The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3 (1996)

London, England, 1859: Jean Grey-Summers just climbed out of the Thames and finds herself in the caring arms of Nathaniel Essex, who will sooner or later become the mad geneticist known as Mister Sinister. Jean tries her best to convince Nathaniel that he should refuse the offer made by Apocalypse and, instead, he should return to his pregnant wife, Rebecca. Then Jean is interrupted by Cootie Tremble, the leader of the Marauders who has now been physically augmented by Apocalypse, as he attacks a little thief named Oscar. Essex watches how Jean easily disposes Tremble and saves Oscar. To him it looks as if, even though a divergent species of mutants will develop, some of them will remain human and fight by their side. Meanwhile, Apocalypse has brought the captive Scott Summers underground and puts him in a torture machine. En Sabah Nur sees strength in Scott’s continuous resistance and believes the ascendency of mutants may already be in full stride. At Milbury House, a chastened Nathaniel Essex returns home. Obviously, the words of Jean Grey had a positive effect on him, but he is too late. Rebecca had a premature birth, and the baby was born dead. When the doctor present tells Nathaniel that his wife will die as well, he pleads for forgiveness. Rebecca revels in the good times the married couple had, but now she is only disgusted by the behavior of her husband. To her, he is “utterly and contemptibly sinister”. After Rebecca’s death, Essex destroys the tombstones on the family graveyard. Then he puts a gun to his head. At the same time, En Sabah Nur has assembled the members of the Hellfire Club. They are not willing to follow him, but also do not see any chance to resist him and stay alive. Apocalypse plans to cover the earth with pestilence and war. While his ally Essex will be responsible for the pestilence, it will be the task of the Hellfire Club to spur global conflicts. Apocalypse will stay in the background so that humankind will recognize too late that it should have united against a common foe instead of fighting against each other. Oscar leads Jean to Apocalypse’s hideout in the sewers. There she finds Scott but cannot free him from the torture machine. Instead, the living machine has captured Jean as well. When Apocalypse returns, Jean attacks him telepathically, but En Sabah Nur easily fends her off. And just as Jean tells Scott that she may have turned Essex from his dark path, Nathaniel appears and states to Apocalypse that he is ready for his transformation – from now on his name will be the last word uttered by his wife: Sinister! But Jean and Scott are not completely without help. Suddenly the lair of Apocalypse is stormed by Oscar and hundreds of the freaks, who were captives of the Marauders before Scott freed them. As Apocalypse’s machine focuses on the attackers, Jean and Scott escape, but they are too late to stop the transformation of the man who was known as Nathaniel Essex …