"Twenty Years into the Future"

Katherine was pacing again. She always did when she was left behind during a mission. She hated it, and Bishop hated it because it meant he was supposed to deal with her. Being her boyfriend's best friend didn't make it any easier.

He tightened a bolt on the motorcycle he'd been tuning, and set his wrench on his stool.

"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor before they get back."

Katherine sighed and brushed an errant bang from her face. "I've already secured the perimeter."

"Yeah, I know." Bishop said with an exasperated sigh. "Three times now, am I right?"

"Yeah, Siren and Spyke are patrolling tonight."

He watched as she walked over to join him. Her emotions were somewhere between worry and annoyance; just like they always were in times like this.

"Do you need any help with that?"

Bishop glanced at the bike then back at Katherine, quickly dissuading her with a shake of his head. She could pilot the X-Jet fine, but he wouldn't trust her with any sort of work tool. Not since she'd accidentally taken apart his last project.

Katherine pouted and sat herself on the seat of the bike. "I hate being left behind to baby-sit."

"Do you think I enjoy it?" He asked with a pointed look.

She smiled and looked around the empty hanger. "You know the kids like you more, any way. Big 'ol uncle Bishop."

Bishop rolled his eyes, deciding he had done enough work for the night. He wiped the oil from his hands on the back of a dirty rag and tossed it on his pile of tools.

"They're taking a lot longer than they said they would." She said wistfully.

"Yeah well it's a big haul. Magneto went with them too."

Katherine sighed again. She always worried when Pietro was in danger and she wasn't there to watch his back.

"They'll be back soon."

A loud clang of metal drew their attention to the far end of the hanger where the doors had suddenly been blown open. Kitty leapt to her feet and Bishop reached for a wrench, but they both halted when they saw who it was.

Spyke was hurrying toward them with Cannonball in full uniform close behind him. Seeing their younger friend was a bad sign. He'd been working undercover within Sinister's ranks for nearly three months. If he broke his cover, it meant something was going down.

"Guys we've got a problem!"

Katherine looked between the two. "Is it Pietro? Is the team okay?"

Cannonball looked nervous.

"Sam!" Bishop could sense her distress. "Spit it out already."

"The team should be fine." Cannonball replied. He was still trying to catch his breath from what had obviously been a long flight. "It's something way bad."

"How bad is way bad?" Katherine asked.

"I heard Sinister was planning something," Cannonball continued. "No one knew what it was, but Pyro found out and let it slip. It's real bad."

Spyke rolled his eyes and gave his friend a quick nudge. "Get on with it man, don't leave us hanging."

"He kidnapped Forge, and his time machine. He wants to send Sabertooth back into the past to change it."

Katherine was beyond confused. Bishop could tell, since he found himself more than a little bewildered himself.

"Time machine?" He asked.

"Forge never takes a day off work. He's been working on it for over five years."Spyke added helpfully. "I visited him three months ago before he moved, and he told me it was nearly done."

"That's pretty damn bad." Bishop admitted.

Katherine shook her head. "What does he want to do in the past? Everything's pretty screwed up as it is."

Cannonball looked nervous again.

"What's Sabertooth supposed to do?" Bishop growled.

"He plans on killing Quicksilver before he joins the X-Men."

Katherine took a shaky step back and grabbed for Bishop's arm to support her. The news had hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Are you serious?" Spyke shook his head in disbelief. "He can't be that desperate!"

"He is!" Cannonball said with a vigorous nod. "Ever since Magneto joined our cause and took a large chunk of Sinister's followers with him, he's wanted a new foothold - a bigger foothold."

"How's killing Quick gonna do that?" Spyke wondered.

"It's simple." Katherine said in a voice so soft all three had to lean closer. "Pietro is the one who held us together after we lost Xavier and the others."

They all fell silent, remembering the tragedy that had struck nine years earlier.

"That's really bad." Spyke said just as soft. "What are we gonna do? What do we tell the boss?"

Bishop couldn't stand to see Katherine upset. It was his responsibility to keep an eye on her while Pietro wasn't around, and this case was no different. "Has he set the plan into motion yet?"

Cannonball shrugged, but his expression wasn't encouraging. "It took me five days to get out of his ranks, and it'd already been a few since Pyro had heard. He may have already went through with it."

Silence fell heavy over the scene.

"We have to go back and stop Sabertooth."

All three looked at Katherine with a mixture of surprise.

"And how do you expect to do that?"Bishop inquired.

"This."

Cannonball reached into his uniform and pulled out what looked like a large digital watch. "Forge designed it to track time streams. It's also supposed to have the same power his machine has, but it's never been tested."

Katherine took it from him and examined its digital display. "How did you get your hands on this?"

"Pyro."

The name was a shock to everyone.

"Pyro? Are you kidding me?!" Bishop sputtered. "He was one of Magneto's top sociopaths. What makes you think you can trust him?"

Cannonball hesitated, throwing his attention else where. "It's difficult okay? But just believe me when I say he's on our side. At least for now. And this is legit."

"Spyke?" Katherine dangled the watch in front of her old friend.

"I never saw it in Forge's lab. He may have made it after though, you know how fast he works."

The watched beeped and Katherine quickly held it up to examine. Bishop watched over her shoulder and saw a small red dot moving from the right side of the screen to the left.

"What's that?" He asked.

"I think it's Sabertooth. He's going there right now." Katherine studying the numbers displayed. "The top looks like the date he's heading for."

"What about the bottom set?" Bishop inquired.

"That's for the watch." Katherine said, though it sounded more like she guessed the last part than figured it out. "We have to go, right now."

"What?" Bishop shook his head. "Not until we run this by the boss man."

"No!" Katherine shouted, surprising him with her tone. "I'm not waiting. The second Sabertooth reaches his destination, everything could change. We may not remember this in the first place!"

Bishop watched as she began to punch a set of numbers into the bottom row on the watch. He felt panic rise. They weren't equipped for this sort of mission. He glanced at Spyke and saw what he needed.

"Hey man, what gives?" Spyke tried to back away, but Bishop had already snagged the radio set he'd been wearing over his ear. He then took the liberty of relieving the lookout of his binoculars and night vision glasses.

"Where's your back up radios?" Bishop snapped.

Catching on, Spyke quickly pulled two more from his uniform jacket. They'd been carrying multiple sets ever since the tragedy, on Pietro's orders. They'd come in handy more times than anyone could count, and it looked like the current situation was as good an example as any.

Bishop stuffed them into his vest and swiped his team jacket off the back of his work bench. He rejoined Katherine just as she finished programming.

A bright red portal suddenly formed in front of her, five feet high and four feet wide.

Bishop resisted the urge to step back.

Katherine strapped the watch to her wrist and took Bishop by the hand. "Tell Pietro we'll be back before he knows it."

Both Spyke and Cannonball nodded.

Without a second thought she leapt into the swirling vortex, with Bishop directly behind her.

00000

A/N: Okay, I know Bishop at least in the old X-Men is from waaay later in the future, but considering Evolution already messed up the ages of everyone, I decided to have him working with our team. So don't pester me about it.

I also haven't really pinpointed when this story takes place with the Evolution time line for you, so I thought I'd do that now. It takes place late Season Three BEFORE Apocalypse's arrival. In this storyline he is not a threat. At least not yet.

Hope you all enjoyed the first instalment. More is to come!