(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, well, well. We're having ourselves a little reunion.
I believe, you know my associates, Marsh and Rat,
all the old, familiar faces.
Even the ever delightful Miss Frost is here.
Though, now, she's playing for the opposing team. Naughty girl.
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
(GRUNTS)
(GROWLING)
(GRUNTING)
Beast, Emma, stay with Sasaki.
(GASPS)
(GRUNTS)
(GRUNTING)
(GROWLING)
You going somewhere? (GRUNTS)
(LAUGHING)
Where is that man going? Who is he? Why is he here?
That's Mastermind of the Inner Circle.
What's the Inner Circle?
An organization of mutants,
established to protect mutant rights
and to advance their interests.
Which is a polite way of saying, they want to create
a new world order, with mutants on top,
and the rest of humanity groveling under their boot.
They're evil, and Mastermind's their leader.
He deceived you, made you think he was your assistant, Jun.
-But, the whole thing was an illusion. -Illusion?
He's not Jun Sanada?
-(GRUNTS) -(SCREAMS)
(GRUNTING)
(GROWLING)
(GRUNTING)
That's right, you better run away.
(GRUNTING)
(GROANING)
Wolverine!
(MONITOR BEEPING)
(GROANING) How did I...
Koichi! Hey, Koichi! Wake up!
(GROANING) What happened?
Riko, how in the world did I get here?
Search me, I've been asking myself the same thing.
I don't remember anything at all.
RIKO: What is it?
KOICHI: I don't know. I think we were both...
(EXPLOSION)
(GASPS) What's going on?
My mind against yours. We'll see who's stronger.
(GROANS)
(GROANING)
Too strong, it's no use.
But what would my students say?
No, I can't let them down. I have to keep fighting.
I'm an X-Man. And this ends now.
(GRUNTS)
(PANTS)
(GROANING)
(RAT SCREAMING)
(HISAKO GROANING)
(GRUNTS) Thanks for the third degree burns.
You were looking a little pale. I thought you could use a tan.
(EXHALES) Thanks a lot.
(GRUNTS)
Well, you can scratch Rat off our to-do list.
I wish I could say the same for Marsh.
Damn it. I thought I had him.
(SNIFFS) Yeah, well, wherever he's gone, he's out of range.
But I'm still smelling something rotten behind those doors.
I say, it's about time we find out what's in there.
Dr. Sasaki!
Doctor, what's been happening here?
First, Koichi and I wake up in the infirmary,
then we find that the laboratory's been half destroyed.
It's hard to explain.
Not really. Try the truth.
It's her custom virus.
It accelerates the very mutations it's designed to prevent.
-It does what? What are you saying? -Then we...
BEAST: Yes. First, Riko's mutant powers went out of control.
Then yours, Koichi.
(RIKO GASPS)
Don't worry, you're all right now. It's over.
I've treated you with a drug cocktail I've developed
to counteract the virus.
Your DNA has been fully stabilized.
RIKO: But... But, Doctor...
KOICHI: How could this have happened? What went wrong?
I wish I knew. We failed.
All I can say is, I'm sorry.
And that's it?
I'm so sorry.
And there's another thing, Doctor.
Something else you need to answer for.
Namely, this apparatus. Can you explain its purpose?
-(SASAKI HESITATES) -BEAST: Very well, I will.
This is what you use, to prevent anyone
from registering the local mutant population.
Perhaps, a demonstration is in order.
As I thought, the device detects any attempt to scan for the X-Gene.
Then, it somehow blocks or scrambles the scan,
essentially cloaking this area from any sort of outside probe,
whether electronic or telepathic in nature,
ultimately creating a giant dead zone.
(POWERING DOWN)
Do I have that about right? Feel free to jump in anytime.
So, this is what was giving the Professor trouble.
Why Cerebro couldn't detect anything
because this thing was jamming up their scans.
The worst part is, that you clearly knew you had something to hide.
Why else would you want to black out this entire area?
And what that means to me, is that you've suspected
something was going horribly wrong
with your research, for a long time.
Lady, are you insane?
Actually, I kind of hope so, for your sake.
Because, I can't believe any sane person could've been so damn stupid.
Dr. Sasaki?
Did you two know what was going on?
KOICHI: Well... Uh...
