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#27
- Separate Lives |
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
- Robert Frost, 'The Road Not Taken'
"Let me get this right. You're telling me that Roberto is trapped in the reactor core?"
Jessica nodded at a stunned Pen Dragon. "He's absorbed all the energy that would have overloaded the system," she said, "but he can't release it safely outside, not with people still here, and there's still energy coming in."
"What happens," Pen started to ask as he closed his eyes, "if more energy goes in than he can handle?"
"We don't know," said Jack. "Best guess, he blows up and takes the moon out anyway."
"How long's he got in there?"
Elena answered this one. "Days, hours, can't say. Right now he's in a deep Askani trance to conserve his strength and air supply. It is beyond our capabilities to get him out."
"Reed and Forge can figure it out," Pen decided. "We've other things to deal with. The Barrier's down, and the UK and Europe is relatively undefended from the Martians. We have a small fleet of ships that can help, but we need to co-ordinate things on the ground."
"Where's Thanatos?" asked Jessica, noting that the alternate version of Rick Jones was missing.
"Yeah, about that," said Pen. "The Red Lord came for him. Barrier's down, we're on his list again."
"You're alive," said Kaine. "But how?"
"I cut a deal," said Dragon, sharply. "I got us the ships, created by Jones and the Destiny Force, the Bane gets Thanatos and between us we save the world."
"Are you fucking insane?!" Jessica shouted. "You just gave him…"
"I know what I did," said Pen, glaring at her. "You think I did it lightly? The Barrier fell and it's seemingly taken the Pendragons with it. The UK is helpless and, whatever's left of the Pendragons aside, the Bane's in a good position to help stop them. Allies against a common foe."
"You don't believe that for a moment," said Sam, looking at him. "You're just buying time."
"Yeah," said Pen. "Jess, I know you're pissed, but there are other things going on. The timeline's under threat, again, the Martians are going to realise that the UK is open, and we don't have a way of stopping them, for the last time. We're going to lose the war, unless we do this." Jessica looked at him, unsure of what to say or do, but she had forgotten how infuriating he could be.
Jack spoke first, "You have a plan?"
"Yeah," said Pen. "Jess, Elena and me are going after Rick Jones. You, Sam and Eto are going back to Earth and co-ordinate the attack. SHIELD needs everything they can get. Jack, you're Cap now and that'll galvanise our lot. Sam knows the UK better than you ever will and Kaine has more experience with magic. It makes sense, if Jessica agrees."
Jessica nodded. "Where are we going?"
"Half a sec." He touched the St Christopher. "Kate?"
"Pete," she said. "The Barrier's down. We're still at just over 51% of the world being saved. It's too close to call."
"We're on it, and the odds are still in our favour," said Pen. "I need that info I asked for."
"There's something," she said. "Like a null spot in the time stream. I thought it was just a strained part of the timeline, it looks like one of the many points like it, but there's a subtle variance."
"If you weren't dead, I'd marry you," he said, clenching his fist in triumph. "Any chance of a ride? Me, Jess, Elena. We're going in."
"I'll see what I can do," said Kate. "Stand by."
The team looked at each other, ready to go their separate ways, each sub-team with a vital mission and neither knew if they'd see each other again.
"Tell Reed and Forge about Roberto," said Jessica, looking at Jack. He was the icon, they'd listen to him and he nodded, as the team said their goodbyes. The final battle was coming, and they would be at the forefront.
"Don't get killed, old man," said Eto, looking at Pen. "I'd hate to tell my mother you were dead."
"I'd hate to tell your mother you were dead too. She has one hell of a left hook."
"She got it from you," Kaine said and the two of them hugged and the other members of the team just stared.
"What?" said Pen. "It was 300 years, stuff happened. I wasn't going to be a saint all that time."
"He's your…?" said Sam, in stunned horror.
"Yeah, he's my grandfather," said Kaine, cutting her off. "How else do you think the pendant would work?"
"Does that mean we get to call you Gramps?" asked Jack, as innocently as he could and Dragon glared at him, as the others fought back their sniggers.
"I wouldn't," he said, through gritted teeth.
