Pendragon Comics - The Pendragons #100

Avengers 2000, Pendragons Comics and Goldfish Bowl Productions
proudly present
the 100th issue of

100

The Avatar struggled against its bondage, the walls of its small prison holding fast against its blows. It had no sense of space nor size nor even time; it only knew it was held fast when its every instinct was to fly free!

How this had come to pass was beyond its comprehension. It only knew that where it had once resided within the willing mind of the Most Favored Daughter, only to be torn from its resting perch within her and imprisoned within this crude shell.

Even so, it was not unaware of what transpired beyond it.

“Beautiful,” Stephen Saunders murmured, his hollow voice all but swallowed by the impossible winds. The Avatar heard this, its primitive, primal consciousness recognizing its chief tormentor.

“Magnificent,” agreed Salome, her stone skin softening under the same as they whipped through all things, changing and molding them from unliving rock and crystal…to flesh once more! The Avatar saw this, knowing it all as readily as a mortal knows they draw breath.

With this recognition and knowing came a rage so powerful it threatened to burn all the stars in the skies.

Those skies – upon which its tormentors and abusers gazed at with such rapture – were already aflame with the stuff of nightmares. Things neither possible nor comprehensible flew amid the churning clouds and hovering, pulsing globes that otherwise filled the air.

The screams that filled that space – of the unborn and neverborn, of the depraved and deprived, of the damned and the damming – echoed within its prison, buffeting the captive with pain unlike any it had ever experienced. Whole worlds and histories were born and undone and raped and twisted and battered amid this madness, each and every one of them alive and intrinsically linked to the Avatar itself as the starfire it so often manifested.

Were it of sentient mind, the Avatar would surely have gone mad from the pains that wracked its imponderable being…and then passed beyond simple madness to become the same pain that threatened to split all that was real and possible.

As it was, all this simply left the Phoenix Force…angry.

That it could also sense the Most Favored Daughter nearby, yet be unable to reach out to embrace her, only added fuel to its fury. It hammered impotently upon the walls of its prison, those walls holding fast and restraining it.

There was a flare of some manner beyond its prison, momentarily blinding the Avatar and quieting its rage in surprise and, yes, even fear. The moment passed and the Avatar was puzzled. It could sense something outside its prison had…changed...the madness that had threatened to consume all things had stilled for the eternity of but one mortal heartbeat.

Then…its prison shattered! The walls that held it fast broke and fell away, yet the Avatar was cautious in accepting this. It sensed neither trick here nor any manner of deception. After a moment’s further consideration, the Avatar spread its etheric wings and took flight, rising and expanding itself with all the majesty and power that was its nature.

“Ah, I see now…” came the voice of its tormentor and captor.

“Majestic,” murmured the sorceress beside him.

The Avatar ignored them both and quickly got its bearings. It sensed another nearby, one whose own Flames were nearly an equal. The Avatar had no eyes with which to see as corporeal mortals might, but it could equally easily sense the Most Favored Daughter. No sooner did it sense this than another voice spoke out, one kindred yet distant from the Most Favored. “Bodyslide by two, Neverland-bound!”

The fabric of space and time rippled before the Avatar, rare shock freezing it for the critical moment. When this minor distortion ended… the Most Favored was gone! Lost to it once more!

The Phoenix cried out its rage, one unequalled in all living memory. All things shook and shuddered, metal and minds momentarily rent asunder beneath this rage so hot and consuming.

The Other, whose own Flames were nearly an equal, spoke to it with a calm and direction that were nearly lost amid its turmoil. Yet they were heard all the same:

“Fly free.”

The Phoenix Force, Celestial Avatar of Life and Fire Incarnate, paused its raging and considered the words. Considered, then acted.

It flew upwards, brushing aside the mystical haze that covered the sky and seeking to restrain it further. It proved painful, though far less so than the loss of the Most Favored. It could sense her however, somewhere amid the void beyond the haze.

With a final effort, the Phoenix pulled free of both the haze and the planet below, leaving it and all the pain it caused far behind.

But it would return, and ensure its pain was answered for.

Of this, it was certain.

The Pendragons

Issue #100

Brought together in defense of Avalon and the British Isles, the Pendragons are the officially-sanctioned heroes of Great Britain. Originally led by the Black Knight, the group is composed of the remnants of the old Knights of Pendragon group, as well as several other heroes. Willing to die for their beliefs, the Pendragons stand united as England's best defense against threats of a superhuman nature.

Pendragons logo created by David Wheatley
based on designs by Des Davies and Kell Carpenter!

Written by David Wheatley
with Joseph Connell, Dave Evans, Gary Jones and Barry Reese

Using the Box of Delights it had only taken a short time to get all the captured Pendragons back to the places they had been taken from. The last stop had been to Paris to restore that chapter of the Pendragons, and now they were back in Darkmoor. Adam Crown, Molly Fitzgerald and Mary-Jane Watson-Parker the last of the inactive roster to be taken home and while they would have taken Mary Jane to New York, her husband was not in what remained of New York, but was in Darkmoor waiting for her so the new roster of Pendragons returned to the British capital city. Finally they were home.

“Your majesty,” the attendant said as he entered, bowing low to Adam, who gestured for him to rise. “Sire, Pen Dragon and the Dragon’s Claws have come seeking an audience, as have the Captain and Mr Peter Parker.”

“Pen Dragon asked if they could wait in Lady Jessica’s suite, and as he has access to the rooms I let them in,” he said nodding to Jessica.

“That’s ok,” said Jessica. “MJ, if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to see Peter.”

“I’ll be along in a moment also,” Wynter added. “Technically I am part of Pen Dragon’s associates.” Jessica nodded and then she and Mary Jane headed out, leaving the Pendragons stood around, chatting and getting ready to disappear to their homes, back to their own problems, as Feron looked at Adam and Crown remembered what they’d been talking about before the Necromon incident. It seemed a life time ago now, but there had been little time.

“Jessica,” Adam called after her, “before you leave we need to talk.” Jessica and Mary Jane came back in to the room. “Pendragons, my friends,” the King began, “Feron was speaking to me before the Druids attacked us.” He looked at the young sorcerer. “Feron, please tell them what you told me.”

The young albino ran his hands through his tangled mass of hair, took a deep breath and then began. “As some of you are aware, I am the direct descendant of the original Feron, who was associated with Merlyn and Necrom, and together they tried to harness the power of the Energy Matrix that would become the power of Otherworld. Feron had a bond with the force of life known as the Phoenix Force, he communed with it and they were… friends.” The room seemed to grow colder as he spoke, and everyone was listening, the intonation of his voice and words he spoke capturing their minds.

“Before Feron could become the host of the Phoenix, Necrom slew my ancestor in attempt to seize the power of the Energy Matrix for himself, and the Phoenix Force, was injured in the attack and retreated to a place of safety, later becoming the Phoenix that we are familiar with. Eto brought me to Darkmoor in an effort to help Molly who was comatose after the Phoenix Force was used by Salome and Saunders to destroy the Barrier, but I discovered some thing.”

“The Phoenix Force fled this timeline because of what happened, and it took part of Molly’s consciousness with her so it could eventually come back to this timeline, and that was why she was in a coma. In Molly’s mind, I could hear someone speaking, talking to the Phoenix, talking to Molly, talking to someone, I don’t know as it was just fragments. ‘Dream. No, dream, don’t dream, not this way’ and it gave me sensations as well. The best way to describe it is that I felt dreams dying, a bleak future without hope and an unfathomable rage and anger, along the lines to what I felt with the anti-Phoenix before it took Necrom as a host, but in the anti-Phoenix, I felt a cold malevolence. This is different to that. It is just… dark, a darkness that is overwhelming, and the fact that Molly is awake can only mean the Phoenix is on it’s way back, and the stronger Molly mentally gets, the closer the Avatar is.”

“He’s not,” Molly said. While the events in the Netherworld had restored her somewhat, she was still quite weak physically as it was not that long since she had awoken from her coma, but her mind was getting clearer and clearer.. “I don’t think we have much time either.”

“Is she hungry?” asked Wisdom. “Bearing in mind she eats stars. And planets.”

“No hunger, just anger,” said Molly, sitting down. “Generally the hunger is for the Phoenix in her early stages as a mortal when her powers is growing, and is caused when she expends too much energy, while the raw Phoenix draws it’s power from the life-force of the universe, those who have not yet been born, and the power of the Phoenix taps in to this primordial energy, meaning that something is denied life at a future point, but the reserves are almost limitless.”

“Is the Phoenix raw or does it have a host?” asked Jessica. “Are we facing a cosmic force, or something we might actually be able to fight if we drain her of enough of her power?”

“Assume some of us aren’t familiar with the Dark Phoenix, except by reputation,” said Jackie. “We’ve known the Celtic Phoenix, but this one…”

Molly sighed. “The Phoenix can use the cosmic energy to project beams of immense concussive force. It can transmigrate throughout time and space by folding its energy back into itself. It can directly absorb energy blasts; the most recorded at once being the entire energy of a sun. As it is the nexus of all psionic energy, it has powerful mental abilities, including telepathy and telekinesis, and when bonded with a host, the Phoenix Force amplifies their abilities to incalculable levels. The host can manipulate matter on a sub-atomic level, can teleport itself and others across vast distances and had demonstrated a complete control over the realms of matter, energy, and thought. The Phoenix as a rule has a conscience, but the Dark Phoenix does not. The Dark Phoenix does not care about others, only itself. It will use it powers for full effect or revel in the torment, as the darker emotional responses are a source of sustenance, usually triggered by a need for vengeance.”

“Such as being ripped from one who is the host, or by being held captive?” said Jackie and Molly nodded.

“The Phoenix was already being tainted by the magic under the Barrier. The effect of being under the Barrier was poisoning the purity of the Phoenix Force, changing the nature of the Phoenix itself, and the Barrier was the key.” She looked at them, knowing most knew of the battle between her, Rachel and the Shevaun of the future who had come back to destroy the Phoenix and save the universe, a battle that had ended when Elisabeth Braddock, in her Captain Britain days, had interrupted the energy exchange before something even more disastrous occurred. “If the Avatar is returning and there is nothing to hold it back and truly is Dark…” She couldn’t finish speaking, her voice trailing off, but everyone knew what she would have said.

“How long before the Phoenix arrives?” Eto asked. He had known about this, and he also knew that while Molly had been in her coma, they had been safe. Events had overtaken them, and it had been forgotten at least by him.

“Any time.” Molly closed her eyes. “It could be days, it could be seconds.”

“I should have said something earlier,” Feron said, downcast. “I was hoping I could extract Molly’s consciousness and ensure the Phoenix was someone else’s problem. I failed.”

“Yes, you should have told us, but we’ll assign responsibility for this later.” Jessica looked at him, thinking that, between Molly and Feron, they had the two foremost authorities on the Phoenix force. “Right now we need to prepare. Molly, Feron, brief the others on possible strategies, I’ll go find Pen and Peter. We’ll need all the help we can get on this one.” She nodded to Mary Jane, letting her know it was time to reunite her with her husband and they headed out.

