#naze

The Rocky Mountains.

Storm is powerless, but she's determined to save the world from the powerful creatures of the spirit lands, including a forthcoming adversary that Naze warns her about. He calls this adversary "The Great Trickster," a god with the ability and the desire to end all human life and start over from scratch. The Great Trickster can come to earth because Forge has opened the Gate of Chaos which connects the spirit lands to the real world. Naze tells Storm that she will find Forge at the summit of a nearby mountain. Storm prepares to climb it and kill Forge, thus closing the Gate of Chaos and saving the world. Naze smiles evilly as Storm heads toward the mountain.

San Francisco.

Valerie Cooper formally introduces the US Government's Freedom Force to the media. She says Freedom Force will protect humans from the vigilantes known as the X-Men, while the newly passed Mutant Special Powers Registration Act will require mutants to get a license for their abilities, further protecting humans from dangerous mutants.

Rogue watches Valerie's announcement on TV while she works out at a public gym. She regrets having saved Valerie's life in the past. A woman approaches Rogue, then transforms into Mystique! Mystique, Rogue's former foster mother, hugs Rogue and warns her about Destiny's prediction - that the X-Men are going to die in or near Dallas, Texas (see last issue). Mystique asks Rogue to leave the X-Men so that she will be safe, but Rogue says she can't walk out on the X-Men. Mystique cries as she leaves, saying that Rogue won't walk out on the X-Men, but she WILL walk out on her.

After Dazzler sings to a crowd at a bar, creating a beautiful light show for her audience, and Longshot and Havok rescue a woman from would-be car jackers (and Havok melts the car with his plasma powers) the team reconvenes at their temporary base, Alcatraz Island. Rogue relays everything Mystique told her - that the X-Men are in danger, the danger will occur in or near Dallas, Texas, and that Storm is the key to it all. The team and Madelyne decide to find Storm, even though she is on a private mission (her mission to find and kill Forge and possibly find a way to get her powers back).

The Rocky Mountains.

Storm, after fighting off some really creepy red, demon-looking creatures, reaches the summit of the mountain where she finds Forge. They barely speak before she stabs him with her knife. She says she cannot allow him to open the Gate of Chaos. He's weak, but he tells her she was wrong - he's been trying to CLOSE the Gate.

X-Men: Grand Design: X-Tinction #1 (2019)