Chapter XII : APOCALYPSE REBORN
With his body destroyed and his spirit scattered to oblivion, it seemed the end of the threat of Apocalypse. However, during their encounter with Dracula at the end of the 19th century, Ozymandias had learned that Apocalypse’s blood was special. Augmented by the techno-organic virus-laden blood of Cable from so many millennia before, Ozymandias knew that as long as Apocalypse’s blood existed, so too did Apocalypse. Determined to bring back his master, Ozymandias returned to Akkaba, the place of Apocalypse’s birth and oldest stronghold. Hidden within a pyramid floated Apocalypse’s Sphinx vessel, which he had built following Rama-Tut reign five thousand years before. Within this craft, Ozymandias grew a body in a nutrient bath comprised of the very blood of Apocalypse.
Though it is unclear how long he was working on this process, Cable learned of Ozymandias’ work and moved to intervene. However, Cable’s involvement was not to hinder the return of his old foe, but to assist. When Deadpool and Irene Merryweather tracked Cable to the Sphinx to investigate his recent absence, they were dumbfounded at Cable’s actions. However, there was a gambit to Cable’s activities, one which he believed could include a dividend toward mutants.
Returning to both life and consciousness, Apocalypse was in a greatly weakened state but still fully prepared to crush any and all who would challenge his claim of being the strongest. To his surprise, Cable explained to Apocalypse that the world to which he had just returned was very different. Homo superior, he explained, had been Decimated by the event known as M-Day, with the population of mutants now numbering in the hundreds. Understanding his old foe’s meaning, Apocalypse guessed that Cable intended for him to be a focal point against which the remaining mutants would gather to fight. Though they disagreed with his plan, Deadpool and Irene left with Cable without further conflict, all the while Apocalypse yelled that Cable would live to regret both his choice in leaving him alive and the disrespect he had shown in not killing him. Now alone once more, Ozymandias suggested that his master enter a rejuvenation chrysalis chamber to finish his restoration. He also suggested a course of action not dissimilar from Cable’s intentions. Mutantkind no longer needed a culling to make it stronger, the ancient scribe told Apocalypse. It needed a leader. [Cable and Deadpool #26-27]
Whether the result of some manipulation by either Cable or Ozymandias, when he emerged from the rejuvenation chamber weeks later Apocalypse seemed to have forgotten about his encounter with Cable and Deadpool. Rather, Apocalypse swiftly came to believe that his emergence was no different than any of his untold awakenings of his past, other than the reason. He believed that the plummet in the global mutant capacity had stirred him to rise and had now opened his eyes. Apocalypse wasted no time and, with Ozymandias at his side, teleported his techno-sphinx vessel away from Akkaba in search of new Horsemen. [X-Men (2nd series) #180]
The first candidate was the mutant astronaut Gazer, whom Apocalypse plucked from orbit after an accident that would have resulted in his death. Apocalypse made him his new Horseman War, though not before forcing him to fight to the death against another candidate, a human archeologist named Dr. Foster, who had been present when Apocalypse had emerged from his chamber. [X-Men (2nd series) #182] Next, Apocalypse’s vessel teleported to Costa Rica, where he abducted the X-Man Polaris, while she was on a vacation with her lover, Havok. Though Gazer had ultimately consented to becoming War, Polaris resisted the transformation to Pestilence. [X-Men (2nd series) #181, 185] In a move that would mirror his offer to Angel so long ago, Apocalypse next approached Sunfire, who had recently suffered personal tragedy when a battle with Lady Deathstrike had left both of his legs severed above his knees. At his place of recuperation in a chateau in Aspen, Apocalypse appeared before Sunfire and made him an offer which he would not allow Sunfire to refuse. A prisoner aboard Apocalypse’s ship, Sunfire could hear the screaming of Gazer as he was being transformed into War, knowing that his own transformation would be next. [X-Men (2nd series) #183-184]
With three of his four Horseman at the ready, Apocalypse prepared his next steps. First, was the mission of sending Pestilence to the laboratory of the World Health Organization in Washington DC, where she broke into their containment vaults and absorbed every disease they had stored within. [X-Men (2nd series) #182] Now armed with a litany of lethal, biological agents, she prepared for a meta-plague. Simultaneously, Ozyandias was ordered to create an antidote from the very blood of Apocalypse. [X-Men (2nd series) #183]
With the pieces ready, Apocalypse made his move. Without warning, his techno-sphinx teleported above the grounds of the Xavier Institute, looming in the skies over the school. The time of Apocalypse’s arrival was already a chaotic time for the X-Men, with the entire mutant world still reeling since M-Day when over ninety-percent of all mutants in the world suddenly found themselves depowered. Fearing an imminent extinction of their kind, Cyclops and the X-Men had invited all mutants of the world to seek sanctuary at the Institute, a matter complicated by the arrival of Sentinels under the command of the US government’s Office of National Emergency (aka O*N*E), whose presence was ostensibly to protect the mutants from outside threats.