Blackheart, Ruler of Hell, Prince of Lies and the Lord of Deception, sat in his palace in the Burning Flesh district of Hell, watching Earth as magic pervaded the globe. He was the mastermind behind the rise of the Black Mass Barrier that had sealed the UK and much of Europe away from the rest of the world and under the Barrier magic had returned to the British Isles in a way it had not done for millennia. Blackheart knew that many had used the power. He knew the Prophecies well.

From the Nether-Realms a dark lord returns, sealing away all glory and light. The blackest of hearts shall rule the land of Olde Kings and the most powerful of mages shall be struck down, his blood staining the floor of his Olde home. What shall come is most terrible and bleak, a world where the mystic arts flourish and mankind is assaulted by enemies of all types.

In the midst of the darkness shall come sorrow and woe. A warrior of green shall die most horrible and the ancient evil shall ascend once more. The child cloaked in the raiment of his teacher will wither and change, his heart becoming one of ice and stone. The Black Mass will rise in pitch until the coming of the Red Lord and all life shall meet its Bane...

There was a third Prophecy. One removed from the others, removed because it suited the purposes of Mephisto, Blackheart’s father. In Mephisto’s arrogance he believed only the Prophecies that applied to him. He had believed that the Father would not be slain by the Son, only for Blackheart to ‘kill’ his father. However, one such as Mephisto could not be permanently killed. He had been created by Infiniti, before Infinti’s power was split in to the Infinity Gems, and his father had returned, but was banished from Hell, stripped of much of his power, and now Mephisto was out in the universe, trying his best to regain his former powers and retake Hell from Blackheart. The Black Mass Prophecies had always been thought to be for Mephisto himself, but it was Blackheart who had made it happen and with his dominion of Hell, he knew the final secret, something hidden from even the Bane.

The Black Mass will be broken, but that which is broken cannot be destroyed. The mystic web will spread and touch the lives of all, beginning the final corruption of mankind. Come the Ascension, the old ways will end. Come the Tiding, ancient power will be reborn. Come the Denouement, the new order will rise. Come the Black Mass.

The third prophecy predicted the fall of the old ways, which surely meant the Green and Bane, which was why the Prophecy had been kept hidden. The Ascension would see the end of the seemingly endless conflict of the Green and Bane, however there was more. Blackheart believed that the power of the Black Mass was turning the small planet in the Sol system in to a literal Hell on Earth, and a new order would rise. No longer would he have dominion over the souls of the dead, but he would have dominion over the living as well and a new Black Mass would arise, a global Black Mass, from which he would expand to the planets in the system and from there he would start the conquest of this reality. Mephisto had long been planning and preparing for a great war between those like him – Satannish, Hela to name but two – and that was something he too was preparing to fight.

The Phoenix navigated through time and space, avoiding the ruptures that tried to ensnare her and deny her from the vengeance she so rightly craved. She had been wounded, lied to and denied what she truly desired by the mortals, these simpering, wretched creatures that were not fit to behold the true majesty that was the Phoenix, but they would witness her wrath, through the actions of the young woman who housed the essence of the Phoenix, and she shared the Avatar’s fury at what had happened. The actions of the mortals had done this, they had brought the oncoming storm upon themselves and vengeance would be hers.

What right had these creatures to imprison her, to put her through so much pain and then cast her away as if she were nothing? The Most Favoured Daughter was gone, but there was another, one who was linked to the Most Favoured Daughter by blood, and had willingly accepted the bonding as the Most Favoured Mother had done all those years ago. There had been no time for healing cocoons this time, no chance to replicate the young woman’s body, for her reality was collapsing around her, the timeline which she belonged to was erased in a wave of energy, brought on by beings who wished to play God with the universe, but the vengeance against that one was denied her, for the little God who called himself Kang was gone, his essence erased from time itself.

Kang would never know the mercy that his death had given him, for the Phoenix was in the mood to take vengeance on behalf of herself and on behalf of her new host. Kang’s machinations had ultimately led to the ruptures in time, the holes and gaps that meant the pathways to the future time the Phoenix had know were treacherous, which was how she had ended up in a future that was similar but different. She had heard the cry for help, a cry so like that of the Most Favoured Daughter, but it was not her, however family was family and the bond between the three time-displaced generations was intense, the blood line was strong. So strong that the Most Favoured Mother had been there in the final moments, just before she died and the Phoenix had been careful not to let her know she was present, for it would only cause problems and she had gathered her new host and retreated back in to time, to hold her and heal her and learn about who she was in much the same way the Phoenix had done with the Most Favoured Daughter after the climactic battle with Necrom and as she healed so too did the Phoenix, and the Phoenix knew the pain and anger of what had happened. She sensed the torment of the young girl, the futility of what had happened and in their individual grief and rage they had come together and created something greater, a desire to right the wrongs that had been performed upon them both.

The Phoenix wanted to first and take vengeance on the mortals that had wounded her the most. Salome, Saunders and the loathed Benjamin Askani, but she could not sense them, but the Phoenix knew that they had only been able to do what they did because of magic. Magic had wounded her most, it was magic that injured her time and again used by different mages and enchanters but it would not be enough to take individual vengeance on every single spell caster as magic was a predominant elemental force on Earth so more would be required. She needed to obliterate the magic that had held her, that had wounded her. It always came to magic, that was what caused her pain. So had it been back with Feron, so had it been now, and the magic was polluting the planet, so she would stop it at the source, and the Phoenix would remake the planet, in her image, in the image of the Most Favoured Family. The abomination that was magic would be destroyed and she would see to it herself, for her power was absolute and there was none that could stop her, and before she realised it, the Phoenix was back, drawn to the Pretender by following her consciousness back, as the Phoenix had intended all along. She could sense the magic below, emanating from the city, from Darkmoor. The city and those who lived inside it were by default corrupt and complicit in what had happened. They had not tried to defend her, they had not attempted to help her and had done nothing to stop the corruption spreading, Mankind was tainted and she would remake them all, but the Avatar knew that you could not create something without first destroying what was currently present, and the firebird that surrounded the young woman dug it’s talons in to the area around Darkmoor, sending cosmic fire through the town.

“This isn’t good,” said Feron, as he tried to reach out to the Phoenix. “I can’t reach her, she won’t listen.”

“My kingdom is being destroyed,” said Adam, reaching instinctively for Caliburn, but the sword wasn’t there anymore, the blade having been shattered not too long since and without the Green to repair it, he no longer possessed the sword in the stone and he grew frustrated, wanting to do something, but at least the Phoenix they faced had a host and that meant that her power was not unlimited, which gave them cause for hope. It all depended upon how much power she had at her disposal.

“She looks like Rachel to me,” said Jackie. “I can’t see her properly, the firebird is too bright.”

“How do we fight her?” asked Wisdom. “She’s a cosmic avatar, and we’re not.”

“Like this!” Joey said and he flew up towards the young woman, moving at incredible speed and slammed in to her, which halted the attack on the city. Captain Britain was back in action and he would not see this place harmed. He had a duty and a right and he knew that the girl would be able to take a lot of punishment so he did not hold back. “Your attack is at an end,” he said, hovering before her. Jackie had been right; she did look like Rachel except she wasn’t her. She was thinner with a different hair styling. And the face was close but there were other features there that did not match Rachel, but she had green eyes, the red hair and there was the reminiscence of Jean Grey-Summers and of Rachel, and he could swear that there was a hint of Reed Richards in her jawline. Rachel and Reed’s son Franklin had a relationship and it all fell in to place… “Her daughter,” he whispered as she drew herself up. “You’re Rachel’s daughter…” The young woman’s eyes narrowed and an energy bolt struck at the Captain, sending him hurtling to the ground, where Jackie caught him just before he tested the limits of his invulnerability.

They flew in unison towards the young woman who had been watching them from her position in the sky and as they did they slammed in to a telekinetic wall, that stunned them both and they dropped from the sky in a moment, hitting the floor with a thud just as Jessica arrived with the Dragon’s Claws, Jack Monroe, Spider-man and MJ not far behind. Pen had made the decision to defer to Jessica’s judgement for this fight, though he would have an input, but this was her turf, not his. While Jack was called the Captain, there were two Captains about so he had said that for the purposes of this fight, they should call him Captain America

“Jackie and Joey are out of the fight for the moment,” said Kate, meeting them as the Pendragons assembled. She had used the Box of Delights to go swift and had been able to check on her friends and ensure they were not badly hurt, but they were certainly out cold.

“There are still fifteen of us, counting Captain America and Mr Parker,” Jessica said. “Slim as it is, we’ve still a chance. Meggan, you have a link with Phoenix, right?”

“Work with Feron and Molly,” Jessica instructed, “and the three of you do what you can to reach her. She is human and that’s the vulnerable point, because there is still a conscience, a soul. You do that and we’ll keep her busy…” She looked at the Claws and then her own team. “I know we’re two separate teams,” Jessica said, “but we’re linked by common cause, by membership, by family.” She looked at them all and knew that she could count on every last one of them without question to do what was needed, and give their lives if necessary to stop the Phoenix. “We’re the Pendragons, this is what we do.” Then she looked about the group and realised one of them was missing. “Where’s Adam?” the former Spider-Woman said, and they looked around and then Pen Dragon pointed up to the sky.

“There!” he said and they looked up to see King Adam flying up to the Phoenix astride a pegasus. “Guy’s got some balls, going up there solo.”

“He’s the King,” said Wynter. “This is his kingdom, his capital. He sees it as his responsibility to deal with her.” There was pride in his voice, having been one of the many people who had served as an advisor to Adam, and, even without the sword, he was the King. He had made mistakes of late, but he was determined to make good.

“More than that, he’s buying us time,” said Jessica, and she looked at the men and women surrounding her. It was an impressive line of heroes, possibly the finest assembly of heroes the United Kingdom had seen since the fall of the Barrier. Kate McLellan, Pete Wisdom, Eto Kaine, Molly Fitzgerald, Feron, Dark Angel, Pen Dragon, Wynter, Elsa Bloodstone, Kylun, Meggan and – when they recovered – Joey and Jackie. It was a line up that would give the Avengers in their heyday a moments pause. “Get ready, because here’s what we’re going to do…”

As Joey had flown up for the first assault against the Phoenix, Adam’s fists had clenched in frustrated anger. He was the King, a Pendragon, but he was powerless. He needed the Green, he needed Caliburn, he needed to do something or his home would be destroyed. He had failed as King time and again, but he could not, dare not, fail it now. He turned away in frustration and his gaze had been drawn to a fountain, the water glinting in the light and it was as if time froze for him as a figure rose from the waters before him and he gasped in surprised delight.

“Ginny,” he said, looking at the wife he had lost to the Green, who in order to save her from death had transformed her to the latest incarnation of the Lady of the Lake. “My God, it is you.”

“Hello Adam,” she said, her voice having a silky tone, and an echo to it as well. It reminded him that she wasn’t human, but he didn’t care. “You called to us, and I came.”

“Us?” He approached her, wanting to embrace her, but his hand passed through hers, for she was simply a construct of the waters of the fountain with no real substance.

“The Green. We have not abandoned you, we are simply weakened and unable to help you in the fights ahead.”

