Pendragon Comics - The Pendragons 13

The Pendragons

# 13

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.

Written by Barry Reese

What Has Come Before: Cam McClellan, the son of Pendragon Kate McClellan, has been kidnapped by the evil Jack O'Lantern, who secretly serves a consortium of criminals led by the Vixen. A group of Pendragons have been dispatched to retrieve the youth, while the rest of the team dealt with a trans-dimensional group of villains known as the Emissaries of the Dark.

Joey Chapman moved through the crowded shopping center, feeling a bit annoyed at the youths who streamed past in their trendy clothing, heavy shopping bags in their hands. Joey had grown up the son of a dockworker, never having the kind of disposable income that these children possessed -- when he had befriended Kenneth Crichton and been introduced into the wealth and prestige that the other boy's family had possessed it had been an enlightening experience. He'd felt so out of place amidst the grandeur of the Falsworth and Crichton fortunes...

Joey pulled his long overcoat tighter about his body, hiding the fact that he wore his Union Jack uniform underneath. He longed to pull on his mask and hide himself away, gaining anonymity amidst these masses. But he held back his urges, forcing himself to remain nondescript until he could find his teammates.

A soft breeze ruffled his hair and a warm pair of lips gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Blinking in surprise, he turned towards Jacqueline Falsworth Crichton -- known to many as Spitfire. "Jackie! You nearly scared the hell out of me."

The gorgeous young woman laughed, squeezing his arm affectionately. Though she most certainly didn't look it, she was well into her eighties, having fought the good fight in World War II alongside the Invaders. Her recent rejuvenation -- thanks to a blood transfusion from the original Human Torch -- had led her hormones and emotions to go into overdrive and had helped spark a romance between she and Joey. "Sorry, luv. I was just glad to see you. Adam and Molly are in the Tower Records shoppe -- but no sign of Cam or Jack O'Lantern yet."

Joey nodded, thinking of young Cam -- the son of Pendragon Kate McClellan, the boy had become a friend and mascot to the group. "If that pumpkin-headed blighter has hurt him...."

Joey didn't reply, knowing that Jacqueline actually knew very well what Kate was experiencing right now. Her own son, Kenneth, had been taken from her and transformed into the vampiric Baron Blood. With his recent death, she had been both liberated and demoralized. "How's Molly working out?"

"So far, so good. She's bright, she's spunky and she doesn't mind telling Adam when he's acting like a git."

Joey grunted, knowing that Adam Crown was quite capable of being a pigheaded jerk from time to time.

As if on cue, Adam himself stepped into view, with Molly Fitzgerald following behind. Both were in plainesclothes, though Joey thought he spotted Adam's scabbard peeking out from beneath his overcoat.

Molly gave a friendly wave while Adam moved close enough to whisper "I was worried you weren't going to make it. Everything alright with Romany?"

Joey cast a glance at Jackie, who was steadfastly pretending not to have overheard the name of Joey's ex. "Yeah, it's all peachy."

"Good show, mate." Adam glanced around, his discomfort plainly obvious. "I don't like this at all. If Jack O'Lantern forces a row in here, a lot of people are going to get hurt."

"Maybe we'll be lucky enough to avoid that," Molly murmured. She stared at a trio of miniature fairies who flittered past her, in hot pursuit of a dwarf carrying a rather large bag of gold. Since the rise of the Black Mass Barrier, England had seen a sharp rise in supernatural residents. The creatures from folklore and myth were now a very real presence in the world and rumor had it that some of them were even considering demanding political and civil rights. What a world ye've found yourself in, she thought.

Jackie disappeared in another flurry of movement, leaving Joey to chat up Molly and Adam. She rocketed around the shopping center, not moving quite so fast that she was left invisible, but quickly enough that passerby were confused by what they saw. It was on her second trip through the center that she saw Jack O'Lantern and Cam....

They were perched in the upper portion of the center, near a clothing store that catered to London's Goth crowd. Jack O'Lantern, dressed in his customary orange and green attire with a flaming pumpkin mask, was hovering aboard a small antigravity disc. Cam, bound and gagged, was dangling over the edge, secured only by a thin cord.

Spitfire was momentarily torn between racing up towards the captive boy and returning to her teammates to notify them of the new turn of events. The decision was taken out of her hands, however, when Jack O'Lantern hurled a pumpkin-bomb into the air. It detonated while still high above them, saturating the entire area with a thick cloud of eldritch-enhanced darkness. It spread out, smothering the shoppers who were now beginning to scream in terror. The wall of darkness seemed to grow in size and strength, rushing over Spitfire, who braced herself for some awful attack.

