UNITED WE STAND

By David Wheatley

As Brian and Betsy watched the others depart, Alistaire Stuart arrived on the scene, driving past the others as they got in to the car waiting to take them back to Braddock Manor, where they could rest and recover from their recent ordeal.

“What happened?” he asked, as he got out. “The last I saw of you was when you jumped in to the shadows. I parked the boat, and came in but it was all over and you guys were gone.”

“It’s a very long story, Alistaire,” said Brian, placing his hand on the shoulder of his friend. “As soon as we get back, we’ll fill you in.”

“Okay,” said the Director of the Weird Happenings Organisation. “But that was some very intricate stuff that went down, I could only just get my head around it and I only got a gist of it from the Wisdom family.”

“Oh, Christ,” said Brian, in realisation. “I forgot about them.”

“I wasn’t going to take them with us,” said Betsy. “It wouldn’t have been fair.”

“I still forgot them, though,” said Brian, feeling bad about it, but understanding his sister’s point. Alistaire looked at him and he could see there was something missing about him, that the light in his eyes was a little faded, yet somehow not. Alistaire hated it when he thought that, because though it was paradox, it was true.

“Hey,” said Alistaire, knowing how things could get complicated, “you had a lot on your mind. It was just one of those things.”

“Well, let’s not forget the last member of the Wisdom family, though.” He held the reality gem in his hand and an orange glow surrounded the Braddock twins.

“Where are you going?” asked Alistaire.

“To infinity,” said Brian, with a smile.

“And beyond,” chuckled Betsy, leaving Alistaire no better off for there cryptic comments and then they were gone.

“I’ll head over to the Manor then,” he said, shaking his head, hoping he could get a straight answer from the other members of the team. Then a thought struck him – what had happened to Meggan.

Brian and Betsy held hands as they were taken out of reality by the power of the Infinity Gem. Alistaire, Buckingham Palace and the whole world before them grew smaller and smaller, fading to a simple pinprick of black in the cascade of orange light.

“Where are we?” asked Betsy, knowing her brother held the Gem in his other hand and was either directing or being directed by it.

“Within reality itself,” said a voice and the two of them turned to see Meggan, revealed in her true form.

“Meggan!” called Brian as he ran towards his wife, but instead of being able to embrace her, he simply ran through her as if she were not there. “Meg?”

“Brian, my love,” she said. “There are some laws that the reality gem cannot repeal and facts that cannot be refuted, without the backing of the other five gems. We exist in two realms. You are living, I am dead.”

“But…” started Brian as a tear trickled down his cheek, but he knew in his heart that it was so and that there was nothing that his words could do to resolve it, and Betsy put her hand on his shoulder, their psionic link telling her that he no longer had the words to express himself. She had traces of the links she had formed when she had the Shadow King trapped within her mind, but now he was free and she could use her powers once again.

“Meggan,” she said. “We need to find Pete and Adam. Brian believes we can find them.”

“He can, because I told him so. While he holds the gem, I can speak to him on a subconscious level, beyond psionics, beyond even love, and we always be linked together with Jane.”

“Oh, Meg,” said Brian, his breathing staggered as he fought to speak the words in his mind. “I wish you could have seen her. I really do.”

“All reality is mine to see now, Brian,” she said. “I am one with it, and it is one with me. I have no influence over the laws of the universe as I am not a living being and without the soul gem cannot speak directly to the gem. However I know how it works, and while you hold the gem you and I can talk and I can tell you what you need to do in ways you cannot truly understand.”

“So why bring us here?” asked Psylocke.

“Because you need to be told properly,” the shade replied. “Or you may not get back.”

“Tell us what we need to know,” he said and Meggan explained the concept of Hypertime, of how Hypertime is basically an entrance way to every alternate reality, timeline and everything else that makes up the structure of all that is, and how it fitted in and crossed over with other separate universes.

Brian’s scientific intellect allowed him to grasp the basics of the situation with relative ease, and Psylocke used his mind to understand what was being said and her own experiences clicked in as she too grasped the idea.

“So the gem will take us in to Hypertime, and protect us from the energies in the vortex?” she clarified.

“Yes,” said Meggan. “And I can lead you to where Pete and Adam can be found, and then bring you home again.”

“Ah, Meggan,” said Brian, finally. “I love you, y’know. I always have.”

“I know she said. And I you, with all my heart.” His lips and hers came close, though both knew they could not touch, and as little as it was for the both of them it was more than enough. “Time to go. Hold the gem in your hands,” she told the both of them and they complied with her request.

