Author's Note: This issue is continued from SON RISE: X-MEN

"I think his heart's stopped!" said Lydia, as she started to work on the fallen Radius.

"Cyclops is getting the medical bay ready," said M as she looked back to where the X-Men Prime team was looking on anxiously, while Siryn and Marcus piloted the aircraft towards the Xavier Institute. Maverick had elected to stay behind and do some crowd control with the other SHIELD agents that turned up, after the battle had ended. It had been a smart play on their part, as they'd been ill equipped to deal with the snake, but crowd control was something they were good at, and they provided stability in the chaos.

"Tell him to get ready, we're coming in hot," said Siryn as the Omnijet banked over the compound, the perimeter defences deactivated by Cerebro and Siryn held her breath and Marcus put his hand on hers, reassuring her. The last time they'd been here, Cyclops had pretty much ordered them out of the Institute. The X-Men had considered her a traitor for turning to Sinister in order to get her throat repaired and because of the drug she was under at the time she'd resented what Cyclops had been saying and decked him with a sonic blast. She'd not seen him since.

"On it," said Cerebro as Lydia started chest compressions with Jubilee giving Radius air. The venom inside Jared's body was eating him alive and only the advanced technology in the X-Mansion had a hope of saving him from certain death. "Hangar's open, Teresa," the sentient computer said and Siryn banked the craft on a sharp angle and the jet landed in the hangar bay, the inertial dampners kicking in as the jet stopped.

"Cyclops," said Emma, "we're on our way."

"I'm ready," Scott answered. M picked Radius up in a telekinetic hold and carried him out of the craft and to the medical wing, with Lydia and Jubilee still working on him. Emma looked at the other members of X-Force.

"I'm not sure what Scott will say," she replied, "but Magma will show you to the guest quarters, right Allison?"

"Sure," said Magma. "Follow me, we could do with the break." Marcus and Teresa looked at each other. It was better than nothing.

"Y'know if you don't stop being a bad girl, I'll have to spank you."

"Again?" said Kate as she grabbed Wisdom's crotch. "That a promise?"

"Maybe later, Kit," he said, lightly pushing her away. "And your hands are cold."

"Maybe I need warming up," she purred, nuzzling her forehead in to his chest.

Wisdom shook his head. "That's my Shadowcat, always in heat," Pete said as he lit a cigarette and he gave a smirk. "Randy little bitch."

"I had a sheltered life before I met you," she said. "You brought it out in me."

"Get stuffed," he said and she gave him a malicious grin. "I said later. And enough of the sheltered life crap. You were fighting aliens when you were thirteen, so you're not exactly that innocent, are you Pryde? And then there was Rasputin. You had a crush on him for God knows how long and you were thirteen and just figuring out what your body could do. How many times when you were in your room did you touch yourself and imagine it was him doing that?"

"Fuck you, Pete," she said and rolled over, annoyed with him. He still had the ability to push her buttons, no matter what the button was.

"You do, almost hourly," he replied, as his fingers caressed the nape of her neck and she giggled at the tickling in spite of herself which made her more annoyed.

"I said fuck off asshole."

"Hey, you started it, Kitty-cat."

"All I asked was about your ex-girlfriends. I know about Teresa, I know about Sam, who else is there in your past?"

"It's a long past, and I've told you most of what you need to know." He blew smoke in to the air and waited for her to say something, but she didn't, which was fine by him. She still had that annoying way of bitching about stuff when she should just lie on her back and spread her legs. He shook his head and lit another cigarette and after a moment, she turned to him.

"I never asked, what did Logan say?" she asked, thinking to the arrival of Cable, and how she and Pete hadn't been around for the fight. The Shadow King had dismissed them, though Wolverine and X-Man had stuck around.

Pete shrugged, glad of the change in the type of pillow talk. "He was angry, but I think that's because Cable slapped him about a bit. Nate got lucky from all accounts, but Logan's taken it personal. Though having a chair rammed through your guts is going to nark you in that special way."

"So he wasn't angry at us?"

"Oh, he's always pissed at me. That's what happens when you're screwing his daughter."

"I'm not his daughter," said Kate. "Though…"

"You wish he was and he thinks that way anyhow." Pete took another drag on the cigarette before passing it over to Kate. "Anyway, he gave me a kicking about how I should be more responsible, how I've a duty and how Cable could have done some serious damage."

"What did you say?" said Kate, knowing that Logan and Pete didn't exactly get on that well.

"I told him that I was too busy fucking you to really give a toss what Nathan Summers wanted and if Farouk couldn't take him then what hope did he have of getting control of the world. At which point he pinned me to the wall with his claws, the middle one just proddin' my neck."

"Pete!" she said, thinking he should have mentioned it earlier, but then again she should have known it would end up like that. "One day you're going to push him too far."

