Chapter 4

Krona Corporation H.Q, New York

"You're certain this recording is valid, Crossbones? It is not a... stunt of some kind?" The man once known as Alexander Lukin, currently known as the Red Skull, watched through his stolen eyes as the self-proclaimed "Ginnungagap" showed off parlor tricks on the screen that the Genoshan goverment had claimed were proof of the unbelivable power behind their miraculous resurrection.

The masked juggernaut standing behind Lukins chair shrugged as he kept watching the recording "If it's a stunt, it's a damn good one, considering that it fooled not only your SHIELD spies, but also Stark himself. Plus, you know, all those muties DID come back to life, it had to have happened somehow."

"That does not mean one of those...abominations were behind it!" Lukin spat "I am no stranger to the powers of the gods themselves, I held it in my hand once!" His time with the Cosmic Cube had been the most glorious of his life, and his failure to fully exploit the power of that marvelous device was one of the very few regret the Skull carried with him to this day. That this, this...undeserving Untermensch had allegedly stumbled into a power of equal might through sheer luck of genetics was beyond infuriating! Still, denying it would serve no purpose... "Bah, such a waste, that troglodyte in possession of a power he barely comprehends! Such might should be reserved for the truly worthy, for someone with vision, with a will of steel! And what does this fat degenerate use it for? Resurrect an island of freaks and save his miserable race from it's deserved oblivion! Pathetic!"

Sin watched as the man on the screen turned an apple to gold before turning to him "Father, could this man threaten your plan? Undeserving or not, if what they say is true, that would make him a very dangerous opponent"

Lukin waved off her concern "Pah, if the fools speech is true, he has little interests beyond safeguarding his fellow freaks. We will have to deal with him eventually, as we will with all who pose a threat to our destiny, but that can wait until we have put our plan in action and consolidated our power over the U.S. Crossbones, how is the work progressing?"

"Dr Faustus reports that his training of the SHIELD sleeper agents is going according to plan, and will be ready on schedule. Our plans to isolate Sharon Carter is proving difficult however."

Lukin tapped his fingers against his desk "Have Sin assist you if necessary, capturing Carter is instrumental to my plans to gain a new body and proceeding with stage 2. The mutant will avail to nothing, just like everyone else who stands in our way, he will fall!"

However, despite the sureness in his words, inside the Red Skull didn't feel nearly as confident. The superhero Civil War had played right into his plans, he had barely had to do anything other than take advantage of tensions and grudges that had festered for decades, skills that had served him well in another war so long ago. That his plans involved finally ridding himself of his greatest enemy, well, that was an added bonus. The fall of the mutant race had been another unexpected boon, with millions of possible enemies gone overnight. But now, just like that, they were all back, and with a vengeance.

Though he would never admit it, not even under the threat of death, some small part of him almost missed Steve Rogers. Atleast dealing with him and his grating sense of righteousness had been relatively uncomplicated.

This new enemy was most likely not going to be.

...

Xavier Mansion, Westchester

"-as Director Stark was kind enough to provide us with the information SHIELD has aquired, and has been confirmed by both myself and Miss Frost using Cerebro, it appears as if the entity responsible both for the Regenesis and the Genoshas resurrection is in fact a single mutant. This man, who has refered to himself as Ginnungagap on a Genoshan state television broadcast, would have to be one of the most powerful mutants ever recorded if his abilities are anything close to what they appear to be." Professor Charles Xavier observed the faces around the table, ranging from stunned, to surprised, to the vague look of semi-anger that never seemed to leave Logan's face.

Hank was the first to speak up "How...how could we have missed this man? We used Cerebro more times than I could count after M-Day, and never found more mutant signatures than a few hundred, all of whom were meticulously catalogued!"

Xavier paused, thinking "I am uncertain, but my best guess is that his abilities allowed him to avoid Cerebro's scan, he certainly shows up NOW, even on Genosha his signature burns brightly enough to stand out amongst the population."

"Well ain't that just friggin' wonderful" Logan spat "Some random schmuck with the powers of a damn god shows up out of nowhere and just waves all our problems away? You don't need my nose to tell that this stinks, Charlie."

Hank sighed "Though I am loath to admit it, I too am filled with a sense of foreboding, Charles. We've already seen what a mutant with this kind of power can cause, Wanda almost drove us to extinction! And while I cannot find any fault in bringing mutants back from the brink, nor the return of the poor unfortunates of Genosha, it's been my experience that good things do not happen just out of nowhere. No free lunch, so to speak."

