Georgia, Earth 7622
Annie exited the car alongside Frenchie and Kimiko at Firecracker's camp. She originally planned on going alone, but Frenchie managed to find something scandalous about Firecracker. There was a large banner with the flag, bald eagles, and plenty of guns that read "TRUTH CON FOREVER: SAVING OUR AMERICA!". There were a plethora of tents and campfires. In the back was a DJ station where they saw Firecracker with country music playing in the background. To her side were four identical bald men decked out in Firecracker's merchandise.
"We'll be forced to work as slaves in Wakanda and its colonies! It's what BLM has always dreamed of!" She cried out, causing the crowd to jeer and boo.
Annie, Frenchie, and Kimiko cringed upon hearing that remark.
"Let's go." Annie told them.
"Are you sure Kimiko will be safe?" Frenchie asked. "Considering she's, you know…" Frenchie gestured to her.
"She'll be fine if push comes to shove she and I…" Annie told him before remembering that Kimiko lost her powers because of Soldier Boy. Considering all they went through, she couldn't blame herself.
"Just get behind me." Annie told them.
Frenchie and Kimiko nodded as they waded through the campsite to Firecracker. Annie placed her hand on Firecracker's shoulder, gaining her attention.
"Firecracker, right? I want to speak with you in private, now." Annie told her.
Firecracker glared at Annie, but she turned to her companion.
"Fine." She told her.
Firecracker took Annie and the others to her tent. Inside were various confederate flags, guns, and Homelander memorabilia, even a couple of Stormfront's. Kimiko took notice of the Homelander dildo and nudged Frenchie who noticed. The two tried hard not to chuckle at the sight.
"Vought needs you to stop this." Starlight told her.
"There ain't no Vought anymore. Just the Illuminati." Firecracker told her.
"I was sent here by Queen Maeve." Starlight told her, it wasn't a total lie.
"Who's working for them." Firecracker told her, appearing very sure of herself.
Annie angrily rolled her eyes.
"Look! Whatever you believe in, I don't care! If you want to die here, that's your decision! But all this bullshit you're putting out puts others at risk, so please stop!" Annie told her.
Firecracker continued to glare at her.
"You don't remember me, do you?" Firecracker asked. "Of course, why would you? We were only the same pageant circle together for 3 fucking years."
"Maeve told me we were." Annie told her.
"So you remember what you told everyone about Sparkler, right?" Firecracker asked.
"What's she talking about?" Frenchie asked.
Annie was silent.
"She told everyone that I had a assfuck gangbang with the judges. Said it was the only way some white trash redneck could get that far. I was thirteen years old. When I asked you why…." Firecracker couldn't finish her sentence. "Remember what you said?"
Annie looked back at Kimiko and Frenchie who looked surprised to hear that Annie would do something like this.
"Look, I'm sorry for what I said about you. I was young. My mom-"
"Do you remember what you said?" Firecracker cut in.
"I said that… I don't talk to fat sluts."
Frenchie gently chimed in.
"Ma pouvre créature, I am willing to attest what Starlight said was horrible. Does it justify everything you've said, and done?" Frenchie told her while showing a police report.
Firecracker seemed uneased.
"You raped a fifteen-year-old boy at a camp. You don't back down, we'll get this story out there." Frenchie told her.
Firecracker frowned once more.
"Go ahead, there's a fucking planet about to crash ours, you really think somebody will care about that?" Firecracker remarked.
She punched Annie across the face and smirked until she pulled back her fist and started to rub. Starlight was still on her two feet, not even a bruise or blemish from where she was struck. Firecracker was horrified she tried to utter out an apology of her own when Starlight responded with a punch of her own. Firecracker was on the ground when Annie picked her up by the collar. Her cohort started to duplicate until Frenchie and Kimiko pulled out their guns. The supe only managed to create two.
"Do you hear that?" One of the duplicates asked Firecracker.
"No stalling!" Frenchie ordered him.
"He's not." Annie told him, sounding scared.
Soon everyone started to hear what sounded like an engine roaring in the air. Only Starlight knew who it was. She pulled open the tent and saw The Green Goblin on his glider heading towards them.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder where you are!" The Goblin sang as he flew towards the unknowing crowd.
