Gambit would've been hit with an ecto-blast if Danny hadn't summoned a shield to protect the Cajun mutant.
Danny grabbed Dani's arm. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He shouted at her.
The X-Men felt a bit uncomfortable seeing Danny this angry. He wasn't even this mad when Sabretooth was here.
Dani, taken out of her vengeful state, tried to stammer an excuse. "He's the assassin! He has to be stopped!"
"You could've killed him with that stunt!" Danny growled at her. "You just said you didn't even know who the assassin was, and now you're trying to kill someone because of a hunch?"
Danny's glare made the younger hybrid feel small. Wolverine always said that when Danny got mad, you better watch out.
"It wasn't deadly." Dani justified. She was hurt that Danny actually thought she was willing to kill. "I was only going to knock him out. And I know it's him. I visited the gravestones of the X-Men, and I never saw one for Gambit. Wolverine never even mentioned him. I didn't even know he existed until now."
Gambit was out of the loop. "Will someone tell Remy what's going on?"
"This is Dani; she's a clone of Danny from the future." Xavier answered.
"Yes, and I'm the queen of France! That's the best kind of lie; one can't nobody prove."
"You're the liar, traitor!" Dani berated him. "Because of him, the whole world is going to be enslaved! Everything you believe in will lie in ashes! And the X-Men are going to die. It starts with a single death at Washington, D.C. Mutants all over the world will get the blame because of the actions of one." The X-Men watch in morbid fascination as they learn their fate.
"People will become afraid and want action. They'll want protection and revenge. The Mutant Control Law will be passed, calling for an army of Sentinels. They'll march over the nation, seeking out mutants, hunting them down like animals. Some will fight back, but it won't last long. The Sentinels herd any surviving mutants into detention camps. The camps are the final stop for them; they never leave. Never."
Everyone is imagining the horrible world that Dani has grown up in. Mutant Camps. That struck a nerve with Xavier, who was reminded of the suffering his old friend once suffered through.
"But those who control the Sentinels don't stop with mutants. Eventually they'll bring their new world order to all humans." Dani finished the grim ending of the world. "We have one chance to stop this, so I would appreciate it if you listen to me and stop that bastard from..."
Danny cut her off. "Time out, kid!" He ordered, but this only served to piss Dani off.
"DON'T CALL ME A KID!" Dani's face was all red as she screeched at her father. "You don't know what it's like to be me! All my life, I've had nothing but training to save the world!" Her frustrations and trauma were starting to come out. "I never had a childhood! I never even had parents! I was grown in a tank because you died! Everyone has always expected me to carry on your legacy! They see me as nothing but a replacement for you! My gender is the only thing I can say is original to me!"
The X-Men just stood there and watched as Dani started to have a meltdown. Danny had a look of understanding on his face. He could see that Dani has had the world on her shoulders her whole life. He felt guilty that he had died, and she was forced to be the new protector.
"Even my name is the same as yours! I wanted to be a normal girl! I wanted to be your daughter! Not your clone! I've done everything you used to do! All of it to make you proud! Are you proud, dad? Or do you just see me as some genetic freak that defies the law of nature?"
Dani soon became emotionally exhausted as she turned human and fell into her father's arms. The whole room looked at her with sympathy. Even Gambit felt bad for the girl.
Danny picked up Dani into his arms. "I'm going to lay her down in my room. She's been through enough; let her rest." He didn't wait for anyone to reply as he marched to his room.
Phasing through the door, he gently placed her on the bed and tucked her in. Danny couldn't help but stare at her. Not once did he ever think he'd meet another hybrid. Vlad and Danny were the only ones, and they were humans before their accidents. Dani never had that luxury; she was always a hybrid from the very beginning. He wondered if that made it harder for her to relate to other people. Not only that, but how did she view her powers? Vlad and him were both enthralled and amazed by their abilities, along with fear in his situation. Was Dani the same, or was it just normal to her since they had been there since her creation?
But the thing that occupied his thoughts the most was Dani seeing him as a father. Danny never thought about kids. He wasn't opposed to having them; it was just that it was never considered. Back then, he didn't think that any woman would want to have his kid or marry him, for that matter.
Though the idea felt somewhat comforting to him. It would give him someone to relate to other than Vlad. Someone that he could mentor and show the ropes to. Although Dani seemed to have a fair grasp on her powers.
