Vermont…
Banshee is held hostage in the cellar of Hunter Brawn and his bodyguards. Brawn threatens Sean, not knowing him, and wants to know who he is and why he came there, trespassing on his house. Banshee, wearing a Genoshan power inhibitor collar and bound, jokes at Brawn. He does know where Brawn got his hands on the collar, but isn’t impressed by his threats, as Sean has heard them all from the best.
Brawn is informed about something and tells his hostage that he has to leave, but in the meantime his bodyguards will entertain Sean. Brawn walks upstairs, and says hi to his grandson, Tristan, who wanted to know why he sent out his men to pick him up from school so soon. Hunter explains that he just doesn’t like the idea of his grandson going to Xavier’s school, as, for one thing, it’s so far away and he thinks that the people at Xavier’s might be too progressive for people like him and Tristan.
Tristan doesn’t like that, and defends that his grandfather doesn’t even know anything about the school. He just send out his “nanny,” like always. Tristan hands Hunter a folder, asking him to at least read it. Hunter takes it, and on the folder recognizes Sean’s picture!
Massachusetts’s…
Emma has gathered the team of Generation X around her, and is angry that they can’t find Sean anywhere. Adrienne enters with Artie and Leech, and asks what’s going on. Emma informs her about the fact that Sean is missing, and that they just fought a heavy battle against the Dark Beast, who wanted to perform brutal experiments on the kids. However, luckily, with the help of Nate Grey, she and Gaia managed to rescue everyone.
Jubilee notices that Emma is leaving out something important, like the fact that they were told that Emma and the Dark Beast are old buddies. Emma shouts at Jubilee that she has heard quite enough! Leech mentions that Artie knows where Banshee is, and shows them a picture of Sean in his cell. Emma thinks that Artie must have build a mind-link with Sean and using his holographic powers to show them where he is.
Skin didn’t know that Artie could do that, and asks the little guy if he can also show them how Sean got there. Artie can, and shows the team that Sean followed one of the new students named Tristan Brown, who was followed by a helicopter. Sean thought that it was suspicious and went to check it out. He followed the helicopter until it landed on a house, where he was knocked out by a gigantic pro-wrestler type of guy.
Paige shouts that they have to go rescue Sean, but Emma doesn’t want to risk the lives of the kids. Jubilee shouts that’s bull, to which M surprisingly agrees. Adrienne defends that, from what Emma told her since she arrived there, these children have went through a lot. She thinks they can handle it, and that this case needs special attire.
A short time later, the members of Generation X have put on their new uniforms! Adrienne explains that she has taken the liberty of having these new uniforms made, because, with all these new human students around, she thought it was best to keep their identities hidden, so that’s why she upgraded the suits with facial masks. Everett notices something, and asks if someone saw Gaia, who isn’t standing with them.
Gaia enters… with some luggage! She apologizes for the bad timing, but she has chosen… to leave the school! Everett is surprised, and wants to know the reason. Gaia explains that while she was coming to rescue the others from the Dark Beast, she spent some time talking to Nate and came to the conclusion that the school isn’t what she needs right now. She reminds everyone that she’s new to this world, and Nate helped her realize that it’s best to experience the world by herself, and not read about it in a textbook. Gaia just wants to live a little, and learn through doing.
Emma brutally responds that it’s fine if Gaia wants to leave, and suggests that she’d better be gone by the time they get back. She then orders the others to follow her, as they’ll hit the air in half an hour. Gaia is left alone, and stunned.
Half an hour later, the kids have left in the plane alone, and have ditched Emma! Monet is aboard the plane, but the others don’t like her ruthless flying much. She tells them to relax, as her family’s personal pilot started giving her private lessons back when she turned twelve years old. Jubilee recalls that this is the best way to rescue Sean, as they can’t trust Emma anymore after they learned of her past with the Dark Beast. Paige, while using a laptop, has hacked into the school records and discovered that Tristam lives in a ranch together with his grandfather.
Soon afterwards, they land outside the ranch in Vermont. Jubilee remembers that, back when she was an X-Man, they would hit the bad guys fast and hard! Synch jokes that worked out so well for Sean, apparently. Everett wonders what would happen if they want to get captured? He suggests that some of them sneak by the house get caught, and they’ll keep in touch using Monet’s telepathy. Chamber wants to know how they are going to decide who of them gets caught. Skin jokingly suggests that they could play “rock, paper, scissors.” Everyone stares at Angelo, disliking the idea.
