Chapter 25 : Kitty Pryde Is Not The Best Ninja

December 11

District Seven

Sam, Steve, and Peggy hadn't been able to make any progress in tracking down Bucky — not since the move, not since Kurt had been stabbed by Von Strucker, not since Steve had broken the Skull's arm. And while the three of them seemed content to hide away combing through intelligence to try and find Bucky, Coulson had decided enough was enough.

"This isn't healthy," Coulson said as he broke into the three friends' thoughts. They'd been working in Steve and Peggy's cabin mostly — the one that looked like half of it was command central with maps laid out and on the wall and notations all over on where the last sightings were, with a small laptop propped up that they'd talked Skye into relaying any vital intel on the Skull to them.

"We're just trying to get Bucky back," Steve defended, but Coulson was already shaking his head 'no'.

"If you're going to mount a surveillance detail this heavy, then I can't in good conscience let you waste it like this," Colson said. The three of them looked horrified for a moment before Coulson continued. "So I'd like you to pull in a few people that should be learning this kind of thing. We've got three great kids that all would be exceptional in the surveillance field if they learned how. And I don't think we have another project like this that would be anywhere near as good for them to learn with either."

The three of them shared a look before Steve decided to clarify: "So you're alright with us keeping our search going?"

"I'm not alright with the three of you holing up in here and enacting your personal agenda. But I am alright if you're training a few kids to do exactly what the three of you are doing."

It wasn't an hour after Steve agreed that he found himself looking at the eager faces of Kitty, Miles, and Kamala.

"Kitty has an interest in computers, and when she's not with you, she's picking Skye's brain," Coulson said as he smiled lightly Kitty's way. "She's kind of a prodigy when it comes to hacking." Steve smiled at her as Coulson moved on to lay out his next 'recruit's' talents.

"Miles has an excellent memory for details," Coulson prompted as the younger boy waved with the tips of his fingers at the three friends. "He's been working with our science division, mostly on the biomedical side, but he has good instincts and has been scoring high in strength and hand-to-hand when he cares to train." He gave Miles a little look. "With a little more discipline, he could be a good asset in the field and the lab."

When Coulson looked Kamala's way, the young girl was halfway bouncing and nervous, and Coulson's expression turned a little kinder. "Kamala here seems to be able to get into anything — tight spaces included. She and Cassie Lang both are excellent when it comes to engineering, but she wants more field training."

"I think I can work well with all of you," Steve said with a tight, businesslike smile. "So how about we get down to it?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kitty said, already moving to stand by Peggy and look over all the data. "Whatcha got?"

"Right now, we're just looking for a lead," Peggy replied. "Little snippets here and there — but nothing solid to go on, unfortunately."

"Well," Kamala said with a shy smile. "Maybe you just need fresh eyes."

December 14

District Seven

Steve, Sam and Peggy had been working with some of the youngest of the Tahiti kids for a few days now, showing them how to comb through intelligence and how to streamline the mounds of data that came in on a daily basis.

Already, the kids were taking to it well — especially Kitty, who had taken Skye's setup on the little laptop and parsed it down in a computer program that would sort through the intel for key words and other markers.

But the real breakthrough came from Miles — who didn't even seem to realize that he'd found anything. He was more asking out of curiosity as he pulled Sam aside to show him a few spots on the maps they'd laid out.

"So. I know after the disaster that went down with Pete and his team and the whole Viper situation that Twelve got a thorough check over? But…" He pointed at a few spots on the map, along with some corresponding reports. "Doesn't that seem like a lot of chatter to you? I mean, especially for a district that size..."

Sam leaned over to follow Miles' point and frowned when he saw the pattern Miles had spotted. "It does, yeah," he agreed, his hand on Miles' shoulder as encouragement for his old tribute.

"We're still not entirely sure what they were doing in Twelve to begin with," Steve said. "They weren't mining for coal, that's for sure. But it's gotta be more than that."

"Well, if I were a super secret bad guy who didn't want to get caught doing super secret things, I'd hide in a teeny tiny district no one goes to," Miles said.

"Is that some kind of confession, little man?" Sam asked with a teasing smirk.

"Oh yeah," Miles said with a little laugh. "I'm a real menace."

"Then maybe we should investigate our evil Spider-genius' theory," Sam said, turning to Steve. "Whatcha think, Cap?"

