There are few telepaths left to oppose me, but there still remains some resistance that could prove to be a problem

"You speak of Exodus?" Viper asked. She knew that du Paris was one of the very few people left who could present a problem to Shadow King's plan. The mistress of HYDRA just wanted her master to come out and say it.

Yes, Bennet could easily be a strong source of opposition. I would handle him myself, but I have other matters to attend to

"So do you want us to handle him" X-Man asked form a far off corner. Farouk admired Nate's eagerness, but for all his power Exodus was stronger than him now.

No my child. You and the other X-Men have other matters to attend to. Exodus, while important, is not our biggest problem. Now go Nate. Do as you have been commanded

X-Man nodded and flew out of a window. Once he was gone young Jacob Logan looked upon Viper. The mistress of HYDRA saw no spark of innocence in this babe. She only could see her master within him.

Viper I want you to get Mana and her squad. They will dispose of Exodus and his Exiles. I'm quickly tiring of all this resistance to my coming empire

Viper hesitated before she replied. She wasn't sure how to put what she was about to say. The last thing she wanted to do was offend Farouk. His patience was great, but his wrath was greater. Much greater.

Indeed you are right Viper. I already know of you concerns and I do plan to address them. That's why I want you to get Vincent and Gregory from Dawn Division 4 to accompany Mana's squad

"Of course. I will get them together soon as possible. Exodus will pay for his insolence," Viper said as she turned her back to Jacob and walked out of the room.

Tajikistan

Viper walked into the platform to overlook a congregation of 100s of mutants. These mutants were part of the Dawn that now served the Shadow King. They had once been the faithful servants of Apocalypse, but Cable had destroyed their master. Ironic, since Cable had just been bested in battle by Farouk. He had defeated the man Apocalypse couldn't.

At the sight of Viper many of the mutants began to look upward and point. Amongst the Dawn she was the consort of Wolverine. He was regarded as Farouk's most lethal warrior and to be his lover was sign of power. Even if the power came by association.

Looking over to her middle-aged mutant escort she said, "Bring Mana and her squad to me. Also bring Vincent and Gregory from Dawn Division 4. I come with business directly from the Shadow King."

The bald Latin man bowed, "The will of shadow King is our only law. His voice gives us life."

As the man scuttled away viper shook her head, "Fanatics. How sad. They're like sheep walking into the shears."

Remember that these sheep are our armies. These sheep will crush cities and level countries. You would do well to remember that.

Touching her temple after Shadow King's little talk, Viper could only nod in agreement. Viper had to be careful, now even in her own thoughts. Farouk's watchful eye was always over her now. that was the price of power. Once everything came to fruition though it was a price she was more than willing to pay.

"So you're sure Viper wanted us?" Mana asked in disbelief. What could the consort of one of Shadow King's X-Men want with her squad.

"I'm positive," said the same Latin man that Viper had spoken to earlier.

"Okay Ferdinand. Thanks for the heads up," Terminal replied.

"Of course Terminal. It is a pleasure to deliver a message from our lord," Ferdinand graciously said with a bow. He admired Mana and her squad because they were all so young and yet remained incredibly skilled and powerful. All Ferdinand could do was solve any math problem. Not much of a combat ability, but he made due handling the menial matters of the Dawn.

"So how long before that fine piece of woman shows up," Vermin smiled.

"Right now," a voice came from the hallway. All eyes in the room turned towards the form of Viper. Behind her was a Bob Marley look alike and a slim Mexican man. They were Gregory and Vincent, respectively.

Void laughed to herself. She could just see the foot flying inside of Vermin's mouth. The slob always had a way of disgracing himself. Hopefully this disgrace wouldn't cause him too much harm. From rumors she heard Viper had a thing for torture.

"All hail Viper!" Mana said as she bowed along with the other members of her squad.

"Please rise my child. No praise is needed," Viper said bending down and lifting up the downturn chin of Mana.

"Of course. What need do you have of us?" Mana asked as she rose to her feet.

"I need your squad along with Vincent and Gregory here to get rid of a certain telepath that Shadow King thinks might be a potential problem. Shadow King personally asked for your squad to do the job so consider it an honor," Viper said.

"Thank you. We live to serve Shadow King," Mana said speaking for her entire squad.

