Notes: Hey, man, Peter Parker is the best baby photographer in the world, okay? ;)

Chapter 2: "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Future"

When Noh's ship touched down in the Australian Outback, the group of X-Men on board were surprised to find that not only did they very quickly have company ... but it was not at all who they were expecting.

The Jeep that drove up — with the Old Logan at the wheel — was full of the younger versions of the X-Men, and Laura hopped out of the front seat as soon as they arrived with her arms crossed and a little frown on her face as she met up with them.

Still, Noh gave the group of them a friendly wave on their approach, his head tipped slightly to the side as he looked them over. "Have you seen the same damage we've noticed, then?" he asked curiously. "I'd imagine this close to the epicenter of the issue, you can see the results of the tear in reality even without advanced Kree equipment and knowledge. Perhaps we can compare notes?"

"We can compare, but I am not sure what can be done to fix it," Laura said tersely, though she waved them over. "Hop in, we will take you there."

The group of X-Men shared a look before they simply shrugged and climbed in to join the rest of the little group — as Kate made a point to introduce herself to the young version of Jean, since she'd never met the older version, and she was a little curious. Though she was definitely a little surprised when Jean casually mentioned a date with Laura as one of the times they'd seen the tear in time in action. Their waiter had disappeared through it and reappeared twenty minutes later without realizing any time had passed. Had it not been for Laura's ability to smell a lie — and Jean taking a peek in his head — he most definitely would have been blown off as a horrible liar.

It didn't take them long to get to the coordinates Noh had determined to be the epicenter. But even without Noh's scans, they would have known they were getting closer. Time seemed to be going wild in sporadic shifts that nobody could quite predict. It would go from night to day with no warning, and the older Logan at the wheel was swearing up a storm at the fact that sometimes even the road would shift — suddenly much older and torn up, or suddenly further back in time before it existed.

"This is getting to be just like the road trip with Barton," Older Logan grumbled through his teeth as he swerved yet again to miss a giant rock that had just appeared.

Kate laughed outright at that and shook her head with a teasing smile. "No, your driving is much better than his," she giggled.

"No shit. It ain't hard to be better than a blind, mostly deaf lunatic," he countered without looking her way, still grumbling to himself. "But he was the one at the wheel last time. Go figure."

But when they reached the center of the distortion, they were surprised to find that there were no time shifts, no changes. "The eye of the storm," Kurt muttered quietly as they came to a stop in the surprisingly still desert before he looked around for a moment. "Do we know yet what's causing this?"

Noh frowned over his readouts as the younger X-Men shifted a bit and glanced at each other. "Something is interfering with my scans," he said with a frown. "We must be too close to whatever is happening for me to get a clear understanding."

"Yeah, well," the younger Scott said with a bit of a sheepish look, "that's probably because… we think it's us."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jubilee asked with her nose scrunched up.

"Well, I mean, it's not like we exactly belong here," the younger Bobby piped up. "In case you haven't noticed."

"Not that we don't like it here," the younger Jean added with an unmistakable smirk Laura's way, that was returned with a troublemaking smile from Laura.

Before the older X-Men could say anything about that theory, though… all at once, the wind picked up — though not in a straight line. It started as if it was blowing in all of their faces, regardless of where they were standing, and then it shifted so that it seemed to arc all around them in a giant circle. Jubilee's mouth dropped as she looked up at Noh. "Gateway!" she called out, looking for the figure of the little old man, not surprised in the least when she finally spotted him nearby looking absolutely furious while he spun his bolo over his head.

"Somehow, I pictured him differently from your description," Noh replied, with the slightest of smirks as he looked over at the newcomer.

The light around them flickered as if the sun itself was going out, and the little group of X-Men felt their feet leave the ground as they got caught up in Gateway's vortex. Color and light slipped together in the timestream before, very suddenly, Kurt and Kate hit the ground hard. No longer in the Outback.

And conspicuously alone.

"Little warning might have been nice," Kate grumbled as she brushed herself off.

"With Gateway, there is never a little warning," Kurt told her.

"Where are we, anyway?" Kate asked, looking around herself. They definitely weren't in the Outback. It was some big city, though she didn't recognize it, since it seemed to have more or less have been destroyed in some kind of battle. And she wasn't sure quite what day it was, as the sky was more a gray than either sunshine or nighttime.

"I'm not sure if where or when would be a more appropriate question," Kurt said. "Clearly, Gateway wanted to show us something that needs attention."

"I swear to you, I'm going to teach you all to communicate if it's the last thing I do," Kate grumbled.

Kurt had to laugh at that one. "Believe me, liebchen, if Gateway speaks, it's never good news."

"Then I'll get him a cell phone and he can text it," Kate said with a smirk, still taking in the surprisingly empty streets around them. The whole place felt very cold, and she suppressed a shiver at the sudden change in temperature from desert to… wherever this was.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at her. "I'd love to see where you suggest he keep it."

