A moment ago, Warren Worthington had been in a therapy session with the green-haired psychiatrist, Doctor Leonard Samson (who also happens to possess gamma-irradiated strengt, but that's another story). The session had occured inside Warren's New York office in the main headquarters of Angel Inc., the company he owns and operates. Warren was worried about strange dreams he has been having, dreams which remind him of a darker time. That was a moment ago. Now, he finds himself flying at top speed towards a large ship of some sort which has appeared out of a portal in the middle of Times Square.

As he approaches the ship, gun turrets emerge from the hull. They begin firing energy blasts at the various buildings. People scurry about, and he swoops low. He grabs two bystanders who were standing in harm's way and flies them to relative safety. He looks back at the hovering monstrosity, and realizes that in a situation like this, he's better suited to search and rescue. He moves his right hand over to his gold watch which rests on his left wrist. There are two knobs on it, one for controlling the time, and another knob that, when turned, sends off a warning signal and transmits his coordinates to the computer system that rests in the X-Men's Australian base. He turns this knob, then dives towards a crowd and gets as many of them away as he can. He looks back to see rubble falling, and he sees a man lying on the ground, injured. He flies towards the man and pulls him away. All the while, the man complains about his leg. Warren sets him down not so gently, and the man curses as he does so. But, Warren thinks, at least he is still alive.

As he continues in his rescue mission, Warren's thoughts drift towards the fact that he's doing this all on his own. He thinks to himself that New York is supposed to be infested with superheroes, so why aren't they doing their job? Why does he find himself slipping back into the role of superhero when the Avengers or the Fantastic Four should be out here doing their jobs? Or are they conveniently off-planet again, like they typically are whenever an interdimensional crisis comes along?

---

"Why am I always stuck with monitor duty?" asks Pietro Maximoff. He receives no answer to his question due to the fact that he's alone in the X-Men's command center beneath the outback town. His attention drifts from the news broadcasts to reruns of "I Love Lucy" on television.

Sometimes, the man known as Quicksilver wonders if this is all there is to life. Sure, right now he's happy, but how long will that last? When he thinks about it, there have only been a few times in his life when he has been happy. And those periods tend to be very short. Now, his life seems almost perfect. Ever since the Sentinel episode, things have been relatively quiet. Rogue is back from seeming death, and they're together once more. He finds he is happy with her. And he finds himself wondering how long it will be until this happiness ends.

After she returned from Apocalypse's clutches, Pietro was thankful. Things would be better now, he thought. Rogue was back. But with her absorption powers acting strangely, he wonders how long it will be before the other shoe drops. Will she eventually lose control of her powers? Or will another personality she absorbed become dominant? Or will she become like Warren was following his first encounter with Apocalypse, dark and emotionless?

He thinks he may be in love with her, but how can he be sure? It's not the same thing he felt for Crystal, but was he really in love with Crystal? Or was he just in love with the idea of being in love with her? When he looks back on their marriage, he knows that it was extremely rocky. The only reason they stayed together for so long was because they were always apart from each other.

Is he in love with Rogue? That is the one question he's been pondering ever since her "death." It is different from Crystal, and that must be a good thing, right? If what he had with Crystal was not real, then what he feels for Rogue could be very real. Or it could be another false alarm. He doesn't know anymore. For once in his life, Pietro Maximoff has no answers. And it infuriates him.

He's shaken from his thoughts by the sound of an alarm. His hands move at superhuman speed and dance across the keyboard before him. On the large monitor is a map, and one area is blinking. He tracks the coordinates and runs them through the computer's GPS system. He hates computers. They're too slow.

It takes a moment (far too long for him), but the computer comes up with a location for the coordinates. Times Square. In New York. The signal, according to the computer, came from Archangel's homing device. Quicksilver hits a button and speaks into a microphone hidden in the computer.

"We've got a situation," he says. "Be in uniform and at the hotel entrance in three minutes."

He removes his finger from the depressed button, and before it can rise to its original position, he is already gone.

---

He loves his job.

That is the one thought running through the mind of the man who calls himself Broadside. Due to his extensive knowledge of all forms of weaponry, Broadside operates as the chief gunner of the Red Bull. In one of the rare moments when he tolerated Sea Dog's presence, Broadside had asked why Killian would name the ship the Red Bull. Sea Dog replied with, "it gives you wings." After that moment, Broadside made it a point to stop conversing with Sea Dog.

Instead, he concentrates on the task at hand. Cameras positioned all around the ship give Broadside visuals of the Times Square area. His fingers dance across keypads as he programs in commands and the gun turrets respond in kind. He glances over his shoulder for a moment to see his crewmate, Bloody Bess, standing at the entrance.

"Did I ever mention that I love this job?" he asks.

"Yes," replies Bess. "Several times."

"Well I'm mentioning it again," says Broadside. "We got any word on why we're here again?"

