Excalibur by David Wheatley

For any who were watching it was a sight to behold. Limbo had seen many conflicts within the castle walls before - the Avengers, Kang, Immortus, Jamie Braddock to many, many others, but of all of them not had this intense a hatred as the two combatants. In another life they could have been the best of friends, the greatest of allies, but in this one they were the most bitter of enemies, striking at each other in turns. Each time a final solution had seemed to have been undertaken, but each time the other had effected a miraculous escape, due to the machinations of others or just pure luck.

It was a hatred long in the making. The first of them had ruined the other man when he had refused his to comply with the request of the first man's employers and turned a heroic heart to one of a much darker type. In return the other had gone after the other man when he could, striking at his job opportunities, attempting to destroy the man as much as he had been destroyed, and in the end he had gained an upper hand, obtaining a position of power where neither could truly strike at the other, which meant the first was restrained - at the very least he had been. Now there were no positions of power, no rules, no boundaries, nobody to stop them from finally ending their conflict. Pete Wisdom and Joseph Chapman, dark, dangerous and completely focused on finishing the other, no matter what the cost would be.

Chapman had been restored to his former status by the Lady of the Lake, gaining the enhanced strength and speed he had once admired in others and aspired to when he had been Union Jack, before Black Air had taken his hands, before Wisdom had burnt through his heart. He should have died but his heroic life had reclaimed him and now he stood across the line of dark and light. He also had other eldritch powers, one of which included the ability to dissipate the hot knives of Peter Wisdom on contact with his body, which removed Wisdom's power to instantly end this battle.

However Wisdom was still fast and strong. He was a trained killer, his skills were good and had been enhanced by SHIELD training and genetic modifications by the scientists of the Shadow King, so while his powers could not injure Chapman, he could use his hot knives for other purposes, such as binding his opponents hands, or trying to trip him up. It was not easy, but then again nothing worth it ever was and the battle was very evenly matched. Block, jab, parry, thrust, kick, slap, slam, the shots on each other kept coming with arms and legs flying as the two of them struck at each other, neither of them even taking the time to trade witty repartee. There was nothing left for them to say in words, the only thing that worked now was action.

"Wisdom?" He could hear a voice in his head, and it almost cost him a free punch as he narrowly avoided a blow from Chapman. He knew it was Elisabeth, that he was here for a reason, to stop Necrom, and that he was more than likely needed, but he needed to sort this out beforehand. "That's what you're telling yourself." Her tone was cold and he knew that she knew a version of him and how single-minded he could be when it came down to the matter of vengeance.

"Go away, Psylocke," he said. "I'll catch you up later, I'm going to make sure that this pillock never bothers anyone again!" Then he slammed his fist in to Chapman's gut, following up with a jump and kick so his foot connected with Joseph's chin, but as Chapman went back, he used the strength of his body to kick out at Wisdom, catching him in the chin and Wisdom went sprawling to the floor as Chapman did as well. Pete shook it off and clenched his fist, the joints in his hand cracking as he focused his anger at being caught by the blow, and the fact he wasn't sure if he was doing this for the mission or for himself. He just knew it needed doing.

"Damn him," Elisabeth said as she stopped heading towards him and the others about her stopped as well to look at her. "He says leave him."

"Leave him?" asked Drake, the incredulity in his voice evident and he threw his hands up in the air in frustration. He didn't like Wisdom much, but he had slowly started to gain a grudging respect for the man. Until now. "Is he out of his mind?"

"Yes, he is." Her voice was soft and she shook her head, because while she didn't agree with what he was doing, she could understand the need for revenge. "I could feel the grief and anger in him, and it's clouding his judgement."

"So let's make him face facts," Drake said, still in some state of annoyance. "It's only the fate of the universe."

"Hold." Adam Destine put his hand up, stepping in before they made a greater error of judgement. "What if this is what he is meant to do? We all have our part to play in this affair. Suppose that this is his."

