The underground prisoing b rawling maze of sterile corridors, dimly lit by flickering overhead mps. The walls, reinforced with psionic-resistant alloys, pulsed faintly with the hum of dampening fields desigo suppress the abilities of those tained within. The air was thick with the st of chemicals and sweat, the product of years of relentless experimentation.

  David Moreau, after rep Destiny's prophecy to the Leader, went into the secret b, his mind still reeling from his enter with Destiny. Her w him, burrowing into the crevices of his mind like a parasite. Was she toying with him, or had she truly glimpsed the iable?

  On his way, he informed Sugarman of the prophecy.

  He pushed the thoughts aside as his gaze swept over the tai cells. Within eae, a mutant y restraiheir bodies wracked with vulsions as the test round of geic modifications took effect. Some screamed, their voices hoarse from days, perhaps weeks, of agony. Others sat in eerie sileheir will all but shattered by the relentless ditioning.

  Ten a mutants, their ins lost to time, were locked away in the deepest recesses of the facility. Their geic codes held secrets that could rewrite the very nature of evolution itself, yet they resisted every attempt to mold them. Shackled to massive steel sbs, their bodies twitched uhe influence of forced mutation protocols, but their minds remaiubbornly intao matter how many times the stists adjusted the frequencies, altered the serums, or increased the pain threshold, they refused to break.

  And then there were the six proto-mutants—beings from an age long before Homo superior became a reized for the world. Primitive yet immensely powerful, their cells reacted uably to every experiment, making them both an invaluable resourd an untrolble variable.

  David approached the main observation deck, where several b workers flitted between soles, monit vitals and running simutions. A pair of heavily armed Magistrates stood guard, their ons trained on the cells at all times.

  A shuffling noise from behind annouhe arrival of Sugarman.

  The grotesque stist grinned, his jagged teeth gleaming in the dim light. His hunched, four-armed frame cast a monstrous shadow against the cold walls. He sidled up beside David, peering into the b with glee.

  "You look troubled, Genegineer," Sugarman sneered, his voice a sickly-sweet mixture of mockery and amusement. "Did the old e's wet under your skin? She always did have a way of twisting minds before they even realized they were broken."

  David exhaled sharply through his nose, refusing to meet Sugarman's eyes. "Her prophecies are vague riddles meant to instill doubt. Nothing more."

  Sugarman chuckled, his grotesque features t further. "Oh, but doubt is such a delicious thing, isn't it? It gnaws, it festers... it makes men desperate. And desperate men make mistakes."

  David ighe bait. "What is the status of the subjects?"

  Sugarmaured to the observation windows. "The as resist, as always. Their mutations are stable, but their minds refuse to be ditioned. Some sort of instinctual resistance, like old-world predators refusing domestication. The proto-mutants are... uable. One moment docile, the moment their biology shifts in ways we 't begin to prehend. They're stu the evolutionary middle ground, her past nor future."

  David's fiapped against the steel railing as he observed the subjects. "Then we escate. Increase the neurogenic stimution. If they will not evolve willingly, we will drag them into the future kig and screaming."

  Sugarman's grin widened. "Ah, now there's the ruthless Genegineer I know. But tell me, what if Destiny's words were more than just riddles? What if the fire she spoke of truly es for us?"

  David turned, his expression unreadable. "Then we must ehat when it arrives… Genosha holds the power to withstand it."

  Sugarma out a guttural chuckle, his jagged teeth gleaming in the dim light. "Oh, this will be fun."

  David's gaze returo the tortured figures beyond the gss. The future was uain, but ohing was clear. Genosha would either trol what was to e… or be destroyed by it.

  As they were overseeing the experiments, David received a message from aeam, w outside Genosha. After years of excavation, they had successfully uhed and transported the tomb of En Sabah Nur, the first mutant, the eternal queror. Apocalypse.

  "You will release Apocalypse and his Horsemen... Nothing stop the iable."

  It had been a prophecy. A warning. And now, a reality.

  The Genegineer forced himself to steady his breathing. He had no time for superstitioiny's fht was an anomaly—powerful, yes, but still bound by interpretation. The future was not set in stone, not uhey allowed it to be.