The Goblin chucked a pumpkin bomb at one of the RV windows. The bomb went off, causing a chain reaction of explosions. Those attending the event tried to run, many were caught in the explosions. A couple of them tried to shoot the Goblin only for flames to spew from the front of his glider, burning them alive. The Green Goblin hopped off the glider in front of one of the men. The glider went off elsewhere, spreading more carnage. The terrified man pulled out his pistol in front of the Goblin only for Norman to knock it out of his hand. Quickly, the Goblin put both hands at the top and bottom of his mouth. The Goblin slowly started to pull apart the man's jaw. It took less than a minute to do so, as the maimed man's jaw was pulled apart.
"Slack-jawed yokel." The Green Goblin remarked.
His eyes soon turned to a grieving widow who held her departed husband's mangled corpse. The Green Goblin grabbed her by the back of her head and spoke to her:
"I'm sorry for the loss of your husband and likely cousin." He told her mockingly. "Let me make it up to you." He added before slamming her face down onto a rock, nearly destroying her skull.
A group of them lined up in front of him ready to fire only to get rammed by his glider.
The Green Goblin observed the chaos and carnage breaking out into sadistic laughter. Frenchie pulled back the tent.
"We need to get out here." Frenchie told him.
The others nodded, just as they were about to leave. The Green Goblin stood before them. He grabbed Frenchie and Kimiko by the shirts and tossed them overhead. As though they were nothing to him, his gaze turned towards Starlight and smiled at her.
"Hello, my dear." He told her. His tone made her skin crawl in a way only Homelander ever managed to.
"Feel free to leave or die. I don't care which." The Green Goblin told Firecracker and Splinter not even looking back. Firecracker and Splinter ran away only for the Goblin to stop them.
"Oh, and all every word you've been spewing, it's true. All of it." He added. "Now get out of my sight!" He yelled.
Firecracker and Splinter ran as fast as their legs could manage.
"Now then where…" Green Goblin remarked before Annie blasted him out of the tent. When she stepped outside, she saw the Goblin get up and angrily rip the tent apart. Annie could tell her attack only barely hurt him. Starlight turned to Frenchie and Kimiko.
"Go!" She told them.
New York, Earth 7622
The Payback was assembled at Butcher's apartment. Just a gray place with a futon on the floor, Terror's old cage and cushion where he slept, and the TV, the only thing worth stealing (and was). This was Hughie's first time at Butcher's place, he looked at the framed photo of Becca, and she looked happy with him.
Soldier Boy worked with a welder torch that melted the hinges and ripped out the handle of the Hydra tank hatch. Which was now going to be his new shield. He pulled the handle at full strength in order to rip it off.
"What the Hell is this thing made of?" He questioned.
Castle took a look at the handle, there was a part around the hinges that were completely unbroken and unaffected by the heat.
"See those?" Castle pointed out. "That's adamantium, same thing that shredded your old shield like paper. It also costs a fortune, Hydra put some hard cash on those tanks."
"A couple million more in military equipment. I can say I blew up."
"This time on the enemy side." Sage quipped.
"Why aren't you more grateful? Now you got a bunch of shiny new toys."
That was true. Sage was able to gather what was left of Hydra weapons and take them apart to make new ones. Now she was adding those pieces to the armor she made with Iron Man's scrap. Butcher entered the apartment with bags and was immediately showered by Terror with attention.
"Lunch time, children." He said and dropped the bags on the counter.
There was a whole week of groceries in those bags, not just that, they had their price labels on and were perfectly packed inside those plastic bags, Hughie even found a receipt there.
"Where did you find a working grocery store..?"
Sage showed Hughie the Iron Man plushie inside the bag he immediately got it.
"That's not for you." Butcher said, grabbed the plushie and threw it to Terror. "Terror, fuck it."
As Terror violently humped the Iron Man plushie, Hughie asked a question.
"Did you just go by Earth 616 for groceries?"
"Things a little less fucked up there."
"Would be nice to go there too." Punisher said.
"Yeah, it would." Soldier Boy spoke. "You can just come and go as you like and we stay here waiting for this place to go boom."
"We had a deal. You will get out when I get Homelander. With this power, I can take him myself but he's with those Illuminati cunts now and I need help going through them. And we make a pretty decent team, don't we? What did you call us love?" He asked Sage. "All-New All-Different Payback, that's a franchise name."
"Our deal was that I'd get my old teammates. What the fuck happened to that?"
