| Synopsis | - Dani Moonstar arrives at a ski lodge, eager to meet a guy named Paul who invited her when they met hiking. Right after he welcomes her, a group of robbers storms the ski lodge, planning to blackmail a ransom from the rich kids parents. Before the situation gets out of hand, Dani uses her powers to confront them with their greatest fears and the three criminals are easily detained. Paul is shocked as well and tells Dani that he can’t date a mutant. Disappointed, she leaves, thinking that while Xavier’s Institute teaches its students to tolerate people who are different, the rest of the world is not as open minded.
- Xavier is at a hospital with his friend Dr. Marc Dale, who happens to be a mutant healer, though for his power to work he needs to make love with his patients. Xavier becomes witness to a young woman slapping Dale, as she is shocked when he suggests her his form of therapy. Anyway, Dale asked for Xavier’s presence because of Tasha, another patient, who has totally withdrawn from the outside world. The Professor enters Tasha’s mind and learns that she is a receive-only telepath, who is afraid of her power. He teaches her how to screen out the many thought of the people around her and how to get along with her power. Tasha comes up with a very fitting analogy, calling the individual voices notes, which combine into a melody to which she could hum along. Xavier agrees and, with his work done, searches for Dr. Dale, whom he finds kissing the other patient, now accepting his treatment. The two mutants contemplate their skills that can both be burden and blessing. Xavier thinks to himself that Tasha also helped him, as she gave him a new perspective.
- Returning to the mansion from a shopping trip, Jean finds signs of a recent battle and is concerned for her teammates. A telepathic message from Xavier lures her to the Danger Room, where a training sequence is engaged. Jean fight her way through and receives a second message to come to the den. Prepared to fight whatever opponent has captured her teammates, Jean is stunned when she actually finds the others waiting for her with a surprise birthday party. The boys try to outmatch each other with their presents. However, the birthday cake from Hank, the ice sculpture from Bobby and the diamond earnings from Warren all pale in comparison to Scott’s gift; a framed picture taken on the day when the X-Men received their training outfits. Jean kisses Scott on the cheek, upsetting the other guys. Xavier’s present is a new individual costume for Jean, a green mini-dress with yellow gloves and mask. Jean is overjoyed, as it perfectly matches with the new boots she bought today.
- Emma Frost has been kidnapped and taken to a Crystal Palace in Antarctica by Kristal Van Helden, the daughter of a South African diamond miner who lost a huge amount of their fortune when the nation stopped it’s Apartheid politics. Kristal plans to exploit Emma’s mutant DNA to built and sell impenetrable body armor and to culture diamonds, which she is rather obsessed with. As the crystal structure of the place resonates with energy, interfering with both of Emma’s powers, she has no choice but to play along. Her only defense, for the time being, is to draw Van Helden in a verbal duel about upper class upbringing, nouveau and taste. When the scientists inform Van Helden that they need living tissue to graft Frost’s extracted DNA samples on, Kristal tells them to use the plants and animals of the jungle inside the Palace. In time, the entire garden is turned into living diamonds, which is when the tide is turned. As all of the new diamonds are based on Emma’s genetic samples, they are part of her central nervous system and amplify her energy, enabling her to override the Palace’s defenses. Frost takes telepathic control of the animals and Kristal’s men, using the former to kill the later. The energy overload reveals that Van Helden's plan was even more flawed, as the crystallized structure can’t handle the output, and everything comes crashing down. Emma switches to diamond form and leaves her prison unharmed while her would be captor is impaled by a huge chunk of diamond.
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