X-MEN: INSURRECTION #1
CROSSING OVER: PART I
[A full-page spread of space – in the center is planet Earth, encircled by round frames showing scenes from mankind’s past.]
1. CAPTION: Man. The universe’s greatest mystery. Inventors. Creators. Killers. Creatures that have so often defined themselves through destruction and suffering.
2. Destiny, they believe, is a fallacy. A construct too binding, too frightening; a prison from which none may escape. Rather than Fate, they choose to lock themselves within the walls of something equally as intangible.
3. Time.
4. It holds us in some semblance of normality, some semblance of sanity. A way through which we measure our lives, through which we deceive ourselves into believing we are safe within the insignificant boundaries of our own existences.
PANEL
1
[Close up of Bishop’s face, eyes closed calmly in meditation.]
1. The X-Man named Bishop knows better.
[Pan out – he is meditating with Gateway in the dreamscape.]
2. Time is liquid, malleable. Moment A touches moment B touches moment Z.
3. The limits aren’t within Time itself. The limits lie within our own minds.
[Bottom half of page shows a full-frontal Bishop sitting cross-legged, meditating. Beside him are sitting similarly positioned alternates of himself.]
4. In the dreamscape, that truth is painfully obvious to Bishop.
5. Behind him is the past; in front of him the future.
6. And to the sides…alternate versions of himself.
7. From other realities.
1. He has come here to meditate.
2. BISHOP: - [thinking] Strange to think that despite the meticulous order of our everyday lives, a man may feel more peace, more hope in this dreamworld; in a place where there are no boundaries to hold us in. Perhaps that is what we fear. Freedom. And the knowledge that with it comes the responsibility to make our own decisions, instead of adhering to those of others.
3. And here I am, seeking answers.
4. [Continued from Panel 1] Seems a long time ago I met Psylocke here. She was meant to be dead, but no doubt about it - it was her. Why do I come here then? In some vain belief that she will appear again and put all these questions to rest?
[Aloud, to an ever-silent Gateway] There is still so little that I understand.
Gateway gazes upon Bishop, a knowing look in his eyes – but as usual no words spill from his lips.
5. CAPTION: Yet even though Gateway makes no answer, Bishop knows half the truth already. That questions are useless. That sense as we know it has no relevance in this world between the waking and the unconscious.
6. BISHOP [thinking]:- If only I could see her again. If only I could ask her the truth. Who are we? Where are we going? Why do we think we know what we know?
A portal of light opens up to Bishop’s right, slowly engulfing the Salvador Dali-like scenery. Bishop gets to his feet, shocked.
7. BISHOP: What the…?!
Through the portal of light a strange woman is running. She is dressed like Bishop, about his age, but white, with blonde hair with the odd braid in her mid-length locks. She has the same ‘M’ branded onto her forehead that Bishop has.
The woman jumps clear of the expanding portal of light and straight into Bishop’s arms. It is strangely like looking into himself.
7. WOMAN: Bishop! Thank God you’re here too!
Bishop is confused – he has a lot of questions, but no time to get them all out. The woman looks over her shoulder at the light.
1. BISHOP: Who the hell are you?! And how do you know my name?!
2. WOMAN: Well, you’re a lot dumber than I thought you’d be.
3. BISHOP: What…? Lady, this is no time for joking. How did you and that…thing get here?!
Close up of woman’s face – she is sweating as though she has been running far, fast.
4. WOMAN: How do you think? Through Gateway, same as you! Look, there’s no time to explain. Destiny’s after me!
5. BISHOP: Destiny’s after us all, lady. Now aren’t you gonna tell me who the hell you are?!
6. WOMAN: So God help me…I’m you!
7. BISHOP: What?! Me?!
They are almost grappling with each other. The light is steadily growing behind them and the woman is becoming frantic as she replies to him.
