The Crimson Cosmos, where in this blood-red dimension, the elder demon watches: Sitting on a throne, his call has gone out, and the chaos has begun. Humanity wants him to return. He watches through shards of a crystal super powered beings fighting over him, killing for the honor to serve him – they sense his power and they love him for it. But, one worshipper in particular is special. Hidden under a white cloak, the chaos and destruction he could bring in Cyttorak's name is immeasurable. The time has come. Humanity will once more know his name. And Cyttorak is pleased, grinning, his eyes flash ruby red.
'Juggernaut?' Nightcrawler exclaims as he teleports into part of the ruined temple in Southeast Asia, where he finds Cain Marko, armed with several weapons, has opened fire, while Iceman, Northstar and Rachel Grey dodge his blasts, Man-Killer and Jinn are also present, and the Vanisher takes an uneasy step backwards. Nightcrawler turns to the Vanisher and asks him what he is doing here. 'Leaving!' the Vanisher retorts. 'You freaking X-Men have brought me nothing but pain and death! I did what I was paid to do, so kiss off!' the Vanisher exclaims as he teleports away. Man-Killer grins as she holds a hand up to block Cain Marko's punch, and tells him that he doesn't look half the man he used to be. 'I get by' Cain responds as he smacks Man-Killer so hard, she goes flying through the outer wall of the temple, and screams as she continues to plummet backwards through the air outside. 'Enough of this madness! I have come to claim this gemstone, and I will not be stopped by -' the flaming Jinn exclaims, interrupted as Iceman tells him 'Yes you will, genie. For a few minutes anyway' as he drenches Jinn in ice.
Nightcrawler opens his arms and declares 'Cain Marko! What a coincidence meeting you here!' Northstar warns Nightcrawler to stay back, 'What? Cain is an ally, he just dealt with our opponents' Nightcrawler points out as he approaches his former teammate. 'Watch out!' Rachel Grey warns Nightcrawler, before Cain smacks Rachel in the face and pushes Nightcrawler back into Northstar. 'What did I tell you about forgiveness?' Northstar asks. 'It's bad?' Nightcrawler replies. 'Exactly' Northstar declares, before Cain wraps his hands around Iceman's face. 'What is your problem?' Iceman shouts. 'My problem? You X-Men killed my brother, and I'll hear you say it!' Cain replies.
In another part of the temple: 'Come on... come on...' Storm tells herself as she speeds down a corridor. She glances back as she realizes someone is behind her. 'Which way did you -' she begins, as the man behind her tells her 'You're a reckless one, aren't you?' and slams her head into the wall. Storm responds by blasting the mercenary away with a bolt of lightning, but another raises his gun towards her. 'You're dead!' the mercenary shouts. 'Then at least I'll be in better company' Storm replies, as a Cyttorak demon moves towards them and grabs the armed mercenary. 'Thank you, demon' Storm utters, before she elbows the mercenary in the neck and tells him that his friend was right, and that Wolverine would berate her from the grave for being that reckless. The demon approaches Storm now, so she fries it with a powerful blast of lightning which also opens a hole in the temple of the ceiling. 'At least I can see the skies again' Storm utters, looking up at the stars. 'The stars are beautiful, are they not? They speak to me. They give me life' someone in a white cloak remarks as they approach Storm, their face hidden. The person holds a large wooden staff. 'Who are you?' Storm demands. 'Once the gem is mine, you will remember me. All of you wi-' the hidden person begins, but Storm blasts her opponent with a surge of lightning, interrupting their speech.
In yet another part of the complex, Firestar stands before Crossbones, and admits that she may have been a little hasty here, like when she called him a jerk and punched him. 'Too late, Red. No going back now' Crossbones responds. 'So... you're here for the gem, too? That's so interesting!' Firestar exclaims, before glancing sideways and telling Crossbones that he should know that anyone who uses the gem becomes a pawn of a demon called Cyttorak. 'You don't really strike me as a pawn kind of guy, are you sure you want to do this?' she asks. Crossbones reveals that he is going to sell the gem, not use it, and adds that, more to the point, he is not the kind of guy who is so easily distracted.
Firestar shoots two beams of microwave energy towards him, but they both narrowly miss his face, while Crossbones kicks her in the stomach, then punches her in the face. 'Certainly not by little girls!' he adds as Firestar falls to the ground, and he holds a large knife to her face. 'Now, there's two ways we can do this. One, you stay down and live through this. Two...' Crossbones begins, but Firestar informs him that there is no need to go to two, and unleashes a tidal wave of microwave energy, causing Crossbones to topple backwards, Firestar leaps to her feet and declares that she doesn't stay down.
'TOO BAD!' Crossbones responds as he leaps through the flames, knife ready to strike Firestar, who asks him to stop. 'You asked for this!' Crossbones shouts. Firestar holds him back, and asks him again to stop – before she kills him.
Suddenly, there is a FWASH, indicating a teleport signal. 'What -?' Crossbones asks as he turns to see Colossus and Pixie have arrived. 'Get away from her!' Colossus shouts. 'Yeah!' Pixie agrees. Crossbones opens fire at Colossus, but the bullets just bounce off of his armored form. So Crossbones tries for a more direct approach, punching Colossus in the face, but only cracks his own fist. 'Are you done yet?' Colossus asks, calmly. 'Not even close' Crossbones boasts. 'I did not think so' Colossus remarks, and calls out to Pixie 'Now!' he tells her. 'Mists of Morpheus... go a little!' Pixie exclaims, casting a spell, which causes Crossbones to fall to the ground. 'Firestar! Are you okay?' Pixie asks as she rushes over. Firestar replies that she is fine, she thinks she broken a rib – and her face, before asking Pixie how she knew where to find her. 'I didn't! Colossus told me where to -' Pixie begins, before both women look around and see the Colossus has vanished.
