A/N- as always, welcome to our new readers and thank you kindly to the reviewers. It means a lot! On this election day here in the states, you may find yourself in need of a little something less bloodthirsty and dramatic than American Politics. In such case, welcome. Thanks in particular to Practically An Avenger for hanging in there and giving us a review to smile over. Enjoy.
Chapter 133 - Playing The Field
The hardest part of having dated a prince, Mia was very sure, was how impossible it was to get away from the headlines that informed her of all the idiocy Tommy was up to. Or the fact that so many of the kids at Xavier's were watching and gossiping about those headlines. She didn't think they were trying to be jerks … at first. But now, she was starting to wonder why she had to listen to this kind of thing all the time.
And when she wasn't listening to idle gossip about her ex, Mia was dealing with what felt like overly-flirty interested parties. It was even harder now, when her best friend had his nose buried in a class. Again. Not like she wasn't used to that, but … she had a hard time sometimes being around Billy when he and Tommy shared so many facial expressions.
She felt isolated. That's what the real trouble was. She felt isolated because she was the last one on the team still in school at Westchester and all of her friends were in college or … getting married and having babies. Not that she wanted a baby or anything like that, it was just … really hard to feel so left behind. Everything had been going at breakneck speed for so long. And everyone around her was so slow.
Ugh, Mia thought to herself before she wrapped her arms around herself and teleported to the roof where the biting late-October wind would push away all spoiled-on-a-too-warm-beach thoughts. I'm starting to sound like him. I hate that. She turned her face to the prevailing north wind and closed her eyes, feeling the change in weather that was blowing in. They'd have snow soon. That would help her not think quite so much about the spoiled prince from the equator.
And … if she kept an open mind, she'd find plenty of admirers of her own. Just … ones with better taste than Tommy was finding, she was very sure.
Her phone went off, and it took a few notifications before Mia looked down to see who it was, then had to smile when it was a panicked text from Kate's little sister, Lexi. She was crushing on one of the new guys hard. And, she was asking for help. So, Mia did the best thing she could and perched on the edge of the roof texting back to try and talk Lexi through asking Sam out.
It had taken far too long for Tommy to be treated like a prince again, as far as he was concerned. But now … things were back how they were supposed to be, complete with the scores of fawning fans throwing themselves at his feet.
It sure made dating easier, if he was being perfectly honest. No need to chase when they were all trying to keep up.
And everyone on Genosha seemed to get that commitment wasn't really something to strive for. At least, that's the impression Tommy got. No one was pushing. Not really. Which meant there was plenty of Prince Thomas to go around.
He was having a blast, and it wasn't any time at all before the two cuties he'd been watching were getting the hint and hitting on him.
It was just… such a good way to spend his time … mornings with the cute guy, evenings with the hot girl. Lunchtime open to flirting with new prospects. And he couldn't seem to find the end of people his age (or close enough to it) that weren't willing to play.
And Tommy wasn't limiting himself. He was an equal opportunity flirt-er. The girls were cute and in good numbers, but there were a few curious guys that passed the vibe check that Tommy was going for too …
And Tommy liked Zach. At least, for as much as he would allow himself, he liked Zach. He was fun, energetic, excitable, and the fact was, he worshiped the ground Tommy walked on. Literally. There was definitely something to be said for that level of involvement.
Or … he enjoyed it all the way up until Billy happened to catch Tommy with Zach. It was a rare date rather than just a hook up, but one look at his phone reminded Tommy that Billy had warned him earlier that he planned to catch up to him when he came to visit. Which … was a thing he did when James kept away from Genosha. And that was fine. He appreciated the check ins with his brother. He did.
Until … he watched Zach trip over himself grinning when he met Billy. Is this what it looks like to everyone else? Tommy thought to himself with his nose scrunched up as Zach nervously flirted with his twin. And at first, Billy either ignored it, or didn't catch it.
When he did catch it though … or decided to acknowledge it finally … it was clear what he thought of the guy.
"Didn't you say you were dating my brother?" Billy asked with a frown set firmly in place - the expression of disapproval was so much like their grandfather that Tommy had to hide his amusement.
But it completely ruined the vibe with Zach, and Zach seemed to notice. Which was when Zach went from fawning to almost desperate.
After the little weekend visit from Billy, Zach was starting to get possessive and jealous of the time Tommy spent with Zoe … or Erica. Or Addison and Madison. And compared to a set of identical twins, he had good reason to be jealous. It was just such a turn off to an otherwise perfect situation.
Which was when Tommy found himself getting bored of Zach. The fact that he was blatantly a crown chaser sure didn't help, either. At first, Tommy couldn't care less if the people he was fooling around with were doing it simply because he was a prince … but this whole attempt to drift into serious relationships … Nope.
