Notes: Seriously, I love these two together. I love the cultural divide between them that I get to explore while at the same time playing with adorable awkward teenagers. It's a win all around!

Chapter 4: Surprise Attack

The senior X-Men had gone out that morning to address a rally in Southern California that was growing more and more violent — not only in the calls for mutant extermination but in actual violence as counterprotesters and rally-goers clashed in the streets.

Noh was watching the coverage on the news with a solid frown on. He had his whole focus on the broadcasts — that much was apparent by the fact that his headphones were dangling around his neck and hanging limply rather than playing any music. He seemed to have a soundtrack for just about everything now that he'd discovered his love of music, so for him to turn that music off for anything was a real indication of worry.

Jubilee sat down beside him, and even though she was worried about his focus, she couldn't help but smile when he responded by automatically rearranging himself so that he could drape his arm around her shoulders. "What are you thinking, handsome?" she asked, leaning up to steal a kiss.

Noh tipped his head toward the screen, which was playing footage of the rally. "I was thinking I want to be part of the team that responds to things like this," he said. "I was thinking your world has so much violence and chaos, and I hate that I am here and unable to do anything to stop it."

Jubilee frowned and then kissed his cheek again. "Sure you can. It's not like the junior squad doesn't go out to help too."

Noh sighed. "I know. It's unfair of me…"

"No, I get it," Jubilee said. "It's a step down. Believe me, I know. I used to run with these guys, remember?" She gestured in the general direction of the hangar to indicate 'these guys'.

Noh smirked lightly at that and pulled Jubilee into a slightly tighter hug. He kissed her cheek before he murmured, "And that, my Jubilee, is part of what makes you so attractive. You are already a fighter, a warrior."

"Yeah, you're probably the only one around here who thinks that," Jubilee said, though she was smiling as she turned to wrap him up, enjoying the attention and the kisses.

"Only because I am so unburdened by such frivolous biases as the ones others seem to hold," Noh teased lightly.

"You are so biased. Just in a different way," she laughed.

"Perhaps," Noh allowed, shrugging lightly. "And yet I am also right."

"I won't argue that," Jubilee agreed, standing on her tiptoes and sliding her hands up Noh's chest until they hooked around his neck.

For a long moment, the only thing that either of them was aware of was each other. They were totally lost in the kiss, their hands in each other's hair. Jubilee let out a delighted sort of laugh when Noh picked her up so he could reach her better to continue the kiss. And he probably would have carried her off and gotten carried away in a way that they hadn't yet done… if it hadn't been for the alarms that went off a moment after he'd picked her up.

He recognized the perimeter alert from when the Cuckoos had invaded the mansion, and he frowned as he and Jubilee shared a look.

"Sounds like trouble," Jubilee said.

"Yes," he said. "Let's see just what kind, shall we?" He didn't set her down, instead holding her a little tighter before he took off at a run until they reached the front lawn and could see the problem for themselves.

Already, there was a mass of soldiers descending on the school. There were helicopters and machine guns... it was clear these guys meant business. And the uniforms — black with purple accents — weren't anything that Jubilee recognized.

"And who are they?" Noh asked.

Jubilee shrugged. "No idea, but whoever they are, they're about to get their butts kicked."

Noh smirked at that as he set her down. "I love when you say things like that, my Jubilee," he said and kissed her cheek before he rushed off to go start a fight — leaving a blushing but definitely pleased Jubilee to rush after him a moment later.

The X-Men had very nearly cleaned up after dealing with the rally they'd gone to deal with when they got a call for help from Charles — and the whole team was on edge, because Charles wasn't answering, and neither was anyone at the school. At all.

They had no idea what they'd be flying into, but when they got to the school… or what was left of the school… Scott couldn't land the jet fast enough. Storm and Bobby simply got out of the jet in the air to get down to the ground faster to start sifting through the rubble.

And the reports just… weren't good.

Once the rest of the team got on the ground, they could see it for themselves: the school was a mess, and the first person to find what they were all scared to find was Remy, who had managed to shift part of a wall to find Angelo.

