'Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.' - Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

"She's coming around, father," said a voice she recognised. Her eyes opened to reveal Brimstone Love, looking down at her.

"Ah," said the voice of the man who had shattered her illusions of ever having a normal life with the X-Men. "Good. I had hoped she'd be up sooner, but the scans of her show that there has been a lot of pressure on her recently. I wonder what? Perhaps you would elaborate, my child?"

Luna looked at Sinister with a mixture of horror and disgust.

"You're my father?" she said, her voice barely audible. After losing Tim, she thought she would lose it, but this threatened to break her. It almost had. No, she thought. I won't allow it. These two aren't worth it. "You're my father?" she said again, her voice showing her disgust.

"You're bravado impresses nobody," said Sinister, with a casual wave of his hand. "Not here at any rate."

"Care to back up your claims?" asked Luna.

"But of course," said Essex. "That's why I founded the Shaper's Guild. After nearly two centuries of life like this, I became bored. I now understand why Apocalypse had minions, to impress them and to show off his own superiority. However he wasn't that strong, as history has shown."

"Father," said Brimstone. He'd seen Essex reminisce about how he was the sole survivor from the Age of Heroes, and how he would drift in to talking about the so called 'good old days'.

Nathaniel Essex was still brilliant, but the lack of challenge had driven him to a form of madness.

"Yes," said Essex, turning his attention once more to Luna. "You wanted an explanation of your past? Of our past, should I say. Well let us begin...

"It was around the year 2002 when I first realised that the DNA of Scott Summers and Jean Grey had one problem with the potential that they had inherent in their genes. The problem was that their feeble bodies had become too frail to contain the energies. Nate Grey was the obvious example of that. Stryfe too. Cable was evidence that the powers could be contained. This of course was not what I had wanted. What's the point of having total power if you can be easily stopped? Or not growing beyond your third birthday because your powers were too great?

"I suspect that only Stryfe and Grey survived because they were artificially grown. I also believe that if Apocalypse hadn't infected Cable, he would have died not long after the final battle between X-Factor and Apocalypse on the moon. Though that was when X-Factor actually meant something. I coined that term you know, and to see the objects of my life using the name as they battled Apocalypse, well, you can't imagine my joy. Such a shame about Alex, though. He had such potential.

(X-Factor 68 - David.)

"Well, I decided that if I could find the right woman, then I could use my own DNA and hers to create a new mutant. One whose power could be contained within its body. I found her, and for the third time in my life I fell in love. Such a shame Logan gutted Genesis like that. My method of vivisection would have been so much slower and so much more painful.

(as revealed in the Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix Limited Series, X-Men '95 Annual, and the Mr Sinister Limited Series - David)

(back in the now-classic Wolverine #100 - David)

"She was a high profile woman, an Avenger I believe. Or former Avenger. Or something. Such a shame that she died during childbirth, begetting Adam, or has he calls himself these days, Brimstone."

"You called him Adam?" asked Luna, understanding why Brimstone had changed his name. "What kind of sick person are you?"

"I named him Adam after my first son," snapped Sinister, then he returned to normal. "However by 2002, Adam had begun to be used in the same term as William, Richard, and the like. It fuelled Brimstone to become the person he is today."

"Everything I am, I owe to my father," said Brimstone.

"Yes," said Sinister, though his eyes said 'such a shame' before he continued his story. "Well, imagine my surprise when I found that my DNA was more potent than I'd realised. After the alterations by the High Lord and the affects of the Legacy Virus, my DNA was more potent than the Summers line could ever have been. I watched my son, and realised that I needed a daughter to accompany him.

"So I began to search through the remaining mutants left alive who could produce such a specimen as I required. It was now circa 2016, after the so-called Sentinel Dawn. The X-Men had been more or less wiped out, but thanks to the efforts of the remaining members, the Sentinels had been defeated. Of course in this timeline it was without the help of Rachel Summers and Excalibur as that had been an alternate reality, another Earth. I believe it was known as Earth 2571, but I never really checked.

(as seen in the classic Excalibur #67 - David)

"There were a few of the X-Women left. Rogue. Emma Frost. Jubilation Lee. None of whom were worthy candidates for my seed. Then in 2050 I decided that the Great Purge had wiped out all of the suitable women for now. Mutants were a dying breed. I hadn't seen that coming. Evolution had never been stopped before.

