A/N - Happy February !

Chapter 67: Family, Friends, And Admirers

After the latest daily session with Craig, Hank, and Scott headed back to Scott's house for one more bit of business: packing the place up and securing it for a few months. The truth was that it really was far easier for the X-Men to keep a constant eye on Scott if he was in Westchester - and more than that, they were making the case that it was beyond time for Scott to rejoin the family.

With two telekinetics and Billy on their moving team, it didn't take much time at all to get everything packed up. The boys would be moving too, and it was decided that James would drop Nate at his school for football practice on his way to his internship so that Nate didn't have to change schools when he'd worked so hard to get on the football team and he really did like his high school.

James was fully on board for the temporary move as he had been struggling already to keep out of the public eye since Tony's unveiling. He'd had a few interactions with perfect strangers on the street in Manhattan that he'd called 'sketchy' though Nate insisted they were amazing for how wildly enthusiastic some of them were - but neither of them would elaborate for Scott or Natasha. As a result, James was once again wearing an inducer more often than not when he wasn't in the house or at the tower.

What Scott wasn't expecting about the move, though, was the reception once they got to Westchester.

Most of the X-Men -old and new - were there to help Scott and his family move in, but he hadn't even gotten through the door before Kitty had rushed over to hug him, knocking him back a couple steps before he hugged her back. "Woah, hey," he said. "What's the deal?"

"Just … really happy to have you home," Kitty said.

"Says the girl who's been living on Genosha," Scott said, shaking his head, even as he wrapped her up a little better.

"Alright fair, but … who came home first?"

"Hey, I had kids to worry about," Scott defended.

"Kids that would have been horribly threatened around other kids." Kitty rolled her eyes. "Even though the kids here think they're big fat superheroes. And they are."

"Don't forget, one of those superheroes tried to set me up with his history teacher," Scott said. "I'm convinced that's a big part of why he doesn't want to leave his school. That and the football team."

"I'm pretty sure that there's no rule that says that he has to go here."

"There isn't and he's not," Scott said. "He's sticking with his school come fall, even if my therapist doesn't want to give me the all clear by then." He shrugged. "It's an inconvenience for the boys," he said, his tone making it obvious he was bothered by it. He hated the idea that his issues were affecting the kids, even with something as simple as making them commute short term.

"Scott, even though it is just for the summer, they'll love it here," Kitty said, shaking her head at him. "And you know it. We're totally going to spoil them rotten."

Scott smirked lightly - but it was hard to argue it when the other X-Men were making such a show of welcoming the Summers family to the institute. Still, the smirk fell when he looked around the place. "It's different," he said. "Being here."

"It's home," Storm said, announcing herself to the two of them as she arrived as well. "And it's been too long, Scott."

"Thank you for letting us come here," Scott told her.

Ororo smirked, especially since it hadn't been Scott's decision in the first place, so there was no reason for him to act like he was imposing. "You've always been welcome," she told him before she wrapped him up in a warm embrace, then stepped back with both hands on his shoulders. "Now, let's get you settled in."

With Ororo's arm around Scott's shoulders, they headed over to unload Scott's truck as well as James' Jeep. The older X-Men were stretching a little with their powers to make the move-in section go a little faster.

It was strange for Scott to watch, because it reminded him of all the times that he and the team had rebuilt the mansion, and for a moment, he was caught in the past - until he heard the boys bickering beyond him.

"No, you can not drive the Jeep in for practice tomorrow," James told Nate. "I already promised we could stop for coffee, and I'm not letting you wreck it. Especially not on the first day." The two boys were carrying the last of their boxes up to their room. "Besides, you still stall it every time you try to shift."

"Hey, I need the hours to get my license, and I'm not gonna learn if I can't practice."

"So get them with the truck," James said. "With Dad or Rachel. You know you need someone over 18 with you for official time anyhow."

"Oh, come on," Nate groaned as the boys continued up the stairs and Bobby slowed to a stop, watching them pass.

"Okay, that is gonna take some getting used to," Bobby said, laughing as he rushed to help Scott with the box of his things - the last thing from the truck. "Kid looks like Logan but reasons like you."

"Hey, I raised him," Scott pointed out. "What did you expect?"

"Yeah, yeah. And it's great," Bobby said, letting it drop as the two of them watched the boys go. For a moment, the air hung heavy with the past as both of the first X-Men felt the weight of the years and the loss, and yet … that, more than anything else was enough to prompt Bobby into unloading what was on his mind. "So… we're getting the team back together."

"Looks like."

