RAISING HELL

Part I

By Wesley Overhults

Massachusetts, Earth-167

The Exiles looked at one another as Sandman spoke. For God only knew how long, they had been jumping through the Timebroker’s hoops. It was time to put a stop to it because they couldn’t afford to lose themselves to this monstrous lifestyle any longer. It was time to stop letting the Timebroker control their lives and dictate what kind of people they were.

“Speeches are nice for morale but they don’t tell us where we are,” reminded Daredevil. “Not to burst anyone’s bubble or anything.”

“Yet you’re remarkably good at it,” noted Goblin. “I really need to get a GPS built into this suit, not that it would tell us what reality we’re in or anything. What does the Tallus say about our mission, Sandman?”

“Nothing,” answered Sandman, absently staring at the bejeweled gauntlet he was forced to wear. “That’s weird, it’s always been pretty quick with the mission directives.”

“The less we have to listen to that thing, the better,” declared Wasp. “Still doesn’t help us with where we are though.”

“Ah don’t think we’ll have any trouble with that,” said Husk, staring at the building in front of them and reading the plaque on the gate. “Ah think Ah’m . . . home?”

The sign indicated that the building in front of them was the Massachusetts Academy, home to Emma Frost and her Hellions. Husk, however, knew the building as something else. She knew it as home, perhaps more of a home than her real one. She never thought she would ever see this building again. In her travels with the Exiles, she never stopped thinking about getting back to her home. However, whereas most of the Exiles would find it a relief to return home Husk didn’t exactly share the sentiment. Her journey with the Exiles had changed her, perhaps for the better. It would be weird to finally be home again.

“We’ve all been through this before,” reminded Sandman. “Are you sure this is really your reality and not just some carbon copy? Remember what the Timebroker told us at the beginning. He said our home realities would be screwed up if we ever went back to them.”

“Guess we’ll just hafta find out whether or not he was lyin’,” decided Husk. “C’mon.”

Husk waltzed up to the gate and punched in the security code to open it and gain access to the inner grounds of the school. The gates slowly opened and the rest of Exiles followed Husk inside. From the outside, the Massachusetts Academy looked like any other private boarding school. The lawns were neatly manicured, the hedges trimmed with crisp precision. The building itself had a colonial style to its architecture as most old buildings in the New England area did. It was an impressive structure but the average passerby didn’t know the half of it. They didn’t know about the secret underground training rooms, the ones that rivaled even the X-Men’s vaunted Danger Room. They didn’t know about the unusual curriculum or the even more unusual extracurricular activities of the school’s students.

“This looks a lot like the Institute,” commented Pixie. “You said you didn’t live there.”

“Ah don’t,” said Husk. “This is tha Massachusetts Academy. It’s a lot better than tha Xavier school.”

The words barely left Paige’s mouth before laser turrets popped out of the lawn and trained their cannons on the Exiles. All of them could see the doors open and what was presumably the rest of the school’s student body make their way out onto the front lawn. Husk saw the familiar faces of her classmates and felt the discomfort at realizing that she was on the opposite side of the battlefield for a change. There wasn’t going to be a fight though. The Hellions were just protecting their turf as anyone else would do in their position. Husk knew that she had to explain things before they got out of hand.

“This school of yours has one mean-ass glee club,” remarked Daredevil. “Something tells me they’re not going to dazzle us with an awesome rendition of a Madonna song any time in the immediate future.”

“It ain’t gonna get that far,” promised Husk. “Miss Frost is a telepath, in case ya forgot. She probably saw us comin’ a mile away and put tha others on alert. Ah’ll talk with ’em and clear this mess up.”

“I don’t really think they’re in the mood to talk,” realized Goblin.

“I don’t know who you people are or why you’re here but you have our teammate,” spoke up a dark-skinned boy who appeared to be the leader of the group. “Miss Frost will put all of us in a world of hurt if we don’t get her back and we’d rather not disappoint her.”

“Roberto, ya need ta calm down,” said Husk. “These people are ma friends, okay? There’s no reason why we need ta get inta something right now.”

“Frost has had us worried sick about you,” retorted Sunspot, his body beginning to glow as he powered up from the sunlight. “You have no idea the crap she’s given us all because you went missing. Now that you’re back, I say it’s time to prove to you who your real friends are.”

“You might wanna listen to the lady,” warned Sandman. “I’m not above beating up on kids when it’s necessary, especially punks like you who love to shoot their mouths off.”

