Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #514

Background

Simon Trask and his Humanity Now! Coalition have arrived in San Francisco to lend their support to Proposition X, a law which would limit mutant reproductive rights. The city soon erupts into riots which bring in the Dark Avengers to help restore order.

Norman Osborn manipulates the media and brands the X-Men as instigators of the riots. He then calls for their immediate surrender, which they ignore.

This ticks him off and calls in his markers from Emma Frost and other mutants he was able to manipulate to pose as his official team of mutants that will assist them in their efforts. Those efforts are to discredit the remaining X-Men for disobeying him and improve his Q-rating by “working with the mutant community”.

Story Details

Simon Trask has activated his human sentinels and have let them loose on San Francisco as revenge for ignoring his warnings about mutants.

Graymalin Industries: Cyclops watches the news coverage of the assault and calls in a special team to enact one part of his plan: Mirage aka Dani Moonstar, de-powered by M-Day, is to go to Las Vegas and meet a specific but unnamed individual. Domino is to meet with Wolverine when he arrives in San Fran. Psylocke is to complete her unspecified mission in less than two days. Mindee (of the Stepford Cuckoos) needs to get arrested.

Alcatraz: Norman Osborn's Avenger and X-squads attack each other, led by Bullseye and Daken respectively. They are stopped by Emma Frost, who criticizes them for behaving like children. She reminds them that if they aren't part of the solution, they are part of the problem. Bullseye and Daken exchange words, promising to resume this at a later time.

Cloak then teleports Osborn's X-Men to combat the Biosentinels who are running amok in Northern Park. Frost instructs her team that there priority is to save lives. Their intel suggests that Trask is telepathically directing them. Frost performs a telepathic scan herself and learns that Trask did to transform the humans into sentinels killed them. Frost conveys this discovery to her team and gives the kill order. Each mutant handles their opponents in their own manner.

Cyclops gathers a small group to observe Emma and her team from a distance in the event they have to confront them. He reminds his team that in the sentinels begin to win, they will assist, regardless of the potential consequences.

Luckily Cyclops' “worst case” scenario never plays out. Emma and her squad destroy all of the Sentinels. She reports back to Osborn of their successful mission. Osborn then instructs them to head to St. Francis hospital, the last known location of Simon Trask. Cloak then transports the group to the hospital.

Oakland Bay: Domino, Warpath, Illyana Rasputin, and X-23 meet up with Wolverine and prepare for their mission.

The X-Club – a group of scientists working with the X-Men – and Psylocke arrive at their underwater destination using one of their submarines. It in an unidentified formation that is several miles in diameter. Psylocke asks Dr. Jeffries how long their device will take to install. He estimates four hours providing nothing goes wrong. Psylocke reminds the esteemed scientists that this has to work because this marks the end of the X-Men in California.

General Comments

While the overall story is progressing nicely, there are times when Cyclops' super-secret plan is super-annoying. The statements made to each mutant about their mission are meant to be vague and increase the suspense until all of them are put together later. The only downside to this is that there are many different aspects to it. Because so many unanswered questions are presented at one time, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Overall Rating

3.5 webs. Despite a few minor issues, this is still an interesting arc.