John Stewart guided Galactus to the disturbance caused by the clash of the two Phoenix forces.

The two combatants were unleashing forces that could destroy planets if they were near any. Luckily, the light Phoenix had anticipated that and that was the reason she'd steered the battle to such an isolated section of space.

Galactus watched the combat. He was ready to interfere if need be.

John Stewart was concerned about what he was observing. What if these forces found Oa?

Eventually the question became moot in a shocking way. Both of the Phoenix forces expended so much power, that they burned themselves out, and apparently destroyed each other.

Galactus knew better though. They were the Phoenix force, they would undoubtedly rise again.

Dr. Strange and Zatanna spent hours trying to convince Raven to combine her power with theirs in an attempt to break the barriers preventing a return to their own reality.

Raven stubbornly refused. She feared becoming everything her father represented. She didn't know how to make the others understand.

Zatanna would have understood if only she knew that Trigon was Raven's father.

Lady Shiva confronted Wolverine as he prowled Tokyo.

She challenged him.

Wolverine looked at her with a sense of mild contempt. He flicked out his claws.

"You really want to mess with these, lady?"

"Not really, but I shouldn't really have to should I?" Shiva taunted. "You could hardly be considered an adept if you lean on those crutches."

Wolverine was stung.

"I won't need my claws to beat you!"

"Prove it! Give me your word that you won't use them in our fight."

"Woman, you aren't even a hundred pounds, you won't stand a chance."

"Let me be the judge of that."

Lady Shiva and Wolverine battled.

Wolverine lost. It took a long time, but Wolverine lost.

Lady Shiva tried to finish him but that didn't work out the way she planned. When she delivered the deathblow, it failed. Wolverine decided that his promise was nullified and unsheathed his claws.

Lady Shiva backed off, surprised that Wolverine recovered from something that should have been fatal.

"Obviously, there's more to you then I suspected. Still you can't be taken seriously. Who can consider you a true adept when you can't be hurt? I spit on you." With that Shiva disappeared.

Wolverine smarted with her humiliation.

Masahiro Arashi took control of the Yakuza factions easily. His tattoos alone lent him the credibility he needed. He clearly outranked all the Yakuza that had appeared.

Between the Hand and the Yakuza, Tokyo was practically in their laps.

Sunfire expressed deep concern for Tokyo and was determined to remain as the city's protector.

When Wolverine showed up, he was somber. Sunfire thanked him for his support but Wolverine was barely responsive.

Wolverine climbed into the Blackbird and returned the aircraft to the X-Men, mentally determined to return to Tokyo very soon.

Here's where I'll wrap up the Armor Wars arc. Next week I'll move on to DC with the Collateral Damage arc.

I hope you're enjoying these. Please rate them.

See you next week.

The story moves on to include the Collateral Damage DC set:
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showth...88#post7730788