From robbie: It really is so much fun to see these characters really get to experience the fallout of everything that happens to them in the comics. Actual character development, what? Of course, we're cherry-picking what we're taking from the newer storylines? (and blatantly ignoring some things, like… not even gonna touch Civil War II, for real) But it's so fun to let the plotlines Marvel set up actually *breathe* and grow. Plus, you know, these characters are just so beautiful all we have to do is sit back, put them in a room together, and just - go.

From CC: griezz & KJAX - I shall not spoil anything. Thank you for the reviews, we adore them. Please, carry on because we certainly plan to.


Earth Girls Are Easy


It didn't take Kitty and Kate long at all to find chocolate ice cream and a quiet corner on Quill's ship where they could eat and chat to their hearts' content - complete with a view of the stars.

"So—Kurt," Kate said, leaning in with a wide smirk. "You've got to have stories, I'm sure."

"Kurt," Kitty repeated with a nod. "Yes. Lots of Kurt stories." She was nodding and smiling to herself. "He scared the life out of me when I first met him. Spoiled rich girl from Chicago—ballet lessons every day after school. And then the freakin' X-Men show up to recruit me."

Kate smirked. "I don't see how that's scary," she teased. "It means no more ballet lessons."

"First of all, I loved the ballet lessons," Kitty said, pointing her spoon Kate's way. "And secondly, I was 13 and had never seen anything like him before."

"He is rather striking," Kate said, smirking around her own spoon.

"He is the sweetest guy on the planet," Kitty said. "Well … he's just the sweetest guy period."

"He really is," Kate agreed. "It's so refreshing isn't it?"

"It is, and so... charming." Kitty grinned. "Be careful. He disarms people completely."

"Oh, now you tell me," Kate laughed. "It's far too late now."

"Well—then good luck!" she was shaking her head and chuckling to herself. "As his friend, I feel like I should like - threaten you or something. But, really, if it gets serious—long term? I'll just look forward to seeing who he gets for the ceremony."

Kate raised both eyebrows and pointed her spoon Kitty's way. "I thought you said you weren't going to threaten me," she teased.

Kitty just smiled and shrugged up to her ears. "Oops. Slipped out. Except, it's not really a threat. Whoever he finally catches and settles down with will be very very lucky."

Kate just laughed and then leaned back in her chair, eyeing Kitty, sure she'd finally found her opening, even if it was, like, the most awkward, why-would-you-bring-this-up-one-week-in kind of opening. "In this theoretical future—which is totally, if at all happening, like, at least a decade away—you'd have to be there, and so would his best friend, you know."

"It's far more probable that one of us would be dead by then," Kitty said dryly.

"I'm sure you'll walk it off. That's a thing with the X-Men." Kate shrugged and watched Kitty for a moment. "Apparently."

"Right, got it. We'll see what happens," Kitty breathed out, her whole body language reading downward. "And I guess we'll figure it out then."

Kate had to struggle not to roll her eyes. So, the quiet approach wasn't working - time to be more direct. "It might help that he has apparently no idea what's going on, if I'm reading the situation right. But I'm just a Hawkeye, what do I know?"

Kitty let out a sigh and turned to face her, her head resting on one palm. "You are not subtle, Hawkeye."

"If I was, I'd never get anywhere," Kate said with a little shrug. "I keep up with demigods and interdimensional travelers. I can't do background subtlety."

"So what exactly are you fishing for?"

"Whatever it is that's got you mad at Wolverine," Kate said sincerely - no sense in hiding it. "And I swear, I won't judge. There is literally nothing you could tell me I haven't seen in some dimension somewhere—I think."

"You are young, aren't you?" Kitty said with one eye half closed. "But I'll play." She set her bowl down and leaned forward. "Ok. Try this one on for size—I'll gloss over the fine details of the whole beginning and skip to the meat and potatoes for you." She took a deep breath and held it for a few moments before she began.

"So. Like—a week before Logan died? I was in Madripoor trying to find him because he'd gone all-out to stop the bad guys that were flooding him and I knew—I just knew he'd be there sooner or later, and he wasn't taking my calls anymore. Long miserable story short—I end up possessed by this evil demon that had done the same thing when I was thirteen and when Logan finally showed up? I saved him. Gave him a shot that mimicked a healing factor so he didn't die on me."

She watched Kate for a few minutes before she continued. "And I went with him—only... I wasn't in charge of what I was doing—the demon was right? And we went to Japan so he could settle his business. And he gets all... freaking suicidal on me. I've never heard him talk like that. And I tried to do something—say something that would help? And the demon pushed me aside and threw me at him. I kissed him." She narrowed her eyes. "I mean... it wasn't me? But I was in there."

Kate had listened to the entire story in subdued, rather stunned silence, and when Kitty was done, she had to take a few seconds to compose her thoughts before she just gave up and stood up to just hug Kitty, because that was just about all she could think to do.

"It was enough at the time," Kitty said as Kate tightened the hug. "It was enough that I finally was able to kick that bastard demon out - but the whole point was to wreck what we had—and the next thing I heard, Logan was dead."

"Wow." Kate finally took a slight step back and looked Kitty over. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't that, and Kate just had to… process. "Just... " She shook her head and took a second to process before she took another deep breath. "So... don't let that futzing demon wreck it," she said at last.

"But that—you're telling me that wasn't even the right guy—and I'm the only one that knows it happened? That's not fair." She shook her head. "I mean—It's just … he's like my dad."

