A/N - sorry for the short break, but we're back to your regularly scheduled program. Practically An Avenger - *throws roses at your feet*

Chapter 115 - Fast Annie

While Nate and Kate each were capable of sneaking into SHIELD on their own - with Kate's training from her mom and Nate's telepathic abilities - Kate had a much easier in. Her dad was good friends with Phil Coulson, and Phil, in turn, had a soft spot for the kids who had grown up with the Avengers. He'd been around often enough because he had to give the Avengers mission specs and had provided both the Avengers and the new group of X-Men intel and back up, so he'd gotten to see the kids grow up and become heroes in their own rights. He was unbelievably proud of each and every one of them.

And Kate was more than happy to take advantage of that to ask a favor.

It worked out anyway that Phil hadn't been happy with how things had been shaking out since the attack on the Massachusetts Academy, especially after how Fury had handled the disaster with Hydra. So, yeah, he was okay with them "chatting" with the agents on the case.

"To compare notes," Kate had said, and Phil nearly laughed on hearing it when they met up at the Triskellion.

The agent in question was in his office when Kate let herself in - Phil hadn't specifically said she couldn't pick the lock and be dramatic about her entrance - and was deep in thought over whatever he was working on on his work computer. So he didn't act quickly enough to get out of his computer program before Nate telekinetically pushed him away from the computer so Kate could see the files.

"Thanks, Barry," Kate said, leaning over the computer to scroll through it all. From what she could see, the actual measurable destruction done to the academy was totally different from what she and the others had seen. But that in itself was ridiculously impressive. Emma alone couldn't have fooled them all that well. "Cable, babe, ask him what SHIELD's working theory is for what or who is helping Emma fool everyone. Or control everyone. Whatever made us all hallucinate on-site."

"He can hear you just fine, babe," Nate replied. "First person interrogation. I'm just here to hold up the furniture."

"You're so cute when you're the backup, you know that?" she teased him, still scrolling through the information. Looks like Emma messed with everyone's perceptions. The damage here looks more like a basic IED. What we saw looked more like what I've seen in news footage from Westchester's Graydon Creed experience. She was straight up trying to trigger PTSD in everyone she could hit.

Knowing what we do already anyhow? This is my not-surprised face.

Nice to have it confirmed, though. Kate nodded to herself as she looked through the notes on the explosion before she whirled around and pointed at Barry, who was stuck backward in his chair. "Okay, you've got to have an idea of where Emma Frost is getting her boost," she said, flexing her hands in a way that showed she was wearing her mom's jewelry.

"Not … confirmed, but we believe it's from one of her students," Barry said, looking almost distant as he answered.

Kate tried not to smirk too hard. She liked getting to play the Widow part, but it was so fun to watch Nate do his thing. And they'd wanted to get out and get intel so he could feel like he was fixing something, so this was perfect, as far as she was concerned. "Which one?" Kate asked. "What kind of powers is SHIELD nosing into that could get them looking?"

"We're not sure which student," Barry said. "And SHIELD is looking into anything useful."

"Always," Kate said. "Don't know why I asked." She shifted so that she was leaning against the table. "Okay, we'll look into the students. Simple enough. Second question. This was an actual attack. This wasn't just Emma staging. Top suspect?"

"Confirmed that the attack was spearheaded by Sebastian Shaw." There was no hesitation from Barry on that answer.

"He's Hellfire," Kate said. It wasn't a question, though she did have her lips pursed. She'd been brushing up on Hellfire intel since the attack. "I know they have a rocky relationship at best but what did she do to piss him off that bad?" She paused. "Besides existing."

"As far as we can tell, those two have fought over who's the top leadership there for decades."

"Yeah, but he put real work into getting the Academy running in the first place," Kate said thoughtfully. "She must've done something to trigger something this big." She held up a hand. "Unless he's interested in using the boosting student she found. He could do real damage if he had orders of magnitude stronger powers."

"Our science department is trying to find the student responsible to see if the powerset goes both ways," Barry told her.

"Of course you are," Kate said in a sigh. "SHIELD would love to be able to turn off powers." She rolled her eyes toward Nate, who smirked until she smiled again. He was enjoying watching her interrogate even if she didn't have to work for the answers. Dork, she projected his way.

I am literally just standing here. What did I do now?

