Chapter 129- The Evil Twin

During the entire length of the trial in Genosha, Remy had been deeply uncomfortable.

Not entirely because of the setting, either, though he wasn't happy to be back on that damned island. But there was something tickling the back of his mind every single day he was there.

He tried to ignore it at first. He was honestly sure he was just struggling with returning to Genosha. The metal walls and the taste of wind off of copper-lined floors was enough to have him on edge as it was.

But by the third day of the trial, he knew what he was feeling. And he knew he couldn't warn anyone of the impending danger, either. He'd never been able to; that had been the case as far back as he could remember. This particular presence meant trouble - and the one thing he could do if he couldn't warn anyone was to remove himself from the equation.

He stayed long enough to see what the sentences would be, long enough to know he wouldn't have to remove any old friends from Genosha's prisons. And then he left, because if he stayed too long and wandered into Mr. Sinister, well, he was a major liability.

He left several false trails for Sinister's Marauders to follow as he flitted about through Europe and doubled back multiple times, but after a while - after visiting old haunts around the globe only to spend a few days here and there, he found himself desperately missing home. And so, without thinking about it too hard, he drifted back, half forgetting about the extreme caution he'd been using until then. He wasn't even entirely sure how he ended up where he was … sitting in a bar in New Orleans, cloaked in shadow, turning a card between his fingers as with the other hand he held his phone and read a message from Bobby, who confirmed that nothing had gone sideways and the house arrest really was taking place in a house and not a dungeon.

There were a couple other texts, too, forwarded from other numbers he had given out to a cute blonde at the coffee shop that morning and a handsome young man who looked like a tourist who needed to experience NoLa.

The young man was very interested - and Remy was sure he had chosen the path to solidify his plans for the night when, yet again, that same unsettling something prickled at the back of his mind, and he narrowed his eyes, his grip on the card tightening but not yet glowing.

The warning didn't come quickly enough before Sinister slid into the seat across from Remy at his lonely booth, smirking but so far silent.

"Well, this booth got too crowded," Remy said dryly, stashing his phone as he moved to get to his feet.

"You're not going anywhere," Sinister replied. "And you know it. Stay where you are."

Something flashed behind Remy's already-red eyes as he paused but didn't fully settle back into his seat, still halfway out of it. "Damn."

"Regardless of what you may feel, I am pleased to see you doing so well after so much … neglect."

"The hell you know 'bout any of dat?" Remy shot back angrily.

"Only what I've gleaned after the fact, I'm afraid. Drake was useful for that much at least."

Remy slammed his hand on the table and with the other hand pointed at Sinister right between the eyes with his card now glowing in his fingers. "Dat boy been tru enuff wit'out you diggin' in his head, so you jus' come out 'n say what you want so's I kin turn you down and den you leave him alone."

Sinister's mouth twitched. "Who would you have take your place?"

Remy scoffed. "Ain't nobody like Remy in de whole wide world, so don' go lookin' for replacements, old man."

"Not what I was inferring. Who would you choose to take over for you?"

Again, Remy scoffed, and he sat heavily back down, one hand over his eyes as he waved at Sinister with the other hand. "No." When Sinister raised an eyebrow, he went on. "No, we ain't playin' dis game. There ain't nothin' you kin do to convince me to go back in a cage. No matter how you dress it up, still gon' be trapped. Ain't doin' dat again."

"I agree fully," Sinister said. "And again, you seem to find new ways to misunderstand a simple question. If I were to leave you alone, I will require someone to fill that space. Choose someone capable for me and I will leave you to live out what little life you have left."

"No, no, heard you loud 'n clear. And I said I ain't playin'. You don' get a replacement. You don' get Remy. You jus' leave and don' come back."

"There is no way to do that at this point in time. Control your pride. Even I am forced to consider someone to take my place."

"Hot damn, when you retirin'?"

"Quite possibly sooner than you would think."

"Great. We t'row a party." Remy got to his feet again and rolled his eyes when he saw the card's glow flicker and die. "Cute."

"We're not done here," Sinister said in a more forceful tone.

"We are," Remy said, leaving the card on the table. "Take 'em if you want. Didn' have my powers for a good, long time and I don' need 'em to have a good time now."

"And we both know you're still far too weak to put up a fight worth my time."

Remy held his hands out at his sides, though it did sort of prove Sinister's point for him when it had taken him months just to regain enough weight to look healthy, and that was only just now starting to show. "Gon' make you fight for everyt'in', ol' man. Already said Remy's done wit bein' trapped."

"You're the only one right now to even attempt it," Sinister said as he got to his feet and looked down his nose. "This is the last time I'm offering you a way out, refuse again and I will make sure you're reminded of that cage in Genosha every day of your life - which I will extend."

"Dat's all I gotta do to keep free? Sounds fine by me," Remy shot back angrily, though he knew Sinister could tell he was shaken by the threat. "Survived it once, won't be nuttin' doin' it again."

"Have it your way," Sinister replied in a hiss an instant before he bashed his way into Remy's mind. He'd seen the imprisonment from Bobbys point of view, but Remy's was entirely different - and obviously more targeted.

To Sinister's surprise - and genuine pleasure - it was far more difficult to break into Remy's mind than it had ever been before. The one thing that Remy could say he still had after so long on Genosha was a mental fortitude and pure stubbornness that translated to much higher barriers for any telepath, including Sinister, to clear.

But he got through all the same, and simply because Sinister had mentioned him earlier, one of the first memories close to Remy's conscious mind was the first time the three remaining X-Men on the island - Kitty, Bobby, and Remy - had gotten arrested. While things were up in the air in Genosha, while the team was still in contact with each other as they settled their accounts and fell into new lives, they'd been able to come and go. But once that contact faded, once the first citizen had asked for similar accommodations to come and go, that courtesy had stopped altogether.

They were caught halfway across the ocean, but Erik's acolytes weren't able to get their hands on Kitty until she saw Bobby with his hands behind his back looking pale as a sheet in cuffs.

The memory shifted after her surrender, and Sinister saw the three of them in cells. This was nothing like what Remy had been in when Magneto fell but was part of the regular prison. They could see each other and move around in their cells - and so Remy, who hadn't been home when the school was attacked and hadn't known how bad things truly had been, saw for himself how Bobby reacted to being locked up, how he had gone completely silent and tucked his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth, clearly having some kind of breakdown but unable to get any relief or help while he was imprisoned.

Again, the memory shifted. Sinister could see Remy and Kitty swear to each other not to let Bobby fall into that spiral again, not after Bobby had spent three days after their release still shaking from head to toe with no warning and not sleeping well at all. Kitty had explained that she spent the entire time Graydon Creed had them looking after the kids; Bobby had actually been hurt, strung up, overheated, beaten down. And he had taken Logan's death personally, was convinced that he was the one who should have died. And so they had set up a suicide watch between the two of them, just to be sure, unti lBobby stopped screaming his nightmares.

But it wasn't like the three of them could stop being X-Men. To Sinister's amusement, he could see them poking at Magneto's boundaries at every turn. Encouraging the citizenry to stand up for themselves. And when Magneto would respond, they always had excuses and alibis.

