The
energies coalesced and formed as the power of the universe flowed through
the place, creating a convergence, slowly recreating matter using the little
pieces of material that it located in this area. Time was of no importance
in this place, as it stood outside of time, but there had been a breach in
the very fabric of reality, drawing the cosmic flotsam together. The energy
had a sentience to it, a need to be whole once more, instead of the particles
that floated through the universe and finally a means had been discovered,
something that not even the grandmaster himself could have foreseen. Two beings
in control of reality itself and subsequently time had enabled this to come
together, to happen. Their usage of the Forever Crystal for their own ends
had weakened the fabrics of the universe.
This
was not the way it was supposed to have been, but now this was the way it
was. Jaspers and Braddock had done the seemingly impossible, twice in succession
and though Jaspers had been the greater threat, his defeat at the hand of
King Britain through the use of the Ultimate Nullifier had created a gap between
corporeal time and limbo and the chance had been taken. The creature he had
been once was indeed dead, but there was a greater
power at work here, and with the last remaining ergs of power he was being
rebuilt, reborn. If he had been a lesser being in his lifetime it was more
than likely that this would not be possible, but his mastery over death was
such that he regained his consciousness – it had been for him a fate worse
than death, immortal, immovable, inert yet always aware unable to influence
the universe around him. How long he had been like that he no longer knew,
but he knew that he would one day return and that he would wreak his vengeance
on those responsible and finally he was returned to a human form.
“At
last,” he said, finding voice for the first time in a long time and he looked
around this place. Limbo, a world outside of time itself.
An entire realm, though one that was not for the faint of heart or the short
of power. Those who came here could be so easily lost to the images that echoed
around it. There was no sign here of those who had formerly occupied it –
such as the Time Keepers or Immortus. The Keepers had died at the hand of
Kang, and both Kang and Immortus had been obliterated by the powers of the
Forever Crystal. Now, all the self-styled ‘masters of time’ had all gone and
Limbo – and, in effect, time itself – were ripe for the conquest, but there
was a matter to take care of first. He needed to learn how to use the items
and technology of this place, but as Sorcerer Supreme that would be fairly
simple for he knew what he was doing. The passage of what his body would perceive
as linear time would not affect him and make him a space phantom, as it had
done so many other who had entered Limbo before him, those who for some
reason or another had slipped through the cracks of forever and entered the
timeless realm – the one true Limbo.
He
could sense the space phantoms now, locked away, unable to escape the hellish
extistence they had been condemned to - pawns to be used by
the master of Limbo as they saw fit. The machines here could protect him,
but not unless he knew how to use them, but he would have the capacity to
learn without the properties of Limbo altering him, eroding him to so much
less than he was for he had been given a gift. When the
foolish girl had destroyed his corporeal form, overloading him with the full
power of the Phoenix force and the
full power of the potential of those who could be born in the future. That
had been the source of the Phoenix Force, using the potential power for itself
and in doing so it had meant that those who would have lived would not do
so. He had realised this himself too late, before the energy freed itself
from his fragile form, but in draining Rachel Summers of her own life force,
she had given him a part of herself. Her chronal-variant powers had been imprinted on his form and
thanks to the power of the Anti-Phoenix he retained that. While he no longer
had the great powers that he had wielded then, he had enough to suffice -
He was alive and that was enough for him for now Merlyn would see his creation
collapse around him.
He
had been linked to the energy matrix and he could sense what was going on
in Otherworld, and he had some knowledge of what had happened in the years
since his apparent death and he realised that King Britain and his champions
were of no real consequence, as they would be tied up in a power struggle
with Roma for Otherworld, keeping them both away from discovering his return.
Merlyn believed him to be dead and he played his little games, oblivious to
the real threat, which left one group of heroes - The Pendragons, whose presence
had been so vital to the defeat of Infinitus and
Jaspers, would not be able to play a part in this with Brian Braddock so distracted
and unable to call them to the field of play. His enemies had placed themselves
where he wanted them and engineered his return, but there would be no chessboard
for this one, no game to be played, for none would know that a game was being
played but him and he smiled at the irony of it all. All he needed to do now
was to put his plans in to action, and he was more than capable of doing so,
especially from this strategic point.
