Chapter 4: "What Do You Want?"

Chance landed the Shanghai close by campus and couldn't help but grin to himself as he got to the school and saw that the Hudsons were there.

"So — does everyone get the full welcoming committee?" Chance couldn't help but grin.

"Mostly," Heather said as she pulled him into a warm hug. "I don't give them hugs though."

Chance grinned as he returned the hug and then made sure to do the same for Oliver and Mac. "You don't mind that I brought my ship? Not exactly a car I can park somewhere, but she takes care of herself."

"No, no," Heather said as she pulled him toward the doors. "You need to be able to get back to Westchester. We got the memos from your dad. In triplicate."

"Yeah, I got them too," Chance said, grinning as he allowed himself to be pulled inside. "Along with plenty of accusations from the non-Summers in the family that I'm gonna kill him," he added with a crooked smirk.

"We don't want him to worry," Heather promised. "So you just check in as often as he needs it."

"Hopefully, he'll cool off after I've been here a while," Chance said with a shrug before he looked toward Mac. "So — most important stuff first, right? Place to sleep, place to fly…"

"You sure that's the order you want to go in?" Mac asked just before Heather reached out and smacked him. "Or .. yes. Your room first is fine."

Chance grinned. "Yeah, my mom did the same thing to me."

"Oliver can show you around once you see your room — not too far from the staff," Mac swore.

Chance nodded and grinned at Oliver. "Kinda weird not to be the one doing the tours. This is my job back home."

"Really, you'll be fine," Oliver said. "They're just all … nervous because of the whole totally subtle feud."

Chance shrugged. "Yeah, well. I'm not here to cross the Capulet lines or anything. I just want to fly and go to school where my last name doesn't make people think I get special treatment."

"Then hopefully, you'll like it," Oliver told him as he pushed open Chance's door. "So … here it is. I know it's not as fancy as what the kids have in Westchester but … you can do whatever you want to it."

Chance grinned. "Thanks, Oliver. It's great, really."

The first thing Monday morning, things started to get a little strange: the kids in school were looking at Elin strangely — little smirks all around. She had no idea what it was all about, though. Not until one of the cheerleaders in her biology class clued her in.

Jacob had been looking for her at the game, asking around for her — describing her as 'the gorgeous little new girl'. He was quick to find her at lunch hour, and when he did, he wasted absolutely no time in asking her out — after the game on Friday, of course — to spend some time with a few of his friends on the team, grab a pizza, that kind of thing. "You know. And maybe get to know a few of your classmates?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly for just an instant before she tightened the corners of her mouth and shrugged one shoulder. "That could be fun," she agreed, and before she could really take in the troublemaking sparkle in his bright green eyes, he shot forward and stole a kiss.

"For luck," he said, grinning wider before he hopped up and headed out.

When she got home, she was still a little surprised by how that had gone, and when Krissy asked her what was wrong …

"Apparently, I have a date on Friday," Elin said, wrinkling up her nose just slightly.

"Really?" Krissy looked downright surprised as she tipped her head to the side.

"Yeah …" Elin's eyebrow raised the tiniest bit as she held her breath and tried not to smile too widely.

"What's he look like? I mean, I haven't even met him…"

"He's … tall, pretty well-built for his age … blonde hair. Green eyes... "

"Do you like him, then?" Krissy asked, still with her head tipped to the side.

"I don't know if I like him," Elin countered. "But he's not bad-looking. And he's a pretty good flirt."

"Oh, see. It's when you say stuff like that … I start to wonder why the world is so unfair and why I can't go to school with you," Krissy teased. "A whole new group of cute boys — and none of them know you or know that you can kick their butts six ways to Sunday …"

"It is kind of nice when no one knows who I am," Elin agreed. "But even if I'd gone to one of the mutant schools, it would have been the same as here — Wolverine's daughter. Which is not bad," she clarified. "It just … makes my dating options a lot smaller."

"You are under the false impression that the locals aren't going to shy away once they find out who your father — or mother — is," Krissy pointed out. "And seeing as you look so much like her, it's really just a matter of time."

"Shut up," Elin said, smirking to herself as she started up the water for tea.

Krissy scrunched her nose up. "What's with the tea? I thought your mother taught you to drink coffee like an actual human being?"

Elin let out a little laugh. "Yeah, but … we drank nothing but green tea and matcha while we were in Japan." She shrugged as she put the tea bag in her cup. "I guess it grew on me."

"That's not natural," Krissy said, shaking her head at her.

"It so is. It's tea leaves," Elin defended.

"Bugs live on it." Krissy scrunched up her nose. "Think of their little bug's life affairs …"

Elin smiled crookedly at her and then took the couple of steps closer to give her a hug. "You are your mother's daughter. And I missed you terribly, you ridiculous Elf, you."

