THE OTHERWORLD SAGA

Part I: That’s Just The Way It Is

By David Wheatley

Then…

Earth 794. Captain U.K. sat at home, thinking of the past and how they had come here, to a time of relative peace.

There had been a time when this world had been dictated to by a vicious tyrant, named Opul Lun Sat-Yr-9. The Mastrex had eventually been vanquished by the efforts of Captain U.K., an effort made easier by the death of Kaptain Briton her main enforcer and lover.

When Captain Britain, of Earth 616 and one of Linda’s closest friends, had been mistakenly transported to that world, with Kaptain Briton on his own, he had escaped thanks to the efforts of Gatecrasher and her Technet, who had unleashed a sentient slime mould on Sat-Yr-9’s guards as they tried to escape the world. Sat-Yr-9 was saved by her people, who died for her and the loss of her consort drove her mad.

Her consort was killed on Earth 616, by Psylocke as he tried to rape her, and she fried his mind with her psionic powers, and without him, Sat-Yr-9’s insanity plumbed new depths, forcing Roma to take a hand on Otherworld.

Linda McQuillen was Captain U.K., of Earth 839, a member of the Captain Britain Corps without a world and escaped her universe’s destruction at the cost of her husband, Rick, who gave his life to save her. She ended up trapped on Earth 616 until Roma took her to Otherworld and commissioned her to save Earth 794. Linda accepted the commission and Roma bent the laws of the universe in gratitude, rescuing Rick from death a moment before he was destined to die.

Together, he and Linda had cleaned up Earth 794 and Sat-Yr-9 was held in life imprisonment where she was well looked after in an attempt to rehabilitate her. Everything she needed was given, every desire granted, except companionship and freedom.

Then one day a portal opened within her cell by pure chance. A portal of interdimensional capability from what would turn out to be Earth 616. A man entered the cell through the portal, where Sat-Yr-9 seized the opportunity. She killed the man, made it look like she had died in an accident and fled to Earth 616.

On Earth 794, they thought she had died and that was the end of that. However the problem had just been transferred to a different world, as Linda discovered when she attended the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan on Otherworld, where she and Brian compared notes.

It turned out Sat-Yr-9 had done much research on the multiverse since her encounters with Captain Britain and Captain U.K., and knew of the transdimensional duplicates. She found her own, Courtney Ross, long time associate of Captain Britain, and killed her, to take her place.

Using her double’s position as vice-president of Frasers Bank, she began to use the money available to create her own private army, first of all freeing Jamie Braddock, Brian’s brother from imprisonment and allowing his latent reality altering powers to become active. She then used Braddock and Nigel Frobisher, her assistant financial director at Framers to take over her terrorist organisation, and as Courtney Ross she got close to Excalibur.

She made her move at a party Brian was having and with Jamie, took out all of Excalibur, the X-Man Psylocke and their party guests with relative ease, except for Kitty Pryde who escaped but not without being hurt in the attempt. The capture of Excalibur resulted in the death of Alysdane Stewart of W.H.O. at the hands of Jamie who used his powers to break every bone in her body and play with Excalibur as though they were toys.

Kitty recovered from her attack and set out to free her friends, but Jamie eventually caught up with her, allowing Meggan time to recover from the drugs she had been given when they were captured. Meggan’s ability to shape-shift meant she was not bound by the rules of order that Jamie manipulated and took him out, freeing the rest of Excalibur, however they were in no shape to go after Sat-Yr-9.

Eventually they caught up with Jamie, who was left in a coma after a psionic attack by Psylocke, but of Sat-Yr-9 there was no trace, even though Brian had vowed to make her pay for Courtney’s death. Then things happened. Brian was lost in the time stream, Excalibur moved to Muir Isle and by the time Brian returned Sat-Yr-9 had been forgotten about.

Linda wondered what had become of her, with nowhere to go without attracting attention. It had been a while since she had made her failed attempt. Earth 616 was acknowledged by all as the prime Earth, where those who lived on it had a serious affect on the multiverse. The Captain Britain Corps training courses had taught her that.

“Penny for them?” asked Rick as he entered with a glass of champagne as they looked out of the apartment window, over the Thames and watched the fireworks go up. A new Millennium had dawned.

“Just thinking of the past,” she said. “I…” The fireworks were different. “What the…?”

