CHAPTER 431 FUTURE DAYS PAST_Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 431 FUTURE DAYS PAST

 The silence dragged on as I flew over the Antic Ocean. The joy in Kitty was too much for me to want to break by talking. I could feel that she had spent a long time trying to get to this point. As the reality that she seeded set in, she began to cry.

 I didn’t make any jokes as I normally would have. Stopping in the air I wrapped my arms around her. Though a future version of the Kitty I knew, she was still skin and bones. Her small body was racked with sobs as she held onto me tighter.

 It took time but when she finished she pulled back up to look at me. “You know, I hated you,” she said.

 “I’m pretty easy to hate,” I said. I lifted her up and moved her to my back. Shetched on in a piggyback ride. “Why did you hate me?”

 “You left us,” she said. “Even with all the crap with Anne. And Delh freaking out daily. You left. And you never came back like you promised.”

 I remembered both girls fondly. Anne was my once girlfriend in the world, and the future Rogue. I had just seen a glimpse of her before Kitty zapped me to the future. Delh was the young clone of Jean Grey. A funny girl that yed up her amnesia. I was falling hard for her in the present. Unsure what to do I was hoping for some hints about what would and wouldn’t work in this future.

 “I don’t remember that, so it hasn’t happened yet,” I said. “Mind filling me in?”

 She let out a sigh, continuing to hold onto my back as she spoke. “Head to Queens and I’ll tell you all about it.”

 I went horizontal and began flying slowly towards Queens, New York. It took her time but she spoke. Much more coherently than before.

 “I can’t remember how long after I pulled you from. But most of the strong mutants get abducted by aliens,” she said.

 “What kind of aliens? Probe kind or murdery kind?”

 “Both?” She asked. “I don’t know. You were all pissed because they didn’t take you.” I stopped her there.

 

 “The aliens didn’t take me?” I asked, genuinely upset. “I’m one of the strongest. Do they only take mutants?” 

 

 “No, a lot of strong normal people were taken too. Off to fight in some trial. Anyway, you threw a hissy fit and flew off. Saying you were going to bring them back. Well, they came back, and you didn’t. Anne said you never made it there. The aliens were called the Shitters or something?” I frowned, not recognizing the name. Still rather annoyed I wasn’t taken, I needed to be sure I was abducted if I got back to the past. Anal probe or not, I wanted everyone to know I was one of the strongest human…or was it because I wasn’t human? But a Viltrumite too? I decided to think on thatter.

 “Either way, a bunch of drama happened since then. But Anne and Delh got over it. Then about three years ago the government unveiled their new mutant fighting tech. The Sentinels.” She scoffed. “It happened after Mao caused some shit of course. Said they were starting up the Sentinel program just in case. Since Genosha kept recruiting from America they wanted to learn all the potential powers he could have under him. So the Sentinels scanned people. Able to sense the X gene even if you didn’t know it, they would make a record of you. Then some time after that they began announcing who the mutants were. Every day people with a stupid minor mutation got kicked out of groups and families, driving more people to Mao. The government didn’t like that so they blocked some visas. More drama, Mao made threats. Then it was revealed the Sentinels could fight now. Some fancy new patch. They shipped out bigger ones and started killing mutants that stepped out of line. Mao and X didn’t like that at all, so they joined forces. There was this big old war. Everyone choosing sides. And well mutants lost. Mao left the with the survivors that fought with him. The rest of us were left to rot.”

 “Who died?” I asked.

 Sheughed. “It’s a shorter list to tell you who lived,” she said. “Some disappeared like Delh and Jean. Wolverine too, he was saying this was all karma and just went off into the woods. Rogue made it. Forge. He’s got this n for a new machine but we needed a part from Cerebro since he didn’t have the material to make what we needed.”

 “What are you making?” I asked.

 “Our own world wide mutant finder,” she said. “We are hoping to gather those few that escaped. Maybe disappear like Wolverine did. There are plenty of countries that don’t care if you’re mutant or not. But we don’t want to pull a Mao and leave people behind.”

 “So they killed everyone?” I asked, a lump in my throat.

 “No, but they might as well be dead,” she said. “They enved most of us. Attached these mind control cors on them. If they try to do anything they’ll make it explode and kill you. It’s pretty gruesome. We put those we can out of their misery.”

 “Fuck me,” I said. “This is dark, Kitty.”

 “You’re telling me. I have to wake up here everyday,” she said.

 “What about me? I assume if I die here, I die for real?”

 “Probably,” she said. “Maybe not? Before now I simply sent my consciousness back. But somehow I pulled your whole body. So you might want to watch it before you’re sent back.”

 “How long is that?” I asked.

