'Of this bad world the loveliest and best
Has smiled and said "Good Night", and gone to rest.'
- Hilaire Belloc, On a Dead Hostess

He saw a gun pointing at her and watched it fire, the laser burning through the green body armour that she wore, hitting her square in the torso. Xi'an tried to shout, but no sound came from his lips as he saw the true nature of what was going on and he ran towards her. There was no assassin in the room and the gun had been pre-set to fire. She looked at him for a last time.

"I'm sorry," she said, a trickle of blood coming from her mouth and she closed her eyes, her head going limp. Then Xi'an let loose his emotion.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He ran over to Shakti's limp form as he did so, resting his hand on her now bare breast. There was no sexual gratification involved here, he was doing it so his powers could save her life.

He had failed to undo her crippling by the Franklin construct, he would not fail to prevent her death. He knelt down and started to force his breath in to her lungs to keep the oxygen going to her brain.

(in 2099 World of Tomorrow #4 - David)

The power coursed through his hands, the skin on his palms and fingers glowing with the golden hue that appeared when he used his ability to heal.

This healing was not without great cost to himself, for it was easier to destroy than to repair, but he could feel nothing adverse affecting him. He was well aware of the limitations that were placed on his powers - he could not regenerate that which was no longer there, and he could not revive the dead.

(as proven in X-Men 2099 #31 & #3 respectively - David)

"You're not dead," said Xi'an to her cold form, as he got his breath back. "I won't let you be dead!"

He pressed his hand down on her harder as if to force her back to life, pushing not only himself but his powers as far as they could go, and started breathing the air back in to her body.

Victor Ten Eagles arrived on the scene at around the same time. He'd been speaking to Reed Richards on the holo relays when the security system he had installed had notified him of a weapon discharge in Shakti's quarters. He had run as hard as he could to get down there, signalling a medical team as well.

"Xi'an!" he shouted to his former team mate, then he saw her body, lying inert in the hoverchair, the smell of burnt flesh in the air, the blood at her mouth, Xi'an's lips pressed to hers. "Shock!" he whispered, seeing Xi'an was doing as much as any one could. He looked outside again for the medical team.

"Where are they, jammit!" shouted Xi'an as he came up for air. If his powers were doing anything for her, he couldn't tell.

"They're coming," said Victor, but Xi'an was giving her air again. Her chest was rising and falling with the breaths he was giving her but not much else.

How long had be doing this, he wondered. How long is it before this becomes irreversible? Is it already too late? Victor could find no words to answer these questions, his usually brilliant mind in a state of shock.

The medical team arrived in the room just as Xi'an came up for a third time. His whole form seemed to be glowing with the power to heal and the medics got in quickly, hooking Shakti up to various machines.

"By Thor!"

"I'm getting no vitals."

"She's gone," the third medic turned to Xi'an. "I'm sorry, sir, there's nothing we can do. The machines and computers will keep the basic bodily functions going, but without them there's nothing there. I'm afraid she's dead."

"You keep her bodily functions going," said Xi'an grabbing the medic by the collar. "You keep her alive."

"But, she isn't alive any more, sir," the medic said, trying to get it through to him.

"YES SHE IS!" shouted Xi'an, throwing the man to the floor. "Now you heal her, you make her well."

"We'll... do what we can, sir," said one of the other medics helping her colleague up. She looked at Victor who nodded his head, confirming the order. The look in his eyes told her to do what Xi'an said, for now at any rate. "Let's go to work, people," she said.

Victor placed his organic hand on Xi'an's shoulder, as Xi'an looked on helplessly.

The first thing Shakti noticed was the freedom of it all.

The wide open space. The light, brighter than the sun, yet not blinding. The lack of sound, or what she recognised as sound at any rate. There was noise, yet no sound with it. Intensity without pressure, substance without weight.

The sheer calm of it all. Total peace, total contentment.

Then after what seemed either an eternity or a second she could hear the voices in the air.

"Darlin'."

"Salutations."

"Chere."

"Hey, sugah."

"Welcome."

The greetings she heard, she could almost picture the faces behind them. The brash diminutive form of Logan. The hirsute form of Hank McCoy. The glowing eyes and Cajun charm of Remy LeBeau. The white stripe in the brown hair of Rogue. The gentle clash of white hair against the dark skin of Ororo Munroe.

These voices and more conjured up the names etched on the Charles Xavier memorial statue in the centre of the city that bore his name. That bore his dream.

The voices reached a crescendo, all speaking at once, when Shakti noticed that the brightness of the space was beginning to fade.

The voices began to fade, the crescendo becoming less as the light around her faded.

"No," she said, but the word did not sound right. The language of the living and the language of the dead were two totally different forms of communication, and Shakti had not learnt the tongue of the abyss.

The light was almost gone, replaced by an incandescent dark, that lay somewhere between black and red. Elysium had been denied her. Hades opened it's jaws, ready to swallow her.

For a moment she had believed herself worthy, that her life had been worth it. The X-Men had awaited her with open arms and then she had been cast out. If God truly existed then he was a spiteful God to those who had acted against him.