She had to in order to survive in the kind of world she lived in.
Thinking about the future only brought him more grief. How is it that no matter what he does, the future always goes to crap? Even when fully dead, he still causes people to suffer, which was proven in Dani's case.
And what about Remy? Was he really the assassin, or was there something else at play? Danny didn't want to throw him under the bus too quickly. It would be hypocritical considering that, at one point, he was the one being targeted by beings from the future for apparently ruining their lives. Danny liked Remy; he was a pretty fun guy to hang around with. He reminded him of Tucker sometimes, except unlike Tucker, Remy could actually be successful when pursuing women. If there was one thing Danny was sure about, it was that he wasn't going to act rashly.
"How's she doing?" Rogue had come to check on their new guest.
"Physically, she's fine, but I don't really think she's doing well mentally. Who knows what kind of PTSD or trauma she's picked up back home? I'm honestly impressed if this is the first time she's snapped from the pressure of it all because I don't think anyone can deal with what she's been through."
Rogue sat on the end of the bed next to Danny. She could see how peaceful Dani looked when she slept, which was a far cry from what she was earlier. "She's a fighter; I'll give her that." Turning to Danny, she asked him, "How do you feel, you know, with having a clone or a daughter, I guess?"
Danny gave a small smile. "Better than I imagined." It dropped as his expression saddened. "But I feel like an absentee father. Leaving her to fight all on her own."
"You can't blame yourself, sugar. You were dead in her time." Rogue then realized the silliness of what she said. "Fully dead, I mean."
"Yeah, but she's spent her entire life trying to live up to me and make me proud, and all I did was make her have a meltdown. Some father I am."
Rogue shook her head fondly. Danny always showed concern for others and their troubles. Just one of the many reasons she decided to make him her boyfriend. "You care; that's what's really important. That's a huge improvement over my daddy." Her face went downcast for a moment when she mentioned her father before getting back on topic. "But enough about that. Dani may have gone through hell, but now that you're in her life, I think she's going to be alright."
"You think so?" Danny asked her.
Rogue nodded her head fervently. "I know so. My life has gotten much happier since you walked into it. I'm sure the same will happen for Dani."
Danny was grateful for Rogue's support. "Have I ever told you how much of an amazing girlfriend you are?"
Rogue smirked. "Yes, but I don't mind you saying it as much as you can. A gal can really appreciate encouragement from her man."
Danny rubbed his nose against hers. "I'll show you encouragement." He kissed her on the lips, making Rogue moan.
"As much as I want to keep this up, I think we need to focus on what to do to save the future."
Danny got up, determination coursing through his body. "I already have an idea of how to proceed. The others will want to hear it."
The two left Dani to sleep in peace, but before closing the door, Danny had one last thing to say to the sleeping teenager.
"I'll fix this, Dani. I won't let your future die. I promise." He left her to sleep in peace, not noticing the smile Dani had in her sleep.
"Who is Gambit supposed to assassinate?" Xavier wondered out loud. "That's what I like to know."
"I don't know." Jean said. "All we know is that it happens soon in Washington."
Scott was thinking over the possibilities. "It could be the president."
"It could be anyone." Storm stated.
"I'm going to Washington for the Senate hearings on Mutant Affairs." Xavier informed them. "Perhaps he kills me."
Jubilee scowled at the professor. "Hey, that's not funny."
"It wasn't intended as a joke." The professor said. "I've devoted my life to helping mutants and non-mutants live together in peace."
"You don't take that girl serious?" Gambit asked them. "What we know about her?"
"Only a little more than we know about you." Wolverine glared at Gambit. "You've never been straight with us, not completely."
Storm saw that a fight was about to break out and was about to stop it. "Wolverine! Gambit!" She turned to Gambit to reason with him. "Gambit, I know you better than anyone. But even if Dani had accused me, I would not know that she was lying. We are all capable of evil."
"Don't nobody trust Gambit, eh?" Gambit looked around. All of them were hesitantly staring at him, possibly judging him.
"I do." Danny said as he joined them with Rogue by his side.
Danny gave a disappointed look to his friends. "Gambit is our friend and teammate." He reminded them. "Sure, he has secrets, but who here doesn't?" The supernatural superhero pointed at himself. "I have secrets, and so do all of you." He pointed at Wolverine. "And you definitely have secrets for sure."