Steve started to nod as he looked over the newest intel. "Probably be a good place to start. We can get an on-the-ground look at what's going on. But just a look."

"But what if we find something?" Kamala asked. "I mean, we do need field experience."

"Then we're going to follow it by the book and radio Hill for backup if we need it."

"Pshaw." Miles grinned up at Sam. "We won't need it. We've got Cap and the Falcon."

"Let's just … take it as it comes," Steve said with a laugh and a self-deprecating smile.

It didn't take long at all to get the clearance from Coulson to take the little group out for what Sam promised was intelligence-gathering. But while all three of the younger kids were excited to go to Twelve and possible see some action… it became quickly apparent that surveillance was a lot less exciting than they had hoped.

The girls were the first to fall to the boredom monster and were already counting bugs and pretending to squish Hydra heads, complete with sound effects and fake tiny screams as they tried to make it something at least halfway entertaining. Miles was trying to keep it professional, but it wasn't too long before he too was joining them in their impromptu merrymaking, particularly since it was Kamala that had invited him into it, and he had a big problem telling her 'no.'

Steve was frustrated that they couldn't keep on task — their minds clearly wandering too far. Miles finally realized how irritated he was and abandoned their games in favor of trying to draw out the lay of the town in the sand by his feet.

Kamala started to help him, and they had an impressive map by the time that Steve and Sam realized what they had done.

"That's actually pretty good," Steve said to her. "Good to know the territory if you can."

With Sam on surveillance and Steve coaching Kamala and Miles to finish their map, the time seemed to pass a bit more easily, and before long, the whole of the group had gotten involved in memorizing the little map in front of them. They didn't know the names of the streets, so they named them so they could reference them if they needed to — using silly things like 'pinecone avenue' and 'black rock lane' to commit them to memory.

Miles and Kamala were taking their turn watching and observing when things started to get interesting. "We have a line of unexpected traffic on turkey feather road," Miles said quietly.

"There are a lot of scary black cars out there," Kamala agreed, drawing Steve's attention from the doodling he was doing in his notebook.

"Just watch them; see if it's anything worth concerning ourselves with," he told them. There was no reason for him to be concerned. There was literally nothing on the radar that should have been going on in Twelve, but... when Kitty narrowed her eyes and abandoned the memorization and slipped from her post, Steve knew he had major trouble on his hands.

She was halfway down the hill headed to town before Steve or Sam could stop her, and by then she was far enough that they had to rush down after her; she was too far away to call after her and too close to risk her radio blaring and alerting the creeps in the black cars to her position.

"What are you doing?" Sam said as loudly as he dared as he caught up to her. "We're observing. That's all."

"No," Kitty insisted. "I'm going to take care of the creep that's in the big car. I won't be long!" She peeled his hand off of her arm, and before he could say another word, they were off like a shot around to the back side of the building — Kamala and Miles apparently following Kitty's lead.

Steve glanced Sam's way before the former victor grinned and shrugged, headed after the kids, and he grumbled to himself before he very quickly radioed in that something was off in Twelve and that there were some kind of big guns there.

"We're moving in for a closer look," he told them through gritted teeth. He wasn't surprised in the least when Coulson gave them the go ahead, but he was going to have words with these kids when this was all said and done.

It was clear that the little brunette leading the way already knew who was in the big car by the way she had her sword out and was practically bouncing on her heels ready for a fight. And more frustrating still, Kamala looked more excited to see the sword fight than anything else. Sam had no idea she'd been deprived of field time like that.

"Hey!" Steve half whisper-shouted to them. "We are not engaging these creeps! It's too dangerous."

"Maybe you aren't," Kitty countered. "But I am." She flipped the sword in her hand and nodded once to herself as she prepared to start it up.

"No, you're not," Steve said, drawing himself up to his full height. "You're going to get hurt. And we're not authorized to do this."

"We don't need a step by step plan every time, Cap," Kitty said almost cheerfully. "Besides. These creeps have your best friend, so shouldn't we hurry up and get him out before it's too deep in his head?"

"Yeah, I bet if we capture one of the higher ups, they'll know more than all the info back at Carter Base One." Miles grinned Steve's way.

"Hey," Kitty said, dropping all playfulness from her expression. "If I'm in a hurry to see Bucky safe and sound — it's urgent. I know he felt like human garbage when he killed me — just like you had to feel like crap when you killed Kate. He needs to get out of there fast."

