He'd grown up around here, Style's Ledge. It was a small seaside town and his parents had a small farm near to the cliffs. The farm business was long gone, but the small cottage remained and it was always home to him. He'd used it as a holiday home while he worked out of the capital and he knew he didn't get back often enough for his liking, but when he did he was fine with it. He could just see the last of the light on the horizon and if he closed his eyes he could just about hear the crash of the ocean.

Yes this was relaxation, and he also knew the people who knew where to find him wouldn't, because they respected his need for privacy. Those who didn't know him wouldn't find him, and his mobile telephone was turned off. The people who were running things without him were competent enough and more than that he needed time to get his head around things.

He'd died, and then been brought back to life and that was something he wasn't used to. He'd seen it happen with others, people he called friends, but they were costumes and that happened. He was just an old policeman who did his job. The incident with the Weird Happenings Organisation and the Doctor has been something he still couldn't come to grips with totally. The Doctor had turned back time and fixed him up.

He didn't remember a great deal about being dead, but Alistaire said that was because it hadn't actually happened, even though it had happened and that had given him a headache so he'd just nodded. Alistaire had gotten the message and that had been the end of that. Alistaire Stuart was a decent bloke but he went on a bit. He'd always used to, but never as confidently. Now he was running WHO, and it gave him a bit more confidence. He'd been forced to grow up.

Then again things had changed for everyone. He had come to accept the costumes, after a long time of hatred and in letting it go he'd found some good friends, and they suffered for what they did. Yes, they could be arrogant but it was what they had to be when dealing with the types of people they dealt with. He'd seen the pictures of the fight in Europe, and he knew that Brian Braddock had done what he'd had to because that was who he was, but Brian wasn't Captain Britain anymore and he'd almost paid with his life.

As it was his identity had been compromised when the other members of Excalibur had arrived and now he was in hiding from the media, at the same time as he recovered from his injuries. There were less than six people on the planet who knew where Brian and Meggan were and he sighed again as he took another drink from the glass as the light outside died. 

It didn't use to be this complicated did it?

Then there was a knock on the door and he looked up. That was interesting, he mused. He certainly wasn't expecting anyone at this time of night. He opened the desk drawer as the knock came again and pulled out his Dad's service revolver.

"Inspector Thomas?" came a voice and he thought it was familiar.

"Hello?" he called out. "Who is it?" Then he jumped back as a figure literally fell through the door. "You?!" he said running over to her. She seemed to be exhausted. "What's the matter, love?"

"I need your help," she said and he looked down at the young American.

"Kitty," he started to say but she put her hand on his arm and her grip was tight.

"Inspector," she said. "They've got my friends. Black Air..." Then she collapsed to the floor, and she lay there. Dai Thomas sighed as he lifted her up in his arms, as best he could as she seemed to be partially phased and he laid Shadowcat on his sofa. She'd come to him, which meant that WHO weren't an option, and her uniform was SHIELD issue, which meant they weren't either. He was probably her only option and that wasn't a good sign. If she needed help, then he did too and he took his phone from his pocket and pulled a name from the list.

Pete Wisdom closed his eyes as he pushed the voice of his sister out of his head. It was killing him inside hearing her as she slowly died, but he needed to focus himself on the task at hand. He had to find a way to escape and do something. James Jaspers was a nut, but he was a powerful nut and he could hear the potency of the man inside. He wasn't quite smart enough to realise that if he could alter reality on a local scale, then maybe he could alter it more around himself and become more powerful.

He suspected that was what the first one, the original version of Jaspers had realised, but this clone did not. It had been the perfect tool for Black Air, because part of the effect of the Jaspers Warp was that once it had ended and things had returned seemingly to normal, very few people remembered him. Sir James Jaspers seemed to have been given a get out of jail free card by the higher powers, or maybe it was nature's way of healing. It forgot as best it could but the scars were still there, which served as light reminders.

"Peter? I can't see you? Are you still there? Peter? Pete? Please, Peter?"

"Dammit, Ro," he said as he struggled. He was handcuffed to the chair he was sat in, his powers had been neutralised and even if he could get out he was in the middle of somewhere new and his friends were being slowly killed. The only plus side was Shadowcat was still out there somewhere and he knew that she'd come running as soon as she figured out a way. 

He pulled again at the cuffs the chains digging in to his arms and he felt his fingers begin to tingle as the circulation to his hands was cut off but he strained and sweated with the heat of the room. Jaspers was going to pay for this some way, some how. He would make him pay. He looked at the monitors to see his friends, drawing strength from their pain and he knew they needed him and he was letting them down by not being there.

That was not what he was about and there was no way he was going to let any of them down. He stood up, lifting the chair up as he stood and started to slam it in to the wall, striking it harder and harder and harder, venting his frustration on the chair. It was made of some kind of metal and he kept doing it and doing it, getting more and more tired as the effort and the heat started to bear down on him.

"BOLLOCKS!" he shouted as he realised the chair wasn't giving way and he sat down on it again. It was uneven and it wobbled slightly but then he felt it. The bar the cuffs were linked to shook. It must be loosened from it's moorings, he thought to himself and pulled and tugged again and this time it came loose and his hands were free of the chair. The next trick was to get out of the handcuffs, but he'd been doing that for years anyway, without his powers and he licked his lips in anticipation.

"Let's see..." he muttered as he looked about his SHIELD uniform. All he needed was a piece of wire threading from the body armour and he found one and pulled at it and, twisted it as best he could until it came loose and then he proceeded to pick the lock. He remembered when he was with Kate, how she had shown him some of the tricks Storm had shown her when she was with the X-Men and Pete had refined his own methods on what he'd been shown, shaving a good second and a half off his own best time and he did it again now.

