Chapter 30 - First Place

James had spent a lot of time working at the tower after the fiasco with Cassie and all the fallout from dating little May Parker. Instead of getting into trouble, or acting like most kids his own age, he put his focus on the few things he could do while hiding away and powered through his studies and accrued several Stark-approved degrees while tinkering alongside Tony. In the process, he'd secured himself a spot at Stark Industries - and had saved up some money - though Scott assured him he could just keep to his studies, since it was no secret that as long as the kids were in school he could keep a close eye on them. For the most part.

There was a small adult freak out that happened after James helped his brother have a nice coffee date by distracting a girl that hated Kate but happened to flirt with James whenever she saw him. James didn't like the girl. But he did have a little fun with her. He even considered her offer to go on a real date that was just shy of a promise to get right to fooling around.

As soon as the two of them parted company, Nate couldn't help himself. "Okay. But why?"

"Why what?" James asked, frowning at his brother.

"Why are you making out with someone that evil?"

"She's not … she isn't evil," James said, rolling his eyes. "Not liking Kate isn't an instant qualifier for some kind of supervillain club."

"It so is," Kate giggled. "It so is and you know it is."

"Wait. Are you going to date her now?" Nate asked. "You might get drafted to the other side if you do."

"Oooh, that's why he's so reluctant to consider a t-e-a-m," Lexi said with a perfectly straight expression. "He wants to go evil."

"At least long enough to get in her pants," America added, which had Nate busting up laughing.

"Hey," James said, though Nate cut in laughing hard as he did so.

"Saying she started it isn't a good enough defense!" Nate laughed, but instead of trying to cut into the picking, James found himself thinking it over. Kate and Nate got their date … and James pretty well had a sure thing lined up if he followed through - which really only equated to making the call and setting it up.

But that line of thinking only lasted long enough for him to get back to the tower with Nate and Kate … far too slow to beat the picture that Lexi had sent ahead of them showcasing James kissing Isabella Frost.

He had no way of knowing that he'd have not only Natasha, but Tony, Jan, Steve, and Scott in full blown freak out just from one little kissing session. Until he heard the connections - namely the fact that Isabella's mother was Madame Masque. And her aunt was Emma Frost. Which meant both Tony and Scott were just a little sensitive on hearing even the name.

Given the chance to think it over, even with Nate dying laughing, James ended up going quiet for a week, kicking himself for his luck while carefully blocking out Rachel and Nate since … he really was considering taking Izzy out for more than just coffee. Sure, she hated Katie, her best friend was Arcade's daughter, and her family was evil, but she was very pretty and a good kisser. So there was a draw there .. even if it wasn't entirely on the up and up.

It made James second guess himself, and he was understandably more cautious after that, even if it put a dampener on his dating prospects. It didn't stop him, but it had him paranoid that he'd be picking up someone worse … and considering the kind of girls he was playing around with, it'd be just his luck if he ended up getting wrapped up with the daughter of Viper and the Red Skull. And the fact that he was half wondering what said girl would look like, and weighing out if her parents were a real deterrent was distracting in itself. In ways he didn't want to ruminate over.

But behaving was starting to wear on James - the constant study was stifling. He felt far too much like a bookworm when all he wanted to do when he couldn't chase a girl was run in the woods and sit by the edge of Lake Superior listening to the waves roll in off the big lake. But that would be a waste of his talents, too. After it was clear James was getting bored with what most people at the company would throw themselves into, and especially considering that the Frost girl was still looking for James, Tony started to pull the kid into the garage with him.

Tony took the time to teach him a little bit on how to upgrade and see how to take a perfectly amazing racecar and turn it into something honestly mind blowing. He had James helping to 'restore' a gorgeous old sports car that didn't have much wrong with it other than some neglect showing through the faded paint and ripped leather seats, though the engine was misfiring, too. But it was something to draw James' interest, and considering that he was slowly inching toward driving age, it had the young man thinking.

He was only fifteen, and he and Scott had talked about the idea of him getting a car of some sort, if nothing else, than to free up Scott to come and go now that Nate had finally returned to public school after mastering his powerset at Westchester. But after working with Tony on both a new car and an older one, James had come to a decision on his own without consulting anyone about it. He'd spent the past few months since his birthday looking through ads in the paper for a car.

