Cable

Apocalypse

Cyclops

Phoenix

Polaris

Blink

Archangel

Iceman

Havok

Scarlet Witch

Franklin Richards

Storm

Cannonball

Death

War

Famine

Pestilence

Nathan Summers lies motionless. He is an Askani, performing the quasi-religious group's unique meditation style. Imagine yoga on a grander scale. The equivalent of Askani meditation is like reliving the best moment of your life, replayed at quarter speed. In this upside-down Lotus position, nothing can disturb Nathan...even the fact that his life-long mission may have been ruined in an instant.

{{Epidermal regeneration complete,}} Prosh's voice echoes in the regeneration chamber. The door slides open, and Cable floats upright, putting his phoenix medallion back around his neck. He checks his stomach where Death pierced him. The wounds were healed. Cable has used a chamber similar to this many times in the past, when his techno-organic virus had spread to his face. People used to think he was a cyborg because of that.

There to meet him are nine members of the fabled Twelve: Polaris (Lorna Dane), Blink (Clarice Ferguson), Archangel (Warren Worthington, III), Iceman (Bobby Drake), Havok (Alex Summers), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Franklin Richards, Storm (Ororo Munroe), and Cannonball (Sam Guthrie). They have a look of collective glumness in their faces.

Cable pulls on a black shirt and puts on a pair of military cargo pants. He then sits in midair as he pulls his gray socks on his bare feet. A pair of black military boots float over to Nathan's hands as he slips them on and straps them tight.

"Don't give me that look," he warns.

"Why not?!" Archangel yells, walking up to face Cable. "You plucked us from our happy lives and practically imprisoned us on your damn orbiting base! And now, it was probably for nothing!!! Scott and Jean are probably dead!!"

Franklin giggles, "He said damn. Shame on you."

Cannonball scolds Archangel, "What gives you the right, man? Cable saved all o' our lives."

"Oh? And for what?! Some two-thousand year old prophecy?!" Archangel yells. "If you actually let us help instead of--"

"Blow it out your ass, Worthington!" Cable shouts. "You have no idea what Apocalypse has done--"

"I know PLENTY!" Archangel flames as his skin pales to blue and his hair becomes pure light. Photonic wings explode from his back. "As if this wasn't proof enough of the endless manipulation he's put me through?!"

Polaris picks Franklin up, "Come on, kiddo. Maybe we should watch some Dragonball Z to get away from this...squabbling." Lorna walks out of the main bridge of Greymalkin II. She looks back at Havok, who was sitting on a floating chair facing away from everyone else. Lorna continues down the corridor to the entertainment room.

"News flash, rich boy," Cable shouts, "becoming a Horseman is like a blessing compared to what Apocalypse will do! You know that hellish future I grew up in? Looks like these events presently are where it stemmed from!"

"Is that what it says in your Bible?" Warren shouts. "Too bad you couldn't use that thing to predict Scott and Jean wouldn't make it back!"

"Take it easy, bro," Iceman says, stepping between Warren and Nathan. "Besides, Cyclops and Phoenix can more than adequately hold their own until we can help them. The Horsemen aren't all-powerful. Apocalypse just amped them up - it's nothing new."

"Exodus nearly wiped out the Omega team in ten seconds," Warren says, looking over at Blink.

"It wasn't him," Blink explains. "There was only War."

"And Famine took on the entirety of the Avengers. Had Thor been there, things may have been different, but...she came close to--" Wanda pauses. "She could have killed them all."

"Everyone, please...stop," Storm commands. "Fighting about this matter will not help it, and you are probably scaring poor Franklin to death! Prosh is currently looking for three mutants out of about ten million. The best we can do now is wait."

Nathan closes his eyes. His Askani meditation was supposed to calm him, but it didn't. He uses his telekinesis to float his battle gear around his body. A holster wraps around his chest. A belt carrying various accessories and charges wraps around his waist. Another two holsters wrap around his thighs. A large knife is flung into his hand, which he puts into his boot. The psimatar floats to his hand, glowing gold as his power surges through it. Cable presses a latch on the Askani weapon and the staff retracts to the size of a knife hilt. He attaches the hilt to a loop in his belt. Last, a pack full of various weapons wraps itself casually under each arm, and hangs on Cable's back.

Cable looks up at the computer screen:

Raw Enchantment: CONFIRMED The Refugee: CONFIRMED Light of the Fallen:   CONFIRMED Frigid Confidence: CONFIRMED Brother of the Sun: CONFIRMED Friend of Fate: CONFIRMED Seed of the Cosmos: CONFIRMED The Mortal Immortal: CONFIRMED Best of Three: CONFIRMED   Patriarch of Power: CAPTURED Matriarch of Fire: CAPTURED Offspring of Doom: SEARCHING...

