Chapter Summaries

Alex fought the Black Queen in Poseidonia, absorbing her Flame Beasts until both combatants were exhausted, then returned to the Floating Temple with his Flame Spirit. He told Emma and the X-Men about the Hellfire Club’s experiments and the Black Queen’s power, leaving the group alarmed but reassured.

• Alex absorbed the Black Queen’s Flame Beasts and fed some of their energy into his Flame Spirit, while the Black Queen repeatedly summoned more and awakened buildings to attack him.
• After more than an hour, the exhausted Black Queen stopped summoning, and Alex teleported away from Poseidonia with his energy-saturated Flame Spirit.
• Emma asked Alex how the battle had gone, and he explained the Flame Spirit’s origins before warning her that the Hellfire Club had joined the conflict.
• Alex described the experimental grounds in Poseidonia, prompting Emma to insist that they stop the Hellfire Club’s work.
• Alex told the X-Men that the Black Queen’s unusual ability had left their long fight at a stalemate, and Emma and Alex reassured the shaken group.

After Alex escaped Poseidonia, the Black Queen concealed her motives from Strucker while AIM prepared weapons and pursued its research. Strucker secretly armed his forces, and the Black Queen paused her search for the genetic enhancement serum.

• The Black Queen told Strucker that Alex had outmatched her, then promised to kill him if he returned.
• Strucker visited a hidden seabed laboratory, where a researcher said AIM’s genetic enhancement serum affected only mutants and latent mutants.
• The researcher showed Strucker a compact weapon modified from Poseidonia’s defensive cannons, and Strucker learned AIM had enough to equip a division.
• Strucker secretly had the weapons transported and armed his forces, keeping his plans from the Hellfire Club and the Brotherhood of Mutants.
• The Black Queen heard that the serum search had found nothing and ordered her people to stop searching for a few days.

The Black Queen ordered the Hellfire Club to stop searching for the Gene Optimization Fluid, while Alex and his allies prepared to defend the Floating Temple against their enemies. After failing to find the Ancient One, Alex organized a sparring session with the X-Men and began testing himself against Remy.

• The Black Queen silenced a protesting Hellfire Club member and left the group, promising that the truth would become clear in a few days.
• Alex, Emma, and the others chose a defensive counterattack and began recruiting and preparing defenses at the Floating Temple.
• Alex searched the Snowy Region valley for the Ancient One but found the mist gone and no trace of her.
• Alex went to the X-Men's base seeking a fight, and the resulting sparring event drew a large crowd to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
• Alex defeated Remy in hand-to-hand combat, then invited him to use his mutant ability.
• Remy hurled an explosive playing card at Alex, who approached it and dismissed its blast as weak.

Alex turned Remy’s card-throwing spar into a lesson, showing him how to control the cards’ flight, then welcomed Darwin as his next challenger. After an unexplained flare of anger silenced the crowd, Alex asked Darwin to spar so he could observe the potential of his Reactive Evolution.

• Remy threw a volley of playing cards at Alex, who noticed Remy could not control their flight.
• Alex used Energy Control to guide the cards along increasingly complex paths, inspiring Remy to thank him for the lesson.
• Emma praised Alex’s teaching, and Tessa suggested that she could help train students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
• When the crowd rushed to volunteer for guidance, Alex angrily ordered everyone to sit, then quickly returned to normal.
• Alex welcomed Darwin and asked him to spar so he could see how Reactive Evolution worked; Darwin lunged at him.

Alex tested Darwin’s Reactive Evolution and discovered that Darwin retained the abilities he evolved, even though he could not yet use them voluntarily. The sparring turned into a public training session, leaving Alex cheerful again by the end of the day.

• Alex tested Darwin’s fighting ability and saw him evolve Steel Skin when struck in the chest.
• Alex gradually increased the power of a Red Impact Beam, and Darwin adapted until he reached his limit.
• Alex concluded that Darwin had absorbed the beam’s energy and retained his evolved abilities, which he would need to learn to access voluntarily.
• Alex copied Darwin’s ability, and Darwin returned to the stands encouraged by the discovery.
• Other people joined Alex for a public training session, but Alex refused Emma’s request to hold more sessions.
• After a day of training and exchanging knowledge, Alex’s irritation faded and his mood improved.

