X-Men #17: Days of Future's Future

 

I can see them. I can always see them. The X-Men. Children of the Atom. I see them as they are now, but I have also seen them as they will be.

When I saw them at Muir Island, defeating the Marauders and discovering that Moira MacTaggert was the villain Malice, I knew what was soon to come.

A mutant from the future appeared to them. It was Henry McCoy, the Beast, asking the X-Men for help in his own timeline. He claimed it was help that only they could provide. Beast, obviously a sincere man, convinced them to journey back with him, after relaying a story of the coming Apocalypse. He told of the mass production of mutant killing robots and the capturing and execution of mutantkind’s greatest leader. He informed them that the threat he needed their help with was a mutant by the name of Proteus, Moira’s own son.

Proteus had declared war on humanity and on the mutants that stood in his way of global domination. The tipping point where Proteus began to work on this was when Wolverine freely gave his body to Proteus, in order to keep him alive. Immediately, Proteus and Wolverine’s minds would clash. There would be a power struggle so great until finally, the enraged Proteus would win.

Beast’s plan was that the X-Men, Wolverine in particular, would be able to reason with the mad mutant, or that Wolverine himself would decide to reject Proteus while the union was still new.

So the X-Men went back to the future. They transported onto Asteroid M. Now at the bottom of the San Francisco Bay, the former home of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, was headquarters to All New X-Men. Cyclops, Storm, Phoenix, Nightcrawler, and Beast were just some of the names on the dormitory doors in the halls of the asteroid; a new team designed to combat the evil of humanity and the problematic machinations of the mutant menace. The glowing circular pads of the transporter hummed to life again and two familiar figures materialized before the team.

Magneto and his right hand, Havok, were battle-worn. Havok stunned at the sight of the original X-Men, shook off his surprise and explained what happened.

Storm died first, at the hands of an Omega Sentinel. Jean and Cyclops fell soon thereafter, mere weeks after they’d wed. Nightcrawler also died in the battle and Magnet and Havok were barely able to escape with their lives. And if the Sentinels weren’t a big enough problem, it seemed that Proteus had located Asteroid M and wanted to steal Magneto’s new power amplifier. He and his Cabal were now on the base.

Red lights beamed through the halls of Asteroid M. Sirens blared. Mystique, Wolverine with enhanced abilities he obtained from Proteus, Cyclops, Jeffries, Marvel Girl, and the sentient robot Danger, all moved quickly to secure the amplifier while Magneto, Beast, and Havok prepared to raise the asteroid for battle. There was one other objective. Using a combination of mysticism and technology, Beast designed a monolith that would capture and hold Proteus. All they needed to do was get him to read the inscription. So while part of the team was trying to locate Magneto’s power amplifier, the other part planned on getting Proteus to the part of the Asteroid housing the monolith.

Ultimately, the fight was brief. Danger self-evolved evoking the name of his true programming, Jean used Mystique’s power amplifier to discover some new psychic abilities, Madison Jeffries constructed a new powerful weapon, and Wolverine was released from Proteus and took the risk when he plunged his claws into the mad mutant. Wolverine knew something he could only know from sharing a body with Proteus. He knew that metal was extremely fatal to his enemy.

Proteus’ Cabal was finally free from his control and the X-Men had accomplished what they set out to do. Magneto and Havok died fighting and the remaining membership of the future X-Men was reduced to Beast.

He promised to send the X-Men of the past back to 1964, and announced that he was taking in the Cabal as a new team of mutant heroes. Together they would stand against the threat of the coming Sentinels. Beast, Juggernaut, Shamrock, Karma, Quicksilver, and Gambit. Children of the Atom. But that is a battle of another time.

The X-Men, back in their own time, had decisions to make.

Of course I can read their minds. I know that none of them trust me. I brought them together to be my army against the mutant menace; to fight the forces of Factor 3. Yes, I do want mutants to live in peace on this world but we cannot do that by being passive. Sometimes we must fight and sometimes we must steel ourselves. We must turn cold in the face of emotion. We must walk into the fight unafraid and with no grief over what we’ve lost before. This is why I recruited Wolverine. This is why I recruited Mystique. But now that they know. I have to leave. I care about them, but the school I have built is no longer a place for me. A document following this testimony explains how I have handed over the school to James “Logan” Howlett, Jean Gray, Raven Darkholm, Scott Summers, and Madison Jeffries.

Maybe we will meet again under kinder circumstances but I know they are not ready to understand.

Charles Xavier

Memento Mori - Illuminatus