"Sorry to interrupt," Kate said, "but I'm ready for you guys. I'll bring you to Limbo first and then put you in the anomaly."
"Acknowledged," said Pen, and the frivolity of the moment was passed. It was time to go to work. "Good luck," he said.
"You too," said Sam, and Jack activated the tesseract generator and the three of them stepped through, heading for the Resistance HQ as the remaining three vanished from the Moon and appeared in Limbo.
"What's the situation?" Jack asked as they came in to the Resistance HQ.
"Martian forces are mobilising towards the UK. They've sent their bombers in and there's been some collateral damage," came the report. "We're mobilising, but it's a lot of area to cover."
"Understood," said Jack. "Sam, I'm going to speak to the council, you arrange transport to the British Isles."
"What about me?" asked Eto.
"Can you contact Otherworld, see if they know what's happened to the Pendragons, and if there's anything they can do," said Jack. "If we're going to fight the aliens, I need to know how many allies we have."
"I'm sure Adam Crown will be gathering his own people," said Kaine. "It's what the King should do, but I'll see if I can contact Otherworld for you." Jack nodded and they went to work. Every minute they were here was a minute lost to the advance of the aliens.
"If it wasn't for the pendant, you'd be invisible to my scanners," said Kate as she looked at Pen. "That's pretty impressive work that Merlyn did."
"You found out?" he said, with a half smile.
"Widget spilled the beans," she said. "Merlyn set all this up, long ago. He knew that Brian would come to us and instruct me to gather people, and he'd already adjusted Widget so that he would pick you and Widget influenced me subconsciously to give you the name Pen Dragon."
"That's playing with time," said Jessica. "Doesn't it strain things?"
"Probably not," said Pen. "It already happened that way, but we didn't know it. Events in the future influenced events in the past, and because they happened as they were supposed to happen…"
"Everything around you is fine," said Kate. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Elena was confused. "It wasn't you, it was Merlyn."
"No," said Pen, softly. "My home was doomed. Merlyn let it die for the greater good. Apparently."
"No," said Jessica. "You always thought there was a way home." Pen shrugged.
"Came to terms with it long ago," he answered. "What's done is done. The one regret I have is that Joey's never going to be brought to justice for his crimes. He's living the life of Riley." He shook his head, knowing his life was good, but he knew there was a lot he'd left unfinished and now he'd never get the chance. "Anyway, enough of that. Greater good time."
"There's a lot of temporal activity," Kate said. "There's so much disturbance out there, due to the fragility of the time stream anyway, the two temporal zones meeting with the gap in the Barrier, and the machinations of Ravonna. It's not going to be easy."
"Never thought it would be," Pen said. "We need to ensure two things - first, we rescue Rick and second we make sure the aliens can't use this again."
"But if we win the war," Jessica started, but Pen shook his head.
"If I were them, I'd bomb us back to the stone age without even leaving my timeline." That sent a silence through them all. "Kate, what would happen to time if we blew their time platform apart?"
"I don't know," she said. "Anything, nothing, take your pick. If you can find someone who'll be able to advise you, so much the better, but with things the way they are I wouldn't even like to speculate. Just try not to do too much damage."
"You know me," he said, with a wink.
"We're dead, aren't we?" Elena deadpanned.
"Not even close," said Jessica. "Go." Kate flipped the switch and the technology that had scooped them out of time to Limbo now worked to take them to the very lair of the enemy itself.
"No sign of the Pendragons," said Kaine, as the three Earth-based Claws met at one of the Quinjet-like shuttles that the Resistance had obtained. "I spoke directly with Brian himself. Something went wrong but he doesn't know what, however Betsy is alive, he can feel it. If she's alive then the other Pendragons that are with her will be as well. He just can't find them."
"Wonderful," said Jack. "Reed's going up to the moon to see what he can do for Bobby, but our mission is to defend the virgin territory behind the Barrier. It's not down fully, but there is a substantial breach, just above London according to the reports from Magneto's people on Avalon and it's growing. The Martian response to that hasn't been good and we're to hold the line, and make sure they don't advance too quickly. They will get through, but our mission is to ensure they can't prepare for when things fall totally."