Until he started to get more paranoid, started lashing out at every protest.

Again and again, Sinister saw memories of jail cells. He saw Remy admit under "questioning" that the plans were his - were always his. Magneto thought so poorly of Bobby and so highly of Kitty that Remy was the perfect target for his rage. Kitty was too smart to openly plot against him, and Bobby was too dumb to plot. Or so Remy argued.

The cells got worse and the imprisonments longer, until Magneto finally called down a life sentence after Remy and Bobby had gotten fed up and planned a jailbreak that went south when someone on the inside ratted them out.

From there, Sinister saw only memories of that same cell. Magneto himself never visited, not after decreeing Remy's fate, but a few acolytes did. And over time, Remy stopped kicking back at them - though he didn't stop running his mouth.

Sinister watched one memory in particular, just two years before Magneto's death. Somehow, Bobby had gotten in to visit - likely appealing to one of the princesses - and sat outside the door. He wasn't allowed in, but Sinister could hear in his tone that he was desperate to do something to keep Remy from giving up entirely.

He even jokingly flirted, which was enough to shock Remy into laughter and a playful letdown and rain check.

That had been the last visit, though. And a year had passed, and Sinister saw the moment Remy accepted that he would die in that cell. It was nothing big. No sudden realization. Just a gradual dawning acceptance until it became a fact in his mind. And he stopped trying so hard. Stopped trying to live or eat. He was only - barely - alive because Magneto knew a martyr was dangerous.

But he had given up, and that… that was a powerful weapon.

Sinister smiled to himself when he saw it. It was impressive - how long it had taken Remy to reach that point - but it only proved to Sinister that it could be done. And once he'd gotten there on his own, the routes to put him right back there were simple enough to see.

But that was when Remy managed to push back: when he'd felt the moment that Sinister had become so pleased. And when Remy pushed back, it wasn't anywhere near the half hearted weak attempt Sinister was expecting. He pushed hard. Too hard, in fact. Instead of just pushing Sinister out of his mind, the correction was heavy enough that they both went backward, into Sinister's most recent memories - where most of Sinister's planning was brewing.

While Sinister had been fully prepared to see what it was that made Remy tick, Remy was not prepared to see glimpses into Sinister's planning, or who he'd been lining up for a fall already. Or the many motivations behind it.

He still didn't get a full picture, but what he had gotten … it was enough to shock him out of Sinister's mind and leave him staring.

In a surprisingly raspy voice, Remy said, "Look, I ain't fond 'a dat family, but you really gon' pit twins 'gainst each other just to cover your ass?"

"They will do that all on their own," SInister answered. "I just found it amusing."

Remy shook his head. He was shaking, but he felt his mind was his own, and he couldn't help smiling at that, either. "I tink you been jugglin' too many balls. They gon' come crashin' down, and I ain't gon' help you clean it up."

"You don't have much of a choice in it now," Sinister said. "You know who's off limits, and who I have plans for. And even if you didn't see it, you have to know why."

Remy waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, still got that vow 'o silence in my head and whatnot." He paused. "I know why you come lookin' after all dis time, and not for nuttin', but seems like this time 'round, we got solid ground to stand on." He pointed at Sinister. "Still won' be your servant, mind. Jus' sayin'. Me and mine got it handled." He turned away, his trenchcoat billowing behind him. "Don' come botherin' me again."

"We're not done," Sinister said. "And you're well aware of what I am capable of if you try to ignore me. I'll even give you a choice. Which one of those children would you choose to cover your job?"

"Old man, you gettin' senile. We already had dis conversation."

"Then I'll take Bobby. I have plans for most of the new ones anyhow." At that, Sinister got to his feet and started toward the door.

Remy grit his teeth and swore under his breath. "Damnit all, Rober'," he muttered before he spun around to face Sinister.

"You have convinced me that you are broken and beyond usefulness," Sinister said in a snooty tone. "I don't have the luxury of time to play these childish games, LeBeau."

The very corner of Remy's jaw twitched with disgust. "If - no -" He sighed out a breath. "You bes' promise me you leave him alone."

"When you have promised to do nothing but be a thorn in my side - why should I?"

"Cause I asked."

"What would I have to gain?" Sinister asked, one eyebrow arched up as he took his hard line.

"You don' need to train up a replacement for ol' Remy," he said in a sigh. "I know what you want. Been doin' it long enough."

"Can I trust you to deliver?" Sinister asked in a near hiss.

"Sure can't, but you can trust me more'n anyone else you'd ask, so it's your call."

"You'd be surprised," Sinister said with a smirk.

"Sure." Remy held his hand out to shake. "We gotta deal?"

Sinister paused, but seeing as he was getting what he wanted anyhow, he took Remy's hand in an iron grip. "Fail me and I will move down the list."

"You jus' focus on killin' the bastard and I'll do the rest."

"You know where the drop off is. Your assignments will be there."

"Fine. I got a hot date in de meantime, so I'll jus' keep a lookout," Remy said - and this time, he did skedaddle, fuming but sure he could work at least some of his anger off in a more productive way anyway.

Because most of the team was busy - understandably so - between college and trips to Genosha and wedding planning and baby things, Mia found herself with more responsibility than she normally had.

And she loved it.

Sure, she was usually the person running the welcome wagon, purely by virtue of having lived in Westchester almost her entire life, but now, she was often the most experienced hero when it came to practices with the new kids. The only people who had more experience were those who had been on the original team, and the new kids seemed intimidated by them.

And though Mia would never say it out loud, because she knew there was absolutely no malice in the way her teammates treated her, it was… well, it was nice not to be treated like the baby of the group. It was nice to be looked up to.

So, she was feeling pretty good about herself as she showered off after a good run in the Danger Room with the new kids. Kitty had been the one in the booth, but Mia had called most of the shots in that sim, and she felt like she'd done a pretty good job.

In fact, she felt like she was the only one of the older kids who had been putting in their best. She had expected Nate to be distracted, because Kate had been up all night throwing up again and had ended up needing an IV, and the IV itself was traumatic enough that he was a wreck too and really should have called out of practice instead of trying to stubborn it out like the Summers he was. America and Rachel had been on an Avengers call. James and Billy weren't scheduled for that practice because of school.

But Tommy? He didn't have an excuse. He hadn't even tried to show off, and Mia felt like she'd teed him up for hilarity plenty of times.

So, Mia resolved to make sure he was okay - once she had scrubbed the sweat out of her fur.

She wasn't surprised that she had to teleport around a few times to look for him, though she had quietly decided that if she couldn't find him in any of the usual spots in Westchester, she'd let him be. Whatever was bothering him, she figured he'd tell her if it was important, but if he just needed to get out of his head, that was fine. She'd give him space.

She knew he'd practically lose his mind if she accused him of being in his head, too, because he'd all but built his entire personality around being the easy twin, the one without drama. But that just meant no one ever knew what he was thinking until it exploded out of him, and that was one of the few things that bothered her about him. She hated not being on the same page as him.

But it could have been worse, she supposed. She could have been dating someone in the Summers family.