"She has a point," Sam said gently, and Steve et out all his breath.

"Alright, but let us handle the higher-ups," he told the kids with as stern of an expression as he could manage.

"Got your back, Cap," Kitty said in a lot gentler tone than he'd heard from her all day.

The five of them crept quietly around what should have been an abandoned mine — though this time around, after what had happened with Clint, they were exceedingly careful about avoiding any traps or tripping any alarms. Miles seemed to have almost a sixth sense about it, too, though both Sam and Steve knew that it was luck more than anything else that got them in as deep as they did without being spotted.

"I'm going for a better vantage point," Kitty said, a determined look on her face. "I can get across the road and up that little hill."

"Keep your comm on," Sam advised. "And if you need help, call for it," he added in a much more serious tone.

"Got it. And don't forget to follow your own advice. If your butt needs saving — I'll be there." Kitty shot a little smile his way before she all but disappeared to head to her new position.

The remaining four in the group pressed on a little closer to the ground as Kitty went to explore, but the second the gunfire rang out further out — toward where Kitty had disappeared — both Steve and Sam looked like they had lost all the blood in their faces.

"I got it," Steve said, rushing toward where they'd last seen Kitty — but if he'd been expecting to find her in trouble, he was simply surprised to see that, while she was definitely in danger, she wasn't in trouble in the least.

From the uniform design, Steve knew that these weren't just the usual Hydra ground forces. They were part of Strucker's armies — so there was no way they were just missing Kitty. Somehow, she just seemed to be able to get out of the way, hide, or otherwise dodge — not a single shot had managed to tag the young girl they were shooting at. If Steve wasn't holding his breath and panicking, just waiting for her luck to run out, he would have been far more impressed.

Still, when he realized that the fight was drawing attention, he knew that Kitty would be overwhelmed soon and readjusted his grip on the shield and shook his head to himself before he rushed in to help before the official-looking group further out could get there. "Falcon, I've got Shadowcat covered, but it looks like we're about to have high-ranking company."

"On it," Sam replied over the comms, though Steve could hear Kamala's giddy excited giggle on the other side too.

As Steve and Kitty tried to keep up their streak of making the soldiers look incompetent, Sam took the other two kids around the side of the hill, though he was sure to give them a stern look as he did so. "Miles, you're in charge of radioing back to Hill once we see who we're up against," he told the young man. "Neither of you are up to engaging Hydra's leaders — stick to the soldiers."

"Um, tell that to them?" Miles called back.

Sam just shook his head. "Let's just see what we're up against," he said, readjusting the straps on the flight pack he usually carried — not quite the same as the full suit, but it would do in a pinch.

But when Sam and the two youngest members of the team caught up to the official group — he almost immediately pushed the two kids back around the corner with a hissed "stay down" when he saw not only Von Strucker but also Bobbi Morse.

"Is it Viper? Because there's a bet …"

"It's not Viper. Stay down," he told Miles.

"Alright, alright, I'm down … I'm just saying. There are ongoing wagers that are up for grabs, and if it's not Viper then we don't have to worry about being poisoned, right?"

"Mockingbird is Viper's right hand. Stay. Down," Sam told him even as he stepped around the corner again to draw Bobbi and Strucker's attention away from the others. "Hey, Morse. Long time no see," he called out.

Before she could even react to him, Werner pushed past her, ready to engage on her behalf. He rushed Sam and started his attack with a sword in hand, trying to simply cut him down on the spot.

"Woah. Oh, okay, we're sword fighting now," Sam said, a bit wide-eyed as he dodged back from the strike. He didn't have a sword himself, but the moment he drew one of his guns, Werner — who had clearly learned from his father — sliced through the barrel, forcing Sam to do a whole lot more dodging and weaving to steer clear of the sharp edge.

As soon as Sam was busy with Werner, Miles took the moment of distraction and shot webbing Bobbi's way, hoping to help incapacitate a Hydra head for a moment anyhow. He didn't hit exactly where he wanted, but he did web one of her hands to her hip. "Ha!" he shouted, raising both hands in triumph before he realized a moment too late that he might have drawn some attention his way.

Kamala glanced his way with a worried look as several of Strucker's men turned their attention to the two of them. "Well," she said slowly, "Sam did say to fight the soldiers."