Sam confirmed it, having checked in with Fury on her return, which was why she had the vehicle so quickly. "The heroes there have no idea what they've got coming and the enemy will have prepared for most of them, which is why we're to hold the Barrier and co-ordinate the response. Remember, their biggest weapon is the Hulk, and if they had Thanatos in their pocket, they'll have been working on countermeasures."
"You thing they can kill him?" said Kaine. "It's Banner, after all."
"We'll find out soon enough," said Jack, as his hands worked the controls and the craft took off, Sam working as co-pilot with Kaine at the weapons.
It wasn't long before they were under attack from Martian attack craft, as weapons fired from the Resistance base to provide cover, however the Martians had been spread thinly after the assault on the Arena and the freeing of the heroes, and with the forces they had only starting to converge towards Europe, it was almost a one on one dogfight. Blasts rattled the shielding of the shuttle, and Monroe took evasive manoeuvres as it would only take one lucky shot, as Sam used her powers to reinforce the super-structure of the ship. Kaine wasn't really used to this kind of thing, but he learnt fast and he soon got to grips with the firing of the repulsor cannons. This was like a version of the Iron Man armour, Monroe mused, thinking he should have taken more notice of the Avengers equipment. When the war was over and the various teams regrouped and such, he would make it his business to learn all there was to know about what was going on. There wouldn't be an America as such, but there would be a world to unite and that was where the future would lie.
The alien craft that was after them exploded in a shower of flaming metal shards and Kaine let out a whoop of triumph.
"Great, kid," said Jack, "but don't get cocky."
"I liked that film too," Kaine said. "We're clear for now, but I guess this isn't the last time we'll be in a dogfight."
"We'll be ready," said Jack and away they went to join the other forces that were holding the enemy at bay. The aliens couldn't fight on two fronts at once, it wasn't possible, but if the aliens were stretched thinly, so were the Resistance. It would be down to whichever of them weakened first.
The War Master Prime was not amused. The Moon was still where it was supposed to be, and the humans had gained ships in which to fight back with. It all went back to Thanatos and that accursed Destiny Force. The Barrier had fallen, and the Bane had claimed their own and he had thwarted them.
"This will not do," the War Master said. His forces were making headway, but it was slow going. The Barrier was down, and both sides had been caught off guard. The insurrections across the world that came with the fall of the Arena had spread them thinly. Reinforcements were being prepared in the future to be sent to them, however if the Moon had just exploded as it was supposed to. The War Master shook his head. They needed to do something about this, to bring the enemy back, away from the Barrier. If he could not disrupt things with the Moon he would find another way.
"Take us to the South Pole of the planet," he ordered. "We will melt away the ice and raise the water levels of the planet. That will have many effects - it will disrupt the environmental concerns of the planet, begin to flood the coastal areas and destroy islands, and the enemy will have no choice but to come to us and stop the assault. The water will build around the base of the failing Barrier and when it collapses, a tidal assault will make our first strike for us"
"Yes, my Lord," his minion bowed and went to make the arrangements.
"I will destroy this world and the humans on it before I let them win" the War Master said and smiled.
Pen Dragon looked about, horrified. There was no sign of Elena or Jessica and he was in the middle of what appeared to be New York, except he knew New York wasn't in this good a state and that the sky wasn't a multicoloured aura. Something had gone seriously wrong with the transport.
"ELENA!" he shouted, throwing his thoughts as far and wide as he could, but there was no response. "JESSICA!" he cried out but there was no reply. He grabbed the pendant around his neck. "C'mon, Kate," he muttered but there was nothing. Something was terribly wrong here and there was no way that he was either going to find Rick Jones or get out of here. Not alone, anyway.
"You're in the wrong part of town, amigo," said a voice and he turned to see a group of Mexicans standing behind him. They were dressed in gang colours and he knew this wasn't going to end well.
"You really don't want to start this," he warned them.
"But you're Pen Dragon," their leader said. "There's a pretty good reward for your capture."
Pen's eyes narrowed. Nobody should know he was here. "That reward good dead, or alive?"