8. WOMAN: Don’t give me that Bishop! You of all people should know how many realities, how many universes there are out there! You came back from the future and into the past, didn’t you?! A past where the legends of your youth lived, fighting to prevent the very world that you were a product of! I know because it happened to me too! I was there! In my own reality!
Bishop is speechless. His alternate looks over her shoulder at the light. The landscape is being ripped apart in its wake and being reassembled into a chaos. Nearby Gateway looks on, seemingly unperturbed.
1. WOMAN: We’ve got to hurry! Destiny’s coming!
2. BISHOP: I don’t understand! Time…Destiny is always coming! What do you want me to do?!
3. WOMAN: Come back to my reality, take my place! Ahab has already marked me – I’m not going to survive! Go back and take my place! Don’t let destiny take you!
4. CAPTION: For a moment he hesitates. The name that the woman – his alternate self – has uttered takes him by surprise. In another defunct world, Ahab was known as a mutant hunter, a ruthless killer. In Bishop’s world, he is known as a harmless scientist named Rory Campbell.
5. But the name Ahab is verification in itself. The woman is telling the truth.
Close up of woman’s face – Bishop is reflected in her blue eyes.
6. CAPTION: He looks into her eyes and sees himself there. Scars he bore himself, others he has not even experienced. He does not understand her words. But, in the end, it makes no difference. They are doomed.
The light has grown and catches the woman, just as Bishop releases her from his grasp and backs away. Like the rest of the landscape she is ripped apart.
7. CAPTION: In a split second she is swept away in a chronal anomaly, ripped out of existence, out of Time itself, molecule by molecule, all in an instant.
Bishop turns to flee from the encroaching light. Full shot of him racing, panicked. Gateway sits nearby calmly.
8. CAPTION: Bishop has no time to ask questions.
9. He knows he too will be caught up in the tidal wave that will, inevitably, also mark his ultimate demise.
PANEL
1
Close up of Bishop’s face, sweating, frantic. Over his shoulder we can see Gateway’s silhouette being swallowed up by the light.
1. CAPTION: For a wild moment he hopes that Gateway has made it out alive.
Rest of page shows the light having taken over Bishop, his body being torn apart by the chronal anomaly; only his face, screaming and in pain, can be seen unscathed the light.
2. CAPTION: Then all falls into blackness.
PANEL
1
Close-up of a smartly-dressed news anchorwoman on TV.
1. NEWSWOMAN: And this news just in – A live team has been sent to discover the truth behind the latest mutant uprising in the South-East Asian nation of Madripoor, where six people have already been killed and twenty-two others injured in a clash between mutants and Freedom for Genosha protestors.
TV shows scenes of humans screaming violently and holding placards saying various anti-mutant slogans such as ‘DOWN MUTIES’ and ‘GENOSHA WAS JUSTIFIED!’.
1. NEWSWOMAN: Since the Fall of Genosha nearly six months ago, rumours have been circulating that its former president, Erik Magnus Lensherr, has been responsible for the recent rash of anti-mutant riots.
TV shows a picture of the man known to the X-Men as Magneto, no longer in his usual red and purple costume and now dressed smart and respectably in a suit and tie.
1. NEWSWOMAN: However, there is still no evidence that he survived last year’s UN military attack on Hammer Bay, the battle that effectively brought his presidency to an end.
TV now shows Viper, still dressed in her tight green leather swimsuit and garish green makeup. We see that ambulances are drawn up behind her, bringing in the wounded.
1. NEWSWOMAN: Madripoor’s sovereign, Lady Viper, has promised that a full-length investigation will be made into finding the ringleaders of today’s riot.
2. And now, Trish Tilby, reporting live from Madripoor.
Bottom part of page filled with a panned-out shot of the X-Men Beast, Jubilee, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm sitting comfortably around a coffee table, watching the TV. In the background we see Trish Tilby making her live report. Beast is sitting with a book in his hands. Jubilee, sitting nearest to the TV, calls back to him.
