answers to reviewers questions or statements:

Zayden StormVoid: You'd be half right in that Intergang won't go down quietly because of the mindset of it's members and the League will be less than pleased with Peter's methods in dealing with them. But it's not like they'll have much of a choice when we get to that bridge. Yeah, seeing a beautiful but helpless woman facing death would normally be the sort of thing to sprur Peter's inner good into action... normally. No the Black Vortex won't have an Infinity Stone or be connected to any of them, it's just a powerful artifact that Darkseid wants to add to his collection.

Bladewolf101: I don't know, maybe because she just now got it and was just now told how it works maybe?

Jebest4781: It'll be a bit of a surprise on who get's a cosmic powerup.

CRUDEN: No, Asgard is gone along with it's people. This arc will be the only time it shows up in this story.

Harbinger of Kaos: Well the Black Vortex will play an important role in this story but it won't be the most important item. Yeah, Peter's trip to Earth will be quite memorable for everyone involved.

superpirece: Oh there's plenty of surprises to come. Some long coming and some completely unexpected.

Nykeem: No.

Gregary Fritsch: No.

gunman: We'll be seeing who that figure is eventually. No the Casket of Winters won't be appearing in this story.

Joe Lawyer: She's kinda been distarcted and too busy to wonder why it is her husband has yet to try and sleep with her. Honestly she's just assuming he's been with someone else. She knows that her raw strength alone wouldn't stop Peter, it didnt stop his even weaker half brothers from tyring something on her.

Arrow1021: No, Peter is unaware of what the Stones are exactly, hence why he's so interested in them. Thanos is aware of them, as is Darkseid, the Highfather, and the Guardians of the Galaxy just to name a few.

jjcoop95: He does not.

Batros940: Pretty sure the reason Strange didn't use the stone was because he would have to unlock the eye to use it and Thanos could just rip it out of there and get it and then boom, he has five stones. I mean the guy was able to take chunks of an orbiting moon and send them flying towards people, ripping a stone out of a small necklace wouldn't be that hard in comparison.

Hivedragon: As the story goes on, Ultron will begin to do and show more traits that his comic book counterpart is known for.

DeimosVulcan12: Peter's goal isn't to assemble the Stones to kill off his family, for the moment it's just his scientific curiosity and the stones slow manipulations that's driving him forward. When Peter gets to Earth, it won't be Superman he comes to blows with, it'll be someone that can give him a real challenge.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.


When Diana stepped through the portal and into Asgard, she didn't know what to expect. Granny Goodness had stated that Asgard and it's people were destroyed centuries ago. She expected to see ruins, if any still stood, and the city long since overgrown by the surrounding landscape. What she didn't expect was to see the city still standing more or less and the ground littered with hundreds if not thousands of skulls, rib cages, fingers, legs and spines.

"By Hera..." Diana said in quiet horror as she took in her surroundings as the rest of her Fury strike force and the Parademon escort exited the Boom Tube.

"So, this is the fabled Asgard" K'li said as she hovered in the air and examined the courtyard they were teleported to by a Boom Tube "Ehh, doesn't look so impressive for a 'City of the Gods'"

"Well I assume experiencing a apocalypse would lead any place looking less than desirable to live in, much less admire after the fact" Gilotina said as she kneeled down and examined the skeleton of a long dead Aseir, the bones charred to the point it was a wonder that they didn't break apart "Shame we missed it, it looks like it was quite the fight"

"Slaughter is more like it..." Diana said as she as she took in the structural damage, the various skeletal remains of both humanoid looking and non-humanoid beings.

"If... if we are in luck, the defenses for this Black Vortex are no longer working, either because they were destroyed during the final battle or simply decayed from lack of upkeep" Gilotina stated as she poked at a skull with her sword.

"The non-magical ones at least" Psylocke stated as she scanned the area for any minds, be they animal or not "Strange..."

"What is it?" Diana asked as she turned towards the purple haired New Goddess.

"I detect no other minds aside from ours here" Psylocke said with a frown "This place, it's dead"

Treasure, a red haired beauty with revealing golden armor and purple eye shadow around her eyes, twirled her spear as she glanced up at the sky to see it was a pale sickly gray with a few stars visible and a large moon that looked to have been cracked open, the core still visible and having long frozen over "Then this should make our job even easier"

Diana didn't answer as she glanced at the three dozen Parademons that arrived with her and her squad of Furies. They stood idly by and awaited further orders from their superiors while the Furies themselves were busy examining the ruins around them.