“Ya’ll need ta stop,” ordered Husk. “Roberto, they didn’t kidnap me if that’s what yer thinkin’ so just cool off. Can we just go inside and let me explain things to Miss Frost?”

“Turn this kid loose,” suggested Sandman. “It’ll give me a chance to wipe that smart-ass smirk off his face.”

“Best idea I’ve heard in a long time,” agreed Sunspot before fully shifting into his energy form. “Hellions, take ’em out!”

James Proudstar, known to his classmates as Thunderbird, took point along with Sunspot as the Hellions charged towards the Exiles. Chamber hung back as he unwrapped the bandages that covered his body from under his nose to his lower stomach. The cauldron of energy inside him roiled violently once it was unfurled and blasts of energy lanced from it straight towards the Exiles. Tarot pulled out her deck of cards, shuffling through it to pick an appropriate image to animate. Truthfully, she didn’t want to fight. Husk was her roommate and Tarot counted the Kentuckian as a member of her family, a sister very dear to her. However, all the Hellions knew that Sunspot was their leader both by virtue of his lineage and also because of his tactical prowess. Sunspot was also hot-tempered and that got the Hellions into trouble more times than Tarot was comfortable with. She counted this current altercation among those times.

“No matter where we go, we always start trouble,” said Daredevil with a sigh, bouncing away from Thunderbird before the Native American giant could lay one of his large hands on him. “How come our lives have to be so complicated these days?”

The rest of the Exiles never got the chance to answer his question. They were too busy dodging the blasts of energy that emanated from the cavity in Chamber’s chest. The energy branched out into arcs that tagged each of the Exiles except for Husk. It seemed that none of the Hellions wanted to attack their classmate and Husk was trying desperately to show them the same courtesy. Truthfully, she was torn about what she should do. Normally, she would love to wade into a fight with her fists flying but this time was different. This was a fight between her old family and her new one.

‘Gotta pick a side soon, gel,’ warned Chamber, his psychic voice echoing in her head. ‘Next time maybe I won’t be so nice.’

“Jono, don’t make me choose,” warned Husk.

“Looks like you already made your choice,” snarled Sunspot with contempt before landing a solar-charged blow to Sandman’s jaw. “This is the team you want instead of us? What’s the matter, wasn’t Miss Frost nice enough to take you in and make you one of us?”

“From what I heard, the Timebroker did her a favor when he took her away from you clowns,” retorted Sandman before throwing Sunspot backwards with a stream of sand. “Exiles, go easy on these kids. Remember, no more needless bloodshed.”

“Sure thing, ‘Dad,’” shot back Daredevil before hitting Chamber in the head with a d-disc and then watching it ricochet to nail Thunderbird in the leg and send him to the ground. “Maybe make sure they play nice too while you’re at it, huh?”

The fight didn’t last long enough for Sandman to form a proper reply. All the Exiles except for Husk felt something go off in their heads that sent them spiraling into a world of pain. They crumpled to the ground in agony from the psychic attack before blacking out in a matter of seconds. Only Pixie seemed to be able to defend herself against the attack that Emma Frost employed and it was only because guarding against psychic intrusions was part of her training in Limbo.

“Miss Frost, ya don’t hafta be so harsh,” assured Husk as the headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy strode towards her. “We ain’t gonna make any more trouble, ma’am.”

“The girl has some impressive shields,” noted Frost, watching Pixie struggle to get back to her feet though she was on the verge of losing consciousness. “She’ll be down in a few seconds though.”

With that, Emma amped up the intensity on her telepathic barrage and Pixie was out like a light. She turned and shot Husk a distasteful look before moving on to her students. The Hellions picked themselves back together and felt themselves wilt under Frost’s ice-cold glare of disapproval. They all knew they had let her down and disappointing the White Queen of the Hellfire Club wasn’t something any of them enjoyed doing.

“Miss Frost, I can explain,” offered Sunspot. “These people showed up with one of our own as a hostage.”

“Ah ain’t no damn hostage,” interjected Husk. “Ma’am, just gimme a few minutes to explain things.”

“There’s no need, I already have the information from your mind,” assured Frost. “You children were sloppy in handling this fight. Even this team of amateurs were faring better than you were. Obviously we’ll have to step up your training schedule. Right now, I want all of them inside. I have to call a conference with the rest of the Inner Circle to see how we should proceed on this matter. I am particularly interested in this ‘Tallus’ and the power it may possess.”

