"In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood."
- William Shakespeare, Henry V
Within the control room of Limbo, the three statues of Pen Dragon, Pete Wisdom and Elsa Bloodstone stood there, waiting for something to happen. Their bodies had been transformed to marble by Necrom and while they were trapped like this, there was nothing any of them could do to fight Necrom or to help Wynter, whose statue form lay in pieces before them, a parting gift from the evil sorcerer. Necrom had been cruel, he had left them aware of what was going on, and Pen wished he had an easy way out of this one, because he was going to find Necrom and ram his teeth down the back of his throat. It was not going to be ideal either, because he had no clue as to how to help Wynter. For now, he was alive, albeit as a statue, but there was no way he could see to rebuild him and no way to restore him until they could. There was just one slim hope and he crossed his fingers.
If he had this right, then it would just be a matter of time before they were freed, but he had to wonder how much time it would take. He could see Pete Wisdom and he wondered what he was thinking, if he was aware of the power he possessed. He only had an idea of a fraction of his abilities and it was time for a crash course in what to do, though he was pretty good at figuring out how to expand his horizons. They both were and Wisdom had one advantage that Pen did not. He could negate magic and it wouldn’t be too long before his body metabolised the energy that had converted him to stone and restored him to his natural state. With luck he could then use his mystic blades, for they were more than weapons – they were extensions of his will and they would negate the magic as well as his body would now be doing and then he could free Elsa and Pen, but Wynter was another matter entirely and Pen decided he’d leave that to those who had much more expertise in the matter than he did. Was it minutes, or was it hours before a thin blue light began to sparkle around Wisdom and cracks started to appear in the marble? Pen was never sure, but it was amazing to watch the marble seemingly develop a different colouration as the white hue became pink as stone became skin and after a while, he was himself again.
He dropped to his knees, gathering in his breath and he shook off the aftereffects of negating the spell.
“That sucked,” he muttered as he looked up and around, his eyes falling upon his doppelganger and he knew what he had to do and his mystic blades flared to life around his body and flew out and in to Pen Dragon’s statue. Unlike the staggered transformation of Wisdom, this reversal was instantaneous and a lot more painful, as evidenced by the tortured cry of Dragon upon his restoration.
“Mother fucking bastard son of a bitch,” he cursed as he tried to walk it off. It felt as if every cell of his body was on fire and it quickly faded, but he jumped hearing the same kind of cry of pain from Elsa as she was restored as well, and in a moment Pete had his arms around her, comforting her.
“This is turning in to one hell of a day,” he said, looking at Pen. “I’m so glad you brought me in to this.” The sarcasm was dripping from his voice, but Pen wasn’t bothered. He’d just saved them all so he’d cut him some slack for the moment.
“Not over yet,” he said, crouching down next to Wynter and he rubbed his stubble ridden face, pondering what to do next. They had to go to Otherworld, stop Necrom once and for all, get the Space Phantoms back in to Limbo and then destroy the time equipment so nobody would ever be able to use it again, as well as finding a way of putting Wynter back together again and retrieving Elsa’s Bloodstone. “It’s never bloody easy, is it?”
“H-how much do you know about this technology?” Elsa asked, a slight tremor in her voice after her ordeal.
“Not enough,” Dragon admitted, “but let me see what I can do.” He started fiddling with switches and panels, trying to get some kind of response. The one was that Widget was still in there somewhere and that somehow he could awaken the sleeping cybernetic consciousness. It was a long shot at best, but he had very little other choice.
On Otherworld the armies faced off against each other in a brutal and bloody conflict. The Space Phantoms were just stopped, but when they brought down one of the defenders of the realm, they would start to tear at the flesh, eat them on the battlefield. It was not enough to simply defeat them, but they craved food as well. Betsy looked across towards Necrom, who was content to sit back and watch as his armies worked and she drew herself up, hoping she could despatch him and went off to face the wizard and put an end to this once and for all. She was Queen, and this was her responsibility.