"So who's the bloke we gotta kill?" Vermin asked as he lit up a cigarette. The raggedy young man had joined the Dawn during the time of the Apocalypse. He served under Alastaire. He was actually in the same base that Wolverine and his resistance attacked. Vermin had been one of the survivors. Having the ability to control and change into vermin came in handy. He just turned into a rat and slipped out of the base unnoticed.

"His name is Exodus. I'm sure some of you have heard of him," Viper said turning her eyes to the direction of Metallique. The woman had grown up in Genosha, but left sometime shortly before Magneto assembled his Fallen Angels. It was then that she came to the attention of the Alastaire. She's been apart of the Dawn ever since.

"I know who exactly who Exodus is and if you think we can take him down I'm sad to say you were seriously mistaken."

"My dear Jessica, you simply don't have a choice. Shadow King commands it," Viper said giving Metallique a hard stare. That statement was enough to make all objections amongst the group of mutants turn silent. None would question an order from the Shadow King.

"So what are the Jamaican and Speedy Gonzalez for?" Vermin asked looking at the two Dawn mutants behind Viper.

"They're here to help your attack on Exodus more successful. And please call them Gregory and Vincent. After all they do deserve the proper respect."

Vermin figured that Viper said that last bit as a way to scold for his "fine piece of woman" comment. Honestly Clifford could care less what Viper had to say. The woman was a cold bitch alright, but he dealt with some that fell into sub zero temperatures. Wolverine's little woman didn't even come close. Of course he would never let her know that. Three claws in his neck wasn't something he wanted any time soon. Rumors ran rampant and Vermin heard about the torture that Dallas Riordan had been forced to endure.

Laughing to herself Void could see that Vermin didn't give a damn about anyone. He didn't care who he pissed off, who he annoyed, or even who liked him. To a degree, Void could admire that. Of course that meant by no means she liked Clifford. She hated every thing about that piece of scum. Hopefully he would die on this mission and they could get someone new to replace him. Perhaps Vincent since he was kinda cute.

Jessica Shune had only known for Vermin for a little while and she was pretty sure it was going to stay that way with the look he had on his face now. There wasn't a lick of respect anywhere across his face. He was pretty much telling Viper to go fuck herself and people that bold usually didn't last for very long in the Dawn. Being apart of Shadow King's forces demanded obedience, and though at times she questioned orders she never showed blatant disrespect for authority like Cliff.

Terminal had been around Vermin the longest so the Englishman's attitude didn't even faze him anymore, but Viper wasn't the type of woman to ignore insolence. Matthew had a pretty good feeling that heads would be rolling in a couple of minutes. You just didn't look at Viper that way and get away with it.

Walking over to Clifford, the mother of Shadow King's host body grabbed the raggedy blonde by the chin, "Don't be snide with me boy! I would kill you where you stand if it weren't for the fact Shadow King needs you for this mission. Perhaps Exodus won't be so kind to you."

No one in the room could say anything. There wasn't anything to be said. Viper had made her point very clear and never had any of them (except Vermin of course) had ever felt more helpless. Their lives were essentially in the hands of Shadow King's higher ups. Control was something that was fleeting for all of them.

Mana refused to show fear, but only reverence. She wouldn't have her squad see her afraid. Being the leader of this squad wasn't an easy task. Especially considering some of the characters she had to work with. Why did she ever get assigned to this squad of crazies? First, there was the dumb ass Cliff who had just gotten Viper to chew out his ass. Then there was that creepy ass Void. Whenever she talked it sounded like one of them ghosts from Poltergeist. Terminal and Metallique were pretty normal, but even they had their strange moments. Now her team was about to embark out on their first major mission and they were already out to a rough start.

Finally Viper took a deep breath and spoke, "Eliminate Exodus and you will gain status in the eyes of Shadow King. Fail and…well, do not fail."

"We will not Viper," Mana said with less confidence than she had wanted to.

"Good. I will leave you to your affairs," Viper replied as she turned around to walk out of the room. Her green uniform hugged her shape so tightly that Cliff's eyes never left it. Most of the men in the room at that moment figured Wolverine to be a pretty lucky man. Except for that whole evil bitch thing. Of course Logan was far from a saint himself. Maybe they made a good pair after all.

