X-Calibur

Issue #35 – New Beginnings – Part One

Braddock Manor

Betsy & Brian

"So do you approve?" Betsy asked as she propped her feet up on the table and sipped her hot tea.

"Like you need my approval," Brian said with a smile.

"True, but just curious," Betsy responded back with a smile.

"I am all for what ever makes you happy. Lord knows you've been through enough and you deserve some happiness," Brian said and then paused at the strange look on his sister's face. "What?"

"Sorry, it's just good to see you're alive," Betsy said feeling relieved she wasn't crazy in her believe he wasn't dead.

"Yea, seems returning from the dead is common in our family," Brian said with a twinge of guilt in hoping it no longer held true to their psycho brother.

"Well, from what you told me about Roma and what I've been through it's safe to assume our get out of death free cards are gone. Now, more than ever it's important we start building and protecting our lives on our terms," Betsy said.

"I agree, but you and me running X-Calibur, is that what you want?" Brian asked deciding that if he was going to stay in the hero business who better to do it with than his family.

"Yes, and for now my place is here and not with the X-Men," Betsy said truly feeling that her time away from America had felt really good.

"Speaking of, what are you going to do about Bobby?" Brian asked referring to Drake, the future grandson of his sister and the X-Man known as Iceman.

"I haven't thought about that much since he is off in space somewhere. I figure I'll deal with him when and if he ever comes back. Until then, I don't know. Does it make me a bad person to say I am not ready for kids right now?" Betsy asked quietly.

"I always thought the same thing. Even when I married Meggan I knew someday we would have kids but not anytime soon. Then when we met our future kids, I realized there's nothing more in this world that I want then them," Brian said as he still felt the pain of the two daughters he had lost.

"Even if they are truly not yours? I mean, they are from an alternate future. In our reality they will never exist," Betsy said as she sat up and looked into her brother's eyes.

"It doesn't matter if Jamesy was from another dimension. He has Braddock genes and I truly feel that he is and will always be my son. We will view him no different. What does Shiro think of Drake?" Brian asked.

"He doesn't say much. He doesn't believe in the whole alternate reality or futures thing. He focuses on the here and now and all he wants is me, but he says if I do take Drake in he will accept both of us," Betsy said as her brother knew how confused she was.

"I will think no less of you. I know like Scott, Cable was his actual son but Rachel was an alternate future daughter who he never truly accepted her like Jean did. For some, bonds know no bounds while for others there as to be the connected reality to accept one as their blood. If you want, me and Meggan have no problem raising and caring for Drake," Brian said knowing Meggan wanted nothing more then to be Drake' s mother figure.

"I guess it doesn't matter if we are all living here?" Betsy asked coyly not really wanting to give a definite answer.

"True, so what are you thinking or what were your plans on the team setup for X-Calibur?" Brian asked changing the subject since he new his sister all too well. Meggan would be happy about taking the main responsibility for the boy while Betsy was just there if needed by either of them.

"I have some ideas but I guess we go over who we have here, what there roles are or will be and then go from there," Betsy said as they began going over current and possible team members.

Kitty & Piotra

"This can't be easy for you," Kitty said walking up behind her future daughter as she looked through the window of the medical unit where Rachel sat between Pete Wisdom and Pete Grey and the living green statue of Shamrock resided.

"You don't have to do this," Cat said bluntly.

"I know I haven't jumped on the instant parent wagon like everyone else has but that doesn't mean I don't care about you or how you're doing," Shadowcat said as she peered into the window as well to see her best friend, her one time lover and supposedly future husband and the future son that would result in their marital affair.

"Well, I don't need any new parents. I've already mourned you and have no desire getting better acquainted again with the man who stepped out on us, his mistress and their evil spawn," Cat said trying to hold back her anger and tears.

"This isn't about them is it? It's about Molly. I know she was more like a mother to you than I was but," Shadowcat began to say when Cat whirled around and faced her mother.

