They were born mutants--possessing powers of a genetic origin which made them outcasts of society. But one man -- Professor Charles Xavier -- brought them together to learn to use their unique gifts in the service of a world that hates and fears them...
Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents...
UNCANNY X-MEN #5
"DEATH OF A DREAM"
PART 11
Written by Cory Wiegel
From a story originally by Dino Pollard
"DEATH OF A DREAM"
PART 11
Written by Cory Wiegel
From a story originally by Dino Pollard
A gavel knocked repeatedly.
“ – and in this time we must band together as one party! The party of the human race!"
An explosion ripped through the US Senate.
“You can't know how sorry I am...”
“Scott?”
Men and women tried to flee, but the scorching flames consumed their bodies.
A madman touched Jean Grey-Summers' stomach and she screamed in horror.
Riots broke out across the streets of Washington, DC.
“Honey, wake up...”
Soldiers opened fire into the crowds.
Flames licked the sky.
Ash floated through the air.
The smoke clouds were so dark they practically transformed the day into night.
“Scott! Wake up!”
A baby screeched in horrific agony as it was thrown into a fire barrel.
“SCOTT!”
With a telekinetic jolt from his wife, Scott Summers – Cyclops – gasped and sprung upright in his bed. His body was drenched in sweat and his pulse was racing, and his stomach was twisted in knots. He peeled his ruby quartz goggles off of his face and rubbed his eyes.
“Christ...” Cyclops choked in exasperation. He put his goggles back on and adjusted them. “That was so vivid and so surreal. I don't think I've ever had a nightmare like that before.”
“Scott,” Jean Grey-Summers – Phoenix – said meekly. Cyclops looked to her with a furrowed brow, seeing the sudden look of concern on her face. “I don't think that was a nightmare...”
Cyclops swallowed the lump in his throat. After a moment of consideration, he closed his eyes, leaned into his wife, and they embraced each other.
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Later that morning, several levels below the estate, the Danger Room was operating at full capacity. Laser turrets were firing rapidly, drones were blasting through the air on jet packs and charging at X-Men on foot, battering rams were flying, and mines exploded at random intervals across the room. Bishop and Shard – the two siblings from a future timeline known only by their code names – led the charge, dodging turret attacks and dispatching drones without missing a beat, with a combination of their mutant powers and futuristic weaponry. Betsy Braddock – Psylocke – and Pietro Maximoff – Quicksilver – were almost as deficient and destructive as they were on the battlefield.
Almost.
From the observation room, Warren Worthington III – Angel – pressed a button to end the simulation when a timer went off and spoke into a microphone.
“That does it for round three. Great work, everyone.”
Psylocke dropped from a platform on the ceiling and landed in a crouch. She walked over to Bishop and Shard as they holstered their futuristic weapons over a pile of dismantled drones.
“Well, bravo,” she said with a bit of a smirk. “I have to say that you and your sister leave little to be desired on the field.”
“Thank you,” Bishop replied gruffly. “I wish I could say the same for our teammates.” Bishop looked up to the observation room. “Any word on them, Worthington?”
Angel shook his head.
“Nothing yet. Maybe Scott meant to cancel this training session?”
Bishop scowled. “Or maybe no one else cared to attend.”
“The legendary X-Men,” Shard remarked. “Not sure if they'd cut it by the XSE's standards.”
“That's a bit harsh, don't you think?” Psylocke commented. “Everyone's still reeling from the events of the past few weeks. They may just need more time to process Xavier's death...”
“That is the last thing that Xavier would have wanted,” Bishop said. “He knew that the world was becoming more dangerous by the day. That's why he was assessing everyone's strengths and weaknesses, and pushing you all as hard as he was before his death. He was preparing you.”
“Maybe, but that wasn't always Xavier's way...”
From across the room, Quicksilver shot over to the three in a blur.
