The voice crackles over the speaker.
"I repeat, Utopia is under attack by the Shi'ar Death Commandos. We are under attack! Request assistance from all Avengers teams NOW!"
I freeze. Brand was betrayed… Her sensors were blocked, letting the Shi'ar in. The K'Meer won't arrive for another week and when they do, we're likely to have a fully-fledged intergalactic war start on Earth between two of the greatest empires in the universe. But that's playing second fiddle right now.
Etana's on Utopia whilst Tora and Hope gathered their strength and precision until they felt able to repower those mutants who wanted it and to allow more to be born. Logan is clenching his hands tightly on the chair next to me and I know what's wrong. His wife is on Utopia. His wife is one of the biggest targets for the Shi'ar. His kids are a target. He's not the only one though. Etana's there. Stevie's safe in the Baxter Building but all I can feel is terror for Etana.
Logan's shouting about the Blackbird, taking his team to Utopia; I'm getting the Avengers ready and then there's the news feed from San Francisco is talking about a warship descending and a dragon in the sky, evacuations, terror, fires breaking out on the island.
I sit in silence all the way and Tony reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder.
"She'll be fine."
Wanda looks ill. I know she feels it's her duty to be here although the X-Men may react violently to her presence. But Tora's one of her oldest friends and Etana one of her most stalwart defenders so when she heard about the attack, she rushed over, offering all the help she could.
When we fly in, I can see how bad it is. Buildings are on fire, bodies –not all of them Shi'ar- litter the beach. And the Warbird is preparing to fire and a figure detaches from the fray and flies up towards it, before being obliterated by an energy blast and all I can think is 'please don't be Etana, please don't be Etana…' and we land and the first thing I see when I run out is Etana fighting what looks like six different Death Commando's, cursing violently in Hebrew as she stabs one right through the chest. I feel a soft touch in my mind and a voice echoes.
Captain, this is Celeste Cuckoo. We're linking you into the fight-frame.
And I can sense everyone in the fight and who's fighting with who and exactly where Tora and Hope are and I glance over and see Tora standing beside Hope and Cable –minus his techno-organic virus, Tora's experiment having worked- energy crackling around them and a feeling of time itself being warped by the sheer power they're throwing off and I see one of Logan's team –Nightcrawler- fall after being shot between the shoulder blades and then Etana screams and I turn to see her whip around and behead a man before screaming again then raising a knife and severing her right arm… Her Shi'ar arm. She screams again then she raises her head and I can hear her voice and thoughts echoing around the whole island.
Adonai, forgive me for what I am about to do.
And she bursts into flames and the Death Commandos surrounding her scream in agony as she burns them away to nothing. Three wingbeats and she's level with the Warbird.
DIE!
The entire ship burns away and black ash falls to the ground as Tony swears violently and then Etana…no… Then the Malach Hamavet is streaking towards the ground and the blade that severs body from soul slams into the ground and fire ripples out, burning through all the Shi'ar on the island and when it ends there's only silence.
Which is broken by a scream.
