Disclaimers
I do not own the rights to any of the characters of the Marvel or DC universe. Any original characters referenced in this tale are my intellectual property (I think? copyright law is confusing :S)
I know and care little about the sexuality of any of the creators, actors, or characters involved in the Marvel/DC universe. Similarly, this story contains graphic descriptions of gay male sex. If that may offend you, I suggest looking elsewhere for entertainment. Otherwise enjoy some smut. The smut will be widespread and hopefully organic to character growth.
Partial credit goes to the story Mutation by Phoenixfire543 (on nifty) for inspiring me to write my own variation on the whole superhero genre. His protagonist inspired mine power wise, though mine varies a lot in temperament and disposition.
Author's Note
Glossary of Terms is at the end of the document for a change in an attempt to preserve some mystery. If I've left anything out or something is confusing let me know and I shall endeavour to make any necessary alterations.
Chapter 2 Ouroboros
John and I fell through the trans dimensional portal and landed in an urban area scarred by scorch marks, random regrowth and debris. As we took a moment
to get our bearings after our trip through the portal, they appeared in the sky. (The transition from there to here had felt like a mere moment and yet it
had also felt like a painful burning eternity. Even a phase didn't help to quell the sensation.) It was 5 flying Sentinels.
They were far more advanced and streamlined than the original designs I had seen at Alcatraz. They weren't 20 foot high purple robots with laser mounts.
Instead they were roughly 8 feet of sleek metallic death just as they were in temporal displaced Wolverine's memories.
They changed course and dove toward us in a V battle formation firing energy blasts. I blocked their initial attacks with an impromptu ice dome but it only
took a couple of energy blasts before breaking. I formed another ice dome and infused it with telekinetic energy. John shifted shapes to Jean and
obliterated the 5 Sentinels with a blast of high powered telekinesis.
"Let's get out of here." John said and I could tell he was still laggy from our trans dimensional trip as he eased himself into standing position.
I scouted with my hydro senses and we had arrived in what appeared to be the ruins of New York. I scanned further out and the entirety of North America had
become a war torn wasteland. I stretched my hydro senses out further until I saw New Atlantis, which had grown to the size of Ireland and seemed to be a
populous hub of human/mutant activity. I plotted a course there and sent John directions telepathically; he encased us in a telekinetic bubble and
propelled us in that direction with telekinetic force.
As he flew us there, Sentinels kept appearing from every direction. John and I worked together to destroy them with telekinetic and hydrokinetic attacks but
they kept appearing in greater numbers and taking longer and longer to destroy. They attacked us with various energy blasts and melee attacks, altering
their bodies to become tougher and deadlier. John and I struggled to stop the waves of attackers from overwhelming us as we tried to escape to New Atlantis.
We hit an invisible wall 15 miles outside the US coast stalling us in our escape. I recognized the energy signature as an enhanced Stark Shield. In the
minute it took for John as Jean and I to tear a hole in the enhanced Stark Shield, hundreds of Sentinels swamped our position. We managed to escape through
the gap as Sentinels surged through it after us. Within ten seconds the gap closed as the Stark Shield fully regenerated; a few Sentinels were cut in half
as it closed up.
The Sentinels that had passed through the Stark Shield we tore apart with great enthusiasm while the other Sentinels were trapped inside the Stark Shield
blasting away trying to get at us. They fired blast after blast of energy attacks against the Stark Shield to little effect but as we watched more and more
Sentinels converged, focusing their fire on the invisible Shield.
I raised up a giant wave just inside the Shield, which got hit by hundreds of Sentinels energy blasts causing sections of it to sizzle... and I propelled
the wave at the Sentinels, pushing them miles away from the Shield buying us more time to retreat.
John sped us towards New Atlantis and upon arriving we were halted by the appearance of a man with his face obscured by a bone helmet, in bone armor and
carrying a strange bone sword. The bone sword had a small human skull as a pommel, cervical vertebrae as a grip and the clavicle as a cross guard with an
edged humerus as its blade. It was odd and disturbing and vaguely familiar even though I knew I had never seen it before.
"STOP!"
The voice sounded familiar. John and I looked at each other and then back at him. "Victor?" I asked.
He took off his helmet and it was me... or a future version of me at least. "You don't taste like one of mine. Who are you? What are you doing without one
of these?" He asked as he held out a handful of silver necklaces with greenish amulets.
"This is going to sound weird but I'm you from roughly 6 years ago."
He raised a single eyebrow and threw us the necklaces. "Put these on and we will talk." John and I exchanged a wary glance then shrugged and put them on.
