New Earth

Chapter Four: (Almost) Everyone Means Well

May 2019

Lightning sparked between the Reduction Staves, going wild across the too large gap where they hadn't finished setting up and then Afterlife was gone. Five-eighths of the city's former circumference was cut in a perfect semi-circle but the last stretch of ground looked as if a pack of wild dogs had mauled it.

"Move! Move! Move!" The captain of the Ravagers shipped waved the milling Inhumans toward his cargo hold. "Wheels up in five minutes, I leave anyone not on board. You didn't pay us for a battle."


A Few Days Earlier

"You suspect these Inhumans terrorists are kidnapping young Enhanced?" the Chinese member of the Accords Committee asked sharply.

"Representatives of an Inhuman group came to Yusuf and Muneeba Khan claiming that they could get around the Enhanced Draft Laws and transport her to New Earth. Mrs. Khan has admitted that she indicated to them that she would talk her husband and daughter around. Three days later Kamala was missing, she has not contacted any of her friends in over a week. David Alleyne, an Academy graduate disappeared from his college classes within days of Kamala's disappearance, his parents have also admitted to being contacted and were discussing the offer when he vanished." Rhodes paused significantly, "Luna Amaquelin, the three-year-old niece of Melanie Amaquelin, the daughter of Crystal Amaquelin, who was broke out of prison by Brian Bolt and an unidentified accomplice- Luna vanished from her foster parents home two weeks before the others. I think we have to consider it a possibility that Bolt and Amaquelin's terrorist group is kidnapping young Inhumans." Colonel Rhodes answered.

"You have leave to investigate Lai Shi," the Chinese representative said.

Rhodes' jaw dropped.

"You aren't the only one with missing children to find."


Max Bolt huffed with annoyance when Scott, deeply under his thrall, stepped into a gopher hole and fell, his leg snapping audibly.

"Get up!" Max ordered.

Scott tried to pull himself to his feet but his leg collapsed under him, the one of bones ripped through the skin.

Max's frowned at the sight of blood spurting from around the broken shaft of bone. "Can't you do anything right?" he demanded as he grabbed a stick and the sling off Scott's arm. Max quickly tied the cloth above the wound then used the stick to tighten it until the bleeding had stopped. Max nodded in satisfaction. "Can't have you bleeding out before we're done," he said. Then he grabbed Scott under the arm and dragged him along to the next Reduction Stave. "Program it." he ordered.

Max watched intently as Scott mechanically started tinkering with the Stave, absorbing everything he could about how the technology worked. Ignoring Scott's injury, Max kept him at it for hours. They kept slowly extending the line of stakes defining Afterlife's perimeter until the sun set. Only then did Max drag Scott back toward the center of the town.

Crystal gasped when she saw Max roughly hauling Scott along, leaving drops of blood in their wake. "What is wrong with you!" she exclaimed. "Melanie! Quake! Someone help! Lang's been hurt."

Brian Bolt appeared, he frowned sternly at Max and Scott. Under Brian's disapproving look, Max let Scott drop, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched sulkily as Brian gently scooped Scott up and started carrying him.

"Brian!" Crystal exclaimed with an uncertain smile. "We- we should take him back to the medical center. I don't know what Max was thinking dragging him around like that. Just look at all the dirt in the wound. It'll be a miracle if it doesn't get infected."

They had only just reached the medical center when Max's powers wore off. For a moment a look of bewilderment crossed Scott's face then he started sucking in great gasping breaths as he stared at his mangled leg in horror.

"It's okay, it's going to be okay," Crystal cooed helplessly. "I'll make it better."

Brian sat Scott down on one of the bed and left. By the time he returned with Kamal, Scott was screaming incoherently and trying to fight Crystal off while she did her best to keep him from doing himself further injury. Brian gave a soundless sigh then took over holding Scott down.

Kamal and Crystal worked quickly, they set Scott's leg, stitched the wound closed and then released the tourniquet. Scott hyperventilated and passed out while they worked.

"Well, that's done," Kamal said. "All of us crowding around won't help him remain calm when he awakens. I have the mass to hold him down if it comes to that and I can tell him what's happened without knocking the building down, therefore you two should leave."

