He opened his eyes, or whatever came for eyes these days. Something was certainly not right. This wasn't Xavier City, or even Exodus' citadel. He remembered the fight, the cataclysmic battle between the X-Men and Garokk. They'd won, hadn't they? So why did it feel like somehow they'd lost. He willed himself upright. The others were also starting to recover.
"Does anyone know what the shock happened?" asked Tim, looking around. Luna, Eddie, Dust and Krys were simply looking about the deserted wastelands, while Henri dropped to his knees.
"No," he whispered. "Not again."
"Last thing I remember," said Dust, "is Mephisto going one on one with Garokk."
"Some people have difficulty accepting when they are beaten," said Eddie. "I suspect Garokk's hand in this though."
"It is," said Henri, who was being tended to by Krys. "I know where we are."
"What?" asked Tim, falling back in to his old role as the leader of the X-Men very quickly and very easily. "Where are we?"
"The Delta Continuum." Henri looked at the rest of the team, the despair and despondency in his eyes. "There's no way home."
"How do you know?" asked Luna.
"This is where I was lost, before Garokk found me," said Henri. "I..." He stopped and looked towards the horizon. "Not again."
"What?" asked Dust. "Ah don't sense anything."
"Just run," said Henri. "I'll create a diversion and then I'll explain later."
"Let's go," said Tim, deferring to Meanstreak's judgement. He obviously knew this place, where they didn't and his experience here would be invaluable in keeping them alive. The X-Men started to run one way, while Meanstreak went another. If there were something chasing them, they couldn't tell, but the look of fear on Henri's face was enough.
"Just like old times," Tim muttered as they made their escape.
Xavier City was a mess.
Lensherr Park was gone, nothing more than a wasteland now. Fires still raged across the city where anti-mutant sentiment had gotten the better of people, thanks to Exodus and his mind-altering field, three days later. The Council buildings were damaged, but were repairable and the medical bays were full to over flowing. The Xavier City Council, and what remained of the X-Men had their work cut out for them, but they went to work - all except Shakti who stayed behind at the council buildings.
In her condition there was very little she could do, except send word to their allies around the world and assess what damage had been done to the planet. She had spent some time fixing the systems that had been damaged in the battle and now it was up and running to an acceptable level. With the council buildings back online, there would be some kind of return to normality in the city.
She looked at the communications console before her, fearing what the world was now like and took a deep breath. They'd been out of touch with the rest of the planet for a bit, and they were unsure of the ramifications of what had been done. Brushing away the hair at her neck, she uncovered her cyber-jack and connected in to the system, sending out a system wide alert headed X-Men, hoping that someone would reply.
"Shakti!" came a response and a form emerged in front of her.
"Nostromo!" she replied, delighted to see one of her former students.
"I'm just checking the newswires, seeing what is going on. You?"
"Same here. I'm just checking in, trying to find out the extent of what happened."
"What did happen?" asked the new ruler of Latveria, and Shakti told him of what had happened, of how Exodus and Garokk had done battle with each other for the right to be the heir to Magneto and what they had done. She also told them the X-Men had been sucked in to the portal, and without a trace it had to be presumed they were dead.
"For now," said Nostromo with some concern. "What do you need from me?"
"Information and help if you can spare it. Xavier City needs a lot of work in rebuilding, as will other parts of the world. In a sense, we're lucky that the floods destroyed as much of the planet as it did, otherwise it would have been a disaster beyond anything we've seen."
"Maybe that's why Exodus was so powerful," suggested Nostromo. "There weren't as many people to hold in his thrall."
"Who knows," Shakti sighed. "He's gone now, though. The devil got his due."
"Good," said Nostromo. "After Clarion..." He paused a moment. "Shakti, there's something coming in on the newswire... Oh, my God..."
Shakti tapped in to the newswires and gasped. Johnny Storm was dead; his body had been transported to New York and was being held in stasis at Alchemax. The Fantastic Four were no longer four in number.
"Nos," she said. "Let people know what happened, I need to speak to Xi'an."
"Why?"
"Because we'll have to go to Alchemax. We have to make our peace with Reed and Sue."
Morphine stood on the roof of the council buildings, soaking up the sunshine. He didn't know how Mephisto had done it but now there would be daylight in the Antarctic all year long. No longer would the darkness be a problem for them. The only downside that he could see was that there was no night either. Never again would they see the moon or the stars.
"Well," he chuckled, "they weren't exactly of much use." He looked over the smoking buildings of his city. His city. Exodus had tried and lost it, Garokk had tried and lost it, Xi'an and the rest of the council would be busy sorting out other problems now the X-men were gone and they didn't trust him in the slightest. Which meant he wouldn't be allowed to play games with the rest of the children. He shook his head, as he took a drink from the glass in his hand and the bubbles tickled the back of his throat. That suited him fine - he didn't like the other children anyway.