'Say it! Admit that you killed him!' Cain shouts at Iceman, his hand still around Bobby's throat. 'What are you... jealous? You've tried to kill him for years!' Iceman reminds Cain. 'Say it!' Cain shouts, but Bobby tells him to back off, and creates a wave of ice that knocks Cain backwards, crashing him against the temple ceiling. 'It wasn't the Phoenix, it was Summers, wasn't it? Cyclops killed him, and all of you let it happen!' Cain shouts. He drops to the ground and grabs Rachel and Nightcrawler by their throats. 'Admit it, or they die' he warns Bobby and Northstar, who replies 'Fine. It's no secret. Summers killed Xavier in cold blood. Now let them go, you moron'.
'Cyclops...' Cain hisses, narrowing his eyes, when suddenly, there is a rumbling noise, and an instant later, the large Cyttorak demon falls through the floor above, courtesy of Rockslide, who falls down and lands on top of the motionless demon. 'Yeah, eat it, demon!' Rockslide exclaims, boasting that he totally kicked this things' butt, that he handled it just like Storm said. 'And now I'm gonna be the Juggernaut, you chumps!' Rockslide exclaims, before asking the X-Men what they are all looking at. 'Where the hell is Marko?' Iceman asks. 'Polo?' Rockslide replies, as Cain has disappeared.
'Well, that could have gone better' Storm tells herself as she discovers that her blast has not taken her mysterious opponent out. 'Indeed' the mystery person responds, before they announce that they have survived the apocalypse, have pulled themselves back together and fought their way back to Earth. 'You and I, we are not just survivors, we are living gods!' the person announces, smiling under their cloak, while Storm goes wide-eyed, 'Oh no' she utters. 'Oh, yes. And with Cyttorak's gem in my possession... no one will be able to stop me!' the mysterious being boasts.
In another part of the temple, Cain has come to a room bathed in a red glow. He sees the ruby red gem sitting on a throne, and approaches it slowly. 'You called me back. Well, here I -' Cain begins as he reaches out to touch the Cyttorak gem, when, suddenly, 'No. You will not have it, Marko!' Colossus declares as he appears and pulls Cain away from the gem. 'Rasputin' Cain snaps, before he crashes into the ground. 'You'll never wield the Juggernaut's power again!' Colossus shouts. 'All the chaos, all the destruction, every evil you've committed...it ends here, forever' Colossus warns Cain, who climbs out of the rubble his impact with the ground created and tells Colossus 'You're so smug, you stupid Russian...all your holier-than-thou crap...maybe that's why I've always enjoyed kicking your -' Cain begins as he smashes a rock into Colossus's face. 'You think you're better than me? You stole my power! And now what? You've come to steal it again? That's not gonna happen, you hear me?' Cain warns Colossus, smacking him again, and pushing him up against a wall. 'I do. But you're wrong' Colossus replies, annnouncing that he has come to destroy the gem so that no one can ever use it again.
'Yeah? Well you can forget -' Cain begins, before stopping himself and announcing that he came to destroy the gem. 'Do you think I'm an idiot? Why would you do that?' Colossus asks. 'Why would you?' Cain exclaims. 'Because neither of you is worthy of Cyttorak's power' a voice calls out. 'Who...?' Cain asks as he and Colossus turn to see the mysterious cloaked figure up on the throne next to the gem. 'I, however...am' the mystery person announces. 'Stop him! Don't let him touch the gem!' Storm urges as she rushes into the chamber. 'Who is he...?' Colossus asks, but the gem is picked up, crimson energy circles the mystery man, whose aged face is revealed as his cloak falls off his head. 'CYTTORAK, I ANSWER YOU CALL!' the man shouts. 'Finally' Cyttorak replies in his dimension, grinning. More energy encases the older man, wrapping around and around him, he holds the gem and starts to laugh, as his form increases, and he raises his voice, 'The world will once more tremble beneath my feet!' he boasts. 'What the hell is happening?' Cain asks, while Storm reveals that the man's name is Ahmet Abdol. 'Oh no' Colossus gasps. 'Yes' Storm tells him.
Elsewhere, the temple is starting to collapse. 'What's happening?' Iceman asks as he and Rachel rush down a corridor. 'Storm... anyone who can hear me... the temple is coming down. Get out!' Rachel projects, telepathically. 'This is Rockslide's fault, right?' Iceman remarks, but Rachel tells him to just run.
Nearby, Northstar is speeding down a corridor, when Nightcrawler is struck by some falling bricks. Northstar stops. 'Wagner... ugh. Morality' Northstar mutters. And as Pixie prepares to teleport she asks 'Didn't he try to kill you?' 'Are you teleporting us or not?' Firestar responds. 'Oh, right' Pixie replies, before an instant later, she, Firestar and the unconscious Crossbones materialize outside, to the same point where Rachel and Iceman are waiting, as Northstar flies over to them with Nightcrawler. 'Do we have everyone?' Northstar asks. Rachel reports that Storm and Colossus are okay, while Iceman announces that they couldn't find Rockslide. 'So everyone made it. Good' Northstar declares, while Firestar asks if anyone knows what happened. Suddenly, they all look up in awe, 'Oh. Never mind' Firestar mutters, as towering above the jungle in an armored form with an Egyptian theme stands Ahmet Abdol a.k.a. The Liiving Monolith a.k.a. The new Juggernaut!
