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Jubilee and Noh had left for an anniversary trip to the stars as soon as school let out for the summer, and they hadn't exactly told anyone when they were expecting to come back — so it was a bit of a surprise when the two of them simply strolled into breakfast one morning a few weeks later, both of them wearing new clothes they must have gotten while they were out and about, including some incredibly pink and sparkly earrings that were an anniversary gift from Noh that played music only Jubilee could hear, depending on her mood.They were positively beaming and all but joined at the hip as Noh started to make some pancakes while Jubilee had her arms around his waist and her head resting on his back, perfectly content until she noticed a fairly conspicuous absence of anyone wearing flannel or reading a newspaper at the corner of the table."Hey, what gives?" she asked with her lower lip pushed out the slightest bit as she gestured with one hand to the spot that Logan usually occupied. "Where'd he go?" It was clear from her tone that she was disappointed, to say the least, and her eyes were narrowed slightly as she looked over the remaining X-Men."He went north," Kurt said with a sigh as a couple of the bamfs tried to cheer Jubilee up by filling Logan's spot and looking grumpy, miming reading a newspaper and scowling. One of them even had his little cowboy hat on."Of course he did," she said with a little frown as she booped the cowboy hat-wearing bamf on the nose. "I even got him a present." She crossed her arms and grumped just the slightest, though of course, that had the bamfs giggling and complimenting her on her excellent Logan impression."What'd you get him?" Kate asked curiously. She was standing by the coffee maker to refill her own mug, though with Jubilee and Noh there, she'd already pulled down two more for them."If I tell you, it'll ruin the surprise," Jubilee said, wide-eyed, as if it was the most obvious explanation ever."Sounds like a good present," Kate replied with a little smirk. "Now I'm kind of jealous.""Well, if I found a purple planet, it would have been something for you," Jubilee said with a grin. "But it was not purple. At all.""Next time, then," Kate said, grinning."Maybe he'll be back by the weekend. He's been gone for a few days as it is," Kurt suggested helpfully. "Then you can give him ... whatever it is.""You mean if he doesn't decide to extend his visit?" Jubilee said. "Because that, like, never happens." She rolled her eyes as she laid the sarcasm on thickly.Noh turned slightly to wrap an arm around her and whisper so quiet only she could hear, "I'm sure we could find ways to make the time pass quickly.""Or stop it completely," she replied with a grin."Your wish is my command," he teased right back and kissed her neck tenderly.Kate snorted at the two of them. "Looks like someone else should have extended their trip too," she said in a stage whisper to Kurt."We could," Noh suggested brightly. "I'm sure Kate will call us when Wolverine returns, and we had meant to go to the California beaches. It's unfair of me to take you only to space when we could spend such time where you called home.""That … actually sounds really nice," Jubilee said thoughtfully with a grin. "Bikinis and sand? I'm game."Noh beamed at her as he heaped some pancakes on their plates. "Then we will do just that — as soon as we've finished breakfast."Noh and Jubilee sat down across from Kate and Kurt to jump into retelling some of the stories from their space tour — including the tiny little moon base where Noh bought the earrings that was, as he put it, positively brimming with music in every corner.Jubilee was in the middle of describing the near miss they had with a Shi'ar scouting ship when Kurt's phone went off. He didn't recognize the number, so he held up a hand to excuse himself, half-hoping it was Logan calling to say he was on his way back just so Jubilee could have her Wolvie back. "This is Kurt Wagner," he said, just in case it wasn't Logan — though he was prepared to tell his little buddy that Jubilee was missing him terribly if it was."Any idea where our short stabby friend might be hiding?" Fury's voice came through the phone. "He's not picking up, and I'm sure he isn't going to answer for Summers if I ask him to call."Kurt raised both eyebrows high, surprised at the fact that the director of SHIELD was calling, before he let out a sigh. "He's gone north — you know how he is sometimes," he said frankly. "So many complaints about the city and the dirtiness of it all.""I do at that," Fury replied. "Think you can deliver a little message for me? It's .. high priority."Kurt's eyebrows rose a bit higher as he nodded. "Ja," he said. "What can I tell him for you?""Just that his little angry girlfriend hasn't shaken off the Weapon X ties. They are actively looking for her — hard." Fury paused and let out a little sigh. "I'm sure they wouldn't pass up the chance to recover him if they could, either."Kurt couldn't help but scrub a hand over his face at the news as he heard it. "I'll make sure to let them both know," he promised, "the moment I find them.""I appreciate it," Fury replied. "I don't suppose you're at liberty to tell me which hiding spot he's taken up, are you?""That would negate the whole point of his going into hiding," Kurt pointed out."But you do know where to find him, don't you?""I have a general area, yes," Kurt admitted. "Don't worry — he'll get the message sooner rather than later.""Have him get back to me when he returns so I can give him the relevant details, would you?" Fury said before he simply ended the call.Kurt pocketed his phone with a little sigh before he made a point to kiss Kate and let her know he was headed out quickly. "It seems our little friends are in trouble again," he told her, and she just laughed at that."When are they ever not in trouble?" she asked, and he shrugged in response with a little smile."You have a point," he admitted before he kissed her again and promised to be back soon, then simply teleported off to find Logan and K. He was reasonably sure he'd find them somewhere outside K's little house... eventually.…..Jubilee and Noh had been enjoying several days at the beach as part of their 'extended' trip, and though they talked sometimes about eventually heading back to the mansion, neither of them were in much of a hurry to go back home either, especially since their little feral friends were still gone and most of the mansion residents were also out for the summer — so they'd rather just stay put and continue to enjoy the sun and sand.The two of them were stretched out on the sand, Noh with his arms behind his head as Jubilee was lying on her stomach, resting her head on her arms as well — and Noh was pretty sure she was asleep. He was listening to music, the green and white headphones over his ears as he was content to simply lie there with her, until she started to stir awake — and he had to grin; she was just in time for a beautiful sunset.He reached over to trace a pattern on her back for a moment as she lazily woke up before he said, "It's getting dark, Jubilee, but the sky is attempting to imitate your vibrant colors in the meantime.""It's been far too long since I had a Southern California sunset," she said grinning up at him as she rolled over. "We should cuddle up for it. Might even watch it if we've got time to stop with the kisses for a second." She shrugged a bit. "Not that I care much to watch it when I have you to kiss."He laughed at that and leaned down to kiss her gently. "Ah, but you have me to kiss forever — and the sunset truly is trying to outdo you," he teased.She peeked over at the water and nodded. "Those are some spectacular pinks and tangerine." She sat up and snuggled into him, facing the water so they could watch the sky morph from the bright warm colors all the way through the purples of twilight and finally the deep, dark blue-black of the star-speckled sky before either of them even considered heading up off of the beach.Noh was humming to himself quietly as he gently kissed the top of Jubilee's head and held her a bit closer so she could hear him start in on some lyrics: "The drowsy islands slumber one by one. Close their sleepy eyelids, say goodnight to the sun…" He hummed a bit more before he started to sing again, "In her lover's arms once more. Too soon the sunrise will wake her from her sleep.""We need to find more occasions for you to sing," Jubilee told him before she turned to kiss him properly.He kissed her back deeply before he picked her up out of the sand with a little grin. "Yes, I believe I like this plan," he told her.As the two of them made their way up to the boardwalk, all grins and happy feelings, their path was abruptly blocked by two MRD agents, though they didn't seem to be overtly aggressive. "Jubilation Lee?" One of them asked, his body language relaxed. "I hate to bother you on such a pretty night, but I have a few questions for you. I'm not interested in trying to take you in; I just have some questions." He gave her a friendly smile, and if not for the patch, he could have been a regular beat cop. His partner, however, did not look nearly so relaxed or at ease.Noh set Jubilee down in the sand but made a point to whisper over her shoulder, "Say the word, and I'll run us to New York myself if I need to," as he did his best intimidating glare and crossed his arms at the two men."I'm not sure what I can do to help, but ... maybe tell me what you want?" Jubilee said as she leaned against Noh."We've been going through the new registrations for mutants and noted that you were back to your abilities after a long stretch of being ... non-human, honestly," the first officer said with a friendly expression. "How exactly did that even happen? I mean, to be cured of vampirism is impressive, but to have your abilities restored on top of that ... that's … well, that's pretty amazing." He was still smiling, but his partner looked ready to shoot. "Is there any chance we could do this peacefully? Just come on in with us and offer us a little blood sample?""I believe that falls under the jurisdiction of 'you need a warrant'? And also — bite me. No," Jubilee replied with a fair amount of heat as Noh was matching the second officer's body language — also clearly ready to shoot.The first cop looked a bit crestfallen, and his smile fell as if he really thought that it was going to be a civil, easy matter. "Honestly, Miss Lee, I really don't want to see this come to conflict, even if I don't blame you, all things considered.""I think you'll find that illegally detaining my wife is going to cost you more than just a minor inconvenience," Noh said with a low, unearthly hiss."Oh," the first officer said with a surprised look on his face. "I didn't realize. Congratulations, but ... I still need you to join me. You're welcome to come too, sir. We really just want to know how the vampirism was cured so we can help others with the same condition."Noh's expression softened the slightest bit toward the first officer. "Trust me on this — you will want to speak with your superiors and ask what is actually happening here, lest you end up like I once did."The man looked a bit taken aback and frowned slightly. "I haven't seen anything illegal happen in my time at the MRD," the guy replied with what looked like an honest expression. "But I do understand the reluctance." At that, the second officer darted forward with his weapon drawn, and the friendly officer looked horrified as he tried to stop him. But far quicker than either of them could react, Jubilee had darted toward him herself and hit the second officer with a palm strike up his nose."You can't arrest me," Jubilee said as she disarmed the officer that had drawn his weapon and disassembled it in about three fast steps, throwing the parts and pieces in different directions. "I haven't done anything wrong. And I'm not telling you how I was cured. So just forget it." She frowned at the stunned first officer. "You're not even an actual legal entity — so back off, Barney Fife wannabe."Noh gave Jubilee a proud smile before he looked to the first MRD officer. "You seem too good a person to waste on the MRD. I'm sure there are openings in more savory organizations — so long as you can see to the top," he suggested even as he swept Jubilee up in his arms. He tipped his head to the man with a 'good day' that had Jubilee grinning before he took off at full speed and headed directly for his ship.The two of them were wearing matching glares as Noh climbed into the pilot's seat and gunned the ship's engines as fast as he could to get back to the mansion, and they were even still looking a bit huffy as the two of them, covered in sand, arrived in the hangar."I'm only passingly familiar with the MRD, but I would like to speak with Scott to learn more so I can properly hate them, I think," Noh said with a glare still tugging on his expression.They weren't quite to the door leading into the house when the mini jet came in for a landing with K and Logan looking annoyed themselves as they exited the jet. When the two ferals stepped out, Logan absently greeted Jubilee. "What are you doin' out here, kiddo?""Oh, you know," Jubilee replied with her arms crossed. "Just had to ditch the MRD. You know. Because they've taken a keen and sudden interest in why I'm not a bloodsucker anymore."Logan frowned and looked from her to Noh to K. "Really," he replied slowly. "I came back from a damn good time because of Weapon X issues." He tipped his head K's way. "Not for me, though. For a change."Noh's eyebrows shot up as he looked K's way. "Anything I can help with?" he offered almost immediately."It's just the same creeps as the last ones that came after me," K told him with a little shrug. "So, nothing new, really." She gave both of them a weak smile as Logan put his arm around her shoulders and they headed toward the house. "Shouldn't be horrible, I don't think.""If recent experience with semi-authoritative bureaucratic organizations rings true, it will simply be annoying," Noh said with a heavy sigh."Well, last time they tried to kill my little bamf friend," K said. "So, slightly more than annoying.""Ah." Noh tipped his head her way. "If you can identify the one who did that, I'll make sure to return the favor. That is simply unacceptable behavior.""I think we killed that one," she told him with a little smirk. "Just going to have to make the option of employment for them sound not so wonderful, I guess." Once they were inside, she gave Logan a quick kiss and wished him luck with his phone call. "I'm going to go wash up," she told him. "Since you'll be busy anyhow." Logan nodded and watched her go for a long moment, clearly thinking it all over."Any idea where Scott might be hiding ... or … maybe just go get him? He's gonna want to know what's going on," Logan told the two of them."Likely he's in the Danger Room with Alex again," Noh pointed out."Why don't you go get him for me then?" Logan asked. "Jubes — you can tell me what happened on my way to the War Room."Noh nodded with a little smirk. "I may be some time if it's anything like the last session I saw," he laughed. "Since the last time he managed to get a beam going, he had a hard time turning it back off again.""Tell him I've got Fury waiting on the line for him," Logan said with a smirk. "He'll move a little quicker."Noh chuckled and nodded before he zipped off, leaving Jubilee with Logan to fill him in on the abrupt end to their beach partying.….It was well into the wee hours of the morning when one of Noh's security measures was tripped, and the alert went straight to both Noh and Scott, as usual. Noh keyed in his code to let Scott know that he'd look into it and very carefully slid out from underneath the covers so as not to disturb Jubilee before he took note of the coordinates and opened the window, scurrying down the side of the building almost silently as he headed for the security breach.He was part of the way there when, very suddenly, there was a bright light and a sound almost like a punch to the chest that was physically painful as it rang through Noh's tympanic membrane. The flash-bang stunned him badly enough that he sank to his knees, though he did manage to send out a message to Scott — half-shouted since he could not hear a thing — that someone was on the grounds.He didn't get much further, the ringing in his ears and over his skin still intense before something hit him and he blacked out.Inside the mansion, the attack was quick and hit the X-Men from several different sides at once as windows all around the mansion were broken and more flash-bang cartridges went off almost in unison. Those that were already awake were stunned by the percussive blast; those that weren't were rudely awakened. The two ferals were diving into the fight blindly — though both of them were trying to rely on their acute sense of smell to target their assailants. Until, of course, the smoke grenade was tossed into the room too.Jubilee sent off a few bursts of sparkles, though she held back considerably — afraid to blow the wrong wall or injure someone friendly, since she too, could not see, and her ears were ringing terribly. Everyone in the mansion was clearly frustrated, ears ringing, fighting blind — though it was probably good that no one could hear the string of increasingly creative expletives Kate was shouting over losing her best sense. Kurt was growling out his own frustration at not knowing where to teleport as well, but again, no one could hear it.In the state of half-chaos, not one of the X-Men were prepared to defend themselves against the assailants, especially when the soldiers had arrived with range so they didn't have to get close to the blinded and deafened heroes, simply darting them with sedatives as they made their way through the mansion halls. By the time the soldiers had cleared out and the evidence of smoke grenades was also starting to be swept out by the broken windows, anyone who might have offered any resistance was simply unconscious.It was dawn by the time the effects of the darts finally wore off, and of course, Scott's first thought was to check on Annie and the twins — but when they were perfectly fine, it was now a matter of searching through the rest of the place to see who or what they had been after.It didn't take long to figure out, though. Especially when Logan's room was one of the first Scott checked — and the place still smelled like smoke and gas even after hours had passed as soon as he opened the door. Add to that the fact that the room was trashed — slash marks everywhere, bloodstains on the carpets, walls, and furniture — and it took Scott all of three seconds to call out the alarm to anyone that was conscious.It was another few seconds before Kurt teleported over to where Scott was, still looking a bit hazy but clearly positively livid as he looked over the damage done to Logan's room.Scott was glaring hard too as he tipped his head Kurt's way. "Director Fury called to let us know about Weapon X — it's got to be them… Do you have any idea where their most recent hideout is? I know you and Logan went to Canada a while back for that kind of business.""We completely destroyed that place," Kurt admitted. "Burned it out to the roots."Scott let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair for a second before he nodded. "Well, we'll just have to see if the director can give us any tips on their whereabouts, since he was so gracious to let us know they were coming," he said through his teeth before he shared a look with Kurt and the two of them teleported to the War Room to give Fury a call."I told you to be careful," Fury half shouted, though it was clear he seemed upset too."You told Logan to give you a call when he came back — to the very place they'd know they could find him!" Kurt replied, his tail practically still behind him as he was clearly a heartbeat from losing his temper."Are you trying to imply that this was my doing?" Fury asked, looking thunderous."I'm saying for someone who is supposed to be three steps ahead, you certainly failed to do that in this regard," Kurt half-growled."Mr. Wagner, if I could find myself even one step ahead of whatever crap Weapon X was up to, then they'd be shut down by now." Fury let out a weary breath and looked between the two of them. "Any bright ideas, or are we working off old intel?""The last sign we had of Weapon X was in Canada," Scott told him. "Besides our brief encounter with them last time they tried to break in — which was much less successful than this time around. They were better armed and better prepared this time.""They learned from their mistakes, is what you're telling me?" Fury asked with concern as he frowned deeply and shook his head. "How long before you leave? I'd like to join the search."Scott and Kurt shared a look before Scott said, "As soon as we have a half-decent lead, we're gone. I can send you coordinates if you're not here by then.""I'm on my way," Fury said, standing before he cut the transmission.By the time Scott and Kurt got out of the War Room, most of the mansion was up and about and had recovered from the attack — and were busily trying to find clues to where their friends had gone. Rachel had gone straight to Cerebro to see if she could find them, even with the fact that she knew Weapon X would be blocking her any way they could, and Kate was half-shouting into her phone at some of her Avengers friends asking if they knew anything. Steve was already on his way, apparently, though he didn't have anything in the way of information to offer.In the flurry of activity, it was almost easy to miss Lorna as she and Alex approached Scott. "I think I can find them if I can get close enough," she offered with a small smile. "There aren't too many sources of adamantium in the world, so once we find that, we'll find them."Scott did a reasonable impression of someone who wasn't too relieved as he nodded. "How close do you need to get?""For that metal?" Lorna looked a bit uncomfortable but shrugged. "I can usually tell if Logan is home from seven or eight miles out. It's pretty distinctive."Scott nodded thoughtfully and let out a sigh. "Alright. We'll see if we can get a direction from radar sightings and start from there. Thanks, Lorna," he added with a small smile her way before he headed back to the War Room to see what he could find from the radar on the previous night.They'd just found what looked like a decent trail to follow when the door opened to admit Steve Rogers and Billy Kaplan, of all people, who was already holding up both hands with a quickly explained, "I'm pretty good with tracking," before anyone could ask what he was doing there.Steve, on the other hand, didn't bother trying to explain before he asked to be brought up to speed, and by the time Scott had filled him in on their plan to basically use Lorna as a radar, Billy was grinning. "I can help with that," he offered quickly. "It's actually easier if I've already got another power source to guide the tracking spell. Less draining.""Great. That should cut down our time — we would probably have had to do a grid search, but if you can narrow it down, we'll get moving," Scott said, clearly ready to get going. "The only problem I can see is that about fifty miles out — the choppers that came in all split off in different directions. So. Good luck with that."Billy offered Lorna his hand with a sheepish smile that she matched — clearly genetic, as it looked almost exactly the same on their faces — moments before Fury arrived to complete the rescue team. That was all the invitation Kurt needed to get them moving as he and the bamfs teleported everyone right to the blackbird so Steve could fill Fury in when they were in the air.Which in and of itself was quite the sight for the passive observer as both Fury and Scott were taking position as if they were running the whole mission. If not for the fact that Scott was flying the plane, chances were good that both of them would have been standing together, arms crossed, and seeing who could look more serious.The silent debate was settled, though, when Scott called over his shoulder for everyone to buckle in. Fury was a hair slow to move, unaccustomed and unwilling to take direction — until Scott banked the jet hard to the left, knocking him halfway off his feet.The flight itself was interesting enough, since Scott was only following a direction from the radar scans that put them initially toward Niagara Falls in Ontario — and after that, it was down to Billy and Lorna occasionally giving a 'yes' or 'no' as to which direction to take, relayed by Rachel in copilot. The two of them were seated with their heads and hands together, eyes closed in concentration, wearing the exact same expression again and completely oblivious to anything but their task at hand.They traveled like that, in tense silence, for some time until, at last, both Lorna and Billy opened their eyes and pulled apart as Rachel relayed the final destination to Scott."You found them?" Kurt asked as soon as the two of them looked anywhere but each other.Billy nodded as Lorna said, "Near Hudson Bay. We're close.""There's not supposed to be anything anywhere near there," Fury said with a frown. "That's all supposed to be off limits.""You're assuming Weapon X has limits," Kurt said in a nearly disbelieving tone."I'm going off of what the Canadian government has assured me over the past few months," Fury replied."Maybe they just didn't know?" Billy offered almost shyly."Highly doubtful," Fury said dryly."You can settle your governmental disputes after we get our friends back," Kurt said, shaking his head as his tail twitched a bit behind him.Fury gave him a look that said he was ready to start a fight just based off of loyalties right there on the spot. "If I was more worried about governments, I sure as hell wouldn't be here right now.""Alright, guys — get ready," Scott called back to them, half to warn them and half to prevent a fight. "I can't guarantee they won't see us coming in, even with Noh's camouflage on this thing. So as soon as we touch down, be ready for a fight."Steve nodded to himself and picked up his shield, ready to go, which seemed to get Fury and Kurt both to refocus their energy, though it was clear Kurt was ready to teleport right into the middle of the action.As Scott had predicted, the defenses on the Weapon X facility had picked up their ship, and they were already being fired on before Scott had even set them down, though he did manage to land them so that they had cover to get out of the plane before they had to engage the soldiers headed their way.It took the group of rescuers next to no time at all to start returning fire as both Summers boys were blasting through soldiers alongside Fury and the arsenal he apparently had hidden in that uniform of his.Kurt stuck close to Lorna and tipped his head at her for a moment. "Can you lead the way to where they are?" he asked politely, though with obvious urgency, and she simply nodded once and reached out with one hand to make a motion that lifted the heavy metal doors clean off their hinges to allow the rescue team access to the hidden facility."I'm sure I can," she said with a little smile.Resistance on the other side of the doors was surprisingly strong for such an hidden and clearly secret facility. As soon as they breached the threshold, easily, an entire platoon opened fire. It was enough to get Steve to instinctively duck behind his shield, but Lorna simply wasn't going to have any part of it, stopping the hail of bullets a solid ten feet in front of them before she reached out and crushed their weapons in their hands.Once the soldiers realized that they were disarmed, a few of the more faint of heart more or less turned tail and slipped further into the complex as the rest of them charged forward.Of course, the squad of rescuers simply wasn't going to have that, and what was more disconcerting than the fact that the soldiers were undeterred by the energy blasts and bullets headed their way was the fact that now there was a chorus of little growls that visibly shook a few of the soldiers as the bamfs — and Kurt — let all hell break loose, rather literally, as the halls filled with the smell of brimstone.It was almost entertaining to watch the bamfs go to work, especially as one of them was clearly giving a soldier the dressing down of his life, chattering angrily in his face with clear hand gestures and threatening little snarls even as the rest of the group was slashing, shooting, and bashing their way through.As they made headway, the soldiers that had disappeared earlier reappeared and started throwing grenades that the group as a whole quickly recognized as the same kind of cartridges that the soldiers had used to subdue them before.But before the grenades could go off, each of the X-Men and the other assorted rescuers found themselves with a bamf on their shoulder. At the moment of detonation, they were teleported away — only to reappear near the soldiers that had thrown the cartridges at them.Scott was particularly nasty about repaying the debt to the soldier that had thrown a cartridge his way and he blasted him halfway across the room before Alex made his way over with helpful commentary.He almost couldn't stop the snickering as he said, in an attempt at a straight-faced comment, "Gee, Scott, you don't seem to be having any problems turning up the power all of a sudden." He paused, grinned wider, and added, "At all.""Shut up, Alex," Scott grumbled his way. "Don't throw my focus.""I'm just saying, if I'd known this was the way to get you to use your powers…" Alex grinned broadly at Scott until he caught Lorna giving him a look that had him refocusing on fighting bad guys and not picking on his big brother.Fury and Steve, meanwhile, had found a solid rhythm between the two of them, with Fury dodging behind Steve and the shield when required and moving much faster than a man his age should have been as he and Steve fought back the ranks of much younger men — though clearly lacking in their level of training."Um, guys? I think I found them, and I need someone to tell me if it's safe to just… break the glass on the fish tank things." Billy's voice echoed over the comms, breaking into their fighting pattern."Where are you?" Kurt asked as he kicked back a soldier and slashed another. "I can be there in a moment."Billy took a second to check and then relay his coordinates before he added, "I'm kind of invisible right now, but there's a lot of soldiers here, so be careful.""I'll bring an army of demons," Kurt growled out before he called to the bamfs in German to join him.When he teleported to Billy's position, Kurt couldn't quite stop the little growl in the back of his throat when he saw that both Logan and K were simply floating in Genesis tubes — and that there was indeed a small army of soldiers that would probably take offense to any attempt to get the little ferals out of said tubes. This didn't deter the bamfs or Kurt in the slightest, though, and it took them all of a second before they were teleporting into soldiers' faces to growl at them and steal weapons.The fight had hardly broken out before Scott had completely abandoned the thought of trying to bark orders at Kurt — knowing full well that it would have no effect at all. Instead, he put his efforts into clearing a path for the rest of them to meet up with him and the bamfs, shocking even Alex a little at the results he was getting."So — I think they're upset at us for trying to take our friends back," Billy said over the comms, though it was obvious he was whispering and trying to stay quiet. "I'll just… stay here on the fish tanks. You know. So they can't disappear on us again.""Good idea," Scott said through gritted teeth. "See if you can figure out why the hell they're just there.""Well I left my bad guy mind-reading goggles in my other suit but I think we surprised them. Like — there was some nasty-looking stuff prepped in the room I came through to get here. So ... timing, really. Thank Lorna.""Um, you're welcome, I guess," Lorna replied, though she was taking out her frustration at the ongoing fight and the soldiers who were stupid enough to shoot at her by sealing the doors to the room so no more soldiers could come in.It was another few minutes of pushing their way through the soldiers before the rest of the group caught up to where Kurt was and immediately saw why Billy had volunteered to stay with the two ferals. Behind the small army that was fighting Kurt and his bamfs was another large group of soldiers and scientists quickly packaging up the Genesis tubes to take Logan and K out of the facility.Scott wasted no time in blasting several of the soldiers who were handling the tubes, and as soon as Kurt saw that the others were there, he simply nodded their way before he teleported closer to the ferals to deal with that group now that he knew the others were there to occupy the first group — to keep him from getting fully surrounded.The soldiers had to stop trying to rush K and Logan out of the room when the small army had their focus, and when the tubes stopped moving, Billy looked over the edge of the one with K in it and asked quietly, "Nobody told me if it was safe to break the fish tanks?""That's because we don't know," Scott said with a frustrated tone over the comms. "But if that's the only way to get them out — do it."Billy considered that answer for a second before he switched his focus to the tube with Logan in it and put his hands on either side of the glass, muttering the word "shatter" over and over again until the glass did just that, partially coating Billy in liquid as the whole thing burst.Kurt kept the scientists and soldiers back as he shouted for Billy to get the other tube too, unaware that the two of them were still doped up to their eyeballs.Billy was dripping slightly, which was giving away his position despite still being invisible as he did just that and shattered K's tube — and was coated all over again, muttering 'yuck' under his breath about a hundred times as he looked over the two very drugged ferals with a frown. "Okay. New question. There's… tubes and lines in there ... am I going to give them a heart attack if I start pulling? Or should I just try and levitate them out?""I really don't have an answer to that," Scott admitted. "We've never gotten him like this before.""Levitation it is," Billy decided."I can help with that," Lorna called out before she cleared the path by effortlessly sending a section of I-beam across the room and sweeping both soldiers and scientists out of her path, with Kurt and the bamfs teleporting out of the way in the process."Great, because I really don't want to drop them," Billy admitted with a sheepish grin."No problem," Lorna replied with a little smile. "Nothing easier — at least with these two," she added with a little laugh before she picked them up. "You will want to pull those lines, though," she said, tipping her head toward the two of them where it was now clearly visible: several lines leading into their arms that were still attached to the remains of the tubes.Billy looked like he still wasn't quite sure about that, which prompted Steve and Kurt to rush over to help, with Kurt pulling lines from Logan quickly as Steve did the same, gently, for K."Let's get them out of here," Scott half-shouted, though his shout was overridden by the near-screaming protests from the next room over where Fury had gotten a hold of the man in charge and was dragging him out."How long until we take off?" Fury asked. "And is there room on that bird for me to take home a souvenir?"Kurt hardly hesitated before he teleported over to Fury and the man in charge and looked the prisoner over with a thunderous look. "I'm sure we can have him secure before the others arrive," he said simply before he put a hand on both their shoulders and teleported all three of them to the blackbird.Once they were there, Fury wasted no time as he started working his prisoner over — starting with a few quick punches to his face, with no chance given for him to explain himself or even offer a defense until Fury had gotten a little bit of frustration behind him. He was half winded when he looked at Kurt and nodded. "You got any rope on this bird?"Kurt's answer was to simply teleport to the back of the plane and return with a length of corded rope with a look that was far more demonic than his usual expression. "We did tell the others he would be secure before they got here," he said simply, baring his teeth at their prisoner for good measure.Fury smirked before both of them dove at their prisoner — and between the two of them, they managed to crank him into an unnatural position that could not have been the least bit comfortable, even for a contortionist, which this man certainly was not. "Who authorized this operation?" Fury asked quietly, though his tone was one that left no room for interpretation.When the prisoner refused to answer, Fury tipped his chin up at Kurt and called him over to show him exactly the right spot to press on as he pulled back the man's arm. A moment or two later, with the right amount of force, they dislocated his shoulder.The man howled in pain, then began nearly begging, insisting he didn't know the name of the people above him in the chain of command, but all that really did was tick both of them off. Fury stepped back and offered the next move to Kurt.Kurt considered his next move for a minute before he pulled out one of his swords and plunged it between the bones in the man's other shoulder — which had him shouting in pain even before Kurt twisted to separate that bones and elicited an outright howl."You're supposed to ask him a question first," Fury said with a smirk."Is that so?" Kurt said in an almost interested tone before he turned to their prisoner again. "What were you planning to do with our friends?" he demanded, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer, and he was twirling his other sword in his hand.The man stared at him in disbelief and shook his head. "So you can kill me? No.""How about your name, then," Fury said, his eyes narrowed. "Should be easy enough if you don't think we already know what you were up to." The man remained tight-lipped, though, and grimly shook his head.Kurt was glaring at their prisoner when Rachel's mental voice filled his own thoughts. His name's Malcolm Colcord. In case you were wondering.He had to stifle the grin and turn it into something a bit more menacing at Rachel's interruption before he turned a snarl Colcord's way. "If I had a name like Malcolm Colcord, I'd be mum about it too," he said, baring his teeth at the shocked-looking scientist.What else do you want to know? Rachel asked, clearly waiting for the go sign from Kurt. This creep runs the whole program — director of the weapons division. And it looks like he was set to 're-program' both of them, so do with that what you will.Colcord still looked tight-lipped, so Kurt let out a bit of a growl and shared the slightest of looks with Fury before he said, "If you can't give us something to work with, director, I doubt you'll make it far with crimes like yours on your head. Not to mention the fact that you wanted to re-program my best friend and his fiancee." His eyes were flashing with pure fury as he simply let out his frustration on the guy, even using his tail to tear into him in a few places before he noticed something that stopped him altogether as a small and sparkling object dropped from Colcord's pocket.His eyes widened, and his tail stilled behind him as he paused to pick up K's engagement ring before he grabbed the man by the throat and slammed him into the wall of the blackbird, snarling at him. "This is NOT yours.""We have a right to get our investment back," Colcord half spit out. "On both of them."Kurt was clearly livid, inches from Colcord as he started to squeeze."Wait," Rachel called out as she stepped into the jet. "Don't — Kurt, don't do that. Not yet." She looked disgusted as she shook her head. "Let me get everything from him first. I can do it — you don't even need to hear it. I'll give it to Fury. Because believe me, you don't want to hear it."Kurt didn't relax his grip on Colcord, but he also didn't make any further move on the man either as he glanced at Rachel. "Alright," he said at last. "Scott will want to know as well.""Then you'll have to wait until we get back," Rachel said. "I can knock him out until then."Kurt frowned and took the slightest of steps back before he balled his hands in fists and cold-cocked Colcord. "That won't be necessary," he growled out.Kurt was still livid when the rest of the rescue team got there, with Lorna still carrying the little ferals. Steve made sure to point Billy toward helping to take care of their rescued teammates the second he saw the state of Colcord between Fury and Kurt."There should be blankets in the back," Steve told Billy in an undertone as he directed the young man even before Scott climbed into the cockpit with only the slightest of pauses when he saw Colcord. By the time they got in the air, Billy was fully engaged with Lorna taking care of the ferals so that the rest of the team could be sure the youngest member of their team didn't have to know about the questioning methods of two very angry friends of Wolverine.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The group of rescuers all more or less settled in for the flight back to Westchester after tearing up the Weapon X facility — until Logan very suddenly woke up with a start and half scrambled toward the wall of the jet. It took him a moment to realize where he was before he covered his face with his hands and quietly asked how bad it was."Not to worry — everyone here has already seen you naked," Kurt assured him with a reassuring smile. "Except Billy, I believe.""Welcome to the club, kid," Logan teased lightly."There's a club?" Billy asked with half a smirk."Yeah, pretty much everyone that walks through the front door," Alex laughed."That's not a club. That's a support group," Billy said, the smirk widening as he offered Logan one of the blankets Steve had asked him to get."Well, the other one is a bit easier on the eyes anyhow," Alex added."Speak for yourself," Billy said, the smirk turning into a real smile now."Well, if that's your thing — welcome to the support group."Kurt couldn't help but smirk at both of them before he put a hand on Logan's shoulder and carefully handed him back K's engagement ring. "Don't worry," he said in a low tone. "We arrived before they could… start anything."He let out a long breath and nodded. "Small miracles."Kurt nodded his agreement before he tipped his head at Colcord and added, "And the director brought back a souvenir.""Might want to get your money back on that one, Nick," Logan said. "Just a piece of trash.""I'm sure SHIELD knows how to take out the trash — and if they don't, I sure do," Steve said with a little raised eyebrow look Logan's way. "But there's still a few questions, apparently. Like what you guys were doing in Ontario instead of somewhere further west.""Funded solely by the Canadian government now," Logan said as he tried to get comfortable. "Why stick to the western half when you got a whole country to pick from? Probably have places in every province.""Gonna have to talk with the Hudsons," Fury muttered almost to himself."What for?" Logan asked. "Not like they tell Mac a damn thing. Gotta keep him in the dark so he can keep plausible deniability and look like a hero. Besides, he probably wouldn't stick with it if he knew they were still doin' this crap. Not that he'd listen to me about it.""Wasn't expecting them to — but if he and Heather kept an eye out, or even half an eye—" Fury just shook his head."You don't think they've tried?" Logan asked. "They didn't know what was going on when they did their tests and crap on me — or anyone else, for that matter. He's not high enough of a pay grade to hear anything, and he's too much of a company man to make too many waves."As Fury and Logan were going back and forth, Lorna had noticed that K's eyes were open — though that was the only indication that she was even awake, as she hadn't moved a muscle even the slightest. Very carefully, Lorna reached over to grab a blanket from Billy's supply and offer it to K. "It's alright," she said with a small smile. "You're on the blackbird with the X-Men and friends.""I gathered as much," K replied quietly before she sat up slowly and took the blanket to wrap around her middle. "Anyone else get caught up in the yuck?"Billy made a face but gestured to his now-clean clothes. "Just you and Logan, but I took a bath in that stuff when you got out.""Sorry," she said. "It's nasty, slimy stuff.""It tastes weird," Billy agreed, making a horrible face."Tell me about it," she deadpanned. "I take it there are no clothes to speak of? Or do we get to do the strut of shame?""Oh." Billy looked a bit wide-eyed. "Hold on, let me just…" He held out a glowing hand for a second. "Wearingyouruniform wearingyouruniform wearingyouruniform," he chanted a few times before K was dressed comfortably in an X-Men uniform and no longer covered in slime, and he broke into a little grin.She gave him a smile and crossed over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, sweet darling boy. I was freezing."He looked a bit pink as he nodded. "Yeah ... should've thought of that sooner. It's an easy spell.""It's cold once you're out of the goop, that's all," she told him as she met Logan's gaze for a moment while he continued his chat with Fury."That's why Cap sent me for blankets," Billy said, still a little pink."Then you're not the only one that didn't think of clothes," she said as she gave Steve a raised eyebrow look.Steve shrugged openly. "I don't know what the X-Men stash on their jet.""Everyone says you're a gentleman," K said with a little smirk as she looked him over. "But even Logan's given me the shirt off his back on occasions like this. Mister. Didn't know it was red, white, blue, and nudes.""You're welcome to my shirt the next time there aren't blankets available," he told her with a small smile."I'll hold you to it," she warned. "Not the first time. Likely not the last.""Apparently, there's a support group," Billy added helpfully."I'm not traumatized by naked," K replied. "Unless it's a special case. I can think of a few people I never ever wanna see in their birthday suits.""Let's ... let's not play that game," Billy suggested."Agreed," K said as she crossed over to cuddle up with Logan, who made a point to pull her in tightly before he replaced the ring that Colcord had removed. She frowned for a second on seeing that it had been gone but turned to give him a kiss for it before settling into his chest with his arms wrapped around her. "What was that about?" she asked."Apparently, the program doesn't approve," Logan told her. She wrinkled her nose and turned to give him another kiss along his jaw."Well, screw them," she muttered half to herself.It didn't take nearly as long for them to get back to the mansion as it had taken them to get to the facility — since this time they knew where they were going, after all. And of course, when they arrived, Hank was waiting for them with his arms crossed and a look of concern as he insisted that everyone get a thorough once-over — including Fury, which was quite the entertaining stare-down.Hank hadn't even finished going over everyone on the rescue team when some of their friends started to trickle in — and Noh practically tackled K on her way out the door to escape more time around medical equipment as he swept her into a hug."I'm sorry they took you," he told her sincerely as he put her back down. "I'm already trying to find the holes in my security system to fix them — I'm sure Scott will help me.""It happens," she told him before she gave him a quick, tight hug. "Those guys — all they do is chase us down.""And all I do is fight the likes of them. It shouldn't have happened." He gave her another little squeeze before he added, with a smirk. "And yes, I realize that is a cardinal rule of time travel. Allow me my moment of Terran-like emotion on your behalf."She gave him a little smile and popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "I love you too."He grinned at her brightly before he swept over to talk to Scott about upgrading the security systems even as Jubilee was attacking Logan with a hug and Kate was already sliding into Kurt's orbit with an interested look as, to her surprise, Kurt seemed to have reached something of an understanding with Fury, though she couldn't possibly even begin to decipher the nonverbal communication going on there.As soon as it was clear that Hank was occupied with most of those that had gone on the rescue mission, Logan and K slipped out and zipped up the stairs, in a rush to wash up after the slime bath they were floating in."They okay?" Kate asked Kurt quietly once they were out of earshot, and he nodded."We got there in time to prevent anything," he told her. "And we even brought home the director of the program." He tipped his head toward Fury. "The director of SHIELD is eager to have a private chat with him," he added with a soft smirk."Director to director," Kate said, shaking her head with a smirk to match before she kissed his cheek. "You doing okay?" she asked in a softer whisper that she was sure only Kurt — and maybe Noh — could hear."I will be once we're done with the talk," Kurt replied smoothly.Kate raised her eyebrows at that and leaned into him a bit more. "He must really have ticked you off," she said. "Should I be mad on your behalf?""He pushed a few buttons that he should not have," Kurt said with a little smirk. "I intend to return the favor."Kate shook her head for a moment and kissed his cheek again. "If you say so," she said, then broke into a bit of a teasing grin. "I guess you have to let out the evil demon every once in awhile. At least this is constructive." With that, she simply stood and grabbed Billy by the hand. "I'll just ... clear the room for you," she said with a significant wink Kurt's way as she pulled her friend along with promises of updates on gossip.Once the three men were alone to question Colcord — with Rachel there to fill in any gaps — Hank simply dropped the shades to cover the windows to the hall and locked the doors of the lab behind him on his way out, blatantly ignoring anything that was going on between them.