A/N - PracticallyAnAvenger & XMenOverAvengers - thanks so much for the reviews! I know I said I was going to be a little quicker about putting out updates, but things have shifted in real life at work and I barely have time to eat, sleep, work, repeat, let alone write or rave. So ... I'm working on it. Promise. PAV - there is a lot going on I know. It's horrible what happened to those kids. Yes, it's going to be something else when Dadclops gets the full picture ... he's a smart guy. He'll figure it out. I'm more worried about what Wanda will say/do/decide. Truly. XOA - To be short, it was Katarina. I'm not mean enough to let Viper cougar him. Eew. No.
Chapter 96 - Telepaths
When Rachel got to James' room, she wasn't at all surprised to find that James and Billy were wrapped around each other. James was drifting -and ready to pass out, so she knew she was right to rush. Billy, however, looked as if he was going to be up for a while thinking all of it over as the adrenaline crash really set in.
"Hey little brother, you need to eat now," Rachel said, trying to push James into doing so before he crashed. She'd never seen him this badly hurt before, but she knew after the first time he'd used his claws or when he'd fought so hard with Tyler that extreme stress or massive injury could take him out for a while.
"Not hungry," James muttered, his eyes half drifting closed, though he still looked tense even with Billy trying to soothe him, flinching away from Billy's touch and trying to stop himself from doing so.
"Eat anyhow," she said, looking to Billy to encourage him, but Billy wasn't too inclined to make him do anything when he couldn't get him to relax. "Maybe you can tell me some of what happened?"
"Do you want me to talk or eat, Rach?" James asked, eyes closed as he reached for a sandwich. "I can only do one."
"Eat. Please."
Without another word, James did just that … and only as much as he thought he could get away with. On a good day, Rachel had a hard time getting James to eat anything, let alone all she'd brought for them before he couldn't stay awake another second. He closed his eyes, then shifted away from what Rachel had brought in as she tried to last-second keep him going, then he slipped face down and flat from the seated position he'd been in away from Billy and half curled in on himself, sleeping soundly by the time he did so.
"What happened?" Rachel asked Billy, frowning at how thoroughly James had already crashed. "Did you see what she did to him?"
"Some of it," Billy admitted, then shifted to watch James sleep while he tried to find his own appetite. "She separated us before long and all we could do was listen to him screaming sometimes." The two of them stared at James, and Rachel tried to look into his memories, but his defenses were as tight as ever - maybe even more so when he was protecting himself. "She took his eye on the first day." He thought it over for a long moment. "I wouldn't be surprised if she took it more than once for how crazy she was acting around him."
Rachel hesitated, but decided that she really wanted to know what had happened, so she very gently asked "Will you tell me what happened to you and Kate, or show me if you don't want to talk?"
Billy paused at that, though. "I'm kind of trying to process … and I just … I've spent all this time listening to James screaming when I could hear him at all. I need a minute before reliving that, okay?"
Rachel blinked as she got her bearings, then nodded silently. "Just … reach out if you need anything. And try to get him to eat, if you can."
"I think we missed our window on that," Billy said as he covered James up with a blanket.
"Maybe," Rachel conceded, leaning in the doorway as she watched her brother. "So … when you get your bearings, please let me know. I want to hear what happened, okay? And if you don't want to talk about it, I'm okay with just looking if you'll let me. You won't have to think about it or concentrate on it at all if I do that, alright?"
"Sure," Billy agreed, though he settled in a little better, still feeling like he'd been caught up in a whirlwind. "Just not yet. Okay?"
Rachel nodded, then stepped out and closed the door behind her. She leaned against it for a moment before blowing out a breath… she knew perfectly well that every one of them would end up giving a different debrief … unless they were lying, then it would all match up. Especially when she knew they had all been isolated at one point or another. There was no way they all had exactly the same experiences. And every one of them was going to need professional help to get through it, she was sure.
As much as she wanted to go listen to Kate's side of things, it was bugging her more and more how uncooperative she knew James was going to be, short of making sure the other two were safe, so, while he was passed out - not asleep, even if it looked the same - Rachel found a quiet spot and got comfortable, intending to push the boundaries of her powerset to see first hand what had happened via James' memories.
She settled in alone after dodging a very angry Tony Stark, who was advocating for a bigger counterstrike on one phone while pushing to speak privately to the dean of James' college immediately. So at least she knew that side of things would be taken care of for her brother … so she could focus on his mind better while everyone else was worried about his body and his future. And everything else.
The only problem was that in order to get past his natural defenses, she needed to push a little harder than usual, and it wasn't long into her push that she found herself naturally tapping into the Phoenix powers as if the flames were an extension of her mind - less the leap that it was to touch even a few months earlier. Practice, it seemed, had her more in touch with the fiery being, and the Phoenix was eager to see what had happened to Rachel's little brother. That had her powerset supercharged enough to finally slip into James' memories without waking him.