“And maybe his ways were just a distraction?” Quicksilver suggested. “Maybe there's a fight to be had somewhere, like with my father and Genosha, and we're only wasting time.”
Shard nodded in agreement.
“Regardless, something needs to change, and it needs to change now,” Bishop said as he began to walk out of the Danger Room. Shard and Quicksilver followed behind him.
Psylocke looked up to Angel, who looked uneasy from the conversation he had just heard, and simply exchanged a glance with him. Something did need to change. They were all feeling it for different reasons, but Bishop was the first to recognize the need and demand it happen.
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High above Westchester County and fast approaching the Xavier Estate, the X-Men's Blackbird jet soared cut through the dark rain clouds gathering with a handful of members on a rather unorthodox training session.
“How we looking, Kurt?” Bobby Drake – Iceman – asked over his headset. He stood in the back of the jet near the cargo bay door.
“Almost over the drop zone, mein freund,” Kurt Wagner – Nightcrawler – responded from the pilot's seat into his headset. “Are you sure you really want to do this?”
“Hey, Storm's always pushing me to try new things with my powers, so why the heck not?” Iceman said with a bit of a smugness to his voice. “Besides, after the last few weeks, isn't just about everyone tired of only training in the Danger Room?”
“This is true, but surely not as wise as experimenting a little closer to the ground...”
“Ah, can it, Kurt,” Logan – or Wolverine – interjected over the headset. “The popsicle wants to try livin' life on the edge a little more after all that's happened, I say let 'im.”
Although he was known for his direct and blunt words of wisdom, Wolverine's words still took Iceman by surprise. Bobby didn't know Joseph as well as some of the other members, but his death was a wake-up call as to how dangerous their lives were. Professor X's death was less of a wake-up call and more of a shock to the system, though.
“Besides,” Wolverine continued with a dark smirk. “What's th' worst that can happen? Snowcones for dessert tonight? We gotta round up a top hat and carrot? Maybe some buttons or coal?”
Nightcralwer couldn't help but chuckle in response. Iceman shook his head.
“Gee, thanks for the kind words of encouragement, Logan. I think...”
“Drop zone's in range. Ready?” Nightcrawler asked.
“Yep.”
Iceman hit a button near the cargo bay door and it began to open, letting in a blast of cold air. He pulled down a pair of goggles over his eyes as his body transformed into living ice. He could see the mansion just out of the cargo bay door and the surrounding estate.
“Godspeed, Frosty,” Wolverine called out. “Thumpety thump thump!”
With that said, Iceman jumped out of a perfectly good airplane without a parachute and went into free fall over the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning...
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In the garden behind the mansion at the memorial site of Charles Xavier, two of his students in Ororo Monroe – Storm – and Hank McCoy – Beast – worked carefully and diligently to remove the wreath, flowers, and pictures that friends and loved ones left for the man who taught them that the world could change. The procession and memorial were long over, and a storm was coming that evening.
“Storm. Beast.”
Storm and Beast turned to the sound of their code names. To their shock, Bishop was marching up to both of them with several of their comrades at his back. They were entrenched with determination.
“Goddess, Bishop... What is this?” Storm asked.
“Where's Cyclops?” Bishop demanded. “We need to talk. All of us.”
“Even the dead have ears, my friend,” Beast gestured to Professor X's memorial. “Perhaps we should talk elsewhere?”
“The time to talk is now,” Bishop shot back. “There was a training session scheduled this morning. Only the five of us showed up.”
“And?” Beast asked.
“There are sixteen of us,” Bishop said sharply. “Where were you two?”
“Please, Bishop. Our mentor has barely settled in his grave...” Storm replied.
“And his murderers are still out there while you continue to mourn like children,” Quicksilver interjected. Beast growled and nearly lunged at him.
“You're out of line, Pietro!”
“Am I?” Quicksilver stared down his teammate.
“Hey!” Cyclops's voice boomed across the garden, stopping the confrontation short.
