"Are those freaking dinosaurs?" Wally asked, stopping behind Morph.

"Uh...yeah," Morph said. "They stole my move."

"Dinosaurs...I mean that should be no big for the X-men, right?" Wally said. "They're just animals."

They saw the dinosaurs almost trample their friends.

"I mean, they're big animals," Morph said.

"We should go help them," Wally said.

"Where'd Mystique go?" Morph said.

Wally looked around. "I don't know...maybe she shifted into someone else."

He ducked as Angel shot some feathers at them.

Then he noted there were some more metal riders also. And Pyro, and Nitro, and Havoc.

"Uh...were they here before?" he said.

Fire and lasers came at them.

Morph turned into something with wings to fly out of the way. "Time Broker can pretty much summon any one he knows.... He's never going to run out of people to throw at us."

"So we can't win just by beating the bad guys...dang it," Wally muttered.

* * *

Nightcrawler had a time of it trying to keep the two teleports who were left busy.

Blink threw her crystals at the X-men and sent them tumbling out of one place and to the ground below or into the path of other enemy fighters.

Kurt evaded it and tackled her.

Magik came at him, swinging her sword.

He hooked his tail around her wrist and yanked her sword out of her hand.

She shoved at him and another portal opened--this one into another realm it looked like.

Kurt jumped nimbly over her head to avoid getting thrown into it.

Blink made a hole in front of him, and he came out, and Magik hit him with one armored hand.

Kurt groaned.

Then he rolled aside as she picked up her sword to finish him off.

"Illy?" Colossus finally recognized her. He hadn't at first.

Magik looked up for a moment.

"What is this?" Colossus said. "What did they do to you?"

He ran at her.

She held up her sword.

He became metal.

Blink moved to portal him.

Kurt yanked her feet with his tail and knocked her down, which broke her focus for a moment.

She kicked at him, gasping for air.

"Fraulein, I believe you are under mind control." Kurt grabbed her head and tried to hold her down. "I pray for Gott to free you before you do something vorse."

"Get off me!" Blink said.

"Illy--" Colossus grabbed her sword and yanked it out of her hand. "--Please, wake up. Not you, this is."

Magik stared at him blankly. Then shook her head. "Too late, Pietro... Inside my head."

Colossus said something in Russian.

Perhaps it was something she'd have remembered their family saying, because Magik shuddered like it hurt her.

"Is all right." Colossus took her arm. "We help you. Now everything will be all right."

Magik stood stock still.

Colossus pulled her into a hug.

Kurt still had Blink pinned, despite her trying to make a portal.

"Vhatever this evil is, come out of her," he said forcefully. "Lose your grip on this poor voman. You are not in charge of people's fates!"

"Stop it," Blink said. "That hurts! Ah..." She grabbed her head. "I can't...I..."

Light seemed to flash behind her eyes for a moment. Or maybe it was a trick of that realm.... Nothing looked like it normally would.

Blink suddenly stopped struggling.

"Oh..." She looked up. "Where am I? What have I been doing?"

Kurt got off her. "Is all right, Fraulein."

"No, no!" Blink said. "Quick, knock me out, now! While I still have control." She clutched at her chest. "I--look out!"

Kurt looked.

The wall had peeled back behind them, and a hole was opening to the outside.

A dark shape loomed inside.

Something with...nine heads?

"Uh...is that real?" Kurt asked.

Kitty looked up from where she was. "What in the heck--is that a hydra?"

One of the heads snapped at them.

"Is real!" Magik cried, in some alarm. "Everything is real here!"

She pulled free from Colossus and snatched her sword up. One of the heads snapped at her, and she knocked it aside.

"I'm not familiar vith this creature," Kurt said.

"Greek Myth..." Blink said. "Every myth could be real here...if you can imagine it.... Don't cut its head off--two more will grow back."

The middle head shot fire, and they all dodged frantically.

"Then how do you fight it?" Kurt asked.

"I don't remember," Blink said.

Kitty raced up to them. "You have to set the heads on fire," she said.

They all looked at Pyro.

"He's not going to help," Colossus said.

"Maybe we run through its heart," Magik said, hefting her sword. "Keep it head busy."

"Are you guys on our side now?" Kitty said.

"The signal in the chips they put in our heads has been weakened." Blink tapped her forehead. "It seems the Preacher here jarred me out of its control for now. And Magik too...but not sure if will last.... Maybe we can help you take that thing down first--you all have a plan, right?"

