The New Exiles
By Agent-G And The Uncanny R-Man
Shout Outs:

Winblades: You'll see him in action in a much later chapter...against a Darksider to boot. And there may be other elements as well that may pop up. It's a big multiverse.

celtcath74: Well they already did in Going Home, since that was one of R-Man's story worlds, but they'll go back there and to my AGU series too later on.

Hedgehog: Let's just say that he's been around a long time and picked up a LOT in that time, including how to fight. Although I prefer powerful immortal warrior then demi-god, he hates that term. And you'll see a lot more about his past as more is slowly revealed.

Ruby631: Oh yeah he'll still be in this, but look out for a new person to show up.

Red Witch: Well I'm glad you still read it.

Chapter 6: New Home

The mutants appeared in a flash found themselves in a large white room metallic room. There was a control panel that looked like it came out of Star Trek in one end and they were standing on a pure black reflected circle several meters in radius.

"So now what?" Morph asked Guardian.

He merely smiled at them. "Now I show you around your new home."

"Home?" Heather asked him slightly confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"Unlike the person you used to work for, not only will I give you some time off from time to time, but I also wanted to have for you a place of your own. This facility is equipped with technology that I have come across and other things as well. This room alone is the transport room that can send you into nearly any dimension or reality."

"Nearly?" Vincent asked him.

"Yes well...let's just say that some places are a little...let's just say dark, and you wouldn't want to go there so I locked those places out." He said to them.

"I was stuck in Limbo how worse can it get?" August asked him.

"I could tell you...but you'd only get nightmares for the rest of your life if I did." He said seriously and the look he gave said he meant it.

"Okay, I think I'll take your word for it." She said deciding it's better not to know.

"Hey before we get started, how about my stuff." Vincent said to him.

"Ah yes, I took it out of storage and put it in your room. Don't worry, and Blink when I got the time I'll show you how to add things so they don't get sent to storage and how to call on anything in the storage area too there as well for the PADD, just in case you need supplies for a mission."

"That should be helpful." She said to him. "There were times when that would have been useful.

He opened the large doors that opened just like in Star Trek. They made their way around the place, which as they soon discovered was like a small palace. It had high ceilings and looked like old or ancient architecture but with futuristic style to it. They also saw various robotic forms too. Some were sleek and shiny others a little more boxy. They were all in certain colors. "So what's with all the robots?" Morph asked him.

"Well I can't very well take care of this place, I mean it is very big and I am a busy person so they are here to do maintenance and clean up mainly. Although there are defensive units, but I have never had the need to use them as of yet."

"Sweet!" Morph exclaimed.

"Where are we exactly?" August ask their guide.

"We are, we're currently on the world New Haven. This reality is a 'safe reality' as I like to call it. It's basically a reality devoid of all intelligent life so there was plenty of room to go around for all those that had nowhere to go so I sent them here to star over, it also has a unique quantum signature to 'hide' it from those that would do harm to this place. This entire reality is one big sanctuary."

"And this is." He said extending his arms. "Is the Complex as I call it, is close to one of the main cities called Central Haven or just Heaven City the first city ever build on this world. When you get some time off I'll show you the city." He told them all. The Exiles were really starting to like their new life so far.

They had a home, time to relax instead of constantly moving and being put into danger, and they were near a city where they could have a normal social life also.

He took them to the briefing room as he called it first. It was a large room with a table in the center and what he called a vid-screen and a table with a holoprojector inside of it. The vid screen as he explained it was basically like a plasma TV only better, and there were lots of them around the place.

Next was the library, which was about as big as a major city's. There were books of course but the majority of information was put on these little clear rectangular devices called data slips, which fed into a device called a data-reader.

"You can find a lot of information here and if you need any assistance just ask our librarian over there, Angus." Guardian told them pointing to a robot behind a desk looking over some data on a holo-screen.

"Angus?" Heather asked amused at the name.

"Well I name the ones that have an actual personality." He admitted to them. "Oh and Vince, I left a few things in your room so you can get caught up on certain things on other worlds as I did with the rest of you, I want you all informed and up to date from now on so none of you are at a loss for what's going on."

"Thanks, I hate being left out of the loop." The Canadian said to him. There were a few other agreements there since that had happened too many times to count between them. They moved on and they saw that they had a huge indoor pool area with a windowed ceiling. Then they moved to a large recreation room with lots of things to keep someone occupied, even a few things that none of them had seen.