“I know,” Adam said. “It’s why I can’t touch you, you’re not really here. You’re using the waters as a conduit.” She nodded. “Not that I’m not pleased to see you, but why have you come? The Green…”

“There is a change coming,” she said, interrupting. “I am expending power in defiance of the Knight to warn you, to aid you. You need the power of the Green.”

“Yes,” said Ginny. “I must go, but I give you something that will help you.”

“I will see you soon, my love,” she said and then she was gone, but a solid lower arm arose from the water, a sword in the hand and Adam took hold of the weapon. It wasn’t Caliburn, but it had the power of the Green within it and he knew what he had to do and ran to the Royal stables, just as Joey was swatted from the sky, only to be caught by Jackie. He mounted one of the winged horses and flew up to confront the Celestial Avatar, watched as Captain Britain and Union Jaq fell before they could get close and he wondered what good he would be, but he was going to do his duty and he pulled up close, the sword lowered so she knew he came in peace. The pegasus was edgy, sensing the raw power emanating from her and he reined the creature in.

“Phoenix,” Adam shouted out. “I am Adam Crown, king of this land. Why do you attack my people?”

“King Adam,” said the young woman. “The play King, who watched from his ivory tower while his Kingdom burned. You fear me.”

“I do,” said Adam. “The power of the Phoenix is a majesty unequalled. You are fire and life incarnate, now and forever, the Phoenix.”

“You mock me, little man?” said the Phoenix, her hair flowing as she pulled herself up, raising herself and Adam tried to broadcast his thoughts of peace.

“I mean no disrespect,” he said. “I try and arrange peace, to save lives.”

“YOU ARE CORRUPT!!” The voice of the Phoenix echoed around the area. “Your foul, filthy magic has been intent on my destruction and you are the lead conduit. The talisman you bear is magic, a talisman you seek to use against me.”

“DO NOT LIE TO ONE WHO CAN READ YOUR THOUGHTS, WHO CAN SENSE WHAT YOU FEEL BEFORE YOU EVEN KNOW YOU FEEL IT!!” Adam was ripped from his steed in one talon while the Pegasus was turned to dust in the other. “Play King…” The talons closed in around him, a vice like grip of telekinetic energy that squeezed him and Adam cried out in anguish. “How you remind me of him, sanctimonious, preaching, thinking that he knew what was best. Perhaps I will leave you like he was, crippled and in constant pain, helpless to watch as his champions died, but unlike him you will not live long past such events and you will see your kingdom fall.” Adam screamed aloud as he felt the grip tighten around his back, and he could hear his bones snapping and he knew he had any control over his legs, but there was incredible agony and then she released him, lowering him to the top of his castle. “The end is coming…”

“You cannot destroy magic by destroying Darkmoor,” Adam managed to say. “What has happened to this place, to the world, it was not of our making…” The Phoenix paused, looking at him but before the Avatar could respond, the Pendragons attacked.

As soon as Adam was taken out of the battle, the combined forces of the Pendragons and Dragon’s Claws attacked the Phoenix as one. While Feron, Molly and Meggan tried to get through to the Avatar that they were not the enemy, and that they were trying to help her, and were only defending themselves, Jessica, Pen, Wisdom, Wynter and Shevaun unleashed a variety of energy attacks, ranging from the bio-electric venom blasts Jessica possessed to the cosmic energy that Shevaun channelled through the piece of the fabric of the universe. Cosmic, mystic and elemental energies assaulted the Avatar in a glorious crescendo of energy, light and sound, catching her unawares and the Phoenix fell to Earth. They had bought themselves a moment and only a moment for the others to go to work.

Peter Parker’s sense of responsibility drew him in to this battle, even though he wasn’t a Pendragon. His wife had been, and though the spirit of Red Sonja had not been seen for some time, she would always be a Pendragon. Yet a mortal woman was no match for the fury of the Phoenix so he was taking her place in the fight while MJ found a place of relative safety, using his web-shooters to smother the young woman who fell to earth in his trademark webbing, using as much as he could to disorientate her so the heavy hitters could go in and attempt to finish and restrain her, all the while trying to keep her mental defences down so the trio could get through to her.

Captain America and Elsa went in first pounding the girl with their full strength, knowing that she would be able to take the full punishment they could dish out, Kylun and Kaine standing back, knowing that the claws and swords would tear open the webbing and the Phoenix would be free. It was only a matter of time before it happened anyway, but they were the second wave of physical attack and when they failed the energy wielders would take the strain again. Jackie and Joey were starting to come round and with luck they would be back in the fight by the time that Phoenix had dealt with the energy wielders. It was a team effort all done to buy time, and it left Kate to go and see to Adam.

Her new powers suited spying and infiltration and that was not something needed in this fight, but the King was down and they needed to know if he was alive or dead. He had played his part in the drama, but they hoped the cost wasn’t too high, and for a moment it looked like the Pendragons might take the Phoenix down before she had a chance to fight back, and then it happened, Peter and Shevaun feeling it first as his spider-sense kicked in with a vengeance and she sensed the cosmic disturbance a split second before it happened.

The webbing solidified and exploded sending shards of diamond hard webbing everywhere. The Captain had his shield, but Elsa caught the brunt of it as the shards sliced in to her, shredding her torso and she fell to the floor, only the power of the Bloodstone keeping her alive. In the seconds that it took Jack Monroe to realise he was vulnerable behind the shield, the Phoenix attacked, transforming the disc to sand which dropped to the floor through his fingers and Captain America was engulfed in a bolt of starfire, which coursed through his veins causing his blood to heat up and he writhed in agony. Kaine and Kylun went in, Eto moving quickly, but his fire claws went out before he could touch her and his fists turned and slammed in to each other with extreme force and Eto knew he’d broken his fingers with the impact. Kylun drew the mystic swords and ran the young woman through with them, praying for forgiveness, but there was no discernible effect and he looked mystified. The magic enhancements on the swords meant that they would not harm the innocent and pure of heart, as well as dispelling any magical energy. Phoenix laughed at his bewilderment.

“I am pure of heart,” the Phoenix said. “I am beyond good and evil, I am fire and life incarnate and your paltry enchantments are no match for my power!” With that she opened up a chasm beneath Kylun and he fell deep in to the hole which sealed up behind him, burying the feline warrior alive. “Next?” she whispered and looked as the bio-electric blasts, hot knives, eldritch energy and cosmic power were unleashed on her once more, but the Phoenix was ready this time and held out her hand, catching and absorbing the energy in to herself, recharging her powers and restoring what little damage had been done to her body before she threw her hand back, sending the Pendragons and Dragon’s Claws flying, and they laid on the floor paralysed from her attack and she turned her attention to the remaining three heroes, those who were trying to appeal to her, to the light within her and laughed, knowing they had no comprehension of what was happening. They saw her as the Dark Phoenix, the star killer, the ravager and destroyer. She was the healer, the creator and she would ensure that this world was reborn, as she was reborn. The Pretender, the Mage and the Earth Mother – she knew them all so well, and held them fast in a telekinetic embrace, their hopes at reaching her vanishing before them.

“You are so like him,” she said as she approached Feron, cradling his cheek in her hand. “In appearance, in thought, in manner. You think you are not worthy, but you have no idea…”

“He loved you,” said Feron, looking at the Phoenix, addressing the cosmic force and not the host.

“I am aware,” she replied. “I loved him too, and I have known love in many forms. Scott, Franklin, and Feron, but I have known hatred and I have known cruelty and I have seen and witnessed many things. This planet is corrupted, and the corruption will spread and taint all that is, which is why I will bring about peace, a new age of wonderment and this world will be the jewel that it was meant to be.”

“Your logic is flawed,” Meggan said and the Phoenix turned, remembering the touch of the empathy, of how Meggan’s mimetic abilities had transformed her, giving her similar powers to the Phoenix if only for a moment, the Most Favoured Daughter almost losing herself inside the elemental empath. None of them had ever realised Meggan’s true potential, even though they had borne witness to it on many occasions. “You speak not as the Phoenix, but as the gestalt of entity and host. The flaws come from the humanity within you. I can sense the pain you have, but you must let it go.”

“Earth-Mother,” the Phoenix said, almost reverential in her address to her, “I am sorry for the pain this will cause you, for the changes you must undergo, but it is through you that the world will be born anew, and you will be transformed once more. While this world is tainted, you will bear no children. While this world is tainted you will never be truly whole. Forgive me for what I must do…”

Meggan reached out to the Phoenix, touching her with her empathy and felt what she felt and as had happened before, there was a merging as her powers kicked in and she began to change her shape, the sparkling lights surrounded her as she began to take on the likeness of the host of the Phoenix.

“Dream,” Meggan said, knowing the young girl’s name. “Your name is Dream Summers.”

“NO!” the Phoenix cried out and forced Meggan back to her natural shape, the shock of the wilfully enforced transformation causing her to cry out in pain. Phoenix’s powers transcended the threads of order and Meggan was wracked in torment, her connection to the Alshra severed. “Why did you make me do that?” Phoenix ranted. “You were the Earth-Mother!” Meggan did not answer, the pain was too great but she was unable to slump or even close her eyes, so tight was the Phoenix’s grip on her. “I did not want to hurt you.”

“Liar,” the Pretender said and Phoenix looked at her. “I know the feelings inside you, Phoenix, I shared them for a time and I know the darkness growing within you. Nobody has forced you on this path, you have wilfully chosen it, and that is why you are Dark, a thing of chaos. I know you as none here know you and you know I am right!” Molly’s eyes blazed with anger at what she was hearing, the petulance of a little girl wielding a power she could not control. “Is this what Rachel would have wanted? Or Jean? How many people will you kill before you realise that what has happened to this planet is not of the making of it’s people!”

“Enough,” the Phoenix said and Molly was bathed in light, her lips forced together as her skin sealed up her maw, and she tired to scream as she felt her teeth bond together and her tongue swell so her mouth was filled and the horror that filled her amused the Phoenix. “You have said enough, Pretender. You were always unworthy of the gifts I gave you.”

“She is right though,” Feron said, “the Barrier that caused the spread of the magic was not our doing, but that of the creature called Blackheart.” He looked at her. “All this came from him.”

“Blackheart,” mused the Phoenix, and reached in to the minds of the heroes he knew the truth of what had happened. Blackheart, child of Mephisto and current ruler of Hell. He had done this, disguised as a mortal, he had raised the Barrier for his own ends to bring about an age of magic. With Blackheart about, this world would never be safe. “He must be stopped…” The Phoenix grew brighter, the firebird surrounding her growing in intensity and then the woman was gone and her hold on the Pendragons was gone, but they knew she would be back

Feron and Peter Parker were the only members of the team to be in any stable form and he cast a spell on Molly to send her to sleep so she didn’t have to deal with what had been done to her. Then he checked Meggan, who was in shock at having her abilities stripped from her and they went to see to the others, who were being aided by Peter. Elsa was badly injured, and the Captain was pretty hurt as well, and Peter had used his webbing as makeshift bandages on Elsa to stem the bleeding. As the others picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, Pen Dragon scrambled to where Kylun had been swallowed by the ground.

“KYLUN!” he was shouting, digging at the dirt with his hands in a futile attempt to free his friend.

