Chapter 5: Overheard

Melody was curled up with her head on E'tann's chest, enjoying the way he combed his fingers through her hair. They were still caught up in each other's minds, still soaking in the afterglow, and grinning at each other every once in a while.

Obviously, considering what she and the prince had been up to until just moments ago, Jubilee and Celeste hadn't reached out to Melody yet to tell her that Sinta had asked the telepaths in the family to keep an ear out for trouble, but Melody was brought out of her still-romantic thoughts when she caught the tenor of thoughts from a pair of Accusers taking their turn patrolling the palace. The royal guards were all the same, but the Accusers would take shifts at the palace so that both the guards and the Accusers acted as checks on each other. It was a good system, in theory — if not for the fact that the particular pair of Accusers outside the hall were thinking about how much they'd preferred Ronan's rule.

Melody wasn't instantly worried, though. She had been around E'tann often enough that she was used to overhearing people comparing his father to the previous rulers. In fact, she spent a great deal of time with E'tann reassuring him that he would be fine, that he wouldn't be hated, that he would live up to the legacy his father was building him. But it was hard work, because he heard people talking about the same kind of thing the Accusers in the hallway were thinking. The Kree weren't used to so much freedom, and not all of them liked it.

Most of the time, the ones who didn't like that freedom were the ones who had enforced the status quo.

Still, Melody wasn't too worried by the Accusers — yet. Not until she realized that they were heading for E'tann's room specifically… and thinking about how the crown prince was a much easier target than Sinta, who had survived multiple wars and assassination attempts under all of the most recent rulers.

Melody sat upright, and E'tann frowned, letting his hand fall away from her back. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She shook her head and held one hand up in a signal for him to be quiet, her head tipped to the side as she focused on the thoughts specifically of those Accusers. She needed to know if this was an assassination attempt — killing the crown prince would make a big statement, after all — or if these guys were looking for leverage. Either way, she knew she had to stand up for her boyfriend and put to use all her grandfather had taught her about self-defense.

And while she was at it, she reached out to her mom.

Hey, you might want to open up your mind and check the Kree around you, because I'm hearing some plotting and planning on this end of the palace.

Hello, Melody. I'm not going to talk about why I haven't projected to you yet until I see you in person, but yeah, we're aware. Sinta asked us to check into some rumors that there's a movement to overthrow him.

Mom, it's not a rumor. I'm listening to some Accusers out in the hallway thinking about how much E'tann is an easier target than his dad.

After a pregnant pause, Jubilee replied, Are we talking immediate plans or are they still in the plotting stages? Your father can be there in a second.

Mom, I'm not… exactly… decent…

I don't care if you're naked, baby girl. I care if you're alive. And these people aren't going to play around.

I know. She paused. I'm more worried about E'tann. His dad taught him some stuff, but he didn't get official Accuser training or anything…

Don't worry. Your dad and I can handle anything they send our way. I just need you to tell me where to tell your dad to run us. You're the one who has a bead on these guys. Where are they?

Melody tried to switch gears to concentrate on the Accusers, but she only caught part of what they were thinking — Had to go all the way to the southern continent to get one of these — before, all at once, her telepathy switched off. She couldn't hear a thing.

"Get dressed," she told E'tann, already scrambling out of bed herself, cursing out loud when she couldn't super speed her way through putting her clothes on.

E'tann scrambled as well, though he was staring at Melody, his eyes wide. "What's going on?" he asked as he pulled on his underwear.

"Someone's coming this way, and they're targeting you," Melody said. She didn't bother with things like a bra and just threw her shirt and underwear on first. She could get her jeans on if she had time, but she wasn't sure how much time they had.

Sure enough, as E'tann swore and had only just managed to get his underwear on, Melody could hear the Accusers at the door. (She was glad her hearing wasn't affected by a dampener, since it came from her membrane, not her powers.) Before she could warn E'tann, something slammed into the door, and both of them jumped.

"Don't worry," Melody said, flexing out her hands and bouncing her weight to either foot. "My parents are X-Men. I know a thing or two."

"As do I," E'tann said, and Melody turned around to see that he had gone to a panel in the wall that she'd thought was decorative. As the Accusers slammed against the door once more, E'tann put his hand on the panel, and it slid open, revealing a cache of Accuser weapons.

Melody caught the gun he tossed her way and couldn't help but grin at him. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this," she said, biting her bottom lip between her teeth.

E'tann paused, realizing she was staring appreciatively at him, and then couldn't help but smirk crookedly her way. "My father was an Accuser. He might not have been an X-Man, but if you think my training in self-defense was lacking, you'd be sadly mistaken."

Melody grinned. "You're hot when you're like this."

E'tann let out a laugh of disbelief as the door splintered under another hard hit. "Is now really the time?"

"When you're looking like that? Yeah, it is," Melody said, though the flirting moment passed when the door broke open, and both of them turned to face their attackers.

