Chapter 21: Shanghai'd

November 10

Fury's Secret Base

Kate was not a morning person, but for this particular occasion, she would make an exception. Even at three in the morning. She had a secret meeting to get to, and she knew her partner in crime would bring the coffee, so all she had to do was drag herself out of bed and get to the hangar and meet him there.

She brought the small makeup bag that Jubilee had provided for her so that she could spruce herself up on the way, and she also tucked away a small panic button that Coulson had insisted she take with her while she was out, because he didn't want her getting stranded out there.

She was trusting Kitty to have the snacks packed as well as anything else they might need, so all that was really left was to do the actual, well, kidnapping part.

When she met up with Clint in the hangar, he pointed out the plane that he'd picked out for them to use and explained at a low whisper that he'd already cleared her flight plan with all the right people, so all she had to do was make sure she didn't crash into anything or anyone and bring the plane back in one piece. He would handle the rest.

She nodded and then grinned at him, her head tilted in a silent question as she raised her hands to her ears and pointed both fingers up.

He nodded and showed her the key card that he had "borrowed" from Coulson (she still wasn't convinced Coulson hadn't just let him have it) that would let him inside without tripping any alarms.

She almost felt bad about the heart attack that she knew Clint was going to give Kurt, but it was going to be so worth it that she didn't even care.

He wouldn't be expecting it. She knew it, because she'd been planning this for a long time, and because it was still an entire day before Kurt's birthday. She was springing it early. Just for added surprise and terror.

She slipped into the plane, and Clint double-checked all of her pre-flight protocols before he nodded to her and left. She thought she spotted Natasha somewhere out there as well, but only for a second.

Kate settled down in the pilot's seat with the coffee Clint had provided, a mirror, and some makeup. Now, she just had to wait for her plans to unfold.

Clint had been looking forward to this for days now. It wasn't often that he was asked, outright, to cause this much trouble — and be allowed to get away with it. This was like...Christmas or something.

He slipped very quietly down the hallway, grinning from ear to ear, before he reached Kurt's door and slid the key card through. It opened the door noiselessly, and he heard Natasha slip in behind him. She was there in case, as she pointed out, scaring a kid trained to fight hand-to-hand was just as dumb an idea as it sounded.

Kurt was dead to the world, though, so Clint was pretty sure this was going to be an easy grab. The only tricky part would be getting the blindfold on him before he saw anything. Kid was fast.

Luckily, Kurt seemed to have wrapped himself slightly in his own blanket, so Clint used that to his advantage. When he pounced, he had Kurt's arms pinned under the blanket before he had a chance to react.

Kurt tried to kick him and gave a sharp shout of surprise. But Kate was good; she'd quietly suggested to the kids on either side of Kurt's room that they ignore anything happening tonight unless it sounded like a real emergency and not Kurt getting the daylights scared out of him.

Kate was good.

Clint was pretty sure Natasha was laughing as she watched him secure the blindfold around Kurt's eyes before he cheerfully declared, "We invite you to join us for an all-expense-paid trip in your honor!" in a voice that, he hoped, sounded nothing like he was dying of laughter.

Kurt stopped struggling for a second and tried to turn his head. "What's going on?" he managed to ask before Clint dragged him out of bed and onto his feet.

"No way, Kurt. Can't tell you that or I'll get in trouble with the boss lady. Now stay blindfolded or I'll make this a real kidnapping," he said, marching Kurt forward and out of the room, still wearing his pajamas. (Kitty had packed clothes; they had thought of everything, Clint was pretty sure.)

Natasha helped him get Kurt down to the hangar without running into anything — and she watched to make sure Kurt didn't try to remove the blindfold, either.

"What time is it?" Kurt asked as they continued their march, and Natasha smirked over his shoulder at Clint.

"You can sleep on the way there, if you want," Clint assured him. "We just gotta get you to your, ah, magic carpet ride or something."

The impressive part was the fact that Kate somehow managed to stay deadly silent, despite the fact that she was clearly on the verge of breaking into laughter, as they loaded Kurt into the seat next to her, and Natasha checked the blindfold one more time to make sure it was securely fastened.

"Thank you for flying Kidnap Air," Clint said. "Our stewardess has coffee to your left if you want it, but you have a few hours' flight ahead of you, and your pilot isn't very talkative right now, so you can catch your beauty sleep if you want it. Or not. Up to you. Only rule is no peeking, and trust me, you don't want to try and sneak anything past your pilot."

Kate gave him a look that clearly read she was annoyed with him for how closely he was jeopardizing her identity and nearly making her laugh.

