Special thanks to Practically An Avenger, and thanks for the marathon reviews from X-MenoverAvengers. Hope you enjoy this one. here. Have a note first.

Note: This chapter begins a crossover event which includes characters and events from our 714 Marvel Universe, particularly Volume 42, "Horsemen." If you don't want to be spoiled for what's happening in that universe, we suggest you skip over there and catch up before coming back here. If you don't mind spoilers, well, don't say we didn't warn you. You can still read this on its own; we will provide context. But the full experience encompasses both stories.

Chapter 55: The Harbinger Approaches

Meanwhile, in the 714 Marvel Universe

It was shortly after Apocalypse had gone from this particular universe, and Billy was still getting used to what was and was not in his reality - and definitely didn't have a handle on not interfering.

Apocalypse had been sure to show Billy the worst outcomes, the kinds of places and times that were sure to leave emotional scars. And one of them was this universe where Graydon Creed had killed so many X-Men and left lasting damage on others.

And, well, Billy might not have known where he was all the time, but he did know that universe wasn't the same as the one where he belonged. But he also knew that he could play a little interference, the way he had with Lily's universe when he had saved her from Sabretooth. He didn't think he could stay out of interfering anymore, not after what Apocalypse had done, but at least if he kept his interference to universes that he couldn't screw up, if he looked ahead and made sure it would be the right thing…

Then again, he still wasn't one hundred percent on reality even within a set universe. So, he'd promised Teddy he wouldn't go galavanting without backup. Which meant...

"Hey, Logan, I need to borrow you."

"What for?" Logan asked without looking up from his newspaper.

"I…" Billy shook his head. "I need to stop things from spiralling out of control for our friends. And yeah, this time I know it's not our universe. And I know I'm still figuring out how to help. But… but it's bad there."

Logan dropped the newspaper just enough that he could look up at Billy properly. "Is this one I can go like this or do I need my party dress?"

"Well, you're dead there, so you really shouldn't go into the fight. Especially since it's against Magneto? So… you're fine."

"If I'm not supposed to go into the fight, the hell do you want me for?"

"To make sure everyone comes back from the fight," Billy said, his eyes wide. "Because right now, it's a suicide mission."

Logan took one last sip from his coffee and set the mug down. "Let's get on with it," he said as he got to his feet. "You're sure you don't want me goin' to fight?"

"Very sure," Billy said as he started to float a bit in preparation for the jump.

Logan made his way over to him and looked up at Billy with a little frown. "What if I wanna? You gonna stop me?"

Billy gave him a dry look. "You're dead in that universe, Logan. And it took a long time to get past that."

"So I got the element of surprise. Sweet."

"Logan, it's Scott that's going in," Billy said, more seriously this time. "And with no guarantee of coming out again. So I really need your help stopping him, not Magneto. My grandfather's going to die in that universe no matter what we do; he's writing his own end. This is about Scott."

Logan let out a breath at that. "You really suck at lettin' people know what's up, you know that, right?"

"I'm still a work in progress, sanity-wise," Billy pointed out.

"Yeah, you're a work alright," Logan muttered.

"This Scott was there when you, K, Jubilee, Charles, Jean, and Kurt all died within a few weeks of each other. So… you can imagine how he's doing."

Logan let out a low whistle at that. "How the hell'd that happen?"

"Creed and his son. Nasty combo." Billy made a face. "They weren't even trying to work together."

"Musta been rotten there," Logan said. "Here, they couldn't ever figure out which way is up on their own - and together … well. Couple of raged-out crazies that couldn't get past their own egos."

"Yeah, well… it's been a while, and now that Scott's more or less raised James to a point he and the other kids are at school and their own peop- you know what, it might be easier to just take you there? Because there's a lot going on."

"Waitin' on you, princess."

Billy smirked at that. "That's right I am," he said before he simply snapped his fingers, and they both reappeared in a house in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was in a popular area, but it still felt quiet, and inside, Scott was the only one there at the moment. The other three major scents - Rachel, Nate, and James - were old.

Scott was testing and re-testing a nonmetallic weapon that Tony had designed so that he could smuggle it into Magneto's palace without raising any alarms while he poured over some intel, clearly lost in thought. Logan watched for a long moment as Scott worked, then glanced over at Billy before he silently made his way over to get a better look at Scott's layout of maps and plans spread out on the table. He stood a few paces behind him and simply looked it over, figuring out what it was that Scott had in mind. It looked like Scott was going for isolation and surprise in Magneto's own palace, and when Logan realized exactly what it looked like he was up to, he just couldn't stop himself. "Now that is a shit plan, Scooter," Logan rumbled out. "Probably the dumbest damn thing you've ever cobbed together."

