Xavier’s School:
The New Mutants return to school only to be informed that Professor Xavier will not be returning and that his last wish is for Magneto to be his successor. Magneto claims that he is willing to take up Professor Xavier’s dream and asks the New Mutants to give him a chance to prove his intentions. Sunspot, Cannonball and Cypher all protest on the grounds that there is no way they can trust someone now who has been an enemy in the past. Magneto claims that in order to redeem himself, or atone for the evil he has done in the past, that he is willing to help each and every one of them achieve the full potential of their mutant powers.
Magneto then requests the suspicious students to go the Danger Room so he may observe their powers first hand. Despite Professor Xavier leaving very detailed notes on each and every individual, Magneto wants to accomplish his own personal assessment of their unique powers.
Boys Locker Room:
As the boys are changing into costume for the Danger Room exercises, Doug Ramsey teases Bobby about having the perfect chance to join his father in the Hellfire Club. Bobby) takes this comment as a personal insult and goes after Doug as Sunspot. Warlock sounds the alarm, as the confrontation begins Sam steps between Doug and Sunspot to break them up. Bobby is so upset he takes off his costume and leaves the locker room. Sam calms Warlock down and Doug realizes that he has hurt his friend on a very personal level.
Girls Locker Room:
As Danielle gazes at a bracelet she got on Asgard she thinks about her doubts regarding the leadership of Magneto She was counting heavily on the wisdom and experience of Professor Xavier to help her understand her adventures in Asgard and the changes in her resulting from that adventure.
Illyana reminds the others that she is pure evil as a demon-sorceress even though she is a mutant and yet they have become close friends so in all fairness Magneto should be given a chance to prove himself. Amara sides with Illyana, believing Magneto to be honorable. Karma states she admires their certainty but cannot bring herself to share it.
Magneto’s Locker Room:
Magnetos; thoughts wander through all the doubts he has about his new position. He is very clear that he feels he will fail and he would never recover from failing a future generation of mutants. Especially when he has dedicated his whole life to trying to find and save them from the world of normal humans.
Magneto gazes at a picture of his lover Aleytys Forrester and rereads a note she has left him. For the first time, he realizes how much he misses her and how much he really does care about her. A powerful revelation for someone who thought himself incapable of having such deep feelings for someone else.
Hallway to the Danger Room:
Magneto meets up with the New Mutants and dismisses Cypher stating that the coming exercises will measure physical abilities only. Therefore, Cypher’s participation is not needed as his talent is mental.
Cypher storms off to the control room overlooking the Danger Room where he vents his feelings to Sharon Friedlander and Tom Corsi. Doug thinks he has been dismissed because he has a weak power and Magneto is afraid he would get injured or worse. Sharon and Tom do their best to calm him by reminding him that this is just an exercise and nothing more. But, Doug objects, if Magneto isn’t even going to have faith in him during a test, when will he?
In the Danger Room:
Magneto berates himself for his abrupt way of dealing with Doug, but the focuses on the others. He offers Sunspot the first attack but Cannonball beats him to the punch. However, in the control room Doug decides to activate the environmental program to make things more interesting for his friends in the Danger Room below. A Castle appears in front of Cannonball causing him to swerve and enabling Magneto to encircle him in metal so he can’t stay airborne
Warlock then decides to go after Magneto only to be zapped by Magneto. On the ground, Amara warms Illyana, Shan, Rahne, and Dani to get out of the field of poppies that they suddenly find themselves in. Amara claims the poppies are making them sleepy. Amara as Magma attempts to burn the metal shroud off Cannonball without injuring him. All of them observe Warlock being downed by what Shan believes to be a mild shock. They go to Warlock’s aid but it appears he is only feeling sorry for himself and not badly injured.