'This will be tricky' Diana thought with a frown 'The Parademons won't be much of an issue. I can order them to stay here, but the Furies...'

K'li and Psylocke were the most dangerous of the three, the former being a Tamaran who could be eveybit as powerful as Starfire with even less restraint and morality and the latter being a highly efficeint telepath and assassin. Then there was Gilotina who was capable of slicing through anything with her bare hands and Treasure that possesed a spear that could fire off beams of concussive energy and was almost as physcially strong as K'li. Alone Diana was confident she could handle them, but all four of them at the same time, that was another matter entirely.

And if they managed to summon the Parademons to aid them...

'Hopefully it wont come to that' Diana thought with a frown before she took a deep breath and turned towards the Parademons and spoke in a loud, clear tone "You'll stand guard and make sure anything that's not me of my Furies here dosent follow, understood?"

Various Parademons nodded and hissed in compliance while Diana turned towards the Furies and nodded towards the distant ruins that was once Asgard's royal palace. If Odin was as paranoid as Granny Goodness's reports stated, he'd have the Black Vortex somewhere close to him, likely in his private vault that housed a number of other potentially powerful and rare artifacts.

Minutes passed as the Parademons began to spread out over the courtyard while a few took to the skies to provide an aerial view of the area for their terrestrial bound comrades. Soon a tense silence washed over them as they waited for further orders or for something to kill. It did not take long for them to find the latter.

BOOM!

The Parademons are turned to see a Boom Tube open up and stood still for a moment as they waited to see who would walk through. Suddenly a beam of light shot out from the portal and tore through several Parademons, causing the rest to scatter while seven more figures emerged from the Portal. The first was Orion with a dark glare under his helmet while beside him stood Lightray, his eyes and hands glowing with golden energy. The various Apokoliptain soldiers hissed and growled as they turned and surrounded the two, their weapons raised and at the ready.

Orion spared the foot soldiers a brief glance before he nodded and Lightray was gone in a literal flash.

The New Genesis warrior watched as the various Parademons erupted into showers of gore, armor and fire as his friend raced through them at speeds that even earth's Flash would struggle to match.

"Not much of a welcome committee is it?" Orion asked as he ducked under a severed arm thrown his way after Lightray paused to shoot down several flying Parademons with two powerful energy blasts.

"Must be a rear guard my lord" a New Genesis soldier said as he stepped out of the portal with several others, all armed with advanced energy rifles and various other weaponry.

Orion nodded as he placed his helm back on his head "So it would seem"

"Any idea where the Vortex is?" Lightray asked as he came to a stop next to Orion. He briefly glanced at what few Parademons were still alive trying to regroup.

"Should be at the palace" Orion nodded towards the distant ruin of Asgard's royal structure "I can't think of anywhere else Odin would have kept something like that other than his own Vault"

"Darkseid's people are likely already there, maybe at the Vault now" Lightray stated.

"Then let's be quick, less Darkseid and his minions acquire it first Orion said as he gestured for the war party to follow him towards the palace.

"Just give me a second to deal with the last of these things. Don't want them to call ahead and let their masters know we're coming... assuming they haven't already" Lightray said before he incinerated the last of the Parademons in the courtyard with a wave of light energy before he followed Orion and several New Genesis warriors deeper into the ruins of Asgard.

...

"What triggered such a event for these people?" Diana asked as she and the Furies quietly made their way down a darkened path, the palace just a few hundred meters ahead.

"One of Odin's sons, Loki, had killed another, Baldur I think. Odin had more sons than Darkseid and the Highfather combined" Psylocke said as she kept scanning for any more minds within the area. She thought she felt one back where they came but chalked it up to one of the Parademons that may have wandered a little too far before retreating back towards the rest.

She made a mental note to deal with them afterwards.

"Sounds like Odin and his ilk would have fit right in" K'li giggled darkly as she hovered over the rest of the Furies and scanned the area with glowing eyes "Shame we missed the show. It must've been quite a spectacle"

"The destruction of a pantheon of Gods tends to be" Diana said with a frown on her face as she passed an alleyway and glanced down it to see dozens of skeletal remains within it.

"So, what do we do when we find this Black Vortex?" Treasure asked with a frown towards Diana while Gilotina walked beside her, both their hands on their respective weapons, ready to be drawn and used should the need arise.

"I'll think of something" Diana responded.

"Gonna try and carry it are you?" Psylocke asked.