The sheer torture of having a glimpse of paradise and then having it ripped helplessly from her was a pain as sharp as the burning she had felt when the beam had seared out her heart.

In her arrogance she had thought it would be quick and painless. Her death taken almost twenty seconds. Twenty seconds in which she felt her body's pain. The horror in the eyes of Xi'an. The inevitability that the end was coming on her and that she had failed yet again.

Could she do nothing right?

From her current situation, as the last of the light vanished, it was apparent that was the case.

Then the dark began to dissipate and hope entered her once more, quickly departing as she beheld the sight before her.

Hades itself. The blood red colour of the landscape. The craggy features of the terrain. The impossibility of its very structure. An Escher work made life.

Then her familiar senses kicked in. The screams of the damned, echoing throughout the whole underworld, chilling her to the bone. The stench of decaying and burning flesh. The taste of sulphur and brimstone that carried in the air.

She could feel herself needing to retch, an impossibility as she was dead and had nothing to bring up. The sensations that assaulted her mind were vile, invading the very being.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed, even though nobody could hear her screams. Except one.

"They all do that," said the voice behind her. In English, no less. "It's the first thing they do."

"Who are you," asked Shakti, turning to face the creature addressing her.

"And that's the second. You'd think after all this time I'd be expecting it. I am Mephisto. You're Shakti Haddad and this is your afterlife."

The long hair, the massive bulk, the demonic features of pointy nose and claws and the great throne he sat on, towering above her, the souls of the damned falling from his very person gave credence to his claims.

"Why am I here?" she asked, her voice small as she took it in. She had thought that nothing could humble her so. She had been wrong... again...

"Don't you know?" said Mephisto, assuming a more humanly guise, at a height more akin to Shakti's own. "You're actions have condemned millions to death and damnation. Your arrogance and own self value meant that your judgement, your beliefs, your crusading led to the ends of thousands."

"Surely there are others who have killed and are more deserving to be down here?" said Shakti.

"Perhaps. But the old adage is it's not what you do, but why you do it. Some can't help their natures, but carry on. Others succumb to it and make the conscious choice to be as that nature dictates. Then there are those who defy their natures. Who buck the natural order, all because they believe, they know, that they are right. People like you, Shakti Haddad."

"No.." she whispered. "I'm not like that."

"Wanna bet?" said Mephisto with a grin. "But I wouldn't worry, you're in good company. Down here is Master Zhao, as well as some other prolific mutant figures. Allow me to introduce these two gentlemen, Charles Francis Xavier and the man known only as Magnus."

A veil of darkness lifted around them to reveal two of the most revered figures in the history of mutant kind. Shakti gasped in shock, and Mephisto simply laughed.

In the emergency medical area of Xavier City, located in the Four Unity Plaza - the Savage Land headquarters of the Fantastic Four - Shakti's body was being kept functioning by machines.

(as seen in X-Men 2099 #1 - David)

According to the scans there was no brain damage, possibly due to Xi'an sharing his air with her combined with his healing ability which had slowed the cellular deterioration enough for her to be transferred over, but other than that she was totally inert.

Her heart had been flash fried by the energy weapon. It was a miracle it was still there, but that was possibly due to her body armour taking the majority of the blast.

However it was perfectly clear to everyone in the room, that if she was removed from the machines she would die. Clear to everyone except Xi'an.

He stood at the back of the room, a sullen look on his face. He refused to accept he'd failed. He'd slowed the decay of her body, and that had been enough at the time. Too many X-Men had fallen, either due to his neglect or just plain bad luck.

He knew that this was part and parcel of forming the team - he'd nearly died himself jammit! - but it didn't make it hurt any less.

He'd been many things. Outlaw, visionary, revolutionary, arch fiend, healer, survivor and now leader. He wasn't truly comfortable with the mantle of leadership, but the only ones who could have done it were either dead or unwilling. He wouldn't loose any more, not this way.

Not without purpose.

He rolled up his sleeves and prepared himself again. He was up to a healing session again. His power didn't have an off switch, but he did get tired. Even though his healing had done so little, and not had much of an effect on him, it had hit him when he'd got out in the fresh air.

Now he was ready, and he walked over to her corpse, then stopped as he realised what he'd thought. 'No!' he chided himself. 'Don't think like that.' He advanced again.

"Xi'an," said Victor who was watching his friend and mourning the loss of Shakti. "She's dead. It's over. Her heart is nothing more than a piece of charcoal. You can't restore it, because there's nothing to restore. I know that more than any." His good arm subconsciously rubbed his bionic one. "Xi'an you can't restore the dead, and in your soul you know that's what she is."

"I didn't know what my powers could do then, now I do," said Xi'an thinking of Serpentina. "I'll bring her back, Victor, count on it."

(Serpentina died during the X-Men's first adventure in X-Men 2099 #3 - David)

In the waiting area of the Plaza, there were several figures waiting for news. The Fantastic Four had scrambled almost immediately after Victor had abruptly ended the conversation between himself and Reed, collecting Miguel O'Hara, who'd just arrived back from the Savage Land.

Reed and Miguel had taken a look at Shakti, and seen there was nothing that could be done by science to heal her. Or at least any science they knew of.

