There!
- Argh!
What are you doing? We need the boy alive!
Hurry! We can't let him get away!
My honored Lord, I have disturbing news.
Your less worthy servants have allowed
the vessel of your glorious return to escape.
How could you?
The hounds have surely recovered
the mutant by now, my Lord.
The boy will be placed upon the altar
the time of the conjunction, I assure it!
I have drifted too long in this suffocating void,
waiting for the celestial alignment that could free me.
I shall not miss it!
I understand, my Lord.
The world aches for your return.
Serve me well, Cortez,
and I shall make you the most powerful mutant on Earth.
Yes, my Lord.
And, Cortez, do not disappoint me again.
Hear me, for I bring you the word of the master!
Your fathers and your fathers' fathers have honored him,
made sacrifice unto him
and preserved his temple of rest
for the time when he should once again walk among men.
That time is almost upon us.
The very Earth shall tremble at the footsteps of Apocalypse!
Apocalypse! Apocalypse...
You should have come in, Hank.
The store owner guy was so nice.
Perhaps. Though here, as elsewhere on our journey,
your more conventional appearance
has proved less alarming.
Yeah, maybe.
And anyway, I got something for you.
I know it's kind of cheesy,
but I really do want to thank you for bringing me.
Your company and thoughtfulness have been quite welcome.
But this Andean dig will be our last.
Though the world's great wildernesses
have proved fertile ground
for my archaeological research,
I find now that I yearn for home.
Ooh. Yeah. Traffic, smog, mutant haters?
Can't wait to get back to all that.
True, civilization has its drawbacks,
but nature has its own dark side,
brutal, merciless and mysterious.
Kind of like Wolverine before he's had his coffee.
Master, we could not recover the boy.
Leave us.
You worthless fool!
Do you realize what your incompetence will cost?
It wasn't our fault.
- Return! - Please, no!
I drag you out of the Morlock sewers,
I give you power beyond your feeble imagination
and you repay me with incompetence?
I should have left you as I found you,
pathetic, despised and weak.
Find the boy, or another young mutant
powerful enough to serve as host
to our Lord Apocalypse at the appointed moment,
or I will see you fed to the hounds!
Yes, my Lord!
Uh... Hank, do you see any bridges on that map?
No, I'm afraid we are in terra incognita.
To my knowledge, there are no accurate maps of this—
Oh, my! It appears we have run out of road.
Nah, we ran out of road hours ago.
Now we're out of ground!
Well, no way across.
Guess we might as well head back
to that cool little store, right?
Actually, a local tribe
seems to have provided for our crossing.
Thank you, local tribe.
It seems safe.
The stone moorings are centuries old,
but the ropes are contemporary.
People live here?
So it would seem.
Let us get the packs out of the truck.
We will have to go the rest of the way on foot.
Just what I was looking forward to,
a little hike at 12,000 feet.
Just what I was looking forward to,
a little hike at 12,000 feet.
A mutant!
Young, and with great power!
Hounds, come! We have found a new vessel!
Archaeologically, this makes no sense.
This stelae is centuries old
and the pictographs appear to be Mayan,
from the classical period.
But unless we have hiked 3,000 miles north,
I do not see how that's possible.
What about the temples at Machu Picchu?
No, they're Incan.
This is definitely northern Mayan.
My Yucatecan is barely serviceable,
but this is a road sign of sorts.
It says that
"A few miles ahead is a temple
"consecrated to the end of the world"?
That's a pretty weird thing to build a temple to.
Uh... Didn't the Mayans have, like, human sacrifices?
In fact, Mayan civilization enjoyed
elaborate systems of writing and mathematics,
and one of the first accurate calendars.
Scholars believe they may have even developed
the crucial concept of zero.
What a concept.
But what were they doing 3,000 miles from home?
Wait a minute.
It seems I made a slight mistake in my translation.
The temple is not consecrated to the end of the world,
it is "consecrated to Apocalypse."
Surrender the female child!
Are you talking to me?
Not now, Jubilee.
I believe we made a wrong turn.
