| Synopsis
| - Reviewing the X-Men's previous battle against the Juggernaut, the Changling, commander of the Factor Three conspiracy, dispatches another one of his minions in a saucer in order to deal with the X-Men, who are even now approaching their base aboard an airplane bound for Central Europe.
The X-Men are discussing their plans to deal with Factor Three when suddenly the commercial airplane they are traveling in is attacked by the saucer. Knowing its Factor Three and not wanting the other passengers to be harmed, the X-Men reclaim their luggage and jump out of the planes emergency hatch. Cyclops manages to destroy the saucer with a well timed optic blast. Without parachutes, the X-Men are rapidly plummeting to the ground below, and to make matters worse Scott's ruby quartz visor is blown off his face. However, with some fast thinking, Warren's wings, and Bobby's ice powers, the X-Men manage to land safely on the ground without any injury.
Safe on the ground, the X-Men change into their costumes and are soon attacked by a small army of Factor Three's spider-robots. After destroying one, they are outnumbered and flee from them and two of Factor Three's troops. Rounding a cliff side, the group walks into a cloud of knock out gas and is rendered unconscious. When they revive, they find themselves prisoners before Changeling and Factor Three's mastermind, the Mutant Master. Viewing the spectacle from a remote location are four of the X-Men's greatest foes, the Vanisher, Unus the Untouchable, the Blob, and Mastermind.
Showing the X-Men that both the Professor and their ally the Banshee are their prisoners, the members of Factor Three put on a mock trial against the X-Men. One by one, each of the four X-Men foes "testify" against the X-Men, telling a story of each of their defeats at the X-Men's hands, finding them "guilty" of betraying Homo Superior. With their "verdicts" read, Changeling sentences them to death. Before they are destroyed though, Mutant Master explains to them that he intends to trigger World War III. To cause this, Mutant Master would first set off a bomb at a top level meeting of Russian officials, while at the same time gassing high ranking US military officials with a paralytic gas. This in turn would hopefully cause both nations to blame the other and trigger a nuclear war. While Factor Three would remain safe, they would wait until the world finished annihilating itself and then take over the world and rule over the survivors.
The X-Men are then left hooked up to an oblivio-ray, which will ultimately wipe out the X-Men's minds leaving them mindless husks that will carry on a living death. This trap fails to stop the X-Men, who short out the machine when Jean uses her telekinetic powers to raise ice created by Iceman over the machine and waiting for it to melt.
Freed, the X-Men head toward the control room where they are stopped by a robot, which they easily destroy and continue on to the Mutant Master's control room to find it empty. Then appearing before them on a view screen, Mutant Master reveals that even though the X-Men have managed to break free from their fate, they are too late to stop Factor Three from beginning their plan.
- A new mutant arrives in New York City, calling himself the Banshee and he has the powers to go with the name. Flying to an expensive art gallery, the sonic powered mutant uses his powerful scream to smash through the glass to get at an expensive painting of a beautiful landscape before fleeing the scene.
As this is going on, the X-Men are testing the range of Mimic's power-copying abilities and seeing if the Professor's mental powers can help boost the range. Mimic only gets so far before the powers he's copied from the X-Men begin to fade away, and he is forced to land. However, Mimic is not worried about this, because he believes that with his combined abilities he'll be the most superior member of the group. This leads to an argument between him and Cyclops over Mimic's risk taking, with Cyclops believing that Mimic is looking toward a big fall.
While back in the city, the Banshee has returned to a preset hideout where he is reunited with his colleague, a simplistic man named the Ogre, who has just learned the secret location of the X-Men's headquarters. When the Ogre realizes that Banshee had gone out and stolen a mere painting, he attempts to scold him for jeopardizing their mission. Banshee tries to downplay it, and then realizes that he is running low on tobacco for his pipe. He then goes back out into the city where he once more uses his powers to steal; this time tobacco from a closed up tobacco shop. The attack attracts the attention of the X-Men who begin to mobilize a mission to investigate. While in Manhattan, Jean Grey is in Central Park with Ted Roberts who is brooding over a letter from home. He tells her about his successful brother when they are interrupted by a radio report about Banshee's most recent attack.
