NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 2, EPISODE 10
We open in the hallways of a private school. A blonde teenage girl in a uniform struts down the hall with her nose in the air and a look of smug superiority on her face. At her locker, a mousy, plain, brown-haired, and timid Emma Frost is terrified of her as she approaches.
Emma awkwardly greets the girl, whose name is Matilda, unable to even look her in the eye out of fear. Matilda mocks her for being such a little wimp. She’s an embarrassment to girls everywhere.
MATILDA: “And with how you looked after getting your report card just now, you must be a disappointment to your family too.” Emma hugs herself, ashamed of her failures. “All the money in the world can’t make a loser anything else I suppose.”
As Emma whimpers, we cut between a rapid montage of Emma swallowing pills, drinking, and snorting substances.
Still in the past, at Emma’s family’s old estate, Emma sheepishly tries to sell her B-filled report card to her father as a good thing, only to get berated for her continued failure, nothing like Adrienne. As she’s on the verge of tears, she looks to her mother for support. Her mother sees her looking her way but only sips her whiskey.
Emma runs off in tears to her room…where she shrieks as she finds all of her stuff broken.
Behind her, a pre-teen girl snickers.
CORDELIA: “That’s for telling Mother and Father I snuck out last month.”
As Cordelia laughs and walks off, Emma falls to her knees, hugging her torn-up stuffed bunny.
Another rapid montage occurs, with a glassy-eyed Emma continuing to spiral via drugs and liquor.
A few years following her high school days, Emma sits in a dressing room, having just finished a performance as a stripper. As she’s getting ready to go home, Sebastian Shaw barges in. Before Emma can ask what he’s doing, he grabs her and smashes her face into the mirror, screaming at her for daring to invade his mind with her illusion.
Emma, no longer a child, doesn’t cower, but instead forces him to let go and step back with a psychic attack. This is exactly what Shaw hoped would happen. He got the feeling she was extremely powerful when she was in his head. At his side, he could show her how to use her abilities for so much more than simple survival. And together, they could take over the whole world.
Emma’s eyes fill with uncertainty and fear before she smirks evilly.
Hard cut to a Hellfire headquarters, where Emma and Shaw, nearly naked, laugh as they sip their drinks and watch Hellfire soldiers chase down a completely stripped Matilda with machine guns.
In the present, Emma tosses an unconscious Storm onto the floor of a Hellfire base, surrounded by 18th-century regalia. She declares that with her finally dealt with, they can proceed with destroying the rest of the X-Men, transforming Cyclops into the perfect White King, and taking control of the entire next generation of Mutants.
She’s joined in cheers of victory by Shaw, Selene Gallio, and Emmanuel Da Costa.
At the Grindstone, Luna is chatting on the phone, twirling her hair. The friend group is seated in a booth, and Brian and Cessily are role-playing as her and who she's talking to, acting over-the-top lovey dovey.
Sooraya tells them to knock it off. She's happy Karma found a girlfriend.
JULIAN: "She deserves better than some Flatscan."
NORIKO: "Yeah, Luna's a pretty chill boss, but he's right."
Sofia narrows her eyes at the two.
SOFIA: "Did you two find Magneto and take a class with him when we weren't looking?"
JULIAN: "Something like that. So, what are we doing this weekend?"
Cessily and Roxy gleefully remind everyone that they're gonna be out of town filming the Washingtons' music video, Noriko is working, and Sooraya is going to be getting ready for finals so she doesn't need to cram in a few weeks, while also helping Brian, and Laura was assigned a solo mission by Ms. Frost.
Julian and Sofia turn to each other as they realize they're the only ones without plans. Julian shoots her a small, boyish smile, with her turning her head away, blushing. Noriko cringes, only to snap at Laura as she notices her staring at her, asking what she's looking at. Laura shrugs.
Back in the Hellfire base, Emma informs her companions of the next steps, as the audience sees them play out. Storm was the biggest hurdle she needed to overcome because she's more powerful than her, she didn't trust her, and she has the strongest psychic defenses she's ever seen in a non-telepath. The rest will fall much more easily.
Iceman's psychic defense is substantial thanks to Xavier's personal tutoring, but the poor fool actually trusts her. At a club, Emma casually subdues Bobby as they drink together.
Wolverine's only advantage is that her dear students will worry about her if she goes missing. Hence why she's told Laura, who she knows will tell her friends, that she's been assigned a mission along with Storm and the other easy targets. Emma knocks Laura out as she heads into one of the X-Men's jets.
EMMANUEL: "What of my son?"
SELENE: "And the demon. Perhaps I can play?"
Emma shakes her head. She assures Emmanuel that she can handle Sunspot, and that they'll help him see the light in due time. Roberto may be cautious, but Cable hardly spent time on training his mind. He goes down without any trickery on Emma's part.
As for Magik, her mind is strange and difficult to play with…but a subtle suggestion to stay in Limbo for a little while should be doable. By the time she returns, she'll be too late. As Magik passes by Emma in the hall, her eyes glow blue, and she opens up a stepping disc, returning her to her domain.