When she didn't find Tommy, she teleported back to her room, intending to curl up with a good book instead of worrying about Tommy too much. He'd been quiet for a couple weeks now; she wasn't going to tie herself in knots unraveling whatever it was he wasn't telling her. That was undignified, and her mother had taught her not to make herself an emotional dumping ground for anyone.

But when she got back to her room, there he was, grinning and reclining against her pillows. "You looked like you were having fun being in charge," he teased.

She rolled her eyes at him but slipped out of her shoes anyway so she could come join him, shoving him in the shoulder once she got close. "Just picking up your slack."

"Oh, it's like that?" He grinned and shoved her lightly back, subtly moving so that she fell back against pillows and not him so that they were at the same level. "I try and compliment you and you take a shot on me?"

"And if that's true, what're you gonna do about it?" Mia challenged, her pointed teeth glinting with her grin. This was more like the Tommy she was used to seeing, and she loved it.

Tommy matched her grin and then shifted so he was pinning her before he kissed her, and it was no time at all before they started fooling around.

They were trying to be somewhat discreet because it was still the middle of the day, so they didn't get so far carried away that they weren't halfway listening for anyone that might knock on the door or any teachers that would get them in trouble. But only halfway.

And Mia loved this. She loved being sneaky and she loved being impulsive.

They were still breathing heavily when Tommy shifted so that he was propped up on his side, looking down at her while she was still lying on the pillow. "Okay, so I've been thinking," he said.

Mia grinned and settled deeper into the pillow. She'd known he'd come around and tell her what was wrong. "Oh yeah? Solving the key to world peace or something?"

"Nah, we'll leave that to my brother and his genius boyfriend. They'll have it figured out in a week, right?" As he spoke, he was lazily trailing his fingers down her arm, and she smiled, closing her eyes. "Actually, I was going the opposite way. I was thinking, you know, it feels like everyone around us is in way too much of a rush to be adults, don't you think?"

"In their defense, I think the Summers kids were all born with serious faces on," Mia laughed.

"Right, yeah, I've heard the jokes." Tommy shrugged easily. "No, I mean, I don't think that's what I want. All that serious stuff. Billy's got people breathing down his neck asking about when he and James are gonna get married - and asking if they're even gonna make it. And Nate and Kate are wedding planning and setting up a nursery. What even happened there?"

"I mean, if you're lost on that part of things, I could show you," Mia teased, and Tommy couldn't help but laugh and kiss her into the pillows.

He still had her pinned and was still laughing as he said, "See? That's what I mean. We're supposed to be having fun, right? There is way too much pressure happening lately, and I'm not a fan."

"I'm not pressuring you," Mia promised, letting her hands slide down his shoulders to his back.

"Great. So we're just having fun, right?" Tommy asked.

Normally, Mia would have agreed that this was, in fact, very fun and then would have pinned him for a kiss and gotten lost in him all over again. But there was something about the way he was asking it. A careless nervousness that she'd seen way too often lately. "You are fun," she said, one eyebrow raised. "But I'm starting to think we're not on the same wavelength anymore."

"We can get back on the same page," Tommy said, smirking as he leaned down to kiss her neck. And when she relaxed into it, he said, "So let's just keep doing this, huh? No pressure, no commitment, nothing like that. Just have some fun and play the field-"

Mia narrowed her eyes and pushed Tommy back at the shoulder. "Now I know we're not on the same page," she said. "I'm saying I'm not pressuring you into anything more serious than what we've got. You sound like you're trying to make us less serious than we are."

"Well, yeah," Tommy said as if it was obvious. "I mean, we're kids still. I don't want a lifetime commitment, and we've both got lots of admirers. Don't act like you don't know that."

Mia stared at Tommy in complete disbelief. "What…?"

"I mean, I like you, Mia, but I don't want to marry you."

For just a second, Mia was frozen, slack-jawed as she stared at Tommy. "Get out," she said softly, at nearly a whisper.

Tommy lost his smirk entirely. "Look, it's-"

"No." She pushed on his arm until she remembered she could teleport and then teleported out from underneath him, relieved that he backed off of her and didn't try to grab her in the teleport, since they had been touching when she 'ported. She was blushing a brilliant purple, all too aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing anything as she stood there, trembling, staring at the boy in her bed. "You knew when I came in that you were going to tell me you wanted us to see other people," she said, something flashing in her eyes as she gained strength with every word.

"Well, yeah, but I was trying to show you I'm still interested-"

"Stop." Mia could hear thunder outside the window and wondered if her mom knew what was going on or if the weather just had very good timing. She'd never managed more than lightning in her eyes, so she didn't think she was doing it.

"We can still-" Tommy started to say, but Mia cut him off again.

"I may not be looking to get married, but I'm not - I don't want to date around, Tommy. I want to - I wanted to date you." Mia could feel herself turning more and more purple. "And you don't get to use me because you wanted one last romp before we broke up!"

"I wasn't trying to break-"

"I am." Mia threw his clothes at him. "Get out. We're done."

"Mia-"

"No. I can't believe you just unilaterally deci- no. This is so far beyond okay. No. Get out."

"Mi-"

"Get out." This time, there was no mistaking it: the lightning and thunder were responding to her mood. And the whole mansion was blanketed in deeply black clouds that shook the grounds with their thunder. The windows to her room flew open with wind, and in that moment, for the first time in her life, she truly looked demonic.

Tommy opened his mouth and then, wisely, closed it again, quickly getting dressed. He did, however, pause at the window. "I really wasn't trying to - this is way more dramatic than I - I just thought we'd keep it at the level of having fun, not anything else."

"Go find someone who'll give you what you want with no strings attached, Tommy," she said through her teeth. "It's not me. I want a boyfriend, not a glorified sex toy."

Tommy deflated and then, all at once, pointed at her angrily. "I should have known better than to get involved with an X-Man. Drama all around. Never sleep with your teammates or something."

Mia waved him off, and the wind knocked Tommy bodily out of the window - leaving Mia still standing naked in her bedroom, shaking and crying and absolutely furious.

But obviously, with the storm rolling in, no one could possibly misunderstand that a Munroe was upset. And since Storm knew she wasn't the one causing the tempest outside, she had already started her rush to find her daughter and see what was the matter.

Which meant that before Mia had time to fully process her emotions, she heard her mother - and then Forge - knocking on her locked door, calling out to ask if she was okay.

"Oh no," she whispered and hurriedly ran to her closet, throwing a dress on as she called out that she was coming so they wouldn't think she was in danger and break down the door, which would just make everything that much worse.

She wasn't thinking about the fact that she was wearing something different than she'd been wearing before or the state of her room or anything like that - she was just reacting, which had always been her problem, hadn't it? Not thinking ahead.

She looked like a mess when she opened the door and saw her parents, but she tried - she really did - to look less like she was falling apart as she held her tail in both hands and gestured with her chin tipped toward the window. "That was… crazy, huh?"

"Yes, it was," Ororo agreed mildly, arms crossed over her chest. "What happened?"

Mia held onto her tail tighter as she felt her throat constrict. "I, ah… well, you see…" She could feel her ears drooping, and she shook her head, knowing she didn't have the words to explain it all just yet. "We broke up," she said, her gaze on the floor.

