Authors Note: This story takes place after Excalibur #9

"Don't make me do this, Colonel."

Maverick's voice was harsh, but his gun was pointed directly at Nick Fury, who was backing away from the various SHIELD agents. His eyes were hidden behind his mask, but if they weren't, Fury would have seen that Maverick was torn here. Fury was a legend, a hero, a decorated war veteran and if he did this, then they would never be able to clear his name of the charges against him.

"I don't have a choice," said Fury, his voice pleading for lenience. "I can't stop him."

"He's weak, Fury, fight him."

"I'm tryin'..." He started to back away to the main ignition chamber of the HERMES system, where he would be able to escape. The trigger device was in his hand and he started to cross the threshold

"Please, Colonel..." said Maverick, but Fury couldn't stop himself and Maverick pulled the trigger.

12 Hours Earlier

"You scum sucking piece of shit," said Lydia Del Ruiz as she kicked in the door of the Inner Circle of the London branch of the Hellfire Club. She may not have been on active duty, but there was nothing wrong with her at the moment, her eyes were fixed on Joseph Chapman as she walked forward.

"My dear Miss Del Ruiz..." he started but Lydia smashed him in the face, causing the other members of the Inner Circle to stand in defence of their colleague. Samantha Hasard created blades of metal, Vortigern Walker stood impassively, while Lady Fugue helped her King up.

"You sold him out," said Lydia as Brian and Meggan came in to restrain her, as well as protect her from any retaliation by the other three. The three of them stood there staring down the other four.

"That wasn't exactly tactful," said Meggan, looking at the mess she'd made of Chapman's chair.

"Neither was screwing me over," said Lydia, still furious.

"I did what I thought best," said Chapman as he got up, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. He'd lost a couple of teeth. "However, if you touch me again, I will have you killed."

"What is she talking about, Joseph?" asked Walker, looking at the Red and White King.

"The file that we received from Peter Wisdom," said Lady Fugue. "We sent it to the United Nations."

"You had no right," snarled Lydia. "It wasn't your call to make."

"As a concerned citizen of the world, I felt it was my duty," said Chapman. "I believe they have taken appropriate action. Now, as I am reliably informed you are not on active duty so if you are not out of here in the next five minutes, I will have you forcibly removed." Chapman's eyes were cold and Lydia could not believe this man had once been a hero.

"I'm going, but you and I are going to meet again," her eyes blazed in anger.

"Perhaps," said Chapman. "Oh, and Brian, we will be reconsidering our position on your membership here. Be advised you don't want us for enemies."

"If I were you, Joseph," said Brian, his cold stare matching that of the Red and White King, "I'd heed your own advice. You don't want me for an enemy either."

"Brian," said Walker, "I will resolve this."

"Good luck," said Brian, and then the three of them walked out. As they waited for their car outside the club, Brian looked at Lydia. "I'm sorry."

"No, you were right to tell me, and I was right to do this," sighed Lydia, letting her anger drain away. "It's just this was not the way we were supposed to do this."

"Brian's friend said they were looking for a reason to get rid of Fury," said Meggan. "They only needed a reason."

"Yes, but not like this," said Lydia and she looked up at the window of the club. "They just ruined a man."

"Yes," said Brian. "They did."

The HERMES system flared to life and the batter and bruised heroes were met by a medical team, who tended straightaway to Hellios, Fury and Shadowcat. Maverick took of his mask and let it fall to the floor, shaking his head. The Greece mission had been a disaster. Then he looked about

"They didn't get her?" Union Jack was saying.

"No," replied Bridge, softly. "She's gone."

"Damn," said the Brit and Maverick felt a twang of sorrow. They'd lost at least one of their own in the fight and it looked as if there may be more to follow. The medics were working mostly on Hellios, who was not responding and Maverick checked up on his team.

"Terry?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said. "Tired, but fine."

"Marcus?" checked Maverick, because he had taken a bad hit from the fallout of a powerful psionic fight.

"Ah'll be fine, nothin' a couple of paracetemol won't fix. That an' some rest."