"That's a much better dad than I had," Kate said, slightly subdued. "I'd say you're lucky."

"My actual dad was the reason I got possessed in the first place," Kitty said as she half-threw her hands up. "Logan helped me beat the demon the first time."

"Logan killed my actual dad just the other night because he put a hit out on me," Kate admitted, still subdued, then looked up at Kitty. "Sounds to me like he did right by both of us."

Kitty had wrapped her arms around her middle and was just mulling it over, chewing on her lip. "How mad is he?"

At that, Kate started to smile—finally, she was getting somewhere. "There was yelling. I got in his face. Typical grumpy old man things, if experience is any indicator," Kate said, tilting her head to the side. "But he sorta kinda threatened to kill the other him if he wasn't dead already for… whatever he'd done."

"He didn't do anything wrong though," Kitty said shaking her head. "He stopped it and pushed me back. I think it scared the crap out of him, honestly." she put her hands up by her face. "Boo."

Kate smirked at that. "Well I can understand that. I think I'd give my mentor a heart attack if I…" She waved her hand Kitty's way and pulled a face, unable to even finish the sentence. "Seriously. Seriously. That's just… no."

"I think it scared him off of taking thirty seconds to see Jubilee and Hisako too though—because he made a beeline from Japan to … well. There were no stops."

"That wasn't this guy," Kate said quietly. "I know he looks and talks and acts like him but…" She paused and took another breath. "Okay. So—I used to date this alien? And the first time we met, he legitimately tried to murder me and my team. Only he was mind-controlled at the time." She made a motion with her hands. "Mind-controlled or demon-controlled or whatever else? That's not you either. Took him forever to get that, and you—you seem too nice to wallow in that."

Kitty just stared back at her for a moment. "Where is he?" Kitty asked after she stuck her hands in her back pockets.

"Last I saw, he was by the escape pods being more or less held down by Kurt," Kate admitted. "But if we find a bamf, I'm sure we'll find both of them."

"What the hell was he doing by the escape pods?" Kitty asked sounding—and looking—stressed. "They wouldn't get him all the way to the ground safely."

"Oh, that would have been good information to know when I was trying to stop him leaving. I could have threatened to come with him," Kate muttered.

"Do you have a death wish?" Kitty asked. "Because if you just want to die—just keep going to Japan with him."

"No, but he clearly doesn't care if he gets hurt. And both of them are just so… ugh." Kate threw her hands up. "The chivalry is only cute sometimes."

"You have no idea," Kitty said shaking her head. "Let's find them. Even money says Kurt's got to hold onto him and that Logan's going anyhow."

"I don't take bets I know you'll win," Kate agreed, then looked around. "I'm sure there's a bamf somewhere we could use to find them. Those little guys seem to follow me."

KItty stopped in her tracks and looked her up and down with a grin. "Oh, that's a good sign. You said it's just been a few days?"

"Just around a week or so," Kate said, nodding. "But I mean—they're not hard to like. They're kind of adorable."

Kitty just laughed and offered Kate her hand. "I've been close friends with Kurt for years and it took months for them to decide to like me." She shook her head to herself. "What am I doing? Grab on, escape pods are three levels down." She offered Kate her hand with a smirk.

Kate looked surprised and then pleased before she nodded and took Kitty's hand. "O-kay. How're we getting there?"

"Kurt's not the only one with an interesting way to travel." Almost as soon as Kitty took her hand they started to sink through the floor and everything below it until they were to the right deck.

Kate was a bit wide-eyed when they stopped, one hand on her stomach pressing hard to make sure she was solid again. "Oh, it's definitely weirder seeing the inside of walls than just poofing around," she said at nearly a whisper.

"Yes. Yes it is," Kitty agreed. "But I can go through nearly everything." She shrugged. "A few alien metals are not easy—and naturally, adamantium makes me sick."

"Oh, it's definitely cool," Kate said quickly. "Just... weirded me out for a second there."

When they found the two men, Logan was leaning against the railing nearest the pod, his arms crossed and a scowl firmly in place while Kurt was just across the catwalk watching him.

Kate smiled at both of them. "So I've been officially threatened by the friend about being careful with you," she said Kurt's way. "And also—chocolate is the fix-all for everything, even in space. What have you two been up to?"

"Oh, you know," Kurt said with a wave. "The other side of your slumber party. Talking about people who need to be stabbed and braiding our hair."

"Well as long as some of those people include space pirates," Kate said, grinning, then tipped her head to the side, eyes narrowed as if she was trying to see him better. "And I see no braids, you little imp."

"Well, we got tired of them when the ribbons didn't hold," Kurt said with a shrug. "Is that all you girls did?"

"No, we also talked about how totally gross it would be if I kissed Clint, so, you know, more content for the therapy I'm gonna need," Kate said, smirking at him. "Oh, and we also talked about you, Logan. Or the other you. Apparently that one saw some crazy stuff go down while you were gone. So—glad that's not on you. Only fun stuff for the real Wolverine." She looked over at Kitty. "Anything you want to say to the giant hug magnet, or should we just skip to pirates now?"

Kitty just stared Kate's way for a moment, her jaw locked and her eyes narrowed. "No I think that pretty much lays it out well enough," Kitty mumbled before she looked up at Logan, who wasn't looking her way at all. "Ogun pulled some crap," she said, sounding almost tortured as her shoulders drooped. "And then you went and died on me, so I couldn't fix it."