Ororo's shoulders slumped and she took a few steps closer. "I'm sorry to hear that, sweetheart. What can I do?"

"I don't know," Mia said; her ears were still ringing. And after a second, when both of her parents were still staring at her, she sniffed and then threw her arms around her mom's neck, starting to cry all over again. She wasn't even falling apart or sobbing, she just… couldn't hold it back anymore.

Ororo looked past Mia's shoulder to Forge, who looked torn between wanting to curl up with Mia and wanting to set up the stasis triggers he'd created long ago to deal with Tommy should be become a problem. They didn't know the full story, yet. But from the look of how crushed their daughter was, they wouldn't know for a while - and neither of them wanted to push when the hurt was still so raw and fresh.

They let Mia lead the way, which meant that Mia silently directed her mom to sit with her on the loveseat in her room. Which had her parents exchanging looks again, because they usually sat on the bed if all three of them wanted to talk. That and the outfit change and the old clothes that Mia hadn't quite managed to hide under all the covers … that was starting to paint a picture.

After a minute, though, Mia managed to get her breath back and glanced up at Ororo and then Forge. "Sorry. I just… it just happened," she muttered, wiping her fur under her eyes. "I didn't even know I could - and I guess, um, surprise I'm a weather witch?"

"Weather goddess," Forge corrected.

Mia gave him a faint smile as she tried to straighten her dress in vain and cleared her throat. "Yeah, that." She swallowed again. "I, um, I don't-" She paused to rearrange her thoughts. "Can you help me throw his stuff out?" she asked in a voice that sounded to small for her.

"Of course," Ororo replied.

"Thanks." She started to cry again, just quietly, and let out a frustrated sound. "Boys are stupid. This is ridiculous."

"Yes, some more than others," Ororo agreed.

Mia sniffed again as she got to her feet and then teleported to her bathroom. While Ororo and Forge had an entire conversation in looks alone, they could hear Mia rummaging around before she teleported back into the room and dumped a few things - a toothbrush and a few clothes and a razor - onto the opposite end of the bed from where Forge was sitting, a determined little scowl creasing her forehead.

She glared at the things for a minute as her tail started to move, signaling to her parents long before she realized it herself that she was moving from shock and hurt to anger - and quickly. "He didn't even have a good reason!" she burst out.

"Would that have made it any easier?" Ororo asked in as calm a tone as she could.

"I don't know. Maybe." Mia's tail was moving in a frenetic pattern behind her as she started to pace, looking the very picture of her father. "I mean, I could understand if he wanted a break to help his mom since Billy's at school. Or if he had stopped liking me, you know? That would hurt, but at least it would make more sense than breaking up because everyone else is getting 'too serious' or whatever!" She didn't realize it, but the wind was picking up outside again, too, especially when she started crying frustrated tears. "I swear, I never pressured him. I'm seventeen; I'm not looking for- I really thought we could just be in love and now I just feel so stupid."

"Don't feel that way," Ororo said gently. "You shouldn't regret feeling any way. It's not your fault he's being … like he is."

"That's the thing - I really should have seen it," Mia said. "He always freaks out when anyone mentions that he actually has responsibilities or that he's second in line or - or anything serious. And I just figured he's nervy because of how differently he and Billy get treated back home but I really should have seen it."

"It's hard to see flaws like that when you're in love, my dear girl," Ororo said.

Mia let out a noise from the back of her throat and plopped down to sit next to Forge, who was doing his level best to look less murderous when she was close by. "I have terrible taste," she grumbled and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder - and then curled up a little tighter when he pulled her into a deep snuggle.

Tommy, meanwhile, had gone to go sit on the concrete ledge that separated the walkway to the campus library at Harvard from the greenery trying to add some whimsy to the campus. He knew Billy would be walking by that way pretty soon, but he wasn't going straight to his brother when his ears were still ringing. In the time it took him to run there, he'd gone over the conversation a few times in his head, and he was pretty sure he'd worded things wrong, but, like, there wasn't anything wrong with asking to be less serious, right?

He wasn't trying to break up; he just didn't want the hassle of adulthood that everyone else was running toward with open arms like they were all dying to plot out the rest of their lives with their high school sweethearts.

The stats on that sucked, he was pretty sure. Yeah, he was way too young for that nonsense.

And sure, Mia was effortless in Genosha, and he was pretty sure if they did decide to get married forever down the road, she'd be a better princess than he was a prince. And he'd told her that, so it wasn't like she didn't know he thought she'd be great if that's where they ended up.

But they were teenagers and she was taking this way too seriously.

Tommy was kicking his feet against the concrete barrier when he saw James and Billy come out of the library, holding hands and talking. But when Billy saw Tommy, he waved, and Tommy waved back, waiting for them to come to him before he hopped down to join them while they were walking.

"You decide to copy your brother and try out college too?" James teased.

Tommy rolled his eyes at that. "No thanks. That would take way too long."

"I was going to say … you're slow if that's the case. You'll never catch up."

"Ugh, really?" Tommy lightly shoved James in the shoulder.

James was smirking to himself, but wasn't nearly as tactful or willing to wait for Tommy to say what was up first. "Yep. So, if not to stumble through English 101, what's the deal?"

"Just had to get out of Westchester for a little bit and figured I'd say hi to Billy if I'm going to be going somewhere, you know?" Tommy said, shrugging with his hands in his back pockets.

James and Billy shared a look, but James backed off with a slight frown as he watched Billy handle it.

"You okay?" Billy asked. "Did something happen?"

Tommy took a deep breath and let it all out at once. "Yeah, Mia broke up with me," he admitted.

"What did you do?" James asked before he could even begin to stop himself.

Tommy turned toward James with his best look of offense. "I didn't - she's the one that broke up with me!"

James' eyes narrowed as he tried to ignore the scents still clinging to Tommy. But he couldn't keep it out of his tone. "What did you do."

"I thought things were-" Billy stopped himself and remembered how Tommy had been talking just before the trial. "What's going on with you two? You've been great together!"

"I'm pretty sure I just wasn't explaining myself right," Tommy said, though he was visibly annoyed. "I was trying to tell her I don't want to be as serious as you two are, you know? Kate and Nate are getting married and having a freakin' kid and you two are in the newspapers all the time with James saying he's just trying to get through Grandfather's requirements so you can get married. And, like, we're teenagers, guys. Chill, huh?"

"I said that one time," James defended. "And it has nothing to do with you!"

"Says you."

Billy frowned at Tommy. "Okay…" He waited, but when Tommy didn't offer anything else, he said, "I mean, I get not wanting to get married, but…"

"Exactly!" Tommy gestured openly at Billy. "I just want to have fun right now, you know? That's what we're supposed to be doing at our age. I mean, no offense, Billy, but not even in our twenties and we're already talking about lifetime commitments? No thanks, no commitments right now, just fun - like we're supposed to do when we're young."

James dropped his bookbag as he twisted away from the twins only to return his focus and a hard hit square in Tommy's mouth. "You drop that on her after you slept with her? What the hell-" He caught Tommy's shirt with his free hand just so he couldn't drop out of reach before he hammered him a couple more times. "For what? A shot at some cheap groupies? You crossed a goddess in favor of trash?"

