A/N - Hey all many thanks for the reviews! I'm short on time as I really want to get to editing a few things, so I'm just tossing this one into the cosmos. Enjoy and Happy Father's Day!
Chapter 117 - Extra, Extra!
Scott had never really gotten out of the habit of answering calls meant for James. He knew that James had mostly given him that job to keep him distracted and busy, but, well, James wasn't in a fit state to answer calls from anyone, so it was actually still needed.
Not that Scott himself was in much of a state to talk on the phone. But enough colleges were hoping to get in some last-minute kissing up that he didn't want to miss, among all the wooing, something important.
He was ignoring most calls from the press - except for the fact that J. Jonah Jameson had called multiple times.
And it wasn't a matter of a couple calls every few days. No, this was multiple calls that day.
So when JJ called again, Scott actually picked up.
"Must be something important," Scott said in lieu of a standard greeting.
"No kidding," JJ said dryly. "I'd have called your phone, but I don't have that number."
Scott raised both eyebrows. "I'm not a story," he said, though he hadn't even finished the last word before JJ cut in.
"You are now."
Scott scoffed and hung up. He didn't have the time or the patience to deal with JJ being pushy. He might have been coming a bit out of retirement, but he wasn't using his old moniker, and he wasn't going to take attention off of his kids.
And then, the phone rang again.
Scott glared at it for a long time. He considered just letting it ring, but he picked it up just as it would have gone to voice mail.
"I"m trying to give you a chance to get ahead of this thing," JJ half-shouted into the phone. "Like it or not, you are the story."
"The hell I am," Scott shouted right back.
"Try explaining that to all of New York once that video of Emma Frost outing you on the street goes mainstream," JJ replied, his tone clipped. "We don't have the exclusive, but what I've seen in draft from my competitors is not flattering for you or your group."
For just a second, Scott had to process that information. Nate had wiped everyone's minds, but even he wasn't good enough to scrub everything. He could tell people to stop recording, even to erase it, but cameras without operators…. "What have they got?"
"You know, that boy of yours and the young Hawkeye have been about as good to talk to as anyone in your line of work, but I don't think they can spin it for you or brush it away when it's Frost outing you by name and codename on the street. There were witnesses that claim not to remember any of it - and considering the content of what Frost was shouting on why she outed you … that is not going to look good. You know what I'm talking about."
Scott let his shoulders drop, and he sat down. "Okay, the first thing you need to know is that Cable did not take her powers."
"No, the Maximoff boy did," JJ said.
"Damnit," Scott said, because if they had that on camera, they had Billy explaining what Emma had done to earn his wrath. And that was going to bring up all sorts of questions about his past with her.
"I can show you what I have so you can get ahead of this, but you'd need to get down here fast."
"Done." Scott hung up on him and then immediately called Mia. "I need a teleport to The Bugle."
"Oh my God, why? Is there going to be a murder?" Mia asked - only half teasing because she'd been joking with Tommy all day.
"Not today, anyway," Scott said through his teeth.
"Oh, that's a relief. I'm too young to have a rap sheet like that. Be right there!"
Scott nodded to himself, setting his shoulders and letting out a deep breath. When Mia arrived, he gave her a tight smile and put his hand on her shoulder. "Just trying to get ahead of something," he explained.
"Okay," Mia agreed, nodding along with him. "I'll stick around and wait then for when you're done, right?"
"Yeah." Scott squeezed her shoulder a bit tighter. And after a few teleports, they were in the Bugle's offices - about a foot away from Jessica Jones's desk.
Jessica greeted them with a loud curse as she dropped her coffee mug, then covered her face with one hand and gestured toward him with the other. "What the f-"
"Hi, Jess!" Mia sang out. "I don't know either."
Jessica blinked at them a few times, then gestured wildly around them. "Hi … mister. What … I mean … what the f-"
"I'll explain later," Scott said. "Your boss is in, right?"
"It's daylight, so he hasn't disappeared into his cave, yes."
"Perfect." Scott went to JJ's office and knocked on the door.
"Busy!" JJ called back. "I don't have time for whatever it is you want - figure it out yourself. I'm waiting on an interview."
"Open the door, Jameson, or I'm going to a competitor."
There was a scrambling behind the door before Jameson opened it, looking positively unprepared to see Scott standing there, and if the curse was any indicator as he stepped back to let him by … he really had forgotten how the X-Men could operate.
Scott pointedly didn't say anything until he closed the door behind him. And then, he nodded Jameson's way.
Jameson had rushed over to his desk, but seeing the mood Scott was in, he didn't try to tapdance around it before he turned his laptop for Scott to see. "You're quicker than I remember."
"Nightcrawler's faster at answering her cell phone than the last one," Scott said absently as he sat down, frowning at the footage already queued up.
"Apparently," Jameson said, then he let Scott take the time to watch - and listen to all that was recorded. Once Scott had finished the video, Jameson let the silence hang for a long moment as he tried to organize his thoughts. "I have no idea what a lot of that was referring to, and I'm not trying to dig up anything on those kids. I want to make that clear. But … I can't see most modern reporters looking past the headlines and shock factor to see the real story. Which is clearly Frost's misdeeds."
"Billy doesn't use his powers like that on anyone who doesn't cross a line," Scott said. "I want to make it clear he's not in the habit of doing that - to anyone."
"I honestly can't see that being much of a concern for most of the mouth breathing idiots that will be reporting on this," Jameson said frankly. "If anything, they'd be pushing for him to do more of it."
"That's my worry too," Scott said. He leaned back, his hands up to his mouth at the index fingers as he tried, hard, to refocus.