Bobby watched Scott for a second and then let out a breath and decided not to push like he'd originally intended. He was still kind of freaked out at how bad off one of his best and oldest friends had been around any discussion of the team that they'd started out on together, so Bobby decided to back off - but he was pretty sure if they could get past this, maybe they could get back to the way things felt back then too.

Yeah, a lot had changed in Westchester. Yeah, there was still a shadow over all of them that were missing so many of their old team. Yeah, it was really hard to see Rachel and James and not call them Jean and Logan. Bobby really didn't know how Scott had been managing all this time. But … none of that was something that could be helped. And it wasn't important anymore. What was important was that everyone was home.

Hydra had been aiding and assisting the MRD that had been so thoroughly decimated when Jean had gone on her rampage. The MRD itself had seen massive funding cutbacks after that fiasco - especially considering that so many mutants had simply run to Genosha for safety. There had been little need for a whole government agency … so Hydra had stepped in to help eliminate the problem. They'd been quiet at first, but everyone in the mutant community knew that the MRD was nothing more than a legitimate front for Hydra.

Which, was always destined to put them on the Avenger's radar. But Hydra had been careful, quiet, and subtle in what they did around anyone that didn't outright disappear. At least … they were until Tony made his announcement with James. Now they were stirring up anti-mutant sentiment and trying to turn the racist leanings against Tony and his Avengers, though Tony insisted that was an uphill battle. They were in the minority - but it was a very loud and violent minority that was growing in membership with every passing, hateful rally.

The first wave of Avengers against Hydra was the 'A' team, of course. They were most familiar with the opposition, most prepared to deal with the energy weapons when wielded by someone who could actually aim, unlike the rioters and idiots that the kids were used to facing.

It was for all intents and purposes, a wonderful teaching moment for the Avengers to teach their young roster about Hydra, while letting them get their toes wet by playing clean up. The raid on the big, supposedly abandoned factory by the river was big enough, too, that there really was a big presence of Hydra … and SHIELD was having trouble keeping civilians far enough back with as little time as they had to prepare for this particular conflict.

It started … exactly like nearly every one of Tony's missions started - with a few armor-assisted missiles announcing their intentions by blowing out the entrance before he circled around to do the same with all the exits - effectively trapping the evil-doers inside until the Avengers and SHIELD could get to them.

But there were plenty of windows and just over ground level options for the baddies to come out and fight. Clint and Natasha were doing a fine job picking them off, but that nly lasted as long as it took for them to mobilize.

And though they'd planned on the massive warehouse being problematic … they hadn't known that the building next to it - that had been handling produce as far as the local officials were concerned - was also housing extra forces for Hydra to protect their investments.

As the Avengers got down to business at the main target - knowing that there were labs sublevel that didn't show up on the official blueprints - both buildings flanking their target opened up and let out scores of Hydra to cut off the lead Team's reinforcements.

But the reinforcements were more than happy to dive in and get some real action. Just Cable would have been terrifying on his own as he let his abilities off the chain. Before the others could react, he had hijacked fifty soldiers and turned them against their own side. Even Prestige had to look his way with a disbelieving scoff before she turned her attention on levitating the more dangerous looking ones before they could take a shot on either the Avengers or the new Avengers line up.

Tommy was quick to let a bark of a laugh slip out as he darted into the crowd that Rachel had levitated, working his way through it to find the leader. He was obviously having a blast, though partway through his controlled destruction, Mia teleported over to him. "Hey. Hold back a little."

"Yeah, I know. I am," Tommy promised with a bright smile before he demonstrated as much by cracking a Hydra officer in the mouth. "I could have hit him in the throat - but I didn't. See?"

Mia smiled, shaking her head at him before she teleported off with the officer in question to let SHIELD handle him. "All yours!" She called out, dropping the officer from several feet in the air and then disappearing before his unconscious body hit the ground.

The SHIELD agents had been slowly getting more comfortable with the kids on the team - though it was clear that some of them still held tight to the same outlook that much of the NYPD held: The kids and the Avengers were stepping outside of their jurisdiction by going in to deal with matters like this, though … SHIELD at least had proven that they weren't capable of doing anything on their own in the past over and over again. And the idea of the police stopping them alone? Laughable.

But that was day to day troubles. During an actual fight both sets of authorities were content to stay back, keep watch, and catch anyone that slipped past the Avengers' line or hold anyone that was explicitly given to them.

Between the teams, though … the more seasoned Avengers were trying to show the kids how it was done. They kept the fight above the board, and it wasn't lost on the young heroes, either. They paid attention to things like the cameras in play … both those that belonged to the press and those that belonged to private citizens and even street-level traffic cameras. It all added up - and it wasn't unusual for footage to get leaked. And the Summers kids were taking bets on which angle was going to be the culprit this time.

