"Excellent work," commented Donald Pierce as he flexed his new cybernetics. It had taken many months of work for him to be rebuilt by his team at the Weapon X project, after the attack on the complex by the latest progeny of the project.

"I agree entirely," said the man behind him and Pierce turned to see a man who had been in his thoughts constantly since the attack. Pierce had been close to death after it and this time only the humanity of his creation had allowed him his life. It was something he had felt was almost too close and in the months of incapacitation as he approved the new design of his body he had reflected on the last time that he had died.

It had been at the Australia complex that had been the home and base of operations for his Reavers. Things had been working as well as could have been expected until the time travelling mutant known as Fitzroy appeared. He had formed an alliance with Shinobi Shaw, son of Sebastian and had formed a group known as the Upstarts, who were challenging for the leadership of the Hellfire Club. Fitzroy, as Pierce had later discovered was in fact another descendant of Shaw, except he was the bastard son several generations down, which was why he had taken to the task with such vehemence. Shinobi had tried to kill Sebastian, and Fitzroy had sent his sentinels after Pierce. The Reavers had gotten in the way of the sentinel army and had paid the price by being destroyed totally and then it was Pierce's turn.

The pain had been indescribable and then there had been nothing until many months after the event. Fitzroy had been unsuccessful in his task of killing the White Queen, but he had slaughtered the Hellions and then been defeated by the X-Men. Pierce still smiled at that, thinking how ironic that his two greatest enemies were setting upon each other. He was glad Fitzroy had lost, because he knew he could deal with the X-Men when the time came. However his newly restored life came at a price.

The man he had come to know as the Investor.

Fitzroy had downloaded all the information he could from the remains of Pierce's old body, which in totality comprised of his head and then traded it for something. Pierce had never been able to find out what, but the Investor had restored his memory and programming and given him a new body to work with. However there was a price - the Investor had installed a new directive within the systems, one that Pierce had been unable to discover where or what it was but he knew it was there because he had been given a demonstration and his access to the memories blocked. He knew that whatever he did, the Investor was watching him at all times, monitoring him somehow, communicating to him at Weapon X via telephone conversations, allowing Pierce autonomy to act, but all the while reminding him he was on a leash.

The Investor had said that one day he would collect and that there was a storm coming and now he was here.

"What do you want?" asked Pierce.

"I am here to collect on your debt," said the Investor. "Your technicians have done their jobs well, but this Project is - for now - at and end." He reached out, his arms spread wide and the men and women in the complex screamed and writhed in pain, engulfed in flames and then they were all gone. Donald Pierce was not easily horrified, but the mass slaughter on this scale alarmed him in a way he had never experienced.

"Why?" he managed to say, finding the words with no small degree of difficulty.

"Because I could," said the Investor with a smile and Pierce found himself unable to move. "There's no use in resisting," he said. "I've over-ridden your main program. You didn't succeed the last time, and I know you haven't found the subroutines yet that make it work." Pierce still found himself able to think and realised that the phrase 'I am here to collect on your debt' was the trigger that had immobilised him. A voice recognition command. "Now, activate the complex destruct systems, Donald."

"Yes," said Pierce, his mind screaming 'no' at his tormentor as he moved over to the computers and began the process that would level the complex. Within moments the countdown had begun and was irreversible unless the Investor commanded otherwise.

"Excellent," said the Investor. "Now we shall leave this place." He gestured and a portal opened behind them. "Follow, Donald, follow." He walked through the hole in space and Pierce walked through after him, wondering what his new-found lease of life had truly cost.

Matsu'o Tsurayaba, Revanche and the man known as Tarrant sat in one of the mian toweas of the castle in the Alps and waited for their employer to arrive. In the courtyard below, the Reavers trained and worked their cybernetics. Their recent defeat at the hands of the X-Men in Australia had shown that even though they had been restored to working order, they were nowhere near as effective as they had once been and they needed to get their systems in order for the war that was to come.

"Do we really need these cyborgs?" asked Tarrant, as he watched them move about from the window of the room where they waited, down to the turret where the cyborgs were working. "They offend me, they are not whole, they are less than perfect."

"Now perhaps, but once these cyborgs were far deadlier than they now appear," said Tsurayaba as he too watched. "Almost a perfect fusion of man and machine. They almost wiped out the X-Men and took Wolverine to one of the lowest ebbs ever. From what I understand, their crucifixtion of him was a master stroke of torture."

"And yet he still escaped," said Tarrant.

"As he has done all of his life. His luck and will to survive are boundless," said Revanche. "I was an X-Man once. I know full well the passions and the pride within him."

"Which is why you and your Sons of the Shield were sent to test him," said Matsu'o. "We needed to know that after what the Shadow King had done to him, he was still all he ever was. His presence in the conflict will be of the utmost importance, for only he can match the Black Mountain."

"Who bested him in their last battle," retorted Tarrant. "The man was involved in the death of Bucky and the near fatal attack on Captain America. We do not need him."

"Oh, yes we do," said the Investor as he entered the room, Pierce following behind. "Logan is a vital part of this set up."

"I apologise, my Lord," said Tarrant, visibly bowing before him.

