A young boy was running for his life from four figures in the wilderness. He was just exploring around when they spotted him and started to chase him.

The boy hid himself behind the tree as the figures looked around. Their leader, a big-looking one with a skull-like head, could sense the boy.

"There!" He pointed to the tree.

As the boy was about to make a run for it, the female of the group summoned a boomerang and threw it at the tree as it burst into flames and was about to crush the boy if he hadn't moved out of the way in time as he started running.

"What are you doing?" The leader scolded the one who threw the boomerang. "We need the boy alive!"

The boy continued on his path until he ended up on a cliff with no way across. He turned around to see one of his pursuers approaching him. With no other choice, the boy started to glow with energy and shot a beam out of his forehead at the figure. With the figure down momentarily, the boy ran down a different path.

The others came up to their fallen comrade.

"Hurry!" The leader urged. "We can't let him get away!"

They tried to search for the boy, but it was in vain as he got away.


Fabian Cortez approached an alter as he kneeled down. It had been some time, and the Hounds had still not returned with the sacrifice. "My honored lord, I have disturbing news."

Cortez flinched as he heard the voice of his master in his head as he berated Cortez for the Hounds' failure.

"You failed, haven't you?" The voice of Apocalypse said, displeased with the incompetence of his servants.

"No, it wasn't my fault." Cortez tried to make himself look good as he tried to throw the blame on someone else. "It was them."

"Don't blame others for your own failures." Apocalypse hissed. "I told you who you needed to complete the sacrifice, and you sent your minions after the wrong target! If anyone is to blame, it's you and your idiocy. I trust that you have the book, or do I have to get even more angry with you?"

"No, my lord!" Cortez hastily took out the book that his master required. "I have the book."

"Good." Apocalypse said as his anger lessened. "We will need it later. But for now, I will require a sacrifice."

Cortez was confused as he looked through the book. All it said was that he needed to utter a few words to bring his master back into this world. "But the book says it's not needed."

"Of course I know that, you pathetic worm!" Apocalypse bellowed. "I need the sacrifice for something else. Something just as important. I sense that she is coming here."

"The girl will be placed on the altar and sacrificed." Cortez stated.

"Good." Apocalypse replied. "Serve me well, Cortez, and I shall make you the most powerful mutant on Earth."

Cortez bowed. "Yes, my lord."

"And, Cortez, do not disappoint me again." Apocalypse warned him.

"I won't." Cortez promised.

"Excellent." Apocalypse's anger had passed as he continued to speak. "Now the girl is not alone. From the Astral Plane, I can see that she is accompanied by two friends. The blue one can easily be defeated by the Hounds. But for the other one, you will need to use the book to summon something to keep him distracted."

"As you wish, my lord!" Cortez then brought out the book as he uttered several words.

"Klaatu barada nikto."

In front of Cortez, a ghost portal opened up, and a ghostly eel darted past him and out of the temple.

"It is done." Cortez confirmed.

"Go then!" Apocalypse demanded. "Bring me the girl as the sacrifice."

"It will be done." Cortez went off to tell the other worshippers of Apocalypse.

"Hear me, for I bring you the word of our master!" He announced. "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!" The crowd chanted. "Apocalypse! Apocalypse!"


Jubilee was thanking a shopkeeper as she and Danny left the store carrying supplies for their trip. The two, along with Beast, were going on an archaeological trip in the wilderness.

They approached the truck that they were using, with Beast sitting in the passenger seat.

"You should have come in, Hank." Jubilee said as she got in the driver's seat. She had managed to get her driver's license after two tries. "The store owner guy was so nice."

Danny chuckled as he got in the back seat. "Nice, as in he was kind, or nice, as in he was good-looking?"

"Both." Jubilee answered.

"Perhaps I could've gone in." Beast replied. "Though here, as elsewhere on our journey, your more conventional appearances have proved less alarming."

"Yeah, maybe. And anyway, I got something for you." Jubilee handed Beast a mug that said World's Greatest Teacher. "I know it's kind of cheesy."

"Kind of cheesy?" Danny asked jokingly. "It is cheesy."

"No less cheesy than that necklace Rogue gave you?" Jubilee said playfully.

Danny looked down at the necklace Rogue had given him. It was in the shape of a raven. "Point taken."

"But I really do want to thank you for bringing us here." Jubilee said to Beast.

