One earth.
For the past several days, reality had slowly been ebbing away. A flash of white light would appear, and everything that had once existed was gone. A large flash of pure white, and for just a brief second, someone or something would cease to exist. Hope for survival was slim.
"Jimmy!" Sam Guthrie, the human Cannonball, ordered. "Hold it in place as long as you can! Tab, Jesse, help move these people outta here!"
"Right," James Proudstar said. Struggling with all his might, he was holding together a broken support cable on the Golden Gate bridge. In a mass panic, people fled . . . riots were everywhere. X-Force sprung into action . . . but even they knew there was not much to be done. It was out of their hands.
"Oh, Lordy," Sam said, hating the experience of not-existing, even if for only a split second. "Ah can only pray someone is doin' somethin' to save existence . . . "
The Negative Zone.
Atom, Steel, Iron Man, Thor, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, and Dr.Fate all stood and watched their powers being pushed to their fullest.
If they had any hope of saving the universe, it lied in Access and two massive beings known only as the Brothers.
"It should be more than enough power," Tony Stark pondered. "The Surfer's Power Cosmic alone should do it . . . not to mention that of Thor, the God of Thunder . . . and then we've got the two most powerful sorcerers on two worlds helping out. The connection Atom built between Access' energy harness and the Brothers looks like it's working fine . . . but it's not."
"Unless the damage caused by Doom did more than we thought," Steel thought out loud. "Maybe when he drained the excess energy from our armor suits, he also damaged the harness?"
"If that's so, then we don't have a chance," Atom frowned. "All of reality is depending on us . . . and we're standing here, failing miserably."
"We can't give up yet," Iron Man said. "Maybe we can reroute the energy somehow . . . feed it directly into the brothers, just like we are to Access?"
"We'd need another harness for that," Atom said. "And we're fresh out . . . "
Somewhere, someone actually saw what was going on. The man called Cable was one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. Realizing something was tearing the fabric of reality apart, he journeyed to the Astral Plane. Tagging along on Dr. Strange's mind, he witnessed everything. And Cable knew just where to find a . . . Harness.
Inside the M'Kraan Crystal.
The assembled X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Archangel, and Beast.
The chances of saving reality: Slim to none.
"The fractures are leaking energy," Jahf said. "What we need is someone to absorb the leaking energies . . . and someone to add energy to the areas not getting enough. That way, it can create some sort of equilibrium in the crystal . . . make it hold together a little longer. But believe me, all it will do is buy us time . . . we need the Phoenix."
"The Phoenix is long gone," Wolverine said. "And the only person even close to it's power levels is Jean . . . and she ain't here."
"I will be able to use my powers to pour energy into the crystal," Storm said. "Gambit would have been of great use here . . . but he is lost to us."
"Ah . . . " Rogue said quietly, "Ah think Ah could . . . absorb the excess energy."
"Rogue?" Beast asked. "I would not think that a wise move, my friend. Your absorption ability is far from controlled . . . the M'Kraan energies could easily overwhelm you."
"We don't have much of a choice, Hank," Rogue said. "We're the X-Men. We have to give it our all . . . and try to buy the universe a few more minutes. Ah won't give up. We're gonna go down fightin'."
"Good," Jahf said. "That's just the attitude I wanted to here. Now get moving!"
The other Earth.
Springfield, IL.
"How's it going?" Captain America asked.
Henry Pym answered for his engineering companions. "Slowly. I'm not sure if we'll have these teleportational platforms up and ready in time . . . I don't even know how much time we have."
"Luthor thinks one day," Batman answered. Even with a broken fist from his fight with the Agents of Chaos, he was still carrying on better than most.
"Captain America?" Jean Grey-Summers asked as she approached.
"Yes, Phoenix?" the living legend awaited her question.
"I've been using my telepathic powers to their limit," she explained. "I've also been joining minds with Moondragon and the Martian Manhunter. The second I saw the flashes of white energy, I knew they seemed familiar to me. I searched my own mind, and then I searched through the universe. The reason why they seemed familiar was because they're the exact result of what happens when the M'Kraan crystal fractures."
"Come again?" Cap asked.
"Once, my body was replaced with that of an entity called Phoenix," Jean explained. "Later, when it had completed it's mission, it left me all its memories. Many years ago, the M'Kraan crystal fractured and threatened to wipe all of reality out of existence. The Phoenix, using its incredible power, was able to seal the fractures and heal reality. I think that's one of the keys to saving this world and ours."
"What about the cancer?" Cap asked.
"I couldn't tell you," Jean sighed. "But I do know that if I can find the M'Kraan crystal in this universe . . . I might be able to start repairing some damage."
"It's worth a shot," Cap said.
"I'll need the help of Moondragon and Martian Manhunter," Jean said. "I could also use Dr. Richard's help . . . and of course, we'll need a space ship."