Several minutes later Scott woke up. Pale and shaky, he looked down at the bandages covering his leg. "I can't feel my toes," he said.

"Tourniquet paralysis syndrome can be temporary," Kamal replied. "We don't- Very few of us want to be cruel to you. If you would simply cooperate you could save yourself much anguish."

Scott decided not to think about the unspoken implication that the paralysis could also be permanent. "If I just helped you steal Hank's tech? Who do you think I am? Hank was the only person willing to give me a second chance and you think I'll just turn on him because you threaten me?" Scott demanded.

Kamal shrugged, "Your defiance is meaningless, Max Bolt can make you help with or without your cooperation. The only thing your capitulation changes is the damage you take in the process. And I did study you Mr. Lang, you are a person who does not let laws stand in the way of doing what is right. Yes, we are stealing Pym's technology but it is our right to preserve ourselves and our culture. We are only taking what should, rightfully, have been ours but was denied to us."

Scott glanced from his arm, broken several days earlier when they'd taken him from prison, to his newly broken leg. "And if I get in the way of you getting what is rightfully yours whatever happens to me is on my head I guess."

Kamal nodded.

"Mount Rushmore, acceptable collateral damage?"

"It is just rock, we were careful to avoid harming any people."

"The kids you're holding prisoner, it's for their own good. You're really looking out for their best interests. If they don't get that… Well, you have to force them to accept the help you're offering. It's for their own good."

"True."

"You had to take matters into your own hands because, let me guess, governments have agendas. The only safe hands are your own? Something like that?"

"You understand," Kamal replied.

"Yeah, I understand just how much it sucks to be one of the people on the other side of that," Scott groaned looking at his leg again. "Karma's a bitch but I probably deserve this for my part in what happened to Rhodes and Stark. Nothing I can do to stop your lot's major asshole from screwing with my head?"

"No, nothing." Kamal said. "You are not betraying your mentor, you simply have no choice."

Scott signed and sort of slumped down on the treatment bed. "You don't really know that my leg's going to be okay ever again do you?" he said. Kamal didn't reply. "Could I be alone?" Scott asked. "I mean you guys kidnapped me, you're not really a great comfort to have around."

"If that is what you would like," Kamal said. As he turned to pick up a pair of handcuffs Scott palmed the bloody needle that had been used to stitch him up. Once Kamal left Scott picked the locks on the handcuffs with the needle then quickly searched the room, using a rolling stool to get around. He secreted various medical implements that could double as a burglar's kit on his person then he put the handcuffs back on.

And then Scott employed the patience needed for success as a burglar. He ate the dinner Crystal brought him, being sure to give her miserable puppy-ish looks when she brought the tray and took it away again. As the hour grew late Brian Bolt reappeared along with Quake, the pair of them transported Scott back to his cell.

Scott sat on his cot and listened carefully as the compound settled in for the night. He gave it another hour after everything had become quiet. 'At least the paralysis keeps my leg from hurting,' he thought as he dragged himself over to the door and picked the lock. Then he used the wall as a crutch as he limped to the next cell where he'd seen the girl and opened that door as well. "Psst! Wanna blow this pop stand?" he called softly, hoping she had better sense than to scream.

"Do I ever!" the girl whispered back. She rolled off her bunk and scurrying over. "I'm Kamala Khan, second year academy student. Fully certified and in control of my powers and I've taken a bunch of theoretical classes about national and international mission protocols, government, diplomacy-"

"I'm Scott," Scott interrupted, deciding to avoid potential issues she might have with Ant-Man, Scott Lang or anyone who'd fought against the Accords she seem happy enough to be living under. He nodded toward the collar on Kamala's neck, "Power suppressor?"

Kamala's eyes lit up. She hurried over and swept her hair aside to show him the lock. Scott made short work of it. "Now let's get everyone else," Scott said. "If you don't mind loaning me a shoulder to lean on."

"Oh! Oh! You're hurt! I didn't even notice! I should have- Captain Marvel is going to be soooo disappointed in me!" Kamala exclaimed in a rush.

Scott felt himself smiling at her enthusiasm in spite of the throbbing in his arm and numbness in his leg. "Hey, who's rescuing who here?" he whispered. "Don't worry about it."