He smiled. "The old tricks..." he said to himself as he looked at his sister as he rubbed his wrists. She was melting quite quickly and there was a great deal of water on the floor. However Jaspers had made her solid so there was plenty to go at, and while she had no other senses than speech, she was still alive. The thing to do first was to stop the heat in the room, to turn down the vents, or block them off somehow. It wouldn't stop her melting, but it would slow it down. 

There were two of them and he could feel the heat blasting out as he got close to them. The heat had also expanded the metal switches so that moving them was difficult and he slammed his fist against one and then the other to do what he could to close it. Then he'd figured out what to do next. Time was not on anyone's side.

"Katzchen?"

Kate Pryde opened her eyes to see an old friend staring down at her.

"KURT!" she cried out and wrapped her arms around him. It had been too long since they had seen each other.

"Easy, Kitty," he said to her as he gently pushed her back. "You need to rest."

"No," she said as she looked at him. "I need your help. Call the troops, fuzzy-elf, we need them."

"What's happened?" he asked, and she related all that had happened since she the end of the Apocalypse crisis, and then she looked at him. 

"It was Black Air, Kurt. They came after us again, after Pete..." Nightcrawler looked at her and shook his head. This was not good, not good at all and then she noticed she wasn't at Dai's cottage anymore.

"Where is this place?" she asked.

"It belongs to a friend of mine," said another voice and she looked past Kurt to see Brian Braddock standing there. Brian looked better than the last time she had seen him, which had been on the television screen getting a blood transfusion from the Greek hero Hellios, but he still looked a little rough. "Hullo, Kitty."

"Anyone I know?" she asked him as they came over and she hugged him, a smile on her face. It was almost like being home again and she hadn't felt this good in a very long time.

"Yes," said Brian, "but not properly. This is the home of Percival Rockford, the man you know as Union Jack."

"Of Excalibur?" said Shadowcat, thinking back to when they had fought side by side in Greece. "Lydia's mentioned that his name came up, but we thought it was because of Joseph Chapman."

"Understandable," said Brian. "I tried to keep it secret, but that's all to hell now."

"How are you anyway?" said Kate.

"Healing fine," he said. "Not exactly my old fighting self, but not been that for a while."

"How did I get here?" she asked.

"Dai phoned," Kurt explained. "I've been here with Meggan and Brian, giving them a hand while he recovers and Dai knew we're not too far from him, so we were the best people to call, especially as this place isn't too far from either his home or this place." He looked at her and smiled. "I'm glad he did, Herr Wisdom is one of our own and there are other members of the X-Men family involved. I think an Excalibur reunion is on the cards."

"Minus two," said Kate. "A shame Rachel's not here."

"Whoever said I wasn't, Kate?" said a voice and Kitty's eyes opened wide as she turned to see her.

"RACHEL!?"

"In the flesh," she said. "I was taking a break from the Askani. Taking the Dukai down was taxing, and I needed to get away for a little while. I know I only have two students, but..." Kate nodded and she could see the tiredness in Rachel's eyes. She seemed to be young, but she was older than she looked. "I've missed you, though."

"Me too, Ray," Kate answered. "So we're just minus one."

"Meggan won't be long," Brian said. "She's just finding Lockheed for you. I know you let us look after him a little while ago. He's been doing quite well at the Eden Project, lots of open space for him, not trapped aboard the Helicarrier..."

"No," said Shadowcat, interrupting. "I meant you, Brian."

"Oh," he said and he knew what she meant. He wasn't fully recovered and even if he was he had no powers as such.

"She's right," said Rachel. "Brian..."

"I know," he said, tiredness in his voice. "It's just seeing everything on the television, the public knowing I'm Captain Britain, or at the very least was... I just..."

"Think you have something to prove?" Meggan stood in the doorway, and Kitty's purple dragon flew there and saw her and headed towards his mistress, who greeted him with ease.

"Well, yes," said Brian, looking at her. "And I know, it's just..."

"Hard," said Kurt. "I do know." He placed a three fingered hand on Brian's shoulder. "Before we met, I felt the same that without my powers I had to prove myself, even more after the X-Men were though to have died. It almost killed me. Don't make the mistake I did." Brian nodded.

"I hate sitting on the sidelines," he said.

"Then don't," said Kate. "Get a hold of Union Jack and use him to get through to SHIELD. Because they're not officially part of SHIELD, I'd guess they're not watching him."

"Okay," said Brian and Kate stood up, and looked down only to see she wasn't wearing her SHIELD uniform but some clothes obviously from Meggan.

"Give me a moment to suit up, then we're going hunting."

"Where, Katzchen?" asked Kurt. "How do you know where they'll be?"

"They only said one word - Wonderland," Kate said. "What if it's not a Black Air codename. What if it is Wonderland?"

Kurt and Meggan looked at each other. They knew where she meant and Rachel would soon catch up.

Joseph Chapman, the Red and Black King of the Hellfire Club, was going to die. He knew it, because he had been taken by Black Air, as had the rest of the Inner Circle and they were finishing off the job they had started in trying to destroy them. That was how they had joined together, a hatred of Black Air and an ambition to ensure that they and those like them never threatened anyone again, by doing what was necessary.

The Hellfire Club had provided means, access, influence to some of the greatest movers on Earth, and they had been going well in their plans. They had created a small army to deal with metahumans in the United States and were almost on the verge of making them global until they had been stopped by X-Force.

That was Chapman's only consolation in this whole business, that the SHIELD agents had been taken as well and they too would die. However he would have a great deal of time to dwell on that as the way of killing him was to leave him alone. He was chained to a wall, so he couldn't move, one of his bionic hands were useless to him after the battle with X-Force and the other had been disabled when he was bound so that all his strength would be of no use. He had tried to break free but he'd gotten nowhere and his mouth was dry. 

