DISCLAIMER: Excalibur, the X-Men Generation X, Wolverine, and any other known mutants. belong to Marvel. Sliders is the property of St.Claire entertainment i think Cyle Katarn belongs to Steven Quinlan the Kindred belong to Steven Quinlan, if you want to use either just give me a holler

Please tell me what you thought, i'll answer any comments my email adress is Interlanes@compuserve.com

Any text with a # at the beginning and end has been translated so that all of you who don't speak J'Hiddian can also know what's going on

There is no Death, only a change of worlds
-Excalibur Annual 2

If we're going to be dammed, then let's be dammed for what we really areJean-Luc Picard

***** Muir Island Genetic research centre, Scotland, Earth 616 *****

Kitty Pryde slept an unfitfull sleep. It had been a year since that day. The day when her best friend in the world had vanished. Rachel Summers, the second host to the celestial creature known as Phoenix. Kitty saw Rachel in the Timestream Trying to save a friend. Rachel switched places with Brian Braddock and in her mind Kitty heard Rachel scream as everything that was Rachel switched with everything that was Braddock. Then Kitty heard another scream as the dormant psi-link came back on line and for a brief moment she felt Rachel's pain. Kitty awoke screaming.

***** Los Angeles harbour, Earth 99 *****

The wind was splitting Quinn Mallory's face open, it was coming with such a force that he could hardly stand. Beside him his friends anxiously watched him. He looked at the device in his hand. It was a bit larger than a TV remote. It was however slightly more complicated. It was a timer. It allowed travel between different dimensions for Quinn, his friend Wade Wells, Rembrand Brown and professor Arturo. The four of them had been sliding between dimension for over three years now. Above all else they wanted to get home. For now however they had bigger troubles. They had slid into Los Angeles two hours before the worst storm ever. And since an average storm on this world produced waves sixty feet high this was obviously not the home earth of the Sliders. The timer read two seconds, then one. Quinn hit the button and a blue vortex appeared. The four Sliders jumped in, a Quinn leapt through the vortex a wave crashed over it. The effect of the water interacting with vortex caused a massive electrical charge as Quinn passed the event horizon of the vortex and the blast hit the timer, Quinn noticed and for the first time he felt as if he could move about in the vortex. Although he felt different he also noticed other things, they seemed to be moving in area as-well as in dimension. Far further than the distance they could usually Slide in area. The Slide went on and on. And suddenly Quinn felt something, tugging at his mind just beyond his ability to actively feel it. He looked around and saw....something.
"Not something," he murmured to himself, " Someone." He saw a young woman with short cropped red hair. She was wearing a red costume with and beautiful golden bird design over her chest. In the next instant he saw something else. She was in pain. She seemed to have her back arched as if she were screaming. As Quinn came closer to her he saw the wormhole open ahead and he saw his friends come out. A he passed the woman he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. More and more as Quinn kept moving towards the opening he felt his grip slip. And holding on hurt, as if he was trying to resist a massive pull. But somehow Quinn couldn't let go. Just as he felt as if he couldn't hold on anymore she snapped free from whatever was holding her. She fell with him towards the opening and came crashing out a few seconds later.

***** Muir Island, Earth 616 *****

Kurt Wagner was a light sleeper, and he woke instantly when he heard his team-mate scream, Despite being blue and furry with a tail he was hardly a demon. The German born mutant who answered to the callsign of Nightcrawler was a good friend and a good leader. As such he always tried to help his friends whenever he could. So when he heard Kitty scream the first thing he did was teleport to her room. With a Bamf and the stink of sulphur and Brimstone he vanished from his room and reappeared in Kitty's. Always ready for trouble he looked around quickly. There was no sign of any intruder and when he looked at Kitty he wasn't sure whether she was happy or not. she was after all, smiling, but she was also in tears even if she had stopped screaming. He ran over to her side

"Katchzen what Is it?" He asked, Kitty turned toward him and hugged him around the neck

"Oh Kurt, she's back. She's here" she replied while the tears still streamed down he cheeks

"You're not making any sense, Katchzen who is here, who is back"

"Oh Kurt. " she said as she let him go and looked at him

"Rachel Is back"

"Yaah" Wade yelled as she crashed out of the wormhole, the wormhole had deposited them right next to a cliff and she had barely been able to stop herself before going over the side. She caught Rembrandt as he came out and between the two of them they caught the professor. Then they waited, Wade turned to the professor

"Where is Quinn, he should be here by now"

"I know miss Wells, and I don't know what's happened." The professor replied. Then Quinn crashed out of the vortex, they caught him. None of the three had been expecting another person to come out though. And none of them were ready to catch the woman who fell out of the vortex. None except Quinn, he turned and grabbed her as she fell forward but he didn't have the strength to hold on to her completely and the both of them were pulled over the edge of the cliff.

***** Kitty's Room *****

Kurt had known Rachel for a long time. The last time he had seen her she had asked him not to say anything even knowing that she was committing suicide, or so he had thought. Kitty had, had a mental link with Rachel which was stronger than most due to the fact that the Kitty of the future where Rachel had come from and Rachel herself had been very close. Kitty wouldn't say that Rachel was back unless she was sure, and the only thing Kurt could think of was that she had felt something, Kitty quickly confirmed that suspicion

"When Rachel switched with Brian it's as if the link we had was switched of. It just came back on"

"Katchzen, listen to me." Kurt said carefully. He was aware that this was an anniversary. Still he knew Kitty, he trusted her. If she said that Rachel was back then he'd believe her

"all right Kitty. Where is she?"

"Somewhere on Muir, I can't be more specific." Suddenly the door was opened and Meggan came in. Meggan was as near as anyone could tell an empathic metamorph. It meant that she was sensitive to how people saw her. Although she was losing that in favour of elemental control. She came in without knocking, unusual although not unheard of for her. She looked at Kitty and then and Kurt

" Kurt I was coming to tell you in person. Cerebro registered a mutant signature on the Island. But according to the scanners it belongs to Phoenix."

