The Renegades were near death. Cable had lost another appendage, his left leg this time. He groaned in pain as his sister, Dayspring, inched closer and closer to him whispering to him hold on, it would be okay, they could make him a stronger leg out of adamantium as soon as Lila got here.

But Lila - Blitz - wasn't coming. She had been butchered along with Reignfire. That's the one that really stung Dayspring - as in Rachel Dayspring Summers. Roberto. She felt the link die. He was in so much pain. She could almost feel the razor sharp blades Pretty Boy fired from his new toy into Roberto's body. His last thoughts were of pain and then Rachel. She missed him intensely at this moment, especially since anyone else that had any hopes of comforting her was either unconcious or unseen or just useless right now. Nathan was still whimpering and her father and Alison were lying across the field unconcious - or so she hoped.

That's when she heard it.

The Texas desert lit up like the Fourth of July and then they were there. But first, they delivered the dead bodies of Lila Cheney and Roberto DaCosta to their teammates. Rachel ached to run towards the bodies but with her newly broken back she wasn't getting anywhere fast.

"Well, well, well. Whaddya know. Lookie here Whiteout."

Skids. She remembered Skids from her training days with the X-Terminators. The team the girl once known as Sally Blevins destroyed with a single ray of energy fired into her boyfriend Rusty's body. The entire team died during that "training" session, save Skids herself, Rachel and Vertigo. Skids and Vertigo went on to the Marauders. Rachel went back home to her father and stepmother. Where were they when she needed them the most?

"Leave the poor doll, Sally. Let her rot here next to her brother's dead body." Scrambler. Oh God...no...if he gets ahold of Nate in his condition...he'll fry him from the inside out!

Which is exactly what the sadistic mutant called Scrambler did. Another mindlink lost. Nathan didn't know what hit him. Thank God for that.

She wasn't alone though. Not yet. She just hoped she had enough energy to contact her father and stepmother before the other Marauders got to her. The only ones present at the moment were Skids, Scrambler, Whiteout and Vertigo. They weren't the most trained group of kids but they were dangerous. Rachel figured she could handle them with a single mindwipe if she needed to. And if Sinister hadn't guarded them against it.

But with only these four here, that meant the most dangerous Marauders - Pretty Boy, Skullbuster and Roughouse - were tracking down Cyclops and Dazzler.

And then, those links too were gone. They screamed in pain. Skullbuster and Roughouse had snapped their necks and spines and then Pretty Boy loaded them with bullet holes.

A single tear was allowed to stream down her face when Rachel Dayspring Summers felt Skids energy hit her full force. The psychic scream she sent out would reach every telepath on this planet an would reach as far as the outskirts of this solar system. Skids knew this. That's why she did it.

"Oops...did I do that?" A sly grin crossed her face as she and her fellow Marauders loaded back on to the stolen Blackbird and flew into the distance.

At first it had just creeped up on her. She could hear some minor psychic whimperings but those whimperings suddenly became a powerful telepathic scream. Jean Grey collapsed in the middle of her training session. She could hear the Professor's screams in her mind as well as those of Psylocke and Jubilee, whose abilities were latent but would be no longer after this experience.

But Jean Grey suffered in more ways than one. The tears were hot and ferocious when they came.

Her son, daughter and the man she had loved her entire life, even though they had long been divorced, were dead.

The repercussions of Rachel Dayspring Summers dying scream reached the ship hovering right outside Earth's orbit where the Cosmic Protectors had been stationed for over a year now. Pamela and Heather Douglas fell unconcious while Epoch and Eon went comatose.

No one knew what to do and the four of them were out of commission for three days.

In Antarctica, the youngest child of Luna Maximoff and Genis-Vell began screaming in the middle of the night. When Luna had finally made it to the child's room, she found her unconcious and surrounded by a bright red aura which encased her small form until morning.

And throughout the System, every single psychic or telepath and even telekinetics knew what had happened.

This was the first step in many journies.

It was the last step in the journey of Rachel Dayspring Summers.

Salome sucked on her pinky finger as she daydreamed and listened to her wings gliding back and forth, creating a fine breeze. She had been watching Clea's decapitated head swinging back and forth before her. The Silver Bitch as she had come to be known. Well, to Salome at least.

Behind her Strange - Strange the being that is, not Doctor Strange - was torturing a teenage boy. She could feel the blood splashing onto the back of her neck. A refreshing feeling but work had to be done.

As she got up, she knocked Clea's swinging head off the string - one of her own intestines - and it rolled away with a few light sputs before hitting the wall. She had lost interest in the wench.

She strutted her way out of the main room and into the dark corridors which led to her luxurious, putrid bedroom. Three of her slaves followed closely behind, ensuring no attacks.

Of course, it wasn't like she couldn't handle any attack on her own. She was the most powerful being on earth.

She stopped and turned around to look at the developed young men who worshipped her. They didn't realize they were simply toys. "Stop right there, boys." She flashed a wicked yet alluring grin towards them. "You go no further than right here. Flank my door, make sure no one interrupts me. Even Strange. Understood?" The three men eagerly shook their heads and immediately took positions on both sides and in front of her door.

