"Hush, gel." said Pete as those that were looking for them went by. He stroked her brow and looked down at Pale Flower. "Rest, let your system work it out."

"It hurts, Pete," she whispered, curled up tight as she clutched her sides in agony.

"I know," he said. "I know." He let go of her a moment as he went to check on the collapsed entranceway to the cave they were now in as he reflected on what had happened. It had been nearly two hours since they had been forced to abandon Shaw and Elisabeth to the forces of their enemy, whoever it was.

Somehow Elisabeth's psionics were not working all of a sudden and Shaw had broken his leg in the fall from the aircraft, which was now scattered in tiny pieces all over the Savage Land. Surrounded by mutates of some kind, Shaw had ordered Pete and Shirohana to flee. Pete had only been convinced to do so by Elisabeth and though it gutted him to the core, he had taken Shirohana in to the jungle while the other two were taken away.

The problem was that though Shirohana's power to mimic the powers of anyone she touched had saved her life in the fall, as she had copied Shaw's powers, her body could not cope with the stresses placed upon her system. Now as her metabolism tried to cope with the absorbed kinetic energy, she was in great pain. Pete had hidden them in a cave and used his hot knives to cause a collapse of the entrance, sealing them in and hiding them from their pursuers until she recovered.

Hopefully it would be soon.

(As seen last issue - David)

Garokk looked at his two captives, standing in the darkness so he would not be seen just yet. Krakoa had brought them from the forest glade right to the cell in which they were now held and now the mutant landscape was searching himself for a sign of the other two who had escaped. It would not be long before they were found, especially with his Morlocks after them as well. His thoughts turned back to the people in his hands and he smiled as he looked on.

Shaw's leg had been bound and a healing salve had been applied to it, however he was still in pain. Elisabeth Braddock was another matter. Her powers were most effectively neutralised and she was like a caged wild cat. He remembered her demure stature when he had first seen her all those years ago, taken in by the Hellfire Club. How things had since changed, but it wasn't her he was interested in.

"Hello, Sebastian," he said, stepping from the shadows so they could see him.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Shaw, standing as best he could, the grimace in pain all that he allowed through.

"Oh, you don't recognise me? What a shame."

"I remember everyone I've ever met. You're not one of them."

"Yes, that is true," said Garokk. "Except not fully. When last we met I asked for your loyalty. Your obedience. You denied me, defied me and cast me out using the technological marvels at your command. When last we met I was called Farouk."

"The Shadow King," breathed Shaw, at last knowing his foe. "I thought you were dead."

"After what you did to me, I nearly was," snarled Garokk. "But with the advent of Onslaught, I survived. My powers were restored, even though my body was destroyed. How ironic that my greatest of enemies should provide a means of my restoration."

"Who is this man?" asked Elisabeth.

"Farouk is a telepath of the highest order, on a level with Onslaught himself, perhaps greater. He wanted to join the Hellfire Club as its Emperor. Apparently the self styled Shadow King wanted a promotion. However, we knew of his coming and prepared accordingly. He joined us for a short while before making his demands. We used psionic blockers and, together with the other Lords Cardinal, we tore him to pieces before throwing his fat carcass from a plane over the Atlantic."

"An exaggerated story but the basic truth remains the same. My body died but my mind lived on in a non-sentient capacity. Then Charles Xavier unleashed his powers and the effects on the astral plane awakened me, at the same time masking me from the creature whom he'd created."

"Who is this Xavier?" asked Elisabeth of Shaw while Garokk continued.

"Never heard of him."

"However," continued Garokk, "the Onslaught entity was indeed a powerful foe and one I would never be able to defeat if he ever learned of me. So I gathered two of the most powerful mutants I knew of, gathered by the Human High Council. I learnt of them when you visited the Savage Land, Shaw. You had a traitor in your midst that eventually sold you out to Black Air. The irony kept me entertained for months. And now you have brought me the last of the Braddock siblings and now my triumph and your failure are complete, and you will die here, Sebastian." He turned and started to walk away. "As soon as I think of a suitable end for you."

He didn't see Jamie watching from the shadows, staring intently at the strange woman who seemed so familiar to him.

(As seen in Legion Quest: Broken Reality - David)

"Pete?" asked Shirohana.

"Yes, love," he said, at her side in a moment.

"I need to keep awake," she said. "If I got to sleep, I don't know if I'll wake up."

"Sod off," said Pete, worried, as she was certainly not improving as yet.

"Keep me awake," she said. "Please."

"I know," said Pete. "I'll tell you a story, and the moral is that everyone has pain, you just have to deal with it."

"How can a story start with a moral?"

"I'm telling it," he said. "So shut up and listen."

