| This article is written from the Real World perspective |  |
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| Series | X-Men | |||
| Release Date | September 21, 1996 | |||
| Episode Number | 66 | |||
| Writer | Sandy Scesny | |||
Following Jean Grey's disappearance, Scott quits the X-Men and goes to the orphanage where he grew up. Except that not all is as it seems.
Story[]
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At the memorial of Jean Grey, Beast finishes his story with Jubilee being the affected one. Cyclops looks at the modest shrine to Jean Grey who sacrificed herself to keep the M'Kraan Crystal with D'Ken trapped inside safe. He is furious with Xavier over the neverending battle against the despising propaganda against mutantkind and resigns from the X-Men. On a bus, Scott thinks back to when other foster families rejected him due to his mutant powers.
Elsewhere, a man named Zebediah Killgrave is donating money for a new Kil-Co energy plant at the edge of a river thought Governor Barkley opposes his methods.
Arriving back at the McNeil Orphanage he grew up at, Cyclops remembers when his mutant powers triggered during a kids game when his former caretaker Sarah shows up to him. Sarah is elated to meet her old friend again. When her husband died, Sarah used to be a volunteer for the orphanage, now she runs it. Scott tells his caretaker his special someone to him is gone. Over a cup of tea, Sarah and Scott discuss Killgrave who has pledged scholarships to disadvantaged children and kept the orphanage from closing down so far. He has even adopted five mutant kids. Still feeling dejected, Scott suddenly hears the smoke alarms going off. He and Sarah race to rescue trapped children upstairs while the former extinguishes the fire with his optic beams then finds the source, a kid with fire mutant abilities named Rusty Collins. Rusty explains that he doesn't want to go back to Killgrave's home and Cyclops lectures him on his mutant abilities.
Cyclops shows his powers by blasting an abandoned building and shows his pain of growing up without a proper home. While Scott didn't get far without friends who care for him, Rusty is suspicious about his adopter who has a torture chamber in his home and wants to run the governor out of office. Sarah assures him that Killgrave will provide utmost care, though Scott wonders about Rusty's warnings even though the fiery mutant has gotten in trouble with the law countless times. Just then, Killgrave arrives with the police who explains that a clean break for the kids is best. He also says Rusty is not used to fatherly discipline. Rusty goes with his adopter while Scott looks on suspiciously.
In his home, Killgrave forces Rusty into a restraining chair and shines a bright purple light from his eyes compelling him to obey him. Also among the enslaved mutant kids are a Japanese wheelchair bound mutant named Taki, a sliding mutant named Skids and an explosives mutant named Boom Boom. Killgrave teaches his adopted kids to overcome the hatred of mutants through terror and force. Killgrave promises to make the kids politicians, bankers and leaders under his banner and make the humans pay for the way they treated them.
At the capital building, Taki changes his wheelchair into a high-speed vehicle to clear the fence. Skids does a high-speed sliding kick to some guards while Boom Boom uses explosive orbs to blast others. While Killgrave makes it inside, Rusty blocks the entrance with a wall of fire.
While Scott feels lumpy over sleeping on the couch at the orphanage, Sarah is intrigued by the mention of Jean whom Scott is having continuous nightmares over. Although he does not with to discuss his tragedy, he overhears a news report over Governor Barkley being compelled to resign from office over health problems paving the way for Killgrave's energy plant. This arouses Scott's suspicions about Rusty's warnings to him and they decide to pay Killgrave a visit. Sarah is shocked over Killgrave's criminal activities.
Killgrave applies make up to cover his purple face then he and his henchman Wayne answer Scott at the door. The optic mutant suspects Rusty and the other kids are in danger, but the adopter insists the kids are safe improving their minds. The kids greet Scott in a robotic-like fashion and Rusty under his enslaver's control insists he was wrong about him. Taki is compelled to ram Scott. Wayne dumps the unconscious former X-Man into the swimming pool while Killgrave leaves to attend a conference.
Scott has a dream of kissing Jean Grey reuniting with her, but it is really Sarah who had rescued him from drowning. Just as Killgrave's propaganda video lessons finally have the mutant kids in his grasp, Cyclops blasts the screen and lectures that acceptance must be earned not forced on others. Skids insists she wants to go back to the orphanage.
Back at the orphanage, the kids are sleeping and Sarah has called in news crews and authorities. She was also foolish to trust Killgrave who appears to have a majority of the state in his power. The caretaker was not shocked that Cyclops used his powers before her and realized it when they were younger and he blasted a bike by accident. While the other kids were cruel to Scott, Sarah cared deeply for him. But then, Killgrave shows up in a helicopter demanding his children back but Sarah turns him down. Furious that he did not kill the one who found out about his plans sooner, Killgrave uses the helicopter's minigun to open fire on his enemy. A newswoman shows up to record Killgrave's propaganda about Sarah hating mutants. Cyclops says as long as he lives, the purple faced villain will never steal the mutant kids. Killgrave again mind controls the kids and compels Rusty to immolate the orphanage.
Desperate, Cyclops blasts the helicopter forcing Killgrave and his henchman to jump out presumably to be arrested. Sarah scurries in to rescue Taki who is trapped inside the burning orphanage and Scott lapses about when he lost Jean. Not wanting to make another sacrifice, Cyclops battles the fire with his optic beams and gets Taki out just as the building collapses. Sarah promises to rebuild and offers Scott a chance to live in the orphanage like the good old days. Having learned a valuable lesson, Scott knows there is another family he belongs to.
As Cyclops rejoins the X-Men, Cerebro's scans have spotted Jean Grey alive and well, much to Scott's relief.
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Background[]
Although this episode takes place after "Child of Light" and before "Obsession" in season three it aired in the fifth season. The episode had problems with the animation and it was held back until the second animation company took over. This creates an inconsistency as Jean's return is not explained in the original order. For the DVD release the order was not corrected.