"Uh, sure, it was winning," Kitty said.

"And we're dead," Blink said. "Never mind.... You're the phaser? Try to keep it from eating us. Just no one--"

"Cut off its head, yeah," Kitty said. "I've read myths, okay?"

"I may need to branch out..." Kurt muttered.

The heads snapped at them.

Kurt teleported. Blink teleported. Kitty phased.

Colossus caught on and yanked it down.

For a few moments that's all they were doing, was dodging heads.

Then Magik got up under it, using a portal, and ran her sword into its chest.

The beast gave a terrible cry and fell over.

"At least they die..." Kitty said.

"This feels more like it's to keep us busy than anything," Colossus observed. "Is evil machine still powering up?"

"Oh..." Blink said. "I remember now.... Yes, they want you not to be able to stop that thing. Once it's finished, they...they're going to draw all of you together, like a magnet, and complete the Merging. The telepaths will all hack your minds.... That was the plan..."

"Vhat?" Kurt said. "How could they do this?"

"Easily," Magik said. "That's how they got us all...only some of us had no doubles.... Is bad."

Suddenly she screamed and fell down like someone had yanked her.

Blink did also.

Kurt and Colossus and Kitty turned.

Selene had snuck up on them.

Black smoke, claw-like things were hovering around her in the air.

"Those girls run their mouths too much," she said. "I've been wanting to get my hands on your bodies for some time."

One of the claws grabbed Colossus by his throat and began to drain his life.

"I thought you had to touch them..." Kitty shivered.

"That was then," Selene said. "This realm is fun. Everyone is so much more powerful...except you, it looks like."

She reached for her.

Kurt snatched Kitty out of the way. "Run," he said.

He dropped her by the others and poofed back to grab Colossus.

Selene caught him by his tail--again with the tail!

Angel appeared behind her.

"Keep the rest of them off me," Selene said. "I'll end this fight early. Time for me to power up."

Angel nodded and raised his wings.

Selene turned suddenly. "Wait a moment--" she said.

Angel struck her squarely in the jaw, and she fell back.

Angel turned into Mystique, who pulled out her gun and pointed it at Selene.

Selene stared at her in anger. "Why, you little--"

Mystique blasted her arm.

Kurt was dropped by the tendril.

"You and I have unfinished business," Mystique said to Selene tightly. "How about you stop playing around with them and actually fight a real opponent?"

"You think you're a real opponent?" Selene scoffed. "You got lucky before because your boyfriend saved you. You're not any match for me!"

The ceiling opened again overhead, and Selene rose off the ground...

The smoke seemed to almost from a shape around her...like some monster.

Mystique looked up at it.

"Mother!" Kurt poofed to her. "This is madness.--"

"Go, Kurt. I have this," Mystique said.

"Vhat? No," Kurt said.

Mystique gave him a fierce look. "I said go! Get the tin man out of here."

"But..." Kurt said.

Mystique's look intensified.

"All right..." Kurt felt almost like a kid whose mom had just given them the countdown.

He took Colossus and ran.

"How quaint, but you know I'll get him eventually," Selene said. "I've been waiting for that, actually. I hate people like that. So, you think you can fight me?"

She reached for Mystique.

Mystique dodged her.

Then she shifted--

Something strange happened when she did.

The realm might have been affecting all their fighting abilities, but it might have been most noticeable here.

She turned into a dragon.

Blue, clawed, winged...

But it looked like it was sort of an avatar over her actual form, though you couldn't really see where she herself was inside it, but it shimmered like it was made out of light, or energy, or something.

[Image: two stars for arms, blue dragon]

Sort of like how Selene's was made out of dark smoke.

Selene wasn't expecting to see this. Foolishly, she assumed that the power boost of the realm only affected the people on her side, the line between reality and imagination was only blurring for her advantage...but that wasn't the case.

The Mystique dragon slashed at Selene's dark, smokey, monstrous avatar like it was real, and began tearing it to pieces.

Selene tried to fight back, not really ready for this.

"Dude." Wally nudged Morph. "Check that out.... Mystique just turned into a blue dragon."

"She...what?" Morph looked.

The dragon roared at Selene and pounced on her, knocking her to the ground.

Selene put her hands up.

"Whoa..." Morph said.

"That's so cool," Wally said.

"I'm gonna marry her," Morph said.

"Yeah, man, definitely," Wally agreed.

"Wait, if she can do that..." Morph suddenly turned into a huge eagle. It was the size of a small plane.