Two tall, blue-skinned Kree burst into the room with weapons drawn, though E'tann immediately fired at them, stunning one of them while the other dropped to the ground to avoid being blasted. Melody hit the button on the gun E'tann had given her and let out a delighted but surprised sound at the plasma blast that erupted from the end of the barrel. She'd never seen this weapon before; it must have been new. And it certainly stopped the Accuser from advancing toward them despite avoiding E'tann's blast; his armor was melted at his chest, and he was breathing heavily.

But the attackers had brought their own weapons, too, and since neither Accuser had been knocked entirely unconscious, their zealotry meant they kept going despite being in obvious pain. They fired weapons at both E'tann and Melody, almost in tandem, and Melody cried out as the stunning blast sent her to her knees, completely numbing her muscles. She could hear E'tann fall to the floor with a heavy thud beside her and heard the clang of E'tann's weapon falling out of his hand, too.

So there they were, four people on the ground, two badly hurt and two incapacitated. Nothing about this looked good.

Thankfully, Noh and Jubilee had already been on their way before Melody lost telepathic contact with her mom. Sure, they were slowed down when they reached the dampening field the Accusers had put up, but they got there just as one of the downed Accusers was trying to get to his feet.

Noh picked that Accuser up while Jubilee kicked the other guy in the head to knock him out so he couldn't make any more trouble. Jubilee searched the unconscious Accuser until she found and destroyed the dampening field generation, while Noh slammed the Accuser against the wall.

"The only thing keeping you alive right now is the simple fact that I prefer not to kill anyone in front of my daughter," Noh hissed in the Accuser's ear, allowing his fingernails to extend into the Accuser's chin long enough to draw blood. "So convince me I shouldn't do so. And fast."

The Accuser laughed in Noh's face. "Kill me, traitor," he hissed right back. "You and your Terran-infected family have no place in these halls."

Noh let out a low hiss that reached down into their bones before he reached out to Jubilee telepathically. Can you learn everything you need to know from the unconscious mind of his companion?

Jubilee glanced toward Noh and saw how deadly serious he was, bit her lip, and admitted, I can't be sure until I look. Extremists like this sometimes divide their intelligence so no one person can spill everything they know. She glared down at the unconscious Accuser, annoyed that she had enough experience with terrorist groups to know better than to take out her anger on them. Plus, there was the "X-Men don't kill" rule, but that didn't apply to anyone who tried to kidnap her kids. Or to terrorist Kree, for that matter.

Shame. Noh sighed and then, instead of killing the Accuser like he wanted to, simply hit him hard enough to knock him out. Then, he let the Accuser drop to the floor and turned his attention to E'tann and Melody, frowning when he saw that they were awake but paralyzed. "They came too close to you," he told Melody as he scooped her up and set her down on the bed, blatantly ignoring the state of half-undress that both teenagers were in. "I don't like this."

Tell Dad we're not exactly pleased about this either, Melody projected to Jubilee, who stuck her tongue out at her but did, in fact, relay the message, along with a warning:

I need to concentrate to get into these creeps' minds, so I'm not going to be your middle man, okay?

Any chance you could send Celeste our way, then?

Fine.

A 'thank you' would be appropriate, young lady.

Sorry. Thank you, Mom, for not letting me be stuck here with no way to communicate.

That's more like it, Jubilee replied, smirking, before she turned her attention back to the Accusers' minds. She didn't like breaking into people's heads like this normally, but when these bozos had put her daughter on the ground, she wasn't going to hold back, either.

What she found wasn't terribly encouraging.

Just as Celeste arrived, so did Sinta, obviously alerted to the problem by either one of his guards or by Celeste herself — she had always had the more level head between the two sisters and would have thought about something like that — so that when Jubilee pulled herself out of the Accusers' heads, he was right there to hear about it.

"What happened?" Sinta said, timing his appearance exactly right, apparently, because Jubilee was back to her own mind, Celeste had arrived, and E'tann and Melody were starting to get feeling back in their arms and legs and were able to move around enough not to look like dead fish lying on the bed.

"You weren't wrong about those that want you off your throne," Noh said, his arms crossed and his foot tapping as he glared down at the Accusers, clearly itching to get the chance to kill them as soon as Jubilee was done. "These traitors were simply too cowardly to approach you directly and instead came after two children in their bedroom." Every word he spoke was laced with a hiss that told everyone how incensed he was. "Traitorous little insects."

Sinta looked down at the two Accusers and sighed, crouching down to get a better look at their faces. "I wish I could say I was surprised. Accusers in particular have had a hard time adjusting to this new world we're trying to build."

"Unsurprising, given your training," Noh said, nodding along.

"Yeah, and the worst part is that these guys aren't the only ones," Jubilee said, standing up and crossing her arms. She popped a bubble when everyone turned to look at her and then prodded an unconscious Accuser with the toe of her shoe. "These guys are careful with who knows what information, but this plot to snatch your son and use him against you was just one."