It was probably the most typical of his age thing that he'd done in years, and once Scott had discovered what James was up to, he certainly wasn't going to put an end to it. Though, he had to admit to being curious about what James was looking for. Particularly when James wasn't making any notations on what was catching his eye or not. But Scott kept his distance, unsure if James was taking this kind of information to Tony, or if he was simply working on his own for this one.

The Summers family was settled in and having breakfast that quiet Sunday morning in Brooklyn. Rachel was making plans for graduation and Nate was plotting out his newest workout regimen for spring tryouts when Scott noticed that James once again had a whole book of car for sale ads, so he had to ask. "What are you looking at?" Scott couldn't hide the curiosity as he sat down with a cup of coffee. "Find the sports car you've been searching for yet?"

James made a face and shook his head. "Don't want anything like that. Too flashy. Draws way too much attention. Which would kill Natasha dead on the basis of having spent too much time with Tony." He flipped through a few pages - looking between two sections before he settled on something - and sat back in his chair, looking them all over more carefully.

"Fair," Scott said. "But he's not the only one around with an eye for sports cars. I had a great convertible when I was younger."

James smirked at that. "Yeah, that's a thought. I was kinda leaning that way. Sort of."

"Cute girl you're trying to impress?"

"Ah, no," James said, shaking his head. "Where would I meet her that wouldn't end up with her being a super creep? I've already dated my way through all the available or interesting Avenger's kids." Rachel snorted at that, then doubled down on her breakfast when both James and Scott looked her way. "And everyone else at Stark's place is too old for me."

"You know, you can go for coffee again," Rachel said. "You don't have to wait for someone else to go out and bribe them to get yours. I seem to remember you had pretty good luck at the coffee shops not that long ago that wasn't the daughter of Madame Masque."

"Even if she's still pining," Nate said with an ill-hidden grin. It was clear that he still thought that Izzy looking for his brother was the height of hilarity.

James shook his head and turned his focus back to the ads. "Too much chatter and I don't like the inducers."

"You can still go out without it if you're careful," Nate said, but then muttered out a soft 'nevermind' when Scott gave him a look.

"You go to the school every other weekend when Mia gets stir-crazy," Scott pointed out as he shifted his focus back to the subject at hand. Especially when he knew James was still catting around when given ample opportunity - and he wanted his son to take better care when it came to relationships of any kind.

"Okay, that's fair," James conceded, nodding. "But that hasn't really worked out too well yet. Megan still won't acknowledge my existence after that blew up." Nate snickered to himself again since he knew far more about that affair than he'd have wanted to. Dating 'Pixie' had been an unmitigated disaster between how jealous she'd gotten from other people flirting with James and the two of them getting caught causing trouble at the Institute when he went to visit. "And like I said," James continued, ignoring his brother's amused expression. "I'm not interested in impressing anyone. If I've got to do that to turn someone's head, then they're not looking at me. This isn't about girls."

"Too bad," Rachel said with a smirk. "The way Mia tells it, you have a following if you open your eyes. At least … if you pay attention to girls that don't have evil in their family history."

James gave her a dry look then rolled his entire body to turn away from her, which had Nate snickering. "I just want something that'll be good in the snow but still fun in the summer too." He looked up at Scott, though he hesitated before admitting to him "I was kind of looking at a Jeep, to be honest."

Scott blinked at him before he broke into a grin. "Seriously?"

"Okay wow, what did I do?"

"No, it's just…" Scott chuckled. "Yeah, I think a Jeep would be a great idea."

"Alright. Then … there's another problem," James said as he leaned toward Scott slightly. "Everything I find that isn't brand new off the line - which I don't want - needs some work. But I don't want to ask Tony to get involved even if I'm sure he would if I asked. He'd take it too far. So. Would you help me if I got something that's probably going to be worse than I think when I find it? I'm not talking about a total rebuild, just … you know. A lot of the stuff in here is suffering from neglect. And I know I don't know enough on my own to wing it."

"Yeah, absolutely," Scott said, still grinning widely. "I'll help you wrench on it."

