" said Jubilee, pushing her way forward. "Or for the others?"

"The Shadow X-Men," said Jean. "Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Shadowcat, Pete Wisdom and Nate Grey. So are they really ready for that?"

"We'll soon know," said Scott. "Training in the Danger Room, while we talk." Jean nodded and they all went inside the mansion.

"Terry?" asked Lydia as she looked at her friend. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she said. "Radius is healing fine, right Monet?"

"He is," M answered after checking the readings. "His body is regenerating well and his force field is back in effect. Thank you."

"Anything I can do to help," Terry said. "That goes for all of us."

"Your father..." Monet started. "He's a good man. Remind him the next time you see him."

"I will," said Siryn. "But why?"

"Just remind him," said Monet. Terry nodded and they went to get Marcus from the Danger Room. As they went out of sight, Monet shook her head and wiped a small tear from her eye. Sean Cassidy had changed from the man she had first known, but it was not her place to tell him what to do. He was a grown man and he made his own decisions, but if she could influence things in a small way she had to try.

"Mmmm... Monet?" said Jared from his bed. "Is that you or did I die and go to heaven?"

"If you were in heaven, I would be Allison," said Monet with a smile. "Welcome back, Mr Corbo. How do you feel?"

"Like I got eaten by a snake," Radius answered. "Join the X-Men, it'll be fun, he said."

"I doubt Cyclops said it quite like that," M said.

"Maybe not," said Jared, "but it was close." He started to get up from the bed and he shook a little as he did so. "Guess I'm not quite myself yet."

"You'll get there," said Monet and she smiled at him and he smiled back.

"He'll have to get there quite quickly," said Emma as she came in to the room. "We're heading for the Danger Room."

"Training now?" asked M. "What's going on?"

"The Shadow King apparently," said Ice. "He's gone the route of abducting X-Men and making them in to his servants. Like that's not been done before."

"Who has he taken?" asked Jared.

"Wolverine. Shadowcat, Peter Wisdom, Jessica Drew and X-Man," Ice said. "In fairness to Farouk, he's chosen some very powerful X-Men, but Scott wants us in the Danger Room to practice against them, just in case they attack. Cerebro will monitor us all."

"What about Cyclops?" asked Jared. "He ditching us again?"

"No, he's meeting with the original X-Men to create a workable plan in taking Farouk out once and for all. A shame we're not there, it should be quite a meeting."

"I'll bet," said Jared. "Let's go…"

"Professor?" said Jubilee as she looked on the face of the man who had altered the course of her life.

"Hello, Jubilation," the image of Professor Xavier said. "It has been a long time."

"I miss you," she said. "It's not the same anymore."

"So Mr Raven tells me," said Xavier, looking at the member of X-Force. "However life is change. I know that better than most, because I have written books on change."

"I can see why people are afraid of it," she said. "Scott stuck me with the name FX."

"Scott has always had trouble with names," the Professor smiled. "He thought he should be called Blaster."

"And you called him Cyclops?" Jubilee said.

"It suited him more than Blaster," Xavier said, and Jubilee wondered if he was joking. "However I believe you need the room. I'm glad not everything has changed."

"D'you mind if I talk to you from time to time?"

"I would welcome it," said Xavier. "Goodbye." The image disappeared and Marcus nodded.

"Keep an eye out for Wisdom," he said. "He fights dirty." Jubilee nodded and then Marcus and X-Force headed out for Greenwich to give Maverick a hand, as the rest of the X-Men came in.

"Okay, girls and boy," said Cerebro. "Your mission is to take on the Shadow X-Men and give them a kicking." Images of the Shadow X-Men appeared. "The safeties are on, but you're not going to need them, right…"

"Of course," said Ice. "Let's show them what we have…"

"Hank!" said Bobby as the Beast entered the mansion.

"What happened out there?" asked Henry McCoy. "I've not seen anything like that since… I don't know when."

"Jean announced her return," he said. "Took Scott by surprise as well."

"I don't doubt it," said Hank, thinking that it wasn't long since he and Scott had seen each other. It had not been a pleasant parting and when he'd thought about it he believed that the Grey King had used his powers on him, and he was not sure if Cyclops had told him to or not and that concerned him the most.

"Warren arrived a little while ago," Bobby said. "This is something special, all of us in the same place at the same time."

"And not a funeral in sight," said Warren Worthington as he and Hank embraced. "Been a while, my friend."

