Chapter 7: A Bad Inheritance
After they were sure the Summerses had enough space to have their reunion, James and Logan carried Sinister out, with Billy and Teddy behind them. Teddy, carrying Jana, followed Logan and James to the lab, while Billy stayed to talk to the Summerses. It was clear that, even restrained as he was, they didn't trust him for anything.
"I need both of you," Billy told Cody and Scott, floating a few inches off the ground — so they knew it was serious. "I'm really sorry. I promise it'll be fast, but I need you two and the rest of your family before we can be done with this for good."
Scott finally stepped back from Cody — and Cody looked concerned as he helped Scott sit — before Cody looked up at Billy and nodded. "We're coming," he said.
K didn't leave the group — in case there was a call for backup — instead texting Kurt with a request for him and a couple of steady hands in case people needed to be moved quickly. Kurt was quick to respond, teleporting in with Sying, since they had just been with Kate and Krissy together — though Kurt froze and Sying let out a few words in Kree that K raised an eyebrow at when they saw … all of it.
"Later," K said, cutting off the deluge of questions she knew were coming.
Kurt nodded, though his near-Halloween cat look hadn't disappeared in the least as they got set up in the cell they'd once used for Sabretooth while Billy explained what was going on.
"I've been doing a scan the entire flight out, and besides Remy and Jana, there are only a few other possible hosts for Sinister," Billy explained. "He needs a familial connection, and he needs to have worked on them. And the only other ones that fit the bill…" He gestured to Scott and Cody. "Gonna need a few more Summerses, actually… I don't think we need Alex's kids, but Alex…"
Scott looked like Billy had just sucker punched him. "What…"
"This is not the kind of thing you tell a guy when you don't want him to keel over with a heart attack, Space Pants," K muttered as Cody put a steadying hand on his father's shoulder, looking ashen.
"That… was about as delicate as I could be," Billy said. "Not really a good way to explain the genetic ties?" He winced. "I tried?"
"Wow. And that's coming from me," K said, shaking her head at Billy.
"That can't be right," Scott insisted with some honest heat. "He — no. No."
Billy smiled grimly. "Yeah, well. The guy's lived a long time. Didn't you ever wonder why he was so interested in your family?"
"I thought it was … genetics. Studies," Scott said, seeming to hover between pure shock and anger all at once.
Billy nodded. "That and the fact that he tracked down his illegitimate son… who had changed his name to Summers when he left London …"
Scott stared at Billy, stunned into silence and unable to come up with a response that wasn't just… no.
Billy let out a sigh and looked honestly apologetic. "Yeah, I wouldn't have told you, but I need some help to get in your heads to pull out the pieces Sinister left in there. I can form a body, but the telepathic bits..." He gestured between the two of them. "You won't feel a thing ... except maybe a little bit … lighter." He held up one finger. "Okay, let's start with my partner in crime…" With that, he snapped his fingers, and Quentin Quire was suddenly in the room.
Quentin had matured slightly from when he'd been part of the group all the time, but he was still Quentin, so no one was surprised when his reaction to simply appearing at the mansion was to look around with a sneer and shake his head. "Nope. No … I thought you people had figured out the finer points of consent. That's what you kept shoving down my throat."
"Cute. Want to kill Sinister with me?" Billy said with a crooked grin.
"Nuh-uh," Quentin said, shaking his head. "Because you have no intentions of letting me do anything like that, do you? You want me to play Nurse Betty to your … whatever this is."
Billy had one hand on his hip as he turned his whole body toward Quentin. "So you don't want to unearth the bits of Sinister hidden deep in the Summers line with the fire you got last night, hmm?" he shot back — surprising everyone else there, since the last they'd heard of the Phoenix, Rachel had banished it.
Quentin tipped his chin up and kept his glare in place. "I … cannot confirm or deny anything like that."
"Q … just help the nice Demiurge and we'll find a way to pay back the favor," K said. "Or … I'll shave that mohawk off your head in your sleep and tattoo 'I love Wolverine' across your forehead."
"I'll put him to sleep for you," Billy offered sweetly.
"I know you would," K said with a wink Billy's way.
Quentin looked between the two of them, clearly trying to decide which entity was more powerful … between himself and Billy, of course. And a quick brush of the minds around him told him not only that he couldn't read Billy's mind without permission but that his reality-rewriting powers were faster than his. "I have demands," he said at last.
"What else is new?" Scott sighed.
"How about you hold on to those demands until this is over," K suggested as she took Quentin's arm and started pulling him down the hall. "I'm going to bet Billy wasn't expecting you to be entirely pigheaded, and if you want to keep that burn in your special places, you might want to cooperate before it just doesn't exist anymore. And the Phoenix, too."
Billy nodded toward Kurt, confident that K had Quentin handled. "We're going to need the others. Not just Chloe and Charlie."
"I'm going to assume you have a way to get to Nate and Hope?" Kurt said as he sent a text to Chicago — Rachel was up first, as far as he was concerned.
Billy was already nodding, his galaxies glowing. "I know where they are. Give them another two minutes to finish up with Apocalypse in that timeline."
"I"ll beat them back," Kurt said, then disappeared in a swirl of brimstone, which left Billy with Cody and Scott, listening to the negotiations going on down the hall between Quentin and K.