As we did a sense of fatigue washed over me. "Good. That should dampen your mutant signatures enough to discourage the other Sentinels from following you
any further."
"What?" I asked feeling weaker and struggling to adjust to the sensation of a weight pressing down on me, draining my strength.
"The Sentinels hunt and kill any mutants found within their territory. I've managed to quarantine them to North America but they do break free from time to
time and we expend a great deal of energy to kill them off before they can establish a foothold anywhere else. However enough of this let's go somewhere
private to discuss your story."
A split second later we were teleported underground inside a giant concrete bunker.
"So you're from my past? Remember what we did with our dupe?"
"Yes."
His fingers turned to water while the rest of him remained flesh. I sighed and did the same. Our water fingers extended out towards each other (growing by
feeding off the ambient water). John watched silently, head tilted, watching us owl like.
Our water fingers touched and merged as did our minds.
Future Me (FM) memories became available for my perusal as did mine to him. However I could sense that even as we were merged he was withholding memories
from me.
He fed me a broad overview of the events of the 6 years since our divergence which provided context for Wolverine's memories which mainly consisted of
protecting Future Xavier and those remaining from Sentinels.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& FM had gradually established himself as a global player by following our plan for world domination. The goal being to take control of the world slowly in order to help mutants come out of the shadows and be counted as equal citizens. FM had accumulated vast wealth and power by leasing out golems as
peacekeepers among other mutant based endeavors. An army of a million golems and 5 ice drakes (essentially giant flying ice dragons an upgrade from trojan
clouds) could provide a country relative security from its neighbors and enemies for a measly 10 million dollars. Governments freed from expensive military expenditure could spend more money on infrastructure for future growth. It brought an end to traditional armed conflict on a global scale. There
was no point using ground troops when a nation had an army of unkillable troops that only stayed within their borders and committed no war crimes. Buying a 'trojan cloud' for protection purposes for a million dollars from NWI became just another luxury item for the rich and famous.
FM had also provided hydrokinetic power (for a fee) to countries, allowing them to move away from fossil fuels and even nuclear power. FM and NWI (New Wave
Industries) had also provided the world with a Forge designed phone (reverse engineered then mass manufactured by other employees/mutants) that could
translate any language into any other language. It revolutionized telecommunication and also provided a whole new platform for language education and
pranking. Incidentally it also produced an interpretation lag that extended international calls which boosted profits dramatically as it was only available
on NWI networks.
FM had destabilized the human based power structure by increasing the number of mutants in the world. He had not only re powered those that had been
effected by the mutant decimation with Broadcast's help but had established revolutionary gene treatments (with help from John, Lazaruses and Peter Hale)
modifying people's genes to create millions of new mutants. Those who could not pay to become powerful new mutants, could opt to pay the fee via service to
New Wave Industries. In addition to the rapidly multiplying and increasingly visible 'golem collective' that were present in every country other than China
and the US.
Suffice to say it was revolutionary and widely regarded in some circles as the end of humanity as they knew it. The old guard who had made their money off
violence, fossil fuels and oppression were unsettled by the shifting power structure and repeatedly tried to undermine these developments with little
success as they were popular with the public and also originating in a country over which they had no jurisdiction. As such they resorted to more drastic options to maintain power and control.
Tony Stark took over the Sentinel project and injected billions of his own money into creating technology to match mutant advancement/powers. His work also
received funding from the US military industrial complex and several other multinational corporations to compete with the 'mutant menace'.
2 years ago my/our plan experienced a disruption by the public release of the Sentinels. A large majority of the American public were in support of a new more powerful mutant policing weapon. A recent debacle with a freshly resurrected Phoenix, who had possessed a telepath in London after her stay in the Astral Planes post Alcatraz had tarnished the mutant brand again.
Fostering world peace and practically eliminating pollution meant little to a public prone to panicking over the chaos that could be wrought by a single
rogue mutant. Despite the fact that the X men had captured and resolved the possession problem within a day; the American public and government weren't comfortable with relying on mutants to police their own. They wanted a fall back option of their own, in their control.
The Sentinels were released domestically to ensure American mutants knew that any breach of the law would result in immediate capture and indefinite
incarceration. FM didn't consider the Sentinels to be worthy of his immediate concern as he was safe within his own island stronghold as were most of his
friends and supporters. Hundreds of thousands of people including mutants and their families fled America and joined NWI and/or New Atlantis or other foreign countries.
