Chapter One; Meet the Exiles
Eric O'Grady whistled as he strolled into the Kingpin's offices in Fisk tower. "Wilson, baby." He said, smiling his signature smile and strutting his stuff. "What did I tell you, huh? What did I tell you? If you want something stolen, you come straight to me and I'll deliver."
"Of course O'Grady." The Kingpin said, not smiling back.
"What'd I tell you?" Eric said, placing the vial on the Kingpin's desk. "The name's Impossible Man." He tapped the letter I on his jacket. "For when you need to steal something impossible."
"Yes yes, we're all very impressed." The Kingpin said sourly. "Is this it?"
"Yep." Eric grinned. "Pym particles, stolen straight out of a S.H.E.I.L.D. carrier. If I were you, I'd think about using them to lose some weight."
"Good idea." Dum-Dum Dugan, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., stepped out from behind the Kingpin. One gun trained on him, the other at O'Grady. Eric began to back away towards the door.
"I'm sorry O'Grady." Fisk said.
"If it's any consolation, your record is intact." Dugan said. "You managed to steal the particles and give us the slip real good. Too bad for you, we knew who your employer was."
"Well, at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you almost caught me." O'Grady dove for the door. Only to be rebutted by a man in powered armor. His face went pale. "Ooooh… and you have back-up."
"Nobody steals from us and gets away with it." President Tony Stark advanced, followed by President Hank and Janet Pym, President Rogers, President Banner, the Mighty President Thor, and Vice-President Jones.
"Well… it looks like you're certainly very angry at a certain somebody hiring my services." O'Grady said, pointing at Fisk as he backed away. "I'll… just be leaving." He ran for the window and leaped out, tugging a chord in his jacket.
"Get him!" President Stark yelled as his parachute opened behind him and he floated down. Dum-Dum started firing at him, but O'Grady had anticipated this; the parachute wasn't to slow his falling. It was a Kevlar lined parachute, meant to stop him from getting shot on his way down and to make sure they didn't see what he was doing. He quickly took out his zipline and attached a small explosive to its handle, set to two seconds.
The firing stopped, and he dropped the zipline just as President Rogers leapt down onto his chute. He shrugged himself out of his jacket, letting it fall with the president. The explosion triggered and pressed against the handle of the zipline below. Two chords shot out of it, each attaching to a building on the other side of the street. He grabbed the handle and slid down the chord, smashing through an apartment building window.
He saw President Stark follow, and tore the curtains off their hooks. He tossed them behind him as he ran, covering up President Stark. While he was fumbling around trying to get clear, O'Grady ran for the door, but an enormous hand broke through the walls. It grabbed him, and pulled him out.
"Do you still feel like the big man O'Grady?" President Pym asked.
"Not… so much." O'Grady grunted, trying to squirm his way out.
"Why did you do it?" Pym asked. "You must have known we wouldn't stop until we found you after you stole from my lab. So why?"
O'Grady smiled. "To see… if I could. And… I'd do it… again."
President Thor descended on him. "Eric O'Grady, A.K.A. the Impossible Man. We, the presidents of the United States of America, hereby find you guilty of treason, punishable by death. Do you have any last words?"
"I… voted… for the liberals!" O'Grady yelled.
"Pull!" Thor yelled, and President Pym tossed the Impossible Man into the air. Lightning struck.
Thanos tossed Nova aside like a ragdoll. "I must say I'm impressed." He said. "When we first met, all those many years ago, you were but a boy. And yet you challenged me. And here you stand, continuing to challenge me through the years. You must know of the futility of it; yet you persist on princicple."
Nova ran at him. Thanos caught the punch, and knocked him aside again. "You have indeed been a worthy adversary. I cannot imagine that pathetic alien Rhomann being capable of choosing a better. But now, alas, it is time for us to part ways forever." He placed his foot carefully over Nova's head. "Goodbye, insect."
Suddenly, the two of them were surrounded by light. "What is this?" Thanos asked.
Nova coughed up blood. "Oh… well you see, while you were duking it out with Nihil after I arranged for the two of you to go to war, I managed to sneak into the controls for your teleportation device. For the past couple of minutes while we've been fighting, I managed to synchronize it with my suit. That last punch I gave you… while it distracted you I slipped a transdisc into your belt, so you could teleport with me. One of my own inventions. We're being teleported over twenty trillion bisecs away right now." The lights faded and space surrounded them again, save for the bright light of the sun. "To the sun of the Oberon system. Which is currently going supernova!"
Nova swung his fists around, battering Thanos. "How does it feel! How does it feel to be beaten by an 'insect'? I bet your girlfriend's thinking a whole lot about you right now! About how she wouldn't be caught dead with you! But don't take my word for it… go ask her yourself!" Nova threw him into the supernova.
Nova paused and caught his breath, then realized he was being pulled towards it too. "No…"
The gravity pull of the supernova is too dense to overcome. The worldmind said. The teleporter has short-circuited. We are going to die.
"Well thanks. Being the genius that I am, I hadn't already calculate that." Nova said, annoyed. We knew going into this it'd be a one-way trip, and I assumed I'd still be strong enough to escape the event horizon.
I thought, being a genius, you would have figured a way out by now?
Nova sighed. "No. Not this time." Nova thought quietly as he plummeted into the dying star. "You know… I think I've just had an epiphany."
About how to escape?
"No." Nova shook his head. "You know what I always say?"
With great power, comes great responsibility?
"Yeah. My Uncle Ben told me that. I think… I think what he meant to tell me was, the greatest power… is the power to face your responsibilities." The two were silent for a moment, as they watched Thanos burst into flame below them. "You know Worldmind… as talking suits go, you're the best."
