by Berzerker_prime
Summary: The starts off easily enough for the Mutants at Xavier's School for the Gifted. It's been one week since the freak accident at the High School cafeteria, and Kitty's kept everything to herself, assuming the timeline has been straightened out. But when Cerebro gets an odd reading, the X-Men are in for a clash between ages... literally. Sequal to Passing Time, Fighting Night.
AN:
Well! Here we go again, ne? ^_^;
Just couldn't keep my hands off this story line
for long. Meant to work some on some other stories for a bit, but
this one refused to go away and, as everyone knows, you gotta LISTEN
to the muse when she strike-er-visits, else she never return. So,
here I am.
In the regular "current time" timeline, it's been
a week since the spontanious Chrono Hole that sent Kitty 15 years into
the future, then spit her back out again a split second later.
Oops! Muse is yelling at me for being so long-winded.
^_^;
Enjoy, minna-san. And remember; fanfic authors
like feedback! ^_^
*********
Once again, he was running. Just like always, he was running.
The three others were behind him and countless others, the enemy, were
behind them.
But why? If it had been any other time that he had already
experienced, he wouldn't be so perplexed, but this time it shouldn't have
been happening. It was supposed to be over, all of it.
Dammit, he wasn't supposed to exist as he was now any more!
More of the enemy blocked the way ahead of them, raising weapons
and taking aim at him and his three companions, so he darted down the nearest
side corridor, making certain the others followed him.
"K! K! What's happening in there!" a voice shouted
into his ear.
He skidded to a halt just short of the wall of a dead end, crashing
into it when at least one of his companions crashed into him. They
disentangled themselves from each other and turned back toward the main
corridor, only to find it blocked by several unfriendly faces, each loaded
to the teeth with weapons.
"Morlocks! To me!" he called to his three companions as
one of them let loose a barrage of fire. At once, three hands clamped
down on his shoulders and he kicked his talents to life, allowing the smell
of brimstone to encompass all four of them.
After only a few moments, they all found themselves falling in
some dark, unfriendly underworld. When they hit bottom of this pit,
they found that they landed in something liquid, acrid smelling, and on
the whole quite cold and unpleasant.
Fire Bomber was the first to get her head above the surface,
followed shortly by both Forge and Toad. Fire Bomber lit a fireball
in her hand in order to get a look at their surroundings. They looked
about and found that they were swimming in the vast, unsightly river of
sewer sludge. Forge and Fire Bomber looked about, counting heads.
"Where's Nightcrawler?" Fire Bomber demanded.
"I got 'im!" Toad called into the cavern of tile and cement,
hauling a semi-conscious Nightcrawler to the surface, coughing and sputtering.
"Man, he don't look too good."
"Everyone outta the river," Fire Bomber ordered, "we gotta keep
moving."
"Yeah, but where?" Forge asked, climbing out of the sewage and
helping Toad get Nightcrawler onto the dry ledge. "Where'd the 'Crawler
drop us?"
Fire Bomber held her fireball up to the wall and searched until
she found a small, intricate graffiti tag. She ran her finger over
it for a moment, searching her memory. "We're under drop point nemesis,"
she stated.
"Nemesis!" Toad exclaimed. "But that's almost three miles!"
"No wonder K's out of it," Fire Bomber mused, "okay, let's get
moving. And Forge, contact Blizzard and tell him what happened."
"Yeah, sure," he responded, "as soon as I figure it out.
What the hell are we still doing here?"
Thoughtfully, Fire Bomber hauled Nightcrawler onto her shoulder,
relieved to hear a small moan from him. "I'm not sure, but… I'm remembering
something else, now. Something I don't think I knew before.
Kinda like something I'd forgotten up to now. But we don't have time
to deal with it now. Let's get a move on."
And so, with that, four battle-weary Morlocks began moving through
the sewers of New York City.
Fifteen years in their past, in a place and time much more pleasant
and storybook, a group of high schoolers were just returning to their home.
It was a sprawling estate on Bayville's Graymalkin drive, complete with
mansion, pool, six car garage, and secret underground Mutant training facility.
Yes, storybook is the word for it.
Scott Summers drove his sports car up the driveway and into the
garage and as soon as he had stopped the car's movement, the six teens
jumped out of the car and rushed for the door into the mansion, each one
of them with food on their minds. However, as soon as Even, first
in line, had opened the door, they found Logan blocking the hallway.
He had that look in his eye.
It was only an instant before all the teens had turned around
and started to go off in all directions, looking for other ways into the
house.
"Hold it," Logan ordered, inducing sighs in the group.
"C'mon, Mister Logan," Kitty pleaded, "it's the weekend.
You can't, like, seriously believe we wanna do a Danger Room run right
away."
"Yeah, man," Evan agreed with his fellow freshman, "can't it
at least wait until tomorrow?"