Kurt still looked a little dazed and tired and very confused, but he was smiling, and it was clear that he was going to play along, so Clint flashed Kate a goofy grin and a thumbs-up, and Natasha waved with that same look — like she was trying not to laugh.

A few minutes later, he watched Kate take off in their little plane, and he grinned over at Natasha. "We should do this professionally," he said.

"We do," she countered.

"Yeah, but this is more fun." He yawned and grinned at her. "I'm bushed. All this secret agent stuff will wear you out. I don't think I'm cut out for it."

She rolled her eyes. "Go to sleep, Clint," she said, her usual sign for him to shut up and stop being an idiot.

It was hard to stay quiet for so long when Kurt had a smile on his face and was sitting that close to her, but Kate had plans, and she was not about to go giving away the ballgame.

He had eventually fallen asleep, she supposed after the initial adrenaline of being kidnapped had worn off, and Kate took another long sip of coffee. She'd told him she wanted to go to sleep early because she was still sore from that last training exercise they ran yesterday, but still, even six hours of sleep was pulling at her eyes.

They were only going one district over, but they weren't in a rush, and she didn't want Kurt to figure out anything about her surprise based on proximity — and also, he was asleep, and she didn't think it would be nice to wake him. So she flew lazily over the flat, grassy plains below them and set down on the outer bounds of District Nine as gently as she could. Landings were still not her favorite thing in the world.

She reached back to fish out the set of clothes that Kitty had packed for Kurt and laid them neatly over her chair as she grabbed her bag full of supplies and sneaked carefully out of the plane, grinning to herself the entire time. Only once she was sure she had everything she needed did she sneak back, carefully remove the blindfold, and then leave. When Kurt woke up, he would see nothing but the tarp she had placed over the windows, and she'd left him a note telling him to get dressed and then signal with the earwig she'd left for him when he was ready.

She busied herself with setting up the campfire, gathering stones and twigs and leaves. There weren't as many trees here as there were in Twelve, but she would make do with what she had, and she'd come prepared. She laid out the small breakfast that Kitty had packed for them, nodded to herself, and then looked out over the small camp she'd made. Yes, this looked about right.

The sun would be rising soon, and she had a backup plan involving a little noisemaker arrow Clint had ridiculously insisted Tony make because he was five, but she heard the slight tapping of a signal over her communications and knew that Kurt was awake, so she grinned and rushed back to the plane, letting down the ramp so that a now dapperly-dressed Kurt could step outside into the dawn air.

He grinned when he saw her, and she made a mental note to thank Jubilee for the purple knit dress and scarf that she had provided, as well as for the leg warmers, because wow, it was cold outside this early in District Nine. He looked amazing as well, in a nice shirt and sweater vest that Jubilee had designed for him to accentuate all his new muscles.

She offered her hand to him the way he usually did to her with a grin that she couldn't quite contain. "I trust my minions weren't too rough on you this morning?" she asked sweetly, and when he gave her a look, she just laughed.

It was still relatively dark as she led him back to the campfire she'd set up, so she wasn't quite sure he had placed where they were. He was also pretty tired, and she poured the coffee from one of several thermoses Clint had packed as they ate in companionable silence and watched the sun rise.

It was nothing like a sunrise in Twelve, which filtered in through trees and soot and came in spurts of bits of color before it fully reached the top of the sky. Nine was open, grassy and bare, and the entire spectacle was clear to see for miles around, blues turning to purples turning to pinks turning to reds and then orange and then yellow at last as the sun broke through, and she leaned her shoulder against Kurt's chest and sighed.

"Kate," he said slowly, and she looked up at him with an impish grin. "Where are we?"

"Well," she said, and she pointed along the path she already planned to take him. "If you go about a mile thataway, I think you'll find some places you might recognize."

He shook his head at her, grinning from ear to ear. "How… Are we AWOL?"

"Oh no," she said. "You have a reputation to uphold, mister. I would never let you go AWOL. Coulson knows… Well, he knows I'm stealing a plane, and he knows we'll be back before the end of the day."

He shook his head again, like he couldn't quite believe it, and she leaned further over until she toppled into his lap so he could grin down at her some more.

"Happy birthday," she told him, and he laughed.

"You're a day early, Kate."

"Yes. I got impatient." She gave him a smug sort of smile, and for a while, there was just the sunrise and the silence of a new morning over the grassy plains.

"So," he said at last. "I'm assuming you have plans."

"Oh yes," she promised. "I am turning into a super secret spy." He snorted at that, and she rolled herself forward until she was on her feet again. "Come on," she said. "Let's clean up here, and then I have been reliably informed that there's a big tree that needs climbing."

