Note: No, I don't hate the Avengers

Note: No, I don't hate the Avengers. But they aren't better than the X-Men. Some lines Marvel wrote for the Avengers were just as weird as some they did for the X-Men. There we see how they are all Marvel creatures :-)

Verse: General, very general verse. No specific era. No Thunderbolts for Hawkeye, no Onslaught for anyone. Late 70's Avengers-like. Get my drift? Cool.

*...* is communications over channels.

~...~ are thoughts.

**********

Chapter 3

"Storm, any reading on the radar?" asked Scott, manouvering the Blackbird, looking for the best spot for a landing in this mountainous region.

"Nothing, Cyclops. No trace of any crash site," answered Storm.

"Ok, guys. I am going to open the channel with the Avengers. Do I have to ask you to keep quiet this time?" asked Scott.

"We'll make you proud of us, Fearless Leader..." started Jubilee.

"NO! Just keep Q.U.I.E.T!" ordered Scott. He pushed a botton on the controls.

*Avengers, this is Cyclops. You hear me?*

*Iron Man here, I hear you perfectly, Cyclops.*

"You think it's the chauffeur or the millionaire?" whispered Jubilee to Wolverine.

"Naw. Talks like a prick. Must be the alcolo," grinned Logan.

Scott fumed. Couldn't they keep silent for just ONE minute? Hopefully, their chat couldn't be heard over the channel.

"Ok, but who was the alcolo, yet?" she whispered back.

"The bankrupted one, kid."

"The chauffeur was bankrupted?"

Scott had enough. "No, Jubilee, the millionaire was the bankrupted AND the alcolo, the other was his chauffeur. Now, SILENCE!" he almost yelled.

*Did I hear something about a chauffeur?* asked Iron Man over the channel, suspicion in his voice.

*No. It must be some statics. Hold on.* Scott put the channel on mute and turned to glare at Jubilee and Wolverine.

They both laughed so hard, Jubilee had tears in her eyes.

"Do I have to throw you both out of here?" he shouted.

"Try me, bub," growled Wolverine.

Scott got back to his controls. "Now, all of you, just keep quiet!"

He then pushed the ON button over the channel.

*Cyclops here. We reached the crash site. We cannot locate the Quinjet from here, so we'll land nearby.*

*Understood. I have an Avenger heading your way. Contact should be established shortly.*

"Which Avenger?" asked Storm.

*With whom are we to meet, Iron Man?*

"Oh gee, not the Scarlet Bitch.. er Witch! With Mother Cow and her faked kids... There's no puke bag in here!" whined Jubilee.

"Please, Jubilee, do not make fun of others, especially other mutants," admonished Storm. "Even Magneto's children," she added under her breath.

"Ah, forgot. You never met the Wasp, huh?" laughed Jubilee.

"Must give it to her, she has nice..." started Wolverine.

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled an angry Cyclops.

*I beg your pardon?* asked Iron Man over the channel.

*Statics!* almost yelled Cyclops over the channel.

*I understand. Keep me in touch.*

Scott turned the channel on Mute. He quickly landed the BlackBird on a nearby suitable ground.

********

After Scott managed to safely land the BlackBird, he gave his directives to the team. Since they haven't been able to locate the Avengers' Quinjet from above with the BlackBird, there was no point getting Storm looking that way again. So she staid in the BlackBird, dispatching communications.

Cyclops, Wolverine and Jubilee walked out in the knee-high snow cover.

Wolverine's high developped sens of smell soon provided for a direction. He strode toward a rocky cliff, Scott behind him and Jubilee on their heels.

"I'll be lucky if I don't freeze my feet! Where's Bobby when you need him?" whine Jubilee.

"The professor asked him to check on the team members' accounts, so I guess he's off for a few days, if not weeks," explained Scott. The X-Men leader wasn't happy either about that nightly walk in the snow. Hopefully, Wolverine walking ahead provided for an almost cleared path.