Screeching, he caught Angel, the real one, in his beak and sent him hurtling to the ground, then pinned him with his claws.

Angel's feathers glanced off his feathers like they were nothing.

"What is happening?" Sinister asked Time Broker.

"They are unlocking the secrets of this realm." Time Broker seemed to be enjoying this.

"And why did you not warn us of this?!" Sinister said.

"Don't fret about it," Time Broker said. "They'll expend their energy at this rate, trying to keep up with our distractions. And it should be a good show. And what do you care ig your fighters get taken out? You were going to kill or subdue them anyway."

"You had better be correct about this," Apocalypse said.

"At most we have only a few more minutes till the machine is ready," Time Broker said. "The amount of energy they're generating just by being in here is enough to charge it up anyway. Enjoy the show. You both are so tightly wound, you don't take any interest in watching things play out."

Both of them didn't care for this logic. They had little imagination and little interest in anything other than themselves. Time Broker only was interested the way someone might be if they set something on fire and watched it burn, but, even so, he was more an observer of humanity than they were.

Funny, all of them were so busy watching the fight, they never noticed Quicksilver scuttling up the rails of the machine (with some difficulty because they buzzed under him) to get a closer look at the pods.

Even doing this made him feel tired, but he didn't know that was because the machine acted like a magnet, draining energy out of the people in the room.

He found lots of telepaths: Cable, both Psylockes (apparently her luck had run out when it came to being useful for other tasks), and then both Jean's and both Xaviers. Also some other telepaths he didn't recognize.

Surprisingly, the other Frost was here too.... So she hadn't died?

He couldn't find any way to open the pods from up there. It must have been on the control deck itself.

Sneaking back to Shine, he reported this.

She'd been dodging other people's attacks and sneaking closer to the control deck, bit by bit, while waiting for him.

Trinity was following her, and so was Kevin.

"I canna seem to mold that thing." He pointed to the machine. "It's not like regular things."

"Yeah, something's weird about it," Quicksilver said. "I feel pretty tired now...but,] the telepaths...are...up there.... Jeans are across from each other." He pointed, looking woozy. "And so are the Professors.... Uh, geez, it's cold in here."

"Pietro?" Shine said, with some concern.

He fell over.

Trinity shook him. "I think he passed out. He's cold, too...shivering."

Shine narrowed her eyes at the machine. "That's not a normal device..."

She glanced at the three bad guys.

"Okay..." she muttered. "This plan is mad, but, Trinity, it's just possible that device will not bother you as much. You're not a mutant. They're trying to catch us, but you were never really part of the group. They don't even seem to notice that you're here, hardly..."

She held up her sword. "Let's see.... I've never done this, but...in this realm, who knows? Maybe I can."

She actually pulled her sword into two pieces...one remained a sword, the other beam more like a long knife, with the same material.

She handed this to Trinity. "You should have your own also. Put them together. Between the two of us, it should be enough, I hope. Try to cut the telepaths loose, as many as you can."

"How will I get up there?" she asked.

"Kevin, get her up there," Shine said. "Try to disguise it, though.... I'm going to try to distract them so they don't notice. They'll probably talk to me. None of them like me, right? I just have to use that. Don't make a noise. If we don't free them...I have a bad feeling that none of this will matter in a few minutes."

"So...uh...you're giving me, the human, the most important job here?" Trinity said.

"I'm only human," Shine said. "Why should it matter? Go, hurry."

Trinity didn't feel at all sure she could do this, but she knew there was nothing for it but to try.

Shine nodded at Kevin, who made a shield to hide them from view, while she ran up to the control deck.

"Stop right here," Apocalypse said, holding up his hand as if to blast her. "You are not setting foot on this."

Shine pointed her sword at him. "I know, I know," she said. "I just have one more thing I have to ask you about, and then we can put this whole thing to rest finally."

"Why should we talk to you?" Sinister asked scornfully.

"What if I told you that the battle will hang on whether or not you listen to this?" Shine said. "Would you be interested then?"

Time Broker frowned, and they exchanged a look.

"I see no reason not to humor you for a few minutes," Time Broker said smugly, because, of course, that was all the time he thought he needed. "What is so weighty that you think it will change the course of the battle?"

"I'd like to talk to you about Shakespeare for a moment," Shine said. "My friend Hank would be proud--huh...where is Hank?" She frowned suddenly. "I can't believe I forgot about him."

"Oh, him," Sinister said. "That was easy. He faded from the timeline just about."

"Excuse me?" Shine said.