"Or at least until after a small snack, ja?" Kurt put in.
"Yeah," Jean voiced, "the school cafeteria's been down for repairs
for the past week and all we've had are brown bag lunches."
"No," Logan stated, "you all begged and pleaded with me all week
on the grounds that you all had tests at school. You all agreed to
Friday evening, so here we are. Get a move on." He spotted
Evan ducking into a corner behind the car. "That includes you, Porcupine.
C'mon."
Grumbling all the way, the group sauntered into the mansion and
down the hallways toward the Danger Room, Logan on their heels the whole
way, acting like a sheepdog, making certain he didn't lose a single teen
on the way. They passed by the study, where Professor Xavier was
deeply engulfed in a book. He looked up as the grouchy group passed
by, giving a wry smile as they passed. He buried himself in his text
again and lost himself in it. It was about an hour later when a buzzer
went off, accompanied by a blinking red light. Xavier frowned and
put his book down before wheeling himself out of the study and down to
the end of the hallway. He touched a panel, revealing a hidden door,
and entered the hidden alcove of the Cerebro computer. He slipped
on the headgear to assist its search, then called up the findings.
"Three Mutant signatures detected," Cerebro chirped out.
"Two unknown, one identified."
"Display identified Mutant," Xavier commanded, his curiosity
piquing. A familiar picture popped up on the screen.
"Location; Bayville, New York. Name: Kurt Wagner.
Mutant identified as: Nightcrawler."
"Are the other two signatures with him?"
"Confirmed."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Where in Bayville?" he asked
the computer.
"Location: 2103 Northport avenue. Bayville High School."
"Strange," Xavier mused to himself, taking the headgear off.
He pressed a button on the console, activating the intercom. "Logan,
are you there?"
There was a pause for a moment, then Logan's voice came through
the speaker. "Right here, Charles."
"Are all the students still in the Danger Room with you?"
"Yeah, they're all still here. And they're gonna be here
until they get this drill right." It was obvious he was talking not
only to Xavier.
The professor considered for a moment, then sighed inwardly.
"We may have a situation brewing," he told Logan, "bring the students to
my study, please."
"I swear, Professor, I vas in ze Danger Room ze whole time," Kurt
professed, both of his three-fingered hands spread out in front of him,
"I didn't 'port anywhere besides in zere."
"I believe you, Kurt," Xavier stated, his fingers steepled in
thought, "that isn't the issue, in this case. The issue is that I
don't know what is happening over at the school, but there are three Mutants
we must find there."
"Do we have identities for any of them?" Scott asked.
"Assuming the one is not, if fact, Kurt, no," Xavier said, "which
is what makes this mission dangerous."
"Nothin' we can't handle, Charles," Logan stated.
"Hey," Rogue chimed up, casting a sidelong glance to Logan, "if
we can handle yah trainin', we can handle anythin'."
It was nearly six o'clock by the time the entire team dumped out
of the X Van in the more secluded back parking lot of the High School.
The Sun was well on its way to setting, casting long, dark shadows in the
orange light. The school was quiet, save for a few chirping birds
in the trees of the grounds and out and about picking at various foodstuffs
discarded by students, both in and out of the trash cans.
"All right," Xavier said, regarding the group, "once you're inside
the school, split into three groups. Cyclops, Rogue, and Spyke will
search the feildhouse and gymnasium area. Wolverine and Shadowcat,
take the west wing classrooms. Storm, Nightcrawler, and Jean, you
take the east wing. Contact me the moment you find anything."
There were nods of assent all around and it took only a few moments
for Shadowcat and Nightcrawler to get everyone into the building.
Xavier sat back in his chair and waited, opening his sixth sense and listening
to whatever might come, either from his people or others. In the
meantime, he contemplated Cerebro's readouts. Was it possible, he
wondered, to fool the computer into thinking one Mutant was another?
Such a thing seemed almost impossible.
His thoughts were interrupted by that characteristic combination
explosion and sucking sound, that "bamf," that signaled Kurt's entrance.
It had occurred above him and there was a shaking of branches in the tree
he was sitting under. He was about to say something when a dark figure
dropped down in front of him, landing on all fours, then standing on two
animal-like feet. From the mental signal Xavier had gotten, he had
expected Nightcrawler and was about to launch into a speech about sneaking
up on one's professor when he caught sight of the person standing in front
of him.
This Nightcrawler was older, to be sure. In whatever time
had passed, he had managed to put on a few more muscles which shown through
the sleeves of the modified uniform he was wearing. But the most
distinguishing difference was an overt lack of an eye on the left side
of this Nightcrawler's face.
"Xavier," he said to the telepath, "zere's no time to be confused.
Ve need to talk, now."
*********
Yup! Things aren't as cleanly worked out as they were supposed
to be. Humdingers to follow in the next chapter! ^_~
Til then, everyone!
Ja ne! ^_^