"Oh, good," James said, letting out a breath. "I could afford to get a new one, but I don't really like the way they look inside." James made a face and looked uncomfortable. "It's hard to explain, but for something you can take the doors off of and pull a drain plug - leather seats and a big stereo, navigation… all those bells and whistles seem … dumb."

"No, no," Scott said. "That makes perfect sense."

"Okay, but … you're going to break your face and it's kind of freaking me out."

Scott reined in the smile by a fraction and leaned back. "It's just that your dad was always wrenching on a bike or a Jeep. I even helped him a few times."

James looked honestly surprised at that. "You're kidding."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he had a lot of the same reasons in mind that you do."

James smirked to himself and shook his head, since he had been hearing more and more stories about Logan as he began to resemble him more strongly with age. "Huh."

Scott smirked and reached over to ruffle James' hair. "I'm not surprised."

"So. Maybe … we could take a look at a few of them?" James slid the ads toward Scott. "There are a few that look interesting at least. And I want your honest opinion."

"Yes. Absolutely." Scott grinned.

"Are you sure you don't want to finish up at Xaviers like your sister?" Scott asked Nate as he got ready to re-register at the same High School that Clint and Natasha had chosen for Kate and Lexi.

"Dad. You know I've missed playing football," Nate said, rolling his eyes.

"And baseball and soccer and hockey," Scott said as he set the newspaper down on the table. Online articles had been growing in popularity, but no matter how many of their neighbors dropped the print copies, Scott couldn't seem to shake the habit of needing to see the news in print. "And I'll go to every single game when you join up, I just … "

"You're worried about the anti-mutant garbage that's rising in popularity," Nate finished. "It's okay, Dad. That's not even in our borough. Most of the trouble's in Queens."

"I know that, Nate, but you can't expect it to stay in Queens." Scott shook his head, took his juice glass to the sink and started the coffee maker. As was his usual morning routine, he planned to have coffee with Rabbi, Cohen once he'd gotten Nate to school. James was already gone with Captain Rogers, and the subway to get Nate to class was only a fifteen-minute ride. "If it's there, it's everywhere. It's just getting worse there - and sooner or later, it'll show up in school-"

"Dad. I literally can hear what people are thinking if I concentrate just a little bit." Nate held his fingers a fraction of an inch apart. "And I don't have to listen if someone has seriously ill intent. They scream it."

"Alright, but I just know that teenagers have a harder time not projecting."

"What, you think that human teens are worse than mutants? Dad. I've been dealing with it the whole time I was in Westchester, only that was worse because they were all staring at me because they knew my parents were amazing superheroes that were on the original team and practically founded the school with Grampa Charlie. Believe me. This will be easy."

Scott suddenly looked much older as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nate, please."

"I'm just saying. I've got this, Dad. It'll be fine." Nate slipped his backpack onto one shoulder. "Ooh, and I'm supposed to go with Katie after school. She talked her mom into letting her shop for cars too since James is. She's determined to get a car before him."

"Even if he gets one, it won't be drivable for a while," Scott pointed out.

"True, but you know how she is, Dad. She's gotta beat him sometimes - it's the whole birthday thing. She hates that he's a month older and looks like he's an adult."

"Looks," Scott pointed out with a laugh as he grabbed his keys and ushered him out the front door. "Just tell me why you need to go with Katie when you should be going with us."

"Um … she could actually die if I don't go with," Nate said with a totally unapologetic smile.

Scott chuckled to himself, but didn't argue it. "Alright, Nate. Have fun with Katie. Just remember it's your night for dishes."

When Scott returned home, he hit the steps at the same time as the rabbi, and he found himself mentally checking off one more thing on how his day was slipping away from him already.

"You know, I half think that the mothers in this neighborhood forgot you have two sons until Nate showed up full time again?" Rabbi Cohen told Scott even before the coffee was poured.

"It's probably better that way," Scott said with a grin, handing Toby his coffee before he took a seat himself. "Seeing as Nate and Katie aren't anywhere close to a split."

"Yeah, you might want to keep a close eye on those two," Toby said. "They have all the markers for trouble if they keep it up."

"They're not even old enough to drive," Scott laughed. "Their idea of a great date is a couple stolen kisses here and there. It's not serious yet."

Toby gave him a raised eyebrow look.

