I hit the ground hard. Not allowing myself any time for the injuries to set in I jump back to my feet and whip my head around searching for Thanos. My heart drops as I trace over the landscape. Nothing like the alien planet of Titan. If it wasn't impossible, I'd be positive I made it home.
The last few seconds flash through my mind, Strange's sorry eyes like he knew something I didn't and then Thanos throwing a swirling red ball of energy at me before I could dodge it. Yeah, I must be home. Whatever he did, it sent me back to Earth. This isn't like being dead.
Now I'm on some rich people's doorstep. Their cobblestone driveway stained with my blood. I finally allow myself a moment. My injuries were already healing, having sensed none were fatal. The armor I had on was a different issue. Whatever Stark had made it out of, it seemed to have run out of energy. It had healed itself through most of the blows I hadn't been able to redirect but that seemed to have stopped. The communications network is also down—probably due to Thanos's swirly teleportation orb. That could also be the cause of the overall lack of power. At least the helmet retracted into the rest of the suit in a hood like fashion that mimicked my old uniform.
Hopefully the rich people can lend me their phone. I need to get in contact with Vision and then recruit the rest of the team. Maybe Banner is already on it. Someone should be able to grab me from wherever the heck I am in no time. Thanos appeared on Titan out of nowhere. If he repeats the pattern, he will be here before we know it so we need as much time as possible. We'll also need people. Squidward died mostly due to surprise caused by his overwhelming sense of arrogance. The big guy is still out there, and of course Thanos.
I crack my neck, wipe some gravel out of the shoulder wound I recieved so it will heal faster and then head for their front door. After five rapid, loud knocks, I turn my attention to the large manicured gardens and try to put together a guess for where the heck I am. No clue whatsoever. The sky isn't falling though so that's a good sign. Who knows what the giant as fuck satellite is for. If this is some Hydra base we missed I quit. I'm armed by fatigue and a metaphorical cornucopia so fighting isn't my best option.
The door opens a crack revealing a handsome man with glasses doing his best to not open the door at all. He isn't dressed like a butler so I wonder if he's all alone in this very big house. Probably old money that just sits and gathers enough interest to feed a small country for a week. Maybe he knows Stark.
"Hi, I need to use your phone," I greet quickly. He makes no move to show he even understood what I just said. Instead, his eyes slowly take in my appearance. My body armor is very out of shape, the nanotechnology exposed over my shoulder and a few other spots. The armor was a surprise from Stark, sent from a drone as the donut descended. He didn't like the idea of his friend fighting aliens in her jogging outfit. Now I looked like I did on the media outlets a year or two ago, but maybe more polished. Or maybe not, they always managed to get pictures of me after the fight when I look like I've been run over—to be fair sometimes I was.
I'm sure I matched those pictures fairly well right now. Dark hair always hid the blood well but even with the suit protecting me, I know a chunk of it got ripped out after I cut the big one's foot nearly clean off. I think that move made Bruce a little nervous. The armor nearly matched my old Shield outfit but with Tony's own flare. The old one was white on my top half with a white to black gradient from my waist down. Phil said they designed it off of a good old fashioned sheet ghost. Now the white ended right below my chest, a gun metal grey serving as the middle tone between the black metal covering my legs. Gold filled all the nooks and crannies and certified the armor as Stark's work. The helmet had a hood-like shape to it turning me from ghost to grim reaper. I adored it.
"It's a matter of life and death," I persist, my annoyance leaking through when he doesn't move.
"Who are you?" He asks with a frown.
"The news outlets call me Elysium. Now will you let me use your phone or do I have to break down the door and find it myself?" I threaten carefully.
"What do you mean life and death?" He asks letting me in and leading the way through a rather grand front hall. Stupid rich people. Shouldn't he be in his doomsday bunker now?
"You haven't heard? It's been more than a few hours, I was sure it would be everywhere," I muse before elaborating when he gives me an impatient look. "You know? Aliens invading New York again? We seriously ripped up a few blocks plus the giant spaceship. I'm sure there were more too. They'll be after Vision if they haven't already come."
"That's never happened," he responds carefully.
"Alright, where am I? This is Earth right? I mean it looks close enough," I state, trying to keep calm.
"Of course this is Earth."
"Then why don't you know? What about Vision or the rest of the avengers?"
"What avengers?"
"Who are you?" I ask this time, wondering how he's kept so calm when faced with this. He's not reacting like a normal person.
"My name is Hank. And you've found yourself at the house of Charles Xavier. On Earth, where once again, I must iterate, we've never had any sort of avengers or Vision or alien invasion."
"That's not possible," I state, panic returning.
"You said you had someone to call?" He asks trying to calm me down.
"Uh yes. Yes there's got to be."
