Psylocke: Family Duty
Issue 3

"Dawn"

by Brendan Crowther

Elizabeth Braddock woke up in a liquid-filled tank, which was attached to medical equipment. It wasn't an altogether new experience for her; she had been in a similar situation before when she was transformed into her current body. Another similarity she found to that day, was that her tank seemed to be surrounded by scientific and mystical technicians.

'Have I been transformed...again?' Psylocke silently wondered. Science and sorcery were being used on her for...something. Looking down at her body, she saw that it seemed to be covered in black ink. She surmised that she looked like a creature of shadow; exactly how she looked on the astral plane the last time she had resided there.*

*(in X-Men 78 - Brendan)

'Who would do this? ...Whoever has done this will pay for it...severely...painfully.'

Psylocke heard a telepathic voice in her head, "~You are not being harmed. You are being healed.~"

Betsy hated hearing telepathic voices in her head nowadays, it reminded her too much of what she lost. Moments later the liquid surrounding her drained out, and the translucent tube around her lowered into the ground. She stepped down off the platform, and looked around the lab, eventually locking eyes with Opal Lun Saturnyne. As Betsy stepped towards Saturnyne, the shadows covering her faded away, revealing another form that wasn't hers. She appeared as she did when she had been Captain Britain - in her British body - wearing a slightly tattered Captain Britain uniform.

'Lizabeth removed her helmet, and let it clatter to the floor. With the helmet off, the Otherworld magics quickly dissipated. Her pale, fair face instantly shifted to that of a hardened Oriental ninja. With her memory slightly fogged, and her head aching, she asked, "What happened?"

"You were badly injured by the Slaymaster. Almost killed."* Saturnyne said calmly. "We healed you, and that means you owe Otherworld..."

*(last issue - Brendan)

Psylocke shivered. She had owed the Crimson Dawn after it had saved her life,* and that debt never seemed to be entirely paid in full. The darkness that seemed to be growing within her was certainly taking what it was owed by draining away her existing personality and her love-of-life.

*(As detailed in Psylocke and Archangel: Crimson Dawn - Brendan)

"...The greatest way to pay back Otherworld would be to defend your reality in the name of Otherworld. ...And to succumb to some minor further testing..."

"No," Roma commanded, striding into the healing chamber. "She is the sister of Brian Braddock, and was defending Earth 616 from a threat who originated from another Earth. Considering the questionably mysterious way in which he arrived on Earth 616, Elizabeth Braddock does not owe Otherworld anything."

Glaring at Saturnyne, after looking around the room, Psylocke asked, "Why are there so many MedTechs in here if you were just healing me?"

Saturnyne looked innocently, a look Betsy had perfected as a child, and responded, "Initially, your mystic powers were defending your body while you were unconscious. I thought it best to have you examined, and when you were exposed to various stimuli we discovered a couple of abilities I don't believe you have displayed before."

"New powers?" Psylocke asked unbelievingly - trying to keep up appearances, while she was mentally cringing in fear of whatever else the Crimson Dawn had done to her. "Like what?"

Opal signaled an underling, and a mystical forcewall flashed into existence, which separated Psylocke from the rest of the people in the room. Betsy was struck with blue rings of energy, which she couldn't identify, and the inky shadows involuntarily covered her again. Mere moments later, half a dozen energy shurikens shot out of her forearms, and dispersed when they hit the walls and the forcefield.

Saturnyne nodded to another tech, and Psylocke was zapped again, this time with emerald energy. She remained in her shadow-form, but the scarlet mark of the Crimson Dawn over her eye glowed brighter.

"Grab hold of your crimson scar, and remove it from your face," Saturnyne told her.

"What?" Psylocke blurted out. She felt for the mark, and was surprised to find it more solid than the shadow-stuff that covered her face. Betsy pulled the dagger-shaped scar from her face, and held it in her hands - looking at it quizzically. It began to mould and stretch itself into a katana-like blade.

"Kind of tacky, isn't it?" Psylocke asked Saturnyne.

Betsy glanced at a reflective surface, and saw that although the katana was in her hands, there was still a scarlet scar on her face. Tiring of these...games, Psylocke dropped the sword, and it faded away before it hit the ground.

"Don't worry, we can't seem to discern how you would be able to do that on your own without any outside stimuli."

"Feron! Emma!" Psylocke suddenly shouted out, her memory clearing. "Is the Slaymaster still free?"

Looking to Roma for a moment, Saturnyne responded, "Yes. Very little time has passed on Earth since we brought you here."

"I have to stop him." A puddle of shadow spread out beneath Psylocke's feet.

Saturnyne began to stammer, "But the...the tests aren't complete..."

Simultaneously, Roma insisted, "I'm sure Mastrex Saturnyne can simply..."

Before either of them could finish, Psylocke was gone.

Emma and Feron were huddled by the foot of Jamie Braddock's bed. The room was stuffed full of medical equipment to monitor Jamie's status and to keep him in the room if he ever woke up. The reinforced door that should be able to keep Jamie in the room was working successfully to keep the Slaymaster out.

Years ago, the Slaymaster used a ninja trick on his hand - pounding it into rock until it was covered in a thick callus. He then sharpened the callus into a razor edge, making the hand useless for anything other than cutting. Of course, his hand was very useful for breaking down the door to Jamie's room.

