The Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach, Central Park, New York City: Quentin Quire a.k.a. Kid Omega is in one of the classrooms that he recently demolished, and is using his powers to make repairs, telekinetically lifting many bricks and inserting them back into the busted walls he knocked down. Quentin decides that anyone and everyone who says “life is short” is an idiot, as time is a construct measured by perception, and if you haven't figured that out, it means time only seems to move quickly because you think very slow. Quentin thinks that it is probably best those people think life is short. 'Because when you're a billionaire genius with god-like powers, you know that life's not only excruciatingly long and boring – it's also overflowing with idiots'. Quentin thinks to himself as he stands and admires one of the repaired walls – with several gaps left in it that spell out “You suck”. 'Wall patched. Who says I'm not a team player?' Quentin remarks, before thinking that they always seem to want something from him, but lucky for them, he has nothing better to do than fix their #$%&. 'Voila. One trashed classroom un-trashed' Quentin announces, taking a bow.
'This way!' a voice calls out. Quentin looks over and sees Broo leading a civilian tour group through the Institute. 'Yo, sleazy' Quentin calls out. Broo informs the tour group that the library is straight ahead and up the stairs. 'BROO!' Quentin shouts. The alien turns to Quentin and claims that he didn't see him. 'I hadn't even realized you'd returned. How unexpected' Broo adds. 'And I thought you'd be dead by now. Too bad' Quentin replies, before asking Broo what is going on. Broo informs him that the school appears to be under siege by Purifiers. 'Sweet' Quentin grins.
Outside on the front lawn of the school, Chamber, Shark Girl and Graymalkin rush towards the Purifiers, who have opened fire. 'Mind your six' Chamber tells Shark Girl. Nearby, Kitty Pryde sees Trance and Gentle, and instructs them to round up the humans and get them to safety inside the library, and then come find her so she can start lockdown protocols. Jubilee is holding her son, Shogo, while Eye-Boy, Nature Girl, Bling, Benjamin Deeds and new arrival Nathaniel Carver stand near her. Eye-Boy quickly raises a leg as a stray bullet lands near him. 'Library. Get to the library. And stay there' Kitty instructs Jubilee. Kitty rushes into the battle, and Jubilee calls out after her, asking her if she doesn't want them to back up Chamber. 'Library, Jubes' Kitty calls back. 'You know what to do' Kitty adds. Roxy “Bling” Washington turns to Jubilee and asks her if they are seriously supposed to hide in the library while Purifiers destroy their school. 'We're not hiding, Roxy. We're protecting humans from -' Jubilee begins, while Roxy stands with her hands on her hips, looking very unimpressed.
'About damn time something interesting happened!' Quentin Quire calls out as he hovers over the group. He grins and asks them if they were all waiting on him. 'You shouldn't have' he adds, before flying towards the battle and joking that he doesn't need the dead weight. The others watch him while Jubilee calls out to him, telling him to stop and come back. 'Quentin!' Jubilee shouts. Roxy offers to go and get him, but as Jubilee hands her son, Shogo, to Eye-Boy a.k.a. Trevor Hawkins, she tells Bling that she will get to the library and protect it. 'Got it?' she asks. '...yes' Roxy mutters.
Quentin throws up telekinetic shields as the Purifiers open fire on him. He sees Graymalkin down below and calls out to him: 'Sup, Jonas? Still need a tan, I see'. 'You're back?' Graymalkin asks. 'Miss me?' Quentin asks. 'Not particularly' Graymalkin replies as he slams a fist into one of the Purifiers, he tells Quentin that he has always found him to be more troublesome than helpful. 'You're too good to me, Jonas. Never change' Quentin responds.
'How's this for helpful?' Quentin asks as he telepathically calls out to the Purifiers and asks them why they are hitting themselves. The Purifiers all drop their weapons, then, under Quentin's psychic command, start to punch each other. 'You really put some self-hate into that one, huh?' Quentin smiles as the Purifiers start to draw blood with their punches. Graymalkin goes wide-eyed, while Shark Girl utters 'Holy -' when suddenly, Jubilee and Chamber rush over 'Quentin! They're people, not toys! STOP IT!' Jubilee shouts angrily.