After the first hit, Tommy was just a bit too punch drunk to stop the next couple, but when James didn't stop, Tommy put his hands on James' arm - and very well might have shattered bone if Billy hadn't magically yanked them apart in a second, one hand out in each direction, palms facing his brother and his boyfriend as a small crowd started to gather.

"Okay, this needs to not happen right here and right now," Billy said - and wished the three of them to a private spot in the woods where he'd camped with James when James needed space. He didn't let up on his spell until he had looked at both of them and then focused on James. "I really don't want you exiled, so think very carefully about how hard you hit a prince of Genosha, no matter what an idiot he is."

"You're right. I didn't hit him hard enough," James growled out.

"I had it handled," Tommy said at the same time.

"Tommy, stop talking," Billy said, his eyes glowing brighter. "You are very, very lucky you're my brother and I love you because anyone else and I'd let James go right now."

"Seriously?" Tommy tipped his head back and groaned. "This is all - look, everyone's taking this way too seriously. I wasn't trying to break up, just make things more casual!"

"No, as stupid as that part is, the bigger problem is that you just screwed her before you told her you wanted to sleep around, right?" James snarled. "I don't give a damn who you are, that's a dirtbag move."

Tommy blew out his breath. "That - that makes it sound-"

"It's bad, Tommy," Billy said, his eyes still aglow, because it was genuinely hard to keep them magically separated when James was actively snarling and trying to get to Tommy to pound him.

Tommy groaned again. "Just my luck my brother's dating someone who can smell too well," he grumbled.

"What, you'd rather I found out from Mia?" Billy shot back. "Or that he found out from Mia?"

"This is a good point and I've mentioned I love you, brother dear, right?" Tommy said, finally starting to backpedal as he realized how much danger he was in.

"I'm going to wish you to Mom with a note magically stamped on your forehead at this rate," Billy said, though he turned away from Tommy to look at James.

"I'm going to Westchester," James said.

"Yeah, okay. Just…" He bit his lip. "If I let you go, can you promise not to kill him?"

"No."

"Okay. I get that. I'm just trying not to let you get exiled. You know that, right?"

"I'm not in Genosha. I'm not worried about it."

"Well, I am. So…" He sighed, power swirling around his fingertips. He turned back to Tommy. "Just so we're clear?" He tipped his head down to look Tommy straight on. "You're an asshole. And I will actively help Mom tear you to bits. Just because I'm saving your life does not mean I don't think you deserved the beat-down you were about to get." He made sure he was looking Tommy straight in the face so the message sank in. "Sucks to see you got the evil gene out of the two of us," he said - and then wished Tommy right to Genosha.

Billy let James drop to the ground and looked perfectly apologetic. "I know, I'm sorry. I'll get you to Westchester in a second. I need to go make sure he doesn't try to smokescreen my parents-"

"I'll call for a pick up. Take care of your family," James said.

"Yeah. I just…" Billy hesitated and then rushed over to very carefully kiss James on the cheek. "I'm sorry I used my powers against you. I don't feel great about it, because he deserved it."

"I'm not mad about that," James promised. "You can stop me any way you need to."

"Okay, just making sure we're clear. I'm not siding with the evil twin here."

"We're fine," James said as he pushed his sleeves up to access his remote for a suit. "I just want to make sure she's okay. He was her first and this … is bullshit."

"Oh, absolutely," Billy agreed, finally letting his own anger show. "I mean, he can get tunnel vision sometimes when he wants something, but this is… this is so wrong on so many levels."

"No kidding. Find out what possessed him. Can't promise I won't crack him in the head every time I see him until things line up right again."

"Yeah, honestly, I don't even want to talk to him right now, so as long as you don't kill him, that's fine by me."

"Hard to kill him when he's not right here," James pointed out, then tried for a crooked smile.

"I know, I'm just saying… moving forward, you know? No killing my evil twin. That's a house rule I have," Billy said, barely returning the smile.

"I'll work on it," James said. "Only because I love you, though. I warned him when he started up with her what would happen if he screwed her over."

"You did," Billy agreed. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure my mom is going to pull out some dark magic for punishments here, so… he's not getting off easy, I promise."

"That really doesn't help," James said, though he reached out to take Billy's hand - especially when he could see how stressed out he was. "I have no context."

"Fair." Billy took a deep breath and tried to settle himself a bit. "Okay. I'll go make sure my parents have the whole story. Um… don't be surprised if you don't see Tommy for a bit. I don't think it's smart for him to be around Storm. Or Kate. Or… anyone. You know what, he just needs to hide in a hole somewhere for his own safety."

"He needs to pull his head out of his ass. I'll text you if I hear more from Mia," James promised.

"Please do. And let her know I still love her and totally disavow my brother's idiocy, huh? Whatever she needs, I'll wish her something."

James leaned over to steal a quick kiss. "As much as I hate to say it - hear him out before you decide on what you think. I don't have to, but you should. Sibling whatever."

Billy sighed. "Fine." He readjusted the way he was standing in preparation to cast another spell. "It's … honestly, it's such a Tommy move. He's always been half-terrified of all the responsibility our family's had from day one, and he kind of self destructs when he gets scared."

"Yeah, he and Mayday could share notes," James deadpanned. "We could take bets on who'd screw over who."

"Ouch. That would be disastrous."

"They deserve each other."

"Yeah… still better than a crown-chaser, which is what I'm worried he'll end up falling into, you know? Ugh. Why are brothers such problems."

"They just are. Ask Kate about the blonde when you want to raise her blood pressure."

"Um. Yeah. Gonna have to," Billy agreed. Just then, the armor James had summoned appeared on the horizon, and he nodded. "Okay, talk to you soon," he said - and wished himself to Genosha.

James blew out a breath as the armor assembled around him, then headed for Westchester - though he did have to field a call with Tony, who was anxious that he'd taken the armor, and more anxious that it hadn't gone to the college to get him.

But once the details were ironed out, James didn't think twice about a little tiny bit of showboating to get Mia some of her favorite things, then flew over to Westchester to try and help her soothe her broken heart. First, he tried the roof, because that's where she usually had gone to clear her head, but when she wasn't there, he flew over to her window and knocked on the glass before he let the faceplate fold back.

"I have a delivery for an angry Goddess," James said when she turned toward the sound.

She looked slightly purple still and quickly started trying to wipe her fur under her eyes, but it was starting to tangle and get matted from how wet it was, so that was a losing battle. "Mom's a few hallways down," she said with an attempted smile.

"I also half beat your stupid piece of crap prince for you," James said. "The idiot." He held up the bags in one hand. "Dinner. Entertainment. Snacks. You name it."

The corner of her mouth twitched before she teleported over to open the window and let him in, still trying to get her fur less damp and scrubbing her whole arm over her eyes in the attempt. "Come on in; sorry about the mess. I'm just…" She gestured with her other arm, and he could see that she was moving things around, redecorating the room so she didn't have to sleep in the same setting where Tommy had broken up with her. There was even a new bedding set that she'd gotten from teleporting to the store and sending her mom in.