1. JUBILEE: Hey, Hank! Your girlfriend’s on!
2. JEAN: [smiling slyly] Fiancée, to be exact, Jubilee.
3. BEAST: I’m never going to live this down, am I?
4. STORM: Do not take it so seriously, my friend. It is only because we are so happy for you, that is all.
PANEL
1
Beast smiles as he replies to Ororo. In the background, Jubliee fiddles with the volume button, turning the TV up higher.
1. BEAST: Not as happy as I am, Ororo. All my life I never thought I’d meet anyone I could love, least of all who could love me in return. But now…
Close up of Jubilee, looking engrossed in the TV report.
2. TRISH TILBY: …As yet, there has been no evidence to suggest that Erik Lensherr is involved in this uprising. However, questions have been raised over the fact that his body was never recovered from the ruins of Hammer Bay last year…
3. JUBILEE: Hey guys, you think Magneto could still be alive?
Cyclops, his arm about Jean, looks up sarcastically.
4. CYCLOPS: Erik Lensherr, Jubilee, not Magneto. He gave up that name when he became the president of Genosha and the benevolent ‘spiritual leader’ of the mutant race, remember?
5. JEAN: [warningly] Scott…!
6. CYCLOPS: I’m sorry Jean, but after all we’ve been through trying to bring humans and mutants together, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to have Magneto, our age-old enemy, drive a wedge as deep as the Grand Canyon between us again, isn’t it?
7. JUBILEE: Yeah but seriously, Cyke, they never found his body, did they! And Quicksilver survived the battle too, didn’t he Storm!
A close up of Storm – her face is tinged with a deep sadness.
8. STORM: Only because I was there to save him, Jubilee. And he made it quite clear to me that he would rather have been left in Genosha’s ruins to die. Who knows where he is now?
Storm stands up and walks to the door. The others look guilty and silent.
9. STORM: Now if you will excuse me, I have an interview with the professor that I need to keep.
Storm leaves, and Jubilee looks at the others, confused.
10. JUBILEE: Something I said?
11. JEAN: She’s still hurting, Jubilee. You know how close her and Quicksilver once were.
PANEL
1
Jubilee looks sheepish
1. JUBILEE: Oh yeah…
Jean puts a hand on Jubilee’s shoulder.
2. JEAN: Don’t worry, Jubilee. She’ll live. We all did, didn’t we.
3. JUBILEE: Yeah. Some of us.
Close up of the anchorwoman on the TV again.
4. NEWSWOMAN: And in related news, the continuing and mysterious disappearance of mutants has claimed yet another victim – Detective Laura Bishop of the Australian Federal Police, also affiliated with the mutant international superhero outfit known as the X-Men.
The X-Men frame the panel, looking on in shock at the TV. On the screen is a portrait photo of the woman and team member they know as Bishop.
5. NEWSWOMAN: Recent inexplicable disappearances have included Monet St. Croix, also known as M, and Jason Wyngarde, also known as Mastermind. Despite extensive searches and thorough investigations, their whereabouts are still unknown.
6. An anti-mutant conspiracy perhaps?
7. As yet, our questions can only remain unanswered…
PANEL
1
Professor X is in his office, looking out of a brightly lit window. We see his room, clean, neat and well-ordered, plush yet not ostentatious. He looks tired and worn.
1. CAPTION: Things have not been going well for Professor Charles Xavier recently.
2. For the past six months he has been living in a kind of stasis, watching the subtle balance between mutants and humans fall to lower depths than he could ever have imagined.
3. Since the Fall of Genosha – the anti-mutant war that was waged between the UN and the mutant-inhabited country governed by Erik Magnus Lensherr – the division between the two races has been wedged even deeper.
4. During the war, hundreds had died, on both sides. Sacrificed to hate, to the continued legacy of violence.
To the side of the room, a door opens, and Xavier looks up to see an attractive red-haired woman enter, smiling brightly.
5. And now mutants are not only being lynch-mobbed.
6. They are disappearing.
7. XAVIER: Moira?
8. CAPTION: And not even the powers of Cerebro can find them.
Moira stands behind Xavier and massages his shoulders.
