Aswan, Egypt, where locals and tourists run in terror. William Rolfson a.k.a. Genocide, a very powerful and dangerous mutant is wrecking havoc. 'Face me, father! There is no need for games to decide you heir when the one true child of Apocalypse still treads across this planet... and is more than willing to cleanse it of livestock grown soft and sour!' Genocide boasts as he releases another blaze, near where a man collapses to the ground – but he finds himself unable to strike the fallen man. 'Never saw you around Krakoa...' a voice calls out. Realizing someone is responsible for preventing him using his powers, he utters 'Mind powers? Who dares?' 'Starting to see why Apocalypse didn't invite you to the family potlucks. Guess you're not the favored son' Dani Moonstar a.k.a. Mirage exclaims as she aims an arrow towards Genocide, while behind her, Bennet du Paris a.k.a. Exodus announces that the child is strong, but that his telekinetic powers are unrivaled on Earth, or in the heavens above.
'I AM NOT A CHILD!' Genocide booms as fiery energy rages around the twelve mutants who have suddenly appeared before him. 'Your weakness seeped into my father's bones like a pestilence. I am the final cure!' Genocide exclaims. 'Deciding an “heir” can wait – no one dies here today!' Mirage calls out to her companions, most of whom stand ready for battle. Of the ones who don't ready themselves, Nathaniel Essex a.k.a. Mr. Sinister tells the mutants that he will let the rough-and-tumble types handle this little altercation. He turns his attention to Lin Li, a.k.a. Armageddon girl, and grabs one of her horns. 'Ow!' Lin utters. 'Good luck out there, you fervent little ecoterrorist, you' Sinister remarks. 'Do not touch me, defiler! Your genetic abuse is an affront to nature itself!' Lin snaps, gritting her teeth. She runs from Sinister, announcing that she can hear the Earth screaming, that every step Genocide takes leaks toxins into the biosphere. 'I will wipse this stain clean' she boasts.
But suddenly, as she approaches Genocide, Lin can no longer feel her connection to the Earth. Her horns and mask begin to crumble as she utters 'I can't feel anything' then she is blasted backwards by a powerful surge of energy from Genocide, which slams her into the side of a nearby building.
(Earlier)
Armageddon Girl stands over the bodies of several poachers as Apocalypse, standing in the shadows, appears and tells her that she slaughtered the poachers without remorse. 'They spare no sympathy for my planet. I spare none for them' Armageddon Girl responds matter-of-factly. 'That, child... is a mercilessness I can respect' Apocalypse announces.
(Now)
Armageddon Girl lays motionless in the side of the building, while Sinister looks on and remarks 'Oh dear. The Meatless Monday satyr girl wasn't the only casualty of that blast. This housing blocks's about to tumble'. Civilians can be seen still inside the building, and so Emma Frost the White Queen, in her diamond form, races to the building and calls out to Laura Kinney a.k.a. Wolverine who is directing some civilians to safety. 'Laura, we need to -' Emma begins. '- evacuate the building. On it' Wolverine calls back. Emma then looks up to where Exodus is hovering above the building and tells him that a lot of people are about to die horribly without his assistance. 'You're an Omega-level telekinetic... act like one!' Emma snaps.
'The harlot's right' Exodus scowls, as he suddenly lifts Genocide up with his telekinesis and hurls him into another nearby building. 'Begone' Exodus mutters as Genocide crashes out the other side of the building. Doug Ramsey a.k.a. Cypher sees some rubble falling towards a local girl and rushes over to her: 'Watch out!' he exclaims in the Egyptian Arabic dialect. The little girl then points upwards as some much larger rubble begins to fall towards her and Cypher. 'Another one!' the girl calls out, but Cypher realizes that the rubble is too big to escape from and holds the girl close as they await their fate. 'Close your eyes, okay? Don't worry. Everything will be -' Cypher begins, before he smiles as the rubble is smashed to smithereens courtesy of Monet St. Croix, the incredibly powerful mutant sometimes called Penance.
(Earlier)
Monet sits at a table on the sidwalk outside a cafe, as a shadow falls over her. Civilians look on in awe, as Monet looks up at Apocalypse and remarks 'I told Pietro I wanted tea instead of cafe au lait, so he sprinted to a mountaintop in Japan renowned for its matcha. That means you have about ten seconds to make your sales pitch before he's back'. Apocalypse tells Monet that she masks her regal bearing with an air of disaffection, that her snideness is a veneer on her commitment to mutantkind, and to holding her peers to a higher standard. 'Rather than succumb to the savagery within, you have tamed it. You have no penance to serve. A greater calling awaits' Apocalypse claims, intriguing Monet.
(Now)
'Get her out of here!' Monet calls out to Cypher. She tells Doug that he is a lovely translator, before pointing out that it pays to be invulnerable at moments like this. 'Don't have to tell me twice' Doug responds, before the ground around him suddenly lifts into the air, taking Doug and the girl with it. 'I've got you!' Julio Richter a.k.a. Rictor calls out as he begins doing the same to other pieces of the ground with civilians on them, levitating them to safety. Rictor reports that Genocide has destablizied half the buildings in this neighborhood. 'I'll swing you over the rooftops instead!' Rictor tells everyone he's rescued. He almost has everyone to safety, before Genocide appears before him. 'Nowhere on this Earth is safe from me, rock-wielder!' Genocide calls out. 'Then I'll bury you under it instead!' Roictor snaps as he releases a vibration which causes a building to collapse on Genocide.