It wasn't as easy as stepping into other people's minds, but it felt a lot easier than what she was used to with her brother … and once she was there, she had to take a moment to orient herself … everything had changed in his mindscape. The freshest, nastiest memories were easiest to find since James still hadn't had a chance to process everything that had happened to him when Billy and Kate weren't around.
She was fuming when she saw how indistinct most of the torture was … blending together and nearly constant for most of the time he was gone … little details like Katarina or some other underling taking over when Viper needed to rest, while not giving James even the time to sleep … Rachel was honestly surprised to see that her brother wasn't more screwed up.
She saw much of what Viper did, and some of what Katarina did, too … even though it blended … but what was more pressing was she saw through James' point of view the intention that Viper had behind her tortures and how not only had it been horrific for him, and that Billy was right in guessing that Viper hadn't removed an eye (or two) just once… but the fact at some point, James and Viper had just … built off each other with every passing hour.
Viper had gotten further than she'd initially expected to with James - and she'd been pleasantly surprised when James had agreed to do what she wanted about halfway through if only she let Billy and Kate walk - with no further harm done. He'd been perfectly willing to give himself up to whatever madness Viper had planned, but the sticking point had been too much of a loophole for Viper to agree to. Instead of working with the deal James had offered, she decided to try and push him - through torture and abuse, hoping that enough of it would have him breaking. But the harder Viper pushed to force him to abandon his clause on Billy and Kate's safety, the harder James dug his heels in and refused to cooperate. At all. Even entirely blinded and with Viper abusing his other, further heightened senses, James refused to budge.
But that only had Viper more obsessed and pushing hard enough that even her assistants had questioned how wise it was to keep going. They were questioning how possible it was for Viper to keep him when her pushing only resulted in an increasingly more stubborn, growling, defiant young man that was less easy to manipulate the more she insisted. But only when Billy and Kate's lives were in the balance.
What surprised Rachel the most was when Viper threatened to kill Billy and Kate to teach James a lesson … everything shifted in the negotiations. Including Viper's reaction. James' growl had gone deeper - and instead of taking in the threat with fear, it looked more like a challenge that shifted into a threat from James. "Kill either of them and I'll let you think you won," James had told her. "I'll make sure I destroy everything you've ever loved before I come after you and when I do, I'll make sure you burn slow."
The threat had clearly unsettled Viper if her total change in expression was anything to go by. Gone was the cocky look she wore when she was enjoying torturing him. She could feel James' rage teetering on the edge of something terrifying, begging Viper to push him just a little bit more.
But that was when Viper changed her tactics … and instead of threatening Kate and Billy, she doubled down on hurting him. As if doing so was rebuilding her confidence. Or at least redirecting James from that level of murderous intent.
As Rachel was really getting caught up in the emotions James had felt and the vivid memories of the pain, she was jolted out of her thoughts when the sprinkler system kicked on and doused her with actual cold water.
She swore loudly and patted out the flames sizzling against the water that fell from above, then closed her eyes tightly as she focused on getting a grip on the Phoenix that had obviously fed from the emotions rolling off of her little brother. Then, once the flames were out, Rachel started swearing freshly - and more enthusiastically when she realized her father would know exactly what had happened without so much as a word spoken.
She darted out of the room she had been in to meet Billy as he opened the door to James' room, frowning at the water everywhere a moment before he muttered a wish under his breath that turned off the fire suppression system. "Was that you?" he asked.
"Yeah," Rachel admitted, pushing wet locks of red hair out of her face. "Got out of hand."
He looked over his shoulder then held the door open more for Rachel to see inside. "He hasn't moved a muscle," Billy told her. "Even with a cold shower."
"He's got a lot to heal from," Rachel said in a sigh. "Just … keep track of him. I need to find Dad and hope he didn't have a heart attack from me going all … firebird for a second there."
"Why would you do that now?" Billy asked, frowning slightly, which had Rachel blushing and Billy put it together pretty fast after that. "I want to know what she did, too. And I don't think he's going to talk to me about it."
"No, I don't think he'll talk to anyone," Rachel agreed. "But that just makes this more questionable for me to share it. I don't … I shouldn't have looked."
"Yeah, that sounds like something I need to know," Billy said before he focused to dry out everything around them with a quick spell. "I'm just going to go keep an eye on him."
"Call if you need anything," Rachel said, then tapped her temple. "I'll be listening."
She was quick to find Scott who was waiting for her and looking anxious and a little green.
"Are you okay? What happened ?" He asked while taking stock of her, looking for any sign of further trouble.
"I pushed and peeked at James's memory. I'm fine. He's … well, he's not. Fine. At all. Not that we expected him to be. ." When Scott opened his mouth, Rachel held up a hand to stop him before he got too far. "This will all go faster if I just show you."
