Villain: Magneto

First Appearance: Angus MacWhirter, Ch'od, Corsair, Mutant X/Proteus (behind closed door)

Guest Appearance: Angus MacWhirter, Moira MacTaggart, Jamie Madrox, Polaris (flashback,) Havok (flashback,) Ch'od, Corsair, Lilandra

Cameo: Eric the Red (flashback,) Mutant X/Proteus, Dragonfly, Unus (all behind closed door), Misty Knight, Mr. and Mrs. Grey

Letters Page: Letters page coming soon!

Moira and Cyclops land on the island in the jet and race to check out how their teammates are doing. Moira explains the nature of the facility that Cyclops is astonished to never have known existed. She says that it's a research facility to cure evil mutants of their hatred of humanity, as well as to study their powers. They come across Jamie Madrox, passed out in the shadows. They awaken him and he explains what has happened: Eric the Red, along with Havok and Polaris, took over the facility by a surprise attack, and found the child Magneto (turned into an infant in Defenders #16.) He restored him to his natural age, and the two discussed an alliance to get back at Xavier. Cyclops races off at hearing Magneto is back in action, determined to make sure the new X-Men aren't being annihilated.

Magneto is busy tossing the X-Men around like toys. He's able to fling Wolverine and Colossus around with his powers over magnetism quite effectively, as well as counter-acting Storm's electrical powers with magnetic counter-interference. Colossus tries to stop Magneto with a large chunk of steel, but Magneto picks him up and hurls him miles away into the ocean. He's also able to sense Nightcrawler's movements along magnetic fields to anticipate where he will be porting. Only Banshee is able to stand up to him with a degree of effectiveness, but Magneto covers him in a film of ferrous fibers pulled from the air, suffocating him inside. Cyclops takes a surprise attack and bashes Magneto with a force beam. Magneto hides behind a force shield while Cyclops frees Banshee from his iron cloak.

Cyke realizes that this is all a trap to keep them occupied while Eric the Red attacks Professor X while he's alone. He rallies the team to head back to New York immediately, which draws the ire of Wolverine, who doesn't want to leave the battle with Magneto unwon. A fight between the two X-Men almost erupts, but they put it aside and recover Colossus before heading back to America. Meanwhile, the mutants under guard in Moira's facility are now free, including Dragonfly, as well as an unknown force called Mutant X, which glows inside its cell while Magneto realizes he has defeated the X-Men.

In outer space, the captain of the Starjammer discusses with his mate Ch'od about their plan to stop the emperor from opening a dimensional gate. In a related event, the ship from Xavier's nightmares speeds towards Earth, but is being followed by an imperial cruiser that is firing photon torpedos at it. And back in Greenwich Village, Professor Xavier settles in for a dinner with Jean Grey, her parents, and her roommate Misty Knight. Outside the window is Eric the Red and his partners Havok and Polaris, waiting to ambush them.

(continued in X-MEN #105)

- -synopsis and panel images by Gormuu

- - panel scans provided by Jonathan Clarke, aka doesitmatter