Banshee has meanwhile returned to his hideout and he and the Ogre prepare to strike at the X-Men's base, using a pyro-projector to cause a fire nearby to distract people from witnessing their departure from the base. They travel to the X-Mansion, where the Professor, knowing that the attackers are coming to the mansion, has his X-Men prepared to counterattack. The X-Men are all knocked out by the Banshee's sonic scream, allowing the Ogre to kidnap the Professor and attempt to flee the scene. He is tripped up by the timely arrival of Marvel Girl who uses her telekinetic powers to keep the Ogre busy until the rest of the X-Men revive themselves and attempt to capture the Ogre instead.
Despite the fact that the Ogre has many high tech devices to fend off the attacking X-Men, he is forced to flee when they overpower him and he leaves the Professor behind. Returning to the ship, he finds that Banshee has returned as well and the mutant is hardly impressed that Ogre has returned empty handed, causing him to go back after the X-Men to try and recollect Xavier.
This time the X-Men are ready for Banshee's sonic screams and have taken precautions to protected their ears from his debilitating power. When the Banshee attempts to capture the Professor again, the X-Men are ready, and the group manages to subdue him and seal him in a special suit and cell that prevents him from using his powers. While preparing to deal with the Ogre, Cyclops notices for the first time that there is a locked door in the basement of the Mansion that he had not seen previously.
When the Ogre arrives to try and capture the Professor, he breaks into the mansion once more. When he attempts to break Banshee free, the X-Men attack, Cyclops using his optic blast and the Mimic uses his sonic powers to defeat the Ogre. However, the resulting attack causes the cell Banshee has been trapped in to shatter. When Banshee breaks free, and with the Ogre defeated, the Banshee removes the headdress that he's been forced to wear. He tells the gathered X-Men that the Ogre and an organization called Factor Three had forced him to work with them by planting a bomb in the headdress. Banshee leaves the X-Men with some ominous words, that Factor Three intends to take over the world.
- With his goal of nuclear Armageddon close at hand, the Mutant Master monitors the X-Men. Cyclops and Iceman were stopped in America fighting the US military in an attempt to stop a gas attack, while Beast, Marvel Girl and Angel are held prisoner in a Russian prison when attempting to stop a bomb plot.
In the States, Cyclops and Iceman fight their way through the military opposition to enter the building where the nerve gas has been planted. Deducing that it has been put into the ventilation system, Cyclops orders Iceman to freeze it solid, preventing the gas from being released. However, they are attacked by Mastermind and Unus, who catch them off guard. While in Russia, Marvel Girl uses her telekinetic powers to pull one of the guards close enough to their cell for Beast to knock him out and take his keys. Freeing themselves the X-Men disrupt a meeting of Russian military officials in order to stop a bomb planted in their meeting table, however the Blob has revived and appeared to oppose the X-Men from succeeding in their task.
Back in the States, Cyclops and Iceman continue to battle Unus and Mastermind. While the two evil mutants have the upper hand, Cyclops and Iceman turn the tables when Cyclops causes a dense fog when he melts some of Iceman's ice formations with his optic blast. Unable to see their foes and with the military fast approaching, the two evil doers flee the scene, as do the two X-Men who escape in their stolen Factor Three flying saucer. The military arrive to find the room empty and their base undamaged. As Cyclops and Iceman flee the scene, they consider their mission accomplished.
While back in Russia, the X-Men are in a Mexican stand-off with the Blob who holds the briefcase filled with explosives in front of the X-Men. The Blob boasts how the bomb can have no effect on him, however Marvel Girl psyches the Blob out, putting enough doubt in the Mutant Master being truthful about the strength of the bomb to cause the Blob to flee the scene in fear, dropping the bomb. Angel quickly grabs it and flies up as high as possible tossing the bomb away where it detonates safely, causing no harm to anyone. While the Russian military officials decide if they should re-imprison the X-Men or not, the three mutant heroes flee the scene.
The two teams of X-Men begin tracking the location of Factor Three. At the terrorist organization’s secret Midwestern hideout, the Mutant Master curses the X-Men for their victory, and begins to wonder where Changeling had gone, however he dismisses his second in command’s absence, and focuses on destroying the X-Men when they arrive.