Scott barely considered it before agreeing, and in a quick influx of information, Rachel showed him everything she'd gathered of James' memories of his time spent with Viper, her kids, and her apprentices. The tortures that stuck out enough over the background of misery for the time that Viper had him - the things she said, the actions she took - all of them were horrific and unspeakably cruel - and some of them bad enough that he was already trying to block them away behind a wall of repression, but using James' senses against him particularly screwing with his eyes…
Rachel had to take a step back for a moment when Scott couldn't hold back the harsh memories of how painful it had been when Magneto took his cybernetic eyes … Scott was pretty sure that digging out real ones had to be worse. Especially when done repeatedly. The fact that James wasn't healing right yet, paired with the fact that he was still missing an eye had Scott convinced that she'd wanted to make that particular injury permanent. And that left him wondering if she had. Hank had his estimations, of course, but they were just that … guesses.
"You're going to get Dr. Hale in, aren't you?" Rachel asked Scott quietly. "He really needs help."
"Yeah, we just need to wait and see when James wakes up. Could be hours, could be days," Scott replied. "But I'm not interrupting him when he's healing from so much."
"He crashed before I could get him to eat. Said he wasn't hungry, grudgingly had part of a sandwich, then fell asleep."
Scott sighed as he thought it through, realizing that in this, he was more like his mother than his father, and very likely dealing with an unhealthy dose of anxiety to go with his trauma. "Then after he wakes up, he probably won't sleep for a week," Scott said finally. "In the meantime, we need to make sure all three of them have everything they need to get beyond this."
"I already asked Tyler to check in on Billy and Kate when he gets here," Rachel told him. "And he should be here any minute. He just had to get in from his college class that he left early."
"Alright, let me know if anything changes," Scott said in a sigh, rubbing his temples.
"Let me know if you find out anything before I do," Rachel said before she popped up on her toes to throw her arms around his neck for a hug and hold on tight - which was exactly what Scott needed too.
As Scott had predicted, Wanda showed up sooner than later. But when she couldn't wake up either Billy or James and saw the damage that still lingered, clinging to both boys, she came out of the room and took stock of everything around her first. "What's happened here?" she asked, looking both lost and angry.
"The boys and Kate ran into some trouble with Viper," Scott said, then gestured for her to follow him into the kitchen. "You should stick around to hear what happened. I heard you had some trouble with Latveria."
"I had to control myself when we got out," Wanda admitted. "Victor may not have any qualms about abusing magic and science, but I would rather not have anything backlash against me from a fit of rage." She turned to look down the hall where she'd just been to see Billy and James. "Where is Viper? I don't need magic to torture her as badly as she did to them."
"We're not sure. She got away before we could get to her," Scott said. "But I'm on it."
Wanda thought about it, but fell short of simply using her magic to deal with things. She was exhausted herself from her own ordeal, and now her focus was on her son, his boyfriend, and their best friend. "Is Billy alright?"
"He's a little banged up," Scott said. "I'm sure Hank can give you a better idea of what happened, but … he's more shaken up that he used his magic to kill two people." Scott gave her a meaningful look as Wanda let that sink in.
"As a byproduct of a spell or -"
"No."
"Oh, that …that may have some backlash."
"Yeah. I remember. So, stick around," Scott said. "We haven't gotten the full story yet. We still need to hear from Billy. Kate already talked. Rachel looked into James' memories - he's probably not going to talk at all."
Wanda frowned and then took Scott's arm. "So tell me what you know and let me talk to my son when he wakes up."
Rachel was rubbing her forehead as she made her way back toward her room, a headache building behind her eyes that had more to do with trying to hold back fire than with all the stress she was under - though that, too, played a large part in how crummy she was feeling. She almost missed Tyler asking where he should go first as she passed him, but caught herself just long enough to point the way to where he could find Billy first since he had something broken.
But the moment of reprise hadn't lasted long. As she watched Tyler go, her mind went back to everything she'd seen in James' mind. She had shown her dad everything… except… she hadn't given him the glimpse of what she'd seen James already trying desperately to repress. She'd given her father the overview; she hadn't shown him Katarina trying her hand at differently-poisoned lipsticks and injections to see what worked best to make James compliant and docile enough for long enough to let him unwillingly play the part of her husband on a leash, though what she'd seen had made it clear that nothing Katarina and Viper had mixed up had let him forget what Katarina had done to him under the influence. So aside from the peeks and overview, Rachel really hadn't shown her father anything else, either.
She just knew if she showed her dad that kind of abuse when he was so obviously a step away from coming undone - when he looked at James and the eyepatch and relived his own trauma, or when she also knew that he already suspected the same thing had happened to Kate…
...well, she was trying not to make anything worse than it already was.
Besides, she wanted to give James time to come to terms with everything. She knew this kind of thing in particular wasn't exactly something he'd want spread around in the first place, let alone when it was so fresh.