“Question,” said Elisabeth. “How is the gem here when we’re in the gem?”

“Because,” said Brian, knowing that the scientific rules that governed everything did not apply in the presence of the gem.

“I hate simple explanations,” she said and the orange began to fade around them as the left he world they were in and not once did Brian’s eye’s leave the spirit of his wife and he knew they would never see each other again, in this lifetime or the next, for how could their souls meet in the afterlife, if hers remained here?

“You okay?” asked Betsy as the Hypertime Vortex appeared around them.

“In time,” he answered his sister and then they felt the feedback from the reality gem. “Something’s wrong.”

“It’s as if things were distorted… fragmented,” said Psylocke looking for the words to describe the sensations coming at her.

“Someone’s done untold damage to creation,” said Brian, as he struggled to make sense of things, and that was the one thing that was clear to him.

“Black Air again?”

“No, we stopped them and they wanted to rule, not destroy. And it’s not Pete either.”

“Odds are he’s in trouble, though,” said Psylocke. “Let’s find him and fast,” and using the gem as a guide they went to find their friend.

“Well this sucks,” said Pete Wisdom as he paced up and down. Adam still hadn’t woken up yet from the coma he’d been in since their arrival on the island, in this world, and Pete was worried. The man was totally invulnerable, to all intents and purposes immortal He could not be harmed by anything and yet here he was unconscious. The medics could monitor his vitals but they couldn’t do anything other than that. They couldn’t cut him, insert an IV or any of the medical things that might bring him round.

That and there was a maniac out there trying to destroy every reality going and since the intruder alert in this complex had just started, it seemed he was obviously here now. Michael Carrington and his people in Network had been right to prepare.

“Tell me about it,” said the little girl in the bed next to Adam’s. She was just sitting there, watching him intently. She was the daughter of Carrington and in a battle on this island, she had been given a disease by one of Network’s enemies, a disease made worse by the fact she was human.

“So you’ve got the Legacy Virus,” said Pete. “Sorry, kid.”

Bethany Carrington smiled at him, knowing that he meant it. If there was one thing she had learnt by watching him and listening in to his talks with her father, it was that he cared. “So am I. There’s no cure for it as yet. There are represents an’ all but nothing to reverse it.”

“It can go in to remission,” said Pete, trying to give the girl hope. He could see in her eyes the utter hopelessness and despair she felt, even though she was putting on a façade of being calm about it.

“Hasn’t happened in any human yet,” Beth said. “There was a theory that it went in to remission because the use of powers taxed the virus to its limits and it burnt itself out and sent in to a state of dormancy.”

“How long you got?” asked Pete, quietly.

“Months, weeks, days – take your pick. It’s in the middle stages of the virus. I’ve been like this a while now, and it’s a waiting game. The solutions and stuff they give me help but not enough.”

“And someone did this to you, purposely.”

“Yeah. Ain’t love grand?” she sighed and closed her eyes. Pete wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but he knew that it applied across the board but before he could reply someone else spoke.

“I’ve never had time for it personally,” said the voice. Pete turned and she opened her eyes again to see a new figure.

“Oh, you have got to be the villain,” said Pete. “Nobody dresses like that if they claim to be a white hat.” Then he fired off a couple of hot knives, but there was very little power behind them, because he hadn’t fully charged after all his adventures through reality and his opponent deflected them with ease.

“If you are the best that the world has to offer then killing you and your kind will be easier than I thought.”

“Adam,” said Pete as he backed away while the enemy approached him, “this would be a bloody good time to wake up.” If this guy was creaming realities then he was in serious trouble, and he needed all the help he could get. “Kid, get someone in here, quick!”

“I have cut off communications and telepathy across this island. You have no help coming to you, Wisdom.” Pete would have asked how he knew his name but he knew the touch of a psychic when he felt one and this bloke had simply pulled the name from his mind.”

“Bite me, pillock,” said Pete and nodded to Beth, who hit the alarm.

“Foolish child,” said the villain and cast her away with a flick of his hand.

“Bastard!” said Pete and dived at him. “She’s just a kid!”

“Who knew the consequences of her actions,” came the reply accompanied with an uppercut and sending him across the room with the force of the blow. Pete moaned as he tried to get up, but he couldn’t get his arms or legs to work and his enemy stood over him. “And now you die,” he said, grabbing Pete by the throat and holding aloft, choking the life out of him.

