As the nuclear detonation engulfs the island, Shaman swiftly reaches into his mystic pouch, and the Avengers, Protectorate, Alpha Flight, Atlanteans and Peace Corpse members suddenly find themselves scattered across alien landscapes. Communicating telepathically, they learn Shaman saved them all by casting them and the radiation into the dimensions his pouch contains, but that he is struggling to prevent the pouch catastrophically failing, and they must make their way home swiftly or not at all. With all the former adversaries agreeing to work together, Shaman directs them to a nexus where he can pull them out of his pouch. A group of civilians are the first to return to Earth, only to be instantly vaporized, and Shaman realizes he cannot bring anyone back without also bringing the lethal radiation they were exposed to. At that moment an energy being, an amalgamation of Prokvitch and Strokov calling itself the Combine, appears, announcing its intention to send them home, so that the accompanying radiation will poison the Earth.