3 months after their initial release the Sentinels took a dark turn from protecting the safety of the unpowered public from the superhuman to preemptively
capturing powerful mutants. When Wolverine was captured, the X men went into action to free him and those others deemed guilty simply by being mutants.
After that the Sentinels started taking even more drastic actions in order to fulfill their primary directive. "Preserve humanity." They stopped capturing
mutants and started immediately killing any mutants on the street. The public was mostly nonplussed by the death of mutants on the streets, rationalizing
that it was necessary to protect them from being replaced as the dominant species and/or mutants were inherently dangerous.
When other super powered (mutates) heroes tried to stop the Sentinels from attacking their friends and allies, they were targeted as threats and not long
after that all mutants/mutates were considered primary targets for extermination. Secondary targets were anyone that got in the way regardless of their DNA
profile. The public was more conflicted about this latest development some thinking that their heroes shouldn't interfere and were traitors to their original species while others began to worry about the Sentinels next target.
Due to FM's status as default leader of New Atlantis he couldn't directly interfere as doing so would constitute an act of war against the US and the UN
based in New York allowed no direct interference with this human right violation. FM could only provide asylum at New Atlantis for any mutants and their families to those who could travel and covert assistance by teleporting mutants without adequate documentation.
Public opinion turned against the Sentinels only when the artificial executioners started targeting ANYONE with DNA that differed from the genetic blueprint of a 'normal human'. When the Sentinels started murdering children with Downs Syndrome, sickle cell anemia and other random genetic disorders the
public lost their collective minds. The Sentinels were declared rogue by the government and to be exterminated by any means necessary.
Every SHIELD agent and hero and soldier was called to destroy the Sentinels wherever they appeared. During the months of fighting Spider man, Hawkeye, Tony
Stark and Black Widow were killed while Captain America, Vision, Human Torch suffered debilitating injuries.
Thinking that the Sentinels had been destroyed, surviving heroes grieved their fallen and recuperated as best they could as they went on with their lives.
Most of the Sentinels were exterminated by heroes and villains alike but some survived to multiply and evolve.
Over the next year the US was plagued with rogue Sentinel attacks targeting high populations of genetically deviant individuals. These raids had varying
levels of casualties and fatalities but the frequency of Sentinels appearing and attacking kept escalating exponentially.
FM meanwhile had spent the time watching from afar, gradually upping his consumption of clones to counter the threat posed by the Sentinels. Any time he observed a Sentinel leave North America he would use his power to turn the ocean against it and destroy it. He declined to help the US directly for reasons
I couldn't detect.
As the Sentinels continued to multiply within the US, FM worked on developing an ultimate protection from them. With the help of Scale, Forge and other
technologically adept mutants he created an enhanced version of the Stark Shield to contain the entire continent of North America in a Sentinel quarantine.
He allowed territorial waters to serve as a buffer between the Shield and the Sentinels occupied country. The Stark Shield was maintained by a small army
of automated floating energy projection platforms and a regenerative shield matrix.
&&&&&
He broke off the connection before I could find out what had turned FM so cold and heartless to the deaths of US civilians and heroes.
"Fascinating, your mind is filled with such anger and fear. It has been a long time since I felt those." He sounded almost wistful. "Unfortunately duty
calls and a strike team is being assembled to deal with a Sentinel breach. I think you should join us and see what the humans have wrought upon themselves
in their fear of us."
"Okay" I replied not really knowing what else to do. My original plan seemed unfeasible now.
He teleported us outside to New Atlantis proper where thousands of people were spread out on the roof tops of buildings armed with a variety of weapons.
Some were familiar faces, most were not.
"We'll commune again later. Sean link these two into the network." I didn't see Sean but almost instantly I could feel his familiar psychic signature in my mind, stronger than ever...
:: Psychic Landscape ::
Sean dragged my psychic self into an empty white room with a strange scene beneath our feet. Instead of a floor it was a view of a large metallic aircraft
carrier traveling above the ocean flanked by hundreds of Sentinels.
Mike, Broadcast, Both John's, FM and Spark stood in a circle in the air holding hands together.
Future Sean appeared from nowhere and grabbed my left hand as my John held my other hand. I got a rush of information from Sean that this was a telepathic
construction used to combine the powers of the strongest mutants to destroy Sentinels without risk thousands of miles from the target. I also got tips on
how to maintain my own psychic identity while still partially blending my powers with the others. I added my hydro senses to boost Sean's and John's
psionic observance.
The view below became more panoramic as if we were really there in person. We hung back from the main group as we watched the others as they used their powers to annihilate the next incoming fleet. Future Sean gave me a telepathic commentary explaining what was happening.
