Excalibur #13 Darkstar could feel her body merging with the Living Darkness of the Darkness Dimension, and she knew there was nothing that she could do to prevent her journey in to oblivion. "Leave her alone!" came a voice and the pain in her body subsided, allowing Laynia to look up, trying to see which of Excalibur had recovered and was coming to help her. WHO DARES? The Darkness was as surprised by this as she was. "I dare," said the voice and Darkstar could see someone, someone she had never dared to consider to see again, along with the appearance of something that neither the Darkness nor Darkstar expected. Water. "I am Leyu Yoshida, of the Clan Yoshida, and I will fight you for the life of Laynia Petrova and all the others you hold." WHAT MOCKERY IS THIS? demanded the Darkness. YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU APPEAR "I am what you made me," snapped Tsunami. "You have no power over me because I am not truly alive, nor am I truly dead. I remain trapped between worlds, absorbed in to the Darkness Dimension by your powers on Earth." YOU CAN'T BEAT THE LIVING DARKNESS, LEYU, said Laynia, pleading. "I have no choice," she said. "If I win, you'll be free. If I lose you're all dead, which is what you have anyway." THEN I WILL NOT FIGHT, the Darkness decreed and pain once more wracked Darkstar as she felt the absorption process continue, but it stopped abruptly and the Darkness Dimension rocked with discomfort as Leyu focused her powers. IMPOSSIBLE "My spirit lives on here, while my body is in Greece, drowned by my own powers, but something happened. My spirit has become a piece of the Darkness, and I can create the Darkness Dimension version of water, as I could do with my own powers. The status quo has shifted, Darkness. You cannot continue without besting me first, or I will prevent you from birthing a new Darkness Dimension." YOU LEAVE ME LITTLE CHOICE, MORTAL. MY DARKNESS AGAINST YOUR WATER. Darkstar felt the Darkness release it's hold on her and prepare for the battle ahead and she could sense that the Darkness was concerned. It knew it could beat Tsunami, but it did not know if it had enough time left. Whatever had mortally wounded it was finally catching up with it. In the time she had left, she had to free the rest of Excalibur. Back at the SHIELD Headquarters, Ruth Bat Seraph - Sabra was in the office of the physiotherapist, where they were going to assess the extent of damage her spine had taken. Her legs had some sensation and she could wiggle her toes which was an encouraging sign. Now she was being assessed properly, out of bed and seeing exactly what her limits now were. She could float a little, though not exactly fly because she couldn't get the proper balance by getting her legs in the right position but floating meant she was at least able to move. It may be that she needed to learn all new fighting skills and techniques until she regained the use of her legs proper. She was a little scared that she would never truly walk again, because although the ability to move her toes was great, it was still a very small step. She held on to the bars, keeping herself in the air without having to use her flight powers, testing her strength at the same time. She pushed herself up, and lowered herself again. She did this several times, ensuring that her arms were okay and retraining the mostly unused muscles. It was hard to do but she was a premier member of Mossad and easy was not something she related to. Only the hard things were worth doing. "Excellent work," said Day Vangela, the physiotherapist. "Saves me telling you what to do." "I need to keep myself working," said Ruth. "What are we going to do about my legs, Doctor?" "Call me Day," she replied. "I'm going to try something we were developing for Tony Stark when he was paralysed a few years back, before they inserted that device that helped him walk." "Device?" A note of hope entered Sabra's voice. "Yes, but Stark asked SHIELD to assist in the destruction of those devices, because they weren't all they promised to be," said Vangela. "This is a neural rod system, which can be worn under a pair of pants or a skirt or whatever. They work the legs from a control panel. When it was first designed it was using a keypad on a glove that made it work, these days we use a visor that allows you to control it by eye movements." "I'm not totally paralysed though," said Ruth, concerned that this device had been created with Stark in mind, knowing that the bullet that had struck his spine had meant he should never have walked again, but then again very little seemed to keep Tony Stark down. "True," said Vangela, "however the settings will tell me what damage has been done. Too much power being applied will cause you pain, something that doesn't bother most paralytics because they don't have feeling in their legs." "I understand," said Sabra and sighed. She hoisted herself up. "Let's do it." Doctor Vangela nodded and made the preparations. Sabra would take what she could get, as long as she could regain some movement. The two elements clashed against each other as the god and the ghost battled each other. Darkness fought water, and though the Darkness should have had the upper hand, it's wound was taking it's toll and it was unsure of how pieces of it's firmament were being supplanted by the water. Nothing should exist here unless he willed it. The users of Darkforce were an exception and the humans had arrived by means of magic. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, the Darkness said. THE DARKNESS MUST CONTINUE "Not at the cost of one who does not want to." THE BEING KNOWN AS DARKSTAR MADE HER CHOICE WHEN SHE CALLED UPON MORE OF MY POWER THAN SHE HAD BEEN GIVEN "She was born with the power," said Tsunami, "as I was born with mine." NO, SHE LIKE MANY OTHERS, ARE GRANTED POWER BY MY GRACE. THOSE WHO BELIEVE THEIR POWERS ARE NATURAL ARE MISTAKEN. LAYNIA PETROVA'S POWER IS TO CONTACT BEINGS OF EXTRADIMENSIONAL POWER. "And she contacted you first?" scoffed Tsunami as her water avatar struck at the darkness. BY CHANCE AND BECAUSE I GRANTED HER POWER OTHER ENTITIES WOULD NOT SPEAK TO HER. "Then you denied her a chance of another life." I CHOSE HER BECAUSE SHE WAS WORTHY, BECAUSE I KNEW ONE DAY I MAY NEED HER. "She has the right to choose." The battle continued. STEPHEN Laynia touched the head of Stephen Strange, focusing her powers on him, trying to break him from his Darkness induced coma. She knew if she had any chance of making the others recover from what had just happened then Dr Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, would be the person who could help her. His mystic wards should protect him from the harsher effects of the coma but in effect he was fighting a god, and even Strange had limitations. STEPHEN, she said again and focused. The effect of being partially merged with the Darkness allowed her to try something she would not have normally been able and she focused on her touch on his forehead and suddenly she was inside the vision that his coma had induced. "Stephen!" she called to the Doctor who was fighting nightmare shades of his past with what little magic he possessed, for in his vision he did not have his powers and the deities that he called upon had abandoned him. "Darkstar?" he said, creating a mystic shield, while she lashed out with her darkforce projections, keeping them at bay. "What madness is this? Why are you here?" "You must remember, you came here with Excalibur." "I've not spoken with Nightcrawler or any of his comrades in a long time. I thought the team had been disbanded." "No," said Laynia, getting a little frustrated at the depths of the illusion the Darkness had implanted in Strange. "Excalibur, as in Forge and SHIELD." "Forge is with X-Factor," said Strange. "What madness is this?" "Remember," she said and pulled him close, pressing her lips on to his and kissing him, infusing him with the darkness within her and she could feel the depths of his mystical defences flaring at such a bold attack upon his soul and she could feel in the Darkness Dimension that the Eye of Agamotto was starting to open, as if it had been pre-instructed to do so. Strange broke off and looked at her. "Laynia," he said and then turned back to the visions of his past and dispelled them with a wave of his hand. "I remember." He made several hand gestures and they were outside his mind again, but this time he was awake. "Thank you, Darkstar." NOT A PROBLEM, STEPHEN, she replied, becoming one with the dimension once more. The Eye was firmly attached to his forehead now, where she had been touching him a moment ago and Stephen could see what had happened, the truth of the situation finally being revealed to him. "The Well of All Things," said Stephen. "Now I understand the problem." WHAT IS IT? "I'll wake the others, then we'll straighten this mess out." He looked at the others, touching them with a beam of light from the Eye and they awoke as soon as the light touched them. "Thanks," muttered Bridge, his voice weak after everything he had seen and done, and the others weren't looking too good either. "What happened?" asked USAgent. "We got taken out," said Hauptmann. "Mind control." "Again," said Union Jack. "That's twice." "We'll sort it out once we get home," said Forge. THAT MAY NOT BE AN OPTION, said Darkstar. "Laynia?" said Bridge. I AM HERE, COLONEL. AS IS TSUNAMI. "Leyu?" asked Forge. "Interesting." "Forge," said Stephen. "I need your help in sealing a fissure in reality. The Well of All Things has been destroyed and a tear has been created." "X-Force," muttered Bridge. "It damn well would be..." "X-Force?" asked Forge. "I'll explain, later," said Bridge. "What do you need of us?" HELP TSUNAMI. SHE'S FIGHTING THE DARKNESS. "We're on it," said Bridge. "Okay, people - let's go