Pete tried to breathe but he couldn’t and the world started to fade around him as he fought for air. Then he realised he was going to die, alone and unknown on a world where he knew nobody and nobody knew him and there was nothing he could do. The face of Sat-Yr-Nine came in to his mind, laughing at him.

“No…” he spluttered, but she just laughed louder and so did the man choking the life out him. Pete closed his eyes. He couldn’t fight this anymore. The he was suddenly released from the grip with a jolt and as he fell to the floor, he realised the laughing had stopped. He opened his eyes and saw something that made him smile.

“Th’ cavl’ry’,” he managed to say.

“I don’t know who you are, sir,” snarled Brian, side by side with Psylocke. “But when you mess with one member of Excalibur you pick a fight with us all.”

“All? There are but two of you! This is not a challenge for one who commands the energies of hyperspace.” Then he was decked by Brain, with a titanic blow.

“Really?” said Brian. “Then how is it I’ve never heard of you?” The man’s jaw hung loosely, blood coming from his mouth. He held his mouth back in place and used some of the power at his command and repaired the damage.

“Then you will rue the day you did battle with Hyperstorm!” Then Hyperstorm unleashed a psionic barrage, which Psylocke tried to match, knowing that it would burn out her brother’s mind if she did not.

“Oh, shit,” said Michael Carrington as he arrived in the room, almost to be met with the fist of Captain Britain. “Brian?!” he asked, wondering what the British Prime Minister was doing here but then he realised this wasn’t his Brian Braddock. “Look, we don’t have time for a super-hero misunderstanding. Hit him instead!”

“How do you know my name?” asked Brian.

“Later,” said Carrington, feeling the psionic energy in the room and using his own powers to work with ambient energy source, he began to give Psylocke a hand against the much more powerful foe. As he did so, Brian flew at him and Pete stood and unleashed a couple of hot knives, hoping that attacks on three fronts would make them more effective this time.

The difference, Hyperstorm noted, was that where as Network had attacked him on mass from a distance, this was all up close and personal, and there wasn’t much for him to work with here except his own abilities. As he fended of the psionic attack from Psylocke and the feedback of his own psionic energies from Carrington, he countered the hot knives with his own energy burst, sending to the other side of the room while he leapt up and started to grapple with Captain Britain, then he gained a bit of luck.

One of the hot knives, glanced the side of Psylocke to cry out, which broke her concentration and Carrington’s, and they were caught in the path of the psionic burst sending them to their knees, blood pouring from their nose and ears as their minds were ravaged.

Pete tried to fire again but he wasn’t up to it and he just couldn’t get his powers in check, which left Hyperstorm and Captain Britain wrestling in mid air, and Hyperstorm was the more powerful of the men and threw Brian to the floor, leaving a visible den and the tiles on which he landed cracked and broken.

“This reality is forfeit,” said Hyperstorm, as Brian shook off the fall. I leave you this!” You are no threat to me, but you did hurt me.” His hand went to his jaw. “So your world is next! Farewell…” Then he vanished, leaving them to stare at the thing he had left.

“Betsy!” said Brian as he hurried over to his sister. “Are you okay?”

“Barely,” she whispered. “If this man hadn’t been here that blast would have left my mind empty. There would have been nothing left. My side, though, is badly burnt.”

“I’ll get you a salve,” said Carrington, standing shakily.

“How can you stand?” asked Brian, grateful to the man for saving his sister.

“I’m a High Lord, a mutant immortal. I’m Michael Carrington, but my friends call me Mac.”

“Brian Braddock,” said Brian, redundantly, knowing the man knew his name.

“Welcome to Network,” said Mac “And… what the hell is that?” He pointed at the device.

“No idea,” said Brian, looking at it, while Carrington looked at his daughter who was just bruised from her assault. “But it’s counting down.”

“A bomb,” said Carrington and hit his combadge. “Carrington to Stone, I need you in the infirmary, now.”

“On my way,” came the reply.

“And someone find Jo!”

“Who’s Jo?” asked Brian.

“My wife,” said Mac, as he got a healing salve from the medical supplies for Psylocke. “And for some reason she’s not answering my calls.”

Five minutes later, Professor Jennifer Stone, was in the med bay, examining the bomb.

“Good God,” she said, as she examined it, using her powers to give her an understanding of whatever she looked at to get to grips with it. “Mac, this bomb is made of a new energy that I’ve never seen before, but it has a residue on Adam over there. If I’m right, if this thing blows up then kiss the world and everything else in reality goodbye.”

“How do we stop it and how long do we have?” asked Brian. “I’ve looked at it and can’t figure it out.”

