An Hour Of Last Things

Israel's Negev Desert, Cable brings the PACRAT in for a landing. Cable and Domino are joining the X-Men at the request of Charles Xavier. A man who does not make requests often...and is not often denied.
Below the descending PACRAT, stand the X-Men along with several hundred uniformed men from the Israeli Military and Gabrielle Haller, who is the first to speak.
"Charles, exactly who is this person arriving now. And why do I have the feeling that I'm not going to like the answer?"
"You are the professional diplomat, Gabrielle." Charles replies. "And since we desperately need the services of the man now joining us, based on his rather checkered past, I suggest you quickly brush up on your skills."
"Amazing!" Cyclops notes. "Even with Jean unconscious, I can feel him...In my mind."
"You share a psychic rapport with our guest, Scott." Xavier states. "Not surprising, since it is your son, the man called Cable." Charles adds, mostly for Gabrielle's benefit.

The PACRAT, which looks very much like a Klingon 'Bird of Prey' from the movies, Scott notes, lands and a ramp lowers as the hatch opens. Cable and Domino step out, Dom nervously eyeing the soldiers all around.
"Hi, Pop." Cable says to Scott, then turns to Xavier. "You called, Chuck. I came. Now could you explain why Domino and I are here?"
"Only for the most dire...and unexpected, of reasons, Cable." Charles intones. "The X-Men are, once more, in need of your aid. Storm, Bishop, Psylocke and Iceman were apparently sucked into some sort of temporal vortex while battling my son, David."
"And as the resident time-traveler, you want me to go get them?" Cable asks. "Would that I could, but my Time Displacement Core has been out of commission for a while now. Unless you know anyone who can drag up a few hundred tons of machinery from the bottom of the ocean."
Suddenly, there are several dozen 'clicks' all around them, as the safety's are taken of the soldier's guns. Guns which are all levelled at Cable and Dom.
"I think that might've been the wrong answer, Big Guy." Dom notes.
"Uhm...I never said I wouldn't try." Cable says.
"General, what is the meaning of this!" Gabrielle demands of their commanding officer.
"I recognize this man, Ambassador." The General replies. "This mercenary is wanted for crimes against the state of Israel."
"No, you've got me wrong." Cable tells him. "You're thinking of a creep who looked like me...actually, he was my clone...it's a long story, trust me."
"A clone?" The General asks. "Temporal vortexes and now clones. Why should I trust any of you after today's insanity?!"
"Good question." Cable replies then turns towards Domino. "Dom...a little help here, please?"
"Uhm...don't put me on the spot, Nate." Dom replies. "Geez...we're wanted in so many countries, it's kind of hard to keep track..."
Suddenly the sky darkens to black and lightening across thunder booming.
"The heavens protest." Dom says quietly. "You've really gotten someone pretty ticked off, Nate."
"Domino, please." Xavier tells her. "I sense more at work here. This isn't a natural storm."
With a last crack of thunder, there is an image of a beautiful female figure, over one hundred feet in length, towering over the Negev. An image all to familiar to Charles Xavier...Lilandra, Majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire.
"Oh, my stars and garters!" Hank exclaims. "Things are getting serious."
"Charles Xavier, I bid you greetings, former consort." Lilandra's image intones. "As Majestrix of the star-spanning Shi'ar Imperium, and Lilandra Neramani, the woman who still loves you through all our troubles. But I must warn you that events currently unfolding in your planet's past, through the actions of your renegade son, David Haller, pose a dire threat to the very fabric of all reality! I apologize for the excessive theatrics, Charles, but massive energies were required to establish this contact. The M'Kraan crystal glows angrily...and communications between our worlds have been severely disrupted."
"By what, Lilandra?" Charles asks. "How can Legion's actions, wherever he is in the past, be causing interstellar problems in the present? How can you know any of this?"
"Shall we simply say, my soul mate..." Lilandra replies, as the image widens to include several others standing behind, and towering over her. "That it would be best for us to listen...when the whispered words of warning come straight from the mouths of the Watchers!"

