Part 1: "Journey of the Sorcerer"

Rahne Sinclair landed hard on the metallic floor of the Danger Room. The horrific scenes of her combat session vanished around her as she slowly, agonizingly pushed herself to her hands and knees, features flowing from wolfish to as human as she could manage.

"Elapsed time, three minutes, forty-seven seconds," beeped a computerized voice.

Rahne bit back on something better left unsaid and sat up. "How'd I do, Professor?" she asked.

From his place in the control booth, Professor Charles Xavier checked the readouts from various computer screens. "Your newfound control over your animal forms is astonishing," he noted. "Far beyond your abilities upon entering the school. Your tenure with X-Factor has served you well. The computers noted at least fifteen very distinct stages between your wolf and human forms. You have adapted to your unfortunate inability to revert to humanity, and have made advances in the face of this liability."

"Ye c'n thank the bloody Genoshans for that," she growled.

"I beg your pardon, Rahne?"

"Nothing, sir."

"You also broke the existing record for survival time in this particular simulation. Again, well done."

"Aye, but I'm still dead, aren't I?" she said under her breath. Trying to conceal her pain, she forced herself to stand, and made as dignified an exit as she could from the Danger Room floor. Rictor was waiting for her down the hall.

"You okay, babe?" he asked her. "That was a pretty bad fall, there."

She nodded quickly, forcing herself not to wince. "Aye, dinna worry y'rself. I'll be fine."

Not believing the act for a moment, Ric slipped a supporting arm around her, letting her lean on him. "Just take it easy, chica. You've been pushin' yourself pretty hard ever since you left X-Factor."

"Aye, I know," she sighed. "P'rhaps I'm expectin' too much too soon from m'self, but... Och, Rictor, I thought comin' back here t' the school would make ever'thin' better, but it hasna' helped. I'm still trapped... more wolf than girl now."

"Hey, it's okay. The Prof knows what he's doin'. He'll have you all better in no time, then everything'll be fine."

Rahne looked up at Ric sadly. "I'm havin' m'doubts," she said, quietly. "The Professor brought us inta his care t'teach us how t'use our powers, but now... Ric, he frightens me sometimes. It seems all he does now is train the X-Men for one bloody battle after another."

"I don' think it's as bad as all that," Ric shrugged with the shoulder she wasn't leaning against. "After all, he took both of us in."

By this time, Ric had helped her into the otherwise empty ladies' locker room. "You gonna be okay from here, kid?"

"Aye, I'll be fine, I just wish..."

Ric gave her a puzzled look. "What?"

She shook her head. "'Tis nae important."

"Okay," he smiled, softly. "I'll be upstairs if you need me, okay?"

"Alright. Thank ye, Ric."

She sat down on one of the long wooden benches beside the lockers and took a deep breath. Ric turned to go, but then stopped, turned back, and knelt down in front of her, taking both of her hands.

"Don't worry about it, Rahney," he said, softly. "Everything'll be alright, I promise. I'll take care of you, okay?"

"Thank ye, Ric," she said again, finally allowing herself a small smile.

"De nada, amorita," he grinned. He then rose, turned away, and left the room, his footsteps echoing behind him as he went.

Rahne sat very still for a moment, then began peeling off her sweat-soaked fighting costume. There was a sharp pain, and she grimaced, putting one hand to her side, just above the lowest rib. Under the fine layer of reddish-brown fur, she could feel a huge bruise coming on, right where she'd fallen just before.

Ever since her capture by the Genoshans had left her trapped in her wolfish forms, she had become more a warrior than a student, and here were the bruises to prove it. Her humanity had been stolen, and without that side to give her balance, she was nothing more than a savage beast.

Soon, though, she would be making a journey across the ocean to Muir Isle, to visit her foster mother Moira MacTaggert at the Mutant Research Facility. If anyone could help her to free herself from the mental and physical bonds placed upon her by the Genoshans, it was Lady Moira.

As always, at times like this, her thoughts turned to the past, and she remembered Douglas and Warlock. Neither of them had been warriors, and yet they'd been the two to fall as the mutant wars had raged on. Douglas Ramsey, a mutant whose only gift had been with languages, had died pushing her from the path of a madman's gun. Warlock, an alien machine-being from a distant world, had died as she tried to save him, reduced to a pile of fine, glittering ashes.

What was more, she had loved Douglas, and he had loved her, though they could never admit it to one another while they had lived. But whatever would Douglas think of her now? The innocent Scots werewolf was a warrior now. If he could see what his friends had become, what would he think?

She shook her head sadly. "Puir Douglas. He's probably turnin' over in his grave."

Westchester Cemetery, Salem Center NY
Tuesday, 6 April 1993 10:47 pm

Awareness came slowly, through the eternal haze and blackness, as mind and body came together once more, and new sensations rippled through an abused mainframe structure. Things had changed, time had passed, and it was time to reawaken.

New-found senses probed the immediate vicinity to find themselves cut off, closed away from the rest of the world, surrounded on all sides by oppressive blackness. This would never do. Long-dormant limbs were forced to respond, tearing at the walls around them, only to be faced with the greater horror of having the blackness close upon them, burying the whole alive.

Alarm and panic drove the next actions. This new substance was colder, softer. It could be pushed aside, or punched through. The malleable form closed in on itself, then concentrated into a thin line, drilling upward through the gloom, searching for any escape. Along the way, it discovered pockets of material not unlike its own, and absorbed those into itself, making the whole stronger.

In moments, like the sprouting of a new flower, a tendril of living circuitry pushed itself into the open air, testing the surroundings. The surface was moist, and it took a few moments to realize that there was water falling from above. Senses confirmed that liquid would make it difficult to keep a continuous shape, but anything was better than the confines below. More and more of the technorganic structure was forced through the aperture that had been created, until the newborn technoid was fully free.

Droplets of water sizzled and sparked as they impacted upon the technoid's structure. Rain. That was it. It was called rain.

After that first memory, though, the rest came in torrents. Two minds, two selves, two memories, events of the past seen from two different perspectives. Where did the one end and the other begin? The images were too blurred to tell.

Rahne, he's got a gun! Look out! Go back! Save yourself, Rahne! Do not let yourself be killed as well! Rahne, watch out! Stay back! Save yourself! Aaaagh! OhmyGodI'vebeenshotI'vebeenshot! Lifeglow fading! Life-end, termination imminent!

"Rahne!!" it screamed, forming vocal outputs to broadcast its terror. No one had come to the cemetery on this stormy evening, though, so the cry went unheard.

In a panic now, trying to find some sign of two battles for which it had fought and died, it formed visual sensors and scanned the immediate area. All around it, stone markers stood. Gravestones, it knew, and on the nearest was chiseled a name that brought a spark of recognition.

My name... that's my name!

Incorrect. This is the name of Cypher, deceased teammate and friend.

No, no, NO! I'M Douglas Ramsey! I'm not dead! I'm alive!

Unable to restore self-cohesion. Dual presence noted. Unable to compensate.

Who are you? Who am I? What's happened to me?

Programming and data-storage are contradictory. Massive damage to self-psyche, unable to diagnose, nor repair. Assistance will be required.

How? Where?

The first thought was of a school; a place both minds remembered as a haven, a place of learning and training. A strong, stern mentor, who would find a way to help his student. This was denied, though, by the next memory, which showed the mentor reverting to villainy, the school utterly destroyed. A new mentor came then; a warrior, teaching the ways of the hunter. The merged presence was so repulsed by this memory that it nearly lost cohesion.

Another place, then. There had to be another place to go for help. Someone who would know how to keep the two voices apart, and to give their own lives back. Drawing upon both pools of knowledge, an alternative was found. A place far away across the water. A place of research, where others of their kind had been cared for and studied. A woman... a doctor... a scientist... all one. With the other mentors gone, this one could be the only hope.

The technoid had to find its way there, before the voices tore to pieces what fragile remnants of sanity remained.

Muir Isle. Off the coast of Scotland. Moira MacTaggert.

Course laid in. Form with greater mobility and speed required.

The technoid changed, then, becoming a rocket-like shape that rose up out of the graveyard and propelled itself out toward the direction of the ocean. There was a long way to go, and time was running out...

Upstate New York, altitude: 4600 feet
Wednesday, 7 April 1993 9:21 am

The peace and stillness of the morning sky were abruptly shattered as something altogether strange began to happen. A hole opened in the blue-and-white background, showing nothing beyond but blackness, but then, with a burst of light and the sound of beating wings, a large shape pulled itself free, just as the hole snapped shut behind it.

"Yes, yes, yes! We did it, Brightwind, we did it!!"

The shape turned out to be two creatures: a great white stallion with feathered wings, and its rider, a red-skinned woman clad in heavy armor, carrying multiple weapons, including a spear that she raised above her in triumph, letting out a fierce war cry.

Her name was Danielle Moonstar, but she had many other names by which she could be called. Cheyenne, mutant, Valkyrie... every one true. This was the first she'd seen of her native world for more time than she cared to think about, and she was glad to be home.

Still, her thoughts remained with the life she'd left behind, among the fabled Valkyries of Asgard. She gave them silent thanks for her safe return, and let her heart go out to one in particular. "Mist, my sister," she sighed, her smile fading for a moment. "I'll never forget. Never."

Brightwind snorted at her sentimentality, and she gave him a light slap across the mane. "Be nice, you. Admit it, you'll miss the herd too, won't you?"

The stallion could not answer aloud, but Danielle was gifted with insight into the thoughts of animals, and through this psychic rapport, she could tell that Brightwind agreed, however grudgingly.

"Next question is where the hell we are," Dani said aloud, checking out their surroundings. Once they descended through the clouds, they found below them a green, forested land with rolling hills, all of which looked vaguely familiar, but from this height, it was difficult to tell. "I was shooting for where the school used to be, but I guess my aim was a little off, eh, big guy?"

Brightwind made a horsey sound which indicated that he agreed. Dani patted him on the neck. "Take us down lower, old pal. Let's see what we can see."

They circled lower, making wide sweeps over the landscape. Dani looked for any sign, and finally noticed the shimmering of a small body of water in the distance. "There!" she pointed. "Take us closer to there! I think that's Graymalkin Lake!"

The closer they came, the more Dani was convinced that they were indeed over familiar country. She and Brightwind had flown above the grounds of Xavier's School countless times, and gradually, she began to recognize specific landmarks: a clump of trees here, a creek there, and of course, the lake.

To her surprise, however, the school was standing. When last she'd been here, there had been nothing but wreckage and ruin, but now, it was just as it had always been.

"I don't believe it!" she cried. For a terrifying moment, she wondered if she'd returned to her world at all...

Then someone flew up from the vicinity of the old mansion, making a rapid approach. As she got closer, Dani could see that it was a woman with a white stripe in her hair. She nearly choked on her own tongue as she recognized who it was.

"Rogue?!" she called out, as the woman flew up alongside her. "Rogue, is that you?"

"In the flesh," the X-Man replied in her characteristic southern drawl.

"But... I thought you were dead!"

"Ah been dead b'fore, sugah, that ain't stopped me yet. You got my name; y'mind tellin' me yours?"

Dani gaped for a moment, then realized that with the armor and the winged helm, Rogue wouldn't recognize her. She unbuckled the helmet and stripped it off, shaking out her long black braids. "It's me, Dani Moonstar!"

Rogue's face lit up as she recognized Dani. "Mah stars, sugah, where in tarnation have you been keepin' yourself?"

"I could ask you the same question!"

"Well, follow me down, then! Ah know some folks're who're gonna be happy t' see you!"

With a happy wave, Rogue swooped down toward the school. Brightwind followed at Dani's urging. Still, she wondered how Rogue could be alive, given that the last time Dani had seen her, and the other X-Men, they had sacrificed their lives to stop the extradimensional being known only as the Adversary. She'd seen death take them all. It had been real death, if ever she had witnessed it as a Valkyrie.

Then again, mutants had a habit of cheating death. She herself had been dead once, but it hadn't "stopped" her.

By the time she brought Brightwind around to land in front of the school, several other mutants had come out to meet her. She recognized several of the X-Men, as well as the Professor (Professor Xavier was back!), and in the front of the group...

"Rahne!" she called, leaping down from Brightwind's back almost before he could come to a halt.

Rahne detached herself from the group and ran into Dani's arms, and let her dear, dear friend lift her up off the ground in a crushing embrace. Dani's spear fell to the ground as she swept Rahne from her feet. "Dani, it's you! Ye came back, ye came back!"

"I sure did, sweetie," Dani whispered, choking back happy tears. There was something very different about Rahne (not the least sign of which being the fur), but after all of her time away, she didn't let that worry her. What mattered was that she was back. "And I won't leave again, I promise."

"Danielle!" came another voice. It was the Professor this time, gliding down the front steps in a sort of hovering wheelchair, a smile on his usually somber face. "Welcome back, child! When I heard about your inadvertent exile in Asgard, I feared we would never see you again."

Dani set Rahne down, then, but kept one arm across her shoulders. The Professor looked a little taken aback at the sight of her in plate armor, carrying three swords and a spear, but that could be expected. The sight of a Valkyrie in full regalia would put most mortals at unease.

"Thanks, Professor," she nodded, hugging Rahne to her. "It's good to be back."

40 miles off the coast of Scotland
Wednesday, 7 April 1993 6:11 pm

It had been a long, monotonous flight over featureless ocean, but at the very least, it had given the new technoid time to sort everything out, and come to grips with the two separate identities desperately vying for control of a long-dormant central processing unit. Gradually, as they became aware that there was no current danger, they began to communicate, and to remember.

You're Warlock. Aren't you?

Correct. And you are Douglas Ramsey.

Yeah, I think so. I'm remembering more and more now. It gets kind of fuzzy toward the end, but I remember a fight. Rahne was... Rahne was in danger, so I got her out of the way, and... I... I died!

Correct. You were rendered dysfunctional saving Rahne's life. It is possible that Transmode Virus had already manifested at the time of your death, keeping your mind cohesive through dormant period.

And then, once I was finished... changing, and regenerated enough power, I just... woke up?

Explanation seems feasible.

Then what are you doing here? Why are we sharing consciousness?

Uncertain. I was rendered dysfunctional as well, after being held by a once human entity named Hodge. Rahne tried to save me, but she was too late to stop my discorporation. Apparently, part of my substance survived, and was brought in contact with yours, bringing us both together to recharge.

This is weird, Warlock. I can remember that happening, like you described it, but I wasn't there!

We are fully merged, two into one. We share memory as well as consciousness.

I remember what it was like when we used to merge, 'Lock, but I don't remember it being like this!

Observation correct. In our present state, it could prove difficult, if not impossible, to separate us.

I... don't know if I like the sound of that.

Suggested course of action would be to continue present course to Muir Isle and enlist aid of Doctor MacTaggert.

Do you think she can help us?

Uncertain.

Well, if we can be separated, is there a way I could be human again?

To best of current knowledge, transmode is irreversible.

Oh, God, Warlock... You always warned me this would happen, but I never listened. Now what the hell am I going to do?

Possibility exists that synthesis of your mutant power with speed and accuracy of techno-organic body could prove advantageous, making you more powerful than was ever possible in human form.

I shouldn't have taken this chance. Why didn't I listen?

Contradiction. Soulmerge between us saved teammates of New Mutants upon multiple occasions, and if not for presence of Transmode Virus, you would remain dormant and lifeless.

You've got me there... Maybe if there's life, there's hope.

I will help you if I can, to make up for failing you before.

Failing me? When did you ever fail me? 'Lock, we were partners. Buddies. You were always there for me.

Incorrect. I was caught up in battle when your blood was spilling upon the ground. I should have protected you.

Well, who knows? If you hadn't been in the fight, someone else might have been killed instead.

You do not resent me?

Of course not. 'Lock, you're my best friend!

