Where once stood the proud building that had once served as the headquarters of the Damocles Foundation, now stands only a pile of rubble. Moments ago, all thirteen floors of the building were brought down to the ground. The destruction was an awesome display of the power of gravity, as what took man many days to build was destroyed in a matter of seconds. A cloud of dust rises up from the center of the wreckage, blanketting everything with dirt and plaster.

Luckily, most of the Foundation's employees escaped serious injury by evacuating the building before its demise. Unfortunately, the members of both X-Force and the Sword were not so lucky. Both teams were in the building during its' destruction. This would normally mean the death of both teams, but these teams are far from normal.

Dust still fills the air, threatening to block out the world around the pile of rubble. The last few pieces of debris cease their rolling, slowly coming to a stand still. Finally, all is quiet, but the quiet does not last long.

The pile of rubble suddenly begins to move once again. At first it starts to vibrate softly, almost beneath anybody's notice. The vibrations, however, continue to gain intensity until it starts to shake the debris violently, as if the building was trying to destroy itself even more. The vibrations finally come to a stop after a tiny fissure opens up at one end of the pile. From it emerges a tired Rictor, who has used his powers to tunnel his way out from underneath the pile. He collapses to the ground from exhaustion just as his fellow escapees reach the surface.

First, Ulysses pulls himself to the surface before offering assistance to both Shatterstar and Bedlam. All appear exhausted and covered in dirt, but amazingly, they have survived.

They are not alone. The other side of the pile explodes in flames, sending small pieces of melted, molten rock flying in every direction. When the explosion ends and the dust settles, three members of the Sword reach the surface: Argo, Stranglehold, and Pyre.

"It would appear that our opponents still have some life in them yet." comments Shatterstar, as he observes the Sword members. "The fight continues!"

There is still a hint of anticipation in his voice as Shatterstar begins to engage the enemy. As always, Shatterstar lives to do battle.

Slowly pulling himself to his feet, an exhausted Rictor gives the signal, "X-Force Assemble!"

Shatterstar halts his approach to turn to his friend. A look of puzzlement is on his face.

"All right! I know it sounded lame... I'm just too tired to think of a good battle cry right now." explains Rictor, as he catches up to his friend. "So how about we just kick their butts and get this over with?"

Shatterstar nods in approval as they resume their approach towards the members of the Sword.

"Jokes! We are about to engage the Damocles Foundation's most dangerous assassins and they are making jokes! Do they always take battle so lightly?" Ulysses question goes unanswered, however, as Jesse is horrified by what he is hearing.

"You can't be serious!" Jesse Bedlam cries out to Rictor and Shatterstar. He runs to catch up to them and position himself between them and the Sword. "We are in no shape for a fight, and neither are they!" says Jesse, pointing over his shoulder to the few remaining members of the Sword. "Plus, both sides have friends trapped underneath this rubble. Can't we at least set aside our differences until we see if any of our friends are still alive?"

"Step aside! These are the people who hurt our friends and for that they must pay!" By the time Rictor finishes his explanation, both he and Shatterstar have already made their way around Jesse.

Catching up to the others, Ulysses adds his two cents to the discussion. "They helped my brother gain control of Arcadia! For that, they must also pay!" Looking at Ulysses as he says this, Jesse could see the determination in his eyes.

Knowing that pleading to his teammates would prevail him not, Jesse decided to try his luck at convincing the approaching members of the Sword. "Gentleman, please, let us put aside our differences and work together to free our friends who are trapped underneath this rubble. Our friends could be hurt, and we could be the only ones able to save them! Do you want them to die because you are determined to continue a pointless fight? The Damocles Foundation is destroyed, and your former boss has left you behind. Will you listen to me?"

Jesse continues to plead as both teams were now only a few yards from each other.

"Get ready to bleed, little man!" boasts Argos, as he aimed his power staff towards Jesse.

"Wait! The kid might have a point!" yells Stranglehold, as he rushes to stand between Argos and Jesse. "Zona's somewhere under this rubble, and if she's alive, don't we owe it to her to rescue her? Plus, with Indigo gone, there's no more money to be made from continuing this fight!"

