Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men.
A.N.: Please review. Thanks.
The X-men and Virginia's team were boarding the Blackbird in the hanger.
"So tell me, again, where we're going?" Cyclops asked Virginia.
"Kieran's…with Magneto," Virginia said.
"He kidnapped her?" Cyclops asked, tensing up.
"I doubt it, but I don't know. Whatever happened, we need to get her back," she said, "When she goes off, she's not thinking straight. Knowing her, she's doing something she'll regret. We have to make sure she's okay."
"Okay, whatever you say," Cyclops nodded, going in.
Virginia waited a bit for her team to catch up to her pace.
"Virginia?" Julien asked, "Ya 'k?"
"Yeah, I gotta real bad feeling about this though," she answered.
"Ain't we all got one," Julien said, "ba Magneto's na gonna hurt Kieran, an Kieran ain't ta hurt Magneto."
"That's what I'm worried about," Virginia said, "she's gonna say something that'll get the rest of us killed. I just know it."
Nick shrugged.
"Great pep talk," he commented.
Virginia rolled her eyes and boarded the plane.
The X-jet landed and the X-men got out of the plane.
They spread out and walked around.
"Do you think they know we're here?" Magma asked.
"I believe so, Sheila," said a voice from behind the X-men.
The x-men turned around and saw Pyro, Colossus, Gambit, Mastermind, and Sabertooth standing behind them.
They ran towards the X-men and vice-versa.
"Nightcrawler," Virginia called, "Teleport around. Look for Kieran and bring her back here. We'll hold them off, got it?"
"Ves," Nightcrawler replied and teleported off.
"So now, what? Fight?" Nick asked.
"Fight," Virginia agreed and her group joined the X-men fighting.
Magma, Iceman, Sunspot, and Nick were fighting Pyro.
"Aren't you supposed to be working for Fury?" Magma asked Pyro.
Pyro smiled, "Aren't ya da smart Shiela."
Magma gave him a face.
"I do, but I jus had some work ta work out," he explained, "Old Mags still in need of this Australian."
"Whatever," she replied shaking her head.
"Ya know, ya quite da pretty Shiela, ain't ya?" Pyro smirked at her and gave her a wink.
Magma glared at him and blasted fireballs towards him. They stopped in midair and were shot back towards her.
"Ha, ha, ha," Pyro laughed manically.
Iceman froze the fire before it hit Magma and the balls of iced fire crashed to the ground.
"Nice save," Magma thanked.
"Any time," Iceman replied.
"Come on, sun, come out," Sunspot murmured to himself waiting for the sun to resurface.
Pyro sent another fire ball towards them.
"Got it," Nick said putting his hand out and turning the fire intangible. It zoomed right through them and hit boxes, burning them as Nick made them tangible again.
Shadowcat, Rogue, LoAna, and Cannonball were fighting Colossus. Colossus ran towards them, picking up a plank of wood and aiming it at them. He stopped in front of LoAna and looked at her. He put the wood down. Shadowcat, Rogue, and LoAna just looked at him. Cannonball was walking back from a blast he had taken and missed, ending up in the dirt several yards away.
"What're ya doin?" asked Rogue.
"I…cannot hurt the little one. She is too much of a reminder of my little sister," Colossus said as he hung his head in shame.
"That is like so sweet," Shadowcat said smiling at Colossus.
Rogue gave her a look.
"I'm not little," LoAna said.
"If it saves ya life, ya keep it," Rogue snapped.
LoAna grumbled.
Cannonball ran up and blasted towards Colossus and blasting him off of his feet and back a few yards.
"Cannonball, he was like totally surrendering," Shadowcat whined.
"Oh, well mah bad," Cannonball apologized.
Across the lot, Cyclops, Julien, and Berkzerker were fighting Gambit.
Julien reached into his pants pocket and took out a pair of shades from his pocket and put them on quickly.
"Ah'm gonna 'ave some fun wit dis fight," Julien thought to himself with a half smile.
Cyclops blasted Gambit who was charging cards. The cards fell from his hands and exploded on the ground.
"Dat ain't nice, non?" Gambit said.
Gambit charged another set of cards and threw them at Berserker. Berserker dodged, them and in return sent an electric bolt at Gambit, nearly hitting him.
"Don't kill 'em," Julien mouthed to Berserker.
Berserker nodded and sent a less deadly volt zapping towards Gambit.
Gambit dodged it, rolling on the ground to his left and jumping back up in time to charge cards and send them out. One card hit Berserker and knocked him to the ground.
"That's enough," Cyclops commanded and shot a beam at Gambit which knocked him to the ground.
Gambit stood up, furious. He grabbed another deck of cards from his pocket and sent them all hurtling towards Cyclops. Some hit him and knocked him unconscious on the ground.
"Den dere ba une," Gambit said, "Try ta take me, petit."
Julien smiled, "Jus da way ah want it ta ba."
"Ya loss, petit," Gambit smirked.
"Ah bet," Julien replied.
Julien ran towards Gambit, intent on kicking him. Gambit blocked him with his staff and pushed him to the ground.