EMMA "Besides our future King, that only leaves one of them remaining. The only one besides Storm who could potentially ruin everything for us."
Emma takes a dagger, and stabs a picture of Kitty belching with it.
At the Institute, Kitty, with Lockheed on her shoulder, barges into Scott's office, phasing through the door, and asking what the deal is with this mission Storm, Iceman, Magik, Sunspot, and Wolverine were sent on. Why isn't she with them, why aren't he and Emma, and why hasn't she seen Ororo since the France trip?
SCOTT, sipping coffee from a "World's Most Acceptable Boyfriend" mug: "Good morning to you too."
Kitty and Lockheed both stick their tongues out at him.
Scott explains that they received word from Wakanda that Shadow King was back. He's always been a personal matter for Storm, so he let her take a team to deal with him. She just thought after dumping the school on her, she could use the rest.
Kitty doesn't appear convinced, but Cyclops asks her to just trust him again. Things have finally been put to bed between him, Storm, and Emma. He wants things back to normal for them too.
Kitty glares at him with narrowed eyes.
KITTY: "We'll see."
Kitty walks out, telling Lockheed he can poop in the Blackbird if Scott's lying. Once she's gone, Scott gets a headache.
SCOTT: "Wait…when did Ororo and I last talk? Didn't we–"
Scott's train of thought is interrupted as Emma enters the office.
Emma: "Not another headache." Emma makes her way over to Scott and sits in his lap. "I'll have someone fetch an aspirin. Let me in, and I'll soothe what I can while we wait."
Scott pulls her into his arms, groaning as he thanks her. Jean used to do this all the time for him too. As Scott allows Emma free reign in his head, Emma sneers. Scott's eyes glow blue.
SCOTT: "Actually…this is much better than when Jean did it."
Emma: "I know, Darling. I know."
In the school’s dance studio, the Cuckoos are performing a routine. Dazzler watches and assesses them while nodding and sucking on a lollipop. As the Cuckoos finish, Dazzler shuts of the music and gathers the girls around.
Allison has to admit, she’s a little surprised. She thought the bad attitudes they have were compensating for a lack of talent, but they’ve actually got something.
ALLISON: “Poor taste in music aside, but we can work on that. Other things I noticed…”
While Dazzler gives critiques of their performance, the Cuckoos ignore her, speaking with each other telepathically.
PHOEBE: “She’s insulting us.”
IRMA: “She just told us we did well! DAZZLER thinks we have talent!”
ESME: “Then she shouldn’t be speaking like this right now. We should make her forget how to speak.”
CELESTE: “Sophie?”
Sophie narrows her eyes at Dazzler, but rather than do anything to her, she lights up her own eyes, as well the those of her sisters. They postures all become more at ease.
Dazzler finishes speaking.
DAZZLER: “Any questions or are you ready to run it again?”
The Cuckoos smile politely as Allison.
SOPHIE: “Thank you, Ms. Blaire. We’re ready.”
Later, out in the hall, the Cuckoos are quietly excited with what just happened. They actually kept a lid on their cruel impulse. Dazzler definitely didn’t like them at the start, but she actually seems to be warming up to them.
CELESTE: “Ms. Frost will be thrilled.”
SOPHIE: “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We still have a lot of work to do. But maybe we are ready to try setting things right.”
That night, Kitty is in her classroom grading papers. She sighs in disappointment as she has to give Noriko another D. She knows she can do better.
“Never had to worry about that with you, kiddo!”
Kitty jolts up to her feet.
KITTY: “Daddy?!”
“Not just the book stuff,” she hears Logan’s voice say. “You were a natural at everything.”
KITTY: “Logan?”
Kitty tenses up, but quickly exhales.
KITTY: “Whoever’s messing with me…whatever supervillian is trying to use my dad to get to me, you better hope I’m not the one who finds you.”
Kitty rushes out of the classroom, contacting Cyclops on her communicator. She wants his location so they can rendezvous. Someone’s messing with her mind. Maybe Shadow King. Emma needs to run a scan of everyone in the school immediately.
There’s no response.
KITTY: “Oh come on, Scott. Please tell me you aren’t in b…”
Kitty trails off as she screams. As she enters the common area, she finds Dani, Xuan, Kurt, Hank, Jean-Paul, Allison, and James dead and hung on meathooks.
Kitty stumbles back and her heart pounds. She reminds herself that there’s nothing to be afraid of. She’s seen this kind of thing a million times. None of this is real.
“Oh, I’m afraid this is very, very real, Kitten.”
Kitty spins around and sees Emma, who appears most pleased with her handiwork.
Kitty clenches her face and her fists.
KITTY: “I may not trust Emma, but you have to be pretty dumb to think I believe she’d ever do THIS.”
Emma proceeds to blast Kitty into the wall with her psychic lightning. As Kitty’s eyes fill with panic, she phases through the floor.
EMMA: “Oh. How fun. A chase.”
In Sofia’s room, she’s lying in bed with a notebook and pen in hand. On the pages, there are countless potential nicknames for her followers she’s crossed and scribbled out. There are also various swears written above, below, and next to them, in both English and Spanish. This might be getting to her a little bit.
