Unlocking the past (open to all future types)

[Warren Worthington III]

(( OOC: This is kicking off after the Camp raid is over and folks have had a chance to rest and recover and compare notes. It can also include wandering folks like Laurie and Rahne who will eventually return, somehow.))

Over the last decade, Warren has gotten fairly good at organizing missions.

He approaches them all essentially the same way: first, he gets all the information he can get and just studies it for a while, without any particular goal. Then he makes sure he understands exactly what the mission objectives are. Then he waits, and lets his subconscious mind go to work. Pretty soon, he’s learned, he comes up with a plan.

That approach hasn’t been working terribly well for the current problem, though… his subconscious’ response to “Undo the last 20 years of human history” as a mission objective has been, in effect, to glare incredulously at him and take a nap. Warren really can’t blame it… he wishes he could do the same.

Objectively, the whole idea is absurd. Even if he accepts that a random collection of X-Men and Brotherhood mutants from 2007 were fast-forwarded into the present day – which, despite all reason, he apparently has accepted – that still doesn’t give him any reason to believe it’s possible to send them back. “What comes up must come down” sounds good as a working principle, but he has plenty of reasons to reject it as a reliable rule.

But the last couple of days of getting re-acquainted with the 2007 versions of his old friends and enemies have left him with a profound awareness of how little they deserve the destiny that lies in store for them, and a fierce determination to protect them from it. And, yes, there’s one “old friend” in particular that applies to more than the others, but there’s more to it than that.

So the honest truth is, Warren no longer cares whether it’s possible… he’s determined to make it happen. Or, rather: make it un-happen.

"OK, folks," he announces to the collection of time-displaced newcomers and time-hardened veterans arranged around his conference table, "it’s time to make some plans. The fact that our visitors are here, now, means time-travel really is possible. The question is, how do we make it happen again? I’ve been beating my head against that one for a while, it’s time to get some other perspectives. So… thoughts?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh pulls his legs up onto the chair he's sitting in, and wraps his arms around them. It was fairly chilly in the conference room. Apparently the future had heating problems. At a guess, the same generator that powered the entire base ran the heating, and the resistance skimped a bit on the climate control in favor of more important uses of their energy.

That has to be rough on Warren. His husband could fly circles around just about anything, but his enhanced agility and dexterity came at a price. He had about zero body fat, and got cold easily. Normally that wasn't a problem. The Institute kept things warm in the fall and winter, and their bed had a warm comforter on it. Mmm... and I can keep him warm...

Which pretty much drove home how this wasn't home at all. The bunk he'd slept in last night was okay, but the blanket had been thin... and there was no Warren in it.

Not that he wanted this particular one in it. Warren-from-the-future was 20 years older than him, and obviously was still deeply in love with his own thirty-something counterpart. I'm no replacement... and I've got my own Warren to get home to. The obvious concern for him that had been radiating off future-Warren since the revelation mid-battle was sort of nice, though.

>The question is, how do we make it happen again? I’ve been beating my head against that one for a while, it’s time to get some other perspectives. So… thoughts?

Josh blinks, having been lost in his thoughts. He shifts slightly in the cold. "Well, I think the first question is... how did it happen? We're not really sure. Based on who was present, the only person who had some form of temporal manipulation powers was Jake. Where's Jake right now? With Storm?" Josh looks around the room to the 2027 crew.

[Bobby Drake]

> " Based on who was present, the only person who had some form of temporal manipulation powers was Jake."

Bobby thinks about that for a second, then nods. "Yeah… I always forget he can do that, but you’re right. Him and Tobias, and Tobias is out visiting his folks this week – um, I mean, he was, back then. So you’re right, Jake’s our best starting point." He wants to ask whether Tobias survived, but reading about John’s execution and Josh’s death has left him with a distinct sense of not-wanting-to-know.

"Dad’s in London," Jade adds quietly. "We’re not sure where, exactly… their logistics software got infiltrated by hunter-seekers a few weeks back and Mom took them off the grid to protect the rest of us while they dealt. They’re OK… I’d know it if Dad was injured… but I’ve got no way of sending them a message unless we actually go there."

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> They’re OK… I’d know it if Dad was injured… but I’ve got no way of sending them a message unless we actually go there.