"They're dead anyway. More pressing matters here, mate."
"Sage." Castle said. "Do you think you can still get that Multiverse teleporter working?"
"Eventually." She said.
"Now I'm thinking, what's easier? Going toe to toe with my Earth's mightiest heroes, or getting the goober working?
Butcher forced a smile and said.
"Okay. Deal's a deal. I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going?" Hughie asked.
"Black Noir is out of reach, but I betcha I can still put my hands on Mindstorm. With that, it's going to be all of them down except for Noir, who is in the building we're headed to anyway. You can sit here and cross your finger, hoping the brains of the operation finish fixing your ticket out before Doom or whoever destroys this world with you on it. Or you can come with me and be assured of survival." He whistled, and his flaming car drove to the window. As Butcher exited the driver's seat, he said: "Don't wait up for me."
Payback Mansion, Earth 7622
Ryan looked around the mansion with the other Runaways. They were heading down to the basement.
"Who's Captain America?" He whispered into Molly's ear.
Molly turned to Ryan.
"He's like the superhero of our world. He's led the Avengers countless times." Molly told him.
"He fought the Nazis." Karolina brought up.
"He punched Hitler in the face." Klara told him. "Hitler is this very bad guy…"
"I know who that is."
"Sorry, I forget everyone knows." Answered the girl from the 19th century.
Ryan turned to Chase.
"That's probably just an urban legend, but yeah, he's a big deal. He's the leader of the Avengers." Chase told him.
"He fought in World War 2?" Ryan asked.
"Well, our World War 2, but the same rule applies." Chase mentioned.
Ryan pondered the information he had heard when the others stopped. In front of them was Bruce Banner, who made the other Runaways apprehensive.
"What are you doing here?" Bruce Banner asked them.
"Oh crap!" Molly let out.
"We're sorry, just wanted to look around!" Karolina told him.
"Please don't get mad!" Klara blurted out.
Banner just let out an annoyed sigh and sat down while the Runaways, save Ryan, left the lab.
"You're still here?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah." Ryan told him, sounding confused.
"You're from this Earth aren't you?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah, I'm new. I ran away from home." Ryan remarked.
"Figured, most people tend to walk around eggshells around me." Banner told him before returning to his work.
"Why?" Ryan asked.
"I have a very strong temper, kid. Let's just leave it at that." Banner told him before he started to return to his work.
"But you're a superhero on your Earth, right?" Ryan asked.
Banner stopped his work, and his expression became more solemn and mournful.
"Sometimes, I guess." He bitterly remarked.
"Do you have any advice?" Ryan asked him.
This took Banner aback.
"Look, kid, what's your name?" Banner asked. "Sorry for asking so late, I'm not much of a conversationalist." Bruce added.
"I'm Ryan. It's just that I'm worried that if I use my powers I'll kill everyone else." Ryan told him.
Ryan could tell that this struck a chord with Banner on some level.
"You have no idea." Banner quietly said to himself.
He thought for a moment.
"I don't know what your powers are. I'm willing to bet they are different. So all I can say is just try and be careful." Banner told him.
Vermont, Earth 7622
Butcher parked his car above the clouds of the woods. He grabbed the papers in the glove box. Pharmacy bills, plenty of them. One particular pharmacy had a large purchase of bipolarity medication, which happened to be what Mindstorm suffered from, and Butcher was looking down at the isolated cabin nearest to that pharmacy.
He jumped out of the car and walked into the cabin. It was easy to force his way in as he took the first step inside, he tripped on a wire, and a shotgun fired through the wall and his shoulder. He brushed it off and heard the steps from the bathroom. Butcher put the door down with a rage of fire and looked out the window to find Mindstorm running into the woods. Butcher whistled, and his flaming car drove in front of Mindstorm and cut his path.
Butcher raced towards and grabbed Mindstorm by the shirt. Mindstorm stared right into Butcher's eyes. Something stared back right into his own soul. When he tried to use his powers, Butcher's eyes turned into a pair of hollow, bony eye-sockets where fire engulfed him as he took the Ghost Rider form. The flaming skeleton only said one word:
"Penance."
