Disclaimer 2: Any OC's in this fic are the property of WesternBlakeHawke and myself. The two AU's in this universe are the work of myself (AoS 2), Blake (AoS 2), and various admins at http:ageofsinister. (AoS 1). Various aspects of the kids' profiles will be revealled during this fic, which will hopefully keep running...
They were sitting down for dinner when there was a knock at the door. A month on from the wedding, and all was still bliss in the Murdock household. Twelve kids and six adults were happily settled down, and Blake sighed as she went to open the door.
Twenty four kids were in the corridor, and two of them instantly ran and grabbed her, hugging her legs.
"Mommy!" Bret and Ben yelled. Three babies, in the arms of three older kids, reached out to be hugged by a woman who smelled and looked like their mum.
Stunned, Will automatically hugged the two boys. The smell she got from them said they were hers but not hers, and fourteen of the other twenty-two children were the same. She looked at the oldest, as if puzzled. He didn't smell like he was biologically hers, but there was something about him and all the kids that suggested they knew who she was.
Cassidy handed Erin to Ashleigh, and hugged Will tightly, tears running down her face.
"I think you should put dinner on hold," Nate said. "This is gonna take some time."
Ten minutes later, Cade was looking at the kids as if he was going to faint. They were all sat in the family room, most of them on the floor.
"Thirty-six kids," Cade kept muttering. "Thirty-six kids..."
Nate smiled.
"Before we get down to names and stuff, you need to know the deal. We all have powers. In our universe, Sinister used us to take out X-Corps. He kidnapped us all, and activated the X-gene in the younger kids. Then he used Cassidy to kill our versions of you."
He was speaking softly, so he didn't disturb the younger kids, who just thought it had been a game, that Will and Matt had never been dead. Only the Murdock kids thought this, the older kids knew what was really going on.
"It started in our world when you met Mike," Nate continued. As oldest, he was going to do the background stuff. "You were sixteen when you married. You had your first set of kids when you were two months off seventeen, twin girls, Jessica and Jennifer. Next set of kids were triplets, Cassidy, Carrie and Cooper. You were three months off eighteen by then. The final set of kids were another set of triplets, Amy, Amber and Adam. You were twenty-one then, and Mike was seven months dead. Sophia had control of the family. Don't remember what was said about that in this part of the multiverse. You met Matt when you were twenty-two. Whirlwind romance, quick marriage. Eight biological kids by Matt. Sophie, Sam and Sean when you were 24, Bret and Ben when you were 25 and the babies, Ethaniel, Erin and Elijah when you were 27."
He took a deep breath, then continued.
"Which leaves the eight of us. Nathaniel, Christie, Ames, Ryan, Rowanne, Allie, Dean and Ashleigh. The Templetons. We were the only surviving members of the Templeton family, who died in an anti-mutant attack. At the time, Allie was new to her powers, while Dean and Ashleigh were only kids. although we knew they'd be mutants, we all were. Fourth generation mutants, all eight of us. As US citizens, we were shipped back to New York. I think you were still pregnant with the twins, or you'd just had them, or something. Anyway, I kicked up a fuss 'cos they tried to split us up. So Matt took our case. We guess he told you about it, 'cos next thing we know, we're being told our lawyer wants to become our father. Which is basically it, until three years later, when Sinister got his hands on us, and took out X-Corps."
There was a pause. Matt looked amazed that his alternate self had managed to be talked into having eight bio kids, while cade almost fell off his chair. Will looked around seriously, at everyone, and stated firmly:
"They're staying."
This time Cade did fall off his chair.
"Aww man," he muttered. "Thirty six kids..."
Alec grinned.
"Where was I in all this?" he asked Nate.
Nate grinned.
"Chris had a crush on you. You stood to inherit the company when Sophia died, Mike was disinherited when he married Will. But you were dating Leah. Whoever it is fell off his chair, and the guy with his arm around Leah, don't have alternatives in our universe."
Chris opened her mouth, dumbfounded that Nate had said that. She punched him on the shoulder before finally gathering her words.
"You promised you'd never tell!" she told him.
"Hey, he's single now," Nate replied with a grin.
Leah blushed bright red when Nate said she and Alec had been dating, while Alec just stared.
"Leah and me? No way," he said. "That'd be weird. Not that Leah is weird, but she's more like a sister than a, y'know. romantic interest."
The cubs grinned, hugging Will when she said the twenty-four kids were staying. Then they looked at the kids and smiled.
"Leah's husband is Dec," they said in unison. "And Cade fell off his chair. Dec is part wolf, and an empathic healing screamer with optic blasting eyes. His code name is Rebel Wolf, and he's nineteen. Mommy likes that name. Cade can switch faces. He has two. And he can do illusions too. he's twenty-six, and his code name is Janus."
Danni smiled, taking up the introductions.