But she wasn't sure she was making the right call on any of it, if she was being honest with herself. Billy and Kate were projecting things that they didn't want anyone else to know, James didn't trust Rachel or Nate at all, and everyone was tearing their hair out. And she knew - she knew - that actually talking would help all three of them if they could. But that was assuming they did talk to someone. Billy seemed alright opening up, but…
Rachel pinched the bridge of her nose again. There was so much she could fix. So much she could do. And she didn't feel like she knew enough to know what she should do.
She let herself into her room and flopped down on the bed, completely absorbed in her own thoughts - at least until the door to the bathroom opened and America stepped out with her hair wrapped in a towel.
"You know, I had the water running, waiting for it to get hot, and then all of a sudden, I was drenched and wet. Know anything about that?" America asked, already climbing onto the bed beside Rachel.
Rachel shook her head, though she was having a hard time not smiling when America was giving her such a troublemaking grin the closer she scooted on the bed. "I let a little fire out, okay? I was pissed off."
"Must've been something else to get fire out of you."
Rachel brushed her hair back from her face. "I might've peeked into James's memories," she said. "And shared them with Dad, who then had a total trauma response reliving losing his eyes while I was mind-sharing with him. And that's not even touching the stuff James is hiding even though his defenses are down enough that I can see in his head at all." She hadn't meant to say more than that she'd peeked, but she was mad enough - and it was America - that it all came out in one long, frustrated, half-shout.
"That sounds like a whole new level of Summers family drama."
"You have no idea," Rachel said, turning more fully to face America, her eyes wide and illustrating the problem.
"I could …."
"Yeah, love you, babe, but I'm not subjecting you to projections of torture just because I set off the sprinkler system," Rachel said, then stuck her tongue out.
"I was thinking more of the kind of sharing that doesn't involve a third party." America managed to crack a crooked smile that she knew Rachel loved. "Just words. No pictures."
Rachel couldn't help herself; she matched the smile with a smirk of her own. "Weird pillow talk request, but…" she teased.
"You don't look like you're ready for pillow talk until you get a few things off your chest." She pulled Rachel closer so she could try and get her to relax a little bit. "So … tell me what you need to get that over with so we can move on to fun things that you obviously need."
Rachel curled into America's side, trying to keep up her good mood with a small, teasing, "Oh, if you insist," that fell away quickly when America just gave her a pointed look. So, with a sigh, she gave America an abbreviated version of what she'd seen - but, more importantly, what she'd glimpsed in James's memories and what she knew from both Kate and Nate's thoughts as well. And before she knew it, she'd told America everything she was afraid of - doing too much, doing too little, doing exactly what they needed but getting so caught up in misery that the Phoenix got loose… all of it.
"Okay … we can deal with all of that," America decided. "After they start to talk about it. But you … you need to go somewhere. With me."
"O...kay," Rachel said, wiping her eyes despite the lack of tears - but that was only because they were evaporating as fast as they came out with the fire in her eyes. "I thought we were going to stay in."
"Like I need to stay in this dimension."
Rachel smirked, intrigued despite how crummy she felt. "Now that I can get behind," she said. "What have you got planned?"
"A little place that you can hit some stuff," America said. "And then a little place where you can just … relax."
"I've mentioned how much I love you, right?" Rachel said, already starting to sit up and pull her hair back in a ponytail. "What're we hitting?"
"What do you want to hit?"
"You got anyone really deserving who screws innocent heroes for fun? Because Katarina is dead…"
America cringed. "That's pretty specific, but I'm sure we can come up with something."
"Oh good. Knew you loved me," Rachel said as she got to her feet. "Lead the way, gorgeous."
When Billy woke up a few hours after Tyler had patched him up, he quickly realized that James hadn't moved a muscle and didn't look like he was going to any time soon. However, Billy needed water … and food now that he had rested, even if he felt like his head was swimming. So, he got up and pulled another blanket up to cover James before he stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him and trying to tiptoe over to the kitchen. So he really wasn't expecting it when he found his mother there, drinking coffee with Scott and quietly discussing the situation.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're up," Wanda said, on her feet a moment before she crossed the span to put her hands on either side of his face then kissed his forehead. "You looked so comfortable, I didn't want to wake you. Come on, sit down. Eat something, and when you feel a little better, you can tell us what happened."
"We already heard from Kate," Scott said. "And we know you all had different experiences, so … when you're ready, we need to know what happened and what her desired outcome was from this."
"She wanted access," Billy said as he took a seat, trying to neatly step around telling them what had happened yet. "She had Kate to get intel on the Avengers, me for Genosha, and James for SI."
"That's all?" Scott asked, frowning because every one of those routes had already been reinforced, waiting with traps for anyone that tried to use them and Rachel and Kate were both convinced that it was much more personal than just SI.
"Isn't that enough?" Billy asked, frowning deeper, though he paused. "She had more in mind for James, but she didn't really share details with anyone."
"Just start at the beginning," Wanda suggested as she rubbed his back. "Take your time and try not to skip anything."