….It was hours later before Kurt headed back upstairs — past the urgent, low murmurs in Logan's room where the two little ferals were no doubt hashing out what had gone on — tired and dealing with the aftereffects of an adrenaline crash now that Colcord was no longer an issue. Kate was awake when he got into the room, and he gave her a weak, tired smile.She looked concerned for a second before she pulled back the covers for him to climb in beside her, and she snuggled right into him. "You doing okay? Really?" she asked him softly as she started to kiss the line of his jaw."Much better now, thank you," Kurt replied as he returned the favor. "I've done my best to stop evil — though I had to let a little out myself to do so."She pulled him a bit tighter at that as she shook her head at him. "You're the picture of perfection, Engelchen."He chuckled at that and kissed her tenderly. "I'm quite sure that isn't accurate today."She thought about it for a moment. "But you saved Logan and K, and you stopped the bad guys, right?" she asked softly."Yes, the bad guys that were going to brainwash them and do terrible things both with and to them both," he agreed with a nod. "But I was not entirely forthcoming in how I did so."She kissed him tenderly rather than responding for a moment before she finally let him go so he could tell his story. "Well, I'm sure they deserved whatever you did," she said."Director Fury was the good cop," Kurt told her frankly.She looked honestly confused and surprised by that and even pulled back slightly so she could see his face better to see that he was entirely serious. "That… what?""He wasn't expecting it anymore than I," Kurt assured her. "The man's answers were just ... infuriating." He wrinkled up his nose as he tried to put it behind him. "He said they had a right to get their investment back on them. Forget that neither of them signed up for their stupid program."Kate frowned hard at that, both of her lips pursed as she let out a little noise of disdain. "Ugh. Yeah. Bad guys who treat people like… like anything but people…""He took her engagement ring too," Kurt said with a clear frown."He did not." Kate picked her head up to look at him properly, her eyes wide and clearly flashing with anger. "That's — that's just straight up wrong.""What kind of message does that send?" Kurt asked with one eyebrow raised. "How should I have taken that other than how I did — which was asking for someone to teach him a lesson?""I'm the wrong person to ask, sweetheart," Kate said, still a bit wide-eyed, though she was settling into a glare. "Because if someone tried to take your ring? They'd lose something precious to them. But …" She gestured to herself with an unapologetic look. "Territorial." She shook her head as she leaned back against him, still frowning. "That's just… that's just wrong. And controlling. And evil.""That was what I surmised," he agreed."And it's none of his business anyway," Kate said, gaining steam. "I don't care who he works for or what titles he has. It's just… none of his business.""He doesn't have it anymore, and he'll never treat anyone like that again," Kurt promised. "Director Fury and I saw to that — while Cap watched the door."She raised an eyebrow. "Now there's a set of people I never want to make angry ever," she said softly as she snuggled into him."Scott gave us the greenlight, too," Kurt told her. "He was furious when he found out what the man's plan was for them.""I was going to ask," she admitted. She kissed his jaw and then snuggled in a little deeper. "Are you doing alright? That's… heavy.""I'm thankful that we don't have that particular hurdle to deal with ourselves," Kurt said as he let out a deep breath and squeezed her tighter."You and me both," she replied before she started back up with the kisses — more than content to forget what had happened, at least for the moment, and focus on something a little sweeter.….Naturally, after such a mess and a required rescue, K was a little nervous in the days immediately after the Weapon X attack. It took a few days, but finally, she made her way to go talk to Rachel.It wasn't that she was surprised or particularly shaken by what had very nearly come about — it was that she couldn't remember anything after the gas attack beyond a few moments of paralyzation while the doctors put the IVs in her arms. And she was understandably concerned that this pairing was going to be more trouble than she'd initially believed.But when Rachel took the time to peek into her memories of the events, she was frustrated to hear some of what the scientists were saying — though the memories of the words were of course a bit foggy. "They wanted to reboot and reprogram," Rachel said, "Though I'm sure that Logan told you as much already." She let out a sigh and looked the little woman over. "The thing is … from what I got out of the director … they don't have a system or a method in place that could long-term control you any better than they had before."K frowned at that and tipped her head to the side. "Well. That … could be good. I mean. Tossed it before, right? Did it once, can be done again."But Rachel shook her head. "They have something in development. Untested. So far. I think, if my scan was accurate, that the plan was to just hide the two of you away in stasis until they had more promising results.""Why the hell would they do that now, though?" K asked. "Why not wait until our guard is down and they have their tech?"Rachel shook her head and gave her a look. "Believe me. You don't want to know what they had in their minds for that. It would not have been pleasant. Just … Logan and Fury know what was going on. And what was planned. It won't. Happen. Don't let them get to you."K narrowed her eyes slightly and stuck a finger in Rachel's face. "I don't like that all these people know and I don't. But … considering all the other concerns I have right now, I'm gonna let it slide." She paused and gave Rachel one more look before she turned and headed off to interrogate Logan. If he knew, then he was going to spill one way or another.….In the weeks after Weapon X had invaded the mansion, it was clear that both Scott and Noh were determined to step up security measures, and it was rare to see either Noh without Forge or Scott without a look in his newly-uncovered eyes that the rest of the team was quickly learning to identify as his 'concerned' expression.But of course, no amount of security planning and prep could deter Annie from continuing to insist that the poolside 'meetings' were an important, necessary, even vital part of preparing for the school year, so the whole of the faculty at Xavier's found themselves sitting poolside and chatting easily one warm July afternoon as Storm went over the usual subjects — things like planning out field trips and talking about new students' needs, and so on.Unlike last year, when Annie had announced that she would need a little time off when the twins arrived, there were no big 'announcements,' though neither K nor Kate missed the fact that their friends were giving them half-teasing looks as though they were waiting for something like that until, finally, Kate just had to stick her tongue out at Jubilee and pointed out that the closest thing they had to such an 'announcement' was the fact that she and Kurt would be holding their finals a couple weeks earlier than the other teachers during the fall semester so that they could get married in early December and be back from their honeymoon in time for Christmas and Kate's birthday."Besides," Kate added in an undertone to Jubilee, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're still not actually married? Pretty sure you're next on the list, Glitter Queen."Jubilee grinned widely at Kate with an open shrug. "How come I have to always test the waters first?" she teased."You're just so much braver," Kate said with a smirk."Clearly," Jubilee replied, shaking her head as she leaned back into Noh, who was grinning at the whole thing — and clearly not at all that opposed to the idea of testing the waters, though he didn't say as much.He looked over the top of Jubilee's head toward K with that same little grin, though he tilted his head at her quizzically. "If we are doing all our plotting and planning and calendaring, won't you tell us what date you've chosen while we're looking ahead?" he asked serenely.K had been acting as if she was part of the furniture but finally turned her head toward Noh slightly, though she didn't bother removing her sunglasses before she spoke as she normally did. "I haven't narrowed it down quite that far yet," K admitted. "But ... if I was pressed, sometime in the fall. Probably. Down the road. Eventually. Every time someone asks, it makes me want to add a year, though."He broke into a wide grin and nodded. "A fall wedding. I like it," he said, almost lazily. "This world has so many colors to offer at that time.""The scents in the woods are the best then too," K said with a little smirk his way. "Dry leaves and dead ferns are wonderful."He let out a breath of a laugh. "Again with dead plants and weddings. There must be some sort of cultural obsession.""Well that's not so much for the wedding as it is so you can spot the bears when they're walking through the woods easier. Otherwise, you can't see them in the ferns until they stand up on their hind legs," K offered, looking totally unconcerned as she muttered under her breath, "Space cowboys are worse than city slickers for knowing reasonable things. Not surprised.""You planning on letting bears crash your big day?" Kate teased."Why not? Likely cause less trouble than the guests," K laughed. "If you misbehave, I'll be forced to strip you down, cover you with honey, and leave you out there defenseless. If the bears don't find you, Kurt will.""See, I know that's supposed to be a threat, but now I'm just laughing," Kate giggled."It's really not a threat at all," K replied, sitting upright away from Logan for a moment. "It's more a suggestion. Mind the leaves; they get everywhere."Kate nodded with a pretended look of thoughtfulness. "Maybe we should practice," she said as she grinned impishly at Kurt, who matched her grin with a raised eyebrow look and a smirk of his own.That had the conversation off of weddings for a while as the rest of the X-Men did their level best to ignore Kate and Kurt being… them... while Logan and K nonchalantly leaned against each other. Eventually, Annie got them back to a discussion somewhere close to planning for the school year, but even that didn't last long, as really, they were just planning to do what they usually did — and to swim and eat hot dogs for the meeting.Throughout the conversation, the little bamfs had been content to just play with each other, though at some point, they had apparently gotten into a splash war. Which was fine when they were just attacking each other, but apparently, they had decided that the rest of the X-Men were too dry. The whole group of them got together for a mass cannonball to splash as many of the others as possible — teleporting over with little buckets of water to make sure they got anybody who was dry from the cannonball.Scott was one of the unsuspecting bucket victims, and he looked distinctly unamused as he wiped the water out of his eyes and looked Kurt's way. "That reminds me — we've got the Avengers rotation this week. Think you can keep the bamfs out of the workshop this time?" he asked pointedly."That depends on how big of a deal Iron Man makes of it," Kurt said with a little sigh. "They are demons. And the more he complains, the more they want to make a mess.""If you can get that through his thick head, then it won't be a problem," Scott replied. "I've tried to tell him exactly that, but apparently, I don't speak a language Stark understands."Kate leaned over to K with a little grin as she said in a low tone, "Betcha we could get Tony to listen if we bother him enough.""Without a doubt," K replied. "Though I don't think we'd have to bother him too badly. Just … make a request with the right smirk. Wear a dress. Act like you think he's cute." She made a gagging noise and shook her head. "It'd work like a charm. You should try it.""The bothering is more fun though," Kate said, still grinning."The smirk is quicker," K pointed out. "Less planning, too.""You just don't want to have any fun," Kate teased. "Party pooper. And here I was going to suggest we try and switch with the boys so we can pre-emptively bother Tony before the bamfs.""You're with me next rotation anyhow," Logan said without picking his head up or turning her way, leaning back as far as he could in his chair and looking perfectly relaxed.Kate looked surprised at that and turned to Logan. "I don't need babysitting," she said, sticking her tongue out at him."You do, but you can't afford me for that," Logan replied."I dunno. Maybe if I change the job title from 'babysitter' to 'guardbody'..." She grinned impishly his way. "Seems to me you're pretty good at that. Even if I don't need it.""Believe me, you needed that," he said as he pulled K closer to him. "That was a mission of mercy — on everyone else.""Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes at him and then shook her head. "So what'd I do this time that you've decided to break up the team up of the century?""You didn't do anything, I have other crap I need to get done with Cap, and K's gonna cover the non-military side of the war while I'm gone. Or at least. Work up the notes," Logan lied smoothly. "Figured I'd save the extra hassle and switch it. Two birds with one stone and all that."Kate let out an obvious sigh and leaned back. "Well, fine, but just this once," she allowed. "But then I need my partner in crime back so I can watch Thor turn into the best Viking god ever whenever K's around.""How so?" Logan asked with a little frown."You should see them. They just go right into Swedish in front of Tony and just… smash through all the training while looking way too Viking for their own good. It's hilarious." Kate waved her hands. "I can't describe it. It needs to be experienced.""How do I … look too Viking … what?" K asked with a little laugh."Review the tapes, K. It's a thing of beauty," Kate said, grinning wide."So he's not like that all the time? What did I do?""I mean, he's like that all the time, but you make it moreso," Kate admitted. "I just… It just needs to be experienced," she repeated with a little laugh."If you say so," K shrugged, still half chuckling to herself."It's my favorite part of the Avengers rotation. You know — besides getting to wipe the floor with Cap in training," Kate said with an easy smile."Or shoot down Tony's flirting before he can find a stride?""He doesn't really flirt with me as much as he does you. Something about having seen me in pigtails when I was non-magically four." Kate smiled serenely, though her eyes were sparkling with laughter."I still think he'd want to see you in pigtails," K told her perfectly straight-faced. "And honey."Kate scrunched up her face and shook her head. "Yeah, no — that's for Kurt. He's territorial," she said. "So, no."K began to grin the more Kate talked. "I'm just saying, Hawkeye. Guys have … mental images. You should be aware of that and learn to take advantage... That's all….""Hey, as long as they stay in their heads and I remain telepathy-free, it doesn't bother me," Kate countered. "It's when the looks and the hands start in that they start losing things that are important to them." She looked past K to Logan with a little smirk. "Been learning some pretty fun moves to deal with that kind of thing.""From who, me or her?" he asked with a smirk. "She's got some pretty good ones for that nonsense.""Both." Kate's smirk just widened as she added, "And you know, Kurt's pretty handy with the swords too if I wanted to get real creative.""What, you mean you two are actually training in the Danger Room together?" Jubilee asked with wide, innocent eyes and a troublemaking smirk."On occasion," Kurt replied with a smirk to match hers."Actually, I'm getting half decent at left-handed fighting. Part of the dual wield workout," Kate said before she leaned back into Kurt a bit. "But then, I've got a pretty great teacher.""Yes, yes you do," Kurt replied."And the tuition is fun to pay," Kate said with a little smirk."I was thinking of raising my rates," Kurt said with a smile.Kate kissed him for a moment before she simply said, "Oh no," in her most innocent tones as she settled into him a bit more.
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It was obvious to anyone in the kitchen that morning that Noh was on edge — though honestly, most of the mansion residents were a little anxious that morning as well. Daken had been true to his word and actually called ahead to let his father know he would be coming by this time, and the very idea of Daken being in the mansion seemed to be distressing Noh to no end as he took great pleasure in triple-checking security measures for the interior systems.When Logan and K made their appearance in the kitchen, ahead of Daken's arrival, Logan paused for just a moment before he put his hand in the center of K's back and pushed her toward Noh. "You stick with him for now," he said.Noh looked surprised but didn't hesitate to move a bit closer to K as she sat at the kitchen table, sipping her coffee, as usual. His head was tipped to one side before he nodded. "If he comes within ten feet of you, I may have to break my promise not to start anything," he told her in a low tone."Nothing is going to happen," K replied almost wearily. "But you are a darling boy.""That's right it isn't," Noh said with a serious nod before he slid into a seat and seemed content to focus on keeping half an eye on her and half an eye on his sharpening claws.K gave him a sideways glance and went back to her cup of coffee with a sigh. "You guys are really something else putting on this little show," she muttered under her breath.Noh simply tipped his head at her for a second and then shrugged openly as the kitchen fell back into silence ahead of Daken's expected arrival.Kurt was the one to answer the door when Daken arrived and though it wasn't entirely necessary, he escorted him to the kitchen were the rest of the available and interested members of the team were waiting for him. Daken smirked as he stepped through the door and took in the gathered group, and then smiled outright toward Noh for a moment, though the smile fell when he looked at K.For an instant Daken, wrinkled his nose at her and pulled a face before utterly ignoring the entire side of the kitchen where most of the team was, turning his back to them to talk with his father about the impending problem that had come up with the Hand.His problem was a fairly cut and dried issue. The Hand was plotting to make a move not only against Daken — which no one really seemed too bothered by, including Daken — but also against Tyger Tyger, which Logan did have a serious problem with."As substantial as I'm sure you think you are, you will need to bring help with you," Daken said. "The Hand is strong."Logan nodded and looked around the room quickly to see who was up for it. "Volunteers?"Noh picked up his head almost immediately. "You will need someone to be sure you are not double-crossed," he said. "I'll come."Logan nodded his head in agreement. "Thanks," he said. "I'm not gonna say no to back up.""Hey, if there's going to be ninjas, count me in," Kate said quickly, her gaze on Logan and Noh more than anything."Oh, me too," Jubilee said with a nod. "I feel the need to blow up some ninjas. Fireworks over Tokyo and all that." She was grinning as she said it. "It's been forever since I was in Tokyo.""Tokyo's just a pit stop," Logan pointed out."Oooh, more trouble then if we're going to Madripoor!" Jubilee looked delighted at the prospect, and Logan had to keep from chuckling at her. To date, she was still the only one that wanted to go to Madripoor with him, though K had yet to be initiated properly."You know you can always count me in," Kurt added with a smirk."I need you to stick around here," Logan said as he turned toward Kurt, who looked obviously surprised. "As much as I'd like having you with, Weapon X isn't out of the game yet." He turned his head toward K at his side as she gave him a dry look. "Keep her out of trouble."Kurt looked put out at being left out for a moment before he looked toward K and nodded his understanding. "Don't worry — I'm sure we won't have any trouble.""Not sure why, but she didn't much care for Japan last time we went," Logan said, glaring Daken's way."I'm sure if we looked into it, we could find the reason for her distaste," Noh said, his glare Daken's way far more intense than Logan's."Well whatever it was is going to get stabbed a few dozen times if anything like that happened again," Logan assured Noh, who looked perfectly pleased by that answer.Daken, however, looked bored by the whole affair. "I'm sure whatever it was has learned how disgusting that option can be. Though the threats are precious. Really.""None of you are subtle. At all. And PS — go to hell," she directed to Daken. Logan smiled her way until she turned back to him. "And I'm more than happy to do my own stabbings. Thanks, love.""Pretty sure the pissing contest wasn't supposed to be subtle," Kate said in a low whisper that she knew half of those present could hear anyway."Can we get moving, you know, before the Hand makes its move on Madripoor?" Daken said with a bored tone as he tried to flat ignore the commentary from the women."Yeah, keep your shirt on," Logan rumbled. "I wanna get this over with just as much as you do.""I'm sure you do. Things to get back to," Daken drawled out."Right. I'll fly. You boys just keep… doing that," Kate said, rolling her eyes as she pointedly stood up from the table and grabbed her bow."See you in a couple days," Logan said to Kurt before he leaned into K for a kiss from his not entirely amused-looking wife. "Try to keep out of trouble.""Keep your own advice," she countered. "I'd hate to have to swoop in with Kurt and save your sorry butt.""Oh yes, that wouldn't be fun at all," Kurt said with a little smirk."So we'll plan on swooping in … say … two days from now?" K teased toward Kurt."Oh, at the very least," he agreed as the smirk turned into a grin."I can't imagine us finding anything that would cause a lick of trouble," K said before Logan shook his head at both of them, and the little group headed off to go handle the issues building in Madripoor.…...Kate had made good on her promise to fly them out to the tiny island nation off the coast of Japan, and what's more, she and Jubilee had shared a little look before Kate made it a point to assign Noh to be her copilot, making it incredibly clear that he had absolutely no say in the matter. He was going to be her copilot, whether he wanted to or not — because she and Jubilee were making it a point to watch his back around Daken, considering the way the guy was around Noh.Kate was watching Noh out of the corner of her eye and waited until Jubilee was chatting with Logan so that she was mostly sure she couldn't be overheard over Jubilee before she very carefully whispered low, "You know, if he bothers you that much, you don't have to come. You could have switched jobs with Kurt; I'm sure K wouldn't mind having her sparkly moon prince around." She was smirking at that last bit, but she was entirely serious as she tipped her head at him.He looked surprised before he shook his head the lightest bit and replied just as quietly. "I admit that we have our differences — and have since we were in the Dark Avengers together. But my friends are dear to me, and I would rather endure his ridiculousness than fret while you are out with him.""He's not going to do anything to me," Kate pointed out. "Or Kurt for that matter. So maybe-""He promised not to use his powers. That is not the same as promising not to bother you," Noh returned, shaking his head. "I'd rather stay and help. Besides, Logan asked Kurt to remain behind to watch over K."Kate shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. "You're an idiot.""You usually call me that when I'm right."She reached over to muff his hair and rolled her eyes again before she set her sights back on the flight.In the body of the plane, silence had fallen after Jubilee's attempt at a friendly chat with Logan, and nothing was happening at all. No conversations. No friendly banter. No rest. Just tense, tense silence.Jubilee wasn't about to say anything that she wanted to say to Logan in front of Daken, Daken was taking the same stance about speaking to his father in front of Jubilee, and Logan and Daken both were almost in a stand off anyhow. Daken wanted to pick at him, but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut — at least for the time being, even if he did have a few false starts where he opened his mouth and then thought better of it.Which, honestly was more amusing to Logan than Daken could have known. But he too, was sure to keep his mouth shut, since he took Daken's restraint as an actual attempt to be more reasonable with him.….Alex and Lorna had finally been forced to head out — other commitments, other places they were needed. Not to mention the fact that Alex was convinced that Scott had the tools he needed, but that he was simply not applying himself. So the idea of more sessions was a painful and inefficient way of convincing him to stick around and watch Scott flounder.As a result, Scott was bound and determined to get a better handle on his abilities without Alex as a crutch. But now he was following his own rules, and he had Kurt as his failsafe in the booth in case things got too hairy.Scott was fighting back old members of the Brotherhood — a favorite program — and was even making strides with his control, though his beams seemed to be stuck at 'stun' and not 'major damage', even without the glasses on at all. And it was clear he was getting incredibly frustrated.The door to the booth opened silently as K slipped in to watch the show. "How's he doing?" K asked Kurt as she slipped behind him, her hands in her back pockets."Well, he's winning," Kurt allowed diplomatically."That's good, right?"Kurt leaned back and tipped his head her way for a moment. "Usually, this program takes him about ten minutes. We've been here for half an hour," he admitted."So. Not so hot," she said as she took the chair next to him. "I'm going to guess that if I go down to help him, that will not help.""No, it wouldn't," Kurt agreed, though he had the smallest of smirks. "Though… maybe if it was Logan, he might get angry enough to bring up the power on the beams.""Logan in danger or Logan ticking him off? I'm not entirely sure which way would work best."Kurt had to laugh at that. "They're both good options," he agreed."What about you? I know where the kill switch is. I can hit it if you want to pop down and irritate him. Or, you know, play damsel in distress."Kurt laughed and shook his head. "I think after this program, we might just wrap things up today," he admitted, tipping his head toward the Danger Room as he added in a lower tone, "I think the frustration is only making it harder for him to focus. Let's not add to it.""Okay, sounds good to me," she agreed. "I had to slip away from Annie. She was getting … frustrating.""I'm sure she'd say the same about you," he said with a little smirk."Absolutely," she agreed, smiling his way a bit. "That kind of thing tends to happen in pairs at least.""She means well," Kurt said, still smirking as he kept half an eye on her."I know. That's why I'm not mad. Just … getting out of her way for a little while.""Well, you're welcome to take a turn in the Danger Room if you like. I think Scott's nearly done," Kurt offered."That actually sounds great," she agreed. "What'cha got for me?""Depends on what you want to do," Kurt said with a growing smile. "Kate has an excellent program for lifting your mood — though Logan has a few good ones if you're simply out for destruction."She shrugged. "I don't know. What about a third option? You think Scott might want to 'help' me? Might boost his spirits if he's in charge of something again. For a minute."Kurt had to laugh at that. "It just might," he agreed. He tilted his head back for a moment to think it over before he nodded at last. "We'll set up some soldiers for you to be… threatened by.""I hear you, Troublemaker," K said with a nod. "Point me." She waited until the sim met its natural end before she stood up in the window and pressed the comm button. "Hey Scott? Can you help me out? I'm still a little mad about those stupid soldiers getting in my face in the middle of the night, and Logan's being stupid about letting me run anything alone."Scott looked a bit surprised as he glanced up at the booth and pushed his hair out of his face. "You sure you want me and not Kurt?" he asked."Kurt ..." She looked at Kurt and let out a breath. "Kurt is following Logan's requests, and I think they're wrong. Not to mention, you're my hero anyhow. Lil' knight in shining … yes."Kurt looked equal parts betrayed and amused even as Scott was starting to smirk despite his best attempts not to. "Come on down here," he called up to her. "No sense in you getting rusty just because they're in cahoots.""Thank you," K said with a grin, sounding entirely relieved. "I'll be right down." She shot Kurt a little wink before she turned off the comm. "You might want to argue with him when I'm changing. Defend your position, sir.""I'll try to be convincingly angry and not the least bit entertained," he replied with a grin.…...Logan and Daken led the way to where Tyger Tyger had set up shop. They had barely gotten inside and already, the two of them were discussing things in quiet Japanese while their companions more or less shared wary looks. As they got to her center of operations and simply walked past her security unbothered, Jubilee had to tap Kate on the arm to get her attention as if to tell her the trouble was about to start.Kate gave her a look that read 'of course' as they stepped into Tyger's office two steps behind Logan and Daken. As soon as the door closed behind them, Tyger was on her feet and quickly made her way over to say hello with a broad smile before she grabbed Logan by the head and gave him a quick kiss then welcomed them all to discuss their problems with the Hand."See, this is why we should start making guys wear engagement rings too," Kate muttered under her breath to Jubilee."It wouldn't matter," Jubilee promised. "When he was engaged to the second most powerful family in Japan, she still did it. And she knew about that one.""Well that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy toward her. Remind me again why this is a meeting and not a fight?" she grumped."Matter of honor," Logan told her. "Old promises I need to keep."Kate looked his way for a second and then sighed and crossed her arms. "If she respected honor, she'd respect boundaries.""It's just how I have always said hello," Tyger defended. "I don't mean it as a sign of disrespect."Kate just raised her eyebrows Tyger's way for a second. "Uh-huh."Tyger shook her head and took the three steps over to Daken to do exactly the same thing before offering them all a seat. "Any other concerns you might have?"Kate pulled a horrible face and shook her head, though Jubilee was looking incredibly entertained at the expression on Kate's face while they started discussing the ninjas and the trouble they were causing."I told you … things are weird in Madripoor," Jubilee sang under her breath. "And apparently, she has a thing for this family …""Just eww." Kate scrunched her nose up hard. "Eww."The meeting after that was mercifully short and to the point - since the Hand's aims were fairly straightforward this time around. It was obvious they were simply making sure that anyone who tried to claim any sort of power in Madripoor was met with resistance not only in expanding but in maintaining their influence — and several lieutenants of Tyger Tyger, Daken, and even the likes of Viper had 'disappeared' recently."So the plan is to follow the ninjas back to wherever they came from," Logan summed up as he turned toward Kate, who he was convinced wasn't listening."Easy peasy," she said with a light shrug and a grin. "Try not to slow me down.""Yeah, because that's going to be the problem," he said dryly.She leaned over and patted his arm consolingly as she signed out 'grampa' to him.He glared at her and flipped her the bird as he whispered 'five-year-old.'Noh shook his head at their antics before he tipped his head Logan's way for a moment. "It seems that we have several options to begin looking — do you have a prefered location?""We don't need to begin looking," Daken argued. "That will just make them realize what we're up to. We just need to set out our bait."Noh raised an eyebrow but did nothing else to acknowledge Daken. "Do you have a prefered location?" he repeated, looking toward Logan.Logan shrugged openly. "Figured I'd head down to the bar and see what happens. Still got a pretty hefty bounty on my head. They'll come.""Bar fights in Madripoor," Kate said with a sidelong glance at Jubilee. "Pretty sure that's how I got roped into the Crazy Train in the first place.""You're not the first," Tyger assured her."Would you like company at the bar?" Noh asked Logan, though now he was looking Daken's way. "Or would you prefer all of us stay in the shadows.""I was going to go with him," Jubilee said with a grin. "It would look better that way."Kate had to chuckle at that. "I dunno. Noh's a pretty cute catch," she teased."But not his type," Jubilee laughed. "You know. Being a boy and all that.""And here I thought it was the sparkly moondust that was offsetting," Kate laughed."Jubes is a known travelling companion," Logan said wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "If they see the two of us, they'll know it's really me.""Won't the eyepatch give it away?" Kate couldn't resist teasing."Shut up," Logan shot back.Kate laughed and leaned back, smirking widely his way as the group of them got set to head down for the bar and set out their 'bait.'….K's simulation with the Weapon X soldiers had gone swimmingly for just about everyone involved. As she'd predicted, giving Scott something like a protective role had done wonders for his focus, and by the end of the sim, the light 'stun' beams were a problem of the past as he'd finally gotten a few seriously powerful blasts in on a couple soldiers who ticked him off.They were just about through all the soldiers when K stumbled back, which had Scott there in a second to catch her and blast through the last two soldiers with a more destructive beam than usual, ending the sim as he helped her stand upright again."Thanks," K said as she brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I needed that.""Yeah, well, so did I," Scott admitted with a small grin."Same time tomorrow while Logan's still gone?" K asked with a smile of her own."I'll be here," he promised, his grin widening as he headed for the showers with a little wave.K bit her lip and waited for him to go before she peeked up at the booth where Kurt was watching with a wide smile.He teleported down to her as soon as he was sure that Scott was gone and had to laugh. "The slip was a nice touch. I think you might have been overselling it, though," he teased."Yeah, I'll work on that next time," she said with a tiny frown.Kurt tipped his head her way. "Really, you did magnificently. I don't think our fearless leader has had a session like that since Alex left.""Well, good," she said with a little nod. "He needed someone new to play with, I think. I'm sure he'll have it covered tomorrow even without me.""Are you bored of playing the damsel in distress already?" he teased."Not for a good cause," she replied. "He's a good cause."Kurt nodded his agreement and offered K his arm as they headed out of the Danger Room. "What are you thinking as an excuse tomorrow? Perhaps some other soldiers from a different shadowy organization?""I thought 'Logan didn't want me to' would work well enough on its own. Let him pick the next baddies."Kurt grinned. "I may have to bring popcorn," he teased."I'm sure it'll be that much more entertaining when my sweetheart gets back," K said with a bit of a strained smile. "Practicing with the Scott. It's like treason.""Yes, I've been told I'm in cahoots with your sweetheart," Kurt laughed. "Perhaps I should act more distressed about the whole affair.""Yeah, sorry about that one," she said, leaning toward him a bit. "He needed the extra push. I was going to have to try BS'ing about team work if that didn't work.""And that is not your strong suit," he teased again, shaking his head at her. "I didn't mind," he added quickly. "It was a low, dirty trick, but I didn't mind.""Well I guess that's one back at you. Finally," she replied. "You still owe me a couple.""I think as long as I'm around, you'll find the scales will eventually even out anyway," he promised with a wave of his hand. "Logan and I stopped keeping track, really.""Good to know. Still, I hate to feel like I'm taking advantage of such a sweet, darling little blue..." She grinned as he pulled her to a stop and gave her a look. "You know the rest, stud muffin.""I'm just grateful you waited until we were out of the Danger Room and its recording equipment," he replied, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling."I wouldn't do that to you," she laughed. "Someone else, sure. But never to you."He grinned at her. "Well, I know you were avoiding Annie, but it is her night for dinner. Do you need someone to sit between you two?" he teased."That depends on if you're going to conspire with her or not," she said. "I may skip dinner if that's the case.""That depends entirely on how tempting her arguments are," he said with an impish grin. "If she's not too subtle, I may be persuaded.""Of course you would," K said, shaking her head before she let out a dramatic sigh. "She's pushing to go big. Very, overly big. And I just can't.""Ah, well." Kurt shook his head and grinned her way. "I can talk to her, then.""Buffer or proxy? That's interesting either way." She nodded slowly. "That might work, you know."….Logan and Jubilee sat at the bar for hours, joking around and chatting between themselves — but no ninjas came. No bad guys at all, actually. At least nothing outside of the bar's usual clientele. Nothing was going on."Either they know what we're up to, they're going to attack tonight, or they're waiting to see if it's really us," Logan told Jubilee as he picked up another beer. "What's your take?""I think they want to see if you can get drunk," Jubilee said with a little giggle. "So they can have a fighting chance."He just gave her a little look then smiled at the thought "That might actually be it," he agreed. "So that means it's either gonna heat up in here or we're off for the night." He tipped his head toward his comm. "How's it looking for everyone else?""I'm still waiting for you to get drunk enough to burst into song," Kate replied dryly."Yeah, that's not happenin' anytime soon," Logan laughed.She laughed sweetly. "Oh, but it would sure convince them that they've got you drunk.""They don't want him drunk," Daken corrected. "They want to see if he can be drunk. He can't. Not at this rate — though a normal person would be on the floor by now.""I still say that's plenty of reason to fake it and sing for me.""And it would wreck the whole point," Daken half growled. Jubilee was giggling, though."You have a request, Kate?" Jubilee asked with a smile."I don't think he'd sing 'Buttercup' for me, but maybe something older.""I've heard him do that one," Jubilee giggled. "Under his breath.""Okay. Now I'm jealous." Kate laughed. "I'd settle for Glenn Miller or Bing Crosby, though.""You're not gettin' Bing," Logan told her with a chuckle. "I don't think I can whistle that well.""Tommy Dorsey?""I'm not singing for you, Kate," Logan laughed."Not now you're not. Right now, you're laughing and being obstinate." Kate was clearly grinning. Even if he wasn't looking her way, he could hear it over the comms."We can leave if there's not going to be music," Noh agreed, also clearly smiling."Yeah, I think if it's gonna happen, I'm gonna need to leave," Logan agreed, though on his way out of the bar, he peeked up and shot a wink Kate's way before he started to whistle an old melody that Kate was not familiar with."Keep close," Jubilee said with a grin."Best. Stakeout. Ever," Kate whispered right back.They were three blocks away from the bar when the ninjas began to melt out of the shadows. The three that had been watching over them in the bar stayed back as Logan and Jubilee started to defend themselves, though Logan was sure to keep his attacks non-fatal, and Jubilee was knocking them out.Kate had a handful of tracking arrows, and when it was clear that she had a good shot without risking being seen, she stuck a few ninjas with those. Of course, they didn't take well to being shot, and they recognized the trackers, but it was also a good idea to let them think that was the plan for tracking them — and not letting the rest of the team loose instead.The fight was relatively short — considering past ninja fights — and when the smoke cleared, Jubilee, Kate, and Logan all headed off together back to the hotel, while Noh and Daken found their own way back — having spent their time in the fight setting actual tracking bugs on the ninjas after Kate's misdirect.Noh made it a point not to talk to Daken the entire way back until they got back to the others, at which point he broke out into his usual wide grin Jubilee's way and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Well. I think we can safely say we'll soon know where the Hand has stationed those that came after you and Wolverine. I'm already looking forward to a victory celebration," he said, grinning wider as he kissed the top of her head."It might take a little while," Daken admitted. "There aren't any ninja hideouts anywhere near here.""That is sometimes the case," Noh said with a shrug. "We're no stranger to long missions.""I'm well-aware," Daken said with a nod. "I simply thought it wise to warn you that you're not quite done with me. Sorry to say."Kate raised an eyebrow at that and shrugged Daken's way. "Yeah, well, as long as you promise there's not more of you and your dad kissing the same person ever, ever again? I think I'll be okay, at least.""Never, ever, ever again," Daken swore with one hand over his heart.Kate couldn't help but grin at that as she nodded his way. "Good. I don't think any of us want more fuel for the therapy annals," she said before she looked toward the others, brushed her hands off on her knees, and stood up. "I'm gonna turn in. But you're all welcome to try and get Logan drunk if you want. Wake me if he starts singing.""Oh, he'll wake you up himself if he starts singing," Jubilee promised. "It's not like he's quiet.""Not gonna happen," Logan said with a shake of his head."He lives in a land of denial," Kate said with a little grin and a wave."Says the girl pushin' for a serenade," Logan muttered as he settled in for the wait.
