Battle was chaotic.
That was in its very nature and fabric. But with mutants, the chaos
multiplied…exponentially.
Logan wiped sweat out
of his eyes and looked around, sharp eyesight noting where everyone on the
field was. Sabretooth was down, thanks to Cyke and his eyerays. Misfit was
currently trying to control one of the new mutants Magneto had brought to the
fight, some white haired kid who was running rings around everyone else. He
turned as he heard a familiar British chuckle.
“’Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello,
and wot do we ‘ave ‘ere?”
“You’re meant to be
dead,” Logan told the green skinned mutant bluntly. Toad just grinned,
spreading his hands slightly, bo held ready in one hand.
“Oh, we’re all meant
ter be a lot of things, Wolverine. Yer meant ter be an out of control animal,
but ‘ere yer are. Nicely muzzled for Baldie.”
With an enraged
snarl, Logan leapt for Toad, claws swiping around in a deadly arc. The other
mutant merely jumped out of range and brought his bo staff around in
retaliation, hitting Logan on the head. Which the older one merely shook off
and started to stalk Toad across the street.
“Vatch out!” A loud
yell in a German accented voice and Logan hit dirt, rolling over to see the
white haired speedster smirking at him and tapping a length of pipe against one
hand.
“So slow. You’re all
so veryveryvery slow to me.”
BAMF!
Kurt teleported in,
grabbed the surprised Brotherhood member by his waist and started to port out.
Toad’s tongue grabbed the blue furred mutant’s ankle and Logan reached out for Toad,
gripping his shoulder to make him let go and bringing the claws around to gut
the ugly green skinned mutant.
Meanwhile, in a
universe only a stone’s throw away, Forge smiled nervously at the professor as
he prepared to start his new machine.
“It will work this
time, I know it will.”
“Let us see,” Xavier
said calmly, and the teen flipped the switch.
BAMF!
Kurt cried out in
shock as something *grabbed* him in the middle of his teleport and pulled him
through, bringing all the others in contact with him. Logan struck out blindly,
hitting the white haired man’s chest and gripping the front of his spandex
uniform tightly in one closed fist. Quicksilver ducked his head and held onto
the teleporter tightly, while Toad somehow managed to wind in closer to the
group, holding on with a death grip as around them the universe seemingly went
mad.
And then they were
elsewhere.
Forge looked at the
professor as the machine whined, smoked a little and then died with an
electronic scream.
“Guess I’ll have to
try again. That didn’t work.”
“Indeed…” Xavier
wheeled carefully out of the workshop, leaving Forge to tinker mournfully with
his deceased machine.
Kurt moaned, then
rolled over onto his side and vomited weakly. He felt like he’d been turned
inside out and then back the right side out again during the spin cycle of a
washing machine. He could hear from the sounds around him that the other
passengers on this impromptu trip were not feeling that much better. Logan was
the first to recover, due to his healing factor and was up on his feet quickly.
Looking around, he could see that they were emphatically not where they left.
Toad groaned, getting to his feet with the aid of his bo staff.
“Wot the fock
‘appened?”
“I would second that
question, but in a more refined manner,” Quicksilver said.
“Elf, are you
alright?” Logan asked, worried in his voice as the teleporter kept retching
feebly, on his hands and knees and head hanging down like a dog. “Do you know
what happened?”
“Nein…it was like
something grabbed me in the middle of the port. And then we were here. Ach, de lieber Gott, mein head…” Kurt threw
up again, more seriously affected then his passengers. “Logan, where are we?”
“I do not have the
faintest clue. You two have any idea?” Logan demanded to know, fixing the two
Brotherhood members with a glare. Toad shrugged and started patting down his
pockets for his smokes. Quicksilver just stood there, arms crossed and watching
things play out.
“No idea, mate,” Toad
drawled in his heavy accent, before he finally found his cigarettes and stuck
one in his mouth, flicking his lighter for some flame. “So, truce for the
moment? Least until we can get back. No one knows wot the fuck happened, and
until we do, we might as well be on our own.” He lit his cigarette and drew
back on it thankfully, dragging nicotine laden smoke into his lungs.
“I think that would
be best,” Quicksilver said calmly. “I’ll explain the circumstances to my father
on our return. I think he will agree that it was better we work together; in
spite of our ideological differences.”
“So, what is your
deal anyway? Where the hell did you come from?” Logan asked, determined on
getting some answers on somethings that had been puzzling him. Kurt had
finished throwing up and Logan rubbed his teammate’s back soothingly.