Moments of Mindstorm's life flashed through both their minds. Suddenly, he wasn't Mindstorm, he was just Dan, and Dan wasn't so bad. He wasn't a saint, but he used his powers for good. Dan wanted to be a hero and an entertainer. He tried to be a hero but found Vought was much different than he expected. He found Soldier Boy, who once supported a bill against the care of the mentally ill, just to mess with Dan. Dan put a whole street gang in a coma, a gang of violent meth dealers who tried to kill him. That was a work the Ghost Rider should admire.
Suddenly, the Ghost Rider was off, and Billy Butcher was on; there was nothing but smoke around his flash and not a single blaze on his car.
"What the bloody hell…?" He said as he failed to turn back into Ghost Rider.
"Not him." Kessler said.
"He's a supe."
"That's not up for discussion." And Kessler was gone.
But he didn't need powers, he just lifted his crowbar and was about to swing against Mindstorm's head until he said:
"I just want to be left alone!"
Butcher hesitated; he thought of the things he saw and the way Soldier Boy treated Dan. He looked just like Homelander.
"Get in the car." Butcher said, and Mindstorm obeyed.
Inside, Butcher turned on the engine, the flames were back and as he touched the steering wheel, his hands turned into flaming bones.
"Where are you taking me?" Mindstorm desperately asked.
"You'll be left alone, alright."
They drove off into the sky.
Massachusetts, Earth 616
Butcher parked a block away from a hospital and opened the passenger's door for Mindstorm.
"You go to the hospital, tell'em you're confused and don't know where you are. Won't take long for them to figure out you're bipolar. They'll give the meds you need and figure it makes sense you lost all your ID." He reached for the backseat and grabbed a box, he opened it, there were fake badges, a pair of burner phones, and a Rolex he gave Mindstorm. "Pawn this for no less than 30 thousand when you're back on the street. If things get too complicated, use your mojo thing to get away."
"Why are you doing this?" Mindstorm asked.
Butcher looked in the rearview mirror and saw Kessler.
"I'm not."
Georgia, Earth 7622
Starlight fired another blast at the Green Goblin, who was already blocking it, causing him to be pushed back a couple of feet. He took out three razor wings and threw them at Starlight who rolled out of the way. The blades embedded themselves into an RV and the nearby trees.
"Why are you doing this?!" Annie demanded as she asked.
"Why? Why am I doing this? Why did I fly my way over here to the sticks, slaughter a bunch of rednecks, and attack you?" He asked, sounding genuinely offended as he marched towards her. "There's a litany of reasons for doing this, but I'll start with the biggest one: it's because I want to." The Green Goblin told her. "Second, my partners need some information, so whatever you know cough it up or else."
"Go fuck yourself." Annie defiantly told him.
The Green Goblin giggled with amusement and excitement.
"Oh, I see you've chosen the hard way. Personally speaking, I'm glad you decided to opt for that. Fortunately, I need you alive. Otherwise, I'd just cut your head off, carve it into a jack-o'lantern, and leave it at Spidey's doorstep on Halloween. After all, it's Halloween everyone's entitled to one good scare or, in his brat's case one good trauma." The Green Goblin told her.
Annie was disturbed upon hearing that.
"You're a fucking psycho!" Annie angrily told him, trying to punch him, only for the Goblin to dodge her hook. He countered with a punch to the gut. Annie gasped as she held her stomach gasping.
"Has that just occurred to you? I figured Spider-Man and his amazing friends would have told you that about little ol' me." The Green Goblin told her. "But I suppose there's plenty they don't tell you." He added before grabbing her by the hair and using it to pull her up. Annie winced from the pain.
"Like how you're an abysmal failure at being a superhero." He told her.
Annie punched him in the stomach, causing him to let her go.
"You're wrong!" She told him.
"Oh please, stop embarrassing yourself. Who told you otherwise? Captain America? He says that to all the little girls." The Goblin told her.
Annie charged and punched the Green Goblin, who dodged them all.
"Let's look at the facts. You're not a hero. You're nothing more than a corporate mascot. A pop star. An actress. A pretender. A little girl playing make-believe, well, Gobby's here to give you the painful dose of reality that you need." The Green Goblin told her. "Let's start at the beginning. You failed to bring any meaningful changes to Vought. When Homelander had his little meltdown, he at least managed to mold the company in a couple of weeks." He told her, before uppercutting her jaw.
Annie was sent flying and crashed into one of the RVs. She could taste blood in her mouth and spat it out.