"Capture, not kill," Bobbi shouted to the soldiers that were headed their way as she tried to get the webbing off and free her arm.

"I… am not sure if that's a good or bad thing," Miles muttered to Kamala as both of them took up positions to fight.

"Bad," she whispered back when she saw the expressions of rage on their faces. "Definitely bad."

With Sam distracted trying not to meet the business end of Werner's sword and Miles and Kamala facing down Strucker's men — that just left Steve and Kitty on the other side of the hill, and they were the only ones faring well in this fight.

Steve had just caught his shield after ricocheting it off a couple Hydra soldiers when he turned to Kitty to see that she had managed to get hold of one of the soldier's guns and dismantled it. He grinned her way, she nodded back, and they both moved in tandem to cut and bash through the remaining soldiers, building up a good rhythm right up — until they heard Kamala let out a terrified scream.

Steve froze and glanced to Kitty, who was wearing almost the exact same expression of concern, and wordlessly, the two of them sprinting forward, plowing through the other soldiers in time to see one of Strucker's soldiers all but dragging Kamala to where Bobbi and Strucker were — with Sam in the air having an in-flight wrestling match with Werner as the young man tried to pull at Sam's equipment and Miles clearly losing his own wrestling match with a couple soldiers.

Both of them rushed toward the Hydra leadership, but instead of breaking Kamala free like Steve had directed, Kitty went right for Strucker, sword flashing. Steve managed to body check her out of his path with a curse just before he bashed the soldier holding Kamala square in the face with his shield.

It didn't stop Kitty from taking on Hydra leadership — but it did at least deflect her to Bobbi, leaving Strucker for Steve to tackle. Strucker had seen the sword in her hand and knew she had to be there for him, but before he could take a shot at the girl, he ended up with a shield bash of his own, and sparks flew off the curved surface as Strucker's blade came down.

"What, you'd rather fight a little girl?" Steve shot Strucker's way as he pulled the shield back for another strike.

Strucker sneered and shoved back at him. "I'd rather fight someone who is actually armed instead of hiding behind a shield."

"Wasn't a problem when I broke your boss's arm," Steve shot back, his eyes narrowed.

Anger flashed in his eyes as he took a more offensive stance. "We'll have to fix that today then when I bring back news on your death — though I'm sure Miss Morse could make you into a spectacular Hydra agent."

Steve glanced toward Bobbi, who was having a slightly harder time than the other two Hydra leaders, since she was matching Kitty's sword strikes with her staves — one-handed. "Yeah. She looks real threatening," Steve said before he launched himself forward, and the two men fell into a wordless fight, more focused on tearing each other down physically than on taunts for the moment.

Not too long into their fight, Kitty managed a decent hit on Bobbi through the arm — forcing her to drop the stave in her hand, and not expecting her to be more of a threat, she rushed in to help Steve with a breathy "Got your back, Cap, remember?"

Steve shot her a little grin before he managed to get his shield up between himself and Von Strucker as the man went for a blow that would have taken his head off — then kicked out to push Steve back into a knot of soldiers just waiting for the chance to prove themselves against one of SHIELD's Tahiti operatives.

With a sneer, he turned his full attention Kitty's way and adjusted his stance to one more like fencing than the hard fighting he and Steve had been doing — though he was winded and bruised in several places, looking nothing like his 'baron' title.

She tossed her head to keep her long bangs out of her face as she simply started dodging and blocking his initial strikes, though he kept her moving and unable to even attempt to try for a strike of her own.

She proved to be frustratingly hard to hit, though, and he was getting angrier with each missed strike. "It's just a matter of time, my dear," he told her as she dodged a move. He simply couldn't understand how she'd managed to avoid it, and in a flash he started to change his tactics, only smiling again when she was forced to actually block him two-handed and stop moving.

"It is — but not the way you think," Kitty replied before she finally had an opening to strike back. When Strucker blocked it, though — with enough force to make her hands and arms momentarily numb, she realized she was in way over her head.

But he didn't get a chance to follow up with his second hit as Steve returned to the fight, blocking the follow up with his shield and a ringing clang. "Got your back, Kitty," he whispered to her while Strucker was rushing back toward them in a rage.

