The X-Men battle what appears to be their predecessors until Wolverine discerns the truth and, to the shock of his teammates, disembowels Marvel Girl to reveal her to be a robot. Lang bemoans the defeat of his X-Sentinels before recounting the origins of Project Armageddon to his captives, giving Cyclops time to escape Lang's Nega-Tube and free the others. Lang boards a one-man flying gunship and attacks Cyclops while the other X-Men dispatch the rest of the X-Sentinels. Marvel Girl manipulates the gunship's control, causing it to spin out of control. Ironically, Lang pleads with the X-Men for help before the gunship crashes ans explodes, seemingly killing him. The X-Men and Corbeau head back to the Starcore shuttle. However it still has a tear in the hull, the flight control computer is damaged, and their re-entry path will take them through a dangerous solar flare. Marvel Girl volunteers to manually pilot the shuttle, absorbing Corbeau's knowledge of shuttle piloting in the hope her telekinesis can protect her. With her teammates and Corbeau safe in the shuttle's shielded life-cell, Jean begins the perilous course back to Earth. However, with 27 minutes left to Earth's atmosphere, her telekinetic shields fail and she is bombarded with solar radiation.