It also revealed Mags in all her mutancy....
"No way..." Pietro breathed, shock slowing his words down to a recognisable speed.
_($&%, its too early in the morning for this to be morning,_ Lance thought.
A soap bubble of a thought gently rose to the front of his brain.
"Coffee, explanations, now."
As Pietro vanished Lance eyed his visitor again and stuck his head out the door. "Lots of coffee."
This whole thing was becoming one big screw-up. Soon it would get to the point beyond which it would be impossible to fix anything ...
But until then, she had to do the best she could.
"I never thought I'd say this," said Pietro, "but on you, blue fur looks *good*. Is there any chance of a more - *private* - viewing?"
"You're talkin' to Mystique's *granddaughter*, yo," said Todd. "'Sides. She really likes *me*."
"Knock it off, the both of you," she said. "I'll give you the brief run-down. Short sentences. Principal Kelly dies tomorrow. If he does, mutantkind will be discovered *and* blamed. Laws are passed. Mutants are slaves. Forced breeding, infant experimentation, dogs and cats living together, the whole works. It's *bad*, so we came back in time to stop it."
"Are you *serious*?" said Lance.
"You want to see my number?" said Mags. "Or maybe you'd like to see the scar from the unnecessary surgery they performed so a rich man could have a mutant liver and never suffer cirrhosis[1] again?"
Lance blinked. "Okay. So what do you want from us?"
"My half-brother's decided he likes our timeline, and has-- *will* appear to make sure it happens. He's insane, okay? *And* he's bonded with a celestial avatar called the Phoenix Force. I'm gonna need all of you to help us defeat him and fix future history."
There was a moment of silence as they stared at her.
"Yo, this is *whack*," said Todd.
"Is this all of you?" Mags asked. "Shouldn't there be about three or four more?"
"We wish," said Todd. "If we had more members, we could really beat those X-Geeks good ... uh, sorry," he said, remembering that her parents were "X-Geeks".
"So it's just you, then?"
"Yeah," Todd said. "Just us. Mystique took off again ..."
*
Evan slouched to one side, not looking at anybody and flicking invisible bits of fluff from his clothes. He looked depressed, as anyone might after learning they were going to destroy the future for mutantkind, and then learning that there was *nothing* he could do about it.
A tall figure crept over and stood in front of him. "Hey," Victoria greeted hesitantly.
"What do you want?" Evan demanded gruffly, keeping his eyes averted. A look of hurt crossed the mutant girl's odd features, enhanced by the slighly drooping corners of her eyes.
"I, uh... you just looked a bit lonely," she offered, gesturing at the clump of other X-Men and their Neo counterparts clustered on the other side of the room.
Evan only grunted. "I thought your friend could hop through time? Why isn't she back already?"
Victoria screwed up her face. "Mags' power is somewhat... erratic. She can't control it very well. The people who paid for her to be bred repressed them with drugs until she was busted out of the breeding farm. When they wore off, she really could't practice without making more holes in the timestream. She's still not fully aware of how much she can do, so she wears a watch Susan's dad - Forge, to you - created for her. It helps, but sometimes she can still misfire."
Evan looked up, eyes wide, and Victoria sighed sadly. "We weren't born into freedom. Mags, Ricky and Nicole all came from captivity. Scott and Jean... well, we *tried* to rescue them, but the way they'd been mistreated by their handlers... Kitty too. By the time they'd finished with her she looked nothing like she does now. Don't even ask me, how - you don't want to know what happened. They *asked* to be put out of their misery. Ricky and Nicole don't even know what their powers *are*, they were repressed so long."
Evan's eyes slid across to the red-haired boy, who was currently speaking to Kurt about something or other, and laughing heartily about it.
Nicole was a little more reticent, but seemed to be listening intently to Kitty's inane diatribe and nodding politely. She didn't look unlike her mother, sans the ponytail, but there was a sterner element to the line of her mouth, and a harshness in her greenish-blue eyes that reminded him of certain teachers he'd rather forget. Kitty was probably trying to figure out how she came to have a daughter at all, but Nicole wasn't letting anything slip. In fact, Evan didn't believe she'd said more than a handful of words since they got there, instead standing to one side and taking everything in with something akin to voyeurism.
"I didn't realise," he murmered.
Victoria shrugged. "C'est la vie. That's what you always told me. 'Don't look back on the past, 'cause the rock of the future'll trip you up and send you flat on your face.' That's a direct quote."
"Sounds like something I'd say."