She grinned up at him, hope renewed by his timely reappearance, and the two of them fell into an unspoken agreement. She backed off quickly, keeping the other Hydra soldiers off of them as Steve engaged Strucker, and whenever she could, she'd take a shot at Strucker when he was overly focused on Steve.

She wasn't able to land a solid hit, but when he was forced to block her strikes — it left him wide open for Steve to bash him hard. After he'd turned to block a jab that would have likely gone right through his middle, Steve hit him hard enough to stagger him.

As Strucker tried to keep his balance, Kitty darted closer than she'd been before, and with a grunt of exertion, she threw her all into a slash that cut him just above the knee from behind, severing a hamstring.

He cried out in pain — but used his momentum as he went to one knee to send his sword through Kitty's stomach.

Steve momentarily forgot about Strucker in favor of rushing to Kitty as the young woman started to panic. She'd never really been injured this badly outside of the Games ... and last time …

"Werner!" Strucker called out as his soldiers swarmed to protect him, and the young man fighting Sam turned to see that his father was in trouble and Bobbi was useless in a fight — one arm still pinned and the other bleeding badly. He tried to distance himself from Sam with a dirty blow below the belt, as the soldiers moved from trying to take the kids in to trying to get all three of their leaders to safety.

Steve was trying to put pressure where Kitty was bleeding as Sam shakily touched down next to him and looked incredibly concerned. He glanced to the other two members of their team — as Kamala flat out decked a soldier who had managed to get a hand on Miles and thought he might at least take one of the kids with him — and called it.

"Back to the jet," he told the kids at large, though it was mostly for Steve's benefit to get him moving as both he and Kitty looked panicked over her injuries. As soon as Steve got to his feet, clutching Kitty, Sam grabbed Miles to get him to his feet, frowning when he realized that both he and Kamala had been bashed up by the soldiers.

Frustrated with how horribly the mission had gone, Sam shouted for Miles to help Kamala while he forced his way through the crowd left, with a blue Hydra gun in his hand. After the first shot, the enemies realized how serious he was and simply cleared a path — their assignment to ensure that Von Strucker and Bobbi were safe, not to concern themselves with failed combatants.

Miles was using his one good arm to support Kamala, who was clearly hurting now that the adrenaline rush of saving him had passed, though Sam knew they'd have to wait until they got on the jet before he could check them over.

Both of the kids looked positively pale by the time they caught up with Steve and Kitty, and Miles gasped out, "Who's flying this flying circus?"

"I've got it," Sam promised. "Just … get in the damn plane already. This is what happens when you don't listen!"

The younger kids looked positively subdued as they made their way into the jet, and Steve made sure to check over the basic patchwork on the other two as they tried to put a stop to the worst of the bleeding before Sam put them in the air and rushed them back to Seven.

((and good here too)) (woo hoo!))

Chapter 26: Super High Snuggles

…..

December 14

District Seven

When Steve's group got back to Seven, medical was ready and waiting — but they weren't entirely prepared for the number of deep stab wounds involved. Kitty and Kamala were rushed off to surgery — with a stab wound and a bullet wound respectively — with Miles close behind them with a serious head wound. For the first time in anyone's memory, Steve tried to put off being treated as long as possible, pacing and worrying about them as Sam stuck to his side as he was patched up.

"It's really not your fault," Sam tried to tell him. "They saw him and …. they had to."

"I ran the mission," Steve insisted. "It's my job — my fault. I'm responsible for you and everyone else along with you while you're under my command."

"Steve," Sam said reasonably. "You can't stop everyone, and those kids were dying for some action. You did all you could."

But he shook his head. "Should have put them all back in the plane the second we saw those big cars. No reason for any of those kids to be that close to danger," Steve said, though Sam noticed that his voice was growing quieter with every word.

"You didn't let them look at you yet," Sam said with his eyebrows raised. "Did you?"

"I need to see this through to the end, make sure they're all okay," Steve said, almost brushing him off.

Sam rolled his eyes and turned to the doctor finishing up a few stitches on his back where Werner had managed to tag him. "I'm not gonna bleed out — and this idiot needs fixing. Don't let him tell you he's okay. Just treat him like you do Clint or Logan and knock his fool ass out if he gives you too much trouble."

Steve looked almost insulted at that. "I don't want to be drugged or incapacitated until I know you're all safe."