The first to arrive are Cyclops and Iceman who are confronted by Vanisher, Unus, Mastermind and Blob. However they are only briefly outnumbered when Angel, Marvel Girl and Beast arrive on the scene shortly after. Before the two factions can begin fighting, Professor Xavier, recently freed tries to explain to the other Factor Three conspirators that Mutant Master has betrayed them by keeping the X-Men alive Realizing that Xavier is getting close to the truth behind his intentions, the Mutant Master then orders his androids to attack everyone, including his fellow Factor Three conspirators.
Elsewhere in the complex, Banshee revives finding that he too has been freed by parties unknown. Banshee then joins the battle and uses his sonic scream against Mutant Master, seemingly destroying his body. However, it turns out that his humanoid form was merely a disguise, and that Mutant Master is really an alien from another world. Claiming that it's from the planet Sirius. As it is battered by both Banshee and Unus, the creature explains it was attempting to exploit mutants in a bid to take over the Earth for its masters. Unwilling to accept defeat, the alien Mutant Master instead chooses death. During the course of the final battle, another Charles Xavier appears, and as it turns out the "Charles" who warned Factor Three and the X-Men about Mutant Master's hidden motives was Changeling, who was revealed to be a shape shifter.
With Mutant Master dead and his plot to take over the Earth ended, the remaining members of Factor Three and the X-Men agree to part company. Just as they escape in the remaining saucer crafts, the Professor tells Cyclops this cooperation between mutants against a common foe gives hope for the future.
Returning to the X-Mansion, Jean is excited to find that a package had been delivered in their absence, new costumes that she designed, and with Xavier's blessing, the X-Men dawn their new uniforms. The entire team is happy with their new duds, except for the Beast who is less than enthusiastic about the new outfit, Angel quips about how they could have made him a costume more fitting to his name, complete with fur and tail, everyone but Hank himself get a good laugh out of the joke.
- The Juggernaut, having just defeated the X-Men, crashes through the countryside on his way to find an aircraft to fly to Europe so he can join Factor Three. The military attempts to stop him, but they are easily fought off and sent packing.
Back at the Mansion, the X-Men begin trying to figure out a way to deal with the Professor, who has been in a coma since the Juggernaut's attack. Jean digs up the Professor's Mental-Wave Amplifier in the hopes of using it to learn a key secret in defeating the Juggernaut and possibly reviving the Professor as well. In the Professor's memories, Jean learns that he had learned the secrets of the Crimson gem of Cyttorak. Centuries ago, the Ancient One came across the Crimson gem of Cyttorak, and was attacked by its protector, Xorak the outcast. After a brief mystical duel, the Ancient One cast a spell trapping Xorak in the gem to never threaten a mortal again. Jean stops her probe for fear of harming the Professor and they turn their attentions to Cerebro. The group decides that the key to defeating the Juggernaut lies within a prototype gem that is within the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and that they must seek out the Ancient One to learn how to get it.
Repairing the machine, the X-Men try and use their computer to locate the Ancient One to see if he can help them defeat the Juggernaut. However, instead of finding the Ancient One, they are visited by the spectral form of his successor, Dr. Stephen Strange, the Master of the Mystic Arts. He tells them that he is on an important mission, but he stops long enough to impart the X-Men with a means to enter the gem. He cautions that only two of their members can venture within, and that they must return from within the gem within an hour, otherwise they will be trapped in the Crimson Cosmos forever. Cyclops volunteers himself and Marvel Girl insists that she travel with him. Cyclops accepts and orders the rest of the X-Men to keep the Juggernaut busy while they venture into the Gem. With the decisions made, Dr. Strange imparts the incantation into Cyclops and Jean's mind and teleports them to Korea to search for the Gem in the ruins of Cyttorak's temple.
The two X-Men materialize before some Communist soldiers, and easily fight them off with their mutant powers before unearthing the cavern where the gem has been buried for years. Speaking the incantation, Cyclops and Marvel Girl are pulled into the gem and find themselves into the strange Crimson Cosmos, where they are greeted by Xorak, who tells them that in this realm he is known only as the Outcast.
