Chapter 23

"Anything you would like to confess about kid?"

"Yeah, I would like to confess that I have absolutely no idea what's going on." I replied as I looked down at the kneeling girl who was looking at me with the kind of devotion only a true zealot could muster. One would think that a beautiful girl looking at me like that would be a pleasant experience, and it likely was, but the sheer absurdity of the situation did not allow me to actually enjoy it.

"I am willing to answer any questions you have, my lord!" The blonde girl perked up immediately and smiled at me.

"Okay, then answer what do you mean when you call the brat 'my lord'." Logan said gruffly and then raised an eyebrow as the girl immediately rounded at him with a fierce glare.

"'Brat'?! Have care how you speak you damn unkempt cur!" She snapped and Logan actually looked shocked. "You are lucky to be even breathing the same air as the lord and yet you would dare to..." Her little tirade was cut short by a red hand connecting with the back of her head.

"Cut it out Valeria." The red skinned woman, whose identity I might have an idea about, said with a scowl before turning to us. "Don't mind Valeria, she's a weirdo."

"Who do you think you are..."

"Valeria, just go back to the ship and try to figure out how we can go back." The red skinned woman said with a sigh and Valeria grumbled as she left, but not before blowing a raspberry at the older woman.

"I am sorry about her, she... had a weird childhood."

"Haven't we all." Logan said as he pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it. "Though none of our childhoods led to any of use going to a stranger and declaring them 'our lord'."

"It's complicated, but I assure you that you won't have to think about it after we leave and..."

"Complications on that, Red!" Valeria yelled out as she got out of the ship. "The control room is completely fried up and smashed, not to mention the data log is gone. Even if I manage to fix the ship enough that it works, we won't be able to know where we're supposed to go."

"...you're shitting me."

"I shit you not. That arrogant sob King had all of his destination files on the computer and now they're all gone. There may have been a copy in his wristwatch but..."

"I crushed it along with the bastard's wrist." The newly dubbed Red said with a groan as she massaged her temples.

"Whelp, since it seems like you guys are not leaving, how about we actually talk about you two a little bit?" I asked with a smiled and Valeria quite literally skipped over to me, unlike Red who was giving me a suspicious look. "Like how you guys call me 'lord'?"

"...I don't call you lord, Damian."

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"Time travel... really?"

"Considering some things you have dealt with in your life, I am surprised travel through time is where you draw the line at absurdity... Logan." Red said with a scoff and Ororo could see a small amount of uncertainty enter Logan's eyes as the muscular woman used his name. Not simply because of her using his name without him telling her, but also because he knew that she was not wrong.

Unlike the other members of the X-Men, she and Logan had went on to missions for Professor where they had learned the strangeness of the world. From Wendigos to underground societies of shunned people to even robots with the consciousness of dead Nazi war criminals. Time travel might sound too fantastical, but their world was one where the line between fantasy and reality tended to be... blurry.

"And what about the weird obsession your friend has with the brat?" Logan asked as he stared at Valeria who looked like she was contemplating the pluses and the minuses of murdering the Canadian mutant.

"I… will keep that to me, if only to protect Damian's privacy." Red said with a sigh, once more acting in a way that indicated that she was close with the newest student of their institution. "All I'll say is that he gets really powerful and some people tend to look at powerful people and act like they're gods."

"The brat got a cult?" Logan asked, his lips twitching upwards.

"Have care how you speak when it comes to my lord, you unwashed…" The tirade of the blonde was cut short by Red who nudged at her with her elbow.

"Not exactly a cult but… not exactly far from one either." She said, getting a betrayed look from Valeria, and Ororo felt a strange sense of kinship with Damian. Or with his future self at least.

"Do either of you need a place to stay?" Ororo asked and Red raised an eyebrow at ther before sighing.

"Actually, yeah, a place to stay would be really nice. Is your school still standing?" Ororo really did not like the fact that she seemed so genuine about that question. But that was for another day.

Now, she had to think about how to explain this to the Professor.

———————

"We need to talk." Red She-Hulk said as she walked up to me and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Do we now? About the future I assume." I asked with my arms crossed over my chest and she nodded. "Okay, but first tell me, do I get to be rich and surrounded by beautiful women?" I asked with a smirk and she rolled her eyes at me.

"Nice to see that you weren't much different at this point compared to when we actually met."

"I am an all time classic."

"Yeah, ok, enough jokes. This is serious." She said with a glare. "I know you know who I am, I don't know how but I do, you always did know a lot of things that you shouldn't know after all." She said with her arms crossed over her chest.

"That does sound like me, yes." I said with a smile while internally wondering just what the hell my future self had been doing.

"I need your help, and you would benefit from mine." She said with a glare. "Promise me that you will help me to save Bruce Banner and I will tell you everything I know about your future and the enemies that will move against you. I will tell you about how to cripple them before they could make any moves or turn them into your allies, your pawns even. Help me and I will do everything in my power to make sure that the future you want will come true."

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