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Most of those still at the mansion were set up to watch movies for the remainder of the evening after Annie's amazing dinner — and dinner conversation. But K very quietly and gracefully slipped by them and up to her room. When she got to the top of the stairs, she had to laugh a bit to herself at the boisterous teasing and joking going on downstairs. Kurt had been a wonderful buffer against Annie, and she'd appreciated every moment that he gently diverted Annie from one wedding's chatter to the next.But now? K had more than enough of being around everyone and decided that it was a good idea to simply go to bed a bit early. She slipped into the flannel shirt that Logan had left behind for her and smiled to herself as she buried her nose in the collar of the shirt and climbed into bed.She took her time trying to relax, but once she was snuggled in right and the blanket was up to her nose, she started to drift off quickly. She could hear voices outside in the hall, but she couldn't concentrate hard enough to pay attention to what was said or who was talking.She was right on the brink of slipping off when her whole world tilted sideways, and she wasn't entirely sure if she was out of the woods or not when it came to her stomach threatening a revolt. She shot up with a muttered 'oh crap' and put her arm out to support herself as she took a few quick, shallow breaths and closed her eyes shut tightly while she waited for the spinning to just ... stop.It quickly became apparent who had been talking outside her door earlier when it opened. Kurt had his head tipped to one side with a look of obvious concern before he ran over to support her so she didn't have to hold herself up. "Was is los?" he asked with a deep frown.K shook her head, her eyes still closed tightly, though she did lean on him. "Nothing. It's nothing," she said quickly. "Sometimes I feel like I'm about to go into orbit when I fall asleep. That's all.""Does this happen often?" he asked in concern."No, not often. It's fine, really," she tried to convince him with a tiny little smile. "See? Still earthbound.""Yes, I see that," he said, shaking his head at her, though he didn't take his gaze from her or change his tone in the least. "Do you need anything? Maybe Hank can prescribe you something if it's a recurring issue.""No," she said with a frown. "No ... that won't work. Drugs? Come on, Kurt. I burn them out. Nothing to be done about it.""I thought perhaps it might help if the healing hasn't influenced the dizziness… Then do you need a bowl?" he offered, still clearly concerned and looking for any way to be helpful. "You look a bit pale.""It's an inner ear thing. Healing has nothing to do with it if I take a head shot." She sat up a bit, then chuckled as she laid down flat again, snuggling into bed. "No, I'll be fine, sweet lil' blue Elf. I just ... can't go to sleep yet." She snatched Logan's pillow and propped herself up just a bit with it as she gave Kurt a little smile.Kurt nodded with a little frown but didn't move, watching her with his head tipped to one side and one eyebrow raised. "Is this a recent issue?" he asked slowly. "I don't remember you having problems in any of our trips.""You … were preoccupied on our previous trips," K replied carefully, though she kept her smile in place. "And I don't recall having you in my bedroom to see me fall asleep. Besides, I was much more tired — healing from actual injuries, too..""Well, Logan isn't here to help, but if there's anything I can do," he offered."If you insist, it wouldn't hurt for you to talk for a little while to keep me up?"He nodded, though he still had his head tipped to one side like he was studying her. "Alright. What would you like to talk about?" he asked. "I should tell you I promised Logan to save the most embarrassing stories for him to tell himself.""Spoilsport," she teased with an easy grin. "Just — anything really. Tell me something I don't know."Kurt leaned back and thought about it for a moment before he had to grin. "Well, I'm not sure how much Logan has told you about his 'return from the dead' recently, but I'm sure you'd be interested in the space pirates portion of that adventure.""He glossed over that bit," she said as she turned onto her side to listen to his story. "Said there was a buncha idiots in space that needed their asses handed to them.""Well, that sums it up succinctly," Kurt laughed. "Noh was there too — that's actually the first time I met him. This was before he was dating Jubilee, of course.""Naturally," she replied."Actually," Kurt said with a bit of an impish smile. "I think at the time he was still … interested in Kate, really.""Yeah, that's … I still think that's weird. The friends with the ex thing," K said a bit quieter.Kurt had to smirk at that, though when he saw K starting to relax and lose a bit of steam, he tilted his head again, a little frown on his face until she frowned for just an instant then bolted upright, clearly feeling horrible again. "Are you sure you don't want… something to help?" he asked again as he helped her stay relatively upright."No — nothing works," she said. "I'm just — I need to sleep, and I can't fall asleep without that happening."He still looked concerned, though the frown was slipping into an unreadable expression as he looked her over. "Well, as long as you need me to stay, I can keep telling stories. But I'm sorry you feel so horrible.""I'm just dizzy, really," she defended.He tried to reign in the smile at that as he nodded. "Yes, I can see that."She cracked one eye open at him and let out a sigh as she tipped her head back. "Please don't.""Don't what?" he asked, slipping back into a bit of concern."Don't … do … the grinning at me thing." She ran her hand through her hair. "I'm not up to it.""I'll try very hard to stop," he said, though he was still smiling. "But I hope you know, when you're no longer dizzy, I may just have to hug you.""You have ruined my sneak entirely," she told him."I seem to have that effect on both you and Logan," he teased. "Years of practice, apparently.""So," K said as she took his arm and leaned against his shoulder. "Try to act surprised when Logan lets it slip, would you? You're top of the list anyhow. Seeing as he's got another job for you."The grin threatened to split Kurt's face as he gave up trying to contain it, though he did manage a diplomatic, "Well, I am the drama teacher. I should be able to pull that off.""If you smile any wider, your head is going to split in half," she teased. "But ... here's the thing. Training. I can still work. For a while anyhow.""On training," Kurt said with a little look. "With the safety protocols in place.""They were running today," K defended. "Your godbaby is safe."Kurt grinned delightedly at that. "Well, now your earlier lie about my being in cahoots with Logan might just be truth," he teased."Honestly," she grumbled. "Super duper protected right now.""I'm afraid we just can't help it," Kurt said, still grinning, though he paused and leaned forward with a little smile. "But you know — if he becomes too unreasonable, I'm sure I could talk to Logan, if you need it.""I need it," she said seriously. "If it's this ridiculous now, he's going to be insane before it's over.""And I'll do my very best to keep him from insanity," Kurt promised before he couldn't contain it anymore and wrapped her up in a hug."Keep it to yourself, please," she said. "For a little while longer anyhow.""If I could figure it out, you know the rest of the team won't be far behind," he said. "But it's not my secret to tell, wonderful as it is.""You only figured it out by coming in here and seeing me falling off the planet," she pointed out. "No one comes in here."He looked a bit sheepish. "The door was open, and the bamfs wanted to play. Honestly, I was just trying to keep them from bothering you.""The bamfs opened the door, I'm sure," she said with a little smirk. "That one is a little punk that's been trying to drag you up here for the past week." She gave her little friend a dirty look, and he simply giggled at her, holding up his fingers behind his head as if they were horns — as if she needed the reminder that he was a little demon in the first place. "I will cut you if you don't knock it off, fella," she warned him.The little guy giggled delightedly with a little 'bamf' as he crawled over to pat her hand gently and look between Kurt and K with a triumphant sort of grin."They are so much like you, it's painful," K told him evenly, though Kurt simply laughed at that and gave her another delighted hug.….The ninjas had struck in the middle of the night while Noh was on watch. They burst through the door and windows at the same time — filling the air with smoke and throwing stars as they began their assault.Logan and Daken, by some miracle, simply fell into step together — and though their styles were vastly different, they seemed to be a good complement for each other as they started cutting through ninjas together.In the close quarters of the hotel suite, Jubilee and Kate were showing off more hand-to-hand training than explosions and arrows simply because it was easier and less likely to bring a wall down on them or something. The two of them had been through enough training with each other — and sometimes Natasha and K — that they had an easy rhythm going as well as they fought practically back to back at times.And Noh was simply in his element, actually grinning as he ran along the walls and fired at the incoming ninjas, standing outside the windows at a slant to take on the ninjas that were still incoming.So Noh had been running back and forth across the windows, firing on ninjas left and right as he and the little team cleared them out when the ninjas — desperate to end the fight on an upswing — simply shot out all the windows anywhere near Noh all at once. Just like that, the little Kree warrior found himself without an anchor to hold himself to the building.But he didn't fall far. He'd really only gotten less than a handful of feet when someone grabbed his ankle and hoisted him into the hotel room without a word.He blinked in surprise when he saw that it was Daken. His former Dark Avengers teammate didn't do anything to acknowledge what had happened as he had already jumped right back into the fight as soon as Noh was back in the building. Noh wasn't about to draw attention to having been rescued by Daken, so he also dove back into the fight, shaking his head to himself.The battle didn't last much longer after that before the small group of ninjas retreated back into the shadows without any further conflict — completely unable to make any headway against the well-prepared group."Ready to chase 'em?" Logan asked Daken, though he didn't exactly specify who he was speaking to as he glared out the window and down toward the sidewalk. Daken, of course, simply nodded, and the two of them slipped off together for the others to try and follow."See, I actually like these world tours," Kate said to Jubilee as the two girls ran after their teammates. "I get to shoot ninjas.""Yeah, well, it's easier when he's not running with another feral," Jubilee half grumbled. "Freakin' growly language all their own.""You mean it's not like bamf-speak? I'll never learn it?" Kate couldn't resist teasing."I don't know," Jubilee said with a bit of a tilt to her head. "I mean. It could be..." She ran through an entire library of different growls, which only got Daken to turn and stare at her for a second as if she'd completely lost her mind before he turned back toward his father with a shake of his head. "See? It worked."Kate was chuckling to herself at that. "Yes. I think you just told him his refrigerator is running.""No, I told him to get a haircut," she laughed."Ah, that explains the look he was giving you," Kate giggled."The whole family is sensitive about their hair," Jubilee stage whispered.Noh just turned to Jubilee with a single raised eyebrow and a grin. "You should have seen it when we were teammates," he said in a stage whisper. "I believed I was under attack when first we met.""How so?" Jubilee giggled."I believe his hair might have been taller than his father," Noh said, completely straightfaced."Do you have any pictures?" Jubilee was on the verge of tears, the mental image more than she could handle."I didn't keep any mementos from that horrendous team, but I'm sure you can find footage if you ask Santa Stark. We were using his building at the time.""I don't know if Santa Stark would cooperate with me," Jubilee said. "Not that I'm complaining. I suppose I could ask K to do it if Kate isn't up to it.""What, and miss the chance to see Tony's face when we ask for the mullet-mohawk pictures?" Kate grinned. "Not on your life."Logan shushed them from over his shoulder as they came up on where the ninjas were converging. "We can clean 'em out right now if you guys can keep it together," Logan said with a scowl that Daken matched nearly perfectly as the three of them came up to the two ferals."What, you think I can't multitask?" Kate reached behind her to twirl an arrow in her hands. "I'll take down more ninjas than you and plot the rise of the mullet-mohawk extravaganza," she added Daken's way."You are completely delusional," Daken replied. "Body count starts now," he added with a smirk as he dove over the edge of the building and into the gathered ninjas."You're gonna need that head start," she half-shouted after him as she started shooting and the others dove in as well.Daken and Kate were both doing incredibly well until Jubilee dove in. She was standing on top of a car, blowing a giant pink bubble, when she let loose a massive plasmoid that Daken had to drop flat to the ground to miss.In a massive shower of sparks and blinding light, a large portion of the ninjas simply disintegrated. "Catch up now," Jubilee called out brightly as she cracked her gum and skipped off the car."I like a good challenge!" Kate shouted back, laughing as she pulled out a few explosives and fired several at once to topple a half-crumbling building as well. She tipped her head with a grin. "Not sure how many that was, but I think it was a lot.""Still behind," Daken called out as he spun through the ninjas and used their weapons against them."Oh, just you wait," Kate replied with a little laugh before she grabbed her sword to start dealing damage a bit faster. "If I had the dual wield down, you'd be eating my dust.""Next time, we should both bring a pair," he called back."You are so on." She grinned his way and, just to show off, flipped the sword over in one hand to stab a ninja behind her before she used the guy as leverage and flipped over him so that two throwing stars hit the ninja instead of her.Daken just grinned her way and started strictly using the ninja's weapons on their own ranks. If he got a hold of a sword, he'd send it through the man holding it and leave it there, moving on to the next weapon.Logan wasn't paying attention to the little games being played, though — he was looking for the man in charge, solely focused on a point far in the distance as he cut through men left and right as if they weren't even there.Noh tore his attention away from the girls and Daken when he noticed that Logan was headed in a new direction and let out a breath, deciding that it would likely be better if he made sure Logan wasn't separated, so he sped over to where Logan was quickly, simply following the trail Logan had already cut for him."I take it you're not interested in playing games?" he said with his head to one side. "Or have you found something more engaging?""Not even a little bit interested in games," Logan growled out. "I have things to do that don't involve tinkerin' around with these idiots.""You mean the ninjas, not our teammates," Noh said with a small smirk before he tipped his head for Logan to lead the way. "Perhaps we can end the fight and the games a bit sooner, then?""See the guy up there that just seems to be watching in the shadows?" Logan asked as the two of them fought their way forward. "I don't want him dead. Yet.""Then let's make sure we get to him before the others catch up with their games," Noh suggested with a smirk as he poured on a bit more speed."That's the plan," he agreed. "I doubt Kate knows about these guys — but you can bet Daken and Jubes do."Noh tipped his head for just a second. "Anything I should know?""If he thinks he'll be caught, he'll kill himself.""Well then, we'll simply have to be faster than he is," Noh said with a determined sort of nod.With that, Logan drove forward in a rush, ducking past ninjas and fighting hard, with Noh beside him shooting through and kicking through anyone he didn't get to. Finally, he managed to grab the ninja master and restrain him. But as soon as that happened, the ninjas that had not been subdued or killed all began to pull out bows and arrows that did not have throwing stars. In a heartbeat, their focus was on Logan and their master — shooting all their arrows and stars at the two of them. Logan turned his back, trying to safeguard the ninja master as the arrows rained down.Noh had also switched his focus, going from fighting at Logan's side to trying to snatch as many arrows and throwing stars out of the air as he could to prevent several of them from hitting home. He could also hear a very annoyed Kate shouting at the ninjas that archery was her shtick as the other three saw what was going on and moved to help as well, though by the time they'd arrived, Logan had several arrows in him, and Noh had accumulated a few as well.When the rest of them caught up to Noh and Logan, Logan gave Daken a nod, and the two of them dragged the ninja master off to a more secured area before they began to question him in low, angry Japanese. At first, he didn't respond to them other than to shout back foul insults — all things that Jubilee knew the translations for — but not much else.Until the two of them started tag-teaming the guy on torture methods — one working him over while the other questioned. When the ninja master finally started to answer, the two ferals would share a look, as if to see if the other believed him before continuing on.When they were apparently done, Logan released the man, and Daken cut him down before the pair of them made their way back to the group, speaking low to each other. "We've hit a dead end for now," Daken admitted to the gathered trio. "But I now have a few names and aliases to work through. So … thank you.""A victorious battle, but the war wages on," Noh said with a shrug."He means 'you're welcome,'" Kate said, smirking as she tipped her head Daken's way."I appreciate the translation," Daken said with what almost looked like a friendly expression. "You're by far a more interesting archer to work with over that idiot in New York.""I'm the best Hawkeye," Kate said with a shrug and a smirk. "But the other one's not an idiot. Not totally, anyway.""In my working experience, that is entirely true," he agreed. "You being the best Hawkeye. Sadly. I have yet to try out the third."Kate thought about it for a second and then made a face. "Oh no. No, Bullseye is not — he does not count. No, no."He just smiled at her. "Believe me, I know.""Then — we are done here, yes?" Noh broke in, looking to Logan."For now, yeah," Logan said with a nod."Then I think I'd like to go back home," Noh said as he pulled an arm around Jubilee."You and me both," Logan agreed before he tipped his head to Daken and the little group headed back to the blackbird.…..The residents of the mansion that hadn't gone to Madripoor were already down at coffee by the time the others arrived. K kept glancing Kurt's way, but true to his word, he looked serenely uninterested in revealing her secret just yet, hiding the little smile behind his coffee whenever he couldn't quite stop it."Oh, darn," K grumbled a bit when Logan came over to give her a quick kiss and join her for coffee. "I had a training session today.""Plans change," Logan muttered in response, smirking a bit to himself as he nuzzled into her hair."You can run a sim with me," Kate offered as she slipped in next to Kurt and kissed him gently in greeting."I had plans with Scott," K said airly. "We were having fun.""Can I play too? I love playing with the boss man," Kate said with a grin. "It's like — a total unicorn when he loosens up and has fun. I gotta be there.""Didn't you just get back from fighting ninjas?" Kurt pointed out with a little smirk as he pushed her a cup of coffee."Yes, and if anyone asks, I definitely had more ninjas down than anybody else," she said, grinning."Lies," Logan said. "Dirty, dirty lies — but not bad for a new ninja killer.""Not bad, he says." Kate looked up at Kurt with a little smirk, though it was clear the compliment had her pleased. "I was excellent.""I'm sure you were," Kurt replied as he kissed the top of her head with an unrestrained smile.The group couldn't miss when Annie and Scott arrived for breakfast because Annie broke out into a huge grin and made it a point to hug the newly returned teammates. "It's good to see you all back without major medical intervention," she teased Logan in particular."I already pulled all the arrows out on the jet," Logan replied."Did you make Kate angry again?" Scott asked with a smirk as he poured his coffee."Nah, just a few dozen ninjas," Logan said as he picked up his coffee mug. "They got over it. Kinda.""I think it helped when we knocked some sense into them," Kate said with a grin Jubilee's way."Was that before or after Jubes blew your numbers?" Logan asked. "Gettin' old. I forget."She rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, so maybe Jubes won. But I was a close second.""Third," he corrected. "I still won.""Are you counting the head guy as multiple?""One.""Right." She rolled her eyes and looked past him to K. "So, what's the plan?""Kate wants to join us later," K said to Scott."Kate can go in your place," Logan added.Scott raised both eyebrows at that. "Actually, the program is for K," he pointed out."It really is," K agreed. "Kurt runs it, Scott helps me. It's pretty laid back, actually.""Sounds fun. Throw in a few more bad guys, and I'll work on my hand to hand," Kate said, leaning back with her arms behind her head.But Logan was shaking his head. "Nope. I have plans with this one," he said. "Pick another player." K turned and gave Kurt a look as if to say 'see?'"You know, Logan, it's really only half an hour," Kurt said softly. "And I think Scott and K are starting to build a good rhythm." He gave Logan a bit of a look himself."C'mon, Logan. Don't you know how to share?" Kate teased."No," he replied frankly."We'll figure it out before the session," Kurt said diplomatically. "We have a few hours anyhow.""Enough time to get in a little shut eye," Kate said with a contented sigh. "That's not a half bad idea.""Why don't you go ahead, and I'll catch up," Kurt said before he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "I need to slap some sense into my best friend."She smirked at him and nodded. "Well I won't stand in the way of that." She kissed his cheek and grinned impishly. "I'll just get a quick cat nap in. You can wake me up when you're done." With that, she kissed him gently again and headed upstairs, which left Kurt free to catch up to his best friend.He seized Logan by the arm and pulled him into one of the classrooms that wasn't being used before he crossed his arms and tilted his head at his friend. "You can't simply stop her from living, Logan — no matter how much you want to protect her. To protect both of them.""Well, that took you no time at all," Logan replied. "She's stubborn about going easy. Seems to be all or nothing — so what would you do?""There's a difference between going easy and being railroaded," Kurt pointed out."She won't go easy," he defended. "Already tried that route.""Then ask for help," Kurt said, shaking his head. "If Scott or I had known when we were running training yesterday, don't you think we'd have gone easier?""And she'd have found a way to work around you," Logan replied. "That's the way it's been going."Kurt crossed his arms. "For how long now?""Long enough," he said with a little shrug. "Few weeks anyhow."Kurt tried to look thunderous, he really did, but what he did instead was wrap his best friend in a hug to warmly tell him "congratulations" before he smacked him. "Logan, you haven't even set a date," he chided him."I've tried. You're after the wrong one for that.""She's going to start showing, and you won't be able to keep this secret. Figure it out," Kurt insisted."Not trying to keep it a secret," he said easily. "Just gotta get her to relax a little.""You both need to relax." Kurt shook his head at Logan. "You're — you're going to be parents, Logan!" he said, somewhere between ecstatic and disbelieving."I'm well aware," he said with a little smile. "I was the one that told her."Kurt couldn't help but grin back at his friend. "Congratulations, mein Freund. Really. This — this is amazing news.""Be more amazing if I can get her to do the damn ceremony."Kurt nodded at that. "I'd marry you two right now if you could get her to agree to it.""I know," he said. "She keeps thinking I'm screwing with her. Or picking. Or something.""Then convince her you're not." Kurt let out a long sigh. "You cannot just… carry on like this.""I know," Logan swore. "I'm trying to get her to see sense. But she's just … stubborn.""What does she need convincing of? That you love her? That you two won't be murdered at the altar? What?""No idea at this point. She just tells me to stop being ridiculous.""She's right on that point. Stop being ridiculous and just marry the girl. Make an honest woman of her," Kurt said with a soft smirk."That isn't helpful," Logan said with one eyebrow raised. "But ... if I can get her to just agree, I'll try to relax a little more.""That seems like a fair trade," Kurt agreed. He rested a hand on Logan's shoulder with a grin. "Can I ask — do you have a due date yet? Do you know?""My guess? April sometime. She's bein' kinda standoffish when it comes to Hank," Logan said."Yes, I noticed that," Kurt agreed before he broke into a little grin. "If it's the Twinkies that she doesn't want, I'm sure Hank can switch them out for something else."Logan just shook his head. "She has legitimate gripes," he promised."Well if you say they're legitimate," Kurt said with a little smirk before he just shook his head. "I meant what I said, Logan — say the word and I'll find a way to make it happen. Just get her to say yes.""I already made that mistake once," Logan pointed out. "Got her to say yes — missed gettin' her to say when.""Well, that was your mistake," he agreed."Just try to stick to her training sessions," Logan asked. "I'll keep tryin' to convince her to get with it.""Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her," Kurt promised. He paused, grinned, and added, "It seems I'm a bit protective myself.""Oh?" Logan teased. "What brought it out?"Kurt had to laugh. "Oh, nothing special. K just suggested something to me.""Yeah? What was the suggestion? There have been a few."Kurt shook his head. "Oh no. This — this is something I wouldn't assume.""Well one of the suggestions is a given," Logan teased. "Provided you want the job."Kurt broke into a wide grin. "You know I'd be honored.""Good," he said with a nod. "There are a few things bein' tossed around that surprised me. That was her suggestion."Kurt raised both eyebrows high and looked both pleased and shocked. "It was?""I'll wait until she decides for sure on the others before I clue you in on them." Logan gave him an unreadable smile. "Until then, maybe help me out a little to get her to just do it? Gentle suggestions maybe.""Anything," Kurt promised.Translations from German:Was is los? - "What is this?" or, basically, "What's going on?"
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Kate was a bit surprised when it was Noh who met her on her way to the Avengers for the team tradeoff thing. "I thought Logan wanted to come today?" she asked, and Noh shrugged."Apparently, he had something else come up with K, and I was more than happy to step in," he said easily, though he leaned forward to add in a conspiratory whisper, "Besides, I think it would be best if you came with me. I wanted to speak to your counterpart, and you seem to know how to best pin him down and get straight answers from him.""That's a lie," Kate laughed, shaking her head. "Nat's good with him. I just ... sort of babysit him, really.""Even so, I think I'd like your help," Noh insisted as they climbed into Kate's little car for the drive over. "Or at least your presence.""If you say so," Kate said with a little shrug. "What, are you intimidated by the tire fire of a human being?""To be honest, I'm still a bit … wary of anyone who was on the Avengers when I was the Protector," Noh said with a sheepish smile. "I was a different person then — but it is difficult for many of them to see past that.""That's a big list, considering the Avengers roster.""Well, you did ask."Kate shook her head at her old friend as the two of them made their way to Avengers Tower, though the conversation quickly turned to singing instead of talking once she cranked up the radio — because it was impossible for things to go any other way.When they arrived at the Avengers Tower, Kate very nearly laughed at Tony's expression, as it was clear he had been expecting someone small and stabby, not tall and alien, as Kate's partner — though she made sure to give him a hug and tease him all the same. "What, I'm not cool enough to be exciting? Shame on you," she laughed."It's not for me, really," Tony said, trying to play it off. "Think of Thor, he's going to be so let down.""Noh, make note of that. Start learning Swedish. I'll buy you a Viking costume on the way home," Kate said with a smirk that had Noh laughing."That ... is not strictly necessary," Tony said with a frown."If you say so." Kate made a show of looking disappointed before she looked around the Tower. "Hey, have you seen the other Hawkeye?" she asked. "Noh wanted to ask him something, I think.""I think … he was upstairs," Tony said with a frown. "What does the visitor from the stars want with our Hawkeye?""Simply advice," Noh told him without elaborating any further."Sure you don't want to talk to … oh … anyone else?" Tony teased."Hey." Kate put her hands on her hips. "Clint's a good mentor. Just because you don't have an awesome and plucky babysitter doesn't mean you should be jealous.""I tried to get an awesome and plucky babysitter, but apparently she's already booked up with someone stabbier than me.""Too slow," Kate said philosophically as she pulled on Noh's arm with a grin. "Come on, Marvel Boy. Let's find us a Hawkeye so you can get advice on, like, how to find adorable stray dogs or whatever the heck you want to ask him."When they found Clint at last, Kate almost had to shake her head, because of course the first place they should have looked was the roof. He was up there with Kamala, and the two were just chatting. Even though Kate cleared her throat to let them know they had an audience, the two of them still finished up what they were talking about first before they addressed the newcomers — apparently, Kamala was struggling with balancing college life with an Avengers career and all her other personal stuff and just needed someone to vent to."Not like I can really help with the college suggestions, but hey — you ever get overwhelmed, you just call me and I'll pretend to have an accident or something," Clint was teasing her. "You know — get the focus off you if you're running late or having an off day or something.""He's serious, too," Kate said as she came up to the two of them and wrapped the younger woman in a warm hug before she did the same to Clint. "He's an adorable idiot who means well.""Hey, Kate," Kamala said, grinning as she looked over at Noh. "What happened to your usual partner in crime?"Kate let out a dramatic sigh. "I don't even know anymore, Kamala," she said, throwing her hands up. "Nobody wants to play with me, apparently. I've been tossed around from partner to partner.""Hey, if nobody wants the Hawkeye teamup, they are clearly missing out," Clint said with an easy grin. "Which reminds me — you and I? We haven't bothered any of the Board creeps lately, and this is just unacceptable.""It really is," Kate said, chuckling. "Well, it's summer vacation now, and unlike The Overachiever here, I'm not doing summer school for any of my students." She shot Kamala a little smirk, and the younger woman stuck her tongue out. "You pick a day, and we'll bring back the Hawkeyes storm just to remind everybody not to mess with us, huh?""Sounds like a plan," Clint agreed. He was leaning against the nearest wall with his arms crossed as he looked the two of them over. "So, what's the plan for the exchange program? Or are you just here to bother me?" he teased."Actually..." Kate looked over her shoulder at Noh. "I think Noh wanted to ask your advice. Try not to die of shock."Clint widened his eyes dramatically and looked over at Noh. "What, you finally decide those guns of yours are too clunky? Go for something more elegant?" He mimed shooting a bow and arrow. "I'm not an official archery teacher, but I did help Katie here when she was a little older than four," he added with a teasing grin."Oh, shut up," Kate grumbled his way, though with obvious affection in her tone."Actually… I wanted to ask you more of a question about dealing with teammates," Noh admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked to Kamala. "I'm sorry — do you mind if I steal Clint for a moment? I can return him to you for a friendly ear when I've finished if you like."Kamala just laughed and shrugged. "I'm sure he's done listening to me ramble about college life. He's all yours Marvel Boy." She held out her hand for a fist bump, which Noh returned with a little grin, before she excused herself back down into the tower."So, what's up?" Clint asked easily, twirling one of his arrows between his fingers. "If you're here for advice on being married to a teammate, I'm just going to stop you there, because I sucked at it. So ... anything else, shoot.""No, nothing like that," Noh said quickly, taking a bit of a breath before he looked to Kate. "Actually, it's more that some former teammates of mine have recently resurfaced. One in particular."Clint raised both eyebrows at that and leaned forward a bit. "I'm assuming you're not talking about the ones from when you were on the team with me or Kate?"Noh laughed and shook his head. "No. Osborne's Avengers," he explained. "Daken is trying to reach out to connect with his father, which is his right if he chooses to, but I don't think the rest of my teammates understand the extent to which he should be avoided." He glared Kate's way as the younger Hawkeye looked halfway betrayed."You came here to tell on me," she accused him, and Noh grinned impishly."You are the one who was making plans with Daken for another adventure," he replied, which got Clint to nearly drop the arrow he was twirling."You what?" He turned the full force of an open, shocked stare on Kate. "Katie ... he's… that guy is a psycho and a half-decent shadow of his dad. He's…" Clint shook his head. "That's such a bad idea."Kate looked between the two men for a moment with her arms crossed. "Right. Because of the three of us, you two really have room to talk about felons who want to start maybe not being felons.""Yeah, well, as a former felon? Let me tell you — there's not many people who pull off the transition to 'good guy' well," Clint replied with a bit of a glare. "And that kid? He's not like Marvel Boy here with his head on backwards on a new planet being used by five different kinds of bad guys. He knows what he's doing and does it anyway.""Says the reformed con artist, thief, and assassin."Clint pointed at his own face. "Not a psycho.""Look, he promised his dad he wouldn't screw with me, and it's an honor thing, so hey, if he's trying, might as well keep an eye on him," Kate pointed out."You do realize that his handle literally means 'no honor,' right?" Clint pointed out. "That's not his actual name. That's what he's chosen to go by."She blew out her breath at him in frustration. "Okay, Dad. Sorry for having a little faith in people to change. My bad." She threw up both of her hands and glared at the two of them. "You gonna ground me?""Don't tempt me. You're in the tower now, Katie Kate.""I'll have you know I have vast experience escaping from and being rescued from towers. This doesn't scare me at all."Clint rolled his eyes at her, shook his head, and tried a different angle. "Look. Just be careful, huh? Last time you were on a team with a known bad guy, I'm pretty sure you ended up getting your butts handed to you and your heart broken." He had his arms crossed and steadfastly didn't look at Noh for that last part."Life experience. Which I learned from." Kate shook her head at both of them again and then threw her hands in the air. "This is stupid. I'm going to go find Cap and kick his butt. You two can stay up here and play 'control Kate's life' some more if you want, but actual Kate will be down having fun." With that, she stormed down the stairs, leaving Noh and Clint on the roof frowning after her."I… didn't mean to upset her," Noh said quietly after a moment, which of course, had Clint chuckling."C'mon, Noh. Let's just… give her some time or something," Clint suggested as the two of them headed inside.When Scott caught up to K on the grounds, he was wearing an easy smile and had his visor in one hand. "You ready to take on another sim today?" he asked."Yes, please," K replied. "I was going to go take a ride, but that sounds so much better.""Well, we did say same time, right?" He tipped his head for her to follow as they headed for the mansion."We did, yes," she agreed. "It's just … I was catching some resistance.""Logan again?""Of course," she said with a little laugh. "Who else?"He shook his head with a little smirk. "Well there's no point in keeping you cooped up and untrained. That's just asking for danger," he pointed out."You know, that is exactly my argument," she replied. "And it's not like with the training I have, I need to be put in bubble wrap."Scott grinned at that and nodded. "He'll come around," he assured her, then paused. "Well, maybe. In the meantime, he's not in charge of training schedules.""True," she said with a nod. "I don't think he'd be nearly so overbearing if it wasn't for the little trick Sinister pulled. Still mad I don't remember the big reveal with your pretty brown eyes."He shrugged at that but looked a little embarrassed. "No big deal, really," he said as he opened the door for her.They were halfway to the Danger Room with Kurt spotted them and teleported over with a curious expression on his face, head tipped to one side. "Are you headed to the Danger Room?""Yeah — do you want to queue up the sim for us again?" Scott asked. "That last one was actually kind of fun."Kurt looked between the two of them before his gaze fell on K. "I was thinking more of a 'save the mutant' situation this time around," he said."That last one wasn't bad," K said with a little frown. "It was just a lot of fun. Good warm up."Kurt looked between them again, visibly torn, before he let out a breath. "I'll run it for you both again, make a few adjustments," he suggested. "Since you both had fun — wouldn't want you to get bored with the same program twice."Scott grinned at him. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed as the three of them made it to the elevators and headed down.A short while later, Scott and K were waiting for the sim to start in the Danger Room as Kurt finished the last few touches and tried to keep a neutral expression on his face before starting up the program for the two of them. He was sure that his tweaks had kept only lower-level baddies anywhere near targeting K — and most of them were actually going for Scott, though K was sure to help deflect those that were getting too close to him.It was a tough call for Kurt since, actually, Scott was clearly having a good time — something that was rare enough on its own that he didn't want to interfere. And the two of them were working well together ... and K was doing as she promised and staying careful as she fought her way through the sim. All of it was very acceptable and not-upsetting at all until Scott asked Kurt to ramp up the next stage in the program and K nodded along with him.Kurt paused over the controls, trying to figure out how to stay true to his promises to both K and Logan, until there was a little bamf and he turned to see that one of his little friends had brought Logan right into the booth."What the hell's going on in here?" Logan asked as he turned to look down into the Danger Room."Actually, nothing upsetting so far," Kurt told him quickly. "Low-level bad guys for K — and Scott's getting better at the wide-range beams. I just… don't think we should ramp up the difficulty level. At all." He paused. "Scott disagrees.""Screw what Scott thinks; he can do the sim alone if he wants a challenge," Logan argued. He turned to where the comm button was and hit it. "You're done, sweetheart. Come on up."Scott looked up at the booth with an obvious frown. "We're only halfway through the sim. Unless it's an emergency, you can wait.""Run it alone. If you need help, I'll help you," Logan argued.Scott glared his way for a second, a visible red tinge to his eyes before he took a breath. "This isn't just my program. K's running it to train for Weapon X — or did you think she didn't need that?""She doesn't need to train for that right now."K pinched the bridge of her nose as the boys started to get wound up properly."Because you said so?" Scott asked, glaring harder as he crossed his arms and actually had to put the glasses back on for a second so he didn't shoot the booth on accident — he still didn't have that full control when his temper got involved. "I didn't realize you were in charge of training sims.""Got nothin' to do with the training sims, Slim. Don't make a big deal outta this.""Why don't you wait another fifteen minutes, and then whatever's so important, you two can get it done," Scott replied, shaking his head. "The world doesn't revolve around your whims.""Not the way this is gonna go down." With that, Logan left the booth and headed down to where K and Scott were, even as Scott tried to call out his codes and get it rolling, though Kurt wasn't letting it start either. "You wanna run it? Run it alone. Kurt will keep you from going too far." K had her arms crossed and was looking down at the ground as Logan approached them.Scott on the other hand was positively glaring. "So that's how you're playing this? You know what's best? She doesn't get a say?""Scott," K started to try to defuse him. "That's not … entirely it." She turned to Logan. "I'm fine. Just back off a tiny bit and let me do my thing.""No," Logan said with a little frown. "Come on. We can do something else.""I guess I wasn't aware I needed to ask your permission to run a sim with your fiance," Scott all but spat out. "Or that she needed it in the first place.""It's not about permission," Logan half growled. "It's about keepin' her safe.""Seems to me like it's about control," Scott shot back.Logan took a deep breath and walked by K and right up to Scott. "Not even close. But thanks for playing." He tipped his head toward K. "It's about making sure she doesn't get hurt. Her or the little one." He watched Scott process for a moment as Scott quickly went from angry at Logan to totally disarmed. "You still wanna spar with her?"Scott was stunned into silence, jaw slightly dropped despite an obvious attempt not to look that gobsmacked. Finally, after a long moment, he said, "No.""Didn't think so."K and Logan were halfway out the door before Scott got it together enough to try again. "Logan, I…" He shook his head. "Congratulations.""Have fun on your sim," Logan replied. "You two can talk about it later."Scott was clearly still in a bit of a state of shock as he simply watched Logan and K leave until, finally, he shook his head. "I think that's enough for today, Kurt, thanks," he called up to the booth as he opted to head back up to… process.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kate and Noh drove back from the Avengers Tower in relative quiet except for, of course, the usual blaring of the radio the entire way back. After the initial rocky start to their rotation with Noh busting Kate out to Clint, the two of them were a little bit off. It hadn't helped that Kate had pretty much ignored both Noh and Clint all day in favor of instead hanging out with Cap and doing a bit of hand-to-hand before she ended up playing video games with Miles for the rest of the day.Finally, it seemed like Noh couldn't stand the silent treatment anymore, and he leaned over with wide eyes. "I didn't mean to upset you."Kate turned to him with one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, you did," she replied before she let out a little breath and shook her head at him. "Look, I appreciate the concern, I really do. But I know how to look out for myself. And you really shouldn't read so much into battle banter."Noh frowned at her for a moment. "I make it a point to take people at their word, Kate.""And yeah, that's a really good policy to have. I'm just saying, when it's back and forth teasing, it doesn't mean I'm, like, making dinner plans with a psychopath, okay? He's a total creepo, and it's not like I'm inviting him to the Halloween party or something. I'd just like to kick his butt fighting ninjas is all." She tipped her head at Noh. "Besides, as long as he's fighting on our side — this time — there's nothing wrong with healthy banter. It keeps my wits sharp."Noh let out a breath and leaned back a little further in his seat as he thought it over. "It's just that I know what he is capable of. And even if he has promised not to manipulate you on purpose, I would not be surprised if he did so an accident. The man has very little self-control."She let out a sigh and reached over with one hand to pat his shoulder. "You're a good egg, Noh," she told him with a warm smile. "And I appreciate that you're looking out for me. But seriously — tattling to my old mentor? That's so not the way to help, okay?"Noh nodded and then couldn't help but give her a little smirk. "I think he really was considering trying to ground you.""Let him try," Kate said, waving her hand. "I don't live at his place, first of all, and second, if he sent me to my room, I don't think Kurt would complain in the least, especially in the mood he and Logan have been in since the whole Sinister and Weapon X and, well, everything in the last few months, you know?" She peered at Noh. "I don't need any more people being overprotective, okay?"Noh gave her the slightest of smirks as they pulled up to a red light, and he indicated the obviously not-actually-homeless guy who had an eye on the recognizable purple car. They didn't know if he was from the Board or just someone who disagreed with the "direction" she had taken Bishop Publishing, but it was a pretty regular sight for Kate. "You know we have good reason to be," he said.She waved her hand. "I see those creeps everywhere at this point. They never try anything if I've got someone with me.""Perhaps they will get bolder one day.""And I've got a collapsible bow in the glove box and a quiver under my seat," Kate replied, unconcerned. "But you know, if I freaked out every time half our teammates were in trouble, my heart would have given out months ago just from you alone.""Me?" He raised his eyebrows at her."Yeah. You. You and your whole getting snatched up by SHIELD, grabbed by Ronan, contacted by the Supreme Intelligence again… are you ever not in danger?" she pointed out."It's an occupational hazard," he said with a little laugh.Kate shook her head at him as the light turned green and she continued on. "That's what I keep telling people. And yet you insist on being idiotic and trying to protect me all the same.""It's more of an attempt to stop unnecessary risks than anything else," Noh defended, and she snorted at that."Noh," she said in a tone of voice that she hadn't used since they were dating that had him sitting up a little straighter. "Stop it. Just… don't. You know I hate being treated like a china doll.""That's not my intent. Nor is it Kurt's or Logan's or Clint's or anyone else who is simply looking out for you."Kate didn't even look over at him as she reached over and smacked him in the back of the head. "You're still an idiot.""And I'm still right to be concerned for those I care about, and you know it." He shook his head at her. "Don't you get concerned over Kurt? Aren't you taking him to business parties to sniff out possible evil?""That's not the same, and you know it," Kate shot back."What, preventing possible future encounters with those who would do you harm?" Noh raised both eyebrows at her. "Yes, that sounds nothing like what I was trying to do."She glared at him for a second. "Shut up."He simply grinned and reached over to turn up the volume on the radio so that he could start singing along with so much enthusiasm that Kate almost couldn't help but to join him.She had just about softened up on him trying to 'protect' her by the time they pulled into the garage — and then that all fell apart again. It was more than a little frustrating when she saw that Scott was there. It looked like he'd been babying his car when they pulled in, but he stopped what he was doing to look properly annoyed when he saw Kate pull in driving her little purple car."Oh great. I'm gonna get an earful from another guy who thinks he's my dad," Kate muttered under her breath as Noh steadfastly pretended that he hadn't heard her mumbling. She stepped out of the car with a sigh even as Scott was already crossing her arms. "Hey, boss man, what's for dinner?" she called out, hoping to stop the inevitable argument before he got started, but apparently, he wasn't in the mood."You took that car into the city? To Avengers Tower?" He looked absolutely flabbergasted, for some reason, and Kate glared right back at him, drawing herself up to her full height even though Scott had almost a full foot over her."Yes I did. And you'll note the total lack of bullet holes, missing doors, or any sign of trouble, unless you count the fact that the oil needs to be changed pretty soon," she shot back, matching his posture with her arms crossed."You were lucky.""Again. Imagine that. It's like that stupid buddy system works or something," Kate countered, gesturing at Noh. "Behold, my sparkly Kree bodyguard."Scott raised both eyebrows at her, and Kate almost laughed, because the dry look was even more intense without the glasses, somehow. "You're taking unnecessary risks.""Seriously. You too?" Kate threw her head back with a dramatic sigh. "What, did someone declare it 'try to dad Kate' day? Because this — this is not funny.""It's not supposed to be," Scott said with narrowed eyes. "Next time you're going further than Westchester, take a different car. I'm not asking.""And I'm not listening," Kate replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I've had that car since I was a Young Avenger. I'm not asking you to get rid of yours." She threw her hand out to indicate that car that Scott had just been working on. He was such an idiot. And a hypocrite. And Kate was not in the mood to deal with his stupid."I'm not saying you have to get rid of it," Scott clarified. "Only that you have to stop making such an easy target out of yourself. You are aware of how easy targets work, aren't you?""I'm familiar." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "It's been an age and a half and you're still all worked up over those — those mid-level wannabe creeps in tracksuits and hired gun salaries. I can handle them.""They're not the only ones after you, Kate," Scott replied through gritted teeth. "I'm not worried about your stupid Russian weirdos.""So I should just go into hiding?" she shot back. "Stop driving my car? Don't visit my coffee shops? Don't go to my company parties? Because that sounds a lot like letting them dictate my life.""I didn't say any of that, I'm just asking you to be careful while you do those things and not make it so easy for them," Scott said. "I know you're fine most of the time — but when you're not? K was almost killed, and you very nearly lost Annie too. Because of the car. Not you."Some of the heat left her glare for a second — it was hard to argue with him when he pulled the "protect Annie" card, because she knew how much it screwed with Annie that Sinister was after her family — but then she sniffed at him, not about to let him win so easily. "Look. I've got, like, five things that are mine and not yours or the team's or Dad's, and this car is one of those. So lay off.""I'm not pushing you to get rid of it," Scott repeated. "I just want you to take something else when you go to the city.""Fine, whatever, Dad," she said, waving her hand at him dismissively as she stalked past him. "I'm not staying up past curfew."As she was on her way in, K was on her way out, the keys to Logan's Harley in her hand, and the two nearly bumped into each other. "Hello, you look less than thrilled," K said, the color already risen in her cheeks. "Welcome home."Kate rolled her eyes theatrically. "Scott's being stupid. And so's Noh and Clint.""Yeah, got that memo — about Scott. Must be something affecting the Y-chromosome, because they are all stupid today. I … am stealing Logan's motorcycle. Wanna go take a ride at ridiculous speeds and maybe bang up the fender a little bit?"Kate grinned outright at that. "Well, Scott did tell me to get a different mode of transportation…""Well, let's go. We can slap him on the way out," K suggested."Yes, I like this plan," Kate agreed, sliding her arm through K's. "I think it's the first sensible suggestion I've heard all day.""What a day you've had then if the first sensible suggestion is to steal a motorcycle and slap ol' fearless. Though … it really is a fine plan, if I don't say so myself." K was still grinning as she pushed open the door to the garage, and the pair of them very nearly ran right into Scott. "Why are you so big? And in my freakin' face? Go 'way.""Are you two headed out?" he asked with a small frown.K pulled a face and started to shake her head, speaking as low as she could manage as she said, "Noooo. Nope. Why would I do that?""Hey, you're the one who said get a different transport to the city," Kate said. "Found her. Aren't you proud?" She gestured toward K with a troublemaking grin."You taking the Jeep?" Scott asked."Sure," K replied slowly before she gave him a tight smile.He looked between the two girls for just a moment before he seemed to give up entirely and gave them both the most ridiculous eyeroll they'd ever seen from him — which was something, seeing as they had discovered since his eyes came uncovered that he had been rolling his eyes at everything this whole time and no one had been able to see it — as he simply picked K up. "Yeah, that's not happening," he told her as he started back inside."What the hell?" K said, in total shock as she immediately tried to wiggle loose."I'm done arguing with either of you about this," he informed her. He had to pause a bit at the door to get it open with her still wriggling like that, though he half kicked it open once he did."Would you freakin' stop it?" K half growled. "I didn't do anything to you, and I sure as hell didn't do anything wrong."He didn't set her back down until they were well inside, and when he did, he crossed his arms as Kate caught up looking both shocked and slightly entertained. "I'm not going to go through the 'don't take unnecessary risks' bit again," he said with a heavy sigh."Good, don't," K advised."Hypocrite," Kate grumbled Scott's way, though she was grinning. "Gotta bend with the knees, boss man. Don't throw out your back. Unnecessary risk.""What the hell?!" K shot her way as she spun toward her. "Are you kidding me right now? You're not supposed to jump on that train.""I'm just saying — if he's going to lecture us on safety rules, he should read a manual or two himself." She cocked her hip to one side as she shook her head at Scott. "Bad form. D minus. Not how you lift loads.""I … am not a load," K growled out."Why don't you find your fiance; I'm sure he'll be happy to see you home safe," Scott said without looking Kate's way and without addressing her earlier sass. He pointed K's way. "And you — do the same. Please.""See, just for that, I think a girls night is in order," Kate said to K."Yes," K agreed. "With totally legitimate, necessary risks. You know. Like ones that go along with breathing.""Yeah. I could pop some popcorn. Those kernels. So scary. Choking hazard or something." Kate had both hands on her hips. "I swear, they think we're made of glass.""That … is not the kind of risks I was thinking of," K said with a frown. "I want to blow something up.""I've got some splodeys from Clint that need trying out," Kate offered."I know where we can find a motorcycle," K replied with a tight grin. "And about six gallons of kerosine. Boom."Kate looked at Scott's growing frustrated expression and had to laugh. "I think Scott wants less boom, more G-rated action.""Well as the great poet Mick Jagger once said? 'You can't always get what you want.'""We'll compromise." Kate gave Scott a sickly sweet smile. "We'll go mess with tracksuits. No danger there except of dying of laughter.""Yes. Good. We can take Scott's car," K agreed before she held up the keychain in her hand that she had swiped while Scott was carrying her off. "Still warm — thanks, cranky. We'll bring it back with an empty tank. Guaranteed." With that, K spun on her heel and headed right back toward the garage, with a grinning Kate right behind her rushing off before Scott could grab them, even though she was clearly trying to bait him when she continued in a louder voice. "Think I can make the tires bark in every gear?"As Kate slid into the passenger's seat, still grinning at K, she had to ask, "What's got his pants all twisted?""Someone musta pissed in his oatmeal," K grumbled as she started the car and threw it into gear. "He's just like that sometimes. Unreasonable.""Obnoxious," Kate agreed."He was fine earlier too.""Must've been talking to Noh. He's all… big brother-y today," Kate complained."More like Logan and Kurt," K told her. "Overprotective is being kind about it."Kate rolled her eyes at that. "You'd think they'd get over that. I mean, bad guy grabs happen sometimes. It's not a constant.""You'd think, but no. They just come up with new and more annoying ways to be in your face.""What's their worry this time?" Kate asked with a heavy sigh. "Mine was worried because — heaven forbid — I was civil to Daken.""That … really is troublesome — but not enough to freak out over," K agreed. "More like 'make sure you have a taser.'""Got myself a pointy sword and a couple arrows that will do horrible, horrible things.""He moves in close and fast," K told her. "You want something that you don't need to move your arms for. Taser. Knife. Hypodermic full of nerve toxin. That kind of thing.""I'll keep that in mind," Kate said. "Seriously, though. They're just pissy because I have excellent banter skills, even with idiot sons of my best hug magnet friend. What kind of complaint is that?" She shook her head. "And then Scott was giving me grief about the car again.""Okay, but he really was fine this afternoon," K said. "So anything not fine? Entirely Logan's fault.""Well now I know who to get annoyed at for the Scott thing," Kate said, shaking her head. "What's got him all twisted? Weapon X? Sinister?""Yes, among other things," she replied in a sigh before she looked Kate over as they headed down the driveway. "You look like you need something sweet.""I always do," Kate said with a grin, leaning back in her seat to kick her feet up on the dash and put her hands behind her head. "There's a good place that has both burgers and some excellent chocolate shakes. That way you can get something too — since you're not the sweets kinda person.""Not often," she agreed before she made a point of peeling out onto the road, then having Kate point the way to the burger joint. And once they got there, K listened while Kate talked about all that had happened in Avengers Tower until she was pretty much all talked out and well sugared up.Kate was pretty relaxed as she leaned back and looked K over. "You gonna vent too, or is this just the Kate Bishop show?" she teased."Nothing I can do, really," K replied. "Not unless you know how to get Logan to chill the hell out and take his little demon buddy with him.""If I knew that, I'd be all-knowing and all-powerful," Kate said with a little smirk. "But I am a good sounding board for venting, you know.""They have Scott acting like a flying monkey now too," K grumbled. "And for no good reason either. Idiots.""All three of them?" Kate let out a little whistle. "You must've hit some kind of button. Somehow."K glanced up at her and she watched her for a long moment. "Yeah. I guess I did," she replied finally. "Stupid of me to do that. Oh. And Kurt is now officially on high pressure for the wedding too.""More than he is already?" Kate raised her eyebrows."Yeah, well. You know. Those religious types get their panties wadded when you do things out of order."Kate tilted her head at K curiously. "You know he's no Mrs. Benson," she pointed out carefully, not about to assume anything just in case she was off, since if she was, she did not want to be the one to deal with that line of questioning."I'm well aware," K replied as she watched Kate for a moment and finally decided to let her in. "He's just … protective for his little godbaby."The smile started at the corner of Kate's mouth and spread as the realization settled in. "That explains so. Freaking. Much.""Yeah, well. It's no fun to be labelled as invalid incubator all of a sudden." K shook her head.Kate made a horrible face. "Oh, don't say things like 'incubator.' That's just… that's all… Sinister-y. Don't do that.""I thought he was more for needles and misery," K replied with a frown."Oh, that's right. You got to forget that whole… crap." Kate raised her eyebrows at K and then let out a sigh. "I mean — I wasn't conscious for all of it, but Tyler and Hank described the whole thing as… as a ..." She pulled a face and leaned closer, obviously hesitant to continue as she whispered, "breeding experiments."'Oh, well I've heard that before," K said with a little wave. "Just not from that particular creep."Kate shuddered. "No offense, but I'm glad we didn't run in the same circles if that's the case," she said. "I had way more of a heebie jeebies reaction to that.""Weapons groups. If it's not breeding, it's clones. Bound to happen.""Creepy." Kate pulled a face and let out a dramatic shudder."True," K agreed."Well, Dr. Creepo with the Diamond Forehead was all tickled to study a whole mutant lifespan. so — fyi. He's… well. He's got you on file. And when he finds out, he'll want to stick his nose in.""Why the hell didn't the guys just say so much to me, then?" K asked with a totally irritated look. "All I've gotten is 'no because I said so' and other stupid male crap.""Oh, didn't you get the memo? X-Men suck at communicating, apparently," Kate said, shaking her head. "Learned that one on my first grand tour with them."Well that's just grand," K said with wide eyes. "Hence the invalid remark from earlier. Clearly, I'm not smart enough or stable enough to hear these things.""Yeah, I'm pretty sure it just didn't occur to them to communicate. Or I'd have to hit them for thinking you were dumb," Kate pointed out. "And I would too.""Well, this doesn't really make me want to go rushing back," K told her frankly.Kate just grinned and draped an arm around K's shoulder as she motioned dramatically with her other hand. "Breaking news: Old Lady discovers what teenage girls have always known. Boys suck at talking." She grinned. "In other news, the sky is blue.""Why do you think I avoided having too much to do with them for so long?" K countered."I thought you still believed in cooties," Kate said with a smirk."I should. I should believe in cooties," K replied seriously.Kate just had to chuckle at that as she shook her head at her friend and then leaned over to give her a hug. "Well, sorry boys are stupid. But also — that's the best news I've heard in forever, I hope you know. I'm totally gonna spoil that kid rotten, and I'm not even sorry, fyi."K leaned her head on Kate's shoulder and half snuggled in. "That's nice," she said, just staying there for a moment until she finally tipped her head up at Kate. "You know what that was?""A congratulations?""A glitter pass on."Kate raised both eyebrows and then shook her head vehemently. "No. No, no. See. You don't have a demon father-in-law. No.""Are you sure? I've never met any family of his but Daken? And … little more than a tiny bit evil.""This is true. But Daken doesn't sit around waiting for grandbabies to sacrifice.""No, he hit on me and tried to cop a feel then turned around and called me a skank the next time I saw him. Because … jealous big brother. Apparently.""He's just annoyed because clearly this one will get spoiled rotten and he had to make himself rotten and spoiled," Kate said semi-seriously before she let out a little laugh.K held her breath for just a moment. "You are not instilling great faith in the future for me here.""What? You don't want me spoiling him or her rotten? Because I'm sorry, but that ship has sailed. There will be purple onesies.""I do like purple," K agreed."Great. I'll make sure to get those and also a suitable teddy bear. Since apparently that's my job now. Teddy bear dispensary." Kate let out a little laugh."Your mission, should you choose to accept it — is to get your betrothed to simmer down.""With something like this?" Kate scrunched up her nose as she thought it over. "Sorry, K, but I think you gotta give him something. Just… let him work on a project or something. So he feels like he's helping.""Like what?" K asked, looking totally confused."I don't know. Let him… help book a venue or something. Just let him be useful.""You don't seem to understand," K told her, resting her hand over Kate's. "He's now made it a point to say he can perform the ceremony himself right now. I believe he has flipped again.""Well, he would flip if he thought it was just you two and him running off for a quick certificate signing or something," Kate pointed out. "Last I talked to him, he was still writing the best man speech for if you do let the rest of us in on the party, though. I think it's a matter of backup planning.""That man has backups for his backups," K mused, then paused and raised a single eyebrow as a thought seemed to occur to her. "Maybe that's it.""Maybe what's it?" Kate asked."I could just hand the whole damn thing over to him. I really don't have an opinion on flowers and crap like that. And, he knows Logan best — why not?"Kate broke into a wide grin at that. "Oh, that — that's both dangerous and totally genius.""Hello, have we met? That's where 99% of my plans fall.""You know he'll rope me in, right?" Kate pointed out."Then I'll make that a condition. You can't help. You have a real actual big deal to plan."Kate had to laugh at that. "I don't mind, I'm just saying — you know if you give him free rein, it means he'll just… run with it.""Fine," K said with a shrug. "Whatever."Kate nodded thoughtfully. "Conditions," she said suddenly. "You turn it over to him, but I get to help you find a dress.""No one is going to care about the dress," K said with a sigh."Yeah, but that's my favorite part, and you can't give it to a fuzzy blue demon with the fashion sense of an 18th century pirate," Kate insisted, her eyes as wide as she could make them."Fair point," she agreed. "Okay. It's yours."Kate grinned. "Awesome. Don't worry, my friend — I'll find you something that won't show even the tiniest of bumps.""Honestly, I think I've got a bit of time," she said. "As long as it's not a winter thing. Or — if it is — next winter.""Yeah, we're doing the winter wedding, and I've already got the cathedral booked, so no, not sharing," Kate teased."No interest in that at all," K agreed.Kate looked thoughtful for another moment before she said. "You should… hint to Logan that he might want to double-check the guest list. Just because Kurt has way more faith in people than… you know. Is normal.""What do you mean?"She shrugged up to her ears. "He's still half-convinced inviting Susan won't be a disaster," she said in a whisper. "So I don't exactly trust his judgement on inviting family members.""Give that … to Scott if he needs a project. I can't see Logan taking the time.""Fair point." Kate nodded thoughtfully. "Yes. Yes, I think I can coordinate these boys successfully."K extended her hand to Kate. "Best of luck."Kate grinned as she shook K's hand. "Tell that to the boys we're drafting," she teased."Kurt will do it," K said easily. "And Scott .. sounded like he was in Kurt's camp. You know, the scandalized-sounding one?""Scott will hold the shotgun," Kate teased. "And glare at Logan. It'll be hilarious.""Pretty sure I'm the one he'd be aiming at," K teased."Oh, but he wants to glare at Logan. Let him be happy," Kate laughed."He does that every day," K pointed out. "He's sad if he can't glare at him.""With those big, sad, brown, puppy dog eyes of his," Kate giggled."So pretty." She got to her feet. "We should go tell the minions the plan.""Yes," Kate agreed fervently as she pulled out a few bills to leave a tip at the table. "Wait til we see the look on Scott's face when he finds out I'm the boss of him on this one.""Please, please shove it in his face," K said. "And then ... after I finally make myself go see Henry … you can go with me when we let Jubes and Noh hear the news.""There will be high-pitched squealing," Kate promised her."And Jubilee might even get excited too."Kate snickered at that and nodded as the two of them headed back for Scott's car. But halfway across the parking lot, the girls stopped short when they saw the massive men leaning against Scott's car. "Well, shit," K muttered quietly."Guess we're gonna have to do a little bit of the danger thing. The boys will be so annoyed," Kate said as she settled into a fighting stance. "Don't worry. I'll tell them I did all the heavy lifting."K popped her claws and joined Kate. "I'm sure that sounds both believable and reasonable.""I was overcome with overprotectiveness and simply wiped the floor with them before you even got the chance."K smirked her way, then turned quickly as two huge men behind them slipped up, grabbed both of them around the arms, and hauled them backwards.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was dark outside when K opened her eyes and turned to see Kate, just as dopey as she felt, in the passenger seat of Scott's car. The parking lot was more or less empty, the clock on the car was flashing a reset. K's head was heavy, and she couldn't remember how the hell she'd gotten into the car, seeing as the last thing she could remember was sitting in the restaurant with Kate nibbling on french fries and sipping at a milkshake while they teased each other."Kate, wake up," K said with a serious sleepy voice, reaching over to shake her friend's arm — more insistently when Kate didn't immediately respond.It took a second for Kate to pick her head up and look K's way, but she clearly looked out of it as well. "Who hit me?" Kate asked tiredly, obviously straining to wake up, though it just wasn't happening as fast as either of them would have liked."What do you remember?" K asked as she sat up a bit more, leaning against the door of the car so she could face Kate better.Kate frowned a bit and then shook her head. "We were setting up the boys to be our minions, and then ... I guess you carried me here? Because I don't remember getting here on my own. So … did you see the bad guys?""I don't think I carried anyone …" K shook her head. "No, I don't know what happened either. I'm not sure how we got out here? But it wasn't me." She looked over her shoulder and scanned the parking lot for any sign that something was wrong — but the only disturbing thing was how empty it was; there wasn't anything that threw up red flags otherwise. "How about we just get the hell out of here, and fast?""I second the motion," Kate said, nodding quickly.K was sure to drive, since Kate still looked fairly groggy, but by the time they got to the gate of the institute, they were feeling at least a little bit more like themselves, and Kate even managed to joke that this had better not be some kind of weird symptom from the glitter pass on, because she did not want to start passing out randomly, thank you very much."Oooh, it so is," K sang back low. "Kate, you are positively sparkling!"But when they got back to the mansion itself, everyone there was freaking out. It was late enough to be considered the wee hours of the next morning — and no one had heard from either of the girls that whole time. So when they both drove up in Scott's car, apparently just fine, they were treated to a mixture of expressions ranging from relief to anger and everywhere in between."Where you have two been?" Scott all but demanded as he was the first to get to them after they climbed out of his car. It was easier to tell that he was checking them over for any injuries with his eyes uncovered — so it was easier to tell that he was worried as well."We went for a burger and shakes," K said looking at him as if he was insane. "Where have you been?""Looking for you," Scott replied, slightly wide-eyed before he gestured to Logan and Kurt — both of whom looked alarmed. "That's what happens when you drop out of contact for seven hours.""You're exaggerating," Kate accused him. "We were gone, like, two tops.""Yeah, there's no way we were gone that long," K said with a frown as the two women shared a look and shook their heads in unison, even as Logan openly frowned at them with his eyes narrowed before he headed over to K."Kate, it's nearly three in the morning," Kurt said as he appeared at her side so he could look her over a bit closer with a frown, taking her chin in one hand."Oh ... well ... the clock on the car was doing the blinking reset thing. Didn't know," Kate said, stunned into slight rambling as she stared up at Kurt. It was already weird enough that they had passed out — but to be out for that long? And not know it? She was started to get seriously creeped out."You guys are screwing with us," K accused them as she tried to get Logan to take his hands off of her, since he was clearly trying to lean in — not even hiding the fact that he was trying to find a scent on her. "Stop it.""It's too late, and we are far too tired to screw with you," Kurt said honestly, though he looked seriously concerned. "What… where did you go? What do you remember, that is?""We went out for burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Honestly." Kate looked between the three boys — who were wearing deepening frowns — and then to K, who had given up trying to stop Logan and was just letting him look her over as he pleased. "And then I guess we woke up in the car? Must have blacked out, but... " She shrugged."Both of you blacked out," Logan said flatly. "At the same time, to wake up at the same time. I don't think so."K let out a sigh and made a point to wrap her arms around his neck. "I am tired, love. A lot tired," she told him before she leaned in to give him a kiss. "So either join me or get out of my way. It's exhausting doing the whole 'baby' thing, alright?""We should all get some sleep," Scott said, pinching the bridge of his nose but looking significantly less worried. "But we should take a detour to Hank's lab first. Logan has a point — you two couldn't have blacked out like that unless something happened.""What could have happened to knock me out for that long without killing her? You go ahead, solve your mystery … I'm going to sleep," K swore, crossing her heart as she tugged on Logan to join her."Look, I know you're tired, but we should get Hank to look you over while this is still recent.""Scott," K said, truly letting her weariness show in her voice. "Send him to me if you're that bugged. But I am tired. I'm not going to make it down there."Scott looked her way for a second before he let out a sigh and ran a hand over his face. "Fine. I'll send him your way." He turned his gaze Kate's way, and the younger woman sighed."I'll take the Elf Express," she promised Scott, mostly because she was still too tired for an argument. "But if I fall asleep in Hank's lab, it's not my fault."Kurt gave her another concerned once-over before he nodded, pulled her tight to him, and simply teleported them both away. When they arrived in Hank's lab, the good doctor was still awake and clearly worried, ready to help where he was needed when the missing women were found, though Kate noticed that he looked visibly relieved when he saw that there was not more serious work to be done than a quick once-over.Hank was frowning, however, by the time he finished checking her over. "It certainly looks like you have a few fresh needle marks, but I'm not seeing anything in your bloodstream or elsewhere that would suggest you were given anything. It might be that whatever it was broke down quickly, but I just can't be sure." He took off his glasses to clean them for a moment before he slipped them back onto his face. "And if it's not showing up in your bloodstream, I highly doubt it will be present in K's, though of course, I'll have to check to be sure." He produced a Twinkie to give to Kate as usual and let out a bit of a sigh. "I'm sorry — I wish I could tell you more to shed some light on this mystery."Kurt had a hold of Kate's hand as she leaned sleepily against his shoulder, clearly more ready to be done with this whole thing than he was. "Thank you," he told Hank, who simply tipped his head Kurt's way. "We'll keep looking.""But tomorrow, right?" Kate asked. "I'm totally bushed."Kurt sighed before he planted a little kiss on the top of her head and pulled her a bit closer. "Yes, of course. We might even sleep in tomorrow morning. I'm sure half the mansion will be doing the same, since they were all out looking for you.""We really didn't mean to scare anybody. We didn't think we were gone for that long," Kate mumbled.Kurt pulled her a bit tighter. "No one blames either of you, liebling," he assured her."Well good." She snuggled into his side with a little sigh. "Think you could take me upstairs now? I'd like to get started on that sleeping in thing you were talking about earlier."Kurt nodded and teleported both of them up to their room, and by the time Kate half undressed and her head hit the pillow, she was very much asleep, so the only thing he could do to relieve the worry he'd been carrying around all night was to curl up beside her and snuggle in tightly.The next morning, both K and Logan were up a hair later than normal, and as expected, the two of them were curled up into each other in their usual corner. K was leaning back against his chest, and he had one arm around her as they drank their coffee and read the paper.Annie was fretting and worrying all over the kitchen as she watched the pair of ferals out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't actually saying anything, but it was absolutely clear what she was doing: she seemed to be trying to make sure that K was having something more substantial than coffee. Of course, she didn't say anything; she would just glance Scott's way and very quietly shake her head without saying a word. She was not subtle.K watched her for a while as Annie tried to be sneaky. K made solid eye contact and very slowly pushed the far-too-heaped up plate away to clutch to her coffee mug, just to see what Annie would do.Annie looked downright concerned for a moment and then pursed her lips, almost absently bouncing Chance with one hand as he tried to climb onto the table after the very full plate. "Sorry — did I make too much?" she asked at last."I'm fine with coffee," K said with a little smirk. "Really. I didn't get beaten up or anything. I'm fine. But thank you, I really do appreciate the concern."Annie tilted her head for a second and smiled sweetly with a whispered 'you're welcome' before she tried again. "No appetite?""No more than usual," K replied. "Why do you ask?"Annie flushed pink for a second and shrugged quietly. "I just… want to make sure everyone's alright.""You worry too much. Way too much." K glanced over at Scott. "Just like your gossipy husband."Scott smirked at her over the top of Charlie's curly brown hair. "I don't gossip," he said simply. "But I don't hide anything from my wife either.""If it's not public knowledge, it's gossip," K pointed out. "You old biddy."Annie shook her head at K and had to laugh. "Oh, you — you leave him alone," she laughed. "You know, when it was my turn, I was never not hungry, that's all.""Sorry, no real change yet," K replied. "If anything, I'm less hungry."Annie looked downright surprised and then had to laugh a bit. "Well, that will certainly help later. I think I'm still tryin' to get back to where I was before — but I don't exercise as much as you do," she teased."That can be fixed," K said with a smirk."Oh, I know," Annie laughed. "I already feel like I run a marathon every day now that these two are mobile," she added, gesturing at Chance, who was still trying valiantly to capture K's uneaten plate.K smirked as she pointed to the little boy. "This guy? Right here?" she asked as she very very gently slid the plate closer for him.Annie let out a sigh when Chance delightedly giggled and promptly began to smash and tear apart all the food he could now reach. "You're going to have to deal with this karma in just a few months," she pointed out."If you don't wear it, how do you figure out how to get it in your mouth?" K asked with a little smirk. "It'll wash off, and he's enjoying it so much."Annie just chuckled. "I know," she said, already trying to get Chance to sit still long enough that she could help him eat some of the pancakes in itty bitty, baby-friendly bits. "He's our little explorer. No idea where he gets it." She glanced over at Scott, who was wearing such an identically serene smile to Charlie in his lap that she had to laugh and lost the pretended severe look.While the little group was watching the little ones run the table, Henry came in with a bag at his side before he simply sat down next to K and opened the bag up. "I brought what I need to run my tests," he told K. "So you don't have to fuss about being in the lab unless it's necessary."K looked over at Scott with her best wide-eyed expression. "Was this you?"Scott shook his head. "I told you; I don't gossip. I only told my wife.""And I can keep a secret," Annie added quickly, a bit wide-eyed but totally sincere."No one needed to tell me anything," Hank replied. "For one, everyone knew you were missing last night. And for another—" He took a deep breath and for a moment took his glasses off to give her a more severe look. "—you two aren't the only ones with an enhanced sense of smell."K blew a breath out and slipped her flannel off one shoulder. "Tap's open," she said as he pulled out his blood drawing equipment.Hank had only just started when Noh and Jubilee joined the little group for breakfast. Both of them had to pause, surprised when they saw Hank with his setup right there in the kitchen. "Is something the matter?" Noh asked with obvious concern.Logan and K shared a little look, and Logan buried his nose in K's hair as he muttered out something quietly to her. She leaned her head his way before she pulled a face and let out all her breath. "Just checking everything over for now," she said his way. "They're a little overprotective because, you know, Kate and I can't remember last night, and .. you're going to be a big brother."Jubilee was actually the quicker one on the draw for that reveal. Noh didn't quite get it right away, but Jubilee bounced slightly in place, clearly only resisting the urge to run over for hugs because Hank was in the middle of doing his thing. "Oh my gosh you're kidding me right now."That finally got Noh to blink her way as the pieces clicked in. "Oh!" He turned to face K with an open expression of surprise that took a long time to settle into a grin. "I wasn't aware I was considered to be your adopted offspring.""I don't take on creepy psychos for just anyone," K replied. "Particularly megalomaniacs."Noh grinned and nodded at that as he and Jubilee sat down close by the two ferals, and Jubilee wrapped Logan in a hug, since she couldn't get to K yet. "I've not had siblings before, but I'll do my best to take care of this one," Noh promised solemnly."They're a pain in the ass if you actually have to grow up with them," K told him. "Ask Scott. He's intimately familiar with pain in the ass siblings.""They have their high points," Scott said with a smirk. "Sometimes they randomly show up for the big things like weddings." K pulled a face at that and shook her head.Annie rolled her eyes at Scott. "Oh, don't listen to him. I have two sisters, and it's lovely," she told Noh."You're also made of sunshine and lollipops," K argued. "You're weird.""In this setting? Yes, I am the oddball," Annie said with a serene smile. Chance and Charlie seemed to almost instinctively understand that the discussion was about siblings as Chance tried to 'share' his food from K with his sister, who clearly wanted no part in the mess he was making."So when's the big day?" Jubilee asked over the twins' babbled argument. "I mean — the official debut of the cute little guy or girl?""No idea," K replied."Spring," Logan muttered."Please tell me you're talking about the other big day and not the wedding, because here I've been planning for long sleeves and leaf piles," Kate said as she and Kurt finally made their way down to the kitchen."Yes, that's what we're discussing," Jubilee said before she straightened up a bit. "So ... are you talking this fall?"K put her hands up and let out a breath before she looked up at Kurt. "That … is up to him." She tipped her head Kurt's way, then leaned back into Logan, who was more than happy to pull her closer with one arm.Kurt looked surprised. "Why me?" he asked, though he didn't sound upset, just honestly curious."You need a project. I don't want to mess with it," K replied. "And plans and us don't jive."He broke into a wide grin at that and nodded, the thoughtful look already spreading over his features at somehow the same pace as his grin. "Well then," he said at last. "I guess I'll have to get to work.""Don't go crazy," Logan warned. "Still plenty of people that want us dead. Think small."Kurt looked almost offended as he faced Logan. "Don't worry — I think by now I know enough about my best friend to know what kind of wedding to throw."K and Logan shared a look and she settled into him deeper, watching Kurt now. "Kate gets to pick the dress — and Scott, you have a job too," K told him. "But as far as I'm concerned — good luck."Kurt shot her a huge grin at that. "Danke," he said, sounding entirely earnest. "Ich fühle mich geehrt.""Nej. Tack så mycket, liten älva," she replied quietly.Kate, meanwhile, leaned over with a little grin and a raised eyebrow look Scott's way. "We're assigning you to the guest list, Mr. Tactics," she told him in a low whisper, which had him raising his eyebrows in return for a second, fully caught off guard."You sure?" he asked, more toward Logan than anything else."She told me her little plan, and she's right. Unless … you think you know someone better?" Logan asked.Scott smirked at bit at that and nodded. "Alright. I'll make sure everyone that needs to be on it is there.""Well, what does Logan have to do then?" Jubilee asked. "Shouldn't you help too?""I'll be stabbing bad guys and lookin' pretty," Logan teased."Which is a full-time job in itself," Kate laughed. "Besides, if we left it to these glaciers, we wouldn't see any movement until the next Ice Age.""I'm okay with that," K said just before she finished her cup of coffee."And that is why I'll be doing the wedding planning," Kurt laughed, shooting Logan a look for just a second."You have more exposure to that nonsense than anyone else anyhow," Logan pointed out."And he loves every second of it," Kate agreed with a little laugh at Kurt's positively beaming expression as she stood up to refill her coffee. She shot an affectionate smile his way and had to laugh. "He'll come down from the clouds before school starts. Maybe.""Oh, that's right — we'll have some of the students coming back here in a few weeks before classes start," Annie said, now turning her sights on Hank with a knowing smile. "You know …. someone bought that darling house across the street from my sister.""I heard, yes," Hank said with a little muted smile."Are you going to help on moving day?" she asked, still smiling as transitioning seamlessly from wedding planning to prying into Hank's love life with Daisy without batting an eye. "I know Anton and Rachel are thinking of having them over for barbecue afterward. Unless they have other plans.""I guess the only way to know would be to ask," Hank replied as he packed up his supplies."Well, you talk to them more often than I do," Annie said, though the knowing smile and teasing was interrupted when Charlie got fed up with Chance's attempts to get her in on the whole messy situation and simply started throwing things at him. Annie had to separate them as Charlie gave her brother the most Summers-esque glower.Logan began to chuckle to himself, and when Scott frowned at him, he shook his head — though it was a bit harder to stow the chuckle when Chance responded to his sister by giving her a glare of his own."I think I need to clean this one up," Annie said as last as she pulled Chance up and started trying to wipe his face down. She looked over her shoulder at K and beamed. "Let me know if you need anything."As soon as Annie was gone, Kate grinned a bit wider and leaned over K's shoulder. "I found the source of the glitter," she said in a conspiratory whisper. "She's dripping with it. Still.""I should stab her.""You'd feel bad stabbing the pure and innocent sunshine lady," Kate chuckled. "You should just co-opt her in playdates so she can watch over her little brood and keep the glitter relatively contained for the rest of us. Pretty please." She made a little show of drawing a protective circle around herself and then just grinned. "Try not to spill any on me. I think my good Catholic boy would die.""Yeah, he seems really mortified on our behalf right now. Like it's the golden ticket to make this thing happen faster," K pointed out.Kate laughed and shook her head. "Just keep it to yourself, alright?" she said, sticking her tongue out."I make no such promises," K replied. "I'm sure if you try to hide from me too much, I'll get it all over Kurt instead. That stuff travels.""Evil." Kate shook her head at K. "Just evil.""Hey. I heard that's not evil. I mean, it's a lie. But. I heard from 'dependable' sources like Kurt and Annie that it's not evil. But they lie.""They do. They can't help it, though. They're all blinded by sunshiney happiness.""It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't … believe their lies. But they do. They so so do."Kate just had to laugh at that. "Well, there's nothing we can do," she said philosophically."It's just wrong," K said, leaning toward her. "I have avoided this entire scenario… for so. Long. My record is fried."Kate patted her shoulder and did her best to look consoling. "I know."Translations:From German:
Ich fühle mich geehrt. - I am honored.
From Swedish:
Nej.
Tack så mycket, liten älva - No. Thanks so much, little elf.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
As the school year approached, so did the annual Bishop Publishing bash as Kate's company did their fall push — and since this year she actually had an official engagement ring, there really was no way she was going to let Kurt not go with her."If I have to go, so do you, sweetheart. You had your chance to back out of this craziness, but you decided to marry into it instead." She looked over his tux one last time with a grin and her tongue between her teeth. "Though I'm not complaining about the dashing look. You pull it off well," she teased."You sound so surprised," he teased her as he reached out to adjust the scarf settled over her own shoulders with a smile."Not even a little bit," she assured him before she grabbed him by the hand with a beaming smile. "What say we make an entrance? Screw the limo. If they're not used to my adorable teleporting fiance by now, they can get over themselves.""You just want the dramatic entrance," he said with a growing grin.She stood on her toes to steal a quick kiss. "Well, maybe," she allowed. "I think the drama teacher in this school is starting to rub off on me."He had to laugh at that and nod his agreement before the two of them teleported off to her New York office, arriving right in the middle of the annual party with the familiar bamf sound and a puff of smoke that had more than a few people jumping in surprise, though Kate noticed the ones that were grinning and half applauding the dramatic entrance.It took the assembled party guests a second to recover from the unexpected entrance — even those who were totally entertained by it — and Kate was half chuckling to herself before she started up with the usual rounds, talking to her heads of departments and that sort of thing. It was a business party, after all, even with the champagne and food.She didn't force Kurt to come and meet everyone this time, though, since for one thing, K hadn't come, and for another, she'd already determined which of her employees had a problem with her marrying a mutant and had dealt with that appropriately. And he was admittedly grateful not to be dragged around into the conversations about sales pitches and that sort of thing; he liked being around Kate no matter where they were, but some things were tedious no matter the company. Instead, he was more than happy to simply watch his future wife run her company — and look amazing doing it.While the party was still traditionally limited to employees and family, there were a few more guests that year simply because Kate had asked some of the movie executives who were working on Kamala's story to come so she could do a little business "while I'm in the city anyway." So there were admittedly a few unfamiliar faces, though Kate had all but tripled security to make up for it, considering how last year's party had gone when Fisk invited himself.She was fully immersed in chatting with the executives to hash out some final details on the first movie and try to negotiate on Kamala's behalf for a sequel, and Kurt was content to sit back and let Kate run her show, standing near the plate glass window as he kept half an eye on the party — since, after all, even if Kate wouldn't admit it, he was partly there to keep an eye out for her safety.He was fairly far removed from the rest of the party guests, so when a man that Kurt wasn't sure he recognized bumped into his shoulders, it was hard to mistake it for anything but a purposeful move, even with the half-mumbled apology the man offered. And when the man pressed a flash drive into Kurt's palm before he slipped off again, that cemented it for Kurt — though when he watched the man warily, the stranger simply left the party without anything further.Kurt frowned for a moment as he turned the drive over in his hand and glanced over to where Kate was still deep in conversation. He pursed his lips for a second as he thought it over before he made his decision and slipped out of the main area in search of a cubicle or a semi-private desk, curious to know what was so important that it wouldn't come through the usual channels — and half dreading the answer.He had to admit that he was a bit surprised when the first thing that came up on the drive was a batch of images that, given the timestamps, he knew were from long before his days with the X-Men. So he was certain they had nothing to do with Kate. He frowned as he started to click through the gallery and even let out a bit of a growl when he saw some of the pictures from, well, when the circus had pushed the 'sideshow' angle. He checked over both shoulders to be sure he was alone before he bared his teeth at the images in the folder, his tail twitching in irritation.He wasn't necessarily surprised by anything in there, either — nothing was new. He hadn't ever tried to hide the fact that he'd been raised in the circus, though there were pictures not from performances but from personal interactions — with Margali, when they were friendly; with Stefan before he died; with Amanda… Pictures he didn't know existed of him and Meggan during their brief affair. Mid-mission kisses with several different teammates — though there were several of him and Storm that showcased the fact that it wasn't something that had happened once but over time. Insider snapshots from his time in the Church before they turned on him that looked ... questionable at best. Bad-angled shots that looked as if he was being untoward with Kitty and Illyana when they were much younger.And then... There were photos that were totally out of context of him talking with his mother. Or worse ... a few of him with both of his parents — clearly just before the fight broke out.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. How much are you willing to show the public?
Instructions will arrive Monday morning via courier.
