THE END

By Wesley Overhults

Earth-108

The cold, hard ground rushed to meet him faster than he would’ve liked. The right side of his face smacked against it and the impact made him actually forget the pain inside him for a split-second. Visions flashed behind his eyes and the red lenses of the cowl he wore. His parents, Kathy, Eddie, Matt, the other heroes of his world, all of them were out of his reach now. Looming large in his mind’s eye was Nico Minoru, the girl from another world he had met and fallen in love with. The fingers of his right hand clenched together into a fist and he remembered the trinket she gave him before she literally disappeared. She told him to remember her, told him that she wouldn’t forget him no matter what. He inwardly laughed at that. What chance did they stand against the universe, against the cosmic forces intent on ruining their lives? Thinking that they could create something beautiful in the world was nothing but a sick joke.

“We need to get our bearings again,” ordered Sandman, “Anybody familiar with forests? By the look of these trees, I’m guessing it’s somewhere up North. We’re going to need some aerial recon if you can get above . . .”

Daredevil rolled over on his back and sat up, realizing that Sandman’s voice had trailed off into nothingness. He looked around and realized what had caused their leader’s sudden silence. Standing with them in the clearing was a teenage girl with streaks of alternating pink and black in her hair and decidedly fairy-like features. Two bat wings protruded from her back and she wore a sleeveless tank top that left her mid-riff exposed along with a skirt. Both items of clothing were black and yellow with markings indicating she was either a student or an alumnus of the Xavier Institute, most likely still a student given her age. Daredevil noted all this and shoved it to the back of his brain in the span of a single second. What he noticed most of all was that this newcomer was obviously Sister Grimm’s replacement. This newcomer was standing where Nico should be and it galled him on a primal level.

Without warning or any forethought, Daredevil sprang towards her with frightening speed. As he did, something else happened with equally frightening speed. One moment the girl was in front of him, the next she was behind him. Daredevil felt pain like he had never known shoot through his entire body as the girl jabbed something into his spinal column. The glowing energy blade didn’t leave a single scratch on his body but it caused him to violently recoil away from her. He turned and tried another pass. Before she could teleport again, Sandman inserted himself between his two teammates. Daredevil didn’t care. He just kept punching and punching.

“That’s right,” said Sandman, his body hardening a little to absorb the punches though not enough to actually let Johnny seriously injure himself. “Just get it all outta your system, kid.”

Daredevil let out a howl of rage mixed with pain before he landed the last blow and then sank to his knees. Sandman lifted his arm and looked at the Tallus on his wrist. Its appearance had changed, almost resembling the fabled Infinity Gauntlet from the looks of it though the gems in the knuckles were all blue instead of different colors. There were still cracks in the jewels and that meant that they still couldn’t get home. More than that, it meant that they had a newcomer to their group.

“Uhm, hi,” chirped the girl. “I’m Megan or Pixie or whatever else you wanna call me. The scary Doctor Who man said I’m lost in time with you guys now.”

“Welcome to the Exiles, Pixie,” greeted Sandman, turning his head to her but keeping himself between her and Daredevil. “What exactly did you do just now?”

“Stabbed him,” replied Pixie timidly. “I shouldn’t do that?”

“Rule number one is we don’t stab teammates,” declared Sandman.

“Okie dokie,” agreed Pixie cheerfully.

“Great,” said Sandman as he lifted the Tallus to his ear and listened to their new assignment. “I’m not crazy about this but this is the mission, boys and girls. Somewhere in this forest is the last superhuman on the planet. We’re . . . we’re supposed to kill him.”

“We can’t do that,” stated Wasp. “We’re heroes.”

“Don’t got a choice,” reminded Husk. “Ah ain’t throwin’ away mah chance ta get home just ’cause ya don’t wanna get yer hands dirty.”

“Kate’s right,” agreed Goblin. “We’re better than this.”

“Like it or not, this is our mission,” interrupted Sandman before the argument could continue. “Wasp, I need you, Goblin, and Pixie in the air. See if you can spot anything that looks remotely human. The Tallus said that our target is somewhere in these woods.”