Nathan strokes his chin, realizing his stubble was longer than he last remembered it. It was a grueling task finding every member of the Twelve. Wanda approaches to the side of Cable, "Perhaps it's Kristoff von Doom?"

"Huh?" Cable asks.

"Dr. Doom's son," Scarlet Witch explains. "In other words, the 'Offspring of Doom.'"

{{While your effort is appreciated, Wanda, Kristoff isn't a mutant,}} Prosh says.

Cable sighs deeply, "This is hopeless."

{{Wait,}} Prosh says as his face appears on the screen, {{there might be a way. I should have thought of this sooner. Curse my aged circuits!}}

"What is it, old friend?" Cable inquires.

{{When your father was attacked by Mastermold, the construct said that Cyclops was one of the Twelve. Perhaps the data of the Twelve is still in its memory banks,}} Prosh says with a smile.

"How did the data get in there in the first place?" Wanda asks.

"Long story short, Tanya Trask time-traveled there and uploaded it into her father's creation. My sister had previously pulled her out of the timestream and into the future, where she must have learned of the legends of twelve mutants stopping Apocalypse. For whatever twisted reason, she wanted the Twelve destroyed," Cable explains.

"Why would she do that?" Wanda asks.

"Why else would she want the ultimate Sentinel to know about them?"

"I see..." Wanda says.

"Speaking of which, whatever happened to Mastermold?" Cable asks.

Havok hears the question and gets out of the hover chair. He walks up to Cable, "It went through the Siege Perilous...a sort of mystical portal. But if I and the other X-Men who went through it survived, I say it could be out there somewhere."

"Prosh--?" Cable asks.

{{...Nathan, we have a problem.}}

"Oath... what now?" asks Cable.

{{According to my files, Mastermold did emerge from the Siege Perilous, merged with the construct called Nimrod.}}

"What does that mean?" asks Cable.

{{When they merged, they became a new entity—Bastion.}}

"Just great..." says Archangel. "What now?"

"Things just couldn't get any better..." mutters Cable.

{{What is, is.}}

"Whoa..." says Iceman. "Deja vu."

"What?" asks Cable.

"Nothing, just had a little case of deja vu," replies Iceman. "I remember hearing that once before."

"It's an old Askani saying," says Cable. "Where did you hear it?"

"Umm... when I was working undercover on Graydon Creed's campaign," says Iceman. "A woman who worked with me, Carly something, said it. Carly... Alvarez, that's it."

{{It could possibly be related.}}

"Can you locate her apartment?" asks Cable.

{{It will take me a moment to search through the worldwide databases for her correct address.}}

Wanda whispers into Cable's ear, "Are you sure you should be letting that poor sentient computer do all the work?"

Cable smiles, chuckling, "He likes it, trust me."

Prosh's face smiles, {{Found it. It's in Soho.}}

"Good," says Cable. "Bodyslide me down there immediately."

Prosh's face suddenly vanishes from the monitor, before the bodyslide can begin.

"Prosh...?" asks Cable.

The face reappears on the monitor a moment later.

"What happened?"

{{My apologies, Nathan. But it seems there's a... disturbance. It's in the Brazilian rainforest. I'm not able to fully assess the threat, but it seems to be some sort of damage done to the space-time continuum.}}

Cable smiles and looks over at the nine members of the Twelve, "Time's not our friend. I need to locate Alvarez, but the situation in Brazil needs to be dealt with. Who better than a majority of the twelve most powerful mutants in existence?"

Bobby shrugs, "Works for me."

Warren sighs, "Great, a suicide mission. I just love those!"

"Buck up, man," Cannonball smiles as he fixes his goggles over his eyes, "it's half the fun!"

"Someone must watch Franklin," Storm says.

{{I think I can handle it,}} Prosh says cordially. Polaris walks in with Franklin holding her hand.

"Ohmygod, did you see what Vegita did to Goku?!" Franklin shouts.

Polaris smiles, "What's going on?"

"Suicide mission," Iceman retorts as he puts on one of Cable's armor suits along with the rest of the Twelve. "Prosh is watching the kid. Wanna come along?"

"It'll be fun," Alex says putting his hand on her shoulder. "Just like old times, right?"

Lorna smiles, "All right...like old times."

Cable walks over to Storm and hands her a small electronic device of some sort.

"You can locate the disturbance in Brazil with that," he says. "Prosh, let's get going."

