The X-jet flies off to Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). During the flight from Genosha, the kids pepper Sati (named after the granddaughter of Brahma, the creator) with questions about herself and her country. It turns out that many of the national superheroes take the names of various gods. So do their adversaries. Case in point: the ones who attacked her call themselves Ravarati, and pattern themselves after those classical demons.
Fascinated, Hank McCoy can’t help but remember that his original tem of X-Men started out pretty much the same way.
A young dark-haired girl in a green outfit with armor parts looks down on the busy streets of Mumbai when suddenly several armored beings attack a limousine surrounded by police cars.
Sati asks Beast to open the landing plane’s hatch. Her people need help! She flies down, wondering if those bruisers are connected with Kalima. It would be totally out of character.
The young mysterious woman wonders if this is one of the local costumes.
Sati finds herself overwhelmed. Luckily, help comes in the form of GeNext.
Megan announces she cannot read the attackers’ thoughts. Their armor must shield their minds.
Rico suggests they do this the old-fashioned way. Just keep hitting them till they give up, No-Name translates. Does he really think things are that simple? Becka suggests that Rico likes to think as little as possible. Pavel chides her to be nice and reminds them Dr. McCoy is watching… they should make him proud.
Oli orders Megan to keep trying to break through their psychic defenses, while the rest of them start punching.
Rico takes care of one armored foe with an invisible force column. Becka tells him she will take care of Sati. He bets she’d have more fun with him, he pouts. Becka scoffs. And Pavel hits. He takes off his head’s foe, leading to the realization that they are fighting robots.
Oli orders the team to cut loose now. Pavel especially is used to holding back. Even knowing the truth, he finds striking with all his strength to be difficult. Rico, who takes out a robot with an invisible forcebeam, has less compunctions, instead considering this a chance to purge a whole lot of negative feelings.
As she strikes another robot with lightning, Becka teases that sometimes he is such a guy! And her point is? Rico asks before shielding himself with a forcefield when Becka’s pyrotechnics come too close for comfort.
A short while later, they are finished and Meggan admits she is impressed. Now all they have to do is find out where they came from, Oli announces.
That moment, the mysterious brunette has decided she’s seen enough. She presses a button on a remote and an explosion takes care of the robots.
Rico shields himself and Colossus manages to shield most of the others, though Meg gets hit on the head. Rico looks at a piece of robot shielded from the explosion via his forcefield from the trigger signal. Not much… but a place to start.
Oli orders him to keep it shielded, while the rest of them take care of the civilians. He asks Meg to use telepathy to call ambulance while the rest check for ambulances.
The next few hours are devoted to helping take care of the casualties at the crime scene. Thankfully for all the chaos and damage, casualties are remarkably minimal.
Eventually, they finally make it to their original destination – the local headquarters for India’s national superheroes. Beast can’t help feeling proud of his team who are determined to find the evildoer behind all this.
Sati suggests the refresh themselves. Their support staff will take care of GeNext’s clothes. They’ll gather afterwards to discuss their next move.
In the boys’ dressing room, Rico keeps on fiddling with the remnant of the robot, unwilling to let Oli help.
In the girls’ locker room, No-Name insists they should go home. They got heroes galore of their own here. Becka diverts Meg and No-Name by announcing Sati brought them new clothes.
And so, later the group meets again in Indian clothes, assuring each other they all look great.
They gather in the old officers club and begin taking apart the events of the last couple of days. Could there be a connection between the demons and the robots? Becka wonders. Sati points out that Kalima has never used technology before. There is no need. She commands the Ravarati.
So they are talking separate baddies, Rico concludes. Megan wonders whether the morning’s attack was a test, someone checking out the robots’ hardware and tactics and the capabilities of potential adversaries.
Pavel compliments Anne, telling her he wishes he could draw her. Does she still want to go home? he teases. She’s not a hero, she sulks. Heroes almost never get happy endings.
Standing a bit apart from the others, Becka notes that the couples – Oli and Meg, No-Name and Pavel – have each other and Rico looks like he doesn’t need any help. Feeling a little left out? Beast asks her. She admits she does.
Rico decides to go for a walk and Sati joins him before Becka can say anything. That sure bites, she states after they are gone. Times like this she wishes she was still in the Savage Land… At least there people made sense. Things here get too damn complicated too damn fast. Hank suggests she is overreacting. She replies she knows this is Rico’s way of working out problems. She just wishes he was doing it with her.
Whenever Rico finds himself boxed in by a problem, he goes for a long walk to work things out. Only this time, he has company Sati admits she is impressed – he is a brain. Family tradition, he replies. Brains come in the core gene package. Nevertheless, Sati is confused. Rico is as gifted as his grandfather, yet seems determined to keep that brilliance to himself. He almost seems to deny it. Why?
