Subject: [OTL]: (Timewind Arc, New Mutants 3/Aaron Wisdom) Line in the Sand (PG-13) Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 21:04:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Hartman will1@earthling.net Timewind Arc: Line in the Sand by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: The kids are mine. Their parents are Marvel's. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. NOTE: Alternate future - see below ... -------------------------------------------------------- In An Alternate Future of the Marvel Universe ... -------------------------------------------------------- It is 2020 A.D. A third class of young mutants collectively titled the New Mutants have gathered at the Xavier Institute for Paragenetic Studies to learn how to control their mutant powers and to find their place in the world. That world has started to turn against them, because of the actions of the team's chronovariant member, Aislinn Richards - only daughter of Franklin and Rachel Richards. She sent her teammate and friend, Aaron Wisdom (the son of Pete and Kitty Wisdom) back in time to try and prevent a temporal disaster of immense magnitude from erasing their timeline. However, Aislinn has been arrested by the XSE - mutant police - for unauthorized chronovariant travel ... ... and things are only going to get worse ... -------------------------------------------------------- 9/1/2020 A.D.: Extranormal Security Enforcers Headquarters, Neohattan Island, New York, USA: 11:00 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- The hovervan maneuvered in for a landing on the helipad, 30 stories above the bustling streets of the gleaming metropolis. The black, boxy vehicle came to an unsteady rest, extending landing gear and deactivating its lifting fans. Its only decorations were gold stripes and a large red circle divided with a black "X." Seams appeared around the X, resolving into a doorway which dropped to provide a staircase for the craft's passengers to disembark. They were led by a heavily-armed man in an armored and helmeted black and gold bodysuit, holding a large-caliber energy rifle. Similarly-garbed XSE troops raced out of the hovercraft, forming two columns along the walkway from the landing pad to the gleaming synthglas of the XSE HQ. Once two columns of six troops had formed, the craft's primary occupants finally disembarked. Both were teenaged Caucasian females, and both had closely-cropped red hair and green eyes. The one in the XSE uniform, however, held the arm of the girl in the black skinsuit. The girl in the skinsuit was the one with the inhibitor collar and plastic wrist-binders. #I never thought I'd see this place like this,# Aislinn Richards thought, allowing XSE Corporal Maureen Astrovik to guide her towards the opening hatch in the side of the headquarters. The corporal - only five years older than the 13-year-old Aislinn - gently shepherded her charge towards the hatch, and said, "I know this seems rough, Aislinn. But we're just trying to get to the bottom of -" "WE will decide the severity of the situation, Corporal. Conjecture on your part is neither necessary nor appreciated." "SIR," Maureen replied, snapping to attention and saluting her superior officers as they strode from the headquarters hatch. The taller of the two was a Caucasian man with severly crewcut blond hair and narrowed blue eyes, dressed in a dress version of the XSE troops' uniforms. The woman at his side was, apparently, albino-skinned, with black-irised eyes and flowing black hair, her body draped in a red dress trimmed with black and gold. "Commandant. The chronovariant Aislinn Richards is presented for questioning, as ordered," Maureen said, crisply. "At ease, Corporal. And good work," Commandant Alexander Summers replied. Maureen relaxed - barely - while Alex looked at Aislinn with a momentary flash of concern and sympathy. Then his face twisted, and he scowled as he said, "I thought you were the smart one of Rachel's children, Aislinn. Chronovariant offenses are severely prosecuted and punished." "Will I need a lawyer ?" Aislinn replied, trying not to buckle under her fear and loss. #Uncle Alex - !# "Your parents are waiting with Attorney Walters now," Alex replied, more gently. "Second Commandant H'ecate will see you to the conference room. I'll be there shortly." Aislinn walked beside the albino-skinned woman into the headquarters, while Alex saluted the troops and barked, "DIS-MISSED !" -------------------------------------------------------- Xavier Institute for Paragenetic Studies, Salem Center, NY: -------------------------------------------------------- #Ace ...