"Adam," said Adam, "are you suggesting that Pete was brought here to get in to a fight?"

"Why not?" said Destine. "This man has been brought by Necrom to fight Wisdom, correct?" Psylocke nodded, knowing what she had pulled from Wisdom's mind. "Perhaps this man is more of a threat than people thought?"

"What if you're wrong though?" Drake shook his head. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I," replied Destine, "but the fact remains the time we spend stopping Wisdom's fight, we could be using to defeat Necrom. If we truly need him, he will come, I don't think any of us would be able to doubt that."

"Agreed," said Elisabeth, and the two of them looked at Drake.

"We're making a mistake," Drake said. "Let's go and get Necrom."

Necrom smiled, as he watched them all on his monitors and he knew that everything was falling in to place so very close to what he had believed.

The team that had been assembled against him were scarred from what had happened, their trust and faith in each other weakened by their own experiences and the key component - the man who was in many ways a lynchpin in their lives - had been removed from them. Yes, he had promised much to the man, but there was no way he would have ever kept to his bargain - Chapman was a pawn to be used, no matter what the man's own agenda was. He swapped sides as easily as anyone he had ever known and so he could never have been trusted, but he would keep Wisdom occupied.

"Do you see?" he said to Kate. "Do you see how your ragtag band of champions falls apart? Three against my might, one with no true power, the second a telepath and the third an immortal. How disappointing." Kate hung there, her astral form a prisoner. Her strength had left her from fighting his power for so long and she had nothing left. Her will was not as strong as his own - he had beaten her. Widget stood motionless in the corner of the room, and Brian was still chained and bound, and she knew he was still her best chance of winning, but what could he do? She knew it was only a matter of time before the magics that kept him alive faded and then he too would belong to Necrom. The sorcerer seemed to hold all the cards now. She thought of the shade of Logan, her mentor, her friend, telling her to keep strong but even he could not help her now.

Brian watched, controlling himself. He knew that he had to wait fro the right moment to strike, and it wasn't yet. He knew that the magic was there for him to command, and that the wizard was too confident in his power and knowledge of the magic. It was the same flaw that had betrayed Khan, and Braddock knew that it was the flaw that would undo the plans Necrom made, as it had undone the Demon Lord. He was not the inexperience hero that he had been when he first became Britain, and he was not the raw recruit that W had trained up. Perhaps it was the magic developing him, but he had seen the potential of what he could be - he was Captain Britain, and as he understood it the Captain Britain Corp had been created to find and defeat Necrom. If that was what his purpose truly was, then that was what he would do.

He closed his eyes, listening for the soft, calming voice inside him. The spirit of the lady was still within him and her song soothed him, the same way it had done when the death of Merlyn had struck him to his core and he had wondered if defeating Khan would ever have be possible. The time was not yet right, but he was having to struggle from striking Necrom down right now. The song played on.

Widget watched as Necrom ensured that the Omniverse was collapsing as he had wished it would. Hundreds of thousands of timelines had already been destroyed, culled and merged as if they had never been and this was just the beginning. So many were dead, yet not dead - they had become and the universe made in to an amalgamation of what they had been, and the speed of the convergence was starting to increase. It would take some time for everything to be destroyed, but at this rate, and the way the once infinite loop was tightening it would not take that long.

Widget remembered when he had been formed, how naïve he had been while his programming had been truly forming, and how much fun he had enjoyed while being around his friends in Excalibur, especially his best friend, Lockheed the dragon. However he had soon come to realise his own potential and slowly begun to generate a body to create a more efficient way of travelling through the multiverse. He knew his creator had not really understood what was going on, but Widget had learnt more through his efforts in trying to develop himself.

