"Sinister rules this world with an iron grip. It's insane. We've all been fighting him for years now, but we've barely put a dent into his forces. We knock down ten and he makes a thousand more," Storm explained having to fight back tears. Fighting in a war for most of your life wore on the soul and Ororo's soul had long been in need of a tune up.
"I'm sorry to hear that Storm. All of us have seen worlds that were in need of aid and just couldn't seem to get it," Blink replied trying to keep from sounding too optimistic or pessimistic. The Tallus still hadn't given the team their mission yet and so Clarice had to be careful what she said. For all they knew their mission could be to kill Storm.
Storm sighed deeply, "The aid for our world shrinks more and more everyday. Only a few hours ago a group of young heroes, the Liberation Front, were slaughtered by the Brotherhood."
Hearing of young heroes being slaughtered bought up a memory in Stepstone. It had been in the beginnings of her X-Men leadership.
"Are you sure about this Illyana?" Siena asked.
"Trust me. I'm more than sure," Stepstone replied as she walked with her sword on her shoulder. She had bought her X-Men (Siena Blaze, Astrid Bloom, Wild Child, Fantomex, Kamikaze, and Longshot) to Chicago where there had been reports of a massive attack by Quickgold and the Mutant Guard.
The reports had been right. Uptown Chicago was no more. It was nothing short of a hole in the ground. Whatever Quickgold had done here it would take years and years to recover from. Stepstone looked out into the devastation and fought to gain her breath. One question plagued her mind, but she struggled not to ask herself it.
"Where the hell are the New Warriors?" Astrid asked trying to use her telepathy to seek out the group of young heroes.
"I'll look for them in the air," Kamikaze suggested, but before he could take off into the air Stepstone held up her hand.
"We have to stick together. This is Quickgold people. Lets not forget what happened in Metro City," Stepstone warned. Only a month ago Quickgold and his Mutant Guard attacked Metro City and immediately the Avengers (Wasp, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, and Super Skrull) were sent in. The Avengers were losing terribly until Stepstone and the X-Men showed up to turn the tide. Still over one million people had fallen in the attack. Quickgold gained true notoriety that day.
"That doesn't help me have much hope for the New Warriors," Astrid sighed. One of her best friend's children, Aegis, was on the team. If something had happened to him she had no idea how she would explain it to his mother. She would be heartbroken. To make matters worse Astrid had been the one to convince his mother to let the boy into the super heroic life. She would only have herself to blame if he was now dead. Astrid could only pray that wasn't the case.
"I smell them. They're a few yards away. Probably under that rubble over there," Wild Child said pointing to a pile of concrete chunks.
"Can you tell if they're alive?" Siena asked using her magnetic abilities to rip away at the concrete chunks with metal in them.
"Nope," Wild Child lied. He knew they were all dead and had been that way for hours, but he couldn't be the one to hurt Astrid. She cared so much for that Aegis kid. Losing him might push her over the edge again and the last time that had happened she nearly took her own life. Kyle never wanted to see her in that state again.
Astrid unintentionally felt the strong surface thought of Wild Child and the repugnant smell of death he had truly picked up on, "Don't lie Kyle. They're dead aren't they?"
Wild Child looked back with sorrowful eyes, "Yea. Yea they are."
"Earth to Stepstone! Anyone home!" Bluestreak asked waving her hand in front of Illyana's face.
Snapping back to reality Stepstone shook her head, "Yea I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."
"We've been through some rough spots lately," Blink said apologizing for Stepstone's zoning off.
Storm smiled weakly, "Believe me I understand. Everyday is hell on this world. You can't help but to want and dream."
"But dreaming is not going to get us anywhere. In fact I don't know why we aren't out there fighting right now," Cortez interrupted. In his mind the only way he saw things getting better was by fighting. His abilities allowed his teammates to become far more powerful than they normally would be and made the soldiers of Sinister less effective. Fabian knew he could be a turning point in this war and he was tired of not being able to act like it.
"The boy is right. The only way to ever achieve anything is to go out there and snatch it," Mistress Strange added.
"What's the Nucleus?" Blink asked as a dead silence and dreadful looks fell over all the X-Men Gold team.
Amelia Voght gulped before asking, "What did you just say?"
"The Nucleus. It's what we've been sent here to destroy. What is it?" Blink asked again as disturbed looks crossed from Voght to Mesmero.
"It's Sinister's personal version of Hell and no one yet has found a way to destroy it. Believe me I've tried," Mesmero answered.
"Well, past failure notwithstanding we can't leave this world until that place is destroyed. So I suggest you X-Men stop pussyfooting around and give us the details!" Reed von Doom exclaimed. He could see the fear in these mutants' eyes and he wanted to rip it out of them. How could they soldiers in a war of this magnitude acting like scared school children? In his world it had been just him and The Last Marvels (Silver Surfer, Thor, Nick Fury, Black Bolt, and Charcoal) against the whole of his father's empire. Never once did they falter in their task like these X-Men were doing now.
Lightning streaked out from Storm's eyes, "I don't think I like your attitude much!"
"Everyone stop! I'll give you all you need to know Exiles," Mesmero said taking a seat in a beat up plastic chair. His eyes seemed to go into a trance as he began to tell his tale.
"I once had my own team of X-Men. Our last mission was to take down The Nucleus and free everyone within the fortress. Deus was providing us with telepathic cover. Babylon was serving as the scout to make sure our vantage points were clear. Radian kept any and all transmission signals scrambled. Payne, Yurike, and Spectra struck from the east. Jaunt and myself came from the north. Infiltrating the base was easy, but we should have known better. When we all met up hell was unleashed. Spectra was a traitor."