They had provided no water, let alone food and he figured that that was how they were going to kill him. There wasn't even any light, except for a thin beam where the door was. There was a window, but his side was blackened out so if they were watching him on the other side he couldn't tell.

It was maddening and that he suspected was all part of the plan. He shook his head and then lifted it as he heard someone try the door. He saw a part of the door begin to glow until it became white hot and then the door simply opened and light flooded the place and he couldn't see.

"Hiya, Joey," said a voice and he knew it was Wisdom. "Guess you've a problem."

"Switched sides, Wisdom?" he said in disdain. "Free, with your powers as well?"

"Free wasn't that easy, and as for my powers... let's just say that the inhibitor stuff they use on me doesn't work as quickly as it could have done. A gift I could have done without and there's a hefty price attached."

"What do you want, Wisdom?" he asked. "I do have better things to do." He rattled his chains and Pete shook his head.

"No you don't," he replied. "My people are in trouble, so are yours. We work together to get out and try and find a way to save Romany."

"Save?" said Chapman, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

"Don't ask, but we're on a schedule." He fired his hot knives and cut him down. "I know you're hands aren't exactly right, but you used to be a hero, so you know the moves. We find whoever we can and get out."

"What if I run in to resistance?" said Chapman, not liking things but knowing he had no choice if he wanted to live.

"Run the other way," said Pete. "We're together on this, right?"

"Yeah," said Chapman, thinking he would leave X-Force wherever he could and just get his people out. Black Air would regret the day they messed with the Hellfire Club.

"The game continues, daughter."

"I see," she said, realising what was happening here and that the sword was being drawn once more, but she still did not see how the champion would be able to participate. He had always been the driving force behind the group, and if he were not there, how could they function properly.

While they had done so when he had left after he lost his great powers, but it had resulted in the team being fractured and changed and in the end they had gone their separate ways. 

"Do you really?" Merlyn looked at Roma and shook his head. "The game is dangerous indeed, but this time Jaspers has my full and undivided attention. There is no Necrom to deal with here, no possibility of the Anti-Phoenix reoccurring and more than that, Jaspers is less than he was."

"The original Jaspers was the most dangerous creature we have ever encountered," Roma said. "His counterparts were dangerous but the 616 incarnation..." The Adversary, Necrom and all the other threats over the years had been preceded by the appearance of Sir James Jaspers. The energy matrix which gave power to the Captain Britain Corps, the main source of power for herself and her father was in the British Isles and if a man with the ability to alter reality itself were to get in touch with it...

It did not bear thinking of, and they could both see that though this Jaspers was not as powerful as his forebears, the potential was there. He could have the power if he willed himself to have it and the madness also remained, but this was a more malevolent madness and Roma knew he needed to be stopped but Merlyn was playing the game his way and she was not allowed to participate. As Omniversal Guardian it frustrated her. There had to be something she could do, and then she realised there was and while her father focused on the game, she took her leave.

Merlyn looked up as she left and smiled. It was as he had planned it and he put her figurine on the board. The Queen was now in play and that would make all the difference...

Maverick's body was covered in lesions and wounds as blood poured freely. The Blood Eagle virus was reacting to the stresses he was being exposed to and he wasn't sure what else they could show him from his past that he hadn't already seen. However while they might be running out of things to show him, he was also being drained of his blood and that would make him very dead.

He had blocked out the voice of his inquisitor a while ago as he focused on controlling himself but it wasn't that easy and then something occurred to him. The drugs in his body inhibited his mutant powers, but it also needed to travel around his body via his blood. If he had been drained of enough of it by these idiots then maybe he could use what they were doing to him to try and make an escape. With any luck at all...

He felt the familiar surge as energy flared around his fingers and he fought to keep the smile from his face, and hoped he still had strength enough to do this. The inquisitor hadn't noticed that Maverick's powers were kicking in and North fired a bio-kinetic blast upwards, severing the bonds that held him and he fell to the floor. The fall hurt but it also gave him another charge.

"No!" the inquisitor gasped as the SHIELD agent broke free properly and then he cried out as the Blood Eagle attacked another host. Maverick smiled this time and used his powers to keep him going as he pounded on the inquisitor, slamming his fists in to him until the miserable little man fell to the floor, coughing up blood from not only the Blood Eagle but the punches North had inflicted on him. 

Then Maverick staggered and he knew he'd had a lot taken out of him over the last few hours. How much he had left, he wasn't sure but he had to go on. If the others had been treated like he'd been treated, then they were all in a great deal of trouble and he pushed the door open and stepped out in to the corridor, closing it behind him. He didn't want the virus getting out and he rested against the door, breathing heavily as alarms started to sound all around him. It seemed they must have been watching him and even though he was tired and drained he started to run.

He didn't quite know where he was going, but he figured he'd get somewhere and he was surprised when he ran in to Chapman.

"You're free as well?" he said as they looked at each other.

"Yes," Chapman said, looking at the mess that Maverick now was. "Though I'm guessing you're the one who set the alarms going?"

"Sorry," said North. "Hazard of escaping."

"Yes," said Chapman. "As is this." He slammed his good bionic fist in to North's gut, sending him sprawling on the floor. Maverick tried to stand but he couldn't find the energy and Chapman looked down at him. "Owe you this," he said and he slammed his foot down on North's hand and Maverick winced. "See if you do as well with a broken hand." Then Chapman was gone, leaving North alone. 

"Bastard," he said, spittle flecking through his teeth as he tried to pull himself up. Black Air agents would be here any moment, and he needed to as far away from here as he could. He was going to need help...