Sue asked Xi'an what had happened and he'd told her about the gunshot. He also said how depressed she'd been since her crippling. He wished he'd done more, and then he'd gone back in to try and heal her.

Reed's face told a thousand words. He sat at the back of the room within the shadows. His head was bowed, and his body, though in a position of relaxation was rigid and taut. Then he buried his head in his hands, tears running down his face. He didn't move from that spot, no matter what they said to him.

In his heart, he knew he was to blame, that his mistake was one of many since coming to 2099. Not coming to created in. He was a construct. Not the real Richards. He never had been. He never would be. He would always be a pale second.

Was that why Doom had so easily dismissed him at their last encounter? Had he known?

(in Fantastic Four 2099 #7 - David)

All these questions floated around his head, and for one of the few times in either Reed Richard's life, he found he had no answers.

Rosa was looking at the monitor systems, hoping that Eddie and the rest of the X-Men would finish their mission in Latveria and get back. They needed them, more for comfort than anything else.

Then her hopes came true. The systems said the X-Men were back and heading for the medical wing. Her heart froze, the same as when she'd heard of Shakti's suicide.

What had happened in Latveria?

(The answer to that is in X-Men 2099 #5 - David)

The X-Men arrived at 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.

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, where they made their reunions.

"But why?" asked Shakti, as she made her way over to Professor X and Magneto.

"Because in their quests for mutant peace they caused more death, chaos and destruction than anyone else in terran history," said Mephisto. "Xavier himself is a hypocrite. He used to mind wipe people left, right and centre then he decided that this was bad and wouldn't use it any more unless the situation called for it."

"We've discussed this before," said Charles to Mephisto.

"It's incredible," said Mephisto. "Even though he's dead, he'd prefer to talk his way out than fight. Unlike Magnus."

"When I'm free of this, you will know what it is to feel pain," said Magnus, the power sparkling from his eyes.

"Yadda, yadda, yadda," said Mephisto. "You've been here the best part of a hundred years. You're no closer to getting free now than when you arrived."

"For what you've done to my family, I will break free and I will make you pay!"

"Oh give it a rest," said Mephisto, and Magnus fell silent even though he still spoke. "That's better. He's annoyed because he found out his wife Magda is here as well as his daughter Anya."

"Why?" asked Shakti. "What could they have done?"

"Well, the death of Anya created Magneto," said Mephisto. "It's a technicality, but it still qualifies her for membership in Hades. As for Magda, well abandoning children is a very serious crime. So she's down here legitimately. I use my abilities to keep them close to each other, yet forever apart. It's exquisite torture."

"You're a monster," said Shakti.

"And so is everyone else in Hell. You included." Chains bound Shakti in an instant, tying her to a rock, the heat of which burnt her very being. She screamed as her soul was forever scared in the blinding heat.

"Your soul is being branded," said Mephisto. "And forevermore you will be mine. It takes several of what you would call minutes for the full branding to occur. I'll be back in an hour."

Mephisto chuckled as he left, Shakti's cries being music to his ears.

"Let me help you, child," said Xavier, utilising his mental powers to take away the majority of the pain. "Down here, the realm is made up of the thoughts of Mephisto. He is the underworld and vice versa, gaining his powers from the souls which are down here."

"And in a world of thought, your psi powers are still effective."

"Yes," said Xavier. "As are Magnus' magnetic powers. They heightened his natural psionic nature, so down here he can still utilise the powers."

"Though not as well as I could on Earth," said Magneto. "However, the way you and Mephisto spoke, you talked as though you knew of us. How is it so?"

Shakti, gritted her teeth and spoke through her pain, telling them of the X-Men and how they had survived over the years, despite the troubles that had plagued mutant-kind.

"A city, where mutants and humans live in peace?" said Charles.

"Incredible," said Magnus. "After all the alternate futures we have seen, all that came to pass, your dream is reality."

"It could never have been done without you, Magnus," said Shakti. "I..." She stopped a moment.

"Is it the pain?" asked Charles concerned that he'd let his concentration slip in his happiness.

"No," she whispered. "I can feel a mutant presence. I thought my powers were lost."

"Down here you and the physical are separate. Your mental abilities work as well as they always did," said Charles, slipping in to his role of Professor.

"Xi'an?" called Shakti. "Where are you?"

"Shakti?" asked Xi'an and almost stopped his touch. How had he heard her? He lips hadn't moved, to speak and were covered by an oxygen pump anyway. "I'm here," he said, wondering if he wasn't going mad.

"He's trying to save me," said Shakti. "I can feel him."

"It is possible he could save us all," said Magnus to Charles.

"You mean use him to set us free from Mephisto's grip?" asked Xavier. "I'm not sure..."

"Charles, for ages you have been saying that his hold on us is tenuous at best. What if a free spirit cam and challenged him?"

"What if Xi'an Chi Xan fails?" asked Xavier.

"He won't," said Shakti. "Please, bring him here. He'll help us, I know he can."

"Alright," said Xavier, and focused his powers, using Shakti as a bridge to the corporeal world.

Xi'an felt the tug at his soul. He could feel Shakti's presence warm and whole inside him. He knew she needed his help.