"Watch out Argos!" warns Pyre as he elevates himself a couple feet in the air as if ready to attack. "They're trying to confuse you with their empty words! Don't let them deceive you!"

"As if we need deception to defeat your pathetic team! We've gone toe to toe with bigger and more dangerous guys than you!" As he says this, Rictor is now moving towards Pyre.

"LISTEN!" screams Jesse at the top of his lungs. As his temper snapped, all of the street lights in the surrounding area short circuit as a result of his mutant power to disrupt all things electrical. Luckily, the moon was bright enough not to leave everybody in total darkness. "Let's make a deal. We'll search for survivors. Once we've found and helped our teammates, we can continue this petty fighting if you wish..."

Jesse's outbreak shocked everybody, especially his teammates. Nobody said a word. Jesse took their silence as hope that he might end this conflict before it begins. "Please, let's call a temporary truce."

It was at this moment that Jesse makes a crucial mistake. He decides to risk reaching for Argos hand as a gesture of good will. Unfortunately, his emotions are still running high which causes his powers to run amok. As he makes contact with Argos, the systems in Argos' armor shorts out, causing the man in the armor to crumble to the ground under the heavy weight of his suit.

"It's a trap! I knew it!" screams Pyre as he shoots several fireballs at Shatterstar, who using his acrobatic ability easily evades the blasts. At the same time Ulysses and Stranglehold charge towards each other and collide with a large thud. Now locked in each others grips, the two goliaths trade blows. Watching his hopes dash as the two teams begin fighting, Jesse falls to his knees next to the immobile Argos.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Through his tears, Jesse looks up in time to see Pyre closing in on Shatterstar. "I still owe you for what you did to me with that fire extinguisher!"

With that, Pyre's body blazes its' hottest before he begins his dive at Shatterstar. Unfortunately for Pyre, Shatterstar is ready. In one fluid motion, he flips through the air, landing in a somersault so that he ends up crouched in a ball laying on his back. Then as Pyre comes in close, Shatterstar pushes him away with his feet. Pyre lands hard with a thud right in Rictor's line of fire. Once again, Rictor uses his powers on Pyre with similar results. Pyre's molecules become agitated causing him to explode in a flash of flames. When the flames subside, Pyre is laying on the ground, unconscious.

"What a team we make!" jokes Rictor to Shatterstar, who was busy stamping out the flames on the bottoms of his feet.

"We made short work of them!" comments Ulysses, as he tosses the badly beaten form of Stranglehold to the ground in front of him. "Who's next?"

"I think you would fit perfectly into our team!" comments Rictor, grinning at Ulysses.

"Yes! I would be honored to fight next to a warrior such as you!" says Shatterstar as he finally managed to put out the flames on his feet. "However, there seems to be nobody else around for us to fight!"

"Good! Now we can look for Bobby and the others underneath this rubble without having to worry these jokers." chimes in Rictor. "Jesse, why don't you find something to tie these clowns up with, while we try to rescue the others..."

Still shaking his head, Jesse sets out to find something to use to secure the prisoners.

What am I doing here? he thinks. I don't fit in here. The only reason I got involved was because Domino promised to help me find my brother, but instead of looking for him we end up fighting X-Force's old enemies. I don't need this grief in my life...

Deep beneath the scene of the recently ended conflict, another battle is taking place. A battle for survival...

Inside a small pocket in the rubble is a struggling Sam Guthrie, a.k.a. Cannonball. It is Cannonball's blast field that is maintaining the pocket that he and his two friends are in. Struggling to maintain his blast field, Sam looks to his left at the unconscious form of Tabitha, his former girlfriend. He then looks to his right at the unconscious form of Bobby, Sam's oldest friend and Tabitha's newest boyfriend.

Sam is not used to using his powers in this manner. Usually, his blast field was the result of his ability to fly at high speeds. Yet he now found himself levitating in place in the middle of the pocket willing his blast field to protect both him and his friends from the tons of rubble above. Beads of sweat dripped from his hair and travelled down his forehead until they came to a burning stop in his eyes.

He could not continue to hold back the tons of rubble above them for long. He had to make a move to reach the surface soon, or else they would all perish. This left Sam with a difficult decision.

