Just as Pietro began to celebrate however, the High Evolutionary's power swang toward the other extreme at the expense of his sanity. The Evolutionary announced his plan to evolve the Earth above and beyond the suffering of ordinary life. The Acolytes refused to help in the battle against High Evolutionary, prompting Exodus to call them cowards; the mutant announced that the High Evolutionary was an abomination and that Exodus would defeat him by any means necessary. Thena and Exodus' subsequently proved ineffective, until Man Beast appeared and suggested that the three of them unite their psionic power, as his intimate knowledge of the Evolutionary might allow them to hurt him in an unguarded moment. Quicksilver reasoned with the Evolutionary, who agreed to reconsider his objectives, but at this moment the combined psionic attack of Exodus, Thena, and the Man Beast struck him down. Exodus then incapacitated Thena, hoping to deal the final blow to the Evolutionary himself.