In the trees surrounding Mt. Haven, Yuriko looks down on the body of her sworn enemy, Wolverine. She thinks to herself of her promise to her dying father that she would one day kill his slayer. Today is going to be that day, but there is no honor in it, because it is not with her will she is killing him, but the puppeteer that controls her. Yuriko lifts Logan’s head from the ground and, seconds before the deadly strike, Yuriko hears a roar heading her way. She turns to see the approaching noise just as she realizes it’s Cannonball! Sam cries out Logan’s name, as he flies Yuriko away from Logan’s body. Twisting in his grasp, Yuriko knocks Sam to the ground. Battling one another on the ground, Sam and Yuriko fight toe-to-toe. Sam knows that if the battle continues, he will not win, but a moment is all he needs. Sam kinetically charges his punch, sending Deathstrike through acres of forest until she finally crashes against a rock wall, sending her unconscious to the ground.
Sam stumbles to his friend’s side and, feeling for a pulse, he is saddened to find none. Crying to God to save his friend, he tells Logan that he has a healing factor and he wants to see him use it to work a miracle this time. Tears run from Sam’s eyes and he screams LOGAN!
In the town below, Mt. Haven, Washington, Storm and Sage hear their teammate’s cry. Sage tells Storm that she needs to take some of the local fliers and bring Sam and Logan in. Storm wonders to Sage how their teammates could even think about fighting them, since Mt. Haven makes everything all right. Suddenly, Storm begins to think something is wrong with the events that are happening. Sage grasps Storm by the side of her head, looking into her eyes. Sage smiles and tells Storm that all will be well. Smiling back, Storm asks Sage what she is talking about, because she has never felt better! A flier above the two X-Treme team members tells them that the mutants of Mt. Haven are not allowed to leave the confines of the town, so they cannot help to search for their friend. Sage tells Connie, a winged mutant, that it isn’t a problem, because the mutants of Mt. Haven will search for Bishop, while Storm finds their teammates. With that said, Storm flies off to find her friends.
Above Sage, Bishop uses his crosshairs on his weapon to scope out her and other mutants nearby. Bishop notices that all the mutants near Sage are smiling and he remembers the same expression from another time in his life. Suddenly, a “klack” is heard from behind him and Bishop turns his gun to defend himself against the intruder. There is no one behind him, but Bishop kicks himself to realize there must be someone in the basement. Going down the stairs, he wonders why there is only a handful of mutants in town? He also wonders why he seems to be immune against the mind tampering that is apparently going on?
Busting into a basement door, Bishop surprises the Garza family with his gun. Jorge tells Bishop that he recognizes him from the television reports on the X-Men and asks if he can help their son. Bishop removes an eyeglass and looks into the eye of Dave, who is sick laying on one of the beds. Dave tells Bishop that his name is Jake and Herman tells Lucas that they had come to Mt. Haven to try and help Dave. Bishop looks into all their eyes with his eyepiece and decides to leave to get more answers. Bishop hands Jorge and Herman his weapons and tells them to protect themselves if need be. “Skara-Koom,” a lightning blast is heard outside and Herman warns Bishop that a bad storm is approaching. Walking out the door he tells them that they do not know the half of it.
Under Mt. Haven, in a complex that was built to extend to the nearby mountains, Kitty phases through crates, looking for Stryker. Her sickness hits her once again, causing her to fall to the ground, and Paul comes to her side to see what is wrong. Kitty stands to her feet and tells Paul that it seems like every cell of hers is being eaten away. Paul asks Kitty where Stryker is? Kitty tells him that, with his stealth armor, Stryker could be right next to them and they wouldn’t know it. Paul quotes scripture about how the Lord that delivered him from the bear and the lion will deliver him from the evil Philistines. Kitty notices a nearby gun and tells Paul that she prefers the maxim: the lord helps those that help themselves. Kitty picks the gun up and places it near her back. She asks Paul to explain more about the town and the complex, so they can figure out what Stryker might be searching for. Kitty sees that geo-thermal generators power the town, that there is no landlines, cell phones, or satellite uplinks. Paul tells her that he grew up in the town and it doesn’t even matter if his town is officially on any maps, as Kitty brings up the topic.
The two of them tour the complex as hundreds of dead bodies lay across the floor in every room of the complex. Kitty searches through the wreckage to help her find answers. She finds that answer in a nameplate that is found on a nearby desk. She tells Paul that Stryker visited a man named Aaron Pankow days before their meeting in Mt. Haven. Kitty wonders to Paul what happens to people that do not agree with Paul’s way of life? Paul stutters that he doesn’t know what she is talking about. Suddenly, behind Paul, Stryker appears and tells Paul that he is a liar. Stryker then asks Kitty if she will follow him?
Meanwhile, in the forest surrounding Mt. Haven, Storm is tracking Sam Guthrie’s blast trail. After a short fight, Storm wonders what she is doing fighting her teammate? Sam uses that moment to knock Storm from the sky and he drags her body back to lie nearby Wolverine’s. Unknown to Sam, Lady Deathstrike approaches him from behind. Turning, Sam smiles at Lady Deathstrike and tells her that he is on her team now!
In Mt. Haven, Bishop is examining a fallen mutant and exclaims to himself that she is the seventh victim he has examined and they all show the same signs of contamination. Suddenly, Bishop feels the cold metal of a gun against his head. He tells Sage hello and swiftly knocks her to the ground.
Meanwhile, in the underground bunker of Mt. Haven, Stryker takes Paul and Kitty on a tour of the massacre of the humans of Mt. Haven. He walks them into a room full of bodies and tells Kitty that Paul killed all these people just for being different than him. Kitty begs to Paul for an answer, but his response is robotic and uncaring. Stryker bends down to pick up a teddy bear and hugs it close to his body. He tells Kitty that Paul has been terrified of her for quite sometime and it is time they found out why. He grasps Kitty and touches one of the buttons on her neck collar to allow the Mandroid armor to engulf her. He pushes Kitty into the arms of Paul, which causes such a backlash of energy that the two of them fall into the pit of bodies both bleeding profusely. Stryker stands above their fallen bodies and quotes scripture about how God’s soul will be avenged upon a nation like this.
