This story is called "Slipped Up" It has the X-Men in it, but it
focuses on Cannonball and the whole External thing. Timeslip is my
character.

"Slipped Up" 

                                   Part 1 


                                                     


 It had been a relatively calm week for those who wore the X. No big
disasters had ocurred(besides Beast's slip up in the lab). Meltdown was also at the
mansion visiting her boyfriend, the X-Man Cannonball. Still, the X-Men prided
themselves on being prepared for anything, so when the intruder alert alarm
suddenly went off,no one was surprised. 

 "Where's the intruder?" asked Jean Grey to her husband Cyclops who had
ran up to the nearest sistems monitor as soon as the alarm sounded.   

*Right in our living room* came his thought. Neither of them so much as blinked, even
though that should have been impossible. They were two of the teams veterans, to
them impossible was ordinary. 

    In the living room: Sam and Tabitha had been sitting together on the
couch watching TV and feeling good just being next to each other. The fact
that he was an X-Man and she was a member of the more pro-active X-Force didn't
give them much time to be together. His arm was around her shoulders, and she
toyed playfully with his fingers. At times she forgot all about her tough
girl act. Those moments were the ones Sam treasured most, the ones he could never
forget. Not that this particular moment would have been forgettable anyway. In a
sudden flasha girl materialized right on top of the coffee table, and the intruder
alert went off.
  
Cannonball and Meltdown were immediently on their feet, and ready for
a fight.Tabitha had several of her brilliant orange bombs formed and floating
near her fists. The intruder was wearing black boots, which made her about 5'8
in height, tight green pants, and a black studded jacket over a yellow tank top.
Her black hairwas about chin length and her blue eyes scanned the room as if she was
trying to orient herself. Her eyes locked on Cannonball's and she smiled. 

 "You better not be thinking of tryin' anything or we'll be finding out
if your clothes are fire proof," threatened Meltdown.  
"You'd think I could manage one slip without lading on a powder keg," the girl sighed as she adjusted the
spiked pads at
 her elbows and stepped off the table. She was calmly adjusting the
matching knee
   pads when Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, and the rest of the X-Men showed
up.
   When they saw that she made no threatening moves they halted, but
remained
   battle ready. Gambit fanned himself with a hand of cards, Rogue
adjusted her
  gloves, Wolverine sheathed and unsheathed his claws, and Cyclops
crossed his
   arms. "Who are you girlie and what do you want?" growled Wolverine
before
  Cyclpos could say anything. "You want my name? It wouldn't mean
anything to
  you anyway old man, you've never heard of me before," she said
mischevously.
    "Ah would recomend ya identify yoahself, miss," said Cannonball. "As
you
  command," she said giving him a small smile and a bow. "My name is
Timeslip.
    You are the X-Men, whom I've been sent to find." "Who sent you?"
asked
   Cyclops. His voice rang with athority. "Well there may be a little
problem with
  that. Y'see I do what my name implies, slip through time." "Yer sayin
we don't
  know the guy. An yeh can't prove anything you tell us with that
convinient little
 excuse," said Wolverine. "If this don't smell like a set up, my nose
can't smell bull
                        when I step in it." She grinned. 

 "I don't detect any ill intentions from her, Wolverine. We can at least
listen to why
 she was sent to find us," said Jean Grey. "So spill it already,
petite," said Gambit.
  "Well maybe if you put the cards away and tell little miss bomb happy
blondie to
 put her toys away I'll feel more up to talking." Gambit smiled and
slipped the cards
   back into his coat, but Meltdown glowered. Sam put a restraining hand
on her
 shoulder which she shrugged off. She did make her bombs vanish though.
"Jus so
 ya know, I can make 'em reapear whenever I need them." "Yeah, fine
whatever,"
 said Timeslip as she sat on the table. "Get on with it girl," growled
Wolverine. No
 one was looking to patient. "When he talks about the 'ol days' he never
mentioned
  what an inhospitable bunch you were," she grumbled. "Anyways," she
said more
 loudly. "The High Lord, someone you guys actually sort of know, sent me
back in
  time to fetch Cannonball here and you X-People to my time. See we have
a real
  problem. The evil powers of the Clustic Corporation and their Chief
managed to
get their hands on some time travel technology and some mutant whose
powers are
  to see events long past as clearly as they were yesterday and they've
decided to
   travel back in time and take over your period in history. The High
Lord comes
  from this time, so he kinda wants it to stay as it was, not to mention
keeping his
 self from being killed in the past, so he sends me off on this stupid
little time slip to
                  fetch you all back to stop this catastrophe." 