The X-Men turned to face him. Phoenix, Cannonball, and Wolverine were flanking him.
“What's going on out here?!”
“We've only come to talk,” Psylocke answered matter-of-factually.
“Funny way've talkin' to your friends and teammates,” Cannonball observed.
“I agree,” Phoenix added. “This looks more like a fight's about to break out.”
“At least then we'd be doing something productive,” Quicksilver quipped.
“Alright, let's just stop the bickering,” Cyclops said. “I'll say it again. What's going on out here?”
“We were looking for you,” Bishop explained as he stepped up to face Cyclops.
“Well, here I am,” Cyclops said, gesturing openly but firmly. “Let's talk.”
Other members of the X-Men began to gather around. Rogue and Gambit approached the group together from the orchards. Iceman and Nightcrawler came from the mansion. Blink teleported in. The sprinkling outside was quickly turning to rain.
“Before he was assassinated, Professor Xavier was preparing us for a war that was coming. He went to the U.N. and confronted this fact straight on, with honor and conviction, and he was murdered for it,” Bishop said as he looked about his teammates. “He knew of the dangers in the world, of the threats we all faced daily, and he was ready to take action and show us all the way.”
Cyclops shook his head.
“We don't need a history lesson, Bishop. We were all there. What's your point?”
“My point is after Xavier passed, the torch of leadership was passed to you – and we've been doing nothing to take the fight to our enemies ever since!” Bishop proclaimed. “Members haven't shown up to training sessions. We haven't launched any new missions. No one has investigated Xavier's murder and the forces behind it. If this is how you choose to lead then you are failing us and the world!”
Cyclops let Bishop's words settle before he looked around at the assembled X-Men. Some of them simply stared at the two while others looked to each other or even the ground. It was the toughest conversation any of them had to be apart of in some time.
“Is this how you all feel?” Cyclops finally asked of his teammates. There was only silence as the rain beat down harder on them. “Well, speak up! No reason to be shy. We're all friends here, right?”
“Bishop's right,” Rogue spoke up. “We gotta do somethin' different.”
Gambit nodded somberly. “School's out, mon ami.”
“Doing something different isn't the same as preparing for war,” Beast interjected. “We have to find a better answer than direct confrontation and violence.”
Phoenix chimed in. “Charles was preparing us for something, but not this. He wanted us to be better.”
“I can't tell if you've all been brainwashed or if you're just fools,” Quicksilver rolled his eyes. “I, for one, won't be wasting any more time while men like my father rally for war.”
“Hope is neither indoctrination nor foolishness,” Storm said, giving Quicksilver the side eye.
“Two things can be true at once,” Psylocke said. “Idealism and pragmatism can both have value, but the time to stand up and fight is now.”
Wolverine cleared his throat after uncharacteristic silence on the issue.
“Can't say I've ever walked away from a good fight before, but Chuck... Chuck was tryin' to teach us somethin' different and none of us can deny the good he's done.”
Quiet fell on the X-Men once again, but consensus was developing.
“Looks like the lines have been drawn then,” Bishop observed. Storm, Beast, Phoenix, Wolverine, and Cannonball stood unmoved with Cyclops. Quicksilver, Shard, Psylocke, Rogue, and Gambit stood similarly with Bishop. Blink, Angel, Iceman, and Nightcrawler seemed at a loss.
“Fine. Let there be two teams of X-Men then,” Cyclops said as he gestured to his side and then Bishop's. “The beginning and the end... the alpha and the omega...”
Bishop scowled and stepped toward Cyclops. He leaned in close to face him.
“No matter how you choose to see it, Cyclops, be sure that you don't get in our way.”
A glare ran across Cyclops's ruby quartz visor. “Don't make us and we won't.”
Surrounded by their respective factions, Cyclops and Bishop stared each other down for what felt like an eternity before rolling thunder broke the tension. The wind picked up and the rain began to beat down before Bishop turned and walked away with his X-Men.
