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Inside Out
Dublin, Ireland
Evening. The sun sets. In a hill, a herd of sheep are blatting. Nearby, a black line running along the ground clearly indicates a terrible presence: the earth burns and exudes smoke where it was touched. The line advances across stripes of greenery, leaving behind hideous details that attest to its existence, like the charred bone of a human leg. In a car in the city’s suburbs, a couple has also been deprived of their lives, now turned into lifeless skeletons. In the city’s dark alleys, a group of people are now nothing but cadavers.
In a motel room, Nate Grey sleeps the slumber of the just. By his bed are leftovers of food and drinks, a Coke can, a Pizza Hut carton box, some Chinese food. Plunged in a deep sleep, Nate is unaware of someone entering the room and approaching him. A mysterious, cloaked figure, with red hair and high boots leans above him.
Suddenly, a woman in an apron enters the room, carrying a steaming tray. She explains she brought him some broth, to see if they can get his strength back up again. Sure, he can’t hear her, not her words, not yet, but it’s been almost a week now and…
Finally she sees the cloaked figure leaning above Nate – Madelyne Pryor. “Shoo,” Maddie tries to scare her and the woman takes flight, dropping the tray. Caressing his hair, Maddie suggests that Nate gets up already. She knows he’s not sleeping, just like she knew she’d find him, sooner or later. When he first crashed out of the clouds like that, after telekinetically bringing down the rains to save Clifden and she – they – couldn’t feel him for so long…
She suddenly pauses and asks him who the girl was. Ostensibly worn out, Nate admits he has no idea – honest. After the fall, he passed out. Madelyne doubts that. He blacked out, maybe, but not unconscious. Not right away, at least. She should know. Nate asks her if she thinks it’s a new symptom of his burn-out. A sign that the psi-energies threatening his body… threatening the whole world… are finally reaching critical mass. “Or exhaustion, more likely,” Maddie retorts. Plain and simple overexertion. She reminds Nate he tried to stop an earthquake for breakfast and then they took on an avalanche for lunch. She advises him to get some more sleep already. He’s a mutant, not a god. And she’s… she’s nothing without him anymore; she dramatically claims as she exits the room and lets him be.
Less than a block away, a middle-aged couple snores blissfully in their bedroom. Suddenly, a being consisting of pure, radiant energy storms into the room. Waking up, the couple, confused and horrified, wonders who – what – he is… The being’s energy arms extend and coil around the man and woman’s ankles like cuffs. The couple’s screams of pure, indescribable horror resonate throughout the entire neighborhood. When the being is done with them, they are but charred, smoking carcasses. “Not quite. Not quite enough,” the murderous creature states.
Haney’s
The innkeeper is conversing with a friend about the latest hideous murders. Another two already tonight, just down the lane – but he’s one to talk, of course. He reveals that he heard them screaming like banshees, old man Feeney and his wife. “Feeney the tailor?” the other man asks for clarification. Feeney the cobbler, the innkeeper corrects him – far as they can tell from what’s left of…
Seeing Nate descend the stairs that lead to the hall, the innkeeper tells his friend to hang on. He turns to Nate and informs him that he owes him for six nights. No prob, Nate allays him – thing is, though, and he thinks the innkeeper looks like a man who might understand this, he’s really not carrying any cash on him just now… so how about he works it off in trade instead? Just a little telekinetic touch-up here and there. Inspecting the hall, he begins working his magic.
By use of his telekinesis, he repairs the table leg, realigns the door hinges, re-stitches the carpet, re-sticks the wallpaper… “And the staircase?” mumbles the astonished innkeeper. Fixing it, too, Nate ensures him it will never creak again. “A mutant…?” the innkeeper’s friend mutters. The innkeeper argues he is not a bad one, for that. “’Ta then, boyo,” he sees Nate off. Nate reciprocates farewells.
Outside the inn, he finds Madelyne waiting for him. He asks her where she’s been. He got tired of lying around waiting a couple of hours ago. “Let’s go already and do it,” he insists. Madelyne is confused. Nate explains that she is to teleport him back to New York. Straight into the X-mansion itself, if she can. He is eager to find out what the X-Men did, finally, what connection they have to the psi-pulse that cost him – them – their telepathy, and what they can do to restore it.
Madelyne advises him to slow down fast. They can’t rush into anything here – anything. He needs to take some time first, to heal and plan – with her. Nate understands the implication of what she says: not with them, she means. “C’mon already, Maddie,” he tells her. He reminds her he’s got no more love for the X-meddlers than she does, she knows that… but his telepathy was one of the six senses he used to navigate the world around him. The most important of the six, he’s coming to realize; the fullest. She has to take him to the X-Men. Madelyne retorts that no, she doesn’t – and she won’t. She will help him. They can work together to accomplish their goals, but they won’t follow orders blindly. She won’t be anyone’s pawn – not again. Never again.
Nate wonders if she’s listening to him at all. Does she hear what he’s trying to tell her here? He’s crippled, incomplete, not whole anymore. Maddie reminds him that he’s also nowhere near being the bright, glowing target that he’d be back in New York, back in the spotlight that’s already burned him pretty badly. Not all that long ago, does he remember? Do Gauntlet Psi-Ops ring any bells to him? Armored soldiers of who-knows-whose army, armed to the teeth? She alerts him that the heat’s still on back there – full-flame.
Nate suggests she tells him something he doesn’t know; something that might help. Despondent, he flies down from the roof he was standing with Maddie. Madelyne follows him, as the crowd below watches them, gasping in awe. Maddie finally decides to tell him something new: has she told him the one about the surprise guest that popped up at the party after Nate left last week? Even stranger than the usual type, from what she saw. Some sort of Tech-Gnome, with a drilling-bore built into its head. The remains of its head, actually – recovered from the Clifden rubble. She suspects it might have had more than a little to do with so many ‘natural catastrophes’ hitting one tiny village at the same time.
Back at the Fox Run Inn in Clifden, the locals are gossiping about Nate and Maddie and how they tackled the catastrophes a few days ago. The bartender explains these two were cousins of the McMurphys – actually the fake identities used by Nate and Maddie while there – up from Wexford for the weekend. He is certain they are neighbors of a friend of his wife’s niece – he, himself, knows both of them for years! He explains these two took on two of the wee people and an avalanche without raising a thirst – he saw it all with his own eyes. Truth on his Dad’s grave! A bit further, another fellow sarcastically mentions to his friend that the bartender’s dad is actually in Florida, retired. His friend agrees – would that have been before or after… what’d he call it… the rain of fire? Before or after last call, more like it, another woman mocks.
Sitting all by himself in a table with a pint of beer, Ness contemplates he’s dead – dead to his people, now and forevermore. The man named Ness no longer exists, for all intents and purposes… only the Witness remains. Witness to a future – the end of that future, really, all futures – being charted by a single solitary boy: Nate Grey. Ness gave up everything to track him down, abandoned everyone, and he finally did catch up with him here – only to lose him again just as quickly. Nate left him with nothing but this… scrap – the remains of a Tech-Gnome.
Ness recognizes the soil residue from the earthquake-torn valley, the rock dust from the top of the mountain and the soot. This confirms the drone’s presence at all three of the disaster sites, if nothing else. But the hardware itself is meaningless to him, telling him very little – except that someone else, somewhere else, is also after Nate Grey.
