A/N - Practically An Avenger - Your review made my whole day, my dear. Your Corsair shade was just. The best possible thing ever. I'm sorry you were upset, I am ... but ... are you surprised? And yes. of course it was a slumber party. HOW COULD IT NOT BE? With that in mind - please ... enjoy.

Chapter 52 - From Radio Silence to Shock And Awe

"You're sure you're up to a mission already?" James asked Nate as the team loaded up to go after a call from mutants in distress in one of the less tolerant boroughs of NYC.

"Wow. You really are worried about me lately. Are you okay, James?" Nate shot back, but when he got a more serious look from James he relented. "I promise, I'm all healed up," Nate said. "And I got a clean bill of health from Uncle Blue. Even Dad had to admit I'm alright."

James nodded to himself, but still took the copilot chair next to his little brother. "If something goes wrong — or you feel off at all—"

"I'm fine," Nate insisted. "Really. I just need to get out there and do something."

"Okay," James said, then leaned back in his seat, purposely not touching anything in the cockpit when he knew Nate really wanted to fly. "You know I have to check."

"Yeah, I know," Nate said. "But usually you leave it to Rachel."

"Rachel is going to be preoccupied trying to scan everyone for six city blocks to make sure that we're not going into a reporting zone," James pointed out. "And since the Avengers have been swamped with press and people wanting to know just who exactly we all are under the masks -"

"It's too late. They figured you out, big bro."

"Yeah, no kidding. I'm pretty sure that was a lost cause anyhow — trying to keep that quiet."

Nate smirked. "Dad talked with Rachel and I to make sure we know not to do anything like that."

"I had a good —"

"We know, we know," Nate said, waving him off. "It's just kind of funny to me that the one of us that was trying to toe the line the hardest and keep himself in the rules all the time was the one to break the biggest rule right out of the gate."

"Not the biggest one," James said, almost sullenly.

"Maybe, maybe not," Nate argued, since it really was unusual for James to bend the rules. Especially if it was a rule that Scott was honestly concerned over.

"Shut up and fly."

"How's the chatter on the dark web?"

"Shut up, Nate," James said, more serious this time.

"That bad?"

James sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped. "Kind of nonexistent, actually."

"Are you disappointed?"

"No, it's just …it's more likely that they have a plan to put into action, that's all," James said, turning his head to keep from giving away to his brother how concerned he was. "Natasha's keeping an eye open. Paranoia is high. Let's just … can we worry about that part later, huh?"

Nate nodded to himself as he got them airborne, and only didn't argue with any of it because Kate and Billy were cackling between themselves on their plans for the weekend. It was a rare kind of occasion in that Nate didn't have any sports to go to - and by default, Kate didn't have any cheerleading practice either - and because of that - and how paranoid their parents were after the accidental unmasking, both Summers boys had grudgingly agreed to go on a double date with their significant others for their first official outings after the busting. It was especially hard to escape after Kate insisted it was for 'Safety's sake' with wide eyes that never seemed to fail her when she was scamming Scott.

But while Billy and Kate were plotting and planning and giggling, Tommy and Mia were snuggling up and simply enjoying a few minutes that were relatively to themselves. Since she'd missed out on going to Genosha — which Storm absolutely forbid — Tommy had come back in full Prince Charming mode … at least his version of prince charming. It was obvious that he'd missed her in the week they were gone and he had been making up for time lost by spoiling her rotten.

They reached their destination quickly enough — and they'd been circling for a little while before finally, Rachel let out a breath. "Okay. I can't hear any honestly ill intentions toward us down there. Just the general hatred of mutants. Nothing specific or directed."

"Great, then we can get in, get the people in trouble, and get out," Nate decided as he headed for a clearing that would hold their mini-jet easily with enough room to keep it concealed.

As they landed, James double checked his panic buttons and Nate's — since it had become such a point of contention with the adults - before he got to his feet and got a quick kiss from Billy and a teasing one on the cheek from Kate.

"We just need to find the one in trouble," Rachel said. "Nate, Mia, and I can do that if you guys can hold them off."

"No problem," Tommy said, stretching out and making a show out of cracking his knuckles. "As long as these two can keep from starting a make-out session in the middle of the fight."

"No promises," James shot back, perfectly seriously as Billy grinned wider.