“Don’t know and maybe half an hour. Bastard gives us time to prepare for the end, because it’s inevitable,” she answered.

“If it was made it can be unmade,” said Mac. “Brian, get it out of here, please? This is a hospital not a lab.”

“Certainly,” he looked over to Psylocke who was on one of the beds. “Back later,” he said and she nodded. She needed to rest while the salve took effect and she recovered from the mind blast.

“I’ll stay with her,” said Pete, and Brian nodded. “God to see you again. For a while…”

“I know,” said Brian. “You were missed, Pete, we could have done with you out there. We’ll talk later.” He lifted the bomb up.

“Later,” said Pete and Mac winked at his daughter then led Brian out of the med bay to the R&D labs where they could work on a solution.

“What happened?” he asked, and Betsy filled him in on their adventure in the other world, of their fight with Black Air fro control of the Infinity Gems, of their team up with Adam Warlock and the loss of Meggan and the birth of Jane.

“Bloody hell,” said Pete, saddened at the loss of Meggan and angry with Black Air for what they’d done and how they’d made it happen.

“That’s intense,” agreed Beth as she listened. “Seems you both had a hell of a time.”

“What happened, Pete?” asked Elisabeth, looking at Adam, and Pete told them of their journey to the flip side of the all that is and back again, and of how Adam was in a coma.

“I can wake him,” she said, looking across.

“No, you don’t,” said Pete. “Your powers are weak after that pillock did a number on us. You hurt yourself, Brian’ll beat the crap out of me.”

“I’m a telepath, Pete,” she said. “The ‘looking out for number one’ routine doesn’t work on me. But it’s sweet of you to care that much.” Pete was speechless, and Psylocke got out of bed, wincing at the pain in her side, but noting it was less than it had been and certainly not as bad as when Sabretooth had gutted her many months back. She placed her hand on Adam’s forehead and went looking for his mind, hoping to find it somewhere in there.

Hyperstorm entered the Hypertime vortex and smiled. Soon his Hyperbomb would destroy that universe and he would leave them in the knowledge of the fate that was about to ravage the other universe, the universe the travellers shared.

The universe which… Then a thought occurred to him. Which universe was it? He didn’t know from where they had come from and there were no traces from those two like there had been from the first two.

“DAMNATION!” he cried and his voice echoed up and down the corridor. He would find it, somehow and his revenge would be completed on Excalibur.

Memory flared within him from the pictures he had seen in the mind of the woman, Psylocke, during their battle. Excalibur, the team his mother had founded on the world where he had encountered the Fantastic Four, where he had been defeated and trapped with Galactus. He should have known, because in the end it always came down to one thing – family.

All those who opposed him in any convincing way seemed to be connected to family. He wondered if it was fate, but nobody understood why he was doing this. The universe would be a better place thanks to him and nothing would stop him.

Not now, not ever.

In the Research and Development labs elsewhere in the Network Complex, two scientists worked on the device, while one non-scientist made sure his people were okay after the attack, and there was still no sign of his wife on the island, which was causing Carrington some concern.

“What’ve you got?” he asked, noting they had fifteen minutes left.

“The basic theory,” said Brian, looking at him, “is that when the thing explodes, the strange energy inside it is expelled in every direction as it explodes in a spherical shockwave. The ripples then break down everything in their path leaving nothing in their path, but travelling at such a speed that total destruction is less than an hour.”

“Now how the hell did you get that?” asked Mac.

“Internal matrix scan,” said Stone. “Take a look at this,” she said pressing a button and a 3D image appeared in the centre of the room, detailing the inside structure. “Explosions create a shockwave, we know that but they have a general ring of fire that only occurs in one loop. The internal structure of this bomb is different. It’s metallurgical technology fifty years ahead of our own and it has no detonator. Nothing to create a spark or anything. The shell of the bomb just breaks down, releasing the energy in very direction.”

“Can we not coat it in adamantium or something?” asked Mac. “Block the energy from escaping.

“It absorbs other metals on it,” said Brian. “We tried, using some of your own adamantium, and I must say the advances you’ve made in metallurgy are great. At home, there’s no way we can keep adamantium strong yet as malleable.”

“Even here it’s only for a few moments,” said Stone. “And it takes some effort to keep it that way.”

“Could we get back to saving the universe please?” asked Mac. “I’ve got better things to do tonight than die. Again.”

“Bottom line is, we can’t stop it,” said Stone, a look of defeat coming over her face. “We can’t stabilise the metal, we can’t keep the energy trapped within it.”

