Part 2


                                                   


   Time traveling, or maybe just time slipping, felt strange. It was
like zooming along a road with
 everything blurry beside you. When they were jerked to a halt it was
somewhat startling. Timeslip
  quickly jerked away from the X-Men's grips and almost fell to the
floor. "You ok, petite?" asked
  Gambit. "So many people! It produced a lot of drag on the slip, I was
afraid I was going to loose
  some of you." "Good thing you didn't," growled Wolverine. "Now let's
get moving." They were
 inside a grey walled building with no roof. The sky was a roiling dark
cloud of contamination. The
 walls were crumbling and old. Trash was everywhere and a small
skittering sound could be heard.
 "We have to walk a bit, because I can't slip directly into the High
Lords HQ." She reached into the
 pocket of her pants and pulled out a black glove. Once she had put it
on you could see four metal
 claws extending about three inches from the knuckle. "Keep alert," she
warned. "But stay close to
  the ground." "Hope you can use those for more than show, girlie."
Timeslip smiled at Wolverine.
 "They're adamantium bear claws. A mutant strain of polar bears resulted
from an illegal experiment.
 Very fierce. I killed this one with my bare hands." With that she
walked past them and into the alley
         outside. "Cocky brat," growled Wolverine. "Let's go X-Men,"
said Cyclops. 

    Timeslip led them through a maze of alleyways and buildings. They
never saw anyone, but
 Wolverine could smell people watching them, and Jean could sense them.
Soon enough they came
  to a crumbling four story building which Timeslip entered. It was grey
and drab, like all the rest.
 They followed her up the hazordous stairway that crumbled beneath their
feet up to the fourth floor.
    Like most of the buildings they had seen, this one had no roof.
Timeslip climbed up a pile of
 haphazordly stacked boxes in the corner and on to the top of the wall.
She ran across the edge of
  the wall, not even looking back to see if they followed. When she
reached the north corner of the
 wall, she turned around and smiled. Then she walked straight out and
stood on air. "Stay close," she
   warned. "Don't try flying either," she added after a second. When
Scott stepped out into what
 looked like thin air, he found that he was standing on an invisible
beam a little less than a foot wide.
   About a meter out into the air, Timeslip disappeared. Wolverine who
was following behind her
  disappeared when he reached the same spot. *An invisible hideout. I'm
impressed* came Jean's
telephatic observation. Once they were all inside they could see that
they were inside a sophisticated
    room. They could see the world outside through the empty door sized
space they had come
 through. Timeslip pushed a bunch of buttons on a console by the door
and it closed quietly. "Don't
  try opening the door to leave without someone to activate the
invisible walkway," said Timeslip
 informatively. "Oui, only Wolverine is likely to survive a drop like
dat." She just smiled and led them
 to an elevator. It was a large suspended platform on which they all
fitted comfortably. The platform
 went up a few floors and then started going sideways at a high speed.
When it stopped, the X-Men
   stepped into a large high-ceilinged chamber. The walls shone
metalicly, and were covered with
    many maps. *Look how much the world has changed* On the maps ypu
could see that the
 continents the X-Men knew were shapped somewhat differently. Florida no
longer existed. Neither
  did the Scandinavian peninsula. The other continents looked weathered
by time, capes and what
 were once distinguishing characteristics had faded or often disappeared
completely. Antartica was
  colored green instead of white, giving the impression that it must be
lush and green in this century.
                 "The world sure has changed a lot," said Rogue quietly. 