His gramp’s choice and his dad’s, he replies, they are all scientists. He loves to make music. Amused, she replies that she has a friend who lives nearby and plays the sitar. He’s very good, quite famous around here. Would Rico like to meet him? Rico agrees, needing a change of scene.
A little later they meet a small friendly man, Sati’s Uncle Maharan, who enthusiastically greets Sati and Rico. Maharan offers to let Rico try to play the sitar. He and Sati find themselves impressed. He gets better very quickly despite the unfamiliarity of the instrument. Maharani would love to teach him.
Elsewhere, the same afternoon the mysterious brunette returns home. She calls out for a member of her staff, if there is anything nice to eat? But nobody replies. A moment later, she sees why. Kalima’s small demons are there. She tries to flee but finds herself overwhelmed by them, despite her protests that this is consular property.
Kalima appears, scoffing that human rules are of no consequence to her. The girl stammers she doesn’t understand. Has she somehow offended…?
Threatening her with her blade, Kalima replies that she is death, the shatterer of worlds. How dare she play her mortal games on Kalima´s land without asking for her leave? Crying, the girl apologizes. So like her father, Kalima mocks, thinking herself ruler of all she surveys. He too had to learn this lesson. When you trespass in someone else domain, you must be prepared to accept the consequences! And soon the girl begins to scream…
Rico and Sati have gone to a café. Rico admits he likes her uncle. It’s likewise, she assures him. He wants Rico as a pupil.
She interrupts herself, annoyed at Rico’s fiddling with the thing. He tells her he’s looking for flaws in the structure, something to pick up on. With his mega-capacity multi-tasking contact lenses, designed by his grandfather (and improved by him) he can easily examine it. Oh no! he exclaims a moment later, recognizing the design. He instantly calls the team.
A little later, they are on their way. Is he sure about this? Oli asks. Rico reminds him he went to school with that person. He’d know that design signature anywhere. Somewhere from Xavier’s? No-Name asks. Hardly, he replies. It was MIT. They gotta go inside.
Sati is against it. This is a sovereign consulate! Megan tries to psi-scan the place but it’s heavily shielded. She picks up residual traces though. She thinks the whole consulate staff is unconscious. The next moment, she screams.
An image of a sneering Kalima appears in front of them. More children! What a surprise! And Sati with them! Her pets told her of Sati’s escape in Genosha. How nice of her to tempt fate yet again. She warns GeNext. She tells them to flee and live. Choose to play the hero and she promises them the last sound they will hear in their lives will be their own screams. The image disappears.
Is she for real? Rico asks grimly. As real as she is, Sati warns him. These threats weren’t hyperbole. Is she saying they should run? Rico asks. Sati reminds him this isn’t their country.
So what? Oli replies, carrying Meg. He asks her how she feels. If he doesn’t ask, she won’t have to lie, comes the reply. That was one wicked hit but she’s functional.
Colossus tumbles the embassy’s wall. Oli tells the others to follow Sati’s lead. They fight the Ravarati, who expect them. Oli reminds the team to keep them off-balance.
Colossus is the firs to attack. Which means Kalima in turn slugs him. Becka hits her with lightning, careful not to hit the mysterious dark-haired girl whom Kalima is holding with two of her six arms. Invisibly, Rico tries to get close to Kalima.
How many of these does the lady have working with her? Oli asks, beset by Ravarati. As many as she needs, comes the cheerful reply.
Rico managed to sneak up and hits Kalima with his stretchable arm. She slams him back. Sati warns her that she is facing a team. Kalima gets ready to teleport outside with he hostage.
Rico grabs the girl, holds her close to him, anchors himself to the floor and holds on for dear life. It works. Kalima disappears alone.
.
Becka has found the staff, drugged but okay. They alert medics and the police, with Sati warning them this is officially foreign soil as a consulate.
Meg admits to Oli that she can’t focus her telepathy. Everything feels scrambled.
No-Name remarks she told her to hang back, but she wouldn’t listen. You help a team best by taking care of yourself.
The brunette thanks the team for saving her people and her. Rico asks why Kalima attacked her. Why is he talking to he like a suspect? she complains. She’s a victim! Yeah, right, Rico scoffs.
The girl asks him to stop. She’s not his enemy, never has been. She kisses Rico, much to Sati’s displeasure. She doesn’t know what he’s talking about regarding those robots. Nor does she know why that hideous creature attacked her consulate. But she thinks things might go much more pleasantly if he would perhaps make proper introductions. Is it really so hard to be polite?
Rico reluctantly introduces her as Sophie von Doom, heiress to the throne of Latveria and the only child of Dr. Doom.