“Danke schon, Logan.”
Kurt wiped his mouth and then cleaned his hand off on the grass, leaning back
onto his heels and squatting. His tail lashed from side to side slightly,
afraid yellow eyes brimming with bewilderment.
“He’s Magneto’s little
sprog, in’t he?” Toad sneered. “Turns up out of the blue, no warning, and what
ho, lads, here’s the boss’s son and daughter. Play nice and do wot they tell
yer, or I’m gonner kick yer arse.”
“I am perfectly
capable of standing my own ground against you, *Toad*,” Quicksilver said
coldly.
“Yew just keep
telling yerself that,” Toad said dismissively. “Right, we better get out of
sight. Blue there is more then a little obvious, and the three of yer are all
dressed up like secret services or summat.” Logan nodded; it was true. He and
Kurt were both dressed in the black jumpsuit uniforms of the X-Men, and the
white haired man from the Brotherhood was dressed similarly, but in green and
silver. Toad was the only one dressed in street clothes, and the mutant was
already bringing forward the hood of his sweatshirt to help hide his green skin
from view. “After all, we don’t know how the people ‘ere think about mutants.
Best to be safe then sorry, is wot me old mum used ter always say.”
“What, besides
that’ll be a pound for a hand job?” Quicksilver said crudely. Toad glared at
him and flipped him two fingers.
“Focking bite me,
Speedy.” Toad shoved his hands into his pockets. “Best we start walking and
look for something resembling civilisation.” Logan nodded and helped Kurt to
his feet, putting one arm around the other to help him stay upright. The German
moaned softly, closing his eyes.
“Danke, Logan…oh
Gott, I feel so sick.”
“Well, whatever it
was tapped into your powers. It’s no wonder you were the hardest hit.” Logan
breathed in deeply, scenting the air for scents other then their own. “That
way. Let’s go.”
The group of four set
off in the direction Logan had indicated. Quicksilver zooming ahead, waiting
and bitching about how slow they were, Toad walking in an easy lope that looked
slightly wrong due to the extended length of his legs compared to his upper
body, and Logan supporting one very dazed and sick blue demon. Logan’s ear
twitched as he heard the sounds of fighting up ahead…and then he smelt some rather
familiar scents. But different, somehow.
The four older
mutants paused, looking down into a scene of battle. With some very familiar
looking combatants. A boy with a visor. A blue demon in a uniform. A girl with
one hand to her head, red hair falling across her face. A white haired boy. A
kid who was currently using a long tongue to trip up one of the people in
uniform. Familiar, but not.
“Hello, Toto, I don’t
think we’re in Kansas anymore,” Quicksilver remarked, looking down. Toad
nodded, watching the fight.
“Question is…whose
side are we on?”
“No one’s,” Logan
snapped. “We don’t know what’s going on. But I think we should find out.”
“Logan, bitte…” Kurt
blinked yellow eyes, watching the action below. “Is it just me, or does my
counterpart have *fur*?”
“They’re younger then
we are,” Toad mused. “Wot say we go down and make ourselves known? Oh, I *like*
that kid!” he crowed as the one he’d correctly tagged as an alternate version
of himself, at least in powers, yanked the Cyclops double off his feet and onto
his ass. Without another word, he leapt from the hillside and the cover of the
trees to the middle of the conflict. Logan snarled and then started down as
well, the fighters pausing in shock.
“Toad, you have such
lack of style,” Quicksilver sighed, appearing next to the other Brotherhood
member.
“Oh, I ‘ave a style,
pretty boy,” Toad snapped back. “Pity yer only ‘ave the one yer pinched from
N*Sync.”
“Lies, damnable
lies,” Quicksilver said, putting a hand over his heart. “And what, exactly, do we
have here? Besides one puking teleporter, his less then friendly sidekick and
younger versions of the people whose asses we were kicking back where we were?”
“Ah, confused?”
Nightcrawler said, raising his hand.
“Same, yo,” Todd said
slowly, watching the older Toad.
“Excuse me, but who
are you people?” Scott asked.
“Ah, just like the
Cyke we love to hate, you also do not deal well with unexpected surprises,” the
older Quicksilver said dryly. “Why is it, I wonder, both versions have
flagpoles stuck up their asses?”
“Enduring trait,”
Toad snickered. “Anyway, mates…this is the deal. We’re all fighting, me and the
noble white haired one over there, versus Claws and his blue companion, because
of ‘ideological differences’.” He made quote marks with his fingers. “And then
Blue Boy goes to ‘port and poof! We’re here.”
