Notes: Oh, I'm so glad you both got to bask in the cuteness because... well...

Chapter 11: Checkup

Clint, Katie, and Susie were all trying to be "good" for the checkup, though it was hard not to want to peer over Hank's shoulder as he took a look at Logan and K's little one for himself. They were hoping to find out if it was a boy or a girl, if the little one would cooperate, and it was obvious that the Bishop girls were clearly on Team Girl.

"It's a sister," Katie was saying, holding onto Logan's shoulders and giving Hank her most concentrated look. "You gotta say it."

"That's really not what we're looking at today, Katie," Hank said, trying to look serious, though that was difficult with all the little ones climbing around him.

"But Miss Jean said that it's been long enough!" Katie insisted.

"Yeah, and I want to prove 'em wrong and get a brother," Clint said with a crooked grin. "Since Barney's not here all the time, so we need another one so it's two boys and two girls in the summers. It's fair."

Katie stuck her tongue out at Clint. "Nuh-uh. You're bigger! We need more!"

"Whatever it is, it's Logan's fault," K said with a smirk just to see the three of them turn Logan's way with an accusatory glare, which at least got a smile out of Hank.

"You gotta get me a sister!" Katie insisted, clinging onto Logan a little tighter. "I neeeeeeeed one!"

"And I need one too!" Susie said. "I like my Katie; I want another one just like her!"

"Not really my call," Logan told Katie quietly. "Though I wouldn't mind it one bit."

"But Dr. Blue said it's your fault!" Katie insisted.

"My fault, not my pick," Logan said. "Little different. He can explain the science of it when you're older."

"How much older?" Susie asked. "Like… like me older?"

"If Blue says you're old enough, he can tell you the details."

"After this checkup," Hank told Susie firmly. "I'd be more than happy to give you a rudimentary overview of genetics."

"He's not speaking words," Katie whispered in Logan's ear.

"He likes to feel smart; don't screw that up for him," Logan replied back softly.

"Okay, but I still think it's weird," Katie said, wrinkling her nose.

Hank chuckled at that as he continued his examination, nodding and humming slightly to himself — though he didn't realize he was doing it. "Interesting," he said softly.

"That's never good, is it?" K asked, whisper-quiet, so that only Hank and Logan could hear her.

"Oh, no, no," Hank said quickly. "It's just that he seems to have some extra bones in his arm. Just the very beginnings, but… I'm surprised it's starting this early."

"Physical mutation," K said with a little shrug.

"Yes, but it's still fascinating to see how early in development they start," Hank said, then paused and smiled. "He's shaping up nicely, by the way — even if he is smaller than I'd like to see. But then, neither of you are giants…"

"I'd be afraid if he was 'normal'-sized," K replied as Logan leaned over to kiss her temple.

"So it's a brother?" Clint said, looking between the three adults with the beginnings of a triumphant smile — since he had read their lips even if they were talking too low for the kids to hear.

"That's what he said," Logan said with a nod.

"There is, of course, a small chance that I'm wrong," Hank said. "A girl can sometimes be sneaky with the umbilical cord… We can double-check at the next appointment to tell for sure."

"No offense, Dr. Fuzzy, but I hope you're wrong," Susie said, scrunching up her nose.

"None taken, sweet little Susie-Q." Hank gave her a kind smile. "I'd be able to say for sure with a better picture, but he seems to be a bit uncooperative."

Susie tipped her head and then shrugged before she headed over to hug him. "That's okay. Maybe it's a boy then if he's bein' annoying."

"So … you and Katie always get along always and forever?" K asked with a smirk, trying not to laugh. "And she's never, ever, ever annoying, right?"

"Um, no…." Susie scrunched up her nose. "But boys are the worst!"

"Even Barney?"

Susie froze, and Clint started laughing behind his hand. "Well," Susie said haltingly, "Barney's okay…"

"Susie and Barney sitting in a tree," Clint sang out. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Ewwww!" Katie squealed. "No kissin', no!"

"I like kissin'," K teased.

"That's how come you got a baby," Clint said with a smirk.

"You're not wrong," K agreed.

Clint smirked and waited until Hank was done and K had cleaned up the goop before he climbed up to give her a hug and kiss her cheek. Even if he was taller now, he still loved to curl up with her. "So. You gotta give him an action movie name, okay? A really, really good one. Like… a hero name."

"Oh, is that what I have to do?"

"Uh-huh. So he can be super awesome!"

"You don't think he'll be super awesome with whatever name we give him?"

"My name is Clinton Francis. I think he'll be awesome anyway, but I don't want him to have a stupid name like mine, okay?"

"You made your feelings about that very clear, so no Clyde Abernathy or anything like it, okay?"

Clint snorted. "Yeah. Nothing like that," he agreed fervently.

K leaned her head on his and took a moment to snuggle in. "Nothing weird. Promise. And you'll get to know before he's here, too, alright?"

"Okay. If I hate it, can I tell you?"

"Please," K said with a smirk.

"Okay, good." Clint put his head on her shoulder, feeling surprisingly tired. "Winning is wearing me out."

"Just that kind of day, sweetheart," K said, sounding tired herself.

