Chapter 23: Half a Rescue

September 11

Howlett Estate

Although Clint and Logan had been sure to tie both Johnny and Jess down once they got to Hank's medical setup in the house, the two former captives had vastly different reactions upon waking up. Jess did try and get out, exhausting every option before she finally slumped back against the bed in frustration. But Johnny didn't move in the slightest, watching Jess almost disinterestedly.

Hank had both of them on an IV to deal with any drugs they might have in their systems, and Bobbi had volunteered to help once they got started, though already, it was clear that the two former victors would require vastly different approaches.

Jess was engaged with her surroundings, combative, insisting to be let go and trying to talk her way out of the situation — and Johnny just seemed to be watching and waiting.

"She'll be harder," Bobbi told Charles in an undertone. "There's hardly any trace of drugs in her system, but Johnny ... it looks like he's been in a haze for weeks now. The hardest part will be the comedown from the drugs, honestly."

"Then we'll just have to start with her while he detoxes," Charles agreed.

Bobbi ran both hands over her face as she glanced at her good friend tied down like she was. "It would be easier if we knew what methods Norman was using, like we knew before," she muttered.

"Do you have any suggestions?" Charles asked.

"I can tell you a few basics that Whitehall would use for 'compliance' when it was a rush job," Bobbi said. "It would get about what we're seeing here — more or less the same person, but with the wrong agenda."

"Then let's start there and see if we have any progress," Charles agreed before he gestured to the girl in the room. "I'm afraid you'll have to lead me through it."

"Hey, if something good can come out of all the time I spend learning these techniques, I'm here for anything you need," Bobbi promised.

September 12

Capitol Hospital

The TV in Scott's room was playing the news, like always. The reporters were still talking about the mysterious earthquake that had hit the center of District Eight in the early morning the previous day, though no one had any idea what had happened to cause it.

Considering the fact that Skye's most recent visit had been to celebrate the return of the spiders, though, Scott was sure he had some idea.

"You should be able to get outta here soon," Logan said as he stepped into Scott's room. He'd been watching the young man from the doorway for a little while, frowning to himself as he watched how Scott was reacting to everything around him. Murdock on Slim was not a good thing.

"Yeah, I'm hitching with whoever flies back to Seven next," Scott said with a nod.

"That's probably us," he said, taking a seat nearby, still frowning as he looked him over. The bandages that everyone had talked about were long gone, but the sunglasses — the very, very dark sunglasses — didn't really do much for him. "Sorry I didn't get in sooner to see you."

"You've been busy," Scott said, tipping his head toward the television. "I've heard."

"Well. Fitzsimmons has been reunited, and they're going bonkers — you're next. Ella's been miserable."

Scott smirked the slightest bit as he nodded. "Honestly, I'm looking forward to it. Not that I don't appreciate the sudden popularity, but just Clara and Ella and a door with a lock… Can't beat that."

"You're missing somethin' on that list, aren't you?" Logan asked. "I picked up your knives and stuff."

Scott visibly straightened. "You ... didn't happen to find what I was working on, did you?" he asked.

"Actually," Logan said as he pulled the box out of his pocket. "I did. But there was a problem with it." He took Scott's hand and set the box into it. "Hope you don't mind the little adjustment, but that wood was going to split in no time."

Scott was half holding his breath with both eyebrows raised as he opened the box and gingerly took out the little gold ring in it, totally quiet for a long while as he ran his fingers over the inlaid designs.

"I made sure that they did a perfect mold before they cast it in white gold; the original is under the velvet in the box."

Scott looked totally gobsmacked, though he couldn't stop smiling even if he'd realized he was doing it. "You didn't have to do any of that," he finally managed to say, still tracing the designs absently.

"I rarely stick to just what I have to do," Logan replied. "I wanted to. Don't worry. I didn't tell a soul. Outside of the jeweler, of course."

Scott was still and clearly trying to work out a response for a while before he let out a breath of a laugh. "Thanks," he said. "Really. It's… I thought I lost it. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Logan replied quietly. "Rest up. We'll be headed back before you know it. And Jubilee sent you clothes so you don't have to 'go home looking like a hobo', as she put it."