"Shit, I'd sure like to have some affairs involving you!" Vermin exclaimed as the door metal door shut behind Viper. Popping out a cigarette Clifford went about working on it with a few puffs a second.

"Separate your mind from your pants for just a few seconds Cliff!" Mana ordered as she ripped the cigarette from her teammate's mouth and stepped on it.

"Ooooo homeboy just got told," Terminal joked as he attached weapons to his mechanical body. Matthew Forsite had first discovered he was technopath at the age of 13. He had been in a deep depression over the fact only a few months ago he had been paralyzed from the neck down. Becoming a mutant, particularly a technopath, was a blessing for him. Building himself a cybernetic suit Matthew is now just as mobile as everyone else.

"Shut up Matt! I don't know about the rest of you, but I seriously don't want to fuck this up! And I sure as hell don't want to stay in this nearly pointless ass base anymore. Can we at least agree on that?"

"Agreed," Void said in her haunting voice.

"Yea I can agree, but don't touch my cigarettes again babe."

"Agreed," Matt replied putting on his jet pack that could reach speeds of Mach 3. Most of the young mutant's body was shimmering silver except for this jet pack which was a dirty brown looking color. Mana always said it threw off his look, but boy did that sucker have some speed on it. Three shafts for propulsion made him move fast enough to keep up with some of the best flyers out there. Though he still had a little work to do when it came to maneuvering.

"Yeah let's just do this already," Metallique complained.

"I couldn't have put it better myself! I didn't ask to be put on this squad, but we damn well are going to succeed in this mission," Vincent said finally speaking for the first time though his partner, Gregory, remained silent.

"I don't think I could have put it any better. We'll break for a bit and everyone meet at the hanger in 10 minutes!"

"Yes boss," Vermin said in a false salute.

"That is quite the ass no?" Gregory whispered in Vincent's ear.

"Without a doubt my friend. Without a doubt."

Looking at the monitors outside of his base Exodus was filled with dread. He knew the day would come when Shadow King and his forces would come after him. Being possessed of great power also made you a frequent target. Bennet had learnt this lesson well for it was his very power that made Apocalypse chose him as a Horsemen. When he was War he nearly took down both the Omega and Alpha teams single-handedly. Would he have to demonstrate that same power on the coming intruders.

We have seven intruders on the way. They're a present from the Shadow King. Everyone be ready. I'm about to teleport us out there to meet them.

Using his telepathy he connected with all the minds of the Exiles and teleported his team only a few feet away from the soldiers of Shadow King.

"Stop! I know who sent you here and I know why. It doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to resort to violence," Exodus appealed.

"You only guess to know! Your telepathy has no effect against my squad or myself. In fact none of your powers do Exodus. Vincent made sure of that," Mana smiled looking over at the temporary addition to her team. He was able to make any mutants in his vicinity immune to any other mutant's powers for 6 hours. Exodus wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her team with his powers. Viper had chosen her mutants well.

Unfortunately, the girl was right and it pained Exodus greatly. He would be of no help to his Exiles in this battle.

The girl does not lie. My powers do not affect her cadre. I can only fight with my sword, but don't worry. Just because my powers have no effect on them still doesn't prevent me from using them entirely. They underestimate my creativity.

"I can only imagine why," Blink mocked as she pulled out two javelins.

Havok shook his head. The girl always had something to say. He never heard her shut up for anybody. Warren must have had more hissy fits than usual working with a girl like Blink. Too bad Bishop didn't stick around as leader of the Omega team. He could probably have whupped Clarice into shape and in line. Exodus had absolutely no chance of getting Blink in line. She distrusted him too much.

"Many have stood in the way of Shadow King and many have fallen because of it. Lets add a couple of more names to the list," Mana roared as she charged into battle towards Exodus. Leader versus leader. That was the way it should be. She would send Bennet to his grave.

Vermin watched Mana charge into battle against Exodus and thought two things. She was either incredibly brave or extremely stupid. Either way he couldn't imagine that fight going too well for her.

"Watch out rat bag!" Void yelled as she reached out with Darkforce tendrils and pulled Vermin to the ground. He had just narrowly avoided a blast from Havok that would have incinerated his body. Alex had the largest smirk on his face.