"Where?" Kurt asked as he grabbed Kitty by the shoulders

"The Cliffs down south" Meggan replied

"Danke Meggan" Kurt said and kicked in his powers teleporting both him and Kitty, who he was holding onto to the southern end of Muir, just by the Cliffs. Meggan watched them disappear and decided to wake the others.

***** the Cliffs, at Muir Island *****

It had slumbered for so long. And yet not nearly long enough. It's exile in the Timestream had been interrupted by an unknown force. Awakening as it was from it's slumber the Phoenix force itself was quite capable of controlling it's host, the body known as Rachel Summers. Instinctively the Phoenix flared it's power and kept it's host hanging in the air, it also kept the other being aloft. The one who had pulled it out of the Timestream. While it would have to decide whether or not to do something about being pulled out before it should have been or not. It was something to ponder about at a later date. The Phoenix waited as it's host awoke.

Rachel Summers awoke far to fast. The first thing out of her mouth was the end of the scream he had uttered as she and Brian traded places. The next thing she realised was that she was back in reality. The only question was where, but more importantly When?

Wade was standing on the edge of the cliff, her mouth hanging open. That wasn't what was bothering her. What was bothering her was that Quinn was floating, in mid air. Just of the side of the cliff enveloped in a yellow-orange haze which also held the other woman who had come out of the vortex with Quinn, Wade had no idea where this other person had come from, and just as little idea why she was at the centre of a massive haze that looked like a bird

"Good lord" the Professor exclaimed next to her, Rembrand echoed the statement. Then the girl hanging in the middle of the haze opened her eyes and looked around, she saw Quinn then moved her arm and put Quinn back down on the ground.

"That was incredible" Quinn murmured to his companions," but what the heck is it" Then Rachel floated to the ground herself. When she hit the ground two things happened at the same time, First she fainted into Quinn's arms and the second thing that happened was that Kurt and Kitty arrived. Kurt assessed the situation quickly. He saw four strangers, and Rachel. Rachel looked unconscious and was keeled over in the arms of one of the strangers. Although none of them looked particularly malevolent, Kurt knew from long experience that things weren't always what they seemed. He let Kitty go, Bamf'ed right next to the stranger holding Rachel, grabbed her and Bamf'ed away. Kitty in the mean time phased out and sank into the ground.

Despite everything they had seen in the parallel universes over the last three years, this struck Quinn as more than slightly ridiculous. He had just seen a blue demon appear disappear and another girl drop into a solid piece of ground.

"Guy's I think we'd better run" Quinn said

"I'm with you Q-Ball" Rembrandt echoed as he turned and started moving, the professor and Wade quickly followed suit. They ran for less then a minute when they saw a building. Quinn signalled the others to head towards them. As they approached the doors to the complex they all looked around for a doorknob, or jut a doorbell even. They were all looking for a way in so hard that they never noticed movement to their side.

"Guy's" Wade said " did you smell that stink just now?"

"Yeah, Sulphur" Quinn replied "So?"

" There was also Brimstone. Didn't you ever read any comics, that smell Is supposed to be the trademark of a comic character called, Nightcrawler if I remember correctly"

"A what?" Arturo asked

"A comic book character, a mutant from the X-Men originally, then later of a group In Europe, and that girl, that would have been Shadowcat, "

"Another mutant" Arturo sighed

"Yeah,"

"Wade, what makes you so sure"

"Hey I read a lot of these, almost up till we started Sliding. I always thought Nightcrawler was kind of cool."

"Danke Fraulein. But who are you" Kurt said a he jumped of the wall above them

The four of them scrambled in surprise

"Wait, don't be afraid, " he said quickly as he saw the terrified look on three faces and the surprise on the fourth. Kurt backed of and the four stopped scrambling.

"You're Nightcrawler aren't you, " Wade said hesitantly

"Ja Fraulein, I am Nightcrawler, You seem to have me at a disadvantage, You know of me, yet I know nothing of you."

"I'm Wade, Wade Wells, and these are Quinn Mallory, Rembrandt Brown and Professor Arturo" Wade said as she gestured to each one of her comrades in turn

"This Is Kitty Pryde" Kurt gestured as Kitty jumped up through the ground, Wade, her suspicions about this earth confirmed with Nightcrawler, was better prepared for her entrance than the others were. They jumped back, Wade didn't.

"And Lockheed" Kurt said as a little purple Dragon flew up next to Kitty

"And I am Kurt Wagner. Welcome to Muir Island" he said as he held out his hand, Wade shook it. Arturo was next to shake his hand

"Muir, that sounds familiar"

"It's a small island on the north west side of Scotland" as soon as he said it he saw the look of surprise on the other faces

"Scotland" The Professor exclaimed " How the devil did we get halfway across the world

"I don't have a clue what you are talking about, but why not come in and discuss it" Kurt said amicably, the others nodded but Quinn hesitated

"Where's the woman I pulled out of the wormhole" he asked not moving

"Inside, I teleported her to the medlab facility where a team-mate is examining her, Will you come in now?" Kurt asked again. Quinn nodded

"Sure," At that both Kitty and Kurt smiled, and they led the way into the complex.

and none of them noticed the shadow that slid down the side of the wall and followed them in

"How is this possible" Moira asked . She and her pupil Rahne Sinclair, a Scottish Lycanthrope, had recently been freed from the containment lab but they both still spent a lot of the time in there trying to find a cure for the Legacy virus.

"A thought that she was unable to be here, on a count of her temporal abilities. " She finished. Kurt, Meggan, and Kitty Pryde were all in the Medlab. While Meggan was helping Kitty hook Rachel up to the bio-scanners Kurt was telling Moira what had happened.

