The underground chamber was cold, sterile, its stone walls alive with the humming energy of Apocalypse's Celestial technology. Mister Sinister stood at its center, his expression impassive, his body unmoved by the strange device in his hands. It was a device of ruin, designed to unleash a plague so deadly it would make even the strongest mutants crumble. It was his first masterpiece as Mr. Sinister.
According to Apocalypse's orders, the weapon that would reduce humankind to dust, leaving only mutants in their place. Yet, in this calculated moment, Mister Sinister felt a pull in his soul, a barely-there remnant of something nearly forgotten feeling, a flicker of what it meant to care. The device grew heavy in his hands, though his mind coldly dismissed any hesitation. He was free of humanity, rid of its frailties, and this clarity was his gift. And yet... he wondered.
Just then, a commotion ensues and the heavy doors of the chamber burst open. Sinister's gaze snapped to the doorway as two figures appeared, their presence almost as familiar to him as his own shadow, these are his newest test subjects who came from the future.
"Essex," Cyclops began, stepping forward with defiance that seemed almost reckless. His eyes narrowed, a blaze of conviction in his voice. "Don't do this. Don't let him make you into something you're not." Mister Sinister's lips curved into a slight, detached smile. "I am no longer 'Essex,' Mr. Summers. That man is already dead. You can call me Mr. Sinister."
"Maybe you've shed who you were," Phoenix interjected, her voice calm yet piercing. "But the part of you that loved your wife and your children isn't completely gone. It can't be—otherwise, you wouldn't be hesitating right now." Sinister's expression flickered with something unreadable, a faint shadow of a man caught between past and present. He drew himself taller, his stance a clear rejection of their words.
"You think you understand me just because you can get a glimpse of my thoughts? You cannot begin to understand the sacrifices I've made, the lives lost, the pain I've been through. Just to grasp the strength I've achieved by discarding my humanity. It is clarity, a purity of purpose, unclouded by the weakness of love or remorse. I serve Apocalypse now, for he has shown me the path to a new evolution."
"An evolution led by a madman?" Cyclops challenged, taking a step closer.
"Look around you, Sinister. Apocalypse will destroy everything in his path, including you, once you outlive your usefulness. He doesn't care about the future which you think you're trying to create, he only cares about one thing, and that is himself." Sinister's gaze hardened, his eyes narrowing at Cyclops.
"You think I'm blind to his ambitions? I am no mere pawn, Mr. Summers. That, I can assure you. I've allied myself with Apocalypse because he understands my vision, the need for a purified race." Sinister came closer, dressed in dark, metallic blue armor with a segmented, blade-like cape, he resembles a dark, twisted figure of science and war.
"Purified race? That's not even your own vision, is it?" Phoenix pressed, her voice softer, almost imploring. "You once wanted to better humanity, all of it. Not just the strong one's. Didn't you always aim to push the boundaries of science and give people a future free from pain and suffering. Is this really what your wife, or your 'sons', would have wanted for you to offer mankind? A culling? Think about Rebecca, Adam, and Morgan! Do you think they will be proud of what you're doing?"
'My Morgan...' At her words, something subtle yet deeply buried shifted within Sinister, like a crack spidering through his impenetrable veneer. He glanced away shaking his head, as though trying to shake off the whisper of old memories that Phoenix's words had awakened.
"Your wife's last wish," Phoenix continued, "was for you to turn away from this path. She died believing in a man who wanted to make a difference, not someone who'd throw away his family for power." Sinister clenched his jaw, the flicker of doubt Phoenix's words had stirred now clawing against the steel wall he'd constructed around himself. But he forced himself to remain unmoved.
"I've had enough of your sentimental drivel. You don't understand what I am—what I've become." Sinister looked as if he is about to make his move.
"Maybe we don't," Cyclops said, his voice steady but urgent. "But you're still fighting against your own nature, Dr. Essex. Deep down, you know that what Apocalypse is doing is wrong."
