Greymalkin

Alex Summers has been furnished a new uniform by Prosh, the sentient computer that controls the futuristic orbiting base belonging to the timelost warrior, Cable - the Askani'son. Just a few hours ago, he was thrust into a new world. In actuality, this "new" world is Alex's native reality. He's spent months in a warped alternate reality, trying to find his place in it. However, all the while, the former X-Man known as Havok has been thought dead by his loved ones.

Polaris, Lorna Dane, another former X-Man, is one such person.

"Can you tell me what happened...if it's no trouble?" Lorna asks. "I know, it must be difficult."

Alex sits emotionless in a hovering, padded chair, "I died and awoke in another dimension. There's really nothing else to it..."

"Are you sure?" Lorna asks, turning her head as her hair flings to the side.

Alex still can't get used to the fact with all that has happened since his departure. Magneto being in control of Genosha, the death of Charles Xavier, the cure of the Legacy Virus, his alternate self running around with the Brotherhood. And now, he was one of the legendary Twelve...and Lorna was now a brunette. He liked the green. The only question going through Alex's mind at the moment is: is this really his home? So much has changed...it doesn't feel like the familiarity of home at all.

"Alex...?" Lorna asks.

Unfortunately, all he can think of is his son, Scottie, and Scottie's nanny, Elektra. "Hm? Oh, sorry," he apologizes. "I wasn't listening. Can we not talk about this right now? I'm kind of sick to my stomach from Cable's bodyslide."

Polaris sighs, nodding her head, "No problem, Alex. You're here and you're alive." She kisses Alex on the cheek. He doesn't register any kind of emotion. Polaris walks into the viewing deck and watches the Earth below. She sees a satellite zip by. She looks back at Havok and sheds a tear.

"Hey, there he is!" Warren says as he playfully punches Alex in the shoulder. "Pretty ironic Cable found you in Genosha, hey?"

"I'd rather not talk about Genosha right now," Alex says. He looks up at Warren and is shocked to see his skin is white. "Image inducer?"

Warren smiles, "No. Um...my metal wings are gone. I have new ones made of light. My skin turns blue whenever I manifest them. I don't know if they're my full potential or just Apocalypse's manipulations."

Alex sees Bobby Drake walk up behind Warren. Bobby and Alex both had a thing for Lorna at one time. It's in the past, however, they could never really get along.

"Drake," Alex nods. "So, you're one of the Twelve, too?"

"I guess so, partner," Bobby says.

"Who's the other one? I haven't met her, yet," Alex says.

"Oh, she's..." Warren looks behind him to see if Clarice was there. She wasn't. "She's still...well, we thought Rogue was KIA during a mission. Turns out she's the new Famine. Clarice is soaking that all in. I don't blame her, I feel the same way, y'know? But..." Warren stops himself.

"Wasn't she supposed to be one of Charles' second New Mutants squad, but died or something?" Alex asks, changing the subject.

"Actually," Warren explains, "she was in her pocket dimension, which she uses as a focal point for her teleportation powers. Her induction in Generation X didn't go as planned."

"Oh," Alex says.

"She became an X-Man, instead," Warren finishes.

"Oh!" Alex interjects.

{{What troubles you, Ms. Dane?}} Prosh asks Lorna, who was still looking over the Earth.

Lorna wipes her tears, startled, "Call me Lorna, please. I'm not...nothing's wrong. I'm just...happy."

{{That Havok is alive and well?}}

"Yes."

{{But there's something else you are feeling?}}

Lorna pauses, "I don't know if Alex is happy to see me. I fear something happened to him he's not telling me..."

Avengers Mansion

Edwin Jarvis has been in service to industrialist Tony Stark for years, eventually expanding his duties to the Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes. Nothing pleasures him more than to serve heroes. If it weren't for his age and lack of extraordinary abilities, Jarvis would be right out there with Captain America.

He might get his chance.

As Jarvis lightly bats his feather duster against the monitor in the comm room, Captain America, in full uniform, is thrust into the screen, shattering the glass to pieces. Cap's body remains indented in the screen until the momentum of the force that pushed him wares off. His body slumps to the floor like a bag of bricks.

"Captain!" Jarvis shouts, checking his pulse. He was beaten up pretty badly. But, he would know better than to take on someone who is more powerful than him. Unless he was ambushed...? His body seemed to have less bulk than it used to.

Jarvis peers outside the comm room and observes a light-gray skinned woman dressed in black taking on the entirety of the Avengers.

"My word!" Jarvis whispers.

Pym grows to twenty feet and smashes his hand over Famine. To his surprise, she begins draining him, forcing him to return to his normal size.

Wasp zaps Famine in the back of the head with her stinger ray. Famine is annoyed and bats the minute woman out of the way.

"All right, Mullet-Woman!" Captain Marvel shouts as his nega-bands light up, "No one attacks my teammates!" He takes flight and dives for the attack.

The woman snarls, "I am Famine, you insignificant Kree-Eternal!" As Genis approaches her, she punches him square in the forehead, sending him crashing through a wall.

Genis observes blood dripping from his lip, "Grozit! Almost as if she was as strong as me...?" Suddenly, his bulk seems to waste away. A gripping pain is felt in his stomach. "ARGH!"

Wonder Man tries to attack Famine from the back, but she grabs him by the neck without looking and throws him into Genis. Her eyes glow red as she absorbs Wonder Man's strength.

As Justice tries a remote attack, using his telekinesis to hurl a bookshelf at Famine, the woman simply holds her forearm in front of her as the bookshelf bursts into splinters. She uses her flight and touches Vance on the nose with a single finger, "Tag, flatscan."

"Angel...?" Vance mutters as he becomes sickly and looses body mass.

"Hey!" Firestar shouts.