If he made his move soon he should still have enough power to blast his way to the surface. To do so, however, would mean leaving both of his friends to die. He suspected that he might be able to grab one of his friends and still make the surface, but there would not be time for him to reach both of his friends. If only they weren't in opposing directions from him he might be able to save them both.

Another bead of sweat rolls into his eyes as he feels the rubble above start to push down upon him. He had to make a move soon. But who should he save?

Unknown to Sam, a couple of feet above him are several other members of the X-Force team; Domino, Warpath and the still unconscious Siryn. With them is the Sword member called Zona. Together they are huddled under three of the buildings main support beams that have not yet been broken. The beams amazingly managed to hold back much of the rubble from collapsing in upon them.

"What are the odds of those three beams falling into just the right place shielding us from the rubble?" comments Zona, who was outwardly uncomfortable with the idea of being trapped with her enemies. Little does she know that she owes her life more to Domino's incredible good luck than she did to the lifeless support beams.

"When Domino is involved, lady luck never seems to be that far away." answers Warpath, who is clutching the unconscious form of Siryn. "Unfortunately, not everybody has her luck."

As he says this, his eyes drift down to the attractive red head in his arms. For several moments they all fell silent.

"For what it is worth, I'm sorry for what they did to the red head."

Domino is surprised to see the sincerity on Zona's face as she offers this apology. When she was invisible, it was easy to dismiss Zona as being the typical evil mutant. Now, however, she was beginning to learn that their was more to Zona than she first thought.

"I don't want to hear your words, murderer!" snaps Warpath uncharacteristically. "You have no right to feel remorse! There's no forgiveness for what you and your cohorts have done!"

"She's not dead, and I'm no murderer!" snapped back Zona, obviously offended by the label Warpath put upon her. "I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you what they did to her, and give you the name of a doctor who can help her if you promise to release me if we survive this ordeal."

"No way! No deal!" Domino quickly yells. "You'e going to pay for what you did while working for the Foundation!"

She was surprised how quickly Zona's offer made her lose her temper. She assumed it was her disgust at previously trying to emphasize with the enemy.

"Domino, please! She could be Theresa's only hope! We can't just abandon her to this fate!" pleads Warpath with tears now streaking down his face. His feelings for his fallen comrade clearly outweighing his desire for revenge.

"I know how hard this must be for you, but we must remain strong." answers Domino, trying to heed her convictions. "If we start dealing with criminals, they'll lead us down a dark path. As much as it hurts, that decision would be wrong in the long run."

"How can choosing life be wrong?! I respect your values and opinions, Domino, but I can't turn my back on Theresa!" Warpath then turned to address Zona, "It's a deal. You have my word that you'll go free if we ever get out of here..."

Before proceeding, Zona looked towards Domino for a response. She knew that no matter how sincere Warpath might be, it was only Domino who could make good on the promise. Reluctantly, Domino nodded in agreement.

"As you know, one of the Damocles Foundation's major goals was to combine the DNA of a Deviant with the DNA of a mutant in order to create a new breed of super-powered beings. For years, many subjects both mutant and Deviant alike, suffered through the Foundation's failures. Whenever the two DNA's were combined, the subjects couldn't survive the resultant trauma."

Zona paused to make sure that her audience was still following what she had said. Seeing that they did, she continued.

"That is, until that fateful day when they achieved success with Arcadia. With her, they slowly introduced Deviant genes in to her mutant body over a long period of time, which proved successful. But before the Foundation's scientists could verify if she was a fluke, Indigo's brother, Ulysses, stole her. So, the Foundation started over by choosing a different subject and beginning the same tedious process as before. The result was Mary. I heard that your team met her in her home town of Almost Reno."

"Actually, it was those two little darlings that dropped the building down on top of our heads!" comments Domino. "And, if I'm following you, it's safe to assume that the Foundation had similar plans for Siryn as they did for Arcadia and Mary!"

"Correct! But the Foundation was not happy with how long it took for the process to work. They had to continually operate on their subjects to add the foreign genes to their systems. So they decided to try and create an incubation device. This device would be surgically attached to the subject, and would release a dosage of the foreign gene into their system every time it was triggered. So all they had to do was implant the device once into the test subject and then just sit back and wait for the process to run its' course. It was one of these incubation devices that was attached to your teammates cranium."

