Here it is. Wasn't sure if people were going to like this but guess I was wrong. Anyway enjoy.
Chapter 2: Caretaker
TJ's eyes slowly waking up and seeing his surroundings.
Guess it wasn't a dream after all.
He looked over to his left and on the bedside table was an alarm clock.
5 am… Might as well get up and start the day.
He got up and quickly made his bed, entered the bathroom and cleaned himself up and got dressed as he made his way down.
As I recall from when I read the comics and watched the show, the kitchen area is not far from here, I think if I take a left here I'll arrive at the main staircase and it should be on the right past the main hall.
Remembering what he knew he was already in the kitchen as it was still relatively early as it was near sunrise so he looked around and saw the fridge and looked inside.
I think I can work with this…
0-0-0-0-0
As the smell of food was beginning to waft through the bottom floor of the mansion as the smell caught the attention of Logan who had been woken up by it.
Who's cookin bacon? MY BACON!
He immediately got up and threw his sheets off his bed and threw on a shirt and trousers as he marched to the kitchen and could hear some commotion.
"Ah Logan we were wondering whe-"
"Who used my bacon?!" Logan said as everyone turned to TJ who looked like a deer in headlights.
"That was yours? If I'd known I wouldn't have touched it." TJ said trying to defend himself.
"Yeah well maybe I should show you what happens when ya-" he was stopped my the hand of Ororo who gave him a stern look.
"Logan, now is not the time for this, he only had good intentions and besides the food is for everyone not just for you." she told him straight as he grumbled. "Now sit down and join us." she said as he reluctantly did so with a glare at TJ.
"We've a meeting with Cooper at 12 to discuss the situation I need you all there." Scott said as TJ knew what it was about.
The Trask situation don't think I can do much to help…
"So TJ, since you've offered to help out here we've made a list for you to do." Hank said giving him the list.
He read it from top to bottom and looked to them all. "Consider it done." he said but then saw what was at the bottom.
Clean The Blackbird?!... We'll I guess I need to earn my place here.
Then saw Logan looking at him and smirked as he knew where that came from.
He's testing me… Alright Logan I'll play your game.
TJ finished cooking breakfast for everyone as he made himself some scrambled eggs and toast with bacon and sat himself down next to Roberto and Jubilee.
"Appreciate you doing this man, you cook often?" Roberto asked.
" If I get a chance when I'm not working." TJ said.
"I must say you've done an exemplary job my friend who taught you?" Hank asked.
"My father did, he always said you need to be self-reliant and cooking is the best way to show that." TJ said quoting his father.
"What was your job?" Jubilee asked.
"I work in a superstore, I manned the self-scan checkouts." TJ said as he got some confusing looks. "Just remembered I'm from a different time, we developed technology that allows people to serve themselves instead of being served by people." he explained.
"Sounds like a lot of work." Jubilee said as TJ nodded.
"It is and the fact we rely too much on technology especially the rise of Artificial Intelligence, to be honest it's quite terrifying at times." TJ told his concerns over technology in his world.
"It's the reason we have the Ultron Accords here, to prevent that sort of thing from happening my friend." Hank said, mentioning an act that was passed.
I heard about that before, didn't read a lot of The Avengers but knew of Ultron and the act that was put in place to prevent anymore like him rising up.
"We don't have anything like that as AI is not that advanced to be honest but we do get the odd glitch in the system but the closest to AI we have are our home systems like Alexa, Cortana or Siri." TJ detailed certain models.
"What do they usually use them for?" Hank asked out of curiosity.
"Asking questions about things, shopping, graphical designs or the latest trend is using it to finish their written assignments." TJ said as they all now wanted to listen.
"People are cheatin and they're a'right with wit that?!" Rouge said not sure if he was clear.
"It only got made illegal to do so after so many complaints and the ethical ramifications came in and yet they still do it, I really hate our dependence on technology at times." TJ said as he again showed his concerns over technology.
"Gambit ain't no saint he's cheat'd a many times but all he say is dis that it jus lazy to not do it yerself." Gambit said as he felt there's no effort going into actual cheating.
"Try and work in a casino and spot the amount of cheaters." TJ said.
"You worked a casino job?" Gambit asked, a little curious.