FM fired powerful jets of water into the Sentinel Transport Ship (STS) which was filled with hundreds of Sentinels. Future John morphed into Magneto and
used the metal shards of the battle jet to destroy numerous Sentinel survivors while Spark fired off concentrated bursts of electricity into other targets.
Broadcast boosted the stamina of everyone, absorbing solar radiation while firing off fireballs into midst of surviving Sentinels.
"Next one people". Using FM's senses to extend out sight further, another larger group of STS's and Sentinels were detected within the Shield hammering at
it to get through. The others channeled their powers into Broadcast who becomes god like in his destruction. He single handedly destroys hundreds of
Sentinels in seconds with a mixture of fireballs, lightning strikes, telekinetic shoves, metal attacks and reality warps.
Broadcast was drained by the effort of wiping out the fleet mostly by himself and he exited the psychic network to recharge. The others stayed in the
background, power temporarily drained by channeling it all into Broadcast.
After Broadcast exits FM takes lead again and fires off jets of water into the next STS, despite the Sentinels altering their forms, their destruction
appeared inevitable. Sentinels that turned to ice got shattered, those that turned to fire were washed away by powerful jets of water laced with diamond
tough bits of ice and those that stayed basic metal were dragged into the depths of the ocean by water tentacles to be crushed by increasing water pressure.
FM flickered for a second phasing practically imperceptibly and asked "Would you like to kill some Sentinels?"
"Can't we just wait for the next wave to strike? "
"The further away from New Atlantis they are the better it is for everyone. I can focus my power easier at close range."
"Ok then." I said wondering how I ever became FM or would be or whatever. Fucking time travel, existential nightmare.
Future John was teleported over to us via the golem collective. He merely glanced at my John and I could sense a telepathic discussion in progression but I
couldn't tell what they were saying.
FM, the two Johns and I traveled out to a spot just outside the Stark Shield in the 15 mile watery trench artificially created between Panama and Columbia
in order to close off North America neatly.
The Johns floated in the air as Magnetos in unspoken agreement, my John was distinguishable only by his clumsy (in comparison) magnocentric floating.
FM took off 3 of the amulets from around his neck, hidden behind his armor and tossed one each to the 3 of us. With another amulet in my hand I felt my
power suppressed more. It reminded me a little of Xavier's suppression of my class 5 power.
I could sense STS's within the Shield redirect their movements in our direction. By taking off his amulets FM was basically throwing bloody water out to
attract sharks as his power was no longer suppressed by 3 amulets.
Ten minutes later 3 STS's disgorged their Sentinel cargo and they swarmed over the Shield firing their energy weapons at the Shield as well as smashing
metal fists against it.
FM fired a telekinetically boosted giant ice spike at one of the STS's. Future John used the shrapnel from the explosion to rain down damage on the
surviving Sentinels while FM entangled and drowned more Sentinels. He made it look so easy.
"You try it." He said as I felt him try to establish a deeper psychic link between us. I allowed him to establish it at the middle layer so that I could
access his strength if necessary. His power vastly overshadowed mine. I could sense a huge chasm between our relative power levels, as if he was a class 5
and I was a class 4. He made me feel insecure and impressed at my future development all at the same time.
He telepathically prompted me into action. Using my power I drove an ice spike through one STS but only managed to tear a small hole in the hull which disgorged Sentinels that tried to attack us . I drew on our combined power and focused our combined strength into a single attack against an STS. The STS
was obliterated by a telekinetically boosted water jet.
Channeling that much power left me feeling lightheaded and giddy. An unusual sensation for me in any circumstance but especially in this life and death
fight against overwhelming odds.
Try it again FM advised but with greater focus on how much power is necessary to do what you want.
It was weird getting tips from my future self. I focused again and smashed a huge chunk of the last STS triggering an explosion in the STS.
The Johns as Magnetos turned the metal debris of Sentinels into a metal blizzard, chunks of Sentinels were compressed into ball bearing sized balls and used
to demolish the remaining Sentinels flying about as escorts.
We spent a couple of hours there destroying wave after wave of Sentinels with our older and more powerful counterparts. They demonstrated their skills at
turning Sentinels into weapons against other Sentinels. Future John displayed an impressive amount of control over the Electro Magnetic Spectrum firing
off EMP's while maintaining perfect control of a metal blizzard to demolish disrupted Sentinels. FM on the other hand would use frost to coast the metal
ball bearings infusing them with Tk energy and with a handful of ball bearings he smashed through dozens of Sentinels. He also manifested giant ice hands from the ocean to smack down Sentinels pushing them down into the ocean to be crushed in the ocean depths.