Explosions were becoming incredibly commonplace as Tommy continued to zip through the Hydra agent's ranks and set off the percussive grenades they had as part of their personal arsenals … while they were still attached to the uniforms.

Billy was helping him along as best he was equipped to do, which, considering how close they were, it should have been no surprise to see that Billy was finding ways to keep the paths clear for Tommy - and to direct traffic of more soldiers right into his brother's zone of destruction while stemming the flow of soldiers from leaving the building faster than the Avengers could keep up. And since that was a pretty simple affair for him, he could do that almost half heartedly while trying to put to test some of what his mother had taught him to make his spells more efficient.

James was batting clean up on those that were trying to take out his teammates - keeping guard for his siblings and Kate in particular since Billy, Tommy, and Mia were in their own groove and the most mobile out of the whole crew. His siblings had to concentrate, after all - and the more physical aggression gave James a chance to let out a little pent up frustration on some cocky Hydra and MRD creeps that had taken exception to the young Avengers in attendance.

Midway through the fight, Mia had taken a high vantage point with Kate and the two of them began working together to find the best, most insanely hard to reach spots for Kate to shoot from. When she found a perch that suited her, Mia split her efforts at playing dashing rescuer to SHIELD agents and Avengers alike. She wanted to be more aggressive in her role on the team, but after years of being the youngest in the group and having her mother warn her so harshly against getting too deeply in trouble, Mia was still working her way up to full confrontation against people that were actually trained instead of just angry civilians causing riots.

They were making a solid front, truth be told. The soldiers had weaponry, but that didn't do them a whole lot of good when Tommy and Billy were completely disrupting their ability to use those weapons … and what little got past them was handled by Nate and Rachel, though once they got the word from the adults that they needed help inside the building watching their backs, the two telepaths were more than ready to dive in and offer support. Mia and Kate shared a look, and in a heartbeat, Mia had pulled Kate and the two of them had joined Nate and Rachel- gleefully.

Kate was kind of the cherry on the cake, too - using trick arrows to suppress all sorts of large machinery and weaponry … gleefully shooting EMP's that whistled past any time she spotted Tommy slowing down or Nate slipping from his floating position. Neither option was acceptable as far as she was concerned.

"You three going to be okay out here?" Nate called out to James and the twins, not surprised one bit when Tommy was the one to answer.

"They're the ones that need to be worried. We're great."

"Yeah, okay, sure," Nate said. "Something goes wrong - tell us. We'll keep an ear open."

While James was pounding on a guy that could have given Tyler a run for his money, and the twins were wreaking havoc on the lowest level of Hydra, Nate reached out to find the mutants that they knew were hidden deeply in the complex. Rachel was watching his back as they rushed in, but the truth was that many of the more slippery Hydra agents in the building had disappeared into their snakeholes, and they needed to find the right one to follow. She pulled him along telepathically, and as he often did when he was concentrating hard, it wasn't long before Nate had gone from a floating lotus position … to an upside down floating lotus position. And Rachel was shaking her head at him. "Do you have any idea how much of a dork you are?" she asked.

"Hush. I'm trying to concentrate," Nate shot back, though he was smirking to himself.

Rachel looked over her shoulder at her brother and let out a sigh of longsuffering. "Hey Hawkeye - you got us covered?"

"Don't I always?" Kate called back with a grin, waggling her eyebrows just to get a reaction out of Rachel. And it did … at least, she gave Kate the same dry look that Scott always used when he was less than amused.

Looks like we're all consolidating, Rachel projected to Kate while around them, their more physical adults were, in fact, pairing up to protect while their more cerebral members were trying to sneak a peek deeper. Mia had switched to pure nerves … almost dancing in place and shaking her hands out as Steve, Natasha, and Clint met up with them - waiting to hear where they were headed out of the half dozen options ahead of them.

After a few precious moments, Nate flipped right side up and tipped his chin in the direction he knew the holding cells were from the minds of the men inside.

"Alright, we've got this," Steve said, holding up one hand to keep the kids from thinking that it was okay to follow. "No reason for you to see what's going on in there."

"Except … we're actually the ones trained in talking to traumatized mutants," Rachel pointed out. "Yes, you're good, but … are you holding cells full of terrified mutants good?"

"Oh, look," Natasha said with a proud smirk. "The X-Men are marking their territory."

"That's not …"

"It is, and you're right," Natasha said. "Let us lead in case it's worse than we thought. Please."

