Tinga, who escaped to Canada in #1.12 with other X5's, when Eyes Only warned them their locations were compromised, comes back in town to save her husband and son. With Max and Zack's help, the family is reunited, but not before the son is given a deadly pathogen. Lydecker agrees to cure the boy in exchange for Tinga. Unbeknownst to him, Madame X has already arranged for Brin to double cross Lydecker. She captures Tinga, who is able to pass her special traits to her children, to study her.

Max begins to develop strange markings on her body while leading a transgenic resistance against White, when he attempts to capture one of her "brothers". However, the transgenics are stunned by revealed secrets about their "father" that threaten all that they believe and stir up many more questions. Meanwhile, the Terminal City dwellers mount a campaign to battle the humans hunting them down, and Alec learns why Logan has been keeping his distance from his former friends.