"Good point," she had to concede before she took both of his hands in hers to wrap his arms around her for a little warmth. "Okay ... so when are we, oh experienced X-Man mine?"

"I have faith in your detective work," Kurt said with a smirk. "How would a clever girl such as yourself determine when we are?"

"Well, we could find a newscast. Or if we had to, we could find a paper. If those are still around. Or ... if we're in the past? I guess those would be around?" She wrinkled her nose. "I've decided I hate time travel."

"We all do," Kurt agreed. "But I guess this rounds out your X-Man portfolio."

"Great. Then let's go home. Checked off the checklist — goodbye now," Kate said, still with his arms around her. "I did not dress for gloomy cold weather."

But for as much as they would have liked to get back to the promised vacation they were supposed to be taking… it was clear they needed to figure out what was going on. The two of them made their way through the still quiet streets, looking for something that would give them a clue — but the first sign of life that they found was definitely not what they were expecting and had both of them drawing their weapons when they saw the huge demon.

"We are definitely not in the past," Kurt said half under his breath as he pulled her into an alleyway.

She frowned and peeked around the corner one last time before she dropped her voice to a whisper. "There's only one. We can so take him. We'll make 'blast from the past' literal."

"I don't think that's the best idea without knowing what's happening," Kurt said.

"What's to know? There's a demon. We should stab it," Kate said. "And if there are more, we'll stab them too." She looked up at him with her head tilted to one side, clearly confused as to why he wasn't just jumping into action.

"My beloved, I hate to let the words slip from my lips, but you've obviously been spending too much time around Logan and K if your first thought is 'we should stab it'. That is not the way to handle time travel," Kurt told her. "We need to assess first. Stab later."

She let out a sigh and peeked around the corner again, but the demon had moved on to a different street. "Fine," she muttered. "But I still think we could've taken him."

"We definitely could have taken him," Kurt agreed. "But if it draws more in ... we don't want to do that."

She let out a sigh and nodded before she fitted a grappling arrow to her bow and smiled his way. "Well, like my fellow Hawkeye always says ... sometimes you just gotta get a different perspective," she suggested before she fired the arrow and rope up to snag on the top of the nearest building. "How 'bout a little rooftop overlook?"

"You're so dramatic," he said with a grin. "I'll meet you up there."

She grinned as she grabbed hold of the grappling rope and scaled the building, though of course, Kurt had teleported up to the roof well ahead of her and held out a hand to pull her up to his level once she got closer.

"Who's the dramatic one?" she teased.

"It is my job to be dramatic," Kurt replied looking half insulted.

"Right. How could I forget?" she laughed as she pulled him into a quick kiss that ended a bit faster than she would have liked when they both heard the unmistakable growl of a demon nearby. When they spun around, there were several big, ugly creatures headed their way.

"I… don't think we can take them and do your 'casual observer' thing," Kate muttered as she grabbed hold of Kurt's hand, and he teleported them across the city to get them out of there.

But to their surprise, more of the brutish demons started to pour out the moment they reappeared.

"This isn't working how I'd hoped," Kurt said as they took off running, finally finding a means to break into a church, and the demons chasing them went past them. They were backing away from the broken door slowly, still staring at it and in shock at what was happening around them, when a voice broke the stillness of the church.

"Take another step and I'll run you through." The voice sounded young and feminine and very, very angry. "The only reason you're not dead already is I know you're not demons, or you couldn't come in here — but I'm not feeling really forgiving right now, all things considered."

"We didn't mean to intrude," Kurt called back. "We're not from … here."

"Clearly," the voice responded, seeming to echo off the ceiling.

"Can you please tell me what year it is?" Kurt asked, trying to locate the owner of the voice.

"What the futz kind of question is that?" was the response. "What are you — aliens? Shapeshifters?"

"A valid theory, considering," Kurt said, though he had to frown at the phrasing. "No, we're not aliens or shapeshifters. Just … lost in time, apparently."

"Well, get un-lost, and … just... " The voice trailed off, losing some of its edge as the girl was clearly thrown off by the idea of time travel. "Why should I believe you?" she finally snapped out. "You come to New York wearing those faces, and I'm supposed to just… take your word for it?"

"I'm afraid we can't change our faces. That's just what they are," Kurt replied. "Nor would I change them if I could."

There was a long pause as the girl seemed to consider that. "Okay," she said at last. "I don't know who trained you up, but this ... this is the best act anybody's come up with so far. I'm almost convinced."

"It's no act," Kurt almost growled out, his tail switching behind him. "And who are you, that hides in the shadows? You have us at a bit of a disadvantage."

For a moment, there was silence in the church, until finally, the girl appeared, still partway hidden in shadow as she was crouched near the ceiling, though they could see a tail switching almost in exactly the same way as Kurt's was. "Don't think you can draw me out with no consequences," she warned. "You're surrounded."