"That's enough for now." FM said after hours of exhausting effort as John and I tried to keep up with our older more experienced selves and falling further
and further behind.
John and Future John took the shorter journey to Future John's protectorate of South America while FM and myself returned to New Atlantis to rest and
recover. I was down to 10% strength. Any more exertion and I'd be powerless.
As we arrived back to base. I was surprised to find that the people of New Atlantis were still armed and on high alert. "Didn't we win?"
FM gave a short brittle laugh. "We most likely took out 95% of them permanently. They're made of nanobots, some of them will coalesce in the next few
minutes or hours and they'll swim or fly here to complete their last mission. We'll have small groups of Sentinels attacking us during the rest of the day."
"Oh. Couldn't we have taken them out back there?"
"Looking for nanobots in the ocean is tiresome and time consuming. It's easier to regroup here and let the others get some target practice in while we
recover."
"hmm" I murmured unconvinced.
I wondered what John was doing with his future self. He was hard to read at the best of times but he'd become so unfathomable since my temporal erasure.
For all I knew he might be fucking or fighting his older self but I didn't have enough energy left to find out.
"Let's go to my private chambers and commune."
I obliged warily. My earlier plan to merge with my future self seemed like a bad idea now. This future version of me was too cold, sterile and alien.
I merged with him again and even at reduced strength he still watched over New Atlantis with his hydro senses. I piggy backed onto his larger reserves of
energy to watch ...
:: New Atlantis::
He was right. I watched the New Atlanteans as they used a variety of weapons to take down the Sentinels that breached New Atlantis defenses. They used sonic
weapons, lasers, flamethrowers, shotgun and electric fields to demolish and obliterate them.
:: ::
As our communion continued, I tried to absorb everything that had happened to him and ostensibly to me. I learned many things which he had deliberately
withheld before in our prior telepathic communion.
&&&
A year ago Franklin Richards had created a pocket universe in order to hide civilians and his family so they could recover in peace between attacks. They'd venture out to collect more civilians and/or destroy more Sentinels from time to time.
Unfortunately this was far too late to help Luke who wanted to stay and protect his land. Grace, Gill, Kermilla, Set and Onyx had died in an unexpected raid
against his farmstead. Luke had been the only survivor. He had triggered a devastating earthquake in his rage and loss, destroying every Sentinel in range
along with a lot of the farm itself. FM had been preoccupied at the time with a hundred other side projects and problems.
Afterwards Luke came to New Atlantis and had a violent altercation where Luke blamed FM for starting shit and failing to save Grace...
FM spiraled downwards, blaming himself at first before blaming humans for their own stupidity and fear and finally just shutting down emotionally altogether . His only goal became to transcend traditional physical limitation. He made a new goal for himself. Omniscience and Omnipresence. He would become strong enough to be anywhere and everywhere in order to protect his allies and in the meantime he'd push them harder to become stronger, faster, tougher in order
to survive.
He had drained thousands of clones of himself, gradually becoming a class 5.9 hydrokinetic, class 4.9 teleporter class 4.9 telepath and class 3.9
telekinetic. He could now stash his bone sword in the interspace (a dimension between dimensions, briefly accessed during teleportations) for long periods
of time, summon and control the dead (mostly useless) via magic, create armor and weapons out of bone by shaping water then turning it into bone. He could
even see across the vast reaches of space to the Skreeman (Skrull/ Kree/ Human) outpost where Hulkling and Wiccan tried to show that all 3 of our species
could get along on one planet.
FM trialed skeletons as a replacement to the 'golem collective' as they had become more and more difficult to control due to prolonged exposure to humans
and concepts of freedom/free will. Some golems had wanted to acquire Misty's ability to transition from water to flesh so they could integrate with the
human world. Schisms in the golem collective began manifesting and they were not as reliable as they used to be. Even the J's had become increasingly more
interested in their own ambitions than in serving their former God/Creator.
Unfortunately skeletons proved to be problematic replacements for golems as without the internal support of a circulatory system ligaments wore down and
broke too fast. He had used magic in order to raise the dead but that was unanimously voted down by the council (New Atlantis had also developed a council
for leadership purposes). Sean was second in charge of New Atlantis.
FM developed the cascade cannon originally to enhance Broadcast's solar absorption. He insisted that Sean and Mike spend more and more time in Cerebro
enhancing their psionic skills. Mike rebelled and went off the grid.
