Notes: And here we are with Volume 11 (can you believe it?) This one is called "The Traitor, the Avenger, and the Killer," and we're going to hit the ground running!
As always, if you haven't caught up yet, check out our previous volumes (links on my profile and robbiepoo2341's). The most recent one we just finished, was "Marrying an X-Man is Hazardous to Your Health," which … if you're paying attention, the odd numbered volumes are here and the evens are on robbie's profile. Best tennis match ever!
Chapter 1: "Always on Our Anniversary"
With the school year over and summer vacation in full swing, it was no surprise that the mansion was mostly empty. Not only the students but the teachers were taking advantage of the summertime — which had started a bit earlier this year and was already plenty warm — to get in some much-needed rest… and fun, of course.
For Jubilee and Noh, it also meant their second wedding anniversary, and they planned to be gone for a while enjoying the sun and the sand. Noh had promised to take her to "all the best beaches on your planet, according to what I've found in my research."
He'd bought her several new pairs of sunglasses as well as a bright yellow beach hat, a couple swimsuits, and a very cute pink beach wrap in preparation for their trip — and he looked downright pleased when everything fit her perfectly.
For her part, Jubilee had something very different for an anniversary present. She was just… trying to figure out the right time to spring the surprise on him.
The two of them were stretched out on a relatively private beach on one of the Hawaiian islands as Noh simply delighted in rubbing sunscreen into Jubilee's shoulders and back. He didn't burn in the sun, but he seemed to think it was endlessly amusing that "the Terrans own sun is a danger to them — honestly, Jubilee, your Earth is full of dangers."
"Yes, and we like it that way," Jubilee said with a cheeky grin as she batted her eyelashes over her shoulder at him.
"Do you have a preference for the next beach we visit?" he asked her as he wiped the excess sunscreen off his hands onto his towel. "I've been told there is crystal blue water a little west of here — though this beach seems to be already so blue that I fear our next stop may not be able to top it."
Jubilee grinned at him for a second over the top of her sunglasses. "If you have plans, don't let me stop you," she teased, knowing already that Noh would have about five different backup plans to offer her if she even suggested she wanted to go somewhere else.
"My dear Jubilee," he replied with a wide smile to match hers. "I'd be content to simply hide away with you in even the most desolate of places. The locations mean nothing to me — only the company is important."
She leaned over to gently kiss his cheek and then to continue along the line of his jaw. "You always say such nice things," she muttered to him as he grinned that much wider at her.
"It helps that after I learned the dictionary definitions of all your words, I learned the rest from your music — it lends a poetry to your language," he teased lightly. "I think it might have clouded my communication skills, though."
Jubilee laughed and then leaned back for a moment, biting her lip as she looked over her grinning husband. "It's sweet — and I'm sure you'll be teaching all the itty bitties how to write poetry by the time they're three," she teased.
"Oh, at least," he agreed with a solemn tone that didn't match the sparkle of laughter in his expression. "I did promise K that I'd teach little Elin to fly a spacecraft before she could walk — so it seems I'll be busy in my educational efforts if I'm to teach poetry as well."
"Well," Jubes said slowly, her tongue between her teeth for a second as she shrugged one shoulder up to her ear and gave him a very coy smile. "You'll have to teach more than Elin stuff like that."
"Yes, of course. Scott's children and Kate's little girl will be invited to learn anything they like," he agreed, wearing a sideways smirk of his own as he leaned back on his elbows. "But you see ... I must prioritize my little sister."
Jubilee couldn't help but grin at him, shaking her head at how he was completely missing the point before she scooted in a bit closer and snuggled into him. "Yeah, well, you should definitely do that? But you should also start thinking about what you want to teach our little one," she said pointedly, deciding it would be better to take the direct route when he was clearly too wrapped up in other people's happiness to get her hints.
She thought he might have been stunned into silence, the way he went very still for a long time, and she even giggled a little at the fact that he'd lost his eloquence. But when she looked up at him again, she saw he wasn't even looking at her, instead staring somewhere far off, very still, his mind very obviously elsewhere, and she almost pouted. "Noh?" She waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention, a little annoyed that her announcement wasn't going nearly so well as it had gone in her head, especially when her hand-waving didn't get a response either.