"Hold on," he said. "I'm coming, Shakti," and surrendered himself to the pull.

He felt his mind transcend his body, moving on to the astral plain, a sensation he had experienced once before, but this was smoother, more gentle and caressing.

An easier transition.

Then he felt himself moving out of the astral plain and down. The temperature began to rise, even though he was only a spirit form. He knew where he was going and his heart sank for Shakti's plight.

There was no way she could ever have been destined for this place. Anger surged within him and he swore someone would pay for this affront.

Then he was there. He had arrived. Shakti was before him, chained to a rock, the look of torment in her eyes.

For a moment he couldn't look at her and he turned away. Then he saw them.

"Shock me," he whispered.

"Hello, Xi'an," said Charles. "Shakti's told us much about you."

Victor Ten Eagles ran in to the room with news that the X-Men, Rosa, Fantastic Four and Morphine had gone back to Latveria.

Dust was on some machines himself after the beating he had taken from Brimstone Love, but what concerned him more was Xi'an. His touch was still active on Shakti, but he was slumped over her.

'Shock, he's done too much,' he thought and ran over to Xi'an. "Xi'an!" he called. "XI'AN!"

He was unresponsive and Victor couldn't rouse him.

"I don't get it," said Victor, as he used a medical scanner on him. "There's nothing wrong with him, yet his mind is dormant." He looked across the room to Dust. "I don't want to do this, my friend," he said, "but I need your help."

He walked across to where Dust's bed was and pushed him over to where Shakti and Xi'an were. Then he had one of the medical staff inject him with a stimulant, designed to wake him up yet keep the pain down.

"Ten Eagles..." said Dust, weakly. "What's... going on?"

"The X-Men have gone back to Latveria with the Fantastic Four, Rosa and Morphine, you're in a medical centre in Four Unity Plaza and..." Victor composed himself. There was still a bite in his gut when he spoke of this. "Shakti's committed suicide."

"No," said Dust and closed his eyes. His mouth went dry and he licked the inside of his mouth to moisten it. "How?"

"She fired an energy weapon at herself. Burnt through her armour and fried her heart."

"God," said Dust. "Should'a seen it comin'."

"So should we all," said Victor. "Xi'an thinks he can heal her with his touch, but has done little so far but slow down the decay of her body. But now he's collapsed and I need to know why."

"Okay," said Dust and focused. He pushed past the pain of his bruised and broken body and concentrated on the psionic. The familiar red circle appeared around Xi'an's head as he scanned him. "Charles?" said Dust, breaking the connection.

"Who?" asked Victor, suddenly afraid of the answer.

"Xavier," said Dust. "Charles Xavier. That's his presence I feel in Xi'an. He's somehow pulled him in to the afterlife."

"Whoa," said Victor. There was a sense of grandeur about the moment. "Thank you," said Victor after a second or so of silence. Dust nodded and went back to his rest. Victor pushed his bed back to where it had been before and he heard the door open.

"Miguel?" he asked, knowing that the former Spider-Man had stayed in Xavier City.

"No," said the man at the door. "I came because I am the only man who can save the life of my daughter." He removed his hood so Victor could see his face.

"Zail Haddad?!"

Back in Hell, Xi'an Chi Xan was amazed and incensed all at once, as Charles Xavier gave him the memories of all that happened since Shakti's arrival. The presence of now one but two of the men who had shaped the role of mutant-kind was awesome enough.

"How can I help?" he said as he used his touch to break down the chains that bound Shakti to the rock which seared her very soul. She fell in to his waiting arms as her freedom was obtained.

"Down here you have power," said Charles, "because you are alive. I have drawn your astral form down here, which is more than spirit, as it the sum of all you are, both mental and physical."

"I don't understand," said Shakti, as she regained her strength via Xi'an's healing touch.

"The astral plane is a plane of psionic energy, which is not purely mental but is also a physical plane of existence at the same time," Charles explained. People can live there, fight there, love there, die there. If an astral form dies then so does the body, thusly proving the link between the two. However an astral form is very hard to destroy."

"Down here, as you are," continued Magnus, "you have full command of your powers which are physical in nature. As an astral form you can use them to affect the spirit world as you have done so in freeing Miss Haddad."

"Is it possible that I can best Mephisto?" asked Xi'an thinking that the injustice of such revered figures being tortured until the end of time could not, would not, continue.

"No," said a voice behind them.

"Mephisto!" said Shakti.

"So you're the great Mephisto," said Xi'an, unimpressed. "Brimstone Love is scarier looking than you are."

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Xi'an Chi Xan. I've been waiting for you to come to me for a very long time. Your days in the Lawless, and as a member of the Theatre of Pain have given you the right to join the hallowed ranks of those in eternal torment."

"But I'm not dead," said Xi'an. "So you don't have me yet."

"True, but then again I can resolve that. Didn't you hear, Chucky? Astral forms may be hard to kill but not impossible, and you face a power you can't even begin to imagine."

"Same old, same old," said Xi'an. "How often have I heard those words? How often does the braggart fall?"

