Cyber is later broken out of S.H.I.E.L.D. custody by the Dark Riders, and taken to one of Apocalypse's corpse littered, ancient Egyptian fortresses. They run a series of tests to determine the strength and purity of Cyber's adamantium skin, then through a combined effort, they manage to trap him inside a vault and release a swarm of voracious, "mutant" deathwatch beetles, which devour the flesh from Cyber's entire body, beginning with his exposed face and eating the rest from the inside out. Cyber's adamantium carapace, which remains untouched, is then used in an unsuccessful attempt to re-implant adamantium onto Wolverine's skeleton by Genesis, leader of the Dark Riders.