"That's what he said and the only reasons he didn't skewer me was that Farouk needed me and that you'd be upset."

"Not that upset," she said with an evil smile. "I've ditched you before, I could do it again."

Pete closed his eyes and met her with an equally evil smile. "An' I could make it so you were like male Jews. I've watched girls get circumcised before and it's ain't pretty - before, during or after."

"You wouldn't," she said worried, because he used the tone he reserved for when he was being at his most cruel and Pete just looked at her before taking back the cigarette and he closed his eyes.

"Don't try me then," he said. It was only a matter of time before the inner council of the Shadow King decided what was going to happen and he needed a rest.

"There are days and there are days," Maverick said as he directed the various agents to the areas he was looking after. He was the senior SHIELD agent on site so he was in charge. There was quite a bit of looting going on as the local hoods took advantage of the chaos so there were agents dealing with that, as well as people ensuring that those who had been under the thrall of Talyn were free of the creature's influence.

It seemed to be that way, but then again there were also times when he looked in to their eyes and he did not know what he saw there, but he knew it wasn't human. There was going to be trouble from this down the line, he could feel it, but that was a problem for another day. Or at least he hoped so and he heard someone calling his name and he looked up.

"Yes, Michaels?" he said, hoping he had the man's name right.

"Sir," said the agents, a concerned look on his face, "I think you need to come see this."

"Okay," said Maverick and he nodded to some of the agents around him to carry on and he went over to the agent and followed the man to a small alleyway.

"We found this," Agent Michaels said and another agent stepped aside to reveal a carving on the ground, a skull with six trails in the centre of a circle. "It's a mark for Hydra."

"I know that," Maverick answered, getting worried. If they were in the middle of a Hydra cell, then something big could happen, especially with Hydra becoming much more of a threat than they had been in recent years.

"Sorry, sir," Michaels said.

"What else is in the area?" Maverick asked, hoping that there was intelligence that they'd just not got yet. It was pretty confusing with everything that was going on. However, it was going to be unlikely

"Nothing," the other agent answered. "As far as we know there's no Hydra presence in Greenwich, but…"

"With all that's been going on with them lately our intel regarding Hydra is suspect," Maverick replied with a sigh. "Damn, we're going to have to investigate. Building to building."

"Yes, sir," said the agents and they went to get a small team together. This was obviously the place to start but why? If it wasn't for the fact that they were sweeping the alleyways in case of anything the serpent had done, they'd never have found this mark and North wondered how long it had been here. He had to contact Forge and let him know what they'd found.

"There are days and there are days," he said again and made the call.

"C'mon kid," said Cyclops as he looked at Jared, watching as the computers assessed the venom and tried to come up with an antidote, as the machine kept his body going. Emma had brought the piece of tongue that had been severed when X-Men Prime had arrived and they were analysing the tongue to see if there was something that could help.

Emma was brilliant in her own way, Lydia was a detective by nature and M seemed to simply know what was going on, but this was something that they were unprepared for.

"Where were you?" asked Jubilee as she looked at Cyclops. "We needed you."

"I was trying to get help," Scott answered. "I couldn't reach Cable, Rachel or anyone. Whatever was going on out there was disrupting communications. If Cerebro wasn't a direct extension of the mansion's computers I don't know if I'd have been in touch with you."

"Rachel's in the hospital," said Lydia, looking over. "Her Askani students were killed a little while ago, and she was seemingly injured at the same time. "I'm surprised you didn't know…"

"What?" said Scott, sharply turning to look at her. "How do you know?"

"Because of Cable we keep an eye on her," Lydia answered. "We as in SHIELD. After what's gone on with him over the last couple of years, we figured it was best to do that. He attracts trouble."

"He's his father's son," Emma said.

"I don't understand how nobody's told me," said Scott, angry. Though Rachel was from a different future, she was still flesh and blood and the idea of losing another child… "What happened? I mean, who did it?"

"Nobody seems to know. Cable dealt with it in house," Lydia said. "And you've not exactly been reachable." Scott paused and wondered how much he had missed, what he had let slip by him while he was full of self-pity.

"Why didn't you tell me, Nate?" Cyclops whispered as he looked on at Jared Corbo and hoped the Canadian recovered quickly.

"I think we've got it," said Emma. "Cerebro…"

"Confirmed," said Cerebro. "We've a counter and I'm uploading the details to the medical computers. With luck he'll stop degenerating and his body will start to recover."

"He's taken significant internal damage," said Monet. "I think we may be too late."

"Then maybe I can help," said Siryn, who had entered the room with Magma. "Scott."

"Teresa," he replied, a tad coldly. "What are you thinking?"

"A transfusion," she said. "Monitored and controlled by the Shi'ar systems, they can filter my blood and extract the nanites and put them in to Jared's body. They'll start to fix him up."