"Wasn't me," Logan replied with a far too serious expression on his face.

"I know. But okay. This is my problem? And I'll work it out. But... don't go anywhere? That pod will just get you into the atmosphere and I don't want you dying on me again," Kitty said with her shoulders shrugged up to her ears. "I still have that letter you gave me." She gave him a sheepish kind of smile as he finally looked up at her.

He let out a deep breath and shook his head, simply letting it all go.

"I promise—if another alternate-different version of you ever did anything to me, I would tell you—but the trouble was from Ogun. I shouldn't have yelled," Kitty said.

He nodded his head once and she grinned before she zipped across the catwalk to wrap her arms around his middle and try to squeeze the life half out of him. He gave her a squeeze back and couldn't stop the little smirk at the corner of his mouth before he looked up at Kate, who looked delighted.

"Shut up. I am not a damn hug magnet," Logan growled out, though he hadn't let go of Kitty.

"I haven't even said anything yet," Kate said, but she was grinning ear to ear, her thumbs in her belt as she leaned casually against the wall and looked like she might burst unless she quickly redirected the conversation. "So—pirates?"

"Yes, please," Kitty said, still half snuggled into Logan. He looked over at Kate and leveled a finger at her.

"Don't—just—don't even look at me in that tone of voice," he said seriously.

Kate burst out into a full laugh, shaking her head hard as she just continued to watch them gleefully.

Kitty looked up at him for a second before she loosened her grip and frowned just a bit. Logan gave her an odd look just before she held her breath and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. He'd held still for it but immediately got very gruff with her and gave her a quick pat on the shoulder. "Alright, enough of that, go on," he muttered to himself as she beamed.

When she went to stand by Kate again, she leaned in close to her. "I swear to God, if you tell him or Kurt what happened? I'll phase you into something that you'll never get out of. I happen to know of a place about six miles under the school where there is a pocket of air that Emma Frost once occupied."

"Now that is a threat," Kate said with a wince before she just nodded and put her hand on her heart. "I swear—I won't tell either of them."

"Or anyone else," Kitty clarified.

"Or anyone else," Kate agreed. "It's not my secret to share anyway."

With the air between the four of them slightly clearer now, they headed to the bridge so Logan could get a good look at the evidence the weapon had left behind of its destructive capabilities, and so they could get a few more details on the road ahead.

It wasn't long after that before Quill announced that they had reached the rendezvous to meet up with the guy who had originally stolen the phoenix-weapon from the Kree, though when Kate saw the familiar ship on the monitors, she actually rose up on her toes and raised both eyebrows high.

"I know that ship," she said, and the three X-Men nearby turned to look at her for a moment before she realized that she had said it out loud and actually blushed a deep pink. "Um... it's a long story. But me and my team? We lived on that ship for, like, months."

"Then you won't have any problems working with our contact," Quill said with a wide smile. "Excellent. I didn't realize that anyone was making intergalactic friends outside of the X-Men."

"Oh, um." Kate wasn't sure what to say to backtrack without getting into the long story. "Yeah—well, my old team's pretty full up of aliens."

"Well, which team is that?" Quill asked with a little frown.

"The Young Avengers," Kate said with a little smile.

"You mean that's actually a thing? Like—is that a junior Avengers squad or more like an unaffiliated thing that you need lawyers to defend like the Great Lakes Avengers?" Quill looked somehow not entirely serious. "Squirrel Girl's kinda hot."

Kate and Logan both snorted slightly at that, but for totally different reasons. "Hey, we didn't pick the name? My boys saved some people in a fire, and next thing we knew, that's what J. Jonah Jameson and his newspaper were calling us." She shrugged and managed a rueful grin. "This was, of course, before I straightened them out and gave them better, not-knock-off uniforms."

"Oh," Quill said as he gave them both an odd look, still nodding to himself. "Alright then." Kitty shot Logan a look and he just shrugged and tried to look innocent.

"I had no idea JJ named you," he said to Kate, ignoring the glare Kitty was giving him.

"Yeah—we weren't that happy about it either," Kate said, shrugging again. "But to be fair? All my boys were related to the Avengers somehow. Original team really was kind of a junior squad until I made it cooler."

"Lucky for them," Logan said with a smirk before he nudged her with his elbow.

She just smirked. "I make everything cooler," she whispered.

"I'll let you keep thinkin' that," he replied just as quietly before Kitty walked past and grabbed his arm to pull him along.

The group of them headed down to the docking bay as Quill's ship met up with the blue and white one, and when the hatch opened, a tall alien with shock-white hair and a black, white, and green uniform stepped out. When he saw Kate, he broke into a wide smile, though he seemed tentative walking toward her. "Kate? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Hey, Marvel Boy." She shrugged lightly but didn't make a move toward him. "I was promised pirates, so here I am."

He smiled wider at that. "It's good to see you again," he said sincerely, and she regarded him for a second before she couldn't not smile and just nodded with a little smirk.

"Long time no see," she said.

Logan tapped Kurt on the chest and out of the side of his mouth said "Bug Boy." Kurt frowned, met Logan's gaze, and then comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh," Kurt replied flatly. "Herrlich."