"What no arcade?" Morph asked joking.

"That's next door." Guardian said and pointed to a door. "It's sound proof for obvious reasons."

They moved on and stopped at the dinning room. It was all wood and there was a large fancy table in it. "Well you all should be hungry so why don't you get something to eat and we can talk."

"What about you?" Blink asked him.

"I don't need to eat unless I have to or want to plus I want to make sure a few things are ready." He told them smiling. "Alfred." He said to no one. Then a transparent green person with no features appeared.

"Yes sir?" Came an upper class British voice.

"Everyone this is Alfred. He's the main AI that runs the Complex and if you need help or have any questions please ask him." He told them then he bowed to them and left through one of the doors.

"How very Batman of you." Morph said while looking like the Alfred of the Batman universe.

"Will you all like to see a menu or do you know what you would like to eat?" Alfred asked them. They all asked what they could have and after he told them he was capable of getting anything they wished they all voiced what they wanted and were surprised that a few robot servants came in and carried their food in under five minutes.

"Is it just me or does this guy really go all out?" Heather asked the others. They all nodded in agreement.

"So what exactly are we doing now? I mean working for you and all and why did Cal and the others get to go home?" Blink asked their host. "I mean I thought we were unstuck in time?"

Guardian put his hands together and sighed. "By now you should know that the Timebroker lied about a lot of things. Such as you 'repairing the timeline' was all false. The Tallus you were given, even that lied to you and misled you." Blink looked down at her arm where the Tallus had been. After they had dropped off Cal she had thrown the thing far into the distance, never wanting to se it again.

"Take you're first mission. It was cryptic on purpose so that you would free Xavier and his X-Men would go on a rampage."

"But we stopped that!" Morph said in their defense.

"True...but at what cost?" He said to him. "All those people that Xavier hit with his psychic blast were nearly killed, some of them did die, and the economic collapse from him destroying Wall Street was devastating. I could go on, like how Illyana wasn't supposed to kill the Heroes for Hire, or have Japan fall, and well...I could go one but you get the point."

"As for the unstuck in time thing, that was pure bull. You all were pulled from your realities against your will. Timebroker was created from your subconscious but you did not create him. He was created by a group called the Dark Circle."

"I really don't like the sound of that." Morph said getting a little uneasy.

"You shouldn't." Guardian said flatly. "They seed chaos, destruction and death to other realities, either for their own ends, to conquer or...for fun. They were also behind the Weapon X group and other 'Exiles' as well."

"You mean like how Timebroker said that there were more groups?" Morph asked him. When he was given the chance to go home, Morph had turned down the Timebroker.

"Yes, some before you...other kike you." He saw the confused look and began to explain. "You see there are an infinite number of realities, and therefore an infinite number of possibilities. There are also many versions of yourselves as some of you have seen. Now they've taken other versions of you so close in fact they are virtually identical. They are still under the thumb of a Timebroker and still going around. Some have done the exact same missions as you, others haven't."

"Whoa man, you're like blowing my mind man." Morph said while looking like a stoner from the 70's.

"Morph!" Heather said sharply. "Let the man continue."

Guardian nodded his head. "Thank you. Now I chose your group to 'liberate' from their influence, and before you ask why, I just picked one of the groups that showed the most promise. Now this group took you from your worlds by using the Timebrokers as their mediums. You could have gone back anytime you wanted to. All that stuff he said about time was a lie. Time has a way of fixing itself and people don't just get sent to other realities like you first did."

"When this first started with you Blink and Morph and the original group, did it ever occur to you how strange it was that all of you just happened to be in the same place at the same time?" Blink and Morph looked at each other. They never thought of that, it was kind of a big coincidence. "And when Beak wasn't 'seen' by his girlfriend and kids? He was hidden by Timebroker's powers to help convince you're group that you were unstuck in time."

"So...now what?" Blink asked him. It all seemed to make sense now, all the missions, the deaths, the losses...it was all for this Dark Circle. She was filled with rage at the moment but kept it down, now wasn't the time to take her frustrations out.