# Aidan Richards paced in the headmaster's office, his crewcut red hair glinting with psionic energy as much as with the late-morning sunlight coming in through the windows. #I can't feel you, now,# the Caucasian boy thought, desperation and fear filling him. He reached out telepathically towards the place in his mind where his psi-link to his sister should be - - and felt a dull awareness. "They've probably got her in an inhibitor collar," Aidan heard as he turned with a half-snarl. He relaxed, nodding dully at the Caucasian girl in the doorway. Morgan Summers flicked one of her brown bangs out of her blue eyes, then strode across the floor of the office, clad in a black skinsuit similar to Aidan and Aislinn's. "I need to help her, Mor," Aidan mumbled, returning his cousin's hug. "But I can't just - I mean, she was right, about not attacking the XSE -" "Then get to Neohattan. You're her brother, for flonq's sake - and the son of Frank and Rachel Richards. That's got to count for something," Morgan shot back. She lifted Aidan's chin, then affixed him with an icy blue stare and added, "Fight, 'Little Fire.' Or do you want to leave this to that waste of an older brother of yours ? Or to Bryce ?" "I know ..." Aidan replied, pulling free. He cringed at the thought of his little brother Bryce storming into XSE Headquarters, red hair flopping about as the first-grader mindshouted at the top of his psionic "lungs." #At least Bryce'd just be loud. Arawn ...# Aidan shook his head, then looked at Morgan and cocked an eyebrow. "What about the headmaster ? OR getting to Neohattan ?" the psi asked. "I'm a teleporter, but I'm barely skilled at it." Morgan rolled her eyes, then mindshouted, ~HANS !~ The cousins coughed as sulfurous smoke filled the room, depositing a blue-furred boy with cropped black hair, glowing gold eyes and a spade-tail beside them. "You called, Frau Eisensturm ?" Hans Wagner tried to joke. "Long-range 'port, you and Aid to XSE HQ," Morgan ordered. "I'll deal with the 'Beak' and the panicking masses downstairs. Now GET." Hans and Aidan looked at each other, then at Morgan's back as she left the room. "She's still very - direct," Hans said, shifting his skinsuit and offering Aidan his hand. "That's Morgan. She might be a great tactician, but she's a bulldozer," Aidan chuckled. "Hans - thanks." "Hey, we're buds. Besides, I need Ace to go back in time and prevent me from eating that last cookie yesterday. Mom was NOT happy," the elf-like teleporter snickered as they vanished. -------------------------------------------------------- XSE HQ: -------------------------------------------------------- ~WHERE'S MY SISTER !? AAAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEEEE !!!!~ "BRYCE," Rachel Richards said, glaring at her youngest child as he clung to her legs. Bryce flinched, gulping at the XSE troops looking at him intently, and ran to sit in a chair on the far side of the interrogation room. "The psi-dampers dealt with it. They always do," Frank tried to reassure his wife. Rachel gave her husband another withering green glare, but shuddered and let him hug her as their daughter was brought in by H'ecate. "Guards, please wait outside. I have the utmost assurance that the Richardses will not pose any threat," H'ecate told the troops. They complied, slipping outside and flincing under the piercing green stare of the Richards' family's attorney. "Ace," Rachel breathed, walking over to hug her daughter. Aislinn - whose hands had been freed by H'ecate - returned the hug, and tried not to cry when she felt a smaller pair of arms wrap around her legs. "Mom - I only sent Aaron back in time. He's OK, I KNOW it," Aislinn whispered. She looked down, then knelt down to let Bryce hug her. "Ace, don't cry. I know you're a good person," Bryce said, confidence and concern in his tone. Aislinn just hugged him tighter, and held on for a long moment. "Be brave, little bro, please," Aislinn said. She stood, then let Frank wrap her in his arms and stroke her hair. "Whatever happened, we're right here," Frank said. "I trust you, Ace. We all do." He held his daughter at arm's length, then, and smiled at her. "Just tell the XSE what happened, and we can go and get Aaron back." Aislinn began to speak, until the family attorney raised one emerald finger. "Wait until the arresting officer gets here," Jennifer Walters advised, giving H'ecate a wary glance. "Speaking of the situation, Second Commandant, there never WERE any formal charges -" "The warrant was uploaded to the Xavier Institute server, as well as the Richtech Tower address," Alex replied, walking in with Maureen Astrovik