Slaymaster could hear the thoughts of Emma and Feron, but his psibolt couldn't penetrate the thickly shielded walls. The room had been designed similar to the one that Moira once used to contain Proteus, her reality-altering son, but Slaymaster was determined to take out the Braddock Manor's houseguests. Their dead carcasses would make excellent welcome-home gifts for Captain Britain once he returned.

His hand chopped into the wooden door before him - shattering it - revealing an adamantium door beneath the wood.

"Damn."

Psylocke melted out a shadow in the main foyer of Braddock Manor. Glancing at the clock, she was relieved that Saturnyne was right, barely any time had passed since her trip to Otherworld.

...And then she felt a black ripple in the ether. Slaymaster. Betsy could feel his cruel intentions, but not the location of Emma or Feron. 'If I can't find them, I'll have to stop him before he gets to them.'

Elizabeth stepped out of the shadows in the hallway on the second floor. Instinctively, she prepared herself for battle, but instead of wearing her x-costume or the Captain Britain uniform, she remained covered in pitch-black shadow. Striding up to Slaymaster, who was pounding on a door and had yet to notice her, she backhanded him into the wall. She hit him again, and she felt his psi-powers preventing her use of her shadow slipping. She hit him again, and he tumbled to the floor. She hit him again, and again, and his psi-powers turned him invisible to Betsy. She hit where he had been again, and again, and he quickly became visible. She hit him again and again and again and again.

Psylocke was a warrior. She fought to defend her family and friends...and in Feron's case, acquaintances. It had been this way for as long as she could remember, and it didn't matter if she was British, Oriental, telepathic, in love, armored, scarred, emotionally dead, precognitive or a teleporter. She was a warrior.

Elizabeth moved to strike him again, but he psycho-blasted her, knocking her through a wooden door into her bedroom. Collapsing to the floor, Betsy breathed out a terrified moan. She held her hand in front of her face, and watched as it momentarily dispersed.

'My body isn't sheathed in shadow? I am the shadow!'

Her self-revelation was interrupted by intense pain. Slaymaster hit her with another psibolt, and it make something click in her head. Grimacing, she reverted to her normal human form. While her body was practically fine, she could feel a strange pain in the pit of her stomach.

From the floor in the hall, Slaymaster smirked at the little purple-haired girl lying on the ground in front of him. She looked so defeated and confused; she looked like prey. He tried to stand up to kill her, but his muscles wouldn't respond. A mumbled moan came out, when he tried to verbally threaten her. His psi-powers always took a lot out of him, and after the beating she gave him...

'But how could she beat me? I already killed her!' *

*(or so he thought last issue - Brendan)

Betsy's head was spinning; she felt like she was plummeting into a black hole, but falling towards a light. She wrapped her arms around her chest, and rolled onto her side. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a photo of Warren that Emma must have unpacked for her. Warren. She hadn't simply relaxed and cried since they broke up. She hadn't really relaxed for months - she was always fighting either super villains or her fellow X-Men. She couldn't even remember the last time she cried. Betsy felt tears welling up, and she let them come.

Drawing her legs to her chest, she cried out hoarsely, "I'm so tired of fighting!"

Psylocke sat up with a gasp. The door to her room had been fixed, Slaymaster was gone and Roma was standing over her. Betsy sighed; she was relieved ...she was happy to see Roma. She was happy to see Roma?

"You...you did it! You broke the curse of the Crimson Dawn," Elizabeth said, getting off the floor and sitting on her bed.

"The what?" Roma chuckled, sitting beside her.

"I feel...cleansed. My head is so much clearer; I feel so much better than I have since before my life was saved by the Dawn."

Roma furrowed her forehead; "There is no... 'curse' to be broken. I have done nothing. Elizabeth, in your life you have been hurt much. It is only understandable that you would consciously or subconsciously strive to protect yourself. You have kept everyone around you at arm's length - you've enclosed yourself in a shell. But the past few weeks have been enough to wear down that hardened outer crust.

"Yes, the Crimson Dawn has changed you, but it has no changed the person that you are."

Betsy sat there, silent for a while. Starting to smile, she said, "I've only met you a few times, Roma, and so most of what I know of you comes from my brother. Despite what he sometimes says, you actually are a good person...when you're not too caught up with Omniversal matters and an omniversal ego."

Roma almost snickered when 'Lizabeth suddenly asked, "Are Emma and Feron okay?" Betts was silently kicking herself for forgetting about them so easily again.

"They are fine," Roma confirmed. "I believe they're waiting for you in the dining room with some coffee and walnut-cream cake."

Roma almost felt like she was Betsy's friend - Betsy's sister. She almost forgot about her duty to the Omniverse. Almost. She suddenly stiffened and stood up. Her face had gone from friendly to featureless. "I must return to Otherworld," she informed Betsy. Roma broke her façade momentarily, to give Psylocke one last, quick smile, and then she vanished.

Elizabeth stood up with purpose, and walked over to her nightstand beside the bed. She picked up the photo of Warren, and her x-communicator, and she placed them in a drawer. Striding for the exit, Psylocke stepped out of her room, heading for her new life.