"It's not. But even if it was, she's a good kid and her parents are-"

"Good friends, I know, I know," Toby said, waving one hand. "Your other boy though-"

"I'm not letting anyone set him up, Toby. There's too many what ifs there."

"You'll change your mind when he gets caught up with some girl that's trouble from a family you haven't done a full background search on."

"Sure, Toby. I'm very certain that's going to be what happens."

"You never know," Toby said, then broke into a broad smile that Scott cut off at the pass.

"Rachel isn't interested. Don't start."

But that had Toby laughing outright. "Okay, okay. No matchmaking. I'll just send the hopeful suitors over with chocolates and flowers."

"Just make sure it's not dark chocolate," Scott said. "No one here likes that stuff."

Toby burst out laughing, and Scott refilled his cup before the two of them continued their planning and picking with the good rabbi even piping up on what to watch out for when Scott and James went looking for a Jeep with Steve - who had volunteered to drive the Jeep back - whenever they found one all three of them could agree on. A fact that amused Toby to no end.

"Katie's pushing to get a car first, but she'll still have to wait until she's sixteen to drive it," Scott laughed. "James will work on his until it's ready, but knowing him?"

"It'll be ready by the time he's old enough," Toby said, nodding. "And probably upgraded."

"We'll see. If he was going for upgrades, he'd have asked Tony to help," Scott pointed out.

"Yeah. But think about how that would look," Toby chuckled - a sound that now always got a smirk at minimum from all the Summers clan.

"Are you sure you don't want a newer car?" Clint asked as he took Kate to look at the car she'd found online - with Nate joining them for the fun of it and Carol Danvers there to help check the mechanical side of things with Clint. It was pretty clear that the pictures didn't do justice to how dinged up the old car was. He was standing with a frown on his face, one hand on his hip as he tipped his head sideways at the psychedelic-painted '71 super Beetle. The top had tears in it, and the chrome bumper was rusty, too. But … the old flower-child woman that was floating out of her brownstone was grinning at Kate even before she could answer her dad.

The woman looked like a cross between a fortune teller and a straight up hippie, with long flowing hair riddled with gray streaks. Her skirt was flowing, and she wore at least three scarves with a chunky ring on every finger and her half moon glasses perched on the tip of her nose as she came closer. "Oh, yes. You look like exactly the kind of kindred spirit my Janice needs," the woman said, grinning widely at Kate as she bounced in place. "Namaste, brothers and sisters. I'm Meadow."

While Meadow was staring at Kate with a grin, Kate only had eyes for the Beetle. Which left it up to Clint to do all the requisite safety and mechanical checks. And while Clint and a very amused Carol were looking over the engine, starting the car, looking for trouble as it ran, and kicking the tires, more or less, Meadow was telling Kate all about Janice's adventures.

Including the fact that apparently, Janice had originally been white … but Meadow and her friends decided to start painting her one day. On closer inspection, Kate could see the layers of flowers and rainbows … peace signs and all sorts of other hippie-inspired artwork that had been painted on and worn off then painted over again several times. "I'm afraid she'll need at the least a new coat of paint," Meadow told Carol in a forlorn tone. "But if you do take her, I hate to even ask it where she can hear me, but … would you consider just one color? I might not be able to take it seeing my wild-woman friend crusing the streets without me."

"She's not a wild-woman," Clint said, wiping his hands free of grease and dirt from looking over the engine. "She's fifteen."

"Oh, not your daughter," Meadow said, shaking her head quickly before she rested her hand on the car's front fender. "Janice. She's a wild woman. You have to be careful about her, too - she likes to take her top off!"

Clint smirked at that as Kate laughed delightedly. "Can we take Janice for a drive?" Clint asked. "I know we need to see how she runs first."

"Oh, absolutely!" Meadow dug around in her purse for the keys and handed them to Carol - even though Clint was standing nearest the driver's side door. Carol of course simply grinned wider at Clint before stepping around him to take the wheel.

"What are you waiting for?" Carol asked. "Or do you want to stay and ask Meadow more questions about Janice?"

"Not … the worst of ideas in a great many worst ideas you've had," Clint admitted as Kate and Nate climbed in the beetle - giggling like they were getting away with a massive crime, though Meadow looked as if the deal was already done even before Carol started it up and headed off down the block.