Elsewhere, in the interior of a huge aircraft that serves as the headquarters of the Gauntlet, someone asks for a report from the ship’s computer. “Series Z tests completed. Catalogued. Target primed: Accessible for acquisition” the computer reports.
Dublin
Nate and Madelyne soar under the nocturnal firmament. Nate asks Madelyne if she’s serious. He wonders: this Tech-Gnome she found, where is it now? Madelyne hopes it’s in the bottom of the ocean by now, back in Clifden. Nate is indignant: something that dangerous, something that may have been their only lead to an entirely new threat and she just threw it away? Below at a park, seeing the airborne pair, the crowd keeps wondering what they are: “Birds?” “Planes?” A guy with a Mohawk haircut banters it’s not Shamrock, for sure.
Maddie tries to explain to Nate it’s not like that. She never, really… actually she… Finding herself unable to reveal the truth to Nate, she contemplates that she never had it; the stranger did. The stranger with the yellow eyes – those piercing yellow eyes she recognized from the shadows of Nate’s future vision. The pale stranger who dropped in out of nowhere during the fire last week, seeking advice… but she’s not ready for Nate to start asking questions she’s can’t answer. Not yet. Addressing Nate, she tells him to forget it; doesn’t matter. He’s missing the point. No more reacting, that’s what she’s saying. No more jumping through their hoops, dancing to their tunes… anyone. Everyone. She suggests they get proactive.
Landing down with Maddie, Nate suddenly finds an entire crowd of people gathered around them, eyewitnesses of their flight. “Sooper-heroes!” one of them enthusiastically screeches. Nate sarcastically assumes he’s been called worse but… “Yankees,” another guy yells. “Sort of, but not…” Nate tries to explain before a woman cuts him short, asking him if they’re here to do something about the murders. Nate is surprised to hear this news: “Murders…?!”
Several people in the crowd blurt out what they know: “Couple o’ kids, a few days back”, “Car on the edge o’ town”, “Stripped to the bone”, “Shepherd just west o’ the city, first.” Never mind, Nate tells them and tries to explain it’ll be a lot faster if he just dips straight into their heads and… Oblivious to his explanations, the crowd keep on babbling about everything they’ve heard on the story so far: “Junkies yesterday”, “Alley downtown”, “Two homebodies tonight”, “Same area, 14 Barrington Lane.” Never mind, Nate sighs and gives up.
A bit later, crowd has gathered outside the house of Feeney the cobbler, the middle-aged man who was murdered in his bed together with his wife. The on-lookers gossip about the victim: Was he the tailor’s brother? Was the murder same as the other stiffs? Not a shred of flesh left, another one reports.
Inside the victims’ house, a police inspector is debriefing two Interpol agents. The bodies were discovered in this condition a little under two hours ago, in response to reports of screaming. Footprints burnt into the immediate surroundings, just like the other crime scenes, but the steps stop dead right outside the back door, as if the killer just sprouted wings and flew off from there. The female agent asks him about the glow. Radiation traces, apparently, the inspector explains. He advises the two agents, McScully and O’Mulder, against touching the bodies. What branch of Interpol did those I.Ds say they were from again? Without bothering to provide an answer, ‘McScully’/ Maddie thanks the inspector and takes her leave with ‘O’Mulder’/ Nate.
Maddie tells Nate they’ve seen enough. More than enough, Nate agrees. Age of Apocalypse energy signatures all over those corpses, from head to toe. They both saw and felt it… and they both know that Nate is just one of only four beings in this planet tainted by that particular radiation! As the two assume their true forms and exit the victims’ house, Madelyne corrects him: only one of four he’s aware of. He shouldn’t go flying off the handle here. Nate reminds her that Age of Apocalypse is his world; his Earth. She heard the inspector herself, the times and places of the other killings are all within his reach, all while he was out cold. Madelyne banters there’s no real surprise there. He should face facts: he’s been out cold more often than not lately.
Seeing those two civilians exiting the crime scene, two policemen shout at them to hold it. Without paying attention to them, Nate repeats to Madelyne that the Age of Apocalypse is his world, his Earth… and then skyrockets himself outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Under tremendous stress, he manifests a psionic energy signature and wonders: is he so out of control finally that he’s slaughtering innocents now in his sleep? Randomly draining people of their life energies just to feed a body… fuel an engine… heading straight for dead-end overload anyway…
Suddenly overwhelmed by pain, Nate moans. Madelyne advises him to stop and breathe. Kissing him full on the lips in order to pass oxygen to him, she also encourages him to think. Contained as the two are in Nate’s psychic bubble, Madelyne quips that thinking is what he’s supposed to do best, after all. She asks him to just take one last look at the Earth he’s leaving behind; the only Earth for him now. Marked by three other Age of Apocalypse energy-sources, even without him. She pinpoints the three energy-sources for him and Nate figures them out: one is Dark Beast, probably, and another in Africa that could be Sugarman but… Madelyne sees it herself: the last one is currently shining brightly in the general section of Dublin, Ireland. “Where I’m not…” Nate realizes – yet.
In Dublin, a fiery form, akin to a comet lands outside a house and, soon, the energy-based murderous lifeform enters a bedroom, where three young women sleep in bunks. Suddenly, Nate and Madelyne come crashing in through the wall. “Not another step, butcher…” Nate growls, “don’t touch those girls!” Enough people already are dead because of Nate, because he didn’t put the killer down for the count a long time ago, but he knows exactly who – and what – he is now! With that, he unleashes a blast against the murderer. He should’ve figured it out right away, really, as soon as he saw how brutal and… and…
Seeing how he struggles to finish his sentence, Madelyne indignantly asks him if it’s his first time in a girl’s dorm, wondering whether he’s distracted by the various young women in lingerie! “Ouch, Grey… you really should try not to be so hard on yourself!” the murderous being snarls and turns around, now bearing Nate’s own face! In absolute shock, Nate and Madelyne gasp this is not possible!


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[Assistant]
Nothing to Hide…
Cinder Fontaine is having a wonderful dream, apparently with Titanic’s Leonardo Di Caprio (“King o’ the World, Leo… King o’ the…”) before being rudely awoken by her alarm. “Overslept!” she realizes in panic looking at her watch. Scanlon’s going to skin her alive if she misses a minute of this morning’s pitch. She knew she’d regret staying out so late the previous night, sticking around for that third screening with the gang and all… but Ames just needs to see it four more times now to beat Brandy’s record. And Brandy’s such a witch, Cinder thinks and tosses the nerve-wracking alarm clock on the floor. “Worth it,” she yawns.
“Shower,” she gives the voice command as she enters the bathroom. Eating a slice of pizza as she showers, she gives the voice command “Journal on” and begins her spoken entry. She saw Rick and Matt at the movies last night. With Ginny and Jess – obviously. After getting the chance to see the way Rick acts around with his girlfriend, though, all goofy and throwing popcorn at Stooper’s Boys like that, she is so over like him. But Matt still… She doesn’t know what it is, really, maybe Matt sort of reminds her of… of… Grey. Target Grey, she mentally confesses to herself. “Journal off,” she utters and stops recording her entry.