Relief. Still, I will help in any way possible to regain your lost humanity, if it is what you seek.

It is. Definitely. When I see Rahne again, I want to be able to give her the biggest hug you can imagine.

They flew on in mental silence for a moment (more like a microsecond) before the part of the joined being that was Doug spoke again.

I hope she's okay.

Unknown. Rahne was still imperiled at my demise.

I'm sure Moira will know, though.

Now approaching Muir Isle. Query: Shall I assume control of guidance systems?

Be my guest.

As they made their approach, they found, much to their combined shock, that Muir Isle was looking more like Muir Lagoon. A huge section of the island's interior was gone, and the ocean had flowed in to take its place. The Mutant Research Facility was still standing, though, so they set their sights upon it.

Before they arrived, though, they were suddenly confronted with a series of guided missiles, launched from several tiny silos around the island's perimeter.

What the hell?

Our approach has been detected.

No kidding. Can we evade 'em?

Task will require rapid recalculations of trajectory.

Leave that to me. You keep us moving.

Agreed.

With that, the two minds went to work as never before. Doug found that his power with languages and codes did, indeed, work well with the speed of technoid senses and thought processes, and in less than a second, he had plotted them a new course that sent them on a twisting path, pulling the missiles along in their wake. Two crashed into one another and went off, but three more were still going.

With Doug providing the data for their course, Warlock was free to control their movements with all speed. He brought them in low to the ground, where they did a flyby over the facility, hoping that the missiles wouldn't risk following them there. Their gamble worked, as the three remaining rockets disarmed themselves and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

This, however, did not stop several mechanical tendrils from erupting out of housings beneath the buildings and giving pursuit. They were deftly snagged by one, but Doug changed their shape into something more narrow, and they were able to pull free. Once they were clear of that, though, several banks of small laser cannons came up from the ground and began firing. Again, with Doug providing the incoming data on the trajectory of their own body and the various hazards, Warlock was able to dodge them all. There was a pattern to the attack, and Doug realized that all of these defenses were computer controlled. The trick, then, was to find this pattern and get the better of it.

Doug noticed that they had attracted another volley of missiles, this time heat-seekers, so Warlock discharged a cloud of white-hot particles from their afterburners. This got most of them, but four still hung on. Spying one of the rotating laser-banks nearby, they made a screeching dive for it, pulling up at a full one-hundred-eighty degrees to engulf the gun in the flame from their thrusters. The rockets, attracted to this new source of heat, slammed into the slagged laser, sending it up with a cloud of acrid smoke. This also succeeded in shorting out the lot, as mechanisms went dead left and right.

The next attack, though, they could not have prepared themselves for. A wide beam of green energy erupted from somewhere atop the main building of the facility and engulfed them. The duo let out a mechanical scream as all systems were overloaded. Unable to maintain physical cohesion, they plummeted back to Earth, and landed in a shapeless mass near the Facility.

Selfstatus data came back immediately, stating damage and estimated time of repair. Most senses were offline, but they were still aware of the sound of footsteps, and of three voices, two male and one female.

"I don't believe it," said one. "The whole system's down! How in the hell did it..."

"Dinna worry about tha' now!" shouted the woman. She had a Scottish accent, brought out even more by her apparent agitation. "Where did it land?"

"Over here!" came the other male voice, in an accent not altogether unlike the woman's. "'Tis... I canna say what it is!"

"Sean, get back!" the woman ordered. "Dinna touch... och, I... I canna believe it! 'Tis Warlock!"

All three of the voices were close now. "Who?" the first male voice asked.

"Sean, Forge, get me somethin' t'lift him with, quickly!"

"Quick as we can, lassie," the man with the accent replied. There was the sound of two sets of running footsteps.

"Warlock?" the woman asked, her voice now very close. "Can ye hear me? 'Tis Doctor MacTaggert, lad, can ye hear me?"

Doug wanted to reply, but that was the last they heard, as at that moment, auditory senses went offline as well.

"I think he's comin' around, Moira."

Senses returned one at a time as systems repaired and regenerated themselves. Hearing came first, and Doug and Warlock took in their surroundings by sound. Later, they managed to restore optical sensors as well, and get a good look around.

They were lying on an examination table, still with no real shape of their own, being looked over by two concerned faces. The one was readily recognized as Moira MacTaggert, and the other, a man with curly reddish hair, was recognized as the former X-Man Sean Cassidy, also known as Banshee.

Moira's face came into greater focus as she leaned closer. "Warlock? Can ye hear me now, lad?"

Forming a vocal output was a stretch, but they managed. "Not just... Warlock. Also... Doug... Ramsey."

The Doug aspects took some momentary pleasure, or at least something like it, in seeing Moira's eyes bug. "Douglas?" she whispered.

"Both of us... Need help... keeping us apart..."

Moira exchanged alarmed looks with Sean, then turned away for a moment. "Forge? Are ye finished with the bloody scan yet?"

"Just a moment," came the third voice from earlier in the day. The sound of the voice, as well as the name Forge, brought distressing memories from Warlock; Forge was the name of the man responsible for the death of the X-Men, shortly after Doug's own death. The New Mutants, led by a vengeful Illyana, had even attacked the man, but nothing had come of it.

Now, the man called Forge stepped into sight. His skin color showed his Native American descent, but he wore a full black moustache, and his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a glove over one hand, and with their technoid senses, they detected the presence of cybernetics beneath. He was holding a page of computer printout, looking it over carefully.

"It's not Warlock," he reported. "At least, it doesn't match the data you have on file of Warlock's structure. It does, however, come pretty close to the samples you had of organic matter infected with his Transmode Virus. Near as I can tell, that's a transmoded human being."

"Could have... told you that," they managed. "Most of current structure is... Doug's body, but both... of us at the helm."

"Lord ha' mercy," Moira whispered. "Which... which of ye am I talkin' to now?"

"Synthesis of both," was the reply. "Using thought processes of both, aided by language powers of Doug."

"Can I... talk to one of ye at a time, then?"

"Negative. In current state, separation of faculties minimal."

"I see." Moira glanced over at Forge and nodded, then looked back to her patient. "We're goin' t'run a few tests on ye, then, t'see what we c'n do t'help ye. Will that be alright?"

"We're all yours, Doctor." The voice sounded almost relieved, now. "First, though, one query."

"What is it, lad? Um- lads?"

"Is Rahne safe?"

Once again, Moira exchanged glances with Sean. "Tha's right, ye... Rahne's fine, both of ye. She's verra much alive."

"Thank you, Doctor."

Over the Atlantic Ocean, 20 minutes later

"I understand, Moira. This is indeed... strange news."

Moira nodded from one of the Blackbird's cockpit monitors. "'Tis just as well y're on yuir way. If anyone c'n help the lads now, I imagine 'tis you. If they're really two minds in one body, p'rhaps ye c'n separate 'em again."

"I shall do what I can, Moira."

She nodded again. "Would ye do somethin' f'r me, Charles?"

"Of course."

"Rahne... I know she's with ye, an' I know she's the reason y're comin', but... dinna tell her of this yet. I think it should wait 'til we have more an idea what we're dealin' with."

"Of course," he nodded. "Thank you for the update, Moira."

"Thank ye as well, Charles. Muir out."

The screen went blank. Xavier took a deep breath and exchanged a worried look with his pilot, Henry "Beast" McCoy.

"It sounds like good news to me, Professor," Beast shrugged.

"I hope you're right, Henry. I hope you're right."

Meanwhile, in the passenger compartment of the X-Men's jet, three young mutants shared each other's company, and tried to catch up on some of the new gaps in their lives.

"Thank ye for comin' with us, Dani," Rahne sighed, smiling softly.

"Hey, no problem," Dani smiled back, looking perhaps just a bit sad. "I'm just glad I had the chance to get changed, first. I feel naked without a sword, though."

"Yeah," Ric nodded, squinting at her. "You look... different from when I met you before."

"I've been working out," she shrugged, muscles playing beneath the sweater she'd been given. "But, ah, I'm not the only one looking a little different, here." She said this looking Rahne in the eye.

"Aye, 'tis true," Rahne whispered, looking down.

"You wanna tell me what happened, kiddo?"

Rahne looked sadly at Rictor. "'Tis a long story."

"We've got plenty of time," Dani shrugged again. "Rahne, please..."

After a pause, Rahne nodded slowly. "It all started at the school. We were... attacked by the Genoshans, an' me an' Ric an' Warlock an' Storm an' Boom-Boom were captured, an' sent there somehow."

"Without clothes, by the way," Ric put in, grimacing.

"Okay, first of all, who are the Genoshans?" Dani asked. "I remember the place from Geography classes, but... what about it?"

"Och, Dani, 'tis a horrible place," Rahne said, shaking her head. "They enslave mutants there, an' manipulate their powers, an'... use 'em as bloody tools, rather than human beings."

"First thing they did when we got there was strip out all our powers," Ric went on. "Then they put these number-coded suits on us, and they were gonna... bond us to the suits, and take our minds away, so we'd only be able to work for them. We got out, though. But Warlock was real weak, so we had to leave him behind, and they... took him."

"We split up, then," Rahne continued, quietly. "Ric... warned me not to, but I... went back t'try an' save Warlock. I found him in this... lab, where this horrid beast of a man, more machine than anythin' else, was tryin' t'drain out his life, so that he'd be able t'change shape jus' like Warlock." Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered. "I ran inta the room, an' broke the connection b'tween them, but Warlock... he..."

"Damn," Dani whispered, closing her eyes.

Rahne could not go on. She leaned against Ric, and he put both arms around her to steady her. "I guess he just came apart," he said, softly. "There wasn't anything left of him but dust."

"I'm sorry," said Dani. "Shit. I should have been there."

After a while, Rahne got her voice back. "If nothin' else, I'd kept the beast-man from gettin' Warlock's power, but tha' made him verra angry, an' he had me taken, an'... bonded. They bonded me to that bloody suit, so I canna take it off. Then they... did somthin' t'm'mind, an'... made me a pet beastie, an' watchdog. The X-Men came, an' saved us, but they still canna find a way t'get the stinkin' suit off me. If I try t'go back t'human form, it'll still be there, an' m'mind'll be... gone."

"That's why we're goin' to Muir Isle," Ric finished. "The Prof thinks that Moira MacTaggert and Forge might be able to figure it out."

Rahne nodded quickly. "From there, there isna' much t'tell. I stayed in Genosha f'r awhile t'try an' help the new government get started, an' later I ended up wi' X-Factor."

"Meanwhile, I went back with the New Mutants, and me and Boomer spread Warlock's ashes over your friend Doug's grave. I quit pretty soon after that, though, 'cause I couldn't stand bein' around Cable any more. I went lookin' for Rahne, and we finally got back together back at the school."

"You're gonna have to tell me more about this Cable person," Dani said then. "Dammit, I should have come back. I should have been with you."

She took Rahne's furred hand and held it tightly. None of the three could find words to add.

Mutant Research Facility, Muir Isle, Scotland
Wednesday, 7 April 1993 8:28 pm

When Sean returned to the lab to check on their unexpected guests, he found that they had filled their joint form out into a humanoid shape. The head turned to look at him, eyes glowing softly from within. "Hello, Mr. Cassidy," it said.

Sean pulled a stool up beside the examination table and grinned at them. "That's Sean t' you, boyo. How're ye feelin'?"

"About a million times better, now that we've had a chance to recharge."

"Ye sound different, too," Sean noticed, cocking his head to one side. "Which of ye am I talkin' to now?"

"Doug, mostly." The face grew immobile for a moment, as though in thought. "Warlock's working on everything the self-repair systems couldn't tackle. We'll be at peak operating condition in a few minutes."

"Handy, that," Sean nodded. "I thought ye said before ye couldna' separate y'rselves."

"We still... can't, not quite. It's really, really weird. Before, we were operating at substandard levels, and we couldn't manage to keep things straight between the two of us. We're able to mostly separate after a while, but it's really... strange. It's difficult to balance. But the good part is that we can multi-task like you can't believe."

"I c'n imagine," Sean nodded, checking a few readouts on the nearby medical console. "I read up on y'r files, an' I saw that the two of ye were an excellent team."

"We still are," Doug nodded.

"So we noticed, on yuir approach." Here, Banshee's face broke into a big grin. "I think Forge took it personally when ye beat up on his 'impenetrable' defenses. He's been mutterin' about it e'er since."

Doug almost laughed. "I grew up on video games. I've been trying to beat computers since I was six."

After a pause, he spoke again. "Look, I need your honest opinion on something."

"What's that, lad?"

"Do you think there's any way to separate us?"

Sean took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I don't know. At this point, neither do Moira or Forge, but we've only just begun yet."

"I see. Ah, well. In one sense, staying like this wouldn't be so bad, seeing as we are a good team, and we could get a lot done this way, but... all the same, I think I'd like my own life back, if I can get it."

"Buck up, m'lad," Sean grinned, then, standing up. "I'll tell Moira y're feelin' better, and then we can get to work."

"Thanks, Mr. Cassidy."

"That's Sean, boyo," the X-Man winked as he left the room.
 
 

When Banshee entered the living quarters of the Facility, he saw that company had arrived.

"Now, now, child, of course I forgive ye," Moira was saying. "I'm glad ye've come."

Sean exhaled slowly as he watched the exchange from a respectable distance. Rahne had come, and Professor Xavier was with her.

"Dinna fret, dear," Moira went on. "Ye know y're always welcome. I only wish ye'd come home earlier when I'd asked."

"I- I didnae know what t'think," Rahne sighed. "I thought stayin' with X-Factor was what I wanted, but now..." She cast a glance back at the Professor. "I need m'life back, Lady M... Mummy. Can ye really help me?"

Sean found her words distressingly familiar, but he kept quiet. Xavier noticed his presence and looked over, exchanging nods with his former charge.

Moira held her adopted daughter close for a good while. "We'll do ever'thin' we can for ye, m'dear. I've missed ye so... Oh, hello, Sean!"

Rahne looked up and saw that Banshee had entered the room. "Hello, Mr. Cassidy," she smiled hesitantly.

That was the third time in five minutes that Sean had heard himself referred to as "Mr. Cassidy," and he wasn't at all certain that he liked the sound of it. Too bloody formal. "'Tis good t'see ye safe and sound, Rahne. Moira's been quite concerned about ye."

"Hush, Sean," Moira retorted with a half-smile. "Dinna listen to him, love, the man's daft."

"I came t' tell ye that our... other guest is ready f'r further testing," Sean said carefully.

"Back to work, then," MacTaggert sighed, briskly. "Rahne, love, you go get yuirself settled in along with Rictor and Danielle, and I'll come see ye once we're done downstairs."

"Thank you, Mummy," whispered Rahne, embracing her mother once again. She smiled again at Sean and the Professor, and then left the room.

Moira's expression darkened as soon as Rahne was out of earshot. "Has she been actin' strangely?" she asked Xavier.

"How do you mean?"

"She seems almost... desperate."

Xavier steepled his fingers in front of his face. "I believe that she has become more... insistent on recovery because of Rictor's return into her life. She is desperate. Desperate to become a human being again."

"That seems t'be goin' around," Sean muttered.

"At least Danielle came," Moira sighed. "Havin' her best friend help her through recovery should do wonders. 'Tis fortuitous she returned when she did."

"True," Xavier nodded. "If you have the time and energy, though, I'd like you to give her a thorough examination as well. She seems to have made some changes, and it would be good to know what exactly those might be."

"I'll do m'best," Moira nodded.

"If I may," Sean interrupted, holding up one hand. When he had their attention, he went on. "I was just talkin' t' Douglas. It seems he an' Warlock are better able to keep themselves apart when they're operatin' under better conditions."

"That sounds promising," Xavier nodded. "I shall have to examine them in depth before I can say any more."

"Of course," said Moira. "Come, let's get ourselves to the lab."

