Manhattan:
42nd Street and Madison Avenue
The Baxter Building
Another time…

“We’ve done nothing wrong!” Reed Richards shouted into the microphone, sweat running down his haggard, drawn cheeks. They had cut power to the whole city grid centered on the Baxter Building, and though the internal back-up generators had kicked in, he had had to reroute the power to defenses against the assault. It was fairly stifling in the sealed building, the air getting stagnant as the blazing heat of August beamed down on the sweltering city. “We’ve saved the world! The universe! How can you do this to us?”

Mutates! Surrender or extreme action will be taken in three minutes, forty-seven seconds…

Reed Richards sighed and leaned forward, his knuckles resting on the control panel of the communications relay as he hung his head in exasperated defeat. As always his mind drifted back in despair, thinking of Sue and the day that they had taken Franklin. His wife, his love had never been the same after the loss of Valeria in childbirth. She had just not been paying attention that day in Central Park, enjoying a sunny day with her son and a few of his friends, the Powers children on Franklin’s fourteenth birthday…

They had swept down on the park en masse; Guardsmen, S.H.I.E.L.D., Sentinels. They had killed her outright and swiftly, then scooped up the children, taking them to one of the containment camps out west. Nevada last he had heard.

Mutates! Surrender or extreme action will be taken in two minutes, thirty-one seconds…

“Give it up, Stretch. They don’t care.” Reed Richards looked up at the gruff sound of his best friend’s voice.

Benjamin J. Grimm stood chomping on a cigar, his face looking as filthy and haggard as Reed’s own. Out of solidarity he wore his old trunks, though they hung baggily from his waist, far too big for his human frame. His left arm was in a cast, the scar that he had received from Wolverine years before blazing red in the heat. “They won’t be happy till they have us. Or we’re dead.”

“He’s right, Reed,” Warren Worthington III said as he stepped up to the console. Reed cast a glance sideways as the mutant looked at the one monitor that their attackers allowed to operate, showing the scene of the veritable army mounting siege about the Baxter Building. S.H.I.E.L.D. had cut access to all communications except what they wished to allow, and that only to demoralize the defenders. “They want us dead. What they did at Xavier’s is proof of that. And the witch hunt that followed.”

Richards sighed and nodded. Warren was right. So was Ben, they all were. The normal humans, the Flat Scans had rallied around President Kelly’s Anti-Mutant campaign after the failed attempt on his life. The mutant Destiny’s crossbow bolt had been diverted that day in Washington, crippling the bitter senator and fueling the flames of hatred that burned in his heart after the death of his wife months before. Robert Kelly had risen quickly, running for president in 2012 on an anti-mutant campaign. Richards remembered the posters everywhere: Do you know what your children are? He had won in a landslide victory, and as soon as he had assumed office pushed bills through Congress to take away the rights of mutants, then mutates, then simple vigilantes seemingly with no enhancements. He, with the likes of Shaw and Stane had funded Project: Wide Awake and the rebuilding of a Sentinel army. He had deposed Fury as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. – some accused assassination, but it was never proven. G.W. Bridge ran S.H.I.E.L.D. now, and he was a devout follower of Kelly’s regime.

Mutates! Surrender or extreme action will be taken in one minute, twenty-one seconds…

And in their war they had employed the very beings that they had hoped to eradicate. They had gathered the villains, offering amnesty for their aid and they had readily agreed, blindly, little realizing that they were disposable in the end. It was Forge who created the Dampener initially; the device that would wipe the mutant gene clean, but it was the Mad Thinker who had turned it into a devastating weapon. And being heroes, they had all walked blindly into the wake.

Mutates! Surrender or extreme action will be taken in sixty seconds…

Terrorists had taken A&S Plaza, and the Fantastic Four had responded. They had found no hostages when they stormed the mall, only androids. They had exploded, and Forge’s creation had locked away their powers. Jennifer had died outright as S.H.I.E.L.D. had staged their assault. Johnny was next, shouting ‘Flame on’ as they cut him down. It was only Ben’s quick wit and savvy that had allowed the two of them to escape, powerless and broken.

Mutates! Surrender or extreme action will be taken in thirty seconds…

They had lived in fear, in hiding ever since. They had fortified the Baxter Building, watching the news feeds as the Sentinels wiped out the mutate culture, Homo Superior first, but all were fair game. Spider-Man, DareDevil, Power Man, Captain America. No one was safe or exempt.

Twenty Seconds…

“We should surrender,” T’Challa said glumly. “Where there is life, there is hope.”

“Not in this life, Panther,” Ben replied, and Reed saw his friend donning the old exo-skeleton that he had worn for a time years before. “Surrender ain’t no option. We go down swingin’, or not at all.”

“Ben…” Alicia Masters said, her voice choked with tears. “Hold me…”

Ten seconds…

“All right! Enough! I don’t gotta see this shit ta know what happens.”