"Morons," she muttered under her breath, the door closing loudly behind her. She walked over to a mirror hanging on the furthest wall and looked at her flawless blue skin, her black lips and eyes, her long red fingernails and her black and gray, leathery wings. Her curly black hair which came as far as the small of her back was shiny and well-cared for. To be a woman in her position - that is, surrounded by so many sick sights and so much death - she was very...clean. She looked somewhat like an angel. A sick version of an angel, but an angel nonetheless. She noted that this appearance could come in handy someday and sat down at her beautifully mangled vanity and began stirring up a special concoction. A potion, if you will.

A potion that was going to change the world.

Peggy Carter broke into a sweat. She was running. She could hear John calling out to her. As she turned around, she saw him go limp as the final blow was delivered by...Steve?

"Steve? Steve...what's wrong with her?" Rachel Rogers looked at her old friend writhing on the couch. It was one in the morning and Rachel and Steve had just returned from a reception for the release of Steve's latest book, "Patriot."

"I don't know...shake her. I hate to wake her up but if the kids hear her wailing like this?" Steve asked as he glanced up the stairs to see if any of the kids bedroom lights had been flipped on. They hadn't.

"Okay...Peggy? Peggy, hon, wake up. It's RachOW!" Peggy sprung up from the couch and slapped Rachel so hard she drew blood. As quickly as she had come up, however, she had gone back down and was now breathing heavily as she began wiping sleep and sweat from her eyes.

"Jesus Christ, Peg! What the hell did you hit me for?" Rachel stood up and began feeling the gash in her cheek. She used her nails, she thought as she felt the large cut. That'll leave a scar...damnit.

"I...I'm sorry, Rach. I was having a nightmare. Oh God, I did that? I'm so sorry!" Peggy got up and headed towards Rachel to inspect the wound. Rachel briefly moved away before giving in to Peggy's nursing.

"I'ts okay, Peg. Just...watch who you're smacking next time, okay?" She chuckled and Steve followed suit and soon Peggy too was laughing. It was an uncomfortable moment, Steve knew. He could feel the tension suddenly fill the room. He thought it odd but when Rachel tapped his arm and drug him along with her and Peggy to the downstairs bathroom to tend to her facial wound, he let the thoughts slip away.

Surely she didn't remember anything about John. He hoped it wasn't time to deal with that event all over again. It had been hard enough the first time around. Peggy had taken it so hard - they all had. And then with Jonah blaming them all for his death...it wasn't a great time for any of them.

He just wanted it behind them all.

Avengers Mansion

The battle with the Duo was an embarassment to all of them. They had lost - miserably. The only way they had even survived was thanks to the Canadian mega-super-team, Gamma Flight.

In hopes of learning more about these "heroes" whom she knew so little about, Bethany Cabe - known to the public as Iron Maiden - had hacked into the government files on the team. The Avengers no longer had access to these files themselves thanks to the breach in security caused by Janet van Dyne's tampering. She had been expelled from the ranks of the Avengers and soon afterwards her marriage to Henry Pym failed. She was found dead a week after the divorce in her home in the Hamptons, a designer sheet wrapped around her neck on one end and hanging from the still spinning ceiling fan on the other. It was a sad time for every Avenger. A dead founder. But, anymore, the founders might as well have been dead anyway. In fact, two of them were: the Wasp and Iron Man. And Thor was exiled to Asgard, his daughter in his place as a member of the team. Bethany noted that all of the founders were represented in a modern form on the current team: Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, Thora, Iron Maiden and the Hulk. Funny how things work, she thought as she typed in the final password and the files on Gamma Flight came into view:

File Subject: Vindicator

Real Name: Heather Hudson

Known Family: Once married to fellow Gamma Flight member, James Hudson, also known as Guardian. Became official leader after his suicide.

"His suicide huh? Sounds familiar," Bethany mumbled to herself as she went on to the next file.

File Subject: Sasquatch

Real Name: Dr. Walter Langowski

Abilities: Able to change from simple human form to a behemoth of a being with a thought/trained athlete

Known Family: Once married to former teammate Lillian Crowley. They divorced when she left the team to be with her lover Madison Jeffries. Has one child, Sampson.

Sampson? I know that name! Sampson Langowski...he used to work for Tony as an intern at the Quebec branch of Stark-Fujikawa. Oh my God...I'll have to see if there's anything else on him later. Bethany couldn't believe her eyes. There were connections here...lots of connections.

File Subject: Windshear

Real Name: Rachel Carpenter

"Rachel Carpenter?! Holy shit...does Julia know about this?" she asked no one in particular seeing as how she was alone in the room. She quickly moved on to the next file on Marinna, whom she already knew about and directly after that file was Namor's, another file she knew too well. After that was a file about a young girl called Jolt who was apparently once a member of the Frightful Four. Guess Reed got pissed with her. Then came the files of three heroes she had never even heard of before: Gamma Knight, Maple Leaf and Majesty. She had heard of a Major Maple Leaf at some point in the past but she would get to that in a moment. She clicked on Gamma Knight's name and waited for the file to load. The next face she saw shocked her more than anything any of the other files had held.