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NEXT ISSUE: “DEATH OF A DREAM” comes to a close. Where will Bishop and his team go now that they've chosen a different path? How will Cyclops and his team cope with the departure of their friends and teammates? Find out in Uncanny X-Men Annual #1!
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“ – and in this time we must band together as one party! The party of the human race!"
An explosion ripped through the US Senate.
“You can't know how sorry I am...”
“Scott?”
Men and women tried to flee, but the scorching flames consumed their bodies.
A madman touched Jean Grey-Summers' stomach and she screamed in horror.
Riots broke out across the streets of Washington, DC.
“Honey, wake up...”
Soldiers opened fire into the crowds.
Flames licked the sky.
Ash floated through the air.
The smoke clouds were so dark they practically transformed the day into night.
“Scott! Wake up!”
A baby screeched in horrific agony as it was thrown into a fire barrel.
“SCOTT!”
With a telekinetic jolt from his wife, Scott Summers – Cyclops – gasped and sprung upright in his bed. His body was drenched in sweat and his pulse was racing, and his stomach was twisted in knots. He peeled his ruby quartz goggles off of his face and rubbed his eyes.
“Christ...” Cyclops choked in exasperation. He put his goggles back on and adjusted them. “That was so vivid and so surreal. I don't think I've ever had a nightmare like that before.”
“Scott,” Jean Grey-Summers – Phoenix – said meekly. Cyclops looked to her with a furrowed brow, seeing the sudden look of concern on her face. “I don't think that was a nightmare...”
Cyclops swallowed the lump in his throat. After a moment of consideration, he closed his eyes, leaned into his wife, and they embraced each other.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that morning, several levels below the estate, the Danger Room was operating at full capacity. Laser turrets were firing rapidly, drones were blasting through the air on jet packs and charging at X-Men on foot, battering rams were flying, and mines exploded at random intervals across the room. Bishop and Shard – the two siblings from a future timeline known only by their code names – led the charge, dodging turret attacks and dispatching drones without missing a beat, with a combination of their mutant powers and futuristic weaponry. Betsy Braddock – Psylocke – and Pietro Maximoff – Quicksilver – were almost as deficient and destructive as they were on the battlefield.
Almost.
From the observation room, Warren Worthington III – Angel – pressed a button to end the simulation when a timer went off and spoke into a microphone.
“That does it for round three. Great work, everyone.”
Psylocke dropped from a platform on the ceiling and landed in a crouch. She walked over to Bishop and Shard as they holstered their futuristic weapons over a pile of dismantled drones.
“Well, bravo,” she said with a bit of a smirk. “I have to say that you and your sister leave little to be desired on the field.”
“Thank you,” Bishop replied gruffly. “I wish I could say the same for our teammates.” Bishop looked up to the observation room. “Any word on them, Worthington?”
Angel shook his head.
“Nothing yet. Maybe Scott meant to cancel this training session?”
Bishop scowled. “Or maybe no one else cared to attend.”
“The legendary X-Men,” Shard remarked. “Not sure if they'd cut it by the XSE's standards.”
“That's a bit harsh, don't you think?” Psylocke commented. “Everyone's still reeling from the events of the past few weeks. They may just need more time to process Xavier's death...”
“That is the last thing that Xavier would have wanted,” Bishop said. “He knew that the world was becoming more dangerous by the day. That's why he was assessing everyone's strengths and weaknesses, and pushing you all as hard as he was before his death. He was preparing you.”
“Maybe, but that wasn't always Xavier's way...”
From across the room, Quicksilver shot over to the three in a blur.
“And maybe his ways were just a distraction?” Quicksilver suggested. “Maybe there's a fight to be had somewhere, like with my father and Genosha, and we're only wasting time.”
Shard nodded in agreement.
“Regardless, something needs to change, and it needs to change now,” Bishop said as he began to walk out of the Danger Room. Shard and Quicksilver followed behind him.
