Mission 1: Armageddon

Sebastian Shaw sponsors, and showcases a new project with brilliant scientist Bolivar Trask... to which Magneto, literally crashes, throwing the supposed Sentinel at Shaw, Professor Xavier winds up having to break up the fight, forcing Magneto to flee. Shaw allows the Professor to leave afterwards, while suggesting Trask utilize non metallic materials in his Sentinel program, Operation: Armageddon, or as it's known to the populace Operation: Wide Awake. Trask agrees and sets about fixing the Master Mold, a prototype given to him by it's original creation... Sebastian Shaw. Thus begins Bolivar's first of several future upgrades.

Planning to strike back at the humans for these anti-mutant machines Magneto begins by hiring the mercenary Deadpool to hunt down and capture mutants with energy manipulation powers for a secret weapon of some sort while assaulting MRD facilities to test it. Deadpool begins his search at Xavier's School for Higher Learning, where a battle between the merc with the mouth and Nightcrawler take place, ending in Nightcrawler's defeat, and the kidnapping of Gambit.

Meanwhile, Kurt recovers, and with Angel and Colossus the trio prepare to embark on a rescue mission, not knowing the torture Gambit was enduring. His energy being siphoned into a spherical device, later discerned to be a bomb with the power depending on how much energy was absorbed... While Shaw, curious as to what his former student, Magneto, was up to, sent Donald Pierce to investigate... and try to kill Magneto while 'rescuing Gambit' a man Shaw had already invested in, using him as a double agent within the X-Men.

When the X-Men arrive they begin a two front covert operation, Kurt teleporting inside while Warren, utilizing a holowatch enterred as a prospective Brotherhood member. Warren was forced to fight in an initiation beating, becoming victorious in the end, and causing a big enough distraction for Kurt to find Gambit... when all hell broke loose. Pierce and his men moved in fast, the fighting rapid and violent, ending in several dead mutants, and Magneto taking a plastic bullet to the side of his head, wounding, but not killing. Riot, one of Magneto's men saving him... thus gaining Shaw's notice. Once Kurt was able to get to Warren's side, he teleported them all back to the waiting Blackbird, piloted by Colossus. Once free, Shaw ordered Pierce to fall back, much to Pierce's ire.


Shaw, with Emma Frost's help, places thoughts inside Riot's head to make him consider treason toward Magneto, and talk with Shaw. Shaw then convinces him to turn on Magneto... however, Magneto anticipated the treason, and has Mikhail Rasputin, a new recruit, and brother to Colossus, to torture him... rather than kill him, however, Mikhail leaves a very irradiated Riot at a hospital, where Shaw finds him. Having no more memory of who he once was, and becoming decidedly unhinged, Riot takes the name Unknown, and agrees to work for Shaw for the bloodshed he's promised, as well as revenge for the one who hurt him.

Shaw soon sends Pierce with Unknown into the sewers to find answers from the Morlocks, who know everything that happens in the city. After a bit of a massacre they get answers from Callisto, their leader, only to encounter Wolverine and Gambit, forcing them to fall back with the information they had. There was a bomb under Shaw Industries... prompting Shaw to ask Xavier for help.

The X-Men, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine, and Shadowcat teamed with Pierce and Shaw himself to find the bomb, and forced into a pitched battle against the Brotherhood, the X-Men causing enough of a distraction with Pierce to let Shaw use his powers to absorb the energy of the bomb... rendering it inert again. It was then that Shaw revealed his true colors, turning on the X-Men, with more strength then he'd ever known... he beat most of the X-Men save Kitty, who checked on them, ensuring they were okay before moving on to tail Shaw to the top of Shaw Industries... discovering a device she'd read about in the school files... the same machine that Magneto had used in an attempt to turn all of Manhattan into mutant kind. Though with modifications, to ensure it would work, unlike Erik's original design. Kitty acted fast, once she realized she could not phase into it to ruin the machine, she went to get the X-Men back up on their feet, before they rushed to the rooftop.

The fight that ensued was one of the toughest the X-Men had ever endured, and suffering many more bruises from Shaw, the hits Shaw took only seeming to make him stronger. Finally formulating a rapid plan, Scott directed the others in attacking the machine, rather than Shaw, who had already begun to power up the machine and start the firing process. With their combined efforts, the machine went critical... and exploded. Throwing everyone over the edge of the roof, leaving the X-Men dangling, but as Shaw had been in the ground zero, he was hurtled completely free of the edge, the machine tearing a hole in the building, debris raining down around Shaw as he feel into the bay, far below.

The X-Men, after pulling themselves to safety were forced to flee as authorities arrived, with an MRD presence. The news the next day speaking of a mutant attack on Shaw Industries, and the need to implement the Sentinels, to better protect humanity... it's clear that while Shaw may be dead, he's still won in some ways...