Clarice Ferguson, aka Blink, is tired. Abandoned. Weakened. Broken. Amnesiac. She has just found out that her lover, Ahmyor, is actually the evil deposed ruler of the Negative Zone, Annihilus. The two of them are currently chained up in adjoining cells in Blastaar’s dungeon. He tells her he never meant to deceive her and that he had no memory of his former life; that he himself was the evil ruler that the both of them were attempting to put back in power. He tells her that surely she can sympathize. He realizes that he had no right to involve her in his war. Blink just wishes that he would shut up - she thought the rebellion was honorable. Instead she finds out it was just about a dictator reclaiming his throne! Ahmyor tells her when he was deposed as Annihilus he regressed to an earlier form, the man she knows. At least he assumes that’s what happened. But he cannot comprehend the damage he performed as Annihilus, and the Annihilation Cannon that he created. He tells her he will never be that monster again, because of his love for her. Two guards listen to his ranting, wondering whether they should have beaten him more severely. Blink starts to cry as the guards enter Ahmyor’s cell and start to beat him around as they take him away, telling him cruelly that Blink wants nothing from him.
As Ahmyor is let outside the cell block, he passes Blink’s cell, but she refuses to even look at him. “True enough, soldier...She knows of his dark heart. There isn’t a creature in the Zone who doesn’t...” taunts Blastaar, just entering. He tells Blink he must be much easier to gaze upon than Annihilus, although he can see why she would be attracted to his current appearance. Then he tells her that this version is pure of heart, and truly remembers nothing of what he once was. Blink is shocked, Ahmyor was really telling the truth and had no idea of his identity. Blastaar goes on to tell her that as a man he wasn’t a threat to him as a man, noble and duty bound, he wasn’t fit to be leader of the brutal Negative Zone. Blastaar throws down her quiver, telling her that Ahmyor had kept it; as a keepsake maybe ? Blastaar walks away, parting with the threat that Ahmyor will be dead soon and he will return to punish her later. Blink vows to come for her love.
Blastaar’s legions are cheering loudly. Ahmyor has been strapped to the Annihilation Cannon, the thing of destruction he had created when he was Annihilus. Ahmyor is slowly turning back into the monstrous ruler as he begs Blastaar to stop this madness, saying that it won’t mean the end of Earth, but of all creation. Blastaar thinks the irony of a man who calls himself Annihilus being so fickle is hilarious. He goes on to explain that this device would not function without the cosmic control rod joined to Annihilus’s form, and soon he will overwhelm the Earth !
The two guards watching over Blink are nasty to her because they are missing out on the excitement above. They figure they should take it out on her. Blink knows they are the guards that abused the loyalist’s children, and warns them they will die if they don’t let her go right past them. They laugh at her boldness, because with the cell she’s in inhibits her teleportation ability. So Blink easily cuts through her bonds with a sharp stone that got embedded in her arm from earlier and proceeds to viciously beat them up, angry for her treatment, for Ahmyor’s treatment and for the children’s treatment. Her rage going down, she picks up her quiver. But whether it was the adrenaline or her emotions, as she grabs one of her bolts the memories all come flooding back...of the X-Men, and the war torn world she comes from. But it is home nevertheless.
“I am Clarice Ferguson. I am Blink.” But she knows she has one thing to do before she returns home.
Outside, Blastaar announces that the cosmic control rod will draw the cannon into the Annihilation Zone, where it will begin it’s deadly work. Blink teleports in next to the transforming Ahmyor. He tells her to go, there is no time; but she wont. A guard tells Blastaar he’ll fire at them, but Blastaar smirks, knowing it is too late, and they wont be going anywhere. Blink tells Ahmyor that she won‘t be leaving without him, but he screams no, that the cannon was altered, and if he is removed it will go off. It is too late. Blink however says she can still get him out; she has three bolts left. One for the each of them, and the third to send the cannon into Blastaar’s backyard – so the good guys will win after all. But Ahmyor feels the Annihilus personality is taking over, and says that there are no good guys, only Blastaar and Annihilus. He tells her he’s not the man that loved her and that she has to leave now, and that if she has any love for him she will go. He doesn’t want to die knowing that he destroyed the only being he ever loved. They kiss, and Blink teleports them, and the cannon, away, ignoring his advice.
Blastaar and his servants see the cannon evaporating instead of the expected explosion. Suddenly the cannon does explode, though behind them, where Blink teleported it to. Less than three miles away Annihilus is safe, and all he can think about is revenge and hate...but an image of Clarice flutters across his mind’s eye, giving him a moment of peace.
On Earth, the Age of Apocalypse, Rogue has cooked for the X-Men. The food it bad. Sabretooth is angry that they are all sitting around eating while one of their number is missing, probably dead. Rogue states that they all have searched and will continue to do so, but they need a moment to rest, besides Blink is an X-Man now and can take care of herself. All of a sudden, Quicksilver senses a vibration, and Blink teleports in, crashing into the table. Sabretooth is overjoyed to see her alive, wondering where she’s been and that they’ve been looking for her everywhere. Blink can’t help it, and hugs her mentor, bursting into tears, telling him everything about the Negative Zone and the lover she found and lost. Sabretooth later tells her not to give up. Fate brought them together and it also broke them apart, but it can never change Blink’s feelings for Ahmyor.
(months later)
It is the end of the world. Blink is running as everything blows up around her; she is tired in body and spirit and feels abandoned, weakened and broken. She doesn’t want it to end, her friends, her family and her foes, but they will all cease to exist. An explosion knocks her into a river, and she is pulled under the water. She reaches towards an energy portal that is opening in front of her, and is suddenly pulled into it...
Absolutely nowhere. Absolutely nowhen. Light blue skies over a never ending desert landscape. Peaceful. A portal opens up, dumping Blink into the sand. She stands up, wondering where everybody is. “Don’t complain so much,” says a female voice behind her. “At least you have clothes on.” Blink turns around to see a blue skinned woman with dreadlocks crouching on the ground in her underwear. “Relax. I rarely fight people in my underwear... How they got in my underwear I’ll never know ...”
