Villain: Black Tom, Juggernaut

First Appearance: Phoenix, Eamon O'Donnell, The Families, Dr. McKay

Guest Appearance: Peter Corbeau, Moira MacTaggart, Eamon O'Donnell, The Families, Dr. McKay

Letters Page: Page One

The Starcore shuttle carrying the X-Men and Dr. Peter Corbeau back to earth is being piloted by the psychic power of Jean Grey when it finally reaches its destination. It crash lands on the Kennedy Airport tarmac in New York City, skipping off into bay and breaking apart. All the X-Men manage to surface, save Jean, whom everyone fears is dead.

However, bursting from beneath the water is a woman, looking very much like Jean except clad in a different costume, jetting upward into the sky in a blazing trail of fire. She falls back into the water unconscious and is rescued by Cyclops, who identifies her as the one and only Jean Grey. The mysteries of her costume and apparently newfound powers will have to wait, says Cyclops, as they move her quickly to a hospital.

Her friends reside at her bedside (including a smitten Wolverine) awaiting news of her prognosis, and finally it comes- she's going to be okay! The team bursts into cheers, while Scott Summers waits alone in a seperate room, breaking down in tears of thanks. The professor informs the team that Scott and he will preside over Jean while she is convalescing, and demands that they go off to take a forced vacation. Sean Cassidy, having just received word from his lawyer, Flaherty, that he has inherited the Cassidy ancestral home, suggests the five X-Men go to Ireland.

Banshee, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Wolverine jet off to Ireland and are taken on a very bumpy ride through the Irish countryside to Cassidy Keep, a huge castle on a promontory overlooking the sea. Unfortunately for the X-Men, inside the keep is the fearsome Black Tom, who is riding over his slave Eamon O'Donnell, reminding the man the power he has over him while he has his family members held captive. Black Tom forces O'Donnell to escort the X-Men into the castle and help lay the trap for their eventual murder.

O'Donnell helps the X-Men inside, and leads Storm to her room (where in the shadows lurks a small band of even smaller men!) She changes into a beautiful evening gown and receives the attention of Nightcrawler, who is changing his appearance from Rhett Butler to Fred Aistaire to Groucho Marx in a bid to impress her. The pair meet up with Banshee, Wolverine and Colussus in the hallway, when all of a sudden, the trap is sprung- the floor gives way beneath them! They find themselves at the feet of not only Black Tom but Juggernaut! While Black Tom heckles and taunts his cousin Sean Cassidy, Storm realizes she is deep within the bowels of the dungeon of the keep, and begins to shrivel up, a victim of oppressive claustrophobia.

(continued in X-MEN #102)

- -synopsis and panel images by Gormuu

- - panel scans provided by Jonathan Clarke, aka doesitmatter