“I don’t like this,” clarified Wasp. “If we find this guy, whoever he is, I’m not taking any part in what has to happen.”

Sandman didn’t say anything as the three Exiles took off into the air, weaving through the forest’s canopy. He turned back to Husk and Daredevil, noticing that Johnny was still kneeling on the ground and staring vacantly at the guitar pick in his palm. The leader of the Exiles looked at his teammate and shook his head sadly. This job was getting to all of them but at least they had each other. Losing Sister Grimm just reminded all of them that the same could happen to them at a moment’s notice.

“Fan out and start searching from the ground,” he ordered. “The quicker we find this guy, the quicker we get this over with.”

“No,” said Daredevil suddenly, getting up from his position and looking at Sandman. “I’m out.”

“This isn’t up for debate,” reminded Sandman.

“Screw this damn mission and screw this whole thing,” retorted Daredevil before turning his back on Sandman and walking off into the woods. “I said I’m out and I’m never getting back in.”

“Great,” muttered Sandman before stretching his body upwards through the trees. “Osborn, I need you down here. Daredevil just took a walk.”

“Lousy weather for it,” replied Goblin, nodding to the dark sky around him. “You want me to fetch him back?”

“I don’t plan on losing another member of my team,” answered Sandman, “even if that teammate is acting like a jackass.”

Thunder rumbled in the distance. It seemed as if the sky shared his anger and that was just fine by Johnny Gallo. Honestly, he didn’t know what to feel. There was anger but there was also a hollow feeling inside him. There was a hole that shouldn’t be there, a hole that he didn’t think anything could fill anymore. It was driving him crazy but more than that it was wearing him down. The black hole inside him was sucking down all the emotion he possessed. He was tired, so damn tired of losing. Every time he turned around, Johnny Gallo was losing someone he loved or letting them down. He was just a screw-up and no amount of reality-hopping could right that wrong. He thought maybe he could have a happy ending but apparently that wasn’t in the universe’s grand designs for a nobody like him.

“Sandman says you quit.”

Harry Osborn hovered only a few inches off the ground and stared at Daredevil. He knew what Johnny was going through. It was the same pain he was in whenever he thought of Liz. He knew how soul-crushing that pain could be, how it could be enough to drive someone insane. Strangely enough, that pain had lessened recently for him. Thinking of Kate helped though it also served to bring up a host of other unwanted feelings. Both of them would have to talk later about that kiss she gave him.

“Tell Sandman and the rest of them to screw off,” snapped Daredevil moodily. “I’m not in the mood for it, Harry. I’m not in the mood to jump through the Timebroker’s damn hoops anymore so I quit.”

“Look, you lost someone you care about and I know what that’s like,” explained Goblin. “Do whatever it is you have to do but the rest of the team is going ahead with the mission. When they finish it, all of us are leaving.”

Daredevil didn’t retort with words. Instead he whirled around and sprang towards Goblin, landing a right cross to Osborn’s chin. The blow stunned Goblin and it allowed Daredevil to take him to the ground and continue to punch him. Harry knew what was going on in Johnny’s mind. He was angry, confused, and in pain. It could leave someone a little volatile, especially when that someone was already too emotionally high-strung.

“You don’t get it,” snarled Daredevil as he continued to hit Goblin. “I’m tired! I’m sick! All I want to do is die but you people won’t let me!”

“I’ve got someone back home waiting for me,” said Goblin before knocking Daredevil away from him. “You think it doesn’t gnaw at me every day since I got dragged into this?”

D-discs flew through the air but they were met with a flurry of razor bats. Daredevil sprang towards Goblin but Harry used his boot jets to meet Johnny. The two of them grappled, trading shots before finally separating. Daredevil looked half-crazed with grief and honestly Goblin felt that he could use a good fight. If he had to beat Johnny into submission in order to knock some sense into him, that was just fine with Harry.

“Don’t pretend you know anything about me,” said Daredevil, whipping out his batons and leaping towards Goblin again, weaving through the round of low-level sparkle beams that came towards him. “You’re just some spoiled rich boy with a lot of toys and Daddy’s bank account.”