A few minutes later, both Husk and Jubilee end up caught by Brawn’s bodyguards. Sean recognizes them, and Jubilee blinks an eye at Sean, jokingly wondering how they’ll ever escape now. She jumps free out of the bodyguard’s grip, and attacks them using her powers. Husk frees Sean, who wants to know what the girls are doing here and how they end up in X-Men costumes! Jubilee wants to explain that they will later, and just to run away now. But they end up ambushed by Brawn and his army of bodyguards, including a costumed villain!
Husk isn’t impressed, and husks her body into stone! Brawn is impressed, recognizing Paige as a meta-morph. But, he has a few tricks himself. Brawn concentrates, and is protected by a huge, thick armor. He suggests to Sean and the kids that they stand down now. Sean agrees, and telepathically screams Paige for help. The call painfully reaches Monet and she asks Jubilee not to scream. She then informs her that they can be near the house in fifteen seconds, but she needs Jubilee to guide them to their exact location. Suddenly, the team notices Paige flying through the house’s roof!
She lands before Jono, who makes sure if she’s all right. Paige jokes that she’s just getting warmed up. Brawn enters, and Jono attacks him, but his powers have no effect on Brawn’s armor. Brawn explains that his energy armor can align itself with the frequency of Jono’s bio-blast. In other words: nothing can hurt Brawn! Meanwhile, Sean fights Brawn’s costumed guard. He recognizes the guard from somewhere, but can’t pinpoint him.
Synch synches Monet’s powers, and they notice Sean fighting. They fly towards him, and apologize for not having noticed the costumed guy earlier. Sean jokes that he’ll let it slip this time, and watches the kids taking his adversary away. Sean notices how good the team is getting at things like this. Jubilee finishes off Brawn’s other guards, but things turn to the worst: Brawn has taken Skin hostage! He has noticed that Skin is elastic, and wonders what would happen if he’d stretch his body completely! If the team doesn’t wish to see that happen, Brawn suggests that they best surrender.
Synch refuses to surrender, and holds Brawn’s costumed guard by his neck, threatening to break his neck if Brawn doesn’t release Skin! Everett mentions that he sure is strong enough now to do that. Brawn thinks he can end this without brutal murder, and asks Sean if he’s there for Brawn’s grandson, Tristan. Sean confirms. Hunter powers down, and explains that he is Tristan’s legal guardian, and that the boy is in no danger there, except of course from the danger Sean and the kids are attacking his home for.
Brawn wants to know why they are trespassing. Sean agrees to leave it Brawn can prove he can provide for his grandson and that he’s here on his free will. Brawn agrees with that, and has one of his guards fetch Tristan, who’s playing pool in the game room. Brawn explains that he had the room soundproofed in order to occupy certain business associates.
Tristan goes outside, and recognizes Sean from school, and asks the man what he’s doing there. Hunter claims that Sean has gotten worried over his overprotectiveness, and that he saw the helicopter taking Tristan home again, realizing that it’s all one big misunderstanding. Brawn tells his grandson that he and Sean have been talking, and that he can go to their school if he wants. Tristan is thrilled! Sean is also glad, and tells Tristan that he can go grab his things if he wants, and that his grandfather has promised to fly them back to the school when he’s ready. Tristan leaves and promises to be right back. As the boy is gone, Sean turns to Hunter, and tells him he doesn’t know what he stumbled into, but promises to find out. Hunter smiles, and tells Sean he can try.
Meanwhile, the team flies back home in their plane. Jubilee can’t believe that this whole mess was over an old man who didn’t want that his grandson went to a school too far away. Skin thinks that they weren’t dealing with just an “old man” and thinks that, with his super-powers, the old man might have been a super-hero during World War II or something, or maybe even someone from the Invaders. M thinks it’s a lot more sinister than that, thinking that Brawn might be a villain.
Paige, however, just hopes that her momma won’t take the news too bad. Jubilee and the other kids wonder what bad news Paige is talking about. Paige mentions the fact that they are… expelled! She thinks that Emma is going to expel them for sure after they ditched her like that.
Later, LeGault meats up with Hunter, not understanding why he let his grandson tag along with Cassidy and the others. Brawn smiles and tells his friend that he failed to assess the situation properly. He knows that those kids were Sean’s fighters, and are warriors. Brawn mentions that he runs a multi-million dollar company solely for criminal endeavors! Hunter is aware that, one day, he will die. And he wants that Tristan takes over from him some day, but he needs to learn how to be strong first.
LeGault understands. And what better place for Tristan to learn those things than in a school that trains super-kids? Hunter starts to smoke his pipe, and fully agrees.
