Mumbai, where Rogue, Magneto, Anole and Loa suddenly find themselves confronted by several Sentinels. Rogue tells Anole and Loa to get clear, as she and Magneto will handle this. ‘But Rogue, you don’t even have any powers of your own’ Anole points out. ‘Multiple mutant targets. Range - ten meters’ one of the Sentinels states. ‘Ah said RUN!’ Rogue shouts, so Anole, Loa and the mysterious blonde girl do as they are told, while one of the Sentinels states ‘Four mutant targets. Two matches to existing files. Anna-Marie: Rogue. Eric Magnus Lensherr: Magneto. Threat level high. Termination authorized’.
Magneto flies towards one of the Sentinels, exclaiming ‘For sentient beings, robot, the correct term is murder. Trust me. I have some degree of experience in such matters’ he exclaims, before using his power to rip apart the Sentinel’s chest, remarking that “termination” will do well enough for the likes of it. ‘Come on, come on, come on’ Rogue mutters as she tries to start a vehicle, while, nearby, one of the Sentinels has backed Anole into a corner, where the young mutant has used his power to camouflage himself against the brick wall. ‘This unit does not require a visual lock on your co-ordinates, mutant. You cannot hide’ it declares. ‘I wasn’t really trying to’ Anole replies.
‘I just needed you to be looking at me’ Anole exclaims as Rogue drives a bus into the Sentinel’s leg. ‘Way to go!’ Anole congratulates Rogue, before exclaiming ‘My turn!’ as he leaps up to the Sentinel’s face, and rips out some parts, while the Sentinel slams hard into the ground below. Loa, meanwhile, is rushing up a flight of stairs, where one of the Sentinels is standing nearby. ‘Target acquired. Engaging -’ the Sentinel begins, while Loa whispers to herself ‘I can do this. I can do this’ as she leaps towards the massive Sentinel, using her power to “swim” through the solid matter, ripping the Sentinel’s head apart.
Loa grabs hold of a nearby clothes line, and uses it to drop herself down to the ground, asking if there are an more of them. ‘Nope. We’re good. You took out a Sentinel. Ah’m proud of you’ Rogue exclaims, before Magneto declares ‘That was too easy’. ‘Ah’d say it was just easy enough’ Rogue replies, before Magneto turns to the blonde girl and asks her what she knows about these machines. ‘N-nothing’ the girl replies, to which Magneto reminds her that she identified them by a name, and that they were chasing her when she first arrived. Rogue tells Magneto that this can wait, pointing out that they need to get out of here before the authorities arrive.
‘We also need to find out what we’re dealing with’ Magneto points out. Rogue tells him that she knows that, ‘But think about what just happened’ she exclaims, before remarking that when Hope came back, Cerebra spiked five times. ‘There are new mutants out there - for the first time since forever!’ Rogue declares. ‘If this girl is one of them, she comes with us. No questions’ Rogue exclaims, before turning to the blonde girl, asking her if she figured out recently that she can do things other people can’t. The blonde girl - Luz, although she introduced herself to Rogue and the others as Luisa - replies ‘Yeah. I did. That’s right. That’s exactly right’. She demonstrates her ability, explaining that she can paint with light - make it bend and refract into colors. ‘Those Servidores saw me doing it and chased me’ she explains. Rogue picks up her mobile phone and calls Marut: ‘Ah hope you didn’t park too far away. Five to beam up’ she jokes.
Soon, in Panchajana, inside the Gavascar Estate, where Indra watches as his father declares ‘No. I will not support this. It is an abuse of my hospitality’. Rogue, Loa, Anole and Luz stand before Rav and Bhakti Gavascar, as Rogue exclaims ‘You saw the storm, Mr Gavascar. We didn’t feel we could just leave her out in the middle of it’. ‘Rav, if the child has nowhere to stay -’ Mrs Gavascar begins, but Rav exclaims ‘No, Bhakti. It’s not for you or for me to pick up such strays’. Luz exclaims that none of this was her idea, and that if they don’t want her, she will go. She adds that she is not a stray, and can look after herself.