Using the telekinetic powers she already absorbed from Justice, Famine blocks the microwave-enhanced flames of Firestar and easily shoves her into a display case.

"That's it!" Iron Man shouts, firing a uni-ray from his armored chest.

The blast burns through Famine's clothing, but does no physical damage. Famine smiles as she slashes into Iron Man's armor. Iron Man grips the damaged area as sparks and tiny wires protrude from the slash marks.

Before he knows it, Famine causes the power supply of the armor to be totally depleted. Tony was stuck in his own dark prison.

All that remained was Wanda Maximoff - Scarlet Witch - daughter to Magneto, twin sister to the X-Man known as Quicksilver. She possessed the rare mutant ability to alter probability in her own favor by deploying hex bolts. Wanda also possesses some mystical abilities. It seemed like a relatively weak ability. That was Famine's mistake.

"I recognize you," Wanda says in her Eastern European accent. "You're Rogue!"

"Was Rogue...sugah. I am the Horseman, Famine! The High Lord requests that you be tested," Famine says, flying up towards Wanda, ready to deliver a left hook.

However, Wanda has been watching the fight closely and she knows Famine's touch will spell certain doom. "What are the odds you miscalculate the distance between your fist and my body?" Wanda asks as her hands begin to glow with pink energy.

Famine feels nothing but air as she follows through with the punch, "What!?!"

Scarlet Witch counters with a sharp kick to Famine's stomach. However, Famine is invulnerable and doesn't feel a thing. Famine smiles as she flings Wanda across the room with what remains of Justice's telekinesis.

Wanda feels the constant drip of a thick liquid. It was her blood, oozing from a scalp wound. She had knocked her head on the edge of a table during her fall.

"This is pathetic. I thought the Twelve were supposed to be strong?" Famine wonders aloud.

"Rogue? Can you hear me? I know Apocalypse has used his typical brainwashing, but you need to listen to me!" Wanda shouts, gripping her head wound, at the same time, crawling backwards to avoid Famine's advance. "I know you once loved my brother, Pietro."

"Pietro's dead, along with the rest of that wretched Omega team," Famine cackles.

"No...NO!!!" Wanda shouts. Her hands are surrounded by two gigantic pink orbs. She generates her most powerful hex bolts into Famine.

Famine barely flinches, "Was that supposed to hurt?"

"Consider yourself hexed, Rogue," a voice says from above. Famine looks up, only to see Cable diving towards her with his techno-organic elbow in the air. He telekinetically forces his descent, clanging his metal elbow on Famine's skull.

"C-Cable?!" Wanda shouts.

Nate appears annoyed, "Why can't anyone thank me after saving their ass instead of saying my name like I just performed an impossible stunt?"

Famine gets up and tackles Cable to the ground. Famine spits in his eye, "I'm going to kill you, Askani'son!" A telekinetic shield is all that prevents Famine from touching Cable.

"Ungh! I don't suppose," Cable grunts, directing his voice towards Wanda, "you could drop a piano on her?"

"I hexed her good. You are the piano," Wanda says with a smile.

"I was kidding about the piano. I've got this covered," Cable says as his left eye zaps psionic energy into Famine's brain. Using her own twisted power against her, he causes Famine's body to feed off of itself.

With her body mass shrinking to that of a literal skeleton, Famine subconsciously teleports to parts unknown.

"Damn! She got away!" Cable shouts.

"Cable?" Wanda asks, touching his arm, "she said Pietro and X-Men Omega were..."

"They're alive, don't worry. Your brother's fine. Two of his teammates share something in common with you, Wanda," Cable explains. He touches Wanda's forehead and telekinetically clots the head wound.

"What? Why have you rescued me here today? The Avengers have powerful ranks," Wanda says.

"Famine just handed them their Earth's mightiest asses," Cable retorts. "Truth be told, Apocalypse is alive and he's going all out this time. There's only twelve mutants who can stop him." He pauses, "You're one of 'em."

"I can't just leave my team helpless here," Wanda declares.

"I'm sure they'll be inclined to forgive you. And me," Cable says as he grabs Scarlet Witch's arm. "Bodyslide by two."

Just as Simon Williams wakes up from his drainage by Famine, he sees Wanda and Cable's bodies dissolve into a blue flash of light.

"WANDA!?" Wonder Man shouts, his stomach grumbling. His vision is spinning from the lack of nutrients in his blood.

Captain America staggers to the scene, his circular adamantium-vibranium alloy shield still strapped around his right forearm. He didn't know why an augmented Rogue was attacking the Avengers, or stranger yet, why Scarlet Witch teleported away with Cable, of all people.

Captain Marvel gets himself up, the nega-bands having replenished his body, "Who was that?"

"That was Rogue," Iron Man sighs, taking off the face plate to his helmet. "She's fought the Avengers before...she almost killed Warbird, back when Carol was called Ms. Marvel. She permanently absorbed her powers."

"So that's why she could match my strength!" Genis deduces, "The Ms. Marvel powers were derived from my father."

"Wanda..." Simon mutters.

"We need to get the others into the infirmary," the recovered Firestar says, holding a full-size Janet Van Dayne under her shoulders.

Captain America's knees buckle, but Captain Marvel is there to catch him, "You okay, Cap?" Genis asks him.

Steve nods, pulling his mask off of his head, revealing a massive bruise running along the right side of his face and a cut on his left temple, "We need to inform the X-Men...it looks like Apocalypse is back and he's got new, even more powerful Horsemen."

"What about Wanda?" Tony asks as he holds a delerious Simon in his arms. "Wonder Man is getting loopy, here."

"Scarlet Witch is with Cable...we can only assume, and hope, that she's safe for the time being," Cap responds.

NEXT: Seed of the Cosmos!