Silence lapsed between them, and Evan returned to picking at his shirt. Victoria scuffed her feet, embarrassed at the way she towered over him even though she slouched like hell. She was even considering kneeling down when he spoke again.
"What about Kurt?"
"Huh?"
"You said earlier that he and Jean were... um, forced together. Does that mean he's in captivity too?"
"He was until recently. You broke him out as soon as we located him out in Nebraska. That's the mutant-breeding capitol now. Over six hundred facilities. Mostly they breed mutants for medical purposes, but there have been other uses. Mainly military. You swore you'd never let that kind of thing happen to 'the K-Man'."
"Is he OK? In your time, I mean."
A crease of the eyes. Just enough to alert him that she was choosing her words carefully. Alarm bells went off inside his head.
"Is he?"
"He's... alive," she offered.
Evan straightened up. "Tell me the truth. I can see you're hiding something. You're about as good a liar as *I* am."
The dark girl sighed and hung her head. _Why am I always the bearer of bad news?_ "He's been in a coma for six months. If he ever wakes up, Forge told us he'll most likely have severe brain damage. His 'porting abilites made him good for target practise. I'm sorry."
Evan took a step back. "Kurt's gonna be a vegetable?" his hand went to his mouth in shock. Then his expression hardened. "No. I won't let that happen. I *won't*!"
"That's exactly why you commissioned this mission."
He startled. "What? *I* commissioned it? How did I do that?"
"In our time, you're team leader," Victoria supplied. "The Professor's in charge, but he's too old to go out into the field, and Wolverine doesn't live with us anymore. Last I heard, he was striking out against mutant research facilities somewhere in Canada. It was all Mom and Forge could do to keep you back from coming here yourself. In the end Mom had to threaten tying you down with adamantium shackles." She smiled slightly at the memory.
Evan sank back against the wall and rubbed at the point between his eyes that had started to throb.
They fell silent again, and Victoria tactfully decided to leave the younger version of her father alone to gather his thoughts and process the information he'd just been given.
"What's she like?"
The question stopped her in her tracks. "Excuse me?"
"What's she like? Your mother?"
At this, she chewed her lip. "I'm not sure if I should tell you about her - "
"You already told me a whole loada stuff I'd rather not have known about the future," he snapped. "What's one more piece of information gonna hurt?"
"She's nice. She used to be a part of the team, but the fighting got too much for her. She's not a warmonger, like the rest of us have been forced into becoming."
"Do I know her? Like, now? In this timeline?"
"You haven't met her yet, but according to Susan's calculations, it won't be long." She sighed. "That's if things turn out the way they have done where I come from. But according to the sims we ran, you two are meant to be together anyway. Just like the timeline heals itself killing off Principal Kelly, it'll find some way to bring you two together. That's what she said, at least."
"What's her name?"
"Gabi. Her name's Gabi."
*
It took a lot of talking to convince this Brotherhood to help her, but Mags won them over in the end. They arrived back at the Institute right about the time she had left.
The X-Men were not happy to see them.
*
There's a saying. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
That didn't matter to Smash. He was, after all, a Celestial Avatar. There was nothing he couldn't do. Making his future was just a petty little thing.
And tomorrow, he would make sure that Kelly died.
No one could stop him.
He was Phoenix!
*
The two groups sat in the Institute's main lounge and glared at each other. Mags had persuaded them to accept a kind of uneasy truce, but that didn't mean they had to like each other.
"So what's the plan?"
"Plan? I don't really see how we can make a plan here," Evan grumbled, earning himself a curious stare from each member of the Brotherhood.
Scott sighed and, in typical leader fashion, took it upon himself to explain about the endless sims they'd run, and the negative results of each and every one of them. Evan found himself staring at the older boy and scrutinising him thoughtfully, wondering if, in Victoria's future, he was as good a commander as Cyclops. He shook his head almost immediately. _Doubtful._
A pair of dark eyes regarded him sadly, and Victoria sighed.
Scott's litany was eventually met with a whistle from Todd as he finished, and pretty much all of the rival team looked stunned.
"So you're saying there's nothing we can do except every single one of us stay home, right?" Lance asked, the suspicion clear in his voice.
It was Susan who replied, and they all shifted their gazes to the pretty, if rather short, blonde. "It used to be that simple, but Smash has pretty much thrown a spanner in the works now."
Pietro blinked. "And you are?"
"The name's Susan; codename 'Mainframe'. FYI, I'm Forge's daughter."
"Oh."