“As you wish, ma’am,” replied Sunspot. “Paige, you gonna help or not?”

“Yeah,” agreed Husk quietly, her eyes lowering in shame. “Ah’ll give ya’ll a hand.”

“Feel like I got hit by a freakin’ truck,” mumbled Sandman as he regained consciousness and looked around.

“Yeah, Miss Frost isn’t very nice,” agreed Pixie, holding her hands up and letting her team leader see the shackles that all the Exiles now wore. “I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to teleport us out of here but these things take away our powers.”

“We’re in an airplane,” realized Sandman aloud as he surveyed the cargo hold and saw the rest of his teammates with him except for one obvious subtraction.

“We’re shy one girl too,” noted Daredevil. “Can’t say I particularly miss her.”

“She’s obviously made her choice,” said Goblin. “You can’t blame her. These people gave her a better life than the one she had with her family, definitely a better life than what we have.”

“That’s no reason to sell out your teammates,” said Wasp.

“Paige isn’t so much a problem for us as these other people,” reminded Sandman. “We don’t have much of a clue what we’re up against and the Tallus still hasn’t told me anything about our mission here.”

“Flying blind is always fun,” remarked Daredevil.

“Miss Frost sent me back here ta check on ya’ll,” spoke up Husk after entering the cargo hold. “Ah tried ta make her take it easy on ya’ll but ya know now it’s not that easy.”

“Noticed you didn’t get hit with the hangover from hell,” said Daredevil. “Lucky you. You get a gold star for good behavior now?”

“We’re gonna land in New York in a couple o’ minutes,” explained Husk while ignoring Daredevil’s remark. “Frost wants ta take ya in front of tha rest of tha Inner Circle and let them decide what ta do.”

“Who are these people anyway?” asked Wasp.

“They’re called the Hellfire Club,” answered Goblin before Husk could even open her mouth. “They’re a group of very wealthy businessmen and businesswomen who usually do nothing more than talk shop over cocktails and expensive wine. However, there’s a secret cabal within the club called the Inner Circle. They’re mostly mutants who want to rule the world. They recruit innocent and naive people to their cause, mostly teenagers that they funnel into Frost’s private school that she runs like a twisted version of Xavier’s. Did I get all that right, Paige, or did I leave something out?”

“Sounds right,” replied Husk.

“When you grow up with Norman Osborn for a father, you know about things,” said Goblin with a rueful grin under his mask. “He was a club member in my world and he knew about the Inner Circle but they wouldn’t let him in. They deemed him too unstable to work with.”

“My father was a member of the Hellfire Club,” admitted Wasp. “I can’t believe he knew anything about all this though. He wouldn’t be part of something like this.”

“Could be the club’s different in different worlds,” reminded Sandman. “Paige, you wanna get us out of these cuffs now so we can get out of here?”

“Ah can’t,” said Husk remorsefully. “Miss Frost gave me a better life, an education Ah never woulda gotten without her. Ah owe her a lot.”

“That’s how you want it then,” said Sandman, leaning back against the hull of the cargo hold and letting a small grin creep across his lips. “I told you before that you had to pick your own side. Just remember that when the hammer drops.”

Husk turned away and left the cargo hold. She wasn’t going to let them see the tears in her eyes. These people, these weird and strange people, were like family to her. She never expected to care about them as much as she did and to see the hurt in their eyes and hear the scorn in their words at her betrayal stabbed at her right in the heart. They didn’t understand the difficult position she was in. She was home now. She didn’t have to fight anymore. She didn’t have to risk putting her life on the line for people she would never meet again, for a merciless god like the Timebroker that didn’t give a damn what happened to them. She was home now and everything would be okay, wouldn’t it?

“Something on your mind, Paige?” inquired Emma Frost as she and the rest of the Hellions looked at Husk once the former Exile entered the main cabin.

“Prisoners are secure, ma’am,” reported Husk.

“Good, we’ll be landing shortly,” informed Frost.

Outside The Hellfire Club, New York City

The wind whipped through the cold night air of New York City. Norman Osborn no longer minded the cold, no longer even felt it. He didn’t feel a lot of things anymore, not since he and the other members of his group made their unholy bargain with Mephisto. In exchange for their humanity, or what was left of it, all the members of the Hellfire Cult received demonic powers that twisted them into undead abominations. Osborn didn’t mind. Power was the only thing that mattered to him and now he had the power to take what was rightfully his.

