Dragon's Claws #31

"Clay lies still, but blood's a rover;
Breath's a ware that will not keep
Up, lad: when the journey's over
There'll be time enough to sleep."
- A E Housman, 'A Shropshire Lad'

"This is bad," said Pen as they hurried to the House Braddock, surveying the aftermath of what had been a truly vicious battle. "This is very, very bad."

"What happened here?" said Wynter. This was not the Otherworld that either he or Pen Dragon were familiar with. There was a taint of death here now.

"How long was I gone?" asked Rick Jones, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"A long time," Jessica conceded. "We don't know how long Thanatos has been posing as you, but he's certainly been doing it for quite some time?"

"Marlo?"

Jessica knew that this would be painful and they stopped running for a moment and she looked at him. "He even fooled her. To all intents and purposes he is you."

"I don't believe it," Rick said, the scale of how much of his life had been taken from him starting to sink in.

"You want to talk about it, speak to Pen Dragon," Jessica answered. "He knows."

"Who is he?" Jones said.

"He used to be called Pete Wisdom, some still do. His world was lost while he tried to defeat someone who wanted to rule all reality, he's the last survivor of his world, but he's lived on Earth, died on Earth, fighting the Martians and any other enemies who've tried to take this world away from him as well."

"And you're the former Spider-Woman, right?" Jessica nodded

"I've got my powers back now, and my venom blasts have an incredible effect on Martian physiology. It also turns out I'm heir to the spirit of Pendragon."

"You mean him?" said Rick nodding to Pen.

"No, the spirit of Pendragon is a power, as far as I can gather. The true heir of King Arthur, destined to wield Excalibur and rule all England, King Arthur."

"This is a bit confusing," Jones said and Jessica nodded.

"Welcome to my world," she replied. "Throw in how Pen came back and altered history so that we'd have a fighting chance in the war, and it's amazing any of us are still sane."

"Time travel I can handle," Rick said. "I lived through the Destiny War after all."

Jessica smiled. "Then you've a place to start."

On the terrace of House Braddock, Meggan was sat, watching out over the landscape and Wynter and Dragon stopped when they saw her. She had been crying.

"Meggan?" Pen said as he approached and she turned.

"Pen," she said and they embraced. "We thought you were dead."

"People need to stop doing that," he answered. "What happened here?"

Meggan told them of the great battle between the Captain Britain Corps and Kang's army, of how the Corps were almost overwhelmed while the Pendragons had gone after Ravonna and the Sons of Kang, only to be betrayed by both Linda McQuillan and, even worse, King Britain, who had been taken over by Kang himself. Linda had come to her senses just in time and the Pendragons had staged a comeback against all odds, but at a great price. The only way to defeat Kang was to kill him and, in doing so, Betsy had killed Brian as well. Kang's army had retreated, as had his sons, Ravonna was held captive, and Betsy was now Queen of Otherworld, taking over Brian's roll as Brian had done for Roma, as she had done for Merlyn. The Pendragons had gone back to Earth to fight off the Martian threat and the Green Knight had pulled back, deeper into Avalon as the war between themselves and the Bane changed. The fall of the Barrier was not what it had been predicted and magic was growing in power, not losing power as they had all thought it would. There were many dead, worlds that needed rebuilding and scores to be settled across time and space. For now, Meggan waited and hoped that there would be something that she could hold, so in some way she would have Brian back once more.

While she spoke the four travellers, listened. Wynter closed his eyes, knowing that the people who had been here were his friends; he had fought beside them and muttered an old prayer for the lives that had been lost. Jessica was crying, involuntarily, Pen's jaw was tight, and his fists clenched. Brian had known this was how it was going to end, he had told them and Pen looked at Meggan, Brian's request ringing in his ears.

"You'll have to rebuild things, restore my true legacy. Promise me, Peter."

"I promise," said Pen. "Meggan, where is Betsy?"

"She will be in the throne room. Apparently, there is something wrong throughout the Multiverse. Limbo is collapsing in on itself and things are not right. She thinks this is retaliation by the Sons of Kang, as we know they used that as a base of operations."

"If they took over Limbo, it might explain the problems we had getting in to the Null Zone," Jessica said.

"Yeah," agreed Pen. "Looks like we have a lot to talk to her majesty about. C'mon, Rick, you're going to save mankind."

"I must find Merlyn and Roma," Wynter said abruptly, and Pen looked at him in askance. "After everything, they're family. Maybe it's time I started to appreciate that more."

"Ok then," said Pen. "Say hello to the old coot for me when you find him. And kiss your sister for me."

"She doesn't remember you or what you were, and you know that," Wynter said, a frown forming on his face.

"I do though," said Pen. "Go." Wynter turned and headed off.

"You did Merlyn's daughter?" asked Rick. "Nice one, she's hot." The two high-fived and Jessica shook her head.

"When did you meet Roma?" she asked and Rick shrugged. "Pen, lead the way, you know where you're going better than I do." Pen nodded and they headed towards the throne room, unsure of the Psylocke they would find there.