"I have to admit, I feel somewhat out of place here" Arturo whispered to his friends. Quinn wasn't listening, he was staring at Rachel, Wade was trying to get Quinn's attention, and she wasn't getting it

"Quinn, ? Quinn? QUINN" she yelled, her activity brought all the activity in the medlab to a halt, she looked around as everyone stared at her, she grinned sheepishly

"Uh Quinn, when do we Slide?" she asked quickly, Quinn was standing by the bed he was oblivious to what had just happened, and he had completely missed Wade's outburst. he absentmindedly half-turned his head to Wade,

"about four days" he murmured as Kitty started a scan "What Is that?"

"It's a self regulating Bio-thermal Scan" Kitty replied. After that Kitty and Quinn lapsed into a technical jargon that Wade couldn't follow and she wasn't particularly interested. she walked out quickly, Kurt, ever the gentleman quietly followed her out a well.

Would you like to see the complex" Meggan asked the three Sliders that were left. Quinn continued staring at Rachel but Rembrandt and the Professor agreed, Meggan took them for a tour of the facilities, the cliffs, and then to the communications suite, there they found Piotr Rasputin, the Russian mutant who could turn to living steel and who gladly demonstrated his ability.

"Miss Meggan, if it wouldn't be too much of a trouble, might I ask you weather we could use this communicator to see if we can locate this worlds Quinn, "

"I think that would be okay" Meggan said.

Back in the Medlab, Kitty was staring at Quinn, Quinn was staring at Rachel.

"Any particular reason that you're gawking" Kitty asked

"I don't know" Quinn said with a thoughtful face " I get the impression that I can almost, I don't know, hear her feelings and thoughts, it's as if I can almost hear them."
"Oh boy, " Kitty said as she turned to another console and lit it up. Quinn walked over to her and looked over her shoulder.

"What"

"Rachel and I had what we call a mind link, it means that I was more sensitive to her thoughts and emotions than most people. "

"So?"

"So, you said that you grabbed her when you crossed to this dimension, well it's possible that you grabbed a psychic image of her, cause her body is supposed to be scattered from one end of time to the other, but her mental image might have been in the right place at the right time. You're mind linked with hers and when you fell out of you're wormhole her body caught up with the mental image."

"Wow, that's the biggest load of rubbish I've heard in a long time." Kitty looked up at him and grinned

"Maybe, but it does explain what you said, and it explain the large amount of psychic energy in this area."

"You're kidding right"

"Nope, and I want you to try something for me." Kitty said as she walked over to Rachel

" I want you to take her hand and see if you can convince her mind to come out, I mean physically there Is nothing wrong with her, it's quite likely that her mind was overloaded." Quinn looked at her then hook his head

"So why don't you do it, you said you also had this mind link"

"Oh I do, but right now I can't feel her, she's unconscious. You can still feel her so you're link to her is stronger. " she sat down on the chair and looked up at him expectantly. Quinn feeling ever so slightly silly sat down next to the bed then looked back at Kitty, then took Rachel's hand.

"So now what"

"Now relax and visualise her mind coming out of this coma." Kitty said, so Quinn relaxed and tried to imagine a mind coming out of a coma, Quinn looked up at her with an amused expression his face

"okay so what does a mind coming out of a coma look like anyway"

"Hush and concentrate" Kitty replied with a light grin. After about a minute he started to feel something tingle at the edge of his mind, he said as much to Kitty, she simply looked at him expectantly, he started to turn to find out why she hadn't replied. Only to find that he couldn't move his body at all. he tried to speak, but he couldn't even do that, the tingling was getting stronger, suddenly the scenery shifted. He was in a dark cave of some kind. he looked around and saw various people chained to the walls, and each and every one of them had hideous scars on their faces, like a set of inward stripes. The clothing was the same as well, a one piece body suit with spikes all along the arms, legs and around the neck. he looked around and found that he could move again.

"Hello Quinn" a pleasant female voice said, he looked around and saw a young woman wearing the same costume as Rachel. she had mostly the same face as well, but she had the stripes as well.

"Who are you" Quinn asked, he got the feeling that the words had been sent straight from his mind

"They have" Rachel said as she joined him

"This is my memory, you came here to find me, to "her face scrounged for a moment " find me, to tell me it's safe to come out again."

"That's right. What is this place" Quinn asked, he couldn't pass up the chance to learn

"This Is my past, it's an alternate worlds future, where I have been conditioned to hunt down mutants. Not to long after this I'll get a chance to escape. I'll attack the man who brainwashed me and afterwards manage to escape to the past. where after many an adventure I'll end up in Excalibur. I'll then end up sacrificing my existence in this time period to save a team mate"

"Odd" Quinn thought

"Yes it is, how can I be here, in this time line."

"That's something we can figure out later for now we have to get back to the real world."

"Okay:" Rachel agreed amicably. Then slowly the view of the cave started to go dark and Quinn heard the words `thank you' floating into his mind, then his vision went black except for him and Rachel.

Suddenly however a bright bird of fire appeared and enveloped Rachel, Quinn tried to move to help her but found once again that he couldn't move. he saw Rachel buck and scream inside the image of the fire-bird.

***** the Cliffs, outside the complex *****

Wade couldn't fathom it, yes she had feelings for Quinn, she always would. For some reason seeing him fawn over a complete stranger was so unlike Quinn. It didn't make sense. Either way she hated the situation. She put her hands crossed on her shoulders and hugged herself.

"Eyes as beautiful as yours weren't meant to be sad Fraulein" Kurt said as he walked up behind her and put an arm on her shoulder, she turned to him.