"You're trying to scar me for life," Tommy muttered, shaking his head as the door opened - and with a whoosh of wind, he was gone.

"So dramatic," James muttered — which was cue enough for Billy to show he wasn't going to be outdone by his speedster twin.

He grinned — and as his eyes lit up with a blue-white light, Billy floated up and out of the jet. The Summers kids shook their heads, but Nate, Mia, and Rachel grinned at James and disappeared in a swirl of purple-pink smoke leaving James as last out.

When he stepped out of the jet, he didn't see right away where the trouble was. It wasn't as overt as they were used to seeing. But the twins were already far ahead of him — and when he listened hard enough, he heard the muted bamf that told him where his siblings and Mia were. And he was pretty far behind the curve. So, James simply started to jog toward the sound of fighting. It was a little step the group had long ago agreed to — someone would be last in by a stretch to give them a back up in case there was a trap to be sprung, and this time, it was James playing last man standing.

As it turned out, the group of mutants in distress were surrounded by military looking troops and holding them at gunpoint. There were almost a dozen kids in varying stages of distress — most of them physically mutated, and half or more of those kids were clutching to an image inducer , shaking them — and as Nate and Rachel found out quickly enough — panicking internally at the unexplained failure. With a shared look, they looped in the rest of the team that was present so they could fight without openly telling the soldiers what they were up to.

The group had only done the team link up a handful of times, and Rachel was once again trying to control her inner sailor's mouth as she grumbled about James' lack of cooperation on that front. Like it or not, he was going to have to go along with it for situations like that. Even if she had to hit him - she was going to make him join in. It was outside of what they'd trained or planned for and with the soldiers they were seeing, it was a major problem for him to be out of the loop. "Stupid, stubborn moron," she grumbled out as she held up her hands to push the troops back from the group of captive mutants.

It gave the team room to move in and help — which was of course, jus what the larger, unseen group of soldiers was waiting for. Mia, Tommy, and Billy had moved in to free the prisoners. Billy was untying those that were restrained with rope while Tommy destroyed restraints and cage locks for a few of them and Mia picked the locks on the handcuffs. And as soon as the three of them were properly distracted, someone took a shot at Nate and Rachel using some sort of bolo that looped around them and tightened up the more they struggled.

A second bolo was fired but Mia disappeared in a swirl before it could wrap around her — though it did manage to catch Tommy — who was quick to start swearing and uttering curses at his displeasure. Not that it lasted with Billy there - instantly in a foul mood because of his brother's situation.

Kate rushed in to help Nate and Rachel — or at least cover them while Rachel burned the ropes off. Kate shot four arrows toward an advancing group just as Billy's eyes glowed and he began muttering something under his breath that had Tommy crowing about how screwed those soldiers were.

Meanwhile, James was four blocks from where they landed when he heard the rhythmic sound of marching boots — jingling in time together and obviously carrying some kind of ordinance with them. He frowned and turned his head toward the sound, but as he raised his hand toward the comm to ask for information from whoever was at the tower at the time, an explosion of blue light that could only have come from Wiccan caught his attention. He forgot all about the comm and rushed toward the center of the light that had blown all the windows out of a six story building only to be hit entirely off his feet when a massive guy tackled him from the side.

James turned his head — just in time to catch a fist to the face before he'd even hit the ground with the massive attacker still looming over him. He blocked the next hit without thinking about it, but couldn't stop the following two. Not without letting out a growl and going purely on instincts when he sent a handful of claws into the guy's shoulder then positively froze when his counterattack was answered with a bellowing roar and a slash of claws that hit James across his chest and one arm slicing him wide open.

James reacted without thinking — slashing his attacker across the face and neck with a snarl of his own - which was enough to knock the guy loose long enough for James to get on his feet to fight more squarely. "Who are you?" James asked with a growl lacing his tone thickly.

The blonde rolled his shoulders and smiled — or near enough to it as large bottom canine teeth protruded from his lip with a malicious looking grin. But the only answer from the stranger was a full frontal assault that gave James no time to do anything but fight back with everything he had.

The blown out windows were still raining glass down when quite suddenly, Billy's powers flickered and he fell four feet to the ground, no longer floating — and with no chaos magic to fuel him. "Kate," Billy called out, looking more nervous since he really hadn't practiced nearly enough without relying on his magic. "Do you have any extra toys to spare?"