"Then, you tried to get your ex-flame involved in your friends' little game against Homelander." The Green Goblin told her before kneeing her in the face. "How did that end up going for him? Oh, yes, that's right. Your co-leader ripped him apart like an animal."
"How… How…" Annie was about to ask when the Goblin grabbed her by the throat and hoisted her off her feet.
"Insider knowledge. If it helps, there is no video footage, but I snagged an audio recording. I'll happily share it with you when I get the chance. Besides, we have eyes and ears just about everywhere." He simply told her as he started to squeeze.
"Now, let's get back to the present. Your world is falling apart like cheap toilet paper. Your boy toy is now slowly into a monster thanks to his own hubris. Did you know symbiotes eat brains? Because guess what they do. But hey, at least you kept your morals. In the end, that's all that matters, right?" The Green Goblin told her.
"That's… That's not…" Annie tried to defend herself, only for the Goblin to kick her in the face. Her nose was now broken and Annie felt two of her teeth were now gone.
"Oh, hush now." Green Goblin told her.
Only for the Goblin to get hit over the back of the head with a tree branch by Kimiko. He dropped Starlight and turned to face the ex-supe, smiling at her.
"Ow." The Green Goblin mocked her before kicking Kimiko away. The impact broke her ribs.
The Goblin soon saw Frenchie, who was attempting to save Annie. He grabbed Frenchie by the head and started to squeeze his head.
"I suppose there's nothing wrong with a little equal-opportunity torture every now and then. Wouldn't you agree?" The Green Goblin joked.
Frenchie screamed in agony as the Goblin's clamp slowly tightened around his skull. Frenchie tried to free his head, fruitlessly pounding on the cackling Goblin. Blood started to pour out from Frenchies' orifices slowly. All the while, Annie and Kimiko watched helplessly.
"Stop!" Starlight pleaded, but they fell upon deaf ears.
He was only saved when a voice spoke to Osborn's com.
"Enough, Osborn." Doctor Doom told him, his voice full of disdain and annoyance.
The Goblin's smile disappeared. For a moment, he looked almost scared. Until his face soured into a frown. Although annoyed, the Green Goblin dropped Frenchie and hoisted Starlight over his shoulder. He pulled out a device from his belt and activated a portal. He hopped onto his glider, holding Annie as they entered the portal.
All the while, the events were recorded by Firecracker, a delighted smile on her face.
Payback Mansion, Earth 7622
Now separated from the Runaways, Ryan ran into a freshly shaven Captain America still drying his face with a towel.
"Can I help you, son?" Steve asked.
"Captain, I'm sort of new to this." Ryan told him.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.
"I'm not from your Earth; I'm from here. I've never had much experience fighting." Ryan told him.
"Go on." Steve told him.
"I don't have much experience using my powers or controlling them. The only person who taught me was my dad, Homelander." Ryan told him.
Steve was surprised to hear about this.
"You're his son." Steve told him.
"Yes, I am." Ryan reluctantly admitted. "You've met him."
"Yes, I have. I've met people far worse than him in the past, trust me. Red Skull is far worse than Homelander ever could be." Steve told him.
Ryan was surprised to hear Steve's remark.
"So you know he's bad. Like really bad." Ryan told him.
"I do. All of us did, Ryan." Steve told him.
"You know my name?" Ryan asked.
"Before the incursion began, we were given a dossier about him from a similar world." Steve told him.
"That's kind of confusing…" Ryan said.
Steve let out a chuckle.
"I remember feeling the same way when I first learned about the multiverse. From my experience, You get used to it." Captain America told him.
"I'll try to keep that in mind." Ryan told him. "You fought in World War II, right?"
"I did." Steve humbly told him.
"So you fought the Nazis?" Ryan asked.
"I have. In fact, Red Skull is one of the last members of Hitler's inner circle." Steve told him.
Ryan didn't seem that surprised by this.
"My dad dated a Nazi: Stormfront. She attacked my Mom and I… I killed her… Not Stormfront… I killed my mom." Ryan told him, tears nearly coming from his eyes.
Steve's expression softened.
"I'm sorry to hear about that, Ryan. No one should have to go through with that, but it's not your fault." Steve told him.
"I know, but Butcher… He blamed me…" Ryan told him.
Steve's expression hardened.
