“Stay away from her!” a panicked, cornered Chance orders, her knife drawn. She not kidding! The people “threatening” her are a group of party people, inhabitants of the Coconut Grove, assuring her they aren’t going to hurt her. They just want to make her pretty. She’ll like it.
Unsure, Chance lowers her blade. The next moment they are upon her, with glitter make-up and clothes.
Elsewhere Ariel assures Warlock the lavender jacket really is him. She should have brought him to her homeworld earlier. Warlock is unsure and Sunspot assures him that new jacket makes him look almost as sharp as he.
Suddenly, they hear Chance scream. Worried, they come running, to find her made over. Make them stop, she begs. Bobby can only laugh at the source of her terror. Nastily, he announces that, behavior and appearance to the contrary, their little Chance is indeed a girl.
Ariel bursts in, ordering Bobby to stop laughing at Chance. And the rest of them, let her go! She explains that didn’t mean harm. Around here that’s hospitality. People just sometimes don’t think, that’s all. She hands her the knife back while Chance combs the glitter out of her hair.
Warlock asks Roberto to elucidate. Bobby explains it was nothing to concern them, just feminine weakness. Repeat that! Chance demands. He is sorry, Roberto mocks. As a daCosta and a gentleman, he cannot risk harming one who has shown herself to be so delicate and full of sensitivity. Farewell, though it pains him to say so, more congenial company waits. He heads off with some native girls.
Hurt, Chance stares after him. Is she sure she is all right? Ariel asks. The miniscule Unipar asks Ariel why she butted in right now. What did he think he was doing? she shoots back annoyed. Just making Chance happy… keeping up his side of the bargain. Ariel told them she wanted to let her friends enjoy themselves until… Well, they’re not her friends, Ariel corrects him. They are his guests. And Chance is not one of them. She is her friend and she is not a mutant, so they are to leave her alone. Sure, babe, anything she says, comes the reply, touchy, touchy, touchy.
He leaves and Chance rejoins Ariel, asking just what they led the others her for. Ariel tells her to shush. Somebody’s coming!
They are joined by Boom Boom. Ariel immediately tells her she looks marvelous. Boom Boom remarks she overheard what Bobby said to Chance when he was leaving. Is she really going to let him have the last word like that? Depends, Chance replies. What has she got in mind? How about she wishes up one of her little surprise packages… and let him have it?
Boom Boom goes to join Bobby. She slaps him on the butt, remarking she loves his tailor. Looking good. Warlock wonders. Has Boom Boom not previously indicated distaste for Bobby? No female can be around a man of charm for long, Bobby begins to explain until the small timebomb explodes. Gotcha, Boom Boom shouts!
The three girls laugh, and Chance remarks she thought you’d have to be at least eighteen before you had to worry about the draft. Bobby only then realizes that his backside is rather free, much to the laughter of the others. He becomes furious, but Warlock becomes agitated. Sunspot remembers how his moment of rage hurt his best friend Sam, and powers down again. Laugh if it entertains you, he tells the girls. A man has more important kinds of pride than the one which they just wounded. Farewell!
Boom Boom and Ariel still snicker, while Chance looks after him hurt. Maybe they should apologize to him, she wonders. For what? Ariel asks. It was a great stunt and he deserved it. Yeah, deserved it, Boom Boom echoes. She’s right, Chance decides, he had it coming. They don’t need Bobby Da Costa, Ariel agrees. Yeah, who needs him, Boom Boom echoes. Not them, Chance states. They don’t need any of the Fallen Angel, Ariel decides. Yeah who needs us, Boom Boom echoes. Chance and Ariel suddenly realize this conversation may not be a good idea.
Except for Boom Boom, of course, Chance states. Of course, they couldn’t get along without Boom Boom, Ariel agrees. And, of course, she doesn’t want to tell the other Angels what they said. Why should she? Boom Boom asks. In fact she probably won’t even want to remember this conversation, Ariel states. What conversation? Boom Boom asks, as she leaves.
Nice snow job, Chance praises Ariel. Sometimes it’s so easy she’s ashamed of herself, the other girl laughs. The ability to convince people sort of runs in her family. In fact, William Shakespeare used a relative of her in his play The Tempest. The character Ariel was always running con games, and using his spacebending powers to make things and people appear and disappear at will. That’s why the witch was able to trap him for all those years inside a cloven pine tree. No doorway, so no space-bending and he couldn’t get out.
Both girls clam their hands over their ears due to Siryn’s scream as she flies over their heads, carrying Jamie. They complain about the racket. Terry apologizes, but doesn’t know why she couldn’t dampen down.
Jamie explains the Vanisher has called a meeting for all of them. Ariel bends space leading them through a doorway into another room, mentioning the Tempest story again. Jamie can’t believe it. How could someone from a zany planet like this visit a Mediterranean island during Elizabethan England. Ariel tells them it’s easy, demonstrating her space bending power.