Beast appreciated Jubilee's gift. "Your company and thoughtfulness have been quite welcome." He gave Danny a mock glare. "Unlike some people."

"Hey, I got you coffee for you to put in that mug." Danny protested as he gave Beast the coffee.

"Then I retract my earlier statement." Beast replied in a smug voice. "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." Jubilee said sarcastically. "Traffic, smog, mutant haters? Can't wait to get back to that."

"True, civilization has its drawbacks, but nature has its own dark side: brutal, merciless, and mysterious." Beast pointed out.

"Yeah, like poison ivy." Danny offered.

"Or Wolverine before he's had his coffee." Jubilee joked.


Caliban, the leader of the Hounds, entered Cortez's chambers, where the young, arrogant man was lying lazily on his bed.

"Master, we could not recover the boy." Caliban told him.

Cortez gestured for the servant in the room to leave. "Leave us." Once they were alone, Cortez glared at Caliban. "You worthless fool. I didn't ask for a boy. I asked for a girl. A mutant girl who will serve as a sacrifice for Apocalypse!"

"We're sorry!" Caliban pleaded.

"Return!" Cortez fired a beam of energy at Caliban.

"Please, no!" Caliban begged as he felt his strength leave him as he turned into a small blue man.

"I drag you away from those pathetic Morlocks; I give you power beyond your feeble imagination; and you repay me with incompetence?" Cortez looked at him with disgust. "I should have left you as I found you. Pathetic, despised, and weak. Find the girl and bring her to me, or I will see you fed to the hounds!"

Cortez then fired a beam again, as Caliban was restored to his upgraded form.

"Yes, my lord!" Caliban complied as he left the room.


The trio were driving when Danny's ghost sense went off. "Shit." He sighed. "Guys, my ghost sense went off." They saw the eel pass by them as it flew off into the distance. "And there it goes." Danny went ghost as he grabbed his thermos. "I'm gonna go check it out. I'll be back soon."

"No problem." Jubilee said.

"Take your time." Beast added as Danny phased through the car and went after the ghost.

Jubilee was looking at the road. "Uh, Hank, do you see any bridges on that map?"

Beast was gazing at the map. "No, I'm afraid we are in terra incognita. To my knowledge, there are no accurate maps of this..."

Jubilee screamed as she slammed on the breaks, bringing the vehicle to a stop.

"Oh, my!" Beast saw that in front of them was a cliff with a river down below. "It appears we have run out of road."

The two got out.

"Nah, we ran out of road hours ago." Jubilee quipped. "Now we're out of ground." She kicked a rock down the cliff. "Well, no way across. Guess we might as well head back to that cool little store, right?"

"We'll have to meet up with Danny first, so we don't end up separated for the rest of the trip." Beast turned to leave when he spotted something. "Look at this. A local tribe seems to have provided for our crossing."

"Thank you, local tribe." Jubilee said as she left a note for Danny saying that they were going ahead without the car.

The two then approached the bridge.

"It seems safe." Beast observed. "The stone moorings are centuries old, but the ropes are contemporary."

"People live here?" Jubilee asked skeptically.

"So it would seem." Beast answered. "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 twelve thousand feet." Jubilee said sarcastically.


Back at the temple, Caliban and the rest of the Hounds were having lunch when Caliban's powers allowed him to hear Jubilee's voice.

"Just what I was looking forward to, a little hike at twelve thousand feet."

"It's her!" He proclaimed. "The girl! Hounds, come! We found her!


The two mutants reached the end of the bridge when Beast saw a stelae that confused him as it had markings that shouldn't belong in this location.

"Archaeologically, this makes no sense." He said. "This stelae is centuries old, and the pictographs appear to be Mayan, from the classical period. But unless we have hiked three thousand miles north, I do not see how that's possible."

"What about the temples at Machu Picchu?" Jubilee asked.

"No, they're Incan." Beast corrected. "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." Jubilee commented. 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." Beast revealed. "Scholars believe they may have even developed the crucial concept of zero."

"What a concept." She said, not really impressed with that discovery. "But what were they doing three thousand miles from home?"

"Wait a minute." Beast looked at the writing and realized he had mistranslated it. "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."

A boomerang collided with the stelae as the explosion pushed Jubilee and Beast back.

"Surrender the female child!" One of the Hounds ordered as he cracked a whip.

"Are you talking to me?" Jubilee held her fists up, angered at only being seen as a child.

