A ClikClok advertisement for X-Factor appears, inviting viewers to subscribe to channels for more X-Factor content. Several links are shown – X-Factor's ten greatest disasters, X-Factor Classics (Multiple Man! Quicksilver! Wolfsbane!) and power rankings and fan statistics. ClikClok is a subsidiary of Fartech.
In Los Angeles, the Fandemonium convention is underway. X-Factor members are present at the convention. Dr. Cecilia Reyes and St. John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro are sitting at a booth, where Cecilia is busy on her mobile phone, while Pyro looks around, bored. 'Can I get your autograph, Ms. Reyes?' a boy asks. 'Yes! Sorry, just let me finish this text' Cecilia responds, without looking up. 'Firing your agent?' Pyro asks.
Nearby, Alex Summers a.k.a. Havok is standing at an area where people can have photos taken with him – for a cost of fifty dollars. Alex doesn't look happy, though, and he still isn't sure if he abandoned Polaris, or if she abandoned him. 'I only knew that whichever it was – it was my fault' Alex tells himself, looking away from the camera, while a small child wearing a copy of Alex's early costume waves and smiles. 'Is he crying?' a woman trying to take the photo asks, pointing at Havok. The crowd looks on, frustrated, as Rodger Broderick, X-Factor's manager, steps in an pulls Havok behind a screen, while telling the crowd that they are taking a break and will be right back. 'Polaris...' Havok's voice trails off, while Rodger pulls a powerdog out of his jacket pocket. 'Mind if I powerdog?' he asks. Havok ignores that comment and simply asks Rodger if he found Polaris.
Waving his powerdog around, Rodger informs Havok that they had the house where the mutant underground was holding its meetings, but it is completely abandoned, with no sign of Polaris, or of anyone. 'But I need you to pull yourself together!' Rodger tells Havok. Rodger adds that he knows they still have a mole on the loose, but he needs Havok to go out on a mission – it is urgent. 'That's fine' Havok responds, frowning, while asking Rodger to find Polaris – whatever it takes. 'Of course, buddy. Of course' Rodger responds, before heading towards a meeting room and informing Havok that about the mission, there is someone he needs him to meet.
Entering the room, Havok sees a man with slicked-back hair wearing a two-piece Spider-Man costume. Rodger introduces Alex to Ethan Farthing, the C.E.O. of Fartech and owner of ClikClok. Ethan looks up from his phone and shakes Alex's hand. 'I'm a big supporter of your people. Don't believe those things I posted online' Ethan states. 'Oh...okay' Alex responds, before an image of a luna base appears on a large screen behind Ethan. He tells Alex that, as he may know, Fartech has built Luna One, a research base on the moon, and have heard on good authority that the base is about to be attacked. 'I thought Luna had its own automated defenses?' Alex asks. 'I does. But they're run by A.I. so they... well, they're terrible' Ethan admits, before asking Alex if he has any other questions. 'Yeah. Attacked...by whom?' Alex queries. Ethan explains that intel suggests by some state actor who wishes to remain anonymous. 'So, in all likelihood, they'll use mercenaries. Probably X-Term' Ethan notes. Leaving the meeting room, Rodger asks Alex if he is having any misgivings about having to maybe fight fellow mutants. 'No. Not anymore' Alex responds, as he heads towards a booth where Granny Smite is signing photographs. 'Great! That's honestly going to make all this so much easier!' Rodger exclaims, to which Alex tells him that all he cares about is getting his team back safely.
'Here you are, dear' Granny Smite remarks as she hands a signed photo to a girl waiting nearby. 'Uh... thanks' the girl responds, looking confused at the photo – which Granny has signed I welcome death – Granny Smite. Alex looks over at his elderly new teammate and asks Rodger what her story is. 'An immortality mutant. I know. Super rare. You're welcome' Rodger responds, before informing Alex that the thing is, Granny Smite didn't even suspect that she was a mutant until last year – when her house burned down. She emerged from the remains of the house, imagined that she had gotten lucky somehow – if you can call losing your husband of 58 years in a house fire lucky – she then took a discount flight to Florida with her son and his family – which crashed, seemingly killing everyone aboard – except for her. Within the space of six months, she lost her entire family and survived two un-survivable disasters.