Six months ago

"Shaw's in the UK," came the word and Pete Wisdom's ears pricked up. He'd had the night off, his first in ages and he'd really wanted to spend it with Beth, but duty called and as Black Queen of the UK Hellfire Club she had to be present when the head of the Lords Cardinal arrived. Pete had sighed when he'd been told that Shaw was arriving on his first night off in months, but that was the way things went.

If it was for Elisabeth Braddock, he wouldn't stay. He'd quit better jobs than that before. Still that was the way it was, and it was pretty smooth.

"No kidding," said the other man. They were talking in low whispers but Pete was close enough to hear them. He was sat in a solitary booth and they probably didn't see him in the shadows. That or they were stupid. Plus Pete though he recognised one of the voices

"Yeah, Stryker himself is taking down the London site. He and Stuart have been working like mad for the past week, getting everything in order."

"Has Lord Campbell told the other members of the High Council?"

"No, he's not going to until the deed is done. Then they can complain all they like, it'll be too late."

"What about you, Chris? What happens to you when this goes down."

"We rebuild the Club for decent people, Dai. Once you've cut out the disease the body can heal."

"Fancy yourself as a King?"

"Out-dated system if you ask me. Lady Muck rules everything under with her power and influence and she's got that hot-shot bodyguard boyfriend. Still, we know that the Black Air'll get them all. That's the thing with mutants; they all stick together in one place. Nice easy target. It's be easier on them if they all wore crosses on their chests and went their separate ways."

"Here's to humanity," said Dai, raising his bottle.

"Here's to the end of mutants of the Inner Circle. They've pretended to be human for too long." The bottles clinked and Chris saw his watch. "Look at the time," he said and Big Ben started the sound of the bells getting ready to chime the hour. "It begins on the hour. Death to the mutants."

"Death to the mutants." Dai agreed and swigged back the beer. "Better than here's to humanity."

"Really?" said Pete loudly as he stood up, having heard enough and an icy streak entering his heart. "I was thinking more of 'Fuck you, flatscan'." Then he unleashed a hot knife and split the pierced the man's forehead with it, killing him instantly. "Taffy twat." He then turned to the other man showing his face in the light.

"Wisdom!" said Chris in horror as the chimes suddenly signalled the hour and he smiled. "You'll never make it, Wisdom. Across the world, your precious Hellfire Club and it's poxy Inner Circle are finished."

"Then I'll hurry," said Pete, knowing his only chance to save them was if he left now and as he ran he could hear Chris laughing. "And you'll never walk again," he said as he turned and fired a hot knife, curving it so it went around Pike and stabbed him just below the neck. The scream was as loud as anything else he'd heard as Christopher Pike fell to the floor, paralysed from the neck down. Pete got on to his motorcycle and smiled in spite of the situation. "Or move, or touch, or piss without help."

(As ordered in Age of Onslaught: Alpha - David)

Back in the cell, Shaw and Elisabeth were trying to figure out a way of escape.

"I don't like being this helpless," said Shaw, after they came to the disappointing conclusion there was no way out.

"And I don't like being headblind," snapped Elisabeth, the absence of her powers making her irritable as well as making her feel intensely lonely and vulnerable at the same time. Those combined with her natural fire were making her angry.

"Well whose fault is that?" demanded Shaw. "Without your powers, your little ruse has worn off. How dare you violate my mind, our minds, like that?"

"I will do whatever I have to for my family."

"Including betray your friends, taking them on a fools quest and get them all killed for the mere whisper of a brother who died almost 15 years ago?"

"You have no idea, do you, Sebastian," she said. "No idea what love is, none since your wife died. Not even for Shinobi."

"Don't even pretend you know what goes on in my mind. My wife and son have always been in your thoughts."

"And don't I know it?" taunted Elisabeth. "How galling is it that Shinobi isn't even your child? That you can't father them, and you kept that fact from your wife?"

"You..." Shaw's face reddened as he searched for the words but couldn't find in his fury. His deepest secret exposed in the open. The fact his wife had an affair with another of the Hellfire Club was bad enough, but he loved her too much to let her know how he knew. Until she had announced her pregnancy he had not known, not even suspected. "I'll kill you for this," finally managed, the spittle flying through his gritted teeth.

"What?" she taunted. "You'll kill me? I don't think so, and you know you won't either. Because we both know how you feel about me. I know the jealousy you feel in your heart when Pete holds me, kisses me, touches me, screws me." She looked at him and the anger rising within him. "You won't hurt me, because you know how much you want me, to feel my hair between your fingers, to caress my soft, smooth skin, to taste my lips..."

Shaw snapped and pushed himself forward at her, ignoring the pain in his leg and he threw her to the floor. Elisabeth was taken by surprise as he pinned her to the floor, his weight pressed on her, while he pressed his right forearm over her throat while he lifted her head up by the hair. She gazed at him defiantly and he kissed her, as she tried to fight him off.

