Middleverse

*Xavier Institute*

Clark was up in his room, laying on his bed.

The last three weeks have been relatively peaceful. The Brotherhood hadn't really been causing the X-Men any trouble, aside from some confrontations at Bayville High. They were likely lamenting the defeats they had suffered at the hands of the X-Men, Clark guessed. In regards for Superman...there was a odd incident for him that he resolved without being photographed. To be completely honest, he enjoyed the down-time; he had more of a opportunity to work on his ship.

The Trans-Warp ship was almost complete; the Trans-Warp drive was fully calibrated, the cockpit had been refitted, and he was on the verge of finishing the new cooling system. Within the next couple months, it would be ready to fly. Clark had also been constructing a nano-assembled space suit for use in his first space flight; it was comprised of countless nano-bots. They were tiny machines, each one was a little micro-computer, which coated over his body, powered by a micro generator installed into his belt buckle. He'd never had a problem with the vacuum of space, though he didn't particularly *enjoy* vacuum-pressure. The suit was designed to shield against radiation, as well as having scanners built into the helmet, to collect data from his space-walks...or from the strolls he might take across a planet's surface.

Clark smiled to himself; he could just see the expression on the Professor's face when he showed him the data from a surface-walk on Jupiter. Not only that, he was going to have a tough time convincing some of the others – such as the ever-enthusiastic Kurt, who'd been *begging* him to let him try the space-ship out when it was done – that the *Krypton* – as he'd named the ship – was a one-man vessel...and *not* something to go joy-riding in.

Suddenly, Clark stopped in mid-sentence, as his hearing picked up a radio signal...from *orbit*. He listened closely...

...and immediately got up, changing into his uniform in a matter of seconds. Superman darted out the window and flew away...heading straight *up*.

He missed a large dragon with dark red scales head into orbit as well.

"Rrrar!" The dragon roared as he flew up.

*International Space Station, Earth Orbit, a few minutes earlier*

"Mr. Director, the Station has been through a micro-meteor shower; the micro-meteors have damaged part of the main thrusters. We are at a critical stage to get into position to observe the meteors scheduled to pass through our system in several months; if our orbit decays even *slightly*, we'll miss our window of opportunity! It is imperative that a repair shuttle get up here as soon as possible!"

"*I understand the situation, Dr. Richards, but the fact of the matter is that none of our shuttles are in any shape to launch on such short notice!*" the Director of NASA replied. "*I am truly sorry to say this, Doctor, but if you want those thrusters fixed in time, you and your team are going to have to manage the repairs on your own.*"

Dr. Reed Richards sighed. "Understood, Director. Richards out." he replied, ending the comm-link. Reed – A.K.A. "Mr. Fantastic," the leader of the team known as the Fantastic Four – was in his late twenties, tall and lean, with short brown hair, light skin, and brown eyes framed by glasses, clad in a blue bodysuit with a large number 4 on the chest. Reed was a scientific genius, with multiple doctorate degrees, from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and numerous other universities; He and the rest of his team inhuman abilities from exposure to cosmic rays. Reed's body was, basically, a living piece of taffy; he could stretch and bend his frame in ways that could make a contortionist *green* with envy. At first, Reed had been a bit perturbed, but he'd gotten used to it.

"Reed?"

Reed smiled, as his beloved wife, Susan, also a member of the team, walked over to him, smiling. Sue was in her mid twenties, a bit shorter than him, and with a figure that could make *any* supermodel jealous, which, when coupled with her brilliant mind, calm nature, and delightful sense of humor made her the girl of Reed's dreams; hers was a willowy grace, with flawless curves, accentuated with perfect modesty by the blue bodysuit she wore, identical to his. Her long, golden hair lightly flowed about her head, her sapphire eyes twinkling. Like him, Sue had been altered by the teleporter...except it had given her the ability to generate force fields that could make her invisible – earning her the nickname "Invisible Woman" – as well as enabling her to levitate objects.

"Hey." Reed greeted, embracing her.

"So." Sue sighed, "what did the Director say?"

Reed groaned. "If we want those thrusters working, we're going to have to fix them ourselves."

Sue looked stricken. "*Please* tell me you're joking."

"Oh, Sue, don't I *wish*."

Sue visibly wilted.

"These meteors aren't going to be back for fifty years." She lamented, "we *can't* miss them!"

"We won't, Sue." Reed promised, hugging her. "Now, we'd better go tell the others; we'll need everyone if we're going to get this bird up and running." At that, Sue smiled, nodding, as they both headed into the station's meeting room.

In the meeting room, they found the other two members of the team, waiting for him. "So, Stretch, what's the word?" Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm – Sue's brother and the team's hothead – asked. Johnny was in his late teens, with short, dirty-blond hair, blue eyes, and an athletic frame, clad in a suit like Reed's. Johnny had the ability to ignite himself, turning into a being of living fire, capable of channeling his blazing energy into deadly fire-blasts, or unleash it all at once in a blast comparable to a *supernova*. Reed had only seen Johnny use *that* ability once, and he was in no hurry to see it again...not that Johnny would ever listen. While Reed saw their gifts as a chance to do some real good in this world, Johnny was obsessed with showing off, although he was, at heart, a good kid, who would do the right thing when the chips were down.