Kurt glared at the message on the screen for a long moment, stuck somewhere between disbelief and anger as his tail was still switching angrily behind him. "Instructions," he whispered, muttering the word like a curse.He must not have been aware of how long he'd been gone, because he heard his comm chirp, and the sound surprised him as he picked it up to hear Kate on the other end."I know these aren't really your thing, but did you just totally ditch me and strand me with the rich snobs?" she asked, her tone light and teasing, though he could tell she was worried."I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I… lost track of time.""Found something more interesting than a bunch of writers and editors talking about the Oxford comma?" she teased.He tried for a little smile and shook his head at that. "What could be more interesting than that?"He could hear her snort over the comms. "Just come back, silly Elf. I'm distinctly alone, and I think people are starting to notice. Those guys I hired from Tony's pool keep giving me looks, Kurt. Like they can't believe they got stuck guarding the idiot who left her big, strong bodyguard behind.""And here I thought I was more than just the hired muscle," he joked quietly."The very, very pretty muscle. With a gorgeous ring," Kate shot back, the grin obvious even over the comms. "Just checking to make sure you didn't, like, disappear or something. Considering this isn't exactly a secret gathering.""No, it isn't," Kurt agreed quietly before he straightened up a bit and ejected the flash drive, tucking it away in the pocket of his jacket. He could deal with that problem later, in a much more private setting. He straightened the lapels of his jacket and let out a sigh before he made his way back to where Kate was seemingly in her element as the life of the party, flitting from one group to the next until she spotted Kurt and only offered a half decent excuse to all but rush over to where he was and latch onto his arm."Got the deal for Kamala," she told him happily. "Finalized everything on the first movie, and they're already saying if this one can impress them at the box office, they'd love to do the sequel. That girl's going to be famous.""And she deserves every bit of that fame," Kurt said as he pulled Kate a bit tighter to him with a warm smile. "And you deserve this success. You've poured so much time into this company.""Well, I had to get rid of all the stupid from before," Kate pointed out. "It's getting easier. Did the cleanout ... even JJ's easing up because he's running out of material. I mean, he comes and yells periodically, but really…" She shrugged and stood on her toes to kiss him with an impish smile. "I'll knock on five hundred different kinds of wood, but I think… I might be starting to get the hang of this."He couldn't quite hide the frown at the mention of Jameson's lack of recent material, though he had to smile at her optimism. "You are a natural," he assured her with a little kiss on the top of her head that had her grinning wide at him, though when she saw that his smile was a bit more muted than usual, she tipped her head at him."What's up?" she asked.He shook his head. "It's not something I think would be fit for discussion at such a nice party," he told her frankly, though instead of putting her off, that just got her frowning a bit harder."Someone give you a hard time? Because I thought I caught all the creepos, but I'm not above giving out pink slips instead of raises if they were being—""No, no, nothing like that," Kurt told her, shaking his head again."Well, something's got you all twisted, sweetheart," she pointed out, tapping the side of her temple close to her eyes. "Can't fool a Hawkeye.""Nor would I try to," he replied as he wrapped her up that much tighter for a moment, though she didn't press much more after that, simply keeping a firm hold of his arm for the rest of the evening as if she was reluctant to let him go anywhere alone. After all, Kate could play the part of a bodyguard just as well as he couldThe party conversation was actually relatively engaging after that as Kate got wrapped up with one of her nonfiction editors talking about a new book that they were working on — a true story written anonymously by a former member of the MRD who had become disillusioned with that group and instead started to write down some of the things that were happening behind the scenes. It wasn't common knowledge, but Kurt knew that the man behind the story was the same officer who had spoken with Jubilee and Noh on their anniversary trip — he had taken their advice to heart, apparently, and opened his eyes to what was going on.Kurt wasn't too terribly surprised by any of the stories themselves as he listened to the discussion, though some of the details were new to him, even when he'd had first-hand dealings with the MRD. Still, it was clear that Kate and her editor were excited not just by the stories but by the writer's voice — apparently engaging and honest and not afraid to spare the gritty details."Of course, we'll have to market it as fiction," her editor said after a break in the conversation. "Put something in there about how it's 'based on true life' or something. They might claim it's a matter of national security and try to get an injunction against us otherwise." The brunette shrugged lightly and shook her head. "It's total bull, but you know, they could make our lives miserable. We just have to be careful about names and specifics.""If you think that would help to cover us better," Kate agreed with a tip of her head. "Still, let's make sure we edit it so that it's pretty clear it's pretty darn true to life."The editor nodded enthusiastically, though it wasn't long before they fell into talking about some of the other upcoming projects as well as some sales goals for Christmas — they were already looking ahead to that, since most people would do their holiday shopping in the next few months and they had to get the books out in time to make people's wish lists.By the time the party was winding down, it honestly felt as though Kate had made it a point to speak to every single person there even without the excuse of K trying to sniff out those that had a problem with Kurt — but there was a different feel to it this time around, like Kate was making more of an effort to get to know them personally, if the fact that she was asking about family events like weddings and reunions was any indication.Kurt couldn't help but smile as he watched her flit through the social scene that she was so used to, and when she finally admitted that she might be ready to go home, he covered her hand with his and stole a quick kiss, teleporting away with her in typical dramatic fashion even if she hadn't asked for it.When they appeared back in the mansion, Kate snaked her arms up around his neck and stood on her toes for a much more involved kiss, and when she sat back on the heels of her feet, she bit her lip with a teasing smile before she said, "Thanks for putting up with the drudgery of the business world.""It's always a sight to see you in your element," he replied with a little grin before he pulled her into another, longer kiss.When the kiss broke, though, Kate tipped her head to the side and looked up at him with an expectant expression. "You gonna tell me where you disappeared off to?" she asked, making it clear that she wasn't going to be distracted or deterred by his excellent kissing and dramatics even though she was leaning into him with an impish sort of smile. "Or are you going to make me dust off my PI hat?"He let out a long sigh as the smile fell, and he couldn't quite stop his tail when it started up swishing behind him again as he became more annoyed thinking about the message he'd received. He released his hold on her for a moment so he could reach into his jacket pocket for the drive and hold it out for her. "Someone gave this to me during the party," he said simply.She looked at it with an expression of steadily growing distaste as she plucked it from his hand and simply stood on her toes to kiss him. "So you snuck off to go see what it was," she surmised. "No chance it was a beautiful manuscript for the next blockbuster, I take it?" she asked, flashing him a little joking smile, simply because he looked so very serious."I'd appreciate it if it didn't make it onto your list of published material," he told her frankly, which just got her frowning again as they looked for a computer so she could see for herself.It was more distressing the second time, because Kurt was watching Kate's reaction more than anything else — and she already looked like she was ready to go on the warpath by the time she'd seen the first image, let alone the message itself. "Cowards," she whispered out at last as she pulled the flash drive and handed it back to Kurt with an expression that told him she didn't even want to handle it. "Can't even… can't even ... to your face… just… ugh."Kurt put a hand on Kate's arm, and when she still looked upset, he pulled her until her head was under his chin. "It's nothing new," he told her honestly. "For as long as I've been an X-Man, this… has always been a problem.""Because they're cowards." She was still clearly steamed. "Can't hit me so they come after you? Cowards. Futzing cowards.""That's pretty standard procedure, Vögelchen," he admitted with a swish of his tail.She looked up at him for a second and then pulled him a bit tighter. "I'm gonna call up Clint, see if he knows where they're holed up. And then I'll get mad.""I don't think that's going to do the trick," Kurt said with a sigh. "This looks a bit above what those little creeps are capable of.""Well, they answer to some bigger creeps, and Clint's been tracking them for years. They keep moving but… maybe he knows their current hidey hole." She stood on her toes to kiss his cheek, though she still looked thunderous. "If nothing else, I'd like to burn the place down and all their files just for … they're creeps.""It might be best to see what it is they want," Kurt said."Whatever it is, they can just shove it." Kate shook her head at him. "Coming after the sweetest guy I know… that's just low.""I'm sure they can find a way to limbo under that bar," he replied, trying to lighten her mood a bit — and honestly glad to see that she was more upset on his behalf than she was at the content of the pictures. "I'm more worried about how it affects you rather than how it showcases me," he told her. "I'm already a dirty rotten mutant as far as they're concerned." He shrugged a bit and tried to let it roll off his back, even if he did want to ask Logan to take a walk with him and go after these guys too."Small-minded, stupid little snivelling pathetic excuses for human beings," Kate said with a deep scowl. She tried to soften it as she held Kurt a bit closer and let out a long sigh. "Well. It's not like JJ hasn't tried the 'influenced by the evil mutant boyfriend' thing before. They're just… stupid. I'll kick their butts nine ways to Sunday and set Murdock on them if they so much as think about libel and slander." She let out another long breath as she thought it over. "Can't change your family history, but half that other stuff is just… bad photography." She kept right on talking despite the magnificent purple color that Kurt turned. "Pete would give them failing grades. Even my creeper pics were higher quality when I was stalking the Weed Lord.""That's a nice color on you," K said as she slipped into the kitchen, smirking Kurt's way. "What are you doing back so soon?"Kate shared a look with Kurt, her earlier warpath fading into concern for K. "What?" she asked."We were actually quite a bit later than we thought we'd be," Kurt said, his head tipped to one side with a little frown."What, just over a traditional appearance?" K asked with a little frown of her own. "Took forever last year.""Even without Fisk making his grand entrance, we were still there for a few hours," Kate said, matching Kurt's expression as the two of them looked K over. "You… feeling alright?""Yeah, sure," K replied before she hopped up on the counter. "Little bit peckish, but I suppose that's to be expected. I still think you're screwing with me though.""No, no. The movie execs had me tied up for at least an hour," Kate insisted. "I know because I kept pointedly looking at the clock. We finished up negotiating like ten minutes in. Don't think they took the hint.""You're hilarious," K deadpanned."And we've been home for…" Kate glanced at the nearest digital clock. "What, half an hour at least?" She looked toward Kurt, who nodded his agreement, though he was still watching K with a frown."K," he said softly, "it's well past midnight now."Her frown deepened, and she set her bottle of water down and pulled out her phone only to frown at the clock as she clearly thought it over. "That ... doesn't make a damn bit of sense.""Maybe we should take you to see Henry," Kurt suggested quietly. "Just to be on the safe side. This isn't the first time you've lost a few hours." He looked pointedly between K and Kate."You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" K said softly."Once was an oddity. Twice is worrisome," he replied. "And I would rather not make it three times if we can help it."She let out a breath and nodded her head. "I'm sure Logan would agree." She slipped off the counter and started toward the elevator, looking more than a bit put out."You want some company?" Kate called out. "I could use a walk right now anyway.""I'm sure you have better things to do," K muttered. "But if you think I won't get there otherwise..."Kate snorted. "Invitation accepted," she said as she linked the three of them together, unwilling to let go of Kurt but still linking arms with K with a little smile.Of course, when they did get down to Hank ... it was the same story as before. He couldn't find any physical reason for K not to remember the last few hours, and there was not even the smallest of needle marks — though with her healing abilities, it was a long shot to check for those anyway."Can I go now?" K asked with a roll of her eyes and sounding positively weary. "Or do you need to keep staring and waiting for me to magically remember nothing?"Hank frowned at her for a second before he shook his head. "No, there's no reason for you to stay …. but if you do remember anything…" He trailed off when the doors to the lab opened and a suntanned Tyler came bounding in with a grin, Daisy just behind him. They'd clearly been expecting to surprise Hank — not to be surprised by the three X-Men in the medical wing with Hank."Sorry about that! Didn't realize you had company," Tyler said with a sheepish grin."We're done," K said. "It's fine. Really. Go on and gush to Blue about your vacation. He's missed you terribly.""Pretty sure the feeling was mutual," Scott said as he and Logan arrived behind Tyler and his mother. Scott was smirking the slightest bit at Hank as he said it, though he quickly looked over the assembled group as a frown started up when he realized that the group wasn't just there for a reunion. "Did something happen while we were out?"Logan made a beeline for K to look her over himself as Hank tried to explain as lightly as possible. "She lost a few hours again," Hank said simply.Tyler went right from grinning at Hank to looking downright upset as he looked over at K. "Again? You mean like when Mr. Sinister grabbed us all?" he asked with obvious concern."Not that bad," Logan told him. "But just as complete.""It's not the same," Kate assured Tyler. "That — that was extreme and awful. This is… weird.""I don't think it's similar at all," Hank said, his tone rich and reassuring as he rested a hand on Tyler's shoulder."Yeah… I lost some time too, and I'm pretty sure Hank would know… if it was that," Kate pointed out.Tyler tipped his head at K for a moment and looked thoughtful. "Would you mind if I took a look?" he asked politely. "Maybe I can spot something that doesn't show up?""No, just ... reconnect with your ," K said, already shaking her head. "I'm fine."But Logan gave him a look. "Go ahead," he told Tyler. "Can't hurt to try."Tyler looked between Logan and K for a moment before he nodded and held out a hand to K. "Promise I don't bite," he said with a little smile."Do your worst, Kitten Whiskers," K said with a sigh as she reached for his hand.Tyler smirked, then closed his eyes to concentrate, though it was fairly obvious he'd realized that K was expecting when he started to grin quietly, even as he kept up with the scan. But even though he took longer than usual and was thorough, he had to shake his head when he finally took a step back. "You're just fine," he said, almost disbelievingly. "There shouldn't be any reason for you to miss time, as far as I can tell. Not anything medical, anyway.""Thanks," K told him before she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "But I've been saying that myself this whole time.""Can't hurt to check," Scott pointed out, though he looked disappointed at the lack of any kind of news. "Thanks anyway, Tyler.""Been here for five seconds and they're already putting you to work," Kate teased Tyler as she pulled on his arm to get him to turn her way. "Also — hello. Welcome back. I need a hug from you," she added, getting a laugh and a spinning hug in response.Tyler got the same warm greeting from everyone else as well, though clearly Hank's hug was his favorite when he got Daisy involved in it too — but everyone had taken a turn snuggling the blonde except Logan, who seemed content to just sit back and watch the warm fuzzies."C'mon over here, Hug Magnet. You are failing in your duties," Kate called out to him."Get a different hobby, Chicken Hawk," Logan countered. "I'm not a hug magnet."Kate glared at him for all of a few seconds before she replaced the hands-on-the-hips look with something far more mischievous. "Alright then," she said as she took a running start and simply declared at full volume, "Dogpile on Wolverine!" and flew through the air.He just caught her as she went for the tackle and gave her a look. "That doesn't work when it's just you."Kate just smirked at him as there was a series of little poofs of smoke as the bamfs arrived to help with the dogpiling. "See? Some of us know how to have fun," she said as she high-fived one of them."I'm not allowed," K said, glaring between Scott and Logan both. "But ... maybe a proxy?" she said, tipping her head to the side and raising one eyebrow at Hank. Henry took the hint and took a very quick running start just as Logan realized what was about to happen and tossed Kate lightly aside. It wasn't a dog pile, though — the bamfs cleared out, and Hank positively tackled him to the ground."Yes. Ten points for Dr. Fuzzy!" Kate declared as she made the sign for a touchdown, giggling with glee.As Hank passed by K, the two of them shared a fist bump, and K pointed at Scott. "You're next.""I already hugged Tyler, and nobody calls me a hug magnet," Scott pointed out with a smirk."That's because the stick interferes with your flexibility," Logan said from the floor — still not having moved a muscle."This is true. We gotta fix that, boss man," Kate said as she very delightedly moved for a tackle as well, helped this time by the bamfs so that she was far more successful this time when they were working to practically sweep Scott's legs out from under him anyway. "K, you wanna hug this one? I'll pin him so he's not hard to get to," she teased."No," K replied. "He tried to limit my coffee. He's lucky I don't light him on fire."Kate looked positively scandalized as she looked down at Scott. "You messed with coffee?" She gave him her sternest look before she just flexed out her hands and started to tickle him. "Horrible leader! D minus! No messing with the coffee!" she was shouting as she tried to keep him pinned, though it wasn't long at all before Scott had simply flipped the tables and had her pinned down instead, and the bamfs were easily swayed to help him repay the tickling in kind."Is this what happens every time someone comes for a checkup?" Daisy asked with a wide smile over the sound of Kate's shrieking laughter."No," Logan replied, finally sitting down next to K while Hank tried to stop laughing. "He asked for it, though. Clearly.""Clearly," Daisy agreed as she took a seat next to Hank.Tyler was grinning ear to ear. "Well, you know, there's something to be said about laughter being the best medicine," he teased lightly. "Maybe we should make it a rule around here.""Good luck with that," Logan told him before turning to Hank. "I'm taking her outta here, unless you got a problem with that.""I have no problem with that, but if you could wait just a moment longer... While we're here, why don't we go ahead and run a few checks on K and the little one, just so we don't have to worry about them in the morning?" Hank suggested.K let out a sigh and held her arm out, her expression one of perfect resignation. "Fine, go for it," she said, and Hank gave Daisy's hand a light squeeze before he headed back to get his supplies.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next morning, Hank was up early, enjoying the quiet, smiling company as he and Daisy discussed her plans for the new job and house that brought her closer to Tyler and the school in general. As it turned out, Annie's suggestion to look into employment in the city had panned out well, and with Daisy's impeccable employment history, she'd landed a prime shift on a county ambulance that would keep her out of the city itself.Not to mention Daisy was thrilled when she was able to meet up with Annie's sister Rachel and her husband, Anton, who she'd been talking to long distance as per Annie's suggestion — and naturally, she'd hit it off with them immediately. Both of their little ones, Leslie Ann and Mary Beth, had absolutely adored Daisy in return, and they were already asking when "Miss Daisy" could come back to visit."Rachel said they were going to have a picnic next week. You wouldn't be interested in joining us, would you?" Daisy said with a little grin.At that, Hank broke into a grin of his own. "That sounds like a perfect way to spend an evening. I'd be thrilled to accompany you.""Perfect," Daisy said cheerfully before she took a hold of his arm and scooted a little closer. "It's going to be fun."The two of them were still smiling contentedly at each other as the first of the rest of the X-Men came down to breakfast. The little ferals didn't bother either of them in the least, curled up with the newspaper as usual, though when Jubilee and Noh arrived, Jubilee couldn't not elbow Noh in the ribs and tip her head at the sweet new couple sitting close together like that."I see fall is truly getting underway; the students and their families are returning," Noh said with a polite smile Daisy's way."It really is," she replied. "It's such a shame to say goodbye to summer, though.""Ah, well, the seasons come, the seasons go," Noh said, unable to stop his smile at the lyrics."Oooh, a music lover," Daisy said with a grin his way. "What's your favorite era?""I'm partial to the 1960s," he said. "The tight harmonies are a thing of beauty.""Seventies," she said with a nod. "America and Van Morrison are my favorites."Noh positively lit up. "I love that era as well," he told her earnestly. "Though there is nothing quite like the Ronettes or like Nina Simone.""Everyone has their favorites," she said.He nodded. "And there is so much to choose from in this world. It's truly astounding," he said, still grinning wide as he started to tell Daisy about some of the music he'd recently discovered, clearly excited about it."Oh, somebody got Noh on the subject of music," Kate said as she and Kurt made their appearance as well. Her gaze settled on Daisy, and she had to grin. "Has he told you about the old B-side Jubes found of his favorite record in the whole universe? Because he'll get to that."Daisy just had to laugh and shake her head at that. "Not yet, but if you say it'll happen, I'm sure it will.""He's an adorable alien nerd," Kate said with obvious affection as she punched Noh in the shoulder on her way past him to get some coffee.Not long after that, Tyler arrived to sit by his mother, and the conversation turned more toward the upcoming school year — at least between the two of them and Hank, who was deeply engaged in suggesting to Tyler where he could study when he graduated."I've been saving," Tyler assured Hank with a proud sort of smile. "Got a summer job as a lifeguard.""Where are you planning to apply?" Scott asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee, having just arrived and already finding himself interested in the morning conversation between the little group."Honestly, anywhere that'll take me." Tyler rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "With how much time I wasn't in school, not to mention… you know." He gestured at his face with one hand, though Scott was already shaking his head."You should definitely try for MIT and NYU — you have the brains," Scott decided. "NYU would be a good stepping stone for Johns Hopkins and Harvard."Tyler looked surprised and also a little flattered, though he was already quietly shaking his head. "Oh, well, that would be nice, but I'm trying not to drown in debt if I can help it."Scott just stared at him for a moment. "You know we have scholarships available for alumni, right? Ones that no one else has access to?"For a moment, it was clear Tyler was surprised — and obvious that he had not, in fact, known about the available scholarships. But he quickly covered for it and nodded. "I'll make sure to apply for those.""The application process is a little different than what you'll face with other scholarships," Scott told him as he crossed the room to sit by the little group. "It's just an interview. Think you can do that? The Worthington Foundation is one of our biggest supporters.""I'll definitely give it a shot," Tyler said."A shot?" Scott asked with one eyebrow raised. "You've got it in the bag if you tell Warren you want to go to school and join the team. You'd qualify for a full ride if you play your cards right.""Join the team?" Tyler repeated, not even bothering to hide his surprise — after all, he hadn't been at the school for too long, and he wasn't exactly a gung-ho fighter type, either."It would require a lot more work on your hand to hand," Logan rumbled from his corner. "Unless you got a problem working with the team.""No, no I don't—" Tyler shook his head quickly. 'I just… I guess I wasn't expecting that?" He scrunched up his nose, his eyebrows knit together. "I mean — I can put in the work. Yeah. That's not a problem. Are you sure?""Of course we are," Scott said with a little frown. "Pick your college and apply. When you're ready, I'll have your interview set up. In the meantime, work on your self defense more, and start thinking of a codename. You have to have one. They usually reflect on your power set, but I'm sure you figured that out already.""Yeah, I got that," Tyler agreed, still a bit wide-eyed at the direction the morning conversation had taken — away from a general discussion of how school was going to an actual invitation to the X-Men. It was clearly something he hadn't considered as a real possibility, though he would have been lying if he said it wasn't something he had thought about. After all, he was seventeen. Everyone in his generation — especially mutant kids — had dreamed about being either an Avenger or an X-Man at some point."Well, come on," Jubilee said with a grin. "Don't act like every mutant teenager in the past twenty years hasn't come up with a name they want to use. I had 'Wondra' for a hot minute, and Kitty went through, like, a dozen before she finally settled down with 'Shadowcat.' Whatcha got?"At that, Tyler flushed and rubbed the back of his neck again, almost compulsively. "Well, I had a few really dumb ones when I was a kid," he said. "But ... maybe… Naaman?"Scott scrunched his nose a tiny bit, trying to place the reference as both Logan and K gave Tyler a look over their shared newspaper that could only be read as a concentrated 'no'. But Kurt looked as if he understood perfectly."That… would certainly speak to your healing gift," Kurt said with a small smile, trying to help the others — and let Tyler know he got it."Not if he needs to explain it to everyone," Logan said with a shake of his head without looking up, totally rejecting it. "He'll spend all his time trying to justify it when everyone gives him the look Scott's got."Tyler looked a bit embarrassed as he glanced over at Scott, who was trying very hard not to look too confused."Don't pay attention to him," Kurt advised. "He shoots down everyone's first attempts." Logan let out a little 'hmm' at that and went back to his coffee and the news.And with that, the real brainstorming session began — with the whole of the kitchen, minus the ferals, jumping in to offer suggestions. Even Daisy got in on the fun. The group at large couldn't help but laugh at some of Jubilee's ridiculous suggestions, but as it wore on, it was apparent that none of the options offered quite fit — and Tyler was quickly becoming discouraged that all these X-Men couldn't find a name for him.They were just giving Jubilee a hard time about her suggestion of 'Retractor' when Logan finally spoke up."Lifeguard," he said simply without setting down his newspaper or even looking up at any of them.The others looked at him for a minute as a slow sort of grin started on Tyler's face, and Kate pointed at Logan with her other hand on her nose. "Hey! Yeah! That's perfect!" she said.Logan shook his head as he raised his mug to his lips. "Always so surprised," he muttered."I like it," Tyler said with a growing grin as he repeated 'Lifeguard' to himself like he was trying it out. It was absolutely a boost too — on top of the fact that he liked it, the suggestion had come from Logan, and Tyler couldn't shake that childhood awe at his favorite X-Man giving him a name suggestion."Wait, wait," Jubilee said, holding up a hand as she dug for her phone. "This — this is a historic moment. We've got to get this on camera." She started to snap a few pictures before anyone could stop her, and then she set to trying to herd them all together — surrounding Logan and K so they had to participate — for group shots of Tyler and his new teammates."I'll send these to you if you give me your number," Jubilee promised a positively beaming Daisy.Though the pictures were more or less finished, Jubilee was still keeping everyone uncomfortably close in around Logan and K — though K was snickering at the look on Logan's face — until the doorbell rang and he sprang to his feet to go catch the door, glad for the excuse to get out from underneath everyone.He shot them a look as Kurt slid into Logan's seat and the joking continued, then shook his head and kept right on down the hall, leaving them to their nonsense. When he got to the door, a young man in a courier's uniform was standing on the doorstep with a polite sort of smile, though it was obvious to see he was a bit nervy at having to deliver to the institute. He looked new, maybe sixteen, and he fumbled a bit with the clipboard — though to his credit, he did stand his ground when he said that it was a private delivery for Kate and that he wasn't allowed to give it to anyone else."I'm sorry but it has to be Miss Bishop," he said insistently, though he looked nervous and kept half apologizing every other sentence."No it doesn't," Logan argued. "Give it up." But the young man bravely shook his head and again insisted on Kate."I'm sorry, but the directions were very particular. It has to be Miss Bishop."Logan looked irritated, but before he could tear into the guy, Kate and Kurt stepped around the corner. "Kate, this jerk says he needs your signature," Logan told her, already looking a bit too snarly this early in the day.Kate spared a little glance Kurt's way, her eyebrows raised. "You sure it's… mine, not Kurt's?" she asked carefully. She and Kurt had come to investigate the matter, considering it was Monday and Kurt had just recently gotten the flash drive promising "instructions" — but this was obviously not what they had expected, and Kurt was already holding onto Kate around the waist a little tighter and more protectively when he heard it."If it was for Kurt, I would have said Kurt," Logan countered.The delivery boy half smiled Kate's way. "I'm sorry, but I can't …" he paused. "It has to be you, Miss Bishop." He looked apologetic but held his ground.Kate let out a sigh. "Fine," she said as she kissed Kurt and stepped out of his grasp, then held out her hand for the slip to sign. "But this is just ridiculous. I'm literally standing right here and I'm telling you — you don't need to be a pain about it.""I'm really sorry," the delivery boy said — again. "But I just got this job…"Kate let out a sigh as she balanced the clipboard on her knee so she could sign for the package. "It's alright," she said, trying for a kinder tone since it was obvious the teenager in front of her was just trying to do what he'd been told.Through the whole interaction, Logan didn't step all the way back, almost blocking Kate from the delivery boy — clearly not trusting the situation as the young man retrieved the package while Kate signed the form, though she tried to elbow Logan back a few paces so he wasn't in her way as she moved to hand the clipboard back to the skinny teen. Logan looked over at Kurt for a moment, a frown set on his face that only disappeared when he caught the scent on the package — turning instead into a look of urgency. He made a rush forward to knock it away from Kate an instant before the bomb went off, blowing the front door apart and tearing up all three people there at the threshold.Kurt was just far enough back from the two of them to escape the worst of the damage — purely out of luck that he had been stepping back to let Logan handle playing bad cop with the strawberry blonde delivery kid — and he ran the few steps to the door. Kate and Logan were both bleeding and the delivery boy was clearly dead. Shrapnel in the bomb had embedded itself into the walls nearest the door, and Kate had a few pieces in her chest that were quickly blooming into large blood stains."Kate." Kurt dropped down beside her and simply looked stunned as he looked over the damage. Logan had taken the worst of it trying to shield Kate, but even so, it was obvious that the blast had done Kate some serious damage, and she was losing blood rapidly.Both Scott and Hank had come running at the noise, and as soon as they saw what was going on, both men ran to Logan and Kate. Hank was already starting to triage Kate as Scott began to pull out bits of shrapnel when K came running around the corner, with her 'appointed babysitter' Tyler hot on her heels.As Tyler tried to apologize for failing to keep her away from any kind of action, he fell silent on seeing the scene laid out in front of him. It was obvious that both Logan and Kate were hurt badly, and Logan was completely unconscious as well.As he watched, K slid to a stop on the other side of Logan. She looked over at his arm before she knelt on it and started pulling out shrapnel alongside Scott — not shy in the least about digging in to pull out the deeper pieces.Tyler started moving again, though, when Hank called him over to where Kate was very obviously in shock. Tears were slipping down her cheeks, though it was pretty obvious that she didn't even realize it was happening. "Tyler, I need to know how deep these pieces are, to see if she needs surgery. I don't want to take pressure off to move her unless we have to. I want her stabilized first," Hank explained quickly before he directed Kurt on where to apply some pressure to a deep gash in Kate's arm that was dangerously close to a major artery.Tyler of course nodded and knelt down next to Kate, laying a hand on her shoulder so that he could 'see' the damage to report to Hank. To his surprise, there were many many cuts that he hadn't seen — smaller, less obvious ones that were easy to miss with the big bleeders — though he more or less tried to ignore them as he focused on the larger bits that were embedded in her torso and arm. He had one hand on a piece of the door that was sticking out just below her collarbone when he decided that simply fixing it would be quicker and much less traumatic at this point — considering she was already in shock and bleeding badly.He took a solid hold on the bit of metal and started to pull, concentrating hard to repair the damage that was deepest as the shrapnel came out, paying close attention to any arteries that might have been severed or nicked. He'd gotten two pieces out of Kate when the group as a whole ran into a new problem — Logan had woken up, and immediately started to fight Scott.Logan was thrashing almost blindly when K climbed over him and pinned him, directing Scott to step back, though of course, Scott did not want to, citing concerns of Logan accidentally stabbing her.K gave him the very driest look that Scott had ever seen directed his way. "Back off, or I'll stab you."By that time, Noh and Jubilee had also come to investigate the blast, and while Jubilee went straight to a livid-looking Kurt to help with Kate — and to help keep him calm in the face of his fiance being dealt such serious damage — Noh took a look at K sitting on Logan and figured he'd step in. "Let him stab me," he said with an easy shrug as he all but picked up the little feral to get her out of the way of even the possibility of Logan's claws."I'm not letting him stab anyone," K argued as Scott held Logan down long enough for Noh to join him once he'd set K down. Of course, Logan only fought them harder, but K pushed her way around the men to crouch down next to Logan's head and then started to whisper to him low and give him something to focus on that didn't smell like gunpowder and blood. It took a few moments, but very shortly after Logan got her scent properly, he seemed to relax.K peeked up at Scott and nodded. "Keep going before it closes up over them. He won't hurt you — at least not for that."Scott gave her a dry look for just a moment before he tightened his jaw and went right back to work — noting to himself that Logan was pointedly ignoring him in favor of focusing entirely on K.Henry let out a relieved breath when he saw that things with Logan were settling out before he turned back to Tyler. "What's the prognosis?" he asked. "Surgery or stitches?""Hopefully neither," Tyler said out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated more on healing than on the question. "I just need to get a couple more pieces out…"Henry looked both shocked and proud for a moment when he realized that Tyler had been pulling out shrapnel and healing the wounds this entire time. He even noted that Tyler had — consciously or not — made sure to put himself between Logan and Kate while Logan was thrashing while he worked, so that Kate would be shielded if things got out of hand.Hank couldn't help but smile before he began to gingerly work on the less worrisome wounds that Kate had sustained to her arm, leaving the worst of the damage to Tyler to heal, since it was obvious that Tyler had a good system in place, healing the damage to Kate at the same rate he was slowly removing wood and metal so that she wouldn't bleed out any worse than she already had once the shrapnel was removed.Looking over the injuries the two of them had sustained, it was very clear that Logan had blocked the bulk of the blast — and the lion's share of Kate's damage at this point was superficial at best. It was just that handful of bits that managed to hit hard that Tyler was carefully repairing as he removed them. She had certainly lost a lot of blood, but as Hank watched, her condition moved from critical to far more stable — and he couldn't help but be proud of the young man for it.Finally, Tyler let go of Kate's hand and sat back for a moment — finished even before Scott could get out the last pieces of shrapnel in Logan's arm. He stepped slightly to the side so Kurt could see for himself that Kate was stable — though she was understandably worn out from the shock as well as the massive healing that Tyler had just put her body through. In fact, both Tyler and Kate looked a bit pale — the healing had taken a lot out of Tyler, too, for how much damage there had been and how severe it was.While Kate seemed to be physically fine after all of the trauma, it was clear she was upset — and still in shock — when she buried half her face into Kurt and muttered that she was "sick and freakin' tired of people trying to kill me" with a couple hiccoughed little sniffles that meant she was trying hard not to cry at that point, even though it had already started.Kurt simply pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently, trying not to let her see too obviously that he was upset as well, murmuring comfort into her hair and letting her hide and cry if she needed to — though Jubilee beside him could see the familiar glint in his eyes that meant he was ready to destroy someone for what had happened there.And just beside her, Noh and Scott both backed off as soon as they were done with Logan, and K flat out wrapped herself around Logan as he took a moment to breathe and recover while he took stock of himself."Young lady," Hank said gently as he held Kate's hand, her other hand knotted in Kurt's shirt as she simply couldn't quite get a hold of herself just yet. "I'm afraid you need to spend a little time in the lab with an IV pole.""I hate those things," Kate grumbled, still half hidden in Kurt's side, and Kurt gently kissed her forehead again in response, trying to help her calm down."I know, everyone does," Hank told her with a kind smile. "But I promise to make you some fresh coffee to go with your Twinkie and meds."She picked up her head and gave him a wry smile. 