Things have changed since the last time I was at Xavier's, and it wasn't too long ago either. So much death and misery in the place now. When Chuck died, it was bad enough but this is different.

Can't believe Storm's dead. Dead dead, as in not comin' back dead. No alien races, no mystic crystals, no guardians of the Omniverse, no psychotic robots to save her this time. Then there's Jean's son. Apollyon. What the hell were they thinking when they named that kid? Still, none of us were in our right minds then, thanks to Apocalypse.

Bastard's dead as well. Looks like killing him took everything Cable had and he's gone as well, but then again with dimensions and stuff, you never can tell what dead really is. Call him missin' in action, because that suits better. Scott lost a son, so did Jean, and neither was the other kid's second parent. Plus Scott's lost it big style.

X-Men Alpha's been disbanded. He fired the team, told 'em to get out o' the mansion and that was that. Guy's been walkin' a fine line for a while and this latest stuff pushed him over the edge. Has to have done, because he ain't entirely sane. I saw it in his eyes at Rogue's funeral. Just because he called time on the Alpha team, the X-Men ain't gone. Not while there's some of us out there. We may not be a team but we've all got the same ideals in mind, the same goal, the purpose that Xavier brought us together for.

That said, this stuff ain't a matter for the X-Men, or X-Force, of Alpha Flight or anyone of the usual family in my life. They've been through the wringer enough, and this is my problem. Turns out that when Viper an' I consummated our relationship, we got a kid in the bargain and one better - she had the babe and the Shadow King's using him as his new host body. Ain't gonna let that stand, but there's no chance I can take on Farouk by myself. Tried it and got messed up but good. Almost cost me everything I had then, so this time I need to get some help.

Gonna need some heavies, someone with some power to back me when I hit Hydra. Can't take them all on and fight Farouk. Speakin' o' which, I'll need a telepath from somewhere but they're few and far between these days. Rachel's busy grieving over Cable otherwise I'd ask her, because she's more or less the only one I can think of to help out. Gonna have to think about it while I get the others. Wish I could use the systems at the mansion, but then they'll know an' that'll be too much to handle.

First stop though has t'be Canada, Department H. They had Elektra there, after what Pierce did to her and I need to know she's okay after the whole reality thing. Then there's Jessica… Damned if I know what the hell I say to her next I see her. She's been discharged from the SHIELD hospitals same time as I was, an' she didn't even look me in the eye. Lindsay took her away so she's got friends about her.

How the hell the world got in to this kind of state, I ain't too sure, but it's gonna take a while to recover from it.

"I'm sorry, you can't just barge in here…"

"Bub, get outta my way before you get hurt."

"I'm sorry, Mr Logan, but I'm under instructions not to let you in to the restricted areas. Your affiliation with both the Department and Alpha Flight are fine, but you no longer have carte blanche to come in here…"

~SCHLUKT~

The guy's looking a little more nervous now, but he's standin' his ground all the same.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Who says I can't go and see my fia… Elektra…" Huh, that was one hell of a slip. We ain't engaged or anything, where do I get off almost calling her my fiancée?

"That would be me. You can go now." I turn as the guard walks away to see the last person here I expected to see.

"Tyger Tiger."

"Hello, Logan, it's been a while."

"What the hell's goin' on here? Why are the L's interfering in this?"

"Because," she answers in that sweet tone, as always tinged with the jagged edge when she needs it, "the body of Elektra Natchios was housed by the Destroyer. You remember how much was done to you when it happened to you as well? That's what's happening now. Of course, by rights she shouldn't be alive, but then again that's just part of the interesting lives we all now lead."

"When do I get to see her?"

"You don't, for a good while. Orders of the Overboss." I retract my claws which are still out. There's nothin' I can do with 'em out anyway, not yet.

"Zoë. I wanna talk to her…"

"That's the other reason I'm here," Tyger says, as we walk through the Department H corridors. "When the whole Destroyer thing went down there was also a psionic event that called Culloden away from you. The Shadow King fought what appeared to be the echo of Onslaught."

"I thought I felt Chuck…"

"It was an echo, not the true being. However the Shadow King won and he's established quite a power base. Now he's gained an army that he was never supposed to have…"

"The Apocalypse Dawn." They vanished the same time as Farouk made his escape and SHIELD hadn't been able to find the barest trace of either.

"Yes. A small army of mutant fanatics inducted in to the terrorist faction known as Hydra, and commanded by a psionic being able to defeat the echo of Onslaught. That echo was responsible for everything that happened in Greece before the Apocalypse Scenario, so he was no push over."

"And suddenly he's got his name in lights at Landau, Luckman and Lake."

