Near Blasco Castle Rory and Pandora still find themselves surrounded by vampires, real vampires as their foes let them know. Bereft of their powers, the kids are nevertheless willing to fight. Rory grabs a stone vase, swings it around to fend the vampires off and then crashes it into a pillar. The derelict roof caves in above the vampires while Rory drags his sister to safety, ordering her to get near the people at the party.
Nearby, said party at is in full swing both inside and outside the castle. On the balcony, Samantha is trying to fend off an overenthusiastic admirer. Before she has to get rude, she hears Rory shouting. With a thought she manifests a sword and tears off the lower part of her long gown and jumps over the balcony to find her younger siblings. Magnifique her admirer sighs, keeping her shoe.
The twins find themselves at a dead end with a fence in front of them and the vampire having almost caught up to them. He orders Pan to get through while he hold off the vampires. Pandora tells him to stop playing the big brother. He’s not the only one who can make a little power go a long way. She manifests a light spark to the amusement of the vampires. They are less amused when she shoots it at the oil canister next to the vampires and it blows up.
That moment, they are joined by Samantha with blazing swords. She orders the twins to get behind her and not to look – this could get messy!
Suddenly, Kay joins them and agitated she shouts at Sam not to hurt the vampires. They are friends! Family, the leader corrects her, calling her Jazz. Addressing him as Sacha, Kay agrees. She introduces them as Sacha, Anna, Franz, Marie and Natasha. She told them to terrorize the twins? Sam asks. For a joke, Kay explains. It wasn’t funny! Sam shouts and belts her hard.
Holding her chin, Kay asks her to come on. The twins are always looking for adventure, so when she sensed them nearby, she decided to give them a thrill. Turning to the twins, she asks almost pleadingly that they were having fun, weren’t they? Instead, the twins splutter out that Adam vanished or exploded.
On another Earth, their brother Dominic and the dimension-swept members of Excalibur are imprisoned in a dark cell and outfitted with collars that disrupt their abilities. Captain Britain tries to remove his. Dominic warns him not to do this. Sadly, his “gift” isn’t negated. This place stinks. He adds that the collars are packed with circuitry, some attached to an explosive compound, so it’s most likely an anti-tamper device. Armed monsters order them into the arena or the collars will be detonated.
Looking at the inhuman audience, Nightcrawler remarks that this is the most frightening alternate Earth so far. Cap agrees. The last remnants of this world’s humanity herded like animals for alien sport. Which aliens? Shadowcat wonders. She doesn’t recognize their jailers as any alien species they have encountered before. That’s because they are not alien, Rachel realizes, as she looks outside… they’re Inhumans.
The heroes are led into an arena. The spectators are the Inhuman Royal Family without Black Bolt. Their leader instead is Maximus the Mad, who takes offense at their costumes which he assumes are meant to imitate Inhuman design. Medusa suggests that perhaps the humans are evolving to become more like them. Surely they are so secure now with so few humans left that they could investigate the possibility?
Maximus’ advisor suggests it could be another attempt to infiltrate their city. Maximus recalls the previous attempt by the rebel army led by Magneto. They were all slaughtered! Medusa points out. Suspicious, Maxiumus glares at her. Slaughtered is an emotive word. Does she sympathize with those degenerates? Calling him master, she denies this. Can he trust no one? he asks agitated. Are Karnak and Gorgon helping those infiltrators?
Phoenix finally tries to speak to him, trying to explain they are travellers from another—
Furious, Maximus orders her to be silent and uses his psychic abilities to force them all to their knees, all save Phoenix. While her powers are blocked, she grew up resisting—
An Inhuman guard hits her from behind and she too falls to her knees. No one can resist, Maximus states and suspiciously glances at his cousins before he orders the entertainment to begin. The heroes are given lance-like weapons and are told to fight or die. They are attacked by feral Alpha Primitives.
Back on Earth 616 at Blasco Castle, Kay tells the twins that Adam vanishes all the time. Nothing to worry about. In the meantime, she telepathically instructs Sam not to alarm the twins. Considerate after nearly scaring them to death, Sam scowls. No worse than a fairground ride, comes the retort, anyway she still cannot contact Walter or Adam.
What about their powers failing? Pandora asks. That has to be the work of a super-villain. More likely sunspots, Kay laughs. He said that, Rory adds. Sunspots? Sam mentally asks Kay. It’s what they need to hear, her elder sister explains.
Pandora tells them how scared they were when they fell and the lightning started. More scared than when the vampires chased them? Kay asks playfully. Oh, much, Pan assures her. That’s what she thinks Kay needs to her, Sam mentally needles her.
Kay tells her to contact Walter by phone. Does she think there’s room for a cell in what’s left of her dress? Sam asks angrily. One of the vampires graciously offers her his mobile. Kay telepathically tells her to phone outside while she keeps the twins occupied.
Sacha assures the kids they would not have harmed them. They are vampyr with souls… and Jazz is family!
Jazz? Rory asks. Short for “Jasmine” Kay explains, her original name. Kay Cera is just her latest alias.
Kay’s story:
In the 1860s, she inhabited the body of Natsume Masako and married the prince Sakai Masaaki. It was a good time. She loved the order and calm of Japan and she loved her husband.
Masaaki was a diplomat and when he was posted to Paris she was happy to accompany him to see how Europe had changed… it was a time of great change (the Eiffel Tower was just being constructed).
Masaaki knew she thought their garden in Japan was a piece of Heaven. So he had a small replica built at their house in Paris. She often went there to meditate. Had she not been so at peace, the fiend would not have gotten near her.