You're mutants, for God's sake.
-You just stood by and let her... -Later.
We need to focus on Mastermind.
Now, what's behind that door, Doctor?
There was something Mastermind said to me
while he was still disguised, as your research assistant.
Research assistant? Wait, you mean Jun?
I'm confused, what are you saying?
That Jun wasn't really Jun, or what?
You two will just have to try and catch up.
I thought Jason and the Inner Circle
had given up their insane schemes since I left them.
But I couldn't have been more wrong.
EMMA: Mastermind found out about the strange uptake in mutant activity,
here, in Northern Japan.
Not only that, he discovered that a great, untapped power,
as he called it, was behind it all.
Naturally, Jason wasn't going to leave something like that alone.
So he came here,
and wormed his way into Dr. Sasaki's confidence,
hoping to find the source of it.
And from what he told me, he did.
JUN: I discovered that the source of the power is right here,
behind these very doors.
Could be he was wrong.
Or maybe he made the whole thing up.
But I doubt it.
Listen, Doctor, if you know anything about this, you better spit it out.
Cyclops is quite right. Think of what's already happened,
how much damage has been done.
It would be grossly irresponsible of you to hide anything from us,
especially, now that we know Mastermind is involved.
Dr. Sasaki...
(SCOFFS) Forget it, this is a waste of time.
WOLVERINE: I vote we go in there,
and I start stabbing anything that moves, till it don't.
-YUI: Wait... -What?
You're right, it is in there.
The source of the power. But you don't understand.
The power itself is terrible, but what's behind it is innocent.
He's just a boy...
YUI: He's the reason I began developing my custom virus.
All of my work has been for him.
So what you're saying is, the source of this remarkable power is a mutant?
Something odd one of the U-Men said...
It's starting to make sense to me now.
You won't need any device to find it. Not this one.
No, when this monster finds you, believe me, you'll know it.
I wonder, how did he come to know so much about it?
And why did he have a Cerebro-like scanner,
that was able to function even in this dead zone you'd created?
I think I know.
The U-Men were working for you, weren't they?
-Say, what? -(GASPS)
My work required mutant tissue.
I couldn't develop the viral serum without it.
The U-Men harvested the tissue I needed.
(SNARLS)
And you, you two knew about this harvesting, and did nothing?
KOUICHI: Well... RIKO: Uh...
I knew you wouldn't understand.
That's why I had to cloak this area from your scanners.
If Charles found out what I was doing, he'd only try and stop me.
You think?
I've lost more than a few organs to the U-Men, lady,
and it ain't harvesting, it's butchering.
These guys have mutant blood on their hands, and so do you!
(WHISPERING) No, I can't believe it.
I can't believe you'd do such a...
That does it, I've heard enough!
Time to do some harvesting, of my own!
No, wait...
Please, you have to try to see it from her point of view.
Yeah? What point of view justifies working with those mutant-hating scum?
She wanted to keep her hands clean.
If she didn't hire someone like the U-Men,
she'd have to do the butchering herself.
(GRUNTS)
What could I do? It was the only choice I had.
Not true.
We scientists are no different than the rest of humanity.
Just like every other rational being,
we can choose not to do something when we know it is wrong.
It's when we put the interest of science above human decency
that the world suffers.
As we've learned.
Instead of hiding,
didn't you ever even consider turning to Professor X for help?
You two were close once, weren't you?
Just cut the crap.
When are you going to tell us who it is that's behind those doors,
and why you're protecting him?
Mmm-mmm.
Whoever you've got hidden back there,
Mastermind's in there with him right now.
If we're going to stop him,
you've got to quit wasting our time and start talking.
(SOBBING)
WOLVERINE: Well, that hit a nerve, I guess. Let's go.
What could it mean?
The closer I get to those doors, the more this thing hurts.
(GASPING)
-(RAPID FOOTSTEPS) -(GASPS)
MASTERMIND: Finally!
I was starting to get impatient.
We were about to begin without you.
-Takeo. -Huh?
Who's that?
He's my son, and Charles is his father.
-He's Chuck's kid? -That's his son?
Of course, I'm not surprised.
We didn't know.
We thought he was just a patient, not Dr. Sasaki's son!
I'm not surprised. I bet the Professor doesn't even know about him.