He nods and pulls out an old phone complete with a cord. I look around the super lavish mansion just to confirm. This couldn't be their phone. Not when they can obviously afford cellphones. It dawns on me and my jaw drops.
"What year is it?" I ask, positive I'm not doing a very good job at hiding my emotions.
"1973."
"I'm sorry, what?" I ask again, hoping I didn't hear him correctly.
"1973," he states again and I brace myself against a wall to fight the shock.
"Shit," I mutter. "Well, I don't need your phone anymore. All the numbers I'd call don't exist yet."
"Hank? Hank who was that at the door," someone yells from another room.
"In here," he calls back. "What happened?" He asks me and I turn to see the newcomer before I answer Hank's question. He looks like a depressed hermit. I turn back to Hank, who's obviously the only one in the house that has a firm grasp on this world's reality.
"In 2018, aliens invade for the second time in search for infinity stones. I fought them along with a handful of others and ended up on a planet called Titan. We were fighting their leader and somehow I ended up here in the middle of your driveway in 1973."
"But that would mean—" Hank begins.
"You've traveled in time," the new guy finishes for him.
"Yeah. But that's impossible, right?" I plead like they have the answer. Strange. Strange had the time stone. That could probably send me back. But he had it. Not Thanos. His sorry eyes make a lot more sense and my mind reels with the possible reasons he'd send me here. One route to victory? "Why am I asking you? You don't know….fuck. That fortune teller son of a bitch," I mutter angrily, muscles tense and ready to throw a punch. Strange did this. One way to victory my ass.
"How did you get here?" Hank presses with a frown.
"Thanos threw a ball of energy at me. Might've been the reality stone since it was red, maybe the tesseract since I've moved across space."
"Any ideas Charles?" Hank asks the other man.
"You look at me like I have all the answers," he mutters, crossing the room and leaving. Hank follows and I follow Hank.
I could probably find a way to get in contact with Shield but I'm not in the mood to get examined by Hydra again. Strange had the place in New York, sounded like something he inherited along with his title. The sorcerers might be able to help. But I'll need a ride into the city first. If that doesn't work maybe I can find my mom and wait for her to meet Peter's dad. He said he was powerful so maybe I could at least get answers from him before he kills me.
"You can't just hide. She's here and she's proof the world gets better. She needs our help," Hank says, rather loudly, to the depressed hermit Charles.
"So who are you? Really? I mean you're handling this a lot better than you should be," I tell them before creating an apple out of thin air and biting into it for effect. Also I got stabbed through the shoulder on Titan and healing takes energy. "And I swear I recognize you both from somewhere but I can't for the life of me figure out where."
"Gifted, like yourself," Hank answers when Charles only gives me a measured look.
"So are you with Shield? Some other nameless organization? Freelancing or just hiding? If you have some dark plan for world domination you legally have to disclose it to me."
"That doesn't sound right," Hank states with a frown.
"What are you? A lawyer?" I ask sarcastically.
"Well, yes."
"I guess that should be obvious seeing as you're dodging the question. Is Fury hiding in a closet somewhere waiting to burst out and talk about the avengers initiative? Listen, I already signed up to save the world. I don't need the spiel again."
"The world doesn't want us to save it, so why bother trying?" Charles states as someone knocks loudly on the door.
"Isn't that the spirit," I state sarcastically as Hank brushes by me to go to the door. "If you stood back and watched as someone lit the world on fire, you're not a bystander. You're an accomplice."
"Who could that be? Another one of yours?" Charles asks scathingly.
"Well I certainly hope so. From my time we don't sit in dusty old mansions feeling sorry for ourselves when things don't go our way," I bite back before following Hank to answer the door. Halfway there we hear the yelling. It's yelling I do not recognize so I stand back and let Hank answer.
"Can I help you?" Hank asks, sparing me a glance and confirming that I don't know him.
"Uh, yeah, what happened to the school?" The guy asks.
"The school's been shut for years. Are you a parent?"
"I sure as hell hope not. Who are you?"
"I'm Hank. Hank McCoy. I look after the house now."
"You're beast? I guess you're a late bloomer." The stranger asks and my eyebrows raise as I analyze Hank a little more closely. I settle into my bystander opinions a little more firmly.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," Hank responds firmly before trying to slam the door. The other guy stops him.
"So where's the professor?" He asks as they struggle with the door.
"There's no professor here."
"You're pretty strong for a scrawny kid. Come on, you sure there's not a little beast in there?" The man eggs him on and I yawn loudly, bored of how this is playing out.
The door ends up opening and the man prowls right through and past Hank. I straighten in surprise recognizing him.
"Hugh Jackman?" I ask in surprise. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Beth, you know him?" Hank clarifies.
"Not personally," I state defensively wondering what kind of crack head method acting he's doing.
