The Past
The Struckers are at an outdoor shelter having a picnic, and Reed apologies to Caitlin for how work has been crazy and he hasn't been around as much as he wants. Meanwhile, Andy offers to show Lauren how to skateboard. She refuses until he promises to catch her. Lauren gets on the board and when she slips, they grab hands and their joined hands glow. After a moment they release hands and stare at each other. Reed calls over and asks if they're okay, and Lauren says that they're just messing around.
Now
At the HQ, Reed remembers his mother keeping him from seeing his father, saying that he's working. He then remembers being sick in the hospital, and Ellen outside on the phone talking to Otto and discussing how he won't come to see Reed. Caitlin comes in and talks about how she didn't get along with her mother. She asks why the Strucker mutant power skipped him, and he explains that Otto suppressed the X-gene in him but it came back in Andy and Lauren. Otto kept it as a secret from everybody and it destroyed his family. Caitlin promises that they won't let it destroy their family.
Esme tells Lorna and the others that they have to break into Trask Industries and rescue the mutants imprisoned there, including her family. She felt the agony through her mental reading of Chloe, and insists that they go in. Marcos warns that if they go in blind then they'll die.
Dreamer approaches John and asks if he's all right. He figures that Esme was right about how they took Pulse to the lab, and Dreamer tells him that it's not his fault. John points out that he gave up on his friend and they turned him into a monster, and promises not to let it happen to anyone else. As they talk, Esme watches from the shadows.
That night, Andy wakes Lauren up. Her brother has found an article in the HQ's library showing their great-grandfather and his sister, and how they wiped out an entire building by joining hands. They were members of an organization called the Hellfire Club, and disappeared after fleeing the X-Men. Lauren doesn't want to hear anymore and tells Andy to go back to bed.
Lorna dreams that she's in the Trask facility and hears a baby crying. She follows the sound and sees mutants in cells. Continuing on, she finds Marcos locked up in a cell and he can't hear her. Continuing on, Lorna sees the baby in a cell and tries to open the door using her magnetic powers. Her powers run out of control in real life, and Lorna explains about her dream. She insists that they have to break in and Marcos promises that they will.
Jace goes to the hospital where Roderick is receiving treatment for the burns he received when Otto exploded. Roderick has a mutant tending to him. Coby says that they need to put a new team together to bring in the mutants, who will hit Trask Industries. Weeks objects but Coby says that they can bury the paperwork and his underling agrees.
Sage reports that there's no information on the facility, but there's a nearby bar where the employees go. Dreamer offers to go in and telepathically pull some information from a guard, and Marcos agrees and offers to go with her for protection. Lorna says that she'll go and assures Marcos that she and Dreamer will be fine.
Reed checks on Caitlin, and she says that things would have been different if Lauren or Otto had told them the truth. Her husband says that they did the best they could, and wonders if she would have done anything differently. Caitlin assures him that she wouldn't have, and Reed tells her that Andre and Andreas were terrorists, and were massively destructive when they combined their powers. He wonders if they should tell them, but Caitlin figures that they have to be honest with their children.
At the bar, Lorna and Dreamer flirt with the guard. He talks about the security and then says that he shouldn't talk about it, and then explains about the program they have to keep them in control. Lorna loses her temper and punches the guard unconscious, and Dreamer takes his memories to get the computer passwords. She also gives him the memory that they dumped him and leave.
In the vault, Reed and Caitlin tell Andy and Lauren about the Strucker mutant ability. they want to test their potential ability in the vault where it's safe. Lauren and Andy agree and join hands. Nothing happens but Andy says that they should give it a chance and want something to happen. Lauren reluctantly agrees and they rejoin hands. Their hands glow and they see the vault wall coming apart. Reed quickly separates them, and Lauren says that they were about to bring the building down and kill everyone there.
When Lorna and Dreamer return, the team reviews the memories and confirm that the security is tight. Clarice can't teleport them in without knowing the layout of the interior. Sage has found a power substation nearby and if they take it out, they can get into the lab before the security comes back online. He warns that they have to bring in other mutants. When Esme says that they have to go in immediately, John tells her that they'll only have one chance and they can't miss.
Andy and Lauren tell their parent that it seemed like they merged and were seeing out of the same eyes. Andy wants to practice, but both Lauren and Reed object. The boy points out that suppressing powers didn't work for Otto, and Reed notes that he can't control his powers sometime. Angry, Andy figures that his father considers him a monster and walks off and Lauren says that she'll talk to him. She goes after Andy and says that their parents are just trying to protect them. Andy figures that she hates their power, and Lauren admits that it scared her because it felt good. He reminds her of what happened at the park, and after that he started messing up at school because he couldn't get it out of his mind. Now he wants to do it again, and wonders if they'll be like the von Struckers.