She closes the door behind them. Boom Boom who has seen them runs to the door to join them (especially Jamie), but when she opens the door it leads to somewhere else. So she’ll have to walk across town to join the others, she pouts.
Unipar joins her, pitying her for being left alone. Save the sympathy for those who need it, like her friends, she announces, once she catches up with them. For emphasis, she uses a timebomb to smash the door. Unipar unexpectedly is delighted and asks her to explain how her powers work. He fusses about her, telling her that unlike humans they appreciate mutants and they long for a chance to show it for mutations are rare here. They have had no spontaneous genetic deviation, even minor ones, for many million years. He asks her if she’ll let them show her how much she means to them. He lads the flattered girl away while giving two guards a secret handsignal.
Elsewhere, Warlock is flying Sunspot to their meeting. Warlock asks why Vanisher asked for a meeting of the whole group. Bobby doesn’t know. They join the rest of the group, sans Boom Boom, who are still feasting on Nachos, Pizza, M&M’s and Twinkies. With all of them dressed up Cocnut Grove style, Gomi tries to talk Bill into trying on a pair of large spectacles.
Vanisher announces it was a great idea of his to bring them all here. Madrox asks if any of them found Boom Boom. Siryn and he couldn’t. Chance begins to speak, but Ariel gives her a signal and quickly states she hasn’t seen her all day, but she’s sure to pop by later.
In the meantime, Multiple Man’s renegade self and equally uneasy double are still refusing to join, not wanting to give up their uniqueness, much to the displeasure of Madrox 1.
He addresses Ariel and Chance, reminding them of the Cerebro readings hinting at their being latent mutants. Ariel replies she only has space bending powers which are merely advanced applied physics. Chance flat-out refuses to entertain the though she is a mutant.
Ariel replies there are compensations, those extra little abilities… the glamour… the knowing you’ve got something no one else has. Knowing that you might be the beginning for a whole new evolutionary development for your people… she’d love it. But the Coconut boys and girls don’t mutate. Can’t be done. That’s why she brought them all, even Devil Dinosaur, Moon Boy and Warlock. None of them come from Earth, but they were mutants on their home planets. Everyone here except for her, Chance, Gomi and Bill is a mutant and therefore precious.
Madrox 1 interrupts, remarking that he is getting a reading of fully active mutant powers from her. Two servants eavesdrop on this. Ariel tells him the machine is broken. Madrox admits it could be faulty and tries to calibrate it to Siryn for a reading. He asks for a small dose of her power.
Siryn tries. Madrox gets another reading and suddenly Terry loses control, the cry becomes too much. Bobby holds his ears and bumps into Madrox, causing Jamie to turn into four Madroxes instead of two. Finally she manages to stop. Madrox remarks that when it happened he got a double reading from Siryn and a stronger reading from Chance.
She immediately protests she had nothing to do with that. She refuses to listen to this. Ariel tells her to wait. Nobody is accusing her of anything. Madrox is just puzzled. Chance turns her anger on Vanisher, berating him for always teleporting away when things get tough. Vanisher protests that this time he couldn’t control himself. And that hasn’t happened to his powers in years, since he was a teenager! Gomi begins that he has a hypothesis…
Suddenly several armed Coconut people in uniforms appear. Their leader tells them he has to break up the party. They have orders to take them in.
Ariel assures the Angels they don’t mean any harm. They should just go with them. However, this time the Angels are not convinced, while at the same time Madrox notes Cerebro‘s getting another reading from Chance. Sunspot tries to activate his solar form to no avail. Siryn and Vanisher too find they cannot use their powers and all Madroxes, save for the original and the two renegades, disappear.
Gomi uses a TK blast on the guards. Not being a mutant, he isn’t affected. He explains to the others Chance has just hit puberty. Her mutant powers are showing themselves. Unconsciously, she has been interfering with all of them, alternately enhancing and inhibiting their talents.
Warlock threatens to kill her while Bobby asks her to stop doing it. Confused, she admits she can’t.
That moment, Warlock is shot by a disruptor beam. Gomi fires a TK blast back but is overwhelmed by a guard after Ariel tell him Gomi can only aim his power dead ahead.
Maximum disruptor rays take care of Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy. A guard orders Chance to get over to the other prisoners. Unsure, she asks Ariel to tell them she’s not… Ariel immediately assures her people Chance is not a specimen. She’s her partner.
Unipar enters, telling Ariel that this is no time to be sentimental. They all heard what the little cyborg said. Chance is clearly and unequivocally a mutant. But he promised, Ariel insist. That was before he knew what she was. For the sake of their race, they cannot afford to become sentimental about any mutant.
Chance directly asks her for help. Ariel just says she’s sorry. Ariel turns away, intending to leave when suddenly she is stopped by a forcefield. Rather an ingenious change from the traditional cloven pine, Unipar muses. His assistant has just informed him that Ariel herself is a mutant and they cannot afford to be sentimental over any mutant, not even when that mutant is her.