Within the hour, a Shi'ar ship has landed and equipment is unloaded that is to aid the X-Men in their bid to stop David Haller and reach the X-Men now trapped in the past.
Dom sticks her head out the hatch of the PACRAT and searches through the crowd for Cable. "Nate, it's Sam on the comm-link. He needs to speak to you ASAP."
Cable makes his way to the PACRAT and Dom takes his arm as he enters. "They've found Bobby, Nate!"
"What? DaCosta? Where?" Cable asks.
"I'll let Sam explain." Dom tells him.
"All right, Sam, let's have it." Cable tells him, smiling at the young man's joy, which is even apparent over the video comm-link.
"Sir, we've found him. He's showing up on our Cerebro clear as a bell. I don't know why or how, but we've got 'im. We need you and/or Dom ta' bring th' PACRAT, pick us up and go get 'im."
"Sam..." Cable replies. "Things here are a little more complicated than I expected. I really don't think I can send Dom back with the PACRAT right now."
"I don't know if you get just what I'm sayin' Sir. We found Bobby!" Sam tells him.
"I do hear you, Sam, and I'm sorry." Cable replies. "But the situation here requires our presence, because without us, the world as we know it might be ending! What good would it do to rescue DaCosta if there's nothing left to bring him home to?"
"Things're that bad?" Sam asks.
"Probably worse than that, I'm afraid." Cable explains. "Only hours ago, David Charles Haller, better known as Legion, son of Xavier, left this place to travel back in time. Followed closely by four X-Men who are now trapped with him in the past. Soon after, a Shi'ar ship arrived. We were warned that Legion's mysterious time-tamperings have caused a growing tear in the fabric of reality. With the help of the Shi'ar, the X-Men have formulated a desperate plan to bridge time and prevent Legion from destroying all that is.
"Fine. Okay. I know you well enough to know you don't cry wolf, Sir. I'll put in a call to Moira MacTaggert, maybe Forge." Sam tells him.
"Forge owes me one, he'll come through." Cable replies. "If the situation here improves, Sam, we'll be back as soon as possible."

Cable cuts off the link and steps back outside to find the preparations complete. He steps into the massive machine and Dom straps him in. Above Cable, Jean Grey Summers and above her Charles Xavier are already strapped in.
"Nathan," Jean says, "If you're ready, it looks like the Shi'ar engineers have finished their jury-rigging."
"Indeed they have, Jean." Hank McCoy replies. "In fact, they claim that this construct will facilitate our little chronal fishing expedition. Apparently, it's energies will augment and coordinate your various psi-powers. Allowing you, fair Jean, to hold Cable's techno-virus in check, while Charles telepathically jump-starts Cable's latent time-travel abilities. With luck, Cable's mind will be projected through the decades. Allowing his ambient consciousness to find our wayward teammates wherever they may be lost, and warn them that they must thwart Legion's machinations immediately, if not sooner."
Gambit inches closer to Rogue and whispers, "Chancy stuff, Rogue, Darlin'. We're doin' this b'cause?"
"Didn't you hear th' Professah, Gambit?" Rogue replies. "Storm an' th' others hitched through time on that crazy boy's psychic coattails. There's no tellin' how messed up their minds might be. Our only hope is that Cable c'n prod 'em inta takin' action against Legion b'fore...well..."
"Before his deeds shatter reality into a billion shards of darkness." Archangel finishes for her. "I believe that was the warning Lilandra gave us. And neither her nor the Watchers are given to overstatement. The fate of the universe may very well be in the hands of four lost souls...But they will save us...and we, them. I won't lose Bobby or Betsy. Understood?"

On the platform above Cable, Scott places his hand on Jean's cheek, lifts her chin and kisses her softly. "I'm worried."
"What a shock." Jean tells him smiling. "I'll be fine, Scott. We all will. Now, give me another kiss, step back and fret about something more important than me."

Dom places her hand on Nathan's chest, eyes the huge machine all around them and whispers, "I don't like this, Nate."
"And you think I do?" Cable smiles down at her. "Don't worry, Dom, on this foolhardy mission I've two of the world's best backing me up. I'll be fine."
Dom steps down right behind Scott and Hank begins a countdown.
"Four...three...two...one...now!"
"...uhm..." Hank turns to the Shi'ar engineer beside him. "Nothing's happening."
"Be patient, Earthstuff." The engineer replies.
"But nothing's--"

SSSSSCHOOM

"Huh--UHHNG" Cable falls to the hard planks of a dock. "Made it...But to where?" Cable takes in his surroundings and finds himself in front of the X-Man known as Bishop, who is dressed in civilian clothes. "Bishop? Why you?" Cable wonders. "Of course. You're a temporal anomaly, like myself, most obvious anchor to draw me."
Bishop holds his breath. There is a stirring of revelation. He feels he should know this man, but...
"Bishop!" Storm shouts from above. "We do not know this man! Be wary of an attack!"
"He's not moving, 'Ro!" Iceman notes, as Bishop stands unmoving, studying Cable's face. "Was he blinded by the flash of light that guy appeared in?"
"Bishop, stand back!" Storm orders making ready to blast Cable.
"No!" Bishop shouts. "This man is familiar to me. He know something--"
"No time for this." Cable says, stepping forward, placing his hand to Bishop's head and forming a psi-link with him, and through him a link with all four X-Men.