Stepstone's attention perked up at the mention of Spectra being a traitor. The Spectra of her world had joined the team shortly after the Chicago attack. It was her that had given Quickgold the necessary information that allowed him to destroy Farouk Tower killing her fiancée. Illyana was now convinced. No Spectra in any reality was worth the trouble.
Even as Stepstone remembered past betrayals Mesmero continued his tale, "We tried to fight, but we were up against one of Sinister's best. Martian Manhunter was in charge of the facility and he was as ruthless as they came. Payne and Deus luckily managed to overcome Manhunter and I killed him. That was luck though and it was even more luck that I was the only one to survive the battle. I was locked up in the Nucleus and made a guinea pig for more than three years. Storm and her team saved me, but at the cost of Wisdom's life. The Nucleus is death given form. There is no escaping it and there is no destroying it."
"You escaped it Mesmero. Nothing is that desperate," Hardcase said more to reassure himself than anyone else. He wasn't a stranger to desperate situations. Ultraforce had been trapped on the Dakkamite homeworld for two years fighting a desperate battle to get back home. Prime had died on that world and there wasn't a day that went by that Hardcase didn't see that young man's agonized expression.
"I never escaped it. It's always in here," Mesmero said tapping his head.
"Either way. We don't leave this world until the Nucleus comes down," Blink replied her voice a bit more forceful than intended.
"Fine Blink. Have it your way, but this is going to have to be a major operation to succeed. We're going to need more than just our two groups," Storm said with just as much force as Clarice.
KoreaLady Death knew that her team was in some deep shit at the moment. She could probably strike against this ice-clad clown and put a hurting to him, but that would mean risking Superboy's life. Without being told she already knew that Mr. Majestic was not going to take that chance. So they were pretty much going to have to wait for an opening and do what this overzealous ice lover wanted them to.
"You all have much to tell my master. And me," Mr. Freeze smiled as his black armor began to tingle and barely seen ice crystals began to emanate from it.
Lady Death's supernatural powers allowed her to see the danger that was coming her way. Those crystals would spread out in a matter of seconds and flash freeze all of them. Grabbing the shoulder of Mr. Majestic she wrapped the both of them up in ectoplasm film. Then they disappeared with a large sucking noise as if their organs had just been pushed through the top of a Coke bottle.
"They managed to escape my flash freeze. No matter. Joker will surely get all the information we need from the rest of these fools," Mr. Freeze said as he walked over to the frozen Superboy and rubbed his chin with mock affection.
Moscow"What kind of fuck ups gets the job you have?" Iron Man asked as he took off his helmet and set it to the side. Before Sinister really rose to power he had been a powerful industrialist by the name of Justin Hammer. He had still managed to keep a hold of his money and he used it to fight as Iron Man.
In fact that was the common trait that flowed through all the members of the JLA. They had all either been rich or were royals before the rise of Sinister. Now they fought the mad geneticist, but not so much to end his tyranny. They just wanted to have their statuses back.
"We're the fuck ups here to save your asses more than likely," Marcus Pezzini replied.
"Either that or kill ya. Never know which way the coin falls," She-Hulk added cracking her knuckles.
"Forgive Justin. He doesn't know how to treat guests," Emma Frost laughed passing around wine glasses to all the members of Weapon X.
"Does he know how to treat anything at all except for---"
"Hippolyta that is not lady like at all!" Wasp exclaimed cutting the Amazon queen off from making her sexual reference.
"We need to talk about what's important here people. Have you learned your mission yet Weapon X?" Black Panther asked. He was the reluctant leader of the JLA. His team had hardly been the ideal one for him to lead as most of them were too self-absorbed to act with some teamwork. He made the best of a rough situation though.
"We're suppose to free Darkstar from The Nucleus," Vargas replied.
"Can't help you there I'm afraid. Angels and demons alike fear to tread there. Every team that has tried has ended up captured, annihilated, or taking home far too many bodies. The JLA cannot risk that. Not when the last vestiges of humankind depend on us," Black Panther explained. In truth he just was plain afraid of the Nucleus. That place had horror stories coming out of it every day. The chance of him being captured frightened him to the core. To be made into one of Sinister's guinea pigs was a fate worse than death.
"It's fine. We've handled worse situations," Vargas replied as he gave Black Panther a stern handshake and prepared to leave the spacious central command center of the JLA's base.
Before Weapon X could depart a large explosion was heard and the impact knocked the two groups to the floor. Emma Frost groaned slightly as she reported the situation via her telepathy, "Hulk and Wolverine along with the Big Bad Bunch are attacking the city!"
"Vargas if you help us here my team will assist you in attacking The Nucleus," Black Panther offered as he rose to his feet.
"You have yourself a deal my friend. Now lets get to work!" Vargas yelled as he jumped out of a window. She-Hulk, Cannonball, and Fantomex followed behind him.
"Are they always that impulsive?" Iron Man asked slipping on his helmet.
"You wouldn't believe the half of it," Marcus Pezzini replied as he slipped into a shadow portal with Darkness.
Prague"What do you mean the Liberation Front is dead?" Xavier asked shocked by the news he was hearing.
"Six feet under Chuck. The Brotherhood ripped through them all," Two-Face reported. He had been doing recon work stateside for years now and he reported to Xavier.
"Damn it. We had such high hopes for them. Especially Terra. They could have proven pivotal in opening a gateway into America for us to launch attacks from."
Two-Face lit a cigarette and sighed, "Yep Chuck, but things don't always go as planned."
FLOOPP!
The sound caught the attention of the two men and they looked to their right to see a pale woman carrying a large man over her shoulders. Xavier immediately scanned their minds and found out all he needed to know.
"Lady Death you should come with me."