Valeria and Franklin Richards, playing with the time machine, produced a flying dragon that has kidnapped them and is flying upwards. X-23 is holding onto its tail, promising she will come for them. The dragon notices her and breathes fire at her. Nevertheless, X uses her claws to climb towards his head and jumps. She lands on his head, ordering him to stop. She has no wish to hurt him, she announces, but she must protect the children.
The dragon flies downwards towards Times Square. Is she sure he understood her? Val asks. Laura orders him to stop. That moment, Hellion shows up, threatening the dragon to put them down. When the beast doesn’t comply, he fires a telekinetic blast at the dragon. Big mistake, as it falls now and drops the kids. Hellion catches them telekinetically.
Laura falls through a skyscraper glass window. Julian apologizes when he sees her injuries. She tells him to give her the children now. Of course, he accedes. What to do about the dragon? he asks. She orders him to take it to the roof of the Baxter Building and wait there.
She asks the kids if they are injured. Franklin nervously announces he thinks they are in trouble. Is she going to tell mom and dad? Valeria asks.
Suddenly, there is an explosion of light. She orders the kids to stay close and they are drawn away towards the light. Laura orders the kids to reach for her and not let go.
Elsewhere, Reed is nervous that Laura hasn’t answered the phone. Sue tells him to relax. Everything is fine. Laura is responsible. They are only a fifteen minute cab ride away. Not in another galaxy.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly where they seem to be, as they find themselves in an alien landscape. Hellion wakes X-23 up. Immediately, she asks for the kids. He doesn’t know where they are. The two of them seem to be alone on some sort of garbage heap. Julian adds his powers are dampened and assumes the same goes for hers. When she keeps looking around, he suggests the same might go for her hearing.
Her hearing is fine, she replies, as she unsheathes her claws. Julian points out that it seems to be some kind of garbage dump. All of this junk and it goes on forever. They sky is purplish green. Hellion assumes they are on a different world. Laura explains this isn’t sky. The air tastes metallic. Recycled of metal walls. She keeps on looking for the kids.
Just like old times, huh? he asks sarcastically. When she doesn’t know what he means, he explains when she was with them in Westchester, all those times she went on missions. This is different, Laura insists. She is not a member of the X-Men anymore.
Hellion muses that, when he saw her today at school, he thought she’d come back, that she’d chosen Wolverine’s side. He is mistaken, she announces. Is she still with Cyclops? She didn’t choose any side, she replies.
Then what is she doing? Where has she been all the time? Travelling, she replies, seeing things. Oh right, he answers sarcastically. She’s seen some things with Gambit. He’s sure he showed her plenty. He is her friend. Laura replies. He’s a grown man hanging out with a teenage girl! Laura observes his scent is acrid. He is jealous. Julian denies it. She turns away.
Julian begs her to stop. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Every day, he was hoping she’d come back. Why? she asks. She knows why. Stop talking, she tells him. Is it his hands? he asks. No, she replies curtly. He thinks she abandoned him. She did not. She sat with him after his accident. She waited for him to wake up. Later… she had to leave. She had to find her own way. Where she was not judged.
He admits he didn’t know. He just wishes she had talked to him. He closes in. She admits she doesn’t know how. Now she does, he tells her, about to kiss her.
When there is suddenly a fiery explosion, Laura turns toward it. Something’s happening to the sky, he tells her as it gives way to a metallic look. Laura calls for the kids. She hears a voice answering from below and jumps into the abyss.
She finds the kids trapped in see-through ball cages. Franklin tries to warn her when a giant robotic being attacks her. It orders them to lay down all weapons and prepare themselves for collection.
Laura tells Julian to save the children while she attacks. When Julian finds he cannot break the cages, Val informs him they are made of an alloy made from ever shifting nano particles that mimic glass. Julian informs her she is weird.
The “robot “is actually armor and, inside it, Laura finds an old man who shouts she’ll destroy everything. She demands to know who he is. Taneless Tuva, he tells her. The Collector. One of the Elders of the Universe!
He hesitates when he sees her adamantium claws. Is she related to Wolverine? She is his clone, she replies. He wants to collect her claws with a device. She struggles. The device’s ray hits the kids and they and their cages are gone. Laura shouts he has killed them! Not yet, he tells her. She threatens him and he informs her they are outside the ship and running out of air…