Reed shot Johnny a mock glare, before saying, "As far as repairs are concerned, we're on our own. NASA can't get any shuttles with repair equipment up here fast enough."

"So, what's the plan, Reed?" came the gruff voice of Benjamin "The Thing" Grimm. Ben was Reed's best friend; they'd been pals all through university – if Reed designed a spaceship, Ben would fly it. Currently, Ben had been altered the worst by the teleporter: he was now a titanic, almost golem-like creature of living orange rock, over six feet tall, with almost immeasurable strength, with his green eyes the only trait that remained of his human form, clad in blue pants similar in style to the suits the others wore. Ben had adjusted to his new form, but Reed had promised to find a way to cure him...a promise Reed had *every* intention of keeping.

"Well, Ben, we haven't exactly come up with a plan yet." Reed admitted.

Johnny shrugged. "What plan? Just let me hop out there and I'll weld that sucker good as new!"

"No good, Johnny; your fire needs *oxygen* to work." Reed said.

"Well, *duh*! That's what space-suits are for!" Johnny said. "I mean, I can flame-on while wearing *this*, right?" He gestured to his uniform. "It'll be the same with a space-suit!"

"*No*, Johnny." Sue corrected, "Your uniform fits enough to act as a second skin; if you tried using your powers in a bulky space-suit, you'd burst the suit!"

"We're going to have to find another way to repair the thrusters." Reed said firmly.

Groaning in annoyance, Johnny got up, walking away. He passed a porthole, happening to look out, walking on...

Only to do a double take as a eye stared back at him.

"You guys probably aren't going to believe me, but there's a dragon floating outside the station."

Sue's eyes narrowed, as she walked over.

"Johnny, don't make..."

After looking out the porthole, her face went pale.

"Sue?"

"There really is a dragon floating outside the station."

Reed and Ben came over to their teammates and were surprised.

Just outside the space station was a large dragon with dark red scales.

"Hello." The dragon politely greeted them. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Igneel, the Fire Dragon King."

"This is unbelievable." Reed muttered.

Also outside the station was a African-American man who's head was on fire just like Johnny's when he flamed on.

With them was a young man, no older than Johnny, with short, slicked black hair, a few tufts arcing over his forehead, piercing blue eyes, and the frame of a Greek *god*, clad in a blue bodysuit with tight red shorts, red boots, a yellow belt, a long red cape, and a stylized red 'S' on the chest, within a yellow diamond outlined in red.

"Mind letting the two of us in?" Superman asked.

Reed rubbed his eyes, to clear them, making sure he wasn't hallucinating; he wasn't.

"O-Open the airlock!" He exclaimed, rushing to the computer console that controlled the pressurization inside the airlock, quickly pumping all the air currently in the chamber out of it, to avoid explosive decompression. At the same time, Sue quickly keyed in the sequence to open the outer hatch as soon as pressure had equalized.

Superman and the African-American man flew towards the airlock.

"They're inside." Sue stammered. "Shutting outer hatch."

"Roger. Commencing re-pressurization." Reed confirmed, just as shocked as his wife was. In minutes, the inside of the airlock was at normal atmospheric pressure. Slowly, the inner hatch began to open...as the Fantastic Four met face-to-face with someone they'd long thought was an urban legend.

"Pleasure to meet you." The African-American man waved. "Jason Rusch. Firestorm, the Nuclear Man."

Slowly, dazedly, Reed shook his hand.

"How..?" He finally stumbled out. "How...did you..?"

"You're probably wondering how we're able to survive in vacuum." Firestorm finished. "It's rather simple. Neither one of us require oxygen. Basically, it's self-sustenance."

"I...can imagine..." Sue Richards stammered.

"You're...a bit of a surprise, Superman." Reed said.

"I hope I didn't startle you all." Superman said. "I'd heard that you were having trouble with your thrusters, so I was wondering if you needed any help."

Ben Grimm arched a rocky eyebrow. "How did you hear about *that*?"

Superman smiled, and tapped his left ear. "When your hearing extends into UHF and ULF, picking up radio signals isn't too hard."

Sue's eyes widened.

"You can *hear* Ultra-High and Ultra-Low Frequency?!" She exclaimed. "That's...that's *amazing!*"

Johnny snorted.

"Big whoop. So he can listen in on cell-phone conversations." He said. "Unless he brought a shuttle-load of spare parts with him, he came up here for nothing."

"*Johnny!*" Sue admonished.

Reed sighed. "Though I wouldn't have phrased it *that* way, my brother-in-law is correct." he admitted. "The main fuel line for the thrusters was punctured by micro-meteors; we can't weld it because torches – as well as Johnny's powers – need oxygen to burn. The fuel line has to be replaced...and it doesn't look like replacement parts will arrive in time." He sighed again. "Your offer of help is deeply appreciated, Superman, but I honestly don't see what you could do to solve this problem."

