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Finale
7:15 PM (BST) at the penthouse suite within the Boneyard on Krakoa, home and headquarters to X-Factor Investigations. 'Wouldn't it remove important context?' Kyle Jinadu-Beaubier asks as he sits on the bed he shares with his husband, X-Factor's leader, Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar. 'Non' Jean-Paul replies from the ensuite bathroom. Kyle is already dressed in his Hellfire Gala costume as he asks 'But... why choose to discard something formative like trauma?' Wrapping a towel around his hips, Northstar steps out of the shower and explains 'Because then we get back a not-dead, not-traumatized mutant!' Kyle agrees that that makes sense. '$#%&'s sake, Kyle!' Jean-Paul snaps. 'No, you're right – you're right, I get it!' Kyle replies.
Elsewhere in the Boneyard, Trevor Hawkins a.k.a. Eye-Boy skateboards down a corridor, while his mutant ability enables him to see conversations going on in other parts of the complex, like the one between Rachel Summers a.k.a. Prestige and Akihiro a.k.a. Daken, who sit in the main living room on the sofa. 'So, you and 'rora, huh?' Rachel asks, while her warwolf pup, Amazing Bar, sits on her lap. 'Yup' Daken confirms. Sitting near them, watching the television, is the strangely reborn Rockslide.
''rora' he quotes Prestige in his strange voice. Rachel asks Daken if she can tell him a secret. 'Uh... okay' Daken replies, to which Rachel announces that she misses the old Mojoverse programming. 'I know it's better that Krakoa's showrunning now, but I mess their chaotic trash!' Rachel exclaims. Daken laughs, before admitting that he thinks the same.
Observing their conversation still, Eye-Boy snorts, before his sight changes, and he peeks in on David Alleyne a.k.a. Prodigy, who is opening a package that has arrived for him. David is puzzled that the package has no return address. David holds up a beautiful gown in the box, complete with wings, and a note that says “Wear this tonight”. 'I scanned  it, it's safe!' Eye-Boy calls out to David, who thanks him, but is confused by the note. Eye-Boy continues down the corridor, when suddenly, Jeanne-Marie Beaubier gasps as she wraps her dressing gown around herself. 'TREVOR!' Lorna Dane a.k.a. Polaris shouts, holding a towel around her body as Trevor skates past them. 'Trevor, were naked! And why aren't you getting ready?' Lorna calls out. Trevor glances back at the women and apologizes, before Lorna creates a magnetic wave that forces Trevor and his skateboard up the main internal staircase that winds through the center of the complex.
'Go get dressed, mister!' Lorna instructs Trevor. 'All right, all right! Geez...' Eye-Boy replies. Lorna and Aurora begin to walk upstairs as Aurora remarks that Lorna seems a bit on edge, and asks her if she is all right. Lorna sighs, before telling Aurora that she is fine, but nervous about tonight. 'Oh? You have a date I don't know about?' Aurora asks. Lorna closes her eyes as she explains that it is nothing like that, but it's just a big night. 'I mean – you feel it too, right?' Lorna asks, and Aurora tells her that she does.
Shortly: 'Transport has arrived!' Hope Summers announces as she and the rest of the Five teleport into the Boneyard. 'Wow, you guys look great!' Egg calls out as he and Hope stand with Tempus, Proteus and Elixir. 'Merci. As do you all' Northstar replies as he, Kyle and Daken stand together wearing their costumes. Rachel approaches them wearing her dark red, spiked costume. Aurora arrives in a blue gown, while Polaris is wearing a green and white gown. Prodigy wears a a gold gown with wings that leaves his chest bare.
Elixir asks if everyone is ready to head over, while Tempus tells Lorna that her gown is stunning. 'I can telepathically retreat the spikes, see?' Rachel tells her “niece”, Hope. 'Smart' Hope agrees, before Proteus asks where Eye-Boy is. Northstar looks upwards and shouts 'Trevor Hawkins, if you don't -', while in his room, Trevor quickly takes his clothes off, ties his long hair up and wraps a blue and gold pattern material around his waist, where it falls like a long skirt.
'Okay – I'm ready!' Eye-Boy calls out, as he, the rest of X-Factor, Kyle, Amazing Baby and the Five are teleported to an open area on Krakoa where others are gathered, ready to teleport to the Gala. Their grand arrival does not go unnoticed, Cannonball, Laura Kinney, Domino, Gambit, Karma, Kwannon, Iceman and other party goers all turn to them. There's a lot left to say. They have all come a long way. But they still have a long way to go, too. Trauma reshapes a person – but healing from it does too. Daken and Aurora smile as they hold each other close. Northstar and Kyle holds hands, while Polaris and Prestige strut through the area like it's their runway. Prodigy and Eye-Boy hug and laugh.
Suddenly, Prodigy realizes that he forgot something at home. He tells his teammates to go ahead and that he will meet up with them inside. As mutants queue up to be scanned by Quentin Quire prior to teleportation, 'Want me to just -' Northstar offers, but Prodigy tells him that it's fine, that he will be quick. 'Okay, see ya, Prodigy' Eye-Boy remarks as he, the rest of X-Factor and the Five step through a portal into the Hellfire Gala on Mykines – with none of them anticipating how their lives will change in one night.
9:04 PM (BST), the Gala is underway. Madrox dupes carry trays of champagne around, while the Thing can be seen holding a very large glass. Synch, Manifold and Rogue are gathered together talking, while the Beast can be seen walking towards Monet. Frenzy is chatting with Dr Strange, near where Colossus and Professor X are speaking. Rachel, with Amazing Baby on a leash that resembles hair, walks past a young woman in a white gown, and heads towards Kate Pryde, who crouches down to hug the grinning Amazing Baby.
Eye-Boy walks up to the young woman in white and introduces himself, smiling. 'Hi... I'm Carmen' the young woman replies somewhat nervously. Eye-Boy asks her if she is new to Krakoa and offers to show her around. 'Welcome back, idiot' Daken smiles at Laura Kinney a.k.a. Wolverine as she approaches Daken and Aurora. Aurora smiles as she tells Laura that Akihiro has told her so many wonderful things about her and Gabby while she was gone. 'Ha! Don't lie!' Laura smiles, before Northstar interrupts the reunion. Holding something in his hand, he extends it to Daken. 'What's this?' Daken asks. 'This is a “cell phone” which is -' Northstar starts to say, but Daken interrupts him, pointing out that he knows what it is – but he wants to know why Northstar is giving it to him. 'So you can... call for help. The next time you need it' Northstar explains.
Polaris walks past her father, Magneto, as she finishes a glass of champagne. 'Thank you, Jamie' she tells one of the Madrox dupes as she takes another glass from a tray the dupe holds. 'Another glass already? Some decorum, please, Lorna. Remember, you represent House of M at all times' Magneto remarks, frowning. 'Ah, yes. Hello, Father. I'm happy to see you as well' Lorna responds tartly, while at the same time, Kyle is holding baby Shogo as he talks to Jubilee. Jubilee tells Kyle that he is so good with Shogo, and asks when he and Jean-Paul are going to make some little friends for Shogo. 'Unk peepee!' Shogo cries out. 'That's right, baby – Uncle JP' Jubilee replies. Northstar overhears this, and spits his champagne back into its glass. 'PTOO! He still calls me that?' he asks, horrified.
Meanwhile, at Club Pepper, in Los Angeles, 1:30 PM (PDT): 'Sorry, we're not open yet' one of the bar staff calls out as Prodigy, still wearing his Hellfire Gala gown, enters the club. Two of the bar staff look up at him in shock. '...wow. It's him' one of them utters. 'It's him!' the other exclaims. 'Uh...hi?' David asks them. 'Go – yeah, get the thing! The baggie!' one of the staff tells the other. 'I am, I am!' the other responds as he reaches into a drawer and pulls put a ziplock bag containing a cellphone, and a note that reads “For Prodigy. With love, Prodigy”. Prodigy looks at the cell phone and realizes that it is the one he lost nearly a year ago. 'What? No, you didn't. You gave it to us for safekeeping that night you left here with... um...' one of the staff begins. 'We'd given up hope. We thought we'd never see you again. Just like the rest of them' the other wide-eyed bar tender remarks. 'You... don't remember any of this, do you?' the other asks.
Back at the Hellfire Gala, it's 9:32 PM (BST), and some dancing is underway. 'Quit steppin' on my feet, Pryde' Rachel tells her friend, but Kate just laughs at her. Laura Kinney can be seen dancing nearby, while the Beast patrols the area as part of the X-Force security detail. Suddenly, 'No way...' Rachel utters. 'What's wrong?' Kate asks her. The spikes on Rachel's costume suddenly stick out further, as Rachel announces that Shatterstar is back. Rachel goes to the edge of a balcony and looks down below, where she sees a crowd part so that Shatterstar can walk through them. He's wearing his hotpants and boots, and is covered in blood, while a strange energy trails behind him. Rachel informs Kate that Shatterstar set out earlier today on some fated, ancient quest to save Siryn from the Morrigan once and for all. 'But if he's here... it means he already succeeded' Rachel utters. 'So? That sounds good' Kate points out. 'It... should have taken him months' Rachel explains, while Shatterstar looks around the crowd of people.
Turns out, you can never really  “kill” a  death goddess, only repurpose the magic. Much later, Shatterstar would explain every word that the Morrigan said before her defeat. The Morrigan was correct in saying that mutants have no need of a death goddess – but mutants do die. Who knows what being so close to the death of a death goddess could do to a person? After all, the Morrigan's last words were “To the victor go the spoils”.
