Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Just like they did almost every morning while at the mansion since arriving in the future, the 5 original X-Men gathered around the tv and ate breakfast. Their conversations ranged from things any group of time-displaced teenagers would talk about, this morning the topic of choice was bottled water. Scott had been ranting, for the past 5 minutes according to Hank’s calculations, about today’s topic of choice.

“It doesn’t taste like water; don’t you guys get it? It’s water but it tastes like something different. And the different brands taste different as well, like whatever happened to water-water? Does that not exist in the future?” Scott ranted while pacing the family room, waiving his hands in frustration.

“Wait until he finds out about flavored water,” Bobby whisper laughed to Warren, “he’ll freak.”

Warren laughed, almost spitting out his orange juice, causing Bobby to start laughing as well. The other teens looked at them confused, which only made them laugh more.

“Scott, why don’t you have a glass of water-water and sit down so we can watch the news?” Jean said, moving over to create space next to her on the couch for Scott.

“None of you get it!” Scott exclaimed as he dramatically fell to the couch and grabbed his plate from the table, “This is a crisis!”

Everyone laughed, even Scott.

All the original X-Men got up very early, a habit from their days at the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the staff and students at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning seemed to enjoy sleeping in, except Storm, but she kept to herself in the morning. Little did they know this early-rising habit was shared by another Scott Summers, this one being much older and residing at the New Xavier School. So, as the teens turned on the 6 am news, so did older Scott.

Once the teens’ laughter had subsided, they turned their attention to the morning news. The weather looked nice and sunny for the next week, and traffic was bad going into the city. Nothing caught anyone’s attention. That was until the closing story.

“And this just in, the New York Police Department Chief would like to issue a warning to all citizens in New York City and surrounding Westchester and Fairfield counties,” The news anchor segued into a video recording from the NYPD press room. “After being apprehended by the elite Omega task force in the early hours of this morning, master criminal Jack Winters, who was assumed deceased in 1960, has shockingly escaped from NYPD custody. For those of you unfamiliar with the case, Winters was thought to have been murdered by an unknown killer in 1960. While no body was discovered, the case went cold due to a lack of leads on the killer. Winters is wanted for 5 counts of armed robbery, 3 counts of aggravated assault, and is suspected of being the leader of a wider criminal syndicate. In the years predating 1960, he was known to collaborate with wanted terrorist Scott Summers-"

Scott turned off the tv before the report could continue. Before anyone could say anything to Scott, he grabbed his plate and left the room, obviously tense and upset. He turned down the hallway and headed off to his room.

Fueled by curiosity, Bobby reached for the remote to turn the tv back on. Before he could turn the tv on, Hank grabbed the remote from him.

“Shouldn’t we see what’s wrong with Scott?”

Jean lifted two fingers to her temple and closed her eyes. The teens knew what she was doing, she was reading Scott’s emotions, hopefully not reading his mind. Jean had been having problems with reading people’s minds without permission lately.

“He wants to be left alone, I can tell,” Jean explained “Before you ask, I didn’t read his mind, just sensed his emotions. I think we should finish watching the broadcast, then check on Scott.”

The group agreed. Hank turned the tv on.

“-these charges were dropped due to individuals not wishing to testify. Jack Winters is an extremely dangerous man; all citizens should be on alert. If anyone has any tips on Winters location, please contact the NYPD as we are actively conducting this manhunt.”

The regular reporter came back on,

“The NYPD also requests that any individual who may have had contact with Mr. Winters before his presumed death to please take extra precautions, as Mr. Winters's intentions are currently unknown. That’s all for today, I’m Trish Tilby, thank you for watching the 6 am news, and have a good morning.”

Jean turned off the tv. Everyone sat, stunned for a moment.

“1960… that was when Scott joined the X-Men,” Bobby said, seemingly deep in thought (not something he was prone to do), “he always told me that he’d done some things he wasn’t proud of before the X-Men, but working with a criminal? Are we sure that it’s the same Scott Summers because I could never see our Scott doing that. Older Scott maybe, but not our Scott”

“We all came from somewhere Bobby,” Jean pointed out, “and we know Scott didn’t come from the best places.”

They all sat, thinking for a moment. Warren was the first to stand up,

“The news said that anyone who had contact with Winters should be on alert, we should make sure Scott is ok.”