With the X-Men still unsure how to react to the presence of supposedly “benign Sentinels,” Apocalypse appeared with a message and an invitation. Echoing the suggestion of Ozymandias before he had gone into hibernation a few week before, Apocalypse announced to the mutants below that he was their salvation. The only price would be their complete loyalty. However, he then added, if they were not with him, they were against him. In demonstration of this, Apocalypse unleashed his new Horseman Famine, whose power to cause his victims to feel as if they were extremely hungry laid low all before him. To both the starving mutants and the human pilots of the Sentinels, Apocalypse offered his very blood, a few drops of which would sate their hunger pangs. More than a few eagerly accepted and immediately became the thralls of Apocalypse. Among the greatest of these new recruits was Gambit, who surprised even himself when he entered Apocalypse’s sphinx ship and drank Apocalypse’s blood. [X-Men (2nd series) #183]
Even as Gambit endured the transformation process to become the fourth Horseman, Death, Apocalypse lost one of his earlier recruits when a lucky shot from the X-Jet downed Famine and allowed the X-Men to take him prisoner. Immediately, they recognized him as their former ally, Sunfire, and assigned Emma Frost the task of telepathically deprogramming him. Though aware of his Horseman’s capture, Apocalypse remained unconcerned and ordered Ozymandias to focus on the production of his blood elixir. When Ozymandias balked at his master’s order, questioning his vision to their greater mission of strength, Apocalypse physically rebuked him, after which Ozymandias skulked away. Having had enough of his master, Ozymandias first attempted to enlist the aid of War but was rebuked, so he turned to the X-Men and offered an alliance. Though a secret entrance and tunnel, Ozymandias led a small squad of X-Men to Apocalypse’s chamber. However, they did not find him alone, as he was accompanied by War and his latest Horseman, Death, the former X-Man known as Gambit. At first, the battle seemed one-sided, with Apocalypse and his Horsemen more than a match. However, the tide turned when Havok shattered the container of Apocalypse’s blood and inflicted critical damage to the sphinx’s systems. [X-Men (2nd series) #184-185]
As the X-Men made their escape, Apocalypse decided he needed to pursue another tactic and teleported the vessel to the United Nations building in Manhattan, where he literally crashed the General Assembly meeting. Taking the podium before the astonished delegates, he announced his former intention to release a meta-plague which would wipe out all humans, save the ten percent he intended to provide an antidote. However, as the antidote had been destroyed by the X-Men, he offered a different bargain. If mankind would willingly cull ninety percent of their own population, he would destroy his own virus and allow the remaining mutants and humans to fight over ownership of the world. May the best species win. Before the deadline for their decision was up, however, Apocalypse and his ship were attacked by the combined forces of the X-Men, Avengers and a few prototype O*N*E Sentinels, which toppled the craft from its unearthly perch in the sky into the Hudson River. 
Diminished in strength by his exsanguination to create his blood elixir, Apocalypse found himself no match for the combined might of the heroes. Facing certain defeat, Apocalypse activated the “infernal machine” located in the heart of the vessel’s engine room, intending to self-destruct the vessel and all within, including himself. However, once again, Havok intervened and the infernal machine was destroyed, leaving the craft intact and Apocalypse hurtling through the void that exists beyond reality.
Once through the aperture of reality to that which is not, Apocalypse heard a voice he had not heard for five thousand years, spoken to him telepathically as it had done so long ago. At first, Apocalypse assumed it to be a distant memory and resigned himself to oblivion, having cheated the strange and distant god with whom he had made a pact. However, he soon learned that this was not the case, as the voice of the Celestial informed him that they could not let him die. It was time, they told him… [X-Men (2nd series) #185]
Though Apocalypse yet existed, even though it seemed to be in a realm beyond the here and now and at the whim of the Celestials, the rest of the world did not know of this. Despite the fact that he had betrayed his master before and even moved to have him killed, Ozymandias nevertheless strove to resurrect Apocalypse. Not alone in his task, Ozymandias was aided by what remained of Clan Akkaba, which the scribe had worked to maintain, contrary to Apocalypse’s orders well over a hundred years before. Whether or not Apocalypse had ever learned of Ozymandias’ disobedient actions, the clan had access to a sentient ship similar to the one possessed by Apocalypse for hundreds of years, though much smaller in size. This vessel could teleport from one location to another, evading any who attempted entry.
Strongest of Ozymandias’ allies were the Final Horsemen, specifically selected by Apocalypse to be awoken when all other approaches had failed. These four were taken from diverse geographical and temporal areas. From the year 281, a young Roman lad whose mutation had caused him to appear like a mythical Minotaur became War. From the year 1863 was plucked a young veteran of the American Civil War after his own compatriots had killed him, incorrectly thinking him a traitor. From the year 1833, a young geisha in Japan, whose mutation generated swarms of beetles became Pestilence. From the year 325, the illegitimate son of a Persian shah whose mutant powers to transmit diseases became Death.
Through a process which seemed almost as much magic as technology, Ozymandias and Clan Akkaba resurrected Apocalypse in the form of a child, with no memory of his previous life. Having done so, Ozymandias and the sentient ship began to instruct the youth in the ideology of his previous self, intending ultimately to recreate Apocalypse both physically and philosophically. Unfortunately for them and their plans, Clan Akkaba was attacked by X-Force, whose operative Deadpool had been assigned to look into their affairs and operations by Apocalypse’s former Horseman, Archangel. After defeating the Final Horsemen, the members of X-Force debated if they should kill the young Apocalypse, who for all intents and purposes was completely innocent and bore no stain of sin from his predecessor. It was Fantomex who made the decision for the group and shot the young Apocalypse in the head, killing him.
For reasons of his own, Fantomex took samples of the youth’s DNA and re-cloned the boy. Naming the child “Evan,” Fantomex took on the identity of “Uncle Cluster” and raised the youth in The World, a time-dilated area owned and operated by Fantomex in which time passed more quickly for those within the area than those outside. Bearing none of the cruelty or Darwinistic philosophy of his progenitor, this clone of Apocalypse became an exemplary student at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Though some have called him Kid Apocalypse, Genesis or even Evan Sabahnur… he is mainly know as Evan.
Whether the true Apocalypse will return or not, or what he might think of his cloned self, remains unknown.