"I am a little more concerned about the lackluster eyewitness reports showcasing how they didn't know what the videos were on their own phones until they found them later - at least as far as things concerning those on the tape."
Scott nodded. "That's my fault," he said at last, nodding to himself. "I asked my team to let everyone continue to think I was dead."
"Considering how protective your family is of each other, I don't think it's a fault," Jameson said.
Scott nodded. "Mr. Jameson, I heard your reports after what happened to my team, and I appreciate all you've said about them. Which is why I'm sure you can understand why it was better for everyone involved at the time for me to step back and raise my children without a target on their backs."
Jameson tapped his fingers on his desk. "Mr. Summers, considering the storm that's about to come after you just based on your appearance after all these years, I do not envy your position - and I don't want to report on that. I want to keep the focus on what this woman could have possibly done to rile up a defense from those kids that was that total when they've been solidly conservative in their approach against those trying to make life miserable. I don't want them to be the target when they're doing well. I think that spotlight needs to be on where the problem is." He pulled out a file and dropped it on his desk. "I know she's been misusing her abilities for decades, but … the most appropriate ammunition I have to outline it is this lawsuit that was recently, mysteriously shut down. I'm sure you can give me more details, and I'm hoping that this story won't be stopped by telepathic interference."
Scott nodded to himself, texted Mia again, and then looked up. "Nightcrawler's coming back with a device for you that we've found will keep Emma out of your mind entirely as long as you have it on you."
"I was under the impression that Emma Frost wasn't a telepathic terror any more."
"She has other telepaths she could call on," Scott said.
"Of course she does."
Scott tapped his fingers against his arm. "Alright," he said slowly. "You'll want to talk to Stark. I'll vouch for you in this case. We don't have concrete proof, obviously, because telepathic proof isn't yet allowed in court. But it was no accident that the lawsuit went to settlement shortly after she was housed in Avengers Tower."
"And you're telling me that Tony Stark will corroborate that? On record?"
"Yes," Scott said. "He's mad as hell about what she pulled. If you've seen what's in the public file for that case, you know how she treated some of her clients. No one takes that lightly."
"Sounds like we have a lot to get through - and not a lot of time to do it." Jameson took back his laptop and opened a fresh file. "So … probably ought to have you dive in and tell me your side of things."
Scott took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I know you've been working with Kate about the attack on the Massachusetts Academy," he said.
"Your boy has been helpful, too," Jameson said. "Even said he'd be open to another interview. If I can get a hold of him for five minutes."
The corner of Scott's mouth twitched. "Jameson, I'm about to tell you something deeply personal, and I would appreciate it if you could find any way to report this without causing more emotional damage than has already happened to my son."
"Summers, the story isn't your boy. It needs to stay that way."
"The story right now is what Emma did to make Billy mad enough to yank her powers, and part of that is-" He cleared his throat. "Well." He cleared his throat again. "After the Academy came down, she slipped into my head. And she, to be honest, had complete control when Wolverine came after me, and she told him using my voice that he wasn't wanted. That I didn't want him. She told a little boy who lost his parents at three, who was adopted into a family in hiding, that he was nothing but a burden. And that's why he's not picking up your calls right now."
For a long moment, Jameson just stared at Scott silently before finally, he too cleared his throat and very roughly gestured for Scott to continue.
"What you have there on video is Billy standing up to someone who tried to use the aftermath of an attack that put most of the senior members of the team back on their heels to regain the power she used to have with the X-Men." Scott waved his hand in front of his eyes. "It's obvious why I'm not on the team right now. But you and I both know that the team will listen to me if they need me, that I'll be there for them if they ask. She knew that too, so she crawled in my head and intended to return to the X-Men and install herself at the head of the team - through me. Stark's lawsuit, the X-Men, all of it was a play for her to get back the power she had before most mutants were forced underground."
"To what end?" Jameson asked.
"That part, I couldn't tell you. She didn't share it with me," Scott said. He swallowed a few more times than was necessary. "You've been working with Kate. I don't know what she's told you about what happened with Hydra. I don't know how much she can tell you."
"We don't really discuss that," Jameson admitted. "Though I do know roughly what happened through my other contacts."
"Do you know enough to understand why Billy in particular would react the way he did to knowing someone was-" Scott gestured at the laptop.
"Yes."
"Alright then." Scott cleared his throat. His foot was bouncing. "So." He nodded again. "So, ah. Consider my public past with her and, ah…" He trailed off, cleared his throat. "I don't - if it can help explain why Billy reacted the way he did, I'd rather you use my name than reveal anything that happened to him or Kate or James. Please."
Jameson nodded. "Of course. I think we can paint the picture clearly enough without trying to dissect that conveniently garbled section of audio. People will draw their own conclusions if we lay it out right so that we don't need to name names."
"Thanks. That's… definitely not the story I'd prefer hanging over my head when people find out I'm still alive."
"Like I said, I'd prefer we keep the crimes on Frost's roster."
"Talk to Stark. He's got plenty to say there. He built a big case and has plenty of evidence of how she used her license to manipulate vulnerable mutants. Not all of it even went into the case itself."
"I have a testimony from a secretary at a rather prestigious college that will back that up," Jameson said.
Scott nodded, then took a deep breath. "So," he said. "Tell me what you want to ask. I know you'll follow up on the Emma thing, but to be honest, we both know you have questions, and I'd rather you had the answers than get blindsided by a different reporter."
"I take it you got my message from your son," Jameson said. "You … are caught up in this story - and once it hits, the focus will swing quickly to what happened to you after the disaster in Westchester. I don't have to spell out what you know everyone is curious about, and I am sorry, but if you can give me … an updated bio … essentially… I can have whatever answers you can give ready to roll before you get blindsided."