For just a second, Scott froze, and then, he looked over his shoulder at Logan with an expression of open disbelief. "What the hell…" He was already scanning Logan with cybernetic eyes, but the scans showed adamantium, which wouldn't have shown up for a shapeshifter. But that wasn't actually possible...

"You're the one that's stoppin' at Plan 743 instead of whatever the hell you'd come up with to keep goin."

Scott blinked once and then got to his feet fast, with a long blade in his hand extended in Logan's direction. "Get the hell out of my house."

Logan looked shocked for a split second as he took in the treble scars across Scott's face, but he recovered quickly. With a chuff, he turned his back, headed to the refrigerator, and took a beer out of the back, then cracked it open and leaned against the fridge. "Make me." He couldn't quite come up with anything wittier when he was trying to figure out what the hell had happened.

"What is this, some telepathic trick?" Scott said, his eyes narrowed. That was the only explanation he could come up with when all of his scans showed that this was Logan.

"Yeah, cause that's my strong point," Logan said, shaking his head. He tried to refrain, but he ended up gesturing to Scott's face all the same. "The hell happened? Can't think of anything you coulda done to get me that ticked off. Not narrow enough for anyone else I know."

"Long story," Scott said, waving in irritation.

Logan narrowed his eyes and gestured to Scott's maps. "We got time. Especially if this is the best you can do." Logan paused, then offered Scott the beer in his hand. "You prolly need this more than I do right now."

Scott sighed as he took it. "I'm not sure what to tell you, since I'm not sure where you came from."

"Other-dimensional visitors," Billy put in, waving a hand. "Hi."

Scott finally seemed to take Billy in, and that started a whole new round of suspicion. "Billy?"

Billy grinned. "Not yours, but close. Hi, by the way. Again."

"Hello," Scott said shortly, still openly scanning Billy. "And what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I hop dimensions," Billy said, shrugging. "Yours can't do that. I mean, he can, but not… not the way I do it." He rubbed a hand through his hair; he used to be more suave and assured in his powers before Apocalypse messed with him. "I'm sort of like an interdimensional ambulance driver, I guess. Trying to fix what I can in universes where interfering won't make things even worse than they already are."

"He only comes out to play when someone's gonna do something irretrievably stupid," Logan said before he pointed to the table and Scott's plans. "Looks like you hit the jackpot."

Scott watched both of them and then decided against arguing his plan. He didn't want to get into it with Logan when he hadn't seen him in so long. Instead, he answered Logan's question. "I won't go into the details," he said, gesturing to himself. "But just know it was a choice between hurting me or losing one of the kids. We both agreed this was better."

"Those were the only choices?" Logan asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," Scott said in a breath. "It was a bad situation. We were removed from the guy who had James, so…"

"Cowardly little-"

"Yeah," Scott agreed. He paused, the words at the back of his throat pushing forward. "You should know I never blamed you." He'd been wanting to tell Logan that for years, had been carrying that around the whole time. Saying it out loud … it made his path forward that much clearer.

"Wasn't me, Slim," Logan said.

That didn't really matter to Scott. He'd never be able to tell the Logan that had been in his world anything close to that. He never got the chance. This was the closest thing he had. For a long moment, it looked like Scott couldn't decide what expression he wanted to have before he crossed to Logan in a few long steps and simply hugged him. Tightly.

Logan couldn't really do anything but blink a few times before he made a point to return the gesture. "Hey, come on, Scotty."

"Shut up and take the hug, Logan. You've been dead a long time."

"Must have been," he said, though he didn't let go of Scott until Scott was ready, thinking back to when he'd found Scott tucked away in a gingerbread-like cottage in Alaska. But this was a much more intense reaction, and Logan wasn't going to wreck it. Not when it was clear Scott needed this so badly.

When Scott did finally take a step back, he shook his head and gestured for Logan to take a seat with him. "I don't know what you know, but Magneto is out of control. Kitty and I have been working up a plan so I can slip into his inner circle. Bobby's causing trouble so he doesn't get suspicious. But he's jailing anyone who disagrees with him and threatening to kill them outright if they're not mutants. And that's just the problems he's causing for the general population, let alone my family." He paused. "Our family."