Back on Earth, the other X-Men fly the X-Copter to the nearby airport where the Juggernaut has gone. He is there to steal an airplane so he can fly himself to Europe and rendezvous with the masterminds behind Factor Three. The Juggernaut sends the security guards fleeing. While he is busy, Iceman, Angel and Beast attempt to keep him at bay with the powerful wind generated by the X-Copters rotor blades. This proves only a minor delay for the Juggernaut who manages to smash his way through the vehicle.
Meanwhile in the Crimson Cosmos, the Outcast attempts to wrap up Scott and Jean in the Scarlet Circles of Doom, however Jean manages to fend them off with her telekinetic powers. Redirecting them back at their attacker he is seemingly destroyed by them upon impact. Traveling further through the Cosmos, they find out that this is a false assessment when they are caught up in mystical coils and pulled toward a gigantic facial image of Outcast, however Cyclops' optic blasts easily shatter this apparition. With Outcast the only thing between them and the prototype gem, and their time dwindling fast, the two X-Men manage to defeat the creature not with their mutant powers, but by the ticking of Jean's watch which has been keeping track of the time they have spent in the Crimson Cosmos. Throwing the watch at Outcast causes the creature to suddenly crumble into dust. The two X-Men then procure the prototype gem that they have been seeking and are instantly transported by the Professor's bedside. The two rush after their comrades in the X-Plane, unaware that they have left Professor X alone to be captured by two intruders that have been lurking in the shadows.
While at the airport, the other X-Men have lured the enraged Juggernaut into a wind tunnel, but this too also keeps their foe at bay for only a short while. The X-Men are then forced to maintain a frontal attack against the Juggernaut however none of their attacks have any effect on him. Just before the Juggernaut can start attacking the X-Men, Scott and Jean arrive with the prototype gem and present it to the Juggernaut. Juggernaut, thinking that this new gem can increase his powers grabs it, however to his surprise, instead of granting him increased power the gem instead transports him away to the Crimson Cosmos.
With the threat of the Juggernaut over with, the X-Men return to the mansion to find that the Professor has been kidnapped.
- The X-Men have arrived too late to try and stop the Mutant Master and his Factor Three organization from preparing to trigger events that the terrorist organization hopes will start World War III, the first part of their world domination plan. Having arrived in Mutant Master's control room, they find the room empty with only a video screen of the Mutant Master mocking them of his impending victory. Acting on one of Beast's hunches, the X-Men flee the base inside one of Factor Three's flying saucers just before the base explodes. As they fly away from the explosion, the X-Men begin planning on how to prevent Mutant Master from triggering another World War.
Meanwhile, at another one of their headquarters hidden in the United States, Changeling begins to question Mutant Master's authority and planning when he brings up the fact that the Mutant Master left behind functional saucer ships at their old base. However, Mutant Master reasserts his authority over Changeling by showing his powerful weapons and reiterates his plot to take over the world. With Blob and Vanisher preparing for the first phase of their plan, the Mutant Master once more reasserts his domination over Changeling.
The X-Men have returned to Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and have begun planning their attempt at foiling Factor Three's plot. Dividing the group into two and taking the remaining Factor Three saucers on their mission, Marvel Girl, Angel and Beast go to the USSR while Cyclops and Iceman head to stop the plot against the United States.
The three X-Men arrive in Russia in order to prevent a bomb that has been planted at a meeting of high ranking Russian officials. However, their arrival is spotted by Russian military soldiers who open fire upon Angel, Marvel Girl and Beast. Beast orders Angel and Marvel Girl to go on while he handles the soldiers and they enter the government building where the meeting is taking place. However, their path is barred inside by the Vanisher and Blob who are waiting there to stop the X-Men from interfering with their plot.
Back at Factor Three's headquarters, a revived Professor X tries to rationalize with the Changeling, telling the already doubting mutant that a nuclear war would make the planet harmful to both humans and mutants alike. Put further into doubt by these words, the Changeling is still loyal to the Mutant Master and strikes Xavier for daring to speak out against their plot. However, when the Changeling threatens to execute the Professor, the Mutant Master prevents him from doing so.