Shatterstar enters the Gala proper. Emma Frost sees him, and Eye-Boy, who is showing Amazing Baby to a child at the Gala, looks over to Shatterstar, while Wolverine stands nearby. At the same moment, Siryn's body grows inside an egg within the Hatchery. Finally, Shatterstar sees Rictor. He smiles and tears fall down his face as he goes over and puts a hand on Rictor's shoulder.
At 2:32 PM (PDT) in a Bel Air mansion owned by film producer Buck Thatcher. A loud scream can be heard within the mansion – it's Buck Thatcher, who has fallen to the floor and scurries backwards, screaming, as Prodigy stands over him. 'You – you, no... no!' Buck calls out. 'Me...?' David asks. 'You – dead' Buck Thatcher utters. 'That's right!' David snaps at Buck, before he grabs him by the back of his head: 'Came back from the dead to drag you to hell, baby' he snarls, before he punches Buck in the face. 'You killed me!' David exclaims.
Back at the Hellfire Gala at 10:15 PM (BST), 'Ah, more humans. Hi, I'm Kyle Jinadu-Beaubier' Kyle calls out to Captain America. 'Oh! Northstar's husband, right? Hi, I'm Steve' Cap replies, while Mr Fantastic can be seen talking to someone nearby. As all of the mutants at the party are focused on Jean Grey who hovers above them all, Cap asks Kyle what is happening. Kyle explains that the X-Men elections are happening. 'Live in Krakoa long enough and you get used to the whole mutant mind-link thing' Kyle replies casually. Cap is surprised by this, and asks 'Wait, you live in Krakoa? And you're human?' to which Kyle replies 'Sure am. Enjoy the party!' and leaves Cap, he heads over to where the members of X-Factor are gathered and are taking a photo.
'Congratulations on your win, dear girl. The X-Men are lucky to have you' Jean-Paul tells Lorna as he takes her hands. Lorna smiles and hangs her head as she tells Northstar that she should have mentioned to him she had been thinking about this move sooner, and apologizes. Northstar puts his hands on Polaris' face and tells her that he is so proud of her, of all that she is, and whether they work together or not. 'You're formidable, kind and brilliant' he adds. Lorna tells him that she is going to miss them all so much. 'And we'll miss you. You'll always have a home with us, no matter what' he assures her.
At 11:30 PM (BST), John Greycrow is forced to restrain Wild Child, holding him back as Wild Child lashes out at Daken. 'YOU'LL BE SMILING OUT YOUR THROAT!' Wild Child warns Daken, who casually walks away from the scene. 'Pfft. That's one way to announce we're dating, I suppose' Daken tells Jeanne-Marie as they  begin to dance. 'Dating, and yet you still don't really know me at all' Jeanne-Marie replies. Daken tells her that he knows that if she was a season, she would be autumn – a tease of biting wind, a promise of something cold but exhilarating. 'Ahikiro -' Jeanne-Marie begins, attempting to interrupt him, but he continues, and asks her if she knows that people have a natural scent. 'I know yours – sugar and the sea. Not the brine, but the other aspect the ocean has – the part that's wild and unknowable. Was. You smell like sweetness and infinity' Daken utters.
Aurora listens intently as Daken continues, informing her that he already knows about her dissociative identity disorder, and that she – all of her – are managing it beautifully. 'And I know that you killed Eddie. And that you tried to cover it up by dying'. 'No, I – I -' Aurora starts to say, before Daken dips her on the dancefloor and tells her not to worry, that her secret is safe with him. 'Especially since later I went back and killed the rest of his bigoted buddies in the mutant hate group that attacked you. So if you go down, I go down...' Daken explains, smiling. Aurora looks up at Daken. She is about to say something, when Daken's new cell phone rings – Daken pulls his phone out of his pocket and sees that it is Northstar calling him.
It's now 3:40 PM (PDT) at Buck Thatcher's mansion, when suddenly: 'Helloooo?' a voice calls out. Prodigy turns around and gasps in shock, as he sees Eye-Boy enter the room he is in. 'Just me. Hey, buddy' Eye-Boy remarks. David is surprised to see him, and Eye-Boy points out that he never came back to the gala, and he missed him. 'How'd you find me?' Prodigy asks. Eye-Boy looks over to where buck Thatcher is slumped against some furniture, and informs David that he knew he was lying about going back to the Boneyard, and he saw the Club Pepper address pulled up on his tablet earlier, so he checked there first. Trevor informs David that the bartenders were worried about him, before remarking that Buck Thatcher has a really bad reputation. 'With good reason. This predator $#%& is the one who killed me' David announces.
David hands Trevor his phone and tells him to watch it. A recording of David appears on the phone screen: “Hi, future me. If you're watching this, it means, basically – I got killed because I $#%& around and found out”. Eye-Boy watches the video intently and tells his friend that he knows he is telling the truth, and is terrified. The message continues: “I'm leaving this message for you from the past to explain how yu got here”. But David looks at Trevor and informs him that he doesn't remember any of this. David explains that it all happened in his backup blindspot because he planned it that way – plausible deniability. David informs Trevor that his past self left a breadcrumb trail for resurrected-him to find – photos and messages. He engineered his own alibi, and had a duplicate made of what he was wearing that night he was killed, to set it up to be mailed to him wherever he would be in Krakoa.
David reveals that it was fairy tale costume night at Club Pepper, which is where he knew that Buck Thatcher found his victims – and he knew that he only targeted young queer black men. 'So I didn't plan on getting killed, but I left a contingency plan because... I was dead set on taking down a serial killer'. Eye-Boy looks at David and asks him if he wants to see something cool. 'Uh...sure, buddy...' David replies. Trevor starts to position his hands in various poses, 'Wait, that's not it either...' he mumbles as he changes his hands. 'Sorry, hold on... okay, maybe... yeah! Take that!' Trevor exclaims as suddenly, energy pours from his hands, or probably from the various eyes on his hands, and the energy strikes Buck Thatcher. 'DUDE! My boy! You – that's so cool!' David exclaims, smiling. Trevor laughs, and he and David hug as Trevor explains that he has been experimenting with his powers. 'You're incredible. I'm so proud of you!' David tells his friend. Eye-Boy glances at David and tells him that he will feel better if he cries.
'I know you don't remember any of what happened to you, but I promise that you will feel better if you let yourself cry just because it did' Trevor explains. David begins to sniff, and asks 'Is he -?' to which Trevor tells David that Buck is still alive, but is going to have some of the worst sunburn of his life – possibly radiation poisoning – but is still alive. 'I – I couldn't go through with it...' David utters. 'So we heard' a voice calls out. Eye-Boy turns to see Daken and Aurora enter the room. 'Oh, good! Hi! You're here!' Trevor smiles, while David walks to the other side of the room. Daken explains that Kwannon called Northstar and raised the alarm, so Northstar sent the two of them to bail Prodigy out. 'That guy killed Prodigy' Eye-Boy explains. Aurora walks over to Buck, while Eye-Boy uses his sight powers to locate David's corpse, revealing that it is in the basement under the stairs, down the hall behind them, last door on the left. Daken offers to get David's body before the cops show up, before telling Trevor that he did good here.
'Well, look who's awake' Aurora remarks as she crouches down in front of Buck. 'Please – no -' Buck utters. 'You're afraid. Of, don't worry though – we're not here to kill you. We don't have to. Because human police are on their way' Aurora reveals. She stands back up as she informs Buck that firstly there will be a trial, then a jury, a verdict, and a long, lonely prison sentence. And then maybe they'll just kill you' she suggests. Daken goes over to Aurora and explains that California has a moratorium on the death penalty currently. 'Pity. Maybe you'll resist arrest?' Aurora suggests to Buck. She narrows her eyes as she tells him that it would be a more poetic ending for him – the powerful rich, untouchable racist sexual predator and serial killer who has been exclusively menacing LA's population of young queer black men for two decades – or so she is told. 'Stop looking at me like that, Akihiro' Aurora adds as she turns and walks out of the room. 'Like what?' Daken calls back. 'Like you're turned on' Aurora tells Daken as he catches up to her outside. They hold hands and smile at each other as they pass the police cars arriving outside the mansion. 'God, how could I not be? That was like wathcing you play with your food' Daken replies. 'Ha! Flatterer!' Aurora replies. 'Devourer' Daken utters.
Back at the Hellfire Gala on Mykines, at 4:04 AM (BST), Prodigy and Eye-Boy walk past several others outside as the party starts to come to a close. David tells his friend that he is a lot sharper than people give him credit for. 'Oh... that's kinda be design, I guess. I act a certain way because it gets results' Trevor replies. He explains that when people let their guard down around him, he can read them like a book – they show him all these tiny secrets tucked away in their body language that they aren't say aloud. 'I'm kind of... super literate in all things hidden, actually' Trevor smiles. Suddenly, there is a loud gasp – from Tommy Shepherd a.k.a. Speed, who smiles at Prodigy and exclaims 'We can wear dresses here? Why didn't I think of that? You look incredible! We should always wear dresses!' David is shocked to see Tommy, and asks 'How did you -?' to which Speed explains that Eye-Boy invited him. 'Hehe, I read people!' Trevor smiles at David. 'I can see exactly what – or who – it is that they want most'. David and Trevor hug, and Trevor tells David not to mention it. 'Now c'mon, Cinderella – let's at least get you to the after-party!' Trevor suggests.