Agreeing with Warren, the group got up and headed down the hallway. As they were walking down the hallway at the Jean Grey School, older Scott was walking down the hallway at his school, the New Xavier School.
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Now, Scott Summers had faced his past many times, including meeting his younger self via time displacement. He had come to terms with what he had done, he knew why he did it, and he did it to defend himself. He had been through therapy more times than he could count (most X-Men had been) and had worked on his trauma. But teen him hadn’t been through that yet. For teen him, the memories were still recent, the pain still raw. Scott reached his destination and knocked on the room’s door. He couldn’t trust the person inside, but unfortunately, she knew him best of the people here.

“Go away, I’m sleeping!” Emma Frost called from inside the room, unlike Scott, Emma was a notoriously late sleeper.

“Emma, please,” Scott said, he sounded like he was biting his lip, he sounded like he was trying not to cry, “It’s-” He sighed “It’s important.”

Emma knew, deep down, that Scott would not wake her up for just any reason, especially not anymore. Emma also knew that Scott was not someone who was particularly outward about his emotions, so the tone of his voice concerned her. She got up and opened the door, letting Scott in. They sat down, and
Scott told Emma what happened.
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Meanwhile, the other Scott Summers heard a knock on his door.

“Scott? It’s us. Please let us in, we want to know if you are ok.” Jean said, her tone worried.

There was no response from inside the room. Scott knew his friends had the best of intentions, but he wasn’t sure if they’d like him once they learned the truth. Once they learned what Scott had done.

The door opened a crack, and Jean peered in. Scott looked up at her, his eyes puffy. Jean, and the rest of the team, took this as an invitation to enter the room. They all sat down on his bed, (there was barely enough room for the lot of them) with Jean sitting closest to Scott. She put her hand on his shoulder. Scott brushed it off and turned away from his friends. He loved Jean, but she would never be able to love him if she knew. Maybe the NYPD figured it out, just adding to the list of charges for older him.

“We watched the end of the statement, although we missed a lot, they said to watch out if you knew the guy.” Hank explained to Scott, “they said something about a charge being dropped due to a lack of people willing to testify. I wonder what the charge was?”

Scott sighed, at least there were some things he wouldn’t need to explain. The team sat, waiting for Scott to say something. Finally, Scott turned back towards them.

“I killed him, or I thought I did,” Scott said.

The team looked shocked. Scott, a murderer? What had driven him to that point? What had he been through to push him to kill someone?

Jean reached over and touched his shoulder again. He winced, as if expecting pain, but didn’t back away. The other X-Men sat, unsure of what to do or say. Sat in silence.

“May I?” Jean asked, asking Scott’s permission to read his mind.

“You don’t want to, the things you’ll see, you can’t unsee. You’ll learn things about me you won’t want to know.”

“I just want to help.”

Scott reluctantly agreed, “I’m already thinking about it, don’t go digging any deeper, ok?”

Jean closed her eyes and entered Scott’s head. She saw flashes of dark car trunks, ripping duct tape, pain, cash passed between slimy people, dark alleyways, guns pressed to the back of Scott’s head, bank heists, armed robberies with Scott as an unwilling weapon, a punch to the gut, a broken arm, a broken rib, a damp room with only an old mattress. She heard yelling, crass words, phrases that made her want to be sick, and… state names? Listing in alphabetical order, the 50 states, a coping mechanism she assumed Scott had developed to distract himself from the abuse. She pulled away from Scott’s head just as another person knocked on the room’s door.

Somehow, Scott Summers had gotten into the Jean Grey School and was here to talk to his teen self.

Chapter Text

To say that the teen X-Men were shocked at the sudden appearance of adult Scott Summers was an understatement. After the way that they had heard the professors, especially Wolverine, speak of adult Scott, the teens wondered how he was even able to approach the building. Or maybe this was more serious than they thought. Suddenly, Storm appeared from behind adult Scott.

“How about you four come out of Scott’s room and allow for a private conversation.” Storm said to the teens, “We know you have the best of intentions, but let us allow Scott to help his younger self.”

The teens followed Storm out of the room and down the hallway. They heard Scott enter the room and the door gently close. The group of them went back into the family room, and all sat down.

“How did HE get in here?” Hank asked before Ororo even had a chance to sit down.