"I know," James said as the rest of the armor peeled back. "Anything you want to burn? Blow up? I brought you dinner and a movie about revenge."

"Yeah, um…" Mia sniffed and showed James the pile of old bedding in the corner of the room.

"I'll take it out and light it on fire if you want me to," James said. "Wrap him up in it first, too."

"Okay." Mia sat down on the mattress - she hadn't put the sheets on yet, because she'd only just moved the bed from the side of the room to be just underneath the window. "So, um, how much… what do you know?"

James raised one eyebrow. "I know."

"How?"

"Come on, Mia," James said before he tapped the side of his nose. "I know the order of his stupidity. He didn't realize I knew that until I rebounded his head a few times. He came looking for comfort from Billy. I started a fight."

Mia nodded and then teleported over to James to wrap him in what would have been a hug if she wasn't leaning on him so heavily and practically using him to stay upright. "I didn't even tell my parents about - I mean, it's stupid but I didn't want to - it's so embarassing and I just - and they probably knew anyway because-"

James wrapped her up tightly. "You didn't do anything to be ashamed of."

"It kinda feels like it," she said quietly.

"Only because you trusted him," he said. "I thought you were okay, too. This is just him being criminally stupid."

She nodded into his shoulder, hanging on a little tighter. "I didn't even know he was - I've never pressured him to-" She took a deep breath that shuddered.

"I don't know why he did that, Mia," James said, then picked her up to carry her well away from the pile of bedsheets. "Billy didn't get it either. He is mortified that his brother is that much of a scumbag."

Mia tucked into James so tightly her tail was wrapped around his waist too, and she stayed there even when they sat down together on the loveseat in her room. "You wanna know the worst part?" she whispered after she'd gotten a better handle on her emotions. "I was gonna surprise him … I'm applying to study robotics in Genosha with Vision."

James was silent for a long moment, then pulled her in a little tighter. "Don't let him ruin that for you, little Goddess. You outrank him in every way."

"It'll be weird," she started to argue, but James was obviously not having it.

"You mean, it'll be weird when everyone there knows he's low class and you're below no one? Yeah. they'll adjust."

Mia coughed out a little laugh. "Love you too," she said. She dragged her arm over her eyes again and then sat up a bit - though she was still halfway curled up with him. "So. Um. Mom and Dad found out because I maybe caused a minor hurricane when I threw him out."

James smiled crookedly. "This is my super proud but not really that surprised face."

She finally broke into an honest smile at that. "Mom was surprised."

"Don't know why," James said. "She knew you had the touch."

"Well, yeah, but last time we saw my furry godfather, his theory was it wouldn't manifest entirely until I hit a secondary mutation, since it's only ever been little flashes in my eyes, you know?"

"I will fully fund your college education if you zap that little creep with a lightning bolt in the gym shorts." James' smile slipped a little though. "I have a few running theories on that secondary thing - for you anyhow."

"Okay, I'm all ears," she said - and pulled out an old tease from when they were kids to wiggle her pointed ears his way.

James reached over to hand her the food he'd brought, knowing she had to be out of it still. "Don't come after me with a hurricane or anything, but … which of your dad's powerset was actually mutant abilities?"

"Umm, all of it, I thought. He was a mutant, right?"

"Yeah, I don't know. He was a mutant, sure, but - his father wasn't, and the powerset was the same. It might be entirely possible that your teleporting is all demonic and you're a late bloomer with the lightning and weather manipulation. Could even be that the demonic stuff held back your actual powerset for a few years." He held up both hands. "Just a thought, though."

Mia frowned at him for a while as she worked it out. "Okay, but then what was my father's mutant ability?"

"As I understand it, incredible gymnastic ability, sass, troublemaking, and drama."

"That does sound like the stories Mom tells," Mia teased. She leaned back, breaking open a fortune cookie to munch on while she thought it over.

"I honestly don't know, but - there might be a little link, you know? Something in one that dampened the other."

"Or I'm just a late bloomer," Mia said. "Or maybe it's two mutant abilities."

"I don't think it's a secondary, though," James said. "That doesn't line up. Everything I've found shows that secondary mutations are related to the primary."

"Yeah, that's what Hank said too, but that was the best he could come up with to explain it when I first showed up. I'm sure he's got lots of newer theories." She bit her lip, her tail starting to unwind because it was moving in sheer curiosity.

"Maybe," James agreed.

"Maybe not all my father's powers are demonic, though. He was a mutant, not a full demon…"

"Yep. So, maybe your demon idiot grandfather was lying about not being a mutant too. What are the chances?"

"Not like I'm gonna go ask him," Mia said dryly.

"Hell no," he agreed. "And the first theory I threw out there is based off of a demon - an actual demon - telling the truth. Shaky ground."

Mia nodded, her tail swaying lazily - well and truly distracted with something new to think about. "It makes sense, though. Maybe he had physical mutations from his mom. I mean, she was blue, right?"

"Your shapeshifting grandmother? Yes. That's what I could find."

"So, what if the physical stuff was her, but directed by the demon influence, you know?"

"No telling," James said, pleased that she was relaxing a little at the subject change.

"Or … or the wallcrawling." She flexed her three-fingered hands in front of James. "I think that's just ours. Maybe. I don't have a way to check… I'm gonna be thinking about this for weeks now, I'll have you know."

"Sorry," James said, smirking because he was not sorry at all.

"Yeah, you're not," Mia said. She grinned and grabbed the movie with her tail. "Revenge movie?"

"Yeah, I think the cheating idiot guy gets murdered by the women he screwed over. Seemed like a cheerful popcorn flick to me."

"Perfection," Mia agreed - totally snuggling in again.

And a few hours later, when Ororo peeked in to check on Mia, she found that Mia was totally asleep, finally hitting the crash after all the emotions surged through her. And she was curled into James so neatly that it was almost like looking at an image from the past for Ororo - Kurt used to curl up the exact same way with his best friend when he was drunk after a night out with Logan.

And when James caught Ororo's gaze over the top of Mia's head, Ororo mouthed, "Thank you."

James nodded lightly, then pulled the blanket up a little better over Mia's shoulders and slightly adjusted how he was holding her, making it clear he had no plans to go anywhere.

Ororo paused and watched them for a few moments, a distant expression of loss coloring her features as she thought of all the things she tried so hard to forget - all of it much harder to ignore when those two were curled up.

She quietly cleared her throat, then pulled out her phone to snap a picture of the two of them before she closed the door behind herself, knowing that Mia was safe exactly where she was.

She wanted to talk to Wanda, to find out what had happened, and if she could do anything. Especially when she knew Mia wasn't giving her the whole story. Not that she needed to. The girl had never been raised to be too shy - and Ororo had always wanted her children to feel comfortable with themselves no matter the situation. So she had guessed that Mia and Tommy had taken things too far long ago.

She just wanted to make sure her little girl was loved, and though Tommy had dropped the ball, seeing Mia sleeping so soundly just now left Ororo with a small smile as she thought of her own friends and how they'd held her up through heartbreak. She was still leaning on Mia's closed door when she sent the photo off to Scott.

A few minutes later, she got a response: Almost thought it was an old picture for a second there.