"Your the last person I'd expect to give advice on women" she bit back and instantly regretted it. While he didn't take the comforting hand of her shoulder he could feel the muscles tense up

"Oh, and that would be because I'm blue? furry? maybe it's the tail? " he said coolly " But one thing doesn't change if I look as I do now or if I looked like Errol Flynn. I am who I am" He finished with a slight edge to his voice. Wade looked at him then nodded slowly

"I guess it was a pretty dumb thing to say wasn't it"

"Ja Fraulein" he replied in a much more friendly tone " But it wouldn't become a devil to say so" he finished with a wicked grin " I heard something interesting when you arrived, you said something about reading about us?" he asked, Wade nodded, and quickly thought how much she should tell him. "I know this is going to sound strange, but" Wade took a deep breath " We aren't from this universe."

"I surmised as much" Kurt replied

"But how did you..?"

"Come now Wade, You appear out of nowhere, you bring back an old friend who we believed was gone for good. You talk between yourself about a new dimension, what else am I to think"

"So what do you want me to tell you?" Wade asked in return

"how about beginning at the beginning" Kurt suggested. Wade did, for some reason telling him was quite comforting, after she had finished Kurt nodded

"Excalibur, that's what we call ourselves, has had quite a bit of experience with alternate realities, we may be able to help you. , for now let's go back inside"

"Okay"

"Hang on" Kurt said with another grin, Wade got a terrified look on her face as Kurt moved in closer, grabbed her hand and teleported.

***** the Medlab *****

"She's coming around" Kitty said as Rachel Started to stir. Right about then the Professor and Rembrandt came back led by Meggan who quickly joined Kitty at the examination table.

"At last" Meggan Said. Kitty put her hand on Rachel's forehead as she woke up

"Easy Rachel, easy" she said as she started struggling. Quinn sat up straight and looked around at Kitty first, then at Meggan and the Professor and Rembrandt, then at Rachel.

"Wha..? Kitty? " Rachel murmured as she looked around confused then threw the tears he couldn't help but smile. " O Kitty, Thank the first ones" she exclaimed as she sat up and hugged her tightly. Then she looked around

"Muir, I'm on Muir, how.." she started when suddenly she grabbed her head and screamed. then lapsed into unconsciousness Kitty was all over the scanners instantly,

"What happened" Quinn asked

"How should I know" Kitty bit back, " but the scanners say there Is a large amount of temporal energy around her"

" I saw this big fire-bird envelope her as we were coming back" Quinn said as he looked at Rachel with concern.

"What, the Phoenix" Kitty said with sudden understanding, but why did she collapse screaming. Then she looked over at Quinn

" Oh I'm sorry Quinn, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, let's worry about Rachel first."

Without warning an alarm went of, the intruder alarm. It was quickly followed by a rather large explosion. As part of the roof was torn off, threw the massive hole the members of Excalibur and the more than slightly surprised Sliders could see a person. As such he didn't look very remarkable, he had shoulder length black hair with dark brown eye, he had a pointed jaw which was host to a small beard. he was dressed in leather with strips of red armour visible underneath, he was wearing pure black combat trousers and was hanging in the air with his arm crossed.

"What the hell" Wade said, Kurt looked over to her

"Very aptly put Fraulein" then he turned to the intruder and teleported onto what was left of the roof, he then looked up at the intruder who was now only a few meters above him.

"I don't suppose you'd care to tell us who you are"

"Why" was all that the intruder said, his voice was a deep bass

"Because when people usually tear the roof of our home, we like to know who he is before we take them out. " Kurt said with a smile.

"I am Dei-Tan" he said as he started coming down.

"Dei-Tan, nice name, now I assure you, you have our complete attention, how about telling us what you want" Kurt said feeling his initial confidence fail slightly, this person didn't look the least bit phased by what he did, or how he was acting. In fact, he seemed to take Kurt's comments as a challenge as he came down to the roof right in front of Kurt and shut of his field.

" I want nothing"

"Okay then why the dramatic entrance"

"Because"

"oh gee, you're just chock full of answers aren't you."

While this was going on the Professor had gathered the other Sliders for an impromptu gathering

"I believe that it might make sense to Slide, now,"

"You sure, I mean it's pretty drastic"

"Mister Brown, there Is a man who is flying, we are in the company of demons, flying women and people who turn to steel, I believe we are more than slightly out of our league." Meanwhile Quinn was looking in his pockets trying to find the timer, he couldn't find it and looked around, then saw something out of the corner of his eye, it was like the shadow itself was sneaking out of the room, holding something in his hand, even though it looked like a shadow he recognised the shape of the timer,

"Someone stolen the timer" he said, ending the sentence in a yell as he started running towards the shadow.

At that very same instant Dei-Tan nodded towards Kurt and a wall of solid energy rammed into Kurt knocking him of his feet, at the same time Dei-Tan powered up his field again and flew towards the cliffside entrance, where he met up with the strange shadow just as Quinn and the others came bounding out of the door, Quinn tried to make a jump for the shadow but was stopped by field surrounding Dei-Tan that suddenly grew to encompass the shadow, who dematerialised a second later together with the timer. No one noticed the blip on the horizon that was becoming bigger, and no one had any idea that this would be more trouble than they could imagine.

as Excalibur came to join with the Sliders the unidentified objectcoming straight towards them let out a scream of pure hatred

"Dei-Tan" Brian Braddock yelled as he came straight towards Dei-Tan ramming the energy field at full strength. The pure damage done by Brian as he smashed into Dei-Tan's field was enough to knock him several hundred meters away. Excalibur was collectively stunned, their team mate who had been gone for a long time now, who had lost his powers, was suddenly back, seemingly at full strength and with some knowledge on an enemy that the rest of Excalibur was having a hard time matching. the Slider just stood there, not seeing anything more odd about a flying man than any of the other members of Excalibur, Dei Tan, however was not pleased. As he got up he dusted his shoulder then turned to Brian who was advancing menacingly. Dei-Tan then smiled and slammed another force wall into Brian, and when Brian didn't go down, he slammed another one in to him, and another. He kept slamming these bolts into Brian until he fell. He had done some serious damage to the terrain though, and Kurt began to wonder just how powerful Brian was now. As soon as Brian fell Dei-Tan raised into the air,

"Don't fight me, you'll lose." and with that he sent out a blinding pulse of light towards the mutants and Sliders, by the time the light had gone so had Dei- Tan. Unfortunately so had the Professor and Kitty. As Kurt started arranging for Brian's immediate transportation to Medlab Quinn grabbed him by the shoulder

"the Professor is missing, together with our Timer, and he has one of your friends Aren't you going to go after him?" Quinn asked

"Maybe you didn't see, but we didn't stand a chance, "

"No, you don't understand, if we don't get that timer back in the next four days, me and my companions will be stuck here for another twenty-nine years." Quinn said.