Necrom saw her approach and smiled, thinking it had taken her longer than he had suspected to confront him directly, and she leapt from her horse, landing gracefully, Excalibur in her hand, and he summoned the power of the Bloodstone to aid him. Excalibur was a powerful weapon, but he knew of it’s power. He knew the truth and secrets behind the sword, secrets that Merlyn had still not revealed. The greatest weapon ever forged in the hands of such amateurs, he mused, what a waste. He would take the sword from and use it to cut out her heart. She swung the sword and he caught it between his hands, the power of the Bloodstone giving him far greater physical prowess than she had been expecting. He was alone and unarmed, she had not expected that and he smiled as he clamped the blade in place.
“The powers you wield?” he whispered as she struggled to break free of his group. “They were mine before your existence was ever contemplated.”
He released the sword, pushing it up to keep her off balance, and the Necrom hit her with an uppercut that knocked Betsy back, and she slowly smiled. It had been a while since she had a good fight, not since assuming the mantle of Queen and she had a lot of frustration to exorcise. She sheathed the sword and drew up a fighting stance. She had learnt much with the X-Men, been trained by the Hand, by Wolverine, was a warrior of Otherworld by heritage and she was not going to let some two-bit sorcerer undo her in the first true test of her reign. While her time as Lady Mandarin was not something she was proud of, there was much she had gained from that time as well. Necrom smiled as she adopted a fighting stance and he knew it was all going exactly as he planned.
Merlyn watched in consternation at what was unfolding. He had not foreseen these events occurring and he was most displeased with himself, but what game was Necrom playing here? It was not his way to get involved in a physical confrontation like this and he knew there was a deeper reasoning behind it all. Then he realised he felt different, as if his own perceptions were strained.
“How can this be?” he mused and then he knew what Necrom was doing. He was tapping in to the energy matrix and draining the power in to himself. Merlyn was not in command of the matrix; he could not stop it for he did not rule. Elisabeth did that, and Necrom had played to her warrior instincts and her focus was on him and not Otherworld. Necrom would take the power of Otherworld from right under her nose and the only way she would know was when her new powers failed her and Necrom too Excalibur for himself. He started to move in, heading for the battle between the two generals, but then he felt a sharp pain and he looked down. One of the Space Phantoms had plunged a dagger through his back, and Merlyn stumbled, turning as he fell and he could see that the demon only had one arm.
“The master says you’re to stay out it,” the creature said, with a sardonic grin. “Which is fine by me, but the fool has no idea of who he’s dealing with.” Merlyn tired to speak but found he could not as the Space Phantom walked away, shaking his head. That creature was gaining self-awareness, Merlyn thought, and there was a glimmer of hope for on Otherworld, Necrom’s will was not absolute. He was losing control and somehow the mystical powers here were affecting that Space Phantom. Merlyn had no other choice but to place himself in a healing trance and hope that the battle went their way.
“Okay,” Pen said and the other two gathered around. “I think I have it figured. I can get us all out of here.” He couldn’t directly access Widget, his consciousness simply was no longer there, but there was an AI interface that seemed to recognise him, thanks to the St Christopher medallion that had reactivated the systems. “But we have to walk through the portal to get out.”
“What about Wynter?” Pete asked.
“We’ll come back for him,” Pen said. “I’m sure Betsy has power enough to transport us to Limbo and back after we’ve kicked Necrom’s arse.” He pressed the commands that he’d been instructed to by the AI, a portal appeared before them, and he nodded in triumph. “Get ready,” he said and they prepared and walked in to the light and appeared on Otherworld, where the battle continued.
“Where the hell do we start?” Pete asked as they viewed the conflict.
