Professor X is tormented by mental images of leering monsters, psychic residue of his ongoing struggle against the Brood embryo implanted in him.[1] Hovering around his bed, the X-Men receive grim news from Sikorsky. Professor X must soon wake up or else he will die! Scott doesn't take the news well, and storms off - Ororo goes after him. Cyclops vents, including voicing his disapproval for the recent debacle at the Pentagon[2] which made the papers, but ultimately what he needs is someone to comfort him, and Storm is there for him.[3] At Xavier's bedside, Lilandra cries.
In Xavier's mind, he is in Israel, 20 years ago, meeting his old friend Daniel Shomron.[4] Daniel contacted him to help with a patient, Gabrielle Haller, who is catatonic after her experiences imprisoned in Dachau during World War II. Daniel introduces Xavier to Magnus.[5] They go to see Gabrielle, and Xavier enters her mind, where he discovers a wall, and she summons psychic monsters to force him away. He breaks down the wall and relives Gabrielle's experiences in the concentration camp, including a mysterious final metaphoric memory in which the camp supervisor turns her into a statue of solid gold. Following this, Gabrielle wakes up, and they put her to bed after letting her cry herself out. They then go to Daniel's office, connecting most of the images she conjured to reality, but the golden statue bit perplexes them. Unfortunately, they are overheard, and a mysterious figure sneaks away to inform the "leader", with a mental "Seig Heil!".
Over the next few weeks, Charles and Magnus take Gabby around Israel as she starts to put herself back together. During this time, Charles discusses his theories of mutation with Magnus, who believes him, but thinks coexistence is naive and impossible. Gabby, meanwhile, desperately need to love and be loved, begins wooing Charles, who assents against his own better judgment.[6] Suddenly, they are attacked by Hydra. Israeli soldiers quickly come to their aid, but they are overmatched, and Charles is knocked unconscious by a bullet grazing his temple. The attackers capture Gabrielle and are escaping in their transports when one of them is suddenly and violently torn apart! However, the one carrying Gabrielle gets away. Charles saw Magneto alight with energy on the roof as the vehicle was destroyed, and asks him about it, to which Magnus responds he did what he had to do. They have a prisoner, and Xavier quickly extracts the information needed to track Gabrielle down.
Charles and Magnus infiltrate Hydra to discover that Gabby was programmed with directions to the Fuhrer's secret gold reserve, hidden towards the end of the war. They use their powers to rescue Gabby, in the process revealing to each other what abilities they have, but ending up in the cave with the gold, where Baron von Strucker attacks them, only to be easily defeated by Magnus' magnetic powers. Magnus punches a hole through the roof, levitates Charles and Gabby out it, followed by the gold, and then collapses the cave on Baron von Strucker as he leaves.
On top, Magnus and Charles have a philosophical confrontation, and Magnus flies off with the gold.[7] Then Gabrielle comes to, and she and Charles share an intimate moment... and just then Professor Xavier wakes up!
The X-Men go to a farewell banquet onboard the Shi'ar flagship, but suddenly Lilandra goes catatonic. The X-Men rush to her, only to be taunted by Deathbird appearing and announcing herself the new Shi'ar empress. She then detonates a bomb that renders the X-Men unconscious, and her Brood allies are well pleased with the vessels she has provided them!