"I'm sorry, sir, you can't go in," said a guard on the door. Jessica and Rick looked at Pen, wanting to know why he didn't have the free access to things they thought he did. He shrugged and decked the guard with a vicious right cross that spun him out of the way and the guard hit the deck. Pen shook his fist to loosen it up again

"Wow," said Rick and Jessica just shook her head.

"Every time there's a new guy," Dragon muttered as he opened the door and went in to the throne room, where Queen Betsy was surrounded by advisors.

"I thought I gave instructions," said Gray Poldark started and then he saw who it was. "But…You're dead."

"Yes, of course I am," said Pen, "now shut up and let me speak to the woman in charge."

"I am not my brother," Betsy said, "and he tolerated your idiosyncrasies through friendship. I don't have…"

"Time?" he interrupted. "Tell me about it. Time's falling apart, Limbo's collapsing in on itself and you have no idea how or why of if you can stop it. You think you half to because you're the Omniversal Guardian, but it's not going to happen. Not exactly pre-ordained, but there are things in motion…"

"What did you do?" Elisabeth asked, and Pen told her of the adventure, of how they had travelled to a null point, a scar on the face of time from where the Martians had launched their attack and how they had sealed the time portal forever, destroying it with Caliburn. The stress it had created was too much on the fragile time stream and things had started to fall apart.

"You mean the best we can hope for is to contain the disaster?" she said. "How could you do this?"

"Because it was what was supposed to happen," Jessica replied and Betsy could see the regality inherent within her. She was Pendragon, as Adam Crown was Pendragon. "There is much more to do than try and stop something you cannot prevent."

"It's true," she whispered. "There are two of you."

"Betsy," Pen said, "where's Kate?"

"We don't know," said Betsy. "We can't gain access to Limbo, and we lost the ability to see in to Limbo as well. We've not heard from her or Widget, but we think they were somehow killed by Ravonna, or removed from the war. Brian was supposed to have spoken with her, before he died."

"I am sorry," he said. "He was my friend, but there needs to be warnings sent out across the Omniverse, to let people know that anything can happen. The past, present and future can all co-exist at once, and paradox doesn't exist. When I say anything can happen, I mean anything can happen."

"What do you need from me?" she asked, knowing she had no choice. He knew more of what was going on than she did.

"Get us three back to Earth, we'll stop the Martians, and then we'll rebuild."

"Rebuild what? Time?"

"No," said Jessica, standing forward. "The Pendragons, and a second group to deal with the time problems."

"Two teams of Pendragons?" said Betsy. "The Green has withdrawn, the Pendragons are gone. There's not enough for one team, let alone two"

"Not two, the Pendragons, and the Dragon's Claws," said Pen. "Jessica's team will deal with the Bane, my team will deal with the Time War. We'll work together, maybe join forces where possible, but it's a whole new world, and it still needs champions."

"You're insane," said Gray. "It'll never work."

"Trust me," said Pen. "I have a plan, but first, we need to end this damned war once and for all."

"I will send you back," said Betsy, "and you can stop the war, but this conversation isn't over yet."

Pen smiled. "It's a date then." Betsy waved her hand and the three of them were gone, only to appear in the Resistance Headquarters, where Jack Monroe was giving a briefing, to the Council.

"Good God in Heaven," he said as he looked at them. "We…"

"Thought we were dead, yes, I've heard," Pen answered. "And yet I keep coming back and people are surprised."

"Elena?" he asked and Pen shook his head.

"Higher destiny, mate," he said softly. "As do we all. So what's happened since we've been gone?"

"Reed and Forge got Roberto out of the reactor on the moon, but he's not in a good shape," the new Captain America said, "but globally, a lot. You've arrived just in time for a status report."

"Does the Council object to our sitting in?"

"Welcome back, Pen," said Forge. "An of course Jessica and Rick?"

"Can I find Marlo?" Rick said. "I need to see my wife first."

"I'll take you," said T'Challa and the two of them left.

"Since we took out the Martian War Master, the battle's been a veritable stalemate," Jack said. "They've focused a lot on Europe and Great Britain, and we've been able to defend our own areas, made a few gains and such, but we're not advancing quickly enough. Adam Crown says he doesn't expect Britain to take much more, and a lot of the landscape has been as badly damaged as the rest of the world, however we've managed to use the focus on Europe and the stock-take is complete."

"Stock-take?" Jessica asked.

"We've taken a look at what we have, the state of the world, losses, governments," Magneto said. "We've always believed we can win, but we needed to know what was left when we did so."

"It's not good," said Jack. "We believe that we have lost forty per cent of the world's population since the initial Martian assaults."

"That's what, two and a half billion people?" said Pen, horrified. "Two and a half BILLION?!"

"Tell me about it," said Jack, softly. "The initial attacks did a lot of damage, then there's the slavery, the executions, and natural causes. While there is a lot of letting people live, they are subjugated, and illness and starvation have taken their toll as well. Remember, there are no real metropolises any more. Great cities have been reduced to nothing more than glorified slums, except in specialist areas."

""Las Vegas, Japan," said Pen, thinking of places he knew of that were relatively unscathed.

