Dragon's Claws #40

"Take a straw and throw it up into the air, you shall see by that which way the wind is "
- John Seldon, 'Table Talk'

“Pen Dragon,” said the guard as the Dragon’s Claws walked in to Darkmoor, fire in Pen’s eyes on a face like thunder. He was in a bad mood and had been since his return from Otherworld. After helping save New Camelot he and the team had been causally dismissed and returned home before they could even say a word. No expressions of gratitude had been given, just a basic ‘you can go now’ and Dragon was not happy about that. He wanted a way back to Otherworld and the only place he could get something like that was in Darkmoor.

“Have the Pendragons returned from the Netherworld yet?” he asked, looking at the man. “I need to see Adam Crown.”

“I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know,” the guard replied, “however I am aware you’re not the only people waiting for their return.”

“Really?” Pen said. “Who else is here?”

“Pen Dragon…” said a familiar voice and Dragon turned around to see Captain America standing there, dressed in the red, white and blue, the round shield on his back. Pen knew he called himself the Captain these days, but everyone still called him Captain America, despite his protests.

“Jack Monroe,” he said, as the Captain removed his mask and the two men shook hands. “Been a while.”

“It has indeed,” said Jack. “And these must be the replacements.” He looked at the other members of the team and Pen nodded.

“Kylun, Meggan, Elsa,” Pen said, “allow me to introduce, Jack Monroe, the Captain. He was part of my original Dragon’s Claws team.”

“You’re Captain America,” Kylun said in awe and Jack sighed.

“Just Captain,” he corrected. “America fell in the Martian Wars. Like it or not, the only super power now is the United Kingdom and Adam doesn’t believe in calling yourselves as super-power.”

“Malcolm,” said Dragon, beckoning to the guard at the window and Malcolm came over, “are Lady Jessica’s rooms available?”

“Yes sir,” said Malcolm. “She has given permission for you to have access to her chamber whenever you are in Darkmoor.” Pen smiled, thinking that there was a comment and he could see from the twinkle in his eye that Malcolm was very much aware of the double-entendre.

“Let’s adjourn to her suite,” said Pen, “a bit more comfortable. I…” He paused a moment seeing someone else behind the Captain. “That’s Peter Parker. What’s Spider-Man doing here?”

“He’s with me,” Jack said. “We came to find Mary Jane, she was…”

“Captured with the other Pendragons,” Meggan said, looking at him. She knew Peter, from his association with Brian and they had worked together when she had been with Excalibur. “Peter!” she called out and went over to him and the two of them embraced.

“I was sorry to hear about Brian,” Peter said and Meggan gave a sad nod of her head in acknowledgement.

“Thank you,” she said. “I know he respected you a lot, and don’t worry about Mary Jane, I’m sure the Pendragons can bring her safely home.” Peter nodded. “Join us?” Meggan asked. “We’re going to somewhere a bit more comfortable, and they’ll come and inform us when the Pendragons have returned.”

“Ok,” said Spider-Man and Malcolm led them to Jessica Drew’s rooms with the great castle.

“Your girlfriend has some seriously cool digs,” Elsa said as they sat in the room. The master bed chamber was through another door, but this was the study area and was decorated with some magnificence, with a selection of hand crafted furniture as well as flowers, fruit and other sundry items.

“When you’re heir to the throne, you get some special treatment,” Pen said, picking up an apple, and he looked over at Jack and Peter. “So I gather you two are part of the rebuilding committee. How exactly do you start to restore a planet?”

“Slowly,” Jack answered. “Very slowly. It’s nice to have a bit of time away from it all, to be honest…”

The first thing that was needed was a form of organisation between the war-ravaged parts of the world, and it had seemingly come from the Resistance Council, at least to begin with. After a restructuring the main leaders on the body were Magneto, Black Panther, Rick Jones, Forge, Reed Richards and Nick Fury. They had also invited Adam Crown, Victor von Doom, and other select leaders to form the first World Council, a body that would work to restore government and infrastructure to a planet that had lost much of both., but the trick was to do it without the scientific advances they had become accustomed to.

The electro-magnetic pulse that Magnus had sent across the world in order to stop the Martian warships on a global scale and allow the Destiny Force augmented human race to end the war had also destroyed much of the technology they’d had. Human and Martian tech alike had been struck, circuitry destroyed, files wiped, the things they had taken for granted lost in a moment. It was not the first time Magnus had done such a thing, but at least back then they had the ability, resources and money to rebuild. Not now. A lot of humanity had been culled by the Martian overlords, cities had been destroyed, except for the select few the Martians had kept for their own reasons, and with the fall of the Barrier that had separated Europe from the rest of the world, magic was spreading across the planet, filling the void left by a distinct absence of science. The greatest thinkers on the planet were working on ways of harnessing the magic for power on larger scales than had been contemplated in Europe under the Barrier, except by one man – Victor von Doom.

