Exiles : Worlds on Fire (Prologue)

Summary : The decay in the Multiverse is progressing. New team of Exiles is formed. After the last issue of Exiles.

Disclaimer : I don't own anything except my OC's, everything else is owned by either Marvel, or other companies.

Prologue

Nico Minoru opened her eyes. The sun was too bright, and she covered her face with a hand, giving herself time to adjust to the sun.

"Where...?" she groaned, not addressing anyone in particular.

The unfamiliar voice answered "I don't know".

Young sorceress forced herself to sit up, using Staff of One as a cane.

She was in the middle of a desert.

It felt like a bad dream. Nico Minoru had no idea how she ended up in the desert of all place and where did her teammates go.

  "And, what is much more important," she thought, "who are these people?"

  Bald man with strange eyes, long arms, and skin too pale to be normal, he vaguely resembled the mutants from District X. Feminine figure in a crimson suit of armor. Big hulking man, wearing a sort of digger's helmet on his head, and a pointy-eared alien with artificial left eye.

  All four of them seemed to be as clueless as Nico.

* * *

 The mutant was the first who stopped looking around and stated, "Desert is not real".

Nico Minoru asked him impatiently, "You can see through illusions? Because I've already tried revealing spell, and nothing had changed!"

"You said "nothing"? Nice word to describe it!" it was the woman in a crimson suit of armor. Nico recognized Russian accent. "That's what my sensors are picking. Nothing. No radiowaves, no spikes of energy, only minor disturbances, possibly from our little group". The visor of her helmet opened, revealing oval face framed by short blonde locks. The woman was attractive, but piercing blue eyes sent around a warning, as if the battle suit she wore wasn't enough."We are in the middle of nothing, chyort poberi!*"

The mutant said, "I can't see through illusions. No, I just don't feel my body adapting to the heat," he explained, "That's how my powers work. I can adapt to everything".

  "Guys? Are you all as lost as I am?"

  Everybody turned their heads to have a good look at the newcomer.

  "Spider-Man?" Red and blue costume with black web design on it was almost as Nico remembered, but mask only partially covered the face, leaving the nose and mouth open.

  He burst in laughter, "Spider-who? No, I'm Captain Spider. You know, the one who put Chameleon behind bars. And what kind of name is Spider-Man anyway? I thought Terrible Tinkerer sounds bad, but this..."

  Captain Spider's rambling were interrupted by a loud cough.       

  Old white-haired man in business suit, with a thin moustache and a short pointed beard, was floating above them.

He said solemnly "Greetings, Exiles. Miss Belova was absolutely right - this desert is in the middle of Nowhere. I'm called The Timebroker, I took the liberty of gathering you together. Your lives, everything you know about the world is going to change completely. The earlier you will understand it, the better for all of you".

  "YOU kidnapped us? You've got a lot of explaining to do, old creep!" Captain Spider jumped at the old man, but passed through him and fell on his face.

  Nico snorted loudly, "Now I see, you are not Spider-Man! He wasn't that dumb!"

  "Hey!.."

  Timebroker continued as if nothing had happened, "I forgot to mention that I am not here. All you see is a psychic construct, with only purpose to deliver a message". Old man sighed. "There is something all of you have in common. You are dead".

* * *

 "I don't feel like dead," muttered Captain Spider. "I can't be dead... right?"

"Mr. Thompson, what's the last thing you remember?"

Nico gasped, images of Frightful Four filled her mind.

"Ah, finally I see an understanding in your eyes! You were always smart, Miss Mnoru, did you know that Patriot considered you as his potential replacement?"

"No, no, it must be some kind of nightmare..." It looked like Captain Spider had a heavy case of denial.

  "I'm afraid, it wasn't a nightmare. Let me refresh your memories," Timebroker started descending. In a moment his feet touched the ground, their surroundings transformed into a large room with a giant TV screen on the wall.

"Let's see," Timebroker pushed a button on the remote control. "Eugene "Flash" Thompson, Captain Spider. Fell to his death while fighting Vulture".

Vulture's wings carried him above New-York's streets. And Captain Spider, who wasn't planning to let the villain escape, became an unwilling passenger of Vulture Express.

Never before Captain Spider was upset because of   inability to fly. Jumping and wall-crawling was more than enough for him.   But to face a winged criminal in his own domain wasn't exactly an encouraging experience.

"You were indeed a fool, Captain! Getting involved in something out of your league!"

Vulture punched him. Captain Spider caught the punch. Now all he needed is a good left hook straight in old creep's face. And then they could have a nice talk about that kick in the neck!

Adrian Toomes was old, but he wasn't senile. He felt the grip on his left arm grew stronger, and saw clenching fist. There was no need for rocket scientist, or, in his case, an electronics engineer, to predict opponent's next move.