He
knew enough about the Omniverse and how time was able to affect it. It was
his engineering that allowed Feron to cast the tower
through the Omniverse with the Phoenix Force, and it was he who had then thrown
the Omniverse in to chaos when he tried to claim the powers for himself. That
time he had failed to absorb the concentrated matrix energies, and the energy
matrix had been controlled by Merlyn after the death of Feron.
The student had at last become the master, but the master would return, which
was why Merlyn had formed the Captain Britain Corps, to find him and ensure
that he did not come back, but they had failed him and he had returned, only
to find heroes who would stand in his way and yet again he was driven back,
Merlyn’s taunting laughter ringing in his ears. Yet he knew he would yet have
the last laugh. Once he found the means to influence time itself, as Immortus
had done, then he would be able to adjust the Omniverse, cutting Otherworld
off from those who would defend it and finally he would achieve the destiny
that he was meant to have, and the convergence would reoccur and he would
restructure the Omniverse. There would be no guardian, there would be a ruler
and he would bring order to this wretched universe.
The
age of Necrom was upon them and there was nobody to stop him this
time…
Far
in the future, at the place where time itself was coming to an end as the
universe collapsed in on itself, waiting to be reborn as the cycle began once
more, a lone being stood, motionless in the ruins of Chronopolis,
waiting for further instructions as it had done so since the loss of his master,
alone, forgotten, a relic of an era that there was none left alive to remember.
Widget
rested in the weapons room of the once grand palace, awaiting Kang’s return,
as he had done since helping Kang elevate Brian Braddock to the destiny of
King Britain. But the Forever Crystal had wiped Kang out of existence and
the Conqueror was long gone and the barrier between time and limbo had long
since eroded and the fabled city had fallen in to real time. With no ruler
to defend it, and as the legions of Chronopolis
were hacked away piece by piece by creatures wanting to supplant the place
of Kang with themselves, the city had eventually been destroyed by the passage
of time itself, an ignoble end to such a dynasty. The universe began to crumble
to nothing as a figure appeared next to Widget. He landed hard on the floor
as if he had been forcibly ejected from something, but he picked himself up
and looked at the machine, a robotic head on a self generating body of energy
that gave it form and substance.
“I
don’t have long,” he said to the waiting machine, that, if it was even aware
of him, did not acknowledge his presence. “I know who you are, what you are
capable of. It has been too long, and we do not have much time.” He had been
flung from one end of the time-stream to the other for so long and this was
one his rarer moments of sanity. He had seen what was to come and he knew
there was only one chance of stopping things from coming to pass and he spoke
the words that would mean the most, a trigger that had been placed a long
time ago, even though it had been meant for someone else. “Dark
Phoenix.” A flicker of light appeared in the empty
robotic eyes as came to life, sentience being regained once more cognizance.
It took a moment for Widget to realise what was going on, where he was, what
had happened and the head tilted slightly as it looked at the one that had
awoken him.
“Brian?”
said the voice, metallic and cold voice yet a familiarity to him. It wasn’t
the voice that Widget had used when he had heard him speak. The voice was
more feminine, an older version of a voice he was very familiar with. “Is
that you?”
The
man who had been known as Captain Britain smiled.
“For now,” the time-ravaged hero said, fighting to keep focused on the moment,
knowing that it was important and that he had only one chance to set things
up, or he would lose everything he had worked for and everything he would
work for. As much as he wanted to talk with someone, there was more at stake
than his personal happiness. “Kate, I know that you’re just coming round,
but there is something going to happen. Something that for
you already has.”
“I
remember Kang,” she said, as memories came back to her, the truth of what
had happened over the last few years and she looked at him, thinking that
he seemed so much younger than she remembered. “I was trapped here, within
Widget, watching as he ensured that you became King of Otherworld. Meryln…”
“I
know,” said Brian. “I’ve seen that future.”
“But
it’s not the future, it’s the past…” Her voice was trailing off in uncertainty
and Brian knew he had to get her to focus again while the systems that had
been dormant for years flared back to full operation.
“The
last time I saw you from my perspective, we had defeated the sentinels on
your Earth. Then you and I were lost in a time eddy as we tried to go home
and we were swept away from each other.”
“I
remember,” said Kate, the images entering her mind. “Rachel!”
