"Welcome to Project Wideawake," said Sebastian Shaw as they entered a warehouse just on the outskirts of the Japanese coast.

"Nice jet," said Pete as he looked at it. The warehouse was converted to one of the most technologically advanced places he had ever seen and he lit a cigarette, of which he took a drag and passed it on to Elisabeth. "Not a design I'm familiar with though."

"When there was a Shaw Industries," said Sebastian with a satisfied grin, "I employed the services of many industrial spies and in... other places. This design was based on the work of a scientist who disappeared a long time ago. His name was Victor Von Doom, a man of Eastern European descent who had a very promising career as a scientist. His disappearance was a great loss to the scientific community. I would have assumed him simply killed during the wars if it were not for all the inconsistencies circulating his death. "

"He designed it?" asked Shirohana, running her hand on the underside of one of its wings.

"Yes," said Shaw. "A technological marvel."

"I can't sense anything other than us," said Elisabeth, her eyes sparkling with the psionic power within her. "Other than ourselves."

"Good." said Shaw. "The designs of the warehouse are based on the work of another scientist. He created another marvel, capable of shielding people from psionic detection. However my people never managed to make it work so that it could be used so it allows access to the outside world. Whoever designed it was a genius, even though I never found the man's name."

"Why do we need this jet?" asked Pete. "What's so special about it?"

"Speed, manoeuvrability and it will allow us access to the Savage Land. There are powerful forces within the valley that do not allow normal landings. That is why it has never been detected as yet, for nothing can land there and survive."

"Shaw Industries did," pointed out Pete.

"Which is why we need the Lady Chantel." Shaw stiffened a moment as he reflected on the memory of his long dead wife. "Time to go, we have a client who is waiting."

Deep within the heart of the Savage Land, a man stood alone, apart from the rest of the creatures and people that existed here. He felt the tugging at his heart, a longing that he had once known and there was a face within his mind, a face with a voice. A face that he knew as if from a dream, the face of his sister.

"Eli... sa... beth..." he murmured, exercising vocal chords he had not used in many, many years, relying solely on the psionic speech gifted to him by their master. However she was different, she was worth using words for. "Sis... ter..." he said. "Come... to... me..."

As he spoke he sent out his thoughts toward her but there was something blocking him, some reason he could not reach out across the gulfs of space that separated them. Had he imagined it? Had her voice coming to him from out of the depths been nothing more than an illusion? He touched the walls of reality, his vision switching between normal vision and the special sight that allowed him to see the threads of reality that he could bend, break and manipulate at will. It would tell him of any illusions, it would show him the true face of reality and he looked. There was no trace of deception and he wondered why he couldn't reach her.

Then, as he wondered what was going on, a shadow fell over the land around him and the ground opened up at the back of him, and James Braddock turned to see the man standing there. The man who stood before him was the man he called Master. The man who controlled everything within the Savage Land including the very ground around them. He was here for a reason, and whenever he appeared in person Jamie knew it meant there was a problem.

{Garokk} said James as he knelt before his master. {How may I serve you?}

{I heard your calling out to the depths} said Garokk as he walked towards him, his cape billowing about him in the wind that had suddenly arisen and then he placed a hand upon his shoulder. {I heard you calling out to your sister. You know she is dead. You know she died at the same time as your brother Brian. Why call to her?}

{She called out to me. I felt her presence, my master...}

{Strange how I did not...} mused Garokk, his hand moving from the shoulder to the bottom of the chin, slightly lifting it up in a command for him to rise and stand before him. {Strange that I cannot sense her now. Can you?}

{No, my master}

{Then it is a trick. You know our enemies are powerful, and the time of Armageddon is arising. Do not succumb to these abuses of your faith. Of your trust}

{You are my Master. I will do as you command.}

{Excellent. Remember, you are one of my two children of the atom. It is my duty to look out for you and the people of the valley.}

{I know.}

{Then sleep, my son.} He placed a hand onto his head and Braddock fell asleep in a moment. Garokk placed his hand back on his chin, thinking. He too had felt the call of Elisabeth Braddock. He too knew that she was alive out there. He knew also that she would be coming and she would be brining allies. Someone had tipped her off and he wondered who had betrayed him. It was of no matter, but he needed to arrange a welcoming committee.

