Mendez XXVI was the only known member of the mutants who could operate the weapon's firing mechanisms. Like their predecessors, the mutants maintained the Alpha-Omega Bomb as a deterrent to external threats to their existence. By this point in time, the followers of Mendez led a reclusive lifestyle in a region that was known as the Forbidden Zone. The leader of this mutant caste was Mendez XXVI, the latest in a dynasty stretching back to a military leader at the end of the 20th century.
In casual life, the mutants wore specially designed latex masks to assume a more characteristically human appearance, but during liturgical services, they would remove the masks to 'reveal their inmost selves unto their God'. The mutants believed they owed their very existence to weapons such as this, and as such, worshipped the missile as a deity – often referring to it as the Divine Bomb. There, it was venerated by a subspecies of psychic mutant-humans who safeguarded the missile as well as its operational launch systems. Patrick's Cathedral in the irradiated ruins of New York City. By the 40th century, the bomb was relocated and placed at the altar of what used to be St.