3 years ago FM had sent Dupe Me to London to set up a new branch office of the NWI targeting European markets specifically.
After the latest Phoenix debacle, Dupe Me, Future me, Future John and Future Sean had gotten together to purge themselves of their darker urges via
telepathy. Starting with Dupe Me's Phorcys being burned in a psychic fire, next was FM's Phorcys. Sean then purged himself of our negative influence on his
mind.
FM gave Vision back the Mind Gem after the psychic purging as using it had given him mental indigestion, having absorbed traits of Vision and Loki (possibly why world domination seemed like a good idea).
Weapons training became mandatory in New Atlantis for those over 18, those under 18 were trained in improving physical fitness, primarily running and
dodging. Dodge ball and Track and Field were added to the New Atlantis Olympics.
The world was divided into protectorates. John and his faction protected South America, Austin/Broadcast protected Australasia, 'golem collective' protected
Antarctica, Dupe me protected Europe and FM looked after New Atlantis and the oceans. &&&&
This latest merge provided lots of little details on FM's life and struggles and uses of power. Of particular interest was the cascade cannon. A series of
ice disks in a vertical cascade to harness and amplify solar energy into a powerful blast of heat and light on stationary targets.
I also learned it was still 3 months until the time Wolverine's consciousness was sent back in time. I'd have to wait until the moment that Future Kitty
initiated the process otherwise I'd create yet another indeterminate alternate timeline. I'd have to be patient and wait. FM could provide valuable
training while I waited for the right moment to hitch a temporal ride in order to save my mother and myself.
2 and a half months later
I had been training with FM for months and he had taught me a lot but even though we were theoretically the same person we had some major differences of
opinion. The biggest one being my refusal drain clones to speed up my training. I had come to the conclusion that draining clones only exacerbated
underlying personality traits (introspection, dispassionate reasoning and alienation). Instead I focused on pushing myself to the limits of my natural
ability. Sometimes I did sap FM or 'link' with him in order to practice higher order techniques.
Despite our idealistic differences he had given me one on one training as to how to use the cascade cannon and generate ice drakes and even more powerful
clones and how to create a virtual armory out of bone. He'd also showed me ways to manipulate flesh to maximize draining of clones and also to armor myself
in bone. We'd taken to sparring together with battle staffs made of bone, it was a great way to train reflexes as we would teleport about smacking away at
Tk shields, ice shields and generated bone walls.
As a result of our training/communing sapping; he had become less alien and more like an older brother that I never had. Over time I had let go over my
frustration over being erased from time.
I hadn't seen John in months. I couldn't even spy on him from afar as he or FJ(future John) had blocked psionic observance. I had no idea what he'd been
learning during his time there.
As part of our new plan FM and me joined up with both Johns in Hawaii and gave our amulets to the safekeeping of Future Dupe Me (FDM). FDM wore a chain mail
armor made of high strength alloys with a medieval style helm covering his head except for his eyes which were blue for some reason. It was anachronistic and so us. FDM would stay behind and maintain the new Stark Shield that now covered Hawaii and its islands within its virtually impenetrable protection.
He would also serve as our emergency backup power source to sap if necessary.
The 4 of us flew over to the US without our amulets committed to weakening the Sentinel army, hoping not to disrupt the timeline too much. Otherwise we
might divert Xavier from his plans of temporal interference and erase us all. It was a difficult balancing act and I wanted to cause as few ripples in time
as possible.
We had devised a plan to leapfrog our way into the US rescuing any Sentinel prisoners. They kept some prisoners in their main facility in order to try and
mimic their powers in order to become even stronger. The path there was littered with Sentinel Factories, the Sentinels replicated by converting any
factories in an urban area into producing Nanobots that converted basic metals into alloys that would make more Sentinels. while other Sentinels patroled
for mutants and others guarded their various factories.
FM and I alternated our attacks so that we could each rest between taking out STS and their passengers by a combination of telekinesis and drowning/steaming
and spiking Sentinels.
FJ and John used the STS's as shrapnel bombs to take out swathes of Sentinels. Any Sentinels that escaped the initial blast were bombarded by a metal
blizzard until they were crushed or destroyed. Once the Sentinels in our immediate vicinity were annihilated, FJ collected the metal from destroyed
Sentinels and STS's along the way to have a steady supply of potent projectiles on hand. FM and I coated those projectiles with ice to give them more heft.
We paused for a few minutes so that the Johns could assume the shape of Wolverine to recharge their physical and mental energy faster. FM and I phased to
recover our energy/stamina.