Rogue looks up at Indra, and tells him that she is sorry, and that it may be better if they just leave. ‘No, please, Rogue. Just give me a moment’ Indra replies, before telling his father that these are his friends and that he wants them to stay. ‘Do you defy me?’ Mr Gavascar asks. Indra replies that he doesn’t, but that he wants some familiar faces at his wedding. ‘Your wedding?’ Loa gasps, asking her teammate if that is a joke. Indra hangs his head as he asks Loa to be happy for him. ‘Is that what we’re here for? Seriously?’ Anole asks. Mr Gavascar turns around and walks away as he exclaims ‘Until Sunday, then. No longer’. He tells his son that his bridge and her chaperone arrive this afternoon, ahead of the rest of the wedding party. ‘You will come to the Saffron Room at three o’clock to meet her. Be prompt’ Mr Gavascar orders. ‘Yes’ his son replies.
Rogue asks Indra why he didn’t tell them about the wedding, to which Indra replies that he didn’t know about it until he arrived here. ‘But you’re happy? This is what you want?’ she asks, while Luz begins eating something from a bowl on a stand. Indra explains that his brother’s engagement has to be fulfilled. ‘What sort of person would I be if I shrank from that?’ he asks. ‘Do you love her?’ Loa asks. Indra hangs his head and replies that he has never seen her, and is meeting her for the first time this afternoon. ‘That’s crazy talk, man. If I know anything, it’s that you can’t force something like love into a shape that someone else says is right!’ Anole declares, before Luz exclaims ‘Hey! You got any more of these gulabjaman things? There’s no way I’m gonna make it all the way to dinnertime’.
Soon, ‘Come in, Rogue. The door is open’ Magneto declares as he crouches on the floor, using his powers to hold up various metallic nuts and bolts. ‘Ah was just about to knock’ Rogue replies. ‘Why? There needs to be no ceremony or polite pretence between us’ Magneto replies, to which Rogue reminds Magnus that she keeps telling him there is nothing else between them. Magneto ignores Rogue’s comment, instead remarking that those Sentinels fell to a single assault, because they had been structurally weakened by extreme and corrosive energies. ‘The same energies now washing over the city of Mumbai’ Magneto explains.
‘The storms?’ Rogue asks as she walks towards the balcony. ‘A storm is a natural phenomenon. These are not’ Magneto replies, adding that some of the energies impede the frequencies of human thought, inducing coma. ‘That’s what happened to Indra’s brother’ Rogue remarks. ‘And to those others we saw, who fell when the storm hit’ Magneto adds, before informing Rogue that he spoke to Emma Frost, who will, as soon as she can spare time from the reconstruction of Utopia, carry out a full Cerebra scan of the sub-continent. ‘If your new friend is a mutant, we’ll know soon enough’ Magneto exclaims.
In a hallway, Loa and Anole stand with Luz, who demonstrates her power, explaining that it is all about refraction. ‘You split the light to make the colors you want’ she remarks. ‘An eagle! That’s amazing!’ Anole declares. Luz thanks him, before remarking that she saw before that they have powers too, and asks them what they use them for. ‘Fighting for our lives, mostly’ Anole replies. ‘So you’re soldiers? Is that what you always wanted to be?’ Luz asks. ‘What we wanted didn’t seem to come into it much’ Anole replies. ‘Wow. But - power is choice, right? I mean, that’s how it works. If you don’t want to fight, maybe you should think about what you do want’ Luz exclaims.
‘We’re still learning to use our powers’ Loa explains. ‘Or not to use them, maybe. I saw how you reacted after you trashed that Servidor’ Luz remarks. ‘I was scared’ Loa replies. ‘Fine. But don’t be scared of yourself’ Luz tells her as they watch two women approach Mr and Mrs Gavascar in the foyer down below, talking in their native tongue. Indra joins them, and Mr Gavascar introduces his son to Vaipala Rani and her aunt, Veer. ‘It’s good to meet you’ Indra tells the young woman, who thanks Indra, and tells him that he looks like his brother. Mr Gavascar informs his son that Vaipala studied in Delhi, at the University. ‘Only for a year. I passed my entrance certificate. But then I had to come home. To be married’ Vaipala exclaims, before remarking that she understands Indra has been to America
‘To travel so far - to see such things - that must have been amazing’ Vaipala exclaims, adding that Mumbai must seem very small and silly to him now. ‘Is that how it seems to you?’ Indra asks. ‘I was talking about you’ Vaipala replies. ‘No, I - I don’t see things in such -’ Indra begins, before Mr Gavascar asks everybody to please be seated, and he will ring for tea. Vaipala asks Indra to tell her about the X-Men. ‘They live on an island now, isn’t it? An island that used to be out in space?’ she asks, while Luz smirks, and gives a “thumbs-up” signal.
