Note from robbie: Practically an Avenger, right back at you. Your reviews never fail to make me grin, and seeing as I just had a baby mid-pandemic and he's stuck in the NICU apart from me, grinning is a commodity. Really, really appreciate it. -robbiepoo2341

From CC: Agreed. You never fail to get a smile and it's actually pushing me to want to polish this one up FOR YOU. Yes, I have others I could be posting too, but ... encouragement ... oof. Much love, hope everyone manages to stay safe and well - virtual wave from the Mitten State. Pray for us.

Chapter 38 - Ready or Not …

Erik had been patient with matters concerning his grandsons, and he'd tried to give the world a chance to come to see sense, but it had been more trying than he cared to admit. Especially with both of his grandsons out of his easy reach fending for themselves in a world dominated by humans. Because of that alone, he was more than happy to insist on being the one to retrieve the two of them for the holidays. There was no reason, after all, for the boys to be stuck at the school with orphans and those who had been sent away from their families. No reason for them to be counted with the otherwise unloved teenagers that had no ties to anyone but the staff at Xaviers.

And he could use the time that they would take returning to Genosha to talk away from outside influences and anyone that might be listening in.

What he wasn't expecting to see when he appeared at Xavier's School for the Gifted, however, was Thomas barely acknowledging his presence as he and Ororo's demonic looking daughter had a less than polite kiss goodbye. Or more accurately, a series of drawn out, near makeout session worthy kisses. He controlled the smirk, only because it wasn't dignified to do such things in public, though he had to admit that he was pleased to see Thomas making the most out of his time in New York.

As the three of them headed off to the airport where Erik's private jet waited, he couldn't help but notice that William was fidgeting with his collar and somewhat avoiding his gaze. He looked toward Thomas and raised an eyebrow in a silent question, which of course was answered almost immediately.

"He's just trying to be secretive about his new boyfriend," Tommy said with a wave and a broad grin even as Billy swore at him. "Nice guy. Definitely not looking to raise his social status like the last one."

"Tommy," Billy said from between his teeth. "Shut. Up."

"He's not distracting you too much, is he?" Erik said to Billy, trying to ignore Tommy's amusement for the moment. He knew better than to push on such a delicate matter if he wanted the chance to look into this young man, after all.

"No," Billy said, blushing bright red high on his cheeks. "He's got his own commitments away from the school. He doesn't take much of my time at all."

"I don't know, the beard burn says otherwise," Tommy cackled, earning himself a death glare from Billy. "Oh, relax. You haven't even been seeing him for that long. No reason to be all …" Tommy held his brother's gaze and grinned wider. "... growly."

"Your mother didn't mention that you were seeing someone," Erik said, brushing by Tommy's delighted laughter at the look on Billy's face. If he was that embarrassed and Tommy that entertained, then he definitely wanted to know who it was taking up Wiliam's time. And that wouldn't be easy information to learn if the boy was being defensive. "Is he a mutant?"

"Yes. He is. But we've only been able to go out on a few dates," Billy answered, trying not to look at Erik as he lied through his teeth. "Schedules … he's in the city … you know … it's not too serious."

"Yes, I'm sure your powers make scheduling difficult," Erik said as he smiled to himself and nodded - and Tommy looked like Christmas had come early. Still, Erik was determined to find out more, he'd let it go for now, just to let the boy's defenses drop. Patience was the key here - particularly after the last few young men that had come after Billy. If he was honestly interested, Erik knew that sooner or later, Billy would slip up and say the boy's name. He simply had to pay attention.

But for now, while they were alone, Erik planned to find out the finer details of the school - the staff - and all that he could about the Avengers. It would be harder to pick their brains when they were back on Genosha with Wanda hovering. So Erik settled in and simply started asking questions that he hoped Billy would jump to answer - if nothing else, than to avoid the uncomfortable questions about this new young man. He'd use that as leverage to get answers until he couldn't. That was the best option for pressure at the time, after all. No reason to overlook it.

Billy had been positively relieved to leave Genosha after a long holiday of barely avoiding his grandfather's awkward questions and gentle inquiries about who his boyfriend was. He knew that was going to be bad when it finally came out, but he still wanted to avoid letting it come out as long as possible.

They'd barely been back to Westchester for an hour before he got a text from Kate all in emojis that made it very clear that he wanted to be at Jan's studio. Now. So, with little more encouragement than that, he looked over to see his brother and Mia saying 'hello' then simply started to focus on teleporting himself to the studio.

