The Beyonder, having now taken on the perfect form of Captain America, materializes atop one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center and ponders the eventful last few days. He has seen much, yet understood little, and knows experience is the guide to understanding. He learned that almost immediately; still he has been hesitating, watching. His few tentative contacts with humanity have been rewarding, especially his brushes with the X-Man Rachel. Thus, he is now convinced that in order to understand humans he must become fully human. It is time to make a commitment to full human form.
He turns human, but three dimensions is strange, even as he becomes aware of the effect of time. A strange sensation washes over him, connected to the movement of air around him. He begins to shiver. Already a new sensation to ponder.
He desires more and decides to go among the humans. He takes a step forward and falls. Yet some inbuilt instinct in the body protests against this falling. He briefly turns into his energy self and returns to material form a short distance above the ground. He realizes this small fall is already a shock to his body. A greater one would have destroyed it. He would have had to start again. A parallel between this experience and being slashed by Wolverine’s claws. The sensations are intense. Perhaps this type of intense experience bears further investigation, but an instinct tells him subtler experiences are wanted now.
He gets up, ignoring the people and wanders, constantly encountering mysteries like clothing (he only wears a white skinsuit) whose purpose he doesn’t understand. His eyes are drawn to a pretty jogging woman in tight workout outfit and he wonders why his eyes are drawn more to some people and whether it is connected to the clothes.
He notices a feeling of emptiness and recalls the X-Man Rachel telling him if he ate he wouldn’t feel hungry. Was that an instruction or a warning? He decides he desires to feed. He sees a man giving an order at a hot dog vendor’s and repeats the order, adding he desires to eat. Unimpressed, the vendor tells him to stuff his face. Stuff his face? the Beyonder parrots. Bite, swallow, chew! he is told. The Beyonder complies and bites into the soda bottle. Another intense experience, he decides. He believes Rachel’s words were a warning and repairs his body. The vendor leaves disturbed.
As darkness falls, pockets of pain and flame erupt across the city as thousands of New Yorkers succumb to an unnatural force pervading Manhattan. A force which drives them to hate each other, every minority, every other group. One mob pickets Avengers Mansion. Though the Avengers are absent inside, Mr. Fantastic works on finding a cause for the hate, watched by the Human Torch.
Elsewhere in a rumbling padded wagon are their teammate She-Hulk and her boyfriend Wyatt Wingfoot, who were arrested under suspicious circumstances. She-Hulk sulks wondering aloud why she doesn’t simply break them out. Wyatt reminds her how that might make things worse.
Not far away on Madison Avenue, the Invisible Girl escorts Alicia Masters home, avoiding the dangerous mob by rendering both herself and Alicia invisible. However, they do not go unnoticed by the authors of this hatred, the Psychoman and his creation, the Hate-Monger. Psychoman orders the Hatemonger to begin his metamorphosis and the Hatemonger takes the shape of Reed Richards.
He confronts Sue and touches her, thus filling her with his hate stimulus. Moments later, now dressed in a bondage costume, the Invisible Girl has now taken on the identity of Malice, who vows to destroy her husband, Reed Richards.
The Beyonder passively walks the streets unaware that this hatred is something extraordinary. He is curious though about the clothes behind the shop window. When somebody throws a brick that breaks a shop window, he climbs through it into the shop. He asks the shop assistant about the purpose of clothes. Annoyed, the shop assistant suggests he find a friend who explains these things to him.
The Beyonder decides to find someone he knows. He reaches out with his senses and in the offices of the Daily Bugle finds one Peter Parker who is waiting for the elevator. The Beyonder teleports to his side.
Peter’s spider-sense tingles. He wonders why the stranger dresses so weirdly and enters the elevator. Before the doors close, the Beyonder asks him about the purpose of clothing. Peter shakes his head at the weirdness and soon thinks of something else. When the elevator doors open in the lobby, the Beyonder stands there again, continuing his barrage of questions.
The Beyonder follows Peter, whose spider-sense is tingling even more. Peter passes a corner, quickly jumps up, sticks to the ceiling and changes to Spider-Man. His Spider-sense tingles but no one comes around the corner. Unknown to him, the Beyonder has turned invisible.
Spooked, Spider-Man leaves and swings to his apartment, still followed by the invisible Beyonder. He enters through the skylight, takes off his mask and heads for the fridge, figuring maybe he hallucinated because he hasn’t eaten all day.
The Beyonder becomes visible and asks if hallucinating is why there is eating. Peter screams startled and jumps to the ceiling. The Beyonder fires his whole barrage of questions about clothing at him. Angrily, Peter hits him. The Beyonder floats up and asks about the significance of that type of intense experience. Peter finally asks who he is. When told he is from beyond, the penny drops – he is the Beyonder, Peter realizes.
Peter recalls how he kidnapped them to Battleworld and made them fight but eventually he let them go, so they figured he was through with them – and now he is here? He saw him destroy a galaxy, create a world from scratch. What does someone like him want here?
He desires to understand. He desires experience, the Beyonder explains. In his universe, he was all. Here there is multiplicity... diversity. Why?
Peter muses he was a science major at ESU… has an academic scholarship, 1600 on his SATs but for the meaning of life… Maybe he should get a guru or philosopher. Somebody smarter than him anyway. He suggests Reed Richards. Peter can’t help him. Apart from his spider-powers, he is just an ordinary guy.
