Chapter 9: "Yes, 'Boss-Lady' is Annie's X-Man Name"

Rachel had found another new mutant for the team to go after: a late-blooming teleporter, about sixteen, in Connecticut, named Brandon.

Even though things had been quieter for the past few months, the senior X-Men were going on extractions for the time being, just to be safe. Not that the junior squad was complaining (too loudly), considering how the last extraction they'd gone on had turned out.

And since it was a teleporter, Kurt had of course been quick to volunteer, curious to see the boy's powers as well as to see if he was related. Bobby and Rachel went along, as well as K, and all four were prepared to deal with the MRD — though obviously, they hoped they wouldn't have to.

So when they arrived at the little house in a cul-de-sac, they were relieved to see that no one else was around — and what's more, the boy in question looked to be waiting for them, sitting out on the porch with his chin resting in both hands.

Or … not. An instant later, he had disappeared — no smoke or bamf sound, more like a little pop and spark of light.

"So … not your little brother then," K said with a nod, looking around them as she scented the air for him and mumbled out 'gunpowder'.

"Well, he was off like a shot," Bobby had to joke.

"Oh, Lord, why do you test me so?" Kurt said, looking up at the sky to emphasize his point.

"Because you make it too easy," Rachel said, grinning as she shook her head at Bobby affectionately.

"Right, well, we'll head around the house — you two maybe go look inside?" Kurt suggested. "And perhaps try to keep your hands to yourself until after we recover?"

Like you have any room to talk, Rachel projected his way as she wrapped an arm around Bobby's middle and headed toward the house.

I do today, Kurt shot right back with a grin.

Only because your favorite Hawkeye is home with the kids, she replied. And don't tell me you'd behave even if she was here, because I know that's not true.

"So sensitive," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"And so right," Rachel called his way as Bobby knocked on the door — and Brandon's parents both answered, looking a bit anxious.

"Hey there," Bobby said with a crooked grin. "We know — it's been a day. Can we come in?"

Mr. and Mrs. Yarr glanced at each other but nodded, stepping aside so Rachel and Bobby could come into the living room, where the tall boy with short black hair was sitting with his head in his hands again. He glanced up when the X-Men came in and then looked even more nervous.

"Oh. Okay. Um… hi," Brandon said as his mom sat down beside him and gently patted his shoulder, both of them looking a little overwhelmed.

"He hasn't been able to stay in any one place for longer than ten minutes before he disappears into some other place," his father explained, seemingly the only one of them who could wrap his head around an explanation.

"You need to try to focus on where you are," Rachel said to the young man. "That's why we're here, actually. To offer you help getting your new abilities under control."

"I really… don't want to... thanks," the boy said, shifting. "I'm on the basketball team at school; I'm going to get a scholarship if I keep it up."

"I understand that," Rachel replied kindly. "I do. But you won't be able to do any of that if you can't keep control. We can help — and then you can go right back to your life."

"And miss the whole season," he said miserably. "This is really rotten timing."

"I doubt your coach will let you play at all if you're … popping in and out," his father pointed out.

Brandon put his head in his hands again and shook his head quietly. "How long do you think… how long does it take people to get control?" he asked at last without looking up at any of them.

"That all depends on how much work you put into it," Rachel replied. "And how well you get along with your new coach."

"You guys have basketball there?" he asked, still a little bit dazed after the day he'd had.

"Not an official team," Bobby replied.

Brandon finally nodded and passed both hands through his hair. "Alright. So… how does this work? Do you need my school records or... ?"

"We can get you anything you need," his mother agreed, speaking to Bobby and Rachel and still looking incredibly nervous.

"Copies would be fine, if you can manage it," Rachel replied.

She nodded and rested her hand on Brandon's shoulder. "And you'll send him back when he stops… doing… this?" she asked haltingly as Brandon seemed to prove her point by disappearing again — walking back through the door from the kitchen a few moments later with a clearly annoyed look on his face.