Scott let out a mirthless laugh. "I'll do you one better," he said. "Because you had the decency to warn me, why don't you and I sit down for an official interview. Whatever questions you want answered. The only thing I ask is that you give me time to warn my girlfriend her face is about to be on national television."
"My office is always open when you can - but … sooner is better than later. Obviously."
"Obviously."
He pointed a finger at Scott. "And I won't bring your son into that interview. At all. I understand the need to keep that quiet … for all your kids as much as possible."
"Alright then." Scott let out a controlled breath. "I'll give you a few answers to the ones I know you'll get immediately. We'll schedule something more… public… later. But to start, you have to know why the original Wolverine did what he did…."
When Scott was done talking to Jameson, Mia and Jessica both were watching the door to the office with crossed arms and raised eyebrows as he shut the door behind himself again.
"...well?" Jessica said, sweeping one hand out to indicate, well, all of him.
Scott shrugged lightly; he didn't much feel like talking after he'd had to go over pretty much everything Jameson would need to keep the pressure on the right people and keep the press away from the worst conclusions they could come to without the facts (not that some outlets wouldn't get there all the same). "Long story," he said.
"Yeah, obviously. You were in there forever," Mia said, tapping her foot.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"That wasn't…" Mia let out a frustrated sound, teleported over to Scott, and then, in a couple teleports, got them to the grounds of the school. One more 'port, and she had them inside - in her mother's office, to be more precise. "Mom, Scott spent, like, two hours with J. Jonah Jameson and I want you to check and make sure he's not a Skrull or something," she announced before the smoke had even cleared.
Scott scowled as he waved away some of the smoke of the teleport. "Thanks, Mia," he said dryly.
"You're welcome!" she said, meeting his scowl with a bright smile.
Scott shook his head at her, but when he looked up to see that Storm was looking at him in genuine concern, he sighed and sat down in the nearest chair. "News story will run in the morning at the latest," he told her. "It looks like someone's personal security camera for their business caught Emma on tape outing me. They sent it around to the press, and, well, Jameson called to get ahead of the story."
"Well that sucks," Mia said, pulling a face.
"Not much we can do about it now," Scott admitted. He leaned back in the chair and gestured vaguely with one hand. "I'm absolutely expecting Kate to start asking when I'll be back in the field at this rate, too. Already had Jameson ask that."
"Really?" Mia lit up.
"I'm not-"
"Hold that thought!" Mia said, and teleported away, leaving Scott and Ororo alone for the time being.
"How are you feeling?" Ororo asked. "This has to be a hard shift for you."
Scott let out a soft sound from the back of his throat. "More upset that she managed to out Nate and put Annie in the public eye in the same move, honestly," he said. "I'll deal with the rest. Always have."
"I know you will, but that doesn't answer my question, not really."
Scott sighed again. "To tell you the truth, I haven't really had time to do more than react," he said. "Jameson called to warn me there was a tape, so I went to give him clarification - get ahead of the story before it can get spun the wrong way. Especially for Billy."
"I wonder what it was that got him to be proactive to protect."
"He's been working with Kate lately too. The best she can tell, last we talked, is he saw the patterns in all the crimes that ramped up when the team was gone, so he's invested in seeing a team independent of SHIELD like ours was."
"That might be difficult to manage all things considered."
"We'll figure it out." Scott cleared his throat. "I'll need to call Wanda and warn her, too. The Genoshan court findings are about to come out, and Billy's on tape admitting to yanking Emma's powers, so that could get precarious for him…"
"By all means," Ororo said, gesturing to her phone.
Just about that time, though, Mia had teleported back into the room, with Kitty in tow - just in time for Kitty to hear what Scott had said.
"I'll be back!" Mia declared, teleporting away again - gleefully.
"Um … what … what did I miss? It sounded like something I want to hear," Kitty said, frowning at Scott.
This time, Scott couldn't help but smile her way, knowing her history with Emma. "Billy took Emma's powers - permanently, as far as I can tell."
"Oh, my, God. Why isn't there a telepath when I want one that can project this to me?"
"You could always ask Annie to retell it. She can also tell you about how she punched Emma - you might have heard-"
"Annie got to see it and I didn't?" Kitty half-shouted sounding just like when she was fresh to the team.
Scott and Ororo both couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction. "In my defense," Scott said, "Emma showed up when Annie and I were announcing our engagement to my kids-"
"Why do I always miss all the good stuff? It's like you purposely wait for me to be doing something else before- "
"Yes, Kitty, I absolutely waited until you and Spiderman were investigating that organized crime ring to get sucker-punched by Emma," Scott said dryly.
"I knew it, you big jerk, you!" She climbed into a chair, sitting cross legged. "So you need to tell me every detail so I can imagine it. I don't want to miss any more."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Mia said, teleporting in with Bobby and Warren in tow. "Wait, I've got more!"
"Mia, what are you doing?" Scott asked, exasperated. He hadn't been expecting Mia to turn this into a spectacle.
"Oh, nothing, just gathering people to hear about your triumphant return to the public eye okaybyeseeyoulater!" Mia said and disappeared into a puff of smoke.
"Bring snacks!" Kitty shouted.
"This is starting to get crowded," Scott said, crossing his arms.
"We're your biggest fans, fearless - what did you expect?" Kitty said with a grin.
"And apparently always out of the loop. When did you decide to go public?" Bobby asked, grinning as he put his arm around Scott's shoulders.
"Wasn't my idea," Scott said.
"He got tired of the new team doing soundbites when they could be off doing dashing and daring feats," Kitty teased. "And someone ticked him off and hit a big red button, probably."