"Before we go," Sean interrupted again, "I've a question. Have ye told the lass?"

"Told her what?"

"That Douglas an' Warlock are here."

Moira shook her head, with an almost frustrated sigh. "Not yet. I dinna think I should, f'r now. There's no gentle way to break somethin' like this to her. Nothing could cushion a shock like this."

"Ye canna hide them from one another, Moira! Ye said that she loved Douglas until the day he died, and that she's ne'er forgiven herself for Warlock's death. Seeing them now could..."

"We'll tell her when we've more t'tell, Sean, an' that's final."

All systems fully functional.

Very nice. You know, Sean was right. We are a good team.

Observation correct. New form and shared consciousness could prove very useful among teammates of New Mutants.

Yeah, maybe we can go back to heroing if all else fails.

Selfsensors register approach of three bioforms. We've got company.

Doug brought up visual sensors to see Moira enter the lab, followed by none other than Professor Xavier, with Sean bringing up the rear.

"Good evenin'," Moira nodded, giving them a smile. "Which have we got at the present?"

"Which would you like?" Doug asked. "Hello, Professor."

Recognizing the voice in spite of its electronic overtones, Xavier nodded and almost smiled. "Hello, Douglas. Is Warlock with you?"

Doug backed off, letting Warlock take over the vocal output. "Affirmative. Both present."

Xavier's face took on a look of concentration, and Doug noticed a light mental touch. It was unlike any telepathy he'd ever felt, perhaps because of their altered brain structure.

"I see," Xavier nodded. He glanced up at MacTaggert. "It's true. I sense both of their minds present, but joined. It is difficult to distinguish one from the other. There is considerable... static."

"But can ye bring 'em apart?" Moira asked.

"I don't know," Xavier admitted. "Douglas, Warlock, would you like me to attempt a separation?"

"Can you?" Doug asked, incredulously.

"It is possible," the Professor nodded. "Techno-organic minds are very difficult for my telepathy to link with, but I shall try, if you wish."

Doug and Warlock conferred for a moment in the privacy of their own minds, then agreed. "I guess it can't hurt to try," said Doug.

"Alright, then," Xavier nodded, returning to his look of deep thought.

"Just a bloody minute, here," Sean interrupted once more.

"Yes?" Xavier asked, coming out of his trance.

"Well, assuming ye can get 'em apart, where're ye gonna put 'em?"

"Och, yes," MacTaggert nodded. "The body belongs t' Douglas. We'll need somewhere t'put Warlock. I dinna suppose the... two of ye can break off a piece of yuirself to put him into?"

"I don't know, I've never tried," said Doug.

"Separation of components painful," Warlock added, aloud.

"Let's give it a shot," Doug nodded.

They extended one hand, then together, tried to sever ties with this section, leaving power, but taking all mental control from it. Almost immediately, the hand simply dropped off.

"That wasn't so hard," Doug noted. Scanning the piece, they found that it was perfectly functional, but lacked any presence or programming. Warlock was stunned at the painlessness of it all, and affirmed that this would be a suitable housing for his consciousness, should the Professor be able to put it there.

Moira fetched a pair of surgical tongs and transferred the piece over to another table. "Sean, help me with the monitors, would ye, love?"

"Of course. Are ye ready, Charles?"

Xavier nodded. "Yes. Are the two of you ready?"

"Yes/Affirmative," Doug and Warlock answered together.

Once Moira and Sean were at their consoles, Xavier began. Again, it started as a gentle presence on the outskirts of thought. It quickly grew in intensity, however, as the Professor probed more deeply.

Then, quite suddenly, there was a painful snap, and warnings went off all over their combined structure. The Professor was forcing their two joined minds apart, but it became quickly apparent that doing so could kill them both. It was a violent transition, seeing as Xavier seemed to be overcompensating for his lack of perception into their electronic minds, and was more or less using brute force to pull them apart. Doug felt panic surge through him as one by one, his millions of individual links with Warlock were severed.

"alarmalarmalarm!" they screamed aloud together, jerking themselves up off the table. Xavier reeled back in his hoverchair, his contact with them broken by their combined frenzy.

With nothing holding them apart, now, their two minds snapped back together, but this time so thoroughly that they once again had no sense of self, and could not tell where one mind ended and the other began. In sheer panic, suddenly perceiving everything around to be a threat, they formed energy weapons from their arms and shot straight through the nearest doors, fleeing through this new exit with all speed, only vaguely aware of the shouting voices behind them.

They fled through a series of passageways, trying to find any way out, away from the building, away from the grounds, away from everything. With battered senses, they scanned for any means of escape.

So intent they were upon escape that they nearly ran down the two figures as they turned the next corner.

"Mother of God!" said one, in an achingly familiar Scots accent.

"Holy shit!" said the other, a masculine voice. "Warlock?! Is that you?!"

At the sound of that name, they paused in their flight to visually scan the two. Two humans: one male, one female. The male was recognized as Rictor, who registered as both an unknown and a friend. The other...

The words came, a series of frantic warnings they could not leave unsaid. "Rahne, he's got a gun! Save yourself, Rahne! Rahne, watch out! Stay back! OhmyGODI'vebeenshotI'VEBEENSHOT! Lifeglow fading! Flee! Fleefleefleefleeflee!!"

Rahne screamed.

The sound was like a release for the technoid, and it turned and fled. Something akin to fear mixed with a slow, hot rage began to burn within. Rahne had seen them, and knew that they were alive, if this could be called living at all. In moments, they broke clear of the confining buildings of the complex, and turned upward a full ninety degrees, until they were heading straight up at full speed.

Rahne, meanwhile, had fallen to her knees, as her legs would not support her. Ric dropped to her side, shouting her name, and here Moira and Sean caught up with them.

"What happened, Rahne, what happened?" asked Moira, kneeling beside her and grasping her shoulders.

"Doc, was that Warlock?!" Ric asked, eyes huge.

Rahne shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "It was... it was Douglas! I know it was him, I..!"

She began to sob hysterically, burying her face against her mother's shoulder, as MacTaggert tried rather lamely to comfort her. Moira looked up at Sean, and could scarcely bear his expression of blistering reproach. He had warned her of this, fair enough.

"I'll follow them," he said in a thick voice, before dashing down the hallway in the direction the technoid had gone.

For a long time, Moira knelt in the hallway, holding Rahne close as the child shook with the force of her tears.

Doug and Warlock were well out of the Earth's atmosphere by the time they managed to sort out their respective thoughts and reach a coherent duality again. Verbal communication was impossible in the empty medium of space, of course, but they could still communicate within their own mind.

Warlock, this has got to end! I can't go on like this! There has to be a way to get us back to normal!

Then let us return to the island. All that can be done is being done.

I can't! Rahne's there! I can't face her like this!

Rahne will understand. She knew the risks you were taking.

She screamed, Warlock! She thought we were a monster!

The scream may well have been from the shock of seeing us alive.

Look, there has to be somewhere else we can go to figure this out. Do you think anyone at the Techworld might have any info we can use on a reversal for the virus?

Possibility exists, but journey to Techworld is very dangerous.

Warlock, right now, I don't care about risk. The way I feel now, I'll do anything to get back to myself. If I could go alone, I would, but... I think we're stuck with each other.

For a moment, Warlock withdrew his consciousness to consider this. There was very little logic in undertaking so dangerous a mission. On top of which, he was afraid to return to his birthplace. Considering this, he realized that he himself was, by his own admission, a highly illogical creature by Tech standards, as was Doug. Doug had risked all in his soulmerges, to help their team in times of crisis. He had, upon multiple occasions, given his own life-force to sustain Warlock in times of need. He had not only risked, but also lost his life to protect Rahne. Could Warlock risk any less for him?

Then let us begin. We have a long way to go, Sorcerer.

Sorcerer. It was the closest English equivalent Doug could find for the title Warlock had bestowed upon him, and it seemed fitting.

They changed their form to something more suitable for travel through the interstellar medium, and then, coexisting as equals, they headed off into deep space.

Part 2: "Point of Origin"

Moira MacTaggert pounded her fist against the computer console in utter frustration. "Blast it! What're they doin' up there?!"

Around her, tracking monitors homed in on a blip just outside the Earth's atmosphere. Cypher and Warlock were keeping stationary, but that wasn't any better than their earlier descent. She wanted them down, and soon.

The mutant inventor known as Forge looked up from the floor, where he was lying on his back, making adjustments to the gutted mainframe computers. "If you keep bashing the keys like that, you'll never know! Now, calm down!"

The geneticist was not ready to calm down. "I canna help the lads if they dinna come down! Have ye made contact with 'em yet?"

Forge shook his head, taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his eyes. "I never had time to fully analyze their communications systems. I'm trying to find a hailing frequency, and then you can transmit. Cypher should be able to decode anything you send him.

She nodded tensely, then looked across the monitoring facility to where Xavier was sitting. "Any luck, Charles?"

"None," he sighed, relaxing his look of concentration. "As I said before, their minds are very difficult to contact by psychic means, and at this range..."

A hand closed on Moira's shoulder, and she jerked back, looking round to see that an utterly drained Sean Cassidy had returned.

"I tried ta follow, Moira, but they went too fast... too high... I could na' keep up."

MacTaggert bristled, then shook her head. "Thank ye for tryin', Sean. We have 'em on the monitors, but Forge canna find a wavelength to contact 'em on."

"I'm trying!" insisted Forge, scathingly. The tension of the evening had not helped any of their dispositions.

Apart from the adults, and quite alone within herself as well, Rahne Sinclair sat against the wall near the entrance to the room, hugging her knees to her chest. She had finally stopped crying, but she still felt as though her insides were twisted into knots.

She had come here to take the first steps toward putting her past behind her, but the past had jumped right back out and confronted her in the dual guise of her former friends and teammates, Douglas Ramsey and Warlock. Her first reaction, understandably, had been shock and horror, but this had caused them to flee. Now, everyone was in a frenzy to bring them back before they did anything rash, and it was all her fault. She sat there, inconsolable, scarcely noticing Rictor sitting beside her and giving her a vaguely comforting arm over the shoulders.

It was at that moment that Danielle Moonstar finally found her way up from below, cursing the whole way. "You know," she said when she finally found the two, "this place would be a lot easier to deal with if there were a few 'You Are Here' maps around. Now what in the world's going on up here?"

Ric looked up at her, as Rahne didn't seem ready to answer. "They're trying to find Warlock and Doug."

Dani paused, then gave Ric a sideways look. "You wanna run that by me again, Ric?"

"Warlock and Doug," Ric repeated. "They were here. They came back as a techno-thingie together, and when they saw Rahne, they bugged out."

"Now they may both be gone," Rahne whispered, her voice cracking.

The pain in her expression was much too real for this to be a joke. "Oh," said Dani, quietly. "Oh. Spirits, that's..." Her face warred between surprise, horror, and happy relief. "I'm- ah- gonna take a closer look at what they're doing. Don't go anywhere, sweetie, I'll be right back." She gave Rahne's shoulders a reassuring squeeze, then approached the frenetic activity near the monitors.

"I think we'd better make a broad-range coded transmission over as many frequencies as we can," Forge was saying. "It might play havoc with anything local, but it's all I can do."

"Then dinna waste time telling me so! Do it!"

"Doctor MacTaggert, look!" said Dani, pointing to the main screen. "Something's happening!"

MacTaggert looked back to the display monitor and cursed. The blip was now moving at full tilt, away from the Earth, and quickly out of their tracking range.

"Where the blazes could they be going?!"

The speed surprised Doug most of all. For as long as he had known Warlock, the technoid had been confined to any number of atmospheric conditions on any number of worlds, but Cypher had only briefly seen him at work in his true element. They were operating at peak efficiency, and in the emptiness of space, there was nothing to slow them down. They shot forward, a blur to any outside observers, the blackness shimmering about them.

What's happening, Warlock?

Optimum speed distorts space, allowing us to cover the distance more quickly.

How soon?

Difficult to say. My systems were drained when I made this journey the first time, thanks to father Magus. I drifted for the equivalent of several weeks. If we do not abuse our own power source, we could possibly make an approach within eighteen hours.

Think we'll get an in-flight movie?

Humor is inappropriate, Sorcerer.

I'm sorry. I'm just trying to forget how much this idea is beginning to scare me.

Acknowledged, and I echo your sentiments. If I am recognized, there may be battle.

What for? You won the Magus War, remember? You've earned the right to live.

Precisely. However, my sire was the uncontested core entity of the Techworld. The leader, if you will. They may be waiting for my return, so that I may take his place.

I take it you don't want to, or you would have gone back ages ago.

Your homeworld is mine, now. I do not wish to rule so decadent and cold a society. Therefore, if I attempt to escape again, I will be attacked, and my slayer shall be made ruler.

Oh, God, Warlock, I didn't know it was that bad. I wish I could go alone... Look, if you don't want to risk it, we can go back; I'll understand perfectly.

Doug, my friend... For you, I am willing to take the risk. Techworld offers most likely hope of finding a cure for transmoded state. Still, the prospect frightens me greatly. Are you certain you do not wish to remain in current state?

You know, if you'd asked me that a couple of hours ago, I would have had to give it some serious thought... But you saw how Rahne reacted. I know it sounds selfish, but I love her! I never had the chance to tell her so before I... died. But how could she love me now, like this?

Are you saying that I was never loved?

No, no, it's not that at all! We all loved you. But Rahne... she's different. She's the kind of person I could spend the rest of my life with. Settle down and have kids. Have a little house with a white picket fence. I've been in love before, with Kitty, and with Elisabeth... but I never thought about the future. With Rahne, I can.

Doug had never confessed this to anyone. Truth be told, he was surprised to hear the vehemence of his emotions, as he had thought the last days of his life blotted out by the shock of death. Apparently this bond had run deep for quite some time.

In spite of his normal programming, Warlock had to smile inside. He did not fully understand human relationships, being that his only up-close example had been Doug, who had once seemed to change his emotional ties every other week. He had also missed most of the brief romance, having been away from the team with Sunspot at the time. What he knew about Doug and Rahne had been spoken in sad, morbid tones after Cypher's death.

Geez, the more I think about it, the more selfish it seems.

Nonsense. I envy you your dreams and aspirations, and admire your resolve to make them true. Though it may be best to have this same talk with Rahne when we return from the island. Hiding your feelings from her will do you little good.

You're right... Man, Warlock, sometimes I still can't believe just how human you are.

I shall take that as a compliment.

Kind of backhanded, if you think about it, but... yeah, if I didn't want to be human, I wouldn't be going through with this. I... wish that we hadn't run off like we did, though.

We were beyond rational thought at the moment of departure.

Yeah, but... I hope she's okay.

Rahne is in good hands. She will understand. With luck, you will be your true self when next you see her.

Yeah, that is pretty good incentive.

Sarcasm?

No, just understatement.

I see.

Incidentally, 'Lock... why 'Sorcerer?'

Rarely, tech offspring are produced by fission of a larger entity rather than manufacture. During the time before separation, the new tech is referred to by the term you translate as 'Sorcerer.'

I kind of like it, actually. Maybe I'll use it again sometime when this is all over.

Your optimism is heartening.

Like I always said, pal, with your brains and my brawn, we're a match for anyone.

I see.

Muir Isle, Scotland
Thursday, 8 April 1993 1:24 am

Banshee returned wearily from his scouting of the island. Until Forge got the defense networks back on-line, they would have to guard their home the old-fashioned way. The final flight of the evening was done at last, though. Diminishing his sonic scream to inaudible levels, he lowered himself into the complex.

There were no lights on when he entered the bedroom he shared with Moira, but he could see that the bed was still made, and unslept in. She was still awake, somewhere. Sean cursed under his breath and took the stairs to the monitoring facilities.