"Not now, Jubilee." Beast told her as he tried to act as peacemaker. "I believe we made a wrong turn." He said to the Hounds. "Our humblest apologies for our thoughtless intrusion."

"Get them!" The Hound with the whip commanded only to be knocked several feet by Jubilee's pyrotechnics.

"The better part of valor is discretion." Beast advised Jubilee.

Jubilee tried to understand Beast's vocabulary. "That means run, right?"

"In so many words." Beast confirmed as Jubilee ran to the bridge while Beast stayed back to deal with the Hounds.

The female summoned a boomerang, and after getting a nod of approval from the one with the whip, she threw it at Beast, who dodged it by jumping up and grabbing a tree branch.

Beast was then grabbed by the waist by the whip and brought to the ground, where another Hound tackled him through a tree, knocking him unconscious.

Caliban then went to the bridge, where he stopped as he recognized Jubilee. "Jubilee?"

"Caliban!" The female Hound ran toward the bridge. "Stop! Stop the girl!"

"Caliban?" Jubilee heard the name and recognized it. She had met Caliban, but he looked different. The two had met and became friends at Vlad's place last Christmas.

The female Hound threw a boomerang at the bridge.

"No!" Caliban tried to stop her, but it was too late as the bridge snapped with Jubilee hanging on for dear life.

"Fool!" The female Hound insulted Caliban as she saw him run to her rescue. "What are you doing?

"Well. This sure is a learning experience." Jubilee said as she hung up.

"Don't move!" Caliban was climbing down to save her.

"Fine, my appointment book is wide open." Jubilee said. 'Danny's quips must be rubbing off on me.' She thought.

"Jubilee!" Caliban tried to help her as the rope started to tear. "No!" The bridge finally fell as Caliban managed to grab hold of Jubilee. "Hold on. I won't let anything happen to you."

Jubilee held onto his shoulders as the Hounds above wrapped a whip around Caliban's hand as they pulled the two up.

"It is good you have saved the girl." The Hound with the whip said. "Now perhaps Cortez will let you live."

Jubilee was forced to walk with the Hounds.

"I'm sorry you came here." Caliban apologized.


Jubilee and Beast were in chains as the Hounds brought them to the stairs of the temple as the other worshippers watched on.

"On your knees!" The Hound with the whip ordered the two as they went to their knees.

"What spooky jungle movie did we step into?" Jubilee asked Beast.

"I would venture to guess they have been worshipping Apocalypse for centuries." Beast presumed. "This place appears to be a duplicate Lazarus Temple, similar to the one we found in Egypt."

They saw a group of worshippers carry Cortez in on a throne.

"Fabian Cortez?" Beast exclaimed in shock, believing he died on Asteroid M.

"Dr. Henry McCoy!" Cortez greeted. "How flattering that you remember me."

"But how?" Beast asked.

"How is it that I am here when you thought I had perished on Asteroid M?" Cortez replied. "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!" Beast pointed out as he and Jubilee remembered how Dan killed him so mercilessly.

"He is now without a physical body, trapped in the Astral Plane." Cortez revealed. "That is what he told me."

"Trapped in the Astral Plane?" Jubilee asked. "How is that possible? We saw him get killed. The only one trapped in the Astral Plane is..."

She and Beast shared a look as they realized who Cortez was truly talking to. "Dan!"

Beast attempted to warn Cortez. "Cortez, whatever speaks to you is not Apocalypse but something pretending to be."

"Do not speak to me as if I'm a fool." Cortez snarled. "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."

Beast realized that they couldn't convince Cortez that he was being manipulated, so he decided to at least get him to let Jubilee go. "Cortez, your quarrel is with me. Please release my young charge."

Cortez shook his head. "The child will not leave."

Jubilee was getting annoyed with being called a kid. She could drive, damn it. "What is it with this child thing?"

"The being you are listening to will only betray you." Beast told Cortez.

Cortez laughed. "Betray me? Before he left, he had empowered me!" His hands glowed as he shot two beams of energy at Beast, who groaned in pain. "I've never tested its limits until now."

"You're destroying him!" Jubilee cried.

"If the good doctor survives, he shall serve Apocalypse as a hound." Cortez said indifferently. "If not, there will be one less traitor to mutantkind."

"Apocalypse is dead!" Jubilee shouted. "You're being played for a fool!" She looked at Beast with worry. "Hank!"