Dani states that Cannonball and Warlock have proven the New Mutants are better off fighting Magneto as a team instead of as individuals. Since no one can see Magneto, Dani uses her psi-link to contact Wolfsbane to see if she can pick up his scent. A trap suddenly appears in the field and the New Mutants scatter to avoid being caught in it. Karma sees Magneto and attempts to possess him. However, Magneto reflects her power back to the group causing her to possess Sunspot instead. A Box then closes around the group and they are sealed in. Karma releases Sunspot who is groggy but otherwise unharmed. Magik teleports her fellow mutants to limbo and then to the Danger Room to escape Magnetos trap. Upon returning, they observe Wolfsbane biting Magnetos right calf. Magneto reverses gravity and they all fall to the floor causing Wolfsbane to let go. Magneto declares himself the winner of the first round and asks Cypher to reset the computers so they can really work out at an intense level.
Harry’s Hideaway:
The New Mutants talk over the day’s events while eating dinner. Roberto states that to him, the present circumstances just could not get any worse. Rahne tries to get a quiet Dani to open up to her with no success. Sam admits that today’s session proved that they need more training. Shan replies she will never become a slave to another villain. Sam reminds her that she needs more training in order to be able to effectively combat someone as powerful as Magneto. Shan reminds the team that she feels her true responsibilities are her baby brother and sister, not their lives as “heroes”. Sam correctly points out that her siblings might be mutants as well. What then? He asks Bobby directly if he is planning to quit. Before Bobby can answer Sharon appears and reminds them of the time. Dani tells Sam that she is going to walk home to get some time alone. Three guys at a nearby table observe Dani leaving by herself.
Dani is walking along on the dark, peaceful road, pondering her parents and what her new-found status of a Valkyrie truly means. She is thinking that she has placed her friends and family in terrible danger when a car approaches her from the front, all lights dark. Suddenly the car turns on the headlights to blind her, three guys get out and two of the men drag her to the ground. They are loud and tell her they just want to party with her. One of the men takes her bracelet and she bites him in order to fight back. The man she bit tells her that now she is going to get played with real rough.
At that moment Brightwind – Dani’s Valkyrie winged horse – appears and his retribution of his riders assault is terrible to behold. The beautiful winged steed attacks not only the men but their car as well. The men flee for their lives. Brightwind stays to care for Dani, choosing to pursue the attackers another time .
Brightwind flies Dani to the X-Mansion where Magneto, Tom and Sam meet them and Dani is taken to the infirmary so Sharon can attend to her injuries. Magneto is startled that Brightwind is very enraged and wonders what could have happened Tom brings Magneto’s attention to the paint flakes on Brightwind’s hooves. Tom offers to alert the police but Magneto states that the students are in his care and it is his job to punish the assailants. Magneto then requests Brightwind to lead him to the muggers so they can be dealt with swiftly and justly. The winged horse complies.
Sam then alerts the team to Dani’s condition. Rahne states that she can see the assailants’ faces in Dani’s memory through their special link The team observe Magneto leaving and assume he is going after the bad guys. Sam is upset as he feels that the team should be the ones to deliver justice since she is their teammate.
Brightwind leads Magneto right to the residence of the three college guys – a frat house – and even shows Magneto the damage he has done to the car. Magneto sends Brightwind back to Dani as she needs her horse-friend more than Magneto does.
Unobserved by Magneto or Brightwind, the team also arrives on the scene thanks to Warlock pla
The team arrives and since the lights are out, they assume that everyone is in bed. They did not return right after Magneto left the scene, instead, they waited to see the police come and arrest the criminals. Magneto surprises them as they are on their way up the stairs to their separate rooms. Rahne, much to the dismay of her teammates blurts out that they stayed to watch the police in action. Roberto reminds Rahne that Magneto was not supposed to ever know they were there observing his actions. Magneto tells them all to be quiet as Dani is upstairs sleeping and needs her rest. He tells the team that Sharon says she will be ok in a few days. On the way up stairs, Bobby concedes to Illyana that he was wrong about Magneto as their new teacher. Magneto smiles and raises his glass in a toast to a picture of Charles Xavier.
