Paige followed Sam up the three flights of stairs to the room that held the machine. He silently counted down from three. On one he kicked down the door. There were five men in that apartment, two standing up, one laying down on the couch, one in the other room, and the last man sitting in a chair.

Once in the room, he hit Scott, the man sitting in the chair on the head, causing him to go limp. Paige kicked Mateo, the first man, in the groan and jabbed an elbow in the Tad's throat. After finding no pulse from Tanner the couch, Sam ran in the other room.

Remembering what Wolverine had taught her his second trip to the Academy, she quickly accessed her situation. She had the element of surprise, but now she was out of her league. Where was Sam now that she needed him?

Sam was having the same trouble with Jake in the other room. This guy could only be described as muscle, and well trained muscle at that. After blocking the second blow, Sam decided to follow Cable's no-holds-barred teaching. A minute later, the guy was looking up at him though two bloody, black eyes.

Sam then ran back in to the other room where Paige was doing a decent job at holding off the two men. She managed to throw, Mateo, who was standing in back of her into Tad, who standing in front of her. Tad hit the wall. "Need some help, Sis?"

Paige turned to him, "Please, I can't get them to stay down." If the situation had been different, the look on her face would have been quite comical. Her look was akin to the time he had warned her about over-filling the washing machine with detergent, and then found her knee deep in bubbles, demanding he help her clean up.

Sam smiled at that comment. "Let me show ya what Cable taught me about pressure points." Quickly he demonstrated how to apply pressure at certain points and knock the men out.

Paige looked at the machine, "How ya turn it off?" she wondered out loud.

"When in doubt, pull it out." Quickly Sam started to pull the plug out, but Paige stopped him.

"We just made a gas leak and you want an electrical spark?" Paige looked the generator over and found the off button. "And ya wonder why Ma thinks Oliver is the brains of the family?"

M kicked down the door, using her super strength. Ev followed, waiting to see what she would do. To be prepared for anything, he synced with her mutant powers.

M grasped the first man she could get her hands on and decked him. There was an awful crunch as her fist made contact with his jaw. Ev kicked his attacker in the groin. That kick sent him flying into the wall.

Having no taste for pain, Ev decided to suggest something to M, who had just dislocated a man's jaw. "M, just take over their mind." At that point, he was willing to forgo Xavier's dictates.

M agreed and quickly had control over eight of the nine men. They dropped their guns and walked up against the wall. Sometimes, Ev reflected, Ms. Frost's way got things done easier. Not that she admitted to teaching them her method, but it worked.

Then it hit him-- he saw six men, not seven. Somehow, one of the men had managed to escape M's control and was waiting in the other room. A mutant, most likely, and very dangerous.

Angelo, now using his imaging distorter to be outside, looked down at the van before him. The men in the apartment, the ones that took his extended family hostage, would drive off in it. Under it, according to the diagrams that M drew, was a massive pocket of gas. Had he been in the 'hood, he would have done what he was thinking about, but he wasn't and he had troubles with doing it.

The men that got in the van were killers. Killers don't stop unless they are stopped. He knew that fact personally; he still carried the blood fever from the time he ran with the gang.

Celeste would point out that by his own reasoning, he should be dead. She might not like what he was thinking about doing.

What the hell? Dammed a little, dammed a lot.

Back in the apartment, M quickly ordered the men she had control over to go to the van and wait. Expanding her mind control, she removed the men from the upper apartment also.Mind as well get the whole place empty, she thought.

Everett kicked open the door to the girls' bedroom. Celeste wasn't there, but the door to the bathroom was open. M ran in and found Celeste in the tub, her eyes closed. Drawing on his medical training, Ev found her pulse thready and her breathing very shallow. From the looks of things, Celeste was alive only by sheer will power.

As M started to gather Cel up to fly her to the school, Sam and Paige walked in the room. The rest of the building was clear, there was no sign of Tony. He had simply disappeared which was weird.

What was weirder was the van exploding.