Nothing. You're always a dork, she teased before she turned her attention back to Barry. "Does SHIELD know Emma's current situation?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that's not great. And you're not high up enough for a good look at whether SHIELD thinks a depowering power like Billy's is worth the headaches from Genosha if you want to deal with him. Fun." Kate blew her hair out of her face.

Pretty sure it's not just a headache from Genosha anymore, Nate pointed out.

That could be considered a point in favor of recruiting him. Two for one with James if they apply the right pressure. That's what I'd do if I was manipulating James.

I've seen in his head. He's a lot closer to killing someone than they realize.

Something to watch for long-term, though.

Oh sure. If I get another chance and remember to look, I'll find out exactly what Fury did last time he was in the interrogation room.

Hey, Nate. This is your reminder to look into that, Kate teased - just for the dry look he gave her.

Oh. You are so. Helpful.

Always. She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

Okay. I don't think this guy's going to be good for much else, Nate said. And we're not going to go chasing down my brother to get answers to questions we can wait for. So …

So I think the next step is talking to Storm. She's onboarding the students from the Academy; she'd know who our boosting student is. And as much as I hate whoever it is for helping Emma, we need to hide them or Shaw and SHIELD will get their grubby fingers all over 'em.

Or, we just go to the school and I'll find them myself, Nate said.

Kate raised her eyebrows but nodded her agreement. She'd been planning to involve the older X-Men just so everyone was on the same page, but… Go, gorgeous. Go rampage.

If it's the one I think it is, she's trying to follow in Frost's footsteps. And I'm not having it.

Then it looks like we're done here, Kate said.

We should find out why Fury's got Uncle Phil working on a soft-ball assignment, too. I mean … he should still be helping us.

When I was a kid-

Back in the day …

Shut up. I'm just saying I got to see him around the Tower and he was always sent on softball stuff when he was getting too soft with the team. I actually haven't seen much of him at all since we restarted the X-Men. And he was thrilled with us but I didn't get to ask him what he thought specifically.

Yeah, sounds right.

Gotta love Uncle Phil, Kate teased.

When he's got permission to be around. I'm sure he's got all kinds of thoughts about all the crap that's been going on lately.

Colorful ones, I bet. He still has the drawing Lexi made for him when she was six. He's protective and squishy as anything.

So we should reach out to him and make sure he's not in need of a rescue.

Perfect. Kate grabbed Nate's arm as they headed out and waved over her shoulder to Barry. "Have fun with the paperwork," she called out.

On their way out, Kate made sure to stop by Coulson's office, too. Before he could get up from his desk, she skipped over to him and kissed his cheek. "I missed you, Phil!" she sang out. "You've been on that space station forever."

"Hard to come by when I'm on assignment," Coulson told her, trying to keep his dry smile in place.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for letting us come and play good cop/psychic cop," Kate said, grinning crookedly.

"Funny. I thought this was a possible tour to take the academy into consideration," Coulson said. "At least, that's what I put on the forms."

"Awww, I'd totally be interested if your agency wasn't full of people who side-eye my boyfriend for being born too awesome for words."

"They're intimidated," Coulson said with a shrug. "It's not an excuse, just the truth of the matter. Stupid as it is." He smiled tightly at Nate. "See what you needed to, Nate?"

"Yeah. Enough to know SHIELD now knows about two mutants who can strip other mutants of powers," Nate said.

"They knew about one for a long time," Coulson said. "But that's probably a chat better suited to a less formal situation."

"Probably," Kate agreed. "Meantime…" She looked toward Nate, who immediately linked them up. You doing okay, Phil? You're looking more haggard than usual.

You know how it is when Fury and Hill are trying to keep secrets, Coulson said. I'm this close to making them a matched set.

Kate snorted. She'd consider it a step toward promotion or something.

I just feel like you kids had a better idea of the trouble down the road when I was more involved.

Yeah, I did notice your glaring absence when Viper freaking kidnapped me.

I was off world. Fury still heard me swearing at him. He's damn lucky that no ones mothers got involved sooner than they did. Wanda was livid, and your mother made sure he was shaking in his boots, but if K had still been alive she'd have probably dropped the helicarrier with Fury keelhauled to the bottom.

Mom doesn't cross Fury often, but… yeah. It was bad all around. She sat down in the chair opposite him. "So are you gonna be back in the tower now?"

