The primary communication system within the base is the intercom system. Intercom units are found throughout the base and at the front gate. While the front gate unit can only transmit to the living room and monitor room units, all other units are cross-linked to each other.
There are two types of alarms that can go off in the base - the Villain alarm and the Unknown Intruder alarm. These two alarms will normally be set off by the computer or the X-Man on monitor duty, with appropriate signals also being sent to all wrist watch units. However, both alarms can be set off manually, in case the base is under attack and the Vampire System has not detected the intruder. Every intercom unit except the one at the front gate has an alarm button for this purpose.
Any of the base alarms can be turned off by the keypad in the living room or via computer. To turn an alarm off requires only an A-Level internal computer clearance level. If either the "villain" alarm or the "unknown intruder" alarm is left unattended for five minutes, the police will be automatically notified.
Communication Watches/Watch Alarms
Specially designed watches form the personal security and communications net for the X-Men when they are not at the base itself, but still within the general area of San Francisco. The base provides most of the processing and signal power, as the watch is a display unit with buttons. The watches are used to communicate various alarm conditions and simple text information sent by the X-Man on monitor duty (e.g. the location of an emergency and who is in trouble) and to provide data on the location of the wearer. They do not have video or audio functions.
The watch is normally set on Standby mode. In this mode, the base computer "pings" the watch every two minutes. The watch automatically "pings" the base system back and the base computer calculates the position of the watch and stores this information. If the watch fails to "ping" back, then the computer alerts the X-Man on monitor duty and provides the watch's last known whereabouts.
Watches can also be set to Alert mode by the X-Man on monitor duty or by manually operating a combination of buttons on the watch. Alert Mode is automatically triggers when the watch undergoes electric shocks or very rapid temperature change. When any of these triggers occur the watch starts to beep and an alarm signal is sent to the base if the watch triggered the change of mode. At the base, the base computer determines who set off the alarm and where they are, alerting the X-Man on monitor duty, and then sends a distress signal that sets all watches to Alert mode. When an alarm has been sent, all receiving people should respond with the "on the way" button combination to indicate to the X-Men at base that they are responding.
If an alarm is accidentally set off a cancel signal can be sent out by the X-Man on monitor duty. Anyone who sets their watch to Alert mode by mistake should contact the base as soon as possible.