When he got there though, he had to do a little double take - not only at Kate, Nate, and Rachel in uniform - but at the fact that Jan was putting the finishing touches on James' red on black striped uniform. He realized what was happening just in time to hear James quietly ask Jan a question about the fitment. "Does it really need to be this tight?" James asked, to which Kate, Billy, and Jan all answered at once with their own versions of 'yes' that had Nate and Rachel highly amused.

"It's part of the gig," Jan said, grinning to herself. "You have nothing to be self conscious about either. You're built so much like your dad was, after all."

Rachel cringed, expecting the usual bristle from her little brother, but was pleasantly surprised when James simply looked up at the mirror and nodded to himself. "Guess so," he said before he let out a shaky breath.

"You might need a haircut," Jan suggested as she reached up and took over on pulling the cowl down to adjust it, too. "Or not." She stepped back and the grin started to grow as she nodded to herself. "Oh yeah. There's a look I haven't seen in way too long."

James turned his head toward his siblings, then followed, turning the rest of his body to face them. "How ridiculous is it? Honestly."

"Not even a little bit," Rachel said, grinning. "And it's about time. We've waited forever - and it's perfect." She came forward and took a hold of his arm to pull him over then wrap him up in a tight hug. "We're going to be amazing, little brother."

Rachel had an updated version of the uniform she wore for the Avengers, as did Nate and Kate - though for the X-Men uniforms, she'd taken a slightly more edgy approach by making all of the detail lines pop with glowing color. Rachel's accents were green, Nate's were blue, and Kate's were purple, of course, but James' was red and it gave the whole look an almost dangerous angle with the group of them barely glowing at the colored lines of their uniforms.

"Okay, you next," Jan said, snapping her fingers at Billy. "I can't get my team picture until you're all dressed and ready to go."

"All of us?"

"Oh, totally," Jan confirmed, nodding her head as she led him over to get changed. "Tell your brother he's slow in getting here. Make sure Mia comes too. I want to see all of you in person, ready to go. It took me forever to find the right shade of magenta for Mia's accents."

"You got it," Billy laughed as he texted Tommy and pulled his shirt off even before he saw how well Jan had kept to the sketches they'd come up with. "This is amazing."

There were very few people that had Scott's cell phone number, so when a call came in from a number he didn't know, he honestly didn't know what to make of it. Especially when his cautious 'hello' was met by an enthusiastic Kitty on the other side.

"You didn't tell me you were getting the team back together!"

"Kitty?" Scott shook his head. "What are you talking about? How did you even get this number?"

"Come on, Scott, I was your tech girl for how long?" Kitty said. "I can get your number. But that's not the important part - the important part is the team! Together! How long have you been planning this?"

"I haven't," Scott said, though he was already pulling up the news. "I haven't touched a uniform since Graydon Creed. You know that."

"Well … then who are these guys? Do you know them?"

Scott frowned as he found the news footage showing a group of kids wearing x's on their uniforms as they rescued civilians from a building Magneto had trashed. Considering the powersets at play, the fact that they had a girl with swords that he knew had to be Kate delineating her skillsets on the different teams… and the fact that he recognized Tommy's voice when the reporter asked what they were doing, Scott breathed out a curse as he turned up the volume.

We're the X-Men! Magneto wants to speak for mutants, he's going to have to step back. Some of us don't like being labeled terrorists like he is, mkay?

Scott massaged a spot on his forehead over his nose. "Those… those would be my kids. Apparently."

"You didn't know?" Kitty asked a lot quieter.

"Kitty, do you think I'd let - Hell, James is wearing stripes!"

"Yeah, he looks great," she said, the little smile plain to hear. "But that's … I mean, as amazing as that is, that's really not why I called."

"Oh God, now what?"

"We've got big trouble with Magneto," Kitty said. "He's finally snapped, and I don't know what caused it, but he's going into the dangerous … floaty zone."

Scott let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know what it was," he admitted. "He came to the school."

"What's wrong with the school?" Kitty asked. "I thought Storm was running it. She's great with the kids."

"She is," Scott agreed. "And the kids there love her. But she's … we've been showing the kids how to control their powers so they can blend in. Keep their heads down. Avoid another disaster. And Magneto didn't take well to it."

"Oh, man," Kitty said in a flat tone.

"I know. I know we aren't living up to everything we stood for, but Kitty, it's kept them alive. No one has destroyed the school, no one is calling for extermination…"

"I know, I know, I just … I didn't realize … oh, crap," she almost whispered.

"Yeah," Scott said. "I almost can't blame him. I mean, my own kids are rebelling into X-Men. How far off the path have we gotten?"

"Okay, but Scott - he's been looking for a reason, if I'm being totally honest," Kitty said.

"I thought things were alright on Genosha. Alex hasn't had any complaints."

