Agent-G (and anyone who wondered): I was on painkillers because this
overactive jaw-surgeon decided that I needed my left wisdomteeth removed.
And I thought it was just a check-up. So, that was an (unpleasant)
surprise. And the painkillers were this powdery thingies that you had to
throw in water and it smelled like fresh orange juice, but tasted like
lemon and something very awful. They really made me go all funny (I forgot
to lift my left foot when walking, for instance).
Fighting Destiny – Difference
"So, what are we going to do?" Michael asked as he watched Marianne sit on the bed.
"I don't know about you, but I need to get my shielding back to normal and then I'm going to see if I can hack into the FOH,"Marianne opened one eye and looked pointedly at him, telling him to make himself usefull. She had already got Emily to retreat into a corner of her mind and was preparing to begin her meditation.
Michael shrugged and quietly left their room, going out to see how the Institute looked now. It was strange, he thought: they had practically traveled back in time. This was definately one of the strangest things that had happened to him, without a doubt.
He didn't know how long he had been wandering around, but was getting ready to return to his and Marianne's room.
"Hey! Who, like, are you? And what are you, like, doing here?!" Kitty's voice rang out through the hall.
"Good day to you too, Kitty," he absently replied while trying to remember where he had been three years ago.
"Like, how do you know my name?" Kitty looked at him, while trying to keep up with him.
"Long story, we already told Xavier and Logan," Michael remembered that they didn't know him here, then, yet, whatever it was. This whole thing gave him a headache now he was trying to figure it out.
"Halfpint," Logan came walking up to them, "leave 'm alone."
"But Logan..." Kitty started to whine. A direct look from Logan told her to get lost.
"What do you need, Logan?" Michael said, leaning against the wall, a half smirk on his face.
"What do ya mean, bub?"
"I've known you for a couple of years, in my dimension, and the only time you seek out strangers, is when you want something. You helped us build the safehouse in Arizona, I know you," Michael grinned wryly, while wondering how everyone was doing back in his own dimension.
"I see, will the future get that bad that we need safehouses?" Logan asked, facing him.
"It is already that bad, the Underground is already starting to form, in my dimension at least. Isn't this a kind of a safehouse? But yes, things do get worse. Humans are getting more inventive on inducing pain, conducting experiments. We get 'm out and Marianne tries to patch 'm up, mentally and physically," he crossed his arms and the grin dropped, displaying the face of a grim, hardened man, disillusioned by what he had seen and it slightly gave Logan the creeps.
"She's a good kid," Logan therefor changed the subject, immediately seeing Michael's expression soften again.
"Yeah, yeah, she is. Tough as nails and a real pitbull, doesn't let go of anything she wants. She's put up with me for four years," he grinned, "but it hasn't been easy for her either," it being life at the safehouse, "she hasn't lost a patient to death yet, but she has lost them to their own delussions."
"Damn," Logan cursed.
"Yeah, that's the general idea. I swear, sometimes I think she is about to go out and do some serious damage to those who harmed mutants. She can get really pissed off, and you don't wanna be in her way when that happens. Luckily, that only happens very rarely," Michael grinned.
"Sorry, bub, but she doesn't seem like the type who can do some 'serious damage'," Logan didn't really believe him.
"If she get mad, man, I think that even if Apocalyps himself would get her mad, she would rip his sanity, whatever what was left of it anyway, to shreds," Michael objected.
"Apocalyps? Iz he a bad guy?" Kurt popped out, image inducer on.
"You've gotta be kiddin'me... Great, you're not," Michael looked from the German boy to Logan, realising that these X-Men really hadn't fought, or even knew of, Apocalyps, "I think I found the difference."
"Difference? Like, what difference?" Kitty phased out of the wall.
"You know," Michael said, slightly startled, "I should be used to this, but your phasing through like that still gives me the creeps. I'll go and get Marianne, I think we'd like to explain this just once. Could you get everyone in the Rec-room?" and he was gone.
"Like, Logan, what's the deal with him?" Kitty asked.
"Long story, halfpint, they ain't exactly from around here and they are. Trust me, it's complicated," Logan began to develop a headache while trying to sort the whole interdimensional-thing out himself.
~*With Marianne*~
"Michael! You better have a VERY good explanation for this! I was taking a shower!" Marianne cried out, sounding reasonably angry as she glared at her boyfriend.
