Nimrod

This Sentinel was created in an alternate reality Earth-811 (Days of Future Past) and was the most advanced Sentinel of that time. It first appeared in "Uncanny X-Men" #191 (March, 1985). The Omega Sentinels of this reality had killed or imprisoned most of the Super Heroes/Mutants in the Northern United States, but a few continued to evade capture (e.g. Wolverine). Project: Nimrod, a plan to create a new generation of Sentinels, more powerful, efficient and unstoppable. Nimrod was the prototype for the next generation. It was prematurely activated when Katherine Anne "Kate" Pryde and Rachel Summers infiltrated the Project. Nimrod believed it had terminated the Two intruders, Kate (she later merged with a Sentinel monitor unit, drifted in time, drawn to a bodiless metallic head that would later be known as Widget) Rachel, was saved by Kate who in activating a Post-Hypnotic command (a contingency plan to save Her friend, initiating Rachel's secondary mutation 'boosted' by Phoenix's power) which thrust Rachel into the timestream.

Nimrod mechanically attempted to repeat the time-travel process used by Rachel, But found itself travelling aimlessly in the timestream. According to "New X-Men" #29, vol.2 (October, 2006), Nimrod first emerged on Earth-61029, (19 years prior to its own time period). This Earth was similar enough to it's own, for Nimrod to use it's records on various mutants to track them down. It located Forge in Eagle Plaza, Dallas, Texas. In this reality Forge was married to Storm/Ororo Munroe and had two children with her, Naze and Orora Munroe. Nimrod slew Storm and took the children hostage, convincing Forge to provide it with a functional time device. Forge incorporated one within its system but never informed the Sentinel its temporal jumps would be erratic. Nimrod was again lost in the timestream.

According to flashbacks in "New X-Men" #20, vol.2 (January, 2006) and #26 (July, 2006), Nimrod found itself on Earth 616 (mainstream Marvel-Earth) several months before M-Day and about 16 years before it's activities on Earth-61029. It emerged in front of William Stryker who had lost his faith and contemplated suicide. Stryker decided Nimrod was a gift from God, and his faith was restored. According to "X-Force" #1, vol.3 (April, 2008), events documented in Nimrod's database coincided with those of Earth-616. Discovering several irreconcilable differences between it's historical database (from Earth-811) and new information from Earth-616, Nimrod was unable to process the differences and shut down.

Stryker had Nimrod partially dismantled in order (to render it controllable and) to access its databanks. Nimrod's back-up systems and self-diagnostic routine came online and noticed damage. The robot assessed its situation and concluded that "self-preservation" should become its Primary objective, but was unable to do much in it's dismantled state. Stryker pulled information from its databanks to learn the history of Earth-811 and "predict" similar events occurring on Earth-616. He used Nimrod's records of future obituaries to rescue various people and their families from their imminent demise. He then recruited the grateful individuals to his new militia, the 'Purifiers'. Stryker used Nimrod's information to manipulate certain events to his own choosing and hunt down mutants he had Not been aware of. Unknown to him, Nimrod was able to falsify some "facts" in order to manipulate Stryker itself.

In the present portion of "New X-Men" #26, vol.2, Nimrod directed Stryker to attack Xavier's Institute. Being an 'unscheduled' action, Nimrod was counting on Stryker dying in the attack. In #27, Nimrod managed to re-boot it's systems and slay the Purifiers assigned to guard it. It was still in need of repairs and traced the Forge of Earth-616 to Dallas. In #28, Nimrod was able to coerce Forge to repair it's body on threat of teleporting to Africa and slaying the Storm of this reality (at that time marrying Black Panther/T'Challa). In New X-Men #29, Nimrod failed to intercept a distress message from Forge to the Xavier Institute. With the X-Men attending Storm's wedding in Wakanda, the New X-Men answered the call instead. They included Dust, Hellion, Mercury, Prodigy, Rockslide, Surge and X-23.

In #30-31, Forge was in the process of uploading Nimrod cybernetic mind to a new body (as a contingency) when the New X-Men stormed the laboratory. It was able to remotely control other robots present in the laboratory, directing them to attack the young mutants. Forge attempted to reprogram Nimrod but the Sentinel quickly blocked the inventor's actions. Surge attacked Nimrod with multiple lightning strikes, which the Sentinel absorbed and used to power it's solid energy field. Nimrod managed to shatter Rockslide into myriad pieces, initially this action seemed tragic, the mutant survived the trauma. Nimrod resisted the combined attacks of Hellion, Surge and X-23, managing to blast the former two. Prodigy shot at Nimrod with a rifle, finding target but unable to damage it. Dust was able to divert it's attention while the others formulated an attack strategy. X-23 sliced open its chest cavity, but (in retaliation) was burnt to a crisp (Elixir later used his powers to revive her). Surge drove her hands into Nimrod's chest, the robot was distracted while electrocuting Mercury at the time, this gave Surge enough time to overload Nimrod's time device, without the device anchoring It in the Present, Nimrod was sucked back into the Time vortex travelling aimlessly.