"Can it be removed?" Warpath asks Zona, clinging to any hope he could find.

"Yes, but it's not so simple. The surgeon has to have a working knowledge of the implant, or they could kill her. The only man who has the necessary knowledge is the devices creator, Doctor Hind. Hopefully, he was not in the building when it collapsed..." This last part Zona states with great concern and regret.

"You said that the implant has to be triggered for it to work. What triggers it?" asks Domino, already fearing the answer.

"Whenever the mutant uses their powers, the implant will be triggered."

"So every time she uses her powers, it will introduce Deviant genes into her system?" It is clear from his tone that Warpath is growing more and more concerned for Siryn's well being. "What then? What will the foreign DNA do to her?"

"It's hard to say... both Arcadia and Mary were telepathic mutants in the beginning. After the treatment they gained new, extremely powerful abilities. However, since Siryn is not a telepath, it's not known what changes will occur."

Warpath now turned towards Domino, "We need to find this doctor as soon as we're free of this rubble. It must our top priority!"

"We don't want to go about this without first developing some sort of game plan. First, we need to find the others and make sure that they're okay. Once we're all safe and this whole incident is behind us, we'll begin searching for Doctor Hind."

"You expect me to wait?! When you wanted to find Bedlam's brother, you expected us to follow straight away! I'd expect you to do the same now!" It was becoming increasingly obvious that Warpath wouldn't be shaken from his stand.

"You're looking for Bedlam's brother? I can tell you where he is... for a price." A small smile spreads across Zona's face as she says this. "He was to be the next one of your team that the Foundation's scientists were to work on. So they did some research on him. The Foundation's researching abilities are quite extensive."

Here, Zona pauses letting everything sink in. "I will tell you what you need to know if you agree to let my teammates go as well as myself!"

Domino does not answer. "We have no more beef with you. This was just a job, and now with Indigo gone and the Foundation's headquarters in ruins, there's no need for us to fight. Let us go, and I'll tell you where Bedlam's brother is."

After several tense moments, Domino nods in agreement. Though outwardly she agreed to the deal, on the inside she was still torn. She made a promise to Jesse to find his brother. The chances of them finding his brother without this information was slim. She had just about exhausted all of her contacts. In reality, she had little choice but to agree to the deal.

Zona lets out a small sigh of relief, and then takes a deep breath to begin telling Domino what she wanted to hear. Before Zona can utter a single word, something punches through the rubble above, and massive hands reach down to grab Domino.

The first thing Domino sees as she is pulled out from under the rubble is the face of Ulysses, who sets her gently down before offering to assist Warpath in getting Siryn clear of the rubble. After finally getting all the members of X-Force free, Ulysses reached in to pull the final trapped person free.

"You! Where has my brother taken Arcadia? Where are they! Tell me you miserable witch! Where did they go?"

Domino turned to see that Ulysses had his massive hands around Zona's neck and he was shaking her violently as he yelled at her.

"I don't know!" pleaded Zona, helpless against the giant who now held her life in his hands.

"Let her go now!"

Ulysses turned to see who had commanded him, and came face to face with a determined Domino. Once eye contact was made, Domino made sure that she didn't look away. She had to convince Ulysses that she was serious. A small blade suddenly appeared in her hands.

"It's okay Ulysses, you can let her go. She won't go anywhere."

The newcomer was Shatterstar, and he had one of his blades against Zona's throat as soon as her feet hit the ground. "I won't let this one get away. Not after what she did to me during my recent jailbreak attempt."

"No! Let her go!" Domino then noticed the other members of the Sword tied up in the background. "And let them go too. Our chief concern right now should be finding our missing teammates!"

"What?" roared Ulysses.

"You can't be serious!" demanded Shatterstar.

"I'm sorry, Domino, but that's not going to happen. The Sword are our prisoners, and we're not gonna release them."

Domino was surprised to hear the cold, calm resolve in Rictor's voice. There was no question that he meant what he said.

