A/N - Merry Christmas and all that jazz - Happy Thursday/Torsdag! Thank you for your patience in waiting for chapters. I just had to get things caught up in the Billyverse (What Billy Saw ...) before I could move forward here. They are tied together after all.

Now, if you're feeling giving, please review the stories you read - not just here, but on all platforms. If they bring you some distraction in the misery that is 2020, I can promise you acknowledgement of such will help your author friends keep going.

Chapter 11 - Duty Calls

Scott knew that Logan had been working with James on his control for a while now, and he had been keeping an eye on James' progress not only in training but in solo sims. And now, after months of hard work, he was pretty sure that it was time to put James back on the roster.

The problem, to his surprise, had been getting Logan to sign off on it as well. It seemed Logan wasn't quite convinced his boy was ready when Scott asked him the first time. Or the twelfth.

But finally, Logan had surprised Scott by tipping his head at the question and nodding with a "yeah, okay," that almost had Scott doing a double take.

"Alright, but you'll need to be there when I talk to him so he knows we've both signed off on it," Scott pointed out.

"Do you know what I was waitin' for?" Logan asked, turning to face him fully.

"Yes," Scott said, perfectly straight-faced. "You had a number in your head and you waited for me to reach it, because you like to screw with me."

"No," Logan said, smirking at him. "I was waitin' for him to get to a point where he wasn't ready to panic. Outside of training."

"And he's there now?" Scott asked.

Logan tipped his head to the side slightly. "Most of the time, yeah. And when he's not, he's got it under wraps."

"We'll keep working with him," Scott said. "Same with the other two on the team."

"Only thing that's gonna make it better at this point is just goin' out and doin' it," Logan said. "If he actually wants to. It was Elin pushin' him last time."

"He did well on the team before, and I know he enjoyed it," Scott said. "The younger members were outright looking up to him before all this happened, and I know for a fact Chloe and Kaleb behave better around him."

"Then let's see if that's still the case," Logan said.

Scott nodded and led the way down to the War Room, where he called for James to meet with the two of them, leaning back in his chair as he waited for James to arrive.

And when he did finally show, he didn't look nearly as tense as the last time Scott had sat down with him, Elin, and Chance. "What did I do wrong now?" James had to ask.

"Nothing wrong," Scott said, shaking his head. "But it's time for you to go back on the team. You're more than ready for it."

James looked over to his father, who barely inclined his head, and then James nodded too. "Okay. So how does this work?"

"You'll be back on the junior squad, and we'll start you on a few of the more routine missions. Which, at this point, means dealing with Superior Rising and the Friends of Humanity - those calls are coming in weekly if not more."

James nodded at that. "I've been taking a different approach with the morons rising," James said. "I think it'll work out of the Danger Room better than in it."

"Alright; what's your plan?" Scott asked.

"Divide and conquer," James said easily. "Use their stupid against them. Let the team take out their leadership when the bulk of 'em get distracted."

"You want to play bait," Scott surmised, frowning his way.

"When you put it like that, it sounds bad," James said. "And not entirely accurate. I can get close enough to most of them to drop bugs to see where they meet up, and I've spent enough time with Stark that I know how to engage a group of jackasses without saying a word."

Scott watched him for a long moment before he slowly nodded. "Alright. But if they start using even your silence as tacit approval, you need to act on that. We can't let it seem like our team is approving of any of this, even quietly."

James nodded at that. "I can start out of uniform if you think it might be a problem."

"No, I just want you to be aware of the way they can use you as an image."

"Uncle Scott, I can't even go to the coffee shop without these people swarming," James told him frankly.

"I know. And I'm just telling you that you need to be aware of how people interpret your actions. Intent is only half the battle if it isn't made clear."

"I won't let them control the narrative," James promised. "And I'm kind of a horrible poster child for anything anyhow."

Scott smirked at that and shook his head. "Well, alright. Then I'll let Chance and Elin know to start putting you back on the roster for assignments. Thanks, James."

"Sure. Thanks for asking fourteen thousand times."

"Oh, is that how many it was?" Scott asked dryly.

"Probably rounding down," Logan said.

"Probably," Scott agreed with a smirk before he moved around the table to pull James down at the shoulder into a quick hug.

"You're getting so squishy," James muttered to Scott.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm also getting old," he whispered right back.

"I meant the whole … creamy center is showing. Marshmallow."

Scott shook his head at that. "Typical. I hug my godson, and now I'm a marshmallow."

"You were before, but it's the reason behind it," James admitted. "Envelope openings ... any excuse."

"Uh-huh." Scott shook his head as he leaned back. "Don't you have a practice to get to?"

"I don't know," James said. "I haven't looked at the schedule yet." He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug and started to head out. "I'll try not to screw it up this time."