'Well, if there's coffee…" she allowed, which got the slightest of smirks out of Kurt."K will keep you company," Logan offered, to which K gave him a look of open disbelief."I wasn't even scratched, you giant pain," K argued, but Logan simply leaned in and gave her a kiss to get her to stop arguing.Once Kate had agreed to that, Kurt picked her up to take her down to the lab. He was gentle about moving her and made sure to press soft kisses to her cheek, her forehead, and just behind her ear. He kept up the gentle attention, holding her hand and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles as Henry got her all set up.But as soon as Kate was settled in and had even fallen asleep, utterly exhausted from the ordeal, Kurt turned to Logan with a far sharper look than the one he'd just been wearing as he pulled his old friend aside. "Take a walk with me," he said under his breath.Logan simply nodded to avoid drawing any attention to the two of them — at least any more attention than they already had. K and Scott were both watching them carefully, and Scott stepped over with a frown."Do you have room for a third?" Scott asked low.Kurt looked his way for a second with raised eyebrows but nodded once as K stepped up to the boys. "What's your plan?" she asked."You're not going," Logan said with a little frown."Yeah, I gathered as much when you volunteered me to stay behind. That's not what I asked," K shot back. "What is your plan?" She was watching Kurt more than the other two."Find the people behind this attack and ... go from there," Kurt said with a little glare that wasn't meant for her. "I thought we might ask the other Hawkeye what his current leads are…""Or... I can just tell you where Fisk went last year after he left the party," she said frankly. "Unless you like going the long way around and really can't accept any help from those of us without danglers."Kurt looked her way for just a second. "Where?"She walked over to Hank's desk and very carefully jotted down the address, the floor, and even where the board room was situated on the floor. "If any of you come back in worse shape than you are now, I swear to God, I'll make you pay somehow." She gave both Kurt and Scott a quick kiss on the cheek before she gave Logan a much more involved kiss that ended with a severe threat if he dared to come back in worse shape than he left before she wished the three of them luck. "I'll keep an eye on Kate," she promised to Kurt."Danke," he said simply before he put a hand on both Scott and Logan's shoulders. "Let's go and meet this 'Board," he said before he teleported them to the address K had written down — and into the boardroom itself.The three men appeared in a puff of smoke standing on the middle of the table, which was surrounded by several recognizable villains. It was clear that they'd interrupted a bit of self congratulatory celebrations — not that they were bothered in the least.Naturally, before the smoke had even cleared, Logan looked around quickly and made a flat out dive right for Fisk — claws out and snarling. One of Fisk's guards moved to block him but just ended up with three deep holes and a boot print on his belly before Logan stuck Fisk. The big guy had moved at just the right time to avoid a triple-pronged set of holes in the center of his heart, but it still took out a lung, and he was gasping out in pain.Kurt, meanwhile, went after Ringmaster before the guy could get a half-decent hold on their minds to try and stop the fight, and Scott had his hands full with a burlier guy with a large moustache and three familiar-looking scars down his face."Friend of yours?" Scott called Logan's way as he finally managed to get a good grip on the guy and throw him into the wall.Logan glanced over and let out an irritated noise. "Time displaced half brother. Go nuts."That was really all the invitation Scott needed to do just that, blasting Dog across the room before he spun to face the rest of the group — though before he could even pick his next target, the three irritated men were joined by a fourth, red-clad interloper."We should really coordinate, guys," Matt Murdock said as he slipped in through the window to join the fun. "I spend all this time tracking them down and you get the jump on them?"But Kurt wasn't in the mood for any kind of witty banter, even with an old friend, and he shook his head. "Hawkeye was nearly killed. At our home," he said shortly.Matt tipped his head to the side, the frown obvious to see, before he simply nodded once and seemed to lay into the creeps in the boardroom harder than what was strictly necessary, an echoing crack with almost every hit speaking to just what he thought about that news.Between the four of them, it didn't take long at all before all the members of the Board had either retreated or been knocked out or subdued, and Matt rested a hand on Kurt's shoulder, both of them taking a moment to get their breath back before he asked, "She alright?""She's recovering now," Kurt said."You alright?" Matt asked.Kurt let out a dry sort of laugh. "A little better with this troublesome Board broken up."Matt smirked. "I'll keep an eye on them. Kingpin and Viper are still big players on their own, but the rest…" He gestured at the various villains in different stages of tied up and unconscious. "Don't think they'll be coming after your fiance for a while.""Not if they value their lives," Kurt agreed.Although Matt slipped out after that, the X-Men stayed behind a bit longer. Kurt was still steaming over the whole affair — and he wanted to destroy anything that the Board had on file for Kate, and for himself.That was, of course, when SHIELD agents finally showed up. No one there had called them, but the fight ... well, it had attracted attention, so the X-Men weren't surprised.The head agent they'd sent must have been relatively new, because he looked a bit shocked at the damage the three X-Men had dealt, though he went through the rigamarole of claiming the downed supervillains for SHIELD custody — and looked a bit grateful when he didn't get more of an argument than a very irritated look from Kurt."And they'll stay in custody, yes?" Kurt said, turning the full force of a very nearly demonic look the agent's way to emphasize his point."Yeah, we're not letting them get away," the agent assured Kurt, who just gave him a look and went back to destroying records even as a smaller SHIELD agent told him to stop destroying evidence."You might want to turn around and pay attention to the documents that actually matter," Logan advised. "Before you have an accident. Or I make a phone call and have you stuck on a paper-pushing job, since you're so concerned with 'em."The agent looked a bit wide-eyed before he busied himself with collecting anything Kurt wasn't tearing apart."I'd like to get statements from all of you," the head agent tried to say to get a better hold on the situation.Logan and Scott both turned his way, arms crossed as they openly looked him up and down. "Fine," Logan said. "You got all three of us here at once, and we all have stuff to do. Shoot."The guy paused for a second and looked like he might argue and then thought better of it, just taking out a recorder pad and trying very hard to look like he was in charge as he asked for a basic rundown of how the heck they'd found the board room in the first place — and why they'd decided to tear it apart in the middle of a Monday afternoon."It's called basic detective work," Logan replied. "And we broke it up because they blew up one of our team members — and me. You're welcome for the gift wrapping."The third member of the little SHIELD team looked Logan's way at that with her head tipped to one side. She was putting cuffs on the unconscious bad guys but had to ask: "Do you need medical assistance? For your other teammate, I mean?""No. She's fine," he replied. "She'll be better once she hears this is over.""And we should get back and do just that," Kurt said as he finished up his 'evidence destruction,' the last of the Board's records on Kate's businesses going up in smoke."You guys can't just… we've got to finish with the statements, and I'll need to ask you more questions and…" The head agent was shaking his head hard.All three of them stared at him with frowns on their faces for a moment. "Yes. We can," Logan said very slowly before he took a few steps toward the guy and leaned in a little closer, looking up at him with a harsh glare. "You don't know who we are, do you?""Look, I just got the call that there were some superpower types having a showdown up here, okay?" he said at last. He gestured at the various villains. "We've got most of these guys on record, and I mean, Nightcrawler isn't hard to miss, but… the lack of uniforms is a bit of a murky waters situation."Logan smirked. "Hey Cyclops — you wanna show this kid your ID?""Probably just confused without the visor," Scott said with a bit of a smirk before he tipped his head Logan's way, still facing the SHIELD agent. "That's Wolverine, you know Nightcrawler, and I'm Cyclops — and no, we're not wearing our uniforms. We weren't planning on being blown up today."The agent frowned at both of them, eyes slightly wide, before he looked to the other two agents, who had more or less finished up and were ready to start loading villains and evidence at his say-so."If you got any other questions, they know where to find us," Logan told him before Kurt gave the clearly green agent a smirk and teleported the three of them back to the mansion.They reappeared outside Henry's lab, where K had waited with Kate, true to her word — half snuggled up with her as it seemed like all of Kurt's little bamfs were there to either try and get snuggles as well or to fuss over Kate themselves. Kate's little flirty friend in particular was perched by the coffee and seemed determined never to let her run out of it now that she was awake again.On seeing the guys, K gave Kate a little squeeze and slipped off her bed. "Any trouble?" she asked as she looked them each over for injury with a scrutinizing appraisal — she had been serious about her threats if any of them had come back injured."Nothing we couldn't handle," Scott said with a smirk Logan's way. "Hardest part was dealing with the green SHIELD agents.""Well, you can thank Henry for that," K told him. "For some reason, he was concerned that there might be a disproportionate number of deaths. Like that's a problem.""Well, he can rest easy. I think it's safe to say we're all alive — and that little 'Board' isn't going to be bothering anyone," Kurt said as he skirted around her to take her place snuggling Kate instead, brushing her hair back from her face so he could see for himself that some of the color was returning to her face now that she had been rehydrated."SHIELD's got the board members in custody," Scott added, tipping his head to Hank."Pity," K said with a little frown before she simply took Logan's arm. "I'm going to take this one upstairs … you guys, try not to scar Hank.""Actually, I should head up myself. Promised Annie I'd take the twins for the afternoon so she could go out with her sisters," Scott said. "Theresa's in town from Atlanta — and you know how it goes with those three.""Hale's Angels?" K said with a smirk. "Yes. Trouble of the most innocent variety.""That's not bad. Where were those naming skills when we were working on Tyler's codename?" Scott teased."Keeping quiet so others could play," K replied."Well, he loves the name he got, so I guess we can't complain," Scott said. He shook his head with a little smile and waved at Kurt and Kate before he headed up to go find Annie, with the two ferals not far behind.With the others gone — and Hank discreetly slipping out to give the two of them privacy — Kurt turned his attention back to Kate, cupping her face with one hand as he ran his thumb over her cheekbone. In that moment, he was incredibly grateful to see her alive, and he couldn't help but pull her into a long kiss. "Well it seems the board won't be an issue anymore," Kurt told her when the kiss broke. "Clint will be upset we handled it without him, I'm sure."Kate just smiled and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. "Yeah, he'll be bummed he didn't get an invite," she agreed."Logan was already considering telling him it could have been done years ago if he'd called a professional."She rolled her eyes — and even though she knew he was teasing, she had to come to her fellow Hawkeye's defense. "He is a professional. He's just… also Clint.""Yes, which I believe is almost exactly what Logan said."She snuggled a bit deeper into his side with a sigh. "Kinda wish I could've come too.""I know," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "But it was enough.""That'll teach them to tick off my swashbuckling Elf," she said with a little smile. "Bet they're regretting all their life decisions on that one. Honestly. Coming after my favorite X-Man.""Well, I don't believe it was me they wanted," Kurt replied. "But they got me anyhow."She grinned at that and kissed him briefly. "Yes. And now I've got you," she pointed out. "And I did want to catch you." And just to prove her point, she pulled him down for a longer, much more involved kiss.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
For Hank, the trip into town to go on a picnic with the Wrights and with Daisy was a much-needed break from the relentless pace that he'd been dealing with for the last little while.Not all of it was bad news, of course — he quite enjoyed being part of the wonderful news for Logan and K — but Kate and K's missing time, as well as the repeat offense for K, compounded with the explosion on their own front doorstep and the usual pace of dealing with the first week of school in Westchester as reckless teenagers were wont to show off their powers to each other…He was glad to get some time to relax.Daisy was running a bit late but had called to say that she was on her way. She had to work late again, a hazard of her occupation, as Hank well knew. But that simply meant that when Hank arrived at the park, the only ones there were the Wrights. Anton and Rachel were already setting out the blanket on the grass — and the rest of the food on one of the picnic tables, since little 6-year-old Mary Beth simply refused to eat anything on the same level as the ants.Her older sister, Leslie Ann, waved happily over at Hank when she saw him coming, standing up on the bench by the picnic table so that she could be taller. "Mr. Beast!" she sang out, waving frantically to get his attention, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the huge, beaming grin that split her face when he waved back to her.Rachel smiled warmly at him as he sat down with the family. "Is Daisy not with you?" she asked sweetly, though by that point, Hank had spent enough time around Annie and her sisters to understand the second half of that question, even if it had been left unsaid."She's simply running a bit behind," Hank said serenely."You're s'posed to come together," Leslie Ann told him matter-of-factly, bouncing her head from side to side in time with her dangling, kicking feet as her puffy pigtails bounced with her. "That's what you're s'posed to do when you got a girlfriend, silly.""I'm sorry," Rachel said, shaking her head at her oldest daughter as she tried to corral the little girl. "She's…"But Hank just smiled and waved a hand. "She's entirely right," he said, turning to the bright-eyed little girl with a twinkle in his eyes. "What do you think, my dear girl? Would flowers be appropriate to make it up to her?" he asked, honestly curious to see what the precocious little 9-year-old would do."Oooh, yes!" Leslie Ann agreed quickly, wriggling off the bench to immediately skip off to go and collect wildflowers — as many as she could find before Daisy got there.Anton was already shaking his head as he helped Rachel set out the paper plates for the sandwiches and chips. "She must like you," he told Hank. "She did the same thing to Scott when he and Annie started seein' each other."Hank couldn't help but smile at the mental image of one of his oldest friends being subject to the little girl off picking flowers at that very moment — at an even younger age when she surely would have been impossible to say 'no' to. "She's an intelligent young lady," Hank said, unable to stop the smile from widening."Gets it from her mother," Anton said without missing a beat, which had Hank chuckling all over again at the obvious affection between the two of them, especially when Rachel reached over to grab Anton's hand and give it a little squeeze.It was only a few minutes later that Daisy arrived, looking a bit harried after a longer-than-expected shift, but there was no mistaking the warmth in her smile when she saw the group of them waiting for her — and Hank in particular.Hank crossed the grass to meet her and offer her his arm to walk with her the rest of the way to the picnic table, unable to stop smiling her way as he covered her hand with his. "I'm glad you could join us, my dear," he said with a playful sort of twinkle in his eyes that got a laugh out of Daisy as she shook her head at him.The two of them sat on the bench opposite the Wrights, though Hank had barely taken his seat before he felt a small hand tugging on his fur and looked down to see Leslie Ann with a handful of dandelions, holding them up to Hank with an expectant look on her face — and obviously trying to hide behind him so that Daisy wouldn't see what she was up to.Hank glanced toward Daisy and couldn't help but smile when he saw that she had angled herself so that she looked as if she had simply no idea that the little girl was even there, then turned back to Leslie Ann to gently take the handful of flowers from her. "Thank you, Leslie Ann," he said with a warm smile that she returned in spades."You gotta give 'em to her," she said, making shooing motions with both of her hands.Hank just chuckled and turned to Daisy to show her the child-sized handful of flowers — which she of course looked positively tickled over. "What's this for?" Daisy asked."An apology for my lack of manners in not coming myself to sweep you off your feet to take you to this picnic," Hank said with a smile.Daisy let out a delighted laugh as she tucked one of the daffodils into her hair. "Apology accepted," she said, rested her hand on Hank's.Hank smiled even wider at that and brushed back her hair around the daffodil. "In the words of the Immortal Bard," he said, which was already getting a wide smile out of Daisy, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer's lease hath all too short a date.""Oh my gosh," Leslie Ann whispered to her mother — though probably not as quietly as she meant to — all but climbing into Rachel's lap and totally enraptured by the couple sitting across from her.Daisy hadn't been able to stop smiling through the whole thing, of course, and for just a moment, she glanced toward the Wrights and then leaned forward to steal a kiss from Hank.Which immediately earned a squeal of delight from Leslie Ann and an 'ewww' from her little sister.But Daisy and Hank and the Wrights weren't the only ones out picnicking that afternoon. It was a pretty enough day that both Kurt and Logan had decided to give it an honest effort and take the girls out. Of course, that meant Logan picked the spot — and with his talent for finding picturesque places … well. The scenery was, of course, perfect.The trees that surrounded the lake were still green, but the sumac bushes and the sassafras had already turned bright red. And by the water, the wind was blowing lightly — just enough to push their hair back if they faced it. "So … I mean … how is this supposed to work?" K asked, though she wasn't looking to the rest of the group, instead focused on some spot further into the trees."Well," Logan said, following her gaze. "We can let Kurt and Kate set things up... you know, since I found the spot." He took a few steps over and put his arm around K's shoulders as they had already started out toward the woods. "We'll just … be back. Need to check the place out a little bit." He shot a grin Kurt's way for just a moment before he and K simply disappeared into the woods."They … are so not coming back any time soon," Kate laughed.Kurt was already shaking his head and chuckling as well. "No, they aren't," he had to agree — though he also couldn't help but think that Logan had the right idea. He leaned over to kiss a spot just behind Kate's ear and couldn't help smiling to himself a little more when she leaned back into him."We said we'd have a picnic," Kate said, shaking her head at him."We did, didn't we," Kurt said, though he had started to kiss her again, along the edge of her jaw, and she laughed as he pulled her down until she was looking up at him, her hair splayed out on the blanket on the grass — which was as far as they'd gotten into setting up the picnic.She shifted a bit so that she was squarely under him, the only thing keeping the distance his arms holding him up so that he was looking down at her. "We're never going to have a picnic, are we?" she asked, smiling with her teeth pulling at her bottom lip."I'm not complaining," he shot back, smiling a bit wider before he closed the distance and got wrapped up in a kiss, teleporting them both elsewhere and away from prying eyes.And while it seemed like half of the X-Men were involved in romantic trysts of some kind or another, the youngest soon-to-be member of the team had made his way to a meeting Scott had set up with Warren Worthington III about getting a scholarship.He was grateful to Scott, obviously. He really, really was. But he was sure the interview was already off to a fantastically bad start when Warren opened the door and looked almost automatically defensive, taking a step back when he saw the young man who looked so much like Victor Creed in his doorway.Tyler let ot a sigh and let his shoulders drop so he looked as nonthreatening as possible. "Scott called ahead?" he prompted. "I'm Tyler.""Yeah … I just … wasn't ... " Warren took a breath and let out a laugh. "I am 99% sure I just lost a bet of some sort. Sorry. Hi, Tyler. Come on in." He stepped back to make room for Tyler to walk by him, obviously still more than a little wary. It was easy to see.Warren closed the door behind him and walked over to his desk — rustling his feathers a bit before he sat down. "Let's get started, shall we?" Warren said, looking a lot more approachable all of a sudden. "Why don't you tell me about yourself and what it is you do? I'm not even going to try and be shifty about it — I'm very interested in what you have to offer.""Then I should be honest up front," Tyler said as he took a seat across from Warren. With first impressions out the window, at least he could come across as honest and approachable — as much as possible. "I'm not much of a fighter. I'd actually rather go to medical school and do something like what Dr. McCoy's doing — be on the team but focus on medicine mostly.""Really?" Warren didn't bother to hide that he was surprised, but Tyler was pretty used to that reaction, too. He looked like he should be out there tearing people up, not putting them back together, and he knew it. But then Warren started up with a slow smile and started to nod. "The poetic justice is kind of astounding, actually."Tyler couldn't help but smirk and nod. "You can blame my mom for that," he said, starting to relax the more at ease Warren himself looked. "She put herself through night school so she could be an EMT.""Taking after her, then?" Warren couldn't help but chuckle."I sure hope so," Tyler said honestly. "Even before I figured out what I could do with my powers, I wanted to do that — help people."Warren couldn't stop shaking his head and smiling at the kid sitting in front of him who was so clearly the opposite of his father. "And that's why you want to join the team?"Tyler nodded.Warren's feathers fluffed out a bit — he couldn't help it — and he nodded. "Sounds about right," he said, then leaned forward. "Alright, Tyler. Let's talk about where you want to go to school."And while just about everyone else was out and about taking advantage of the gorgeous day, the little Summers family was at the institute — though they too were outside enjoying the weather.Annie had set out a blanket that the kids could crawl around on without getting onto the grass — since, inevitably, once they got something in their hands, they wanted to put it in their mouths. Chance in particular had already almost eaten a spider last week when he managed to get into the grass before Annie saw him.The twins were starting to develop personalities of their own now — and while Chance was definitely the more active of the two, Charlie had a wicked sense of humor that both Scott and Annie were coming to appreciate.Charlie was a sweetheart most of the time, not making too much of a fuss when it was time to eat or time to go down for a nap (which, on the other hand, was world-ending for Chance, who wanted to be a part of everything and only seemed to fall asleep when he had worn himself down and fallen asleep in the middle of the floor somewhere or on the shoulder of whatever X-Man was closest). But when it came to talking? It was a different story.Chance was already trying to talk all the time, jabbering "mamamama" and "dadadada" simply because of how many times Annie and Scott had said it to him (though Scott was pretty pleased about the fact that he'd gotten his son to say "dada" first). He'd try it out with different consonants — "bababababa" and "kakakakaka" and different variations — and would watch Scott and Annie whenever they talked to him with a look of concentration, like he was trying to figure out how they were doing that with their mouths.But Charlie? Charlie would just start laughing whenever anyone tried to get her to talk. It wasn't limited to Scott and Annie, either. Storm, Kurt, Forge, Remy, even Logan all got the same reaction — a whole lot of belly laughs and then a boop on the nose with one chubby finger.So at the moment, Scott was holding his little girl one on knee trying so hard to get her to say "dada" first — while Annie wrestled with Chance to get him to sit still enough to eat. He was screaming — but not really because he was mad. It was just that he'd discovered he could be loud, and he loved shouting "AAH" at the top of his little lungs.Charlie was watching her brother with her nose scrunched up and her forehead wrinkled before Scott won her attention by tickling her and getting her to giggle. "Can you say 'dada'?" he asked her for about the hundredth time, smiling at her widely.She just giggled and started blowing raspberries at him.Scott let out a sigh and shook his head, though when he looked up and caught Annie grinning at him, he couldn't help but smile back at her."She's just as stubborn as you are," Annie said, that same playful grin lighting up her features as she finally released Chance, and the little boy immediately pushed himself up onto all fours and started to explore.Scott watched Chance do his version of a crawl — getting up on his hands and knees and then belly-flopping forward — before he looked up at Annie. "No, I think she gets it from you."Annie let out a laugh and shook her head. "You're seeing things, Mr. Summers.""Must be the view," he said with an easy smile as he leaned back with Charlie and let the little baby girl rest on his chest and blow bubbles at him. "Too distracting."A solid blush rose up on Annie's face before she reached over and hit him in the arm. "Flirt."Scott just grinned up at her, and though he couldn't move much while Charlie was sitting on top of him, Annie took the hint and settled down next to him to kiss him.Which was, of course, Charlie's cue to say, "'to-o-o-o-op," complete with an obvious pop at the end of the 'p' and a wicked grin.Scott and Annie broke apart, both of them looking surprised, before they glanced down at the little girl, who simply fell apart in giggles all over again, blowing raspberries at them."Did your daughter just say 'stop' as her first word?" Annie demanded of Scott, hitting him in the arm."My daughter?""You did this somehow, I just know it!" Annie insisted, though she was laughing hard, and he had to shake his head at her and pulled her down for another kiss."Sure, Annie, whatever you say," he said, grinning at her when the kiss broke, and she laughed all over again before she had to stop kissing him to rescue Chance before he could make it all the way off the blanket and start eating grass again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Since K had placed Kurt in charge of preparing a wedding for her and Logan, the amazing Nightcrawler had been on the job — and he had everything ready for that weekend. A lakeside up in Canada, some good food, and a few simple decorations and tables — nothing too extravagant, though it did look sharp. He'd even gone up a day before the ceremony to make sure everything was in place before the handful of private guests would arrive, and he was positively grinning and brimming with excitement the more things came into place.Even the weather was cooperating — a mild, slightly windy September day with no chance of rain. And he hadn't even had to ask Storm to help with that. The colors were just barely starting to turn in the trees around them, and Kurt had put Kate and Jubilee on making sure that K didn't panic and bolt, as he was concerned she might.But, as it was, K was just lying on the bed in the cabin Kurt had set aside for the ladies, staring at the ceiling and lightly kicking her feet as she played with her nails a bit, looking bored. "When do we head out then?" K asked. "Because I don't think this is happening."Kate and Jubilee shared a look before Kate lightly hit her on the arm with an attempt at a teasing grin. "What, can't wait for the honeymoon? Just want to skip to that part?""Thought I already did," she teased right back. "No … that's not what I mean at all. More like — something is going to go wrong.""The weather's great, Noh's gone to make sure the obnoxious future stepson doesn't come to break things up, and your dress is going to make you look like a classic movie star. What the heck do you think in that little head of yours is wrong?" Jubilee asked, shaking her head.K just shrugged up to her ears. "Something."Kate patted her arm. "It's okay to have jitters," she said with a smirk."Do I look jittery?" K asked with one eyebrow raised."Well, with this sort of thing, it's kind of a default for you," Jubilee replied.She shook her head a bit. "I'm stuck with him anyhow at this point," K teased. "Kid and all.""Then stop trying to jinx your own wedding, you goof," Kate said."I'm not — I'm not jinxing anything," K replied. "But this is the way it goes. Plans never work out.""Well, when you're nice and married, I'll make sure to personally escort you to my fuzzy fiance for a formal apology," Kate shot back, laughing quietly."You may find yourself waiting on that one," K replied lazily."Yeah, for about…" Kate checked the clock. "Sixteen more hours. Just long enough for the 'I do's and then you'll have to do a 'you were right'.""Uh huh," K said. "We'll see. I won't ask for the same.""That's because I won't be trying to jinx my wedding," Kate said, shotting K a look."I mean when you are proven so spectacularly wrong. I am not trying to jinx it. This is called being a realist.""Yeah, well, realistically, you're getting married tomorrow," Jubilee said, grinning widely.K didn't argue the point any further, but she certainly wasn't convinced either. Instead, she pushed herself up so that she was sitting to face the two girls. "So. You're babysitting me, right? What are we going to do?""Pamper." Kate and Jubilee grinned at each other and then K as Kate gestured at the overnight bag she'd brought. "I've got movies, I've got snacks, I've got foot scrubs… you name it.""Did you bring targets?" K asked, picking her head up off the pillow."Of course." Kate sounded offended."Exploding targets?""Couldn't sneak those past your super sniffer fiance," Kate admitted. "But I might have personalized the targets. They have faces now.""That's okay. I took the whiskey from them and replaced it with water bottles. Framed you for it too," K replied as she laid her head back down."I want to be mad, but all I'm getting is this sort of proud 'atta girl'," Kate laughed."Oooh, I also got Kurt to promise not to bring any more whiskey to the party than what was in the box," she said with a satisfied sort of smirk."My poor Elf. A whole weekend whisky-less," Kate said, her hand over her heart and a dramatic look of pity painted on her features."There are loopholes in that plan if they think for thirty seconds," K told her. "He promised no more whiskey. Didn't make him promise no more booze. Or beer.""Such a generous promise," Jubilee laughed.K sat up and looked around the room for a moment before she got up and headed to the kitchen. When Jubilee caught up to her, she was digging under the sink, with a few bottles in her hands, pulling out various cleaning supplies. "Hold these," she told her — shoving them into Jubilee's arms before heading to the bathroom to do the same. "I still need explosives. We'll just have to make them.""You two will have to make them," Jubilee pointed out, though she was following behind K with a look of concentrated concern. "And shouldn't you not anyway?""Why?" K asked, sounding totally innocent. "Because Logan's being overprotective? Yeah. That'll stop me.""How 'bout because I don't want to get blown up again if there's an accident?" Kate pointed out."There shall be no accidents," K said decisively. "And I'll mix it up. Babies. Nothing here will blow until it gets hit right.""Hey, we're, like, contractually obligated to point out danger," Kate laughed, pointing at her own face. "Babysitters.""Then you should have child-proofed the kitchen," K replied with a little smirk. "Fail. So much fail.""Amateur babysitters," Jubilee said with a grin."You're going to get in trouble …." K teased. "You know. If they come sniffin' around.""They might if they think they can find the whiskey you stole from them," Kate teased right back."That's never gonna happen." She was opening up the case that she'd brought along, though she had to shake her head when she saw that Logan had made a point to remove the explosive rounds from her gun case. "Rude. So so rude." She looked up at Kate. "Do you have your trick arrows at least?""Is the Earth still moving around the sun?""Well then — archery explosions it is," K said with a nod before she headed outside to find a good spot to set up a few targets."What do you mean you can't 'port to get more booze?" Logan asked with a frown, glaring at the pack of water bottles that the girls had left them to drink. "Just do it.""I told your fiance I wouldn't bring more than I had in there," Kurt tried to explain. "It was a promise — which I admit, I now regret making." He was shaking his head at the water bottle in his hand as he tossed it in the air and caught it again."What'd she do with it?" Logan asked, clearly ready to go retrieve the missing alcohol."I don't know." Kurt set the bottle down and shook his head again. "I'm sure they've stashed it somewhere, but I doubt they've drunk it." He was trying hard not to smirk at the situation. "I'm sure they'll hand it back to us after the wedding, or leave it somewhere for us to find the 'misplaced' whiskey.""I doubt it's going to be that simple," Logan replied with a little smirk. "Sneaky little …""Yes, she is rather perfect for you," Kurt finished for him, now outright grinning as Scott nearby couldn't help laughing at both of them. Openly."Alright, for that, you're coming with us," Logan said, pointing Scott's way."To see you graciously accept defeat?" Scott teased through laughter."No, to shake the girls down for the booze," Logan replied."They're probably holding it for ransom," Scott chuckled."Well, she is a pirate captain," Kurt said with a grin Logan's way. "Though I can't believe she stole from her first mate.""Which one of you is supposed to be second in command on that wreck of a boat?" Scott asked."Myself, of course," Kurt said with his tail swishing out behind him. "I do know a thing or two about piracy.""Well, let's go get the treasure already," Logan said, pulling Kurt along. "Let's get this show on the road." The three men headed out of their little cabin, and Kurt, laughing the whole time, simply teleported them so that they were right outside where the girls were staying, fully intending to shout to them some piratey teasing about their pilfered booze.But when they got there, it was pretty clear that there was a problem.The forest around the cabin was filled to the teeth with Hydra, for one thing. For another, the girls seemed to already be in serious trouble. K and Jubilee both were already on the ground and tied tightly wearing collars, and Kate was simply tied. Jubilee and Kate both were calling the Hydra goons every dirty name in the book, but K was unconscious — which in itself was concerning.For just a heartbeat after Kurt teleported the group of them into the area, the Hydra soldiers paused what they were doing. Then, all at once, they shifted their focus from rounding up the unsuspecting girls to attacking the newcomers, though the three of them fought toward the girls almost as if they couldn't even see the Hydra men around them.Logan and Scott were working in tandem, claws and optic beams coming into play to cut a path, while Kurt was teleporting quickly and effortlessly, but each time he would get close enough to the girls, he'd be driven back. He had finally run the guards through and was just about to untie the girls — when a green-tipped dart very nearly tagged him, announcing Viper's presence on the battlefield.Kurt barely teleported away in time, his eyes wide at the dart that was sticking out of the man who had been directly behind Kurt at the time, though he bared his teeth when he heard Viper give the order for the girls to be loaded up."If I'm feeling generous, you can have them back when the rest of the Board is restored," she called out before she blew a kiss toward the three X-Men. "I won't begin to make any promises on what condition they'll be in, though." With that, Viper simply stepped back as her men carried the girls onto the waiting stealth jet.Logan let out a low growl on seeing the girls being manhandled, and Scott simply reacted by moving to blast the Hydra creeps, though he had to pull it back when the jet got in the air, unwilling to risk the girls. Kurt would have teleported again but took a hard hit that left him stunned — nothing was going right."Enjoy your little playdate in the woods," Viper called out, looking incredibly smug as she practically hung out of the door of the plane. "There will be no weddings any time soon."There were simply too many Hydra soldiers for the X-Men to make any headway — Viper had clearly come prepared for any resistance — though the fight had drawn attention. Noh zipped over just after the helicopter had left, looking bemused — and clearly thinking that the girls were doing something ridiculous for their pre-wedding celebrations."What in Plex's name did they do n- oh." The grin on his face died when he saw the men fighting off Hydra, and he dove in to help, though it was still clearly too late to get up to the girls.By the time they'd cleared the area of Hydra, the jet was long gone, though Noh's quick search of the cabins they'd rented for the wedding showed that Viper hadn't taken anyone else but the three who were in K's cabin. Still, everyone at the campsite for the wedding had been drugged, Viper's signature darts in each of them. Not even the loud sounds of battle had stirred them awake.Once Noh had filled the other three in on the state of things, they were sure to tell him what had gone down with Viper, and it was clear all four of them were ready to get moving and to destroy Hydra for ruining the wedding. "Well, where is this snake woman's hideout — and how much leeway can you give me for making her suffer?" he asked, glaring deeply."Madripoor," Logan growled out. "Unless we can catch up before then.""Doubt she's got anything faster than our bird," Scott pointed out, already moving to get to the blackbird."Yes, but even if we overtake them, what then?" Kurt asked."I'll get you close enough," Scott said. "And you and the bamfs get the girls down to the ground. We'll deal with Hydra from there.""You're taking me with you," Logan warned. "I think it's high time I had a little talk with Viper about minding her own damn business.""And me as well," Noh said quickly. "I have no personal quarrel with the woman, but this is the second time she has taken my wife, and it will not stand.""Then load up," Scott said. "We're not waiting."With that, the four of them climbed into the blackbird, and Scott punched it — pushing Noh's latest changes to the engines to full capacity as they raced to catch up to Viper. She might have had the advantage in getting off the ground first, but even her stealth jet was no match for the blackbird. The integrated stealth tech was a huge boost as well, so that when they did catch up, just over Madripoor, Viper didn't see them coming, either."Nightcrawler, you're up," Scott called over to Kurt as he got the blackbird in close enough to the slowly descending jet, and Kurt nodded once before he and the bamfs disappeared in poofs of purpleish-blue smoke.For the moment, Kurt avoided the Hydra goons on the Hydra jet in favor of heading right for the girls, though he had to 'port out of the way when Viper saw him and immediately threw some of her potent darts his way. Not that it mattered — the bamfs had seen Viper's three prisoners and took an arm each before they too teleported out of there.The instant the girls were returned to the blackbird, Kurt ported Noh and Logan to Viper's jet, allowing the three of them to really let loose and pay Viper back for her rudeness.From where Scott was hovering, he wasn't surprised in the least to see the jet lilt to one side and then start to slowly make its way down at an awkward angle. But as soon as it was grounded, the proximity alarms went off in the blackbird and Scott was forced to take evasive action to avoid the surface-to-air missiles that were fired his way. He very quietly swore under his breath at a narrow miss and took one glance back at the three unconscious girls in the plane before he headed for the safety of a landing somewhere better hidden and more defensible — the others would have to be on their own.Inside the other craft, Viper was having a hell of a time trying to avoid Logan's claws, all of her most biting comments falling dead as she dodged and grinned at him — almost elated at being in such a dangerous position as her guards and soldiers fell around her.Kurt and the bamfs were simply tearing through the Hydra soldiers, all of them with swords drawn as they moved to teach Hydra a lesson for interfering with his perfectly planned wedding for his best friend — while Noh seemed content simply to destroy the jet itself and to then move on to tearing apart anything that looked important on the ground, particularly the Hydra compound that kept spilling out more men in green to try and take on the angry X-Men.Viper was trying desperately to hit Logan with one of her darts — or a dagger — really anything she could, but her laugh fell when he made solid contact with her and managed to send a set of claws through her chest. She looked stunned that he'd actually done her harm but returned the favor with the last three darts she had as she jammed them into his thigh now that he was so close to her.He blinked hard as the poisons started to work and slashed at her one more time for good measure before the party started to break up. He staggered backward until he hit the opposite side of the jet, which was just enough for Viper to slip out and into the waiting arms of her men, who weren't about to let her take any more damage and were already in motion to get her out of there and to medical attention.As Logan stumbled out of the jet to see Kurt and the bamfs finishing off the last of the Hydra soldiers, he looked up to see that Noh had what looked like a helicopter blade in one hand and was running toward Kurt with a look somewhere between pleased and concerned. "I think I may have set fire to much of the building below us. It might be time to expedite our exit," he said before he looked over Logan's way. "I don't know that Wolverine can get back on his own, either."Kurt cursed under his breath before he teleported straight to Logan and hit the comm to ask Scott where he was. He was reasonably surprised when Scott gave him coordinates and briefly explained that he'd had to set down after the near-miss air strike. "We got the girls out of the blackbird," Scott said. "We're safe.""We?" Kurt repeated, his brow wrinkled the slightest.There was a pause before Scott answered. "Just … get to the coordinates."Kurt frowned at that but teleported all the same once he had both Logan and Noh nearby — though he was surprised at where he found himself when the smoke cleared.It looked like they were in someone's home, modernized, sleek, almost shining — with large windows covered in fine silk drapes and long, carpeted hallways. "Which of our allies do we have to thank for this place?" Noh asked with a slight frown when he spotted Scott. "I wasn't aware of anyone near here.""Neither was I," Scott replied with a frown of his own — as Daken rounded the corner with an incredibly smug look on his face."Your little Mrs is down the hall. Second door to the right," he said toward Noh. "I'm right across the hall.""As ever, more information than I needed," Noh replied as he shouldered past him to head for Jubilee — for the moment, putting aside their feud in favor of making sure his wife was alright."Hydra's still swarming close to where we parked, but as soon as we've got half a shot, we should go," Scott said, still frowning a bit."They won't come here," Daken replied. "Viper knows better than to cross me; I'm not as lenient as my father." He looked up at Kurt, who was supporting Logan. "K is in the first room to the left, Hawkeye down the hall to the right. I didn't touch the collars, but the restraints are gone."Kurt tipped his head for a moment and muttered a quick 'danke' before he teleported himself and Logan to where K was so that he could set Logan down next to her. K's favorite bamf followed Kurt and crawled up next to K to poke her in the cheek with a quizzical expression. It was clear he was surprised to see K unconscious like that — before the little guy's gaze fell on the collar, and he let out a string of bamfs and a growl."I know," Kurt said with a heavy sigh. "We need to get back to Henry." He looked over the collar with a small frown, recognizing the design but not the lock. "And to Ororo. I'm sure she'd make short work of this," he added, gesturing at the complicated design, which got a little smirk and a nod from K's bamf friend.He ruffled the bamf's hair. "Keep an eye on them. I'm going to look in on the others."The ferals were more or less pale and unresponsive. Logan and K both were very shallowly breathing, and while Logan was more or less steady, K's pulse was racing, and the woman's muscles were lightly twitching at random intervals. He frowned, knowing full well that there was nothing he could do until he got them back, and he'd already decided that he'd take his little demons and teleport them back himself if need be.He considered what he could or couldn't do and started by pulling a blanket over the two unconscious ferals. "This should not have happened today," he muttered before he left the two of them there and slipped across the hall.In both Jubilee and Kate's rooms, the symptoms were the same. Pale skin — dark circles under their eyes, twitching muscles and rapid heart rates. There was a sheen of sweat over their faces, and although he was not medically trained, Kurt knew it meant severe trouble if they didn't find help very soon.When Kurt was done checking on all the girls and grumbling to himself on the condition they were all in, he headed back out to the large, open great room where Scott and Daken were talking quietly — discussing the plan they'd been working out on how to get them all out to the blackbird as soon as there was a somewhat open window, so they wouldn't simply be shot out of the sky. Daken barely glanced Kurt's way, instead keeping his focus on Scott."I don't want to move them until the last second," Scott was saying. "But it's a balance between keeping them safe from Hydra here and getting them to medical attention and getting the collars off.""The compound the girls were dosed with is a very slow-acting poison," Daken told him. "It will only get worse if it's left unchecked." He looked toward Kurt. "The darts my father was hit with are something else entirely.""She does like to save her worst for him," Kurt said with a long sigh."The other one isn't much better, to be honest," Daken replied. "It just moves much slower." He tipped his head to the side. "Where did this happen? I thought your security advisor was on top of things.""We weren't at the mansion at the time," Kurt admitted. "We were in Canada.""I didn't think he took that many people with him when he traveled.""Not usually, but this was a special occasion," Kurt replied.When Daken seemed to be waiting for more of an explanation, Scott said, "Well, we'll just have to tell the wedding guests to go home."Daken raised one eyebrow and half-glanced Kurt's way before he nodded once, almost sharply. "I'm sure it's a real imposition." He simply turned and walked away from the two X-Men to head down the hall and peek in on his 'guests'.It was another solid hour or so before the coast looked as if it was clear enough to make a move. On Daken's word, those able to carry the girls and Logan moved out to the Blackbird, though Noh looked more than a bit distressed to see Daken carrying K."You know, I am able to carry thousands of pounds. Two teammates would be nothing," he said.Daken smirked the slightest. "I was under the impression that the idea was to handle this one more gently that simple cargo." To emphasise his point, he shifted K in his arms so that her head lolled toward him a bit more, then leaned his head toward hers. "Or am I wrong?"Noh glared at him hard. "Strictly speaking, that's the idea. But I'll have you know I'll be watching your hands.""You don't need to worry about that," Daken dismissed. "I have no interest in her anymore.""You'll forgive me if I don't believe you and look after her best interests all the same.""If that's the excuse you're going to run with," Daken replied. "Feel free to look all you want."Noh's response was simply a bit of a low hiss as he shifted Jubilee a little closer to himself and glared.They followed Daken's lead as he darted through the streets, avoiding all of the many cameras and guards stationed around the area that were obviously looking for them. When they got to the still-camouflaged blackbird, Scott let them in — and Noh was surprised to see how gentle Daken actually was being with K before he nodded Scott's way and slipped out again."I'm… not sure how I feel about that," Noh said almost to himself as he made sure Jubilee was settled in before he headed for the copilot seat by Scott. "I'd be a hypocrite not to say it's good to see one of Osborne's Avengers on our side… but….""I don't know if I'd go so far as to say he's on our side," Scott said frankly."He was in this instance, and that is a good thing. I can't deny that. For the future, though…" Noh looked to Scott. "Let us just say I'm glad he was not on the guest list you drew up."Scott smirked the slightest bit and nodded his agreement before he got them in the air — and pushed the engines again to get them home fast. He called ahead to let Henry know what was going on and to ask Storm to meet them as well, since she was excellent at getting the locks off the collars. The bamfs had already gone ahead to get everyone from the wedding back to the mansion from Canada, so that by the time they arrived, Hank had everything laid out that he needed for the girls, and Tyler was right there with him.They went straight to the med bay, and Hank's first concern was setting up some tests to make sure that whatever the girls had been given hadn't adversely affected the baby. Storm was already working to get the collar off K as Hank ran the tests, a deep frown on his face as Tyler hovered nervously nearby."It's not just Viper's poison we need to worry about," he explained to Tyler. "Without her healing, the adamantium in her body is poisoning her as well — and it's now more concentrated." He looked over the edge of his glasses at K, then went back to his scans before he gave Tyler a list of medicines it would be safe to use to help counteract the effects.While he was waiting on the results of the tests on the little one's condition, Hank saw to the other two women in his care, starting up IVs of counter drugs to flush out the poison in their systems and encouraging Tyler to come and sit with them so he could do his own 'scan' to find the poison in their bloodstreams — trying to get the boy to see if he could identify it on his own, though Tyler's abilities were more focused on injury than chemicals.From there, the mood in the med lab relaxed considerably once Storm was able to pick the lock on K's collar and move to Jubilee so that the little feral could start healing herself, though Hank kept a fluid line in for the baby until he was sure the poison was out.But even with all of the medical intervention, it still took a few hours for Jubilee to open her eyes — and she was the first to do so. As soon as she did, she was met with a delighted kiss on the temple from her husband, who wasn't one of those required to stay for overnight observation by Henry but who had stayed anyway. "My Jubilee," he said softly. "Welcome back to consciousness. How are you feeling?""Kinda gross," Jubilee said with a frown, frowning a bit at the IV line. "Dizzy. Super thirsty, and sick still." Her eyes widened, and she sat up to look around the room. "Is — are they okay? I'm not the first one up, am I?""I'm sorry you don't feel well," he said as he put a hand on her arm. "The others are fine, but you are the first awake. But then — you are impatient." He smiled slightly and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "They are fine. K and Kate are being attended to — and the baby is perfectly healthy, according to Dr. McCoy, who is keeping a close eye on the situation." He gestured to where the good doctor was taking another quick reading from the still-unconscious K."So … what happened to Viper then?" Jubilee asked. Now that she had her answers, she relaxed and snuggled in a bit, watching Noh with a little smile. "Did you guys tear her apart Because she so deserves it.""We didn't do as much tearing as I wanted, but she was badly wounded and running like a coward when last I saw her," Noh said, with a bit of relish in calling her a 'coward.'"At least there's that," Jubilee replied."And her compound was satisfyingly engulfed in flames when we left as well. It seems someone saw fit to blow a few heating centers.""Sounds like a regular mystery," Jubilee said with a mystified look on her face. "How odd for it to just spontaneously combust.""Your universe is a strange one at that," he agreed, grinning."It's best not to question it," Jubilee said with a nod.He laughed and kissed her forehead. "I'm glad to have you back, Jubilee. Do please try not to get yourself in such trouble again. I'm trying very hard to keep my word to Scott, but it's so difficult when the light of my life finds herself in trouble so often.""This wasn't even my fault," Jubilee replied. "And so you know? Scott's rule doesn't apply to Logan's enemies." She looked around as Logan smirked her way. "That's Logan's rule.""Ah, well, had I known that, I would have detonated her," Noh said with a light wave. "That seems a good solution.""Next time," Jubilee said with a little smirk before she made room for him to slip into bed with her.He snuggled her and then kissed her forehead again. "Now that you are recovering, I think the most lasting injury left is to poor Nightcrawler's plans for the wedding," he told her at a teasing whisper, indicating Kurt with a tip of his head as the X-Man in question was sitting beside Kate with his tail around her ankle and pushing her hair back with one hand."We'll reschedule," Kate said in a soft mumble. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she was clearly awake now as she moved to snuggle into Kurt rather than wake up the rest of the way.Kurt let out a breath of pure relief when he saw that Kate was awake and kissed her first and foremost before he even thought about responding to her commentary. "Yes, I suppose we'll simply have to find another date, another place — and do a little better with our security arrangements," he said with a glance at Noh, who was already nodding."Did … that sounded suspiciously like someone saying I was right," K said quietly as she turned her head Kurt's way, joining the others in consciousness at last. "I'll try not to tease too much.""You jinxed it," Kate accused her, leveling her index finger K's way. "That's what this is.""I did not — I warned that something awful would happen," K replied as she too moved to one side of the bed for Logan to join her, though he didn't join in any part of the conversation as he instead pulled her closer, wrapped her up tightly, and quietly told her to quit picking on Kurt."We'll just have to go somewhere that's not evil Canada," Kate teased gently. "That was the mistake." She snuggled into Kurt with a little smirk on her face."Canada is not evil," Logan said. "Quit feeding her crazy.""It's not me. It's evidence," Kate countered.Logan gave her a dry look and shook his head before he nuzzled in, his conversation with K quiet enough that the only reason they even knew it was going on the fact that they could see him talking.Kate shook her head at that and decided to follow his lead and nuzzle into her own Elf — and promise to help him with the second wedding planning process as soon as she felt a little better.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It had been about a week since the failed wedding attempt, and everyone was still on edge about the whole thing. Kurt was trying to get a second wedding set up, while Noh, Scott, and Forge were putting their heads together to seriously step up security this time around — both at the venue hidden away in the forest near K's cottage and at the mansion itself to keep anyone from finding out where they were going in the first place.So when the intruder alarm went off a few hours before dawn, Noh was awake in an instant, swearing in Kree under his breath as he saw that the alert had been triggered inside the mansion — which meant whoever it was had already managed to get in under the radar and past his perimeter security and outer defenses. And that simply should not have been possible, since his systems kept out anyone with nefarious intent, using psionic tech to drop any ne'er-do-wells in their tracks.Or at least, that was what he thought he'd set up.The alert had been sent to Scott, too, and while Noh was faster getting down to the lab, Scott wasn't far behind — barefoot and bed-headed and looking annoyed. But when he burst into the lab, where the alert had been triggered … no one was there but Noh and Hank."What's going on?" he asked the Kree fighter with a frown as Hank looked over his lab to see what had been disturbed.Noh had settled into a seat at Hank's desk and was glaring at the computer. "This was still on when I arrived," he said frankly. "It seems whoever came here accessed several medical files — I'm compiling a list for you as we speak. Multiple files were downloaded; I will have the full details in just a moment.""Well, who was it?" Scott asked, looking past Noh at Hank, who looked frustrated as he shook his head."Our intruder didn't leave a trace behind — not even a foreign scent we could follow," Hank said, clearly annoyed, not to mention how insulted he was that his lab had been disturbed."Is it worth waking Logan up for?" Scott asked, already wondering if this had anything to do with the recent almost-wedding — or if this was related to K's missing time — or if it was something else entirely."Considering his is one of the medical files downloaded from here, it may be," Noh said with a sigh as he pushed back from the desk. "The list is… unsurprising, given recent events. You're on it, and so is your wife and Charlie …. as well as my Jubilee, Logan, K, Kate, Kurt… it's simply a list of who has been most recently kidnapped, honestly.""Wait. Charlie and not Chance?" Scott asked with a little frown as the gears clearly started turning.Noh checked the computer files one more time and nodded. "That's what I'm seeing," he said."Then I guess we know who our intruder is," Scott said as he ran a hand through his hair, looking more and more upset as he thought it over and turned to Hank with an almost forlorn look on his face. "And I'm going to guess that Chance doesn't have the X-gene."Hank looked up at Scott with a frown already following Scott's line of thought. "No, he doesn't," he said thoughtfully. "Only Charlotte has it. After your last run-in with Mr. Sinister, I took a few blood samples to be sure he hadn't changed them in any way."Scott nodded, and it was easy to see his clear disappointment — not with Chance, of course, though he had to admit to being a little put out that he wouldn't be able to teach his son how to use his powers… but with the simple fact that he knew exactly who would be interested in only his kids with the X-gene. "It's hard to safeguard against someone that can teleport," he said before he let out a sigh and turned back to Noh. "There's nothing wrong with your security, Noh.""And yet this has happened," Noh said, gesturing to the computer with a look of distaste. "Clearly, we can do better.""Well if you can make a trap that can catch Sinister, then just tell me what you need," Scott told him from a deep frown.Noh raised both eyebrows high as he looked Scott's way, though he was clearly thinking it over. "If it is that man, it will be hard to figure out how to stop his teleporting without interfering with Kurt as well," he said with a sigh. "The methods are the same, since he stole it from Nightcrawler… But I can try.""If you tell Kurt what's going on, I'm sure he'll try to help you," Scott said. "He's got a stake in this too.""Yes, everyone whose files were accessed should be made aware," Hank agreed. "If nothing else, so they can be careful and keep out of further trouble, take precautions, etcetera, etcetera.""That's going to be a problem with this list," Scott deadpanned."Well, perhaps for one of the names," Noh said, shaking his head. "But I believe her intended will be sure to step up security measures," he added with a small smirk. "Kurt will too." He ran a hand through his hair and then let out a sigh. "For now, though, let them sleep. There's nothing we can do with our intruder gone via teleportation. I cannot track him."The three men made one last fruitless sweep of the labs — but it seemed that the only thing that had been disturbed was the computer and the files, and there was simply nothing to be learned there that they didn't already know. It was still well before dawn, so they were headed back to sleep when another of Noh's alarms went off — this time a perimeter alarm that meant someone was at the front door.But it likely wasn't a hostile — since whoever it was rang the doorbell an instant later.When they got to the front door, both Noh and Scott were surprised to see that one of the Accusers was standing there, in full armor, but with clearly relaxed body language."Can I help you?" Scott asked with one eyebrow raised."It is I who came to help you," the Accuser — who they now recognized as Sinta, the Accuser who had worked with them fighting the Shi'ar last time, as he took his helmet off — replied easily. "I've come with a warning: your planet is in danger of invasion.""From whom?" Noh asked carefully, his arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe."The Shi'ar," Sinta said frankly. "We've been monitoring their movements since their assault on Hala, and it seems with Kree defenses still weakened and the Skrulls scattered, they've decided your Earth is ripe for the picking.""Why don't you come on in," Scott said, stepping back. "You can tell us all about it inside." He looked at Noh for a moment. "I'll call the Avengers and Kitty — maybe the Guardians will get involved if it's big enough.""I'll make sure to work with Tony Stark so that he has access to the intelligence from our ships on the Shi'ar forces," Noh said carefully. "I'd prefer to do that myself. He has long been interested in my technology, and I don't want it to infect Earth's development.""Whatever you say, Noh," Scott said as he walked off, shaking his head at Noh's priorities.With the Avengers as well as the Guardians alerted to the danger, then, Sinta was quick to share what he knew about the incoming forces — which was actually incredibly helpful, since the Kree had spotted the cloaked fleet well in advance of their arriving anywhere near Earth, so they would be able to cut it off at the pass. Still, the fleet was fairly impressive, and by the time everyone had made their way down to the War Room, Sinta's holographic maps were already up to show just how much they had to work with."We'll need all hands on deck," Scott said as he looked down the table full of X-Men once they'd began to outline the general plan. "We can rendezvous with the Avengers on the way — if we play our cards right and hit them hard enough, this shouldn't take too long."K nodded to herself, ready to join in, when Scott specifically turned her way. "K, you'll need to stick with Annie and the twins. They shouldn't be alone." For a moment, Scott very nearly felt bad from the expression on her face, but he also wasn't going to back down. "I'm sorry, but we can't afford to let the mansion be too vulnerable," he told her frankly.But when K still looked downright dejected, Scott made sure after the briefing that he pulled her aside for a moment. "Sinister was here last night pulling medical files, and I don't want Annie here alone to find out what he wanted those files for," he told her quietly. "I need you here, K."She looked back up at him with that same totally betrayed expression on her face and her arms crossed. "Sure. Sit. Stay. Got it."He put a hand on her shoulder. "I really appreciate you looking out for her," he told her honestly. "She feels safer when you're there.""Don't get Logan killed," she said before she simply walked away, clearly shutting him out as much as she could.Scott stared after her for half a second before he shook his head and turned back to the rest of the gathered X-Men — and got them all moving for either the blackbird or Noh's ship.Scott had set up a feed for K and Annie to listen to so they could at least hear what was going on while they were in space. Annie was listening to it nervously, anxiously awaiting news and incredibly grateful for something to do with her worry — until K came through and just flipped it off before she took a seat on the far side of the room. She knew he'd meant it to be reassuring, but it only rang in her ears as a reminder of how positively unhelpful she was to them."Don't you want to know what's happening?" Annie asked as she helped Charlie wipe off the mess that Chance had thrown at her over lunch. Her brother, meanwhile, was crawling around the floor happily — Annie had cleaned him up first because he'd gotten more of the mess on himself than on Charlie."Nope," she replied, leaning back a bit in her chair. "If they wanted to share, they should have had us go. Screw it."Annie let out a sigh and shook her head. She knew that K was having a hard time being left behind, but Annie couldn't go with the team, even if she had been invited. She didn't know how to fight Shi'ar. And she wasn't going to bring her babies to a space battle. "Turn it back on, please," she said, though she was sure to be gentle about it. "I don't want to find out someone's been hurt after the fact."K watched her for a moment before use the remote and flip it on again and started to rise to her feet. "Let me know if you need anything."K didn't get very far, though, because Chance had crawled his way over to her while she was seated, and when she moved to step around him, he looked fairly obstinate. "Pees," he said, big brown eyes staring up at her as he opened and closed his hands in a clear sign that he wanted to be picked up.She let out a sigh as she looked down at the little boy then over to where Annie was very clearly busy with Charlie. "Fine, come with me then," she said before she picked him up and set him on her hip, intent on getting away from the stupid feed.Chance jabbered happily at her as soon as she picked him up, in his own little baby language, gesturing with pudgy hands as if K could understand him with an occasional giggle. He was in a good mood, apparently, even if K was still annoyed at the situation in general by contrast.She sat down with the little guy in the living room as he continued to 'talk' to her, and she just nodded along and pretended she was following whatever story he was trying to tell her — until very suddenly, it wasn't Chance that she was holding.She wouldn't have known that anything was wrong otherwise, because she wasn't aware of having missed anything. But it was unmistakably Charlie in her arms, and she did not look happy. Her big, brown eyes were wide, and she looked like she was on the verge of a screaming fit, her lower lip jutted out."No, no — don't do that," K said quickly, trying to shush the little girl, bouncing her a bit and snuggling her when that didn't work as Charlie wriggled and fussed and asked for 'mam' over and over again.K headed right for the War Room, sure that Annie would be upset if she also had the wrong twin — and of course, when she arrived, Annie was in there with Chance, who was having a screaming fit, clearly terrified and unable to stop crying despite Annie's best efforts.When K entered the room, Annie looked over Chance's head and looked visibly relieved when she saw that K had Charlie with her, though when Charlie saw how upset her brother was, she followed through on her earlier threat to start crying. And then, both of the twins were having a screaming fit.It took a long time for the two women to get the twins calmed down — and when they finally did, the little ones had tired themselves out. Charlie started to fall asleep on K's shoulder, though Chance was reluctant to fall asleep despite how tired he was until Annie took him over to K so he could see his sister and give her a sloppy baby kiss. He fussed a bit more until Annie fed him, and then, at last, he was asleep, one little hand holding tightly to Annie's shirt the whole time. Still, the twins were fussy even in their sleep, and Annie and K had to be perfectly still and quiet for some time before the two little ones entirely settled out.Once the twins were deeply asleep, Annie looked up at K with clear terror in her gaze that she had somehow managed to hold back for her kids' sakes. But now that it was just the two of them... "What happened to us?" she asked, her voice shaking the slightest bit.K frowned. "What do you remember?"In answer, Annie looked up at the screens, which were still set up to view the battle that was occurring in space. "Before… they had just signalled that they were about to engage the Shi'ar," she said carefully, and K followed her gaze to see that not only was the battle well under way, but all the indications were that the Shi'ar were in full retreat, though the volume was muted.K frowned deeper at that but shook her head, not wanting to scare Annie any more than she was already clearly worried. "And then you noticed the switch with the twins?" she offered.Annie looked like she might burst into tears at that as she nodded. "What happened to us?" she asked again. "What happened to my kids? Chance was inconsolable before you got here… I found him on the floor… I had just been cleaning Charlie up…." Her breath hitched, and it was obvious that the only reason she wasn't having a sobbing meltdown was that Chance was still curled up with her."I don't know," K admitted, though that didn't exactly help with the wide-eyed and terrified look on Annie's face."Should we… Hank went with the others..." Annie said softly, obviously still shaken and worried. "What… what do you think happened to the twins? We were gone…"K watched Annie's terrified expression for just a moment before she took in a deep breath and let it all out at once. "Come on," she said, standing carefully so she didn't wake the sleeping little girl in her arms. "The good doctor might not be in right now, but we can find his apprentice to take a look at the kids, I'm sure."When they did find Tyler, he and Tammy were neck-deep in reading Beloved for their literature class. Tammy had a bowl of potato chips to snack on as she let the book hover in front of her face rather than get the pages oily from the chips, and Ty was reading the book one-handed, his other hand resting on the couch between them as his focus didn't seem to be on what he was reading at all but rather on trying to work up the nerve to bring his hand a bit closer…But when he looked up and saw the distressed look on Annie's face, he quickly stood up, folding down the corner of his book as he asked, quickly, "Are you okay?"Annie shook her head hard, looking again like she might start to cry as she seized Tyler by the hand. "Please," she said softly. "I need you to tell me that the twins are alright."Tyler didn't hesitate when he heard the shake to Annie's voice as he indicated with a little tip of his head that they should go somewhere private, and as soon as they were seated in one of the classrooms that were currently not being used — what with all the teachers up in space fighting a huge invasion — he laid a hand carefully on Chance, frowning the slightest bit when he opened his eyes again. "He's fine," he assured Annie, who looked rather relieved but didn't quite relax."Can you — can you check on Charlie, just to be sure?"Tyler just nodded. "Of course," he promised her as he did the same thing, carefully putting his hand on Charlie's little bitty one, though as he closed his eyes to perform his own scan of the little girl, his concerned little frown turned into something like a scowl until he pulled his hand away and looked up at Annie, who was watching him with both expectation and terror in her eyes."What's wrong?" she asked, though she sounded like she already knew the answer to her question.Tyler let out a breath and shared a quick look with K — who was sure she also knew the answer — before he met Annie's gaze. "Nothing's wrong," he told her. "But ...outside of the bump on her head from hitting the table yesterday morning, and the scraped up knee - someone… recently put a needle in Charlie's thigh. Sorry, but ... I don't know what for. I can't find anything else."Annie looked like she might cry as she held Chance just a little bit tighter. "Just Charlie?" she whispered out, and Tyler nodded."I couldn't find anything on Chance," he assured her, though that didn't exactly seem to comfort Annie, who was settling into more of a glare than the wide-eyed terror look she had been wearing before.She was shaking just the slightest bit, though it seemed to be more out of anger than anything else as her mouth opened and closed — she was apparently trying to find the words to express her frustration. "That… that man," she all but hissed out. "That horrible… that cruel…."Tyler looked to K, clearly looking for an explanation, but K shook her head, and Tyler let out a sigh. "Can you tell me what happened? Maybe I can help," he offered, which got Annie to soften her glare only the slightest bit as she looked over at him."It's the same thing that's been happening a few times before now," Annie told him, tipping her head K's way for a moment. "We lost time.""Both of you?" Tyler prompted, and Annie let out a sigh and nodded."Yes. It's… disorienting," she admitted, glancing K's way. "It's the first time it's happened to me, though. K, on the other hand…"Tyler looked between the two of them before he held out his hand for Annie. "Can I…?" he asked politely, and when she nodded, he took her hand and did a similar scan for her to the ones he'd done for the twins."Well?" she prompted when he opened his eyes again."You've got a few more pinpricks than Charlie, but… that's all I can tell you," Tyler admitted. "Sorry ... I wish I knew more.""No — thank you for trying," Annie said, putting a hand on his shoulder with a little bit of a smile despite the fact that she was clearly fighting against a heavy glare."Can I ask… what's going on here?" Tyler asked hesitantly. "I thought we didn't know what was going on, but it sure sounded like you had an idea.""More like a suspicion," Annie admitted, glancing once more at K. "Scott's suspicion — after the break-in last night.""I didn't hear about that," Tyler said, his eyebrows raised."Well, it was the middle of the night — and then everyone went off to go fight aliens," Annie said. She looked almost apologetically his way. "I'm sure Hank would have told you if he hadn't left for that.""Well, I mean ... I'm not part of the team yet," Tyler pointed out with a sheepish smile, and Annie just shook her head."No, no, it's — the break-in happened in the lab," she tried to explain. "Someone stole the most recent records for… well, just about everyone who was snatched by that horrible Sinister man before."Tyler frowned at that and was just working up to something like a glare before K spoke up, "Not yours, though, Kitten Whiskers," which relaxed his glare for all of a second before he looked more concerned for the two of them all the same."And you think he came back this morning for you guys?"Annie let out a sigh, her gaze hard as she looked down at the sleeping little boy in her arms. "That man… he isn't interested in Chance," she explained. "He only wants to study mutants."Tyler's eyes widened for just a moment in understanding. "And since Chance doesn't have any marks on him…""That man is just… ugh." Annie slipped into a full-on glower as she looked up to meet Tyler's gaze. "I hate him.""You can't be insulted that he's not interested in him," K said with a frown, as reasonably as she could."No," Annie said quickly. "No, I'm relieved, to be honest. I wish he'd leave them both alone." She let out a long breath. "But there's something wrong with a man who… last time, he was so…""Invasive? Possessive?""Yes, that," Annie said with a nod. "And condescending." She shook her head hard as she looked over at K. "Don't get me wrong. I'd rather he wasn't interested at all — but he… I just hate that he…" She threw her hair back and let out a loud noise of frustration. "There's nothing wrong with my little boy."K frowned as she watched Annie get more and more upset, and she let her shoulders drop. "Sorry," she said. "I blew my shot.""At what?" Tyler asked curiously."Taking his head off," she replied. "I didn't finish the job.""From what Scott's told me about that man, you came closer than most," Annie said."Close didn't get the job done."Annie reached out to put a hand on K's arm. "Next time," she said with a tight smile."Yeah, I won't be on that detail," K muttered whisper quiet under her breath.Tyler looked between the two women for a moment with obvious concern. "Can I… do you need anything else?" he offered at last when the two of them seemed to simply be sharing a moment.Annie shook her head at him, smiling sweetly. "No, thank you — you've been a big help, really." She squeezed his arm quickly. "Don't let us interfere with your studies. I'm sure you and Tammy have plenty of homework to get to," she said, though her smile had her eyes twinkling at that, and Tyler looked a bit pink."Just, um, let me know if you need anything," he said, still slightly pink, before he headed back to the living room.Annie looked after him for a moment before she turned to K with the beginnings of a smile. "I'm glad he's joining the team," she said."Don't try to fix him up," K told her with a frown.Annie just laughed and shook her head. "If I tried to play romantic counselor to all the teenagers in this school, I'd be far busier and stressed out than I am now," she promised. "I just think it's... sweet.""I don't think you want to do that for all of them. Just the one. But let him figure it out on his own.""I won't push," Annie promised, still smiling. "I'll just… tease. It really is sweet."K shook her head at Annie, not believing her in the slightest. "Are you okay now, or do you want company still for the next twenty minutes or so?"Annie thought it over for a moment before she simply nodded. "I think … until the others get back… maybe it would be better if neither of us was alone, all things considered."K let out a breath, nodded, and sat down with her. Charlie was still trying to cuddle with her in her sleep anyhow, so she might as well get comfortable.After the battle with the Shi'ar, most of the ships involved — both belonging to the X-Men and to the Avengers — docked for a short time for repairs, simply because the battle had left its mark on their ships, and everyone was interested in making it home in one piece. And of course, this meant that just about everybody had a chance to recover, stretch their legs, and get a breath before heading back home, so the very large group of heroes was taking the time to do just that.Noh's ship was well on its way to being in perfectly fine shape, given the huge crowd filled with all sorts of emotion that fueled its psionic circuits, and he had promised to take anyone who was antsy about getting home faster home on his ship rather than waiting for repairs on the blackbird and Quinjet — though a few of the psionic circuits on the latest model of the blackbird were speeding along its repairs as well, to Tony's obvious jealousy.It was clear who among the group was ready to get home, as Logan was sitting in a corner with his arms crossed and simply waiting to get the show back on the road, while on the other end of the spectrum, Kamala and Miles Morales seemed to have made it their life mission to talk with all of the people involved, or to at least say hi, because it was their first big teamup like that. All of Earth's heroes — or at least, a huge chunk of them — in one place? It was pretty much heaven for the two youngest Avengers.Thankfully, there seemed to be plenty of energy to share with Thor, who took one look at Kamala and Miles and decided to take them each under one of his arms and to start regaling the story of the battle they'd just seen with them as they got more and more excited about it, seeming to feed off of his enthusiasm as well — though it was slightly self-contained now that they had a target for all that energy.As for the others, well, most of them were helping with repairs — both on the ships and the medical kind of repairs. Natasha had dragged Clint over to get himself seen to after he'd been manning the weapons during the fight when the Shi'ar got in a good hit that blew half his station. She had her arms crossed over her chest and didn't seem to be in any mood to put up with his "I'm fine"s as she ignored his protests to start wrapping him up in bandages.Kate had also found her way over to the other Hawkeye to 'help' Natasha, which mostly consisted of her teasing Clint as Natasha threatened to cut him out of his shirt if he didn't let her see the damage to his chest. Kate, of course, had her own bandages — so there was plenty of teasing about matching Hawkeyes to be had — but it was much more fun to mess with Clint, and she told him so outright.Cap had come over to congratulate Scott and Noh on their hot-shot flying during the battle (as Kamala told it), though the three of them weren't much for conversation as Scott seemed to be firmly in the camp of "get back home as soon as possible" and was more focused on getting the blackbird fit to fly without worrying about making the trip home than he was on Captain America — a first for him — while Noh was trying to help with the Blackbird, since his own ship didn't need his personal attention at the moment.Tony seemed torn on what to focus his attention on, because Billy had offered his help fixing up the Quinjets — and Tony hated having to rely on magic for his tech. But, he couldn't resist trying to wheedle Noh into please sharing some of that Kree tech with him so he could upgrade his ships too. So he seemed to be trying to do both, giving Noh his best impression of a business dealer while keeping half an eye on the floating Wiccan above the Quinjets muttering "Goodasnew goodasnew goodasnew" over and over again.Finally, Noh ran a hand over his ship and looked out over the assembled X-Men and Avengers to let them know his ship was ready to go if anybody needed a ride sooner than later. Kamala was quick to raise her hand at that, then sheepishly explained, "I sort of have a microbiology final tomorrow morning — or… you know. In a few hours? So I'd like to be physically present for that."Hank was also sure to insist that he wanted to get most of those who were fairly injured back as well — including, of course, Clint, but also Bobby, who'd gotten part of a good blast, and Rhodey, who had been close by Clint when their weapons system blew.Logan and Scott shared a look, though Scott was at a bit of a disadvantage since he didn't exactly want to leave the blackbird behind. "I've got it covered," Logan told him.The only indication that Scott was relieved was the fact that it was obvious in his eyes — before he nodded and turned back to the blackbird. "I'll be right behind you.""I'll let Annie know."Scott smiled a bit at that and nodded once. "Thanks. Tell K hi for me.""Will do," he replied as he headed for Noh's ship.A few others came along as well just so that the other two ships wouldn't be too crowded — Miles came with Kamala as they kept up their companionable squeeing over the whole thing, and Natasha stuck by Clint. Not, she insisted, because he was in danger of falling over dead but because she wanted to make sure he didn't do something stupid to pull his stitches. Kurt and Kate also came along, with their army of bamfs, which meant one of them was in Natasha's face with a look that had Logan smirking to himself as Natasha told Clint to stay still while she got some shrapnel out of his arm."Just can't keep your hands off him, can you?" Logan teased.Natasha shot him a dry look and rolled her eyes. "If you know how to get shrapnel out without touching anyone, be my guest.""Too bad we left Rachel with Scott," Kate said, wearing almost the same smirk Logan was."Deny all you want to everyone else," Logan told her. "Can't lie to me. This is your favorite part of the mission.""For spacebound missions where I don't get to get my hands dirty?" She smiled sweetly at him. "Of course this is my favorite part. I'm involved.""And for earthbound ones. Any excuse to touch him and act like a little mother hen.""'S okay, Nat. You can admit I've got a good — ow!" Clint winced as Natasha pulled out a more deeply embedded piece of Quinjet from his arm."Oops," she said innocently, and he rolled his eyes at her."You know the mean little girl on the playground?" Logan said as he leaned toward Clint. "This one never grew outta that phase.""Don't gotta tell me," Clint grumbled. "We used to date.""Maybe you oughta double check that you're not again," he replied."Hey." Clint shook his head as Natasha looked slightly pink. "I may be an idiot, but I think I'd notice if I was dating Nat." This didn't seem to have the effect he'd intended as Natasha looked that much more like she wanted out of the conversation."No you wouldn't." Logan leaned back with his arms crossed, then tipped his head toward Natasha. "Or you'd notice her blushing like that.""Prekratite draznit glupuyu," she muttered through clenched teeth, shaking her head at Logan."Nyet," he replied easily as one of the bamfs hovered over his shoulder and shook his head fervently in agreement with him.Clint looked between the two of them for a second before he got a little grin on his face and looked Nat's way. "So .. dinner and a movie later?" he asked, only half teasing.She raised both eyebrows at him like she could hardly believe he'd just done that. "Chto ty delayesh.""She'd love it," Logan said with his eyes closed."What I'd love is for everyone who's not currently being treated for injuries to leave — before I start inflicting reasons for you to be here," she said half under her breath and clearly looking at Logan in particular."If that's what you gotta do to feel better — go for it." He cracked one eye open in her direction and waited for her reaction.She held his gaze for a moment before she simply yanked out the last piece of metal from Clint's arm. When he yelped, she smirked at him for a second and handed him a small box of Band-Aids with a straight face. "You're all done. Which means you can leave now. Try not to pull anything on your way out the door."Clint smirked as he took the Band-Aids and hopped up to his feet. "Yeah, love ya too, Nat," he teased before he shot her a little two-fingered salute and headed for the door.Logan nodded his way and then gave Nat a little smirk. "That wasn't near as hard as you were makin' it out to be.""You're stirring up trouble just to do it," she accused him, shaking her head, though she had a little smirk of her own.When she walked past, he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to sit with him for a second. "Yeah. So what if I am?"She couldn't help but give him a little smile at that and squeeze his hand. "Stop doing that," she told him low."But you like it," he said back, just as low."Only sometimes," she chuckled quietly."You're a horrible liar.""Oh, yes. Professionally," she said, smirking a bit now before she leaned over and pinched his arm, the smirk wider as she spoke in her lowest whisper. "But for the record — I know what I'm doing with this one.""Then get on with it," he countered. "He ain't gettin' any younger."She laughed and shook her head at him before she gave him a peck on the cheek and stood up to leave, still smirking to herself, though once she was gone, Logan could distinctly hear Kate humming on the other side of the room — to the tune of "Matchmaker." She was grinning at him impishly when he looked her way and simply hummed the slightest bit louder.With most everybody patched up, the party seemed to move from the med bay to the main deck, where the rest of the passengers on Noh's ship were chatting, or drinking coffee — decompressing from the big fight on the way home.Kate shared a look with Kurt before she winked at him and slipped over to where Kamala and Miles were sitting together to whisper something in Kamala's ear that had her turning bright, bright pink and scooting a couple inches away from Miles, who scrunched up his nose at Kate and looked betrayed."What the heck?" he asked her, though she only reached over to ruffle his hair affectionately."Oh, nothing — just warning her about some of the residents on this flight. She's so innocent, and some people have dirty minds.""He-e-ey," Kamala said. "That's not—""Have fun, kids," Kate said with an impish grin as she all but skipped back over to Kurt, who was shaking his head at her."Must you tease them like that?" he asked, even though he was clearly grinning."Like you weren't thinking about doing the same thing. I just had to warn them about the Matchmaker," Kate said with a grin to match his. "He's on a roll today. And he's got a good record, considering you and me."Kurt raised his eyebrows at her as his tail wrapped around her leg. "I'd like to think I had more to do with it than he did," he teased."Well…" She paused and pretended to think about it for a good, long time. "You were dashing with the mid-air rescue," she allowed at last, which got a low chuckle as Kurt started to kiss her gently — just to prove her wrong about who exactly was to blame for their getting together.Of course, while Kurt and Kate were occupied with their 'argument,' Logan had settled down with a mug of coffee only to find that Kamala was looking his way wearing bright red across her cheeks — and then looking quickly away to pretend she hadn't been caught staring. There was about a foot and a half of space between her and Miles at that point, and the poor kid looked utterly confused."You can relax," Logan said in a low, drawn-out tone. "You're actually acting your age. They're like ... 40 and still acting like third graders.""Which ones?" Miles asked, genuinely confused and curious as he tipped his head to one side, though he was clearly wearing a smirk under his mask."Fair point." Logan tipped his head toward Kurt and Kate. "Those two are more like lovesick puppies though.""They don't ever stop," Kamala said with a little bit of a giggle. "I thought they would stop — outside the mansion — but they don't.""They started outside the mansion," Logan pointed out."Fair point," Miles said, the grin obvious. He tipped his head a little further until his ear was practically against his shoulder as he looked over Logan. "So ... you been babysitting the third-graders? Is that why you've got the Parting of the X-Seas going on over here?""Something like that," Logan said as he frowned at his coffee."Hey, what's up?" Kamala asked, leaning forward a bit. "Not used to people avoiding you for reasons other than you might stab them?""You haven't been around much then," he said with a bit of a smirk, though it was certainly forced."Well, we're not scared of your babysitting powers," Miles assured him earnestly. "You're probably easier to deal with in that regard than Cap anyhow.""Yeah, you can sit with us if the grown-up kids are bothering you," Kamala offered with a wide grin."You know. If you want to," Miles added hurriedly.Logan paused for a moment before he lightly shook his head. "I'll leave you two in peace for now."Miles broke into a bit of a grin. "Ooh, we got a 'for now.' Very enigmatic," he whispered to Kamala. "Foreboding even.""Do you want me to pick?" Logan asked as he looked right at Miles.Miles held his hands up in front of him. "Hey. I," he said, drawing himself up even as the grin spread, "am just acting my age.""Careful. Last time that happened, Katie spent about a week as a four year old," Clint called out. "You probably only rank at two.""Pshaw. I'm three at least," Miles said easily, brushing off his knuckles on his suit as Kamala shook her head at him with slightly widened eyes."Please ignore him. He's just… like this," Kamala said Logan's way."A spider?" Logan offered. "They're all like that.""I did start practicing my witty banter in my head after I got my powers," Miles said, resting a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe it's part of the whole Spiderman gig.""Must be," Clint chuckled, shaking his head. "The other Spiderman doesn't know when to leave Wolverine alone either."With that, Logan tossed Kamala one of Jubilee's candy bars and decided to ignore Miles if possible. "Rest up," he advised, heading off to at least try and find some peace and quiet in the meantime.
Translations from Russian:
Prekratite draznit glupuyu - Stop teasing the stupid.Chto ty delayesh - What are you doing.