“I let him in, sometimes, there are situations more important than our personal grievances. I doubt Logan would share my sentiments; however, he is not here.”

“So, he just showed up at the front door and you let him in?” Bobby asked, his concern clear in his tone of voice.

“No,” Ororo replied, “I was contacted by Emma Frost, who relayed to me the situation, we were then able to get Scott to the school. Luckily most students, and staff, here enjoy their beauty sleep, so getting him in was no problem. Getting him out may require a diversion though, especially once Hank and Kitty awaken.”

“What’s going to happen once I wake up?” Kitty asked, casually strolling into the family room, coffee mug in hand.

“Professor Kitty!” Bobby exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? I live here Bobby, same as all of you. Speaking of all of you, where is Scott? Did he take off again, because if he did, I need to know.”

Kitty sat down next to Ororo. The teens looked worried. They wondered if they should tell Kitty the truth about where Scott was, or would that cause her to discover adult Scott?

“Scott is in his room. Have you seen the news? We may have a potential security threat.” Ororo turned to Kitty as she spoke, “There is a criminal, one I believe to be mutant, on the loose. I shall explain more later.”

“Is it an imminent threat?” Kitty asked, putting down her mug.

Ororo stood up, “We should check, but I believe it is.”

Kitty stood up and followed Ororo out of the room, as they were leaving, she turned back to the teens,

“Get your suits on and get Scott, if there is indeed a threat, we should handle it asap.”

The adults left the room. Jean was the first of the teens to stand up.

“I will check on Scott, you all get changed, and we will meet you back here in…” she looked at the clock, “15 minutes?”

Jean, Hank, and Bobby all started to leave the room but were interrupted by Warren.

“Shouldn’t we let Scott and Scott handle this on their own? This seems hard for the both of them, maybe taking our Scott off to fight this guy isn’t the best idea?” Warren looked worried. Out of all of them, Warren was the most cautious since coming to the future, presumably due to what his future held.

“Warren, we have to do this. This man could be endangering innocent people. If Scott doesn’t want to come, he can take it up with Professor Kitty. I’m going to get him, and I’d suggest you get your uniform on.” Jean said as she walked out of the room, dismissing Warrens's concerns.

“She scares me sometimes,” Bobby said to Warren and Hank, “She didn’t used to, but since arriving here she’s been… different.”

The other two boys nodded. Jean had changed, and not for the better. She used her new powers recklessly, and occasionally for selfish reasons. This wasn’t the Jean the boys had known, that Jean would never do things like controlling people, but this new Jean, she did. And that scared them. They all exchanged glances but eventually went back to their rooms.

As Jean was walking to Scott's room, she bumped into the Stepford sisters, all three of them. The four girls stopped in the hallway and stared at each other. The Stepford girls knew exactly what was going on. Emma had contacted them, saying she needed to get Scott Summers into the school. They owed Emma a favor, so Esme told Storm what Emma had relayed to the hive mind.

Ororo Munroe knew Scott Summers well. They had been close friends for decades. This partially stemmed from the fact that Scott was dating (and later married, and even later cheated on) her best friend, no, sister, Jean Grey. The three of them spent a lot of time together, mostly with Ororo third wheeling, but Scott and she had formed their own relationship. As the early risers of the X-Men team back in the 90s, they spent many a morning chatting over coffee. Their topics ranged from current affairs, team news, strategy, danger room exercises, and eventually to their lives before the X-Men. Neither of them had had It easy before Xavier. Ororo knew who Jack Winters was and knew some of what he did to Scott. She knew enough that the news this morning had unsettled her, and she knew enough to know how important it would be for the two Scotts to talk.

*Look at her*, Esme thought *She thinks she knows what she’s doing, all because she’s Jean Grey*

*So? Someone needs to take her down a peg.* Sophie thought, *maybe it needs to be us, maybe it needs to be her team*

*Would you two stop it? After what Mrs. Frost told us, she’s a necessary evil right now,* Mindee’s thoughts reprimanded the other two. *But… after this whole ordeal, if she’s still doing her mind control thing, she will need to be dealt with.*

Jean, unaware of the conversation between the three girls, brushed past them and quickened her walking pace.

*Those three are creepy* She thought to herself.

Jean arrived at the door to Scott’s room just as older Scott was opening the door.

