Somewhere in the Atlantic, Quentin Quire stands on the roof of a hut on small sand-covered island – actually Krakoa – holding a telekinetic gun. He thinks to himself that people are the worst – mutants, humans, they are all fundamentally flawed in the same way – they will always disappoint you, it is only a question of when.
'Krakoa, pull!' Quentin orders the island-mutant, and suddenly a nearby palm tree springs back, then forward, sending several coconuts rocketing through the air above Quentin, who fires his telekinetic gun, shattering the coconuts, as an X-Men Blackbird descends from above. 'Yo, Krakoa – right before the Blackbird lands, move out of the way. If they wanna see me, I want them to earn it' Quentin declares as he hovers in the air, and Krakoa responds with a rustling of the palm tree.
Shortly, Jubilee stands arms-crossed at the small hut and tells Quentin that moving a sentient island as she is about to land a plane, well, she thinks Quentin must believe he is hilarious. 'More like I know, Jubilee' Quentin replies. Jubilee steps towards Quentin, who sits on a sofa, gaming, empty bottles and packets of food are strewn around him, he asks Jubilee where the rest of the “cavalry” are. Jubilee tells Quentin not to worry, as it is just her, everyone else is in class. 'Whatever' Quentin mutters. 'Like any of them could ever be less useless' Quentine tells Jubilee, while thinking to himself 'Or disappointing'.
Jubilee picks up towel and asks Quentin if it is clean. 'I'm a teenage boy living alone on an island with a surprisingly solid internet connection. What do you think?' Quentin replies without looking up from his video game. Jubilee frowns as Quentin continues that she doesn't think, because she is as slow as the class full of failures that she was assigned to “teach”.
Jubilee tells herself to breathe, and remembers what Hindsight told her – that Quentin would rather act like he is above everyone than admit he needs anyone, but Quentin does care a lot, only he is too angry to admit he needs to know that any of them, that some of them, want him here. Jubilee reminds herself that she forgets sometimes that Quentin's parents sent him to the Xavier Institute, then told him over the phone that he was adopted.
Jubilee sits down on the sofa and wonders whether Quentin has talked to his parents since, before telling him that she is going to be straight with him – and that they want him to come home. “Home”? Quentin quotes, telling Jubilee that is kinda of a B-S pretense calling it that when she is just going to kick them out. 'I said it before, and I'll say it again – if you wanna stay, I'll help you find a way, Quentin' Jubilee assures him. 'But I can't do that until you choose us – until you let us be your family, Quentin' Jubilee points out. 'Family?' Quentin shouts, tossing his game control across the room, before boasting that he has saved the Shi'ar from the Phoenix and they made him a god, that he impressed the Phoenix Force so now he has a shard of its power inside him – so he will never need to consider those losers his family. 'Was this all in, like, the last four days?' Jubilee asks.
'I've literally offered the gift of life to a dead girl -' Quentin begins. 'Didn't Sophie turn it down?' Jubilee replies. 'You're missing the point!' Quentin shouts, cosmic energy hovering around his hands. He tells Jubilee that he doesn't need her or the school the way that they need him. 'You might wanna watch how you wave your Phoenix flames inside your driftwood hut, Quentin...' Jubilee remarks, before checking her communicator when it dings.
'YOU'RE NOT HEARING MY POINT!' Quentin booms. 'Holy crap! The school's gone!' Jubilee gasps as she looks at her communicator, then heads out of the hut. 'What do you mean “the school's gone”?' Quentin asks. 'I mean, it's gone. No longer in Central Park' Jubilee replies, informing Quentin that the whole thing has apparently disappeared – along with everyone in it. At this revelation, Quentin looks shocked.
At that moment, at the Xavier Institute, Benjamin Deeds a.k.a. Morph takes on the appearance of his teammate Trevor Hawkins a.k.a. Eye-Boy as they huddle behind a work station in a science lab with their teammates Lin Li a.k.a. Nature Girl and Nathaniel Carver a.k.a. Hindsight as they try to calm Shogo Lee down. 'Look, Shogo, two Trevors. You like Trevor, right?' Benjamin asks. Shogo looks between the two, slightly confused, he stops crying. Benjamin tells the others that he thinks it is working, while Nature Girl remarks that she thinks it is too late. Suddenly, a voice calls out to the four young mutants, and Benjamin realizes it is Chamber contacting them telepathically. He instructs the mutants that when he signals, they need to take Shogo and run.
'RUN!' Jono Starsmore a.k.a. Chamber cries as he unleashes a blast of psionic energy at Monet St Croix, currently M-Plate, who skulks through the mansion. M-Plate is knocked backwards, away from the lab where the students were hiding. 'Exactly where are we going?' Eye-Boy asks the others as he clutches Shogo. 'Shut up and run, Trevor!' Hindsight calls out. M-Plate recovers and leaps towards Chamber, telling him that he should have known better. 'People have been saying that to me my whole life, M. But you know what they say about old dogs...' Chamber replies as he readies another blast.
