Exiles: Desperation

Chapter II: Teaming Up

"You have to be mistaken," the young tattooed man asserted. "Me? A hero?" he had a slim build, reddish brown hair, and red sunglasses. It was summer so he wasn't wearing a shirt, not that he always wore one in the winter. "I couldn't even keep a rock band together."

"The reality forecasting is almost never wrong," Morph assured him. "Hey, When I was your age, I was a just some idiot joking around with my friends… How could I know what I would become."

"Seriously," Scott Summers from reality 866 reiterated. "I'm no hero. I'm a singer, and a guitarist, but I'm not a hero."

Morph put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I know it's been hard these last couple of months, with Kurt leaving for Seminary, Rogue committing suicide, Jean getting hooked on meth and then checked into rehab, and then Pietro up and left you… It wasn't your fault."

"I… I wasn't there for them… like I wasn't there for Alex," Scott said. Scott Summers was eighteen. Three years ago he and his friends Pietro, Jean, Kurt, and Rogue had started a rock band called "X-Men". Their songs had done a lot to help other mutants find courage within themselves to come forward, and to help humans understand there was almost nothing to be afraid of in mutants. A year ago it started to spin out of control when Kurt left to start his training for the priest hood. Rogue, who was closest to him, felt abandoned and grew even more reclusive than she already was. She ended up taking a bottle of sleeping pills. She was dead before Pietro found her. This sent the rest of them into a downward spiral of depression. Pietro was disappearing for days at a time, and Jean was growing more and more addicted to meth. Scott did his best to pull them back together, but he couldn't. He was able to get Jean into a Meth clinic, but she hated him so much for telling her parents about her addiction that she said she never wanted to see him again.

"Come with us," Morph said solemnly. "And you don't have to stay in this place with these memories. Come with us, and you will see that you have the makings of a hero inside you. And this is coming from someone who has seen his share of heroes."

Meanwhile on Earth 9031, Jean was having a harder go of things.

"I-I can't leave," said the woman in her nun's habit.

"You are needed," pleaded Blink. The massive form of Victor Creed was sitting in a pew watching all of this. "Hundreds of worlds are at risk… are you going to be the one that dooms them?"

"I am not to blame… I am serving God now… I vowed never to…" Susan Storm continued to rant.

"Listen, Storm," Victor cut in. "Don't God say yer supposed to help people in the best way y' can?"

"Yes, but…"

"Honey, you think you got them powers for no reason?" Victor challenged again.

"They took a life!" she snapped at him. "I took a life."

"You screwed up," Victor returned. "It happens. You can't save everyone. And besides, how many more people would have died if you didn't end that fight when you did? The kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You led that thing to a safe place."

Susan Storm, Or Sister Mary Susan as she was known in the convent, was at one time a member of the "Fantastic Four". After her once fiancé Reed Richards took them up into space, they had come back down with the ability to burst themselves into flame and fly. They had fought a monster created by the "Miracle Man", but in the process a little girl was burned alive. Sue had taken the death harder than any of the rest of her team.

"Please," Blink tried. "If serving him is to help others in need, you can help millions in most dire need."

"I will go…" she finally whispered.

On earth 9033 Zarda stood in awe as she looked upon the grassy fields of Monster Isle.

"Just… gimme a minute more," Johnny said in the thick gravely voice he now possessed. He stood in front of three graves.

On this earth the Fantastic four had all been transformed into hideous monsters. The effect seemed to go even farther on Reed and Sue as it wiped out Sue's mind, and caused Reed to become irrational and violent. A few months ago, Reed had completely lost it and murdered Sue, and then attempted to kill Johnny. Ben intervened, saving Johnny, but sustained fatal injuries and killing Reed in the struggle. Johnny had to bury his sister, and two best friends. He was more than happy to leave this sad, sad place. Johnny stood, seven feet tall with lumpy orange rock skin, but not the fragmented brick like complexion of 616 Ben Grimm.

On earth 9032

"Eh, Why not," Ben Grimm grunted. He had no home and no family. At least, none he wanted to acknowledge. His wife had left him and taken their young child. What hurt most is she had left him for his college friend, Reed Richards. And so he went with Spider-Man.

In the Panoptichron.

With a flash of light Captain America, and the Immortal had returned from their mission. "Success," Captain America told Hudson with a thumbs up.

"Watch out in the barracks," she called to them. "New Hinges getting set up."

Cap nodded his head. He wanted to get something to eat anyway and probably take up another mission.

In the barracks a confused, but joyful voice called out, "SUE?!"

Sue "Candle" Storm screeched as a being of orange rock lifted her, but quickly looked in his eyes and recognized her brother. "Oh… Johnny, what happened to you?"

Johnny "Thing" Storm looked at her incredulously, then back at Zarda. "In her world they all gained fire powers," Zarda explained.

"I don't friggin' believe it," Ben grumbled, as he walked over to the group. "Sue," he said coldly.

"Benjamin!" Sue said, one who looked like her old friend warmly.

"Absolutely fascinating," Reed muse das he walked up to the group. This reed came from a world where the crash granted him the ability to project invisibility. He had joined the CIA working for Fury on a pilot program called "SHIELD".

"I'm walking away from this before it gets even MORE uncomfortable," Miguel O'Hara said.

"I thought you might like to meet a few people," Morph said warmly. "This," he gestured to a group of people sitting at a table. "Is…"

"Kurt…" Scott filled in. He marveled at the older version of his friend. One that had apparently finished his seminary training.

" Yeah, but where he's from they call him 'Nightcrawler'. And this is Lorna Dane," the silver haired girl waved shyly at him. "Or Quick Silver. Next to her the charming blonde man is the nigh powerless Douglas 'Cypher' Ramsey, who will be joining Ms. Hudson in the control room. And the Lovely lady there is Tabitha 'Boom-Boom' Smith."

Tabitha stared at what she recognized as Scott Summers, but some how this Rock god in front of her was irreconcilable with the stiff geek from back in her world. "Hubba, hubba," she said. "Can we expect that kind of a show every where you go?" she asked, gesturing to the fact that Scott still had no shirt on.

Scott, despite his former status as a rock-icon, was still bashful with such a forward girl. "Um… I guess so."

"Guten Tag, Mein Fruend," Kurt said. "It is good to see even a copy of mein old friend."

"You knew the other me?" Scott asked.

"Jyah," Kurt nodded, as did Tabby, Cypher, and Lorna.

"What was he like?" asked Scott fearfully.

"The most selfless, and heroic man I ever had the pleasure of working vizh." Kurt supplied.

"A bit of a stuff, but he knew what he was doing in a fight," Tabby offered.

"Hero," was all Cypher said.

"Hero," agreed Lorna.