Little Jeremy Graves sits with his back against the wall of the Brotherhoods transport ship, the Ark, scared, frightened, and alone or so he thinks. In the shadows lurks Abyss watching Jeremy and drawing strength from Jeremy’s fears. Jeremy cries, “please somebody help me!” as black tentacles wrap around Jeremy’s body. Abyss taunts Jeremy asking him to keep his hope that the X-Men will save him because his empty hope is what feeds Abyss. Jeremy tries to struggle and Abyss makes fun of him telling him how him and his family thought they would be saved and taken to Eurasia, but really humans are just like cattle. Abyss taunts Jeremy by telling him that even in Eurasia he will not be safe because eventually Apocalypse will conquer the other continents of the world too.
On the shores of Maine at the site of the evacuation, Cardinal Madri taunts the X-Men, telling them that they thought the Sentinels would be their salvation but the Brotherhood has reprogrammed them and now the Sentinels will be the destruction of the “traitors” of their race, the X-Men. Banshee asks Exodus to take the Brotherhood out. Remembering what the Madri did to him before Magneto was able to rescue him, Exodus says it will be a pleasure and starts blasting. As Exodus fires at the Brotherhood, the Cardinal commands Brother Madison and Sister Vanessa to continue their mission and that he hopes Apocalypse blesses them.
Dazzler worriedly tells Quicksilver that if the Brotherhood controls the Sentinels then there is no way they can stop the Sentinels from trying to kill the them all. Quicksilver, while running to stop the two mutants from escaping, tells Dazzler to remember his father’s words; to give up hope is to give up life. As Quicksilver reaches the two Brotherhood members who are trying to get lost in the crowd of humans, he is shocked when he pulls the hood off the woman’s head. Underneath is his sister the Scarlet Witch, who had supposedly died years ago. The Scarlet Witch begs Quicksilver not to hurt her as Madison sneaks behind Quicksilver and shocks him, knocking him to the ground. Madison congratulates Vanessa on her shapeshifting ploy. Dazzler, posturing like she is shooting a gun, shoots a laser blast from her finger that destroys the knife that the “Scarlet Witch“ is fixing to drive into Quicksilver’s heart. Dazzler next commands Vanessa that she transform back into her original form and not to ever impersonate such a good woman like the Scarlet Witch again. Copycat does as she is told, but only to distract Dazzler long enough for Box to modify the Sentinels to attack Dazzler, which they do and that gives the two mutants enough cover to escape and go on with their mission.
One of the Sentinels blasts Dazzler off her feet and her and Quicksilver lying helplessly on the ground are easy pickings for the Sentinels next killing blow. Exodus flies in and despite Quicksilver’s commands to chase after the two escaping mutants, he stays by Dazzler’s side telling them that he must protect them first. As Exodus holds Dazzler in his arms, Quicksilver orders him that if he is going to fight the Sentinels to only use defense attacks and not to destroy them. The Sentinel has the three mutants in his vision and is aiming to kill them when suddenly all the Sentinels seem to start malfunctioning. Storm floats from high in the air commanding an electric cascading lightning strike, which temporarily scrambles the Sentinels’ sensors, giving the X-Men a respite from their battle. As Exodus helps Dazzler to her feet and Quicksilver stumbles to his, Storm wonders aloud what had happened to the Sentinels to cause them to turn against the X-Men? Quicksilver informs her of the Brotherhoods tampering with the Sentinels‘ programming and at the same time Iceman returns to the team. Iceman has reformed himself and tells the team that Spyne, Yeti, and Arclight are not a problem anymore but that the Cardinal Madri got away and Banshee is chasing him as they speak.
Banshee soars above the treetops chasing the Madri back to the Ark that brought the Brotherhood to Maine. He remembers the time a while back when Magneto approached him and asked him to come out of retirement and help the team again, that they were losing and the X-Men needed all the help they could get. Banshee remembers about how he could never say No to Magneto. Suddenly though, his mind is forced to come back to the present because he sees the dead Cardinal hanging upside down spread eagle across the entrance to the Ark. Banshee ponders who would or could have done this. All of a sudden Abyss appears hanging upside down in front of the dead body. Guessing Banshee’s questions, he tells that the Madri had failed Apocalypse as the humans still can get transported to Eurasia and that the price of failure is death. Banshee asks him who he is and Abyss tells him that he is Apocalypse’s newest Horseman “Abyss”! Abyss then grabs Banshee and pulls him closer to his chest and reveals that he has little Jeremy trapped inside his body. Banshee, wide eyed, tells Abyss to let the boy go and take him instead, but Abyss informs Banshee that it is not him he wants but Magneto’s son Quicksilver. Abyss lets Banshee go and he orders him to find Quicksilver and tell him if he does not come, the kid will die.