"Just don't get grabbed," Nate said as he double checked the charge on his laser pistols. "I brought enough … I think."

The mutants that were to be rescued looked as if they were afraid to move — especially when they were very sure that the young X-Men there to save them were about to be captured themselves.

Tommy was more resourceful than he'd been given credit for though — and before anyone could stop him, he picked up a length of pipe and started swinging at soldiers that got too close to the captives. He was trying not to show his cards — which included a fair amount of panic on Mia's behalf since he didn't see where she'd disappeared.

Wisely, Mia had held tight to her perch high above the group. She'd tried to hit her panic button, but couldn't see if it had worked when the light wouldn't go on to show that it had been hit. And the precariousness of her perch had her holding on tight while her powers weren't working. She wasn't sure if her grip would work on walls if her teleportation was off … she'd never tried it and she wasn't about to do it now with soldiers everywhere.

Ad while most of the X-Men were fighting, Mia found herself shrinking away from the sounds over her head — Helicopters were coming in … circling … and they sounded a lot bigger than the news choppers and medical transports she'd heard in the past.

Of course, the fear of not being able to fight back what was in front of them disappeared when Billy's powers seemed to turn back on with a loud snap and another explosion of blue light. He must have been trying to do that this whole time, Mia thought to herself as Rachel's voice echoed in her head suddenly.

Get down to level ground, Rachel told her. These jerks have multiple dampeners with them. I don't want you falling at the wrong time. But she barely got her thought out before Mia was next to her, anxiously waving her tail behind her. "Just remember what we learned about hand to hand, okay? We've got plenty to fight either way."

Tommy rushed outside to find and back up James since he had been the only one missing for the duration of the fight and he knew if he didn't look with all those soldiers around them, Billy would be freaking out in no time. But he didn't have to go too far as he stumbled upon the big fight between James and the massive blond. Both of them were bloodied up pretty badly and James' uniform was a joke at that point for how shredded and bloodied it was, but somehow, more alarming than that was the fact that he was using his claws. That was something Tommy simply hadn't seen.

"I found him," Tommy said in his comm. "But he's not …okay, he's fighting some creep that's slashing him up pretty badly and there are reinforcements circling so … we need to -you know … save our idiot Wolverine who can't see what's going on around him. Oh, and by the way, he's using his claws. That is just … so weird."

"What?" Nate said, picking his head up and rushing for the door, though more than half of the team was echoing the same sentiment, even as they tried to wrangle the rescued mutants too. When they caught up to where they could see the fight, it was a shock to watch. James had excelled at learning every form of martial arts that had been put in front of him by Tony or Steve, and he'd always been an impressive fighter … but it wasn't enough against this guy.

The blonde wasn't even using much finesse in his attack - more like all claws, hard hits, and dirty tricks that clearly hurt. What's more — it seemed like James had all but forgotten most of his training the more angry he got and was just … lashing out in response to the attacks.

Nate picked up his rifle and tried to take aim — but the two of them were moving too fast and he didn't want to risk shooting his brother. Even if it was non-lethal. And he couldn't really see if James was anywhere close to getting the upper hand. He had full faith that James would … he always seemed to … but at risk of quoting Kate … this looked bad.

The blond had just swiped at James as the two passed each other and though James had hit him hard, the creep had also left James with five long jagged tears down his back. As James turned, the blond took a hold of James' wrist and swung him like a rag doll. James hit the corner of a brick building, and by the time he'd hit the sidewalk, the guy was reaching for him again. He picked James up by his hair and had his arm wrapped around his chest from behind - pinning his arms to his side, but as the blond started to take a few steps, Nate took a shot. The round hit the blonde in his shoulder - almost to his neck- but it wasn't enough to make him drop James and instead, he turned to use him as a human shield as he sought cover.

It was enough for James to get the presence of mind to take the opening and send a set of claws through the guy's stomach, though. The roar in his ear left him reeling, but he saw how dire the circumstances really were when he finally spotted the black-clad soldiers closing in from a few blocks out. On seeing them moving in — and knowing they were for him, James froze for an instant. He'd grown up knowing that black-clad soldiers would try to take him. He knew it wasn't an idle threat — but to see it in person, with his own eyes was honestly terrifying. He squirmed in the guy's grip and pushed back on him, trying desperately to get him to let go, but the massive blond had him outclassed, strength-wise.

