Pilger, Nebraska:
Boom-Boom has just joined the party, taking out the men guarding the depowered Armor, who bursts out what she is doing here. Boom-Boom asks who the guys are. Drug dealers from Costa Perdita, Armor gives her the short version. Who knew Nebraska could be so fun, Boom-Boom enthuses.
From the house, the rest of Tumulo’s men fire a rather large weapon at them. Armor shoves Boom-Boom down, then warns her that this is a power-dampening gun and that the men have Angel, Beak, Glob, Maxime and Manon inside. She heard shots just before Boom-Boom got here. She doesn’t know if they are hurt or…
Actually, in the cellar, Glob is agitated because Maxime and Manon made their guards shoot each other. The twins ask if he’d rather they shot them instead. Glob points out they could have made them friends instead. That moment, another armed man comes down, waving a gun in Glob’s face. Glob takes him in a headlock and lectures the twins on fighting while causing minimum damage. Who knows how many more guards will come? Unhappily, they apologize.
Beak is a bit more bloodthirsty, seeing as what the men did around his kids. Once outside the cellar, he attacks angrily.
Outside, Tumulo orders his men to kill both Armor and Boom-Boom. They will use one of the others to negotiate. He will go inside to look what’s taking the others so long.
Inside, a furious Angel takes out one guard, while the twins brainwash the others and Glob takes care of the injured Beak, who weakly asks him to make sure his family gets out. When Tumulo shows up, the twins turn the guard Luis against him.
Outside, a gangster attacks Boom-Boom, believing she is helpless without her powers. She dispatches him with a kick to the face and remarks she’s been on black ops teams since she was like 12. She eats low level clowns like him for breakfast.
Another gangster is about to kill Armor but Boom-Boom hits him on the head with the rocket launcher (since it is out of rockets).
That moment, Glob (carrying Beak and the others) come rushing out. Angel cradles him and begs him to hold on. Armor asks Boom-Boom if she came here in a Blackbird. Drunk and fly? Nope, is the reply. Armor asks how she got here. They are in the middle of nowhere. Tell her about it, Boom-Boom agrees. The Dryve ride took forever. When Armor stammers about the cost, Boom-Boom reminds her mutants are rich now.
Angel suggests they take the villains’ truck. She can hotwire it. Glob asks about Beak’s parents, who are still in the house. Suddenly, they hear a shot fired in the house. Armor tells Angel to drive Beak and the kids away while they will handle this. That moment, Tumulo steps out, holding a gun to Mr. Bohusk’s head. He orders them out of his truck. He will take the old man along and they will not follow. Mr. Bohusk groans that he murdered his wife.
Angel snaps that, if she doesn’t get Beak to a hospital right now, he is going to die. They can’t do that without the truck. Either way, someone dies. She shouts that they moved out here to get away from people. So, they could get around without people staring and pointing at their kids. So that they wouldn’t have to expose them to people like him! But clearly they can’t escape. This world isn’t for them. So, they are going to Krakoa - he wins. But there’s no way she is going to lose her husband or let him take his father from them. Drop the gun and, if he’s lucky, maybe he won’t spend his whole life in a jail cell. But there is no way he is leaving from here!
Tumulo replies that the Bohem Cartel does not give up. They will send more men until they get what they want. He is not leaving here. He shoots the old man and warns them there will be more after him, once his government hears of what happened. Several of its citizens killed by mutants. He puts the gun to his temple and fires.
Angel and her family are horrified. Armor tells her to get Beak to the hospital. Angel gets behind the wheel and tries to calm the kids as she drives off.
Boom-Boom asks the others if they have any idea how to get out of here. She doesn’t have cell service…
Krakoa:
Four days later, Armor and Glob visit Beak and his family in the Healing Gardens. They want to express their condolences but find the family actually very happy. Angel and Beak thank them for getting them from the farm. He doesn’t know what they were thinking, but they are not farmers. He rambles on, he is happy no one else but him got hurt. But his parents… Glob bursts out. Confused, Beak replies his parents passed away years ago.
Armor drags Glob away before he reveals anything else. Out of earshot, she seethes. Those little brats! She goes to find Maxime and Manon and asks what they did to Beak. They explain he was so sad, so they made him and his family think that burglars shot him and that his parents died long ago in their sleep. Happily, Maxime adds that he doesn’t have to grieve for his parents anymore, because he did it years ago. At least in his memory.
Armor lectures the twins that they cannot just rewrite memories to make them happy. It violates the others’ rights and robs them of the chance to grieve properly. And when they discover what the twins did, because they always do, they’ll grieve all over again.
Glob adds that Xavier will know too. Chastened, the twins insist they only wanted to help. Maxime offers to put their memories back. Armor considers it, swears and tells them what’s done is done, but makes them promise not to do it again.
Elsewhere, Beak, Angel and their family are happy.