"The way things are going, either I'll get reassigned to where I should be, or I'll be looking at retirement and a position in the private sector. I've already gotten an offer, if you can believe it."

Kate sat up straighter, immediately engaged. "No way. What's the offer? Tell me please."

While Coulson smirked, trying to play coy, Nate busted him just because it was too good not to. "Uncle Tony. Doing what he does best," Nate said .

"Oh, you'd be great," Kate said happily. "And we'd get to see you all the time. Win-win!"

"Like I said - either I'll stay with SHIELD and go where I'm needed - at the tower - or I take all my intel with me when I go. I'll bet I know someone with access to good lawyers that can work around the contract language."

Not to mention I know a telepath who could just, you know, 'overhear' anything the lawyers can't get you cleared for.

About that, Coulson projected, directing it more to Nate. SHIELD is extremely interested in that device your brother came up with. We have dampeners and disruptors of our own, but that … is not on any of the servers SHIELD has access to. I hope it stays that way.

It will, Nate said with no hesitation.

Just know that they're looking at ways to target every one of you kids.

Yeah, we know. That's been apparent for a while.

Especially after Hydra, Kate put in - because she was never going to forgive SHIELD for how that went down.

Tell your little brother to keep away from the life, Coulson said to Kate.

He's got Mom's stubbornness and is functionally invisible. This is a lost cause.

Oh great, we're all going to die then. The tone Coulson used, even mentally was perfectly dry and cheerful.

Exactly. Kate clapped her hands together and got to her feet. "Well, thanks for the tour, Phil. See you at the tower!"

"Does that mean I'm disinvited from the fireworks?" Coulson asked as he got to his feet to see them both out.

"Oh, no, Fourth of July is still totally on. I was just kind of hoping you'd be at the tower before then; it's a little bit away still."

"We'll see."

Nate was much more zeroed in as they headed for Westchester than he had been going to SHIELD, because this time, he knew the student they were heading for had an active hand in blowing up his family, hurting his brother, and screwing over his dad.

Kate didn't say anything, though she could see his eyes glowing long before they actually pulled into the driveway of the school and knew he was actively scanning to find the student in question. And when he smirked and nodded to himself, she knew he'd found whoever it was.

So, she just killed the engine and waited.

It didn't take long at all before Nate turned back to Kate, his eyes their normal shade once more, and gave her a grim smile. "Well," he said, "that was fun."

"Okay, so tell me what the story is, handsome," Kate said, laughing as she pushed his arm. "You're keeping the juicy details for yourself?"

"Just trying to reorder my thoughts and keep my temper," Nate replied. "All things considered."

Kate's smile died. "Okay, catch me up. Do I need to drop anyone into a dumpster…?"

"No, just … so, you know the girl that I was telling you about that we pulled out of the wreckage?" Nate said. "The one that was a little too handsy for everyone involved?"

"Yeah, I remember thinking she'd learned it from her teacher," Kate said.

"Yeah, well, she was boosting her teacher."

Kate's eyebrows nearly scraped her hairline. "Ah. So which dumpster?"

"Doesn't matter. Any old one will do. Maybe the one outside of the fishmonger … anyhow. She won't be doing that again."

"Definitely the one outside the fishmonger," Kate decided.

"I didn't quite … do anything like Billy, but, she isn't capable of that level of boost." He shrugged, trying to make it look more easy-going than he felt. "Turned her way down."

"Probably a good call, actually," Kate said, trying to match his serious tone. "Taking her powers just makes you a target."

"This will probably be more frustrating for her," Nate replied. "And she'll realize who around her isn't actually friendly. Looked like most of her pals were just using her."

"That actually doesn't surprise me, but it's also pretty sad, you know?" Kate said.

"Yeah, well, not everyone dealing with supervillains are of the same caliber. I'd say she's lucky it was me, all points considered."

"Yeah, can you imagine if Billy's grandfather had known about her?" Kate said, pulling a face.

"He'd have had the sun revolving around himself."

"And James has to play chess every morning," Kate said.

"Somehow, I doubt that'd be the case," Nate said.

"Yeah, I was going for a smile," Kate said and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "So, we should probably let… someone know."

"I suppose. They'll figure it out eventually anyhow. I just … ugh. If that's how young women are taught to treat guys they like at Emma's school …"

"We'll just let Leslie Ann know and let her channel her father. Just imagine it: the spirit of Officer Anton Wright inhabits everyone…"

"Only if we let the good officer know, too … you know. So he can be proud in that field, too."