Ben Grimm turned away from the misty, swirling images to once again face the Scarlet Centurion. His recent benefactor towered over him fading in and out of the crimson fog that seemed to saturate his realm, his little branching river of the Time Stream. His face was unreadable for the most part, the man’s helmet hiding emotion, but for a second Ben thought he saw the slightest downward turn of thin lips. Sadness… Regret? Ben Grimm could not say.

A flicker of light from behind as the Centurion waved his hand, a shift in shadows and Grimm knew that the heart-wrenching scene had vanished back into Time, another domino of possibility on the verge of toppling. He hated this, viewing death and destruction, friends murdered or corrupted, but he knew it was necessary. The Centurion had explained everything to him after saving Grimm from his own unplanned sojourn through Time.

“What do I gotta do?” Grimm asked, his voice ragged and grumbling, barely containing the anger boiling within him. He could see the seeds in his own reality that had already been planted. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Guardsmen had already been placed in the Baxter Building. He knew that there was a new batch of Sentinels quartered somewhere, probably mass-producing even now. The Angel and the Panther were already working hand in hand, along with Janet Van Dyne and who knew how many others, trying to manipulate the Marvel community from behind the scenes. And of course there was Control…

“Who’s the missing link this time?”

“This Man,” the Scarlet Centurion said and again the clouds swirled and coalesced into images trying to focus like a rainbow in the mists of a waterfall. Grimm’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the man central to the scene, remembered the images from a few years back as he had watched them along with most every Marvel that cared on CSPAN, set in a United States Senate Hearing Chamber.

“Much about our world has changed in recent years. We face situations – and threats – undreamed of by earlier generations. One such is the appearance of Homo Superior – Mutants! Flesh of our flesh. Blood of our blood, yet possessing powers and abilities, which set them apart – some would say above – the rest of Humanity.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Grimm said turning again to the Centurion. “I know the speech by heart. And I know what comes next. Senator Robert Kelly was the biggest advocate against Mutant Rights an’ about a step or two behind Hitler in his thinkin’. People said the death of his wife drove him to the edge, an’ he was makin’ a lotta enemies along the way.

“Couple minutes into the speech Mystique an’ her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants busted in ta take him out. An’ if not fer the X-Men they would have. Way I heard it, if Kelly had died his Bill ta round up Mutants and Marvels would’a pushed through Congress an’ the world would’a went ta hell in a hand basket.

“But it didn’t. The X-Men saved the day, and Kelly turned over a new leaf. Hell, he’s runnin’ for President on a Pro-Mutant platform now, or maybe ya didn’t know that.”

“I see all, Grimm,” the Centurion said and Ben heard the slightest tinge of annoyance in his voice. “Kelly is a nexus in Time’s delicate web. He is a jagged stone that diverts the rushing river into a myriad of divergent streams. True, in your reality Robert Kelly changed his goals, however the ripples of his decisions forever corrupt the placid waters and stretch ever outward touching many.”

“Jeez, can’t you celestial types just speak English?” Grimm mumbled. The Centurion ignored him.

“Even now Kelly plans to address your home nation to espouse his dreams of a unified Humanity. He will be backed by Mutants of renown and influence as well as his compatriots. There are those however that will corrupt his best intentions, seeking to control him both financially and politically.”

“Control, hunh?” Grimm nodded in understanding. “I dunno why ya just don’t set us loose on them an’ get it over with.”

“That would be detrimental, my friend. The time is not yet come to confront them. We must prepare.”

“So, what’s my mission, Jim, should I choose to accept it.”

The Scarlet Centurion hesitated a moment, and Grimm noted a flicker of confusion, logging it away.

“Kelly’s spark must be transcribed within the Stylus,” the Centurion said waving away the latest images. Grimm stared at the fading picture; Destiny staggering as Kitty Pryde phased, diving through her body and causing her crossbow bolt to fire into the floor instead of Kelly.

“And we have to do that on national television instead of when he’s sleeping, why?”

“There is one who must die. You will know when the time is right. The Stones of Andrak will cloak your band from technology.” The Scarlet Centurion stared at him, awaiting his answer and Ben Grimm; the Thing felt the weight of his world on his shoulders.

“Fine,” he finally said. “Tell me who’s gotta die.”

FUTURE’S PAST IMPERFECT

By Curtis Fernlund

Washington, DC:
The United States Senate Building;
The Offices of Senator Robert Kelly,
Now…

“I have to tell you, Henry… I’m a little nervous.”

Senator Robert Kelly; in hiatus as a potential candidate for President of the United States looked up from the wrinkled and sweat stained pages of his speech to stare hopefully at his distinguished guest. Doctor Henry McCoy; AKA the Beast sat somewhat comfortably in the over-sized chair that had been brought in to accommodate his rather unique if not excessive frame. It was always just a little strange to see the blue-furred Mutant dressed in a designer suit, in this case Caraceni.