It was the first day of Jamie's last year in this place, and while she had certainly been working hard on her mentor's behalf, she was looking forward to being able to get out from underneath Guardian's watchful gaze. It wasn't that Mac or Heather Hudson had been able to stop anything — it was that it would be easier when she was able to take her place with Hydra.

It had been two years of pretending to be a lost little girl, scared of Viper, looking to be saved. These heroes loved a good redemption story, and for all they knew, she was it. She studied hard, she had never once stepped a foot out of line. She was eager to please. She made all A's. She was going to go to college. She was doing everything they expected her to do.

But she was also working with the contacts she had made while she was there. She was deeply enmeshed in the Canadian program, the government contacts who were interested in twisting people to their whims. She was perfect for it, really. She could tell what made people tick with just the little psychic power that she had, and with a little boost, she could tell them their secret fears, their greatest weaknesses…

She had learned how to twist people from Viper, and these Department H people had taught her how to manipulate her own powers. She knew the exact ways to get kids hooked on boost and the best kinds of kids that would come crawling to her if she played her cards right.

All of this was easy to do under the radar. But Viper had given her a challenge for her senior year to turn a good man.

It was a brand new year, which meant new prospects, and Jamie was just looking over all of them when she saw a boy that was exactly the kind of challenge she needed.

After all, he looked just like his father; there was no mistaking it.

Jamie was sure that he wouldn't recognize her. She'd dyed her hair recently, gained a few inches, gone up a couple cup sizes… The name would give her away eventually, but for two years, she had been a model student. She was a redemption case. She was sure she could win his trust.

"Are you new?" Jamie asked as she sat down across from the boy, who was already reading over some of the homework the teachers had assigned.

He looked up at her in surprise and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, more or less. Chance Summers."

"Jamie Washington," she said, taking his hand to shake.

Chance tipped his head to the side. "You been here long?" he asked.

"For several years, yeah," she said. "So I could show you around if you want."

"I already got the tour, but I appreciate the offer," Chance said.

Jamie smiled sweetly. "Well, if you ever get lost, you're welcome to find me," she said.

"You do this for all the new kids, or…"

"Just the cute ones," she said with a little smirk.

Chance paused, and his eyebrows shot up. "O-kay."

She grinned at him. "What's your next class?"

"History."

"Great. That's by my literature class," Jamie said.

Chance frowned as he regarded her. "Listen, Jamie… that's really sweet and all, but I literally just got here. I got the tour from the Hudsons, and I'm not really looking for … I got it, alright?"

Jamie smiled. "I wasn't trying anything. I just thought we could walk together." She took a deep breath and decided to pull out the Gerry card, since it was going to come up sooner or later, and she knew if he figured out who she was from someone other than her, the chances of winning his trust would be harder. She bit her lip and then let out a sigh. "It's fine. I understand. No one trusts me since what happened with Gerry Drew, so I'd avoid me too."

She saw the recognition click just behind his expression as he frowned at her. "You're that Jamie."

"I dyed my hair," she explained, fluffing her blonde hair a bit. "I wanted a new look for the new me… sounds dumb, I know, but I even looked like Viper. Dark hair and all that."

Chance was watching her with a little frown. "It's not that dumb," he said at last, slowly. He took a deep breath. "It's not… I really just want to get to combat class at the end of the day and see what the competition is like. I already memorized the layout over the weekend." He tipped his head to the side. "You're … huh."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Jamie said, pushing her lips out in a pout, but since the next class change was approaching, now that she had him in a good conversation, he was walking with her anyway toward their classes. "I haven't seen her since what happened. I've been trying to turn my life around. But when the X-Men and the leader of Alpha Flight both point the finger at you in front of everyone for being Viper's little plaything, you get used to…" She gestured at his expression. "That."

"Gerry's one of my oldest and best friends," Chance said.

"And I'm glad he was able to get away from her," Jamie said — which was the truth. He didn't have to know that it was because she wanted Viper's full attention and didn't want to play second fiddle. "And I never contacted him again. I didn't want any of that to happen."

"Yeah, I heard the story, Jamie," Chance said with a frown her way.

She let out a sigh. "Here I was hoping to introduce myself to a cute boy, but... " She pouted again as they rounded the corner to where his class was. "Well, if you'd found out secondhand, you'd never speak to me again."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Jamie watched him for a moment and then nodded. She had time; she didn't have to push. "I hope I'll see you around."

"Small school — you probably will," he said before he ducked into history.

Jamie watched him for a moment before she headed to her own class, biting her lip with a little smile. Yes, this was a challenge she could sink her teeth into.

