[Egypt] [Pyramid]
Inside the chamber, the pyramid's walls hummed with low, rhythmic energy. Ancient carvings glowed faintly, the lines of hieroglyphs pulsing in a pattern like a heartbeat. Yelena, Johnny, and Ben moved cautiously through the corridor, flashlights slicing through the thick air as their scanners pinged nonstop.
Johnny crouched near a sarcophagus, his scanner emitting a series of sharp beeps. "Okay, either this thing's got a built-in reactor, or someone's cooking something big down here."
Ben adjusted the readings on his wrist device. "These spikes aren't in any of Stark's databases. Hell, this kind of energy shouldn't even exist. It's like... bioelectric mixed with quantum signatures. Nothing human."
Yelena knelt beside one of the open coffins. The interior was lined with dark metallic residue, not dust, as if whatever had been inside had melted through centuries of rest. She glanced at the others. "These weren't robbed. They were opened. From the inside."
Johnny stood, his usual grin gone. "Opened? As in, someone woke up?"
"Or something," Ben muttered. His scanner flashed red. "Mutant gene traces, but—damn. They're old. Thousands of years, maybe more. And the DNA doesn't match any known mutants."
Yelena's eyes went to the walls. The murals depicted towering figures in armor, surrounded by kneeling followers. Each figure bore different symbols: war, death, famine, pestilence. At the center stood one larger than the rest, painted in blue and gold, with eyes of fire and a halo of energy.
She reached up, brushing away centuries of sand and decay. Beneath the dust, the name repeated over and over in both hieroglyphs and ancient Akkadian script: En Sabah Nur.
"Ben," she called, her voice low. "Pull the translations from the wall. I want every word."
Ben projected a holographic overlay, decrypting line by line. His eyes widened as he read. "It talks about an eternal one. The first. It says he was a god among men. Chosen to rule. The strongest of all. An immortal being. The text names him... Apocalypse. And these others are his Four Horsemen."
Johnny's hand tightened around his scanner. "You gotta be kidding me. We now have to fight an immortal gramps from ancient ages?"
The chamber lights flickered as a pulse of energy rippled through the pyramid. Dust fell from the ceiling. The machines on their wrists glitched for a second, readings spiking off the charts.
"Shit!" Yelena hissed, stepping back as one of the sarcophagi vibrated slightly before settling again. "Someone woke them up. Those missing archaeologists must've triggered something."
Ben exhaled, glancing around the massive room. "If this Apocalypse guy is what these texts claim, he's older than anything we've ever faced. Mutant, god, whatever... He's awake now."
Johnny ran a hand through his hair, trying to shake off the unease. "So, let me get this straight. We're standing in the tomb of a pissed-off immortal mutant warlord who's been napping for, what, five thousand years? And someone thought it was a good idea to ring the doorbell and say, Hi! How was your nap?"
"Pretty much," Ben said grimly. He looked toward the corridor they came from. "We need to tell Stark. Now. Before this turns into another world-ending party."
Yelena took one last look at the murals, the glowing eyes of Apocalypse staring down from the stone as if alive. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "How the hell does one defeat an immortal creature?"
...
[A few hours later]
The desert night was cold, but the trio set up a makeshift camp on the sandy plateau just outside the pyramid. The glow from the tomb seeped faintly through the stone, casting an eerie light across the dunes. Ben was still tapping away at his wrist device, studying the energy fluctuations, while Yelena sat cross-legged, staring at the pyramids' shadow as if it might give her answers. Johnny was poking at a small fire, muttering about bad luck and worse timing.
Three hours later, a familiar roar split the quiet. Tony Stark descended in his suit, landing with a metallic thump that kicked up sand. His mask retracted, and he gave them a sheepish grin. "Sorry, guys. Charity gala ran long. You know how it is. Billionaire problems."
Yelena didn't bother with pleasantries. "Tony. We found something inside the pyramid. You need to see this yourself."
Tony followed them, scanning the tomb from outside before stepping inside, his HUD flaring to life. The sarcophagi, the metallic residue, the glowing murals—they all registered immediately. "Oh-oh," Tony muttered, voice tight. "Yup. That's… that's him. Apocalypse. This is really bad."
"How bad are we taking about on a scale of 1 to 10?" Johnny asked.
"100," Tony replied while scanning the place.
Ben crossed his arms. "He's awake. We think the missing archaeologists triggered it somehow. And we're not talking a garden-variety supervillain here."
Tony sighed after studying the tomb. "Let me break it down for you mortals. Apocalypse is the first mutant. The very first. We're talking tens of thousands of years old. His body? Adaptive beyond anything we've recorded. He can survive decapitation, reintegrate, evolve immunity to attacks. He's got multiple mutations stacked into one package, psychic abilities, telekinesis, matter manipulation, and worst of all... he can transfer his consciousness and soul into other bodies. He's basically immortality wrapped in nightmare fuel."
