Marauders (2nd series) #12

Hightown, Madripoor, where Brimstone Love lunges at Akihiro a.k.a. Fang, telling him that a canvas doesn't speak, but that it can burn. Fang responds by shoving his claws through Brimstone Love's chest. 'Join me – you self-righteous ass!' Daken calls out to a figure standing nearby – it's Johnny Dee, who turns to Lockheed and remarks that the big old squid in his chest might be team Love, but that he is stil all in for Fang.

Meanwhile, Hammer Bay, Genosha, where energy flows around Lorna Dane the Mistress of Magnetism – Polaris! 'Order up!' Lorna smirks as a a small mysterium box floats above her hand. 'Anyone else want a mysterium box?' Lorna asks, holding the box out to the Thresholder called Theia, who looks at it and utters 'It truly is the Seed. From this – all of Threshold will come. You have created a holy moment, Polaris' to which Lorna jokes that she never made one of those before, and that she will need new business cards.

Shortly, Theia walks down one of the battle-damaged strees of Hammer Bay, along with her fellow Thresholders, Crave and Amass, the three of them wearing versions of the X-Men training costume. With them is Heather Tucker a.k.a. Tempo, who remarks 'You're quiet'. Theia apologizes to Tempo and explains that she finds herself overwhelmed. She adds that the three Thresholders came here for aid, or failing that, to tell Threshold's story – but she never dreamed they would get to start it. 'Write the first word of our history as we tread the final chapters. And  why us? What gives us the right, over the millions lost to time?' Theia remarks. 'We're here, for one' Crave jokes. Tempo comments about how she has tiptoed plenty in the past, and that the people who have the right are never the ones screaming about it. 'And for all the times that we've been forced to watch what we love die... we deserve to give life to something new. To build for ourselves'.

Theia tells Tempo that time has brought divinity to her words. They hold hands, and the mysterium box floats between them, as Tempo declares that mutants have the right to liberation, to live, to love – beyond today's judgment. 'And how long did you practice that speech?' Theia smiles. 'A thousand times. You blinked' Tempo replies. 'Yes, well...I am glad you did' Theia responds before they kiss.

Somewhere else in Hammer Bay, Captain Kate Pryde sits on some rubble, the ghost of her father, Carmen Pryde, hovering before her, while other lost souls float around them. Kate tells her father that she doesn't know where to start. 'Start with the end, kiddo. After all, it's the last thing I remember' Carmen Pryde suggests. 'The end, right. Like it's just that east. You...you were here. And you...you knew it eas over. You looked right at the cameras. I could read your lips. You said...' Kate begins, as Carmen quotes what he said: “I love you, Kitty! Make me proud”. Carmen explains that he knew there was no escaping Magda Square, and that he knew Kitty would hear him. 'I couldn't save you, Dad. And so much has happened since then... but I never forgot'. Kate reveals that now she has the chance to not just make her father proud but turn the millions lost into billions reborn, to make Genosha into a place of joy, imperfect or not. 'The DNA in the ground, human and mutant...it could spark a golden age. But it's not my choice to make... it's yours. You and everyone who died here' Kate explains.

Carmen Pryde pauses and doesn't respond, before pointing to a map on the ground and asks Kate what she is dawing. 'Something big. This map is where it all started. We found it, impossibly old, with a message in my handwriting' Kate reveals. “The First Blood Spilled” she quotes, explaining that they thought this was the Shi'ar's failed genocide, but wonders if it means the blood they spill in creating Threshold. 'I think it means life' she adds. Carmen tells Kate that he thinks he likes the sound of that, but that she has one thing wrong. His ghostly hand takes hold of Kate's, who is holding a pen over the map, and Carmen tells Kate 'It's not your handwriting, it's ours'. Carmen adds that what happened here happened, but that it is only over when they say it is over. 'And knowing what we do about the people we were, we say the book's not closed. We want another chapter'. Kitty turns around and “hugs” the ghost of her father, who utters 'Kitty. The ghosts are watching'. 'Don't care' Kate smiles.

In San Francisco, 'Stop running, mutie! I'll make it quick!' the mercenary called Bushwacker shouts as he fires a weapon at the time-lost Shakti Haddad a.k.a. Cerebra who runs across the street, dragging a man behind her. 'Esera's never seen you before – why hunt him?' Cerebra calls out. 'Trust me. I know him plenty!' Bushwaker calls back. 'Psiramic plates in your skull. Maybe I can't breach your mind – but I can shut you down the classical way!' Cerebra calls back as she turns to face her foe, Bushwacker. 'With tiny fists like that? Come on, lady! Your friend's an albatross – give him up! Flaunting himself in public – what'd he think would happen? When I saw him out there on the news, you can bet I took – action!' Bushwacker exclaims, before suddenly tripping on something – a psionic dart seems to wrap a psi-net rope around him, trapping him as a telepathic voice calls out 'His name is Bushwacker. A mutant who kills mutants. Artists especially. Truly a sad man'.