Susan sucked a lungful of air in through her teeth. "Smash is Mags' brother, and the strongest mutant ever known to humanity. Probably also the strongest to ever live, but our records have some anomalous record of someone called 'Apocalypse' that disjoints that figure. Anyway, Smash is also very, *very* dangerous. He's completely and utterly insane, and furthermore, he's decided that he *likes* the way our future goes, since if we change the timeline he either isn't born, or doesn't meet up with the intergalactic entity that gave him most of his abilities."
"Intergalactic entity?" Lance boggled.
Susan waved her hand dismissively. "Long story. Short version is this: Smash was being used for military purposes, and they figured out that his telekinesis pretty much made him able to survive in space without a suit, given the right conditions. They sent him up on some mission or other investigating a foreign body discovered in our atmosphere. Crux of the matter is, that foreign body was a sentient being from another galaxy. We don't know why it came here or for what purpose, and there's no record anywhere of anything like it ever coming into contact with our *galaxy* before, let alone our piddly little world. It has incredible powers, and is older than our whole planet. It chose Smash as a suitable body, and bonded with him on a symbiotic level. They now operate as one, but the strain on Smash's mind was too much even for his evolved abilities, and it drove him mad."
"Mad with power," Ricky muttered, but was silenced by a stern look.
"So, you're saying that this guy, 'Smash', is the most powerful mutant to ever live?" Pietro asked in a small voice that earned him a curious look for being so meek.
"Yes."
"Even more powerful than," he gulped, "Magneto?"
Susan looked straight at him, and without flinching, said, "Put it this way, if you put Smash in a fight with Magneto, the 'master of metal' would be crushed before he could even draw breath."
"Like swatting a fly with a Buick!"
"Ricky, be quiet."
Pietro went very still. "And this guy has decided he's gonna make sure Principal Kelly dies tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"And that either Daniels or me is gonna do it and get blamed?"
"That's the long and short of it."
Silence. Then: "I have only one thing to say."
Susan frowned, confused. From what she'd heard and seen in the sims, the mutant known as Quicksilver was a hyperactive teen who never stopped talking, running about at warp speed, or annoying the hell out of everyone within annoying distance. "And what's that?"
"We're screwed."
"Can't we do something?" asked Kitty.
"We could," Mags said, "if we had one more person. Someone who, in the normal course of things, would be showing up anyway. Someone who, in her first battle ever, beat the X-Men almost single-handedly."
"Who?"
"Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch."
Pietro looked like he wanted to crawl under something and hide. "Wanda? But she--she's--she's crazy! She's locked in the nuthouse--"
"So, we get her out."
The whole group was staring at Margretha as if she had lost her mind. "We do *what*?"
"It's our only chance. Actually, it would be better if we had the other two future Brotherhood members on the team, but one doesn't consciously control her powers yet, and I'm not sure where the other is right now."
"Verdammt! I've had enough of this!" He turned his holowatch on.
"Kurt," warned Jean. "Don't--" {Bamf!} "--do it."
"Where's he gone?" said Ricky.
"Ho boy..." muttered Susan. "The stats have just gone off the chart. Our percentage for success just rocketed up to fifty!"
"As opposed to what?" said Evan.
"Um." Susan blushed. "Three?"
"...'kinell..." said Ray.
"So?" said Ricky. "Where *is* he?"
"He's gone to talk to Principal Kelly," said Jean. "I just hope it works."
*
"Mein Herr? Do you have a moment?"
"Mister Wagner? I thought you and the other Institute kids were off doing exercises or something..."
"Ja. We are. I -er- took a moment out. Do you have a minute or two? I really need to talk to you." _It's got to work,_ thought Kurt. _He isn't supposed to die until tomorrow._
"Sure. What's up?"
"Well - it's kind of -er- delicate... If I can, can I talk to you alone?"
"Sure. You know where my office is. Can I get a general hint about what's bothering you?"
Well, they *were* nearly there. "Um. You've probably noticed a few - weird things happening around here, ja?"
"Yes. Earthquakes and the like. Sometimes it gets stranger than earthquakes..." He opened his office door. "Ghosts, freak winds, ectoplasm, demon sightings. *Angel* sightings. If things got any weirder, it might be the Second Coming."
"Well..." Kurt shut the door after himself. "It isn't *that* bad, but I can tell you what it is."
"You know about it? I've asked other students, but their memories are -er- rather foggy."
"Heh. Ja. I know about it. You see - I'm one of the causes. I'm a mutant."
It was like a light turning on. "Mutants," Kelly whispered. "Yes... It was *mutants*."