They made their way from cell to cell, freeing the other prisoners.

"David!" Kamala squealed when the door to the fifth cell opened, she flung herself into the arms of the older boy. "What are you doing here! I haven't seen you since you graduated!"

David, a serious looking black boy with square frame glasses, patted Kamala on the back and smiled weakly. "Getting kidnapped apparently." Then he noticed Scott and his eyes sharpened, "You're-"

"A fellow kidnap victim who'd like to get all of us out of here before this little escape gets noticed. We're lucky our capturers apparently haven't had much practice at this… Oh and I pick locks if you want to get rid of that collar," Scott said.

David grimaced but acquiesced.

"So you're a graduate from the superhero school, how's that work?" Scott asked to distract himself from the increasing discomfort as he forced the fingers on his broken arm to function.

"I'm not a superhero," David replied shortly. "I registered with SHRA, spent a year making sure my powers were under control. Then I re-applied to college and got on with my life. At least until these creeps grabbed me." His collar came off. "You got any more lock picks?"

"They taught you to pick locks? Was it as superhero school or college?" Scott asked. "I learned at college, kept locking myself out of my dorm room and got tired of streaking across campus in just a towel to get the spare, so I learned to open the door without one."

David rolled his eyes, "Neither. You've got a skill? I can borrow it, for a few hours anyway. That's how my powers work."

"Less work for me," Scott shrugged.

Kamala leaned over and whispered to David, "Why are you being so rude? He's rescuing us."

"He's one of them," David replied with a dark look at Scott. "The one that turns into a giant. Didn't you recognize him?"

Kamala's eyes widened. "Still, he's helping us."

"Just don't trust him," David warned. "Who knows what sort of stupid shit he's going to pull."

Kamala nodded but looked sad. "I don't think he's a bad person." She turned back to Scott, "I shape shift," she volunteered.


"Colonel, I have detected Pym Particles forming a perimeter around the city and two hundred and sixty-three life signs," Vision reported. "The city appears- I believe, 'like a kicked anthill' would be an appropriate colloquialism to employ."

"Fuck," Rhodes swore. Back on the quinjet he glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his team, Spider-Man, Komodo and FRIDAY if he gave her leave to use the Quinjet's weaponry.

Tony had put prohibitions on using weapons in FRIDAY's code, telling her that she was too young to be allowed access to guns. Rhodes had chosen to take Tony at his word and had removed them as FRIDAY matured. It wasn't a sure thing, if there was anyone who'd lie to an AI to spare their feelings it was Tony Stark, maybe Ultron had scared Tony out of trusting his AI's. Still Rhodes remembered a night a couple of months after Sokovia and a very, very drunk Tony insisting that Ultron wasn't evil, he'd just been given too much information, too much power and too much freedom without the time or guidance to process it properly. Rhodes liked to think that FRIDAY was growing up well, a credit to her creator and predecessor as well as proof that Ultron was the anomaly.

"This was supposed to be an information gathering mission," Rhodes said, half to himself.

"Colonel, my scans found an alien ship," FRIDAY reported. "Analysis indicates sufficient similarity to the Guardians' Milano to assume a common origin."

"FRI, call in reinforcements," Rhodes said quietly. "The committee, the Chinese, Russian and Indian governments. Contact Carol's team and break out the Legion. Get me ETA's on everyone."

"On it sir," FRIDAY replied.

"You listening Viz?" Rhodes asked.

"I am."

"Okay folks, we've got several hundred possible hostile Enhanced down there. If they're not set to jump planet they're damned close. We might be seeing an escape attempt by our kids. Help is several hours out at best," Rhodes summed up the situation. "This is not the mission you signed on for."

"Allenye was my teammate at the Academy," Komodo stated.

"I am not opposed to taking some risks to ascertain if the commotion is indeed caused by my former students," Vision added.

"I'm not taking any real risks here, Colonel-man," FRIDAY volunteered.