Logan chuckled "Never thought I'd agree with fuzzy, but he's right. Hell, forget Wanda, am I the only one who remembers McTaggert's kid? Proteus or whatever he called himself? Crazier than shithouse rat, and I don't think just having Peter punch this guy is going to be enough if he goes nuts too. Not to mention he first showed up on GENOSHA, which is basically Club Med for Magneto's old crew. The last thing we need is for the damn Acolytes to find an even stronger Magneto to rally around!"

Ororo seemed to be less suspicious "I feel we are making a grave mistake assuming ill intent from this man. He has done nothing except undone two great wrongs against the mutant race, wrongs none of us could hope to correct despite our best efforts." Hank looked shamed at her last remark. "Treating him like a possible enemy will only increase the chances of him becoming one." She left the consequences of that scenario unspoken.

"Not to mention this isn't exactly something we want to discourage" Scott agreed "Though he did make it clear he wasn't going to go around the world resurrecting every victim of anti-mutant violence, having someone with that kind of power atleast nominally on our side might work as a deterent if nothing else. The Friends of Humanity and The Purifiers have been screaming bloody murder ever since the Regenesis, but we haven't seen much of them in person, apparently even fanatics like them are reluctant to piss off a reality warper."

Emma remained silent, she had been unusually withdrawn ever since the resurrection of Genosha, and Xavier knew that her experience as one of the few survivors of Cassandra's cruelty still weighed heavily on her. She had lost many students and friends in the attack, and Xavier suspected she wouldn't be able to resist leaving to reunite with them for much longer, atleast temporarily. He couldn't blame her.

As for himself, Xavier felt a mix of dread and hope at the revelations of the past few days. Decades of fighting for mutant rights and peaceful co-existance, which had felt more and more like a fool's dream the older he got, had made him weary of messiah's promising to make everything better. But this man hadn't promised anything, he had just gone out and done the impossible, with no care for reward or consequence, just with a sense of right and wrong. He reminded Xavier of another powerful mutant, in what seemed like another lifetime now. Less scarred by anger and loss perhaps, but... or maybe he was just projecting his own regrets on the man. Xavier shook away his thoughts, knowing what their next step should be.

"We wait, for now. The X-Men will have their hands full for the forseeable future, it's a new world out there and it's up to us to make sure it's a safe one for both mutants and humans, but I don't think this man will be an enemy, and if given the chance, we should offer him friendship."

Privately, however, Xavier doubted it would be that easy.

...

Unknown Location, Washington D.C

It always had to be something, didn't it? It could never be easy.

Norman Osborn grimaced as he read through the report his SHIELD mole had brought him. His plans had been going so well, his position as the leader of the Thunderbolts was a perfect way for him to manipulate the events of the idiotic heroes squabble for his own benefit and eventually grab power for himself. Sure, Stark might be the director of SHIELD right now, but the man was an unreliable buffoon, especially without the support of Rogers and the rest of his pathetic Avengers menagerie. Sooner or later, he would have screwed up, something BIG, and Osborn would have been right there to push him over the edge the second he stumbled. All he had needed was an opportunity, something to make himself look like a hero...

Only for this asshole to come out of the woodwork and completely throw everything into disarray.

He had mostly written off the mutants as a possible threat to his plans. Sure, the X-Men were an annoyance but they were so busy just keeping their heads above water these days they could be ignored until he had consolidated his grip over the goverment. Now though, they were back, stronger than ever before, and everyone were scrambling to figure out a response.

Leaning back in his chair, Osborn thought deeply. Maybe he was looking at this the wrong way? Maybe THIS could be the opportunity he had been waiting for. Granted, it wasn't as obviously heroic as he had hoped, but if he presented it correctly... Yes, that could work! The Mutant Menace Reborn! And led by a monster that could literally raise the dead and change reality to suit his own whim! The President would be BEGGING him to take over SHIELD, especially once he greased a few palms and strengthened the anti-mutant sentiment on Capitol Hill!

As for the reality warper himself... well, if there was one thing Osborn had learned in his career, it was that even Gods can be destroyed, provided you hit them hard enough.

He grinned. The familiar green mask in his hand grinned back.