X-Calibur

Issue #20 – Present Days of Future Now - Part Five

London - The Future – 2050

Hellfire Club

"I don't believe it," a small man with green skin and three eyes said as light and heat bounced off his face and body from the giant mushroom cloud that rose from where the Hellfire Club once stood.

"I don't know how they managed it but they cut off the Queen's power source," a small floating metallic head replied back as Hellcatchers, Hellfire Sentinels and other weapons powered off and fell to the ground or from the sky.

"No time to celebrate yet. There are plenty of Hellsquads left and as long as the Queen lives she can recreate the power source," a woman dressed in blue and black with long blond hair said as she looked at the shroom not too far from them.

"Mama Liz wasn't in there was she?" A dusty blond haired five year old boy asked quietly.

"No, Drake, she wasn't in there. She and uncle Jamesy are somewhere else right now and I'm sure they will be just fine," a woman covered head to toe in a slightly torn costume said as she placed her hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I hope Cat's team made it out though," a man in a black nave's costume with red hearts all of it and a white clown like face with red hearts painted over both eyes to look like a mask.

"Like you really care," snickered a woman with blue skin and dog-like facial features in high-tech body armor.

"What's that suppose to mean?" The man asked in anger.

"You're a spawn of the Crazy Gang and they've done nothing but try to kill Excalibur," the blue skinned woman snapped.

"I can't help who my parents are, Warcrasher, but in the end my parents and the rest of the Crazy Gang sacrificed their lives so the Elite could get away with the ability to form the Underground and the resistance. At least I know who my parents are where I come from," the white faced man snapped back.

"Watch your tongue, Knave least I cut it out. Since the day I arrived here I have defended England," Warcrasher argued.

"Knave of Hearts, Warcrasher, that's enough. You both have proven yourselves and I need you to all continue on fighting with the Elite, or what's left of us anyway and help protect the others," Union Jack said as she held the boy closer to her as she looked back at her small group.

Thanks to her telekinesis she had survived the attack from Nightmagik but had been knocked out. When she had come to she had found Lord Lockheed dead and young Lockheed and Nightmagik gone. She was about to leave when she heard crying and found little Drake Stuart hiding in the room. Drake told her all about Lord Lockheed sending Lockheed away before Nightmagik murdered him and left. At this point, the Queen's army had almost completely massacred the entire Underground and Elite. Jacqueline knew she had to take the boy and who ever else she could find and escape to safety.

First thing Union Jack did was put out Widget's back up old body. She quickly downloaded him from the system and into his old body. A lot had been damaged but enough remained to give them the old Widget back. Once Widget was back online they left the room using Widget's limited abilities to try and stay clear of the enemy and locate any survivors. While the Hellsquads were growing smaller, most of the Underground was destroyed and many left for dead. They ended up finding and making it out of the Underground with ten other survivors.

Six of the ten were mutants living in the safety of the Underground. The other four were what was left of the Elite. Triclops was an Underground mutant that had recently been promoted to the Elite's ranks. His green skin and three eyes were creepy, but he was good with his powers. His third eye allowed him to see the weakness or weak spot of his target while his other two eyes locked on the target and generated a powerful optic blast. He actually came in very handy as they made their way through the tunnels.

They had also found the Elite member named Dazzleshot. Dazzleshot was the mutant daughter of Longshot and Dazzler. Not much is known about her childhood or does she talk about it, just that she should up one day claiming her parents were dead and she was here for revenge. She had her mother's attitude and light blasting powers and her father's good looks and luck. She was holding her own well against the Hellsquad, but she saw a look of relief when they had showed up to lend a hand.

Unfortunately, the last two that they had found were the two ever bickering Elite members known as Knave of Hearts and Warcrasher. Warcrasher had been found one day with no memory of where she had come from or who she was. All she new was that she was called Warcrasher, had heightened senses, strength and a form of nanotech in her arms that transformed them into weapons. Lord Lockheed took her in and trained her and she had fought loyally. Lord Lockheed vouched for her and that was good enough for Union Jack and the Elite. Then there was Knave of Hearts.