“No worries, Robert,” the Beast said as he sipped at his coffee, recrossing muscular legs in the process. “You’ll do fine. How many times have you addressed the Senate in the past, my friend? It’s just another day in the life.”

“I suppose,” Kelly sighed, settling back into his own plush leather chair. McCoy was right of course. He had addressed Congress in full on more occasions than he cared to admit. He had gone toe to toe with the likes of Ted Kennedy and Straum Thurman with less trepidation. He had filibustered on the rights of Mutants for fifty-six hours in one session, trying to block funding to William Stryker and Donald Trask and their funding of the new Sentinel program- to no avail in the end. This upcoming speech however seemed paramount in his campaign, just why he did not know. He could feel some impending… friction on the horizon. It was rattling him to say the least.

“It’s just so much is riding on this, Henry. I screw up and we could end up back on square one- Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.” Kelly leafed through the well-worn pages of his speech again, looking for flaws for perhaps the thousandth time. He had the best writers in the business, and they had conveyed his thoughts well, and he had long-since committed their words to memory, but still…

“That’s why I called in some markers, Robert,” the Beast said as he set his empty coffee mug aside. “Three more known, and accepted Mutants to be in the background for visual support. Unless you put on combat boots, then shove both feet in your mouth and suddenly get struck with a bout of Tourette Syndrome, you cannot fail.”

Kelly chuckled. “I hope you’re right. But I can only imagine that the likes of Stryker, Trask, Magneto, hell even Doom will be waiting to see me fall.”

“Not going to happen,” Henry McCoy said even as a ‘BZZZZZ’ erupted in the otherwise quiet of the office. Kelly leaned forward and touched the intercom.

“Yes?”

“Your guests have arrived, Senator,” said a staticky female voice.

“Thank you, Kelly. Send them in.”

“Y’know, Robert,” the Beast grinned, fangs gleaming. “If you married her, her name would be Kelly Kelly.”

“Shut up,” Robert Kelly said, but had to laugh.

“So, we are basically going to be props for Senator Kelly’s speech?” Kurt Wagner asked as he walked alongside his teammate and friend. He ignored the furtive glances he received, long since accustomed to the uneasy feelings he caused in those not gifted.

“Props is a rather harsh term, Kurt,” Ororo Monroe answered as she strode beside him exuding nothing but confidence in her gait. She was dressed in black, the latest that Dior had to offer, a stunning dress with high-heeled strappy sandals and only the slightest in silver accessories accentuating her natural beauty. She looked authoritative, if not slightly regal, her silver hair falling down her bare back like a waterfall, held slightly in check with her tiara from her working costume. He in turn was wearing a slate gray suit tailored by John Varvatos, sans shoes of course, all courtesy of Anthony Stark. He tugged at the tight collar as he loped alongside his old friend, a silver cross dangling.

“We’re to be moral support today, and much needed,” Ororo continued, her heels clacking rhythmically on the highly polished marble floors of the Senate building. “If Robert’s speech is successful, he may turn many to our cause. As members of the Avengers and accepted, more or less, our mere presence will booster his campaign.”

“After our last battle,” Kurt replied, “I would think that the Senator might have second thoughts.” *

* {See Avengers #33 for the grim details…}

“The Avengers did well, despite the circumstances, Kurt.”

Both Storm and Nightcrawler stopped short as they saw their friend and old teammate from the X-Men stride from a side hall to join them. Warren Worthington the Third looked impressive in his tailored Armani, and Kurt Wagner could easily see why he had been voted one of People’s Top 10 most eligible bachelors the past several years, despite being a Mutant.

“Warren,” Ororo said as they met the ArchAngel, leaning in to air kiss. Kurt shook his friend’s hand.

“Ultron is… was a vicious threat. Thousands died, I know, but how many more would have been killed if you and the Avengers hadn’t stopped him. His goal was genocide; mass extinction of the Human Race, Mutants included. The people realize that.”

“The Press has not been so understanding,” Kurt countered as they continued down the long, immaculate hall. “They expect miracles.”

“The Press has their role in the scheme of things too, Kurt,” Warren said as they approached the door to Kelly’s offices. “No worries. Things will work out for the best.”

“I hope you are correct, Warren.” Ororo smoothed her dress as she opened the door. “I do so want this to work. I’m tired of the air of negativity that dogs us continually thanks to the likes of Magnus, Grayden Creed, Stephen Lang, the Trasks… Genosha is in turmoil. There are Brotherhood Cells still active, thanks to Mystique. And how many Human groups stand against us, not to mention rogue Mutant organizations? It seems hopeless sometimes.”

“I know, believe me,” Worthington said as he stepped into the outer office and up to the desk of Kelly’s assistant. “I’ve been dealing with the bigotry far longer than you, but I still think things can be changed. Charles’ dream is not dead. I’ll make certain of that.”

“Can I help you?” the woman seated at the wide mahogany desk asked, looking up from her computer screen. Kurt saw Warren flash his billion-dollar smile.

“Warren Worthington the Third and friends to see Senator Kelly. We’re expected.”