“Yes, we can,” said Pete as he entered the room. “We used the energy to travel between worlds. The device we had harnessed the Hyperium and used it to power our travel between Kingdoms, and their tech was nowhere near as advanced as this.”

“Jen?” asked Carrington. “We collected the pieces from the beach from when it exploded. Can you put it back together?”

“Probably not,” she said. “But maybe…” she retrieved it from one of the workbenches. “Yes, I see how they did it.”

“What?” asked Brian and Mac.

“The collector mechanism is virtually a solar conductor, attuned to the energy frequency. I could capture the energy, as soon as I replicate the material here. But it’ll take too long and it’s time we don’t have.”

“So it’s still going to explode,” said Brian. “Damn.”

“How about,” said Mac, “we ditch it somewhere it won’t do any harm.”

“The vortex,” said Pete. “It’s where it came from.”

“The gem!” said Brian, pulling out the reality gem. “We use it to travel between worlds and get rid of it on our way home.”

“Wonder what that’ll do to the vortex?” said Stone.

“Better it than us,” said Carrington. “Can you guys get your stuff together in five minutes?”

“Watch us,” said Brian.

In the med bay, Psylocke found Adam Destine.

“Adam?” she said. “Come back to us.”

“No,” he said. “Do you know how long it is since I slept, since I saw the darkness coming upon me? I do not want to awaken.”

“You will die. I cannot allow that.”

“You have no choice, X-Man. You cannot force me to awaken for my invulnerability protects me from all attacks.”

“Except those you imagine,” said Psylocke. “I can sense your desire to find death, but do you know what death is, what it feels like? Let me give you a taste.” Psylocke touched his mind with her own and let Adam feel what it was like to die. She had died, not once but three times, once at the hands of Horde, then when she and the other X-Men gave up their lives to defeat the Adversary and finally Sabretooth, she had felt the death of her original body, as it succumbed to the ravages of the Legacy Virus and she let Adam feel what it was that he wanted so badly.

“Is this truly what you crave, the desire to never again see the ones you love, to never speak to them, to never touch them, to have nothing. The afterlife is nothing to write home about, for I have seen it, I have experience it and it is not what I want to see again.”

“I didn’t realise… I thought it would be an escape…”

“No, it is an eternity to dwell on the wasted moments, the times lost and all that you never were. You cannot die, because you do not live, Adam. When the time comes, you will do so.”

“I must see my children…”

“Come back, Adam. Take my hand…”

They awoke as Pete and Brian entered the room. He shot daggers at Pete, who had obviously known what was going on, but they had work to do.

“We’ve got to get out of here, and ensure that this bomb doesn’t kill everyone here,” said Brian.

“And stop Hyperstorm,” said Pete. “It’s our home next, remember.”

“Not forgotten,” said Brian. “Betsy, Adam.”

“How do we get home?” asked Adam.

“This,” said Brian and produced the reality gem. “Trust me, this will work.”

“Fair enough,” said Adam.

“I’ll catch you guys up,” said Pete as the other three started to leave, and Brian nodded. Pete looked at Beth. “So, he said.

“So,” she replied.

“Take care, kid. And good luck. I think you’ll need it.”

“You too, Pete. You’re a good man, Mr. Wisdom, take care of yourself.” She nodded and Pete smiled. There was nothing left to say, and he hoped that they’d be able to save her and that he’d never run n to their world’s version of this so called ‘Number One.’ He’d killed children himself, but he’d always made it quick and painless. You never made people suffer needlessly.

With that, he grabbed his jacket and went after his friends. It was time to go home.

“Good bye, Mac,” said Brian as the two men shook hands. “Nice place you have here.”

“Thanks Brian,” said Carrington. “Good luck to you, to you all.” The others nodded, for Psylocke had come up with a plan, as in her battle with Hyperstorm she had seen whom he was, as he had seen whom she was. Brian held the bomb in one hand and the gem in another. The other three placed their hands on the gem, in a pastiche of the Fantastic Four sign of unity and they faded away from this world. Carrington watched them go, and then went to find his daughter.

He had to tell her that her mother was missing…

“How long we got?” said Pete.

“Three minutes,” said Brian and pitched the bomb down the vortex. “Follow me, and quickly!” They started running, following Brian who was flying through the vortex towards the Kingdom window that would get them home.

Just ahead of them was Hyperstorm.

“How the bloody hell have we managed that?” muttered Psylocke. “He had one hell of a lead on us.”

“Time moves faster in that Kingdom. It was 2015 after all,” said Pete.