'That's not your voice, Shakti. Is – is someone else in my head?' Esera asks. 'A friend – one who seems to have come to rescue the rescuer. Cerebra looks over to her rescuers – Kwannon a.k.a. Psylocke and Jeanne-Marie Beaubier a.k.a. Aurora. 'You cracked Bushwacker's psiramics, impressive' Cerebra remarks. 'Psychic trip wire. If most telepathy is wi-fi, consider my constructs the hardline' Kwannon responds, adding that she performed a light edit, and Mister Wacker will wake with his urge to lill replaced with a need to paint – becoming both harmless and what he hates the most. Kwannon is wearing her new short bright pink jacket over her costume, and Aurora Aurora smirks at Cerebra, telling her that Captain Pryde sends her regards, and reminding her that she has somewhere to be. 'And so I will be, Aurora – but I heard somewhere that we work for mutants first' Cerebra replies. 'Smart answer' Aurora tells her, before asking Cerebra who her friend is.

'Friend for like seven minutes of panic' the rescued man responds, before introducing himself as Esera Seanoa and confirming that he is a mutant. He reveals that he never thought much about it before, and that it was just easier to pass as a human, but with thew drought, he couldn't do nothing, so started helping – and suddenly he has a cannon hand after him. Cerebra explains that Esera has the mutant gift to find water, a living dousing rod, recently quite useful. Kwannon offers to conjure a psychic wafer, something to calm his amygdala, turn distress into eustress. But Esera remarks that he is good, and that there is a dispensary up the street. He tells the others that he appreciates the help, that lunch is on him for the three of them. 'But all this? Brain crackers? Guun arms? If I wanted to be Krakoan... I would be'. Cerebra tells him that she understands, and that pushing their ways on him was not their intent, they just wanted to keep him safe. 'And that's a hell of an intro, Shakti' Esera responds, before offering to show her the Castro, but that first he needs to sleep for a week, in his own bed.

As they watch Esera walk away, Aurora points out that he only just made the news, and asks Cerebra how she even knew to look out for him. Cerebra explains that Esera's gift is limited but that it will grow with his bloodline, and that in time his great-grandson will become Northstar, decades from now, he will be an Omega-class navigator, able to plot a course to anywhere and anything, and that together they will lead the X-Men of 2099 to paradise. 'Northstar, you say? My brother's cease and desist has already begun' Aurora remarks. Cerebra explains that where she is from is a different time, a new heroic age – one she will never see again, and there, her X-Men fight on, while she can no longer protect them, she can protect their lines to ensure they are there to protect her home.

'Well played' Aurora replies, adding that she would do the same for anyone her own home has tried to hurt, like Stitch. 'I'm sure my face graces many a dartboard at Department H' Aurora remarks. 'How lucky' Cerebra tells her, before pointing out that great work awaits, and asks Kwannon for that psychic wafer. 'If this is the task Cable brought me here for... it is nothing less than history in the making' Cerebra declares.

Back in Madripoor, Brimstone Love crashes through a wall and, calling Fang “Daken” tells him that he shouldn't have come. 'Last time, I boiled your guts to great applause. This time...I'll flay you, cook you and – once you're starving – feed you to yourself' Brimstone Love threatens, before looking over at Johnny Dee and Lockheed and remarking that they make for a poor audience. 'You got it all wrong' Fang replies as he shoves a claw into Brimstone Love's eye, causing him to scream and pull backwards: 'My eye – the horn wasn't enough? Your stupid little bast – bast....' Brimstone Love calls out as he begins to fumble, and Johnny Dee steps forward, remarking that Fang is not the show, this time, Love is the show. Love falls to the floor, and Johnny points out that Fang left him a little uneven up top. 'Think he just kept that as a trophy? Fang's no fool...he fed your little horn nub to my sucking chest friend' Johnny reveals, asking Love if he knows what they got in return.

From the strange tentacles protrouding from Johnny's chest, a small figurine of Brimstone Love is revealed. Johnny holds it in front of the real Brimstone Love's face. 'This beauty. That's my gift, Love. Not the sexiest, but it's got its perks. Like the fun toys my chest spits out when I feed him even just a little but of someone' Johnny smiles. 'You...' Brimstone Love utters. 'Toys that control the original' Johnny Dee reveals. 'Oops – the look on your face, Love. Lockheed tracked you. Dee made you my puppet. Now...this canvas is going to play!' Fang grins as he throws the figurine up into the air, and Lockheed unleashes a powerful flame which engulfs the figurine – and the real Brimstone Love suddenly erupts in flames. Fang smiles and asks Johnny if they are square. 'More than' Johnny tells him, adding that the Squidster got a meal, and he got to see something he's never seen before. 'Wouldn't mind like a Marauder merit badge, though' Johnny jokes. Lockheed makes a noise, and Johnny points out that the dragon is right, and asks Fang if he has somewhere to be. 'In a minute. I've got some death to enjoy... before I get on with life' Fang replies.