Brian paced up and down, waiting to hear something, anything, as to what was going on. He needed to be out there, he needed to do something and this was getting him nowhere and he punched the wall in frustration and the dent he left was larger than he had thought it would be.

Normally he would have been annoyed at himself for letting his temper get the better of him but this was different. He shouldn't have been able to do that.

"What is happening?" he said.

"You're changing," said Roma, appearing behind him and Brian turned.

"Roma?" he said in surprise. "I never thought to see you again."

"You are the champion we chose, Brian Braddock. Your father was of Otherworld, but it did not automatically make you a hero. We could have chosen your sister Elisabeth or your brother James, but we chose you because you are of the best that this world has to offer."

"I am not Captain Britain anymore," he said.

"You still have the Amulet of Right in your possession," she said. "You can no longer access the energy matrix, but you are and always have been Captain Britain by right."

"But without powers..."

"You have changed since the first days of being Captain Britain. In the beginning you needed the amulet, then you gained strength from the suit. After your rebirth you drew power naturally from the energy matrix with the suit enhancing and storing the power. When you fought the Crimson Dragons you used the potential of the energy matrix to defeat them and the power of Crimson Dawn tainted you so that you could not access the powers. Now you have an agent inside you that the Dawn cannot contend with."

"The alien cultures of the serum," said Brian thinking of the Greek super-soldiers.

"Yes," said Roma. "They are changing you again and you will be Captain Britain once more. You have a destiny, Brian Braddock. Your time will come again."

"Why are you telling me this?" said Brian, with suspicion.

"An old enemy has returned," she said. "I am breaking my own rules to do this, but you are needed and my powers can give you a temporary boost." She reached out and touched him and he could feel the energy matrix of Britain flow through him once more and he felt whole again. Roma broke the touch. "Your friends need you," said Roma and Brian nodded and he realised he had changed his clothing and he gave a shudder. 

"My uniform," he said.

"A member of my Corps should be appropriately attired," she said and then she was gone and Brian smiled. He did not know how much power he had at the moment but he knew his powers would return in time and he had work to do and he took to the skies in an effort to catch up to the others.

He'd forgotten how good it felt to fly...

The Midnight Runner landed just outside a small village.

"I forgot how fast this thing was," Kate said as she phased through her straps and Kurt smiled.

"I forgot how well she handled," he answered. Brian's craft was a marvel of engineering and people easily forgot how clever he really was. There was more to him than met the eye and the disembarked.

"I'll let Brian know when we get back," said Meggan.

"Hopefully this is a safe distance," Kurt said. "Brian's new cloaking device aside, I do not fully trust our luck in these matters."

"I've kept us blocked from any psionic probes," Rachel said. "It should be enough. So there really is a Wonderland in the UK?"

"Yes," said Meggan. "You remember the Crazy Gang?"

"How could I forget?" Rachel answered, thinking back to when Arcade had used them and they'd all swapped bodies. It had been a very unnerving time in Excalibur's early days.

"Well, the Red Queen met up with Joy Boy of the Technet," she explained. "His powers make a nightmare version of dreams and she dreamt of a nightmare Wonderland and they cancelled each other out."

"Incredible," Rachel said. "I can feel the psionic energy at work... it's intense, yet gentle at the same time."

Meggan nodded. "I know. Now I have a better idea of my capabilities, I am not controlled by it as I once would have been." 

"We put a group of trolls here as well," said Kate. "Because they had nowhere else to go."

"We never came back..." Kurt muttered in realisation and they looked at him. "We said we would keep an eye on them and then it all went wrong. Brian was lost in time, Meggan was catatonic with grief, then Magneto attacked and we moved to Muir... We never came back."

"We're not responsible, Kurt," Kate said. "We couldn't have known..."

"I know," said Nightcrawler. "But God forgive us anyway. In no small way, what has happened here is down to us."

"If what you say of Black Air is true," Rachel said, "then it could have been anywhere. If we can save lives, then what you think we did wrong may have been right as well."

"If they're in there," Kurt replied. "We have to find them yet..."

"I'm guessing that's not going to be a problem," Rachel said and they looked round to see numerous agents of Black Air appearing from the houses.

"It appears the villagers moved," Kurt said.

"Looks that way," Kate said. "Let's see if we still have some of the old magic left..."

"What's that noise?" Lydia Del Ruiz asked as she looked at Sari St Hubbins, who looked very concerned all of a sudden. It sounded like sirens and alarms, but that was surely impossible aboard an aircraft

"None of your concern," she said, but Lydia wasn't so sure. Something was going on that she wasn't quite sure of, but she knew if wasn't in the favour of Black Air, and that could only be a good thing. Then there was a knock at the door and the bitch jumped and Lydia definitely knew there was something going on here. Then the door was booted open and Pete stood at the other side, much to the surprise of the two women.

"Ever bloke's nightmare," he said as he looked at his current and his ex and shook his head. "Cut her loose, St Hubbins or I'll blow your bloody head off..." He was pointing a gun right at her and she looked at him.

"You'll not get out of here, Petey," she said as she looked at him. "You can hear the alarms as well as I can, you know they're coming for you."

"Yeah, well I'll deal with that later. Right now, get her out of those things." He gestured to Lydia's chains and St Hubbins moved over to it.

"Never figured you to be in to guns, Pete," she said as she freed Lydia.

"Whatever works," he said. "Lyd?"

"I'm good, but how..."

"Simulator," he said. "Black Air are good at making you see things you want to see." Lydia stood and Pete nodded. "Tie her down, babe."

"I'll kill you for this, Wisdom," Sari said, as Lydia made sure she was secure

"Oh shut up. How I never realised you were a whinging bitch I'll never know..." Sari opened her mouth as if to say something but Lydia brought her fist down to fill the gap and St Hubbins coughed and spit out a tooth.

