Wolverine And The X-Men (2011 series) #14

5 X-Men have been gifted with the Phoenix Force and are busy turning the world into an utopia. But the Avengers don't trust them not to be corrupted by the Phoenix power and so are now hunted outlaws. Kitty Pryde, headmistress of the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning in Westchester, has been trying to keep the mutant staff and students out of the war.

This issue opens with Kitty and enPhoenixed Colossus having a seafood lunchdate. But godlike Peter Rasputin has appropriately set the scene by parting the Red Sea so they can enjoy their meal on the dry seabed. Piotr boasts of the Phoenix 5's accomplishments so far but says that it's all hollow if he doesn't have his Katya by his side. As Kitty sees fishes falling out of the parted waters to die on the sand, the unheedful Rasputin prepares to propose to her - but she cuts him off.

Now we go back a little while to when Miss Pryde is heading a meeting of the school's staff, depleted because many have gone to join 1 side or the other. The Shi'ar Warbird (Ava'Dara Naganandini) reports that her Emperor Kallark (Gladiator) is in the med bay barely conscious (after Colossus and the also enPhoenixed Sub-Mariner beat him up last issue). His son, student Kubark (Kid Gladiator), won't leave his side, and if he dies then Earth and the Shi'ar may go to war. Husk (Paige Guthrie) complains that they all have to teach subjects they're not qualified in, and asks when the other teachers might return to duty. Substitute teacher Deathlok calculates that there's a 2/3 chance they won't return at all except in bodybags, but then he expects Earth to be destroyed sometime soon anyway. Doop says something in his own language which Kitty can't understand. Janitor Toad (Mortimer Toynbee) doesn't know why he's at the meeting, or what he's supposed to be teaching. The only subject he can suggest is how he fights with his (highly-extendable) tongue.

Miss Pryde suddenly realises no-one's teaching the 4th Period (and we see chaos in the classroom). She asks Husk to go there but Paige in a different seat says that's just 1 of her cast-off skins she's talking to. Toynbee offers to dispose of it, and we see an image of him in his quarters offering tea to 1 of such skins. Kitty tries to make a rallying speech but the meeting is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a vase of flowers on the table before her. And outside they find Colossus inviting her to the dinner we witnessed earlier. Warbird wants to attack him for putting her Emperor in hospital. Deathlok predicts that the meal will almost certainly end in disaster. But Kitty accepts the invitation and leaves her pet dragon Lockheed in charge until she returns. And if she doesn't return they should call the Avengers.

Meanwhile Fantastic Four member and Avenger Thing is accosted in Times Square by the enPhoenixed Magik (Illyana Rasputin), backed up by teacher Iceman and pupil Angel. Bobby Drake tries to settle things peacefully but Magik has already punched Ben Grimm so a fight begins. Thing knocks Angel and Magik out of the Square but Drake encases him in a block of ice and Magik levitates him off to X-jail. Bobby's having 2nd thoughts about which side he's picked, so he goes to see the enPhoenixed Cyclops (Scott Summers) who's currently using his power to seal the San Andreas fault to stop earthquakes in California. He mentions several other projects he'll tackle next and asks Iceman to help him restore the Arctic ice lost to global warming. But Bobby seems to have left.

Now we can continue the opening scene. Kitty Pryde agrees with Colossus that the Phoenix 5 have done wonders for the world but she worries that  that the power is resulting in them losing their humanity and thinking that they are gods. Peter claims that he's the same man she loved and he wants to get back to that. But she says the man she loved would never lock up Avengers. He says it's their own fault - if they'd just admit that the world doesn't need them to save it anymore because the X-Men are doing that, then things would be OK. He reminds her that with his new power he could easily destroy them or the whole world but he doesn't. Kitty tries again to get him to see what he's become but he reminds her that she didn't object to Jean Grey or Rachel Summers being the Phoenix. She counters that *they* didn't lock people up for disagreeing with them. Colossus starts to get angry so Kitty asks to be taken back to the School. That really inflames him (literally) and he claims that Wolverine's ridiculous 'daycare' has warped her mind so that she values that over him. She now tries to calm him down and continue the meal, but he petulantly says she wanted to wanted to go back to the School so they will.

Back in the School Toad is doing what he said he would, showing the kids how he can use his very stretchy tongue in combat. But (luckily) his lesson is interrupted by the fiery return of our duo. Colossus threatens to destroy the School she prefers over him, leaving him as her only remaining choice. Deathlok, Husk and Lockheed rush out to see what's going on, but Kitty opts to phase Peter and herself into the ground. Then she returns to say she's left him 2 miles down and she advises the others (which now include Toad, Warbird and Doop with a big gun) to lock the place down before he gets back.

But they don't have time as angry Colossus reappears. He's attacked by the grandchild of Krakoa The Living Island, which forms the grounds of the School. But the Phoenix-Colossus easily dispels it and the other chars except of course Kitty Pryde. She phases her hand into his chest and begs him not to make her squeeze his heart. But he allows his flames to burn her arm until she lets go. He advises her to evacuate the children from the building before he destroys it but she says he'll have to kill her before she lets him do that. He replies that he could easily kill her and just as easily bring her back to life. He can make her do whatever he wants because he's Phoenix. He blasts her out of his way and strides towards the School. But on the way he notices that he's smashed the statue of Jean Grey. And he begins to realise what he's become and flies off.

Later Angel and Iceman return to the School with teacher Rachel Grey. Bobby Drake apologises to Kitty for them all for leaving the School to join the Phoenix 5. They now realise they were wrong because the power is driving the P5 mad. She advises him to help with tidying up or go teach a class assuming he's not too tired from beating up Avengers.