Hammer Bay, where Kate Pryde's plan is about to be put in motion. 'Okay, Polaris. Hit it' Kate calls out. 'Hitting' Polaris responds as a rumbling within the ground beneath them begins to occur. 'Watch your heads, people' Polaris adds. Kate remarks that electromagnetism is a go, and asks for the rest of the circuit. Cerebra reports that she is networked and ready to read and input local genetics. The mysterious Wicked is present and states that the ectoplasmic medium is prepped and ready to receive DNA. Tempo announces that she is ready to temper the ectoplasmic medium for travel. Theia adds that she is ready to hyper compress their enriched ectoplasm, when, on cue, a Krakoan gateway opens and Fang arrives. 'Did you get my dragon into trouble?' Kate asks, after remarking how late Fang is. 'Nothing Lockheed can't handle, Pryde' Fang replies, before asking if this is even going to work. 'You open that can and my DNA kick-starts the soup?' Fang enquires. 'There's only one way to find out' Kate declares as Bishop, Aurora, Kwannon, Somnus, Amass and Crave stand nearby with the “mutant circuit” Kate devised, and several ghosts watch on as Kate then places the mysterium on the ground.

A large helix grows out of the Krakoan gateway, and Crave comments at the helix's size. 'And morbid, no? Why erect such a grand monument in a place of death?' Amass asks. Theia explains to Crave that this is a reminder, but not of an end – quite the reverse. 'That monsters took lives here but do not own them. That those lost decided to bring new life with this land – to choose their own code'. Amass remarks that the Captain did say she was unsatisified with a graveyard. 'Who are we to argue with a Katherine?' Crave asks. Captain Pryde announces that they try new things, they move on, but not without all of them. 'Ghosts of Genosha. Humans. Mutants...from yesterday, today and tomorrow. The blueprint's drawn. The guest list's full and all checked off'. Kate turns to Bishop and asks him if the crew is ready, to which Bishop confirms that they are. 'Then let's start something' Captain Pryde calls out.

The Ghosts of Genosha are suddenly sucked into the mysterium box, which then snaps closed. 'All set, Cap?' Tempo asks. 'Phased and crazed, ladies. Hold your breath' Kate tells Tempo and Theia as she hands them the box. 'Let's ride!' someone calls out as Captain Pryde, Tempo and Theia suddenly vanish. 'Time travel' Kwannon remarks to Bishop, asking if they shouldn't have returned by now. 'Either they're back soon or not at all' Bishop responds.

(The Proterozoic Era)

Captain Pryde literally walks on water in a cavern, as she places the mysterium on the surface of the water, she utters 'Respect this sacred land' and the mysterium begins to sink into the water, where it connects with some genetic coding. 'Murder no man' Kate adds as she turns abd walks back across the water. 'Make more mutants'. And, at some point, more mutants are made, bursting forth from the cavern.

(Present day)

Captain Pryde sits opposite Emma Frost, who raises a glass of champagne in Kate's name, as fireworks can be seen outside the window they sit next to. 'To Captain Pryde. Creator of life. Seems Magneto was right – we're gods after all' Emma remarks. But Kate tells Emma that it was Mystique who hunted down the vessel, not Magneto, before asking Emma why she started this. 'Why else? Inspiration. A nudge. An emotional presence' Emma responds, suggesting that, like Exodus' favorite, as she walked in the garden, she came upon an epiphany – not her first, this was a vision she could not shake. Kate points out that this whole island is a garden, and asks Emma where she was. 'Where else, Caotain? The Grove' Emma responds. 'The...Grove, Emma, that's -' Kate begins, to which Emma remarks 'Terribly mundane. But the council chambers do offer a singular calm. Absent the whiff of our friend Shaw's starched cravat, of course' Emma responds. Kate laughs and tells Emma that Shaw is now invited, not tonight – tonight is for everyone who has heard no and given it right back.

Kate and Emma walk out onto the deck of the New Marauder ship, where Iceman creatures an ice-sled above the vessel and creates a fireworks-like display with his powers, as Pyro does the same, riding on the ice-sled behind Iceman, and Wind Dancer hovers nearby. Magik, Warbird and Birdy can be seen on top of the ship's bridge. Polaris, Storm, Fang, Aurora and Christian Frost are gathered together, while Callisto can be seen talking to Lourdes Chantel. Cerebra walks past Emma and Kate as Bishop and Kwannon smiles. Tempo and Theia clink their champagne glasses together, while Alchemist gazes off the side of the ship and Triage sits near her. Amass appears to be scolding Crave, who sits opposite Brutha Nature. 'For the crew, for us. Tonight's for the Marauders, Miss Frost. And so is tomorrow!'