"You can't stab him in the face, K. I don't care if it has worked in the past," Scott said with a disbelieving smirk on, alerting them to the fact that their conversation was no longer private.
"Yes I can!" she called back sweetly, though by the tone Quentin was 'arguing' with, he was already on board — just enjoying the banter.
Bamf.
"Um, what's going on?" Charlie asked, looking like she'd been pulled by a bamf from finishing her makeup, still holding a mascara brush and on her way to a date with Gerry — though she dropped that when she saw Cody and rushed toward her brother, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Whatever happened to your song, we'll fix it, I swear," she breathed out, though that just had Cody making a sound that meant he was a step away from tears as he wrapped her up in return, relieved she was alive.
A second later, another bamf brought in Chloe, who immediately broke into tears when she saw Cody, both hands over her mouth. She was in so much shock that she didn't go to join the hug right away, so the bamf helpfully teleported her closer so Charlie could pull her in. Chloe had been blaming herself for Sinister's actions for so long that seeing Cody… she simply couldn't help but fall apart.
By the time Chloe was wrapped up properly in her siblings, Kurt arrived with Rachel and a bamf brought a very confused Alex. Then, Billy, who had been watching Nate and Hope in a neighboring timeline, snapped his fingers, and the unplanned family reunion was complete — with Remy rounding out the group with a bamf on his shoulder giggling madly at the string of Cajun swears Remy gave him for interrupting his date.
"I suppose you're all wondering why I brought you here today," Billy couldn't help but say, even with the serious subject matter.
"Yeah, you could say that," Alex said, still holding a tube of sunscreen in one hand and wearing swim trunks — though a second later, he saw Chloe and Charlie wrapped around Cody, frowned, and pointed the sunscreen at Nate. "Timeline jumping or actual resurrection? In this family, I gotta ask."
"Neither," Nate said, holding up one hand.
"He wasn't dead to need a resurrection," Billy explained.
Alex raised both eyebrows as Chloe and Charlie — reluctantly — switched from hugging to just hanging onto Cody's arms so everyone else could say hi as well. And at that, Alex broke into a smile. "What, you get into steroids while you were having a walkabout?" he teased before he came to get his own hug. "You're giant, Cody. For real."
Cody couldn't help but laugh that that was his uncle's reaction. "Yeah, something like that."
"Knew it."
Scott shook his head. He could always count on his little brother to cut through the tension of any moment. "Really, Alex?"
"What, like I'm wrong? Your kid ate a tank, Scott."
"Alex…" Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're an idiot."
"Thanks, Scott. Really feeling the spirit of the family reunion here."
"Yeah, you can all be Summersy in a second, but I really did need to get some stuff done," Billy cut in, though he was smiling at how well Cody's reintroduction was going. "I'm building a physical form for Sinister that we can kill — but I need to gather every single piece of him that he left behind." He gave the assembled Summerses a significant look. "That's you guys, by the way."
Remy blinked and gestured toward the Summerses. "Wait. All of us?"
Although Nate and Hope looked like they had expected as much — particularly Nate, considering all the time Sinister had poured into more or less raising him — Alex held up both hands. "Woah, I've had a few run-ins, but not for a long time," he said.
"Can we just … not talk about that part right now?" Scott said, kneading his forehead. "Let's just get the job done, and then, you can traumatize my whole family later."
Billy smirked at that and then tipped his head toward Quentin. "My lovely nurse here," he said with a crooked smile, "is going to get those pieces so I can form a body."
"Under duress," Quentin said.
"Hush. He said you were lovely," K said in a side whisper that had Quentin trying not to smirk.
"It's the glasses," Billy said without missing a beat.
"I thought it was the campy t-shirts," Quentin shot back, crossing his arms.
"Only if they were better fitted."
"No," K said, shaking her head. "You'd be disappointed then."
"True," Billy said, smiling wider.
"Oh my God, just get on with it," Rachel said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"It's helping both of them, so just relax," K said as Billy led them down to the lab, where Jamesand Logan were standing watch with Hank over the freshly-formed body of Nathaniel Essex, while Teddy sat with a still-unconscious Jana.
"Alright, Demiurge," Quentin said. "Probably about time to share with the class what the plan is. Exactly. Unless you think they're too delicate to hear it before we get to work."
"Which part?" Billy said, both hands out to his sides. "The fact that Essex needs a familial connection to jump bodies this way or the fact that you'll be using interdimensional help to keep up with me?"
K was grinning at Billy as Quentin rolled his eyes. "I meant what the actual plan of action is — or do you just need me to be a supercharger for you?" Quentin arched one eyebrow up. "You need to give me more specifics than 'help me do this thing'." He smirked to himself. "Unless … you want me to pull it out of your mind."
"No, I want you to pull out the pieces Sinister left behind. I'll follow you in, and once you've excised the Sinister bits, I'll know it's safe to take them to the new body." Billy shrugged. "I'm not a telepath. Just want to be thorough."
"That's all I wanted to know," Quentin said, pushing his glasses up his nose before he cracked his knuckles and his neck in a big show. He didn't bother giving Billy any warning — a little payback for zapping him away from his date with Gwen. By the time Billy had blinked, they were in Scott's mind, and Quentin was searching.