The trio make their way down a path surrounded by trees and bushes. 'Someone's partied too hard. Amateur' David remarks as he looks over and sees someone's legs sticking out from the bushes. 'I wonder who it is -' Tommy remarks, before Eye-Boy quickly tells him not to go over there. 'The hell? How's you grab me so fast?' the surprised Tommy asks as Eye-Boy grabs him by his arm. 'I... can see movements people intend to make' Eye-Boy explains. Tommy asks him if he wants to ease up, and shrugs Trevor off of him. 'What if they're hurt or something?' Tommy asks as he runs towards the trees. 'NO!' Eye-Boy screams, unleashing some of his newfound energy towards Tommy. 'Ow! That hurt – what is wrong with you?' Tommy asks as he looks back at Eye-Boy. Eye-Boy glances at Prodigy and tells him to call Northstar as he runs towards the trees. 'What the hell?' David asks. 'Get! NORTHSTAR!' Trevor exclaims urgently.
A look of horror falls across Tommy's face as he sees who is lying in the bushes – 'Mom? Mommy?' he cries out. Eye-Boy runs in front of him and pushes him away from the scene. 'No! Who did this to her?' Tommy calls out. 'You shouldn't have to see this' Trevor tells Tommy, as Prodigy is on the phone, informing Northstar that they are over by the bushes in the area to the right of where security screening was. '... Yeah here' David's voice can be heard on Northstar's phone, as Northstar arrives on the scene. 'Wanda?' Northstar calls out, shocked.
Shortly, Northstar is joined by Xavier, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Magik and Wolverine as they all look down at Wanda's body. Jean is wide-eyed, while Xavier frowns, and Wolverine kneels beside Wanda as he looks at her lifeless body and asks '... where's Magneto?'


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Family (first story)<br> The Apocalypse Journal, part I (Second Story)
First Story:
X-Factor’s Ship, Lower Manhattan, where Scott “Cyclops” Summers enters the kitchen, carrying his infant son, Nathan Christopher Summers, who is crying. ‘Morning’ Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl greets Cyclops. ‘Ship! Coffee, please!’ Scott exclaims. Jean holds her cup of coffee to Scott and tells him to take hers, as he looks like he needs it more than she does. ‘Arabica. Dark roast. Though with a dash of cream’ Ship announces, telling Scott what Jean‘s drink is. ‘Desperate times, Ship’ Cyclops remarks as Jean telekinetically passes him her coffee, while lifting the baby to her. ‘Poor little Christopher. Teething stinks, doesn’t it?’ Jean remarks. ‘You should know. You took the first shift. For which I’m grateful’ Scott tells Jean. ‘Ah. Peace, quiet, coffee. Marry me!’ Scott remarks.
‘Scott…you promised you wouldn’t -’ Jean declares. ‘Sorry. Tired. Joking. Wasn’t -’ Scott begins, before telling himself that he wasn’t thinking. He reminds himself that Jean is haunted by the memories she absorbed from the Phoenix and from Madelyne. ‘Her clone - my demon-haunted dead wife, the Goblin Queen, the mother of my son. Until she comes to terms with that - God, what a mess!’ Scott tells himself. ‘Some joke. A guy would have to be nuts to marry a woman with a crowd of villains inside her head’ Jean declares while she holds the baby. Changing the subject, she asks where everybody else is.
As if one cue, ‘What - where?’ Scott exclaims as their long time friends and teammates - Warren “Archangel” Worthington, Bobby “Iceman” Drake and Hank “Beast” McCoy enter the kitchen. Once the five were the original Children of the Atom - the very first X-Men. Now they are the heroic X-Factor. ‘Promised to fly Charlotte’s son to school!’ Warren exclaims mid-flight. ‘Ship - open up!’ Iceman exclaims on an ice-sled as he slides through the kitchen, declaring that he is meeting Opal over in Jersey, and that her mom is making pancakes.
‘Cool new costumes, Ship! Thanks!’ Bobby exclaims, while Hank tells him to watch it, as he slides on Bobby’s ice-sled. ‘Trish’s plane gets into Newark in an hour. Be nice to make it there in one piece!’ Hank exclaims, but Bobby tells him to chill. ‘The Iceman express is up and rolling!’. ‘No way we’ll let her jerk of an ex-husband lure her back without a fight!‘ Iceman declares, when suddenly, he crashes into the door which leads out of Ship. ‘Bobby! Wait!’ Ship exclaims. ‘Why didn’t you open the door?’ Bobby asks. ‘Ship?’ Archangel asks. Ship replies that it was a minor malfunction, explaining that since his interlude with the Celestials, several large programs have been running constantly - ones he can neither access nor control, and which occasionally interfere with standard operations. ‘Cyclops, would you -?’ Ship asks, to which Scott obliges by blasting the door open with an optic blast, revealing the way to the corridor which leads outside. ‘Ahem! I do apologize!’ Ship exclaims.
Moments later, Archangel has taken flight out of Ship, while Bobby slides along on his ice-sled, and the Beast bounds along behind him. ‘Don’t sweat it, Ship. You were originally a monitoring device for those supposed ancient space gods, after all. I guess they just reactivated that function!’ Bobby exclaims, to which the Beast asks Ship if he has any idea what kind of information those Celestial behemoths have him gathering. ‘It concerns people, mutants specifically, or so I believe’ Ship replies. Archangel points out that Ship has monitored human development since the Celestials placed him here, and tells him to try not to worry, before telling his teammates that he will catch them later, as he flies off in another direction.
Down below, in an alleyway, one of X-Factor’s former charges, the Morlock known as Caliban - now Apocalypse’s lackey - has overheard X-Factor’s conversation, and thinks to himself that, soon, there will be one less mutant for that alien artifact to study. ‘Sabretooth is in the tunnels below Manhattan. Stalking and killing the few Morlocks who remain. Those Morlocks are weak…as Caliban was once weak. But Caliban’s master has made him strong!’ Caliban thinks to himself, before ripping a grate out of the ground, while reminding himself that he has slain the other Marauders who slaughtered the Morlocks, and now only Sabretooth remains.
‘Caliban knows, Apocalypse, that you are watching him. For now, he seeks the revenge he was promised’. Caliban drops down into the tunnel, landing on a train which speeds through the tunnel, Caliban assures Apocalypse that he remains his faithful Hellhound, and will return to his side - when Sabretooth it dead!
At that moment, beneath the Himalayas, Apocalypse stands amongst his monitors and computers, and remarks that his Hellhound shows promise. ‘For you had the courage to break away from me, the loyalty to avenge the deaths of your people…and the intelligence to realize that you escaped only because I allowed it!’ The deadly Apocalypse remarks that Caliban cannot understand, as he does, the importance of what has transpired. ‘X-Factor’s Ship has landed upright…once again a monolith, as it was when I discovered it millennia ago’. Apocalypse shifts his form so that he has wings to help guide him down to another part of his chamber, as he recalls how he invaded the artifact, plundered its technology and enslaved it when it acquired sentience, so he used it as one of his headquarters - until X-Factor took it from him and freed it. ‘None of us knew that this would awaken the interest of the Celestials…long before the Fifth Host was due to arrive and again pass judgment upon the Earth!’
Apocalypse declares that he must invade Ship once more, to learn what question the Celestials have posed and what the artifact is answering. ‘If it is as I fear, Earth may be doomed…as humanity may have been doomed as a genetic dead end the first time a mutant appeared!’. The uber-mutant decides that he will first need a distraction, a foe that X-Factor will find irresistible. One of his monitors depicts the remains of the Master Mold, and another the immortal Cameron Hodge. ‘The time has come to rescue them - and offer them their heart’s desire’ Apocalypse declares.
Meanwhile, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, ‘…and you be careful! Don’t know what that girl’s thinking letting my grandson fly around with that…’ Grandma Jones shouts from the Jones’ apartment window, while Archangel holds Timmy Jones in his arms, and tells him that he doesn’t think his grandma likes him. ‘Yeah, she says you used to have angel wings but a bag guy tore them off and another bad guy grew you new ones’ Timmy replies, before Archangel begins to fly over the Manhattan Bridge. Timmy continues, remarking that his grandma said these wings are bad and that underneath his blue skin he is just a rich white man with devil wings, and that he and his mother should have nothing to do with him.
‘At least she sees me as a man. That’s better than a lot of people’ Warren replies, before asking Timmy what he thinks. ‘I think maybe that’s Grandma’s problem. ‘Cause I think you’re cool…and my Mom thinks so, too!’ Timmy exclaims. Timmy adds that his grandmother doesn’t like his mother to like any man, because she is his dad’s mom. ‘Fore he got killed and I got shot and - Hey, look!’ Timmy exclaims. Archangel smiles and tells him that is the Manhattan Bridge. ‘If you listen, you can hear the subway…rattling through the bridge toward Brooklyn’ Warren tells him.
At that moment, on top of one subway train which speeds down a tunnel, the deadly Sabretooth sits crouched on top of it, while Caliban sneaks up along behind him, thinking ‘While Sabretooth has been killing Morlocks, Caliban has been killing Marauders. Soon the last Marauder will all be dead, and Caliban’s revenge will be complete!’ But suddenly, Sabretooth spins around and kicks Caliban in the stomach. ‘You think I didn’t know you were there?’ the villain snarls, telling Caliban that he stinks, like all his sewer-loving kind as Caliban hits the beam holding the tunnel up. ‘You were just the appetizer, Morlock. Archangel’s the main course!’ Sabretooth declares. ‘Dude should have kicked the bucket last time I faced him! This time, he dies for sure!’ Clinging to the side of the subway train, Caliban climbs back on to the roof, thinking to himself that Sabretooth is an arrogant fool now to make certain of his death. ‘But then, you’ve yet to learn what Caliban has become thanks to Apocalypse!’