'C'mon, stay down, wastoid...' Ric mumbles through gritted teeth, before Genocide bursts through the rubble, burning it all in a furious display as he calls out 'You think stone can slow me down? I'm a living furnace...burning hotter than the sun itself!' he boasts as he releases waves of flame that burst across cars, building and everything around him – including Rictor – in a spectacular display. 'Did that son ofa %$^& just take out Rictor?' Nathan Summers a.k.a. Cable asks as he opens fire at Genocide. 'Mourn later, Nate. The files we had on this guy did not do him justice. We're on the back foot here' Forge remarks as he also opens fire, while Mirage shoots an arrow towards Genocide.
Nearby, Exodus holds up the side of a collapsing building and decides that if this is meant to be a test, then it is clear he alone is worthy. 'Preserving stone edificies and saving humans one by one is a distraction...when I can simply remove all living creatures from the vinicity at once' Exodus boasts as he levitates all of the civilians up into the air next to him.
(Earlier)
Exodus is on his knees in a barren landscape. 'I led my people through the desert...and we came not upon salvation, but ruin. Look at what remains of the gateways that once took us to our homeland!' Exodus cries out as he holds some of the withered Krakoan gateway in his hands. Exodus turns and points an accusing finger: 'You made sure your people presevered, Great Satan. Arrako, up above us in the heavens... while the rest of us wait in purgatory!' Exodus rises up and hovers over Apocalypse who responds 'I know well how much you revile me. And I've no need of more sycophants'. Apocalypse narrows his eyes and asks Exodus if he will be his opposing force, and whether he will even hold him to task?
(Now)
There is a boom as Cable fires another blast at Genocide, and he tells Forge and Mirage that scans are telling him Exodus just relocated everyone within a one-mile radius, which means they can unleash on Apocalypse's afterbirth here without worrying about collateral damage. Genocide fires another blast towards a building behind Tomi Shishido the Gorgon and tells Cable 'You prove my point for me! Why worry for humans squashed underfoot? Like my father himself, you have growns weak – a blade's edge dulled, a fire dimmed!' Genocide exclaims.
'For Rictor, girls. And poor Lin Li, too' Emma declares as she leaps from a balcony towards Genocide, with Wolverine at her side, and Monet flying behind them, the trio strike Genocide in unison, with Monet's super-strong fist and Emma's diamond-hard heel striking his helmet, as Wolverine's claws slice across his armor. Gorgon appears again and his sword slashes against Genocide's armor once more, telling him that his armor marks him slow and vulnerable. 'This shell isn't to protect me, you idiot! It's the only thing keeping you alive. And if I can't beat you head on...I'll unleash my bioplasma on the world'. Monet, Cable and Gorgon look on, concerned, while Genocide asks 'My father wants to test this Earth? Let's see if it can survive the blight of Genocide!'
Black energy begins to bubble around Genocide, while Monet switches to her Penance form and lunges towards him: 'Keep your clothes on, pervert!' she snaps as she puts her hands over Genocide's cracking armor. 'Anyone wants to pitch in – now's the time!' Penance calls out, noting that she can't hold his suit shut herself. Genocide tries to shake Penance off of him, when Exodus flies down towards him and announces 'Enough. This trial ends...' to which Emma asks him what he is doing. '...now!' Exodus declares as he surrounds Genocide and Penance in psychic energy, containing them within a telekinetic bubble – and just in time, as the other mutants are shunted backwards by the explosion that occurs within the telekinetic dome. There is a brilliant burst of energy, and when the explosion subsides, the mutants stare at the crater that appears before them.
'Oh god. Monet, she was caught in the -' Forge begins, while Emma shouts 'You bastard!' as she clenches her fists and looks up at Exodus. Exodus drops down to the ground and notes that Monet knew the risks of this tournament. 'You should feel at ease knowing she died a hero, buying me the precious seconds to collapse Genoside into a hyper-dense orb' Exodus tells the others. 'No... not Monet, too' Cypher utters. Mirage begins to cry and remarks that none of them should have agreed to Apocalypse's proposal, as this has gone way too far. 'You control matter at a cellular level and you couldn't have pushed her out of the way?' Emma snaps. 'Her blood is on your hands, you fanatical piece of -' Emma begins, before Exodus, holding the small orb that contains Genocide, tells everyone to keep their distance, and explains that he is still suppressing Genocide's bioplasma energy. 'None of you could withstand exposure' he notes.
Suddenly, Sinister appears and waves his hand behind Exodus' back. 'Did I miss the coup de grace?' Sinister asks. 'Ah, what a shame' he mutters, when suddenly, Exodus looks unwell, and he collapses to the ground, dropping the orb. 'What did you -?' Exodus begins. 'Oh no, our beloved zealot has caught sick!' Sinister jokes, as Exodus' body crumbles to dust. 'It seems there was an upper limit to his power, after all' Sinister smirks. 'I'm gonna blow this backstabbing $#%&'s head off' Cable scowls, while Wolverine pops her claws: 'Not if I vivisect him first' she frowns.
Meanwhile, on Arakko, within a pyramid, where the uber mutant Apocalypse is monitoring the events taking place on Earth. 'How disappointing. Twelve of the most promising, most uncompromising mutants on the planet... and my most despised child nearly obliterates them all' he declares, before deciding that he almost regrets luring Genocide to the testing grounds. Suddenly, there is a shattering sound and Apocalypse turns, eyes-wide at what he sees. 'You're going to regret much more than that, Apocalypse!' Warren Worthington III a.k.a. Archangel warns his former master as he perches on the windowsil of a now shattered window, glass clattering into the room around Apocalypse. 'I swore to you – I wouldn't let you ruin anyone else's life in pursuit of your "survival of the fittest"!' Archangel exclaims, pointing out that Apocalypse got his home back here on Arakko, and suggests that he leave Earth alone. Apocalypse grins and tells Archangel that if he wishes to be Earth's guardian, then he hopes he is prepared to die for it!
