Shades of Red 4

Scott yawned, he'd been up late working with Forge and finally completed the room, so he was looking forward to relaxing. Thankfully it was a Sunday so everyone, even Logan, was of the same opinion.

A tall, broad shouldered black man with an 'M' tattooed over his right eye appeared in a flash of light. "I bring a warning from the future!"

Scott lifted his ruby quartz glasses and a bright red beam lanced out to shatter a thick silver band around the intruder's left arm.

"No! The time-" Bishop began only to vanish once more.

Scott turned back to the TV.

"What was that?" Bobby asked in disbelief.

"Something I'm not dealing with on a Sunday morning," Scott replied.

"It sounded pretty important," Kitty pointed out.

"It was a time traveler doing the whole self fulfilling prophecy bit," Scott assured them, "and I'm pretty sure this isn't even the right timeline. Besides, Bishop is a complete asshole no matter the timeline."

"Are you sure?" Logan asked.

"Oh yeah," Scott said, "he comes from a dystopian future where all of Magneto's worst fears were realized so he's one of those 'hard men making the hard decisions' types who instead of taking five minutes to explain things and discuss things rationally will immediately try and kill one of us to prevent the future he 'knows'. Of course, later it turns out he has bad info and it wasn't one of us, but by being a dick he's set events in motion to cause the very thing he was sent to stop."

Logan was quiet for a moment while everyone else simply stared at Scott in confusion. "616?" he guessed.

"And a couple of close universes," Scott agreed. "And while it does allow my daughter from that timeline to come back in time later, it's still best avoided."

"Daughter?" Rogue asked, wide eyed.

"Who's the mother?!" Kitty asked excitedly.

"A universal constant pretending to be Jean," Scott replied, "and Rachel gets a bit upset that I'm not with her mother, who sacrificed her life to avoid destroying any more galaxies, and instead ending up having a son with Madelyn Pryor while Jean was believed dead. Madelyn of course turned out to be a Jean clone created by Mr. Sinister, who really has way too much free time."

"You have children with clones of me in the future?" Jean asked in disbelief.

"It's time travel," Scott said, "everyone has children with everyone, because that's how infinity works. Now personally my favorite time travel child is Ruby. Her mother is a complete and utter bitch though and since I've worked on my mental defenses, Emma isn't going to be able to use telepathy to make me fall for her."

"Do I have any children?" Jean asked in disbelief.

"Hope Summers," Scott said, "who I'm told is a sweet child and is raised by my son Nate which I had with your clone."

"Well… at least I became a mother," Jean said.

"No, you were the father," Scott said. "Don't recall who the mother is, but the universal constant I was banging, who you are actually the avatar of, helped you impregnate her so Hope could grow up to be the rebirth of the universal constant herself and prevent the entire timeline Bishop and Rachel came from."

"My brain hurts," Bobby complained.

"Exactly," Scott said with a yawn, "it's way too early to deal with all of that so I prevented it."

"Are you sure that will take care of it?" Logan asked.

Scott pulled out his cell phone, looked up a number, and dialed. "Hello, Raven?... Yeah, I know it's you, no it's not really important…. I meant important to me, it's probably pretty important to you. Listen, we just had a time traveller show up with grim tidings of the future because you assassinated the president while framing one of us… Who? It actually varies. This time it was your son… No, he doesn't know… Because you have the right to tell him as his mother, which I'm sure you'll do in the worst way possible at the worst time and completely forget to mention you lost him while running from Magneto, who had been experimenting on you without your consent… I know a lot of things people wish I didn't, like the asshole time traveler who just showed up this morning before I blasted him back to his own timeline… I don't know, it was a really stupid scheme that backfired on everyone, human and mutant alike. Just remember to kick anyone in the balls who suggests it and consult with Destiny if you ever have the delusion that it's a good idea. In fact, go visit Destiny now, you sound like you could use a break… Yeah, I agree it is way too early on a Sunday to deal with this, hence the blasting, bye."

"That was Mystique?" Rogue asked.

"Worst mother of the year herself," Scott agreed, "not because she doesn't care, but because she's an idiot. Even the whole Brotherhood thing is because she believes it's the only way to make sure her children have a future."