Wolverine didn't say anything because he knew Danny was right.
"We can't let our fear of this future tear us apart. If we do, then we're no better than what we fight against."
Xavier's eyes locked onto Danny's. Shame coursed through him at letting fear prod him into potentially pushing away one of his students. But there was pride as well. Pride in Danny for reminding them all what the X-Men were meant to be.
A force to counter fear and ignorance.
"Danny's right." Xavier's voice brought the attention of the room to him. "We X-Men can't afford to fall into distrust and blind fear."
Wolverine then asked the obvious question. "But how do we know if Gumbo's the assassin or not?"
Danny had an idea. "We'll just ask the one person who knows everything, Clockwork. Beast, is the portal ready?"
Beast was a bit caught off guard by the question but answered nonetheless. "Just a few more modifications, and we will be able to gaze into the great beyond."
"Then let's get to work." As if Danny had taken all the doubts, worries, and all the other negative emotions out of the room, the X-Men all got up eagerly to help finish the ghost portal.
"Alright, that should do it." Danny took off his welding mask. "Now let's plug this in."
They were all standing in front of the portal anxiously. A feeling of restlessness was shared between them all as they desired to finally figure out who the assassin was. Gambit was the one who had desired it the most, as he wanted confirmation that he wasn't responsible. But there was also a hint of excitement among them about exploring the further reaches of the afterlife.
"You positive this thing will work?" Wolverine grunted.
"Trust me, if there's one thing we hybrids know, it's ghost portals."
"Hybrids, as in plural?" Rogue caught on. "There are more of them than just you?"
"I'll tell you later." Danny brushed the question off. He grabbed the two plugs and connected them. The portal sparked as it began to tear open the fabric of this dimension. A crack formed as a bit of green from the Ghost Zone began to shine into the world of the living. The tear began to grow in size before it reached the limits of the portal.
The X-Men were all hypnotized by the swirling green. It was like it was calling to them, urging them to step through and see the answers to life's mysteries.
"All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity." Beast quoted. "William Shakespeare. Hamlet."
"It is like staring into the face of nature itself and the balance between life and death." Storm observed.
"In all my years traveling across the globe, I have never encountered something like this." Xavier appraised.
Rogue squeezed Danny's hand as she gazed at the entryway with wonder. "I never thought it would be so beautiful." For a second, it looked like the portal's shape was swirling into that of a heart.
"Alright, let's go." Jubilee encouraged as she stepped towards the portal. One by one, they all entered the portal slowly.
Danny was the last one, and on the other side, he found the X-Men looking all around. The doors floated without a care in the world. There were floating formations, such as islands, in the distance. One was also under their feet, giving them something to stand on.
Rogue was the first to find her voice. "This is so cool."
"Yeah, well, you don't have a strong sense of smell." Wolverine complained. The scent of death that encompassed this entire dimension basically ruined any awe or amazement he had at visiting this plane of existence.
Beast couldn't help but agree a bit, but he was able to ignore the smell. "Still, this is a momentous sight."
Scott noticed Jean had a bit of a headache. "Jean, are you alright?"
"Yeah, it's just that... There are so many emotions running through here."
Xavier's face was pensive. "Indeed. I can sense so much regret and depression here."
"So where do we go to find Clockwork?" Rogue asked Danny.
"Follow me." Danny glided through the air. "The gravity is lighter here, so you can fly."
Cyclops was the first to try this, as he took a leap and joined Danny in the air.
"Incredible." Scott commented.
Jubilee, Beast, Wolverine, and Gambit explored their new abilities.
"Jubilee, X-Woman supreme, soars through the Ghost Zone to save the future." Jubilee announced in a faux superhero voice.
After getting a hang of the flying, they all followed Danny as he navigated to Clockwork's lair.
Wolverine floated toward one of the millions of doors. "Where do these doors lead to?" He opened one and was greeted with a bunch of tentacles that wrapped around him. Wolverine was holding on to the frame for dear life, trying to resist being pulled in.
Luckily, Danny pulled him away from the tentacles and slammed the door shut.
"Yeah, I wouldn't open any of them. They are entrances to a ghost's lair, but they can also lead to different points in time. It's very easy to get lost in here, so don't touch anything."
Wolverine was rubbing his aching head. "Now you tell me."