"Lake, and Lequare (retired), 4LR, these days," Tyger corrects. "But yes, he does have his name in lights. His plan, as far as our people can tell, is to unite all humanity under his control and domination, something he's almost done twice before."

"The X-Men beat him back twice before too."

"Yes, but there are no proper X-Men these days, Logan. Zoe's given the go ahead to help and support you in taking out the Shadow King and his army."

"Where are we going?" I ask as she stops outside a WC and inserts her pass card.

"The office." Tyger smiles and I feel the hairs on the back on my neck tickle a little. It's been a very long time since I've been to the offices of the L's. They have resources that make everything on Earth look like it was designed and operated by cavemen. She opens the door and we step through and we're out the other side and a waft of familiar scents hit me.

"Welcome back," says another familiar voice.

Ahmal Farouk sat in the new location of the Hydra base, where he as Supreme Hydra was speaking to his war chief and field commander, Nick Fury. Much had happened, and much, much more would continue to happen. He sat on his throne, inhabiting the body of baby Jacob and used the child's eyes to look upon the former SHIELD Director.

"How are they working out?" Farouk asked Fury. If Fury was disturbed by taking orders form a psionic baby, he didn't show it.

"The Dawn recruits are working well, becoming a good part of Hydra. We can use them to create more disharmony between humans and mutants and work towards the main goal." Fury smiled, thinking he had a few ideas in mind to set them going.

"Excellent," said Farouk, thinking he would spit on Xavier's grave and show his dream for the worthlessness it truly possessed. Then he would unite the planet under one leader, one mind and one day they would take to the stars. "What of our other operations?"

"I used the SHIELD files and went to the grave of whom we believe to be the first Director, but the were guards and the grave was empty." Farouk's eyes narrowed. That concerned him.

"Empty?"

"Yes, which seems strange, but I'd say we were on the right track. The guards weren't that hard to dispose of."

"Good. What was the name of the deceased again?"

"Mace. Jeff Mace."

"Hmm, I seem to remember something about the man. Jeff Mace… Where did I know that name… It was in the mind of the Man-Beast, I remember seeing it. He'd pulled it from the minds of the Penance Council at the V-Battalion, before he killed them."

"The V-Battalion's destroyed," said Fury. "Nothing remained. I read the reports."

"There's always a way," said Viper, coming in to the room. "I expect X-Force is looking in to it now."

"Our contact?"

"Has been in touch. They are in charge of the operation to stop us, well Fury."

"A good plan, they wouldn't have as much personal loyalty to me as some of the other squads," said Fury, nodding his head.

"Also suits our needs," said Viper. "However there has been a development. We've lost Wolverine."

"Lost?" said Farouk and reached out with his mind. After the Apocalypse situation he could lock on to any of his subjects with ease, but Logan was indeed gone. "What are you up to, Logan? I know you know about Jacob. I'd have thought that was the one thing that consumed your mind…"

"He'll turn up," said Fury. "He always does."

"Yes," said Farouk. "Except I hate surprises…"

"Wraith."

"Logan. The L's have asked me to say thanks for all your help with the Destroyer. Yet again you've served the Company well and they appreciate it."

"You don't say. Then let me see Elektra."

"No can do, man. Until we see if there are any lasting effects of the Destroyer on her, she's still dangerous. Quarantine is all it is, Logan."

"I need to know…"

"She's still comatose," Wraith says softly. "The technology is keeping her alive and we can confirm her soul is back in her body, but she was dead and Pierce's procedures weren't designed for use on the living."

"We'd ask him, but…" comments Tyger and I know she's smiling. They know damn well Pierce's body won't be found. There wasn't enough left of him after I was finished. I ain't usually proud when I let go like that, but the look on his face will always be somethin' I treasure.

"Fine," I answer, "but as soon as your people are done…"

"We'll let you see her," said Wraith. "Zoë's personally arranged for you to be brought in as soon as it happens. However, we're dealing with the Shadow King today. What is it with you heroes? How is it you let the villains live? If we'd done that on Team X…"

"Omega Red," I remind him.

"Was brought back by Matsu'o Tsurayaba," replied Wraith, "but point taken." He leads the way through the corridors and each room I see has memories attached to them, memories I never thought I'd see, that I never knew I had until a little while ago. Sure the place has changed from what I knew, it's like wandering around the most technologically advanced world I've ever seen and I've been to a lot more worlds on Company business than most people ever see, and soon we're wandering down the hall of heroes, the people who died in service to the Company. Men like Chang, Valentine Drayson and Diana Culloden… Diana used to be Overboss in my time, wonder if she's any relation to Zoë? I'll ask her one day.

"Welcome to my office," says Wraith as we go in and I take a seat, while he gets some drinks as Tyger gets the door.