"So I founded the Guild, to try and relieve the boredom of eternal life, checking in on my son every now and then, always thinking a sister would maybe correct the imbalances within him."

"Imbalances?" said Brimstone and Luna, the former with shock, the latter with mirth.

"Then in 2070 I met your mother," Sinister continued, unfazed by their reaction. "A member of the Guild she displayed a genetic structure that required attention. Evolution had charged back with a vengeance, and more and more mutants were being born, as well as those born of other problems. Degens and the like. To be honest, if I hadn't killed the so-called Black Beast myself, I'd have sworn it was his handiwork, however they were created by the Guild and your mother had a significant hand in it.

"She was something special. A mutant born of the coupling of a vampire and a mutant of some kind, which is what made their union possible. She was a feisty creature. I'd like to say I loved her, but I didn't. Intrigued was more of the desire I felt towards her. I knew she had the potential within her. My D.N.A. with hers would create a unique being. A simple push of the chromosomes would ensure the child was female.

"But something was not right. It took four attempts to get you, and let's face it, you are less than perfect. However your powers killed her during the birth, so I never could experiment further. I should have cloned her, but it seemed wrong. Plus my partners would have seen more of me than I'd have liked."

"You never had much luck with women, did you Essex?" said a voice.

"Dust!" called Luna as she saw him, dragging the three Norns by the hair. He was battered and bruised, but they looked much worse.

"So that's what you're calling yourself these days?" commented Sinister. "So I'm not alone after all."

"But you soon will be," said Brimstone. "I'll kill him for you, father."

"Be my guest," said Sinister and Dust dropped the Norns and prepared for battle...

"This is getting us nowhere," said Meanstreak, as he dodged a sweep from Wingspan, narrowly avoiding a optic blast from One-Eyed Jack. Krys was faring little better against Psycho-K, whose psionic abilities were proving a little bit more than Krys could stop, especially with her broken arm.

(it happened in the plane crash last issue - David)

They were dangerously close to being killed. They were working well enough as a team, but they were outnumbered quite severely and soon they'd make a mistake. It was only a matter of time.

"Any ideas?" asked Krys.

"Not a one," said Henri. He wasn't afraid of dying, but afraid of being resurrected by Garokk. He'd seen Ka-Zar and Shanna. Garokk didn't tolerate failure from his servants. Then an optic blast took the ground from under him, and he fell, his ankle twisting under his weight.

"Henri!" cried Krys, momentarily distracted, and Psycho-K had her. Wingspan swooped down for the kill with his razor sharp wings. Henri tried to stand, but there was nothing he could do until his hyper metabolism started to heal him.

Then a robot smashed in to Wingspan, sending him off course into Psycho-K. Krys was free, and the tables had turned.

"Hey guys," said Metalhead. "Looked like you could do with a hand."

"Thanks, Eddie," said Krys, and turned her attention to One Eyed Jack, who had suddenly gone from being one up on the X-Men to two down. His optic blast fired and Krys moved out of the way, so it bounced off Eddie's metallic hide, smashing in to the other two members of the Chosen.

"Oh, shock," said One Eyed Jack, and started to run for it. Meanstreak shook his head, to say he still couldn't run yet. Krys nodded and made a ball of crystal, which Eddie then pitched at One Eyed Jack, catching him in the back of the head, knocking the mutant to the floor with a thud.

"That was a bowling ball," said Krys. "Not a baseball."

"I know," said Eddie. "But baseball was the game of the original X-Men. Tradition." Krys sighed as they helped Henri up.

"Let's go find the Luna and Dust," she said, her arm aching, and they headed for Castle Doom.

Inside the Castle, there were four special prisoners. Locked up were Nostromo, December, Twilight and Uproar, collectively known as X-Nation.

They had been locked up here not long after the fall of the Great Barrier, when Brimstone Love had taken advantage of their inexperience and the fragility of Latveria. This time his Theatre was the entire country, the pain and sorrow that they felt during their lifetimes were ,making this the greatest show they had ever performed.