 “A day or two. No more…a week tops,” she said.

 “Great,” I said, actually meaning it. I was strong. I could help these people. I didn’t know why past me didn’te back but I was sure it was rted to my challenges. At least I hoped it was.

 “What’s n number one?” I asked.

 “First, get this crap to Forge,” she said. “Emma can use her powers to find who we need.”

 “Emma Frost?” I asked.

 “Yeah, you know-“ she said then stopped. “Oh shit. I forgot there were rumors about you banging her too.”

 “There were rumors of me sleeping with Frost?” I asked, very annoyed.

 “Oh yeah. Hisako, she talked about how you had this whole thing going with her and this blind chick.” Sheughed loudly then stopped. “Jeez, can’t remember thest time Iughed.”

 “Well I’m d my drama can bring you joy,” I said. Annoyed by this. I hoped when I got back that Anne hadn’t heard these rumors, but knowing Hisako, I was sure she did. We continued flying, eventually Kitty had mend.

 We walked through a checkpoint in the main part of the city. Kitty hiding inside of me expertly she passed through easily and we grabbed a cab. I doubted I would get away with flying around the city like before. With checkpoints, an increased military presence, and a lot of unknowns around me I wasn’t about to risk anything.

 When we got closer to Queens she pulled her hand out of me and signaled to stop. I paid the cabby and we got out. Currently winter out, she wore a coat as I stood in my ck hero costume. Snow beginning to fall overtop of us; everything felt eerie to me.

 

 “How bad is it, Kitty?” I asked.

 

 “I already said-” I stopped her by pointing at the insides of a home across the street. A family was sitting down, watching TV. Eachughing at some stupid pstickedy show I didn’t recognize. Before I had only felt Kitty who was depressed, scared, and bone tired. But around me were happy families, hidden away in their little worlds.

 “It’s fucking bullshit,” she said, starting to cry again. “Just because they’re normal they get to be normal. No worrying about being raided, enved, raped. They all live in this little bubble. Uncaring what they do to us.” She wiped her eyes as she began to walk again. Her hands in her pockets

 “How did they justify it?”

 

 “Terrorism,” she scoffed. “Like we were some ticking time bomb. Some sort of error in the evolution of man that had to be purged. They say they’ve been working on a “cure” but it’s all bullshit. Normal people didn’t raise a stink so they just let it happen.” 

 

 “That is bullshit,” I agreed. Pulling her close to me she leaned her head into my shoulder. “Well, how can we fix it?” 

 

 “This isn’t getting fixed,” she scoffed. “I-I already tried. There was this government guy. Larry Trask, his brother was a mutant and killed his whole family identally. He made the Sentinels. Said he needed to purge us. I went back, and may have tried to you know, kill him.” 

 

 “And you failed?”

 

 “So bad,” she said. “I ended up saving the guy from another killer, and he was all like how did you get here, then my power swooped me back and when I got back there were more of my friends taken.”

 

 “Fuck,” I said. “So if I were to kill him?”

 

 “You wouldn’t do that,” she said, smiling. “No, I just need to listen to Anne. ept the past. I appreciate the help though, Weston. Like seriously, we have been trying to get this for a while.” She patted her pocket. But there was nothing there. Her eyes bulging she checked the other pocket but that was empty as well.

 

 “Where did-” 

 

 “This?” I asked, interrupting. Pulling out the small canister to show her. “You dropped it.” 

 

 “No, I most certainly did not,” she said, grabbing it.

 

 “You’re right. I picked your pocket,” Iughed. 

 

 “You asshole!” She yelled, hitting me. “I’m fucking shaking I was so scared there. I fucking cannot believe you.” Iughed louder. “This isn’t funny. I tried-” 

 

 “Kitty, shut up andugh,” I said, putting my arms on her shoulders. “I almost died once. Gave up on everything. I thought I should let it all go. My hopes, dreams, loved ones. I was just so tired. But someone brought me out of that. Saved me right before the sword. It took me a while to appreciate what they did. A lot of time to realize that it really wasn’t the end of the world to stumble. As long as you canugh, you can get through it. So fuck all these normal people. They live and die that way. We get to be abnormal. We get to do and see amazing things. A world they never dreamed of. We get to fight with the ultimate prize on the line, our lives. So let’s fucking get this shit where it needs to go, kill a few Sentinels, probably a few bad guys while we are at it, and get the hell out of this shithole of a dystopian future present whatever.” 

 

 “You know,” she said with a smirk. “You were doing so good there till the end.” 

 

 “I was,” I said. “I’ll work on my rousing speeches.” I moved her back to walk. “Where the hell are we going anyway?” 

