Summary: Jean awakens on a skyscraper in the middle of outer space. Actually, it's Jean's mind inhabiting the Phoenix-clone's "body." She's greeted by a construction worker who is a manifestation of Death. Prosh interrupts to fill us in on what everyine else is up to: Mystique is prepping her new Brotherhood for their attack on Senator Kelly, Bobby is at Jean's funeral, Toad is in jail after impersonating the Stranger and attacking the Avengers and Juggernaut is at Cassidy Keep, with Black Tom and Theresa (Siryn). Back to Jean: she recalls the Phoenix-clone's experience with Death and asks why she's here. Death says that the Phoenix wanted to make an impact in the cosmos, so she chose Jean. Jean, on the other hand, initally chose the Phoenix to save Scott and the others, but then saw the potential inherent in the Phoenix's power and hungered to know more. Death tells Jean that the cosmic powers were actually concerned about Jean, because she represents the unlimited potential of mankind, a mankind that will eventually evolve to replace them. Therefore, the cosmic powers will probably destroy mankind (if not the universe) at some point before they are replaced.

Prosh pulls Jean out and places her back in the shuttle as she's dying of radiation, just before the Phoenix comes to her. At the same time, Bobby is starting UCLA with Warren, just before the Champions are formed, Toad is running an amusement park and Mystique is meeting with Senator Kelly in the guise of Fred Duncan. Juggernaut, at Cassidy Keep, overhears a drunken Tom mumble something about the stupidity of partnering with a flatscan who wishes he was a mutant. Needless to say, Cain is put off by that.

In the shuttle, Prosh wants to see if she will choose the Phoenix again, even though she now knows that to do so will bring the wrath of the cosmic powers down on mankind in the future. She can't choose not to accept the Phoenix, though, as the Phoenix saved the universe when the M'Kraan Crystal was cracked, and because it means everyone she loves would die now. Prosh pulls her out just before the Phoenix arrives, saying he just needed to see how she felt about this situation, but he did not need to have her actually make the choice.

Jean wakes up years ago in the X-Mansion with Professor X telepathically telling her that she's late to class. Jean goes down to the Danger Room, where she finds Bobby (future mind) enjoying a training session. Jean deduces that they have jumped to just after the team's first battle with the Juggernaut, and just before the first appearance of the Sentinels.

Meanwhile, Toad awakes next to Magneto on the Stranger's ship, where they are being examined by the cosmic-powered alien. Toad feels that he must be there to observe something of great importance to all of them, but he's not sure he knows what it is. Mystique is trying to wash up in her bathroom, and Destiny says that blood never washes off your soul. Mystique claims she had no choice. Juggernaut is in jail, now second-guessing his life choices.

On Earth, Jean follows Prof. X into his office, her psi-shields allowing her to remain hidden. When Xavier leaves, she logs onto his computer, assuming that Prosh wants her to find something out in this jump. She reads a log entry that shows that Xavier knew even then that she and Bobby had "unlimited potential" in their powers, unlike the rest of the First Five, whose powers were fairly static. Xavier called them Omega Level mutants, with ultimately myriad levels of complexity in terms of their abilities. Jean is stunned. Bobby interrupts her and invites her to the Soda Shop, but they jump timeframes again.

Jean ends up dreading the freshman prom, Bobby is shivering up his parent's home, Mystique is surrounded by Hydra agents, and Juggernaut is still buried in the collapsed temple in Korea. Toad, however, is confronted by Magneto, who states that he saved Toad from the humans who were just beating him up because Toad is superior, a mutant that Magneto has need of.

Review: This was a really cool issue. Unfortunately, I don't have the Classic X-Men issues that were referenced, but it still made perfect sense to me. As suspected, this issue focused mostly on Jean. It was good, though, that we got enough of some of the other characters to set up what I'm assuming will be the stories in their own issues. It looks like Cain will seriously consider going straight (leading into an MC2-style affiliation with the X-Men?), and Toad will make use of what he learned while on the Stranger's ship. Unfortunately, we know that Toad mutates again and returns to evil after this, which is a bit anti-climactic. The best was Bobby. Clearly the intention is (as we have seen previously) to get him to utilize his powers in more creative ways. That's great, but it will only work if it's picked up by other writers and his power increase becomes part of his character from now on. I loved it when back in the early 300s of Uncanny he was playing with some really cool aspects of his powers, but for some reason most other writers have portrayed him as something of a slacker. It would be nice if that changed. Back to Jean: it wasn't so clear what Prosh hoped to learn by putting Jean through those situations with the Phoenix Force, though maybe it's important for Jean to learn something. The idea that the cosmic powers are concerned with human development has been stated before, but I really liked the way Maguire presented it and the cosmic powers themselves. I'm surprised no one brought up Franklin Richards, who according to "Heroes Reborn: The Return" is actually on the level of a young Celestial. Anyway, the time spent back at the Mansion was fun too. Nice that FabNic mentioned Jean's feeling of loss when she saw Cyclops. There the art could have been a little better, maybe more Kirby-esque. I thought Jean's face looked the right age, but her body was too mature, not at all like it appeared back then. Oh, well, can't have everything. The concept of Omega Level mutants at first seemed overdone, given that we've heard of Alphas for so long. But it makes sense: TKs and manipulators of fundamental forces like Thermodynamics (e.g., Iceman) could theoretically have no limits. The scary thing is, could Magneto be one of these Omega Levels? Seems so. The coolest thing was that the Prof anticipated this about Jean and Bobby all the way back then. In other news, what was Mystique doing posing as Fred Duncan? She couldn't have been him the whole time, but why risk revealing herself to Kelly back then? The "next" time Kelly met with Duncan, which was really the first time, wouldn't there have been some confusion? Very strange. The other interlude with Raven was intriguing also. It appears that she just killed someone for the first time. Could it be the Hydra agents she jumped into? Weird. Finally, it's clear now that the "team" is going further and further into the past with each jump? What happens when they jump to before one of them is born? Does he (I'm assuming it's Bobby) sit on the "bench" with Prosh? Interesting dilemma, that. I hope it's addressed.
A note on placement - this LS takes place before X-Men #106. Nice to see that clarified.