Corsair is alive, though he sprawls barely semi-conscious and completely forgotten in the corner of Lilandra's chambers. Stunned by Raza's blast, he is having trouble getting his body to obey his brain. He has managed to prop himself up on his hands and his eyes are starting to remember how to focus.

Dimly, he looks across the room to watch Alex fall to his knees, clutching at his head, golden light in his eyes and his hands. What is happening to him? He...that light...Corsair's dazed mind struggles to remember that light from a time when he was not this worthless, crawling thing that had been broken so easily and betrayed all he believed in...when he was still named Christopher, a husband, a father, a man...

His son had been the secret weapon that had damaged the gate that would have brought his entire family to D'Ken and doomed Earth to the madman's destruction. All this time, the questionings and the beatings, Alex had been what the Majestor had been looking for and he never even suspected. The boy had brought down their attackers without anyone knowing it.

Raza knows it now, though, and he understands what is ahead of him. The brainwashed slave, who thought of himself as a loyal citizen of the Majestor, has the power to destroy worlds within him. The cyborg insurrectionist brings his sword to the ready. He will save his people by killing D'Alken before he is turned into a weapon.

"No!" Lilandra cries. But she is not fast enough to stop Raza.

Instead, it is Corsair who tackles Raza, having at last forced his body to obey his commands. The two men tumble across the room, grappling for control of Raza's weapon.

Lilandra runs to Alex's side, crouching beside him, watching as his powers make his hands and eyes begin to glow brightly, "Alex, can you hear me? You need to fight this. Pull your powers back. Get control. Take control."

He cradles his hands in his head and moans, "Its not right..." he mutters, "None of it...it's a lie, a lie."

Across the room, with a cry of rage and determination, Corsair rips the wrist mounted weapon from Raza's arm, leaving him only the stump where his flesh hand had been removed. He swings it, cracking the cyborg on the natural side of his face.

Raza spits blood at Corsair, "I knew you were the lapdog of the Majestor."

Corsair bashes him again, harder this time, "This had nothing to do with D'Ken." He growls, "It is about my son. It has always been about him. I thought I was keeping him safe. I thought I was doing the right thing."

"How noble." Comes a cold hard voice at the door.

Deathbird, pale and in obvious pain from her wound, but nonetheless holding a sword of her own. She spreads her shameful wings and swoops across the room faster than anyone would have thought. She lands in front of Lilandra. "Well, Big Sister, this does seem to be a bit of a mess. Our brother dead, betrayed by his little pet, obviously to win your favor. It is so plain that D'Alken loves you dearly."

Lilandra is unafraid by her sister's accusations, "Alex killed no one."

"Alex is it?" Deathbird smirks, "You spent too long on Earth. It made you soft. How did you get back, anyhow?" She looks at D'Alken, "It has something to do with the boy." She crosses to him, seeing the sweat on his face, the tremble in his fingers, the light, the strange golden light. "The powers that sent my loyal Gladiator through the wall, That's it, isn't it. Our sweet pet is a ticking time bomb." She grabs the young man's face tight enough to cut his cheeks with her nails, "Tick tick tick, you might be worth keeping around after all, D'Alken."

"Mastress?" the terrified slave murmurs, and the golden light in his eyes brightens.

A blast of light separates the two, Corsair has figured out how to operate the weapon he has stolen from Raza, "Get away from my son." He orders.

Deathbird glares at him, a smirk on her lips, eyes flaring, "Doesn't my husband own you?"

Corsair's eyes are like ice, "No one owns me. Not anymore. Now step away or you die."

Raza, wiping blood from his torn lips, watches the scene amazed at the change in the human. He knew Corsair to be hesitant to fight, meek in the presence of his Shi'ar masters. But, he sees now the spirit that remains in him, faces with danger to his hatchling. Raza is a rebel, more machine than man, but be once was a father.

His opinion of the Earther suddenly changes.

Deathbird's does not.

She screeches like a hawk and her wings snap out. She launches herself at him and though he fires wildly, the woman is possessed by hatred and madness. She is on him and her sword drives through him.

Corsair cries out in agony as the blade runs him through.

His cry is echoed by his son's.

Alex flings his body forward, his hands flat in front of him, Golden rings explode from the tips and Deathbird is engulfed. She is thrown off of Corsair, the young man's powers so tightly focused that they do not disturb the hair on the man's head. The woman is slammed into the wall in a bloody heap, her neck snapping with an audible crack. She slides to the ground and with the last of her energy she murmurs, "D'Alken?" in a slightly bemused voice.