“Is that the symbol I think it is?” asked Rick as he stood up.

“Sat-Yr-9’s motif,” she answered as she walked over to the closet. She opened the door and began to put on her uniform.

“You think it’s more than a sick prank?” asked Rick.

“Doesn’t hurt to check,” answered Linda, as she felt the costume mould itself around her as it always did, heightening her abilities as it drew on the energy matrix that span from Otherworld to every variant of the British Isles. Since Brian and Excalibur had destroyed the main nexus of the matrix, her natural abilities were lessened from what they were, and she needed the suit more than she ever had. “Keep the bubbly cold,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

She opened the window and flew out to see what was going on.

Now…

“How’s she doing?” asked Meggan, as she entered the medical area of Braddock Manor.

“She’s recovering,” said Brian, as he looked up. Linda had arrived via Widget late last night, or early that morning, pursued by an assassin, who had been promptly dispatched by Wisdom, who was on his way home from a night on the town. “This is who I’m most interested in.” He beckoned as they left Linda’s bedside and went to see the body of the assassin.

“The uniform he’s wearing is a variant on my Captain Britain uniform. It heightens the wearer’s natural abilities.” He took the mask off the body and Meggan gasped as she saw the face. “What is he?”

“You’ve seen the Predator movies,” said Brian. “He’s a variant on that. Engineered for strength, speed and a partial invulnerability. Engineered from human.” As well as being the former Captain Britain, Brian was also a physicist of no small talent. It gave him some knowledge of what to look for in this area.

“Brian, what’s going on?” asked Meggan.

“Dunno, love,” he said, “but whatever it is I don’t like it. Linda will be able to tell us more when she wakes up.”

Then…

“What the hell?” asked Linda as she flew down past the London Eye on the banks of the Thames. There was a riot in progress.

“Captain U.K.!” said one of the police officers trying to contain the scene. “Thank God!”

“What’s happening?” asked Linda.

“Some kind of portal opened and these things started to come through them,” came the answer. “They… URK!” The officer was nailed by a power blast of some kind. Linda looked on. They wore the same uniforms as Sat-Yr-9’s people had done.

“Damn,” she said and went in to battle, fighting off the enemy. They were her equal in strength, but she had more experience and she was able to contain them as best she could. Sometimes she wished there were an Excalibur on this world, but they seemingly hadn’t been needed. However the enemy were getting more and more.

‘Where the hell are they coming from?” she wondered as she looked at the portal. Through it she could see another world, a world where thing seemed different, but she recognised the skeletal remains hung on a cross in the distance and she gasped. She had seen him at Brian’s trial – it was Hauptmann Englande. His world had been conquered by these creatures.

This begged the question, how many more had fallen? And why was the Corps not being contacted? The answer lay on Otherworld. It had to. Roma and Merlyn would not allow such degradation of reality to go unchecked – unless they were unable. Roma had been captured once before by the Adversary, that was common knowledge, and both she and Merlyn had been powerless before the power of Necrom, the anti-Phoenix.

Could Otherworld be under siege? It was possible and Linda could tell she would not win the fight from here.

“Fall back!” she shouted to those still fighting. “Save yourselves, there’s nothing we can do here!” The Eye began to wobble as the warriors began to tear at it’s foundations and as the Captain flew up she saw the giant wheel topple and fall with a splash in to the cold waters of the River Thames. Hundreds were dying and there was nothing she could do.

“RICK!” she cried as she flew home, to find a way of contacting Otherworld and send for reinforcements, though if Otherworld was under siege as she suspected then it was all over. “Rick, I…” she said as she flew in.

“Hello, Captain U.K.,” said the voice, a mixture of honey and acid. “It has been a while.”

“Sat-Yr-9?”

“How good of you to remember,” said the Mastrex, her arms behind her back, standing there, waiting.. “I was busy on Otherworld, but I had to take time out to see you.”

“Where’s Rick?” demanded Linda, seeing a pool of blood and fearing the worst.

“He’s beyond worrying about,” said Sat-Yr-9, as she took away her hands from behind her back, to reveal Rick’s severed head, it’s eyes wide, the blood dripping from where it had been joined to the rest of his body. “I knew the fireworks display would get your attention and as soon as you left, we made our move. It’s a shame you took so long, as it took a while to slice through his thick neck. He took a good minute or so to die.”