Neither Quentin nor Billy was terribly surprised to find Sinister's fingerprints all over Scott's mind — which was, of course, why Quentin had started there. Start with the biggest project.
"This place is infested," Quentin said with a sneer, then readjusted his glasses as he looked at a few other issues, too. "I'll gather up the Sinister goop, but I'm burning that, too." He tipped his head toward a hidden patch of frozen tundra that sparkled like diamonds. "That should have been gone a long time ago." He'd barely said it — and Billy had just seen where Quentin was looking — before the flames stretched out from his hands and the little bit of permafrost left behind from years of Emma's meddling was melted and dried up in a blink. What Billy didn't see, though, was that while he was thawing out that little patch of Scott's mind, he was also pulling up as much of Sinister's damage as he could, and by the time he'd finished both, he simply turned to Billy with a disinterested expression.
"Did you want to do any sightseeing while we're here, or have you had enough?"
Billy blinked and then grinned. "No, I'll just take out the trash while I'm here."
To Quentin's own amusement, he'd taken the parts of Sinister and formed them into a small Sinister — trapped in a Victorian-looking jar. "Seemed to be a fitting way to transport."
"Very," Billy agreed. A second later, the jar was gone, and they went on to the next mind, going from Scott to Alex to Cable to Cody and so on down the line of who seemed to have the most fingerprints in their minds — ending with Remy, who had already had Sinister burned out of him and didn't have anything left after Rachel had gotten through with him but who Quentin checked just to be sure.
When all was said and done, most of the Summerses were nursing headaches — not from Quentin's touch but from Sinister's influence leaving scars behind from how deeply he'd gotten entrenched. But Rachel had her eyes narrowed for a different reason and made her way toward Quentin.
"When did it come to you?" she asked in a rough whisper.
"How fabulous I am? Please. Day one of dealing with my powerset."
"The Phoenix, you idiot."
"What difference does it make to you?" Quentin asked.
"Because I banished it after it tried to entice my daughter, and I need to know."
"Oh, well, if you banished it, then that's just the end of it forever, isn't it?" Quentin rolled his eyes.
Rachel rolled her eyes right back and shoved him in the shoulder. Hard. "Answer the damn question, Quire. I don't need powers to deal with you."
"Actually, you probably do," Quentin said with a smirk. "But don't worry about it. It won't be coming for your daughter."
Rachel looked to Billy, who nodded his confirmation and tapped his temple near his eyes. "Next in line is a Drew — after Quire goes senile."
"So like … what?" K asked, leaning forward to make sure she could see the look on Quentin's face. "Next week? Is it a Tuesday or a Thursday?"
"Sunday, actually."
"Not surprised somehow," she said, crossing her arms again as she turned her attention back to James and Logan.
Billy chuckled as he held out one hand, solidifying the bits and pieces he and Quentin had gathered until the man sitting with them could have been Nathaniel Essex as he was before Apocalypse found him — with no powers, no diamond, and no way out.
When Billy finally finished, he very nearly stumbled back, and Logan caught him with one hand before he let Teddy pull Billy down to sit and recuperate. "Alright. You can kill him now," Billy said softly.
The three ferals shared a glance, and James looked over to Scott first. "You might want to leave. I'm going to get started — unless you want in." He kept his focus on Sinister as he cracked his knuckles; he only waited to hear one way or the other from Scott.
Scott looked honestly like he was considering it, but he looked over at the way Charlie was still half wrapped around Cody and let out a breath. "I have better things to do than give him another second of my time," he said at last.
"We'll just wait until you're gone, then," Logan said.
Scott nodded at that and then looked toward Kurt, who once more didn't need to be prompted to get the Summerses out and to somewhere private — into the nearby ready room so they didn't have to bother with Sinister any longer. (The bamfs took Remy to where Teddy had taken Jana; he looked very much like he didn't want to deal with even the idea of being a Summers.)
"What miracle is this?" Kurt asked, smiling widely and glad that there was some good news, all things considered.
"Sinister had him," Scott said. "This whole time."
Kurt's smile died in an instant when he heard it before he simply reasserted another hug. "I'm so sorry, Cody," he said. "If we'd known…"
"You didn't," Cody said, lightly returning the hug.
Kurt frowned at him and then turned to Scott. "If you need anything at all…"
"Just Annie for right now," Scott said.
Kurt nodded, and moments later, the bamfs had brought Annie from her baking, sticking around and dancing in place with their little tails moving frantically behind them because they were so thrilled to see Cody alive and back home.
Annie gasped when she saw Cody, her eyes wide, and dropped the spatula in her hand before she simply rushed over to him, pulling him into a tight hug and positively crying her eyes out before she even got there. And considering no one in the family could handle Annie crying, none of the Summers-Hale siblings were able to keep it together. Even Cody let out a little gasp before he started to cry on his mom's shoulder and hang onto her as much as he could.
Those not in the immediate family hung back, though Rachel stood by Hope and nudged her with her shoulder. Did you two know this was coming?
Hope smiled softly and nodded. Why do you think you haven't seen much of us? Dad has a soft spot for Charlie, you know, and he hates seeing her that upset.