The Amazon princess shrugged "Maybe, if I have to"

"Why not just use a Boom Tube to move it?" K'li asked as she circled overhead, boredom hitting her like a stray comet.

"Yes, Boom Tube some cosmic empowerment weapon with a cosmic transporter, what's the worse that can happen" Gilotina said with a scoff "Stick to killing things K'li, or fucking. bout all your good at anyway"

The Tamaran growled at the New Goddess with glowing eyes before she noticed something up ahead that caused her to frown "That could be problematic"

"What is it?" Psylocke asked while Diana simply rose from the ground and rose to K'li's level to see what she was looking at.

Diana's eyes narrowed at the sight.

The main entrance to the Asgardian palace, or what was left of it, was surrounded by hundreds of some sort of statues. With her eyesight, they looked to be made of some sort of volcanic rock, like dried lava while hundreds of charred skeletal remains laid at their feet.

"What is it?" Gilotina called out.

"The palace's entrance, it seems to be blocked by statues of some kind" Diana said with a frown, there was something not right about this.

"Statues?" Psylocke said with confusion before she connected her mind to K'li's, ignoring the Tamaran's startled yelp at her intrusion and connected with her senses so that she may see out the woman's eyes "Oh..."

Several minutes later, the Furies were at the entrance to the bridge that led up towards the place. It was covered with the odd statues and charred remains of what could only be Asgardians and the skeletal remains of siege engines, and various beats of war or burden. Diana approached one of the statues for a closer looked and noticed it was giving off a surprising amount of heat. She slowly raised a hand to touch the odd rock before Psylocke suddenly seized her hand, stopping her from touching it.

"Don't..." she said with a look of concentration on her face "There's something... off about these things"

"What do you mean?" Diana said as Psylocke released her hand and she pulled her's back.

"There's... a sense awareness from these things" she explained as she began to slowly circled the statue "It, and the others, seem to be in a state of some kind of hibernation"

"Their alive..." Diana said as she turned back to the statue "Do you know what these are?"

"If I had to guess, Fire Demons" Psylocke said as she folded her arms across her chest "They serve the Fire Giant, Surtr. After the Asgardians were wiped out, they must've gone into hibernation until... told differently I suppose"

"You think their going to wake up?" Diana asked.

"As long as we don't touch them-" Psylocke began before they heard a loud crack and both turned to see that K'li had destroyed a statue with an energy blast fired from her hands.

The response was almost instant.

All round the Furies the statues began to glow around random spots around their bodies, some around their torsos, others heads and limbs and others seemed to combust into fire entirely. The once immobile figures began to twitch, their limbs jerking after moving for the first time in thousands of years. Diana drew her sword, as did Psylocke while K'li began to rise intot he air, energy building around her hands while Gilotina and Treasure each drew their respective weapons and quickly made their way towards Diana and Psylocke. One of the now active Fire demons jerked it's head towards the Furies, bits of molten rock falling from it's now burning head and opened it's mouth to reveal a literal void of fire and roared a loud cringing sound that caused Diana to wince.

"Fucking perfect" Psylocke hissed in annoyance as dozens of the Fire Demons began to slowly surround the Furies. She glared up at K'li and almost shut the woman's mind off before she sensed the Fire Demons spew fire from their mouths.

"Psylocke!" Diana said in a panicked tone.

Psylocke didn't respond, she simply summoned a shield of purple psionic energy to encompass her, Diana and the others while K'li rose higher into the air before she aimed her arms at the Fire Demons around her fellow Furies and unleashed a powerful beam of crimson and black colored energy.

Dozens of Fire Demons were torn apart by K'li's attack, causing a number of them to stop their assault on Psylocke's shield and turn their attention towards the sky. With the majority of the assault lessened, Psylocke manipulated her shield outward into a sort of pulse, knocking back any nearby Fire Demons, scattering the denizens of Muspelheim. Treasure and Gilotina broke formation and charged into the horde, cutting down the fiery monsters with abandon while Diana glanced towards the palace entrance and saw that more and more Fire Demons emerging from the ruined structure. Diana twirled her blade into a reverse grip before she charged forward, using her speed, strength and ability to fly to literally tear through the Fire Demons, clearing a path ahead. Psylocke prepared to follow before she sensed another mind at the edge of her radar, multiple minds.

'These aren't the Parademons, their too complex...' Psylocke thought with confusion as she raised her sword and stabbed it into a Fire Demon that was trying to sneak up behind her before she telekinetically pushed it away. After a few seconds, recognition flashed through her mind for two of the minds.

