Notes from CC: Welcome again to another volume, where we take things to the NEXT LEVEL. (insert malicious laughter here) **cough** No. It's going to be great. Really. ;)

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.