His creation was, in part, a way of his higher creator reaching out to try and restore the universe to rights. It had not been known how, or why, just that the last vestiges of the knowledge and power that James Jaspers had commanded had reached out, finally and desperately from beyond the grave, working through Tweedledope, whom Jaspers had created along with the rest of the Crazy Gang. The rest had been history - and though Widget had been forced to work with several masters he had always had one thing at the core of his being - the knowledge of the nature of the universe, and how the threads of order were bound together. As he had come to understand it all, he knew the relationship between time and the rest of creation, but it was not something he could explain - he just knew what it was and he also knew how the relationship had been used and abused by the so-called guardians of time, but it was not in his programming to do anything about it. He had self-awareness, but there was also something that held him back.

His bonding with Kate Pryde-Rasputin, and subsequent exile in the timestream had helped to understand his nature, to comprehend the innate knowledge within him and to realise what he could eventually become. Now he knew the mission and that the purpose he had been created with was coming to fruition. While Jaspers had been mad and tried to control the universe, he had also a sense of order - granted it was an insane sense of order, but order nonetheless. That was the final command - that everything have order and Widget knew that was what his true purpose was and he knew what he had to do. Limbo would never be abused again, and Widget would make sure of that. All that was needed now was for the others to play their part. It was almost as if this new team were a reforming of the team he had known, as if the sword had been reforged when the time of need was greatest.

They just needed to stop Necrom and then he would take over and finish the job, but he could not do what was needed while the technology of Limbo was being controlled by another.

The three remaining members of the team ran through the corridors of Limbo, almost in silence, contemplating what was going on, what they had to do and what the cost to their souls had been.

"This isn't going to work," Drake said, coming to a stop and the others turned to look at him. "We've no plan, other than rush him, and it's not like he doesn't know we're coming."

"So what do you suggest?" said Destine. "You have a plan?"

"I've actually been considering that," Drake said and he looked at them. "I think, in fact, I have…"

"Really?" said Elisabeth. "What are you thinking?"

Drake smiled. "You're the telepath - you tell me." She nodded realising that a telepathic conference would be best, otherwise Necrom would overhear them. As Drake outlined what he had in mind, a smile spread across her lips. It seemed to her to be quite a devious plan, even though it was going to be quite dangerous. She was prepared to do what she could, as was Adam Destine. That just left Drake to restore the others to freedom and with luck, the four of them could take Necrom after that. The only thing was there was no room for Wisdom in the plan, but Drake shook his head. He didn't believe they needed him for this, but Destine had been right - all they needed to do was to get him here and if he was right, then that would be pretty quick.

"So it's a plan?" He held out his hand and she put hers on his, and Adam followed suite

"Agreed," she replied. Destine nodded his agreement and the three of them removed their hands. Necrom was due a surprise…

Chapman wiped the blood from his lip as sweat dripped from his brow.

"Had enough yet?" Pete huffed, breathing hard. His face was bruised and he could feel something running from above his right eye and it was a bit too heavy to be simply sweat.

"Not even close," said Chapman, though his heart was beating quite fast, as both men took a well-earned rest. "Getting too old for this, aren't you Peter?"

"Says you," Pete sneered. "I'm so going to enjoy finishing you off, Joey."

"You can barely move," Chapman said, "where as I'm getting better by the second."

"Really?" said Pete. "No way you're going to beat me. I'll stop you, then Necrom and expose you as the lying traitorous son of a bithc you really are."

"You'll not beat me, the world will end and I will be in charge, and even if you could stop me you've no proof either way," said Chapman. "It's your word against mine and as head of Excalibur I outrank you as head of the XSE. I've more clout than you could dream of."

"Yeah," Pete admitted. "Unless I had proof." Then he smiled. "Sucker." He tapped his belt.

"You'll not beat me, the world will end and I will be in charge," came Chapman's voice and the man's eyes went wide as he realised what he was hearing.

"Standard SHIELD issue digital data recorder," Pete said, turning it off. "Never needed it before. Until now. Go figure." He gave a smirk, he couldn't help it. "Game, set, match."

"You're dead meat!" Chapman said, realising he'd been had and he charged at Wisdom, who had recovered enough and they began their fight again.

Brian could do little but watch and see how things went as the final battle began.