The young man wasn't doing well, as evidenced by the fact that he hardly cried out when Remy shifted the rest of the partially collapsed wall off of him ... and the story was similar throughout the school. Injured kids, destroyed walls...

As the team started to search, Jean concentrated hard on Charles, searching for any sign of him and only frowning deeper and deeper as she could find no trace of him. "I need to get to Cerebro," she said, almost to herself, as she looked at the damage all around her.

And while she began moving debris blocking her path, Logan was locked onto a familiar scent trail — accented with splatters of blood and bodies of what he supposed passed for soldiers. The bulk of them had deep stab wounds or slash marks, and those that didn't showed clear sign of intense physical trauma anyhow. Whatever had happened... whoever these blacked out soldiers were, they were in enough of a rush that they didn't bother picking up their lost numbers.

The trail let to — or from — Charles' study, where there was the entrance to a series of tunnels that acted as emergency exits that spilled out almost half a mile away into the woods near a cave system on the property. K had stayed behind because they always left a team member in case of emergency, but now, Logan was irritated as he found he wished he'd been there with her...

Logan stood there in the study for a long moment, trying to sift through the massive number of scents available to him in the closed up room. He headed to the emergency exits but could find little sign of anyone actually having used them — and there was no trace of Charles or K anywhere near them.

He swallowed hard and hit the comm. "I think we got a few that took the tunnels, Slim. Maybe three or four." Logan didn't wait for a response before he started out at a metered pace that only quickened the further from the office he got, backtracking the scent trail that so clearly was K and Charles.

The trail went in nearly a straight line, and even in the low light — now that he knew he was on a trail — he could see where the grass was trampled down by heavy boots as the trail went right past the horse barn. He was nearly at a full run when he caught a glimpse of Noh — impaled on a fence post. He glared down the trail, and then up to the house, where he knew everyone was far too occupied to deal with the situation at hand.

Logan let out a little growl and headed over to Noh with one claw extended. "You gonna bleed to death if I cut this thing and yank it out, or you just want it cut?"

Noh shook his head lightly, looking a bit paler than usual. "I can't heal when it's there," he explained in a strained voice, and Logan saw now that the way the post had gone through his spine, even as flexible as Noh was… there was no way he'd be able to get to it without help.

Logan nodded and, with a quick flick of his wrist, sliced through the length of metal and yanked the boy to his feet — and off the bent post.

Already, Noh was starting to heal, but that wasn't his first concern as he looked to Logan. "Jubilee was with them ... I was trying ... I couldn't get to them..." he said, though it was clear he was dizzy from blood loss and trauma.

"Who did they have?" Logan asked. "How long ago was this?"

"Two hours," Noh said. "They have Jubilee. And Charles ... and K…"

Logan gestured up to the house. "Go. Tell Scott."

The young man nodded quickly before he took a deep breath, tilted his head sideways, and simply took off running, leaving a slight trail of blood in his wake, since he was still healing.

As soon as Noh headed toward the mansion, Logan broke out at a run down the trail, determined to catch up — though Scott didn't need the comms to hear the amount of swearing that came through shortly after when Logan came up against an entire acre that had been pepper bombed.

They weren't having much luck on their end, either. Noh had been able to identify the missing team members, but he didn't know who the soldiers answered to. And the security footage that survived was enough to tell them that the soldiers had managed to get an inhibitor up to stop Charles just about the same time they got the message from him. K had gotten through the soldiers all the way to his office, but seeing as the soldiers already had Charles, she'd surrendered to save his life — and if Noh's account was anything to go by, they'd simply picked up Jubilee on the way out when she and Noh had tried to stop them.

"Let me come with you," Noh said, one hand on his still healing stomach. "This cannot stand."

Scott considered the condition of everyone involved and quickly nodded his agreement. "It's all hands on deck."

"Good." Noh nodded. "I would have gone nonetheless — they have Jubilee."

