Krakoa, in the dead of night, a blinding flash of energy appears on a field – and a figure emerges from the energy, stepping out onto the lush landscape, they are wearing black clothing and have a hood pulled down over their face, obscuring their identity, while they also listen to music through large headphones placed over their hood. The mysterious figure sneaks past the Pod, where the Five – Hope, Egg, Elixir, Tempus and Proteus – are seated around a conference table. Egg asks Proteus how his husk is doing, to which Proteus replies 'Donna call it a “husk” when I'm in it...' and Egg apologizes, and tells Proteus to let them know when he is ready for a backup, and that it is okay to ask for help. Tempus notices Hope looks concerned and asks her 'What is it?' but Hope replies that she isn't sure, she thought she saw someone moving around out there. 'Some kid sneaking out to the Reservoir, I guess' she suggests, while the mysterious figure carries on into the night, holding a package in their arms.
At the Transit, Sage is asleep at her monitor station and does not see as the mysterious arrival rushes past a camera, package still in their arms. The mystery arrival reaches the Boneyard, the spyre that rises up above Krakoa and is home to X-Factor. The package is then placed on the front doorstep.
The next morning, the sun shines down on the package, which is addressed to X-Factor, and is discovered by the recently resurrected Jeanne-Marie Beaubier a.k.a. Aurora as she arrives at the Boneyard. Aurora picks up the package and knocks on the door – and a split second later, the door bursts open and Aurora is flowing into the air by her brother, Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar, who holds his twin tight and in their native Quebec French, he welcomes her back. Aurora responds in Quebec French, greeting her brother, she tells him that she has heard he has been quite busy.
The Beaubier twins drop back down to the ground and enter the home and headquarters of Northstar's current team, X-Factor, where Daken, Lorna Dane a.k.a. Polaris, Rachel Summers a.k.a. Prestige, David Alleyne a.k.a. Prodigy and Trevor Hawkins a.k.a. Eye-Boy are gathered. Excitedly, Jean-Paul informs his sister that Kyle has already left for work, and asks her where her suitcases are, and that there is a suite here waiting for her. Lorna smiles at Jeanne-Marie and noticing the package, tells her that she didn't have to bring them a housewarming gift. 'I didn't. This was outside' Jeanne-Marie responds, before handing the package to Lorna. When the warwolf pup called Amazing Baby starts yapping and rushing towards Jeanne-Marie, Jean-Paul tells Rachel to get ahold of him. 'Why? He's a puppy. He's just excited about new smells' Rachel replies, while Amazing Babby continues to yap.
Prodigy turns to Aurora and tells her 'Now that you're here – there's some stuff we still don't understand about the circumstances of your death, so -' but he is interrupted by Daken who asks 'Is your mutation just being a huge nerd or something?' to which Prodigy turns to Daken and replies 'Kind of, yes' and asks if Daken's is just being a huge slut. Daken pauses, before remarking 'Kind of, yes', before he smiles at Aurora and introduces himself. Eye-Boy grins and steps in front of Daken, introducing himself as well, and while Amazing Baby continues to bark, Polaris goes wide-eyed and shouts 'Oh, what the $#%&!' as blood seeps through the package and onto her hands. She drops the package to the ground, and Amazing Baby begins licking the blood-stained package. 'Good boy' Rachel calls out. 'Wait! Don't let him eat that!' Prodigy exclaims, but Rachel tells him that it is probably safe if he is eating it.
'It's probably evidence! That's a case!' Prodigy exclaims. 'Wait! I know!' Eye-Boy calls out as he rushes away, and returns, a moment later, carrying a mug. 'Here! For forensics!' Eye-Boy suggests. 'Good thinking' Rachel tells him as she takes the mug and scoops some of the blood into it. 'For forensics' Rachel smiles as she hands the mug to Prodigy. 'Cheers' Prodigy mumbles, before Northstar tells everyone that there is something else in the package. 'I can see what it is, but I'm not sticking my hand in there' Eye-Boy announces. Daken kneels down and pulls a pair of ballerina shoes, drenched in blood and marked with strange logos, from the blood. 'Our perp hates the arts. Jot that down' Daken remarks. 'No' Prodigy tells him, before Daken wonders why the shoes have sponsorship logos all over them, and reports that he doesn't recognize any of the brands. Prodigy doesn't, either, and tells everyone that for him, that is significant. 'Hey, hold this for me? I'm gonna take a picture... Prodigy adds as he hands the mug of blood to Polaris, who looks at, unimpressed.