Beast grew in size as his chains burst. His eyes glowed yellow as bits of his fur became spiky as he growled.

He was even more of a beast than before.

The Hounds tried to restrain them, but they were no match as he swatted them aside like flies as he leaped away, with the other worshippers running away in fear.

"Forget about him." Cortez said of Beast to the Hounds. "We have the girl. We must prepare the sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Jubilee asked fearfully.

"Take our honored guest below and prepare her for the ceremony." Cortez ordered the Hounds as they took her to the altar.

"Oh, Hank." Jubilee said sadly. "Danny, where are you? We need you."


Cortez was now speaking to his master. "My Lord, all is in readiness."

"What of the sacrifice?" His master demanded.

"She is being prepared as we speak." Cortez assured him.

"You serve me well, Cortez." His master said. "For once. Let's make sure this isn't a one-time-only thing."

Cortez nodded his head frantically. "Yes, my lord." Cortez then saw that Caliban had entered the room, infuriating him. "You dare sully my communion with Lord Apocalypse? Explain yourself!"

"I'm sorry." Caliban apologized. "Caliban would like to look for another sacrifice."

"Fool!" Cortez yelled. "Is this sympathy I hear? For an X-Man? Nothing must endanger this ceremony. She will be sacrificed."


Danny was still tracking down the eel. It was a fast little thing; he remembered the first time he encountered it back in Amity Park. It ended up getting away, and it knocked Danny through the walls into Dash, forcing him into that haunted house contest.

This time, though, Danny managed to suck it up in the thermos. "Man, that is one fast eel. Glad that's over with. Now, let's see if I can catch up with Beast and Jubilee." He flew across the forest, looking for any trace of his friends, when he saw the damaged truck. "What the hell?" He landed next to it as he inspected the damage. "What happened to the truck? Where's Beast and Jubilee?"

He then heard footsteps and turned around to see Beast in his feral state. "Beast? What happened to you? Where's Jubilee?"

Beast roared as he tried to claw Danny, who went intangible.

Danny was shocked that the normally calm Beast would attack him. "Beast, what's the matter with you?"

Beast charged at Danny, who moved out of the way. Danny didn't know what happened to his friend, but he couldn't let him continue his rampage.

"Sorry to do this, Beast." Danny fired an ecto-blast that Beast dodged as he tackled Danny and growled in his face.

"Beast, stop!" Danny pleaded. "It's me, Danny. I'm your friend, remember? We're X-Men."

Beast stopped as he considered Danny's words. This creature did seem familiar to him, but from where?

"Don't you remember your family?" Danny asked as he phased out of Beast's grip and pulled a picture of the X-Men from the wrecked truck. He waved it in front of Beast's face. "Come on, Beast. Whatever happened to you, fight it. I know you can because you have a big heart."

Beast gripped his head as his true self tried to fight with his primal instincts.

Danny realized that Beast was trying to regain control of himself, so he cheered him on. "You've got to fight it, Beast! Fight it!"

Beast finally stopped howling in pain as he took a few breaths before looking at Danny.

"Danny?" He asked in his normal voice.

Danny grinned. "Beast, you're back!"

"I wouldn't say that I'm entirely back, but we'll go with that." Beast replied.

"Beast, what happened?" Danny asked. "Where's Jubilee."

"Cortez, he did this to me, and he's kidnapped Jubilee to sacrifice her to what he believes to be Apocalypse." Beast revealed.

"But Apocalypse is dead." Danny pointed out.

"He is, but I believe that whatever has contacted him isn't Apocalypse, but someone pretending to be." Beast guessed. "Cortez says that Apocalypse has spoken to him from beyond the Astral Plane."

"But Apocalypse isn't in the Astral Plane." Danny said before he remembered what was trapped in the Astral Plane. "Oh, no."

"Yes, I believe Cortez is going to sacrifice Jubilee to Dan." Beast told him.

"Where is she?" Danny demanded as he grabbed Beast flew the two into the air.

Beast pointed to the right. "In this direction. I remember the way."


The worshippers were gathering at the altar as the sacrifice was about to begin.

"The time has come." Cortez proclaimed. "Bring forth the sacrifice and place her upon the altar."

"Let go of me!" Jubilee protested as the Hounds strapped her on top of the altar.

"The faithful will be rewarded when our Lord Apocalypse returns." Cortez continued. "The Earth will be cleansed of infidels and the weak!"