"I'll record his baby girl letting the girls from that school have it about sexual harassment. He'll - what's the phrase Annie uses? - he'll bust his buttons."

"Sure. Whatever that means," Nate teased. "It'd be good for a few people to see, I'm sure. Educational."

"Then this is definitely happening. I've got his number from when the Hales were all on Genosha with us."

"Set it up," Nate said as he leaned back. "I'll make sure Dad's there to see it too. Reminder, you know?"

"Yeah… how's he handling this, by the way? Hard not to call it what it was this time, I think."

"He's torn between falling apart sick with worry for everyone else and drunk-happy over Annie. He hasn't really applied much of this to himself unless it's negative." Nate gestured toward the building. "And this side? He hasn't acknowledged that at all."

"She messed with his head and slept with him. I mean… he can't ignore that."

"Oh wow. You must be new here."

"It's more, like… I lived trying to ignore it, you know?"

"Okay, but like … explain to me both my dad and my brother then, because I promise you neither of them are even looking that way."

"And they're models of mental health."

"I'm just saying, you said he can't ignore it. He is."

"Yeah, should have clarified. He can't ignore it and keep it together. It'll fester, you know?"

"I know. You know. Those two? I don't think they got the memo, or they're leaving it unread if they got it."

"Probably leaving it unread. I doubt Doc Hale hasn't been shouting that message at the top of his lungs."

"I told him he should put it on a billboard."

"Might work." Kate sighed and leaned over to kiss him. "Well, at least someone got some justice. Are you feeling even a little bit better?"

"Maybe … this much," Nate said holding his thumb and forefinger very close together.

"Okay, so, new proposal: we go back to my place, you cook for me, and we don't get any sleep tonight."

Nate did a fair job of looking as if he was thinking it over for a long moment before he finally nodded his head slowly. "I … accept your proposal."

At the same time that Nate and Kate were conspiring to do borderline treasonous activities, Scott had been helping Annie get moved into his suite in Westchester - and into his house as well. They'd spent half the time dealing with everyone from Toby to Bobby to the students all giving some form of approval - and asking the usual probing questions.

Annie's way of handling it had Scott laughing, too, because at first, she'd just blushed and stammered her way through agreeing that she was excited for this next step and for moving in and all that, but the more comments came their way, the more she found her footing. By the time Warren had said something about it not being too late to back out - obviously joking - Annie just looked at him like he was crazy, shrugged, and went back to work with a, "Scott, someone else thinks I don't know what I signed up for," tossed over her shoulder. "Poor damsel that I am."

Scott laughed as Warren held up both hands with a muttered, "You've clearly got this," as he stepped back. And once they'd gotten the last of her boxes in the door, he stole over to where she was for a kiss.

"And you thought you wouldn't fit in," he teased her.

Annie let out an affectionate huff. "You only have to deal with Anton and Craig and Evie. I have to get approval from a small army."

"Anton is a small army," Scott teased her.

"Fair," Annie laughed. "Which reminds me - he invited the two of us for Sunday dinner. Says you've been skirting by on good will and he needs to grill you over your intentions or something," she teased him.

"I thought he already did that."

"I guess he thinks it needs to be done every time we do something new," Annie said, shrugging easily. "Craig can't properly threaten you when he's your therapist, so Anton is going to overdo it. Fair warning."

"I'll take notes so I can overdo it when the first of my kids gets engaged," Scott teased her.

"Oh, so, next week?" she teased him right back.

"At the rate they're going? Probably."

Annie laughed as she started to unpack the box she'd brought in, unpacking a few books and school supplies into the small bookshelf. "It's too bad the boys have an age limit or they'd join the race," she said as Scott unpacked some of the family pictures she had in the other box - some precious pictures with her mom that she kept with her.

"It's not a race, Annie - the girls don't even know if they-"

"They will," Annie said. "Rachel's more like you than you think."

"You think?"

Annie smiled as she arranged a few of her notebooks in the right order for the next school year. "That girl wants you to walk her down the aisle. You can't tell me you're not the same - you care about those moments. She's not going to give that up."

Scott smirked. "I'd love that too."

"Of course you would," Annie said, tipping her head back to grin his way. "You can't wait to be there for every milestone in their lives. It's part of what I love about you."