"So … situation normal," Logan muttered under his breath as he looked Scott's plans over a little closer.

"He offered me a place at his side after it happened. And we never re-formed the X-Men, so he'd believe it from me if I showed an interest in joining him there on that island. As far as he knows, I'm just a tired, de-powered has-been."

"So … you're gonna go in there and get yourself killed," Logan said, shaking his head. "Don't like it."

"Give me some credit," Scott said, rolling his eyes. "This is the best shot we have. I'm not trying to get killed, but no matter how this works out, he'll be dead too." He shook his head. "We can't wait much longer. He's already talking about getting rid of all the humans, and one of these days, he's going to hit the kids too. He's made threats on James when no one is around to hear it. He's just waiting for the excuse to kill him - or worse, he's promised to wait until a weapons group finds him and then use their metal to control James." Scott paused to let that sink in, not at all surprised to see Logan's eyes narrow and hands flex just slightly, like they always did when he was angry. "And it's not just our family. The kids have a human friend on their team, and Erik does not like it. Especially because Nate's dating her, and she's part of Billy and Tommy's circle of friends."

For a long time, Logan simply digested the threats Scott had laid out. He could understand it; he could. Anyone breathing down their kids' necks like that, anyone making those kinds of threats on James, couldn't be allowed the air to keep up those threats. But the method… "I didn't think there was a universe where you'd try to copy one of my mistakes," Logan said. "But here we are."

"It's not a mistake. It's the best shot we have," Scott insisted.

"Except you're missin' the part where you make sure to walk out the other end breathin'."

"It's fine, Logan."

"No it's not." Logan tapped on the paper. "Walk me through it. Maybe I can help."

"You can't come," Scott said, sharper this time, and almost automatically.

"I wasn't plannin' on it, but now I wanna," Logan said, turning his way.

"No," Scott said heatedly. "I'm not going to let you die again. And you will."

"Then come up with a better plan or I'm goin' with you."

"God, I forgot how much I hate when you do that," Scott said, pinching the bridge of his nose and leaving his hand there, kneading his forehead along the line of his scars.

"Then it won't be a problem if we go together. I'll keep remindin' you," Logan was smirking crookedly at him, especially since Billy was looking like he wasn't sure what exactly Logan was up to - and was wondering if he'd made a mistake bringing in Logan. He'd send him back if he had to keep an adamantium skeleton away from Erik, but…

Scott shook his head and tried a different tactic with Logan. "Do you have a K in your universe?"

"I do," Logan said, nodding.

"What about James?"

"Among others, yeah."

Scott visibly paused when he heard "others" but then shook his head to himself. "You need to go back to them."

"Sure," Logan said. "When I know you're gonna come out of this scrap alive."

"Hey, I kept my word. I raised three kids who want to be heroes, and I-"

"How old are they?" Logan asked.

"High school, mostly. Rachel's out of school. James is going into graduate work, but he'd be in high school otherwise."

"Then you can't take a chance like that," Logan said. "You gotta stick around to walk Rachel down the aisle and get that stupid look on your face when you hold a baby."

Scott gave him a dry look at that. "That's not the point."

Logan turned toward Billy and gestured toward Scott. "Billy, you wanna go get K for me? She's better with words and dealin' with this one."

"You're doing fine," Billy said, then paused, the stars in his eyes swirling brighter. "I… think. It's hard to tell when I don't speak… whatever language you two speak when you do this."

"English," both of them said at once.

"Case in point," Billy said, gesturing between them.

Both Scott and Logan looked like they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Billy, but Logan was faster to get back on track. After all, he had the advantage of coming into the situation knowing Billy was concerned for Scott, and he wasn't distracted seeing anyone coming back from the dead. "Come on, Scotty," Logan said in a low rumble. "What's it gonna hurt to walk me through it?"

Scott let out a long breath and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Fine," he said. "Only because it's you."

Logan frowned a little at that, unused to Scott giving him that kind of deference, but joined Scott as he went over the plans, which were pretty sparse - even considering his usual ideas. "Whatcha got for defensive weapons?"

"Not much Magneto won't know about."

Logan gestured to the knife on the table. "Workin' with ceramics … that's a start. What about your electronics?"

"Kitty's handling that. She's our eyes inside."

