The Brotherhood is in a subway train. Wanda seems upset, and scowls at the
man sitting across from her, who's reading the newspaper about Magneto and
Apocalypse's battle. Pietro sees this and, worried for his sister, speeds to
snatch the paper out of the man's hands and toss it away. He tells Wanda to
forget about this – Magneto was a bully who went after a bigger bully, end
of story, end of father - he did it to himself. Wanda says that at least he
was trying to save all of them from Apocalypse, not like the X-Men, who
didn't lift a finger to help him. In her anger, a pole bends. Pietro decides
to tell her that he wasn't the loving father she remembers. In fact, she
hated him. Wanda doesn't want to hear it and yells at him to stop it, and in
her anger the whole train starts shaking, the windows break, the tracks
twist and curve, and the train loses control and bumps off tracks. Everybody
starts screaming and running around.

Outside Bayville High, Bobby, Sam and Ray look at the smoke. Scott shows up
in his car and asks if it's a fire, but Kitty runs to them and says it's a
subway accident and people are trapped. They all decide to go and see if
they can help.

People, Paul included, run away from the subway station. Inside the train,
people are desperately calling for help. The Brotherhood gets up and Lance
notices some torn wires and tells his teammates that they have to get out or
it'll blow. Toad panics and starts hopping around looking for an exit, and
Quicksilver orders Blob to make a door. Blob runs and makes a series of
holes in the cars, and the rest follow. A man grabs Toad's arm and begs for
help. Toad doesn't care, but as he hops away the man is pulled along too.
Avalanche leads the other people out, and even carries out an old woman who
fell off her wheelchair.

In the street, Cyclops, Shadowcat, Iceman, Cannonball and Berzerker arrive.
They look in shock as the Brotherhood members run out of the subway tunnel
with the other people. The man Toad saved thanks him and says he saved his
life. A fireman asks Toad how many people are still inside, and the man
answers two. Before he can run to rescue them, though, the train blows up
and the street shakes. The Brotherhood boys panic as Avalanche is still
inside, but then they see him stepping out of the smoke with the old woman.
Everybody cheer as the X-Men and New Mutants stare in disbelief. The
Brotherhood boys gather together as reporters start asking them questions,
believing them to be heroes.

In Edward Kelly's mayoral headquarters, Kelly and his assistant are watching
their campaign commercial. In the commercial, Kelly says: "Hello, I'm Edward
Kelly and as candidate for Mayor, I want to ask you one question: do you
feel safe? Every day, mutants move freely through our city, our streets, and
yes, our schools. And they are powerful. If elected, I vow to force
registration on every single one of them. These creatures must be monitored
because, trust me, mutants are a menace." Kelly is very pleased with the
commercial, but then a news report about the subway accident shows up,
naming brave mutants as the heroes who saved the day. Concerned, the
assistant suggests a change in Kelly's anti-mutant platform, but Kelly
refuses, saying the only thing they have to change is the public's thinking.

In the mansion, Kitty takes the "Bayville Times" from the front step. The
headline reads "City Praises Brotherhood". She throws it in front of Scott,
who's alone drinking coffee at the kitchen. Scott takes it to Xavier,
telling him that there's no way those clowns would save anybody but
themselves. The professor answers that it is hard to imagine, but whether
intentional or not, this changes in the public's attitude toward mutants it
very encouraging. Scott says that the Brotherhood will mess it up, but
Charles says that they should just hope the Brotherhood can appreciate the
benefits of being the good guys and stay out of trouble.

In the Brotherhood house, lots of reporters have gathered on the front lawn.
The boys are happy, but Wanda just walks upstairs. Pietro speeds after her
and tells her the reporters want to talk to the girl that was with them too,
but she tells him to forget about it, because the subway accident was her
fault to begin with. Pietro tells her that she doesn't know that – no one
knows anything, except that they helped save a bunch of people – she's a
part of it, so she should step out there and enjoy the ride for once. She
reluctantly agrees and walks outside with them, but when all the reporters
start asking her questions she runs back inside, and her brother explains
that she's camera shy. Todd starts answering the reporters' questions
instead. The old woman Lance saved wheels up to the house and tells Lance
that she owes him her life, and to show him her gratitude, she'd like to
present the Brotherhood with a reward – a check for ten thousand dollars.
The boys are stunned and just stare at the check, as the woman continues and
says that since her family owns the largest construction company in
Bayville, she's also arranged for some improvements to be made to their
wonderful old home.

