Issue 1 Downtime

Gideon's return to campus had not been quite what he'd expected. The events in Moscow had been exhausting. When you added friends dying on top of it weighed even more heavily than usual. Missing the funeral made closure something of a pipe dream.

He'd decided he couldn't stay on campus and instead stood watching the London crowd move. He wondered to himself how these people kept on hating them while mutants threw themselves in the path of danger for them regularly. He couldn't help but glare at the people who stared at him, couldn't help the thoughts of violence that bubbled beneath the surface. Not all of it directed at the homo sapiens going about their daily routine but at his own kind as well.

"Disturbing, are they not?" a quiet voice murmured nearby, the figure's face obscured beneath a hood.

Gideon glanced over at the figure.

"Disturbing is a good word for it," Gideon said, "They hate mutants, but wouldn't exist without us shielding them. We misstep and they cry of justice. They misstep and we have to keep moving saying nothing."

"The weak, in short, attempt to subjugate the strong," the other person mused, directing his gaze at the crowd. "I suppose they assume that the strong will continue to allow it."

"We have so far," Gideon said, "We're taught to be meek protectors of mankind. Generations of mutants being taught to use their abilities, but only in the service of mankind. Never in the service of our own kind for fear of persecution and bloodshed."

"And what would you do about that," the man asked, turning glowing eyes from beneath the hood to Gideon. "Given the chance."

"I'd have our kind step past mankind," Gideon said, "I'd have the next generation prepared for the supposed inevitable conflict. Teach them that we shouldn't need to grovel or throw our most promising into the grinder to get even the most basic respect from mankind."

"If mankind didn't step aside we'd step over them to take what we should have had since the very beginning."

There was a moment of silence. "You should meet my master," he said, quietly, starting toward the edge of the crowd. "Come. Quietly."

Gideon followed the hooded figure a few steps behind him because this almost felt like a trap.

"If I wished you harm, you'd already be lying dead on the ground," the hooded person mused, still quiet, but sounding amused. "The Master is through here. I will make sure that you aren't disturbed," Death added, stopping at the entrance to an alley.

Gideon looked at the figure for a moment but silenced his retort before continuing on into the alley.

A voice rumbled from the end of the alley. "And are you brave to step willingly toward one who commands Death, or simply foolish?" it queried.

"Is that the name of the one who lead me here?" Gideon asked as he walked further into the alley, "Otherwise your minion made a good point. If you wanted me dead it would have been just as easy to do out there and just as easy to disappear."

"A reasonable enough assumption," the voice answered, as the speaker stepped into the light. "And you? Have you tired of cringing under the rule of those who are too afraid to take what they want?" asked Apocalypse.

Gideon couldn't help but look somewhat surprised that he was talking to Apocalypse.

"I've chafed under their rule for a long time for a variety of reasons," Gideon said, "Are you offering a better path? A path that promises tangible results?"

"I offer you a chance," Apocalypse said. "A chance to sieze the power you will need to rise to the top of every battle. To carve a bloody swath through the battlefields of the earth. I offer you the chance to be as incredible as you were born to be, to show mankind that mutants are to be feared. To be respected."

"Take your place with me... and I will make of you a force that could rock the earth. You are born to instill fear... and what instills fear... like War!"

Gideon looked at Apocalypse closely as he considered the offer.

"I accept your offer to push mutants back onto the correct path," Gideon said, "One that brings them the respect they've deserved since the beginning."

Apocalypse let out a rumbling chuckle. "Good," he said in a low voice. He extended his hand. "We shall make of you something mighty. Now come... your future awaits."

"Good, lets see what it has to offer," Gideon said as he took Apocalypse's hand.