Gambit unfortunately wasn't listening to what Danny had said as he opened another door and came face-to-face with a ghostly woman taking a shower. She screamed as she covered herself while Gambit slammed the door.
Scott noticed Gambit's reddening face. "What was that?"
"Nothing." Gambit answered quickly.
After a couple of minutes, Danny and the X-Men found Clockwork's tower.
"Here we are." Danny touched down as he walked in without knocking.
"Shouldn't we knock?" Rogue was hesitant about just barging into a ghost's home unannounced.
Danny didn't share her worries. "Why? He knows we're coming."
"Good point." Wolverine said.
They all stepped in, and the X-Men marveled at their surroundings.
Beast examined the gears. "This is incredible."
Danny kept on moving and found Clockwork's time window, but Clockwork was nowhere to be found.
"That's weird; he should be around here somewhere." Danny said. "We should split and search the tower."
Scott agreed. "We'll cover more ground; X-Men move out."
Rogue found herself wandering some hallway by herself. It felt like this place was an infinite maze on the inside.
'Wonder if the others had better luck?' The southern mutant thought to herself.
"Rogue!" Danny's voice echoed through the hall.
"Danny?" Rogue called back.
"Help! Rogue! Help!" His pleas sounded desperate.
'Oh God, maybe he got hurt.' Rogue panicked. "Hang on, Danny! I'm coming!"
She heard the shouts of her boyfriend coming from a door. Opening it, she entered a small room with only one thing in it. A Fenton Thermos stood on a stand in the center of the room.
Although nothing special stood out in the room, Rogue felt a sense of foreboding. The room was cold, like ice cold. It carried some kind of malevolent energy with it. Rogue didn't have a sixth sense for the supernatural, but even she could feel that something was off.
"Rogue!" Danny's voice came from the inside of the device. "I ended up getting stuck in this thing. Could you be a dear and let me out?"
"Sure honey." Rogue got closer to the thermos despite every one of her instincts telling her not to do it but to run. Run and get away from this room. "How did you get stuck in this thing? And what was it doing here?"
There was a bit of a pause before Danny spoke. "Clockwork likes to collect things." He explained. "I think he might be some kind of hoarder."
"I don't know why he would want this." Rogue was looking at the ghost-catching weapon as she picked it up in her hands. There were dents and scratches everywhere. Danny really must have given it his all to get out. "Or did you do all this damage?"
"I tried to escape, but my parents really know how to invent something to trap a ghost." Danny said.
"You really went to town on this thing." Rogue twisted the cap off. She didn't know why, but she felt like she shouldn't do this. 'What's going on with you?' Rogue thought to herself. 'It's just Danny. There's nothing scary about him, even if he's a ghost.' Rogue then looked into the thermos but couldn't see anything. "Ok, I took the top off; what's next?"
"Press the release button." Danny said with extreme anticipation, as if he had been there far longer than Rogue thought.
"Where's that?" Rogue turned the thermos around to look and saw something that made her drop it in fright.
Danny screamed in surprise as the thermos fell to the floor.
Rogue instinctively backed up against the wall as she looked at what startled her.
On the thermos was an imprint of a face. A smirking face with large fangs. Staring into its eyes, Rogue felt like an insect about to be stomped on. Whatever was in this thing, it certainly wasn't Danny.
Rogue had further proof when the voice that claimed to be Danny started cursing at being dropped. It changed and sounded nothing like her boyfriend.
Realizing that she'd been tricked and almost bamboozled, she grabbed the thermos and placed the cap back on it. "You're not Danny at all, aren't you?"
The ghost laughed as if she had told him a funny joke. Rogue couldn't help but shiver at the voice.
"Oh, if you only knew." The voice said mysteriously before it decided to reveal itself. "I am Danny, or at least I was."
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." She was going to put the thermos back on the stand when something hit her. "Wait a minute. How did you know my name?"
"I know a lot of things." The ghost said confidently. "Like how your powers make you forever alone, unable to touch anyone. I can fix that for you."
"You can?" Rogue asked with doubt dripping from her voice.
"I can." The thermos confirmed. "I can make it so that you can have total control of your abilities. You can touch anyone you want. Just let me out!" It demanded.
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Sugar, I wasn't born yesterday. I may be from the south, but that doesn't mean I'm a braindead hick."