Using priceless bird statue as a weapon, Vulture hit Captain Spider as hard as he could.   Flash, not anticipating that, released Vulture. And Toomes kicked him, to make sure that wall-crawler can't reach to him again.

"So long, my dear Captain! Hopefully, your death will be an example to others of your ilk!"

Half-unconscious, Flash was falling down, and not even his spider-strength could save him from the force of impact.

His last thought was "Why couldn't it be radioactive hornet?"

"Son of the..."

Old man said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Language, Mr. Thompson. There are women here, if you hadn't noticed".

Crimson Dynamo shrugged, "I've heard worse".

"Who's next? It's Armando Munoz, better known as Darwin. Cornered and executed by X-Force," Timebroker pushed a button and a new image appeared.

Darwin was struggling with the chains. He'd be free in a minute, if only he still had powers.

If   only he had powers. But Rogue already took care of it. And Polaris chained him to the wall. Why? They were planning a slow and painful death? Hoped to drag the names and addresses of his accomplices out of him? Darwin wasn't sure.

He had to admit, X-Force caught him with pants down. Their methods were too similar to his own. And, unlike them, Darwin had nobody to watch his back. Armando was always a loner, and only trusted five people in his life. His teammates died on Krakoa, Moira was killed by Sabretooth, and Professor betrayed him the worst way possible.

He tensed when he had heard Rogue's voice. "He's all yours, sugah".

Darwin's eyes opened wide in surprise when a tall man stepped out of the darkness. Scott Summers, overgrown boyscout, was the last person he expected to deny Xavier's teachings and join X-Force.

"Last time you fooled X-Force by feigning you death. Impressive performance, I give you that. You even fooled Wolverine," Logan, half-seen behind Cyclops' back, growled. "I'm not taking chances with you again, murderer".

Scott Summers slowly removed the visor, then opened his eyes.

The screen darkened. Darwin was breathing heavily. He forced himself to calm down, changing the adrenaline level in his blood. Let Timebroker enjoy his little game, but Darwin wasn't going to play.

"Yelena Dmitrievna Belova, Crimson Dynamo XIX. Killed in Kosovo, protecting civilians from Sentinel Bombers".

Yelena Belova was in Hell.

Is there some Special Hell for naive young women who believe that they know everything about the War?

She destroyed about two wings of Sentinel Bombers. They just kept coming.

No matter how much Yelena wanted to punch these things, she couldn't - they were rigged to explode. Crimson Dynamo had to use all her tricks - flamethrower, miniguns, even hand blasters. They kept coming.

No way she was going to allow Sentinels to bomb Belgrad.   Especially after so-called "mistake" that claimed the lives of fifty innocent Serbs.

They kept coming. Crimson Dynamo fired the last missiles, destroying them one by one.

  "CRIMSON DYNAMO. SURRENDER. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST".

  War Machine!

  She hoped to meet him someday, and make him pay for her husband's death... but not today! Not like that! Not when she was out of missiles, and spent three quarters of suit's power!

  Is that what her granddad felt, when his old I-16 met with Luftwaffe fighter Ace in the skies over Yaroslavl? Dmitry Belov had a hundred to one chance to win, but he didn't turn back. Neither could she.

Crimson Dynamo flew as fast as she could, gathering rest of the energy to power EMP generator.

Yelena had only one shot. And prayed that it's enough.  

Yelena's eyes turned into blue ice. She bit her lip and said nothing.

"Rockman, you were.killed in a final battle of Superhuman Civil War".

 In Berlin, on April 25, Dynamic Man joked, "You can't throw a rock without hitting somebody in mask and tights".   Today, on Times Square, Rockman was reliving this moment.

Too many unfamiliar faces. Always the risk of hitting an ally, not the enemy. So he tried to keep close to Cap, but was distracted by Wonder Man. Who wasn't looking so pretty after Rockman finished with him.

The leader of Abyssia felt happy when he saw Namor, leading an army of Atlanteans. "Just like the good old times," he thought, "Captain America and The Sub-Mariner, together against the tyranny".

His hopes to talk to Prince of Atlantis after the battle were rudely interrupted, when Rockman was attacked by the flying man in black suit. Rockman suddenly remembered when he saw this one. In the headquarters of Avengers Resistance. He changed sides after Black Goliath was killed. What a coward!

Rockman grabbed Nighthawk in mid-air and threw him at the group of strange-looking people. He didn't know their names, but they attacked Spider-Man. Six against the one. Rockman decided that it's time to even the odds.

"Nice job, Rocky!" Spider-Man saluted him, then took off, using one of his webs. Rockman was already looking around to see where he is needed. Battle wasn't over, so it doesn't matter how exhausted he was.

