Chapter Text
40 Years in the Future
Bishop walked through the back door of what had once been a factory bay or a small warehouse. Today, barely standing amongst others of its kind, the building served as a laboratory and a vital staging point for the rebels' next, and hopefully last, mission.
He looked around, but couldn't see Forgina amongst the machines. He didn't think anything of it; just because he couldn't see her, didn't mean she wasn't here. He put his gun down on a table and sat down to wait. While he waited, he found himself skimming over the X-Men file again, although he'd just about memorised it by now.
…Rogue and Gambit met while in the queue to get the Cure. Gambit was undecided about getting the Cure at this stage and ultimately decided not to get it after Rogue told him about Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. He did steal a box of a half-dozen vials, however. It was also suggested that while in the queue, Rogue and Gambit discovered that they could make skin contact without Rogue absorbing him. If true, this fact didn't stop Rogue from going through with taking the Cure herself.
…Gambit studied under Storm in her class for emotional control. His first assignment was to find a hobby that would 'enable him to get into the zone and build a core of calm within himself'. It is uncertain how long it took him, but it was ultimately cooking that became the teaching hobby…
…During this time, the Reavers began their reign of terror… It was not known until later that the Reavers were organised by Donald Pierce, a member of the Hellfire Club. Sources say that Pierce hated mutants and bore a grudge against fellow Hellfire Club members including Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw.
…The Reavers attacked Eagle Plaza, the home and workshop of Forge…
…Morph, Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, and Spyke began a show on the internet that provided helpful advice for new mutants and people wanting to learn more about mutation. The X-Men used their 'channel' to create other shows as well, all in the hope of education, raising awareness and acceptance.
…The Reavers broke out their fellow Reavers and other inmates from prisons all over the USA…
…Rogue learnt she had a paternal half-brother, Jason Hancock. He was identified as a mutant, however his mutation had not yet manifested…
…The first public instance of the Cure wearing off actually came a few months prior to the official announcement. One of the 'test subjects', a woman by the name of Evangeline Whedon, aka 'Vange', experienced the sudden return of her powers. Unfortunately, this involved her turning into a huge red dragon and terrorising the people of San Francisco. Fortunately, several X-Men including Rogue and Gambit, were in the city at the time and were able to talk Vange down back into her human form…
…Rogue was at a party attended by Sebastian Shaw that was attacked by five Reavers. The Reavers recognised her and attempted to kill her, but failed and were either killed or severely injured in the process. Rogue sustained several injuries including… Afterwards she always said she was really lucky to have survived. Many experienced combatants who have reviewed the footage of the fight agree.
…Gambit accidentally blew up Rogue's right arm above the elbow…
…Gambit took a variation of the Cure created by their resident doctor, Dr Ashley Ashton…
…He left the school for a month to 'clear his head'. When asked about what he did on this trip, he only mentioned that he'd played a lot of poker. He was now looking to improve his 'poker face' as he found the experience useful in helping his emotional control.
…Rogue and Gambit formally started dating…
…After the announcement of the Cure wearing off, Worthington Pharmaceuticals teamed up with the X-Men to produce a new show: Cure Watch. The show featured Rogue and introduced three other mutants who had taken the Cure: Monte, Zeek, and Butterfly.
…Rogue's maternal aunt, Dr Carrie Ward, signed on with Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as an occupational therapist for a year…
…The Reavers blew up a school in each state, including Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy…
…The X-Men's show, officially sponsored by one of Forge's brands, DM Electronics, was able to buy and convert a factory bay into a studio…
…Mutant hate group known as The Purifiers began protesting outside of DM Electronics stores
…Supermodel Ronnie Lake, and Forge's girlfriend, signed on as a 'spokesmodel' for DM Electronics… did a photoshoot with the X-Men cast…
…Although the court was closed to the public the X-Men stood outside to show their support for Vange. The Purifiers were also there to have their say… A Reaver across the street took a couple of shots at Vange with a paintball gun and ammo fill with blood to force her to change into a dragon. However, none of the shots made it through, as the X-Men were shielding Vange with their own bodies out of concern for what the Purifiers might do… It was noted that Gambit was across the street at the time of the shooting, outside of the very building that the Reaver was shooting from…
…Rogue and Gambit began having romantic weekends away. Gambit suggested these as a way to help Rogue deal with the stress that she was under, both from the knowing that the Cure was wearing off and from learning how to manage with one arm.
…It was during one of these weekends away that Donald Pierce was finally officially recognised as the leader of the Reavers. The technical specs of the Reavers prosthetics, along with many other incriminating documents were uploaded to Wikileaks. Obviously the timing was just a coincidence…
"Oh good, you're here."
Bishop's head jerked up from the screen, and he looked upon Forgina. She looked a lot like her father, Forge. Her long black hair was done up in a perfect braid down her back and Bishop had never seen a hair out of place. She even had a high tech prosthesis for a left arm just like Forge.
"Yeah," Bishop replied, and nodded towards the biggest machine in the room. It was an 8 foot cube, or near enough, with a door on one side and a screen and several controls on another. "Messenger said you were done?"
"Yep, just doing a little tinkering." Forgina patted the machine and sighed. "Hard to believe the day has finally come."
"You sure it's going to work?"
"As sure as I can be. I'm not in the habit of finishing one of my father's inventions," she replied as she pulled open a drawer and rifled through it. "And time travel hasn't been done before."
Bishop took a deep breath and nodded, his eyes still on the time machine. "So we're doing this."