and an older white woman with greying hair in a bun. "This is Neohattan District Attorney Barbara McKendall. As for the charges, Attorney Walters - well, Ms. McKendall ?" McKendall fixed Aislinn with a critical eye as the Richardses, Jennifer, Alex, Maureen and H'ecate found seats. "Temporal malfeasance, unreported temporal risk factor, and chronocide in the first degree," the DA said, acid in her words. Aislinn repressed a gasp, while Jennifer muttered under her breath, Rachel teared up and Frank snarled. "He's not dead," Aislinn stammered. "Aaron - Aidan can tell you ! He saw telepathically what I did with Aaron -" "Ah yes, the twin brother," McKendall said dismissively as she checked her PDA. "He has a record of anti-XSE sentiment ..." "And WHEN did it become a crime to dislike the XSE ?" Frank rumbled. The psi-dampers' low hum became a whine, and the son of the Fantastic Four's founders started to glow white as he added, "I can assure you, Ms. McKendall, Aidan is NOT alone in his sentiments." "The sentiments are not a crime, Mister Richards. Your daughter's actions, however, are," McKendall said, frowning. "I am inclined to be merciful - perhaps the charges can be mitigated, assuming your son can provide an alibi for Miss Richards." A noise outside the door made everyone stir, and Bryce blurted joyfully, "Aid's here ! Aid's here !" The hatch opened, depositing a coughing pair of black-skinsuit-clad figures onto the floor. XSE troops rushed into the room, levelling energy rifles at the boys, until Alex motioned with his hand. "Sorry to be late," Aidan said, getting to his feet and rushing to hug Aislinn. He shot McKendall a dirty look, then smiled wanly at Aislinn and asked, "So what can I do ?" "You can start by explaining how you got past the spatial-refraction shield around the headquarters," Alex demanded, scowling. Hans leapt to his feet, then leaned against Alex with crossed arms and said, grinning, "Mein Herr, your anti-teleport shield isn't designed to deal with the master of teleportation." "Spare me, Elf Junior," Alex grumbled. He slid his chair over, allowing Hans to fall to the floor, then looked at Aidan and said, "We need you to submit to a psi-scan and verify Aislinn's intent in sending Aaron Wisdom back in time." Frank and Rachel bristled, but Aidan gave them a pleading glance before looking into Alex's eyes with more confidence than he felt. "Bring it, great-unc," Aidan said, half-smiling. -------------------------------------------------------- 15 minutes later ... -------------------------------------------------------- #Boy, was THAT a stupid statement.# Aidan was laying on a medbed in the XSE's infirmary, waiting for an independent telepath to perform the mindscan. Aislinn and Bryce sat on either side of him, while XSE troops watched over the siblings from non-threatening vantage points. #They think it's supposed to be non-threatening,# Aidan thought. He smiled weakly at Aislinn, who was still rather pale, and said, "Hey. Don't worry. We'll be outta here in no time." "They think I ... killed ... Aaron, Aid," Aislinn mumbled. She teared up, but Aidan reached out and squeezed her hands in his right one. "We know the truth. And we'll bring him home," Aidan promised. He looked to hie left, then, and smiled at Bryce. "Hey, don't you get all worried too, runt." "I'm not," Bryce insisted, puffing his small chest out and knuckling his eyes. His bravado vanished when the telepathic inquisitor walked in with Jennifer, and the boy slid away to stand beside Aislinn as she backed off. "Well. This is certainly an interesting incidence," the inquisitor - an Asian man with short black hair, a navy business suit, and a mild pout - said. "You probably don't remember me, do you, young Richards ?" Aidan squinted, then gasped. "Leong Coy Mahn !?" the boy blurted. "Special telepathic investigator on retainer to the NYDA's office," Leong said, cracking his knuckles. "Just drop your mindshield and relax your psi-screens, please. This won't take very long ... assuming you don't reflexively burn out my mind." "I -" Aidan gulped, forcing himself to relax. "He's THAT powerful ? You're an Alpha," Jennifer said, arching an eyebrow. "And he's a third-generation mutant whose mother channeled the Phoenix Force at the Battle of Hammer Bay, when she was in her third month of gestation with the boy and his sister," Leong said matter-of-factly. "I've seen the effects of Summers-bloodline psis, Ms. Walters. I had my mind cored once in my life, and I'd rather not go through it again. Now please, step back and let me concentrate." Jennifer complied, and Aidan tried to relax - - then felt