"I wasn't there when that happened, but what's done is done. But ask yourself this, would your Mom want you to hate yourself for the rest of your life?" Cap asked.
Ryan pondered his words.
"No… I don't think she would." Ryan admitted.
"I understand if you don't want to fight." Steve told him.
Ryan reflected on his words.
"Your friend mentioned calling Aunt Grace. I want to talk to her." Ryan told him.
New York, Earth 7622
Nick Fury arrives at Vought Tower, where Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Black Bolt, the Invisible Woman, and She-Hulk are waiting. Outside the city was in chaos as HYDRA had started to lay siege on the city.
"So let me get this straight? On top of everything else, HYDRA is now here." Iron Man asked Fury.
"Yes." Fury bluntly told him.
Tony let out a sigh.
"It's tied to Vought. It has to be." Reed stated.
"You are the smartest man alive, Reed. My agents got back to me, Vought stole the remains of Stormfront." Fury told them.
"Why the hell did Vought even keep her remains and not incinerate them?" Sue asked, sounding angered.
"Likely because she retains the original version of Compound V in her blood." Black Panther stated.
"That theory would align with my research on Compound V." Reed told him.
"You'll have to explain that to me." Fury told him.
"Yes, well, I found out that Compound V degrades with each generation. There are more adverse side effects such as illnesses." Reed stated. "Even Homelander has his own flaw: he ages. Unlike Soldier Boy and Stormfront who looked the same for years.." Reed said, pulling up pictures of Homelander from his public debut at age 18 to his current age of 41. Fury took note of this.
"Red Skull probably wants to make a better formula for his troops." Fury stated.
"That remains only one possibility. He might have other ideas." Black Panther stated.
"So I'm going to assume Xavier is busy elsewhere." Fury told them.
"Yes, he's with his patient." Sue remarked rolling her eyes.
Nick took note of her behavior.
"You don't think he'll be able to turn that piece of shit, don't you?" Fury asked her.
"This is hardly the time and place to…" Strange was about to say until Sue cut him off.
"Yes, I don't think Charles will ever fully make him a decent human being. I know what he's done, and I saw the blackmail video of him. Even if by some miracle he did, I'll still always think about the people, especially the children he left to die on that flight." Sue told him.
"I believe that while Charles's goal is understandable, it's fundamentally flawed. We can't expect Charles to do away with decades worth of psychological neurosis. Implanting false memories might make him worse if he were to snap out of his condition. However, we were running out of time, so we went with a quick way to pacify him." Reed added.
"Can't say I blame you. You could have gone to me and just replaced him with an LMD." Fury told him.
"Look, people, can we all please focus on the issue at hand." Tony said.
"You want my advice, Stark? Just extend the fucking olive branch because you know he'll want to help out considering who we're dealing with now." Fury told them.
Tony looked to the others who all seemed to agree with Nick, and let out a sigh.
"Alright, I'll go and find Steve." Tony stated.
"I should mention that a good portion of Steve's team left to help out in our world. Alicia told us that Ben returned to the Baxter Building." Reed brought up.
"Ororo mentioned seeing Wolverine back at the mansion. She mentioned that Colossus and Nightcrawler were helping out Clint and Kate with a flood in Brazil." Black Panther stated.
"Rhodey told me that Sam's back as well." Tony added.
"Peter, Matt, Danny, and Luke are back home too. Saw a news report of Spider-Man saving a burning building, Daredevil stopping looters, and Jessica told me Luke came back with Iron Fist." She Hulk added.
"There is another party at work too." Doctor Strange brought it up.
"You're talking about Frank Castle's group. I'm sorry, but why should we bring them in?" Tony asked.
"Because we're low on options, and word is they're already fighting HYDRA." Strange brought up.
"Frank Castle idolizes Steve, like most veterans do. I'm not worried about him. It's his new buddies I'm worried about." Fury brought up.
"William Butcher is presently under the service of Zarathos who is keeping him on a very tight leash." Strange brought up.
"Hugh Campbell has a symbiote." Reed mentioned.
"My drone suit managed to separate him from it before Butcher came back and trashed it." Tony stated.
"Soldier Boy won't be to hard to contain. We have the means to counteract his nuclear blasts. Even Sister Sage shouldn't be too much of a hassle if they want to challenge us." Black Panther said.