"Dead, of course."
"Yeah," sighed Pen. "Bring it then…"
Jessica looked at herself in horror as she realised what she was wearing.
"No," she said. "This isn't possible. I'm not her anymore…" The red costume hugged her body like an old friend.
"Spider-Woman!" came a shout. "Help us, Spider-Woman." Jess looked up and she could see a train car hanging over the edge of a broken rail, the track smashed somehow. Jessica wasn't Spider-Woman anymore, hadn't been her for a very long time but she knew people were in danger and she raced over towards them, but someone stood in her way, metallic tentacles blocking her way around.
"I think you've the wrong spider," she said, wondering what he was doing there.
"Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, it does not matter to Dr Octopus!" Otto Octavius cackled as his arms reached for her.
"What about a Spider-Girl?" shouted a voice and a blur of red and blue swooped down and in to the back of Octopus.
"Mattie?" said Jess, not sure what was going on here.
"Mattie's long dead, Lady Jessica," said Spider-Girl. "I'll explain after we've taken down Octavius…" Spider-Woman and Spider-Girl stood side by side against one of Spider-Man's oldest foes and all the while Jessica wondered what the hell was going on and, more to the point, where were Pen and Elena.
"This shouldn't be happening," said Kate, as she looked at the remains of the temporal scoop. As soon as the Claws had entered, the anomaly there had been a temporal wave and it had scattered them across the anomaly, wrenching them from the scoop and damaging the equipment with the chronal energy surge. They were on their own.
"Kate!" Kate turned and saw Brian standing their, King Britain himself.
"Brian!" she said and they embraced. "I wondered when you would arrive."
"I need you to try and halt Ravonna's troops as best you can," Brian said, getting straight to business. "Monitor her moves, see what she's doing and counter her people and I'll ready the Corps to fight her. Don't worry about the fragility of time, if we lose this battle it won't matter and if we win there'll be enough of us to help restore things."
"Why didn't you mention this sooner?" she said and Brian closed his eyes.
"I have my reasons, but things are falling apart," Brian said. "I thought we could handle it, but we've been outmanoeuvred on many fronts. I also need you to find the Pendragons - I think they've been lost in time, the opening in the Barrier…"
"Two differing zones of temporal alignment collided," said Kate. "The Barrier was keeping things safe, but the breech… it was everything catching up at once."
"Because the Pendragons were the cause, I think they caught the brunt," Brian said. "Find them, put them on the correct temporal track and bring them home Kate. I need everyone in place."
"You mean you need all the pieces in their place on the chessboard," said Kate, and Brian said nothing to confirm or deny it, except from the sadness in his eyes. Kate knew he wasn't Meryln, but he was trapped in to playing Merlyn's games and she relented. "I'll do what I can, but they won't be put back in the same time. They'll be out of temporal synch, but I'll do my best to get them back to you."
"Your best is all I ask," said Brian. "I've a war to prepare for, but I'll be back old friend." Kate nodded and Brian was gone. Things were coming to a head.
Elena stared in amazement. Of all the places she had expected to arrive, an open field was not one of them. Then she realised that Jessica and Dragon were not with her, but someone was approaching and it became clear she was wearing a hood.
"Stay where you are," Elena commanded, but there was no indication that the figure heard her
"Welcome," the figure said, "welcome Elena."
"You know me?" she said and the figure nodded.
"You are Truth," she said. "You are Axiom. Chaos, Order, Truth, Justice, Balance, Faith. Axiom."
"I am Elena Ivanova, and I know not of what you speak."
"You are one of six, six of the one Axiom. Chaos cannot exist without Order. There is no Justice without Truth. They give Balance and Balance allows Faith. Axiom."
"And you are?"
"Balance." The hood was removed and Elena gasped. The face was her own. "Welcome home."
"Home? This is a null point in time, my friends…"
"Are not here," Balance said. "They are where they are supposed to be, you are not. You stepped out of time and we were aware of what had happened to you, what is happening. We have brought you home."
"I don't understand," Elena said and Balance smiled.
"You will, and soon. The first battle of the Time Wars have begun."
