Somewhere not of this world, someone born of this world (the 
Multiverse, that is..) stands fiddling with a small hand held computer of 
some sort. He is called Tymwalker, and he was just hatched only a few hours 
ago. The entire infinity of the universe could be said to be flowing through 
him. But it would be a lie. The sheer vastness of time and space mashed 
together into this golden squishy form simply cannot be calculated. Purple 
energy cascades from his head and hands, creating a rather nice light 
display. His eyes spew some energy too, but not nearly as much, not that 
it's a useful piece of information or anything. He reads aloud what he sees 
in his computer.
"In space, no one can hear you scream..." he peers about, his golden 
skin glistening off of the purple light radiating from the sky. "Maybe no 
one screamed loud enough. That's got to be it... If people would SCREAM loud 
enough while in space, they could probably hear themselves." He looks down 
at himself. "Gee... I'm naked... Maybe I should accessorize a bit more." 
Tymwalker slips the computer back into it's casing, which has the words 
'Don't Panic' printed right on the front.
Tym starts pondering about his current predicament. How he came to 
be. What his purpose in the universe is, and how a digital watch would look 
really nice on him. He recalls orange rubber and a blender, but dismisses it 
as a thought created by a drink that he's going to drink within the next 
couple hours. Unfortunately, all he can recall is getting the stuffing 
beaten out of him by a bunch of super-hero types wearing colorful costumes 
and sporting weird powers.
"Mutants..." he starts, but never finishes.
He fumbles around in a pocket. He then realizes that he's naked, and 
doesn't have pockets yet. Perhaps he's just digging in one of the many 
pockets he WILL have after he gets something to wear. That's not important. 
What is important is that Tymwalker is now wearing a long brown trenchcoat, 
with lots of pockets.
"There! That it's muuuch better. Now, let me see... what was I going 
to do...? Ah! Yes." He reaches into one of the many pockets of his 
trenchcoat and pulls out a handful of little snowglobes. He tosses them into 
the air and surprisingly, the float there and swirl about in a circular 
pattern. Tym takes a slightly larger snowglobe and sets it down on a 
decorated porcelain pedestal that appeared out of nowhere. "Ahh... home 
sweet home..." The crackling purple energy on his head, which seems to form 
a really neat 'hairstyle' sweeps in front of his face, but he simply 
'brushes' it aside.
"And now..." He starts imitating Julia Child, "...I'm going to 
prepare the mixture for the omelette. First you crack an egg," Tymwalker 
reaches up and grasps a random snowglobe, tapping it on the side of the 
pedestal, cracking it. "And then proceed to pour it's contents into the 
mixture." He pours the snowglobe into a quarter sized hole in the top of the 
larger snowglobe, which seems to have a piece of masking tape stuck to it 
with the word "HOME" written on it in red crayon. Anyway, the larger 
snowglobe begins to throb slightly, and expands a bit.
"Oooohh... this is gonna be one hell of an omelette!"

Several days prior, in orbit around the Earth, lies the space 
platform called Avalon. Only moments ago, the X-Men called Cyclops and 
Phoenix found themselves transported there by the Acolyte known as Voght. 
Avalon is trembling, mostly due to the two powerhouses battling each other 
inside of the station. Exodus and the reality-displaced Holocaust hurl 
massive amounts of energy at each other, not even considering what it will 
do to Avalon. Actually, Holocaust doesn't really care.
Scott Summers is too busy watching his former teammate Colossus, and 
Peter's fellow Acolyte, Scanner, dragging the mindless body of Magneto to 
some semblance of safety.
Exodus and Holocaust continue trading blows, teetering on the edge 
of the station. Fire and energy spew from the furious battle. Everyone else, 
for the most part, is smart enough to stay away from them. Then it happens.
A series of huge chunks of metal suddenly strikes the station, 
impacting precisely where Holocaust and Exodus are battling. Or where they 
WERE battling. Before Avalon's quickly deteriorating environmental control 
managed to reinitiate itself to keep the atmosphere inside of the station 
intact, Exodus and Holocaust were sucked out into the vacuum that is space. 
However, they don't remain there for very long, no, because they soon start 
plummeting into the Earth's atmosphere.
Everything would be quiet if not for that incessant pounding of 
metal against the hull of Avalon.
Jean looks to Scott, then to Peter, then to a random gaping Acolyte, 
who shall remain nameless. 
Scott stands boldly. "We've got to stop whatever it is out there 
threatening to obliterate this place. Otherwise, innocent lives will be 
lost... including ours." No one really mentions the escape pods, but that's 
of no consequence. "Jean, do you think you can use your telekinesis to 
soften the impact of the--" He's stopped in mid sentence by a rather large 
chunk of debris striking Avalon. Everyone tries to remain balanced, or, for 
those who fell on their butts, stand up.
"Already ahead of you, dear." Jean flies with grace toward the 
rather large hole in the hull of the station, really glad that there's now a 
force field in place to keep her from joining Exodus and Holocaust. She 
peers out. "It looks like the remains of..." She notices the intricate 
circuitry that comprises the white metal pieces currently impacting Avalon. 
"...a spaceship?"
