Excalibur # 71 - Crossing Swords

Wraparound cover with a 3D holographic of Nightcrawler coming right for you!

A Comrade's Return: A Friendship Lost

The issue opens with Nightcrawler and the Acolyte Spoor at each other's throats. Nightcrawler nearly loses control of himself and almost kills him due to Spoor's ability to emit psycho-stimulatory pheromones. Shadowcat and Phoenix (Rachel Summers) show up and console Nightcrawler and take the incapacitated Spoor back to Moira Mactaggert's Muir Isle HQ.

The X-Men- Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Professor X arrive from the States. Xavier asks Kitty to betray Colossus in order to retrieve him from the Acolytes. She initially refuses but Xavier manages to talk her into it.

Meanwhile on Magneto's Avalon, Exodus, Colossus, and Voght listen in on a transmission from Kitty inviting Colossus to take her from Muir Isle because she wants to join him and Magneto. Exodus allows him to go and tells Voght to bring him back in an hour.

At X-Force's base in Camp Verde, Arizona, Cable is pissed and talking with his computer "Professor" about mounting an attack on the Acolytes. He suspects Colossus is being lulled into a trap and the Professor remarks that Kitty and Colossus share a strong bond in a multitude of different time continuities. Cable asks the Professor to bodyslide him to Muir Isle.

Meanwhile back on Muir Isle, Nightcrawler has a talk with Cyclops about Moira and Proteus and the difficulties of being a leader. Most of the team having been lost, quit, or in a catatonic state, Nightcrawler wonders whats left of Excalibur.

Phoenix, on perimeter watch reflects on her parents and how much she enjoys seeing them when Jean Grey shows up for some mother-daughter from a different timestream bonding. Jean apologizes for her initial reaction to Rachel after her resurrection. Jean breaks the news that she plans on having a baby with Cyclops at some point to Rachel's delight.

Colossus arrives looking menacing in Acolyte purple and tells Kitty why he has joined the Acolytes. Cable climbs the side of a cliff on Muir Isle, having been not so accurately teleported by the Professor. Phoenix confronts Cable telepathically to Cable's surprise since he's been out of the reach of "psi-sensitives" in this timeline. Phoenix introduces herself to Cable as Rachel Summers (to Cable's shock) and Cable tries to play it cool as if it doesn't mean anything to him.

Kitty and Colossus have a conversation about her joining the Acolytes and she phases him so that he can't move. Nightcrawler puts him in shackles while Kitty looks on heartbroken.

Cable and Rachel come to blows and Cable buries her under a ton of rock. Phoenix time trips out of the rubble ten seconds into the future to avoid being crushed and then her body unpredictably turns into that of Captain Britain while flying toward Cable. Cable stops and wants to talk over why she knows who he is and why she called him Askani'Son. She comes to and hits him with a psionic blast, knocking him out. Rachel, able to communicate with the Professor asks the computer why she feels a connection to Cable but he does not answer her.

Back at Moira's HQ, the Acolytes Voght, Unuscione, and Katu arrive and are greeted by Nightcrawler. Inside, Professor X and Moira finishes up their treatment of Colossus, healing him from wounds suffered in Uncanny X-Men Annual 17 at the hands of the X-Cutioner. Colossus remains despondent and cries with Kitty over the loss of Illyana.

Outside, Cyclops, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler are battling with the Acolytes when Colossus walks out in human form for the first time in months. Colossus announces that he will honor his word to Exodus and return to the Acolytes in hope to persuade them to pursue a more peaceful path toward realizing their goal. Colossus scolds Professor X for not doing more for their kind while thanking him for showing him more than nihilism. Kitty and Colossus nearly kiss but he walks away and teleports back to Avalon with the Acolytes.

At sunset, the X-Men ready the blackbird and offer a ride to England to Excalibur. Nightcrawler explains that they will be staying with Moira, making Muir Isle their new base as the new Excalibur.