“Yes, Sir,” the woman said with a blush to her cheeks. One moment.” She pressed the intercom’s button-

“Yes?” came the staticky reply.

“Your guests have arrived, Senator,” the woman said.

“Thank you, Kelly. Send them in,” came Kelly’s voice.

“Go right in,” the woman said, beaming a wide, bright smile.

“Thank you,” Warren said, his own smile just as wide as he opened the door to Kelly’s inner offices. Kurt grinned at the secretary as he passed, nodding his thanks, but he saw that she was all eyes on the Avenging Angel.

Kelly Sydney breathed a sigh of relief as the three Mutants stepped into Senator Kelly’s inner sanctum. She had thought she would give herself away, she was so tongue-tied at the sight of Warren Worthington the Third. “God, he’s hot,” she whispered as she tried to collect herself.

She reached down beside her chair and fished her Trac Phone from her purse. Flipping quickly through her Contacts, she hit the ‘Speed Dial’ and waited as the phone simulated ringing…

“Yes?” the voice on the far end said, hollow and deep.

“They’ve arrived,” Kelly said, knowing that her contact in one of the few remaining Brotherhood Cells would know exactly what she meant. She waited through the resulting silence, then…

“Good. Proceed as planned. You’re prepared?”

“To give my all,” Kelly said, certain in her conviction. She would forfeit her life to prevent the world that Senator Kelly envisioned. There was no middle ground. Flatscan and Mutant could never live together. “Kelly dies today.”

“Your sacrifice will be remembered, sister, as was your fathers’.”

Kelly Sydney flipped her Trac Phone closed and dropped it back into her bag. She pursed her lips, frowning slightly. She had never known her father, Kevin Sydney; the original Changeling. Her mother had said that he had died in the service of Charles Xavier, saving the world from an alien invasion.

What a load.

Sure there were Skrulls and Krees and Shiars and God knew how many more freak ass things from outer space- but the Z’Nox? What the fuck was that? Her father had been used, she was sure. Xavier had taken advantage of him, knowing that he was dying, Xavier had used him to further his own goals of world harmony- at least that was what he called it. Kelly knew better. Mystique had shown her.

And when Kelly was dead, she and the rest of her Brotherhood Cell would come down on the ‘Astonishing’ X-Men with a vengeance, freeing Mystique and leaving none of the Flatscan loving sympathizers alive in their wake. The Brotherhood assumed that she would die today, becoming a martyr for their cause.

Little did even they know that she was a little bit more than her father…

Washington, DC:
The United States Senate Building;
Now…

“Senator!”

Everyone turned on the defensive at the voice that echoed from the other end of the hall. Tensions were high, and electricity seemed to crackle in the air as Ororo stepped in front of Robert Kelly, Kurt Wagner’s hand on his arm.

“Easy, people,” Henry McCoy said, eyeing the figure approaching their group of six including Kelly and his aide. The man approaching seemed vaguely familiar to Hank McCoy, like a ghost from the past that he could not quite place. Kelly however seemed to relax as he stepped past Storm and extended a hand in greeting.

“Colonel Jameson!” Senator Kelly said, shaking the ex-astronaut’s hand. “An honor, sir.” Jameson smiled.

“The honor’s mine, Senator,” the son of J. Jonah Jameson said as Henry McCoy eyed the man dressed in a trim black suit, his ‘Hall Pass’ clearly in view, trying to recall the man’s history in the few seconds he had. Astronaut and hero, son of the owner of the Daily Bugle, John Jameson was hardly a threat. The Man Wolf on the other hand…

Henry McCoy tried to recall the Avengers’ Files on the man. He had been morphed early on in a Moon Launch gone bad and fought Spider-Man. Later he had found a rock on a subsequent Moon Landing that had affixed itself to him, making him a werewolf of sorts. Turned out that was an extra-dimensional artifact that had changed him into the Star God; hero of some other dimension. It was convoluted and confusing, but as far as McCoy knew he was relatively normal again. At least as far as J. Jonah Jameson’s child could be considered normal. Henry relaxed, and that was his mistake.

The darkness was just a blot, a shadow at first that roiled at the edge of sight, then blossomed like a rose unfolding before the warming rays of the sun. McCoy tried to focus on it, almost mesmerized as it grew into a swirling mass of shadow. Too late he shouted a warning…

John Jameson grimaced as the change washed over him. He felt the Star Gem’s power burning into his skin as silver fur sprouted and his bones and muscles morphed, elongating in ways they were never meant to. He squeezed his fist and heard Senator Kelly squeal as bone shattered in his grip, his Lupine, Star God strength overwhelming the normal man’s brittle defenses, driving him to his knees. He struggled to hold the plan in mind, pulling Kelly close, the Senator lulled in the presence of the astronaut and hero he once was.