"Please, mein Herr... I have to explain. There's not that very many of us, and we're scared."
"*You're* scared of *us*?" Kelly boggled.
"*Ja*! I've *been* on the wrong end of a mob. Even though some of us have incredible powers, we have limits, too. You can only do so much and then -- it's like using gasoline to put out a fire. You can't really use your powers, because it makes people angrier. And you get *tired*. And they catch up to you and--" he shuddered. Memories of Winzeldorf were harsh in his mind. "When I was thirteen, I was nearly burned at the stake by people who were afraid of me. I'm lucky to be alive, mein Herr. And I have no desire to go through it again."
Kelly blinked. "What? Why would they-- People just don't *do* that, here, Kurt. You're in a different country, now."
"They would, mein Herr." Kurt rubbed his left wrist. "Some mutants? Well... They're more mutant than others... They can't help looking different." _Here goes nothing._ "I'm one of them. I wear a special device that makes me look - like everyone else. So people won't have to be afraid. I don't really look like this." He took a steadying breath and turned the holowatch off. "I really look like this. I have ever since I was born."
"You're - you're the Bayville Demon..."
"I'm Kurt Wagner," said Kurt. "Can you see now? Can you understand how we're afraid? Even as I'm talking to you, you're reaching for the gun you hide in your files drawer... and I haven't done anything to you."
Kelly's hand jerked back up to the top of the desk and clasped its brother in a guilty, _Who? Me?_ gesture.
"When you came here. When you gave that speech about everyone being special... I thought you might understand. It's taken this long for me to work up the courage. And you're just like everyone else." He turned the hologram back on. "I'm sorry. I thought you'd understand. I'll go." His feet felt like lead. His eyes burned with unshed tears. So. That was it. They were lost.
"Wait! Please... I -- I'm sorry," Kelly laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. "It's just - you're an awful shock, you know?"
"That, I understand," Kurt managed a lopsided grin. "At least you didn't ask The Question."
Kelly caught the capitals. "*The* Question?"
"Ja. Everyone who meets me has to ask it. 'What are you?' Like I'm not even a person. It - well - it hurts, sometimes."
"And the others you mentioned? Are they--"
"Nein, there's only one of me. Aren't you glad?"
Kelly was boggling again. "Are you--"
"Reading your mind? I can't do that. But I'm used to hearing a lot of the same questions. Try me."
"Does that fur--"
"Ain't tellin'."
"What happened to--"
"Nothing. I was born this way."
Kelly laughed. "You're *good*..."
"I get a lot of practice." Kurt smiled. "Want to try it again with the hologram off?"
"Hold on," Kelly took a step backwards, clasped his hands under his chin, and stood a moment in thought. "Kurt Wagner. B student. Here on scholarship. Okay." He circled his hand forward.
Kurt pressed the hidden button on his watch and waited tensely.
"Kurt Wagner," Kelly repeated. "B student. Here on scholarship." He blinked. "Well. That's not so bad."
"I'd say it went pretty well," Kurt agreed.
"So, er," Kelly fidgeted with some papers on his desk. "Was there something else?"
Kurt sighed. "I really hope I'm doing the right thing," he said. "See, some people from the future showed up, and they want to change the timeline, mainly by saving your life, but another guy followed them, and he's insane, and he's coming to kill you."
Kelly stared. "Come again?"
"It's like this," Kurt started over. "If you die tomorrow, some things will happen and we're all doomed. My future son-" he cringed, "-has come back in time to make sure you die. If the rest of us can protect you, we might just save the whole world."
"If I die tomorrow?" Kelly said faintly.
"That isn't important!" Kurt waved his hands up and down. "I mean, it is important! You have to come back to the Institute!"
"No," Kelly sat heavily in his swivel chair. "It can't be true. I have to think."
"There's no time!" Kurt cried in exasperation. "He's *coming*!"
"People can't just fall out of the future," Kelly buried his face in his hands.
"Impossible does not exist in reference to mutants," Kurt strode forward and put his hand on the principal's arm. "Sorry for this..."
{Bamf!}
*
{Bamf!}
"This is where it gets complicated," Kurt said. "You might want to sit down, ja? My teleporting affects people sometimes."
"...gyah..." muttered Kelly.
"This is Margretha Wagner, my daughter from the future. She can teleport in time, too."
"Hallo," said Margretha. "We need to know where you hid your files on mutantkind. Vanishing for a couple of days could make the future we're trying to stop. That, and we don't want you to die."
"Uh. First drawer on the left. Right on the bottom..."