"Wasn't much of a job I did work some tables mainly the blackjack tables but I did learn how players tend to count cards or use a spotter to tell them what cards were in my hand, you see the best way to counter their cheats is with one of your own and the best way to do it is to seem to mix or cut the cards, while retaining certain cards or the whole deck in a desired order, in other words you create an illusion that they are playing you but in actuality you are playing them." TJ explained his time and knowledge at a past job.
"Not bad, maybe one of dese days you and Gambit hit up Vegas an-" he was cut off by a slap to the back of his head by Rouge.
"Remy dun go startin that again, remember the last time you tried to pull tha wool over a dealer's eyes?" she reminded him.
"Now Chere did mon get caught?" Gambit asked.
"You lucky that the dealer wa too busy swoonin over that jezebel." Rogue said.
"Wa can Gambit say? Ain't he de luckiest around?" Gambit said with that cajun charm in his voice.
They went on for a few minutes as TJ continued to talk more about various things in his world.
"We basically do online videos of pretty much anything." TJ said as everyone was listening to him.
"But that one thing called TickTack?" Jubilee asked.
"Yes TikTok, the app where you dance like an idiot, make fun of something or someone, review things or just rant in general." TJ explained the app itself.
"Why do all of that?" she asked.
"It's the power of social media, these people who use things like that call themselves "Influencers" they use their presence on various platforms to promote or brag about things and themselves." TJ explained further on the subject of social media.
"Sounds like to me your world's people have become too lazy to do much of anything." Scott said as he drank his coffee.
"It's quite true, doing a day's hard work is too much for people now, but I digress." TJ agreed with his statement.
Jean then looked down at her pregnant belly. "When he arrives he's not going to be some "Influencer" that's for sure!" she stated as Scott smiled and held her hand.
As then in came Morph who immediately grabbed some breakfast and sat next to Logan who was still glaring silently at TJ as he picked up on it.
"What'd he do this time buddy?" he whispered to him.
"Stole my bacon." Logan grumbled under his breath.
"First off it's everyone's, second it looks like he was just trying to be helpful again and you're taking exception because this time he quote on quote" Stole your bacon"? C'mon Logan when are ya gonna cut him some slack?" Morph said as he tried to persuade him to let up his distrust.
"If he's insistin on stayin then I'm gonna put him through hell." Logan made it clear on his intentions.
Morph knew what he meant. "Don't tell me you got him to clean the Blackbird?! You're just being mean." he said as Logan smirked hearing that.
As everyone finished TJ cleaned up after them.
"Allow me to help you TJ." he was asked by Ororo.
"You don't have to Ororo, it's not much trouble really." TJ said trying to not ask for help.
"Just because you made all of this for us does not mean you should bear all the cleaning up." she said as she began to help regardless as TJ smiled.
They were washing the dishes, pots and pans.
"Out of asking where is Bishop?" TJ asked noticing his absence.
"He's currently fixing a device of his, you see like yourself he's not from here or to be more specific the future or a version of it and the device is his way of traveling between timeliness." Ororo explained.
Bishop did change the future which didn't make multiverse theory come into play but still anything can happen…
"Well it's good to know I'm not the only one not from here, so I take it he's stuck here until he fixes his device?" TJ asked.
"Yes, so we let him stay here and he helps us with missions until he's ready to leave." Ororo said as they continued to clean.
As TJ looked outside and saw the clouds forming. "Oh hope it won't rain, I really want to do the windows." he said hoping that wasn't the case.
But then the clouds began to disperse and the sky cleared.
TJ looked to his right and saw Ororo was manipulating the weather.
"Did you?" he asked as she gave a smile.
"If you were back home with me, my father would never ever complain about the weather again." TJ said as she found that funny.
They had just finished washing the dishes and put them all away.
"Thank you once again Ororo for your help." TJ said as she nodded.
"No trouble at all, even if this may be temporary you can always ask any of us for help." Ororo said.
"Unless it's Logan then I'm happy to do so." TJ remarked as she smirked.
"Do not worry about Logan it's just who he is, underneath all of it he is a good man, he needs time to become accustomed to you." Ororo said defending him.
"I understand he's not going to trust me like all of you but I'll do everything in my power to earn his trust." TJ said.
"I hope you do, I shall leave you to your tasks." Ororo said leaving him as he looked at his list.
First up… Dusting grab the dusting cloth and polish and let's go.
0-0-0-0-0
While he was dusting away at various parts of the mansion he came across a room.