"Start by not expecting to fail. That'll help," Scott pointed out, shaking his head at him as James disappeared around the corner. The door closed behind him with a hollow sort of click and a moment later, Logan and Scott were left staring at each other.

"How long you gonna wait before you rush down to watch 'em?" Logan asked, smirking from across the room.

"Oh, about fifteen minutes," Scott said. "I need a coffee. You?"

"You bet," Logan agreed.

When James got down to the Danger Room, the team practice was already in session, so when he stepped in, it was between sims. He watched the group from a distance slowly approaching them as they prepped for the next sim - mostly letting everyone without advanced healing catch their breath.

"Hey, James," Chance called out when he saw him.

Gerry grinned too. "Hey! I come back for the first practice as a Summers and you're back too - nice timing."

"They just sent me down," James said as Elin made her way over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, great. We're doing a 'save the mutant' sim, and it's your sister's turn to be the damsel," Chance said with a smirk. "Think you can protect her?"

James cringed. "So … next to impossible scenario; got it."

"Plan for the worst; hope for the best," Chloe said in a philosophical tone.

"Yeah, yeah, fortune cookie," Elin said. "Come on; let's get rolling on it. Maybe don't get caught up in the dramatic kiss at the rescue this time?"

"That's the best part, El," Chance called out with a grin.

"At the risk of bringing that down on my head," James said. "I had a thought about how to split up the idiots in purple - after practice. I do not want to screw with your little happy place."

"Much obliged," Chance said with a smirk as the sim started up, showing a group of Friends of Humanity supporters already whipped into a mob-like frenzy.

It had been a while since James had seen the team in action, but it was clear that Chloe and Kaleb were improving and working much better with the team than they had been last time he'd seen them at it up close. Though James would have been lying if he didn't know that at least part of it was that Chloe was still holding a grudge on Kaleb's behalf over how they'd tried to snatch the resident Elfling on the team.

Even Sying was doing much better - almost back up to full on his plasmoids, even if he was holding back a bit where they were concerned. But over the loud screaming of a few pink and yellow streamers, James could still hear Sying call out to him - "If I throw you, we can clear a bunch of them out."

"If you throw me, you and I are gonna have a lot of sensors to fix," James countered. "And you might need a chiropractor."

"Ha ha," Sying said, rolling his eyes. "You're forgetting who you're talking to." He seized James by the back of his jeans and simply tossed him clear over the heads of most of the Friends of Humanity creeps - so that he landed close enough to Elin that he could begin the process of 'save the mutant' while the rest of them cleared out.

"Kaleb, give them a hand out," Chance called out once he saw that James was close enough to Elin to 'assess' her while she played dead.

Kaleb smirked and nodded before he appeared by the two Howletts with a grin and a bow. "So, am I providing taxi services for two or just one today? To the hospital? Or to your husband for kisses?"

"Coffee shop," Elin said. "I'm dying here."

"Yes, that is an emergency," Kaleb agreed solemnly before disappearing with her to the booth - where there was a pot of coffee she could have while the rest of the team cleared out the bad guys.

"I forgot they worked that well together," Elin admitted to Kaleb while she watched James and Chance start up a solid rhythm between them.

Kaleb looked out through the glass and then broke into a smile. "Well, genetics," he said with a shrug.

"And the whole thing where they learned together … kinda," she replied.

"You're talking to the wrong Wagner. My memories of the two of them are a lot of… James being exasperated while Chance dated my sister," Kaleb smirked.

"Yeah, you missed out on them in self defense and combat," Elin said.

"If it was anything like this?" Kaleb tipped his head toward the sim, where the bad guys simply couldn't keep up with the double team Chance and James had between them. "I'm sure it was amazing. A pair of preteen boys taking on the world."

"It was like that before James got his abilities," Elin told him.

"Well, I'm glad he's back on the team." Kaleb grinned her way and kissed her cheek. "Besides, someone needs to keep you and Chance in check," he teased.

Elin shook her head at that. "You get to be damsel next time, then," she said. "So James and I can show you how it's supposed to look."

"Aww, but if that's the case, I want to be rescued by Chloe!" Kaleb laughed.

"What's wrong? Can't come up with an excuse to kiss her outside of practice?" Elin said. "And I thought you were trying to live up to your dad's rep. Shameful."

"Just because I want to kiss her during practice doesn't preclude kissing her outside of practice," he pointed out. "It just means more kisses."

"Kaleb … you need to cut back on the practice kisses before the dads step in," Elin said quietly. "You know it's just a matter of time."

Kaleb waved a hand. "It's not serious. I kiss Sadie and the twins too. Nothing involved, obviously. It's just fun."