Rachel crossed her arms. "That … is reasonable, I guess."

"Think of your dad," Steve said. "He'd murder us if we gave you more for your therapy sessions."

"Like we're not in therapy anyhow," Nate grumbled, since - surprisingly, out of the three Summers kids, he'd been the most resistant to it since Genosha, and considering that he was a telepath, there wasn't a single trick any therapist could pull that he wouldn't know about going in. And he really didn't appreciate anyone telling him he needed more help - so he played along, but didn't actually actively participate.

Focus, Rachel projected to her little brother, since she knew he was a little touchy about the subject … and they still had plenty they had to do

Yah, yah, Nate grumbled. I just don't like waiting around. He was shifting from one foot to the other while the Avengers pressed into the room. Kind of our wheelhouse, right?

In their defense, we haven't seen much of experimented-on mutants, Rachel pointed out.

No, we just rescued a whole bunch of them just to watch them die in front of us, Nate said, sounding bitter before he drew in a breath, squared up and walked in after the Avengers anyhow.

Steve glanced over at the group of young heroes as he turned toward his communicator. "James, if you can get to a console, we can use a little help. Tony and Natasha are working in here, but it looks like these cages can't be accessed from this station."

Outside, things were starting to simmer down a little. But just a little. James had finally seemed to have gotten the brawling out of his system and had fallen back closer to where Billy was floating and continuing to disrupt the flow of Hydra to a point that SHIELD could manage it on their own - with Tommy's excellent help.

James had work of his own to do after all. He'd just agreed to help the group inside - if he could find a console that would give him access, that is. And if someone tried to get too close to either James or Billy while they were working and actively covering each other's backs … well, that was their mistake.

It wasn't long, though, before James was entirely transfixed on the task at hand - breaking through pathways into the programming and working hard to project to Rachel and Nate what he was finding and what they needed to do on their end to open up the cages, because of course it was a two-pronged approach to open those cages. And when the coding got to be too complex and in need of breaking on both sides, Rachel reached out to Billy to watch James' back as Nate projected to James what they were seeing on their screens. James found himself giving Nate the direction he needed to break in on his side while he was still breaking through things outside, too. It was working, but James was entirely distracted as an end result.

On hearing the suggestion, Billy turned to take in the scene around them that was rapidly shifting. It wouldn't take much to derail James' concentration, and that would be enough to hold up the rescue efforts inside - but he still didn't think anything was going to happen … until someone rushed toward them, gun drawn and aimed at his Wolverine.

It was nearly a wordless spell that sent the Hydra soldier into a hellish-looking spiral of black flames and what looked like chaos magic, but it was enough to give James a little something to see as he finished helping Nate with the hack. A smile tugged at the corner of James' mouth as the Hydra idiot wished he'd reconsidered going after Wanda's magic-wielding mini-me.

But James and Billy were still trying to keep their relationship on the Q.T. in public, so instead of the flirty tease James wanted to let slip, instead, he managed to keep it to a much more sedate, "That was so hot."

"Shut up," Billy replied quietly, though he was smiling all the same as the blush bloomed up high on his cheekbones.

"Almost done … hold please," James said. "Just need to finish up a few little presents for the team."

"Uh huh," Billy said, shaking his head to himself while James started humming. He couldn't really respond to anything, after all … not when they were on the job, anyhow. So instead of rising to the bait, he turned to watch that no one snuck up on them, floating slightly higher as his eyes and hands glowed - even doing a passable Magneto impression for how angry he was trying to look.

But James couldn't let it stand at that. He glanced up as he waited for his last commands on the console to take effect and couldn't stop himself from a little more teasing. It was too easy, after all. He shifted so he was blocking himself from any cameras that might have caught him for the rest of his gentle teasing. "You are so flippin' impressive," James said quietly with a crooked smile … just because he really had to.

"I thought you wanted to keep it quiet," Billy said, losing most of his put-on angry expression.

"Yeah, well … not like there's a big crowd yet or anything - and we're far enough out that I should be able to complement my own teammate, right?"

"Oh my God," Billy laughed, then tried to focus on the task at hand again. "You're going to blow your own sneak."

"Mmm … remains to be seen," James almost sang out as he went back to work.

To preserve himself from the teasing that would have Billy breaking form and flirting back, he drifted away slightly and focused once again on the Hydra men around them who were trying to slip closer to stop them. He'd just found what he thought was a higher up lieutenant trying to slip out when there was a sharp, arcing sound of electricity crackling in the air and a flash of light that lasted only a few seconds before James fell back from the console with a heavy thud. For an instant, Billy thought there might have been some kind of defense mechanism on the console that James had somehow missed when he saw a familiar young Acolyte rushing toward James.