Soft spot for all our little siblings, you mean, Rachel replied, smirking. You act like he doesn't spoil Chance on the gun range or give Chloe chess pointers.
I don't know why everyone's asking so surprised. You've met your father, haven't you? At least mine isn't that bad, Hope shot back, and Rachel laughed out loud.
Neither of you is funny, Nate projected to them — but that simply prompted both of the women to positively fall apart laughing, only adding to the almost giddy relief floating around the room.
Elin had rushed off to take a shower while Hank ran Chance through a barrage of tests in the part of the lab farthest from where the Sinister drama was going down. She scrubbed every single inch of skin and then washed her hair three times before she let out a breath and realized that Chance would be looking for her before too long. Even if Hank ran every test in the lab, she couldn't hide in the shower forever. She hurried to dry off and then pulled on the spare clothes in her locker before she went back to the lab to hop up on the bed to sit next to Chance — who, as she'd expected, was done being looked over and was munching on a Twinkie.
"Everything healed?" she asked quietly.
"That's what Hank says," he said with a nod. "I'm starving, though. How do you deal with this every time you get hit? I've never been this hungry."
"Try to avoid it, first of all," she said. "Then just … have no shame when it comes to eating."
"With my mom, that's not going to be an issue," he pointed out.
"Yeah, that's the other thing," Elin told him, wincing slightly. "You can gorge yourself on all that sugary stuff, but you'll end up eating constantly to keep up. There's an actual reason we don't hit the sugar too hard. Takes up room when you need protein."
"Mom'll be more upset about that part than any of the rest of it," he joked lightly and kissed her cheek.
"You can still eat it," she said. "Just not as much when you're trying to catch up. That's why I will hit sugar now and again. Mom and Dad — and James now too — are always playing catch up while they deal with the constant adamantium poisoning."
"Got it." He let out a tired breath and then pulled her into a solid hug. "Elin, I'm sorry," he said.
"You have nothing to apologize for," she said, snuggling in.
"Yeah, but he won't say it, and you need to hear it," he said. "And you… didn't ask to marry into… whatever this is now," he added.
"I hate to point it out, but Sinister was after my family too, remember? Dad was the first mutant he'd ever found. He's not just obsessed with the Summers line."
"I know. I just meant…" He gestured to himself with one hand. "I was definitely not like this when you married me. And now you have to take me through How to Be a Healer 101."
"Yeah, well. I'm okay with that part," she said, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry. None of this should have happened."
"Yeah, I know," he said before he pulled her into a kiss.
She let out a weary sigh as soon as the kiss ended, though. "No. If I'd have caught it … it's my fault that he had Cody for so long."
"What are you talking about?" Chance said, frowning hard. "No it's not."
"How did I miss it?" she asked, wide-eyed. "We were the ones to find him. How did I miss it?"
"Elin…" He shook his head at her. "El, we were in a fight up to our elbows, covered in sand and Marauder blood, and I was a mess. And so were you. Nobody could have noticed the switch in that circumstance."
"I should have smelled it," she said in an urgent tone.
Chance pulled her into an even tighter hug before he put one hand on either of her shoulders and pushed lightly so he could look her in the eyes. "Elin…. How much of that day do you even remember? You were pretty shut down and worn out. I don't remember much myself except the leadup to finding him."
She blinked a few times and shook her head. "But I know I was close to him. Even if I can't remember it now …"
"Elin, you can't even remember it. You really think you were with it enough to think it wasn't Cody?" Chance said. "Come on. It's not your fault. Sinister did this to us."
"And I should have caught it!"
Chance let out a breath and let his shoulders drop before he pulled her into a long and lingering kiss. "No one blames anyone but Sinister," he told her gently. "You're still my amazing wife, and you're still going to rock the big sister look helping me take care of my little brother. Sinister can't change that."
She snuggled in close for a long moment, resting her forehead on his shoulder and trying to regain her bearings before finally she drew in a deep breath and cleared her throat. "You … you should probably go see your brother up close."
"And you should come with me," he said. "He's your brother too."
She nodded at that. "I will. I need to make sure my Dad didn't lose his temper too much once Billy let him go ahead."
"Alright. I'm going to grab some more food on my way up. I'll meet you there," he said, then gave her a kiss on the forehead.
Elin popped up on her toes for a chaste kiss,then headed off to where she had seen her dad and brother carry Sinister, though when she got there, Logan had just finished the job, and both of them looked grim and not at all apologetic. Logan tipped his chin to Elin. "Send Hank in. You don't need to be in the middle of this."
She frowned at that but nodded all the same — still unwilling to argue with her father over anything if she could help it. So she turned to do as he'd told her to, then took her time getting upstairs, going so far as to take the stairwell instead of the elevator.
As promised, Chance was in the kitchen waiting — and eating. "Don't forget to drink, too," she advised. "You lost a lot of blood."
He looked up at her with a small smile. "Right, thanks," he said, going to the fridge to pull out a few water bottles as he pushed one her way. "You okay? You still look… pale."
