In the Institute, Rogue is walking through the halls. She enters Professor
X's bedroom and absorbs him in his sleep. Then she walks to Jean's bedroom
and absorbs her too. In Kitty's bedroom, Kitty is in bed with her stuffed
dragon, Lockheed, when she hears Scott moaning. She gets up and walks to
leave the room, but just then the doorknob moves. She hides behind the
opening door as Rogue enters, and phases outside through the wall. She then
phases into Scott's room and tries waking him, but he won't wake up. Scared,
she backs away right into Rogue's hand, and falls unconscious.

In Kitty's bedroom the following morning, Kitty's alarm clock wakes her up
at 8:34. She gets out of the pillow (she was phased in it) sleepily with a
headache, thinking the whole thing to be a nightmare, and panics when she
realizes she overslept.

In Kurt's room, Kitty enters and wakes him up, saying that everyone
overslept. He's very sleepy too, but wakes up when she reminds him that
they're missing the last day of school. He teleports them away.

In the bathroom, Rogue is getting out of the shower. She says to herself
that she needs therapy after the bizarre dream she had.

In the kitchen, the New Mutants and the X-Men are preparing breakfast in a
hurry, as they are all late for school. Ray is using the blender, Kurt is
setting the table, Amara is frying eggs, Scott is taking a bagel, Bobby is
eating an apple and creating ice-cubes, and Jean is using the toaster. Rogue
enters, still having a headache. Bobby is getting a bowl of fruit, Ray is
pouring some drink, Kurt is eating eggs, Scott is taking something out of a
cupboard, and Kitty is phasing into the fridge and throwing a milk carton,
some jelly and butter to three Jamie clones, and an orange juice carton to
Roberto. Rogue decides to skip breakfast, and leaves the kitchen.

In Bayville High, the X-Van drives Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty and Amara to
school. Rogue is walking slowly, when a black limousine pulls up behind her
and a back door opens. Rogue enters, and the limo drives away. In the hall,
Scott and Jean are talking about graduation. Scott says he's happy to
finally finish school for good, though Jean says she has some good memories
from there. They walk past Principal Kelly just as Scott says he can't wait
till graduation tomorrow, and Kelly cruelly tells them that the feeling is
mutual. Kelly says that he wants no mutant stuff in the graduation ceremony,
and Scott and Jean walk away.

The limo gets to the Brotherhood house. Inside, Fred tosses the garbage and
Todd is hopping up and down. Pietro speeds out and back in to get the paper.
Wanda is walking upstairs, but stops and turns back when the doorbell rings
and the door opens. Todd asks who's at the door, but Wanda sees no one
there. Suddenly, Wanda floats up, and Rogue, who's also floating, touches
her to absorb her. Fred and Todd are watching television and eating cereals.
Lance is in the kitchen, taking some cereals too, when he notices Wanda
fainted by the open door. Before he can check what happened, Rogue floats
down and absorbs him. She then flies to the living room, tosses Fred's bowl
on Todd's head, jumps on Fred and absorbs him. Todd tries hopping out of the
way, but she gets him with her absorbed teleportation. Pietro hears the
noise and speeds downstairs, finding all of his friends fainted. Rogue
phases through the ceiling, flies down and tries to absorb him, but he
speeds away in the last second. He tries speeding away, but Rogue uses her
absorbed powers to get him back downstairs and absorb him. She leaves the
house and gets back to the limo, with Mystique. They drive away.

That evening at the Institute's library, Storm is looking at the rain and
promises Scott and Jean that she won't let it rain during the graduation
ceremony. Jean thanks him and puts down a tea tray. Xavier asks her what
she's planning to do next, and Jean says that she was thinking a lot about
studying medicine - maybe even genetics – she knows where she can find a
great tutor. Xavier takes a cup of tea and says that she'll find his rates
quite reasonable, and he's very easy to reach. Jean smiles at him. Outside,
Rogue is walking by.

The limo gets to a warehouse. Rogue looks at it, and tells Mystique the
window is her way in. She then absorbs Mystique, steps outside, morphs to an
owl, flies through the window, lands, morphs back and hides. Colossus is
walking nearby, and she surprises him and absorbs him. Sabretooth runs in
and attacks her, but she turns her hand to metal and absorbs him too. Pyro
shows up behind her and fires at her, but she turns to metal and walks
through the flames, absorbing him. Gambit shows up next and applauds her.
She walks to absorb him, and he asks her who's behind it. His guess is
Mystique, but he doesn't know why. She uses her telekinesis on him and tells
him to guess. He gets up, but she's already near him, and kisses him,
absorbing him. A little later, Magneto enters, and finds his Acolytes
fainted. He stands next to Gambit and calls out for Rogue, when suddenly he
notices Gambit lying away from him. Before he can understand what's
happening, the Gambit lying besides him jumps at him, morphs to Rogue and
absorbs him. Rogue leaves.