The hookups were still great, though, so he was kind of hoping it would all blow over, that Zach would get past whatever freakout he was having. But that never happened. And when Zach sent a cloud of smoke over to Tommy when he was hanging out with Addison and Madison and sent them both running and coughing, Tommy had enough.
He stalked over to Zach - which should have been the first signal to Zach that something was up, because he wasn't trying to move faster, an urge he still hadn't overcome even though he was still stuck without powers. He jabbed Zach in the center of his chest as he laid it out:
"We're done," he said sharply. "I told you from the start I didn't want drama, and that? That was drama. And you're not hot enough for me to put up with it."
Zach stood there gaping at him for a while before he seemed to snap back to reality and swatted Tommy's hand away. "It was a joke."
"Yeah? Explain it to me then, because you don't seem that funny right now," Tommy shot back. "You don't want to keep it casual, bring it up with me. Not anyone else."
Zach rolled his eyes. "Tommy-"
"Are you still talking to me?" Tommy looked him over and then spun on his heel. "I said we're done. Bye." He could hear Zach swearing at him, but not even Zach was dumb enough to use his powers against a royal in a public setting, so it wasn't like Zach could do anything.
But the whole thing had Tommy frustrated, because even though he did want to have fun, the whole point of keeping everything casual was so no one got hurt. Because even though he wouldn't admit it, he felt genuinely bad about how things had blown up with Mia, and as far as he was concerned, he wasn't going to let that happen again.
Kate had scheduled her doctor appointment a couple days before Halloween for two reasons: the first being that she wanted to have a cushion of time before any parties in case she had a panic attack, because that wore her out and she was already tired from being pregnant. The second being that there was some bad weather headed toward Genosha, so she wanted to visit during the first week of November - after the monsoon had passed.
Nate came with her again, holding her hand in the waiting room. She knew he'd been smoothing the way for her, but she was trying to get through an appointment without his help. She'd have to go to the hospital and have all sorts of pokes and prods when the baby came, so she was trying to ease herself into it.
So, she'd asked him not to use his powers unless she absolutely needed it.
She'd had the idea to switch doctors, too - thinking maybe that would make a difference. Sure, the other doctor had come highly recommended, but the idea of switching had been bouncing around her head since they got back from their honeymoon last week.
The doctor himself looked… old-fashioned. Which was a bit worrisome, considering they'd gotten pregnant before they were married, and Nate was a mutant. But since he was smiling so widely when he called into the lobby for Mrs. Summers, Kate was willing to give it a try.
There wasn't an ultrasound or, really, anything in her file because she'd kept panicking, and since this was a small practice, that meant the doctor had a list of things he wanted to do - but he assured her that those would come later.
Kate glanced toward Nate, bit her lip, and wrung her hands. "I know it's a little… sparse…" She gestured toward her file. "In my defense, I didn't even know I was pregnant until I was in my second trimester."
"You're young and in good health," the doctor replied as he absently looked through her file, then smiled up at her. "We have plenty of time to get through the tests. Most of what you need in the beginning is well enough with blood alone."
"Yeah." Kate gave him a half-winced smile. "That's… my problem. Little bit of, um, medical trauma."
The doctor closed the file and set it aside, then clasped his hands as he turned his full attention her way. "Tell me what I might be able to do to help you through this."
Kate blinked but was surprised into a smile all the same - this was a lot more care than any doctor besides Hank had shown her. "I'm still working on that," she admitted. "I've got a therapist, and I'm working through it. I'm trying not to panic." She bit her lip. "I mean, I don't know if you, ah, keep up with the news…"
"You don't have to tell me details if you're not comfortable, Kate," he replied in an exceedingly gentle tone. "And though I understand you are dealing with trauma, I would like to impress upon you that it is eventually imperative that you work through this sooner than later. The truth, my dear, is that from what I have available to me regarding ultrasounds, the baby seems to be healthy. Your symptoms aren't out of line for what passes for normal. And though it might ease your mind to have all of the proper testing done to be sure both you and your child are healthy, there is little modern medicine could do to divert that course should there be an issue."
"Oh, really?" Kate blinked. "The other doctor was so adamant…"
"He was an idiot," the doctor replied dryly.
"No kidding," Nate muttered under his breath, and Kate couldn't help but smirk his way.
"I do want to try to do more tests, though," Kate said, holding Nate's hand but looking right at the doctor. "You're right; I need to work through it. The last thing I want to have happen is to go into labor and freak out and make everything even worse."
"Pressure from me for you to progress through your therapy faster will only have the opposite effect. I will ask when you come in what you feel up to doing, test wise. With a bit of luck, we can move up to blood work before you go into labor. You will likely want anesthetics."
Kate chuckled at that. "Yeah. I don't want to hate everything about it, you know? Don't like being drugged, but for this, I really want to get past that."