“Pen,” said Jessica, putting her hand on his shoulder, “he wouldn’t have survived it. If he wasn’t crushed, he’d have been suffocated by now.” He kept digging. “PEN!” she shouted, grabbing him and spinning him around. “He’s gone.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke and he looked at her.

“I’ll call SHIELD,” said Peter, holding MJ’s hand, wondering why the Phoenix hadn’t bothered with him. “I’ll see if I can rustle up some support, the FF, the Avengers, just… get help.” Jessica nodded, wondering if even the combined forces of all Earth’s heroes could stop the Phoenix.

“In the meantime we need to come up with a plan,” she said and looked at Feron and Meggan. “Did we get anything from her that might help.” Feron shook his head, but Meggan paused a moment.

A little way off, an old man smiled, rubbed the thin, goatee beard he sported and then wandered away from the battle scene. There was a show that was taking place and he wanted to watch it very much…

The Agent stood attentively amid the shadows cast by his (nominal, temporary, would-be) superiors, listening with only half an electronic ‘ear’ to their whispers and intrigues. The metaphorical air was forever abuzz with such white noise, the Great Houses and their minions engaging each other in little games, but he was the discerning sort who was ever alert for personal opportunity.

One such moment apparently arrived on Earth-616. The Phoenix Avatar was apparently up and about again, and had even found a new physical host for itself. It winged its way across the vulgar, lower dimensions to arrive upon Earth. Biopsiometric projections suggested, strongly, it was there to obliterate the planet entirely.

Still worrisome insisted a particularly bold functionary from Lungbarrow. Clearly, that bloodline still retained the streak of iconoclastic boldness that marked its most noted (and reviled) Cousin.

The President Imperiatrix herself was either attending to other things or keeping her peace. This was not unusual, particularly since returning from Otherworld and shedding her simulacrum vessel to stand Removed amongst them once more. The oncoming Time War - a minor skirmish admittedly in comparison to the large campaigns underway but one dangerously close to the Causal Nexus - needed attention.

Small avatar, unworthy of notice. So declared the Chancellor Primary. The empty air went momentarily still, the silent babble ceasing.

But the Agent didn’t miss the ripple of dissent that came from many corners. He noted the precise point of origin of each such ripple, noting the rank and House of each silent dissenter. Such information might prove useful in the near term, if not sooner. Or later, for that matter.

The Agent - who had once fancied himself master of time and space - stood attentively in the shadows cast by those who thought themselves superior.

He waited and listened, with the patience only those beyond death might emulate.

Half a world away, Lorna Dane ran through the darkened forest, drops of rain falling on the patches of naked skin that shone through her tattered costume. Her feet were cut and bloody, wounded from the scrapes of twigs and rock. Her long green hair was plastered to her head and her lower lip trembled incessantly, as the chill she felt sank all the way to the bone. The trees seemed to close in around her, their limbs reaching out to clutch at her, as if trying to hold her back from the target that lay ahead. With a final roar of triumph, the woman called Polaris fell free of the woods, falling to her knees in exhaustion. She took great, rasping breaths, trying to steady herself... and never once did she look up. Never once did she want to look into the face of the being who stood waiting for her.

"Lorna. You can stop running." The man's voice came from above her, where a figure hovered, held aloft by bands of magnetic force.

Polaris wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. The raindrops were huge, landing with such force that it made her want to cry out in pain.

"Get away from me," she whispered. She glanced away from the man as he landed nearby.

The crunching of booted footsteps made her scramble away. She tried to summon her powers of magnetism but found them blocked by a far greater power. A gloved hand reached out and took her fingers in a grip that was at once both terrifying and full of promised safety. "Take my hand, girl. There's no need for you to be alone. Not any more."

"You're a villain," she said, though her voice lacked conviction. Almost against her will, she was allowing the man to pull her to her feet. "Prof. Xavier... he wouldn't want me to do this."

"Charles is dead. So are millions of others... The time for old hatreds is past. You and I can help forge a new beginning. We can--" His voice trailed off, as both he and Lorna winced in psychic pain. He felt... something awful... on the horizon. A primitive force, pure power and stunted rage. "What in the name of heaven was that?" he asked quietly.

Polaris stood beside the man who'd tried to kill the X-Men so many times before... a man feared around the world, by humans and mutants alike: Magneto.

The two of them were rocked to their core by a sense of incredible unease, but they both drew strength from the other, their similar powers allowing them to tap into even more magnetic force together than they could individually.

"I'm not sure," Lorna said, accepting Magneto's cloak. She pulled it tightly about herself, feeling warmed by its presence. The sudden arrival of the psychic force had caused her to momentarily put aside her feud with Magneto. "I... was there when the universe restarted itself*. I'm tied to its heart now and... I think it's the Phoenix."

Magneto stared at her from the dark interiors of his helmet. "Jean Grey? Or the more recent host... Shamrock?"

"Molly. Her name's Molly." Polaris touched the side of her head, trembling. "But it's not her... I'm sure of it."

Magneto put an arm around Lorna, smiling when she did not pull away. "The Pendragons will deal it, I'm sure."

Lorna nodded, images passing briefly through her mind. She'd avoided the team for the past few months, wanting to find a measure of peace within herself before locating Alex and the rest of her old friends, the ones she'd had before the Pendragons had become her surrogate family. She'd succeeded for the most part, doing what she could to help with the rebuilding before Magneto had come to her earlier this evening -- his offer of an alliance being strongly rebuked. But he was more powerful than she... and she was tired. So very tired. "What... exactly... is it you want my help with?" she asked, knowing that even by asking she was giving in just a little. Magneto could be very persuasive and a part of her still remembered the falsehoods he'd once told her, about being her father. He wasn't -- Lorna knew that with absolute certainty* -- but there was a passion in his eyes that stilled her own doubts.

Overhead, lightning flashed. Somewhere, an ancient force of nature called the Phoenix Force was threatening all reality. But for Lorna Dane, what she heard next overpowered everything else. "I want you to help me rebuild the X-Men."

In the Burning Flesh district of Hell the Phoenix appeared, her light casting about Hell, sending the demons scurrying away in fear. They had seen many great battles within this realm, some of them won by the Master, some of them lost, but this was by far the most impressive entrance in to the arena that was this realm. Blackheart looked out from his palace and saw the intruder there, and wondered what the Phoenix wanted here. This was the coming he had sensed and he considered if this was something to do with the Prophecy. This was not the Phoenix they had known, this was an ancient power reborn. Could this be the Tiding? Was this the beginning of the ultimate rise of the Black Mass? He could not dare dream it had occurred so soon, but then he sensed that the Phoenix was not here as an ally, but he also sensed she was not at her full power, that she had been in conflict and the journey had taken much from her. To capture the Phoenix would be akin to capturing the soul of the Silver Surfer, something his father had always prized and he knew if he could capture the Avatar, then he would have surpassed Mephisto in every possible way. He used his powers to increase himself in size and mass as he appeared before the young woman and he towered before her.

“Lady Phoenix,” he said, folding his arms. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

“You are the Great Corrupter,” the Phoenix said, the firebird appearing far and wide. “You have altered the Earth, made it so it is changing.”

“Yes,” he said with pride. “I did that, initiated the Black Mass. I can sense it’s power has touched you as well. There is a darkness within you, Avatar, a darkness that has been held back for too long. You are a kindred spirit to me. Together…”

“There will be no together,” the Phoenix said. “I am here because you must die.”

“You cannot kill me,” Blackheart said. “I am the master of Hell, heir to the powers of the Infinite! Death and I are cousins, and you know Death well. I am immortal and this is my seat of power. None challenge me here.”

The Phoenix said nothing but instead she lashed out, attacking the demon with her full fury, and Blackheart was staggered by the assault. He knew that many had bested his father had been while in this dimension, but all of them had an edge. Franklin Richards had possessed unlimited cosmic power and Adam Warlock had possessed the Soul Gem. This would be a battle in that league and one he had to win. He would have to draw on everything he had, perhaps even destroy his realm in order to beat her and the Third Prophecy came to mind. The old ways will end, he mused as he unleashed hellfire upon the young woman, who met it with starfire as the clash of the cosmic titans began in earnest.

They exchanged energy blows, starfire and hellfire glancing about the realm and the pure cosmic and mystical cosmic forces collided. Her attacks were powerful but not powerful enough to do serious harm and his attacks on her were easily deflected by skilful avoidance and when that failed, she used telekinetic fields to block and divert the attack. The demons who watched cowered in fear at the mass destruction that was being unleashed on Hell, and for every thing that was damaged or simply obliterated, Blackheart felt it, as he and his realm were linked. There could not be Hell without a master and there could be no master without a realm. It was the primordial bargain and only once had the connection been disrupted, a time when Mephisto had gambled high on the stakes of the soul of Thor, the God of Thunder, however he had been aware of the game he had been playing and controlled it. Blackheart was not as in control now as his father had been then, but he knew the woman was weakening, so he changed his tactics and moved from the energy assaults to one of a more physical nature, and Blackheart called down rocks from the sky, flaming boulders that threatened to smash the Phoenix, but the young woman swatted them towards him and he was forced to shift, turning to an almost liquid form so they passed through him without harm, at which point the Avatar struck him with another blow, casting the fluid atoms across the realm, but it was not enough to totally obliterate him across the furthest reaches of hell and it only took a moment for Blackheart to simply will himself together again, drawing upon the powers within his domain to resume a tangible form. He focused his wrath on the young woman, engulfing her and she dropped from the sky, and he knew she was ebbing, vulnerable to his other powers. His was the dominion of the soul and the soul of the Phoenix would be his, and through it he would have a conduit to the life force of the universe, and he would start to broaden his mastery over the living and the dead, but he needed to ensure she was totally vulnerable and exposed, so he sent his minions in to ensnare and take the young woman, but as they got close the firebird flared, disintegrating the demons in a fiery embrace and the young woman stood there, the firebird raptor surrounding her, and Blackheart grabbed her in his hand and began to squeeze. The Phoenix flared once more, and he increased the power of his grip and soon her energy began to be engulfed by the black power he possessed, the weakened Phoenix being overwhelmed by the Lord of Deception, and undisputed master of the realm.

“You do not have the power to break me,” Blackheart said as the energies within the young woman seemed to die, leaving only the mortal girl within his clutches and she was no match for him. He squeezed, crushing her within his grasp, and he took great pleasure in hearing her cries of agony, but he wanted her soul, and there was a very simple way of doing it and he smiled as he lifted her up opened his mouth and dropped her in to it, and began to chew. “Tastes of strawberries,” he muttered savouring the sweetness of her soul, as and then spat out her skeleton, stripped bear of everything that surrounded it. He had consumed not just her but the Phoenix as well and he could feel her soul within him suffering untold torment but that was a bonus to the real prize and he could feel himself merging with the Avatar and around him the raptor flared to life. “I now possess the power of the Phoenix! I, Blackheart, am now the Black Phoenix, Master of Life and Death! None shall stand before me! I…” He stopped and staggered a moment, feeling strange. “No,” he said, “this cannot be…” He dropped to one knee as he struggled, but only now did he realise his folly as the Firebird that surrounded him grew larger, touching every part of his realm, using him as the conduit, and Hell itself began to crumble and as Hell crumbled so Blackheart began to be devoured, as the Phoenix now feasted on him and his power was greater than that of any sun, giving the Phoenix more than even the M’Krann Crystal had ever done. Through Blackheart, the Phoenix had access to Hell, created through the Infinite and the Phoenix was feasting on Universe. The evil within this realm was of no consequence, what mattered was power.