"Hush," ordered Wolverine as he stopped on his tracks.

"Now what? YOU ask ME to shut up? Ah! Should I just..." started Cyclops.

"Avalanche!" yelled Logan.

In a split second, Wolverine had grabbed Jubilee. Jumping at the base of the cliff, he hoped this would protect them from the incomming snow.

The sound was deafening. In an instant, the whole landscape had transformed into a snow field. From their remotly protected place, both Wolverine and Jubilee struggled to get free of the snow that covered them up to the waist.

"Where's Scott?" shriked Jubilee.

"Stay there," ordered Logan. He jumped over the snow field, and walked around, sniffing for Scott's scent.

Judging that Cyclops was probably under a few feet of snow, Wolverine got on his fours to help find Scott faster, using his sense of smell.

"You'd make such a cute St. Bernard dog, Wolverine."

Startled, Logan raised his head to spot Scott sitting on the same rocky cliff from which he and Jubilee had found protection against the avalanche.

"What t'hell are ye doin' up there?" growled Logan, furious that he hadn't noticed Cyclops' presence before.

"I have no idea, but I'm glad I did anyway. Aren't you?" Scott jumped down and landed a few feet from Jubilee.

*Scott? Are you alright out there?* asked a concerned Storm.

But before Scott could asnwer her, a huge flash of lightning exploded, nearly missing Wolverine who nonetheless flew away.

Still high in his unplanned flight plan, Logan's back came in contact with something pretty hard, but invisible. It resonnated with a metallic sound but... there was nothing around. Wolverine fell to the ground, his back scratching against the non-existent thing, the pain, though, perfectly real.

*What was that?* asked Storm.

As Scott followed Jubilee in Logan's direction, wrestling against the deep snow cover, he managed to answer over the comlink.

*Storm, there's a thunderstorm and we sure don't need it. Logan's been struck.*

*I will take care of the thunderstorm* On that, Storm flew out of the BlackBird, into the cold nightly sky.

******

"Wolvi-ie? Are you ok-k?" asked a frentic Jubilee.

Scott arrived by Logan's side. "How-how is he-he?" he asked.

"Du-dunno. He-he's out co-old."

"Me-e to-oo," grumbled Scott.

"You be-better wa-watch i-it," she joked, looking down at him. "You k-know, i-it ain't go-ood f-for f-family."

"F-funny. Let's gr-grab him and ge-get back to the Bl-blackBir-ird," suggested Scott, now really scared about cold exposure's side effects.

As he moved to grab the prone body of his team-mate, a crack of light appeared out of nowhere in front of him. One split seconde later, the side of a metallic door hit his head and sent him flying away.

Jubilee jumped back, hands in front of her, ready to defend her uncounscious team-mates. Well, Wolvie first, but still.

Secondes later, a humanoid form stood in the door, staring down at her.

"Jubilation Lee?" asked the low voice.

"Steve?"

"Yes, it's me. What are you doing here?" asked a puzzled Captain America, as he looked down at Wolverine and Cyclops.

But the answer wasn't exactly what he expected.

"You, moron! You just crashed, so we came to save you! Darn, now Wolvie's out of it and you just knocked down One-Eye! Now help me get them in before they turn into Icemen!" she yelled.

Captain America looked at her, puzzled.

"Move it, FlagMan!"

*******

~I wonder how a thunderstorm could start in this vicinity. Quite unusual. I will fix that...~ thought Storm as she reached a high point in the sky above the BlackBird.

"I summon the Winds! Dispel these clouds!" she ordered the elements.

The winds rose and slowly dispeled the thunderstorm clouds. Satisfied of her timely intervention, Storm dove back to her team-mates.

Mid-way back to the ground, a lightning missed her by a few inches. How could that be possible? Furious and intrigued, Storm looked back up at the sky.

"Behold, mortal! By Balder's Beard, how dare you face the Son of Odin?!!"