"There are opiate free options that won't tamper with your mental state."
"Perfect; that's what I want," Kate said quickly.
"Then that's one thing we can tick off of your checklist," the doctor said with a smirk. "Progress."
Kate smiled brightly. "Thanks," she said in a breath. "Most doctors aren't this… understanding."
"I've been doing this long enough that I know there is little we doctors can do to control our outcomes, though most would never believe it."
"As long as you can stop the emergencies, right?"
"Most of them, yes," he agreed. "But I've found that if you pay close enough attention to the mothers, the bulk of so called emergencies can be avoided entirely."
Kate smiled at that. "Okay, I think we'll work well together," she said.
As it happened, Kamala and Miles's families' schedules worked out that they had time for a tour of Avengers tower on the 31st - which meant that the other young heroes had invited all of the newcomers to spend the day doing the tour and to then stay for the big Avengers Halloween bash.
Still, that meant that everyone during the day was on their best behavior, since both Kamala and Miles had, on about twenty separate occasions, begged all of the heroes that would be there to please, please, please not scare off their parents who were still processing everything related to their kids' hero work.
Which meant that Steve and Jan were the ones to greet the families, because Steve had a reputation as Captain America and Jan was very good at smoothing things over and at knowing how to make people comfortable.
They were hitting all the high points that they thought the families would need to know - the security measures in place not only for the team but for the building at large, too; the options for study help that came along with being a part of the Avengers - endless scientific resources that most people didn't consider. Particularly all of the eager to help each other doctoral members and acquaintances with Dr. Richards, Dr. Banner, and Dr. Bobbi Morse all having thrown their hats in to help with their specialties in addition to the usual well-respected Avengers. They carefully didn't mention what other than self defense that Black Widow might add to their education, though. Just as not to draw attention to her most famous contributions.
And while Steve and Jan were sure to point out that every effort would be made to keep the kids comfortable whenever they were at the tower, and safe in and out of it, they barely got through the main talking points of the tour before Bruno and Miles looked physically in pain at wanting to spend time in the lab with Tony and James.
Tony had made it sound like some sort of test, so Bruno was full of nerves. And while Miles had been to the tower, he hadn't been around Tony and James together doing anything in James' labs but listen to music and talk in half code over take out. Both of them wanted to see some action … or as close to it as they should witness with parental intervention. Amazingly, it wasn't either of the boys that spoke up though.
"They're dancing," Kamala's mother said, sounding disbelieving. "What's going on in there?"
Steve turned to follow her line of sight to James' lab where James and Tony were in the middle of a mild Holiday-themed prank war. It had been going on since coffee and showed no sign of stopping, even at this time of day. The only thing that made it hard to tell what was happening was how soundproofed the lab was. The massive columns of foam and silly string blasting back and forth was hard to hide though.
"That," Steve said ina breath, "is what happens when we leave them alone together for too long. I'm sorry - they should know better." Steve gestured with one hand, trying to wave off the disaster in progress - especially when Tony seemed to suddenly catch sight of himself and the lip reading was plain to see, even if they couldn't hear it. 'What did you DO' was hard to miss when it was that clearly open.
"Oh no," Miles said, though he couldn't stop grinning.
James was very clearly laughing to a degree that he wasn't coming back from it - and Tony was turning green where the foam had hit him.
"Frankenstein," Bruno laughed. "Perfect."
"That doesn't sound like one of James' punchlines," Jan said, shaking her head in disbelief as she led the way. "Come on - he's harmless when he's doing this kind of thing. And it's only pointed at Tony. promise."
"Hey, it's Halloween," Miles said, grinning. "And it's Tony Stark."
"You do have a point," said Kamala's mother, unable to hide her smile.
When the doors opened, the soundproofing vanished and the visitors were hit by a wall of loud classic rock and Tony half-shouting at James in disbelief. "What - why am I green?" which only seemed to crack James up harder.
"It's your costume," James managed to get out between bouts of raucous laughter. "Jan needed a break from styling you, so I decided to help."
"Green?" Tony shouted, looking torn between shock and anger and honest amusement just before James chucked a half-torn up white lab coat at him.
"Glasses are in the pocket," James laughed. "Dr. Banner."
Jan was trying to keep it together. She really was. She wanted to do right by the kids. But she still hit the floor laughing, completely unable to keep it together.
"It's authentic," James called out before he started laughing harder. "And … he doesn't know it's missing yet."
"Oh, that makes it even better," Jan said, practically sobbing with laughter, doubled over with her hand over her stomach.
And to the newcomer's surprise, refusing to be outdone, Tony stuck his nose in the air, dramatically put on the black-rimmed glasses and pulled the lab coat on. "You're gonna get it, kid."