He didn't. Not until I told him shortly after you all arrived.
You see, the dashing young professor and the starry-eyed doctor
met at a conference in Japan some years ago.
The cherry blossoms were in bloom and love was in the air.
Cue the violins.
As Jun, I was your confidante, remember?
Wait, what's he talking about?
The person you knew as Jun Sanada was a psionic illusion.
It was really Mastermind all along.
Bravo. Now, when we last left the Doctor,
she was a pregnant, but starry-eyed idealist,
with a dream of helping mutants.
She built a school to provide mutants with a safe haven,
from this big, bad world.
But, then, her own son started showing,
he didn't fall too far from the X-Tree.
A little too close to home, for the good doctor, and poof!
No more idealistic dream.
She began seeking a cure for what she called "the mutant condition."
Luckily, she found two mutants with enough self-loathing to be willing to help her.
Her dutiful lab assistants.
-Oh, no. -(KOICHI GASPS)
MASTERMIND: She hit upon the idea of a custom virus
that would eradicate the mutant part of our DNA.
Unfortunately, she would need great quantities of living mutant tissue
in order to produce the serum.
Some would have been put off by this obstacle, but not our doctor.
Knowing that the U-Men hate mutants as much as they enjoy murder,
she hired them to do her vivisecting for her.
What she didn't know, was that I was following everything that went on
because the U-Men were working for me as well.
(GASPS)
You know, you make me sick.
Since when did the U-Men decide to start cooperating with mutants?
They were just as gullible as you,
believing an illusion that made me appear to be one of them.
They weren't working with the enemy
because they had no idea I was the enemy.
(SNARLS)
MASTERMIND: But little Takeo here is the important one.
The first mutant with Omega-class powers,
-since the late, lamented Jean Grey. -(GASPS)
For far too long, mutants have been a despised minority.
All we've needed was someone like Takeo to come along,
in order to secure our rightful position
at the top of the evolutionary food chain.
And now he's here, and he's ours.
What have you done to him?
Thanks to you, I've had months to work on his mind,
breaking it down, little by little.
-All this time behind our backs? -You monster!
Ah, Neuron. Now here's a real monster.
Neuron. He's the White Bishop of the Inner Circle.
(SCOFFS)
-Watch out! No! -(GROANING)
(CHUCKLING)
(SCREAMING)
-(EXPLOSION) -WOLVERINE: What the hell?
-They're dead. Both of them. -YUI: No!
Riko! What have you done?
What have I done?
Hey, cut it out. It was all me.
Stop trying to take credit.
I have this wonderful way of showing people what pain feels like.
-You're dead! -(GASPS)
Don't forget, his powers are capable
of overriding a person's neural pathways.
I can crank up all your senses to levels you never dreamed of.
Tell you what... (SLURPS)
I'll make the sound of a pin dropping a mile off so loud
it'll burst your eardrums.
Or even better, give you a teeny little pinch
so painful that you'd die of shock.
Yeah. Pinch this, jackass.
(PANTING)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Warning. Unstable descend trajectory.
Impact imminent. Impact imminent.
Now, then.
Enough moping about, boy, let's get this party started. Come on.
-No, don't! -(GROWLS)
(GRUNTING)
(GROANING)
(SCREAMING)
MASTERMIND: Now, Takeo!
Go on. Bring an end to all your suffering
by releasing the power raging within you.
(GROANING)
Takeo!
(GROANING) My hand! Why is it...
(GROANING)
(GLASS CRACKING)
(GRUNTS) What the...
MAN 1: Good Lord! What is that?
MAN 2: It's got to be those damn mutants again!
Can you feel it? It's barely started,
and already the Earth begins to tremble.
(GRUNTING)
(GROANING)
No interruptions now, not if you value your friends' lives.
(GASPS)
Besides, where are your manners?
The boy is just getting started.
(GROANING)
(SCREAMING)
STORM: As he draws closer to his goal of global supremacy,
Mastermind proves as good as his name,
holding the X-Men at bay, while unleashing the power of young Takeo.
But can this power be controlled even by Mastermind,
or has he started the countdown to Armageddon?
Or can Takeo's mother and father, Dr. Sasaki and Professor X,
get through to the boy, before it's too late?
Next time on X-Men... "Revenge."