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she promised, feeling self-conscious about everything and unsure of herself the more she thought about how she'd missed Cody. So she decided that maybe being a tour guide to the healing factor might be a reasonable way to cope. She cleared her throat gently but didn't look up to catch his gaze. Especially while he was still stuffing his face. "So … the other half of healing is sleeping … so, you know. When this is all half-settled…"
"We're probably going to pass out; got it," he said with a nod. He pulled her down to sit with him and kissed her gently. "Not quite the anniversary trip we expected, huh?"
"Never really is, is it?" She gave him a soft smile but clearly wasn't entirely herself. "But at least it ended well enough."
"Yeah, got my brother back, Dad hasn't had a heart attack, and Sinister's gone," Chance listed off with a small smirk. "And I may be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure there was a green light in there. Though we might maybe want to not try too hard when we've got some other stuff going on."
"I don't want to try," she said, frowning to herself. After all this … it almost looked like a sign to her of what happened when someone in her family tried to live. She'd no sooner told him 'yes' than their world was turned upside down, after all. But … as soon as she'd said that, Chance stiffened up, convinced that she was backing out because of Sinister — and she realized she had to find a way to walk a tightrope. "Not … actively try anyhow. No … charts or pressure or paying too strict attention to things or whatever." Her fingers were laced together in her lap as she gestured, her thumbs opening up in a shrug as she tried to be clearer. "If it happens, it happens, but I don't want to force it."
Chance let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Sounds good to me," he agreed, leaning over to steal a kiss. "Have you eaten yet? You know Mom will ask when we go up to see Cody."
"No," she admitted. "I haven't. Though you might want to take a picture of those cookies for posterity." She tipped her chin toward a pan full of completely black cookies that Annie had in the oven before she'd been reunited with Cody.
"Mom will be mortified," Chance said. "Do you have your phone?"
"I do," she said. "She might be mortified, but Cody should have it framed — as proof of how much he is loved. Burnt cookies love level."
"True that," Chance said and snapped a picture. "I kinda want to see his face when he realizes that Chloe redid all his puzzles and framed them, too."
"Do you want your photographer? Because … he's kind of washing up right now."
"No, that's okay. Just my wife is fine right now," he said, leaning over to rest his head on her shoulder.
She leaned right back on him and settled in for a few minutes. "Well, if you want to see your brother …"
"Alright, let's go upstairs," he said, kissing her cheek before he pulled her to her feet with him — and handed her some of the jerky he still had. "Don't think I forgot you need to heal too."
"I'm more tired than anything," she said.
"We'll curl up and sleep until next week after we see Cody," he promised, snaking his arm around her middle and waiting for her to eat something before they headed up the stairs.
When they got up to the Summers' suite, it was more or less exactly as Elin had thought it would be. Everyone was curled up or wrapped up in one another — and Cody was effectively pinned with Annie on one side and Charlie on the other.
Elin gave Chance a little squeeze so he could head over and finally give Cody a worthwhile hug, and then crossed her arms and headed off to the side to keep out of the way as much as possible.
Of course, Charlie wasn't going to stand for that and called her over. "You're part of the family too, you know. Gerry would be here, but he's in a midterm. Summer classes."
"I already got to have a minute with him," Elin said. "We talked … at the place … and on the plane for a little while. You need your time."
"You should still be part of the family," Annie insisted.
"And I don't think you actually hugged him yet," Chance pointed out.
"You were unconscious," Elin said with her chin tipped almost to her chest as she avoided looking at any of them, her arms going around her middle tighter with every line of conversation exchanged.
"It's alright; there's plenty of time," Scott said, fast to pick up on Elin's discomfort.
Annie let out her breath at that but didn't argue; instead, she stood on her toes to brush back Cody's hair and then Chance's. "It's so nice to have both of my boys," she said in a wavering voice.
Chance smiled and pulled Annie into a hug, which meant Cody got to wrap up both of his sisters. He seemed to be more interested in keeping them close than anything else, anyway, though obviously, he hadn't really said anything more than that he'd thought they were dead, and Chloe and Charlie weren't going to argue the point. They could tell he was traumatized, but considering who had traumatized him, neither Chloe nor Charlie was going to poke him too hard if he needed their presence to ground him.
For the most part, it seemed like the girls were just trying to catch Cody up on what he'd missed. Charlie being married… Leslie Ann and David… Krissy and Sying's little girl… all of the big, important things. And for his part, Cody looked overwhelmed.
Chloe finally cut in when Charlie was trying to explain James and Alyssa. "You know what, I think maybe let's just… not talk for a while," she said, looking up at her much taller and broader big brother. "Two weddings and a baby alone is a lot to take in, huh?"
Cody let out a breath and nodded, even as he said, "It's alright."
"Uh-huh," Chloe said, not at all believing him. "Let's put together a puzzle." She looked at her other siblings, almost daring them to argue with her decision, though she paused when she saw that the usually white marks on Chance's face had faded. A lot. "What's up with your face?"
Chance frowned. "What?"
"The letter," she said, gesturing to his cheek.
Chance's eyes widened, and he brought his hand up to the right side of his face. "I didn't even think about that," he said quietly.
"That didn't answer my question," Chloe said.
Elin sank a little deeper into the chair she was occupying and tried to be just a bit smaller, completely copping out and leaving it to Chance and Cody to explain.
"I… can heal now," Chance said slowly. He glanced over at Elin and then at the other clearly shocked members of his family. "Long story. Sinister wanted to … screw with us."