"I found out the difference, here, Apocalyps was never awokened!" Michael stated.
"Yes, well, that is a big difference. We're going to tell them, aren't we?" she gathered some clean clothes.
"He could very well be behind all of this," he voiced his concerns.
"I doubt that, he's not really the 'tear other dimensions apart' kinda guy. I'd think he'd go and try to destroy humanity here first," Marianne reasoned with him.
"We don't know that for sure, it could very well be him, anyway, they need to be prepared if it is," Michael argued.
Marianne just sighed at that, an exasperated expression on her face.
"Fine, fine. But you tell. And only if you please take a bath afterwards. I am not sharing a bed with you when you are smelling like that," she wrinkled her nose, indicating he smelled very, very bad.
"I'm not..." then he noticed he did smell bad, "okay, I smell bad."
After Marianne had pulled her hair in a ponytail, she and Michael both went to the Rec-room, where they were welcomed by everyone of the X-Men, the adults had all been informed by Xavier, but he had thought it would be best for the rest to be told by Marianne and Michael themselves.
"You're telling," Marianne whispered, not really feeling like telling the story, again. It was just too weird: she had known these people for years, well, except when she had amnesia, and here they were, looking like when she had first met them and they didn't know her. Not only that, but she actually died in this dimension. She had done some checking on the computer in the library, and had found out that the Marianne in this dimension had been killed together with her mother in the car crash that, in her dimension, had only killed her mother. And Michael had been killed in a robbery three years ago.
So she just sat down and let Michael do the talking, while smiling softly at how he left out the part where she had killed and just told them, when they asked why she had left, that that was a case of personal matters.
She could also see that no one was believing them, they either thought the two were nuts or that they were lying.
"I can assure you all that they are speaking the truth. Miss Jong has allowed me to scan her mind and it is the truth," Xavier spoke up after a short silence.
"How..." Jean trailed of, and Marianne realised the redhead had tried to read her to see if they were telling the truth.
"Yes, my mental shielding is quite strong, the professor Xavier from our dimension taught me this to help me to not be swallowed up by my illusions. If that would happen, I would become a vegetable, sorta speak. I only learned to perfect it with one of my patients, a pretty strong telepath," Marianne explained, "the shielding was still weak when I spoke with the professor, so he could easily read me. I just spend an hour in meditation rebuilding them, so they are at their strongest right now."
Fighting Destiny – Difference
"So, what are we going to do?" Michael asked as he watched Marianne sit on the bed.
"I don't know about you, but I need to get my shielding back to normal and then I'm going to see if I can hack into the FOH,"Marianne opened one eye and looked pointedly at him, telling him to make himself usefull. She had already got Emily to retreat into a corner of her mind and was preparing to begin her meditation.
Michael shrugged and quietly left their room, going out to see how the Institute looked now. It was strange, he thought: they had practically traveled back in time. This was definately one of the strangest things that had happened to him, without a doubt.
He didn't know how long he had been wandering around, but was getting ready to return to his and Marianne's room.
"Hey! Who, like, are you? And what are you, like, doing here?!" Kitty's voice rang out through the hall.
"Good day to you too, Kitty," he absently replied while trying to remember where he had been three years ago.
"Like, how do you know my name?" Kitty looked at him, while trying to keep up with him.
"Long story, we already told Xavier and Logan," Michael remembered that they didn't know him here, then, yet, whatever it was. This whole thing gave him a headache now he was trying to figure it out.
"Halfpint," Logan came walking up to them, "leave 'm alone."
"But Logan..." Kitty started to whine. A direct look from Logan told her to get lost.
"What do you need, Logan?" Michael said, leaning against the wall, a half smirk on his face.
"What do ya mean, bub?"
"I've known you for a couple of years, in my dimension, and the only time you seek out strangers, is when you want something. You helped us build the safehouse in Arizona, I know you," Michael grinned wryly, while wondering how everyone was doing back in his own dimension.
"I see, will the future get that bad that we need safehouses?" Logan asked, facing him.
"It is already that bad, the Underground is already starting to form, in my dimension at least. Isn't this a kind of a safehouse? But yes, things do get worse. Humans are getting more inventive on inducing pain, conducting experiments. We get 'm out and Marianne tries to patch 'm up, mentally and physically," he crossed his arms and the grin dropped, displaying the face of a grim, hardened man, disillusioned by what he had seen and it slightly gave Logan the creeps.