“Makes things easer then,” said Brian as he used the reality gem to shift the image in the window of the Kingdom they were after to an image of Braddock Manor, where the rest of the team should be. Hyperstorm saw the Kingdom they were after and dived through, swiftly followed by the others, as an explosion occurred down the other side of the vortex, but the energy began to come towards them and they only just made it through.

As Brian landed, the gem fell out of his hand and landed somewhere in the long grass and the others landed near him, with Pete hitting him in the back of the head and he lost his gaze on where it landed.

He cursed the lost connection with Meggan but he’d search later.

“It’s so good to be home,” said Pete, as they picked themselves up.

“So you can die on your own soil,” said Hyperstorm. “You were no threat before, why would you be so now?”

“That would be us,” said Kylun, his swords held aloft, Mastermind behind him. At that distraction, Brian flew at him, knocking him to the floor. This time he would just keep pounding, and not give him any quarter while the other got the plan ready. This was going to be a team effort.

Hyperstorm focused himself and hit Brian with a concentrated burst of energy, throwing him away and then he felt Psylocke’s psychic knife plunge in to his mind, the total focus of her psionic powers in one physical manifestation. His mind was locked in a state of altered consciousness and his central nervous systems went out of control, and he fell to the floor, but his powers kicked in, allowing him to gain control over his body and his own psionic abilities working to repair the damage done to his mind, but it would be a few moments before he could do anything against Excalibur.

That was when he saw her.

“No it cannot be,” he said, reaching out with his psionics only to find that it was indeed she. “Mother?”

Rachel Summers, Phoenix, founder member of Excalibur, stood on the lawn outside Braddock Manor, and looked down at her son with concern in her eyes.

“Elisabeth says you are my son, from the future,” she said. “My son, and Franklin’s.”

“Yes,” whispered Hyperstorm. “I am from a future where you and he had a child before the sentinels killed him when the X-Men tried to escape. My name is Jonathon, named after my great-uncle.”

“Jonathon,” she said, putting her arms around him, looking directly in to his eyes. “Why have you done this, why have you killed all these people, countless billions?”

“To make things right,” he said. “To make sure what happened to you didn’t happen again.”

“But all that you did, it made you everything you were fighting against, don’t you see?”

“No,” said Hyperstorm, “it’s not like that. I am not Magnus, I am not Magneto, and you can’t compare me to that tired old man. I am the next stage of human evolution, I am power incarnate, I am…” His mind suddenly repaired itself. “You are not my mother…” he said and unleashed a blast of energy at her, however it did nothing to the person standing there and his eyes went wide at the realisation of it.

Psylocke smiled as her plan worked exactly the way they had intended. Martinique had created the illusion of Rachel, while Adam took her form, and Kylun provided background noises to make it seem as everyone was indeed there.

“This is not possible,” muttered Hyperstorm, as his confidence failed. He had never failed to kill before, and Pete took advantage of the confusion and fired a hot knife, using the last of his energy reserves. The single hot knife pierced Hyperstorm’s head, cutting through his brain with such precision that it did not kill him, but lobotomised him instead.

“Checkmate,” said Pete as Hyperstorm fell to the floor, cut off from access to his powers.

“How did you know that would do that?” asked Adam.

“Didn’t,” said Pete. “I was going for a kill shot. In time he might get his brain fixed. Bastard’s better off dead.”

“Who knows?” said Adam, shaking his head. “However the villain is beaten and that is enough. There is no way he could have activate another bomb.”

“We were lucky,” said Brian. “Elisabeth guessed right that the weak link in his mind was family and it distracted him long enough, though not the way we wanted. I was hoping he might repent.”

“Wasn’t going to happen,” said Martinique. “You can’t reason with people like that. The X-Men have tried for years and it got them nowhere. Pete did the right thing.”

“This is something that will debate long in to the night,” said Brian to Adam, with a sigh, knowing that this had happened before and would doubtless happen again. “Could I give you a lift to Ravenscroft? Your family will want to see you.”

“Thank you,” said Adam, and he walked over to Pete and shook his hand. “It was a unique experience.”

“Likewise,” said Pete accepting it and then he and Brian made their way to the garage, as the members of the team gathered, reunited at last.

In the grass, a small orange gemstone sparkled, forgotten and unseen by all but one person who had gone unobserved in the midst of the action. She picked it up and slowly walked away through the woods.

NEXT: Excalibur 2001 Annual – Who just claimed the Infinity Gem, and what does it mean for Excalibur?