John Stewart found the cosmic heroes of the Marvel Universe. "Galactus is getting restless. He wants to meet that Captain Beyond guy. Can we locate him and convince him to meet with Galactus? We can't take any chances on Galactus finding Oa. That would be a real disaster."

Mar-Vell gave it a try. "I think I sense him. Let's go before I lose the trail."

John gathered them all in a ring bubble and they followed after after the trail, ignoring the promise made to Black Adam in their haste.

Day 17: Late morning, An alternate Earth near a replicated Smallville.

Fantomex had heard a great deal about what was happening to the superpowered community in general and especially, his former X-Men comrades.

He didn't let it distract him.

He was now working with Mi-6 on sensitive missions. His job was to neutralize renegade mutants working to undermine British interests.

He was struck by the irony of working to further British interests when he'd been raised to believe he was French. Still, a job's a job.

he was hot on the trail of some would be terrorists he'd gotten wind of.

He'd tracked them to the Soho district.

Peering through a skylight, he knew he had them cornered and was watching them construct a bomb. Feeling he'd seen enough, he smashed the skylight and tried to drop in on them. The fact that he failed, was hardly his fault. How could he know that a rift in reality was waiting below him?

Phillippa Sontag; alias Arclight, glared around her. She had been convinced that she was too insignificant to be abducted by whoever was taking all the others.

Angered that her life had been disrupted; she very nearly turned her seismic abilities on the innocent village nearby.

She was distracted by the sudden arrival; apparently out of nowhere, of some strange person dressed in white, who had a peculiar disc hovering near him.

The person seemed to taunt her as he deftly adjusted to his new surroundings.

Certain that she'd been exposed as an agitator, she chose to wait for new developments.

Fantomex looked over the woman he was faced with. He knew who she was from the X-Men's files. Arclight, a Marauder thug who worked for Mr. Sinister. He weighed the odds whether she knew who he was. It was likely she was familiar with his history with the X-Men.

He decided to take a chance and addressed her in French.

"Bonjour Mes Ami!"

"Don't Mes Ami me, damn you!" Arclight launched an attack on Fantomex, sending seismic shocks designed to hurl Fantomex into her arms so she could crush the life out of him.

It was clear she knew full well that he was an X-Men ally and he was forced to leap around in an effort to keep his balance.

Suddenly Arclight was distracted by a commotion as five figures approached behind her.

Fantomex used this opportunity to disappear into the nearby wheat fields.

Two of the figures approaching, he had on file. Ms. Marvel and Hercules. The other three were unfamiliar, despite the extensive database kept in his EVA.

Although he knew who Ms. Marvel and Hercules were, he was reasonably certain they knew little about him. At least Hercules shouldn't.

Hercules and Ms. Marvel easily subdued Arclight while the other three; two males and one female, seemed to be trying to find him. The female wore a red and white costume, one male wore pink and black while the third wore blue and yellow with lightning streaks.

The female seemed to be a telepath; a powerful one at that, possibly rivalling Professor X. Even through his protection he could sense telepathic probing. He moved back through the wheat fields as deftly as he could.

Saturn Girl thought she could sense the presense of the other person who was attacked by the woman just now but something seemed to be blocking her. She contacted Professor Xavier and transmitted his image to him. Xavier immediately recognised Fantomex and told her of his defenses against telepathy.

She relayed the information to Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy and they all began shouting Fantomex's name and telling him that Professor Xavier told them who he was.

This gave Fantomex pause. He waited a bit and then stepped out of the wheat field.

An agreement was made. Fantomex was to be brought to Xavier, not Shield.

Harpoon was thrown into lock up while Puck was taken to meet with Nick Fury and Cameron Chase and then debriefed. The goal was to get him to Toronto as soon as possible so he could join fellow Alpha Flight member Vindicator.

As Harpoon was led to his cell he passed Bane who regarded him with detached interest and Skullbuster who glared at him with the hatred of mutants instilled in her by Franklin Pierce.

The search for Captain Beyond was on. This was going to be tricky, because they were certain that even with their enhanced powers, if Captain Beyond didn't want to be found, he probably couldn't be.

As expected, they ran into a dead end. Mar-Vell told John Stewart of their encounter with Black Adam. John thought about it and said, "Let's get him. If he's with us we can keep an eye on him and keep him from causing trouble for the other heroes. We sure don't want him backing up Darkseid in anything; or for that matter, Lex Luthor.

The group of cosmic heroes went to collect Black Adam.

Arclight was delivered to the facility. The Shield agents were surprised. "Already? We just received a prisoner. They're arriving much quicker today. Looks like a lot of heroes and villains showing up around Smallville today."

Arclight was led to her cell. She received the same detached examination from Bane, a glare from Skullbuster and excited interest from Harpoon.
Two Marauders, locked up in the Facility. Unfortunately for them, they could not communicate.