His mother was the Queen of Hearts and leader of the criminals known as the Crazy Gang. His father was the Jack of Hearts, another member of the Crazy Gang. Knave was the product of one crazy and insane night. He mostly stayed in the background while Queen and her Gang broke the law. He had discovered that he had developed his father's super strength and durability and he could create razor sharp psionic hearts and throw them with his mind. Even though his parents were evil, he had a good heart.

After developing his powers he would secretly help others and the Elite behind his parent's back. In the end, when a major battle move went into play and the Elite needed to escape with what would be the foundation for the Underground and resistance headquarters, Knave and convinces his parents and their Gang to help the Elite. In the end, not only did they help but they all died saving the Elite. Knave would have died with them but his mother, in a clear sane moment, made Britaina take him and promise to look out for him. She then blew him a kiss, shouted "off with their heads" and held off Selene's forces with the Crazy Gang's lives.

They had used Widget's ability to open a portal to take them where Lockheed had gone. They had arrived not too far away from the Hellfire Club and Union Jack knew it would take time for Widget to recharge enough to open another portal. They had figured Lockheed was now inside with the others but before they could make their game plan, the whole place had gone up in an explosion of fire. Now they stood watching the fiery show as the Queen's forces depowered.

"We need to decide what to do here. We're not safe out here in the open, especially with them," Dazzleshot said nodding towards the mutants they had to protect and the little boy named Drake.

"I know. I think we should wait a moment. Why would Lord Lockheed send his younger self here only to die? Something tells me we were meant to arrive here as was Lockheed," Union Jack said as Dazzleshot rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you say so, then something better happen soon," Dazzleshot began to say when a loud humming noise pierced the air around them.

Union Jack looked around as the ground began to shake. Suddenly, a bright lash of light went off followed by a loud boom. When the light faded, Lockheed stood before them under a force field of sorts with Shadowcat, Cerise, Cat, Purple Fury and Lionheart. All of them had surprised looks on their faces except Cerise who was screaming Kurt's name over and over as Shadowcat held her with tears of her own. The force field vanished as Lockheed collapsed.

"Lockheed, how'd you do that?" Shadowcat asked as she tried to calm the screaming Cerise.

"I don't know and I'm not sure I could again, but I can bet it's something my older self did to me before he sent me here," Lockheed said.

"What happened?" Union Jack asked the new arrivals.

"We walked into Nightmagik's trap but Nightcrawler, Mordred and the Totem fell into the Hellfire pit that caused the Club to blow," Cat said as they quickly caught each other up.

"I always knew that witch was a traitor," Dazzleshot said.

"She's not evil, she's being influenced by the Queen and Mordred," Purple Fury said with tears as he knelt down by his mother.

"Who are you trying to convince, us or yourself?" Lionheart asked as he glanced around in his magical armor.

"You think there's anyway Kurt survived?" Cerise asked looking up at Shadowcat.

"I don't know, he can teleport so anything is possible," Kitty said as she silently prayed for her friend.

"I'm hoping he did bite the big one," Nightmagik said as she appeared out of thin air with Blazing Knight and Psi-Blade next to her.

"We may have Mordred but you're not the only ones with an exit plan," Blazing Knight laughed as his sword came to life.

"Yes, time to finish off the rest of the Elite and their pathetic mutant followers," Nightmagik laughed as she shot a magical blast with one hand killing two of the Underground mutants and opening a portal with the other allowing hordes of demons to flow out and advanced on the members of X-Calibur and the Elite.

Queen's Palace

Pete Wisdom stood there tugging at the collar around his neck wishing he had his powers. Everything had happened so fast. One minute he was a prisoner moments away from being Selene's next meal, the next being freed by the cavalry and things looking up to everything falling part. He knelt down to lift Meggan up as he glanced around as he watched it all unfold and wondering how they were going to get out of this mess. The team was falling fast.

Iron Clover was lying on the ground with a sword in his back as Shamrock sat pinned to the ground with Hellhound's claws around her throat. Sunfire had just been impacted into the side of the wall in a ball of fire by his future son King Blaze while Mountjoy had brought the ceiling down upon Britaina, Brian and Fira. Poor Geo stood there in shock at the sight of what has happened to his friends and family. And lastly, not only did Rachel and Selene vanish in a bird of fire, but now dozens of Hellsquad members were now bearing down on them.