Billy nodded, though he wasn't sure what Wanda and Scott were looking for, if he was honest. He'd seen the way Viper played with James, and he'd seen the hell Kate had been through, and honestly, his own experience was… about what his grandfather had warned him might happen if he "continued on with the X-Men," as he put it. So it was hard for him to see what else needed saying.
He did, of course, make it a point to alert the adults to some of what he'd seen Kate dealing with, because he knew she would try to play it off. He didn't say everything, because he didn't want to step into her recovery, but… he hoped he had pointed them in the right direction, at least.
Either way, once he'd finished talking to Wanda and Scott in an official capacity, he just wanted to be with his mom, since James was still sleeping off all the crap he'd been through. So he laid his head on her shoulder, and when she recognized the look on his face, she cast a spell that brought them somewhere private.
"Glad you got away from Doom, by the way," Billy said without picking his head up. "I'm sure that was terrible too."
Wanda shrugged lightly enough that she barely moved Billy. "He wanted my power; that's what he got," she said simply.
Billy nearly snorted. "Sounds right. How'd you get out this time? Viper and Doom doesn't sound like a great team-up."
Wanda looked away from Billy for a moment and then let out a slow breath. "He didn't just want my power. He wanted the mind stone too."
"Ah," Billy said, understanding instantly. "I'm gonna go ahead and guess that didn't go well for him." When Wanda simply nodded, Billy let out a slow breath and ventured a quiet, "Yeah, well, I sorta… snapped too. And I didn't actually mean to-" He cut himself off, knowing his own powers would give away that lie. "I did mean to, but I didn't mean to actually kill anyone, if that makes sense. And I don't know why it worked."
"I'm not sure either," Wanda admitted. She paused, then turned her head to kiss his forehead. "You've always been powerful, though. Bending reality to your will. Sometimes, the rules… don't apply to us."
"Which is exactly why people like Viper and Doom want a piece," Billy said, making a face.
Wanda nodded, though she let that part of the conversation drift off. They could look into Billy's power surge - if that's what it was. But that could be done later. For now, she wanted to circle back to something else. "I'm honestly impressed with your restraint. I'd have been more creative if I was going to kill someone," she said, teasing him to soften the fact that she wasn't going to let him not talk about what he'd done.
Billy saw what she was doing, though, and shook his head at her. "Not funny, Mom."
She let her smile drop. "I just-"
"I know, but I… I don't even want to joke about torturing anyone to death, okay?"
Wanda's shoulders dropped. "Of course," she said, though in the silence that followed, she was trying to figure out how to help. Billy had always been the more sensitive of her boys, and she knew he couldn't have been dealing with this well -if at all.
Thankfully, she didn't have to come up with anything more to say - Tommy arrived not far into the long stretch of silence, running past them and then backtracking. "Oh, hey, found you," he said with a crooked grin. "Everyone's taking their turns talking to the team leaders about what happened, and I figured you'd be hiding after that." He dropped down onto the bench on Billy's other side. "So, how come you didn't wish 'em out of existence? Seems way more efficient. You know. Having lived that."
"Are you ever going to let that go?" Billy asked.
"Nope!" Tommy said brightly. "I was zapped into the Great Beyond, my friend. You don't get to walk that off." He'd meant it as a tease, but when he saw his brother's shoulders drop - because of the implications of the deaths he'd caused - he backtracked. "But, I mean, it's different zapping your brother for being a pain and killing off two totally evil torturers who had it coming. Kinda surprised you left Vojteck standing, considering how he stalked you for forever."
"It … the other two were worse, okay?" Billy said in a half-hearted mumble.
"Yeah, you were madder at them in the moment, I get it. Just seems like a waste to only get two out of three if you're going to break the rules of collars to drop the bad guys like flies," Tommy said.
"If he'd given me even a tiny hint that he was doing or trying to do the same stuff the other two were, he'd be dead."
"Okay, fair." Tommy gestured at his brother with one hand. "But, see, when I press you like that, you're all confident and cool and 'they got what justice they were asking for'."
"They did." Billy crossed his arms and shifted uncomfortably. "That doesn't mean I'm okay with being the one that did it."
"That just means you have a conscience," Tommy pointed out. "Coulda been worse. You could've pulled a page out of Grandfather's book and floated through the whole facility, crushing people into tiny balls of armor. Restraint. You apparently have it now."
"Maybe I wouldn't have if I wasn't wearing a collar," Billy said with a ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Oooh, yes. I can see it now." Tommy threw his arm out wide, gesturing at headlines no one could see. "Mystery in Madripoor: Whole Sections Leveled. Billy the Terrifying Goes on Rampage. Oh God, Oh God, Save Us."
"It's Madripoor, sweetheart," Wanda said. "No one would look twice."
"Mom, you're raining on my joke with reality," Tommy said, putting on his best whine.
"Ooh, didn't mean to do that. How about we talk about your chivalrous rescue of everyone, hmm?" Wanda said.