{KRAKOA!} he commanded, and the rocks of the displaced Earth reshaped to form a face. The mouth was silent yet foreboding, awaiting the command of the Master of the Savage Land. {Take me to the Morlocks. I have a task of the utmost importance for them}

The jet was truly a marvel as it flew through the air, sleek and silent. It had been equipped with a great many facilities, including a medical bay, training facility, exploration equipment and quarters for the members of Hellfire, quarters two members of the team were only too eager to utilise.

"Ahhh," moaned Elisabeth as her hands gripped the sheets on the bed, Pete pushing in to her with a vigour that almost matched her own. She leant forward and he buried his face in to her left breast, grabbing the nipple with his teeth, gently flicking the trapped nubbin with his rough tongue. It excited her even more. "Yes," she said, the first word she'd spoken since he'd penetrated her, and her legs clamped down on his sides.

"Knew you'd like that," said Pete through his teeth. The really good thing about doing a telepath was she felt what you felt and you felt what she felt. It created a level of intimacy in the act that he'd never really experienced with anyone else. They knew each other perfectly, what they liked, what they disliked, what turned them on, what made them hot. The fact they also had like personalities was an added bonus. He flicked her nipple again, and felt the tickle of his tongue on her breast as she felt it, as well as the tremor that shot down her body.

Then he shifted position and as they held each other's naked bodies in a passionate grapple, they rolled over and he ended up on top. As they both neared their climax, he could hear her panting, could feel the sweat forming on her body, could see her straining as she neared her goal. Her moaning grew louder and louder and soon it was all over, and they released each other, their passion spent.

"Thank God for that," said Sebastian, relaxing. The jet had many great luxuries but soundproof rooms were not among them. He was a great many things, but he was not a voyeur. "With luck, the rest of the trip will be much more peaceful now."

"It was... interesting" said Shirohana as she sat in the co-pilot's chair.

"Not the choice of words I would use. The Hellfire Club may have been a place of excess, but that was over the top. Tell the lovers that we're approaching the Savage Land and if they have the energy we could use their help soon." Then he thought of another idea. "Better yet," he said, grabbing her arm, as she was about to get up, "I'll tell them."

Pete could feel the mop of hair on his chest, and he ran his hand through the unkempt purple hair, as he felt the taste of the tobacco on the back of his throat and he blew a smoke ring. He glanced down at the naked form lying across him, smoking a cigarette of her own.

"Heh." he said, running his hand down her back, tracing the contours of her spine.

"Hey," she said, looking up at him. "Been a long time since we screwed each other's brains out while we were in midair."

"Yup," he said, thinking back to the balloon ride over London. "Y'know what's different about this?"

"Privacy," she said, sensing the imminent arrival of their leader, and the door to their quarters opened, and Elisabeth pulled away from Pete as he entered the room.

"Yup," said Pete. "Seb." Shaw scowled at that.

"We're almost there. Get some clothes on and join us outside."

"Jealousy gets you nowhere, sunshine," said Pete, blowing smoke in his general direction.

"You're pathetic," said Shaw and turned around and walked away. Pete shrugged and he rested his head on his arm, supported by his elbow resting on the bed so he could look at Elisabeth.

"I thought I was pretty damned good," he said.

"I know," she said and kissed him before getting out of the bed, her slender form perfect in size, proportion and she moved with such glamour, especially now as she had a glow about her. {So did I.} she sent telepathically. {I'm going for a shower. Fancy rubbing my back?}

"Oh yeah," he said and swiftly joined her.

As they emerged on the cockpit, the jet was just leaving the entryway to valley of the Savage Land. The clouds surrounding the area were heavy with snow and thunder, which seemed a very unusual combination. The craft's autopilot was handling the journey with expert precision and they began their descent to the ground below.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Shaw as they saw the lush green landscape below them. "The Savage Land."

