We can never get enough of the 714 universe, and as you can see, neither can Cable ;) This story takes place about partway through Volume 15 of the 714 Universe, for those of you following along at home, though you can really read it in any order as long as you know that K just had little baby James :)
We're big fans of alternate universes and exploring potential storylines that the 714 just doesn't have (because we are protecting them from awful things like demon kings and such), so… here's another little bit of side fic fun!
Chapter 1: K Needs To Have A Different Timeline Experience
Kate had finally gotten Krissy to go back to sleep after she woke up in the middle of the night for no reason whatsoever. The little elfling had just decided that she wanted to play, and nothing could convince her that sleep was so, so much better.
So, Kate had finally given up and tickled Krissy into submission, playing with her toys and making silly faces until she fell asleep at last. But by that time, it was time for Kate to actually get some work done and take an early-morning call from halfway around the world for the international film rights to Kamala's movie.
She basically made it through the whole thing on the last of her coffee, and then she had an archery lesson.
And from there, she had meant to meet up with Kurt and get some snuggles — and relieve him of babysitting so he could run his drama rehearsal — but … she definitely didn't make it that far. She ended up falling asleep in the teacher's lounge, and by the time she woke up again, it was dark outside and well past dinner. Kurt had decided not to wake her and had taken Krissy to the rehearsal instead — and it was only when K came in to check that Kate was dead to the world asleep enough to miss eating entirely that Kate even woke up.
She blinked blearily up at her friend, and then at the window, bolting upright when she saw how dark it was. "Oh man. What time is it?" she blurted out, scrambling to untangle herself from the blanket she hadn't even noticed Kurt put around her while she was asleep because she had been so deep in it.
"I'd guess about half past whenever you were supposed to be elsewhere," K replied. "You missed food though."
Kate let out a groan of frustration before she dropped her head back onto the couch. Her phone said that it was almost Krissy's bedtime all over again, which meant she'd missed most of the day already. "I don't know whether to kiss him for being sweet or get mad at him for letting me sleep through the whole day," she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before she took K's hand to use as leverage to get to her feet.
"Always kiss first. And last."
"Good policy," Kate couldn't help but laugh. She shook her head as she got to work folding up the blanket and grabbing the quiver she still had from her lessons. "Well, at least I'm awake in time for bedtime," she joked. "When did this become my life? We just got her sleeping through the night."
"Timing is everything, my dear."
"Of course," Kate said, shaking her head, before she draped an arm around K's shoulders. "Alright. I should probably go apologize to the Southern woman making dinner downstairs for missing out on her cooking. Be my shield so I don't die?" she teased.
"I'm not sure what I can do about that for you, considering that she wants to stuff me like a turkey, but… I'll try."
Kate couldn't help but smirk at that as the two women hit the hallway, though they didn't get any further before there was a bright blue light, and to their surprise, Cable stepped into the hallway, looking perfectly serious.
"Oh, hey," Kate said, blinking away her surprise and the last of the sleep from her eyes. "What's up, Cable?"
"I need a hand," he said simply. "Rescuing Logan."
That definitely had K's attention, and she straightened up a bit. "What do you need?"
"It'll be easier if I show you," he said, thumbing over his shoulder at the blue light behind him.
"Shouldn't we just… go upstairs or wherever he's hopelessly pinned down by small children?" K had to ask.
Cable smirked. "Not that kind of trouble, and not that Logan," he said. "I found a few when I was looking for the one from this timeline when everyone thought he was dead. And this one could use a jailbreak."
"I'm game," Kate said quickly. "It'd be nice to return the favor." She gave K a significant look. "Besides, I'm not letting one of my best friends time travel or dimension jump or whatever without me. It was not fun when me and Kurt did it."
"It's probably a good idea for you to come anyway, Kate," Cable admitted, frowning Kate's way. "The K in this dimension isn't on the side of the angels, so you'd have a hard time talking to anyone without an advocate." He directed that last part at K, though K already suspected that was why he had decided to show up where she was with someone instead of getting her alone to ask for help. "Like I said, it'll be easier to show you."
"On one condition — you have to bring us back as close to right now as possible. I have a newborn, you know," K said, holding up one finger his way. "And on another note, I have to ask — are all Summerses this dramatic?"
Cable smirked K's way for a second. "No, some of us are downright showy," he said before he simply stepped into the blue light for them to follow him.
Kate glanced toward K and then gestured ahead with both hands. "Well, shall we follow the bouncing dramatic Summers?" she asked with a grin.
"The showy one, you mean," K said before she simply fell into step with Cable. "And only because he admitted he needed my help. Out loud. With a witness."