Meanwhile, in the Corridor, ‘She made it through a live!’ Martello declares. ‘She also destroyed an entire work team of Servidores. She must be found and returned. She’s needed for Angelfire!’ Corregidora exclaims. But Martello tells his beloved sister that he must correct her, as Luz did not do these things by herself, and he turns on a monitor, revealing Rogue and the others defeating the Sentinels. ‘Despite the energetic interface, it was possible to process some of the sensory downloads from the Servidores to the Master Mold’ Martello explains, adding that he found these images particularly interesting.
‘The X-Men!’ Corregidora exclaims. ‘One of them, anyway. One was have reason to remember. Her presence is unlikely to be a -’ Martello begins, before seeing Corregidora pull a knife from behind her, he asks her what she is doing. ‘A wound in my heart has reopened, brother. The wound in my flesh is to keep me from forgetting’ she exclaims, before ordering Martello to call the council, and to tell them that Luz is in the hands of their enemies.
The next morning, at Panchajana, two maids are going about their cleaning duties, with one of them telling the other to change the towels while she sweeps the hallway. The other maid complains that she hates this bathroom: ‘There’s an iguana who lives at the top of the wall’ she exclaims. ‘Don’t be a baby. A lizard can’t -’ the other maid begins, before screaming as she turns a corner and sees Indra and Luz standing in the hallway - naked and embracing.
‘Is the house on fire?’ Loa asks as she, Anole and Rogue leave their rooms. ‘Sounds like it might be more serious than that’ Anole points out, while Rogue announces that she will check it out. ‘Who has done this? Who has done this obscene thing?’ Mr Gavascar demands as arrives. ‘What is it?’ Rogue asks. ‘Can Ah help in any -? Oh’ she exclaims, while Aunt Veer tells Vaipala not to look, as it is immodest. ‘It is a likeness of my son, in a lewd embrace! I demands to know who made this!’ Rav Gavascar exclaims when he realizes that it is not really his son. ‘Luisa? Font and center, girl’ Rogue exclaims as she touches the light image.
‘What’s the problem? I thought he looked cute’ Luz mutters as she steps towards the ground, arms folded, scowling. Luz adds that, for her, this counts as subtle, and the image will fade by itself in a few days. ‘My son is engaged to be married!’ Mr Gavascar declares. ‘What’s “married”?’ Luz asks. ‘Do not speak back to me. Remove this thing. Remove it!’ Rav orders. ‘Okay, it’s removed!’ Luz mutters as she causes the image to vanish. ‘Happy now?’ she asks. Mr Gavascar tells her that she is not welcome in his house. ‘Is anyone?’ Luz asks. ‘What? What are you saying for me?’ Rav demands, while Rogue tells Luisa to go back to her room. Luz does as Rogue tells her, and as she walks past Vaipala, she declares ‘I was better off at home. At least there they wanted me to help run a city. Not dress like a doll and talk like an idiot!’ she exclaims, which spikes Vaipala’s attention.
Soon, Luz leans on a railing on a balcony, writing something with her light power, she wonders why they can’t just let her do her own thing and leave her alone. Suddenly, Magneto descends near Luz and tells her that if she ever decided to give up art, she could probably have a profitable career conquering small countries. ‘I don’t know what you mean’ Luz replies. Magneto tells her that sculpting light waves into finite, coherent patterns requires the levels of energy normally found in supernovas. ‘Wherever you come from, I’d imagine that your absence has been noted. ‘I told you. I come from the city back there. Were you found me’ Luz replies.
‘No. You come from somewhere else entirely. Somewhere that uses Sentinels as a labor force, and Mumbai as a testing ground for dangerous energies’ Magneto remarks. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ Luz claims. Magneto tells her not to presume to lie to him. ‘Show it to me - your home. I’d like to see it’ Magneto exclaims. ‘I told you, I don’t - okay. Fine. If you want’ Luz replies, before creating a light image of her home, announcing that it is called Quitado. ‘And how does one reach Quitado?’ Magneto asks. ‘I wouldn’t know’ Luz replies. ‘On the face of it, that seems unlikely’ Magneto replies, but Luz tells him that she just jumped through the waste interface, and came out here. ‘I can’t tell you anything’ she declares. ‘Oh, I think you can’ Magneto tells her.