Man-Wolf locked an arm about Kelly’s throat, his claws poised at the jugular, ready to do what needed to be done…

Colleen Wing stepped from Midnight’s darkness, katana held high and at the ready; to strike… to kill. She stared at the Mutants assembled before her, biting her lip in regret. She knew two of the four, calling them friend from her misplaced dalliance with Scott Summers some years before. She looked to Jameson, holding Kelly and readied herself for what was to come…

“Colleen?” Storm said distractedly as she gathered the elements about her. Electricity gathered about her en force. The humidity in the corridor rose as Storm called upon her powers, moist, sultry air weighing on all within. Even she started to sweat…

Jim Scully stepped from the darkness and saw the X-Men of old standing in his way. He saw the wolf holding Senator Kelly. He saw Storm ready to bring down a hurricane, Nightcrawler ready to start porting through the ranks, Angel and Beast doing whatever they could do…

Not his problem. He looked to the side and saw his goal. Kelly Sydney, daughter of the Changeling, cowering in the corner with a cell phone pressed to her ear. Her eyes grew wide as he charged forward and he saw her body start to morph…

“Mother fuc-“

The sledge hammer hand stretched forward and slammed into him, sending him flying backwards…

Lightning flared as Ben Grimm stepped from the Dark Dimension. He saw Storm radiating electrical energy; her hair crackling and her eyes glowing white. He ignored the lightning as it charred the ground where he stood, trying to find his targets.

He saw Jameson holding Kelly and headed there first, confident that Colleen would do her job. He had barely gone two steps when Nightcrawler ‘Bamfed’ before him in a cloying cloud of fire and brimstone. Grimm sneezed and started fanning the smoke from his face.

“Ben Grimm?!” Nightcrawler exclaimed as he appeared before the Thing, wide-eyed and obviously confused. “I thought you were dead! What is this? What is happening?” Ben reached out and flicked a finger under the startled Kurt Wagner’s chin, sending him sprawling into oblivion.

“Sorry, Kurt,” Grimm said as he stepped past the unconscious form of Nightcrawler, heading for Kelly…

Warren Worthington III flexed the muscles of his wings and ripped through the material of his expensive, designer suit. He rose into the air, his massive wings beating to hold him aloft in the confines of the hallway as he tried to make sense of what was happening…

These were friends. Ben Grimm and Colleen Wing. What the Hell?

John Jameson was a national hero for Christ’s sake!

What the hell was going on? Why were heroes attacking Kelly? It made no sense!

“Hank!” he shouted, looking from Nightcrawler’s unconscious form to Kelly and the Thing, the Man-Wolf still with his claws digging into the senator’s throat.

“Easy, Warren,” McCoy said as he crouched before the Man-Wolf, ready to strike. The sight of Grimm beside Jameson however no doubt gave him pause.

“Grimm!” Worthington called. “What the hell is this?”

“What has ta be, fly boy,” the Thing said. “More involved here than you’ll ever know. Step back, an’ we’ll make it quick.” Angel shivered at how cold Grimm’s voice sounded.

“You know I can’t do that.”

Grimm shrugged. “More’s the pity, boy. Nothin’ personal.”

The cut was clean.

Warren Worthington III felt nothing as he saw Colleen Wing run past, at least at first. He stared at the blood trailing from her katana, spattering on the high-polished marble floor, wondering what had happened.

Then he felt the pain…

He looked down and saw blood staining his bare torso, just below his ribs, a searing burn slithering into him. Not a killing blow he knew, but enough to take him out of the action. Enough that he would feel pain and be next to useless in a fight, feeling his insides rip if he tried to move. His hands went to the wound, blood seeping through his fingers as he pressed into it.

“No…”

He dropped to the ground, clutching the gash in his side, his wings fluttering…

“Jameson,” Henry McCoy said trying to sound placating. He saw the Man-Wolf’s claws pressing into Kelly’s throat, pinpricks of blood sprouting. “Let him go. Please…”

Man-Wolf snarled his rage!

“Oh my stars and garters, this is not good.” The Beast raised his hands in a calming motion, trying to ease the Star God’s rage. “Don’t kill him… Please don’t kill him…”

Man-Wolf howled!

“Oy vey…”

Henry McCoy calculated distances and angles as he stared at the Man-Wolf, wondering just where he would have to bounce, to leap in order to hopefully save the Senator. It did not look good. With the claws poised at Kelly’s throat, he knew as soon as he moved, Jameson would strike in reflex. Henry McCoy tensed…

And saw Grimm step up closer to Man-Wolf’s side. The Thing produced something slim and crystalline that sparkled and jabbed it into Kelly’s temple. The Senator groaned and collapsed in Man-Wolf’s arms…

“Benjamin!” Ororo shouted as she tried to contain the storm that sat at the edge of her powers, ready to wash over the area in a cleansing purge. She could feel the force building about her, growing in potential, ready to be let loose on her enemies- though her enemies were friends. That was the only thing holding her in check.