"I know that it Is important, and believe me I know that I want to get my friend back, you don't have to doubt that. " Kurt said with a sigh, " he probably took your professor to figure out that timer of yours and I don't have a clue why he took Kitty." Kurt looked around. at the massive hole in the ground where Brian had been then headed inside.

The room itself was nondescript, the furniture equally so. The three chairs were ordinary wood, not carved or painted, the table was equally simple. On the table was the timer, still ticking downward. the chairs were occupied by Kitty, the Professor an opposite from them Dei-Tan, the Professor was looking at him surprised

"Don't you think it's a little dangerous for you to be alone in here with us, between the two of us we could conceivably beat you."

"No, you couldn't" Dei-Tan said " and I am not alone" he got up from the chair and walked to the wall, he looked back at his prisoners

" completely sealed" he walked to each wall and tapped a few times on each one.

"So, even if you decided to attack me, and in the unlikely event that you could beat me where would you go." he looked at Kitty then thought briefly

"And the neural inhibitor stations built into every wall won't let you phase you or you're friend down up left or right. " he smiled and sat back down.

"So, Miss Pryde, I know who you are. but you" he said inclining his head toward the professor " I have no information over you, not even you're name, as if you are not even from this world. which is backed by this device." he said

"So let's play a quick game of twenty questions." he said smiling.

" And I do hope, that you're answers are what I hope, it would be unfortunate for you if they weren't," he looked over at them

"Most unfortunate indeed"

Quinn Mallory was not a happy man, he was sitting in a conference area on one of the main floors of the Muir Island Genetic Research Centre. Sitting to his right at the table were Wade Wells, Rembrandt Brown, Kurt Wagner, and Piotr Rasputin, on his left were Meggan, Rahne Sinclair, Moira McTaggert and Douglock.

"So to be honest, I am out of ideas. " Kurt admitted.

"We don't know where they are, no ransom demands have been made, which in turn means that we don't know who they are, where they are, or who took them. And the only person who does know, Is in the Medlab and not entirely awake. Did I forget something" Kurt finished wearily

"Yes you did" Quinn said " if we don't find the professor, and Kitty and our timer we are going to be stuck here for the next twenty nine years, not to mention that we need to get back to the San Francisco area before we Slide or we're likely to end up in the middle of the ocean" he finished

"I know, Herr Mallory, I know, getting you to San Francisco isn't a problem, we can do that fairly quickly in the Midnight runner, no our first concern should be to find a way to track this person, this Dei-Tan. Then maybe we can find our friends

"And if we can't" Rembrandt asked, Kurt's reply was as chilling as it was simple

"Then God help us all"

Abbysinnia was a powerful woman. Both in physical prowess as in her inborn mutant abilities. As she watched Dei-Tan interrogate the two humans her thoughts flew back to her training as a member of the Special forces teams, the special forces group of mutants. She vividly remembered being held under a tap so that she could hardly breathe and the voice of Dei-Tan telling her how having experienced this would help if she was really being drowned as a torture method. She remembered more such lessons some from Dei-Tan some from others. one that particularly stood out was her first year torture instructor at the academy, as she stood there watching she thought back to that day

***** the Torture room 56 years ago *****

#" So, you are the maggots I'm supposed to train, well we might as well dig straight in"# Mitian-Dan said with an evil grin. He was a big man, and didn't mind letting people know that with size came strength. More than one student had died at his hands, if you didn't do satisfactorily then you would invariably end up as the next test subject. Now Itjia-Nak knew this, she was also, besides being terrified of the man, terrified of his course. Her natural talents were in pain giving to be sure, but until now she had excelled at the physical combat, her instructor felt that he should be added to the torture classes roster. It wasn't that she got any kind of kick or enjoyment out of the pain, rather that she was simply good at it. And the only way to have a decent living was to do what one did best, as best as one could do it. Because of this Itjia-Nak had enrolled in the military academy.

#" Now torture in and of itself isn't a means rather an end, the end of the one you're torturing if that being is unhelpful. Now can any of you scrubs tell me what you should have studied for today that would tell you why the death of one you're torturing isn't a great loss#" Mitian-Dan said as he looked round the eleven students

#" Because if you could capture one of them you can probably capture another"# Itjia-Nak said nervously when no one else answered, Mitian looked at her pleased then motioned for her to come forward. he pressed a button on his belt and a being on a table was lowered from the ceiling. Mitian-Dan looked at her then spoke

#" this is a Brall, we are having a small conflict with them on the outer reaches of the T'Hur'han Solar System, they have a secret mining base there, you get to ask him where it is"# he said looking straight at Itjia-Nak

In the end he had tortured him and had found the location of the mining base, and despite that she had been required to follow the course she never let herself feel any emotion while doing , she knew if she did she might start to enjoy it. One year out of the academy Dei-Tan himself had requested her, and he had given her the Abbysinnia tag, to be transferred to the Kindred team. And she had been with them ever since, even with the rejuvenating material they pumped into all the graduates body' to ensure obedience and to make them better warriors. Ever since they had come to this miserable dimension fifty one years ago. She just wished, no almost hoped that this device would finally get them home.

