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Alex Paknadel (writer), Diogenes Neves (artist), Arthur Hesli (colorist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (letterer), Jasmien Alvarez (production), Annie Cheng (digital comics specialist), Noah Sharma (assistant editor), Darren Shan (editor), Tom Breevort (conductor of X), C.B. Cebulski (editor-in-chief)X-Men created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Scott Summers and Jean Grey are on a vacation in Norway. Scott is disappointed when things don’t go exactly as he imagined them, for example seeing the Northern Lights. Jean is somewhat impatient, suggesting she can take them anywhere. When he refuses, she accuses him of being controlling. He makes an excuse they need some ice and leaves the room. Suddenly, he (like several other people) finds himself climbing up an icy mountain against his will, intent on finding something important.
An icy mountainside in Norway, nighttime:Nick, who is about to get married to Samira, spends the days before mountain climbing in Norway, but now it is nighttime and, barely dressed, he follows a voice up the mountain, ignoring the frostbite, certain that he has to find the important missing thing…
Not far away Scott Summers and Jean Grey are on a vacation. They stand in their hotel room, looking outside and holding champagne glasses. Jean orders him to stop brooding. They’ll come when they come. Scott replies that the guy in Tromso said they’d see the Northern Lights this night for sure. Jean tells him he was hitting on Scott. He’d have promised him a Rainbow Bridge to see him smile!
Pretending not to be disappointed, Scott states he has already seen it. Jean suggests they don’t have to stay here. With the Phoenix power, she can get them to Bali in eight minutes.
Scott declines. He has had his fill of paradise islands for a while. In an adventurous mood, Jean suggests they think of something else: visit the wreck of the Titanic or the magma chamber of a volcano!
Scott asks her to just stick to the plan. Annoyed, she tells him that this isn’t their last night together, he knows that, right? He agrees after some hesitation. She assures him she won’t be in space forever. Just until she and the Phoenix figure some stuff out. She kisses him and tells him to get out of his head and be with her.
In the meantime, Nick climbs past a frozen waterfall. He is without any of the expensive equipment he has brought. The voice in his head tells him he doesn’t need it. At these temperatures, ice is adhesive, so he climbs upward tearing his skin and leaving behind prints of blood. He finally falls down when he has reached a plateau where there are already several frozen bodies.
Inside the hotel, Jean and Scott are snuggling. She suggests they head down to the bar. He reminds her they have champagne in the room and doesn’t notice her annoyance. He believes he sees signs of the aurora. Annoyed, she tells him there is nothing there but, if it matters so much to him…
She sues the Phoenix Force to pull a little solar plasma into Earth’s magnetic field. He shouts at her to stop, then adds, “it has to be real.”
The Phoenix power flares up and she changes into her costume, as she angrily shouts “enough!” He asked her not to look into his mind and she agreed, but he has been trying to control everything since they got here and she deserves to know why!
He stares, then announces that they are out of ice. He will get some. He leaves the room. While he grabs the ice, he hears a voice sending him outside. Something is missing. Scott forgets about Jean. Barefoot, he walks outside into the snow, as do many others to find the important missing thing…
Cyclops, Phoenix IV (X-Men)Nick
The story takes place between X-Men (6th series) #35 / Uncanny X-Men #700 and X-Men (7th series) #1 and Phoenix #1 respectively.
Jean became the Phoenix again in X-Men Forever (3rd series) #4 and Rise of the Powers of X #5.