The Avatar knew that Blackheart could not be destroyed without destroying Hell first and vice-versa, so tied to each other by the fundamental forces of the universe, but Blackheart’s arrogance had doomed him as it had doomed so many in the past. The Phoenix had touched many like him such as Necrom and the Beyonder, but this was a victory savoured, for now she could devour them both at once and as Blackheart struggled, he could feel his very essence being drained as the soul of Dream Summers drifted free and merged with the skeletal form that laid on the rapidly disintegrating ground. The soul and skeleton merged as the beak of the firebird lifted her up, rebuilding her body with the massive energy reserves that were being built up and the young woman was restored to life once more, and the Phoenix began to transfer back to the host, for what had been started could not be stopped.

“There will be consequences for this,” Blackheart said, his voice just a faded whisper. “These souls you are destroying…”

“Were destroyed by you and your father long ago,” the Phoenix said. “You are not your father, and your time is at an end, Prince of Lies. Thank you for the power you have given me, I will use it to undo what you have done. The Black Mass is at an end…”

“No...” said Blackheart, as he tried to fight it, but the Phoenix had taken his power and he was losing his very life, and he could feel oblivion calling to him. He who had mastered Death was now being mastered by Death and Death was ensuring he had the last laugh. In the emptiness of what had been Hell, nothing remained, save the Phoenix and a hooded figure. Phoenix looked upon Death and Death nodded to her, their relationship as strong as it had ever been. The souls that had been captive in this place had been released and Blackheart was no more and with the power the Phoenix had taken she would be able to revert the Earth to a state more suited with a blue and green planet and without saying a word the Phoenix raptor enveloped the young woman and Dream was gone.

The Pendragons gathered in Darkmoor, their injured in the medical section, the rest at the Round. Elsa, Adam, Jack Monroe, Molly and Eto were all there, and Kate had revealed a welcome surprise in the return of Kylun, having used the Box of Delights to go small and swift to sweep down and catch him and shrink him and get him clear before he had been crushed in the ground. Peter Parker had gone to summon external help and Wynter was trying to rouse the other heroes as Meggan told the story of Dream Summers.

“Her name is Dream Summers, and she is the daughter of Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards. She was born in the year 2012 and has come from the year 2035. I learned much about her from the moment we merged, much as I did when Rachel was the host, back when we were part of Excalibur.”

“I saw the scenario where sentinels ruled America and the heroes of the United States were mostly dead, where mutants were in containment camps and humanity was segregated with their robotic masters watching over them.”

“I thought that future had been stopped,” said Kylun. “You travelled with her and the rest of Excalibur to put an end to the Sentinels reign. You changed their directives to preserve all life.”

“She does not come from that future,” Meggan answered. “The actions of Jim Jaspers, of Jamie Braddock, of Necrom and Pen Dragon have meant the pathways to the future are no stable, and that future was not the one the Phoenix Force arrived in. It had though that Rachel had been taken there, and was the first place the Avatar looked but, it was the wrong timeline.”

“I’m not overly thrilled about being mentioned in the same vein as the super villains,” Pen said. “My temporal adventures are way different to theirs.”

“But you had an effect on the time stream,” said Jessica. “Our actions in sealing the portal to the Martian eras started the Time War by destroying that timeline and breaking Time itself. Like it or not, this is our responsibility.” Pen nodded and Meggan continued.

“The timeline she came from in theory no longer exists,” said Meggan. “Kang was using the timeline to launch weapons that were used to erase timelines, and the X-Men and Spider-Man went to stop them.”

“I remember Peter telling me about that,” said MJ, “about how they had gone to the past, present and future, but the futures they visited were destroyed with the destruction of Kang’s time platforms.”

Meggan nodded. “Time has been altered so there was a window of opportunity and the Phoenix found herself in the timeline before the timeline was destroyed.”

“The path that led there must have gone back before going forward,” said Pen. “In theory it is possible to travel to the future from a point in the past and end up not in the future that you left, but a possible future of that point in the past. With time being broken, the joins in the paths are all messed up and the Avatar found itself in a place that shouldn’t exist…” He closed his eyes. “This isn’t good.” He felt guilty, and he knew that somehow he was to blame for this mess.

“In the future that Cyclops and Jean Grey, using the codename of Phoenix, visited, the Sentinels had taken over everything and Dream was the leader of one of the last pockets of Resistance in that time. She possessed telepathic and empathic abilities, but nothing on the levels of the powers of her parents. The Sentinels of that era had conquered the planet, and humanity were subjugated to the extent that breeding was no longer possible, Dream’s generation being the last of humanity. Her cell was wiped out and it was thanks to Scott and Jean she was able to escape, but she was mortally wounded helping them stop Kang’s temporal platforms…”

“No…” Dream whispered, seeing the time platform they were heading for surrounded by Prime Sentinels. There was just herself and her time displaced grandparents, and she was wounded, dying in her grandfather’s arms. All hope was lost. “It can’t be for this, everything we did. All we’ve suffered. Not just for this.” Tears flooded her face as all her grief came to the fore as her grandfather lowered her to the floor, but there was a surge of defiance, borne of desperation as much as anything, denying the future. “I can’t die now – not this way!”

So strong was her cry that the Phoenix heard her and flew to her, the cry similar to the one she had heard from Jean Grey, succumbing to radiation poisoning as she flew the shuttle home, a shuttle carrying her fellow X-Men. It was not the Most Favoured Mother, who was here, or the Most Favoured Daughter but another who called to her. The Phoenix could see that the woman was dying, but all she wanted to do was save her friends.

“The Sentinels can’t win,” and she tried to stand, but could not and Cyclops took hold of her, as in the distance the Sentinels began to activate, and soon they would be here.

“Listen to me,” he said. “I told you we were time travellers. Listen to me now. I’ve seen the future. The Sentinels are destined to be destroyed. This is the truth. I swear it, Dream.”

Dream looked at him, using the last embers of her strength to touch his mind with her empathy. “You’re telling the truth, I know it.” Her voice was so faint and then her eyes lost focus as her body succumbed to the injuries and Cyclops lowered her to the ground as he and Phoenix prepared to leave this future. The Phoenix shielded itself from Jean’s powers, not wanting to disturb her or to let either of them know that she was keeping the young woman’s soul within her body, preventing it from being released.

“Lie to her?” he said. “I didn’t?” She followed his gaze and saw as the energy ripples filled the sky. This timeline was being erased by Kang and they had to leave now and using their devices, they exited this era just as the Sentinels arrived at their location, finding only a seemingly dead body, which then vanished as well, before the universe collapsed in on itself and was gone.

“Your body has died, but I am keeping your spirit alive,” the Avatar answered. “I have done the same before, for your mother and grandmother, and now it is your turn. I owe much, and will need you to find my way home, once you have healed and are whole. Together we will find your mother.”

“Yes, but we must be joined, body and soul.” Dream looked at the Phoenix and nodded.

“I want to find my mother,” she said and she felt the power of the Phoenix fill her, but as they merged she felt the darkness within the Avatar, and the darkness within Dream rejoiced, as now it had the power and the means to put an end to the Sentinels once and for all. She would have revenge for both herself and the Avatar. She was not just Dream Summers of the Phoenix Force, she was Phoenix, and she would bring about the true order of things…

“Their grief and anger have given birth to the Dark Phoenix,” said Meggan, after she had finished telling the story. “Rachel is alive and Dream’s time line is gone, so if the Phoenix changes the way of the world, with the time problems, there is no issue of morality to her.”

“Give her a break,” said Pen. “Nobody can handle the full darkness within the Phoenix, and that girl had just seen everything she knew and loved die before her, including her hopes. She failed and that has a way of changing people’s outlook.”

“But we can’t let her change the planet to suit her ideas of what it should be,” said Kylun. “Otherwise why stop here? There’s a whole universe out there, and it’s not perfect either.”

“We know that Benjamin Askani was able to remove the Phoenix from the Host,” said Feron, “so it is possible to remove the Phoenix, but there would be a problem in that the Avatar would be free and we would not be able to stop her, but I hope in giving the Avatar her freedom she would see what she’s doing and we might be able to reach her, but it would have consequences for the host.”

“Dream Summers is an innocent,” said Pen, standing up. “She comes from a time that no longer exists and to all intents and purposes she should be dead. Hell, she was dead. Can she stay alive without the Phoenix Force, can she even stay in this time without the Phoenix Force? We can’t abandon her.”

“She’s trying to recreate the world,” Joey said, angrily. “I don’t think saving the psycho princess should be high on our list of priorities.”

“It’s high on mine,” Pen Dragon said. “Don’t fucking start with me, Joe, and don’t get in my way.”

“Anytime you want to throw down, just say,” Chapman said, standing and coming up close to him.

“ENOUGH!” said Jessica, slamming her fist down on the Round Table. “We don’t have time for this bullshit from either of you.” The newest Captain Britain and the leader of the Dragon’s Claws were about to argue with her but Jessica shot them a look that silenced them both. In the absence of Adam Crown, she was Queen and her presence at the peak of the table was evident. “We’ll do what we can for her,” she said after a moment, “but she’s not a priority. Feron can you… split the Phoenix?”

“With help, yes,” he said. “I’ll need to borrow the mystical energies from some of you. Joey, Jackie, Wynter, Wisdom. What I propose is simple, I split the Phoenix in to three parts. One for Dream, to keep her in this timeline, because she is not beyond redemption. One for Molly, as she’s earned the right.”

Feron shook his head. “I’m not worthy. I never was. The third aspect will be free to go, set lose in to the multiverse, to find Rachel as it desires, but to ensure that the power is not too much for just one person. Three hosts for the Avatar, and that will ensure that there is no madness, no return to this situation.”

“No more Dark Phoenix,” said Shevaun. “The trick will be allowing you time to do.”

“That’s where you come in,” said Jessica, looking at her. “We’re outclassed, but you’re not. You have to unleash your full power, Shevaun. You’re the only one in her power category.” Shevaun closed her eyes, frightened of the power she possessed.

“Then we’ll deal with you next,” said Jackie and smiled. “I’ve never known anyone as strong as you.” Shevaun looked around at the gathered heroes – Jessica, Joey, Jackie, Wisdom, Pen Dragon, Kylun, Kate, Meggan, Mary Jane and Feron. Behind her she could sense the approach of Wynter and Peter Parker and she knew that she was the only one who could do this.

"Ok," she said. "I..." She paused, sensing the disruption. "Phoenix is back, in a high orbit above us. She..." Her eyes went wide as she felt the energy coming from the Avatar. "Kate, open the Box! NOW!" Kate did so and the Pendragons were taken at her mental command, just before the power of the Phoenix bathed the Earth, beginning the transformation of the planet and telepathically stopping the entire population of the planet in place as she did. None would be left untouched by the flames of the Phoenix...