Orion... and Lightray.

Psylocke's eyes darkened to violet as the grip on her blade tightened to the point that her knuckles turned white under her gloves as she sent a quick message to K'li, Gilotina and Treasure about the arrival of the New Genesis warriors.

'What are they doing here?' Gilotian asked through the mental link while she decapitated a Fire Demon with her sword and another she sliced open it's throat, spilling fiery blood with a swipe of her hand.

'They must be here for the Black Vortex' Treasure theorized as she skewered a Fire Demon with her spear before she kicked it off and jammed the spear head into another Fire Demon's skull 'It's the only thing that can explain why the Highfather sent his bastard dog here'

'Can we kill them too?' K'li asked with a dark giggle as she blasted at numerous Fire Demons with her energy beams, reveling in the carnage she was unleashing upon the demonic fire creatures.

'We won't have a better time to kill two of New Genesis's most powerful warriors' Treasure stated as she paused for a second with a thoughtful expression on her face 'We could spare Lightray, so that our lord can use him to house the Death Racer's spirit. The current host was crippled recently was he not?'

'Now there's an idea' Psylocke thought with a hum before she grinned darkly 'K'li, head over and soften them up. Treasure stay here and deal with these Fire Demons. Gilotina, your with me. We'll deal with Orion'

The blonde haired Fury nodded as she sent a powerful heel kick into another Fire Demon before she ran behind Psylocke as she built up a powerful weave of psionic energy and sent it through the horde of Fire demons. The sheer intensity of the energy disintegrated many while others were sent flying off the bridge and into the abyss below.

"Move" Psylocke said as she charged through the opening she made with Gilotina right behind her.

...

Diana held back a yelp of pain as molten hot blood fell on to her exposed chest as she barreled though the Fire Demons and into the palace proper. She hacked and cut any demon that wasn't exactly in her way or attempted to grab her as she passed by. Up ahead she saw another demon rearing it's head back to breath it's fire at her before she suddenly lashed out with her hand and slammed it's jaws shut, casuing it to grunt in surpruise as she maintained her grip on it's jaw and raised it into the air before she slammed it into the ground and dragged it across the uneven floor before dragging it up a large grand stair case, tearing it apart from the burned and partially melted metal and stone before she stopped and turned back and threw it's battered body back down at the horde that was still behind her.

The Amazon's eyes narrowed in confusion as she saw the Demons attempt to follow her before they suddenly stopped just a few meters away from her at the base of the stair case. The various Fire demons hissed and growled at Diana but they didn't make any moves to climb the stairs to her, it was almost as if they were being prevented by something. It was than that Diana noticed that the portion of the place she was in and beyond in the upper levels behind her was largely intact compared to the section a the bottom of the stair case and towards the entrance.

'The defenders must have casted some ward or found a way to halt the Fire Demons advance further into the palace' Diana thought as she loosened her stance and lowered her blade as the Fire demons remained where they were at before they turned and began to make their way back to the palace entrance, likely to try and kill the more easily reachable Furies.

The former Justice Leaguer watched them go for a few seconds before she sighed and closed her eyes 'Psylocke, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm inside the palace, the Fire demons seem unable to advance any further. The ones that chased me down are returning outside, likely for you and the rest'

She didn't hear a response and Diana thought that perhaps the purple haired woman didn't hear her before she received a vague sense of acknowledgement from the telepath. With that out of the way, Diana sheathed her blade and turned and proceeded deeper into the palace in search of the Black Vortex. With a weapon as powerful as it, Odin when he lived would have to keep it somewhere where only he could access it or those he trusted enough to use such items of power. She made it through several halls before she stopped and let out a frustrated sigh as she looked around for anything that could give her an idea of where this vault could be.

She noticed a large hole in the floor a few hundred feet ahead and quickly flew over and glanced down to see where it might lead. Below was a massive chamber that easily dwarfed any room or hall she's passed and a odd sensation crawled across her skin, causing her to shiver as her mind raced to find a word to describe the energy she was feeling.

Magic.

'Odin's vault could be down there' Diana reasoned she slowly floated down the hole and into the dark chamber below.

The air was hot and arid and Diana could feel sweat beginning to build on her brow as she dropped lower and lower into the massive chamber until her feet touched the floor with a muffled 'click' from her heeled boots. The Amazon glanced around herself and saw that the chamber was circular in shape and was a good four hundred feet from one end to the other. She glance back up and saw that the hole she came through was no bigger than a grain of rice, she was well below the palace.