X-Mansion,
Wolverine sat in Cyclops' office, lying back against the chair he was currently sitting on. He could smell Cyclops was on his way with Emma and Storm in tow. Sure enough, the door opened.
"You've got a hell of a nerve to return now, Wolverine." Cyclops told him.
"Figured you'd know that by now, boss." Wolverine sarcastically told him.
There was a tense silence between the two.
"Pitor and Colossus are on their way. Figured I'd just get this shit over with." Wolverine told them.
"Xavier wasn't happy to know about you, Piotr, and Kurt going AWOL." Scott told him.
"He should have known those two would go off to help Cap. Besides, good news is that Chuck's found himself a new project." Logan told him.
Storm stepped in.
"Enough! I have had enough of this pointless infighting." Storm spoke up.
"Yes because the last thing we need is another Scott-Logan pissing match." Emma told him.
Logan growled at her comment.
"This isn't over." Cyclops sternly told him.
"Agreed." Wolverine said.
"How confident are all of you in Chuck?" Logan asked.
"What do you mean?" Storm asked.
"You know exactly who I'm talking about, Ororo." Wolverine brought it up.
"You doubt Charles will be able to rehabilitate him?" Storm asked.
"Yep." Logan bluntly told her. "We all know what he's done, no amount of brainwashing will give that asshole a conscience. I read Reed's dossier about him. We all know what he's done. I wasn't a saint in the past, but I was never as bad as he was." He added.
"I take it that getting the chance to cut and/or stab him was the only incentive you needed?" Emma asked.
"Not the only reason." Wolverine angrily told her.
"T'Challa has doubts about what Xavier is doing." Storm admitted.
"What about you?" Wolverine asked.
Storm was silent, but Logan took it as an admission.
"Scott?" Storm asked.
"I'm doubtful to." Cyclops told them.
"So I heard you bagged the marauders." Wolverine told him.
"Yes we did, but there's something off about Sinister." Cyclops admitted.
"What do you mean?" Wolverine asked.
"He went down too easily. Here's one thing you should know, Sabretooth's the only one who managed to evade capture." Cyclops told him.
That detail got Wolverine's attention.
"I blasted him away when rescuing Marie. Yet despite his healing factor, he didn't try to join the others and Sinister." Cyclops brought up.
"Creed holds a grudge. It's not like him to let that go." Wolverine told him.
"Unless someone with enough power told him. Sinister's lab was on the east side of the island. The Marauders joined from the west." Cyclops brought up.
"You think the one you and the others caught was a clone?" Emma asked.
"I managed to get some blood from Sinister. I'm having Hank look into it, but I think my hunch is correct." Cyclops told the present X-Men.
New York, Earth 7622
Butcher carried a TV as he returned to his apartment, where the rest of the Payback expected him. Soldier Boy was the first to put his eyes on him and get up to approach Butcher.
"As said and done." Butcher said. "Mindstorm's out."
"Where did you leave the body?"
"An ashtray. That was all left of him, one little bitch slap on his face and good and ol' Mindstorm was reduced to dust." Butcher dropped Dan's driver's license and passport on the counter, both of them scorched. "Fucking diabolical. Now, we have a job to do."
Butcher plugged the TV and changed the channels to a press conference, Homelander continued to support the Earth-wide migration.
Georgia, Earth 7622
Kimiko and Frenchie painfully hobbled on their way back to the car. Frenchie managed to make it to the driver's seat. Kimiko non-verbally offered to drive, but Frenchie refused.
"Non, I'm fine. We need to tell the others about Annie!" Frenchie mentioned.
Kimiko could only painfully nod when she noticed a prominent figure beside the driver's seat. He yanked out the car door, to Frenchie's horror. Sabretooth grabbed Frenchie by the throat and got out of the car.
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait about that, pal." Sabretooth told him.
Kimiko's door was gone, and Mister Sinister stepped out of the shadows. With a hand gesture, Kimiko found herself pulled over to him. Sinister's satisfied grin turned to a dissatisfied frown as he noticed her injuries.
"She's lost her powers." Sinister brought up.
"Figures, so what now? Want me to waste both of them?" Sabretooth asked, his tone laced with excitement as his sharp, filthy claws neared Frenchie's face. "Please say yes."
"No. I believe their current condition is perfect for my experiment." Sinister told him.