Alex’s uncharacteristic bursts of diligence and worsening exhaustion worried Emma, while Strucker’s silence left them uneasy about what AIM might be planning. After Monroe recognized Alex’s symptoms as resembling an illness, Emma arranged for a doctor to examine him.

• Alex asked Howard why Strucker and the dinosaur army had made no move, and the three worried over AIM’s possible plans.
• Emma noticed Alex repeatedly falling asleep and confronted him about his unusual exhaustion.
• Monroe arrived after finishing her movie and suggested that Alex might be sick.
• Emma became concerned and went to arrange for a doctor to examine Alex.

Joshua discovered that Alex was infected with a toxin he could not cure, and the toxin vanished when removed from Alex’s body. After identifying it as an Energy Toxin, Alex suspected Black Queen had poisoned him.

• Emma called Joshua Fleury to examine Alex, and Joshua used his healing ability on him.
• Joshua found a stubborn toxin covering every cell in Alex’s body, and Emma confirmed it with telepathy.
• Alex copied Joshua’s ability and saw the toxin throughout his body, while Joshua warned it might eventually become dangerous.
• Crystal asked Alex who he had provoked, and Alex named Mandarin as a possible culprit.
• Joshua extracted some toxin for Howard, but it turned to ash as soon as it left Alex’s energy barrier.
• Joshua identified the substance as an Energy Toxin that was nearly impossible to remove, and Alex suspected Black Queen.

After learning that the Black Queen had poisoned him, Alex traveled to Poseidonia with Emma to confront her and discover what she wanted. The Black Queen proposed that they join the Hellfire Club and rule the world together, and Alex asked who would be in charge.

• Alex realized the Black Queen had deliberately poisoned him, but stopped Emma from gathering the X-Men and decided to meet the Black Queen himself.
• Emma insisted on accompanying Alex, while Joshua offered to help cure him; Alex refused to bring Joshua and said he trusted the ability he had copied from him.
• Alex took Emma to Poseidonia, where they searched AIM soldiers telepathically and learned that the Black Queen wanted the Gene Enhancement Fluid and planned to oppose Strucker.
• Alex and Emma found the Hellfire Club's concealed headquarters and met the Black Queen in a private room.
• The Black Queen invited Alex and Emma to join the Hellfire Club and rule the world, and Alex asked whether she or he would be in charge.

Alex rejected the Black Queen’s offer to join the Hellfire Club and returned to the Floating Temple with Emma. After explaining the danger posed by the Club’s human faction and admitting he could not cure the poison, he heard Joshua say his ability might eventually reach the genetic level and save him.

• The Black Queen offered Alex the title of Black King but refused to immediately surrender the Supreme King position, and Alex rejected her terms.
• Alex teleported away with Emma and told the gathered X-Mansion members that the Black Queen’s promises could not protect them from the Hellfire Club’s powerful human faction.
• Emma asked whether Alex had found a cure for the poison, but he shook his head and she offered to join the Hellfire Club to protect him.
• Alex insisted that the X-Mansion must never join the Hellfire Club, and Emma and Monroe broke down crying.
• Joshua said his ability could improve from the cellular to the genetic level and that he was confident he could then cure Alex.

Alex learned that Joshua’s cure might take years or decades, so he considered being frozen to halt the Energy Toxin but struggled with leaving his loved ones again. After his adoptive father helped him see that he could repay them once revived, Alex returned to the Floating Temple with renewed resolve.

• Joshua said developing a cure could take three to five years at the earliest, possibly decades, and suggested freezing Alex to stop the Energy Toxin from spreading.
• Howard confirmed that the freezing method was promising but warned that successful revival had not been proven, while Emma and Monroe promised to wait for Alex.
• Alex teleported to Attilan and asked His Highness Alex whether a woman would wait years or decades without any guarantee of his return.
• His Highness Alex urged Alex to accept their love and repay them after he recovered, helping Alex escape his guilt and decide to return.
• Alex thanked his adoptive father and went back to the Floating Temple, where Vivien Leigh, Audrey, Nick Fury, Carter, and Natasha had gathered.