Again Domino's mind was torn. Already Rictor, Shatterstar, and Ulysses were on one side facing herself, Zona, and Jesse. Things were getting too tense. Again, however, she was saved by another distraction.

In the middle of the mounting tension, Sam Guthrie blasted to the surface with one of his teammates in his hands. After reaching the surface, he collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. Gasping, he rolled over on his back, revealing his passenger, Tabitha. It was obvious that Tabitha was under duress.

"How could you? How could you leave Bobby behind?!" Tabitha screamed at Cannonball as she got to her feet. "How could you?!" she pleaded between sobs as tears began to stream in her eyes.

"What happened?" asked Domino glad for the diversion.

"He left Bobby behind to die! Bobby's dead!" screamed Tabitha, verging on hysterics.

"Ah... ah had no choice... Ah only had enough power to save one of you. Ah had to make a choice..." explained Sam still gasping, only able to pull himself up onto his hands and knees.

"Who gave you the right to make that choice?" screamed Tabitha as her sorrow began turning to rage.

"Ah had no choice, Tab... you know that..." begged Sam, sitting up on his knees.

"Awful convenient way to get rid of your competition don't you think?" questioned Rictor, looking down at Sam. "I know that you would never intentionally hurt Bobby, but are you sure that some part of your subconscious didn't see this as a way to help you get Tabitha back?"

"How can you say that?" said Sam, shocked at how his friends could turn on him.

"That's enough!" commanded Domino, "Everybody just calm down!"

"Get bent!" screamed Tabitha, a.k.a Meltdown, as energy spheres formed in her hands. She turned her mutant ability against Sam, firing several energy spheres at him. Instincts kicking in, Sam immediately blasted into the air and out of range of the explosions.

Unfortunately, they served to signal the start of chaos...

Seeing that the battle was evident, Ulysses made a move towards Zona, hoping to extract some degree of revenge. Though it pained him to leave Siryn's side, Warpath made a move to keep his previous promise to Zona. The two muscle-bound fighters collided with a fury of flailing fists.

Comprehending Ulysses' intent, Domino's first concern was to ensure Zona's safety, which meant she had to get Shatterstar's sword away from her neck. Leaping into the air, Domino came down with a lunging kick which landed right in the side of Zona's mid-section. This caused Zona to fall away from Shatterstar's sword. Seeing what she had done, Shatterstar immediately turned to challenge Domino. Domino did the same, having no other choice.

Once Zona pulled herself to her feet, she sought a means of escape. The members of X-Force were mad. She had to get herself and her teammate away from them. She started making her way towards her bound teammates, but the ground beneath her feet began to shake causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She turned to see an angry Rictor facing her with his hands stretched out before himself, as if he intended to use his powers directly upon her body.

Tabitha continued to fire her mutant blasts at Sam. Sam, however, was easily avoiding her blasts by zig-zagging through the air. How long could he keep it up, though, he did not know. He was exhausted, and knew that he was near his breaking point.

"Tabitha, please listen to reason! Bobby was my friend too! I would never do anything to hurt him! You should know that!" pleaded Sam as he dodged another deadly sphere.

"I know that the Sam I used to know would not have made such a choice, but you're not that Sam anymore! Your time as a member of the X-Men has changed you! You're not one of us anymore... I don't even know who you are!" screamed Tabitha. A small part of her deep inside knew that what she was saying didn't make sense, and ached for her to stop. But Tabitha has been hurt a lot in her life, and she promised that when she took the codename Meltdown she would not allow herself to be hurt again. She was lashing out at her angers' source. Bobby was dead, and there was only Sam to blame.

Meanwhile, in the center of the chaos sat a confused and sobbing Jesse Bedlam. Though he was a mutant, he was not accustomed to this type of superhero lifestyle. He could not make sense of the situation. Why were friends battling friends? It all made no sense...

He knew that he had to bring this conflict to an end before somebody was seriously hurt. Unnoticed, Jesse made his way to the captured members of the Sword. If he removed the reason for the fight, the conflict would possibly stop. As quick as he could, Jesse began loosening their bonds.

Free, Stranglehold rose to his feet and picked up the immoveable Argos in his arms. "Why? Why are you freeing us?" He asked Jesse this question just as Jesse freed his teammate, Pyre.