"Perfect. I love this idea. I need a parade, and we need to start a planning committee," Tommy said, grinning as he launched into an obviously over-hyped retelling of what had happened - seeming to get more ridiculous the more Billy laughed.
It took a couple of days for James to wake up, and when he did, it was the middle of the afternoon. Billy and Kate had already gotten a chance to talk to their respective therapists and Doc Hale. Everyone at the tower had been taking turns peeking into James' room to see if he was awake yet - so of course it was between people checking in that he actually woke up. At first, he kept his eyes closed, frowning to himself at all the aches and sore spots he had littered across his body, though his head was certainly hurting him the worst. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to even consider getting up, but once he actually was awake, it was incredibly hard for him to ignore how insanely hungry he was.
With a sigh, he pushed himself upright and ran one hand through his hair and across the stubble on his face, eyes still closed, and not at all in the mood to converse with anyone about anything. Touching the eyepatch didn't help his mood much, either. He finally looked down at his arms and was immediately disheartened by the vivid bruising that he could see. Everywhere else couldn't possibly be any better, either. It hurt to stand up - and hurt more to stretch, but he did it anyhow, though he pointedly ignored looking in the mirror. He knew his hair was a mess and he was covered in dark bruises still if the way he felt was anything to go off of. He didn't care to change, which was a marker of how hungry he was … normally, he wouldn't have ignored the details of having not taken a shower in days, but … that could wait.
When he got to his door, he didn't think about what he was doing as he stopped and listened for a long while to figure out who was there and where they were. It sounded like a couple of Hales were in the living room if the quiet chatter with southern drawls were any indicator. He checked his watch and let his shoulders drop. Tony was probably in his shop or in a meeting. He was pretty sure his family was back to school - as well as Billy and Kate, though when he thought about it, he realized he'd entirely lost track of what day or even month it was. Ignoring that detail, he silently slipped out of his room and started toward the kitchen, aware of every move he made, every swish of fabric, every little thing that happened - he heard it and tried to keep from adding to it at all.
Craig was in the living room, chatting quietly with Steve, but they weren't facing where James was, so he slipped by them in search of pretty much anything to eat. He even got a chance to start gorging before Jarvis came in and wisely didn't bust him out. Instead, he set to work trying to feed the kid before he crashed again. No questions asked - just … trying to take care of what James needed.
But, no matter how fast James tried to stuff himself, he wasn't going to be able to get back to his room without someone other than Jarvis catching up. He just didn't think it would be Craig.
When Craig saw him, he let out a deep sigh of relief. "I was starting to wonder when you'd get up. Glad you're safe."
"No," James said, keeping his focus on what he needed most just then, which happened to be food.
"No, you're not safe?"
"No, I'm not going to talk about it," James said, finally looking up at him. "At all."
"Well, I wasn't expecting to right now. Just when you're ready-"
"Not interested." Then, James paused and seemed to remember himself and looked toward Craig again. "Nothing personal, but no thanks." He didn't wait for Craig to respond, and he also didn't want to hang around for more of what could only be a strained conversation. So, James got to his feet and took the tall glass of water and another sandwich that was next to him, gave Craig a tight sort of smile, quietly thanked Jarvis, then went back to his room.
Craig turned to watch him go, though he knew better than to go after him considering how clearly James was saying no. Those walls were already thick and Craig didn't know yet how exclusive that conversation was going to be. Clearly James hadn't even considered a civil conversation when his main goal was avoiding talking about his fresh trauma.
When he considered what he knew about the kidnapping and torture … and the players involved, Craig wasn't surprised at all that James didn't want to talk. It was a common response after heavy trauma - he'd seen it in soldiers and POW's before. But to make matters worse, even before this fresh hell, the kid had been ridiculously clever in monitoring how much he'd share when he talked to Craig or Rabbi Cohen before. Craig wouldn't have been surprised at all to hear that James had studied up on psychology to find out exactly how much to share or not share once he had been told he'd be getting regular sessions. Rabbi Cohen had suspected as much from the beginning of his time with James, too, and he'd been glad that Craig stepped in to take over on James' care. He was just dealing with a little more than a family-centric rabbi knew how to handle. But even this (and most of the Summers' trauma) was well beyond the realm of normal traumas that Craig had seen. He couldn't imagine he'd be working with teenagers that had been tortured by world-famous terrorists, after all. Let alone to the extent that James had gone through in the time he'd been trapped with Viper.
So avoidance of the subject almost seemed … tame, when compared to the facts of his case. That wasn't going to help ease Scott's mind though - and Craig was absolutely worried for Scott seeing as his son had just been horribly tortured by a super villain.
Because James hadn't expected to run into anyone his age, he truly wasn't expecting it when Nate turned the corner with Kate, then broke away from his girlfriend to quick step over and gently wrap his brother up in a bear hug, though he stopped fast when he felt James react. James had always been good for a quick hug regardless of the situation, so when James' reaction to his little brother hugging him was to instantly start to push him away, Nate very nearly backed off. He felt James hesitate even as he was pushing him back, then he shifted into the most awkward attempt at a hug Nate had ever seen. And even at that, he quickly transitioned to a hesitant pat before starting to pull back.