“She says the no faces come from the rocks in the clearing” Nico Minoru said after briefly whispering to the tiny pixie perched on her shoulder.

“She also thinks you’re hot Scott,” Nico grinned. At which Scott Lang, the astounding Ant Man blushed choosing that moment to put on his helmet.

“My thanks to your friend Nico,” the commanding voice of Tony Stark, Iron Man responded, sounding hollow through the face plate of his brand new armour. In truth Tony was not have the best of times adjusting to the new status quo in the world. With technology becoming increasingly unreliable Tony had been forced to integrate the mystical into his arsenal hence the mystic gem which now pulsed side by side with his power cells and the reason he had hired Miss Minoru as his advisor. He’d be damned if Doom was going to hog the limelight. Plus Nico’s command of the mystic arts had greatly increased with the fall of the barrier over Europe especially coupled with her training from Mistress Clea.

Tony focused his scanners on the rock formation the pixie had pointed out but could get no readings what so ever, which in itself proved something was amiss. Logic dictated that if that’s where the Skorpsmen where coming from then that is whatever the Martians had built here was. Tony turned to survey his hastily assembled team. Along with Nico he had managed to get hold of Vance Astrovik the telekinetic hero known as Justice, the last member of Power Pack Julie Power who was using the codename Lightspeed, his fellow Avengers Clint Barton, Hawkeye and Jennifer Walters, She-Hulk, the Atlantean royal Namorita and finally their guide Maria De Guadelupe Santiago or Silverclaw.

“So what’s the plan iron britches we got a baby to get back to,” Hawkeye asked the defacto leader of the group, putting his arm around She-Hulk as he spoke.

“I say we just smash our way in,” Namorita spoke up, eager to pound on the aliens they presumed to be inside.

“Actually in light of a better plan I’m good with that,” Tony answered, smirking beneath his faceplate. “Nico if you could cover our approach”

With that Nico Minoru pointed the staff of one at the assembled heroes and spoke one word.

“You’re all invisible and undetectable for the next 5 minutes,” Nico answered.

“Only because you’re all under the same spell, just trust me ok?” Nico smiled.

“Ok I guess,” Lightspeed smiled back although it wasn’t completely convincing.

“Fine let’s move. Avengers Assemble,” Stark answered and broke cover from their jungle-hiding place.

The heroes moved as a unit even though they had only gathered a few short hours ago, war had taught them to adapt quickly. Once they reached the rocky outcropping they could see a doorway concealed behind a large boulder.

“Allow me!” She-Hulk grinned pulling back her huge fist and letting rip with an almighty punch which literally torn the door to pieces.

“Working out a little aggression, honey?” Hawkeye smiled. The truth was that is exactly what she was doing. She had spent sixth months in a Martian lab been experimented on and she would take whatever chance of revenge she could find. She-Hulk just thanked her lucky stars her baby had turned out fine, well kind of her did have green skin and bright green hair but otherwise perfectly healthy.

The team entered a long dark passageway, which seemed to lead deep into the bowels of the earth. Lights flickered along its length as if the power were deciding weather to come on or not.

Carefully the heroes made their way inside and down. She-Hulk took point as very little could actually hurt her, while Silverclaw had taken a wolf form and was covering the rear.

“I know this gonna sound really sound really clichéd but isn’t this a little too easy?” Ant-Man whispered to Hawkeye from his position on the archer’s shoulder.

“Jesus, Scott how long have you been in this game, never ever ever say anything like that. Besides with the Martians gone these remaining scumbags probably aren’t in that good shape themselves,” Hawkeye replied.

“Incoming!” She-Hulk bellowed tried to stem the tide of Skorpsmen pouring down the tunnel from every conceivable nook and cranny. It quickly became obviously to all the heroes that these were not the average breed of Skorpsmen. These creatures were drastically mutated, some hideously so, plus they were all quite blatantly insane.

“What the hell is wrong with these things?” Nico yelped as she managed to blast three of the oncoming creatures.

“Perhaps the magic has mutated them or whoever runs this facility has used them for experimentation, whatever the cause it has fundamentally altered their genetic structure” Iron Man answered as he laid a number of Skorpsmen out with a wide beam repulsor blast from his chest plate. Lightspeed took advantage of the space Stark had just created to zoom past him and into a large grouping of the creatures. Tears steamed down her face as she pounded her enemy with hyper speed punches.

“Where are they? Where are my family?” she screamed as she moved to next target.

She-Hulk and Namorita were back to back throwing punches in all directions; piles of Skorpsmen were mounting up around their feet. Silverclaw had morphed herself into a large Boa Constrictor and was presently squeezing a group of three Skorpsmen into unconsciousness. Justice had erected a telekinetic shield to cover Hawkeye as he retrieved arrows from his victims.

“There’s a door just ahead,” Ant Man shouted as he buzzed over the top of the battle. “It seems to be what they are protecting. By the way this is the last lot.”

“No problem,” Justice shouted back and telekinetically hurled the remaining Skorpsmen out in front of Nico.

“Basically broke them down into their component atoms,” Nico casually answered.

Stepping over the piles of dead and unconscious Skorpsmen the heroes made their way towards the doorway at the tunnels end.

“It’s some kind of lab,” Stark said as he began his scans. “Whatever security it had is now inoperable Jennifer if you would knock for me.”

“Allow me, Jenny did the last one,” Namorita announced stepping forward and digging her fingers into the metal doorway. Her Atlantean strength, which had greatly increased in recent weeks easily, allowed her to pull the door clean away.

“Well there’s our answer,” Scott Lang said pointing to a shape in the corner of the dirty laboratory. The group followed where Scott was gesturing and saw the familiar headless android form of the noted if insane geneticist Arnim Zola.

“Looks like no ones home,” Hawkeye said as he tapped on the blank viewscreen in the central mass of the body where Zola usually projected his face.

“He must have fled this form when the Martians were forced away,” Stark pondered.

“Tony?” a weak croaky voice suddenly came from the other side of the lab. Nico quickly focused her light on this source.

“Oh God Julia!” She-Hulk gasped as she rushed over to her friend once the Avenger Spider Woman. “What have they done to you?”

As She-Hulk released Julia from the table she was strapped to the others looked on distressed at just how thin and weak she was. Her ribs were clearly visible. Worse than this was the genetic ‘modifications’ Zola had obviously added as Julia now had four large spider-like legs protruding from a central mass on the centre of her back.

“Wait the eggs, you must take the eggs,” Julia managed the croak, pointing to a batch of large slimy cocoons in the incubator next to her bed.

“Incoming message,” Stark said as a holo-projection beamed out from his armour into the air in front of the grouping.

“I see we can cross another off the MIA list,” the voice of SHIELD colonel Luthor Manning said across the link. “Get her back here ASAP and we can fix her up, you however are going to the UK we have energy readings off the scale from over there and no seems to know what the hell is going on. I’m sending Cannonball and his X-Force to pick you up then find out what the hell is happening over there” Colonel Manning ordered as a second image of the mutant heroes Cannonball, Wild Child, Nocturne, Shatterstar, Rictor, M, Meltdown and Warpath blinked into view.

"Ok we’re in, just get Julia some medical attention. I’ve pumped her with pain meds but she needs some serious help,” Stark responded.

“Looks like we’re gonna find out,” Ant Man shrugged, but before anything else could happen the atmosphere of the planet was engulfed in the starfire of the Phoenix and everything stopped as the transformation of the Earth began…

“So you won’t come home,” Sue Richards asked with an exasperated tone. Ben Grimm had been in the Ravencroft Insitute for quite some time, and the other members of the FF wanted him to come home, and Sue was taking the direct approach. It was a terrible irony that one of the few buildings to survive the insane war with the Martians was the Institute, usually a home for those super-villains with uncontrollable homicidal tendencies, but it was a place for those heroes and villains who had suffered the most at the hands of the Martians and it was where Ben Grimm had been staying since the end of the war.

“Can’t come back Suzy-Q,” Ben muttered “can’t get them clean,” Ben was standing over the sink in his small room scrubbing at his rocky hand with wire wool “I can’t get all the blood off.”

“It wasn’t your fault Ben,” Sue said again, clutching Valeria close to her “the Martians made you do those things, they made you think Franklin was dead but you know now he isn’t,” she held tightly to the top of Franklin’s right arm to stop him rushing to his Uncle Ben.

“I didn’t want to do this Ben but you’ve left me with no choice because your family wants you home today,” Sue took a deep breath and threw Valeria into the air, toward Ben.

The sink cracked under the incredible pressure of his hands, as Ben pushed down and then threw his arms into the air. Many would have thought such a gentle catch by such a huge man but those who knew him, knew that Ben Grimm would rather die than hurt a member of his family.

He looked horror struck at Sue, unable to believe what she had just done but then he heard a happy gurgle, he shifted his gaze downward and saw that Valeria was shifting herself to sleep in the huge rocky hand that he had caught her in.

“She hasn’t been able to sleep through the night without you reading a story to her,” Sue said as she released her grip on Franklin, letting him run and hug one of the Thing’s huge legs.

Tears filled the Thing’s eyes as Valeria fell to sleep in the palm of is hand and Franklin refused to let go of his leg.

“Did you know that Julie Power is working with the Avengers to hunt down the remaining Martians? She’s seen her whole family killed in the war and she’s still out there hunting down those who did it. You have your family Ben, Don’t let us go.”

The change in Ben Grimm was noticeable in an instant and he lowered his free and to rest on Franklin’s head “can’t promise it’ll be like it used to Suzy-Q but I’m back for as long as it takes to wipe out the Martian fu**.”

Sue looked sternly at Ben and he quickly changed his words “those Martian scumbags.”

Suddenly a large explosion was heard from outside Ravencroft and moments later one of the Guardsmen came rushing into the room “Mrs. Richards, Skorpsmen outside. Our armour can’t stop them,” he panted breathlessly.

Sue took Valeria and handed her to the Guardsmen “don’t worry,” she said fixing her gaze on Ben “the Fantastic Four are on the job.”

Franklin grinned as his Mom and Uncle Ben ran out of the room; he looked up at the Guardsman and grinned “my family are so cool.”

Skorpsmen had burst out of a hole in the street and were dragging off people at random “the master needs feeding,” a larger than normal Skorpsman shouted out to the others.

Ben and Sue reached the front doors of the Ravencroft Institute just as Reed landed outside in the bathtub shaped fantasti-car, with Johnny flamed on by the side.

“Sorry I wasn’t here earlier darling,” Reed said as he stretched out of the fantasti-car and kissed his wife gently on the cheek “Victor kept trying to hex Nick Fury as I was leaving, it was going to get very messy before T’Challa arrived.”

They all started moving toward the Skorpsmen and Johnny said “come on Ben, you have to say, we can’t fight anything without it.”

Reed and Sue looked quizzically at each other and then at Johnny who was just grinning at Ben.

“Okay matchstick, just one last time,” Ben charged at the nearest group of Skorpsmen who were advancing on a young family, a man, his wife and their daughter and he bellowed “IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME.”

"The wild wood," said Kate. "A safe place, away from the outside world, but I don't know how secure it will be after the Phoenix is done."

"We've no choice now," said Jessica, looking at Kate. "We're the last hope of the planet. Are you ready to save the world, Shevaun?"