"Let me out!" The spirit was done playing nice. "Let me out, and you can have any man you want instead of that freak you call a boyfriend."
That really ticked Rogue off, and she slammed the thermos back onto the stand. "My boyfriend is more man than whatever you claim to be."
Having had enough of this, she left the room as the prisoner yelled obscenities at her.
"You stupid bitch! You filthy slut! I'll teach you to fuck with me!"
Rogue paid it no mind as she kept walking.
"Any luck?" Danny asked as they all gathered back at the center.
Everyone responded in the negative. They couldn't find any trace of Clockwork.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." A new voice apologized. "I got caught up in a meeting with the Observants."
They all turned to see Clockwork approach them with a friendly smile.
"Good to see you again, Clockwork." Danny shook his hand.
"Likewise, Daniel." Clockwork replied. He turned to the others. "I see you've brought some guests. Welcome."
All the X-Men were studying Clockwork in wonderment. Rogue simply smiled and waved at the ghost that helped bring her and her boyfriend together.
Jubilee noticed Clockwork's shifting of forms. "How come you keep changing?"
"For me, time keeps moving backwards and forwards and in any other possible direction."
"Cool." Jubilee complimented.
Clockwork nodded. "Quite. So what brings you all here? Well, I do know why, but it's better to hear you say it."
"We need to know if Gambit is the assassin or not." Danny said.
"I see." Clockwork answered as everyone held their breath for his response. "He's not."
Most of the X-Men sighed in relief, while Gambit cheered.
"Remy told you he didn't do it, and Remy was right."
"Ok, bub, we were wrong to suspect you." Wolverine apologized gruffly. "We're sorry."
"But if Gambit isn't the assassin, why did Dani think he was?" Scott asked Clockwork.
"Because he was framed." Clockwork revealed.
"By who?" Gambit demanded. He wanted to get his hands on the person who was going to set him up.
"Perhaps it's better to show you." Clockwork gestured to the time window with his staff as the footage changed to show the future.
Senator Kelly was in the middle of a speech when he was shot by a man who appeared to be Gambit.
"This is what happens when you go against mutants. Especially Gambit and the X-Men." The imposter bragged as he escaped the security guards pursuing him.
The X-Men watched as the imposter escaped and, with no one watching, revealed himself.
It was Mystique.
"It's her!" Rogue cried in astonishment.
"She was the one that impersonated Dr. Adler." Danny said. "She was working for Apocalypse on creating mutant slaves."
"That bitch can't stop making things miserable for everyone." Rogue said angrily.
"We now know who the assassin is." Xavier said. "But the question now is, how do we stop her?"
"Don't worry, professor." Scott assured him. "I've got a plan."
Dani was wandering around the institute after waking up. She couldn't find any trace of the people living here. It wasn't until she got to the lab that she found the ghost portal.
"A ghost portal?" Dani said.
The portal then spit out Danny and the X-Men.
"Where were you guys?" Dani asked them.
"Clockwork." Danny replied. "He showed us who the assassin was. It wasn't Gambit, but a shape-shifter impersonating him."
"Really?" Dani said in amazement before she realized that she had almost hurt an innocent man. "I'm sorry for trying to attack you, Gambit." She apologized to the X-Man.
Gambit waved it off. "Don't worry, Chere. You're not the first person to try and kill Gambit."
"So what do we do now?" She asked the team.
"We stop the assassination from taking place." Scott declared.
Dani grinned with determination. "Alright, let's go."
Danny shook his head. "You're staying here." As Dani was about to protest, he cut her off. "You've already done enough by coming here and warning us, Dani. We appreciate it, but now it's our turn to save the future. You've done so much to save the world, you deserve a break."
Dani still wanted to help, but she knew Danny had a point.
"Jubilee, you'll stay here with her." Danny told her.
"Oh, come on!" Jubilee whined. "I want to help you guys."
"And we appreciate it, but we need someone to watch Dani, and besides, aren't you always saying how much you wish there was someone here as young as you to hang out with?"
Jubilee hated when Danny won an argument.
"X-Men, let's move out." Cyclops cried as they made their way to the Blackbird.
"I'm in position." Storm announced over her communicator.
"You see anything, just give us a holler." Rogue said from her vantage point. She was sitting under a tree with Danny next to her. "You ready to save the future?" She asked him.
