Chapter 381: Life Hasn't Been Kind to You, Logan from Another Universe
Professor X looked down at his sister Cassandra, sprawled on the ground and looking younger than he did. The years had left no trace on her face, while he was now an old man.
The moment he'd arrived, a memory had surfaced out of nowhere, one he had never had before. In it, inside the world of memory, he had already met Cassandra.
He was certain now. The woman before him was his own flesh-and-blood sister.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Xavier said gently, apology in his voice. "I've come to take you home."
Something flickered in Cassandra's eyes, so faint it was almost imperceptible. Then a deeper chill smothered it.
She rose slowly, her gaze burning as if it could see straight through a person. "Spare me the act. I've clawed my way through this place for years. I got used to facing everything alone a long time ago. You think a little help is going to have me weeping with gratitude?"
"And maybe you don't know this, but I don't need family. When we were still in the womb, I tried to strangle you with the umbilical cord. Pity it didn't—"
She circled his wheelchair slowly, her voice edged with provocation and something unhinged. "My foolish little brother. You really think that's enough to change anything? I'm doing just fine here."
"I can use my powers however I like. I can do whatever I want. Would going back really be better? I'd end up like you. You have all that power, yet you let those insects provoke you again and again. You rein yourself in, you play make-believe superhero squad with a bunch of brats, and then you hole up in some tiny little school."
"That would be worse than death. Here, I can be queen, with no vermin buzzing in my ear like flies. I could never be as spineless as you. If I ever lost control, I'd simply wipe out the whole world."
Cassandra truly held Xavier in contempt. His power was every bit the equal of hers, yet his indecision and his kindness had left mutants living miserable lives. In the end, those same qualities had led to their extinction at the hands of the very vermin Xavier kept giving ground to.
The mere sight of his face made her furious. Had it been her, mutants would at least still be alive, so long as they bowed to her. Following Xavier ended with running from place to place, and then annihilation.
Xavier didn't know the truth of his own origins, but Cassandra did. She and Xavier were good and evil made flesh. She had always been the embodiment of his evil.
Magneto stood silently to one side, his gaze moving between Cassandra and the Dark Witch as he weighed this sudden turn of events.
For the Dark Witch, this development only complicated matters. She glanced at the reinforcements gathering around her and did the math. Going head-to-head was a losing proposition.
Besides, she already had what she'd come for: the Sling Ring. There was no point taking the risk.
She knew about the Timeline Shredder now. All she had to do was leave and absorb its energy, and she would become invincible.
Then it wouldn't just be Cassandra. The entire multiverse would fall to her.
With that thought, she swiftly opened a portal and left the Void.
Seeing this, Mainline Deadpool scrambled to follow her through the portal back to his own universe.
He was just about to reach the ring of light and launch himself in with a slick kip-up when fate played a cruel joke on him. The portal snapped shut and vanished into nothing.
Momentum carried him onward, out of control. He traced a ridiculous arc through the air and came down flat on his back, limbs sticking up. As the dust settled, his trademark grin had become a mask of shock and chagrin.
"F***! F***!" His voice echoed across the empty expanse, full of helpless fury.
He turned to find Xavier and Cassandra still standing there chitchatting, and his anger erupted. In fact, the two of them weren't really talking at all, since Cassandra had no interest in wasting words on Charles.
"Hey! You two! This is NOT the time for your tearjerker long-lost-family reunion! Whatever you've got going on, take it to a daytime talk show!"
"Baldy McGrandma, did you not see your enemy just run off? You're not going after her? That Wanda, the one who's red like blood, just went to MY world, and you're not gonna do anything?"
"F***! My world's about to get wiped out, it was already a dumpster fire, and now there's a psycho witch in it too! Let me tell you something: this is your mess, you old bat. One hundred percent on you!!"
"Mother-f***er, send me back right now, this instant!"
Mainline Deadpool unloaded on Xavier and Cassandra, the insults pouring out like machine-gun fire.
There hadn't been much time left before the Timeline Shredder activated to begin with. Now some old witch who threatened to destroy the world every five minutes had gone to his world. How could he not be frantic?
Cassandra was not about to let anyone talk to her like that. She gave a cold snort and flicked a finger, and a surge of power rolled toward Deadpool like a tide. Xavier, naturally, wasn't going to allow it, and he unleashed his own power.
The two forces canceled each other out.
"My apologies, Wade. I did neglect you just now. I let my emotions get the better of me," Xavier said at once. "Rest assured, we won't let your world be destroyed. I won't let the world Logan gave his life for be destroyed."
He wasn't angry at being cursed out. If anything, he understood completely.
In Deadpool's place, he'd probably have cursed even harder. Granted, he didn't actually know how to curse.
"Don't worry. We already heard the whole story from our universe's Wade. Rest easy."
"Still, the Professor X and the mutants of your world really are pathetic, dying at human hands," Magneto said coldly. "I'd like to see what gives the humans of that world the right to enslave us mutants!"
It angered him that mutants in other worlds had fallen so low. His philosophy had been right all along. Had they followed Xavier's ideals, mutants would have been wiped out entirely.
Thank goodness they had joined Ethan's side. And he no longer had only his mutant power. Now he wielded magic, too.
"So how do I get back? Tell me! Now!" Hearing Xavier and Magneto's reassurances, Deadpool calmed down. He still had a great deal of respect for Xavier, after all.
"Calm down, Wade. You have to trust us."
"She's hardly the only one with a Sling Ring. We have one too. And even if you don't trust the two of us, surely you trust the X-Men. Right, Logan?"
"Or rather, Logan from another universe. Life hasn't been especially kind to you."
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