Billy frowned as he started back toward where James was down and the Acolyte was working to contain him. "What are you doing?" Billy demanded - his tone shocked and livid, though it didn't quite carry the same outrage and power his grandfather threw around regularly - as the handcuffs were closed around James' wrists.

"Dealing with a traitor and opening the gates for our kind faster," the young man said, then almost belatedly put on a hard smile and swept into a falsely sincere bow. "Your highness."

Billy scrunched his nose and furrowed his brow before deciding now was the time to start a spell. He raised his hands, then let out a sound of pure displeasure when the gathering light faltered and he fell from the air as his powers sputtered out. He hit the ground hard, failing to catch himself properly when he simply wasn't prepared, and before Billy could gather his senses enough to demand an explanation, someone stepped up behind him and slapped a collar on him. He spun, angry and ready to fight hand to hand, only for the guy who had trussed up James to grab his hand and for the two assailants to get him on the ground too.

What's more, before they pulled him to his feet, one of the men put something on his head, too - and when Billy tried to project for Rachel or Nate, he was rewarded with a splitting headache and a sharper pain at the center of his forehead.

James was smoking from the electrical charge that the first Acolyte had hit him with, but before he could rouse, they gave him what had to be an identical device - clearly meant to stop telepathic interference in its tracks.

"Don't worry," one said over Billy's shoulder as they started dragging James and pulling Billy along as well. "We're taking you home, where you belong - away from the telepath's influence. You'll be free soon."

"I don't want to go-" Billy started, his lip curling around the words for how angry he was. "I belong here." All he could think of was how much he was going to make sure every single one of his grandfather's old Acolytes were going to suffer for pulling this stunt. Clearly, they didn't realize how Magneto himself would have handled it. He pulled hard and tried to get his hands loose - making it difficult for the Acolytes to drag him and sure that Tommy would destroy these idiots the moment he saw what they were up to … until he saw that they'd already managed to snag Tommy, too.

All at once, Billy was torn between scared about what was to come at the hands of these fanatics and so indescribably angry that he was swearing in Romanian … just like his mother often did.

"Did anyone manage to find the others?" A deeper voice asked, and the tone and timbre of the voice had both twins sharing a look at the familiarity. For just a second, they got a glimpse of him as they were dragged toward a stolen SHIELD transport whose edges were shimmering.

"Not yet," another replied. "The only reason we got close to the one was because the others were in the building. We'll leave someone behind to ambush."

The second speaker shouted out in pain as Tommy made contact - kicking the guy hard between the legs - then crumpled over, moaning and no longer in control of himself, though the man in charge looked pleased to see the fire … and that was enough to connect the dots for Billy.

It had been years since Billy or Tommy had been this close to Fabian Cortez, and for as devout and sociopathic as he'd been then, Wanda had been sure to keep the boys far from him. Still, Billy knew the guy had been lurking for years, following Magneto and scrabbling for whatever scraps the old man would throw his way as far as keeping people invested in the Lensherr dynasty. But he looked a lot older than what Billy supposed he should have, even at his age. Now, Cortez was white-haired, scarred up, and not nearly as burly and imposing as when Billy had last seen him up close.

But what was sticking with Billy now was the fact that even Magneto had kept the guy away from his precious princes. Nothing about this could possibly be a good thing.

Of course, that was about when Cortez turned toward Billy. "Don't worry, my princes," Cortez said as he followed them into the transport. "We'll make sure you're thinking straight again in no time, and then, we'll deal with all of the traitors that had a hand in murdering our king." An explosion sounded on the far end of the compound the Avengers had been infiltrating. "But for now, it's time to get you far away from that building before the Avengers destroy it and murder all of those mutants inside."

"The Avengers aren't going to destroy it," Tommy said. "What's wrong with you?"

Cortez turned his way with a pleasant smile. "No, they aren't … but that's what we're going to tell the world when it goes down. If any of those little miniature Avengers are caught up in it, all the better." He glared down at where James had been dropped on the floor of the transport. "I would have preferred the other two murderers were going with us, but the outcome should be the same."

Billy and Tommy shared a look, silently conveying not only the emotion both of them were dealing with but encompassing an entire silent conversation before both of them doubled down on the fight to get loose - after all, they only needed to get the collars off. The Acolytes hadn't quite gotten Billy into the plane as he threw himself around as viciously as Tommy was. Tommy was doing his best to be a pain, even going so far as to bite one of his captors, and as Cortez stepped further onto the plane, he unintentionally kicked James, paused to look down, then purposefully kicked him again - much harder.