"Incredible," said Elisabeth as she looked down. "It's..." She never got a chance to finish her sentence as the ground below them altered, raising up as a giant stone fist, swiping at the aircraft and smashing hit straight and square. There were electrical explosions and the crunch of metal twisting under the power of the blow and the jet began to depressurise as Shaw yanked hard on the stick in an effort to get the nose of the craft up, but it had taken too much damage in that blow and it was going down hard and fast.

"Time to bail," he said as he quickly gave up the problem, grabbing hold of Shirohana, her mutant powers kicking in as the touch duplicated his powers for her use.

"What?" she asked.

"We can jump and my ability to absorb kinetic energy will save me. And you."

"I can lower us with my hot knives," said Pete to Elisabeth. "Buoying us on the thermal currents."

"Well if you mess up, we'll die with a smile on our faces," she said and they opened the door. She grabbed hold of him and kissed him for luck as they stepped out of the jet, the hot knives sprouting from his fingers the moment they did so, and they watched as their team mates shot past them, hurtling towards the ground.

{How do we get home with out the jet?} asked Elisabeth, using telepathy as the wind whistling past them meant they couldn't really talk properly.

{We'll work it out later --} said Pete as they descended. {Besides I want a chat with the giant hand that swatted us like a fly!}

{Looks like we were expected.} Elisabeth telepathically noted. {Guess whoever's in charge wants to keep his toys to himself.}

{Hope he has plenty of insurance then!} said Pete as the ground began to come up to them. Shaw and Pale Flower were picking themselves out of the indentations that they had made in the floor. The blows had made them woozy and though they had survived they were not fully okay from the ordeal. They also didn't see the group of creatures coming at them.

{Bollocks.} cursed Pete. {Assume, crash position, love.} he said as he retargeted his hot knives at the oncoming people. They may not have been hostile but he wasn't taking chances here. The ground came up a lot faster and the two of them rolled as they hit the floor, Pete's hot knives flaring, as were Elisabeth's psionic knives.

"Take the outlanders to the Master! Alive if possible, dead if not!" cried one of them, a blond haired man, who would have looked almost human if it were not for the fact his body was similar to that of a sabre tooth tiger. There were also a many barbarians who had been similarly merged with animals, minerals and plant life.

"Guess you lot aren't friendly then," said Pete and fired the hot knives out towards them, scattering the natives like ninepins. "Elisabeth?" he said, but she couldn't repeat his feat with her own powers.

"Something or someone's blocking my powers," she said. "I can't access my telepathic powers."

"Oh, terrific," said Pete. "Flower! Shaw! Shake a leg! We've a problem!"

"My leg is broken," said Shaw, as he looked at his comrade. "I fell badly, landed on my own leg and snapped it under the weight."

"Shiro?" asked Pete, firing off hot knives, keeping the enemy at bay, but he couldn't keep it up forever.

"I'm okay," she said, "but I'm exhausted, Pete. I don't feel so good"

"So you're not okay, then," he said.

"It's the stress of the power she's absorbed," said Shaw, "it's created a stress on her that her system isn't used to. When it wears off she'll be fine."

"Just in time to be torn to pieces," said Pete.

"No," said Shaw. "Take her and get out of here!"

"We can't leave you!"

"I'll stay," said Elisabeth. "They said capture, not kill."

"I won't leave you," said Pete, looking her in the eye.

"Yes, you will," she said. "Because otherwise who'll rescue us? Sebastian and I are liabilities."

"Damn it," said Pete, firing off more hot knives, before grabbing Pale Flower by the hand. "Keep yourself alive, Beth. We'll be back."

"Make sure you are," she said as Pete and Shirohana fled in to the undergrowth.

"We surrender," said Shaw as they approached.

"Pity," said the half tiger. "I'd have enjoyed the hunt." Then he seemed to be communicating with someone, the expression on his face familiar to both Sebastian and Elisabeth as one used by someone engaged in telepathic conversation. "We will find the others later," he said after a moment. "The master wants these two to be brought before him. He has an old score to settle with one of them."

"Yes, Ka-Zar," said one of the others, and pulled Shaw to his feet, forcing him to walk on the broken leg. He and Elisabeth shared a glance as they were pushed onwards. Who was this master, and which of them did he have a grievance with?

Soon they would know.