“It gets easier, I promise. Don’t be afraid to get help too, you can’t do it on your own, trust me, I couldn’t.” adult Scott said as he was walking out.

Adult Scott almost bumped into Jean, looking shocked he turned to her,

“Jean, hi.” Adult Scott said, “Uh, sorry, I have to go. Not supposed to be here and all.”

Jean chuckled, as adult Scott left down the hallway. Suddenly, she couldn’t see him anymore, and she figured the Stepford sisters had something to do with that. She turned her attention back to her Scott. He looked better, not good, but better.

“Jean,” he said, “come in.”

Jean walked into the room. Scott motioned for her to take a seat on the bed. She sat down.

“Professor Kitty wanted me to get you and tell you that we're going to take this guy on. I know it's hard, but we need you on the team. We need your help.”

“You don’t know Jean, what you saw, that wasn’t the whole of it.”

“We need you, Scott, the team isn’t whole without you. If he’s half the threat the NYPD thinks he is-”

“He’s worse, I guarantee.”

“We’ll need your help regardless.”

“Fine.”

Jean placed her hand on Scott’s shoulder, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’m going to get changed, you should do the same.”

Jean nodded, got up, and left. She headed back to her room and changed into her X-Men uniform. After she had changed, she went back to the family room to meet up with everyone. Scott, Hank, Bobby, Warren, Ororo, and Kitty were all ready to go. The group headed out to the blackbird, and Storm took the pilot seat.

“Ok everyone, I think we are all aware of the threat here.” Kitty stood in the center aisle of the plane, “The NYPD has an elite force out there, we are going to help them, don’t get in their way.” She looked at Scott during the last part of her sentence.

Ororo prepared the jet for takeoff. Right as she was about to take off, the team was interrupted by Logan storming into the hanger.

“What’s going on here? And was that Scott Summers I just saw teleporting out of our front yard?”

Logan walked over to the plane, and Ororo stood up.

“I’ll handle this,” she said to the group, “Kitty, you take the team off.”

Ororo left the plane and walked over to Logan. She ushered him away from the hanger, talking while she did.

Kitty powered up the plane and set the course for where Jack Winters was detected to be. Since he was a mutant (unknown to the NYPD) the X-Men were easily able to find him. Kitty had been instructed to alert the NYPD once they confirmed his location. The plane took off, lifting from under the basketball court, and speed off towards New York City.

In the back of the plane sat the 5 time displaced teens. Hank was reading something, most likely about the team's newest target. Warren and Bobby were sitting next to each other, talking. Scott and Jean were seated next to each other. Scott was staring straight ahead, unmoving, stiff.

*Alabama, Arizona- wait no Alaska. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas--* Scott began listing states, a calming repetitive action he’d started doing ages ago. Ages ago when he was locked in a small car trunk traveling cross country, tape over his eyes so he didn’t blast through the car, and his hands bound so he couldn’t punch out a taillight. *California, Colorado, Connecticut*

Scott's thoughts were interrupted by Jean. She reached over and grabbed his hand. He tensed up. He wanted to tell her to stop. He wanted to tell her to let go. But he couldn’t. He froze. He couldn’t form the words of protest. His body was frozen, but not his mind. His mind was racing. Jean could feel it, and she dropped his hand. Scott sighed, relieved. He knew Jean, or for that matter, any of his friends, would never hurt him, but it was an instinct to expect it anyway.

*Scott?* Jean turned to Scott as she thought, so he knew the thoughts were intended for him.

*Jean.*

She could feel the fear, the tension, in Scott's thoughts. Maybe Warren was right, and bringing Scott along wasn’t the best idea.

*Are you doing, ok? I know it’s hard-*

*Stop saying that, stop saying you know. And no, I’m not doing OK Jean.*

Scott turned away from Jean, signaling that their “conversation” was over.

“Alright X-Kids, we're here. Make sure you’re all suited up, we’re going to land. He’s just outside of the city, our goal is to keep him out of the city until the NYPD can get here. Understood?” Kitty turned to the group to make sure they were all listing.

The group nodded back to Kitty, and she turned back to the controls. The blackbird slowly descended into an open area. When it landed the teens got up and headed to the now lowering exit ramp. Kitty stayed back to contact the NYPD elite team. Steam engulfed the team as they walked out. As they came out, they heard slow clapping.