"No time like the present," Forgina replied cheerfully, and gave him a mischievous wink as she pulled out a data cable from the drawer. "I'm sending you back about four months beforehand. In theory anyway."
"In theory?" Bishop asked, her words heightening his nervousness about the whole situation.
"Like I said, time travel hasn't be done before," Forgina said as she plugged the data cable into his wrist computer, and then into the computer he'd just been reading at. "It hasn't been tested and we can't really do any real testing. We have to hope it works the first time we try it." She gave him a side-long look. "But I've told you this already."
"Yeah, that part. What are you telling me now? That you can't be certain when it'll spit me out?"
"Exactly." Forgina tapped away at the keyboard.
"So what's stopping it from spitting me out 100 years too early, instead of four months?"
Forgina tapped the keyboard a few more times, then stepped back, and Bishop knew what she was going to say before she even said it: "Do you know anything about quantum mechanics?" He sighed and Forgina grinned at him. "I'm reasonably confident this thing'll spit you out within a few weeks of the temporal destination. I'm making it four months to make sure that you don't show up the day before, or worse, the day after."
"Assuming this thing doesn't go boom the first time we try it."
"It's risky, but nothing can make the current situation much worse. Though the fact that I honestly believe that might just indicate a lack of imagination on my part."
"In all the time I've known you, you're the only one who accuses you of a lack of imagination."
Forgina grinned at him. "Let me know when the download's done."
"Hmm? Oh." Bishop looked down at the screen on his wrist computer. "Still going… nope done."
"Great."
"What did you…"
"Oh, just a few things I figured you might find useful, plus some personal stuff." Forgina's grin faded into a melancholy smile as she unplugged the cable. "Let's face it, it's not enough to avert this one disaster. The forces that capitalised on it will rise again at the next opportunity and have to be shut down before they have the chance, starting with MTD Co. No doubt you'll need the X-Men's help for that."
"First things's first," Bishop replied as he stood. "Gotta get there."
"And lay low," Forgina poked her finger into his chest. "If you alert the wrong person, things might get rescheduled and you might never be able to stop it from happening."
"I still think it'll be easier to just kill—"
"Not if it turns out they're just a tool. Investigate first, Bishop," Forgina said firmly.
Bishop nodded. There was no real need to rehash the old conversation. As much as he hated to admit it, she did have a point.
"Yeah, I'll do that," he assured her.
"Good."
Forgina hugged him. Bishop hugged her back tightly.
"Just do me a favour and maybe don't contact my dad until after the honeymoon?" she said. "I'd like to still be born, and I'd hate for this to distract him from my conception."
Bishop chuckled. "I will hold off on contacting your dad until June if at all possible."
"Thanks. Not that my existence is more important than the future of the human race, but you know…"
Bishop grinned at her. "If we succeed a lot of people we know won't ever be born, but a lot more people will be. Still, I think the world would be a worse place without you. You certainly made my existence better."
"Flatterer," Forgina replied and pulled back. "Okay, we should do this."
"Yeah."
Bishop took a deep breath and opened up the door of the time machine. He stepped inside and swallowed hard as Forgina sealed the door shut behind him. His stomach churned and he found himself grasped with an urge to get out and forget the whole thing.
He was leaving his whole world behind him to travel to the past. Sure, the world as he knew it was being taken over by Sentinels, and most everyone he ever knew and loved were dead. He didn't have much to lose, and yet in that moment, that little he had left seemed like everything.
He steeled himself and mentally rebuked himself for being foolish. Such sentiment was useless and ignored the harsh reality of their world. The human race was doomed. Even if they somehow stopped the Sentinels that day, they were still doomed. This plan was the only one they had and he had been chosen to carry it through.
It was up to him to save humanity.
Bishop felt the machine warm up and whir with energy. For a moment that worried him, but felt some small relief when he realised he wasn't absorbing any of the generated energy. His mutation was one of the reasons why he was chosen for this mission; he would hate to think it was the same reason why the mission failed.
Soon enough he would be 40 years in the past. The time machine had been set up in a factory bay that was part of the same lot of factory bays where the X-Men had set up their studio, precisely so that would be where he would appear in the past. From there he could easily spy on the X-Men without having to make contact too soon.
Brightness filled the space, light so bright Bishop couldn't even see. Then he couldn't even feel the time machine underneath him anymore…
Present Day:
He blinked as the brightness gave way to regular indoor lighting. The floor beneath his boots felt soft like carpet, but he could see floorboards in front of him, so he figured it was a rug. Standing on the floorboards were cameras and lights and other such things he didn't really recognise, though it did remind him of pictures he'd seen of the X-Men studio. What were the odds that one of the neighbouring factory bays also had a film studio installed?
"Um, hi?" said a female voice behind him.
Slowly Bishop turned around. There were a couple of lounges on a large rug, and four people sitting in them with electronic devices and papers in hand. Three were in their early twenties, and the fourth, a male with bone armour, looked more late twenties like Bishop himself. Bishop swallowed hard, realising the man looked just like Spyke. The young Asian woman looked like Jubilee. The blond-haired man with a jovial expression reminded him of Iceman. And the woman with the streak of white in her brown hair, and the missing right arm, looked exactly like Rogue.
Either the time machine moved him through space as well as time, or, more likely, they'd gotten the factory bay location wrong. He wasn't next to the X-men's studio, he was in it.
So much for lying low.