"Except this braggart has the power to back his words," said Mephisto. "Let's see what you've got inside you, Xi'an Chi Xan." Xi'an saw the chains that had bound Shakti, form around his own arms, below his reach so that his power to destroy could not affect them.

"No," he said, struggling against his bonds.

"See what your plans have wrought, children of the atom," Mephisto taunted Magneto and Professor X. "Now I have two for the price of one! Let the trial of Xi'an begin!"

Xi'an found himself in the past. Looking onwards at fights he had been a party to already.

"The Theatre of Pain has already done this," he shouted. "It won't work again!"

(in X-Men 2099 #22 - David)

"This is the past, Xi'an," said Mephisto. "You cannot affect the outcome, or influence the events. These are your own memories, this is what really happened. By your own mind will you be condemned."

Xi'an watched as a biker pulled up outside a bar in the deserts of Mexico. He knew what was coming next. This had been where the Lawless had been founded.

He followed himself, for it was he on the bike, as he went inside the bar. There were several people already in there.

Junkpile he knew already. The others were not known to him but after today they would be closer than any family. Victor Ten Eagles was drinking with the man known only as the Reverend, though what of what church was anyone's guess. Haiku was talking with Auntie Maim whilst Mongrel kept himself to himself.

Xi'an made his way over to Junkpile. "So what wants doing now?"

"What?" asked Junkpile. "You've got a streak of pure evil in you, meat."

"Get to the point, Junkpile or I'm gone."

"You called me," said Junkpile. "What's going on here?"

"Ladies and gentlemen," came a voice.

"SINCLAIR!!" called Xi'an as he stood up. The others looked at the hologram which had appeared. The dirtiest law enforcer money could buy. Xi'an had always been one step ahead of him. Now he'd slipped up.

"At last I have you where I want you. You people have caused me great problems over the past few months and cost me great. This is where you get yours, and I get a good deal of money for your bodies. Goodbye."

"The doors are shut!" said Junkpile as he tried to force them. "Adamantium from the looks."

"No signals getting in or out," said Haiku as she tried to link up to cyberspace without failure. Auntie Maim was smashing at the walls with her hammer with no effect. Even her great strength couldn't crack the doors.

"My power can't get us through the adamantium," said Xi'an, trying his touch. "Not without time."

"I'd say time is something we're out of," said Victor Ten Eagles, as he and the Reverend checked their weapons.

"But not company," said Mongrel, sniffing the air.

"Shock," whispered Xi'an, as what appeared to be ninja's began to appear from the shadows. "Dawn Angels."

Mystical ninja creatures that lived in the shadows, using their innate powers of stealth and detection to be the greatest hunters of all. Corrupt and evil, they were throwbacks from the end of the Twentieth Century when the Crimson Dawn, a source of mystical energy was corrupted, though how was not on record.

These things absorbed merged with any organic life and made them part of their group. However for them to contact they had to become solid at which point they were vulnerable. There was one way out of this, kill or be killed.

And if he died, how would he have revenge on Sinclair?

Zail Haddad worked on his daughter. Her heart was completely destroyed but to a master of the bio-genetic physiology of humans, this was not a problem for one such as he.

Rebuilding hearts from nothing, transplants and such were child's play. It was adapting the new system so that the new host would accept it instantly that was tricky.

Gene manipulation, DNA splicing, rewriting the very code that built up humanity, and made each person unique was not an easy task.

"This isn't so difficult," said Zail as he smiled. Working on his daughter was not only a pleasure but it gave him a sense of family.

Victor Ten Eagles watched the man work, knowing if anyone could heal Shakti it was her father. He was up there with the medical and scientific geniuses of the last two centuries.

Pasteur, Linus, Curie, Stark, Von Doom, Richards, Xavier, MacTaggert, McCoy. Each brilliant in their own right, revolutionising medicine and science with their inventions and their discoveries about medicine. Haddad had joined that hallowed alumni with his own brilliance in bio-molecular manipulation.

The man was a genius, it was plain and it was only that fact that allowed him to have his freedom in Xavier City, for he was a wanted man. Labelled a genetic terrorist, and a mad scientist for approaches that were considered unethical, even in this day and age.

"The heart," he said to the medics, for he had brought one with him, and began to do his work. The rest of Shakti's body was fine, except for that vital organ and as soon as he had fixed that, he would see why she was unable to move. Richards had tried to explain it but he was a hundred years out of his depth.

In the back of Victor's mind he knew there was something about this he was missing.

In Hell, the scene played out. Under the command of Xi'an the people who would be the Lawless destroyed the little cantina, suffering no casualties at all. The blood though had flowed free, and they had revelled in it.

"We make a good team," said Ten Eagles, after they had burnt the place to the ground.

"Makes sense we keep it up," said Auntie Maim.

"First things we do then is find Sinclair and kill him and his family," said Xi'an. "Nobody crosses me like that."

"Amen, brother," said the Reverend.

"Let's do it," said Mongrel.

"Killing a lawman will make us outlaws," reminded Haiku.

"I don't recognise the laws around here anyway," said Xi'an. "As of now, we're officially lawless."

"And so began a crusade of evil and destruction that lasted several years," said Mephisto. "See the glint in your eyes as you killed."

