Hammer Bay, Genosha. Perhaps an hour ago, the youngsters of GeNext were fighting for their lives against a group of evil X-Men from another dimension. They knew help was on the way, but they also knew that meant nothing if they ended up dead before it arrived. Luckily, they managed and now help, Dean of Students Hank McCoy aka Beast and Oli’s girlfriend, the telepathic Megan – daughter of Emma Frost and Cyclops – has arrived.
Somebody call for a pick-up? Hank asks the grinning teenagers who seem to have things well in hands. Their foes are tied up and helpless and only they and the Genoshan Wicked and her ghosts are left standing.
Megan happily runs towards her boyfriend and the two kiss. The others, of course, comment on this, much to Megan’s embarrassment. Oli uses his PSI to block everyone’s minds from seeing what’s on the other side of a mental wall he erects. Instant privacy.
No point asking him questions for the time being, Hank remarks. However, the rest of them don’t get out so easily. Had themselves a good time, did they? Stealing a high-performance aircraft and racing around the world?
Their friend was in danger, Colossus remarks angrily and armors up. He thinks? comes the sarcastic reply. Hank reminds them that Shadow X didn’t know where No-Name was, anymore than they did. She had pretty effectively given them all the slip. That’s why Janine (the evil alternate Jean Grey) staged the alert at the mansion. She figured correctly that the kids would bolt and go looking for their friend. All she had to do was tag along and make her move when they hit pay dirt. The only thing that worked in the kids’ favor was that she seriously underestimated the lot of them, as did they all. Now comes the time to pay the proverbial piper. And he’s afraid the bill won’t come cheap!
Val Cooper, United Nations liaison to Xavier’s School exits a helicopter, reminding Hank they are children. Isn’t he supposed to be nice? Talk about a blast from the past, she remarks, as she sees the tied up Shadow-X. They were reported killed over twenty years ago. Turning back to Beast, she points out that, considering the capabilities of the villains, the kids did pretty well. That they did, he admits. Is she trying to tell him something? Heaven forefend, Val replies with a smirk. Though she’s glad his telepath is occupied, means she can keep her thought to herself for once. But consider the possibility that they might find skills like these useful.
The prisoners are led to Val’s jet and transported away by SHIELD. When Henry reminds her they are children, Val retorts that so were the X-Men back in the day. She’s not saying it’s right, just that it might be a little bit necessary.
Looking after her, Henry wishes he was the only one who had that idea. Now he has to take it seriously. Don’t tell them he was expecting something different, No-Name interjects. Henry is surprised. She calls him on it. Did he think she’d bolt? There is a precedent, he reminds her. Point taken, No-Name admits. Matter of fact, that’s pretty much what the others were telling her to do. Why didn’t she then? Hank asks. She’s here to stay, she replies, if they will have her. It’s a start he concedes, but he thinks it’s past time they stopped calling her No-Name. She’s Anne Marie, she says in a small voice. That s the name of Oli’s mother, Henry remarks. That’s partly why she kept it to herself, she admits.
Time for a decision, Hank tells the whole team, including the lovebirds. To go home, back to the school or stay out here on their own, on the road. He knows what they are thinking that they are just following the X-Men’s lead, but that’s the thing with history; when it shows you a path it also gives you an opportunity to make a choice. With the X-Men, things just seemed to happen. They actually considered it fun. Heaven knows what their parents would have thought. They’ve had an adventure. Thank Heaven none of them are hurt.
Now they have to decide what comes next. Do they come home or stay on this road? Thing is, if they come home, they do so knowing, giving their word, that they agree to Scott’s rules. No more fooling, no more excuses, no more exceptions. The X-Men are done. If they want to be superheroes, they cannot do it as any sort of adjunct to the school. Their choice will not be permitted to place any of the other children in jeopardy. If they want to be heroes, they can’t be students. If they want to be students, being heroes will have to wait. This is a big decision. He tells them to take off tonight to think and talk among themselves. Genosha is a good place for this. It allows them to see that the lives of heroes have consequences. Think about that. Tomorrow they decide.