Sying watched the conversation going on across the table from him and was surprised at how much it bothered him.

It had been one thing when it was Chance. At least then it had been two of his best friends in the world making each other happy.

This… this was Krissy sitting with this guy that had literally come out of nowhere in Europe — just dropped out of the sky to show up and start flirting with Krissy under the guise of 'practicing' his powers. And she was going along with the whole thing, letting him hold her hand every once in a while to see if he could touch her without making her hallucinate — and then giggling when he would show her something like the view of a Norwegian mountain.

He had thought this had gone away. The jealousy. He'd tried with Krissy, and it hadn't worked, and he'd gone to space and dated Penny and gone to Russia and…

Charlie sat down next to him with a little smile, and he absently rested his hand on her arm, but she shook her head lightly. "No."

That got his attention fast, and he turned her way with both eyebrows raised. "What?"

"No," she said, still with a polite smile. "I know we're not even serious, Sying, but… no." She tipped her head toward where Krissy and Christian were engrossed in conversation. "I don't mind having a little fun, but I'm not going to date anyone who's in love with someone else."

"Charlie…"

"Ask her out, Sying," Charlie said simply.

"That's really weird to hear from the girl I've been going to ice cream with," Sying pointed out.

Charlie smiled at him and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Sying, I like you. I do. I like doing things with you. But I'm not going to let anyone lie to themselves and use me to do it." She squeezed his hand. "If you decide you're not in love, if things don't work out, I'd love to go out with you again, but I don't do that if it's not equal on both sides."

Sying stared at her. "Charlie… you're amazing, you know that?"

"Oh, I'm well aware," she said, though Sying couldn't help but notice that her smile was sadder than usual.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You deserve a medal. You're just…"

"I know." She squeezed his hand again. "Go ahead. Be happy — or learn something. Either way, you need to act on this."

Sying shook his head at her. "Same to you, Charlie."

She smiled lightly. "You know me. I'm happy when everyone else is happy."

James had finally gotten used to working in 'his' lab while Vanessa worked around him, mostly just keeping him well-supplied in the tiny micro-circuits and solder that he needed while he absently fiddled with one project after another. Unless, of course, he was working on the laptop, usually with a touch of a scowl as he tapped out code here and there. The one place she didn't follow him was when he'd stop working occasionally and head down to the gym a few floors down.

She'd only gone once — and he'd told her that if she wasn't going to work out,he really, really didn't appreciate the audience. But that only really happened when he'd get frustrated with something. His little means of dealing with getting stopped on something particularly troublesome.

Vanessa wasn't without her quirks either. She regularly refused to take part in one shenanigan or another if she thought there was a high probability of getting caught. At least that was how James saw it. She said she was seeing what was to come.

"No, that's one possible outcome," James argued. "And since you told me what it is … I can take steps to keep from getting caught. So. Thanks for that." With a little grin, he disappeared down the hall to head up to Tony's lab and screw with him.

Because honestly, if they weren't making things … that's all the two inventors were doing. Screwing with each other. Which was all fun and games as long as nothing blew up at an inopportune time.

The exploding coffee pot in Stark's lab happened at a particularly relaxed moment for the head of the company … and it startled him backward hard enough that he ended up on the ground. And scared the crap out of Pepper. Which was really where the problem was.

But James was not the only one in the prank war with Tony. And when it came down to it, that was the only reason that Tony couldn't pin it on him. Of course, the fact that Vanessa did not believe in narcing on anyone helped … though she simply could not understand why on earth James would pull something like that.

Until more or less the same prank went down in his lab. And when it did, James headed up to Tony to steal a cup of coffee and tap him on the shoulder. "Yeah … I know that was you. Nice distance though."

"You do not." Tony shot back automatically, though he seemed to forget momentarily who he was dealing with until James tapped the side of his nose.

"Send an intern next time," James said with a little wave, though that only got Tony thinking it over — the rules of engagement, that is.

Which was how the whole prank war shifted from the two of them in particular … to the two of them trying to convince their interns to do the dirty work on each other.

"I am not doing that to Mr. Stark's interns," Vanessa argued with a bright blush to her cheeks. "It's just … "

"It's just web fluid," James pointed out. "It dissolves. They'll be fine."

"And if Mr. Stark is caught up in it?"

"Then … they'll learn new and colorful ways to swear," James replied, his back to her as he worked on the comms again.

"You know you're going to get caught — why do you even bother with these stupid pranks?" she asked, totally missing his point.

James set down his work and drew in a deep breath as he turned to face her. "Do you ever do anything without trying to see ahead if it's the right move?" he asked. "Ever?"

"Why would I do that when I can know what's coming?"