"One that was likely given to those without the stomach for direct confrontation," Noh sneered.

"Maybe," Sinta said, glaring down at the unconscious Accusers. "Tell me more."

Jubilee glanced at Noh, but both he and Sinta were wearing identical looks of concentration, the kind that usually meant they were in that weird Kree mood that sometimes gripped them where they were thinking about the good of the Empire or whatever. So, she sighed, blew another bubble, and said, just to remind Noh of the stakes, "They had to change their plans at the last minute because they found out we were coming."

Instead of looking more concerned about his daughter's safety, Noh raised both eyebrows and looked almost proud. "Is that so?" he asked, a smile starting up at the corner of his mouth. "That's good. They know a threat when they see one."

Jubilee couldn't help but smile at his outlook. She loved when he bragged on their girls, when he was so proud of them he looked like he was going to burst. He could be such a peacock sometimes, but when it came to their family, it was a good look. "They also know she can catch them if she overhears them."

"And she did," Noh pointed out.

"And I'm grateful for that early warning," Sinta said. "Otherwise, this could have gone quite differently." He paused, seeming to think something over. "Under normal circumstances, considering the state we have found our children in, I would propose to keep them busy and apart from each other until they learn better self-control," he said slowly, and Melody and E'tann glanced at each other with blushes high on their cheeks. Technically, they were both old enough to make their own decisions about their sex lives at that point, but they were also half-dressed in front of their parents, so they didn't have much room for argument.

"But…" E'tann said, his voice barely more than a croak as he got his muscles to work again.

Melody couldn't help but grin his way. He could barely move, but when his father was threatening to keep them apart, he managed to talk all the same. It was kind of romantic, in a weird sort of way.

Sinta smirked toward his son, and Melody had to peek at what he was thinking, barely keeping her smile in check when she realized that he was thinking about himself at E'tann's age and how he'd wanted to make the same decisions but wasn't nearly as confident in himself as E'tann was. Once again, Sinta was happy with the Terran influence in his family but wasn't going to say anything about it.

On the other hand, Melody had to blatantly ignore the fact that Sinta's assessment of their propriety was also prefaced with things like "Things will change once they're betrothed." She still wasn't sure she was ready for that, as much as she loved weddings. Yes, she loved to be in love, but when it came to her own wedding, she wanted to be sure of her own mind. She wanted to be sure she wasn't just along for the ride and going with whatever was in the head of the guy she was in love with.

Yes, it had been a long time since she and Celeste had spent every waking moment in each other's minds, but all that time having someone to rely on had actively hurt her ability to discern what she was thinking. She was too used to reaching out to other people to find out what to think.

But she was never going to admit to Logan's face that he was right, that she and her sister had shot themselves in the foot by not staying out of each other's heads.

Either way, she wrenched her attention back to the present as Sinta continued: "But under the circumstances, I think it would be prudent for my son to have someone that can sense danger as Melody did with him at all times."

Melody grinned crookedly. "That almost sounds like you approve," she said, looking exactly like her mother usually did when she was getting up to trouble.

Sinta raised an eyebrow her way, but she could see him trying not to smile. "I mean to say that I'm grateful to you for saving my son from those that would take his life as easily as they took his freedom once they got what they wanted. The Accusers can be zealots; they would not leave anyone who opposes them alive."

"So how come you haven't disbanded them entirely?" Jubilee asked.

Sinta turned her way and sighed. "I was an Accuser, if you remember. I know what that position means to those who worked so hard to achieve it. And I have allies within that group, though I seem to have fewer and fewer of those lately."

"Still not seeing the upside," Jubilee pointed out.

"The Accusers are a symbol," Sinta said. "They are a vestige of the old guard, something that the Kree who believe in the old ways see as a check on my power and influence."

"Maybe you should pick someone for your checks and balances who doesn't have a habit of killing the opposition," Jubilee pointed out. "Just food for thought."

"Believe me, I have considered that possibility many times," Sinta said with a tired little chuckle. "But each time, I find that having them close enough that I can keep an eye on them is more advantageous than not."

"Perhaps Jubilee and Celeste can look deeper into the remaining Accusers to determine how many are truly are on your side," Noh offered.

"And I'll babysit the prince," Melody said brightly, glad that her healing was faster than E'tann's so that she was able to talk freely despite the earlier paralysis.

All three of the adults turned their way, and Noh broke into a chuckle. "Yes," he said. "That sounds prudent."

Melody grinned widely and turned toward E'tann. "That means he approves."

E'tann laughed. "I gathered that," he said, and she could pick up the tenor of his thoughts that told her he was still surprised they weren't in worse trouble.

But, hey, they'd just survived a kidnapping attempt. They were going to get a little leeway while their parents were concerned about their safety. And if that was the case, Melody was totally willing to run with that leeway.