It started subtly enough with a vague hint of a purple butterfly forming around Necrom. The wizard stopped in his tracks, realising almost straight away that there was a telepathic presence attacking his mind and his brow furrowed, as he marshalled his own mental powers to counter Elisabeth's assault. While Necrom was not a telepath in his own right, his magical abilities granted him a measure of access to the astral plane, which was one of the many ways he could control and manipulate the dead. His powers had been enhanced by the power of the Anti-Phoenix and he had learnt much from it so he was not caught totally off his guard and, on the astral plane, the battle raged.

Brian closed his eyes and he could sense the fight, almost see it in his own mind, though he wasn't sure if he was imagining it or if it was what was actually happening, an effect of the woman who could have been his sister, and the man whose magic allowed him to see his soul. The scientist in him said it was part of his imagination, but the part of him that was born of magic said it was the latter and he could see it. Necrom had a faint glow of a bird of fire surrounding him in his astral form, while Elisabeth had a more graceful butterfly, and while it was rare that a butterfly could defeat a bird, Brian knew that some were poisonous and he hoped that Elisabeth, as former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, was as much a Monarch butterfly as she was Black Queen.

Necrom had finesse to his abilities, however he did not have the raw psionic power to match Elisabeth and the sheer force of her mind was pushing him back. Brian could feel Necrom's hold over him fading and he knew that the wizard was having to redouble his will to fend her off, but Brian was well aware that all he had to do was wait out the storm. If he survived, and he had no doubt that he would, Elisabeth would be open to whatever Necrom did, however it was amazing to watch the sheer power and majesty of the purple haired young woman.

Purple and green energies flowed and cascaded against the other as the two astral avatars fought. Brian knew very little about the intricacies of psionic combat - he was grounded on the physical world and he knew if he could hit it then it could bleed and if it bled enough if would die. He was unsure about the mind, that if you hit it enough then perhaps it too would die. It seemed almost too easy to contemplate, however if the images in his mind were anything to go by then there would obviously be some kind of pain and hurt. He looked to Necrom and he could see the wizard had broken a sweat and he was looking tormented and Brian smiled. Not acting was killing him, but he had to pick the moment. The other thing was what was going on with the others? He didn't have to wait long for an answer.

Drake and Destine entered quickly, stealthily, but in fairness they were too exposed to be unseen from anyone who wasn't paying attention, but that was obviously the plan - Elisabeth would keep Necrom distracted while the others came in and Drake, covered by Destine headed over towards Kate, a strange look in his eyes and Brian wondered what was going on. Then he realised it. Drake's power was to be able to see the electro-magnetic spectrum and influence it slightly around him. What he was obviously doing was testing the limits of his sphere of influence and he was trying to free Kate from Necrom's thrall. It was a sound theory, for with the wizard distracted there was a good chance that there would be some kind of psychic feedback that would knock him for a loop when Kate was removed from his control. Excalibur slowly rattled at Necrom's side as Brian knew that it would be at that moment when he should strike, but he calmed himself, so as not to call the sword before they were ready. He didn't want to ruin the plan before they'd had a chance to try it. It was all a matter of timing.

His one big question was where was Wisdom?

"Even after all these years, you still fight like a girl, Joe!"

"And I can list the girls who've kicked your arse, Petey…"

The fight continued.

Kate was suddenly self aware, and she knew from years of phasing and disrupting the electro-magnetic fields around her that her spirit form felt different, as if she were passing through a machine. That was the useful thing about being almost a ghost, she had been that way before and while this was more permanent than before it was still who she was, who she had been. She was free of Necrom's control and the wizard gripped his head in agony as his connection with was forcibly removed and in the moment that it happened Kate realised what was going on, what was supposed to be happening and she knew Pete was still missing. She hadn't noticed before and she moved towards Widget, wanting to recombine their forms so she could get to the SHIELD agent and bring him in to the game, putting aside his petty problems. As she did that, Necrom flung eldritch energy out, and Adam Destine shielded Adam Destine from the assault, ensuring the man was kept safe and then Brian reached out with his hand, Necrom's fury and double torment from the feedback and the psionic assault meaning he could now act.