She felt rather that saw her colleague come up next to her, He was an infiltator called May-Tak.

"How goes the vigil" the mutant called Shadows asked

"It goes, If our leader would but let me do the `questioning'" a vicious sneer crossed her face as she said it" then we would have our answers."

"It is not our place to question him, he is Tan" Shadows said, Abbysinnia looked over at him

"I know, don't worry I'm not going to try anything, I owe him too much. I just wish he'd let us help"

"Rachel" Quinn asked, he didn't know what he was doing, and with his resident trainer in the psychic gone, kidnapped by Dei-Tan he was trying blindly to contact Rachel. the members of Excalibur and the remaining two sliders were trying to find an answer, so was Quinn. They had been discussing options for three days. He was just trying to do it on his own, and the only way he knew how. He had spent all his waking hours sitting by Rachel holding her hand and trying to relax. trying to contact he mind, he had come close a few times.

"Rachel, can you hear me" Quinn said again, trying to relax, he started to feel a tingle in his brain. He remembered that last time he also had felt that so he tried to relax more, and called out again, this time he called in hi head, and was only mildly surprised that his vision went dark again.

"Yes Quinn" Rachel said

"What happened to you"

"What do you care" she bellowed as she jumped Quinn. While Quinn wasn't a wimp when it came to fighting he was also surprised and didn't know how to fight here. He felt another presence descend on his mind He knew instinctively that it was Rachel's mind the mind he'd touched before not the angry side that was attacking him. With the help of Rachel's mind he fought back and managed to escape threw a door that appeared, when he walked threw the blank door in Rachel's mind he entered a room, where Rachel lay on a bed with pictures of people all around. Quinn went to the side of the bed and shook her lightly, her eyes seemed to open a bit

"It..hurts" Rachel managed to get out

"Can I help"

"Yes. I need an ...Anchor, to carry some of the burden. It'll hurt"

Do it, I'll live" Quinn said with false bravado, then an aching pain swept threw his body. His mind crashed back to his body and then his body crumpled under the strain. Then he bit back and stood up shakily. Rachel was doing the same. He grabbed her under the arms and helped her on her feet.

"come on, we've got to go get Kitty and the Prof." Quinn gave her a quizzical look

"I caught it out of your mind when we linked" was the only explanation. Then the two of them, both in pain and supporting each other walked out of the room.

Kitty grunted, the professor tried to get up and help but was being restrained by an energy field. Dei-Tan looked at them both as he was slowly crushing Kitty's body, then he suddenly released.

"Impressive, you handle the pain well" he remarked

"You swine" the Professor said. " Picking on someone weaker than you is supposed to prove you're strength"

"Professor, I couldn't care less about strength, or weakness, what matters Is answers. So will you give me those answers or do I force them out of you."

"Dei-Tan" a worried voice came

"What is it, Shadows?" Dei-Tan asked, he had been with these two prisoners for almost four days and the timer was rapidly reaching zero. Neither of them had said a thing, despite his best efforts. Of course he could let Abbysinia have a go, she'd get the answers but right now he wasn't trying to kill either of these people. If they would just tell him. and now this interruption.

"Sorry boss, but there's a plane coming our way fast. body signatures on board say it's Excalibur."

"I'll be right out" then he turned to his prisoners " You must excuse me. maybe we can finish this later. Turn of the hologram" he said into the air and suddenly part of one of the walls faded to reveal a door. Dei-Tan walked to it opened it and while still holding both people in a energy embrace left until the door resealed itself. but the hologram wasn't replaced and the Professor and Kitty, now free from the energy fields and gladdened by the new of Excalibur coming decided they would try to free themselves as well. Seeing threw the window in the door that no one was watching them they quickly discussed strategy

Dei-Tan strode into the command station on his base. It was in central London hidden beneath a few other buildings. He saw the plane approaching them and made a decision. he ordered most his group of mutants to teleport to their other base and ordered Blade, a cybernetic warrior with a speed factor to get the prisoners. Abbysinia and El Toro where to stay with him when Excalibur came

The Midnight runner flew over London and hovered over the buildings covering Dei-Tan's base. One man saw the plane, knew who was on it. and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'd end up helping them. His time with the team had made him soft.

"Oh Bloody heck" Pete Wisdom said as he activated his hotknife to light a cigarette, then turned to the person sitting across from him

"trouble" that person asked in a tone that made the Question a statement "you up for it"

"You really need to ask."

"let's go" Pete replied as the two of them got up and started running towards the buildings beneath the plane

"Down there Kurt" Rachel said threw clenched teeth. she was hurting, and on the plane near her Quinn wasn't faring much better.

`At least' Rachel thought ` he's got someone to help' considering the presence of Wade, she was a good enough person if a little out of her league with this. Then again Quinn wasn't in his element. in Fact he shouldn't even have been able to find her, much less pull her back and then make contact with her. Unless... her thought was cut of as Kurt asked her to verify the location. she nodded

"That's it Kurt, two hundred meters straight down more or less" she said as she winced again in pain. Kurt looked at her in sympathy, just like he had looked at her when she and Quinn had walked into the war room

***** the war room *****

"No that won't work either"

"Look professor, I dinnea mind ye tryin' te help, but none of oor plans is okay by ye" Rahne said

"That miss Sinclair is because none of those plans will work" he retorted angrily

"We might.... have.... an idea.... that might... work" Rachel said pained. The two of them walked in, each in pain and each leaning on the other, within about two seconds both of them were being supported by one of the others. Kurt looked at Rachel

"Rachel, are you okay?"