"I want you to help me. Help me to help other worlds. To fight the Dark Circle, their allies, others like them. To prevent or stop certain things from happening. You won't be 'fixing time' as you were led to believe; now you will actually make a difference in many worlds. You will give hope and light to the darkness, to save life and fight evil. You can quit at anytime and go wherever you want to, so what do you say...will you except your new roles as heroes for the multiverse?"

"Well you got us from under Timebroker's thumb and kicked his ass." Morph said smiling. "I say we owe you, plus...it will be nice to feel like what we do actually matters for once. A lot of the missions felt like we didn't do anything good at times."

"I agree with Morph." Blink said in a commanding voice. "We got a lot to make up for."

"Plus this place is a nice place to make a home for us, something those of us in the Exiles never had." Heather said from her seat. She missed her real home but she too felt she was needed here, and to try and make up for her past actions.

"Well it's better then living in some ruined buildings." Vincent said.

"Or being trapped in Limbo." August agreed.

"Or living in a world ruled by Apocalypse." Blink put her own two cents in. After their meal Guardian showed them a few places like the training center and the garden. It was a huge place filled with many plants from many worlds some not even of any version of Earth.

The training area had a large gym with all kinds of equipment and four different training areas. They were reinforced with what he called neo- titanium and force fields. They also could simulate any environment or experience and even higher levels of gravity for a real workout. There were even windows up on the upper level so others could watch.

Next was the all-important large medical ward. It looked kind of like the rest of the place all futuristic and stuff. Heather being a doctor looked like she was in heaven with all the advance medical equipment. "I think some of you might like this next part." He said smiling. "Computer, activate the Doc."

Then appeared a balding man in a white futuristic medical coat. "Please state the name of the medical emergency." He said automatically.

"You got the doctor from Voyager here!" Morph said, not believing what he was seeing.

"I'm more advanced then that EMH." He said. "And please call me Doc."

The Doc showed them around and even the healing room, which held ten tubes that he said that were used in extreme circumstances to heal others. Basically they put you in and a liquid that not only feeds you with oxygen is pumped in but also speeds up the healing process. The only problem is that you have to empty your lungs of the stuff and it's not a good sensation. Heather kept on asking all kind of medical questions and the Doc agreed to start teaching her the equipment and the advanced medical knowledge he had.

"There's one more thing I think you all should see." Guardian said in a serious tone. The Doc nodded his head and led them through a set of double doors and down a small hall. "This is the isolation ward, for...intensive care patients."

The other doors opened and Blink and Morph were at a loss. There was a moment of silence then Blink was the first to speak. "John?" She said in a whisper. On a medical bed was John Proudstar AKA Thunderbird one of the first of the Exiles. He was a large nine-foot tall man with a protruding chin and a long face. His upper body was flesh and black and red 'armor plates' that felt like skin.

In his world he was an X-Man, then Apocalypse had gotten his hands on him and altered him with Techo-organic cybernetics and genetic manipulation to recreate him as his horseman of war. He turned on his 'master' and now was a different man then he was. He had considered himself a monster because what was done to him and then he was taken from his reality and made an Exile.

On the missions he had grown close to T.J. They became lovers and she was pregnant with his child. But on the world with the Skrulls had taken over and he and the others had been force to fight in gladiator games. Then Galactus showed up and the Skrulls had ran and they and the other heroes of Earth had to fight the Devourer of Worlds. In that battle many died but John had been the one to finish off the greatest threat to that universe. With a powerful anti-matter bomb he shoved it into the back of a weakened demi-god and it exploded taking out the most feared being in existence. But it came at a cost. Thunderbird had been greatly injured his body had healed...but his mind...it was like his mind was gone. They were forced to leave him behind as they were sent on. Until today they never knew what became of him.

Blink and Morph were sitting next to him as Guardian explained all of this to Vincent and August. Heather had been told all of this since she had been his replacement. "I found him a while ago and brought him here. I've tried to help him, his body is finally healed...but his mind...I just don't know how to fix it."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Morph said angrily seeing his old friend still in a coma. "I thought you were the all powerful answer man?"

"I'm NOT all powerful. Yes I do have certain abilities like Immortality, time and dimensional and teleportation. I can shift through time, I can heal fatal wounds and I can go into the spirit realm. I've learned a lot of tricks over the years like ki and chi manipulation, and magic. I've learned under some of the best teachers in many fields and I can see into the possible futures and the past. I can do all that but I still have limitations. I can die, I can't just bring someone back by snapping my fingers, even though I wish I could...I just can't do some things...not alone at least."