"He said shut up," she said. "I'm inclined to agree with him."

"Lydia," said Pete coming. "That's not how we do things." He looked at Sari. "It's like this." He slammed his gun in to her head and she slumped in to unconsciousness. "No lectures on how it was uncalled for, eh? I'm not in the mood right now."

"Wasn't going to," Lydia said. "She put me through hell just because she could, Pete. My father..."

"We'll find him," Pete said. "Even if we have to tear down Genosha to do it. Now let's go. The others are in trouble as well and we're running out of time..."

James Jaspers was not impressed. X-Force were breaking loose across the board and there was a contingent of mutants outside Wonderland. Howe they had known to come here was an issue for later but he was now regretting searching out his former creations, the Crazy Gang. He had found them here in a paradise and he knew that this was the place to hide Black Air as they rebuilt after they had been forced to scale back their operations.

The creatures here had been no match for Black Air and had been subjugated or destroyed with ease, especially the two creatures that had crerated this reality. It had been a simple task to alter their perceptions and turn what had been a paradise in to the perfect hideaway and base of operations for Black Air. For the last few years they had regrouped, grown and sown the seeds to make themselves strong again and they had made their moves at the right moment, he could sense that.

However for some reason his opponents were charged now and while they were outnumbered and they would not escape, they would cause a problem. His leadership, his judgement could be called in to question and he could not allow that. Whoever was playing this game had been making moves for a long time, and now he was in direct confrontation. He would have to do something and the silky voice inside his head that he fought for so long told him the answer.

He knew what he needed to do now and he altered reality around him, altered himself and the very building shook with his transformation...

"How'd you find me?" Marcus mumbled through his swollen face.

"Luck," said Pete as he looked at his friend. "We've kicked open as many doors as we can, making sure we don't get killed in the process. Damn, they've done a number on you." He held out his hand only to be met by Marcus' fist and Pete sprawled on the floor. "Jesus..."

"Marcus?!" said Lydia

"You son of a bitch," muttered Raven. "You did this to me, you brought me in to this..."

"Oh shit," said Pete, knowing what he was talking about. "They told you..."

"They put the pieces in place. Ah worked it out for myself," Marcus said. 

"What's going on?" said Lydia, more than aware they were in the middle of an enemy stronghold and this certainly wasn't the time for infighting.

"He outed me at the FBI," said Marcus. "He got me in SHIELD by getting me fired from the FBI."

"You quit," said Pete getting to his feet, but keeping out of Marcus' way.

"I had no choice. You... you..."

"Yeah, I screwed you at over at the Feds," said Pete and Lydia gasped. "Don't, Lyd. Look, Marcus, I needed you on the team. I'd have asked you but you'd have said no and I didn't have time to convince you. Michael Gow was an asshole, an asshole who is spending a long time in prison. Should I have told you this before? Who knows..."

"You shouldn't have done it, full stop," Marcus said. "It wasn't right, it wasn't..."

"Fair? Grow up, Marcus. Life isn't fair and as good as you are at keeping secrets, it would have come out at some point. If SHIELD knew you were a mutant, then the Feds certainly did and..." The place shook and Pete was cut off. "We'll do this later," he said. "Jaspers is getting annoyed."

"Who's that?" asked Lydia.

"Someone we'll need the whole team to deal with, and maybe even then we'll not be enough. Even if we managed to get your powers back..." He looked at Raven. "You in?"

"Ah'm in," Raven growled and Wisdom nodded. 

"Black Air!" called Lydia as they entered the corridor and Pete fired his hot knives at them, dropping them quickly. Because they didn't realise he had his powers then they weren't ready for him and being dead meant they couldn't call in. How long that would last was anyone's guess.

"How come you have your powers?" Marcus asked and Pete ignored the cold tone to his voice.

"Present from the Shadow King," he said. "Guess the tests and stuff Zola did were more than just tests."

"More secrets," Raven muttered and Pete shook his head. They had to find Terry and quickly. That was who needed them the most and hopefully they wouldn't be too late, but he could simply feel that whatever was going on was something very bad indeed and when you were dealing with Mad Jim, that was never going to be good...

Outside the village shook and both Excalibur and Black Air were thrown off guard, but Meggan more so than the others and she shifted to her true form.

"Meggan!" Kurt said and was by her side in an instant.

"Reality is under pressure," she said. "It feels familiar somehow, Kurt. I see reality through the Alshra and the colours are altering, the threads of order are starting to unravel. Something is wrong, very, very wrong..."

"More Black Air!" Rachel cried and they turned to see more of them coming out, as if simply coming out of the ground. "I thought we were winning..."

"We were," said Shadowcat. "This simply isn't possible."

"But it is happening, so let's do what we do best," said Nightcrawler, and though they were suddenly outnumbered they put up one hell of a fight but they were being overwhelmed by the sheer number when he arrived, ploughing in to them from the sky, taking everyone by surprise.

"Mein Gott," Nightcrawler said as he realised who it was. "Herr Kaptain..."

"Brian?" said Rachel in surprise.

"Brian," smiled Meggan and the Black Air agents were thrown about like rag dolls as Captain Britain cut loose after several years of inaction and in what seemed to be moments the agents of Black Air had been beaten back. 

"Thought you could do with a hand," he said, a smile on his face.

"You enjoyed that," said Shadowcat.

"You have no idea," Brian replied and held up his hand as the others started to ask questions at once. "We've no time for this," he said. "There's work to do. Did you see what I saw when we flew over Wonderland?"

"It's changed from the place we knew," said Meggan. "It's dark, and it's getting darker."