"To bring all of this madness to an end! Please go, before somebody notices us!" pleaded Jesse, but he was to late. Seeing what was happening, Shatterstar began to charge towards their location, with Domino hot on his heels.

"You're toast little boy!" threatened Pyre, as he pushed Jesse to the ground.

"No!" demanded Stranglehold, "Leave him be..."

Carrying Argos, Stranglehold turned and ran from the scene, with Pyre flying right behind him. Jesse rose to his feet to watch them leave. Unfortunately, this meant that he was not paying attention to the approaching Shatterstar. With one quick slash, Shatterstar used his sword to sever one of Jesse's hamstrings.

"NO!" Domino yelled as Jesse fell to the ground. Letting frustration cloud her judgement, she let fly several small blades that embedded themselves into Shatterstars' left arm. She was amazed he didn't drop his sword from the pain. Instead, he turned to face Domino, and their battle started anew. This time, however, blood had been shed so the stakes were even higher.

How did things get so out of hand, so fast? Side-stepping one of Shatterstar's attacks, she found herself wishing that Cable was here to provide some guidance to the team. This infuriated her even more.

The next person to witness the fleeing members of the Sword was Ulysses, which only served to fire up his temper even more.

"NO!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Warpath delivered several blows to Ulysses that would have dropped any normal man. It was Warpath's speed and dexterity that allowed him to stay in the fight. Unfortunately, it will be his sense of honor that will be his downfall.

Frustrated over both the Sword's escape and not being able to defeat his sparring partner, Ulysses decided to fall back on his old street fighting skills. Unclenching his fist, Ulysses starts using his claws in the fight. Instead of delivering a blow to Warpath's face, he now scrapes at his eyes. Staggered by the new attack, Warpath involuntarily brings his hands up to his eyes. Ulysses delivers a kick to his opponents groin area, and Warpath crumples in pain.

"Let's shake, babe!" yelled Rictor as he directed his powers at Zona who had only a second ago, turned invisible. To his surprise, his shockwaves only struck the ground.

"Where did you go, babe? Don't tell me your done playing with me already?!"

"I could never leave you, babe!" came the answer in the form of a whisper in one of his ears. Whirling around, Rictor fired another shockwave in that direction, but that too only hit the ground.

"I could never truly leave you, I'll always be in your deepest thoughts..."

"Then show yourself!" Again, Rictor fired another wave to no avail.

"Where would be the fun in that?" came the final answer. A sharp thud followed, as something struck the back of Rictor's head. Rictor, losing consciousness, fell to his knees.

"Tease.." he muttered, then fell face forward to the ground.

It was a blast that started the conflict, so it is only fitting that it ended with a blast. Unexpectedly, the blast came from the far side of the building's rubble. It started with a low rumble, and ended with an explosion as Bobby, a.k.a. Sunspot, blasted his way to the surface.

"Bobby!" screamed Tabitha as she rushed to hug him.

"You're alive!" cried Sam, coming to a rest nearby on the ground.

"No thanks to you, my so called friend! When you blasted with my girl to the surface, the noise woke me up and allowed me to power up before the rocks could crush me. Even then, I could barely keep the weight of the rubble from crushing me. I kept thinking that you would come back for me, but you never came!"

"Ah thought you were dead!" pleaded Sam, "Then things got out of control up here!"

"We don't want to hear it Sam... why don't you just leave me and Bobby alone?!" cried Meltdown from around Bobby's neck.

Not knowing what else he could do or say to resolve the matter, Sam turned his back on his former team. "You're right, Tabitha. Ah don't belong here anymore with you and Bobby... or the rest of X-Force. Ah'm sorry things have to end this way..."

With that, Sam blasted off towards the night sky.

For the first time, Bobby looked around at the destruction surrounding him. "What happened here?" he asked.

Everybody began answering at once, but he managed to get the gist of it.

"I can't believe it! First, my best friend leaves me for dead... then as I was fighting for my life, you guys were up here turning on your friends to defend the Sword?! That's just great guys! What has become of X-Force?!"

For a long time nobody said anything... nobody had the answer.