"Of course," Rachel said as she produced a business card from her pocket. "Feel free to call or stop in anytime. We don't stop parents from seeing their kids."

Brandon's mother's shoulders visibly relaxed, and his father chuckled. "She'll probably call often."

"Me. She'll call me," Brandon said, shooting his mom a look.

"If you have a cell phone, you can bring that too," Bobby added.

Brandon's mother looked surprised. "That's … that's good to hear, but it's just not what people say," she admitted. "I thought …"

"We're … not MRD," Rachel said, a bit of color rising in her cheeks. "We're the X-Men. I thought that was clear." She gestured to the insignias on their uniforms.

Brandon's parents shared a glance, and his mother sighed. "You have to understand," she said, sounding totally deflated. "Everything we've heard… there aren't any options for boys like him… people said that school of yours would take him away…"

The radio crackled at Bobby's ear, and he glanced to Rachel with a look … "They're here, and they brought reinforcements." He glanced out the window and nodded almost to himself. "If you don't want to be locked up, come with us now. Our backup can hold them off while we get to the jet."

"Who's 'them'?" Brandon asked, already getting to his feet.

"Militarized MRD," Rachel replied. "They've been capturing mutants around the country."

"What for?" he asked, looking suddenly more nervous than before.

"I'm pretty sure you don't want to know," Bobby said as he iced up. "It's not good."

Brandon nodded, sticking close to Bobby. "We can go out the kitchen door?" he offered. "It's sort of hidden behind the hedges. They might not have spotted it yet."

The two X-Men and Brandon slipped out of the side of the house, and Brandon pulled up short when, for the first time, he got to see the MRD up close — a few vans and a whole lot of agents in military-grade gear. Thankfully, for the moment, they were occupied with the other X-Men who had come with Bobby and Rachel.

Brandon could instantly recognize the blue-furred X-Man that was Nightcrawler as well as the famous "K" — and he stared for a second before Bobby pulled his arm to keep him moving. "D'you think I can learn how to teleport like Nightcrawler?" he asked — surprising himself that that was where his head was at.

"If we can all get back to the school, he is going to be your new coach," Rachel promised. "No one knows teleporting like he does."

Brandon nodded at that, starting to feel a little better about the whole thing, though when there was a fresh round of gunfire from the backyard, that seemed to snap him back to reality and remind him just how much trouble he was in — and teleported him out to the front yard far ahead of Bobby and Rachel, closer to the car they'd been headed for in the first place.

Kurt and K had not seen any of what had happened — too busy trying to keep a clear path for Rachel and Bobby to get the new kid through — though it seemed as if Kurt teleporting in and out and removing weaponry from the soldiers was enough to get them riled even without K adding her two cents, enjoying the chance to stretch while the two of them pounded MRD.

They were nearly to the vans — where they planned to disable the vehicles too — when Rachel redirected them back to where the young man had managed to appear. In the center of danger, of course.

He looked totally caught off-guard when he appeared in the middle of the lawn, clearly not expecting to teleport. He ducked his head instinctively and closed his eyes, trying to will himself to teleport again. But the soldiers around him all raised their rifles his way, and the sound of them cocking back the bolts was plain, echoing the cul-de-sac with a finality that no one could have misinterpreted.

Rachel didn't have to try and direct her team — not with a statement like that from the MRD. Kurt and K shared a glance, and the two of them disappeared in a cloud of brimstone — though Kurt was sure to drop K over the heads of the men running the operation before trying to get in to pick up the young man in the center of the fuss.

K managed to act as distraction and deterrent at once as she tore into the commanders, giving Kurt the quick opportunity to get the boy out — though it wasn't as clean as he'd have liked, and both of them ended up getting tagged and teleported out by the bamfs, who were in a mood at their big brother getting shot. Again.

