Peter stopped short when he entered the kitchen. The woman standing beside the sink looked familiar, but not from any experience of his own. She reminded him of someone he'd seen in old photographs, ones his father had always hated to look at. The woman he was looking at now was too young to be her, Peter knew, but the resemblance was uncanny. He wanted to talk to her. "Hello," he said, making his presence known.

The woman jumped, then turned around. "Hello," she replied in a softly-accented voice. Peter placed it as Russian, probably from around St. Petersburg. "Who are you?"

"The name's Peter," he replied. "Who are you?"

"Illyana Rasputin," the woman replied. "Are you…supposed to be here?"

Illyana Rasputin. The name was fuzzily familiar to Peter. The memory clicked, and he knew exactly why she looked so much like the woman in the photographs. She was her daughter. "I'm with British Intelligence," Peter told her. "I'm here babysitting Captain Britain."

Illyana gave him a wry smile. "I do not envy you that job."

"I don't think anyone does," Peter said with a smirk. "You're Kitty Pryde's daughter, aren't you?" he asked.

Illyana looked a little surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Our parents used to work together. On Excalibur. My dad and your mum."

"Oh? Who's your father?"

"Peter Wisdom."

Illyana was definitely surprised by that. "Peter Wisdom? But I thought…"

"He died?" Peter supplied. "No, he's very much alive. He's back in London with me mum."

"Who's your mother?"

"No one you'd know."

Illyana looked away. "My mother talked about your father from time to time. I don't think she ever stopped loving him."

Peter shrugged. "He's a lovable guy. You look a lot like your mum. From the pictures I've seen of her, at least."

"You look like your father."

"So I've been told."

Illyana suddenly felt inexplicably nervous. Peter's eyes were such an intense shade of blue. "I…I have to go," she stammered. "I'm going out later…with my boyfriend. I have to…get ready."

"All right. Nice talking to you. Maybe we could do it again sometime—compare notes on our parents." Peter winked.

Illyana steadied herself on the counter. "That would be…nice. I have to go. My, um, boyfriend. I have to…bye…"

Peter chuckled as she ran out of the kitchen. Apparently his knack with women extended to those of the Russian variety as well.

*** *** ***

"You're my what?"

"Your daughter," Elisabeth repeated. "Look, I don't really have the time to get into this. I was sent here from the future to save the universe. Discussing the logistics of it is only going to mess with the schedule and damn everyone and everything."

Angela raised an eyebrow. "And exactly what is endangering the universe?"

Elisabeth sighed. "The Ultramites."

"The Ultrawhat?"

"The Ultramites. They're these small creatures who are feeding off time itself. I'm not sure exactly where they came from, but they're nasty little bastards. If we don't stop them, everything will cease to exist."

It was a little more than Angela could handle. She took a couple steps back. "Nate, could you field this one?"

Cable nodded, and approached Elisabeth. "How do you expect us to stop them?"

"Their leader has set up a base here—in this time—for now at least. The X-Men and I, well, the X-Men from my time, we located him. I was elected to go through the time portal since my family had…experience with this sort of thing. I'm supposed to get the team from this time together and send them after the Ultramites."

Angela took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let me get this straight—you're the daughter I haven't had yet, and you've come here to have the X-Men stop some midgets from 'eating' time?"

Elisabeth nodded. "Yes. That's exactly it."

Angela sat down. "I really need to get a more normal life."

Cable put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder before turning back to Elisabeth. "What do you want us to do?"

"Can you assemble the team? Who's leading it at the moment?"

"It was Rebecca Munroe," Nathan replied, "But she's taking a hiatus at the moment. The team was recently divided into Blue and Gold teams again on a permanent basis, and as it stands, Adanya Logan has been made leader of Blue team, while Rachel Summers is temporary leader of Gold team."

Angela reached up and took hold of Nathan's hand. "Nate, hon, could I talk to you in the hallway for a minute?"

Nathan looked up at Elisabeth, who shrugged. He nodded, and walked out in the hallway with Angela. "You don't actually believe this craziness, do you?" Angie hissed as soon as they were alone.

"Angela, I read the woman's mind when she first got here. She isn't lying," Cable replied.

"You said she's a telepath. Maybe she's blocking you from the truth."

Nathan shook his head. "She's the genuine article, Angie. Why are you being so difficult about it?"

"Because if she is my daughter, then what right does she have to come back here and try to mess with everything? I don't like the idea that my future is already laid out for me!"

Cable bristled. "The future changes, Angela. She's trying to make it better. Do you want to cease to exist?"