"I don't know. Maybe for the fun of it? Takes all the joy out if you know what's coming for something like this." James gave her a crooked sort of smile. "Besides, getting caught isn't always a terrible thing. Most of the time, it's a blast."

She bit her lip, weighing it out as she looked at the canister full of web fluid.

"I promise: It's fun, and you won't get fired." He held up one hand. "And no. Don't look ahead. Just … trust me."

She glanced up at him and let out a breath. "Alright then … what are you using for a trigger?"

Chance was still in a great mood.

It had been a good day. He had spent most of the morning in Mac's workshop looking over the specs of the suit, and after that, he'd gone to a solid combat class where Mac had more or less invited him to wipe the floor with a couple overly smug kids.

They were twins, Mandy and Mark, and he absolutely recognized them as the brother and sister duo that he'd met on his first mission with the team. And while both of them were powerful — she was a pyro and he was basically the guy version of Miss Marvel, but way less cool and creative about using his powers — they just weren't as fast on their feet as Chance was.

He'd all but tied Mark into a knot and pinned Mandy to the floor, and Mac had told them both that they still had a lot to learn before they went from the junior team to the bigger team.

"Wow. This … is a huge difference to how they've been trained in the past," Mac said with a grin. "Really shows who's been training you."

"Since I was five," Chance said with a grin that wouldn't stop at the compliment.

Mac shook his head with an appreciative grin. "I would pay solid money to have seen a class full of anklebiters with him. Holy crap."

"Hey, you can probably see one now. Kade and Malin are still that small," Chance pointed out.

"No," Mac said, grinning wider. "That's … wow." He started to laugh as he clapped a hand on Chance's shoulder. "Seriously. You're worlds ahead of our junior team. Just as is. I wasn't really expecting that … though I guess I should have."

Chance rubbed the back of his neck but couldn't help grinning. "Well… the test to get on the junior squad were really tough," he said as diplomatically as he could.

"You're underselling yourself," Mac said, shaking his head. "I mean … you're already an X-Man. That's … yeah. Talk about prepared."

"Hey, you said I could come and wipe the floor with some powered people and remind them powers don't make the person," Chance said with a smile.

"And you did just that," Mac said, grinning. "But if you want to stick around, we might need to talk about that suit sooner than later. You're beyond junior team, and I wouldn't want to have you stuck getting them up to snuff."

Chance looked downright surprised as he turned Mac's way. "Wait. Really?"

"Oh yeah," Mac replied. "You'd be doing this kind of practice until they could catch up. I think you'd be stretching yourself a little better with the big boys."

Chance couldn't stop grinning as he considered it, his eyes lighting up. "Well… yeah!" he said at last, sounding totally blown away. "What… what do I need to do? How would that even work?"

"We'll figure it all out," Mac promised. "But I'm the one with final say on the senior team. I think you'll do fine."

Chance was clearly stunned as he grinned Mac's way. "That… thanks. Really."

"No problem," Mac said, still smiling at him. "You did all the hard stuff." He pulled Chance over, his arm around the boy's shoulders. "The only thing you'll have to do is talk to the business side of things. Our team is paid, so there will be some forms to fill out to be legal — and that might take a little while before you get started. Passport stuff, technically immigration, work visa .. but it's not a step to stay." He was laughing low at that. "Yeah … your dad would kill me for that one."

"Yeah, he so would," Chance couldn't help but laugh.

Mac was still grinning. "Still. We try to stay on the up and up. With our connections, the work visa won't be hard to come by, and I'll sign the paperwork myself saying that no one I've interviewed that's a citizen meets criteria. You'll be fine."

Chance couldn't stop grinning, though he did have to hold up a hand and tip his head Mac's way. "It wouldn't be permanent. You know that, right? I'm just… trying to prove I can do this on my own. That I can earn it myself." He tipped his head. "I'm going to be an X-Man. But it would be amazing to be on another team first. And I'd be beyond honored to work with you guys. Really. Just so we're clear."

"Oh, I know. Believe me, I've gotten it beaten into my head over the years: much more desirable team to be a part of. But that doesn't mean you can't learn how we do things — and maybe open up the lines of communication better between the teams."

Chance nodded and went back to his huge grin. "It wasn't a knock on you," he promised, then took a deep breath. "But I'm in. It's… it's exactly what I want to do here. Stretch. Learn. Grow. Prove myself."

"Excellent. Not like you'll be the first X-Man to be on more than one team, eh?" Mac grinned. "Just the first non-powered one."

"I've been reliably told that I like to be first, so…" Chance grinned. "Just let me know who I need to talk to."

"Come on," Mac said. "I'll take you down to the office for all the right forms."