There is darkness all around, as the thoughts of Alex “Havok” Summers resonate: ‘If you’re reading this, Katie, you’ve made it to your sixteenth birthday. For that much I’m grateful. I know Hank has raised you well. He’s a good man, the only other soul who didn’t give up on humanity. He delivered you into this world, and as your godfather, I knew he would see you through it. It was Hank who diagnosed you as human. Hank who forced us to realize that you’d never be safe here. That Eimin’s forces would never stop hunting you should your existence be uncovered. That’s only one of the reasons we’ve continued our struggle to undo this. I can’t abide my failure to unite man and mutant. Can’t abide what that led to. When unity was most needed, we were divided. I was the one responsible for bringing them together… and I was the one who failed the Earth!’
Planet X: ‘Coming through!’ Havok shouts as he rushes down a busy street, past many mutants going about their business. ‘Hey!’ one exclaims as Havok knocks him back, causing him to spill his drink. ‘Sorry’ Havok calls back. But he is more sorry than Katie will ever know that they couldn’t be there to raise her. ‘Please now it’s our love for you that fuels this struggle’.
He is being pursued by two mutants - the Blob and Pyro. ‘Ain’t nowhere to run, Summers!’ the Blob calls out as he knocks several mutants aside.
‘Looking into your eyes, the same color as my mother’s - it gives me the resolve to fight against a world determined to forget the past’
Pyro hollers ‘Some kind of hurry. Must have a hot date. It’s about to get hotter’ as some flame starts to burn around him.
As he rushes into a food-hall, Alex tells himself that Eimin has rewritten history - convinced Scott and his X-Men that the day of Armageddon was inevitable - that all blame lies with Thor, the Avengers, and him.
‘The Hell -?’ someone shouts as Alex leaps over their table, dodging some fire that flickers after him.
Eimin has convinced everyone to accept the death of humanity. ‘Don’t judge them. They weren’t there to see the truth’.
‘Whoa!’ shouts a mutant who steps back as flame roars past his hot-dog stand.
‘But your mother was. She watched it happen. And it was avoidable. Had we mutants been there to help’.
Suddenly: ‘Poor little Havok’ the Blob utters as he gets closer to Havok. A mutant teleports out of the Blob’s way with a FAMB teleport signature.
‘Once they work out what we mean to do - they’ll go to any lengths to stop us’
‘No friend in the whole wide world. With one wide enemy barreling down on ya!’ the Blob shouts.
‘But what we set out to do, it is the right thing’.
Suddenly, Alex lets loose with his power, as energy radiates forward from his body, ‘No funeral for you, traitor!’ the Blob shouts. ‘I’m not the one who’s going to be buried, Blob. And none of us get funerals!’ Alex replies as he blasts a large hole in the window up ahead.
Telling Katie that to risk leaving her without her parents, they do not take this lightly - but there is too much at stake for them to be selfish. Alex leaps through the hole in the window.
‘That’s the meaning of being a hero. Doing the hard thing when it’s right. In order to undo my failure and save the world - I have to destroy Planet X.’
As Alex falls from a great height, high above many other space-age buildings and hover-cars he looks down over Planet X.
Suddenly, the Blob breaks through the window, too. ‘Don’t know what brought you out of yer hiding hole - but ya screwed up!’ the Blob declares as he falls towards Havok. ‘You and your gene trash wife are wanted. Public enemy number one!’ the Blob exclaims. ‘There’s a reason for that, Blob. We’re very dangerous’ Havok replies. Turning his body so that he looks up at the Blob, he releases a close-range burst of energy, striking the falling Blob, burning most of his costume. ‘Nah. Yer inconvenient’ the Blob replies. ‘Making me run and jump - I ain’t had to do none of this since my X-gene was reignited.’ He grabs hold of Havok and tells him that they figured out what he is after. ‘Why do you have to screw everything up for us, chump? Tear down our heaven so we can go back to that hell?’ the Blob asks - when suddenly, Havok disappears from his grasp.
The confused Blob continues to free-fall, while Havok now appears above him, carried by Janet van Dyne a.k.a. the Wasp. ‘When you stood me up, I assumed you’d run off with a prettier gal. I didn’t know I was so far from your type’ the Wasp smiles. ‘Sorry you had to find out this way’ Alex retorts, before the Wasp tells him that there is more bad news - shrinking him used up the last of her external Pym Particles.
As they fly across the city, Havok tells Jan tells the Wasp that this is all the more reason to abort the operation. ‘They’re onto us, Janet. They know we mean to destroy the Tachyon Dam’. ‘If that’s true, then this is the last chance we’ll have at all’ Jan reminds him.
