Chapter 34: The Egyptian Battlefield

As members of the Special Operations Group, there were few protocols to follow for travel. That very afternoon, upon receiving his orders, Jos boarded a plane bound for Egypt.

Nothing noteworthy happened along the way. Jos’ teammates were the kind of people who could easily fill millions of words in urban soldier novels—yet in the Marvel universe, they amounted to little more than high-level cannon fodder. Yes, they were those movie characters who mysteriously manage to spar with the protagonist for a minute or two, but ultimately have no real significance.

Having briefly familiarized himself with the mission, Jos did not dwell much on its specifics; instead, his thoughts centered on the destination itself. Egypt—if any place were most closely tied to it, it would be the X-Men series.

He recalled that when Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr were still young, a certain individual awakened from a pyramid, unleashing a monumental upheaval upon the world. Not everything emerging from ancient tombs was a maiden of the Jade Dragon; sometimes, it was the infamous stylist, Apocalypse.

After outfitting three subordinates with his signature flamboyant looks, Apocalypse, much like a certain mustachioed villain, amused himself by killing his own followers. Unfortunately, his lack of gravitas failed to intimidate them; instead, his most loyal servant turned on him and decapitated him in rebellion.

Besides hairstyling, Apocalypse broadcast a global message and constructed an architectural marvel, so it’s clear why his demise was so ignominious.

In short, Egypt was the resting place of a being theoretically formidable, but in practice so incompetent that he seemed like a child borrowing someone else’s account in a game.

Jos’ month with S.H.I.E.L.D. was hardly spent idly—at least not entirely. He had investigated all Marvel plotlines he could recall, and the findings were surprising.

Simply put, virtually none of the major events had transpired. Whether because there were too many supernaturals in this world or for some other reason, all factions seemed somewhat cautious.

Take, for instance, the Sentinels manufactured by Trask Industries; in the original storyline, they nearly wiped out all mutants. But in this world, Trask Industries had to consider whether such a move would provoke annihilation from the Avengers or even villainous organizations feeling endangered.

Similarly, Apocalypse had not resurrected at his appointed time, likely for analogous reasons. Jos found no relevant information whatsoever.

“So here’s the question… That little battlefield might be a problem for them, but as long as I’m careful, it poses almost no danger to me. Should I go wake up Apocalypse for a bit of fun?”

If the movies were any guide, Apocalypse’s power ranged somewhere between ten and twenty Eagles—not an invincible force. His main abilities could be summarized thus: most notable was his knack for creating Four Horsemen with his hairdressing skills, though, given that three of them betrayed him, the threat level of that skill was questionable.

Next was his psychic power. Though it seemed formidable, in practice it was rather ambiguous. In Jos’ memory, when Apocalypse faced Charles—the Professor X—in a psychic duel, the first round saw Charles thoroughly outclassing him, only for Apocalypse to inexplicably turn the tables and suppress Charles later.

To Jos, this resembled less mind control than a battle of wills, and since Charles was already injured and weakened, he lost.

The other ability worth noting was Apocalypse’s control over sand. It was reminiscent of Gaara, but Apocalypse could change the nature of matter, forging alloy helmets from sand—a feat that was arguably his strongest power.

Although his methods were so rudimentary that they made Jos cringe.

You can alter matter, for heaven’s sake! That’s akin to the power of one of the Infinity Stones. Even if my physics and chemistry teacher died young, this ability alone could destroy the world!

Apart from these, Apocalypse’s true or original power was his body transfer—the secret to his near immortality. By repeatedly transferring his consciousness, he could live forever and absorb the abilities of those he possessed, which explained his wide array of formidable skills.

Yet, this power was useless in combat; he never had the chance to transfer bodies mid-battle. If he could, he’d simply possess his enemies on the spot, rendering any fight meaningless.

“Thinking about it, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to let him out for some fun.”

Jos wondered how many benefits defeating Apocalypse might yield, but there was no doubt that unleashing him would score quite a few points.

He even considered whether he might persuade Apocalypse to enhance him—a chance for a level-up, perhaps?

As for what would happen if Apocalypse proved overwhelming…

Run, of course!

With so many superheroes in this world, why should Jos stubbornly stand in the front lines?

There’s always a scene in superhero films where a villain engineers a world-ending weapon, guarded by an entire military base. The hero, or their team, must infiltrate alone, sacrificing several companions before finally stopping the villain—much celebration follows.

But couldn’t they call the Avengers beforehand? Or notify Uncle JC about the situation?

It’s a military base, after all, housing things capable of destroying the world—why go in with just a handful of people?

Even if, following movie logic, any call for help would be dismissed as a joke, why not simply blow up the whole base?

Jos always found this odd. For powerful heroes, it made sense; but for the less capable ones, choosing to face major crises alone was baffling.

So he was determined to escape if things went south.

Though all this talk hardly disguised the fact that he was, at heart, somewhat cowardly.

Time in the plane slipped by as Jos’ mind wandered through these idle thoughts. After a brief nap, he awoke to find they had finally landed.

“You’ve finally arrived. Just recently, the rebels launched their largest offensive yet—they might be going all out!”

But as Jos and his team disembarked, they were greeted by a decidedly grim report.