"She's a good kid," Logan therefor changed the subject, immediately seeing Michael's expression soften again.
"Yeah, yeah, she is. Tough as nails and a real pitbull, doesn't let go of anything she wants. She's put up with me for four years," he grinned, "but it hasn't been easy for her either," it being life at the safehouse, "she hasn't lost a patient to death yet, but she has lost them to their own delussions."
"Damn," Logan cursed.
"Yeah, that's the general idea. I swear, sometimes I think she is about to go out and do some serious damage to those who harmed mutants. She can get really pissed off, and you don't wanna be in her way when that happens. Luckily, that only happens very rarely," Michael grinned.
"Sorry, bub, but she doesn't seem like the type who can do some 'serious damage'," Logan didn't really believe him.
"If she get mad, man, I think that even if Apocalyps himself would get her mad, she would rip his sanity, whatever what was left of it anyway, to shreds," Michael objected.
"Apocalyps? Iz he a bad guy?" Kurt popped out, image inducer on.
"You've gotta be kiddin'me... Great, you're not," Michael looked from the German boy to Logan, realising that these X-Men really hadn't fought, or even knew of, Apocalyps, "I think I found the difference."
"Difference? Like, what difference?" Kitty phased out of the wall.
"You know," Michael said, slightly startled, "I should be used to this, but your phasing through like that still gives me the creeps. I'll go and get Marianne, I think we'd like to explain this just once. Could you get everyone in the Rec-room?" and he was gone.
"Like, Logan, what's the deal with him?" Kitty asked.
"Long story, halfpint, they ain't exactly from around here and they are. Trust me, it's complicated," Logan began to develop a headache while trying to sort the whole interdimensional-thing out himself.
~*With Marianne*~
"Michael! You better have a VERY good explanation for this! I was taking a shower!" Marianne cried out, sounding reasonably angry as she glared at her boyfriend.
"I found out the difference, here, Apocalyps was never awokened!" Michael stated.
"Yes, well, that is a big difference. We're going to tell them, aren't we?" she gathered some clean clothes.
"He could very well be behind all of this," he voiced his concerns.
"I doubt that, he's not really the 'tear other dimensions apart' kinda guy. I'd think he'd go and try to destroy humanity here first," Marianne reasoned with him.
"We don't know that for sure, it could very well be him, anyway, they need to be prepared if it is," Michael argued.
Marianne just sighed at that, an exasperated expression on her face.
"Fine, fine. But you tell. And only if you please take a bath afterwards. I am not sharing a bed with you when you are smelling like that," she wrinkled her nose, indicating he smelled very, very bad.
"I'm not..." then he noticed he did smell bad, "okay, I smell bad."
After Marianne had pulled her hair in a ponytail, she and Michael both went to the Rec-room, where they were welcomed by everyone of the X-Men, the adults had all been informed by Xavier, but he had thought it would be best for the rest to be told by Marianne and Michael themselves.
"You're telling," Marianne whispered, not really feeling like telling the story, again. It was just too weird: she had known these people for years, well, except when she had amnesia, and here they were, looking like when she had first met them and they didn't know her. Not only that, but she actually died in this dimension. She had done some checking on the computer in the library, and had found out that the Marianne in this dimension had been killed together with her mother in the car crash that, in her dimension, had only killed her mother. And Michael had been killed in a robbery three years ago.
So she just sat down and let Michael do the talking, while smiling softly at how he left out the part where she had killed and just told them, when they asked why she had left, that that was a case of personal matters.
She could also see that no one was believing them, they either thought the two were nuts or that they were lying.
"I can assure you all that they are speaking the truth. Miss Jong has allowed me to scan her mind and it is the truth," Xavier spoke up after a short silence.
"How..." Jean trailed of, and Marianne realised the redhead had tried to read her to see if they were telling the truth.
"Yes, my mental shielding is quite strong, the professor Xavier from our dimension taught me this to help me to not be swallowed up by my illusions. If that would happen, I would become a vegetable, sorta speak. I only learned to perfect it with one of my patients, a pretty strong telepath," Marianne explained, "the shielding was still weak when I spoke with the professor, so he could easily read me. I just spend an hour in meditation rebuilding them, so they are at their strongest right now."