"Ain't ta good at fightin are ya?" Gambit remarked.
"Ah'm better dan ya tink," Julien replied, "Fact, ah ba best in mah opinion. 'ad a good teacher."
Julien ran up to Gambit again, this time he managed to dodge Gambit's staff's block. He reached out and grabbed Gambit's hand, touching his fingers, which weren't covered by his fingerless gloves. Julien drained a bit of Gambit to get his power. Julien took a step back and smirked.
"How ya like mah technique now?" Julien asked.
Gambit frowned, "Wha did ya do ta mah?"
Julien smiled and reached inside his black pants pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. Suddenly he began to charge them. He stared at Gambit and smiled, waiting to release the cards.
"Ya stole Gambit's powers," Gambit said.
Julien shrugged, "Non, Julien jus used 'is own."
Julien released the top of the deck of cards and shot them at Gambit, all missing him, but making him work to dodge them. Julien waited, shuffling the cards from hand to hand.
"Ya quite da power thief," Gambit said.
"Ah ba a thief of more dan jus powers," Julien smirked, ruffling his hair.
Julien charged the rest of the deck and sent all but the last one at Gambit. Gambit ducked and rolled out the way of the cards.
"Ya out of cards," Gambit smirked, "Now's mah turn."
Gambit charged one card and sent it flying at Julien. It hit Julien in the chest and sent him to the ground, landing on his butt. As he hit the ground, the impact caused his shades to fall from his face to the ground and crack. He immediately closed his eyes.
Gambit walked up to Julien on the ground.
"Ya ready ta end dis?" Gambit asked standing next to Julien.
Julien smiled and threw his last card, uncharged at Gambit. It landed on the ground in front of Gambit. Gambit looked down and saw the card, a Queen of Hearts. Gambit raised his eyebrows confused.
"Ya ah'm all in now," Julien said.
Gambit raised his last card in his hand, a Queen of Hearts, too. He titled his head.
"A Queen of Hearts?" Gambit asked.
"Yea, it ba mah père's lucky lady," Julien replied. He opened his eyes, revealing his red on black eyes and smirked the same smirk that Gambit had used moments ago.
Gambit titled his head and stared at Julien. Julien ran his hands through his shoulder length brown hair with a white streak on each side of his face.
Rogue, who had noticed Gambit fighting Julien and now holding cards that were about to seriously injure or worse up to Julien, was running towards Gambit.
"Remy, don't ya dare lay a hand on 'em," Rogue said.
"As ya wish, Chere," Gambit replied, still keeping his eyes on Julien's red on black eyes.
Gambit shook his head and turned towards Rogue. He glanced around at the other X-men.
"Don't worry, Remy, they knaw," Rogue said lowly.
"Dey do?" Gambit asked.
"Thanks to 'em," Rogue replied, pointing to Julien, "Yep."
Julien stood up, still smirking at Gambit and walked next to Rogue.
"Ya grounded, Julien," Rogue said firmly.
"Whateva, 'ta was worth it," Julien laughed, "ah jus couldn't resist mah self."
Gambit opened his mouth to say something but stopped, confused he instead said, "What's going on, Rogue, cause Remy ba confused?"
Rogue bit her lip and glared at Julien to stop laughing.
"Um…nothing, it's just that…," Rogue began, unsure how to word what had happened without it sounding odd.
Nearby, Jean, Virginia, and Multiple were fighting Mastermind. Jean was holding Mastermind back telekinetically, while multiple was trying to confuse him and Virginia was trying to get control of Mastermind.
"Julien!" Virginia yelled, "Julien get over here!"
Julien was laughing and paying no attention to her.
"Julien!" Virginia yelled again, "Julien! Julien-Luc LeBeau, get your butt over here, we need you over here!"
Julien stopped laughing and him, Gambit, and Rogue all turned and looked at Virginia.
"Shoot," Virginia muttered under her breath, "Julien!"
Julien smirked once more at Gambit and ran towards Virginia and those fighting Mastermind.
Gambit turned back around towards Rogue.
"Julien-Luc…Lebeau?" Gambit asked raising an eyebrow at Rogue.
"Yeah, he's kinda our son from the future," Rogue shrugged.
Gambit looked at Julien again, then turned back towards Rogue and smirked, "Our son?"
Rogue playfully shoved Gambit.
Julien ran up next to Virignia.
"Wha?" Julien asked.
"He's not getting distracted any other way, charm him," Virginia said.
Julien shrugged and looked into Mastermind's eyes. Mastermind put his hands down and his remained fixated on Julien's.
Virginia looked over at Jean and shook her head and the two both sent telepathic blasts at Mastermind, causing him to become unconscious.
"Good," Virginia said.
Virginia looked around. Pyro was under control and Colossus was on the ground, knocked out. Gambit was talking to Rogue. Virginia shook her head.
"Hopefully, Nightcrawler can find Kieran," she thought, "For everyone's sake."
Wolverine was fighting Sabertooth one-on-one. They were tossing each other about.
"Get lost, Wolverine," Sabertooth growled.
"Jump off a cliff," Wolverine grunted.