Noh-Varr looked around at the little group and straightened up the slightest bit. "I believe I've been introduced to only a few of you," he said. "But we have time for that later. I'll show you what I've learned about this weapon first—and get it back out of Corsair's hands." As he passed Kate, he added in an undertone, "And then maybe pancakes."

As the group of them started to head back to the bridge, Noh paused for a second and put a hand on Kate's shoulder to stop her. She turned to him with raised eyebrows but saw that he was looking past her at the others before he looked back down at her. "It really is good to see you again," he started out, "but I'm not sure I like the company you're keeping. Teaming up with Wolverine?" He shook his head. "Trust me—that is only trouble."

Kate snorted out a laugh despite herself, crossed her arms, and shook her head at him. "Thanks for the concern, but I like teaming up with them," she said.

He frowned the slightest bit and tilted his head to one side before he let out a breath. "I've never been able to stop you before," he muttered almost to himself and then shrugged her way as they caught up with the others. "It seems like you've been busy. I'd love to catch up," he added almost under his breath to her.

She kept her arms crossed but had to smile at that. "Well you've been robbed since I last saw you," she pointed out. "We both have stories, apparently."

"Hey Kate—fresh coffee," Logan shouted from the bridge.

Kate turned Logan's way with a huge grin and a laugh. "You're only feeding the addiction, Wolverine," she teased him as she all but bounded over.

"Maybe I just want to see you happy," Logan countered before he leaned back on the table and just watched her.

She laughed and shook her head at him before she poured herself a mug. "Maybe you just want to keep me around to shoot all your bad guys for you," she teased. "Bait the trap with a coffee carrot."

"Yep. Caught me redhanded. I'm probably the best bad guy bait you ever found."

"It's still early. I'm reserving judgement," she teased over the top of her cup.

"Alright—take your time,darlin'," Logan said with a tiny little smirk. "Lord knows I got plenty of it."

She snorted out a little laugh, rolled her eyes, and then looked past him at Noh, who was watching the exchange with a strange expression on his face. "So... pirates?" she asked.

"Peterquill has them up on the screen now," Logan told her. "Probably shoot one over the bow in another twenty minutes."

"Oh good." She settled happily against the nearest wall, one leg bent up to keep her balance.

Noh looked between the two of them for a moment before he just shrugged with a little frown and started to explain, addressing Quill, though his gaze drifted often to Logan and Kate: "When I escaped the Kree some time ago, I made a few... stops through their experimental labs. They might not have had the Phoenix force in their possession long, but it was enough to study it—and to try to replicate it." He shrugged again, up to his ears. "I didn't realize at the time what I had taken until very recently when I had my ship analyze it more fully. By the time I understood what the weapon was supposed to do, I was under fire. It took me some time to repair my ship enough to even contact you for help."

"You didn't have this problem before," Kate pointed out with a frown. "I don't remember anyone coming after us for any weapons like that."

"Maybe Bug Boy was distracted from the task at hand and couldn't keep his head in the game," Logan said with a smug look—just quiet enough that he knew Noh could hear it.

Noh paused and frowned Logan's way before he said, "Like I said, I didn't know what I had. Honestly, it might have remained undetected if I hadn't gotten bored and run an analysis that set it off."

"Lucky you got bored," Logan replied with a smirk.

"Not really," Noh shot back. "It would have been better if this thing just fell into obscurity."

"Well I guess I'm just lucky you got bored then," Logan replied. "It was getting dull back home."

"With Hawkeye as your travelling companion?" Noh smirked. "You must not have much sense of adventure then."

"Haven't been travelling too long yet."

Kate just grinned and nodded. "Only about a week. But there were ninjas."

"And I promised more." Logan bumped her shoulder. "Aren't you glad you sprung me?"

"Best decision ever," she teased with a grin that had Noh frowning even deeper.

Noh looked between the two of them for another long moment before he said, "We'll have to take my ship to get any closer to the pirates. After that analysis, I can detect their weapon's energy signature, so we'll know before they fire and can avoid it." He looked Kate's way and started to smile. "Do you still remember how to fly it, or do you want a quick brush-up?"

"Kate can fly anything," Logan said with a smirk before he kicked off from the wall. "She already proved it a couple times with the blackbird." He stopped and turned back to Noh. "Come to think of it—she's probably got more time on it than you do."

Noh bristled. "Well, after an interstellar craft with technology from another dimension, I'm sure yours was a comedown."

"I doubt it," Kurt said with a smirk. "The company on it was much better."

"Only when she was there," Noh replied with a smirk to match.

"Yes, I have to agree, she's quite the lovely companion," Kurt replied.

"She's also right here," Kate broke in, arms crossed as she looked over the three men. "Put the rulers away."

"Sorry darlin'," Logan said quietly. "He's just fun to poke at."

"Yes, we meant nothing by it, liebchen," Kurt agreed as he came to stand on Kate's other side.

"We can all play nice," Kitty added with a giggle.

Kate looked over Kitty's way, then over her shoulder at the men, and then just crossed the space to stand next to Kitty instead, throwing her arm around the other girl's shoulders. "That's it. We'll let them bang rocks together—you and I have pirates or something to fight," she said.

"Yes, and when we're done, maybe the boys can take you to the Danger Room. It's the coolest place on the planet—especially with them," Kitty agreed, having caught on to the guys' little game. "It'll score your performance and everything. Logan always wipes the floor with everyone."

"True, near perfect score every time," Kurt said with a nod. "But it sets the bar for the rest of us to catch up."