A little later, the boys are inside, still staring at the check in
disbelief. Pietro gets an idea: that subway crash just turned into a gravy
train - with some more opportunities, they could really cash in. Todd
reminds him that accidents like that don't happen every day, but Pietro says
that they do if they have a little help.

In an alley, Pietro convinces Lance to go through with their plan. Avalanche
thinks it's a waste of time, but Quicksilver says it's a goldmine, not to
mention the X-Men have got to totally hate this. That's enough to
convince Avalanche.

On a rooftop, Avalanche makes a gargoyle fall to the street. It almost
crushes a few people, but Blob catches it in time, and his picture gets to
the "Bayville Times", with the headline "Mutant Strongman Saves Citizens
from Peril".

In a park, Quicksilver hits a beehive with a baseball bat, making the bees
attack two boys playing soccer. Toad jumps in and starts eating the bees,
saving the boys, and his picture too gets to the paper with the headline
"Bug-Zapping Mutant Saves Kids from Bees". In the mansion, Scott angrily
blasts the paper.

In a street, Avalanche makes a bus lose control and head for a woman and her
child, and Quicksilver saves them. The bus is unexpectedly still heading for
more people, but Blob manages to stop it in time.

In the Brotherhood house, the living room is repainted and the furniture is
replaced. Outside, the Brotherhood poses for pictures.

In the Institute kitchen, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Bobby, Sam and Ray are all
depressed. Kurt teleports in with a paper, saying that according to the
poll, the Brotherhood boys have a higher approval rating than the police
chief. Kitty doesn't understand what kind of sick and twisted world they're
living in, and Xavier wheels in and answers that one that appears to be
well-orchestrated – he's detecting a trend: the Brotherhood shows up exactly
where their powers are needed most. Scott says that if they're cooking this
up, something's bound to go wrong, and Xavier says that that is what they
must prevent.

Nightcrawler teleports into a parking garage and spots the Brotherhood jeep.
He reports with his phone. In the jeep, the Brotherhood boys are listening
to the radio, where Kelly is being interviewed. Kelly says that he firmly
believes that mutants are their greatest threat to a peaceful future. The
interviewer asks him what about the Brotherhood – don't they prove that not
all mutants are bad? Kelly answers that for all they know, mutants might be
the cause of these accidents - that's just one of the many reasons he
believes they need a mutant registration act. The jeep makes a U-turn, and
Nightcrawler teleports nearer. The interviewer says that Kelly's opponent,
Mayor Richardson, disagrees, saying such a policy is merely a form of
segregation. Kelly answers that they should be singled out - he was their
principal and he's experienced their destructiveness first-hand.

Kelly gets out of his car and into his mayoral headquarters the following
morning, only to find the place trashed, broken and torn apart. The
Brotherhood boys are there, saying that they came to give him some advice –
they want him to leave them out of his anti-mutant crusade, or else. Kelly
asks “Or else what?” So Quicksilver orders his teammates to show him. Before
they get the chance to, though, an optic blast hit the floor near Toad, and
Cyclops tells them to back off. Jean and Storm also show up behind him,
Nightcrawler teleports in, Wolverine, Iceman, Beast and Cannonball come out
of hiding, Shadowcat phases Magma and Berzerker through the floor, and
Multiple clones show up. Avalanche is ready to fight, but Quicksilver says
that they had better leave, as they are outnumbered. They leave and Jean slams
the door on Toad's tongue. Kelly promises Cyclops that one way or another he
will drive all mutants out of Bayville and leaves.

In the Brotherhood house, Avalanche shakes the house in his anger about the
X-Men, but Quicksilver says they have bigger problems – they've been bumped
to the third page - the only mention of them is that they're cutting the
ribbon tomorrow at the new zoo, but that's it. Blob says that they gotta
remind the public just how much they need them. Quicksilver notices his
sister sitting outside, and gets an idea. He walks to her and sits with her,
telling her that the X-Men came after them big time. He guesses watching
their father go down in flames wasn't enough for them - they're next on the
list. Scarlet Witch looks at him at the mention of Magneto.

