The experiment went wrong. It was an absolute disaster. To save creation, realities were copied and walls erected between them. The experiment was trapped between the walls in the netherspace. Twelve billion years later and the walls are cracking. Nothing lasts forever.
(Manhattan, New York City, Today)
Wolverine’s claws rip through a wall until a doorway is created. The X-Men enter the room and Gambit admits he was wrong; there was a secret room behind the subway payphone. Northstar says that whoever lives there is clearly up to something. Karma asks if they are still on Nightcrawler’s trail or if this is something new. Wolverine tells her not to call him that. Whatever name they called him in that God-forsaken dimension, he didn’t earn it here. He crouches down and picks up some hairs off the floor. He says that the blue hairs are from Kurt but the grey ones are from Hank McCoy, the Dark Beast. Wolverine says they were there in the past twenty-four hours and Karma notes that old allies from their homeworld are teaming up. Wolverine replies that he wouldn’t put anything past those two.
Gambit asks if he can’t give them any more information, but Wolverine tells him they know all they need to know. Kurt betrayed him…. them. Gambit comments that the guy who gives him grief for having things on the side sure seems to be mum on his own projects. Karma tells Gambit to quiet down but Wolverine tells her to let him run his mouth. Wolverine explains that the reality is that Kurt looks like their old friend but he isn’t. It ended up clouding his judgment and Kurt ended up selling him out. That makes him and everything he does from here-on his responsibility.
As they leave the room and re-enter the subway, Wolverine says that at best he is callous and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone who isn’t from where he is from. That makes him dangerous. And now he has hooked up with another known and very dangerous piece of garbage in McCoy. In his books, that makes them both public enemy number one.
(Golden Gate Park, San Francisco)
As Nightcrawler sits on an old-fashioned windmill, he talks in his head to his deceased wife, Linda. He tells her he finally avenged her but he sold his soul to do it. He saw those who befriended him tortured. He saw his actions lead to a man having to face his own son in mortal combat. It was a cheap price to pay.
Nightcrawler looks down on the park below to a family having fun. The mother is this world’s version of Linda and she is happily married to another man. As Kurt watches the couple play with their kids, he thinks that they are all just cheap celluloid shadows. It’s time for him to return and continue his fight against Weapon Omega. And face the reality that she isn’t there.
A voice suddenly calls out and says he looks like he needs a tissue. Kurt jumps down to Dark Beast and tells him he’s late. He pulls out some goggles and says he was busy modifying them. Kurt asks what they are and McCoy says it’s what going to allow them to enter there without losing their marbles. When Kurt asks where he means, McCoy points to the Dreaming Celestial towering in the distance. He asks if they should get a closer look and Kurt teleports them to its feet.
McCoy explains that the Celestials are the architects of creation and if one of them can’t get them home then there is no home to get to. Kurt asks if he intends to just ask it. McCoy says that’s where he comes in; it’s his job to teleport them inside. Kurt draws his sword and points it at McCoy’s throat. He says it stinks of ulterior motives. The deal was for them to work together to get home to New Apocalypse. Not for him to help him in some scheme. McCoy explains the usual methods of transporting them between this dimension and their have failed. Had they not, he would have gone home months ago to the world where he is treated like a prince. Instead, he is here getting treated like a subway rat.
Kurt puts the goggles on and says he has no idea what’s inside. Most likely they will die teleporting in. McCoy puts his own goggles on and says if his theories are correct then it is made of nothing… or to be more precise, everything. Either way, they should be fine as long as they keep the goggles on. Kurt teleports them and they appear inside the Celestial. They are in a room full of strange machines that crackle with energy. McCoy says the helmet dampeners make this very manageable. He points out that none of it is real; it’s just their minds making sense of the cosmic energies. He explains that they have separate aspects in each universe. The Celestials, however, have one aspect that is linked across all the multiverse simultaneously. Returning to New Apocalypse should be a matter of emerging where they want to.
Kurt suddenly spots a woman sat at a table. It’s his wife, Linda, but he realizes that it’s just his mind torturing him. Linda looks at him and solemnly tells him he isn’t the Kurt she knew. Kurt stares at her with tears in his eyes. McCoy grabs the back of Kurt’s head and starts fiddling with his goggles. He says they were supposed to be on his wavelength and not whatever goes on inside his mind. McCoy operates a machine and gets excited when he spots New Apocalypse appear through a portal. The portal is blurred and energy swirls around the edges of it. Kurt says they should go but McCoy stops him. He says that the wisps of energy mean that it’s not stable yet. If they attempt to pass through before he clears it up, then they could end up anywhere.
The machine McCoy was using suddenly overloads and the portal destabilizes. McCoy says something is very wrong and the energies are not contained. They need to shut it down. Kurt pulls a sword on him and screams at him that he needs to open the portal again now. But McCoy just stares blankly back at him. A voice comes out of him and tells Kurt to come out as he has a lot to answer for. Kurt starts repeating “no” again and again realizing what it means.
Outside, the X-Men have gathered and Karma is using her power to take control of McCoy. She tells Wolverine that something is going on up there, as everything is lit up. Wolverine tells her to force McCoy to shut down whatever they are up to up there and then force Kurt to come down. Kurt suddenly teleports behind Karma and kicks the back of her head. He tells Wolverine not to worry as he’s here now. He apologizes to Karma but she is preventing critical functions from working.
