Giza

"I do not accept failure!" Apocalypse's angry voice echoes throughout his throne room. To his right, on the far wall, are the Four Horsemen, Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence, chained up. They have been getting repeated poundings by their master for at least a half-hour. Even with their genetic enhancements by Apocalypse, his power is beyond their abilities.

"You were defeated by simple metahumans! It should not have mattered that Cable and the Twelve were there to help them, you are pathetic!" Apocalypse shouts. "And for your efforts, Holocaust, my son, was killed in the vacuum of space!"

"In all fairness, Lord Apocalypse," War says quietly, "Holocaust was weak. He died battling your other son. Apollyon is your rightful heir. Pure, and native of this world."

Apocalypse pauses, pacing back and forth in front of the Horsemen, his hands linked behind his back. He stops in front of War, "Perhaps. Nevertheless, the Twelve are on their way here." Apocalypse looks out the open roof of the Citadel as twenty rabid demonized wolves descend into the throne room as their dragon wings extend and then fold behind them. "And you shall be punished."

"But my lord...who will protect you from the Twelve?" Famine asks as five growling snouts inch towards her, as the other Horsemen are threatened by five demon-wolves each.

"I don't need protection from the Twelve, Rosemarie," Apocalypse laughs. "They aren't a threat to me at all." The demon hellhounds bark savagely as their teeth and claws sink into the flesh of the Horsemen. Apocalypse sighs pleasurably, "I love it when they scream."

There is a whoosh of energy as a black hole of sorts appears towards the center of the throne room. Within seconds, the portal closes, revealing twelve mutants dressed in skintight leather and one muscular man with a blue cloak.

"This looks oddly familiar, does it not?" Apocalypse asks with a smile.

Cable looks over at the commotion of the Horsemen literally being torn to shreds. "You are one sick son of a bitch," Nathan says as he draws a gun, blasting a hole through Apocalypse's skull.

There is a stunted silence as the Twelve wonder if it was really that easy. No, it couldn't be. Apocalypse stands motionless as the gaping hole in his left temple seems to seal itself shut.

"Are you trying to insult me?" Apocalypse asks. He holds out his arm and generates a massive jolt of yellow energy into the Twelve and Cable. They all shout in pain as they slump over.

Cable's left eye beams with psionic energy as he slowly rises to his feet, keeping an intense stare on Apocalypse. Suddenly, Cable feels something in the back of his mind. He looks to his side and sees that the hellhounds were now inching slowly towards the unconscious Twelve. Their red eyes glowed eerily as their silver fur glistened in the Egyptian sun.

Apocalypse smiles as he mentally causes the restraints of the Horsemen to break away from the wall. They are all a mangled, bloodied mess. However, their genetic tampering has already healed many of their more fatal wounds.

Cable shouts telepathically, "GET UP!"

Being the only two telepaths among the Twelve, Apollyon and Phoenix jolt as they immediately rise to their feet. The others slowly follow. Franklin latches himself onto Wanda's leg.

"Don't worry, little one," she whispers to Franklin.

Storm generates a massive pulse of lightning, as Cyclops blasts the hellhounds with his optic blasts, Iceman flash-freezes some of them, Phoenix telekinetically blasts them with concentrated force, Polaris causes metal parts of the throne room to pierce their hides, and Archangel flaps his wings, generating at least thirty photo-fletchettes into them. Blink causes some of the wolves to vaporize, while Havok blasts them into nothing with his solar blasts of concussive force. Scarlet Witch mutters a few arcane words as the wolves howl before they are vaporized. The hellhounds are dealt with in under a minute.

Just as the Twelve all breathe a collective sigh of relief, the Horsemen attack them once more. Cable, however, simply stands motionless in front of Apocalypse.

En Sabah Nur stares directly at Nathan Summers, his sworn enemy, and vise versa. "I cannot imagine what you are thinking at the moment," Apocalypse declares. "What could I have done to you that gives you the willpower to constantly oppose me?"

"I've got a list," Cable mutters.

Apocalypse smiles, "Ah, yes. Still whining about my special recipe of the transmode virus, eh?"

"Actually, the techno-virus has strengthened my powers. You didn't think of that one, huh?" Cable asks mockingly. "And the virus is small compared to why I've been hunting you all my life."

Apocalypse flashes his eyebrows as he hovers backwards, up towards his throne. He sits in the intricately designed chair and motions for Cable, "Well, you've finally found me. Kill me."