Sage accesses the substation's systems using the memories Dreamer took. Marcos goes over the plans, he tells Lorna that they can't take out the generator and get back into the lab in time. He wants to talk about her dream, and Marcos promises that he'll protect her and their baby. Esme comes in and says that she has an idea of how to knock the power station out using Andy and Lauren.
At Sentinel Services, Jace tells his wife that it's going to be a late night. She worries that he's going back to work so soon after what happened, and Jace says that he wants justice for Grace. He promises to come home when the job is done. Weeks comes in and says that he called some favors, and he's pulled together a team to look at the lab. He warns that if it fails then they'll be arrested, and Jace says that they can't fail.
Marcos and the others asks the Struckers if Lauren and Andy will take out the substation while the rest of them attack the lab. Sage hacked the security cameras and determined that the substation only has a few guards. Andy and Lauren agree, and after a moment Reed and Caitlin do as well. However, they insist on being there as well to monitor the situation and the mutants agree.
The mutant combat team drives to the facility, and Marcos and John go ahead to scout out the gate. Esme and Lorna unload the explosives out of the vans, and Lorna magnetically catches it. She notes that Esme is jumpy and Esme telepathically picks up her thoughts of how Lorna fought Sentinel Services to save Marcos. Esme then asks Lorna if she ever felt about fighting to save loved ones, and says that she's doing the same thing.
Marcos and John reach the gate and confirm that there's a large gap between the fence and the facility. They discuss how it would be easier if Pulse was there, and John says that he misses him. Marcos points out that John wasn't the only one who left Pulse behind, and now they're all going to make it up to him. John calls Reed, who confirms that they're almost at the substation. Caitlin tells her children that what they're doing is a parent's worst nightmare, and they're doing it because they trust them.
The van arrives at the substation and sage bypasses the firewall and hacks the security camera. She loops the security feeds and Clarice creates a portal. Andy, Lauren, Clarice, and Dreamer pass through.
Jace checks with Weeks, who reports that there were no irregularities at the lab. The security guard called in sick, and Jace pulls up his record. He determines that someone using the guard's password to access the substation records, and tells Weeks to call in a tactical team. Weeks warns that they won't be unable to do it under the radar, but Jace insists.
Reed monitors the cameras and guides the team past the workers in the hallways. Once they're clear, Dreamer directs them to the transformer using the guard's memories. A guard comes out and Dreamer bluffs, saying that he remembers her. She uses his power and the guard wanders off, forgetting seeing them. He draws his gun... and tosses it in the garbage before wandering off.
John tells the others that they only have three minutes to get in once the transformer goes down to blow up the automated guns. They wonder how Esme knows that the prisoners will help them, and Esme insists that they will.
Reed assures Caitlin that their children will be all right. She wonders how Reed dealt with it when he went on busts, and he says that if he focused on his plans then it got better. Now their plan is to watch over their children and keep them safe, and reed assures Caitlin that they'll get through it.
Jace and his team surround the substation. Weeks isn't convinced, and a tech confirms that they have mutants inside. Jace takes his people in. Caitlin spots them on the monitors and tells Dreamer to get out with the others.
As Jace and his people move in, he tells Weeks that the techs have been working with the Sentinel drones and this time the mutants won't escape.
As the alarms go off, Clarice says that there are too many hallways for her to create a portal. As she focuses, a sentinel drone move down the corridor. Andy tries to stop it with a steam pipe but fails. The drone leaps on Clarice and pins her down, and the others have no choice but to run. SS jams the radios, and Reed tells Caitlin that they can't go in without risking capture.
At Trask, the alarms go off and John hears the guards saying that mutants hit the substation. He tells the others that the operation is blown, but Esme refuses to leave. John has no choice but to pick her up and carry her.
Dreamer, Lauren, and Andy run through the steam tunnels. as the agents close in, dreamer enters the security code that sage gave them. She tells Andy and Lauren to run and slams the door shut between them. Andy and Lauren keep running into the main basement, and Lauren says that they can get out by doing what they did before. They join hands and the building starts to disintegrate. However, Andy lets go and tells his sister that if they destroy the building then everyone will die. Jace and his men arrive and surround the two teens. He tells them that it's over and orders them to surrender. They do and the agents put power-dampening collars on them.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 5, 2017