“Excuse me,” Kurt
said weakly and let go of Logan to dry heave, dropping to his hands and knees
once more.
“Misfit, are ya gonna
be alright?” Logan asked worriedly.
“In a moment,
liebechen,” the blue skinned mutant said weakly. “The sickness, it does not
leave.” He retched again, shoulders shuddering as his body revolted against the
misuse of his powers. “It is worse then when I had to teleport so many of das
Kinder at Alkali Lake.”
“Liebechen?!”
Nightcrawler said in horrified tones. Logan glared at the younger version of
his lover and raised an eyebrow.
“You got a problem,
Fuzzy? If so, come over here and I can explain to ya why bigotism amongst
mutants doesn’t apply. Three times.” The claws slid out; one, two, three. “The
fourth explanation is *where* I put the first three reasons.”
Meanwhile, the
younger version of the Brotherhood version were laughing, and pointing at the
flabbergasted Nightcrawler. Logan’s steely gaze swung to regard them as well,
and they shut up quickly.
“What the hell is
going on here?”
Toad looked up at the
repetition of voices, and then almost died laughing at Wolverine’s costume.
“Oh my giddy aunt!
What is it with you guys and SPANDEX? At least my version is wearing clothes
and not a bondage costume!”
Both Logan and
Wolverine growled. Toad was too busy rolling around on the ground laughing to
pretend indifference or terror at their tone. Quicksilver put one hand in front
of his mouth to hide his own laughter. Kurt was too busy being sick again to
take any notice. Logan opened the jacket of his uniform, and then used one of
his claws to slice away a length of cloth, giving it to Kurt.
“Wipe your mouth on
this, Elf.”
Kurt took it and did
as he was told, before wearily getting to his feet again. “Danke. Is there
somewhere else ve can go? I’m feeling a little exposed here…”
“Same,” Toad said,
before he went over to his younger counterpart. “So, wot’s yer name, lad?”
“Todd. Todd
Tolensky,” Todd said warily. Toad grinned, extending his hand to be shaken.
“Call me Toad; I
refuse ter answer ter the name me old mum gave me. It’s horrid. So, yer a Yank.
It’s pretty saddening ter find out.” He heaved a melodramatic sigh. “I’ll just
have ter do summat about that.”
“Like what?”
Quicksilver asked with disdain.
“Brit Slang 101,
o’course,” Toad said. “Wot else? We’re probably gonner be stuck here for a
while; might as well have fun while we’re waiting around ter get back. If we
ever do.”
“Excellent point,”
Quicksilver mused.
Logan let Kurt curl
into him, the blue skinned man’s eyes closed and face tucked into the curve of
the other man’s neck.
“If you’re X-Men,
which I’m gathering by the large X’s on your uniforms,” Logan said bluntly,
looking at the teens who were actually in a standard uniform. “Can we go back
to the Institute and talk to Chuck? Xavier,” he corrected himself. He could
feel Kurt’s unsteady panting warm on his skin, the soft cadenced rise and fall
of a Hail Mary in German reaching his ears. The elf needed a doctor. Now. “Kurt
needs a doctor.”
“What do you think,
Wolverine?” Scott said, turning to the glowering older man. The Brotherhood
mutants were talking amongst themselves, swapping stories and points of
interest. Toad’s chuckle could be heard clearly at different points. “Should we
believe them?”
“The fuck I care if
you believe me or not,” Logan snapped. “If Xavier’s here, he can read our minds
to find out what the hell happened. What I’m concerned about at the moment is
getting Kurt to a doctor before he starts throwing up blood.”
“Thank you for that
delightful image, mein Teuerste,” Kurt said dryly, before biting at Logan’s
ear. Hard. The wound healed over in seconds as Kurt licked his lips clean of
blood.
“Don’t make advances you can’t keep at the moment,” Logan
warned, almost instantly hard. “So, can we go?”
“Here, we’re going with this lot,” Toad said, looking at Logan.
“Apparently *that* one,” he nodded at Lance, who looked uncomfortable, “was
dating an X’er, so he has the phone number for the Institute. We’ll be in
contact, Claws.”
“Alright, Xavier can decide what to do with you,” Wolverine
growled, after a few moments of thought. “Let’s go.” Back stiff, he gathered
the young X-Men and walked off. Logan and Kurt trailed after, while Quicksilver
and Toad left with the Brotherhood.
To be continued...