Superman thought for a minute...and then smiled, as he saw a way to demonstrate how he could help. "Mrs. Doctor Richards," he said, gesturing to a nearby table, "is that your tea?"

"Why...yes." Sue replied, confused. Upon taking a closer look, she scowled. "Oh, *darn* it! It's gotten cold!"

Suppressing a grin, Superman said, "Please, ma'am: allow *me*." He focused on the cup, his eyes lightly glowing red as he fired a minuscule eye-beam at it; he'd learned to control his eye-beams to such a fine degree that the energy-beam used so little energy that the beam itself was invisible...but it was still useful.

Instantly, the tea within the cup began to steam.

Sue's eyes widened.

"*W-What?*" She stammered. "How did you..?"

"Eye-rays, Doctor." Superman explained. "They can be pretty handy."

Slowly, Reed smiled. "Could you use those in vacuum?"

"Sure!"

Ben laughed.

"Well, whaddya know!" He exclaimed. "We might just keep this bird flying, after all!"

"I can probably help."

The Fantastic Four were curious with what he meant.

"I'm able to transmute the basic composition of a object." Firestorm elaborated.

"You just might come in handy." Ben smirked.

"Do you have the blueprints?" Superman asked.

Reed brought out the blueprints for the station. After inspecting them, Superman and Firestorm headed back to the airlock, once it was sealed, the Fantastic Four quickly pumped out the air and opened the outer hatch, letting them out. Once out of the station, Superman and Firestorm flew to the underside of the massive station, where the thrusters were located.

The fuel line had been punctured, all right; it was dotted with more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese. Firestorm transmuted the holes that were in the fuel line while Superman fired a controlled eye-beam over the punctured metal, heating it just enough to make it malleable.

After waiting until the metal had cooled, Superman flew back to the airlock, closing the outer hatch behind him. The Fantastic Four re-pressurized the airlock, and the inner hatch opened, allowing Superman and Firestorm back inside. Reed and Sue were already at the thruster-control console. "Fuel flow is restored...the thrusters have power, again! You guys did it!"

"It was no problem." Firestorm replied.

"If you two didn't get the thrusters working again, so quickly, we would have missed our chance to observe the meteors that will be passing through our solar system in a few months!"

Superman just smiled. "No problem, Doctor."

Johnny just scowled.

"*I* could've done that." He muttered. "If there'd been any air, I could've fixed it up just as good as that."

"Someone's bitter." Firestorm remarked.

Ben just grinned.

"Don't pay *any* attention to Flame-Brain, here, Supes." he quipped. "He's just sore because there's been more hits to *your* fan-site in one day than there has been to *his* all this month!"

Superman just arched an eyebrow.

"So?" He asked. "What's the big deal about that?"

Reed smiled, and shook his head. "Superman, we've been trying to get that through his thick skull ever since we *got* these abilities."

Just then, Superman's belt-communicator began to beep.

Firestorm and Igneel overheard this.

"Is there a problem?" They asked.

"We're about to find out. Superman here."

"*Superman, it's Cyclops. We've got a situation, here; you'd better get back to the Institute ASAP.*"

"Roger. Superman out." Superman said, and he switched off his communicator. "Sorry, but I have to go; my friends need help."

Reed looked to his team. "Well, you just helped *us* out." he said. "It'd be awfully impolite for us not to help *you* out!"

Sue smiled. "It's the least we could do!"

Ben nodded. "Sounds good to me!" he agreed.

"Eh. Why not?" Johnny said.

"Just give us the coordinates; we'll take our own ship down." Reed said. Superman nodded, and gave Mr. Fantastic the coordinates to the Institute, before the Fantastic Four boarded their own spacecraft, as Superman left the station via the airlock, leading the way.

Firestorm also left the station through the airlock.

Igneel descended down to Earth leading the way.

Charles had gathered in the Danger Room with the X-Men, in uniform...all save Nightcrawler. Cyclops had contacted Superman, alerting him of the seriousness of the situation. A few minutes later, Superman had contacted them, stating that he was bringing help.

Charles had been more than surprised at who Superman had brought.

"Professor Xavier?!" Reed Richards exclaimed, smiling. "I don't believe it! It's been so long!"

Charles smiled warmly as he shook hands with his old Harvard student. "Hello, Reed. It's good to see you, again."

Cyclops' expression was almost comical. "Professor..." he said, "...you *know* the Fantastic Four?"

"Well, I did teach Dr. Richards a while back, when I taught at Harvard." Charles admitted.

Sue smiled, extending her hand to Charles. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Xavier. Reed has told me all about you."

"The pleasure is mine, Doctor." Charles replied. He chuckled. "It's certainly a joy to meet the woman who could pull Reed out of his own head long enough to propose!"

