X-Nation run for their lives and know that they can’t stop, or else she will get them. Sister Nicholas attacks in full rage and the children beg her not to kill them for breaking curfew. Willow shapeshifts into a Sister to escape the punishment, but Shakti shows up and tells her to knock it out.
Nicholas is even angrier now, Shakti calms the woman down and suggests that, as punishment, X-Nation should do some construction work. “No!” the kids disappointed shout out.
Meanwhile, at the Million Palms Family Fun facility in Havana, Florida, a kid tries to get in without paying. The sentry guards notice him and begin to chase the lad. The guards open fire and don’t seem to care about their customers at all. The boy fires back and the guards recognize him as Metalhead. Metalhead defeats the guards and tries to climb up on the monorail to get out, but runs into Avian. Oh, shock.
Avian tells Metalhead not to bother using his mental powers on his armor, since like everything else around Avian it’s plastic. Avian knocks the boy out and shouts at his security guards for failing their job to contain Metalsmith.
The guards apologize and DeLano says that nothing can escape from him. Foreman sarcastically whispers that Willow could escape. Avian hears that and kills Foreman for that remark. Avian wants his other guards to assemble a team: it’s time that Willow came home.
Sister Nicholas goes to complain to Morphine about what happened, and wants Cerebra and X-Nation gone if they can’t keep them to the rules. Morphine would hate to see Shakti leaving, since it would tear her apart, since Shakti is so devoted to her messiah quest. Nicholas doesn’t know what Morphine is talking about and wants an explanation.
He’s surprised that Nicholas doesn’t know about it, but says that Shakti wants to find a mutant so powerful that he will lead all mutants into a golden age, etc, etc. The Sister wonders what makes Morphine and Cerebra think that this prophecy will affect their decisions. Nicholas warns that they believe in one messiah, and He has already come.
X-Nation begins to work. The others look how professional Wullf is working, since he used to do this kind of work for a living. When the frame is ready it’s up to go, and the kids all work together to place the wall where it belongs and cheer at their work. Shakti is glad to see them all so devoted. Uproar is rather tense and hates working. He even destroys the building his teammates had built. They are a bit upset about it.
Meanwhile in the underground of Halo City, Avian and his guards make it to the point where they wanted to be, thanks to the Halo City plans Herod has given to them. Avian’s bird minions set out to retrieve Willow, but Avian doesn’t want to come because he isn’t ready to face her. But Avian tells his minions that they can shout when they really need him.
Avian proudly watches his goons take off and doesn’t realize that he’s being eavesdropped by Dorian of the Wild Boys, who wants to use what he has just heard to his advantage.
Meanwhile, Shakti has brought the X-Nation members to a grassy place and tries to talk to them about how they really feel about Uproar’s actions. She knows that they are upset about what he did to the building, but wants them to explain their feelings to Uproar in constructive terms for a change, and not into shouting and name-calling. But nobody is interested in that.
Shakti gathers everyone around and tells them all to listen carefully to what she is about to say. Shakti explains to the kids that Homo sapiens tend to see themselves as individuals, and act accordingly. That’s fine for them humans, Shakti adds. But she believes that mutants should see things differently. They bound in groups. That’s their heritage. That means that mutants must work together, and communicate, no matter how tough it might be.
None of this seems to get through X-Nation. Shakti thinks for a while, and continues to talk. She asks the young mutants if they know why mutants form groups. Shakti says that it’s because they have to. Because the world is full of thugs and bullies who want to see every mutant dead, and it always has been this way. So, Shakti concludes, the kids better get their act together if they want to live.
Willow says that Halo City is supposed to be safe. Wulff doesn’t believe that this is actually news to Willow. Uproar thinks that Willow is just trying to scare them. Nostromo tells his friends to look up: they are under attack! December recognizes the goons and knows that they are after Willow!
The Sisters hear the noise of the fighting. X-Nation begins to attack their enemies. Twilight tries to catch one of the goons in her “own special place” but the guard knows about the power and how to duck out of it and knocks her out. Another guard manages to grab Willow and tells her that she’s going back to Avian. Clarion sees it and tells Willow to jump away, as he blasts the goon with his powers. The plan works and Willow is free.
The Sisters of the Howling Commandments decide to go help the kids out and shoot some of their foes. Twilight gets defeated and Shakti wants to bring her into safety. December covers their backs. Wulff and Nostromo work together and destroy some of the robot goons. Avian sees everything through Razorwing’s eye transmitters and can’t handle the failure. He commands Razorwing to make the goons pay for their failure and to kill them all. Razorwing does as told.
The bird escapes. Nostromo and Clarion try to hold it but the bird fires on them, so they decide to let it go. Everyone tries to recover and cheer at the victory. But then they notice that someone isn’t with them anymore: Willow! Did the goons manage to catch her after all?