"You don't get it do you?" Cat asked as the tears began to win the fight.

"I'm trying, if you'll let me," Kitty tried to say not being very good at this kind of thing.

"She is the mother of the man I loved more than anything in the world. When he died he passed his power into her so it was like he was living on through her in more ways then one," Cat shouted as the tears started to flow.

"And if we can't save her it'll be like losing him all over again," Kitty said as she took her daughter into her arms.

"I can't handle it, I just can't. Not again," Piotra cried and shook as Kitty held on tight, feeling for the first time like there was a connection between the two of them.

Rachel & Pete

"What did they say?" Pete asked as he fidgeted in his bed wishing they would believe him that he was fine.

"I didn't call them. With all the X-Men still in space the only real telepaths at the school are the Cuckoos and I don't trust those Frost knockoffs for one minute. Plus, no point and letting them know we're alive when he only ones that know or care about us are lost up in space," Rachel said as she, for the first time in a long time was really missing her dad and her brother.

"What are you going to do then? I can check with MI-13 and pull in some of our psi operatives," Pete began to offer when Rachel glared at him.

"No thanks. I will not let MI-13 any where near my son," Rachel said realizing that comment sounded as weird as she thought it would. Then again, she did come from a family where her parents were barely over ten years older than her as well as her baby brother, who technically would have been born before her was actually older than her parents.

"He's my son too and I would never let anything happen to him," Pete said as he winced from the pain and the stress of the argument.

"I think its best he remains here and I'll figure out how to help him," Rachel declared.

"You're only doing this because I'm not staying with X-Calibur," Pete accused back at the woman staring down at him.

"Only because I suggested we be friends," Rachel said back.

"No, I'm leaving because once MI-13 heard we were back they recalled me back to duty for them. I have no choice but to go. We can still be together. Kitty said she was fine with it," Pete responded.

"I know we all agreed that this all happened in an alternate future but he is a reminder of something we did to my best friend and if we have any hope of ever being together I need some space from you to focus on things here," Rachel said knowing that Pete was leaving more because of what happened and that he wasn't up to par to actually pull his weight in battle right now, but they both knew he would never admit that.

"If this is what you want then I will respect that, but know, I can't guarantee I will still be available when you deem your ready," Pete said trying to not let his hurt pride show.

"I can live with that and don't expect you to wait, but do know I will do right by our son," Rachel said as her voice softened.

"As will I," Pete said as he took her hand and they said their good-byes for now.

Nightcrawler & Cerise

"Amanda, this is Kurt. Just wanted to let you know that I'm back, we're all back, alive and well. I know you're busy right now but there's much I need to tell you. Please be safe and call me," Kurt said as he hung up the cell phone after dialing the number that patched into Amanda Sefton's magical voicemail.

"Calling her again?" Cerise asked suddenly stepping up behind Nightcrawler.

"I have to let her know we're back and about her daughter," Nightcrawler said as he jumped with surprise at not being alone.

"It's not her daughter," Cerise began to say as the jealousy began to fill her up.

"Really, then what about Curtis? Is he not your son?" Nightcrawler asked growing upset with the woman in front of him.

"That's different. Even though he is not my son, like Nightmagik is not Amanda's daughter, I have actually gotten to know him and take him in as my own," Cerise said.

"Why not allow Amanda the same opportunity? Does she not have the right to get to know her future daughter as you did your future son?" Nightcrawler asked not knowing why Cerise was continuing to act this way.

"I don't know why I continue to be lead into false hope with you," Cerise suddenly spat out at him.

"What are you talking about?" Nightcrawler asked suddenly taken back.

"You can never commit to one person. All your life you have never been able to give your heat completely to one person. I'm a fool to continue to believe that you will truly love me," Cerise said.

"I do love you. You have to understand that I will always hold a place for Amanda in my heart but I," Nightcrawler began to explain.

"No, she was, is your adopted sister. What I want, what I need is your hole heart and nothing less," Cerise said as she began to shift and shrug off the tears.