But Jack O'Lantern's voice rang out, loud and clear. "Pendragons...! If you're here, it's time to play. The stakes should be clear enough -- You win, you get young Cam back, safe and sound. You lose... and Cam's not the only one going home in a box."

Betsy Braddock stepped into the darkened foyer, her eyes drifting over the sheets that covered most of the furnishings. Dust hung thickly in the air and the few rays of sunlight that drifted in through the windows cast strange shadows on the floor. The entire feel of the place was one of solitude and long, tearful goodbyes, as if the sadness that had permeated the lives of many of the Manor's residents had somehow seeped into the walls and taken on a life of its own.

And Betsy, whom the world had known in many guises over the years -- fashion model, secret agent, mutant adventurer and now heir to the legacy of Captain Britain -- could only sum up her feelings with a few deliciously spoken words:

She threw her hands up and spun about, laughing like a little girl. Her entire face was lit up by a dazzling smile and she felt more carefree than she had in years. All the turmoil that had caked up inside of her, dating all the way back to Slaymaster stealing her sight* and moving up through her transformation in the Siege Perilous and the subsequent horrors of being an X-Man, were now fading memories. Whatever magic her brother Brian had worked in restoring her to something approximating her original form had worked its wonders on her spirit, as well.

(*Waaaaaaay back in Captain Britain (1985) # 13. That series rocked, by the way.)

Betsy looked over her shoulder to see her teammate Francesca Grace entering the front door, a couple of Betsy's bags in her hand. She set them down and gazed about her, with a bemused expression on her face that made Betsy laugh again. "The thick extra layer of dust is meant to give the place a homey feel."

"Right-o," Grace murmured. Francesca was a beautiful woman, though there was a haunting quality to her being that permeated everyone's impressions of her. She had been a servant of the evil Bane, running her international conglomerate with a steel fist before the power of the Green Knight and Avalon had entered her life. Since then, she'd served as a hero in first the Knights of Pendragon and now their spiritual successors, the Pendragons. As a result of that, she'd lost her love -- Peter Hunter, aka Albion -- and found herself far too alone. "Why are you doing this, Betsy? Getting tired of the drafty old castle?"

"Not at all -- and I still plan to be there for the most part. But this manor is such a major part of my past that I want to see it restored. My brothers and I used to play right through there," she said, pointing to a large central hallway. "I can almost feel the presence of ghosts." She paused, looking back at Grace, a somewhat embarrassed expression on her face. "Do you think me daft?"

Grace came towards, taking her hand in her own. "I think you're doing the right thing. I just wish that I had someplace I could turn back to. With Peter dead, our room at the castle seems so bloody empty and--"

"You shouldn't look so floored, luv. We bonded in Otherworld and I'd love to have my favorite sparring partner around the house."

Grace nodded slowly, warming to the idea. "I might take you up on that. I just might, indeed."

Shamrock held the hands of both Adam Crown and Union Jack, navigating them through the darkness. Though she, too, was blind as could be, her luck powers held true, preventing her from bumping into anything or losing her footing. "This is bad, me buckos. If this darkness stays in place, then our superfast lassie isn't going to be able to do 'er running."

"That's the least of my concerns, Shamrock." Jack replied. "We're all helpless as babes. Jack O'Lantern could slit Cam's throat and we'd never even know it -- and then do the same to us."

Adam was about to tell the two of them to knock off the chatter when he bumped -- hard -- into another person. "Sorry," he whispered.

To his surprise, the person reached and grabbed hold of his arm. "Adam? Is that you? How in heaven's name did you find me?"

Adam let out a breath, recognizing Spitfire's voice. He knew that it was more than just plain luck that Shamrock had happened to lead them directly to their teammate amidst the blackness that surrounded them. It was the Irish girl's uncanny ability at work. "Thanks go to Shamrock for that. Have you seen Cam?"

"Yes -- Before Jack O'Lantern turned the lights out, he had Cam hanging from his antigravity sled. They were directly above us -- I've made a point of not moving, trying to keep my bearings straight. But there's no guaranteeing that the fiend hasn't taken off somewhere else."

"I think that's a good assumption, Jackie," Joey said. He pulled away from Shamrock, who gasped in surprise. "Trouble, straight ahead of us!" he yelled, pulling his dagger from its sheath.