“One of my dogs tells me something happened at the Academy,” informed the man once called Maximus Lobo but now went by Hellhound. “There were intruders. They’re being brought to the club, which accounts for Frost’s impending arrival.”

“Good, they’ll all be together when we slaughter them,” decided Osborn, an insane grin splitting his goblin-like facial features. “All the better if they bring those insipid children with them. I’m sure your dogs would like new toys to play with.”

Hellhound returned the grin, baring his fangs as a large wolf appeared at his side. Hellhound and the other members of the Cult affectionately referred to his beasts as “devil dogs”. They were unnaturally large in size and unnaturally ferocious as well. They were hounds of Hell, supernatural creatures that could step in and out of the shadows with ease. Hellhound saw what they saw, smelled what they smelled, and heard what they heard. When the devil dogs tasted human flesh, Hellhound felt the blood on his lips as well.

Osborn turned to see the other two members of his Cult. Long ago, he had discarded the mantle of the Green Goblin. Now, he was Devil-Goblin, a being born in the fires of Hell. His veins burned hot with hellfire that he could control and shape to his whims. Joining Devil-Goblin and Hellhound in the Cult were the Black Queen and Cadaver. In life they were known as Justine Hammer and Adrian Toomes respectively. Those lives were over the moment they sealed their fates and made their deals with Mephisto. The Black Queen was now a vampiric creature cursed to feed off human blood for survival. Cadaver’s mere touch could rot organic matter, decomposing it until it was nothing but ash and powder. He was the walking dead, as were all the members of the Cult. They lived, or rather existed, for one thing and one thing only: revenge. Long ago, all four of them had been discarded by the Hellfire Club, denied membership into what should’ve been their Inner Circle to begin with. It was this thirst for revenge that drove them to madness and damnation through their deal with Mephisto.

“One of the intruders at the Academy wore a face like yours,” mentioned Hellhound. “I wasn’t aware you had a brother, Osborn.”

“I have no family anymore,” retorted Devil-Goblin without any sadness or emotion behind his words. “Both my wife and son died a long time ago. Still, I’m intrigued. We’ll delay our strike until everyone, including these newcomers, are inside. I’ll see for myself what new tricks the Hellfire Club has up their sleeves.”

“They don’t even deserve to use that name,” said the Black Queen. “We are the only ones who deserve the name of Hellfire and tonight, we take what should’ve been ours long ago.”

“Very true,” agreed Devil-Goblin. “Prepare yourselves, my friends. Tonight, we feast on the flesh of the Hellfire Club. Tonight, we drink their blood as it flows from their mutilated bodies. Tonight, we show them that we are the future and they are nothing more than ancient history.”

The rest of the Cult nodded in agreement. It was time for them to come out of the shadows and reintroduce themselves to the ones who had disregarded them. It was time to prove that they were the ones who should be controlling the Inner Circle and through that power they would remake the world in their own twisted image.

“Our White Queen tells us that you dropped in unannounced at her school with one of her students among you,” said Sebastian Shaw, looking down from his seat as the Black King of the Inner Circle at the shackled Exiles that were now his prisoners. “Whether I and the rest of the Inner Circle choose to believe you’re travelers from another reality is inconsequential. It still doesn’t answer the question of what to do with you.”

“From the looks of things, you’re going to give us roles in your next adult, bondage film,” cracked Daredevil. “Seriously, where do you people shop for clothes? Hustler of Colonial Hollywood?”

“You would do well to hold your tongue,” suggested Shaw. “Thanks to our superior technology, you are powerless against the Hellfire Club. Flippant taunts and empty threats are the only things you can employ against us.”

“You’ve got us, Shaw,” cut in Sandman. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it. It really sickens me when people like you gloat too much.”

“An astute observation,” agreed Donald Pierce, the White Bishop of the Inner Circle. “I vote that we dispose of these fools immediately. Surely you can’t believe this nonsense about being from another reality.”

“I would like to examine this Tallus to determine its abilities,” decided Shaw. “You people, however, are expendable. Miss Frost, you may use the two girls as students in your school once they’ve been properly ‘reeducated’. I see no further use for the others.”

“Maybe this will change your mind,” suggested Goblin, clicking the button on his wrist that let his costume recede so everyone could see his true identity. “Do I look a little familiar to you?”