Pen smiled. “Easy. Grab a bad guy and start hitting.” His eyes scanned the scene looking for the architect of this battle and there he was, brawling with Queen Elisabeth. “Necrom…”
“Pen,” said Pete, “why is that Space Phantom sitting there, not doing anything?” Pen followed the direction his ‘brother’ was pointing in. There was indeed a one-armed Space Phantom sitting there, eating an apple and watching the battle. It’s demonic skin was turning a reddish colour and Pen knew what was going on here.
“Because Necrom’s not as in control as he’d like to think he is,” Pen said. “I’m going to go chat with him. You two… amuse yourselves.” Elsa and Pete went to work and Pen paused to watch them go at it, fighting Space Phantoms along with the Corps and the Knights of Camelot. He knew damn well he wanted Elsa as a new member of the team, Pete was going to Pendragons and so there were at least two of them. He sauntered over to the demon.
“Now then,” he said, sitting down next to him and the Space Phantom just gave a slight turn to look at him. “When the Elder Gods exiled you to Limbo, we all assumed it was the demonic Limbo. But it was the Limbo outside of time, and you became a Space Phantom.”
“You know more about me than I do about you,” the Phantom replied.
“Red skin, one arm, Limbo, you’re regaining in a world of magic – you’re Belasco, aren’t you.” Belasco smiled. “How would you like to rule Limbo?”
“You’re giving it to me?” said Belasco, with mild curiosity. “What makes you think I won’t take it?”
“Because,” Pen replied, “Necrom’s about to get his head handed to him and then it’d be you alone in this world without a lot of help. When Necrom dies, you take the Space Phantoms, go back to Limbo and it’s yours. Plot the return of the elder gods again in a world that is yours and yours alone.”
“Interesting, but I think you’ll find me more than a match for the forces of this world. I’ve already dispatched Merlyn,” Belasco replied. “Foolish old man.”
“I’ll be back,” Dragon replied, standing up. “Consider my deal, don’t make me kill you.” A Space Phantom was approaching Meggan and he ran quickly, dived and tackled it to the floor, plunging a fist full of hot knives in to it’s head.
“Thanks,” she said, “but you could have easily taken him from back there.”
“I like to get my hands dirty from time to time,” he replied. “How you doing?”
“It helps being distracted,” Meggan admitted, as the two of them looked about. “Is that your other self?”
“Hoping Jess’ll make him a Pendragon,” he said. “I…” He looked across as Necrom did something and somehow, Elisabeth was on the floor and the wizard held Excalibur. “LATER!” he said as he flung his hot knives towards the sorcerer, who used Excalibur to deflect them. Then he raised the sword and thrust it down towards Betsy, but it was met with a clang, as the mystic swords of ZZ’ria deflected the blade. “Oh this is going to be interesting…”
Kylun and Necrom stood face to face.
“If you want her, you have to go through me,” said Kylun, addressing his nemesis.
“Your swords are no match for the Sword of Darkness,” said Necrom, as Excalibur seemed to lose it’s sheen. “Excalibur has had many names, many wielders. The Sword of Power it is, but power corrupts.” The blades clashed and clanged as the two of them clashed, Necrom using the power of the Bloodstone to match the battle prowess of Kylun and Pen knew he needed to do something about that. The moves of the two warriors were too swift and he was too far away to make it a precise shot, and he swore.
“Let us guide you,” said a voice and he could see a butterfly effect in the air. Betsy was linked to Meggan and then they were linked to Pen. “Necrom took my power,” said Betsy. “I was too engaged in the fight to notice and he tricked me.”
“I can see the energy matrix coalescing around him,” said Meggan, “but I can also provide a precise target. See through my eyes, and I will guide your hot knives.” Pen trusted them both and he fired one shot, all three of them focusing on the Bloodstone’s position. Betsy provided the true point, Meggan the energy signature, Pen the weapon and the hot knife grew and turned and cleaved off Necrom’s arm, just above the Bloodstone and the gem fell to the floor. Necrom cried out in pain, and Kylun thrust the swords of Zz’ria through his body.