“We’re really going to go into this?” asked Goblin, shooting himself into the air to avoid Daredevil’s lunge. “You know who my father was, Johnny. You know my life was anything but pretty.”

Daredevil wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore. He bounced into the air and buried both his feet into Goblin’s stomach. The attack knocked the wind out of Goblin and caused him to falter. Before he could get his second wind, Harry saw a d-disc bounce off the ground and hit him in the jaw, knocking him back to the ground. He muttered under his breath and got back to his feet. A round of gas-filled pumpkin bombs flew from his hand and exploded in Daredevil’s face. Johnny flipped over the cloud of green gas and tagged Goblin the head with one of his batons.

“My life was fine before you guys had to get involved,” stated Daredevil. “I’m out. Just finish the damn mission and leave me here to die.”

“You think that’s really what she would want you to do?” questioned Goblin. “You think she’d be happy if you just crawled into some hole and died? She wouldn’t. Nico would want you to fight just as much as the rest of us want you to.”

“Don’t you dare tell me what she would want!” snarled Daredevil, clubbing Goblin over the head with another of his batons. “Ever since I was a kid and I lost my mom, I’ve tried to live up to everyone’s standards of what I should be. Every time I failed, I took it twice as hard as everyone around me because I knew how much I had let them all down. Don’t you ever dare tell me what Nico would want me to do because you don’t know a damn thing!”

“Stop,” ordered Goblin, a familiar noise carrying over Daredevil’s ranting.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” retorted Daredevil. “What, you had enough already? I thought you were gonna be the big hero and bring me to my senses. Guess I’m not the only failure here.”

“Stop,” repeated Goblin, holding his tongue and letting his teammate’s comment about failure slide for the moment. “Seriously. Can’t you hear it?”

Daredevil stood silent and both of them heard it again. The sound was unmistakable, a sound both men knew well. There was only one thing that could make that sound and there was only one person in this or any other world who wielded such a weapon.

“Yeah, I heard it,” realized Daredevil, his anger forgotten for the moment. “You think it’s him?”

“Can’t be anyone else,” replied Goblin, both men grouping together as someone stepped from the shadows of the forest.

“I heard you were lookin’ ta die, kid,” snarled the man called Wolverine. “Guess that makes two of us. Let’s see which one of us gets their wish, bub.”

“Un-freakin’-believable,” said Goblin. “He’s our target?”

“You want some, short stuff?” asked Daredevil defiantly before running towards Wolverine. “Fine then, let’s dance.”

Daredevil tossed a d-disc at Wolverine’s leg, taking out the Canadian mutant’s vertical base before pouncing on top of him and starting to rain down blow after blow on Logan’s skull. Unfortunately, the punches did little to faze his opponent. If anything, the punches hurt Daredevil more than Wolverine since Logan’s skull was still reinforced with adamantium. Wolverine threw Daredevil off of him, raking his claws across Johnny’s chest as he did so. Daredevil hit the ground on his feet and sprang towards Wolverine again but Logan met him in mid-air, clutching him by the arm and flipping to the ground in a Judo-style throw. Daredevil kicked himself out of the way before Wolverine could stab him with his claws as he landed. Johnny pulled out his batons and tried to use them to deflect Wolverine’s slashes. Unfortunately, the Canadian mutant’s claws were adamantium and could cut through anything. His slashes sliced up Daredevil’s fighting batons like they were nothing more than pieces of salami and in a matter of seconds, Johnny was weaponless. He swept Wolverine’s legs out from under him and then flicked a d-disc at him before flipping backwards to get some distance. He knew that Wolverine had enough fighting knowledge and experience to be deadly in close combat even without his famous claws.

“Johnny, we can’t fight him by ourselves,” called out Goblin, launching a round of razor bats at Wolverine to divert his attention. “We have to get the others.”

“The hell we do,” retorted Daredevil. “I can finish this mission all on my own.”