icy cold fingers scoop through his memories, sifting, dropping flashes of mnemonic "glass" - - and then the mindtouch was gone. "He's telling the truth. Aislinn Richards did astrally project back in time to verify that Aaron Wisdom was alive at the end of the temporal transit. She also had very little forewarning of the alleged temporal risk factor," Leong said, nodding at Alex and DA McKendall when they entered the room. McKendall actually pouted. "That's a GOOD thing, Ms. McKendall ?" Alex growled at the DA. He gave Aislinn and Bryce a faint smile, then nodded when Aidan moved to rise from the medbed. "Unfortunately, it doesn't exonerate Aislinn on the temporal malfeasance charge," Alex added. Aislinn's face fell, and McKendall shrugged. "If you can prove that you did not send Aaron Wisdom back in time for felonious temporal reasons, then you are free to go," McKendall said, almost kindly, to Aislinn. "However, without the Wisdom boy present ..." Aidan sat up and snarled, "That's it. You want Aaron, I'll GET Aaron." And he vanished. "AID !?" Bryce shouted, horror-struck. Alex face-palmed, then slapped the nearest comlink panel and spat, "Security ! Check the anti-teleport field generator matrix ! And get me the Richardses ..." -------------------------------------------------------- #OK, NOT a smart move -# Aidan tried to telekinetically slow his fall from where he'd materialized outside the XSE headquarters. 10 stories up. The dark streets of Neohattan's ground floor beckoned, rising up fast to greet the young psi - #SHIELD# - and then, he stopped. Aidan opened his eyes, finding himself floating in mid-air, and felt a second telekinetic field surrounding his force-field bubble. #Somebody likes me ...?# ~Not particularly. But then, we are blood,~ a familiar, and unwelcome, mental voice - male, cold, unsettling - rang in Aidan's mind as he was set on his feet and placed on the cold concrete of the long-abandoned 42nd Street. "Long time, brother," Aidan said, slamming his mindshield up and turning slowly to glare at the figure walking out from an alley beside one of the boarded-up stores. His rescuer was a taller Caucasian teenaged male, with slicked-back red hair, and piercing blue eyes surrounded by black mascara. The older boy was clad in a black leather bodysuit, and cocked a red eyebrow at the newcomer as he smirked. "What brings the wandering knight of House Richards to the Underside ?" Arawn Richards asked nonchalantly. Aidan started to respond, but his older brother held up one finger and waved it as he walked in a circle around Aidan. "Let me guess. You screwed up a teleport. Again," Arawn chuckled coldly. "You're here solely because of an accident, on your way to rescue a friend, right ?" "I'm HERE because I messed up while I was trying to save Ace from the XSE's stupid trumped-up charges !" Aidan growled through gritted teeth. "I need to find a way back to the past of the timeline where Ace sent Aaron Wisdom." Arawn nodded, raising his eyebrows and finally stopping in front of Aidan. The younger boy reluctantly looked up at Arawn, who smiled a wicked smile. "We're the grandsons of Reed Richards, brother dearest. You and I both know that the Manhattan Catastrophe levelled Four Freedoms Plaza along with most of the rest of the city on Dec. 25, 2006," Arawn said in a singsong voice. "And Father didn't dare repeat Grandfather's 'reckless' temporal experiments after the Sci-Regs came down. Therefore, only one place on Earth might have an unregulated temporal access device, not dependant upon a chronovariant." Aidan blinked, then went ashen. "Yes," Arawn chuckled. "But do you have the courage to face Castle Doom ?" -------------------------------------------------------- Doomstadt, Latveria: 21:40 hrs local: -------------------------------------------------------- The elder Richards brothers appeared in front of what had been the moat of Castle Doom, scaring a flock of geese being driven by a frightened girl in a peasant dress. "By the Abyss, they still dress like that almost a decade and a half after Doom's death ?" Arawn spat. He looked up at the shattered silhouette of Castle Doom, then smirked down at Aidan. "I only brought you this far out of the love and respect I still feel for our sister and little brother," Arawn said icily. "You, however, have squandered your potential to actually make a difference in this Light-forsaken excuse of a timeline, until now. Don't screw this up, Aidan." He opened a teleportal, but glanced over his shoulder as Aidan yelled, "Where're you going !?" "This is your quest, little knight," Arawn laughed. "I'm the dreaded 'Demigod of the Underside,' named for the Celtic god of the dead, remember ? I have that nasty reputation as a Goth Robin Hood to keep. Get it right, and maybe I'll take more of an interest in your accomplishments." He vanished, then, leaving Aidan to curse. #Damnit,# the younger psi thought, looking up at the shattered castle. #OK, let's do this ...