"Then you need to leave," Hank states turning the conversation back.
"Not until I see the professor."
"There's no professor here. I told you that," Hank reiterates.
"Look, kid, you and I are gonna be good friends," he states calmly before abruptly punching Hank in the face.
"Well that was uncalled for. I think you've overstayed your welcome," I state calmly, stepping in.
"Do I have to hit you too?" He asks dryly.
"If that's how you fight," I say sweetly. He throws a punch and I duck to avoid it and swing a kick, sweeping his legs out from under him. I'm back on my feet and dragging him back towards the door by his ankle.
I got him to the front hallway when he cuts into my arm through some damage in the armor with something causing me to hiss and drop him. He turns and rushes back the way we came and I laugh when I notice what has to be Hank, stalking him from above. He looks like a blue lion almost.
Hank picks him up and throws him onto the solid table at the base of the stairs so hard I'm surprised it doesn't break. He ends up hanging upside down from the chandelier.
"Hank? Beth? What's going on here?" Charles calls out, making his way in. I wonder what his talent is. I mean besides being a depressed hermit.
"Professor?" The man on the table asks.
"Please don't call me that."
"You know this guy?" Hank asks.
"He's not Hugh Jackman," I add in warning.
"Yeah, he looks slightly familiar. Get off the bloody chandelier, Hank."
"You can walk," the stranger states.
"You're a perceptive one," Charles begins, continuing his descent.
"I thought Erik…"
"Which makes us slightly perplexed that you managed to miss our sign on the way in. This is private property, my friend, I'm going to have to ask him to ask you to leave," he continues ignoring the man's interruption.
"Well, I'm afraid I can't do that, because...uh...because I was sent here for you," he begins hesitantly.
"Well, tell whoever it was that sent you that I'm...busy," Charles snaps back and I look at the man in a new light. This is grief, not the actual man. Whatever happened, damaged him greatly. Maybe I could get along with him...in ten years after he's grown up a bit.
"That's gonna be a little tricky, because the person who sent me...was you. About 50 years from now."
"What?" I ask in shock, looking at him closer. Doing the quick math, he's from 5 years my future. We have a future. Relief settles through me accompanied by some dread. What does it mean if I was sent here and the future turns out? I wish I had gotten a glimpse inside Strange's head before I got sent here.
"50 years from now like in the future, 50 years from now?" Charles clarifies before sending me a look and grinning. "Look, I guess you two have something in common. Now both of you get off my property."
"If you had your powers you'd know I was telling the truth," the stranger states, sparing me a quick glance.
"How do you know I don't have my….who are you?"
"I told you."
"Are you CIA?"
"No."
"You been watching me?"
"I know you Charles. We've been friends for years. I know your powers came when you were nine. I know you thought you were going crazy when it started, all the voices in your head—and it wasn't until you were 12 that you realized all the voices were in everyone else's head. Do you want me to go on?"
"I never told anyone that."
"Not yet, no, but you will."
"All right, you've piqued my interest. What do you want?"
"We have to stop Raven," the stranger declares. "I need your help. We need your help."
"I think I'd like to wake up now," Charles declares, getting to his feet and leaving the room.
"What does she have to do with this?" Hank asks, turning back to a normal looking person. Logan gives him a grave look before we all follow Charles and get the full explanation.
"How'd you get here? More aliens?" I ask as his summary winds to a close.
"No, and it was a mutant named Kitty."
"You guys all keep saying mutant, would someone please elaborate?"
"Don't you know?" Hank asks me with a frown. "You had the apple and your arm is already healed."
"Yeah, and you can turn into a blue creature and Charles used to be able to read minds. You guys call yourselves mutants?" I clarify, more than a little mystified. Both Hank and the new guy nod. "Isn't that kind of derogatory?"
"What do they call it when you're from?" Hank asks.
"There's no blanket term so it gets a little complicated. I get called enhanced a lot. There are a few super soldiers, there's a god too. The Hulk, he's kind of like you only very not like you. We don't even know what he is. A lot of self made humans—actually Tony usually gets called a public menace, can't say I disagree. Usually people stop at Avenger. The really nice ones call us superhero's. The government calls us weapons," I state. When there's no sign of recognition from the newcomer a new possibility sets in.
"I don't think I landed in the right universe," I say aloud.
"What does that mean for you?" Hank asks.
"I gotta find my way back. But I'll help you guys first. I must've been dropped here for a reason," I decide, brushing it off.
A/N: This is for my new favorite trash man. I watched WandaVision and decided to watch the rest of the X Men movies and you know I just love Magneto very much.
Eventually this will cross back into the MCU, it just depends on when it gets written but we can assume it will be an AU at that point because of the whole Ralph thing that hasn't been elaborated on.
Leave a review, tell me what you think--or don't I'm not your mom.