Wolverine ran and jammed a claw into Sabertooth, pushing him to the ground.
Shadowcat walked over to where Colossus was unconscious.
"Are you okay?" Shadowcat asked compassionately.
Colossus opened his eyes and looked up at Shadowcat.
"I believe I am well, though I have been better," Colossus answered as he sat up.
"I'm like totally sorry for Cannonball knocking you out, I know you weren't going to fight us," Shadowcat apologized.
Colossus nodded.
"Why weren't you going to fight us again?" Shadowcat asked, tilting her head to the side.
Shadowcat reached her hand out and Colossus took it as she helped him to his feet.
"I…I have a little sister, Illyana. She was taken and Magneto told me he would help me find her if I worked for him, but he hasn't. I miss her very much and the little girl reminds me of my little snowflake, Illyana," Colossus said, a tear formed in the corner of his eye and he wiped it away.
Shadowcat frowned.
"You know, I bet if you helped us like you did with Apocalypse then maybe the professor would like be able to find your sister. He'd probably even let you be an X-men. Being an X-men is awesome and we could use someone strong like you. And nice like you," Kitty smiled.
Colossus looked up at Shadowcat.
"Your professor will be able to help locate my Illyana?" he asked.
"I'm sure," she nodded, "He's real good."
Colossus stared into Shadowcat's eyes and smiled.
"Then, I believe I will help you and your friends," he decided.
"Good," she replied.
The sun came put and Sunspot powered up.
"Finally," he exclaimed.
"Took you long enough," Magma said.
Sunspot turned towards Pyro, but noticed something across the lot.
"Hey, Nick, why's Shadowcat talking and walking with that Acolyte?" he asked.
"What acolyte?" Nick asked.
"The metal one," Sunspot said.
"Shoot," Nick turned away from Pyro and towards Shadowcat and Colossus.
Nick ran away from the fight with Pyro and towards Shadowcat.
"Mom?" Nick said.
"Mom?" Colossus repeated, confused.
"Actually, that does sound like totally weird now that you say it aloud, but anyway…," Shadowcat said, "What, Nick?"
"Um…Virginia said for you to come…over here," Nick said.
"Okay, come on, Colossus," Shadowcat said.
"Actually...just you, mom," Nick said.
He glared angrily at Colossus.
"I can wait here, Shadowcat," Colossus suggested.
"Yeah, like you should do that," Nick said, "Or better yet, you should go away somewhere far away. Go back to Russia. Go on."
"Don't be rude, Nick," Shadowcat corrected, "Colossus is on own side now."
Nick glared at Colossus again.
"Stay away from my mom, got it?" he commanded.
"Yes...I will, um, I will go over there and help...someone else, Shadowcat," Colossus walked away.
"You didn't have to be so rude, Nick," Shadowcat said harshly, "What's like gotten into you?"
"Nothing," Nick mumbled.
"What?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Nothing."
"Tell me," she demanded, "What is your problem with Colossus helping us? Tell me the truth. Now."
Nick looked at the ground, disappointed. He wiped his eyes to prevent himself from crying.
"I lied," he admitted.
"What?"
"I lied," he repeated. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I lied about what I told you the other day about you and the future. I lied."
"What did you lie about?" she asked, "What's the truth?"
Nick looked into her eyes, "I said that after dad died, you were miserable and joined Excalibur and you abandoned me...but you didn't. I abandoned you."
"What do you mean?" Shadowcat asked, confused.
"A couple of weeks after…dad died, you left for a couple of months. You had been supposed to be transferring to that team along with Nightcrawler before dad's accident and after it you still went along with the plan. You said it was good to continue a normal life," he explained, "When you came back to get me and bring me back to Europe with you, you were really happy. I didn't like it because I was still upset about losing my father, but you were smiling a lot and I was confused and upset with you."
He took a deep breath.
"When the plane came to pick you up, a man was there. He had come to fetch you. I didn't think anything about it, until…until you introduced him as your boyfriend. You seemed so happy, happier than you had been in years even before dad died, even before Kat got sick and died. We were a happy family for a long time, but things got complicated, dad's job got more and more secret. You got more and more stressed," he continued, "You were so happy, I got upset with you and the man for being happy while I was sad and I refused to go with you. You didn't want to leave me, but you had to. You left with him and you tried for a few months to get me to take a plane and come too, but I wouldn't budge. I resented you for moving on. When you came down to see the other X-men, I'd make sure I wasn't home because I didn't want to see you. I couldn't stand to see you. I finally saw you on a mission and found out you had a pet dragon. You did move on, but you wanted to move on with me not without me."
"Who...who was the man?" Shadowcat asked.
Nick closed his eyes, "When I saw you with Colossus, I thought you were choosing him again over my dad like you did in the future. You can't. I won't let you."
She leaned over and gave him a hug.
"Nick, if I got married and had you and your sister, no matter how many happy years, even if just for a day, I wouldn't trade it. Ever," she said, "I love Lance, Nick. Colossus is just a friend. And, whatever happens in the future is what it is, but I love Lance now and nothing's gonna change that. Remember that, Nick."
He smiled at her and hugged her back.