"Killian wants to have some fun," says Bess. "Plus, we could probably score some profits from this job as well."

"We better start ransacking then," says Broadside. "This ain't gonna last forever."

"I know, from what I've read of reports from this dimension, it's supposedly populated by super-powered guys in tights and that's the last thing we need," says Bess. "Come to think of it, guys in tights doesn't sound like such a bad thing..."

"I'm guessin' it's been awhile?" asks Broadside with a grin.

"Oh shut up," replies Bess. "Like you ever got any from someone who was willing."

"Hey, all those guys were perfectly willing," says Broadside.

"I'll bet," says Bess.

"I assume you're talking about the mission."

Bess spins around in surprise to see the most intimidating of the Pirates standing before her in his golden armor, his eyes glowing at her. A stark contrast to his red skin.

"C-Captain!" she exclaims. "I didn't see you there."

"Of course you didn't," he says. "Broadside, I think that's more than enough ground fire. Come up to the hatch. It's time for the boarding party to disembark."

---

As Warren continues with his rescue mission, he notices the gunfire suddenly halts. He looks up at the ship and watches as four figures appear below it, courtesy of some sort of teleportation system, he imagines. He eyes them curiously. Whoever they are, they don't look human. And judging from their ship and appearence, he assumes that they might be... aliens?

One of them, a large man about seven feet tall with red skin, no hair, and dressed in gold armor steps forward. He is also cloaked in a cape. Warren assumes that this man might be the leader of this little group.

Killian sniffs the air and smiles when he says, "I love the smell of destruction in the morning."

"Actually, it's half past two in the afternoon," says Warren as he approaches them. Killian looks down at him and chuckles.

"Who's this asshole?" he asks.

"Archangel," he replies.

"I'm Killian," he says. "We're the Crimson Pirates. And you're going to die."

"Better people than you have tried," says Warren. His fingers grow into talons. Before he can swipe at Killian, the captain's eyes glow bright and Warren feels immense pain shoot through his body.

"Feel that?" he asks. "That's your molecules smashing into each other. Wanna see what happens when they shoot out of your body?"

"That depends..."

The four pirates turn at the sound of a new voice. They find seven mutants dressed in leather uniforms adorned with Xs standing there. The largest of them is an animalistic man who stands in a crouched position at the front of the group. Long blonde hair falls across his face, and the Pirates can see his canines as he speaks, as well as the afternoon sun shining off his claws.

"Depends on what?" asks Killian.

"if yer interested in findin' out what yer kidneys taste like," replies Sabretooth.

"Pay close attention, because I'm only going to make this offer once," says Quicksilver. "Surrender now or face the consequences."

Killian looks at his crew, then back at Quicksilver. His hands travel behind his back, and he closes them in a fist as he steps close to the X-Men's leader.

"Look at the size of me, then look at the size of you," he says as he towers over Pietro. He presses his finger against Quicksilver's chest.

"If anyone's gonna be begging for mercy around here, it's y—"

In the blink of an eye, Killian and Quicksilver vanish, but Quicksilver reappears back in his same spot within the instant, dusting off his hands. Killian, however, has been slammed into the side of a building, leaving an indentation.

"Imagine that..." says Quicksilver. "He's lighter than he looks."

"That was a big mistake, silvertop," says Bess. She glares at him, and an invisible force of some sort slams into him.

"Looks like these blokes have powers, too," says Pyro as he flicks open his zippo lighter. "Good, I was worried that this was gonna be easy."

The small flame ranges into an inferno that surrounds the three Pirates. As quickly as it appears however, all the flames turn into smoke. Pyro looks over his shoulder to see Killian standing there with his eyes glowing, and an obvious look of anger on his face.

"Molecular control," he says. "Gotta love it."

"Rogue... y'mind taking that guy, luv?" asks Pyro.

"I got no beef with that," says Rogue as she flies towards Killian. "Mess with my man, y' mess with me!"

Using the flight and strength of Ms. Marvel, Rogue rams into Killian and sends him reeling. Killian attempts to fire an energy blast at her, but Rogue is suddenly gone, and all that remains is smoke. He sniffs the air.

"Sulfur...?"

Something hard slams into Killian's back and sends him skidding across the street. He sees Rogue approaching him, her skin composed of organic steel. Killian's eyes glow, and pipes from the sewers beneath burst through the street and begin to entangle her. She pulls away from them, easily snapping the pipes with the strength absorbed from Colossus. Water explodes from them, which Killian manipulates into fire. He sees Rogue vanish within the flames and since there is no scent of sulfur, he assumes she is done for. However, the flames begin to absorb into a single female form composed purely of fire. Remembering how Killian manipulated Pyro's flames earlier, Rogue "turns off" the abilities of the Human Torch, and once her body returns to normal, she rockets into the Pirate, propelled by a kinetic blastfield.