Nimrod found itself drifting in the timestream with its databases (and memories) corrupted. At the end of the issue Nimrod found itself jumping to the point of its "arrival" in Uncanny X-Men #191, devoid of any recollection of it's previous activity since departing Earth-811.

In #191, Nimrod arrive on Earth-616 at a point, 35 years prior to it's own creation. It saved Jaime Rodriguez, (a fish porter) from a mugger. As seen in UXM #189 (January, 1985), the original outcome had Rodriguez Not surviving the incident. The necklace he carried on his person would release the spirit of Kulan Gath and allow the Hyborian sorcerer to take over Manhattan. Instead Nimrod's intervention led to the loss of the necklace and continued imprisonment for the sorcerer.

By #193 (May, 1985), Nimrod had assumed humanoid form (Nicholas Hunter) and moved in with Rodriguez and his family. He helped young Tomas Rodriguez, (son of Jaime) with his homework and forged a friendship with the boy. He then used the computer of his young 'friend' to find out more about the reality, compared to Earth-811. It Now considered It's Prime Directive to be the "Protection of Humanity" through the extermination of Mutants. When a television News bulletin reported Juggernaut being active in New York City again, Nimrod's Directive initiated.

In #194 (June, 1985), Juggernaut was maintaining a low profile, using his civilian guise to visit the National United Bank and take care of his finances there. However, this did not prevent the X-Men and Nimrod from tracking him down. Nimrod considered both Cain and the X-Men, ( Colossus, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Rogue, Shadowcat and Wolverine) to be dangerous criminals and attacked them on sight. It's initial blasts on Juggernaut, Phoenix and Shadowcat proved ineffectual. It managed to burn Cain's civilian clothing, but failed to effect either his body or his uniform, due to the Ruby of Cyttorack's influence (the source of his power). Cain donned his protective helmet and prepared for a fight. Rachel shielded herself and Kitty from the blast, giving the latter enough time to phase them away from the front line. Nimrod knocked Cain clear across the street to an abandoned construction site, intending to isolate the "criminal" away from civilians. It collapsed a building on Cain, from which, Juggernaut simply emerged unharmed.

Next, Nimrod took time to blast Colossus and Nightcrawler, extrapolating the latter's teleportation destinations beforehand. It knocked both of them out, leaving the X-Men leaderless (Kurt was the team-leader at that time). Rogue threw Wolverine at Nimrod with a "fastball special", but Logan's adamantium claws could Not penetrate Nimrod's energy field. Wolverine was hurled into a wall, and dropped to the floor concussed. Nimrod then focused on Cain again. A physical blow to Juggernaut's head managed to dislodge his helmet. His opponent's head NOW open to direct attack, Nimrod incapacitated him with a tight beam of Ultra High Frequency sonics. Next, Shadowcat tried to scramble his nervous system (believing Him to be an armoured assailant), upon doing so, She realised Nimrod was a robot, just before it's energy field stunned her and sent her flying. Phoenix telekinetically collapsed the entire construction structure onto Nimrod, But It's Energy field protected It, and It commenced to dig It's way out of the rubble. This delaying tactic gave Rogue enough time to absorb the powers of Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. Colossus' strength proved ineffectual on the Sentinel but Rogue managed to teleport away .... along with Nimrod's arm. Severely damaged and it's systems scrambled, Nimrod had trouble defending itself from further physical attacks by Rogue. Nimrod had to retreat to allow its self-repair systems to restore it's missing arm.

By #197 (September, 1985), Nimrod had improved it's "Morphing" ability to resemble a more Human guise, a fully human appearance and started working as a fish porter himself. It celebrated the completion of it's first working week at a pub with Jaime. Then two gunmen entered the pub and attempted to rob it. Nimrod returned to it's robotic form, and disintegrated both men with an energy blast. Jaime was disturbed but the rest of the crowd started cheering for Nimrod, congratulating the new "Hero".

By #208 (August, 1986), Nimrod had started monitoring mutant and other superhuman activity in New York City, focusing it's attention on the Avengers and the Hellfire Club. It noted the familiar mutant signature of Phoenix, (appearing weakened), Rachel having been stabbed by Wolverine, and decided to attack her before she recovered. Tomas asked his friend to check his homework, but Nimrod promised to do it later as he had some "business" in town. Nimrod contemplated briefly that It enjoyed teaching Tomas, despite neither joy nor teaching being within the perimeters of It's program. Nimrod found Rachel, once in proximity it Also registered other Mutant signatures (Colossus, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Shadowcat, Storm and Wolverine), Morlocks ( Caliban, Callisto) and Hellfire Club members (Black Bishop/ Harold Leland, Black Queen/ Selene, Black King/ Sebastian Hiram Shaw, Black Rook/ Friedrich von Roehm and Tessa) also approaching It's target. It decided to attack ALL Fourteen mutants at once.