Brazil

In a flash, the eight mutants are in the Amazon rainforest. Storm leads the way through the thick foliage of the jungle.

"Storm, can you tone down the humidity for us?" Havok asks. "I can barely see a damn thing.

Storm's eyes go white as the dense moisture seems to disappear, "Done."

"You want me to make some popsicles?" Iceman asks. "You'd have to settle for flavorless for now--"

"Can it, Drake," Archangel barks.

Iceman sighs, "You're like the older brother I didn't want, Warren. Let me have my only child fun."

"Come on, guys..." Blink groans at the two former teammates.

"Clarice," Storm asks, "mind teleporting some of this dense green area so we can get through?"

"But it's the rainforest! I can't just destroy--"

"She didn't say vaporize it, just move it somewhere else," Havok says.

Blink closes her eyes, concentrating. Using her pocket dimension as means to scan the environment, she finds the perfect spot to transfer the plants. Within seconds, the thick greenness of the jungle shines with a pink aura as they disappear. Clarice blushes, "Oops...I teleported some animals, too."

"It's okay, they should be fine," Storm declares. She looks down at the handheld device Cable gave her. "It should be a couple meters in this direction," she says, pointing southwest. The eight members of the Twelve begin to make the walk towards the odd disturbance.

"Hm," Havok grunts. Polaris wipes sweat off her forehead.

She asks, "What is it?"

"Of all the global weather disturbances, this place is actually...peaceful," Havok observes. "Except for the blistering heat, of course."

Suddenly, Lorna Dane feels a ripple in the Earth's natural electromagnetic flow. Her powers kick in, causing her familiar emerald aura to appear around her body. Unknown to her, the electromagnetic jolt caused the dye in her hair to dissipate. Her natural neon green hair flowed once more.

Havok smiles, "Um...your hair."

"What?" Polaris asks. She looks at her reflection in some standing water. "Aw...damn it."

"What's the matter? Afraid of who you really are?" Havok asks. "Believe me, I've learned to appreciate the little things in life. I wouldn't care if I had gills for eyelids, I'd act no differently."

Polaris crosses her arms in the white and blue armor Cable provided her, "But I'm not ashamed of being a mutant, it's just...green hair isn't common in the business world."

"Who says it has to be?" Havok questions. "You're not defined by your hair, Lorna."

She sighs, "It's a woman thing. We dye our hair all the time because we can and it's acceptable."

Havok nods, "You're all hiding your true self, then."

"Shut up. When did you start being so psychological?"

"The moment I stopped bitching about being in my brother's shadow."

Soho

A bright light appears in the apartment belonging to Carly Alvarez. Nathan Summers opens his eyes once the light vanishes and glances around the room.

"Carly Alvarez," he says. "I need your help."

There is no response that is forthcoming. Nathan's left eye begins to glow brightly as he does a telepathic scan of the area. There is no one in the apartment.

"STAB HIS EYE!!" he exclaims in a rage. "Prosh, there's no one here!"

{{It seems that there are more immediate problems.}}

"Like what?"

{{In Brazil.}}

Brazil

Ahead, Scarlet Witch and Cannonball walk on either side of Storm.

"Want me to scout ahead?" Cannonball asks.

"No," says Storm.

"But we can figure out how much--"

"It's here..." Storm mutters. Sam stops talking and looks up. Deep within the foliage is an odd light of some sort. He pushes aside most of the plants aside to examine it.

"Strange..." says Storm. "It seems... almost familiar.

"Any clue what it might be?" asks Cannonball.

"Off the top of my head, no," replies Storm. "Wanda, can you sense...?"

"It seems to be a portal of some sort..." says the Scarlet Witch. "But for what, I cannot discern."

"Um...I'm not a biologist...but there aren't any skinless lemurs that are man-sized and are all demonic-looking...are there?" Iceman asks.

Storm's eyes widen as a cadre of demons, having red, scaly skin savagely begin running on their hands and feet towards the mutants. She realizes that these must be the creatures who came from the portal.

"Pft, and you said this place was peaceful!" Iceman shouts at Havok. "You must feel pretty stupid."

"Do not let them escape!" Storm shouts as she takes to the skies. Lightning forms into a ball in her hands as she hurls the concentrated electricity into three of the demons, vaporizing them.

"Wait... you mean we want them to hang around?" Iceman asks as he flash-freezes ten demons with the blink of an eye. "I'd say freeze, but that's kinda clichéd."

Havok and Polaris stand back to back, both unleashing their mutant powers as a means of offensive force. Havok, his cosmic blasts and Polaris, her magnetic manipulation used as repulsion. Cannonball rams into a demon that was about to dive bomb on Blink and takes out two others.

