Story
The first arc (issues 1–4) concerns the quest on the part of Storm and a number of X-Men chosen by her to find Destiny's thirteen diaries, which predict the future. The arc also introduces Vargas (a new foe who is disturbed by the diaries' predictions of his death), who kills Psylocke in order to test the diaries' predictions. He also heavily injures Beast, which leads to the character's transition to New X-Men.
In the second arc (Savage Land 1–4), the team travel to the Savage Land, where they escort the Saurids to a land where they will not be persecuted. The team tangles and defeats Brainchild, who makes Storm lose control of her powers for a time.
The third arc (issues 5–9) involves Gambit in Australia and the warring gangs. Mafia leader Viceroy dies mysteriously and the team must protect his mutant children Heather and Davis, who were unaware that Viceroy was their father. The mafia and police accuse Gambit of murder of the gang leader and Bishop and Rogue take charge to clear his name. As a team learns Lady Mastermind and Sebastian Shaw are behind everything, the two villains capture Shaw's former assistant, Sage. Caught between the two villains and a mafia gang war, the team is able to rescue Sage and clear Gambit's name. Heather and Davis join the X-Men as Lifeguard and Slipstream, respectively.
In the next story arc (issues 10–18), the team again reunites with Gambit in Madripoor and deals with the invasion of the armies of Khan, an inter-dimensional conqueror. Gambit seeks to obtain Storm's mother's ruby which was part of a set that, when empowered, could open a portal between dimensions. Since some gems are already missing, Gambit wants to ensure that Storm's ruby remains safe. However, Gambit is attacked by an other-dimensional warrior named Shaitan, capturing Gambit and stealing the ruby. Shaitan then uses the gems and Gambit's mutant ability to empower them, thus opening the portal for Khan. Storm's X-Men oppose and defeat the invaders, but not before Storm is seriously injured.
Sage activates all of the powers that Rogue has ever imprinted at once, enabling Rogue to turn the tide of the battle. During the melee, Vargas returns to kill Rogue, after the diaries predicted she would kill him. As Rogue is attempting to save Gambit, she gets trapped by that same energy that empowers the portal. While they are trapped, Vargas impales them both with a broadsword. Rogue uses the strength of Wolverine and the Hulk to overcome her injury, though Gambit remains close to death. Rogue finds Vargas and fights him to avenge Psylocke's death and his attempted murder of her and Gambit, as predicted in the diaries. The fight is filmed by a news crew and just as the camera loses power, Rogue is shown standing over Vargas with a sword, poised to strike. It is not actually shown if she kills him or not.
In the midst of the battle in Khan's invasion platform, Lifeguard's power reacts unexpectedly, transforming her into a golden Shi'ar-like form. Slipstream reacts badly to this and runs off to parts unknown. The team succeeds in defeating Khan as other heroes join in the relief efforts. Storm, Rogue, and Gambit, all near death, are saved with the arrival of Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and Beast. With the help of Beast's surgical expertise, Jean telepathically pulls Storm and Rogue from the abyss of death, and helps Rogue do the same for Gambit. Lifeguard and Thunderbird leave the title with this arc, going after Slipstream.
In the next few issues (19 and X-Posé 1–2) (arcs 6 and 7), while the team is recuperating, they have dinner with their old teammates. However, it's made quite clear that Xavier's views have changed and a philosophical rift begins. The team deals with the public relations aspect of what they do. The team attempts to keep a mutant documentary on the air, despite efforts to kill it because it is not derogatory. The team succeeds, but another old teammate, Archangel, refuses to allow them to manipulate the media that way.
Issues 20-23 (arc 8) deal with a young mutant killer seeking asylum at Xavier's Institute. Emma Frost promptly kicks out members Sage and Bishop when they visit because she believes that mutants should police themselves. The team breaks into the mansion to bring the boy to the proper authorities. However, a possessed Emma intercepts them. She is possessed by Elias Bogan, an old acquaintance from the Hellfire Club who she and Sage have met before. After an argument with Professor X elsewhere, Storm arrives to help her teammates. However, old emotions rise to the surface as Storm fights Emma Frost. Emma shakes the possession outside the mansion during the fight, but they continue to battle until Storm shows that she is willing to kill Emma and has the ability to do so. Bogan proves to be the threat behind the murders. Storm and Emma pull it together long enough to facilitate the rest of the team's escape, who then stop Bogan, though certainly not for good. The philosophical rift between the two groups of X-Men reaches its peak when the X-Treme X-Men promise not to return to the mansion again until the dream of peaceful coexistence is, once again, the goal the X-Men, instead of what the X-Treme X-Men believe to be isolationism and possible mutant supremacy.
The return of Cannonball takes place in issue 24 and issues 25-30 (arcs 10 and 11) contain a story line dealing with William Stryker, a follow-up to Claremont's 1982 X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel.
Issues 31-35 (arc 12) see the return of Rogue and Gambit. Storm offers her team's services to the United Nations as a global mutant police force, the X-Treme Sanctions Executive (XSE), wherein mutants will continue to be bound by the human laws, but be policed by other mutants.[2] They succeed as the government is searching for a way to contain the mutant threat. Also, the team fights against powerful mutants who have taken over a town in California and are pushing out the human inhabitants by force. This begins back and forth attacks between mutants and humans, while the team tries to establish peace and bring the aggressors to justice. Though the team doesn't discover it, Elias Bogan is secretly influencing events.
Issues 36-39 deal with one of Storm's missions as part of XSE (i.e., exposing mutant slave trading network and gladiatorial battle arena in Japan). Issues 40-45 again deal with the threat posed by Elias Bogan trying to get his final revenge on the group. The final issue, issue 46, shows Kitty Pryde returning to the X-Men fold and the X-Treme team deciding what to do next: return to the Xavier Institute or find a different path.