9. MOIRA: You’re tense, Charles. Been a tryin’ day, has it?
10. XAVIER: Something like that, Moira.
11. MOIRA: Anythin’ you care to tell me ‘bout?
Xavier looks up at her, smiling tiredly.
12. Not right now, dear. I’ve just been concerned about these recent mutant riots, that’s all. Nothing I won’t recover from, given time.
PANEL 1
Moira backs away, smiling.
1. CAPTION: As a friend, the Scottish scientist, Moira McTaggert, knows Charles Xavier well enough to know when he not telling the truth.
2. As his wife, she knows when and when not to push the issue.
3. MOIRA: Suit yourself.
There is a knock at the door. Xavier looks up.
4. XAVIER: Come.
Ororo, a.k.a. Storm, enters into the room, looking expectant.
5. STORM: You wanted to talk to me, Professor?
6. XAVIER: Ah, Ororo. Yes, I did. Take a seat.
He turns to Moira.
7. XAVIER: Moira?
8. MOIRA: [putting hands up] Yes, I know – business. Charles, I’ve been involved in this X-Men malarkey long enough not t’ be shocked anymore.
9. I don’t want to worry you, dear.
Moira kisses his cheek.
10. I know. This isn’t my idea of ‘interesting’ anyway. I’ll be in the lab if you need me.
Moira leaves. Ororo looks at him with eyebrows raised.
11. STORM: You spoil her, Charles.
12. XAVIER: Simply making up for wasted time, Ororo.
13. STORM: I understand. [pause] And what is this ‘business’ you wanted to discuss?
Close up of Xavier’s face – his expression is suddenly grim.
1. XAVIER: Business isn’t exactly how I’d like to describe it, Ororo. [pause] There’s been another disappearance.
Ororo looks shocked.
2. STORM: Another one?!
Shot of the two of them talking across the table.
3. XAVIER: Yes. And not just anyone – Bishop.
4. STORM: Bishop?!
5. XAVIER: I’m afraid so. I’ve just had a report from Madripoor. Wolverine and Rogue lost her.
6. STORM: But how?
Xavier balances his chin on his hand, his face pensive.
7. XAVIER: Still unknown. Gateway teleported them to the Madripoor riot as was planned. But when they arrived at the other end, Bishop was simply no longer there.
8. STORM: She disappeared?! Didn’t they see anything, hear anything?!
9. XAVIER: Apparently not. It’s a mystery. Even Cerebro can find no trace of her.
Storm looks devastated. Xavier comfortingly puts a hand over hers.
1. XAVIER: I’m sorry, Ororo. I called you here by yourself because I knew how much Laura meant to you personally.
Storm raises her head fiercely, but there are tears in her eyes.
2. STORM: She was my best friend, professor! And as an X-Man, she was family! That makes her irreplaceable!
She bangs the table, unable to stop the tears from welling over.
3. STORM: It’s not fair, Charles! First Pietro, now Laura! What if one of the rest of us is next?!
Storm drops her head into her hands in despair. Xavier’s face is grim.
4. XAVIER: We can only pray that will not be the case, Ororo. We can only pray.
PANEL
1
We look upon a full-page close-up bird’s eyes view of Madripoor, looking over the tall skyscrapers shining bright with the lights of the city, the buildings stretching out even to the edges of a harbour filled with dark green water. It is almost like Hong Kong in its beauty and majesty, as awesome from the sky as it is from the ground. However, not all is well down below. From between the buildings, wisps of thick, black smoke are billowing out into the night air.
1. CAPTION: Madripoor. One of South-East Asia’s biggest business centres, also renowned worldwide as a haven for any drug or crimelord worth his salt.
2. Right now it is a veritable slaughterhouse. Sixteen certified dead, fifty-six injured in this latest anti-mutant demonstration turned violent riot. All as a vengeful response to those two hundred and thirty-nine human soldiers and civilians killed in the Fall of Genosha. All in a bid to add to the two hundred and nineteen mutants slain in that very same battle.
