The situation was grim. A dozen Humvee's were flying over the mounds of sand rapidly approaching their location. Logan assessed both the Professor and Laura. They were not equipped for this kind of fight. Those men had automatic rifles. They were professionals in their field. Wolverine wasn't so deluded that he believed he could fight them all off and cover for his companions as well.

"Run," he urged. Xavier wasn't in any condition to move, but the girl could get out of here...maybe. If he and the Professor held them off long enough.

She peered at him, desperate and in disbelief.

"I said go!" he roared, and she flinched. Xavier smiled at her reassuringly and nodded.

"We'll be okay," he lied in a grandfatherly fashion, like the words you tell your children before going quietly into the night. "Now, time is running out. Don't look back."

She shook her head, clearing her mind, and then her arms were wrapped around the Professor. She clung to him for the first time, and as if it was going to be her last. Then she darted West, towards the cover of vegetation.

Logan watched her go and then turned his attention towards the armed convoy headed their way. He gave the Professor a smirk, and quipped, "Just like old times."

Xavier smiled, reminiscing on the early days. Since then he had agonized over how things could've gone so wrong. One thing was certain it seemed, between two timelines. Mutants were not meant to make it on this Earth.

"I woke up this morning, and the sun was gone...Turned on some music to start my day."

Red eyes glinted meanly behind the wheel of the jeep he personally outfitted with a 350 cubic inch engine. With 38-inch swamp tires, it roared across the desert, kicking up a mile of dust behind him, and he didn't hear anything outside the radio and the hum of the motor.

It was a beautiful day. He took out a can of the whiskey that he always kept on his person and tossed one back, quenching his dry throat. Smirking at the sight of ten black military vehicles in the distance, he pressed the accelerator to the floor, pushing the RPM's over the red line.

It was good to be alive.

Logan unsheathed his claws. Xavier prepared to use his telepathy. Or as much of it as he could with the medication.

The vehicles were almost upon them. Two were already veering towards Laura. And Xavier focused his attention on those drivers.

Logan strode out to meet the rest, about to let the Wolverine inside him take control, when out of nowhere what must have been a meteor crashed down through the roof of the lead Humvee. And without further ado out of the wreck, the same green and yellow streak collided with the next Humvee over. In the span of several seconds, two of the convoy had already been taken out. Logan pulled up, at a loss.

"Wait, I know that-"

But he was cut off by the arrival of a black jeep, which careened between him and the parade of Humvee's.

"There's no way," Logan muttered.

Out of the driver's side sauntered a tall man with red body armor and a brown trench coat. He pulled out a playing card and winked at Logan, before striding around the front of his truck.

Rogue had already demolished most of the Humvee's, smashing through them with brute strength. Soldiers were scattering, and they took pot shots when they could, not that any of the bullets pierced her skin.

Then there were explosions, as Gambit charged his makeshift grenades and cast them into the fray. He didn't care where they landed. His girl would be okay, and as for the feds, well, they better just get out of the way.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Chuck?"

Having taken care of the trucks in pursuit of Laura the Professor brought his hand to his chin, rendered mute by the fact that these two could still be alive when he thought all his X-Men had perished.

The soldiers were scattering, having realized their disadvantage. One yelled into his radio, but reinforcements were not going to arrive in time. Their vehicles, destroyed, and in the cover of Gambit's explosions, Rogue had taken care of all their weapons, bending the barrels with ease.

"I might'a killed one o' two. Accident'ly," Gambit drawled, lumbering back towards the jeep. "Oh, voyez qui c'est! Look who it is, chere."

Rogue landed right next to him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Are you goin' to hop in, old man?" Gambit gestured towards the jeep. "Don't keep me waiting. I'm not your chauffeur."

Rogue, though still thrown by her mixed feelings from seeing Logan and the Professor again, couldn't help but banter back. "But you're our driver."

Gambit put a hand over his chest, offended. "Then you can get your own lift mademoiselle. I spent a lot of time on this" he said patting the hood. "And I don't need missus muscle-pants putting any dents in it."

"Fah heaven's sake, Remy, Ah don't have lots of muscles! Ah'm not one of them bodybuildin' women you see on the teevee. Gross!"

"Peu importe! Is that why you're always mixing protein drinks? I see you."

She slapped her forehead. "That's vodka, ignorant swamp rat." Done with that conversation she shot forward and scooped up the Professor. Looking back, she barked at Logan, "You comin'?"

Laura was on edge, naturally. She still watched from a distance, preparing to go after the people who had captured the Professor so easily.

Taking two breaths she sprinted forward aiming for the woman who had just finished placing the old man in the truck.

Rogue, meanwhile, had turned around at Gambit's shout of warning, and just in time to catch the fist which was connected to five sharp adamantium claws. "Oh gosh, sugah. Would you put those things away?"

"Kid," Logan growled. "It's okay. They're with us."

She looked to Xavier who nodded from inside the Jeep.

"Come on, kid," Logan started to guide her by the shoulders, but Laura quickly pulled away.

"Fine," he sighed. "Have it your way."

A minute later they were traveling down a dusty desert road, back to the border, the sun beginning to set, casting an orange glow on the land. Laura got a front row seat, while Logan was taking care of the Professor in the back. There were five of them, however, and so with no room left in the cabin, Rogue had chosen to sit on the roof, her feet swaying in front of the windshield.

She leaned forwards, enjoying the feel of her hair whipping around, and eager to see what the future held now with Logan and the Professor below.