SOFIA: “I will figure this out if it is the last thing I do.”
Her eyes glow blue, prompting her to put the book down and leave her room.
Julian is in the bathroom, getting ready for bed, and lamenting the fact he’s running out of his skin cream and is going to have to start buying cheap sh*t. He should ask Ashida where she shops.
His eyes flash blue, and he leaves the bathroom without any of his things.
Sofia and Julian end up wandering over to the same spot in the hallways, where their senses return to them. The two are both flustered to see each other and unsure of how they got here.
JULIAN: “Wait…I know which hall this is.”
The door they’re at opens, revealing Phoebe, who welcomes them both and asks them both to come inside.
SOFIA, pissed: “What do you think you are doing?”
JULIAN: “Taking control of us AGAIN? What is your damage?”
PHOEBE: “We know that you hate us. We understand why. But we wish to make amends. And we knew you wouldn’t speak to us if we came to you.”
Julian and Sofia exchange an uneasy glance, unsure if they should trust this.
Through the dark hallways, Emma stalks Kitty, her heels clacking against the wooden floor.
EMMA, telepathically: “You aren’t going to find help, Kitten. The teachers are dead, Cyclops is elsewhere, and the rest of the X-Men have already been taken care of. Unless you plan on endangering our dear students, you’re all alone. Don’t fear for the children though. This is for them. Under Hellfire’s guidance, they’ll all have bright futures to look forward to.”
Emma stops in front of a mirror and dons a slasher smile.
EMMA: “Did you really think you could hide from me?”
Emma is met with a punch to the face as Kitty phases her fist through the mirror and breaks Emma’s nose.
EMMA, stumbling back: “Why you–! Do you have any idea how much that nose bloody cost?!”
From beneath her, Kitty comes up through the floor and kicks her upside the chin. Kitty’s face is red and she’s sobbing in rage.
KITTY: “WHY?!”
EMMA, wiping up the blood on her face: “Oh, please. Don’t act so betrayed. This was the plan all along. You X-Men and your ineffective methods will never cost our people their lives again.”
Emma tells her it’s not too late for her though. Scott will be ruling their new Mutant-run world alongside her, but they’re also planning on turning Laura, Bobby, and Beto to their side as well. And if Kitty joined them, Magik would follow suit.
EMMA: “Come. Be what you were born to be.”
There’s a moment of tension, but not an ounce of consideration from Kitty. Kitty rushes Emma. Emma tries to put her down with a psychic attack, but all she can do is give Kitty an equally bloody nose. She’s forced to send her flying with telekinesis.
EMMA: “You’re out for blood, aren’t you? Good. You touch my chest or head and I’m dead. Go ahead. Keep trying.”
Kitty, realizing there’s no point in continuing to try upfront assaults, slams her hands down on the floor and makes the parts directly underneath the two of them immaterial, causing them both to fall through it.
In mid-air, Kitty runs on the air toward Emma, who’s been caught off guard. Emma still manages to react in time, however, tossing her away again, but Kitty pushes down against the air so she can hit the floor a split-second faster and phase them both through it.
Emma is once again forced to hesitate, and this time Kitty launches herself off the air flinging herself at her opponent. But once again, she fails to reach Emma as she unleashes psychic lightning from her whole body, blasting up their surroundings, as well as Kitty. Kitty, slowed down by her injuries, isn’t able to phase the two into the basem*nt before Emma goes into her diamond form and smashes the floor, this time catching Kitty by surprise. Emma catches them both in mid-air and takes the opportunity to once again strike as Kitty telepathically.
Kitty screams in agony as blood drips out of her nose and eyes.
EMMA: “Last chance.”
KITTY: “F…ff..f*ck you.”
Kitty utilizes the Red Triangle to send Emma’s attack back at her. They both fall to the floor, but Emma lands on her side, while Kitty, although her knees are buckled, lands on her feet. Kitty approaches her.
EMMA, her eyes practically mocking Kitty: “Go ahead…do it.”
Kitty looks down out at her with burning hatred.
KITTY: "You are everything that is evil and wrong. I won't let you hurt anyone else…ever again!"
Kitty sticks her hand inside Emma’s chest, but before she can do anything, her eyes glow blue. She harmlessly phases out of Emma and falls unconscious.
Emma pants in relief as she stands up. Kitty almost had her. But the mind can’t fully defend itself while consumed with rage.
Shaw enters the basem*nt.
SHAW, condescendingly: “I thought you were going to require some assistance.”
EMMA: “Oh, do shut it.”
In the Cuckoos’ room, the rest of the sisters thank Julian and Sofia for giving them a chance. Sofia asks why they decided to do this so late, with Sophie answering that they didn’t wish to speak to the rest of their friends yet.
Sophie further explains that, when the sisters first arrived at the school, Ms. Frost had intended to introduce them to Hellion and Wind Dancer. She thought the best should mingle with the best. But they had their own plan. That failed. And they made another plan. That failed too.
SOPHIE: “We’re tired of failing.”
ESME: “It isn’t what Cuckoos do.”