When nothing seemed to be working, Jubilee finally sat up all the way, Indian-style, and waited with her arms crossed for him to come out of whatever it was he was into. She wasn't sure exactly what to call it yet, but every single time it had happened so far, trouble had followed. And she had some serious issues with this creep's timing if it was who she thought it was.
"I am so not amused that this crap keeps happening near our anniversary," she muttered to herself. After a few moments, she let out an irritated noise and dug into her beach bag. She glared his way before she tore open a package of gummy worms and ripped one in half as she waited for him to snap out of it.
When Noh did finally blink back to reality, he gave her a weak sort of smile for a second. "I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to leave you waiting," he said when he saw how her arms were crossed and how she was glaring, grumpily chewing through her candy. "I wasn't expecting…" He shook his head hard and brought a hand to his temple for a second. "Sorry... Rerouting brain patterns," he explained for a moment before he looked back up. "But ... yes. Sorry. You were saying something..."
"What did they want this time?" she asked, completely unamused and not at all in the mood to go back to what she was trying to do. He could wait. The moment was blown anyway, so she had already switched gears to deal with whatever the heck this was — and she would paff whoever was responsible for blowing her moment into orbit by the time she was done.
"I'm not entirely certain," he admitted.
"But you have a fair idea," she said, pulling her shirt over her head.
He let out a very long sigh. "Yes, when the Supremor was insistent that I could not speak to the X-Men about his contact… it is never a good sign."
"Well I guess it's a good thing that I have special privileges then, isn't it?"
"Oh, I still intend to speak to the rest of the team, too," he said, though he was smirking at her. "You, my dear Jubilee, are my wife — and so you will always be the first to know in all matters like this." He offered her a hand as they got to their feet. "Would you please pilot on our way back? It's difficult to continue rerouting while also holding a conversation, much less flying."
"Sure," she replied with a little shrug. "I think I can do that."
"Thank you," he said, genuinely sounding relieved as he took her arm. "We should let the rest of the team know — I don't think they will like whatever plans the Kree have in store." He paused, closing his eyes as he concentrated on the ongoing mental intrusion, before he let out a slow breath. "They have turned their sights toward this planet's affairs again. And as they didn't see fit to try to transport me anywhere? Their plans are coming here to Earth."
"Oh that sounds fabulous. Are we hosting the cook out then?" she asked with a clearly sarcastic tone. "Is it rude to serve weenies to weenies?"
"Apparently so," he agreed, shaking his head.
"Well be sure to hold Elin when you're talking to Ronan … I'll be on the other side to point K at where she is."
"That sounds entirely dangerous — and likely exactly what we'll need," Noh said, a small smirk playing with the edge of his expression, though when he had absently run his hand over the side of his ship like he usually did when they boarded, he frowned the slightest at the strangely excitable energy running through it.
"Just make sure you tell her about the Kree and how they handle too-small babies where you're from before I let her go," she said with a smirk.
He raised an eyebrow at her for a moment. "And you want me to be the one holding her after telling her such things?" he teased lightly.
She giggled. "Okay, so … maybe stand back a little bit. Or … very quickly give her to Logan. And run."
"Running I can do," he laughed as he escorted Jubilee, arm in arm, to the piloting controls, though he did a bit of a double take when he saw that they were slightly different to what they usually were for her — a bit more Kree-based than usual. Still, he hoped that was from having married him and being around him so often, and he didn't say anything about it.
He did, however, have to say something when it seemed that his ship went zooming off with Jubilee at the controls. "She seems to be responding much more… enthusiastically to you today," he said as he had to hold on a bit tighter than he expected.
"Probably just ready to kick some ungrateful Kree butt," Jubilee said in a bored tone.
"Possibly," he agreed cautiously before he thought better of asking any questions and focused on calling ahead to the mansion to let them know they were coming — and why. "I don't know what the plans are, but I do know they are coming here — at least, that is the most likely explanation," he said over the comms.
"Is it serious enough that we should get the little ones somewhere out of the line of fire?" Scott asked.