"So, what's the problem?" Superman asked.

"Apparently Nightcrawler teleported into another dimension after a incident in school regarding his tail."

Ben Grimm arched a rocky eyebrow. "His *tail*?"

"Yeah; Kurt's kinda...*blue*. And furry." Shadowcat said.

Ben chuckled. "Well, that's no big deal." he said.

"Anyway, I kinda...yanked him off the table by his tail." Cyclops said. "At which point we started arguing, and he stormed off."

"Scott, you couldn't have known this would happen." Jean said.

"Known *what* would happen?" Johnny asked.

"Ah followed Kurt to a hidden lab in the forest behind the school." Rogue said. "He started up this gizmo," she gestured to the device she held, "and it fired at him, and..." she closed her eyes, "...he *vanished*."

At that, Reed walked over to Rogue, who handed him the device. After looking at it for a few minutes, then using an electronic scanning tool on it, he said, "This is *amazing*! This device seems to be capable of opening a portal to a type of 'pocket dimension' parallel to ours! Your friend must have triggered it, and it pulled him into this dimension!"

"Can we get him back?" Spyke asked.

"It's possible." Reed replied. "If the device opens a sustained portal for a long enough time, Kurt should be able to just walk back out! However, there's no way of knowing how long this device can sustain such a portal, so we should fire it up at the exact location where Kurt disappeared; hopefully, he didn't go too far from where he entered that dimension."

Sue turned to Rogue. "Could you take us back to where Kurt disappeared?" Rogue nodded.

"Well then, we'd better get moving!" Cyclops declared. "Superman, you follow us from the air; the rest of us will take the X-Van!"

"Agreed." Mr. Fantastic said. "Let's go!" With that, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Superman hurried out of the Danger Room, to rescue Kurt.

Alone, Charles simply rolled himself to the elevator, returning to his office...where he found a tall, elegantly built woman, with long brown hair tied in a conservative bun, and brown eyes framed by glasses, clad in a smart suit-jacket and mid-length skirt.

"Ah, Principal." He greeted, remembering the appointment, "I'm sorry to have kept you..." but he stopped, as he felt *no thoughts whatsoever* from the Principal. There were only two people who were capable of completely blocking his telepathy.

Clark was one of them. And the other...

In seconds, the "Principal" shed her disguise...and Mystique revealed herself. "Hello, Charles." She hissed.

"What are you doing here Mystique?" Bishop demanded, aiming a gun at her.

He had followed the Professor into his office.

"I'm not here for trouble." Mystique replied. "I only wish to tell you to keep your students out of our business...*especially* your blue X-Man."

Charles' eyes narrowed. "My students will do what is right, Mystique," he replied, "*including* Superman."

"I wasn't *talking* about *him*." Mystique spat.

Charles was confused. "You mean...Kurt?" he asked.

"I *won't* see him get hurt!" Mystique hissed. "Not for your idiotic dream!"

"Why would you worry about..." Charles began...and then he froze. "My God..." he murmured, "...it's *him*, isn't it? Kurt is *your son*..."

"*Don't*."

"Raven...when were you going to tell him?" Charles asked.

"I thought about telling him." Mystique admitted. Her face contorted in a snarl. "But with that overgrown Boy-Scout of yours training his eagle-eyes on this place, getting close enough to contact him was *impossible*." Her rage lessened. "It's...it's better this way." she said softly. "Kurt is *happy*." She turned towards the open window, looking back over her shoulder. "*Please*, Charles...keep my son out of harm's way."

And with that, she became a raven, her namesake, and flew away, leaving Charles to ponder what he'd been told.

When Kurt came to, he had a monster headache. "Ugh..." he groaned, slowly standing up. The last thing he remembered was getting hit by a blast from that weird gizmo. Looking around, he found that he was still in that lab...but everything was different. The light coming from outside the lab was in a strange hue, like it was passing through some freaky lens. '*Vat...happened?*' he thought. He started to walk out of the lab, heading back towards school.

When he reached Bayville High, he *knew* something was wrong; the halls were mostly empty, and every so often, he could see ghostly images of students walking through the school, and they apparently couldn't see *him*. '*Vell, zat's a plus.*' Kurt thought, glancing to his fuzzy blue form – the blast must have shorted out his image-inducer. '*Now, vhere am I?*'

"Hey."

Kurt nearly jumped out of his *fur* as he heard that voice. Turning, he found a young man, around his own age, height, and frame, with darker skin – Aboriginal, Kurt guessed – with mid-length black hair, and dark eyes, clad in a t-shirt and jeans that looked like they'd come from the 70's...and he was completely *solid*, not ghostly at all, like the apparitions Kurt had seen.

The guy smiled, and extended his hand. "The name's Forge." he greeted.

"Kurt Vagner." Kurt replied, shaking his hand. "You're not...freaked out?"

"Nah. After being stuck here for thirty years, nothing really rattles you." Forge replied. "Besides, I'm guessing that you're like me." At that, his hand morphed into a kind of highly advanced electronic tool, and then morphed back.