Billy let out a wordless shout of anger, drawing Cortez' attention, then saw it for just an instant when James' eyes opened. A second later, James let out a deep, rippling snarl and swept Cortez off his feet with a well-placed kick. He kicked out again, twisting himself up to launch the guy into his own men - half of whom were half scared out of their mind at the snarl that had neatly filled up the fuselage, but Cortez wasn't phased. As soon as his men had him halfway on his feet, he dove at James and simply started pounding him bare-fisted. It wasn't a fair fight, and clearly, James had not thought it out at all, since his hands were firmly behind his back. Once Cortez had climbed over him, all he could do was struggle to move out of the path of his fists, try to throw him off - and do his best to bite him.

"Oh, okay, we're moving now," Mia said, bouncing in place for a beat before she burst forward to be right on Nate's six as he went into the room where the captive mutants were.

When they got inside, Nate only made it a few steps before he stopped short at what they found … scores of cages - cages that had clearly been meant for animals, not people - every one of them holding at least one mutant in varying states of disarray. Most of them were wearing flimsy hospital gowns that were stained with old and new blood. Very little of their appearance was hopeful - and every one of them looked either terrified out of their minds or so resigned to all that had happened to them so far that they were impassive.

"Nightcrawler," Natasha said, turning and stepping into her line of vision. "You should probably go outside."

"Take Hawkeye with you," Clint added.

'Okay, bye Dad.' was right on the tip of Kate's tongue, but when she saw how still Mia was … "Yep, let's see how the boys are doing outside. You definitely have a need for Speed right now."

"Oh, wow, yeah, that was bad, Katie-Kate," Clint said thickly.

"And considering how bad most of his jokes are," Nate said, letting the sentiment drift off.

"Okay, bye!" Kate said, then took a hold of Mia's arm, and the two of them teleported away.

Billy's attention was still on the fight on the floor of the aircraft where James and Cortez were fighting hard … the tide had shifted but not turned when James broke his hand to pull loose of the cuffs - and then immediately started trading blows with Cortez, even if the guy was drawing his power from more powerful mutants around him. The guy seemed perfectly content with the idea of beating James to death if he could.

There was a muted bamf followed by an echoing twang and Billy barely closed his eyes when he saw the blinking mechanism on the arrow shaft. Seconds after the beeping started, a shockwave washed over the inside of the plane. There was no flutter or flash, but everything electronic in the vicinity was suddenly shut down - from the cloaking mechanism on the jet to the inhibitors on the captive princes.

The instant that Billy and Tommy had access to their powers, the fight with the Acolytes and their attempted kidnapping was over. Tommy rushed to make the rounds, punishing whatever acolytes Billy didn't flatten with a shockwave that only seemed to affect those that were standing against the X-Men - harmlessly washing over Kate, Mia, Tommy, and James. Before Cortez could hit James another time, though, he'd gone stock still mid-strike, his arms hovering over his own head as Billy focused on him before, very suddenly, Cortez was simply gone.

"What are we doing with the rest of them?" Tommy asked, looking every bit as livid as Billy but more like their grandfather, if for no other reason than the fact that his hair was white.

"Can you warn Mother that the prison will have some new guests - and tell her what they did?"

"That's what I was hoping you'd say," Tommy said with a nod. "Be right back." From there, Billy turned his attention back to the Acolytes that had attacked them and waved a hand - not realizing that he was achieving the spells wordlessly when he was that focused and angry.

Kate made her way over to where James was still lying down, bloodied, half out of breath, and focusing on making sure his nose was straight before it healed up. She sat down and crossed her arms over her knees as she leaned forward. "So … your siblings are on the way up, So you know."

"I am not surprised at all," James said, then a hollow, grinding crack filled the fuselage as James broke a few bones back into place and covered half his face with both hands.

"What happened?" Kate asked, shifting to prop her chin up on the palm of her hand and not at all being sneaky as she projected everything to Nate.

"You know, I'm starting to think it's just the usual … and that maybe I was right, and that it's a mistake to do this whole … team thing," James said, shifting to a more upright position and making an effort to keep his siblings out of his head again. He wasn't entirely sure himself if he was joking or not, but he knew he didn't want to clue them in before he knew how serious or not he was. "Hardly worth all the effort Jan puts into the uniforms if I'm going to go through them like this, too."

"To be fair, this one's lasted you at least three missions," Kate pointed out, half smiling. "Looks like it's still good for one more anyhow."