"Which reminds me." Scott put his arm around Bobby's shoulders in return. "Next time you're headed to the Baxter Building, I need to talk to Reed Richards. I need his contacts in the academic world."
"You wanna hitch a ride with me?" Bobby asked, looking surprised. "What are you doing with the academics exactly?"
Scott shrugged, though his eyes were flashing. "Nothing yet, but a little research into how to make Emma toxic to the academic world and cut off her supply of influence, to start."
"Oh. So it's war," Bobby said, nodding slowly. "Well. It's about time."
"She publicly outed me and Nate, not to mention everything she did to James," Scott said.
"How are the kids taking it? I know it's kind of … um. Yeah," Bobby said, finishing with one hand on his neck.
Scott hedged. "They don't know the story is going public yet," he admitted. "This just happened, and Mia got ahead of me."
"Oh, crap," Bobby said. "Want me to text them to get here?"
"I'll reach out to Rachel," Scott said. "If Mia doesn't end up teleporting all of us into the living room at this rate."
"She's about at the end of her abilities for as much as she's been porting around already," Ororo said. "Soon she'll shift to text. Or Tommy."
"Or both," Warren chuckled.
Almost on cue, Mia appeared, this time with Hank - and plenty of Twinkies, which she handed to Kitty before she collapsed in a chair nearby. "Okay, that's all, folks," she declared. "Talk among yourselves."
"Mia, my darling girl," Ororo said. "Let Scott reach out to his own children, please."
"Okay, that's fair," Mia said, though she was pouting as she put her phone away.
Hank chuckled as he took in the scene. "I'm assuming something momentous has happened."
"Yeah, Scott's pissed enough at Emma to do something about it," Bobby said - and Warren jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. "Ow."
Scott sighed as he looked between his old friends. "Alright," he said - and gave them the quick overview of the situation, particularly what was on the tape that would be playing on the news soon. He made sure to emphasize that in telling his story, he hadn't told any of theirs and that he had done everything in his power to keep from dredging up any questions from reporters that might pull old memories to the surface for them.
"And anyway," Scott said once they were up to speed, "Jameson's got enough information from what I gave him and his own research to make Emma the story. So I was thinking I'd reach out to Richards about what I can do to lessen her influence in academia and-" He turned to Warren. "When Betsy gets home-"
"Yeah, whatever you need, from both of us," Warren promised before he could finish.
"Thanks." Scott nodded to himself. "I'm sorry about all this. I'm sure it's a little too familiar - me trying to clean up after her again."
"Um … totally different because we're going to stomp her, too," Kitty said.
"And throw Billy a parade," Mia put in.
Bobby pointed her way. "She makes a good point."
"I love that kid," Kitty said with a grin.
"We'll throw one for Annie too," Warren chuckled. "I'd have loved to see that in person - I'll bet the White Queen never saw her coming."
"She'd never admit it if she did," Kitty said. "Although … she did put a telepathic headlock on her and made her break up with you…"
"Yeah, I don't think Annie's ever going to forget that," Scott said, smirking, though by that point, he had pulled out his phone to text his kids in a family chat - including Billy, Kate, and America. And James.
Heads up. Video of Emma using my name and codename about to hit the news. I've already talked to Jameson to get ahead of it. Video attached, he wrote and added the video.
You can't just say things like this and not expect people to die of heart attacks! Kate replied within seconds.
My mom is going to have a fit, Billy said after enough time had passed for him to watch the video.
Nate, didn't you wipe minds?
I can't wipe security cameras. I'm not a technopath.
I can banish Frost to a dimension made entirely of glaciers to make her match her name, America offered.
We'll call that Plan 3, Scott replied, unable to hide his smirk at that response.
Impressively high up on the list, Kate replied.
"Sounds like the kids just found out," Warren said, smirking at Scott's buzzing phone. "How are they taking it?"
"Hard to tell. America offered to banish Emma to another dimension made of ice," Scott said.
"That's a fair opener," Kitty said, nodding along. "Better than she deserves."
"I'd rather let her see her influence drain away," Scott said simply. "If we just send her away, all she'll take from it is that she should stay away from Billy and America."
"It's fun seeing this side of you," Bobby said, grinning.
"Hey, she crossed a line," Scott said.
"Or twenty," Mia said under her breath, now furiously texting with Tommy since the story was officially out there in the younger crowd.
"In the meantime," Hank said and put a hand on Scott's shoulder. "What can we do to help? It's obvious you have plans, but I doubt being dragged into the spotlight was one of them."
Scott let his shoulders drop. "Just… help me make sure this doesn't come back to bite the team the kids built. They've got a good thing going. I don't want to be the story and overshadow them."
"You know we've got your back," Kitty promised. "And theirs too."
"Come on, Scotty. You heard from us and the kids - let's get going to see Reed," Bobby offered.
Scott smiled at that. "You were already headed to the Baxter Building when Mia came to get you, weren't you."
"I wasn't, but it's a damn good excuse and she's not up to teleporting you there, so I'm going to run with it," Bobby said.
"Fair enough," Scott agreed. "Lead the way."
Jameson had been right about the need to move quickly on the story Emma was spreading. JJ's piece about Emma's crimes ran at almost the exact same time as the piece about Scott's identity, and the tabloids couldn't seem to choose which story they wanted to pay attention to more.
The thing that had Scott the most frustrated, though, was that his kids had no hope of privacy anymore either. Nate had been outed, and James had been connected to him, and it was all a mess - and too soon after James had returned.
He did not need to be answering questions about Scott raising him after all he'd been through. That was already a tender subject.