"You're a mutant, too?" Kurt asked. Then, he froze. "Vait...*thirty YEARS?!*"

"Yep." Forge said. "See, I've always been good with machines and technology; when I went to Bayville High in 1978, I was the *king* of machine-shop, as well as a computer-expert." He smiled sheepishly. "That's...kinda how I got here. I had just developed a device that opened a portal to a 'pocket-dimension'...but I was a little careless in testing it, and got stuck here; fortunately, time passes differently here, so I didn't age. And, judging from you, I'm guessing that you found my old lab." He gestured to the space around them. "Welcome to Middleverse, my fine, furred friend."

"'*Middleverse*'?" Kurt repeated.

Forge frowned. "Hey, I'm an engineer, not a poet!" he quipped. His smile returning, he added, "Come on; you can crash at my pad for a while." With that, he headed further into the school, with Kurt following.

Forge led Kurt into the gymnasium...where, in the middle of the gym floor, was a collection of gadgets, lab equipment, and computers, as well as a cot...and the sweetest red 1976 Mustang Kurt had *ever* seen. "When I goofed up the test, it brought all my lab-equipment here, too, along with my car." Forge explained.

Kurt, almost reverently, looked at the car. "*Nice*..." he murmured.

Forge grinned. "I know; I had to work my *ass* off to afford it...but it was *worth* it."

"Zhere *has* to be a vay to get out of here!" Kurt exclaimed. "You *built* zhe thing!"

"I've been working on it." Forge replied. "I've been trying to build another device like it, in the hopes that I could use it to escape." He gestured to his work-bench. "Unfortunately, given the limited materials I have, improvisation's made it slow going."

Then, Kurt had a thought.

"*Rogue!*" He exclaimed. "*She* saw me use that thing! She must've told zhe others! I bet zhey're back at zhe lab right now, trying to rescue me!"

"*What?!*" Forge exclaimed. "Why didn't you *say* so?! If there's someone on the other end, we may be able to escape! Let's go!" With that, both Kurt and Forge ran out of the school, heading for the lab.

As Kurt and Forge ran up to the lab, Kurt was overjoyed to see the X-Men getting out of the X-Van, heading into the lab; they were going in slow-motion. "Middleverse exists slightly outside of the flow of time for the rest of the universe." Forge explained.

"Oh." Kurt replied. Then, he saw the X-Men and Superman head into the lab, along with... "*Mein Gott!*" Kurt exclaimed. "Zhey brought zhe *Fantastic Four*!"

"Who?" Forge asked.

"Long story." Kurt replied. Then, he froze in horror at what he saw. "Oh, no; zhe Brozerhood is trying to ambush zhem!"

"I'm guessing that this 'Brotherhood' isn't exactly the Boy Scouts." Forge observed.

"Ach, if I could just 'port out of zhis *verdammt* Middleverse, I could *varn* zhem!" Kurt lamented.

"Wait...*'port?*" Forge asked. "As in 'teleport'?" Kurt nodded, and Forge grinned. "Hold your horses, my friend; I think I might be able to help with that!" With that, he ran back towards the school, and Kurt followed.

At Forge's new lab, in a matter of seconds, Forge had whipped up some sort of high-tech vest that he quickly handed to Kurt. "This should let you temporarily teleport back to the lab." he explained. "There'll only be a few seconds before it automatically yanks you back here, so you'll have just enough time to warn them! But it'll *only* be a few seconds, so you're gonna have to choose your words carefully!"

Kurt nodded, putting on the vest. "Got it." he agreed. '*Oh, man, I just hope zhat Scott doesn't think I'm just goofing...*' he thought. Once the vest was securely on, Kurt closed his eyes, focusing...

*Bamf!*

...and hoped he was in time.

Once the X-Men, Superman, and the Fantastic Four had reached the lab, Cyclops watched as Mr. Fantastic took a closer look at the device. "Hmmm...alright, to open a continuous portal, this button," he pointed to a red button on the side, "needs to be depressed constantly, so one of us will have to operate the device while others go in after your friend."

"Ah'll do it." Rogue said.

"I'll go in after Kurt." Superman volunteered.

"We'll find him quicker if more than one of us go in." Sue stated.

"Agreed." Mr. Fantastic added. "The four of us will go in there along with Superman; we should be able to find him easily."

"Okay. The rest of us will stay out here, and keep watch." Cyclops agreed. "Rogue?"

Taking the device, Rogue pointed it away from everyone else, and depressed the red button, keeping it depressed; instantly, the device fired a constant beam of off-white energy, forming a swirling portal ahead of her. Once the portal was fully stable, Superman darted in, followed by the Fantastic Four.

Seconds after anyone had gone in, a flickering, ghostly image of Kurt 'ported into the lab.

"*Kurt!*" Shadowcat cried.

"*Behind you –* " Kurt cried, and then he was gone again.