"Self defence," said Xi'an.

"Not when you killed Sinclair. You butchered him and his family. You strung up his wife in front of him with a piece of wire that not only hung her but half decapitated her. Junkpile and Maim pulled his daughter in half. Every relative he had the Lawless killed, whilst you disintegrated him from the waist up, so he could see his family die as he died." The images were relived, and Xi'an hung his head, his confidence faltering as well as his faith in himself.

"I was a different man," said Xi'an, without conviction. "Things have changed. I'm not the same person." His astral form weakened as he became less of who he had been moments before.

"That doesn't count, it never will and you know it. Besides your schizophrenic tendencies have shown that to be a lie. The Theatre of Pain escapade, your actions in the Savage Land when you first arrived there." Xi'an was almost broken and one more push would leave him at Mephisto's mercy.

(see 2099 World of Tomorrow to see the attitude Xi'an displayed when he arrived - David)

"Xi'an was damaged by Zhao and was under stress in the Savage Land. We all were," said Shakti. "What about Saigon? What about when he conquered the demons, and defeated them."

"Oh, yes," said Mephisto. "Xi'an's conversion to the teachings of Xavier. Has death clouded your mind so, Miss Haddad? He failed to defeat the demon within, as so was evident by his evident fall from grace."

"Then show us the memories," said Magneto. "Show Shakti why she is wrong!"

"What a good idea," said Mephisto.

"What are you doing?" asked Xavier.

"Trust me, Charles. This will be what we need." Xavier looked uncertain and the scene got underway.

Back in the Four Unity Plaza, Haddad was working on his daughter. Her new heart was installed and if Xi'an could bring her back as Ten Eagles believed he could, then she would live. Haddad smiled as he worked, knowing Ten Eagles didn't trust him at all.

The heart he had obtained had been a special order and there would be trouble when the source was found, though nobody would miss him. Haddad resisted the chuckle that was creeping in the back of his throat and went to work on his daughter's paralysis.

He had read the notes on the information supplied by hacking the data-net of Xavier City. His patron has seen to it that it wasn't difficult. He'd read Richards findings and concluded that the Franklin robot was the cause and with it's destruction it should have restored her.

However that hadn't happened and so it meant that the damage was on a genetic level. The loss of her powers was also strange, but obviously tied in. Zail was intrigued and thanks to the work and information done by Xavier and McCoy he knew what to look for in terms of psionic damage. The X-Factor that created psionic powers had been located during the work on the Legacy Virus and been the greatest boon to genetics in years. It had gone a long way in explaining the X-Factor, what it was and why the powers seemed to be random.

Of course that wasn't the truth as McCoy had discovered and by using the past he would unlock the future of his daughter. The first place to look was her nervous system. Her powers had mainly affected that psionically, for she had never been a true telepath.

Her powers had been to locate mutants by their psionic signature, much like the way Xavier's Cerebro machine had done. She'd also had a psionic blast that affected the nervous system to varying degrees, a talent she had been most proficient at. It made sense the lack of power and her lack of mobility were tied there. It would also account for her precarious mental state.

"That's strange," he murmured as he noted something on the scanners. According to this there was nothing wrong with her nervous system. If anything it was completely healthy. Something was drawing energy from it, absorbing the very bio electric energy her body communicated with. Then a though occurred to him.

A paper he had read had mentioned something like this before. This was a draining of energy to create something, if he remembered correctly. His mouth went dry and suddenly this wasn't so funny anymore. He quickly grasped a psionic scanner and did a psionic trace of her cellular structure. He traced the flow of her mutant energies to the one place he had dreaded.

The pieces began to click, but how was this possible? The Franklin robot had been just a machine, surely? Zail Haddad was suddenly very cold as he found the answers to what he had been looking for.

Somehow, Shakti was pregnant. Not in a physical sense, but a psionic one. Her psionic energies were being diverted to give the creature life, whilst her bio electric energies were being used to give the creature form. The father was somehow the Franklin robot. It was the only explanation. There was very little he could do for her.

"I...," he stammered before regaining his composure. "I need to see the files on the Franklin robot and Shakti's meeting with it."

"Why?" asked Victor.

"Because something is very, very wrong," said Haddad, "and I need to know why."

In Hell, Xi'an was facing the moment when he found religion. It had been after his confrontation with Quickdeath, when the last mission of the Lawless, or what remained of the Lawless, had been completed.

(as seen in X-Men 2099 #22 - David)

Xi'an had mourned the loss of his friends, and was beginning to tire of the lifestyle he was leading. Too many chances had been taken. Then he found a citadel, below what was now Saigon. It was an old temple of some sort, and Xi'an had used it as a place to hide from the Cartel.

What he had found was a very old man, yet still in his prime. He sat alone, mumbling to himself.

"Who are you?" asked Xi'an, wondering if the Cartel had sent someone else after him.

"My name is Cain," said the man. "I guard the gemstone of Cyttorak, not far from it's original home in Korea. It is my punishment, it is my curse."

"What are you?" asked Xi'an.

"I was once a Juggernaut but I used my powers recklessly. Violently, destructively. I repented in the end, made peace with my enemies, but it was too late. I lived and they grew older and died. Or were slaughtered. I could do nothing, for the God that granted me my powers had not finished with me."