She had to marvel at their assault however, no doubt devised by the Thing. They had to have known of Kelly’s speech today and had planned accordingly. First sending in the acclaimed John Jameson; war hero and astronaut, not to mention the son of the owner and publisher of the Daily Bugle, to draw Kelly out and put them all off guard. What a coo to have him standing at the Senator’s side during his speech, and to have the Bugle’s endorsement.

Then when the darkness appeared, to have Colleen Wing appear first. Grimm must have known they would have seen her as a friend, again distracting and no one would move against her in the confusion.

But why?

She saw Kurt lying unconscious…

She saw Colleen, cutting down Warren…

She saw the Man-Wolf ready to tear out Robert Kelly’s throat…

What was happening?

Ororo saw stars as something slammed into the back of her skull. Her flight faltered and she touched down, head pulsing in pain. The storm that she had held at her fingertips raged into the empty hallway before her as she staggered and finally fell to the warm marble floor. She groaned as a bolt of lightning shattered the stone a dozen yards away, a deluge of rain sweeping the hall uselessly. Her storm was swiftly losing strength in the close confines of the corridor as her concentration wavered. She looked up and saw Skull the Slayer standing over her, frowning. He looked oddly sad.

“Sorry, babe. I generally wouldn’t rabbit punch a broad, but these are hard times, an’ there’s a lot at stake,” Skully said as he drew his fist back. “Nothin’ personal.”

Ororo tried to raise her hands to defend herself but they just did not respond. She yelped as her nose shattered and she swiftly lost consciousness…

Kelly Sydney stared at the scene before her, her hand swiftly morphing back into some semblance of normalcy. That was Ben Grimm- the Thing from the Fantastic Four standing next to the silver werewolf that had just killed Kelly. She was sure that he was dead! He had to be.

What the Hell was going on?

The X-Men were done except for the monkey man. The Angel was still up but he was bleeding out his side and she knew if he fought, that he’d just get worse. The woman with the sword stepped over to flank Grimm, and the guy with the weird, glowing belt stepped to his other side. The Thing looked at her then and Kelly swallowed.

“What’s yer name, kid?” he asked her. She had no love for Flatscans or their sympathizers, but this was the Thing! He was a fucking hero! He’d saved the Earth like a gazillion times! She stared up into his sparkling blue eyes and just could not lie.

“K-Kelly,” Kelly Sydney said. “Kelly Sydney…” The Thing seemed to consider for a moment, then shrugged.

“Sorry,” he said and actually sounded so. “Never heard of ya.”

Kelly Sydney saw the Thing step forward, and she was suddenly, unconsciously willing the molecules of her form to condense and harden. She was suddenly terrified. Her eyes grew wide. What –

“Ben!” the Beast called out, leaping forward. A blue-furred fist slammed into the Thing’s head, causing him to stagger as the Beast bounded past. He was grabbed by the guy with the belt in mid-air and slammed to the floor, a move so quick that Kelly would have missed it had she blinked.

She looked up, and the Thing was towering over her.

“Hello… Hello…”

Jacob’s voice sounded hollow and far away on her cell phone as she looked up into the Thing’s sad blue eyes again. He was going to kill her. She knew it.

“Sorry, kid,” he said, reaching out…

“No…” she said, her voice choked with tears. Kelly Sydney willed her body hard, harder than she ever had before. She thought of rocks… iron… diamonds…

It wasn’t enough.

Her eyes went wide as the sword slashed through her throat. She heard a wet, gurgling sound as she gasped for air and felt the warmth as blood oozed out of her throat and drooled down her neck. Her vision graying, she saw the woman whip the katana about in a circle, her blood flying away…

“No!” Warren Worthington’s voice shrieked as he flowed forward, his wings beating, propelling him. He felt his side ache, a fresh gush of blood oozing through his fingers, the pain forcing him back down to the floor as he skipped forwards.

“Grimm,” he said, panting against the pain searing into his side. Colleen Wing had cut deep; not enough to kill, but enough to prevent him from doing anything meaningful. But why?

He glanced at the young woman, her body just now collapsing to the floor, her head tilting back and away. “What have you done?”

Worthington glanced at Senator Kelly and saw the man’s chest rise. At least he was still alive. But the Man-Wolf was still hovering over him. Storm was out. Nightcrawler was out but moving, coming around. Beast was dazed but Skull the Slayer was standing over him. Where the Hell had Skull the Slayer come from?

Warren felt the Thing’s rocky fist clamp about his throat. Grimm squeezed slightly and the Angel felt something snap. Warren’s eyes went wide as he was suddenly gasping for breath, his throat swelling as the Thing released him. He staggered back, choking and gagging.

“Listen close, Wings,” Grimm said as he glanced down the long hall. Warren heard the sound of feet pounding on the stone floor, coming closer. “There’s some shit goin’ down, an’ yer right in the middle of it. There’s people even richer than you pullin’ yer strings. Unless you wise up an’ pull yer pals together, the world’s gonna go ta Hell in a hand basket.”

