UPDATE: PLEASE READ THE EXTENDED A/N AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER!
Chapter 38
[Clint's POV]
"What do you mean she's missing?" I demanded as I shoved the door open in the conference room. All the Avengers had gotten a call from Bucky an hour ago that Emily was missing, presumably kidnapped by Ultron, and in her place was a mutant by the name of Emma Frost. Bucky looked up at me and I was hit at how red his eyes were. He had been crying, and it had been ugly. "How did we not figure this out earlier? Do you realize what Ultron could do with Emily in two days?"
"We are well aware, Clint," Steve growled, like, literally growled. If I wasn't pissed off at the world and Ultron, I would have been shocked. I didn't realize Cap could growl. "Take a seat so we can figure this out."
"While you were raging," Bruce said, cocking an eyebrow at me. "I researched more about this Emma Frost character. She used to be a part of this evil mutant's gang. She then switched sides and joined the X-Men, the British version of the Avengers basically."
"Wasn't Emily apart of the X-Men before she was the Avengers?" Wanda put in, and Bucky nodded in confirmation.
"Back when she was fourteen," Bucky explained. "Stayed there for two years before returning to the states."
"Ms. Frost has still had connections with Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, the evil mutant gang. Magneto, in a past, has been known to associate himself with Ultron," Bruce continued, rubbing his eyes. "We had Jarvis show us the footage from the retirement center. Emma posed as a dying child in order to lure Emily into the room. Once there, she dropped her disguise, therefore causing Emily to go into a seizure due to her powers. Once she was down on the ground, Emma switched herself with Emily and had minions, which she disguised under her illusions, take Emily out. She was the one who Steve found."
He was interrupted when Steve slammed his fist into the table. The former World War II captain looked depressed and angered. "I should have realized it wasn't Emily. She's been completely unconscious before. She wouldn't have been able to tap out SOS."
Natasha, from where she was sitting, reached over and laid a gentle hand on Steve's forearm. That calmed him down enough to have Bruce continue in his speech.
"Frost won't give up Emily's location," Bruce finished, groaning slightly. "I'm not even sure if she knows where she is."
The team sat there in a frustrated silence until a loud ringing noise interrupted them. Tony looked up and gave a small, satisfied grin.
"Looks like the cavalry is here," he said triumphantly. I watched as he happily skipped out of the room and I sent everyone a confused look.
"Am I the only one who has no idea what is going on?" demanded Loki, glancing around. I jumped, a little startled. How long had he been sitting there? "Who is this cavalry the Man of Iron speaks of?"
"Us."
The entire group, myself included, turned around and was greeted by a large battalion of people. Tony stepped to the side, sweeping his arms in a large motion towards the group of people.
"Welcome the cavalry, folks, all the way from across the big puddle," Tony grinned. "Avengers, may I introduce you to...the X-Men."
Everyone stared at us warily, and it was only when the man in the wheelchair moved forward that everyone actually moved.
"Hello Avengers and Loki," the bald man said, nodding his head to each of us, including an astonished Loki. "My name is Charles Xavier, although I am also known as Professor X. These are my X-Men."
There were eight people in all, only one female. Most of them looked clean and sharp, but one lingered near the back, trying hard to discreetly smoke a cigarette in the building.
"Come now," Xavier said, motioning for his X-Men to move forward. The first person to step forward was a long, langy man with brunette hair that was styled slightly. He wore wire-frame glasses and had a nervous twitch about him.
"My name's Hank McCoy," he said, graciously shaking Steve's hand when he offered it out. "On the X-Men, I'm called Beast."
The next person up was a man with trimmed back blonde hair that looked ready to run wild. "The name's Alex. Havoc's my code-name."
Introductions continued on this way: there was Jean Gray (Firebird), Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler; he was completely blue!), Calvin Rankin (Mimic), but the last two stuck out.
"My name's Warren Worthington," the final man introduced himself. He had an older look to him and he was dressed more sophisticated. "I'm called Angel in the field." Wanda's eyes widened in disbelief and fear and she leapt from her chair, pointing an accusing finger towards Warren.