3. The X-Men known as Wolverine and Rogue had been sent in to quell the rising violence.
Insert of a close-up of Wolverine and Rogue’s faces, dirty and scratched. The Fantastic Three (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Thing) stand a little way behind them in much the same state.
4. By the time they’d got there – along with the Fantastic Three – it had already been too late.
5. And missing one member of their team – Bishop – had not helped.
Top third of the page shows a city street in chaos. Buildings sport smashed windows and spray-painted anti-mutant slogans; cars have been battered; ambulances with flashing lights litter the sidewalks; paramedics are wheeling in the wounded and shocked. To the right hand of the panel, the X-Men Wolverine and Rogue look on the devastation with the Fantastic Three.
1. INVISIBLE WOMAN: Well that didn’t turn out well. Seemed like another mini-Genosha than anything else.
Wolverine pops his claws back into his fist casually.
2. WOLVERINE: Yeah. We all survived this time though. Not like flamin’ Alpha Flight.
3. MR. FANTASTIC: Hmph. Poor Northstar’s still not quite got over the loss yet, or so I hear.
Wolverine grits his teeth.
4. WOLVERINE: Yeah. Well boyo’s takin’ it easy in X-Corporation now. Sure wish I was in his shoes right ‘bout now.
Rogue looks over her shoulder and sees a badly bruised demonstrator climbing over a pile of rubble towards them, a gun in his hand. Although obviously on his last leg, there’s evidently still some fight left in him.
5. ROGUE: Guys…Looks like we have incoming.
PANEL
1
The man raises his gun, brandishing it wildly, due to double vision – but it is clear he has his sights set on Wolverine.
1. MAN: I saw yer with those claws, yer freak! Yer one o’ them, ain’t ya!
2. WOLVERINE: Put the gun down, kiddo. There’s been enough killin’ round here for one day.
Close up of man, rage and hate in his eyes.
3. MAN: Not near enough for all those human martyrs that died in Genosha, mutie! And yer gonna pay for all those heroes your filthy kind slaughtered!!
The man aims to shoot the gun at Wolverine, but Wolverine calmly kicks it out of the already bloody man’s hand.
Wolverine turns his back on the man. Enraged, the man grabs at a steel pipe at his feet and swings it. Wolverine dodges, but is too late. Hit, he skims back into a pile of rubble.
PANEL
1
Rogue grabs the steel pipe before the man can hit Wolverine while he’s down.
1. ROGUE: Now that was uncalled for, sugah!
She tries to disarm him, but the man has a surge of strength and pushes her back, catching her by surprise. He swings the pipe at her, but the metal simply bounces off her arm.
2. ROGUE: Now you’re makin’ the big mistake.
Rogue quickly slips a glove off and touches the man. With a groan, he falls unconscious.
The group stand around the fallen man as Logan gets up and Rogue puts her glove back on.
3. THE THING: Nice work.
4. ROGUE: Ah didn’t wanna have to do that, but the guy gave me no choice.
5. WOLVERINE: Thanks for the help there, Rogue.
6. ROGUE: Anytime, Logan.
As Wolverine and Rogue depart from the Fantastic Three, a psychic message is received from Jean Grey.
1. JEAN: How’s everything going, Rogue?
2. ROGUE: Nearly done, Jean. Anything up?
3. JEAN: The Professor needs you here. Can the Fantastic Three handle things on their own?
4. WOLVERINE: Seems so, Jeannie. Everythin’s just about wound up down here. Nothin’ we couldn’t handle.
5. JEAN: Good to hear it. The Blackbird’s being sent to pick you up. Sounds like Charles has got a very important meeting planned. He want’s the whole of Team Alpha here.
6. ROGUE: Any luck finding Bishop?
7. JEAN: No joy, I’m afraid. That’s why you’re needed here. There’s a lot that needs to be discussed.
8. CAPTION: Later, in the War Room…
We see a close up of the faces of various different mutants on a screen in the War Room.