  That's when he saw Iron Man, lying on the ground. Who dropped the flying man from the skies? Who cracked open his helmet and damaged the armor? Namor? Hercules? It wasn't important now. Rockman saw that Anthony Stark wasn't unconscious anymore, and he raised an arm to shoot Captain America in the back. And Cap was too busy exchanging blows with Taskmaster and Lady Deathstrike to notice.

  Rockman was known as the strongest man in Abyssia, but until this moment he had no idea that he can run so fast.

  Leg in heavy combat boot stepped on Iron Man's arm mercilessly, crushing metal, flesh and bones. Stark cried as a wounded beast. Rockman raised his large fist to finish off the warmonger, when a powerful blast of lightning   smacked him off his feet.  

Feeling the taste of blood in his mouth, half-blind Rockman tried to stand up when Thor's clone delivered the second blow.

The image faded. Rockman looked straight into Timebroker's eyes and asked "But... we won?"

  Old man nodded.

  "That's all that matters".

  Old man smiled in agreement.  
  "Miss Nico Minory, Sister Grimm. Killed in battle with Frightful Four".

It was an ordinary patrol. Surround the warehouse, wrap up some punks, or a D-rated villain, who can't think of better place to hide. Nothing major - half of Young Avengers are on wild goose chase for A.I.M base. But Murphy's Law was ruthless, so Nico Minoru, Kate Bishop and two newest members of a team - Ricochet and Talon - had to deal with Frighful Four without any backup.

"YOUNG AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

Nico raised a force field against Wizard's electrical blasts. Kate was playing "shoot, duck and run" with Dragon Man. Enraged monster was spitting fire at her, but Hawkeye moved too fast for him.   

Ricochet was bouncing around, avoiding Trapster's attacks with natural grace. He looked amazing, like he was born in the suit. It was hard to believe that Johnny tried to abandon the heroics and live as an ordinary man. Young Avengers saved him from meaningless existence, and obtained new teammate in the process.

Talon jumped on Dragon Man's back,   plunging her metal claws into monster's hide. Dragon Man roared, more from anger than pain, and tried to reach to her, but Laura Kinney already jumped off him.

Nico yelled, "Hawkeye! Distract Godzilla!"

  "Got it!"

  Monster opened mouth to fry Laura. Kate shot explosive arrow. Dragon Man was forced to swallow it, literally.

  Ricochet used all his throwing disks to destroy Trapster's glue cannons. If it comes to blows between them, Nico was sure that Johnny wins. But the likes of Trapster knew nothing about fair play, and the sorceress was worried.

Talon made another attempt to attack Dragon Man, but was caught by Klaw's powerful sound blast. Enhanced senses made the mutant girl extremely vulnerable to sonic attacks. She collapsed.

  Klaw smirked, "What, little Talon isn't sharp enough?"

  Wizard yelled at him, "Klaw, you idiot! You hit Dragon Man too!"

  Not breaking concentration on the force field, Nico glanced at Dragon Man, and saw the creature wriggling on the floor. It seemed Dragon Man shared some vulnerabilities with Talon, and she knew it. And deliberately put herself in harm's way, to get rid of the strongest enemy.

  Laura Kinney wasn't a talker. She did not know how to relax and have some fun. She was a loner and a wildcard with dark past. But she always had something   up her sleeve to surprise both enemies and teammates.

  Now it was Nico's big chance - to show Mr. Wizard some real magic! She pointed Staff of One at him.

"Gravity Net!"

Wizard tried to make anti-gravity disks work again, when his head met with support column.

Laura was still out cold, so was Dragon Man. Kate snapped cuffs on Trapster's wrists. Young Avengers saved the day. But Nico couldn't shake the feeling that they missed something.

"Where's Klaw?"

Then Nico felt a searing pain in her back. All she heard before everything went black was a mocking whisper, "Behind you, stupid child".

Yelena placed her hand on Nico's shoulder. Her blue eyes warmed a bit, and the smile was natural. Nico was grateful for the gesture, though she wasn't planning to tell about it. Young witch was too proud to admit her weakness.

"And finally, the last but not least - Raza Longknife. Died fighting Super-Skrulls during their raid on S.W.O.R.D. orbital base".

They danced around each other, then Skrull jumped into the air, extending bone claws. Raza avoided his first strike, then counterattacked with a dagger. Skrull escaped his attack too.

Raza brought his sword down towards Skrull's head. Green-skinned warrior blocked his strike with the claws, then slashed upwards, tearing Raza's shirt, drawing blood.   Starjammer   answered   by leaving a deep wound on Skrull's left arm. Using a moment of distraction, Raza stabbed his opponent through the chest. Then he beheaded Skrull to make sure he stays dead.

