Chapter Fifteen

"I refuse to believe that my machine had anything to do with your accident," Magneto snapped, furious at being held prisoner in his own lab by a group of children and this frightening, sword-wielding apparition from the future. Just the sight of him brought back disturbing memories Magneto had thought were long buried in the dark recesses of his mind.

It was chilling how strongly this man who claimed to be an adult Nightcrawler resembled his old friend, Eric Wagner--even with the fine, indigo fur, the large, pointed ears, and the gleaming, yellow eyes. Eric had funded all Magneto's early experiments after he'd had his falling out with Charles Xavier. The German Count had even invited Magneto to use his own castle as a lab. But when his son had been born a mutant, Eric had changed almost overnight. He had refused to let him examine the boy, to let him use his machines to improve the infant's many unique adaptations. This change in attitude had been incomprehensible to Magneto, who had then turned to the Countess for support. A mutant herself, she had been far more sympathetic to Magneto's pleas, ultimately agreeing to let Magneto perform his examination--but no more. Bewildered and disgusted by his patrons' reluctance to further the causes of science, Magneto had taken it upon himself to do as he felt best.

Ravenna Wagner had handed the child over to him, then gone off to distract her husband while Magneto worked. He did perform the examination, but he also went a step further, placing the fuzzy, blue infant in his enhancer.

The child's screams had been horrendous. Before Magneto could turn off his machine, Eric had come rushing into his basement lab, beside himself with fury and fear for his son. Magneto had tried to reason with him, but Eric was beyond reason. He threatened to withdraw his support, to throw Magneto and all his experiments from the castle that very night.

Infuriated by this betrayal by the one human he had come to regard as a friend, as an ally, Magneto lost control for one brief moment. By the time he came back to himself, Eric was lying on the cold, stone floor in a spreading puddle of his own, dark blood, crushed to death by the ruined mass of one of Magneto's heavier machines. To tell the truth, Erik Lehnsherr mourned the loss of that machine more than he did the life of Eric Wagner.

While he was still shaken and weak from his ordeal, Frau Wagner had burst into the room, staring in appalled shock at the gory remains of her husband. Only her mother's instincts, brought to the fore by the terrified screams of her infant son, had revived her enough to allow her to fully process the truth of what had happened.

"Monster!" she had cried, pushing past Magneto to gather her shrieking child in her arms. She gasped when she saw how his chubby, blue legs had been transformed into long, animal-like appendages. "What have you done to him!"*

Before Magneto could respond, she had shoved him against his enhancer, knocking him off balance and the machine to the floor, where it shattered into hundreds of fragments. Spitting at his feet, Ravenna had run from the castle into the cold, snowy night.

He couldn't let her get away. He couldn't let her turn him in. Rushing after her, using his powers to move even faster than he could on the ground, Magneto had found her trapped at the old bridge by a pack of ravenous wolves. As he watched, she lost her balance, and her grip on her child. The baby plummeted down into the freezing rapids far below.

Ravenna Wagner had lost her entire family in less than half an hour. And, to Magneto's relief, she blamed herself. Broken and helpless, Ravenna was like putty waiting to be molded by his eager hands. By the time they left Germany for America, Ravenna Wagner was little more than a distant memory. The shape shifting mutant had chosen a new name for herself, and a new purpose for her life. From then on, she was known as Mystique, and she was Magneto's most loyal follower.

That is, she had been until she'd learned that her son was a student at the Xavier Institute.

And now, her son was standing before him, his sword drawn, his long, powerful tail keeping him perfectly balanced as he stood on the balls of his feet. To Magneto, Kurt Wagner was the ultimate proof that his experiment in mutant enhancement had been a complete success. He was a perfect physical example of mutant superiority. But rather than being grateful for what Magneto had done for him, this man was accusing him of behaving recklessly, claiming his machine would cause a world-wide crisis. He hadn't heard such blind, close-minded nonsense since his last fight with Charles Xavier.

"You must recognize how vital it is that I complete my work," Magneto argued, glaring at this impossible, adult version of Kurt Wagner, feeling the same outrage he had felt sixteen years before when Eric had regarded him with the exact expression he was now seeing in Kurt's yellow eyes.

"Don't you realize the chaos your machine will cause once it is activated?" Kurt pressed, his soft, German accent grating on Magneto's nerves.

"It will only be a temporary inconvenience," Magneto retorted angrily, raising his arms in exasperation. "Why is it that none of you can understand what I am doing here? Can't you see that I am working to make life better for all mutantkind? Why do you continue to harass me at every turn?!"

"Yes, yes, poor misunderstood Magneto," Kurt said in an acerbic tone. "Perhaps if you turned your creative energies to benefiting all humankind rather than limiting yourself solely to mutants, you would find yourself better understood."

Magneto sneered at him in disgust. "You are just like your father," he snorted.

Kurt glared back. "Since thanks to you I never knew my father, I'll just have to take your word for it."

"Um, like, fascinating as all this is," Kitty piped up, causing the two quarreling men to turn their glares to her, "I was just wondering if, like, I was like the only one who is seeing, like, what I think I'm seeing."

Confused, everyone turned to look where Kitty was pointing.

A ghostly, glowing figure was standing by the doorway, bathed in a soft, blue light. As it moved closer to the group, its form became clearer and clearer until finally Rogue gasped in recognition.

"It's Kurt!" she exclaimed. "'Our' Kurt!"

"What is this?" Magneto demanded. "What is going on?"

The ghostly teenager seemed exhausted, but exuberant. "Mein Gott, I made it!" he grinned, looking up at the stricken face of his older self. "Wait a minute, where are we? Is that Magneto? What's going on here?"

"I believe I asked that question first," Magneto snapped.

