X-Men#14(1965)

The X-Men are still recovering from injuries sustained in their battle against the Juggernaut. The Professor examines them and gives all the recovering X-Men a clean bill of health and a much needed vacation. However, this would only prove to be a minor reprieve for the X-Men, because at that very moment, scientist Bolivar Trask is holding a press conference to denounce the mutant race as a menace to humanity that must be crushed. The press eats it up and Trask's paranoid rants end up landing on the front page of newspapers all over America. Back at the X-Mansion, the X-Men change out of their uniforms and conceal their mutant natures; they prepare to depart on their holiday. Jean leaves with Warren, leaving Scott to wonder how he can compete with his rich and handsome teammate for Jean's affections. When Hank and Bobby offer an invite for Scott to join them, Summers declines and departs on his lonesome, passing the newspaper to Professor Xavier before leaving. Opening the paper, Xavier is horrified to find Trask's epitaph against mutants complete with a wild story about how mutants will take over and enslave humanity. Feeling that this will bring about anti-mutant hysteria, the Professor calls the National Television Network to arrange a televised debate between himself and Trask over the supposed mutant threat. That night on television, Professor Xavier and Bolivar Trask argue their points to a national television audience, sparking debate all over New York and around the United States. Bolivar offers to the audience a means of defense against the supposed mutant menace by demonstrating his new invention on Xavier (unaware that Xavier is really a mutant himself); his new robot enforcers the Sentinels. Revealing that he has an army of these robots at his command, Trask begins to order the section leader, Sentinel #1. However, things take an unexpected twist when the robot suddenly turns on Trask, stunning him with a ray beam and declaring the Sentinels as superior to humanity. Subduing Xavier and Trask, the Sentinels wait for further orders allowing Professor X to send out a mental summons to his X-Men asking for help. The first to receive the call are Bobby and Hank who are at Coffee A-Go-Go listening to poetry. They then spring into action as Iceman and Beast. Warren Worthington also gets the call while sitting down for supper with his parents, and excuses himself from the table to change into the Angel and fly off to answer the Professor's summons. Back at the TV studio, the Professor tries to keep the crowd calm with his mental powers but finds the strain incredible. The Sentinels decide to take Dr. Trask to their headquarters leaving Sentinel 3-R to guard humans. Iceman and Beast arrive on the scene and begin trying to take the Sentinel out of commission. They manage to knock the robot off it's feet but then Iceman is hit by a ray blast. Scott, having heard the Professor's summons, takes a cab to the TV studio. He accidentally drops his ruby quartz glasses while in the cab, causing him to fire an optic blast through the roof. Regaining his glasses, he's chased by an angry mob who has bought into Trask's anti-mutant hysteria. Rushing into the studio and losing the mob, Scott changes into his Cyclops uniform and comes to Beast's aid. Beast is knocked out in their fight against the last standing Sentinel. However, before Cyclops can deal with it, the Sentinel suddenly deactivates on its own and falls over. Mentally commanding his charges so as not to give away his secret of being a mutant and leader of the X-Men, Xavier orders Cyclops to revive the others and help the people out of the studio so that they might examine the Sentinel and find out what deactivated it. The other Sentinels, meanwhile, have escaped with Trask as their prisoner. Flying away from the studio, they come into contact with the Angel. The Sentinels break off to attack him with their energy blasts. The Angel is able to evade their attack but is then drawn toward a speeding train, getting stuck on its roof. Coincidentally, Jean Grey happened to be riding this very train to answer the Professor’s call for help and was able to help the Angel to flee from his attackers. She changes into Marvel Girl to give Angel a helping hand back on his feet. They join the other X-Men just as the Professor is able to mentally probe the mind of the Sentinel who mumbled the word "Master Mold" before deactivating. With his probe, he learns of the Sentinels secret base and leads the X-Men to go out and rescue Trask from his wayward inventions. Meanwhile, at the Sentinels base, Trask demands to know why his inventions have betrayed him. They explain to him that in order to protect humanity from mutants, they must first conquer the human race. Taking Trask into the control room, they are alerted of the X-Men's approach through their sophisticated computer systems. Outside, the X-Men park the Professor's Rolls Royce in the location the Sentinel told them that its comrades were hiding; however, all they find is an empty meadow. Suddenly the ground rises up revealing a high tech base that fires laser beams at them, catching the X-Men all by surprise. This story is continued next issue...