“Rick…” said Linda. Dying once had been bad enough, twice was almost unbearable. In her grief she lowered her guard and two of Sat-Yr-9’s warriors grabbed her arms, holding her so she was unable to break free.

“I wouldn’t worry about being lonely,” said Sat-Yr-9, “for soon you will be dead, but not before I’ve had my fun. It seems as if I’m not attracted to any one person, just the suit they wear.” She removed Linda’s helmet and dropped it to the floor. “And you are quite beautiful.” She ran her hands through Linda’s short blonde hair, as Linda strained her head back, trying to get out of her reach. “Have you ever felt the touch of another woman?” Sat-Yr-9’s hands moved down over Linda’ breasts, as Linda closed her eyes in revulsion, as the hands went lower heading towards…

“NO!” cried Linda and kicked out, pushing Sat-Yr-9 back, using the momentum to carry her and the warriors holding her out of the open window, Sat-Yr-9’s laughter ringing in her ears. If these two could fly, she was doomed, but so far they hadn’t shown that, and they eventually hit the floor with a thud, Linda’s suit absorbing a fair brunt of the impact. The other two were not so lucky.

Linda stood, fighting the need to retch, and looked around. Then she saw Rick’s body, torn open by the impact on the floor as it has hit, and Linda couldn’t take it. She threw up in disgust at the death of her husband, in disgust at the way Sat-Yr-9 had touched her and disgust at herself for not being strong enough to fight back.

London was in flames and it had been less than twenty minutes since things had started. She needed help, and she had to get to Otherworld. Gathering her strength she flew to Darkmoor, where the ring of stones – the interface from here to Otherworld was based. She had to get there.

“Let her go,” said Sat-Yr-9, said to her people. “What can she do? The Corps are falling one by one and there is no help from Otherworld. Not now. Soon all reality will be mine to command.”

“Don’t you mean ours?” said a voice from the ether.

“My apologies,” said Sat-Yr-9 and went back to the take-over of Earth 794.

Now…

“Brian,” said Pete Wisdom, as he came back to the Manor. “Kurt, MacTaggert and the others are on their way back to the States. How’s she doing?”

“Linda’s not come round yet. Betsy wants to help but without her telepathy there’s very little she can do. Meggan’s empathy just says Linda’s afraid. She can’t tell us what’s happened.”

“What about the bugger that came after her?”

“I don’t like the look of him,” said Brian. “He’s strong, powerful and has an amplification suit.”

“Huh,” said Pete, lighting a cigarette. “So what do you want us to do, boss?”

“Well…”

“BRIAN!” called Tangerine from the medical bay, and both he and Pete looked over. “She’s awake.”

Then…

Her strength failing at having pushed herself so hard, Linda fell from the sky as she reached Darkmoor. The suit had obviously taken damage when she fell from the apartment and wasn’t gathering the energy properly. She wondered if could activate the interface between realities, if it had enough energy to do so. She picked herself up, and washed away the tears she had been shedding since she started flying and stepped in to the stone circle.

If she still had the helmet this would have been child’s play, but she didn’t so she had to focus, using everything she remembered from the training course. In times of emergency the suit would automatically return her to Otherworld if she were in the interface if it were…

“Sufficiently damaged!” she remembered. There was nothing yet, so she assumed that the damage wasn’t serious enough. She hated doing this but she grabbed a hold of the uniform and tore at it, taking strips out of the delicate circuitry that made the amplifier do it’s job. There was a flash of yellowish light around her as magical energy waves reached in to the sky. The world around her faded and she found herself on Otherworld.

The base of the tower of Merlyn was still there from where Excalibur had destroyed it, the focus of the energy matrix no longer drawing the power to the one point, as it was scattered across the universe, though about half of it remained on Otherworld, with the rest spread equally across the Multiverse.

It was a shame, as the Matrix had been beautiful when it was tied to the one spot. Then she looked up towards the Starlight Citadel. It wasn’t there.

“What?” she asked of the air, but there was no answer forthcoming and many of the interfaces had collapsed in, the stone circles nothing more than ruins. The Multiverse was under assault, and the energies of Otherworld rejuvenated her slightly, or at least enough to fly about and survey the destruction.

