Chapter Summaries

Apocalypse transformed New York City into a vast golden Pyramid and awaited humanity’s negotiators while his Four Horsemen guarded the structure. After the negotiators were disarmed of their listening devices, War revealed that the Pyramid’s inscriptions looked to him like a circuit board.

• Apocalypse turned New York City’s buildings and vehicles into golden sand, raised a Pyramid, and sat on a Golden Throne at its peak.
• Humanity sent negotiation experts toward the Pyramid after its communications and military technology had been disrupted.
• War redirected the approaching attack helicopters and forced them to land at the Pyramid’s base.
• Famine inspected the negotiators for weapons with his insect-like appendages, then allowed them to climb.
• War destroyed the negotiators’ listening devices and told them to rely on their own words when reporting back.
• Pestilence asked what War had been studying, and War said the Pyramid’s patterns resembled a circuit board.

Brad studied the mysterious patterns covering Apocalypse’s Pyramid while the human governments sought help from Charles and Erik to fight Apocalypse and his Horsemen. Erik forced the governments to accept his demands, and they learned that Brad’s control over technology had left civilization nearly defenseless.

• Brad and the other Brads analyzed the Pyramid’s patterns and concluded that they might be a complete formula or program, then Brad was warned to keep Apocalypse alive for further study.
• Apocalypse rejected the human negotiators’ attempts to avoid responsibility for mutant persecution and insisted on taking revenge.
• With weapons disabled by the Horsemen, human governments turned to Charles and Erik for help against Apocalypse.
• Erik forced the United Government to sign unequal treaties and demanded a public apology, while Charles struggled with whether to cooperate.
• Charles and Erik supplied Brad’s combat information, and humanity’s leaders realized that his control over technology made him their greatest threat.

Humanity sent its mutant allies to confront Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen, hoping to reclaim control of technology and persuade the War Horseman to defect. As the battle began, the battlefield was divided into four spaces, leaving six mutants to face the War Horseman.

• Humanity chose Magneto, Pietro, Wanda, the X-Men, and telepaths to fight Apocalypse's Horsemen, then marched toward the Pyramid on foot.
• Apocalypse dismissed humanity's resistance and sent the Four Horsemen down from the Pyramid with weapons suited to their abilities.
• Death attacked the approaching mutants with a scythe-driven Air Blade, and Quentin countered with a blast of pink energy.
• The War Horseman spotted Ahmed and Logan, while Ahmed stepped forward as if to speak to Brad.
• A mutant with purple markings activated Phase Deflection, splitting the battlefield into four spaces and leaving six mutants before the War Horseman.

War Horseman Brad fought the mutants sent to confront him, using golden robots and drones while criticizing their combat skills. Apocalypse ordered him to reduce the noise, and Brad turned the battle into a training session, leaving the mutants unsure of his intentions.

• Charles asked Brad if he had forgotten them, and Brad said he remembered everything before sending golden robots to attack.
• Quentin and Wanda tried to stop the robots, but Brad summoned more and then raised a giant golden machine to strike at the group.
• Apocalypse warned Brad that the battle was too loud, so Brad withdrew the giant and sent armed drones after the mutants instead.
• The other Horsemen fought their assigned opponents while obeying Apocalypse's instruction not to hurt anyone.
• Brad criticized Quentin, Emma, Jean, and Wanda as they struggled against the drones, and Wanda asked whether he was teaching them to fight.
• Quentin said Brad had a penchant for teaching and did not seem to be under anyone's control.

Brad defeated the mutant resistance, subdued Mr. M for investigation, and established Apocalypse’s rule over Earth. The chapter ended with humanity enslaved and the Four Horsemen ruling the continents, while Brad remained unable to decipher the mysterious patterns he had collected.

• Brad tricked Quentin into lowering his guard, then knocked him unconscious without injuring him and used a Counterforce Field to incapacitate the others, leaving Mr. M awake.
• Brad restrained Mr. M, took a sample, and discussed investigating Mr. M’s unusual powers and the possibility that dreams could transmit information across universes.
• Brad knocked Mr. M unconscious, and the battlefield barrier collapsed; after Death, Famine, and War won their fights, Magneto surrendered.
• Brad opened the Sword of Damocles and sent drones and robots around the world, declaring humanity enslaved under Apocalypse.
• Apocalypse took complete control of Earth, granted the Four Horsemen territories, and enhanced Magneto, while Brad remained unable to study the patterns he had collected.