"Agreed," said North and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again and he saw a face that wasn't supposed to be there. "Forge?" The former X-Man and X-Factor agent was standing there, dressed in a SHIELD uniform.

"Been a while, North," said Forge. "And I wish we could do this at some other time." He looked at the medics attending to Fury. "Is he awake?"

"Yes, sir," said one of them and Forge walked over.

"Colonel Nicholas Fury, I am placing you under arrest. The charges are treason, conspiring to pervert the course of justice, co-operating in a terrorist plot and attempted murder." Fury's jaw dropped and he had no reply such was his horror at what had just happened.

"What?" demanded both Bridge and Maverick at the same time, but for different reasons.

"We have evidence to support these charges," said Forge, "though I wish to God I didn't. As of 2200 hours, Fury's directorship was terminated. I am now in command of SHIELD."

"This is preposterous!" said Bridge. "I demand..."

"Leave it," said Maverick, standing in front of Bridge. "Like it or not we can't help him, not like this. Not yet." Out of the corner of his eye he could see Lydia standing, watching and waiting. "There's going to be questions asked of all of us."

"Agent North," said Forge, before Bridge could answer. "You and your team are to be checked out in medical bay 2, Excalibur are to report to bay 3. We've a lot of wounded, but your teams need to be treated for exposure to whatever they hit you with to suppress your mutant powers." He looked at the agents in the area. "Escort them please."

X-Force was led away, leaving them to wonder what kind of showdown there was going to be between Forge and Bridge, and Lydia joined her team.

"What happened?" asked Maverick.

"The Hellfire Club," she said and she could see that both Siryn and Maverick understood. Marcus would need it explaining a little more. "What about Kitty?"

"She took a nasty electrical surge to her upper chest," said Siryn. "I got her heart started again, but she's still ill."

"She'll be fine," said the medic who was checking on her. "She just needs to take it easy."

"Don't we all?" said Maverick. "Don't we all."

Jessica Drew awoke to find herself on a boat. She was up with a start.

"Easy missy," said a voice and she looked to see a coloured man in a white uniform at the wheel. "Coast Guard. You do speak English?" His accent was almost lyrical, and his voice was deep with it. Yet there was a calm in the way he spoke and it was quite soothing. It didn't make sense, though.

"Y... yes..." she said, not understanding what was going no here. She remembered running, and running and she wondered if she'd passed out or something.

"You're in a bad way," he said. "Nasty burns, and scrapes and such. I've radioed to the port and an ambulance is going to meet us there."

"What... where?"

"You were seen lying on a beach head by a passing boat. There was some activity there earlier and they were taking a look and found you. They radioed in and I came to find you. Lucky I did, I'm not sure you'd have survived a night."

"Where?"

"You are in a bad way," he said. "You're in the Seychelles. Maria, our guest is awake." A woman appeared behind Jessica, who turned in surprise.

"Easy," she said. "I'm with him. You're going to be fine."

"Must... contact... SHIELD," stammered Jessica.

"You an agent?" asked Maria.

"Not quite," said Jessica and she felt feint and passed out.

"What do we do, Simon?" asked Maria.

"We wait until we get to Mahe and then we call SHIELD, see if they know her." Simon sighed. It was normally so peaceful...

Pete Wisdom sat up. There was no pain in his chest and he was breathing. That meant he was alive, and if he was alive, that meant he was dead.

"Damn it," he said. He wasn't strapped to the table but he couldn't fire his hot knives either. The Shadow King was coming for him and he would take Wisdom's life and make it his own. Wisdom had wished he had died on the island, before this had happened, but he had to admit whatever they had done to him was bloody wonderful.

"Wish we could market it," he said, standing gingerly as he found his feet. The door was locked and there was very little left in the place that he could use and he tapped his fingers on the table as he looked about and considered his options.

"I could kill myself," he mused. "Yeah, like that'll happen quick enough. I could wait and jump whoever comes in... Not a bad plan and they won't kill me. Maybe. Either way. Or I could wait and see what happens."