"Okay..." Spyke said, "...any idea what *that* was about?"

Shadowcat looked behind them, where the door was. Finding nothing, she frowned. "Okay, Kurt had *better* not be goofing us, again!"

"I don't know, Kitty." Jean said. "I couldn't sense him for very long, but I don't think he was kidding."

"I can hear you guys standing outside the door." Thunderbird stated.

His enhanced senses picked up on the presence of the Brotherhood.

At that, Quicksilver, Avalanche, Blob, and Toad walked into the lab.

"So much for the element of surprise, Maximoff." Avalanche muttered.

Quicksilver sneered. "Well, it's not like it matters, now." He said. "Ya see, X-Geeks, Toad here saw Skunk-Head and Fuzz-Brain use some gizmo that made Fuzz-Butt disappear. That got us thinkin': why not use *that* on Super-Dork?" He grinned. "But it looks like you losers did all the work for us, so we'll be taking that thing, now; I doubt you geeks are so tough without your powerhouse backing you up!"

"You act as if we'll let you do that." Sunfire responded back.

"We'll keep the Brotherhood off your back." As Blob lumbered towards Rogue, Colossus and Thunderbird intercepted him.

Sneering, Quicksilver darted towards Rogue...but stopped in mid-run as Jean levitated him off the ground and tossed him into a wall with her TK.

Toad hopped towards Rogue, only to run into Archangel and Spyke. Toad fired a glob of slime at them, but Archangel crossed his wings and Spyke simply generated a wide bony shield along his arm, deflecting the glob. Spyke then formed numerous, dagger-spines along his free arm, and threw them at Toad, catching the cloth of his uniform, pinning him to the wall along with metal feathers.

At that point, Avalanche started to shake the place up with an earthquake, but Shadowcat tackled him, knocking him into the wall, stunning him. She then phased through the wall, reached through it, and pulled him into the wall, trapping him half-way through it, before simply phasing herself out.

As the X-Men re-grouped, the Brotherhood started to get their second wind: Blob got back up; Quicksilver shook himself off; Toad yanked out the spikes and metal feathers pinning him; and Avalanche formed a mini-quake, collapsing the wall that trapped him enough to escape.

The X-Men stood ready to hold them off.

As Superman and the Fantastic Four walked through the portal, the world on the other side was, save for the lighting and no-one being there, *identical* to the one they'd left. "We should split up." Mr. Fantastic said. "We can cover more ground, that way." Slowly, the group began to walk out of the lab, leaving the open portal behind, spreading out as they went.

After a few minutes, Superman heard a voice; he didn't recognize it, but it was fairly close. Then, he heard a second voice – *Kurt's* voice! "He's this way!" Superman called. He ran towards the sound, the Fantastic Four following closely behind.

The sound led them to the gymnasium of this universe's Bayville High School...where Kurt and another youth were tinkering with the engine of a 1976 Mustang. "She's good to go!" the youth said to Kurt.

"Hey, Superman! Perfect timing!" Kurt called. "Zhis is Forge; he's zhe one who built zhe gizmo zhat brought us here!"

"Yeah, and I've been stuck here since the 70's!" Forge added. "Thanks for the rescue!"

"*You* built it?" Reed exclaimed. "It's *brilliant*! I'd love to take a closer look at the schematics..."

"Uh, Reed?" Johnny said. "Time limit, remember?"

"Oh, zat's right!" Kurt exclaimed. "Before you guys got here, ve managed to warn zhe others zat zhe Brozerhood is going to ambush zhem! Ve have to get back as soon as ve can!"

"No problem." Johnny said. "We've got friends on the other side holding the door open for us."

"Hmmm...that might not work." Forge said. "That portal is an 'incoming' portal, not an 'outgoing' one; just walking into it won't work. To escape, we'll need a lot of momentum to overcome its inertia." He looked to Superman and the Thing. "You guys shouldn't have much trouble reaching escape momentum, but the rest of us have a problem." Grinning, he gestured to his car. "Which is why Kurt and I spent the past few minutes tweaking the engine of my Mustang; we just need to hop in, start her up, and just *cruise* on out!"

"Well, we'd better get moving!" Superman declared, as he heard Rogue yell out to him from their dimension. "The others need our help, *now*!"

"Cyclops, Ah think this thing's battery is runnin' out!" Rogue cried, as the portal began to flicker. "Ah don't know if Ah can keep it goin' much longer!"

Cyclops fired another optic-blast, driving Blob back as Colossus and Thunderbird threw some punches, as Jean used her TK to push back the rest of the Brotherhood.

"Keep it going as long as you can, Rogue! We'll keep them off you!" He called.

"Sorry, Goggle-Boy, but it's time for you losers to take a little trip!" Quicksilver sneered. "Once we snatch that gizmo, you're all goin' in right after Super-Dork!"

Toad stopped.

"Hey, guys, do you hear something?" He asked. "It sounds like...a *car*!"

