The X-Men fend off the ultimate home invasion!
Originally Published April 1978
It's Moira's last day in New York and the X-Men are enjoying another leisurely day playing baseball on the mansion grounds. Also considering we have players from Russia, Africa, Germany and Ireland, perhaps football (or "soccer") would be more appropriate but there's something to be said for assimilation. Anyway, this whole thing breaks out into a big mess when the X-players start using their powers, including Wolverine popping his claws to keep Colossus from making it to first base, not that that helps.
Moira remembers she's made an appointment with the phone company, and when the technician arrives he looks... strange... but Moira opts not to stare so as to be polite. At least he could find where to park, which is more than I can say for the Bell technician I recently had over. (To his credit, once he got to my building he fixed the issue very quickly.)
It turns out the technician was worth gawking at since he knocks Moira out with a dart gun. It turns out he is one Mitchell Tanner, aka "Warhawk", and he is here to get answers about Xavier's School for an unknown and unseen Master, who communicates with Warhawk telepathically, and takes credit for making him "a sane man again," whatever that means.
While the full-time X-Men adjourn to the Danger Room for further x-ercise, Jean wheels Xavier around and muses internally about her recent cosmic awakening, noting she feels lost inside and fearing nobody can help her find her way.
Unfortunately, all this introspection leaves her vulnerable to Warhawk's attack. And before the X-Men know what's what, they're locked in the Danger Room, ambushed and fighting for their lives!
Warhawk's stated objective is actually not to kill any X-Men per se, but to see what the limits of their abilities are... and if so, I feel like attacking them with the Danger Room is a pretty good way to go.
Nightcrawler manages to teleport Wolverine outside of the room, which unfortunately exhausts both and puts them down temporarily. Inside, the various lasers, trapdoors, steel prison boxes (specifically designed to trigger Storm's claustrophobia, it would seem, which is unfathomably cruel of Xavier if true,) and even a new incarnation of Colosso the Robot keep the remaining X-Men busy.
Outside, Wolverine comes face to face with Warhawk, who proves to be a difficult foe, with metallic skin as tough as Colossus'. But before long, the X-Men rally and escape, managing to put him out with a few quick punches.
Warhawk is taken into custody and we never learn who sicced him on the X-Men. Jean, rattled at being taken unawares when she had just recently saved the universe, decides to permanently rejoin the X-Men so as to keep her skills sharp.
Further Thoughts:
Here's another fill-in issue, this one co-drawn by Tony DeZuniga and Dave Cockrum. I imagine it was from the slush pile, as Princess Lilandra is not seen on-panel at all, though we do get lots of dialogue and thought balloons reflecting on the X-Men's time in space. If you check around online you can find out who actually is Warhawk's "Master," although the character or characters responsible don't appear again for so much longer it feels unrelated. Still, it works to try to weld some ongoing suspense onto what is otherwise a disposable, if lightly enjoyable, one-off.
Wolverine, as always, steals the spotlight, openly hitting on Jean in front of Cyclops, and later wondering if it's really so wrong to not save Scott's life.
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