Fantomex arrived at Xavier's mansion where he was greeted by the Professor, Wolfsbane and Boom Boom.

After the Professor updated him, he requested to get passage to the European theater. He wished to loan his services in the renewed battle against the third Reich that was occuring there.

Xavier agreed he could as soon as Hank McCoy was free to deliver him in the Blackbird.

Zatanna studied the Man-Thing. There were so many similarities to Swamp Thing, yet fundamental differences. Nevertheless; despite his mindlessness, he would be useful. Obviously, he needed a wet environment to function at his fullest.

She sighed. If all the mystics united against her, she wasn't sure the force she could bring on would be up to the fight. Her real hope was the enmity she knew existed between the sorceresses.

Hecate, the Enchantress, Selene, Umar, even Calypso. None of them trusted or liked any of the others. They would work together poorly, even if Nightmare coaxed them to cooperate.

But there were other considerations. Nightmare controlled Arcane and Eclipso. Something was odd about Eclipso. As if he could not perform at his full strength. Otherwise, how could Nightmare control him? Still, Eclipso seemed powerful enough to be a considerable threat.

Plus, Calypso was allied with Diablo and the Lizard. She would likely call on them. Zatanna, might be forced to call on her own nonmystical allies if that came into play.

The cosmic heroes approached Black Adam. John Stewart spoke, "We are going out to search for Captain Beyond. We've come to bring you along if you still wish to join us."

Black Adam studied the group, which had at least one unfamiliar face in Quasar. "I haven't changed my mind. I'm coming along."

His arrogant attitude stood out. No one was glad he was coming along except possibly Moondragon.

John Stewart decided to take a gamble. He took a detour to allow Black Adam to drink in Galactus. It might help him learn a little humility.

They arrived at Galactus' ship and entered.

John Stewart addressed Galactus. "Mighty Galactus. I have assembled a team to seek out and bring before you this Captain Beyond."

Galactus replied. "That is of no consequence. I am only interested in the results I have tasked you with. How you achieve them is your affair."

As expected, Black Adam bristled at the slight from Galactus and was enraged.

"You dare not dismiss Teth Adam! Do so at your own peril!" Adam drove headlong into Galactus' torso at full force. Adam bounced off without Galactus even appearing to notice he'd been accosted.

Black Adam was dumbfounded. "This, this is impossible! It cannot be!"
Unable to accept the evidence, Adam repeated his attack twice more.

Finally, the wisdom of Thoth brought some sense to him. Galactus could only consider him a gnat, to be disregarded.

Angered and humiliated, a seething resentment toward John Stewart began to fester. He knew that Stewart brought him to meet Galactus just to serve this humiliation. Adam vowed silent revenge.

Batman was still wrestling with what he should do about his vampiric doppleganger. The vampire offered his trust but how could anyone trust a vampire. He was scouring the hills near Gotham City in an effort to find where his counterpart could be.

Suddenly, he spotted a hillside that had certain discrepancies that reminded him of his own Batcave.

He approached it and saw the exit he used to patrol in the Batmobile. Exactly like his own. If he didn't know what to look for he wouldn't have found it.

He used his codes to open the entrance. They didn't work. He was temporarily frustrated until it occurred to him to try old codes.

One he'd used months ago worked. Doubtless, this Batman stopped bothering to update entry codes after he was turned.

Batman entered. The Batcave was exactly like his own only dustier and covered with cobwebs.

He searched and found a few coffins but he found something even more significant. A section of the cave where it appeared that something had been dragged underground, similar to a sinkhole. It was big enough to have taken a coffin.

Alarmed, Batman rushed to the other coffins. None of them contained his doppleganger.

Batman went to the sinkhole and dropped in. it was evident that something had dragged the coffin that fell through away. Several somethings actually. Many tiny feet pulling the coffin off, until they appeared to lift it and carry it. Again many tiny feet working together.

Batman was going to have to bring in his JLA allies for this one.

Although Vindicator knew she shouldn't be feeling happy about it, she was elated to learn that Puck was going to join her soon in Toronto. Nothing against the X-Men, but her Alpha Flight friends made her feel less alone in this strange situation.

They'd seen many strange sights surrounding Toronto and they were very concerned about the safety of the citizens. Fortunately many low ranking Canadian resevists were willing to assist in the defense of Toronto. Several rookie mounties were on hand as well.

In Moscow chaos ruled. As the well meaning Rocket Reds vied with the more corrupt Rocket Reds over how the city would be run. Dmitri Pushkin; the Justice League's Rocket Red tried to establish reason. Dmitri Bukharin; who was the Crimson Dynamo, tried to follow his new friend's example but his heart wasn't in it.