So it was a good thing that Scott and JJ had already planned a quick turnaround on his public appearance. The story was only a day old when Scott drove up to the offices of The Bugle, but already, it was causing headaches in his personal life, and he was ready to get this over with, do what damage control he could, and then apologize to Annie for the fact that her face - and her quick fists - were all over the news too.
Scott wasn't entirely sure how everyone else in the family - or on the team - was taking the revelation, because he'd been busy writing and rewriting notes to himself, trying to figure out how best to say what needed saying when his mind was occupied by the fact that James was staying in Avengers Tower. It was hard to deal with a crisis like this when his son was so obviously putting distance between them.
But he couldn't do anything about the timing.
Still, by the time he got to The Bugle, in an inducer so he wouldn't be hounded until he actually got to the set, he was starting to fall back into something familiar. He'd done public appearances on behalf of the team plenty of times before. Hopefully, he could draw on that experience.
The show wasn't set to start for another ten minutes after Scott arrived, but that, too, was by design. He wanted to see how things were set up, get used to the people running things in the background, watch the introduction so he could see eyelines. He wasn't so out of practice that he'd forgotten the basics, anyway. And one of the more important things was a good relationship with the people who weren't in front of the camera.
JJ was on fire, as usual, jumping into the introduction to remind his viewers of his view of the X-Men and all that the original team had done that wasn't apparent until they were lost - which was a good lead-in to introducing Scott, who, try as he might, couldn't make the scars on his face look any less bright without employing a makeup artist. And he had considered it, because of what it might do to Logan's legacy despite the truth being out there.
Scott nodded to JJ as he sat down, his hands resting on the desk in front of him. "Thanks for having me - and for the introduction."
"There are many things our viewers would like to know, but before we dive into borderline gossip, why don't you tell us where you've been all these years? After all, fifteen years have passed since anyone heard or saw anything about Cyclops."
"Yeah, I'd have preferred to stay out of the spotlight a little longer, to be honest."
"That seems to be a repeating theme with those closest to you."
Scott took a deep breath and let it out. "We're trying to be careful," he said. "You touched on it in your introduction, but my team disbanded for a reason. We lost a lot of friends - family. And more." He gestured to his face. "So I just tried to raise my kids. I know the video going around shows more of my family than I'd like, so I'll just say that's where I've been. And I'm damn proud of those kids."
"They've certainly picked up where you left off," Jameson agreed, then gently tried to shift the conversation back on track. "Can you tell us what happened between then and now? Anything made available to the public at the time was sparse at best, and though I'm not looking for intimate details, a solid overview might answer a few questions without making an ordeal out of it."
Scott nodded. He'd known JJ would ask about that - which was why he was doing this with a semi-friendly face. At least JJ had the decency to warn him. "I know they released a list of those that died in public, and my wife's name was toward the top," he said. He took another deep breath and let it out. "Before the incident with the Phoenix, my team and I were captive for weeks. I won't go into details. You don't need them. Just know that those that died in captivity died in the worst ways." He made a vague motion with one hand. "That's how Jean ended up losing control of the Phoenix. That entity feeds on the worst emotions, and that was all we had by that point. After losing her - and watching everyone else hurt - I called it. The team wasn't going to survive. Not as it was. So, we split, and everyone did what they could to recover. I know Storm and Beast were Avengers - not everyone left the life. But we don't get to choose how trauma like that changes our lives, you know?"
"No, we don't," Jameson agreed. "And even though you left the life, it seems like all of the kids from your team decided to pick it up again. How are the older members handling it?"
"Honestly, it's been amazing. It's almost like having the old team back. Those kids are full of hope, just like we were at that age. It's a good reminder of why we started the team in the first place: we just wanted to help, and that's what those kids are doing."
"The new team has gotten what seems to be unconditional support from the Avengers," Jameson said, not at all phrasing it like a question. "What, if anything that you're aware of, could be holding up that same kind of support from those higher up the food chain?"
Scott smirked at the corner of his mouth. "I'll have to choose my words carefully here," he said, though his smirk pulled harder out as he said it.
"I've heard that a few times before from your group," Jameson said.
"I'll just speak to my own experience - in the past and the present," Scott said. "I can tell you when I was leading the team, SHIELD didn't give a damn about mutants unless they could use us. I won't sugarcoat the past."
Jameson tapped his fingers on the desk for a beat or two. "Can't expect that to change when the leadership hasn't."
"I don't deal as directly with them as I used to, but I can tell you the few interactions I've had with them have been depressingly familiar."
"And are any of the young X-Men getting suckered into dealing with them, or have they learned from those past mistakes as well?"
"I'll give those kids all the credit they deserve," he said. "They're too smart to trust any institution with the kind of history SHIELD has. They're careful. Are they willing to work with agents who've proven they can be trusted? Sure. But you've reported on everything Hawkeye has told you about her experience - and they've actually been more helpful with her than usual."
Jameson didn't look overly impressed with the idea, but did what he could to keep his opinion from turning into a rant when SHIELD had been such a pain about everything recently. "That doesn't exactly surprise me,and I'm sure it doesn't surprise you, either."
"Not even a little bit," Scott said. "They weren't worth a damn when half my team died; I don't expect much out of them."
"Then I hope the Avengers are smart enough to keep those kids as close as you have."
"They're protective of those kids. They helped my team in the immediate aftermath of what happened, and I don't think they've forgotten what happens when the all-mutant team gets sidelined."
Jameson frowned slightly. "Without getting too close to prying into the lives of those kids when they were small - how involved were the Avengers with them?"