"We should discuss things," Meadow told Clint as she patted his arm.

"I'd like to make sure she wants it first," he said, but Meadow was already smiling and shaking her head. "Katie-Kate gets ideas in her head sometimes, and there's no telling if it's just an idea of a real desire…"

"She'll want it. I've seen that look on my own face a hundred times. That girl will love that car."

Before the two of them could get too deeply into anything, Meadow was handing Clint all the information she had on Janice - including decades of meticulous record keeping on service, repairs, and improvements. "Like I said, Mr. Barton," Meadow said as she readjusted her glasses on the end of her nose. "Janice has been very important to me. The only reason I'm selling her now is because I no longer can drive. Seizures, you know. I'd hate to hit someone or bang up that car if I had a problem going down the road. Mechanically, she's in pretty good shape. I'm sure you can see most of her trouble is cosmetic."

"Yeah, it'll take some time to find a new top," Clint said.

"Which is great if she's just fifteen," Meadow said. "Plenty of time to get it right. Just … if you happen to find an old glass pipe, don't panic. It hasn't been used in years."

Clint couldn't stop the laugh, which was great timing as Carol took the last corner around the block at speed and a few moments later, the car came to a screeching halt in front of Meadow and Clint - and Kate was laughing hard.

"She handles pretty good," Carol called out as Kate tumbled out of the passenger side of the car.

"Yes, I should have mentioned that," Meadow said. "Mind the nitrous button near the radio. The tank's nearly out but it'll blow the engine if you hit it too often."

Carol was grinning wider on hearing it. "If you don't want it, I'll take it," she told Clint, but Kate whirled around to face her dad fast enough that her ponytail stuck straight out behind her.

"No! I love it!" Kate said. "Purple, dad! We can paint it purple!"

Nate was laughing outright still - not even attempting to hide his amusement as Kate had chosen her color - down to the exact shade - before Carol had taken the first corner.

"I should talk it over with your mother," Clint said, but he was cut off by a wide-eyed Kate. "She was hoping for something sleeker…"

"Daddy! Come on! If we don't take it, Carol will!"

"That's right, Daddy, Carol will," Carol said, arms crossed over her chest and even more amused than before.

"You know I hate it when you two team up on me, don't you?" When Carol nodded, Clint groaned and covered his eyes with one hand for a moment. "If Nat hates it, you'll buy it off me, right?"

"Oh yeah. But only if you leave the Nitrous system in there."

Kate was watching the two of them - though Nate was laughing harder than the rest as he could hear what Meadow was thinking - that she'd been right from the moment she saw them.

"Alright. We'll take it," Clint said, then pointed one finger at Carol. "Do not wreck my daughter's car on the way to my building."

"I thought I was taking it to the tower. For repairs. And paint."

Kate's entire expression fell. "NO!"

"Yeah, that's probably smart. Don't need anyone taking out aggression on it in the street," Clint said as Kate looked more frustrated to hear that her car would be living at the tower without her.

Carol grinned as Clint turned toward Meadow with a wry smile to pay her - and Carol dangled the keys in front of Kate. "I'll take good care of her, Katie."

"You better!" Kate made a failed snatch for the keys that she hadn't ever expected to actually get back. "And don't let Tony touch that paint!"

"Don't want race car red, Katie?" Nate teased.

"You really think I'm gonna let Tony, the man who's married to a fashion designer but who still thinks 80s punk is the height of fashion, come anywhere near-"

Nate burst out laughing all over again and grabbed her hand. "If you're that worried, I can nudge Tony into not touching it…"

Kate beamed and kissed him full on the mouth. "My hero."

On the other side of the city headed toward Westchester, the other car hunt was going rather slowly. Just because of the nature of what James wanted, there was a lot more intensive looking involved. Where Kate and her parents had to look for rust troubles with the frame, James, Scott, and Steve were looking into damage in addition to rust issues. All three of them were put to the test to find something that wasn't entirely on its last leg. If it wasn't hidden or badly disguised rust or frame damage, then there were other issues. Welded gears in the rear axle, worn out transmissions, head damage in the engine, electrical problems, and on one occasion, they even found that the transmission (which wasn't working right) had been welded into place by skid plates.