Kate grinned, sensing a challenge but completely missing the joke. "Well it's never seen me."

"I promise to put you through your paces then," Kurt said with a smirk.

"I'll hold you to that—sounds fun," she said, grinning wider.

"We may even use it for it's intended purpose." Kurt grinned wickedly her way, his tail flicking behind him and the bamfs giggling around the bridge in unison.

Kate's grin changed into a smirk as she looked Kurt's way and finally clued in. "Oh, promises, promises." She bit her lip as she met his gaze for another few seconds before she said, "Though—we did promise to be good... Pirates first."

Kurt let out a deep sigh. "If we must, then let's hurry up and kill some pirates." He offered Kate his hand, and when she took it, he kissed her palm reverently.

Noh had his arms crossed over his chest and just frowned through the entire display before he turned on his heel. "Well let's get going," he said, his tone more businesslike than before. "I'd hate to waste any more time and risk someone getting hit because they were distracted."

"I've never had any trouble keeping my focus," Kurt replied. "Not when there are pirates to be stabbed." He turned to Noh with a broad grin. "Try to keep up."

"Just don't slow me down," Noh returned, smirking broadly, before he waved them toward his ship.

Logan barked out a laugh. "Yeah, that'll happen. Hey—if we're pickin' teams—I want both of you," he said to Kurt and Kitty. "Kate, I can't wait to see you pick these suckers off."

"Just stand back and be amazed, Wolverine," she replied with a huge grin and with her arm through Kurt's.

"If you can amaze me, then that'll be something pretty damn impressive," he replied. "Do it."

She just grinned at him, and the group of them boarded Noh's ship as she headed for the flight controls—Noh at the navigation so he could look out for the weapon's energy signature. When Kate sat in the pilot's seat, the control panel for just a moment started to hum, and then the entire thing shifted, morphing into something that looked more like a jet's control than the alien panel it had been before.

"It remembers you," Noh said with a soft kind of smirk as the control panel chirped happily.

"You sound surprised," Kurt said.

"Pleasantly so," Noh replied honestly. "It's a Kree ship—it prefers a nonhuman touch."

"Then I'd be interested to see if it could handle me as well," Kurt shot back. "Likely not."

"Well, it does have good taste," Noh countered, and Kate threw her head back with a loud groan of frustration.

"Stop it, both of you!" she ordered as she started up the engines. "You're going to give me a headache."

"If we're too bothersome, I can always teleport him to tea with our fathers," Kurt replied with a laugh and a genuine grin—amused at the situation he found himself in before he shook his head lightly. "I'm sorry, liebling, but Logan is right—he's fun to poke at." He shook his head with an amused laugh. "I don't recall the Kree being so... sensitive."

"Only when it's an important matter," Noh said softly. "Though I have been on Earth for a long time now."

"Agreed," Kurt said his way with a broad grin. "I look forward to killing pirates with you."

At that, Noh turned Kurt's way with a little grin of his own. "And I with you," he said. "You do in fact have a reputation for this kind of thing." He smirked the slightest bit and then turned back to his instruments, pausing just long enough to add, "And I have worked with your partner before. If experience is any indicator, we will have much work to do."

"It depends entirely on how many swords we have at our disposal," Kurt replied as he turned to look at Kitty. "Do you have one only for yourself, or is there an extra to share with your adoptive father?"

Kitty perked right up. "No! I have an extra katana," she said smiling as her head whipped toward Logan. "Unless you'd rather just work with the claws?" Logan just smirked and shook his head.

"I'll use 'em if I have to, but might be fun to stretch," Logan replied—which only got both Kitty and Kurt smiling wider.

Kate looked over her shoulder for a moment to raise her eyebrow at him before she went back to the controls. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I'm a samurai," Logan told her. "There isn't a weapon that's been made that I'm not good at."

"See, that just screams for an archery competition right there," Kate said, grinning to herself.

"If that's what you want to do after the pirates, that can be arranged," Logan said with a raised eyebrow. "Don't know where we can get the horses though. Motorcycles might have to do."

"I've shot out of sunroofs. Those work pretty well too."

"But you can't drive at the same time."

"True, but it makes it more challenging if you're doing it with, like, Deadpool at the wheel."

"Everything is more challenging with Deadpool at the wheel," Logan said dryly. "But if you're taking Wade for your partner, I'll take Jubes to keep it fair. She can't keep it between the white lines either."

"Man doesn't know how to take a handicap when he's handed one," Kate teased with a widening smirk.

"Is that an old joke?" Logan asked with a faux snarl.

"Oh, it is now," she said, the smirk stretching over her whole face. "I've been meaning to ask about the dinosaurs."

"You want dinosaurs, I'll take you to the Savage Land," Logan told her.

"I was thinking more like you could tell me how they went extinct everywhere else."

"Actually," Logan said thoughtfully. "Spidey'd be more detailed about it than I would. And I can only guess, since we left before it actually happened." He planted his fist into the palm of his other hand. "It was a big fiery rock."

"I forgot I was talking to an X-Man for a second," she said with a fake groan of frustration. "Time travel. Ugh." Logan just smirked her way, knowing it was hard to tease when it was a situation like that.

A few moments later, though, Noh broke into the atmosphere of teasing with a quick, "We've found them. And it appears they've found us." He glanced Kate's way over the holograms he had pulled up to keep track of the weapon's energy signature, spread out at fingertip distance. "Coming in hard—evasion pattern delta."