Rodger informs Alex that now, Granny has devoted herself to finding the limits of her immortality. 'Am I understanding this correctly? I have, on my team, an 87-year old woman who wants to die?' Alex asks. 'You sure do! And she is as wiry as hell!' Rodger exclaims. Havok frowns and tells Rodger that he is having mixed feelings about this team he has assembled, to which Rodger asks Alex to work through them tonight – as they launch for the moon in the morning. 'Just find Polaris. I'll do the rest' Havok replies as he points a finger at Rodger and walks away from him.
The next morning, a space shuttle streaks away from the Earth. Inside, Granny Smite and Xyber smile as they look out a window. 'Whoa! I've never been in outer space before!' Xyber exclaims, and Granny tells him that, to her, it looks like the sky over an Iowa cornfield. Joanna Cargill a.k.a. Frenzy turns ro Pyro and asks him what he is even doing on this mission. 'Fire is useful, love!' Pyro responds. 'Not in space, it's not' Frenzy remarks. Pyro asks her what she means, to which Frenzy tells him that there is no oxygen in space. 'What do you think fire runs on?' she asks him. 'I don't know. Lighter fluid?' Pyro asks, shrugging. Frenzy pinches the bridge of her nose and tells Pyro to try and not get hurt. Sitting alone, Cecilia Reyes is once again busy on her phone. She has received a message from someone called Oskar, who asks her to let him explain, and claims that he never meant to hurt her. Cecilia responds by messaging Oskar that she can't talk now, as she is in space.
Commanding the space shuttle, Havok confirms that they have arrived at Luna One, with no sign of any attack. 'Wait... scratch that. We are definitely under attack!' Havok announces as he swerves the shuttle upwards to avoid weaponsfire which is blasted at the shuttle from the Luna One station, and Havok reports that the attack is coming from the station itself. Frenzy moves herself up to Havok and asks him what is going on, as she thought they were here to protect the base. 'You know as much as I do!' Havok remarks, before a message comes into the shuttle from Ethan Farthing. The recording states that by listening to this message, the listener agrees not to sue Ethan Farthing for what is about to say. 'Change of plans, big guy' Ethan states as he appears on the space shuttle monitor. 'I'm guessing there is no X-Term attack' Havok mutters. Ethan rolls his eyes and explains that this was misdirection. He then reveals that the base is run by a secret and highly propriertary artificial intelligence called Paperclip.
Havok pilots the shuttle past several more weaponsfire blasts, while Ethan tells him that, as he can imagine, housing scientists on the moon is expensive, so Paperclip runs the base to maximize production and...reduce payroll. It worked great, only there was one small hitch – it was programmed to protect the base at all costs, and, naturally, it concluded that the biggest threat to the base was him deciding that it was too expensive to run – so it started using its graviton beam to redirect asteroids toward Earth. And when the scientists realized what was happening, they tried to shut Paperclip down – at which point it introduced carbon monoxide to their air supply. 'The too-long-didn't-read version being...you're not there to protect the base. You're there to destroy it' Ethan announces.
Havok looks unimpressed, but turns to his teammates: 'Pyro, since you're useless in space -' he begins, to which Pyro gasps 'Oi!' Havok tells him that he will pilot the shuttle, and get them below the turret fire. He instructs Cecilia to stay on board and await the wounded, before announcing that Frenzy, Xyber and Granny are coming with him. A moment later, the four are wearing space-helmets and are dropped down beneath the weaponsfire of the base. 'Useless in psace? I'll show you whose ass is useless in space!' Pyro screams from the pilot's seat of the shuttle. 'Please don't let this be the way I die' Cecilia frowns.
Havok and the others stand on the outside of the Fartech Luna One facility, and Havok tells Xyber that he needs him to give them an electromagnetic pulse, taking out the base's electronics. 'But the element of surprise is gone, so be – careful' Havok adds, too late, as a moon rock is thrust uup and slams into Xyber, knocking him backwards. 'The graviton ray!' Havok realizes as a space-dish nearby emits rays which propel more moon rocks upwards towards X-Factor. 'Get down!' Havok tells everyone, while Granny smiles: 'Ooooh! Pretty!' she utters, as Frenzy complains thay she could have been a dog breeder. The shuttle door opens and Cecilia drops out, grabbing Xyber, her force field protects her from moon rocks that are hurled at her. 'I need to get him onto the ship!' she exclaims.