He decided his best course of action was to wait and see what happened next, though he didn't quite fancy that plan if the Shadow King came for him now, but then again, he didn't feel his presence in his head.

"Farouk you're a twat," he said. Nothing came back, and that was odd. It was as if the Shadow King had stopped listening. "Unless he can't..." pondered Wisdom. Zola had altered Jessica Drew so that her powers would block the Shadow King, maybe he had done something as well. "No, that won't work because I can't fire my hot knives."

The door started to open and Pete stood ready, waiting to take advantage of any opportunity that came by, but there was a burst of electricity instead of a person and he was immobilised on the spot.

"Bloody hell," he said through gritted teeth. That had hurt.

"Peter Wisdom," said Viper as she walked in to the room, though perhaps waddled would have more of an apt description in Pete's mind. "Nice to see you up and about."

"Shouldn't you be lying down or summat?" said Pete.

"Perhaps," said Viper as she stroked her enlarged belly. "However, the Shadow King will speak to you first." Her visual demeanour changed and Pete watched in intrigue. Something was definitely not right here.

"So you live," said Farouk, through Viper.

"Yes, my compliments to your butcher," said Pete.

"Laugh while you can," said Farouk. "But it will not be for long."

"Really?" said Pete. "Then what's with the sudden change? Someone kick your psychic ass from one side of the astral plane to the other."

"Quite the opposite," said Farouk, "however, I will admit that my powers need time to become whole again."

"Don't hurry on my account," said Wisdom, with a smile.

"You are the least of my worries," said the Shadow King. "I was just letting you know we have not forgotten about you." Three Hydra thugs entered the room. "Now, this will be your punishment."

"For what?"

"Insulting your master a moment ago." The voice of Farouk was cold and the three men started to kick at Wisdom while he lay there recovering from the shock of earlier. "Enjoy." Wisdom took his beating well, but he promised he would find a way out of this and then there would be hell to pay.

"Are they clear for duty?" asked Forge. It had been ten hours since X-Force had arrived back and they had been briefed on what was going on by Lydia, who had been recertified herself for duty.

"Yes," said the doctor looking after them. "We've given them a burst of the compound serum we created and it seems to have done the trick. There won't be a problem with their powers under those kind of lights again. The data from the Armory system was very helpful."

"Good," said Forge.

"However," continued the doctor, "it will be a couple of hours before they can use their powers again. An after-effect of the serum, I'm afraid. Miss Pryde is fit as well, she just needs to rest and take it easy for a while. We've given her some powerful antibiotics and she'll recover."

"Okay," said Forge, and looked at the X-Force team, thinking for a moment of how X-Factor used to be. "I'll meet you in the X-Force office in ten minutes, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to check on Bridge and his people."

"Yes sir," said Maverick and the team filed out.

"I can't believe that Forge is in charge now," said Kitty as they walked through the corridors.

"I'm pretty sure that he can't either," said Maverick. "He's not relaxed once."

"Do you blame him?" asked Siryn. "To be called in to take out the man who is SHIELD?"

"We have to convince him about the Shadow King," said Marcus. "Fury's important and this isn't they way it should end."

"Agreed," said Maverick. "And we'll deal with the Hellfire Club."

"Damn right," said Lydia, still angry with the way they'd handled it. They discussed it more as they walked down to the office and shortly afterwards Forge came in.

"Okay," he said. "First things first - there was no way you could have known what would happen in Greece. All in all it was a good job to get out of there as you did. On the plus side of it all, the Commando's have been defeated and it looks like the Supreme Commando died in the mountain. It's over, so put aside what happened and be glad you're all here. Excalibur is a different story."

"About the traitor," started Maverick and Forge held up his hand.

"That's why we're here," he said. "You've done excellent work since you discovered this and there's a great deal of effort gone in to the evidence. It's clear cut against Fury, but I don't like it and I don't know why. Would someone like to tell me?"

"The Shadow King," said Siryn and Forge nodded slowly.

"I wondered what he'd been up to of late," said the mutant maker and he sighed. "Except that telepathic coercion is a hard defence to mount."