“Open,” she gives a new command and the shutters open tight, offering a breathtaking view of the city. (Actually, it is a fake view; Cinder is inside the huge aircraft serving as headquarters for the Gauntlet) Another summer in San Fran, Cinder thinks She was born and raised in a suburb of Oakland, California, just a few miles west from here. She went all the way through junior high in this small community, only dreaming of attending Faraday Empire State University some day. Checking her computer, Cinder goes through her dressing options for today: lime leotards? “Nope, outta lime lipstick…” she grumps. Cut-offs? Baggies? Yellow sun dress? Yeah, right, she thinks. Best she goes with basic black, as usual. Accented by the very latest in electro-response conductor contacts of course. This is a work day, after all.
Cinder initiates an electronic program that gradually puts her into a huge high-tech armor. She’s barely nineteen, give or take the three years spent in a shock-induced coma, triggered by the spontaneous blossoming of her natural psi-abilities. But she’s just another soldier now, the newest and youngest of Strikeforce: Gauntlet.
A few minutes later, now into her armor, Cinder enters the conference room. Being late, she apologizes to Commander Scanlon. She really was trying not to… Scanlon tells her to save it for the Review Board. With a picture of Nate beside him on a giant monitor, Scanlon announces to all the agents present that everything’s changed. If and until they find out what happened to their psi-talents – how and why they all fritzed out during the anomalous E-M pulse picked up by their sensors nineteen days ago – they’re forced to rely on more… traditional means of warfare. More physical. Unfortunately, they’ve lost all trace of target-Grey now, thanks to the interference of a man nine days ago – the monitor proceeds to show Ness’s face. To complicate matters further, they know nothing more of the lone stranger, who or what he is.
In New York, Ness has met on a rooftop with his cousin, and fellow member of the Hellbent race, Slaine. Ness explains that he traced Nate backwards from the Arctic to here, in New York, the city where he appears to have spent the most time in the last few months… but Nate hasn’t returned. Ness has lost him completely. And there are others after Grey now, as well. Powerful beings. Slaine must convince his people to help Ness. Slaine promises he will try, he owes him that much and no more. Unveiling his wings and flying off, Slaine reminds Ness, though, that he stinks of them. No matter what, Ness will never be allowed to return to the nest.
In a girls’ dormitory room of Trinity University in Dublin, a murderous energy-based being taunts Nate by wearing his face. The murderer assures Nate and Madelyne Pryor that the fun has just begun! Because of him, eight are dead already in Dublin, the flesh stripped from their bodies, the marrow sucked from their bones. “Some kind of doppelganger… or… or…” Madelyne utters in disbelief, seeing how the murderer is wearing Nate’s face. “No… NO MORE!” Nate screams in rage and blasts the killer with bolts of telekinesis. Nate doesn’t care who he is… what he thinks he is… he’s not getting anywhere near these girls… not without going through Nate at first!
Seemingly withstanding Nate’s relentless assault of telekinetic blasts, the killer assures Nate that he can live with that… how about him? In an instant, he reveals his true, skeletal face beneath an enormous armor. Nate recognizes him at once: Nemesis?! He knew it – as soon as Maddie proved the killer wasn’t Nate and they ruled out the rest of the Age of Apocalypse run-off, Nate knew it had to be Nemesis.
“Bully for you,” Nemesis scoffs and throws a punch on Nate, sending him crashing against the wall. “B-but how…?” Nate wonders, at loss about Nemesis’s shapeshifting abilities. Nemesis explains that the shape-changing is an added perk, built into the armor all along, as he recently learned, but it requires… feeding. Organic materials scavenged from the living. And Nate just wasted a good month’s worth with his best shot.
Seeing how Nemesis is about to repeat his attack on Nate, Maddie interposes between the two. She demands he back off! “Oooh… real scary, babe,” Nemesis sneers at her. He effortlessly pummels her and sweeps her out of his way, mockingly asking Nate where he dug this one up. Hearing that, Madelyne realizes that Nemesis knows… he knows what she is… where she was when Nate found her… Nate assures her that Nemesis knows squat. He is nothing more than the idiot-spawn of Apocalypse, soured up with the Dark Beast’s lab-scraps, and that little reign of terror ended with their world. Lunging at Nemesis, Nate proclaims that their unholy dynasty is long dead and buried! With that, they both crash down through the floor, locked in a fighting embrace.
Almost instantly, a human hand – Nate’s hand – emerges from the huge rift on the floor. Madelyne grabs his hand and pulls him up. She tells him it’s time to go. People are starting to gather now, and she can hear sirens approaching already. A worn out Nate explains that the first telekinetic barrage didn’t even slow Nemesis down. Their only chance was a focused attack, up close and personal like that… to try and penetrate the armor, maybe even…
“Tickled like the devil. Make me laugh again, Grey,” Nemesis pokes fun at him, emerging from the gap on the floor and grabbing Nate’s leg. “No way,” Maddie snaps. Like she said – time to go. At an instant, she teleports Nate and herself somewhere in the nature, right by a lake, snowy mountains visible in the background. She explains they are at Colorado Rockies, Southern face of Pike’s Peak. She came here with Scott once, a long time ago, and she thought he might find it…
“What have you done?!” an exasperated Nate screams at her. Maddie asks him not to panic; she just teleported them to safety. She reminds Nate that Nemesis is the murderer. He’s the Age of Apocalypse refugee that’s been slaughtering Dubliners while Nate slept, not Nate, so their business is done.
Back at Dublin, Nemesis rages outside the now burning dorm house, while people flee in panic. A military tells his men to clear the campus and bring out the big guns!
At Colorado Rockies, Nate asks Madelyne if she’s out of her mind. He explains that Nemesis is an engine of destruction, straight and simple. One of the very same bloodthirsty butchers who enslaved Nate’s world before they destroyed it. Madelyne retorts that Nemesis is raw, raging power and…  Nate cuts her short and reminds her they left him right at the height of a major mad-on and Nate is the only one with any chance of stopping him now!
In Dublin, even the army men flee in panic, faced with Nemesis’s wrath. People keep screaming that they can’t let him reach the streets; they should call for back-up! Nemesis gleefully blasts the army’s truck and blows it to smithereens.
At Colorado Rockies, Madelyne insists it’s not Nate’s problem – not anymore. It’s time he grows up already and realizes the whole world doesn’t revolve around him. Nate snaps back that yes, it is his problem. In a very real way, he’s responsible for every one of the Age of Apocalypse monsters that came through to this world, through the rift he tore open during the death-throes of his own planet. He has an idea that just may take care of Nemesis at least, once and for all – an idea he got from Maddie, in fact.
In Dublin, Nemesis begins to walk away from the dorm house, amidst flames and bodies of people, either dead or injured. Someone is heard screaming for ambulances.
At Colorado Rockies, Maddie tells Nate to save it. His teke-shields barely survived the first round, Nemesis’s first punch. He’ll kill Nate if they go back – kill them both – and she won’t… she can’t… Nate insists he’s not asking her this time. If she doesn’t want to do this… it’s a deal-breaker. And with this, Nate suits himself up in a psionic armor.
In Dublin, Nemesis realizes that those cowards just blew his cover and rabbited, leaving him for the locals. But he won’t be able to resume any kind of human form now till he replenishes all that juicy bio-mass he’d been stocking. And he’s got to start somewhere, he thinks, leering above a semi-conscious man laid on the ground. “Hail Mary, full of Grace…” the man prays in horror.
Nate’s voice is suddenly heard, with a proposition for Nemesis: how about they try this again – but this time they’ll even up the odds a bit. Nemesis finds himself surrounded far and wide by multiple identical versions of Nate, all donning his psionic armor. Nemesis is incredulous: Grey again, in some sort of psi-armor now?! More Greys to tear apart, he gleefully decides and makes to punch one of them… only his hand passes right through him. He then releases blast to a few other “Greys”; likewise, they remain impervious to his attack.