"Waiting on you, old man," James laughed out as Tony pulled him upright, though he quickly readjusted to keep him from pulling him into a hug. "Eew, no. I'm not supposed to be green, too."
"We have company, you lunatic," Tony countered with a laugh, finally. "And you dyed me green. I didn't come up with a costume for you - but I see I should have!"
James was still snickering as Steve tried to take control of the situation by turning the music down - to perfectly in unison complaints from Tony and James since it was the Clash getting lowered. And before they were done complaining, and before Steve or Jan could remind them of what the plan was, both of them were into clean up mode, clearing the silly string and foam up before anyone could get into it - with robotic assistance, as usual with the bigger messes they made.
"It's safe to come in," James said over the music. "Promise. And the cooler stuff is further in anyhow." He looked up with a little wave. "Come on, Bruno. I know you wanna check it out and try a few things."
"Um. Yes. Yes, I do."
Tony clapped a hand on Miles' shoulder as Bruno zipped by. "You too, kiddo. If you want."
"I want. I mean. Yes. I mean. Can I?" Miles bounced slightly.
"Go for it," Tony said, then looked to Kamala as well. "Door's open. If you wanna play, now's the time."
"Oh, um, I really just want to watch Bruno's head explode, please."
Tony grinned. "Plenty of room for that, too - couch by the window is great for watching explosions of all kinds."
"Perfection. This is what I want to do with my day."
James started out by giving the boys the preliminary tour of what he had to fiddle with in terms of machines and equipment, then showed them a few of the things he had on deck, conveniently all of it regarding team safety and uniform upgrades as evidenced by the half dozen or so finished team uniforms for the X-Men team and almost as many Avenger's uniforms.
But what got Bruno's attention the most was the system James was working on at the bench that was head and shoulders above the upgrade in progress.
"As much as tony hates it, I'm basing this one off of the power suits that Alpha Flight used," James told him as he handed him a module. "Can't quite get it down right to work with the rest of the tech in place, but the idea is a force field that floats about an inch over the entire head and body. It'll be invisible, and a lot stronger than what Guardian had."
"Oh, that's perfect," Bruno said, grinning broadly. "I've been toying with something like - I really wanted to find something defensive - that's perfect!"
"I've got weapons coming out of my ears here," James said. "And I only trust bulletproof panels so far, ya know?"
"It's great, though," Miles said. "I mean, arms race only goes so far, right? Mutually assured destruction still has 'destruction' in the title."
"I've already got it set to use as panels," James said, only then glancing toward the listening parents. "To use to protect bystanders. We always end up with some moron that thinks they can leverage with civilians, so that would screw it up for them. Just gotta make it so it works with everyone's powersets and tech considerations. Right now … not so great. The original design was for humans with no power ups. Total blockage both ways." He smiled crookedly. "You should have seen the mess when I tried it with a web shooter on. I was webbed up to my shoulder for half a day."
"Oh. I believe it," Miles said sincerely.
"The repulsor blast was even worse," James said with a laugh.
"Oh, you didn't," Bruno laughed outright.
"I did," James said with a nod. "Knocked myself stupid and blew the pack."
"That's amazing," Bruno said, still laughing.
"Voice of experience?" Miles teased.
"Nothing I'd admit to in front of responsible parental figures," Bruno said solemnly.
"I only test them personally when it's something I can't do remotely," James said. "And I don't let anyone else do that. I'll bounce back."
"There's a bit of logic in that," Miles's dad said, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, and we're cutting back on that," Tony cut in. "remember?"
"No," James shot back easily, though it was only partially a tease that had Tony muttering under his breath about concussions.
"This is an ongoing argument," Jan confided in them. "I mean, we work with teenagers. Kinda important to remind them they're not indestructible."
Tony was quick to interrupt. "Ah, ah, ah- don't you dare say it," he said pointing at James, who, held his gaze as Tony got more serious, then tipped his chin up.
"Anyways," James drawled out as he did a full body roll away from Tony back to his guests. "What did you want to try out?"
"Yes," Bruno said immediately.
"Dive in, man," James said, gesturing openly as he took a step back. "Miles can probably show you how the holotable works if you want to look at existing plans."
"Ooh, yeah, come on," Miles said, seizing Bruno's arm and dragging him along.
James stepped back to let them get to it, and even crossed over to another part of the lab to pull down a few boxes while the boys tried to get the holotable to work for them. The parents settled in to chat with Tony and Jan, comparing notes over their teenagers and having a decent enough time, even when Tony was sneaking the music up a little bit - and somehow winning points with Kamala's parents for doing so.