"Probably," Noh admitted. "The Kree were quite insistent on my not speaking to the X-Men, and they do in fact know where you are… but the mansion is secure even from Kree. I made sure of that much after ... after the wedding." He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "But yes, it would be safer for them somewhere less-known, I think. Even with the security enhancements."
"We'll start looking at options," Scott said. "Get home fast," he added before the comm clicked off.
Noh sighed over his shoulder at Jubilee, who was still flying the ship at top speeds. "I'm truly sorry our trip has been cut short. Hopefully, this will not take long, and we can resume our celebrations shortly," he told her earnestly as he slid his arms around her shoulders from behind and nestled into her hair.
"I'll hold you to that when we get done with whatever this stupid is," Jubilee said almost out of the corner of her mouth.
With how fast Jubilee was flying, it wasn't long at all before they were nearly to Westchester, though by that time, Noh had gone very quiet. He was focused not only on trying to reroute a continuing psychic attack that seemed to be growing steadily stronger but also on pulling up his star charts and doing a quick sweep for Kree technology to see if he could spot anything in their quadrant.
It took him much longer than usual because his attention was split, but when he got his maps pulled up, he swore several times over in Kree under his breath at the approaching fleet, made up mostly of Accuser ships but also sporting some heavy guns.
"That," he said, as much to Jubilee as to himself, "is an invasion fleet."
"Why am I not surprised?" Jubilee said with a scowl as she looked at what he'd pointed out. "Do we have to be diplomatic?"
"It… would be easier if we could just get them to leave," he said half-distractedly. "They seem to have augmented their technology since last we were there. I very nearly didn't catch their ships' signatures ... I doubt Earth's security even knows they are out there."
"So why are they invading us?" Jubilee said with a worried tone as she half glanced downward, then bit her lip as she frowned deeper. "What do they want?"
"My Jubilee, if I knew, that would be half the battle," Noh said with a very heavy sigh. "They didn't tell me — they only told me to report back home to help the Kree in their efforts on Earth. And I refused." He gestured to his head. "Thus… the battle…"
"I think you better make sure your lawyer is around," she said quietly. "And hope she's feeling diplomatic."
"Agreed," he said, almost absently playing with her hair as he frowned at his charts. "I'll send this information ahead to the X-Men as well as to the Avengers. We'll likely need all the help we can get if they cannot be deterred from invading."
As soon as the intel from Noh had gotten through to the mansion, the remaining X-Men were already in motion making plans, particularly to get the noncombatants in their midst to safety.
Logan and Scott both had tried to argue with K to stay with the little ones, but the growl they got in response was pretty clear that she thought she would be more useful with them — like it or not. Besides, she had been out of the game for far too long for her tastes, and she was completely healed and ready to fight. So when Kate and Annie promised to take the best care of Elin possible, K glared at the men, waiting for them to challenge her on it.
"You still wanna spar with her, Slim?" Logan said quietly as K helped pack up all that they'd need for the little one and gave her a few last minute cuddles before she handed her off to Kate.
"Not right now," Scott replied just as quietly, his own attention half split between Logan and the twins, who were trying to 'help' by unpacking much of what he'd packed.
Annie and Kate were mostly running the quick packing and prep — since they'd be the "adults" in the group for the most part, even if they were taking Tyler with them in case of pregnancy issues. Kate was about halfway through and starting to feel the consequences of a little tail stretching inside her body further than normal babies should be able to reach and pushing on things that shouldn't be pushed on, occasionally making Kate very, very sick. But since Remy had also offered to stay with them in one of his hideaways, he was doing his best to help too. Charlie half clung to his leg and giggled at him as he walked around, loading up the small jet.
"You gon' like dis place, petit," he promised her over her half-squealed giggling. "Pretty as a picture, an' close 'nuff to de city dat your mama can get whatever she needs if we stayin' dere for a while."
But while little Charlie seemed content to just play with "Wemy," Chance was very concerned as he watched his dad talking with Logan. "Daddy go?" he asked Annie with an unmistakable frown.