"Right. Because he's married to one of the princesses. He's the next best thing to a royal himself and he doesn't see what it's like outside of his charmed life in the palace. That's part of why Wanda wanted to get the boys out of there. They were getting spoiled rotten."

"The boys are alright," Scott defended. "Billy's dating James, even."

"Wait - what? Okay, I didn't see that coming," Kitty said under her breath.

"Tell me about it. But they work."

"Yeah, that …. Probably won't sit will with Erik either, to be honest," Kitty said. "But I was calling because it's going south here. And we need to do something to stop him before he kicks the wrong hornet nest."

Scott sighed as he sat down. "How bad is it, Kitty? I can pull some strings for an evacuation, but we'd have to fight him on it."

"That's just it, I don't know if you can get everyone out," she said.

"Why not?"

"Well, outside of the obvious millions of people here, the fact remains that Erik would lose his mind if Genosha emptied. No one outside of his family is allowed to leave."

Scott frowned harder the more he heard. "You wouldn't be calling if you didn't already have an idea."

"We have to take him down," Kitty said. "But he doesn't trust anyone near him. He's completely paranoid. We need to figure out how to get someone close."

Scott held his breath for a long moment. Ten years ago, he wouldn't have hesitated, but now… he waited until he'd gone over several other options in his head and found himself back on that same idea. "I could do it," he said. "It would take time, but… I could do it."

"Are you sure?"

"He's not going to consider me much of a threat, Kitty," Scott pointed out. "I haven't had my powers for years. I stay away from the school and the Avengers unless I'm with the kids. I'm as close to a neutral party as you can get from an outside perspective. And he's already chewed me up and down about the school. He had some good points; I wouldn't be lying if I said I agreed with some of what he said."

Kitty was quiet for a long while. "We need to work something out," she said slowly. "Make a plan …"

"Kitty, he's going to end up fighting my kids if they keep wearing those uniforms."

"So try to get them to stop that," she said.

"What do you think I've been doing for ten years?"

"Right. Something must have gotten to them, though."

"I don't know," Scott said. "I know Rachel and I fought when she wanted to join the Avengers, and Nate wore me down until he could join, too. They've been wanting to make a difference for a while now."

"And James just … what? Came out of the woodwork?" Kitty asked with a suspicious tone.

"Came out of a couple closets at once, apparently," Scott said dryly.

"Very funny," she said. "I just … you know Billy's powerset, right? Are you sure this is on the level?"

"I've seen the two of them together from the very beginning," Scott said in a tone that made it clear he knew why Kitty was asking - and that he'd run down that possibility already and proven it wrong in his own mind at least. "It started very organically. I don't think Billy made this happen. If I did -"

"Okay. Good … okay. I'll trust you on that. You know your son better than anyone. I haven't met Billy more than a couple of times though. I don't know him. I had to put it out there. So lets figure out how to do this, okay? I'll call you back when I can get a little time. Think it over, please."

"Okay. See if you can find a way for me to end up talking with Erik, even if it's just a visit to the school. I need to get in his ear if I want to have a shot at all."

"Hey, I'll call if I find out he's going to go floating over to the school even," Kitty said. "Like I said he's not happy with a lot of things around those kids."

Scott let out a sigh. "Alright. I'll… talk to my kids. And I'll think of a good argument for Erik on why I'd be willing to side with him. All I've got right now is 'desperate dad'."

"Which considering how the past ten, fifteen years have gone? That might be your best bet."

"Right. Sell him a line on how I'm worried the world will tear them apart like they did us… hell, that's not even a line."

"Pretty sure that's spot on," Kitty said.

"Okay. Let me know next time he's in Westchester."

"Will do," Kitty said. "And Scott? Take it easy on them. Their hearts are in the right places if they're stepping out like that."

Scott sighed. "Yeah, I know. Their hearts are always in the right places. Doesn't make them any less…" He trailed off. "I'll talk to you later."

With that, Scott hung up, his own thoughts echoing in his head for a good long while as he tried to wrap his mind around everything. It had been so long since he'd had anything to do with this particular fight, but he remembered how Magneto could be, how he could steamroll anyone in his path. And he didn't doubt that if Kitty was calling from Genosha to ask for help, it was a serious situation. Kitty and Bobby had quietly been handling problems on Genosha for a long time now; he knew that much from Alex…

He sat down and ran both hands through his hair - and stayed that way more or less until the kids came home.

"Hey dad," James called out, perfectly casually as he tossed his keys on the counter. "Brought home Chinese if you're interested."

Scott tried to keep his temper as he got up and went to where the kids were in the kitchen unloading boxes of takeout. "I saw the news," he said flatly.

"Figured that would happen," James said under his breath.

