Jean Grey Summers looked up, crawling from the wreckage of the Xavier Institute. The mansion had seen much damage in its time, but never had it been devastated on this scale. Even when Sinister had destroyed the mansion, the lower levels had remained in tact, but the explosion had come from there this time and the flames and smoke blew about them as she stood, coughing.

Her vision was blurred and she knew that she had been hurt and hurt badly. Where were the others, she wondered and reached out with her mind, only getting a sense of Jacob, who was safe with Cerebro in the Morlock tunnels and she was only able to do that because Cerebro was with him. Of the others she couldn't sense anything and she prayed that they were okay. It wasn't Scott's fault, he couldn't have known what was going on, but she knew he would blame himself for this and then she saw him, lying there amongst the bricks and rubble.

"Scott!" she shouted, stumbling across to him, hardly able to walk without a pain shooting up her leg and she almost collapsed beside him. He was still breathing, but he was very pale and she didn't like the look of him. Something was very wrong with him and she wasn't sure if she could move him. Hopefully Cerebro would get word to the others and they would come. "Oh, Scott," she said as she ran her hand through his ruffled and unruly hair.

"Oh, now that is impressive," said a voice and Jean turned and she could see him standing there, along with his cohorts and she knew she was in trouble. "I thought after that you'd be dead on your feet, if not dead proper, but here you are comforting Cyclops."

"You'll find there's a lot more to being an X-Man than just powers," said Phoenix, using every inch of will power that she had to stand up, and call the firebird to life. Her head pounded but she knew she needed everything she had to take them on, and even then it might not be enough.

"We already know that, and the current X-Men simply don't deliver, do they? Or rather, they didn't..." The man who was speaking shrugged nonchalantly, and Phoenix's anger rose.

"Well, bub," she said, "if I'm going down, I'm taking some of you with me."

"And if you were Wolverine, I might believe that were true, but he's dead. And so are you."

Then they all attacked.

"Welcome back," Jean said as the tesseract portal opened and Jubilee and Monet stepped through. "How were your trips?"

"I saw Amiko, and Yuriko," Jubilee said. She ahd needed to visit them, to let them know what had happened, as they were Wolverine's family. "They understood, and there were tears and a few drinks were had in his memory."

"Coke, I take it?" Jean interrupted, with a wry smile.

"Oh, yes," said Jubilee. "No alcohol for me. Anyway, the Clan Yashida are getting word to Sunfire about what's happened, as well as talking to the Japanese Emperor. Logan was a special envoy, and he needed to know what was going on. It's been a good week off."

"How about you, Monet?" Phoenix said. "How was your father?"

"He was good, thank you," M replied. "He took the news better than expected, about mother, Marius and us all. I think he was mostly glad to have his missing daughters' back. I promised him that I would use the resources of the Institute to see what we could do to help Marius. If I can get my brother back, then we can put it all behind us. He sends his best to everyone and he also says that if there is anything he can do to help, he will. MUSE may have been severally disrupted, but it still lives on."

"That's why it was a underground," Scott said, as he entered. "It ensured that should there be a compromise, it would still live on."

"So why have you called us back?" Jubilee asked. "I thought you wanted to spend some q-t with Jean and Jacob."

"I did," Scott said, and he gave a smile. "And I'd love to have more, but sadly there's work to do. You seem fine now, and Jared is back to normal too, so the team is ready."

"You've a mission," said Jubilee.

"More than that," said Scott, "we're stopping a mission. I've heard from the Grey King. He and his team are going to hit a 'Friends of Humanity' headquarters. Today's the anniversary of...

"Graydon Creed's assassination," Jubilee said. "We never did find out who killed him..."

"Probably for the best," Cyclops replied. "While I'm not condoning it, they probably did us a favour in the long run."

"So the Brotherhood go in, cause chaos, we go in and stop them," said Monet. "Isn't there a media coverage of the event?"

