The Scott and Jean Archives
When an unconscious Xavier comes to, the fortress sinks back into the ground. He decides to return to the city to examine the fallen Sentinel to find another way to help his X-Men. He crawls out of the forested area until he reaches the highway, and telepathically commands passers-by in a car to take him back into the city.
Meanwhile in the fortress, the X-Men find themselves trapped in a “heavy-grav globe”. Their powers prove to be useless against the globe in increased gravity as they struggle to break free. Cyclops advises his team mates to conserve their power and wait for “the first opening”.
Master Mold threatens to destroy Dr Trask with his “disintegrator beam” unless Trask creates his army of Sentinels. Trask reluctantly agrees. He realises the real menace is his creation, the Sentinels, not the X-Men, but it is too late to stop Master Mold.
Back at the tv studio where the Sentinel fell, Xavier probes deep to find out why the Sentinel fell. He deduced that some form of “interference” cut the Sentinel’s transmission, and it turns out to be a giant crystal on top of a commercial building. Xavier proceeds to destroy the Sentinel’s transmission source before allowing the police to move it.
Back in the fortress, Beast is commanded by Master Mold to be placed together with the rest of the X-Men in the globe. The opening that the X-Men had been waiting for has come and they seize the chance to strike and escape. Cyclops picks up Beast and head for Master Mold with the rest of the X-Men. They are stopped by a line of Sentinels with stun rays, but the Sentinels abruptly collapse to the ground.
Xavier has had the giant crystal hauled from the building and with the aid of helicopters, fly the crystal directly over the hidden fortress. Soon, all the Sentinels within the fortress collapse as well, leaving the X-Men a free path to Master Mold. Suddenly, power within the entire fortress is cut, and channelled to the chamber where Master Mold is creating his Sentinels. Refusing to let Master Mold proceed with his world domination plan, Trask courageously wrecks the machines, causing an explosion that kills him in the process.
The explosion causes a chain reaction, but the X-Men manage to make their way out in the nick of time. The Sentinels are now destroyed and will threaten humankind no more.
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(X-Men: The Early Years #16 is a reprint of Uncanny X-Men (Vol 1) #16.)