"Good," said the Investor. "This is Donald Pierce. He is going to restore the Reavers to full operation, as he was the man behind their design and programming. Say hello, Donald."

"Hello."

"I trust you know what you are doing, my Lord," said Revanche. "Donald Pierce cannot be trusted by anyone."

"Neither can I," said the Investor. "However Pierce is full under my control. I was fortunate enough to have several experts in the field of advanced cybernetics when he came in to my possession, which is ironic considering where I eventually found him."

"Incredible," said Matsu'o as he looked at him. "The advanced creative works... Advanced Idea Mechanics?"

"Perhaps, I believe he'd recruited some of their specialists," said the Investor. "It's the work of Project X. You could say that Donald is their latest creation - not that they'll be making any more anytime soon."

"Why do we need him when you can do all this?" said Tarrant.

"Because he has the creative spark that the others lack. His innate treachery, his desire for power, his lust for advancement all work together and make something that nobody else has on this planet, and he will make them work again. Won't you, Donald?"

"Yes." Pierce hated the patronisation that was being used against him here, but he knew he couldn't fight it. However he was surprised to see the X-Man Psylocke amongst them. He had heard she'd changed, but he had never been able to confirm it properly, being dead and everything.

"Now, Donald, let me explain something to you. I have gathered here some of the most dangerous assassins and killers on the planet. Matsu'o Tsuryaba was the former head of the ninja assassins known as the Hand before he was forcibly removed by their present leader. Revanche here is also known as Kwannon, an assassin from an opposite chapter in Japan, with whom Matsu'o was in love, but circumstances didn't quite play out the way either of them wanted. Imagine a nastier version of Romeo and Juliet and you get the idea." He smiled as he walked over to the two of them and put his arms around their shoulders.

"Now, this is where things get interesting as her path was linked to yours, in an ironic twist of fate. When the X-Men abandoned the Australia complex, Psylocke ended up in Japan and with an assist from Spiral, Matsu'o restored the dying Kwannon by transplanting her mind in Psylocke's body and vice versa. Spiral then did her magic on Kwannon's dying body and restored her to health as an assassin for the Mandarin. What neither party realised was Kwannon had her own telepathic abilities and their minds were merged during the transfer, allowing Psylocke to revert to type and Kwannon in a state of shock. "

"A rather abridged version," said Kwannon.

"Isn't it though?" said the Investor. "The gentlemen over there is Tarrant. He leads a group of Captain America fanatics called the Sons of the Shield. The fact that he's a vicious anti-Nazi thug who was arrested three years ago for using a nail gun on an elderly German gentleman because he though the was a Nazi. Of course, that was before he formed the Sons of the Shield, but they work just as well as a front for his activities. And ours."

"Why?" asked Pierce, managing to repeat the word he had spoken earlier.

"All in good time, Donald," said the Investor. "Right now you have work to do. Out there are the Reavers, and they need you to restore them."

"Dead," said Donald, finding another word.

"Yes, they are," said the Investor. "Flash-fried to ashes where they stood. Poor bastards only knew what hit them because they could see what was firing at them. Didn't you know, Donald? We're all dead here, though some are more dead than others. I have many great powers, though not as great as once they were, I admit, and that score will be settled in due course. However for the moment there is a much greater crisis coming. But, that, as I say, is for later. " He smiled and gestured. "Join your friends. Fastest route possible." Pierce complied, fighting as hard as he could but not gaining any ground as his body threw itself out of the window, down towards his one time followers.

"Are you sure about this, my Lord?" asked Matsu'o.

"Yes," said the Investor. "He doesn't know how I control him, but I do and he will never be able to reprogram what had been done to him. It works so very well indeed, but what of our latest recruit? How fair's she?"

"She was angry and we had a hard time containing her," said Matsu'o, "but we achieved it and she awaits your inspection."

"Excellent," said the Investor. "Lead the way." Tsuryaba took the lead, the Investor following with Kwannon and Tarrant behind him. In the small prison chamber of the castle, where a young Asian girl was being held captive in one of the cells.

"Hello," said the Investor as he looked at her. "Welcome to our humble abode."

"To hell with you," she screamed at him. "Why have you brouhght me here?"

"Been there," replied the Investor. "And is that anyway to react to the man that saved your life? You'd have died in that palace if it wasn't for my people, acting on my instructions, Min Li Ng. Killed by a bunch of mutants, how very tragic."

"How did you know of me?"

"I know that when certain things happen, certain people will die. It was either one of you, or one of them. Either way, you were the one. Crushed under falling rock and unable to crawl away. Madripoor seems so much nicer these days without you there, Silk Fever of the Folding Circle. I know of you, I know about you, and I have been watching you for a long time."

"Who are you?"

"I am Mephisto," he said, shifting to his true guise. "And you can call me 'My Lord'."

References:

Pierce was established as the Head of Weapon X in our very own Weapon X Limited Series
The Sentinel attack was in Uncanny X-Men #281
Pierce 'ressurection' was detailed in the Domino Limited Series
The Reavers returned in X-Men Omega #25
Tarrant appeared in Wolverine #14
Silk Fever vanished after the battle with X-Force in X-Force #14