Alex agreed to be frozen, then Nick Fury told him that Dr. Zola had researched transferring human consciousness into another body. Alex considered asking Zola to transfer his consciousness into an energy body, but realized the process could cost him his Replication Ability.

• Alex comforted Vivien Leigh and Audrey and agreed to be frozen, then asked Howard what preparations were needed.
• Nick Fury took Alex to Mount Everest for a private conversation and explained Dr. Zola's consciousness-transfer research and his recruitment by the US Government.
• Alex asked whether Zola could help him, and Nick Fury said S.H.I.E.L.D. had ways to approach him despite his government position.
• Alex summoned the Flame Spirit and asked whether his consciousness could be transferred into an energy body, and Nick Fury said Zola's research suggested it was possible.
• Alex considered the transfer's potential, then realized that leaving his body would cost him the Replication Ability tied to his mutant X-gene.

Alex learned that Nick Fury might be able to preserve his consciousness as an energy body while his physical body remained frozen, and he traveled with Emma and the others to a secret underground laboratory. There, they met Dr. Zola, whose fearful reaction to Alex left the reason for his alarm unclear.

• Nick Fury told Alex to prepare while he arranged a way to prevent Alex from entering hibernation, and Alex shared the uncertain news with Emma and the others.
• Nick Fury collected Alex and the four women in New York and drove them to a guarded military camp.
• Nick Fury led the group through a concealed elevator to a deep underground laboratory.
• Alex recognized Dr. Zola in the laboratory, and Zola trembled with terror when he saw Alex.
• Alex questioned Nick Fury about Zola's reaction, and Nick Fury insisted Zola had no nerve to cause trouble.

Zola said Alex’s consciousness could not be transferred directly into the Flame Spirit, but proposed using his untested Consciousness Register as an intermediary. Alex agreed to try it, and preparations began, though the urn-like device left everyone doubtful.

• Zola examined the Flame Spirit and said an energy body could not receive consciousness or spirit.
• Zola proposed transferring Alex’s consciousness into his theoretical Consciousness Register, then embedding it in the Flame Spirit.
• Nick Fury confronted Zola over the untested invention, while Alex agreed to try it and Emma searched Zola’s memories before warning him not to betray them.
• Zola brought out the urn-like Consciousness Register, and Alex and Nick Fury questioned whether it would work.

Dr. Zola began transferring Alex’s consciousness into the Consciousness Register, while Alex secretly tested the device and a connected computer ahead of the official procedure. The transfer was underway as Emma and the others watched anxiously, and Alex gradually adjusted to its strange sensations.

• Alex warned Dr. Zola not to side with Hydra or Red Skull, and Dr. Zola insisted he had left them behind.
• Dr. Zola prepared the Consciousness Register, while Emma questioned the safety measures and Alex assured her the experiment would succeed.
• Alex secretly transferred his consciousness into the Register and then into the connected computer, where he found he could control its programs.
• Dr. Zola finished connecting the computer as a backup, and Alex secretly tested entering it before returning his consciousness to his body.
• Dr. Zola began the official transfer, and Emma withdrew her hand after he warned her not to touch Alex during the procedure.
• Alex endured a spreading tingling sensation and gradually adapted as Emma and the other women watched with concern.

Alex successfully transferred his consciousness into the Consciousness Register and installed it in the Flame Spirit, reshaping the body to resemble himself. He spent the day in New York with Emma, Monroe, Vivien Leigh, and Audrey before they returned to their separate lives.

• Alex transferred his consciousness into the Consciousness Register, while Zola secretly intercepted a tiny fragment of it.
• Zola confirmed the transfer had succeeded, and Alex told Emma and the others they would be able to see each other again soon.
• Alex placed the shielded Consciousness Register inside the Flame Spirit and reshaped the body to look like himself.
• Alex took Emma, Monroe, Vivien Leigh, and Audrey shopping in New York after waiting for them to change clothes.
• Alex returned to the Floating Temple with Emma and Monroe, while Vivien Leigh went back to X-Film Company and Audrey returned to Hollywood.

After losing his Replication Ability, Alex trained his Energy Control to improve his combat strength. His training was interrupted when Bucky arrived at the Floating Temple with a letter from Strucker and left despite Alex pleading with him to stay.