Jean didn't say anything, but she couldn't help but smirk when she heard that. Even with everything that was going on around them, there was something… sweet and comforting about how determined Noh was and how deeply he cared about Jubilee that he'd be willing to throw himself into anything for her.

"As soon as Jean can find Charles, we're leaving," Scott swore, ignoring Jean's look for the moment, though she was sure when she pointed out to him what he'd missed by focusing on the mission and not the teenager in front of him, he'd agree with her assessment of how sweet it was. "In the meantime, I need to catch Logan before he runs into the ground."

As it turned out, Scott found Logan trying to hound dog it on foot, looking around the edge of the pepper bombed acre. He was pacing and trying to find a trail that just wasn't there, trying to make it happen even though rationally he knew it was a dead trail.

"Logan, Jean's already looking," Scott called out. "We need to get back so we can leave as soon as she gets a location."

He glanced up at him and then turned to look deeper into the woods beyond the clearing, obviously still not wanting to go in where he had nothing to do.

Scott let out a sigh and then caught up to Logan to grab his shoulder with one hand. "They're not here."

"I know that," he growled back. "Just can't sit there and wait."

"Then come back and help us with the kids. Not everyone bounces back after you cut a fence post out of them, you know."

Logan gave him a dry look and let out a breath. "I'll go check the end of the tunnel. See if those kids came through or not." He shrugged Scott's hand off his shoulder and broke into a run toward where the caves and the end of the tunnel was.

Scott shook his head — but at least he knew Logan wasn't running in circles. He made his way back to the others, but it was still some time before anything came through — and it wasn't what they were expecting.

"Charles reached out," Jean said, levitating up to where the group was gathered. "I know where they are."

"Then what we waitin' for?" Remy asked, pointing with his bo staff toward the blackbird, which was more invitation than any of them needed. They were already in motion.

Most of them were loading up when Scott turned Jean's way, but before he could ask her to reach out to Logan, she just nodded. "It was a dead end; he's on the way."

Scott nodded at that. He understood Logan's frustration — after all, he wanted the others back too, and that was Charles they were looking for — but sometimes, it was nice to have his wife around to help him deal with the inevitable frustration when Logan pushed too far.

Or, thankfully, in this case, to call him back in before it got to that point

The X-Men in the jet were anxious to get going as they approached the coordinates that Jean had received from Charles, though even with as ready as they were to get after their friends, they were smart enough to be on their guard. Especially since Jean hadn't been able to contact Charles again since the last point of contact.

It seemed like the kind of place that captive mutants would be taken, though — far removed from everyone else, over in North Dakota. Though it was also the perfect spot for an ambush for all the same reasons.

But they were going in anyway.

They were barely off the backbird when their suspicions were confirmed — and there was only a second's warning before an explosion knocked all of them off their feet, destroying the jet in the process as a swarm of Sentinels rushed in.

Immediately, the X-Men rushed into action to take out the Sentinels. Bobby iced up, Remy's cards flashed, Storm called on the winds, and Jean was just reaching out with one hand to toss the Sentinels aside when she was hit with a psychic attack that felt shockingly familiar.

And while Jean's defenses meant she was able to fight back and wasn't immediately overwhelmed, Noh only lasted for a few seconds before the bright pink bubble in his mindscape simply popped — and a moment later, he'd slammed into Remy. For as much progress as he'd been making in his telepathic defenses, he was still a beginner, and this attack felt almost targeted, going right for his weakest points. There was nothing he could do to stop himself.

Storm spun to face the fight and was just about to call down the winds to push Noh back away from the unconscious Remy before he could do any more damage when something hit her, encasing her in a gel that constricted her — and she immediately began to panic at the tightening space around her.

So Bobby stepped in to blast Noh back, freezing him to the spot. He spun to face the other Sentinels and iced up another two before they flanked him, hitting him with some kind of energy that dried him out. Fast. He could feel his lips cracking before he finally passed out from overheating.