Soon, Archangel and Timmy descend over Timmy’s school, while Timmy asks Archangel if his wings are really demon wings like his grandma says. ‘Not exactly’ Warren replies, explaining that the feathers are sharp and react to his mood. ‘When I’m angry, they shoot off, like I’m throwing knives’. Archangel explains that he has to work hard to control them. Timmy smiles: ‘Good! My Mom said that’s how you stopped the bad guys and saved her. And you can fly again’ Timmy adds, before telling Warren that if a bad guy fixed his back so he could run again, he would be glad, and wouldn’t care if he was bad. ‘What do I say to that?’ Warren wonders, before Timmy’s classmates gather around. ‘See! I told you I knew him!’ Timmy exclaims. ‘Wow!’ someone gasps. ‘Will you sign my notebook?’ another asks.
Nearby, Sabretooth has removed a drain covering in the sidewalk, and pokes his head out of the tunnel, watching Archangel, Timmy and the kids. Warren thinks to himself that Timmy thinks he is some kind of hero, and wonders how he can tell an eight year old how a monster like Apocalypse can twist a man? ‘As he did me…and his other Horsemen…and Caliban…’. Sabretooth grins as he watches Archangel: ‘And there you are! Playing the superstar. So predictable. So asking to die! And all those rug-rats, crowding around…’ Creed likes this, ‘Nothing like a little collateral damage to add to the thrill of the kill’ he decides, when suddenly, he is pulled back down into the tunnel, and the drain cover falls back into place with a klang.
Caliban holds Sabretooth by his left foot, and spins him around, smacking him against the side of the tunnel, hard. ‘It’s hard to scent a long stalker when your focus is elsewhere and there are so many other odors to distract the senses - even for one such as you!’ Caliban declares as he shoves Sabretooth into the water that runs through the tunnel, and holds him under.
Soon, in Lower Manhattan. ‘So…how’d it go?’ Detective Charlotte Jones asks as Archangel drops down beside her. ‘Completely uneventful’ Warren reports, informing Charlotte that he signed a few autographs, so it wasn’t a total loss. ‘In pencil? On lined paper?’ Charlotte asks. ‘A few were in crayon’ Warren smiles. Charlotte thanks Warren for taking Timmy to school, and assures Warren that Timmy will be talking about it for weeks. ‘It was fun. No bad guys. Normal. Well, as normal as my life goes, anyway’ Warren replies, telling Charlotte that her son is a great kid, a boy to be proud of. ‘Before I became a living weapon, I hoped to have a son like that one day…’ Warren reveals, sadly.
Back in the sewer below Brooklyn, Caliban walks away from Sabretooth, who lies motionless in the water. ‘Your healing factor works, Sabretooth, only if you’re alive to activate it’ Caliban declares, before calling out to Apocalypse, informing his master that his revenge is complete. ‘Call your Hellhound home!’ he calls out, before he is teleported away in spectacular fashion.
Meanwhile, in Montclaire, New Jersey, Bobby shakes Mr Tanaka’s hand, while Mrs Tanaka tells her daughter, Opal, that they love her, and that she has always been the daughter of their hearts. ‘I know, Mom. I love you, too’ Opal replies, kissing her mother on the cheek. ‘Ready?’ Bobby asks, taking his top off and shifting to ice-form. ‘So you’ve forgiven them for not telling you that you were adopted?’ Bobby asks Opal when they are on an ice-sled and waving goodbye to Opal’s parents. Opal replies that she understands now that Shizu’ko, her first mother, sacrificed so much to protect her from her grandfather and his Yakuza. ‘And my Mom and Dad here raised me so lovingly. I know I’m lucky to have two mothers who care so much for me when some children have none’ Opal declares.
‘No joke! Babies aren’t easy. Scott’s little guy Chris is teething and cranky. Scott and Jean get no sleep. I wonder what out kids will be - uh…’ Bobby exclaims, cutting himself off mid-sentence. ‘Our…? Bobby?’ Opal asks. ‘Opal! I didn’t mean! It just popped out! I -’ Bobby exclaims nervously. ‘Good. You scared me for a minute there! We’re too young to think about babies…or marriage, even’ Opal exclaims, adding that someday perhaps, years from now, when they are old, maybe three or four little snowmen wouldn’t be so bad.
Beneath the Himalayas, Caliban is teleported back into Apocalypse’s lair, announcing that the Marauders are no more. ‘Caliban is yours to command!’. Seeing the remains of a large purple robot beneath them, Caliban asks Apocalypse what that is. ‘That is the remains of the Sentinel robot called the Master Mold!’ Apocalypse declares. ‘A Sentinel? One of the legendary mutant destroyers?’ Caliban asks. ‘The greatest of them all!’ Apocalypse tells him, before motioning to the a monitor, where Cameron Hodge is depicted. Apocalypse tells Caliban that Hodge’s goal was genocide against all mutant kind.
‘X-Factor spoke of him. He made a deal with a demon that rendered him immortal, but no vulnerable’ Caliban declares. Apocalypse declares that Hodge is completely mad, but potentially useful. ‘What is left of him - little more than life and will - lies buried beneath a pile of rubble in Genosha. Unearth what remains of him and bring it here to me!’ Apocalypse orders Caliban. Stepping onto the teleport pad, Caliban replies that he will go, but points out that Hodge was once among mutant kind’s most terrible enemies. ‘He engineered Angel’s destruction! Master - why?’ Caliban asks. ‘Because I plan to offer him his heart’s desire’ Apocalypse reveals.
Moments later, Caliban arrives on a scrap heap in Genosha, an island nation off the East Coast of Africa. Caliban tells himself that he does not know his master’s plan, that he knows only that this is a land of unspeakable tyranny, where mutants - mutates - were created as slaves of the State. ‘Caliban’s ability to sense mutants should be useless to find Hodge, but he can feel Hodge buried below’ Caliban remarks. ‘A wrongness…an evil’.
Suddenly, ‘Who goes there?’ shouts a voice. ‘A mutate!’ another exclaims as three Genoshan Magistrates step into view. ‘This is a restricted area! Hands in the air - drop it or we’ll -’ another declares as Caliban picks up a large steel beam - and hurls it at them, smacking all three of them over. Caliban begins searching through the rubble, while thinking to himself that he is no mutate, no poor mutant who was twisted, altered, through no choice of his own, to become a mindless slave of the State. ‘Caliban chose to be strong and fierce and terrible - and joyously serves the great master who gave him these precious gifts!’ Caliban declares that he must find Hodge quickly, for he hates and fears this horrible place.
Meanwhile, at Newark International Airport, across the Hudson from Manhattan. ‘Trish!’ Hank calls out from inside the airport terminal. Trish Tilby is collecting her luggage off the conveyor, and when she sees Hank she is surprised. ‘What are you -?’ the renowned reporter asks. ‘I thought you might need help with your luggage’ Hank tells Trish, who is holding a young girl in her arms. ‘Looks like I was right’ Hank remarks as he climbs along the conveyor with his hands, and collects the myriad luggage belonging to Trish. ‘And here! And here! And this one! That it?’ Hank asks. ‘Yeah. That’s it’ Trish smiles, while the little girl points at the Beast and smiles. ‘That’s Hank. Can you say “Hank”?’ Trish asks.
Holding Trish’s luggage on his shoulder, Hank tells Trish that he also wanted to say he was out of line, and that he is sorry. ‘And that your India coverage was brilliant and fair. Like your coverage of X-Factor…and I had not right to try and keep you from doing your job. Forgive me?’ Hank asks. ‘Yeah. I forgive you’ Trish tells Hank, kissing his cheek. Hank smiles, while Trish suggests they get in line for a cab. ‘Who’ the little cutie?’ Hank asks. Approaching a queue of cabs, Trish informs Hank that her name is Priya, which means loved one, and that her parents were killed in a bombing last year. ‘She needs an operation - on her heart - so I was allowed to bring her to the States with me. I’m adopting her’ Trish reveals.
A cab driver inside a cab with an advertisement for Club Hellfire on his roof exclaims ‘Wow! The Beast! Just let me get those bags. Wait’ll I tell the wife and kids who I had in my cab!’ he exclaims. ‘She isn’t scared of me’ Hank remarks as Trish passes Priya to him. Trish tells Hank that he mustn’t be as scary as he thinks he is, and reveals that when she was doing the story at the orphanage, she fell for Priya. ‘I never thought I’d have time for children, but -’ Trish begins, while Priya exclaims ‘Boo!’. ‘Ha! She said blue!’ Hank declares. ‘She’s smart. She’s picking up English like crazy and she -’ Trish begins, while Hank puts Priya onto his shoulders, and suggests they get into the cab, telling Trish that she can tell him the rest on the way into the city.
Back in Genosha, Caliban flings rubble and steel beams about, when a voice from within the rubble exclaims. ‘About time, mutate. I’ve waited long enough for someone to unearth me!’ Cameron Hodge - well, his head anyway - exclaims, ‘My, you are an ugly one’ Hodge declares as Caliban holds him up by the wires that stick out from his head. ‘Caliban is no mutate, but the Hellhound of Apocalypse’ Caliban exclaims, before calling out to Apocalypse, announcing that he has their quarry. As the teleport signal surrounds Caliban and Hodge, Hodge smirks: ‘Apocalypse, eh? X-Factor’s other great enemy. How…interesting. Back when I was…associated with X-Factor, that team of fools had compiled quite the interesting file on him!’ Hodge declares.