Peter looked around the group, "The kids involved might be minors- well not David but mostly! Still they're old enough that they should have some say in their lives. Furthermore, from what we've heard, this group willing to take parents being uneasy about the draft as carte blanche to drag people off. They've basically decided that someone having Inhuman genes makes them part of their nation? Cult? Bolt and Amaquelin have decided they represent their people but I don't know how they've legitimized that. I mean like David or Kamala would ever agree to follow a bunch of terrorists." He took a deep breathe, "It'd be easier if we didn't all think the law they're opposing is a shitty law but what they're doing is wrong. They're going around blowing things up and forcing their idea of right on other people. And we're against junk like that.

"I know there's a lot of time pressure and it's frustrating to do things through the system. I know DD and Foggy are having to chip away at the whole stupid mess little by little, getting the most egregious parts dismantled first and winning small concessions. But what Bolt and Amaquelin' group are doing? It's nothing but a rallying point for the people who have a problem with the Enhanced. Maybe this group gets what they want through violence but they're making it harder for everyone who wants to change things legally. I'm definitely in, they need to be stopped."

"Okay," Rhodes said. "Our first priority is the safety of the captives…"


Scott reached for the suppressor collar on the last of the prisoners he'd freed, a ten year old girl, but she covered the lock with her hands exclaiming, "Nem felelt meg a vizsgálat!"

"Sweetie, I just want to get you out of that nasty thing," Scott said with a reassuring smile.

"She knows," David said, his powers allowing him to temporarily speak the languages of everyone around him. "She says she hasn't passed her test yet."

To Scott's shock he saw four of the kids from David's row of cells were also still wearing collars. Scott remembered the Raft, Sam's and particularly Clint's outrage when Wanda had been collared… Of course, after it turned out she'd been using her powers on them they hadn't said much about Vision taking her power from her. But back on the Raft they'd been livid. He remembered how they'd all felt for Terry, afraid to use his powers. But here, while some of the kids were shooting sympathetic looks at their collared peers, there was no outrage, not even any surprise. "You do know we're totally outnumbered and everyone on the other side has powers, right?" Scott asked.

David rolled his eyes, "I have no idea how things worked under Steve Rogers' leadership but pre-teens are noncombatants in any mission I'm on. Beyond that, do you seriously think an uncontrolled release of powers from a scared little kid is likely to make things better for us?" David nodded toward the one adult trailing after him, "This is JT James, he says he lived here under an earlier Inhuman Regime."

James, who was carrying what looked like a high tech jar under one arm, looked Scott over curiously. "Never could figure out why you lot needed your own wing," he remarked. "Weren't like assholes who thought they were above the law were in short supply in general population. Well hero, we're a good weeks' walk from the nearest neighbors and that's me walking not these ankle-biters. I suppose you've got a plan?"

Scott looked around a little desperately, "Um, can anyone teleport? Or anything like that?"

"We've got two fliers," David said with a nod toward a thirteen-year-old boy with wings and an even younger kid with no obvious signs of Enhancement. "Jay here isn't really a long distance kind of guy but he can beat us ground bound. Ki-nam doesn't have the same metabolic limits but I'd rather they stuck together. As soon as we see an opening they're going to take off and try to get help.

"The rest of us can try to get out of the city. If they were planning on holding us here indefinitely I'd say we should try to get the fliers out then let everyone else get recaptured so we have food and shelter while we wait to be rescued but when they could drag us off planet at any moment that changes things. We'll run if we can, try to hole up somewhere in the hills and hold out there." David sighed, "It's not much of a plan but I'm sick of sitting around here getting lectured about how we're the chosen ones and humans are all out to get us." He took a deep breath, "It's my judgement call that I'd rather risk depending on our wilderness survival skills than chance these guys leaving before help comes. If anyone else's analysis says it's better to sit tight and wait for help, now's the time to let us know." David stopped and quickly repeated himself in Chinese, Hungarian, Spanish and Russian.

The kids traded looks among themselves, unconsciously drawing closer together. In just a few moments everyone had made up their mind to go.

Scott raised his hand, "I have an idea." He glanced at Kamala, "You said you're a shapeshifter, have you ever seen the big quiet guy?"

Kamala nodded. "Oh yeah, I can scout. No one questions him."

"Because they'd probably get knocked through a wall if he answered," Scott replied. "And even if they don't buy him taking all us prisoners for a walk seeing him with us might confuse them long enough for us to get in a cheap shot."