Universe 14 settled into Mutant rule while Brad recovered from his injuries and learned the Beyonder’s account of how parallel realities and the Multiverse were connected. The Beyonder’s explanation left Brad realizing that a deeper revelation was coming.

• Apocalypse’s new order made Mutants a privileged class, while humans became slaves and technology was restricted to those who served Mutants.
• The War Horseman used automated factories and technology from Universe One Base to expand production, develop the Solar System, and help Universe 14 prosper under Mutant rule.
• Brad received information about Apocalypse’s patterns but focused on recovering from the Beyonder’s suppression, and he wondered why the Beyonder could not travel between universes.
• The Beyonder explained that the first universe had split into realities whose conflicts produced further universes, devastated worlds, and Hell.
• The Beyonder said Hell was shared across the Multiverse while Limbo varied between universes, and Brad began to grasp the secret behind the explanation.

Brad learned from the Beyonder that his split realities were weaker than Earth-616 and Earth-1610, then left the Beyonder’s universe while a deadly energy resumed pursuing him. Seeking the Watcher and deciding to provoke a Multiversal crisis, Brad entered Reality 14 and began creating a zombie-like virus as the Avengers investigated his appearance.

• The Beyonder explained that Earth-616 and Earth-1610 had more complete rules and higher limits than Brad’s split realities, and that Brad could not dominate those universes with technology alone.
• Brad left coordinates in the Beyonder’s universe and departed, whereupon the dark energy hunting technology gods resumed its pursuit.
• Brad considered seeking refuge in Earth-616 or Earth-1610 but decided instead to create a Multiversal crisis to draw out the Watcher.
• Brad entered Reality 14, obtained the Pestilence Knight’s genetic data from the War Horseman, and began engineering a highly transmissible virus.
• The Avengers detected Brad’s arrival and sent a spaceship to investigate, but Tony Stark’s drones found that he had already left.

Brad waited for the blood cross virus to take effect while the virus infected the Avengers base and the Inhumans’ palace. Tony discovered the infection and fought Steve and Natasha, who attacked him with their skills and weapons intact.

• The Avengers returned to their base after failing to find the mysterious man, and Tony obsessively searched satellite footage for him.
• JARVIS warned Tony about his emotional state, and a body scan revealed that an unknown virus was affecting his brain.
• Tony injected himself with emergency antiviral medication, sealed the base, and went to check on Captain America after the other Avengers failed to answer.
• Brad observed infected people at the Inhumans’ palace and sent Number One Brad a report explaining the blood cross virus’s effects and transmission.
• Tony broke into Steve and Natasha’s room and found them infected, violently attacking each other while having sex.
• Steve and Natasha lunged at Tony, and Steve grabbed his shield after Tony blasted him away.

Tony fought infected Steve and Natasha without killing them, then discovered Hulk had become violently infected while Thor remained sane. The chapter ended with Thor knocking Hulk away before he could attack Tony, while Hulk’s momentum drove him into the floor.

• Tony used Repulsor blasts and a sonic weapon to incapacitate Steve and Natasha, then ordered JARVIS to confine them and make more Antiviral Serum.
• Tony rushed to the demolished hall after hearing an explosion and found Hulk attacking Thor, who was still resisting him.
• Tony asked JARVIS to bring the serum, but Thor shouted for help and Hulk spotted Tony’s glowing armor.
• Hulk tackled Tony, dragged him back, and tore away the armor covering his backside.
• Thor hurled Mjolnir at Hulk, knocking him away and sending him crashing into the floor.

After the Avengers used Tony’s suppressant to regain control, they isolated themselves at the base while Tony worked on a cure and secretly prepared for the possibility of killing Thor. Meanwhile, Brad manipulated what Tony saw and intercepted S.H.I.E.L.D.’s calls for help, declaring that the universe had eleven days left.

• Thor pinned Hulk down with Mjolnir, and Tony built a rifle to inject the suppressant into him.
• The suppressant restored the infected Avengers to their senses, and Tony ordered the group to stay sealed inside the base while he searched for a cure.
• Natasha and Steve decoded Tony’s warning that their chances were below thirty percent and that Thor might have to be killed if the cure failed.
• Banner overcame his shock at the plan and went to Tony’s laboratory to help research the virus.
• Brad watched the Inhumans slaughter one another on the moon, then lowered his finger after ensuring only Black Bolt and a few warriors remained.
• Brad falsified the surveillance feeds Tony relied on and intercepted S.H.I.E.L.D.’s calls for help, saying the universe had eleven days left.