"Oh hell no!" Vermin yelled angrily as he got off his feet and dusted his brown jacket off. Bat wings emerged from his back, his face took on the form of a rat, and long sloth claws extended from his fingers. Roaring out in an inhuman voice he said, "Now it's time for a real fight!"

"Just don't get yourself killed," Void warned sinking into the darkness.

Havok shot off another blast at Vermin, but this time the young Brit flew into the air to dodge it. Vermin dove down to attack Alex in rage, but Havok wasn't a seasoned veteran without reason. His battle skills weren't anything to laugh at.

"Bye kid," Havok said with a bit of sorrow as he unleashed his cosmic blast. It wasn't enough to kill Vermin, but he wouldn't be moving for a while. Alex couldn't understand why these kids would become part of Shadow King's twisted vision. It just seemed implausible. What could they see in such darkness?

"Must admit that I never liked that kid, but doesn't mean I won't take you down," a voice said from behind Havok as he felt two icy palms wrap themselves around his face. Alex yelled out in pain and fell to the ground. Gregory dusted his hands off in satisfaction at his victory over the veteran X-Man. All his life Gregory's touch has meant pure pain for anyone on the receiving end. Add to that his power of super speed and Gregory would be a sweeping plague throughout this battlefield.

"What were you thinking about when you decided to try and fight me?" Polaris asked looking pitifully at Metallique. The girl's body was made entirely of metal. What could have been crossing her mind? Did she have a death wish?

"I know exactly what I'm doing Exile. Just be prepared to lose," Metallique boasted.

"Whatever you say," Polaris said in a drawn out sarcastic tone. Reaching out with her magnetic powers Lorna found that they...didn't work.

"Ahh hell," Lorna said upon realizing her powers were ineffective.

"You got that right chick," Jessica said sinisterly as she turned her hands into six foot long razor sharp knives. She charged at Polaris with death on her mind. Normally she would have been scared as hell of Polaris, but thanks to Vincent she was immune to the woman's powers. Exodus thought that all of her squad were immune to just his powers. He was wrong. While Vincent can only make you immune to one mutant's powers at a time Jessica already had a natural immunity to telepathy. Her metal body made it difficult for telepaths to scan her and Exodus took difficulty as immunity. A folly on his part and Polaris would be made to pay for it.

"So you think you can actually take me on guys?" Terminal asked as his high tech armor transformed to surround his body. The young man began to resemble an inside out Sentinel. Long metal tendrils began to extend from his back. Each one of the tendrils had a foot long razor on the end of it.

"And you said this would be easy," Proudstar moaned to Colossus.

"It will be. These guys are amateurs. We've faced a lot worse," Piotr assured.

"Yeah I gotcha. Let's handle this punk," Proudstar said while cracking his knuckles.

"Bring it!" Terminal yelled as he began to fire off his chest weapons. Red and blue energy began to pour out upon the sands of the Exiles' New Mexican base. Proudstar dodged the blasts gracefully as if he were a part of a ballet performance. Colossus simply let the blasts hit him and kept pile driving onward.

"Show off," James smirked as he continued to move in closer to Terminal when suddenly one of his tendrils slashed Proudstar across his chest. Blood splattered all across James's shirt and he fell to the ground with a wide open gash. He wasn't unconscious, but he was in a hell of a lot of pain.

Colossus turned to look back at his fallen friend and that was all that Terminal needed. Two metal disks shot out from Terminal's cybernetic knees and hit Piotr square in the chest. Electricity flew through the body of Colossus and he yelled out in pain before falling to the ground.

"That's three Exiles down. Only four more to-ACKK!!" Terminal cried out as he was stabbed in the back by four of Blink's javelins. Spatial energy overload Matthew's computer systems knocking him out cold.

"Two assholes down. Only a couple more to go," Blink said as she opened portal beneath Colossus and Proudstar to send them to the base's infirmary. Exodus would have to deal with their injuries later.

Lorna ducked Jessica's two blade hands and surrounded herself in a magnetic field. Just because her powers didn't work on Metallique didn't mean she couldn't use them to protect yourself. While ducking Lorna kicked her leg out and knocked Metallique to the ground. Polaris quickly rolled out of the way of the falling body.

"Why do you fight for Shadow King? He doesn't give a damn about you!" Polaris exclaimed as she rose to her feet.