Arriving back in Apocalypse’s base an instant later, Caliban holds Hodge’s head out still, while Hodge tells him that Apocalypse can thank the demon N’astirh for his survival. ‘His spells would have influenced the placement of those collapsing girders. Even one such as I would find it difficult to live with a pulped brain. I imagine he wants an alliance’. Caliban spins the head around, so that Hodge can see Apocalypse. ‘And there’s Apocalypse himself. The ancient shape-shifting mutant!’ Hodge declares, snarling that he came so neat to completely destroying the high-and-mighty Angel, until Apocalypse saved him and gave him new wings. ‘For that alone I would annihilate you’ Hodge threatens Apocalypse.
‘You could try. But it is difficult to kill the one who bears the Mark of Cain. But why speak of death, when I brought you here to offer you a semblance of life? A new body -’ Apocalypse exclaims, while Hodge interrupts: ‘A new -? What? Where? What’s the catch?’ he exclaims. ‘What do you care? You’re an immortal…of sort’ Apocalypse remarks, holding Hodge’s head in his hand, telling him that he burns with a hatred for those who have destroyed him. ‘Even now, X-Factor sits, smug and safe within their Ship. They live openly as mutant heroes. Say the world, and you can change. You can change it’ Apocalypse exclaims. ‘Revenge!’ Hodge utters.
Lower Manhattan, later that day, X-Factor are gathering at the ground below Ship. ‘It’s great how the press mostly backed off once Warren stepped in and used the old Worthington charm’ one of them remarks. ‘A few staged photo-ops and, unless we’re fighting bag guys, they’re pretty much giving us space’ Bobby adds. ‘You gonna stay iced up like that?’ Hank asks while Scott puts the baby into a stroller. ‘Sure. Gives the tourists something to gawk at besides your ugly blue mug’ Bobby jokes while several tourists gather around. Scott, Jean, Hank, Warren and Bobby begin to walk through the city, with Scott pushing his son in his stroller.
‘New Yorkers, though. You gotta love ‘em. Unless a spaceship lands in the middle of the city, they just go about their lives…’ Hank remarks. ‘One did land, Hank. Our Ship’ Jean points out. Jean tells the guys that Ship is their friend, and she hates talking behind his back. ‘But am I the only one worried about its technical glitches?’ she asks. ‘And what about the massive programs its running that it can’t access? Are the Celestials doing something we should know about?’ Marvel Girl wonders. The Beast declares that it does make him a bit uneasy, but points out that Ship has gathered information for millennia, and will continue to do so whether it is with them or not. ‘That’s its primary function’. Bobby smiles and asks if they are going to yammer on, or are that going to walk. ‘Lighten up, guys…those so-called space gods aren’t due to return to Earth for thousands of years…’. But at that moment, a Celestial spaceship moves though the solar system - and approaches Earth….
Second Story:
Some 20,000 years ago, on the steppes of Central Asia. The man who would become the mutant known as Apocalypse was born to human parents, into a tribe of humans, he had blue markings around his mouth, extending back to his ears. As he neared manhood, it became clear that he was different - such as when a sabre-toothed tiger attacked his parents, he transformed himself into a large bear to protect them. But anything that was different frightened his people, and he was cast out of the tribe.
For many years, he wandered the Earth, and in time, came to see that the power to change his shape was a gift, not a curse. It took him longer to understand that his truest gifts were curiosity and the time to learn. Eventually, he came across a large monitoring device, standing where the Celestials had left it - it was a tree of knowledge and Apocalypse partook of its fruit greedily.
After a thousand years, he finally decoded the Celestials’ language and was able to influence their machineries. After another thousand years, he finally understood what the space gods had done.
flashback images to the past, shown on monitor:
The Celestial called Gammenon the Gatherer then reconnoitred as life began to evolve on Earth - the world was promising, but primitive, so he moved on.
When Gammenon the Gatherer next returned, dinosaurs had emerged as the dominant life form. The Celestial split the line - warm and cold-blooded, then he left them to evolve. But after millennia, dinosaurs had failed to develop sentience - Gammenon returned to destroy them with powerful fireballs.
One and a half million years ago, Gammenon returned to Earth yet again, discovering that, under the duress that killed the dinosaurs, mammals had survived and prospered - some even becoming human. Thus, Earth became a laboratory worthy of Celestial interest - and the First Host arrived.
The Celestials genetically manipulated select groups of humans - creating the beautiful long-lived, godlike Eternals, gifted with psionic abilities and enhanced strength. However, their limited fertility meant that few Eternals were born. The Celestials also took a second group of humans and destabilised their DNA to promote mutations - and as such, the monstrous Deviants emerged. Mostly short-lived, but very fertile, they quickly evolved powers, but their forms varied from generation to generation, and their progeny were mostly non-viable monsters.
The Celestials also preserved a third group as controls - a base-line human gene pool that would evolve - or not - without Celestial interference. They would retain their genetic stability, but would lack the extraordinary powers possessed by Eternals and Deviants. The Celestials set their monitor - Ship - in place and left the Eden that was Earth far behind them in search of other worlds to manipulate.
20,000 years ago, continued:
Apocalypse realizes that the Celestials had doomed their human control group - his people - to inferiority and almost certain extinction. He was a mistake - a genetic anomaly, not an Eternal, but eternal. Not a Deviant, but nonetheless a monster. He should not have existed, but there he stood. And he wondered, if the Celestials could manipulate evolution throughout the universe, could a subject in their experiment affect the outcome. He smiles: ‘Madness, perhaps. Hubris, definitely’, as he realized if the Celestials could influence human destiny, then so could he….


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Diversion (first story)<br> The Apocalypse Journal, part II (second story)
First Story:
The Good Taste Café in Chinatown, where X-Factor and their friends are celebrating young Timmy Jones’ birthday. ‘What do you say, Timmy? Cake or presents first?’ Warren “Archangel” Worthington asks. ‘Cake please, Warren! My best present is having everybody here!’ Timmy exclaims, adding that this is the coolest party ever. Timmy’s mother, Detective Charlotte Jones notices baby Nathan Christopher Summers squirming in Scott “Cyclops” Summers’ arms, and exclaims that it looks like he wants to get down and crawl. ‘Time to move stuff onto shelves’ she exclaims. Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl replies that it is lucky they live on a ship that morphs, as Ship can take care of that stuff.
On the other side of the table, Dr Hank McCoy a.k.a. the Beast holds up Priya the adopted daughter of his girlfriend Trish Tilby and smiles, while renowned reporter Trish Tilby asks Opal Tanaka if she is adopted as well. Bobby “Iceman” Drake’s girlfriend replies that she is, that she just found out. ‘My parents are great, and they had good reasons not to tell me - it was safer - but finding out so late was traumatic. Just tell Priya early and -’ Opal suggests, before Bobby tells everyone to gather around. ‘Trish, got your camera ready?’ he asks, before Cyclops uses his optic blast to light the candles on Timmy’s cake. ‘Cool!’ Timmy exclaims.
Scott replies that they are trick candles, a sure crowd pleaser, before turning to Jean and asking her if there is a problem, as she looks worried. ‘It’s nothing, Scott. It’s just…everything’s going so well. I fell…happy. Almost…normal. It scares me’ Jean replies, before Charlotte tells her son to make a wish. ‘And if I know my son, he’s wishing a super villain will crash the party!’
At that moment, in Apocalypse’s headquarters beneath the Himalayas, Apocalypse is watching Timmy’s birthday party on a monitor: ‘The boy’s wish is about to come true!’ the uber-mutant exclaims, while standing nearby, the merged Master Mold and Cameron Hodge declares ‘And soon, all will die!’. But Caliban declares that the humans must be spared. ‘All harbor mutated cells. All must be destroyed! Death to the strong! Death to the Twelve!’
‘Death to Apocalyp-’ the Master Mold / Cameron Hodge being exclaims, before being teleported away. ‘Master! The combination of those two personalities - of Cameron Hodge and the Master Mold Sentinel is disastrous. ‘Not the most felicitous of unions…and a monster of my own making, Caliban’ Apocalypse replies. ‘Still, our Master Meld will buy us time to do what must be done. And so it may rampage…as it pleases!’
Moments later, the Master Meld appears in Chinatown: ‘Die, mutants! Die!’ it booms as it unleashes energy beams at a building, causing the crowds below to run for their lives. One of the blasts strikes the Good Taste Café. ‘Scott! Trouble!’ Iceman exclaims as Jean telekinetically holds the small missiles that appear in the Café. Cyclops orders Beast and Angel to get the civilians out of here. With baby Christopher in a protective force field, Jean asks someone to grab him. ‘What? Why?’ Opal asks. ‘His protective force field kicked in. My telekinetic power repelled it. It’s a weird genetic -’ Jean explains, but Opal interrupts. ‘Tell me later, I’ve got him!’ she exclaims.
‘I can stop the missiles, but my power doesn’t work on the Sentinel!’ Jean announces as the missiles explode around her. Outside, Archangel carries Charlotte and Timmy to safety, while the Beast lowers himself, Opal, Trish and the children to the ground. ‘That’s no ordinary Sentinel, Jean! I think it’s the Master Mold! But altered…upgraded!’ Archangel declares. Iceman slides along on an ice-sled towards Master Meld: ‘Let’s see if a sheath of ice will slow it down!’ he boasts as he covers the Master Meld in ice - but the Master Meld breaks free, firing more missiles, he shouts ‘Death to the Twelve!’
‘It melted right through it. Optic blasts took that giant apart the last time I faced it’ Cyclops reminds Jean. ‘Worth a try, but -’ Jean begins, as more missiles move towards them. Scott unleashes his blasts as Jean takes care of the missiles - ‘Blast punched him back - then ricocheted!’ Scott exclaims, pointing out that it has been fortified against their powers. ‘But by whom?’ he asks. ‘The thing can talk. Maybe we should ask it!’ Jean exclaims.
