This time, timeslipping felt worse. The dragging sensation was
intense. The perpetual whizzing
 motions were enough to make any stomach queasy. It felt like being
dragged through a vortex. All
   the X-Men held on to Timeslip for dear life, and several times had
the sensation that they were
  losing their grip. It was not pleasant at all. When they materialized
in the X-mansions living room,
  only the most stoic remained standing. Gambit, Wolverine, Cyclops, and
Rogue stood. Phoenix,
  who had been previously injured, was lying on the floor. Meltdown and
Cannonball were on their
   knees. Timeslip looked on the verge of collapse. Cyclops walked over
to Phoenix, wobbling
  slightly. "She needs to go to the infirmary," he said. Cannonball
regained his feet. "Ah'll take Mrs.
 Summers to the infirmary, sir." Cyclops nodded. "Perhaps Timeslip
should go with you, she looks
 bad, and she still needs to make a trip back." "Mes amis," began
Gambit, but Timeslip cut him off.
    "I'm fine," she said fiercely. "Besides, you may not realize this,
but those people traveled to
 somewhere near the mansion. They'd want to eliminate the X-Men and the
High Lord before they
   go about their plans." "Dat's what Remy try to say. De alarm ain't
sounding, but dey be on de
  grounds acording to the security sistems monitor." "Ah think they're
outside," said Rogue as they
 heard the sound of a lightning bolt striking ground. "Let's try to get
the jump on them," said Cyclops
 as they dashed towards the door. Timeslip took a moment to catch her
breath, before she chased
  after them. Outside chaos reigned. The five Exec's were doing battle
with Storm, Iceman, Angel,
Psylocke, and Beast. Iceman was already unconscious. Angle fluttered
around without being able to
 do much damage. Beast dodged laser blasts that came closer every time.
Psylocke was fighting the
 only female Exec, and Storm was trying to use the winds and her
lightning bolts to keep the others
 at bay. The Exec's each had different powers. One seemed to have some
sort of crackling energy
  shield around his body. Another formed weapons out of thin air. The
third and youngest looking
  seemed to have hypnotic powers that he was employing against Psylocke.
The fourth just stood
  their like some arrogant leader. The female member didn't visibly show
any powers, but from the
 way she fought her talent could maybe lie in enhanced strenght and
reflexes. Wolverine inmediently
   went for the smug one standing off to the side. Cyclops blasted the
one who was throwing his
 weapons at Storm. Gambit and Rogue went after the shielded one.
Meltdown tried distracting the
 hypnotic one. Each Exec seemed to have weapons concealed all over their
bodies that they used to
  fire energy blasts or otherwise ocupy their opponents. The smug leader
type drank a serum and
 suddenlt there were two of him. It looked as if both had the ability to
manipulate objects and living
  things around them. Grass and a sprinkler head wrapped themselves
around Wolverine's ankles.
 "Soon you'll learn why I Mickleyn am the leader of the Exec's." "An
you'll learn why I'm called the
 best at what he does," growled Wolverine as he cut himself free.
Meltdown had gotten in over her
 head, and ended up hypnotized, while Psylocke was too busy fending of
the female and her pointed
     lance. "You are a cute little girl, but when you mess with me you
fall like the rest," he said
   mockingly. He then made Meltdown toss a bomb over to Cyclops who had
taken out the air
  weapon Exec. The explosion knocked Cyclops down and his head hit the
floor hard, leaving him
 unconscious. "He'll have a headache when he wakes up," giggled the
hypnotizer foolishly. "But you
  won't be waking up at all," said Timeslip as she got behind him and
punched him with her clawed
 glove in the chest. The young Exec made a chocking sound. Timeslip felt
the beginings of a hypnotic
 spell in the back of her head. She tried to pull her claw free, but it
was stuck. Before Meltdown let
 loose a time bomb that probably would have been fatal, Timeslip chopped
him in the neck as hard
as she could. He fell down dead. "Forgot that you guys are so hard to
kill," she muttured. Meltdown
fell dizzyly to the floor. "You better get inside," Timeslip said before
going off. "You know chere, we
  could be takin on more than we can handle with dis one," said Gambit.
He and Rogue had been
   hitting the shielded mutant with all they could, but his shield
seemed to absorb the force of their
 attacks. On the up side, at least he could use his shield for something
offensive. The downside was
 that he seemed to have plenty of weapons he could fire through his
shield at them. Rogue's uniform
   was already a little singed, and she looked annoyed. Storm attempted
to use her winds to help
  Psylocke in her fight, but nature wasn't always precise enough to
affect only one person. She and
  Archangel, who had taken Cyclops and Meltdown inside the mansion, were
now trying to assist
 Wolverine in the battle against the now triplet leaders. The smug Exec
and his quick clones seemed
  to have a small ability in manipulating weather factors as well as
other things. Storm was showing
   one of them what real weather control was. Archangel was quickly in a
bind. His metal wings
   seemed to be susceptible to the manipulation, so he was fighting with
himself as much as with
  anyone else. Timeslip was breathing heavily. The hypno-kid was tougher
than she had hoped and
    she was already exhausted. She looked around at the scene. She had
hoped that the Exec's
   wouldn't be using the new instant clone serum. It wasn't fully tested
yet and had some seriously
   bogus effects from what she had seen before. Unfortunately that
wasn't evident in this battle.
  Timeslip did a quick review of what she knew about the Exec's. The all
carried the latest techno
toys, and weren't vulnerable to psi powers. If she remembered correctly,
the each carried something
 that would neutralize the other members in case they tried to betray
Clustic. That was what Gambit
 and Rogue would need to get rid of the energy shield. She viewed the
field. She muttured a curse.
The body of the dead Exec was gone. They had genes manipulated to
desintigrate them upon death.
 The air weapon Exec was coming to. She dashed in his direction.
Wolverine was hampered by the
 objects reaching up to grab him and slow his movements. The fact that
his opponent was constantly
 producing more of himself by drinking some vile liquid was annoying as
well. "Ain't you man enough
  to take me on alone?" he growled. "Only a fool would waste any
advantage in battle. What good
   does honor do you if you end up dead?" he challenged back. Wolverine
grinned. An oponent
                   without scrupples. It would be an interesting battle. 