After a while she found the Citadel, no longer floating. It had fallen from the sky, it’s beautiful spires broken and ruined, and the base under assault from more of the shock troopers, Saturnyne leading the troops on a counter assault.

The question remained though – where were Merlyn and Roma?

“I am here,” said a soft voice behind her.

“Roma!” said Linda, turning. The young woman’s billowing cloak was torn and shredded, her hair was a bedraggled mess about her face.

“What’s going on?” asked Linda. “How is this possible?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Roma. “My father suddenly collapsed under a massive psychic assault, then several portals opened and these creatures started to pour out. For all out powers we were unable to stop them, and it seems as if they have been invading realities for some time.”

“Sat-Yr-9,” said Linda. “She confronted me, she killed Rick… she…” Linda sank to her knees, the situation getting to her.

“She’s somehow escaped from Earth 616 and organised this,” said Roma, placing a tender hand on Linda, who shivered at the touch for a moment and not entirely from the cold, before Roma used a little energy to heal her, and keep her warm. “It is worrying that neither myself or my father noticed this.”

“Perhaps the dispersion of the matrix has lessened your sight,” said Linda, looking up.

“Possibly,” said Roma. “However we have been watching Earth 616 since the Necrom affair. We should have seen this.”

“What can we do?”

“I must stay and fight. If Otherworld falls then the rest of the universe will not be far behind. Go to Earth 616. Get Brian Braddock and Excalibur. If anyone can help us, they can. I…” A whip cracked, and wrapped itself around Roma’s neck, yanking her back.

“Got her!” came a voice of one of the Enforcers.

“Look it’s one of the Corps!”

“How’d she get out of the Supreme Headquarters?”

“Seize her!”

Linda reacted quickly, snapping the whip cord, freeing Roma. She gathered her in her arms and they flew, but Linda knew it wouldn’t get them far as she was not at her best.

“Leave me,” said Roma. “Head for the interface to Earth 2997. There you’ll find the being known as Widget. He will create a portal to Earth 616.”

“I can’t leave you,” said Linda.

“You have no choice,” said Roma, as Linda landed and put her down. “Get help, and quickly.”

“Yes, my liege,” said Linda. “I’ll return.”

“I know you will,” said Roma as Linda flew to the interface. “I know you will.” She readied her powers, to make a stand as the enemy approached.

“I’ll stop the Captain,” said one and began to run after Linda, as the others circled Roma…

Now…

“And that was the last you saw of her?” asked Brian as Linda sat up in the bed.

“Yes,” she said. “I remember reaching the interface and Widget creating a gateway but nothing after that.”

“You must have reached your limit and just made it in,” said Brian, putting an arm around her. “It’s lucky that Wisdom was coming up the road, otherwise you’d have been captured.”

“Unless that was what the robot intended,” said Pete, standing at the back of the room, a cigarette in his mouth. “In this business, there’s no such thing as coincidence.”

“Agreed,” said Brian.

“And I really don’t like this alternate dimension stuff,” continued Pete. “I mean, who decides which Earth’s get what numbers? If Linda’s universe died, how many is one less than infinite? How many versions of me are there out there?”

“If God’s gracious, only one,” muttered Brian.

“Oi! I heard that.”

“Shut up, Pete,” said Brian, impatiently. “Why did Roma send you to me and the others? Excalibur’s membership stands at three and a half, as my powers are all but gone unless I wear the suit.”

“I don’t know,” said Linda. “Is there nobody else?”

“Pendragons are doing something else,” said Pete. “On the news this morning.”

“Not really,” said Brian. “I…” They were interrupted by a scream.

“Tangerine!” they said. She’d gone to help Emma get some tea whilst Brian and Pete talked with Linda. Linda looked at Brian who for a second looked as if he wanted to fly, but remembered a moment later that he couldn’t.

“Stay there,” said Brian as he ran after Pete towards the sounds of the fight.

“Like hell,” said Linda, standing uneasily and went after the two men, and was surprised to see a hole in the mansion wall, where there were three of the warriors she’d faced earlier. Emma was trapped under the rubble, whilst Tangerine was being held by one of them. Brian looked uncertain, for without the suit there was little he could do. That left Pete Wisdom to help his teammate.