While, nearing the ground, the Blob shouts to the mutants below ‘Any of you don’t wanna be crushed by a couple of tons of sexy - look out!’ The Blob holds his arms up to his face, when suddenly, inches from the ground, he comes to a halt. ‘No mutants will die on my watch save one’ declares Magneto as he raises the Blob back up to where he floats in the air, and the Toad hovers alongside in a small hover-craft.
‘I assume it was them?’ Magneto enquires. ‘Yup. Heading in the direction of the Ark’ Blob replies. ‘Confirming my suspicions’ Magneto declares. Magneto flies onwards, pulling the Blob magnetically after him, while Toad flies in the hovercraft. ‘X-Force: Let’s finish it’ Magneto announces.
Speeding ahead, the Wasp’s wings flutter quickly as she asks Havok if he is sure that the Beast can send them back - all of them? ‘He told me he was working on it’ Alex replies. ‘Working on it?’ Janet repeats. ‘It’s Hank. He’s done it before, he can do it again’ Alex assures her. ‘So we’re attempting a full frontal assault on the Apocalypse Ark, in broad daylight - and we’re not even sure this can work?’ Jan enquires. ‘It’ll work. If it doesn’t… then there truly is no hope’ Havok replies.
Havok and the Wasp look up, as some strange mass appears, and a large hand reaches down towards them. ‘Fancy trick, Boss’ the near-naked Blob remarks. ‘Quite simple. Induction, the process of heating metals with high magnetism… a hot light to zap insects!’ Magneto explains, as the constructed hand moves closer to Havok and the Wasp. ‘I don’t suppose you have a higher gear?’ Alex asks. ‘You want to do the flying?’ the Wasp mutters. Havok quickly tells the Wasp to make him full size, but Jan tells him that she doesn’t have any more Pym Particles. ‘I won’t be able to catch you’ she explains. ‘Do it!’ Havok shouts. ‘I do love it when you’re forceful’ Jan tells him as she increases Alex, who frowns and clenches his fists, ‘Then you should love this’ he tells her, as white-hot energy pours upwards from his body, and in spectacular display, destroys the large hand that Magneto created. But, Alex then starts to free-fall to the ground below.
‘I got a visual, boss! He’s falling right -’ the Toad calls out from the hovercraft. ‘-at me’ the Toad concludes as Havok lands on the Toad’s transport. ‘I feel just terrible about this, Toad. Really’ Havok replies as he fires a blast of energy at the Toad, knocking him out of the hovercraft. ‘How’d I do?’ Havok asks as the Wasp flies over to him. ‘You’ve secured yourself a second date at the very least’ the Wasp jokes, as Havok pilots the hovercraft onto the Apocalypse Ark, right near the Tachyon Dam. ‘How do I up the odds on this one having a happy ending?’ Havok asks.
‘Looking ta get lucky, Summers? You come to the right place!’ the Blob calls out as he is propelled towards Alex, crashing into the hovercraft. ‘I can teach ya how ta make a real impact with the dames’ the Blob declares, as Alex is knocked aside by the exploding hovercraft.
Alex falls to the floor as the Wasp rushes over. ‘Get up, Alex! We’re almost there -!’ There is a quiver in her voice, bad memories bubble up - the last time the Wasp tried to blow up this dam, Captain America was slaughtered in front of her - and Jan blames herself for not killing the Grim Reaper.
The Blob falls to the floor, while Alex thinks ‘Never told her I did the job for her last year’. The Wasp points at the Tachyon Dam and tells Alex that she has the Blob, but he needs to go take that damned thing down. ‘Give it every ounce of cosmic steam you’ve got left!’ the Wasp exclaims. ‘I love you’ Havok replies as he rushes towards the dam. ‘You better’ Jan calls out after him, as a loud thumping can be heard - it is the sound of the Blob running towards her. ‘Come on now, little debutante! See how a real man parties!’ the Blob calls out. ‘At the buffet table, I’m assuming’ Jan replies.
‘Did you think I’d allow you to undo all my daughter gave her life to accomplish, Alex?’ Magneto asks. ‘Damn it, Magneto - you’ve got it all wrong!’ Havok shouts as he looks up to see Magneto hovering over him. ‘One of us does’ Magneto responds, as he throws a hovercraft towards Alex, causing it to explode, and Alex falls backwards.
‘I don’t appreciate fat jokes, girlie, unless I’m the one making ‘em!’ the Blob shouts as he edges closer to her. ‘Be like me making slurs about you being a helpless human slug piece of gene trash!’ the Blob points out. The Wasp stands her ground, ‘The primary difference being - mine was funny’ the Wasp replies, as she suddenly shrinks down, and fires her wasp’s sting into the confused Blob’s ear, and the obese mutant falls flat on his face.
