The headquarters of Worthington Labs was a skyscraper that blended into the skyline of lower Manhattan, but the real work of the organization was done underground, in a large complex of laboratories. It was there that the mutant genome had been studied more extensively than anywhere else on Earth, save for one place.

Warren Worthington the second, the father of the X-Man Angel and former anti-mutant activist, sat at his desk high above his most brilliant scientists. It had been many months since he had last seen his son, and then he had been transformed from an angel into a monster.

A shadow fell upon the CEO of Worthington Labs, causing him to look up at the mutants who had saved him from his own son. There were more of them this time.

"This is about Warren, isn't it?" he asked.

The man who had attempted and failed to talk the newly christened Archangel from murdering his own father nodded. "He's coming here, today."

The elder Worthington sighed. "I knew this day would come. He'll never forgive me for what I did to him. Not until I'm dead."

"That's not what this is about. He's coming for the cure."

Warren regarded Wolverine carefully.

"The cure?"

"The mutant cure you developed."

"But I had all traces of it destroyed."

"But you didn't destroy the formula."

Warren stood up. He walked around his chair to stair out of the window overlooking the city.

"No. I didn't. So he wants to destroy the cure for good, by erasing all traces of the formula."

"No. He wants to steal it."

Warren spun around. "What? Why?"

"Mr. Worthington," said the African mutant, the one who had gotten through to Angel before Sinister re-exerted his control, "your son is not in control of his actions. His mind is controlled by another."

"And the man pulling his strings is very interested in what your cure can say about mutants." Wolverine finished.

Warren sat back down burying his forehead in his hands. "What will you do?"

"We're capture him." Wolverine said.

"We want to try to return him to normal." Storm interjected.

"Normal." the father of Archangel laughed bitterly. "Warren hated that word."

"We mean that we want to try to undo the brainwashing inflicted on him." the larger of the two, blue furry men said. "To make him normal for himself."

"Can you make him like he was before, with angel wings?"

Beast shook his head. "We don't know. The technology used to change him is far more advanced than anything we are capable of."

"Look," Wolverine said, "we don't know when Warren's coming, only that it's today. Can you delete all records of the formula?"

"No. It's in too many computers. Too many backup files. There isn't enough time."

"Then we'll have to prevent him from getting it by force."

Warren nodded, reaching for the phone by his desk. "I'll give the evacuation order immediately."/

The wait for the attack was intolerable.

"How're you doing?" Wolverine asked the clearly disturbed Storm.

"I've been worried for Warren ever since this began."

"I know. We all have."

"Logan," she looked him right in the eye with a gaze that had had frightened many an opponent off. "If any harm comes to Warren, I'm leaving, this time for good."

After they had prevented the war between humans and mutants and the Phoenix from devastating the world, Storm had returned to her people, where she ruled as queen. The X-Men had been able to recruit her again only because their old teammate was involved.

Wolverine nodded slowly. As a head of state, Storm had responsibilities far beyond the rest of the X-Men. He was therefore far more understanding of her when she left for Africa than he had been with Cyclops or Rogue when they went off to do their own things.

"We'll do what we have to. I know you will too."

Not far away Colossus was talking with the newest X-Man, now codenamed Magik. She wore a black cloak with a black hood and mask.

"Are you all right sister? I remember before my first battle-"

"Do not treat me like a child, Colossus. This is merely my first battle with the X-Men."/

20 Years Later

"I've found something."

Stryfe leaned over Xavier. "What? Is it Apocalypse?"

"No. It is a band of free mutants. Over a dozen of them, marching through the rainforest."

"Good." Stryfe nodded, but was unable to keep a note of disappointment from entering his voice. "Any mutants that have escaped Apocalypse's control this long must be resourceful. We'll pick them up."

Xavier took cerebro off. "Twenty years ago Sinister was able to engineer his servants to be immune to telepathy. I can track the rank and file, but not those of importance."

"Very well."

Xavier left. Magneto was waiting outside the door.

"I'll be able to use cerebro later, right Erik?"

"Yes. I can arrange it. So today is the day?"

"Yes. The X-Men's first battle in the fight against Apocalypse, and their opponent is one of their own."/

The Present

The building was surrounded by the police. Warren Worthington the second had called them.

And the X-Men were stationed at every entrance, Storm flying above. Worthington had enough connections to ensure that the mutants would not be arrested on sight.

The X-Men knew.

How they had known was beyond him, and it troubled him.

But science always had risks, and his science was worth more than any other./

"There!" Storm shouted.

The X-Men and the police stared at where she was pointing. Far away they could see a speck in the sky. It was getting bigger.

"He's here!" Wolverine yelled.

As Archangel entered her optimal range Storm's eyes glowed white, and a great wind issued forth her position. It hit Archangel with a force greater than that of a hurricane.

Onward he pressed, to no avail. Storm had stopped him in midair. He was forced to shield his face with his wings.

"This is our chance." Wolverine said on the ground. With most of their powers being effective primarily on the ground, Storm's winds being deadly for the teleporters, and Archangel's immunity to all of Marvel Girl's powers, Cyclops was their best option to knock their old teammate out of the sky.

But he was still so high up, and so very far away. It took Cyclops time to line up his shot. Time they did not have.

For Archangel had unleashed his talons upon Storm. The sharp pieces of metal flew through her wind with such ease that she was certain that they had their own propulsion. She barely avoided the talons as they tore her cape to ribbons, destroying the concentration she needed to maintain the winds that were holding Archangel at bay, and herself in the air.