But as the little blue demons started to growl, K just let loose all the more — and didn't bother holding back the claws that Scott had requested she lay off of once she'd taken a round too.. Apparently, the MRD had forgotten that the ferals weren't likely to lay off just because their healing wasn't functioning properly. The thing that finally got her redirected to the main fight ended up being a bamf that came in and chittered in her ear for an instant before teleporting her to the car right next to Kurt — who was getting reamed out by a very nervous-looking demon for getting tagged.

"Everybody here?" Bobby called over his shoulder for just a second before he nodded to himself. "Great. We are gone." He floored it, shooting out of the neighborhood to the sound of the bamfs chattering.

The bamfs in the car were making over their injured friends — though they were a bit nervous about the new kid, and Kurt ended up laughing outright when K pushed two of them away, insisting that she was fine.

"What… was that stuff?" Brandon finally asked, rubbing his chest where he'd been shot. "I thought they were gonna kill us."

"Not in the street," Kurt replied. "That would be bad for their image." He turned toward the young man and extended his hand. "Sorry to meet under such unfavorable circumstances."

Brandon looked totally taken aback but took Kurt's hand to shake it all the same. "Right. Yeah. I guess this is kind of typical, though. For you, I mean... You guys looked like you knew what you were doing."

"We try to avoid this kind of thing, to be honest," Kurt replied.

"Yeah, well, it's just that kind of day," Brandon muttered, shaking his head to himself before something seemed to occur to him and he glanced toward Bobby in the front seat. "Ah… do you guys have a plan for if I disappear from the car? Because it's been a while, and…"

"You were shot," K said, having given up on trying to push the bamfs away. "You're not going anywhere."

"The MRD has inhibitor rounds," Rachel explained before Brandon could ask. "When we get to Westchester, Shadowcat can pull out the filaments they shot you with once our doctor checks you over."

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Brandon said in near disbelief.

"Well, the better part is that they won't come looking for you," Bobby said. "Not after what they just dealt with. Those two sitting with you … threw a nasty monkey wrench in their plan."

"Which was… to lock me up," Brandon said almost dully. "You know, yesterday, the biggest problem I had was that I missed a couple free throws at practice."

"If you think they just wanted you, you're crazy," K said. "And as far as your problems yesterday? Well, I guess you just became a man. Or something like it."

"Don't worry," Kurt said, smirking K's way as he couldn't help but chuckle at her assessment. "The MRD won't come to the school, not with the teachers there — and not with the security systems we have. You won't have to worry about them while you're there."

Brandon nodded and put his head in his hands again. "Thanks," he muttered quietly.

"It's our calling," Kurt replied with a grin. "I'd much rather go through a little scuffle to get you away from those people now than to have to storm the castle later, as it were."

"Even if it's been a while since we've stormed a castle," K added quietly.

"Does that happen often?" Brandon asked, glancing up at both of them.

"Not as often as cupcakes and Southern dinners," K replied. "Hope you're hungry. The Southern mama hen is probably already fretting."

"O...kay. Which X-Man is that?"

"Boss-lady," K and Kurt replied at once, and Rachel just had to laugh at both of them.

"I don't think I've heard of her," Brandon said with a quiet smile, not sure if they were messing with him or not.

"She's not actually an X-Man," Bobby said before he turned halfway around to look at them both. "And you know she hates it when you two do that."

"Kate started it," K replied, crossing her arms and leaning back.

"And besides, it's a fitting name," Kurt said, grinning impishly.

"And we have to let her have one nickname stick," K added.

"That's the only nickname she's really got," Bobby pointed out. "'Southern mother hen' aside."

"'Southern mother hen' is a descriptor," K said. "Not a nickname."

"You never know," Brandon said with a quiet smile. "I've heard of some weird superhero names…" He looked up at the two of them in something like alarm. "I don't need one, do I? I just want to play basketball. You know. If… it's even possible to do that with dudes in military gear trying to kill me."

"You don't need one unless you decide you want to join the team - down the road - and it's not a requirement," Bobby clarified.