Excalibur flew across the room and landed neatly in his hand and the pendant formed around his neck as his amulet, the Heart of the Lady, returned to him. He summoned the magic and he could feel his body growing in height and stature, his own natural musculature being enhanced, his very body becoming harder, powerful, the mystical forces binding themselves to him as they created the armour that was as tough as anything he had ever worn but also felt like silk against his skin. The transformation always seemed to last a while, as he savoured the moment, but that was all it was, mere seconds and he leapt across the room, the sword swinging as he did so towards Necrom who looked up at the last moment and just as the sword was about to cleave his head from his body, the wizard slammed his fists down on to the flat of the blade and held the sword in place to the shock and horror of Britain. Even Khan had not done that, and he knew they were in trouble now. He'd missed the moment.

Pete took a fist to the gut and then one to the head and he was knocked to the floor and Chapman was on him, his hands closing around his throat.

"It's over, Wisdom," Chapman said. "This time I'll kill you with my bare hands and that will be the end of you once and for all." Pete didn't answer, keeping his composure and not wanting to use whatever air he had left while his brain quickly thought of a way out of this. Just beyond Chapman he could see a multi-coloured light and he knew the cavalry had arrived. Pete knew his hot knives had no real effect on Chapman, but then again, this was going to be at point blank range. He had always created hot knives around him, and for better control he had learnt to use his hands to channel the power, but there were other ways as well and Chapman stared down at him as Pete closed his eyes. Then he opened them, his eyes sparkling with power and two hot knives flared, forming just above the cornea and searing out from his eyes right in to the eyes of Joseph Chapman. Pete was blind while this happened, but he heard the scream of Chapman. It hadn't burnt his eyes out, which Pete considered a shame, but he was suddenly blinded by the light and heat that had just formed. He let go and stood up, giving Pete the opening he needed.

"Kate! Portal to Lydia!" he shouted and Kate knew what to do, making a portal to the world where she had got Pete from, in front of the one person Pete knew would be able to help him out. Wisdom then slammed his head in to Chapman's face, hearing the nose of his enemy break and Chapman staggered back as Pete kicked him square in the chest and Joseph Chapman fell in to Widget's portal as Pete quickly took the recording device, put it in to a SHIELD safety pouch, tapped in Lydia's name on the LCD display and threw it in. She'd find it, open it and Chapman was finished. The portal shut down and Pete was alone and he had such a feeling of satisfaction that he'd finished of another lose end.

"I didn't know you could do that," Kate said, referring to the eye trick.

"Neither did I," said Pete, nonchalantly. "Amazing what you can do when you try."

"Speaking of which, the team's in trouble."

"Not a trap then?" said Pete, raising an eyebrow.

If Kate could have given a cold stare from Widget's robotic eyes, Wisdom would have just frozen. "I just sent your mortal enemy home."

"Point. Let's go."

"I just hope we're not too late," said Kate and formed another portal.

"I told you earlier, I am so much more than Khan ever was," Necrom hissed as he and Britain fought over the sword. "Excalibur was forged by magics not dissimilar to my own - did you really think it would stop me?" In a second, Necrom had grabbed a hold of the Heart of the Lady and he ripped it from Britain's neck, but Britain focused, holding on to the magic as long as he could, and the other two men charged in, trying to ensure that Britain was not alone, but they were not quick enough and the magic around Britain faded and Necrom seemed to alter as if he were draining the magic in to himself and he looked at Brian, as if he were looking at someone else.

"This time, you will not stop the convergence. This time you will not defeat me." The three men were thrown back and some way off, Elisabeth's psionic assault was turned back on her and she collapsed to the floor, having been weakened by the feedback of earlier as well. Her defences were not as prepared for that as she had thought and they had failed.

