Ismael Ortega, top-notch sapien policeman returns home to his wife Armena and their hi-rise apartment. The kids are in bed and she's up for wine, a chick flick and some cuddles. Ismael agrees - whole-heartedly.

In Sapien Town, a human-dominated portion of New York City, Officer Bishop (NYPD) and his partner are providing security for rapper Jazz E Jazz's concert. Jazz is a popular performer who's trying to bridge the gaps between mutants and sapiens with his music, specifically his hit "Sapien Too" in which he professes to understand the plight of his evolutionary antecedents. However, threats have come in, and Bishop is less than satisfied with the security. Zippermouth, a telepath or empath employed by Jazz, senses malevolent intent in the crowd, but can't locate it.

A human interrupts Jazz's song, and accuses him of hypocrisy, given Jazz's rich and famous lifestyle. Jazz lets him vent, but then orders security to get him off the stage, and the human reveals a bomb-studded vest. Bishop orders his partner to throw up a TK shield, not around Jazz, but around the bomber. The bombs go off, but only the bomber is killed.

The next day, Alexei Vazhin calls Ismael to his office, informing him of threats made by the Sapien League, one of whose members was the bomber at Jazz's concert. Vazhin continues with the next likely target, film mogul (and suspected crimelord) Danny Kaufman, whose wife, Lara the Illusionist, stars as deceased actresses in his wildly popular movies. Ismael is a little shaken by Lara's true picture, but seems to have the hots for her impersonations. Vazhin further states that Ismael will be team with hero cop Bishop to guard the Kaufmans at their latest movie premiere that night. Ismael immediately realizes the PR potential of a human cop helping to guard a mutant from human terrorists. He also wonders why Bishop walks a beat in Sapien Town, when he's obviously a powerful mutant with excellent military skills. Vazhin replies, "because he wants to."

Later that day, Bishop berates a human kid who's spraying graffiti on the wall. The kid tries to talk his way out of it, but Bishop's not buying. Ismael arrives and the two cops get acquainted, leaving Miki to chase after the perp. Soon Bishop and Ismael are checking in with Kaufman, who wonders what powers Ismael has, also pointing out his pet telepath (and enormous bodyguard) Erik. Lara enters, and Kaufman urges her to change, as they must leave, and within seconds, she's the spitting image of Marilyn Monroe, her "character" from that night's premiere. Ismael nearly drools, and Bishop reminds him that he's married, which he appears to have forgotten.

At the premiere, a human deadbeat informs someone of the Kaufmans' limo's arrival. As they exit, with Bishop and Ismael flanking them, a group of human terrorists attack with energy weapons. Bishop absorbs some, and Ismael throws himself on Lara. Kaufman is enraged at the ruin of the premiere, and begins to fight like mad (his power is rage-powered strength, IIRC). Within moments the terrorists are either captured or on the run.

Later, Armena and Ismael watch footage of the attack, and Armena wonders why Ismael didn't jump on Daniel Kaufman, when the TV (luckily for Izzy) shows that Kaufman needed no help. The TV then lauds Ismael's bravery, and in a secret hiding place, the Sapien League's top assassin, a deadly blonde named Popova, targets Ortega next...

Review: Well, first off, if you haven't read District X, forget this book. It's not necessary to House of M, and you will not get any of the characters who are here, except possibly Bishop. Having said that, this is a pretty decent issue, especially when compared to DX. Here everything is pretty reversed. Humans are ghettoized and mutants rule. True, Izzy does pretty well (for a human), but it's clear in all aspects of HoM that the humans are much less persecuted than mutants are in the real world, at least in the US. Remember that Magneto only rules Genosha, and has only been able to influence other governments into outlawing mutant persecution.

Anyway, if you persist, the pre-HoM recap only requires a few tidbits. Kaufman is still a gangster, but publicly known as such (I forget if he was arrested in #6). Lara is the prostitute Ismael is living with, and he is separated from Armena. Jazz was a loser drug runner, and Popova is a task force (SHIELD?) agent who just snipered a mutant in a hostage situation. Everyone is getting their deepest desire, supposedly. I can see it from Ismael's and Lara's perspective, but I'm not so sanguine about Bishop. True, he wants to be a cop, but is that all? He has no other ambition? A little iffy. Maybe Wanda's planting those thoughts too. The whole point of HoM is to get everyone away from positions in which they would even think of stopping her and Magneto.

What's interesting is that Ismael seems to be heading down the same path as he did in DX, with his seemingly uncontrollable attraction to Lara's personae. It's sad that he's such a dog, but maybe his wife's condition has really gotten to him (another DX recap - Armena is a mutant whose power cocoons her inside a membrane every night, so she and Izzy have to sleep separately - see, you would never know that without reading DX). So how much is really different here is still TBD. I think that this could be a good end to DX, if it helped correct some of the "flaws" of the characters and then dumped them back in the real world when it's over and see if they learned anything. However, since I think that there will be no DX after this, that's pretty up in the air. Hopefully the new X-Factor, located in District X, will bring in some of these supporting characters, many of whom have potential in crime/noir-based stories.