PHOEBE: “If you’re willing to give us one more chance, we’d like to start over.”
CELESTE: “Do what we should have done from the start.”
Julian can’t believe them. After how they tormented them, their friends, and the entire school, they think they can just start clean?
SOFIA: “I believe in second chances. If you all want to turn over a new leaf, and this isn’t just a trick, I am rooting for you. But I’m not sure what you want from us is possible.”
Irma promises them this is no trick.
IRMA: “We only wish to stop being alone together.”
ESME: “To be loved, not hated.”
That last part naturally connects with Julian, whose disgusted sneer morphs into a look of frustration.
JULIAN: “Well…maybe we could–”
Julian is cut off as the Cuckoos scream. He and Sofia ask what’s wrong as the five-in-one pant.
PHOEBE: “Something on the astral plane.”
SOPHIE: “Something…is very wrong with Ms. Frost.”
A limo drives through the city underneath the sky. Scott sits in the back. A peaceful, but joyful smile is on his face as he scrolls through pictures of him and Emma having fun on their France trip. As he flips through, however, he gets a headache, and he starts seeing things.
When he looks at a picture of the two of them eating in a fancy restaurant, he imagines the two of them back there, only he makes Emma laugh by blasting away the waitress after she doesn’t get what she ordered. When he looks at a picture of the two of them by the water, he imagines Emma making him laugh by mind-controlling someone and making them jump in the river, and whispering in his ear that she made him forget how to swim. Finally, as he looks at a picture of the two of them on the helicopter ride he enjoyed so much, he imagines holding Emma in his arms and telling her that, one day, this will be theirs.
EMMA: “That goes for the whole world, Darling.”
As Scott experiences each of these flashes, his outfits become more and more white.
Scott’s head is throbbing as the car stops.
SCOTT: “Wait…where am I right now?”
Bumpkin opens the backseat door and tells Mr. Summers he can go inside. Ms. Frost will be meeting him here soon.
BUMPKIN: “I hope you have any idea what Ms. Frost is doing in a place like this.”
Scott steps out of the car. The audience doesn’t get a clear look at where he is.
SCOTT: “What the Hell?”
Back at the school, Emma is on her way out, telekinetically carrying Kitty’s unconscious body behind her. Honestly, a part of her is going to miss this place. It was fun while it lasted.
Emma psychically opens the door, but before she can step through it…
HELLION: “Ms. Frost! The Cuckoos felt something was wrong with you. Are you okay?”
SOFIA: “What happened to Ms. Pryde?”
CUCKOOS: “And to your nose?”
Emma places Kitty down and turns to face the eight children who just rushed into the foyer.
EMMA, with a large, bright smile: “Just the bright, incredible children I was hoping to see. Come along. I shall explain on the way.”
HELLION: “On the way where?”
Emma asks if Julian and Sofia remember that little scheme they helped her with last semester. Well, that was only one part of a much greater plan. She’s taken her place back as the White Queen of Hellfire, the world will soon be hers, and she’d very much like her favorite students to join her.
EMMA: “All of your friends and classmates will get to be a part of the dominant species on Earth. And the eight of you will enjoy lives of unimaginable wealth and power. I promise this is no trick, no game.”
The Cuckoos seem to be tempted and Julian is just confused, while Sofia…
SOFIA: “Is that what happened to Ms. Pryde? You made that offer to her and she said no?”
EMMA: “Yes it is. You know that I always wanted to teach her as I do you. And I know that you’re all much smarter than–”
Emma is cut off as Sofia raises her hands and blows Emma back into the wall with a fearsome wind. Julian is shocked, in disbelief that she’d attack Ms. Frost, but Sofia reminds him that they’re X-Men in training, and she just admitted to being a supervillain; they HAVE to stop her. Emma looks at Julian with judgmental eyes, hoping he’ll see reason, but he just lights up with TK energy, still shoulder to shoulder with Sofia.
JULIAN: “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t believe one word out of your mouth. This isn’t you.”
Emma sighs in annoyance.
EMMA: “Girls, please take them out.”
The Cuckoos glare at Emma.
SOPHIE: “Sorry, Ms. Frost.”
PHOEBE: “We’re following your previous advice.”
CELESTE: “Being better.”
Julian and Sofia’s eyes turn blue and stay that way. The Cuckoos tell them they aren’t powerful enough to harm Emma psychically, but they can shield the two of them from her telepathy so they have a chance here.
EMMA, shaking her: “Foolish children. Please do not force me to harm you. This isn’t a fight you can–”
Julian telekinetically smashes a vass into Emma’s head. Emma seethes, going into her diamond form.
EMMA: “Fine. Disciplinary measures are necessary. Prepare yourselves, my students! Class is in session.”
In a dark, unknown location, Iceman’s eyes flicker open. Realizing he’s shackled against a wall by his wrists and ankles, he tries to go into his ice form, but his powers don’t work. He tries again in frustration but to no avail.
“Don’t bother.”
Bobby sighs, happy to at least hear Ororo’s voice, and hoping she has some idea what’s going on here. Storm asks Bobby if he’s dressed. Bobby looks down at himself and realizes that, no, he is not.