Elsewhere, Cyclops and Iceman visit the military base that Factor Three intends to gas and try to explain the situation to the commanding Colonel on site. However, the Colonel finds the story hard to believe, with no time to waste the two X-Men decide that there is no other choice but fight their way to the weapon and disarm it. This causes a clash with the military, which Cyclops and Iceman are able to keep at bay with their mutant powers.
Finally, back in Russia, the other X-Men are attacked by Blob and Vanisher who are armed with high tech weapons. While Blob is disarmed by Angel, who also takes out the Factor Three minions that accompanied them, when Vanisher attempts to use his gas gun on Angel, Marvel Girl uses her telekinetic powers to knock Vanisher out and redirect the knock-out gas into Blob's face knocking him out as well. However, the Russian soldiers catch up to Marvel Girl and the Angel and hold them at gun point accusing them of being assassins. Not listening to the X-Men's story, they find themselves locked in a cell with the Beast and their foes.
Monitoring the situation, the Mutant Master is happy to see that everything is going on schedule.
- Since being freed from their control, the mutant Banshee has been searching for the secret base of the Factor Three conspiracy. Searching the mountains of a small European town, Banshee uses his sonic powers to discover that one of the mountains is really hollow and correctly deduces that this is the secret hideout of Factor Three. However, the mountain is not unguarded, as a panel opens to reveal a spider-shaped robot that is armed with a paralysis ray. Although it strikes Banshee, he manages to make an escape before it had a full effect on him. Returning to his base of operations, he sends out a radio call to his friends the X-Men to tell them what he has learned. Banshee passes out before he can complete his communication, which only tells the X-Men to "beware of the spider". When agents of Factor Three arrive on the location, they find out that Banshee had attempted to contact the X-Men and report back to their commander. The commander of Factor Three then orders them to send out the spider-robot in one of their saucer crafts.
The X-Men have been searching around the mansion and through the Professor's notes to find out what they can learn about Factor Three so they can be ready for their next attack when they get Banshee's incorrect message, leaving them to ponder what exactly their comrade was warning them about. At that very moment, Peter Parker is riding his motorcycle through Westchester Country and decides to stop for a break near a stream. When he spots Factor Three's saucer in the sky, Peter ducks into an abandoned house and decides to check out the saucer as Spider-Man.
Changing into his costume, the wall-crawler approaches the saucer and is surprised when it opens up and reveals the spider-robot, which attacks Spidey right away. The battle between the robot and Spider-Man triggers Cerebro's alarm sending the X-Men to go and investigate, driving out to the location in the Professor’s Royals Royce. In the meantime, Spider-Man has managed to grab the spider-robots paralysis ray and turn it against the machine, causing it to explode and leaving no identifiable rubble.
When the X-Men arrive on the location, they mistakenly believe that Spider-Man is an agent of Factor Three; rationalizing that he must be the "spider" that Banshee warned them about. The mutant heroes attack the Wall-Crawler, who tries to explain to them what happened. Although the X-Men come on strong, Spider-Man's superior fighting ability allows him to easily avoid capture, while Cyclops pleads to Spidey to stop fighting and listen to them.
Back at the mansion Jean has grown worried about her fellow X-Men and decides to try and get into contact with Banshee. Knowing that their comrade was given a special crystal put in his headband to allow his thoughts to be transmitted to the X-Men, Jean uses Cerebro, boosting its signal off an orbiting satellite to make the connection. When she learns the truth about the situation, she contacts her comrades who have continued to fight Spider-Man, succeeding only in making the Wall-Crawler fall into the nearby stream.
When Jean fills them in on what Banshee was really trying to communicate to them, they break off their fight and apologize to Spider-Man for the altercation. Rightly upset about the mix up, the Wall-Crawler explains how he got caught up in everything, prompting the X-Men to abruptly leave to get the rest of the information about Factor Three from Jean, leaving Spider-Man behind to try and make sense of the whole encounter and lament over the fact that he's starting a summer cold for all of his trouble.