"How dare you?" she said, unable to compete against his enhanced strength.

"Using your powers you raped me," he said pressing himself down on her, forcing apart her legs, his intentions towards her clear.

"No," she said, as he pulled at her clothing but there was nothing she could do and he looked down at her, his breath hot and harsh on her skin

"Now it's my turn."

(As seen in issue #1 - David)

The past.

Pete Wisdom arrived at the London branch of the Hellfire Club to see the building in flames and bodies littered across the lawns. It had taken him fifteen minutes to get here and it appeared that much had happened. One of the guards was still conscious and he grabbed him by the scruff of his uniform.

"Where's the Black Queen?" he asked.

"West Wing," he muttered. "They came at us from out of nowhere, psionic dampeners, taser rifles, other weapons. They took us out like we were nothing."

"Who's left?" demanded Pete.

"Nobody," he said. "They called us collaborators and executed us. The Inner Circle... gone." The man was obviously distressed and Pete was catching him up.

"Not quite," said Pete, with grim determination and made his way in to the building. Inside was worse than the outside, with people Pete knew and worked with dead, their bodies scattered across the floor. There were also people he didn't know who were dead as well, and it gave him some small satisfaction that the Hellfire Club had fought back.

Then he found them. The members of the Inner Circle, each hung up on the wall on a makeshift cross, to all intents and purposes crucified, except for the single bullet hole in the middle of their foreheads, their brains scattered on the wall behind them. All except for Shaw and Elisabeth, and from the west wing of the building he could hear chanting, and he made his way towards the noise.

The guards were non-existent and it grieved Pete to think that they were that confident they had wiped out the opposition, but it made his task easier. There was a crowd in the main ballroom but in the middle of the room he could see Shaw and Elisabeth, both tied to stakes and surrounded by books and papers. How they had been taken like that he could only guess, but they were both unconscious and only just coming round now.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," said a man as the chanting stopped. "For a few moments at least. The drugs in your systems are wearing off now, as we want you to be alive as you deviants are burned at the stake. Please struggle as much as you like, for the drug has also removed your powers on a temporary basis."

"STRYKER! STRYKER! STRYKER!" called the crowd and he quietened them down.

"Sebastian Shaw, you are a corrupt and evil man whose mind, body and soul are gifts from Satan himself. Elisabeth Braddock, you escaped our vengeance long ago but now there shall be a reckoning. In the name of the Human High Council, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," I sentence you both to death!" The fires were lit and the flames slowly crept higher.

"NO!" shouted Pete as he fought through the crowds, trying to get to the woman he loved, and the crowd started to fight back, but Pete was faster and in these crowded quarters his hot knives could do the most damage, slicing through them as if they weren't even there. They dropped like flies in every direction as Pete spread-eagled his hands and fired salvo after salvo after salvo until there were none left standing and he was spent.

He stood there, mentally and physically wasted, but he had to get to them and only the Reverend stood in his way.

"Get thee to hell, Satan!" cried the Reverend, pointing a gun at him, but Pete smiled and shook his head.

"Behind you," he said as he dropped to his knees. Stryker turned and saw Elisabeth standing behind him.

"This is for my brothers," she said and grabbed him and threw him on to the fire. His clothes ignited and he screamed as he flames covered his body and he leapt through a window.

"Good work," said Shaw. Pete's hot knives had cut through their bonds and freed them, giving them time to get away from the fire and slowly recover their strength. "Now let's get out of here and assess the damage done this night."

"It was worse than we feared," said Pete, as he finished telling his story. "Across the world, Black Air had struck at each of the branches and cut down the Hellfire Club. We've searched for survivors ever since and so far found only you." There was pain and sadness in his voice as he had since realised that if he had been there he'd have died with the rest, but still he thought there was a way he could have gotten there sooner and made more of a difference. Then he realised something. "Shirohana?" he asked.

Shirohana didn't speak. Her eyes were closed and Pete shook her.

"Shiro?" he asked, and shook her more violently. "Pale Flower?" he asked an edge of panic creeping in to his voice. She wouldn't wake up and as far as Pete could tell she wasn't breathing. "Oh, shit," he said as he started CPR and then the cave was flooded with light and he turned.

"At last!" said the tiger warrior.

"Ka-Zar!" said Pete, having heard his name when they were fleeing from earlier.

"Guess your friend didn't make it after all," said the Morlock. "Looks like you're on your own, Wisdom." Pete looked around, and tried his powers but without being in the sunlight they'd take a while to kick in, and he had a feeling that was more time than he had. Ka-Zar smiled, his jagged teeth showing and he flashed his claws.