"I believe there might be," Scott said and smiled. "Emma and the others are suiting up, I suggest you do as well. We need to be ready, because it needs to look as real as possible." He looked at the two young women. "Go." They nodded and went on their way. With the tesseract technology they had obtained from Hydra, getting to where they wanted to be was easier than it had ever been. Gateway aside, the X-Men had never really had teleport technology, and now they had they were using it to the full.

"Scott," said Jean and Cyclops held back a sigh. "I know I've asked this..."

"Yes," Cyclops said, putting his arms around her, "I'm sure this is the right thing to do. If it doesn't work, then we'll call the whole thing off and I'll find another way. I mean, what's the worst that can happen, now that you're here?" He kissed her on the cheek and Jean smiled.

They may have only had a week, but it had been a very good week.

The Grey King looked down from the sky with his Brotherhood in tow, held aloft by his psionic powers. Chaos, Rapture, Landslide, Mercury and The Dazzler, in place of the missing Crux. Addison had wanted her on the team, but there was very little way she would be parted peacefully from her comrades in the New Warriors. However in gaining the aid of Bertrum Worthington, Addison had ensured that his 'X-Men' had an edge that the other X-Teams would have a problem with. Cyclop's X-Men were in hand, and the family connection would create a discord should the X-Corp media darlings get involved.

While Worthington wasn't a mutant, it appeared that the usage of the light technology had given a radiation that had altered his bio-chemistry so that now the old man could use the photovoltaic powers without the technology, something he had kept hidden, but the Grey King had been alerted to it thanks to one of the X-Men. The Dazzler lived once more and so far Warren Worthington was unaware his uncle had been freed. Apparently the messenger who was going to tell him had disappeared...

"The Friends of Humanity," said the Grey King, disdain in his voice. "Tolerated by the X-Men, because they feel they have the right to co-exists, but they will fight them if they go to far. Unacceptable."

"Rosebud," said Chaos and the Grey King smiled.

"Yes, my friend," Addison spoke softly. "If it were up to them, we would all be taken away and put in to death camps. We will not tolerate it."

"Why tell the X-Men what we're doing?" Mercury said. "If the plan is to take them down, then why give them a chance to stop us?"

"Because nothing can stop us, and how will the rabid mutant haters react to a pitched battle in their midst by two mutant factions? No matter that Cyclops thinks the X-Men will get bad press, we will ensure they don't."

"God is with us," Rapture said. "Our cause is just."

"Quite," said the Grey King. "Now, let's give them something to really remember Graydon Creed by..."

"We gather here today," Senator John Stocker said, "to praise the work of Graydon Creed, a man whose mission was of the utmost importance to him, both personally and politically. It is true, he was the son of two of the most feared mutants on Earth - the maniacal Mystique and the savage Sabretooth - but it did not stop him from pursuing the goal we all share - to show the world that mutants are dangerous and that they should be controlled or stopped, on a more permanent basis!"

There were cheers from the crowd as their newly elected leader smiled and looked at the people before him. His personal opinion of Creed was that he was a fool and that arranging his death had been much easier than he had thought. The Prime Sentinels that Bastion had ordered to work with him as bodyguards had stood aside, as Bastion agreed with Stocker. Stocker had ensured that the Friends had removed Creed, as there had been plenty of people who hated the fact that Creed's parent's were mutants. It was not all he knew either.

"Creed gave his life for those principles and for that we owe him a great deal. How many of us must die before mutants are dealt with in kind? How many more must suffer at the hands of people like Apocalypse, or the Shadow King - the mutant behind the recent terrorist attacks? Everyone of us remembers how Graydon Creed was killed, and not even the alleged government mutants in X-Factor could prevent it! If they could not, how can we believe in outlaws like the X-Men, or glory hunters like X-Corp?""