"Wanna bet?" said a voice and Wisdom swung down, using the solid hot knives to create a cord and he kicked Necrom in the face, and the sword fell from the wizard's hand as he fell back and Pete fired his hot knives in to the wizard as they landed. "DO IT NOW!"

He knew it was directed at him, but Brian didn't hear this version of Wisdom, instead he heard W, his mentor and his friend and he believed and the sword came to him. While he might not have had the power of Britain he still held the Sword of Power and he brought the sword to bear on Necrom who could not stop the sword this time and the sword was plunged in to the wizard's heart.

"For Merlyn," said Brian and Necrom looked up at him.

"This is not over…" he said, blood trickling from his mouth.

"Yes it is," said Adam Drake and put a bullet in to Necrom's head, splattering it across the floor. "Now he's dead." Brian removed the Heart of the Lady from the corpse and wiped it on Necrom's robes cleaning it of the blood. As he did so, he could feel his powers returning and he was Britain again.

"Not quite," he said. "I get a feeling…"

"His spirit lives on," said Kate, confirming it. "However, this time he has a problem of his own. He has no power to restore his body this time and he is only a wizard."

"I have him," said Elisabeth, coming in to the room. There was a faint purple aura about her, and her eyes were such a dark violet that they were almost black. "He will not escape from the confines of my mind."

"Can you hold him?" asked Destine

"If Psylocke was capable of holding the Shadow King, she can do this," Pete said and Adam nodded. That was certainly true enough. "So are we done?"

"No," said Kate, "the timelines are still merging." Her spirit freed itself from Widget who tried accessing the systems of Limbo.

"I cannot stop this," Widget said. "The technology would need a complete system restart."

"These things don't have an off button?" said Drake.

"How about we smash things until they work?" suggested Pete, but Kate shook her head. "So what do we do?"

"We need to cut the power to the system," said Widget. "Prevent the hyperium energies entering the system. Hyperium is infinite, but the technology here is not."

"What will it do to Limbo though?" said Elisabeth. "Would everything be destroyed?"

"I can restore things," said Widget. "It is my purpose."

"In Limbo," said Pete. "You can't bring back timelines, right?"

"No," Widget admitted. "However unless we stop this, it will not matter."

Britain looked at the robot. "Where do we go? Where is the source?"

"It is in the heart of Limbo," said Widget. "The central axis, is the core that accesses the Hypertime vortex. Once it was protected by a tower, but now it is just an energy column, formed at a small point at it's base.."

"This is my part," said Adam Destine. "The energies would kill anyone else here. I can survive them." Elisabeth started to object but Adam shook his head. "Even if I am wrong, this is still the only chance we have." Pete nodded.

"Let him go," he said. "Widgy?

"Please do not call me that," said Widget, as he formed a portal and Adam stepped through.

The others looked on the screens in Limbo as Adam approached the central axis. It was an energy column and Adam stepped in to the energy, disappearing from view. The others stayed in silence, watching and waiting. There was nothing they could say, nothing they could do but stand by while Adam of Destine did what he could to save reality as they knew it. The energy started to fade and slowly the power began to diminish in the great engines that powered the technology of Limbo, created by people unknown to watch and monitor the timeline. The tower eventually faded and then the monitors died as Widget seemed to merge and attach to the computers and systems, so that the inherent forces that had been tapped and controlled for so long did not burst free and create another catastrophe. The heroes ran down to the central core, taking what seemed to be an age to get there, where they found Adam simply lying there in the middle of the tower. Britain started towards him, but Pete put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"The energies will be released," he said. "You'll die."

"But Adam…"

"I've got him, said Elisabeth, gathering him in a telekinetic energy field and yanked him out. The energies of Hypertime flooded in to the chamber again, and resumed the tower formation.

"How does it do that?" Drake asked. "Surely it should spill out?"

"Don't ask, don't tell," said Wisdom as the others checked on Destine. "How's he doing?"