"'A *car*'?!" Quicksilver said. "Toad, that *has* to be the stupidest thing you've ever..!"

"Hey, Pietro?" Blob asked. "*I* hear it, too!"

Jean blinked. "Now *I* hear it!"

Before long, *everyone* could hear the sound: it clearly was a car-engine, getting closer and closer.

"What the..?!" Quicksilver cried. "Where's that sound coming from?!"

Suddenly, Superman emerged from the portal at super-speed, coming to a perfect stop, as the Thing leapt out of the portal seconds later. Then, a 1976 Mustang burst out of the portal, carrying the rest of the Fantastic Four, Kurt, and another youth.

And then the portal flickered, and died out.

"Hey, guys!" Kurt called, waving.

"Sorry we're late." Superman said, smiling. "Traffic was murder."

The rest of the Fantastic Four got out of the car. "Looks like Speedy here thinks it's time for a trip." Johnny quipped.

Ben grinned savagely.

"Actually, Shorty." He said, "*it's **clobberin' time**!*"

"Now then let's turn the tide." Sunfire sent a wave of flames at the Brotherhood.

Quicksilver ran at Mr. Fantastic.

But Reed was ready for him. He leaned to the side, extending his arm to grab onto a pipe in the wall; Quicksilver ran into his elastic arm, causing it to stretch...and then snap back, sending Quicksilver flying into a wall. Enraged, Quicksilver whirled into a mini-tornado, but Superman ran around him at super-speed, in the opposite direction of his spin, first de-spinning him, and then spinning him for a few seconds before stopping, leaving him dazed...giving Mr. Fantastic the time he needed to roll into a loop and bowl over Quicksilver, knocking him out.

Avalanche started to generate an earthquake, but Invisible Woman scooped him into a force-field and lifted him off the floor; as she'd expected, to generate quakes, he had to be *touching* the ground, as his quake stopped. Sue then shook him in her field like a *maraca*, before dropping him, out cold.

Toad hopped towards Johnny, firing a glob of slime. "*Flame on!*" Johnny yelled, and his very body ignited, as he became the Human Torch, before he fired a flame-blast, incinerating the glob in mid-flight. Toad fired more globs, but the Torch's heat-aura incinerated them before they could touch him. The Torch then fired a low-power fire-bolt at Toad, sending him flying without seriously burning him.

It was pretty funny, watching Toad run around screaming, trying to put the fire out.

Once Toad had put out the fire, the Torch glared at him, forming *larger* flame-blasts. "Hey, Reed, is it true what they say about barbecued frog's legs?" he called. "Is it true they taste like chicken?"

"*AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!*" Toad screamed, and he ran out of the lab as fast as he could.

The Torch just chuckled. "That was simply *too* easy."

Roaring, the Blob ran at the Thing, swinging his fist in a punch...but the Thing easily caught it, then threw Blob over his shoulder, to land hard in front of the door. As Superman touched down, Ben just tilted his head towards Blob.

"Double-team?" He suggested.

Superman nodded. "Double-team." At that, both heroes ran at the Blob, both of their punches connecting at the same time.

***CRACK!***

The combined punch sent Blob flying out the door, far out of sight. By then, the remaining Brotherhood members had recovered, and were leaving.

"This isn't over, Super-Dork!" Pietro yelled. "We'll *get* you for this!"

Johnny just chuckled, his form cooling back to normal. "That's what they *all* say." Scowling, Pietro limped away.

Ben turned to Superman, grinning.

"Nice right-cross you got there." He said.

Superman grinned back. "Your left jab isn't too bad, either."

"We'd better get back to the Institute." Cyclops suggested. "Someone's bound to check this place out if we don't clear out." At that, everyone left the lab, getting into the X-Van, driving away, as Superman took to the skies, and Forge just followed them in his Mustang.

After returning to the Institute, Superman, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, as well as their new friend, Forge, had met the Professor in the main hall. "I am pleased to see that everything turned out well." he said. To Forge, he added, "Are you sure you don't want to join the Institute?"

"Well...as sweet a deal as it is, I have to go see my mom!" Forge said. "I'm thirty years late for curfew! Maybe later, though."

"Well, take care." Superman said. Forge just nodded, and headed out to his Mustang.

"I guess we'd better get going, too." Sue said. To Superman, she added, "Though I wish we had more time to *really* learn about your abilities, Superman."

Reed nodded. "The opportunity to learn about a mutant as powerful as you doesn't come along every day." he agreed.

Superman smiled sheepishly. "Well, I'm...not exactly a mutant."

"Oh, come *on*!" Johnny said. "It's not like you're an alien from a distant galaxy, right?"

Superman froze, as did the rest of the X-Men. Even Professor Xavier was shocked at Johnny's inadvertent deduction.

Johnny noticed. "Wait...I was *right*? You...*are*?"

Ben chuckled. "Law of averages, Flame-Brain. Had to happen sooner or later."

"*Hey!*"

Reed spoke very softly. "Is...that true?"