Here, he found Moira sitting in the dark, her lined face bathed by the dim glow of computer screens. She sat hunched over the keys, still working in spite of the late hour.

"Moira... Come to bed, love," he said, softly.

She turned to face him, her eyes red and swollen. "I canna stop now."

"Lass, you won't do them or anyone else any good if you don't take care of y'rself. Douglas and Warlock shall return when they're ready."

"I've thought of some new leads," she went on, as though she hadn't heard. "Before Charles and Henry left for the school, Beast told me about a young charge o'his, back when he used t'be with X-Factor. His name is Takashi Matsuya, said t'be able t' psionically manipulate circuitry an' machinery. If he an' Douglas an' Warlock put their heads together, they might be able to come up with a reversal. Henry promised t'contact us as soon as he found the lad. If that willna' be enough, I'm certain Shadowcat would put herself to the task."

"Then we shall contact her in the morning."

"Blast it, Sean, d'ye not even care what happens to the lads?!"

Sean took a firm hold of her wrist. "Neither Douglas nor Warlock is stupid, lassie."

"Nae, but they were sure enough outta their bloody skulls when they left!"

"Moira, listen t'me," he insisted. "They'll take care of themselves for now, but when they do return, they'll need you whole and healthy. And we've other responsibilities as well, not the least bein' to y'r daughter."

Feeling herself suddenly melt with helpless exhaustion, Moira turned back to the screens. "Sean, I..."

She cried, then: bitter tears of fatigue and shame. "Ye warned me that somethin' like this'd happen. I should ha' told the puir lass, now she's..."

"...handlin' this much better than you, love. At least she's asleep."

Leaving the tracking systems to run their futile search, Sean helped Moira stand, and she leaned wearily against him as they made their way downstairs.

As it happened, Rahne was not asleep. Once Sean was done scouting, she took advantage of the momentary lapse in security to go out roaming the escarpment in her wolf body, senses making her one with the natural surroundings. The chill did not bother her, though the heady scents of ocean and heather did not fully help her feel at home. There was too much to think about.

Being a wolf was now, as it had once been, an escape. A wolf didn't need to think, or consider, or rationalize. A wolf was a creature of the wild, existing only for the moment, the hunt, the howl... experiences sensuous and exhilarating in their own right.

Unfortunately, Rahne found that no matter how hard she tried to immerse herself in wolf-ness, human emotions shone through the cloudier lupine mind. She could run, but never escape the truth.

Instead, she did what came naturally. She lithely climbed to the highest point of the escarpment, lifted her head to the stars, where Douglas and Warlock had gone, and howled.

After a while, she became aware of a gentle presence in her mind, and as she tested the wind, she noticed two scents. Dani and Ric.

"Rahne? Is that you, kiddo?"

She considered running away, but Dani already knew that she was there. Her friend had always had a psychic bond with animals, and with Rahne's animal forms in particular; she could not ignore Dani now. With what passed for a sigh, she trotted down from the highest point and met the two as they were coming up the mountain.

Dani knelt down to give her a hug and scratch her behind the ears. "What're you doing out this late," she sighed, giving her a soft smile.

After a pause, Rahne shifted from wolf-form to her mostly-human self. "I couldna' sleep."

"Can't blame you," Ric nodded, helping her stand and giving her a hug. "Been a pretty weird night, man."

"Rictor, I'm frightened..."

"Now, hold on a second," Dani interrupted. "Look, am I the only one here who's actually happy to see Doug and Warlock back? Everyone else seems to be either scared or going out of their minds to do something about it. What have I missed?"

"Dani, ye dinna know?" Rahne asked, surprised.

"Well, I might. Tell me about it."

Ric shook his head. "She wasn't with us when we saw it, Rahne," he reminded her. "That was after Asgard and Cable and everything else."

"Ah, yes," Rahne nodded. "'Twas horrible."

"What?" Dani asked, gently.

"We saw the future," said Rahne, slowly, as though she found the very words evil. "A pow'rful man from the future showed us. An' Douglas was there, only... he had become a Magus, an' he was so... changed. An' it had driven him mad, an' he tried to hurt us, an'..."

She broke off, miserably. Scarcely believing her ears, Dani looked from her to Rictor. "Really?"

"Yeah," Ric nodded, darkly. "He belted Rahne good at one point, so I knocked him for a loop with my quake power... I... didn't know who he was, then, I just knew he was nuts."

"Well, according to Moira, they're not crazy, just confused."

"They looked pretty effin' crazy when they tore outta here," Ric insisted. "Rahne, baby, it wasn't your fault they freaked out."

She nodded slowly. "Pr'haps not, but... I do wish they'd come back."

"Cheer up," Dani tried to smile. "I'm sure they must be doing something important to have been gone this long. Sean says they were here looking for a cure for the Transmode Virus. Maybe they're looking for another way."

"I hope so," Rahne sighed.

"C'mon," Ric suggested. "Let's get some sleep. Maybe things'll be better in the morning."

"Aye," Rahne nodded, though she didn't look convinced.

As they headed down toward the complex together, Dani took a moment to strengthen her psychic link with Rahne. At this range, they could communicate full-sentence thoughts, giving them the chance to exchange a few words without Ric being able to hear.

*Does he know?* Dani asked.

*Does he know what?*

*That you and Doug have a... history?*

There was a pause in the thought, and then Rahne replied. *Aye, I think so. He told you about how he attacked the future Doug. After that, I came to his side, where he'd fallen; I didn't want to see him die again. Ric wasn't too pleased with that, and I think he might've heard more from Sam or Roberto. I'm sure he's guessed it.*

*And how do you feel now?*

*I... don't know what to feel. Dani, I love him. Ric, I mean. He's been so kind to me ever since we met. I loved Douglas, but... he died. I mourned him, and I moved on. But now he's not dead, and...*

*I know. It's pretty strange.*

*More than strange. Dani, even if Douglas does come back, if just seeing me was enough to drive him mad, how will he react to this?*

Dani slipped an arm across Rahne's shoulders. *I don't know. Let's burn that bridge when we come to it, okay, kiddo?*

Techworld approaching. I suggest you restore all systems to activity.

Doug gave himself a mental shake, and woke his partially dormant body by sending a surge of power through each mechanical cell. Had eighteen hours passed so quickly?

Negative. The synthesis of our lifeglows was a detail I did not consider in earlier calculations. Together, we covered the distance in approximately twelve.

Where are we?

Remaining outside scanning range of the Technarchy. I have modified our trajectory and speed, suspecting that you would wish to be coherent during our final approach.

Thanks... That was strange, though. I wasn't asleep so much as in deep thought. Don't technoids sleep?

Not as such. Dormant periods may be required to conserve energy and lifeglow, but there is never loss of consciousness.

Learn something new every day...

Have you given any thought to our method of infiltration?

As a matter of fact, I have. I made a detailed scan of our structure and got a pretty good idea of how detection systems and senses operate with your... our kind. I think I can figure out a way to muffle, or even alter our own internal transmissions and lifeglows, making it impossible to be detected by similar senses.

That sounds plausible, unless the race has evolved significantly from my level.

How much can a race evolve in a few years?

You'd be surprised. Implement your program, nonetheless, and I shall plot our course.

Alright, but... Warlock?

Yes?

When I made my scan... I got a good idea of how the virus works, and even with my power, I couldn't figure out anything that could change me back. Would anyone... anything in the Technarchy have any... records of this? A secret stored away in some memory bank somewhere?

Unknown. I do know that each individual tech obtains most of the collected memory of the race, but some secrets, as you call them, may be found only within the core entities.

That's going to take a heck of an infiltration job. I hope we're up to it.

Only one way to find out.

With that, Doug accessed the whole of their form, altering their structure and biomechanics just slightly, rendering them invisible to all forms of detection, technological and technorganic. At the same time, he broadened the receiving range of their own sensors, so that they would still be able to see themselves. Unless any technoid could duplicate his particular sequence of alterations, they would be safe.

Warlock shifted more power to the engine output, veering their direction slightly. Only the motion of the stars confirmed to Doug that they were moving at all, as there was no sun nearby, and there were no planets: only emptiness.

All the same, it would be good to see where they were headed. Doug placed his own sensors at maximum range, looking for anything technorganic in their way.

The duo was struck by incredible feedback, as the sheer numbers of the tech transmissions overloaded Doug's sensors. He quickly cut the input devices, though it was all he could do to retain physical cohesion. Whatever was out there, it was big.

Doug felt an admonishing, somewhat pained comment from Warlock, warning him to be patient. He would see it soon enough.

In fact, when Cypher managed to restore his visual sensors, their objective was in sight, and he beheld the Techworld for the first time.

In physical shape, it was roughly spherical, but its surface was unlike any planet known to man. As they moved in closer, Doug saw that this was because there was no surface. The "planet" was a twisting, tangling latticework of circuitry, constantly branching out into smaller pathways and structures. It would probably be possible to move through the spheroid without physically touching any part of it.

Motion was detected throughout the superstructure, but it took Cypher a few moments to perceive the nature of the environment. Beings did not so much travel upon the surface as interface with it, in much the same way that electricity moves through the path of a circuit. Worker techs were visible at many of the fringes, extending the structure further even as he watched, forming new branches. The whole reminded Doug of an anthill in reverse, expanding above the world rather than below.

Your analogy is close.

Huh? What do you mean?

Ants analogous to techs. However, as you may have noticed, there is no planet structure beneath the lattice.

What's in there then? I'm getting nothing but static trying to probe that far in.

Branches become fewer and larger toward the center. Near the core are various structures in which progeny are manufactured, and the core itself is comprised of the progenitors of all the Technarchy. Their sole purpose is to generate life energy for the entire race. Beyond this, in the very center, is the Grand Magus.

Well, after what we did to him, that place must be empty.

Possibly. It is also possible that another has taken his place.

I hope not... So what do we do now?

Like a bird alighting upon the smallest branch of a tree, the gestalt being landed on one of the outermost structures of the lattice and plugged itself into the porous surface.

The area is deserted.

Great. Anyone noticed we're here?

We seem undetected.

Alright. Show me how to access the main networks.

Physical contact is all that is necessary.

Okay, I'll initiate some... Oh, my God!

What is it?

Warlock, this branch we're standing on... it's a dead technoid! There's power fluxing on the surface, but its internal systems have been destroyed!

That is the nature of the race. Our world is built upon the failed participants of the Magus Wars.

They use their dead to build with? That's grotesque!

It is not unlike the human method of returning the dead to the soil by burial.

Hm... I guess you're right. I was wrong in calling it an anthill, though; it's more like a coral reef. What a wild little ecosystem.

Systems remain undetected.

Which is a polite hint for me to get started. Okay, let's see what I can do here... It should be just like hacking on the computer nets back home.

Doug did his best to relax and think as he went to work. The shell of the deceased tech still conducted power, and he formed a connection, seeing what he could access.

As before, the sheer magnitude of input was staggering, but he held on, breaking down the coded transmissions. Just by touching this outer extreme of the construct, he could detect every inch of the seemingly boundless space, and the movements of every creature therein. The section of the lattice upon which they stood was thankfully devoid of any lifeglow but their own.

Thinking with computerized accuracy, it didn't take Doug long at all to find the mechanics of the entire sphere. From here, he could request access to the core energy created by the elders, download data from archival files, report the status of expansion and the development of progeny, or any of several other functions which Doug could not even begin to understand.

Duplicating the transmission wavelength of a typical tech, Cypher went straight for the archives, to study the Transmode Virus in depth. Unfortunately, the public domain systems contained precisely the same information he had already processed from Warlock's data storage. There had to be something more.

Seeing if he could get around the structure of the archives program, Doug made a careful attempt to request information on a process to retard or reverse the effects of the virus.

Not only did the network deny him access, but a small spark of consciousness was activated, and immediately began speaking to them in code. Doug quickly sent an internal message to Warlock.

What the heck is this?

Caretaker system. It's asking for our designation.

Well, we can't give him yours, that's for sure... You'd better talk to this guy.

What do you want me to say?

State our designation as... that of the tech we're standing on. I'll try to break in while he's not looking and change the records.

While Warlock scanned for the coded name of the dormant tech, Cypher made a furious effort to sneak around both the normal codes and the caretaker unit. He could feel the presence of the guardian tech busy conversing with Warlock, so he dove into the practically endless files of names, searching for any information on their deceased friend. He managed to retrieve the file, decode the information therein, alter it to show the unit as functional, and re-upload it, all within the space of a couple of seconds. When he was finished, he pulled back from the system as the caretaker, true to function, went into the files to check their status.

Doug pulled his electrical consciousness back into his body, taking what passed for a deep breath as the colloquy between Warlock and the caretaker continued.

Did it work?

It seems confused, but recognizes us as functional. However, it is denying access to the requested information all the same. Only the Magus is entitled to such restricted data.

Then it's there! There is a way!

The caretaker has broken contact, but it may be on its way to double-check our false designation. I suggest haste.

We can't let them find our pal, here. What should we do with him?

Recommended course of action would be to assimilate structure of dormant tech into selves, and adjust it to match our own mechanics.

You sure?

It will also give us more mass, in case of a possible battle.

Okay. Let's do it.

They changed their shape into an amorphous blob, and engulfed this smaller branch of the lattice, carefully severing the reshaped and rigid form of the fallen tech and assimilating it into their own structure. It was momentarily disorienting, but afterwards, having the extra "breathing room" to share was almost a relief.

Process complete. Suggested course?

We've got to get into the core... the Magus's den, I guess you could call it. See if you can plot us a relatively empty path to the center. We should remain undetectable, even that deep.

Processing, and route established. I suggest that you let me facilitate our movements.

Fine with me, pal. I'll just hang on.

They began a smooth descent along the twisting latticework, coming within scanning distance of several worker and guardian techs as they went, but remained unmolested. Though Doug was certain he had taken all precautions, he could not find himself to relax.

In the course of their journey, Cypher noticed several times that they were passing over the empty shells of transmoded bioforms, though he could not tell from what race they had come. Briefly, they stopped and probed one of the corpses, but Doug found no real difference from his own status, save that they were lifeless. The further inward they went, the more bioforms they found.

Warlock explained that in his time, this was as far as the lattice had reached. The Magus had discovered the limitless energy and matter to be found by raiding life-giving worlds, contributing their lifeglows to the core matrix and their bodies to the lattice. The lack of bioforms toward the extremes indicated that this had not been practiced since the departure of the Magus several years in the past.

Doug was appalled, but all the same, his mutant brain chalked things up for future reference. Studying these corpses would probably not help him with a cure, but it couldn't hurt to try.

When they neared the center, both could feel the lifeglow of the planet growing stronger. They shot past manufacturing crèches and storage facilities, and into a huge spherical chamber. Here, they found the living heart of the Techworld.

It was a sphere within the sphere, resembling nothing so much as a glowing, mottled shell, held in position by large metallic bracings. It pulsed with life, sending bolts of bluish-white energy throughout the inner structure.

The longer Doug looked, the more it seemed that the huge bars were not to hold the core in place, but to hold the planet to the core.

Ho-lee...

Scanning for an aperture through which we may access the final core... hello, what's... We have a problem.

What is it?

Caretaker units investigated the earlier anomaly by checking the designation of each dormant unit in the superstructure, and then records of lattice expansion. Our false identification has been recognized, and a systematic search has begun to find the source.

They'll never detect us. Have you found a way in?

Warlock answered by propelling them out into the open space, on a direct heading for the core matrix. As they drew closer, Doug was both amazed and horrified to see that each facet of the mottled "shell" was in fact a gargantuan technoid. These were the elders, and together, they kept the lifeglow of the world burning.

The great shapes loomed before them, until they shot, unnoticed, into a small tunnel-like opening between two facets. The heat and pressure were quickly becoming unbearable, but they pressed on.

Quite suddenly, they spilled out into emptiness. By their own faint glow, they could see that the spherical core was completely featureless. There were no inhabitants, no structures, and no signs of life.