Superman lowered from a flight next to them. "I overheard it all. The JLA has a jet capable of space travel . . . I'm not sure how fast it is, but it can get you out there."
"But we can't spare Reed," Cap said. "We need him to finish building the teleporters."
"Doctor Pym can do it," Superman said. "If sealing this crystal will buy us more time . . . then let's do it."
Marvel's Earth.
Inside a S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker on the east coast of the United States.
So far, so good . . . Cable thought. With all of existence threatened, SHIELD's too busy to worry about old prisoners. Too busy to notice a powerful telepath and telekinetic sneaking in and breaking out a prisoner.
First, the warrior from the future stopped at an equipment locker and stole the yellow and black suit he needed. Then he went after the actual prisoner.
"Ms. Benson," Cable said as he allowed the redhead prisoner to see him, yet everyone else to not.
"W-Who?" She asked.
"Remember me?" Cable asked. "I led X-Force, along with the New Warriors, X-Factor and others against you when you tried to use your son, at AIM's bidding, to recreate Proteus."
"What do you want?" Ms. Benson asked, looking at the gold and black armor in Cable's hands.
"All of reality is about to be destroyed," Cable said. "But there is one chance for us to save everyone. And it involves your Harness suit."
"So take it," Benson sighed. "Not like I'll ever need it again."
"I would," Cable said, "but I don't know how to operate it. I could just do a telepathic scan . . . but there's a chance I might miss something. Ms. Benson, if you help me, and we succeed . . . I'll see to it you're out of prison. Forever."
"That's a tall order," Benson said. "But it's worth a shot. I'll do it."
Inside the M'Kraan Crystal.
Storm braced herself hard as she poured incredible amounts of lighting into the crystal.
Rogue screamed in pain, but didn't stop. She had to keep absorbing the energies as fast as she could. The universe's only chance rested on her and Storm.
"Is it working?" Nightcrawler asked.
"Yes," Jahf said.
"How much time does it buy us?" Wolverine asked.
Jahf sighed. "Not enough."
Space.
"What are they doing?" Cap asked curiously as he watched the telepaths sit in silence.
Reed Richards replied, "By uniting their minds, they hope to find the M'Kraan crystal faster."
Cap nodded. "I only hope they can, before it's too late."
"Got it!" Jean exclaimed. She telepathically put the coordinates into Reed's mind. Without hesitating, he entered them, and the JLA's spaceship began heading towards their destination.
A matter of hours later . . . they found it.
Captain America was not often taken by surprise. "That's the crystal!?"
The pink M'Kraan crystal was huge . . . easily the size of a large city. And it was just hovering against the blackness of space. Though, every now and then, that space turned white.
"What now?" Reed asked.
"We fly inside of it," Jean said. "And we try to fix the damage."
With a deep breath, Reed Richards sent the jet flying straight into the crystal.
The Negative Zone.
Dr. Strange felt a tugging at his mind, something which was annoyingly breaking the intense concentration the sorcerer was using to feed energy into Access' harness suit, despite the fact it was obviously malfunctioning.
"Strange!" Cable's telepathic call came through loud. "I need you to get me into the Negative Zone, now!"
"Cable," Strange strained, "I can't."
"Have Access do it," Cable said. "Lord knows you're pumping him full of energy."
"Energy that we can't spare," Strange replied.
"I have a Harness suit for you," Cable said. "And a woman who can get it to work. Get me there, or we'll all die."
"Access!" Strange called out. "Find the man called Cable . . . he's on my earth. Bring him and the woman with him here."
"What?" Stark asked.
An instant later, Cable, a red-haired woman, and an empty suit appeared.
"We don't have time to explain," Cable said. "Access, put on the gold armor. Ms. Benson here will help you work it. It's our only hope."
"It's not gonna be pretty," Benson said.
Soon, Access was fitted into the suit. With Benson's instructions, he activated it. Atom reattached the cables connecting him to the Brothers.
Access, in the Harness suit, sent out pink energy lassos that attached themselves to Dr. Strange, Dr. Fate, Thor, the Silver Surfer and Cable.
"Now, it might hurt," Benson replied. "But the suit will feed off of all your energies and send it into this Access guy."
"And from him to the Brothers," Tony Stark nodded. "Let's do it."
With a flick of a switch inside the suit, Access had massive amounts of power flowing into him and the Brothers.
"It's working!" Access called. "I can feel the power . . . "
"Excellent," Atom nodded.
"I just have one worry," Steel said. "If the suit is absorbing all their energy . . . doesn't it stand to reason that it will drain them of their very life energies?"
"It does," Iron Man nodded.
"And we're just gonna stand by and watch?" Steel asked.
"We've got no other choice," Iron Man sighed. "These guys are heroes . . . they know what they're involved in. They may die . . . but their sacrifice can save billions. What better way to go?"