"A spaceship?" Cyclops asks, making sure he heard his wife 
correctly. "Shi'ar?"
"No," She replies. "Like nothing we've ever encountered before." She 
begins using her powerful telekinetics to slow the bits of spacecraft that 
keep threatening to destroy the entire space platform.
As Phoenix does her thing, Scott turns to Peter and whatever 
Acolytes might be listening. "We've got to find all of the survivors in the 
station. I don't see Rusty or Skids... Where are they?" 
"Rusty was..." Scanner looks down solemnly. "...killed by that.. 
Holocaust creature. By the time I arrived, it was too late. Milan was killed 
as well."
Scott says nothing. He simply thinks back to when he first met Rusty 
Collins. It was X-Factor's first assignment. Rusty lost control of his 
powers, and went rampant. From then, he spent his time with X-Factor, until 
eventually going off with the New Mutants. His thoughts are interrupted by 
Jean.
"Oh God no!" Jean shouts, "I'm picking up a psi signature in that 
wreckage. A human! There... There's someone IN all of that mess!" By now, 
the shockwaves from the impacting spaceship have subsided, thanks to 
Phoenix's interference.
"Colossus!" Cyclops shouts, "Is there a docking bay or something we 
can use to pull all of that debris in?"
"Yes. This way." Piotr huge armored form heads off down a corridor, 
with Cyclops not far behind.
Most of the pieces of the shattered ship have come to a stop, and 
Jean is primarily there now to keep them in one place, and to eventually 
guide them into the storage area so that they can find the one human life 
sign that she picked up.
"Jean..?" A voice mutters from behind. Sally Blevins, the mutant 
known as Skids, walks closer to Phoenix. She seems to have tears in her 
eyes. "They said that Rusty..."
"I know..." Jean's soothing voice could tame a hungry lion. "You've 
got to be strong. We all do. What's important is that we're going to all 
make it through all of this."
Skids' head lowers, and she weeps some more.
>>>Jean!<<< Scott's mind enters Jean's, due to the psychic rapport 
that they share. >>>Follow my psi imprint, and try to guide the pieces to 
the shuttle bay that I'm standing in. It's big enough to store it all. At 
least until we find the person trapped in all of that.<<< Scott shuts up so 
that his wife may concentrate.
"Skids," Jean begins, "Take as many Acolytes as you can to the 
hangar. By working together, we can at least save one life today."
She nods, still sulking about Rusty, but not wanting to see anyone 
else die. She and several Acolytes took off down the same corridor Cyclops 
and Colossus went through earlier.

Soon, in another part of the orbiting space platform, Scott Summers 
begins wondering about his whole role in this. Here he and Jean were, 
visiting relatives, and then the next second, he's witnessing Magneto's heir 
battling some unknown force of nature. Now here he is working with the X-
Men's arch enemies, the Acolytes, to rescue someone from the remains of an 
alien ship of unknown origin. To top it all off, the person they're rescuing 
is a human, according to his wife. Cyclops stops thinking about everything 
as the first chunks of ship begin floating into the hangar, and his 
leadership skills start kicking into their usual gear.
"Colossus, try to navigate the debris to the back of the room, so we 
can utilize space as much as we can. And be careful..."
Peter Rasputin gently guides the first piece to the rear of the 
hangar. "I really wish you wouldn't talk down to me like--" He's interrupted 
by Skids and many of the remaining Acolytes arriving.
Using whatever passes for common sense for the Acolytes, they begin 
assisting Piotr as new pieces of debris float in. What appears to be the 
remains of some sort of weapons platform seems to be mixed in with the space 
shuttle parts.
"Cyclops!" Colossus shouts. "I think I found him!" Peter tries to 
pry open a rather large hatch in the bigger part of the platform. Cargill, 
formerly known as Frenzy, moves over to assist her fellow Acolyte, and 
former X-Man. The hatch opens with a loud crunch.
>>>Jean!<<< Scott shouts telepathically to his wife. >>>We've got 
him...<<<
A young man wearing a rather dented suit of gray technological 
armor, with wide blue panels on his arms and legs. His gray open-faced 
helmet is rather bashed in as well, but still upon his head.
Phoenix arrives, looking terribly exhausted. Scott rushes to comfort 
her. She waves him off, heading for the young man. "He's still alive, I can 
sense it...but there's something very special about him."
"He looks like some kind of space explorer." Scott adds.
"I'm going to do a psi-scan on him." Jean closes her eyes and 
concentrates. Within about a minute, she pulls back. "My God, Scott... 
there's another. We've got to get him medical attention!"
"I'm afraid..." Scanner begins, "...that he would be better off 
somewhere on Earth. What little we had as a medical bay was destroyed while 
Exodus and that... thing.. fought."
Voght steps forward. "I got you into this, I'll send you back with 
him. It's the least I could do."
Jean looks at the massive remains of the weapons platform. "A 
transport would be more convenient, actually. We need to take that with us 
as well. If what I read from this man's mind is true, we're going to need 
it."
"If you say so..."
Skids rushes forward. "I... Since Exodus is gone, I think it's safe 
for me to return as well. I have nothing here without Rusty. I..."