"Man I wish I had my powers," Pete swore to himself as he tried to get Meggan to her feet.

"What's going on?" Meggan asked.

"Trying to stay alive, luv," Pete said and then turned to the woman's future son. "Geo, do something about those goons or we're all dead."

"I, I," Geo stuttered a little.

"Now!" Pete shouted as Geo jumped.

Geo glanced where his sister and dad had been and then looked up at the Hellsquad. Allowing shock to turn to anger he felt the Earth and let it merge with his emotions. Thrusting his arms into the air, a gush of wind could be felt as the earth shot upwards from underneath the advancing Hellsquad members. In less than a minute the Hellsquad forces were driven back and the entrance into the room was sealed by the earth itself. Geo dropped to one knee feeling very exhausted both emotionally and physically.

"Impressive, child. Maybe I'm selecting the wrong family member," Mountjoy said as he advanced on the weakened hero.

"Get away from my son!" Brian shouted as the rubble he was under lifted up and was thrown clear.

Geo, Pete and Meggan all looked as they saw Brian, now beefed out with muscles standing strong. Next to him was Britaina. As she stood up it was clear she had used her own body as a shield for the wounded Fira. The father and daughter looked mad and ready to fight but poor Fira looked like she was on her last limb. Brian nodded as Britaina carried Fira over to Pete and Meggan. Brian turned and faced his old foe, Mountjoy.

"Very impressive," Mountjoy smiled.

"This will be the last time you hurt my family," Brian said as he charged at the evil body hopper.

"I welcome the challenge," Mountjoy laughed as he used his powers to pick Brian up and toss him through the air.

"Looks like this one is done and you all will now pay for what you did to me sister," King Blaze said as he stepped through the whole in the wall and tossing a very still Sunfire to the ground.

"You did this to her. Can't you see she has done nothing but try and save you," Geo said getting to his feet.

"Oh go cry it to your boyfriend," King Blaze said as he sent a fire blast that hit Geo and sent him flying backwards.

"Jamesy!" Meggan and Britaina shouted.

"It's over for all of you. Time to put an end to your puny resistance," King Blaze said as he began to go super nova and moved towards Pete, Britaina, Meggan and Fira.

"You will taste as sweet as your son," Hellhound said licking his lips as he squeezed tighter.

Shamrock could not speak. She could feel the air thinning as her voice box began to cave. She looked over and saw her future son laying there face down with a sword in his back. She wished she could reach out to him but she knew that soon she would be joining him. Just as she was about to black out she saw movement. She looked over and saw Iron Clover's hand move. Was he still alive? Maybe the sword didn't get all the way through his armor. She prayed for a little luck.

"Not again," Iron Clover whispered as he raised his head and looked at his mom.

Holding out his arm he called on his power, the power of his mom and the power of his armor, his secret secondary mutation. His body was suddenly engulfed in a bright green glow and then with a loud boom a green blast left his body, through his arm and flew at his mom and Hellhound. The blast hit Shamrock causing an explosion that sent both her and Hellhound flying back in opposite directions. Iron Clover smiled as his head dropped back to the ground.

"What happened?" Shamrock asked as she looked around.

She saw Hellhound out cold across the way from her. She then looked over and saw her future son, Jack lying on the ground with his armor gone and a sword plunged into his back. She ran over to him and rolled him over trying to find a pulse. It was very faint and she knew that there was no coming back from this wound. She began to cry when Jack opened his eyes and looked up at her and smiled.

"You're alive," Jack said spitting blood.

"Oh Jack. What did you do?" Molly asked through tears.

"You died to save me. It was my turn to save you," Jack said with all the strength he could muster.

"No, Jack. Maybe there's something we can still do," Molly cried as she held him tight to her chest.

"Mom, please tell Cat that I love her and I always will. Please look after her and know that I love you too," Jack said as his eyes closed and his body went limp.

"Oh, God, Jack. I love you too," Molly cried as she sat there rocking her future dead son in her arms.

Next: Issue #21 – Present Days of Future Now - Part Six

Authors Note: The New Brotherhood: Blood Ties #1 is now posted.