Scott nodded. He didn't mind talking up his allies - and wanted the world to know how much good the Avengers had done, too. "When the team dissolved, we still had a lot of enemies. The Avengers helped those of us with kids to keep them safe. They were personally involved with helping me make sure my kids were never threatened again."
"Until SHIELD ignored all the warning signs," Jameson said dryly. "I'm not pointing the finger at the Avengers. I'm simply pointing out that SHIELD uses them and only provides information when it suits them."
"That's part of why they never liked my team," Scott said. "We're not beholden to them. So we're not useful."
Jameson looked as if they were getting closer to what he'd wanted to discuss at that point. "Do you think that SHIELD withholding information on this new team, when they were attacked parallels their lack of involvement when your team was left for dead?"
Again, Scott smirked. "I'll say this much," he said. "SHIELD seems to ignore the ones who wear the X-patch until someone with an Avengers ID takes an interest."
"Hard to manage when, if I understand it correctly, all of those kids wearing that X-patch are also card carrying Avengers."
"Interesting, isn't it?" Scott said. "I think that's part of why the Avengers insisted that the kids train with them."
"And yet, some of them have already been detained on the helicarrier."
"I can't speak to that," Scott said. "I'd like to, but…"
"I'm sure once something leaks from an outside source and it's public knowledge, we can come back around to it."
"Probably." Scott smirked again. "Still, the one thing I'll say has improved is that people like you and the Avengers are more willing to take our side. I'm proud of the team for proving the peaceful coexistence hypothesis true."
Jameson leaned forward slightly at that. "To be perfectly honest, aside from the reassuring lack of forty foot tall murderous robots being scattered across the boroughs, I really don't see much of a difference in what the new team is doing, and what the old team did."
"I appreciate it," Scott said. "My team did their best. I think these kids just have a more receptive audience. Hard as it is to accept, my team's absence did more than half our missions."
"Good PR can only take you so far," Jameson said. "Turning the opinion of a pair of princes had to have made a solid impact as well."
"Oh, thank Hawkeye for that. You've met her; it's impossible to hold Magneto's beliefs around her," Scott said, smiling fondly. "We should have had a human on our team originally. I was worried the hate against our team would get anyone on our team killed, but Hawkeye has proven me wrong."
"That's on tape now," Jameson teased. "And I'll be sure she gets a copy of that."
"You've seen the video of my outing. You've seen her with my son. I'm fully expecting her to light up my cell phone before this interview is over."
Jameson almost chuckled at that as he reorganized his notes. "You weren't the only one she proved wrong on that count," he said, then drew in a breath before shifting into a more sensitive topic. "The slide of public opinion can be quick when they're left without enough information - or too much, as it were. Before we talk about how we got to where we are now - with your forcible return to the public eye - I know that if we don't touch on this one question, the public at large will continue to speculate and draw their own conclusions. You know what I'm leaning toward, Mr. Summers. The hauntingly familiar pattern of scars. We all want to know why, and how."
Scott swallowed but nodded. "As I'm sure you know, and as more has come out since the original Wolverine's death, too many people and organizations wanted Wolverine and K to be weapons. Greydon Creed was no different. And to force Wolverine's hand-" He took a deep breath. "He had all of our kids. The youngest was barely a year old. So when I tell you that Greydon Creed forced Wolverine to mete out his judgment… it wasn't his fault." He put both hands on the desk in front of him. "You and I know that Wolverine and I didn't get along as well as we could have. So when I'm vouching for him for my own injuries, I hope people will give that the weight it deserves."
"And still, with all of that over your head, you carry on the promise of hope that the general public can do the right thing. You're some kind of optimist, Mr. Summers."
"I have to be," Scott said. "We lost Charles Xavier that day; I'm not going to give up on his dream. It's a way to keep him alive."
"You and your kids are all doing a fine job of that," he said in an undertone, then again reshuffled his cards, cleared his throat and went back to what sounded like hard hitting questions, but Scott knew was simply the tonal switch as he started firing out the things that the public at large wanted to know - and some simple ones about his opinion on various moves the team had made, if he was directing them, how long and how deeply he was involved … the little things that some people had been saying on the morning news or in the papers, carefully trying to avoid things that had been running in the gossip columns all year.
Scott did his best to set the record straight, too. Yes, he'd been helping the team with some intelligence and strategic work lately, but he made sure the kids got their due. They'd come up with the idea and ran with it. He'd just been focused on keeping them safe and working with the Avengers to do so.
As for the gossip, well, he did what he could for Annie to keep her out of it, with JJ's help. He did confirm that he was engaged - someone had spotted Annie's ring. But, again, he and JJ managed to turn it around to talk about the way both the Avengers and the X-Men were trying to make sure history couldn't repeat itself and heroes would still be able to have families and lives of their own. And that was all he really said about Annie.
They laughed a bit about the press wrongly thinking James and Rachel were a couple, and Scott talked a little about Nate and Kate as a couple.
And then they tackled more of what Emma had been saying. Scott knew the public report ton Erik's death was coming, so they touched on that briefly before tying it back in to Billy's spell on Emma. And Scott didn't mince words.
"Listen," he said, leaning toward JJ. "I know in the past I've defended Emma. I know my relationship with her was public, so I know how this comes across. But in all the time I've known her, she has only ever been interested in her own power, her own goals. And this time, she crossed a line. She purposefully manipulated the perceptions of every single hero who came to rescue her from her own school, purposefully sent several people into PTSD episodes from when our school was leveled. And she went on to telepathically meddle in an ongoing case and violate the minds of as many people as she could. I won't go into details to protect her victims, but I'll tell you this: Billy was being kind. If she'd kept her powers, she'd see a jail cell. She just might still see one, if Stark's lawyers can clear the legal brouhaha of telepathic interference." Scott waved his hand in irritation. "She's a villain, and I'm sorry that she used my team and my name to convince anyone that she was ever anything but. And I'm done apologizing for her."