"Ever since I was a kid." Danny said, making Rogue look at him confused. "It's a long story." He said.
From a nearby building, the gluttonous mutant Blob looked down on Washington. "Nice sunrise." A belch then left his mouth.
"Lovely sentiment, old Blob." Pyro said as he also looked out the window. "A spiffing day for an assassination."
They were in an old hotel room along with Avalanche, who sat in a chair.
The fourth person on the team, Mystique, heard Pyro and Blob's words. "And if we fail, you will be eliminated." She threatened them.
"The Senate Subcommittee on Mutant Affairs meets again today to consider the proper place of mutants in society." A spokesperson said as the screen showed politicians gathering around.
"You alright?" Jubilee asked Dani as they were sitting down and watching TV.
"Not really." Dani admitted. "I feel lazy just sitting here and waiting for everyone else to save the day."
Jubilee sympathized with Dani. "I know the feeling; I don't really go on a lot of missions because I'm inexperienced. They took me in, and I want to repay them by helping, but they keep saying it's too dangerous."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure they don't want you to get hurt." Dani said. "You're lucky; you don't have everyone expecting you for answers on how to save the day."
Jubilee saw Dani's point. "I guess you're right. Hey, how about we play some video games to take our mind off it?" She suggested.
"Videogames?" Dani asked. "They still exist?"
"Oh wow, the future must be terrible if they don't exist." Jubilee then started setting up a game console. "Here, I'll let you try some out. Trust me, it's a lot of fun."
A crowd of anti-mutant protestors stood outside the capitol as they chanted.
"Humans, yes! Mutant's no!"
"Humans, yes! Mutant's no!"
"Humans, yes! Mutant's no!"
"Humans, yes! Mutant's no!"
Unknown to the hateful idiots, at the back of the crowd were Pyro, Avalanche, and Blob, wearing regular clothes to blend in.
Pyro smirked at Avalanche. "Shall we begin the diversion, Avalanche, old darling?"
Avalanche sported a sadistic smile. "We'll bring the house down, and the Senate, too."
The three of them moved in to start their plan of attack.
Dani, for the first time since getting here, was starting to enjoy herself.
"Man, you're really good at this." Jubilee praised Dani's skill. "Maybe you get that from your dad as well."
"Maybe." Dani gave a fun-loving smile. "I've never done this before. Does dad do this often?"
"He does occasionally." Jubilee said. "He's really good at Pac-Man, and sometimes I'll catch him playing this game called Doomed on the computer. He once told me that he could phase himself into the game."
"Really?" Dani was interested.
"Yeah, he once stopped some ghost from getting access to the internet." Jubilee mentioned.
Hearing about her dad, Dani began to think about where he was and how she should be out there with him. But Danny told her to stay put.
Her concentration broke, allowing Jubilee to win.
"Yeah, I win." Jubilee cheered. She held her hand out for Dani to high-five it, but Dani's mind was elsewhere. "You okay?"
"I should be out there helping them. I can't sit back and let this happen; that's what started this all." Dani made her way to the hanger.
Jubilee chased her down. "Where are you going?"
"To Washington to end this once and for all. I have to make sure that this madness is stopped. You with me?"
Jubilee couldn't help but grin. She really was like Danny. "I'm in."
The two then got into a spare jet and flew off to Washington.
Inside the Capitol, Scott and Jean were sitting at the back of the subcommittee room.
Senator Kelly was questioning Xavier on his role in mutant affairs. "Professor Xavier, have you associated in the past with renegade mutants?"
"No, Senator, I have not." Xavier answered calmly.
"Then it isn't true that your school for the gifted is really a clearing house for pro-mutant propaganda?" Kelly accused him.
"My school is dedicated to the idea that mutants can live peacefully alongside ordinary humans..." Xavier was interrupted by Kelly.
Kelly pointed an accusing finger at the mutant. "You're here to answer questions."
He would say more when the building started to shake, courtesy of Avalanche.
The people started to cry in fear.
"Oh my God!"
"What's happening?"
"Let's get out of here!"
They all fled through the exit, while Kelly's assistant, who was really Mystique in disguise, looked at her watch. "Right on time." She said.
The guards at the door ran when they were blasted open, and Pyro and Avalanche busted their way in.
"I got your answers right here!" Avalanche fired his seismic waves at the front desk.
