A Nocturne's Tale

• Writer - James Calafiore
• Inker - eric cannon
• Colorist - Transparency Digital
• Lettering - Dave Sharpe
• Ass't Editor - Cory Sedlmeier
• Ass't Editor - Stephannie Moore
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  (T.J. reminisces about her universe:)

  Cyclops blames Wolverine for Jean's death; his Brotherhood attacks; X-Punk's Beast is the first down, punched out by Armageddon. Nightcrawler bamfs Wolverine to safety, telling Moira to put him into his exo-harness.

  T.J. has gone to rehearsal with her garage band, Butt Monkey. They're bad, and Kitty cringes, but T.J. wants to vent, still angry at her father.

  Rogue, who has absorbed the Fantastic Four's powers from the Super-Skrull, grabs Warlock and snaps him in two; Thunderbird punches her, but she blasts him with fire. Nightcrawler tries to reason with Cyclops, but Hyve reacts by instinct alone and attacks; Kurt teleports across the room, and the insects on him burst into flames.

  T.J. considers a tattoo but knows her father would kill her; she resents having him make all her decisions, even about becoming an X-Man. Kitty is typically optimistic and reminds her how great it is to be an X-Man. T.J. is annoyed: 15 years old and still smarter than her.

  Wolverine is unable to use the team's TK chips to communicate; he's worried Nightcrawler will get himself killed while trying to reason with Cyclops. Radioactive Man and Armageddon burst through the wall of the lab, and Cyclops follows, while Thunderbird spars with White Dwarf. Nightcrawler bamfs in Cyclops's way and tries to talk to him.

  T.J. has made a decision: cornrow braids. Kitty agrees her dad will freak.

  Cyclops sees Lucien and is shocked; Hyve instinctively attacks him, but he just blasts it to ashes and cheerfully tells Cyclops he's okay.

  T.J. drives back and sees smoke around the mansion. She nearly runs into the X-kids fleeing from Blob. T.J. rallies them, saying they're X-Men or will be. Iceman asks what happened to her hair. Blob is bored, having orders not to hurt anyone. The kids attack, but he laughs them off, but then T.J. jumps onto his neck, slams both his ears, and knocks him unconscious.

  Lucien's skeleton lies dead; Nightcrawler is outraged that Cyclops killed him, but he says Nightcrawler made the boy a walking time bomb, and he just cleaned up.

  Armageddon makes fun of Radioactive Man's name and cracks his containment suit; he explodes. Cyclops tells Kurt it's over and blasts him. Moira starts yelling at Cyclops, but he has Rogue shut her up.

  T.J. arrives with the kids. Cyclops blasts, Kitty phases through White Dwarf but keeps her shirt slightly solid, knocking him out. Rogue punches her; Iceman slams her. Cyclops blasts the other kids, asking if this is really T.J.'s plan. She tries to possess him but is repelled; he came prepared with a personal disrupter field.

  It's down to Cyclops and Wolverine. Cyclops blasts Wolverine's exo-harness and then holds him up by his shirt. He rants, blaming him for Xavier's and Jean's deaths, but Wolverine says Jean was really Cyclops's fault. Cyclops literally foams at the mouth; T.J., woozy, has seconds to act.

  Wolverine raises his hands and snikts Cyclops in the chest. Cyclops drops; Wolverine tells T.J. she can put him down now. She had possessed Armageddon and used his TK to manipulate Wolverine.

  Nightcrawler debriefs his daughter and apologizes for being too tough on her, but then he asks about the hair.

  T.J. has been describing all this to Clarice while they lie on a beach. T.J. is happy her father was finally proud of her. Clarice is disturbed by one thing: T.J.'s tail retracts.