A/N - KJAX - glad you're keeping up. My GOAL with our three week (and counting) isolation is to finish this one. And maaaybe get to editing the ones that follow. But I have a lot of awful to wade through before I get there.
This is a little shorter one, but it needed to stop here before things MOVE. Like ... Move move.
This chapter is dedicated to my favorite real-life Summers, who I am very sure can commiserate with our Slim in this one. (look. he's taking a healthy path. Mostly. Kinda ... well. Shut up. It's not the same old same old for him here.
Chapter 9 - To A Head
"They said we weren't doing anything with mutants," K said in a shell shocked tone as she and Logan made their way back to Westchester. "That mission was supposed to be screwing with AIM and their chain of supply for radioactive materials."
"Yeah, well … seems like they lied," Logan said, though he was just as surprised at how the day had gone. The two of them were quiet, more or less on the way back. Neither of them had thought they'd see things go the way they had. It simply didn't make sense for what they knew. "Of course … if this was trafficking like Nick said, gettin' word out that it was nuclear would keep people away."
K huffed in irritation and turned to stare out the window. That wasn't the part that had bugged her. She knew that nuclear labeling was often misused like this. Or dangerous chemicals. Or any number of blatant lies told to the public to move dangerous materials and people. Threats like that on public roadways had people inviting the police to shut things down so there were no surprises. No accidents. This … this was different. Fury wasn't surprised. And he knew that the Avengers were lightweights when it came to helping out mutants in trouble. For that? If they knew it was mutants? They'd always either turned a blind eye or causally mentioned it to Hank. Or Charles. This… this was not that.
The radio news report started up even before the last chords had rung out fully from Turn The Page and the two Howletts shared a look as the broadcast started in earnest, just past the station's call sign.
"The Avengers are being cheered by civil rights groups for today's action in rescuing a group of at-risk teenagers - all of whom were physically compromised mutants. The team stepped in to stop what authorities are calling an illegal trafficking ring. Details will be released later tonight at a press conference. Already, rumors are swirling on whether or not SHIELD and the Avengers will be stepping up to become the first mutant protection team to help at risk youth afflicted by an active x-gene to find a secure place well away from the general public.
There's no word on what kind of secure facility that will be, but speculation by leading experts say-"
Logan reached out and flipped off the radio, looking more tense than he had in months. This … not one bit of this was good.
"That's it," K said in a flat tone. "Scott's going to die and it's going to be our fault. He's going to stroke out and he's never going to get to know what his baby is. Because he's not equipped for this level of bullshit."
"He'll be fine," Logan said. "It's just speculation by idiots with a microphone. You an' I both know Cap and Stark have no intention to deal with mutant kids."
"Yeah. But that isn't the part that's gonna launch him into orbit, love. The part where they said that SHIELD was making the first safe place for mutants. Even if it clearly sounds like a damned prison … that … that … is bad."
"You can't be surprised, sweetheart," Logan said without looking her way. He knew she was right, but he was already going into damage control. Gathering his defense when they crossed paths with Scott and Charles. And he knew Scott would be waiting for him. "They've been sayin' we're nothin' but terrorists for longer'n the team's even been around."
K crossed her arms and sat back into her seat further. "Kinda want to blow something up right now …"
Logan smirked, though it didn't last him long. "I don't like it either," Logan admitted. "But … somethin's wrong. And I want to know what it is."
"It's Cap," K said without missing a beat.
"I thought you liked him."
"I do. When he's acting like himself. This guy? If it wasn't for the fact that he passed the sniff test and acts like he used to sometimes, I'd think he was a shapeshifter or something." She shifted in her seat. "And you know how much I like those guys."
"Yeah, gathered as much when you an' Mystique weren't seein' eye to eye."
"She got what she earned," K said in a flat tone, though her stoic expression slipped as she smiled to herself. "Thank you, for that."
"Like you said, she was askin' for it." Logan was quiet as he mulled over everything he knew about the mission and the aftermath. "Thought it was just me."
K turned toward him with a frown. "What?"
"Cap."
"No," K said, shaking her head. "And our digging would go a helluva lot faster if we put our heads together on this instead of independently investigating."
"Got it," Logan agreed. "Loud and clear."
K snorted at that. "Sure you do."
It was luck that they were at a stoplight because Logan turned her way entirely. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Aside from the fact that you're touchy? You aren't sharing with me what's going on in that reinforced head of yours."
"And you're bein' open with whatever you find?" Logan countered, one eyebrow raised high.
K drew in a breath, mouth open to argue, and hedged. Which had Logan blinking at her. "I … you…"
"We takin' the scenic route?" Logan teased, smiling crookedly at her - which of course didn't help matters at all.