"She wanted to augment me," Cody said quietly, which was really the most he'd said that whole time other than answers to questions he was directly asked. He looked toward Scott, who was almost holding his breath. Cody nodded once and then looked toward Chloe, who was also looking pale, considering how long Sinister had her just before Apocalypse had shown up. He could hear her projecting that she was sure it was her fault, somehow, so he tried to explain himself better, to reassure her that she hadn't been changed. "I can use telepathy. Telekinesis. I'm stronger. Faster. I've been spending the last year or so just… learning."
Scott looked openly pained as he watched Cody. "He had no right."
Cody frowned at Scott and then dropped his gaze. "I let him," he said softly.
Elin was already shaking her head 'no' lightly, though she didn't even realize it.
"You did not," Annie said firmly. "I don't know what Sinister did to you, but I know that you wouldn't just… roll over and let him in."
"He didn't," Elin said, already coming to his defense. "He thought everyone was dead. The body snatcher used it against him to make him comply."
Annie let out a little noise as she reached up to rest her hand on Cody's cheek. "Sweetheart, that's not a choice. That's a trap," she told him firmly.
Cody couldn't help but smile at her word choice as he reached up very slowly to cover her hand with his and leaned into the touch. "I'm just really glad you're alive."
"And I'm so glad to see you too," Annie said before she pulled him into another long hug. "You're so tall now, sweetheart."
"Part of all the augmentations," he explained, though that just had Annie shaking her head at him.
"It doesn't matter. You're still my little boy."
Cody let out a breath of a sigh before he hugged Annie tightly.
Hank knew when the Howletts had finished off Sinister when K slipped out of the room and went to the showers, while Logan stayed with James to make sure he was alright, all things considered. All three of them had a familiar glint in their gaze, so Hank stayed out of their way, instead focusing on cleaning up.
In the time the Howletts had spent with Sinister, Hank had checked over Chance, helped Remy move Jana to a new room so she wouldn't wake up in a lab, and insisted on looking over Billy and Teddy as well, declaring that Billy was exhausted to the point of dehydration and was not allowed to traverse dimensions until he'd slept and eaten.
With Hank quietly cleaning, Logan pulled his son aside.
"You gonna be alright?" Logan asked James, who, though he'd been involved, had not done much other than restrain Sinister when needed or offer up information on what he knew from his time with Apocalypse.
"Yeah, I'll be okay," James said, though he was frowning at the amount of blood on himself. He hadn't had time to clean up yet, and it was clear his father wasn't going to let him just walk off. Not looking like murder walking. "He had it coming. First death I've seen that I do not feel one bit guilty about."
Logan nodded at that and directed him toward the showers. James tried hard not to watch the blood dripping from his hands too much. He wasn't as messy as his father could be, but he wasn't as neat and careful about it like his mother prefered to be, so he still had a fair amount of clean up to do.
But at that point, he really just wanted to get the creep's pure scent off of him. If they'd done this right — if they'd actually ended a century and a half's worth of nightmares — then he should never come across that particular scent again.
Logan walked with him away from the isolation cell on his way to the showers, and the pair of them were silent for a few moments as they navigated through the lab. "Meditation in the morning?" James asked quietly, to which, of course, Logan agreed.
"Sure you're gonna be alright tonight?"
"Dad," James said, finally turning his way. "He tortured us. All of us. How many times? Of all the things to lose sleep over — he's not one of them."
Logan nodded, but before they could separate, Logan pulled him over to make sure he had James' full attention. "Anything at all gets to you — Come. To. Me."
"I will," James said, nodding seriously. "I promise. I'm just tired. And I'll be better after we run tomorrow, I'm sure."
Logan let out a sigh, but it was clear he didn't entirely buy it yet — until James closed the distance to wrap his father up in a tight hug. "I'm just really, really sick of this idiot being the reason behind the blood on my hands," James said. "Really. I'm glad it's over. For this one anyhow."
Logan nodded, squeezing James' shoulder, and stepped past him toward the showers. James would have followed him, but Hank stepped out from cleaning just then and immediately went to James to ask all the questions James knew he couldn't avoid to check on his mental well being — though it bothered him that everyone around him kept reminding him that he'd had such a moment of weakness that they would never let him forget it.
And while Hank was willing enough to accept James's promises that he was alright, James was still covered in half-dried, thick blood and only too aware of it when the door opened again — to admit Cody, who froze almost instantly.
James tipped his chin up for just an instant with a tight, forced smile, since he had no idea what to say or how to act around him after everything that had happened. "Hey. You alright?" When Cody didn't move or respond, James tried to relax his posture and took a step toward him.
Cody took a breath in sharply and shook his head as he took a step back — which was about when James heard Nate reach out to him before things could deteriorate any further. I'm headed down to where you are. Don't go anywhere; Sinister messed with his perception and I need to address it.
Do you need me for that? James shot back.
Yeah. You were a central figure in the reality he set up for Cody.
There a reason you didn't tell me this before I killed Sinister? James asked. Because if I'd known he'd turned me into the boogeyman for Cody, I'd have encouraged Dad to take his time.