“Brought more friends with you this time to kill me did ya, Scottie? After all I did for ya, after I was the only one who would take some scrawny messed up kid off the streets?”

Scott was shaking, not visibly, but in a way that he could feel each tremor shake through his body. He’d thought he had buried this part of his past, but no, Jack Winters was standing right in front of him.

“You… you… you didn’t help me. All you did was… was… was use me.” Scott stared straight at Winters, his own act of defiance. The stutter he hadn’t had for years was coming back, and he knew what that would mean if Winters got anywhere near him.

Jean could sense Scott’s fear. She reached out to him mentally, offering a psychic hand to hold. She stepped up next to him, and the other X-Men followed suit. With Jean and Bobby on one side and Hank and Warren on the other, Scott wasn’t alone anymore.

“You still got that stutter boy? Did I not beat it out ya enough the last time?”

Jack stepped forward heading directly at Scott, as if he didn’t see the other X-Men. Scott though, didn’t see the other X-Men. He couldn’t see them because suddenly Scott was 11 or 12 or 13 or 14. And suddenly he wasn’t in a field outside of New York City. He wasn’t surrounded by his team. He couldn’t hear Kitty coming out of the ship. He couldn’t see the fight begin. No. He was in a cold room. A dark room. A room with only one other person. A person who was coming at him. He closed his eyes. Braced himself for the inevitable impact.

*Alabama*

A punch to the gut and Scott fell forward.

*Alaska*

Pain, a broken rib maybe?

*Arizona*

The other X-Men were scrambling, trying to fight off the much stronger adult.

*Arkansas*

Gunshots, the NYPD’s Omega task force had arrived.

*California*

A blow to the head.

*Colorado*

“SCOTT!”

*Connecticut*

Darkness.

Chapter Text

“Is he going to be ok?” Bobby asked Kitty as she emerged from the school's infirmary.

“Yes, he will make it out okay. He has a broken rib and a concussion, but nothing that won’t go away. He is on strict concussion protocol, no lights, no reading, no loud music or loud noises, and so on.”

“Can we see him?” Jean stepped to the front of the group.

“Yes, but keep it short and chill, okay? Maybe not all of you at once, just to keep the noise down.”

Jean turned back to the group.

“Bobby, you and I will go in now. Hank, you and Warren can go later if you want.”

Jean pushed passed Kitty and opened the door. The boys exchanged a worried glance, Jean’s behavior just kept getting more and more concerning. Bobby shrugged and followed Jean into the room. The room was dark, with the only light coming from the door that had just been opened. Scott was lying in bed on the opposite side of the room.

“Hey,” Scott whispered, and gave a little wave, “what’s up?”

Jean came over and sat down on the bed. Bobby, unsure of what to do, stood awkwardly next to Jean.

“Hey yourself,” Jean smirked, “how are you feeling?”

“Jean, I have a broken rib and a concussion, how do you think I’m feeling.”

Jean and Bobby both snickered. It was a rather stupid question. Scott tried to laugh, but it only made his head hurt worse.

“We thought you’d want to know, the Omega task force caught him. He’s in police custody right now, and they're moving him to a more secure location as soon as they can.” Jean carefully watched Scott’s reaction, trying to make sure she didn’t make him uncomfortable.

“Good. Ah, I’m sorry guys, my head is killing me, and my stomach.”

“Do you need an Advil?” Bobby asked, concerned for Scott. A concussion and broken rib must be awful.

“I can’t, Professor Kitty said that you can’t take that stuff with a concussion like this one.”

Bobby looked horrified. Just the thought of how painful that must be made his head hurt.

“Well, Professor Kitty said we should keep it short, let you rest.” Jean stood up.

“Yeah,” Scott sighed and reached over to something on his bedside table, “at least I have audiobooks. They’ll kill some time I guess, after all, we have decades of books to catch up on.”

The three teens laughed. Scott winced. Laughing with a broken rib was not fun.

“We’ll see you later, ok?” Jean turned to Scott as she and Bobby were leaving, “Feel better.”

Jean and Bobby walked out of the room. Hank and Warren had left the hallway.

“Do you think he will remember our conversation?” Bobby asked Jean.

“Nope, not at all.”

The two laughed and walked off into the school.