"Maybe I can enlighten you," said a voice and they saw the Hellfire Club coming from Wonderland. All three of them looked in a bad way, but they were free of their captivity. "So, the Captain returns at last."

"Chapman," said Brian. "Where are my friends?"

"Black Air still have them. From what I saw of North, though, they won't have to worry about it for much longer..." In an instant Shadowcat had him by the throat.

"Where is he?" she asked, her hand poised for what would be a killer strike, and as she did so Samatha Hasard produced a metallic blade to Kate's heart, but Chapman held his hand up, staying her.

"In there somewhere," said Chapman. "And..." He went silent a moment as both he and Hasard went blank.

"I can't read his mind," Rachel said of Vortigen Walker, "but I have enough."

"Walker," Brian said. "We are not enemies. We could do with your help - all of you."

"Brian," said Walker, looking at him, "you and I have long been allies but we are now on different sides. However James Jaspers is a threat to us all, and we need to work together to take down Black Air."

"Jaspers," said Brian and his memory flared back to the darkest time he had ever known or seen, worse than any possible future he had seen when he had been lost in the time stream. "Jaspers is dead..."

"Nein," said Kurt. "He prosecuted Magneto twice. Sir James Jaspers is..." He struggled for the words.

"Jaspers is dead," Brian said. "I saw him die at the hand of the Fury."

"He is back, Brian," Meggan said. "That's why what is happening feels familiar to me. It's all starting again."

"What is?" Kurt asked and Rachel mindlinked them all to see the images in Brian's mind.
Reality is replaced with nightmare of the United Kingdom with Jaspers as Prime Minister and anyone with powers enslaved in camps and determined to end this once and for all Captain Britain had headed to Downing Street to face Jaspers. Captain Britain entered Jaspers' office to find Jaspers a giant at one with the universe and he had been taken and held in the air, no bigger than an insect in comparison. He subjected the Captain to a barrage of false memories, first of still being on Earth-238, then of being a much younger man awakening in a hospital bed to find he is not a superhero and that he is married to Courtney Ross, his girlfriend from University. But they were illusions that departed when Jaspers bored of them. 
Jaspers dropped Brian and returned to normal size, turning his back on the hero who viciously attacks him, trying to beat him to death, but he was no match for the reality warping powers of Jaspers and he put through a myriad of transformations, amongst them the Devil and the Grim Reaper and as the Captain struggled, the Fury approached and took on Jaspers. The Fury was a machine designed to eliminate anything and anyone with super-human powers and had been made by Jaspers himself, though he had ensured that it could not harm him.

Not recognising the machine as anything he had created and at the same time struck by a cosmic sense of déjà vu, Jaspers confronted it but was struck by a destructive energy blast, as the Fury concluded that this Jaspers was not the same Jaspers that created it. It fried him, leaving only a smoking corpse, or so it appeared. 

Flesh crept back over Jaspers' bones, and he becomes a muscular boxer, with the Fury being turned into a giant ball for him to hit. The Fury, with its supreme ability to adapt to any situation and the experience it has gained from the dimensional jaunts it took to arrive on Earth 616, survived Jaspers attack and a bizarre battle commenced as each combatant switched from form to form in an attempt to gain the upper hand.

Eventually the Fury found a way of defeating Jaspers and it took him to a realm where there was no reality to work with and killed him, returning the corpse to Earth 616, where in it's weakened state the Fury was destroyed by Captain UK and reality restored itself, and in time little remained of the memory of James Jaspers in anyone's head, as if the nightmare had never occurred.

Yet those who had been there first hand or had stronger wills than most remembered.

"That all happened?" Kate said, in surprise.

"Yes," said Brian. "It all happened and it's starting again."

"We can deal with Black Air this time," said Chapman. "You need to deal with Jaspers."

"He's not all powerful yet," Meggan said, sensing the changes in reality through the Alshra. "We can still beat him, but he have to hurry."

"Then let's go," said Brian and Excalibur headed in to Wonderland.

"Teresa?" said Maverick as he limped in to the medical wing and saw the ravaged body of the young Irish woman. He had been fighting as much as he could and he had done a lot, but he was literally exhausted now and it was all he could do to stand and he collapsed next to her. "Tell me you're alive..."

There was a flicker of life in her hand but it was not much. Whatever had happened to her had seemingly stopped as soon as the alarms had sounded and he knew if another wave came in then there would be little he could do. They'd done this to him and that to her and unless a miracle had happened there would be nothing they could do that would ensure they lived through this.

"At least we won't die alone," he said as he looked at her.

"How touching. Didn't think the German's had that in them," said James Jaspers as he came in to the room. Maverick tried to stand but he didn't have the strength. "It's all gone wrong, you know," Jaspers said. "Black Air have mostly fled, apparently the return of Excalibur's frightened them off, but it doesn't matter that much now. You see, I've got bigger plans than Black Air, and they will pay. They'll all pay."

"So Mad Jim returns," said Pete as he and the rest of X-Force stood in the way. "Wondered what it would take."

"The traitor," said Jaspers. "I'm glad you're here, Pete. Now I get to kill you properly." He gestured and Pete doubled up in pain as Jaspers grabbed hold of him. He looked down at his chest to see a hole start of form as his skin started to come free from his body.

"Fuck... you..." he said as he fired his hot knives at Jaspers, who laughed and simply waved them off.

"You know, I probably could," said Jaspers. "In a moment there'll be nothing there to keep your insides... well, in. You've always had guts, Petey, now we'll all get to see them!"

"NO!" shouted Lydia as she ran at Jaspers but as she approached him she simply passed through him and then she screamed as she realised she too had been changed and that she was literally a shadow and there was nothing she could do to affect anything.