"Danke!" said Kurt. {Bamf!}
"You're - all mutants?" Kelly managed.
"We're the *good* mutants," said Susan. "Remember? We're trying to save you."
"I've been trying all day," said Evan. "Everything I do ends up with you - well - not healthy."
"Pardon?"
"I'm supposed to accidentally kill you tomorrow," Evan sighed.
"Best to like, stay away from him," said Kitty.
"Behind an adamantium shield," added Jamie.
{Bamf!} "Got 'em!"
"Allow me," said Amara. She took the papers and they spontaneously combusted in her hands.
"Looking good..." said Susan. "Seventy-five percent."
"But - if there's no notes..." said Mags.
"Notes can be forged," said Victoria. "Someone could easily plant them between now and doom-time."
"Urgh. Every time this starts looking easy, it starts getting hard," Jean sighed.
"Yeah," agreed Mags. "We need a plan to defeat Smash."
"A non-lethal plan," said Evan.
Outside, it had started to rain. Nobody was really surprised, since the ominous grey clouds had been threatening a storm for hours. From the way they were swollen, it was also obvious that the drizzle was going to turn into a downpour sometime soon, and that it was in for the duration.
Susan paced the room, hand to her chin. If she'd had a beard, no doubt she would've been stroking it. "Non-lethal? That might be difficult."
"X-Men don't fight to kill," Scott said, rather too melodramatically, but he was conscious of Principal Kelly's eyes fixed upon him. Now was not the right time to suddenly turn into a mutant hit squad. Not when they were trying to make a good impression on him. No doubt Kelly's old memories of the soccer rally were starting to resurface now that they'd been stimulated with actual proof, and those recollections weren't exactly positive. Scott cringed inwardly. No, Kelly had to be taught that not all mutants were dangerous, and going around killing one of their own *children* wasn't going to help them convince him of that.
Susan paused long enough to stare blankly at Scott. "Maybe in your world."
As one, all present-timers shivered.
"What about Scarlet Witch?" Kitty asked tentatively. "You said she might be able to defeat Smash."
"'Might', being the operative word," Susan sighed. She resumed pacing. "You see, according to my calculations, Scarlet Witch's power has been magnified artificially, so it's much stronger than she could possibly make it on her own merit."
"How'd she do that?"
"*She* didn't. Magneto did."
All eyes turned on Pietro. "Hey, I was *five* when it happened, OK? You think I was able to control my abilities so easily by chance? Wanda's just kinda... got out of control."
"So that's why you said she was in a mental institution," the Professor surmised, steepling his hands and shaking his head at the wave of memories unconsciously sent his way by the speedster. "He performed experiments on you too, didn't he?"
Pietro folded his arms. "And? They made me faster. They made me *better*. Wanda just couldn't handle the modifications like I could."
"Something went wrong with her, with what he did to her, didn't it?" Charles looked pointedly at the white-haired teen. "Pietro?"
Pietro scowled. "Leave me alone." He didn't seem inclined to say more, and all assembled - including his own teammates - were left with a nasty taste in their mouths as to what *hadn't* been said.
A rumble of thunder sounded outside, and rain streaked down the window. It seemed suddenly cold, and even Amara felt it. Kelly shifted in his seat, feeling very overwhelmed and not a little out of place.
"Can I get back to what I was saying?" Susan asked nobody in particular without breaking her pace or looking up. She seemed to be running an internal sim of her own, as evidenced by a few scraps of data scrolling down her left eye. The group mumbled something that she took to be an affirmative and went on. "Scarlet Witch is a possibility, but unfortunately, because of Magneto's genetic tampering, her powers are simply too wild for her to actually win against Smash. If she went up against him alone he'd use his powers to confuse her, and she'd just end up destroying herself."
A gasp went up. "So, what you're saying is that there's absolutely *no* way of stopping Smash?" Jubilee whispered.
Susan shook her head. "I'm checking probabilities as we speak, but your little stunt fetching Kelly here, Nightcrawler, has thrown off the balance of power to such an extent that I'm having to reassess *everything* I figured out before."
Kurt winced. The note in her voice was that of a teacher chastising a naughty child, and he didn't like it one bit. "But surely Principal Kelly knowing about us should help us to keep him safe?"
"He wasn't *supposed* to know. According to my calculations now, he's going to either die tomorrow, or expose you to the world within the next six months!" Susan snapped. One hand raised to a small necklace she wore on top of her uniform, and she played irritably with the gold ring looped onto the metal as numbers whooshed furiously past.