Johnny blinked. "So… we have to fight someone like him? Someone who can literally shrug off everything we throw at him, read our minds, toss buildings, and hop bodies whenever he feels like it?"
Tony shrugged, though the unease was clear in his tone. "Yep. Pretty much. And he's not just powerful. He's smart. He's been around since civilizations were scribbling on clay tablets. He thinks in centuries. We think in hours. Not ideal."
Yelena clenched her fists. "So there's no weakness? Nothing to exploit?"
Tony gave a side nod. "Well, everyone has a weakness. Blue ball just woke up a couple of days back. So, he's going to need time to recover his power and create a team to start a war. If we can find him now, we might be able to take him down. But it's unlikely that he'll walk around in the open, and with his abilities, I doubt my scanners will find him in time. So, we are basically sitting ducks."
"What about your cosmic power?" Ben asked.
"Not enough. Even if Wanda joins in, it'd be a hard battle. But..." Tony smirked while rubbing his chin. He looks excited.
"Okay. I know that look. I've seen it many times. Please tell me you got an immortal killer gun or something like that lying around your lab that can one-shot Apocalypse," Johnny said with a hopeful look.
"Well, I don't know about one shot, but yeah, I can create something to kill the unkillable. Just gonna need some time," Tony said with his usual arrogant smile. 'Huh?!' The Mind Stone vibrated inside his head. He sensed faint traces of another Infinity Stone and Magic. The Mind Stone fed him the info. 'The Power Stone. Someone got the Power Stone. It's not Apocalypse... But who? And what was that person doing here? Could it be that this unknown person woke up the freak? Or... Haaa... Too many questions. Gotta be careful.'
...
[Unknown Location] [Apocalypse's Base]
Apocalypse sat upon a massive stone throne. Metallic tubes ran from his arms into the walls, siphoning energy from dormant generators older than civilization itself. His face was calm but cold, eyes half-lidded, watching a dozen holographic projections flicker around him: data, languages, images of the modern world streaming before his gaze.
"Humans… machines… mutants… aliens from a distant world," His voice rumbled low, the words heavy, ancient, and deliberate. "They play at power… but they do not understand it."
The horsemen stood before him, silent and obedient.
Plague stepped forward, her pale skin veined with black patterns that pulsed faintly. "My lord, the world has changed. Their medicine, their weapons... they control disease itself. The weak do not die as they should."
Apocalypse turned his gaze on her, a faint smirk curving his lips. "Then make them remember fear. Spread your gift until their false gods of science crumble before true plague."
War clenched his gauntleted fists, his aura crackling with raw kinetic energy. "And what of the armies of men, my lord? They wield metal beasts and thunder that can level cities. Their soldiers are trained and armed beyond measure."
Apocalypse rose slowly from the throne. The movement was almost regal, his form towering over the others. "Let them come. Let their armies march. You will teach them war as they have never known it. When you strike, the earth itself will remember who commands destruction."
Famine's eyes glowed faintly yellow. Her voice was soft, almost detached. "They feed endlessly, my lord. Abundance without struggle. The world is fat, bloated with excess."
"Then starve them," Apocalypse said simply. "Let them feel hunger again. Strip them of their illusion of plenty. From famine, strength is born."
Finally, Caliban stepped forward, his pale eyes gleaming with predatory light. His voice was deep. "And death, my lord? The humans do not fear it as they once did. They build towers, machines that can regrow flesh and organs. They cheat mortality."
Apocalypse's eyes burned brighter, energy coursing through his veins as he extended his hand. The walls around them shimmered with ancient symbols that came alive with his power. "Then show them true death, Caliban. Not the gentle kind they whisper of in hospitals. I want their souls to tremble."
The ground trembled beneath his feet. Energy flared from his body, crawling across the ancient machinery like lightning through veins of metal. The chamber roared with renewed life.
Apocalypse turned toward the holograms again, images of Tony Stark, Susan, Natasha, Yelena, Janet, Ghost, Ben, Johnny, and others flashing before his eyes.
"These are the rulers of this age," he said quietly, almost to himself. "They believe themselves gods. They wield power beyond mortal comprehension... yet they still cling to frailty."
He clenched his fist, and one of the holograms — Tony Stark's — shattered into fragments of light.
"They have forgotten the first truth. Evolution demands sacrifice. Weakness must be purged. I will burn their paradise and raise an empire of the strong."
Plague bowed low. "Your will, my lord."
Apocalypse's gaze shifted to the horizon beyond the stone walls, as if he could see through the desert and into the modern cities glittering in the night. "Prepare the armies. Summon the faithful. The world will kneel again — not to false heroes, not to machines, but to me."
His voice grew darker, reverberating through the chamber like a judgment carved into eternity.
"The age of Apocalypse begins anew."
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