"Dude," Evan gasped in wonder. "Are you a ghost?"

"Was?" Kurt exclaimed, alarmed by the suggestion. "Nein! I'm an astral projection. I've come to tell you I'm stuck in the future where he's supposed to be." He gestured at the older Kurt, tilting his head slightly as he shot him an appraising look. "I must admit," he grinned, "you look pretty good for your age."

"Danke," Nightcrawler said. "I think."

Kitty snickered. Magneto raised an eyebrow.

"Guys," said Kurt, suddenly serious. "I don't have much time so tell me everything that's been going on, quickly! There's a dude from the future here, Kylun, and he's going to try to help us get switched back."

The older Kurt nodded, firmly suppressing the thousands of questions he longed to ask--mostly concerning his family.

"We're here because it's our theory that the electro-magnetic disturbances caused by Magneto's latest invention, a magnetic version of Cerebro, threw us off course in mid-teleport, ultimately causing us to be switched in time," he explained quickly. Magneto scowled, muttering something about 'nonsense' under his breath. Nightcrawler shot him a dark look, then went on. "This machine is so powerful that once it is activated, it will temporarily change the Earth's electro-magnetic signature, as well as causing a great deal more damage. Is that enough, or do you need more details?" he asked.

"Just a second," Kurt said. "I'll ask."

There was a pause while the astral Kurt repeated what he'd heard to the X- Men eagerly awaiting his report in the future. Nightcrawler kept his sword at the ready, his golden eyes tracking every movement Magneto made as they waited to hear Kurt's answer.

*Quoted from X-Men: Evolution, 'Shadowed Past'. Season One, Episode 10.

*******

"I remember that disturbance," Alistaire said. "It knocked out my grandmother's television while I was trying to tape favorite show. Did he say it actually caused the earth's electromagnetic signature to change?"

Rachel nodded, linked so deeply to Kurt's mind that she was physically carrying out the actions of his astral self. Kurt's body lay limp and lifeless on the table, the slow rise and fall of his chest the only evidence that he was still alive.

"That could be it..." Alistaire jumped to his feet, nearly shaking in his excitement. "Kylun," he asked quickly, "do you know when the N'Zann first learned about Earth?"

"When they first arrived they said an enormous energy spike had alerted them that there was intelligent life on Earth," the large mutant rumbled. "They'd been picking up smaller spikes for a while before that, but they'd just put them down to solar flares. This one was too big to have been caused by anything but a technologically advanced society." He shook his head, his expression bitter with disgust.

"While they were still trying to manipulate us through trade, they kept bragging that it had taken longer for that signal to reach them than it had for them to travel to Earth. They even had an ad, complete with a jingle. Something about a ratio."

"What ratio?" Alistaire pressed.

Kylun stared at him. "You expect me to remember that after thirty years?"

"I remember precisely the date my grandmother's television went out," Alistaire said. "If we could figure out how long it took for the signature change to reach the N'Zann and add that to how long it took for them to travel to Earth, we could find out if my theory is correct."

"And what theory might that be?" Logan asked, striding into the room and closing the door behind him. "Sorry I'm late, but it took me this long to get everything squared away with those darn reporters." He smirked, rubbing his knuckles. "You won't believe the amount of...persuasion...it takes for some of them to get their stories straight."

Scott shook his head. "Logan, you know it's never a good idea to threaten reporters--"

Logan interrupted him with a fierce glare. "When they try to smear the Elf's good name, kid," he growled, "I'll 'threaten' them with everything I've got."

There was nothing anyone could say to that.

"So, tell me this theory, Professor," he said, turning to Alistaire. "I've been tryin' to listen in on my comlink, but since I had to keep it quiet enough for the reporters not to hear, I think I might have missed some things."

Alistaire nodded, speaking quickly. "I think it was the activation of Magneto's magnetic Cerebro that attracted the N'Zann, as well as being the cause of the two Kurts being switched in time."

Kylun's cat-like eyes widened. "Could it truly be so simple?" he gasped. "But you must be correct. Even the horrendous battles of WWIII would not have created enough of a disturbance to alert the N'Zann to our presence. It had to have been this Magneto's machine!"

"Wait a minute," said Evan. "You're saying all of this is Magneto's fault? Kurt, the destruction of the Earth, everything?!"

Bobby shook his head. "This kind of brings a new perspective to that saying, 'the evil that men do lives after them'. I mean, the guy's been dead for, what, eighteen years now?"

"He's not dead where Kurt is right now," Alice pointed out. "If we tell him to destroy Magneto's machine, what will happen?"

Alistaire looked thoughtful for a moment. "It's hard to tell," he said. "There's no way to predict all the ramifications of such a change, even with the computer at my lab back home, but I think we can be pretty certain that if Magneto is prevented from activating his machine, the N'Zann will never even realize we exist."

"What about Kurt?" Alice asked, her dark eyes hopeful.

Alistaire shook his head sadly. "The magnetic disturbance that caused the switch has already happened, both here and when Kurt is right now. Destroying the machine at his current point in time won't change his situation." He took her hand, his eyes full of apology. "I'm, sorry Alice."

Alice bit her lip and nodded. "Well, we'll just have to figure out something else, then," she said, trying to keep her voice light. "We've come this far, after all. We'll find a way to bring him home."

"Of course we will," Marti said confidently. "We're the X-Men."

Alice pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "You've got that right, sweetie," she said, kissing the top of her curly, red hair.

"So we're all certain about this?" Scott asked. "Destroying Magneto's machine will work?"

Alistaire nodded. "I give it an 83.94 percent chance of success," he said.

Scott almost smiled. "That's better than I'd have thought. OK, tell Kurt. Let's put this theory into practice."