Cain told Xi'an the stories of the X-Men, his life and the life of his step brother, whom he now revered instead of hated and of what followed. Cain knew everything there was to know about the X-Men, except what had happened to them in the end. It was as if the dream they stood for just stopped.

During the course of these tales he had been joined by a woman who had also been hiding underneath Saigon. Hiding from her father. Cain had not complained, for it had been many years since he had company and he delighted in the way these two reacted to his tales. For if two did, then certainly more would.

Her name was Shakti, though Xi'an hardly noticed her. He was amazed, as if the true way of things had been revealed to him. Mutants could never survive without a leader, someone to guide them as they had done in the old days. He felt an inner peace.

Then he felt the place go red around him, as if a great force had pulled him somewhere. He then saw a figure behind Cain, a figure who looked like Xi'an.

"Who are you?"

"An emissary of Cyttorak," he said. "He has noticed you and heard the tales his disciple has told. He has also seen that these tales have brought you an inner peace. I am here to show you it is not possible."

"I do not believe you," said Xi'an. "My life has been squandered with the violence of the past, but now I see that I was wrong. I see the future."

"The future is death. The future is pain. The future is suffering," said the shade. "That is why I am here, for I am the darker side of you."

"I have never served your master," said Xi'an.

"Not in the usual ways, Xi'an Chi Xan, but he has watched you for years, cultivated you. Did you think it was coincidence that you arrived here? What was not foreseen was that Marko would have altered so dramatically in the years he has been alone. He has almost ruined my master's plans."

"Define almost," said Xi'an.

"Simple," said the shade. "If I merge with you, join your very being, then we will be a force to rival every being on the planet and strike the names of the false gods from the records."

"I will never join you," said Xi'an. "You will have to kill me and act alone."

"The greatest evil can only be enhanced by the corruption of the good within," said the shade.

"Then I will defeat you!" said Xi'an and within the mindscape they duelled. The darker side of his being seemed to have the advantage, but Xi'an himself was not without thoughts. He knew to defeat the enemy he had to become like the enemy, and that would be the only way. Then he could step back.

The battle altered as Xi'an put his plan in to effect, and he defeated the shade.

"When you lower your guard, I will return," said the shade as it broke down to nothing under Xi'an's touch.

"Whatever," said Xi'an as the redness around him vanished, and he awoke to find Shakti shaking him.

"I couldn't wake you," she said. "You were sweating as if in pitched battle and at the same time, Cain was dying."

"What?" said Xi'an, realising his victory over the agent of Cyttorakhad cost Cain his life. He was devastated at the loss, and told Shakti everything, and how he meant to make the death of Cain Marko mean something. He spoke with passion and conviction and Shakti, who had heard tales of the Desert Ghost, knew he the experience had changed him.

The vision ended and Mephisto crowed triumphantly.

"And so, he saved himself at the cost of another man," he smiled at Xavier, who had just seen the death of his step brother replayed before him. "No matter what you do, Xi'an, you will always be destined to join me."

The last shot, Xi'an causing the death of a man who had been so important to him and the rest of his life should have broken him, but it did not.

"You overplayed your hand," said Xi'an. "The tales reawakened my faith in myself, and the knowledge that you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. I grieved the loss of Cain, but I granted him the peace he had been long denied."

His chains fell loose, as he disintegrated the rock with his touch. Mephisto staggered back as if hit by a stone. The loss of a peace of his realm weakened him and Xi'an had seen it. As had the others.

Shakti used her powers here to attack Mephisto's nervous system, a feat not possible until Xi'an had hurt him. Mephisto fought back with all his cosmic power and in the end Shakti knew that she hadn't done enough, even with Xi'an destroying pieces of the realm.

"Foolish wench," said Mephisto as he advanced. "Now I shall destroy your soul!" He knew Xi'an would break of his destruction of the realm and come to her defence, but it would be too late and Shakti's soul would be destroyed. "You're too late, Xi'an Chi Xan," he said as he fired a bolt of energy at her.

"Perhaps I would be," said Xi'an as the bolt of energy was deflected by a psionic bolt. "But they weren't." Xi'an smiled as realisation dawned on Mephisto. Xi'an had not been destroying any old rocks whilst he had battled the woman, he had freed Xavier and Magneto.

"Now it's my turn," said Magnus, as his eyes crackled with energy.

"Don't use 'but' like that in a sentence," said Charles to Xi'an. "It's bad grammar."

"Dramatic emphasis, sir," said Xi'an. "Shall we?" Xavier nodded. One on one against Mephisto they had no chance, but together was a different story.

Back in Xavier City, Zail Haddad watched the tapes. Shakti had sensed a massive psionic presence and Franklin had been going on about a mate. Then it had happened. Shakti had been crippled, and her powers gone. Xi'an could do nothing to help her.

(in 2099 World of Tomorrow #3 and #4 respectively - David)

"Replay from time index 152634 to index 152645 and enhance the Franklin robot," Haddad told the computer, which did as instructed. "Again," he said.

"What did you see?" asked Victor.