"It might be a good idea," K agreed, speaking slowly, though the mood in the Jeep had shifted so quickly that Logan was trying to figure out how they'd gone from problem solving to looking for a quiet secluded spot for some privacy. Not that he was going to argue it.
The car behind them honked and Logan looked up in the rear view with an irritated scowl - then turned the wrong way headed north away from Xavier's. He could use a little fun before the inevitable fight, and apparently, his girl was game.
Scott had been in his office when the news broke - though unlike Logan and K, he'd had a television going in the corner of the room as background noise as he worked. The scheduling issue had been resolved - sort of. He was still looking at it as a tentative thing though, if what Jean had told him held water - and it usually did.
But that didn't mean he didn't have plenty of other things to get into order. With K preoccupied with apparently keeping Logan from falling too deeply in with the Avengers, Scott was tasked with keeping track of their nastier foes. He was still using K's algorithms and feeds that she'd set up to follow the worst bottomfeeder's activity, but he wasn't as familiar as she was with some of the finer tuning on her programs. He'd done well enough over the summer while they were in Canada, but some of the feeds weren't giving intel the way they had been and he hadn't gotten a chance to get her to track down the problem. So that was hanging over his head.
The package from Canada addressed to Logan from Mac that had arrived earlier that day was also on his mind. He couldn't remember the last time that Mac had sent something. Not when he was sure that the two families had gotten fed up with each other during their visit.
And already, new students and old were trickling into the school. There had been a few pick ups over the summer - and Remy was on his way home now with a kid that he'd found in southern California that was tied up in some drama with the Thieves guild. Which meant a new set of legal papers that had to be drawn up to accommodate enrollment.
It wasn't anything unusual for that time of year, but he had the information on the kid. Orphan - no surprises there. There were way too many orphans in the school as it was. But this one was just under legal age - which meant they'd need a fast track to get caught up with their schooling. So Scott was making arrangements and drafting up the emails to Storm and Forge and Kitty - all to get things lined up for assessments. After the new kid got settled, but before school started so he'd have time to make the right program for him ….
He had just finished the part of the email that informed the others on what the kid's background was when the news broke and Scott barely glanced at the screen at first when he heard 'Avengers'. A flash of red, white, and blue was all he saw in that instant, though before the reporter's voice really cut through, he could hear the usual whine of repulsors. Fitting, Scott thought to himself with a self satisfied smirk.
He was amused at his own private joke, in a better mood concerning the Avengers than he'd been in for weeks when he finally heard the reporter talking about mutants - and his head came up fast.
It was a surreal moment for Scott - listening to the report of what had happened while the Avengers were keeping mutant kids safe and SHIELD was actually arresting someone over …
"Jean," Scott said - and projected. Do you see this? He didn't wait for her response, though, slowly rising to his feet as he drifted closer to the television, his frown deepening the more he heard. But Logan was right. The moment that they reported that SHIELD and the Avengers were the first to help mutants … and with Logan and K on screen in the middle of the mess not correcting anyone on what was being said … "He damn well better be able to tell me where those kids are now."
A moment later, the news anchor had the pictures of the two Howletts, Hank, and Magneto's twins on screen as proof of how diverse the Avengers were … with the SHIELD representative insisting that what was going on was groundbreaking.
Scotts eyes narrowed when he saw the man on screen. He'd long been a thorn in their side, though not blatantly enough for Scott to be able to prove the guy was a top shelf creep and an opportunist of the worst caliber. Though the man on screen didn't waste any time publicly trying to put a target on the X-Men as he made a call for all of the so-called hero teams that weren't working in tight cooperation with SHIELD to be shut down.
Rationally, Scott knew that Logan didn't know anything about it. But rationally, Logan should have known better than to blindly trust that the Avengers would look out for anyone outside of the Avengers.
By the time Logan and K came in - smiling and half wrapped up in each other as if they didn't have a care in the world, Scott honestly didn't know where to start. So at first … he didn't.
Instead of yelling like he wanted to, or laying into them when they were so clearly pleased with themselves, he locked his jaw down tight enough that he could hear his teeth squeaking as he turned on his heel and found Jean - who looked honestly alarmed at how angry he was. "We're going to Alaska for the next week."
"Okay," Jean agreed quickly as she got to her feet. "Did you talk to-" she paused. "No. of course not. Do you want me to talk to them for you?"
"No. I've got it."
"Scott-"
"I've got it," Scott insisted, one eyebrow arched up. Half a dozen scenarios flew through his mind on his way back to find Logan and K. Kurt had the kids and by the look of the two of them, they weren't ready to pick up on their responsibilities so soon. Not on the high they were both so clearly on.