"Wanda!" Archangel calls out. "You're the resident mystic. Any idea on these things? What are they?!"

Scarlet Witch blasts into the crowd of seemingly endless demons, "I don't know. These creatures are not aliens, but I fear they are demons from another dimension."

"Let me guess..." mutters Havok. "Limbo?"

"It appears so," says Wanda. "How did you know?"

"I was sleeping with the Goblin Queen, I was there when Limbo last invaded," says Havok. "Some things you just can't forget, no matter how hard you try."

"What the hell are they doing working for Apocalypse?!" asks Blink.

"Millions of trained foot soldiers able to strike at a moment's notice?" asks Archangel. "Apocalypse isn't above using others for his own means."

"How susceptible to magic are they?" asks Storm.

"Forget magic, they can eat my hex!" Wanda shouts as she generates a massive pink pulse into the cadre of demons. They are unaffected.

"There's too many of them!" exclaims Cannonball.

"We've got more problems..." says Polaris from the air.

"We're fighting demons from another dimension," says Iceman. "How can it get worse?"

"Try fighting more demons from another dimension," says Polaris. "There seems to be another portal opening up."

Soho

"You mean to tell me that Apocalypse struck a deal with Belasco?!" exclaims Nathan.

{{Either that or Apocalypse dethroned Belasco.}}

"Get me down there!!"

{{.................}}

"What's the delay, Prosh?! Get me down there!"

{{I'm trying, Nathan... but it seems that there is something blocking the bodyslide frequency in Brazil. It must be related to the portal.}}

"OATH!!" exclaims Nathan. In a mad rage, he telekinetically started breaking furniture. Lamps shatter, wood cracks, and a bookshelf is knocked over. He then drives his fist into the wall, putting a hole in it.

He glances up at the spot where a painting was hanging and sees a safe there. The frame had it concealed. Using his telekinesis, he pulls the door from the safe and looks inside. In it is a letter written in Askani.

"Prosh, I think I've found something," says Nathan. "But I think I should get a second opinion on this translation..."

{{There's something blocking the bodyslide frequency! I can't get through!}}

Archangel soars above, firing photonic fletchettes into the demons. They scream in pain as the light pierces them, vanishing in an instant. "Now there's poetic justice for ya!"

"Everyone!" Cable shouts telepathically. "I'm contacting you from Greymalkin II via telepathy. Something is blocking the bodyslide frequency! I need you to pull back and head to one of my old safehouses! I'll implant the coordinates in—"

"I can make the jump," Blink calls out.

"Can you?" Archangel asks through the psi-net Cable established. "Have you ever teleported that far?"

"No...but now's a great time to try, right?" Blink asks. Using her pocket dimension once more, she concentrates on all of her current teammates and concentrates on opening a portal beyond the atmosphere of Earth, something she has never done. Pink energy cackles around her as Clarice begins screaming.

"Clarice!!!" Archangel yells out.

Then, the explosion of energy...

Aboard Greymalkin II, a flash of pink signifies a strange expulsion of energy. The eight members of the Twelve fly and hit the ceiling of the ship, then the artificial gravity pulls them onto the catwalk floor, hard.

Havok grunts as a small cut above his forehead drips blood into his eye. "Is everyone...?"

Franklin bends down to eye level with Havok, touching his cut, "Did you guys fight Tacolips without me?"

Cable breaks in from behind him, "No, Franklin...we went to find out who the last member of the Twelve is."

"Who is it, then?" Franklin asks.

"Good question," replies Cable. "Prosh, did you finish the translation?"

{{Yes, and according to this letter you discovered, Carly Alvarez was an agent of the Askani sent back in time to ensure that the Twelve were discovered. In the letter, she includes the names of each member of the Twelve. And the twelfth member is... it's Apocalypse.}}

"What?" Archangel shouts. "That's impossible! Our goal is to destroy him!"

"Then I didn't read it wrong..." mutters Cable. "How the hell is he supposed to work with us?"

Nathan looks at the computer screen, where it said "Offspring of Doom." A headshot of Apocalypse was to the right of it with the word "confirmed" under it. Just above it was the entry: "Matriarch of Fire." To the side of it was a headshot of Phoenix -- Jean Grey-Summers. Suddenly, it becomes clear who the twelfth member is. It also becomes clear how dire the situation is. There were three members of the Twelve out of Cable's reach.

"Apocalypse is one of the Twelve? Now I've heard everything," Iceman groans.

"No..." Cable mutters. "It's Jean's baby."

NEXT: The Thirteenth Hour