'And the magical energy down here is almost suffocating' Diana thought as she looked around and saw dozens of podiums and stands that heled rusted or dust covered items, the sources of the magical energy she was feeling.

As Diana's eyes darted around for anything that looked vaguely similar to the Black Vortex, they stopped at an item that looked to be dead center in the room, right under the hole she flew through with bits of crushed floor around it. Her curiosity peeked, Diana approached the object as she felt a static of electricity come from the item as she stepped closer and closer.

'By Hera...' Diana thought with wide eyes as she saw that the item that held her attention was a hammer ax hybrid of some sort.

On one side it had the head of a war hammer while on the other it was that of an ax while the handle was made of some sort of wood that was as long enough that if Diana rested it on its hilt, the top of the weapon would be level with her breasts.

Diana moved to grab the weapon when suddenly a series of small arcs of lightning danced across it's surface, causing her to jump back in surprise as the lightning tried to reach out and touch her. Silence echoed through the massive chamber as Diana stared at the hammer with wide eyes, her heart thundering in her chest, almost in tune with the flares of lightning from the hammer before they slowly died down.

"What in Olympus are you...?" Diana whispered to herself as she slowly approached the weapon again.

The Amazon princess slowly kneeled down and hesitantly reached out to touch the handle again. Before her fingers could wrap around the handle, she noticed an inscription on the side of the hammer written in a language she couldn't recognize. She leaned in for a closer look and tried to understand what it might be saying before she heard faint footsteps behind her. Diana slowly had her hand drift towards her sword's handle while she remained where she was, pretending to be deaf to the approaching footsteps. She counted only one pair of footfalls but that didn't mean there weren't others. Once she felt they were close enough, Diana quickly drew her blade and turned, ready to face whatever it was that approached her, be it one of the Furies, a Fire Demon or whatever has taken refuge in the ruined palace.

"Well isn't this a surprise... Diana"

Diana gaped at who stood before her, it was Orion of New Genesis!

"Orion?" Diana said with surprise at the New God before her "What are you doing here?"

Orion, his helmet sporting several shallow scratches and scorch marks on it's surface, stared at Diana with an unreadable expression before he spoke in a low, cautious tone "To stop Darkseid from gaining any more power than he already has"

"The Black Vortex" she responded with realization while Orion nodded.

"Yes, if we can prevent him from acquiring it and boosting his own power, than the Highfather will able to-" Orion began before Lightray suddenly crashed through the wall on the far end of the chamber with a large bleeding gash on his chest.

"Lightray!" Orion said with shock at the state his best friend was in before he turned towards the hole the New God made and saw Psylocke standing there, her blade glowing violet and casting a dark shadow over her face. Orion's eyes narrowed in rage as he spoke with a snarl "Well if it isn't Veldo's whore of a bodyguard. I'm surprised to see your still alive"

Psylocke's eyes flickered towards Orion and narrowed in contempt "Silence dog, no one has given you leave to speak. Another word and I'll cut off what's left of your pathetic manhood and feed it to your bleeding friend here"

Orion growled before he reached down and tore a chunk of stone from the ground and threw it at the purple haired New Goddess only for it to stop halfway and hover in the air before some unforeseen force crushed it, letting the shattered remains fall to the floor. Diana stepped back as her eyes darted between the two, the grip on her sword so tight that she half expected to accidently crush the handle as she debated on whether to help Orion deal with Psylocke and the other Furies, or end this fight before it escalated anymore than it has. It was tempting to let Orion deal with Psylocke but the way the man was looking at her, that dark look in his eye gave her pause, for some unexplainable reason Diana sensed that Psylocke's death at the hands of Orion wouldn't be merciful... or pleasant.

"Well, are you going to help me deal with this Genesis trash or not?" Psylocke said as her eyes flickered towards Diana's, a challenge laying deep within.

Diana felt Orion's gaze flicker to her as he waited for her answer. Seconds passed in tense silence before Diana's gaze flickered towards Orion "If we stand down and allow you to destroy the Black Vortex, will you leave?"

Psylocke's eyes widened at this while Orion's own narrowed in grim amusement "Destroy it?"