James smirked as he watched them all and he tweaked a few things .. Kate may or may not be by - he hadn't heard from her in a while, but he'd promised her some good toys that would stop an elephant if need be, and he was worried that she'd need it considering the elephants that were flanking Sinister. He just wanted to be sure that the inconspicuous jewelry and purse were going to be up to her standards. Jan had approved, but Jan's style was different than Kate's and Kate was going through a whole thing while she dealt with all the stress of being pregnant and a newly minted Summers. So obviously, he had two choices for her ready to go.
But she wasn't the only one that was bound to make their way to his lab looking for 'treats'. He had new stuff for most of the team - just because it was very much on brand for all of them to joke about tricky treats for Halloween. He just wasn't expecting May Parker to be the first one through.
"Tricks and treats," May sang out as she skipped in with a grin. James let his shoulders relax though when he saw she wasn't going for shock factor with her costume this year- and had kept it respectable with a witch outfit. Thankfully. That would have been disastrous with the crowd at hand.
"Kinda having a field day slash parent teacher conference slash science fair; can we smell your feet in a little bit? Rain check?" Miles said without looking up from the table as he and Bruno kept grinning wider and wider and wider the more they got into James and Tony's toys.
"That's not how it works," May laughed and skipped over to stand across from James with a grin. "Gimmie."
"So pushy," James countered. "Hi, Mayday, great to see you. Yeah, college is different at Harvard, thanks for asking." He'd turned his back to reach up to the top shelf for her upgrade while she giggled through what she considered him picking at her. When he turned back around, he called for the boys. "Hey guys, you might want to vet this before we send it into the field with Mayday. Miles - you're more qualified for this one. Pretty sure you haven't met our semi-resident spider-gal."
"Nope, not yet, sorry," Miles sang out before he vaulted over the table to come see what James had. "I wanna see, though. What spider-gear do you have and can I play with it too?"
"He's got all the spider gear," May said. "He keeps tweaking Dad's stuff." She clenched and unclenched her hands. "Gimmie, gimmie."
"Wait your turn," James said, holding the box out of her reach just to hand to Miles. "Mini web shooters."
Miles cackled delightedly as he peered inside. "Oh wow that's amazing," he said and pulled one out to look at - though he did toss one to May with his other hand. "That is intricate. How did you get the firing mech- no, wait, I see it." He peered a little closer. "Wow. That's so cool." He glanced up to see May grinning at him and blinked a few times. "Right. I skipped past introductions. Hi! I'm Miles."
"May Parker," she said as she offered her hand.
"Hey, your dad has been amazing teaching me spider stuff," Miles said, grinning as he took her hand. "It's cool that I'm using his name too, right?"
"Totally. He mentioned he was working with a new spider-kid," May said, still grinning. "Thanks for keeping the city webbed up while I'm in college."
"That's my job or something I think?" Miles rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm - I'm getting better at the one-liners but I don't feel like that one stuck." He immediately winced. "Ooof, and ended on a pun."
"Yeah? Let's see how good you're getting," May said as she reached over to grab his arm and pull him along. "I want to try these out in the gym before I take them out in the street. They're probably much better than he's saying - it always is, but … it'll be fun!"
"O-kay. A spider race? Cool, cool, cool, not like you have years of experience but yes, yes, I'm gonna - please don't crush my tiny spider dreams, okay? I'm still very new and you look like you know- okay and we're going now okay bye!" Miles called over his shoulder.
James turned toward Miles' parents who had not missed the spider's exit. "She'll play nice. She's just a little excited. It's been a while since I've given her an upgrade."
"Miles gets the same way with a new toy," Miles's mom said, smirking.
James nodded at that, then called Bruno over to look over Kate's stuff. "They ran off with the web gear - how do you like miniature tech?" He was already cracking open one of the watch faces to show him the inner workings - and teeny power supply. "Someone needed extremely discreet Widow's bites."
Bruno seemed to blink for a second, grin, and then peer closer at what James had handed him. "Oh, yeah, definitely - that - that takes some real…" He got lost as he examined the Bites. "Hey, did you call her Mayday as a joke or, like… sorry. I got distracted and meant to ask…"
"That's just what I've called her since we were dating. Trouble means calling for help, right?"
"Now, that's a whole thing I don't want to touch with a ten foot pole."
"Old news," James said with a little wave. "We're back to friends." He tapped near the watch. "Back to things that are interesting - any thoughts on this?"
"Oh. Um." Bruno visibly tried to switch gears. "I…" He nodded. "I like the way you reinforced the internal workings so that it can't get set off accidentally. Smart."
James scooted over to show him some of the finer points and to brainstorm with him on how to improve it - which seemed a little premature to Bruno when its owner had yet to know it existed, but that was just how James kept fiddling with his tech. And in the middle of them getting wrapped up in schematics, the doors to the lab opened again, this time to admit a very confused and half-agitated Bruce Banner.
Before he could even say hello, James lost it laughing, though that seemed to only get an eyeroll before Bruce spotted Tony wearing his battered lab coat and glasses.