"I know; it must be terrible," Kate agreed, though her smirk died a bit once they had come through the other side to the dimension Cable had been talking about.
It wasn't like the last alternate reality Kate had been to, with demons running amok, but the pattern of destruction was pretty similar, the marks of a full-out war easy enough to see. Sentinel parts, blaster marks, partially collapsed buildings … the works.
"What happened here?" Kate asked, wide-eyed as she took in the destruction around them.
"Government-sanctioned genocide," Cable said frankly, though he didn't turn her way as he led the two women through the ruined streets. "Not too far off from what your world was considering not too long ago. And this is the end result." He shook his head and then motioned for them to get moving. "Can't stay out in the open for too long if you want to avoid the Sentinels. Come on."
"And you couldn't have just dropped us off where we were out of sight because…" Kate said, then frowned, looking around the damage and wondering if she actually did want the answer to that question.
Cable shot her a dry look worthy of his genetics before he shouldered his way into what looked at first like a half-collapsed building, but there was a trap door underneath one of the overturned tables. The two X-Men followed him down, though they didn't quite get all the way down the underground tunnel before a familiar voice broke the silence:
"What the hell, Nate?"
That was definitely Scott's voice, and it had both girls frowning, especially since they couldn't see where Scott was. "Why is he hiding?" K asked Cable quietly. "Just because you're taller or …"
Cable shook his head with a little frown but didn't answer her directly. Instead, he simply called out, "They're with me. You know I wouldn't bring anyone here that's not on our side."
For a moment, there was a long pause before Scott stepped out of the shadows, glaring and still holding what looked like a blaster of some kind, though it wasn't pointed at the women — for the moment.
But that wasn't what had K and Kate's attention. Instead, both of them couldn't help but stare at the fact that Scott not only didn't have the red glasses in this dimension — he flat out didn't have his eyes. Not the real ones, anyway. Instead, he was glaring at them with two bionic eyes a lot like Cables, but with a blue glow rather than yellow.
"What happened, brown eyes? And what the hell are you doing with a gun?" K asked, one hand resting over her heart as she stared at him openly. None of her usual teasing tone was in her voice — instead replaced with actual concern that this Scott clearly wasn't used to hearing from her.
He frowned her way for a moment, and it was clear he and Cable were having a quick, telepathic conversation before he let out a breath that sounded like pure disbelief.
"It's a long story," Scott said her way at last, holstering the blaster — which was a good sign, at least.
"Well this reality sucks already," K said, crossing her arms. "I don't like it. Who do I need to take out to fix this?" She addressed that question more to Cable.
"That would be you," Scott said, gesturing for the three of them to follow him a little further down without expanding on his statement.
She paused for a moment but then nodded. "Fine. Where can I find myself to take her out?"
"That's the question of the day," Scott said. "Right now, she's probably where Logan is."
"Sounds right to me," she said quietly. "That's where I should be right now, after all."
Scott raised an eyebrow over his shoulder at her but didn't comment, though Cable was sure to let her know, You're the one who captured him, so don't expect a warm reception.
I have mine at home, so I'll endeavor not to take it too personally, she replied quickly. I know how to catch him, after all.
The four of them made their way into what was clearly a makeshift War Room, where a few other scattered X-Men were also gathered. Kurt looked downright murderous before he'd even seen K — he was obviously still mad over his best friend being taken, so it must have been fresh. Not that Ororo looked too pleased either. Or Kitty. Or Jean.
But when Kurt saw K behind the two Summers men, he positively growled before he teleported to her and slammed her against the wall before anyone else could react. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I'm here to help you get him back," K replied, her eyes closed as she waited for the headache to pass. He'd slammed her hard enough to rattle something loose. "And I'm not who you think I am."
"Kurt, it's okay, we're dimension hoppers," Kate said in a soothing tone.
Kurt barely frowned Kate's way for an instant before he put his focus back on K. "I don't believe you," he told her in a low growl.
"I couldn't tell," K said calmly before she held up her left hand. "In our timeline, you were best man. And you're godfather to my daughter. I'm sure Kate has pictures, and I am not reaching for my pockets while you're in a mood." She was sure to keep both hands where Kurt could see them as she held his gaze.
"I so do," Kate said with a smile as Kurt simply took a step back from K, looking floored.
"I think Nate brought me here because he knows you have to fight fire with fire — and who better to get into my head, than me?" K was trying to be reasonable with them, she was. But she really wasn't in the mood to be jerked around like that. Not only was her protective drive high this soon after James, but her temper was unusually short too. Which really wasn't helping them to warm up. Not when she looked like she wanted to throttle someone.
"And your wife, of course," Kurt said with a frown, obviously trying to wrap his head around K not being a threat.