"Oh good," Scott teased. "Hate to think you moved in with a single father and didn't like the 'father' part."

"Ha ha." Annie tossed a rolled-up shirt at him. "Like Nate would ever let us forget he's the one that introduced us in the first place."

"Good point," Scott laughed.

"Probably include it in every conversation. Bring it up at our wedding. The whole nine."

Scott blinked and genuinely couldn't come up with anything to say - and Annie then realized what she'd said.

"Oh!" She spun around so that she was facing him. "Oh, I mean… do you?" She turned bright red. "Want to? I mean? Oh, I had actual plans for this!"

"You… had plans?" Scott repeated, still in a bit of shock.

"Well, yes, of course. I knew you - well, I love you, Scott, but I know taking that step scares you, so I thought I'd do it," Annie admitted.

Scott stared at her.

"Too fast?" Annie asked, wincing both shoulders up. "I know we just got back together, but I was going to get a ring before we broke up…"

Scott swallowed and then shook his head, slipping over to where she was to steal a kiss - because he still hadn't found words yet. "Not too fast," he promised at last when the kiss broke.

"Oh good," Annie said, smiling before she leaned in to steal a deeper kiss.

There was no way Annie was going to be able to keep news this big to herself, especially when Scott's kids were telepaths. She knew that Nate would know what had happened - and she wanted to actually tell them before that happened. Herself. Out loud.

She knew the secret was already blown by the pure amusement in Nate's mental voice when he agreed to make sure Kate, Rachel, and America were around at dinner - though they didn't quite make it to dinner, either.

Instead, what happened was that Scott and Annie were holding hands and walking outside, trying to steal a celebratory date before anyone really knew what they were celebrating. They'd gone into the city and planned to just walk around until they found someplace that tickled their fancy. Whether that was pretzels or ice cream or a steakhouse - they genuinely didn't know.

Annie had her suspicions when she saw Kate and Nate, but Kate laughed and swore up and down that they were actually on a date and weren't trying to find them - but now that they'd run into each other, Kate insisted on treating them all at her favorite place in town for Korean barbecue.

Which would have been an excellent time to tell them the story of the sort-of proposal as it had happened. So, they invited the others. Billy got there fast, and Rachel and America were on their way.

So, of course, someone else invited themselves to the party.

"Scott Summers," Emma shouted, perfectly enraged, and obviously intent on screwing with all he'd worked for. "I see you, Scott! Cyclops!" She was marching toward them, her hands in fists and her eyes flashing. "Where do you get the gall to tamper with my mutant ability just because you no longer have yours."

Scott spun on his heel to face her, immediately furious upon hearing her using his name and his codename. He saw Nate's eyes glowing and knew he was doing as much damage control as he could, but that didn't mean Emma wasn't trying her best to screw things up. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted back at her.

"Your little brat screwed me over, so I'm returning the favor," Emma said coldly. "I hope you've gotten over the idea of anonymity."

Scott glared at her, stepping in front of the kids. "Stop before you make this any worse," he said. "I won't warn you again."

Emma wheeled away from Scott, ignoring his glare as she headed toward the kids anyhow. "Make that boy of yours fix this. I know it had to be him - he's just like his horrible mother."

Before Emma could take another step toward the kids, Annie lost her temper. And Emma obviously hadn't expected anything out of her - which meant Emma wasn't expecting it when Annie decked her hard enough to send her sprawling.

And while Emma was still picking herself up, Annie fell into a solid stance. "Bitch."

"You don't know who you're meddling with," Emma hissed, furious and directing herself toward Annie. "Go back to your trailer park, where you belong, you trashy little southern fried succubus."

Annie smiled sweetly. "Oh, honey, you're all washed up and lashing out. It's sad, really. Go home and sober up, sweetheart."

Emma scoffed, and before Annie or anyone else saw it coming, she slapped Annie across the face.

For just a second, Annie put her hand up to her cheek, and Scott, Kate, and Billy were all ready to step in (with Nate still trying to make sure everyone around them didn't see what was happening). But then, fast as anything, Annie knocked Emma's legs out from underneath her and dove to lay into her, letting out all of the anger over what Emma had done to break her and Scott up, until Emma had stopped trying to fight back.

Annie sniffed, got to her feet, and looked down at her hands. "Oh, damn. I got blood on my hands."

