Captain America and the Sub-Mariner are training in the Combat Simulation Room when the
Vision suddenly enters through the wall. Namor is distracted and is clobbered
by a machine. He loses his temper and smashes the mechanical menace. Cap is
also clobbered before he can hit the kill switch. Namor confronts Vision who
responds that Namor should not let himself be distracted. His purpose for
coming: Vision wants to know more about the man whose android body he occupies:
the original Human Torch—and Cap and Namor knew him firsthand. While Jarvis
serves drinks, Namor relates the battles he fought against the Torch; in
response to a question by Vision, the other two confirm that Torch’s voice was
human, not mechanical. Cap describes his adventures with the Invaders. Vision
remembers none of this and isn’t sure what he should be feeling….
At
home in Leonia, New Jersey, the Scarlet Witch is sitting with her pupil Holly
LaDonna and telling her all about the ancient meanings of the Winter solstice;
Crystal arrives for a visit and Wanda tells her that she and Holly will soon be
performing a “for witches only” ceremony. Crystal excuses herself and decides
to go for a walk around the town, returning later….
Vision
goes to Project Pegasus where Agent Raymond Sikorsky agrees to his request to
see the synthetic “evil mutants” he helped capture last month (last issue). Vision
is taken to see the robot Mastermind and asks for a private meeting. Mastermind
knows nothing of his life before the Toad created him but he does know he can
evolve: the robot grows into a giant composed of antimatter, melting Vision’s
hand when he hits the creature. Angered, Vision tears Mastermind into several
pieces but the legs and lower torso leap into the ventilation system. Vision
warns Sikorsky and they, along with the Guardsmen, race to Toad’s cell just in
time for the legs to arrive and crash against the force bars on the cell,
destroying itself but allowing Toad to go free. The villain then brings down a
tractor beam and is drawn back to his ship and away. Vision catches up to the
departing ship, phases inside, and collapses….
Back
home, Wanda interrupts a lesson on the rebirth ritual to wonder where Vision
is. Now that she’s pregnant she finds herself worrying more and more about her
husband’s safety….
After
some weird dreams, Vision wakes up and heads for the control room where Toad is
rehearsing his longtime grievances. He was a pathetic toady to Magneto but once
he was stranded on the Stranger’s planet, he stole a lot of technology to make
himself fearsome. Vision interrupts to present himself as an advanced piece of
machinery. Toad erupts, accusing Vision of having stolen from him the only
woman he has ever loved, Wanda. He presses a button and his levitating chair is
now outlined by an energy field in the shape of a muscular giant. Vision
battles the force giant while Toad demands Wanda. Vision beats him down while
delivering a lecture on love and how to treat a woman. Toad operates his
tunnel-like beam to eject Vision from the ship; as he falls out, he sends back
a solar blast to disable Toad’s ship which goes careening off into space. Vision,
however, is trapped in space; he uses his force beam to push himself back to
Earth. He returns to Wanda, telling her he has come up with an answer to the
question, “How much a man is he and how much a Synthezoid:” he is the Vision….
On
her way home in the snow, Holly passes Norm Webster’s house—and sees him in a
very romantic kiss with Crystal….