"What's wrong?" Blink asked him holding John's limp hand.

"A person is made up of three parts. The physical part is the body, the non-physical is the spirit and the brain is the link between both of these parts." Guardian walked over to the bed and looked down sadly at him. "His body is healed...but his spirit is gone...his mind is also damaged...at least not physically but something is wrong with it. If we can fix his brain then maybe it will pull in his spirit."

"Can't you just pull his spirit back into the body or something?" Morph asked trying to think of something to help.

Guardian shook his head. "He died in another reality then his own...his spirit is a bit, well, 'lost' I guess you could say. And normally I would make a deal with the higher powers that be in whatever reality for a certain soul...but I don't have any pull or collateral for his or the reality where his soul might have ended up in...the only way to wake him is to fix his mind...or...he has to find his way back to himself."

He placed a hand on Blink's shoulder. "I promise you I will do everything in my power and knowledge to try and help him."

She looked up and him. "I know." She simply said, she had only known him for a short time but she trusted him to help.

"I've tried most scientific ways...then I'll work on other ways like magic to help him but I don't want to use that until I have to because of all the technology in his body."

"Because magic and technology don't mix well if not done properly." August spoke up. She and the other three Exiles had stood in the back while all this was going on since none of them knew John since he was before their time. She saw the looks the others were giving her. "I...used to be into magic. Remember who my mother was? Well I got into some...dark magic and I lost myself because of it." Everyone could see how uncomfortable she was with it. "I went evil because of it and when I got better...I swore off magic forever after that, so I know a bit about magic and what do to, and what not to do."

Guardian nodded. "Yes, mixing science and sorcery is always tricky at best because the slightly mistake can be disastrous."

It was getting late he showed wanted to show them their rooms, he said that they could come and visit John anytime they wanted to. They all had rooms in the same hall and there was a smaller kitchen/dining area across from the rooms also.

August looked in her room and was thrilled at it. It was a huge opened area, like a suit at a fancy hotel, after being in a cell for so long this was paradise. She found a walk-in closet with a few articles of clothing, a living room set with one of those vid-screens and a dresser, dinning table and a balcony. On the balcony she could see the outside and other balconies to the sides.

She went back inside and lay down on the bed enjoying it. Then she remembered why she was enjoying it and all the memories came back. Her mother freeing Doom, the death of her friends. But what hurt her the worst was Kurt's death. They were supposed to be married by now, and he was gone. She remembered the first time they met, the time he proposed to her, the last time they had been in bed together and had held each other after making love.

She reached over to the other side of the bed and instead of the warm, furry body of her love she only found the cold sheets. She started to cry at that point. She had never had the opportunity to properly grieve for her losses until now. She needed to let it out.

In her own room Heather was at a balcony in her room looking at the setting sun. She was wishing her husband were here with her. This place was so nice, and she missed him and everything. 'Maybe I can ask The Guardian about him later?' She wondered. 'If we aren't unstuck then maybe I can see him again...God it's been so long...nearly a year since I've seen him.'

Morph was in his room and after about five minutes was able to figure out the remote enough to activate the vid-screen and look up the menu. "Man isn't there anything good on?"

Alfred appeared then. "Is there anything I can help you with sir?"

Morph jumped at the sudden appearance. "Jeez! Give a guy a heads up! Anyway isn't there anything more 'entertaining' on this thing?"

"I'm not sure I understand you're meaning."

"Can you get porn on this thing?" He asked outright.

"Well...no...but if you actually want to...I could get some select choices from New Heaven mainframe and download them."

"Sweet! Do it, my main holographic man!" Morph shouted and waited for the download to finish up. He was surprised and pleased it didn't take long.

Later on as night had fallen, Blink wasn't that tired as she looked around her room but couldn't find anything interesting. She had put all her stuff away had found a few replicas of her normal wear and after a nice long hot shower and a change she had and decided to go for a walk. So much had changed in the short time. This new guy The Guardian as he called himself was already a lot better then their old 'boss' as it were.