Every member of the Inner Circle recognized the son of Norman Osborn. However, Harry wasn’t going to attain any good favor from them as he hoped. All the members of the Inner Circle remembered Norman Osborn, remembered how he tried to lead an uprising against the Circle with three other hopeful upstarts when all four of them were denied membership into the Inner Circle. That quelled revolution ultimately led to all of them being expelled from the Hellfire Club. To see the face of Osborn’s deceased son staring back at them was unnerving to say the least.

“There are any number of people who are skilled with facial mimicry,” reminded Pierce. “Just because this man wears the face of Osborn’s dead son doesn’t mean his story is true. Besides, it makes no difference. None of us were friendly with Norman to start with.”

“Pierce speaks sense for once,” agreed Harry Leland, a mirthful grin on his face. “Their fates are sealed. No need to deliberate any further.”

“Nice try,” muttered Daredevil.

“Something tells me we’re going to get a reprieve,” realized Goblin, suiting up again as he saw something fly towards the window.

Harry swore under his breath as he realized that the fiery construct bore a strange resemblance to his father’s old glider. The giant, bat-shaped construct made of hellfire crashed through the window with Devil-Goblin riding it just as he used to ride his old glider. The rest of the Hellfire Cult barged into the room as the Inner Circle moved to defend themselves.

“I don’t know who or what you people are but you’ve made a very big mistake,” warned Shaw.

“The mistake was yours, Sebastian,” countered Devil-Goblin, his hands glowing with unholy fire.

A blast of hellfire seared towards the leader of the Inner Circle. Shaw stood his ground, assuming that his mutant ability would simply absorb the kinetic energy of the blast. His assumption was correct but the supernatural properties of the energy made him violently ill. With their leader easily neutralized, the Inner Circle sprang into action immediately.

“Frost, get your students,” ordered Leland, using his mutant ability to increase the mass of the Cult members’ bodies and bring them to the floor.

A howl echoed through the room before a pack of Hellhound’s demonic wolves leapt through the broken window and attacked Leland at their master’s mental command. With two of their members down, the Inner Circle rallied back. Pierce hit Devil-Goblin in the face with his cybernetic arm while Frost attempted to get inside the minds of the Cult members. This proved to have less desirable results than she wanted. Emma found her mind flooded with the darkest and vilest thoughts she had ever seen. At the very least, it made her want to take a hot shower for hours in order to scrub herself clean.

“It’s Osborn and his followers,” confirmed Frost, gagging as she tried to get the images out of her brain. “I don’t know what happened to them but they’re not human anymore.”

The Hellions burst into the room at that moment and rushed to combat the Hellfire Cult. Thunderbird and Husk joined Pierce in slugging it out with Hellhound’s devil dogs while Tarot, Sunspot, and Chamber fought with Frost against the Cult members, protecting Shaw while he recovered from the toxic energy absorption. In all this confusion, everyone seemed to forget about the five Exiles that were still shackled prisoners of the Inner Circle.

“I thought you were ugly enough, Osborn, but your dad looks worse,” commented Daredevil as the Exiles took shelter and watched the brawl.

“The Osborn curse isn’t just our good looks,” retorted Goblin. “Let me see if I can get these cuffs off.”

Despite his enhanced physical attributes being negated by the cuffs, Goblin still had the rest of his arsenal. He warmed up the sparkle beam launchers in his gloves and used the energy generated by them to short out the cuffs. Once they were deactivated, Goblin used his super strength to break them with relative ease. He zapped Sandman’s cuffs first before moving on to Wasp’s and Pixie’s. Daredevil grumbled under his breath about unfair treatment of going last as the rest of his teammates relieved themselves of their shackles while Goblin freed him. However, the Exiles found themselves with a new problem once they were free. They had no love for the Inner Circle but they weren’t inclined to help the Hellfire Cult either, especially since their apparent leader was Norman Osborn.

“The Tallus still hasn’t told me anything,” informed Sandman. “Exiles, get Paige out of this mess and then retreat. Punch anyone that isn’t friendly.”

“That would be everyone besides us and Husk,” clarified Daredevil before flipping into the fray. “Good to know we still have awesome people skills. I was afraid this job was going to put a serious damper on my ability to make new friends.”

Wasp and Pixie flew towards where Husk fought alongside her classmates. Sandman gave them the order to get Paige and they knew he could be rather grumpy when they didn’t follow his lead. Goblin and Sandman moved to help Daredevil, finding themselves directly in the middle of the blood feud going on between the two factions.