9. XAVIER: Apocalypse, Selene, Mastermind, M, Thunderbird, Callisto, Cecilia Reyes.
We pan out to see Charles Xavier turning to face his gathered X-Men
10. XAVIER: Just a few of the mutants that have disappeared in the past eighteen months. [pause] And now Bishop.
Shot of the X-Men sitting around their conference table.
1. STORM: Any clue as to what happened to her?
2. WOLVERINE: Nothing, ‘Ro. We just walked through the portal and out the other end. Only difference was, when we got out Bishop wasn’t with us. No trail, no trace. Flamin’ mystery of the century you got there, if y’ ask me.
3. CYCLOPS: But if Cerebro can’t find these missing mutants, then where could they be?
4. BEAST: The only logical explanation would be to suppose that they’re somewhere where Cerebro can’t find them. In other words, not on planet Earth.
5. ROGUE: Well, we were in the dreamscape when Bishop was taken. Maybe she got lost in there or somethin’.
6. STORM: If that is so then we could presume that Gateway would be able to get her out again.
Jean suddenly doubles over with a cry. Cyclops catches her quickly, the concern clear on his face.
7. CYCLOPS: Jean! What is it?!
Close-up of Jean’s face, in great pain.
8. CYCLOPS [off-panel]: Jean…?
9. JEAN: A mental distress call…Violent…Desperate! It’s…it’s Bishop!! She’s alive!!
PANEL
1
Close-up of Bishop’s eyes, wide open, staring, as though unseeing.
1. CAPTION: Bishop is dreaming. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he knows something is wrong.
2. Because he – or she – has memories he/she shouldn’t remember, because logically he/she has never experienced them.
Bishop – the alternate female version – has fought Trevor Fitzroy. She has been wounded by him, nearly fatally. He is walking away from her, his back to her.
3. FEMALE BISHOP: Don’t you walk away from me!
4. FITZROY: You should be thanking God I didn’t rip the life out of you, Bishop.
An inset, of Bishop’s eyes, even closer up now. Images are playing inside his pupils.
The image of Fitzroy has shifted. The female Bishop is now dancing in a nightclub with Storm.
5. FEMALE BISHOP: So is it true? About you and Forge, I mean?
6. STORM: Perhaps.
7. FEMALE BISHOP: But I thought…After Pietro and everything…
8. STORM: I know, Laura. But there comes a time when one must move on. Am I right?
Again a close up of Bishop’s face, but further away now, his eyes still wide and staring.
9. CAPTION: As the words dissipate Bishop realizes what has happened. Somehow his life, his memories have been grafted – meshed – into another’s. Into that of a woman who shares his name. A dead woman, ripped apart by the fabric of Time itself.
10. CAPTION: There is something strangely perverse about the whole thing. Something inherently wrong.
11. CAPTION: By all rights, he should be dead too.
12. CAPTION: …Was he dead…?
PANEL
1
Again a close-up of Bishop’s face. His eyes, this time, are closed.
The same close-up of his face, his brow creasing slightly.
1. VOICE I [off-panel]: My God, you see that? He has the same brand too, just like Bishop did.
The same close-up of his face, his eyes opening slightly.
2. VOICE II [off-panel]: That may be the case, Elisabeth, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is not Bishop.
We see through Bishop’s vision as he slowly comes to. Above him are two shady, yet familiar, silhouettes that he can’t quite make out.
3. VOICE I: Shhh Peter, he’s coming round.
The faces of the two silhouettes become clearer.
4. BISHOP [off-panel]: What in the…?
Close-up of Bishop’s face, eyes suddenly wide with shock.
5. BISHOP: Holy mother of God!
A whole page spread of Bishop looking up into the two incredulous faces of Psylocke and Colossus looking down at him.
1. BISHOP: Am I dead?!
To Be Continued … In Crossing Over Part II
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