He looked down at the crater that was Lensherr Park and wondered if they should rebuild it, or put something else in instead. The statue of Xavier needed to be rebuilt as well, but that could wait. It needed doing but it wasn't that important. As a memorial it was great, and a wonderful reminder of the people living in harmony with each other. Which was great, because if they were trying to kill each other, then Morphine's plans wouldn't really get anywhere, and that was certainly not an option.
"Xi'an?" came a call over his communicator, that had been supplied to the Council by Doom. They'd started using them because it was obvious they needed to stay in contact with each other now they were without a telepath. Morphine hadn't been given one but he'd got one hold of one anyway.
"Go ahead, Shakti," responded the voice of Xi'an.
"We need to talk, can you meet me at our quarters?"
"Certainly," he answered her, and Morphine could sense the tiredness in his voice. Obviously his power to heal had come in very handy in the last few days and he had done a lot of good work for the people of the city. However such work was not without cost to himself.
"Good," she said and closed the channel.
Interesting, mused Morphine as he drained his glass. Something was afoot in the world, something important. He wondered what it was and how he could use it. The more he had on the others the better, because one day there would be a show down. He knew it, and so did they.
Except he was willing to ensure that no matter what, the only winner here would by Morphine Somers. He smiled and placed the glass on the ledge of the roof and made his way back inside.
Back in the delta Continuum, the X-Men were tired, they were running hard and burning themsleves out. Their previous battle had been a significant drain on them and they were lost and alone.
"You guys rest," said Tim, stopping. As a being of energy he could go on indefinitely but the others were all too human. "I'll go give Henri a hand."
"Holding you back, lover?" asked Luna.
"Nope," said Tim, kissing her on the cheek and then vanished in to the distance, leaving the barest streak of light behind. Luna sighed, wondering how much was left of the man she loved. They had been apart a long time, and she had never really gotten chance to get used to the new Tim Fitzgerald before his abduction. Now he was back, and she still loved him, but she didn't know if he was still the man he had been.
"He's certainly come a long way," said Eddie, watching Luna watching Tim's trail. "I remember when he first arrived, scared of his own shadow and unable to use his powers properly. Now... He's one of the most powerful men alive."
"Xi'an always knew he had potential," said Krys. "How are you holding up though?"
"Trying not to think about it," he admitted. "Rosa's in a bad way. I really need to be there, guess that's not going to happen quickly."
"She'll be fine," said Dust. "She's strong, and she's got you to look forward to. Ah reckon by the time you get back, she'll be whole again."
"Thank you, my brother," said Eddie as he put his hand on his shoulder. "I realise this is what you asked for, but here it is all the same."
"You have to do what is right," said Dust. "Ah didn't and now Ah'm makin' up for it."
"What did happen in the final days?" asked Luna. "How did we get to this?"
"That's a long story," said Dust, taking off his coat and sitting down. "Give me a moment, an' Ah'll tell you the truth about the end of the Age o' Heroes."
"Damn it," said Henri as he moved, pushing himself to go faster as the red arrows of energy followed him, homing in on the speed and light trail he was leaving behind - but they were also gaining. They went for him because they had his scent. He remember the first time he had been here, somehow crossing the dimensions with his speed, as if he'd broken some kind of barrier that had never mean to be touched. He had appeared in mid air and fallen quite a way down to the floor, where he had lain, injured and broken from the fall.
The yellow arrows that had been following had taken him to their city, where they had converted from arrows to beings of light. Apparently they had been at war with the red arrows for many years, the reds believing the yellows to be impure and wanting to destroy them. They had travelled through the barrier to find help and come across Henri, but found themselves unable to take human form. They had chased him in an effort to talk, but he had feared them and run.
Once they explained their error, they were grievously sorry for what they had done and had used their powers to heal him. The yellows were a peaceful race of athletes and healers while the reds were cruel and barbaric. Henri had helped them defend themselves, but there was only so much one man could do against a race of warriors. It had helped that he was faster than they were, but he had become known as a dissenter and the rebels wanted him dead and he knew the X-Men were in no state to fight them, not yet.
Then he tripped, his remembering combined with his tiredness and caused him to make mistakes. The reds were on him in a moment, snapping at him, tearing off lumps of flesh was they buzzed around him. He tried to fight them off but to no avail and he wondered if this was it, until three electical blasts hit the reds, forcing them away.
"Tim!" said Henri.
"Thought you could do with a hand," replied Skullfire and watched as the creatures began to take human form. "What the shock are they?"
"Dangerous," said Henri and stood up shakily.
"Great," said Tim. "Why is it there's never ever friendly types when we come to visit?"
