Kennerman Acres, mental healthcare facility, Carmel, New York:
A black limousine stops in front of it. The man who exits it tells his driver he won’t be long. An orderly comes running out to protest he cannot park here. The man apologizes, claiming it wasn’t his intention to violate any policies. He just needs to speak to one of their patients. As he does so, the orderly ages dramatically and sinks down dying.
Alex Summers aka Havok crouches in his cell, wearing a straitjacket. He still has the same dreams, doesn’t he? somebody asks. Alex agrees. The other person encourages him to tell him about it. He insists.
Alex remembers it’s before the flood. Before everything! And he’s in this room. There’s nothing, just it really. Just one door. And there are other people in there with him. Other mutants.
Does he remember who? No, but there was a woman. He remembers there was this door and behind it… it looked like death!
Who was the woman? Alex can’t remember. Then everything explodes, he describes.
A nurse looks into the room with his medicine. She asks how he is feeling today. He’s fine, he replies. He wants to go home. She tells him they want that for him too. They just need to make sure he is healthy first.
She’s lying, the first speaker, Scott Summers, whom only Alex can see, tells him. They are never going to let him out, but he can get him out of here, if he will listen to his brother for once.
The man walks through the hospital and everywhere around him withers and dies.
An alert is sounded. The nurse tells Alex she’ll check back.
See, it’s starting already, Scott tells him. What is happening? he asks nervously. Scott warns him the next part isn’t going to be easy.
“Hello Alex,” the stranger greets him and exclaims in pity what have they done to him. Who is he? Alex demands. Take it easy, Scott warns him. He’s not going to hurt him. He’s not a friend but he not going to hurt him.
He heard screams, Alex hesitates. Just now or in his dream? the stranger asks. Alex demands to be left alone. Scott tells him that’s not going to happen. This is what has to happen. They’ve talked about it. He has to be strong. Hate to admit it, the stranger remarks, but Scott’s right this time. Surprised, Alex begins to listen.
Roxxon International headquarters, New York:
At a board meeting a young woman named Layla Miller suggests to the board members they make acquisition of the M-serum their top priority. One man reminds her that the serum is in SHIELD’s hands and something tells him Nick Fury won’t be willing to share. That’s why God made lobbyists, Layla replies.
An assistant interrupts to hand Layla a note and she excuses herself. Impatiently, she joins the stranger, reminding him they have a board to pander to. He tells her to see for herself. She looks into a high-tech room to see Alex sleeping there.
Layla is impressed and asks where he found him. In a mental hospital, she is told. They had him in a straitjacket keeping company with the ghost of his brother. Does he remember anything? Layla asks. Apparently so, she is told. His records spell out some very interesting dreams. The White Hot Room? Layla asks. He may know who the fourth one is! Their luck never ends, it would seem, he agrees.
She warns him not to get carried away. They don’t even have the other two they know about.
Just a matter of time. They already made contact with Rasputin. Doesn’t bring him here any faster, she replies. He assures her the government won’t be an issue much longer. Layla fears Tian won’t be that easy. Still, this in an incredible breakthrough. Has he told him yet? On his way, he assures her. Just wanted to make sure she knew.
They (presumably referring to the X-Men) hated this world around them, he muses as he recalls Apocalypse’s battle against the X-Men. They hated that which made them. So they decided to change it all. Make it better. So that’s what they built in its place? He recalls the catastrophic flood. What they thought superior? Now the ghosts of the old world (Xavier, Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Cyclops) appear to them trying to show them the way home, but it is already too late. They will be judged for their sins!
He enters an apartment. To be told he is here. He begins to stutter as he promises his master his will be done. He takes off his suit while his master replies they will restore what has been lost. They will make right all that was corrupted and, when that is done, then and only then, he shall sit at his right hand.
Sinister kneels down in front of the mannequin of his lord Apocalypse.