They put out the last of the campfire, and Kate packed up the coffee and other food supplies in her bag before they headed off. She laced her fingers through his and led him on the path in the direction she knew they were supposed to go before he saw the outer edges of the district, and then he was the one leading, an excited sort of grin on his face.

They caught a few strange looks the closer they got to the district, because Kate was good, but she wasn't "tell the entire district we're coming without accidentally alerting any bad guys" good, but she couldn't do anything about that. And besides, Kurt didn't seem to mind much as he led her through the streets of his hometown until they reached the climbing tree, and Kate was only slightly hampered by Jubilee's dress as she pulled herself into the upper branches. Though she might have pretended she was more hampered so that Kurt could help her climb.

She draped herself over the branches and beamed at him before she asked him to tell her about the tree, about his home, about anything, really. He cheerfully obliged, and she beamed at him. His excited smile was her favorite thing about him.

She saw a flash of blonde hair at the edge of her vision and grinned. Time for Phase Two.

This had been the trickiest part to set up, because it was hard to get transmissions through when Fury was trying to keep them as hidden as he was. So she'd had to get a little creative in asking for Skye's help without telling her exactly what for. Tony had helped, too. Kate didn't know what Natasha had either promised or threatened Tony with — it depended entirely on whether or not Tony was civil to Natasha, really — but whatever it was, he'd been able to set up a basic relay. Just a few simple messages.

And Kitty had been helpful, too. She'd known where to send the kids for the maximum surprise value.

She started to climb out of the tree, Kurt just beside her, and she dropped to the ground ahead of him on purpose so that, when two blonde and grinning "assassins" jumped out at her, Kurt was still one branch above her.

"Oh no, Kurt!" she cried out, trying very hard not to laugh as she allowed Amanda to "drag" her away. "Help me!"

Kurt was already laughing even as Stefan stood with his arms crossed in front of Kurt and did his best impression of intimidating as he informed his older brother that if he was going to get Kate back, he was going to have to prove himself worthy of rescuing his princess from her tower.

Amanda was already giggling, and Kate tried to shoosh her as they ran through the streets. Kate handed Amanda her bag of tricks and sent the younger girl running up ahead of her to set the gamut for Kurt, and then she found herself a nice perch so she could watch and help direct, if needed.

Kitty had been instrumental in helping Kate set up the "challenges" for Kurt, because Kitty knew what books Kurt read growing up, and he'd also told her about some of the books he'd read since the Games, since Charles seemed to always have a ready supply for anyone who wanted to read.

There had been something about a forest of silver and gold and some dancing princesses, but Kitty couldn't remember the details, so they made it up as they went along. Amanda was in charge of the dancing part, challenging Kurt to sweep her off her feet and prove himself a worthy champion of dancing or something — it was very dramatic, and she only burst into giggles once.

Kurt, on the other hand, had not stopped laughing since this began, and Kate watched with a growing smile as he swept his little sister up and danced her around the streets as his brother clapped a rhythm behind them.

When Kurt finished with a flair and a dip, Amanda awarded him a "golden apple," which was really just a normal apple Kate had pinched from the cafeteria, but beggars can't be choosers.

Kate followed along above their heads, keeping low to the rooftops and only trying to be sneaky insofar as she was pretty sure Kurt was paying more attention to his younger siblings than the rooftops, but she was having too much fun watching him with those two.

When the three siblings reached another relatively clear street, Stefan declared that Kurt would have to prove himself in combat, and Amanda supplied the wooden swords. It was clear to Kate, who had seen Kurt swordfight before, that he was allowing Stefan to push him back for the first little while before Amanda squealed and said, "You're going to lose your princess!" and he gave them both the most ridiculous grin before he disarmed Stefan with a swish and a flourish.

She laughed into her hand. That was Kurt. Her Kurt: the showboat.

They were getting closer to the residential district now, and as Amanda made her next challenge — a set of riddles that Kate had no idea the answer to because Amanda had been in charge of that part of the game — she slipped off of the roof and headed for her "tower."

Stefan met her at the yard — she didn't know what he had done to slip away, but Kate was sure that Amanda was a sufficient distraction anyway — and gave her a wink as he led her around back of the house and motioned for her to wait.

This... This was the part Kate had been waiting for. Because the last "task" Kurt had to complete was to navigate a "maze" past the "tower guardian." Which basically meant he had to hug his mom and come inside, and then Stefan would let Kate in through the back door. Semantics.