"Good, because I don't even know what it would be," Brandon said with a nearly disbelieving laugh.

"He thinks he has a say," Rachel chuckled quietly.

"Don't I?" he asked, looking between the X-Men in the group. "Didn't you guys pick yours?"

"No," Kurt and K answered at the same time — again.

"O…kay." He shook his head again and leaned back, falling silent for a long time before he finally asked, "D'you think my parents will be okay? Will they have to move?"

"The MRD doesn't usually bother the families," Rachel replied. "But I'll keep an eye out for them anyhow."

"Thanks," Brandon said. "I don't want them to get in trouble. Mom was kind of… freaking out."

"That isn't uncommon," Bobby said. "It'll get better."

Brandon chuckled and leaned back. "Yeah. It can only get better, right? Tell me it gets better."

"There are a lot of cute girls at the school your age," K said at a whisper over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" Brandon asked, seeming to perk up.

"Of course," K said with a little laugh.

"So… it's co-ed, right? You don't have … I mean, the rumors are you guys put kids on lockdown, so I'm just trying to figure out the whole deal…"

"It'll be easier to just show you, but yes, it's very co-ed," Kurt replied. "There are even dances and extra curricular activities."

"Hey, now we're talking!" Brandon said, grinning broadly. "I think I'm gonna like this place."


"I can't believe you got shot again," Kate said as she slipped down to the medical wing to collect her husband — seeing as he hadn't come straight to her when he got home, she knew where to find him.

"I wasn't alone this time," Kurt defended.

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much better," Kate said, rolling her eyes. She had Kaleb balanced in one arm as the little guy happily ignored Kate's criticism of Kurt in favor of blowing out little noises and grinning at himself. "What, do you have a target on your chest that makes it easier to hit you?"

"I don't think that's a very fair portrayal," Kurt replied as he tried to kiss her forehead.

She gave him a stern look but let him kiss her. "You're just lucky the little demons are immune. They told me what happened."

Kurt tipped his head to the side. "No, I'm reasonably sure K was cutting her way out one way or another too … we would have been fine either way."

Kate rolled her eyes at him and then sighed, looking entirely serious. "One of these days, you're going to get hit and you won't have someone to get you out," she said softly, cupping his face with one hand.

He grinned back at her. "Have a little faith, Vögelchen."

She couldn't help but chuckle at him. "I do. But you are trying it, Engelchen." She kissed his cheek. "So ... are you done getting those stupid things out of you again? Because the girls want to play with you now."

"I was in line right after K," Kurt promised. "It won't take but a moment."

Kate nodded and hopped up on the chair nearby, bouncing Kaleb as she waited, turning her attention to making little cooing noises at the little boy.

It wasn't much longer before Logan and K went by, and Logan just shook his head at the two of them. "More trouble than should be legal."

"At least mine has the half-demon excuse," Kate sang his way without even looking up.

"Like that's an excuse," he countered. "Want us to take him up to the others?"

She shook her head. "I've got my boys — and the girls are with Sying and Noh. Thanks for the offer, though."

Kitty and Hank headed over in tandem to look over Kurt next, and Kitty couldn't help teasing Kurt. "Well, at least it's in the arm this time. I think you're just doing this to get attention."

"Right?" Kate gestured with one arm to Kitty. "That's what I'm saying."

"And what if I am?" Kurt teased them right back, which had Kitty chuckling as she pulled out the filaments from his arm.

"Then clearly you're not getting enough attention," Kate said, shaking her head. "We'll have to do something about that. Maybe a Valentine's trip in a couple weeks…. It's been a while since we went down to the beach house," she said, leaning over to kiss him with a sparkle of trouble in her eyes.

Kitty laughed as she finished pulling out the filaments and dropped them onto a tray. "Well, don't let me stand in your way."

Kurt grinned at that, leaned forward to kiss Kate — and in an instant, had teleported the pair of them out of the medical wing.