Beyond Evolution

Number Three - Hearing Things

First Published: April 2002
Stars: Jean Grey
Writer: Devin Grayson
Art and Colors: Udon, Long Vo, Charles Park and Saka of Studio XD
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Associate Editor: Brian Smith
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
Pages: 23

For more information about this comic, including scans of the first four pages visit Toon Zone!

Summary

At the Institute, the Grey family has come to see the Professor about their daughter. As they are speaking to him, their daughter, Jean, is reading the minds of all of those present while making objects float at random – as she can’t control her powers. While the Professor’s talking to her parents (who he has known for quite some time), he tries to calm her, using his TP. Meanwhile, Storm and Wolverine are in awe with Jean’s powers, while Scott’s… in awe with Jean herself… As the Professor asks Storm, Wolverine and Cyclops to show Jean around, so he can talk to her parents, Wolverine notices that Scott’s got it bad – and teases him with it. As she’s being shown around, the Professor assures her parents that she’ll have her own room, and that she can go to the local school.

Cut to Bayville High, and while a group of boys are playing basketball, a loner tries to join them. But the boy, Todd Tolansky, is being excluded by them. So he decides to show off to them. He grabs the ball – with his tongue, and scores… much to the dismay of the group. Not only has he exposed himself as a mutant, but the group now also wants to fight him. He reacts by spitting slime on one of the group, and by then running away. The group vows they’ll get him… Next day, at Bayville High, Scott tries to show around Jean at the school, but she can’t bear hearing all the thoughts of her fellow students. When he asks her what’s wrong, Jean breaks down and runs away, back to the Institute. Scott is left behind speechless (as usual…)

Back at the Institute, Ororo is watering her plants when she notices Jean running in and slamming the door shut behind her. She goes up to her, and finds her crying at the stairs. When Ororo goes to sit next to Jean, she is startled, as she hadn’t heard her… then realizing she actually hadn’t heard her. Ororo explains she too has had to deal with all of the distractions her powers brought with them – if you’re attuned to the weather, you hear it all of the time, because the weather never stops… - and that she has learned to selectively filter out these stimuli. Jean replies that she finds Ororo’s powers wonderful – unlike her own. Ororo replies Jean’s powers are much like her own, but she feels words and feelings instead of water and sunlight. Jean replies to that, that she finds her own powers useless. Ororo advises her to talk to the Professor about learning to control them – or to Scott, if she wants to talk about the difficulty of her powers.

Cut to the Professors bureau, and he’s exercising Jean in thought filtering, by making her read cards with her mind. Though she isn’t that successful. Scott enters the room and apologizes himself for interrupting. Jean doesn’t mind, as she wants to talk to Scott: she excuses herself for her behavior at the school earlier. The Professor asks Scott why he is there, Scott tells him Jeans class is having a field trip to a play in the city. As Jean tries to read Scotts mind – and fails – he tells the Professor he’ll join her, even though he’s having another lesson. The Professor approves it. Cut to the next day. The students all board the bus, and Jean and Scott sit next to each other. During the ride, she briefs him on the progress she’s made, but as he is commenting on it, they suddenly notice something shooting forwards through the bus, which subsequently goes out of control.

Scott tells Jean she’ll have to use her TP to find out what’s going on, while Scott tries to look around him. Jean finds out the culprit’s Todd Tolansky, while Scott sees he’s grabbed hold of the steer with his tongue. Todd jumps to the driver, and blinds him with his slime. As Jean tries to help the driver, Scott tries to talk Todd out of it, but they both find themselves heading for a head-on collision with a freight-truck. The bus misses the truck, but heads for a ravine. Scott blasts a telephone pole, which falls over the road. The bus hits it and flips on its side, stopping short of the ravine. Scott and Jean help evacuate the passengers, and then find Todd’s trapped under the pole. They both try to get the pole of him, but Todd tells them they should leave him. Jean then uses her TK to get the pole off of Todd, while Scott hauls him to safety. As the emergency services get to the scene, Scott and Jean talk about Todd. While Scott tells her he could join them at the Institute, Jean tells him she read his thoughts and… She hesitates a moment, then tells him they probably have all felt like him at first…

Later that evening, at the Institute, Jean apologizes to the Professor for not having thanked him yet. The Professor reassures her she shouldn’t have thanked her, as they’re all in it together. She explains to him that, without his vision, she would think of herself as a freak. As she tells him of her hopes Todd could join them, the Professor reminds her that some people – because of their differences – find it hard to reach out for help.

The Professor then notices she’s not having the difficulties anymore she had with controlling her powers. As Jean tells him she controls her mind-reading, and that she doesn’t hear random thoughts anymore, she suddenly hears Scott. As Scott joins them, he asks her if anything is wrong. Jean tells him that she thought she could control her powers… until the Professor tells her Scott had actually uttered his amazement over her aloud…

Summary written by Nikko for -