The Purifiers stop hitting each other, and look confused, while Quentin puts a hand to his forehead and tells Jubilee that she sees her point. 'Stop hitting yourselves – and just shoot each other already' Quentin exclaims, telepathically instructing the Purifiers, while putting two fingers to his temple, imitating a gun. The Purifiers do as they are commanded, while Jubilee, Chamber, Graymalkin and Shark Girl look on, horrified.
'Whoa. I did not see that coming' Eye-Boy remarks as he holds Shogo in the library and looks out one of the windows at the battle. Bling, Benjamin and Nathaniel are with him as some doves fly past the window. Suddenly, 'Hey – hey! I'm talking to you!' an aggressive voice calls out. The mutants turn to see a blond man calling out to Nature Girl a.k.a. Lin Li who is tending to some plants in the library. She pays no attention to the aggressive man. 'Look, you freak. You can't just keep us locked up in here. We've got rights' he exclaims. 'We aren't animals like you' the man adds. An older, skinny man wearing an orange shirt steps in front of the aggressive blond man and says 'Sir... don't be mad...' but the blond man shoves him backwards. 'Do I look like I'm talking to you, janitor?' he asks.
'Hey! Was that necessary?' Benjamin Deeds asks as he and Bling walk towards the aggressive man, and the janitor is caught by Nathaniel before he can fall onto the ground. As their skin touches, there is a spark. '...whoa' Nathaniel utters as he and the janitor look at each other. 'Do that again and -' Bling begins. 'And you'll what?' the aggressive man asks her. 'Protect the crap out of you. Sir' Bling announces, large spikes suddenly popping up across her shoulders as she leans into the man, who turns and walks back to the other civilians in the group. 'Andre – uh, it's Andre, right?' Nathaniel asks the janitor. 'Uh-huh' Andre replies. Nathaniel asks him if he is all right, and Andre tells him that he is, thanking him. 'What the hell was that?' Nathaniel asks, turning to Benjamin and Bling. 'Same $%#&, different day. You get used to it' Benjamin replies. 'No, you won't. And you shouldn't' Bling snaps.
Suddenly, one of the Purifiers kicks open the door to the library and raises a weapon. The civilians scream and run around in a panic. 'Fear not, fellow humans. For I have arrived to liberate you from the mutant menace!' the Purifier exclaims. Nature Girl is holding some potted plants and looks at him, while Eye-Boy continues to hold Shogo, Bling clenches her fists, ready for a fight. 'No...no one actually talks like that...' Nathaniel begins.
Back outside, Jubilee leaps at one of the Purifiers, knocking him to the ground, before slamming his head into one of the other Purifiers. Quentin claps and tells Jubilee 'Nice combo', when suddenly, Graymalkin slaps him. 'It's like I said – you're more troublesome than helpful' Quentin falls backwards, and rubs his face. 'I know you were a farm boy – but you desperately need to get into the hand moisturizing game' he tells Graymalkin. 'Whatever, it was just a few Purifiers' Quentin calls out, but Jubilee tells him that doesn't make it okay. Graymalkin ties the captured Purifiers up, while Jubilee points out that Quentin played with them like literal meat puppets. 'And not one mutnt got hurt. So, you're welcome' Quentin tells her. 'It's not how we do things -' Jubilee tries to tell Quentin, but he interrupts her, 'I know. It wasn't tedious or inefficient' he remarks. 'Lee' a telepathic voice calls out to Jubilee, who turns to Chamber: 'What?' she asks him. Chamber asks if there were 14 or 15 of them, because if it was 15, then they are missing a Purifier. 'Dammit' the wide-eyed Jubilee exclaims, while Quentin frowns.
Back in the library, the humans run screaming out the door, while Bling throws herself over Eye-Boy and Shogo, her indestructible form taking the brunt of one of the blasts, while another blast sends some books into the air above Nathaniel and Benjamin, and a third strikes one of Nature Girl's plants. Suddenly, another blast strikes Nathaniel's suitcase, blasting it open, sending some collectible cards into the air. 'Sonofa – that deck took me years to build!' Nathaniel exclaims, before Benjamin pulls him behind a bookcase. 'Can't you do something?' he asks Benjamin. 'Like what?' Morph my face into one he still wants to kill?' Benjamin asks. Nature Girl rushes past them with a skunk at her side. 'Whadda...' Nathaniel begins, covering his nose. Benjamin turns his nose up, too, as Nature Girl uses her power to command the skunk to release its defensive (offensive) smelling spray at the Purifier, who screams.
