'You gonna get that?' Rachel Summers a.k.a. Prestige asks Lorna Dane a.k.a. Polaris as Lorna's cellphone rings repeatedly. Lorna rests her head against the kitchen table within the Boneyard, home and headquarters of X-Factor, Lorna barely opens her eyes as she replies 'I'm still deciding... may have gotten lonely and left an ill-advised voice mail to Alex last night...' her voice trails off, while the phone continues to ring. 'Lorna...' Rachel begins. 'Okay, you don't have to sound that disappointed in me' Lorna mumbles, before sitting up and holding her phone, she reports that it is an unknown number, before answering it: 'Hello?' she asks.
While Daken pours himsel some tea at the kitchen sink, Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar and his husband, Kyle Jinadu-Beaubier, lean against a counter in the middle of the kitchen. Jeanne-Marie Beaubier a.k.a. Aurora sits on a stool as David Alleyne a.k.a. Prodigy turns to Trevor Hawkins a.k.a. Eye-Boy and exclaims 'Why do you always ask me that?' to which Trevor smiles and tells David that he has a soothing voice and that it is relaxing. Trevor remarks that David's voice is deep and calm. 'So whenever you read anything out loud you sound like an early-morning public radio host softly delivering the news'. But David tells Trevor that this is not the news, it is a nineteenth-century beekeeper almanac. 'So? Can't you just read that aloud to me too? Please?' Trevor asks. David just snorts, before he reads: “As with other branches of business, and so with beekeeping culture – it has its proficients, amateurs, novices and pretenders. It is with this latter class that 'bee humbugs' generally originate” David concludes. 'Hell yeah...' Trevor utters.
'You don't ever think about trying it? Never even been tempted?' Jean-Paul smiles at Kyle, who tells him 'No! It's unnatural!' Jean-Paul laughs, while Kyle tells him 'Let's not'. Jean-Paul smiles and asks Kyle to try it once – for him. 'Ugh. You're relentless. But fine – I will try a bush bagel. For you' Kyle announces. 'Just pluck it right off, huh?' he asks, as he pulls a bagel from the tree growing in the kitchen. 'It's for you' Lorna tells Jean-Paul as she hands him her phone. Jean-Paul speaks French as he talks into the phone, while David continues reading: “Fine weather in Texas was reported by Mrs Atchley on January 12. They had no frost, and everything was green”. 'Aw, good for Texas' Trevor remarks, while Jean-Paul begins waving his hands about, while holding the phone between his ear and neck. 'Pen. Pen? You need a pen?' Jeanne-Marie asks as she looks up from her laptop to her brother. 'I swear I just had a pen...' Jeanne-Marie begins, looking for the pen, which Daken then pulls from her hair. 'Oh, ah, right – thanks' Aurora looks up at Daken, while her hair falls down around her face. Jean-Paul darts about the kitchen, grabbing the pen and asking 'What were those coordinates again?' before announcing that they are on their way.
Soon, Northstar lifts up a black blanket covering a body, as his teammates gather around. 'Oh, for $#%&'s sake. Again?' Polaris mutters, looking away from the body under the blanket. 'Apparently' Northstar points out. 'What's it been – a week?' 'Just about' Daken confirms as the team continues to look at the lifeless body of Theresa Rourke Cassidy a.k.a. Siryn. Police officers stand nearby, around a police line which has been set up, preventing anyone from getting closer to the body, which currently lies on the beach. Water laps at the shore, and large cliffs hang overhead, under a dark sky. Prestige telepathically connects the team, telling them that it has been five days since Siryn's resurrection, and a week since the night she fell to her death on Krakoa – and five days since she lied to them about that being an accident.
'Lot looks a might gobsmacked for a retrieval crew' one of the police officers standing nearby remarks, while forensic technicians wearing white overalls step beyond the police line and walk towards X-Factor. 'Leave them be' a police officer in plain clothes tells her colleague, before turning back to a young woman sitting in the back of an ambulance, 'Sorry, love, where were we? Ah – right – around what time did you first notice the victim?' the detective asks, before enquiring as to whether she had already washed up, or if she spied her out in the water, and whether she phoned the police straight away, or if she tried to get a closer look in first. 'I...I...' the woman begins to reply, as the detective tells her to take her time, and asks if she had been drinking this morning or using any other substances that would potentially affect her perception of events.