We traveled deeper inland over the next week to the internment camp holding mutant prisoners. Dozens of battle fleets converge on our position as we
destroyed the Sentinels guarding the prisoners. Since we were deep into Sentinel territory and deep inland, there was less readily available water to use
to attack with. FM and I were forced to rely on telekinesis and teleporting more and more to dodge and strike.
FM telepathically told John and I to free the prisoners. They were held in the former city of Canon City within Colorado in a heavily fortified encampment.
I rained down ice spikes onto Sentinels guarding the facility as John as Jean ripped off doors and ceilings with telekinesis, allowing the prisoners out
into the open. FM kept me updated with the amount of incoming, as he and FJ used their powers to keep the Sentinels from attacking the newly freed
prisoners.
Once all the prisoners were freed, we telepathically conferred and came up with an exit plan. FJ and John would cover our retreat as FM and I would evacuate
the rescued prisoners to safety in Hawaii with Future Dupe Me.
"We'll be back as soon as we can." I telepathically sent an image of our route in case they need to bail in a hurry.
"We can handle it." John said
"Stay safe."
"Where's the fun in that?" John asked smiling and I shook my head, trying to fight off the smile from a familiar exchange after a lot of strangeness.
I kept an 'eye' on them as I entangled hundreds of prisoners with my water and mass teleport while FM teleports the other 70% in teleport hops towards
Hawaii.
:: Internment camp::
Both Johns as Male Phoenix telekinetically shield the Internment camp as FM streams water around their position to create a mini Ice Dome beneath the
telekinetic shield. STS's converge on their position, swarming them with an unbelievable amount of Sentinels. :: ::
I mass teleported the freed prisoners in a series of teleport hops to Santa Catalina Islands before coming to the conclusion that the Johns could do with my
help. FM told me he'd transport the rest of them back to Hawaii himself.
:: Internment camp ::
There's now 30 battle fleets around the two Johns who are sending waves of telekinetic force left and right, tearing apart STS's and their Sentinel Escorts.
I send forth a blizzard of swirling snow and ice Spikes but it doesn't help enough as I'm too far away and weakened by the fighting. Despite their combined
destructive power the Johns are being outnumbered and overpowered as more and more STS's arrive disgorging Sentinels. They're struggling to keep up with
maintaining offensive attacks while being bombarded by increasing numbers of Sentinels blasting them with energy attacks and suicide bombing their shields
as Diamond.
They're losing ground. :: ::
I teleport myself into the ocean, absorbing it into myself.
:: FM::
FM cuts off the inhibition collars off the prisoners once arriving in Hawaii, allowing them their mutantness after far too long.
:: ::
I become trillions of gallons of water and I become a tidal wave racing far above the ground, pushing myself to my very limits.
I'm COMING I telepathically shout as I go to reinforce the Johns.
:: Johns over Canon City.::
The John switched shapes rapidly making it hard to tell which one was which as they toggled between Jean Grey telekinetically
shielding them and Austin blasting STSs with concentrated solar radiation and Magneto firing off EMP bursts and shrapnel bombing Sentinels.
They struggled to maintain Tk Shieldings and metal blizzards and solar attacks with just the two of them. Then Future John switches to Multiple Man and
multiplies as he hits himself.
Then several of those turn into Jean Greys and they obliterate STS's and Sentinels en masse but it doesn't seem to stop the apparently endless tide of Sentinels. :: ::
I arrived on the scene as a flying tsunami of watery power and smash into the Sentinels with endless fury, manifesting giant Ice hands around STS's smashing
them into each other like a child with action figures and yet they still come in ever greater numbers.
LEAP FROG I hear shouted telepathically through my fear and anger.
FM joins me within the torrent of water taking control of the water and I reformed myself. Naked again. I clothe myself in bone. I help the Johns in their
retreat trying to fend off stray Sentinels. They litter the sky like locusts. Duplicate Johns are absorbed by Future John and it's a mess as some refuse to
comply and resist, causing mini battles between Future John and other Dupes, which isn't made easier as Dupes duplicate exactly what the Prime was wearing
at the time of duplication which makes it hard to figure out who's fighting who and who to help.
:: Canon City:: FM shifts all the water in the air into bone and propels it into the mass of Sentinels as he reforms in a full length bone body armor with a giant 7 foot
bone staff in hand. He teleports in and out of the swarm just long enough to smash the telekinetically boosted bone staff into a Sentinel and disappear to
attack another and another. He's a blur of motion, smashing down Sentinels with his bone staff teleport dodging energy strikes so that Sentinels attack
each other, using telekinesis and teleports to move other Sentinels into line of fire.
