This takes place after Infinity War. If you wanna know who SJ is, head over to SwifteForeverAndAlways' account to read her stories.

Jamie Cortez broke the neck of the HYDRA agent fighting her and tossed him to the side. She was getting really f*cking sick and tired of the a**hole HYDRA agents. "Betsy!" Betsy spun around. She slashed at another HYDRA agent. The agent grasped at his throat as he died. Jamie froze yet another agent. "How many of these f*ckers are there?" She shouted.

"No clue," Betsy shouted back. The X-Men continued to fight the HYDRA agents. Finally, the last HYDRA agent fell. Meanwhile, a little ways away from them, Pyro was finishing off a few other HYDRA agents. One of the agent spun suddenly and grabbed SJ. "Don't hurt her!" Pyro yelled. As he spoke, the flame on his lighter began to flicker like crazy.

"Calm down, flameboy," the HYDRA agent mocked. "Then let her go!" Pyro yelled, the flame flickering more. The HYDRA agent shook his head mockingly. "Make me." A flame shot out from Pyro's lighter. The flame hit the HYDRA agent, setting him on fire. The flame continued through the agent, right to a warehouse behind him. It then exploded; toppling over a building behind it and causing it to fall over.

Pyro shut his lighter, sliding it into his pocket and he rushed forward and hugged SJ. "I'm okay," she murmured. He glanced over at the wreckage. Pyro's heart sunk, Jamie placed her hand to her mouth in shock. Pyro shook his head. "I didn't...I didn't mean..." "We need to go," Scott said. The X-Men bolted. They quickly headed to the X-Jet, strapping in and flying off.

Pyro hung his head. This was all his fault. "It's not your fault," Jean said. "It is," Pyro murmured. "John..." Jean said. Pyro shook his head. "John, this isn't your fault," Scott said. "No one is blaming you." Pyro shook his head. Scott patted his shoulder. Pyro just looked down glumly. The rest of the ride was silent. The X-Jet landed at the X-Mansion. The X-Men got off and headed in.

They were all silent. The mission was still on their minds. It had gone good, but bad. HYDRA had been defeated. But people had died. They hadn't saved people. It had been terrible. Everyone was quiet. "Sorry," Pyro muttered again. "Don't be," Scott said. Pyro just frowned. Scott patted the pyrokentic mutant on the shoulder.

SJ sat next to Pyro, hugging him. "I'm sorry," Pyro whispered. "It's not your fault," she murmured. Pyro looked at her. "Is it? Is it really?" "It's not your fault," SJ said firmly. Pyro sighed. "I just...I just..." SJ kissed his cheek. "I know." "I just...he was going to kill you." SJ just hugged him wordlessly. Pyro sighed, hugging her closer.

The two sat like that. The other X-Men were discussing what happened. "The media is going to rip us apart," Jamie commented. "It wasn't his fault," Scott said. "I know," Jamie said with a sigh. "If Stark finds out about this..." Scott began. "He won't, cause nobody will tell him and nobody will talk to him" "But if he does, you know he's going to call John dangerous and unstable."

"I know, but that HYDRA guy had his wife." "I know, he did what anyone would do." "But Stark wouldn't understand, would he?" "No, he wouldn't." The X-Men sighed. Pyro walked up, SJ with him. "If Stark or anyone wants me..." Pyro began. "He won't get you," SJ said firmly. Pyro sighed. "John, this isn't your fault," Scott said.

"I killed those innocent people." "Not on purpose." "It's like what I would've done with the Brotherhood!" "Except then you would've done it just because! This time it was an accident!" Pyro looked down still. SJ patted his arm. SJ hugged her husband tightly. "You guys can go," Scott said softly. The mutants all nodded and headed to their separate rooms.

Scott sat, sighing. Jean rubbed his shoulder. Scott sighed and leaned into her embrace. "Everything will be okay," Jean murmured. "And if we aren't?" Scott sighed. Jamie watched her brother. Scott seemed stressed out. Jamie frowned. She thought she knew why Scott looked so stressed. When Scott had first discovered his powers, it had been in high school and had caused damage and casualties.

He ended up bonding with Pyro because of it. When Pyro's powers first developed, he inadvertently burned down his house, killing his family. Scott and Pyro had bonded over their guilt. "There's one way to stop Stark from coming after us," Jamie said softly. Scott looked up. "Not Victor...he's insane" "I wasn't going to say Victor, and besides, I'm not sure Pyro would really want his help since..."

"Yeah. What is it?" Scott asked. "We kill Stark, stop this war before it even begins." "Are you sure it isn't revenge? For what he did to us?" "Would you rather have Katana possibly lose one of her best friends?" "No, I just want to make sure you're doing this for the right reasons, not revenge." "Okay that was one...maybe three times I killed for revenge"

"So are you doing this for revenge?" Jamie shook her head. "No. Not really." "I think we should sleep this through," Jean suggested. Jamie, Scott, and Piotr all nodded. They stood up. The four headed to their rooms. Piotr held Jamie's hand in his. He was worried about his wife. She seemed different now. Darker almost.

Piotr made a mental note to keep an eye on her. He also made a note to tell Jean to watch over Scott. With those thoughts, Piotr went to bed.


That night, Jamie had a nightmare. She began to toss and turn. Piotr had to get Charles to wake her up. Charles rolled into her room. "Jamie," Charles said. Jamie mumbled in her sleep again. Charles rolled closer. "Jamie," he called a bit louder. Jamie mumbled again. Charles reached forward and shook her shoulder. Jamie shook her head in her sleep.

Charles shook Jamie's shoulder again. Frost was now covering the room. Jamie bolted awake. "Jamie?" Charles said. "What did you see?"

"I-I think my fathers alive"