"You can just say you intended on the extra hip holes," James said. "No one wants to see holes on mine."

"Okay, James. You tell yourself that," Kate said, rolling her eyes. There is no way your brother is that dense to the fact that he has a following, she projected to Nate.

You underestimate him, Nate replied. We're on our way. Really - is everyone okay up there? I mean … I can see James is being … himself, but the doubt is a recurring thing I don't want to see right now.

He's just anxious. Billy can talk him out of any stupidity he might be considering, Kate pointed out. But it might be good to talk down the twins. Sounds like it was an attempted kidnapping - looked like one, and I'd know what that looks like.

Yeah, I know. Everyone in Hydra wants you.

A few moments later, Nate and Rachel had met back up with the rest of their team just as SHIELD started to make a more aggressive effort to contain Hydra - and though the seasoned adult Avengers members were included in that push, the special agents coordinating were making a point to try and keep the kids out of it. Especially after seeing how they'd nearly managed to let them get kidnapped with no SHIELD backup.

But that left the kids slightly removed from the action and marginally closer to the growing crowd watching the events unfold behind a police line.

Billy still hadn't come down from his rage, and was trying to pull back the look on his face that had James watching him with an expression that clearly conveyed some apprehension. It wasn't that he was honestly scared of Billy in any way, he was just … concerned that he might slip the wrong way if enough bad things happened. It wasn't something that James normally thought about, but when Billy was doing such a great job of looking like his grandfather, it wasn't something he could ignore.

"Oh, look," Nate said quietly to Rachel and Kate. "He might actually have finally realized I'm right about the whole … powerful dangerous attraction angle."

"Shut up," James said, halfway glaring at his brother. "Not even close."

"I'm just saying … this one's on a better path. The older one was what happens when it all goes wrong."

James rolled his whole body as he turned away from his brother and headed to the medic to get some things to clean himself up. He was healed - dizzy, but healed - and he wanted to try to get the blood out of his nose. Everything felt like it was where it should be, but if they needed him to follow a scent, that wasn't something he could pretend through.

He was halfway through - and looking a lot more presentable with his cowl off and his face cleaned up when Mia came over to check on him. "Wiccan might maybe need to be talked down, still," Mia said quietly, knowing that the SHIELD agents nearest them wouldn't be able to hear them when she spoke so low.

James looed up at her and nodded. "When we go, I'll try."

"Try, he says," Mia countered. "You better do more than try , seeing as the reason he got so mad was half you."

"Yeah, shoulda seen that idiot coming," James said, covering for her well in case anyone was reading her lips or caught that on camera to analyze later. They were just turning to head back to the rest of the X-Men when Mia stopped, frowning outright at the crowd behind James. On seeing her expression, he started to pay a little better attention and turned, following her gaze to see what it was that had her upset.

What he saw was of line of civilians just beyond the police line straining to see what was going on. Many of them were wearing Avengers gear - a couple of them old t-shirts from Xavier's … and one of the young ladies there was being pushed back by the cops. James frowned and tipped his head slightly to try and focus on what was being said before he made his way over, and what he heard from the group generally was how much they wanted to see if the X-Men really were the X-Men.

She didn't look like she was a whole lot older than Rachel … maybe five or six years tops, and she was incredibly emotional as she begged the cop not to make her leave. "I'm not doing anything wrong!" She said, her voice wavering. "I just … I need to see-"

"You need to go home and stop getting all worked up about a buncha muties," the cop said, which was enough to get James to bristle.

"Hey, Nightcrawler, why don't you go tell my sister what's going on," James said. "I'm going to go make a bigot uncomfortable for a minute."

Mia smirked to herself and teleported off as James rolled his shoulders, ready to tear this cop a new one if he had to. He cracked his neck and started toward the commotion, not surprised when the cop didn't see him coming until he was nearly on top of them. "She do something wrong, officer?" James asked, and the cop turned with a scowl, though he startled slightly when he saw it was James and not one of the others, though the rest of the X-Men were trickling over slowly.

"None of these people need to be here," the cop said, to which James nodded.

"Did she push on the barricades?"

"What are you, her lawyer?"

"Do I need to be?"

The cop held his gaze, but James wasn't blinking or backing down. "You people-"

James started to growl, cutting the cop off, and before it could escalate, his partner took him by the arm and pulled him away. "Why don't you cover the spot Gino had?" the second cop suggested. "He did have to arrest someone for tryin' to push through."

James watched the cop go, then turned toward the little group that had stuck tight. He'd meant to ask if they were alright, if there had been a problem …. But before he could do that, the woman that had been being harassed launched into a teary-eyed explanation explaining how she'd been saved by the X-Men when she was just a kid … not long before the mansion had been destroyed and so many of the X-Men killed.