There had been nothing any of them could do in any case. The plasma burst that had incinerated Creed had actually been from a device that was planted in to his jacket by his own bodyguards. It had been there to simulate a mutant attack. They had even known that there were X-Men in their midst - Creed had been blind to so many things that others had not been. They had exposed one of them by beating the man's father almost to death, and he had fled, but they had kept the other one close, hoping to frame him for the death of Creed, but X-Factor had been too close to ensure that had happened so alternatives were devised. The outcry to Creed's death had not been as inflamed as they had hoped, but it had allowed Zero Tolerance to come in to full effect, though it was undone by SHIELD and Senator Robert Kelly.

"Today I announce that we will fulfil the dream that Graydon Creed had, a dream to bring mutants under control. No more will we tolerate mutants in the media, no more will we tolerate mutants working with true heroes in teams such as the Avengers - those that defend our world should not be aberrations!"

Cheers rose again.

"I, and many who share our dream, am standing for the US Senate, a third way to the ineffectual policies of the Republican and Democrat parties!" Now the cheers rose to a crescendo. "We will make it the business of our people to..."

"TO DO WHAT?" the Grey King shouted as he and his team came through the roof, sending shards of glass and metal everywhere in the wake of the bird of fire. "To murder innocents, to show the world that America is indeed the racist, bigoted nation that it appears to be?"

"And so the mighty X-Men finally appear! You are the mutants that attacked the Bennassi Rocket launch at Cape Citadel!"

"And you are John Stocker, the self styled voice of Graydon Creed and of the Friends of Humanity. And the X-Men are unimpressed with you and your colleagues. You think you know fear? We will show you fear!"

"Zinfandel," said Chaos, and a psycho-plasmic blast came forth, carving a path through the front most members killing them quickly, but graphically for all to see. The Friends of Humanity tried to run but the 'X-Men' were there and The Grey King looked down at Stocker.

"We mean business, and if we must use you to make a point against any further political aspirations..." He smiled. "You know as well as I do that sacrifices must be made..." Chaos looked down an another blast came forth but suddenly the it was countered from going any further.

"At last," the Grey King whispered.

"You're not the X-Men!" shouted a voice. "We're the X-Men and no cheap Brotherhood rips the off the name!" People turned to see the X-Men standing there, Cyclops and Phoenix up front, and people recognising them from their time in X-Factor.

"You can't stop us," the Grey King said, but inside he was concerned. He had been unaware of Jean Grey Summers return to the fold of Xavier and he had not prepared for facing her, but how powerful could she truly be?

"Let's find out!" Cyclops said and he unleashed an optic blast, slamming in to the Grey King and sending him and his colleagues to the floor. The Grey King was winded, but that was all, and he knew Cyclops was containing his power and his optic blast was quickly used to counter the attack of the Dazzler, who used his light powers to contain the optic blast as the rest of the X-Men went to work and Phoenix approached the Grey King.

"So, your majesty, I see you have a pretty fire effect. Well guess what? So do I." The firebird flared and the Grey King smiled.

"Interesting," he said. "However, not now." Jean felt something was wrong and the phoenix avatar died around her.

"My powers," she said. "Is that it?" She smiled and the firebird returned. "You have no idea how much power I can command, Addison Falk!"

"Then let's see if you have power enough to defeat me," he said and the two of them engaged in a psionic battle, but Jean knew she had lost some of her power thanks to the Grey King and it was a much more even-sided contest than she had expected, but one thing she did sense - the Grey King was not playing by the same rule book as Cyclops believed...

"FX, Dazzler's yours!" Cyclops shouted and Jubilee went to work taking on the old man, while Scott started to get people out of there and quickly. It was all part of his plan to show the world that the X-Men cared about people while the Brotherhood were a false X-Men and always had been. In fact they were actual X-Men, taking out targets the real X-Men could not. There was no way to do it any other way without compromising who the X-Men were.

"Go, go, go!" said Cyclops, ensuring the humans got out of there. Addison had been reckless in what he had done, and too many people had died and he would take him to task about it later, but for now there was work to do and for a moment he and Stocker looked at each other.

"I know," said Stocker and Scott looked at him as the man turned and walked away, wondering what he knew and how much would it cost him and the X-Men in the future.