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As soon as the X-Men arrived in the hangar back from fighting the Shi'ar, there was someone already waiting to greet them. And Annie looked like she hadn't slept a wink as she ran right over to Logan on seeing that Scott wasn't with them. "Is he alright?" she asked quickly."Yeah, he just had to patch up the jet. He's on his way, it's fine. Really," he told her warmly. "How did things go here?"If Logan had been expecting an easy answer to that, he was quickly disappointed when Annie responded by seizing one of his arms with both hands, eyes wide. "Scott was right," she said breathily. "It was… it was Sinister. And he came back, Logan."He looked alarmed as he tried to get the whole story, supporting her as she held onto him. "What are you talking about? What happened?""We don't know. That's the worst part!" she told him earnestly. Her obvious worry and whispered conversation was starting to draw the attention of the other X-Men who had come on Noh's ship. "We don't remember anything — one minute I was with Charlie, and the next, I was with Chance, and K had Charlie, and we were missing a few hours!" She looked downright alarmed as she added in a hiss, "And that man has been messing with my little girl.""Are they alright, or do I need to go find them?" he asked, clearly ready to head right out and tear Sinister open with his bare hands.She shook her head, still holding onto his arm. "No, no, they're asleep. K's with them ... I didn't want to leave them alone. But he… he was only interested in Charlie. He didn't touch Chance, Tyler said. He looked us over when we … when we realized what had happened." Annie held onto Logan a little tighter for a moment before she finally seemed to take a breath, letting go of his arm and looking simply exhausted."Where are they?" Logan asked, already leaving the hangar."Upstairs," Annie said, trailing behind him. "In our room."When they got there, K was curled up with both little ones, who had snuggled up on her in the big bed. Charlie was perfectly content and asleep on K's chest, but Chance was starting to wake up, a little bit squirmy, and when he saw Logan, he smiled and held out his hands. "Pees!" he half-demanded.Logan barely hesitated before he picked him up — though he was a bit surprised when Chance latched on and snuggled in. "You okay?" he asked toward K, who simply shrugged in response."Same old, same old," she replied. Logan looked disheartened by her answer and took a seat in the chair nearby."That's not what I was hoping to hear," he said quietly, but K shrugged one shoulder."That's what you get for hoping," K said dryly.Logan frowned a little deeper at that and decided that getting her alone would be the best option. "You want to go to bed?"K looked toward Annie and just tipped her head toward Charlie, who was starting to stir as well. "If you can get her, I can leave you be."Annie smiled slightly as she headed over to where K and Charlie were curled up. "You know, she's pretty picky about who's allowed to hold her," she said with a soft smirk. "Let alone who she'll sleep on.""Sure she is," K muttered, though at that, Charlie looked up at her with a sleepy frown and reached one hand up to cover her mouth and say 'shhh' very insistently.At that, K gave her the tiniest of low growls and pretended to nip at her hand, which got a giggle and a 'no' as Charlie shook her head at her. K gave her the growl again but kissed her little palm instead of nipping.Annie watched the whole exchange with a growing smile. "I don't know," she said with a teasing tone to her voice. "I think Charlie's happy where she is.""She'll be happier with you."Annie chuckled at that and very carefully took Charlie, though not before the little girl absolutely insisted on giving K a very wet baby kiss. Annie tried to do the same for Chance, but the little guy flat-out refused and just tried to snuggle Logan harder, shaking his head obstinately with a glare worthy of the Summers name any time his mother tried to get him to let go.It was another little while before the rest of the team arrived in the blackbird, though the little ferals were still in the room with both Annie and the twins when Scott arrived and blinked at all five of them in mild surprise before Chance finally released his grip on Logan and held out his hands for Scott with an insistent "dadadada" that continued until Scott scooped him off of Logan's shoulder and he snuggled right in."You know about what happened?" Logan asked.Scott nodded, his gaze on Annie with a little frown before he looked K's way as well. "Kurt filled me in on the basic overview, but I was hoping to get a few more details on what went down.""Good luck with that," K replied as she headed toward the door. "Welcome back.""I don't think you understand," Scott said. "You need to try and tell me what you can remember — anything at all.""What? Are you after a debriefing?" K asked with a frown. "I was under the impression that was for missions. All I did was to sit here and be … screwed with." She shook her head hard and started to leave again, though Logan looked as if he wanted to hear her version of events too."Look," Scott said, crossing his arms as he looked her over. "I know you don't remember it, but anything — anything you can give us would be a lead at this point, even if it's subconscious.""Oh. Well. That should be easy … consciously remembering something subconscious. Tell you what," K said with her eyes narrowed. "I'm out. Off the team for the duration, anyhow. So this?" She gestured around the room. "This wasn't an assignment. It was a favor. I have nothing for you, so just — back off."Scott matched her narrowed-eyes look with one of his own. "So that's it? You have to go on medical leave, so why try? Didn't realize healers were so thin-skinned when they have to sit out for a while.""Let's get one thing straight right now — I can fight circles around you any damn day of the week. You pushed me out. Both of you." She turned toward Logan too. "If you're right about Sinister — and I'm not saying I believe it — then he's targeting me too. While you're tying my hands. I. Have. Nothing to add to this fight.""Sinister is targeting you, and that's exactly why you need to see if you can remember anything, before or after or anyting in between," Scott argued. "We still don't know anything — we need leads." He gestured to K with the hand that wasn't holding Chance as the little boy looked wide-eyed between the two arguing adults. "You're still in this fight. You don't have to stab things or hit them to be part of the team. Or is that all you think you add to this team?""What else have I ever been asked for otherwise?" she shot back. "You two — you don't want my help on the grounds that it's too dangerous, but tell how I'm safer. Please.""You'd rather be out somewhere no one will notice if you go missing for hours at a time? Days at a time?" Scott was glaring hard, a slight red to his eyes starting up at the corners. "Because one of these times, Sinister's going to decide he doesn't want to give you back, and that's when your team comes in handy." He shook his head at her. "He's not interested in you. You're dead weight in about five, six months to him.""So what's the difference between your outlook and his? That's my main reason to keep breathing right now, right? Or do you need some live bait?"Scott actually had to take a breath and close his eyes at the red flash that started up — he was that furious. He dug in his pocket for his glasses as he said through gritted teeth, "If you think …. if you honestly think I'm — the X-Men are anything like Sinister… you clearly don't know anyone on this team. At all.""All I know is that this guy is going to do whatever the hell he wants regardless of what you do. If you're right about the rest of it? I don't have much to look forward to, do I?" She didn't look overly emotional about any of it as she stormed toward the door."So you're giving up again. Typical," Scott half muttered to himself, though neither of the ferals missed it."Over the damn line," Logan growled out between his teeth, looking every bit as furious as Scott had ever seen him."Yeah?" Scott glared his way. "Then tell me I'm wrong.""No, you're not," Logan said with a shake of his head. "But she's not either.""On which part?" Scott asked, still obviously angry. His hands would have been in fists at his sides if he wasn't holding onto Chance, who was pouting at the angry tone of the adults around him.Logan looked torn between furious and flat out disappointed. "This is what he wants, and neither one of you are smart enough to see it. It's not about you, Scott.""No — this time it's about them," Scott pointed out, sweeping his arm out toward Annie and Charlie as well as K. "Believe it or not, I figured that out myself, thanks.""Then maybe don't tear down the pregnant girl in the process," Logan growled out."Right. How dare I ask her to be part of finding Sinister. She hasn't been asking to be part of missions or anything," Scott said with a glare."You're an idiot, and I'm not going to argue with you about this. I'll let Annie try to explain. The girls have spent enough time together for her to get it. But I'm done before I hurt you.""Get out of my room," Scott said through his teeth."Nothin' I want more," Logan countered as he took a hold of K to lead her out, but she stopped short and pulled her arm out of Logan's hands to turn back to Scott."I'm not trying to block you. I can't remember what happened. It's just not there. Bring in Rachel if you think I'm lying to you, since you don't sound like you trust me. I don't care. But there's nothing there to see," K said, looking frustrated as Logan once again took a hold of her arm, and the two of them headed right to their room — Logan already having decided it was high time for some distance.That next morning, Scott was still in a bad mood — not just from the previous night's fight but from everything Annie had told him happened. The lost time, the fact that Sinister was focusing on Charlie, the fact that they couldn't figure out how to keep it from happening…So, he got up early and decided to head out and check over some of Noh's security measures while everyone else was still asleep and the sun was hardly up. He walked the perimeter and ran some checks, just… trying to do something that felt semi-useful.He honestly hadn't expected anyone to be up this early as he followed the perimeter alerts system and then went into the grounds, planning to start at the barn and move across from there — so when he saw that K was up as well, he almost just turned right around, not in the mood to deal with her. Until he noticed that she seemed … off.She had clearly finished all the barn chores. The horses were all happily enjoying their hay, but she was half tucked behind a bale of hay with her knees drawn up to her chest.Considering everything that had happened, he couldn't help but jump straight to concern as he approached her. "K?" he called out to her, not wanting to startle her and get claws in the chest. "Are you alright?" But when he made his way over and she looked positively ill, he dropped straight into a crouch beside her. "K, what's wrong?" He paused and frowned, openly looking her over for injury with the sinking feeling starting to strangle his chest. "Did something happen?"But she just shook her head and buried her face in her arms.He frowned deeper at that and scooted a bit closer. "If you're feeling sick ... if something's happened ... if you need something…" He was honestly worried now at the little tucked up feral in the barn, convinced Sinister had done something to her that was lasting. When she just tucked in a bit further, he reached out carefully, his hand hovering uncertainly over her arm. "K, can you hear me?"Her hands balled into fists, the fabric of her sleeves clenched up in them as she all but trembled. When he repeated her name again and very carefully rested his hand on her arm, her head popped up enough for him to see the clearly devastated look on her face an instant before she unfolded herself enough to slide over to him and melt into his chest and fall into a total breakdown.He was totally caught off guard by the reaction and didn't know what else to do except pull her into a hug and let her cry it out, completely at a loss as to what was wrong and still half-worried something had been done to her. He was racking his brains for something to say, knowing that "you're safe" wasn't going to cut it when Sinister was apparently traipsing in and out of the mansion whenever he wanted, so he finally settled on, "I'm here."She was still leaning on him and totally silent, so he tried to come up with something comforting again. "I swear ... we're going to figure out how he's getting in here, and we'll stop him. Somehow."But she just shook her head and started to draw herself smaller again. He let out a sigh and pulled her a bit tighter, still very much out of his depth, before he simply shook his head. "Yeah, I know. I don't really believe that either. But we've gotta believe it anyway. Or there's no point — and he wins.""He already won," she half whispered."K…" He shook his head and just pulled her as tight as he could into the best hug he knew how to give. "I'm sorry. Really. He's… I'm sorry."At that, she finally wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him back, though she was shaking the tiniest bit. "If it's not him ... he's not the only one.""If it's not him, we'll find out whoever it is and I'll personally make sure they never bother you again," he swore."Not your problem.""You're on my team — so yeah, it is," he told her with a small smile, relieved that she was at least talking. That was a good sign. "And besides, you're also my friend. So even if you weren't, it would still be my problem." He let out a sigh and tried to hug her tighter as she just sort of frowned. "I'm sorry I can't stop him. I wish to God I could.""You're a good guy, Scott."He tried for a little smile her way. "Annie's worked hard on keeping me there," he said with a smirk. "Couldn't do it alone…. You don't have to either, you know. I don't mind getting cried on when you need it." He hugged her again before he added, "I can't stop Sinister — but I think... maybe ... the team can. We've got a pretty good one."She frowned a bit at that. "You should probably tell them that.""Yeah, maybe you guys need to hear it more often," Scott said. He let out a breath and looked down at her before he simply decided that, while she was there and obviously upset, he'd try to repair what damage he could — while it was just the two of them. He wasn't sure if talking to her was helping, but he just… couldn't watch her fall apart. "I've got one team member I know I screwed up with. She thinks I only want her on missions for the heavy lifting, like I don't know she's got the intelligence and training for just about anything. I'm not sure how that happened, but she's got it in her head pretty tight that I think she's useless right about now." He tried for a smile. "But you know, I could really use her help.""I'm sure you'll do just fine," she said dryly."Oh, yeah. I've got a stellar record so far," he said, shaking his head before he looked a bit more serious. "Really, K, I could use your help. I've seen your file. I know you've done intelligence work, and this — there's so many different leads we could chase when we've got nothing to work with. I really could use some help sifting."She shrugged a bit and nodded to herself.He bit the corner of his lip for just a second before he let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I know. It's boring, and it's not my favorite thing either. Those couple of weeks before Alex had me back using my powers at all? I hated that intel work when I wanted to be on runs with the team. But it's something to do, you know?" When she still didn't seem to be convinced, he tried to grasp for something else to help. "I still want you on the team, K. Please."She nodded her head silently, though she didn't look up at him.He let out all his breath. He had officially run out of things to say — he couldn't think of anything else that might help. So, he let her lean against him and just… stayed there, settling in to just do whatever he could to make sure she felt safe, even a little bit.The usual coffee time was nearly over when the two of them headed back up to the house. There was no way Scott was going to leave her there alone to stew in her thoughts, and it was a little bit unnerving how easily she managed to hide the fact that she'd had a solid cry, though it was obvious right away that she hadn't gotten off entirely when Logan handed her a cup of coffee.The frown he'd worn turned almost into a scowl when she took the mug, and Scott was sure he was going to catch the fact that K had been crying — but that wasn't apparently the thing bothering Logan. "Why the hell do you smell so much like Scooter?" Logan shot a glare Scott's way over her shoulder as he pulled K a little tighter."He was handy. Made himself useful," K replied before she wrapped her arms around him and just laid her head on his shoulder.Logan nodded to himself and simply kissed the side of her head without another word spoken about it, perfectly content to go back into the usual swing of things from there.….It had been almost two weeks since the big Shi'ar battle and since K's quiet breakdown, and ... nothing had happened. It was wonderfully normal for a good, long time, where the only thing anyone was concerned about at the mansion was midterm season and (at least for some of the teachers) taking bets on whether or not certain students were going to go on dates to the Halloween party at the end of the month.Kate may or may not have been heading up the betting pool, and it may or may not have mostly been centered around her favorite little blond healer. She wasn't going to say either way — even if she grinned like a loon anytime anyone asked.But that afternoon, her focus wasn't on Halloween party planning, or on helping Kurt pull together a second attempt to get Logan and K married, or on chasing around after Chance, who had up and decided to try walking one day just because he felt like he could get closer to your face to shout his 'pees' declarations to be picked up — even if Charlie was content to make people come to her.That afternoon, Kate had a mission, and she was so going to get K out of the house.She was even taking Clint's car, just so Scott couldn't get mad about 'recognizable vehicles.' At least Clint's car was only recognizable to tracksuits, and if they ran into those guys? It would be fun. They'd trash the jerks and go get ice cream to celebrate.She waited for K's riding class to finish up before she all but skipped out to meet K on her way in from the barn. "Hey, you are coming with me, my friend. It's time I did my part in the wedding planning process.""Just do whatever," K said. "You don't need me for anything outside of showing up on the day.""That's what you think," Kate said with a grin as she slipped her arm through K's. "But if we're going to get you fitted for a wedding dress, I do actually need you to be there. It's one of those few things we can't do without you." She leaned forward with a little teasing grin. "And just so you don't feel all put upon, I even scheduled one for me too so the ladies at my favorite dress shop aren't all… fawning over just you. Scale back the attention, you know?"She looked a little taken back. "Oh," she said quietly. "Really?" She scrunched her face up."Really really," Kate replied. "And you're going to look amazing.""I'll look passable," she muttered."Well if you can't take a compliment, at least promise me you'll compliment me on mine," Kate teased lightly. "I'm vain, you know.""That's an entirely different story.""Oh good. I was worried for a second there," Kate laughed. She pulled her arm tighter through K's. "Come on. I stole Clint's car. Let's change all his presets." With that, she pulled K along with her, grinning broadly.She didn't tell K that she'd had to pretty much promise the world to the boys back in the mansion to get an outing with just the two of them, though. Oh, no. There would be no mention of the fact that she was checking in with Kurt at regular intervals or anything like that just to be safe. No — today was supposed to be about wedding prep, and it was going to be amazing.When they got to the dress store, it was obvious Kate had been there plenty of times. She knew all of the girls there by name and was chatting with one of them about how her little toddler back home was doing as they pulled out two long garment bags that must have been the dresses. Kate turned the full force of an excited grin K's way and directed her to the nearest changing room. "You first. I want to see the look on your face. It took me forever to pick this one out."K wasn't exactly sure what Kate would have picked out for her, though she'd been assured enough times that it wouldn't be "gaudy" that she wasn't too worried about something… huge.What Kate had found was ... pretty simple and elegant, actually. The dress itself was made up of simple, draped silk, with delicate floral lace over the entire dress as an overlay that extended beyond the hem like a second, more ethereal layer floating beyond it. The biggest detail was that it was both sleeveless and had an open back detail— but that was all the design that went into it. Otherwise, it was … very understated and was going to look gorgeous in the autumn leaves.K stared at it on the hangar until one of the shop ladies asked if she needed a hand. But she quickly called back that she was fine, though she was reasonably sure that it just wasn't going to work out right, even as she stripped down and slipped into it.One of the seamstresses slipped into the room and offered to zip her up as K very quietly took it in. Kate had really done her homework on this one. The cut was flattering and even a little old-fashioned. It fit the wedding as a whole, quite frankly, but she simply wasn't emotionally prepared."K?" Kate called from outside. "Does it fit? Do you like it? It doesn't suck, does it?""It's charming, Kate. And it fits today …""Great! Come on out and give me a twirl. I can totally ask everyone else to leave if you're shy," Kate said, grinning."I'm not that shy or dramatic," K replied."Then lemme see how it looks on you," Kate insisted. "And then I swear you can take it off again after they do all the measurements if you need alterations and stuff, and I won't make you wear it again until day of.""Kate... I doubt anything is going to work at the rate we're going," K said, though she did step out, her eyes on the carpet.Kate let out a little delighted giggle when she saw K, and she clapped her hands together underneath her chin with a wide grin. "Oh, you look gorgeous. Yes. Yes, this is the dress. And this is the wedding. It's totally happening this time, just because it looks perfect. Seriously."K peeked up at her, though it was clear she thought at least part of Kate's statement was off. "I think you're being a little optimistic.""Honey, I fight bad guys with a stick and a string. I live in the land of optimism." Kate grinned. "Alright. Let's get you all sewn up and then you can tell me I look horrible.""What makes you think it won't work?" Kate's seamstress asked as she started pinning and pulling at the dress K was wearing. "You're not on a deadline, are you? Outside of the wedding day, that is."K took a deep breath and glanced at the seamstress. "I'm due in April," she said frankly. "There has been some insistence on getting it done well before."The woman frowned and stepped back to look at her more critically. "No you're not," she said with a little smile. "You're not showing yet. Your dates must be off.""They're not," K replied."You're just teeny tiny. With a teeny tiny little one," Kate teased. She shook her head at the seamstress. "Wedding's real soon — she'll be fine.""Well how soon?" she asked. "If she's that far in …""I'm not jinxing it. Just trust me on this, Ella," Kate assured her."Alright," Ella replied with an easy shrug. "Maybe you could tell me when you need these alterations done?""Couple weeks," Kate said. "Told you it was a rush job — sorta." She rubbed the back of her neck with a sheepish grin before she looked past Ella to K. "You'll look totally amazing.""You're overly generous.""It's just cuz I love you." Kate positively beamed at her. "Who else can I get to give me an honest assessment of mine? I mean, besides America, but she's in space."K gave her a bit of a smile and waited while the seamstresses finished up their pinning and notes. "Do it, Hawkeye."Kate beamed at her. "Stay right there," she said, holding up her hands. She slipped into the nearest dressing room to change into her own dress — which she needed a bit of help with. She was going for the full cathedral-length style, so there was… lots to it. But when she emerged, she was positively giggling with delight. The top was almost the same cut as her usual uniform, though with sheer lace sleeves, and from the neck to the top of her bodice was clear lace with gorgeous designs in it. "Whatdya think?" she asked, holding out her arms."Most beautiful bride ever," K replied with a little smirk."Naturally," Kate said, grinning. "Of course, I brought the second-place with me.""You're delusional," K said as she finally slipped out of her dress and handed it over to be altered."I've been called worse," she said, shrugging up to her ears. "Besides, I think you're mispronouncing 'awesome.'""No, I don't believe that I have ever mispronounced that," K replied. "You're going to knock him for a loop, future Mrs Elf. ""That," she said with a wide, mischievous grin as Ella fussed over the waistline a bit, "is entirely the point, my dear future Mrs. Magnet.""That is not a thing," K told her."It so is. It's okay, though. I know the hug magnet likes to keep it on the down-low.""So low it's not even a thing.""Riiight." Kate grinned at her before she got distracted by Ella and her shoulder alterations. She chatted with the seamstress for a bit until she was all done, and then she had to get a little help getting out again — but finally, the two women were ready to leave.As they headed back to Clint's car, Kate draped an arm around K's shoulders. "So you know, Logan's going to die when he sees you. Not just because of the dress.""Oh?" K asked. "I thought it would be entirely from your dress selection and its magic hiding arts.""No, no. That's just the wrapping. Or didn't anybody tell you that?" Kate said with a confident grin.K put on an expression of pure innocence. "What do you mean by that?"Kate patted K's shoulder consolingly. "It's alright. We'll make sure someone gives you the talk.""Is there a movie version available? My attention span is crap."Kate just snorted out a little laugh and shook her head. "I'll look into it," she promised.
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The planned wedding for Logan and K was in only a few days, and by then, Kurt had just about everyone they knew doing something or other to get it together. After all, even a teleporter with a small army of demons was bound to have a little trouble getting everything perfect in just a matter of a few weeks after the first one was derailed by Viper.Honestly, most of the preparation work that had gone into the first one could be kept the same. Where the real work was — was the security arrangements. Everyone was determined not to let another abduction or another supervillain or anything like that crash the wedding for a second time. Once was quite enough.Noh and Jubilee were already up at the wedding site so that they could scout it out and keep an eye out for any unwanted guests — and Noh had brought just about everything he could think of to set up perimeter alarms in the area for the day of the wedding. And when Natasha had heard the extent of the situation, she had disappeared for a few days and didn't reemerge until she had walked into Fury's office with Viper's most recent location to be absolutely sure that woman was dealing with SHIELD and not trying to wreck a wedding for her 'little uncle.'Scott had also been working like mad trying to figure out a way to keep K from being snatched by Sinister again — though for the past few weeks, she hadn't lost any time, and there had been nothing out of the ordinary at all. It was a reprieve, and they were all glad for it, but they weren't about to rest on their laurels and just assume that their good luck was going to hold, either.Their fearless leader had been having the team run down leads on possible Marauder sightings that K had been sifting through — intelligence reports, rumors, anything. Most of them were nothing but smoke, and the few that were solid were months old. It was discouraging, but the whole team kept right on doing it, because it was something to do.Even the little bamfs were doing what they could to help. They were behaving for Forge and Noh as the two of them tried to put their heads together to figure out something to keep Sinister from teleporting into the mansion, and the bamfs were, once Kurt explained what was going on, more than happy to be the teleporting substitute for their attempted security measures. They even looked appropriately put out every time an experimental measure failed to stop them from teleporting wherever they wanted to go.But still, they weren't any closer to being able to stop Sinister. They still had no idea where he was, or where he was taking K for 'study,' or anything else.And Kate… Kate was half-convinced that she had a good idea on how to fix that.That creep was super interested in the ladies of the X-Men lately, and he was really interested in futzing breeding… So… Kate figured she might give him something new to focus on. Try and draw his attention from K for a little while at least, so K could have a honeymoon….Kate was staring into her coffee mug thinking about the plan and, honestly, working up the nerve for it. She hadn't meant to look so serious — because she didn't want anyone to ask what she was up to. But she must have totally failed at her 'calm' poker face, because as soon as Kurt got off the phone with Jubilee, who wanted his opinion on something wedding-related — Kate hadn't really been paying attention — he sat down beside her with his head tipped to one side. "Is there something on your mind, liebchen?"She tried for a little smile. "I was just, you know ... thinking about the wedding. Really hoping it works this time.""It will," he said, firmly. "In three days' time, they will be happily married, and we can move on to other things," he said with a little smirk her way.She grinned at him and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Of course. How could I doubt you?" she teased, still grinning before she took a deep breath. "I was just… I think I'm going to make a quick shopping run for shoes and jewelry and… I have some ideas.""I'm sure you do," he said, smiling her way, though he had his head tipped to one side as he watched her. She was pretty sure he didn't entirely believe her. Which didn't surprise her, considering how well they'd come to know each other since they started dating.She met his gaze and then broke into a little sheepish smile as she tried to cover. "Yeah, well ... maybe I'll also do some Christmas shopping while I'm out. Buy some presents before we spend our December otherwise engaged," she said, the smile growing into something a bit more mischievous as she leaned over and landed a kiss at the base of his ear — and then just kept going for a bit. It wasn't just a way to keep his attention occupied, either; she was having fun.Finally, she pulled back the slightest bit so she could grin at him. "I think K and Logan's little one needs a teddy bear to match Mom and Dad," she teased."And that's what has you looking so serious this morning? Trying to decide on teddy bear designs?" he shot back, shaking his head at her."Well…" She bit her lip and shrugged. "I don't know if it's a boy or girl? So I'm trying to think of something… perfect without much to go on. The itty bitty is still itty bitty, you know."He broke into a grin as he leaned forward to kiss her nose. "I'm sure you have a guess, though.""I have a wish list," she teased. "I need another little girl around here so we can take over the mansion. Me and Annie and K… Charlie and the little one... and you will all be utterly helpless.""Not to mention — Logan needs a little girl," Kurt agreed with a troublemaking grin."Then that's what'll happen," Kate said decisively, nodding her head the slightest bit as she finished off the last of the coffee in her mug. "He'll be wrapped around her finger, and be a proper hug magnet, all that." With that, she started to stand, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "Yes. Yes. I think this is what has to happen. A little girl… I have ideas for gifts if that's the case… I gotta get on this.""Then what will you do if they end up with a little boy instead?""Celebrate with them, start plotting to turn him into a hawkguy, and put the little pink stuff away for when Noh and Jubilee have theirs. Sparkly little space princess, Kurt. You know it's gonna happen eventually.""I'm sure it will — but again, it could be a little prince."She laughed and had to nod her agreement. "Yeah, it could. But you know with everybody we know… I'm sure somebody is having a little girl somewhere. Heck, Billy and Teddy are thinking about adopting … way down the road; they're not there yet. But I'll start seeding princess thoughts in their heads." She waved her hand carelessly. "And I have ideas, Kurt. Ideas that need to be put into action. Clearly." She popped up to give him another quick kiss. "I'll be back in a few hours, I'm sure.""Perhaps I could join you," Kurt offered.She shook her head. "No, no — you are running a wedding, mister. And besides, what if I find something for your birthday while I'm out? Oh no. No, you just stay here and be the cutest fuzzy wedding planner the world has ever known.""If you insist," he said.She kissed him again for good measure. "Don't you worry — I'm sure you'll love whatever I find for you," she promised, even though she'd already bought his present ages ago. "I'm an evil genius." With that, she gave him a jaunty little wave and headed out the door for the garage — and her little purple car.Before she started up the car, she went to the trunk to pull out the quiver that she kept there in case of emergencies and pulled the tips off of every single tracking arrow she could find in there, slipping them into the soles of her shoes, into the fold of her belt — even one straight up in her pocket — before she also set up the tracking receiver so it would store the data on where she'd gone. She put that in her glove box and then started up the car.It was exactly the kind of thing Scott was yelling at her not to do, really. She didn't park underground but found herself some nice spaces on the curb, and she didn't make any attempt to hide the fact that she was totally by herself.She made a quick stop at the jewelry store to get a couple bracelets she had her eye on that would go perfectly with her wedding dress in December — just so that, if nothing else, she did buy something. And then... she headed for the baby stores.This — this was the most important part of her plan. The going to the baby stores part. And making it look like she was shopping for herself.She was grinning to herself as she searched through the little onesies and other things, occasionally resting a hand on her own stomach for a moment as she looked, in particular, at anything purple. Let anyone who was watching her think that she was looking for a little bitty Hawkeye.She did find a few cute things for K and Logan while she was out, too. The little bib with a smiley face wearing sunglasses was too good to pass up, if only for the fact that she had to get something sunglasses-y for Logan. She just had to. Just to be a pain. And then there were some cute stripey onesies that would work for a boy or a girl that she added to her basket…She spent hours in the stores. Multiple baby stores. And she made sure each time to rest a hand on her stomach and look at purple things and purposefully looked as distracted as possible, not overtly looking for anyone who might be following her.Basically, she was doing anything she could to be a walking neon sign — a big, fat pregnant-lady-target to try and draw Sinister's attention, because with nine different tracers in her outfit, she was going to figure out where his hideout was if she had to shove herself as bait right under his creepy pale nose. Nothing else anyone was doing was working, and Kate was just… so done with watching her friend feel helpless. So. Done.And then she'd take the tracking data and every Avenger and X-Man she could find and trash the place. That would show him.And she was definitely drawing attention. A few of the clerks were giving her surreptitious looks at the checkout lines, sneaking glances to see if she was showing, that sort of thing. It was a pretty darn good ruse, if she said so herself.But four hours of baby shopping later, and not even a hint of a Marauder. Kate was honestly disappointed — and a tiny bit relieved, but that was selfish, so she pretended she wasn't — that no one had taken her bait, and she finally had to let out a huge sigh and stuff her shopping bags into her trunk.Well, if nothing else, maybe I baited the hook. Just… gotta wear some tracers all the time, in case this worked and he's just slow…. Kate sighed and shook her head before she made one last stop to pick up the stunning set of twin rapiers she had custom ordered for Kurt's birthday — and then headed home.She spent most of the drive home a bit frustrated, because she'd really been hoping to wrap this Sinister thing up neatly with a bow for a wedding present. Sure, that was a bit optimistic, but it would have been the best wedding present ever to kick that guy's butt and stop the snatching, so she'd take a little starry-eyed optimism. But her frustration only worsened when she pulled into the garage and saw that Scott was there looking somewhere close to livid with her.She all but kicked the door open and tried to cut him off at the pass. "Yes, I took the car. No, you can't yell at me about it. Go away, Scott.""Where do I even… It's not just the car, Kate!" Scott said, shaking his head and clearly drawing himself up to just get started. "You went out alone, in the most recognizable car this side of New York, without telling anyone where you were going — no backup, no contact… Were you trying to get yourself killed?""No!" Kate shot back, loudly, her hands on her hips. "I was trying to get myself noticed, thank you very much."But that didn't diffuse Scott in the least. In fact, he looked even madder. "Noticed? Who by, Hawkeye? Because if half the people trying to kill you 'noticed'—""Oh, come on," Kate cut in. "I wasn't trying to get killed — I'm getting married in like, less than two months. I was just trying to — look, I'm just trying to get us a decent lead so K can stop worrying!""Sinister?" Scott looked at her nearly open-mouthed as he put it together. "You were trying to get noticed by Sinister?""It's not like he's not already creeping on me," she tried to defend. "And I was wearing, like, nine tracers. I'm just trying to find his hideout!""You can't possibly — why would you — you do not want to draw Sinister's attention!" Scott was beyond livid, hands in fists at his sides, eyes red and nearly shaking. And any other time, that would have been enough to set Kate back a step, since he never stumbled over his words like that, and he was never that mad — not toward her, anyway. But Kate was so done with all of it, with worrying about K, with watching her friend spiral into depression — so much like Clint had done — and this time, she was going to do something about it. Anything."No, I don't want his attention, but I've got it, so why not use it?" she argued, starting to match Scott's pitch and volume as she turned a bit red herself.Their shouted argument was starting to attract attention, too, because the door opened, and Kate saw her friend poke her head in with a frown. "What's going on here?" K asked as she stepped up behind Scott, making sure to gently grab his arm and give him a little squeeze to calm him down."Scott's pissed because I had a plan he didn't think of," Kate snapped out."What was the plan?" K asked with a frown."She's trying to get herself caught by Sinister. It's not a plan — it's suicidal!" Scott said, clearly still upset but not trying to pull away from K either."How and why?" K said, frowning Kate's way as Kurt and Logan both joined the gathering group."Look, I was wearing, like, nine tracers. I had my comm hooked up so it would alert anyone if I didn't check in every fifteen minutes, and it's not like he hasn't gone after me before," Kate tried to explain. "The second I was gone, you would've had GPS coordinates — and we'd be done with this stupid crap."Both Kurt and Logan were staring at her now, and Kurt looked somewhere between upset and just… mad. "Kate... " he started to say, but he couldn't quite find words."That's not all together a terrible idea," K said. "Except for the whole baiting him part." She put her hand out. "Gimmie one. We know he'll get me sooner or later.""Forget it," Logan spit out. "No.""That was the whole point of my going out," Kate said, though she was already pulling out the tracer tip from her pocket to toss it K's way. "So you wouldn't have to. He's screwed with you enough — let me take a fifteen-minute hit.""And he's not going to stop until he has everything he wants," K replied. "I'm a sure thing.""We're not letting him get hold of either of you," Scott argued, arms crossed. "That's — that's not something you ask for!""I'm not asking for it, Scott. But you and I both know I'm right on this one," K said. "He will come back for me. Why not give him more than he was bargaining for?""See? Good plan," Kate said, matching Scott's arms-crossed posture. "We'll have coordinates before he can even get started on his stupid 'testing' or whatever. Just teleport right over and tear him a new one.""Still neet to try to avoid it," Logan muttered, though he looked more resigned to it than anything."It's not a bad idea to wear tracers. Just ... don't go trying to bait him," Scott said with a glare Kate's way."We don't need to bait at all," K said as she gave Scott's arm a little squeeze again, then walked over to Logan and stole a kiss, though the older feral didn't look happy in the least. "Just have to wait."Scott ran a hand over his face for a moment and let out a long sigh. "Right. Well. If nobody else has any ideas about trying to ping Sinister's radar, I think Bobby's finished burning water, and the pizza's on the way," he said at last, obviously trying to get a better hold of himself, but he was still wearing his glasses, so it was clear he was still mad. "Let's just… keep the tracers on and lay low." He added that last part Kate's way, and she jutted out her chin for a second before she purposefully turned away from him to unload the bags from her trunk.She could hear Logan muttering something to K that she couldn't hear well enough to know what he was saying, though she thought she at least recognized the tone, and the body language the two of them were putting out as Logan curled halfway around K protectively was hard to miss. Scott wasn't far behind them as they headed into the house.Kate heard the telltale bamf that meant Kurt was right behind her, but he didn't say anything for a moment as he watched her gather her things. It wasn't until the door was safely shut behind Scott and the ferals that he got started, and even then it was just to take a hold of her arm and teleport them both somewhere a bit more private — back to their room."What were you thinking?" he demanded of her as soon as they were alone, in a furious tone that he had never used with her.She pulled her arm out of his grasp and glared at him for a moment. "I was thinking this is supposed to be a happy occasion, and we're all sitting here just trying to figure out how to keep K from getting snatched. If I can help, that's what we do, right? Help?""Not at our own expense," Kurt said, his eyes wide as he took a step closer. "Not unnecessarily.""It was a good plan!" she insisted stubbornly."You're just lucky he didn't take you, Kate," he shot back. "We've been lucky nothing has been permanent thus far, but Kate — we don't have that guarantee!""You'd have known in fifteen minutes.""A lot can happen in fifteen minutes," Kurt argued, and she just blew out all her breath."But then we'd have caught him. Sic Noh on him — and Logan, and the whole team, and just be done with all this… this stupidity.""Kate." He shook his head at her, looking somewhere between upset and stricken. "Kate, you don't know that.""It's the first real plan anybody's had—""Kate." He shook his head slowly, suddenly still and quiet. "Vögelchen, please."At the change in his tone, she paused and took a step closer to kiss him, though he still looked thunderous when she pulled back to look at him again. "He wouldn't've tried to kill me or anything. I was making it look like I was expecting too. To take the heat off K before the wedding," she explained in her most soothing tones.That didn't quite have the soothing effect that she wanted it to as he stopped for a moment and stared at her. "And what was your plan when he realized you weren't?""You'd be there by then.""Kate." He seized her by both arms and turned her to face him. "You can't ask me to stand idly by while someone I love is being tortured." He looked her right in the eyes. "That on its own is torture.""That's not what—""But it is," Kurt argued. "To allow him to take you, knowing that he would take pieces of you…""That's what he's been doing to K, and we haven't been able to stop it. Maybe I can help. I just… we can't just wait around, Kurt," she said pleadingly. "She's getting married in three days. I just don't want him to screw it up for them.""He won't," he swore. "With everyone on the team — even some who aren't on the team… He won't get to her.""We can't guarantee that. That's the whole problem," Kate argued. "Look, I'd gladly take a hit or two if it meant this creep went down for good. It was a good plan." She shook her head at him. "It still is. K's got a tracker now too. It's a good plan.""It's a good precaution," he said with a sigh. "And hopefully, we never have to use it. I'd rather we were simply able to stop him before he takes anyone." He took both of her hands in his. "We'll figure it out. We always figure something out."Kate held his gaze for a moment longer before she finally dropped the defiant sort of expression she'd been wearing since talking with Scott and nodded. "I didn't mean to scare you," she said at last, very softly.Kurt reached up to cup her face with one hand and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "I love you, Kate," he said softly. "Please… be safe."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Annie was adjusting the loose strands of K's hair for about the fifth time, trying to arrange it perfectly, while Heather had her hands in the folds of K's dress to adjust it the slightest bit so it accentuated her waistline just right, giggling to herself the entire time."Told 'em it would fit you just perfectly," Kate said with a lazy grin as Kitty helped her zip of the back of her own bridesmaid dress."Fluke thing," K argued. "I'm getting fatter every day.""Well then it's a good thing you're getting married today," Kitty said, grinning Jubilee's way for a second before she turned the force of an even fuller grin on K."You are way too happy," K said, fretting over the way the fabric laid across her stomach. "What? Can't wait to marry him off?""No — can't wait to see him happy," Kitty grinned.K turned her way and looked almost insulted. "He's been pretty happy…""He's been over the moon," Jubilee corrected her."Then you've seen it." K tried to get Heather to stop fiddling with her makeup, since it had been done for nearly an hour, but that was clearly a losing battle."Then humor me so I can see him ecstatic," Kitty replied, still somehow grinning even wider than before. "Which he will be in about, oh, as soon as you walk through the trees to meet him there."As the girls grinned and giggled and did their makeup one last time and generally congratulated each other on how good they looked, there was a light knock at the door, and only once Kate called out that it wasn't Logan and so it was safe did Scott poke his head in with a little grin. "We're ready whenever you girls are," he told them.Annie beamed at Scott for a second and made sure to steal a kiss that had him wiping a bit of her brown lipstick off the corner of his mouth before she took a step back — at last — from K. "I think she's just about perfect," she declared."Overly generous with the compliments," K said to Scott. "I think it's a conspiracy.""Well, it is your big day," he pointed out, though he added in an undertone just quiet enough for her to hear, "As long as you still want to. You know it's not too late to cut out." He was mostly teasing, but there was just enough sincerity in his voice to let her know it was still her choice."Do you know how irritated he would be if he heard you right now?" K asked, one eyebrow raised his direction."It's your day too, not just his," he replied, sounding completely unconcerned about it. "I want to make sure you're happy too.""And you're sweet, " she told him before she slipped her shoes on and crossed the room to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm rock solid on him. It's the ceremony part that has me off.""Well, I can't help you there, then," he said with a little smirk."I know," she replied. "Nothing anyone can do.""Well, we'll just head out to go take our spots," Annie said and then ran over to give K a quick hug. "You're going to knock him speechless," she whispered in her ear before she and the other ladies slipped out.Which meant that everyone but K was down at the big, flat rock in the forest — so it was time for K to make her entrance. Once the girls were all gone, Scott turned to K with the widest grin she'd seen in a while to offer her his arm."Have you been drinking already?" K asked. "I'm happy to help you find a safe place to sleep it off."He shook his head and laughed. "No, no," he assured her. "Nothing like that. I just thought you might like a little company walking down the aisle."She paused, the bouquet of white roses and fall leaves not quite in her hand. "You want to walk me down the aisle?""I'd like to give you away," he told her, the smile wide but slightly faltering as he added, "if that's alright with you.""That's actually pretty much perfect," she said with a tiny smile. "If anything knocks him speechless, it'll be that.""It'll be you, but I'm sure I'll help keep him that way," he teased, holding out his arm for her. "Shall we?""Now or never, I guess," she replied before she grabbed the flowers and took his arm. "Lead on — as always."When the two of them stepped out of the cabin, there was no music, as they'd done for previous gatherings. This time, they were relying on the ambient sounds and sights of the forest around them, and Mother Nature was putting on a show.It was late afternoon, and sunbeams were breaking through the brightly-colored leaves. Enough had fallen that the entire forest floor was a carpet of oranges and yellows, and as they headed toward the little gathered crowd, leaves were gently drifting down from time to time, though there wasn't the slightest of breezes.The waterfall crashed quietly on the rocks in a trickle, splashing water onto those foolish enough to get that close to it, but thankfully, the group was small, and it was almost unseasonably warm under the brightly-colored canopy.All of the girls were lined up on one side of the flat rock, with the waterfall and the trees serving as backdrop and decor. Kitty and Jubilee looked as though they were fit to burst as they beamed at Logan.He gave them a little smirk as Kurt laid a hand on his shoulder to draw his attention to where Scott and K had just come out of the thick thatch of red bushes and yellow saplings that dwarfed the fearless leader.He froze when he saw her — not even caring about the fact that it was Scott that was with her — who she was smiling at. He missed what Scott said to K that got her to grin up at him as Scott covered her hand on his arm with his and simply guided her all the way down the aisle.When they reached the rock, Scott couldn't help but smirk at K. "Yep. You knocked him speechless," he whispered in her ear. K gave him a quick kiss and a mouthed out 'thank you' before she took her spot with a very focused and pleased-looking Wolverine.Since Kurt had decided to be the best man rather than the officiant — and didn't look the least bit like he was regretting his decision as he watched his best friend's expression like he was about to float away with happiness on his behalf — he had asked Father Murray to do the ceremony. He was Kate and Kurt's priest, and clearly, the Elf-approved officiant was grinning as widely as if Kurt himself was performing the ceremony.It was clear early on that Kurt had made his mark on the priest's notes, too, since his intro had a very Elf-like touch that had both little ferals glancing toward him for a moment, though Kurt looked as if he had no clue why they would be looking his way.The ceremony as a whole was simple and very straightforward, though when they reached the vows, both Logan and K spoke in such low tones that no one could hear them over the waterfall as they shared very private vows to each other.Noh was smirking from time to time through the vows, but he just shook his head when Jubilee looked at him with a look and a projected message that clearly asked him to share with the rest of the class.Not to mention Clint, who could read both of their lips from where he was sitting — though not a one of them thought that he was going to stand up for a second to the look Natasha was giving him. All it took was for her to rest her head on his shoulder and he was carefully signing out what they were saying just for her as the Black Widow started grinning wider and wider with every word and with every smile that Logan and K shared.When Logan and K at last looked to Father Murray, and he offered the "speak now or forever hold your peace," though, the scene was temporarily stolen by none other than Nick Fury when Kate noticed the one-eyed glare he was giving the entire assembled group, practically daring anyone to have a problem so he could introduce them personally to his boot.But as entertaining as Fury's glaring was, he was completely upstaged by a very impatient Charlie, who was looking expectantly at the little ferals from the second row as she all but shouted out, "Dus' kiss!" and her parents looked downright surprised — seeing as they'd never heard her say that phrase before.And then, as soon as Father Murray declared them man and wife, Jubilee shot out a stream of sparkling fireworks over their head as they shared a kiss — because there was just no way she couldn't, not when her adopted dad was that happy and grinning like that.From there, the little group headed to a pavilion for some food and drinks. Again, they hadn't had to do much decorating, because Mother Nature had a full show on display with the beautiful October leaves, and they could still hear the faint trickle of the waterfall as everyone tucked into the outside meal."Went to an awful lotta trouble just for a picnic. You coulda done that bit in private, Elf," Logan teased once he'd stolen Kurt's flask.Kurt had to chuckle and shake his head at his best friend. "Ah, but this is so much more fun — and it means you get a picnic too," he countered, taking it back once Logan had a good pull.Logan shook his head at him before the two old friends ended up with their arm across each other's shoulders, watching the gathering of friends. "Still," Logan said, "you went overboard."Kurt raised an eyebrow with a grin permanently fixed on his face. "How so?" he asked, his tone clearly teasing. "Were the decorations too much? Far too colorful?" He gestured at the leaves and the trees around them.Logan gave him a dry look as the girls came up to the two of them to steal them back from each other. "Are we done now?" K asked. "Getting the urge to run away into the trees."But before Logan could answer her, Kurt had teleported into more or less the center of the activity with a glass held high to propose a toast to the newlyweds. "To Logan — my best and certainly oldest friend," he said, shooting Logan a teasing smirk for a second. "You deserve every happiness, mein Freund. You've dedicated your life to ensuring the same for others, after all. I thank God that I'm here to see you find the joy you so richly deserve and the blessings ahead of you. Your friendship, steadiness, and constant support — it has been a strength to everyone who knows you, and now, I think I speak for all of us when I say it's the miracle we'd hoped for you to see you with someone just as deserving of happiness and just as steady and wonderful as you are." He beamed at both of them as he raised his glass their way. "May you live long, happy lives — both of you — so that we can show you even a small measure of the kindness and love you've shown all of us."When the little group had all gotten their chances to wish them both well, Scott leaned in and gave K an extra squeeze. "I heard you had issues with Canadians? Why didn't I hear about this sooner?""Because she's Canada-racist," Kate said over K's shoulder with a huge smirk. "We're not encouraging her.""You can't be racist toward a country, silly Hawk," K replied, doing her best to look irritated at Kate, though she wasn't able to drop the smile entirely."Well, I was just gonna say…. That's not an issue now," Scott said with a growing grin."Clearly," K replied with a little laugh. "I did break down and marry him. Didn't even need the shotgun to my head."Scott chuckled as Logan narrowed his eyes at him. "No, that's not it," Scott said, positively beaming now as he turned toward Logan. "You just got married to a citizen on American soil." Scott chuckled under his breath at the look of dawning comprehension before Logan swore and K fell apart laughing as she held on to Logan for support."Did you do that on purpose, Kurt?" K asked as she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.Kurt was grinning wide but had to shake his head. "No, I admit I didn't think about the implications," he said, half to reassure Logan. "And besides, the first one was set in Canada.""Yeah but the laws don't work the same way," K said, grinning, before she gave Logan a long kiss. "At least it's the wolverine state. Take solace, sweetheart."Kate was giggling madly as she looked over the newlyweds' shoulders toward Scott. "And here I am getting married in Germany. I didn't even think," she said with a teasing sparkle in her eyes."Better learn the language quick," Logan advised. "Probably gonna be some kinda qualifying test."She smirked his way. "Was macht Sie glauben, ich habe nicht getan?""And here I thought you only wanted to know enough to seduce him," Logan said."Oh, I definitely learned that stuff first," Kate agreed with a little smirk as she snaked an arm around Kurt's waist."Selektiven Learnprozess," Kurt whispered into her hair with a grin."No shit," K muttered, getting a chuckle from Logan, though both little ferals looked mostly innocent when the two of them looked up at them.Everyone in the little group was more or less fed and watered by then and enjoying each other's company — so Kitty insisted that it was time for the flower toss before K and Logan could slip away."But it's so stupid," K whined at her with her lip curled up."Its traditional — so you have to," Kitty decided. K shot her a little glare before she gave Kate a little wink. When she went to make the toss, she weighed the little bundle of roses in her hand before she tossed it high — and right into Kitty's lap. She then immediately turned her focus on Peter Quill."You're on notice," K said purely to watch Kitty turn a magnificent fuchsia while Kate positively cackled for a moment."It's traditional — so you have to," Kate said through her giggles, which just meant Kitty turned even more spectacular colors.While the rest of the women were giving Kitty a hard time, Logan took K's hand and pulled her toward Kurt. "While they're distracted, Elf."Kurt nodded for a moment before he put a hand on both of their shoulders — and in an instant, he'd taken the two of them off to K's cabin.He stayed just long enough to make sure K wouldn't fall over, though that wasn't much of a concern as Logan picked her up and the two of them slipped off into the little house by the lake.…Translations from German:Was macht Sie glauben, ich habe nicht getan? - What makes you think I haven't?Selektiven Learnprozess - Selective learning process.