At the same time, Alex is now clinging to the edge of the Apocalypse Ark, holding on for dear life, as Magneto drops down and stands over him. ‘Why, Alex?’ Magneto asks. ‘Why risk this utopia to save a population that went to such lengths to hunt and kill us?’ he enquires. Alex reminds Magneto that this world is built on the graves of billions of innocents - innocent blood on Eimin’s hands. ‘I see why you hold onto this Avengers leadership nonsense so reverently. You married one. Betrayed your own people to side with them. Sadly, you’re no Avenger, Alex… because there is no longer such a thing. The very name “Avenger” is detested’. Magneto adds that everyone knows the truth - the Avengers failed. Alex loses the grip of one hand, and Magneto puts his foot on Alex’s remaining hand. ‘Thor’s hubris angered the Celestials and Earth paid for it. Your wife has been poisoning your thoughts - desperately clinging to a truth more to her suiting -’ Magneto continues, before suddenly, a fierce blast strikes his head, knocking his helmet off.
It is the Wasp, who returns to her default size and helps pull Alex up from imminent danger. ‘Ugh. Ex-boyfriends can be such a pain’ the Wasp mutters. ‘Did you kill him?’ Alex asks. ‘Never. Avengers don’t kill’ the Wasp replies, asking ‘If we cast aside our principal beliefs when the chips are down, what does that say about us?’ to which Alex tells Jan that he needed to hear that. Havok remarks that this Tachyon Dam is the reason Immortus couldn’t intercede - the reason they can’t go back in time to change things. ‘And even if it kills us… I’m going to open that door!’ Havok shouts, unleashing his power once more, at close range to the Tachyon Dam. There is a loud noise, as the energy inside the Tachyon Dam is suddenly dispersed, and Alex is knocked backwards. At the same time, shards of metal going flying towards the Wasp, and she is trapped inside a small globe. ‘No! Alex!’ Jan calls out.
Magneto pulls the metal globe over to him with his power. The Blob stands next to him. ‘He’s fallen to his death, Wasp’ Magneto declares. ‘You don’t believe that’ the Blob remarks. ‘No. I do not’ Magneto confirms. ‘Then why ain’t we following?’ the Blob asks. Magneto explains that there is no need to hunt Mr Summers any longer, as they hold the only thing he cares for - he will come to them.
Shortly, Alex wanders down an empty street, and checking to make sure no one is watching him, he presses a hidden button on a wall, which activates a mysterious doorway that he steps through. ‘Welcome home, Alex. Is Janet close behind?’ a voice calls out as Alex walks through a dark tunnel. ‘No, Magneto captured her’ Alex replies. He steps into a brightly-lit lab, where Dr Henry McCoy a.k.a. the Beast is busy working.
‘It’s worse than I feared’ the Beast announces, while Alex reports that they took down the Tachyon Transmitter. ‘I saw. I’ve been running tests since’ the Beast replies. ‘And? Can you send us back?’ Alex asks, but Hank tells him that he has bad news. Hank explains that he hypothesized that the dam going down here would eliminate the tachyons, but reveals that they are still somehow anchored in this era. ‘In the timeframe we wish to enter, the dam is still up. There is no way any physical body can go back’ the Beast announces. ‘Then why the hell did we just risk out lives?’ Alex frowns.
‘Don’t you dare put this on me. I told you I wasn’t sure. Told you I couldn’t know until the dam was down!’ the Beast exclaims. Alex presses some buttons on a control panel and tells Hank that he is sorry. ‘We knew the risks’ he admits. ‘Right now the only thing I want…’ Alex calls out, as a door opens to another room, ‘…is to see my daughter’ Alex declares as he steps in.
‘Daddy!’ a little blonde girl grins as she looks up from where she is playing with her toys. ‘Katie, my girl’ Alex grins as he picks the girl up. ‘Oh, silly Daddy. I missed you’ Katie smiles, before announcing that she and Uncle Hank made a new plant. ‘Do you want to see it?’ she asks. ‘Of course’ Alex tells her, before the wide-eyed girl asks him ‘Where’s Mommy?’ Alex pauses, before telling Katie that her mother is coming, that she will be with them soon. ‘I promise’ he adds.
Alex turns to Hank and tells him that Janet believed that if they got the dam down, Immortus was waiting to send an army to help them. ‘Help us do what?’ the Beast asks. ‘Save Earth’ Alex explains.
Suddenly, Havok, the Beast and Katie turn to the direction of another voice, ‘Your Wasp had it half right…‘ a man in green and purple declares as he strides into the room with Thor and an assortment of the most dangerous beings from across the time stream - Ahab, Stryfe, May Parker, Magistrate Braddock, Arno Stark, Doom 2099 and Abomination Deathlok. He continues his sentence: ‘…only it is KANG THE CONQUEROR who holds mankind’s final hope, Havok. And yours’….