Doug felt his heart sink, as he realized that his only chance could well be gone.

Are there any record systems? Memory storage? Anything?

I'm afraid not. Apparently the information you seek was only to be found within the Magus himself. It would have passed to me, his descendant, had I done what tradition demanded and taken his lifeglow after defeating him.

So where is old Pops? I'll rip it right out of his brain if I have to!

The Magus has not returned. It is possible that he was destroyed with the world upon which we fought.

Suddenly, the walls lit up all around them, and they recognized the shapes of the elder techs. They had turned to look inward, and Doug felt his helpless rage become terror as he realized that they had been seen. Their point of entry promptly sealed, blocking their only escape route, and the voices of the elders echoed throughout the spherical chamber.

"Anomaly discovered; countermeasures employed."

"Adjusting detection systems to perceive altered lifeglow."

"Scan one techform within restricted area. Suggest immediate termination."

"Alarm! Techform recognized as The Warlock, progeny of racial leader, The Grand Magus!"

"Survival and return of Warlock declares the end of the Hunt. Warlock has become the Magus, and returned to lead his race!"

Part 3: "Life Seeker"

"The Warlock/Magus was unwise to attempt entry through deceit. Had he but made his presence known, we would have welcomed him to his new rank and station at the center of our sphere."

"The Warlock/Magus was always known for erratic behavior, including unreasoning emotion and desire to defy programming."

"Has he truly come to take his place here, now that his sire entity has been destroyed?"

"That is the only logical conclusion."

"This Warlock/Magus was never governed by logic."

"Multiple anomalies scanned in biostructure of the Warlock/Magus. Evidence of progeny and/or mutation."

"Scanalysis complete. The Warlock/Magus has come of age, and is preparing to manufacture progeny through fission."

Great, Warlock, they think you're pregnant.

As far as their sensors can tell, the dual lifeglow they detect is evidence of asexual reproduction. As mentioned, is it not unheard of among our kind.

Damn, it's cold out there. There's some kind of gas atmosphere, too.

Cold aids in speed and accuracy of thought.

I see. So what happens now?

Try to merge as completely as you can, and perhaps it will make me appear simply larger, as is proper for a Magus.

Got it. I'll also start scanning for a way out.

"Sorcerer entity shows erratic behavior. Immediate fission recommended."

Before either Cypher or Warlock could act to defend themselves, they were bombarded by multiple bolts of energy from the core technoids. With a dual cry of alarm, and a sudden snapping of the bond between them, Warlock and Sorcerer were pulled apart violently, and held separate.

As disorienting as sharing his body with Warlock had been, Doug found the sudden isolation even more so. All of the technoid matter absorbed from the outside of the lattice had been pulled out of him, and was now being inhabited by Warlock. His own transmoded body remained intact, but it became quickly apparent that his brainware was running far more quickly than his human thoughts. He found himself unable to keep up with his own mind without Warlock there to help him.

"Alarm! Sorcerer entity is not progeny! It is a bioform!"

"Paradox. Why would Warlock/Magus transmode a bioform and not drain its lifeglow? Why would Warlock/Magus merge with a lesser creature?"

"Sorcerer entity, the Technarchy demands your designation."

Doug pulled himself into as human a shape as he could manage given the jolt he had taken, not to mention his current mental state. "My designation is Cypher, and you know where you can shove that 'lesser creature' bullshit!" Getting angry helped him focus, and focus helped him control his thoughts.

"Sorcerer speaks in odd colloquialisms."

"Entity Cypher scanned to be a creature of subclass humanoid, place of origin unknown."

"Paradox remains. What is the connection between Warlock/Magus and entity designated Cypher?"

"Cyphermutant is self's soulfriendbrothercomrade!" Warlock transmitted, raising his mechanical voice for the first time, though he was once again restricted to his former mode of speech.

"No logic found in this statement."

"Speech patterns resemble those of immature technoid."

"Perhaps Warlock/Magus has not yet assimilated all data from the lifeglow of the former Magus."

"Confusion recognized. Countermeasures will be applied, if possible."

"Course of action?"

"Warlock shall be proclaimed Magus, and entity Cypher placed in developmental facilities as befits offspring."

"Statement error: May bioform Cypher be considered progeny?"

"Warlock/Magus, how was this bioform infected with the Technarch virus?"

"FriendCypher and self repeated process of psychemerge on multiple occasions, and during inactivity, friendCypher's systems were transmoded to present status."

Through his own confusion, Doug noticed the sudden change in Warlock's spoken output, and when he looked closer, he could tell that his partner had given up hope. As far as Warlock was concerned, they were helplessly trapped, with no hope of escape.

"Actions highly irregular."

"Process was voluntary, however. Thus, bioform must be considered progeny."

"Systems observe that bioform is of an age proper to begin the Hunt. Perhaps before Warlock is made Magus, Warlock must battle bioform Sorcerer as programming mandates."

"No!" shouted Doug into the emptiness, his anger causing the cold semi-air around him to steam. "I'm not of your kind, and I won't fight your stupid Magus War again!"

"Bioform refuses to battle. Warlock must therefore take his lifeglow and assume his duties as Magus."

"Self refuses to harm selfsoulfriendCypher," answered Warlock flatly. It became apparent to Doug that perhaps things were not yet hopeless. In fact...

"Situation highly irregular."

"The Hunt must commence. If Warlock and Sorcerer will not battle one another, then other suitable techs will battle both, and the slayer of both shall become Magus."

"Such a remedy is unbeneficial to race. Magus War must commence."

"I agree," nodded Doug.

Even the ancients were struck silent for a moment.

"Okay, you win," Doug went on. "I'll do it."

"Alarm!" cried Warlock, looking at Doug with wild eyes. "Why is friendCypher doing this?"

"It's the only way, Warlock."

"Then let the Hunt begin!" said the techs in unison. The fields holding Cypher and Warlock in place faded, and the two faced one another. The sphere of the Magus was now an arena.

Doug extended one hand to his former teammate. "Well, 'Lock, what say we shake hands and come out fighting?"

Warlock was more than a little dubious, but he reached out a hand of his own and clasped Doug's. The shock and terror faded from his expression as this simple contact gave them a moment to transmit in private.

"OncefriendCypher will regret this," said Warlock, doing his best to sneer.

The two combatants retreated to opposite sides of the arena, paused for a moment, then rushed straight for one another at full speed, on a head-on collision course.

Much to the Techs' alarm, however, the two shapes merged with one another, then turned and rocketed toward the outer shell. They tried to take defensive measures, but the merged techs had already latched onto their matrix, and an alien presence was infiltrating their programming modules.

I've got it! I've broken the access codes to their power sources! Start pulling power, 'Lock, we're going to need all we can get!

Offensive measures taken! I'm glad you had a plan!

It ain't over yet, pal o' mine. I'm plugging us into the lattice. Get ready to see it hit the fan!

The senior techs were not the core entities of their race for nothing. The possessed great power, and under normal circumstances, killing Warlock and Cypher would have been a simple task. However, in the short time he'd had, Doug had fed a series of alteration commands into their main programs, drawing upon years of experience with crashing systems. His reprogramming would not be fatal, but it would keep the techs busy and buy him and Warlock precious time.

The second phase of Cypher's plan literally rocked the planet. He found the locations of each and every transmoded bioform in the superstructure, and immediately began channeling the energy siphoned from the senior techs into their dormant bodies. None of them had been truly dead, just as he and Warlock had not been, and with sufficient energy, they would re-animate. As their shapes coursed with power, silent minds reactivated, and stiff, molded bodies began conforming to their former shapes.

"Bioforms!" transmitted Cypher to the whole of the Techworld. "This is Cypher and Warlock of the New Mutants! You're free! More to follow!"

After this broadcast, he proceeded to upload them all the knowledge he had assimilated in the use of his technoid body. With this information, even the least intelligent of the bioforms would be able to move, to act, or to fight.

This place is going to come down around our ears, partner! Give us a full tank of gas and let's blow!

Lifeglows are charged to maximum, and systems are fully functional! We are outta here!

They forced a hole in the shell of the Magus's sphere, and made a break for the surface. As they spiralled up the lattice, they felt the newly activated bioforms stirring around them, ripping themselves free from the constructs. Huge branches were severed and flung into space, and titanic battles were erupting in places, as angry sentients and non-sentients took revenge on their captors.

Doug felt tempted to join the battle on the side of the bios, but he and Warlock had given them their freedom and their stolen lives. Now, the pair had to ensure their own.

The voices of the core entities suddenly sounded all around them in unison. They sounded weak, battered... even scared.

"Warlock! Sorcerer! You must not leave! A Magus must rule! Without a Magus, our society could eventually self-destruct in anarchy! Do not seek escape! You are desperately needed!"

Doug could feel the turmoil within Warlock, as he weighed the survival of his race with his sheer hatred of it, but they did not hesitate. As one, they shot from the outer surface of the superstructure and into empty space.

Looking back, they saw great pieces of the Techworld shatter and explode. Huge sections of latticework collapsed as the war between the bioforms and technoids continued. Then, the voices of the elders were heard once more.

"Technoids! The Warlock and Sorcerer have escaped! Ignore the bioforms! Find them, and either bring one back to become Magus, or slay them both!"

Mutant Research Facility, Muir Isle, Scotland
Thursday, 8 April 1993 9:34 am

"Lassie, we have guests."

Moira stirred at Banshee's touch, then opened her eyes. She looked confused for a moment, then her previous concerns kicked in. "What time is it?"

"About nine-thirty."

"What?! Sean, are ye completely daft? I should ha' been up hours ago! Why did ye na' wake me earlier?"

"Now, now, lass, don't start in with this. Ye needed your rest, so I took care of some business on me own."

"Ye contacted Excalibur? An' what of Beast?"

"He's tracked down young Takashi, and they'll be flyin' back out here later today, after Henry's had some rest of his own. Charles is stayin' at the school for now; he says that there's an emergency wi' the X-Men."

"Och, not another one."

"Aye. At any rate, I caught Nightcrawler up early, and it seems he passed word to Kitty with all speed."

"How do you figure?" asked Moira, as she got out of bed and began rummaging through the closet for some work clothes.

"She and Captain Britain arrived not five minutes ago. They're waitin' upstairs."

"Sean, ye great silly, I wish ye would ha' roused me earlier."

"Just get dressed, lass. And before ye ask, I've checked the monitors, and there's no sign of the lads yet. Forge is workin' on the tracking systems e'en as we speak, tryin' t' get a better range."

When she was satisfied that she looked presentable, Moira stepped out quickly, squeezing Sean's shoulder as she passed and giving him a slight smile. She was not about to tell him so, but he had probably been right to let her rest.

They were met upstairs by a somewhat frazzled Kitty Pryde. Her Excalibur teammate Brian Braddock kept a respectable distance, though he looked equally concerned.

"Moira," said Kitty, stepping up to her, "is it true? Doug Ramsey's alive? And Warlock, too?"

"'Tis true," nodded Moira, wondering how Kitty would take the news.

She shook her head, apparently too shocked at this point to decide whether she was overjoyed or horrified. "It really happened? He's become a Warlock creature, just like we were always afraid he would? And now he's gone off into space with Warlock?"

MacTaggert reached to take one of Kitty's hands and missed. The girl was too agitated to remain in a solid state, and was using her phasing powers unconsciously. "Yes on all counts. We thought you might be able t'help us find a cure for the transmodin' process."

"Well, I'll do what I can. I hope I can help."

"I'll take you t'see Forge, and he can fill you in on the details."

She then turned to Brian. "Thank ye for bringin' her so quickly, Captain. I hope we aren't interruptin' anythin' with Excalibur."

"Not at all," answered Brian. "In fact, I'd like to stay, if it's all the same. Douglas and Warlock saved my sister's life and my own once. I'll certainly do anything I can to be of assistance."

Moira smiled just slightly. "Alright, then, if ye'll just come this way, we can get to work." The last words were not-so-indirectly aimed at Sean, but he just smiled.

"I'll make you three some breakfast, then," he nodded, heading off in a different direction.

They went to the monitors first, both to check on the boys' status and to see how Forge's modifications were coming.

"No sign of them yet, I'm afraid," Forge explained, wiping his face with a towel. "I've gotten this blasted thing to scan as far as it can scan, but there's nothing. Wherever they've gone, they're either going pretty near light speed, or have some method of distance distortion. I could be wrong, though. Physics was never one of my better fields."

Fortunately, Brian had studied the field for years, so his interest was piqued right away. "Have you been taking into account the distance involved here? If they've gone even as far as the moon, a radar-like system won't be terribly accurate, because of the time lag."

"Yes, I've tried to compensate for that, but I'd appreciate it if you'd recheck my calculations."

While the two became absorbed in this discussion, with increasing use of technobabble, Moira took Kitty aside. "Katherine, may I ask a favor of ye?"

"Sure, anything."

"I was wond'rin' if ye might have a word with Rahne."

Kitty's eyes went wide. "Wolfsbane's here?"

"Aye, as are Mirage an' Rictor. She's... taken all of this verra badly, as ye could expect, and it might do her some good t'talk it out wi' someone else."

Kitty nodded slowly, but Moira could see the unspoken question in her eyes. Why couldn't she have this talk with Rahne herself?

"I know, lass, I know. She is m' daughter, but I sense she's still upset with me for insistin' she come home from X-Factor. She may open up to a friend better than family at this point."

"Okay," said Kitty, softly. "I'll try."

How many of 'em do you reckon, Warlock?

I scan forty-two pursuers. They're gaining on us.

How can they be gaining on us? We're charged up as high as we can get!

As mentioned, there may have been significant evolution since my departure. Also, their speed is borne of desperation.

Well, so is ours! Let's pour it on, partner, or we're dogmeat!

We must plot out a course before velocity shift. Time will be required...

Warlock's voice faded, and Doug made a backward scan. The chase was quickly heating up. Swarms of hostile techs filled the sky behind them, and Doug wasn't entirely sure of their intentions. Did they really want to capture one of them, or would they try to kill them both, securing the rank of Magus for one of their own?

A badly misjudged bolt of energy streaked past. The frontrunners were in firing range, though accuracy was something else again at this speed. Still, it wouldn't be long...

When Warlock's voice returned, he sounded genuinely distressed.

Our situation is worsening.

How do you mean?

Scan of Techworld reveals battle has ended on the side of the Technarchy. The bioforms have been routed and eliminated, and all techs are now in pursuit save elders and progeny.

Eliminated? All of them?

Apparently so. The elders are very powerful.

Somewhere in the diminishing human aspects of Doug's mind, he felt positively sickened at the knowledge of this mass carnage. This rapidly began to shift to anger in self-defense.

It's my fault. I sent them to their deaths.

Bioforms were dead before our arrival. We gave a second chance, and they chose to fight.

Those sons of bitches...

Techs are closing. I suggest we take evasive or offensive action.

What are our chances of ditching 'em?

Minimal. Now that they are within firing range, we may either slow to dodge, slow to engage, or hold our present course and be eventually obliterated.

Great. Which do you think?

Evasion is unlikely. Fighting seems our best alternative.

Doug was surprised by Warlock's sudden bravery, as it was completely out of character for the self-proclaimed coward the technoid had been years before. This journey, and perhaps this prolonged soulmerge, was changing them both, it seemed. Though Doug could sense the fear behind his transmissions, Warlock was willing to risk it. Doug was in no mood to argue, as he was still numbly furious over the fate of the bioforms.

They took a few seconds to plan their strategy. Warlock would take full control of their movements, while Cypher would handle both offensive and defensive measures, to throw their opponents off. Evolution or no evolution, Doug would bet that their two minds working in synch would give them the edge they needed.

"BANZAI!!" transmitted Doug as they turned to engage, though he knew that the techs would not understand.

