"Bloody hell," said Pete Wisdom for what would be about the fiftieth time that day. They'd been here several days now, watching, waiting, hoping, praying.

SHIELD had been split in to three working sections to see what they could do in assisting the other law enforcement agencies that were working on things. X-Force had been assigned to the team in New York. Pete watched the tapes over and over again, the amateur footage and the other details that were not so amateur that weren't going to be released to the general public. They could see enough from what they had and this was real life - not an entertainment show. He turned the monitors off and rubbed his eyes.

"Bloody hell," he said again as he looked at the blank screens. He'd seen a lot of nasty crap over the years, he'd killed a lot of people and there had been times when he'd enjoyed it, but never had he seen anything like this. It staggered him beyond anything he'd ever known or seen. For some reason, Fury had given X-Force a broad remit on this - they were an investigative unit, co-ordinating SHIELD efforts on the ground and on the Helicarrier.

Raven was helping the FBI in Washington to piece things together. Marcus wasn't overly happy since they had fired him, but neither were the FBI as he was an autonomous consultant and they had to accept his help one way or another. They didn't get much choice in it.

Maverick was working with the CIA, using his old clearances to assist them in their hunt. David North - as a former member of Team X - still had certain privileges and such, and he was working with his old comrade, John Wraith - expediter for the CIA and that gave them some leeway.

Terry was on site below, ensuring that Pete was kept informed of what was going on and keeping up to date with developments, via INTERPOL and their special taskforce which they had set up. Her father, Sean, was still highly thought of in certain areas of the agency, and as she was a SHIELD agent it meant that she too had some pull, and where her father's name didn't get help, her badge did. However that was something she hadn't yet had to do, and for that Pete was grateful. Whatever small mercies they could get about now were welcomed.

That left himself to co-ordinate things and to try and make some kind of sense out of it and it was proving to be hard.

"Sod it," said Pete and lit up a cigarette. This wasn't what he should be doing. This was what Lydia should be doing instead of simply lying there, slowly healing. Too slowly for his liking. He decided to take a wander over, and see what she thought, if she could somehow reach across the void and get some kind of inspiration or theory in to his mind. There was something he was missing - something that had happened on that fateful day.

Three days earlier

"What's going on?" asked Pete as he and Terry met North and Raven in the corridor outside Terry's quarters.

"Damned if I know," said North, the sirens blaring. "Whatever it is, it's big. X-Force command station?"

"Yup," said Pete, "and hurry." The team set off at a run, as were the other agents on the Helicarrier as it departed from Madripoor to wherever it was going. The vehicle was moving quite fast, as if it were being pushed to its limits from the way it groaned and shook and X-Force arrived at their action room, which was where they had the tools necessary to train and prepare for their missions. All Pete knew was they were heading for the United States. The Helicarrier was faster than commercial flights, but it would still take them a while to get there.

It was just after 11 p.m. according to his watch, but that was set at local time and he quickly did a reckoning that it would be just after 9 a.m. in Washington, which meant that they would be flying back in to Tuesday morning, which meant that they were going to have to live this day twice over. He shook his head, and wondered at what time they would get there. He put a guess on the flight time of being about 5 or 6 hours, which meant they'd be there mid-afternoon. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned.

"Pete?" said David.

"Sorry, lost it for a moment. What's up?"

"The mark on Terry's face, she says she fell."

"No, I hit her, and we'll talk later." The holo-emitters kicked in and Nick Fury's face appeared on the screen. His eyes were tired, his expression that of a man in shock.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "I'm sure by now you've heard the rumours of what's been happening back home." Pete looked at the other two and shrugged. They'd been busy doing other things apparently. "Let me confirm some of the things you've heard. A hijacked passenger jet has crashed in to the north tower of the World Trade Center. The impact has torn a gaping hole in the building and the building is on fire."

"Fucking hell," breathed Pete as Fury gave his people time for this to sink in.

"We have also received another report that moments ago a second hijacked airliner crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center and has also exploded and that building too is on fire. I repeat, The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York have been seriously damaged and both buildings are burning."

The whole of the Helicarrier was silent as Fury stopped, save for the machinery which also seemed muted despite the pressure on them.

"We are on our way back to the United States to do what we can, however I suspect that the FAA will be closing the airports soon enough and all flights may be cancelled across the country. We will have to fly up and around Canada to get towards the East Coast. Until we are allowed in to US airspace, we will not be able to assist our people on the ground. The emergency services are doing what they can, however there are major concerns about what has happened."

"No kidding," said Terry.

"I'll keep you informed, but at the moment we are on our highest state of alert. I will be speaking with the United Nations to see what role we will be playing in this, seeing as how the World Trade Center is exactly that, and not just America will be affected by this tragedy. Be prepared for the worst - this may have been the first shot in a war that nobody was expecting. New duty rosters will be sent out. Grab some sleep while you can, we're all going to need it."