The sword's blade was stained in green blood,   but Raza did not bother to clean it. No time for it, it's the middle of a battle, and he had to find Abigail Brand.

He found green-haired woman in the conference hall. Abigail Brand was unconscious, and Henry McCoy kneeled to tend to her wounds. He sent wary glance towards Raza. Former Starjammer disliked Beast with a passion, and furry mutant felt it.

"Skrulls?"

  "Dead. All of them. But it was just the first wave".

  Beast muttered something about "stars and garters".

  "Ye must evacuate right now, lad. Ye remember where the shuttles are?"

"What about you?"

  "I'll hold them off".

  For the first time in their lives two men – warrior and the scientist - understood each other completely.

  Raza Longknife didn't say "good bye". Just "take care of her".

  Sword in right hand, left hand transformed into the knife, former Starjammer stood in the corridor, waiting for Super-Skrulls to come.

Timebroker kept silence for a minute or two, allowing the audience to process the information. "NOW you believe me?"

The former Starjammer replied "Aye". Darwin just nodded - he didn't trust his voice yet.

"Yes," Nico answered in her hushed voice. "Does it mean you resurrected us?"

Crimson Dynamo tried to joke, "Don't know about resurrection, but my armor is fully repaired and recharged, and I like it".

Timebroker smiled, "Don't thank me yet, Miss Belova, you'll need it," he turned to Nico. "Don't be afraid, Miss Minoru, you weren't resurrected, you have been unhinged in time. Simply speaking, you are not in your universe anymore. You've been transported to this place a millisecond before your death".

  Darwin asked, "So, what's the catch?"

  Timebroker smiled again, "I'm afraid I'm not following you, young man".

  "I'm not in the mood for games. There's always a catch. Powerful being saves your life, asking nothing in return? Na-ah".

"You are right, but let's not forget - in your worlds you are dead".

  Yelena narrowed her eyes, "And you are not planning to change it. There's no way back for us. I am right? That's why you called us Exiles?"

  "There's too much at stake, Miss Belova," Timebroker turned the TV on again, They saw an   image of a bunch of Earth in spiral formation, "That's Multiverse. Some of these Earth are like your homeworlds, the others are quite different. Earths conquered by aliens, inhabited by dinosaurs or sentient apes, post-apocalyptic worlds. And the Multiverse is unstable".

  Captain Spider parroted, "Unstable?"

  "On some Earths things no not proceed the way they are supposed to be in that particular universe. The world becomes unstable and - BOOM! One way or another, the universe ceases to exist.   Instability will spread until the whole Multiverse will collapse. Domino effect".

  Nico said, "Let's suppose you are right. Why tell us? "Repairing Universes" wasn't in my spell book. I doubt even Sentry or Thor can handle this".

  "Now that's when you are wrong, young lady. This is a job for Exiles. You team is going to deliver proverbial lost nails, and thus to sent realities on right track".

The golden bracelet with large red stone appeared on Darwin's right hand.

  "This bracelet is called Tallus. It will be your guide - instructing you on what is needed to repair the cracks, to realign the dominoes. Once your tasks are complete, you can move on to your next reality and next mission..."

  "NO!"

  It was Rockman, who barely said three words before. Everybody was shocked by his outburst.

  "I can't do this. I must get back to Abyssia. I haven't seen my people for sixty years. I don't know what happened with them in my absence. What about my queen and my little princess? I must see them!"

  "I'm afraid, Mr. Rockman, I can't help you".

  Timebroker snapped his fingers and Exiles vanished.

* * *

"And this was the best Palace's computer could pick?"

"What's bothering you, kid?"

"This new team. Couldn't we handle the threat by ourselves?"

"We can't be everywhere, Clarice. I thought you already learned this".

"I know, but look what we've got this time. I have nothing to say against Longknife or Crimson Dynamo, but what about the others? Superpowered jock, inexperienced sorceress with anger management issues and the mutant who nearly destroyed X-Men?"

  "You worry too much. Comparing to freaks and madmen I had to run with before, new team is an example of good recruitment".

  "Speaking of madmen, what about Rockman? We can't even tell him the truth".

  "The truth can destroy him".

"Not my point. Mulitverse is a big place. What if Rockman stumbles upon somebody who tells him?"

  "We'll deal with it when it happens, Clarice. Now I have to leave - Miguel found an interesting piece of alien weaponry, and asked me to test it".

  "One more question. Why Darwin?"

  "He showed incredible devotion to his deceased team. He'd burn the Earth just to give them proper funeral pyre. If he'd be half as devoted to Exiles, it means I've made a right choice".

 (To be continued...)

  Russian translations:

 *"chort poberi" - Damn it!
 
  CHAPTER 1