Magik fought alone for the control of Limbo. She was manifesting her Darkchilde appearance, with natural horns on her head. Sym had been infected with the Transmode virus by Magus, and attempted to infect Magik, but when she sliced through the infected area with her Soulsword a new patch of eldritch armour would appear. Sym teased her about Belasco being her father, but she cried that the only man she considered to be her father was Charles Xavier, and she plunged the Soulsword into the ground.
The Starjammers attempted to blend in and not be identified in a bar. As Professor Xavier and Lilandra discussed their responsibilities, he received the thoughts of a familiar person. He ran out of the bar and found Magik being offered as a slave at the local market. He assaulted the slaver alien and saved Magik with some help with Binary. With their cover blown, they hurriedly beamed back on board the Starjammer where Xavier was forced to apologise & explain his actions.
When Magik woke, Lilandra began to worry that Xavier would return to Earth with his student. At the dinner table she hurriedly explained what had happened, the latest baseball results and informed Corsair that he was a grand-father (see Uncanny X-Men issues 200 & 201). The Professor was hurt to learn about the Marauders attack on the Morlocks and how his X-Men had suffered casualties (See Uncanny X-Men # 211). She then told him about Limbo, and how when she drove the Soulsword into the floor she woke up in space. She cried into the Professor's lap as he theorised that by cleansing Limbo she had driven the demonic part of her soul out. This had allowed him to read her mind, which he had never been able to do before.
They began to plan how to save the New Mutants. The professor, Lilandra and Binary would accompany Magik as she teleported to rescue the rest of the team. In Limbo, the floor was covered in beautiful green grass and the sky was filled with clouds. However, the Soulsword was burning a pitch black, like Sunspot's mutant strength. Sym appeared to taunt her, but Binary attacked him. He absorbed her power and went to attack the Professor, causing Magik to grab the Soulsword and resume her emerging Darkchilde form. Sym managed to avoid Magik's attacks because of the shapeshifting abilities that came with the transmode virus, but fled. She then lunged the sword back into the floor and teleported them into the future.
High above the mutant metropolis, Cannonball, Cypher, Mirage & Warlock were held in a glass-walled cell. When the older versions of Sunspot & Magma appeared they argued and debated the society they had built. They were ready to have the New Mutants telepathically altered into accepting their society when Magik's stepping disc appeared. The Professor imparted some wise and condemning words to Sunspot, and they teleported away before more arbitrators could appear.
On the same spot, but in a different future, they teleported on top of a dormant volcano in the middle of Manhattan. There they found Magma, Karma, Sunspot & Wolfsbane fighting for their lives against a troop of sentinels. With the added reinforcements of Binary & the other New Mutants, they soon defeated the sentinels and rushed to give the Professor a group hug. Magik teleported them away just as Mirage and Sunspot exchanged some very cold glances as they considered how each other had grown into cold & calculating people.
However, returning to the present day in space, they found the Starjammer surrounded by flames. Magus had found them, and was tearing apart a nearby planet.
Cypher argued with Warlock that he couldn't just give up. Magus grew tired of waiting for Warlock to appear, so he grabbed the Starjammer and dragged it partially underwater. As the Starjammers use their blasters against Magus' many tentacles, the Professor began to use his telepathy to co-ordinate the New Mutants. Magma leapt onto a tiny rocky island to give her a greater affinity with the planet and fight to keep it held together. Cannonball flew her to safety and found Magma new places to stand whenever she was threatened. Magik teleported part of the tentacle away, freeing the Starjammer. Sunspot was frustrated that he couldn't do anything to help, but was touched by the fatherly way the Professor instructed him to remain calm and wait his turn.
Warlock finally plucked up the courage to face Magus. He transformed into an aerial gun-tank, but was easily swatted away. Sunspot caught him while Cypher appealed to the Professor to help save his best friend. Spurred by the Professor's words, Cypher had an idea. He attempted to give Warlock some of his own life energy to restore his strength, but Binary interjected and used her starbolts to recharge him instead.
The Professor boosted the mental abilities of Karma and Mirage. An illusion of Warlock, tall and strong, scared Warlock long enough for Karma to take control of Magus' mind. While under her control, Warlock & Cypher flew onto the Magus' shoulder. However, Karma was overcome and lost control, and the surface of Magus' skin turned into laser turrets and robotic defences. Binary flew over with Sunspot, and they used their strength to distract Magus' defences long enough for Warlock to hack into Magus. Cypher then decoded the programming in Magus, and rewrote it.
Magus roared in pain, and finally exploded. Warlock safely transported Cypher back to the Starjammer. Cypher explained that once he had decyphered the code that enabled Magus to form any shape, he was able to regress his programming. He returned Magus to the Technarch as a baby waiting to be born.
Warlock approached Professor Xavier and humbly thanked him for his help. Warlock expressed that the Professor was not just a teacher, but the kind & loving father that he had never had before. They hugged and the Professor returned the compliment addressing Warlock as 'son'.
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