Fury's face disappeared, leaving the whole of SHIELD shell-shocked. Over the next few hours things got worse, with another plane hitting the Pentagon, and reports of a fourth plane crashing in Pennsylvania and despite Fury's words, sleep just would not come for anybody who had heard.

Two days earlier.

Tuesday finally became Wednesday for SHIELD and after a long wait the Helicarrier was allowed at last in to US airspace, from where it had been hovering, standing and waiting just off the east coast. By now the pictures that had been on the televisions of the world had found their way to the eyes of every SHIELD agent and all had seen what the rest of the world had seen and fingers were being pointed. As far as Pete could tell there were three voices of opinion - that the Arabs has done this, that mutants had done this, or mutant Arabs had done this. He shook his head at the so-called Friends of Humanity when they suggested that they mutants directed by Magneto had done this.

"If Magnus wanted to make a statement like that, they'd have levelled the bloody state," muttered Pete, watching from the X-Force command station. "Pillock," he added.

"Tell me about it," said Fury and pulled up a chair. "Yer team?"

"Terry's speaking with the X-Men, Raven's trying to find out about some friends - like everyone else on this crate - and North's getting some sleep. I'm on duty, as it were."

"So what do ya reckon, Commander?" asked Nick. "How the hell did we drop the ball on this one?"

"Well," said Pete. "There's a number of flaws in the system. Airport security sucks. There were too many people who thought the US invulnerable to terrorists. They saw the superhuman menace as the prevalent threat and that there'd always be heroes like the Avengers to protect them. Except the heroes ain't always there, though there were some good people risking themselves alongside the real heroes."

"Not that, us."

"What do you mean?"

"The feds, the spooks, us, we didn't have a whisper of this. We're the most powerful nation on the planet and what did it get us? Our information was failed, or ignored, and they hit us good and hard. It's all my fault."

"Fury, the SHIELD resources have been stretched that damn thin by the UN that you didn't have much of a chance of spotting it. The deal with Logan, the whole Excalibur mess..."

"Not what I mean, Peter" said Fury as he stood up. "I shoulda stopped this, I should never have let it happen." He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Wisdom to wonder what the hell he was on about. Pete had worked in the spy game long enough to know that sometimes your information failed you. It was a hard fact, but that was the truth of it and the odds were that for every success you had, you had a failure in the making because your ears were listening at one door and not another.

The real problem, as far as Pete saw it was what would happen when America reacted. And what if the truly powerful beings reacted first? That thought terrified him more than anything else. He had seen the news when SHIELD had been told to hold the Avengers when Genosha was in flames, before the rule of Magneto. They had tried and failed, so what would happen if they were asked to do it again?

One day earlier

Wisdom's fears for the future where echoed while he slept the next day, with North on monitor duty. Pete had a meeting with Fury later in the day, and he knew he had to get some sleep at some point. Coffee, cigarettes and cold showers were not enough for something as important as SHIELD's role in the investigations. The FBI, CIA and Interpol had been playing catch up since the event and were making progress but they didn't have the resources and finally the UN had released SHIELD to act.

The report North was watching was the one thing that Pete would have wanted to see, their leader confiding in them as to what his fears were. North wasn't too worried, the Avengers and such had never played an active role in earthbound warfare, leaving the wars they joined in with to be fought out on a galactic scale, or against threats to the Earth that conventional means would never be able to battle.

The picture showed Mayor Rudolf Giuliani addressing the people of New York, is latest press call amidst the many that he had made in the last few days.

* * (The Mayor made the following announcement in Marvel Fanfare #15. Thanks to Russ to supplying some excellent material from a fitting tribute - David)

"Thank you. I don't have much time, and I will not be taking questions afterward, but it's important that this announcement get disseminated as widely and quickly as possible." The mayor shuffled some papers at his podium and North wondered if he was simply gathering his thoughts before making the announcement or whether his aides had his speech in the wrong order.

"This is a message to the superhuman populace of New York, the United States, and the world. You have always stood by the city of New York in its need, and this current crisis is no exception. Many with superhuman abilities have assisted rescue crews with the ongoing work in the vicinity of the World Trade Center, and for this you have my most heartfelt thanks, and that of the entire city of New York."

"There'll be a but to this," said Terry from the doorway. "Ye can see it on his face."

"That and he gave a compliment out to them. You don't often see that." Then the mayor continued.

"However, I now ask you to keep your distance from the disaster area, to leave the job to the men and women trained specifically for this sort of task. Your efforts are appreciated, your desire to help readily apparent. However, there is too much danger of unleashed superhuman abilities hampering rather than helping the brave rescue workers who continue to labour tirelessly at the scene of the destruction. There have been several near incidents involving superhuman help over the last two days, and myself and the fire marshal are in agreement on this matter."

"Some superhumans with specific training or particularly useful abilities have been asked to continue helping under the supervision of rescue workers. Those superhumans know who they are, and I ask that the rest of you please stay away. Your abilities can be put to better use protecting us from other potential tragedies."

"Thank you, that is all."

"Bold move," said Terry.

"Yes, but what stops them from going in mufti to help out?"