"Oh. That's great. Very classy, Tony. I appreciate that," Bruce said as he made his way over with a tight expression on his face before he took his glasses back. "Why are you like this?"
Jan hit the floor. Again. "Yeah, Tony? Why are you like this?"
"I didn't-" Tony let out a breath, knowing he wasn't going to get out of it easily, and only half wanting to when Jan was enjoying herself so much. And in the meantime, Bruce waved and said hello to the parents in attendance then turned to head over to James. He leaned on the bench to look over at where James was half on the floor laughing.
"Thanks for the heads up text. You were right," Bruce said. "The look on his face was worth the joke, but next time? Warn me before you steal stuff out of my lab?"
"If I did that, you'd hide it better," James pointed out.
Bruce smirked and pulled James to his feet. "Who's your new friend?"
Bruno stared for a few seconds too long. "H-Hi. I'm … new."
"Oh, you must be his favorite," James said with a troublemaking grin. "This is Bruno. He just won one of our scholarships. Figured we'd let him play in the lab a little so he could see what we do. Looks like you broke him though. Guess you have to adopt him now."
"Bruno. I'm Bruno," he put it - helpfully.
"You're killing it, Bruno," Kamala said, looking like she was about to join Jan on the floor.
"Smashing it," James corrected just for the joke.
Bruce winced. "You are every bit as bad as your father sometimes, you know that? Not your dad."
"Thank you," James said with a put-on grin before he handed him a new lab coat. "Figured you don't want the old one now that Tony stunk it up."
"By the way, Bruno's a total genius," Kamala put in to help, since Bruno had turned a brilliant red and had lost the ability to speak.
"Yeah?" Bruce said, looking more approachable. "You feel like telling me what your focus is? Or - having your friend speak up for you? I'm not that bad, I promise."
"He's great," James said to Bruno and Kamala. "He's just in my sphere to be picked on."
"Everyone is in that sphere," Kamala said.
"That's what happens when you kinda grow up here," James pointed out. "I did stop calling him Uncle Green Bean, though, so … improvement."
Kamala laughed, finally going to stand by Bruno with a little smirk, which did seem to help him get a little more confidence.
"Oh, I've been building - I'm pretty good-" Bruno tried, but it was clear to Kamala he was floundering in front of his hero. So she stepped in to help.
"He's an amazing inventor."
"Not that amazing-"
"He's brilliant and he's not good at words, but he's my best friend."
"Parker level talent with scavenging things into something awesome," James offered, and when Bruno looked his way in surprise, James shrugged. "You think I didn't look at the tech myself?"
"No, I did, I just … I didn't -"
"You're doing great, Bruno," Bruce said, then rested a hand on his shoulder. "You just gotta relax and don't let this guy get under your skin." He took a moment to walk around the bench to stand next to James, leaning on the bench as he watched Bruno and Kamala. "Tell me what you're looking for and maybe I can help."
Most of Genosha was preparing to deal with the late-season monsoon heading their way, though Scott and Annie were hunkered down for the night with several boxes that Clint had dropped off just that morning along with a note from Wade:
Big Bad Daddy Summerseseses - Told you I've got your back. I've got your back so good, I'm covering little nooks and crannies you forgot you had. And throwing out all the bloodsuckers like that puckered up old ex of yours. Man. Tell me this was a lapse in judgement. ANYHOO - I'm on watch, and I'm not letting any botox-laden parcels slip past. Just, keep taking those heart pills, huh? Aspirin a day and all that nonsense, too. Kisses! - DP
And Annie had been so absolutely delighted to know that Emma was still going to experience some karmic payback that she couldn't resist reading through it all.
They did, of course, still get ready for the monsoon. Annie had grown up with family all over the South, and she knew what to do to prepare for a hurricane, so she was right there with Scott in terms of preparations.
But there was only so much they could do. They had food, they had water, and they had Wanda's protection. In fact, the island as a whole would probably fare better against the monsoon than just about anywhere else the storm was set to hit, because Lorna was shoring up the physical defenses, and Wanda was shoring up everything else. At the most, they were expected to have some power fluctuations, but that was to be expected.
Already, the power had flickered once or twice but hadn't fully gone out, and every time it happened, Annie would dramatically pout up at the light and inform it, "Now is not the time. I'm reading about karmic justice."
It was honestly endearing for Scott to watch, even with as touchy and emotional as the subject matter was for him. When he had started going after Emma and all of the pies she had her fingers in, he'd been furious, and he'd still been close to everything she had done. Her manipulations with James, everything that happened with the destruction of the school - all of that had been in recent memory when he'd been on his warpath.
Not that he thought Emma deserved anything less than whatever Wade was meting out to her. He was glad someone had picked up where he left off. But it was still odd, feeling removed from what was happening. And he had never fully shaken the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was responsible for her mistakes, because he'd let it go on too long.