# Aidan launched himself into the air telekinetically, then activated the first of the devices on the belt Arawn had given him - - and landed safely on a parapet. #The sensor-scrambler worked !# Aidan thought, grinning. He immediately raced for an alcove, finding stairs leading into the castle, and pulled a flashlight from his belt before proceeding farther. #After the Battle of Doomstadt in November '06, the surviving locals left the castle alone 'cause of the ghost rumors,# Aidan remembered. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the map Arawn had telepathically imprinted in his mind, and headed down a hallway to the left. #This should be it -# Aidan teked the door open, and left behind the cold stone of the hallway to open his eyes to metal. Lots of metal, with lit candles covering many of the exposed spaces in the lab. "Uh ... hello ?" Aidan asked, looking around. He found the power switch to the temporal physics lab, then tripped it and shielded his eyes against the flash of light. #Who lit these candles ?# Aidan wondered. He shook his head, then ran over to the dust-covered control panel of the time platform and activated it with a grin as the screens came to life. "OK ... 2002 - reset spatial coordinates - input temporal coordinates from Ace's mind-print ...." Aidan said, his fingers flying across the controls. Until a cold, firm touch on his shoulder made him freeze, and turn slowly around with widening eyes. "You are new here, aren't you ?" the armored figure asked. Aidan just blacked out - -------------------------------------------------------- - and came to under a blanket, beside the time platform. "Easy," the armored being said in a masculine voice from beneath the hood of a green cloak. He stood, allowing Aidan to sit up, and held out a gauntleted hand. "Stand slowly. You fainted rather hard there." "I - I - didn't mean to -" Aidan stammered, getting to his feet with the assistance of the armored man. "To intrude ? Hmph. You haven't 'intruded' here since you were an infant. Then again, I never did visit home very often ... too many memories," the being replied, pulling back his hood. Aidan's jaw dropped, as he looked into his father's blue eyes, set in a wrinkled, white-bearded face. #The same eyes as -# Reed Richards smiled gently and said, "Hello, Aidan. It's been far too long." Aidan watched as the Doom-armored Reed walked to the time platform controls and started to punch in coordinates. "You almost had the setting correct. If I hadn't startled you, you might have gotten back to 2002 - but you didn't compensate for the crosstime variation," Reed said. "G-Grandpa - but Dad always said you - you'd disappeared in the Lehnsherr War with Grandma and -" Aidan stammered. Reed smiled sadly at his second-oldest grandchild, then said, "I disappeared from the world. Franklin's always known where I 'retired' ... after what happened to the others. They're buried in a secure crypt underneath Castle Doom. I ... couldn't recover enough of Victor's body, after we stood beside him against Abaddon, to bury him." Aidan blanched, and Reed's vision went distant for a moment. "It was November 15, 2006," the patriarch of the Richards clan began. "Abaddon had marched through the Balkans after securing Africa - he wanted to take the European Union, and Israel was occupied with its regional conflicts too much for the Genoshans to worry about it. The Butcher-King of Hammer Bay felt that Victor posed the only real threat to him on Europe's mainland ..." Reed blinked, then, and locked eyes with Aidan. "Enough. You have to save Aislinn. I'll send you back, and set the controls to teleport you and your friend back to the XSE headquarters," Reed said. Aidan stepped onto the platform with a trembling lower lip. "Grandpa ..." he began. Reed stretched out a hand and patted Aidan's shoulder. "I'll be fine," he said. "I'm staying here, where I can continue my research and safeguard the world from Victor's more dangerous playthings. Don't mourn for me, son. You've made me very proud - and remind your father, mother and siblings that you've all made me very proud." Aidan just nodded, then, and felt the temporal portal rise around him - -------------------------------------------------------- "Aidan !?" Aaron gasped, getting to his feet. "Aaron," Aidan