There, barely coming into view through the darkness was the flaming headed visage of the Jack O'Lantern. The darkness was too overwhelming to allow for much clarity, but Union Jack managed to hear the increased whine of the antigravity sled as the villain revved his engine and surged forward.

The villain cackled as he barrelled through the heroes, sending Adam and Shamrock flying with the brunt of the impact. Spitfire zipped to her left, avoiding most of the blow and Jack -- who had seen it coming -- was able to roll out of the way entirely.

Jack whipped back around, hefting a pumpkin bomb in his left hand. "So glad you could come and join me... I was hoping the boy meant something to you. But where's his mother? Too busy to come and rescue the child herself?" Jack hurled the bomb at Adam as he rose.

Crown managed to sweep his sword forward, barely able to discern the path of the explosive. He sliced through the pumpkin, causing it to erupt into a fine mist that coated his entire body. At once, he knew he'd made a mistake for the mist hardened into a metallic shell that restricted his movement. Toppling to the ground, he cursed under his breath and yelled "Bloody hell! Somebody has to get rid of this damned darkness!"

Union Jack kept his thoughts to himself, but they weren't very complimentary in nature. Adam Crown fancied himself the new leader of the Pendragons -- after all, he was the reincarnation of King Arthur and his resurrection helped spur the eventual defeat of Blackheart -- but he had done practically nothing to earn the position. Shouting out things that were obvious to all was hardly what Joey considered "strategy."

Pushing aside thoughts about his teammate, Joey moved forward carefully. Jack O'Lantern had flown away again, leaving the Pendragons in darkness once more. Joey could hear innocent bystanders screaming and shouting all around him and it was enough to make his head ache. "Spitfire! Where are you?"

A stirring of air told him that she had come to his side. "Right here, luv. Do you have a plan?"

"Not much of one, but it'll do. The only thing I've been able to see in all this shadow was the fire around Jack O'Lantern's head."

Jackie started to reply when she heard the whine of Jack O'Lantern's antigravity sled. "I'm afraid I left all my spare torches in my other pair of pants, Joey. Got any other ideas -- I generate small flames when I run, do you think they'll be enough?"

Union Jack gripped his dagger tightly and waited. "Probably not, they're very faint flames -- not more than flickers, really. But I think I know where I can get us a flaming object."

The visage of the Jack O'Lantern returned, streaking towards them. The villain held two more pumpkin bombs before him, each flooding the air with thick smoke. It was obvious to all that these bombs were decidedly more deadly than the previous ones. "One down, three to go -- and then we'll call today a wrap, shall we?"

"Sod off!" Jack bellowed, rushing forward. He jumped into the air, keeping his eyes on the flaming pumpkin mask. He aimed slightly lower and tackled the villain around the midsection. The antigravity sled flew on, past Spitfire and the downed Adam Crown.

"Get... off... me!" Jack O'Lantern raged, shoving at Union Jack. The bombs fell from the villain's grip, exploding down below. Joey hoped desperately that no one was hurt.

"Not until I get what I came for," he replied. He reached up, surprising Jack O'Lantern by grabbing the villain's mask. The flames burned his gloves, but he held on and wrenched the mask free. The flames illuminated the kidnapper's face long enough for Jack to feel thoroughly shocked. "You're a woman!"

Maguire Beck smiled. "Nice of you to notice -- Now get the hell off my platform!" She kicked Union Jack between his legs, causing him to expel all the air from his lungs in a tremendous rush. Pain made his eyes water and he fell from the platform, the pumpkin mask rolling away from him.

The darkness receded almost immediately, as if the removal of the mask had somehow loosened the villain's control of the moving shadow. Spitfire rocketed towards Joey but saw that he was okay, aside from his wounded privates. She grabbed hold of the villain's platform with a steely grip and gave it a hearty spin, sending Jack O'Lantern whirling away towards the wall.

Shamrock grinned, watching as Jack O'Lantern slammed into the concrete structure and fell from her perch atop the platform. She had felt helpless through much of this battle, but she was ready to finally contribute in a more meaningful way.

She kicked Jack O'Lantern hard in the chin, sending the other woman sprawling, and followed the attack with a punch to the back of the woman's head.

Maguire groaned, barely remaining conscious enough to summon a small teleport spell. Since the Black Mass, she'd gained true powers rather than just illusions and she used them now to escape certain defeat. She wanted badly to make some devilish comment about returning in force the next time, but her head throbbed so intensely that she couldn't force out any words. Instead, she faded away in a poof of smoke, joined by a small black cat who leaped into the mystic portal that swallowed her up.