Victoria rose to her feet and laid a hand on her Neo teammate's shoulder. "Su, there's nothing we can do about that now. We just have to work with what we've got. You'll burn yourself out if you try to predict the future Kurt's action is going to bring in too much detail. For now, we have to concentrate on the matter at hand - Smash."
Susan stopped and gazed up into her friend's dark face. Then she let out a tired breath and ran a hand through her short blonde bangs. "You're right. I'm getting ahead of myself, and I know it. It's just..... ach, never mind." She broke away and clasped her hands behind her back, releasing the necklace so that it disappeared in the gold-bib at the top of her otherwise black uniform.
"Why do I get the feeling she's gonna say something we ain't gonna like, yo?" Todd muttered.
"Because she's said it every other time?" offered Lance. Pietro still said nothing, earning himself an anxious glance from his teammates.
Susan started speaking again, and instantly had the attention of everyone in the room. "Scarlet Witch can't defeat Smash on her own. She has half the potential to do so, so to speak, but only when allied with two other mutants I mentioned earlier."
"The one who's supposed to join the Brotherhood, yo?" Todd asked, flicking out his tongue to snare a passing fly.
Susan grimaced at the action, but nodded. "One of them is, yes. As far as I can tell, her powers have been with her for most of her life, but she's never actually called on them consciously before. The other, I'm afraid I don't know much about. I'm just going by what the sims tell me about him." The ream of data was back, this time in her right eyeball. Kelly looked like he was about to be sick. "In simple terms, Scarlet Witch and he have enough power between them to stand a chance against Smash in combat. However, neither of them has enough control or self-discipline to actually win. They have to be reined in and directed by the third mutant - a powerful telepath, and your future teammate." She pointed at the Brotherhood.
"More powerful than the Professor?" Scott sounded incredulous, and let out a little sigh of relief when Susan shook her head.
"Nuh-uh, but her abilities are much more suited to melding with the other two to form the best fighting combination my powers can come up with."
Tabby leaned forward. "Mind telling us a few names? Or don't you know them?"
"I know them," Susan's eyes narrowed. "I'm just retrieving a little more data. I should have it ready... now." She blinked, and the glowing numbers vanished. "Your future teammate is currently living in England, actually, in a city called Birmingham."
Rogue nodded. "Risty mentioned that place. Says it's in the middle of the country."
"Can you give us a name, or at least an indication of her powers?" Charles asked, furrowing his brow.
"Her name is Elisabeth Braddock."
None of them had heard of her, and Susan quickly informed them of what she knew[2]. Elisabeth - or, Betsy, as she preferred to be called - was one of three children living in a suburban home just off the outskirts of the British city. They were informed that she knew of her powers, as did the rest of her family, and was quite comfortable with them, since they'd been in her possession ever since early childhood - most probably due to latent X-genes in her parents. She was a blind girl thanks to a genetic defect, and didn't make friends easily, preferring to stick to her family, and in particular, her mother, since her father had died many years ago in a work-related accident.
At the end of her litany, Susan gazed expectantly at the crowd of mutants and one human. "You'll have to fetch her here," she said flatly. "And as soon as possible. Convincing her might be a problem. She's a skeptic by nature, and hasn't really heard about mutants as a phenomenon."
"Where the fuck do you *get* information like that?" Ray groused, knowing that his own bio in the main computers consisted largely of trivial information such as height, weight and when he'd joined the Institute.
Susan just shrugged.
"What about the other one?" Logan asked suddenly. "The other mutant. What about him?" Everybody jumped, not least because he hadn't said a word since the little display in the Danger Room earlier. Logan's gaze was calculating, and Susan met it with a barbed stare.
"I'm good," she said, with no hint of arrogance, "but even *I* have my limits. A lot of records were destroyed before I could get my hand on them in the future, and his was one of them. Apparently, it was already a high-security matter anyway. All I can tell you is the basics about his mutant abilities - and even then I'm not entirely sure how correct my information is - and his alias."
"Be a start."
Susan glared, and her left eye filled up with data again. "Checking details," she said in a monotone voice not unlike a computer. "Powers commonly referred to as Reality-Manipulation; includes ability to control the world in his immediate vicinity at a molecular level. Very unstable. Can only be controlled as long as concentration is maintained at its highest level." She fell silent for a moment, no doubt searching her facts.
"Whoa," Bobby whistled. "That's some power."
"Reality-Manipulation?" Amara didn't sound impressed. "What on earth is that?"
"It means he can literally change the world around him any way he wants," Mags explained, twisting her tail in an agitated manner.