Storm began to fall.

And now free, Archangel dive bombed the ground, gaining speed with every foot. The police opened fire, but no shot on Earth could hit a target moving so fast.

Barely a few feet from the ground he turned ninety degrees, straight at the X-Men and the glass door to the building behind them. His charge was little more than a blur, one that created a shockwave of air. It was all the X-Men could do to leap out of the way as he smashed the glass and entered the building.

Storm had regained control of her flight and was landing as the X-Men rose.

"I do not believe Warren ever flew that fast so close to the ground." Beast observed.

"He never flew that fast, period." Wolverine growled. "Let's move."/

His servant had to slow down considerably to navigate the narrow halls, especially with his giant wings, but he knew the blueprints of the building like the back of his hand. And the X-Men were left dumfounded outside. By the time they'd make it down to the basement Archangel would be making his escape.

Archangel quickly found the appropriate elevator and took it down. This was it. When the elevator doors opened he'd be at his destination. He could not help but draw breath in excitement as the elevator stopped at the bottom level. The things he could do with the cure for mutations….

"No! Impossible!" he screamed at the screen that showed him everything Archangel was seeing.

The X-Men were standing in front of Archangel. All of them.

'But how did they get there ahead of him?' he thought. Archangel had a huge head start and had taken the fastest possible route. The X-Men never passed him and Nightcrawler could not have teleported them all.

Cyclops raised his hand to his Visor to blast Archangel, but Storm pushed him as he fired, screaming "No!" The shot went wide, hitting the ceiling and causing it to cave in. He leaned in closer, afraid that the debris would smash the computers along with the X-Men.

But large circles of light appeared above them. The concrete and plaster fell into the circles and disappeared, leaving everyone and everything untouched.

It was then that he noticed her. The blonde girl with her arms raised high and her head looking up, causing her hood to fall off./

"He can take it!" Wolverine screamed. Storm did not respond. The falling ceiling had reawakened her claustrophobia and she was barely maintaining her composure.

Archangel fired his talons at the X-Men, but Magik caught them all with her light disks.

Cyclops then finally got his shot off properly, knocking Archangel back into the elevator.

Archangel shrugged off the impact and did the last thing any of the X-Men expected as he exited the elevator.

He spread his wings and took flight.

The X-Men all ducked for cover again as Archangel flew over them and out through the hole in the ceiling. Nightcrawler teleported after him, but Magik was unable to do so because Colossus had thrown himself over her to shield her and blocked her sight.

"I think we just saved the cure, guys." Shadowcat said.

"But what about Warren?" Stormed asked.

Nightcrawler teleported back in a puff of smoke.

"He escaped."/

"You called your winged devil off sooner than I would have expected, Essex. I thought this cure was important to you."

Mr. Sinister did not regard the taunting in his master's voice. Instead he smiled.

"My Archangel, as beautiful as he is, is at a disadvantage in an office building. However, I have accomplished much today, Apocalypse. Much indeed."/

"You did well, Logan." Xavier said.

"We couldn't stop Warren from escaping."

"Preventing the theft was your most important priority. Now Sinister will be without a powerful weapon."

"He won't get another chance. Hank is helping Warren's father in erasing all record of the formula."

"That is good. But be vigilant. You know how dangerous Sinister is, and Apocalypse eclipses even him."

"We will. By the way, Chuck, without Illyana we would have failed completely. We would have been stuck outside while he stole the formula."

"I am glad to hear it. Good luck, Logan."

"You too, professor."/

20 Years Later

Stryfe screamed as he punched the monitor screen that showed Xavier, Magneto, and Bishop with cerebro.

"No, Rasputin!"

Fuming, he took his seat.

At least with Xavier here he could keep track of what the X-Men were doing to alter the timeline. But what galled him the most was that it was her doing the fighting in the past./

"You nearly killed two people today, Nathan."

The boy was defiantly as he stared down the queen that was the dread of these lands. "They deserved it."

"Did the child you permanently implanted frightening images in the head of just this week deserve that too?"

"Why do you care? She's not even a mutant."

She gritted her teeth and hissed. It was an action that he knew was her way of cooling her temper.

"I care because we have dangerous enough enemies beyond these borders. We do not need any of our own to cause so much internal Strife. And that is what you are doing. I am even under pressure to banish you and leave you at the mercy of Apocalypse."

"Do it. I'm sick of it here, and I'm sick of you, with your great plan of doing jack-$%. I'm strong enough to make a lot of trouble for Apocalypse and Sinister by myself."

"Yes. You are. And that is the problem."

There was something sad in her voice, and it frightened him more than her anger ever could have.

"You, Nathan Summers,"

"Don't call me that!" He HATED the name of the man who was now Sinister's stooge along with Archangel.

"have become too arrogant because of your great power." She raised her arm at him and began chanting in a language he could not recognize.

"What are you doing!" He could never read her mind. He raised both his arms to telekinetically attack her, but nothing happened.

"You-you-you-"

"I do not take this action lightly, but you represent a threat to yourself and to others the likes of which no other person in Russia can equal, save for myself.

"Do you know what you've done?"

Her eyes were so sad and filled not with pity, but empathy. It infuriated him even more that she thought of herself as similar to him. "All too well. You will regain your abilities when you demonstrate humility and prove that you will no longer use them to cause strife among us."

"I hate you."

"I know." As he stalked away she whispered to herself "I hate me too."