I am not a talking suit. Although, yes, that symbiote was quite a handful, wasn't he? The Worldmind went silent. I am… not sure about human emotion, but… you are an honorable man, Peter Parker. And I cannot think of anybody better, to be the last bearer of the Nova Force.
"That means a lot to me." Nova said, before falling into the star.
Dr. Doom stood in front of a wall of monitors. "Bring him in." He said.
The door opened, and a pair of doombots came in, dragging Pete Wisdom between them on a chair. The dumped him on the floor and left.
Doom turned. "Peter Wisdom of the magical task force Excalibur. Make your play."
Peter stayed silent.
"Oh come come, I know you have the Staff of One. You're waiting until the opputune moment to bite your cheek. Go ahead. I'll even give you a free shot."
Peter glared at him.
"No? Well then…" Doom's foot lashed out.
"When blood is drawn, the staff of one will emerge." Peter Wisdom said in a trance as the staff came out of his chest. Dr. Doom grabbed it as it came out.
"Thank you Mr. Wisdom. You know, you're really quite predictable. Coming in at the last moment to save the day. It was child's play to bring you here. You, and the staff."
"Excalibur will stop whatever you're doing." Pete said, spitting out blood.
"Well, at least they'll be a member short." Doom held up the staff. "Diem Noctes Fratunas!"
Rachel McKenzie sat fishing by the lake near Xavier mansion. She enjoyed the cool summer breeze and the peaceful serenity of the lake.
"Ahem."
She opened her eyes and sat up. A swarm of sentinels floated over the lake, led by Sebastion Shaw. "Good day miss Mariner." He said jovially. "I was just on my way to eradicate mutant kind. Since you're the first mutant, I was wondering if you'd like to be the first to die."
Rachel reached into her purse and pressed the silent alert button. The X-men would be here within minutes and the rest of the school would go into the bunkers. "Listen." She said, glaring at Shaw. "My father was a fisherman. He'd take me along with him in the trawler and I'd help him clean the fish." She stood up, taking out a bowie knife. "I'm telling you this, because when I tell you that if you or your little toys move one inch forward I'll gut you like a fish, I want you to know that it isn't. Hyperbole."
Shaw grinned. And motioned to a sentinel. "MK IV, full firepower if you please." The Sentinel's armor opened up, revealing a massive array of guns.
Professor X adjusted his instruments. "How's he doing?" Kane asked.
"Not well." The Professor said. "I told you I had reservations. This… Wyatt McDonald… he was washed up before he got here. Former navy seal, dishonorable discharge, and you found him driving a taxi, begging to get back in the life."
"But how's he doing?" Kane asked, persistently.
The professor sighed. "Well if he had another mutant power we could probably work with him, but adjustable vision? And he insists on using a bow instead of a gun. Any gun. We went ahead with project Black Archer like you wanted, but really, he's a lost cause."
"What happened?"
"He failed to assassinate the target. We thought it was just a fluke, but he failed again. I've had a psychic in. It turns out, he wants to join the Squadron Supreme. He wants to leave us."
Kane tutted. "That won't do. He knows too much about weapon X. Can he be brainwashed?"
"That's not viable. Today's technology can reverse it. Too much risk."
Kane nodded. "Then the answer is clear. Terminate the project."
The Mask wandered through the crystal hallways. "Hello!" She called. "Any transdimensional beings here?" She moved into a large hallway.
"Who's that?" Nova turned around the corner. "Who are you?"
"They call me, the Mask." The Maks took off her broad hat and did a sweeping bow. "And who are you?"
"I'm Nova." They shook hands. "Do you know where this is? I was… falling into a supernova."
"And I was executed by a god of lightning." The Impossible man walked down the corridor to meet them. "Hi, I'm the Impossible man."
"Fascinating." The Mask said, looking at the two. "My own universe has a Nova and an Impossible man too, but neither of you are them. It appears that my theory about multiple realities are correct. And you both maintain that you are… dead?"
"And so am I." Rachel said, descending a staircase. "So… is this heaven?"
"If it is, I've made the greatest theological breakthrough since jesus was crucified." The Mask bowed again. "I am the Mask. I came here via a device that I thought would take me through dimensions."
"That's dangerous." Pete Wisdom said. "You shouldn't mess with things beyond your comprehension."
"You'd be surprised at what I can comprehend." The Mask said. "Am I to understand that you are in charge here?"
"If he is, than he's getting us out of here." The Black Archer pointed his bow at him. "Or he gets an arrow through his skull."
"That won't be necessary." A tall grey figure walked into the room. "My name is the Timebroker. And, I suppose I am in charge."
"Then get us out of here!" The Black Archer yelled, his bow shaking as it pointed at the Timebroker.
"Allow me to make the introductions." The Timebroker pointed to each of them in turn. "Wyatt McDonald, former navy seal, former taxi driver, and currently serving as the Black Archer. Eric O'Grady, the Impossible Man, thief of the highest caliber. Peter Parker, Nova, the sole member of the Nova Corpse in his dimension, possessor of the Nova Force and the Worldmind. Peter Wisdom, agent of Excalibur, the United Kingdom's magical task force. Rachel McKenzie, the Mariner, her world's first mutant. And, lastly, Glorianna Stark, the Mask."
He walked into the center of the chamber. "You are all currently in the M'Kraan crystal, the nexus of all reality. Through this palace, you can access every possible multiple universe. And you must. I have taken you five from your respective universes moments before your death… and Glorianna as well. You will be sent through the Multiverse, fixing divulgences in realities. You will be Exiles."