She heard Kurt's knock on the door, followed by a whole lot of giggling and laughter from inside, and when Stefan finally let Kate inside, the entire Wagner family was in a fit of smiles and giggles, and Kate couldn't help but join in.

"Well?" Amanda said, pushing Kurt forward a slight step. "Go rescue your princess!"

Kurt grinned and, in a few steps, crossed to Kate to sweep her up into his arms. And at Amanda's encouragement, he kissed her before he set her back down.

Kate had come prepared, and her bag was filled not only with toy swords and a golden apple but with the makings of a meal. All five of them were soon engrossed first with eating the feast Kitty had prepared for them and then with trading stories and enjoying the most familial atmosphere Kate had ever experienced. Which was good, seeing as she was going to be a Wagner soon. Ish. Whenever they got around to that.

A few hours later, filled with good food and some really amazing stories that Kate was sure Kurt could have lived without hearing again — but which were actually really endearing, she assured him — they had to be on their way, because Kate had promised to get their plane back to base before the end of the day, and they still had to hike back to where it was parked.

Both Amanda and Stefan came at Kate and Kurt from either side, and what followed was a very squished and very fun hug as both Kate and Kurt were trapped by a circle of long arms. Not that they tried very hard to get out.

Margali hugged them both as well. When she hugged Kate, she whispered a soft "thank you." Kate tried to laugh it off and thank her right back for letting Kate commandeer both her kids and her home, but Margali kept right on hugging her instead of listening to her.

Kurt got another round of hugs while Kate headed for the doorway, and Kate couldn't help the grin that took her entire face as she watched him go down in yet another tangle of arms and legs that was his siblings.

"Goodbye, my darling," Margali told him as she grabbed him for one last hug. "Come back to us soon."

Kurt's eyes were shining as he took Kate's hand and allowed her to lead him away from his childhood home, and Kate pulled him closer so she could thread their arms. "You okay, oh brave hero of mine?" she asked him quietly.

"Wunderbar," he told her, reaching around her so that he could grab her other hand and pull her around to face him. She stopped, grinning, and when he kissed her, she was pretty sure she could hear faint giggling from the general vicinity of the house they'd just left.

He stopped, looked over his shoulder with a careless grin, and then shrugged and kissed her again.

It was a much slower trek back to the plane this time, as they kept pausing. Kurt looked like he was about to burst, and Kate just couldn't stop grinning at him. She would have bounced on the tips of her toes if they'd been walking at a more normal pace.

When at last they reached the plane, Kurt raised both his eyebrows at her and laughed. "So this is why you've been logging all those flight hours in small craft with Ororo," he said.

"And you thought I was just trying to stay busy," she teased him. "I piloted this thing like a dream — you slept the whole way."

"I was very rudely awakened," he pointed out, "and I was very tired. I could have slept through a small storm."

"Are you questioning my piloting skills?" she teased him.

"I'll save that question for when we return home — safely, I hope," he shot back, and she laughed at him.

It was late enough when they returned that most everyone had already dispersed for their usual nighttime routines. But there was a small figure waiting in the hangar for them when they arrived, and as they stepped out of the plane, Kitty waved at both of them, positively beaming.

"Did it work? Was he surprised?" Kitty asked, and both of them laughed and nodded. "Good. I'll have you know I worked hard."

"Exactly how many other people knew about this?" Kurt asked

Kate looked thoughtful. "Well," she said. "Your kidnappers aside, there was also Jubilee. And Coulson, sort of. I think a few other people had ideas, but… I'm very good at being sneaky." She grinned at him.

"You are," Kurt agreed.

Kate laughed at him before she snaked her arm the rest of the way around his waist. "Anything exciting happen while we were gone?" she asked Kitty.

"Well, apparently, there was some kind of disturbance last night. Someone thought they heard a cry for help?" Kitty smirked at Kurt. "It's just a rumor, though."

"Yeah, that was definitely a rumor. There were not any cries for help from anyone," said Kurt.

"And definitely no one needing to be rescued at all from anything," Kate supplied helpfully, still grinning.

"Mm-mm," Kurt agreed, shaking his head.

When Kate stifled a yawn, Kitty laughed and waved them both forward and out of the hangar. "Come on, sleepyheads. You look beat."

"I'm fine," Kate joked. "I can make it another ten minutes at least. I have coffee."

"Coffee does not have superpowers, Kate," Kurt pointed out, leading her forward.

"It should," Kate shot back before she leaned her head over onto his shoulder and then closed her eyes, trusting him not to run her into any walls while they walked back to the residential hall.