X-Nation were the keys to this. Their hopes and pains were the greatest. Though they had been together just a short time, their lives had not been happy ones. They'd lost most of the battles they'd fought, and those failures had cost them. Nostromo had the entire pain and suffering of the Phalanx empire within him, which was where most of the power came from.

They'd been ambushed by the Theatre, and were outnumbered so fell quickly, without the rest of the world noticing. They'd lost hope and that gave the Theatre power. Nostromo was awake the whole time, as being part Phalanx he didn't need to sleep. The others were unconscious, thanks to experiments performed on them by the white skinned scientist. Nostromo blamed himself. This was not the way to defend Doom's legacy.

"I think it's this way," said a male voice, outside the cells

"How do you know?" asked another female voice.

"Because of the amount of guards we just took out," the door opened with a thud and the female voice shouted out in horror.

"Shock me! The children!" Nostromo looked and for the first time in a while he had hope. The X-Men had arrived.

"Get them out of those things," said Eddie, as he pulled on their bonds. Soon the three of them had freed X-Nation, and Nostromo had informed them of what was going on.

"Where's Brimstone?" asked Krys.

"The throne room," said Nostromo. "That's now the hub of the Theatre."

"Lead the way," said Eddie and Nostromo took them up.

Meanwhile in the throne room, Dust and Brimstone Love were going at it. Dust was powerful, but Brimstone was more so. The fight was not going well for the X-Man, as Luna watched in horror.

"Stop this!" she demanded of Sinister.

"No," said Sinister. "Why should I? Dust has been a thorn in my side for years. This will end our association once and for all."

"I'm begging you to stop this," she said. Dust was getting massacred out there. Three X-Men had failed to take Brimstone out in their last meeting, and Dust was only one man. Every crack of bone, every drop of blood, every grimace in pain on his face ate in to her heart.

"Really?" said Sinister. "What would you do for me?"

"Anything," she said.

"Don't take that up," said a voice as the rest of the X-Men and X-Nation arrived. Eddie and Uproar went after Brimstone Love, trying to break it up , but they were halted by two of the Norns, who forced them to the floor within seconds. The third grabbed Krys by the throat, as the controllers entered the room and surrounded Nostromo, Twilight and December, who suddenly found their powers were no longer working.

"Actually," said Sinister. "If you rejoin the Theatre, then I will spare Dust and your friends. They will be returned to Xavier City, never to return. If you refuse then they'll all die."

Luna looked at Dust who was no longer able to fight back against Brimstone's might. Her friends were also in great danger. The X-Men had to survive. It was what Tim would have wanted.

"I accept," said Luna, and one of the Controllers put an inhibitor collar around her neck. Brimstone stopped attacking Dust, who just dropped to the floor.

"No!" said Krys as she was released from the stranglehold, knowing if she'd had use of her arm it would have been different. "Luna you can't do this."

"I have to," she said, in a subdued tone, thanks to the collar. "This way everyone lives." Sinister smiled.

"You can tell she's my daughter. Never wastes anything," he chuckled. The X-Men had no choice, for if they fought then Dust would certainly die from his injuries. They would regroup, and come back. With X-Nation on their side, they stood a much better chance.

"Goodbye, X-Men," said Brimstone. "The next time we meet, I'll kill you all." Then they were surrounded in flames as Brimstone Love teleported them away and they appeared in Xavier City council chambers.

Without X-Nation.

"I don't believe it!" said Meanstreak. "He lied to us!"

"Technically not," said Krys, angry at not seeing it earlier. "I wouldn't have thought Luna classed X-Nation amongst her friends. I'm surprised we were."

"Let's face it," said Eddie, downhearted. "Without Tim, we're lost. We've never been right since we lost him."

"No," said Henri. "It started with Xi'an. We get him back on our side, working with us, then Brimstone Love couldn't stop us."

Krys pressed a com-signal and got a line to the medical wing in the Four Unity Plaza next door to the chambers, so that they could come and see to Dust, listening to Henri all the time.

"Let's go see what he has to say," she said. "Perhaps the old Xi'an is still there."

They reached the medical wing, where Victor Ten Eagles was standing watch.

"We need to see Xi'an," said Krys, as Dust was wheeled in to the bay. The X-Men were denied entrance.

