AGE OF APOCALYPSE

Set up: David Haller (Professor X's illagitamate super-powerful son), assumed to be dead, gets better. He contacts Charles in the middle of the night, making cryptic references to what the world would be like if there were no Magneto. A few weeks later, David appears in Isreal, trashing thier army and erecticing a psionic barrier. Iceman, Bishop, Pheonix, Storm, and Psylocke confront him, to little success. David reveals his new power, the power of time-travel. He rips open the time-stream, taking all but Pheonix with him...

The X-Men wind up in isreal 20 years in the past, and suffer temporary amnesia, as David is free to strike. First, he disguises himself as Xavier, and suduces Gabby Haller (HIS OWN MOM? EEWWWWWW....). Chuck and Erik (aka Magneto) show up to save her, and David begins his attack. The X-Men show up too late, however, and as David closes in for the kill on Magnus, Charlie jumps in the way... oops...

Lilandra, hearing news of the end of the universe, quickly makes for earth, escaping from the expanding M'Kraan crystal (the nexus of all realities, with a mad-on to delete this one). The X-Men realize they can do nothing to stop it, and as Gambit and Rogue kiss, Wolverine kills Sabretooth, and Cable confesses to Domino (his feelings, duh), the Crystal overtakes earth...

***

In the aftermath of Charles dying, a huge puls makes it's way around the area, killing all but Bishop and Magneto, and attracting the attention of Apocalypse, who now believes that NOW would be a good time to try and take over Earth. No X-Men means no defense, and he conquers America easily (this happened behind the scenes)...

Synopsis: Come X-Men ALPHA, some 20 years later. A man in tathered clothing makes his way across piles of dead and burning bodies, the result of a "culling". He come across a young girl, who is being chased by Apocalyses soilders. Unus the unstopable tries to kill him with a forcefeild, but the man absorbs his power. Confused, Unus and his men are quickly over-taken by the X-Men (Magneto, Quicksilver, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Morph, Blink, Iceman, Sabretooth and Wildchild). We find out the man is Bishop, who attacks Magneto, making wild accusations. Over the course of this story, we also find out that Cyclops, Beast, and Havok are on Apocalypses side; Wolverine lost a hand and that he's with Jean, and that Magneto and Rogue are married and have a child named Charles. The remaining humans are lead by Bolivor and Moira (MacTaggart) Trask, leaders of the Euraisian Human High Council. And Apocalypse, despite a peace treaty, plans to strike again and again until everyone is dead.

The man called Bishop tells this realities X-Men of what happened, of how David Haller killed his own father in the past, creating this futer. The X-Men go undaunted, and continue to fight Apocalypse on all fronts. Magneto sends Gambit and his team, the X-Ternals (Jubilee, Strong guy, Sunspot, and some others who just end up dead anyway), to find the M'Kraan Crystal, the supposed "nexus of all realities". He sends Nightcrawler to find Mystique and Destiny, and sends Generation Next (Husk, Skin, Mondo, and Synch), headed up by Colossus and his wife Kitty Pryde, to find Illyana, who supposedly can help. Although each mission was a success, each team had multiple casualties, and Strong Guy turned out to be a traitor. The X-Mens missions didn't even go that good, losing half thier team. But with everything they needed, they all meet back at the mansion...

Which was toasted. Apocalypse had raided it, and kidnaped Magneto, Charles, and Bishop. Bishop was interogated, and the thought of a new reality to conquer pleased Apocalypse, and was going to go after it... until the X-men came knocking, only to find the place empty. You see, Wolverine and Jean had already been here, and Cyclops stole Jean away, and freed the prisioners, who rebelled. Nate Grey, the combination of genes of Cyclops and Jean, had found his mentor, Forge, in bad shape, and was ready to kick Apocalypses ass. Realizing he had nothing to lose, Angel strapped bombs to his chest, and bombed Apocalypse's force feild generator. All this while the Humans decided NOW would be a good time to nuke America. Hoo-boy... this only gets better...

In the final battle, X-man (nate) beats on Holocaust and Apocalypes with Magneto. The X-Men start fighting and droping like flies, as the Beast and Sugarman flee into the crystal. Bishop, Illyana, and Destiny make thier way into the crystal, and with the powers Illyana would eventualy get, she teleported Bishop into the past, to stop Legion. Apocalypse almost gets away, but X-Man stops him, and takes the M'Kraan shard from him. He in turn uses it to stab Holocaust, and they both vanish. Magneto goes toe-to-toe with Apocalypse, Ripping him in half. Rogue kills Strong Guy, and gets Charles back. While Jean is trying to hold off the bombs, Havok comes and kills her, the Cyclops, and is killed himself by Wolverine. As the missles come down, Magneto, Rogue, and Charles stand on the balcony awaiting the bombs, hoping Bishop set thing right, as Magneto thanks Charles Xavier for changing his life...

Bishop managed to stop legion by plungind Davids PSI-blade into his own chest, absorbing the energy, and throwing it back at David. The resulting loop kills both of them, but for some reason, the younger Bishop who was just standing there with the other X-men retained the other Bishops memories...

The Next Day: Gambit and Sabretooth are canatonic, Bishop starts going nutso, and Xavier starts acting screwy, and events leading up to Onslaught start going underway.

Ramifications: Bishops memories serve as the battle plan for Onslaught, Dark Beast and Sugarman make thier appearences i this reality, as do Nate Grey and Holocaust (who destroys Avalon and kills some Acolytes). Each of thies characters has made thier own impact (turns out Dark Beast created the Morlocks, and Nate grey brings Madilyne Prior back to life). And we got to see Morph and Blink in action, cool!

Back to the X-page