A uneasy feeling began to grow in Diana's gut as Orion turned towards her and looked over her shoulder at the cosmic weapon "With that kind of power under New Genesis' control, Darkseid and his legions will fall before us like leaves in a hurricane. And anyone else that would dare threaten the universe"

"By the Source you aren't even trying to be coy on New Genesis's plans for conquest, are you?" Psylocke said with a snort before she turned towards Diana "The Highfather will use the Black Vortex to wipe out Apokolips and all of it's worlds and every last being on them. And when he's done slaughtering us he'll then turn his attention to the rest of creation"

"Are you saying that Darkseid won't do the same?" Diana said with narrowed eyes as she glared at the Fury "That he won't enslave and butcher billions once he gains such power for himself?"

"He'll do even worse that that!" Orion said as he took a step forward "Darkseid is a plague that must be destroyed at all costs. And all those that aid him, along with his wretched family!"

"Not by choice Orion" Diana said as she turned towards the New Genesis warrior as the image of Armria flowed through her mind.

Orion snorted in disgust at this "You mean that wretched demon babe that Darkseid is nurturing, Armria?"

Diana tensed at this, as did Psylocke who looked equally surprised at Orion's knowledge of Armria. As far as either of them were aware, Armria's existence was a closely guarded secret of Darkseid's highest elite, all the slaves and servants that attended the wedding of the lord of Apokolips were killed and the ones that were too valuable to have dealt with were reportedly mind wiped. If Darksied's people missed something-

"How do you know of Armria?" Diana asked with narrowed eyes, the grip on her blade tightening.

"You'd be surprised with how high are spies are placed in your lord's dread court" Orion said in an ominous tone.

"I'm sure we will..." Psylocke said as she raised her blade, the metal glowing with violet psionic energy "When I rip the information from your mind"

"Your more than welcome to try bitch!" Orion snarled as he leaped at Psylocke with his fists raised before he slammed them into the ground, causing the whole room to shake as the ground between him and the purple haired Goddess was torn and upheaved.

Betsy tried to summon a shield to protect herself but Orion moved forward in a blur and seized her by the throat before she could and slammed his fist right into her core, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to cough up blood as she was sent spiraling across the floor. Orion grinned darkly at the pained moan that erupted from Psylocke as he advanced on the New Goddess before he Diana suddenly slammed into him, creating a small shockwave from the force she hit him with and sent him flying across the room. Diana glared at Orion before she turned to Psylocke and crouched down to check her.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she looked the woman over for any signs of serious injury.

"I'm fine" she hissed as her eyes glowed violet.

Diana frowned at the purple haired telepath before she stood and turned, the tip of her redrawn sword to Orion's throat before he could take another step forward. She was surprised by how quickly he recovered and the distance he covered before she noticed "Stand down Orion, you've beaten her. You have nothing to gain by continuing this"

Orion gritted his teeth at the Amazon as he stepped forward the tip of the blade digging into his neck slightly and drawing blood "Diana, stand aside now"

Diana's eyes narrowed at the tone he spoke to her in "No"

Neither one moved as they eyed one another, waiting for the other to make the first move before Orion, his arm moving in a blur, slapped Diana's sword away from his throat and tackled Diana to the ground. Diana barred her teeth as she struggled to match Orion's strength before she brought her knee up into his side, causing the man to let out a pained groan before she used what space she had between their two bodies to slam her palm into Orion's chin, snapping his head back and allowing her to fly out from underneath him and wrap her lasso around him, pinning his arms to his sides.

"Orion please, surrender. I don't want to hurt you" Diana tried to reason with the New God before Psylocke spoke up with a pained chuckle.

"I must say Orion, you truly are looking more and more like a dog with that nice looking leash wrapped around you. What's next, are you gonna roll over?" she said with a dark smirk as she spat out more blood while the rest dripped from her mouth and down her chin and her neck "Maybe beg for a little treat?"

Diana shot Psylocke a glare before Orion roared in rage and crouched low before he launched himself right into Diana, his shoulder slamming into her chest hard and knocking the wind out of the Amazon and sent her flying into the wall.

KOOOOM!

The room shook under the force of Diana's impact and the dark haired beauty barely had time to register the pain she was feeling before Orion, now free of the Lasso, slammed into her, sending them both through the wall and into the adjacent hall.

Psylocke made to follow before something caught her eye in the rubble near Lightray's still unconscious form, something glowing. The purple haired beauty's eyes narrowed in interest as she slowly approached the pile of rubble and with a push with her telekenesis, brushed the large stones away to reveal a small glowing cube. Psylocke hummed to herself as she kneeled down and reached out for the cube as it pulsated with cosmic energy that felt familiar yet different at the same time.

"Now what are you?"

...


And done.

Next chapter, Peter finds an intruder in his lab...