"That's the problem with you Cerise. You were always so selfish and unwilling to let anyone else in," Nightcrawler said now growing angry.

"As you are unwilling to commit and always so indecisive. It even proves it in the future when you still can't decide and still string two women along with kids and not even committing to either of them. We're no closer now than we were the first time I left," Cerise said standing strong.

"What are you talking about? Are you leaving?" Nightcrawler asked.

"I think it might be best. When I came here and you all rescued me I stayed because I thought we had a chance. Now I see it was a woman's fantasy blinded by love," Cerise said as she glared into Kurt's eyes.

"What about our son?" Kurt asked.

"As you said, he really isn't my son. Plus her daughter killed him," Cerise said as she began to turn away.

"He's still in there somewhere, I know it, but if that's what you want to do then do what you do best, run away," Kurt shouted.

"Fine, I will," Cerise stormed out of the room and headed out into the back garden and finally let herself cry.

"Kurt, you foolish elf," Cerise said and began to smile when she heard a noise and knew he had ran after her.

"Grab her, now," a voice said as several large figures came out of the bushes, overcame Cerise, bound her up and then teleported away.

Epilogue

Nightmagik & Purple Fury

You have to tell dad and the others. We have to save mom, Curtis said from inside her head.

"She is not my mother," Margali answered her brother back as she watched the figures vanish with her father's mistress.

You can't do this. If they find out they will get rid of you, Curtis pleaded for his mom's rescue.

"They will never get rid of me and they will never find out. Right now I am their only meal ticket in trying to save their friend Shamrock," Margali smiled.

But you can't reverse the effects. I've seen it in your mind. You don't have enough power, Curtis said.

"But they don't know that and with Cerise out of the way I can finally have what you had. My father with my mother," Margali laughed.

Sister, please! Curtis begged from within her mind.

"Enough, I have a new friend I need to call and thank and if you don't leave me alone I will find a way to get rid of you as well," Nightmagik said as her brother's sobs drifted away and she went back into the mansion leaving the garden empty.

New Avengers

Thunderbolts Disassembled – Part Four

Moments before the Battle of Ultron

Georgia

"How are we going to make a name for ourselves fighting crime out in the middle of nowhere?" Arcticblast asked as the T-Bolt came in for a landing.

"Hey, heroes don't choose where and what crimes to fight. Everything and everyone is worth saving," Songbird said as she loved flying their new aircraft that Mach-V had managed to buy and upgrade.

"Exactly, and where else can you establish yourselves and not be under the shadow of the Avengers or another group if fighting in places like New York?" Joystick said as she smiled over at Atlas who was in the co-pilot seat.

"Good thing you intercepted that distress call so we could rush to the rescue," Atlas responded while blushing.

Months had gone by and they had come together nicely working as a team. There were even a few times when they had fought alongside the Avengers and other well known heroes. Hawkeye had told them all how proud he was of all of them and wished them luck in keeping things going. Even Captain America had smiled with a thumbs up after Mach-V and his Bolts had lent a hand against a HYDRA raid. Songbird was really proud with how far the reformed criminals were coming, some more than others.

Photon was doing great, but he was head strong and wanted to prove himself his father's son and was always grand standing and racing head first into battle. Most of the time he was showing up Atlas and that wasn't a good thing, according to Erik. Joystick remained much of a mystery and tended to be a bit reckless to Songbird but she came through in the end and it appeared she and Erik were getting very close. Speed Demon kept to himself a lot but when it came to a fight he was always there in the spotlight to make sure everyone, including America knew he was the hero of the T-Bolts. Radioactive Man kept to himself as well but he tended to be more Zen and relaxed now anyways but was never shy in battle. Melissa was amazed at how much of a peacekeeper he had become. Both Webtress and Master Floro were doing well but were a little more challenging in getting them in control of their powers and tempers.