Nick Fury led S.H.I.E.L.D. agents through an infected New York to a secret base while Brad blocked Fury’s distress signal from the moon. Brad revealed that his blood cross virus could learn and evolve, and gave Tony Stark ten days to stop it.

• Nick Fury’s team failed to contact the Avengers and fought their way through infected attackers toward a secret base in New York.
• Hill saved Nick from an infected assailant, and Nick ordered his agents through the base’s security door while covering their retreat.
• Nick activated an old-fashioned pager, but Brad severed the distress signal from the moon to keep a “crazy woman” from arriving.
• Brad watched the infected Inhumans and reflected that his blood cross virus used collective consciousness and hive mind technology to evolve as it spread.
• Brad declared that the universe had ten days left as Tony Stark tried to find a way to defeat the virus.

Nick Fury’s agents regrouped at their New York safe house and learned that superpowered infected had devastated the city. Hawkeye reported that the infected feared cold and set out with Brad to find the Avengers, whose fate remained unknown.

• Nick Fury rallied his exhausted agents and ordered them to check for contamination and keep trying to contact the Avengers.
• Reports revealed that the president had died and infected Spider-Man had spread the virus among Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and others across New York.
• Hawkeye contacted Nick and warned that the infected hated cold, suggesting survivors flee north.
• Hawkeye left the Alaska Ski Club with Brad to travel to New York and find the Avengers.
• Hawkeye used Brad’s modified Composite Bow to kill attacking infected and praised Brad’s ingenuity.

Clint and former Marine Brad survived an infected outbreak at a ski resort, using their combat skills to reach safety and contact S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint learned Brad had once applied to join the Avengers and wondered whether he had been rejected because he overlapped with Hawkeye.

• Clint mistook Brad gathering leaves for an approaching infected person, then recalled how Brad had saved him by shooting Instructor Puchi after the instructor turned violent.
• Brad and Clint armed themselves, recognized the danger outside, and decided the infected might seek warmth indoors.
• Brad and Clint worked together to evade infected hordes, replenish arrows, secure a snowmobile, and obtain guns and ammunition at the Shooting Club.
• After leaving the snowy mountains, Clint contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. and asked Brad how he had recognized him.
• Brad said he had applied to join the Avengers but had not been accepted, and Clint suspected Tony had thought Brad's role overlapped with his own.

Brad explained to Clint how his infected army buddy Yin Ri turned on him, then revealed that he had engineered the Blood Cross Virus and watched it devastate Earth. He defeated the Ancient One and let the virus infect her, leaving infected sorcerers hunting survivors in New York.

• Brad hid the SUV's tire tracks, then told Clint how Yin Ri killed their two friends and attacked him before Brad killed Yin Ri.
• Brad explained that infected people retained their former reasoning and skills, and he and Clint drove through the woods toward sunrise.
• On the moon, the Ancient One confronted Brad about the virus, and he admitted he had engineered the Blood Cross Virus to evolve with a shared collective consciousness.
• The Ancient One attacked Brad, but he used the Counterforce Field to break her neck and weaken her.
• The Blood Cross Virus infected the Ancient One, and infected sorcerers joined the hunt for survivors on New York's streets.

Tony Stark realized the virus might be driven by an alien intelligence and devised a way to turn the experiment against its creators. Brad faced the Watcher, who showed him infected mages preparing to open a gateway to other universes with a blood ritual.

• Dr. Banner told Tony that the virus was evolving every few dozen minutes, making drugs and vaccines useless.
• Tony concluded that Earth might be a petri dish and that the virus’s evolution suggested a powerful intelligence behind it.
• Tony realized that sabotaging the experiment’s biological materials could make the experimenter deal with the problem, and he embraced vengeance.
• The Watcher confronted Brad and warned that the virus could spread disaster across the Multiverse.
• The Watcher showed Brad that infected Blood Cross Mages were using blood and a dark spell to open a gateway to other universes.

Brad confronted the Watcher over his use of a fake body and revealed that he had anticipated the Watcher's plan to make Tony Stark stop him. As the universe barrier neared collapse, Brad prepared to carry out the final stage of his own plan against the Watcher.