"You're my new favorite," Kate whispered gleefully, almost bouncing on her feet.

Annie smiled her way. "I don't abide anyone insulting you kids, and I certainly don't abide people speaking ill of the dead."

"I'm not letting this go," Emma said, low, well beyond angry, and Scott, at least knew it was a serious threat, even if she was without her powerset. "I will figure out what you did, reverse it, and enjoy every second of how your lives come apart unless you fix. This."

"You're barking up the wrong tree," Billy said, glaring down at her as she wiped blood from her obviously broken nose. "Nate and Rachel didn't do this. I did."

Emma was entirely dumbstruck for a long moment - it had never occurred to her that Billy would step in … or that he was capable of doing something of this caliber. "Reverse it."

"No."

"Your grandfather-"

"Would have killed you," Billy said calmly wish his chin tipped up to look down his nose at her, his tone very much like Erik's when he was pontificating. "And for the record? You're only alive now because Nate requested that I not kill you. So you should be thanking him. Or are you even capable of that?"

"I need my abilities," Emma said, shifting gears to the point that Scott and the rest of the family could have been invisible. "Surely, this was an overreaction."

"To what, exactly? What you did to my boyfriend? What you did to Annie? How about what you did to Scott? In every case, this is no over reaction."

"You can't do this. I did nothing against Genosha or any of their citizens."

"You came for the man I'm going to marry," Billy said, his eyes flashing as the wind shifted dramatically around them. "And anyone - anyone - who uses their powers to trick someone into getting in bed with them? That is clearly crossing a line. The last two people who did that died in seconds. While I was wearing a collar. I wouldn't give you your powers back if you were groveling."

Emma was still glaring as the group gathered up to leave, but had to try for one last shot. "I'll take it up to a higher power, then. "

"Good luck getting an audience with her," Billy said before he turned his back to her and forced himself to walk away.

Emma straightened herself up, then couldn't help giving the group a sneering once over as they were leaving before she had to ask, "What's the occasion? It's not every day you can drag Cyclops into the public eye so willingly."

"Emma," Scott said, his eyes narrowed. "Stop."

"You're celebrating," she said. "Perhaps I might want to offer my congratulations."

"Aww, thanks," Kate said brightly. "I am pretty proud of my boyfriend for graduating early."

Annie smirked Kate's way. "We're proud of both of you, Kate." She threw her arm around Kate's shoulders. "Come on. You said this was your favorite place?"

Emma waited for them to get a few steps out before she had to call out to them again. "I thought you were celebrating something entirely different. It must be such a relief."

Scott froze, his hands in fists. "Back off, Emma."

"Scott, you act as though I can't be happy for you since you've finally gotten rid of your problem child. Just a matter of time, really. At least he didn't stab anyone first."

Scott spun on his heel, but he wasn't the first to react. Kate and Billy were. Kate carried small Widow's Bite everywhere for handsy creeps (especially of the Hydra variety), so Emma got a blast of electricity to the chest at the exact same moment Billy swore and said, "Iwishyouwerebackunderyourrock" - his voice echoing eerily as he spoke.

Emma disappeared without so much as a sound. Kate laughed and turned to high five Billy before he'd gotten his temper under control, but her glee did wonders to help him along. "Where did you send her?"

"A … rock. I don't know. It wasn't super directed?" Billy rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know my powers were working that well again. I was just mad."

"I love when you just get mad," Kate said, flinging her arms around his neck in a hug.

Billy hugged Kate back tightly in pure relief, but when he let her go, Scott had turned his way with both eyebrows raised. "Let's get we're somewhere more quiet, you have some explaining to do," he told Billy.

"You're in trou-ble," Kate sang out to Billy.

"I doubt that," Billy replied in the same sing-song tune.

Kate giggled delightedly and looped her arm through Nate's to make sure he got into the restaurant with the rest of them, and when his eyes stopped glowing, she kissed his cheek. "You are amazing, gorgeous," she told him.

"Talking to yourself is a sign of something, beautiful," Nate shot back without missing a beat.

"Good thing you still like me," Kate laughed, in an excellent mood. "You didn't get to fully appreciate me laying her out, which is a shame."

"Oh, no, I caught that," Nate said. "Sorry if I looked distracted, I was doing a lot of modding on the fly."

"She's not going to let it go," Scott said in a sigh as they got to a table.