"Oooh, fighting dirty. Not what I expected from a hero," James said. He hefted the jar a bit, "I've got my own distraction tactic here. Don't you worry yourselves about it. I'll know when to put it in play."

David and another of the larger kids offered themselves as crutches for Scott while Kamala shifted into Brian Bolt and walked out of the building where they were being held, looking for all the world like she was out for an evening stroll. She paused in the doorway for a moment then gestured the others forward.

"Go," Scott heard David tell the two fliers as soon they were outside. "Head Northwest, you should find a highway tomorrow around sunset."

Ahead of them Kamala made a wait gesture then nodded to someone they couldn't see. A moment later she waved them on. They slipped across a darkened street.

They made it three quarters of the way to the edge of the city without being caught. Then, "Hey, what are you doing? Stop right there!"

The jar James had taken with him burst into flames and he threw it at their discoverer. Scott wasn't sure if the other person survived the explosion or not but in the aftermath a second man formed from the flames. "Hey, Shockley," James called. "Welcome to Inhuman central. Apparently the new head-honchos decided that they have jurisdiction over us, 'cause we're freaks like them. Now don't say I never did anything nice for you."

A slow, cruel grin twisted the jar-guy's face and he vanished. A moment later there was another explosion, then another. "Welp, they should have fun with each other," James remarked. "Shockley's pretty much unkillable, and finding out he was Inhuman only made him hate 'em more. I'm betting he racks up an impressive body count before they figure out a way of dealing with him. Now, we were escaping?"

'That expression of horror looks really out of place on Brian Bolt's face,' Scott found himself thinking. He felt an embarrassing degree of relief when he realized that Kamala and the rest of the kids were looking to David for answers.

"You can't just go around killing people," David shouted at James.

"Think you mean 'shouldn't' cause take a look, I just did," James replied, unrepentant. "Try stopping him if you gotta, but I'm not into risking myself for a bunch of freakish kidnappers."

David's hands clenched and unclenched, "We did this," he said. "But-" his gaze shifted to the younger kids in the group. "But they did kidnap us and I don't know how to make it right. We've got to go."


"Colonel Rhodes, I have confirmed that the children are here and are in the processes of an escape attempt," Vision reported nodding to the two young fliers. "I am also detecting multiple explosions in the city."

"Let's go pick them up," Rhodes said.

"I am sending two fliers to rendezvous with the jet," Vision added. "They have indicated that the other children were being held in the center of Lai Shi and were headed toward the city's eastern perimeter to make their escape."


An explosion threw Quake from her bed. She rolled to her feet and ran out into the main room.

Max was staring out the window as a quinjet appeared over the city. "It's just like last time," he said. "They attack us without provocation once again."

Quake didn't bother explaining that last time Jiayang had been behind the attack on Afterlife, not S.H.I.E.L.D. If she hadn't seen her mother kill Raina to keep the fact quiet she wouldn't have believed it herself and she had friends who were dyed in the wool S.H.I.E.L.D. Quake wondered what Max and the others called the destruction of Mount Rushmore if not 'provocation'.

Kamal looked up from his phone, "Our off-world allies inform me that they have picked up communications from the Chinese Military. We can expect fighter jets overhead in two hours. They have the firepower to defeat them but the moment they reveal themselves the Nova Corps will become aware of their presence and they will have to flee. They suggest we make preparations to leave immediately."

Another explosion shook the room. "Okay, I'm going after whoever's doing that," Quake announced. "While we've still got a city to shrink."

Melanie and Brian share a quick, silent conversation. "Start evacuating the city," Melanie said. "Max, go get Lang and prepare to trigger the Reduction Staves."

"We haven't finished setting the staves," Max growled. "You lot were always on me about not working the poor human to death."

"You've got two hours, do what you can," Melanie said, her voice hard. "Crystal, go with him, get the less cooperative children ready to move. Brian will take Lockjaw and teleport out to meet the jets. Kamal and I will take a small force and make sure Quake isn't in over her head."


"A teleporting dog?" FRIDAY exclaimed. "Now I've seen everything."

"Evasive!" Rhodes exclaimed, focusing in on the man with the dog.