They struck quickly and mercilessly, lashing out with long tendrils of their own structure, attaching them to three frontrunning techs. Doug decoded their defensive programming in less than a second, and sucked every last iota of lifeglow from them. Warlock used the dormant husks as weapons then, flailing outward to smash other attackers.

As he felt the energy of his foes flowing out of their shells and into his own, Doug felt almost nauseated. He told himself again and again that they were only machines, and that it was alright to kill them because they were never really alive, not in the way that Warlock was. Deep within, though, he knew differently. It was kill or be killed, and he had not come this far to die a third time.

Wishing to rid their gestalt body of this energy, Doug manifested offensive weaponry, strafing a formation of attackers as Warlock dove past. Several were disintegrated by the sheer force of the attack, their lifeglows going nova in the blackness.

Then, miracle of miracles, they scanned a large chunk of solid matter in this otherwise empty stretch of space. The fight had brought them away from their original flight path and near a small asteroid. A more detailed scan revealed it as a piece of what had once been a planet. This was all that had been left after the Magus and his followers had dragged it back to their homeworld and stripped it of life.

Warlock, I've got an idea. Scan that planetoid for life.

None present. Techs are maintaining distance and reconfiguring for a second attack.

Get us closer! I'm channeling our energy for a full-power shockwave.

When they were within firing range, Doug formed a cannon appendage half their combined size and emitted a huge force-beam, cutting right into the heart of the asteroid. It was shattered by the blow, sending hundreds of smaller chunks in all directions.

Trying to dodge the sudden barrage of technofire, and taking several hits in the process, Warlock and Cypher dove into the mass of rubble, weaving dextrously between the individual pieces. Several attackers tried to follow, but were smashed to bits. The pair eventually touched down on one of the larger and more stable pieces.

Excellent diversion.

Yeah, that'll throw 'em off, but for how long?

Unknown. Systems have recovered from the output surge, and repair sequences have been initiated. We should be ready to fight in a few moments.

I like your spirit, partner, but we'll get slaughtered at this rate. Keep working on plotting the course to Earth. We've gotta get out of here ASAP.

Suddenly, a pair of circuitry tentacles latched onto them, and began to breach their outer defenses. One technoid, braver and luckier than the rest, had found them, and attacked before sensors could register its presence.

With an inhuman scream of pain, Cypher flooded their structure with energy, as Warlock dove out of the asteroids, trying to shake it off. The tech hung on like a leech, and rather than being overloaded by the surge, as Doug had been hoping, it was actually beginning to drain them.

Several more chose to attack them in their weakened condition, and their lifeglow was being ripped from them eight ways.

Cypher managed to keep his head despite their peril. Just as a wild animal would chew off its own paw to escape a trap, he cut all power to the breached sections of their body, in effect killing them. The techs thought that the sudden loss of power meant that their prey was slain, but Warlock and Cypher turned the tables on them, latching on during the instant of confusion, and taking the lifeglow from each, along with what they had stolen.

Doug then took the initiative, propelling them away at top speed, the eight tech husks trailing behind them as they fled.

That's it! We're charged up, now let's get outta here!

Velocity shift in our present state could prove dangerous, even fatal!

So could hanging around here! Let's bolt!

They set a course for the vicinity of their solar system, gunning their engines as fast as frictionless space would allow. Still the techs pursued. As a final attack, Warlock and Doug detached the tech shells they had been dragging, hitting velocity shift just as the frontrunners smashed into them headlong.

Muir Isle, 10:41 am

Kitty knocked twice on the partially open door to Rahne's newly occupied bedroom, then phased herself in when there was no answer.

Wolfsbane was lying on a neatly made bed, her face half-buried in a feather pillow. At first Kitty thought she was asleep, but then she noticed that Rahne's eyes were open.

"Rahne?" said Kitty, sitting down beside her.

The werewolf looked up at her, and Kitty could see the weary sadness in her eyes. These same eyes widened, however, and she quickly pushed herself to a sitting position. "Hello, Katherine. I didna' know you were here."

"I just arrived a little while ago. Are you okay?"

Rahne slowly shook her head. "Why should I be?"

"Look, I know things have probably been one shock after another around here; I know they have been for me. But think about it! Doug and Warlock are alive, and we should be happy for that."

Wolfsbane nodded, but she did not look convinced. Kitty decided to change the subject. "I hear Dani and Rictor are here, too."

"Aye."

"Where are they?"

"Dani's out running, an' Ric's... around somewhere, I'm sure."

"Okay," Kitty nodded, realizing that this was not helping. "Um, how are things with X-Factor lately?"

"I dinna know what they're doing," she frowned, "and I am nae certain whether 'r not I care."

Kitty paused, realizing that she had put her foot in her mouth so far, so she took a deep breath and tried to continue. "Things have been tough lately?"

"I couldna' stay with them any longer. They were all m'friends, but I couldna' bear t'see what we were becoming. The bloody government mutant strike force. Well, bully for us. We could all be killed, as Douglas was, as Warlock was... and I want no part of it."

"But that's just it! Doug and Warlock aren't dead... I guess they never really were. Doug was your friend too, wasn't he?"

After a long pause, Rahne whispered "I loved him."

This took Kitty completely by surprise, as she had never suspected it. She, too, had once shared mutual attraction with Doug, but they had decided to just remain friends. Even so, she felt a pang in her heart at this revelation.

"Then... isn't that all the more reason to be glad?" she said, carefully.

Rahne shook her head, and the words suddenly came in torrents. "Ye dinna understand. That was over two years ago! I had almost let m'self forget f'r good and all, even though I knew inside that it was wrong. Me puir heart's been through so much since then, and I tried to forget, and let m'self fall in love again, and... and I did, but... I ne'er forgot him. Then, there he was in front of me, along with Warlock, whom I thought I'd as good as killed with m' own hands... and all I could do was scream."

She was not crying, but Kitty could tell that this was simply because she had run out of tears. She reached out to steady the other girl, willing herself solid as she held Rahne close to her. "It's okay, Rahne, it's not your fault. I'm sure they'll be back."

"But what if they won't? What if I drove 'em off? I keep tellin' m'self they'll come back, but..."

"Ssh, easy... You didn't do anything. They're out there for a reason. They've got sense enough not to run and hide from something like this."

They sat in relative silence for a while, and Kitty thought about what she'd heard. It made some weird kind of sense that Doug would have fallen for Rahne, given that she was an innocent soul, and she'd often suspected the same of him, in spite of his often brash exterior. Still, she could not hold back thoughts of what might have been, and she had to know for sure.

"You still love him... don't you?"

After a pause, Rahne nodded against Kitty's shoulder. "Aye."

"I thought so."

Rahne looked up again. "I s'pose I ne'er stopped."

Kitty smiled wanly and tousled the fur atop Rahne's head. "I guess that makes two of us, kiddo."

In spite of her mood, Rahne had to laugh just slightly. "So it does."

They both then heard a slow, hard intake of breath from the other side of the partly open door, followed by the sound of receding footsteps. Rahne sniffed the air, and her face blanched beneath the fine layer of fur. "Ric," she whispered.

Before Kitty could ask what she meant, Rahne sprang up and hurried out of the room, shouting "Ric, wait! Wait!" Kitty followed her out, and watched as Rahne chased the rapidly receding form of Ric down the hall. She wondered how long Ric had been listening, and suddenly had a pretty good idea of who exactly was the new love in Rahne's life.

She scarcely noticed as Danielle wandered down from the opposite end of the hall, wiping her face with a towel. "Kitty! Fancy meeting you here. What's up?"

Kitty gave Dani an almost sickened look. "Hey, Dani. Um, I think I'm gonna go up to the lab. Maybe I'll be more useful there. Want to come?"

It was becoming all too apparent that the injuries Cypher and Warlock had sustained were far worse than either had feared. Their prolonged velocity shift had only compounded matters, as they were pushing themselves at nearly double the speed they had maintained on the way to the Techworld.

By the time they decelerated into real space, things were looking grim.

Systems failing! Cohesion threatened!

I know, I know! Come on, 'Lock, don't give up on me now! We're nearly there!

Internal systematic integrity lost. Probability of survival, minimal. I'm sorry, Doug... I've failed you.

Doug cursed as Warlock's lifeglow faded to substandard levels and contact was broken. It was up to him now, and even as he desperately tried to come up with any ideas, he felt his technoid brain running away from him again without Warlock there to help him. He could not even hope to break their forward momentum as they plunged into the Earth's atmosphere. It was all he could do to steer them toward Scotland and raise a heat shield to protect their battered bodies. Eventually, though, his endurance failed, and he too shut down. His last thought before unconsciousness was a fervent wish that no one be beneath them when they impacted.

Muir Isle, 6:22 pm

Over the next few hours, activity in the lab increased dramatically with the re-arrival of X-Man Hank "Beast" McCoy, along with the mechanical genius Takashi "Taki" Matsuya. Taki and Kitty had started work right away, as Hank, Dani and Sean watched.

Hank muttered something under his breath as he took a look into the microscope Taki had been hovering over.

"What's that, Beast?" asked Kitty, looking up from the small glass cage in which they'd placed the appendage Doug and Warlock had discarded before their departure.

"It's simply fascinating," Beast repeated, scratching his furry head. "And positively mind-boggling. I have never in all my days encountered its like."

"And that's just a sample!" nodded Taki, moving his wheelchair up next to where Kitty was sitting. "This thing's a living, breathing machine, just like N'astirh was."

Dani, who'd been looking down into the cage, shook her head. "I don't know if I'd say that. It doesn't move, it doesn't have much of a shape... It just looks like a blob."

"Only because there's no mind inhabiting it," Taki explained. "If it had intelligence, like Doug or Warlock, it'd be completely alive."

"But can ye change it back to flesh and bone?" Sean asked.

Kitty shook her head. "All my power does to electronic components is disrupt them. I'm pretty sure it'd do more harm than good."

"And if Kitty and I were right in our calculations, I probably can't either," Taki shrugged. "I can try, though."

Sean, wearing thick gloves, carefully lifted the mass of circuits out of the cage, setting it in front of Taki. "Do y'r best, boyo."

Nodding silently, Taki concentrated. His power allowed him to manipulate electronic devices psychokinetically, but he had never tried it on a living structure before.

Unfortunately, it didn't work. With a mechanical squawk, the blob discorporated, its tiny residual lifeglow flashing briefly, then vanishing.

"Oh no," whispered Taki. "I killed it!"

"It's alright, lad," said Beast, patting him gently on the shoulder. "It wasn't alive to begin with."

Banshee was about to speak, but his voice was drowned out by an alarm siren. The defense networks were still down, so...

"What the hell's this?" asked Dani over the din.

"Forge's tracking systems!" cried Sean. "The lads must be in range!"

He took off toward the monitoring facilities, followed closely by the others. By the time they got there, the sirens had summoned Moira, Forge, Brian, Rahne and Rictor as well.

"There they are!" shouted Moira, her voice a mix of relief and fierce determination.

Forge took the controls and homed in on them. A look of horror gradually came over his face as he took in the readings. "Moira, they're going at terminal velocity, not even trying to slow down! They're going to hit the lagoon, it looks like."

Sean immediately turned to go, pulling Brian after him. "Captain, come with me! We've got t'help them!"

As Banshee and Captain Britain flew out of the complex at top speed, Rahne, Dani, Ric, Kitty and Moira followed, leaving Hank, Taki and Forge to watch the screens, not daring to look away.
 
 

Even as they cleared the buildings and got airborne, Sean and Brian saw the huge fireball plunge out of the sky and land in the island's unnatural lagoon, sending up a huge cloud of steam as the water boiled away around them. From their place in the air, they could not see where the mass had landed.

The group on the ground, though, led by a madly dashing Rahne, hurried into the cloud even before it started to disperse. "Can ye find 'em?" Moira shouted into the haze.

Rahne did not answer, as she was too busy following the very distinct scent. Like a meteor, the technoid form of Doug and Warlock had left an impact crater within the lagoon, but also like a meteor, they themselves had literally bounced clear, and rolled into the shallows. Rahne splashed into the water to reach them. "Here! Over here!"

Following the sound of her voice, Moira, Dani, Ric and Kitty came within sight. The pair was in a battered, roughly spherical shape that showed no signs of life or consciousness. Rahne was the first to reach their side, reaching out to pull them onto shore.

"Rahne, no!" Kitty screamed, but it was too late. Immediately after touching the mass, Rahne was thrown back with a terrified shriek. Before their eyes, a path of living circuitry crawled up her arms, and quickly engulfed her. In less than two seconds, she was completely transmoded.

"Rahne!!" Rictor screamed. "You son of a bitch!"

It became quickly apparent he was directing this last toward the technoid, as he brought his arms up to hit it with a blast of his sonic vibration power. Dani quickly grabbed him and distracted him enough to keep the quake from going off, but he struggled to get free from her. "Lemme go, dammit, lemme go!!"

"Ric, stay the hell back!" Dani yelled in his ear. She practically had to tackle him to keep him from launching himself at the new enemy.

By this time, Moira and Kitty had reached the place where Rahne had fallen. "Is she alive?" Kitty asked.

"I... I think so," Moira answered, looking her daughter over. "Dear Lord, let her be alright... Sean!"

"I'm right behind ye, lass!" Sean replied, having landed and made his approach on foot.

"Get Forge out here, now! We need t'get 'em to the lab, an' we need t'do it without touchin' em! Go!"

"Already gone," he nodded, eyes wide. His sonic scream receded in the distance as he made a beeline for the Facility.

Moira and Kitty exchanged worried looks over Rahne's motionless form. Things had quite suddenly become more complicated than ever.

The next hour was the most hectic yet. Doug, Warlock and Rahne were taken to the hospital wing, and Moira demanded that she be left alone with them to do her work. Everyone wanted to help (except perhaps Rictor, who wanted blood), but there was nothing they could do but wait.

Kitty and Dani went to the kitchen to make some coffee, hoping that this would help, but nothing seemed to be working. The two girls sat in tense silence as the minutes ticked by, and the only sounds to be heard were the distant curses from Forge's lab as he, Beast, Brian, Sean and Taki continued working.

As the night grew darker outside, they grew tired of waiting and went back to the hospital wing, arriving just as Moira emerged from the Intensive Care lab. Both Kitty and Dani were immediately full of questions, but they checked themselves. Moira looked positively awful.

Dani found her voice first. "Doctor, are they alright?"

MacTaggert nodded wearily. "They're alive, but all three are still unconscious."

Both girls let out long sighs of relief. "Thank God," Kitty whispered.

"I s'pose this is as good a time as any t'ask, Katherine. In yuir lab work, did ye come up with anything at all?"

"I'm afraid not," Kitty frowned. "I don't think either my power or Taki's would do anything without killing them."

"Unless Forge can pull off a miracle, I'm fresh out of ideas," sighed the geneticist. She looked tired, and beaten.

Something she said struck a chord in Kitty, however. "A miracle," she whispered. "Yeah... God, I hope she's back by now."

She turned and stared into space, a look of deep thought settling over her features. She remained in this stance for a few long moments, as Dani and Moira exchanged puzzled looks.

"What was that all about, child?" Moira asked as she came out of her trance.

Kitty exhaled slowly. "You asked for a miracle, Doctor; you might just be getting one. Phoenix says she'll be here soon."

Part 4: "Never Die Young"

Doug awoke to the world slowly, struggling to hold his thoughts together. The last thing he remembered was the searing pain of falling into the atmosphere before his systems shut down in self-defense.

Something else was wrong... something he couldn't place. Then he realized that he was still in a protective form, all senses turned inward. Warlock's presence was there, but still dormant, leaving Doug in charge for now, so he forced this body to obey him, the technorganic features filling out into a humanoid shape, manifesting sensory organs to take in the surroundings accurately.