Yes, James, because my immediate thought after Billy zapped me here with Apocalypse's blood still drying on my shoes was your status as the boogeyman.
I was more concerned with your brother, but now I absolutely see the problem. You can get new shoes, James shot back in a completely irritated tone.
You can take Hope shopping later.
I don't need the Summers consolation prize of being allowed to talk to one of you for five minutes. I couldn't give a damn about your shoes when I'm covered in Sinister. I'm taking a shower. Deal with your problems on your own time.
I'm on my way down to help Cody, damnit. Stay put.
Good for you. I'm washing up. James turned to leave when Nate reached out again.
You'll just make this harder if you go now. Half the problem is the blood, and he'll do this again after your next mission when I'm not around to fix it if I can't address this properly now.
And you can't possibly tell anyone what you have in mind, can you? James said. If you'd led with that, I would have wanted to help you, and there wouldn't have been any kind of an argument.
Being the boogeyman wasn't enough?
Screw you, Nate. James was well beyond worn out — and feeling as if Nate was telling him he was being self-centered on top of things was just the cherry on a very bad cake.
Nate didn't respond until he got down to the lab and then projected out to both boys. Alright, let's deal with this before it gets worse. James, let me show you what reality Cody's been living.
Like I have a choice in it, James shot back.
Nate rolled his shoulders and, without another word, pulled them into Cody's head — where Cody was simply reliving exactly what Sinister had shown him when he made him believe James had killed everyone in the hidden cabin.
For a long moment, James couldn't do anything more than stare; the scene in front of him was jarring, and it brought back a whole slew of bad memories for him. "Got it," James said quietly, through his teeth. "You've got a solid argument against what Billy's told me."
Nate shook his head at that. "It's the blood that's throwing him off. This is what he saw when he saw you in the lab just now. I'm only trying to give you context."
"Message received. I'll keep away from him."
Nate let out a short noise and then strode past James to where Cody was to catch Cody's attention and draw his gaze from the blood in the grass. "I know you just got done sitting with Charlie and Chloe, so you know this is all a lie," he said, gesturing toward the memory.
Cody blinked and seemed to suddenly realize Nate was there. Shaking his head, he seemed to center himself and then noticed James was there, too. "I know," he told Nate, though he was staring at James. "I just… I know. I saw him when we escaped."
"It was Sinister's blood on James tonight, not anyone else's."
"Yeah. I know."
"Good. Then stop letting Sinister dictate which reality you're living in."
Cody turned with his whole body toward Nate, his driest possible look etched on his features. "Right, I'll get right on that."
"Good."
Cody tsked. "Nate—"
"What, you're going to tell me you were too far gone? Me?" Nate matched Cody's look with one of his own. "Spent too long with the bastard?"
"That's not fair—"
"Sure." Nate gestured over his shoulder to where James was. "So you know, just about the only part of what he showed you that wasn't a lie was James' solution. Only in reality, it didn't stick."
Cody went stiff as he looked toward James, who was staring at the bodies in the grass with a distant, quiet expression. Nate smirked and stepped back so Cody could make his way toward James, twisting his hands until he got there, trying to ignore that he could see James knew what Sinister had shown him. "You… um… you okay?" Cody asked James after a minute. "You didn't exactly ask to see the bloodbath here…."
"Doesn't really matter," James replied, hung up on the bloodied faces around them.
"Kinda does," Cody pointed out. "You're in here with me."
"Just … take care of yourself, Cody."
"I will," Cody said. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Can you… can you tell me… how you got out from under him? If it wasn't this…"
"I don't really …" James frowned deeply, then looked up at Cody. "I didn't answer to Sinister."
"I meant Apocalypse," Cody clarified. "I know Sinister… well, in my head, she's still Jana."
"Oh," James said, then looked down at his hands. There really wasn't any way for him to escape any of it. Even though this scene was wrong … change a few faces here and there … the location … there was some accuracy. James cleared his throat. "Rachel nearly killed me when she burned Apocalypse out of my head. And … they told me that Lorna and Doc Strange had to crack my skull open to get rid of a death spore. I guess that's … that's the jist of it."
"So she wasn't lying about much," Cody said softly, rubbing the back of his neck. "She said Rachel lost control, and she said you tried ending it."
But James nodded, and his tone sounded almost distant when he spoke. "Yeah, I did."
"I'm glad it wasn't this that put you over that edge," Cody said. "I … I had nightmares for months about you and John."
"No, it wasn't this ... " He took a breath and held it for a moment before he closed his eyes. "It was losing Vanessa, and Kitty, and you and all the people I did kill."
"I'm sorry," Cody said softly.
James looked around at the carnage. "If I had done this ... and this is what he wanted me to do … I would have gotten it right when I tried to off myself. Or kept going until it stuck."
"Yeah. This…" Cody took a deep breath and trailed off. "It's … I couldn't think for weeks after this."
"You shouldn't have to be reminded of it," James said. "I'll keep out of your way."
Cody nearly nodded and then caught himself, swallowed, and shook his head instead. "Please don't," he said — struggling even in his own head to make requests.
"I don't want to make it any harder for you, Cody."
"Hard was losing everyone and thinking that had happened," Cody said, gesturing toward the memory. "I'll get through the rest of it, but… but it would suck if Sinister posthumously ruins one of the best friendships I had growing up by lying about it." He paused and then let his gaze drop. "If… if that's alright with you, I mean."
