Four weeks ago…
A furious young Lawrence Trask commands his Sentinels to secure all mutants in the nearby area, and to destroy them all! Judge Chalmers desperately tries to stop him. Trask doesn’t see why Chalmers suddenly changes his heart like this, unless he of course is a mutant as well. Chalmers defends otherwise, and hits Trask in the face, taking his medallion away from him. Chalmers apologizes for hitting the boy, but is certain that he’ll understand his motives once he learns about his true plan. Lawrence realizes his mistake, and orders the Sentinels to ignore his earlier command. However, the Sentinels claim they can’t do that and area ready to destroy all of mutantkind. And, since they are eager to begin, they grab young Trask in their fists and want to destroy him as well.
Lawrence tries to explain that he isn’t a mutant, but a shameful Chalmers claims that the Sentinel is telling the truth… Lawrence really is a mutant! Chalmers reminds Lawrence about his medallion, the one his father ordered him to never remove. He explains that there are hidden circuits in the medallion that damps down and masks Lawrence’s mutant powers. And that was the power to forsake his own mother’s death. The Sentinel holds Trask tighter and wants to destroy him now, as ordered.
Two weeks ago…
At the same, now destroyed base, the Sentinel that was about to kill Trask, starts repairing its very own body!
Today, at Dunfee…
The Sentinel has also grabbed Ashley, and is ready to destroy her, like his programming is required. An angry Ashley orders the Sentinel to put her and the Professor down immediately, and the robot does so. Xavier is surprised that the Sentinel seems to obey the young child, who apparently is the new mutant Cerebro detected. Ashley apologizes for the misunderstandings, as she doesn’t understand what’s gotten into her robot. After all, he so well-behaved since the moment he arrived at her home.
Elsewhere, at the freighter ship…
Scott and Jean recognize Avia from their earlier meeting, and inform Candy that she befriended Warren during their mission at the Savage Land. Scott helps her down from the wall, and Jean gently uses her telekinesis to help Avia down. Scott notices that their attackers seem to have caught up with them, and starts attacking them. Kreuger approaches his men and, with just a wave from his hands, stops Cyclops’ optic blast from hurting them! He walks towards the X-Men, and introduces himself. He also mentions that he has followed the X-Men’s career ever since their appearance at Cape Citadel. Kreuger claims that like Professor X, he has gathered a band of mutant misfits, though they don’t have the need for words like “mutant” and don’t hide behind science like the X-Men. Here, they can just be themselves.
Meanwhile, at the Savage Land…
Amphibius spies on Iceman and Karl Lykos, unnoticed by them. He decides to report this news back to his master. Magneto is starting to recover, and believes that apparently, there yet lingers some aftereffects of the healing radiation of the deep island volcanoes. It would seem that even his fading magnetic powers have been to some degree restored. Only his tattered garments stand between him, and the full majesty that is Magneto!
Dunfee…
Xavier asks Ashley if it’s true that the Sentinel arrived at her home a week ago. Ashley confirms that, explaining that the Sentinel, which she calls “Big Bot,” just dropped in her back yard like a meteor or something. Beast recovers and quickly starts attacking the Sentinel again, but the Professor tells Hank to stop doing that. Ashley orders the Sentinel to stop the fighting as well, and the robot strangely enough obeys yet again.
When Hank wants to know what’s going on, Ashley instead simply compliments Hank on the big jumps he makes, and wants to know how he did that. Hank jokes that it took him years of practice. Ashley’s mom arrives back home, and is glad to see her daughter alive and well, because she was frightened about her well-being when she saw the house when she was driving by. She wants to know who the Professor and Hank are. The Professor believes it’s time they had a little talk.
The Teratos freighter ship…
Scott demands to know from Kreuger where Warren is, since Cerebro told them he was on the ship. Kreuger claims that’s none of Scott’s concern right now, and promises that he’s safe. Candy doesn’t believe that, remembering what Kreuger did to Avia. Kreuger claims that Avia brought her punishment on by herself and he had no choice but to do what he did. He tells “Marvel Girl,” thinking Candy is Jean by her uniform, to remain calm. Scott is also interested in finding out how Kreuger could block his optic blast like that, since he’s claiming that he isn’t a mutant.