Annie sighed and looked over at Kate, who was holding a very snuggly, very sleepy Elin. "He does this every time Scott goes on a mission," Annie said, partly in warning, since she knew Chance would get fussy while they were hiding if he couldn't see his dad for too long. "Ever since that man…"
Kate nodded her quiet understanding. They hadn't had any issues with Sinister for the past couple of months, not since Kurt's father turned some kind of demonic spell on the creepy doctor, but that didn't mean the three weeks that Sinister had Kate, K, Scott, and Charlie hadn't left a mark. Poor Chance had gone into hysterics every time he couldn't see his dad or his sister in the room for about a month after they got everyone back.
But Kate was pretty sure she knew how to deal with this, considering Chance's adorable baby crush. She slipped over to stand closer to Annie so that Chance could see the very tiny little girl in Kate's arms. "Hey, Chance, you want to help me take care of Elin while her mom is busy?" she asked, and the little boy's eyes got very wide at that.
"No K?" he asked.
Annie shook her head. "No, honey. K's going with Logan and Daddy," she explained.
Chance looked over at K, Scott, and Logan, and he frowned for a second before he reached over very carefully to pat Elin's head with one finger. He never ever touched her with more than the one finger, and he was always very gentle, almost like he was scared to break her because she was so small. "Otay," he said very quietly. "It otay, baby."
Kate and Annie shared a little smile over the top of their respective babies' heads before Remy declared, "Alright. Y'all got everyt'ing you gon' need down there. Let's get to leavin' before de aliens come a callin'."
With that, the group of kids and caretakers shared a quick goodbye with the rest of the team. Tyler got a surprisingly warm hug from Hank that lifted him off the ground, and of course, Scott was peppered with baby kisses as well as a longer kiss from Annie before his family left.
"Sich vorsehen, Vögelchen," Kurt whispered in Kate's ear before he swept her into a long and lingering kiss that had Charlie giggling when both of them seemed reluctant to be the first to stop the kiss.
When the kiss finally did break, Kate let her hand rest on Kurt's cheek. "I packed a few quivers just to be safe, plus some of Tony's Christmas presents. Anybody wants to get to me or those kids, and they're going to get the full force of a grumpy pregnant lady," she teased.
"I'd prefer you stay safe and avoid fighting altogether," he told her, and she laughed and kissed him again.
"I'll try very hard," she promised him before she readjusted Elin in her arms and followed Annie into the little jet.
"Don' worry," Remy assured the rest of the team as he climbed into the cockpit. "Dis place gon' be perfect. Ain't nobody found it yet 'cept ol' Remy."
They were just about ready to take off when Noh's ship came screeching into the hangar, which of course, delayed the takeoff. Even those who were ready to go were curious to hear what Noh had to report, since he was the one to figure out the invasion in the first place.
So they were disappointed when, instead of a bright greeting or even a declaration of how much trouble they were in, Noh went straight to Scott and pulled up a message for him on a hologram that hovered in the air for the few moments it took Scott to read it before Scott nodded and very quickly, and quietly, pulled the Kree fighter out of the hangar.
"Hey, what's up?" Kate called out, sticking her head out of the jet with a frown as soon as Jubilee was close enough to catch her.
"He's been like that for, like, the past ten minutes — doesn't want to talk to anybody, or let anybody talk to him," Jubilee grumped a bit, her shoulders up to her ears before she let out all her breath at once and looked very obviously frustrated. "Says he doesn't want the Kree to overhear anything they shouldn't."
Kate raised both eyebrows at that but nodded her understanding. "Sorry your trip got cut short," she offered as Logan made his way over with a strange expression on his face. He took a moment to kiss Elin, but he was watching Jubilee carefully.
"Yeah, well, apparently this kind of stuff just has to happen on our anniversary," Jubilee grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and settling into a bit of a glare. "Stupid jerks with really horrible timing," she added with even more of a bite to her tone than before.
"Yeah, well, give 'em what for from me, huh?" Kate said, making a bit of a face as she gestured down to her protruding stomach. "Since, you know, I can't."
"Perfect timing, Jubes," Logan called out after he said his goodbye to his daughter. "Gumbo and Ty could use an extra set of hands with the girls and Chance."
Jubilee made a face his way for a second, sticking her tongue out and looking like she wanted to argue but wasn't sure where to start.
"Unless you got somethin to say," Logan said with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.
She stuck one finger out and pointed it at him. "That… no," she said, though her disappointment was clear to hear.