Jubilee looked up to see that Caliban wasn't looking pleased with this whole situation. "Caliban, you don't have to do this. Help me!"

"You think she cares about a freak like you?" Cortez said to Caliban.

"Yes." Caliban answered. "Take me instead, please!"

Cortez refused. "Our lord claims that it must be the girl and only the girl. Now be quiet; your voice disgusts me."

Caliban had enough as he pushed Cortez to the side.

"Stop him!" Cortez ordered the Hounds as Caliban fought them.

Caliban had a whip around his arm, but he pulled, forcing the Hound wielding it to end up being launched into the wall. Caliban then threw another Hound at Cortez. He was then about to free Jubilee when the whip grabbed his legs and a boomerang was thrown at him, knocking him to the ground as the Hounds swarmed him.

One Hound managed to restrain Caliban as he held his arms behind his back as Cortez glared at the traitor.

"You are unworthy of the power of Apocalypse. Return to your wretched existence!" Cortez used his powers to turn Caliban back to his original form.

Cortez gazed at him with disgust. "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 judgement. It is time." Cortez made his way over to Jubilee as she struggled. Finding this to be annoying, he pulled out a ceremonial dagger and hit her in the head with the back of it, knocking her unconscious. "Rejoice! My lord, accept this sacrifice!"

As he was about to plunge it into Jubilee, Danny and Beast burst in.

"What sacrilege is this?" Cortez cried before he recognized Danny. "You? The freak from Asteroid M. The pretender."

"Step away from Jubilee!" Danny yelled.

"Never!" Cortez then stabbed Jubilee in the chest as her friends cried out in horror.

"No!" Beast and Danny cried as Danny went up to her and found blood leaking out.

"It is done; the sacrifice has finished." Cortez said with pride.

"Jubilee!" Danny carried her body down as he tried to shake her awake, but she wouldn't stir.

Danny sobbed as he took in the fact that he had failed to save his sister. He failed her. She was left helpless at Cortez's mercy. If only he had been with her, none of this would've happened.

"I failed." Danny muttered as he dropped to his knees. "Damn it."

For a moment, everything was quiet, as no one made a sound. It was like time itself stopped to capture this horrific tragedy. As it continued, everyone from Beast to the Hounds to even Cortez felt a shiver go down their spines as they realized something horrible was about to occur.

In an instant, Danny shot to his feet as he let out a shockwave of energy that pushed everyone back.

The hybrid screamed in emotional pain for what had been done to his sister. As his rage and hatred clung to him, he found himself changing. His fingertips grew claws as his skin became a bit blue. His eyes shifted from green to red. The tips of his head were on fire. His teeth were now fangs.

Everyone gasped at the transformation, Beast especially, as he knew how bad it truly was.

"What's this?" Cortez asked as he trembled in fear. "What's going on?"

"CORTEZ!" Danny shouted with all of his hate. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

The Hounds went to protect their master as one wrapped a whip around Danny's wrist, but Danny let loose a stream of electricity that electrocuted the Hound. The female Hound threw a boomerang, but Danny used his telekinesis to send it back to her, knocking her into a wall.

The final Hound tried to tackle Danny, but he caught him in the air.

The Hound whimpered as Danny looked him in the eye.

"You're pissing me off." Danny said before throwing him into a wall.

With no other distractions, Danny made his way to Cortez. Beast could only cradle Jubilee's body as he watched his friend become consumed with revenge.

"Stop!" Cortez fired a beam of energy, but Danny just slapped it away as he advanced slowly. "Stop! Please, have mercy? Apocalypse! Save me!"

Danny grabbed him by the wrist. "No one is going to save you when I'm done with you."

Cortez had tears in his eyes as he bawled like a baby. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Funny, I'm sure Jubilee asked the same thing." Danny said. "Why should I grant you mercy when you didn't give her any?"

"Keep away, freak!" Cortez demanded as he used his free hand to stab Danny with the dagger, but it only tore off his necklace. When it impacted his skin, it ended up breaking.

"You're a pathetic little worm!" Danny snapped one of his arms, breaking the bone as it teared through the skin as Cortez screamed in pain. "You don't have the right to even breathe." He pushed him to the ground. "You took her away from me." He raised a hand in the air with his claws extended, preparing to slice Cortez's throat open. "And now I will end your sorry excuse of a life!"

As he took one last look at Cortez, he noticed that the necklace had fallen on him. As he looked at the raven, he remembered when he first got it.

