Frederick Duncan Mutant Liaison

''Wow, after everything, you can still joke? That's surprising, to say the least.'' Moira merely smiled as she looked at the ceiling, saying, ''In truth, earlier on, I wasn't able to keep my emotions after a certain point. How could I? Being both a genius and immortal does that to a person.

However, I have a question, Mr. Mysterious. It's been bugging me for a while: are mutants 100% human or not?'' At that question, I turned my head to the side and said, ''Did you know that you'll adopt two kids in the future? If not, you really should prepare.'' I said that while trying to mimic the face of Adam from ROR. Moira asked again, more frustrated, ''Frederick H. Duncan, could you please answer my question about mutants?''

I tried doing the same thing I did earlier, only to sigh and say, ''I know the answer, yet I cannot say due to a certain being paying attention to the Earth that isn't the one who watches.'' Her face scrunched up as she asked, irritated, ''Is that how most of my questions will end up? Is that the reason you omitted a bunch of knowledge from me? And how long until you can say?''

I went into deep thought before answering, ''After Genosha should be about right.'' Her brows furrowed as she asked, ''Even with cosmic knowledge, you can't find a way to stop those events from happening? Hmm, this is just a guess, but are you doing this because of a god or an entity of or above that level that predetermines these events?''

I smirked at her before saying, ''Well, the entity you describe is very much existent. Hell, there are even multiple in that regard. However, I must warn you to stop thinking about how to stop those events. It's just guaranteed to happen no matter what. Even if we were to go to another universe that is dead, time-traveling robots would most likely kill mutants because that's just how it is. It's our destiny.

You know, funnily enough, that mutant got something wrong about her powers. She doesn't verbatim see our future; she only sees the most likely outcome to play out for a given event. It's like this: a glass cup breaks in five days. You know it will, and it does. But in five days, it doesn't at the same time. Why is that?''

Moira thought for a moment before replying, ''Because the glass cup only cracks, which counts as it breaking for you in the five days later of your timeline, but the glass cup fully breaks in the other timeline you saw. Is it because of variables?''

I sat up and clapped as I said, ''Precisely! None of her visions are actually perfectly going to happen after it passes, I'd say, the three-hour mark. Because of the different variables that can happen in those days, like what if someone like the Hulk happened to Hulk out because of something minor you did, causing the glass to shatter in the future you saw? But that minor thing you did, you no longer did by accident.

To put it simply, after three hours, the butterfly effect is guaranteed to happen no matter what. It's as simple as that. Of course, if you don't act out a scenario perfectly as you did in your vision.'' She nodded at that, probably having already guessed this to some extent before asking, ''It's fun and all to talk about Irene Adler's powers, but is there a reason why we are doing so?''

I once again leaned back into the very comfortable chair to ease the unusual back pain I inherited from this body as I said, ''It's simple, really. We are going to let her live and die, then trap her.''

Moira immediately said, ''Impossible! No matter how much we know about her powers, she will foresee everything and come back anyway. It will only lead to our deaths!'' At her tone of absolute certainty, I smiled and asked, ''Did you not hear what I said? She sees the most probable outcome. So what would happen if we took a little trip between every reality and happened to gain a pair of time gems each for the two of us that can be used in any universe?''

Moira's eyes widened at that as she asked, ''Are you certain that would work?'' The smirk I had refused to fade as I answered, ''The Phoenix is a blind spot for her. Mr. Sinister was able to mess with her ability and make it ambiguous, and a bunch of people turned into blind spots of her powers.

As you probably have already guessed, her ability can only allow her to see one singular future at a time. No matter who it is or what it is, that is Irene Adler across the multiverse. Her powers will never go beyond what they are now. That is fact and certain. And since that is the case, we don't interfere to make her die directly. We simply let the timeline play out how she has seen it playing out so many times.

But with a little extra ''me'' being in the mix—a man who has peeked into both the future and past, along with the multiverse as a blind spot for her—that acts mostly the same as in her other visions.''

She started to smile—a true smile—as she said, ''So in short, you're going to screw her over without her even knowing it, are you?''

''That's right. Right here, right now, I say this to you: Irene Adler will no longer be meddling and causing problems, thinking she knows best for a whole damn race while killing anyone who is even a slight threat to her. She can't stand the fact that someone other than her can know the future and, even if they fail, go back and fix everything. Unlike her, who can never do so.''

Moira got up, and at that, so did I. A new friendship between a man who experienced the cosmic secrets—even those who hold all the secrets might not know—and the woman who will forever reset time to make a better tomorrow for her kind was formed with a single handshake.

After that was done, Frederick, now finished scheming, quickly realized something and hurriedly asked, ''Umm, Miss MacTaggert—''

Only to be interrupted. ''Please call me Moira. We are partners in crime, are we not?'' A chuckle escaped Frederick's lips as he responded, ''I guess we are, Moira. Now, may I ask if you need assistance in blocking those memories of yours from mind readers?''

She shook her head before responding, ''In this timeline, I've already made an anti-Charles suit as well as one for myself that will block probing from anyone. All I really need to do is modify the memories of the objects in this room to fit something a bit more casual, or even more than that, one could say.''

Frederick, genuinely surprised, asked, ''I thought you only started dabbling in magic later on. And wait a minute—since you've made the suit, does that mean Onslaught has already happened for you before?''

She smirked before saying, ''Yes, it has. In fact, that's why I'm at his side in this timeline—to keep damages at a minimum. And also, after living for over a hundred years as a scientist, am I not allowed to get bored and learn some magic?''

I smiled and answered back, ''I guess not.'' Shortly after, I looked up at a clock in her room and said, ''Well then, you should get ticking. I'm pretty sure everyone should be returning home by now.''

She gestured to the button I noticed she pressed earlier and said, ''I know. That's why I have already been modifying the memories of objects when you spoke or when I paused to 'think.' This isn't my first rodeo with something like this.''

With a shrug, I asked, ''So is there a TV somewhere? I'm dying to watch some Samurai Jack.''

She raised an eyebrow, asking, ''What's that? And yes, there is one in Charles's office. It's hidden in the wall next to the door.'' I smirked at that before saying, ''Oh, you're going to love it.''

After I said so, we walked through the corridors of the X-Mansion before arriving at the open door of Xavier's office. ''Well, it seems we'll have to watch another time. He's back.''

Saying that, I pushed open the doors to Charles's office and said, ''You're safe and sound, I presume, Charles?'' As Frederick finished that sentence, his eyes widened as he saw someone unexpected in the office. ''Jean?''

Utterly dumbfounded, he looked straight at Charles, who was in his usual spot, and asked, ''I thought she was dead! Charles, how can the dead come back?''

To that, he shook his head, saying, ''Indeed, she was—or so we thought. However, a cosmic entity, the Phoenix, merely posed as her while she was in a deep sleep inside a sort of cocoon.''

I let out a breath of air before saying, ''Got it. Anyway, I came here to say I saw records in government files about wide-awake mutants. Not much, but still, be careful. This has been happening for a while to the point I didn't know and had to rush over to inform you.''