"Yeah. Can't bring dishonor to the Line," Scott smirked.

"Exactly."

Logan was quiet for a while, though he just watched Scott as he compared the two rings, running his fingers carefully over every divot and tiny detail. The more he watched the kid, the more he wanted to skip the press junket crap and go hunting for Creed — but he wasn't going to interrupt the grin that kept growing as Scott found more and more of the perfectly-replicated details.

The Pre-Election Final Night Party in the Capitol

All the stops had been pulled out for one last party the night before the election. Sure, there would be a victory party the next night for whoever it was that ended up as Marvel's next president, but this was the last chance to win influence, make friends. And with his victors missing and the raid that the kids had pulled off against him, Norman Osborn's smile was just a little too tight that evening as he leaned heavily on Kate and Tony for camera bait.

As for Hill's side, there were also a few more absences than usual. Clint was on a roof just waiting and watching to see where Osborn went with the kids — or where the kids went with the guards — when the party was over. And Sam was prepped in a flight suit to follow if necessary. Kurt was staying out of the public eye — knowing it could get complicated for Kate if he showed up — but he was in the jet waiting for coordinates to get the rest of the team to where they needed to be if Norman or the kids tried to leave the Capitol.

Which left only Natasha and Logan, of the group involved in the rescue attempt, to work the public arena — though Rhodey and Carol were also doing their usual dazzle, and Kamala had come as well, not just to help out but to see Scott.

The youngest member of the team was sticking pretty closely to Logan, a little out of her element, though she was a natural with the cameras. She just didn't lie — it wasn't in her nature — and she was so earnest and energetic about everything that it was impossible for anyone behind the camera not to love her.

Which worked out perfectly, since as soon as Kamala got to talking about how great everyone had been that was involved with Tahiti, it drew attention enough for Logan to slip away and cut through the crowd to the other side of the press corp. He could see Kate — but she'd clearly gotten there before they did. She was already at the door and being ushered inside the building, with a large group of security around her.

Tony however … well. He had more security, but he was right there. Logan smirked to himself and pushed his way to Tony exactly as he'd done before — though this time, instead of inserting himself into the security pocket, he took a hold of Stark's arm and pulled him out, sure to grab his hand as if they were shaking to pass one of Fitz's bugs to him. "You look like hell, Stark," Logan said with a smile. "Like you need some actual fresh air."

Tony gave Logan the same relieved grin he'd seen earlier. "You know how it is when you get caught up," he said. "Long hours, project consumes your life…"

"I expect to have a drink with you by week's end," Logan said with a troublemaking smirk.

"You buying?" Tony asked.

"Yep," Logan said, nodding. "Got some 80 year old scotch that needs to be dealt with. Figured you'd be the guy to help."

"I look forward to it, then," Tony said, managing to make it look for the cameras like he was all smiles and relaxed — though half of that was just from honest relief talking with Logan again. "That sounds like exactly my kind of project."

When the two of them broke away, Logan clapped a hand on Tony's shoulder — covering the fact that he slipped another bug into Stark's jacket pocket in case the one he'd given him was found. "No later than Saturday, Tony. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Hey, take it up with my scheduler," Tony said.

"Where can I find the old goat?" Logan asked.

"Just follow the sound of 'when I was building up Oscorp from the ground'..."

"Hot air and bullshit, got it," Logan said with a nod, getting a little laugh from Tony in spite of himself.

"Good luck; he's in pretty high demand," Tony said. "You can tell because of how thick the security is."

Logan looked down the line to the knot that had to be Norman. "I've dealt with worse," he said.

"Yeah, but these guys you can't stab," Tony said with half a smirk.

Logan just smirked and looked like he was ready for an actual party. "What makes you think I need to stab 'em?"

"Well, go on then," Tony said, motioning with both hands. "What're you waiting for?"

Logan stepped back and put his back to the press, doing a fine job of almost blending in with the crowd as Norman's security detail came up, but as soon as they were close enough, he started to work his way into their center too, sure to bug a few of his guards until he did, in fact, manage to put a hand on Norman. "You never did invite me for a chat, Normy," Logan said. "Jess told me you liked to take time for your fellow victors."

