The X-Men are shocked that after Jean has read a letter from her parents, she has told them that she has to leave Xavier's school and begin attending Metro College in New York. The Professor gives her a corsage as a parting gift and she is driven into the city by Warren with Scott accompanying them. The whole ride Scott broods over never being able to express his feelings to her, while Warren muses how she will be attending classes with the Human Torch. Jean dismisses the idea of being "another super-hero" on campus, telling Warren that she is just going to be plain ordinary Jean Grey. Arriving at the building, Jean and the others are introduced to Ted Roberts, a student at the college who escorts Jean to where she has to register. As Ted leads Jean away, Scott believes that he's lost Jean for good.

While elsewhere in a wheat field, a new villain has appeared that will cause havoc in the X-Men's lives: The Locust. Armed in a costumed fashioned after the insect for which he is named, he intends to create an army of gigantic insects to threaten the world’s food supply by sending them to eat all of the wheat in the area. His attack on farmland America not only garners the attention of the authorities who are stumped by the weird happening, but the X-Men as well who arrive on the scene to investigate at the Professor's orders. The X-Men track down the Locust's insect horde and battles them. However, the Locust manages to escape when the authorities spray the area with a crop duster loaded with insecticide. Back at Metro College, Jean is shown around by Ted, and their attentions are drawn toward Professor Hopper, an eccentric professor at the College whom the students make fun of. Overhearing some of the student’s taunts, Hopper lashes out at them, Jean finds him familiar and Ted tells her that he was the top Entomologist until he was fired for his bizarre theories and he now works in chemicals. Returning to his lab, we learn that Hopper is really the Locust and that his experience with insects allowed him to create a device that can make insects grow to fantastic sizes. He swears to get revenge against both the X-Men and all those who mocked him.
Meanwhile, the X-Men are busy examining one of the giant grasshoppers that was commanded by the Locust, and they theorize if he is a mutant or not. The Professor tells them that Cerebro confirmed that the Locust is just a normal human. Jean visits for the weekend and them of the strange Professor Hopper and how she is suspicious of his involvement. The X-Men go to Ryan Chemicals and Xavier uses his credentials to be shown Hopper’s work. Hopper is nowhere to be found but his boss tells Xavier that he has a mobile lab he works out of sometimes. The Professor finds a map of locations where the Locust has struck and where he will strike the again and sends out the X-Men to stop him.
While the X-Men battle the Locust's insects, the Professor (disguised as a wise old man) convinces the unhinged Hopper to renounce his evil ways. When the X-Men destroy the insects and Hopper's lab, the Locust finally breaks down and listens to the Professor and is turned over to the authorities. The X-Men find out that the Professor has once again utilized his special device that allows him to use his psi-powers to walk in order to appear to Locust as a wise old man.

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