"A minor slip in the cracks of reality," Time Broker said. "He's currently on the plane outside time and space where the Exiles usually meet. I could bring him here, if you wish. But I'd have to get something in return."

"And what do you want?" Shine asked warily.

"Your word is binding, isn't it?" Time Broker said. "If you will swear not to raise you sword against the three of us again for the remainder of this fight, I will return your friend to you."

Shine stared at him.

"Well, there's a deal," Sinister said.

Apocalypse didn't seem to care.

Shine tilted her head. "Can I finish what I was going to say to you even after I swear this?"

"Sure, I can allow you one last hurrah," Time Broker said.

Shine put her sword tip into the ground in front of her. "Then I promise not to attack you with my sword for the remainder of this fight, the fight being specifically the one going on right now. And not speaking for any future fights."

"There won't be a future fight," Apocalypse said. "You fool. You just lost any chance of that."

"But I'm a man of my word," Time Broker said.

A portal appeared overhead, and Hank came tumbling out of it.... He had sand all over him.... He also looked kind of dehydrated.

"What?" He looked around. "Where am I?"

"Hi, Hank," Shine said. "Well...on with my metaphor." She brushed her hair back. "In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare sets three chests out for our consideration, one of gold, one of silver, one of lead. Inside one is the portrait of Portia, the heroine of the play, and whoever guesses which one it is will win her hand. Are you familiar with the story, Essex?"

"I've read it. I don't see why you're bringing it up?" Sinister said.

"A very poignant play," Hank muttered. Apparently he was never so far gone that he couldn't appreciate the Bard.

"Well, perhaps you remember what each chest said," Shine said. "The gold one says: 'He who chooseth me shall get what many men desire.' The silver says: 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves', and the Lead says: 'Who chooseth me shall give and hazard all he hath.' You know how it ends, probably, but which would you choose?"

"I have no interest in riddles," Sinister said.

"A shame," Shine said. "If you answered correctly, you might win this fight."

"I would choose gold," Apocalypse spoke. "I've never read the story, but what many men desire would be power and prestige. It would be the clear choice to win."

"If I didn't know the end of this story, I'd have said Silver," Sinister said. "Because I think we have to work for what we want, and then getting it is our just reward. I've put hard work into my research, and it paid off."

"See, neither of you read enough fairy tales," Shine said. "When I heard this riddle, I immediately knew it was Lead, because I knew that, in fairy tales, it's always what looks the least likely on the outside that proves to be the correct answer. Also the clue 'to give and hazard all you have' seems the best metaphor for love to me. Shakespeare was big on that. How, for love, people will do anything, even die.... Hank, do you remember what was inside the gold chest?"

"A skull, I believe," Hank said. "And a note, which read as follows: 'All that glistens is not gold. Often you have heard that told. Many a man his life hath sold, but my outside to behold. Gilded tombs do worms enfold. Had you been as wise as bold, young in limbs, in judgement old, your answer had not been enscrolled. Fare you well, your suit is cold.' A wise ending."

"I think it fits that you thought gold, Apocalypse." Shine tilted her head. "You'd give it all to get something that really doesn't matter that much. Power, control...applause, all of it is empty and cold and hard as gold. And it's not even real, really. I almost pity you--you chase after all that glitters, and you get nothing, really. And fittingly, death is the just result for that pursuit. But in the silver chest, there was the picture of a clown, and a warning that whatever the person who chose it did to make themselves seem like they deserved a wife, or whatever you put in its place, they would ever have the head of an clown. And so you see, the futility of thinking that you can get what you deserve and that it would be something you would like, Sinister. But in the words of another writer, 'All get what they want, they do not always like it'. [Lewis]. I tell my students that often."

She folded her arms. "Shall I explain the answer of the riddle to you?"

"Do." Time Broker was not bothered by all this, though the other two were enraged and would have killed her on the spot if he hadn't been calling the shots.

"Lead is as heavy as gold, but it's not as pretty," Shine said. "Nor as valuable. One might say you get all the weight of the gold, without the benefit of it...but those benefits can just be distractions, really. The real substance of love, being willing to risk it all for what you love, doesn't care about appearances. Or what the world ascribes value to. We look at the lead, and it's not appealing to us. The suitors associated Portia with beauty and wealth, and so they chose wrong, because her father associated her with true value, value on the inside. And so, you see, Shakespeare is telling us that it's more important to pick what's valuable on the inside. Not what other people chase after. Not that we think we're owed by them...but what we'd be willing to give it all for. And that is the person who truly deserves the reward.... So, here is my question, and this might change the whole battle for you all: What would you give in order to win this fight?"