"You know what, I wash my hands of all of you! We came here to make sure you were safe, which you are, but now we're outta here! Come on guys..."

With that Bobby turned and walked away. With him went Tabitha, Shatterstar, and Ulysses, who was carrying the unconscious Rictor.

"What now?!" asked Warpath, limping over to stand next to Domino.

"First we take care of Jesse's wounds," answered Domino, as she ripped a piece of her uniform off to stop the flow of blood from Jesse's leg, "then we go and find your Doctor Hind and get some answers!"

IN X-FORCE #5: Now that the new team is more aggressive, who will be their first target? None other than the maniacal assassin, Arcade!

Editor's Note: This story takes place during events in the lead story of this annual.

Sam 'Cannonball' Guthrie's day is not going as well as he had hoped. Just moments before, he and his teammates had been immersed in a battle on the roof of the Damocles Foundation's Headquarters. A fight that within seconds had come to an end as the building itself had crumpled into a heap on the ground.

Cannonball, wincing in pain, looked up into the overhead rubble from the small pocket from which he found refuge from the rubble and debris.

A stream of sweat flowed from his temple to chin as Cannonball forced his blast shield forward, protecting himself from the inevitable death of the crushing weight of the ruin. The weight was incredible, and Cannonball was unsure of how he was holding it at bay.

His blast shield, in the past, had only been at Cannonball's use when flying at high speeds. He was confused as to why his power was allocated to him now while at a standstill. He rationalized that because he was caught amid the debris and was still hovering over the ground by at least a foot, that the technology of his shield interpreted this position as flight. Cannonball, in stoic thought, watched as a mass of bricks rolled away from him sinking him closer to the ground and closer to his ultimate fate.

Cannonball, for the first time, began to questions his blast shield's power and abilities. It was quite possible that it was not flight alone that caused the shield's power to emerge, but by his own shear will, and by his current consequences that he was able to maintain safety from the crushing weight. He had no choice but to continue on and succeed, he was not fighting for his own life, but for that of his two friends as well.

"Bobby!" screamed Cannonball. "Bobby, can you hear me?"

Cannonball was yelling at Roberto 'Bobby' DaCosta, a.k.a. Sunspot, trying to revive his silent and still form. Sam refused to accept that Bobby could be dead. There had been too much history between the two friends for Cannonball to relinquish Bobby to the next world.

"Come on Bobby, you have to be okay!" Sam pleaded with Bobby to wake up.

He began to reflect on the recent years that he had spent with Bobby as they formed their relationship. He recalled the moment that he first met Roberto DaCosta, and the first impression he had formed of him as cocky and self absorbed. How quickly that impression was proved incorrect. Cannonball wiped away tears, as images of their time together with the New Mutants and X-Force surfaced, and he remembered why the rift had grown between them. A rift that started as a result of Sam's graduation to the X-Men.

Sam's absence had allowed Bobby to woo Sam's girlfriend, Tabitha, a successful venture that left Cannonball with a broken heart.

The mere thought of Tabitha jolted Cannonball back to reality, and temporarily away from his concern of Bobby as he realized that Tabitha, too, was trapped and hidden beneath the crumbled building.

"Tabitha!" a panicked Cannonball yelled. "Tabitha, where are you?"

Sam listened for any sounds of life from the seemingly lifeless heap. Sam began to lose his footing, and he looked down to see that he too was sinking into the despair.

"Tabitha, answer me!!"

Finally, he saw her bloodied, lifeless hand in the air nearby, which he readily grabbed and tugged on in an attempt to pull her to the surface. She made no attempt in the struggle and remained silent as death approached her soul.

Bobby and Tabitha were equally important to Cannonball, he couldn't stand the thought of losing either of them. Just because he had once been in love with Tabitha did not mean that he was more interested in saving her than he was in Bobby. This left Cannonball convinced that he was finally over his romantic relationship and infatuation with his lost love.

Accepting these facts was going to be a difficult task for Cannonball to face. He had no other moral option than to attempt to save his friends, but if he did that would mean he would have to leave the X-Force. Too much had changed since he had gone away. Not only had his friends changed, but the team had changed, and most importantly he had changed. To stay would mean he would only be tormenting himself and his friends.