As the soldiers started to fire on the X-Men from further out in an attempt to keep them back, James managed to focus enough to remember some of what Natasha had taught him when he was small. It wasn't much, and it wasn't something he'd been able to practice now that he was nearly as tall as Steve and Tony, but … none of the usual fighting tactics were working. Even his best hits weren't sticking for long on this guy, and when he finally saw that the blond was slowly dragging him closer to the soldiers in spite of all the hassle James was giving him, there was no doubt that if he didn't get away from them, that would be it for James. If he couldn't fight one guy off ... it was game over.

A helicopter overhead reminded James that most — if not all of it — might be broadcast, which meant that if it was, their Dad was more than likely watching. He needed to get away from this guy. Fast. Before he could overthink it - or the blonde could make more progress, James twisted his arm and got a hold of the guy below the belt - just to grab a handful of whatever he could and twist. Predictably, the blonde did not appreciate it, though instead of letting him go, he dropped, falling over James enough that he couldn't just shake loose of him. He could hear Tommy working his way closer - which was good. A few seconds with Tommy outside of a dampener would cure all the stupid this monster was dragging around with him, but … Tommy needed to get to him first - and the solders with their dampening zones were making that frustratingly difficult.

But then James got enough of an opening to make it a clear shot when he kicked the guy just above the outside of his knee as hard as he could. He was hoping that they were in one of the dampener zones when he did it — then he might have a chance to stop the guy. But outside of getting in a few good shots that made the creep let him go for a moment — and get a new grip on him — it wasn't enough.

The blonde caught James' fist when he threw a punch and James popped his claws through the guy's hand. The blonde started to twist his wrist — and it was enough to force James' arm out and away even though he wasn't holding James' fist. His free hand darted up and wrapped around James' throat as he picked him up and slammed him against the back of a pickup truck that was parked in the street. The guy was strong enough, that it both felt and looked effortless on his part as he slammed James a few times, chuckling low the whole time as he knocked James silly. And every time James hit his head, he lost a little more of his ability to do anything but try to pry the blond's hand off of his neck.

Rachel could barely see what was going on — and more scary than the fight itself to her was the sounds coming from the fight. At first, from her angle, all she could see was the two guys brawling. Terrifyingly, the growls and honest snarls were hair raising - especially when she knew her little brother didn't really do that. But … when she heard the cracks as James was thrown around … followed by the drop off of what she knew well enough was James' growls, she set their team to work to get rid of their idiotic dampeners. She couldn't risk her team - her family - and the only way to be effective was for them to be able to use what they had been born with to fight back an army.

Billy hated that Rachel was right, too … and it seemed like just about the time he'd get a spell well under way, a dampener would pop up near them destroying his spell and honestly pissing him off worse. But the group of them could get rid of the dampeners that were keeping them back from James. He just hoped he didn't have to do something drastic if they'd taken him by the time they got their job done.

Another hard crack echoed the street and James' growl fell off entirely. He was seeing double and he could smell and taste blood as he mentally catalogued 'massive head trauma' just to keep himself awake. The angle that the blonde had James pinned was an awkward one and it was everything James could do to hold the guy at bay. He was pushing with the arm the guy had a hold of, though he couldn't keep pressure up forever when the angle was so bad and his free arm was still busy trying to pry the guy's fingers from around his throat. James started to panic freshly when the blond's claws started to sink into his neck so he did the only thing he could and popped the claws on his free hand to stab the guy high in the chest.

The grip around his throat disappeared— fast enough to leave claw marks as the guy grabbed James' wrist before he could twist it or draw back and James leaned toward him to try and get some leverage to get loose. He never saw it coming when the blond shifted the arm that was pinned by his claws to simply snap James's claws clean off.

A small battalion of soldiers whistled and cheered as James couldn't stop the scream that followed a knee wobbling wave of nausea that had him losing what little ground he had. While he was still reeling, the blond reached out and repeated the action with James's other set of claws leaving him effectively weaponless while the guy manhandled him. And every movement the blond made was accented as he ripped into James' flesh with long, curved, razor-sharp lion's claws.

The soldiers were only a few buildings away and it was clear to all of the kids that they were set to recover. There were two different choppers coming in low, looking for a place to land and seeing them moving in had James more desperate than he had been before. He tried to rally, knowing he was losing, and raged, roared, and pushed as hard as he could, but when the blond had him by a foot in every direction, and James had lost so much steam … he honestly didn't have the strength. He could hardly remember feeling so helpless, and for an instant, he considered giving up. But only for an instant.