"What were you thinking?" Scott asked sharply, looking at all three of them in turn. "You know the X-Men left those uniforms - that name - behind for a reason. You can't just go out there putting a giant target on your- James, do you know how many organizations in the world saw-"

"Sixty two," James said. "Give or take. That's how many have programs that Natasha's been able to find anyhow. Might be more after this, honestly." He didn't sound pleased, but he wasn't alarmed either.

"And you just announced yourselves to the world!" Scott narrowed his eyes, especially when none of them looked sorry. "You can't do this - after everything that - the precautions - the work everyone went through! You know - you can't risk everything like this!"

"Do you know how long it's been since Warren was out to fly?" Nate asked, perfectly calm, as though he'd been waiting for this for years, and in actuality, he had. "Or how much he wants to be able to live again? How much he misses all the good you used to do with the team?"

"Or what about all the people looking at the school again as it gets bigger?" Rachel pressed when Scott frowned. "They're not backing off just because we're hiding. They're looking at it because there's so many mutants asking for sanctuary."

"The mutant birth rate is rising," James said, though his gaze was on the ground almost as if it pained him to admit it. "It has been for decades, but they're finally starting to find out what they are now. Dr. Richards has been doing everything in his power to wreck anyone developing fast track genetic tests to use on kids and newborns for years even though there's been a call for it. Tony's been pushing his contacts to squash any unconstitutional laws … and for the kids our age and younger it's still like it was when you were young. Parents are kicking their kids out over something they have no control over. The fear just walking around the city is off the charts. For everyone."

"You always said the X-Men were heroes," Nate put in. "Kinda sucks to have them out of the picture now."

"We want to do what you did - what you set out to do," James said as he finally looked up to meet Scott's gaze. "It's time to see Xavier's dream play out."

"You're going to get yourselves killed," Scott said. "You made these same arguments to become Avengers, but now you're pulling this?" He gestured toward the TV in the living room playing the news. "Do you have a death wish?"

"Dad," James said, letting his shoulders drop. "You know none of us are that deep."

"You're picking a fight with Magneto for your opening move," Scott said. "I know he upset you but this isn't like the games you play with Stark, James!"

"We weren't fighting Magneto," James said gently. "We were saving the people he was stomping on."

"That's the point," Rachel said in a more soothing tone. "I thought the X-Men were there to look out for anyone overlooked. You said you guys looked out for the people the Avengers didn't see. We're not trying to take on the whole world. We're just out to show normal people we're not big scary bad guys." She paused. "Especially when the biggest mutant news right now is a big, scary bad guy."

"He's not a bad guy when he's home," James said quietly to Nate.

"You're biased," Nate whispered back.

"I just like it when he goes home and stays there," James admitted.

"Hear, hear," Nate said before he let out a sigh and turned back to their dad. "No one's asking you to come back, Dad. You guys already did the hard work. You showed the world what the X-Men were supposed to be and laid out the ground work for us to finish for you."

"But the world misses you," Rachel said. "The team - all of it. They didn't see how good you all were until you were gone."

Scott frowned as he watched all three of them - knowing he couldn't argue against his own philosophies. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath and sat down at the table with one hand on his temple. "Damn it all."

"So…." Nate said slowly, though he'd put a hand up to stop James from moving toward Scott when it was so clear to him that James was having second thoughts. He didn't need to read his brother's mind to know that he already thought they might have pushed their dad too far. And that would end up pushing James back off the team if they weren't careful. So he tried to carefully redirect both of them. "We brought dinner?"

James glanced at Nate and stepped toward Scott. He had to try and reassure their dad somehow. "We're not going to ignore your advice. But this is something all of us have been thinking about for a very long time. I promise you, I've run down every single avenue to look for a different way to handle this. I have. If there was another way to do it, I'd have gotten started o it already."

"The world needs the X-Men, Dad," Rachel said quietly. "Maybe one day they won't anymore, but that will only happen if people aren't scared to be who they are. You know it too; I know you do."

Scott didn't look up at them for a long time before he finally let out a sigh that slumped his shoulders. "Fine," he said. "But every one of you needs a panic button with a direct line to the Avengers. The second something goes wrong, call them in. I mean it." He looked between the three kids. "No one knew what had happened to us because we did everything ourselves. Do not make that mistake. Understood?"

"Yes," the three of them answered in unison before all of them shared a look and made their way closer to wrap their dad up in a hug.

"I'll work on integrating the panic button in the morning," James promised.

Scott nodded, wordlessly hanging onto them until he got his feet underneath himself again. "Don't go anywhere until it's done. Not in those uniforms. I can't lose you too."

"Yes, sir," James replied.

"Love you too, Dad," Rachel said.