But the Purifier gathers himself and fires a net from another weapon. 'Damned heathen spawn!' he exclaims. The skunk hisses as it leaps onto his leg, while Nature Girl falls as the net latches around her, and releases some sort of energy. Bling calls out to her, while the Purifier tosses the skunk across the room, and Nature Girl screams. The Purifier fires one of the nets at Bling, and although she falls backwards, she grabs the net, preventing it from trapping her. The Purifier stands over her and puts his gun to her face. 'Question: Are those milky eyes of yours as impervious as the rest of you? I'm willing to bet that they're not...' he declares.
Before the Purifier can open fire, another sort of fire sweeps through the room, a psionic energy flare thanks to Chamber, which strikes the Purifier and knocks him over. 'Oh, yeah!' Jubilee exclaims as she rushes into the room and knees the Purifier in the face. 'Let's see how you like it – in your eye!' she shouts at him as she slams a fist into his face and knocks him out cold.
Shortly, Jubilee stands in front of the “You suck” wall as Nature Girl, Nathaniel, Benjamin, Eye-Boy, Quentin and Bling stand before her. Shogo is strapped to her back as she tells the young mutants that they are all different, and she doesn't mean that they have got different abilities. 'Some blink lasers, some freeze stuff, some beat people up with the weather... others chat with squirrels or have an eyeball on their tongue...' Jubilee begins. 'I don't think I like where this is going' Bling mutters. Jubilee continues, admitting that it probably wasn't the best idea to just throw every young mutant up against the Sentinels, or Magneto, and most definitely not Apocalypse. 'Point is, we're trying something new. We've split everyone into groups and we're teaching each group accordingly: Combat training, ambassador training, and real-world practical application training. Which is what you guys will get' Jubilee informs the young mutants.
While Andre brings a ladder into the room and starts some janitorial work, Benjamin asks Jubilee 'What does that mean, exactly?' Quentin explains 'There's no room for you on the X-Men, so at some point they're gonna kick you out. Back into the “real world” where humans hate and fear you. And you'll be luck to survive every day life'. Quentin turns to Jubilee and, referring to the other mutants, tells her that he knows why this “gaggle of suck” is here, but why him? 'Gee. I dunno, Quentin. Why do you think?' Jubilee asks, looking up to the ceiling, where Quentin put the desk and other furniture that was previously on the floor. Jubilee points at Quentin and tells him that it is like every time they think he is ready to join the X-Men, he can't help but self-sabotage, and no one wants to deal with that. She suggests he figure out his crap and pull it together, as it is getting old.
'What Quentin said about us never being X-Men – is that true?' Bling asks. Jubilee tells her that nothing is set in stone yet, and that if she wants it that badly, they will find a way to make it happen. 'And what if we don't want to be X-Men? What if we just wanna learn how to “survive” like you said?' Nathaniel asks. 'That's fine, too, Nathaniel. But wait – does this mean you're staying?' Jubilee replies. Nathaniel looks up at Andre, as Jubilee asks him what changed his mind. Quentin walks over to the window, while Nathaniel explains that he wants to get a handle on his powers.
'That's fantastic. Listen, I'll do anything and everything I can – to help you guys get whatever it is you need out of your time here. I promise' Jubilee assures them, while Quentin stares out the window and thinks that he should have known better than to come back here, as it has always been a waste of his time and talents.
Benjamin walks over to Quentin. 'Hey' he calls out. 'What do you want?' Quentin snaps. Benjamin smiles and tells Quentin that he thought he could use some company, as life is kind of short to spend it staring out a window alone. 'Then again... let's see what we can do to fix that' Quentin decides as he grins and tells Benjamin that he is an idiot. Benjamin looks shocked while Quentin walks away from him.