Necrom cursed in a alien language and Kylun was thrown back, but the damage had been done and the Space Phantom army had lost the focus it had possessed earlier in the fight. Pete Wisdom was watching and he knew the sorcerer had power, so what if the magic of Otherworld met the anti-magic of his mystic blades? He decided to test it out and he fired, the blades cutting in to the sorcerer, his link to the external mystical forces was severed and Betsy felt her powers return. She was Queen once more, and Excalibur returned to her hand.
“I’ve had enough of you,” she said and Excalibur seemed to be charged with psionic energy and she struck and cleaved his head from his shoulders, but as before his spirit rose, but this time it was corporeal. They could see it, highlighted with a psychic residue and Elisabeth looked to Kylun. “Your moment is now, Colin MacKay.”
Kylun thrust his swords in to the spirit of Necrom and the magic within the swords did the rest, ensuring that this time Necrom was truly dead and gone. He would not return and Kylun realised something. He had fulfilled a purpose he had not realised he possessed – he had avenged his world, his friends, his love. Necrom, the traitor, the murderer, was dead and he involuntarily began to cry. The battle was over
“Bravo,” said a voice and they turned to see Belasco standing there, restored to his prime by the energies of Otherworld. “I wasn’t sure you’d do that, but my heartiest congratulations to you all.” The warriors of Otherworld turned to face the sorcerer. “I can summon forces darker and deadlier than you have ever faced before you even come close,” Belasco warned. “Do not test me.”
“Stand down!” shouted Pen Dragon stepping in to Belasco’s path. “I gave you an offer. Take it while you can.”
“I want the Bloodstone.” He looked at Elsa. “And the girl.”
“You can’t have her or it,” Pen said. “It is not your time, but you will have a girl just like her, and she will provide the Bloodstones you need. Rebuild your forces, regain your true power, or I will kill you.”
“I cannot be killed by such as you,” Belasco said. “Only my own sword can harm me.”
“You’re so ready to test that?” said Pete, his mystic blades gleaming. He was backed by Kylun, and Elisabeth was with them as well.
“I’m giving you a dimension to shape as you will,” said Pen. “Take the offer. You’ve only just got your life back, you want to lose it again?” Belasco mused.
“Done, however we will meet again.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Pen. “Elisabeth…” His voice called out and Betsy nodded, and she gathered her power and with a wave of her hand created a vortex to Limbo. She knew what he needed to do and the Space Phantoms and Belasco were swept away to Limbo, far from the former fortress of Immortus. She and Pen stood there in that place and both of them did what was needed.
“I have Wynter,” she said, ensuring that every piece of him was gathered.
“I’ve set the destruct code,” said Pen. He looked at the computers and ran his hand over it one last time. “Bye Widgy.” Then they were gone and moments later, the fortress of Immortus exploded. The temporal machinery and other technology were destroyed, the rest becoming nothing more than waste, left to become corroded.
Jessica looked at Pen. “So?”
“What do you mean so? Betsy restored Wynter, Elsa recovered the Bloodstone, Kate’s been given a new body and she’s living in New Camelot, Merlyn’s fine, and I have a new Dragon’s Claws line up.”
“Really?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.
“Kylun’s cool, I wanted to keep him about. Elsa’s cool, I wanted to keep her about too. Meggan asked if she could help, I think she needs something to do and Wynter wants to keep an eye on me. That’s the five.”
“It’s an interesting line-up.” Jessica looked down. “I just wish you’d be on my team as well.”
Pen sighed and came over and put his arms around her. “Babe, I’ll never be far away. You guys are the Pendragons, we’re the Dragon’s Claws. From now on we’re family, so if you need us, just call.” She nodded. “Now, tell me about the Pendragons. I want to know who the new roster is…”
On the highlands of Scotland, there was a tear in the fabric of reality. A single figure appeared through the rip, and he smiled as he looked about.
“This is the place,” he said. “The Time War begins…”
