Ciara paused, before taking a defensive stand but after a moment she lowly approached, "Hello?" She called going to move the rumble

The hand stopped moving a moment, before weakly trying to lift away the debris again. The person tried to speak but their voice was impossible to understand under the ruble.

"Hold on, let me get this off you." She said calmly, "Everything is going to be alright. Just stay calm" She said, her mind going into rescue mode. Using a ball of water, she managed to pull the large pieces of rumble aside.

As the chunks of concrete and wood were moved away the person revealed was just a child, a child with pure white hair-or it would have been if it wasn't matted with dirt and filth. There was a small blood trail from the corner of his mouth, his lips were dry and his body was covered in scratches and bruises but there was no mistaking the devil Max for who he was.
Trouble was, that this was just a boy of the man that had helped destroy gotham. He looked up at Ciara with fear in his eyes and he tried to sit up but yelped in pain and wrapped an arm around himself.
"w-who are you?" he croaked, his throat was awfully dry, he looked nine, maybe ten years old and he was trembling, "where am I? What's going on?" he tried to drag himself a bit away from her, trying to get a little more distance from this strange girl that had come out of nowhere.

Ciara took a step back in sheer surprise. It wasn't possible was it? Why did she keep meeting Time mutants as children? And out of all the people, why did it have to be him? She shook her head, no. This wasn't the man she meet before. This was the still pure version... much like how Victor turned into Sabertooth.

She knelt down on one knee, lowering the water ball, "It's ok, I'm a friend. My name is Ciara. Are you alright?" She asked kindly.

He hesitated, staring at her nervously, "I'm..." he stopped, looking around, "I'm... I... I don't know my name..." he winced as he tried to move again, crying out in pain, "AAhhh, everything hurts"

"Shhhhh..." Ciara slowly approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Don't push yourself. I'm trained in first aid. Can I take you out of here and fix you all up?" She asked.

"Get away from him" Snapped someone from behind as an icy hand grabbed Ciara's shoulder and dug into her skin. The more familiar, older version of Max was there to apparently, this one looked like he'd been blown half to hell. The left side of his face was burnt and charred all the way back along the side of his head where there was a chunk of no hair. He was banged up worse than his younger self with bloodrage in his eyes, "Where's Horatio?" he demanded, blood choking from his throat as he spoke. His left arm hung limply at his side, likely broken by the looks of it.

The younger Max squeaked in fear and tried to hide.

Ciara winced at his grip and nearly felt her insides twist in terror. She kicked him in the stomach and used a rush of water to push him away. Quickly she turned and scooped up the badly hidden child, rushing down the pipe back toward the cave. "LOGAN!!!!" She screamed as loud as she could.

She didn't want to be alone with this man. This terrible horrifying man.

the older Max dropped like a rock, with the kick to his stomach Ciara could actually feel brittle ribs breaking even further beneath her foot. He yelled in pain and fought to hold himself together.

Little Max whimpered and held onto ciara, not knowing what else to do. It took a few minutes before Logan met Ciara running down the tunnel, "What's goin on-The Hell Drip!" he exclaimed the moment he caught max's scent in her arms.

Ciara wrapped her arms around the boy more protectively, grasping for air. "Logan. Calm down. This boy isn't the person you should be mad at... Diablo showed up. Further down the tunnel..." She tried to explain.

"Nice tunnel you have here" the older Max hissed as he appeared behind Logan and threw him into the stone wall, "So this is where you're hiding out." he reached towards ciara but before he could lay a hand on her, a blade emerged from his chest. His eyes widened and he coughed blood as he dropped to his knees, revealing Horatio standing behind him. Max gurgled some inaudible word before he twitched and then lay still.

The young Max in Ciara's arms screamed in horror and hid his face in ciara's shirt. Horatio startled at the second voice of Max and he drew out the blade again to strike once more but suddenly the voice stopped. Young Max was gone, disappeared into the time stream more likely than not while his older self lay on the floor of the batcave, dead eyes staring at the cieling.

Ciara turned away from the horror, shielding the small boy from the gore. When Horatio advanced, she heard up her hand to stop Horatio's blade from hitting the boy.

She stood there in shock and slowly looked down at the knife in her stomach, flesh blood staining her ripped dress. "You idiot..." She trembled, "He was just a...a..boy." She coughed, falling forward into Horatio.

Horatio froze, "C-Ciara? CIARA?!" he yelled, dropping the blade and catching her as she fell. He ran his hands over her stomach and trembled, "oh God, oh no, no, no, I'm so sorry, Ciara please, hang on."

Logan was back on his feet looking at the pair of them, "Well don't just stand there, get her outta here!" he ordered.

"I can't jump through time" Horatio stammered, "We have to move further away, and once i leave this place I'm not sure if I'll be able to get back here."

"I'll get Itsu" Logan stated, "you start going" he marched down the hall to gather Itsu. She at least wasn't quite as frail as when they'd first brought her in, hopefully she could manage a little longer.

"I'm trying Time Bug..." She said softly, gripping his shirt as they move along the tunnel. "Move to your left, there's a barrel in the middle of the path." She instructed, after a few moments.

Horatio obeyed her instructions, he moved a bit slowly but his steps were sure-footed and each was careful as it was rushed. It wasn't long before Logan chased up behind them with Itsu in his arms.
"How far Horatio?" Logan questioned.

"I'm not sure" his son admitted, "it still feels wrong here. Further."

"Oh my... Starting to feel dizzy..." She admitted, biting her lip. "Gods... how do you do it Wolfie?...Getting stabbed all the time?" She mumbled on.

"Mine don't tend to stick around too long" Logan replied as they raced further out of Gotham. Finally, much further away, Horatio stopped, panting for breath.

"Here" gasped the Time mutant, "Hold onto me, tightly"

Ciara's eyes were barely open when they jumped. "Can't... keep them open... Logan, you better love her... Like you never loved be...before..." She coughed as they finished jumping, her eyes flickering.

They were in Genosha's hospital, Horatio called out instantly and in moments they were surrounded by the resident medics and the two girls were taken away to be healed.

Ciara passed out moments after being passed into the hands of the resident doctors....

~
The waves rocked her gently back and forth in an endless land of water... She opened them and looked to her side to find a rock appear with a small little time bug on it. He smiled and waved. Little Victor and Little Max both poked their heads around Horatio and both shyly waved. Then she turned to her other side and found adult Max in mid jump.

She opened her eyes wide as wrapped his hands around her throat. They both went under the water, further and further they sank. She struggled but he held on tight. One hand on her neck, the other ripping her clothes into shreds before beating her. "Everything you love... Everything... destroyed. DESTROYED!" He boomed as she felt her body rip into several pieces.
~

Ciara awoke screaming and a cold sweat.

"Ciara!" Hank McCoy exclaimed, jumping in his seat and dropping the book he'd been reading, "oh thank the lords of literature you're awake" he moved forward to hug her, "everything's alright Droplet, you're safe now"

She sluggishly smiled after realizing she was safe in her father's arms. "...Hmmmpf, why wouldn't I be awake, Daddy?" She asked sluggishly, slowly curling her fingers against him, enjoying the embrace. He also had a certain smell to him. Not a gross smell... Just a familiar scent that always calmed her down.

"You passed out, you had lost a lot of blood, I was worried" he replied, letting her go and taking a seat again, "All my scientific knowledge only hinders me with worry when it comes to you I'm afraid. I know everything that can go wrong" he blushed beneath the fur a touch.

Ciara smiled sweetly, pulling him toward her and kissing his forehead. "But that's what I love about you Daddy." She explained, flinching a bit as a pain shot through her. "...Is Itse still?"