Our humblest apologies for our thoughtless intrusion.
Get them!
"The better part of valor is discretion."
That means run, right?
In so many words.
Jubilee?
Caliban!
Stop! Stop the vessel!
Caliban?
No!
- Fool! What are you doing? - Well...
This sure is a learning experience.
Don't move!
Fine. My appointment book is wide open.
Jubilee!
- No!
- Hold on.
I won't let anything happen to you.
It is good you saved the vessel.
Now perhaps Cortez will let you live.
I'm sorry you came here.
On your knees!
What spooky jungle movie did we step into?
I would venture to guess they have been
worshiping Apocalypse for centuries.
This place appears to be a duplicate Lazarus Temple,
similar to the one Cable destroyed in Egypt.
Fabian Cortez? - Dr. Henry McCoy!
How flattering that you remember me.
But how...
How is it that I am here
when you thought I had perished on Asteroid M?
It's very simple.
I was saved for a higher purpose.
I am the chosen one
charged by the almighty Apocalypse himself
to help him return to Earth.
But Apocalypse was destroyed.
Apocalypse cannot not exist.
He is now without a physical body,
trapped in a pitiless void,
but his essence lives.
That is why I was chosen
to prepare the way for his return.
Before he was taken,
Apocalypse sent me to wander the Earth,
to create the hounds as his personal soldiers.
Then he led me to this forgotten place,
a failsafe built eons ago,
a final insurance should all other plans fail.
This temple of Apocalypse is the portal
through which he shall return to our world, his world.
Cortez, your quarrel is with me.
Please, release my young charge.
The child will not be harmed.
What is it with this "child" thing?
Apocalypse will only betray you
as he has done to countless others.
Betray me?
He has empowered me!
I've never tested its limits until now.
- You're destroying him!
If the good doctor survives,
he shall serve Apocalypse as a hound.
If not, there will be one less traitor to mutantkind.
Hank!
Forget about him!
The celestial conjunction is nearly upon us.
We must make ready for the coming of Apocalypse.
Take our honored guest below
and prepare her for the ceremony.
Oh, Hank!
My Lord, all is in readiness.
What of the vessel?
She is being prepared as we speak.
You serve me well, Fabian Cortez.
Thank you, my Lord.
You dare sully my communion with Lord Apocalypse?
Explain yourself!
I'm sorry.
Caliban would like to look
for another vessel.
Fool!
Is this sympathy I hear?
For an X-Man?
Nothing must endanger
our master's return.
She will be sacrificed!
The time of the crossing is upon us.
Bring forth the vessel
and place her upon the altar.
Let go of me!
The faithful will be rewarded
when our Lord Apocalypse returns.
The Earth will be cleansed of
infidels and the weak!
Caliban, you don't have to do this. Help me!
You think she cares about a freak like you?
Yes. Take me instead, please!
You? A Morlock as the vessel
for our Lord Apocalypse?
You disgust me!
Argh!
Stop him!
You are unworthy of the power of Apocalypse.
Return to your wretched existence!
I would have destroyed you, traitor,
but it is not my place.
Apocalypse shall cull the weak from the herd.
You will bear witness to his return
and he will pass judgment.
It is time.
Rejoice!
My moment is at hand!
My Lord, accept this vessel.
Your humble servants await the glory of your rebirth!
What sacrilege is this?
Argh!
You will not leave this place!
Get back!
Get lost!
The whole place is coming down!
Hank! No, don't do it!
Return!
My will be done.
Hank, are you okay?
Not really, no.
Let's go. We've got to get out of here.
Defilers! Assassins!
I shall avenge...
No!
Cortez! We must save him!
But the whole place is coming down!
I think the truck is this way. Hurry!
Erm, about the truck, Jubilee...
Come on, Caliban, we're going home.
No.
Caliban does not deserve Jubilee's help.
Cortez messed with your head.
It's not your fault.
I'm just glad you were there for us when it counted.
Thank you.
My Lord!
Forgive me.
I no longer have a vessel
for your return.
But you have provided me
with a vessel, Cortez.
I don't understand, my Lord.