• Alex checked on his frozen body, then chose to focus his training on precision control of Energy Control.
• Alex trained for two days, making rapid progress until Emma called him out because Strucker had made a move.
• Emma brought Alex to the Floating Temple, where he recognized Bucky Barnes waiting with a letter.
• Bucky delivered the letter and tried to leave, claiming a bomb would explode if he stayed more than ten seconds.
• Alex let Bucky pass rather than risk the bomb, then called after him, asking if he remembered his brother.
• Bucky walked out of the temple without responding, while Monroe broke down in tears.

Alex and Emma received Strucker's challenge and suspected it was meant to draw Alex away while their enemies attacked the Floating Temple. Alex arranged a decoy to attend the match, stayed behind to defend the temple, and discovered Crystal could control his fire-based body.

• Alex opened Strucker's blood-red letter challenging X-Mansion to a match, and he and Emma suspected the challenge concealed a plan.
• Tessa warned that Strucker's group might use the match to lure Alex away and attack the Floating Temple, possibly with newly enhanced Brotherhood members.
• Alex decided to stay at the Floating Temple while a shapeshifting mutant impersonated him at the match, and he secretly reinforced the island's defenses.
• Alex escorted Emma and the other participants to the match site, confirmed it appeared empty, then teleported back to the Floating Temple.
• Crystal revealed that she could control Alex's fire-based body, leaving him unable to resist her command of the element.

Alex discovered that the Mandarin had joined Strucker and the Black Queen, and he teleported to Emma’s side only to have his disguise exposed. The Mandarin’s electromagnetic interference blocked Alex’s Teleportation, leaving the X-Men trapped as Crystal tried to force Tessa to send help.

• While watching Emma and the others on the holographic console, Alex and Crystal recognized the Mandarin among the people with Strucker and the Black Queen.
• Alex teleported to Emma’s side in disguise, but the Mandarin identified his real body and exposed him to the opposing group.
• Alex confirmed that electromagnetic interference had disabled his Teleportation, trapping him and the X-Men on the battlefield.
• The Mandarin declared that none of them could escape, and Alex and Emma realized the danger posed by the Ten Rings.
• At the Floating Temple, Crystal demanded that Tessa help Alex and Emma, then restrained her with a massive earthen hand when Tessa refused.

Tessa sent Crystal and more than a dozen elite X-Men to rescue Alex, while Alex and his allies turned to fight Mandarin, the Black Queen, and Strucker’s forces. As Alex’s energy-based strength grew, Hydra attacked the Floating Giant Island, led by Red Skull.

• Tessa agreed to send Crystal and more than a dozen elite X-Men to help Alex, then focused on defending the Floating Giant Island.
• Alex led Emma and the others toward the rear to escape, but Mandarin and the Black Queen caught up, prompting Alex to turn and confront them.
• Emma, Remy, and the others charged back into battle, while Alex fought Mandarin and the Black Queen and discovered his Energy Control was improving rapidly.
• Mandarin and the Black Queen identified Alex’s concern for his head, so he secretly moved the Consciousness Register while pretending to guard it.
• Robots bearing Hydra’s emblem arrived at the Floating Giant Island, and Tessa saw Red Skull step out among them.

Tessa defended the Floating Giant Island against Red Skull’s Hydra robots using waves, Energy Cannons, and flying allies. Meanwhile, Strucker’s AIM ambushed Alex’s group with powerful rocket launchers, forcing Alex to teleport everyone to safety and leaving him worried about X-Mansion’s future.

• Tessa called on the Bat People and Beastmen Legion to help defend the Floating Giant Island from Red Skull’s approaching robot army.
• Tessa used a surprise wave attack and the island’s Energy Cannons to destroy much of Hydra’s force before the Bat People carried mutants into the fight.
• Strucker revealed that AIM soldiers had surrounded Alex, the Black Queen, Mandarin, and the others with powerful rocket launchers.
• After the barrage shattered Alex’s Energy Force Field, Mandarin stopped his Electromagnetic Interference, allowing Alex to use Teleportation to rescue everyone nearby.
• The Black Queen thanked Alex before leaving, most Brotherhood mutants followed her, and Alex told the remaining group to return to X-Mansion.