"You are the man from which Emily became a Titan!" she growled, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "How dare you try and come…" She paused suddenly, her eyes seeming frozen in their sockets. Then, she gave a saddened smile and sat back down. I looked at her with worry and Xavier raised his hand in apologies.
"I apologize, my friends," he began. "I have merely communicated Mr. Worthington's condition to Ms. Maximoff. He does not mean any harm."
"You're a telepath?" Loki said with a sense of respect in his voice. Xavier nodded in confirmation and Loki seemed impressed by that.
The last man finally stepped forward, but that was only after grunting and rolling his eyes. He leaned heavily on one leg and adjusted his leather jacket before he looked at every one of us in the eye. "My name's Logan Howlett. I'm called Wolverine."
He looked every inch his code-name. However, Natasha didn't seem impressed. "Why's that?"
Logan smirked and held up his fist. In a flash, three long, silver claws emerged themselves from his knuckles. Everyone's jaw dropped and he gave a low chuckle. "That's why, sweetheart."
"Emily's claws…" Bucky murmured in awe. "That's how she got them." Logan actually gave a sad smile when he heard Emily's name.
"The kid still has her claws, huh?" he chuckled, leaning his hip against the table as his claws retracted. He was near the corner and right by Natasha, and I tensed up a little bit. But Logan seemed enraptured by Bucky's statement. "I would've thought they'd be gone by now." He laughed to himself and rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, as if Emily would let them be taken by him…"
"Logan," Jean Gray whispered tentatively, her eyes widening with shock. "S-She's lost her claws."
Logan flipped around in a flash and strode heavily over to where the redhead was standing. "What? What do you mean they're gone?"
"Titan stole them as payment for taking over Emily's body and killing her mother," Jean squeaked in fear, clutching onto the arm of Kurt Wagner. The Avengers team all glanced about each other warily and Loki rose to his feet, narrowing his eyes at Jean Gray.
"She is another telepath," Loki growled dangerously. "One who cannot control her powers. She read our minds."
Tony put his hands to his head, as if they would protect him from any mind-reading attempts, and Xavier turned in his chair so he was facing directly towards Loki.
"Yes, as that may be, she is young," Xavier argued. "She does not have control of her powers. She is still working on reeling them in."
"Is it necessary to have all of you?" I found myself asking. All the X-Men turned to me with confusion. I folded my arms across my chest and took a step forward so I was closer to Steve and Natasha. "I mean, Emily's been kidnapped before and we've handled it."
"Wanda and I handled it," Bucky muttered under his breath, and I shot him a dirty look.
"We've handled it before," I finished. "Who says we can't handle this now?"
"You're forgetting, bub, that Emily was one of us before she was one of you," Logan hissed, jabbing a finger at me. "If anyone is going to save her, it'll be us."
"If anyone is going to save her, it'll be the two of us combined," Steve interrupted. Logan open his mouth to retort something, but Steve cut him off. "Think about it for a moment. You obviously all care about her a lot, correct?" Each of the X-Men nodded immediately. "We care about her too. If one of us went against Ultron alone, we'd probably be able to defeat him. But imagine what would happen if the two of us combined our forces. We would be unstoppable. Ultron wouldn't even knew what hit him." He gestured towards the X-Men. "You guys are called the X-Men because you're mutants. We're called the Avengers because we have promised ourselves that we will avenge what catastrophe happens. Well, Emily's been kidnapped and Ultron's probably using her for some sick and twisted ideal. That's a catastrophe. We could use your mutant abilities to get into wherever he is." He paused and took a deep breath. "Well, X-Men? What's it going to be?"
The eight of them were quiet, their eyes flicking back and forth between each other. I just assumed they were all having a mind-conversation with each other, thanks to Xavier.
The bald, middle aged man turned away first and caught the captain's eye with a glimmer of hope. "It is time to form the X-Avengers."