Psylocke looked up to Angel, who looked uneasy from the conversation he had just heard, and simply exchanged a glance with him. Something did need to change. They were all feeling it for different reasons, but Bishop was the first to recognize the need and demand it happen.
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High above Westchester County and fast approaching the Xavier Estate, the X-Men's Blackbird jet soared cut through the dark rain clouds gathering with a handful of members on a rather unorthodox training session.
“How we looking, Kurt?” Bobby Drake – Iceman – asked over his headset. He stood in the back of the jet near the cargo bay door.
“Almost over the drop zone, mein freund,” Kurt Wagner – Nightcrawler – responded from the pilot's seat into his headset. “Are you sure you really want to do this?”
“Hey, Storm's always pushing me to try new things with my powers, so why the heck not?” Iceman said with a bit of a smugness to his voice. “Besides, after the last few weeks, isn't just about everyone tired of only training in the Danger Room?”
“This is true, but surely not as wise as experimenting a little closer to the ground...”
“Ah, can it, Kurt,” Logan – or Wolverine – interjected over the headset. “The popsicle wants to try livin' life on the edge a little more after all that's happened, I say let 'im.”
Although he was known for his direct and blunt words of wisdom, Wolverine's words still took Iceman by surprise. Bobby didn't know Joseph as well as some of the other members, but his death was a wake-up call as to how dangerous their lives were. Professor X's death was less of a wake-up call and more of a shock to the system, though.
“Besides,” Wolverine continued with a dark smirk. “What's th' worst that can happen? Snowcones for dessert tonight? We gotta round up a top hat and carrot? Maybe some buttons or coal?”
Nightcralwer couldn't help but chuckle in response. Iceman shook his head.
“Gee, thanks for the kind words of encouragement, Logan. I think...”
“Drop zone's in range. Ready?” Nightcrawler asked.
“Yep.”
Iceman hit a button near the cargo bay door and it began to open, letting in a blast of cold air. He pulled down a pair of goggles over his eyes as his body transformed into living ice. He could see the mansion just out of the cargo bay door and the surrounding estate.
“Godspeed, Frosty,” Wolverine called out. “Thumpety thump thump!”
With that said, Iceman jumped out of a perfectly good airplane without a parachute and went into free fall over the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning...
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In the garden behind the mansion at the memorial site of Charles Xavier, two of his students in Ororo Monroe – Storm – and Hank McCoy – Beast – worked carefully and diligently to remove the wreath, flowers, and pictures that friends and loved ones left for the man who taught them that the world could change. The procession and memorial were long over, and a storm was coming that evening.
“Storm. Beast.”
Storm and Beast turned to the sound of their code names. To their shock, Bishop was marching up to both of them with several of their comrades at his back. They were entrenched with determination.
“Goddess, Bishop... What is this?” Storm asked.
“Where's Cyclops?” Bishop demanded. “We need to talk. All of us.”
“Even the dead have ears, my friend,” Beast gestured to Professor X's memorial. “Perhaps we should talk elsewhere?”
“The time to talk is now,” Bishop shot back. “There was a training session scheduled this morning. Only the five of us showed up.”
“And?” Beast asked.
“There are sixteen of us,” Bishop said sharply. “Where were you two?”
“Please, Bishop. Our mentor has barely settled in his grave...” Storm replied.
“And his murderers are still out there while you continue to mourn like children,” Quicksilver interjected. Beast growled and nearly lunged at him.
“You're out of line, Pietro!”
“Am I?” Quicksilver stared down his teammate.
“Hey!” Cyclops's voice boomed across the garden, stopping the confrontation short.
The X-Men turned to face him. Phoenix, Cannonball, and Wolverine were flanking him.
“What's going on out here?!”
“We've only come to talk,” Psylocke answered matter-of-factually.
“Funny way've talkin' to your friends and teammates,” Cannonball observed.