K paused for just a moment, her eyebrows scraping her hairline for an instant before she burst out laughing. "Sweetcheeks, please … please show him your pictures," she laughed, though when Kurt glared harder at her, she held up both hands. "I can't help it. That's fantastically off base."
Kate was shaking her head to herself before she finally found the pictures she was looking for and all but shoved her phone at Kurt. "Yeah, no, she's one of my best friends, but thanks for playing, sweetheart," she said sweetly as Kurt stared dumbfounded at the picture of Logan and K kissing, in full wedding attire. Logan was clearly clutching her close and Kurt was in the background clearly gleeful over the whole thing.
K looked over his shoulder and smirked at the photo. "I was already a few months along with our little girl. You had fits at me until we let you plan the wedding out."
Kurt was still staring at the picture when Kitty broke in. "Wait, there's seriously a world where those two are… ewwwww."
"Yeah, you don't care overly much for me anyhow," K said her way. "But considering who you are dating ... " K shook her head. "No judgement, pretty Kitty." She looked back at Kurt. "Years. They've been together for years and haven't been married. You should start giving her a hard time now before she disappears into space to pick up … space…. pirate... type people."
"I'm not dating anyone," Kitty grumbled under her breath.
Kurt glanced up at Kitty for a moment and couldn't help but smirk at the look on her face before he handed Kate back her phone and let his shoulders drop the slightest bit. "You have to understand; we've only just learned where they're keeping him."
"Great. So …you said the me here is evil. Let me go take my own head off. It'll be fun," K said.
"You won't be able to get in under the radar," Scott told her. "There are too many Sentinels, and they're looking for shapeshifters — any mutant signs that register will set off the alarms."
"Show me what you have, and I'll bet that I can," K said. "Something I have that your world's K doesn't is a few years training with Logan and a newborn at home. I killed Ronan the Accuser the last time someone stood in between me and my daughter, and I am firmly in angry mother bear mode. I can do it."
"I'm not sending you in after him alone; I don't care who you're married to in your timeline or reality or whatever," Scott said. "I'm not going to risk that."
K looked up at him for a long moment, just studying him ... and his bionic eyes … and the treble slash mark scars across his face that showed exactly how it had come to pass. "Why not?"
"Because I don't want two of you running around out here if it goes south," he told her frankly.
"That's not going to be how this ends," K told him. "I want to fix this and get back to my babies and husband."
"You'll forgive me if I don't take your word for it," Scott said with his arms crossed. "You've been in this reality for a few minutes. Someone from my team is going with you. That's not a request."
"Okay. But trust me or don't, it doesn't matter. I was brought here to help you, and damnit, I'm going to do that whether you like it or not. Like I said — I want to get back to my husband and our little ones. Besides," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly, "I know how painful it is for you to be separated from Logan for too long. So that has to be fixed right the hell now."
Scott gave her a dry look, though Jean didn't bother to hide the snicker. So he's like that in yours too? she projected out, the amusement obvious in her tone.
Honey, you have no idea, K projected right back. He gets downright anxious if he thinks anyone wants to share time. He's overly crabby with Tony Stark too.
Jean smirked her way before Kurt cut in. "Then if we are picking teams, I'll be going after Logan," he said, not really leaving any room for any other option.
K turned his way and began shaking her head. "No. Absolutely not. She'll have something set up to keep you from teleporting out," she said.
"Besides, I'm not just here to be a pretty face and picture supplier," Kate put in.
K snapped her fingers and pointed at Kate. "Right. And she's not a mutant. So."
Scott raised an eyebrow their way. "Really?"
"What? It's easier to think that she's my wife than to believe she's human? Oh my gosh. Brown eyes. So … one sided," K said, crossing her arms.
Kate grinned and leaned over to kiss K's cheek. "But I'm so irresistible."
"You are. America is going to have fits when she hears about this, I swear."
"You can't tell her — she'll never let it die."
"Oh, I am so telling her," K chuckled. "She needs to know that your husband in this … whatever thought we were married. That's just … oh. So perfect."
"Ooh, Jean, you should be jealous. She's cute," Kitty teased.
K frowned, looked between them and fell apart laughing all over again. "Oh… that's even better."
Kate was shaking her head at her before she finally let the X-Men in on the joke. "I'm married to Kurt," she explained, holding up her own left hand this time. "He's totally smitten with me, isn't that right, liebchen?" she couldn't help but tease Kurt's way.
"Don't wait around on this one, Vögelchen," K said. "I think they're a little slow."
Kate just laughed as she started to pull up the most recent pictures on her phone of her with Kurt and Krissy — just to further blow their minds — though while she was distracted, Kurt was staring at her in surprise… and smirking slightly as he watched her.