As one of the forensic technicians crouches over Siryn's body, Daken asks them what they are doing. 'Taking samples' is the response. 'We don't authorise “samples”!' Daken retorts as he pops his claws, frightening the technician, who falls backwards. 'Please don't stab my forensics technican. We've been quite hospitable to your investigation' the detective calls out. Northstar turns to her, while the technician announces that early examination suggests foul play, that this was not a natural death. 'No! You think?' Daken snarls. The technician explains that either the victim fell into the water or was already dead and dumped in the water, but either way, if she fought her assailant just prior, there could still be DNA particulates under her fingernails. 'We were only gathering trace evidence samples for you!' they explain. 'Oh! Tiny secrets!' Eye-Boy smiles, before crouching next to Siryn's body and offering to help the technician.
'I can find all the tiny, tiny secrets. What're we looking for?' Eye-Boy asks. The technician explains that they need skin cells, soft traces, any microscopic particles on the body not from this environment. 'Right, right! But I mean, um, what do any of those actually look like?' Eye-Boy asks, informing the technician that he has microscopic vision, but has to know what he is looking for, or looking at, first. 'Haha, did that even make sense?' Eye-Boy laughs. 'Microscopic vision?' the technician asks. 'There! You see? She is quite lovely and only trying to help. As am I' the detective tells Northstar, who asks her if she means “lovely” or “helping”. The detective holds up the fresh witness statement from the jogger who first spotted their compatriot's body out in the water, and tells Northstar that she will let him figure that one out.
Prodigy holds up his tablet and offers to look for some trace evidence references for Eye-Boy, who asks Prodigy if he is going to read it out loud from an old-timey embalming almanac this time, and tells him to give him his best spooky mortician's voice. Prodigy laughs and replies 'You wish. Yeah, sure, I'll just narrate these image search results to you', to which Eye-Boy replies 'That's a real thing'. 'So, this lad 'ere? Krakoa's best and brightest is 'e?' the police officer from earlier asks. '“Hospitable” indeed' Northstar frowns, snatching the witness statement from the detective, who asks the officer, whom she calls Theo, to leave them be. 'That ridiculous looking thing? All them eyes? Disgusting!' Theo exclaims. Prestige frowns but telepathically tells Trevor not to listen to him, that he is just afraid of them. 'Yeah, I could see that on him, too. It's fine. Thanks, Rachel' Trevor responds.
Trevor concentrates as he holds his hand over Siryn's body, his eyes examining her, he calls out 'Okay! I see it!' to which the technician asks 'You – you see it?' Eye-Boy laughs and explains he can see all kinds of things – dust mites, gamma waves, x-rays, microwaves or other kinds of waves and rays, but he doesn't know what it all is yet. 'I can even read micro-expressions and nonverbal body language!' Eye-Boy smiles. 'Ummm...like, for example, I can tell you're very uncomfortable right now! And I am really, very sorry about that. Please ignore my friend Eye-Boy tells the technician, as Daken leans in and starts sniffing Siryn's body. 'You. With the notepad. Discount Doctor Who' Daken calls out, snapping his fingers. 'The victim smells like cold medicine and cheap American chocolates. Write that down' Daken tells her. 'No -' the detective begins to reply, when Amazing Baby the warwolf pup suddenly walks over to the technician and vomits in front of her what appears to be a whole fish. 'Aw, he barfed you a present! That must mean he likes you' Eye-Boy explains.
'Did the widdle wady refwuse Amazing Baby's sweet offewing? Yes she did! Oh, yes she did!' Rachel remarks as she walks towards Amazing Baby, who leaps up into her arms. 'Prodigy, since the CSI tech is unconscious can you – now that I already now, I mean – do you know?' Eye-Boy asks. 'Like, you can see what I'm seeing right? The tiny secrets?' Eye-Boy enquires. Prodigy can, and tells Eye-Boy that he's got him, and suggests that they probably should have just done it this way to begin with, as it is a hundred times faster than having the technician interpret, anyway. 'I know... I just didn't want to hurt her feelings' Eye-Boy explains.
'You're brooding. Alone. Hello' Northstar calls out to Polaris as he walks closer to the shore where she is standing. 'She swore to us that it was an accident when she fell' Polaris reminds Northstar, who tells Polaris that she knows his feelings about that, and holds up the witness statement. Polaris doesn't take the statement, instead she lets it fall into the water. 'But she's not supposed to lie to me! I'm her friend! Or...I thought I was, anyway' Polaris utters. Northstar confirms that he didn't bother reading the statement, either, before telling Lorna that he is sure Siryn is still her friend, otherwise she wouldn't have tried lying to them about the nature of her last death in the first place. 'She was just trying to spare you from having to choose between loyalty to your job or to her' Jean-Paul explains.