"Oh, you're going to strain yourself looking like that," Annie teased, waving him over to join her on the couch. "If you're not going to read about the downfall of an evil empress, at least come keep me company. There's a storm ragin' out there, you know. I hear that's good for settin' a mood."
Scott laughed in disbelief, but, really, when Annie was in such a genuinely good mood, who was he to bring her down? So, he scooted over so that she could curl up with him, reading over her shoulder about how Wade had found a half dozen different Cayman Islands accounts and emptied them all out. He'd even left detailed notes about what he had used the money for - mostly charity causes but also, for some reason, a jewel-encrusted katana.
He shook his head. Nothing Wade did could shock him at this point, even if it was always - always - a surprise.
But Annie was right, as usual: the wind was blowing, the blankets were warm, and Annie was cackling with glee. This was turning out to be a good night for her, and he was too happy for her to let himself get caught up in the weird emotions that always came with anything involving Emma. So, he kissed her cheek, rested his head on her shoulder, and decided when the power did go out that night that there were better things to do with the evening.
Sinister knew he wouldn't have a great deal of time to get his work done, but … this wasn't exactly difficult for him anymore. He'd found ways to streamline the process, and since he'd gotten samples to start with weeks ago, even well before Annie had cleverly figured out as much as she had, he was prepared to get his work done and over with leaving minimal evidence that his hand had been involved with anything.
And to start with, he'd gotten the jump on them by gassing the bedroom half an hour before either was planning to get up. Falling asleep wasn't nearly as subtle when the subjects were wide awake, after all. But to wake up late? Generally acceptable and unquestionable.
So, with that in mind, he set to work. It was a simple process of double checking the bloodwork on devices he'd been using for years, and then initiating a series of injections to various vital organs and systems. To be doubly sure, he did take a moment to procure a few samples of blood - nothing terribly invasive, and naturally, Sinister could handle a simple blood draw neatly enough that one would never feel the after effects - if he chose.
The injections he'd used for Annie showed promise after just a few hours out … so he stepped back to let the two of them wake up in their own time - after making sure the house looked as if it had lost power again in the storm, with digital clocks flashing 12:00 throughout the house as he left.
Scott woke up before Annie did, which wasn't too different from how things usually went. And when he saw the flashing clock, he frowned and checked his phone for the time instead, swearing under his breath because he'd meant to call Rachel that morning and ask her how things had gone with her class. She'd been looking forward to the surprise dimensional trip she and America were planning for the human-mutant relations class as a bit of show-and-tell on the possibilities of peace.
But it was almost ten in the morning, which meant it was nighttime for Rachel. And Scott always tried to call her early enough that he wasn't intruding on personal time for her.
He sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face, then slid out of bed without waking Annie and slipped out of the room to catch up with Rachel - and to laugh when she started telling him about how her students were already asking for another road trip.
Annie stayed asleep through the whole phone call, but when Scott had made a far-too-late breakfast and she still wasn't awake, he peeked in to check on her and run a hand through her hair.
Finally, she peeked up at him and yawned. "Mornin'," she said sleepily.
"It's almost afternoon," he teased her gently. "You alright?"
She nodded, though she was still tired and didn't feel much like getting up just yet. "Just tired, I guess."
"I thought if you were going to crash this hard, it would have been the day after the wedding, considering how much work you put into everything."
Annie smiled contentedly and shifted to sit up. "Oh, you act like I need a reason to feel like sleeping in and taking some time to myself," she teased. "One of us knows how to relax in this house."
Scott smirked at her. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "Breakfast is ready, by the way."
Annie nodded. "I'll be down in a minute. Let me get dressed and untangle my hair. Sleepin' in did my curls no favors."
"You look great," he promised her.
And for just a second - a very fleeting second - Annie could have sworn she could hear him thinking about enjoying the tousled hair look on her.
It was such a passing moment, though, that she wasn't sure what to make of it. And she was freshly awake and he was openly flirting, so she shrugged it off for the time being. She had no reason to think anything was wrong, and if she had, she had no frame of reference for what that would even be.
The same phenomenon happened a few more times throughout that day and the next - she could swear she could hear his anxiety over James at the school sometimes, and at one point, she could have sworn she heard him excitedly planning ahead for hosting Kate and Nate and their son when they sent a text with the latest from the doctor.
But the thing was, Scott already had such tremendous mental blocks in place that she really only picked up on things when he was projecting. And he did that so rarely that it was a full three days from when they had initially thought they'd overslept before she realized that the impressions and thoughts she was picking up on weren't verbalized.
She wasn't sure what to make of it, though. And she didn't know how to ask Scott about it, because she didn't fully understand what was happening.