Seeing Nemesis at loss, Nate explains they’re more like psionic projections, shaped out of dust and dirt, with just a hint of brick-shavings for color. Materializing behind Nemesis, Nate announces “I’m the real sucker… mind over muscle!” and strikes at his opponent. “You wish, precious,” Nemesis snarls. That shiny little shell of Nate’s will never stand up to a direct shot from his bio-cannon. Nate retorts that Nemesis will never connect to it, not from this angle, not this close. His arms thrust deeply into Nemesis’s armors, Nate reveals he knew Nemesis would try anyway – in fact, he was waiting for it, so he could seal a teke-funnel round his open blast-fist, creating a vacuum that’ll continue sucking the energies out of his armor until Madelyne’s ready to…
Nate is suddenly in panic, seeing how Madelyne is nowhere to be found. He cries out her name. Struggling to break his lock with Nate, Nemesis commends him on the effort, but notices that the frail is nowhere in sight and Nate is nowhere man enough to contain all this power by his lonesome.
Floating above the two of them, Madelyne tells Nemesis that Nate doesn’t have to – not anymore. Not as long as she’s here to take it all away for him. Concentrating, she pulls out the vast amounts of the villain’s energy contained by Nate and teleports it away. A blinding explosion of red light, accompanied by a discreet “pop” sound ensues. An exhausted Madelyne lands on Nate’s arms, quipping that she was in the right time, at the right place, as always. Seeing how Nemesis is nowhere in sight, however, she wonders about him. Nate explains that his armor imploded with the last of his bio-energies. He’s not even sure there was ever much of a man inside.
The following morning, Conor MacAleer, the man Nate saved last night just as he was about be murdered by Nemesis, tells his wife how exactly the villain was beat the night before. Conor finishes his story by explaining that the energies Nate couldn’t contain, Madelyne teleported into outer space. Long and short of it is, the two of them saved his life last night. They saved his whole squadron. So the first month’s free, he told them, and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
Pointing at Nate, who’s voraciously devouring his breakfast in the couple’s kitchen, Conor’s wife, Brenda, stresses that, just like Conor said, this one’s a mutant. A bit embarrassed, Conor reminds her that he’s sitting a yard away from her. Brenda tells him she can see that for herself. And her pantry’s the worse for it – three times over already – but young Natey and his friend are both welcome here, for as long as they need. Nate thanks her for everything. Conor believes it’s settled, then. Their other borders should be down for breakfast in a few – some real characters, the lot of them. Nate assures him he’s looking forward to meeting them all – later though, after a couple of week’s sleep.
Nate enters the bedroom he shares with Madelyne. She is fast asleep in the bed. They did good out there, the two of them. They headed off some serious suffering for a lot of innocent people, once they finally got involved. He still can’t help thinking about the others, though – that shepherd outside the town, the Feeneys, those poor kids who picked the wrong lovers’ lane, the families of all those equally innocent others… how little they did for them. How much difference they could have made, if they’d moved sooner – moved first.
Nate has decided Maddie’s right: it’s time to get proactive. Time to start cleaning up the mess Nate’s brought to the world, starting with his birthworld bullies. Nemesis is no threat anymore. They took care of that problem, at least, but Sugarman and Dark Beast have been spreading their slimy tentacles wider and deeper every since they arrived. Nate and Maddie can do something about that together, soon as they get their telepathy back from… Before he can complete his thoughts, Nate falls asleep right by Maddie’s side, protectively hugging her with one arm.
Meanwhile, hidden inside a ship’s hold about to sail off from a Dublin port, Nemesis keeps raging over something Nate mentioned after he defeated him. “Not sure there was ever a man inside,” the punk actually says about him, Nemesis the First! Only-born heir to the true living Apocalypse. He swears Grey will eat these words – he and his witch both. He’ll stuff them down their scrawny throats himself, once he hooks up with Dark Beast back in New York, and he’s restored to his full armor body. McDoc’s got something cooking for Nemesis already. So rest in peace, sucker… if you can, he thinks of Nate.
Back in Dublin, a homeless woman screams in horror as someone drains her organic properties to the limit, leaving behind a charred skeleton. The culprit quickly flees in an alley. And at the same time, Madelyne slumbers peacefully in her room. However, she is now alone in the room, the windows sewn wide open…
In the Gaunlet headquarters, Vise gets out of her armor and walks into her personal apartment. Sometimes she thinks she’s been a soldier all her life. Maybe it’s the wires in her head, the psi-augmenters that she alone the Strikesquad: Gauntlet must rely upon, playing tricks with her mind. Sometimes they do that, she thinks.
The hard-faced Vise turns on her terminal and initiates transmission-sequence-Delta-3, personal protocol, scrambled from point of origin. A mysterious shady figure appears on the monitor. Addressing the interlocutor as “doctor,” she tells this person that they’ve got a problem: Scanlon’s people have lost the boy completely. Her interlocutor swiftly revives her hopes: “Problem solved, my dear. Point them in the direction of Dublin, Ireland…”


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Blood Brothers Prelude: Crossing Borders
Doomstadt, capital of Latveria.
Even at the absence of its ruler, Doctor Victor Von Doom, Latveria is still a country where peace and order rule the day, unlike many of its neighboring countries. Unbeknownst to all, from with a strange pyramid sitting atop the moon high above, emanates a malicious laughter.
Macaleer’s Bed ‘n’ Breakfast, on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland.
Staring out his room’s window, Nate Grey ponders on his recent battle against Nemesis. He is thinking that one of the villains is down, who knows how many more left to go. It took his and Madelyne’s combined strength to defeat Nemesis. However, he is not the only villain that has escaped in this world from Nate’s home reality; Dark Beast and Sugarman are on the loose for many years and have possibly corrupted others in their path, increasing the potential number of foes Nate will have to fight in the future.
His attention now diverted from the view outside, Nate ponders that he must find a way to prevent the apocalyptic vision he saw from coming to fruition. He has to find some way to keep himself from overloading on his own psi-energies and destroying half the Earth along with him. Still, he is determined to do whatever possible to keep the world clean from the rest of the villains that escaped from his home reality. The fact that he recently lost his telepathy complicates matters, though.
Suddenly, a shocked Nate realizes that the moon is falling down, heading straight for Earth – Dublin, in particular! Nate quickly flies upwards and starts unleashing his psionic forces against the moon, destroy it before reaching Earth.
For all his power, though, Nate is but a boy. His telekinetic impact shatters the plummeting satellite savagely, scattering multi-ton fragments of every size across all Europe, parts of Africa and Asia. In an instant, a quarter of the world’s surface is gone, another quarter is in flames and what’s left of the earth begins to shudder in response.
Suddenly, Nate wakes up from his nightmare screaming one strange word: “Tramahoi.”
A small robotic creature is standing above Nate, releasing some energy blasts on him. Nate realizes he is still on his bed in Macaleer’s B’n’B and Maddie is asleep next to him. Based on Maddie’s description, he also realizes this must be one of the Tech-Gnomes. Enraged, Nate uses his blasts to destroy it. Burned into the wall behind the wreckage, Nate is amazed to see a silhouette he can definitely recognize. As Madelyne wakes up, Nate assures her that this is nothing but a real, live recurring nightmare.