Soon, carrying supplies, Colossus reminds Rico that with great power comes great responsibility. He’s heard those six word his whole life, Rico replies, just like his father before him. The family got it from Spider-Man. But that doesn’t always make them right. Responsibility to whom? What does he mean? Pavel asks. They are both third generation, Rico points out. How much of their families’ lives can be defined by those words? How high a price have they had to pay? If not for them, how many innocents would have suffered and died? Pavel retorts. Oli’s mom committed her life to answering the call, Rico points out, and look what happened to her. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Elsewhere, in the ruined capital, Megan remarks that Rico was talking about Oli before. Is she reading thoughts again? Some of them are impossible to shut out of her head, the blonde defends herself, and she’s tired. What is he thinking? About his mom and dad, he replies. About when they were grabbed by Sinister…
Megan remembers. Rogue absorbed her mother’s, Emma Frost’s powers, before coming to their rescue. When she died, Megan felt it. Inside her head, inside her heart, it was like losing a piece of herself. Except when they came home, her mom was there, Oli points out. Megan cries. Is he angry with her for that?
No, he exclaims, also crying. It’s just, he misses her! He wonders what she’d think of them, what they’ve done to get here, where they’re going afterwards. Dad didn’t say a word when Oli decided to stay at the school, but his sister was so angry. It was like he’d betrayed the family.
They hug each other. Megan assures him his sister Raven is wrong. About whatever he decides, she wants to be a part of it. They kiss.
Elsewhere, the team’s other couple takes a stroll. Why so edgy? Pavel asks No-Name. He’s kidding, right? the diminutive blonde returns. Just look around him, can’t he see the ghosts? Not so much, he replies. Can she? She just ends up imagining them everywhere, watching everything. They’re not their enemies, Pavel assures her, hugging her shoulders. Not their friends either, No-Name retorts. Is that why nobody can stand to live here?
Pavel explains that, when Professor Xavier was here, his telepathy masked their presence. It’s said he cut a deal with their leader Wicked. That once she was actually a student of his. The island was gradually being resettled and rebuilt. But after he died things pretty much fell apart. The ghosts came back, seemingly more numerous than ever before. This was their land, their home, they don’t want to share.
They don’t seem to mind them, No-Name points out. They are not staying, Pavel replies. He’s glad she didn’t run, he states as they watch the sunset. Her too, she admits. She guesses the time had come to take a stand. Felt kinda good, she must admit. Now she has to find a way to make it better.
Elsewhere, Hank McCoy talks with his wife Cecilia Reyes-McCoy via a hologram message. She asks how things are going. He admits he isn’t sure. Part of him wants the kids and safe… and part of him wants the adventure, she knows, Cece continues. She warns him to be careful what he wishes for. She tells him that satellites report some nasty weather is moving their way. Do they still plan to stay the night on Genosha? It’s a big island. They should be all right, he assures her. The kids need to make this decision on their own. The hologram hugs him. She promises to keep him posted on the storm. Love to the children and especially to her, he tells her. The storm changes things. He’d better gather up the kids.
At pretty much that very moment, at the heart of the storm Cecilia mentioned… a young costumed Indian woman continues a desperate fight for her life against what seem to be small but fierce, purple demons with really big fangs. She doesn’t know where she is. The clouds keep shifting and she can’t get any kind of physical bearing. And no matter how hard she fights, the Ravarati keep on attacking!
On Genosha, Hank and the kids have gathered around a fire. Hank tells them he said till morning, but they may have a weather situation. Have they come to any decision? Rico asks Oli. Why does he have to be the one to answer? he asks with a grin. He got it all started, his best friend reminds him. Consider it a form of symmetry.
Megan seems distracted. Is she okay? Oli asks. It’s the storm, she replies. Someone’s trapped in the weather, crying out for help. It feels like big trouble.
