Strange. Kurt was never one to sleep on his stomach. He preferred sleeping on his side, particularly with an arm and a tail draped over a particular beautiful woman, perhaps resting in the memory of a blissful moment together. Where was she, and why… Oh, Lieber Gott, es tut mir weh!

"Ich bin hier, Kurt," said Kassandra, placing a hand that felt strangely warm and sticky right where it hurt worst. "I just pulled three arrows out of your back."

"So that stem cell soup in your veins is type O negative? So you are good for something!"

"Kommandeur Darkhölme," Kassandra said, ignoring the jibe as she again pushed up her sleeve and sliced the rapidly healing cut in her forearm, hoping her blood in Kurt's wounds would speed healing. "I need you to apply pressure here, and here, and… Elixir! We could use your help here!"

"Right away, Ma'am," said Agent Foley, who'd been attending to Agent Drew's broken jaw and Toynbee's severed tongue. He was trained as an interrogator, mainly to keep suspects from dying at Wither's hands before they'd given up their answers, but his ability to accelerate other people's healing capabilities meant the occasional chance to serve in a less despicable capacity as field medic.

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Oops would have been the understatement of the century. Hawkeye might have suspected Black Cat might have been sabotaging this mission, except that he knew she'd been having difficulty controlling her luck powers over the past couple days. Regardless, it couldn't have gone worse. He had failed to shoot out Wolverine's tracker before Cloak snagged him. And Nightcrawler… well…

A firm kick to the kidneys nearly sent him hurtling off the rooftop. "I said disable their trackers, not my husband!" Zeitgeist shrieked, blurry and transparent, sword and a very bloody dagger drawn. "And you call yourself Hawkeye? Cloak, get him out of here before I do something we'll all regret!"

She disappeared just as Hawkeye wondered if he'd be that dagger's next destination.

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"Kurt, du kannst jetzt durchatmen," said Kassandra, helping Kurt up.

Kurt cautiously inhaled deeply, pleasantly surprised to feel no more stabbing pain and the kinks in his lung and muscles dissipating.

"You check out as good as new now, Darkhölme," said Elixir, "though I can't say the same about your jacket."

"This wouldn't have happened if we used unstable molecular fabric in the uniforms," said Kassandra.

"What are you talking about?"
"Never mind," said Kassandra, dismissively, remembering that with the death of Reed Richards in this reality, the standard material for body armor hadn't been invented. "Kurt, ich hasse es das zu machen, aber Deine Einheit braucht dich..."

"If I am fit for duty, I should be here," Kurt whispered into her ear, arms still around her even though it was plain he could stand well enough on his own. "Sei unbesorgt, Liebling."

What might have been as tender a moment possible on the field was interrupted when Kassandra powered up. Kurt let her go. "Okay," she yelled. "Who called for a sentinel bombardment in Hell's Kitchen? Colonel Shaw, who ordered it?"

"They say Howlett's tracker went offline, General. It's standard procedure."

"And did I not just say we need them all apprehended alive?" Kassandra exploded. "Call off the sentinels, NOW! I'll give the signal when to take these people."

Kassandra began to storm off, but rethought that for just a moment. "Es tut mir leid, Liebster. Ich muss gehen," she said, kissing Kurt lightly, then walking off, "I have a bit of a mess to clean up here before I head back to Genosha! We'll talk later."

Kassandra ducked under the police tape, overhearing a brewing argument some reporter was having with one of the reinforcements, and disappeared. She reappeared outside the office of Wilson Fisk, then made a quick phone call. It was quite clever of Cloak to choose that place for them to regroup. Whether or not Cage or his people were responsible for beating the Kingpin into a coma, his office would be the last place most people would expect them to turn up. Most people. She had to be careful, however. It was likely she'd bear the blame for the sentinel attack in the form of a bullet in the head.

The sound of metal slicing metal followed by the door swinging open cut short Logan's and Cage's discussions of their memories on top of memories and what it all meant.

Cage hastily shoved a magazine into his gun and fired off three rounds.
"It's her, that sneaky little…"

Layla shrieked, her eyes emitting a burst of green light in her panic. Kassandra hit the floor.

"Don't shoot!" said Wolverine. "Let me deal with her."
"The sentinels were sent in without my authorization. I'm sorry," said Kassandra, breathing shakily.

"You okay, Little Elf?" Logan offered her a hand up.
Kassandra remained still for a moment, apparently struggling to catch her breath, before she accepted. "If by that you mean was I hit, I'm fine."
"Ya remember now, dontcha, kid?"

Kassandra shook her head. "Nein, Logan. It seems I always remembered, but in bits and pieces. It just all makes sense now. Thank you, Miss Miller, but I think I should warn you that the people you'll help next will not handle it quite this well."

Well? That general, whom Layla imagined should have been more than just barely taller than her, looked like she was only barely restraining the urge to cry, faint, throw up, tear her hair out and scream in rage, or everything at once.

"Anyway," Kassandra continued, valiantly pulling herself together, "I see your plan, Logan, and I agree that our chances for setting reality 'right'" – here she grimaced at the word- "will improve if you follow through. But you weren't planning on teleporting all the way to Hartford, Cincinnati, Chicago, all those places, were you?"

All eyes turned to Cloak. "How far do you need me to go?" he asked.
"Right now, only as far as Fort Hamilton. Logan, it took some doing, but I've arranged your clearance, and a cover for your jumping ship, too. So it all looks clear. There's a plane waiting for you there. Sorry, but for the moment, you'll all have to pretend Logan's taking you into custody."

"Not a chance," said Cage.
"Now listen, I know you are all well within your rights to not trust me, but you trust Logan, right?"

"More than I trust any other mutant."
"Let's get going, then," said Logan. "Ya comin' along, kid?"

"I can't. I have to fly back to Genosha immediately," said Kassandra. "Besides, it's just as well that you take it all from here."

With that, Kassandra disappeared. But midway over the Atlantic, after Cage's people had enough time to get back, she radioed the helicarrier. "This is General Darkhölme requesting a secure line to Colonel Shaw… yes, thank you… Colonel Shaw, send the Red Guard to the office of Wilson Fisk. We have them."

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Translations:

Oh, lieber Gott, es tut mir weh! Oh, dear God, it hurts!