BOBBY: “Hellfire?”
STORM: “Emma."
Bobby asks what she’s talking about, with Ororo explaining how Emma tricked her into lowering her guard back in France. Before she was knocked out, Emma took the time to mock her. She’s been planning on betraying them from the start. He doesn’t believe that, as he’s been…
BOBBY: “Well, not friends, but not enemies either…”
…with Emma longer than the rest of them, but Storm is sick and tired of people trying to excuse her, even now.
Bobby turns his head and sees that, along with him and Storm, Wolverine and Sunspot have also been captured and stripped, but are still unconscious. Bobby casts his head down. He doesn’t get it. She went out of her way to recruit him. Why would she power up the team if this was her endgame?
Storm doesn’t know and she doesn’t care. She’s putting her full faith in Kitty, and in Scott finally opening his eyes, and trusting the two of them will stop whatever she’s doing. Then, after she herself has had the chance to beat Emma within an inch of her life, and seen to it that she will never trouble them again, they need to start over.
STORM: “Sunspot and Wolverine have done well…but we must return to what worked best.”
She wants Laura to go back to being a normal student, Sunspot to be allowed to do whatever he wants, just not with the X-Men, and the remaining team to find a way to deal with “Magik” permanently.
STORM: “There is so much darkness for us to purge”.
And once that’s done, the two of them, Scott, and Kitty can rebuild the X-Men properly. No “New X-Men”. Just their family.
STORM: “I know this will be difficult, Robert. For all of us. But for the good of everyone, it must be done.”
Bobby is hesitant, but quickly nods in affirmation.
Back in the school, Hellion and Wind Dancer float themselves and the Cuckoos into the air to keep them out of Emma’s reach, knowing that she can’t use any of her other powers while she’s in her diamond form. But with the strength Emma possesses in her diamond form, she’s able to simply kick herself off the ground. Hellion creates a shield, but it’s easily shattered by Emma. He’s only saved from her fist himself thanks to Sofia blowing him away.
Emma, knowing that her other non-telepathic abilities can’t keep up with the children, elects to not catch herself in mid-air, instead choosing to fall back to the floor.
SOFIA: “If you were a villain all along, why did you work so hard to train us as X-Men?”
EMMA: “I was TRYING to open your eyes to how useless they are.”
In the corner, Shaw, now joined by Selene, snickers.
SHAW: “That’s not a very good answer.”
SELENE: “What WERE you thinking?”
EMMA, turning her head to them: “Silence!”
Sofia and Julian exchange a confused glance.
Frustrated and off-kilter, Emma sets her eyes on the Cuckoos.
EMMA: “Sorry, girls.”
Emma throws herself at their airborne Cuckoos. Julian drops them down to the floor before Emma can reach them, while Sofia creates a wind in mid-air to keep Emma from returning to the ground. At the same time, Julian directs all the energy he has stored up into his hands. If she goes back into her human form for even a second to use her telekinesis to escape, Julian will take her out.
Emma glares at the two, as well as the terrified Cuckoos below her, before exiting her diamond form and NOT using her telekinesis.
EMMA: “Don’t shoot!” Emma wells up. “Please. Let me explain. Honestly.”
SOFIA: “Don’t believe her, Julian.”
JULIAN: “Obviously. But there has to be something we don’t know. None of this makes sense.”
Emma sniffles. When they went to Manchester with her, they helped her stop her older sister, Adrienne. But she isn’t her only sister. She has a younger one. One far more chaotic. She didn’t take her for much of a planner but now…now…
JULIAN: “Now what?”
EMMA: “Now…” Emma grins evilly. “She’s in Hawaii.”
Emma breaks out of Sofia’s winds. Julian, getting really sick of this, blasts at her, but that’s exactly what Emma was counting on, once again taking using a split-second advantage, and telekinetically tossing the Cuckoos into the line of fire, blasting them not into a wall, but through one.
Julian and Sofia both scream in horror, unsure if they’re even still alive, but their fear isn’t given the chance to last long. With the Cuckoos out of play, it only takes a thought for Emma to put Hellion and Wind Dancer to sleep.
Emma descends to the floor and clutches her heart. She hadn’t planned on two consecutive fights.
EMMA: “Rest easy, children. You shall wake up to a brighter tomorrow.”
Emma looks down at Julian and Sofia. Her expression softens. Guilt overwhelms her.
EMMA: “Goddess…what am I doing?”
Emma hangs her head, but before she can think on this any longer, Shaw puts his arm around her shoulders.
SHAW: “The only thing you’re good for.”
Emma is shaken but steels herself. Shaw is right.
Leaving the kids behind, she picks Kitty up, and the Hellfire members make their way out.
In the luxurious Hellfire base, Emmanuel plays the piano. Emma, with Shaw and Selene behind her, enters and tosses Kitty down on the floor, having already equipped her with depowering handcuffs on the car ride there.
“Emma!”
Emma proudly smiles to greet her guest of honor.
EMMA: “There’s my king.” Emma saunters over to Scott and places a gloved hand on his face. “I hope the servants have accommodated you well.”