Kreuger smiles, and mentions that he never said he wasn’t a mutant. He starts waving with his hands again, and causes Scott, Jean and Candy to fall unconscious! His follower, Remiped, comes to inform his master that they managed to place contact with the others. Kreuger triumphs, finding it ironic that the X-Men didn’t foresee that he could have the power to suppress their special mutant powers. He walks towards the radio deck, and hopes that his “business partner’s” mood is improved since the last time they spoke. He reports to the receiver that he’s got more captured X-Men, and hopes that the guy is interested in them.
At the other end of the line, Blob, Mastermind and Unus smile with an evil grin on their faces, glad to receive the news, as they are always glad to have the chance to settle old scores!
Meanwhile, at Dunfee…
Xavier confesses to Mrs. Martin that her daughter really is a mutant. He apologizes for it, because normally he doesn’t inform the parents about their children being a mutant until they had a little time to prepare them for it. But right now, with the Sentinel, he didn’t have much choice. Mrs. Martin recognizes the Sentinel, as they were all over the news a few weeks back. He wants to know why it came here and how it found Ashley. The Professor asks Ashely to ask the question to the robot. She agrees to do it, and asks the robot the question.
The Sentinel reveals that it assembled itself from fragments of five separate Sentinel units that were destroyed in an earlier battle with the X-Men. The repairs took several days, but intact memory banks indicated removal from compromised base to be a priority. A random selection set the newly rebuild unit on a westward flight plan. While scouting ahead, the Sentinel’s automatic scanners detected a mutant presence when flying over Dunfee. The Sentinel located Ashley in the backyard of her house playing but, with his weapons not fully repaired yet, the Sentinel couldn’t destroy her and was at her mercy.
Ashley’s mom is startled to discover her daughter just hid the robot in their barn. Ashley knew her mom would make a fuss out of it all, so she decided to keep the Sentinel a secret. The Professor believes that the Sentinel is the reason why Cerebro had trouble scanning Ashley’s exact location. Hank agrees, thinking that the Sentinel must have been scanning at the same time they were, so it must have scrambled Cerebro. Ashley’s mom still panics though, realizing that the Sentinel has been build to destroy mutants, and her daughter is one. The Sentinel’s program to destroy all mutants kicks online again. Beast and the Professor panic.
The Sentinel fires blasts from its eyes, but luckily Beast drags Ashley and her mom into safety. Hank asks the Professor what to do, but Ashley shouts she’ll handle it. She tells “Big Bot” to stop fighting. The Sentinel identifies Ashley as a mutant, so it can’t stop. Ashley corrects the Sentinel that they are friends now, since she saved its life, and that it doesn’t have to pay any more attention to its old programming, which is dumb, anyway. The Sentinel quotes that his programming can be stopped, but only by a specific stimulus. The Sentinel fires a blast again, and luckily Hank dodges Ashley into safety. Ashley has had enough of it. She doesn’t want to be friends with “Big Bot” anymore. She points her hand at the robot, and it begins to unravel into thousands of tiny pieces!
Ashley’s mom calls out to her daughter, wanting to check if she’s alright. But the Professor warns her to be careful, as something’s still wrong. Ashley angrily turns towards her mother, with her powers fully realized and floating out of her body. She wants her mom to stop whining at her, before she gets really mad.
The Savage Land…
Bobby and Karl have been attacked. Bobby panics, and somehow feels he should be able to do more than instead of the mere running away. He finds an exhausted Karl, and checks if “Joe Smith” is feeling alright. Karl warns Bobby to stay away from him. Bobby realizes that Karl used his name, and wants to know how he could possibly know it, because Bobby couldn’t even remember his own name thanks to his amnesia. He gently touches Karl’s shoulder to help him up, but Karl panics and shouts at Bobby to stay away from him.
However, the warning comes too late. His energies have sunk too low. There is nothing Karl can do to stop himself from draining the life force out of Bobby. And, Karl also doesn’t even see the point of not doing that. Why should he deny himself the power that is his birthright? He grabs Bobby, and absorbs all of his powers until the boy faints. Karl doesn’t see why he should run and hide, when victory can be his for the taking. Karl Lykos may be ill equipped to deal with the invader who attacked this island, but that invader will now stand powerless, now that Karl has completely transformed into… Sauron!