'What ever he did with him, I hope he locked him up for a very long time.' Clarice thought with a grin, considering how she and the others had been used by him he deserved it. And she had to admit having a place to call home again was nice. She, Heather and Morph had been constantly going for so long she was just glad for a break. She walked along the white walls and marveled at all the intricate little designs on them.

It was like a palace she used to dream of living as a little girl, and she could really see herself living here. She passed a transparent door and saw someone sitting in the garden she opened the door and walked out.

In the heart of the large garden she found Vincent. At first she didn't know who it was. He had shaved, and cleaned himself up. He was actually attractive without all the grime and dirt and this hair cleaned and combed.

"What are you up too?" She asked him. He and August were new to her team and she knew she should get to know them, and this was a perfect time for it.

"Looking at the stars." He said to her and she sat down and looked up with him. She was surprised at how clearly they were here. "I've never really got the chance in my world. I lived in the city and with all the light you can't really see the night sky that well. Then when the Sentinels came...well...it was too dangerous to go out at night." He said solemnly.

Blink could relate. After Apocalypse had taken over things were dangerous all around. "Yeah, you never really appreciate things until their gone, especially the little things." She said sadly thinking of all the things she missed in her childhood and of her recent loss of the man she cared for.

She shivered slightly. Her green clothing left little protection for the night air. Vincent saw this and took of his coat and gave it too her. "Here you need this more then me."

She took it and put it on her shoulders. "Can't sleep?"

"I only need about six hours of sleep normally but...I don't sleep well anyways...too many nightmares." He said darkly.

Blink was silent for a moment. "Yeah...it's hard to sleep when having to worry about what you're going to dream about." Vincent looked at her and for the first time could see a kindred spirit in the girl. He didn't know much about her own past but he could see the pain in her face and eyes, pain that somehow mirrored his own.

It was pain that he could see also, pain he knew all too well, the pain of loss, of seeing friends die, and of living in a ruined world. They continued to talk while looking up at the stars, they soon found themselves laying on the marble walkway staring up at the sky and comparing their life stories.

Blink was getting a lot out. She felt she could tell him things that the others wouldn't really understand living in their own worlds. August may have lost everything she had cared for but her world still lived on. The others didn't know what it was like to live in a dark world. She talked about how she had been saved by Creed and had joined the X-Men in her world. She left out the things before that...those were days she didn't want to think about. She told him of some of her adventures as an Exile and all the things they had been forced to do.

He talked about growing up in the streets then being brought into an orphanage at seven years old and how he lived his life in Toronto, his friends, his old sensei, his training in bushido and then the later years when everything started to go to hell.

She tried to stifle a yawn. She had no idea how long they had been talking. "You should get some rest Blink." Vincent said to her.

"Yeah I feel like I could get some sleep now." She picked herself up and gave him back his coat. "Are you coming in?"

"I think I'll stay out here for the night." He said to her. She gave him a strange look. "I haven't slept outside without any fear in years...I think it will be nice. Besides I want to see the sun rise for once."

She nodded her head. "Goodnight then, and Vince...thanks...for talking."

He looked at her from his place on the ground and smiled. "Anytime...it's good to talk to someone, you know?" She nodded and went off to her room. Then she stopped and looked around. That is if she could find it.

While in another part of the complex The Guardian was in a domed room. The room was filled with smooth black metal that looked like the room was poured instead of built. In the center of the dark room he stood up on high on a raised platform.

There were holographic controls that he seemed to manipulate with mere gestures all the while he had his eyes closed. What he did didn't need the kind of sight his eyes had only that of his mind. Around him a storm of holographic windows with images in them moved around him in no pattern. This was the Nexus. It was a place that allowed him to focus his mind onto other realities, to see what needs to be seen. To him this was his Cerebro his way of focusing his mind only into other realities. His brain now worked with more the thirty percent use and he could do more then any normal human mind.

One image stopped and came down to his face. He opened his eyes and looked at the image. 'Yes, he shall be perfect for the newest member of the Exiles.' He thought to himself. He looked into the possible futures of this man and didn't like what he saw.

Normally a person had many 'roads' in his life. Some of these led to the same places in their life, nearly all of them went to the same place, Death. 'I'll have to keep an eye on him. As soon as the team is rested I'll send them to him. He'll need them soon.' He thought and then shut down The Nexus.

NEXT UP: Meet Chamber