SCOTT: “Serv…?” Scott pulls Emma off of him. “What is going on here? What did you do to Kitty?”
Emma casually dismisses his concern and says she’s alive. What matters is how he’s feeling.
SCOTT: “Like I need you to answer my other question.”
Emma is annoyed. She couldn’t WASTE her opportunity to take out Storm, but her work with Scott wasn’t finished yet.
SELENE: “I warned you.”
EMMA: “And now, I have to rush things. Believe me when I say this is for your own good.”
Emma psy-blasts Scott, filling his head with thoughts of not just what she’d put in there during the car ride here, but thoughts of leading a powerful mutant army across the globe, interspersed with sexual thoughts of the two of them.
Scott falls to his knees as he tries to resist. Emma tells him not to fight it. With Hellfire’s help, she is going to do what she’s dreamed of since she was 22 and take over the world. And the only thing she wants more is for the only man to ever be her equal to be right alongside her. Become her White King and rule at her side.
Scott’s breath weakens and his muscles shake as Emma grins. But Scott grits his teeth. And the visuals in his head are replaced with ones the audience has seen before. Emma walking into his office on that first day of school, bringing her back onto the team after he fired her, when they first started talking for real, killing Stryker and saving her from the Sentinels, their first time sleeping together, executing Nova together, becoming a couple, the highs and lows of their mission in China, the gifts they’ve gotten one another and all the genuine fun they had in France, and, finally, something we haven’t seen before: Emma shielding Scott on Genosha from the sentinels, from Scott’s POV.
Cyclops breaks free from Emma’s attack and blasts her back.
Emma is outraged that Scott would strike her.
EMMA: “Can’t you see everything I’m offering you? The X-Men are gone, defeated all by my hand. Right here is where you belong!”
SCOTT: “Right here?! Right HERE?!”
EMMA: “Yes! What is the problem?! Would you like to move to a different room? For Shaw and our other partners to leave and give us some privacy? Would that make you feel better?!”
Scott’s face falls. He isn’t angry. He’s scared.
SCOTT: “Emma…where do you think we are right now?”
The audience stops seeing this room from Emma’s perspective and sees it for what it is, as the piano music abruptly cuts off, replaced with nothing. Scott and Emma aren’t in a Hellfire base. Shaw, Selene, and Emmanuel aren’t even really there.
The two are in a defunct factory. One which, based on what’s all around them, used to produce sentinels.
Emma’s smile and confidence disappear in a flash.
EMMA: “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Scott says he’ll explain then. He doesn’t know what’s going on with her, but right now, they’re in an old sentinel factory. He’d questioned why Emma would have her driver bring him here, but she doesn’t realize what she did, does she?
Scott slowly approaches Emma, but she screams at him to say back. She’ll crush his mind like a bug if he takes one step closer.
Scott stops for a moment. And then takes a step. Emma roars as blasts him with psychic lightning, tormenting him physically as she also assaults him mentally, reducing him to a curled-up ball on the floor.
EMMA: “I know exactly what I’m doing! I know exactly where we are! And I know exactly what needs to happen here! I am the White Queen! Enemy of the X-Men! Taker and destroyer of countless lives! I am the evil villain of the story, and you the bold, noble hero. Yes! We’re in a sentinel factory! But not the one we destroyed together, no, no. This one’s close to home. This is one I helped fund. One of several! Because someone as heartless as me only cared about the money to be made from it. No matter how many of my own people they murdered.”
Emma halts her attacks. Scott vomits up blood and pants, unable to get off the floor.
EMMA: “Here’s the situation! I’ll explain it like one of your training scenarios. Your X-Men have been captured by the White Queen. You stand alone. If you fail to save your team, they will all be killed, and the world will be crushed under her heel. What do you do?!”
Scott tries and fails to speak, coughing up more blood. Emma gives him a boost by standing him up.
SCOTT: “D…do…”
EMMA: “Either skip the talking or spit it out!” Emma sneers. “Better yet, I’ll make this easy for you.”
Both of their eyes glow, as Emma travels inside Scott’s mind.
Inside Scott’s mindscape, the two stand in an endless red void where faded memories swim across the non-existent walls.
EMMA: “Tell me, Cyclops. Tell me what you do.”
Scott takes a breath.
SCOTT: “See that’s a tough one. Because I don’t know if you want me to kill you or kiss you.”
EMMA: “What?”
SCOTT: “One second, you’re acting like you want me to be your “king”. The next you’re trying to make me fight you. Either take us out of my mind and let me see yours or talk to me. Please! Talk to me.”
Emma finally snaps completely. Of course he can’t understand her! No one ever has! That’s by design. She is a diamond, by definition her own best friend, and cold, and hard, and sharp.
EMMA: “I am a monster, Scott Summers! That’s why I’ve hurt and killed so many, and relished every moment of their pain! That’s why you’re the only man, only person, ever to be stupid and naive enough to care about me! That’s why every man, woman, and child I try to protect always dies!”
And just like that, Scott puts it all together.
The mindscape fades away. In the real world, Scott is on his feet, breathing normally again, while Emma is sobbing on her knees.