  "It is quite impressive when yah think about it," came a familiar, yet
very diferent voice. Striding in
  from a door in the back of the room was a tall muscular man. He had
blonde hair cut short in the
    back, and hanging down long into his face. He walked with the
confidence of many years of
 experience. When he got closer they could make out his face. He hadn't
aged much. His face had
  taken on a look of maturity that belied his seeming youth. His
features bore slight indications of a
 man run haggard, but there was also a fierce determination there. His
eyes were eyes that had seen
  many tragedies and felt a lot of pain. He was a man now. He had been
for a long time now. He
 smiled at his younger self who scanned his face intently. "Time brings
much change, X-Men. Three
 centuries an many filled with war torn yeahs can make things change
even faster." "Three centuries?"
  said Cannonball in surprise. "Timeslip didn't tell yah?" The girl
shrugged innocently. "She failed to
 explain many things, but we figured time was of the essence," said
Cyclops. "Yah may hav' figured
this out already Cyclops, but in case she forgot tah tell yah, any time
yah spend in this century is time
  yah lose back in yoahs. Timeslip can't bring yah back to the moment
she left with yah. Paradox
  forces won't allow it." "What're a few days when you're gonna save the
world?" said Meltdown
 glibbly. Sam looked at her, seeing her for the first time. A look of
hope and pain flashed quickly on
    his face. Jean didn't really think anyone caught it except herself.
"Yeah, well this mission is
   important. Ah'll give ya a brief glimpse of how ouh world is befoah
detailing the mission." He
  glanced at Timeslip and she looked away, abashed. "In this world, the
United States is all pretty
 much like what yah saw outside, as well as Canada. The current world
power is actually Australia,
 and theah workin' on weapons of destruction to threaten the other
surviving nations inta submission.
   The Alliance of America is the power in South America and what used
tah be Mexico. Theah
    pacifists on the outside, but have a hidden agenda. Every country
left is actually locked in a
 dominence fight with everyone else. The US and Canada are actually
united under mah campaign.
 The remnants of the country are in no way organized though, yet. I have
groups spread out tryin' to
 offer protection and livelyhood to those few that still wanna make a
life foah themselves, but mostly
 the country is full of derelicts and troublemakers. The good thing is
that no one feels threatened by
 us 'cause of this lack of organization. They worry 'bout me and mah
followers, but are unfraid of a
 war coming from us because we have no scientist or resources to build
missiles. The people won't
 follow any rule mostly, 'cause they believe that goverment led to the
destruction of the country in tha
   first place. This don't mean that they're is no aggresion against us.
They want to eliminate mah
  faction, and often try to increase their territory by taking land in
tha south." "The reason Ah need
 yoah help is the Clustic Corporation. Theah a group of Australian
rebels callin themselves nationals
who want the world foah themselves. By going back to yoah time they
intend to slowly destroy both
 the United States and the Australian goverments. They also want tah get
rid of tha mutant element.
 A century or so aftah you all die Australia incorporates mutants inta
theah goverment and uses theah
   powers to dominate everyone else who up until then were trying to
kill mutants. The grab foah
  power causes foah the other goverments to use mutants as their tools
and soldiers in a new world
 war. That war hasn't really ended since then. Clustic whishes to keep
that war from happening. Half
  o' this time's people are mutants. In many countries they are tools
and slaves, but they are alive.
 Clustic wants to make the world into a giant garden of Eden, which
sounds nice, but they mean to
   pick an' chose who lives an who dies." "Why can't we ever hear of a
happy future?" grumbled
  Meltdown. "That's what we fight foah. It doesn't matter if that future
is 10 or a hundred centuries
 from now, we will keep fighting," said the High Lord. Cyclops smiled.
"That's what the X-Men are
  about. It's nice to see the dream still lives so long after we die,"
he said. "We'll fight your battle,
  Cornball," said Wolverine. The High Lord smiled at him. "Thank you my
friends." "So how do ya
 want us to go about this, sugah?" "We'll the Clustic Corp. has theah
time machine set up in the wilds
 of what was once Alaska. It's a dangerous site because of all the
mutant animals resulted from the
 wars, but they also serve to help them in defense. Alaska is still
freezing, unlike Antartica, where the
worlds food supplies come from, so we'll need winter gear..." The
planning and explaining continued
 for some time, before they finally had everything ironed out. "So how
are we getting there?" asked
Gambit when they had finished. "This HQ is a ship. We are already en
route. It's still a few hours, so
  yah may wanna rest. Time slipping is exhausting, especially if yah go
really far." A man dressed in
 black military fatigues came in. "Take them to rooms to rest, or the
arena to warm up if they wish,"
 said the High Lord. The man smiled. "It would be interesting to test
our mettle against your heroes."
 "You can't abandon your positions to train, Xeltec. With the team
gone..." He shrugged. "Maybe a
                             little one on one then." 

 The X-Men followed the grinning man out of the room. The High Lord
watched Meltdown leaving
  so intently he didn't notice that his past self didn't follow the
others out. He turned to Timeslip as
  soon as Meltdown was out of sight. "Why?" She glared at him. "What did
you want me to do? I
  couldn't insist that the love of your life stay behind. First, because
she wouldn't allow it and you
     didn't want me to leave without her either. You loved her as much
then as you do know,
 remember?" "Don't be pettish with me. Yah can't know how much it hurts
ta see her again. Damnit!
  Ah've told yah about how she died! Seing her again justs rips open mah
old wound..." "Oh yeah.
   I'm inconsiderate. I know nothing of pain or love, right? Don't go
there. You have no business
  getting mad at me anyway. You know that traveling back so far is
pushing my limit quite a bit. I
almost couldn't get them all here! And now when I'm drained you're going
to yell at me. Gee thanks.
  All this for you and you're still not satisfied." She turned away from
him, angry and sad. His face
 hardened. "You're right. Ah'm sorry. A good leader wouldn' do this ta
yah. But seing mah Tabitha
    again is like going back centuries, ta when Ah was an optimistic
kid." He put a hand on her
  shoulder. "Yah did great Timeslip. Go get some rest so yah can fight
with us." She jerked away.
 "Thanks a lot, leader. That's all I'll ever get from you right? A pat
on my head for being a good little
   puppy." She glared at Cannonball. "I'm outta here. You seem to want
to talk to yourself." She
          turned and calmly walked away, although it took a visible
effort to do so. 

 The High Lord noticed Cannonball then. A smile quirked around the edges
of his lips as he looked
 himself up and down. "Ah haven't thought of mahself as 'Cannonball' in
years," he said. "Ah imagine
 yah have hundreds of questions flyin around in yoah head. Like, what
evah happened ta Cable and
the whole Apocalypse thing? An thanks to that conversation yah weren't
even supposed tah heah ya
 probably want tah know all about what happened ta Tabitha, and yoah
family." He stared of at the
 maps hanging on the walls. "Tha world has changed so much, Sammy. But
it still has it's good times,
  and bad. It's also something yah have ta experience. That's why Ah
didn't tell you or any of the
    X-Men any details about what directly concerns you all." "Ah don't
want yah ta answer any
  questions. I just want tah see yah. Ah still have a hard time believin
that I'm gonna live foahevah
  baring serious injuries an stuff. It's mind-boggling." The High Lord
laughed. "Ah guess Ah don't
 really remembah what I was like at that age. At least it's nice that Ah
like mahself." He smiled and
  exited the map room, to prepare himself for the battle, leaving his
past self to his own devices. It
              was nice to know for sure that he wouldn't get into any
trouble.

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