"Yep. On it," Kate said and immediately yanked on the controls to pull them out of harm's way. For several long minutes, the pattern repeated itself—with Noh simply calling out one-word instructions and Kate piloting, a few times even anticipating his next call. By the time she got them in close enough, the others were already ready to make the jump to the next ship, weapons in hand.

Once they were alongside the other ship, Noh's ship seemed to simply part for them to jump out of it, pulling aside to make a door in the wall for them to leap through as soon as Noh got close enough for it to respond to his presence. The other three leapt out into the fray before Kate got back from the pilot's seat to follow, though Noh stopped her for just a second and handed her a pink and white device.

"You don't have to keep it, but I would rather you had it for this battle—it will do more to damage those of other worlds than your Terran arrows," Noh explained quickly, and although Kate frowned hard, she took the device, and it immediately wrapped itself to the shape of her hand, energy flaring out at the ends to become a bow.

She couldn't help it as she grinned at the bow and twanged the energy string for just a moment before she looked over her shoulder his way. "I'll give it back when this is over."

"If that's what you decide." With that, the two of them ran to catch up with the others, and Kate was definitely aware of the fact that Noh was running on the walls with a few extra and completely unnecessary flips.

For as long as it had been, it was easy for Kate and Noh to fall into an easy rhythm, as she remembered his fighting style and knew better than to shoot where he was headed, instead clearing the path for him that she knew he would take when he was done with his current adversaries.

The two of them fought easily, trusting each other to shoot anyone that got too close, and on more than one occasion, one of them would shout the other's name, and with an immediate turn, a pirate would find an energy arrow or energy weapon in his chest—and Kate saw Noh flip backwards over her head a few times, shooting over her shoulder at pirates that had been trying to get closer to her.

Kitty and Logan were already falling into what was clearly a familiar pace together as well, their swords slicing and singing as they worked through the pirates nearest them. Their styles—though they held a familiar edge—were still vastly different, with Logan's samurai training showing against Kitty's ninja background.

And nearby the two of them, Kurt was simply in his element—a broad grin on his face as he danced through the pirates, fighting several different fights at once, sheathing his sword from time to time simply to use his tail to disarm his opponents and then bamf them into the path of one of his companions.

When the pirates seemed to catch on to what he was doing, they tried to keep out of his reach, but rather than chase them around by bamfing, he decided it would be far more interesting to simply bamf his companions closer to them and then circle around behind the adversaries to drive them closer to the shining katanas.

When the pirates' charged weapons finally destroyed Kitty's sword, Logan simply tossed his to her and popped his claws to continue their damage path without so much as a word shared.

Once the claws were in play, the dynamic of the X-Men changed again, and on more than one occasion, Kitty would grab on to either Logan or Kurt and simply phase them out keeping them from taking a blow to somewhere vital.

As they worked through the pirates, Noh took a second to check a device on his arm that displayed a few holograms at eye level before he called out, "Next deck up!" as the group pressed their advantage through the knots of pirates.

As they moved through the ship, the X-Men had found a way to monopolize on the lessened gravity field around their battle field, and Kurt was keeping his two old friends from drifting out too far off course by occasionally bamfing them closer when they were sent flying.

Kitty had a new trick that she'd been working on and was delighted to find that it worked as well on Logan as it had on a few of her other test dummies—she'd lessen their density enough to be able to get them moving fast—and she positively squealed when she'd discovered that with the lowered gravity and the lowered mass while she had contact with him—she could pull off her own version of the fastball special.

Her delighted laughter drew Star Lord's attention—though not as much as when Kurt bamfed next to her simply to give her a congratulatory hug mid-battle as Logan flew through what looked like an important part of Corsair's tech.

"Oh! I've always wanted to do that," Kitty laughed. "Piotr made it sound like so much fun."

"I'm just surprised it took you so long to figure out how," Kurt laughed with her before he kissed her temple and bamfed away, truly enjoying his swashbuckling adventure.

Kurt was fighting with about three of them at once when a fourth and fifth joined in the fight, making a grab for his arms when a bright purple beam shot through the one on the left and, seconds later, on the right—and then the other three.

"Yes, I know you had them on the ropes," Kate called out before he could say anything. "But I had a shot, and it turns out I'm overprotective too." She grinned impishly. "Oops."

With a bamf, he appeared right over her, hanging upside down from a section of ship. "My hero," he said with a grin before he leaned forward and kissed her full on the mouth. "Remind me to thank you properly later."

"Oh, I definitely will," she said, grinning ear to ear and looking slightly pink.

At nearly that moment, the battlefield was filled with the surprising chords of music, and both of them turned to see that Noh had made his way over to a control panel to slide in a Journey record—"Separate Ways"—before he went back to fighting, complicated flips with almost every shot when he wasn't simply kicking through pirates.

He was mid-flip when one of the pirates got fed up with it and simply booted him in the back and send him flying sideways, throwing off his momentum completely as he crashed into the wall, now with a pirate standing over him before—bamf!—he found himself on the top of a balcony with Kurt, who was grinning at him.

"No need to kiss me," Kurt said with a wide grin. "The first bamf is free."

At that, Noh burst into a laugh. "And the second?" he asked.