Back in Apocalypse’s headquarters, Apocalypse watches the battle unfold. ‘Excellent!’ he exclaims, before telling Caliban to come along, that they have not got much time. They step onto a teleport pad: We’re teleporting, Master? But where -?’ Caliban asks - only for an instant later, to arrive on Apocalypse’s former base - X-Factor’s current home - Ship! ‘Manhattan!’ Apocalypse exclaims as they stand on the sky-high Ship. ‘This is X-Factor’s Ship! Master, why are we here?’ Caliban asks. Apocalypse explains that it is imperative he interfaces with this unit’s data banks. ‘I need to know what it has been telling it’s masters!’ Apocalypse declares.
‘I need to know if it is as I fear!’ Apocalypse exclaims as he rips open a door and tosses it out off Ship. As Apocalypse enters, Ship declares ‘Intruders! Apocalypse! I am no longer your slave! You will not enter!’. Apocalypse tells Ship to fight him if it must, but this time, their situation is too dire. ‘I cannot allow you to stop me!’ Apocalypse grins as he enters, with Caliban following him.
At that moment in Chinatown, ‘Die, mutants!’ Master Meld booms as he fires missiles at Archangel. Still carrying Charlotte and Timmy, Warren flies towards Master Meld and unleashes a flurry of razor-sharp feathers: ‘Wow! Cool!’ Timmy exclaims. But the “feathers” barely harm aster Meld. ‘Mutant scum! That will not stop me!’ he booms. Archangel drops Charlotte and Timmy on a balcony, telling them that he has taken out its visual input sensors, and that they should stay there as they will be safe. ‘Mom! It’s like my wish came true! If anybody gets hurt, it’s all my fault!’ Timmy exclaims.
Around a corner the Beast has dropped off Trish, Opal, Priya and Christopher. He tells Trish that this stinks, but that they will take care of it as fast as they can. ‘I know that expression. You’re dying to cover this mess, aren’t you? But Priya -’ Hank begins. Trish assures him that they will keep their distance. I’ve still got my camera, Hank! W-ARC will get video. Grainy…but better than nothing. Stay safe, okay’ she tells him. ‘I’ll give it my best shot!’ Hank replies, bending a stop sign, he picks it up, knowing that its control functions should be in its head. ‘Angel’s made a start. With any luck I can finish!’ he declares - but Hank gets knocked backwards as the Master Meld is electrified.
Timmy tells his mother that the robot is going to hurt people. ‘I know wht Warren said but I can’t just wait! I gotta help!’ Timmy exclaims. Jean telekinetically lowers herself and Scott to the street, with Cyclops declaring that optic blasts do not work, so they need to try blowing the street out from under the Master Meld. Cyclops fires an optic blast at the ground, causing the Master Meld to tumble with the rubble. The resulting shockwave however knocks Opal over, and she drops Christopher, who rolls towards Timmy, who is now on the street.
‘And so we meet again!’ a voice booms from within the Master Meld. ‘That’s Cameron Hodge’s voice!’ someone exclaims as the Master Meld lies in the rubble. ‘In a Sentinel’s body -? But how?’ someone asks. Cameron Hodge’s face can be seen in a panel on Master Meld’s chest. ‘How do you think, you mutant freak? This is my new, improved persona - for which you may thank your old nemesis, Apocalypse!’ Cameron announces, telling X-Factor that they may address him as the mighty Master Meld! ‘Apocalypse?’ Cyclops gasps. ‘Only he could be so diabolical as to combine the Master Mold and Hodge into a single being!’ Jean declares.
‘But Hodge was destroyed! Crushed beneath a collapsed building in Geosnha!’ Iceman exclaims. ‘Apparently he got better’ Beast mutters. ‘But not for long!’ Archangel declares as he flies towards the Master Meld, unleashing another flurry of razor sharp feathers. ‘Warren, my oldest, dearest friend! You shouldn’t have done that!’ Hodge tells him. ‘I was going to spare you…for a while. Save you for desert, so to speak’ Hodge remarks, before telling Warren that he will now be the first.
Mere blocks away, Ship’s defenses are holding back Apocalypse and Caliban. ‘Master, how can you say you are afraid? You fear nothing!’ Caliban exclaims. ‘First, Caliban, you must answer my questions’ Apocalypse replies, asking if in the Alley there were once many mutants. ‘Yes, before the Marauders attacked, there were hundreds of us. Caliban’s power was to find mutants and lead them there’ Caliban replies. Apocalypse asks how many were the children of mutants, to which Caliban replies that none were, that all of their parents were humans. Apocalypse slashes his way into another part of Ship, asking how many children were born to the hundreds of mutants who lived in the Alley ‘None. There were…none’ Caliban replies.
‘You see my Hound, where this is heading. In all your days, have you ever seen a child who had two mutant parents?’ Apocalypse asks. Caliban replies that he has heard rumors, but himself with his own eyes knows of only one birth - his. ‘May be the result of genetic manipulation by the villain who cloned his mother in Jean Grey’s likeness’ Apocalypse remarks as he rips some cables from Ship. ‘That is one more thing we will need to find out!’ Apocalypse booms, before calling out to Ship, ordering it to speak to him. ‘Surrender your dark secrets!’ Apocalypse exclaims. ‘What have the Celestials - your masters - been asking? What have you told them?’ Apocalypse asks. Images flash before Apocalypse’s eyes. Data. Genealogies. A record of every mutant birth on Earth. And the massive Ship screams its frustrations as it fights to free itself from Apocalypse’s thrall.
Finally, Apocalypse is thrown back and the Ship’s lighting fades into darkness. ‘Master! What is it? What is happening?’ Caliban asks, while Apocalypse lay on the floor before him. ‘It is as I feared. Earth may well be doomed!’ Apocalypse replies.
Back in Chinatown, ‘A union of two of mutankind’s greatest enemies! What can Apocalypse be thinking?’ Archangel exclaims as he darts past Master Meld. ‘Good question!’ Jean exclaims as she telekinetically hovers nearby, while using her powerful mind to raise a car from the street. ‘Apocalypse himself is a mutant! What does he gain from this?’ Jean asks. ‘Take the “mighty” Master Meld down and maybe we’ll get some answers!’ Cyclops suggests they do the “Goliath Maneuver”, to which Jean exclaims ‘Works for me!’ and slams the car into Master Meld, knocking him backwards.
All eyes are on the battle - no one looks up. No one notices as Ship begins to change its shape. All five members of X-Factor use their abilities to tackle Master Meld. ‘It’s nearly down! Now!’ Scott shouts. ‘I’ve got it, Cyke! Operation Red Queen coming up!’ Archangel exclaims. ‘Mutant fool! You forget that I know you! Learned your code words and maneuvers from my time as your public relations guru!’ Hodge shrieks. ‘So I know that you are about to grant my fondest wish! Off with his head! Yes!’ Hodge exclaims as Archangel decapitates Master Mold’s head from the Master Meld.
‘Freedom! The Master Meld is finished! Total control is mine at last!’ Hodge declares, blasting Archangel with energies. ‘If I didn’t despite you so thoroughly, old friend, I could almost thank you!’ Hodge remarks, while Timmy Jones look on in horror, and on top of X-Factor’s Ship, lights pulse rhythmically - but no one notices.
Hodge’s form takes the shape of a spider-like robot, emerging from the body of the Master Meld. He slinks over to Warren’s unmoving body: ‘The power is mine! Finally! Mine alone - to do with as I choose! And what I choose - my winged friend - is that you die!’ Hodge booms. ‘NO!’ Cyclops shouts as he unleashes an optic blast at the ground under Hodge, knocking the madman backwards, while the Beast exclaims ‘Got you!’ as he leaps towards Hodge - and shoves the pole through Hodge’s form. Hodge shrieks ‘NOOOOO!’ before asking the Beast ‘You want to take his place, you hairy monster?’ and blasting him with the energy emitted from his new form.
Iceman slides towards the battle, announcing that Ship built new controls for his augmented power into his suit. ‘First chance I’ve had to test the new design!’ he exclaims. ‘First chance I’ve had to really cut loose!’. With that, Bobby literally freezes Hodge under a mound of solid ice. ‘You icebound loser! Apocalypse has given me true power! Not even your mutant freakishness can stop meeeeeeeee’ Hodge shrieks. ‘That mass - that glacier of ice! It was too much for Hodge!’ someone exclaims ‘He literally burned himself out. It’s over!’ another declares.
X-Factor regroup with their loved ones. ‘Bobby! Oh, Bobby! You were wonderful!’ Opal exclaims as Iceman embraces her. Hank puts an arm around Trish, telling her that he is fine, apart from a few singed furs, while he holds Priya in his other arm. Jean and Scott embrace with the baby, as Jean asks what that was all about. ‘Hodge isn’t going anywhere! We need to find what’s left of him in that rubble and ask him…’ Scott remarks.
Nearby, Timmy approaches Archangel and tells him that he is sorry. ‘I wished for a super villain! For a fight! I wanted to see you use your wing knives!’ Timmy exclaims, adding that he didn’t think Warren would get hurt. Archangel gets to his feet and tells Timmy that it is not his fault. ‘The…Master Meld…was sent after us before you made your wish, but a much bigger, much badder villain than it could ever be. But we stopped it…and we’re going to stop the bigger bad guy, too!’. ‘Bigger?’ Timmy asks, before motioning upwards: ‘But - Oh no! There! He is big! Really, really big! The biggest thing I ever saw!’ Timmy gasps.
