Theresa Rourke sleeps peacefully in the Weisman Institute, but she is not alone in her room. A surgeon with a scalpel slowly inches towards her throat, singing a crazy little tune. Siryn wakes up in a fit of rage, kicking the man in the stomach, knocking him to the floor. She rears back for a punch, but is stopped by the plea of the intruding surgeon. She asks him why he thinks she shouldn’t knock him out. He takes off his mask, revealing himself to be Deadpool and that she called him for help, that’s why. Siryn stares in disbelief at her unlikely rescuer. She asks Deadpool why he was dressed up like a surgeon to which he wittily asks her if she ever played doctor when she was a kid. Theresa punches Wade in the jaw and scolds him for scaring her. Wade grabs Theresa and orders her to stay still so that he can take the inhibitor collar off of her. He succeeds and throws the collar to the floor. Deadpool brings up a delicate subject to Theresa, the fact that he isn’t getting paid for this little escapade. She reminds him that he did this for her as a favor, to his dismay. Wade asks if he can at least get to kick some serious butt for his troubles, Theresa replies plenty as they storm out of her room. In their zeal to escape, the duo fails to notice that the young boy Jeremy Stevens is watching them through a hole in the wall.
Above Westchester county, the silence and beauty of the afternoon is broken by the hunk of dead metal formerly known as the PACRAT. The craft is barely airborne, only supported by Sunspot, who is currently acting as the left wing engine. Inside the plane, the boys are doing all that is in their power to keep the ship together. Caliban is holding up the main support beam of the ship along with the help of Warpath. Cable is at the stick, concentrating entirely on keeping the ship from crashing while suffering the barrage of complaints from the boys. Cable looks down through a hole in the floor and sees the Xavier Institute below, and communicates with Bobby about the impending plan. Roberto releases the plane, plummeting towards the ground with the promise not to let his teammates down. Without his support on the wing, the PACRAT spirals towards the ground, tossing the wayward travelers inside all about the cabin.
As he speeds towards the earth, Sunspot’s thoughts speed faster. He wonders why after he betrayed the team as Reignfire, Cable would still entrust the team’s lives in his hands. Sunspot tears above the terrain, sending up waves of dirt as he passes at high velocity; pushing his powers to a new extent. Cable psionically coaxes Bobby as he creates a cyclone to catch the falling PACRAT. Caliban complains about the heat inside of the cabin, and Cable tells him that it will only be a few seconds longer. Bobby dodges out of the way of the plane as it lands on the ground with a giant crash. Sunspot is worried about his friends, but they quickly squelch those fears by tearing their way out of the PACRAT. Cable jumps up on top of the plane and psionically orders everyone to go to the medi-lab until they get exempt by Dr. McCoy. The boys agree that there is no arguing with him and go on their way.
Deadpool mercilessly pummels on the orderlies in the Weisman Institute on his way out. A big orderly comes up behind him, ready to strike, but Siryn covers his back by releasing a sonic wail that knocks the man into the next wall. Theresa tells Wade how good it feels to finally be able to let loose with her abilities. Wade informs Theresa that it is time to go, but she lets him know that she needs to have a word with Dr. Weisman first. Siryn knocks down Dr. Weisman’s door with a sonic scream, telling her that although they have no appointment she surely can make time for them. Dr. Weisman confidently tells Siryn that she has exactly three minutes to return to her room. Theresa lunges across the room, grabbing Dr. Weisman by the throat. She lectures the doctor on her behavior with the patients of the institute and how she has been betraying Xavier’s trust. Dr. Weisman tries to defend herself, but Theresa skeptically says that Xavier wouldn’t allow something like that to go on. Dr. Weisman breaks down and opens up to what she has done, but she tells Theresa that she doesn’t understand what he is like. Siryn turns around to see Jeremy Stevens standing over the unconscious body of Deadpool. He tells Theresa to release Dr. Weisman, and then he addressing the doctor, he says she has been a naughty girl.
In the medi-lab, Caliban, Sunspot, and Warpath stand over the sleeping form of Shatterstar, asking him if he is going to live. Shatterstar bounds out of the chair, flipping across the room. He tells his friends that he would gladly be fighting by their sides if Dr. McCoy would release him. Warpath asks him if Siryn has returned yet, but he replies negatively; the only other person he has seen was Dr. McCoy. Sunspot finds it odd that Boomer hasn’t visited, but Shatterstar says he assumed that she was with them. Beast comes in the room and asks the boys if he can help them with anything. The three new arrivals smile meekly and reply that they are fine.
In a rundown trailer park in Pennsylvania, the phone rings. The owner of the trailer waddles out of the bathroom, scratching himself on the way to the phone. He picks it up and waits for a response. No one answers. He threatens the caller, thinking that it is someone named Gus. On the other end of the phone, Tabitha Smith holds the receiver away from her head and she cries at the sound of her father’s voice.