"Please Kurt, when we're done here and have Kitty back, then ask me what it was like okay" she said, Kurt was smart enough to take the hint

"What's your idea"

"I can telepathically lead you to Kitty, she's being held under a neural net that blocks a lot of thought but not enough, but let's go quickly."

"Ja, Excalibur to the runner"

"I'm coming too, I've got too"

"Nein Quinn, you have no powers, you must stay here"

"You don't get it fuzzy" Rachel said" I need him close to be able to handle the pain. " Kurt grimaced

"All right"

"Then I'm going too" Wade said, before Kurt could say anything she continued" And before you say anything I am going to because Quinn is my friend, me I stick with my friends and not all the power in this universe can stop me, got it" she said almost angrily, Kurt was not impressed but figured it for a losing battle anyway

"all right, and you herr Brown, do you wish to come"

" I'd love to, but I could probably be more use here helping prepare for you guy's when you get back. If that's okay with you doctor" he finished towards Moira

"Sure lad, I'd be glad te have ye" he said.

"Then let's go" Kurt said determined " We've got our friends to save

Rachel's mind was dragged back to the present as Meggan went down first to take out the door. this didn't take long. after that the rest of the team dropped in. they found a single room that looked like a command centre, they saw three figures, Dei-Tan was one of them, the two others they didn't recognise, Dei-Tan looked at them then gestured to each of his companions.

"Abbysinia, and El Toro" he took a step forward " I'm impressed, and I'd like to know how you found me but I'll have to beat you instead, you see this base is useless and I still need answers so I'll take them out of you" El Toro and Abbysinia dropped into battle stances and spread out a little,

"To battle Excalibur."

Blade opened the door to the cell and pulled an inhibitor collar out of his pocket. His first impression was that these humans were smarter than the boss had thought. The light had been destroyed and the room was dark. Blade sent a mental command to his cyber eyes and they switched from normal vision to infrared. then two blades extended from the insides of each of his wrists. then he closed and locked the door. with four claws extended he slowly edged into the room

"There are two kinds of people on this earth" he said as he walked into the room , then he saw a heat signature on his left and slowly turned to that direction

"There are the quick" he stepped forward fast and chopped at his targets, he contacted with one of them, the female it felt like then he grabbed her by the neck and slipped the inhibitor collar round her neck then retracted the claws on one hand and hit her hard. then he turned and kicked the fat guy in the stomach. the fat guy doubled over and grabbed him and put his arm round the fat guy's throat with his blades under the fat guy's throat. then hoisted him up.

"And there are the dead. now if you behave then you just might live, because you are not quick" Then he dragged the Professor over to Kitty and hoisted her on to his shoulder and started dragging the two of them out of the room.

Excalibur had exploded into action with Kurt and Rachel going after Dei-Tan, Rahne and Piotr jumping El Toro and Meggan and Douglock attacking Abbysinnia. The battle was short and sweet. While deflecting Rachel's powers with one hand Dei-Tan managed to mash Kurt into a wall and put up a deflective screen between Abbysinnia and her attackers which gave her a moment to use her own mutant ability. With a thought she looked at the emotions the members of Excalibur were feeling. All of them were feeling a certain amount of trepidation and fear, but they had good hopes that they could win. Abbysinia's particular talent was to be able to control the level of any emotion present in a person. so she smothered the hope while increasing the fear a hundredfold and almost saw her opponents stagger back. As soon as she did that El Toro, who was the resident muscle on the team started thumping on Piotr who was his most obvious equal in physical strength. Within half a minute all of Excalibur was backed against a wall, the feelings of fear and trepidation running rampant threw their bodies. however just as El Toro was going to start pounding on them two thing happened. first a field of bluish energy surrounded Abbysinia and she froze as if stopped in time, second several hotknives came flying threw a hole in the wall and hit Dei-Tan's shields, Since he was not expecting this the blast nearly took his head of, and with the added bonus of not having fear run his body Kurt instantly teleported onto Dei-Tan and put both his swords against Dei-Tan's throat.

"Surrender, " was all he said, Dei-Tan looked at him pensively and then motioned downwards to El Toro

"Good" Nightcrawler said, then he looked over his shoulder to the hole in the wall. Despite having left the team over personal differences Kitty went over and hugged Pete Wisdom, he was followed by a man wearing a long leather trenchcoat. He had brushed back short hair and a small beard. He was a red head and was holding his hand towards Abbysinia and that hand was glowing ever so slightly.

"Hello" he said" I'm Pete's buddy. Call me Cyle"

"Our thanks Cyle, now where are our friends" Kurt asked towards Dei-Tan

"They are right here, now what do we do next" a voice came from the door. Kurt looked over to see a person with extensive cybernetic enhancements.

"My power Is speed, can you stop me before I slit these two peoples throats" he asked as the blades slid out from his wrists and were put on two throats.

" It seems we are at a stand off Nightcrawler" Dei-Tan said calmly " Now does my man kill you're friends and you kill me or do you let me go and in return I'll release your friends"

"We do not bargain with Terrorists"

"Oh this is not a bargain, Either he kills them or we are released. you're creed won't let you kill me."

"What proof do I have that you'll release them" At this Dei-Tan became visibly agitated

"I...gave...you...my...word" He said in a tone that indicated that he didn't believe that his word was being questioned. Kurt considered this, then pulled his swords of Dei-Tan's neck.

"All right"

"Kurt you can't be serious" Pete said

"We must consider the safety of our own people first." Kurt replied

"Now Dei-Tan, hold up your end of this agreement" he said in a tone that was dripping with menace

" I made a deal, and I will keep it, Blade release them" he ordered as he pulled the timer out of hi pocket and handing it over to Kurt, Blade put them down then took the inhibitor collar of Kitty.