The kids enter a classroom where Paige Guthrie a.k.a. Husk is looking after Roxy Washington a.k.a. Blind. Eye-Boy asks them if they have been outside and whether they know that Monet unsynced the whole school and everyone in it from the rest of the world. 'WHAT?' Husk gasps. Benjamin kneels beside Roxy and asks her if she is okay. Bling tells him that she was just caught off guard, and just needs a second. Husk asks Eye-Boy how Shogo is, and he tells her that he is better than Hellion and Surge, seeing the two lying motionless across the room. 'What happened?' Eye-Boy asks. 'Monet' Husk replies, pointing out that based on what they have told her, it would seem that Monet has turned the school into her own private mutant marrow buffet.
There is a loud BOOM, and Husk goes wide-eyed, worried for Chamber, her ex-boyfriend. Chamber has fallen to the ground, 'Dammit' Chamber mutters, while Monet levitates him and asks him if he is going to need a moment to lick his wounds, before she puts the old dog down – but before Monet can attack Chamber again, Chamber unleashes another blast of psionic energy at Monet. This time she throws a force field around herself, courtesy of Armor's power, the blast bounces off of her, and strikes Husk, who has blocked it with a harder skin. 'HUSK?!' Monet shouts, surprised. 'Hey, Monet. Been a while, hasn't it?' Husk remarks. The two former teammates move closer to each other, and Monet tells Paige that she looks slightly less patchy and considerably more mentally stable. 'Wish Ah could say the same for you' Paige replies. 'There's the plucky girl I remember' Monet smirks, energy glowing around her.
Husk tells Chamber that he can sit this one out if he needs to. 'As if I'd leave you to have all the “fun”' Chamber replies, the two ready themselves as the energy extends around Monet, and suddenly, in the classroom where the young mutants are sheltering, part of the wall falls in under the impact of the battle out in the corridor. Nathaniel falls backwards, and Benjamin rushes over to him – as part of the ceiling collapses and some rubble falls towards him – striking Benjamin, making a loud CRACK noise, but protecting Nathaniel. 'That...sounded really painful' Trevor remarks as he and the girls go over to their teammates. Benjamin brushes the rubble off of himself and tells Trevor that it kinda was, before asking how it looks. 'About how it sounded' Bling tells him. 'I've seen worse' Nature Girl remarks casually.
'Why... why'd you do that?' Nathaniel asks. 'Seriously?' Benjamin replies. 'Why do you think' he exclaims, as Nathaniel looks at him intensely. Eye-Boy looks through the wall with his newfound x-ray vision and sees M-Plate knock Husk back, he tells the others that it is not looking good. Bling reports that that Monet has already sucked up and absorbed a handful of powers, so if they don't find a way to stop her before she gets to them and drains their own powers – they are all dead. Nathaniel looks away from Benjamin, then turns back to him, grabbing his collar. 'Hey, Ben. Look at me' Nathaniel tells him. 'Huh?' Ben remarks, as Nathaniel pulls him closer, covering Ben's mouth with his own collar, 'I just want you to know – I was an idiot when I said I just wanted to stay friends' Nathaniel announces, before he kisses Benjamin's lips, through the collar, so there is no skin to skin contact, and therefore no activation of his powers.
Nathaniel then gets to his feet, while Benjamin is still on the floor, touching his lips. Nathaniel tells the others that if they stay here hiding, it is just going to turn into a horror movie where Monet picks them off one by one. He starts to announce that he thinks he knows how to slow Monet down and find a way to resync them – before he is interrupted by Chamber being thrown through the wall.
'Jono!' Bling cries out. Husk and M-Plate tumble into the room, with Husk grabbing M-Plate by her face and telling her to listen, 'This isn't you!' Husk calls out, before M-Plate forces her to the ground, 'Have I ever told you just how much I hate the sound of your voice?' Monet asks - before putting one of her hands to Husk's face, absorbing her energies. 'That accent... like rusty nails scraping down the back of a baby seal'.
'I've always wanted to know what it looked like inside your head' Monet exclaims, seemingly unaware that Hindsight is sneaking up behind her, a plank of wood raise over his head, ready to strike – Hindsight brings the wood down – but Monet knew he was there, and spins around, 'Nice try' she tells him, grabbing him. 'Nathaniel!' Benjamin cries out, wide-eyed, as Monet absorbs Nathaniel's energy – but as her skin touches his, images flash through Benjamin's mind, pulled from Monet's. He sees a staunch Jubilee telling Monet, back in their Generation X days, that people only get one shot to mess with her, and an unimpressed Monet telling Jubilee that she was almost convincing. Nathaniel sees Monet, recently reconnected with Emplate, and as M-Plate, fighting Sabretooth, telling him not to tell her what to do, and another more recent memory, of M-Plate telling DOA that once the school is unsynced, she needs him to act as her anchor and maintain her sphere of influence while she and her brother feed.