  Cannonball blasted out of the mansion and quickly surveyed the scene.
Timeslip seemed to be in
 trouble. She was moving slower and her opponents air weapons were
getting her. He blasted in her
   direction and delivered a 55mph punch that shattered the man's jaw.
He grunted and fell to the
 floor. Timeslip leapt on him and quickly cut his throat with her claw.
She then quickly searched his
 pockets. She touched a green seringe and gasped, but pulled out a small
green pistol. She tossed it
 to Cannonball. "That will go through the Exec's crackling energy
shield. Shoot to kill Samuel. These
 guys can not make a life here in the past." Even as she told him this,
the dead man's body fell apart
  in front of her. The appearance was gruesome, but she didn't even
flinch. As ordered Cannonball
 flew off to the one with the shield and mentally thanked Cable for
teaching the members of X-Force
 to shoot, no matter what their powers. Gambit and Rogue saw him and
distracted the guy with the
                    shield so that Cannonball could get the shot off. 

 "You little bitch," came a harsh female voice behind Timeslip. Timeslip
turned only to recieve a kick
 in the gut, that was meant to break her spine, from the female Exec.
She doubled over in pain. "You
 killed them!" "If you didn't talk so much maybe you could have avenged
them," wheezed Timeslip.
 Timeslip glanced over at where Psylocke was on the ground and let out a
relieved breath when she
  saw that in her haste to get at the one who killed her friends, the
Exec hadn't killed her opponent.
 Timeslip kicked the female in the knees as hard as she could. Even
though she was wearing heavy
 boots, the Exec didn't even flinch. 'Damn' she thought as the female
pulled a seringe out of her coat.
She tried to dodge the following charge, but in her exhaustion she
tripped over her own feet and fell.
  The needle went into the left part of her abdomen as she landed. Then
Gambit and Rogue were
   there to take on the Exec. Cannonball went over to see if she was
alright as Rogue decked the
 Exec. Timeslip knew it was over. She had heard of this poison. Her
blood vessels would burst and
    she's die a painful death within minutes. She'd cry if she hadn't
known how futile tears were.
 Someone was raising her head. She looked into the blue eyes of this
time period's Samuel Guthrie.
  "I'm dead within a few minutes," she said sadly. She appeared fine at
the moment so a confused
 look briefly lit his face. "She poisoned me. I'm so stupid!" she
laughed sarcasticaly. Her fingernails
    were turning black. Red blotches started to appear on her arms. "At
least I died in battle. In
 victory." Cannonball had no idea what to say to her. She knew him, but
she was a stranger to him.
 "Before I go I want to confess something to you High Lord," she said.
Red marks were appearing
   on her face. She was hemorraging, her brain already dying without
enough blood. She couldn't
 remeber that this was not the man she knew. "I've always loved you,"
she said sadly. "I never even
 got to kiss you, but I still loved you with all my heart. You saw me as
a child and now I can never
  show you that I am a woman. Please hold me, Sam. You don't return my
feelings but I know you
 care enough for that. I'm so sorry I caused you pain. With my remarks
and actions. I was trying to
 help you always. I lived for you," she whispered those last words. She
coughed, and blood covered
  the front of his uniform. "Please burn my body. Fling my ashes into
the winds so I can always be
 with you," she gasped out those words before her breathing stopped.
Samuel Guthrie felt a lump in
    his throat. "We'll give the kid a good burial," said Wolverine
putting a hand on Cannonball's
 shoulder. Everyone was standing around him and the girl who had lead
them to a strange adventure
                 in the future. Sam had learned so much about himself... 

 They burnt her in the back of the mansion. "A warriors funeral, non?"
said Gambit. "The honor of a
 decent burial is what some warriors live for," said Wolverine. He still
wondered about the kid. She
 reminded him of Jubilee, his former protege. He would have liked
fighting by her side. as if echoing
  his thought's Jean said: "We knew so little about her..." she sounded
kind of sad. "We know the
  important things. She's a person like us. She'll fight for good no
matter what the price to herslef,"
  said Cyclops. "Yes, it is good to know that we will leave something
good for those in the future.
 Makes everything worth fighting for," said Storm solemly. After the
fire burnt out Storm summoned
 the winds and spread the ashes around the world. "A good spirit to
watch over us," she said. Jean
                                   smiled. 

  In the future, about three centuries from when the X-Men fought their
battles, the High Lord sat
 alone. He was on his ship after having blown up the enemy facility. The
crew was busy getting them
 back to where the team was supposed to meet up with them. He was alone
and clutched something
 in his hand. His face was stony and gave no hint of his inner turmoil.
He had sent her to her death.
He had known it would happen, but couldn't prevent it no matter how he
tried. He fingered a leather
 glove with three adimantium bear claws attached at the knuckles. It was
her glove. He had kept it
 before they burned her body. She had died thinking the her love for him
was unreciprocated. After
 his wife Tabitha had died... and then his son... He had never wanted to
love again. He finally meet
 Timeslip again when she was a child. He raised her and a few other
mutants he came accross. It felt
 wrong, but he had loved her. He couldn't tell her because he knew this
day would come. He figured
 if he never spoke the words it wouldn't hurt so much. He was wrong... A
solitary tear trickled down
            the face of the man who had once thought he would never cry
again. 

----------
Whew! That's it!

Home