"You're welcome," Scott said, the words sounding hollow and he knew it was more a play for the cameras than anything else. "But the next time, we might not be around." The Friends of Humanity were indeed serious about this political party thing and though some of them had died, it would be interesting to see if this resurfaced in the future. Hopefully the fear of death would nip it in the bud...

Rapture hovered in the air, looking upon M who kept moving out of reach of the swords the young woman used. She was skilled in flight, perhaps as well as Warren Worthington himself and her sword skill was impressive, but Monet was not worried. She was faster, stronger and more than that she had invulnerability and to see what would happen she allowed Rapture to try and run her through and the sword broke as it met with Monet's body and she smiled allowing a left hook to make her point, pulling her punch so as not to harm her too much. Cyclops instructions were implicit - they were to win, but they were not to harm them and the Brotherhood would escape in the end.

She looked down to see that FX was fighting the Dazzler, using a combination of her old power levels and newer ones to keep him guessing. M could see that Jubilee was playing with him. She knew that she did not like Scott's plans, but she also knew that she was going to follow his lead. He seemed to be much more together now Jean was back in his life and a together Cyclops was something they could all get behind. That and Monet had missed her.

Jubilee had been her friend a very long time, when she had just been Penance. To be able to see her and talk to her... she had never dreamed it would happen. There really were few things she didn't know, but she'd never known she could feel like this and she watched as Jubilee blinded the Dazzler and then kicked him in the gut, knocking him to the floor and in that moment she made a decision - she had to tell her how she felt and hope that Jubilee felt the same way.

"Damn, lady, what are you made of?" said Mercury as his metallic blades bounced of Ice's diamond hide.

"You have no idea, little man," she said and the two of them got close, making it look as if they were struggling with each other. "It's all prepared. The team are totally unaware of what is going on..."

Mercury gave a slight nod, knowing this was all part of her plan along with Addison's. She had no love for the X-Men and she had gathered as many of her old allies as she could. The X-Men would pay for forcing her to join the team - it would be the worst mistake that Cyclops had ever made and she struck at him, making sure that Mercury was seemingly injured, knowing his metallic powers would save him from serious harm and then she looked to Magma who was making sure that Landslide was being kept at bay, his speed and strength keeping him from being roasted alive by the bursts of lava that erupted from the floor. She was not powering up to assume her flame form as Magma, but she hadn't done that since she had joined the team.

Well, not in any place there was evidence.

Landslide was tiring at all the running around and Magma managed to nail him with a lump of hot rock and he fell to the floor. The X-Men were making this look easy, she thought. Very easy indeed and they were holding back. The real action would come later, but for the moment she would let it play out and she turned her attention to Radius who was grappling with Chaos and his force field was keeping him from being hurt by the energy blast as well as protecting everyone else. Cyclops plan had been masterful indeed.

However it was way too little, way too late. The X-Men had been distracted, and that had been all the White Queen had needed. The only problem was that of Jean Grey, but she hadn't picked anything up from her yet and she had ways of dealing with her and the power of Phoenix. However it was time for Addison to play the final card.

"NO!" the Grey King said as Phoenix over-powered him, his fire effect fading away under the assault from the firebird. "This cannot be!"

"We're the X-Men," Jean said with a smile. "The impossible is our stock in trade. It's over Grey King, you and your people are beaten."

"Not today!" he said and the Dazzler unleashed a flash of light at Ice, blinding everyone in the room as the light was magnified to every corner of the place and when their visions cleared the Brotherhood were gone.

"Damn it," said Cyclops, clenching his fists, but in reality that was what he had expected. The Brotherhood had been beaten back, the X-Men had seen to be heroes and the Friends of Humanity had been given a taste of what would happen if they pursued their agenda. "Good work, people," he announced. "Let's go home..."

"Jean," Cyclops muttered, stirring from fevered memories and seeing his wife under attack... "Jean..." he said again, before he once more lost consciousness...