Flashback:
Two hours outside Grant Pearl, Connecticut, years ago:
SHIELD agents Norris, Armstrong and Reese are sitting in a motel room playing cards or cleaning their weapons, wondering how the interrogation is going. Reese announces he is off the clock, so he doesn’t care. Norris doubts it is an interrogation. That sound like any interrogation they ever hear before?
In the next room, Logan and Magda are having sex. She missed him, too, Magda smirks and admits the years have been kind to him. The last time she saw him he was— Being thrown through a wall by her boyfriend Magneto, Logan recalls. He guesses there were some details of her life he didn’t quite understand. She admits they didn’t do much talking… But he’s right. There’s plenty he didn’t know about her. That she is an agent, for example, he points out. Magda corrects him. She is freelance. Logan supposes Magneto figured her out and that’s why he ran off with their kids. Erik was just another mission, Magda replies. Or at least he was, until things became… complicated.
And Mothervine? Logan asks. They seem to run in similar circles, she reckons. Their employers do anyway. She meant what she said though. Their goals are the same, more or less.
She heads for the bathroom and takes one of the Mothervine syringes. Unaware of this, Logan continues that it’s the “less” part that bothers him. She accuses him of worrying too much. He works for the government. She works for a private institution. Both of their employers want to pull the plug on Project: Mothervine and she’d say they’ve done a pretty good job of that. And her employers didn’t want anything else? he presses. Mothervine’s secrets? How would she smuggle them out of this room? Magda asks. She seems to recall him doing a fair job of frisking her. Seductively she suggests he try another round of interrogation. But she wasn’t called the Witch of Wundagore for nothing. She earned that nickname. And witches protect their secrets. She leaves.
Miami, Florida, now:
Quicksilver has taken Jimmy to a mall and tells him he doesn’t know what it’s like having and being a brother. Being a part of a family. Jimmy points out he has a family. The human babysitters Wolverine left him with, Pietro scoffs. He’s sure they were quite lovely but, in the end, they were little more than hired help. Jimmy angrily retorts he doesn’t know them. But he knows family, Pietro replies smugly.
When he first stumbled on the idea that they were brothers, he was confused… angry. He grew up believing his mother died when he was very young. Instead, he learned she lived long enough to give birth to another unwanted child. But once the anger cooled, he realized something: He’s not alone anymore. And neither is Jimmy.
Jimmy suggests he could have picked someplace less public for a family reunion. If someone recognizes them… Holding him by the shoulder, Pietro tells him not to worry so much. He’s created a vibration field that should protect their privacy. Security cameras will see only blurred images. And anyone outside the field who looks at them for more than a second or two will earn themselves a migraine. He points out Jimmy lives on a reservation in the middle of nowhere. He thinks he’s had his fill of seclusion and he brought him here to show him something.
He takes him to the restaurant part of the mall and to a redheaded girl who works at a frozen yogurt shop. She greets Pietro and tells him her shift just ended. He introduces her as Zoe and Jimmy as his brother. She tells them the others are waiting. Is this a double date? Jimmy asks. Didn’t he say he takes care of his family? Pietro retorts.
As Zoe walks some distance ahead, Jimmy asks after Black Box. Pietro is evasive but he assures him he is fine. Zoe flirts with Jimmy, who is tongue tied. She notices her friends and tells the men she will be right back.
Jimmy asks if Pietro thinks introducing him to a girl will win him over. How old does he think Jimmy is anyway? How old is she? Seventeen? A little older than Jimmy, is the replay, and still working at the yogurt shop. Poor thing hasn’t made anything of herself… not yet… not like Jimmy. And there’s more to be done.
He wishes he could have known their sister. She was special. She could change the world. So can Jimmy… in a way. There are secrets to be unlocked. And Jimmy’s blood is the key… They should both be thankful for Mothervine for so many reasons. Their mother and Jimmy’s father were investigating the project – independently, of course – when Jimmy was conceived. And if Pietro hadn’t been looking into it, he wouldn’t have discovered he has a brother.
Jimmy asks what Mothervine is. He knows what it is, Quicksilver insists. Hundreds of expecting mothers were injected with a drug that would insure they gave birth to mutants. Mutants who could be triggered – fully weaponized – with a phrase. But to him it’s more than that. It’s salvation! The Sentinels – the deaths of so many mutants on his hands! But they will bring them back.
Is he trying to save the mutant race or himself? Jimmy asks. Pietro is silent for a moment, then tells him to wait. He will show him something. He runs to Zoe who is musing about the two guys to her friends. Mother is calling her children home, Pietro whispers in her ears and disappears again at superspeed.
Black energy emits from Zoe’s eyes and body. Where it touches others, they begin to die.
Remarkable, Pietro proudly tells Jimmy. Mutation on command. Flesh-eating rapid contagion. He warns Jimmy to stay close, unless he wants a firsthand taste. Jimmy calls him insane. Pietro suggests it might spread for miles if they aren’t quick enough to stop it.
Jimmy runs towards Zoe, claws extended, beginning to suffer the ill effect himself. He finds he cannot do it. He orders Pietro to turn it off. If he insists… Pietro takes a straw and tosses it at Zoe at superspeed. It goes right through her head, killing her.
Still weakened, Jimmy asks why he did this and gets ready to attack. Pietro takes him out and asks if he doesn’t like his methods. His methods are going to save the mutant race. He could kill Jimmy. He’s being merciful here. He tells him his people and his family need him. It’s his responsibility as big brother to teach him a lesson, but he will learn. He snaps his fingers at ultraspeed. After all, blood is blood.
Aircroft, West Virgina, years ago:
Magda is taking up a rest stop bathroom and cries as she looks at a small stick. She heads out. The people who go in after her find a pregnancy test.
Now:
Jimmy awakes, sharing a cell with Black Box. Garab explains he put the camera feeds on loop as soon as Jimmy started stirring. He could pop the locks anytime he wanted. They could get right in Quicksilver’s face. But then what? Then it’s his turn! Jimmy snarls.
