The dramatic first book in a trilogy starring the X-Men, the most popular super hero team in the world. Hank McCoy, the X-Men's Beast, has been working to find a cure for a deadly Legacy virus that has been sweeping through the world's mutant population. But the Beast is now alone in this quest for a cure: Sebastian Shaw, the Black King of the dreaded Hellfire Club, is using the vast resources of his sinister secret organisation to develop a cure as well. Together with a mysterious partner, Shaw has set up a research facility on a remote Pscific island in an abandoned scientific base that once belonged to the aline star-spanning warrior race, the Kree. When the X-Men's friend, Moira McTaggart, the only human who is infected by the Legacy Virus is captured by Shaw's men, the X-Men embark on a mission to rescue their friend and break forever the power of the Hellfire Club. Meanwhile, the Legacy virus epidemic continues to expand...