New York, New York
Nighttime. Deep in the sewers of the city, Ness and his cousin, Slaine are having a small discussion. Ness has shown Slaine the head of the Tech-Gnome he found, demanding to know more about it. Slaine replies that there are no records of anything like this; this is a technology the Hellbent have never encountered before.
All of a sudden, Slaine gasps and falls down, his back fatally slashed by someone. Behind them, a horrified Ness can see three members of the Hellbent: the Manx, who just slashed Slaine with his claws and the Shadow Sisters. One of the Sisters coldly states that brother Slaine has served his purpose: he has led them to his fellow traitor, Ness, who has defected from his tribe, the Hellbent.
Ness addresses her as Dusk, telling her not to do it. Undeterred, the other Sister opens her cape and unleashes a burst of light beam against him. When the blinding light dissipates, the Hellbent realize Ness has vanished. Dusk states that the coward has fled, abandoning his own blood.
They are wrong, however. Ness jumps from high above and lands on Dusk. As he keeps her head underwater, he threatens the other Sister, whom he calls Dawn, to call off the throwback or he will snap Dusk’s neck. The Manx, however, replies that he answers to no one and is about to jump on Ness anyway.
Suddenly, though, the dying Slaine uses his spiked wings to pierce right through Manx’s chest, killing him in the process. As Manx’s body collapses, Slaine urges Ness to kill Dusk. Too late, however. The Shadow Sisters benefit from the distraction and teleport away.
As Ness holds the increasingly weak Slaine, he praises him, telling him that, thanks to him, the Manx shall threaten none of them ever again. With his last breath, Slaine pleads Ness to go while he still can. He insists that the Tech-Gnome’s technology is unknown to him but seems to have grown from terrestrial materials, volcanic ash in particular, which is unique to one place on Earth: a small island in the Philippines… known as Tramahoi.
Tramahoi, Philippines
Madelyne has just teleported herself and Nate around the crater of a volcano at Nate’s own request without knowing exactly where – or what – they are looking for there. She asks him if his dream can tell him anything more than the name of this place, to which Nate responds negatively.
Ahead of them is an area of lush vegetation. Nate believes he can see something far ahead and starts flying towards it. Madelyne pleads him to slow down for a minute: they should be careful and take their time to find out who or what they are up against. Nate replies he knows exactly who he will find at the heart of this mess: the arrogant freak that set those Tech-Gnomes against them, the man that has given him nightmares and now owes him answers. Blaquesmith.
Despite Maddie’s protests, Nate starts flying, only to soon find himself on the exact same spot he was standing with Madelyne moments ago. A puzzled Nate explains that he found himself all turned around somehow while flying above the greenery. Apparently, the vegetation is so dense and strange that he could barely even tell up from down. Nate and Madelyne decide to try crossing the expanse together, this time on foot and leaving tracks behind so as to know where they’ve been.
As they progress inside the expanse, Nate reminds Madelyne this isn’t her problem, to which she agrees but also expresses her view that it is personal. Nate has already informed her of Blaquesmith being behind this and Maddie has good reason to expect some sort of “family reunion,” hinting at Cable’s connection with Blaquesmith.
Nate warns her to be careful of what she wishes for. Blaquesmith had previously tried to get Cable to kill Nate. Eventually, Cable ended up saving Nate’s life but that doesn’t necessarily mean the latter likes the former.
The duo starts following some strange glittering path they see on the ground. Finally, though, Nate states he has had enough of this and unleashes a gigantic psi-scythe to open some way through the countless leaves. The psi-scythe, though, ricochets out of control and Nate and Maddie fall on the ground to protect themselves from the scythe’s impact.
As the psi-scythe sears through the bark and leaves, it exposes some sort of strange techno-organic “trees,” obviously used for the production of Tech-Gnomes. Madelyne notices the trees have been somehow psi-sheened to reflect their own telekinesis back at them, seemingly in order to protect a single ship they can see ahead of them, behind a thicket. Madelyne, though, notices they still have a long way to go now that they’ve woken the locals. Upon finishing her phrase, she unleashes a bolt against an attacking Tech-Gnome.
As the duo starts fighting the Tech-Gnomes, Nate pleads her to teleport them inside the ship. Madelyne refuses. Due to all the reflective psi-ware around, she could end up bouncing them from here to eternity.
Suddenly, the twosome find themselves surrounded by countless Gnomes, who constantly pop up left and right, cutting off Nate and Maddie’s main route. Nate realizes that Blaquesmith has his defenses covered well. They can’t risk taking the route to the air out of fear they might lose it again. Thus, he decides to do the next best thing: he and Madelyne fiercely use their telekinesis to blast a route underground thus finally reaching Blaquesmith’s base.
Blaquesmith instantly welcomes the two, immensely pleased by the fact Nate received – and more importantly understood – his warnings and invitations and sought out for him, undeterred by his necessary security measures. “Your tests, you mean” replies Nate. He tells the mysterious being from the future that his tests have failed: Nate cheated and went around them all so Blaquesmith ultimately lost. “And you, Grey, may have finally passed” says Blaquesmith.
At his words, Madelyne and Nate become furious. They can’t believe Blaquesmith risked all those lives in Clifden, causing one disaster after the other just to test Nate. Nate releases a psionic fist to grab Blaquesmith but the misshapen being has already vanished from that point and materialized behind him.
Blaquesmith clarifies to them that his Tech-Gnomes were bred to be as proficient at controlling and containing destruction as they were at causing it. Thus, no innocents were ever seriously endangered in Clifden.
Nate insists that they could still get hurt inside his huge “garden” right there in the island. As he says that, he unleashes another psionic fist against Blaquesmith. However, the latter has already materialized next to Nate and replies that how much damage could have been done was entirely up to them. Nothing attacked them that they did not attack first. The only true threat to Nate has been his own power; they will have to work on that. The good thing, though, is that Blaquesmith never expected him to make it that far.
Amazed by Blaquesmith materializing here and there, Maddie asks him whether he is employing teleportation, time-slipping or holograms. Blaquesmith just states he is not what he appears to be. He is not, however, their problem or solution. Behind him is a screen, showing several scenes from all around the world, one being policemen in arms, the other terrorists demonstrating a hostage.
Blaquesmith cryptically mentions that there are signs of his coming and time everywhere, without bothering to identify to whom “his” refers. Patterns of chaos and carnage are spreading across the globe. The Askani’Son is unavailable at the moment, Blaquesmith explains, so they will have to deal with it on their own, although all may already be lost.
Nate retorts that he has no reason to believe anything Blaquesmith told him and, furthermore, does not have to spend another second there listening to some freak. Before he can finish his sentence, though, he and Maddie find themselves teleported on the roof of a building by Blaquesmith. There seems to be some fuss, as people have crowded the streets. Madelyne guesses they must be in Europe, judging from the countryside and architecture.
Blaquesmith has also teleported with them. From inside his ship, he alerts them they are in Latveria, actually. Maddie and Nate are watching the crowd who seem to be looking up at something. Indeed, the Latverians discuss with each other that it has been silent and immobile for hours, “it” being a huge pyramid floating above the Latverian capital.
While the Latverians believe this may signify their master’s return, Blaquesmith’s voice heard from the ship admits to Nate that he has come to find a humanity and soul in him he can’t deny. This is why he opened Nate’s mind to all his recent dreams and nightmares, to warn him to prepare himself for what could be the beginning of the end.