"Listen to me." Cable says through the link. "You must remember! You are the X-Men and you have a mission. Even as we speak, time is unravelling. The world we know is shattering because Legion has come to change the past. You've got to wake up from you haze and you've got to stop him! You've got to! Remember!"
With another flash of light, the four X-Men are alone on the dock.

The Negev desert in the present time, Cyclops approaches Cable's still body. There is nothing more difficult, for the X-Man Scott Summers. He would rather lead his fellow mutants into unknown battle, than to look at his son's seemingly lifeless body, and be unable to help him in any way. Hoping against hope that Nathan Christopher Summers will come back to him.
"Nathan?" Scott whispers softly. "Nathan, are you with us?"
It doesn't help that Cable volunteered for this brazen plan. Using alien Shi'ar technology, Cable's psionic presence was sent back in time nearly two decades to contact four lost X-Men. Nor is it made any easier that Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men and Scott's surrogate father, combined with Jean Grey Summers, Scott's fellow X-Man, wife, lover and best friend, arguably the two most powerful telepaths on the planet, agreed to serve as temporal anchors, guideposts for Cable's promised return. The strain of which could kill them all.
"...remember, Bishop...remember.." Cable mumbles softly, and suddenly Cyclops is blasted clear off the platform by a telekinetic burst from Cable.
"S'okay, Scott, I got you." Gambit says, as he catches him.
"Did you hear, Gambit?" Scott asks. "He spoke!"
"Sure did." Gambit replies. "For all the good it'll do us."

The first face Cable lays eyes on is the woman he's spent the last few years thinking quite a bit about: Domino.
"I'm...back." Cable says softly, touched deeper than he can put into words by the relief he sees in Dom's eyes.
"Hello, stranger." Dom says smiling. "Look, Nate, don't take this the wrong way, but if you ever try a stunt like this again...I'll kill you."
"Yeah, well...if those X-Men in the past don't get on the stick, it isn't gonna matter anyway." Cable replies, allowing Dom to steady him as he step down from the platform.

Scott rushes to Jean's side, unstrapping her from the huge machine.
"Scott, my God!" Jean tells him. "Being mind-linked with Nathan...you can't imagine...the constant pain the techno-virus puts him through. It's much worse than when he was a boy. How does he live with that pain day in and day out?"

Hank McCoy unstraps Xavier and carries him to his chair.
"Professor?" Hank asks.
"I appreciate you concern for my well being, Henry, but whatever Cable has learned is of much greater importance." Charles says, looking to Cable.
"I hate to disappoint you, Xavier." Cable replies. "But I'm not entirely clear what happened."
"Understandable," Charles tells him. "Given your inexperience with this aspect of your powers."
"Maybe if I opened my head up to you, you can untangle my memory..." Cable offers.
"I was going to suggest just that." Charles replies, and forms a link with Cable.
"Relax now." Charles says through the link. "I...we are linking minds...I/we made it into the past...I/we found them...the four lost X-Men...Iceman, Storm, Psylocke...and Bishop, yes, I/we was/were particularly drawn to Bishop...but something went wrong...they made to attack me/us...as if they didn't know who I/we was/were...only had time to reach out to Bishop...get him to remember the mission...tell him about the M'Kraan...get them to stop Legion...remember, Bishop, remember..."
Xavier breaks the link, and fills everyone in on just what happened.
"Then...what you're saying is...the mission was a success." Jean says, half question, half statement.
"And what's really important is that Betsy and the others are alive." Warren adds.
"I guess." Cable replies, mostly to Jean. "I wish I could've done more...or at least had some sense of what Legion was doing there...some twenty years ago in Israel."
"Legion's motives are frustrating at best." Charles tells them. "And I, too, am at a loss as to what action my son plans to take."
"Curious." Hank says. "That Cable was drawn to Bishop, when Psylocke, being a telepath, would be the more obvious contact."
"I can only hazard a guess." Charles replies. "But Bishop being time-displaced even in our era makes him a sort of chronal--"
"Let me get dis straight." Gambit interrupts. "We pinned all our hopes t' Cable deliverin' dis message, and dat's it?! Well, he's back and de blasted world is still gonna end!"
"Oh, crap." Dom thinks, as Cable strides forward at Gambit's outburst.
"If you don't have something constructive to add, Cajun, they why don't you stay OUT of it!" Cable shouts when he is inches from Gambit's face.
"I'll say what I got to, when I got to, Cable!" Gambit replies. "De last man I'm gonna take any lip from is you!"
Gambit makes a fist and draws back, only to find he cannot move. Cable grins down at him as he holds the Cajun motionless in a telekinetic field.
"Oh, no ya' don't!" Rogue says taking a step towards Cable. But it is only one step, as he finds her way blocked by Domino.
"Forget it, Rogue. It'll be just one on one if I have to take you all on." Dom tells her.
"But--" Rogue begins.
"But what, 'Sugah'?" Dom asks smiling, daring the other woman to make a move towards Nathan.

ZARK

Rogue sets off after Gambit. Finding him smoking a cigarette just over the nearest sand dune. "Remy...can we talk?"
"If dis is about me tryin' ta' take a poke at Cable...I already know I acted like a fool." Gambit tells her.
"No, I...I was just wonderin'...I know how you feel about me and all, but with so little time left...Remy, if things were diff'rent...did ya' ever think about havin' a family or anythin' like that?" Rogue asks.
"Rogue.." Remy draws deep from his smoke, then exhales hard. "I learned a long time ago...there's no point in worryin' 'bout what you can't have."
Rogue's shoulders begin go convulse as she turns and runs away.
He regretted it even as he said it. But old habits die hard. With 'so little time' what would it have cost him, he wonders. What could it have cost him to simply tell her the truth..."Rogue, wait...!" He tosses away the cigarette and runs after her.

"What're you doing?" Nathan asks, approaching Dom who appears to be cleaning her weapon.
"Look, I'm not gonna pretend I understand what a M'Kraan crystal is." Dom tells him. "But if the big one is comin' I'd feel better knowing my gun was clean and ready. You got a better plan?"
Cable swallows...hard...and tries to find the right words.
"Dom, I've known you as long as anybody and...you see, I always thought I'd die in battle...Only now, I don't know what to think..except...If this really is the end, I wanted you to know that lately....I've come to think of you as more than a friend...a lot more...and I...I'd like to know how you feel about that."
Dom is silent for a moment. A moment that stretches into years for Cable.
"Good ol' Nate." Dom laughs. "Our darkest hour...an you're kiddin' around, right?"
Cable's teeth grind so hard that he knows they will shatter any second, as he struggles to keep his shoulders stiff and the white hot pain that shoots through him at her words from being heard in his voice as he replies.
"Right. That's me. Life o' the party."
Cable turns stiffly and strides quickly away.

"You're awfully quiet." Scott says, placing his arm around Jean. "Want to tell me what's going on in that pretty head of yours?"
"It's...nothing." Jean replies. "In fact, if it wasn't so pointless it would almost be funny."
"Jean, tell me."
"Oh, Scott, I...I thought I'd see my parents, my niece and nephew...and maybe even Logan at least one last time before..." Jean stops, turns around and hugs him tightly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't even have told you."
"Shhhh..." Scott replies softly. "You were being honest and I respect that...and, in my own way, I miss the little runt myself."
"Scott, I think I love you more right now than in all the years we've known each other." Jean tells him.
"Jean, I've been struggling with something." Scott whispers. "Even though we promised never to reveal the truth about 'Slym and Redd' to Nathan..." "I know what you mean." Jean replies. "It seems so moot now. But are you suggesting that--"
"I hope I'm not intruding." Charles Xavier says, rounding the corner in his hover-chair.
"It's all right, Sir. Any news?" Scott asks.
"We can only pray that the others received the message." Charles replies. "It's beyond our control now. How odd life is. Seeing the two of you married at last...I am so glad for your happiness. But I wonder for myself...the life we've all shared...did I come any closer to achieving the dream for a better world? In the end...did I make any difference at all?"
"Professor," Scott says, as Jean wraps Charles in a warm hug, "Now I know the world is going to end. When we have to teach you something."
"I think," Jean says, "What Scott is trying to say, in his usual less-than-delicate way, is...Charles, without you there would be no X-Men, no Scott and Jean Summers. And if the X-Men are any indication of your handiwork, you cannot doubt your value."
"Well, when you put it that way..." Charles replies smiling.