As he pushed hard to angle away from the truck, his opponent pushed harder until James couldn't stop the cry of pain as his wrists were crushed when the blond pushed him into another pin. It was rough and only worked by virtue of James just being done. He had no room to move and the hair on his neck moved from the simple action of the blond breathing. He was working hard to hold James, even if he had already essentially won, James wasn't making it easy on him to keep holding him. When James glanced up to meet the guy's gaze, the blond's lip curled back in a cruel sort of snarl inches away.

James frowned harder while the blonde smiled crookedly with a wicked sort of glint in his eyes that only looked nastier as James struggled to pull his wrists free, though he held his breath in a panic when he thought he heard someone talking through a comm that wasn't his. It was whisper quiet, even to James' ears, but it quickly echoed louder when the blonde rasped out 'that's it. Keep fighting …'m gonna tear your throat out.' James held his breath and his body went into autopilot. He wasn't even thinking, and he certainly wasn't planning as he went for the only move that was available to him to get blondie to back off when he was winning.

He wasn't growling anymore as he stared at the blond inches from his face. And since force simply wasn't moving the mountain, James blinked twice, thought about it for every bit of a tenth of a second, then tipped his head and kissed him hard, square on the mouth.

From there a few things happened very quickly. The blond startled back - shocked enough to let James go entirely - which was just enough time for James to register that Tommy had positively hit the ground nearby laughing himself silly in spite of the severity of their situation. James had glanced at Tommy with a frown, then gathered his senses up enough to kick the blonde back a few paces and an instant later the blonde had come completely unhinged and attacked him again - all claws and teeth and rage. His first strike knocked James into the pickup truck hard enough to move the truck almost entirely across the street with him. He felt several bones break with the impact, and he couldn't move his legs when he hit the ground after the truck came to a stop.

When James was unable to draw a decent breath … he knew more than a few things were definitely broken from the pounding he'd taken. He couldn't quite move from that last injury - and as the blond charged with a snarl with spittle dripping from his lips, there was a whole lot of blue light all around James suddenly and the blonde didn't touch him. James turned his head to watch what was happening since he had nothing to contribute in his current state. He could see that Billy was handling that situation neatly both looking and sounding entirely furious while James was overwhelmed from the sudden drop off of adrenaline and the sense that regardless of what these people thought, the battle was over now. Yes, they were still in danger, but Billy was doing his shock and awe thing while Tommy, Nate, and Rachel had the soldiers confused, and a moment later, Mia appeared just a few feet away from James to lay a hand on his shoulder ready to teleport him away if need be.

"What's broken?" Mia asked with wide eyes. "I heard something crack."

"Oh, I don't know," James said, then paused when he realized exactly how much was hurting or bleeding even as his body stitched itself back together. His claws were gone - lying on the ground bloody and within sight. His wrists had been crushed, his ribs and back ached when he breathed and he was pretty sure one leg wasn't operating right at all, though at least he was starting to feel his legs again. He touched his ear then cringed not only from the action itself, but when he saw he was still bleeding from his ears, too. Instead of his usual bluster, James sunk down onto the concrete. "Maybe everything. I just … I'm gonna just stay right here for a while."

There was another flash of blue light not too unlike lightning as Mia tried to rearrange James all the same. "I think your boyfriend is a little jealous," Mia said at a whisper. Which was exactly when there was an echoing, sharp-sounding snap and every mutant that the team had rescued -all of whom were still wearing a collar that Mia couldn't pick - dropped where they stood.

None of the kids seemed to realize what had happened for a moment, and it was Nate who cautiously reached out to one of the kids they'd helped this far. He paled a moment later and stared at his sister wide-eyed as the realization hit the rest of them.

But it was the worst move those soldiers could have made.

Billy's eyes glowed brighter and with a word that none of them quite understood, Billy closed his fist and every scrap of weaponry and communication device rocketed away from the soldiers as the men themselves dropped to the ground unconscious. It didn't matter what material it was made of - if it was a weapon or something capable of broadcasting or transmitting … they lost it.