Norman automatically shrugged Logan's hand off his shoulder, though he kept the tight smile. "That's true," he said. "I do try to make the time, but as I'm sure you've noticed, I don't have time to make."

"That's fine; I'll walk with you," Logan told him, warning off the guard that tried to step in and separate them. "Nothing you can say that they haven't heard a few hundred times at this point, and I'm sure you don't want to look like you have a problem with anyone."

Norman's tight smile tightened. "Maybe you can tell me what you've been up to instead, since you've heard my speeches already."

Logan's smile just warmed up a bit — and was a perfect counterpoint to the strain Norman was showing. "You want to know what it's like up in the trees? Somehow, I doubt that."

"You haven't been spending all your time in the trees," Norman pointed out. "Tell me about life in the Capitol — from your end."

"Doubt it's much different for me than it is for you," Logan replied. "Too many people, not enough time.… But I'm not tryin' to get people to like me."

"Then I'm sure you've got much more of a vacation on your hands than anything else."

"Oh, sure," Logan laughed. "You're working hard to get people to like you. Full time job."

Norman's eyes narrowed slightly before he simply shook his head at Logan. "Then if you don't mind, I do have work to get to — but we can schedule a longer visit if you do want to catch up sometime."

Logan offered him his hand, and after a beat, Norman took it — just for Logan to pull him closer. "I'll be seeing you soon, Goblin. One way or another. Good luck with your popularity contest. You're gonna need it. Petey and Gwen are fine, by the way. Nice implants. I'll get 'em back to you more or less like we found 'em."

How 'bout that. And I thought the 'green' in Green Goblin was just for alliteration, Clint said in Logan's ears over the comm.

Logan held Norman's gaze for a moment with a little chuckle before he let go of his hand and stepped back to let his security team sweep Norman along. From there, Logan worked his way back to where he'd started, sure to take the time for anyone that stopped to talk to him — and generally causing a ruckus just by doing so — before he met up with Kamala again.

"You look a little out of breath," he said as they headed toward the building finally.

"Oh, well, yeah, I got excited; someone asked about what it was like moving to a new district after the war…" She beamed at him. "They really seemed interested, too!"

"Of course they are," Logan said. "No one's been able to travel between them, let alone live somewhere else. You're a little trendsetter."

"Not as much as you," she said. "I saw you got to talk to Norman Osborn." An expression like anger touched her face. "Did you say hi from Miles?" she asked, nearly dangerously.

"That's not all I got to do," Logan said quietly. "Miles and Fitz will be glad to hear how that went."

"Oh good," she said, sounding honestly pleased about it as she took his arm and gave it a little squeeze. "By the end of the night, we should have all our friends safe and sound. I hope."

"If I've gotta piggyback on him myself, it's gonna happen," Logan agreed. "I got to talk to Stark too."

"Is he okay?" Kamala asked, genuinely worried.

"He's looking forward to fresh air," Logan said.

"I bet." She shook her head. "If there wasn't politics, I'd hit that guy. And I'm not really big on violence."

"Well, I ticked him off bad enough that he didn't seem real keen on opening his mouth in front of a camera, so let's go see if Skye got us as good of seats as she thinks. I'm lookin' forward to laughin' at Gobby all night." He paused and turned her way. "Unless you're sitting with Nat."

"No, I can sit with you," she said with a little grin. "Natasha's not… Nat," she added. "I don't like it when she pulls that weird undercover whatever."

"But the camera routine here is alright?" Logan asked with a little frown.

"You have fun with it," she pointed out. "And it's really ridiculous listening to Clint's color commentary."

"Well he's not wrong."

Kamala laughed as they headed off to find their seats for the dinner. "It's still ridiculous."

The two of them found their assigned seats — very near to Norman and absolutely in view. And Norman's irritation was plain to see, particularly with the crowd that the two of them had pulled in — and as always, Trish Walker was right there with the two of them.

Hill was on the other side with a smirk that she wasn't trying to hide, and she and Natasha made a matched set the longer the dinner went on and the more it was clear that Logan and Kamala had a reasonable following of cameras, reporters, and well wishers— far away from Norman and his puppets.