Ororo smiled to herself. The long hair gives it away otherwise.

Yeah, second glance gave it context. What happened? I think I'm out of the loop here.

I'm not sure when exactly he showed up, but Mia and Tommy broke up.

Ah.

If you find out more, please let me know. I believe there is nowhere on Earth that boy might be other than home.

I haven't talked to Wanda today but I'll ask Alex when he stops by tonight.

And I'll likewise fill you in should one of them decide to speak up. But I'm not pushing her when she's so upset.

If you want to borrow one of my kids…

I think one already volunteered.

Fair. He probably knows more than either of us.

Very likely considering he skipped over everyone here to go straight to her. And brought her food and movies.

Sounds like she's in good hands, then. There was a pause. Now's probably a bad time, but could you keep an eye out for Remy? No one's seen him since the trial, and I can't find anything in Natasha's intel or what you've sent me.

Natasha couldn't find him if he wanted privacy, Ororo replied, ten thought about it for a moment. He can't hide from me, though. I know just where to look.

Thanks. I can only do so much from here, you know?

You seem to be handing out assignments just fine.

Old habits.

No one is complaining, Scott. I'll reach out to him next.

It was a solid shift for Ororo. There wasn't anything she could do for Mia that moment anyhow, and she was well taken care of, so looking out for her old accomplice was a good distraction, if only for a few moments. First, she tried to call, but found herself listening to an overly flirty voicemail message informing her of what, exactly, Remy was on the look for. And, not wanting to touch that with a ten foot pole, she hung up and sent him a text. If he was out tomcatting around, she was going to be the last person to interrupt that. She'd just give him some time. He had been locked up tightly in prison for too long, and once he'd hit solid ground in the States, he'd all but disappeared into the woodworks.

Not that she could blame him.

So, in lieu of worrying about her daughter, her extended family, or the school at large, Ororo chose to divert herself toward Forge's workshop, where, she was very sure he'd be working on something to bite Tommy in the backside when he inevitably showed up again at top speed.

But she'd hardly been in the workshop for more than ten minutes before a red light flashed, and Wanda appeared, looking absolutely furious. She had come straight there after laying into Tommy - because Billy had told her the truth of what happened - but she had magicked herself to Ororo.

All she could think was that if one of her boys had been as hurt as Tommy had left Mia, she would have wanted appropriate revenge. And her reasons for showing up were twofold: first to give Ororo the satisfaction of knowing Tommy was facing consequences and also to beg her two old friends to let her do the punishing.

She knew that Tommy had done truly wrong, but she loved him. He was her son. And she was still protective of him, despite what he may have done.

Before Ororo or Forge could say anything, Wanda spoke first: "I took his powers," she said, her eyes still glowing as the last vestiges of her spell settled around her.

"So I shouldn't worry about him tripping off my stasis field," Forge said.

"Not right now, anyway," Wanda said. She let her shoulders drop. "He's only allowed them back if I sign off on it - so he'll be running plenty of errands for me." A smirk played with her mouth.

"Provided he doesn't guilt trip his brother into helping him," Ororo said.

"Billy is the one who brought him to me and told me the full truth of what happened," Wanda said.

"Which is-" Forge said, letting his question drop off.

"I think that's for her to tell you," Wanda said. "But yes, it is what you think, and I know, I'm mortified and ashamed and I'm so sorry," she added, her voice tight.

"She's asleep now," Ororo said, both to illustrate how upset Mia had been, and to let Forge know the rest of it. "On James."

Wanda couldn't help but smile broadly. "Oh, I love that."

Ororo smiled mildly. "You should get that photo too." And Forge forwarded it before Ororo could get her phone out.

Wanda glanced down and then let out a soft sound. "Oh. That's history repeating."

"Let's not let any more history repeat itself with them, either," Forge said.

"Agreed," Wanda said. She cleared her throat. "Anyway. If you need Tommy's skill for the team, I can lease him to you. I'm doing the same with Lorna as she tracks down the acolytes and with Scott when he can't leave. I told him he needs to know what it's like to be used."

"I'll pass the message on to the team," Ororo said. "They had Scott coordinating them - it's a bit up in the air for the time being."

"Understandable." Wanda sighed and sat down.

"It's terribly early in the morning where you were," Ororo said. "But would you be opposed to a drink with me before you go back to all that chaos?"

"I'm sure Billy already knows James is staying here," Forge added.

"He does. He wanted to take some time to himself anyway. He's upset." Wanda sighed again. "In their argument, Billy told Tommy that he'd inherited his grandfather's evil tendencies, and he's been referring to him as his evil twin."

At that, Ororo and Forge both looked downhearted. "Not evil," Ororo said. "But certainly shortsighted."

"Believe me, I'm intimately familiar with the feeling of watching a twin brother make shortsighted, hurtful choices," Wanda said.

"Then Billy needs you right now," Forge said.

"I'm going to talk to him once he's feeling like talking." Wanda sighed. "He's as much like me as Tommy is like Pietro. I keep hoping they'll be better than we were, though. Billy's on his way there, obviously. Tommy… is immature."

"They both need progress in different areas," Ororo said diplomatically. "And both could use more patience." She shook her head. "All of them could use more patience."

"Oh, obviously. But you remember how we all were at that age."

"Ororo was always perfect," Forge said. "Remy would back me up if he were here."

Wanda smirked. "He absolutely would."

Ororo rolled her eyes and reached for Wanda's hand. "Come and join me for some tea before you go. We can try to ignore our children's foolhardy mistakes for a few moments."

"Please," Wanda said warmly.

It didn't take long for the boys to get into the swing of things, though James was careful to make sure he wasn't patterning himself - and tried to get Billy to do the same. And hadn't taken James long to get caught up with all he'd missed the first few weeks of class - and to climb his way up to the top of the class to Dr. Windsor's obvious delight.

He didn't entirely understand why the Dr. Windsor was so pleased, but it was a little more familiar a reaction to get from one of his teachers, so he tried hard not to question it.

He hardly noticed when Dr. Windsor started to spend a little more time peeking over his shoulder as he worked, or took time to ask him questions about the first of several hypotheses James had said he wanted answered about the x-gene.

Sinister as Windsor could see that James was slow walking any real research in favor of trying to find a level of comfort that, frankly, a college setting would never give him. Not when all of his classmates had walked into that classroom with the same vapid ideas regarding the x-gene generally speaking. Most of them weren't trying to do anything specific, let alone answer the questions James was making notations on in his notebook. With hand written notes, not the predominant preference of the tablets and laptops. It was refreshing. And appreciated. And all he really wanted to do was to get the boy out of the college lab and into a proper research facility. One that would make available to him every mutation that had been seen on the planet.

But he clearly couldn't be trusted. Not in his current state. Logan's boy was guarded about who he spoke with, what was discussed and how those discussions went. The instinctive nod to his parent's heightened level of paranoia was … not entirely unexpected. Especially after all that had transpired in the past several years. And yet, he persisted. Tenacity, Sinister thought as he watched James focus intently on extracting dna from donated samples. He was progressing rapidly, and the faster James got, the more Sinister found himself ignoring the bulk of the class. They were all progressing on schedule … James was already threatening to set his own schedule by virtue of his work ethic. And Sinister couldn't be more delighted over it. Now, he just needed to sit back, let the boy stretch, and see if he could form any decent methods on how to answer his own questions. That would be the true litmus on how useful he really was. And by then, Sinister hoped that he'd be able to scan the boy's mind without being noticed.