Returning to the X-Mansion, the X-Men find that Jean has pinpointed the secret location of Factor Three's hideout, that it's somewhere in a remote Central European mountain range. With the location of their mysterious enemies revealed, Cyclops orders the rest of the X-Men to prepare to leave for Europe.
- In their civilian guises, the X-Men are celebrating Bobby's 18th birthday at Coffee a Go-Go. After cutting Bobby's cake the couples begin dancing. Scott and Jean dance with each other, while Jean wonders if Scott is dancing with her out of pity because she doesn't have a date, Scott wonders if Jean is interested in Ted Roberts, and wonders how he will tell her that he loves her. These thoughts are left to dwell when Warren arrives with Candy Southern and the group sits down and listens to another set of beat poetry by Bernard.
At the Mansion, the Professor finishes his long running experiment and is prepared for what he has to do next. Opening a locked room in the basement of the mansion, Charles reveals that he has been keeping the Juggernaut in a comatose state since his defeat at the hands of the X-Men months earlier. Recalling how his step-brother got his powers from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, the Professor wonders if he can restore Cain back to normal or if he will have to be forced to kill him instead.
While back at the Coffee a Go-Go, the X-Men's party is crashed when a biker gang called Satan's Saints comes bursting through the doors in their motorcycles to terrorize and attempt to rob all the patrons in the coffee shop. Unable to slip away and change into their X-Men costumes or blow their cover as mutants, the X-Men secretly use their powers and easily subdue their attackers who are then turned over to the police.
Meanwhile at the mansion, the Professor straps himself and the Juggernaut into a device that he hopes will use a combination of science and sorcery to send the energies that transformed Cain back into the realm of Cyttorak. However, the experiment is interrupted when a third powerful mental force interferes causing the machine to explode, knocking the Professor unconscious and freeing the Juggernaut. Once more awake, the Juggernaut realizes that he's somehow manages to absorb the Professor's mental powers. He then replaces his helmet and leaves the room to prepare a reception for the X-Men when they return home.
Xavier's students finish up their dates for the evening. Bobby's date with Zelda ends with Zelda and Bobby sharing a kiss and Warren departs from Candy thinking about how quickly they paired up following Warren's rebound from Jean. Scott himself confides some of his feelings with Jean almost going so far as to tell her how he feels. The conversation confirms to each other that they both have feelings for the other, and Scott decides that he must tell Jean his feelings soon.
Warren arrives home first, and when he notices that the lights in the Mansion are all off, he decides to search around in his Angel guise to make sure it's not an attack, unaware that the Juggernaut is silently watching. The other X-Men arrive and they also have the same idea and almost get in a fight with one another in the dark, thinking that the others are invaders. When the Cerebro alarm goes off, the X-Men rush to the Professor's study to see what mutant it's detecting and they are surprised to find it listing themselves as the threat. Suddenly there is a giant tremor which causes Cerebro to topple over and almost crush them.
Going down into the Mansion's basement to search for the Professor, they walk into the Juggernaut's trap. When Angel rushes forward, he is knocked out by the Juggernaut. He explains that he has come to get vengeance against the X-Men and begins to attack. While Marvel Girl is attempting to remove Juggernaut's helmet with her telekinetic powers, Iceman and Beast try a frontal attack. The Juggernaut easily knocks the two out, and Cyclops sends Jean to cover while he attempts to keep the Juggernaut at bay with his optic blasts. The Juggernaut strikes the ground causing a sonic wave that knocks Scott out and sends Jean sprawling to her feet. The Juggernaut approaches Jean, who tries to keep him at bay with her powers. Before the Juggernaut can strike, he is telepathically contacted by the masterminds of Factor Three who reveal their part in the Juggernauts revival and he is asked him to join them in Europe. The Juggernaut, believing Xavier to be dead and his students of no interest to him anymore, agrees to go and smashes out of the Mansion to seek out a jet to fly to Europe.
The destruction breaks a water pipe, and the rushing water revives the X-Men who find the Professor's unconscious body. Placing the nearly dead Professor into a bed, the X-Men decide that they have to go and stop the Juggernaut no matter the cost.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)