"Don't speak to me of wrong or right, Cyclops," Sinister retorted, his voice icy. "I am beyond such trivial concepts." But even as he spoke, there was a faint flicker in his eyes, a glimmer of something fractured within. For all his bluster, for all his assertion of detachment, the reminder of his family gnawed at him. Was he truly beyond humanity, or was he still tethered to it, even in his most twisted depths?
Just then, Apocalypse appeared in a dark, swirling mist, his presence like a shadowy storm. His gaze fell upon Sinister, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he observed his prelate's hesitation.
"Why do you delay, Sinister?" Apocalypse's voice was cold and thunderous, reverberating through the chamber of Sinister's laboratory. "I ordered you to unleash the plague upon humanity, to fulfill the promise of a new dawn."
Sinister's eyes shifted between Apocalypse and the device in his hands. He glanced at Cyclops and Phoenix, seeing in their eyes something unfamiliar: the look of warriors who knew they were fighting for a cause greater than themselves. In that moment, he saw what he'd lost, the small flicker of humanity that remained—a humanity Apocalypse's vision would erase forever.
His decision crystallized with chilling clarity. He was Sinister, and Sinister's purpose was not to serve another's madness, but to shape a future driven by intellect, science, and purpose. "Yes," Sinister said, his voice growing colder. "I will unleash the plague... but only upon those truly deserving of its effects."
He turned to Apocalypse, his eyes burning with newfound defiance. Before Apocalypse could react, Sinister triggered the device, a concentrated pulse of viral energy blasting from it, directed solely at the ancient mutant before him.
The room filled with a sickly, green glow as the plague enveloped Apocalypse, his form convulsing as he absorbed the full force of the attack.
"Sinister!" Apocalypse roared, his voice torn with anger and pain. "You betray me?" Sinister's face was impassive as he watched Apocalypse stagger under the strain of the plague's effects.
Cyclops and Phoenix stood back, watching in astonishment as their body body crumbled under the beckoning of their own time-line, despite all this they felt relief that Apocalypse failed to accomplish his goal in the British Empire. At last, they disappeared in motes of blue light that shimmered in the air for a few moments.
"You... did the right thing, Dr. Essex." Cyclops' voice echoed in the air.
Mister Sinister is quiet, his face unreadable. 'Right or wrong is irrelevant, Cyclops. I chose the path that aligns with science, with logic. Perhaps... I chose the path that honored what my wife and sons would have wanted...'
"What have you done? Why is the virus incomplete?" Apocalypse asked, his tone is cold and calm. Sinister knew that a wrong answer would mean his end at the hands of his own master. Strangely enough, he felt calm and bright. Like this matter did not concern him at all.
"I manipulated the virus in that moment. It was altered so that it would affect you alone. Who would have thought that your immune system could rapidly adapt to it?" Sinister explained matter-of-factly to the curious Apocalypse.
"Why?" Still calm, Apocalypse inquired.
"Cruelty without purpose is ignorance, and ignorance is the true enemy of science. You, Apocalypse, are blinded by your own arrogance in wanting to dominate the world. Your vision of a forced evolution is that of a madman, not a visionary." Sinister answered without a hint of lies as Apocalypse nodded in satisfaction.
"Your defiance against my will is a sign of strength BUT it will NOT be tolerated again. Don't forget that I hold true power," Apocalypse opened his portal to return to his ship. "The day I return would be the Dawn of Apocalypse's age and it would do well for you to know your place. I shall see you again... soon." Apocalypse declared as the portal swallowed him whole and disappearing from the laboratory.
***
Sometime in the future, Clan Askani.
"You have done a splendid job at stopping Apocalypse's early rise in Britain," Tanya Trask, most commonly known as Madame Sanctity greeted the two before her but saw the strangeness in their reaction. "Do not despair for not having defeated Apocalypse through might alone. With how he is, he can not truly be killed. His end will be in the hands of the fated one."