Gaia sat in her jail cell balled up because she recognized the scream. It came from her cellmate Osman who the Dawn had named Proteus. Darkstar's men must have been pushing Proteus powers to the limit is they had done to her and the other two hundred something mutants in this facility. The Apocalypse Dawn wanted to break all the mutants here in this rat-filled, roach infested, blood tainted building. Gaia wasn't going to give them that satisfaction because she knew sooner or later someone would come to rescue her. She could only hope and pray that her allies knew where she was. From what she could tell the facility was deep in the desert.

She then heard the movement of a pair for feet and an awful dragging sound. They were bringing Osman back to the cell. At least he was still alive. Already Gaia had lost three cellmates to the experiments of the Dawn. She couldn't help, but to wonder if she was wrong for wishing life upon Osman in a place so wicked as this one. No one deserved to live this kind of life. As the sound of the two men dragging Osman came closer dread invaded Gaia's heart because she wondered if she was going to the be the next one kicking and screaming down the hall.

Two burly mutants came up in front of her cell with Osman hanging from each one of their arms. His mouth was bloody, and there were bruises all over his exposed chest. The taller of the two mutants holding him opened up the cell and they threw in Osman his body crashing into the wall. The Arabian slid down the wall the flesh on his back torn from the rocky brick he had just crashed against. Gaia looked up at the two mutants trying to keep her expression blank because she didn't want to invoke any kind of reaction in the men. Especially the one with the large red eyes and clawed hands, but his friend was just as dangerous looking with his spiked hair.

The two Dawn members simply smiled and left her alone with the mangled mess that was Osman. Gaia immediately jumped out of her bed and went to Osman's side. Concentrating she used her powers to heal some of his wounds by warping reality so they were never there to begin with. She could only do that with the external wounds though because of her fear that her powers might cause harm to the internal. Gaia knew from day one that her powers were extremely unpredictable and Darkstar seemed to take a great interest in her powers. She was going to show that bitch one day just how interesting her powers could be when she gave one boob and made her tongue into jello.

"Gaia is that you?" Osman asked coughing up blood.

Gaia took her blanket and wiped the blood from his mouth. Whispering she said, "I'm here Osman. Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

Darkstar floated in front of the large glass screen staring into the face of her master Apocalypse. She wanted nothing more than to please her master, but she could see he obviously wasn't. Laynia knew exactly what her master was upset about. It upset her greatly as well.

"Have you decided on which mutants shall make up my new special Dawn division?" Apocalypse asked sitting on his throne with Holocaust beside him.

Darkstar said in a low tone trying to humble herself, "Not yet my lord. We are working on candidates. I have drawn it down to about 50. Two of them hold great potential."

"I want this division soon!! My patience is running thin Darkstar! Have you even neutralized the threat of Sinister and his forces yet?" Apocalypse asked his blood beginning to boil.

Darkstar remained quiet for a few minutes and said slowly, "My people are working on it."

Apocalypse rose from his seat and slammed his fist down. Holocaust shook his head at Darkstar and if Laynia didn't know better she would say the son of Apocalypse was smiling at her.

"Sinister is one of the greatest threats to my rule. He was born of me and so he knows me in a way no else does. While a great many do not remember their past lives Sinister is one of the few that does. He works in ways very much like I do. I want him annihilated and trust you to do this soon Dawn Leader!" Apocalypse bellowed.

"Consider it done my lord. I will please you with the head of this Sinister. His forces shall be crushed beneath my Dawn like the worms they are," Darkstar said trying her best not to shake from the outburst of the High Lord.

"Good. Do not anger me anymore," Apocalypse said as the image of him disappeared. Darkstar floated down to the ground a massive sense of relief filling her.

Each cell was guarded with rusty bards and behind them were mutants of various powers. All of them were to e tested and molded by Darkstar to see who were the strongest. For it was her master's will that only the strong survive and in this world that was more important than ever. The High Lord had given the two tasks to accomplish. One was to create a special division of the Apocalypse Dawn and the other to crush Mr. Sinister, the former protégé of her master.

So far both tasks were a work in progress, but her master was growing impatient so she would have to quicken her pace. As Laynia was still stewing her thoughts a green skinned mutant with an abnormally large head came into her sanctum. The man was wing a white lab coast and slime dripped from his face and exposed hands. His name was Slimestar and he was Darkstar's second in command. All of Darkstar's Dawn division had names that ended in the word star. It was for organizational purposes.

"Have you decided on which mutants you're going to test today?" Slimestar asked in a hissing voice. His voice box had been slightly deformed due to his mutation. Though that was a small price to pay for his mutant ability; the proportionate strength of every incest on the planet and the ability to communicate with bug life. He would be an extremely potent mutant if not for the fact that his mind as so badly damaged from torture put upon him by the infidel Sinister.

"Yes I have decided Slimestar. Bring mutant # 646, 720, 1800, and 19 to the lab today. Make sure this happens in that order," Laynia commanded.

Slimestar smiled viciously, "We are testing Gaia again. Most excellent."

"Indeed! Now do what I say quickly!" Darkstar exclaimed. Slimestar bowed and left his mistress alone.

Unknown to him and Darkstar a tesseract portal ripped through reality in front of the cell of Gaia and Osman. Out of the portal came the two mutant Pyro and Joseph. Both of these mutants had been part of the X-Men 6 months ago, but all of those memories were now jumbled. Luckily they were in the employ of Sinister who had maintained all his memories. This was the moment Gaia had been waiting for. Her saviours were here to free her.

"Let's hurry and get the bloody hell out of here mate. I don't want Dawn members down our throat," Pyro complained as he created a firewall behind him and in front of him closing off the section of the hall they were in momentarily until a powerful enough mutant came along.

"Patience Pyro. We're trying to save lives here," Joseph said as he grabbed the bars that contained Gaia and Osman. An electrical shock went through Joseph and the entire cell. Gaia and Osman were knocked out cold, but due to the nature of Joseph the electricity did him little harm. Joseph seeing he was going to have to take a more forceful approach used his powers to rip the bars out of the wall entirely.

"Grab one of the blokes and let's go!" Pyro yelled as he could see Dawn members approaching through the flames.

Joseph put Gaia on his shoulders and Pyro put Osman on his. Then the two were off in a tesseract portal headed back to Sinister. Perhaps these two mutants might give Sinister's forces the edge they needed to defeat Darkstar.