"Well that's too bad," Claire told him, frowning as she saw the damage he'd been dealt by Von Strucker. "Because you need surgery, not a bandaid. Besides, you're not in enemy territory. You're in our medical facility. Relax, Cap."

"I can still walk on my own steam," he argued. "Can't it wait?"

She put her hands on her hips and shot Sam a glance. "Tell you what, tough guy," Claire told him. "How about you try to get past me. Go on. Try." She put her hand on the center of his chest, and as soon as he started to push to stand up, she shoved him back one-handed. "And that, my friend, is proof positive that you need to shut up and let me do my job."

Sam was smiling openly at Claire. "That's right. Gotta listen to Claire. That's where the smart money is anyhow."

Claire rolled her eye at him and simply got to work, though she was sure to take her time patching Steve up.

It wasn't until much later that word got around the base as to what had happened on the mission, and it was dark out by the time that Kurt and Logan found themselves in medical talking to Sam.

The kids and Steve were all laid out around them on hospital beds, still drugged and sleeping soundly after their surgeries.

"It was a disaster," Sam told them quietly. "We were supposed to observe, but your girl Kitty got her dander up and pushed for more." He was watching Kurt's expression as he went from worry to concern. "Pretty sure she was trying to run it as a vendetta kind of thing, but that girl had no business taking Von Strucker on. She got him with a lucky shot but …" He shook his head slowly. "Man. Someone's gotta have a talk with her before she gets herself killed."

"She's always been headstrong," Kurt said with a frown as his gaze was on Kitty still sleeping soundly. "But taking on Von Strucker…" He shook his head. "Katzchen, really."

"And the rest of 'em?" Logan asked, frowning Sam's way. "They all couldn't have been that stupid."

"Kamala and Miles were doing alright," Sam said, looking a little proud as he added, "Miles tagged Bobbi with that webbing stuff, and she was one-handed up until Kitty got her other arm. But he celebrated a little too loudly and drew attention. Typical kids stuff, you know?"

"So what do you think it's gonna take?" Logan asked. "Aside from a roll of duct tape?"

Sam shrugged up on shoulder. "They need field experience. All of them. They just don't know what they're doing, and training is only good for so much."

"And we're at a serious disadvantage with no Danger Room," Logan agreed.

"Miles can keep his mouth shut — better than Pete, actually," Sam said with a smirk. "He's just… he's fifteen, man."

"Like that's hard to be quieter than Parker," Logan muttered.

"Kamala has asked for more training," Kurt said thoughtfully. "She asked me to help her in hand-to-hand when Matt was busy."

"Yeah, I got the first hint you were dropping the other day," Logan replied dryly. "Message received. Loud and clear."

Sam chuckled at that. "If you need another standing dummy…" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"You did make a fine dummy," Logan replied.

"Quill too, but at this point, he's a little distracted with that one," Sam said, tipping his head Kitty's way. "You know the only reason he's not here right now is he's out on a mission, right?"

"Yes, I assumed that was the case," Kurt said, shaking his head. "Should we get Peter in to sit with Miles and give him a stern talking to ... or have a joke competition, I'm not sure which."

"Probably both," Sam said with a smirk.

"And I'd win," Miles mumbled sleepily as all three of them turned in surprise to find that the young man was stirring awake.

"Hey, Spider-kid," Sam said with a grin. "How long you been awake?"

Miles stared at Sam for a moment like he was straining to hear him, eyes narrowed, before he tipped his head to the side and, in a voice louder than was necessary, said, "Oooh, I dunno. In and out."

"You feeling any better?"

Miles nodded and then started to get up, which had Sam rushing to make sure he stayed where he was. "Whassmatter?" he half-bellowed.

Sam all but wrestled him back down and then shook his head in disbelief. "You can't — you just had surgery, Miles. You have to stay put."

"Why?"

"Because nobody here wants to see you hurt yourself and they definitely don't want to see under that gown," Sam said, gesturing to the other two, who were very nearly to the point of laughter watching Sam try to reason with the very loud, very high spider.

"Can't get hurt if I'm made of fluff!" Miles called out in an almost sing-song voice.

"Yeah, and as I understand it, we're going to fix that once you're back on your feet," Sam said with a shake of his head. "Now knock it off, or Celia is going to have to tie you down."

"Ooh, no. That would be bad," Miles agreed very seriously, patting the blanket to show that he was staying put.