Cable attempts to run up the thirty stairs, but it blocked by a powerful force field. He blasts it from a burst of telekinetic force from his eye, he tries blasting through it with a plasma gun. Nothing can get through it. He channels his power through his psimatar and still nothing.

Apocalypse laughs, pointing behind Cable, "You should really pay attention to the matter at hand."

Cable's scowls as he looks behind him. Franklin shouts as he is being reeled into Pestilence's chest cavity by various tentacles. Warlock has Scarlet Witch pinned to the wall with his hand shape-shifted into a giant lobster claw.

"Nathan!" Wanda shouts.

"AHH!!" Franklin cries.

Cable turns back to give Apocalypse the finger as he dives towards the center of the throne room, tackling Pestilence to the ground. Cable takes a knife from his boot and drives it into Warlock's eye. Nathan flips the switch, causing the ion blade to activate. Warlock screams in pain as the energy burns his eye socket. Cable twists the knife in his grip, causing even more damage to the eye.

"Arrrgghghghg....*tkt* ahhhhrrr...." Warlock moans.

Cable's left eye turns from yellow to white as his telekinesis is boosted by the Fifth Dimension. He can see Warlock's body for the millions of tiny microscopic machines that it is. With a thought, Warlock is separated into each individual machine of the transmode virus that made up his body.

Franklin and Wanda land on the floor as they see the tiny particles condense. However, the stunt Cable performed has drained Pestilence considerably. Warlock can only form himself into a mere puddle.

Famine slithers around Blink and Archangel like a snake, hissing and flickering her tongue. The two X-Men still can't get used to the fact that their teammate, Rogue, is under all of that pale gray skin and skintight black armor. There is a sense of pure evil in her eyes, as if the entire pupil expanded and consumed each socket.

Warren activates his power, his skin turning blue as light explodes from his back, eventually taking the form of angelic wings. His fingers elongate into talons. His eyes and hair take on the same nature as his wings. Clarice picks up a small piece of metal, charging her teleportational energies through it, causing it to glow florescent pink.

Famine growls as she charges at Warren. He simply stands his ground, allowing for Famine to lunge at him with her clawed fingers ready to absorb his strength. At the last possible moment, Archangel slashes Rogue across the chest with his talons.

Famine grips the psionic wound and tries to let out a shout, but can't. She's too busy reliving a life she's long forgotten. She sees Archangel and Blink in leather costumes with large X's over the jackets. She also sees herself. Her skin isn't pale, and she's wearing a similar uniform.

She falls to her knees and has a look of frustration. Warren walks up to her, "Rogue...? Are you okay? It's me, Warren."

Famine shakes her head, a tear rolling down her cheek, "Ah'm sorry, Warren...Ah cain't control it."

Before Archangel knows it, Rogue punches him in the jaw, sending him into a wall. It was the equivalent of being hit with a truck. Blink sees this and zaps Rogue's body with a jolt of her displacement power. Famine slumps to the ground, her flesh sizzling. She's crying.

"Ah'm sorry, Clarice...," she whimpers.

Warren pulls himself out of the impression made into the stone wall, "Don't listen, Blink! She's trying to distract you!" He flaps his wings and generates at least fifty photo-fletchettes. Rogue's eyes widen as she is pierced all over her body by them.

"ARRGHH!!!" she screams, her eyes and mouth emanating light. The fletchettes dissipate and Rogue slumps to the floor once again.

Blink fights back tears as she slips out an uncharged metal javelin. Famine attempts to get back on her feet, but Clarice jabs the javelin into her mouth. Famine gags, fighting, but Clarice holds the javelin in place, piercing the back of Rogue's esophagus. After a while, Blink yanks the javelin out.

As Famine gasps for breath and spits out blood, Blink delivers a shocking kick to the back of her head, causing the Horseman to lie unconscious on the floor.

Blink feels her heart swell up like she's just run over her family dog with the car. Warren approaches her from behind and gently hugs her.

Clarice looks up at Warren, "I want this to end...I don't want to fight our friends anymore."

Warren looks over at Cable, who is standing before Apocalypse's throne, trying to get past some sort of force field. Cable looks behind him and sees Scarlet Witch and Franklin being tangled up in Pestilence's techno-organic form. Cable tackles Pestilence to the ground, stabs him in the eye, and telekinetically vaporizes him, causing him to melt into a puddle. Franklin and Wanda are freed.

Warren looks back at Apocalypse, who is casually sitting at his throne as if this was entertainment to him. "Believe me, Blink. When I was on the other side as a Horseman, deep down, I didn't want to fight my friends, either," Warren explains.

"Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first." -- Revelation 2:4

Meanwhile, Cannonball, Iceman, Scarlet Witch, and Storm are taking their turn teaming up on the Horseman known as War. Formerly Exodus, Bennet Du Paris is actually hundreds of years old. He had his latent psionic and teleportation abilities jump-started by Apocalypse during the Crusades.

He's had considerable experience with his abilities, so four of the Twelve of Power should be a breeze for him, right? Not when they are composed of an omega level and three alpha level mutants who have had their powers increased significantly ever since they were gathered together for the first time. Very subtly, the Twelve's collective powers have mysteriously increased ever since they appeared in Giza...

Two Horsemen are down, War and Death were all that remained.

"Hit him from multiple angles!" Storm shouts as she conjures a small thunder cloud above the roof. Lightning is called forth and strikes Exodus in the head, chest, and his sword-carrying arm.

"With pleasure, your storminess," Iceman cracks as he lowers the ambient temperature around War, causing his blood stream to slow down. Thus, his reaction time is slowed down considerably.

War's physical abilities are hampered, but not his mental ones. He lashes out telepathically, causing all four mutants to scream out in pain. Storm grits her teeth as she concentrates, forming an electric field around her body, causing the extrasensory abilities of Exodus to be slighted within her mind.

Scarlet Witch, being a mystic, is able to defend herself against the attack as well. She crooks her fingers, muttering a phrase in Latin and watches as War is hit by mystical daggers. He skillfully blocks most of them with his own sword, but has three sticking out of his ribs. This causes him to stop his psionic attack. Iceman and Cannonball recover.

"Ah...thought Xavier's psionic defense teachin's were supposed to work?" Cannonball groans, rubbing his temples.

"They do," Iceman barks. "We're lucky we had any training. If not, we'd be vegetables right now!"

War grunts as he pulls the daggers from his ribs, watching as they dissipate into sparkly magical energy.

"Samuel!" Ororo shouts. "Attack plan Alpha two-niner. Go!"

Cannonball smirks, "Roger, 'Roro!" He leaps into the air towards Exodus, the kinetic field around his body blazing with a yellow-orange glow.

"Man," Iceman whispers to Scarlet Witch, "when have the X-Men started sounding like an NFL offensive lineup?"

Wanda smiles, "They stole the idea from the Avengers."

"Oh," Iceman chuckles.

As Cannonball rockets towards the Horseman, War hacks into Sam with his sword. Cannonball's blast field protects him, but he still feels the blunting force. Sam smirks, however, hovering in front of War.

"What are you--?" War asks. He instantly picks up Sam's intentions with his telepathy. "Oh, no..."

With one gesture of his hand, Cannonball redirects the kinetic force War used on him and concentrates his blast field into a thin stream of energy into War's sternum. Exodus is propelled out of the Citadel like a rocket.

Apocalypse watches from his throne, totally displeased. His eyes narrow as they glow red. War was one of his strongest Horsemen ever...

"Therefore, repent. Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth." -- Revelation 2:16

The final Horseman left is Death. She has her Assyrian-style blades drawn. Her armor has been damaged slightly. Polaris is keeping up a pretty good magnetic interference to prevent unwanted psionic attacks. Apollyon is psionically dampening Madelyne as well. Phoenix is countering the telekinetic assaults by applying the same force Death emits.

"This," Madelyne breathes, wiping blood from her lip. "This isn't fair."

"Using the M'Kraan Crystal isn't fair, using our friends as the enemy isn't fair," Phoenix shouts. "Well, in your case, thankfully, we all fucking hate you."

With a flinch, Death's swords again disappear thanks to Jean. Cyclops and Havok give each other a nod as they both unleash their similar energies of solar blasts upon Death. Maddie erects a telekinetic shield, blunting the forces.

"Keep it up, Alex," Cyclops commands as his entire face becomes covered by his optic blasts firing upon Death. He rarely consciously increased the pressure his optic blasts put out, but Scott Summers didn't care. It was an excuse for him to cut loose. And he likes it.

Havok glances over at his brother. Alex's entire body is glowing blue as circular patterns of cosmic forces are directed at Death in the same manner as Cyclops' optic blasts.

Apollyon gives Jean and Lorna a nod as all three hover to opposite ends of Death. Apollyon then absorbs the pain and anger of Madelyne and focuses a telekinetic blast upon her. Phoenix joins in with a powerful TK blast of her own. Lastly, Polaris concentrates her electromagnetic manipulation into a heat blast.