"It's way too early for this," Rogue said with a groan.

"My thoughts exactly," Scott agreed, "especially since I was up late last night finishing a certain project."

"A certain project?" Rogue asked, wide eyed.

"That project," Scott agreed. "Want to see it?"

"Yes, yes I do!" she said excitedly and pulled him to his feet.

"Then let's go," he said, leading her to the elevator, everyone else following them and cramming inside before he could push the button.

"Why are you all coming?" Rogue asked.

"We want to see what the mysterious project is that you wouldn't tell us about," Kitty replied as the doors closed.

"You've been very tight lipped," Jean agreed.

"I'm just following the crowd," Kurt volunteered.

"Same," Bobby agreed.

The doors slid open to reveal a copy of the living room with a large red button on the wall the size of a dinner plate.

"It's a duplicate of the livingroom?" Kitty asked. "Why would you duplicate the livingroom?"

"Because when I pull out the big red button, it shuts down mutant powers in the room so we can relax," Scott said, walking over to the wall opposite the elevator and pulling the button out.

"I feel tired," Logan said with a frown.

"Yeah, you should leave, it's shut down your healing ability," Scott said. "It's safe for a little while but you need that ability to live."

"Good point," Logan said, "but I at least want to wait long enough to see that it works on everyone."

"I can't port," Kurt said.

"No ice," Bobby agreed, looking at his hand.

"It's so quiet," Jean said, closing her eyes and smiling.

Kitty poked a wall with her finger. "Nada."

Rogue slowly took off a glove and timidly touched Scott's face. "I can touch him," she said in wonder.

"Yes you can," he agreed and closed his eyes before taking off his visor and looking at a wall. "No laser vision." He turned to look at the others and slapped a shocked look on his face. "Jean, you have hair!"

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"I always thought you were bald," he explained.

"Why?"

"The red visor would make your hair, being red, invisible," Bobby realized.

Everyone stared for a moment before realizing Scott was trying not to laugh.

"Scott," Jean groaned out as the others laughed and Rogue hugged Scott tightly.

"This is the best gift ever," Rogue said into his chest.

"Wanna lay on the couch and watch cartoons while I nap on your shoulder and drool?" Scott offered.

"I think I might like that," Rogue agreed, eyes damp. "But take off your shirt first, I wanna rest my head against it."

"And we are off," Kurt said.

"We are?" Bobby asked.

"Bro code," Kurt said.

"Gotcha," Bobby agreed and followed him to the elevator, where Wolverine was already standing.

"Oh," Kitty said as she figured out what they weren't saying and joined them. "Jean?"

"I'm going to enjoy the quiet for a little while first," she said, joining the two on the sofa and taking Rogue's hand.

"I can touch you too," Rogue said with a teary smile as the elevator doors closed.

"Want me to take off my shirt?" Jean asked, causing both Rogue and Scott to stare at her. "My telepathy is even worse when in contact with someone sometimes, so while I don't have to worry about just bumping into someone, I do avoid prolonged contact."

"Shirts off, cuddle, and cartoons?" Scott asked Rogue.

"I think I'd like that," Rogue agreed, stripping off her shirt so they could cuddle.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"No, I haven't been planning on you assassinating the President of the United States," Magneto said, "and framing the X-Men for it would just set them further against us. The entire idea is so moronic and ill conceived. If I ever do suggest something like that you can be assured it's an imposter."

The master of magnetism nodded and hung up the phone.

"Problem?" Sabertooth asked.

"A time traveler showed up at Xavier's and they managed to get rid of him. Apparently my worst fears are realized if a mutant assassinates the President of the US. Which of course would be blindingly obvious to anyone with a room temperature IQ," Magneto said dryly.

"Time travel is a thing?" Sabertooth asked, having some hazy memories of the subject… though it might just be because he was drunk at the time or because it was decades ago, likely both if he was being honest.

"Possible but problematic," Magneto said. "Only the mad or truly desperate involve themselves in it."

"Want me to stop by and have a word with the runt about it?" the feral mutant asked.

Magneto gave him a dry look. "You and Logan don't have conversations, you have knock down drawn out brawls while snarling at one another."