They stared at her.

"Would you give up your kingdom?" Shine asked, with a glance at the walls showing the scenes from the outside world. "Would you give up your powers? Your science...your machines...? Would you give up this realm of yours itself? For the possibility that you would get what you had always wanted, deep down."

They kept staring at her.

"You see, repentance is all in one thing," Shine said. "Giving up all you know in order to choose what is better. And that is also rebirth. Jesus called people to follow Him, and He didn't demand they repent. He demanded that they give up all they had and follow Him. Because that is the truest sacrifice and truest loyalty to the truth. And humans are much less disposed to give up their comforts in life than to just bear the discomforts that some sin causes them from time to time. And men like you get to where they can hardly deny themselves everything. It's been observed that great wicked men have to have some virtue in order to really do so much wickedness. But where are yours? What is it you forego in order to get what you want? Answer me, and you may have the victory of this fight."

They still just stared at her.

"Oh...you don't know," Shine said, with a small smile. "Do you? You take it all from everyone else.... When did you last lose anything? When did you last suffer for this? Not from the heroes winning--that is just an inconvenience to you, not something you chose. Do you even know what self denial is? What is risk? What is giving and not taking?"

"Enough of this," Sinister said. "You think this proves anything? What is all this but your babble about what's right and wrong?"

"I told you before that I would give my all to do this," Shine said. "And so would all of us. We're not even all heroes, by the usual definition...but it doesn't matter. Anyone can make this choice, but not everyone will. How can I fear the three of you? You are wholly selfish beings. How can you ever win? You don't know what it takes to win."

Sinister hissed.

Oddly, Apocalypse was not arguing this point.

Time Broker didn't seem to care.

"Kill her," Sinister said.

"It won't matter," Time Broker said.

"She makes an interesting point," Apocalypse said.

"What?" Sinister said.

"In many millennia, I have never fully stamped out the opposition to my regime," Apocalypse said. "It is true, I never make sacrifices. I always determined that beneath me. Perhaps it was, but if there was a principle that said it was only possible to win when one would sacrifice something to do so, I would have missed it."

"And so you would have," Shine agreed. "Well, who would have thought only Apocalypse of all people would have the slight bit of self reflection?"

[On the show, actually, he does, though it's ultimately useless.]

"So what kind of sacrifice would I have to make to get what I want?" Apocalypse said.

"What are you doing?" Sinister asked.

Time Broker said nothing.

"The only way to get peace," Shine said, "is to give up all of this, right now. Turn your back on it. Relinquish your power and hold on the people. And acknowledge that you are not God after all. And you might be saved. Even you. Let go of your grip on immortality and accept humanity. If you could do that, then you would win, more truly than they ever could." She gestured at Sinister and Time Broker. "But what I ask is incredibly difficult, and I do not think you'll do it."

"She's spinning a web," Sinister said. "We know of this one--she is clever. She gets people to do things they would never normally do. We had feared this from the start--" He didn't notice that he'd admitted that. "--Do not fall for it. You of all beings know we are beyond good and evil."

"But it does interest me," Apocalypse said. "That victory is always so fleeting, even at moments like this. The Wordlings succeed in many worlds, and we have trouble even controlling this one without endless contrivances. Did you never wonder if there was a reason?"

"No," Sinister said. "I never did."

"Perhaps you were just too weak," Time Broker said.

"But would Sinister really know?" Shine asked lazily. "He loses every time, Apocalypse. What makes you think he can advise you in this matter? Take it from someone who's actually won these fights in the past. I'm telling you the truth. People like you are cut down like grass in the end. Don't you fear it, deep down? Somewhere you hardly even let anyone see--but that you may be more vulnerable than you think you are? That even longevity and power do not make you invincible? That no one is immortal who walks this earth?"

Kevin, who was still hidden from their view, but partially listening to this, wondered at it.

Shine, just by talking, was actually...was she actually making Apocalypse uneasy?

Hank, who'd seen Apocalypse before and never known him to waver, was astonished.

And Sinister? He was always so far removed from caring what anyone said or thought--was he actually feeling threatened by just her words?

"Silence her," he said to the Time Broker.

"Oh, but I agreed to let her talk," Time Broker said. "And it's almost too late anyway. It's time now."

The machine was glowing brighter by the moment...whirring louder.

Was it already too late?