Banshee flies back to the evacuation site and notices that Abyss has sent a calling card before him in the form of a psionic tremor that has left all the humans on the ground and reeling in pain. Banshee informs Quicksilver that it is Abyss who is causing this pain and that he wants to see Quicksilver or he will kill his young hostage. Quicksilver asks where Abyss is and Banshee informs him of the direction. Storm offers to go with Quicksilver but he tries to reject her offer. Storm reminds Quicksilver that Magneto always tells them to never face an enemy alone, and he needs somebody with a clear head to back him as he always gets very emotional when children are involved. Quicksilver watches her fly off to save the boy, and after Exodus informs him that because of Storm’s electromagnetic storm and Banshee’s harmonic waves they will be able to reprogram the Sentinels according to their purpose, Quicksilver too rushes to the forest where the Ark is hidden.
Seconds later and miles away Quicksilver runs past Storm and she thinks to herself that she is falling in love with him and how ironic it is that she has these feelings right before, what she calls, the end of the world. When they arrive at the entrance to the Ark, Quicksilver says to her that they will not go inside to what they know is a trap. Though when Storm sees Jeremy in the doorway being dragged away by Abyss, and he cries for them to help, she flies down the corridor after him. Quicksilver follows her and thinks to himself that actually she came along to prevent him from doing something foolish and now she foolishly runs off. Pietro admires Ororo’s lack of reserve and her passion, and thinks he held back for too long. In the ship, Quicksilver finds Storm at the end of the long and winding stairway. She is holding the boy and she tells him that she is fine but the boy is in a catatonic state. As Quicksilver wonders where Abyss is and why he would let the little boy go so easily, black tentacles slither up Quicksilver’s legs.
As Quicksilver races to loosen the tentacles around his foot, Abyss asks if he has ever thrown his gum away after it has lost its flavor? That, Abyss informs Quicksilver, is why he let Jeremy go - because the boy had lost his flavor. Abyss rambles on to the two X-Men about how he earned the right to be called one of Apocalypse’s Horsemen by working his butt off. Storm tries to attack Abyss but finds out that it is useless and tells Quicksilver that there is no substance to Abyss. Taken offense to her words, Abyss tells her that he does have substance and with a smile he reaches out to try to attack her and the boy she is still holding. Quicksilver races in and punches Abyss telling him to let them go, which he does. Quicksilver tries to talk to Abyss, to reason with him and tell him how wrong his ideals are, and that humans and mutants should live together peacefully. Abyss laughs at Quicksilver’s absurd comments, so Quicksilver sees no other choice, and he racingly wraps Abyss in his own coils. Abyss screams in agony as he gets sucked into his own inner endless dimensional void and completely disappears, but also another noise is heard, the tears of joy from a boy that Ororo and Pietro had been willing to sacrifice everything for.
Quicksilver and Storm take their time walking Jeremy back to the evacuation point. On the way Storm discusses about how Quicksilver was able to destroy Abyss and Quicksilver tells her that he had just got lucky. He tells her that he just won by letting his emotions get the better of him. As they reach the site and Jeremy runs to his parents, Storm holds Quicksilver’s hand and tells him that there might be hope for him yet. As they watch Jeremy’s reunion with his family Quicksilver tells her that maybe there is hope for them all.
A light projection form of Dazzler appears to welcome the two X-Men back and inform them that they were able to reprogram the Sentinels. She tells them the way they were able to accomplish this was that the Sentinels primary objection was to save human life, but their second was to destroy mutants. So in the end the primary goal outweighed the second, so they actually asked if the X-Men would help them to calm the crowds and make the evacuation more efficient. As Dazzler’s projection fades Storm and Quicksilver look caringly into each other’s eyes and they talk about how that if robots can see the light that maybe one-day flesh and blood could also.
Meanwhile in what used to be New York City, and now is where the palace of Apocalypse stands, Rex, one of Apocalypse’s henchmen, is interrogating Karma. They have recently captured her after learning that Gambit came to the Angel looking for Magneto, proving that the Angel knows where Magneto and his X-Men are hiding. Sebastian Shaw and Apocalypse stand together near where Rex is holding Karma in a restraint device, and Shaw informs Rex that he overheard the Angel telling Gambit where Magneto was hiding. He also informs Karma that he knows that she enters people’s minds to gather information on secrets to protect the Angel’s establishment. Rex tells Karma that they already know where Magneto is hiding, in Xavier’s old mansion, and that he just wants to know if Magneto has any defenses they should know about. He next threatens her that if she does not talk that he will let the Shadow King loose in her mind, and he will get the answers they need, but he will leave her mind an empty husk. As Karma begs for him not to release the Shadow King, Apocalypse ends Rex’s little game, as he calls it, and tells him that it is time to bury Xavier’s dream and to see who is truly “fit to survive”!