He stalked through the halls from the secluded wing that was almost entirely populated by the Summers and Howlett families until he found them in Logan's office. Which was perfect, all things considered. The walls were soundproofed, after all.
Scott didn't bother knocking before he let himself in and closed the door behind himself, and before Logan could even greet him, Scott finally let it out.
"Have you lost your damn mind?" Scott half snarled out from behind clenched teeth, though that only opened the floodgates and finally, after nearly a month of tiptoeing around it, Scott let loose.
At first, Logan started to try and answer the rapid fire combinations of questions and interrogations, but he honestly couldn't get a word in edgewise - and to K's surprise, Logan couldn't out-shout him either. "Let me explain somethin', Slim-"
"I think you've explained plenty," Scott shot back, towering over Logan - his visor glowing brightly. "I've had enough of the brush off from you and your stupid team! You promised me that you were going to take care of things here first! You swore that you weren't helping them find new and more idiotic ways to paint the team badly! And I get to find out from the news that you two are their new frontrunners to help mutant kids?"
"Scott," K said, holding up one hand as she tried to slow him down, but even with the disagreements they'd had, K had never seen him this mad at her, too.
"Do you have any idea the damage you two have done to the professor's work? Everything that we've pushed for - handed off to SHIELD to coordinate?"
"That's not-"
"You're putting your faith in Tony Stark and Nick Fury!" Scott was entirely exasperated and it showed. "Is that why you couldn't be bothered to tell me what your plans were for the fall? I didn't have the clearance to know what my own team members were up to?"
"We didn't know what we were walkin' into," Logan bellowed back.
"Right," Scott said grimly. He turned to leave, then stopped as he gripped the doorknob. "You know, Logan, maybe it's time for a change."
"We're two weeks out from us leavin' them to their plans," Logan said. "Unless this is you sayin' you want us gone."
Scott shook his head, all of his breath leaving him in a hollow laugh. "How is it that no matter how clear I am with you, you are bound and determined to walk away believing the opposite of what I just told you."
Logan crossed his arms as K frowned between them. Something was off here too … she just didn't know how to stop it.
"Sounded to me like you were pissed off that I wasn't runnin' point for you here. Not that you'd ever let go of the damn steerin' wheel long enough for anyone to help you."
"If I thought you'd actually be around to help us instead of kissing Avenger's ass, I'd ask for your help," Scott said, turning to face him again. "But I can't rely on that ever being the case when you're tripping over yourself to let them try and wipe our team off the map. Where did those kids end up, anyhow?" Scott asked, once again stepping toward Logan. "Because it used to be that on the off chance that the Avengers found a mutant kid, they'd bring them here." He held his hands out at his sides. "I haven't gotten a call, Logan. Not from Stark's secretary, and sure as hell not from your old war buddy. Where are the kids that were picked up, Logan?"
Logan's temper flared up and he wanted to snarl at him - he really did, but the truth was, Cap had redirected him so quickly that he honestly hadn't been able to track where they went. Not that he didn't plan to find out - he just … didn't know yet. Which did nothing for his argument.
"Stark Tower," K said, looking up from her phone, though only for an instant. "For now, anyhow. Tony was asking them if they wanted to be in the pilot year for the program."
Scott turned her way. "You know that …"
""Forge's trackers." She waved her phone at him. "They're moving normally within the tower. Isolated to a floor below the general living quarters of the team."
"Who backed you up with that?" Logan asked, giving K a look since they'd just talked about sharing intel … well … before they found the turn off with the not-so-scenic view of badly overgrown weeds and trees.
"Hawkeye. He took issue with one of the kids when it was clear that he was waiting for the mouthy SHIELD agent to hit him."
The two men were silent for a long moment. But Scott broke the silence as Logan mulled it over. "Sounds like the perfect place for abused mutant teenagers to stay," he said flatly. "It's too bad there aren't any other options available."
"You know damn well that's not what's goin' on," Logan said - a growl lacing his voice in warning.
"No, actually, I don't," Scott said, then stopped when Jean reached out to brush his mind. "We're leaving for a couple weeks."
"This your way of sayin' you want me to keep an eye on things?" Logan said, looking like he was still ready to fight.
"No," Scott said, shaking his head lightly. "I'm leaving Storm in charge of everything. She'll actually care about this school enough to make sure that we don't run out of room when the kids start trickling in. You - you just … do whatever the hell is it you need to do. I have more important things to do than try to chase you down to follow through on your word." Scott opened the door and as Logan started to growl, K rested her hand on his chest to stop him from escalating things further than they already were. "Maybe by the time we get back, you'll know where it is you want to be."