“Hellhound spoke the truth then,” realized Devil-Goblin once he got a look at the alternate version of his son that fought with the Exiles. “Is that you, Harry?”

Goblin turned at the mention of his name and came face to disfigured face with Devil-Goblin. Harry was accustomed to seeing that face since he wore it himself. However, this version of his father had some otherworldly madness in his eyes. Whatever Norman had done to himself in this world, it left him more evil and deranged than he ever could’ve been in Harry’s world. Goblin turned and let out a sparkle beam that Hellhound easily dodged. The wolf-like member of the Cult pounced on Goblin, intent on tearing him limb from limb.

“My dogs got a taste of that fat slob Leland but I’m hungry for leaner meat,” declared Hellhound.

“Don’t touch my son,” warned Devil-Goblin maliciously, using a bolt of hellfire to get Hellhound away from Goblin. “I don’t care what you do to these others but my son is coming with us.”

“I’m not your son,” stated Goblin, turning and lobbing a pumpkin bomb at Devil-Goblin.

The bomb exploded with enough force to throw a normal man across the room but Devil-Goblin didn’t even budge an inch. He looked at the Exile and shook his head sadly, almost as if he pitied Harry. Norman discarded such toys long ago when he discovered what true power tasted like. He vowed in that moment that he would make sure this version of his son became the version his real son should’ve become. He would make sure of that.

“No but you will be,” replied Devil-Goblin.

The sinister leader of the Hellfire Cult launched a blast of hellfire at Goblin. The attack scorched Harry to the bone as it launched him backwards and sent him sprawling out into the hallway beyond. Devil-Goblin gave chase, knocking aside Sandman and Pierce in the process. Goblin was on his feet though barely and heard the alternate version of his father let out a maniacal cackle before tackling him over the railing of the balcony and to the floor below. Goblin felt something break and wasn’t sure if it was his nanotech suit or his spine. Whatever the case, he didn’t offer any resistance as Devil-Goblin picked him up by the throat and stared into his eyes.

“I’m not him,” rasped Goblin.

“The night is still young,” reminded Devil-Goblin cruelly.

He turned and watched as the brawl spilled out of the room and into the hallway. He whistled loudly and watched Hellhound vault over the balcony railing along with two of his wolves in tow.

“I thought you said not to touch him,” reminded Hellhound.

“Take him with us,” ordered Devil-Goblin. “We’re pulling out. I think we’ve assessed our enemy’s forces enough. When next we strike, we’ll finish them off.”

“Always enjoy playing with my food,” commented Hellhound before slinging Goblin’s unconscious body over his shoulder. He whistled to his other teammates, indicating that they were leaving.

Pixie noticed out of the corner of her eye what was happening. She wasn’t going to let the Hellfire Cult get away with one of her teammates. She didn’t know who these new enemies were but she knew their powers were demonic in nature. She could feel that kinship with them that her own dark magic gave her but the bond she felt for her teammates was stronger. Harry was a decent man and didn’t deserve any of what would surely happen to him. She had to stop the Cult. Pixie teleported in a cloud of pixie dust towards Devil-Goblin and stabbed him in the chest with a soul dagger when she reappeared. Devil-Goblin cackled wildly and saw the fear in Pixie’s eyes as the Exile realized their new enemies didn’t have any souls.

“Big mistake, little girl,” warned Devil-Goblin as Pixie tried to remove her dagger from his chest with little success.

Cadaver’s fist struck Pixie in the back of the head and knocked her out cold, causing her to fall forward into Devil-Goblin’s waiting arms. Osborn’s chest ate the soul dagger, the dark magic from him devouring the dark magic of the energy blade. Devil-Goblin threw Pixie aside and motioned for the Cult to leave. As far as he was concerned, they had what they wanted.

“They got Harry,” realized Wasp as the Exiles tried to pick themselves up again. “We have to get after them.”

“I think we’ve got bigger problems than that,” said Sandman as he saw the Inner Circle move to confront the Exiles. “I think these idiots want a rematch.”

The Inner Circle and the Exiles stared each other down. In Sandman’s mind, dealing with these people was a waste of time. They had a new adversary on the field and that adversary had taken one of their teammates. They didn’t need to deal with this right now but the Inner Circle wasn’t going to give them the option of a peaceful settlement.

Next Issue: The Exiles clash with the Inner Circle again with Harry Osborn’s life in the clutches of the Hellfire Cult.