Henry asks her to intensify the psilink and establish telepathic contact with the person. Megan links them and they see the young Indian woman. Wow! they all exclaim at the sight of her .
However, Megan soon loses the contact. She explains that multiple telepathic contacts are forcing her out. Images of those other contacts appear – the small demonlike creatures. A moment later, it attacks – it is more than just an image.
Rico shouts a warning and covers himself and Meg with an invisible forcefield to fend off the attack. Meg tells them she still has a partial psilink with the woman. She’ll act as a homing beacon to lead her here, but the bad guys are sure to follow!
Oli helps her up and Meg psilinks with Rico. Normally, she’d do this with Oli, merging both their sets of psychic powers, but Rico’s mind is stronger. Not to mentions a whole lot more elastic, Rico jokes. Actually, he’s right, Meg replies seriously. Hey! Rico exclaims, finding he is making contact instead of Meg. She explains t at he and the stranger had something the moment their eyes met. He is the better link.
He reaches the fighting young woman and she follows his beacon flying. The storm is coming, and with it the young woman. Meg tells the others she is flying like a rocket, but the bad guys keep landing their hits. The others had better get ready!
The young woman finally reaches Genosha, but is hit again and crash lands. The next moment, torrential rain hammers the ground. But to Genext it is almost as if the raging storm doesn’t exist. They react like they’ve been doing this for a lifetime. No-Name grabs for a medical kit, Pavel grabs hold of her and both charge to the aid of the fallen woman. Beast grabs Becka and tosses her into the air. He orders her to use her elemental powers to grab control of this storm.
Pavel tells No-Name to take care of the lady. Anne, she corrects him. That’s her name. Now all they need to do is find her a proper codename, he jokes.
He charges to the attack. Becka throws lightning at their foes. Oli eggs them on, only to be hit by one of the purple demon creatures. Meg tries to defend him, only to find her telepathy has no effect on them, so she settles on hitting them.
Invisible Rico riles her that her mother wouldn’t approve. Her father would cheer, she retorts. Using his forcefield to dispatch of the creatures, he asks Megan if she thinks the lady likes music. Maybe he should play for her. They’re talking music, right? she sneers. Suddenly, they hear a roar, and Rico wonders what that was. It turns out to be a feral Hank, attacking the beast.
In the sky, Becka has finally managed to wrest control of the storm from the creatures and manages to take them out.
A little later, the beings are gone, and so is the storm. The victory was almost too easy. They look after the dazed lady they rescued, who thanks them for their help. She then suddenly recognizes Hank and hugs him, forcing the rest of the confused team to silently assume that apparently they are old friends. The next moment, Sati begins to collapse, but Rico grabs her by the waist and helps her stay upright.
Sati quickly explains that she is a super hero in India. The Ravarati they fought are working for a liege who patterns herself after the demon goddess Kalima. They’ve been adversaries for ages but lately it seems Sati has become too annoying a thorn in her foot. Kalima must have decided to deal with her once and for all.
Rico suggests they simply return the compliment. New blood might take her by surprise. Against her usual nature, No-Name suggests they call for help and leave this to the professionals. They already have obligations. This doesn’t have to be their fight. Neither did hers, Rico reminds her. Official help requires official approval. Suppose the request gets “lost” in the bureaucracy. Suppose one side says no.
No-Name still fears trouble, so Rico turns to Hank as the dean of students, asking his opinion.
A little later, they are airborne, en route to Mumbai. Special circumstances, special dispensation Hank tells them. A smart man knows how to pick his fight and which ones he has to give. Funny, this is pretty much how the X-Men got started… back in the day. The decision was easy. The adventure in a lot of ways was fun. That’s the way it is sometimes. By the time you realize the nature of your commitment, it’s too late. You can’t break loose, you’re hooked. And you have to live with the consequences.
But you also live with the knowledge that you have made a difference, Sati reminds him. That you have done good. With that, Hank cannot argue.