He didn’t have time to say anything else. Wolverine was on him in a second and only his danger-sense saved him from being maimed by the feral former X-Man. Daredevil weaved and flipped to dodge Wolverine’s attacks. Goblin watched the two battle and shook his head wearily. Daredevil was good but there was no way he could match Wolverine’s fighting prowess, especially not given his current state of mind.

“I’m not going to let you get yourself killed,” stated Goblin, pulling a flash grenade out of his belt and tossing it in the air. He watched it explode and hoped that the rest of the team saw it and would come to their aid.

“Sorry the boys are terrible with introductions,” apologized Wasp, hovering in the air with Pixie as they tried to search for their target. “Sorry too that Johnny kinda tried to kill you back there.”

“It’s cool,” replied Pixie nonchalantly. “He’s just sad about losing her.”

“How do you know about that?” inquired Wasp.

“When I stab people with my soul daggers, I sort of . . . take something from them,” explained Pixie hesitantly. “It’s sorta hard to explain. How come you don’t wanna kill whoever this person is?”

“Heroes don’t kill people,” declared Wasp. “If we resort to murder then we’re no better than the bad guys. I won’t be a part of that even if it ruins my chance to get back home. You look like you hang out with the X-Men a lot, you must feel the same way.”

“Uhm, kinda,” squeaked Pixie timidly. “Mr. Summers and the others told me that but . . .”

A huge flash of light appeared in the distance and drew the attention of both the girls. Wasp recognized it as one of Goblin’s flash bombs and knew that it was a signal. She dove low back into the forest with Pixie on her heels.

“I saw it,” confirmed Sandman even as the two girls arrived. “Which way?”

“It came from over there,” answered Wasp, zipping towards the flash’s location with the rest of the team following her.

A feral howl of rage rang through the air as the rest of the Exiles located their missing teammates. They arrived just in time to see Goblin shove Daredevil out of the way. Wolverine’s adamantium claws opened up a huge gash in Harry’s throat. Sandman cursed under his breath before throwing himself at Wolverine. Meanwhile, Wasp gasped and raced towards Goblin.

“I’m fine,” he gurgled before pressing his hand to his throat to keep from bleeding. “Help Johnny.”

Wasp turned and watched Wolverine try to claw his way through Sandman even as the leader of the Exiles held him in a smothering embrace. To be honest, Sandman didn’t even know if he could kill Wolverine. Even though he’d only worked with Logan a few times, Sandman knew the man’s toughness was legendary. If this was their target then this mission was going to be harder than they originally thought.

“C’mon then, you hairy bag of puss,” said Sandman. “I always thought you were overrated.”

Sandman wrapped his foe in a full nelson and locked his grip while Husk slipped into a more durable skin. She cracked her metallic knuckles and began using Wolverine like a punching bag while he was semi-immobilized. She delivered vicious body shots first before going for the head, pummeling Wolverine with a tenacity she knew he would appreciate. Miss Frost made sure all of her pupils knew how dangerous the X-Men really were and none of them were more dangerous than this man. Husk knew she and her teammates would have to strike hard and fast if they wanted to have a chance to put Logan down. Unfortunately, his healing factor and his unbreakable bones made striking hard and fast a futile tactic. No matter how hard they hit him, Wolverine would always be the one left standing when the dust cleared. It was the reason he was the last superhuman on the planet. In the end, he was too stubborn to die.

Wolverine finally kicked and clawed his way free from Sandman, spraying granules of sand in all directions even as he did. He turned and swiped at Husk, his adamantium claws actually cutting through her steel skin and leaving a scratch across her jaw that dripped a little blood. The momentary shock of something actually piercing her armored skin, stunned Husk and that left her easy prey. Logan kept up his assault with Paige playing defense, ducking and weaving to get away from him. Wasp hit him with a few sting bolts to shake him up and stop him from attacking Husk before Sandman turned his hand into a huge hammer and crashed it down onto Wolverine with enough force to shatter a normal man’s spinal column and cripple him for life. Sandman knew that wasn’t going to put Logan down any time soon. This mission was almost impossible now that they knew who their target was.

