Husk and Skin are getting ready for Mondo’s orientation party together and on the way Skin tells her how he still finds the quietness of the school wierd. She asks him if he misses home, and he says he misses the people, but not the place. Paige tells him she is homesick all the time she’s not on the farm - but the sacrifice is worth it if she can learn to use her powers properly and become an X-Man, while Skin tells her as soon as he’s mastered how to control his skin, he’s leaving. As they arrive at Proudstar Hall, Mondo welcomes them in but underestimates his strength when greeting Skin. M asks Synch to go and check on Banshee with her because he is late, but Synch tells her to ask Jubilee as she has been down ever since Penance’s relapse. Jubilee at first thinks M is taking the piss, but when she realises she isn‘t, declines and asks her to check on Penance on her way back.
Flying over to Sean’s private cottage, M thinks to her self that Mondo’s arrival and Penance’s condition have served her well, because no one seems to have unravelled the inconsistencies which her “current incarnation“ represents. Arriving at the cottage, she finds the place in darkness and the door open. She psionically calls Emma, who is shocked that M has that particular power, and M tells her she thinks something is up, then she stumbles on Banshee almost dead in the kitchen. Emma tells her to get him to the medical centre immediately, so M crashes through the school and gets there in next to no time. Connecting him to the medi computer, M begins to try to resuscitate Banshee, who’s heart has stopped beating. Emma stops her, as she can psionically sense him still alive. She tells M that she and the others must get his astral form back from whoever stole it, then making sure M understands, she herself slips into Banshee’s head. The kids realise that Emma is using herself as an anchor, holding Banshee down until they find whoever did this to him - and they must hurry because if Banshee dies, then Emma dies too. Jubilee and Mondo volunteer to stay and look after Sean and Emma while the others head out to look for Banshee’s attacker.
Meanwhile, Gayle Edgerton is at home in her country estate in England with D.O.A. He is telling her that they have received word from their final applicant and he should be with them within a fortnight. Gayle is about to tell him that she only tolerates him and his ‘people’ so she can get her revenge, when Emplate phases in from another dimension and tells her he dosen’t consider Jonothan Starsmore anything more than sustenance.
Back at the school, Skin takes one of the jeeps with Husk, Chamber and Synch to try and find Banshee’s assassin.
(partially flashback)
Emma comes to 20 years in the past in Banshee’s mind. She finds herself in Paris watching Banshee discover another body from a mutant serial killer, when the police raid the room they are in. Banshee recognises one of the officers, an Inspector Deveraux. She tells Banshee that Interpol have reassigned him and the serial killer is only trying to bait him. She tries to take Sean in when he creates a diversion and escapes.
(present)
The kid‘s jeep is being chased by a police car, and they are forced onto a closed road where the bridge is out. Chamber forces Skin to take the bridge, and M appears out of no where and safely lands the jeep across the other side, losing the police. Synch can sense the attacker via his aura and tells the others he knows exactly where he is.
(partially flashback)
Emma is watching Sean asleep thinking how much of shame it would be if he died tonight, when suddenly Eric Lehnsherr appears to Sean. Sean wants to know why he has been subtely helping him over the past few weeks, and Eric tells him that there is a genetic war coming and helping to save humans may not be in the best interests of mutant kind. He then tells him he can stop the murderer by getting to Cassidy Keep by twilight the next day. Eric then dissapears, as quickly as he arrived leaving Emma shocked and wondering how long they have all been pawns in a greater game, as this is years before the formation of the X-Men. She also wonders what made Eric become the one of the greatest threats to humanity in the future, and if Sean played a part in it.
(present)
At the school, Jubilee is beginning to wish she was back with the X-Men. At least there she never had to worry about major things, or a friend seriously ill and another near death. She begins to think that if they cant help Penance, maybe someone who knows her could - like Emplate?
In the woods, Synch believes they are near the attacker, when Chamber is suddenly attacked by a tendril - belonging to Omega Red! He tells them that he has arrived to kill them - as he did their headmaster!