Finally, Kate looked up again and then grinned when she saw that Kurt was smiling at her. "Yes, I know. I'm gorgeous. And our little girl has my looks, too," she said, sliding the phone over to Kurt again.
Of course, with something like that, it wasn't just Kurt that was interested in the picture. Ororo positively beamed at the picture, and Jean made a noise that said she was clearly dying of cute. And Kurt looked like he wasn't going to come down from the high any time soon.
"Okay, so we proved we're not our evil doppelgangers, but come on … what do you have in mind?" K asked, heading over to Scott. "I know you have half a dozen plans lined up."
Scott nodded slowly as he thought it over. "Most of which were for my team, obviously."
"Of course. Do you know why she took him?" K asked. "That might help matters."
Scott's shoulders dropped a bit, and he nodded. "They want him for the same reasons they want her. And more. He knows the team; he could wipe us out," he said.
"Alright," K said slowly. "So … is she in control of herself, or is someone pulling the strings?"
"As far as we can tell, she doesn't have much of a consciousness of her own," Jean said.
"That complicates things," K said, her arms crossed as she rested her weight on one foot. "But … she's still tapping into her creativity?"
"Very much," Kitty grumbled.
"Well that is not good," K said, frowning deeper. "What's your worst case outcome of this?"
Scott looked toward Jean, who nodded slowly. "I can handle both of them," she said. "If I have to. But it would be a permanent solution."
"My question is how are these people in their heads?" K asked. "Is this a Weapon X type thing or centralized government? Private option? Who's the one making them do … everything?"
"It's all government-sanctioned," Scott told her with a glare.
"So … that needs to stop too," K said, nodding, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Okay. Sure. I am just a little … okay. I'm not advocating keeping your K alive," she said slowly. "But … if you did, and you could evict whatever controls they had on her … she'd have a lot of intel you can use."
"Let's start with getting Logan out," Kurt said.
"You're not going to get him out without dealing with her," K said. "I can promise you that. They'll have her keeping an eye on things, since he's that high value to them. And she'll have a plan in place for whoever's most likely to go in after him. So who were you planning to send?"
Scott leaned back as he studied her for a long moment. "That's the subject of the debate," he said. "Kitty and I would be the best team, but everyone here wants to go."
She waved her hand toward Kurt. "I didn't ask who wanted to go, I asked who you were actually planning to send."
"With you two on the team now? Kitty," Scott said. "I'd go myself too, but that would put us at four, and I'm wary of too many people on this team. Especially when there's every possibility, like you said, that it's a trap."
"Do you have maps of where you're going?" K asked.
Scott tipped his head toward Nate, and he laid out a few plans. "Of course."
K went toward Nate and started to look over the blueprints as he told her what kind of defenses they knew were there, and she dove into it. The two of them put their heads together, with K asking little things on occasion about the tech involved, and if they'd developed inhibitor fields yet or if it was only collars al while making little marks on the blueprints of spots she found useful.
Scott was frowning over some of her questions, too, and flat out shook his head when she mentioned the inhibitor field. "You can't get captured with an idea like that in your head," he told her seriously. "That would cripple our team and wipe us out."
"I'm not going to get captured, Scotty."
"Don't call me that."
K paused and nodded her head. "Sorry. Force of habit. I'm sure 'my hero' would skeeve you out then, hmm?"
"'Scott' is fine," he said shortly.
"Yeah, that's just … never gonna happen," she replied dismissively, putting more marks on the plans. "But you know … a nickname that isn't your codename would cut back on audio triggers on alarms, right?" She looked up at him with a perfectly serious expression.
Scott watched her for a long time before he finally nodded. "Fine."
K let out a breath. She honestly felt badly about how Scott had been treated here, but she was trying to focus on putting it right. "Alright. The Sentinels. How advanced are they? Have you tried any armor piercing EMP's to take them out — short of dropping a nuke, that is?"
"We haven't had much success beyond, well..." He gestured at his own face. "We don't have access to more advanced EMP's down here, either."
K put her hands on her hips and frowned outright at the plans. "Where the hell is Tony when I need him?" Though as soon as the words left her mouth she straightened up and turned to Kate pointing a finger her way. "If you tell him I said anything even remotely like that, I will murder you in your sleep."
"Tell you what. You don't tell America about our relationship, and I won't tell Tony you needed him."
K tipped her chin up at that. "I will have to risk it."
"He's never gonna let you live it down," Kate sang out happily her way.
"Might be worth it, since America won't let it die ever either." She tapped her fingers on her hips as she turned to look at the gathered X-Men. "Kitty. How much have you done with computers and tech here? If I give you something, can you replicate it?"