Logan paused visibly, then shook his head at that. "No. I mean what you're bringin' in with you."

"Outside of these?" Scott gestured to his eyes. "I'm not."

"Why not?" Logan said.

"Because Tony Stark upgraded these. I can scan for threats; I'll know if any of his bodyguards are around, and I'll be able to disable his security, even the stuff he doesn't know I can spot. Don't need much else."

"Exactly. He doesn't know that," Logan argued. "You need to take it from his point of view. If you're comin' in like you're seeking sanctuary, you'd have something on you. Gonna stink of a set up if you don't. Walk in there with nothin' metal and he'll know before you get close enough to say hello."

"I didn't say I was going in with nothing metal," Scott said. "I've got Jean's locket, and I'm bringing a few other things in my bag."

"Very sentimental - and very stupid," Logan said. "But if you're hard up, I can give you a little metal to bring along."

"You're not coming," Scott said again.

"Sure I'm not," Logan said, obviously blowing him off. "You need a weapon with you. Not a locket."

"I'm bringing that knife-"

"No. You need a weapon he can find on you first," Logan said. "You're a defenseless, depowered ex-wrecking ball. You're not used to walkin' around without somethin' to cover your back. Tell me I'm wrong. It'll be a lie, but go ahead. Not like I'll know you're lyin'."

Scott let out a frustrated sigh, but he had to admit that Logan was right. The truth of the matter was that he was having a hard time planning for this, because he'd started with the plan to take Magneto on and take him down with him, get out of his kids' way and pave the way for them at the same time. But once he'd promised to stick around for James, he was having a hard time now not only with reconciling this mission with everything he'd believed as an X-Man but with honestly thinking straight when he was still furious over Magneto's threats against James. He was out of practice from the training he used to have that would let him lose his temper and still win in a fight, and so he had to plan this attack down to the letter. Which he couldn't do when even Billy's intel on Magneto was incomplete; the man didn't trust anyone. It was a bad situation all around, and yet he was still going in, because he didn't feel right handing it off to anyone else, either.

"I've got a gun I keep for emergencies - the kids know how to shoot too," Scott said at last.

"Course they do," Logan said. "Because you'd make sure they were prepared."

"For anything," Scott said. "But I don't want them to have to deal with Magneto."

"Who would?" Logan tapped his thumb on the table a few times, grimly and silently disagreeing with the vagueness of the plan so far. "So no extraction plan if it goes south on you … how's that gonna work out? Worst case scenario."

"I've got an extraction plan," Scott said, then hesitated. "As long as he gets there in time. Not sure how far out he is."

"Who?"

"Corsair."

"Now I know you got a death wish." Logan had shifted to cross his arms over his chest. "Come on, Scott. If you don't walk out of this lookin' like an action hero with explosions goin' on behind you as you strut out, those kids'll be there in a heartbeat."

"I'm not moving until I know I can make it a fatal blow," Scott said.

"Strategy like that, you might as well wait til' he dies of natural causes."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Give me some credit here. I'm not an idiot, even if I haven't been an X-Man for a long time."

"Scott, you've always been an X-Man from the day you put the badge on, even when you say you're not. It's part of you."

"I don't do that anymore," Scott said flatly, leaning forward, resting his chin on one hand, the end of his finger tapping the end of the longest of his three scars without realizing it.

Logan shook his head, though he didn't miss the motion and his gaze flitted to the end of the scars. "I didn't say you had to do it. I said it's part of you. It's not somethin' you just shrug off. Unless you gave up on Charlie's dream."

"Never."

"Then you're still an X-Man."

Scott shrugged, not wanting to argue it when there were other matters at hand. "Kitty's going to let Alex know the score as soon as I'm in place," he said to redirect the conversation, "but he's too close to Magneto where he is to know anything until the last second."

"Nice way of sayin' your brother's got a big mouth," Logan said half under his breath as he pulled the map closer.

Scott smirked. "He's my first choice to get me out of there," he said. "I know it'll be rough - Magneto hits hard-"

"So you're gonna break form and kill him," Logan said, frowning deeper somehow.

"There's not really another option here."

"You're not a killer," Logan said.

"I'm also not built to let a megalomaniac take control of my son." Scott paused. "Your son."

Logan blinked and looked down at the maps and photos again. "Where you plannin' to stab him?" he asked, blatantly not addressing what Scott had said when it was clear he was off his game.