“Put her down, toerag,” he snarled, his hot knives primed.

“Fine,” said the warrior and snapped her neck and threw her to the floor like a rag doll. “How’s that?” Wisdom didn’t say a word but unleashed the hot knives straight in to the warriors head, slicing it open like an over ripe melon.

“You’ll not take us like that,” said the other two.

“Don’t have to,” said Pete, as Meggan flew in to them from behind, smacking them to the floor. The she stood back to back with Pete as the two of them stood up again.

“I wasn’t fast enough,” she said. “I blew it.”

“You did what you could,” answered Pete. “What d’you think?”

“I could take one,” said Meggan.

“I’ll try the other then,” said Pete, thinking if they could keep them away from Brian and Linda, the two Captains could clear Emma and Tangerine. Meggan nodded and charged one, whilst Pete unleashed the hot knives, however his assailant was getting closer and avoiding them at every turn. Wisdom started to back off a touch as his opponent got closer. ‘How is he dodging them?’ he wondered, especially at this range. He was very, very fast. Pete didn’t want to kill this one, but it was seeming as if he had no choice, then he slipped.

Meggan was trading blows with the other, altering her shape so she matched her enemy in size and stature. It was a fairly swift fight, and the villain was easily disposed of. She turned to see how Pete was doing, and saw he was being backed in to a corner. She saw him getting ready to kill him, but just before Pete could unleash the hot knives he slipped on the grass, and fell back hitting his head, and his head slumped to the side, his eyes closed.. She knew she wouldn’t reach him in time and the enemy was about to stamp Pete in to the floor.

As she was about to take off, her opponent grabbed her by the foot and slammed her in to the floor, and she knew that Pete was done for.

“COWARD!” shouted a voice and from the kitchen a tall figure appeared, brandishing a couple of large swords, and swept down with the blades. The villain stepped back to avoid the blades, as Kylun stood there. “If you want a piece of him, you’ll have to go through me.” Meggan altered the shape of her foot and slipped out of her enemy’s grip and shoulder slammed the enemy in front of Kylun, who stepped aside as Captain U.K., slammed her fist in to the fellow’s jaw. He fell back with a thud, as the third triggered a teleport device and the three of them vanished.

“Lucky I was coming to visit,” said Kylun. “What’s going on?”

“Well,” said Linda, and took him to one side to explain.

“Ohhhh,” said Pete, coming round. “Where is he?”

“Gone,” said Brian, helping him up and answered his next question before he asked it. “Tangerine’s alive, but she’s got no feeling in her body.”

“Then there were three,” said Pete rubbing the back of his head, feeling just a little foolish at slipping at such a vital moment.

“We are outnumbered,” admitted Brian. “I don’t know what we can do. If I were Kurt…”

“No,” said Meggan. “You can do this, you just have to have confidence. You’re Captain Britain, you were chosen to be Captain Britain. I have faith in you. It’s time you proved you’re as every bit as good as I believe you to be.”

“Thanks, love,” said Brian, and looked as Kylun approached. “Kylun, will you join us? We could do with your help.”

“I’d be honoured,” said Kylun. “It’s been a while, but I think I remember what to do.”

“We could do with more help,” said Pete. “What about Betsy and Feron?”

“Not Betsy,” said Brian. “She’s still not full over the business on Otherworld from before and Feron…”

“…Is useless, fair enough,” said Pete, looking for his cigarettes. “I think I can call in a favour, see if we can get someone in on loan. A telepathic illusionist. She’s doing stuff for W.H.O. as a penitence thing.”

“See if she’ll help,” said Brian. “There’s one other person I think we can try.”

“Who?” asked Meggan.

“You’ll see,” said Brian. “I’ll suit up and we’ll fly over to visit him. I think I’m going to have to adjust to using the uniform.” Meggan nodded and they split up to make their separate arrangements.

Pete Wisdom borrowed the jet and went down to London. His first port of call was to W.H.O. to call in the favour. He knew she wouldn’t help if he asked her, but he knew she would if she were reassigned. Then he caught the subway train to the Houses of Parliament, where she was currently stationed.

“Hello, Martinique,” he said as he walked up to her.

“Peter Wisdom,” she said, the name almost sounding as a curse. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” he replied. “I’ve come from the Tower…”

“Caught you at last, did they?”