:: ::
We stop for a few minutes as the Johns and the dupes fight for supremacy. I'm left on the sidelines not sure what to do as I don't know who's who and I'm
forced to wait for it to come to a messy conclusion.
FM starts teleport-leaping to catch up to us, he arrives in less than a minute. He and Future John force the other Johns into compliance and there are
thousands of Sentinels en route to our location. FM entangles the 3 of us and teleports us all the way back to Hawaii in a single teleport leap.
When we returned FDM asked how it went. We told him we had succeeded in freeing the prisoners and had struck a blow to the Sentinels. He took off his helm
and FM and I each sapped him by touching him on the cheek, which gave us enough of an energy boost so we could phase a couple of times before putting on
our bio dampening amulets.
The Johns shift to Wolverine and wait for his regenerative powers to restore their physical and mental equilibrium. The rescued prisoners had recovered a
little from their ordeal but were still too hungry, tired and weak to be of much use right then.
FDM helps us fight off a smaller wave of Sentinels before teleporting the prisoners back to New Atlantis for processing.
We spend the rest of the day and night recovering from our prolonged battle with the Sentinels. Or as much as we can while still fighting off smaller and
smaller waves of Sentinel attacks.
Next day
Having destroyed an estimated 30% of the Sentinels forces in the US with our prison raid, we were encouraged to perform strike and run attacks against the
Sentinels in order to further weaken them, with Hawaii being our home base. The others were increasing their patrols of South America and the oceans while
we were otherwise occupied.
We went out in pairs. I went out with Future John while FM went with my John. The plan was for me to practice my use of cascade cannon on a nearby Sentinel
factory with Future John providing assistance if necessary. Once target was destroyed we'd wait for nearby battle fleets (a STS and a few hundred escorting
Sentinels) to attack, then wipe those out and retreat back to base once done.
After a few days of strike and retreat tactics, I had gotten proficient at using the cascade cannon to flash fry Sentinel factories and the Sentinels were
reduced to 10% of their original numbers. Unfortunately due to their high survivability rates, those Sentinels were the toughest and most durable Sentinels
of their kind and would have to destroyed before they had a chance to replicate.
Temporal day
We waited for the STS that carried a small contingent of extra tough Sentinels to be devastated by Storm and Magneto where Magneto launched the X Jet into
the STS and Storm used a lightning strike to explode it in the midst of the battle fleet. We watched as Magneto and Storm were injured and we teleported
both of them to a distant mountain peak while we teleported our way inside the old X men school to interrupt the Sentinels slaughtering the remaining
mutants.
FJ as Magneto in his prime and John as Jean obliterate the remaining Sentinels while I teleported to Kitty and Wolverine's location. I heal Kitty's wound
and I shifted to water and reached out wrapping a tentacled hand around Kitty, Wolverine, Bishop (who was still outside), Xavier, FJ as Magneto, John as
Jean and Blink. I shifted to flesh and sapped all 6 of them, attaining a massive temporary power boost. I attained Wolverine's regenerative ability, Bishop's energy absorption and enhanced temporal/spatial awareness, Magneto's control over energy spectrum, Jean's class 5 telekinetic and telepathic
abilities. Along with Kitty's temporal psionic displacement and intangibility and Blink's teleportation ability.
I called out telepathically to my John that it was Time to bail on this timeline.
I used the combined powers to generate a temporal gateway through the fluctuating timeline that Wolverine's continuing temporal journey had created.
:: elsewhere::
A decapitated iceman was re coalescing. From what I could gather from his memories; he had never done that before but Kitty had been messing with time's
progression for a while so maybe he would have eventually learned that.
:: ::
I disconnected from the others and as John switched to Wolverine and jumped through the pinkish portal in time I followed after; hopefully into 1983.
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Glossary of terms FDM - Future Dupe Me FM - Future Me FJ - Future John battle fleet - 3 STSs and a few hundred Sentinels serving as escorts STS- Sentinel Transport Ship, looks grey like a Starcraft terran battlecruiser NWI - New Wave Industries phase - shifting from flesh to water to flesh for a 90% of stamina recovery, has diminishing returns if used repeatedly shift- shifting from flesh to water or alternative in context with John changing from his default form to another person's form. 'golem collective' - used to refer to golems that have linked together in a hive mind structure. Sentinels - a collection of nanobots that are designed to capture/kill mutants and evolve to preserve 'humanity'.