Danny was opening a present that Rogue had presented him. He tore the wrapping off and found a necklace in the shape of a raven. "What's this, a raven? A little ominous, isn't it?"

Rogue smiled at him with love in her eyes. "They kind of remind me of you."

This got Danny's attention. "How so?"

"They represent not only death but the beginning of new life." Rogue explained. "Just like meeting you was the end of my lonely life and the beginning of a life with you."

Danny blushed as Rogue caressed his cheek. "Thanks, Rogue. It's really beautiful."

"I hope so." Rogue said. "I wanted to get you something for blowing up at you back on Polemachus."

"Rogue, you have nothing to be sorry for." Danny told her. "You thought I was dumping you for someone else."

"I still doubted you, Danny." Rogue said with regret. "Even after everything we've been through. I shouldn't have done that, and I promise you it won't happen again. This necklace is proof that I understand who you are. A kind and loving man who cares for the people around him. That's who you are, Danny Fenton."

"That's who you are, Danny Fenton."

As the memory ended, Danny lowered his hand as he got off Cortez.

"What are you doing?" Cortez asked warily.

"I can't kill you." Danny said, ashamed of how he acted. "Jubilee would never have wanted that. And I know she'd hate to see me like this."

"You got that right!" Jubilee said.

"Jubilee?" Danny turned to see that she was awake. "Jubilee!" He raced down to her and Beast. "You're okay! But how?"

Jubilee lifted open her vest, revealing that the dagger had stabbed a bottle of Gatorade she kept there. "I bought some Gatorade at the shop."

Danny started laughing as his appearance returned to normal. "I'm so glad that you're all right."

"You too." Jubilee said.

Danny nodded. "Now let's end this." He turned around. "Cortez, turn Beast back to normal before I break your other arm."

Cortez complied as he shot out a beam at Beast, turning him back to normal.

Danny then blasted Cortez with an ecto-blast, knocking him out. "Let's get him and the others out of here."

Danny, Jubilee, Beast, and Caliban then dragged Cortez and the Hounds out of the temple.

With no one in it, Danny let out a Ghostly Wail, demolishing the temple.

"No!" Cortez cried as he woke up to see the temple in pieces. He glared at Danny. "You'll pay for this!"

Danny punched him. "Shut up." He then turned to leave with his friends.

"I think the truck is this way; let's go." Jubilee said.

Beast blushed as he remembered that he destroyed the truck in his other form. "Erm, about the truck, Jubilee..."

"He smashed it." Danny finished for him.

"Oh, well." Jubilee said as they continued walking. She noticed that Caliban was staying behind. "Come on, Caliban, we're going home."

"No." Caliban refused to meet her eyes. "Caliban does not deserve Jubilee's help."

"Cortez messed with your head." Jubilee told him. "It's not your fault. I'm just glad you were there for us when it counted."

"Thank you." Caliban said.

"Come on, let's go home." Danny said to Caliban. "I'm sure Vlad and the other Morlocks will be happy to have you back."


Cortez looked over the ruined temple. "My lord, I have failed."

"I'm not surprised, Cortez." His master said. "You always were pathetic. Although the loss of the sacrifice is disappointing, we can still move on. Do you still have the book?"

"Yes!" Cortez cried as he pulled out the book, eager to redeem himself.

"Then make yourself useful and read the passage." His master commanded.

Cortez turned the book to the right page as he read out the incantation.

"Klaatu barada nikto."

In front of him, a ghost portal opened up, and out stepped his master, only he wasn't the master that Cortez was expecting.

Cortez was bowing to his master. "My lord, I am honored to be in your presence again, I..." He stopped as he looked up and saw that this wasn't Apocalypse. "Wait a minute, you're not Apocalypse. You're that freak! What have you done to Apocalypse?"

Dan grabbed Cortez by the throat as he looked him in the eye. "Apocalypse died at my hand. Just like you will."

The evil phantom shot out two ghost rays from his eyes at Cortez, who screamed as his skull was slowly melting.

With a sadistic glee, Dan watched as Cortez died in excruciating pain before throwing the body aside.

His plan had failed. He ordered Cortez to sacrifice Jubilee, hoping it would enrage Danny enough to kill Cortez, allowing him to take his first step into embracing his destiny.

Still, he was at least out of the Astral Plan.

Dan then smirked as he looked at the moon. He was finally free.

"Great to be back in business."