We met Storm's team outside the old Weapon X base. The place was clearly alive with activity. Gaia's team had not yet arrived but we had no time to wait. Whatever Sinister and the Brood were up to, their plans could not be allowed to continue one second longer. Joe Fixit and Wolverine were busy in New York taking out the clone sleeper cells. That left the rest of us to move on Weapon X.

There were no active defenses as we entered the facility. Several passages ways split from the main chamber. Scanning telepathically I could sense no one, but there were obviously people here. I had us split into various teams to explore the base.

Magdalena took Cyclops and Colossus. Mystique, Storm and Beast went off down the left side tunnel. I had Vampirella, Phoenix and Gambit with me as we started down the main passage. The others broke up into smaller teams and picked different tunnels.

We hadn't gone very far before we encountered resistance. A large metal door slid open and Madelyne Pryor, the Goblyn Queen, appeared before us, surrounded by snarling Brood warriors.

"I zought she vas dead?" Gambit said in his faux-French accent.

"Obviously she's a clone," I answered.

"A clone of a clone. How pathetic," Vampi sneered.

"That bitch is mine!" Jean screamed, instantly rising into the air. Her body was covered in a layer of twisting flames as she charged at Pryor.

Somehow the Goblyn Queen was able to tap into the Phoenix Force, too. She met Jean's attack with equal ferocity. As the two flaming titans clashed, Vampirella and Gambit moved to engage the Brood.

Vampirella attacked with the grace of a jungle cat, her body a fluid stream of thrusts and parries as she cut down alien monster after alien monster. She managed to side-step all of their assaults without sustaining any injury. Gambit was not as lucky.

He energized several of his playing cards and flicked them at the rapidly approaching beasts. Though he managed to blow-up a few of them, they swarmed over him before he could recharge. Fortunately for him, I brought my Hoover Chair with fully loaded combat options this time. Flipping open the front panels, I had the electro-rods extend. Thermo lightening flew from the rounded balls on the end and blasted the Brood to kingdom come.

When the battle was over, all the Brood were down and Jean was standing over the once again lifeless body of Madelyne Pryor. I tried to reach the other teams telepathically but for some reason, I could not. Something in the structure of the base itself seemed to be preventing it.

We proceeded ahead, down into the bowels of Weapon X. When we finally reached the main control room, we found two Sinister's cackling like the mad-men they are. There were also two Sabertooths and two Wolverines standing next to them. The group stood before some kind of giant round cylinder stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Several Brood moved towards us. I noticed that Sinister held a long spear in his hand. It was the spear that Maggie had been carrying. She called it the Spear of Destiny.

Jean unleashed a tremendous blast of energy at the Brood and they were all thrown back. The Sinister Twins looked over at us with some concern. Just then all the other teams burst into the chamber. Though my telepathy did not seem to be working, I could feel the fear radiating from the Sinisters.

A panel slid open in the giant cylinder next to them. Bastion emerged from the doorway and waved them inside. We all started to move toward them but more Brood dropped from the ceiling. It didn't take long for our combined forces to destroy them, but they had managed to delay us long enough for the giant rocketship the Sinisters had entered to start to launch. We just managed to get under cover in time to avoid being fried by the back blast.

Jean telekenetically raised our entire group up the still smoldering shaft to the surface just in time for us to see the rocket receding off into space. Gaia's team arrived in Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator's Danger Sled at that very moment. I was able to reach her telepathically in time to tell her to keep the engine's running. We all got onboard Jon's ship.

"Follow that rocket!" I bellowed.