'Hey, Aurora...you found the package outside, you said?' Polaris ask, while another member of the team asks if there was anything unusual about the way it was placed. 'Did you see or sense anyone suspicious hanging around?' Northstar asks his twin. 'She would have told us if that were the case. Right, Aurora?' someone else remarks when a wide-eyed Aurora suddenly screams 'HUSH!' She frowns as she reminds everyone that she was dead this morning, and that in a sense, she is about two hours old. 'Please use your inside voices' Aurora asks. Northstar goes to his sister's side and tells her that he is sorry, admitting that he wasn't thinking. Aurora sighs and reveals that the Five told her what Northstar went through to initiate her resurrection, so she knows he has been anticipating her, but that he has to understand that the last thing she remembers is being in Bellingham. 'I was there, and then I was nothing, and now I'm here' Aurora explains. Jean-Paul tells his sister that when she is ready, he wants her to let him know why she was even there.
Suddenly, Prodigy gasps and everyone looks at him as he asks them 'You guys know how I have some Multiverse experience? Well, I coded a search engine for X-Factor that can data mine cross-dimensionally'. Prodigy tells the others that he ran a query on the sponsorship logos, and has discovered thate they are all registered trademarks in one place. 'Make your point' Northstar tells him. 'There's been a murder in the Mojoverse!' Prodigy announces, while displaying a holographic projection of news media headlines from Mojoverse that indicate a mutant competing in Spiral's showcase has been found dead. Northstar frowns and sighs, before telling everyone to be ready to leave in five minutes. 'Ten?' Lorna asks. 'Three' Jean-Paul tells her. '$%#&' Lorna mutters.
Rachel picks up Amazing Baby, whose mouth is covered in blood, and holds the pup towards Aurora. 'You're probably hanging back, right? Would you mind looking after Amazing Baby while we're gone? He's a warwolf so I don't feel comfortable taking him to the Mojoverse' Rachel remarks. 'But you feel comfortable leaving a warwolf with me?' Aurora asks. 'Yes? Please?' Rachel replies. Northstar looks down at Eye-Boy and points at him: 'You. You will prescreen the contents of all mysterious packages from now on using your x-ray vision' he instructs him. 'Okay!' Eye-Boy replies. Good' Northstar remarks, while looking down at Eye-Boy, he then declares that they need uniforms.
Three minutes later, Daken, Prodigy, Polaris, Northstar, Prestige and Eye-Boy step through a gateway into the Mojoverse, wearing their new uniforms – although Daken's simply consists of black trousers, his chest left bare. 'Why did you need my credit card?' Daken asks. Prodigy explains that the Mojoverse news puts the victim's identity behind a paywall for some media conglomerate called “Headshot TV”. 'And?' Rachel asks. 'And he used Daken's credit card and my cell number to sign us up for Headshot TV's premium subscription package, but still couldn't get the victim's ID' Eye-Boy explains, before revealing that it did unlock 500 Mojoverse cable channels at the Boneyard and spam-text him links to a cam site called “Spiral's Showcase” that he refuses to click on. As X-Factor stand on a cliffside near the Krakoan gateway, they stare out over the sprawling high-tech city before them. Northstar reminds Rachel that she has been here before and asks if she has any idea where to begin. 'Don't look at me. Been years since I was here last. This is all new' Rachel responds.