"Doug?" came a voice.

He opened his eyes to find the source of the voice, and eventually managed to focus in on the familiar form of Dani Moonstar, sitting on a chair between two hospital beds. Doug was lying on one, and another dark shape was lying upon the other. It looked like Warlock, and Doug wondered if perhaps he and Warlock had separated on impact. That wouldn't explain the presence he still felt within, though.

"Chief?" he ventured.

She nodded. "You remember?"

"I do... Does this mean I'm alive or dead?"

"Alive," she nodded, her voice rough around the edges. "How do you feel?"

"Like I just fell through the atmosphere without a proper heat shield. Funny how that works, huh?"

"Yeah, funny," she nodded, but didn't smile.

Doug's brainware was still well below optimum levels, which was fine, considering that it gave his human thoughts the ability to function at a relatively normal speed. As such, he picked up right away on Dani's emotional state. "What's wrong? Is Warlock okay? He doesn't look good."

Dani glanced at the shape in the other bed, then back at Doug. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes before she spoke. "That's not Warlock, Doug... That's Rahne."

If Doug had still had a heart, he was certain it would have stopped. "What?" he asked, weakly.

"You don't remember what happened after you landed?"

"No. We were both unconscious. Jesus, Dani, what did I..?"

"After you landed, Rahne was the first one to reach you. When she touched you, she... transmoded."

"Oh, God..." Doug whispered. "Dani, I didn't... I didn't mean to..."

She nodded. "Moira guessed you were in a protective form, and that the virus kicked in as a self-defense measure."

"Is she..?"

"She's alive, near as we can tell. She hasn't come to yet."

Doug wanted to be sick. He wanted to believe that it wasn't real: that it was all a hallucination of his scrambled mind. He wanted to cry, most of all, but he couldn't. Such a catharsis was unnatural to his techno-organic body. There was no place for such emotion except in the human aspects of his mind. Now, more than ever, he felt the failure of his search for a cure, as now he could not save himself, his friend, nor the girl he loved.

Dani, however, was getting unabashed tears in her eyes. "I'm... glad you're back, Doug," she said, quietly. "I just wish it could have been under better conditions, y'know?"

"I'm sorry, Dani, I'm so sorry..."

Before she could say anything in reply, one of the doors opened, and Rictor poked his head in. "Dani, is she..? Oh."

His look of anxious concern fell into one of barely concealed anger once he saw that Doug was functional. He very slowly came into the room, eyes never leaving them.

"You're Rictor," Doug said, more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah," Ric nodded. "So. You're Rahne's old boyfriend."

Moira MacTaggert and Kitty Pryde waited outside the complex, while a chill evening wind blew up from the ocean. They shivered, but more from their own thoughts than from the elements.

"Are ye sure she'll come?" asked Moira at length.

"From what she said, she was out of the lighthouse the moment I explained the situation to her. I hope Kurt and Meggan can hold the fort for us."

"Will her power do them any good, though?"

"Doctor, we're talking about the most powerful psi on the planet, and probably a whole lot more. If anyone can help them now, it's Rachel."

A small golden shape gradually came into view over the horizon, growing larger as it approached. Eventually, they recognized it as a bird of fire, the physical manifestation of the Phoenix.

Kitty flagged Rachel down as she made her approach, and the young telepath landed neatly beside them, dousing her flames.

"Evening, Doctor," said Rachel, smiling thinly at Moira. "I came as soon as I could, Kitty. Where are they?"

"They're in the hospital wing, recoverin' from all that's happened," Moira explained as she led the two back into the Facility. "B'fore we disturb them, I'd like ye to come to the lab with me, and we c'n explain what we've tried."

"I must admit I haven't had a whole lot of experience with the aftereffects of the Transmode Virus," shrugged Rachel. "I'll try, though."

When they entered the lab, they found the place abuzz with activity. Forge was at work on a complex-looking circuit board, assisted by Captain Britain, and Beast and Taki were interpreting some of the inventor's schematics to make specific components. Only Banshee seemed out of place here, but when he saw the three ladies, he approached, smiling wearily.

"They've been brainstormin' f'r a while now, and I think they've come up with some kind'a device that'll do the trick. It's still up in the air, though."

"He won't be able to do it," whispered Rachel.

"What?" hissed Kitty, looking at her partner sharply.

"I can see it in his thoughts. He's completely stumped, but he's still trying, even though he thinks he's beaten."

"The man's bound and determined," Sean sighed.

"We'd better let them keep working all the same," said Kitty. "Who knows, they might get lucky."

Rachel nodded. "I think I'd better see Doug and Rahne now."

In the hospital wing, things were not getting off to the best of starts. Rictor did not take his eyes from Doug, and his expression could only be called a glower. He held his arms crossed before him, as though restraining himself from doing something they all might later regret.

"Ric, take it easy," Dani told him. "It's not like it's his fault."

"Oh, it's not?" Ric said, sarcastically.

"Look, Rictor," Doug managed, "maybe you don't know me too well, but do you really think I'd do something like this to someone on purpose?"

"I don't know, would you?"

"Ric," Dani sighed.

"Okay, fine, maybe Warlock can explain it better," said Doug. He then turned his sight inward, and once again "felt around" for the dormant mind of Warlock. His partner was not, as Doug had originally expected, out of commission; he seemed to be sulking in the recesses of their brainware.

Hey, Warlock, come on out, man. Maybe you can talk some sense into this Rictor guy.

Go away.

Come on, pal, that's no way to be talking.

Just let me be. I failed you. I don't deserve to function.

Warlock, don't say things like that!

You don't understand. I tried to save you from what you'll become, and I couldn't.

What I'll become? Come on, man, stop talking in riddles and wake up. We've got serious problems here.

Eventually, Warlock came out of his sulk and returned his presence to their main structure. Doug could tell that they were not as fully meshed as they had been before their separation on Techworld, and he took that as a good sign.

Warlock extended a second head and surveyed the room. "Salutations, frienDani and friendRictor."

"Hello, Warlock," Dani smiled faintly.

Rictor nodded slowly. "How's it goin', buddy?"

"Self is functional, friendRictor. Beyond this status, unknown."

Doug tried to get the conversation steered back toward his primary concern. "Has there been any sign of anything from Rahne?" he asked.

"None at all," Dani replied, shaking her head. "She's alive -- we know that much -- but she hasn't been able to speak, or even hold a shape."

"She probably doesn't know what's going on. 'Lock, maybe we should make contact with her, and upload her the info on how to operate." Doug extended a mechanical arm to do so.

"Don't you fuckin' dare!" Ric shouted, launching himself across the room and reaching to deflect his arm.

"Ric, don't!" Dani yelled, grabbing him and yanking him away. "Don't touch him, you might..!"

She let the rest go unsaid. Doug stopped and stared at them both, and saw the sudden fear in both of their eyes.

"You're afraid of me," he said, quietly.

"Doug, it's not that," Dani said, lamely.

"Yes it is. You're afraid of what I've become, aren't you?"

"Maybe so, Doug," came another voice, "but you should be as well."

As one, the four conscious mutants looked around to see the new arrivals.

Doug scarcely recognized the redheaded telepath as the same girl he had known during her time at Xavier's School. He remembered her voice, though. "Rachel..?"

As Rachel, Sean and Moira came into the room, another shape literally rose up from the floor and settled beside Doug's bed. "Hey, you," she smiled, softly.

"Kitty..?! What's going on? What are you all doing here?"

"Douglas," MacTaggert explained, "we believe that Phoenix might be able t' make ye both human again, an' bring Warlock out of ye."

Nobody spoke in the silence that followed. Rachel pulled up a chair between the two hospital beds and gave Doug and Warlock a small smile. "Hi, kiddo."

"Rachel, is this serious?"

"That's what I'm here to find out. Would that be okay with you?"

"Of course!"

After a slight nod, Rachel's facial features took on a look of deep concentration, even to the point that she let her facial markings show through. Flames ignited over her hands, then her arms, until they took the shape of wings, which she brushed over Doug, Warlock and Rahne.

"What the hell's she doing?" hissed Ric, looking as though he wanted to get between them and ask Rachel himself.

"Calm down, lad," advised Sean, taking his shoulder with a grip that implied that he would not be going anywhere. "She won't hurt them."

Rictor was not so sure. He'd never met Rachel, and this demonstration of her power was not at all to his liking.

From Doug's point of view, the examination Phoenix was giving him was embarrassingly intimate, as she had to probe as far as his genetic patterns to get an idea of what she was doing. She was in every cell and every circuit of his body at once, and he was very frightened.

It lasted only a few moments more, then the flames disappeared, and Rachel returned to normal, or what in her case passed for it.

"Well?" asked Kitty, noticing the grim look on Rachel's face.

Rachel shook her head. "I'm not sure. As far as I can scan, the change was complete on both sides. Complete enough to make it look as though you were both born this way, and that it's completely natural. And you both have a whole lot of foreign material in you, which isn't helping things at all."

"SelfriendPhoenix," Warlock suggested, "perhaps self may provide an example of true techform, to distinguish from that of nontech selfriends DougandRahne."

"Maybe so, Warlock. I've never had the need to tell the two apart."

Doug and Warlock proceeded to try as thorough a separation as they could, Doug pulling all of his own body matter to one side of their structure, while Warlock took the "borrowed" technoid matter to the other extreme. They could not achieve a true separation of consciousness, but they were closer now than before. "Try it now," Doug suggested. "There must be a difference. When we were on Techworld, I could tell one from the other pretty easily."

"You went to the Techworld?!" Dani gaped.

"That's what I figured," Kitty nodded.

Rachel considered this. "Doug... I'll need you to open your mind to me as best you can. Maybe your power is what helped you to sense the changes. Can you do that?"

"I'll do my best," Doug replied. "Except I should mention that when Professor Xavier tried reading our minds, it didn't work too well."

"The Professor also hasn't communicated with Tech minds as often as I have," Rachel smiled, softly. Before Doug could ask what she meant, she settled back into a semi-meditative pose. The others watched with varying degrees of apprehension.

Again, Rachel reached with both wings, encompassing Doug, Warlock and Rahne in her flames. Doug could feel the searing warmth and light of her presence coaxing the thoughts from his brainware. He did his best to open up to her as she had asked, but he could tell it was proving difficult.

The process lasted for quite a while, and Kitty was getting worried. "So what's the story, Ray?"

"Kitty, please," whispered Rachel, "this is delicate work. I think... I've... got it!"

Her wings vanished, and Doug felt her presence slip free, leaving his mind feeling empty and cold. Did all telepaths have this effect on people, he wondered?

Rachel looked satisfied with having gained results, but at the same time looked a little dubious about the results themselves.

"What did ye find, Phoenix?" asked Moira.

Phoenix hesitated. "Moira, Kitty, everyone... I think you'd better leave the room. I'd better tell them this in private."

Dani opened her mouth to protest, but Kitty beat her to it. "Bull. Come on, Ray, whatever you've got to say, we all want to hear it."

"Are you sure?"

She looked around the room, and when nobody made a move to leave, she sighed and continued. "Okay, I've spotted the effects the virus had on their bodies, and I can tell whose is whose at this point, for all the good it does me. I still have no idea of how the virus changed them as thoroughly as it did. Until I do, I don't have a prayer of reversing it. I'd need to see the virus at work, and not just on some plant or lab animal. A human being would need to be transmoded, and I'd have to watch. Even then, I can't guarantee anything."

"Ah," nodded Dani. "That would be me, then."

"Dani?!" Doug yelped.

She gave him a glance, then stepped forward and faced off with Rachel. "You need to see the virus work on someone, you can use me."

"Dani, are you sure?" Rachel asked.

"As sure as I'll ever be," she grinned, wryly. "It's worth the risk."

"Nae, I'll na' allow it," Moira spoke up, recovering from her shock. "Take me instead."

"Doctor, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm more expendable than you are," Dani told her. "If this doesn't work, we need you to keep working on the problem -- and you too, Kitty, so no ideas."

"Alright," Kitty nodded, taken aback by this. "But it'll work, won't it, Ray?"

"Let's hope so," Rachel nodded. After exchanging a series of looks with Dani, Rachel extended a wing to brush over her, examining her as she had the others. Dani clenched her jaw and let herself be 'seen.'

At length, Rachel shook her head. "Damn."

"What?" asked Kitty.

"Won't it work?" said Dani.

"Not entirely. The problem here is that I don't just need a living example. I also need a template for reconstruction. Dani, you'll be fine as a model to reconstruct Rahne, but I'll need another for Doug. I'll need you, but I'll also need something pretty specific for Doug: a mutant male at least fairly close to his original body-type. You'll both need to be transmoded."

A heavy silence settled over the room, then, and everyone exchanged worried glances. After a few moments, it looked as though Sean was about to overcome a titanic inner struggle and volunteer, but another voice sounded first.

"How 'bout me?"

All eyes turned slowly to Rictor. He looked around apprehensively, not used to being the center of attention like this.

Doug tried to protest, but he was having difficulty with his vocal output. Rachel's examination had left him a bit loopy, and Warlock wasn't doing much better.

"That could work," Rachel said softly, looking him over. She brought the flames from her arm again and looked into his eyes. "May I?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." He steeled himself for the searing pain that was sure to follow, but there was none. The sheer presence he felt, though, was staggering. In a moment, it was over, and Rachel looked at him, intrigued.

"Perfect," she said. "Now, you get the same no-guarantee I gave Dani. Are you sure?"

Ric paused, then nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm cool."

She smiled again, and Ric was surprised to see respect in the eyes of this goddess. Then Rachel stood and addressed the room. "Okay, everybody out. This is going to be some serious work, so I'll need you to wait outside. Preferably at a distance."

"I'm staying," Kitty said. "You might need someone to monitor them."

"Kitty, trust me. If you so much as see what's going to be going on in here, just your thoughts will be enough to throw me off."

Kitty sighed. "Okay. Good luck, then." She gave Doug a concerned look, and he tried to say anything at all. He finally managed to get some words out, though they were inaudible over the sounds of the room emptying. "Wait... stop... don't... you can't... Is anyone listening to me?"

*Probably not,* Rachel answered in his head.

Doug forced his voice to obey him. "Come on, we can't do this. Fix Rahne if you can, but I'll be just fine like this."

"No you won't," Rachel told him.

"What makes you think you can do it?"

"Oh, it's been done before. Well, sort of. Never anything so complex as the Transmode Virus, but I'll do it. I'll do it, or I'll die trying."

Her face had gone from humor to hardened determination in an instant. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Phoenix hesitated, then told him. "Doug, you haven't known me long, but... I've known you longer. We were teammates in my future, and as close as we could get to being friends. That's why I'm pretty good at telepathy with technoids, anyway. And that's exactly what you were, but you were insane, and a killer. Your human mind couldn't keep up with your technoid brain, and you just went nuts. I don't want to see that happen to you again, if we can avoid it."

Doug looked around at the others. "Is this true?"

Ric nodded. "Yeah. We saw her future once. You were pretty screwed up."

"Shit," he whispered. "What else?" he then asked Rachel.

"Later, in that same future, I was captured by government agents, subjected to all forms of physical and psychic torture, and eventually broken. They made me a 'hound,' trained to track down and kill other mutants. You were one of the ones I killed: you and Warlock together, actually. And so was Rahne. I owe this to you three. If not for you, then to lay my own ghosts to rest."

Doug let the words sink in. In a strange way, it all made sense. No wonder she was so determined. Still, he had another protest to make. "Are you sure about this? Do you really need Rictor, too?"

"Oh, definitely," Rachel nodded. "The alternative would be to reconstruct you as a woman, if you'd prefer."

Doug let this stunning thought run through his processing unit. "I could live with that. I could change my name to Dolores or something..."

"Ramsey, let's just get something straight here," Ric put in. "I ain't doin' this for you, pal; I don't even know you. I'm doin' it for her." He jerked his head back to indicate the still-unconscious Rahne.