"Is that a no?" Sabertooth asked with a wide grin.

"Do what you like, I'm simply going to arrange a meeting with Charles to discuss it," Magneto said. "Perhaps play some chess," he said thoughtfully.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Scott woke up and yawned, noting his hand was on a breast, Jean's in fact, as the two of them were wrapped around a sleeping Rogue. Both of the girls were asleep with peaceful smiles on their faces.

It was a pretty comfortable place to be, but unfortunately he had to pee and there wasn't a bathroom down here.

Scott slowly extracted himself, careful not to wake the pair before he put on his shirt and left, taking the elevator up to the main floor. He'd just finished up in the bathroom and stepped out when he ran into Professor Xavier, Ororo, and Hank.

"Scott, just the person I was looking for," Professor Xavier said with a smile. "I understand there was some excitement this morning and was going to speak with Eric about the possible implications."

Scott nodded. "Take a copy of my memory, it'll help clear up any questions."

Xavier closed his eyes for a second and nodded. "Thank you, that will be very helpful."

"Have fun," Scott said, knowing Eric was actually a good friend of Xavier's despite their ideological disagreements and occasional battles.

"I'm sure we will," Xavier said as the three departed, Storm coming along as protection and Hank because no one in their right mind trusted Storm's driving.

Scott's stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn't eaten breakfast this morning and it was almost noon.

"How'd it go?" Kurt asked as he entered the kitchen where everyone was making lunch for themselves.

"Pretty well, the girls are still sleeping," Scott said, unaware of the wide eyed stares as he retrieved the milk from the fridge.

"Both of them?" Kitty asked excitedly.

"Yeah, turns out Jean doesn't like prolonged contact with people because of her power as well," Scott said as he poured himself a glass of milk, "so we all just cuddled and watched cartoons."

"Oh," Kitty said, pouting a little as she was deprived of prime gossip material.

Scott just smiled and made himself a sandwich, finishing it off before the intruder alarm went off. "I'll go see who it is," he said, "it might be malfunctioning again."

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked. "It might be an actual intruder, like Magneto or the Brotherhood."

"Magneto has a lunch date with the Professor and I can handle the Brotherhood," Scott waved it off.

"It could be another time traveller," Bobby said. "But then you are really good at dealing with them."

"You can come with me in case we need backup," Scott told Kurt.

"I'm very good at getting backup," Kurt said with a smile, glad to be included, and porting them outside.

A giant of a man with a mouth full of fangs and clawed hands approached them with predatory intent, disabling the turrets that popped up out of the lawn with ease.

"This is bad," Kurt mumbled.

Scott stamped his foot on the ground and Sabertooth began to sink into the ground.

"Or not," Kurt said, confused as the ground solidified around the snarling intruder just a few feet in front of them.

"Earth is a lot easier to work with than water," Scott said. "I need you to bring me a red solo cup, three ice cubes, and the bottle of black label Jack Daniels that Wolverine hides in his toolbox."

Sabertooth stopped struggling as Kurt vanished.

"I don't usually drink whiskey on the rocks," Sabertooth said, trying to figure out how to dig himself out of what felt like stone.

"It's for me, you get the bottle," Scott said.

"Now I'm confused," Sabertooth admitted.

"You're here to see Wolverine," Scott said as Kurt reappeared and Scott poured himself a glass of whiskey, "who doesn't remember you because he has amnesia from the experiment that bonded all the metal to his skeleton."

"The runt should have remembered me by now," Sabertooth complained.

"His healing factor is messed up," Scott said, "and unless we figure out how to punch holes in adamantium…"

"Fuck," Sabertooth cursed. "I've been trying to make him remember me for years!" He flexed, feeling the stone crack a little.

"It's counterproductive, I'd suggest sending him letters that don't send him into a rage," Scott said, stamping on the ground, the earth pushing the feral mutant back up to the surface.

Sabertooth grinned, ready to attack but stopped as a bottle of whiskey was pushed into his hand.

"Kurt, go tell Logan that Sabertooth is here and has stolen his whiskey," Scott ordered.

Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke as Sabertooth tossed back his head and laughed.

Typing By: Abyssal Angel

Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows