issue summaries

X-Factor Annual 5: Days Of Future Present Part 3 Act of Faith Writer: Louise Simonson Penciler: Jon Bogdanove Inker: Al Migrom Colorist: Brad Vancata Letterer:Joe Rosen Editor: Bob Harras Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco Date: 1990

Adult Franklin floats above New York City. He notices X-Factors ship and doesn’t think it belongs there.

Meanwhile, X-Factor (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Archangel, Iceman and Beast) are having a training session inside their ship with Scott‘s young son Nathan Christopher. What started as a friendly, defensive snowball fight has getting ugly.

Scott gets angry that Jean’s putting a spin on the balls with her T.K. and Nathan Christopher is going to get hurt. That erupts into a big argument between the two.

Beast thinks to himself that Jean is having a hard time dealing with Scott’s marriage proposal, especially due to the memories she absorbed from Scott’s ex-wife, Madelyne. He thinks Jean feels pressured and trapped, and Scott is hurt by her turning him down. But the tension between the two isn’t helping X-Factor.

Suddenly, the ship disappears and they all are falling through the sky. Jean telekinetically grabs all of them, but the baby’s force field repeals Jean’s and he continues falling.

Archangel flies as fast as he can and grabs him. N.C. laughs, thinking it was all just a game.

Overhead, Adult Franklin, seeing X-Factor’s ship gone, thinks that everything is better.

The rest of the Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Thing and Ms Marvel) along with Forge spot Franklin’s energy reading and head out to find him. While en route, they spot the X-Factor members standing on the street and land.

The two teams compare notes and the FF explain what’s been happening with Adult Franklin.

They split up into two teams to search for Franklin, using a scanner that Forge has rigged up.

They lock onto Franklin’s signal, but then Beast spots an energy reading off the scale coming from behind them. They take evasive action to avoid an energy field headed right towards Franklin.

Beast realizes that it can only be Phoenix that would produce that type of energy reading, and can’t understand why she would be there.

They finally get a visual on Franklin and then the energy field hits it, creating a massive explosion.

Rachel questions what Franklin is. Overwhelmed, Rachel lashes out at Franklin, telling him to get away from her. He’s the one who has been siphoning off her energy.

As she goes into a full Phoenix Effect firebird, Franklin yells at her that she shouldn’t be able to do that. Rachel shouts back that she doesn’t know who he is, but she’s the Phoenix and her power speaks for itself.

Meanwhile, Beast thinks to himself about Rachel being Scott and Jean’s daughter from an future timeline, how Scott seemed completely unaware of his relationship to Rachel, and how Rachel’s memories are scrambled so she doesn’t remember her past. But he can’t figure out why she is involved in this.

Human Torch wants to after Phoenix, since if anyone is going to take out his nephew, it is going to be him. But Beast tells Jean to stop him.

But Jean is in shock after seeing the Phoenix effect. She asks Hank what is going on and who Rachel is.

Hank doesn’t know what to say, since Jean is already feeling trapped and is now being confronted by her potential future daughter. Before he can answer, the Fantasticar he and Forge are in are attacked by Ahab’s flying robotic drones. Jean finally recovers enough to catch them.

Franklin is so preoccupied with Rachel that he doesn’t notice anything else that is going on around him.

Rachel continues to blast him, and only manages to shred his clothing. He questions why she’s doing this and tells her things shouldn’t be this way. She still doesn’t know who he is, but realizes that he’s not in the right time. He can’t understand how she has changed so much and why she doesn’t recognize him.

He says when she led Ahab to him, she didn’t have a choice and she should never have been a Hound. He rages that he never meant things to be this way. He only wanted her to love him and it’s all changed. He can’t believe things have gone so wrong. There is a massive explosion and Rachel is sent flying.

She lands on Liberty Island, where Human Torch finds her and demands to know what she did to Franklin. Rachel replies that he is okay, since she can still feel him draining her energy and tugging on her heart.

Jean comes up behind her and asks if she is okay. Jean says she saw the Phoenix Effect and wants to know who she is. Rachel doesn’t know what to do. She’s a confused mess, unable to cover up her Hound marks. But she decides that maybe it won’t matter and that her mother will love her anyway, since it in their blood.

Rachel says to her, "Hello, Mother! I hadn’t planned for us to meet like this".

Elsewhere in New York City, the other team finds Adult Franklin on the Empire States Building, but are attacked by Sentinels. Franklin makes the Sentinels disappear and then disappears himself.

Beast radios Cyclops that the Phoenix has arrived and is with Jean. He tells him to hurry, since he’s afraid there is going to be trouble.

Ahab watches on, realizing that the Sentinels cannot destroy the Adult Franklin. So he will need to take out his protectors.

Back on Liberty Island, Jean reacts in horror to the news that Rachel is her daughter and can’t believe it’s true.

Rachel jumps to the conclusion that Jean’s appalled by Rachel being a Hound and assumes Jean hates her because of that. But Jean can’t understand how she has a daughter who’s nearly her age. Rachel explains that she is from the future. But Jean shouts, "No!" at her. She drops to her knees and starts crying. Rachel pleads with her that it is true and Jean is her mother.

Cyclops lands and rushes over to Jean and Rachel, carrying baby Nathan Christopher, asking what’s wrong. Scott hugs a crying Jean as an exasperated Rachel tries to explain that she is their daughter from the future. She tells them that in her world, Christopher doesn’t exist, and how they love him more than her. Shocked, Scott finally realizes that Rachel his is daughter and questions why she didn’t tell him before.

Rachel turns away, crying. As she starts to answer, Ahab appears and shoots a harpoon straight through her chest. As Rachel keels over, Ahab calls her his greatest warrior who has escaped her proper time and place. He grabs her by her hair and tells her that she can’t escape her destiny and his harpoon reminds her who she truly is - a killer of her own kind. He throws her to the ground and she’s swarmed by the other members of the Hound pack.

Rachel shouts that Ahab is wrong. She is no longer a Hound. She is the Phoenix and they are her prey. With a large explosion, all of the Hounds are turned into dust.

Scott and Jean rush over to her, asking what she did to them. Upset, Rachel can’t believe that they want to know what she did to them, not what they did to her. Crying, Rachel flies off, shouting that they don’t understand how Ahab would have destroyed her.

Jean calls after her and tells Scott that she didn’t mean to hurt her. But she’s never seen such power and anger before.

Ahab tells her that her concern is misplaced. In the future, he helps eradicate all mutantkind. And now to save his future, he is going to kill them all. X-Factor and the Fantastic Four members are attacked by more of Ahab’s Hounds. The rest of the Fantastic Four and the New Mutants arrive in the nick of time to help them.

Reed, Sue, Little Franklin, Scott, Jean and Nathan Christopher all end up on the Statue of Liberty. Scott’s found something that he things might help - his optic blast apparently hit something hidden in the sky. Reed thinks it’s some sort of small dimensional anomaly where Ahab has his time displacement machineries. They theorized that if they can take that out, they might be able to get rid of him.

The combined forces of the Fantastic Four, X-Factor and the New Mutants attack Ahab’s hidden base and destroy it.

Everyone is sent crashing down onto Liberty Island.

As Scott is checking to make sure Nathan Christopher is all right, Jean tells him they need to talk about Rachel.

Scott replies that he can’t believe he didn’t realize before now that she was his daughter. Jean explains that Rachel could have telepathically prevented him from finding out, if she didn’t want him to know. Scott tells Jean that he loves her and asks if having a daughter like Rachel would be that bad. Jean replies that it wouldn’t and Rachel is lovely, but she’s just shocked and that it is too much to accept all at once.

Suddenly, Adult Franklin appears floating above them. He’s angry that even though Nathan Christopher will have more power than all of them, Scott completely accepts and loves him. But Nathan Christopher isn’t suppose to exist, so Franklin takes him away. The baby and Franklin vanish.

Hysterical, Scott collapses to the ground.