Grimm glanced to the side and Warren followed his gaze. He saw the darkness bubbling into being again, filling the corridor. He thought that he could almost make out a dark, shadowy form in its midst.

“We’re done, people,” he said, “move out!”

The ArchAngel watched as the Man-Wolf, Skull and finally Colleen Wing stepped into the roiling black clouds and disappeared. He saw Hank McCoy spring to his feet, ready to continue the fight though he was swaying slightly. Nightcrawler stood too, though even more shakily. Grimm was staring at the body of the girl, Kelly’s aide.

“Grrr – “ Worthington spoke, or tried to as pain lanced through his throat. Ben Grimm turned and saw the three X-Men ready to fight. He smiled.

“Ask Fury about Control,” he said as he stepped to the dark cloud. “Tell him what happened here, an’ tell him I ain’t done.”

Ben Grimm stepped into the darkness and immediately it started to shrivel and recede. Warren watched as both Hank and Kurt leaped at it, but knew that they were too late. They sailed through the vaporous mists that were dissipating even before they touched down.

There was a brief moment of silence as the three men surveyed the scene, then Henry McCoy leaped to Senator Kelly’s side.

“He’s alive, thank God,” Beast said looking up and back at Warren and Nightcrawler. “Kurt! See to Storm.” Kurt Wagner rushed to Ororo Monroe’s side even as Warren stepped up to stand over Kelly’s slain aide.

She looked so young, young and helpless as her wide eyes stared up at the ceiling in shock. Warren barely registered Kurt’s words, calling out that Storm would be fine, hearing a crack of bone. In the distance, soldiers stormed around the corner and came charging down the hall.

“W… Wh… “ Warren grimaced as he tried to speak, his throat in agony. His sight was fading as blood still seeped from his wound. Hank McCoy, one of his oldest friends stood and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t know, Warren. But I intend to find out.”

Warren Worthington the Third- the ArchAngel nodded, then promptly collapsed to the floor and passed out from lack of blood…

Interlude 1:
The Hollow…

All about him, the room was a flurry of activity. He could hear the constant clack of keys as dozens of fingers frantically typed, all blurring into a non-stop staccato rhythm that faded into background noise. The low murmur of voices divided into a hundred dialects echoing softly, words and clucks and whistles that defied coherence. The hum, thrum of the machines, the flickering light of monitors flashing from scene to scene, the scent of tension and unwashed bodies despite the recirculating air coolants…

Charles Little Sky tried to ignore the obvious edge that circulated through one of the many monitor rooms that dotted the Communications and Surveillance Spoke of the Hollow. He was tired, his eyes straining in the gloom of the dim room, wishing that he was still back in his quarters and asleep. The recent events with the Undying Ones and his extra-dimensional, future doppelganger had been… stressful to say the least. But he had asked to be notified should the ‘Blink Event’ occur again.

Charles Little Sky sighed. It was hard sometimes being the Director of A.R.M.O.R.- Altered Reality Monitoring and Operational Response- Being in charge of the huge organization that was held responsible for watch dogging the countless other realities that forever stemmed and split from the home dimension of Earth Omega, waiting for the hammer to fall it seemed all the time.

“You see, sir,” the young Skrull at station 618 said pointing at the flatscreen monitor display linked to his computer node. His long finger was following a computer graphic displayed on the left hand side of the screen; a representation of the dimensional tree that sprouted from the death of one Robert Kelly, a senator in the United States of America. A thin red line was swiftly advancing across the screen, intersecting allegedly important and key points before splintering and branching out into a convoluted web.

On the right half of the split screen was a ‘real time’ feed from EARTH 1D7.0.91.0.6. On screen he saw the rewinding history of a world where Mutants were hunted to near extinction by Humans armed with S.H.I.E.L.D., Guardsmen, military and Sentinels. He watched grimly as Charles Xavier rose spasming from his wheelchair, his bloody wounds vanishing as the shattered window reformed before his startled face. He clutched the curtains for support, then fell back into his chair, garbled words passing his lips in reverse.

“It’s vanishing,” the Skrull said, anxiety tugging at his voice. “See?”

Charles Little Sky said nothing as he watched the monitor. On the right a golden crossbow bolt plunged into Kelly’s heart as on the left the splintering web of Time shimmered and the screen turned to static. Just like the other.

Just a few days earlier a dimension that had sprouted from a Defenders incursion had similarly vanished. Strange and his cohorts had sought to bring peace to the world with an iron fist, and the world they had created simply blinked from existence; rewinding until the divergence and then vanishing.

“It’s gone,” the young Skrull said, his huge eyes almost comically wide. “Are they supposed to do that?”

“No,” Charles Little Sky said. He placed a hand on the Skrull’s shoulder and felt the flesh rippling under the bronze-colored uniform. “Good job, son. Keep me up to date.”