"Used to be a storeroom," I say as he passes me a glass of whiskey. No ice. The man remembers what we used to drink when we doing business in the old days.

"Figures," says Tyger.

"As Expediter, my role covers a lot of ground, and you fall under my remit," starts Wraith, but I cut him off.

"Because I fall under the office I used to work for. Chang was Expediter and he looked after me, then it fell to Zoë, now to you. Chang worked mostly out of Madripoor, because that was where people could keep an eye on me after the war. How'm I doing?"

"Spot on," says Wraith. "Guess you really have got all your marbles back. Scary thought."

"Very," comments Tyger and I smile.

"Hey, they had me figured to be the leader of Alpha Flight at one point, so they always knew it was there. I ain't as dumb as I look, which is more than a mercy," I take a sip of the drink and take a cigar out of my top pocket and light up. "So, the Shadow King?"

"Was a bit player. Always was meant to be nothing more than that, but he got ideas. He was content to play with people in Egypt until the Nazi's came looking for an occult player. They wanted Apocalypse, they found Farouk instead and they gave him the opportunity to use his ideas. He knew of Apocalypse, natch, because they were from the same part of the world and En Sabah Nur would always return home every so often and he had seen that with power came opportunity and that the weak would be oppressed."

"Gives me a chill to think what might have happened if Apocalypse had risen during WW2," I say thinking of the world I had seen.

"So don't," says Wraith. "Anyway, he sees and learns and starts to make plots as to what happens in his life and how he can achieve it, using people like you and others. Then came Xavier."

"He killed Farouk."

"Destroyed his host body and Farouk knew that the time of power was at hand, and Xavier was the second telepath with powers like his. He gets the idea of uniting all the telepaths and taking their powers for his own, but he needs to recover. Xavier learnt fast, and Farouk had grown complacent and as he considered his plans he knew that his plans weren't enough."

"He wants the world, because everyone has telepathic potential," adds Tyger. "That's how Xavier managed to teach you all psionic defences like he did. It's how telepaths form rapports between themselves and loved ones."

"Except the world progresses and heroes pop out of the woodwork across the planet," says Wraith. "The X-Men have had more than their fair share of telepaths so they took him on and won. It'd have been interesting to see how the Avengers handled something like the Muir Isle Saga."

"Saga?" I look at Wraith with a withering stare. It was weeks in the building true, but it was over in a day. Not sure how that could be a saga.

"Hey, this place classifies things with so-called cool names," he says putting his hands in the air. "Don't blame me."

"Things happened though," I say, continuing the story. "The battle on Muir takes him out, again, and he resurfaces trying to seize the world again, but Psylocke takes him out and in there things change, right?"

"We think so," replies Wraith, sitting back in his chair, and adjusting his glasses. "Xavier's death gave him hope and he knew that the X-Men were wounded with his loss. He made his escape, and Jean Grey took him out, like Xavier taught her, so the Shadow King got creative. He took over Hydra and started to activate his agents."

"Like me."

"Yeah. He's learnt what Xavier realised early on - that one person isn't enough to make a dream a reality, but unlike Xavier he has no morals and now… now he seems like he can do it."

"He's got Apocalypse's army, he has Hydra and he has my son."

"Yup, and suddenly tepe division are concerned. The Shadow King took out an echo of Onslaught, and he held the astral plane together afterwards. Now he has a proper host body to operate from, a body that's been altered…" I'm on my feet in an instant, the cigar falling from my mouth to the desk and my claws out in readiness.

"Altered?"

"Logan, please," says Tyger and her hand is on my shoulder and I sit down, sheathing the claws and getting my cigar back

"Yeah, they've done things to the kid," said Wraith. "There's a new psion in town and he's called Jacob Logan."

"I gotta get him, John," I say, as I think of what they could have done to him. He's just a baby, and I've known some powerful kids in my time, but none of them should be manipulated before they were even born. Now I know how Scott must have felt. "I can't let them have my son."

"Yeah, that's why we're involved. Precogs say you take on the Shadow King and that it's a nexus point. It can go either way, and it's a fate of the world event."

"Aren't they all?"

"Not always, but you need whatever help we can give."

"What're you giving me?"

"Me," answers Tyger.

"Apocalypse damaged reality on your world and we're still assessing the damage done. We know there's something wrong, somehow but we don't know what…"

"So yer short-staffed?"

"Yes, but you have access to our files and such so you can get your strike team together," says Wraith and he throws me a passcard. "We just reactivated you. Welcome back to L4R."

"Great," I mutter. "Figured this might happen sooner or later…"

"Shall we get to work, Logan?" Tyger's smiling at this, the whole deal amusing her. This must all be so easy to her after Madripoor and I nod blowing a smoke ring in to the air.

"Let's find us a team."