"Fall." Bolt said but War Machine was between the quinjet and the Inhuman, repulsors firing. Rhodes' counterattack blunted the blast, enough to save the quinjet, but War Machine spun out of control.

Vision dove after War Machine.

"The jet!" Rhodes shouted as he pulled out of the spin on his own. "I'm good."

Vision intercepted Bolt's next word, the force of it expending itself against his outstretched hands. "You will do no more harm," Vision declared, the gem on his forehead glowing dangerously as memories of Leipzig filled his mind with startling clarity.

"Go ahead," Rhodes shouted. Spidey used War Machine as an anchor point and swung himself and Komodo to the ground.


"Who set you loose?" Quake asked spotting the naked man stalking through the city.

Shockley leered, "Seems like everywhere I go you're there too. You stalking me, darling?"


There had been a few minutes when Scott had believed they'd make it out of the city without a serious confrontation. Then the tattooed martial artist from the prison break and a woman with prehensile hair showed up with a half dozen other Enhanced.

Kamala put up a valiant struggle against the martial artist, expanding and shrinking her limbs in a one of a kind fighting style, but Scott could see she was being worn down.

David had spent the first few minutes getting tied up in prehensile hair but had borrowed the martial artist's skill and was quickly winning back the ground he'd lost.

Scott pulled himself over to a wall and tried not to get trampled in the half-dozen other fights going on.

James disappeared into the chaos, after leaving a few indiscriminate explosions for them to remember him by.


Max and Crystal stared at the swinging doors and empty cells. "They're gone," Crystal said.

"Grab the Staves," Max ordered. "I can finish setting them without the human."


While Bolt and Vision faced off, War Machine scattered a group of reinforcements.

FRIDAY waited until the moment Bolt spoke then rolled and hit the afterburners, trying to get past him. But it only took a moment for him to turn his head and speak again. The Quinjet's shields flickered under the buffeting and whole ship was knocked backward in the sky.

A blast of raw power exploded from the Mind Stone set in Vision's forehead.

The dog grabbed Bolt's pant leg in his mouth a moment before it struck and teleported them away leaving a smoking crater in the wake of Vision's blast.


Quake dove for cover as Shockley exploded. Then before he could reform she used a vibrational blast to scatter his ashes to the wind. She waited for several minutes, warily scanning the area for any sign of him reforming. When nothing happened she released a slow breathe, "Don't know if that killed him or just slowed him down, but I'll take it."


A lizard girl Scott vaguely recognized as one of the newer Avengers joined the fight along with Spider-Man. They dropped into a group of the younger kids who were attempting to overwhelm a lion-like man with numbers. "We've got this. There's a ship coming behind us," Spidey told the kids as he webbed up the lion-man.

"You're getting rusty, Prodigy" Komodo said grinning toothily as she moved on to fight a woman with bark-like skin.

David snorted as he slipped free of the last tangle of prehensile hair and landed a kick on the woman wielding it. "Want to talk about rusty? When you last published a paper Melanti?"

Komodo snorted, "Sit in a lab when I could be doing this?" she brought her elbow down on the bark-woman's head, knocking her unconscious.

"You were nine-tenths of the way to regrowing limbs and you gave it up for being an adrenaline junky," David complained. "You gave me up."

Spider-Man used a webline to yank the martial artist away from Kamala, "Work-life-superhero balance, they both need to work on it," he remarked with a nod toward David and Komodo, eliciting a giggle.

"He's really good Spidey," Kamala warned. And true to her warning the martial artist had somehow broken Spidey's webbing and returned to the fight. Spidey ducked his blow without looking, spun and kicked him, his enhanced speed and strength barely countered by the other man's supernatural ability to spot weaknesses.

Scott hobbled to his feet and tried to shoo a few more of the kids in the direction Spider-Man and Komodo had pointed the first group.

Then the Quinjet was sinking to hover a few above the street, it's back hatch open. War Machine swooped down and opened fire while Vision waded into the fighting freeing the kids to run for the jet. Spider-Man joined Vision while Komodo and David positioned themselves on either side of the hatch, boosting the smaller children into the jet. Scott hung back until the last of the kids was in then let Komodo toss him on board. "Go!" she shouted as she and David leapt in.