With that, JJ grinned and turned back to the camera, wrapping up the segment with glee. He had his sights set on Emma and on SHIELD, and Scott had, hopefully, given him plenty of ammunition in addition to building up his defenses.
Scott waited until the camera was off before he checked his phone and chuckled. "Yep. Dozen different text conversations and counting."
"Nothing I'll see leaking out though, I'm sure," Jameson said as he tossed out his notecards and took the mic pack apart.
"You've dealt with Kate. You probably already know the first twelve texts are just her being pleased I admitted she was right," Scott said, pocketing his phone.
"I'm still sending her the tape."
"She'll love it." Scott got to his feet and extended his hand. "Thank you for letting me tell the truth."
"Thank you for coming in and scooping the other networks," Jameson said. "I already know I'll hear back from Hawkeye before too long, and you were right - the information from Stark's lawyers is pretty extensive, even if there's nothing I can actually report on right now."
"I look forward to seeing what you unleash." Scott smirked to himself and headed out, not at all surprised to see that his phone was still chiming. But the text from Jan with an open invite to watch the show on the big screen was intriguing enough that he headed that way - and was immediately attacked in a hug once he got there.
"Hey, Jan. Think I did okay?"
"You were amazing, not that I was surprised. Natasha brought popcorn to watch act one … and act two in progress. You really know how to come out of retirement, don't you?"
"Apparently," Scott laughed. "It helped that JJ and I chatted ahead of time. I gave him an exclusive scoop; he helped me preempt the gossip channels."
"It's a fair trade off," Jan said as she took his arm to direct him toward Tony's lab. "What's that like, to get around the gossip channels?"
"No idea," Scott laughed and threw an arm around her shoulders. "So, how mad is your SHIELD liaison?"
"At the moment more panicked than anything," Jan admitted. "See … once that turned against SHIELD, Tony's systems started to ping, so someone took offense? And now it's kind of maybe a little cyber war?"
"Good."
"My guy and your kid are getting nasty in there. They're doing that thing. Tony's having a blast."
Scott's smile faltered slightly, though he still maintained it. "Sounds like them."
"Not for a long while," Jan said. "And this was kind of out of necessity, so…"
"Yeah. If I'd known James was going to get outed as mine, I'd have tried to warn him…"
"He's not upset about that at all," Jan promised. "He was just threatening to go take a walk without an inducer to rile up someone with a camera that had been super nasty to Rachel? But then the alarm went off, so the vindictive got re-aimed at that instead. I think he's more mad that you and Nate were outed, honestly."
"Yeah, don't worry about that," Scott said. "I've got a few things in the works. When your husband gets a minute, I wanted to talk to him and you about the appeal."
Jan gestured grandly. "Go ahead. He does better when he's multitasking anyhow."
"No, I'll wait," Scott said. "I don't want-" He paused. "I'm adding my testimony. James will get distracted if he hears that."
"So don't say that part yet. I know they were nearly done and Tony was swearing a few minutes ago when James passed him up."
"He's mad." Scott smiled and glanced down at his phone. "Anyway. I need to call Betsy, too. We were going to work on cutting off Emma's financial interests in as many places as possible, and she knows better than anyone how to do that."
Then, over the low hum of music, it was easy enough to hear Tony's outburst of "Woah, too far!" followed by James telling him to fight back for once.
"Okay, don't even act like you don't want to know what that's all about," Jan said, once again pulling on Scott to go with her past Natasha and Billy, who were both grinning and sharing popcorn.
"Channeling his mom, no doubt," Scott said, though he let Jan pull him along.
"He absolutely is," Natasha confirmed with a low laugh. "And overdue, too. I think Fury needs the reminder."
"What, you don't think my public appearance was enough?" he teased her.
"For the public?" Natasha shrugged. "Maybe. If they saw this? Definitely."
As they stepped into the lab, James barely glanced up with an understated "Hey. How'd it go?" though he kept working with Tony sputtering next to him.
"I think it went alright," Scott said.
"So … would it be too much to send JJ a button with your fan club on it, or …"
"He's sending a copy of the tape of me admitting to being wrong about Kate to her cell phone, so…"
"Ooh, fair game!" Jan laughed.
"Exactly." Scott smirked and leaned against the doorframe. "Hey, Stark, meant to talk to you."
"Can you get him to just … dial it back a little?" Tony said, sounding exasperated.
"Absolutely not," Scott said without missing a beat. "Besides, I'm here to ask you to help me obliterate someone too."
"Can you do it after I stop him from embedding that code?" Tony said as James chuckled to himself.
"Nope."
"Whatcha doin' over there anyhow?" Jan asked, since … she could count on one hand the number of times Tony had ever tried to slow James down on anything … and she'd still have several fingers left to count with.
"He … asked for defensive measures," James said as innocently as he could manage when he looked that aggressive. "So … I put in some really prime consequences for nosy SHIELD and Hydra types trying to poke where they don't belong."
"He's put together a worm that'll destroy all of the navigation on the helicarrier if they so much as touch our servers," Tony said. "They try to push through it or work around it and it'll drop the damn thing out of the sky after it locks up their capability to transmit data…" He looked up at Scott. "Help."
"Oooh, something else that should be given to Kate in some kind of commemorative form," James said almost distractedly.
Scott smirked. "Should probably warn them that they'll drop before actually going through with it."
"There are warnings up before they get that far," James said before he hit one last keystroke then turned toward Tony with a smirk.