In #209 (September, 1986), Rogue threw Shaw to Nimrod strategically in hope of incapacitating the most physically powerful of the Hellfire Club. Nimrod estimated It's Obvious attack strategy would not harm Shaw and instead reversed Shaw's "gravimetric polarity". Shaw was repelled from the Earth's surface to space. Nimrod proved immune to Selene's power over inanimate objects. She next attacked the Sentinel with boulders but they were easily disintegrated. Callisto fired a grenade at the Sentinel but it bounced off it's surface before exploding. The robot engaged in aerial combat with Rogue (who also had Collossus' powers at the time). It tried to blast her, but struck von Roehm instead, incinerating him. Nimrod, shifting It's attack strategy, unleashed It's shock-webs at Rogue, dropping her from the sky. Leland used his powers to maximize Nimrod's mass, forcing the robot to divert power from all its systems just to stay aloft. Nimrod tried to blast Leland but all it's attacks were ineffectual due to Selene's intervention. Nightcrawler decided to use the same method that had defeated Nimrod in their previous battle. However Nimrod initiated countermeasure and disrupted the teleportation process, the backlash sent Nightcrawler to an unknown location.

Nimrod was finally forced to sink to the ground. Colossus, out of action since the previous issue, recovered enough to emerge from the ground and take hold of Nimrod's leg. The combined efforts of Black Rook's and Colossus' assault began to take their toll on Nimrod's resources. Shadowcat, ceased the opportunity to phase through the Sentinel's body and disrupted its electrical systems. Colossus used judo attacks to drop Nimrod. Immobilised while trying to initiate it's self-repair process, Nimrod's progress was further hindered by Selene who was utilising every object in the vicinity to attack Nimrod. The Hellfire Club were executing a strategy planned by Tessa. Leland pushed His power to it's limits reaching out to Shaw and give him the mass of a small meteor. With ever-increasing momentum Shaw plummeted hitting Nimrod with such force, Nimrod was strewn upon the ground in multiple pieces. Wolverine, mostly a spectator in this battle, wanted to further destroy the fragments of the robot before they had the opportunity to self-repaired. However the fragments teleported away before anyone had a chance to touch them. (Unknown to Nimrod and the others), Rachel had been captured by Spiral while they were fighting.

By #246 (July, 1989), Nimrod had taken the human identity of "Nicholas Hunter", He was employed as the foreman of an explosives crew, working on a building site. On the side, Nicholas was acting as a vigilante, hunting drug dealers and executing them on the spot by disintegration. He "tagged" the scenes of his activities with an "N" burned into the walls. Nicholas used the money acquired from the deceased drug dealers to do "community work". On one day, He came upon a module of vaguely familiar technology. "He" picked it up and found "His" systems being subjugated by Master Mold, the module was a remnant of the Alpha Sentinel. Master Mold, having taken over Nimrod's body began to re-create itself and to attack Rogue, the X-Woman closest to its vicinity, and incapacitated her. Sharon Kelly attempted to help the heroine stand up and was killed by Master Mold.

In #247 (August, 1989), Nimrod could only attempt to resist full integration while Master Mold fought the X-Men. Nimrod tried to convince Master Mold that both had transmuted and had become more than machines, evolved, sentient, effectively "Mutating". Nimrod determined they had No right to exist as THEY were Mutated and initiated Self-Destruction by hurling itself towards the Siege Perilous, taking Rogue with them. According to "Machine Man/Bastion '98" the forces within the Siege Perilous judged the combined entity and restored it to life in a new form, humanoid but with no memory. The new form later used the name "Bastion".

POWERS

Nimrod is made of highly durable material. Its self-repair program allows it to survive heavy damage and even restore itself on the molecular level. It possesses superhuman strength, sufficient to face Juggernaut as an equal. It's strength has been estimated in the range of c. 100 tons. Its body contains advanced computer systems. Its scanning systems allow the Sentinel to track mutants and other superhumans, analyzing the nature of their powers. Nimrod can adapt it's form and abilities to those of its opponent(s). It actively works on counter-measures Always learning from previous encounters. It uses powerful concussive, plasma and disintegration blasts in battle. It's magnetic energy allows it to levitate tons of iron and steel, although this is mostly used as a defensive ability. It's "shockweb" uses unidentified energy to incapacitate opponents. It can reverse the gravity fields of others. It's force fields protect Nimrod from most physical and energy assaults but they can be only maintained when his energy reserves are sufficiently high. Nimrod has time-traveled on several occassions but is unfortunately unable to focus on exact co-ordinates, an inconsistency it has tried to rectify in it's Past.