X-Factor move closer to the city, where several others are going about their business. 'What's happening up there? Is that a security checkpoint?' Northstar calls out to one of them. 'You dorks look slick. What pod are you? Who's your sponsor?' one of the Mojoverse citizens calls back. 'You didn't answer my question, and now I have more' Northstar replies. 'Is this a prank pod stream? Are we getting goofed? No way you're that vegged. I don't buy it. Unless...' one of the civilians remarks, while a camera suddenly flies in front of Polaris, who swears at it and uses a swift magnetic pulse to destroy it. One of the Mojoverse civilians laughs and realizes that the “slick dorks” are Earth muties. 'Lucky gene freaks won't even need a sponsor. Look at all the clouty cam coverage they're getting already!' he exclaims as several additional cameras begin to dart around X-Factor. 'Very discreet. Good work, team' Northstar mutters.
Back on Krakoa, Amazing Baby looks up at Aurora and smiles after he burps Aurora frowns and sighs, before asking Amazing Baby if he is giving her the grand tour as the pup climbs a staircase. 'Let me try to get this straight – I died...and in my absence, Jean-Paul bravely assumed the mantle of being the crazy Beaubier twin? Is that right?' Aurora asks as she walks into a living room. Amazing Baby barks at her, and Aurora frowns again, while telling Amazing Baby not to patronize her.
In the Mojoverse, an advertisment reads:
WHO GETS IN?
Who gets the chance to win?
Now you decide, with viewer voting now available for every Mojoworld entry request audition! Download our official Headshot TV(tm) App to livestream auditions of aspiring visitors, greenlight candidates you like, or downvote anyone you'd feel uncomfortable stepping foot inside Mojoworld! We trust our viewers to protect Mojoworld or decide who has content potential, so we're leaving it all up to you – use our App to exercise your rights as Mojoworld's new border patrol!
HEADSHOT TV(tm)
We're your new family!
The members of X-Factor then begin to appear on HEADSHOT TV's streamchat.
Polaris is up first, and she looks at the comments that scroll by on the feed, perplexed. 'How do you know all this...' she begins, while one commentator asks if she is Magneto's daughter. 'Krakoan Mistress of Magnetism?' another enquires. 'Absolutely not. This chick lacks the gravitas' one of them writes. 'bro... it's definitely her. Look at the hair' another suggests.
Northstar sits, unimpressed, arms folded, he looks sternly ahead and doesn't engage with those on the feed, as a bot starts to calculate viewer votes. 'His eyebrows activate my fight or flight instinct' someone writes.
The Border Bot counts Prodigy's votes and informs him that he has been approved for entry. 'Wait, so what happens if viewers decide they don't want to admit someone into Mojoworld based on these livestream auditions?' Prodigy asks, while one viewer types 'uwu dapper hipster boi', and another notes how cute it is that Prodigy is so curious. 'Gay' someone types. 'He's bi' someone corrects them.
Daken, meanwhile, appears on the stream chat the camera zoomed in on his chest and abs. 'You wanna see my whole tattoo?' Daken asks as he starts to undo his trousers. 'Wait, is he -' a streamer begins. 'SOS SOS SOS' someone types, while another posts several smiley-face emojis. One streamer tells others to stop freaking out and vote Daken down, while the Border Bot continues to calculate viewer votes, and someone calls the other streamers “pansies” and suggests that should let Daken 'whip it out'.
Rachel stares blankly ahead at the camera, while one viewer writes that they are frightened, but turned on. 'Perfect' someone adds. 'Exactly' another writes as the Border Bot calculates the viewer votes.
Eye-Boy rubs the back of his head and looks nervously at the camera as the Border Bot tells him that his votes have been counted and that he has been approved for entry. Someone posts several eyeball emojis, while another asks 'They have a whole mutie boy made of EYES?????'. 'Wow, um, thank you! You guys are so nice!' Eye-Boy laughs, nervously.