Charles Little Sky ignored the wide smile and gratitude of the Skrull as he turned and walked towards the exit. He had no idea what was happening, but dimensions simply did not erase themselves like that. Not without god like influence at least…

The Dark Phoenix…
The Ultimate Nullifier…
The Cosmic Cube…

But none of that makes sense, he thought as he stepped from the room into the silence of the elevator. He pressed the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. He needed sleep.

“Housing. Level Six.”

The elevator hummed and he felt only the slightest change in gravity as he was swept away towards his destination…

Epilogue 1:

Manhattan
428 Greene Street
SoHo

Colleen Wing stood at the window of the safe house staring out at the storm. The rain was falling hard, the result of a thunderstorm that had sprung up with the long stretch of humidity. Occasionally lightning flared turning the red brick building across the street a stark, chalky white as thunder rumbled a heartbeat after.

She bit her lip, stifling a sob…

“You okay, kid?”

Colleen did not turn as she stared into the night. She could see the reflection of Jim Scully in the glass, shimmering as lightning flared again. She sighed as the building shook, the loft that was now home.

“No,” she said, reaching up to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. “I killed today; a scared, helpless girl…”

“Hardly helpless,” Skully said and she saw him touch his ribs. “Scared maybe. That was your first?”

“Hardly,” Colleen snorted, her mind trying to block the images gushing forward; Master Khan, White Dragon, countless minions for whatever overlord she had faced alongside Misty Knight and Danny Rand. “I’ve killed. But this was…”

“I’ve killed babies,” he said and Colleen blinked. She stared at Skully’s reflection.

“You hear about it,” he said glumly. “Well, maybe you read about it in the history books. I was in the Nam, fighting ta keep the world safe for democracy while back home it’s the Summer of Love. The called us ‘Baby Killers’ while they were getting high on acid, protesting the war.

“We were pushing north, near Vinh. Some little dirt water village, population thirty if you counted the chickens. The people all came out to watch us pass; little kids and old folk pushin’ ninety. Lieutenant Baxter had the point, walkin’ us through an’ this little girl came runnin’ up all smiles and yellin’ ‘Joe! Joe!’

“Baxter smiled at her and she held up her hand and we all saw she was holdin’ a grenade. She let go- pin was long gone an’ we all fired like we was trained to do. Baxter was shoutin’ something when the thing exploded, ripping him to shreds and the three guys in front of me. Kid died too. Not before we ripped her up, though.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Colleen asked, finally turning from the window.

“Nope,” Skully said as he leaned against the edge of the sofa. “S’posed ta make you realize that life sucks. My mother used ta say that ‘There’s a lotta things I don’t like to do, but I still gotta do ‘em’. Found out she was pretty much right.

“That girl in DC was there with the sole purpose of getting’ close to Kelly so she could kill him. Grimm says she was a Mutant- an EVIL Mutant from one of the Brotherhood cells that hasn’t been shut down yet. God knows what would’a happened if she succeeded. Well, maybe Grimm knows too, but that’s beside the point. You did what had to be done, and if you hadn’t I would’ve. Or Grimm would have. Or Jameson…

“You don’t have to like it, and frankly I’d be more worried if ya did.” Skully stood and shuffled towards the door, heading into the hall. “But ya gotta accept it, or get out. It’ll drive ya crazy otherwise.”

Colleen Wing stared after Jim Scully as he left the room, pulling the door softly closed behind him. Then she turned back to the window and shivered, hugging herself as lightning flared white outside.

She would be glad when Misty returned.

And the thunder rolled…

Next Issue: If you thought this issue was a turning point, just wait and see what happens next time as we take a look and see what the other half of the team was up to. Join Misty Knight, Eric Arcane and Midnight as they take on a Celestial!

No… Really!

Strange Deaths! Probably not in 30, but hopefully not in 240 again…

Things to Come…

Are you seeing the pattern yet? Can you feel the Jones? Obviously something is not Kosher in Earth: Omega, and the Scarlet Centurion feels the need to set things straight. Or does he? He could not possibly have a hidden agenda, benevolent higher being that he is…

Things will get fast and furious- hopefully- now that the final line has been crossed. Ben and crew will be plowing through Altered Realities like the Back Forty as they try to save the universe. Expect to see guest stars galore and villains to monumental to mention as we move closer and closer to Conspiracy!

Special Thanks to Dale Glaser for allowing the use of his A.R.M.O.R. in a cameo this issue. Expect to see a crossover eventually as we are trudging the same road. If you have not checked out his great new series, leave here now and go read it!

Thanks also to Dino, Chris Munn and Hunter for use of the Beast (who I did not get permission to use first, sorry). I needed some X-Men, and found the 4 likely candidates with the least hassle in the Dibs- as two of them were mine and Dino’s anyway.

As to what’s coming, expect to see…

Shang-Chi and MI-6
Dracula
The Hulk
The Watcher
The Avengers
A.R.M.O.R…

Not enough? Remember, next issue, a Celestial!

‘Nuff said!

Curt
7/16/10
Revised: 10/10/10