Logan glanced to his left. "You OK, Chuck?"
Charles had gone very pale, and his forehead was so puckered both arching eyebrows met in the middle. Logan smelled the distinctive scent of dread coming off him, tinctured with fear. Chuck? Scared? That didn't bode well.
Susan started talking again. "Present location unknown. Name only listed under alias," she intoned. "Alias listed as 'Mutant X'."
"It can't be," Charles breathed.
"What's wrong, Chuck?" Logan resisted the urge to pop a claw as the nauseating aroma of dread. Adamantium knives weren't exactly going to help Kelly trust them none. The high school principal already looked ready to shit a brick at the demonstration of Susan's powers. Who knew how he'd react to anything else?
Across the room, Rahne let out a small, distinctly wolf-like whine, and huddled back into her seat. Ostensibly, she too knew this strange mutant that inspired such an odd reaction in Xavier.
Charles shook his head and pressed a finger to the spot between his eyes. "The young man of whom you speak is called Kevin MacTaggart. Moira MacTaggart's son."
"Moira MacTaggart?" Beast scratched his furry chin in thought. "The genetic researcher? She's an expert in the field of mutations, from what I've heard."
Charles nodded. "She lives in Scotland, on a place called Muir Island. A haven for mutants much like the institute, but with more background scientific investigation into mutantkind as a whole. Moira is a... personal friend of mine. Rahne came to us from her care."
_So that's why the pup's actin' weird,_ Logan realised. It didn't alleviate the lead in his gut any, though.
"Kevin is very, very dangerous," Charles said gravely. "Not many people even know of his existence. He's kept primarily in confinement on Muir Island, and isn't permitted to leave there. At *all*."
Ricky gulped. "Not even to save the future?"
"If Kevin got out, it's very likely he'd do more damage than good. His control of his powers is limited, and he risks death every time he tries to use them. That's why he's kept so strictly secret by his mother and her staff. Who knows what corrupt people may try to do with him?"
Susan broke off scrolling data to look levelly at the bald man. "She'll agree this time."
"No, she wo - "
"She'll agree," Susan said again, firmly, "because I'm going to show her what'll happen if she doesn't."
Xavier seemed about to respond again, but promptly deflated with an almost audible sigh. "We can but try," he conceded. "Although I don't hold much for your chances. I know Moira. She's stubborn."
"Right then," Logan took control. "Seems to me, the best thing we can do is split into three groups and fetch this wonder-trio here as soon as we can."
"Before Smash gets here," Kitty put in.
"He's already here," Nicole reminded in her breathy alto.
"In this timeline, at least," Mags supplied at Kitty's blank look. "But I don't think he'll make a move until Principal Kelly is supposed to be killed tomorrow. If there's one thing I know about my brother, he's incredibly arrogant. Doesn't think anything can touch him because he has the Phoenix's powers. *That's* what we need to use against him in a fight."
"Fine then," Logan waved a hand at her. "Chuck, seems to me you'd be best goin' to see this Moira dame."
"I'm going with him," Susan interjected.
"And me," Rahne straightened up in her chair. "Be nice to see folk around there again. I had more than a few friends on Muir Island."
"I too, would like to accompany the Professor." Beast hunkered forwards. "It isn't every day you get the chance to meet a Nobel Prize winner."
"This ain't no social call, Beast," Logan snapped. "Strictly business. Scott, you, Rogue and Tabby take the X-Jet and go get that Betsy girl."
"I'll accompany them," Victoria said in a voice that brooked no argument, and went to stand by Scott. "It's best to have at least one Neo-X-Man per team to explain things properly."
Since time was short, Logan merely grunted instead of arguing and turned to the remaining mutants - both Brotherhood and X-Men originals.
He considered for a moment, and then rapped out, "Red, go get the 'copter prepped. Half-pint, Porcupine, Blob, Avalanche, Toad and... what's your codename, kid?" he questioned of Mags, who swelled a little at being picked for the illustrious Wolverine's team.
"I don't have one yet," she admitted.
"We'll pick one for you on the way," he replied. "All those I just mentioned, you're with me. We're goin' to visit the nuthouse."
"Who said you could order us around?" Lance said indignantly, but was silenced by a single glower.
"You wanna try arguin' with me, bub?" No answer. "Didn't think so."
"What about Pietro, yo?" Todd asked, a little uncertainly. Pietro seemed to be taking little interest in proceedings, and was ignoring pretty much everyone, including his own team.