"You're always welcome with us, Skids." Scott says, not smiling, 
because he doesn't do that very often. He turns to Voght.
Jean and Colossus separate the components of the battle platform 
from the rest of the wreckage as Voght motions for the Kleinstock brothers 
to load the fragments of the platform into the shuttle off to the side of 
the bay, since shuttle bays usually contain shuttles. In no time, Cyclops, 
Phoenix, Skids, and their mysterious friend, along with the shattered 
remains of the machine in which he was stored in, are all prepped in the 
shuttle, which was set on auto-pilot, since none of them could really fly 
it. The Acolyte shuttle's engines ignite and, after a series of safety 
precautions, leaves the space station and begins its decent into Earth's 
atmosphere.

Within the shuttle, all is relatively quiet. Until, that is, someone 
says something.
"Jean, have you tried contacting the Professor yet? We do need to 
find a place to store this thing. And I doubt Hank's going to appreciate 
having another addition to his medical bay."
Jean nods. "I was just about to..."
>>>Charles?<<< Jean telepathically broadcasts to said person.
She gets a reply. >>>Jean! I feared that something happened to you. 
So much has happened. Many unfortunate things. I can't really go into detail 
right now, but--<<<
>>>A lot's happened on our end too. We'll be heading back to the 
mansion within the next hour or so. We've got a rather large and... unique 
piece of cargo, along with a man who requires immediate medical attention. 
There is more to this man than meets they eye. The things I saw in his 
mind..<<< Jean's eyes remain closed as she communicates with Xavier.
>>>After everything we just experienced down here, Jean, I wouldn't 
doubt anything. A great amount of life was lost. I'm afraid that X-Force is 
no more... We'll talk more when you and Scott arrive.<<< The Professor 
prepares to end his psychic link with Phoenix.
>>>X-Force...?<<< She hesitates, and looks over at Skids, who is 
sleeping. >>>We'll see you when we land, Charles.<<<
She looks over at her husband, with an obvious look of great sadness 
in her eyes. "Scott... So much happened while we were gone..."
"What do you mean?" He looks genuinely concerned. Something Cyclops 
learned how to do a long time ago. "What happened?"
Without a second thought, Jean projects her memories into Scott of 
the conversation she just had with the Professor. Something Phoenix learned 
to do a long time ago. 
If the man called Cyclops could frown any more than he usually does, 
he would. "They... took the same risk we take every day. It could happen to 
any of us..." As per usual, he tries to hide his feelings.
Skids continues to sleep, oblivious to the world around her, her 
body thankfully forcing sleep upon her, despite her grief.
Jean moves to the back of the shuttle pod and looks down at their 
mysterious passenger. "Maybe he'd be more comfortable without that armor." 
Using her mutant gift of telekinesis, Phoenix casually slips off all of the 
bits of dented and scorched armor from the man. A large bruise appears just 
below his blonde hairline. A handsome man, looking about in his early 
twenties, sits innocently before Jean Grey-Summers. "How did you get 
involved in all of this?" She asks him, knowing full well he can't answer 
her at this time. Jean then ponders what she saw when she initially psi-
scanned him. He holds great power within him, yet his very presence could 
attract a greater danger than this world has ever seen.
The Acolyte shuttle continues its decent toward the eastern US.

Meanwhile, back in orbit, the inhabitants of Avalon try to repair 
the damage done to their station, as well as their emotions toward their 
cause.
"Lord Magneto has been returned to his resting place." Scanner 
reports to Amelia Voght, who has made every attempt to keep the Acolytes 
optimistic about their current situation.
She can only nod. Part of her fears what would happen if the 
Acolytes would revolt against her. Another part fears that Exodus would 
return, and make her life a living hell. He meant well, she thinks, but 
Magneto's legacy should not be soiled with the spilling of innocent blood.
"Is... everything going to be ok?" Scanner asks reluctantly, quite 
possibly afraid of the answer.
"Ok? Was everything ever truly 'ok'?" Amelia responds. "I just think 
we all will have to make a decision of what to do with the rest of our 
lives."
Scanner nods, and begins to turn around to leave. Unfortunately, 
that pose is interrupted by an explosion coming from the direction of the 
landing bay. One would think the Acolytes would be getting used to this, but 
it still surprises them.
"What the?!" Voght takes several steps forward. She quickly 
dissipates and reappears in the hangar. The bodies of the Kleinstock 
brothers lie scattered about the floor. "What's going on??"
Unuscione, sporting her psionic exo-skeleton, stands a good few 
dozen yards from the rather large hole which they once called a hangar door. 
Good thing for them the convenient automatic environmental control systems 
of Avalon still work. What is most worth noting is the rather large purple 
robot sporting a single optic and a smoking weapon on the end of his left 
arm, which is what greeted the Kleinstock brothers rather rudely.
"Fleshlings." He says in a rather monotone synthetic voice. "My name 
is Shockwave. From this moment forward, this space station is now property 
of the Decepticon Empire. Resist me, and perish."
Scanner quickly makes her way into the hangar, just in time to hear 
Shockwave's speech. She stands next to Unuscione, Cargill, Voght, and 
Colossus. "Ah..."