'She may be lying to cover something up, but she's doing it to protect you. Because she' still yout friend' Northstar tells Polaris. Polaris smiles and thanks Northstar, telling him that makes her feel better. Daken watches them, and once Polaris walks away, he asks Northstar 'How much of all that do you actually believe?' 'Bleakly little' Northstar admits, before instructing Daken that he is to start tailling Siryn the moment she is resurrected. He is to track her movements, report back, and not let Siryn catch him. 'She won't. But if it looks like she might pull a stunt like this again, then I will...?' Daken replies. 'Watch her die' Northstar informs him. 'Observe and learn; don't intervene. Just find out what Siryn's hiding and lying about' he asks. 'All right' Daken responds, before Northstar addresses him by his real name, Akihiro, and puts a hand on his shoulder. They look each other in the eye as Northstar remarks 'I wanted to believe. And I would truly love to have my cynicism be misplaced, so please – by all means... prove me wrong' to which Daken replies 'With pleasure'.
Prestige uses her powers to levitate Siryn and the blanket covering her into the air and tells the others that she will get Siryn back to the Healing Gardens for an official autopsy. Prodigy asks her if he can go with her, to which Prestige tells him to ask Northstar. 'Can I go with her?' Prodigy asks, to which Northstar asks him if he is sure he wants to. Prodigy explains that he thinks he could benefit from being near Dr Reyes and learning medicine – then, not only would the team have a field medic, but it would expedite their process if he could determine official causes of death. 'In the future, I also want to learn forensic pathology, toxicology, odontology -' Prodigy begins, to which Northstar replies, 'Oui, oui, bien, je comprends' he mutters, before asking Prodigy if determining cause of death is a responsibility that he is actually comfortable with doing. 'Yes' Prodigy responds quickly, to which Northstar asks him if he is certain. 'Yes' Prodigy states again. 'Then you'd better catch up' Northstar smiles, motioning to where Prestige is walking into a Krakoan portal nearby. 'Rachel, wait up!' Prodigy calls out as he rushes off after her.
'Bloody – hell!' Theo the police man calls out as Polaris levitates him into the air. 'I believe we're done here' Northstar remarks to the detective. 'Put me down!' Theo shouts, so Polaris obliges, and he drops down onto the sand. 'We'll be on our way' Northstar announces. Polaris walks past Theo, who calls out 'You're – you're' “disgusting”? Polaris suggests. 'Arse-end crazy!' Theo tells her. 'Oh, that was nothing, honey'. Northstar turns to the detective and thanks her for calling them in. 'Didn't have much of a say in that, now did I? Krakoan treaty accords and all...' the detective smiles. 'Le'ts hope there won't be a next time' Northstar tells her. 'Aye – and keep your filthy scum from washing up on our shores!' Theo calls out. Northstar narrows his eyes, while the detective tells Theo to leave the mutants be. But Daken spins around and faces Theo, popping his claws as a warning.
Daken carries on, walking near Eye-Boy, who grabs one of the police line tapes and wraps it around his head. Northstar and Polaris fly above the others, as Northstar tells them that he has never cared for police, and suggests that they need some kind of official X-Factor Investigations identification. 'We should just have complete authority over mutant crime scenes the moment we arrive and not have to waste our time placating these cops struggling with relevancy' Northstar explains. Polaris offers to request the topic for review at the next Quiet Council meeting. 'Wait – identification, like – like badges?' Eye-Boy asks. 'Ugh' Daken moans. 'We're gonna have cool badges' Eye-Boy exclaims, poking his tongue out as he holds the police line tape around his head.
On Krakoa, in the hospital morgue within the Healing Gardens, Dr Cecilia Reyes examines the lifeless body of Siryn. Rachel and Prodigy stand nearby, as Rachel quietly asks Prodigy if he should get in closer. 'No. I'm good' Prodigy whispers in response. 'Why are you whispering?' Dr Reyes as them. 'She's not sleeping, she's dead' Dr Reyes points out. Prodigy apologizes and explains that they didn't want to be rude, they just didn't want to interrupt her work. 'What was that Rachel asked about getting “closer” to my work?' Cecilia remarks. Prodigy explains that Rachel was wondering if his psychomimetry's proximity range was okay from back where he is standing, and confirms that it is. 'I know everything you know now just be standing near you' Prodigy informs Cecilia, who looks at a chart she is holding and replies 'How near? And why are you still here?'