The Gamma Flight member known as Gamma Knight was the Avengers own Dane Whitman - the former Black Knight.

"Victor Creed has escaped, Heather, don't you understand that?!" Rachel Carpenter slammed her fist down on the cold metal table. She could already feel the place where the bruise would appear. She didn't care. She had had enough of Heather's insolent behavior. This woman was supposed to be leading the premiere Canadian super-team and she was doing a bang-up job of it.

Heather simply sat there and let her stare bore into the young girl's own eyes. The other members of Gamma Flight present in the room - Puck, Maverick and Gamma Knight - just stood back and took the action in. They were hoping for a cat fight. They weren't about to get one.

Heather Hudson's response to her young teammate's sudden outburst was cool and collected and to the point. "I know Creed is gone and I know where he has gone. He's handling some unfinished business in Europe. I set him free at the request of an old friend of mine in New York. This is business, my dear. We are simply going to recapture Creed once his mission is complete. Understood?" Heather didn't wait for a response as she walked out of the meeting room. The four Gamma Flight members left in the room stood there, mouths agape at this piece of information.

Suddenly, Maverick broke the silence.

"What a bitch."

Bethany had called on the rest of the Avengers and now, they all stood there, staring at the glowing image on the computer screen. One of their own was a member of the most ruthless team of super-heroes in the world - Gamma Flight.

"Who'd've ever thought ol' Dane'd have the balls to defect?" Bruce Banner stood directly behind Bethany's seat, picking the roast beef from dinner out of his teeth with a toothpick. His cousin She-Hulk swiftly elbowed and him and whispered to him to stifle it.

Bethany had a reply for Banner anyway. "I wouldn't call it defecting necessarily, you overgrown piece of snot. Maybe he was just looking for a team that could nurture his abilities in a way more suitable to his own needs. I can see why, I mean, this team hasn't been the most stable of the spandex crowd." She knew Hank would get angry at this statement but she didn't care - it was true. The Avengers had gone downhill greatly in the past year. True, the team was the most stable it had been in years - this was the first time since before the War that they had been able to keep the same group together for more than six months. It hadn't been easy, especially with Bruce on the team, but they had managed and Bethany was proud of that, as they all were. But things were far from good.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Rita leaned over her and clicked on the next file. "Well, since we've established Dane is Gamma Knight and is with the Canadian government now, why don't we see who these other new characters are." On the screen, the image of a green-haired woman they all instantly recognized as the X-Man called Polaris filled the screen under the mantle of Maple Leaf.

Pietro shook his head as a sarcastic smile crossed his face. "Boy, things just keep gettin' better and better don't they?"

"This must be the cool new thing among American heroes - moving north." Jennifer shifted her weight to her left leg and crossed her arms. "I mean, Rachel, Dane, Subbie, Jolt, Lorna...anyone else? Who's this Majesty chick?"

Thora spoke up. "I know her. Crystal, I believe you do as well." Crsytal lifted her head up at this.

"I know her? But how...I've never even heard the name before." A look of innocent perplexion came upon her face.

"Trust me...you know her better than any of us. Look." She leaned forward and clicked on the next file.

The image came up slowly. First, just glimpses of red hair. Then, bright green eyes. Crystal recognized the face instantly.

"Medusa..."

Raven Darkholme had been drinking tea on one of the many balconies of her castle when she heard the footsteps sneak up behind her. She was calm. She had been expecting this visitor.

"You're getting sloppy in your old age Victor," she said as took another sip from the steaming cup.

"Yeah, well, maybe I wasn't trying to hide myself..." His voice drifted off. "For once anyways."

She felt his hand slide onto her shoulder. She was prepared for the impending sense of her very life being squeezed out of her lungs but quickly realized she should have known better.

"His grave is down there," she said quietly, setting her tea on the ledge of the balcony as she stood up to face him. "Shall we?" she asked and gestured towards the stairwell from which he had just come. She noticed he was dressed casually in a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans and hiking boots. Yes, you have indeed changed.

"Yeah...let's go."

Yes, she had been expecting Victor Creed. But she knew he wasn't here to harm her. Of course, she knew of Xavier's plot against her and she knew that he had hired Creed to off her. But he wouldn't. He couldn't. He wasn't even here for her, really.

He was here to visit his son's grave.

Salome massaged the blood into her dark blue skin. She noticed how it changed tones from dark blue to violet to almost pure crimson as she applied more and more of the thick plasma to her body.

These were the baths she loved. The smell of the fresh blood as it was loaded into the white porcelain tub which was stained a pinkish hue due to the many baths she had taken in it over the years.

But her joy was gone quickly when she heard the laugh of a familiar voice behind her. A voice she had never expected to her again after her last encounter with him. No, it wasn't Stephen Strange.

She stood up to face the small man who stood in her doorway. In his hand was a long, unsheathed and jagged sword. Salome's naked body glistened with the blood as she got out and wrapped herself in a red velvet cloak. "Wong," was all she said.

"Salome," he answered. They glared at one another intently. And then the energy swirled from her eyes and her fingertips as she watched his sword cut through the air.

It was time for the battle of their lives.