Doug wasn't sure what he meant; after all, they didn't need Ric to be able to reconstruct Rahne. The real meaning of his words then struck him, and he bit back on his response. He was doing this so that Rahne would have Doug back again.

"Okay, let's get on with this," Dani sighed, pulling off her sweater and fiddling with the buttons on her pants. When Ric gave her a surprised look, she gave him a mischievous smile in return. "Come on, Ric, it's not like you have anything we haven't seen before. Do you really want to be one with your blue jeans?"

"Fine," Ric nodded. He turned his back to them before he undressed, however. At length, he got up on the hospital bed beside Warlock, and Dani sat up beside Rahne. "You heard the lady. Let's get on with it."

Phoenix stood up, and slowly let her flames cover her body. "I'm ready. Your turn, Warlock."

"Query, friendsDaniandRictor," Warlock said, extending one feeler to each of them. "Process disorienting to bioforms. Are selfriends prepared?"

"As we'll ever be," Dani nodded. "Do it."

Warlock very carefully made contact with each of them, and the two suddenly felt their bodies turn inside out as the virus surged through them. Rachel held them in her wings as the change inexorably spread through the whole of their frames. In moments, it was over, and Warlock withdrew, leaving them to try to hold themselves together.

There was a long, terrible moment in which they waited for a verdict from Phoenix, and the only sound was a slight mechanical gasping from Dani and Ric.

"I've got it," she whispered. "Doug, I'll need your help again on this one. With our powers working in synch, I should be able to reconstruct you all simultaneously.

"Let's do it," said Doug, opening his thoughts to her once again.

"Make no mistake, guys," she warned them, "this won't hurt a bit. It'll hurt a lot. So just hold on, and it'll be over before you know it."

Once more, Doug felt Rachel's thoughts throughout his mind and body, but at the same time, he knew that he was touching each of the others as well. The five of them were in this together.

Phoenix began her work from the inside, cell by cell, alternating between the men, held in her left wing, and the women, held in her right, taking things one step at a time. She found each of their presences, gently awakening Rahne in the process and giving her reassuring thoughts. She held each of their minds separate with her telepathy, and changed their bodies, cell by cell, through her telekinesis. The foreign material within Doug was culled out to form a new body for Warlock, and the foreign material found within Rahne was simply discarded, as were the psychic ties holding it to her. As more and more became flesh and blood, she held it together, keeping the flesh from interfering with the mechanics, and the virus from attacking the flesh. Were she to pause, even for a moment, all of her patients would probably die, or at best be reclaimed by the virus.

As excruciating as things were for Rachel, they were at least as much so for Doug, as she was putting his mortal shell through more stress and growth than it had ever experienced. It felt as though she were tearing him apart, bit by bit, and then placing those pieces back together. He found himself numbly wondering if this was how the others were feeling.

The room grew brighter and warmer as Phoenix intensified her flames, calling upon the full extent of her power, her telekinesis continuing the reconstruction while her telepathy eased the passage of their consciousness from machinery to flesh. Nonetheless, she found that she was losing them. Warlock was the first to shut down sensory input in self-defense, and Rahne and Rictor folded a moment later, slipping into unconsciousness from the pain. She held onto their minds, though, and kept them whole.

After what seemed like an eternity, Doug could hold on no longer, and he, too, lost consciousness, hoping with all his heart that Phoenix could take things from here.

Rachel felt him slip away, but kept a firm grip on his subconscious, from where his mutant power came. She hoped that this wasn't going to cause him any permanent damage, but she realized that this couldn't be helped.

When their bodies were at last completed, she held the totality of their minds on the outside, despite the strain this put on her own. She felt Dani's frenzied thoughts slip away, then, and realized that it was up to her alone. At last, she finished the twisting patterns of brain tissue, and with the proverbial Last Of Her Strength, sent those thoughts, and those lives, back where they belonged.

She didn't even have time to check her work before she collapsed, trembling, to the floor, then lay very still.

Doug did awaken, eventually, though at first he wished he hadn't. Every sensation seemed alien after just a brief time in a technoid body. It took him a moment to realize that he was breathing again.

Thoughts raced through his head with all the random chaos of humanity, rather than the precision of technology. There was something else, too, just at the edge of consciousness, that he had never felt before. It was almost as though Rachel were still in his head, only different. Something was there, though, to be sure.

Feeling that he had eyes to open once more, he did so. The room was dim, and his sight seemed dull and plain compared to his tech senses.

But it was his sight!

He tried to sit up, but felt his muscles cry out with pain. He was sore all over. At the same time, though, it was wonderful!

"Welcome back, Douglas," he heard. Straining his neck to look to his side, he saw Moira sitting in the chair between the hospital beds, smiling with relief. Behind her, on the other bed, Dani and Rahne lay side by side, both just now beginning to stir. There was a groan behind him, and when he looked back around, he was more surprised than he probably should have been to find a rather large young Mexican man lying next to him. It took him a moment to recognize him as Rictor.

Doug managed to pull himself to his elbows. "Doctor MacTaggert? Did it work?"

He knew the answer even before she nodded. Even with the sheets pulled up above his waist, he could tell that he was in a human body again. It felt strange, and disorienting, but he was most assuredly back.

Ric sat up beside him, holding his head in both hands. "Ouch."

"You okay, man?" Doug asked him.

Ric looked over and nodded, giving him a weary smile. "Yeah. Whufah happened?"

"It worked, man, it worked!"

"Cool," he nodded. His forehead crinkled. "How's Rahne?"

"Ric?" came a groan from across the room. Rahne, too, sat up, clutching the sheets to her chest, looking around blearily. Dani opened her eyes as well, and took a look around. "Well, we're not dead," she said, carefully. "I think I'd know it if we were."

"Rahne, you're..." Ric managed, eyes bugging as he looked over at her.

"Spirits, you're right!" Dani added. "Rahne, you're..."

"I'm wha'?" she asked, looking concerned.

Dani reached up and touched her friend's face. There was no fur, and her hair was back to its normal red brush-cut. "You're you!"

Momentarily confused, Rahne took stock of herself, and her eyes went wide. "The suit! 'Tis gone! Sweet Lord in Heaven, I'm m'self again!"

"That's four," Doug grinned. "Where's Warlock?"

A technoid shape heaved up from the foot of Doug's bed. "Self is present and accounted for," he said, forming his typical humanoid shape. "Self-diagnostics show all systems as functional."

"Are ye all feelin' up t'havin' visitors?" Moira asked them. "Rachel has some things t'tell ye, I'm certain."

Doug nodded, hoping he didn't look as ragged as he felt. Dani waved agreement, and Ric just shrugged before going back to holding his skull together.

Kitty was the first through the door when Moira opened it, and she rushed up to give them each a huge hug. "Alright!" she grinned. "Good to see you all back!"

"Good to be back," Doug replied, struggling to return her embrace.

Then Rachel, in a wheelchair, was brought in by Sean, and Doug felt the celebratory mood leave him. "Oh, my God."

She did her best to smile and wave their concern aside. "I'm fine, guys, I'll just need a little while to recover. I have some things to tell you, though."

"Sounds ominous," Dani grunted, sitting up in her bed, not taking any particular care to keep herself covered.

"Okay, I'll have to admit that the job wasn't perfect. First of all, Doug, you'd lost a lot of body mass, from both embalming and decomposing, so I had to... improvise."

"Improvise?" asked Doug.

"Nothing too serious. Just stimulating your regenerative systems more than they're used to, and things like that. Secondly, when you went unconscious on me, I had to fight to keep hold of your power, and I'm worried that there might be some after-effects. I can't tell you what kind of effects they might be, but keep your eyes open."

Doug wondered if this was why his mind felt so strange...

"A couple of weird things," she went on. "Dani, there's something very strange about your body, and I'm not just talking about the growth spurt you hit since the last time I saw you. You might want to get more thoroughly checked out later. Also, later on, when I was holding the five of you outside your bodies, there might have been some... exchange. Again, nothing serious; you'll probably end up with a mild psychic link, like the ones shared by identical twins. The five of you might want to stick together until you figure out the full extents. And the good news is, I can very safely assure you that you're all now immune to the Virus, so if you and Warlock ever merge again, Doug, it shouldn't give you any risk at all."

Doug's eyes bugged. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Rachel smiled at the group. "Hey, you're alive, and you're all human again. And it's good to have you back."

Dani hugged Rahne tightly, and Doug was mildly surprised to see Ric extend a hand to shake. Doug did so, then pulled Ric into an embrace. Doug was even more surprised to find that his eyes were moist with tears. He could cry again! How fitting, though, that they were tears of joy.
 
 

MacTaggert watched the joyous reunions from a distance, standing right beside the doorway. She was thus the first to see Forge as he burst in, carrying a complex-looking hand-held apparatus.

"Moira, I think we've got it! For a while it looked hopeless, but we've put together this device, which should... what are you smiling at?"

She answered simply by pointing across the room, where Forge saw Doug and Rahne, as good as new, being hugged again and again.

"Oh! I... see! How did you..?"

Rachel caught his eye, then, from her wheelchair, and she winked at him. There may have been some thoughts exchanged, as his face broke into a grin, and he winked back. "Well, I'll just go and tell the others."

He headed back to the lab, where Beast, Taki and Brian were waiting anxiously. Stopping in the doorway, he held up the device and grinned at his comrades.

"It worked like a charm, boys!"

Friday, 9 April 1993 1:21 pm

As good as it was to be himself again, Doug was having a very difficult time getting used to his body again, and MacTaggert informed him that he was going to require some serious physical therapy. She'd given Rachel, who'd recovered quickly from her exertion, the task of trying to get him moving again.

"Ouch," Doug said, very quietly, trying desperately to walk with the two canes he'd been given.

"Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall," Rachel assured him. "Give it a try."

He took a laborious step forward, repositioning the canes to support himself. "This... really... sucks."

"Would you like to sit down now?"

"Yes."

"Okay." She scooted a chair up to him with her TK, and he gratefully sat down.

"I don't get it. Dani, Rahne, Ric and Warlock are all up and moving in less than twelve hours, and I'm all messed up. Why's that?"

"Well, your body's not quite the same as the one you used to have," she told him. "It'll probably take a little time for your mind to get used to it. Give it time."

"Right, time."

"You've got plenty of it left, kiddo."

He leaned back in the chair and smiled widely. "That's good to know."

There came a knock at the door to the workout room, and before Rachel could respond, it opened, and Dani, Brian and Kitty came in.

"Doug, you're looking good!" Dani grinned at him, leaning over carefully to give him a hug.

"Thanks, Chief," he nodded, hugging her in return. "What's up?"

"Well, we just got a call from Professor Xavier," she told him, her grin getting wider and more mischievous. "It seems he's heard about our little... incident, and he extended us an invitation."

"And what might that be?"

"He wants the five of us to come back to the school, so he can work with us again, and so we can get on with the classes we left off on. He seems really pleased with the idea of having a 'training team' in the house again."

"How do the others feel?" Doug asked.

"Well, Rahne's all for it. She's got her own body back, and lost all her Genoshan brainwashing, so she wants to get back to a more normal lifestyle. She called up X-Factor half an hour ago and formally resigned. Ric likes the idea, too, and so does Warlock."

"How about you, Chief?"

"Hey, I'm open for anything. But I want to hear if you have any other ideas first."

Doug considered this. The idea of being on a mutant team again was not altogether unappealing, especially with Dani, Rahne and Warlock there. "I'd like that, I think."

"There we go," Dani nodded. "We'll be running that place inside of three weeks, you wait and see."

"Brian, Kitty," Rachel spoke up then, "I'd like to go with them for a little while, to help them. Can you guys hold the fort without me?"

Kitty snorted. "We've done it before, Red. We'll give a yell if things get too cosmic."

Brian nodded in agreement. "We really should be getting back home, though, so we'll be off." He smiled at Doug and all but picked him up in a huge bearhug. "It's good to see you hale and hearty, lad. I'm glad to have been able to help, the way you helped me."

"No, thank you, Brian. And Kitty. You both keep in touch, okay?"

"Of course we will," Kitty smiled, as Brian passed him to her to be hugged again. "But don't you dare go dying on me a third time, Ramsey, or so help me, I will kick your WASP ass, clear?"

Brian seemed shocked at Kitty's language, but Rachel and Dani both laughed. "I'll keep an eye on him for you, Kitty," Dani chuckled.

"Do give my love to Betsy when you see her," Brian told Doug then. With last handshakes and hugs, then, he and Kitty were off, leaving Doug alone with Rachel and Dani.

"Oh," Doug said. "Oh, yes. Psylocke."

Dani grinned evilly. "Doug, you're blushing."

"Shaddup, Chief."

Still laughing to herself, she leaned forward and gave Doug a kiss on both cheeks. "I'll tell the others you're up for it."

"No, wait," he said, struggling to his feet. "I'll come with. I should tell them myself."

"Bravado," Dani nodded. "You gotta love that in a mutant."

Doug took one step, and quickly lost his footing. Rachel immediately reached out a fiery wing to grab him and pull him upright.

After exchanging glances, Rachel put his left arm across her shoulders, and Dani put his right across hers. Together, then, the two helped him walk out of the room.

"I hope it doesn't take too long to get over this," Doug grumbled.

"Like I said, Doug, you've got time," Rachel reminded him. "Enjoy it. You're going home."

She closed the door behind them with her TK, and the three walked on to find the others. Doug realized that she was right. His journey was over, and it had a happy ending, but as with so many endings, it was only the gateway to yet another beginning. His life stretched out before him, the future unknown and uncertain.

He decided that he wouldn't have it any other way.

Go West Annual #1: "Journey of the Sorcerer"
by Jeremy Bottroff, April 1990
Revised (In A Big Way) 21 February 1994 

This story (c) 1990, 1994, 1999 Jeremy Bottroff

"Journey of the Sorcerer" performed by The Eagles, music by Bernie Leadon, (c) 1975, 1999 Elektra/Asylum Records, from the album ONE OF THESE NIGHTS

"The Body Electric" performed by Rush, lyrics by Neil Peart, music by Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, (c) 1984, 1999 Core Music Publishing (ASCAP), from the album GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

"Space is Deep" performed by Hawkwind, words and music by Dave Brock, (c) 1999 United Partnership Music Ltd., from the album LEVITATION

"Space Station #5" performed by Montrose, words and music by Montrose, (c) 1973, 1999 Warner Brothers, from the album MONTROSE

"Starship Trooper" (Life Seeker/Disillusion/Wurm) performed by Yes, words and music by Jon Anderson, Chris Squire and Steve Howe, (c) 1971, 1999 by Cotillion (BMI), from the album THE YES ALBUM

All characters and places (except the real ones, of course) (c) 1999 Marvel Entertainment Group

The author would like to suggest the following soundtrack for this story:

"Journey of the Sorcerer," by The Eagles, from ONE OF THESE NIGHTS
"I, Robot," by the Alan Parsons Project, from I, ROBOT
"The Body Electric" and "Distant Early Warning" by Rush, from GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
"Silver Machine," "Space is Deep," and "Born to Go" (live), by Hawkwind, from the live album THE BEST OF AND THE REST OF HAWKWIND
"Children of the Sun" and "Earth Calling" by Billy Thorpe, from CHILDREN OF THE SUN - REVISITED
"Voyager," by the Alan Parsons Project, from PYRAMID
"Starship Trooper," by Yes, from THE YES ALBUM or YESSONGS (your choice)
"Space Station #5," by Montrose, from MONTROSE
"Point of Origin," by Yanni, from OUT OF SILENCE
"Major Tom (Coming Home)," by Peter Schilling, from THE DIFFERENT STORY
"Earthrise/Return," by Mannheim Steamroller, from FRESH AIRE V