The weapons all came to rest in a pile under Billy's feet, and though the act in itself was an impressive display of power, Rachel couldn't help but frown at one small section of metal that was covered in blood. Nothing else was bloodied … but that …

She took a few steps toward Billy as he scowled menacingly at the soldiers, hands still outstretched and searching for more from any hiding opposition. It wouldn't be hard for anyone to see the similarities between Billy and Magneto right then.

Rachel knelt down to look at the bloodied metal. "What is this thing?" she asked no one in particular before she started scanning the unconscious minds around her. She knew no one in their team would know. She didn't know if the men in unmarked black suits would would know either, so she tried those that seemed to have been the biggest key players - starting with a commander just a few hundred yards away.

"What do we do with them now?" Tommy asked as he kicked one of the soldiers that was starting to stir.

"Call in SHIELD," Nate said, looking worn for wear, but incredibly relieved that this fight was over.

"No," Billy replied, barely looking at Nate before he concentrated on one wave of soldiers and made them disappear. "We put them where they belong."

"Wait," Nate said, wide-eyed at the large swath of missing soldiers, but before he could say another word another platoon worth of them had disappeared to who knows where.

By that time, Rachel was kneeling next to the massive blonde and going through his mind with a frown the deeper she looked. Before Billy could fully turn toward them, she reached out to him telepathically. Wait. You need to see this. Since Billy wasn't following their usual protocols of discussion or permission, Rachel pulled his consciousness with her into the blonde's mind to see what the man had been thinking only to find that there was a massive void from several years earlier. The only thing in the blackness were a few muddied images of missions that he'd been on - but very little of that was lucid thought - and what was lucid thought was a panicked overtone as he did unspeakable acts to what looked like innocent mutants.

He's not in control of himself, Rachel told Billy as they left the blond's mindscape. We need to take him to the tower. Betsy can help figure out what's going on with him, but I'm telling you … there is no memory of what he was doing to James. Someone else was in control.

How? Billy asked, still livid, though tempered since he knew Rachel wouldn't lie to him.

I don't know, Rachel admitted. But I think it has something to do with that bloodied … thing. And that … that … might be the same kind of thing that killed those kids.

Not that her answer had Billy looking any less livid. Fine. I want to know who this guy is before I send him with the others.

"Um … quick question," Mia said, holding one finger up. "Where … are all those soldiers?"

Billy frowned, and the glowing light from his eyes finally faded. "Genoshan prison, of course."

"But … we're not Genoshan," Nate pointed out, looking past Billy at James, who was fighting to stay semi-conscious as he remained where he was, stretched out and bleeding.

"They attacked us," Billy said, then belatedly gestured to himself and his brother. "And it's the one place that will make sure they pay for their crimes."

"See? Totally jealous," Mia laughed in a whisper to James.

"Nah," James said, wincing as he tried to find a comfortable position. "He'd do that for anyone."

"Oh wow, you have some serious head trauma," Mia snickered, though there wasn't much joy to it when James was still that torn up. "You need a new uniform," she pointed out. "And clothes for the ride home."

James had his eyes closed as he tried not to move. "Explains why I'm cold …" He picked up his head and looked toward his feet, which were bare before he set his head down again. "Did he knock me out of my boots?"

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but he knocked you all over the place," Mia said. "The claws were a … um … scary addition. When did you practice with them?"

"I didn't," James said, then tented one hand over his eyes. "Which is probably why I sucked so bad and got my ass kicked six ways to Sunday."

"That and that guy's a futzing wall," Kate said.

"At least I kept most of my mask this time," James said dryly in a weak attempt at a joke when there was very little else left of his uniform. Things inside were stitching themselves up, which meant there were still open, non-life threatening injuries that were bleeding. And his arm and hands were raw feeling for how much they hurt.

Just as they were turning their attention to each other, Tommy realized - and pointed out to the others - that the jet was on fire, which left them open and stranded. Even if it was just still in the city. "We need a new 'exit strategy' or something," Tommy said as Billy finally crouched down next to James. Billy still looked angry, but now it was tempered with concern over how injured James was.

"I can catch a cab if you're not done being impressive and all 'tremble, puny humans'," James said, then cringed sharply and sucked in a breath when Billy touched him.

"I can get you to safety better and faster than a cab," Billy said, though it was obvious he didn't know how to proceed when James was still in extreme pain.

"Just don't forget to magic that … thing to James' lab," Rachel said. "We need to know what it is."