"Stop them before they bring the whole building down!" Xavier ordered Scott and Jean.
"Perhaps we'll burn it down instead!" Pyro quipped as he unleashed his fire, which morphed into a monster. Scott fired his optic blast, but since it was fire, it went right through it and destroyed the wall.
Jean pushed the two renegade mutants through the hole Scott made with her telekinesis.
Xavier then sent a message to those outside the perimeter.
'X-Men, come to the Capitol at once.'
Storm, Gambit, Beast, Danny, and Rogue got the message as they all moved in.
Avalanche and Pyro pushed their way past some protestors, with Jean and Scott in pursuit.
Gambit was making his way in as he handed on a tree and swung himself through a window into the Capitol.
Scott and Jean were chasing Pyro and Avalanche when Blob jumped in their path, causing Scott to crash into his gut.
"What's your hurry, four-eyes?" Blob taunted as he started laughing like a schoolyard bully.
Rogue flew down in front of him. "You gonna be laughing out the other side of your chubby face." She threw a punch, but it got stuck in his massive fat folds. Blob then swung her into the sky, where she was caught by Storm.
Pyro fired his flamethrowers at the two.
"Look out!" Rogue got her and Storm out of the fire's path.
Avalanche saw Scott and Jean running towards them, so he fired his seismic waves at the water, creating a mini wave that crashed into them.
The fire that Pyro sent into the sky formed into two fire eagles, which started to chase Storm and Rogue.
Storm summoned rain to put hers out, while Rogue flew high into the sky until her fire bird burned itself out.
"I'm gonna flatten these X-Clowns by sitting on them!" Blob vowed before Scott started firing his optic blast at Blob, but it did nothing. "Nothing hurts the Blob!"
Wolverine then jumped onto his back. "Okay, round boy! Let's dance!" He covered his eyes as Blob staggered around blindly.
"Hey, get off of me!" Blob cried. "Come on!"
He was slowly moving backward. "Get away! Get..." He ended up landing in the water.
"Now, Storm!" Wolverine called out to her.
Storm raised her hands to the sky. "I summon the cold of the Arctic winds!"
"Hey!" Blob shivered as the temperature lowered dramatically. "I'm freezing in here."
"Let's make an igloo." Wolverine pulled his claws out before seeing Pyro blasted onto the ice by Jubilee's pyrotechnics.
"Take that!" Jubilee gloated.
Cyclops ran up to her. "Jubilee! What are you doing here? Where's Dani?"
"Right here." Dani landed next to them.
The ground started to shake because of Avalanche.
"Give it to them straight up, Avalanche!" Pyro cheered him on.
The ground beneath the heroes started collapsing. "Look out, Cyke!" Wolverine pulled Cyclops out along with Jubilee.
"Dani!" Cyclops yelled to her as she flew towards Avalanche.
"It's alright." Wolverine said to him. "She can take it!"
Dani turned intangible as Avalanche fired his seismic waves at her. When it passed through her, she fired an ecto-blast at the two, knocking them aside.
"He who fights and runs away..." Pyro said to Avalanche, only to be pushed into running.
"Just shup up and run!" Avalanche said to him as they left the scene of the crime.
"We must move quickly, Cyclops." Storm flew above him. "Two of the renegades are escaping. Hurry!"
"Wait, Storm!" Cyclops called after her before he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Dani?" He activated his communicator. "Rogue, can you see Dani?"
"I see her." Rogue watched her enter the wrecked Capitol. "Looks like she's running for Congress."
Rogue flew in after her. "Dani, wait!"
"You should be safe in here, Senator." The disguised Mystique opened a door for Kelly.
He entered only to see his assistant tied up and gagged on the floor.
"What's going on?" Kelly demanded.
Mystique locked the door and got in front of Kelly. "You're about to make history, mon ami." Mystique had transformed into Gambit. She then tore off the real assistant's blindfold. "All we need is a witness." She aimed her gun at Kelly. "You tell them all, this is what happens when you go against mutants. Especially Gambit and the X-Men."
The door was then flung open by the real Gambit, holding a card glowing with red energy. "Surprised to see me? I know I am."
Mystique glared at Gambit angrily and was about to fire before the gun was knocked out of her hand by Gambit's card, and someone else then grabbed her from behind.
