The Scott and Jean Archives
The police have located Hannah’s husband, Reverend William Connover and explained the day’s event that happened in town. Some “weird beasties” attacked Hannah, and the people with Hannah turned into “weird beasties” themselves to defend her. Then the X-Men arrived and saved the day. Reverend Connover fears that he might be losing Hannah but all he can to is pray for her safety.
Meanwhile, Hannah is still convinced that the only way is for her to die. She had thought her arthritis was going to be cured, but instead, she was “implanted with an embryo queen egg”. Part of her became the Brood queen, and she went on to infect others who sought to be healed like she was. Hannah’s human side resisted the urge to create more Brood. She is thus considered “unnatural, unclean” and the Brood empress sent assassins to kill Hannah. Wolverine is insistent on killing Hannah right there, but the rest of the X-Men are in favour of preserving Hannah’s life, to learn more about how she is able to fight the Brood, and use the knowledge to help cure the infected others.
Hannah is still trying to convince the X-Men that she has to take her own life. She tells her Brood to attack and the X-Men so she can make her escape when they are distracted. Having telepathically read Hannah’s thoughts, Phoenix realises that Hannah ran away to save the X-Men as the Brood assassins are nearby and planning to kill Hannah and her Brood in one fell swoop. The earlier attack in town was to gather them together. After Hannah has made her escape, her Brood flee without a word.
Wolverine chases after Hannah’s Brood. Phoenix goes after him to make sure he doesn’t kill Hannah. The rest split into two groups to cover more ground: Beast, Iceman and Bishop, and Storm, Cyclops and Cannonball.
Hannah as regrouped with her Brood, just as the Brood assassins track them down. The assassins attack and Hannah’s Brood defend her to the death. Hannah feels she has sinned having sacrificed her friends to the assassins. Just as she is about to surrender her life to the assassins, Wolverine appears and attacks the assassins. Phoenix protects Hannah as the rest of the X-Men arrive. But the assassins prove to be too strong. Cannonball flies Hannah away from the battleground and the X-Men find a chance to regroup and revise their strategy.
At that time, Reverend Connover sees the massive explosion in the distance. He assumes that the explosion was generated during the X-Men’s battle with the Brood asssassins. He makes no haste in driving there, but is ambushed by the assassins. They recognise him as Hannah’s mate, and hold him hostage.
During the battle, Iceman spots one of Hannah’s wounded Brood changing back into human form. He tries to save the wounded by lowering his body temperature to “prevent [him] from hemorrhaging to death”. When the X-Men were regrouping, Iceman mentions this to Beast and catches the attention of Phoenix. She suggests that Hannah be placed in a “cryogenic stasis” to trick the assassins into believing that Hannah is dead. This would buy them time to find a way to cure Hannah and the others. Wolverine is enraged that his team mates wouldn’t listen to him; Hannah is as good as dead, they wouldn’t find a way to cure her. The X-Men insist on trying. The only consolation Wolverine has is the Brood assassins are “fair game” since they aren’t human.
Cannonball has flown Hannah to a safe location. Hannah senses that the assassins have captured her husband. Enraged, Hannah transforms into the Brood queen and knocks out Cannonball. She resists infecting Cannonball with the Brood. The assassins have gone too far endangering the life of the one she loves.
Phoenix is alerted as she has lost telepathic contact with Cannonball. She also senses that Hannah has “given in to her Brood side”. The X-Men plan an immediate attack.
Hannah has tracked her husband down to a nearby cave. She attacks the assassins to protect her husband. Reverend Connover tries to reason with Hannah, but Hannah fears she has sinned beyond forgiveness. Hannah slowly reverts back to her human form. He doesn’t want Hannah to take her own life. They brace themselves for another attack by the assassins. Just then, the X-Men arrive and they take out the Brood. Phoenix seizes the opportunity to explain to Reverend Connover that they have a plan to save Hannah, “but it’s a little desperate”. He agrees and Iceman and Beast are called in.
As the assassins are distracted, Beast advises Iceman on how to proceed putting Hannah into a cryogenic state. Hannah bids her husband farewell. Phoenix numbs Hannah’s senses as Iceman completes the procedure. Sensing that Hannah is “dead”, the assassins believe that their mission is complete and they commit suicide.
Hannah’s body is brought back to the Xavier Institute for further study. Reverend Connover has faith that the X-Men will find a way to cure Hannah.
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