"I'm Danni, 15, codenamed Jedi. Telekinetic."
Danni's words got a reaction from Nate, Ben and Bret, who all looked at her. She smiled and continued.
"My kid sister is Meg, Shikaku. ESP-er. She's five. All the adopted kids had their X-genes activated, and all the kids here were adopted apart from the quads."
"That's us," Jay, Jake, Josh and Joe said. "Jay, Jake, Josh and Joe. We're Will and Mike's kids in this dimension. Sometimes we're called Manifold, 'cos we can merge. We're eight, most the time."
"And you can morph to wolves," Cooper said.
"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Cade asked
"All us bio kids can," Coop said.
"Anyway," the quads continued, impatiently. "As Manifold we can't morph, but we have banshee genes, so we can scream and fly. And we're sixteen as him."
"Levitate," Adam said, instantly. "You need wings to fly."
"Quiet, Adam!" Amy stated. "You don't know nothin'."
"Quiet down, both of you," Nate said. "Let these other kids continue."
Connor smiled.
"I'm Connor," he said. "Walking nuke. Known as Atomik, with a K not a C. My kid bio sis is Tori, she's a speedster with ADHD, so tough to keep track of. Her nickname is Sprite. I'm twelve, and she's two."
"I'm Rob," Rob stated. "Only child, six years old. Called Chance, 'cos I can manipulate the laws of probability. Then there are the Thomases. Dom is six too, she can turn herself invisible, so she's called Wraith, and Lee is called Duo, 'cos she can create a clone of herself. She's five. Their younger sister is Jas, aged three, she's like a precog or prescient or something, so she's called Fate."
"How about all you kids?" Alec asked Nate, seeing Will and Matt were still kind of shell shocked.
"Well, I'll start with the youngest, work the way up," he said. "That way the kids can chip in as I go along. The Murdock kids are the youngest. Elijah, Erin and Ethaniel are the youngest, then Ben and Bret. They only have what we've come to call the basics: Wolf abilities like thier mom, senses, canine telepathy & empathy but as far as we know, only with you, Will. The older kids can get in to their heads, but no replies.They also have very sensitive skin and can perceive minute changes in the temperature & pressure of the surrounding atmosphere. The older triplets are Sam, Sean and Sophie. They have the basics too, but an extra each. Like Erin, Sam is blind, but he has the ability to manipulate blood pressure by touch. Sophie, on the other hand, can manipulate atmospheric pressure. Nearly suffocated herself finding that out. And Sean's another ESP-er. He's started having real bad nightmares recently."
"That's easy to sort out," Cade said. "Stick a power inhibitor on him before he goes to bed each night."
"Power inhibitor?" Nate asked, confused.
"Later," Dec stated. "Continue with the introductions."
Nate nodded.
"After the Murdocks are the Blake-Debonnaires," he said. "As Cooper mentioned, they can all morph to various wolf ages, and have the canine empathy-telepathy-sense thing going on. The youngest triplets are seven. Adam, the youngest, can create small illusions. Amber can control animals. She stopped Coop from jumping her in wolf form-"
"Thank god for small mercies," Cade interrupted. "Amber is one childminding duty."
"Nuh-uh!" the quads stated. "She's younger'n us!"
"And Amy," Nate asserted, "can levitate, or fly, or whatever you want to call it. Next up in age is Ashleigh, but she a Templeton, so she can wait. The next set of triplets are the eleven year olds. Cooper, the youngest, then Carrie, then Cassidy. As well as the usual morph-canine issues, they each have an ability."
"I have banshee scream," Cassidy said. "Sinister made me scream, then k-killed everyone while they were r-recovering. Only Deak got away."
Cooper gave Cassidy a hug, while Carrie spoke.
"I'm a linguist," she said. "We were all taught French any way, but I can translate languages I've never been taught before, if I'm close enough to a native speaker of that language."
Cooper smiled.
"I got TK," he said. "Gonna use it to win Kiddie League baseball."
"You're a prescient too," Meg said, shyly. "You got the same purple colour Jas has."
Cooper looked shocked, then glanced at Sean. Sean looked at Jas, then at Coop, and nodded.
"She right," he said, much to Meg's delight.
Coop frowned.
"I didn't know that," he said.
"Me and Jen are the oldest," Jess said, as Cooper started to think. "We're more powerful together, but still electrokinetics when we're apart."
"Then there are us," Ashleigh said. "The AU adoptees. The Templetons. I'm Ashleigh, aged ten. I was close to developing my powers anyway, but no, Sinister had to accelerate it. I have healing factor."
"Dean," Dean said. "Aged twelve. Can heal others, so I'm called Apollo."
"I'm Allie, Gi-Potiza, an amphibian. Fourteen years old."
"Ryan and Rowanne," the twins said simultaneously. "Flame and Ice."