The tiny sphere of energy in the center of this war is Madelyne Pryor, or rather, Death, trying desperately to counter the forces upon her. But even being powerful on her own and being cloned from an omega level mutant can't help her. Death lets out one final gasp as she faints from the pressure on her sinuses. The five mutants stop their assault as Madelyne falls to the floor. The leader of Horsemen was defeated.

"Yet I hold this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, who teaches and misleads my servants to play the harlot and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her harlotry." -- Revelation 3:20-21

The Twelve, victorious, broken, battered, walk up collectively as a group behind Cable, who was already facing Apocalypse sitting at his throne behind a powerful force field.

To their surprise, he begins laughing, "You all think you have to fight me to defeat me? How stupid are you people, honestly? I cannot die!"

There is a glimmer in Apocalypse's eye that only Cable seems to notice. He turns around and there, in the middle of the throne room is the shard of the M'Kraan Crystal. Apocalypse had disguised himself as Eric the Red and defeated Jahf and he stole a shard of the Nexus of Realities. That's during the time he captured Warlock and transformed him into Pestilence.

Apocalypse holds out his hand and causes the pedestal which the Crystal hovers over to rise higher, towards the open roof. He smiles, "This may be a bumpy ride, Askani'Son."

Cable scowls at En Sabah Nur, "What is this bullshit?! I'm sick of this!" A white aura of the purest form of light surrounds Cable. Nate appears to be shocked.

"Nathan...?" Phoenix asks.

Iceman shields his eyes, "Whoa...funky."

Archangel simply embraces the light, "What's happening?"

Cyclops points at Apocalypse, "Everyone...look."

Cable and the rest of the Twelve turn to glimpse at Apocalypse. The same aura of light was around him, as well.

"They look like Christmas lights," Franklin observes with awe.

Cable looks up at the pedestal, the shard was glowing, as well. He looks back at the Twelve and notices diamond-shaped glowing marks have appeared on their foreheads.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Blink asks.

Cable turns to the Twelve, not turning his back to Apocalypse, who has stood up from his pharaoh's chair. Nathan breaths heavily as he feels the Fifth Dimension touching his entire being, his soul. "Concentrate on the Crystal...," Cable says.

"And do what, exactly?" Polaris asks as the mark on her forehead begins to glow, along with the rest of the Twelve's.

"Simply put, Ms. Dane," Apocalypse says with a strained smile. "Wait for the end result...to finally see who is strongest."

Suddenly, there is an explosion as the marks above the Twelve's brows shoot out beams of light. The Twelve are moved beyond their will and find themselves standing in a circle around the pedestal, all hovering at the same eye level. The beams crisscross and bisect the center of the circle, forming an intricate diamond pattern.

Cable recognizes this event from the only pictorial page of the Prophecy of the Twelve. The diamond pattern rises up, up...until it passes through the shard. Two beams shine down back into the Citadel, passing into Nathan Summers and En Sabah Nur.

Both Cable and Apocalypse scream in pain as they feel their entire being accelerated...

"In front of the throne was something that resembled a sea of glass like crystal." -- Revelation 4:6

Cable awakens on a plane of existence he saw briefly. It was an endless realm of white light. It was everywhere. It was the Fifth Dimension.

Nate feels something strange in his body. His powers were increased to their fullest potential, causing the techno-organic virus in his body to go into remission...to the point where Cable's metallic parts appeared to be normal flesh. He feels his face around his right eye and feels no bumps of the scars the virus formed.

Hovering nearby was Apocalypse, his eyes glowing with white energy. There was something else. A bald black man with similar glowing eyes and wearing a dark blue cloak was in Nur's grip. He was bleeding badly from a scrape on the side of his face. He had many bruises over his face as well. His cloak was torn into and Cable could notice burnt flesh.

"Aéulgo?" Cable manages to ask. The self-proclaimed god appeared to Cable on several occasions, putting him on the right path to his final destiny. Looks like he's succeeded.

Aéulgo appears to mutter something, "...are...dead..."

Before he can finish, Apocalypse grimaces as he snaps the god's neck a full 360 degrees and tares the head clean off. There is the sound of thunder and lightning, signifying the death of a god that can be felt throughout the Multiverse.

Cable's eyes widen with horror.

"Are you fit to survive, Dayspring?" Apocalypse asks as he carelessly tosses Aéulgo's head to the side as it and the lifeless torso vaporize into nothing.