But as Monet absorbed Nathaniel's energies, so to does she absorb his memories thanks to the skin-on-skin contact. 'It wasn't me, Mom! I swear' Monet sees a younger Nathaniel cry out while his mother whipped him and shouted at him in her native language. And shortly after, Monet sees Nathaniel sitting with another young guy who puts his arms around Nathaniel, telling him not to let his mother see how much it hurts, as it will just make things worse. And shortly after that, Nathaniel arriving on his father's doorstep, only for him to discover that his father knew that his mother was beating him, and that he left him with her anyway. Later still, Nathaniel, now wearing gloves over his hands, confronting his friend, who told him 'That's not fair. Charlie and I never actually did anything' to which Nathaniel tells his friend, Tom, that it doesn't change how he feels about him – or that he knows.
'What did you -' Monet begins, before throwing Nathaniel across the room. Nathaniel looks over to his teammates and tells them that they have to get to the quad, that DOA is the one keeping the school unsynced – Monet then throws Nathaniel across the room again, he slams into the wall and is rendered unconscious. Benjamin calls out to Nathaniel and rushes over to him, while telling his friends to get to the quad. 'I'm not leaving you two with the hand beast!' Bling exclaims, before telling Lin and Trevor to get going. Trevor rushes out with Shogo, while Lin calls back to Roxy, who tells her not to worry – 'Because now I'm just pissed' Bling snaps as Monet attempts to attack her with Chamber's psi-blast, and Bling looks at her angrily.
Outside, Nature Girl and Eye-Boy run past the ghosts that wander around the school grounds, and Trevor announces that he sees DOA. He opens a cellar, and reports that DOA is down there. 'We need to get to him and make him drop the -' Trevor begins, when he realizes that Lin is busy talking to a rat. 'Yes, Mr Rat. I can do that' Lin tells the rat. She goes over to the cellar door and the rat climbs down the stairs into the cellar. 'Did...did you just ask that rat for help?' Trevor enquires. 'Yes' Lin tells him. Trevor reminds Lin that she told him rats always want something in return, to which Lin tells him 'You and the others are worth it' Trevor is surprised by this comment, and suddenly, there is a scream from the basement – 'GET THEM OFF OF ME!' DOA shrieks as he races from the cellar, a swarm of rats on him and at his feet. Nature Girl cracks her fingers, and tells Trevor that there is a robin's nest in the pine tree, so he should go and show it to Shogo.
Back inside, 'Is that... the best you've got?' Bling asks as she falls to the floor, clutching her bloody face. 'I'll give you this, Roxy...you're much feistier than you were laast time' M-Plate smiles, while Emplate's voice can be heard from her hands, 'I'm eager to see if it changes how you taste'. Suddenly, 'Are you kidding me right now? Do you seriously not hear how creepy the words coming out of your brother's stupid hand-mouth are?' Jubilee calls out as she arrives in the room, lunging at M-Plate, who leaps backwards. 'Jubilee. How did you -' M-Plate begins, 'Resync the school with reality? I didn't. It reappeared while I was landing the Blackbird. So it looks like whatever plan you had going sucked' Jubilee snaps. Nearby, Benjamin is holdingb Nathaniel and looks up to see Quentin hovering over them. 'You're -' Benjamin begins. 'Surprised to see you two idiots are still alive? Basically' Quentin remarks.
Jubilee suggests to Monet that they keep the kids out of this and settle it between the two of them old ladies, vamp to vamp. 'Oh, that's right. I almost forgot. You're just a vampire now' M-Plate laughs. She notices the necklace around Jubilee's neck, and uses a stolen power to tear it from her neck without touching it. 'How about I remind you about how... I used to be one hell of a vampire slayer!' Monet boasts, as she then tosses Jubilee backwards through a window. 'Oh, God – Jubilee can't be out in the sun without that amulet!' Benjamin utters, wide-eyed. Quentin looks horrified, and swears, as outside, Nature Girl and Eye-Boy look over to see Jubilee, screaming as her body suddenly bursts into flames. Eye-Boy turns away so that Shogo doesn't see what is happening to his mother. 'Oh, no...' Nature Girl gasps.
Monet smiles as she looks out the window, while Quentin thinks to himself that people will almost always disappoint you. 'I haven't seen Jubilee light up like that since she last had fireworks' Monet jokes. 'You like fire?' Quentin asks, as cosmic flame surrounds him. He remembers that Jubilee promised him she would help him find a way to stay – snd she can't do that if she is burnt to a crisp. He needs her alive. Monet throws a force field around herself, as he cosmic flame surges outside – it is the Phoenix Force. Quentin tells himself that it might cost him his Phoenix shard to do so, and drops to his knees. 'You asked me to make a choice, Jubilee – fine. I've made it. Don't disappoint me'. At that moment, Jubilee is no longer burning alive – she appears fine, and gasps 'Holy. $%&#' as fireworks glow around her hands!