"I'm pyrokinetic," Rowanne said.
"And I'm an ice creator," Ryan said.
"I'm Loki," Ames said. "That's my code name, not my real name. My real name is Ames, and I'm seventeen. I'm like Uri Geller, only with minds instead of spoons."
"Chris Templeton. I'm eighteen, and can morph into any feline form. So I'm called tigris. It's latin for Tiger."
"Which leaves me," Nate said. "Nathaniel Templeton. Nineteen year old telekinetic-telepath."
He looked at Danni and grinned.
"Codenamed Yoda."
Will smiled, and hugged each of the new kids, finishing with an extra-long hug for Cassidy. then she turned to look at Matt.
"We're going to need two more floors," she told him.
Tori, meanwhile, looked at Sophie and smiled.
"Me's'a Sprite," she said. "What's'a youse codename?"
"Don't have one," Sophie said. "On'y the Templetons do."
"Mommy!" Tori shouted. "Dey don't got codenames!"
Cade, finally getting over the shock, at least until his chocolate supply was raided, looked at Ben.
"'Ulv," he stated, "wolf in Norwegian...your turn Dec."
"Buraindotacchi" Will stated, looking at Sam, before Dec could speak. "Blind touch in Japanese."
Ash grinned, looking at Cade.
"I'm Tor," she said. "Norwegian for Dare."
"Yeah," Dean said, "she's been crazy since she could use a baby walker."
"And Sam," Chris added, "Sam's just like his dad."
Will sighed.
"Not another two," she muttered. "That does it, I'm ringing those labtechs. They're making kiddie sized body armour!"
Smiling, Matt stood up and stopped Will from ringing the techs.
"I see your point, Will, but ya can't wrap 'em in cotton wool forever."
Although he was wondering what the hell they'd gotten themselves into.
"Anyway, Dec cut in, "since we're on a language theme, how about Lingua Franca for Carrie?"
Carrie nodded.
"Cool," she said.
Alec grinned.
"And Cassidy can be Zekkyou," he said. "Japanese for scream."
"Anyone got any chocolate?" Amy asked. "I'm hungry."
"No," Meg said, shyly. "You're garou. Hungarian for hungry wolf."
"You remember that?" Danni asked. "You weren't more than two when mom taught you that."
"Yeah," Meg said. "But mom taught me it."
Will looked at Coop and grinned.
"Finish a set," she said. "Cooper can have a latin name. Lapsus."
"Gradual movement," Cooper said, "Cool."
"Bret'sa Wolvie," Tori stated.
"Me can't be Wolvie," Bret said. "Me no gots claws, and me's no like bikes. Me's like taking bikes apart."
But he still hugged Tori in thanks for the suggestion, so she knew he would have taken it if he had had claws and liked bikes like that.
"How about another hungarian name?" Danni suggested. "Farkasember. It means werewolf."
Bret looked at Danni, and nodded, before running to hide behind Will.
Jasmine took her thumb from her mouth, and used both hands to point at Jen and Jess.
"Lextrick," she said. "Lex 'n' Trick."
The twins both hugged her.
"Thanks, Jas, that's great," they said.
Jas grinned, and Rob smiled, suddenly remembering something.
"Meg's name is Shikaku," he said. "Which means sense of sight. How about Shokkaku for Erin? She's blind, so she'll use touch more. Sense of touch."
Erin looked at Rob and gurgled happily.
"Ethan can have that name too," Matt spoke up. "Sense of touch. In Japanese, as well. Kanshoku."
Jen and Jess laughed.
"Sounds like that'd be good for us. Can-shock-you," Jen said.
"Talking of senses," Leah said, softly, blushing as thirty-three wolves and a cat turned to look at her, "Sean has six. I think the term for the six senses in Japanese is Rokkan."
"I like that," Sean said. "'S easier to say than the others. T'ank you, Leah."
Leah blushed again, and Dec hugged her.
"I'll finish another set," Cade said. "Sophie can be Kiatsu. Atmospheric pressure."
Sophie grinned.
"T'anks, Cade, that's cool," she said.
"You're welcome," Cade replied, smiling for the first time since setting eyes on the two dozen children.
"Who's left?" the quads asked.
Nate did a head count, then answered the question.
"Eli, Adam and Amber," he told the four cubs.
"Amber could be called Wolfin," the cubs said. "Dutch for she wolf."
"And on the subject of Dutch," Alec continued, "Berührungsempfindlich is Dutch for touch sensitive. For Elijah."
"Da's a lon' name," Tori said, pouting. "Me's'a no say that.
"Got an easier one for Adam," Conn said, ruffling his little sister's hair. "Lupus. Latin for wolf."
"I'm still hungry!" Amy moaned. "I wan' food!"
"I'll call the canteen," Will said. "And we can talk further while we eat."