The young man lowers his hands and says, quietly, "My name is Alex Summers." He rips the golden chain off his neck, the symbol of his ownership.

Lilandra whispers his name but he pays her no attention. He falls to his knees beside his father. Christopher Summers smiles up at his son, pained but proud. "Hey, champ..." he says, reverting to English, though it has been years since he has spoken the language of his home world.

"Dad." Alex says, tears streaming down his face. He too speaks his almost-forgotten native language, bird song Shi'ar inappropriate and unwanted at this moment. "I am sorry. This is all my fault. I didn't know. They just came out, those powers, they just came out and I killed Mom and Scotty, and trapped us here."

"Your mother is alive." Chris tells him, his eyes fluttering to look at Lilandra. "She says she's seen her. Scott too. You didn't kill them. You saved them from what we have suffered. Loss of freedom, loss of self..." He grimaces. "I should have protected you, 'Lexxy. I should have tried harder to get you home."

Lilandra kneels beside Alex, "You can go home now, Alex, you can be with them again. You have the power."

He looks up at her, and speaks in Shi'ar, his training as a slave still too fresh in his mind, "And, my father?"

Lilandra shakes her head, sadly, "He must stay here, He has nothing to return to. You have a body waiting for you, cared for for all these years by your very devote mother."

Alex looks back at his father, "I can't leave him alone here."

"He is not alone."

Alex turns his head and gasps at the two who stand in the doorway,

Chris manages a smile through blood flecked lips, "Hepzibah..."

The cat is at his side in a moment, nuzzling against his cheek with an audible purr, "I could not wait so long for you to come back to me, so I come to you."

Ch'od ignores the sentimental scene. He pulls Raza to his feet, "The Miness are empty. The ccccity isss oursss."

Raza turns to Lilandra, "You are Majestrix, My Lady. Say the word and we will defend you from any who oppose you."

Ch'od looks down at Corsair, "And we will begin with the Informer."

Lilandra opens her mouth to order him to lower his weapons, but it is Raza who puts out his hand, "Leave him be, Ch'od. He has proven his worth this day."

The Majestrix smiles, "Indeed he has. Raza, Ch'od, is it? Call off the rebels. This uprising is over. The prisoners of the mines will have their circumstances investigated, and proper recompense will made to all who have been wrongly imprisoned."

Raza nods, and after he retrieves his wrist appliance, he leads Ch'od out.

"Alex, help me move your father to the bed." Lilandra says.

Without her help, the young man, who has been better cared for and is stronger than his father, lifts the injured man, laying him gently on the satin sheets. Hepzibah climbs onto the bed, concerned, and opens Chris's shirt, "You are a lucky man." She tells him, "It is a clean wound." She beds down and licks the blood away.

Alex gasps and puts his hand out. "What are you doing?"

"Its alright." Lilandra tells him, "She is Mephitisoid. Their saliva has healing properties."

Alex frowns, "Oh." He says, but he looks quite green at the action.

Chris, however, smiles as the pain subsides and the bleeding begins to stop. "You are too good for me, Little Kitten."

Hepzibah smiles too, "You saved me once, cowardly shell of a man. I return the favor." She nuzzles him teasingly and turns to Alex, "You are my Corsair's cub?" She asks, in heavily accented English.

Alex, dumbfounded, nods, to flabbergasted to manage anything verbally.

She purrs, "I thought so. You have his eyes."

Chris beckons to Alex, and says, "Champ, I am proud of you. You saved us both, but..."

"...but now I have to go home." Alex says, finishing his father's thought. "It is too dangerous for me to be here. If anyone knew what I can do, none of the dimensions would be safe." He wipes tears from his eyes, "Dad, there is so much I want to say to you..."

"Alex, 'Lexxy, you don't need to say anything." Chris says, "You want to prove you love me, go home and take care of your mother. Let her know that I never stopped loving her. Scott, too, you go home and keep an eye on them for me. Keep them safe." He reaches up and pats his son on the cheek.

Alex puts his hand on his father's and holds it there for a moment, "Ok, Daddy, I can do that." He straightens and looks at Lilandra. "How do I get home?"

Lilandra smiles and says, "Just wake up, Alex."

He closes his eyes and that part of him still attached to his own dimension beckons, He reaches out and opens his eyes.