Melissa and Abner both agreed their greatest improvers were Donny and Beatrix. Arcticblast, formally the criminal Blizzard had grown very accustomed to his new and improved suit. He almost made Iceman look like an amateur with his powers. He was a more serious and grownup Iceman, of course if you ever compared Donny to Iceman to his face he would freeze you solid. Melissa felt good to see Abner and Donny becoming great friends again. It was something that Abner had needed for a long time. Melissa had also found herself enjoying the company of Whipshock.

It had been a long time since she had had a real gal pal. Well one that wasn't secretly trying to stab her in the back. Beatrix came from a hard background. Her mother was a drug addicted prostitute and her father was an abusive drunk. Beatrix always joked that her parents had come up with her name by combining their professions. She ran away from home when she was sixteen when she almost killed her dad. One night when her mom was verbally abusing her and her father was threatening to get up and beat her, something happened to Beatrix. As her mom was yelling at her, the cigarette in her hand had flared burning her as the light bulb went dim when Beatrix screamed at her to stop. In anger, her mom blamed her and her dad called her a mutie freak and grabbed his belt to beat the mutant out of her.

Beatrix had cried in pain as blow after blow hit her bruising her back and even cutting her face. Then her dad made his final blow at her. As the belt, which he held the metal buckle in his hand and stretched out with a long leather belt that was outlined in metal and ended in a metal point, made contact with Beatrix she somehow managed to grab hold of the end of the belt. Just as his dad was threatening her to let go she felt something odd happen in side of her. Suddenly a jolt of electricity passed from her hand, through the metal of the belt and into her hand sending him to the ground in convulsions. Beatrix's mom started calling her a mutant murderer and being scared she ran out the door and never looked back. She lived on the streets for years until she was taken in by Viper and she continued on her path with the Serpent Society.

Beatrix told Melissa that who she became wasn't who she wanted to be but sometimes you take what life deals you and you don't know anything else. Melissa and Beatrix were both glad that she had seen the as for the Thunderbolts and that she had decided to take the chance to reform and better her life. As they trained Whipshock got better with her whips and with using her powers to channel light and sending out in controllable amounts through her whips. Mach-V had even improved her visors to allow her to better control absorbing light through her eyes and into her body. Melissa could really see her becoming the next great hero. Melissa just wished the same luck with the others.

They were all enjoying a relaxing day when Joystick ran in saying she received a distress call from a town Georgia. It appeared that a super powered biker gang was trying to overrun the small town outside of Atlanta. Mach-V quickly knew that they had to send in the Thunderbolts. Speed Demon mentioned that he thought it might be much for all of them to go racing in just in case another greater emergency came up. Knowing both to be true Mach-V stayed behind with Speed Demon and a few of the others while he sent in Songbird, Atlas, Joystick, Arcticblast, Radioactive Man and Whipshock. They figured this team was more than enough to handle a bunch of bikers.

"Those must be our guys," Atlas said as they saw four large burly guys on Harleys driving around glowing with energy.

Songbird led her crew into battle. She could see right away why they all weren't needed. These bikers were more of a joke than anything. They almost made her laugh on how they seemed like to them what they must have used to appear to the Avengers when they were criminals starting out. Radioactive Man drained their energy while Arcticblast froze some while Whipshock shocked other right off their bikes with her electric powered whips. Songbird was proud at how fast they had rounded them up and looked at her team.

"Hey, Atlas, where's Joystick?" Melissa asked suddenly realizing she was missing a team member.

"I think I saw one of your people head into that computer store," a police officer said pointing to one of their businesses as Songbird stayed behind to handle things leaving Atlas to go check on his girl.

"Joystick, better hurry, I don't have long," a voice came over her communicator.

"Hey, don't rush me. I love games played on my own time table. Okay, the readouts you're sending me have tracked the package. Here it is, hidden deep within a bunch of computer hardware and parts. What is it?" Joystick asked.

"I don't know. We've been doing odd stuff and spying for him for months now but this is the first important mission he has asked of us," the voice said.