"He's busy at the moment," said Victor and explained what had happened.

(Shakti's suicide last issue - David.)

The looks of shock and disbelief on the faces of the X-Men were so intense it nearly broke Victor's heart. He wanted to hold Krys, to tell her it would be alright. He wanted to heal her wounds and make her whole once more, but he couldn't. It wasn't right, he told himself and denied his feelings once again.

"Can Xi'an heal her?" asked Eddie.

"I don't know," said Victor. "She burnt her heart right out, and Xi'an can't recreate what is no longer there. However if you'll go to the waiting room, you'll see some other concerned guests."

The X-Men did as they were bidden and made their way down the hallway. They were silent as they walked each keeping their own counsel. Eddie opened the door and allowed the others to go first.

Inside the room they got a surprise. There were five people they didn't expect. Six if you counted Morphine.

Reed Richards, his wife Sue. Her brother Johnny and Ben Grimm were all sat talking. Miguel O'Hara was looking out of the window, musing on the appearances of the new Spider-Man. Rosa was also there, waiting for Eddie to return. She put her arms around him as he embraced her, turning back to his human form, an ability he had missed.

(see Spider-Man 2099 #1 for details - David)

Reed looked disconsolate. The words of the other members of the Fantastic Four were having no effect. He was blaming himself for the tragedy.

His creation had caused this. His fault, his failure.

(the Franklin robot which crippled Shakti after he left - David)

"What happened in Latveria?" asked Miguel, after the greetings had been made.

"Brimstone Love," said Henri, and explained what had happened. Morphine looked angry at what was going on.

"Never leave a job unfinished," he said. As a part of Doom's Black Cabinet, one of his tasks had been to shut down Brimstone Love. Obviously he'd failed, and after the attack by Glitterspike, he needed to take his aggressions out on something. Plus the mention of Sinister had him intrigued.

(see Doom 2099 #30 - David)

(in X-Men 2099 #25 - David)

(back in issue #3 - David)

"What are you saying?" asked Eddie.

"I'm saying that WE go back to Latveria, WE kick Brimstone's tail, get Luna back and free Latveria. Teach him not to mess with 2099's finest."

"Got room fer four more?" asked the Thing. "Latveria is Doom's place. Since he ain't there no more, we ought to give the new guys a hand. Eh, Reed?"

"Fine," said Richards, his tone low, his eyes on the floor unable to look at the X-Men.

"Miguel?" asked Krys. "You up for this one?"

"I'm sorry," said Miguel. "I don't have happy memories of Latveria. Of the Phalanx War. I'll stay here."

"I understand," said Krys, who knew of what had happened there. Miguel had told them everything. "So that's eight of us?"

"Nine," said Rosa. "Count me in, too." Eddie would have said no, but it didn't matter. She wanted to be there.

"Okay," said Morphine, taking out a cigarette which Torch lit for him. "Let's go close the curtain on the Theatre of Pain!"

EPILOGUE

"So you're alive," said Garokk, as he returned to his cave, placing the armour next to the robot and the skeleton. Before him was the psionic projection of Exodus. "I thought Magnus finished you."

"I betrayed him and was punished for my arrogance," admitted Exodus. "But now I am free. Free to carry on his work."

"Really?" said Garokk, unimpressed. "So you killed a child, big deal. You're nothing, Exodus."

"Don't be so sure," sneered the red skinned mutant. "I have enough power to kill you."

"I don't think so," chuckled Garokk.

"You were humbled before by Katherine Pryde," said Exodus. "She was but a child."

"True, but now I am more than I was. Do the words 'Sorcerer Supreme' ring any bells?"

"Strange is the holder of that title," said Exodus.

"Not any more," said Garokk, thinking back to the young girl who had given him the title.. "My magics are now more than a match for psionic might, no matter how much Apocalypse enhanced you. You want to try me, go ahead."

"So be it," said Exodus. "Beware my Acolytes for they shall smite you."

"Coward," shouted Garokk as Exodus's astral projection faded from sight. War had been declared...

In X-Men 2099 #6: Family concludes as the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Morphine, and Rosa go up against the Theatre of Pain with the fate of Latveria, X-Nation, and La Lunatica hanging in the balance!