Noh broke free of the ice and turned his sights on Kurt, who was teleporting between Sentinels fast, but he got an opportunity when one of the Sentinels managed to get in a good enough shot to stun Kurt. In a flash, Noh was there to knock Kurt out, stepping back as the Sentinels swarmed the last two X-Men and simply surrendering himself as the fight focused on Scott and Logan.

Scott was working hard, blasting Sentinels as fast as they could line up in front of him, but for sheer numbers, he wasn't going to be able to keep it up. And Logan was letting out a measure of his rage alongside him — slicing and stabbing and slashing anyone that got too close, clearly wrapped up in his rage….

At least until the sentinels swarmed the two of them heavily enough to separate them. Logan was so distracted he didn't seem to notice it, and Scott … Scott was running out of power. He had just turned to warn Logan about the Omega Sentinel coming up behind him — and shoot it away from his feral teammate — when he was hit from behind by a concussive grenade and knocked out completely.

It wasn't long after that when Logan finally realized he was surrounded — and alone in the fight. He snarled and turned a slow circle, trying to find a weak spot in the barrage of Sentinels around him, but it just wasn't there. He took a quick couple of steps but didn't make it any further before they simply opened fire on him from all directions and shot him to tatters.

Jubilee had been hooked up to a ridiculous machine that scanned her thoughts and projected them on a screen for Bastion and his creepy assistant to look through, so she had spent most of her time there doing her level best to concentrate on fashion. And bubble gum. And the Order of Operations that she simply could not remember the order of. But there was just no way … no way she was going to let this bottom feeding loser see how to take down the X-Men. No way, no how, nuh-uh. Nope.

Yeah, she was tired, and worn, and her muscles ached from holding up the heavy rig … but she couldn't risk falling asleep and dreaming when she couldn't control her thoughts and emotions. Not with the crap videos they'd been making her watch to try to break her down. As if she believed for one second that this loser could break Charles Xavier. Or … or that he actually had K crying and begging for them to stop. That was just ridiculous.

So she absolutely wasn't going to believe it when she saw the X-Men come in after supposedly being 'captured.' That was so fake.

Except … the overly done and very ugly helmet on Scott … that … that looked almost believable if they wanted to bring him in. And the locked-jaw expression that she could see on what little was visible of his face as they dragged them in …

Storm's eyes were closed tight, and she was on the verge of completely hyperventilating. Remy and Jean were collared and being carried in, Kurt ... they had freakin' catch poles on Kurt so they could lead him in without risking a hit by the tail that was whipping back and forth like he just wanted a chance to try.

Bobby was completely de-iced and looked nearly too weak to stand — which would explain the soldiers dragging him in by his elbows just ahead of Noh, who was wearing what amounted to blinders and a band on his head that Bastion kindly explained was being used to interrupt his receptors to the point of being docile.

And Logan … Logan was bound hand and foot and being rolled in on a cart, and he wasn't moving. At all. Jubilee watched as the guards that were letting the captured X-Men into the compound took a moment to look him over — and she very nearly lost her balance when she heard the guy say something about 'disposing' of him.

"Save the cuffs," One of them said clearly. "No reason to waste the equipment when you toss him in the incinerator."

And that… that was enough to send Jubilee into a panic.

She was trying hard not to lose it. She didn't want this idiot to have the satisfaction. But this was too real. This wasn't like those unrealistic visions they'd been pumping into her before.

And if it was real…

She couldn't lose her Wolvie. She just couldn't.

But she also couldn't do anything but watch as her friends were shoved, pushed, and led down the hall. Or, at least, she couldn't do anything yet.

That was the only thing she could hang onto as she watched her friends. Yet. She was going to find a way to get them out of there. And she was going to save Logan, like she always did.

Typical, she thought. I'm always saving their butts.

And then, because she knew they were monitoring her thoughts, she pushed that aside and instead focused on the kiss she knew she was going to get from Noh when this was all through. She was looking forward to seeing what a "thank you for rescuing me" kiss looked like from him.

That was a much better thing to think about than… anything else, really. And it was something she wanted to think about, not intel or details that Bastion kept trying to force from her.

So there.