• Brad taunted the Watcher for shutting off the projection of the Blood Cross Mages and described how the infected sorcerers and Reed Richards were trying to reach other worlds.
• Brad explained that the universe barrier was close to collapsing and accused the Watcher of sending a fake body to confront him while hiding behind the multiverse.
• Brad punched the Watcher through the Inhumans Palace and said he intended to make the Watcher's life miserable as revenge.
• Brad realized the Watcher had been monitoring Tony Stark, who had devised a way to destroy humanity and force Brad to intervene.
• Brad aimed his hand toward Earth and declared that his plan had reached the point where he could reel in the net.

Brad used Tony’s decision to stop the Blood Cross Virus to complete a plan that opened a path to Earth-616, while Earth-616’s Avengers arrived and began treating the outbreak. After meeting Hawkeye and Brad, Tony and the others agreed to help locate this universe’s missing Avengers.

• Tony touched the World-Ending Button, causing the Blood Cross Virus to go dormant and allowing the completed Dark Sorcery to open the Multiverse gates.
• Brad connected his minds through the Hive Mind Program, encountered Multiversal Ultron and Hemen, and obtained information about Mass Transcendence and Earth-616’s coordinates.
• Brad used the Nanobugs hidden inside the moon to complete Mister Fantastic Reed’s passage device, while Nothingness devoured planets and eroded Brad’s body.
• Iron Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Agent Venom arrived from Earth-616, subdued infected Reed, and used badges and Venom to counter the virus.
• Earth-616’s Tony contacted Hawkeye and Brad, brought them through Doctor Strange’s portal, and heard Hawkeye’s account of the outbreak and missing Avengers.
• Tony gave Hawkeye and Brad protective badges, and Doctor Strange said the Earth-616 team would help find the other Avengers.

Earth-616's Tony Stark judged the virus too complex to cure normally and began organizing containment while weighing the consequences of using a faster solution. Brad learned the rapid method would take only half an hour but carry serious side effects, and he sought someone with enough authority to request it.

• Earth-616's Tony Stark concluded that curing the virus was unrealistic and warned that his quick solution could have serious side effects.
• Tony assigned Doctor Strange to locate and protect survivors, while Black Panther and Agent Venom cleared infected people from New York and Tony built a virus-suppressing emitter.
• Brad asked Tony how quickly the risky solution could work, and Tony estimated half an hour if nothing went wrong.
• Tony gave Brad a thicker device that could keep some mildly infected people away from him.
• Brad confirmed that a local person with real authority had to ask Tony to use the rapid method, and Tony explained that this person would bear responsibility for changing humanity's destiny.

Brad considered Tony’s plan to spread symbiote genetic material across humanity, then tested whether he could enter Earth-616 despite Nothingness. Kang confirmed the hypothesis: Brad would be erased the moment he crossed into that universe.

• Brad armed himself and left the laboratory, while Tony stayed behind and prepared to use Venom’s symbiote to purge the blood cross virus worldwide.
• Brad reflected on how symbiotes altered hosts and considered research projects about their personalities, genetic effects, and energy needs.
• Brad recognized that Tony’s plan could cause symbiote-powered humans to emerge decades later and potentially blame Tony for future conflicts.
• Brad invited Kang the Conqueror to test his hypothesis about Nothingness as his body repeatedly suffered damage and repaired itself.
• Brad and Kang sent projections through the gateway to Earth-616, but Brad vanished upon crossing, and Kang reported that entry would erase him completely.

Brad explained to Kang the Conqueror his theory that a hidden entity suppressed technological powers across the multiverse, and said he planned to investigate by simulating a reality rift. Three years after Brad left his universe, Peril told Quentin and Emma that Brad’s body had begun showing unusual vital-sign fluctuations and played them his contingency message.

• Brad told Kang the Conqueror that a hidden entity used Nothingness to erase powerful technological forces and might control even the Watchers.
• Brad said he would simulate a reality rift to discover what the entity feared.
• Peril summoned Quentin and Emma and showed them the body Brad had left behind, whose vital signs had recently begun fluctuating.
• Peril played Brad’s prerecorded message, in which Brad warned that he might be in danger and told Quentin and Emma to retrieve a specialty from a universe whose coordinates Peril would provide.