Several strange beings stand around X-Factor, examining them and fussing about, as one of them tells Northstar that they are almost done. They appear to be employees of Headshot TV, as one of them thanks Northstar for using one of Headshot TV's patented body cams during his visit to Mojoworld. Northstar asks Eye-Boy where Daken is, noting that he should have been finished before him. 'He's not out here? Because he wasn't inside...' Eye-Boy responds, while one of the Headshot TV representatives informs them that their naked friend was down-voted for being lewd, and that he is returning to the Krakoan gate. 'What?' Northstar exclaims, while the Headshot TV rep explains that Daken was stressful for viewers. 'That reaction wasn't meant for you!' Northstar snaps as he quickly takes flight, speeding up into the air above the city, where he finds Daken standing in a line with others nearby. 'A pheromone ability, and you couldn't even manage to charm a few horny shut-ins?' Northstar shouts at Daken. 'Pathetic!' he adds. 'Or maybe – I'd just rather me and my pheromone ability head back to the Boneyard to keep your sexy shut-in sister company!' Daken shouts back, smiling.
Daken's comments are captured on a HEADSHOT TV camera – and streamed back to the Boneyard on Krakoa, where Aurora has made herself comfortable on the sofa in the living room, with Amazing Baby sitting on her lap. 'Am I %$#^& dissociating right now?' Aurora utters. 'Akihiro thinks I'm sexy...? Ha!' she thinks to herself.
'Jeanne-Marie's going to wipe the floor with him...' Northstar mutters as he drops down to his teammates, who are standing in front of some HEADSHOT TV representatives. 'We've jumped through your hoops!' Polaris tells them. 'Now let us in' Rachel scowls at them. Northstar asks what this issue is, to which one of the guards explains that he cannot allow X-Factor entry without a sponsor. 'To inquire about brand sponsorship, please press one' a guard states. '...where's “one”?' Prodigy asks. Polaris turns to Rachel and Northstar and asks if they even need a Mojoverse sponsor – because between the three of them, they could just get in, get what they need, get out and then raze this place to the ground, easy. 'And by “get what we need”, do you mean a mutant murder victim's corpse?' Rachel asks. 'Well, if they're already dead, why waste time with procedure?' Northstar asks.
'To inquire about brand sponsorship, please press one' a HEADSHOT TV representative remarks, to which Prodigy asks her where is her “one”. 'Maybe it's a nose boop?' Eye-Boy suggests. But as Prodigy raises a finger to the woman's nose, she scowls at him: 'Don't' she snaps, when suddenly, a voice calls out, 'Unsurprisingly, I (immaculate) arrive just in time for a showstopping reveal – that I, MOJO, will sponsor the terrible, ugly X-Factor mutant creatures!' the hideous Spineless One known as Mojo scuttles towards the heroes on his large spider-like mechanical legs. 'Behold my magnificent benevolence, creatures! Mojoworld loves allowing user-generated upload content!' Mojo exclaims, before telling Polaris and Rachel that he does wish they were the more famous X-Men, but that he shall endure – because mutants are hot, hot, hot right now, and Krakoa bumps the feeds.
Prodigy explains to Northstar that “Feeds” means everyone here has a compulsory HEADSHOT TV livestream, and the attention economy has gotten ruthlessly competitive. Prodigy adds that what Mojo is saying is that any feed involving mutants or Krakoa is a guaranteed way for people to boost their stream's views. 'So that's why you've killed one of us, Mojo?' Northstar asks. 'No... we love the muties. Mojoworld can never get enough' Mojo responds. Polaris smirks and suggests that that sounds like an invitation. 'What do you think, Northstar?' Polaris asks 'Do it' Northstar tells his longtime teammate, and an instant later, Polaris uses her powers to hurl the blob-like Mojo into the air, suspending him upside down, while Northstat hovers alongside him. 'Wh- wh- wh-' Mojo utters, but Northstar tells him to shut up, and that the “muties” have had enough.