Minutes later, Scott and Jean find Cable sitting alone.
"It's a lonely world I've known all my life." Cable tells them without turning around as they approach. "I wish...I wish I had more time with you and Jean."
"Nathan," Scott says very softly and with a tone Jean hasn't heard him use since Nathan was a child. "There's something you should know. Growing up, the foster parents you knew as 'Slym' and 'Redd'..."
"It was us, Nathan." Jean bursts out, unable to contain it any longer. "All those years, it was us."
A smile stretches across Nathan's face as he stands and turns to face his parents. Jean runs and throws her arms around his neck.
"Thank you." Nathan whispers softly.
"You mean...you knew?!" Scott asks.
"Of course I knew." Nathan replies. "I've always known. I figured you had reasons for not telling me...I was willing to wait till you were ready." "Nathan, we wanted to tell you." Jean hugs him tighter. "So many times these past weeks since our return from the future, but we thought it would make things harder for you."
"The time line." Nathan repeats. "Even with all the experience I've had with time travel...look, maybe in the end, nothing is certain. But I want you both to know, by going into the future, you both changed my life. You gave me a family. How can that be wrong? All I now know about time is...that it is so precious...and I don't regret, for a single moment, being your son. I love you, both."
"Nate?" Dom asks from right behind him.
"Dom." Nathan replies, giving Jean a 'you knew she was there' look, before turning to face her.
"Got a minute?" Dom asks softly, as Jean grabs Scott's arm jerking him away.
"Scott and I will be with the others." Jean says aloud, and then to Nathan, through their link, "Never forget...we love you, Nathan, so very much."

"I, uhm..." Dom whispers. "I couldn't help overhearing...seeing as how I was standing right over here...about what you were saying....about time being precious...that was so beautiful...Nate, I've been with you at your worst. When we both hadn't slept for days...and somehow it didn't seem to matter...as long as I was with you...and sometimes you can be a...bull-headed, short-sighted, chauvinistic, egotistical, lout...but I guess what I'm trying to say is..." Dom reaches and takes his hand in hers, "I can't think of anybody that I'd rather spend my last hour on Earth with, then you."
"Domino...

Minutes later, Nathan and Dom joining the others gathered before Charles Xavier, who upon seeing them arrive, begins to speak.
I...want to give each of you something...as a way of saying 'Thank You' and I thought since our relationship began as teacher and students...a final lesson was appropriate. Together we have shared this 'Hour Of Last Things.' Nothing is more important when saying 'Good-Bye' to someone you love...than feeling you have said all there is to say. It is a gift called 'closure' and allows those who live on beyond you to face the world without rage, anger or sorrow. Only the pride of having known you." Charles links them every one together, "I will miss you my X-Men...terribly..."

It began some time ago...in an exclusive private school in New York's Westchester County. Five youths with colorful names...Cyclops. Marvel Girl. Angel. Iceman. Beast. They heard a telepathic voice and responded without question. 'Attention X-Men, this is Professor Xavier calling. You are ordered to appear at once.'
As time went on their ranks swelled. Some died. Some married. Some had children. But no matter where their lives took them...the badge they wore...a simple 'X'...bonded them together as a family. Together they fought for the noblest of causes. A dream where all men and women, mutant and human alike, would live in peace and harmony.
In the blink of an eye the dream ends. The M'Kraan crystal runs unchecked across the planet. There will be no tomorrow. Only the memory of what might have been.

Almost two decades ago, in Israel. Storm and the others stand transfixed as a man who appears to be Bishop, but much older runs forward and grabs David Haller's hand just before he plunges his psi-blade into Charles Xavier, who has thrown himself over Magnus' helpless body. But how can this be? Bishop stands with them, yet there is no denying that the man they watch is Bishop, perhaps twenty years older.
"Surrender, David!" The older version of Bishop orders. "Give it up!"
"No!" David screams. "It's not fair! I came so far to make Father's dream work! Don't take the chance away from me! You don't know what you're doing to the future!"
"No, David, you don't know!" Bishop's older twin tells him. "Let me show you!"
Unexpectedly, the older Bishop plunges David's psi-blade deep into his own chest, absorbing his energy, then unleashing it just as swiftly. Over and over again creating a loop of psionic power that connects the two men and engulfs them in a torrent of horrific force that only one can survive.
"Father..." David screams.
And at last...after all the pain and suffering and torment and cataclysm endured by a universe...it ends...in a whisper.
"In your mind..." David whispers with his dying breath. "I saw...tomorrow...it was...terrible...horrible...it was...my fault...I just tried to...fix things...give my father...his dream. Never meant to...screw it up..."
"I know, David." The older Bishop replies as he holds him close. "But you did. You turned it into a nightmare. And now...as your own energies consume you...you pay the price for your folly. I, too, fade...and with me all memory of your crime. You had the potential to be the greatest of us all, David. Instead, twisted with hatred, you squandered your power. Your father would not be proud..."
And they are gone.
"Wow." Bobby turns to Ororo, "Did we, or did we not just win...without raising a finger?"
"I have a feeling, Robert," Storm replies, "That the true war was fought on a battlefield unknown to us."
And without David to anchor them in the past, the four X-Men are drawn back to the present...a half-second before eternity can forever end.

Our Journey Continues With
A Teapot In A Tempest

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