Richards said, breaking into a relieved grin. He looked around, awe flickering on his face for a moment, before he gave Pete and Kitty a weak smile. "I know you probably don't have any reason to trust me, but we REALLY need your son back in 2020 A.D.," Aidan said. "My sister is facing capital charges of chronocide -" "WHAT !?" Aaron blurted. Frank and Rachel got to their feet, with Rachel moving more slowly because of the now-whimpering infant Aaron in her arms. "'Chronocide' ?" Frank asked, locking eyes with Aidan. The red-haired boy nodded, his face twisting with concern, before his eyes flickered to Rachel's face, and the infant she held in her arms. "That's not - you two didn't -" Aidan mumbled, blanching as he looked back at Frank. "NO !" Frank and Rachel blurted together, blushing. "That's the me from this timeline," the teen Aaron interrupted. Aidan looked back and forth from the baby to the teen, then broke into a grin until the teen Aaron grabbed the psion by the shoulders. "Get me home. NOW. I won't let Ace be railroaded for a crime she didn't commit," the teen Aaron demanded. He looked at Pete and Kitty with a haunted gaze, and said, "I'm sorry. But if I don't go -" Kitty hugged Aaron tightly, then let him go to Pete. "I'm proud o'you," Pete whispered, his throat tightening on the words. He held his teenaged son at arm's length, then, and said louder, "Get back an' do wot's needed, boy." "Yessir," Aaron said, forcing a smile. He waved at the second New Mutants, then stopped before Rachel and looked at his infant self. The baby cooed, and the teen Aaron let his infant self curl a chubby hand around one of his fingers."Take care of them all," the teen told the infant. Then, the teenaged Aaron gave Rachel a quick peck on the cheek, shook Frank's hand, and stepped onto the white square beside Aidan. And they vanished - -------------------------------------------------------- - to reappear outside the gleaming synthcrete of XSE HQ. "How - Aid, was that a time platform !?" Aaron stammered, shaking brown hair out of his eyes. "Long story," Aidan chuckled, clasping Aaron's outstretched wrist. "Let's go get Ace outta here, then get back to school." They headed for the door of the headquarters, but were met with a flash of light and four taller figures. Two were Frank and Rachel, while the others were an older Caucasian man with greying black hair and a middle-aged Caucasian woman with still-brown locks. "Aaron - !" Kitty Wisdom breathed. Aaron hugged his parents, while Rachel reached for Aidan and held him close. "Great work, Aid," Frank said, squeezing Aidan's shoulder. "But how - ?" "Invite Grandpa to Thanksgiving, OK ?" Aidan tried to laugh. Frank's eyes widened, and he smiled sadly as the mutants entered the XSE building. -------------------------------------------------------- Xavier Institute: 19:04 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "OOH -" "OK, not so tight !" Aaron laughed as he returned his friends' hugs and handshakes. A second round broke out as the Richards twins were enveloped by their classmates. "OK, gimme a minute with my brother," Aislinn demanded. She took Aidan's hand and led him up the stairs from the foyer of the former X-Mansion to a study nook in one of the dormer windows on the second floor. "Sit," Aislinn mock-ordered, motioning Aidan to find a seat on the love seat-type couch built into the nook. She sat next to him with a faint smile, then sent telepathically, ~Thanks for everything. I really owe you.~ ~Hey, I didn't do it alone. Aaron exonerated you, and Grandpa sent me back - even Arawn helped,~ Aidan sent back, grinning. He grew serious, and added aloud, "I found out what really happened to the Fantastic Four during the Lehnsherr War, Ace." Aislinn nodded. "I think I always suspected," she breathed, leaning her head on Aidan's shoulder. "It never seemed right that Grandpa wouldn't visit, unless he was still grieving or dead. I mean, Reed Richards could get out of ANY problem back when he was in his heroic prime." "He had help," Aidan murmurred. Aislinn looked at him, and her twin grinned back. "Seriously. I think I finally got the whole 'accept help when needed' thing through my head." "You never had a problem with that," Aislinn teased. "It was just when things got really heavy that you tended to angst." "We're half-Summers," Aidan pointed out. "Cheap excuse," Aislinn snickered. She shrieked when he teked a couch pillow at her, and their laughter shook the ceiling below. -------------------------------------------------------- tbc in the rest of the Timewind Arc ... --------------------------------------------------------