"The Martians know we have basic needs," Reed said, "they give us what we need to survive - food, water, heat, and luxuries like entertainment. A lot of the things we took for granted, they kept for themselves."

"Then there is the point that they govern, not us," said Magneto. "The United Nations have fallen, governments have collapsed in the major powers. There are localised governments, such as Genosha and Wakanda, but these are places of significant Resistance presence."

"Outside of the UK," said Jessica. "Their government…"

"Is fragmented at best," said Jack. "Sam and Eto have reported things are difficult. The government was weakened by Adam Crown, by all accounts, and his indecision after the Pendragons went missing has dented the people's faith in him."

"Looks like they need a new leader," said Pen, looking at Jessica.

"I'm not going to fight Adam Crown," she said pointedly. "We're both heirs to the Pendragon legacy."

"Just saying that maybe you won't get a choice," he answered, "but we'll cross that bridge when we get there." She nodded.

"We're planning one last major offensive," said Magnus. "I think I have enough power for another EM burst in the atmosphere, enough to send a pulse and disable every electronic system on the planet."

"Why haven't you done it before?" said Pen.

"I have reasons," Magneto said, "the main one being if they lose power, so do we, but for the first time we have a fighting chance at stopping them. We have enough heroes and former villains ready. SHIELD have done an amazing job with communications."

"Let's amend the plan then," said Pen. "We need a way of speaking to every human mind on the planet. With Rick here, we're going to give the Destiny Force to every human on the planet."

"That's not possible," said Reed. "We've done tests, research. Rick doesn't even have access to it."

"He did before, during the Destiny War," said Jessica. "Why can't he do it now?"

"Because I lost the ability," said Rick, having come back with Marlo and T'Challa. "I don't have my Destiny Force powers, they're gone."

"No," said Pen. "I can give it back to you." They looked at him. "What I needed wasn't available with the Barrier up, and even if it hadn't been up, I couldn't have existed in the same time zone as the same version of me that's in this time line."

"The Black Diamond of the Kokuryu-kai," said Jessica and he nodded.

"It focuses Destiny Force and just because you can't access the powers, Rick, it doesn't mean they're not there. The Supreme Intelligence woke it in you before, I'm going to do the same again."

"How do you know where the diamond is now though?" Forge asked. "Your Black Air days are well behind you, and they will have been active under the Barrier."

"It went missing from Black Air just after Pete Wisdom joined Excalibur. It was being held at the Star Shadow Facility in Kent," he said. "Eto Kaine stole it from them and brought it to me in New Camelot." A smile came across his face. "Remember, I was missing for two hundred years, so I've had a long time to plan this."

"We didn't collect it though," said Jessica and Pen shook his head.

"Arsenal inventory item #14673," he said. "Hidden in plain sight. It was always there, you just didn't know what it was."

"I'll have them bring it to us," said Jack, amazed at how much forethought Pen Dragon had put in to this.

"Now," said Pen, "all we need is a way to tell the world what we're doing, not just the heroes and just not the aliens. Ideas?"

"Xavier in his prime couldn't touch the minds of everyone on the planet, so telepathy's out of the question," Magnus said.

"I may have something," Reed said, his fingers steepled as he contemplated. "We know that when the Dark Phoenix rose that many adepts were aware of it, and when Rachel searched out Franklin during the Ahab incident, a likewise effect occurred. It's not that Xavier couldn't touch the minds, he lacked sufficient power to do so. Remember the Shadow King managed it on Muir Isle, with a sufficient power source."

"Can you amplify the powers of a telepath to the Nth level?" asked Jessica. "Someone who could handle the raw power?"

"Cable," said Pen, seeing where she was going. "But they'd never listen to him. We need an icon, someone the world knows."

"I disagree," said T'Challa. "All we need do is pass on the message. How long will it take you to prepare, Reed?"

"Not to jump the gun, but shouldn't we ask Nathan first?" asked Forge.

"He'll accept," said Pen, raising his hand to the objection. "He owes me one. How long, Richards?"

"A day, give or take a few hours. Forge, your assistance would be appreciated." The mutant nodded and Magnus smiled.

"Whatever you need the Council will give you," the promise came, and that was that. They had a plan, they had the means and Pen took Jessica aside while Jack went to get the Black Diamond.

"I promised you that when we got back I'd tell you how I touched your mind while I was gone, why I was in your dreams."

"I'd forgotten in all the commotion," she said. "How did you do it, then?"

"When I died, when the Red Lord crushed my heart, my spirit was held in place by Caliburn and the magic," he said. "It needed me to do what needed doing and because you held the sword, you and I were connected. You weren't consciously aware of it because you no longer held the sword. It's how we managed to destroy the time portal. A piece of me is inside you and likewise."

"You're kidding," she said and he shook his head. "A mental link?"

"No, more a soul link. We can't consciously access it, but it's there." He looked at her and she looked at him. There was a tension in the air they'd never had before. "I promised I'd tell you, and I have."

"You never let me down," she whispered, drawing in close to him.

"Never," he replied as their lips touched and both of them surrendered to the kiss.