  Sugarmahe way down a winding corridor, his grotesque grin never wavering. "You should see your face, Moreau," he rasped. "Like a man walking to his owion. You're not afraid of some old corpse, are you?"

  David shot him a gre. "I don't fear the dead. I fear what they leave behind."

  They reached a reinforced bst door, thick with overpping yers of mutation nullifiers, power dampeners, and psychihibitors. Every possible safeguard had been deployed.

  Sugarman tapped his cws against the trol panel, activating the final security sequence. "We've sealed the chamber with the stro psionic dampeners we have. Whatever's in there, it's not waking up without our say-so."

  David exhaled sharply. "The's see what we've uncovered."

  With a hiss of hydraulics, the bst doors parted, revealing the Tomb of Apocalypse.

  The chamber was big, desigo tain forces beyond prehension. In the ter, a t sarcophagus of obsidian aial stone loomed, covered in intricate hieroglyphs. The a symbols pulsed faintly, as if still carrying remnants of a fotten age.

  The research team stood at the periphery, watg in nervous silehe lead stist, a pale man named Dr. Voss, adjusted his gsses and cleared his throat.

  "Genegineer Moreau," Voss said, his voieasy. "We have verified the authenticity of the tomb. The inscriptions matown records of En Sabah Nur. But there's something else…"

  David stepped forward, iing the sarcophagus. "Expin."

  Voss hesitated, gng toward the stone coffin. "The energy readings are… insistent. The body inside should be long-deposed, but our ss indicate cellur activity. Faint, but undeniable. He isn't dead, sir. He's dormant."

  David's pulse quied. Dormant. That was far worse than dead.

  Sugarma out a wheezing chuckle. "So the big bad Apocalypse is just taking a nap? Adorable."

  David ignored him. He ran his hand over the inscriptions, deciphering their meaning. Some of the markings spoke of resurre cycles, of a deep slumber only broken by external forces. This wasn't a burial... it was tai.

  "You will release Apocalypse…"

  His throat tightened. Destiny had foreseen this moment. But was he walking into a propheerely the illusion of one?

  Voss tinued, oblivious to David's iurmoil. "We've activated the highest level of tai. If we decide to proceed with an autopsy, we ensure he remaied indefinitely."

  David hesitated. If they could study Apocalypse's DNA and his teology, they could unlock mutant evolution itself. They could refenosha into something greater, beyond the reach of any outside force.

  A…

  Destiny's voice echoed in his mind.

  "No s, no colrs, eno twisted programming will save you..."

  David exhaled sharply. "Prepare the autopsy chamber," he ordered. "We o ualy what we're dealing with before we make any decisions."

  The research team nodded and moved into a.

  Sugarman stopped them, "Now, now, now. Don't be hasty, David." He pointed one of his limbs toward the left side of the tomb. "You see the bloody handprints? Let's extract that and see if we find some DNA first. It's probably Apocalypse's blood traces, well-preserved thanks to the seal. Let's do some tests and check out what we are actually dealing with."

  "We don't have time for that," David said, irritated by the unnecessary dey. "We need answers now, not ter. We o know what he is, and how to trol him."

  "As I said, don't rush to your owh. Destiny's words messed up your mind. Think rationally, Genegineer."

  The words stung, but David remained silent. Sugarman was right. Destiny had rattled him.

  Sugarman poi the tomb, "Look, we already know the answers. It's not a mystery who this guy is or what he do. Let's get DNA first, then you wake him up. We all want to see what he do, but let's not be hasty about it. We are already having a hard time trolling those low-level proto mutants with the lowest awakened gehink what we could unleash if we were careless with this guy."

  "You are right, Sugarman." David finally agreed.

  The lead stist called out, "Genegineer Moreau, we have successfully extracted a blood sample from the sarcophagus." He held up a vial filled with a strange, viscous liquid. "We are running preliminary tests now."

  David nodded. "Proceed with caution."

  Sugarma out a wheezing ugh. "Good. Cool down that brain of yours and perform the tests. I'll stay here and make sure this guy stays asleep."

  The lead stist and David walked out, leaving Sugarman in charge.

  Sugarman turned his attention toward the sarcophagus. His eyes glowed with a blue hue...

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