Suddenly, she was attacked and bitten by a red-haired woman. By the time she realized what was happening, her body had gone into shock and her death was inevitable. So she blasted the evil spirit out of the vampire Marietta Borgezia with her own consciousness. She stood there… disoriented, learning to balance the strange new body, hoping there would be time to save the body of Masako and the life she loved.
But Masaaki came into the garden, saw his princess lying at the feet of a bloodsoaked fiend and attacked with his sword. She wanted to explain but Masaaki had only known her as the woman he married, he would never have understood. And so she fled, Kay ends her tale, a look of pain still on her face.
Present:
Sacha happily continues that they found Jazz. All the vampire created by Marietta Borgezia were changed with her demise… they were free from the blood demon. They don’t drink blood anymore? The twins ask. The vampires explain they don’t drink human blood… unless it is offered. Like from donors? Rory asks. They are, one of the women explains… vampire groupies. Which they are definitely not, ok? Pandora stresses.
Outside Sam can’t reach Walter’s cottage. The line is dead. Suddenly, Newton arrives (in his normal body) in a strange vehicle. He steps out and instantly babbles he’s got a big, big problem. He continues about losing Dom and how he can’t calculate a trajectory with the necessary precision to find him, but Rory can. He doesn’t even let Sam tell him about their own emergency and Kay mentally asks her not to. If Adam and Walter are in trouble, it could be bad so if Newton takes the twins to sit in his lab, they can be sure they are safe at least while they can check on Walter and Adam. Kay gets the twins to leave with Dom, who is surprised she didn’t put up a fight.
Just be sure to keep them safe, Sam warns him. Rory tells Newton the sunspots drained their powers. Sunspots? Newton wonders, then plays along. He needs Rory’s brain, his instinct.
With them gone, Kay decides they need to leave for Ravenscroft. Sacha offers the vampire coven’s help. Kay thanks him, but declines since it’s near dawn. Besides there might be nothing amiss. If she’s not back by nightfall, she jokes, promise her to hunt down the bad guys and make them wish they are dead. With pleasure, Sacha promises her and they kiss.
Driving between realities, Newton tells the twins that he was Dom’s mentor just like Walter and Florence were theirs. Dom was always rather wild, he continues, that’s why he gave him a signal watch, but just in vase he put a 4-D tag on him. It’s out of temporal phase, so even Dom cannot sense its signal.
He puts a control crown on Rory’s head, explaining it will allow him to pilot the ship by translating his impulse intuition into control action just how he flies instinctively. He points to a glowing signal on a screen. That’s Dom. His signal will move around like a balloon on the wind. Rory must steer his flying to catch it and the ship will do its work. Look and fly. Rory obeys and starts.
In the Inhuman arena, Dom and Excalibur are still fighting. Dom remarks that the buzzing noise is getting louder but none of the others can hear it.
Somewhere else, Rory has his goal in his sights and, moments later, their vehicle manifests in said arena and Dom finally realizes it’s the source of the buzzing.
Rory crash lands them. A furious Maximus orders his troops to fire and kill them. As Newton opens the vehicle’s door, Dom runs towards them, shouting at the Inhumans that they are just children… nevertheless the order to fire is given and the vehicle is hit. Newton falls out and the twins fall into another direction and the car explodes seemingly obliterating the twins, much to Newton’s (and the others’ horror).
In Nepal, Adam wonders how he can return to Yden with Vincent’s blood on his hands. He killed for love, Albert reminds him. To protect his other children, perhaps the entire world. He doesn’t understand, Adam sighs. Albert reminds him that he killed once with hate in his heart. The evil taints him still. But Adam’s heart is still pure. How could it be otherwise…? Is he not still under Mother’s protection?
He is preserved so he may be tortured by guilt, is the stony reply. Albert fears it is Mother who is tortured by her bond to Adam and her children. He means the strange malady afflicts her also? Adam asks and orders him to send him to her.
Albert begins his spell as he warns Adam that no power can enter Yden unbidden, but he can deposit Adam near to the valley. He wishes him farewell and Adam disappears, to reappear in front of the mountain rift guarding the valley. Energy comes from it. Elalyth? he shouts.
On the way to Ravenscroft, Sam is driving while Kay manages the feat of changing into her costume en route. She orders Sam to cut through the hedge. Noticing that her elder sister is enjoying this, Sam sourly remarks that she really is cuckoo. Kay replies that if Sam has any sense, she should armour up. While complying, Sam retorts that if she had any sense she’d stop listening to her.
They notice the broken window and Sam asks if Kay can sense anything. Kay senses static mostly stronger than before but nothing dangerous. That moment, she is hit by a furious Walter in his blue form. Sam cries he could have killed her. Stunned, Kay shouts that she can’t sense him or anything.
As Sam tries to keep him back with her armour, she shouts at Kay to pull herself together and help. Kay tries a telekinetic blast but Walter just absorbs it, something he shouldn’t be able to do. That moment, she is attacked by from behind by what appear to be the horribly distorted twins.
At the Guild HQ, Omega Red informs the Primus that surveillance on the Destine cottage has been restored. There is some battle occurring. He has reviewed the record of the period prior to Griffin’s industrial complex being destroyed. The twins and the one called Wallop had broken in for some reason but they fell foul of a gas trap and were captured. It was over an hour before the other Destines rescued their kin. The gaps in their surveillance of Griffin they thought were technical glitches, he now believes Griffin suspected they were watching and limited their surveillance. He believes Griffin took cell samples from the Destines while they were unconscious. He had their DNA and cloned them!
And at the Ravenscroft cottage, the clones of the twins and Wallop triumphantly stand over the fallen Argent and Cuckoo while Griffin and his servants stand in the back.
