MINDGAMES! With Havok in danger, the Beast would seek out his old allies the X-Men to rescue him. Arriving at the X-Mansion he would find that place has been deserted for some time and uses Cerebro to track down the team. The search takes him to Dallas, Texas to Mr. Mike's One-Ring Traveling Tent Show. Exploring the circus he sees that the various X-Men have become members of the show: Banshee a carnival barker, Wolverine a "wild" man, Nightcrawler part of the freakshow, Colossus a strong man, Storm a African goddess, and Phoenix an acrobat calling herself Miz Destiny. Confronting Jean in her trailer he is surprised to find that her personality has been drastically changed. When he tries to snap her out of it she calls her boyfriend "Slim", the bodyguard who happens to be Cyclops. This leads to "Slim" calling all the circus hands to help capture the Beast, who now has to fight friends and foe alike.
Witnessing this, and having snapped free of the brainwashing that the other X-Men have been subjected to, Wolverine breaks free as Beast is captured and brought to the X-Men's old foe Mesmero who then turns his mutant hypnosis on the Beast. Wolverine meanwhile changes into his costume and seeks out Jean's trailer. There he confronts "Miz Destiny" and "Slim" to try and snap Jean out of Mesmero's mind altering. Easily knocking out Cyclops he tries to reason with Jean, but when she refuses to remember who she is he begins to slap her around until she gets angry and unleashes the power of the Phoenix on him, causing her to remember who she is. Jean then uses her powers to free the other X-Men. Beast, meanwhile manages to resist Mesmero's hypnosis and is about to attack the mutant hypnotist when he is blasted from behind by some unseen foe.
When the X-Men storm past Mesmero's minions and enter his trailer they order his surrender, but just as soon as they enter he collapses on the floor unconscious. They are not alone in the trailer however, as Magneto appears and faces them, read to give them his final revenge.
This story is continued next issue....