"Well she shouldn't exist," Angela snapped. "I don't have any children."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Nathan replied, every inch of his body tense, "But she's here whether you like it or not. I'm going to round up the X-Men. You better deal with your issues."

"Nathan…"

Cable pushed past her to go upstairs and find the others. Angela's wings drooped.

*** *** ***

The X-Men all stared blankly at Elisabeth Summers. Kacie Drake was the first to speak up. "So these little people eating time, exactly how small are they? Like Logan short, or more like leprechauns?"

"More on the leprechaun side," Elisabeth replied, knowing it wouldn't be the right time to laugh at the absolutely murderous look Addie was giving Kacie. She was grateful to see some things were just about the same in this time as in her own. Addie Logan looked the same as she'd always remembered her. As did Craig Marshall… "They'd probably come up to your kneecaps. When they're in their full size, that is."

"And these people are supposed to be a threat?" Kacie asked. "Sounds like we could just kick 'em, or something."

"They're vicious," Elisabeth replied. "Besides, they aren't exactly your normal everyday sort of people. They're eating time for Christ's sake."

"How exactly are they doing that?" Billy asked. "I mean, time's not exactly something you can just go and make a sandwich out of."

"I'm not sure exactly how," Elisabeth replied, "Although I believe they've found some way to access the temporal plane. I'm still not sure why they're doing it either, unless it's something that they've always done, and they've just now reached a point where someone actually noticed it. Time does stretch it infinity after all."

"So what do you want us to do?" Rachel asked. She had a hard time looking at Elisabeth. They looked enough alike for it to be unnerving.

"I need to find where the leader of the Ultramites is stationed, and stop him before he orders his people to eat anymore. If we can cut them off at the source, maybe the universe can be saved," Elisabeth replied.

"And if we can't?" Logan asked.

"Then we're screwed. So are you guys in?"

Logan looked over at Rachel, who replied with a shrug. "Sure. Living a Twilight Zone episode beats just sitting around the mansion."

Elisabeth smiled. "Good. I need to be able to access Cerebro and see if I can get a reading on the little guy. He showed up on Cerebro in my time, and I'm hoping he will now."

"Is he a mutant?" Briana asked.

"I honestly don't know," Elisabeth replied. "I didn't really have a chance to find out a lot before I was shoved through the portal."

"I'll work Cerebro with you," Rachel offered, not wanting to let this virtual stranger work one of their most crucial instruments alone. "When do you want to get started?"

"Now would be good," Elisabeth said.

Rachel stood up. "Let's go, then."

The two redhead Summerses walked out, leaving the rest of the X-Men in a semi-stupor. Logan shook her head. "So, I guess we're supposed to sit around and wait for them to turn something up."

"Looks like it," Vicky replied. "I for one am going to find something interesting to do." She stood up. "Up for a game of pool, Drake?"

Kacie grinned. "Oh yeah. I am so gonna kick your ass again, Creed."

"Not unless swamp boy breaks my concentration again."

Vicky and Kacie left the War Room, with the rest of the X-Men soon following their lead.

*** *** ***

Kris Rasputin figured answering the door would be the best way to get the person on the other side to stop pounding on it. Truth be told, all he really wanted to do was get upstairs where Marie had said she'd be waiting for him, but apparently a really impatient person had come to visit.

He threw open the door, not even bothering to feign politeness. "Who are you, and what do you want?" he asked the blonde man on the other side.

Marius Boudreaux decided immediately he didn't like this guy, whoever he was. He was glad he was wearing shoes with big soles. It gave him a height advantage over the other man, who would probably normally be about even with him. Maybe even an inch or so taller. "I'm looking f'Marie LeBeau. She live here?"

Kris picked up on the other man's Cajun accent. "Maybe. Are you one of her relatives?"

"Non. I'm an…old acquaintance."

"You got a name?" Kris asked. He wished this guy would go away. He didn't want Marie to have company when he wanted her to himself.

"Marius Boudreaux. Marie an' I grew up toget'er, back in Louisiana."

"She never mentioned you."

"I just need t'talk to her. I know she's here. Unless dere's some ot'er Xavier's School for de Gifted."

"Maybe she's not here right now."

Marius was about to continue arguing with Kris, when, from the corner of his eye, he caught someone walking by. He pushed Kris out of the way and bellowed, "LAPIN!"

Emil stopped, his expression that of a deer in headlights. "Uh, hi Marius."

Marius started towards Emil, and Kris made a break for the stairs. Maybe calling Marie downstairs wasn't such a bad idea after all…

*** *** ***