"We'll just have to see if you've anything that I want," Kurt teased before he looked down below them. "If you tuck in your knees just a second sooner, you get more spin." Kurt tipped his head before he demonstrated with a backflip that turned a full four rotations before he hit the ground, and Noh had to laugh before he followed suit.

It wasn't long before the pirates were starting to seriously thin - and in a few moments, a tall man in red walked out into the fray with arms crossed over his chest. "Enough! Stop putting holes in my ship," Corsair said, and for a moment, the battle paused as both pirates and X-Men seemed to size up the situation.

"You have something of mine," Noh said, straightening up from where he had been crouched to spring at a pirate.

"I highly doubt that," Corsair replied with an airy wave of his hand.

"A Kree-derived weapon, highly potent, fairly unstable - we can keep putting holes in your ship if your memory fails," Noh countered with a glare.

"And holes in your crew," Kitty added as she came to a stop next to Logan and Kurt.

Corsair crossed his arms with a deep, distrustful frown. "You must be joking. I'm not handing you a weapon you can use to finish the job."

"Like we need it to finish this job," Logan grumbled before he turned to Noh and Quill. "Make your treaties or whatever before I go ahead and actually make Summers an orphan - unless that's why you wanted us here."

Quill looked over the group and let out a kind of disbelieving chuckle before he just strode forward. "Right. Everybody be cool—I can't believe I'm the responsible one here," he said, shaking his head.

"You damn well better make a habit out of it if you wanna keep seein' my kitten," Logan growled out. At the threat, Kitty and Kurt both straightened up, though Kurt got a smile that he just couldn't hide after a few moments, and Kitty blushed deeply.

Quill looked over at Logan and unmistakably started to straighten up a bit with a little frown before he turned back to Corsair. "Just hand over the weapon, and I'll give you my word as a Guardian of the Galaxy we won't turn around and use it on you. We're not planning to use it at all."

"That sounds like a waste to me," Corsair replied before he looked around the group for a long moment and finally let out a sigh. "But a waste is better than giving it to an enemy that will use it. Make your oaths, Guardian, and I'll give it back to you—but not the Kree. He'll lose it again in a second."

Logan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms as he glared at Quill, waiting for his answer.

"If those are your terms, we accept," Quill said, shooting a glance Noh's way when he opened his mouth to argue, and the Kree fell silent, glaring hard.

Corsair nodded Quill's way, and within minutes, Quill had the new weapon in hand and had sworn to Corsair on his honor as a Guardian of the Galaxy no less than three times that he wasn't going to use it before they got back to Noh's ship.

"When we get back, Marvel Boy—I want your eyes on this for how best to make sure it doesn't blow up on us when we destroy it," Quill said as soon as they were inside—before Noh could make any kind of argument.

Noh crossed his arms, looking more annoyed by Corsair's comments than annoyed at Quill. "I won't share my findings," he said shortly. "It's been my experience anything with this particular power doesn't need to fall into any hands—no matter whose side they're on."

"Won't matter much if we're just going to throw it into a star anyway," Quill pointed out. "I just want you to tell me that won't backfire on us."

"It shouldn't, but I'll want to check," Noh agreed at last as Kate slid in to pilot once more—pausing only to toss him back the bow with hardly a glance. He glanced her way and sighed, pocketing the bow grip before he held out his hand to Quill for the Phoenix-weapon. "No time like the present."

"I'll join you," Kurt offered as Noh took the weapon carefully in both hands. "If there is an off chance it offers you any danger, we'll figure out what to charge for your second bamf."

Noh smirked Kurt's way and nodded. "Don't expect to be part of the scans. The controls won't work for you, and as I said, I won't share my findings."

"I'll try not to be insulted," Kurt countered with a laugh.

Noh just shrugged his agreement, and the two headed down the hall that opened up as Noh approached it, the wall closing behind them as soon as they were through.

"You nervous?" Logan asked as he leaned over Kate's shoulder.

Kate let out a slight scoffing noise and didn't look up, focused on the ship's controls. "I've flown this thing a million times," she replied, though she was frowning hard.

"Not what I asked, darlin'."

She turned to face him for a second with raised eyebrows. "Should I be?" she countered.

"I only know one of 'em," Logan replied. "So you tell me."

She let out a long sigh and shrugged up to her ears. "Depends on what they talk about," she admitted.

"I can go spy on them," Kitty offered. "In the walls."

"That... is really tempting," Kate said. "But I also really, really don't want to know." She let out a breath and then smirked a bit. "They're both very charming. I don't want to find out they ditched me for each other."

"No chance of that with Kurt," Kitty reassured her.

"Well at least that's something," Kate said with a smile before she leaned back and looked Kitty's way. "Maybe they'll come out friendly enough to let Noh DJ when you and Peter here finally settle down."

Kitty just stared at her open-mouthed before she looked to Logan, who looked irritated. Again. "What makes you think … I'm not … what?"

"I mean, if you thought Kurt and I were that serious after a week, I can only imagine what a few months looks like to you," Kate said, waving her hand airily with a wicked grin.

"It's not—Peter and I—we're … it's not like that. He isn't serious about anythi—I mean.. Not like Kurt."

"Ooh, shotgun wedding then," Kate said, grinning mercilessly before she raised her eyebrows Logan's way.

"Turn that loser into a freakin' doorstop."

"So that's a no on giving her away, then?" Kate teased, clearly enjoying herself.

"Awful wrapped up in other people's weddings aren'tcha?" Logan asked. "Or are you just hopin' it'd be a double so you don't have to go alone?"