EMMA: “All I’m good for is being the villain. And if you, the remarkable idiot I don’t deserve won’t be one with me…then just keep me from ever hurting anyone again.”
Emma apologizes. To the Hellions. To Synch and Skin. To the Genoshans.
EMMA: “I will burn with you all soon.”
Scott bends down. His visor lights up. Emma prepares for the sweet release of death. But it doesn’t come. Cyclops removes his visor, but no lasers come out. He just looks Emma in the eyes.
Emma is confused, before realizing she’s an idiot too. Scott’s as well trained mentally as Storm. They’re still in his mindscape.
Scott tells Emma that he’s sorry…
SCOTT: “...and before you can question, “What the bloody Hell are you talking about?”...
…he explains that he’s sorry he wasn’t able to earn her trust to a point she felt like she could talk to him about these thoughts, whenever they stated. Because if she had, he would have told her he sometimes thinks about himself like this.
SCOTT: “I’ve never been a “villain”. but we’ve both been people we don’t want to be anymore. Both sculped by people who only saw us one way…ones who hurt us. Both carrying the guilt of 16 million deaths on our shoulders. Both responsible for the deaths of all the people who’ve looked to us for guidance. Who loved us. Who we loved. I look at myself in the mirror every day, and I’m not questioning who I’m looking at, I’m questioning why I should even keep going after so many failures. And that’s what amazes me such about about you. Even after all those failures, everyone you’ve lost…you still keep fighting.” Illusions of Julian and Sofia, followed by the rest of the squad, and then the entire student body surround them. “For them..”
Emma tears up as the tiniest hint of a smile breaks through her rage and desperation.
Whatever you’ve done in the past, whatever you blame yourself for, however you see yourself…I don’t care. You are the most narcissistic woman I’ve ever met, you look down on everyone around you, you can be needlessly cruel, you refuse to be open about anything…and there is no one I’d rather have at my side, defending our people. Maybe I am an idiot for this, but I love you, Emma Frost.”
Emma shrieks at the top of her lungs, letting it all out, as she becomes a sobbing mess in Scott’s arms. The mindscape is shattered, as the two hold each other in the real world.
EMMA, barely audible: “I love you too.”
Scott holds her tight as he kisses the crown of her head, and presses their heads together.
Morning finally arrives at the school. It’s shown that the teachers were never actually killed, that much was an illusion, and they’re all now just waking up. A grumpy Magik pops into Dani and Karma’s room from Limbo to shout about killing whoever messed with her mind. With somber expressions, Storm, Kitty, Sunspot, Iceman, and Wolverine sit in the teacher’s lounge sipping coffee and tea. Laura ends up spitting hers out. She forgot she hates coffee. That’s enough to make everyone laugh a little…except Storm.
In the med bay, Julian and Sofia wake up. Beast welcomes them back, but also calls out Julian, asking him to PLEASE stop ending up here; it feels like it’s every other week.
As Beast departs, Julian and Sofia turn to each other. Everything seems normal. Was it all just a dream?
“I wish it were that simple.”
Julian and Sofia tremble as Emma enters. As they do, they notice the five-in-one are also in the med-bay, and haven’t woken up. Julian panics over if they’re okay, but Emma puts his fears at ease. Yes, his attack very easily could have crushed every bone in their bodies, but Emma put a psychic field in between them and the TK blast, so they were merely concussed.
SOFIA: “You protected them? So WAS this another of your schemes? Or were you possessed?”
JULIAN: “It had to have been something, right?”
Emma sighs, and mentally projects the cliffnotes of what’s gone on into their heads. Julian and Sofia are speechless.
EMMA: “I am not well. And there are no words to express how sorry I am for harming all of you. Cyclops and I have called for Professor Xavier. He will be arriving soon to me ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Emma tells them that she will do anything she can to make this up to them. And that she completely understands if they would like her to step down as their co-mentor.
EMMA: “I have run away from my students after hurting them before. I will not do that again. But I will walk if it’s what you want.”
Julian is the first to speak. He doesn’t get anything about all that mental health crap, but it sounds to him like she brainwashed herself. She wasn’t herself, and that means there’s nothing to be angry about. Besides, she still took out the X-Men while not even in her right mind. Why wouldn’t he want to learn from someone who can do that?
Emma is silently pleased her boy still trusts her. As for Sofia, she insists that Julian is wrong. Everything Ms. Frost did was done by at least a real part of her, no matter how much it was hurting.
SOFIA: “But I remember what it’s like to almost lose yourself. What’s important is that you stop before it’s too late.” She looks lovingly at Julian. “Or that you have people who care enough to stop you.”
Emma thanks the two for their forgiveness. And, if that’s all the case, then she hopes they won’t mind hearing how proud she is of all of them.
EMMA, eyes on the Cuckoos: “The Cuckoos stepped up. They did all they could to assist you in stopping me. I wasn’t sure my lessons with them were bearing fruit.”