"Yes, but not during practice," she pointed out.

"They aren't on the team," Kaleb said. "Which reminds me - I really should start pressuring the twins on that count. They're getting better at control, and wouldn't it be nice to have more girls on the team?" he asked with an impish grin.

Elin gave him a wicked sort of a smile. "You're right. Your sisters need to step it up."

"You mean my sister who has a baby at home, my sister who is an artist quickly taking the world by storm, or my sister who is a baby?"

"Are you trying to say that your sister with a baby can't step up? Or that your artsy sister can't take you down? I need specifics, Kaleb."

"I'm saying they don't want to be on the team for those reasons," Kaleb said. "And besides, I do think the twins are interested. Celeste at least. Melody still has her head in the clouds talking to E'tann."

"Uh-huh, and speaking of head in the clouds, you're missing the fact that Miss Summers needs a hand." She barely tipped her head toward the window, through which it was apparent that Chloe had lost her footing and really did need an evac before she had to resort to totally hammering the creeps around her.

"Duty calls," Kaleb said with a grin before he teleported out of the booth to where Chloe was to sweep her up and teleport her out of danger, setting her back down on her feet gently before he stole a kiss. "Shall we get our revenge?" he asked, grinning impishly at her as he gestured with one hand to where the creeps were looking for where they had disappeared.

Chloe grinned at that before she simply dove into the fight with Kaleb, blasting creeps back with a low-power beam that still satisfyingly knocked them off of their feet while Kaleb was simply a whirl of activity, teleporting from one person to the next and grabbing weapons away from them - all while Sying and Gerry were both on the other side of things using the fact that they could run on the walls to sidestep around the big knots of people to get behind them and blast away.

Before too long, James and Chance had beaten down a large enough chunk of the crowd that the sim flickered off - their objective met, and the FoH properly fleeing. James was still standing, fists clenched and ready to hit someone - but he hadn't used his claws once during the sim, so when the holograms faded, so did almost all of the blood.

Elin waited for Kaleb to stop flirting before she had him gather up the group near Chance and James, and she didn't look irritated in the least. "I think, all things considered … this wasn't half bad. Chloe, you're doing a lot better at watching your back when you're out there on your own, and Kaleb, you were fine up until that one dude grabbed your tail. I know it's intrusive … but fourteen rapid teleports just to terrorize him might be a titch overboard?"

"Yes, because when someone grabs your body like that, self-restraint is the name of the game," Kaleb said, shaking his head. "It hurts."

"I didn't say not to make them pay," Elin said. "Just … do it faster."

Kaleb let out a sigh that moved his whole body as he looked toward Chloe. "No sense of the dramatic," he said, which had her shaking her head at him.

Elin turned toward Gerry and Sying and just smiled, trying to ignore Kaleb's nonsense as much as was able when he was carrying on like that. "You two were working up a good thing … and your sparkles are getting bigger, too, Sying. Have you had much time to work with it, or do we need to find your version of Twizzlers?"

"I could probably stand to have some more Jolly Ranchers," Sying said with a small smirk. "I know I need to practice more. I get caught up with Ariel, so… not that sorry about it, really."

She shook her head at that. "Honestly, as long as you're doing it without the sparkles as well as you are, I don't think anyone would really complain."

"Oh good," Sying said. "Because I wasn't going to give up Ariel time," he added with a teasing grin.

Elin shook her head and turned toward her brother and just had to smile. "We missed you."

"Don't worry; I'll whip your husband back into shape," James said, shoving Chance with one hand, though he didn't look his way.

"Oh yeah," Chance said, smirking and shaking his head. "I'm a mess."

"You really are," James said, crossing his arms. "Squishy junior."

Chance laughed as he had his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "Missed you too."

James shook his head and headed over to grab a couple bottles of water. He handed one to Chance and then put his arm around his shoulders as he started to tell him about his idea for Superior Rising.

Chance listened to all of it with a little frown and a nod, though he was a little more open to the idea than Scott had been simply because he was the one being targeted most of the time with those guys. "Alright, but watch your back."

"You're so much like your dad it's painful," James muttered quietly. "He made that same face, and I'll tell you what I told him. You know I'll have an exit strategy."

"I know," Chance said, nodding slowly. "And hey, I can't control my face, alright?"

"Doesn't mean you should quit trying," James said. "You have zero poker face."

"Yeah, but I look good," Chance smirked.

"Not as good as some," James countered. "But … you try."

"James, I'm already taken, but I appreciate the protestations," Chance teased.

"Yeah, you're really not my flavor, but it's nice to know you still think about me like that. Creepy. But … kinda weird sentimental."

Chance just smirked and shook his head. "Nice to have you back, James."