"You're leading up the backup squad, Jubes," K said confidently. "Unless you got something to say about that." K turned to half glare a threat Logan's way but surprisingly met no resistance.
Jubilee stared between the two of them for a long second before she muttered something under her breath about "freakin' ferals" that only K and Logan caught and then gathered up a smile for Kate and the kids in the jet. "Alright. Then I get to fly copilot," she decided, waving her hand like she was dismissing any further discussion on the subject as she climbed into the jet.
"It's a long flight, cher," Remy said when Jubilee climbed in beside him.
"Don't you even start with me, Swamp Rat," Jubilee said warningly.
Remy grinned sideways at her. "Well, if Miss Kate need anyt'ing, you gon' want to help, cher. Dat's what ol' Remy's sayin' is all," he said in a tone that clearly said that was not all he was saying. Jubilee glared at him until he put the jet in the air for that one, but he didn't stop smirking her way the entire flight out.
With the kids and the others on the way to safety, the rest of the team could focus more fully on the impending invasion — though Noh had pulled Scott aside to ask for help with his own small problem.
He had several little holograms pulled up — one showing his star charts so they could keep track of the impending fleet, and another that he was using to communicate.
"Usually, the Supremor's mental reach is lessened by distance, but this time, my own breeding is making this more difficult," he'd written on the holopromptor. "Most of my technology is psionic, including the nanites in my bloodstream that allow me to heal. And unfortunately, that means I am apparently an excellent receptor for the Supremor's reach, distance notwithstanding."
Scott quietly nodded his understanding before he pulled the hard light hologram a bit closer to write out his response. "But you're still thinking on your own," he pointed out, tipping his head to Noh when he'd finished writing.
"It's an ongoing battle," Noh admitted, writing quickly with a frown settling over his forehead. "I can reroute my neural pathways — that's how I can do a white run and turn off pain receptors — but that is a very temporary fix." He paused and gave Scott a significant look as he waited for him to finish reading. "My concern is that I have been the one to set up security in your home," he wrote, giving Scott an open shrug when he finished. "And eventually, I will get tired fighting this incursion."
"We can have Rachel help," Scott offered, but Noh shook his head when he read it.
"If it's possible," he wrote, "I think it might be preferable for someone with more technological experience to help." He let out a long sigh when he saw Scott's frown at that. "I would prefer to keep Kree technology out of Tony Stark's hands, but on the other hand, the last time my operating system was this badly compromised, the Vision was able to rewrite it entirely to restore me to my own mind — after the Cube warden had done all he could to corrupt it."
"Rachel can monitor his thoughts to keep him on the level," Scott said.
"And I'll make sure he knows not to act on any of his unruly impulses," K offered quietly. "I can admit I'm feeling a little bit feisty."
Noh let out a bit of a laugh at that and nodded, quickly scribbling out his thanks: "I'd very much appreciate it. Iron Man has been envious of my technology since first we met, and I would not trust him with it if he was left unattended."
"Maybe Rachel can remove his understanding of it after," K suggested.
Noh frowned the slightest bit at that. "I'm not very inclined to alter other people's minds and memories," he wrote. "Let him learn from the nanites in my bloodstream if that is the price to pay for not giving the Kree Empire the keys to our home. Perhaps it would even be helpful later should I have any other problems with my operating system." He grinned ruefully. "I may be an organic being, but I am still programmable — I was engineered and bred that way."
"I'll keep that in mind, moonbeams," K replied with an easy smirk.
"I'll talk to Stark and have him come here," Scott said.
"Tell him to bring my new toys," K said.
"I doubt he'd come here without it if it's done," Scott pointed out with a little smirk. "In the meantime, K, why don't you keep an eye on Noh in case something happens before Stark gets here?"
"Sure thing. If he goes goofy, I'll just hit him to see if I can reset. Attorney privilege."
"Hopefully, that won't be necessary," Noh said with an expression that clearly read he would like not to be hit.
K smiled and took his arm and dragged him to the kitchen. No reason they couldn't prep where there was light and coffee.
Translations from German:
"Sich vorsehen, Vögelchen," - Take care/be careful, little bird.