The following day at the new zoo, the Brotherhood boys are posing for a
picture, and then Pietro prepares to cut the ribbon. Before he does, he
makes a short "speech": "I'd just like to say what an honor it is to be
here, even though there are some out there who are resentful of our fame. I
don't want to name names, but like, the X-Men." Just then, Wanda makes Scott,
who's in the audience with Jean, Kurt, Kitty and Bobby, to shoot an optic
blast in front of the elephants, and the elephants run. Cyclops yells that
it must be Wanda, and then Iceman says that she's messing with his powers
too. Ice covers the path, and the running people slip and fall. A sliding
elephant almost crushes a man, but Jean levitates him in time. Scarlet Witch
continues, making Shadowcat fly into a crocodile pit. Shadowcat swims and
phases out through the tank, but Scarlet Witch cancels her powers in the
middle and she gets stuck. She cries for her friends to get her out of there
before she gets eaten, and Cyclops has no choice but to blast the tank,
letting the crocodiles out. Nightcrawler teleports a man before an elephant
crushes him and they end up on a stadium-type light, but it breaks and they
fall. Jean holds them, but Wanda makes her drop them and send the light to
the tigers' cage, breaking it.

In jail, the X-Men are locked behind bars. The boys are in one cell and the
girls in another. Kitty phases her way out, but walks back in when Xavier
wheels to them. She tells him they can't hold them, and he tells her that
that's precisely the reason they're all staying put, at least until he can
straighten this out.

In the Brotherhood house, Lance, Todd and Fred are watching an interview of
Toad at the zoo, crying about how they mutants only want to live in peace, and
it's criminals like the X-Men who ruin it for them all. Todd turns off the
television. Lance and Fred think that they should quit while they're ahead,
but Todd disagrees. Pietro enters and says that Lance is right, but they
should go out the way we came in: with a bang, a show-stopper, a
legend-maker, a final act of heroism that the town will never forget.

By train tracks, Quicksilver speeds by a train, jumps into the conductor's
cabin, shorts out the controls and speeds away. The conductor, who had his
back turned and noticed nothing, turns around to find his equipment not
working. A guy on the radio tells him he missed his turn out and asks him to
clear the tracks for the northbound cargo, but the conductor reports that he
has a full system failure and asks if they can clear the northbound. The guy
replies negative, since the northbound is passing the alternate tracks. The
Brotherhood shows up standing in front of the train, ready to stop the train
and save the day. A man asks them what about the other train and Quicksilver
asks what other train. The man answers that the radio says one's coming the
other way carrying eight tankers of gasoline. Avalanche angrily tells
Quicksilver that it'll go out with a bang alright, and Quicksilver answers
that you can't win 'em all and runs to the jeep with Toad and Blob. They
drive away, leaving Avalanche by the tracks.

In jail, the doors open and the X-Men are free. Scott asks what's going on
and Xavier answers that the Brotherhood has gone too far and created a
crisis situation. Jean asks if people are hurt and the professor says that
not yet, but the authorities cannot defuse it, so they've asked for the
mutants' help.

Nightcrawler teleports Shadowcat and Cyclops on top of the southbound train and Shadowcat phases them into the conductor's cabin. They take the
conductor and leave to the next compartment, where Cyclops optic-blasts the
link, separating the passengers cars from the cabin. Just then, Nightcrawler
notices that Shadowcat is still at the cabin, phasing to the top. The
Velocity, carrying Beast, Xavier and Jean, flies near the northbound train.
Jean levitates out and manages to stop the whole train, and the conductors
jump out. Nightcrawler teleports next to Shadowcat and asks her what she's
doing, and she explains she's going to phase the train through the other. He
says that it's way too much, but she says there's no other choice, as Jean
can't stop it in time. She starts phasing the train, but it's too much and
she stops in the middle. They teleport away, and the train explodes. Jean
holds it in a telekinetic dome, but can't hold it for long. Avalanche shows
up and breaks the ground under the train, sinking it whole into the ground
and then closing the cracks, snuffing out the explosion. He walks away,
saying that that's the last of the heroics.

In the Brotherhood house, a news report says that all charges against the
X-Men have been dropped, while investigation is underway to determine if the
Brotherhood were indeed behind the recent rash of Bayville disasters. The
television cuts off, as Toad begs the repo men not to take the big screen.
They leave with all the furniture. Wanda, Lance, Todd and Fred glare at
Pietro angrily and attack him.