| Synopsis | - At Fontane College in Boston, Helen Williams tries to get musician Adrian Castorp to attend a student meeting, but he chooses to stay behind and play the piano. At the meeting, students and faculty discuss the growing resentment and fear of mutants stemming from the revelation that entertainer Alison Blaire a.k.a. Dazzler is a mutant. With both Senator Robert Kelly and the Beast scheduled to lecture at the college in the next few days, Student Assembly President, Art Wagner, proposes that they take advantage of the opportunity. Beast arrives on the campus with Iceman and Cloud, as they are greeted by Castorp, who shows them to their accommodations. Beast notices that Castorp has a six-fingered hand. Meanwhile, at Defenders headquarters, Gargoyle reconnects with housekeeper Dolly Donahue, Angel and Candy Southern check on the still-frozen Chris Larmouth and hope to eventually find a way to separate him from the plant creature that grew from his body, and Moondragon meditates peacefully until she is struck down by pain. Back at the college, a scream is heard and the Defenders rush to investigate and find a shaken Castorp and Williams. Williams claims that Castorp is an epileptic and had a bad seizure, but Beast and Iceman are suspicious. At a coffee shop, Iceman talks to Cloud about his feelings for her, and she explains that she likes him as a friend but is in love with Moondragon. She claims that she is still the same person whether she is a boy or a girl, but when Iceman asks who she is, she admits that she doesn’t really know. The Secret Empire implanted her with false memories, so she isn’t sure which memories are real or not. As Senator Kelly arrives on campus, he is jeered by most of the students. Later, when Beast gives his lecture, Castorp is in the audience and asks Beast why he continues to act like a clown instead of becoming a serious advocate for mutant rights. Beast is left speechless and Castorp angrily storms out. Afterwards, Beast seeks out Castorp, who reveals that he is a mutant because he has six fingers on each hand and can only see in infra-red light. Castorp is anguished over the fact that his mutation handicaps him rather than giving him super powers, but he will be hunted along with other mutants just the same. The next day, Senator Kelly is giving his lecture when Castorp storms on stage and tries to attack him. Beast and Iceman try to restrain Castorp, but he easily overpowers them, despite the fact that he claims not to have any super powers. Sensing electrical impulses from Castorp’s jacket, Cloud believes he may have some electrical equipment underneath it and hits him with a lightning bolt to short it out. It turns out that Castorp’s mutation also gave him a degenerative nerve disorder that was causing him to lose control over his hands. Williams and Wagner had constructed an exo-skeleton that enabled him to continue playing the piano, but it had the side-effect of giving him enhanced strength. Now, Adrian can no longer move his hands at all. That evening, Beast announces that he is helping Williams and Wagner form an organization called M.O.N.S.T.E.R. in honor of Castorp, who always wore a jacket with the word “MONSTER” on the back.
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