“Ha bloody ha! You’re being reassigned.”

“To Black Air?”

“Don’t you keep in touch? Don’t work there any more,” grinned Pete, knowing this would be an experience he could savour. “Excalibur.”

“What?!”

“Had to pull a few strings to arrange it too,” said Pete, taking a swig from a little flask. The best way to enjoy this was in comfort, so that meant whiskey.

“You bastard. You know how much I hate the X-Men.”

“Yeah, well the ties to the X-Men are a lot less than they were,” said Pete, sharply.

“Oh, so Kitty Cat broke your heart?” said Martinique. “Not as out of touch as you think.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact you’re reassigned,” said Pete, taking a larger swig of the whiskey at Kitty’s name.

“And if I refuse?”

“We’ve got you as an accomplice to murder on those women a while back. Your signed confession, remember?”

“You’re enjoying this,” she said, resigned to the fact she was reassigned. The voices of those women still rang in her ears.

“Not really, but I don’t have a choice,” said Pete.

“Neither, it seems, does Mastermind,” answered Martinique.

“Welcome to the team, Miss Jason,” said Pete and wondered how he was going to explain this one to Brian.

“How’s it going?” asked Meggan as she and Brian flew sixty seven miles north of the Manor.

“I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed flying,” said Brian. “Look, there it is.”

“Him?” asked Meggan. “You’re asking him?”

“Yes. I know he refused to join us before, but if we offer him a deal, how to get home, he might help us out.”

“Maybe,” said Meggan uncertain.

“We won’t know until we ask,” said Brian as they landed. “Hello?” he called out.

“Who disturbs me?” came the voice.

“Captain Britain and Meggan, of Excalibur,” he answered.

“I told you I wanted no part of your team, I must return home.”

“Khaos,” said Brian. “We need your help. A threat has arisen in the multiverse, and Excalibur hasn’t the manpower to deal with it.”

“My friends,” said the black furred elf as he stood before them. “I am still trying to piece together the spell that brought me here so I may return home. My feelings haven’t changed.”

“I understand,” said Brian, “and we wouldn’t ask if we weren’t desperate, however if you help there may be a way to get you home.”

“How?” said Khaos, suspiciously. “And why have you not mentioned it before?”

“To be honest, I only just thought of it,” admitted Brian. “We’re about to go on a quest to help a sorceress defend her realm. With her knowledge of the dimensions, I’m certain she can get you home with ease. Except if we do not help, there won’t be a multiverse left.”

“An interesting statement,” said Khaos. “Even if you are lying then there’s no way I can disprove your claims.”

“You just have to trust us,” said Meggan. “Please?”

“I will help you,” said Khaos. “But if you are lying…”

“I’m not,” said Brian, wondering if in fact he was or not. He didn’t know if Roma could or would help Khaos return home. They’d cross that bridge when they came to it, he decided. “Let’s get back to the Manor and regroup.”

Pete had arrived back before them and had introduced everyone to Mastermind.

“Are you insane?” said Brian when he broke the news to him. “She’s the original Mastermind’s daughter, and tried to kill Wolverine and Gambit!”

“She was tricked into that by Arcade,” said Pete, “and yes, she does have dubious parents. Then again your father was supposed to have created those wonderful bullets in Genosha, remember?”

“Why…” started Brian, his fist clenched, but Meggan stopped him.

“If Pete vouches for her, I say we go for it. Brian, we don’t have time to argue amongst ourselves.”

“Fine,” said Brian. “Kylun, Linda are you two ready?”

“Yes,” said Linda and Kylun nodded.

“Betsy,” said Brian. “I…”

“I know,” she said. “Be careful.”

“WE will,” said Pete and Brian shook his head.

“You take care as well,” he said. “They attacked once, they might do it again. And keep an eye on Tangerine as well.”

“Feron’s doing what he can for her,” she said. “Good luck.”

“Let’s go,” said Brian and Widget opened the portal and the seven of them stepped through the gateway to Otherworld…

NEXT ISSUE: The all new, all different Excalibur take the fight to the enemy but will they be enough? Who is the mysterious force behind the invasion of Otherworld, and how did Sat-Yr-9 escape from Earth 616? If the team can act like one, then maybe we’ll find the answers…