"You believe us?" asked Marcus, because he knew how foolish it sounded. It was almost like a madman's defence that the devil made him do it.

"I've seen the Shadow King in action, first hand," said Forge, closing his eyes. "I know what kind of power he had over people. Terry was one of them, and the X-Men got lucky that time. I also know that the Shadow King ruined Wolverine's reputation as well and the X-Men, well let's just say there's a lot of problems at Xavier's at the moment."

"So what do we do, Forge?" asked Kitty, a pang of guilt that she wasn't with the X-Men to help them flitting through her.

"We try and prove what we can, however I do have a surprise for you all."

"What?" asked Maverick, not sure he wanted any surprises.

"Her name is Jessica Drew," said Forge as he pressed a button on the panel. "Also known as Spider-Woman."

"I thought she was in Madripoor," said Kitty.

"Guess again, Kitty," said Forge.

"A hospital?"

"Yes, where she has been recovering after her escape from the Seychelles fortress of Hydra."

"We know where they are?" said Maverick, in surprise.

"It gets better," said Forge. "She was sharing a cell with Pete Wisdom."

"He's alive?" said Lydia and Kitty at once and then they looked at each other.

"Yes, we think so," said Forge and he told them of what they had learnt from Jessica who was recovering from her injuries. "The proof we need to clear Nick is there. I don't think we can get him his Directorship back, because he's made a few enemies, but we can keep his reputation in tact."

"Works for me," said Maverick. "When do we go?"

"As soon as possible," answered Forge. "It started as an X-Force operation, it ends as an X-Force operation. Now..." Whatever Forge was going to say was forgotten as the alarms sounded and Forge pressed the comm button. "This is Forge, what's going on?"

"Colonel Fury's escaped. He's making a run for it, sir."

"Stop him!"

"On it, sir," came the answer and X-Force went as well. They split up to try and find him then Maverick thought of something, collected some of the agents and went to the Hermes system.

Fury was there.

"FURY!" he shouted as he pulled his gun from it's holster. Everyone of them had their weapons pointed at Fury in an instant but nobody wanted to fire.

"North," he said, and Maverick could see that he wasn't in control here. "It's him..."

"Damn," cursed North. Raven had explained what had happened, how the Shadow King had battled Onslaught and that was the cause of the fallout on the psions of the world. The Shadow King was obviously not at his best because Fury knew he was there, but he was strong enough to control him. "Don't make me do this, Colonel."

"I don't have a choice," said Fury, his voice pleading for lenience. "I can't stop him."

"He's weak, Fury, fight him."

"I'm tryin'..." He started to back away to the main ignition chamber of the HERMES system, where he would be able to escape. The trigger device was in his hand and he started to cross the threshold

"Please, Colonel..." said Maverick, but Fury couldn't stop himself and Maverick pulled the trigger.

The shot fired and hit Fury square in the chest, the bullet entering his body and throwing him back in to the room.

"NO!" called North but he could see the finger press the button and the firing sequence started. "STOP HIM!" he shouted and the agents started to fire in to the room in an attempt to stop the teleport but all they did was wreck the system and when the sparks stopped flying, Fury was gone. If he survived.

"SHIT!" cursed Maverick and slammed his hand in to the wall. That was not what they needed, and no matter what happened now, Fury had no future in SHIELD. "Shit." He let his anger drain away. They'd learnt much today and he walked back to the X-Force office, wondering how to explain it to Forge.

"What happened?" asked the Director who was waiting, in the chair near the computer screen.

"I shot him," said North. "But he teleported out anyway."

"Used his master codes and undid the override system," said Forge and sighed. "It changes nothing about the case, North."

"If he made it, he's finished," said Maverick.

"Depends on the tapes," said Forge. "The mission parameters now have something extra, though." Maverick looked up as the others came in one by one.

"What's the mission now, sir?" he asked and Forge stood up.

"You are to go to the Seychelles. You are to infiltrate and extract both Peter Wisdom and Nicholas Fury from Hydra, by whatever means you deem necessary."