"It has indeed," said Hank. "How goes X-Corp?"

"It's going well. I'm engaged. To Betsy."

"That's great!" said Bobby. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I was waiting for Hank to arrive so I could tell you both," said Angel. "So… I guess there'll be a wedding."

"Assuming we sort this out," said Hank. "The Shadow King… How many times…"

"Same as Magneto," said Warren. "Until we get the job done."

"I'm just thinking," said Bobby.

"Yes, I can imagine that's true," said Hank and Bobby hit him with a snowball.

"I mean, the last time the Shadow King took over our friends, we were in X-Factor."

"That fight didn't end too well though," said Warren. "Legion in a coma, Charles had his legs crushed, Muir Isle blown in to a fraction of what it had been…"

"You're still a bundle of joy," said Bobby. "We won. That's what I meant, and then we came back to the X-Men. It's just there's a feeling…"

"I understand," said Hank. "You think it's an omen."

"I hope so," said Bobby. "It's been a rough couple of months." He looked at the door of the study, where Scott and Jean were alone. "Shall we go in?"

"So," said Scott as he sat across the room from his estranged wife.

"So," said Jean. "What's going on? With you? With us?"

"I don't know anymore," said Scott. "The X-Men… I want us to survive. I've got plans, dreams. I know what I want but I can't put it in to words. I know that the X-Men I'm choosing, I've chosen, they're the ones who'll let us survive. They're not the same as us, as Bobby, Hank and Warren. They're different."

"You could have tried explaining," said Jean. "We're family."

"Do you know the looks I get from Jubilee? She hates Emma Frost. I don't want that from the others, I don't want their looks because they don't understand."

"They don't understand now," said Jean. "And then there's you and me. We used to be so close…"

"I know," said Scott. "There's been so much change, so much between us. I remember when it was simple, that there was just you and me. No Phoenix, no Maddie, no Apocalypse. Everything's gotten in the way, and it's not the way it used to be."

"Did you stop loving me?" Jean said.

"Never," Scott whispered. "It's just there's a pain inside me over it all. I had it when I thought you died. Maddie made it go away, but she was you and she wasn't at the same time. Then you came back and it confused me."

"I was there, remember?" Jean said. "When I came back from the dead I was shocked and angry when I found out about Maddie. Then things started to get weird with Rachel and I felt trapped."

"And you turned away from me," said Scott. "And the pain came back, but we got better."

"Until Psylocke came along," Jean said. "There was an attraction there."

"Yes," said Scott. "There was, but it was an attraction, nothing more. I loved you. I married you."

"And we raised a child in the future, our child, Nathan. I wouldn't have traded those time for anything."

"Me neither," said Scott. "But so much has changed since then. You had the child of Apocalypse."

"And both of them are gone," said Jean. "I needed you."

"I couldn't," said Scott. "I thought I'd lost you, that you'd betrayed me."

"You have that thing in your mind," said Jean. "When we were in X-Factor, you blamed the Professor. Now he's gone, and you blamed me. Sinister did this to you, altered your mind."

"Maybe I'm just not capable of having a relationship," said Scott.

"How about we try again?" said Jean. "I still need you, want you, in my life. Do you want me?"

"Yes," Scott said, his voice a whisper. "I do. But I don't know if we're the same people we were."

"I'm Jean," she said and she extended her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Scott," he said, accepting it. A truce was made.

"I'll let the others know we're ready to talk now," Jean replied and Scott nodded. The healing had finally begun.

"Okay," Cerebro said. "Shadow X-Men four, new X-Men zip."

"So how many times are we going to do this?" asked Magma.

"As often as possible until we get it right or they turn up and we do this for real," said Ice. "And I'm not happy about it either." So far she had been phased in to the ground, had her head sliced off by Wolverine and been mentally attacked by X-Man. Of all the attacks, that one was the most embarrassing as she had nowhere near her normal defences.

"Don't worry, kiddies," said a voice. "We're after bigger game than you children."

"Wolvie?" asked Jubilee, not sure if it was the real thing, or part of the simulation and then the lights went out and everything went dead in the room.

"What the?" asked Magma, as the others made similar comments.

"Uh… Cerebro?" asked Jubilee, but there was no answer and they knew one thing for certain.

The Shadow X-Men had arrived.

TO BE CONTINUED IN X-MEN FOREVER!