"It sounds like a trip to London is in order. There's no real point in sticking around here, in any case... I doubt that we're going to find a way back unless we look for one." Josh didn't point out that they all had their own lives waiting for them upon their return. It seemed a little egocentric to whine about midterms when most of the team had been kicked 20 years into the post-apocalyptic future. And there was Warren to get back to... with any luck they'd find a way to return to roughly the same date, or Warren, Jake, and anyone else who was left behind would probably be going crazy with worry.

"I've never been to London... somehow I never expected my first glimpse of it to be dismal future London. How do you guys get around, anyway? Is the Blackbird still kicking?" The thought is an odd one. If the Blackbird was still around, was it antiquated technology?

A slightly twisted smile crosses Jade's face. "Hey... that's our dismal future London you're talking about... but no. The Blackbird was shot down back when I was a little kid. The US Air Force took it out during the riots and the mutant crackdown. If I remember right, you and Uncle Warren were the only reason that its passengers survived the incident. Before Lockheed Martin was seized by the government, we were able to get our hands on one of their newer models. It's nothing like the Blackbird... but it gets the job done."

Josh's eyes widen. "Damn." Several times since their arrival, he felt like he'd gotten a handle on the kind of place the universe had become. Somehow, though, little bits of history kept popping out of nowhere to throw him off.

[Bobby Drake]

> " It sounds like a trip to London is in order. There's no real point in sticking around here, in any case... I doubt that we're going to find a way back unless we look for one. "

Bobby almost argues the point… the truth is, right now he’s more concerned with working out how he turns into a traitor in twenty years… but decides not to say anything. There’s more immediate things at stake, after all.

He listens more carefully to Jade’s explanation of the fate of the Blackbird, and nods cheerfully at the news that Warren’s team has a jet plane handy. "Yeah, that’ll help," he adds seriously, then looks around the room. "And I guess we’ve got everyone who came through, so it’s not like we’re stranding anyone." Which is still pretty weird, being in a quiet civil planning session with Sean and Rahne, but he decides to let that go too.

[Laurie Collins]

Laurie's huddled at the far end of the table, her seating choice the result of a few frantic moments of spatial arrangement as she tried to get as far from Primer as possible while also avoiding sitting next to Bob who seemed to have chosen his seat with the same goal in mind. Not that she's avoiding Bob, per say, it's just...uncomfortable, to say the least, after her interview with his older self. She shivers a little but tells herself that's just the cold and huddles a little further into the sweater she'd borrowed from Matthew, pretending a little extra warmth will fix everything and renewing her focus on the conversation at hand.

It occurs to her, in a vague sort of way, that her normal reaction here would be to let her attention wander and worry about her own concerns- Matthew's potential death, her future-self's vague dismissals when her life is brought up, what's happening back in 2007- but after being completely responsible for herself and someone else, no matter how unpleasant she found the experience, it's surprisingly hard to go back to waiting for things to be decided for her. So she's following the conversation intently, considering what everyone else is saying, but even so when she hears herself piping up with, "What about Illyana?" it's all she can do to keep the shock of actually vocalizing that from showing on her face.

"I mean," she plows on, focusing on a spot somewhere above everyone's heads, "I don't know precisely how any of this works, I'm not really-" she pauses, obviously taking a second to restrain herself from sinking into her usual stammering incoherency before going on in a steadier voice. "She was in the room, in the process of teleporting my mom when we...jumped forward or whatever we're calling it...and even she isn't really sure of her range yet. Has anyone been able to get in touch with her?" she finishes, still determinedly not looking at anyone, acutely aware of how ridiculous she must look, a bruised sixteen year old huddled into a sweater big enough to fit six of her, presuming to say anything to these people. Like a little kid who snuck over to the grown-ups table she thinks, but instead of the expected embarrassment she feels a sudden surge of irritation at always feeling too small, too young, for where she is hardening her expression from uncertainty to a sort of stubborn defiance.

[Bobby Drake]

> " What about Illyana? [..] Has anyone been able to get in touch with her?"

Warren shakes his head. "Great idea, but no joy. I’ve got messages out, but the team in Moscow has gone all the way off the grid and our secure channels are down for now. Unless somebody else has got some way to reach her…?"

Bobby thinks about the question for a while, but ultimately shrugs in defeat. He hasn’t gotten to know any of the new students all that well… and judging from Laurie’s unexpectedly active participation in this little planning session, it may be he has to re-evaluate what he thought he knew about the older ones.

He gives her a little two-fingered salute and a nod, as if to say ‘good thought’, then goes back to looking around the table.