"Well I've spent all this time using my skills to access the Thunderbolts and Avengers computers to track this energy reading he gave us and finally found it. Oh, thanks again for setting up your buddies with the bikes for distraction," Joystick said as she saw the box and pulled out a USB type devise.

"No problem. I am now connecting the feed between you and Zemo. Whatever you do, do not break open the box or Zemo will kill us both," the vice said as the transmit ion began and Joystick bent down to place the devise onto the box.

"Janice, what are you doing?" Atlas asked causing Joystick to jump and knock the box over causing it to hit the floor and crack open slightly as the devise slipped inside.

"I, oh no," Joystick said as something inside the box began to glow as computer parts started to swirl around it and pressure could be felt building intensely.

"Joystick, do you read me?" Speed Demon asked as he heard tons of static and commotion from the other end.

"What is going on?" Zemo asked from one of the monitors.

"I don't know," Speed Demon responded when the door began to slide open behind him.

"Everything okay in here? I detected a strange signal," Mach-V asked as he came walking into the room were Speed Demon stood in front of a blank computer screen,

"I was receiving an incoming message but got cut off," Speed Demon said as he knew Zemo would kill him for using his super speed to shut everything down before Abner came in and caught him.

"Let me see," Mach-V said getting to the computer while Speed Demon used his speed to quickly type without being seen.

"Abner, we need help," Songbird's image said as it suddenly came up.

They could see what looked like a building on fire from a huge explosion. Before they could get any more info the screen went to static before a familiar metallic facial image appeared. "This transmission ends as does their lives so says Ultron."

"Thunderbolts assemble, now!" Mach-V screamed over the intercom instantly after the image had been cut to black.

Few Years into the Future but Not Quite the Present

Stane Manor

"She still not responding?" Zemo asked as he watched Norbert pace over the unconscious form of Karla Sofen, the villain known as Moonstone.

"Not yet, but they were keeping her pretty drugged up despite her being in a coma," Norbert said.

Zemo knew, that someone like Moonstone you'd be a fool not to keep her securely contained and sedated, even if she was in a coma. After their battle with the Avengers and the Thunderbolts, Karla had been left in a coma and powerless. Zemo had left her and didn't care as he had a small fraction of the moonstone with him. The problem was that he couldn't access it's powers and when he learned one more fragment was seen somewhere that his only option would be t give the power back to Moonstone and use her for his new team. So with the help of Fixer, Bullseye and Stane, they had broken in and got her out before being caught. The only problem was that she was not reacting to the piece and it seemed their plan had proved useless.

"I got it," Smuggler and Bullseye said walking in with a small moonstone piece while covered in blood.

Before Zemo could respond the piece flew from Smuggler's hand and collided with the other piece that had rose into the air. They could feel the air being sucked in from all around them as right before their eyes the moonstones were calling itself back together and reforming. Just as the moonstones were to their full size they exploded over the body of Karla. When the dust cleared, Karla was gone and the bed was split in two.

"Boys, I'm back," Moonstone said as they looked up to see Moonstone in full costume and power hovering above them.

Before anyone could speak a portal opened out of nowhere a few feet from Moonstone. They all turned to see a woman wearing a green outfit with black long tied back hair step out of the portal. She looked mean and evil as well as attractive to look at. She turned and looked at Zemo and then up at Moonstone.

"I don't know who to thank but something big just happened that connected to my spell causing it to work and finally escape the hounds of Hell," the woman said with a big smile.

"Who is that?" Norbert whispered to Zemo.

"I don't know but she isn't alone," Smuggler said as they saw a woman dart out of the portal just before it closed.

Zemo stared as the bloody, battered and bruised woman got to her feet. At first he wasn't sure and then he got a look at her face and suddenly couldn't believe is luck. They had not only found a potential recruit to be their Scarlet Witch but they had definitely found their Mockingbird.

Next: Issue #36 – New Beginnings – Part Two & New Avengers: Thunderbolts Disassembled – Part Five