"Honestly, the major problem is that his damn costume is designed to keep him safe," Scott said, glad for the excuse not to bring up what he saw as a verbal gaffe, even if, to Logan, it was just confirmation that he'd picked the right guy for godfather if that was how defensive he was gonna get in a situation like this.

"Can you show me?" Logan asked. There was no doubt in his mind that Scott needed to be walked through this in all the ways he never liked to practice things. Particularly where murder was concerned. Scott just didn't think of the best ways to kill. But Logan had no trouble with that kind of planning. He did not, however, like the settling sense of dread as he tried to give Scott a crash course in murder.

Scott nodded and flipped over one of the papers on the table to find one of the newspapers with Magneto in the headlines. There were plenty of them lately - from every angle, so it made remembering how exactly the costume was designed easy enough. "He's more paranoid than ever," he said. "And he's lashing out while insulating himself with every step."

Logan nodded again and took a moment to study the pictures, fighting every impulse he had to just go deal with Magneto himself, because Scott was not a killer - and Logan didn't want him to be. "Cover your ears, princess," Logan said toward Billy as he picked up a pen to start walking Scott through where he thought there were weaknesses, highlighting the anatomy of where the major vessels were, even if they weren't easy to spot. "Most of it'd work around the neck, but you're wasting your time if you don't hit the right spots there, too. Base of the skull would be quickest - those damn helmets never did go down enough to block his neck right. You can always go for the carotid - that's fast an' relatively painless, or just slash across the whole front. But your best shot is up through the soft part under his chin ... " Logan tipped his chin up and made sure to demonstrate the best angle with his hand and arm flat. "Good for the quick motion, put some power behind it." He turned the knife over in his hands a few times, testing out a couple of different grips, then set it down before he looked Scott in the eyes. "You need to practice the motion if you're gonna get it right."

Scott tipped his head back to look at Billy. "You brought him here because I'm rusty, didn't you?"

Billy had his head in the fridge. "No, I brought him here because the me in this universe is dating your son, and I'm not thrilled with the ripple effects of double-tragedy in both families."

"What kind of double tragedies?" Logan asked, half-glaring Billy's way.

Billy didn't move from where he was rooting around for something to eat or drink. "Well, if Scott and Erik kill each other, James can't handle it, and then the me in this dimension has lost his grandfather and his boyfriend, and Rachel and Nate have lost their dad and their brother. Kind of a race to see which of the three of them does more damage in their grief. I'd win, but it's not pretty from any of us, or anyone else for that matter."

"You really suck at disclosin' information, princess," Logan called out.

Billy straightened up with a bottle of root beer and saluted Logan with it. "I'm still working on sanity, okay?"

"Yeah, but findin' out you're a dirty cradle robber might have been a good lead," Logan said.

"We're the same age here," Billy defended.

"Uh-huh."

Scott was looking at Billy a little better. "Alright, now I'm wondering if ours is going to end up with galaxies in his eyes."

"No," Billy said. "It's sort of a … Demiurge-specific… it's a thing."

"It's better that way," Logan said. "Save you all the bad jokes about star-gazing."

"James would do that, too," Scott said, shaking his head.

"He would," Logan agreed with a sigh. "These timelines are somethin' else, Scotty."

"Then I'll refrain from telling you about the one where Rachel's your granddaughter," Billy teased, though Scott did a clear double take, even if Logan didn't look too fazed.

"You just brought my wife a daughter from another universe that's half Creed," Logan said flatly.

Scott narrowed his eyes at that. "Seriously?"

"Hey, she was three and tiny and scared, and Sabretooth was gonna kill her," Billy defended.

"I know damn well it wasn't anything K would've gone along with," Logan said.

"No kidding," Scott said, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. "He killed her here."

"Killed her there too. Couldn't have been square."

"No, first his kid had her locked up and tortured until she couldn't think," Scott said, still rubbing his eyes. "It's no consolation, but you took his head off for it, if you're wondering."

"Not the first time," Logan said as he got up to take another beer out of the fridge. "Won't be the last. Seems to be the best way to deal with him, but I gotta admit, K has a few great suggestions. A lot of 'em involve inventive ways to light 'im on fire, but that might just be her idea of stretchin' before the big show."

"Sounds like her," Scott said with a small smile before he let out a long breath. "Alright. Let's go over this one more time."