As it was, when he pushed too hard to slip into James' mind to see how he was coming to his conclusions, the boy would pause and close his eyes or stare at his hands. He'd been too sharply honed in psychic defense - no doubt at the behest of his currently captive adoptive father.

But the boy was every bit as smart as the press, Stark, and his previous teachers had said. Even after losing what Sinister knew had to be a rather sizeable chunk of gray matter. For an instant, he wondered how far that injury would have to go to leave more lasting damage, but … that would be a waste. Thinking about that aspect had him wondering if he'd acted too rashly with Logan oh, so many years ago. But that was no longer relevant. Especially when the boy in front of him was on the right path … for now. Academics was a safe place to keep him … and a good avenue to gently direct him down the right path. It seemed as if all he really had to do was to be supportive and understanding … and he didn't even need to fake the enthusiasm over the level of responses James was giving him.

He'd never in all his years considered using this avenue as a means to direct his subjects. But he had no time for the what-ifs or the could-have-beens. Not when what he needed to do was to polish up the rough cuts.

Sinister waited until he knew most of the genetics lab was cleared out - and James was still extremely focused on what he was doing. Yes, he had volumes of work to make up for the vapid classes that the others in that group had already drudged through over several years, but … he was fast, and his answers - and handwriting - precise. Neat. Allowing him to work past class on his free time before the Maximoff boy came looking for him was a no-brainer. A simple, no effort way to build a bit of trust. It was almost too easy when he had so much to work with.

So he waited for the right moment to go through James' paper - while he was there and the rest of the class was gone already - to ask him for clarification beyond the scope of the questions concerning the x-gene … and why he thought it wasn't a problematic development in human evolution.

He was not expecting an answer anything like James gave - off the cuff and entirely supportive of how evolution couldn't be stopped and to do so went against the laws of nature. It turned the commentary around entirely from what every other person in his class believed … that mutation was dangerous. It was easily the most scientific response that Sinister had seen in these misguided children.

"I truly appreciate your outlook," Sinister said making sure to allow his body language to echo the sentiment he wanted James to see: relief. Vindication.

"Why is that?" James asked distractedly, and Sinister had to control the urge to smile, knowing that he was seeing an odd combination of learned behavior from Scott and natural behavior from his biological parents.

"I thought you'd figure that out by now," Sinister said, then gestured openly at himself.

James looked up at him for a long moment, then nodded once. "You're a mutant too." It wasn't a question -and that kind of a loophole was exactly what Sinister was hoping for. Something he didn't have to confirm, and then therefore lie about. That would have busted him out quickly … but James came to the conclusion on his own and didn't question him. Which made the whole process easier on Sinister.

Before long, the two of them were chatting intensely about the class, James' theories, and with a little coaxing, James' recovery in very limited detail. Which was when Sinister hit James with something that he was not prepared for.

"Whatever you do," he said as he rested a hand on James' forearm. "Don't let anyone take samples from you for any reason."

James frowned. "I … wasn't planning on it."

"Good. It's just incredibly simple for those in this field to use their classmates as source material for tests-"

"I'm not using samples of my own even for my testing," James said, making sure to draw the line clearly. "That's not … I'm not going to do that."

"Good. Very good," Sinister said, smiling warmly as Doctor Windsor. "I simply wanted to caution you. I don't know how common your mutation is, but caution is most prudent."

"Yeah," James said, letting his shoulders relax slightly. A sort of understanding seemed to solidify in the quiet lab, and a few moments later, the two of them went into action again - working on their own projects, and occasionally conversing, though the discussion was slowly building steam.

They seemed to be finding a groove that worked for them to cooperate together in their projects, and Sinister used what he was literally playing with as a teaching opportunity to see how James would handle it .. which left the two of them getting more engaged with the project at hand. Enough so that Sinister had to control his irritation when the door to the lab opened and Billy walked in with his bookbag over his shoulder.

Just like that, the spell was partially broken as James looked toward Billy with a smile and promised to wrap it up. But Sinister wanted to make sure that he had a clean run at Billy, too. The boy was powerful, and dreadfully useful. And this method … going easy … seemed to yield decent results. At least … the boy hadn't stabbed him yet as his father had by the time they'd spent that much time around each other.

"If you're waiting for Mr. Howlett to finish up, you're more than welcome to study," Sinister said, testing the waters with Magneto's grandson and hoping he wasn't nearly so unhinged as his grandfather.

"I'm good for right now," Billy said, though he did take a seat out of the way while James finished up. "Thanks, though."

Sinister gave him a tight smile, but stepped away to let the boys do what they needed to.

James was quick enough to close up what he was working on and snatch his bookbag before Billy could get too comfortable. "Sorry. I got caught up," he explained with a shrug.

"It's okay. I was just going to finish reading The Iliad while you worked if you needed more time," Billy said. "I'm almost done."

"Oh, well. You'll be glad to be done with that one," James teased with a little smirk.

"It's a good story," Billy defended. "It's just hard to get through because of the language barrier. Not the translation; I mean it's just ancient."

"Yeah, okay," James said, just to pick on him. "Are you reading it in Greek?"

"Ha ha. You know what I mean. Ancient phrasings and references and stuff."

"You should ask Steve about those. He probably gets all those jokes," James said as they headed out with little more than a wave toward 'Windsor'.

"Actually, I'm doing an entire class dedicated to world mythology next semester, and I have absolutely let Thor know I'm going to fact-check the stories with him. He thinks it's hilarious."

"Are you going to bring him to show and tell? Instant A."

"He offered to send his brother. Which is even funnier."

"Instant fail."

"Right?" Billy grinned lazily. "I still haven't decided which of the humanities I want to major in, actually. I'm enjoying the literature classes, but history is fascinating too, and the social sciences might be good for ruling."

"Which one has the most drinking and debauchery?" James teased again before stealing a kiss.

Billy grinned. "You're in a good mood. Genetics treating you well, then?"

"Oddly enough? Yeah. The other stuff is going well too, but … I don't know. There's not the same expectations there when I show up."

"I bet that's a relief," Billy said.

"It's just I dunno. Different."

"Yeah, I get it. I think my professors are half scared of me."

"You'll get used to that," James promised.

Billy grinned. "So, do you need to stick around for anything or did you want to stop by and say hi to your dad?" he asked.

"I thought that was the plan?"

"Just checking. You looked knee-deep in your research," Billy pointed out.

"I can jump in again later. It's not as convoluted as Reed's papers."

Billy chuckled. "Alright then. Let's go see what Annie's made. Rachel said she's been practicing frosting flowers ever since Kate told her she was in charge of the wedding cake."

"Oh, delightful. More sugar."

"I know, what a horror," Billy said as the two of them headed home to drop off their schoolwork and prepare to spend time with their parents in Genosha.