“Don’t know why the hell yer here,” admitted Wolverine, getting back up from Sandman’s attack and springing towards him. “I don’t really much care. It’s been a long time since I got a good scrap in.”

“If you wanted to slow dance then you could’ve just asked me to the prom instead,” cut in Daredevil as he tackled Wolverine in mid-air and struggled with him. “Might be a little creepy but I’m willing to try anything once.”

“Why the hell aren’t you Murdock?” asked Wolverine, rolling onto his back and then flipping Daredevil over him and into a tree. “Ya don’t even smell like ‘im.”

“You’re being a big grumpy-puss, Mr. Logan.” A puff of what could only be called pixie dust appeared behind Wolverine. Pixie stabbed him in the back with one of her soul daggers, bringing another one around in an attempt to slit his throat. “If you would just let us kill you then this would be a lot easier.”

“Kiddo?” asked Wolverine in surprise even as he threw Pixie off of his back. “Why the flamin’ hell do ya look so different?” He staggered away from his attackers, the fatigue from Pixie’s attack setting in.

“Sorry but you have to go down,” stated Sandman, increasing the size of his fist and then slamming it down on Wolverine. Sandman pinned Wolverine to the ground under his mammoth hand and held him there while he figured out exactly what to do to complete their mission.

“I’m not letting you do this,” declared Wasp, blasting at Sandman and forcing him away from Wolverine. “We’re heroes, damn it! We don’t do this.”

“The Tallus says there’s no other way,” retorted Sandman. “What the hell do you want us to do with him?”

“If she’s too chicken-shit to do it then I will,” spoke up Daredevil.

Johnny didn’t have time to say anything else before Sandman grabbed him by the neck with an elongated hand and dragged him closer. Will knew exactly what was going on inside Daredevil’s head. Johnny was still in pain over losing Nico. It was driving him to the point of insanity and Sandman could tell that all Johnny wanted to do was die. Sandman wasn’t going to give Daredevil that satisfaction, not when he was too important to the team.

“Get this through that thick skull of yours,” snarled Sandman. “I don’t care what personal problems you have but you will not screw this up for the rest of us. If you wanna die then you do it on your own time but while you’re a member of this team you’ll straighten the hell up. All we have right now is each other and if you can’t pull your weight then I will make you pull it. Do you understand?”

Daredevil didn’t respond immediately. His fingers clenched into fists and he thought very hard about goading Sandman into a fight. Instead, he slipped his hand into one of the pockets on his costume, clutching at the seemingly insignificant piece of plastic he had placed there moments before. He didn’t have a choice at this point. He had to jump through these hoops still but this time he had to do it for Nico. She promised him that she would be there waiting and that she would remember him. He couldn’t forget her now.

“Yeah, boss,” said Daredevil sullenly. “I got it.”

“We all have people waiting for us at home,” reminded Goblin as Sandman let go of Daredevil.

“I don’t need another sermon, Osborn,” reminded Daredevil, dusting himself off. “I’m sorry about earlier. That enough of an apology or would you prefer I grovel?”

“We’re cool,” assured Goblin nonchalantly.

“Just because we have people waiting for us at home doesn’t mean we have to throw our morals out the window,” countered Wasp.

“Guys,” cut in Husk. “Ya’ll need ta pay more attention ta things.”

“We don’t have a damn choice,” snapped Sandman, ignoring what Husk was saying. “It’s stay here in this God-forsaken world or complete the mission and move on. There is no middle ground here.”

“Guys!” shouted Husk. “That big hairball is gone and so is Pixie.”

The Exiles looked around and noticed that Husk was right. Wolverine had escaped their clutches and it seemed that Pixie had disappeared, perhaps in an effort to track him down and complete their mission. The problem was that none of the Exiles knew where Wolverine and Pixie went. That left them stranded in the middle of nowhere without a clue as to where to go.

“Great,” muttered Sandman as he realized their situation. “This job just keeps getting better all the time.”

