1st story:
The X-kids sit around a (frozen) fountain at the mall, enjoying themselves in San Jose en route to a beach town. Idie notes down events in her diary, such as how her friends are relaxing. Laura likes to sit and listen to mall music. Bobby is having fun forcing Hank into a fashion montage. She wonders how they all seem to manage bearing the weight of being an X-Man. Except for her.
A black, young man addresses her, jokingly noting that she is still writing things down in a book. Now he is a tablet guy. Most girls scribble in notebooks to get attention, but he doesn’t get that vibe from her…
Inside the shop, hank groans if Bobby has had enough. Bobby replies that his Bobby-sense is tingling. Looking outside, he exclaims Idie is flirting!
Outside, Idie smiles and explains that other girls grew up with phones and laptops. She grew up with books. She introduces herself and he tells her he is Ronnie. He asks if she is a private school girl, because he hasn’t seen her before. She replies that they are just visiting shortly. He asks if she is enjoying the sights. Because there aren’t any.
Bobby joins them, protectively putting an arm around Idie’s shoulder. She stresses thar he is just a friend and burns Bobby’s skin a little as a warning. Ronnie offers to show them around tonight if they haven’t any plans. Idie stresses that Bobbie has plans, but she would love to. He writes an address where she can meet him that night into her notebook and leaves.
Bobby points out they have outstayed their welcome as Laura chases after Pickles, who has stolen half a dozen hot dogs.
Later, at the outskirts of town where the X-Men have parked their trailer. While training her powers with Bobby, Oya asks it’s definitely a date, right? Bobby assures her it is and she’s got this. What is she going to tell the gang. Tell them what? Beast interjects as he joins them and commends their training moves. Idie pretends she is sick and has a stomachache. Hank tells her they are getting Sushi and suggests she stay.
With Hank gone, Bobby tries to sneak up on her and Idie melts his iceslide instead.
Later on, Idie and Ronnie enjoy an open-air silent movie with music, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Idie is enjoying herself. Afterwards she admits he managed to show her something new. Ho observes, she sounds so worldweary.
Two men walk past them, dissing Idie’s looks. Idie asks Ronnie to stay calm. Instead, he confronts them, calls them pedophiles and asks if they are talking about his date. He tries to hit one of them, who dodges and hits him instead. When his friend joins in, so does Idie. She fires ice at both of them, then creates a gust of flame to force them to retreat.
The bystanders are horrified. The two men run. Idie turns away, muttering the date is ruined and realizing she has some explaining to do. She turns around to look at Ronnie to see his face melting. Samesies he states.
They get away from the crowd and sit down on a set of swings. Idie states, she is with the X-Men. Ronnie’s turn.
Ronnie’s narration:
A month ago, he was getting ready for school and found he could play with his face. He could shift softly, he could get rid of zits. One time, he managed to look like Nick Fury. But something weird happened when he went camping with his cousins. He thought it was fog…
End narration
Idie realizes he is talking about the Terrigen Mists. Ronnie explains he has been using his powers to hide his deformed face but it is getting harder and he feels he is going to die. When he saw her at the mall and she said she didn’t’ live here it seemed like the perfect romantic connection, before he goes out.
She tells him he doesn’t have to die. Her friends can help.
That moment, she is hit in the back. The two attackers from before have brought friends. Idie uses her powers to fight them off, while preaching that violence doesn’t have to be the answer. Typically, they are better than this. She traps her foes in ice.
Ronnie asks if she deals with jerks like this all the time. She tells him yes, but also that she believes God put her on Earth for a reason. When one of the jerks mocks her, she decks all of them. She tells Ronnie she isn’t good at speeches but she has a friend who is.
She phones Storm, who soon joins them. Idie explains about Ronnie’s illness and asks Storm to take him to X-Haven for treatment. Ronnie interjects: what is he supposed to tell his parents? She hands him pen and paper and suggests the truth. She promises to deliver the notes to his parents. And Idie asks Storm not to tell everyone she beat up some guys on her first date.
Ronnie promises to asks her out again if he survives this and she tells him she will be waiting.
Alone again, Idie writes into her diary and comes to terms with her role.
The next day, the team is in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Evan sulks that Idie didn’t tell him all this earlier. She explains she wanted something for herself.
They see that the Terrigen Mist Cloud they have been following is floating towards the ocean, thus endangering nobody.
2nd story:
Dani Moonstar lives through what amounts to a panic attack. Thanks to her Valkyrie power, she senses someone dying and only she can save them. She manifests her Valkyrie armor. Soon Magik teleports her to Los Angeles. Illyana jokes she ought to change her name from Magik to Uber. Beats “Magic School Bus,” Dani points out. Is that a crack about her weight, Illyana asks. She doesn’t shame her friends, Dani replies, not with her diet choices. Joking aside, Illyana asks if the panic attacks have gotten worse. They have, Dani admits, but the pain serves a purpose. It’s her cause. She is just so tired of hurting! Illyana reminds her that her visions help them track down mutants to bring to X-Haven. She doesn’t know what they would do without her. They’d find a way, Dani replies and wistfully remembers when their biggest problems were sneaking out past Magneto’s curfew. Both of them admit to missing those days.
Later, Dani walks the streets. She looks into a bar inside the building where she sensed one person near death, but now she senses every person there has a death shroud.
She enters the club, wanting to run but staying. She senses that the dying mutant is a powerful psychic, controlling all those people. When she dies, she will take them with her. She can sense her power trying to work its way into her head. Dani had psychic training by Xavier but she doesn’t know how long she can resist.
When she is about to despair, she tries to use logic. First step: find the dying mutant. She finds Lady Mastermind sitting on a throne, a half-naked man kissing her feet.
One of the X-babies, all grown up, Lady Mastermind mocks and asks Dani why she is here. Calling her Regan, Dani tells her she is here to help and asks her to let those people go. Regan replies that she shouldn’t have come here. Now she will die with them.
Lady Mastermind lashes out with illusions of Dani’s deepest fears: Hela, the Demon Bear, the Shadow King. Dani begs her to stop. She considers giving in but holds fast to her identity as Cheyenne and Valkyrie.
Noting the resistance, Regan shouts that she won’t die alone. Dani tells her she understands. Regan calls her a liar. She has no idea what it’s like living with this fear. It’s like a disease devouring you from the inside.
Dani allows her into her mind, so she can feel Dani’s terror. Regan begs her to stop. She falls and relinquishes her control over the crowd. Dani’s sense of death is fading.
With the illusions gone, Dani sees the boils on Regan’s skin caused by the M-Pox. She offers help. Regan doesn’t want to live like this, a shadow of her former self. She begs Dani to kill her. Dani suggests they try to live with the fear.
Later at X-Haven, Regan has been treated and is recovering. Illyana tells her she was crazy with fever according to the healers. Regan jokes, let them blame it on the illness and tells Dani she owes her.
Illyana tells Dani she did good. Dani admits how close she was to giving up. Illyana reminds her they all feel that way.