"Yes," she said, and she took off the armour she wore that gave her control over the powers granted her by the piece of the Fabric of the Universe, but also kept them limited and she knew she would need to use everything that she had on this fight. She could feel the energies welling inside her, demanding release and she knew how easy it would to lose control, but she would not. There was too much riding on this fight and she would not let her friends and family down. The others seemed to stand back from her, all except Wynter who was used to dealing with beings of her stature and she knew they were as afraid of the powers she held as much as they were of the Phoenix, but it was how it had to be. She nodded to Kate and they were all transported out of the Box and to outside Darkmoor.

The world was a wash in the starfire of the Phoenix, and every thing sparkled with the energy. It was not an instant process, the transformation of every atom of the planet to a more natural state was not a simple task, even for the Phoenix, but that was what was happening, and luckily they were not affected as the others on the planet were by the transformation or the telepathic hold. Feron began to focus, to clear his mind and pinpoint the exact energies he needed, as Jackie, Joey and Wynter and Wisdom sat about him and he tapped in to their mystical energies. Jackie and Joey had the powers of the energy matrix flowing through them, and Wynter was born of magic, while Wisdom was a living battery constantly charged by mystical energy and Feron began to draw on their power for what would be the most dangerous and difficult incantation he knew.

Shevaun flew up to confront the Phoenix as Jessica, Peter, MJ, Pen and Kate could do nothing but watch and hope and pray that this was going to work. It had to, and they all felt helpless, being on the sidelines as they were.

"Dream," Shevaun said, looking at her and the two women stood face to face. "I can't let you do this."

"I know I do," Shevaun answered and unleashed her cosmic powers on her and Phoenix was forced to defend herself. The world was still held in a trance and the starfire still bathed the planet, but without Phoenix to guide it, the transformation was halted as the women battled each other high above the Earth, and it was as if the planet itself was holding it's breath, waiting for the outcome.

The two women seemed to grapple with each other at first, Shevaun grabbing Dream by the shoulders as if trying to wrestle her in to submission but Dream broke the hold quite quickly and with a casual wave of her arm, Shevaun was flung back, but it was of no consequence to one who could fly, though it did leave a talon mark across her face and Shevaun bled, but it was not blood that came from her wounds, but sparkling energy and for the first time she realised she was becoming something other than human. She had subconsciously told the piece of the Fabric of the Universe she needed more power to face the Phoenix than she had ever called don before and the only way for that to happen was for them to bond. She had the power of the universe flowing through her veins, and she knew that whatever happened, she would not be able to go back to being human after this, the power within her was too much and she knew that she was her father's daughter, that the higher powers of the universe were something she too desired, no matter what she said or did. Tears of sparkling energy trickled down her face as she called upon as much power as she could and struck out at the Phoenix. To save the world all she'd had to do was give up her humanity, and Shevaun promised that the Phoenix would fall, and then Dark Angel would leave the Earth forever.

Phoenix had been unprepared for the assault, not expecting her to wield such power. There were memories inside of another battle, between this one, the Pretender and the Most Favoured Daughter, but she knew that this was not the same woman, and in many ways she was more powerful. She had the powers of the universe within her and the Phoenix was a force of life. An unstoppable force against an immovable object, and the laws of physics and reality ceased to apply as the two cosmic gladiators attacked each other, their actions and reactions causing such ripples in the local reality, that the heroes below could sense and see each action and reaction.

"I have no idea how this works," Jessica said, seeing the battle in her mind. "How can they be broadcasting this?"

"We're connected to them through the starfire," said Meggan. "I can feel my connection to the planet returning, I can see the colours again."

"The Alshra?" said Pen and Meggan nodded. "Looks like your shape shifting powers can undo what Phoenix tried to do."

Peter slipped his hand in to that of MJ's and they squeezed tight. Spider-Man had seen his share of cosmic events, fought in large-scale battles, but he knew that this was out of his league. He was just a man with spider-powers, nothing more than that. He fought everyday villains, caught burglars and stopped thugs and he looked across to Jessica. He was Spider-Man and she was Spider-Woman, or they had both been once. Now he was a man trying to rebuild the world and she was a Queen in waiting. She had a destiny and he just wanted a life. Even Mary Jane was accustomed to this, having served as the host of Red Sonja, but since the fall of the Barrier the spirit of the warrior woman had not been seen. This was not their arena, and Kate came over to them.

"It's overwhelming, isn't it?" she said as Shevaun and Phoenix exchanged blows and energy blasts with each other.

"How do you people do this kind of thing?" Peter asked. "You're like the Defenders and Avengers rolled in to one."

"We just roll with it," Kate answered. "Best way of dealing with it is to not think about it."

"This is so far beyond science," said Peter. "I just don't know what to do, how I can help."

"Before you go home, I think we should chat," Kate said. "We've a lot more in common than you think..."

Shevaun poured everything she had at the Phoenix and the Phoenix responded in kind, each taking and absorbing the energies the other threw, sometime redirecting it and Shevaun focused an energy assault and seized hold of Dream and thrust with her might, aiming her at the Moon and she followed the woman to continue putting on the pressure. The Phoenix though had controlled her descent and her fall had taken the battle to a place she was very familiar with, the Blue Area of the Moon, the place where the X-Men had battled the Shi'ar for the fate of the Phoenix, whom they believed was Jean Grey. It was here that the Phoenix had committed suicide to atone for her crimes, for the aspect of her that was Jean Grey could not handle the guilt of what she had done, and it was here that she had died.

Various alien weapons were here, relics of the Kree/Skrull war and as Shevaun landed the Phoenix activated the weapons, all of which fired at Dark Angel, and Phoenix added her own might to the assault and Shevaun staggered at the intensity of the attack on her, and without the Fabric of the Universe should have been killed in an instant instead of just brought to her knees, and she reached out with her own powers, causing the technology to explode and leave just the two women in the oxygen rich ruins of the city that had once stood here.

"Is that all you've got?" Shevaun said, glaring at Dream. "Looks like rebuilding the world and fighting me is a bit much for you."

"And in fighting you have given up yourself," Dream replied, looking at Dark Angel. "Your body has become like the universe, the more you draw on the power of the universe, the more like it you become. You are becoming the Avatar of Eternity, in much the same way as Dream Summers is the Avatar of the Phoenix."

Shevaun looked at her body, and she could feel the cosmic awareness building within her, as she changed and adapted to the fight. She could feel the knowledge of all that had occurred, all that will occur, and all that might occur anywhere in the universe growing within her and she tried to block it out, but the powers within her were growing exponentially and the last aspects of her humanity were being drowned out and Phoenix smiled, and telepathically she touched Shevaun's mind, spreading her consciousness and using it's newborn link to the rest of the universe, Phoenix overrode the protections that prevented Shevaun from experiencing too much too quickly and her human mind became one with the universe. What Shevaun had not grasped was not the fading of her humanity, but the protection of it, and now that protection was revoked and she screamed as she gained access to knowledge she could not possibly handle. Her true self would have returned when she had gained the experience of her new power to deal with it and now it was too late. Every mind, every thought, every sensation was channelled in to her head by the Phoenix, and Shevaun's mind began to crumble and overload with the information and she dropped to her knees, the Fabric of the Universe was the only thing keeping her alive.

"You were on the verge of greatness," Phoenix said. "Perhaps then you could have stopped me..." The starfire burst forth and scattered Shevaun's body as particles across the universe, accelerating each atom to the sped of light in all the possible directions, leaving nothing left. She didn't even have time to scream, or register what had happened and the Phoenix stood triumphant and headed back towards the Earth, as the transformation of the planet recommenced, but since there were still some annoyances on the surface below, she would dispatch them while the reconstruction took place.

"SHEVAUN!" Jessica screamed in anguish as they witnessed her passing, and she dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face and Pen hugged her close, and a silence fell upon them as the Pendragons witnessed the death of Shevaun Haldane. It had been a miracle that nobody had been killed this far, but they had ridden their luck for far too long and Shevaun had paid the price.

"It's our turn next," said Kate, softly, as MJ buried her head on her husband’s chest. "We failed."

“You’ll only get one chance,” said Jessica and then the Phoenix was above them.

“PENDRAGONS!” she cried. “You have interfered with my affairs for the last time! This is your final stand…”

“NO!” shouted Feron standing before the heroes. “I am Feron, master of the mystic arts and I will stop you!” The talons of the Phoenix raptor grabbed him and lifted him up high.

“Goodbye, dear, sweet Feron,” Phoenix said and Feron could feel her pulling him apart and he focused the energies given to him by the others and he unleashed a torrent of mystical energy from his eyes, energy that surged in to the Phoenix, and the duel began between the cosmic force, and the young sorcerer who was attempting to divide the power of the Phoenix. They battled on the astral plane, fighting for dominance, but as they battled, the three purest parts of themselves connected.

The raptor around the young woman died and so did the starfire that bathed the planet, halting the transformation. Things had been changed, but there was still magic in the air, but it was a cleansed magic, free of the corruption of the Black Mass, the darkness burned away. Mage and woman fell as three segments of energy shot free, one to where Molly was, one to the sky and one to within Dream, who was caught by Jackie while Feron was intercepted by Joey and Captain Britain and Union Jack guided their charges safely to the ground.

“Well done,” said Wynter, placing his hand on Feron’s shoulder. “You did it.” Feron nodded then closed his eyes and his head fell to the side, so exhausted was he from his efforts and from the damage that had been done to him. He would heal in time. They all would and Molly was soon out there with them, the Celtic Phoenix had been reborn, and she had used her powers to restore herself, but she needed to know what had happened, for as a host of the Phoenix Force, she would bear some of the guilt simply by association, and as she arrived she looked at the new Phoenix, Dream Summers, who was weeping for her actions, for her losses and what she had done, and Molly felt a rush of sympathy for her, a sisterly bond. The young girl was not truly to blame for what had happened, but she could sense the anger towards her from the Pendragons, for she had killed Shevaun and that would not be something any of them would forget.

The third portion of the Phoenix took shape above them, a glowing form in the shape of Jean Grey. “My apologies,” the Avatar said. “The taint that was within me has been purged, thanks to Feron. I cannot endure without a host, but a host cannot fully contain my power. Avatar and host are symbiote, one cannot exist without the other and a single human vessel cannot contain or truly control such power.”

“I have fixed a balance,” the Phoenix said. “Magic and science have equal part on the Earth, neither being more dominant than the other. I have also repaired much of the devastation caused by the aliens who invaded with the last of the power I had. This world is green and virgin once more, in a natural state. I could not restore buildings and constructs, but I had the power to rebuild the world, make it before your industrialisation. That which was intact remains so, but that which was ruined is restored. Take care of your world. I go now to find the Most Favoured Daughter.”

“As long as you and Dream possess a third of my essence, I will always be here. Use my power well, Favoured Guardian…” The Phoenix then folded in on itself and vanished.

“What about her?” asked Kylun, looking at Dream. “What do we do with her?”

“Why not?” said Kate. “She killed Shevaun, tried to destroy the planet.”