Kate raised both eyebrows high and then just laughed and shook her head. "Alright. Fair enough. Glass houses."

Meanwhile, Noh and Kurt found themselves in a small lab of Noh's as the former Marvel Boy poured over a few screens, punctuated every so often by a light hum or a shake of his head and a frown.

"Is there a problem?" Kurt asked as he took in the expression on the younger man's face.

Noh looked up and then sighed. "Not for us, no," he said as he waved aside the diagrams in front of him. "It's perfectly safe to detonate. It's just… the design is unfinished, unstable, inefficient. Not at all up to Kree standard. At least not in most of the dimensions I'm used to."

"Some realities are just lazy," Kurt said with a nod. "What do you suggest?"

"An uninhabited star system would be ideal, in case the slim margin of error comes back to haunt us and the detonation does threaten more than just a light show," Noh said as he looked over another set of data. "It shouldn't kill us, but… If we send it into a star with no life around, that would be wiser."

"Unmanned craft?"

"That would work," Noh agreed. He looked up from his data and waved his hand so that the little screens all disappeared from the air. "My people said they would use this power to defend Earth, and I foolishly believed them. And here is the result of my folly." He looked up at Kurt with a heavy shrug. "Conquering Earth or defending it—it's the same thing, really. The dangers are just as present, and the price of ignorance just as heavy."

"We've had to deal with the Phoenix force a few times," Kurt said. "That anyone could think to try and mimic that destruction is proof that not just those from Earth would be victims of their own egos."

Noh snorted out a breath and nodded in agreement. "In dimensions where my people do not rule, that is always the case - ego destroyed them. And in the others…" He smirked. "Ego still destroyed them. Though we took a significant portion of the galaxy with us, I fear—at least in many cases." He leaned back and tilted his head, drawing a long breath, before he turned back to Kurt. "But not in this reality. And I'm glad for that."

"You and I both," Kurt agreed.

Noh grinned at him and then gestured to the door as it opened behind him. "Shall we return to the others, then? I can surely find the nearest star without taking you away from your friends."

"Yes, we should reunite with them."

Noh nodded, but as he reached the door with Kurt, he paused and turned toward the older man. "There is one more matter I'd like to bring to your attention," he said quietly. "I hope you realize how lucky you are. I didn't until it was too late, and I lost the girl that meant the universe to me."

"I am not so naive to be blind in that way anymore. Whatever happens between us - however long it lasts or how serious it is—it will be her choosing."

Noh smirked. "Well, at least you have that part right," he said, almost to himself, before he looked back at Kurt. "You should know—if she chooses to leave, I won't wait to spare your feelings."

"Were I in your shoes, I would only wait to be sure her heart was ready for that kind of a shock."

"Just don't hurt her," Noh said with a light shrug before he made to leave.

"I would never do anything to hurt her," Kurt promised. "Know that."

Noh nodded. "Well then. Let's go destroy a dangerous weapon."


It had only taken a matter of hours off their course back to Star Lord's ship to find an uninhabited star system—and despite all the precautions, the weapon exploded without much fanfare once it hit the sun, and the group made their way back with Noh at the helm for the remainder of the trip.

Once they arrived at Quill's ship, Noh waited only long enough for everyone to get off before he announced his intention to leave. "There might be other things that I missed. I want to look into this," he explained to Quill. "If I find anything beyond my capacity to deal with, I'll let you know." He gave Kurt a quick look before he turned to Kate and said, simply and sincerely, "Be safe."

"You too," she said, looking over his shoulder at the ship. "Don't travel alone too long. You should look up some of our old friends or something."

"I may just," he agreed. "Farewell, Kate Bishop of Earth. May we meet again soon." With that, he stepped back into the ship, which closed up behind him, and the whirr of the Kirby engines had them all stepping slightly back as he took off again.

Kate shook her head and turned back to the others, then looked past them at the plane in the docking bay. "So—can you put us back without crashing the plane?" she asked slowly, her head tipped Quill's way as she was clearly ready for the next adventure.

"Should be able to," Quill replied. "Just... make sure the engines are fired up and we'll, you know, have radio contact before we let it go."

"And if it doesn't work, Kurt can bamf you to the ground safely," Kitty assured her.

"My hero," Kate mouthed silently Kurt's way with a huge grin.

Kitty watched the two of them grin at each other for only a moment before she crossed the span between them quickly to wrap Kurt up in a tight hug. "Thank you," she said as he squeezed her back. "I'm glad you had time to stop pirates with us."

"Anytime, katzchen," Kurt replied. "You know the magic words—pirates, swashbuckling, and please." She smiled as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she let him go and smiled at Kate.

"Nice to meet you. Take care of my Elf," she said, pointing her index finger at Kate. "Don't break him."

"I promise not to. I even try to keep him fed and watered," Kate said with a grin and her hand over her heart. She leaned forward the slightest bit, hands in her pockets and grin widening. "And he's my Elf now."

Kitty giggled in response and pushed her hair out of her face before she called out for Logan to stop. Once the goodbyes had started, he'd already begun to work his way out of the group. He turned to face her just in time for her to rush him and wrap her arms around his neck, setting him back a few steps with a tight hug.

"Do not die on me."

"I'll try," Logan said, hugging her back tightly and just letting her get it out of her system before he gave her a little kiss on the temple. "See you soon, kiddo."