Tony clapped his hands in enthusiasm, and everyone reluctantly followed. "It's settled then. Everyone, meet in the hanger. We'll divide into teams and head out in the QuinJets." He turned towards the X-Men. "Just cause we have more."
He headed out of the conference room and everyone trickled out until it was just Loki and I. Loki got up from his spot, stretched for a second like a cat waking up from a nap, and moved towards the door before I reached my arm out and snatched his bicep. The taller man didn't move, just looked down at me.
"Listen here, Loki," I whispered, my voice low but powerful. "You are known as the God of Lies up in Asgard, right? Well, see if I'm lying when I say this: Emily is as much my daughter as she is yours. If for a moment I think you will do any permanent harm to her, I will kill you." I gestured briefly towards the door. "You walk out that door now to go and save her, you become an Avenger. You follow our rules and you stick to them. Understood?"
Loki didn't say anything or move, so I let go of his arm.
"That is where you are wrong," he said quietly. He started to move and stepped out of the door, turning back to look at me. "I became an Avenger the moment Ultron tried to kidnap my daughter."
:/:\:
[Bucky's POV]
"We're going to have three groups of six," explained Steve as we all congregated down in the hanger. "I've already discussed it with Professor Xavier. Hank McCoy, Bucky Barnes, and Clint Barton will lead the three teams. We've decided to let you choose who is on your team, but please note to get some of the other group into your squad. We need diversity here."
"I'll have Black Widow," Hank said, and the assassiness shot him a coy smile before getting up and standing by him.
"I'll take Gray," Clint said, gesturing to the other redhead. She gave him a weak smile and he returned it.
"Wanda," I immediately said, and the witch appeared right next to me. While the other two were deciding who to pick, I whispered quietly to her, "I'm glad no one picked you before I did."
"Me too," she whispered, sending me a small smile. "It's time for the forces of Winter Witch to strike again." I laughed and soon discovered that Hank had picked Tony (much to everyone's relief), and Clint had chosen Bruce. I picked Angel, who seemed a little reluctant to stand by Wanda, until she profusely apologized randomly and then, he seemed to relax more. The cycle continued to go until my team consisted of me, Wanda, Warren, Logan, Kurt, and Loki.
"Team Alpha will go in and find Emily. Once you do, get out and head back to the compound," Steve ordered, looking directly in my eye. "Bring her home."
"Team Omega, Hank's team," Xavier continued, nodding to the small, but steady group. "Your job is to infiltrate the facility and find any data you can that might lead us to Magneto or stopping Ultron, should he escape."
"And finally, Team Zeta," Steve said, nodding to his own group. "Will go in there and...well, destroy as much as we can."
Bruce let out a tiny, evil-looking grin and I was pretty such that Hulk managed to put that there. We all divided ourselves up and I got into the QuinJet, plopping myself down into the pilot's seat.
"Have you ever flown one of these things?" Wanda asked curiously and cautiously as she strapped herself in. I shrugged and sent her an amused look that combated her own fearful look.
"How hard can it be?" I smirked, and turned on the communications. "Steve, we got one slight kink in the plan."
"And that is?" came his reply over the radio.
"Where are we even going?"
A/N: Here are some more chapters, my lovelies :) Happy Valentine's Day!
EllaoftheOpera: I gotchu. If it's the chapter that I think it is (Ch19, the talk between Emily and Tony?), Emily had nightmares of her mother doing more than just abusing her. She had nightmares that her mother would discover her wings and try to cut them off.
WildestDreams72394: Hopefully these two chapters help explain Emma.
UPDATE:
So, I have figured out that polls are ridiculous and never work for me XD. I have decided on Solace's Wings sequel (the name will remain a mystery). Also, I haven't had a lot of inspiration (or time) to write chapter 39, so that's on hiatus. On a side note, however, I'm going to be editting the entire story! There are bits and pieces that need it, desperately, so keep your eyes out!
Thank you everyone for being extremely patient :)