Doom’s grasp of the arcane, coupled with his scientific knowledge, meant he was the perfect choice to work at blending the two forms, because they knew that without that they would never be able to restore things. They had limited supplies of fossil fuels, and the energy sources they had all previously enjoyed were – for the moment at least – out of their grasp. Doom was in his element, taking charge of things and being commanding and knowing it was through his knowledge and intellect that they would be able to save the world. While he still had ambitions of rule and power, he knew there was not much out there and this suited his status, and ensured that they did not have an enemy working in their midst, or if they did, they were able to keep a close eye on him.

If they could get some kind of new technological advances together, then it would make things a lot easier, and with magic influencing the lives of everyone on the planet, there was an abundance of help. The Martian’s had instilled in humanity a sense of co-operation, of unity and a need for each other. Petty differences over colour, race, religion were a thing of the past as people worked together to restore their world and there was a sense of unity. That however did not account for the more criminal element that was still out there, and there were a lot of people who needed finding in order for them to pay for their crimes in aiding and abetting the Martian cause. That was where SHIELD came in, keeping some semblance of law and order out there and ensuring that things did not get out of hand. They had dropped the title of Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate and were now just referred to as SHIELD, no longer an acronym but a symbol of protection and strength and Jack was the head of the organisation, and he had teams of agents out there, hunting the enemy and working to help recreate the infrastructure that was gone. Buildings were needed to live in, crops were needed for food and everyone needed help for one thing or another, and Jack was happy as it kept him out of politics and allowed him to do what he felt best doing – helping others.

Nearly forty per cent of the Earth’s population had been wiped out. Knowledge and resources had been stripped and an entire generation seemingly lost. The younger people of the planet had been decimated by Martians who did not want the slaves growing up knowing the taste of freedom and be young enough to try and take it back. There were children, who had been born during the Martian era, and there were half-breeds, Terran/Martian hybrids. That was something that was not a problem yet, but the new branch of humanity would face difficulties, as mutants had when they had first arrived, for these children would have the face of the enemy. SHIELD did what they could, but they could not be everywhere and that was where the main intolerance lay.

To say it kept SHIELD busy was an understatement, and it was only thanks to Tyrone Johnson, the hero known as Cloak, that the Captain was able to get to and from places quickly and take charge. Everyone knew what he represented, and his presence seemed to generate almost a reverent calm, and it was ironic that it was due to the magic that was covering the Earth that made it possible. The changes had benefited everyone with even the vaguest traces of mystical energy and Cloak, with his access to the Darkforce Dimension was one of them. The changes were subtle to everyone but Tyrone, for he had a much greater control over his abilities and removing the ‘hunger’ that the cloak created. Tyrone was able to teleport much greater distances and those who entered his cloak no longer felt the fear that had accompanied the sensation of being shrouded in the darkness, unless Cloak wished it. It had been agreed with him and his partner Dagger, the woman named Tandy Bowen, that the criminals they caught would be sent to the Darkforce Dimension, as there were no prisons on Earth now. It was reminiscent of how they had started their heroic careers, but on a much larger scale, and they were not the only ones helping to rebuild the world, as humans and mutants worked together to try and create a new life. The Destiny Force had given everyone a taste of what was possible, and the humans who had not truly understood before that had gained a greater understanding of mutants and heroes, and the magic was affecting everyone in different ways.

Perhaps it wouldn’t last, as some cynics believed, but while it did they would make the most of it to rebuild the planet, and indeed there were rumours of a group of humans who coveted the powers they had received and wanted them back. This so-called Illuminati were a rumour, a shadow, but the shadows were growing and it was a threat in the back of everyone’s minds. There were bigger things at stake at the moment, and the assessments had so far proven correct. America, once the pride of the west, was now akin to a third world country. There were occasional jewels dotted about, but other than that, the place seemed to be a wasteland. People lived either in slums, or below ground, vanishing as best they could at night, for the nights grew cold quickly. Mutants and other enhanced humans provided what aid they could, but the basics were required sustenance and shelter, and while shelter could be done, food and water were in as basic state as they had ever been. Rationing was something across the world and until there was a great change, very little could be done. Magic was doing a lot of things, but it was not changing the natural order – crops grew at their own pace, rain fell when it could.

It was a new way of life for them all and they were making the best of a bad job.

“We have problems though,” Jack admitted as he finished explaining what was going on outside the United Kingdom. “We don’t know what we can do to fix things and the weather is changing. Summer is changing to Fall…”

“Autumn,” corrected Kylun with a smile, “you’re in the UK now. We don’t have Fall.”

“Autumn then,” said Jack, “and we don’t have the crops ready and we can’t supply the whole world. People are going to start dying and then they’ll start fighting. It’s going to be the biggest test of our freedom, because if we can’t survive the winter without trying to kill each other…”

“We’ll not survive at all,” said Meggan, sensing his futility with it all.