Spider-man broke off from round three with the martial artist and shot a web at the bottom of the rising jet. He swung around and slid into the closing hatch. War Machine and Vision took to the air covering the FRIDAY's retreat.


After the Quinjet had vanished over a ridge the Inhumans assessed the situation.

"Fighter jets are still inbound," Kamal reported. "They'll be here in an hour. We no longer have hostages to deter them from firing on us."

"They were never hostages!" Crystal exclaimed angry over the comms as she and Max worked feverishly to finish setting the Staves.

"Keep getting everyone aboard the Ravager ships," Max interrupted. "I'm increasing the spacing between the Staves to finish in time, even with my the least conservative estimate of the required spacing we'll cut it close."

"We were only planning on having the Ravagers take around eighty people," Quake pointed out. "Those with known powers. Everyone else was supposed to get berths on the Nova ships."

"Max is right, there's no time," Melanie said. "They know we're here. The potentials won't be able to filter back into society without suspicion. Anyone we leave will be targeted."

"Shouldn't we at least talk to the Ravager captain about this?" Quake asked.

"I need more time to get the Staves set!" Max said over Quake.

There was a pause. "Brian will buy you the time," Melanie said. "With Lockjaw there's a chance he'll be able to teleport to the Ravager ship while it's in flight."

"Even if we take out the Chinese squadron, the Ravagers are detecting increased activity at military installations near the Chinese border in Russian, Indian, Afghanistan and Pakistan," Kamal reported. "Also, it's only a matter of time before the Avengers return in force."

For the first forty minutes the evacuation was orderly. The Inhumans packed up their things and rearranged the partitions set up in the cargo hold of the Ravagers ships to deal with triple the expected occupancy.

Then it sunk in for one family that their rebellious daughter was among those who'd escaped with Avengers and there were no plans to retrieve her. "The whole reason for going was to keep her safe! We're not leaving without her!"

"She made her choice," Kamal replied without sympathy.

"Molly's a child! She doesn't know what's best for her."

"If you wish to stay then stay. The ship will be overcrowded as it is."

"Kamal!" Melanie protested. She turned to the distraught parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, I agree with you completely. Molly should be here, she should be safe in the arms of a society that doesn't view her as a weapon. But practically speaking, we can't go after her. As much as I want to save her and the rest of her foolish friends, there are too many forces arrayed against us. If we miss this window we will save no one, our entire culture will perish with the doomed Earth."


Fifteen minutes before the fighter jets were anticipated Brian Bolt had Lockjaw teleport him out of the city to confront them on the on a ridge several hundred miles from Afterlife.

Five minutes before the jets the Inhumans began to get a real sense of how crowded conditions in the cargo hold were going to be, a few fights broke out over space.

Brian caught sight of the squadron of jets and shouted. The lead flight disintegrated, the other three split, breaking into evasive maneuvers as they searched for the source of the threat, but a lone person was a hard target for a jet's radar to pick out from the terrain. Brian took out several more jets with impunity. Several of the jets launched their missiles in the general region the attacks, hoping to get lucky even if they couldn't pinpoint their attacker.

After the first few moments of confusion the squadrons reformed and blasted past Brian's position, forcing him to relocate ahead of them to defend the city. As he shouted, a trailing, low flying jet spotted him and fired. Brian didn't see it until the ridge where he stood was engulfed in flames. The surviving three jets in the squadron flew on toward Afterlife, although only one of the three still carried a payload.


Just as the jets reached Afterlife the city vanished in a crackling ball of lightning. Moments later a spaceship blasted off. As it left the atmosphere several Nova Corps ships moved to intercept but they were too slow and the Ravager ship was gone from the solar system leaving behind nothing more than a trail of exhaust particles.

Quake stood crammed near the small view port in the hangar door watching as the sun became a spec of light, nothing more than another distant star. She reached into her pocket and touched her cell phone wishing she could call Coulson, tell him how she'd been swept up in the final minutes of the evacuation and ended up on ship with other evacuating Inhumans but she was okay.

She wanted to call and ask him if they'd done the right thing. In her head she saw his small, ironic smile. "We did what we thought best. I suppose we'll have to ask our grandkids if we were right once they're grown."