"As long as they don't use their powers an' such," she replied.

"How's your cheek?" asked North, changing tack. Wisdom still hadn't explained himself over it. "Wisdom said he hit you."

"Yes," she said, cautiously. "He did."

"You said you fell."

"I say a lot of things, Maverick."

"Fine," said North. "Sorry for being concerned." He wasn't sure about Wisdom's leadership style, but he was definite that he didn't like people hitting women for no reason. He'd speak to Wisdom later on.

Marcus Raven was in the small chapel area of the Helicarrier. The denominations of the crew were varied and each had their own little section within the carrier. He was not alone, but he closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed that his God was real, that his beliefs were justified and that the Lord had a reason for doing what he had done. Some of God's tests of the faith of his followers had been cruel in their attempt, yet justified in the end, even through what he did to his own son.

A being that could do that to his own son was capable of doing anything to those that followed him and to those that did not. Testing God's wrath was one thing that had always been foolish and often fatal. Was the fate of the soul worth the cost to the people who believed? Were the tests that had been designed by a creator whose thinking worked on its own logic simply punishments to those who had wronged and literally to Hell with anyone who got in the way or had God simply forsaken them?

"Can I help you, my son?" asked the minister, who had been approaching everyone in the crowded chapel.

"Can you answer why?" asked Raven.

"No," answered the minister. "However, I don't believe the answer would make anyone feel better, even if we knew. I feel... I believe that no matter what the darkness that befalls the world, whatever acts of terror and barbarism plague the children of God - for in the end we are all the children of one God - will endure. We will survive, adapt and grow stronger. If idle hands are the devil's playground, what does that say about complacency?"

Raven nodded as the minister gave him a small smile, and moved on to the next person. The words needed some thought.

"Well," said Pete as Fury ended his briefing and the majority of agents had left. Fury had asked Wisdom to stay behind. "We're getting involved at last."

"Yup," said Fury. "I want X-Force to co-ordinate things from the Helicarrier. I'll be in Washington, making sure that things are fine, but you're going to be my eyes and ears over here."

"Why us?" asked Pete. "You've higher agents, better agents than us to do this."

"Firstly, you need a quiet assignment after the Madripoor thing. Second, yer team has a diverse amount of connections to other teams. Oh, an' I want Raven with me. His FBI connections will help."

"Fair enough, but we're spread pretty damn thin," he said.

"I know, but it can't be helped, and third, your team answer only to me. I set that in stone. Every other team an' strike force has a chain of command to go through to make things happen. You guys don't and that's what I need here. You rank maybe a Commander, but I've nobody else here with yer... autonomy."

"Okay. So, North helps the CIA, Terry the ground plods, I'm up here. What are we looking for?"

"Evidence. There's a lot of speculation but we need hard facts. You an' your team can find it. You an' yours can co-ordinate things. There's a good deal of work being done by some of the best people about, but as we've shown we make mistakes. There's obviously been an inside job somewhere an' I want SHIELDs resources to go in to finding whoever's responsible."

"Then what?"

"We leave it to the military types. We're law enforcement, not active armed forces."

"Okay," said Wisdom. "I'll brief my people, and we'll get these bastards."

Present

"And that's the story so far," said Pete as he looked at Lydia, the machines beeping at her bedside. "The pieces are there I know it, but I can't put them together." He sighed as Lydia didn't respond, other than breathing in and out.

"What the hell are we doing, Lyd?" he asked, not expecting a reply. "Where do we start to look. Which thread do we pull first?" Then his cell phone rang. "Wisdom," he answered.

"Pete, it's Terry," came the Irish brogue of Siryn.

"What's up, Teresa?"

"You'll want to see this."

"Right," said Pete and left the medical bays and stepped in to the corridor outside. There was a viewing port at the end of the corridor and he quickly jogged to it. "Still there?" he said.

"Aye," she answered and Pete then plugegd the phone in to the socket on the wall. SHIELD global positioning satellites locked on to Siryn and gave her location.

"What am I looking at?" he said.

"4 o'clock," she replied. "A fire chief pointed it out to us." Glued to the side of a building, and nearly two stories tall, was an enormous red, white, and blue flag, rendered in webbing. "Spider-Man did this."*

* (Marvel Fanfare #15 again - David)

"He was on scene at the time," said Pete, remembering the field reports and films he seen in the last few days. He read the caption below - WE WILL REMEMBER and he began to mutter to himself.

"With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

"Solemn the drums thrill: Death August and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

"They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

"But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain."

"Binyon," said Siryn. "I remember hearing it when I was at the Massachusets Academy visitin' me da'. But didn't you miss a verse?"

"It doesn't fit with the event," said Pete, thinking of the missing third verse.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

The verse recounted of war, which is what the poem had been written in commemoration of. Then Pete thought of something.

"I'll call you back," he said and closed the call. Something about those words made him think, something told him something that he'd missed. The thread that eluded him had been found and he glanced back towards where Lydia slept. "Thanks, babe."

There was work to do, and a lot of it.