"Leave, I will follow shortly" Dei-Tan said, and a second later the three people disappeared. Dei-Tan Looked over at Kurt then to everyone's surprise he stuck out his hand to Kurt, when Kurt didn't show any signs of wanting to take it Dei-Tan sighed

"No trap, no tricks, " he said slowly Kurt stuck his hand out and shook Dei- Tan's hand

" I look forward to fighting you again. " Dei-Tan nodded his head towards Kurt then teleported out leaving Kurt and the others to ponder his actions

***** the midnight runner , over Ohio *****

Quinn looked at the timer, it had less than thirty minutes on it until they had to slide. Personally he doubted they'd make it back to California on time. He was sitting in the back of the runner when he saw Rachel and Cyle walk up to him,

"You got a sec" she asked, he nodded "Cyle here would like to take a look at your timer, if that's okay" she said Quinn looked at her rather apprehensively at this but before he could say anything Cyle started to speak

"I know you don't know me, but I know an awful lot about dimensional travel, and I would like to help." he said quietly.

"Besides Quinn, I need to talk to you for a minute as well"

"All right, if you believe him then I'll believe in him" he passed the timer over to Cyle and he started work on it. Quinn and Rachel went to the backmost of the Runner.

"You know, Rachel when I first asked about you Kitty told me a bit about you, especially the day you left. and you're right. That wasn't fair what happened to you"

"True, but I guess that's life. "

"It doesn't have to be, look you said that the pain you were feeling was because you and this Brian fellow couldn't exist at the same time in the same universe. "

"Almost right. for some reason the Phoenix force seems to increase the pain, I think that without it I could handle the strain. "

"Phoenix force, that would be the orange yellow bird I saw the first time I tried to wake you up"

"Probably"

"Okay so here's a different option. Come with us, I've talked to the others and they have okayed it. we can handle a fifth person."

"That's sweet Quinn, but I have a place here, I've got family here. " then he got a faraway smile on her face "and more than anything else, I have a home here"

"Okay, I figured you'd go that way but I had to a ask"

"I know and Quinn, you should also consider this, I have. what you did, helping me when I was in a coma, you shouldn't have been able to do. only a psion should."

"What are you saying" Quinn asked surprised

"You have some psionic abilities, that Is how you land in a dimension where there is you or you're friends in one form or another, you are unconsciously controlling your slides"

"What, you mean.."

"Yes Quinn, you can guide you and you're friends home" at this point Cyle gave the timer back.

"I can second that. Oh and I added a few lines of code to your timer,. you can not only record where you've been but also reset the timer to go back there. I don't know if it will help but it's the best I can do on short notice."

"How can you possibly know so much about my timer"

"I can't tell you that, all I can tell you is that I mean well. " Cyle said then he walked back up front to join Pete Kitty and Kurt in the cockpit

" See Pryde, I can't turn my backside fer five minutes or I have to come pull ye out of the fire" Pete Wisdom groused with good humour, then he saw Cyle coming up

"Kurt, I want you to consider letting Cyle join the team if he wants he's a good man and a decent soldier. and his abilities aren't exactly normal"

"Ja I saw that much, what exactly can you do."

"Well sir, I can basically manipulate local time. I can create bubbles of Null time, where time doesn't flow, I've always got one around me so to all intents and purposes I don't age. I can also change the speed at which certain temporal energies move. I can slow down Tachyon particles to sublight speed then channel them into an energy beam."

"Powerful" Kurt said thoughtfully" You said you could stop your ageing process, so how old are you, you don't look much over twenty"

"Physically, I'm twenty one, mentally I have been around for several centuries. I've travelled extensively between dimensions. while I was here I met Pete, him and me got along fairly well, and then he saw you're plane come over, an the rest well that's history" Kurt nodded and agreed to let Cyle stay on the team, as well as Wisdom who found life after Excalibur but without them wasn't particularly interesting. then about seven minutes later they arrived in California.

"Wow" was the only comment from the Sliders, then they waited for the timer to drop to 0 seconds and Quinn pointed the timer out of the door and activated it. First Rembrandt went threw followed by the professor and Wade, Quinn looked at Rachel who was standing next to him

"Just remember" she called over the sound of the vortex" You can guide you're friends home ,I've taken the load of you so you should be okay, Good luck"

"Thank, Last chance" Quinn offered. Rachel merely smiled then gave him a quick kiss on the lips

"Sorry Quinn, I've got family here" with that Quinn jumped into the vortex which slowly closed after him,. Excalibur, their mission complete then headed home.

Rachel went out to the cliffs as soon as they got back and sat there cross legged floating in mid air for almost four hours when suddenly out of the sky a massive bird of fire appeared. In a silent conversation between the two Phoenix agreed to take the part of itself that Rachel had back. and the Phoenix left shortly after leaving Rachel and her friends on the cliffs, as Rachel walked back to the centre she could feel the pain ease, it was hardly an annoyance any more. With her own Timetrip ability, she could offset her existence in this dimension by a fraction of a second and so exist here with Brian.Kitty joined her

"It's good to have you back Ray" she said.

"It's good to be back. "

"Come one, we're having a welcome home party. Just you and you're friends" Kitty said with enthusiasm.

"Friends?" Rachel said looking at Kitty as if it were a disappointment, then she smiled slightly,

"I'll be right in kiddo, I've got to do one other thing first." Kitty nodded as Rachel waked into the centre and went straight to the Comm Suite, she sat down and tapped a few Key's.

"Destination of call" the computer asked.

"1407 Graymalkin lane" Rachel replied, after a few seconds the monitor came on to show Jean Grey Summers with her head down as if she was working on something.

"Xavier's institute for higher learning, Jean Summers speaking"

"Hi Mom" Rachel said hesitantly, and she knew that she had done the right thing by staying when she saw Jeans eyes shoot up and look at her first with shock and surprise and then with happiness.

`Yes' thought Rachel, I've come home.

for now....

See Gambit confronting Excalibur after his trial in part two of the Avatar Timeline: Shades of Grey