---

Sabretooth moves in close and slashes at Bloody Bess. She nimbly dodges his attack, and forces him back with a telekinetic punch. He growls and returns to his attack pattern.

"Y' gonna keep running away or are ya gonna fight?" he asks.

"If you say so," she replies.

Victor Creed suddenly feels his body freeze up completely. He tries to move but finds that he can't. Bess hovers directly behind him and runs her hand along his neck. She smiles as she bites down on it. Sabretooth is shocked to feel two sharp objects pierce his skin, and he feels blood begin to flow from his wound, blood which Bess laps into her mouth.

The connection is suddenly broken, courtesy of Quicksilver, who pulls Bess off Sabretooth and throws her to the ground.

"You're the last person I expected," says Sabretooth.

"What is she?" asks Quicksilver. Bess gets into a feral position on her hands and knees, smiling as blood drips from her mouth and fangs.

"A vampire, obviously," replies Sabretooth.

"I thought they can't go out in sunlight," says Quicksilver.

"I'm from another dimension," says Bess. "They don't call me Bloody Bess for nothing."

Sabretooth and Quicksilver both raise an eyebrow at this comment.

"That's gotta be the dumbest thing I ever heard," says Creed.

Bess suddenly pounces, and Sabretooth drives his adamantium claws into her stomach and flips her over.

---

Blink stands off against Broadside, her eyes glowing. Broadside simply grins as he begins to unload rounds at her from two massive guns attached to his shoulder pads. Blink's hands move quickly, as various portals open before her. The rounds fly into the portals, and the portal reopens behind Broadside. He's stunned for a moment, but doesn't let that hold him back. He moves closer to her, and Blink drops down into a portal that opens beneath her feet. Another portal opens above Broadside, and she slams down on his head. She bounces slightly, flips, and lands on her feet with a javelin ready in each hand.

"I've got this thing with guns..." she says as the javelins begin to glow. "I don't like them."

She hurls the javelins and they strike the guns on his shoulders. They instantaneously vanish in a flash of pink energy.

"There, much better," she says.

"Oh, I am gonna tear you apart!" exclaims Broadside. He prepares to advance on her, but suddenly freezes in midstep. Joseph hovers behind him, eyes crackling with electromagnetic energy.

"That's no way to treat a lady," he says. The various metal components attached to Broadside's person break off and circle around him in rapid succession. They form a barrier of sorts and encase him in them.

---

The remaining three X-Men—Psylocke, Pyro, and Archangel—fight off against the Sea Dog. Or should that be Sea Dogs, plural, as he splits into several duplicates. Psylocke's shadow katana cuts through most of them, leaving the victims lying on the ground, suffering from intense chills. Archangel's talons tear through their very psyches, resulting in intense panic attacks. And Pyro simply fries as many of them as he sees.

For every Sea Dog they take down, however, three more duplicates seem to appear. Almost as if there is an unending supply of them. Many of them start to advance, and Psylocke's Crimson Dawn mark glows as their very shadows break free and start to battle their masters. Both Archangel and Pyro turn to her with shock in their eyes.

"I didn't know you could do that," says Pyro.

"There is much you don't know about me, Mr. Allerdyce," replies Psylocke with a seductive grin. Pyro cannot help but blush at this. It is an exchange that does not go unnoticed.

---

Rogue continues to pummel Killian with fists composed of orange rock. Then, without warning, the fists suddenly appear to grow limp. In fact, every bone in her body seems to become soft and mallaeble as she collapses on the ground in a pile of formless mass.

"Pirates, let's go," orders Killian. He glances over to the shadows battling the Sea Dogs and his eyes glow brightly. Psylocke's entire body grows limp and she collapses into Archangel's arms. Her concentration broken is all it takes for the Sea Dogs to return to one form, and he rushes to Killian's side. Killian glances over at Sabretooth, and his restraints suddenly become far heavier than the savage mutant can lift, and he falls to the ground from their sheer weight. Quicksilver's suit suddenly bursts into flame. This draws the attention of Pyro, who tries to control the flames and disperse them. The makeshift restraint created by Joseph to contain Broadside turns to water. The collar of Joseph's jacket suddenly wraps around his throat and begins to choke him. Blink tries to help him, and teleports the jacket from his person. By the time she accomplishes this task, Broadside is by Killian's side alongwith Bess and Sea Dog.

"It's been fun," says Killian. "But we've got other dimensions to ravage."

He presses a button on his wrist and they vanish in a flash of light. The Red Bull roars to life, and seems to tear through the sky and travel through a giant red portal. Blink watches this happen, and she grimaces in pain.

"What's happening?" asks Joseph, trying to help her. "It's over, they're going."

"No..." replies Blink. "It's not over. They're disrupting the flow between dimensions... I can feel the pressure... If we don't stop them, they could permanently damage the fabric of reality."