"I don't know," said Elisabeth. "I can't sense his mind." She looked up, tears forming in her eyes "There's nothing there. I think he's gone."

"He is," said Britain. "Look." Adam Destine's body slowly began to vanish, becoming discorporate, then faded to nothingness and he was gone. "No."

Elisabeth was crying, in spite of herself and Pete shook his head. This was not the way it was supposed to end and Adam gave a deep sigh and looked at the floor.

"He was the best of us," he said. "Rest easy, Adam, you earned it."

"He's not dead," Kate said, appearing behind them. "I am unsure as to what happened but somehow he was able to keep from being dissipated in time. However, there have been repercussions. He had lost the six months or so of his timeline. Everything that happened to him and to the beings in that timeline has altered and been lost."

"Lost?" said Pete. "Does he even remember any of this?" Kate shook her head.

"Nature's way of helping him cope. Maybe one day the truth will come out, but for now he is oblivious to what has happened."

"Lucky bastard," said Pete. "So have we won then?"

"Yes," said Kate. "We have. Necrom has been stopped. The technology of Limbo is now under the control of Widget, who has used his systems to create new safeguards over time. However there has been a lot of universes lost, merged, timelines changed. We won the war, but lost a lot as well."

"That's how war's go," Adam said. "You don't gain things without loss. Too damn much though."

"If Widget is the technological base of Limbo," said Britain. "How do we get home?"

"Easy," said Kate. "He can create portals. You can all go home. However, the first thing we need to do is deal with Necrom's spirit. There's only one place that should go. Elisabeth?" The telepath nodded and there was a multi-coloured light surrounding her for a moment and then it was gone.

"He's gone," she said. "Where though?"

"The end of the universe," said Kate. "The last moments before everything is reborn." She smiled. "Fitting in it's own way…" She looked at the people before her, the heroes who had fought on her behalf for the Omniverse, for King Britain, for Merlyn. "Words cannot say what we owe you all. Thank you."

"It needed doing," said Pete. "That's all we needed to know."

"Agreed," said Adam. "And maybe, just maybe, we've learnt a thing or two in the process." Kate nodded.

"What about you?" said Britain. "Your spirit was housed in Widget, so what of you?"

"Widget can monitor things, make sure the technology is not abused, but time will always need a guardian. Guess I'm elected."

"Then the timestream is in good hands," said Adam and kissed her ghostly cheek and Kate smiled, and he looked at everyone. "Been a pleasure." He nodded to Wisdom. "Even with you."

"Likewise," said Pete and they shook hands. They all exchanged their goodbyes and then the multicoloured light flared, sending them all home and bringing Kate to the control room.

"And that was that," she said to herself, ready to relax a little before settling in to her new role.

"Not quite." She turned back and Wisdom was standing there. "Why am I still here?"

"I don't know," she said and she quickly accessed the computers, to see why Widget hadn't sent him back where he'd come from. "Uh oh."

He just stared at her, the colour drained from his face as the realisation dawned on him, while she could only look at him with a deep and sincere regret in her eyes.

"Uh oh?"

"I don't know how to say this. You can't go home."

"What do you mean I can't go home?"

"There's nothing we can do," she said. "We were too late to stop it. The world you knew is gone, merged in to something else and a version of you already exists within it. I… we can't send you back." Pete's eyes went wide in realisation of what she was saying.

"But, my friends, my family…"

"They don't even know you as you. They know the other version of you."

"I've no home," he said, his voice weak and he sank down to the floor, his strength gone. He looked at her, wondering if he'd acted differently, had ignored Chapman, then it would have been stopped in time and he would have had a home to go, but now someone else was living his life, except it wasn't his life anymore. The merger of the timelines hadn't even left him the past he remembered. Even that was different. "I've got nothing, not even a reason for living. I may as well be a space phantom for all the use I am now. It's all over…"

"No," she said, considering the possibilities, and she put her hand on his shoulder. She would find a way to help him, she promised it. "It's not over yet. "