"Don't know," said Henri. "Tim, save yourself. You'll not stop them."
"Let's find out," he said and fired two more blasts at them, which they seemed to absorb. "Shock..."
"They're only vulnerable in arrow form," said Henri. "Like that, they simply absorb whatever's thrown at them."
"Fine," said Tim and picked up Henri. "Then we're gone." In a heartbeat, the two X-Men vanished from the place and away from their foes. This one would take some thinking out.
Back at Xavier City, Shakti was waiting when Xi'an entered the rooms.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi," he answered, and kissed her before relaxing back in to his chair. She could see that he was physically exhausted from the effort that he'd put in over the last few days. Xi'an believed in leading form the front and that was what he did. "Thank you," he said.
"For what?"
"Giving me a break," he replied. "People understand more when I visit the woman I love instead of taking a break to relax. People don't understand that mutants are human with super powers not powerful superhumans."
"No problem," she said, coming over to him, and holding his hands. "However, we need to talk."
"About?"
"Richards." At the mention of his name, Xi'an became alert, his gaze frozen.
"Why?" he asked. The last time he'd spoken with Reed he'd virtually thrown him out of the city. He didn't like the man, he didn't like his attitude or his scientific recklessness. You could tell he wasn't the original, from all accounts and Xi'an blamed him for what his robot had done to Shakti. It was a miracle she was even walking.
"Because we have to rebuild the bridges," said Shakti. "How can we readily promote a dream of harmony when we can't get along with those who should be amongst our closest allies?"
"He crippled you, he made you pregnant."
"No, that was the Franklin robot. Reed is not responsible for what happened to me,"
"He made its program, he told it what to do, he put in it a level a sentience that it should never have had, a level he thinks allowed the ghost of his real son to join with the robot."
"Torch is dead."
"What?" Xi'an looked stunned at this one.
"John Storm died, fighting the Atlanteans. His racist tendencies were brought out by Exodus and in the fight he actually died. There's a big thing happening in America."
"And as head of the council, I should be there," said Xi'an. He didn't like it, but the Fantastic Four were revered the world over. "Jammit."
"I know, love," she said and kissed him. "Besides, it'll show you that you're a bigger person that Richards, making the first move."
"I'll arrange something with Miguel," he said, stroking her face, his fingers caressing her cheek. "New York, here we come."
Outside the apartment Morphine smiled, and slowly walked away. Down the corridor, Victor Ten Eagles frowned as he placed a finger on his lips. Something would have to be done here, and done quickly.
The X-Men sat, waiting for the return of Meanstreak and Skullfire, while Dust related the story of the death of Charles Xavier after what history had termed the Magneto War.
"And that was the death of Charles Xavier," said Dust, sadly and closed his eyes at the memory. "Ah never did find out who was the man who pulled the trigger, but one thing was certain - it all went downhill from there."
"I can't believe they shot him, for being a mutant" said Krys.
"We weren't exactly living in enlightened times before the Phalanx came," said Eddie. "Luckily life's improved since then."
"Yeah," said Dust. "Ah reckon Xavier's got a reason to be happy. It took the work of two centuries but it's happened."
"But will it last?" asked Luna. "Exodus showed us all what was lurking within the darkness of humanity and how close it was to the surface."
"Seems to me that as long as there are people willing to stand up for the dream, then it'll last as long as there are dreamers making it reality." Dust gave a smile.
"Like us," said Krys.
"Yeah," he answered, and looked to the horizon. "We got company," he said. "Tim's got Henri. Rest of the story will have to wait."
"Yeah, and look there," said Krys, pointing in the other direction. There were figures advancing towards them. Lots of them and she formed a staff made of crystal.
"Damn," said Dust, his eye sparkling with psionic energy. "Don't sense 'em at all. Maybe they need to be closer."
"Hope so," said Eddie as he grabbed a piece of adamantium from his belt, and absorbed the properties of the metal, turning his skin in to the vaunted metal. "Get a chance to work out my aggression."
"Wonder what these creatures taste like," said Luna, almost salivating at the thought of a new delicacy.
"Last resort, love," said Tim as he arrived. "I know how you feel, but we're the good guys, remember?"
"If you say so, sweet thing," she said.
"Tim," said Henri, as Skullfire put him down. "Those are the yellows I told you about."
"Okay," he said. "Stand down, these are the friendly arrows." They looked at him. "Henri'll explain later."
"Erm, Henri," said Krys. "Did you say yellows?"
"Yes," said Henri. "Why?"
"Because those look like orange beings to me."
"Oh no," said Henri. "They couldn't have..."
"Couldn't have what?" asked Tim. "Do we fight or what?"
"I don't know," said Meanstreak. "It looks like the races have joined. I don't know what side they're on."
"Oh, shock..." said Tim as they got closer.