Soon, ‘Magnus, is this - is this a joke? You want me to -’ Rogue exclaims, while Luz sits in the hallway outside, listening. ‘I want you to use your powers on the girl. Absorb her memories and tell me where she came from’ Magneto declares. ‘Without her permission? Just break and enter, because you’re asking me to?’ Rogue asks. ‘Not asking, Rogue. Telling. It’s a difference in nuance‘. Magneto replies, before remarking that Quitado represents a threat that has to be dealt with it, so there is no time for subtlety or scruple.
‘Ah don’t take orders from you’ Rogue reminds Magneto, who asks Rogue if she is identifying with the girl. ‘A child runaway, pursued and persecuted?’ he asks. ‘As said, Ah don’t -’ Rogue begins, while Magneto tells her that breaking and entering is one of the most strategically useful aspects of her power. ‘And you’ve been far less scrupulous about using it in the past’ he reminds her. That comment causes Rogue to uppercut Magneto, smacking him hard the face. ‘If you ever - ever - bring that stuff up against me again -’ Rogue begins, while Magneto rubs his chin and tells Rogue that she misunderstands him.
‘That wasn’t an accusation. Merely a reminder of where your true strengths lie. I fear you’re inclined to be sentimental about this helpless fledgling, and it’s a luxury we can’t afford’. Rogue tells Magnus that nobody is doing a telepathic ram-raid, and that she will talk to Luisa. ‘Very well. That will be a start, at least’ Magneto remarks. ‘And don’t try to tell me what mah strengths are. Ah already know’ Rogue adds.
Luz stands outside the door to Indra’s room, and she hears strange noises coming from inside. She opens the door and enters: ‘Hey’ she exclaims. ‘Hey yourself’ Indra replies. ‘What are you doing?’ Luz asks. Indra replies that he is playing Carom, which is a little like shooting pool. ‘Yeah? Well what’s the table ever done to you? Must’ve been something real bad’ Luz remarks. Indra stands up and replies that he has things on his mind. ‘Like your what-do-you-call-it. Marriage’ Luz remarks. ‘Yes. Like that’ Indra replies.
Luz tells Indra that if he doesn’t like the girl, he should just spit on her shoes three times and say “We’re done here”. ‘It’s not that easy’ Indra replies. ‘Sure it is’ Luz tells him. ‘Doesn’t anyone understand that I owe a duty of obedience to my parents?’ Indra asks. ‘I show them respect by doing this’ he explains. ‘’“Duty?”, “Obedience?”, “Respect?”. Are you serious?’ Luz asks. ‘Of course, ‘Indra replies, turning his head. ‘Then listen to me, beloved brother, and I will make you wise’ Luz declares, telling Indra that duty, obedience and respect are the nets they catch you in. ‘Your job is to rip the nets apart before they get tight enough to give you problems’ Luz declares.
‘If - if I could do that - I’d be a different person’ Indra replies, not looking at Luz while she puts a hand on his chest. ‘Everything worth having comes with a price tag, boy’ Luz tells him. ‘Well, almost everything’ she adds, before kissing the surprised Indra on the lips. Indra pushes Luz away from him, while Luz tells him that he has to make an effort here. ‘Please! Please don’t do this! You’re beautiful. But - I’m not free. I’m not free!’ Indra exclaims. ‘Yeah. I get that’ Luz mutters, hanging her head.
Suddenly, ‘Are we interrupting anything?’ Rogue asks as she and Magneto appear in the doorway. Luz replies that there is nothing to interrupt, while Indra looks away. ‘In that case, we’d like a word, Luisa’ Rogue announces, before Luz announces that her name is Luz. ‘The storms in the city. Do you know what’s causing them?’ Rogue asks. ‘I can guess. But they’re not storms. Not really’ Luz replies. ‘Then what are they? Ah need you to be honest’ Rogue declares. ‘They’re what happens when the city -’ Luz begins, before Magneto tells Rogue that she needs to get her students outside, and now.
Magneto announces that the electromagnetic fluctuations he sensed before the storm are right here in this room - suddenly, there is a cracking noise and a blinding light - and six beings appear in the room - Martello is amongst them, as are others who are known to the X-Men. ‘Bow down and live X-Men - or stand and die!’ a bald woman with a strange blue globe over her head declares, while the woman called Serafina exclaims ‘We are the Children of the Vault. And we have come for our sister!’