"She's also not stupid enough to say anything like that around James," Nate said. "He's not going to be that generous if she does that around him."

"Oh, so she has a brain cell," Annie said airly, trying to wipe her hands on her jeans ineffectually before she gave up and grabbed a few napkins - at which point Kate reached over to grab her hand.

"Come on; Nate can order for us. You need to wash your hands before you catch something," Kate said. "I'll fill you in on Billy's story, too."

"Oh, okay," Annie said, looking between the men at the table before she let Kate lead her off.

Annie wasn't even out of earshot before Billy crossed his arms. "I'm not undoing it."

"Good, because if you did, the first thing she'd do is go after you," Nate said.

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "Walk me through what happened, Billy. I didn't know you'd done anything."

"Oh, well…" Billy let his breath out through his cheeks. "I decided anyone who destroys people's lives like that doesn't get to be a telepath anymore, so… I yanked her powers. Diamond form too, because it's easier to just yank all of it instead of being precise."

"How many other times have you done something like this?" Scott asked.

Billy held his breath and closed one eye. "Umm… twice. For my grandfather when I was younger." He paused again. "Well, it only worked twice, I should say. Because I only wanted it to work twice because both times someone tried to hurt my family."

Scott's eyebrows were high on his head. "Uh-huh."

"You can't be surprised by that," Billy said.

"No, I just - it's easy to forget," Scott said, shaking his head. "And you said you didn't have your powers?"

"That … you knew about one," Billy said. "That was when we were in Madripoor? Or do you mean … now? That … it takes a lot out of me, so …yeah."

"So you took her powers and lost yours for a while," Scott said. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Billy blinked at him for a moment. "I thought you knew the basic laws of magic from working with my mom?"

Scott waved his hands. "I get that part. But if you'd told someone what was going on-"

"We knew," Nate interjected before Scott could get wound up in worry.

"Nate…"

"Dad, you've got a lot on your plate right now - and we're trying to celebrate the good stuff, okay? Or are you going to tell Billy he shouldn't have made Emma actually face consequences?" Nate challenged.

Scott held Nate's gaze for a long moment before he let out his breath. "Right. So. How close are Rachel and America?"

"About five minutes out," Nate answered. "Last I checked."

"And we want to hear the story," Billy said, grinning. "I can't peek, and no one who can is spoiling the story for me."

Scott looked beyond Billy to see that Annie and Kate were headed back - and had picked the girls up from the front on the way over. "Well, Annie was the one who asked, so… I'll let her tell you," he said - to Billy's absolute delight.

Up until recently, Kate had been utterly ignoring JJ when he or the Bugle reached out to her for any comment on anything to do with the team. But after everything she'd learned from SHIELD, she wanted to know why J. Jonah Jameson seemed to know more about what had happened with Emma than the Avengers did.

So when he called her again, she actually picked up.

"Hey, this is Hawkeye," she said in the same bright voice she used whenever she was talking to the press.

JJ seemed so shocked that she picked up that it honestly took him a minute to respond. "Hawkeye. It's good to know you're capable of answering your phone."

"Cute. How did you know more about what happened to the Massachusetts Academy than I did?" Kate said, getting right to it. She wasn't in the mood to dance around it.

Once again, JJ was set back enough to pause. "We need to talk," he said.

"No kidding."

"Not over the phone."

Kate blinked a few times, gripped the phone a bit harder, and nodded. "Okay, I'll just stop by your office, then? Not like the world doesn't know you want an interview."

"That's fine," he said, though Kate could hear he was pleased.

She set the phone down, drummed her fingers against the table, and sighed. "Well," she told herself, "might as well see what he knows."

Kate made sure that both of her parents knew where she was going before she headed out to meet JJ. She sent a text to Nate but didn't go out of her way to bother him; he was struggling that morning because another day had passed without any word from James. He needed space more than he needed to worry about another person.

But she wasn't dumb enough to go anywhere alone with so many things up in the air. Especially not to the Bugle offices themselves.

Still, she appreciated the JJ seemed to have a sense of how important this was. And he wasn't asking her to come on air or anything like that. And he had been one of the most vocal supporters of the X-Men when they returned. And he had been especially vocal in his support of her role - saying that it was a good thing that the teams weren't forming exclusive clubs based on genetics alone.