"The Shadow King has given me something I've never had before. A future," Jessica replied as she reshaped her body into a metal Sabertooth. Leaping into the air she came charging down on Polaris. Metallique's target quickly flew backwards and narrowly avoided Metallique's crushing attack.

"The only future he offers is one full of darkness and hate. Is that the kind of future you want?"

"It's better than no future at all," Jessica roared as metal spikes shot out of her body in the direction of Polaris. Pink portals popped up in front of each of the spikes and they disappeared into another dimension. The spikes reappeared through pink portals behind Lorna striking and killing the mutant, Gregory, who was about to attack Polaris from behind.

"What the hell?"

"It's called teamwork Metallique," Polaris smiled as Jessica was stabbed in the neck by one of Blink's javelins from behind. The effect was very much like the one Terminal had undergone a little while ago.

"Four assholes down," Blink huffed.

"Thanks for the assist."

"Ahh no prob. You guys oughta know by now I'm the Jason Kidd of the mutant world," Blink smiled as she jumped into a newly formed portal behind her.

"The dark versus the light. How appropriate," Void mused as she reconstructed herself into a physical form in front of Sunfire.

"Indeed," Shiro said floating up into the air. It was a clear day and hardly the time for a battle, but war did not come only on rainy occasions. If the Shadow King meant to destroy the Exiles he would have hell before they went down.

"So how long do you plan on sitting there?" Void asked sarcastically.

"Why should I move around when I'm fighting someone who's obviously as inexperienced in the arts of combat as you?" Sunfire mocked.

"Insults coming from a big ass candle. How cute," Void said coldly as she launched herself through the air as a shadow and surrounded Sunfire entirely.

Darkness was all that Shiro could see in every direction. He would not be trapped here and he would not be defeated. That was a promise he would keep. Lashing out with tremendous energy Sunfire the darkness around him quake. His attack had obviously had some effect. In all honesty he could release the power he had demonstrated against Yamu, but he was afraid that the girl might die from the onslaught.

"Do you give up?" Void asked in a voice that shook the realm of darkness.

"Hardly girl," Sunfire replied when suddenly a pink portal opened up behind him. Blink popped in with her body halfway in and out of the portal.

"Come on Shiro! We're getting the hell out of here," Blink said as she held out her hand and Shiro took it. Sunfire passed through the portal first and Blink left behind a javelin she had charged with enough energy to make Apocalypse cry like a baby. What looked like pink lightning began to envelop the dark world as Blink went through her portal

Once back in the New Mexican desert, Blink and Sunfire found Void on the ground emitting pink smoke from her body. Clarice winked at Sunfire and then pointed over to Exodus who was doing his best to hold off Mana with just his sword. All the while Vincent watched and remained cloaked with technology that Viper had given him. It was pointless for him to be involved in this battle. He would have been killed. The only thing he can do now is watch as his fellow Dawn members fall.

Mana had Exodus entangled in vines and all he could do was chop at them with his sword. She had him and she would be the one to kill him. Mana would do what so many others couldn't. Bennet du Paris would fall and fall hard.

"Give up. You can't win!" a voice said from behind Mana. She turned around to see Polaris.

"She's right you know," came another voice to the right of Mana. A quick glance showed her Blink and Sunfire. Mana was now up against not one, but four Exiles. She couldn't win. There was no way, but she couldn't go back to Shadow King a failure either.

"You Exiles are good. I'll give you that. Perhaps I'll have to become one myself now," Mana said sadly as she sunk into the ground like a plant. She did it so fast no one could catch her. Almost a moment later her teammates were sucked into the ground like plants too. Mana had made a hasty retreat.

All the while Vincent watched and smiled. The Exiles had won. Maybe there was a chance that Shadow King could be defeated. Now Vincent had some hope. For now though he had to hide. Then he would try and start anew. Somewhere away from darkness. Away from hate.

The villains you have seen in this issue (with the exception of Gregory and Vincent) are original characters from the now defunct Marvel Revolution: New X-Men. Dino and Jay created these characters for a brand new team. Once the site went under I thought it was a shame these cool characters would have to go to waste. So I've now bought the guys into the M2K fold. Hopefully they'll get to play around in the sandbox for a bit.