“Exactly.” Peter looked at them. “I’ve been working with the best minds to try and figure something out. Reed, Doom, me, Hank Pym, and some others are working on trying to figure out the food situation.” He shrugged. “Then three Druids came in and three of us couldn’t stop them from taking MJ. Torch, me, Simon Williams…” He closed his eyes. “Might as well have sent Power Pack against them…”

“So we came here,” said Jack. “As head of SHIELD I can get in to see Adam whenever I need to.”

“Except he isn’t here,” said Elsa and Jack nodded. “Typical.”

“He is now though,” said a voice and they turned to see Jessica and MJ standing there. Peter rushed to his wife’s arms as Jack and Jessica embraced. “Good to see you, Jack.”

“You’re looking good, Jess,” he said. “How was the Netherworld?”

“Difficult,” Jess admitted, slipping her hand in to Pen’s. “We returned everyone else home where they came from, then we came here with Adam because we knew you were on site. The Box brought us all here. We know what was going on in London, sorry we couldn’t help.”

“The Box?” asked Pen, wondering what he’d missed.

“I’ll tell you later,” she answered. “I hear you want to talk with Adam?”

“I need to get to Otherworld,” Pen said, and she could see from the look in his eye he was going to cause trouble. “Need to talk to Elisabeth.”

“Maybe I can help with that,” said Wynter, entering.

“Where the bloody hell have you been?” asked Pen. “Which team are you on?”

“Yours, hers, both,” said Wynter. “I go where I’m needed, and you and I need to talk.” He looked at him. “About my mother.” Then everyone looked at Pen, who remained silent. “I know you know what’s going on, what happened. I think I’m old enough to handle the truth, don’t you?”

“It’s not my decision,” said Pen softly. “There were pacts made that I cannot break. No matter how much I want to.”

“What makes this different from any of the other pacts you’ve broken?” Wynter said.

“Because it could destroy everything we’ve worked for – all of us,” Pen snapped. “There are bigger things at stake here than… petty pride.” He closed his eyes, listening to himself speak. “Damn it.”

“We can’t go to Otherworld and pick a fight with the Queen,” said Kylun, looking at him. “We’re the front line, we go where they tell us, when they tell us. Elisabeth, Romana, the TVA… they’re the generals.”

“Romana?” said Wynter. “As is in Romanadvoratrelundar, Lord President of Time Lords?”

“They wanted Otherworld to concede sovereignty over the Omniverse to the Time Lords,” Elsa said. “Was actually expecting a bit of a fight, but they’re in negotiations to resolve the Time War, along with the TVA.”

“I bet Merlyn was angry,” said Wynter, wishing he could have been there.

“Actually,” Meggan said, “Merlyn seemed to welcome it, from what I gathered. It was… unusual.” Wynter’s eyes narrowed. “I think we should go to Otherworld, something is very wrong.”

“I think you’re right,” said Wynter. “I can get us there. I…” He looked around. “Hmm.”

“Hmm?” asked Kylun.

“I can’t get us there,” he said. “Something is stopping me from opening a path to Otherworld.”

“Or someone,” said Elsa. “Could it be Elisabeth?” Wynter shook his head.

“Even the Queen cannot stop me from entering Otherworld, I was born there, I should be able to return quite easily.” He closed his eyes and focused, a blue aura surrounding the Dragon’s Claws, but nothing more. “Something is wrong. I can’t even sense Otherworld now. The magic simply isn’t responding to me. I have limited scope, but somehow it’s being blocked.”

Meggan looked at him through the Alshra. “I can sense the power is there, but whatever the problem is I can’t sense it, but it isn’t of the origin of Otherworld. Something else has happened, and it’s weakened you somehow. Your lights aren’t as bright anymore, as if the centre of your magical powers have shifted.”

“Could it be the Phoenix?” Jessica asked and they looked at her. “The Phoenix is coming to Earth, and we think she’s the Dark Phoenix and has a serious mad on for magic.”

“Oh that’s great,” said Pen. “Just what we need with everything else that’s going on.”

“Pen,” Jessica said, “I’ll need your help. All your help.” She looked at the Claws and turned to Pete, Jack and MJ. “I’ve no right to ask this, but we’ll need all the help we can get. Is there anything you can russle up?”

“I don’t know,” said Jack. “I…” Then Peter grabbed his head in pain.

“My spider-sense is going wild,” he said as MJ held his arm, scared for him. “I think the Phoenix might be here.”

“Wonderful timing,” said Elsa.

“Pen,” said Jessica.

“I know, we’re drafted on to the Pendragons.” Then Darkmoor shook, violently. “We’ll follow your lead.” Jessica nodded and the assembled heroes headed out to see just what was happening outside…

CONTINUED IN PENDRAGONS #100