 "Can't you solve yer own problems in the future?" asked Wolverine.
"Well actually
   the High Lords army is away fighting off some nuclear threat in the
Empire of
   Australia and can't come to fix this unexpected development. Oh, and
the High
 Lord figured since this problem is somewhat your fault anyway you can
help him
 fix it." "How is it our fault, child?" asked Storm. "Well, time travel
technology had
  actually been completely erradicated from our time period, except for
my mutant
 powers anyway, until some bonehead from this period started playing
around with
 the timestream. I think the High Lord told me his name was Cable, and
he's related
   to two or three of you. Time slipping is kind of disorienting, so I'm
not exactly
 sure." "De whole Summers family be kinda disorienting, cherie," laughed
Gambit.
 Scott glared at him. "Yeah, but the point is that after a bit of
traveling and bringing
  his own time devices to this period Cable starts trying to destroy the
time travel
 devices so the villans can't wreak havoc through time. The only problem
with this
     is that when he tries to destroy the one in Dooms mansion after the
dude
  disappears, the machine is sent forward in time in an explosion. It
comes through
   damaged, but some tinkering and Clustic Corp. is almost done
repairing it. The
  High Lord manages to put this all together by what he learned of time
travel and
his spy network. Also by sending me on a few other time slips, but hey
he knows it
 now. He also knows he can't deal with it without putting our whole
future at great
 risk so after much thinking and debate he dicides it's up to the X-Men
to save the
                                   day." 

 She let out a breath. "Well that's the history lesson, any questions?"
"Yeah, sugah.
   You still haven't told us who this High Lor' we know is," said Rogue.
Timeslip
  looked startled. "What you mean you great heroes didn't figure it
out?" "Cut the
  crap kid," growled Wolverine. "Actually, ah know who she's talkin'
about," said
Cannonball. "Well please enlighten us my young friend," said Beast.
Meltdown was
   looking intently at Sam's face. "She's talkin' about me..." There was
a shocked
    silence. "He is an External," sighed Meltdown. "It makes sense,"
said Jean.
  Cyclops agreed. "How many of us can timeslip with you?" he asked.
"Hold on a
  flamin' minute!" said Wolverine. "This could still be a trap." "Tell
us something
  that only we would know to prove that Sammy actually sent you," said
Iceman.
 "Well I know the High Lord better than any of the rest of you, or
Cannonball as he
 calls himself now. You'll have to trust him to verify what I say." They
all nodded.
*This really isn't necessary* came Jean's voice in Scott's head. *I've
been scanning
  her thoughts the whole time. I can't get far into her mind, but I'd be
able to tell if
she's lying* *Yes, but how can you know what kind of mental defenses
people can
  build in the future. You can't tell for sure if this is a half truth
and she's what the
   Clustic Corporation sent to the past to destroy us* *You are a wise
man, Scott
 Summers* Her thought was like a mental caress. *That's one of the many
things I
                              love about you* 

  "You always loved to talk about this time period Guthrie. About how
proud you
   were to be an X-Man and about how everytime you put on that uniform
you
 thought you could feel you da's proud eyes watching you. You talked
about your
 childhood and all the happy moments. You're brother Josh would tease
you about
  your ears, your ma would whisper to you at night that your hair was
like cornsilk
  as she read you your favorite bedtime story: "Goodnight moon". You
loved your
  family so much..." She trailed off sadly. "As for how many I can take
with me, I
 can only take people who are touching me when I timeslip. That allows
like six or
 so depending. You don't want to take everyone anyway in case we fail to
destroy
   the time machine and something comes to this time period. But Guthrie
has to
  come. If anything gets through he will be the primary target and
without him the
  future dies, and one heck of a paradox effect will sweep the world."
"I'm goin,"
  said Wolverine as soon as she finished talking. "If she pulls anything
I want ta be
     there." She grinned. "Your on old man. That's two." "I'm going
too," said
    Meltdown. "Nuh uh. No way blondie." "You think you can stop me?"
asked
   Tabitha angry. "Keep cool Meltdown," said Cyclops. "Why can't she
go?" he
                                   asked. 

 Timeslip sighed. "Look, the High Lord doesn't want her there. He
ordered me that
she was not to come." "If yoah takin me tah the future yah gotta take
Tabitha too."
 "That's three," she said sounding defeated. "Gambit, Rogue, Jean, and I
will go if
   you can handle seven," said Cyclops. Timeslip nodded. "Storm you will
keep
  Psylocke, Angel, Beast, and Iceman here to deal with any threat to
arise." Storm
 nodded. "Do not worry about us," she said regally. "We can summon
X-Force and
                    Cable should we need any assistance." 

 "Let's go, 'time is money' as I believe they say here." Timeslip took
Meltdown and
 Jean's hands. "Just watch what your touching," she said. Cannonball put
a hand on
 her shoulder. Cyclops put his hand on her other shoulder and held on to
Jean's free
 hand. Gambit put and arm around her waist. Rogue grabbed her elbow,
carefull of
 the spiked pad, and glared at Remy. Wolverine grabbed the other elbow.
"Here we
  go!" announced Timeslip. A small flash, that if you watched carefully
looked like
 they slipped into a fast current, and they were gone. "Good luck my
friends," said
 Storm. "Indeed, success is required. Fooling with time is a very
dangerous thing to
 do, and this unsavory sounding Clustic Corporation could inveritably
cause a great
  catastrophy to themselves as well as to our point in the infessimal
universe." "Do
you ever go more than a few minutes speaking plain english, Hank?" said
Bobby as
                       they slowly left the living room.

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