Uncanny X-Men #334

In Breakstone Lake, near the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, lurks the Juggernaut. He has made his way there from Colorado, after he was unable to reveal information that was locked inside his head to Archangel and Psylocke. He feels reluctant to actually go to the X-Men for help, due to his loathing of his stepbrother, Charles Xavier.

Juggernaut reflects on always being able to take what he wanted and smash through anything. How he’s never been afraid of anything… until Onslaught, who had attacked Juggernaut and nearly killed him. An underwater security camera starts panning in Marko’s direction. He smashes it before it can spot him.

Inside the mansion, Bishop is working on repairs to Cerebro after it was damaged by an overload. He’s astonished to find that much of the technology of Cerebro is the same as the time he comes from, which means that something must happen to stunt the development of technology within the hundred years between the present day and the future from which Bishop arrived.

His work is interrupted by the arrival of Gambit who Bishop refers to, for the first time, as “Remy”. In the past he has always addressed Gambit as “Gambit” or “LeBeau” due to Bishop’s mistrust of him. Bishop attributes this to being happy since Mister Sinister was able to extract memories from Bishop’s mind of an alternate timeline which proved Bishop wasn’t going crazy.

Gambit begins to question why Professor X, as the most powerful telepath on Earth, wasn’t able to help Bishop, but an intruder alarm from the lake interrupts the conversation, which suits Bishop as his loyalty to Xavier made him unhappy with Gambit’s train of thought. Bishop can detect no Mutant activity and decides to investigate and invites Gambit to join him.

Meanwhile, in the Danger Room, Cyclops is putting himself through a solo training session, designed to push him beyond his limits. He is unexpectedly joined by Jean Grey-Summers. She protects them from the Danger Room’s projectiles with her telekinetic power and tells Scott of her encounter with Onslaught. She says that she’s starting to forget some of what happened. Scott wants to take her to see Charles, but she resists and insists that she’ll talk to him in the morning, perhaps still a little unsettled by the revelation that Professor X, a father figure to her, was once in love with her.

In Colorado, at Archangel’s home, the effort to contact Professor X and warn him of Juggernaut’s arrival has proved fruitless, through both video communication and Psylocke’s telepathy. Betsy suggests her telepathy may have been affected by what happened to her when she was exposed to the Crimson Dawn. Archangel, already nursing his own injuries as well as looking after Betsy, finds it odd that his call wasn’t rerouted through Cerebro. Suspecting danger, Archangel suggests that he and Psylocke should go to Westchester to check on their friends.

In Westchester, Cannonball has gone to the Professor’s study. He apologises for what he perceives as him not being much help to Wolverine. Sam suggests maybe he isn’t cut out to be part of the X-Men as he doesn’t feel he’s making as much of a difference as he did when he was part of X-Force.

Instead of assurance he receives an uncharacteristic berating from Xavier. Xavier lists the dangers the team faces on a daily basis and reminds Cannonball that young Mutants are being beaten to death. Xavier then tells Sam that if he wants to go back to X-Force and not really achieve anything of merit then he should, but that if he wants to actually save the world then he should stop whining and get back to work. Sam, a little stung by Xavier’s words, takes his leave.

Outside of the mansion, Gambit and Bishop are travelling across Breakstone Lake by water skimmer to take readings, which identify no Mutant activity, and try to identify what caused the security camera to stop working. Gambit posits how much fun life at the mansion would be if it weren’t for the fact that the team always has to be aware of the hate some Humans have for them as Mutants.

Suddenly, from under the water, Juggernaut launches an attack. Bishop is rendered unconscious by the surprise attack. Gambit hits Juggernaut with kinetically charged playing cards, to no avail. Juggernaut easily sends Gambit skittering across the lake with a flick of his fingers and then drags Bishop back to shore. He intends to find the rest of the X-Men and enlist their help extracting the information about Onslaught.

Down in one of the medical rooms, observed by Iceman and Storm, Wolverine is being checked over after his recent transmutation by the alternate Beast who has replaced the Beast of this reality. The team still has no idea of the switch and the alternate McCoy is overwhelmed by how many different tasks his counterpart regularly undertakes. He begins to regret secreting himself amongst the X-Men as a way of hiding from Mister Sinister.

Under the pretense of the restraints failing, McCoy causes Logan to be freed in order to end the examination. Logan races off while suggesting he has other resources that might give him answers as to what’s happened to him. Storm, who has recently been through troubles of her own, decides to offer assistance to her friend. As she pursues Wolverine she encounters Cannonball hovering in the air in a corridor. He tells her that he wants to talk to her about the Professor and his earlier outburst.

In New Hampshire, Graydon Creed has been speaking at a rally to people supporting his campaign to be President. As he returns to a backstage area, Graydon wonders how his anti-Mutant supporters would feel if they knew that he was the Human son of two Mutants, Mystique and Sabretooth. Creed is confronted by Bastion who reprimands him for the way he handled the situation involving Senator Kelly. Creed argues with Bastion, but is ultimately put in his place.

Jean returns to the Lake House, after a change of clothes, and reflects on the fact that she’s starting to forget some of her memories from her encounter with Onslaught. She hears a noise outside and finds Gambit and Bishop unconscious. Also outside is Juggernaut who asks Jean for help unlocking the information in his head. Jean uses her telekinesis to hold Juggernaut in place and senses that he’s not struggling which means he’s not there to fight. He tells her he knows who Onslaught is, but can’t access that memory. As a show of his sincerity, Juggernaut removes the helmet which would prevent Jean from telepathically accessing his mind.

In the lower levels of the mansion is a place known as the War Room. Professor X is in the room looking at an image of X-Man and reflects that Xavier wouldn’t be able to do what he’s about to do if he hadn’t encountered Nate and had his telepathic essence pulled from the Astral Plane. Xavier hears a sound that announces a new arrival and removes the image from the screen. Cyclops enters the room, answering a summons from Xavier. Charles is, again, uncharacteristically harsh towards Cyclops, referring to him as a disappointment.

When Cyclops shows concern for Xavier, the Professor seems fearful and pleads with Cyclops to remain strong for Professor X and all the X-Men. He then vanishes, with Cyclops realising that Xavier’s presence was an astral projection. He then uses the computer to call Xavier’s study where, according to the computer, the Professor has been for forty-eight hours. Xavier tells Scott that this meeting between them was a test to make sure Cyclops is always prepared.

On a level below the mansion and above Morlock tunnels Jean, now in her X-Uniform, and Juggernaut are approaching a psi-shielded chamber. Jean tells Juggernaut that she hasn’t even told Scott of Cain’s presence since she doesn’t want anyone being able to telepathically get that message. Jean insists that here is where she’ll be able to help Juggernaut unlock the information about the identity of Onslaught.