Havok releases a plasma-blast towards the sonar – but nothing happens to it. He is confused, and Frenzy asks him what the matter is. 'Nothing. My plasma pulse did...nothing' he responds, to which Frenzy asks him how that is possible. Havok wonders if it is protected by a polymer layer of inert gas, or something. He doesn't know how, but thinks the base's artificial intelligence seems to know their every move. 'Well, if I had to guess, I'd say it's probably because...it has a ClikClok account' Frenzy frowns, holding up her phone, which displays Havok's power rankings and fan stats on the ClikClok account. 'That means, there's only one mutnt the base doesn't know how to neutralize...' Havok realizes, looking over at Granny Smite. 'Well, what do you know. She is wiry as hell!' Havok exclaims as Granny smite begins to run through the moon rocks, dodging them, she grins and exclaims 'Like a turkey through the straw!' when suddenly, the graviton ray slams into Granny, forcing her to a crater in the moon surface. Granny starts to stand up – when a large moon rock is dropped on her. 'GRANNY!' Havok shouts, concerned.
A moment later, Frenzy hurls a moon boulder towards the graviton ray – shattering the weapon. 'Let's go! Hurry!' Frenzy declares, as she and Havok rush towards the entrance door into the Luna One facility. 'Before we lose anyone else' Frenzy adds. Breaking the door down, the mutants enter the facility, and see the bodies of the dead scientists scattered about at their work stations. Frenzy asks Havok if he is going to set some explosives or something, but Havok tells her that he wasn't given any explosives. 'They sent us here under the pretense of defending the base, remember?' Havok asks. Frenzy crouches down and hangs her head. 'The world is ruled by idiots, isn't it?' she laments. Havok announces that he has an idea, and points out that this base is powered by a nuclear reactor. He suggests that they remove the control rod, then the reactor will assume it is in meltdown and the base will self-destruct. 'So then...let's do it' Frenzy responds. 'You wanna go in and get it?' Havok asks, motioning to the nuclear reactor hatch.
'Boy, would I!' a voice calls out. Havok turns, and is surprised to see Granny striding towards him. 'Since I can't die, it occurred to me that I don't need a spacesuit' Granny notes, as she appears in her yellow and blue X-Factor dress. 'Uh...okay...' Frenzy's voice trails off as Granny, without hesitation, climbs into the nuclear reactor hatch. 'Is she going to be -?' Frenzy begins. 'Your guess is as good as mine' Havok mutters, before Granny emerges, holding up the control rod. 'Is this the right one, dear? Or should I go back in?' Granny smiles. The space station's control announces that self destruct will commence, and begins a countdown – but the shutte is able to depart the moon in time, as the station explodes in spectacular display behind it. 'The intelligence may be artificial. But the stupidity is genuine' Havok thinks to himself.
Later, at the Factor House, Havok is in the conference room with Rodger and Ethan. Rodger congratulates Havok on the success of the mission, but Havok ignores him and asks if there is any sign of Polaris. 'No. but if she's alive. We'll find her. Because you're family' Rodger responds, while Ethan points out that this is the kind of family where they sign an NDA – so Havok can't talk to anyone about this. He adds that ClikClok owns all the footage, so they can't release that, either. 'I suppose you can't have congress finding out that your product almost destroyed the planet' Havok snaps. 'Congress? What are they gonna do? Send me an angry fax?' Ethan asks smugly, sipping a cocktail. Havok looks annoyed, but Rodger holds him back, as Ethan glances over to Havok and remarks that he is worried the investors will find out. 'We can't have Paperclip desotrying the world' he notes. 'Not while it's still profitable, anyway' he adds as he gets up and leaves.
Havok hangs his head. 'They keep telling us that this technology is going to change the world. Make things better for everyone if we can just hold on until then. They say gthat if you're gonna make an omelet, you gotta break a few eggs. But if they're not your eggs you're breaking, then it doesn't matter whether your omelet is worth it or not – you'll just keep breaking eggs until you make it'.