"Come on, kiddo, you don't want that kind of reputation," Sam told him with a smile as he helped the boy get situated.

"I don't want any kind of reputation," Miles said, getting louder on the 'any'. "I'm dating Kamala. Shhh." He put a finger to his lips. "No reputation allowed or I'm so so so dead."

"Does that mean you're givin' up your competition for best Spider?" Logan asked.

"That's not a competition — that's a fact."

"We'll see once we start trainin'. Petey said he wanted in," Logan told him.

Miles broke into a grin. "Yes good. Long live the spiders!" He raised both hands in the air then belatedly pulled them back to his center, shooshing the others overly loudly.

Logan turned to Kurt, already dropping his voice lower. "Why am I agreeing to this again?"

"Because you'd like to see them live to adulthood," Kurt said, though his eyes were twinkling with laughter he wasn't trying too hard to suppress.

"Great, then you can help," he said as he clapped his hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"I'm already helping Kitty with her form — isn't that right, katzchen?" Kurt called her way, catching the fact that her shoulders were shaking with little giggles despite the fact that she hadn't much moved otherwise.

"Oh yeah," Kitty said, still giggling. "Best teacher in the world."

"See?" Logan said. "They need you."

"I teach fencing," Kurt said with a laugh. "And both of our Spidermen are horrible at it."

"Then you better step it up, Elf."

"He lets me throw him too," Kamala mumbled out, her eyes still closed as she was starting to wake up.

"I'm going to compete with Peter, Kamala," Miles shouted back. "In a head-to-head spider-match up!"

"You're loud," Kamala said, blinking and rubbing at her eyes. "Why are you loud?"

Logan let out a sigh and headed over to try and help her get more comfortable. "He's high," Logan explained quietly as he dimmed the lights that were shining in her eyes. "He'll probably be back to himself in a few hours." He looked her over as she tried to get comfortable. "You need anything, darlin'?"

She didn't actually answer him except to grab onto his wrist and try and tug at him.

He raised an eyebrow but took a step closer as she made an exaggerated pull. "Okay, whatcha need?" he asked.

"Come here," she said, still tugging. He shook his head and took a seat on the edge of her bed, and as soon as he was within range, she did her best to try and snuggle into him, wrapping her arms around his middle. .

Logan was a little surprised at her reaction but chalked it up to drugs and shifted to try and get her more comfortable while he rolled with it and put his arm around her. "You sure you don't want me to get you something?"

"No, this is good," she insisted.

He looked at her for a moment longer and decided to try and settle in himself too, half chuckling when she easily made room without letting go of him or loosening her grip more than to rearrange herself so her head was on his shoulder before she snuggled in deeper, still hugging him tightly.

"I think she likes having you around, mein Freund," Kurt chuckled.

"One of two, apparently. You set her up, didn't you, Elf?" Logan accused his friend with a little laugh, giving Kamala a little squeeze, which only got a more contented smile out of her.

Kurt shook his head. "If I'd known that was how Kamala reacts to morphine, I would definitely have set her up," he said with a smirk. "But I can honestly say I was surprised too."

"How long you think this is going to take to wear off?" Logan asked, leaning back slightly.

"Likely longer than you think," Kurt said, still chuckling at the situation. "None of them have ever had to be on morphine before."

"Well I guess my plans have been altered for the night," Logan replied, settling in a little more.

"I'll break the news to Skye," Kurt laughed. "I'm sure she won't mind sharing when she hears it's Kamala — and that Kamala was hurt too."

December 15

District Seven

When Logan woke up the next morning, he was still well and truly pinned. Kamala had snuggled even deeper into him while she was asleep, using his chest for a pillow, and he didn't want to move and wake her up, so he shifted slightly so she would be more comfortable, waiting for her to wake up — though of the other medical residents, it was Kitty who woke up next.

She picked her head up the slightest bit and grinned Logan's way. "Oh, I hope she remembers this when she wakes up," she said. "She was convinced you hated her."

"Why would she think that?" Logan asked softly, trying to find a way out from under the extra blanket Skye had brought in that Kamala was half tangled in. The suppressed giggles had almost been enough to wake up the sleeping injured girl.

"Because you've been avoiding her, and she's smart enough to know it," Kitty said, pushing herself up on her elbows to look at him better.