“She’s
taken my place in the timeline, which is why I am lost, but that’s not important
right now. Kate, you’ve been my ally before and you will be again, but we
must go now before this universe is lost. Take my hand, we don’t have long
left.” Kate tentatively reached out and touched Brian, and as she did so they
were flung back through time as the timestream reclaimed
Brian once more and her re-emergence in to the temporal corridors seemed to
give her clarity about what had been going on, what had happened.
“Merlyn
rescued me from the timestream after we were separated,
and brought me to Otherworld. He repressed my mind and allowed Widget to have
control again. I saw your wedding, and then Mastermind… but I did it to help
Kang,” Kate said, remembering what had happened. “He wanted you to be King
Britain, but it was always manipulation by Merlyn. Damn the man…”
“Forget
him,” said Brian and he felt a twinge, and he knew he was about to be dumped
somewhere in time again. “It doesn’t matter.”
“But
he let Kang use me, to weed out the Corps, and then Forever Crystal destroyed
Kang, but not me. The guilt remained, and in order to make amends, I… we were
able to send you selected information from Chronopolis,
to let you work, but we lost contact… you never came for me… for us.” She
was not used to referring to Widget or herself, but they had been joined,
her soul fused in to the body of the robot as her phasing power and it’s
dimensional displacement powers collided.
“I
know, and King Britain will have his reasons, but I will not remember any
of this meeting until the time comes for me to be aware of it,” Brian said.
“Time, like reality, has a way of reordering itself to heal. I will remember
it all afterwards, if that future comes to pass. I have seen that future and
many others, but I am losing my mind because of it, Kate. It’s taking me everything
I have to keep my mind clear and tell you this, but I don’t know what the
cost will be.”
“Brian…”
Kate said, knowing of what would happen, as Brian’s future was her past.
“No,
let things play as they will,” Brian warned, feeling the pull on his very
being become stronger and stronger and he knew he was running out of time.
“This experience will allow me to become King Britain if it is to be my destiny,
but there is much for me to endure before then and you have much more to do.
I need you to gather a team. Necrom is coming, and
neither I nor my comrades will be able to deal with him, but I can put measures
in to place before then.” The pull was almost too intense, but he was Captain
Britain and
he would endure as long he was able to get the message across. “You must gather
them, Kate. You must…” He grimaced and looked at her, hoping she understood.
“Stop Necrom…” His voice faded and then he was gone,
leaving Kate/Widget adrift in the timestream, but
this time she had control. Kang had taught Widget well, and adjusted his systems
so that the problems that had arisen when first he was adrift would never
occur again and Kate used them to stabilise herself and reflected on the history
she knew.
Widget
had been offline since just after the battle with Jim Jaspers, so there was
much she was unaware of, but she knew of the Pendragons, and those that had
helped Brian become King Britain. Perhaps she could pull a team from them,
but she did not know how long Necrom had been operating,
what he had accomplished and if he had just a slight mastery of time, then he
would be watching them all. If she wanted to defeat him, then she needed to
find a new team, to forge a new Excalibur and she focused on the powers Widget
had, opening herself up to the Omniverse, wondering where to begin. Yet, she
seemed to know that she needed five heroes, as the original Excalibur had
been, and even more she seemed to know who they were and where they were.
This was more than pure coincidence at play. It was as if she were a wild
card in Necrom’s plans, a piece added to the board of play… and she
was angry, knowing that once again she had been played.
“Merlyn,”
she said, realising that this had the hallmarks of his handiwork, and she
wondered how far in advance the mage had planned. “You old crone…” Once more
the fate of the Omniverse was at stake, and once more Merlyn was using others
to achieve his goals. Then again what about Brian? As King Britain he had
displayed a capability to plot and plan as well as Merlyn ever could. What
was it Brian had said – that when the time was right he would remember all
this. What if King Britain had remembered it all after the battle with Jaspers?
He hadn’t come for either Kate or Widget because he knew it was destiny to
leave them in Chronopolis to be reactivated by his younger self for the
battle ahead. Merlyn has chosen his successor well, Kate thought with some
ounce of bitterness, but in that case, this was not a request from Captain
Britain –
it was a command from King Britain himself.
It
was time to gather the five.