The Beyonder decides to do as he says. Belatedly, Peter feels bad about being a rotten host. Can he get him anything? A glass of water maybe? Will that relieve the strange pressure he feels in his abdomen? the Beyonder asks. Embarrassed, Peter tells him it sounds like he has to go to the bathroom. The Beyonder demands an explanation. Embarrassed, Peter gives him one and shows him to the bathroom.
After he closes the door, Peter panics. When the Beyonde returns, Peter suggests they talks some more, but the Beyonder teleports away to seek out Reed Richards.
Peter realizes he just sicced him on the Fantastic Four, puts on his mask and swings away to find them and warn them first.
Meanwhile in midtown, much has transpired. The She-Hulk and Mr. Fantastic have survived vicious attacks by Malice and Reed has managed to break the Hatemonger’s hold over her. Reunited, the Fantastic Four face the Hatemonger, who has turned the crowd against them.
Suddenly, the Beyonder appears next to Reed and asks if hallucinating is why there is eating.
Unseen, the Psycho-Man manipulates the Torch, who loses control of a fireball. Sue puts a forcefield around Reed and the Beyonder to protect them. The Hatemonger has disappeared. She- Hulk and Sue want to follow but Reed quickly realizes the stranger is the Beyonder.
In an alley nearby, the Hatemonger, still looking like Reed, begs his master for help as the other members of the FF are closing in. However, the Psycho-Man is displeased with his servant’s performance and turns away. Sue grabs the Hatemonger by the collar. She-Hulk tries to grab the Psycho-Man, who disappears.
The Hatemonger sobs and begs for mercy. Reed and the Beyonder join them. From another alleyway, someone fires a raygun and kills the Hatemonger with the words: justice is served. He disappears.
She-Hulk suggests they try to catch him but Reed tells her to stay. This was no murder, as he is sure the Hatemonger was just a construct and he believes he knows the identity of the mastermind behind him but they have a more pressing concern now. Sue demands he lead her to the mastermind. She wants him to pay.
The Beyonder complains the multiplicity and disunity of this universe are confusing. Reed starts discussing the human condition with him while Sue fumes that Reed is ignoring her. When Reed muses that he doesn’t know if he can fully explain the intricacies of the universe to him, the Beyonder decides to take his questions elsewhere. Reed is frustrated but Sue isn’t having it, reminding him of her needs at the moment.
Spider-Man swings by above them but doesn’t see them.
The Beyonder ends up in front of the clothing store again, frustrated that none of those he knows have been able to help him. Experience is the best teacher, he remembers and teleports the blue suit of the store mannequin onto his body. Unfortunately, it is too small to fit properly.
A homeless woman berates him for not paying, then criticizes the bad fit of the suit. Following her instructions, the Beyonder alters the suit accordingly with his powers. The woman, Elsie, is unsurprised and also reminds him of shoes. Afterwards, she ask why he is so dumb. Is he from space? She lectures him about money being the root of all evil and that you need it to survive.
She leads him to the box she uses as shelter. Both are attacked by a gang of young thugs led by Charlie Carcrash. They beat up the Beyonder but, when they learn he has no money, they become enraged and beat him more. After threatening Elsie, they leave.
Elsie gives the Beyonder (who heals himself) a card of the Heroes for Hire, suggesting he seek them out for help.
He teleports away and emerges at the prestigious Park Avenue office of Heroes for Hire Inc. to find nothing, as it is three am Sunday morning. He looks into Luke Cage’s office. He peers into the recent past to see Power Man and Iron Fist there, plucks them from there and brings them to the present.
Luke Cage rushes toward him intent on hitting him. Believing this to be a customary greeting, the Beyonder hits him first. Iron Fist intends to strike at him with his focused Chi. Fed up with intense experienced, the Beyonder teleports out of his way.
Cage wrestles him from behind and tells him to step outside their office, so he can asks some questions. Taking this literally, the Beyonder jumps out of the fourteen stories’ high window.
Luke jumps after him, intent on breaking his fall somehow. When he is about to catch up, he sees the Beyonder turning into energy. Luke lands hard, whereas the Beyonder transforms to his human form again once he reaches the ground.
Danny comes running and asks if Luke is hurt bad. What does he think? Luke groans. But he’ll feel better after he kills the stranger… Luke’s attacks are blocked by Danny, who is worried about making the stranger mad. He prefers asking questions first and asks the stranger who he is and what he wants.
After the Beyonder gives his usual answer about wanting to know about desire, Danny asks why it is night all of a sudden and is told he moved them through time. Danny tells him if he truly experienced unity, he already has everything humans strive to attain. There is nothing else for him to learn.
Cage pushes him aside and explains that, being a martial artist, Danny is hung up on all that Zen bull. The Beyonder’s obviously been there already and wants out into the real world and Luke can tell him what it is. He shows him some money. This is it. Cash, bread, gap! With this, he can get himself about anything, including the service of Heroes for Hire. Without it, he’s got jack! A lot of trouble in the world is because there ain’t enough of this stuff.
The Beyonder can’t believe value of some paper. Luke lectures him that this is special paper that stands for gold and there ain’t much of that. Danny gently reminds him the gold standard was abandoned years ago.
The Beyonder believes he understands and heads toward their building. That’s when Spider-Man sees them and gives a warning. The Beyonder touches the Heroes for Hire’s building and turns it into gold. Unable to support its own weight, the building collapses. What did he do that for? Luke groans. The Beyonder cheerfully echoes the words to pay for their service. Someone must pay. His work done, he teleports away, leaving three stupefied heroes.