"I've done a few things with the Sentinels we've captured," she said.
"Good. Kate, how many EMP arrows do you have on you?" K asked with a growing look of trouble. "Even if we can't use them on the Sentinels, they'll cripple the facility — and, if we're lucky, whatever's controlling the mutants they're using."
"Oh, three or four," Kate said with a grin. "I could spare one or two for the resident geek squad."
"One," K said. "If it does work for Sentinels, we might want to save it for a big nasty one. But … I think if it's a mind control tech? I wanna shoot someone in the face. Or … jam it in her throat. Something understated, of course."
"I'm sure we can find someone for you to shoot," Kate said with a troublemaking smile. "You're just lucky I came from a showcase with my class on trick arrows. I've got plenty of toys."
"Excellent, because I left my guns at home. Someone was being showy." K held up her hand toward Cable. "I know, I know. Can't risk tech being taken. Don't start with me."
"This is why she adopts space boys," Kate said in a stage whisper to Kurt, who looked honestly entertained with both of them. "They're all the same."
"Look," K said, mostly to Scott, though she was looking over the group. "There will probably be specific traps for Kurt and Kitty both, since they'd be key to getting rid of whatever tech they're using on your Logan. Not to mention the fact that they're too close to him and too emotional not to try it."
"Loyal," Kurt corrected her.
"Yes," K said, "Fiercely so. But it's something that I would use against you if I was on the other side." She turned to Scott. "Are you entirely sure that it's really Logan that they wanted and not someone … I dunno. More versatile?"
"I know any one of us here would give them the advantage they need," Scott said with a frown.
K shook her head at him. "Not what I'm saying," K said as gently as she could. "I'm asking if they aren't using him for bait instead. Yes, he'd be wickedly useful to hunt people down to kill them — but also redundant if they already have me."
"Except that he knows all of us personally," Scott said. "Intimately."
She nodded at that. "I know, but that's really more of situation for them to tap in with some powerful telepath and learn what they can. If they've got no need, use, or love of mutants, they won't keep a bunch of them for the same purposes. They'd be after someone more powerful." She let her shoulders drop slightly before she projected out to Jean. Tell your sweet husband to quit thinking with his heart for five seconds.
Cable smirked hard as Jean shook her head. You have to know that every member of our team that's been captured by them has ended up dead. Scott's the exception — and now, so is Logan.
Because they want someone bigger.
I'm not going, Jean assured her.
Which is a shame. You could decimate them if you wanted to. I haven't met you in our timeline, but I've read the files.
But haven't seen it, Jean said, her smirk dropping.
I have. But not from you.
Jean frowned her way for a long time before she simply leaned back and shook her head. I could go, but only as a last resort, she said.
That's what I'm suggesting, K replied. This isn't going to work with a single strike team. That would be handing it to them. They expect you to send in your best options so they can pick them up. They won't expect a second and third assault line.
Then you're expecting the first one to get picked up.
K nodded at that. You've been playing it close to the vest. Cautious. And it's been the right move — until now. Hit them hard. Then hit them again. Don't let them get the chance to breathe. Especially K. If you let her back off and regroup, she'll only think up something nastier.
At that, Scott broke into the conversation, through Jean. If that's the case, let me be the first wave. If we already know they'll catch the first team, we need you and Kate on the second or third. You're the ones with the EMP and the know-how to fight our K.
I can tell you how, K offered.
But Scott shook his head lightly. I'm not risking them getting their hands on another K. I already told you that. You're in the second or third wave.
I'm not going to lie: I don't want you going in alone. And honestly, I was hoping to slip into the ductwork while there was a distraction.
I don't want anyone going in with me, Scott said.
In tandem, she clarified. Not with you. Different approach. Different entrance. Clear the path for the second and third wave. I'd just want access to your bomb making materials.
Scott frowned her way for a long moment. I'm taking a big chance trusting you with this.
Scott, if it makes you feel better, have your wife go digging around. I won't even put up a fight. Nate brought me here while you were snuggled up with my very small newborn son. Who you are godfather to. I would never betray you. At all.
Jean couldn't help but smirk at that, especially when she went ahead and took a peek and couldn't help but project the image in K's mind to Scott — of Scott curled up with James.
Scott looked downright shocked for a long moment before he finally let out a breath. "Alright. We'll go in three waves. K and I will be on the first wave. Storm, I want you to take Kitty and Nate. Jean, you'll be with Kurt and Kate to hit them hard." He smirked her way and added just to Jean, I know you'll tear the place down.
To get to you? Of course, she said with a smirk.