So, she brought along a little something Tony had invented ages ago to prevent recordings in a small space. It wouldn't last long, but anyone who wanted to listen in would only hear a wavelength that, if played back on recording equipment, blasted AC/DC. Because Tony thought he was hilarious.

She tried to ignore the questioning looks that got even more surprised when JJ actually waved her in. He hadn't told anyone she was his appointment, then.

He closed the door behind her and gestured for her to take a seat, so she made sure to sit in it backwards, like her dad would, and rest her arms on the back of the chair. He shook his head at her as he sat down across from her with his arms crossed. "You're hard to pin down, Hawkeye."

"Yeah, on purpose," she said with a crooked smirk. "Don't know if you've noticed, but people keep trying to screw with the people I love. I'm a little busy, and I've got my mom's paranoia. So the fact that you knew more than I did about what happened with the Academy - I'm gonna be honest, it's freaking me out a little bit," she said. She'd started out sounding like her mother, but by the end, she sounded like her dad, her honesty peeking out purely because she was worried for everyone back home.

"My impression was that the Avengers were supposed to be working with SHIELD for exactly this kind of thing, especially after the spectacle Captain America made of himself when the original X-Men died," JJ replied. "It's noteworthy you didn't know."

"Yeah, but you don't seem surprised."

"I'm not," JJ agreed. He leaned forward, and she could see the look he often got on TV, the one just behind his eyes that said he wanted a scoop so badly. "They didn't bother to warn you about Hydra, either."

"I'm not here to talk about that," Kate said, losing any friendliness she might have had.

"You've made that clear." JJ sounded grumpy about it, but to Kate's surprise, he wasn't pushing. "You have to have noticed the timing, Hawkeye. SHIELD started pulling its intel back from the Avengers as soon as the X-Men debuted again."

Kate crossed her arms, matching his frown with her own. "My mother and the director of SHIELD-"

"Damnit, girl, this isn't about personal connections," JJ said heatedly. "The moment that original team died, SHIELD had that much more power over the remaining heroes. Believe it or not, having Beast and Wolverine on the team did in fact mean that the Avengers heard about what was happening. Maybe they didn't act on it, and maybe SHIELD mitigated the reports, but they did know more about what SHIELD didn't spoon-feed them." He put his hands down on the desk, got to his feet, and leaned toward her. "You and your freewheeling X-Men might answer to the Avengers, but you don't answer to SHIELD, and you have too many alliances with Genosha and the damn visitors from the stars." He paused and got his breath. "You really think SHIELD doesn't have feelers in the Hellfire Club? You think Emma Frost getting her fingers in the X-Men, breaking things up the way she does, isn't good for SHIELD?"

Kate didn't know what to say, but she couldn't manage to summon what her mom had taught her about hiding her emotions. It had already been a crazy past few weeks, but if what JJ was saying was right, then SHIELD was not only not giving them intel - and sending Phil away so his good heart didn't compel him to help them - but they were actively trying to keep the X-Men from gaining enough traction to be an independent group of superheroes.

"Listen," JJ said, still standing but no longer raising his voice. "You're eighteen. You're a child. By all rights, you shouldn't have been allowed to risk your life at the age you did - and I'm going to make sure the adults who signed off on child endangerment don't forget it."

"The point, Jameson. Get to the point," Kate said in a breath.

He glared at her for a second and then shook his head. "The point, Hawkeye," he said, "is that my source in SHIELD is telling me they'll do everything they can to pressure you kids in particular into joining their ranks. You're young; you're easier to fool. And if Hydra traumatizes you along the way, well, damn, that makes their life easier. You're more likely to ask for help then, right?" JJ made a noise from the back of his throat to communicate his disgust. "If your team wasn't so damned likeable, they'd already be well into their plans to make superheroes register or work for them. They want to be the only power players on the board, and your group is too good at what you do."

Kate blinked at him for several too-long seconds, cleared her throat, and then leaned forward. "Whatever you've got, publish it. And I will find you whatever you need to back it up. There's no way in hell I'm letting anyone back my team - my family - into a corner like that."

"I hoped we'd come to an understanding," JJ said. He sat down and took out a recording device to set on the table between them. "So, Hawkeye, let's get to brass tacks. Tell me everything I can legally print about how SHIELD botched Hydra's attack on you as well as the Hellfire Club's attack on the Academy, and we'll go from there."