"I don't think it would be a good idea to expose Wanda to her brother if her memories of him aren't positive," Charles said sadly. Nobody asked how he knew, but Pietro's scowl deepened at his words.
"I'm staying here," he gritted. "Just leave me alone!"
The venom in his words stayed their tongues, as did the outcry from those left.
"Hey, what about me?" Kurt cried.
"And us!" chorused the rest of the new mutants.
"You're all staying here with me," Ororo told them firmly. "Sorry, Kurt."
Kurt frowned. "Not fair," he groused, but caught Logan's eye, and had good sense enough not to pursue the matter further. Instead, he retired to the corner with the other new mutants.
"So, I'm allowed to go back in time to save the future, but I'm not allowed to go on a recruiting mission?" Ricky said petulantly, folding his arms and jutting out his lower lip at Victoria, Susan and Mags. He glanced once at Nicole, as if for support, but she had perched herself on the armrest of the sofa next to Pietro and closed her eyes as if in sleep. If she had any qualms about being left behind, she didn't show them.
"You lot can stay here and guard Principal Kelly," Scott offered by way of mediator. "Make sure Smash keeps away."
They quite grumbling at that, and the departing teams were forced to smirk as those left formed a tight circle of sentries around Kelly, who looked as bewildered as one man could get in a single afternoon.
All save for Pietro, who continued to glower at the floor as if he wanted to murder it. And Nicole, whose demure expression and relaxed features made them wonder if she really *had* fallen asleep.
_I thought Smash wasn't due to make a move until tomorrow?_ Jean asked silently as she and Scott parted ways upon entering the hangar.
_Kept them quiet, didn't it?_
*
Ororo took one look at the tight circle of 'guards' around Kelly and sighed. "Tea or coffee?"
"What?" He sounded confused, as well he might. Most of the conversation had gone completely over his head, except the bit where he was supposed to die, and the world as they knew it come to an end.
"Tea or coffee?"
"I think, perhaps, something a little stronger is in order." He reached for his hipflask, and then remembered he'd left it in his desk at school. "Damn!"
"Coffee then?"
"If it's very strong." He paused a moment. "*Very* strong."
"Don't worry. We have Logan living here. I'll just make you the same stuff he has. But be warned; you might need a spoon to eat it properly."
Kelly blinked. "Don't you mean drink?"
"Like I said, it's *very* strong coffee." Ororo smiled, and slipped out of the rec room towards the kitchen.
*
Scott checked the equipment and swivelled around in the cockpit seat. "Everyone strapped in?" A chorus of affirmatives came back. "Professor, we'll drop your team off at Muir Island before we carry on to, ah...."
"Birmingham," Rogue supplied from behind him.
"Yeah, what she said."
"Thank you, Scott," Charles steepled his hands. "But I'm afraid I still think this is a fool's errand. Moira is *not* going to give in to our request. She loves Kevin, despite everything. She's not going to want to risk his life like this."
Susan, seated next to him in Jean's usual place, arranged her hands in much the same way. "Then call us fools," she said simply. "Would you rather we just sat around and let Smash destroy everything you worked so hard for?" No answer. "Didn't think so."
Scott shot a long glance over his shoulder at the blonde girl. Susan certainly was more anxious than her father. Forge had a reputation for being easy-going, and a bit of a pushover, really. God help anyone who tried to cross his daughter. She'd probably have them sliced and diced before they could draw breath. And if she didn't do it, then Victoria probably would.
The tall, dark girl was seated next to her blonde teammate, and stared out of the plane window with something akin to wonder on her face. Apparently the X-Jet hadn't survived long enough for the Neo-X-Men to use it in the future, judging by the look on her face.
A faint beeping went up from the control panel, and Scott transferred his attention to the prepped engine and laid a hand across the controls. But not before he saw Victoria's hand snake across and snag Susan's. She gave the blonde a subtle squeeze, and a faint smile spread over the grim line of Susan's mouth as the contact broke off again.
Scott had no more time to ponder the action, however, as the jet started to swing round and roll down the runway. He flipped the neccassary switches, twiddled various controls and yanked the required lever that opened the hatch to let them out.
_Great Britain, here we come,_ he thought
to himself. _I just hope we fetch these guys in time._
[1] A liver disease linked to alcoholism.
And yes, you can transplant part of a liver and have both subjects survive.
[2]Yes, I know I've taken the liberty
with Psylocke and Proteus' (Betsy and Kevin, respectively) histories, but
since neither of them have yet been in Evo, and I'm not a comic buff, I'm
officially invoking my right to poetic licence with these two. Deal.