Everyone else looks upwards - and while energy crackles around the top of Ship, the Celestial known as Gammenon the Gatherer appears!
Second Story:
The Celstial artifact that Apocalypse inhabited would stand, a giant monolith, in one place for generations. Then, for no apparent reason, it would fly into the air and shift location. Apocalypse found this disconcerting. But, nevertheless, his travels demonstrated in a way that the screens within the artifact alone could not - that humanity lived on a massive ball of water, floating in space, from which land masses occasionally jutted.
And as the artifact monitored the progress of the Celestials’ creations, so did Apocalypse. The beautiful and powerful Eternals built castles in the clouds, but they were few, and rarely interacted with normal humans - they were no threat, so he ignored them. Humans, meanwhile, had learned to domesticate animals and farm land. They had even begun to build cities, across the globe, civilizations began to coalesce. While on a far island that was called Lemuria, the teeming, warlike Deviants were building a kingdom and advancing their technology. Apocalypse thought it was no surprise when Deviant raids on the humans begun.
Apocalypse himself knew that he was still a stowaway - he could interact with the artifact, but he could not control it. But he had a plan to remedy that - and for centuries he and the artifact were locked in a battle of wills. In time, Apocalypse won partial dominance. He could influence the artifacts movements, though its reports to its Celestial masters continued.
And while Apocalypse had battled to control the ship, the depredations of the Deviants had increased. Embedded commands constrained ship from attacking the Deviants, so Apocalypse decided to create an Eden where humanity could thrive unimpeded. An uninhabited volcanic island, nearly as large as Lemuria, lay on the other side of the world. It was perfect for his purpose.
Over time, many cultures came, as Apocalypse had come, to examine Ship’s structure. Some thought it a tower and called it Babel. Others thought it was a god, or simple a god’s home. Transforming into a serpent-like creature, Apocalypse took the strong humans, and ensured their continued existence. While the Celestials’ control group of humans would range across the Earth, on this island, the group would be Apocalypse’s own experiment.
A peaceful civilization grew up on the legendary island that men now call Atlantis. The rich bait was too much for the marauding Deviants to resist - and their vast army attacked Atlantis. Apocalypse set the magma pits upon them, and destroyed the Deviants. While the collateral destruction of Atlantis was unavoidable, Apocalypse saved those he could among his chosen people.
Apocalypse knew that the second host of Celestials was coming, he made sure that Ship informed its masters of the Deviants’ attempted genocide. When the Celestials appeared over Lemuria, the Deviants attacked them - the resulting detonations destroyed that island, and set off a great cataclysm that sank Lemuria and completed the destruction of Atlantis. The few remaining Deviants fled beneath the sea.
However, on the mainlands, humanity survived. Apocalypse took his chance to fetter humanity’s rivals, and once again posing as the serpent-like creature, it took little effort to reposition the Eternals as the reaming Deviants’ enemies - an attack, followed by retaliation - and the die was cast as the Eternals and Deviants became enemies. In the wake of disaster, all beings seek a scapegoat. Apocalypse convinced the demoralized Deviants that the most monstrous among them were responsible for their ruin. Brother fell on brother. Mother on son. It became Deviant law that the most grotesque - and often the most powerful - accept destruction to preserve the purity of their race.
From his studies, Apocalypse knew evolution was essential to a species’ survival. The Celestials had retained this possibility in their human control group - the clearly expected raw humanity to evolve someday. If they survived. Now that the Deviant threat was neutralized, Apocalypse would ensure that evolution. He was about to challenge the space gods and shape humanity in his own likeness….


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Unexpected Host (first story) - The Apocalypse Journal, part III (second story)
First Story: Midtown Manhattan. ‘A Celestial!’ Warren “Archangel” Worthington exclaims, while Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl asks Scott “Cyclops” Summers to take the baby, as their powers repel each other. Jean telekinetically lowers herself and Cyclops to the ground, while nearby on an ice-sled, Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman calls out ‘Opal!’ concerned for his girlfriend, he asks where Opal and the others are. Hank McCoy a.k.a. the Beast replies that Trish took them all down a side-street, so they should be safe enough. ‘We, however, may be about to receive the proverbial shaft!’ Hank declares.
Manhattan is an island of skyscrapers. It’s tallest building was once the Empire State Building. Now, X-Factor’s headquarters, the Celestial artifact called Ship, looms over that towering edifice. But even Ship is dwarfed by the massive figure that materializes above Manhattan’s Upper Bay, ten times as tall as Ship - and a thousand times more deadly. The Celestial - Gammenon the Gatherer - extends his massive staff out over the bay. ‘Weren’t these self-styled space gods supposed to not show up for another thousand years?’ Bobby asks. ‘Must have something to do with the encoded data Ship’s been transmitting’ Hank suggests.
‘And we’ve told ourselves it didn’t matter - idiots!’ Cyclops declares, to which Jean points out that it isn’t like they could have done anything to stop it, before Archangel alerts everyone: ‘The Celestial’s about to….splash down!’ he exclaims as the Celestial moves, stepping into the water. On the streets nearby, ‘A tidal wave!’ a young boy calls out. ‘I see it, son! Run!’ a Police officer exclaims, while nearby, X-Factor’s loved ones - Opal Tanaka, Trish Tilby and her adoptive daughter Priya, Detective Charlotte Jones and her son Timmy - all run for their lives.
Cyclops asks his friends what they are doing, exclaiming that they need to get to Ship, but Archangel declares that they need to get to Chinatown, as it is about to get away in case he hadn’t noticed. Suddenly, the Fantastic Four arrive on scene. ‘Hey, snowball! What the heck is going on here? Reed said his alarms were going off like crazy - but holy!’ the Human Torch gasps. ‘Why don’t you ask the jolly gold giant! It’s his party!’ Iceman retorts as he creates his ice-sled to move up towards Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman in their hovercraft.
‘Our Ship’s a Celestial-made device, Reed. We need to talk to it but this disaster -’ the Beast tells Mister Fantastic, who tells the Beast to go on as they can deal with the chaos, and he extends his arm downwards to help a civilian onto a roof. ‘Even if we can’t do much against a Celestial maybe your Ship can tell us why it’s here’ Invisible Woman suggests, before creating an invisible platform which lifts a couple of civilians to safety. Down below, the Thing lifts a car up above his head. ‘”We’ll deal with this chaos”! Easy fer you ta volunteer, stretcho! I don’t see you lifting any car!’ he exclaims, while he tells the civilian near him to run faster.
Nearby, Timmy exclaims that Warren said that thing is a Celestial, and asks the others whata Celestial is. Opal explains that it is an alien space god, supposedly very powerful, and that Bobby told her the Celestials judge worlds, whatever that means. As water rises around their ankles, two mobile phones ring - Trish answers hers first. ’What? Yeah, of course it’s Trish!’ the renowned reporter exclaims. ’Good grief!’ Charlotte declares. ’I know this is news, Paul, but I have my kid with me, I can’t just -’ Trish begins, while Charlotte tells the person calling her that she knows it is flooding, and that she is now up to her thighs in the water. ‘You’re calling in the precinct, good, but Timmy’s here -’ she begins, before telling her caller to hold on a minute. Everyone looks up, to see Spider-Man and Thor above them. ‘You ladies seem to be in hot water!’ Spider-Man exclaims.
‘More like cold, wet and nasty!’ Opal exclaims, before motioning to her building and asking the heroes if they can transport them up to the roof. ‘Gladly! Tis not meet that women and children should face such peril unaided!’ Thor declares. Moments later, Trish, Charlotte, Opal and the kids all wave at Thor as he takes off, after dropping them on the rooftop of Opal’s building. ‘Thanks, Thor!’, ‘Spider-Man. Wow. Awesome. Thanks!’. While Opal tells Charlotte and Trish to leave their kids with her while they report to work. ‘Yeah, Mom, go on. Don’t worry, I’ll help Opal with little Pryia’ Timmy tells his mother, before motioning to the Celestial and exclaiming that when people see the giant in the sky they might panic and need cops. ‘Oh, wow! Look! Iron Man!’ Timmy exclaims, distracted as Iron Man flies past them.
‘I guess everybody wants to help…any way they can!’ someone exclaims, while down below, several heroes have rescued civilians and their pets - Captain America! Valkyrie! Hulk! Medusa and Lockjaw! Power Man! ‘The gods faced Celestials once. They were…terrible’ Valkyrie declares. Holding up people in her hair, Medusa tells Valkyrie not to scare the people, for now that giant is just standing there, posing no immediate threat. ‘If it does, then Hulk will smash!’ the Hulk boasts.
X-Factor are still making their way to their headquarters, and holding onto his son, Cyclops remarks that Mister Fantastic is right, that there are plenty of others to deal with the crisis below. ‘Let’s get to our Ship! We need to focus on figuring out why the Celestial has come home!’ Scott exclaims. Moments later, they arrive at the high entrance to Ship. ‘Holee! Ship’s been attacked!’ Archangel exclaims. ‘Ship! Are you all right?’ Marvel Girl calls out. ‘No answer. Did the Celestial do it? Just…switch Ship off?’ Bobby asks. The Beast declares that he doesn’t know, but that something has killed the power, only the Celestial didn’t rip a hole in Ship’s side - someone else did that. Cyclops points out that it is pitch dark inside, with not a sound, that everything is off-line. ‘Hold on!’ Beast exclaims, and pulls some flashlights from a compartment. ‘When Ship began to malfunction, it created flashlights, just in case’ he explains.