"Then that's called consequences," Scott said.
"They started it," James said - purely to rile Tony, though Jan couldn't help but laugh at that.
Scott smiled outright. "Atta boy," he said, then tapped Tony on the shoulder. "Seriously, we need to talk. I need your help."
Tony tossed his hand into the air as he gestured at the laptop in front of him. "Yeah. Sure. He did it anyhow. Damnit. It's going to take me hours to unravel that mess."
"That's the whole idea," James defended.
Scott tipped his head for Tony to come away from James, though it wasn't until he was sure James was distracted talking to Jan and Natasha and they were well out of earshot that he said, "You know what your legal team is capable of, and you know your world better than anyone else. I'm looking for help cutting Emma off. Finances, her good name, any power she might have had - I want it gone."
"When did she get a good name?" Tony deadpanned.
"Point is," Scott said, "I'll help with the appeal. Add my testimony."
"That's … yeah. I'll let the legal team know. We retained everyone that was part of the original lawsuit."
"Great. I know it'll be a new case, might help if the appeal doesn't work. The justice department rarely listens in telepathic cases." Scott took a deep breath. "I also know some of her hidden places."
"You could just have your kid drop a helicarrier on one of them," Tony said with a grumble.
"I'm not letting James anywhere near her," Scott said pointedly.
"So if and when he hears you're throwing your hat into the ring, I should what … forbid him from doing the same? That works with him. Because even if she didn't get nearly as far … he wants a chunk taken out of her, I know."
"Let's just focus on doing what we can and deal with that later," Scott said pointedly. "Anyway, I have some more contacts to make."
"You know you're welcome to whatever you need," Tony said, looking slightly less frazzled now that he was focusing on something else.
"Thanks. I'll actually take you up on that this time, too," Scott said, already heading out to let Tony and James get back to the good work they'd already been doing. He managed to skirt around Jan, though he didn't quite make it out before he heard Steve call out to him.
He let his shoulders drop and turned toward Steve. "I know I should have given you a heads up about the interview," he started to say.
"I'm not really worried about the interview - not like you think," Steve said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Scott said automatically.
"I'm sure, but … that was rough."
"Yeah." Scott swallowed. "Couldn't avoid it, though. Not when Emma threw it out there after her own school got leveled."
"Yeah, I get it. Still. How can I help?"
"I've already talked to Stark about the legal side of things, trying to appeal the court case on telepathic grounds-"
"No. How can I help?" Steve gave him a perfectly open look. "I want in."
"Oh." Scott blinked a few times and then gestured for Steve to sit with him on one of Stark's overly-large couches in the main area. "I'm… digging into everything she had her hands in. It's a lot," he admitted. "But she's still a threat while she has influence, and I don't want her targeting Billy or James again."
"I think if she tried that, it would be a very short attempt," Steve said. "I know where they both stand with her and she'd be self destructive to try it."
"Even still," Scott said. "She's never faced consequences for everything she's done, and it's high time she did. And I have enough knowledge to do some damage - with enough help from people who swim in her circles."
"I'll let Tony know I'll handle the Avenger's public statement."
Scott looked surprised. "I didn't know you were putting out-"
"Scott. We're backing you up. That's part of it."
At that, Scott frowned. "Can I ask… are you just-" He cleared his throat. "Can you tell me what you're planning to say so I can get ahead of it too or…?"
"I'm throwing in my full support for whatever you plan to do. And I never really know what I'm going to say before I say it so …" He smiled sheepishly. "If we let Tony or Jan speak up, they'll look at it as them trying to save face with Tony's successor. If I do it …"
Scott swallowed but didn't say anything, still half convinced that he'd have to resign himself to James aligning himself with Tony instead of Scott rather than in addition to. "Well, right now my plan is just to tear influence out of Emma's hands and then go back to what I was doing before, helping the team strategize and gathering intel. Not very exciting, really."
"Then when they inevitably ask, I'll just back up your account of things. For now. As much as I hate it, she'll play hell calling me any kind of deceitful thing. Use it when I have to, you know?"
"I appreciate it. Really," Scott said. "I know you don't like the attention."
"Worth it though," Steve said.
"Let's hope so." Scott got to his feet. "By the way, Kate told me Phil Coulson's back as your SHIELD liaison. Should help things."
Steve smiled at that. "I may be on a streak of throwing my weight around. Don't tell him that, though."
"Your secret's safe with me," Scott promised, though he was smirking as he headed out.
"You know," Annie said, leaning over Scott's shoulder where he was working at his laptop, "I really thought that we'd be spendin' more time together now that we're engaged an' all."
Scott let out a breath that was almost a laugh and looked up at Annie. "Sorry. I was just following up on something Betsy wanted. I know a few of Emma's old haunts - ones that others don't know about."
Annie shook her head, smiling lightly but still somehow looking like she couldn't believe him. "You finally decide you've had enough of this woman and she's still taking all your time from me," she said, only half-teasing. But only half. She did like to see that he was, in fact, capable of standing up for himself. Even if he was mostly doing it because Emma had hurt his kids.
Scott winced an apology. "Sorry. I've been-"
"Distracted? I noticed." Annie smiled and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Really, it's okay. Frankly, she deserves whatever you're getting ready to throw at her. Just…" She took a deep breath. "It's almost the Fourth of July. You and Betsy can take a break from rooting out all traces of her evil empire to watch some fireworks in a couple days, right?"
Scott let his shoulders drop and reached out to take her hand. "Just let me finish this email and I'll take you somewhere tonight," he promised.
"That sounds more like it," she said, grinning before she stole a kiss.