Excalibur #42 (1991)

Gatecrasher and the Technet gang try to come up with a good plan to attack Excalibur. They argue about being stuck on Earth having to try to capture Phoenix for Saturnyne. Gatecrasher says that she has come up with the best weapon to try to fool them yet. They all gather around her and she unveils her weapon. It is none other than an egg. Excalibur gathers around the kitchen table. They have just gotten done saving some people from a train wreck. They were there for seven hours and are exhausted. Meggan cooks them eggs for breakfast. Suddenly, one of the eggs jumps out of the boiling pot and bounces off the walls. It finally lands and cracks open. Out pops a small chicken with "HBH" initialed on its chest and a timer on its head. It tells them to be afraid of him and to prepare to meet their doom. The timer counts down and the group realizes that he is a bomb as soon as he "goes off". Technet watches from a distance from the lighthouse. They fear they killed the Phoenix rather than capturing her. They teleport to the middle of the lighthouse and realize that the team is unconscious and not dead. They gather the wounded and teleport back to shore. Bodybag starts to digest Phoenix and Shadowcat comes to her aid. They "phase" and this buys the other team members time to be able to recover. Excalibur battles Technet and Gatecrasher finally grabs Captain Britain and starts punching his head. Suddenly, time stands still. Technet is frozen and Excalibur is still able to move. They stand up and see two beings walk out of a portal. The beings are a young boy and elderly gentleman. They introduce themselves as Horatio Cringebottom and Bert. Horatio says that he and Bert were sent by Saturnyne to deliver a message and to examine Widget by decree of Roma. he says he put Technet in stasis so they can work without trouble. They greet Rachel as "Lady Phoenix" and tell them that Widget's reprogramming, done by Saturnyne, was insufficient. Bert goes to Widget and uses a machine to rip him apart. There appears to be a mixture of various items inside Widget. such as apple cores, bugs, electronics, and other items. Bert decides to implant Widget with a piece of equipment that will stop him from "jumping through realities". Bert patches up Widget and Horatio hands Brian a diamond. They then take their leave and go back through the portal, telling Excalibur that Technet will not revive for another five minutes. Excalibur rearranges the frozen Technet members during this time. They then wait for the five minutes to pass and the members of Technet begin to punch eachother. They hand the diamond off to Gatecrasher and call a truce. Gatecrasher activates the diamond, which is really a psychecom crystal from Saturnyne. A hologram of Saturnyne appears and she tells Technet that they are no longer needed to capture Phoenix and they are being exiled to Earth-616 indefinitely. Gatecrasher is worried of a mutiny on her hands and she and Yap teleport away. The remaining team asks for Excalibur's help since they are homeless. They offer to help rebuild the lighthouse for help with shelter. Excalibur agrees to this and they all fly toward the lighthouse. Meanwhile, in an alternate earth-reality that has been named Ee'Rath, a floating being demands homage from some humans. It stands before a burning hut. It says they must obey or suffer the consequences of Necrom. The people try to contest. Then, a being walks out of the flames of the hut. It then throws a dagger at the floating body and pierces it through. The being falls to the ground. The people are amazed at the "one who slew the druid". The being tells them that he is Kylun and they will need to join forces and take the battle to Necrom. He says they will be victorious and Excalibur will pay for what they have done.