After all these years, why can’t anything be flaming easy? Old Man Logan thinks to himself as he battles the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ new Pyro and Avalanche. To make matters worse, Magma hits him with a lava blast, which takes him out. Mesmero praises her and orders them to inform their benefactor they are proceeding to phase three.
At the Xavier Institute, Kitty, Storm and Prestige are about to join Colossus and Nightcrawler in the X-jet. Kitty summarizes that Logan said he and the mayor were being held in an underground complex in Long Island. He makes six hostiles. She likes those odds, Rachel announces. How about making them better? Anole asks. A group of students stand in their way.
Kitty replies they’ve been keeping students out of combat situations. Rockslide points out lots of them have been in combat situations. They’ve got the mayor of New York held hostage. Where is it written they have to go in shorthanded? Kitty considers this for a moment, then decides on Armor and Rockslide. What about the rest? Anole asks. It’s not a school fieldtrip, she replies coldly.
Aboard the X-Jet, Santo remarks that was stone cold. Kitty asks if he is complaining. No. Ma’am he replies wisely. They know why she picked them, right? Kitty asks. Aesthetic beauty and sheer awesomeness? Santo hopes. Their power sets, Armor points out. Blunt strength with defensive capabilities, so the X-Men don’t have to look after them.
Kitty announces they don’t know where the mayor is, so they’ll have to split up…
They land outside an abandoned condemned Worthington Industries site. Kitty explains that their foes have a high-level telepath on their side, so Rachel will reinforce their psi-shields. Still, they have to be ready for anything.
Immediately, the team consisting of Kitty, Colossus and Armor are attacked by what she calls the “weird new guy.” She informs the others.
Elsewhere, Storm and Rockslide find a man tied to a chair, a hood covering his head and figure it’s the mayor. It’s a supercreepy room, like a site for filming an ISIS stage video, Santo describes it.
Kitty tells them extracting the mayor is their top priority. But Storm and Rockslide find themselves attacked by a brainwashed Logan.
Kitty orders Nightcrawler, who stayed back on the jet, to get the mayor. He teleports in, grabs the man and teleports out, causing Santo to complain he is left to fight the old guy.
Kitty asks Prestige where the psychic is. Rachel is flying outside and explains she has trouble getting a read on him. His psi-defenses are tight. She finds herself under attack and loses her concentration. She falls and looks up. Belay that, she informs Kitty. She’s found the jerk.
Inside, Colossus hits the weird new guy straight in the face, taking him out. He couldn’t have done that five minutes ago? Armor asks. Kitty asks about Storm and Rockslide’s status. Lousy, Santo complains, as Logan keeps slicing at him. Storm hits him with lightning and he loses consciousness. Santo warns her Logan is gonna be so ticked off at her when he wakes up.
Kitty, Colossus and Armor find the unconscious Pyro and Avalanche. Looks like Mr. Logan’s been here, Armor ventures. They still need to find Amara though, Kitty reminds them and contacts Rachel, who is in silent telepathic battle with Mesmero. A moment later, Mesmero keels over, beaten. Rachel announces she pulled an interesting tidbit from his mind. This entire place is rigged with explosives.
It’s a trap, Kitty realizes. She contacts Nightcrawer shouting they need a violent extraction at her position. Armor is just about to ask what a violent extraction is when the X-jet breaks though the wall.
Kitty orders the team to the jet but runs into the opposite direction. Nightcrawler warns her: readings say the place will explode in two minutes. She asks him to give her one thirty, then evac. She has to find Amara.
Kitty phases through the ground. She finds Amara huddling in a corner. Amara warns her to stay back. She doesn’t know what’s real anymore. Kitty reaches out and tries to calm her. Stay back! Amara shouts and fires magma at her, hitting her side. Kitty contacts Kurt and tells them to evac. Go to minimum safe distance, Kurt intends to teleport back for her but Storm warns him there is no time. Kitty agrees with Storm. She takes Amara’s hands and hugs her close.
As the building explodes, Colossus shouts Kitty’s name.
The jet hovers nearby and the X-Men get out. Rachel announces she doesn’t pick up anything but she had reinforced Kitty’s psi-shield. Storm orders Kurt to conduct a search.
Kitty comes up phasing through the rubble with Amara. She thought she was the one who gave the orders, she jokes.
So that’s it? Logan asks a little later back in Central Park as SHIELD take the Brotherhood members away. Kitty replies she arranged for them to get custody of the creepy new guy who doesn’t talk. She’s got more than a few questions for him when he regains consciousness.
They saved the flaming mayor, Logan remarks wistfully. You’d think that would earn them a tickertape parade. Storm points out he knows it doesn’t work like that. A man can dream, can’t he? Kitty sighs she’d settle for a break on their property taxes.
Rachel calls her inside telepathically. There’s something she should know. She explains this is more complicated than they thought. It wasn’t just Amara under Mesmero’s control. All of them were influenced to one extent or another. She also found another piece of troubling information in Mesmero’s mind. He was paid to do this. Form a group and commit acts of terror. Kidnapping the mayor was to lead the X-Men into a trap but there was a larger agenda at work here. Whose agenda? Kitty asks.
Damn! Lydia Nance swears in her apartment. She knows, right? a sarcastic voice comes from behind her. Nance turns around to see the X-Men. She just hates it when her evil plans are foiled, Kitty continues sarcastically. Nance reaches for a button. If that’s for her security personnel, she shouldn’t bother, Kitty tells her. They are taking a little nappy time (thanks to Logan).
Kitty accuses her of creating a mutant terrorist group, so she could justify her anti-mutant politics. Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She wasn’t even subtle!
They are trespassing, Nance replies coldly. And she just kidnapped a mayor, Kitty retorts. Nance demands proof. This conspiracy theory is preposterous. It won’t be to SHIELD, Colossus points out. They have her Brotherhood in custody. She thinks that they’ll find they won’t have much memory of events, Nance smirks. And even if they did, what’s the word of a mutant worth against that of a human? Do the math. She has. How ridiculous would it sound to claim an anti-mutant advocate aligned herself with them? Particularly after another mutant group has broken into her home, taken out her security staff and threatened her…
She hasn’t gotten around to threatening her, Kitty replies. She has Prestige telekinetically paralyze Nance and lift her into the air. Now she is threatening her, Kitty clarifies. She thinks she is clever. She is not. She thinks she is holding all the cards. She doesn’t. There’s gonna come a moment when she screws up. When she is revealed for the bigot she is. And the X-Men are going to be there. And they are going to take her down hard. Rachel drops Nance.
Nance calls them pathetically naive. Who do they think they are? They are the X-Men, Kitty replies calmly.