Headmasters Office… Is this his room?
He opened the door and peeked in and saw it was definitely what he thought as he had a look around.
Just like in the comics...
TJ was in awe as he then saw the desk name plate.
Professor Charles Xavier… the man who started it all.
He then looked right behind him and saw the bookshelf and what caught his eye was one item in particular.
There it is…
He went over to it and grabbed it as he now held the infamous red and purple helmet.
Magneto's helmet now this is pretty cool.
Never on a million years did he ever think he'd get to be holding the helmet of the most infamous adversaries of the X-Men, he looked at it closer and quickly looked around and decided to try it on.
How does he wear this?! It's a little big but I guess he did act like he had a big head.
TJ mentally joked to himself as he took it off and quickly polished it.
"Odd to look at right?" he turned to see Scott standing there.
"Yes I don't know why but I had to look at it." TJ admitted as he put it back.
"Felt appropriate to keep it here as he and the Professor are friends." Scott said as TJ was told about them even though he already knew the story.
"What happened to them both?" TJ asked.
"The Professor had to leave and Magneto decided on a different path." Scott answered.
"Sometimes in life our paths though different can bring us together but also make new paths to bigger and better things." TJ said.
"Where did you hear that?" Scott asked.
"My father, he always knew the right thing to say at the right time." TJ said.
"Sounds like a great man to me." Scott said as TJ smiled.
He definitely was…
"I've been hearing about you and Logan and just to say I've been there, he's not a bad guy it's just that he's weary of letting strangers into here and I can't blame him but just give him time." Scott said assuring TJ he wasn't the only one Logan has given a hard time to.
"Don't worry about it, I understand why he feels that way, who wouldn't feel a little distrusting of a complete stranger living in their home claiming to be from another world." TJ said not trying to cause any drama.
As then the giant bookcase opened up to reveal a huge computerised television as it came on.
"Summers are you availa-"
As attention was then diverted to TJ who knew who just called.
Valerie Cooper… Better not step on anyone's toes.
"Oh sorry, is this private I'll leave if you want me to? TJ asked.
"It's fine, Cooper this is Tom Jackson he's…" Scott wasn't sure how to introduce him.
"I'm the new caretaker, I started yesterday." TJ said as Scott nodded.
"Well it's not really important just to tell you that I've gotten authorization for you to question Gyrich, he might know something on Trask's location." Cooper informed him.
"We'll see what we can get out of him." Scott said.
"I have more information but I'll tell you afterwards." Cooper said as she cut transmission.
"Sorry I answered for you just had to think quickly before she got suspicious." TJ said.
"Actually that was some quick thinking and I guess we've got a job title for you." Scott said, praising his quick thinking.
"Guess I'm the X-Caretaker?" TJ joked.
"We'll workshop it but until then caretaker sounds fine." Scott said as he did find that funny.
TJ then finished up cleaning quickly as he went to leave.
"Hey TJ." Scott called to him as he turned to face him. "You're doing fine here, just keep it up." he said as TJ smiled leaving.
After finishing the dusting he checked his list.
Do the windows, sounds simple enough.
TJ went to start doing so as he had a spray and a cloth and went to do that.
As the day went on he went from that to hoovering and mopping the floors, then decided to to take a break and fix himself some lunch.
In the kitchen he looked at the contents of the fridge.
Ham and cheese sandwich, can't go wrong with that.
He made himself the sandwich as then in came Bishop looking a little tired.
"Hello Bishop." TJ greeted.
"TJ, didn't expect anyone around here." Bishop said surprised by his presence.
"Not sure where everyone is but I just finished some of my tasks and decided to have a lunch break, would you like me to make you anything?" TJ asked him.
Bishop took a seat. "I'll have what you're having." he said as TJ made him a sandwich as well.
He placed the plate with it in front of him as TJ sat opposite him with his own food and they both ate.
"Is there mayonnaise in this?" Bishop asked.
"Ah yes I forgot about that I rather have that than butter, I can change it if you want me to? " TJ asked.
"Actually it's good never realised mayonnaise goes well with stuff." Bishop said as he had his palette opened up.
"Out of asking if things have changed for the better in your time, why keep coming back?" TJ asked.
"Not by choice but it's mainly to ensure no more anomalies show up and so far nothing yet, just trying to get myself back home to my sister." Bishop said.