"Again," said Haddad, holding up one finger, then he said "Hold!" The picture froze and he looked at the robot. "I was right," he said. "There was a slight variance in the robot's visual systems."

"What do you mean?" asked Victor, thinking it had been a glitch in the system.

"The spark was a chink in reality," said Zail. "A psionic push, which allowed reality to bend so that Shakti would become pregnant."

"The robot made her pregnant?" said Victor. "What kind of crappy idea is this? I've never heard such rubbish in my life!"

"The robot was the catalyst," explained Zail, thinking that Victor ought to be a bit more open-minded on things he didn't really understand. "I would surmise that a being with immense psionic power altered reality, creating a link between the robot and Shakti, which then impregnated her with a psionic creature. She will give birth to the world's first true psionic being since Onslaught!"

"But how?" asked Victor, only accepting this because there was very little other option.

"I have my suspicions, but I think that Reed Richards will be able to answer that question. I think the robot may have been aptly named. Let us return to my daughter. I know a way to restore her mobility, if not her powers."

Hell was a sorry sight. The four mutants had kicked Mephisto's tail from one end of the realm to the other. Xavier had fought because it was right, Magnus had fought for vengeance, Shakti because she could fight again and Xi'an had fought to bring her back.

Mephisto could not stand up to the damage they did to him and his realm and held up his hands, knowing this would be the end of him if he did not put a stop to this.

"NO MORE!" he cried. "I will give you whatever you want as long as you stop this assault."

"No!" shouted Magnus and went for a killing blow, but Shakti stood in his path.

"No," she said. "That is not the way." Magnus could see his daughter Anya and his wife Magda in the background and powered down. "Thank you," said Shakti and turned to Mephisto.

"A contract," she said. "To make it proper and binding." Mephisto nodded.

"Name your terms," he said, honouring the deal he had made, knowing she had saved his life from the fury of Magneto.

"I want Magnus to be with his family, to hold them and reunite with them once more and for all eternity," said Charles.

"Done," said Mephisto and the barrier between them fell and Magnus ran to them and they embraced each other, a family once more.

"I wish for Xavier to be reunited with his X-Men," said Magnus. "To be set free from Hell." He knew this was his place, but with his wife and daughter with him, he would always be happy.

"Fine," said Mephisto and Xavier began to vanish.

"Magnus..." he called, but was gone by the time he spoken the word. With Xavier gone, Xi'an no longer had a link to the astral plane and was being pulled back to his body.

"I wish for Shakti to rejoin the living..." he said before he was gone.

"A request that powerful must be made by two," said Mephisto, knowing that Death would not be happy with this. "Do you agree with him. Do you want to return to your crippled and broken form?"

"Yes," said Shakti. "I want to go home."

"I'm gonna get it for this one," said Mephisto and cast the spell. Shakti could feel herself becoming solid once more.

"Goodbye, Magnus," she called. "I'm glad I met you."

"Keep the dream alive," he called back as she vanished from Hell, and he wondered if she had heard. Then he faced Mephisto. "And what of us?"

"You can have free roam of Hell," said Mephisto. "I owe you my life, and though you can never leave, you will never be tormented." In the distance he could see a yellow, three headed figure. "You have no idea what this just cost me," he said and went over to see what the verdict would be.

Magneto didn't hear him, he was too busy listening to his daughter's laughter.

"SHAKTI!" shouted Xi'an as he awoke. "You?" he said as he saw Haddad step away from his daughter. "What are you doing to her?"

"Saving her life," said Victor. "What happened?"

"My friend, you'll never believe it." Then he saw Shakti's eyes flicker.

"You're alive!" he shouted at the same time as Zail.

"I'm alive?" she said and sat bolt upright.

"Shock!" said Xi'an.

"What did you do?" Shakti asked her father, as they embraced.

"Oh, enhanced your body's bio chemistry so that you had 200% more bio-electric energy flowing through you as well as given you muscle stimulants so they would work fine after a long period of dormancy. It's ample for you and your baby."

"Baby?" asked Xi'an and Shakti.

"Yes," said Zail. "Shakti, we need to talk."

Zail Haddad left Xavier City after explaining the story to his daughter, his theories about what had happened and the proof he had to back his claims. It had taken a lot of convincing but finally they had seen his point of view. He was either a madman or a genius. Perhaps a little of both.

Plus he had seen his daughter again and put her in his debt. They both knew it, and perhaps Xi'an owed him as well. He had proven he wasn't the bad guy he had once been and now he could return to the city at will, with freedom.

This was good, because it gave him a chance to gain revenge on Morphine Somers. Selling him out to the Graverobber was a mistake he intended Morphine to pay for with his life. Glitterspike had failed, and they would never find his body now.

(in X-Men 2099 #29 - David)

(in X-Men 2099 #3 - David)

Even in Xavier City the guards were easily bribed. Glitterspike would seemed to have escaped and never be seen again. The only proof there was of that was somewhere nobody would ever find it. It was a shame to let a heart like that go to waste when someone else needed it.

Tell me what you think!


     

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Story © 1999 David Wheatley and Marvel-X, and may not be reproduced without permission.

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