At that exact moment, the giant pyramid crashes down, on top of Doom’s castle.


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Blood Brothers Part 1: Stormfront
San Fransisco
Commander Rafe Scanlon is watching the news on the recent crisis involving the giant pyramid that crashed down on Doctor’s Doom’s castle in Latveria. He realizes his promotion from Field to Command rank couldn’t have come at a worse time. He and the strikesquad he works for, the Gauntlet, are better equipped now to deal with Nate Grey but they are nowhere close to finding him again. He reflects on the three agents that work for them: Barone is probably drinking something in a bar, as usual. Vise is already in skydock field simulation trying out her new uniform. And Cinder Fontaine is in her room. Actually, Cinder is listening on some music, unaware of the developments in Latveria.
On the news, it is reported that authorities continue to gather and review incoming satellite data in order to solve the puzzle of the huge pyramid that came from the moon and hovered above Doomstadt, capital of Latveria, for twelve hours before falling down. Given the infamous isolationist political position of Latveria, other world governments have proven understandably reluctant to investigate too closely.
New York, Avengers mansion
Captain America, Thor and Scarlet Witch are discussing the situation with Nick Fury, who appears on a monitor. Fury doesn’t want them to go to Latveria and investigate. Doom may be gone but not forgotten; Latveria is strictly off-limits to everyone who wants to remain sanctioned by the United States. Cap replies that this is hardly their first priority; there may be people there that need their help. Fury reminds him they are Doom’s people and want no help from outsiders. Thor, in turn, reminds Fury that this is the way the Latverian people have been taught by the despotic Doom.
Scarlet Witch tells Thor that Fury is right and Captain America is aware of it, too. Getting uninvited into Latveria could make matters worse at this point. Fury agrees; he also informs them the S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t ruled out yet the possibility of Doom driving that pyramid from the moon. One way or the other, they can’t intervene unless the Latverians request so directly or a more significant threat emerges for the rest of the world. Cap hopes it will not be too late by then.
Latveria
Nate Grey and Madelyne Pryor, both in shock, are still looking at the huge pyramid on top of what used to be Doom’s castle. They can’t believe that pyramid is there – the pyramid from Nate’s apocalyptic vision! Blaquesmith’s voice, coming from his small spaceship just above Nate and Maddie ensures them reality is undeniable.
As Latverians start screaming and calling out their master, Doom, to save them, Nate asks Maddie whether there is a possibility it is actually Doom himself who is behind this, since Nate has heard many bad things about him ever since he crossed over to the present universe. With his telepathy gone, Nate can’t understand what the locals are saying.
Madelyne advises him to read their faces rather than their minds. The Latverians are fully aware Doom would never destroy Castle Doom, his symbol of power, so it must be someone else.
Blaquesmith’s voice from his airship confirms it’s not Doom. Nate tells him nobody asked him; he also demands he takes them out of there immediately. Blaquesmith insists that this thing they are facing is something that doesn’t belong in this world or time. Not unlike Nate and Maddie themselves. Nate tells him to buzz off but, suddenly, he and Maddie find themselves surrounded by locals, who are shocked by the fact strangers have entered their land.
Blaquesmith happily follows Nate’s advice and immediately leaves with his airship. Nate considers telekinetically smashing his ship when Maddie points him to something far more important: a door in the pyramid slides open, from which Stryfe and his Dark Riders emerge.
Instantly, Stryfe orders the Riders to locate and destroy those who pose the most significant threat to his plan: the world’s telepaths who are currently at their weakest. They should all be removed from Stryfe’s new world, starting from the most powerful on down.
As the Riders start raiding the streets, one of the them, Psynapse, a man of diminutive size sitting on the shoulder of the Rider known as Tusk,  uses his psychic powers to point out to Nate and Maddie’s presence.
Madelyne teleports Nate and herself two blocks away. Nate tells her she shouldn’t teleport him away without a warning. She explains it was done out of self-preservation instinct.  Nate tells her they know who the ones Stryfe is after are. He pleads her to go and find them when he is suddenly assaulted by Tusk who punches him.
As Maddie screams Nate’s name, Psynapse telepathically informs Tusk that this mutant they’ve just got on the ground is a psionic rainbow, gleaming with rich energies of the psi-spectrum… albeit disturbingly familiar energies. Psynapse orders Tusk to kill him quickly. Nate gets up, though, and fiercely strikes Tusk, knocking him out. Nate turns on Maddie and pleads her to go and do as she was told.
Not particularly excited, Madelyne teleports to Xavier’s estate, to see if the Dark Riders have arrived there. It pains her to see the mansion again, home to the X-Men, her onetime friends who ate and drank in her wedding to Scott Summers until they all betrayed her for Jean Grey. She realizes the team must be out overnight since there are no lights or voices and no sign of the Dark Riders. She suddenly realizes where they must have headed for.
Back in Latveria, Nate watches the crowd running in panic all over the place. Suddenly, he is ambushed by Psynapse, who lands on top of his head and scrambles the neural pathways that transmit Nate’s thoughts. In response to this sudden interruption of Nate’s amazingly complex mental state, his vital defense mechanisms begin collapsing: his psi-inhibitors are the first to go. As a result, Psynapse is instantly vaporized in the backlash of unleashed energies. Nate finds himself virtually reborn, skipping stages of growth he was never meant to survive, commanding energies he was never meant to contain. His psionic abilities are now restored and amplified; his awareness greatly hightened.
Nate easily disposes of the Underlings, the weakest among the Dark Riders, telekinetically sending them back to the pyramid, at Stryfe’s feet. Nate and Stryfe make momentary psychic contact; Nate remains puzzled, unable to believe that Stryfe can be…
His flow of thoughts is interrupted by the continuous voices of the Latverians. Nate flies upwards, warning them all to be quiet otherwise he might do something they’ll all regret. Stryfe rises from the pyramid, uttering the words “Too late, child.”
Anchorage, Alaska
Madelyne teleports outside a house which is actually the last place on earth she’d like to be: her onetime honeymoon cottage where she spent the happiest time in her life, until Scott decided she was nothing more than a pale imitation of his true love, Jean Grey.
Jean Grey is indeed currently living there. She is having a bath, unaware that just outside the bath window Mainframe and his separate consciousness, the A.I. known as Harddrive, are deactivating the alarm systems. Without a hesitation, Maddie attacks Harddrive / Mainframe. Harddrive blasts her and, thanks to Maddie’s intangibility, the blast passes right through her and strikes Mainframe, who falls on the ground, possibly dead. Harddrive prepares to launch another attack against Maddie.
In Latveria, Stryfe grasps Nate with a gigantic psionic fist. “You are mine, Grey,” he exclaims, explaining how intrigued he feels by Nate’s power and how he would like to have it all. As Stryfe probes deeper, he realizes what he and the boy are truly to each other. Suddenly, explosive energies are unleashed from Nate’s body.
In Alaska, Madelyne uses her telekinesis to take down Harddrive. Upon defeating him, she turns around, only to accidentally see Jean through the bathroom window, toweling herself – Jean remains blissfully ignorant to the attack outside the house, to the fact she wouldn’t be alive if not for Madelyne’s intervention.