Marcus Raven looked on helplessly and his thoughts were conflicted. On the one hand he wanted to help his friends, but on the other he wanted to see Pete suffer and suffer as he never had before. If that meant he died, then that was that, but the others...

"You're conflicted, aren't you?" said Jaspers. "You figured it out, that Peter betrayed you, as he betrayed us, as he betrays everyone in the end. People say he does what needs doing. He does what's convenient to him, for his own reasons and to hell with everyone else." Marcus looked at Pete who was trying his best to stay alive, but he could see the X-Force leader was fighting a loosing battle.

"You've no idea how right you are," Marcus said, his eyes not leaving Wisdom and Jaspers smiled. "Or how wrong. Peter Wisdom is a bastard, he's little more than scum, but he does what needs doing. He does it no matter the cost to him, because it needs doing. He's no hero in the classical term but he's a hero and you're a villain, and as much as Ah may hate him, Ah despise you."

"I thought you and I could be allies," said Jaspers. "I was wrong. A raven by name, a raven by nature..." Marcus was wracked with pain as his body contorted and shifted and slowly became the bird and a cage formed around him. "And that was that," he said. "You see, gamesmaster? You see how easily I remove the pieces from the board?" Do you see..."

"Do you see this?" said Captain Britain as he slammed in to Jaspers, pounding him with everything he had, not giving Jaspers a moment to recover his concentration and strike back.

Excalibur had arrived and Shadowcat was shocked to see her friends in such a devastated state. 

"Kurt!" she shouted and Nightcrawler grabbed a hold of Wisdom an teleported him out of the room, as Rachel grabbed a hold of Maverick and Siryn and pulled them out of the way of the battle.

"They're in a bad way," she said as she scanned them mentally. "I can hold them together, but they're going to need help."

"Hopefully Union Jack got hold of Forge," said Kate as she looked at Maverick who wasn't moving. "If SHIELD get here then we've got a chance..."

"There is no chance!" said Jaspers as he threw Brian back and the Captain landed hard and as he stood he staggered. He was coming down from the powers given to him by Roma. They had faded substantially and that had allowed Jaspers the opportunity to throw him back and though he hoped the rest had power enough left to stop Jaspers this time, he was concerned that maybe they did not.

"I know you," said Jaspers as he looked at Brian and memory flared. "We've fought before. You have access to power..." Jaspers gestured and everyone froze in place as he reached out, tapping the energy matrix that surrounded the United Kingdom and in doing so he touched the Omniverse.

"The name of the gamesmaster is Merlyn..." he muttered.

The wizard rubbed his chin as he the figure on the board that was Jaspers moved itself and put himself in front of the figure of Merlyn. 

This Jaspers was not as powerful as the others, not yet and this was exactly what he had counted on happening and Merlyn made what could be the last move of the game.

"Checkmate..."

Brian could feel the energy matrix being tapped and he tired to reach out and touch it but it was too late and he knew that the boost Roma had given him was gone. He would gain his powers back in time, but the time was not now. The others too were held in place. Shadowcat couldn't phase, Rachel was not the Phoenix any more and even if she were he was unsure she could help. Maverick and Siryn were no help in their condition and that left Meggan.

And then she moved, taking advantage of Jasper's distraction with Merlyn and the energy matrix and struck at him.

No, Meggan, he thought, I can't lose you but then he remembered something. This had happened before and that time it had been his brother Jamie who was the one pulling the strings. Jaspers was similar and though he was more powerful, Meggan had grown as well.

"This isn't possible!" said Jaspers as he tried to control her, to alter her and twist reality but they could not affect her.

"The threads of order do not bind me," she said, her true form shimmering with the power of the Alshra. "My abilities are outside your own and you do not have the power to defeat me." However if he somehow gained control of the energy matrix then nothing would stop him, and she could sense a higher power involved as well.

"I will kill your friends," Jaspers said, however his claim was little more than a bluff because though he was trying to gain access to the matrix, Merlyn was fighting him and more than that the power was still going to Captain Britain and he could not afford the time to stop that because if he did so, either Merlyn or Meggan would take him down.

"Then I will grieve," Meggan said, "but we will not let you taint this world again. Restore my friends and I will plead for lenience for you with Merlyn and Roma."

Jaspers did not want to be turned over to them, but he also knew that he was running out of options...

Outside Kurt looked at Pete, who was still hurting.

"Herr Wisdom?"

"Just when I thought I couldn't hurt worse than that, you 'ported me, you bloody goblin..."

"You'll be fine," said Nightcrawler.

"I'm holding in my guts with both hands," muttered Pete. "Oh, hell with this. Kurt, put the skin back in place."

"Why?" said Kurt. "What good will that do?"

"It'll free my hands," Pete said. "And if you don't I'll die, and the last thing I need is the last rights from you."

"That is not the way to gain help, but God preaches forgiveness," said Kurt as he helped his friend out.

"Is this your way of punishing me Wagner?" said Pete. "Damn bible basher..."

"God loves you anyway," Kurt said with a smile. "Now what?"

"This," said Pete and fired his hot knives, keeping them just above the skin, but near enough to cauterise the wounds and seal the skin back in place. "Jesus fucking Christ..." he said as the pain hit him.

"Blasphemy is two hail Mary's," said Wagner and Pete shot him a look. 

"Just get us back in there," said Pete and Nightcrawler grabbed hold of him but something blocked his teleport and they reappeared where they had come from. "You'd better have a good reason..."

"I have none," said Kurt. "I couldn't do it..."

"What's going on in there?" Pete raged and wondered what was happening to his friends. All of them...

"Submit!" Meggan demanded and Jaspers could feel himself being destroyed. He did not want to die again and he knew that if he could somehow delay the inevitable... Then an idea came to him. The powers of the energy matrix were strongest on Otherworld. If eh could get there then he would have a much better chance of saving himself.