So it wasn't until Alex came over to check on them - as he was trying to do more often since Scott had told him that Sinister let Annie into the circle of knowledge and seemed to even approve of her - that Annie finally realized what was going on.
She'd heard Alex after Tommy had run him to the front door, before he even rang the doorbell. She heard, in his distinct voice: That kid is floundering without Mia.
And while Annie tended to agree with that assessment, considering all she'd heard from Billy, she couldn't ignore that she'd heard his thoughts.
Before Alex could even ring the doorbell, Annie pulled him inside, yanking him by the arm and letting the door fall shut behind him.
"Alex, I don't know what's going on, but I need you to think of a number between one and ten right now," she said in a rush.
Alex stared at her. She's lost it, he thought, though aloud, he said, "Okay…. Hello to you too."
"I haven't lost it, Alex. Think of a number."
Alex raised both eyebrows and looked deeper into the house, but Scott was upstairs. "Um… what's going on?"
"Number."
"Okay, okay. Fine. I have a number."
"Seven."
Alex's eyebrows were somehow even higher as he stared back at her. "Okay, new num-"
"Two." She kept her gaze on him. "Three hundred and twenty-two."
"Okay, that's… what's… does Scott know…?" Alex stared at her, obviously at a loss for words.
Annie shook her head. "I didn't realize myself until I heard you thinking about Tommy while you were on the doorstep," she said in an urgent whisper.
Alex was still stunned, but Annie could hear his thoughts turning, going over several different possibilities. She could see that his biggest concern was, obviously, Sinister, who was capable of stealing and changing powers. But he didn't say anything other than to take her arm and give her the most encouraging look he could under the circumstances. "You need to tell Scott," he told her firmly.
"Yeah." She swallowed, her cheeks suddenly red as she considered the implications. "I don't… I don't know how this happened."
"When did you first notice it?" Alex asked urgently.
"Um… maybe three days ago," Annie admitted. "But it felt more like flashes of understanding Scott than anything else. I wasn't sure what to think, honestly."
"Yeah, he's got his head locked up tight after too many dealings with the Phoenix," Alex said dryly. "Come on." He knocked on the office door and didn't wait for an answer before he let himself in, slamming his hand down on the papers Scott was reading. "Hey, your wife is a telepath."
"Was. Hi Alex," Scott said without looking up.
"Is," Alex said, waiting until Scott realized he was serious and looked up at him. "Scotty, your wife's a telepath," he repeated, stepping slightly out of the way so that Scott could see Annie standing in the doorway with her arms wrapped around herself, looking smaller than she had ever looked.
Scott froze, trying to catch his mind up to what Alex was saying. "She…" He looked at Annie. "You… what?"
Annie held onto her elbows tighter. "I heard Alex's thoughts while he was still on the porch," she admitted in a soft whisper. She was starting to panic, especially because she could hear both Alex and Scott projecting panic, and it was hard not to get caught up in the spiral of their thoughts as both of them went through increasingly bad scenarios of how and why Sinister might have changed her genetics.
But when Annie started to close her eyes and fold in on herself, Scott crossed the room as fast as he could to catch her and take her to the couch in the office to sit down. He didn't need to tell Alex to give them some space, though Annie could hear that he hadn't left and was hanging close by in case they needed him.
Scott concentrated to stop projecting, and that helped Annie to look up at him and meet his concerned gaze. "I'm so sorry, Annie," he said.
"It's not your fault," she promised, because she knew - she knew - that he thought it was.
"It is, though," Scott said, holding both of her hands in his. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
She shook her head. "I've been a little tired lately. A mild headache. Honestly, I thought it was just the humidity. It happens when there's a big storm."
Scott nodded, thinking of the power outage they'd had and not at all trusting that it was because of the recent tropical storm. "I don't know how we can ask for help when we're not allowed to tell anyone Sinister is coming here," he admitted. "But…"
"But you've seen a lot of telepaths in your time," Annie finished for him, trying and failing to turn it into a tease. She tried to smile, but it turned into a quivering lip instead, and she ended up burying her face in his chest.
It was too much to think about at once. She could hear both of them projecting worry, and on top of that, she felt violated. She felt unsafe in her own home, trapped in someone else's game. And she didn't even know how to feel about having powers, let alone having powers no one could know about.
And sure, she knew that Scott had spent his life teaching his kids and others how to learn to control their powers, how to be heroes… but this was different. She was thirty-three years old, and she wasn't in school. She was a grown woman and this… this was…
This was terrifying. And permanent. And it felt like her whole life had been forcibly redirected without her consent. Without her even knowing about it.
It wasn't fair. And that was all she could think - it's not fair - not at all realizing that she was projecting that thought to both Alex and Scott, who couldn't think of a single thing to comfort her when they were just as stunned and horrified as she was.