Maddie’s face momentarily clouds, watching the woman she herself was cloned to replace. Getting her head back together, she teleports to Latveria to find Nate. Everybody seems gone, though: only debris remains. Unbeknownst to her, some Latverians, furious of all those strangers invading their land, are targeting her with guns.
Watching from a monitor in his ship, Blaquesmith tells Cable to forget about Madelyne: they are too many snipers scattered around and Maddie’s unimportant compared to their real target. Cable refuses to comply and jumps on the ground, attacking the shooters. He quickly makes short work of them. Blaquesmith congratulates him and departs with his ship. Cable and Maddie reunite, with the former asking “What’s up with the rest of the family?” implying Nate.
In the pyramid, Stryfe keeps Nate restrained. Having read his mind, he now knows of Nate’s heritage: how he was born in the parallel earth known as “Age of Apocalypse,” how he was designed to be the ultimate living weapon, the product of one madman’s quest for personal power. But for Stryfe, Nate is just another Cable. Another version of himself. However, of all the spawn of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, natural and artificial, Stryfe believes one alone was born to this power – himself. Raised by Apocalypse to have absolute power, he will have no other before him.
Upon saying this, Stryfe starts siphoning Nate’s raging psi-energies into himself by attaching a pair of inductors to Nate’s head and using a device Doctor Doom had once used to drain the Power Cosmic from Silver Surfer.
Tramahoi, Philippines
Ness has just barely managed to survive through the hostile “garden” of the island on his way to Blaquesmith’s base. Ness’ cousin, Slaine, had told him that Tramahoi is the only known source of the volcanic ash found in the composition of the Tech-Gnomes Ness encountered in Ireland. As Ness watches Blaquesmith’s ship landing down and the misshapen being coming out of the ship, he thinks that Blaquesmith better tell him all the information he needs about the boy who dreamt up the end of the world – Nate Grey.


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Blood Brothers Part 3: Dream’s End
Doomstadt, capital city of Latveria
The country of Latveria has been leaderless as of late. Its monarch, Doctor Doom, is presumed dead. Stryfe, the twisted, power-mad clone of Cable from the far future, has just crashed down with his “pyramond” on Castle Doom. Stryfe came, he saw, he conquered; he did what he was born and raised to do.
Stryfe has just single-handedly defeated both Cable and Nate Grey and holds a seemingly disoriented Madelyne Pryor in his arms. “Because of you, Cable, I released the Legacy Virus upon this era,” Stryfe says to a rather weak Cable who tries to get himself together and once more attack Stryfe with his Psimitar. Stryfe keeps taunting Cable by telling him that, because of him, hundreds are dead already and thousands will die until Cable himself tastes his greater defeat! As Cable tries to stand up, he tells Stryfe he is not going to be defeated by the likes of him. However, the Chaos-Bringer kicks him on the chest and Cable falls on the ground again.
Stryfe remarks that he and Nate have far more in common than Stryfe and Cable. As Stryfe telekinetically summons Nate near him, he confesses he sees both Nate and himself as products of immeasurable power, genetic “seconds” by some standards but actually “improvements” of the first draft: Cable. Indeed, Nate shares the same parent DNA as Cable and Stryfe but in different combinations and stirred on an entirely different Earth.
Stryfe decides to finish what he started with Doom’s infamous power-sapping device – add Nate’s raw psionic powers to his own. Indeed, he starts draining Nate’s energies, causing the young mutant to scream. Stryfe believes that between him and Nate, there is room for just one in Stryfe’s new world.
Stryfe embraces Madelyne, apologizing for ignoring her. He believes that she, of all people, should understand why he cannot allow such psi-energies go to waste. Stryfe can feel that Madelyne sees the lure of power more clearly than her comrades; she is incredibly power-thirsty.
“Save it, Stryfe. You’re preaching to the choir,” says Madelyne, birthmother of Cable and companion of Nate Grey, bearing a malicious glee. Satisfied, Stryfe generates a psionic armor that adorns her body while he keeps siphoning Nate’s energies.
Madelyne, now entirely corrupted, turns on Cable, urging him to start figuring out how to use his flaws, rather than fighting them. As she says that, she touches his shoulder and Cable starts screaming as his body seems to be corroded by her touch, his energies drained by her. “Stay away from us, traitor,” Cable screams and breaks away from her touch. In an instant, Cable throws his charged Psimitar, which focuses whatever psi-force was left on Cable to clear a path out for Nate and himself. Indeed, the Psimitar tears apart a wall and Cable escapes through the opening, carrying a very weak Nate on his shoulders.
“Idiot,” says Stryfe. With the advanced technology of his pyramond already reshaping Doom’s castle to his own needs, it is a simple matter to have Cable and Nate be telekinetically cut off before…
Madelyne interrupts him, telling him he shouldn’t bother. Both Cable and Nate are drained-dry at this point and thus useless. She believes Stryfe shouldn’t lose sight of the big picture now.
Stryfe calls her “little devil” and admits she’s right. He and Madelyne stand on the edge of the ruined Castle Doom and gaze at the city of Doomstadt, entirely ruined, fires still spreading around after Stryfe and his Dark Riders raided the place. Stryfe thinks he has a responsibility to “his” people; he believes they need him now like a sheep needs a shepherd. Stryfe is ecstatic to see most Latverians up in arms about something or the other, doing more damage to their land and each other than the foreign invaders they always fear so much. Indeed, there is utter chaos in Latveria. Without warning, Stryfe’s telepathic words roar through the minds of all Latverians as a psionic image of both Stryfe and Madelyne, triumphant and bearing a wicked smile, towers over Doomstadt.
At the Latverian borders, soldiers of neighboring countries refuse to allow the Latverians to pass into their countries. A helicopter of the news flies over the borders, reporting that this scene takes place in all borders of Latveria. Even Latverian policemen and border guards join the would-be refugees trying to flee the country. However, neighboring Balkan countries remain adamant in their refusal to open long-closed borders, some even bringing in armed reinforcements to maintain the strict “no-crossing” policy first instituted by Doom himself.
Ness, recent exile of the long-hidden race known as Hellbent, last of the Night-Tribes, takes advantage of the fact no man in his right mind would try to slip into Latveria under the circumstances and indeed enters the country unnoticed.
Ness watches Blaquesmith’s airship leave the area. Blaquesmith dropped Ness there but he wouldn’t risk penetrating Latverian airspace, even with the stealth-tech keeping his airship cloaked.  Ness knows what’s going to happen if Nate Grey isn’t stopped in time. Ness was there in the dream – in Nate’s dream. He is destined to be there at the end of the world.
Meanwhile, Cable urges Nate to pull himself together: they have to get out of there at once. Nate strongly refuses and tells him to let go of him. Cable happily complies; with their telekinetic powers shut down now, actual physical contact is a pain in the brain for him.
Nate realizes Cable doesn’t know anything. Everything around Nate reminds him of his apocalyptic vision: Cable’s strange metal arm reminds Nate of the armored “other” he saw in his vision. Stryfe’s pyramond is close to what he saw; even Nate’s hair is longer like in his vision. There are some slight differences, such as architectural details or Cable holding a Psimitar rather than a gun, but Nate can’t deny it anymore: this is where he dies. Where this Earth dies with him.