 

 “Just up ahead,” she said, wiping her nose. “We have a few bases, but this is our best. Don’t go bbing about it either.”

 “Oh I’ll be sure not to tell a soul,” I said. I looked up at the falling snow. “Are there like patrols of those Sentinel guys we need to worry about?” 

 

 “No, they happen at pretty set intervals,” she said. “We should be good for a while yet.” I nodded, trying to watch everything around us. I didn’t recognize the neighborhood from the ground floor. Used to flying around all over the ce, these homes in Queens all looked the same. I wanted to ask about Spiderman and Gwen, but held off. I didn’t want her depressed again. Suddenly a screen popped up.

 <table>

 <tbody>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Recent Actions in Marvel have been reviewed.

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Bted Reward:

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Minor Inverse Resistance

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Current Role in the Marvel Future will now offer quests.

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 </tbody>

 </table>

 Confused, I had only seen a notification like this once. Back when I got a World Choice after I helped Endeavor deal with a Nomu. Back then, I was pretty sure that the System wanted me to leave Manga. Which in hindsight I wish I would have done, then when I lost my Challenge I wouldn’t have lost ess to the Hall.

 

 But the bted aspect also reminded me of when I earned the Anti-Hero role in the world. Maybe I was running off script and the System just caught up to me? Which was weird, since my body had been in the future for thest few months as I went to 300 and DC. So it was telling me that again, they weren’t watching all the time. That was always a win in my book. I was working on skills in the background that I didn’t want them to stop. We would have to see if they caught on.

 

 Inverse Resistance sounded odd. Usually quest rewards dealt with what I fought during the quest. Is that what the Sentinels did to counteract mutant powers? Used an inverse of the energy or something? It would be impossible to be able to fight all the different mutant powers out there. How could you fight fire and ice without some weird crossover? Maybe they cast some kind of inverse power. Which sounded pretty cool in my book. I wondered if that was something I could learn. I decided to study my screen for now though.

 <table>

 <tbody>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Name

 </td>

 <td>

 Weston Walker

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Current Quest:

 </td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 World 1:

 </td>

 <td>

 Marvel

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 World 1 Quest:

 </td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 World 2:

 </td>

 <td>

 Invincible

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 World 2 Quest:

 </td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 World 3:

 </td>

 <td>

 DC

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 World 3 Quest:

 </td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Passive Skills:

 </td>

 <td>

 Memory Meld

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Dead Man Walking

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Handicap

 </td>

 <td>

 Dismiss

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 World Lasting Physique

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Gemini

 </td>

 <td>

 Active

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Summon:

 </td>

 <td>

 N/A

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Pet:

 </td>

 <td>

 Matatabi - Level 7

 </td>

 <td>

 Summon

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 1 Challenger Slot

 </td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Forms:

 </td>

 <td>

 Viltrumite Physiology

 </td>

 <td>

 16.59%

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Usable Abilities:

 </td>

 <td>

 Status Screen

 </td>

 <td>

 Other

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 5 Challenger Slots

 </td>

 <td>

 World Escape

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Berserker Mode

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Nen

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Spark*

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Union

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Fusion*

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Timeflow

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Rift*

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Bonuses

 </td>

 <td>

 Major Psychic Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 5 Challenger Slots

 </td>

 <td>

 Medium Body Mod Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Hardened Organs

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Minor Adaptability

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Minor Radiation Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 4-Leaf Clover

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Venom Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Poison Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Illusion Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Fertility Control

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Minor Inverse Resistance

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Items

 </td>

 <td>

 Gantz Armor

 </td>

 <td>

 Stored (25)

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 2 Challenger Slots

 </td>

 <td>

 Item Choice

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Bonus Copy

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Hero Costume

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Bonus Upgrade

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Door Fragment

 </td>

 <td>

 (1/4)

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 World Role Choice

 </td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td>

 Currency:

 </td>

 <td>

 USD

 </td>

 <td>

 $877,119

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td>

 Gold

 </td>

 <td>

 3,514

 </td>

 </tr>

 <tr>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 <td></td>

 </tr>

 </tbody>

 </table>

 Happy with my gains I considered using the Bonus Upgrade on the Inverse resistance, but since I wasn’t sure if I would have to fight the Sentinels, I decided against it.

 “We are here,” Kitty whispered, pointing at therge building next to us.

 

 I looked over, noticing that I knew the ce. It was the warehouse that I had fought Lizard at, where he experimented on all those mutants. Also where Gwen and Peter had been experimenting with their web shooters.

 

 “It alwayses back to here,” I mused, amazed at the coincidence. Then again, how many undergroundboratories could you find in the city?

17kNovel

CHAPTER 431 FUTURE DAYS PAST