To put it mildly … there were a lot of disasters when it came to older Jeeps for the boy to sink his teeth into.

But finally, after a dozen short trips to look things over … Steve okayed one. And a short couple of scans later, Scott did too. Which brought them to the final round where the two adults asked intensive questions and James watched … and scented the air to see if the guy was lying about anything critical.

"I'm not gonna pull your leg," the seller said, gesturing to the mostly pristine looking Jeep. "I've had some fun with it on the trail, but … there's an exhaust leak I don't want to tackle, and I'm sure it'll need more because of how old it is. But it's a good little car. Climbs hills like a cat and starts up every time."

When the questioning was over, the three of them shared a look, and after James nodded along to what the others had to say "You've got six months anyhow before you're sixteen," Steve said. "That should be enough time to get it running the way you want it to."

"If all goes well," Scott added, though he was trying hard to hide the smile. The prospect of getting into a project like this with James had him in high spirits.

"I think it looks good," James said. "Better than the last few we've looked at for sure."

"Then let's do it," Scott said, still trying to restrain the smile.

"I'll drive it back," Steve said, not even close to hiding his grin while his back was to the guy selling. "Been a while."

Scott nodded and stepped around them to finish the deal, since, at fifteen, James still had a few years to go before he could legally own it anyhow.

"Heard you're not asking Tony for help," Steve said quietly. "Smart move."

"Hey, I just want it to drive - not fly," James said, which got a warmer, broader smile from Steve.

"I'm not the best, but I can help. Or supervise if you need it."

"Careful how loud you say that or it'll be you and dad working on it while I watch," James said. "But thanks. I think the two of us can handle it. I'll let you know if it gets to be a problem."

Steve dropped a hand on James' shoulder and gave him a little shake. "Hard to believe you're going to be driving."

"Not if we don't get it fixed," James pointed out, which had Steve laughing.

"It drove alright when we tested it," Steve said. "It'll be good. Don't worry. It's a Jeep. It might need a little work now and again, but it's made to take abuse."

"Ah. My spirit animal," James deadpanned, though Steve only chuckled at that before Scott returned with papers in hand and a smiling seller to hand the keys to Steve.

"We'll follow you," Scott said. "Give us a little chance to start up a plan of attack on this rig."

"And I'll let you know if I see anything critical on the drive back," Steve agreed before they loaded up and headed back.

James thanked both the seller and Steve before he followed Scott to their car, and once they were moving and a little down the road, Scott had to start teasing. Just a little. He was already immensely proud of the kid anyhow, but this was a big step. Repairs pending or not, it was a step in the right direction.

When they got back home, Nate and Kate were on the front steps with Clint - and grinning widely. Though Kate had to laugh when she saw Steve climbing out of the Jeep. "Sounds rougher than it is," Steve said, momentarily ignoring Kate after he got the Jeep in the garage.

"Oh my God," Kate laughed. "My car is older but yours … yours is so worn out."

"Nah," James said. "It just needs some minor fixes."

"No, like … exact opposite," Nate said, grinning since he'd listened to Kate talk about how amazing the bug was for the last two hours. "Yours looks good but sounds like crap. Hers looks like crap-"

"Hey!"

"But sounds great," Nate finished, laughing when Kate shoved him. "Hers has nitrous too!"

"It won't for long," Clint said, earning a groan from Kate.

"Dad, that's the best part!"

"Uh-huh."

"Mom would let me keep it!"

"Mom will help me get rid of it."

"Not when I point out how good it is for escapes!"

"Escapes from what - handsy Summerses?" Clint asked, though Nate just nodded solemnly and put his hand on Kate's waist, distracting her right back into her good mood.

"Doesn't matter. We got mine first," Kate said, turning back to James. "And it'll be roadworthy before yours, because mine just needs a top and some paint."

"And you need a driver's license," James pointed out with a smirk. "Which I'll still have a month before you."

"What good will that do you when your heap isn't even functioning?" Kate laughed.

"I guess we'll just have to see how that works out over the summer," James countered - though both of them were laughing, and by the time Scott stepped up with Steve to break up the back and forth, Kate had rushed over to look the Jeep over - and had even asked if she could help supervise the reconstruction.

Which meant that at least the three teenagers would be safely distracted for a good portion of the summer once school was out.