Nate suddenly realizes Maddie is still inside the pyramond with Stryfe. He can’t believe Cable left her behind like that. Cable retorts Nate can’t help her now; he can’t go back in there. He can’t let him go back in there. The reason? Cable figured out Stryfe’s pyramond is designed to focus any and all psionic energies around him, adding to his already overwhelming power. That’s why he retreated, taking Nate with him. Cable tells Nate one has to know when to walk away. If Stryfe wants power, they will give it to him, in spades; only they will do so outside the castle, outside the grip of his energy-sucking pyramond.
Cable anxiously awaits Nate’s response, knowing that Nate is significantly more powerful than him, unaffected by the Techno-Virus that saps at Cable’s psi-strengths. He fears Nate may refuse to cooperate, leading to a fight between them. Nate, however, knows, without doubt, that such a clash with his “other” will be the beginning of the end. So, he reluctantly asks Cable how they are going to get Stryfe out there. Cable replies with strategy. By the time they’re rested, up to full strength, he promises he’ll…
His phrase is interrupted by a terrible noise: the pyramond is suddenly growing! Nate instantly makes his decision: without having to delay or engage in battle with Cable, he telekinetically slip-sides through Cable’s molecules and then through the wall of the pyramond, catching Cable by surprise. As Cable opens a hole on the wall with his Psimitar, he remarks what Nate does best is to rush where angels fear to tread; not unlike what Cable used to do once.
Ness witnesses them both entering the pyramond. He realizes all the pieces are in place now – all the ingredients for full-blown disaster, except for himself. Ness contemplates whether anything may change if he doesn’t follow them in the pyramond. Suddenly, though, the pyramond grows again. Ness overheard enough from Cable and Nate to know this isn’t good. He doesn’t know who Stryfe is but wonders what kind of monster could set out to ruin this once-proud land.
In the pyramond, Stryfe complains on how “second millennium” is this whole-rocks-and-bricks thing in Doom’s castle. He simply won’t have it. Despite his legendary achievements, it’s obvious Doom never managed to fully rise above his pedestrian roots. Stryfe, on the other hand, was born and bred to rule. Latveria is but the first step towards his final goal: complete command of this entire world. Madelyne congratulates him on thinking big. For Stryfe, even this world is but the first step towards command and control of the galaxy; of all reality; all time itself! No one can stop him; neither Cable nor Nate, whose rich energies are already coursing through Stryfe’s body, courtesy of Doom’s Power-Siphon.
Stryfe admits he’s still curious about Nate. Madelyne promises she could share a thing or two about him that might surprise Stryfe – if he’s into sharing, that is. Stryfe replies he is; the psi-armor Madelyne wears is but a prelude to what he offers. He finds her quite unique, yet so alike. She’s the closest thing to a mother he’s known and he is the closest thing to a true son she’ll ever know. Both of them, cloned by others and from others are together now and can protect each other.
Nate suddenly appears, telling Stryfe to give it up: the lady’s leaving with him. A confused Maddie screams “No!” and blasts Nate with huge amounts of energy. As she turns to Stryfe, with her psi-armor wearing off, she states she just wanted to protect… Stryfe cuts her short: he was reading in her mind all along her uncertainty over what she would do when she saw him again. Stryfe now clearly sees her true colors.
Suddenly, Cable makes his entrance and Madelyne pleads him to go, but Nathan refuses. Now holding Madelyne, Stryfe informs her he was fully aware of her pilfering his gathered psi-energies. He was even impressed by her audacity but he won’t bear the fact she gave that power to Nate. Indeed, at that very moment, Nate flies upwards, in an explosion of energy, admitting how nice Maddie’s psi-bolt felt: so much concentrated psi-force all in one shot.
Stryfe tells Madelyne he won’t tolerate her insult; she can’t survive. He starts draining her of the psi-energies that literally define her; the energies that have been reanimating her long-dead spirit for months now.
Nate wants to rush to her aid, however Cable urges him to fight Stryfe since he’s at peak power levels, while Cable himself will remove Maddie from the area. He swears he’ll do anything he can for Madelyne. Nate tells him he’d better, because, if she dies, Cable is the next person Nate will come after. As he says these, he attacks Stryfe. Stryfe tells him to bring it on; the witch barely whetted his appetite.
Cable approaches Maddie, telling her not to talk and save her strength; she is leaking psi-energies and losing physical cohesion before his eyes. He uses his telekinesis to hold her together but realizes she’s fading fast. Maddie tries to make Cable understand there was no other way she knew in order to deal with the situation up there. Cable assures her he realized her plan from the moment she touched him and he saw her eyes. Nate never doubted her for a second.
Nearby, Stryfe taunts Nate that, even with all the stolen energy now surging through him, Nate still can’t armor himself against him. In response, Nate produces a psi-armor around his body and attacks Stryfe, telling him to taste psi-steel. Stryfe maliciously starts absorbing Nate’s psionic armor right off his body, replenishing himself with the energies he lost! Horrified, Nate can’t believe he made such a stupid mistake.
As the pyramond grows again, Stryfe, with a weak Nate crawling on the ground, realizes he’s more powerful than ever, with his pyramond channeling all the psi-energies into himself, including those leaking from Madelyne. Stryfe turns on Nate again, urging him to fight back so that he can amass his energies even faster.
An agonizing Nate pleads Cable to take Maddie and get out of there, realizing he has to finish this once and for all. Cable hesitates; he’s the one who’s usually in a position to sacrifice himself. How can he leave a kid alone to fight his greatest enemy? Still, he flees, carrying the fallen Madelyne with him. Stryfe is amused to see this; the coward abandoning Nate at the fate that should have been his. With a voice that is barely heard, Nate tells him Cable knows what Nate can do with his powers and how far he’s willing to go.
Suddenly, Ness appears, pleading Nate to remember his future vision. He tells him that, if he dies there, he takes half the world with him. As Ness easily avoids a blast aimed at him by Stryfe, he warns Nate that if the final outburst of his powers occurs here – and combined with the psi-energies gathered by Stryfe – this will create a wave that will destroy half the planet. He reminds him of what he told him in Clifden: to think broader and bigger.
Nate realizes he’s right. He’s not going to play Stryfe’s game anymore; at least, not by his way. As Stryfe mockingly tells him his newfound ally is nothing more than a babbling distraction, Nate slyly uses his telekinesis until he brings the Power Siphon right on Stryfe’s head, locking the inductors on his skull. When Stryfe realizes it, it’s too late: the Power Siphon has him caught in an energy-feedback-loop style, draining all the energy out of him and pumping it back in, building into a tremendous overload! Realizing this, Nate flies away with Ness moments before the actual explosion takes place. Ness tells him that, just like in his vision, he could do nothing but stand there as a witness but they were all saved thanks to Nate’s ingenuity.
As Nate approaches Cable, he asks him on Maddie’s condition. Cable informs him she’s unconscious and stabilized and, with the pyramond wrecked and no longer sucking psionic energy out of her, she will regain her health in time.
Nate is amazed to see how his future-vision came to pass and he didn’t die. Ness tells him everything got to be saved based on the right choices, as always. Nate asks him who he is; the mysterious man explains his name is Ness, but can also be called the Witness. He mentions that, in time, Nate will understand why their fates are linked.
As Maddie wakes up and Nate promises her she’s never going to lose him, Cable takes this as the cue to leave. As he’s about to go, though, Nate stops him and tells him that up there he saw two different versions of what he could become one day and it’s Cable he relates himself with. Happy to hear this, Cable says breakfast’s on him. And thus a new day starts for Latveria, bringing the hope of peace and renewal.