Partway through the story, Rachel and Nate caught up - both of them still hiding their identities as their father had requested, but unable to miss the story, from how strongly she was projecting it - even if they'd missed hearing it directly from her at the start.

"I know I never would have been able to grow up if it hadn't been for the X-Men," she said as she concluded her story. She looked over at Rachel, her eyes wide. "Up close, even with the mask on … you look like her. You smile like her."

Rachel looked entirely caught off guard, but smiled all the same, with no response to something that had taken her by surprise.

The young woman had been looking between all of the young X-Men, drinking them in and making her own conclusions on who was who. "They were all so kind to me," she said. "And it's not … I've seen the Avengers … they do their job, they save people too, but … the X-Men cared and kept me safe, not just saved me. They cared about everyone they helped, and treated the people they saved like family."

When she started to cry again freshly, James' shoulders dropped and he took a step closer and wrapped her up in a hug that had her letting out a breathy, disbelieving laugh as she held on tight. "Oh. You hug just like your dad," she said in just over a whisper, which only had him holding on to her a little tighter.

When the hug had met its natural end, James was sure to keep a hand on her shoulder until she could pull herself together a little better … but then it became a small thing as some of the other people closest to her started coming over to get hugs, too - or shake their hands and tell one or another of the kids a story of their own, or just how happy they were to see the X-Men going again.

Eventually, the crowd petered out on stories and the cops came back to break up the fun - though having had a chance to see the kids up close, the young woman that had kicked it off didn't argue or fight with anyone before she simply turned and left as the cops reestablished their line. The kids drifted back to the action - or where the action had been - since it was just about time to wrap it all up and the adults were starting to gather up. Clint had been standing off to the side and simply watching as the kids finished up and came back his way.

The Summers kids were, understandably, solemn as they returned to the Avengers, but Kate was feeling great after a successful mission, a successful save of her best friend and almost brother, a successful interaction with normal people at street level … all she had left to check off her list of successful things before getting into a very successful makeout session was a little bit of teasing.

"Oh. My. God," she said before they'd made it more than a couple paces from the barricades. "You," she poked James in the chest, "are a giant hug magnet."

"What's that supposed to even mean?" James asked, not sure if it was time to rise to the bait or not.

"It means, my friend, that people are clearly tripping over themselves to get a hug from you! I thought it was just kids, which … I mean, that is totally a thing, but I didn't realize it was true for adults too."

"Kate," James said easily, half smirking her way. "I think you need your eyes checked. I hugged her first. Not the other way around."

"Yes, but - it started a chain reaction. They could have hugged another X-Man first if they were just in need of snuggles, but they were waiting for turns hugging you." She was grinning brightly. "She missed the hugs that Logan gave her … and you hug just like he does. Apparently."

"Did you miss your shot at a hug from him when he was here?" James asked quietly.

"Yes. Because he was too busy hugging you. And … my mom and most of Westchester, too."

"Maybe she and this girl should start a support group," James deadpanned.

"Only if you're going to be there to hand out hugs when it's over," Kate shot back. "It'd be your new full time job from the sounds of things. 'Sorry, Uncle Tony, you'll have to find a new future CEO. This one has decided to hand out hugs instead.'"

"Sure, Kate," James said before he bumped her shoulder. "It must be really amazing in your head - with all the fiction and drama."

When they got back to Clint, Billy and Tommy were standing with their heads together talking quietly and sure to keep their backs to Clint to ensure it remained private.

James bumped Kate's shoulder then stepped over to the twins. "Guys, you done deciding the fates of a bunch of jerks?"

"Not our call," Billy said, though he was trying to relax. "That's up to Mom."

"Oh, okay," James said in an almost perky tone. "So they're dead now."

Tommy broke into a grim smile. "I wouldn't bet against it."

"Then we should probably get away from the crowd and do the walk with the old people," James said, which had both twins relaxing a little more as they headed toward the transport … which was easily in view of the gathering crowd.

But what no one expected was that as the kids got closer to the jet, a smattering of applause started up, then grew quickly to whoops and cheers … but not until after the big-name A-listers were on board. Most of the kids didn't know quite what to do, but … all they needed to do was follow Billy and Tommy's lead - which only had the crowd and the press going nuts.

"We are so going out once we get changed," Nate said over Kate's shoulder.

"Yes. Yes we are. That's so overdue," she giggled, and unlike Billy and James … they had no trouble with a little PDA for their adoring fans to gush over.