“We’ll let the World Council decide her fate,” Jessica said. “For now, as duly designated officials of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, I arrest Dream Summers for the murder of Shevaun Haldane, and crimes against humanity.” She looked at Pen Dragon, who was being held back by Kylun and Meggan. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“This isn’t over,” he promised her and he looked at Dream. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix this.” Then Captain Britain and Union Jack took the young girl, who offered no resistance, and headed for the cells of Darkmoor, leaving the other Pendragons to contemplate the future.

In the empty realm that had been Hell, the old man who had watched the events unfold stood in the vast emptiness. Death stood there, looking at him, a questioning look in her eyeless sockets, that only certain beings would recognise. Beside Death stood 'her' brother Oblivion, who had claimed Hell and Blackheart, but the old man knew why Death and Oblivion were here.

The balance needed redressing and the old man shed his guise to reveal himself and as he did so, Oblivion gestured and the realm that had been thought to be destroyed was reborn. It was not the Hell it had previosuly been, but a new Hell born of the embers of the old, and in the middle of the realm was a seat of power, and he sat down in the chair. It felt comfy, but then it always had, and there was much work to be done. Blackheart had misintepreted the third prophecy completely.

This was the Tiding, as his ancient power was now reborn in a new and more wisened guise.

In time, this would lead to the Denouement, and the final battle for the souls of the dead would soon begin.

The Black Mass was not the conversion of Earth to the new Hell, rather a new Hell rising from the ashes of the old. Mephisto had known this and now things were coming to a head.

"All too easy," the Red Lord said as he watched the Pendragons in a state of disarray. Injuries had beset them, death taunted them and their seat of power had been breached so easily. With Darkmoor in disarray for the time being, he would be able to solidify the hold the Bane had on this place. Necromon had been a fool, but he had kept the Pendragons distracted for long enough, and the Phoenix had ensured they had no idea what was going on.

It had been simple enough to gain access to this, the most hallowed of places of the Green and use it as a conduit to Adam Crown. His wife Ginny had been easily coerced in to helping, for she was still a novice and her injury, combined with the polluted waters of the Green had been the key to coming here, and not only were the Pendragons oblivious to what had happened, but Adam would believe the Green had not abandonned them and was making a return. How foolish an assumption.

Crown did not realise that his near death was engineered by the Bane, that the weapon they had given him was in truth the Ebony Blade, obtained by them by Thanatos, who had pulled it from somewhere else in time and space to this point, and with the energies in this place, the Bane had enchanted it to look like another sword, and the Bane had a new kingdom.

The Green Knight was his prisoner, the Lady of the Lake his slave, and Avalon was now in the dominion of the Bane...

The Avatar flew over the Golden City, only barely aware of the fragile structures it knocks aside with its passage. The calls and cries far below it were naught but annoying buzzings to its already strained senses and being.

It flew, its desperation driving it forward, its host barely conscious enough for it to function in its presently-reduced state. Of its sister-shards, this one was perhaps the weakest, at least in terms of innate consciousness, requiring a host-mind within which to nest and dwell lest it loose Itself. Consequently, the Avatar was dependent upon its host’s own senses to ‘see’ or ‘hear’ anything, at least in the conventional sense.

Not to say it was flying totally blind or deaf mind you. It knew, for example, there were a great many things in its way, all of which It brushed those aside without too much thought or difficulty. It heard the odd scream or call from far below, or rather its newfound Host did. But the Avatar paid this little mind as well.

Its flight was hardly random; it was in fact homing in, quite quickly, on the One it knew to be here. One who was as blessed and favored as the bloodline of the Most Favored. One, the Avatar knew, would protect and cherish its host body. It could not sense the Most Favoured Mother, Daughter, or Descended-Daughter anywhere nearby, although their life’s thread and even then, the life’s thread of each was too thin and distant to be followed.

There, below it in the near-distance, was the Favoured One Other. The Avatar did not slacken its pace, but neither did it speed forward as was its first instinct. It had come to understand the worry and fear its presence could cause, and so approached more cautiously than it usually might, brushing things out of its way as carefully as it could.

Soon, it could hear the Favoured One Other, the Other’s mind-voice a soothing balm to its essence.

Wait! There was another with him? The Avatar sensed another…and something besides. It slowed its approach, confused and worried now. Had it been lead astray somehow?

“Nothing can stop it, Anna. But maybe…maybe this’ll disrupt it enough for us to reach its host.”

The Avatar felt this other one out, surprised by the chords that bound it to the Favoured One Other. It tasted the other’s essences, recognizing the mark of the Great Weaver upon it. Did this other seek to entrap the Favoured in some web of its own avatar’s direction? There was little traffic between their kind, their respective sphere’s of influence and design carved out by the One Above All and adjudicated by the Tribunal.

The Avatar hoped desperately there would be no conflict here.

“Franklin…I, uh…”

No, the Avatar concluded after many moments consideration. The chords of emotion that bound the Favoured with the Weaverkin were true if intangible. No conflict here…and there was something equally kindred with the Weaverkin. The chords between them seemed to reach ever outwards, threatening to ensnare the Avatar as well.

The Avatar came to a decision. It would speak with the Favoured One Other, see if it would grant protection. If the Weaverkin marked a claim, the Avatar would respect this and go elsewhere. To accomplish this, it would need its host to speak for it.

Only with the gentlest prodding did the host begin to rouse. The Avatar was keenly away of how fragile her physical form was, and so exercised the greatest care, stimulating a few nerve clusters and exciting activity amongst the ever-firing neurons.

Through the host’s eyes, the Phoenix could make out the Favoured One Other. He appeared as the Phoenix itself remembered through the eyes of the Most Favoured Daughter, though there were also differences. The Weaverkin stood beside him, pressing close, left hands joined as the Favoured held some artifice with its right. Was this some manner of offering or greeting? Such things were not unknown to the Phoenix, the habits and manners of these small creatures forever confounding.

Something happened next. A flash that left the Phoenix blinded for a moment, pained in the most minute ways. The Phoenix waved about instinctively, seeking to dispel the annoyance.

When its host’s vision cleared, it could see the artifice the Favoured had been holding was destroyed, the Favoured himself lying a short distance off, unmoving. The Weaverkin also lay nearby, but quickly getting to her feet. There was smoke from a dozen tiny fires burning around them both. The Weaverkin regained her footing even as the Phoenix walked its host towards the Favoured, concerned by the pain radiating from him. What had happened here? Had the Weaverkin attacked them both somehow?

The Phoenix felt the host rouse further as the Weaverkin hobbled forward, standing unsteadily between it and the Favoured.

The Phoenix paused, confused once more. It could see now as well as simply sense the threads of emotion and soul that bound the two so tightly. The host, its own consciousness now ascendant and slowly overwhelming the Avatar’s, mirrored its confusion and took a single step forward. The Weaverkin’s emotions flared at this, burning as brightly as any solar-child the Phoenix routinely culled upon. The host did not pause at this, although the Favoured saw the same, and quickly rallied.

The Phoenix was all but staggered by the emotions suffusing the two, their strength washing through the host, drawing it ever forward. The Favoured was stumbling forward as well, reaching out and grasping the Weaverkin and trying to pull her away. The Phoenix reached out instinctively, its essence ensnared now by their bonds, the tips of its psionic-wing brushing through the enjoined pair before it.

The Phoenix saw its own majesty and terror through the eyes of the Favoured and Weaverkin, shrinking from the sight...

The Weaverkin knew the emptiness of the host, the pain-before robbing any memory of now, making her reach out instinctively…

The Favoured heard the host’s desperate cries, as much from now as the pain-before, pulling her close to still those cries…

The host felt the bonds between the Favoured and Weaverkin reach forth and ensnare it, wrapping her in its tendrils, filling her…

The four became three as the Avatar withdrew, overwhelmed. The three, now linked in ways even the Avatar and Those Above could not easily define, fell as one to a dreamless sleep.

“…no neural activity in her memory centers…like she’s a tabula rasa…”

“…just wish you’d wake up, y’know. I dunno how much longer Franklin c’n keep the lynch mob away…”

“…the Phoenix didn’t mean any harm…Asgard was just...just in the way…”

“You should talk, Richards,” She rejoined. “S’not like you’ve been sleeping either…”

She made her voice work, to make them be quiet, to let them know. “Because…she’s only…dreaming…of…you…”

Forcing her eyes open, she gazed on them for the first time. She was staring at her, dark eyes wide and filling with tears. He stood behind her, torn between wanting to rush forward or completely retreat.

She moved forward first, pulling Him with her by the invisible bonds that joined them both. “Oh gods…you…you’re awake?” She sounded terrified of any answer that might come next, one hand reaching out and grasping the one she herself raised. All she could manage was a small, weak nod. “Ah…I…I’m…”

“Anna May Parker,” she nodded again, then shifted her gaze directly to Him. “Franklin Benjamin Richards.”

Franklin managed a wavering smile, unsure and worried and fighting his own tears. “And you?” he asked, coming around the bed she lay in and taking her other hand.

Her mouth opened…and froze. A chill ran completely through her, from toes to crown, realizing no answer could come from this simple inquiry. Anna and Franklin were both staring hard at her, their expressions matching her own. Both tightened their hold on her in response, not harshly, but not calmly either. She knew there was nothing that could pull them away from her, but they were owed an answer all the same.

She reached for a name, any name that might serve for the moment. One came, at once familiar and strange, as if it were imprinted upon her from without. It wasn't her own, of this she was certain, but would serve for the moment.

"I'm... Rachel."

Congratulations on making it to the end, I know it's been a very large issue, but it's been a big celebration of 100 issues of the series, as well as the work of Barry Reese and I am fortunate to have been able to continue his good works.

I have to say a big thanks to Joe Connell, who has contributed the prologue and the coda to tie in his work on Young Pendragons and Legacy, as wll as the little segment with the Time Lords because he wanted to. Then there's Dave Evans who submitted his ideas for a team of Avengers in the aftermath of the Martian Wars. And there's Gary Jones who put forward the part with the Fantastic Four. And last but never, least is the one and only Barry Reese, who put forth a section on the 'missing' Pendragon, Polaris, ready for her upcoming series! I made a promise that I'd get Barry back for #100 and he came through.

The point of the collaborational effort was to work and get everyone involved, because Pendragons has a special place in everyone's heart. Barry Reese founded this group and we're playing with his toys and I wanted this to be not just a celebration of the Pendragons reaching 100 issues, but of the Pendragons Universe as a whole and it's nice to have the contributions to make this an event issue, and I think we've pulled it off as an event issue.

How long can the series run? Who knows, but as long as we have ideas and creativity, then this series and every one of the spin offs that have come from it will thrive and I do have a lot of ideas on the boil, as you may have gathered from the two little epilogues...

Right, before I bring this monster of an issue to a close, here's a quick word on the last issue from our old friend Harry M VanHoudnos III, long time Pendragons supporter.

Was that special enough for a major event, Harry? Blackheart, the Bane, more Black Mass, Martians, oh and Dark Phoenix... Took a little bit longer to write than I'd originally planned, but when you look at the size of the issue, you can see why! Thanks for the note, it's appreciated as it always it and I hope you - and everyone else - enjoyed it and if you have any comments, you can reach me as always at dewheatley@yahoo.com