"I'm really glad to see you," Nate admitted. "Even with just one eye."
James reflexively reached for his eyepatch only to touch the edge of it and shift to run his hand across the side of his head then halfway up the back of his hair. "Yeah, well… you might have to get used to it."
Nate instantly looked alarmed - the prospect of anything like this being permanent on him was terrifying. "I thought Hank said-"
"Hank doesn't know for sure and I haven't had both eyes for pretty much the whole time I was gone," James pointed out. "And I don't really want …. Don't you have anything else to talk about?"
"Ah… sure," Nate said slowly, grasping for something to discuss. "You … picked a good day to wake up from your nap?" James looked up at his brother with a frown. "Be… cause SHIELD is coming to get Vojteck and take him to … wherever they take teenage supervillains in training before standing trial on Genosha."
That had James glaring at anyone and everyone around him. But even with the heads up, he wasn't expecting to see Hank and Tyler half growling as they led Vojteck through the common area. The Summers boys and Kate stepped back to let them pass just as Wanda, Billy, and Jan arrived from Jan's office on the other side of the living room. But James didn't see that they were there. His entire focus locked onto Vojteck and before he could rein himself in, or consider his response, the instant Vojteck made eye contact with him and smirked, it was over.
James took two fast steps forward and hauled back, then positively hammered Vojteck with every bit of strength and weight he had - which was considerable. A muted crack echoed the room as Vojteck fell backward into the couch, hitting hard enough to rebound right back up in time to catch another of James' punches to the face with a more muted crunch … and the same amount of snarl out of James.
Vojteck never stood a chance, and while everyone witnessing the display stood in shocked silence, James got in a solid four or five hits before someone could react. Surprising even himself, Tyler was the first to move. He half swore under his breath and darted forward to stop James from smashing the guy's face in. But it wasn't enough. As soon as Tyler touched James, he spun between hitting Vojteck long enough to kick Tyler backward away from him.
But it was enough to trigger the others into motion.
When James' arm was drawn back, as Hank rushed for Tyler, Thor managed to grab a hold of James' wrist with one hand and wrap an arm around his chest, pinning his other arm to his side before James could deliver another punch. James snarled and tried to pull away from him, but the moment Thor had a decent hold on him it was over. James tried to squirm his way out - but that was never going to happen.
"Peace, James," Thor said firmly, practiced enough to keep him pinned in a way that wouldn't let him pop his claws. "He has felt your fury; now find your dignity."
"Why don't you go shove your peace right up your-"
"James," Kate said softly. "Leave some for me, huh?"
James blinked and turned toward Kate, then slowly quit struggling to get away from Thor on hearing that, not that he had much of a chance of it anyhow. "Fine. But just because it's you asking."
"Love you too," Kate said as Thor carefully let James go - though not until after Hank and Tyler had gotten Vojteck up off the floor and headed toward the SHIELD transport.
James, however, wasn't pleased with their resident Norse God. "I like your brother better," James told him, just for the sound of disbelief Thor let out.
"You will change your mind on that viewpoint should you have to contend with him," Thor said.
"Yeah? He'd have helped," James pointed out. "Wouldn't have been a joykill."
Kate smirked as she made her way over to James and watched Hank and Vojteck leave. "So, I've never seen someone actually bounce off a couch from a hit like that before. Very Three Stooges. Kinda fun."
"I was trying to punch him through the couch."
"If I had super strength, I'd put him through a wall just for the Looney Tunes-style person shape," Kate said, smirking wider.
"Too nice."
"Yeah, but it would make me smile," Kate pointed out.
"Then we'll have to figure out how to make that happen."
"Aww, thanks." Kate looked for a moment like she might do something like kiss his cheek, but she stopped when she saw the look on his face, bit her lip, and stepped back, discreetly tipping her head toward Billy, Wanda, and Jan- who was laughing hard. "So, uh, Billy says his therapist is pretty good. I'm trying to decide between Mrs. Kaplan and Mr. Hale. I don't think the one Mom has me using is up to … all this. Suggestions?"
"Try them both and see which one fits better," James said. "They both probably have their high points."
"Fair enough," Kate said, rubbing her upper arm. "Anyway…"
"Yeah. Love you too," James said, then took a few deep, slow breaths. "Don't have to make a thing out of it. You'd make Nate jealous." The words were right, but his tone was still too grim.
"I'm gonna want some help when Mom clears me to go back to school," Kate said, bouncing from one foot to the other.
"You know I'll always help if you want it," James said. "Chances are good I'll be totally free anyhow. All the time I missed? Probably out on my ass."
"Their loss," Nate said.
"Mine too," James pointed out.