Danny turned visible. "I know Kelly's politics are very bigoted and oppressive, but killing him isn't going to do anything." He cracked wise. "Have you thought of protesting?"
"Are you alright, Senator?" The assistant asked as Gambit untied her.
Dani then ran into the room as she summoned an ecto-blast in her hand. "I won't let you get away..." She stopped as she saw the apprehended Mystique along with Danny, Gambit, Kelly, and Kelly's assistant.
"Oh." Dani let the ecto-blast fade away. "I guess you really did have it all handled." She placed her hands behind her back awkwardly.
"I should be mad at you for disobeying me." Danny said. "But I would have probably done the same thing if I were in your shoes."
"There you are!" Rogue entered the room. "You really move fast, girl." Rogue saw Mystique being held back by Danny. "I guess it's over then." She turned to Kelly and his assistant. "It's all over, Mr. Kelly. Now go on and let us be."
"Please, Senator, just do what she says." The assistant begged Kelly. The two humans left the room.
Rogue looked at Mystique. "Well, look what we have here."
"You can't let them take me, Rogue." Mystique said confidently. "You're going to help me escape."
"Now why would I do a crazy thing like that?" Rogue asked her in disbelief.
"Because once I looked like this." Mystique turned into a middle-aged blonde woman.
Rogue gasped as she recognized this form. "Mama!"
"Mama!" Danny, Gambit, and Dani said in surprise.
"Rogue, this woman's your mother?" Danny asked her.
"That's what I told her to call me when I took her in." Mystique answered. "What she called me until the day she ran away."
"Why did you do this?" Rogue asked her. How could her mother try to destroy the future?
"Apocalypse wanted Kelly assassinated to ensure the human race the future it deserves." Mystique said with no remorse at what she was about to do. "He made me what I am, gave me purpose. Just like Professor Xavier did with you."
"It's not the same." Danny said in disgust as he remembered how Mystique almost turned Rogue into one of Apocalypse's horsemen. "Apocalypse wants slaves like you tried to turn Rogue into back on Muir Island."
Rogue remembered that little detail as she gave her mother a look of betrayal. "Why did you do that?"
"It seemed like the only way to get you back." Mystique said as she looked at the ground, not willing to meet her daughter's eyes. "Now are you gonna help me the way I once helped you?"
Rogue didn't get a chance to answer as Danny used his ghost stinger to shock her. He let her go as she fell to the ground, unconscious.
"I was really getting sick of her manipulative words." Danny was reminded of when he first met Vlad and how he tried to get him to join him.
Rogue looked at her mother as tears dripped down her face.
Danny brought his girlfriend into a hug. "I'm sorry, Rogue. I'm sorry this had to happen."
Rogue buried her face into Danny's chest as he rubbed her back soothingly.
Cyclops and Wolverine were walking the halls of the Capitol when they ran into Kelly and his assistant.
"Are you alright, Senator?" Cyclops asked him.
"What I am is confused!" Kelly said. "First one of you mutants tries to kill me, then two others save me. And two of them look the same."
Kelly's assistant took over for him. "There's a woman who looks like me who changed into a man, and, well, it's back there!" She pointed to the room they came out of.
The two X-Men raced to the room to see Danny and Dani comforting Rogue while Gambit was looking over the unconscious Mystique.
"I have a feeling a lot went down in here." Wolverine said.
"You have no idea." Danny replied depressingly.
"Why does Senator Kelly want to see you, Professor?" Scott asked as he walked with Xavier and Jean towards Kelly's office in the Capitol.
"Perhaps now he's ready to listen to my proposals." Xavier guessed hopefully.
Jean stopped. "Wait! There's something wrong."
"No!" Kelly's voice shouted as Cyclops raced to his office.
Scott blasted the door open to Kelly's office, only to find that it was empty. The room was also wrecked, with a hole in the wall behind his desk.
"Kelly's gone, professor. There must've been more mutants in the gang that we knew about."
Xavier looked at the destroyed office. "I don't believe this is the work of the same gang."
"Why not, professor?" Jean asked him as Scott looked over the damage.
Xavier pulled out his watch. "Because my watch has stopped."
"I don't understand." Scott pointed to the watch. "Why is that important?"
Xavier dropped it to the ground, but the watch ended up sticking to his hoverchair like a fridge magnet.
"Because it's been magnetized."