It made sense and he could only do that if an advocate spoke for him and Meggan would do so. She had promised and he knew that she would keep her word. He simply knew it.

"I submit," he said and waved his hand. Lydia returned to normal as did Marcus and the others were freed. The battle was over. "No hard feelings?" he said to the others who advanced. "Ah ah ah," he said. "She promised me a fair hearing," he said pointing to Meggan. "Your lives were the trade."

"I promised," she said, "and I will keep my word..."

"But Meggan," Brian started and she shook her head. 

"I gave my word." He nodded.

"Then I'll back you on this."

"You can't be serious," Lydia said. "He's a monster..."

"I can feel the treachery," said Rachel. "But not quite what. His powers prevent me from getting a proper mental lock."

"Sorry," said Jaspers. "Guess we have to do this my way."

"I think not!" said Merlyn, his image appearing in the air above them. "I know your mind, mortal and you will not be tried on Otherworld. The energy matrix will never be yours." He looked at the members of Excalibur. "They ensured it would never belong to any one person..."

"Meryln," started Brian but Meryln held up his hand.

"I know," he said. "A fair hearing he will get and because I believe it to be just, you shall decide the fate of James Jaspers." He looked down at Meggan. "He cannot be trusted and he will eventually gain his powers back at the level he once had. He cannot be contained in any reality."

"Then take him outside reality," said Meggan. "Un-space, the place between dimensions. He has no power there. There is no reality for him to access and his powers will be as nothing. He will live there forever, as there is no time, nothing."

Merlyn smiled.

"I believe that is a fitting punishment," said Merlyn. "You are hereby banished to the farthest reaches of U-space. Goodbye, James Jaspers."

"No! Wait!" said Jaspers but then he was gone and so was Merlyn.

"Was that it?" asked Lydia. "It's over?"

"It's over," said Brian, but he wondered why Merlyn had capitulated so easily. Then the place started to rock and streams of lava shot up. "What the hell?"

"It's gone quiet," said Pete. "Try again."

"A third teleport may well kill you, Wisdom."

"I know the risks. I need Jaspers."

"Need him? But why?"

"Later, just..." he was cut off by the sound of a gun and Kurt hit the floor. There was no blood and Pete knew it was a weapon designed to neutralise mutant powers.

"Oh, are you kidding me?" said Pete as he turned to see Joseph Chapman. 

"No," said Chapman. "I just took his powers away because I want you to suffer, Wisdom. I want you to feel everything I've felt for years. The regret, the hatred, the loss."

"Verdamnt schwine," said Kurt as he stood. "You said you'd help."

"And I did. SHIELD are outside, cleaning up," Chapman said. "But I had to make sure that Pete and I finished this."

"Kill me now, Joey," Pete said, "or you're dead."

"No, Pete," said Chapman. "That would be you. Walker!"

The earth shook as the very Earth below them started to tear itself apart and in the confusion Chapman made his escape as x-Force and Excalibur appeared.

"What's going on?" asked Brian.

"The Hellfire Club just screwed us over," said Pete. "Kate, with me. The rest of you get out of here. SHIELD are outside."

"What about you?" asked Kurt.

"I've got to get my sister, and Shadowcat's the key. With me, Kit..." He started to run and she followed as the others moved out of there and quickly.

"What's going on, Pete?" she said as she looked at him.

"Jaspers turned her to an ice statue, I need you to get her out of here. And us."

"Right," said Kate. She'd liked Romany, even though she'd only really met her once and she followed him up but when they got to the room where Pete had been held, all that remained was water on the floor.

"No," said Pete as he looked at the remains of his sister and he dropped to his knees. "No..."

"Oh, God," said Kate, not wanting to imagine what it must have been like for Romany to die like that. "Pete, I'm so sorry..." Then the room started to shake as whatever the druid had done took effect and the place was about to destroy itself. "We have to go..."

"Leave me," said Pete, softly. He had failed her, and with that knowledge he knew he couldn't go on. He couldn't do this again...

"I can't do that, Pete," Shadowcat said. "I'm not allowed to..."

"What?" Pete asked. "Allowed?"

"It's..." Then she was interrupted as something fell and struck her and she hit the floor unconscious. 

"Kitty?" said Pete but she didn't stir. If she stayed she was dead and Wisdom looked at the watery remains of Romany. He wanted to stay, he wanted peace but he knew Kitty would die and he wasn't going to allow that. "I'm sorry, Ro," he said and picked Kitty up and started running.

"Come on," said Lydia as they watched Wonderland tear itself apart. Whatever Walker had done to the bonds that held it together, it had been a through spell and they all knew there was very little time left. "Damn it, Wisdom, hurry up..."

"Maverick and Siryn are on their way to get proper medical attention," said Forge, who had come personally to supervise the capture of Black Air. "Any sign?"

"Nothing," said Rachel and she looked at Forge. "Something's blocking my scans."

"How long do we have?" he asked and Meggan shook her head. 

"The ley lines have been disrupted and nature is rebelling against itself," she said, as if in pain. "There's no way to stop it. It will end when it ends."

"Vortigen was one of the Proud Walkers," said Brian. "He fought with me, with Merlyn in defence of Otherworld. I can't believe how much he's changed."

"GET DOWN!" cried Meggan all of a sudden and everyone hit the deck as Wonderland exploded in a shower of rock and lava as Rachel used her telekinetic powers to keep everyone safe and then it was over.

Lydia and Forge looked at each other. "FIND THEM!" Forge demanded of his people and Excalibur and SHIELD went to work at finding the two missing agents. 

A little over two hours later, the bodies of Peter Wisdom and Katherine Pryde were pulled from the rubble...