"And not everyone knows the whole story," Logan said, nodding his head. "It's not her. It's me and my lousy control level. Little shorter fuse than I had before."

"Nothing wrong with being a little hot-headed sometimes," Kitty said with a crooked smile.

"Problem is, it seems like once I get started, I can't stop," he admitted. "I don't really want the younger kids around when that happens. You get that, right?"

"Sure I do," Kitty said. "But we're not stupid — we can clear out if you start taking swings," she added. "Not like you're going to bust out and attack one of us in the middle of nowhere."

"I could have when I got back," he told her. "Still don't trust that it won't happen."

She raised both eyebrows at that. "Well, Kurt trusts you."

"Kurt suffers from what I think is called 'fatal optimism'."

"Yeah, but I trust Kurt," Kitty said stubbornly.

"So do I, but he can still be wrong," Logan replied.

She rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't kill you to be nice to Kamala and a few other kids, you know? It's not like you have to make them think you hate them just to keep from stabbing them. Kinda counterintuitive, if you ask me," she said.

"Well I didn't ask you," he said. "What I'd like to know was what the hell you were thinking going after Von Strucker like that?"

She shrugged, though her expression turned a bit defensive. "He ticked me off."

Logan let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Come on. You're not that stupid. You just said so yourself."

"He stabbed Kurt," Kitty said. "That's my best friend, you know."

"Yeah, I know," he agreed, nodding. "But he stabbed Kurt in a sword fight that he was keeping pace for. You think you got the fuzzy Elf beat in swordsmanship?"

"No, but I'm pretty good," Kitty shot back.

"Then what the hell were you thinking?"

"Steve was there!" Kitty pointed out. "It's not like I went in alone."

"Kitten, that's not a good enough excuse," Logan replied gently.

"So I can't help Steve take on two Hydra big bads at once?"

"Steve can take care of himself," Logan said. "He's not the one that had to be carried out."

"It was a sucker shot, Logan — he got me after I hamstringed him."

"And the hamstring you gave him was a sucker shot too," he said. "I heard already from Sam."

"And you could do better?" she challenged.

"Yeah," he argued lightly. "At least I know how to block him and put him on the defensive."

"Then prove it — teach me!" she said, a flash of triumph in her gaze.

"Why should I? Not like you're gonna listen. You'll just learn enough to think you got it covered, then go out and try to get yourself killed."

"I'm gonna go out there and fight bad guys anyway — better if I know how," she argued.

"Better if you put in the work. And I'm not sure I believe you can do it," Logan replied with a little flash to his gaze.

She looked honestly insulted. "Excuse you. I can handle anything you throw at me!"

"You think so, eh?"

"I know so!"

"Then prove it."

She thrust her chin out at him for a moment. "Fine. As soon as I'm out of this bed, we're starting up training, mister."

"Hopefully, you won't be too far behind the rest of the group when you do finally get around to it," Logan said.

"I'll help her catch up," Kamala said very quietly into Logan's shoulder.

He turned her way and tipped his head down to look at her. "How long have you been awake?"

"Since Kitty started yelling," Kamala said with a sheepish smile and sounding tired.

"That long, huh?"

"I thought maybe you'd stop and I could go back to sleep…" She shook her head and let out a sigh. "But if you're really gonna train, can I come too?"

"Absolutely," he told her quietly.

She gave him a grin that was pure relief and nodded. "Oh good. I didn't want to get left out."

"Are you alright now?" he asked. "I thought you might rest better if I got out of your way."

She looked around and seemed to realize that she was lying on him and let out a little squeak of surprise and near terror. "Oh… please oh please don't tell anyone oh crap. If Ami ever heard—"

"You're fine," he promised.

"I wasn't trying to — I don't really remember—"

"You were drugged up," Logan told her. "And apparently needed a hug. That's all."

"Yeah, drugged up snuggles don't count," Kitty chuckled. "We all know if you were awake it'd be Miles anyway."

"I was on top of the blanket," he told her. "You can thank Skye for the extra one."

Kamala looked between the two of them for a moment, still a little wide-eyed, before she finally seemed to relax and nodded. "I like your girlfriend," she said with a little smile.

"I'll ask her to keep the teasing to a bare minimum," he promised, and she nodded, relaxing back into him for a moment before she did, in fact, drift back off.