Hank shines a flashlight inside Ship, while Iceman points out that they knew Ship was concerned about those malfunctions, and the mystery data analysis program the Celestials had activated. ‘We should have listened!’ he exclaims. ‘Oh, poor Ship. What a mess!’ Jean exclaims when she sees the destruction up ahead. X-Factor make their way through the corridor, and Hank examines the damage, telling his friends that Ship fought the intruder with everything it had, all the way down this corridor and beyond. ‘You guys thinking what I’m thinking?’ Archangel asks. ‘Switch on your force bubble, kid! Something tells me you’re going to need it!’ Beast remarks to Christopher.
An instant later, Hank’s torch shines across the intruders - their greatest foe - Apocalypse - and his lackey, Caliban, their former ally. ‘X-Factor. I hereby return your Ship…somewhat the worse for wear!’ Apocalypse announces. The uber-mutant boasts that he has learned everything he can from the traitorous Ship that has tried to destroy all that he has accomplished. ‘You say that like it’s a bad thing’ the east jokes, while Archangel exclaims ‘Why are we talking to that monster?’ and shouts ‘Die, Apocalypse!’ as he unleashes a barrage of razor-sharp feathers at his former master - but Caliban lunges at Archangel: ‘Enough!’ he shouts. ‘Do you think our maker is such a fool that he would give you blades that could harm him or his Hell-Hound?’ Caliban asks.
‘Yeah? Well he didn’t make this!’ Iceman exclaims as he covers Apocalypse in a large mound of ice. ‘Impressive, boy…in its way’ Apocalypse admits, before smashing through the ice with ease. ‘Beast! You, at least have a mind! A Celestial was coming. This Ship was its artifact. I had to know what it had done to lure its master here!’ Apocalypse explains. ‘Ship called the Celestial?’ Jean asks. ‘Not deliberately, I think’ Scott tells her, while he holds his son. ‘And you gor your answer, Apocalypse, so why stick around? Why are you still here?’ Scott asks. ‘Because Ship’s revelation affects you as much as it does me!’ Apocalypse announces.
Still struggling with Caliban, Archangel tells his friends not to listen to Apocalypse, as it is a trick, he is a demon, the master of lies. ‘You will show our creator respect!’ Caliban shrieks, before throwing Archangel across the room, where he crashes into Iceman. Cyclops unleashes an optic blast at Apocalypse, who remarks ‘What passes for truth is less about what is said, than about what people choose to believe’ Apocalypse exclaims. Jean announces that Iceman and Archangel have been taken out, to which Scott tells Apocalypse to call off his Hound, otherwise they will muzzle him.
Apocalypse deflects Cyclops’ optic blast into a wall, causing Ship to make a strange noise. ‘Do you hear that? Ship has already begun to mend the damage from our fight. In approximately 2.8 minutes it will be back on-line. Ship’s true masters may be displeased by my interface, so I must be gone by then!’ Apocalypse declares. ‘Got it!’ Jean exclaims as she telekinetically deflects the rubble which Ship has extracted from itself, while Cyclops protects his son, wrapped in his protective bubble. The Beast asks Jean to toss the rubble to him, and he catches it when she does, before Hank exclaims ‘Hey, Caliban! Catch!’ and throws the rubble at Caliban, who is choking Archangel.
Caliban is knocked backwards, while Apocalypse exclaims ‘Here is the truth that I would have you know! Long ago I viewed the work of the Celestials and learned of their genetically enhanced creations the Eternals and the Deviants. They had been given special powers while humans were kept as controls in the experiment, as helpless weaklings. I knew then that I had to become as a Celestial - a god - and force humanity to join the powerful, or face destruction’ Apocalypse explains. While the Beat lunges at Caliban, whom Iceman traps in an ice-mound, Apocalypse declares that he worked to promote the rise of mutant kind, for he was what humanity could and would, in time, become.
‘I decimated the marauding Deviants and protected my own kind, humankind, as well as I could until they became viable through sheer force of numbers. ‘Still loves the sound of his own voice, doesn’t he?’ Cyclops remarks. ‘Still trying to convince us he’s done us a favor by attacking us’ Jean declares, before suggesting ‘Fastball Special? Variation 31?’. Scott agrees that it might slow Apocalypse down until Ship revives, so Jean takes flight, while Cyclops blasts upwards, ‘We’ve heard it all before, Apoclaypse. How you encouraged war throughout the ages because war encouraged innovation!’ Scott exclaims, before his optic blast strikes a large beam above him, which Jean grabs with her telekinesis.
‘Burgeoning technology creates poisons that interact with the human genome, forcing adaptations. The atomic age emerged, and my work finally saw fruition…in you, and in others, humanity has begun to mutate in earnest’ Apocalypse declares, before the large concrete beam lands on him, courtesy of Scott and Jean’s teamwork. ‘Well played, Cyclops’ Apocalypse remarks, while Cyclops once again shields his son from any harm. Apocalypse pushes the concrete pillar upwards, while announcing that the mutant hunting Sentinel X-Factor faced can no longer distinguish mutant from human. ‘The seed of mutantkind has taken root, but its branches are barren’ Apocalypse declares as he throws the pillar at Cyclops - who blasts it with an optic beam, shattering some of it.
Jean flies towards them, and telekinetically diverts the remainder of the rubble, while asking Apocalypse ‘Barren? What are you talking about?’. Apocalypse remarks that he may have force-grown not a master race, but a biological dead end. ‘The proof is in this Ship’s census of mutantkind!’ he exclaims, while Archangel and Beast both struggle against Caliban. ‘He’s playing some mad mind game, Cyke!’ Warren shouts. ‘Are you nuts? What about Christopher? He’s Scott’s son!’ Iceman exclaims. ‘And Madelyne’s, but -’ Jean begins.
‘Is he? Or is he, like his mother, a genetic construct created by Mr Sinister?’ Apocalypse asks as he morphs wings onto his back and flies towards X-Factor, dousing them in a gas-like substance. Scott falls to the floor, while Apocalypse picks up the bubble with Christopher inside. ‘And on the answer to that question hangs the fate of Earth…and whether it will continue to exist!’ Apocalypse booms, before he flies out of the high entrance. ‘Christopher! NOOOOO!’ Cyclops shouts.
But as Cyclops reaches the balcony, he finds Apocalypse hovering nearby, still clutching the baby, while another Celestial has landed on Manhattan - ‘It’s too late, Cyclops! Arishem the Judge has arrived, whose right hand holds the power to obliterate all we hold dear! There is more at stake now than the fate of one small child. Because of what I have wrought, the fate of humanity hangs in the balance!’ Apocalypse exclaims, while energies swirl around Arishem. ‘Together, we must set it right, or the Earth itself will be destroyed!’ Apocalypse announces.
Second Story: By the time the Second Celestial Host left the Earth, Apocalypse had learned several important lessons. The Celestials allowed for human evolution, but they expected any genetic advancement in the general population to occur naturally. They clearly reserved the right to manipulate genes directly, on a large scale, for themselves alone. The sunken ruin of what had been Lemuria showed how dangerous it was to ignore the Celestials’ wishes. Apocalypse knew that he would have to work within the Celestials’ system to gain his own ends.
During thousands of years Apocalypse spent observing humanity, he had noticed that human civilization advanced in fits and starts. The stress of war led to the creation of new technologies - new ways of working stone and metal, new inventions and machines. It encouraged the mixing of gene pools and ideas. It sorted the weak from the strong. And thus, Apocalypse encouraged war.
Intervening periods of peace cemented these gains. Trade routines blossomed. Government, arts and learning flourished. The strong reproduced in numbers. Peace was a necessary evil. The Third Celestial Host came - and went. As a result of this event, Earth’s mythological “gods’ swore to forgo interference in the affairs og men. Apocalypse, however, did not. Instead, he shifted his form to take part in wars - ensuring that human conflict return at a higher level. In time, this would lead to a new peace - which would herald another cycle of war.
Several challenges arose. The Celestials information-gathering artifact - Apocalypse’s Ship - was becoming self-aware, with a mind and will of its own. Apocalypse’s efforts to subdue and enslave Ship were a distraction. And since he could no longer be sure of Ship’s reactions - or completely control its transmissions - he decided to create a secret headquarters for himself in a cavern far beneath the Himalayan mountains. During the centuries Apocalypse toiled there, he began to accept that that the world was growing too complex for him to oversee unaided. Not to mention, he was lonely.
The world became industrialised, and Apocalypse had been following a human line that stretched unbroken back to Atlantis. Its scions were stronger and more intelligent, more curious and resilient than the normal run of humans. Apocalypse watched as the last in line of thee humans was attacked in an alleyway. He had been orphaned by war and cholera - was a street boy, a fierce and curious brawler - Apocalypse teleported the boy away before his attackers could harm him.
In many ways, this boy reminded Apocalypse of himself at that age. And though the boy was not a mutant, Apocalypse knew he could re-create the boy in his own image - slow his maturing, give him time, as Apocalypse had been given time - to master the knowledge he could give the boy. Apocalypse could even, if he wished, give the boy the ability to alter his shape at will. He was but a single boy. Apocalypse planned to hide him from Ship so the Celestials would never learn of his existence. What harm would it do?
‘Join me, Nathaniel Essex. Become my apprentice and you will be reborn as a master of men!’ Apocalypse said to the boy. ‘A master. Men will fear and obey me? Then, yes. I want to join you!’ Nathaniel exclaimed in reply. Apocalypse asked the boy what, when he has completed his transformation, he wants his enemies to call him. ‘They’ll call me Sinister!’ Nathaniel exclaimed, grinning. ‘Very well, then, Mr Sinister. Let us begin!’ Apocalypse announced….