DISCLAIMER: Okay, all characters (including Thunderbird) are property of Marvel Comics and used without their permission. There are spoilers for March comics in this story. You have been warned. On with the story!

His head felt funny as he floated around in a strange sea. He couldn't remember anything.

He realized that for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he was alone. Apocalypse wasn't fighting him. Scott wasn't even in the same place as Apocalypse was.

He tried to reach out only to realize that he had no hands, no body. He didn't really care for some odd reason. He could barely think.

He tried to figure out what happened. He wasn't sure if time passed. He couldn't help but try to imagine what was going on with the rest of the world outside of this odd place.

Slowly, he could feel a body forming around him; first a chest then stubs for legs and arms. The stubs slowly extended to full length and on the ends hands and feet were formed.

He tried to reach out with his hands and found his arms refusing to act. Still, he was starting to feel some sensation.

Sounds started to come to his newly formed ears. They were muffled but they sounded like voices and there was a low beautiful sound that sounded almost like music. He strained to hear, to understand where he was.

His body had grown to its former proportions. He could feel his skin stretching and something had grown attached to his stomach.

He felt eyes formed. He paused. He opened them. He wasn't sure if he had his optic blasts anymore. He looked around to see a constant green all around him.

He felt a mouth forming and lungs within him almost breathing. He was in water and yet he wasn't drowning. Teeth slowly and yet with no pain make it's way through his gums.

Gradually, his hands and legs started to obey him. He reached out and felt a smooth surface. He pounded on it.

Time passed slowly. He pounded futilely at the smooth surface out of anger and boredom.

A crack slowly formed along the surface that he could see. It was faint at first, but it drew and branched out like a root beneath the surface of the earth.

A smile formed along his lips for the first time in a long time. He pounded harder and harder, ignoring the pain he felt. The crack grew larger and larger until the entire 'wall' was covered in a spider web of cracks. The wall shattered and finally he fell through.

There was a flash of light. He felt a sudden overwhelming gagging sensation as he vomited the green slime. He began to cough violently as he drew in huge gasps of actual air. He tried to get up only to slump back down. Coherent thoughts formed in his mind. His eyes only picked up blurs from everywhere.

He rubbed his eyes with his slime-covered hands to focus them.

"Ah, I see you finally broke out. Welcome back to the living, Scott," a smooth voice said. It had a faint English accent and it was too familiar.

Unable to speak, Scott managed to blink away the blurs and standing there was the man who had made his life a living hell ever since he was a child. "Sinister," he managed to rasp. Scott stared at Sinister and realized his powers were still gone.

"Save your strength." He ordered, "You are in no condition to fight me. And stop looking at me like that. I saved your life."

Scott looked down and remembered how he and Apocalypse were one person. His lungs were still getting used to breathing actual air and his throat was still weak. "You... separated... us?"

"Yes, I did," he gestured to Blockbuster and said, "Take him to get him cleaned up. We will spend some time together."

After he got cleaned of the slime that had given him life, Scott was laid on the table with nothing to cover his newly formed body. He lay on the table as he tried to call through his rapport with Jean. He couldn't feel anything through the rapport or even if there was a rapport.

"Hello, Scott."

Scott turned his head and glared at him. He still felt so weak from what happened in the chamber. His throat still felt raw from the vomiting. "What did you do?" he asked in a whisper.

"I separated you from Apocalypse and killed him. My grandson nearly did the job, but he was stopped. Oh well. If you want a job done right ..."

Scott rose an eyebrow in confusion for a second and then he scowled. "He's not your grandson."

"Why not? I am Madelynn's father and he was named after me. I have no time to try to discuss it with you. Do you know how long has it been since you and Apocalypse became one?"

"About ... three months?" Scott tried to guess remembering his time away from civilization and the time that he was in that place.

"A year."

Scott's eyes widen in astonishment. Had he really been away for a year? What happened to his friends and family? Are they still alive? "A year?" Scott asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I separated you two approximately six months ago and it took you another six months to regrow in my lab. No, you're not a clone. Well, not physically. You're my latest project. Oh, and don't hope for the X-Men to save you this time. They think that you're dead or still with Apocalypse. I will release you. Eventually."

"When?"

"It depends on how cooperative you are. If you resist me, you will be kept here longer. If you obey me, I will let you go."

He felt more strength as Sinister put an IV on him. He knew that no one knew that he was alive and perhaps no one even knew that Apocalypse is destroyed. He didn't move as the scientist inserted the needle in his body. He could barely move his arm. "What did you do to me to make me stay here?"

Sinister looked down at him. "Do you truly think that I would alter you to make it less likely for you to escape?"

"Yes."

"You thought correctly. I did alter you in a sense. You still have your powers but I turned them off. I also made it so if you try to escape without my permission you won't go far. Allow me to demonstrate."

Sinister rolled Scott's bed to the window and he parted the curtains. Rays of golden sunlight peeked out and struck Scott. Instead of the warm glowing sensation that he would normally feel, he felt like a thousand needles pierced the parts of his body that was touched by sunlight. "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!" He screamed as he tried to block the sun away from his face with his arms.

Sinister pulled the curtains back. The pain stopped and Scott took a few deep breaths. "As you can see, I made your skin very sensitive to ultraviolet radiation," Sinister explained, "The only way out is through the door that led to the surface. There's a great deal of sunlight out there."

"What about my powers?" Scott demanded wondering how he could power his optic blasts without the light of the sun.

"They are powered by a different source of energy. It is due to the other DNA I have embedded in you. I have explained too much right now. I suggest you rest. We will be very busy."

Scott just stared at him glaring. "No. NO!!!" he yelled as he lunged away from the bed and tried to attack Sinister with a rusted piece of pipe.

Sinister grabbed Scott and held him by one arm. "I told you to be more cooperative," he said, "You are making it harder for yourself." He took a needle in his other hand and Scott felt a stab of pain and a darkness slowly surrounded him.

"No." Scott murmured as he went limp.