“I agree,” Phoenix added. “This looks more like a fight's about to break out.”
“At least then we'd be doing something productive,” Quicksilver quipped.
“Alright, let's just stop the bickering,” Cyclops said. “I'll say it again. What's going on out here?”
“We were looking for you,” Bishop explained as he stepped up to face Cyclops.
“Well, here I am,” Cyclops said, gesturing openly but firmly. “Let's talk.”
Other members of the X-Men began to gather around. Rogue and Gambit approached the group together from the orchards. Iceman and Nightcrawler came from the mansion. Blink teleported in. The sprinkling outside was quickly turning to rain.
“Before he was assassinated, Professor Xavier was preparing us for a war that was coming. He went to the U.N. and confronted this fact straight on, with honor and conviction, and he was murdered for it,” Bishop said as he looked about his teammates. “He knew of the dangers in the world, of the threats we all faced daily, and he was ready to take action and show us all the way.”
Cyclops shook his head.
“We don't need a history lesson, Bishop. We were all there. What's your point?”
“My point is after Xavier passed, the torch of leadership was passed to you – and we've been doing nothing to take the fight to our enemies ever since!” Bishop proclaimed. “Members haven't shown up to training sessions. We haven't launched any new missions. No one has investigated Xavier's murder and the forces behind it. If this is how you choose to lead then you are failing us and the world!”
Cyclops let Bishop's words settle before he looked around at the assembled X-Men. Some of them simply stared at the two while others looked to each other or even the ground. It was the toughest conversation any of them had to be apart of in some time.
“Is this how you all feel?” Cyclops finally asked of his teammates. There was only silence as the rain beat down harder on them. “Well, speak up! No reason to be shy. We're all friends here, right?”
“Bishop's right,” Rogue spoke up. “We gotta do somethin' different.”
Gambit nodded somberly. “School's out, mon ami.”
“Doing something different isn't the same as preparing for war,” Beast interjected. “We have to find a better answer than direct confrontation and violence.”
Phoenix chimed in. “Charles was preparing us for something, but not this. He wanted us to be better.”
“I can't tell if you've all been brainwashed or if you're just fools,” Quicksilver rolled his eyes. “I, for one, won't be wasting any more time while men like my father rally for war.”
“Hope is neither indoctrination nor foolishness,” Storm said, giving Quicksilver the side eye.
“Two things can be true at once,” Psylocke said. “Idealism and pragmatism can both have value, but the time to stand up and fight is now.”
Wolverine cleared his throat after uncharacteristic silence on the issue.
“Can't say I've ever walked away from a good fight before, but Chuck... Chuck was tryin' to teach us somethin' different and none of us can deny the good he's done.”
Quiet fell on the X-Men once again, but consensus was developing.
“Looks like the lines have been drawn then,” Bishop observed. Storm, Beast, Phoenix, Wolverine, and Cannonball stood unmoved with Cyclops. Quicksilver, Shard, Psylocke, Rogue, and Gambit stood similarly with Bishop. Blink, Angel, Iceman, and Nightcrawler seemed at a loss.
“Fine. Let there be two teams of X-Men then,” Cyclops said as he gestured to his side and then Bishop's. “The beginning and the end... the alpha and the omega...”
Bishop scowled and stepped toward Cyclops. He leaned in close to face him.
“No matter how you choose to see it, Cyclops, be sure that you don't get in our way.”
A glare ran across Cyclops's ruby quartz visor. “Don't make us and we won't.”
Surrounded by their respective factions, Cyclops and Bishop stared each other down for what felt like an eternity before rolling thunder broke the tension. The wind picked up and the rain began to beat down before Bishop turned and walked away with his X-Men.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT ISSUE: “DEATH OF A DREAM” comes to a close. Where will Bishop and his team go now that they've chosen a different path? How will Cyclops and his team cope with the departure of their friends and teammates? Find out in Uncanny X-Men Annual #1!
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