Down below, Rachel tells Eye-Boy to go and x-ray for clues, to see what is hiding in the buildings around them. 'Okay!' Eye-Boy grins as he runs off, while Prodigy offers to pop into a Spiral Body Mod Shoppe to see what he can learn. Northstar suggests to Mojo that he tells them what they want to know so they can be on their way. As Polaris wraps Mojo's metal tail around his neck, Mojo coughs, while uttering 'My army will kill you'. Rachel turns and sees an army of the strange robot-like HEADSHOT TV officials rush towards her. 'No' Rachel scowls. 'They won't'. She then releases a surge of psionic energy, which knocks the HEADSHOT TV officials backwards. Panicking, Mojo promises that he will talk, so Polaris lowers him back to the ground. 'You big, idiot, baby savages' Mojo mumbles. 'You bargin bin, public access after-school special uglies!' Mojo calls out, before explaining that thanks to his glorious munificence (TM), the top five most popular HEADSHOT TV livestreamers are compensated substantially for the success of their channels, and each of the Five (TM) is blessed with their own brand identity and is given their own state-of-the-art streaming studio.
Five symbols are projected next to Mojo, each indicating a livestreamer – a star-shaped icon with two crossed swords inside it has skyrocketed to first place, with viewers in the thousands of trillions. In second place is Spiral. Mojo reveals that there was a dumb mutant girl who died while competing for a top spot, and that she debuted on Spiral's Showcase (TM). Prodigy reports that he doesn't know who the other “top five” members are yet, as his psychometry is kind of wonky here for some reason. Prodigy points out that they wil know Spiral's studio from her logo on it, and states that the top five's gated studio community is about three blocks ahead. 'Okay, meet me there' Northstar declares as he flies off across the city, but Polaris flies after him, 'Wait – that's not safe, you dumbass!' she calls out as she and Northstar near the protected dome – only for the two of them to be struck by some sort of energy beam, causing Polaris to scream, she and Northstar fall to the ground.
'Our pod's slinking up the channel charts sick fast, chief!' exclaims one of several humans who have collected Polaris and Northstar inside a pod. 'Noice! Goahead and cut 'em loose, Jockett. Let's keep this feed-bump punch-dork party going!' one of them responds. Northstar and Polaris stir, 'What have you done to us?' Northstar asks, warily. 'Why is my mouf numb?' Polaris mumbles. The pod is telekinetically ripped open thanks to Rachel and she, Prodigy and Eye-Boy enter, with Rachel explaining that these people used a power-null net trap. 'And just so you know, this is why you let the telepath do the reconnaissance first' Rachel adds. 'Thut up, Waychel!' Polaris exclaims. 'I would, but I still want to gloat about having access to my powers' Rachel responds telepathically. 'You dorks are great for clout, so we're going to punch you!' one of the pod members grins. The pod members gather together and one of them explains that they are a fight pod. 'Maybe you can tell' he suggests, boasting that they think they have what it takes to earn a guest stop in the top stream – but first, they have to climb in the feeds – and he can't wait to step on these gene freaks just to get up there. 'You ready to dance?' he asks. An unimpressed X-Factor regroup, and as Northstar cracks his knuckles, Rachel looks angry, and Polaris declares that she can't feel her face.
Night has fallen over Krakoa, and at the Boneyard, 'Hello... anyone around?' Kyle Jinadu-Beaubier asks as he returns home. 'Up here!' a voice calls out. 'Who's here? Where is everyone?' Kyle asks as he climbs the long staircase upwards, where he finds Aurora sitting on the sofa in the living room, bowl of popcorn in her lap and Amazing Baby laying on his back next to her. 'Oh, sweetie' Kyle utters. Aurora flies over to her brother-in-law and wraps her arms around him as he tells her that it is good to see her back. 'Kyle, this place is so...' her voice trails off as Kyle admits that he is still getting used to it, before asking Aurora if she has been alone here all day. 'No' Aurora replies, as Amazing Baby barks Kyle looks up to the large television screen in the living room and asks 'Wait a minute – is that my husband?' Aurora sits back down, with Amazing Baby and the bowl of popcorn on her lap, Aurora smiles at Kyle and pats the sofa next to her. 'Did you know the Boneyard gets Mojoverse cable?' she asks.