He had to leave.

But where would he go? He had already left the X-Men. While a part of their team he realized that his expectations of them had not been met. The X-Men family, of which he had once dreamed of being a member, seemed to be a nightmare cult made up of dark, reckless characters who did not even have the cohesiveness of a team much less that of a family. He definitely would not go back there.

He continued to ponder his options of residence. The next generation of mutants could probably use his help, but that was where Sam's sister Paige was employed. The last thing Sam wanted to do was to step on the toes of anymore of his loved ones. The thought of joining X-Factor also crossed his mind. X-Factor's government, however, had treated Xavier poorly after Onslaught. Sam didn't want to be associated with any team that works for or had once worked for such a despicable government.

He couldn't think of anywhere to go. Maybe, just maybe, this was an omen to strike out on his own. Sam could finally make his own decisions instead of following the lead of others. Where could he go where this unique possibility could become a reality?

More rocks and debris tumbled off the heap forcing Cannonball closer and closer to the ground. Being lost in thought was not going to save his friends let alone himself, and he forced himself to return to reality once again. His hopes were waning that other members of X-Force would be able to rescue them, he had to do something since nobody else could.

Mustering up the courage and energy to use his blast shield to send himself to the surface, he carefully weighed the consequence of his impending actions. To use his shield would cause an aftermath of fallen rubble that would surely tumble unto his friends. Timing would be his main priority.

Bobby and Tabitha were unfortunately positioned in opposite directions of Cannonball. He would not be able to get to them both before the avalanche of wreckage would topple onto their helpless bodies. Sweat dripped from his face as his eyes darted from Bobby to Tabitha. He had to make a decision, he had little time to even save himself as his toes brushed against the solid ground beneath them.

"Come on Bobby, Tabitha..." screamed Cannonball, "Wake up!!!!"

The negative thought of their lifeless bodies consumed by death entered his mind. Sam was afraid his efforts would be in vain, for there could be no one alive to rescue after all.

"No!" Sam said out loud, "That can't be! Ah must go on..."

Cannonball wasn't ready to give up on his companions, but his strength and energy were ready to give up on him.

He didn't have a second's chance to make up his mind, before it was made up for him. His toes that had been brushing against the ground now made full contact. His blast shield immediately began to weaken, and the weight of the debris buckled his knees, sending more and more of the ruin on top of his head.

Through all the racket of the thundering ruins, Cannonball could make out the sound of a woman's cry in pain. Sam knew what he had to do. He took what power he had left both in his body as well as shield, and headed toward the sound of her cry. It was the only logical choice, he was guaranteed to be risking his life to save that of someone that could be rescued. Still, Cannonball could not help but turn to regretfully look at Bobby's helpless body partially covered by brick and broken panes of glass.

Cannonball reached Tabitha not a moment too soon. A large mass of debris was poised above her and was close to releasing itself onto her head, Sam was able to shield them both from the weight of the oncoming missile before it was too late. He wrapped his tired arm around her waist and secured her against his body and together they blasted through the layers of crumpled building.

As they approached the surface, Cannonball felt an incredible surge of guilt and pain at the thought of leaving his best friend, Bobby, behind to fend for himself.

Finally, he was able to release his grip on Tabitha as they reached safety of a stable platform nearby. He promised himself that he would return to Bobby and rescue him as well. In his heart Cannonball knew his attempts would be futile... the tons of weight had killed him if he was not already dead.

The noise had not only awakened Bobby, but startled him.

Bobby's natural survival instincts took over and he shifted into Sunspot. His new persona allocated him more energy and protection that would allow him to survive the raining debris, but that was all. He could not escape being pinned by the rocks that rendered him immobile.

Unable to move, Bobby could only watch as his girlfriend Tabitha and Cannonball tore through the ruins in an embrace.

"Sam... stop! Help me!" growled Bobby in an attempt to get his best friend's attention. Cannonball's blast shield was so deafening that Bobby's verbal efforts were camouflaged.

Bobby struggled with little success to gain control of his situation. "They'll come back for me..." Bobby said out loud, "All I have to do is hang on till then..."