(later that day)
Theresa Rourke lands gracefully on the lawn of the Xavier Institute and calmly walks inside. She bumps into Warpath and gives him a casual hello. James rushes over to her and takes her up in his arms, proclaiming how much he has missed her. She says that she missed everyone also, but she has to find Cable at the current moment. She brushes him off and goes to find Cable, leaving James alone and with hurt feelings.
Cable and Xavier sit quietly in his study discussing the recent events in Siberia. Cable deceptively asks Xavier if he knew anything on how the Mimic escaped since he was the one who sent them on the mission. Xavier says that he doesn’t like Cable’s tone. The people who up until recently worked at the tracking station were valuable assets in his mutant underground and he is concerned that someone is on to his system. Just then, Siryn enters the room, apologizing for her intrusion, but she knew that they would want a report as soon as she was back. She tells the professor that Dr. Weisman sends her regards and apologies for being negligent in her reports. Siryn hands Charles several disks that contain the most up to date patient listings and findings at the Weisman Institute. Cable congratulates Siryn on her exemplary work, saying that he picked the right person to replace Sam as deputy leader. Siryn shrugs off the praise, smiling and saying that she wished all missions went as smoothly.
Sunspot reflects quietly by the lake on the grounds of the Institute. In the water he sees the malignant reflection of his previous self, Reignfire. He runs over the recent mission to Siberia with little leeway for his own actions. He thinks that he acted impulsively and jeopardized the mission with his reckless behavior. After all that Cable did for him to free him of the Reignfire persona, how did he repay it? Cable moves in behind him and telepathically reassures him, telling him not to worry too much. Yes, he did disobey a direct order, but it is a mistake that he can learn from, and besides, he earned some points for saving the PACRAT. Sunspot reassures his leader that he will try harder next time. As Cable walks away, Roberto ushers a phrase in Askani to him, which he unconsciously responds to. The realization hits him a second later and Cable turns to question his charge about how he knows that particular language. Bobby doesn’t know what he is talking about; he just said thanks in English. Cable walks away rubbing his head, swearing to himself that Roberto had just spoken in his native tongue.
(at night)
Tabitha Smith conducts her recent ritual in the Danger Room. She walks in bringing the mentally deficient Sabretooth a bowl of milk. She parts the leaves in the holographic jungle to find Victor Creed sitting on a rock staring at the moonlight. She tells him that she had trouble finding him and that she didn’t think this virtual jungle was that big. Creed turns to look at her and talks to her. He says that he likes milk, but he isn’t hungry at the moment. Boomer drops the bowl in disbelief at Sabretooth’s speech. She asks him how long he has been able to speak to which he replies that he doesn’t know. Sabretooth climbs down off of his rock beside Tabitha. He tells her that she has been terribly nice to him even though he knows that he wasn’t nice in his past, and he wants to ask her for a favor. It depends, she says, because his being able to talk doesn’t do much for him in the trust department. Creed looks up at her with innocent eyes and points towards the horizon, telling her that he wants to go outside. Tabitha snaps at him, asking him if he thinks that she is an idiot. Sabretooth shrinks back in fear, defending his request by saying he doesn’t like the jungle because he never lived in it before. Why does he have to live in it now? Tabitha realizes the harshness in which she spoke and tells him that she didn’t know.
A few minutes later, Tabitha sits inside of the Danger Room control center trying to figure out how to work the complex system. Boomer tells Creed that she hasn’t had a lot of practice in the control room and only figured out how to go in and out from watching Shatterstar. Creed asks her if she can try anyway. Boomer randomly pushes one of the many buttons on the control panel with unexpected results. Sabretooth’s background melts into the Morlock tunnels. Boomer gasps in surprise and pushes another button, saying that she can’t do any worse. The background melts into the black of space. Boomer covers her eyes and gives it one last try, pushing another button. She opens her eyes to see that this time was successful. Sabretooth spins around in the fresh air of the Xavier Institute grounds and exclaims in joy. Boomer walks into the room greeted by the thanks of Victor Creed. He holds out his hand to her, asking her if she would like to go for a walk, to which she agrees. Victor and Tabitha walk hand and hand down the grounds of the Xavier Institute. He asks Tabitha why no only she comes to visit him, when no one else does, and she says that it is because she believes in second chances. Creed freezes in his tracks, pushing Boomer behind. A look of terror plasters his face. In the bushes, Wolverine hides and extends his claws. Victor turns to Tabitha and asks to go back inside. Tabitha wonders what is wrong with Sabretooth, as he is trembling.
Inside of the Weisman Institute, the orderlies wheel Deadpool in on a dolly, all tied up and gagged. They deliver him to Dr. Weisman, as she requested. Wade mumbles underneath his gag. Dr. Weisman tells the orderlies to remove his gag so that she can hear what he is saying. They do as they are told, and Wade tells the doctor what he said, which was just mumbles. Dr. Weisman turns to her accomplice, telling him that she believes Wade to actually be mentally unstable. Jeremy Stevens tells the doctor that that is good; now they have another player in the game. The shadow of Jeremy Stevens is the form of the Gamesmaster.