To make matters more interesting, Norman's push on using District Eight as his gold standard of how Marvel should be handled was being easily and quickly shoved under the rug as Kamala went on and on at length about the virtues of Eleven and Logan expressed his appreciation for Four and how welcoming Odin had been the times he'd been there.

"So there really is a rich back and forth with a lot of the victors," Trish said

"Some are much easier to talk to, but … most of them, yeah. They've always tried to look out for one another," Logan said.

"It's just a shame to see you all divided, then," Trish said.

"To be honest, the ones that aren't friendly..." Logan shrugged. "I don't think anyone misses 'em."

Trish raised an eyebrow at that. "So, Mr. Osborn …?"

"I never really got much time with him, to be honest," Logan said with a little smile that accentuated what he'd just told her. "My time was spent tryin' to help my tribute — and I really only had the one year."

"But you wouldn't characterize your relationship as friendly, would you?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure we'll get closer," Logan said. "He said himself it's just a matter of time."

"Do you think you'll seek him out if he wins? Get to know the new president?"

"Oh, we're absolutely gonna spend some time one way or the other."

"You'll go to Oscorp if he loses? Try to mend fences?"

"I don't think I've broken anything yet to mend," Logan said. "But yeah. I'll go to Oscorp."

"That will be quite the meeting. I hope you'll let cameras in," Trish said with a sparkle in her eyes.

"That would be entirely up to him," Logan replied. "He might prefer privacy."

"Well, either way, we'll find out tomorrow, won't we?" Trish said. "It's kind of exciting, isn't it? The first election in recent memory?"

"It's somethin' else," he agreed, though he turned the attention smoothly to Kamala. "What do you think, kiddo?"

"I think it's amazing," Kamala said with a wide grin. "We get to see history! I mean… we got to see history in the war, but this is the better kind of history, I think," she added quickly.

From there, Logan just had to sit back as Kamala enraptured the group with her enthusiasm, and it didn't take long before the guests started to peel off as the night turned later — including Kate and her entourage of Norman's security.

"Oh, there's Kate too!" Kamala said, elbowing Logan as she waved merrily at Kate.

Logan looked up at Kate, who had managed to stop for a moment. As soon as he met her gaze, he gave her his very best, most brilliant smile and a wink — the best signal he could come up with to let her know that help was on the way.

At that, Kate returned the smile and even managed a quick wave before the security detail 'reminded' her that it was time to leave. And then they were gone — though not without Sam checking in over the comms to say he was following.

It wasn't too long after that when Logan and Kamala got up to leave too — though for entirely different reasons. Kamala was going to go help Scott get to the jet, and Logan ... well. He had to make sure that the team going after Kate didn't need back up.

"Looks like they're loading up to go somewhere," Sam said over the comms. "Not staying in the Capitol. Kurt's got the jet, though—"

"Ready to follow," Kurt said quick and low. "Those invisibility panels are working like a dream."

As the rescue team was already falling into place — with Natasha sneaking off to join them — Hill made her way over to Logan and Kamala. "I've never seen Trish Walker that happy," she said. "I had to hide behind my drink to keep from laughing."

"You shoulda just laughed, Maria Christina," Logan replied. "Do wonders for you."

"I'm going to laugh all day — the day after tomorrow — when this is all over," she said.

"Good," he said. "You needed a break, but if that's all …"

"Just wondering if the two of you would walk with me back to where I'm staying," she admitted.

"Is this a public appearance kind of thing or a distraction kind of thing?" Logan asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes."

He let out a breath and offered her his arm. "Fine. Just let me know who's being distracted."

"Who do you think?" Hill asked with a smirk. "The man of the hour. I think he wants to kill you himself."

"Maybe because he's not the man of the hour he wanted to be."

"He never could have been if he hadn't cheated," Hill said under her breath. "Once Kate and Tony are clear, believe me, the investigation won't take long at all. Or the trial."

"Well, if you're gonna take up my time, why don't we have a drink?" Logan suggested with a little smirk. "You look like you could use another shot."

"Glad to."