Prodigy informs Dr Reyes that he is about ten feet from here, give or take, and that he and Rachel are waiting for her to find out cause of Death. 'Again – why? I can just email you the full report once I finish, like I always do. You don't have to stand around and watch me do this' Cecilia remarks, without turning to look at Prodigy. 'It takes five hours to break down a cadaver' Cecilia remarks. 'Haha, yeah...I know' Prodigy replies. 'Know that now, I mean – thanks to you!' Prodigy quickly adds as Cecilia turns to him and asks him to tell her something she doesn't know. They move closer to each other, as Cecilia asks David why he is still here, and what it is he clearly wants to ask her. David sighs, before beginning 'Okay, so -' before falling silent, as Rachel declares 'He wants to ask you about what happens to Krakoans after this part'. Rachel continues, 'Like, post-autopsy or whatever, once we've already initiated their resurrection protocol. He's wondering what happens to them after that. He's just really nervous about asking for some reason, and I'm going to respect his privacy on that'. Cecilia puts her clipboard down and asks David if he is wanting to know how they dispose of mutant remains. '… Yessss?' David replies. Cecilia tells him that it depends, to which David asks 'On what?' Cecilia turns back to him and remarks 'Depends on why you're asking'.
Later: 'You did what?' Northstar shouts as he paces around David at a furious pace. 'I asked Dr Reyes if I could start a body farm at the Boneyard' David explains. 'SO YOU BROUGHT HOME CADAVERS AND STUCK THEM IN THE HANGING GARDENS WITHOUT CONSULTING US?' Northstar booms. 'Should we...' Rachel smirks from the sits on the staircase nearby, watching along with the rest of the team, Kyle and Aurora, who asks 'Intervene?' Kyle smiles, 'Nahhhh', while Polaris, Daken and Eye-Boy look on. 'The cadavers are my homework!' Prodigy tells Northstar. He reports that Dr Reyes told him if he can use the knowledge he gained from her to accurately determine Siryn's cause of death, then she will approve his request for starting up a forensic body farm program. 'I am who needs to approve this request first!' Northstar snaps. 'Then...can I?' David asks. 'Non!' Northstar responds, speeding around David some more, while David asks why. 'Because. You. Want. To. Study. Rotting. Corpses. On. Our. Lawn!' Northstar exclaims.
David tells Northstar that it is for science, to which Northstar remarks 'Prodigy, learning the equivelant of a medical license in under a day is one thing, but this?' and he sighs, before Prodigy tells Northstar that he really, truly thinks it would benefit their work if he could study the varying rates of mutant decomposition. The others all run up the stairs as Northstar suddenly comes to a stop and frowns, while Prodigy extends his arms and calls out 'Since, you know, no one actually has yet!' He points out that Dr Reyes' medical experience, prolific as it is, still only gets them so far, and because there is no field of study about the differences between human and mutant decomposition, but he can fix that – X-Factor can fix that.
Prodigy continues, and asks Northstar 'What if dying in Krakoa affects decomp rate? What if living in Krakoa does? What if this environment is something we can see signs of on an autopsy report? We don't know any of this stuff yet!' He remarks that the more he can learn from the dead, the closer they will all get to understanding these things. 'Enough case studies... and then I won't just be able to determine both cause and time of death at a glance, I'll be able to pioneer this entire academic field!' Prodigy declares. 'This is important to you' Northstar states. 'Yes' Prodigy tells him. 'This – the body farm. This is really what you want?' Northstar asks. 'Yes' Prodigy confirms. 'To study decomposition. To study this in our home' Northstar remarks. 'Yes!' Prodigy exclaims, while Kyle smiles as he watches from further up the staircase and asks 'Does he have any idea how much he sounds like a dad right now?'
Later still, 'I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're implying' Siryn scowls as she sits with her legs crossed on a chair while the members of X-Factor sit or stand nearby. 'Well – you can fly, Miss Cassidy. So how does someone like you fall to their death?' Northstar enquires. 'You told us it was an accident. Even though the whole island heard you scream that night, so it's not as if you'd been unable to use sonic flight' Polaris points out. 'So you assume I was murdered?' Siryn asks. Towards the back of the room, the Warwolf pup, Amazing Baby, tries to jump up at Aurora, who is wearing her own X-Factor costume, as Aurora tells Siryn 'That is one of the working theories, yes' before infomring Siryn that she and Northstar arrived first to find her body there that night. Siryn sighs and stands up, she starts walking around the room as she informs X-Factor that it was dark and that she had been drinking. 'Krakoa needs more lampposts' she mutters.