Kurt glanced around the church at the broken pews and dusty candelabras. "Surrounded? By whom?"

"I'm asking the questions, okay?" the girl said sharply. "Like who you really are. Because you are not Nightcrawler and Hawkeye. You're just not."

"Yes, we are," Kurt replied, frowning. "Why would we lie about something like that?"

"You wouldn't be the first," the girl replied, though she had come un-crouched and started to walk down the side of the wall, still keeping to the shadows as best she could. "I know your boss would love to find us."

"My boss?" Kurt asked, his eyebrows raised. "I have no boss."

"Unless you count Scott, but we only let him think he's in charge," Kate added.

"We don't count Scott," Kurt said in a tone just to Kate. "That's ridiculous. If Logan were here, he'd slap you upside the back of the head for even suggesting such nonsense."

"He'd be right too. I was so wrong. Clearly it's Mrs. Boss we answer to," Kate said with a little smirk.

"Maybe you do," Kurt teased in spite of their situation.

"Shut up, both of you," the girl half growled out. "Don't… don't do that."

"What are we doing that is so wrong?" Kurt finally asked in a tone that was much more stern than Kate was used to hearing from him. "Aside from coming into a church — which should be a haven for those seeking sanctuary?"

"Don't act like them!" the girl said, finally stepping a bit from the shadows so that Kurt could see the full force of very wide yellow eyes that looked extremely upset. The girl was about fifteen, and she looked much like Kurt had at her age — but with a distinct purple color to her fur. She had two rapiers in her hands and was practically shaking with rage. "Don't do that."

"Mein gott," Kurt half whispered as Kate just stared open-mouthed. "Elfling?"

"Don't call me that," she snapped out. "That's not yours."

"No, it's Logan's," Kurt breathed out. "He gave it to you the day you were born."

Kate blinked at the girl in front of them. "Krissy?"

The girl shifted her stance, clearly torn as she looked over the two of them. "Just ... just stop that," she said. "I don't know what new bad guys that creep found that can come onto holy ground, but just stop."

"You look so much like your mother," Kurt said, totally ignoring her warning; he couldn't help but grin at her.

"No, no, she looks like you," Kate corrected him with a similar grin.

"You're just adjusting for the fur," Kurt waved off. "That face is yours."

"Stop it," Krissy demanded.

"Liebling, what have I done to offend you so?" Kurt asked. "Tell me so I can adjust."

The girl looked between the two of them, the raw emotion clear over her every feature, though she hadn't lowered her swords. "You can't be them," she said simply. "So don't try to be. Don't — that's one step too far, and as soon as I figure out how you're doing it… I'll kill you both."

"You don't want to do that," A new voice echoed out behind them as a smaller, dark-haired girl seemed to appear from the shadows not ten feet behind them. "They're not lying, and their scents match up. From what I remember, anyhow."

As Krissy looked even more torn at the revelation, Kate spun to face the new girl. "Who're… Elin?" she guessed when she saw the unmistakable family resemblance. She looked just like K, but with Logan's piercing blue eyes and black hair.

"Why are you here?" Elin asked. "And how did you even get here?"

"Some guy named Gateway. I don't know — I've never time traveled before," Kate said, her eyes still wide, though she'd found her voice and seemed to be having an easier time talking to an older Elin than her older daughter.

"Of course. X-Men issues. You've missed out on a whole giant mess," Elin said, relaxing her body language significantly before she glanced to Krissy, rolled her eyes and closed the gap to give both Kurt and Kate a hug. "Don't pay attention to her yet. She's in shock. I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can help us fix this. Dad always said you could work miracles."

Kate took the slightest step back after the hug as she looked over the young teen version of the toddler she was used to seeing. "Your dad… past tense?" she sputtered, glancing over at Krissy.

"Not that kind of past tense," Elin replied with a little frown, though she looked away for a moment. "Not yet anyhow. Just ... he's not … reachable."

"And… everybody else?" Kate asked, but before Elin could say anything, that seemed to finally break the dam for Krissy, and the young girl dropped both swords with a clatter as she rushed for both of her parents to pull them into a hug, simply falling apart into both of their arms.

Kurt and Kate both tried to hold her as best they could, clearly concerned by her reaction but unwilling to question anything for the moment but comforting their daughter.

"We should probably ... go a little sublevel for the rest of this conversation," Elin said after a moment, walking backward with her chin tipped down. "The demons can't come in — but they can peek in the windows, and the last thing we need is for you two to be spotted."

"Right," Krissy said, straightening up the slightest bit and wiping at the wet fur on her cheeks, though she didn't seem to be willing to let go of Kate and kept her in half a hug as Elin led the way down some stone steps deeper underground.

Kurt and Kate shared a look over the top of Krissy's head as they made their way further in. Whatever this place was, one thing was clear — their daughter was hurting, and that couldn't stand.