The following morning at Bayville High, everyone is at the football field
for the graduation ceremony. Scott and Jean are excited – now, nothing
matters - not all the harassments, the lost friends, the fights – they've
earned it as much as anyone else, probably more. They notice Jean's family,
and Jean goes to talk to them. Xavier, Ororo, Logan, Hank and Rogue are
sitting in the audience. Xavier tells Ororo that he thinks even Principal
Kelly would have to appreciate her mutant abilities that made the weather so
nice. Kelly starts his speech. Quicksilver walks nearby, and spots Rogue.
Magneto, Colossus, Gambit, Sabretooth, Pyro, Toad and Blob show up, and all
the students murmur. Scott says that there goes graduation. Kelly tells
everyone to remain calm and exit the field as quickly as possible. Rogue
tries to leave, but Quicksilver stops her. Professor X, Wolverine, Jean,
Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat stand opposite from the villains.
Magneto surrounds Rogue in chairs. Xavier demands Magneto's explanation, and
Magneto says that Rogue is under Mesmero's control – she attacked them all
and absorbed them, then wiped their minds with his powers. Xavier asks for
proof, and Magneto says that his surveillance cameras captured it all. Rogue
flies and tosses the chairs at the others, then jets away to the sky. Kelly
watches in horror and says that someone has got to stop mutants. Xavier and
Magneto order Wolverine, Sabretooth and Gambit to go track Rogue.

On the highway, Wolverine, Sabretooth and Gambit are riding their
motorcycles. Wolverine and Sabretooth are clearly not happy about having to
work together, and Gambit seems to be enjoying the whole thing.

In the Institute, Xavier and Magneto are discussing their way to defend them
and the world from the release of Apocalypse. They agree that they need to
find the door and defend it from the final key. Magneto says that they need
to assemble only our most experienced team members, and Xavier says that to
prevent Mesmero from taking anyone else under his control, he must place
mental blocks within each of them. They enter the control room, where Beast
tells them that he's had limited success determining Apocalypse's place of
origin beyond Ancient Egypt. Magneto tells him to search under his real
name: En Sabah Nur.

In a dock, Wolverine and Sabretooth break into a limousine and start
sniffing. Wolverine picks on Rogue's scent, and Sabretooth picks on
Mesmero's. They start fighting, but Gambit stops them, saying that this
isn't the time and they have to go find Rogue. Sabretooth says that she
must've taken a boat, but Gambit says that she might've taken a plane, as a
jet flies past them.

In the Institute, Beast finds that En Sabah Nur ruled about five thousand
years ago in Giza, which would logically be the place he's entombed, but the
specific location of that tomb is unknown. Magneto fears the only place that
information lies is within the mind of Mesmero, but Xavier says he's been in
that mind. A flashback shows Xavier searching Mesmero's mind in London, and
what's in it. Xavier says that perhaps he's had the answer all along. The
three of them go to Cerebro, where Xavier tries to interpret the jumbled
knowledge he took from Mesmero with amplified powers. Flashes show Mesmero
in Tibet, and a chamber in the Sphinx. They all leave in the Blackbird and
in Magneto's spheres.

In an airport in New York, Wolverine, Sabretooth and Gambit burst into the
control room, where they find everyone knocked out. Sabretooth sniffs around
and says that they were there, and Logan sarcastically asks him what his
first clue was. They start fighting again, but Gambit breaks them up,
finding Rogue on the radar screen, heading to the Pacific. They decide to
grab a jet too.

The Blackbird and the spheres arrive at Giza, Egypt. The team consists of
Professor X, Magneto, Storm, Beast, Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, Colossus,
Shadowcat, Iceman and Pyro. Beast puts a helmet on Shadowcat's head, which
functions as radio/flashlight/gas mask, and she phases her way underground.
She eventually falls into the underground chamber, where a statue of
Apocalypse stands. She reports to Beast, and then walks up a stairway and
pushes on a stone knob. Everything starts shaking, and the door opens.
Magneto levitates Xavier's chair, and they all walk downstairs. Pyro lights
a few torches. Suddenly, the Egyptian statues start moving, the door closes
and the torches go out.