Kurt quickly teleports around the other X-Men, punching and kicking them as he goes. He says he’s sorry for what happened but it’s all the more reason to let him go back from where he came. Wolverine tells him it’s not the way it works and Northstar grabs him and slams him into the ground. Wolverine pounces on him and unsheathes his claws. Kurt tells Linda that he is coming as he thinks Wolverine is about to kill him. He is stopped by the Dreaming Celestial, suddenly exploding with energy. Wolverine asks Karma if she can grab McCoy to make him stop this. She says she was trying but he was there one minute and gone the next. It looks like Nightcrawler is too.
(New Apocalypse)
Atop a building in the ruined city, a portal opens and Kurt and McCoy fall out of it. Kurt turns to look at the portal and asks McCoy if it closes on its own or whether they have to do something. McCoy angrily throws his goggles to the ground and yells at Kurt. He asks if he was listening. This wasn’t supposed to happen and they will be lucky if it doesn’t swallow their whole planet. Kurt calls him useless and says his X-Men will save them as usual. McCoy laughs and says he has been gone a long time. The X-Men are dead. He tells them that they are all dead by Weapon Omega’s hands. All of them except Jean Grey and Sabretooth, who managed to get themselves depowered and mixed up with the Prophet. Kurt says he lies and teleports off. McCoy says he usually does but not this time.
Kurt sits alone in a graveyard staring at statues of the fallen X-Men and talking to Linda. He can barely believe they are dead and enshrined in the memory pavilion. The war is over and Weapon Omega has been defeated without him. The other Earth felt hollow and now this place does too. Kurt says nothing is real without her, even him.
A voice suddenly calls him. He spins around to see Prophet of the X-terminators walking towards him. Prophet introduces himself and says he has been an avid follower of his over the years. Kurt calls him the Blood Prophet and says he has heard of him. Prophet says not much happens in New Apocalypse that he isn’t aware of. His return is puzzling and it coincides with a disturbing anomaly above their city. Perhaps they should have a conversation about it.
Kurt teleports them back to the building where they came in at. The rest of the X-terminators are there and they have arrested McCoy. Jean Grey tells Horror Show to give McCoy ten more seconds and then put him down. He has a war crimes trial to star in. McCoy says to hell with the trial as they are all going to die anyway. Prophet asks if McCoy created the portal but Kurt says he did; McCoy would stop it if he could. Sabretooth tasers McCoy and says maybe he just needs motivation.
Prophet yells at McCoy and tells him to explain himself. McCoy tells him that he needs his equipment. Plus, now there is more of the black dust spewing out which he is guessing is from the dimensional wall itself. There’s an open pathway behind the curtain of the multiverse and who knows what might come out. Northstar suddenly flies out of the portal and grabs Kurt, followed by the rest of the X-Men. Karma explains that they don’t want any trouble. Wolverine tells Jean they came for Kurt as he has some unfinished business back in their universe.
Jean asks Wolverine if he knows what’s wrong with the portal. Wolverine tells her to ask the evil genius but McCoy says not to put it on him, as he had a blade to his throat. Jean tells Wolverine he can’t take Kurt. He belongs there and they will deal with him when it’s over. Wolverine tells her no but before they can get into it a beam of light blasts down between them.
Dazzler and her X-treme X-Men appear out of the portal. Dazzler yells that they all need to stand down and get back now. The team’s bodiless Xavier asks Sage if she is picking up any divergent particle readings. She replies that they are off the chart and it’s a complete rupture that’s getting stronger. Kid Nightcrawler tells Xavier he needs to get back as he’s hurt. Howlett looks towards the portal and asks what that was. Cyclops replies that he doesn’t know and Hercules says that he has never felt such doom.
Asked by Wolverine what she is doing there, Dazzler replies that she is trying to save the multiverse and has been gone for months. She tells him he was probably too busy making goo-goo eyes to notice the hurricane doomsday over there. Something’s terribly wrong with the dimensional barrier.
Sage tells Xavier it’s coming and they need to seal the portal in twenty-one point three seconds. Xavier tells her he can’t do it alone. Howlett asks Cyclops if he hit it but he says he doesn’t know. Iceman asks what was in there.
Prophet radios and calls for Bolivar to evacuate the north end. He then says he needs Moreau on the anomaly now. Deadeye radios through and says she is already on it. She’s dispatched a cadre of samurai sentinels to their location. She says Dr. Moreau is freaking out as he has never seen anything like this.
Karma yells that if they shut the portal they’ll be trapped but Gambit tells her to take one mountain at a time. Kurt asks himself what he has done. Sage tells Xavier he only has eight seconds left. Xavier concentrates really hard but he can’t close the portal. Suddenly, three huge beings come through the portal. One has a wrist mountain gun, another has a whip and the third has a sword and shield.
As Kurt stares at them he tells Linda he only thought about her. He wanted revenge and he wanted to come home to nothing. He wanted to die in the quest and not face a future without her. But in his blind stupidity he may have decided the fate of countless others.
Xavier yells at the monsters that emerged from the portal. He tells them they do not belong there and they should go back. He tells they mean no harm and he will project the truth into their minds. Instead, one of the monsters reaches out its hand and Xavier starts to scream in pain. Kurt listens to him psychically screaming in their heads. A final message from death’s door. A creature’s single burning desire… the consumption of everything. The time to confess himself will be later if there is one. For now, he must trust that three groups of X-Men can handle anything. Even hungry gods from beyond all known reality. After all, saving the universe is what they do every day.
As Xavier’s skull drops to the floor, it crackles with the same blue and black energy as the portal. One of the monsters absorbs the energy from it and Wolverine asks if it got a little bigger. As Dazzler wipes away a tear from her eye, the three teams of X-Men stare at the monsters.