"Nice work, Molly!" Spitfire gushed, rocketing up beside her. "I had no idea you were such a scrapper."

Shamrock beamed, basking in the compliment. "Ye can't always count on a lucky break in combat, can ye? So I 'ave to be able to 'andle things on my own."

Union Jack knelt beside Adam Crown and dug his knife into the silvery material that held the Pendragon captive. "Hold still, Adam. If you keep wiggling, you're going to get a knife in your gut."

Union Jack looked up, making sure that Cam was still hanging from the ceiling. The poor boy looked like he'd passed out. "We'll get him down. With Jack gone, I don't think he's in any more trouble right now. What concerns me is why Jack did all this... She didn't hold him for ransom or even make any real demands of us. Why spark a conflict with the Pendragons?"

Spitfire and Shamrock stepped over, as Adam rose to his feet. The reincarnation of King Arthur shook his arms and legs to restore circulation to them. "And why bother to pretend to be a man?"

"Who knows?" Shamrock murmured. "Maybe she gets 'er kicks from wearing men's knickers."

"And maybe this was just some kind of test," Spitfire added. "A way to bring us into an environment that she had chosen, one from which she could flee whenever she wished."

Joey nodded, agreeing with Jackie's sentiments. "In that case, she'll be back again -- and next time, she'll have a better idea of how to combat us."

Brian Braddock sat on the throne, trying to avoid appearing bored. Before him were a number of Otherworld's citizens, each of whom had come forward with some request or problem that they needed the King's ruling on. It was hardly the sort of thing that Brian enjoyed doing -- he was, by nature, a man of action. Whether it was in a physics lab or on the battlefield, Brian preferred grasping a problem by the horns and twisting it into submission.

Here and now, however, he was forced to practice that most difficult of kingly arts -- Patience.

"And if the refugees from Earth-912 continue to pour forth into my lands, m'lord, I'm afraid I'm just going to have to take some sort of action. I know the poor souls are half starved t'death, but that's no call to eat m'crops!"

Brian nodded politely. Not all that long ago, he was a superhero -- a sometime leader to a group known as Excalibur. But that had all changed when he'd assumed the mantle of his destiny -- accepting that he was the rightful king of this realm and all its inhabitants, which carried with it the extra responsibility of being the Omniversal Protector. He leaned forward, having realized that all eyes in the grand throneroom were now on him. "I understand your concerns, but you have to put yourself in the place of the refugees -- Their homeworld has been devoured by a nanite-based lifeform. They're being slowly relocated from a pocket dimension to here... Where they will either accept new lives and duties in Otherworld or else be reassigned to an alternate Earth with their memories cleaned. That's a bloody hell of a lot to cope with. And if they grab a bit of corn on their way through, is that enough to have them tried and convicted?"

The farmer, dressed in dark blue robes that accentuated the pallor of his skin, clutched his hat in his hands. He'd wrung it to bits while talking, obviously uncomfortable speaking before the great and noble King Brian. "I understand that, m'lord. But why do they have to come through my lands?"

"Because that's where the dimensional aperture happens to be." Brian rose from the chair, sending the farmer scuttling back. That disturbed Brian but given the sometimes mercurial nature of Merlyn -- who had ruled Otherworld for millenia -- the people were not yet sure of how the new King would react to things. "I promise you this... You will be repaid the cost of your ruined crops, with my assurance that the refugees will be encouraged to leave your belongings as they find them." Brian looked out at the rest of the assembled crowd. "That ends our business for the day... But remember this: Otherworld is home to so many from throughout the Omniverse. It is a special place. We are a special people. Let us carry that knowledge within us and welcome our new brothers and sisters with open arms."

The King picked up his Star-Sceptre and walked away, leaving behind a smiling and appreciative audience. The people of Otherworld were coming to love their new lord, despite his sometimes odd manners. His passionate way of speaking and his obvious desire to give Otherworld back the splendor it once held was obvious.

Brian found his wife Meggan waiting for him in the courtyard. The empathic shapechanger's form was frequently a mirror to her inner emotions... and right now she was as radiant as Brian had ever seen her. Her long blonde hair hung down in carefully arranged curls, colorful flowers intermingled with the braids. She wore a simple white frock, but Brian thought it suited her wonderfully. "Brian!" she exclaimed, flying towards him. She came into his arms, whispering in his ear, "You won't believe the news, luv! The palace doctor says it's finally happened!"

Brian clasped her to him, echoing her joy with his own. "We're going to be parents, Meggan?"