EMMA, eyes on Julian: “Hellion, your loyalty and belief in me did not go unnoticed. Nor your bravery in being willing to fight in spite of it.” Julian grins as Emma turns to Sofia. “And you, Wind Dancer, impressed me most of all. You assessed the situation, you struck first, and you brought the others in line with you, despite knowing you stood no chance. That sounds like a future X-Man to me.” Sofia grins as well.
Emma thanks them once again, and apologizes once more as well, and tells them to come see her when they’re feeling up to it; their lessons are about to get much, much more difficult.
Once she’s gone…
JULIAN: “So, um…”
SOFIA: “No, me first. I just wanted to say that we–um…
JULIAN: “Maybe I should just say that I–”
The two laugh together.
Julian telekinetically moves one of his hands right over to Sofia’s so she doesn’t need to strain herself by moving.
JULIAN: “Wanna catch a movie this weekend?”
SOFIA, taking his head: “That sounds nice. But I guess I’m the one paying now.”
JULIAN, cringing: “Ashida told you.”
Sofia laughs again. And Julian can’t help but laugh with her.
In Scott’s office, the 8 X-Men are gathered. Everyone has been made aware of the situation. And now, they must decide what to do about it.
Cyclops knows everyone has to be angry. Rightfully so. They were hurt. Physically. Mentally. Trust was broken. And that can’t always be rebuilt.
Storm looks over at Emma with a smug, victorious grin. Finally, she will be forced to face consequences.
CYCLOPS: “Some of you already hated Emma. Some of you may hate her now. And as leader of the X-Men, all I can say is…I don’t care.”
Storm’s face falls as Emma grins back at her.
No matter what any of them have to say, he and Emma are partners. She isn’t going anywhere.
Ororo forces Scott’s desk out of her way with her winds. She walks right up to him. Her expression becomes more gentle.
ORORO: “Please do not do this, Scott. I can pity what she went through, but that does not change that what we faced is who she still is on the inside. Who she will always be. If you care for her so deeply, I cannot stop you. But the time to remove this cancer from the X-Men is now. Before she dooms us all.” She touches Scott’s face. “Please, brother.”
Scott looks at Ororo’s heartfelt eyes, but all he can do is apologize.
SCOTT: “I’m sorry, my sister. No.”
Storm, welling up but holding her emotions back, breathes.
STORM: “Then my time here is done.”
Kitty, Bobby, and Roberto are shocked (Laura and Magik not so much). Ororo tried to make this allyship work, but her mistrust has only proven right again and again and again, and yet Scott remains blind.
STORM: “Long ago, I challenged you for command of the X-Men. Even without my gifts, I soundly defeated you.” Scott hangs his head in shame. “We will not do battle again. Because this isn’t just about our family. It’s about all the children we look after. Simply striking you both down and taking your place? That will not work.” She glares at Emma. “Especially not when our future X-Men are all loyal to her.” Emma, enjoying this, gives a mocking shrug. “There are other Mutants who need me. If you need me, you will find me among them.”
Cyclops, stuttering, says he doesn’t accept that resignation, but Storm says his words are no longer of meaning to her. Storm turns around and exits the office. A distressed Scott falls into his chair, while Kitty and Bobby chase after Ororo.
Emma put her arms around Scott’s shoulders. Scott puts his hand on hers. Roberto and Laura aren’t sure what to say. Magik found this all hilarious. These guys are great.
In the hall, Kitty asks Storm what the Hell she’s doing, with Bobby following up that she didn’t even give them the chance to back her up; she knows they would have.
STORM: “Yes. You would. For you are both heroes of the highest caliber. And that is why we must part ways for now.”
Ororo explains that, although she can no longer bring herself to be a part of it, and she believes it will fall apart in due time, right now, the X-Men are still Mutantkind’s first and best line of defense. Were they to lose Kitty’s brains, Bobby’s strength, and both of their hearts, the team would fall even sooner.
Bobby doesn’t like it, but he gets it. And he respects Ororo’s choice. Ororo shakes his hand and wishes him well.
STORM: “Good luck finding yourself, Robert.”
With that, Ororo asks for some privacy with the now-crying Kitty. Bobby obliges.
KITTY: “Don’t go. I’ll hate you if you leave.”
STORM: “You mean like you hated me after I cut my hair?”
KITTY: “Yeah.” SNIFFLE. “Just like that.” Kitty sobs. “Please let me come with you. I can’t do this without you.”
STORM, brushing her tears away with her thumb: “Do not be ridiculous. You are Kitty Pryde. The best of us. You can do anything.”
A hysterical Kitty wraps her arms around Storm, who hugs her back.
STORM: “You are the heart of the X-Men. The one person Frost could never hope to corrupt. Do what I couldn’t. Save Cyclops. Save our students. Save the X-Men. And kick Emma’s teeth in.”
Kitty pulls away. She composes herself and nods.
KITTY: “I will. I promise.”
Storm leaves her with a gentle smile and a comforting breeze.
As Storm flies away, the visuals are intercut with Scott and Emma going to bed together. Ororo tries to remain stalwart, but she can’t help but shed one last tear.
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CAST CHANGE:
ORORO MUNROE AKA STORM: No longer part of the main cast.