"Yeah, just one more reason Viper sucks," Kate said, making a face before she grabbed Nate's hand. "Come on. If we catch Hank when he gets back from locking that jerk up, we'll get an eloquent soliloquy of violence."
"Enjoy that," James grumbled. "I'm going back to bed."
"I'll meet you there later," Billy called after him, though he was still distracted with Jan half hanging onto him giggling about James' vengeful response to Vojteck.
The only drawback James really had when it came to sleeping more due to depression as opposed to a healing coma was the fact that it didn't take too much to wake him up when he didn't actually need to crash. He'd woken up when Billy came in to curl up, and he'd woken up when someone in the living room down the hall dropped something heavy on the coffee table. So there was no way he was going to sleep through it when Billy started shifting in his sleep and making small, constricted noises from the back of his throat.
James turned his way before he even opened his eyes and tried to listen first. But when it sounded like Billy was almost whimpering, he just wasn't having it. He gently jostled Billy's shoulder and spoke in as soothing and low a tone as he could manage, venturing a little closer in spite of his own reluctance. "Hey, wake up, Little prince. You're okay. I've got you."
At first, Billy wasn't awake enough to react well to the slight jostling and had shied away, but hearing James seemed to help. His eyes opened fast, and he took a great, gasping breath, then a few shallow breaths as he reoriented himself. "James?" he whispered in near disbelief.
"Yeah, just me," James replied. "You alright?"
"Yeah. No. I just… gimmie a minute." Billy took another few, short breaths, one hand over his eyes.
"Take your time," James said, frowning as he watched Billy gather himself. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Thanks." Billy took a few more, deeper breaths, then finally glanced back up at James. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up."
"I don't mind."
"Yeah, nice to have the instant confirmation that we're not - you know…" Billy trailed off and closed his eyes again.
On hearing that, James sighed heavily. There was a lot Billy didn't know of what Viper and Katarina had done - he needed support from his boyfriend … who wasn't being a very good boyfriend. "What can I do?"
"I don't know," Billy admitted. "It was just a dream…"
"Okay, well … when you figure it out, let me know," James said as reasonably as he could. "If it's a problem to sleep in here with me, I'd like to know before it gets worse. For you."
"No, no, it's not that," Billy promised quickly. "No, I missed you and - and I don't want - I just - it was a bad dream. Memory. Thing. That's all."
"Yeah, I get that," James agreed before he snuggled in a little bit and invited Billy to join him, though he wasn't quite as open as he'd been in the past as they curled up. He rested his head on Billy's shoulder, then gave him a squeeze around the middle hoping that if he was the one half wrapped around Billy, he wouldn't panic as much as if the tables were turned. "And … chances are good you'll have to put up with my crappy dreams too, so … you're fine. Or you will be."
"Yeah. I'll get there," Billy agreed, relaxing into holding on to James at last.
"You have a much worse deal, too," James decided. "At least I'm waking up to a handsome prince … you get a scruffy pirate."
"I like scruff," Billy pointed out.
"You'll get tired of it," James said, trying to pull Billy out of his head a little.
"No way," Billy said, pulling him a little closer. "Haven't gotten tired of it yet."
"Okay," James replied, but it seemed like Billy was getting away from the dream a little. Which was what he was hoping for.
Sure enough, Billy started to relax enough to try to go back to sleep, closing his eyes with James beside him. "Besides," he said softly, "I missed you."
"Missed you too," James agreed. "Didn't think we'd get to do this the way things were going."
"Yeah, well, there may have been a reason the spell worked…"
"You're amazing and crazy powerful when you want to be?"
Billy cracked a smile. "Amazing and crazy powerful and mad, more like. Turns out I got my grandfather's temper."
"Whaaaat? Temper? You?" James said as he picked his head up off of Billy's shoulder. "Nah. Tommy would have warned me."
"Sure," Billy laughed. "Tommy would have done that. Okay."
"I choose to believe it."
"Okay, but I choose to believe you've got head trauma," Billy teased him.
James thought about it for a moment before he settled back down, shifting up a little so they were sharing a pillow. "No … they weren't beating my head around."
Billy paused and bit his lip. "Did with me."
"I don't think that's really Viper's way," James said quietly. "She was dosing me with stuff she'd held on to from when she screwed with Logan."
"Yeah, Katarina would lose her temper when I told her she didn't have a prayer of comparing to me," Billy admitted, though he wasn't sorry about it in the least. "Guess that was her dad coming out."
"She couldn't come close," James said in just over a whisper, though Billy hadn't missed the shift in tone at all.
"Thought so," Billy said, though he let the subject fall for a while before he ventured a quiet, "Love you, by the way. In case I haven't said that recently."
"It's been a little bit,' James agreed. "But love you too."
Billy nodded and then snuggled in again, trying to go back to sleep - and honestly a bit more relaxed just hearing James reassure him too. Things were still horribly off, but at least they were in each other's arms again, and it was clear that's where both of them wanted to be.