And as the happy couple shared this eagerly awaited event, a distant figure watched them through the shimmering veils of the multiverse. The shadowy figure was pleased to see that both of the twins -- Brian and Betsy -- were in such pleasant states.

Peter Hunter's grave was covered by a few well-tended flowers. It was here that his physical body had been lain to rest following the battle with Blackheart*, but his spirit-self was housed in eternal warmth in Avalon**. Still, for the woman who had loved him, coming here was a regular event in the days since Peter's death.

Francesca Luxley Grace knelt before his grave, her eyes closed tightly. She spoke as if he could hear her, though she knew that he had gone on to a better place and would no longer linger in the world of mortals. "... Moving in with Betsy might be what I need. To get my life back in order. To learn to laugh again. I just wish you were with me. We had so little time together, Peter. It's so colossally unfair."

Grace reached out and touched the cold earth, feeling it between her fingers. She desperately wished she could feel Peter's hair once more. With a sigh, she stood up and pulled her coat tighter around her. She blew a kiss to Peter's headstone and walked away, leaving the cemetery cold and quiet.

That quiet was abruptly shattered when the sound of footsteps echoed through the dim moonlight. A gaunt man garbed in dark robes approached the grave, his movements slowed by age and weariness. "Dead. So it's true... After all these years, you were slain by another. The victory that should have been mine has been stolen from me." The necromancer known as Nekros, who had battled Albion as far back as the dark days of the First World War, clenched his fists together. "I won't allow that. I simply can't."

Lumbering shapes moved into view behind him, patchwork men with mismatched body parts and poorly sewn-together wounds that threatened to spill their insides to the ground. They carried with them shovels and picks, beginning to work on the grave of Peter Hunter.

Nekros felt the first drops of rain on his flesh and he looked skyward, just as the heavens opened up and began to flood the land. It was as if the stars above were protesting this violation of a good man's grave. "I will have my revenge, Albion! I swear it!"

Betsy Braddock heard the sound of Grace entering the manor's front door and she thought about going downstairs to greet her friend but thought better of it. Betsy could sense the melancholy that surrounded Grace at the moment and knew that she'd been visiting Peter's grave again. Best give her a bit of privacy, I think, she decided.

Instead, Betsy focused more intently on her task at hand... the repairing of some tiny rips in her Captain Britain uniform. Fighting Captain Englander and the rest of the Emissaries had left her equipment damaged -- and without the suit, she was nothing more than a telepath with a few well-developed fighting skills. The costume gave her the ability to fly and made her both stronger and more resistant to injury. Considering the great strains that the Pendragons had been under as of late -- both from superpowered villains and from the incredible expectations of the general public -- she knew she had to be at full strength.

A small radio beside her played a few popular songs, though the static made the words hard to overhear. The magic barrier wreaked havoc with technology and on this night, the telly was dead as could be. Betsy's hands froze in place, however, when she heard the song came to an abrupt end and the music signaling the beginning of a BBC news bulletin come on in its place. A woman's voice came through, as the intro music faded into the background. "An update on today's news -- Prime Minister Blair continues to mull over the Latverian offer of assistance, with no word on when the British government will accept or decline the aid. At the Whitelys Shopping Center today, the hero team known as the Pendragons battled a villain calling themselves Jack O'Lantern. Despite the fact that the center was at near-capacity at the time the battle took place, no one was reported seriously injured. And finally, the winged mutant known as Archangel was sighted in Birmingham this afternoon, putting an end to an attempted rape of a British woman by a creature described as an ogre. This marks the first time that the American mutant has been sighted on British soil since the Barrier went into effect and has led some in government to wonder if his X-Men allies are also p--"

Betsy turned the radio off, her mouth hanging open. Warren?! Could it really be you?

The woman known today as Captain Britain rose quickly, pulling her costume into place. If her former lover was somehow in England, she would find him. She swore to that.

Next Issue: Miracleman takes center stage as he attempts to piece back together the exact circumstances that led to his decades-long imprisonment. Plus: Betsy finds herself reunited with Warren Worthington, but what havoc has the Black Mass wreaked on everyone's favorite Avenging Angel? Be here to find out!

As you can see from this issue, I'm staying true to my promise to shift some of the spotlight onto some of our lesser-seen members. I also wanted this issue to be full of plot threads that could be developed through our next 12 issues -- the threat to the Captain(s) Britain, the return of Nekros and the (hopefully) surprising appearance of Archangel. Look for lots more on all those fronts next issue.