"It may be the only way to keep him alive," said Monet.

"However what do we know about these nanites? What has Sinister engineered them to do exactly? Do they monitor you, send him information on what's going on? I don't think he's ever been the benevolent type, so the question is what's in it for him?"

"I cannae answer," said Siryn. "However if he is monitoring it, then he's done nothing about it."

"But you're not an X-Man," Scott countered. "It's a security risk…"

"Is it worth Jared's life?" asked Emma. "Are you ready to condemn him because of Sinister?"

Scott paused. "No," he said. "I'm not." His fists were clenched. "Do it." Siryn nodded and Emma started to fit her up to the systems.

"I'm going to try and contact SHIELD," said Lydia. "See what they know about your daughter." Cyclops nodded and Lydia looked at him. If she didn't know better she'd say there was something wrong with him, but that was only a gut impression.

"I'll take you," said Jubilee and Magma smiled. She'd babysat the guests long enough and she had a curiosity about Radius. He was annoying, certainly not her type but his trying amused her and though she had only known him a short while, she knew she would miss it.

Lydia smiled as she looked at her and followed Jubilee outside. "FX?" she said.

"Yeah, I hate it too," Jubilee said, "but Cyclops is the boss and he gave the name out."

"There's definitely something wrong with him," said Lydia, softly.

"We've been saying it for ages. I mean, why let Emma Frost here… she killed my friend and she's manipulated us and…" as Jubilee continued her tirade against Cyclops decisions, Lydia pondered what was going on and then she realised something. She didn't know where Marcus was…

"And that's what's been happening, Professor," said Marcus as he sat inside the Danger Room, the Xavier program running.

"Mr Raven," said the image of Xavier. The room was comprised of a replica of the man's study of with the man himself sitting behind his desk, in his favourite chair, looking out of the window. "May I call you Marcus?"

"Yes, of course," said Marcus.

"It seems to me that there has been a lot of changes since my death and indeed since our last conversation. These Sons of Set were indeed powerful entities, but it shows how much power you have at your disposal. I knew when I first met you how much power you had. Your psionic defences are aggressive and that is because of the pure power they possess."

"That's the thing Ah want to talk to you about," said Marcus. "Ah know how much power Ah have, but Ah don't know how to actualise it. Ah've not the skill and Ah'm getting in to situations where I need it."

"And you think it's this that's cost you your friends to the Shadow King?" said Xavier. "Don't Farouk is a powerful foe, and a wily opponent. I have often suspected that he has been playing selected cards from a much larger deck. His defeat on Muir was almost too easy and if David returned, then he certainly could as well. I should have prepared but by the time it crossed my mind I was involved in other things."

"Onslaught."

"Yes," said Xavier. "My only advice is this, trust in yourself. You have been through enough and come out the other side alive. You have had a baptism of fire. I knew you would have made an excellent member of the X-Men."

"Thank you, sir."

"And forgive Pete Wisdom. I never knew him, but from what Katherine told me of him, he was a good man. His heart was in the right place, no matter what he did."

Marcus nodded, thinking it was a shame that Xavier had died. They needed a man with his wisdom and he was glad they had this chance to talk.

"Understood," said Forge, his voice crackling over the radio as the interference got in the way of the transmission. "I'm monitoring it from headquarters. Forge out."

"That was odd," North said to himself. Forge didn't sound quite himself, but then with all that was going on perhaps it was a lot to expect of him. The man was organising the world's safety almost single-handed and he was only a man. However Forge had given him clearance to act and that was all that was needed and he went over to Michaels. "Anything?"

"No, sir," Michaels answered. "If there is a secret door around here then there's no way we can detect it."

"Figures," said Maverick. "It's never going to be easy. Are your team…"

"Working the buildings? Yes, sir. I've agents in each of the buildings the alley borders, and I've also got a camera in the sewer just to see what's down there."

"Found any Turtles?" Maverick said.

"No, sir, but I believe they were seen at Madison Square Garden."

"Great," said North and he looked up at the sky. "Wait a minute…" he said. "That's odd."

"What?" said Michaels. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand."

"The air… it's shimmering," said Maverick and he changed the view from the eyepieces on his faceplate, magnifying the view. There was a definite disturbance. He pulled his pistol from the holster pointed up and fired and the bullet ricocheted back to the ground. "Uh oh," he muttered.

"It's a holographic image," said Michaels. "Hiding…"

"Hydra," said Maverick and he fired up his bio kinetic energies and blasted the seal of Hydra and there was a hum as the energy was redirected upwards, dispersing the image and revealing a new structure. "I think we've found what we're looking for," he said and then the structure opened and Hydra agents started to pour out and Maverick knew they had a problem.

"And then there are days…"