Anomalies? Is he talking about Nimrod?
"Should I be on the lookout for anything odd? I mean I'm pretty new to all this time travel stuff." TJ asked.
"Don't think it'll apply to you as you're not from here and anyway not seen anything in months so hopefully that's all there is." Bishop said.
"Good to know, the only thing I know about time travel is that sometimes if you try to change things it could cause unforeseen damage." TJ said as he knew about the possibilities of Time Travel.
"Well it only made my future a better place but maybe I was meant to do it and my current world is the real one." Bishop said as TJ nodded agreeing to that.
"Quite possible but here's a question for you, what if you knew about future events and knew exactly what was going to happen, would you try to change things even if you felt it was the right thing to do?" TJ asked him a question.
Bishop thought on that then gave an answer.
"If it was the right thing I'd do it but sometimes doing the right thing won't always change things." he said as TJ understood what he meant.
"Just trying is good enough I suppose." TJ answered as he nodded. "I better get back to work, this place is not going to clean itself." he said going to do so.
"TJ." Bishop called to him as he turned to face him. "You're alright." he said as TJ smiled and left.
0-0-0-0-0
"Has anyone seen TJ?" Hank asked as he had not been seen for a while.
"Might want to check the hangar." Morph said as Logan raised an eyebrow.
As the three of them went to the hangar and looked down from above and saw he was there cleaning the Blackbird.
"He's been there for a few hours now, so far he's been doing well." Morph said.
"How did he get access down here?" Hank asked.
"I gave it to him, he said he needed to finish everything on the list and saw he had to do this I let him come down here." Morph said.
"But we never put this down on the list." Hank said then realised as he turned to Logan who was watching TJ like a hawk.
"Logan I know you don't trust him but hazing him will not help his situation." Hank said as Logan gave a smirk.
Hank sighed knowing it won't change his feelings towards their new house guest as then it seemed he was finished, bringing up the bucket, mop and rags he was met by the three X-Men.
"Hi gents just finished cleaning the plane took me a little bit longer but nothing I couldn't manage." TJ said as he wiped some dirt off his face.
Logan looked and growled and left.
TJ looked a bit confused. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing buddy just him not getting his way." Morph said.
"Because he put that on the list to mess with me?" TJ said knowing what it was about. "Oh come on you didn't think I wasn't aware of it?" he said.
"But why do it?" Hank asked.
"Because I wanted to prove myself and the fact it's not my first aircraft I've cleaned." TJ said as they looked a bit confused on that. "Oh right I used to be in the Royal Air Force, one of my jobs was keeping all vehicles clean." he said telling more about himself.
"You "used" to be in the Air Force? Guessing it didn't work out?" Morph asked.
TJ gave a hesitant look. "It's more of a complicated question." he said.
"My friend it is fine if you do not wish to talk about it, if you wish to tell us one day we will listen." Hank said assuring him he won't be bothered on the subject.
"It's fine Hank l, just a bit of a situation surrounding it is all." TJ said being vague on the subject.
"Since you've finished, get yourself cleaned up." Hank suggested.
"That would be a good idea." TJ said as he went to put the cleaning equipment away and went to do so.
I think around now Jean… Well Madelyne should be using Cerebro to probe Gyrich's mind, I should go and see if I can help.
After cleaning himself up he went to check on her.
He entered the briefing room and saw she had already done it and immediately went to help her.
"Jean? Are you alright?" TJ asked helping her up.
"I'm fine, just a bit drained." Jean said as he led her to a seat.
"Is there anything I can do?" TJ asked.
"Could you help me get upstairs?" Jean asked.
"Of course, allow me." TJ said as he helped her up and led her up to the lift and got the back up to the main mansion floor as he led her to the living area and sat her down slowly.
"Anything else I can do for you?" TJ asked.
"No I'm OK, I just need to rest." Jean said as TJ went to leave. "TJ, can you stay for a while?" she asked as he nodded and sat with her.
"Is there anything you want to talk about?" TJ asked.
"I heard about what Logan got you to do." Jean said.
"I know you all think he's being mean but to be honest I understand and as I've told everyone else I'm willing to do what it takes to earn his trust and my place here." TJ said as he once again understands why.
"Most people would be bothered by him but you seem to not mind." Jean said.
"It's not that it's just I've had worse done to me, this is just a bit of hazing and I'll be honest not my first time being put through the process." TJ said.