“Drinking?” Polaris quotes, surprised. Siryn starts to say something, while Rachel telepathically warns her teammates that Siryn is likely to see the corpse garden outside if she keeps walking towards the window. 'Worth noting' Northstar tells Siryn as he flies over, and points out that she fell from Krakoa's highest elevation, remarking that that is an interestingly specific location, and very difficult to access, especially in darkness. 'I flew' Siryn claims, looking up at Northstar as he tries to distract her by flying above her. Northstar tells Siryn that such a small, secluded, specific lookout point would still be hard to find in the dark while intoxicated. 'Maybe I got drunk up there. While I was admiring the view' Siryn suggests, her back turned to the window which looks down over the corpse garden. Siryn adds that since her last Cerebro backup was a few days before the drowning incident, she supposes they will have no real way of knowing what happened.
Siryn walks back into the center of the room, away from the window, while Northstar drops down to the ground and tells Siryn that they do know she didn't drown. 'Well, the last I checked, dying isn't a crime, so why the hell am I being harassed for not drowning?' Siryn asks, shrugging. 'Well, why the hell are you getting so defensive about us just asking questions?' Polaris snaps. 'Because I really don't see how it's X-Factor's business!' Siryn retorts. 'Death is our business' Rachel points out, glaring at Siryn. 'Right – and you found the body, I got resurrected, so now your work here is done!' Siryn exclaims. Polaris tells her friend that it is still X-Factor's job to find out what happened. 'You of all people would know this already, Terry' Polaris adds. Siryn folds her arms and mumbles 'Funny, I don't remember interrogating folks about the nature of their deaths back when I was a member of X-Factor'. Rachel telepathically alerts everyone to Siryn's pacing towards the window again, to which Eye-Boy suddenly calls out 'Probably because they were, you know... dead?' Daken laughs, but Siryn is not amused, and she narrows her eyes, scowling, she screams 'BOTH DEATHS WERE ACCIDENTS AND I'M FINE!'
Siryn then turns and storms away from X-Factor, her costume's wings billowing behind her. 'Siryn!' Polaris calls out, while Daken asks 'So... veracity report?' Prodigy agrees, and once Siryn is gone, Eye-Boy, who has nearly limitless varieties of spectral visions, including a powerful natural ability to “read” people via micro-expressions, body language and nonverbal cues, no matter how subtle, making him a living lie detector, with profound psychological intuition and expert profiler as a result, announces that Siryn was lying – and afraid – very, very afraid. Rachel, who possesses an emotional tint to her psychic ability, meaning she can read thoughts, but also sense all dark, unnamed feelings one keeps buried deep, states that Siryn is lying and afraid of them finding out the truth. 'She lied for...pretty much the entire time' Daken comments. Daken has animallike, superstrong senses of sight, hearing and smell. One of these enhanced senses alone would be enough for lie detection, but coupled with a sensitive pheromone-detection ability, it is impossible to lie successfully to him. Prodigy sighs, and tells his teammates that the one truth was that Siryn's last backup was taken before her second death, so she genuinely doesn't remember anything leading up to it.
'Siryn – wait! Please!' Polaris calls out as she follows Siryn who leaves the Boneyard. Polaris remarks that Siryn might have been struggling alone, and tells her if there is something else going on, then she wants to know. 'And then what? You're out of bounds with this, Lorna' Siryn replies, without turning to look at her. Siryn then tells Polaris to just worry about resurrection protocols and leave the hero stuff up to the big guns. She continues to walk away, only to be blocked by several large beams of magnetic energy that Polaris surrounds her with. 'I am a big gun!' Polaris declares as she flies towards Siryn. 'Or have you forgotten?' she asks. Energy whirls around Polaris as she reminds Siryn that she came so close to cracking this world apart like an egg, that Siryn had to make a deal to host an ancient death goddess just to save her “fractured” mind.
Polaris drop down and looks Siryn in her eyes as she declares 'But, sweetie... since you appear to be fully mortal again, I'd say that whatever is going on with you is especially my business'. The magnetic beams vanish, while Siryn tells Polaris that it is funny. 'What is?' Polaris asks. 'Funny how the world still seems to be holding up just fine now, does it not?' Siryn responds, her voice sounding strange as she gives Polaris a half-smile. Polaris slips into some sort of mesmerized trance, as Siryn declares 'Aye, love... been a while. You must've forgotten about my sonic hypnosis... why else would ye be dumb enough to confront me by yer lonesome?' Siryn moves seductively around Polaris, who follows her every move. Siryn leans into Polaris and tells her to leave her alone now. 'Okay...' Lorna utters. 'And if X-Factor tries to investigate my death again... you're going to sabotage their every attempt. Aggressively' Siryn commands. 'Okay...' the stil-mesmerized Polaris utters. 'Good girl' Siryn responds as she walks away from Polaris, her eyes glowing green, as she smirks, while a murder of crows begin to fly across the darkening sky above.