'*Well, the cat's out of the bag.*' Superman thought. He nodded.

Johnny looked at his sister and brother-in-law, chuckling. "Okay...Science-Geek-speak in 3...2...1..."

"***OH MY GOD!***" Sue exclaimed. "When did..?! I mean, you're..!"

"Breathe, Susie. Breathe." Ben chuckled.

"Where are you from? Are there more like you? Are they going to contact Earth?" Reed asked.

Sue picked right up where Reed left off. "How did you get here? Is it far from your planet? Is your planet like our..."

"One question at a time, please!" Superman laughed.

Reed calmed. "Sorry about that." he said. "It's just that...*meeting* a sentient being from another planet...it's a scientist's dream come true."

Sue nodded. "Superman, you've made *history*, just by *standing* here!" she exclaimed. "You've answered the question that's been on the minds of astronomers for *decades*! We're not alone!"

Superman half-smiled. "I guess I *could* answer a few questions." he replied. "First, I'm from the planet Krypton; it was over two billion light-years from here, in the Xerius Galaxy."

"Two billion...wait, 'was'?" Sue asked. "Isn't it still there?"

Superman closed his eyes. "No." he said softly. "About thirty years ago, Krypton's core...the planet was destroyed. The only reason I survived was because my parents sent me here in an experimental Trans-Warp ship. So, no, there aren't any more like me...at least, not anymore."

The Fantastic Four were shocked silent at that. "*Harsh*..." Johnny murmured.

Ben just softly whistled.

"My God..." Reed said.

"I'm...I'm so *sorry*..." Sue whispered. "I...had no idea..."

Superman just smiled. "How *could* you have known?"

"Reed, I cannot under-stress the fact that – at least for the time being – Superman's existence and origins be kept *secret*." Xavier said. "The world is not yet ready to accept *mutants*. They *certainly* aren't ready to learn that man is not alone in the cosmos."

Reed nodded. "You're right." he agreed. "There are those in the government that view *us* as threats; thankfully, we've proven ourselves to enough people that those few are in the minority." He looked at Superman. "Your secret is safe with us, Superman."

Sue nodded. "We'll never tell." she said.

"It goes with us to the *grave*." Ben vowed.

After a few seconds – and a light elbow-jab from his sister – Johnny admitted, "Yeah, well, I guess you *did* save our butts. We'll keep quiet."

Superman smiled. "Thank you."

"Well, we'd best get going." Reed said. "It was good to see you again, Professor."

"Take care!" Sue added.

"Keep up the good work!" Ben called.

Grinning, Johnny said, "Guess we'll see you on the news, big guy."

Laughing, Superman replied, "I sure *hope* not!" Laughing, the Fantastic Four headed to the docking bay, where their ship was docked.

Once the Fantastic Four had left, the Professor said, "Well that's enough excitement for one day. You're all exempt from Danger Room sessions this afternoon; enjoy the day. You're dismissed." As they all headed off, Superman heard the Professor add, his voice grave, "Kurt, I need to speak with you..."

It was sunset, the sun's waning red light making the sea beyond the Institute gleam like a vast pool of liquid fire, but Kurt felt too glum to appreciate it, not after learning what he had.

Mystique was his *mother*.

He'd always known he was adopted, that the Wagners weren't his *real* parents. They had loved him ever since they'd found him in a basket by the river next to their house in Germany, despite him looking...like he looked. Kurt loved them, but he'd always wondered who his *real* mother was.

Now he knew.

"Hey."

Looking up, Kurt saw Clark there. "Hey." he replied. "Vere you bummed about finding out who *your* parents vere?"

"Well, I *did* feel that it answered a lot of questions." Clark replied.

"Ja." Kurt said, looking at his blue hands. "At least I know zat I take after my mother's side of zhe family...und zat *scares* me."

"Well, look at it this way." Clark said. "Mystique could have come for you as a kid, but she let you stay with the Wagners; she knew what her life involved, and she wanted something better for you. She loves you, Kurt...which means that, deep down, she can't be *entirely* evil."

Kurt's expression brightened. "You zhink zat she might join zhe good side?"

Clark shrugged. "Hey, I'm from another planet, so *anything's* possible!"

Kurt grinned. "Zhanks, Big Blue."

"No problem, Little Blue." Clark replied.

"So, have you finished zhe ship yet?" Kurt asked. "I vas vondering..."

"Don't even *think* about it."

Kurt snapped his fingers. "Darn."

Just then, Clark perked up, his super-hearing having caught something; everyone in the Institute knew *that* look. "Trouble?"

"Oil tanker in international waters. Hull breach. They're trying to keep the oil tanks sealed." Clark said. "Tell the Professor I might be late, tonight." With that, he bolted off, donning his uniform in seconds, before flying off into the sky, a sonic boom echoing as he flew.

Kurt chuckled as his friend flew off. '*No matter how many times we see him do that.'* He thought, shaking his head, **'It's** still' *the coolest thing on the planet.*'