The small cave was obviously where Wolverine made his home. Pixie wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell of dead animal flesh emanating from the cave. She steeled her nerves as she hovered in front of the cave’s entrance. It wasn’t that she was particularly shy about killing someone. When she stayed behind in Limbo under Magik’s tutelage to insure that her classmates and friends could leave safely, Megan learned how to kill. The demonic creatures that made their home in that hellish realm came to fear her but not as much as her peers feared her when the X-Men finally rescued her from Limbo and brought her back to the mansion. Only a few days had passed for them but it was months for Pixie and all her innocence was lost in that time.

“Mr. Logan,” called out Pixie as she landed and stepped into the cave.

She conjured up a soul dagger in each of her hands and used their glow as illumination to see around the cave. She let out a nervous squeak as she heard a sound coming from farther into the cave. She crept closer to it and the sound became clearer. It couldn’t be that though, could it? Was it just her imagination or was the mighty Wolverine actually crying?

“Why the hell can’t you leave me alone?” he asked suddenly, realizing she was there after catching only the faintest trace of her scent.

In the soft glow of her soul daggers, Pixie saw what Logan held in his hand. They were pictures of other heroes, of his friends and loved ones that were now only distant memories. All of them were dead and, just as always, he was the only one to survive. His famous powers of recovery were now nothing more than a giant curse. Pixie stared silently at him and realized now that he was nothing more than a wounded animal begging and pleading for anything to put him out of his misery.

“We’re not from this reality,” explained Pixie quietly. “This scary man who talks like Doctor Who told us that we have to complete missions in order to go home. Our mission is to kill you.”

“You couldn’t do that ta me even if ya had the stomach fer that, kiddo,” he reminded her, turning to face her. “I ain’t gonna put ya down either so what’re we gonna do?”

“I can do it,” stated Pixie, holding out one of her daggers. “These things are part of me, magical energy that comes from my soul. When I stab someone with these things, the magic sucks their soul into mine. I’d only, you know, technically kill you.”

They looked at one another in a few moments of silence. How many times had he thought that death had finally come to claim him? How many times had he wondered which fight would be the one he didn’t walk away from? After watching everyone he ever loved, respected, and cared about die, the man called Logan was finally ready to join them in the afterlife.

“Send me home then, darlin’,” he whispered as Pixie approached him cautiously. “I’m long past due fer a good rest.”

Pixie plunged her soul dagger straight into Wolverine’s heart and her head snapped back as she felt the transfer of life force. He grabbed her wrist and plunged the magical blade deeper inside him. Megan felt the demon inside her salivate as it consumed its fill. Everything that he was flowed out of him and into her. She eagerly ate her fill, taking every last drop of his life force into her. When her task was done, Pixie recoiled and pulled the blade from the lifeless body that was once Wolverine. The blade dissipated into nothingness and she bit her lip as she forced the demon inside her back into its cage. Every time she stabbed someone with her daggers, she fed the beast inside her with life force from her victim. Yet no matter how much she fed the beast, the beast was never satisfied. It always wanted more and more, always wanted to consume and destroy whatever it could get its claws and teeth on.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Logan,” she whispered to the cold and empty cave. “You were really nice to me even if you were always grumpy.” She remembered how he cradled her in his arms when the X-Men rescued her from Limbo. She remembered him whispering assurances to her about how she was stronger than the monster inside her. She didn’t have the heart to tell him how wrong he was.

Pixie felt something inside her and recognized it as the remnants of the person she once was coming back to the surface of her soul. She blinked and felt the foreign feeling of tears in her eyes as she realized what she had just done. The momentary grief faded quickly as the beast inside her took hold once more and she returned to her normal state. She felt a new feeling now though. It was the feeling she got when she teleported. This was different though. Her teleportation range was short but somehow she knew this was going to be a big jump. Though she didn’t know it, the other Exiles felt the same feeling. The Tallus was working in conjunction with Megan’s powers and all six members of the team disappeared in a puff of pixie dust, hurtling across the multiverse to their next cracked reality and their next sordid mission.

Next Issue: The Exiles must save the life of Charles Xavier but they’ll need some help from the X-Men.