get some payback on a god." Forge and Strange moved through the dimension, pushing themselves as if they were swimming. "We don't have long," said Strange. "The Well of All Things was destroyed and the Darkness Dimension was open to it at the time. Now the reversed power from the Well is dissipating the Dimension, which is why it is dying." "If we don't close it then the newborn dimension would be born with a gaping wound," said Forge, realising the urgency of what was going on. "And all this would be for nothing." "Yes," said Strange. "You have the powers to cast a portal spell - you have done so before." "The souls involved..." said Forge, thinking back to the last two times he cast the spell, killing his fellow soldiers and then the X-Men. The very thought of the cost of doing it again... "Which is why I am here," said Strange, noting his friend's concern. "It's not the same spell as the one that opens and closes the Great Gate, but it is similar enough so that I can back your incantation with my own powers and we should be able to do this with out loss of life, and then we can resolve the issues surrounding the fate of the Darkness Dimension." "I don't understand," said Forge, not sure of what was going on here. "Won't sealing the portal fix it?" "No," said Strange. "The wound has been open too long. The Darkness Dimension will still die." "The day just gets better and better," said Forge as they reached their destination and he began the spell casting for a variation of the Great Gate spell, hoping it would work. Tsunami was holding her own against the Darkness, but that was about it. She had a great amount of power, but in truth she wasn't alive and she was also tapping the energies of the being she was fighting with, which meant she was going to lose. She just hoped she'd bought enough time for Excalibur to escape. "This fight's over," said a voice and she could see Bridge giving the orders, with Savitar hitting the Darkness with his powers and the others using the weapons they had developed to also attack the Darkness. "You idiots, you should have left when you had the chance." "We don't leave our own," said Bridge. "We weren't going without you." "I'm dead, you moron," she shouted. "I've missed that tone," said USAgent as he hacked away with his energy shield. "Really, really missed it..." "No kidding," said Hauptmann. "Get used to it," said Rock, "because we won't hear it much longer." "You really are a drag at times," said USAgent as he struck once more and this time he cut through the darkness and exposed a red and green energy. "What the hell?" he said as it's light pierced the darkness and two unholy wails sounded through the place. "I'm guessing that can't be good," said Savitar as Excalibur regrouped. "We just opened a tear in reality," said Tsunami, also feeling the pain, but not as intensely as the Darkness and Darkstar. "This fight is over - the dimension is dying." "We have to get out of here," said Agent as they watched the tear start to grow larger. "We came for Darkstar, we're not leaving without her." Bridge's gaze was narrow and intense and Agent backed away. GO, her voice said, weak and in pain. LEAVE ME "No," said Bridge. "There has to be another way." "There is," said Strange, as he returned with Forge. "We've sealed the Well of All Things, so this won't happen again any time soon, but we need to re-establish the Darkness Dimension, otherwise the balance of reality itself will be in jeopardy." MY TIME IS DONE, the Dimension echoed and there was a ragged edge to its voice. UNLESS I BOND WITH DARKSTAR, THE DARKNESS DIMENSION WILL CEASE TO EXIST "I have an alternative," suggested Strange. "Leyu Yoshida has become part of the Darkness. If she consents, she could be an alternative to Laynia Petrova." "Leyu?" asked Forge. "I know it's a lot to ask." "I'm dead," said Leyu. "If I can save you all - again - then I'll do what I must." THE OFFER IS ACCEPTABLE. A NEW ERA IN DARKNESS WILL BEGIN. "What about Darkstar?" asked Bridge. I WILL RETURN HER TO YOUR REALITY, HOWEVER SHE WILL NOT BE AS SHE WAS. "Thank you," said Forge. THANK YOU, the Darkness replied and Strange cast a spell, opening the doorway home. "Goodbye, Leyu," said Bridge. "Goodbye, Commander. Tell my brother... I died a hero." Bridge nodded and then he followed the others back to the Helicarrier, and the portal closed behind them. "What happens now?" asked Savitar to Strange. "A rebirthing," said Stephen. "We've just initiated an event of cosmic proportions, and there will be changes to everyone touched by darkforce from here on in." "Thank you for all your help, Stephen," said Forge, shaking the magician's hand. "We couldn't have done it without you." "All part of the service," said Strange. "I'll check with you later to see how Darkstar is doing." "Yes," said Forge and Strange seemed to disappear before their eyes. There was still a fair bit of cleaning up to do.