The young X-Men, Beast, Iceman, Oya and Genesis leave the pizza parlor with the sated Bamf Pickles, who caused a commotion. Idie reminisces that Logan used to say there are two ways to capture a Bamf… chocolate or whiskey. “And the filthy little gremlins aren’t getting any whiskey,” Evan continues the quote. Potato chips always worked before, Hank remarks regretfully. Before he took him into a building full of pizza and beer? Idie laughs. Hank gives up. At least Pickles is good and fed now. Should make for a swift exit, as soon as they get Scott out of jail. Can he assume Idie and Evan got the nerd wagon squared away? He asks. He can assume anything he likes, Idie replies evasively and smirks. Suddenly, police cars drive past them at top speed, sirens howling.
Not surprising, since the Ghosts of Cyclops just broke into jail into the cell of their teammate and, unfortunately, also young Scott Summers who asks if they are &%$§ brain-dead. The thieving Cyclops fan club was stupid enough.
Some of the Ghosts agree as other teammates attacked cops. Pillar, one of the strong guys, has no problem with that and Scott gets into his face. Pillar is about to get into a fight with him but Thirst tells him to let it go. That’s not the Cyclops they are looking for. Let’s go!
Scott pointedly returns to the cell. He tells the two female Ghosts this doesn’t have to go any further. They can stay in here with him, where it’s safe. The one girl is about to agree. The other tells her they can’t and orders her to come.
The Ghosts run down the stairs and toward the emergency exit. They head out to see hordes of heavily armed cops, who order them to put their hands where they can see them. Quickly, they head inside again.
The swat teams discuss what to do, agreeing on this going to get ugly.
Hidden nearby, the X-Men watch these events, concerned. Angel takes the blame. Laura had the creeps pinned down in a parking garage, but he screwed up and let them get away. Laura observes that they call themselves the Ghosts of Cyclops. They must have come here straight from the garage. By the time she and Angel caught up, this was happening. She offers to go in there to handle this solo.
Hank whispers something to Pickles, who teleports way. He is confident she could do this, he assures Laura. But he asks her to hold off. The thing is a powder keg. Let’s not light any fuses unless they absolutely must.
Inside the police station, the Ghosts are panicking and turning on each other, as one of the girls blames Thirst for this mess. He defends himself that nobody could expect the cops to move that fast. He knew, Cyclops points out from the corner and is told to shut up. The kids are about to freak out. Tarpit suggests they flee by Juice flying them. She points out she can’t carry five people. And the police have helicopters.
Thirst figures they can use the cops as hostages, managing to get Uppercut mad again. They know nothing about hostages or leverage that didn’t come from a movie. The two girls decide to turn themselves in.
Scott explains it doesn’t work like that. When those people see them, they don’t see kids or college students. They see mutant terrorists.
Thirst unlashes a wave of water that knocks Scott off his feet. He calls him a cowardly, know-it-all, pile of crap. Undeterred, Scott continues the cops will see dangerous criminals. If they go outside, they’ll put them down on live TV.
Angrily, Thirst tries violence to get Scott to shut up but Scott continues undeterred, noting that, if they want to survive this, they need to lie face down on the floor with their hands behind their backs. Cool plan, Thirst mocks. He do that. But they are the Ghosts of Cyclops. And Cyclops wouldn’t do face down on the floor. Cyclops would go out here and fight every time. He and the other Ghosts seem agreed on that. Yeah, Scott points out bitterly. That’s why Cyclops is dead! He hears a bamfing noise and discovers it is Pickles, who hands Scott his visor.
Outside, the SWAT team is getting ready to storm the station when, suddenly, the X-Men literally jump over them. Iceman assures them they are trying to help, while begging them not to shoot.
Why didn’t anybody shoot him? someone asks after he has created an icewall to separate them from the station.
The Ghosts get ready to head outside, itching for a fight. Instead, the X-Men come in and attack. The huge Ghost shouts for help, as he is being chased by Iceman and melts his iceslide. Oya turns his flames into ice, getting Iceman’s attention. He becomes jealous when he hears she has both heat and colds powers, by temperature reversal. Angrily, he shouts he is not even the teenage ice guy any longer while icing up Thirst’s water attack. Oya assures him he can still be the ice guy and suggests teamwork. She turns the frozen water into fire causing Thirst to run away in a panic.
The smaller girl gives up to Evan, figuring her team has no chance against the X-Men and she doesn’t feel like getting her butt kicked by a tiny Apocalypse.
When the cops come in, the X-Men immediately follow their orders. The other Ghosts look to Thirst for what to do. He announces they don’t surrender. Beast tells him not to be stupid. The big guy hits Hank and the girls ask the cops to not shoot. He didn’t mean it.
The cops repeat their orders for them to get on the ground. Who are they to give them orders? Thirst rages. He could drown everyone here with a thought!
Hearing this, a cop gives the order to take them down, but an optic blast hits his gun. Young Cyclops has fired at it while remaining inside, standing in the darkened entrance. He knows what this looks like. And he knows the last thing everyone wants to do after everything is listen to Cyclops give another speech. He steps out. Himself included. Public speaking makes his palms sweat. He’s not that other Cyclops. He didn’t do what he did. And neither did these Ghosts of Cyclops. They are just dumb kids. He points to his team. They are just dumb kids. Trying to figure out how to be mutants in a post-Cyclops world. They’ve made mistakes obviously and they should be held accountable, but making mistakes while mutant shouldn’t earn someone a bullet. It doesn’t have to start a war. He doesn’t know what these kids will learn from this or what will change. Maybe nothing but he knows he wants to give them the chance. As for him, he’s done hiding out. No more pretending. Cyclops has been a dirty word far too long. Time to win it back.
Later:
Bobby, Hank and Scott are watching the end of the speech on Bobby’s cell phone. 600 000 views already, he remarks. Impressive. He hates the internet! Scott groans. The future is now, Hank reminds him. He guesses so, Scott chuckles as their impounded car is brought to them. While Hank takes care of the very high bill, Scott thanks them for coming back for him, for the visor and everything.
That was pretty much all Hank, Bobby assures him. The rest of them would have left him for dead. Scott thanks Hank, who claims in embarrassment that Bobby was just joking. That’s what Bobby does when he’s honest, Scott replies. He jokes. They decide to get the others. They have six hours to get out of Illinois before legal charges will be filed.
Meanwhile in a bar:
A TV shows the news about the young X-Men and Cyclops. A drunk patron destroys the TV set with his prehensile tongue. Scott Summers must die! the Toad vows.