"Well as long as you're fine with it, we've got enough to deal with." Jean said rubbing her belly.
"Your life is going to change once they arrive but then again better you know when, unlike my friend who found out on the day he was a father." TJ said as Jean looked shocked at hearing that.
"That must've been a huge shock for them, I can't imagine that happening." Jean said as he chuckled.
"Yes it was but despite him being nineteen he stepped up and became a father and he raised his daughter to the best of his abilities, she's now attending University." TJ said looking at Jean. "He's going to do fine." he said, motioning to her pregnant belly.
"He? How'd you know that?" Jean said as TJ realised what he said.
You moron! You are not supposed to know that, oh well let's try and get out of this.
"I don't know just a guess on my part, so just to say your son will do incredible things I don't know why but it's a feeling I have and both you and Scott will ace being parents." TJ said as she smiled.
"Thanks TJ, I wasn't sure if I could do this but I think me and Scott will ace this." Jean said.
"Believe me you're both ready and that child will not only have you both but all of us here." TJ said.
She knew that but also the fact that she and Scott were planning to leave the X-Men to raise their child.
"I get this lifestyle isn't the right environment for a child and if you're planning to leave then I understand that as you're doing what's best for your child's well-being." TJ said.
"TJ thanks for saying that I wasn't sure if we were making the right decision." Jean said.
As the evening went on both were just conversing on themselves and different things as this made TJ feel more comfortable with his current situation.
"Trapped in a literal TV show I would never be able to get my head around that." TJ said.
Oh yes, like it's not happening right now as we speak!
"It was a wild day but luckily I figured out how to get us all out of it by overloading the machines." Jean said as she recalled the Mojovision incident.
"Well all I can say is too much TV can be bad at times but I digress." TJ joked as she found that funny.
As then in came the rest of the team who were back from their mission.
"Trask is in custody but we're down one X-Jet." Scott said.
"Oh I just cleaned that." TJ said as he remembered the mission.
"Sorry about that buddy but if it makes you feel better we did an epic landing and took down a lot of Sentinels." Morph said.
"The epic landing does sound cool and as long as it was a successful mission." TJ said.
"Alright everyone we're having a game of basketball to end the day, TJ get into some sports gear and meet us on the court." Scott said as everyone went to change.
0-0-0-0-0
TJ now dressed in shorts and a t-shirt he met them all outside on the court.
"Alright let's get started." Scott said as they chose, teams with TJ on Remy's team.
Logan walked up to him. "I'll let ya have the first ball think ya can handle it bub?" Logan said as he threw the ball hard at him as he caught it but almost dropped it from the sheer force it hit him.
"Think I can manage." TJ said as Jean dressed in a referee's uniform got in between them.
"Remember the rules, no powers, just skill." she reminded everyone it applied to and blew the whistle.
TJ was about to pass but was intercepted by Logan who not only stole the ball but knocked him down and immediately got in a point as he smirked at TJ who then got himself back up as Logan now had the ball.
"What's the matter too much for ya?" Logan mocked.
"I could say that but I was more thinking about that boogey on nose." TJ said as Logan started to wipe his nose as the whistle blew TJ stole the ball from Logan and began to dribble past people then passed to Jubilee who then passed to Remy who passed back to TJ who got the point as TJ shot his own smirk at Logan who now was just showed up by him.
The game went on as normal with both sides getting an advantage each time as both Rogue and Remy had their moment, then Logan telling everyone that Scott and Jean were leaving but they decided not to until it was all interrupted by the alarm.
"Intruder alert!" the automated voice said.
"Sensors show the intruder has breached the Professor's old office." Scott said as they all raced there.
"Charles Xavier was the finest man I knew."
Is that…
"Despite our differences, he never ceased to have faith in our friendship, nor forgive my many failings."
It is isn't it..
"Perhaps that is why the old fool has done this."
"Magneto, what are you doing in our home?" Scott demanded an answer.
"Your home? I beg to differ, Cyclops." Magneto said as he had in his possession a book.
"The last will and testament of Charles Francis Xavier, as you all will see, his fortune, his school, everything he built, everything he fought for, now belongs to me, my X-Men." Magneto said dropping that bombshell on them.
This is where it changes…
Well it's happened he has arrived but what will this mean for TJ time there?
What you think? Reviews please!