"I can't promise that I won't get messy again," James said. "I've been … not great at keeping my temper in check since then."
"That's okay. I haven't been allowed to have a temper. You can get mad for both of us. Or something." Cody winced a smile. "Blood doesn't usually bother me. I just…"
"Blood on me is the trouble."
"Yeah." Cody gave him a tight smile. "I'll just… stay out of your way after missions?"
"You may not have to worry about that," James said. "The way things are going, I don't know if I'll be allowed on them anyhow."
"That's alright. I'm not allowed either."
"Yeah, well, the idiots in the streets aren't trying to worship you."
Cody actually broke into a smirk. "Oh, yeah, the world's gone to hell. What's to worship? The stupid hair or the snide remarks?"
"That's what I've been sayin'," James said. "Tyler needs to learn to mind his own damn business."
"He can't help it. Poor Mormon boy going to pieces with all those heathens worshipping a Howlett," Cody snorted.
"No, it's not that with him… it's the idiots are hung up on all the humans I killed."
Cody lost his smirk and then fidgeted. "If you want," he said slowly, "I… can probably draw Tyler's fire. I experimented on a bunch of mutants."
"And I killed a lot of people experimenting on mutants, too," James said. "That's not … Tyler's just mad at me. He's not mad at Sying or Leslie Ann or sweet Amadi."
"Must be a Creed reflex," Cody said, shrugging.
"It's Tyler's fault that I'm still alive," James said, smiling tightly.
"Ah." Cody nodded, finally understanding. "Well, remind me to thank him. I think I'd've had a worse time hearing you were dead. I mean, the details aren't the same but still… I mourned you, okay?"
"I can't believe that under the circumstances." James held up both hands. "But I'm not going to argue it with you."
"Thanks." Cody took a deep breath and held out a hand. "Okay, so, start over? Still friends?"
"Sure," James agreed, though he looked hesitant to touch Cody knowing how upset he'd been. "We're probably holding up your brother from his early bird special somewhere anyhow."
"Probably," Cody agreed, still holding out his hand. "He'll be fine."
It took another moment or two before James finally reached out to shake Cody's hand, and he still had it in his head to keep out of the way — not just for Cody's sake. The fact of the matter was that going from Hank's little press to seeing everything Cody had been tortured with had him far less than okay than he was going to admit — he was, in fact, reconsidering his decision to keep he was a bit caught off-guard when Cody yanked his hand to pull him into a hug.
"Thanks, by the way," Cody said. "For, you know, getting me out."
"I just aided and abetted Billy, Teddy, and my parents," James said.
"I know how that goes," Cody said. He let James go and stepped back, then cleared his throat. "Okay, so. Still friends. Both traumatized. Ummm… I guess now we try to sleep?"
"Never gonna happen," James said. "But you go ahead and try."
Cody smirked and gestured with both hands. "Haven't slept without being exhausted or sedated in about a year. Wish me luck?"
"Well you're starting the evening with Nate — should be a slam dunk," James said dryly.
"Great. I'll cheat," Cody said, and Nate rolled his eyes but pulled them back into reality all the same.
"No," Nate said before Cody could say anything else — and Cody immediately nodded.
"What's the deal?" James said, looking between them, then balled up his fist. "You can't say no? Want me to hit him for you, Cody?"
Outside of his mind, Cody was significantly different, with drawn-in shoulders and more furtiveness to his movements as he shrugged. "I'm fine."
James didn't move for just a second, but when he did, he cracked Nate in the shoulder hard enough to get Nate swearing. He gave Nate a raised eyebrow look and then started for the showers as if nothing had happened, projecting for Nate to leave him alone.
It left Nate glaring and Cody trying not to snort — which meant Nate had a hard time saying anything when Cody did actually genuinely need his friend sticking up for him. So, Nate just shook his head and left — and Cody did actually snort at that.
Almost no one in the Summers family was ready to sleep that night, still brimming with the thrill of being reunited with Cody. But eventually, exhaustion won out, and they all headed to bed.
Even then, sleep wasn't coming easily to Scott — for good reason. He was so overwhelmed, so grateful to know that his son was alive that he didn't know how to get his feet underneath him.
He watched Annie taking four times as long to get through her bedtime routine as she usually took, brimming with energy and periodically wiping tears from her cheeks. She was actually the member of the family dealing with this best, because she had gone straight through relief into joy. The rest of the family was still processing.
Scott was still processing.
It wasn't like he hadn't done this before. Losing people he loved only to get them back from the dead. The number of times he had seen Jean come back to life alone… He was surprisingly used to the impermanence of death.
And yet…
And yet it was different, wasn't it? It was different without the Phoenix, without time travel, without any of the usual complications. Cody had died — but he hadn't. He hadn't, and that was why he was back. No miracle resurrection. No Cody from another world that he would be forever comparing to the one he had raised. His son.
He was so grateful it felt like an ache in his chest, like he couldn't breathe. And then, when he did breathe, the sound was too loud, and he couldn't hold it in anymore before he put a hand over his eyes and simply started to cry.
And he didn't stop for a good, long while.