Susie frowned and tugged on Hank's arm until he picked her up so she could melt into his shoulder. "I need a nap," she informed him, through a yawn — which had the adults concerned when they started to feel the effects and recognized it as more than simple tiredness.

"Hank," Logan said, frowning deeply as he picked Katie up — and she immediately put her head on his shoulder, snuggling in. "We gotta get outta here."

Hank frowned at the tone of Logan's voice as he held onto Susie. "Tunnels, then?" he suggested, though as soon as he started to move, he could feel how much he was slowing down, feeling heavier.

"Panic button," Logan said, trying to keep from slipping and hurting Katie as she slept on his shoulder.

Hank nodded, hitting a button at his desk that locked down the lab — and alerted the other X-Men to the emergency — though both of the girls were already asleep, and Clint was fighting the unconsciousness as his head slid off K's shoulder and he jerked to try to right himself. But it was clear none of them could stay awake, and a moment later, all of them were unconscious.

When Clint woke up again, his head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls. His mouth tasted funny, too… But he was starting to come around and startled when he saw Rachel behind bars ... and then relaxed slightly when he saw it was a crib….

Just… not her crib.

Clint tried to scramble to his feet, but he was still super fuzzy, and he couldn't get over to Rachel as fast as he wanted to. But when he did, he was glad to see that she looked like she was okay, just asleep.

He glanced around. There wasn't much in the room. There were some toys for Rachel ... stuffed animals, that kind of thing… There was just the one door, and Clint shook his head hard to clear it before he slipped over to try to open the door. But he really wasn't surprised to find that it was locked.

Clint narrowed his eyes and looked back at the toys. If he could find something that had a long, flat part, maybe he could get the hinges off. Barney had done that once. They hadn't been able to walk for a week, but it had been worth it to sneak out of that particular foster home.

Clint sorted through the baby toys for a few minutes before he did, at last, find just what he needed and set to work, his tongue tucked into the corner of his mouth. He had even managed to get the hinge on the bottom undone when the doorknob turned. Clint barely scrambled back in time before it swung open — revealing that same creepy doctor that had … had cut up Logan.

The man paused and tipped his head to the side as he noticed what Clint had been up to, and before Clint could find a reasonable weapon or cover, the creep began to smile at him. "You're cleverer than you look, aren't you, my boy?"

Clint backed away from him quickly. "Where are we?" he demanded, trying to sound braver than he felt.

"That's really not your concern."

Clint kept backing up until he knocked into the crib, and then he glanced over to Rachel, who was still sleeping, but now it was fitfully, and she'd probably wake up soon. He glanced up at Sinister, and then he got a little braver. "Leave her alone."

"How is it that you're awake so quickly?" Sinister asked, leaning down slightly so that he was on the same level as Clint and completely ignoring his attempt at heroics.

"I dunno," Clint said, still holding onto the toy he'd been using as a tool. "I guess I don't sleep good in creepy lairs."

Sinister smiled a little wider. "I doubt that's the case," he said. "Even the woman you've been traveling with is barely awake."

"My mom," Clint corrected him sharply.

"Yes, that," Sinister said in a flatter tone. "But even correcting for how worn down she is … the Summerses are still under. They don't heal like she does. There must be some reason you are awake."

Clint narrowed his eyes at that, his hands clenched in fists. "You leave them alone. Miss Jean is having babies, and you—"

"Yes, which is why I'm here," Sinister said. "Or, more appropriately, why they are here."

"Leave 'em alone," Clint insisted hotly.

"I think you and I will need a bit more time than I'd anticipated," SInister said, ignoring Clint's anger. "But not until I'm done with the others. This all goes so much easier when they're out."

Clint shook his head, stepping in between Sinister and Rachel as he moved toward the crib. "No." He tipped his chin up. "That's one of my friends."

Sinister looked as if he was losing some of his good humor at that. "I'm not going to harm her."

"You hurt my whole family, and you hurt Scott and Miss Jean, and you don't get to hurt Rachel."

Sinister looked more interested as he watched Clint. "If you like, you can hold her. I'm only interested in making sure she's healthy. Nothing like what you remember with Logan and the girl."

Clint bit his lip. "I… I guess. Yeah. I… but if you hurt her, I'll knock your teeth out!"

It was clear by the expression Sinister was wearing that he thought he was placating the boy as he stepped around him to pick up Rachel and then gently hand her to him. "Carefully now, Mr. Barton." As soon as Rachel was half snuggled into Clint, Sinister put his hand around the back of his neck to steer him the right way. "This won't take long."

Clint could feel his heartbeat in his throat as he clutched onto Rachel. "What're you gonna do?" he asked. He tried to make it sound like he was interrogating him, but he was too scared to pull it off right.

"Just what you'd expect," Sinister said as they stepped into the lab. "Height, weight … reflexes, of course. I'm sure she's a bit quicker than she should be." He smirked, though Clint couldn't see it. "Nothing that will cause her pain."

"That… actually sounds like a doctor visit," Clint said, clearly not trusting it.

"I am a doctor," SInister said, though his lip was curled up in a sneer.

"You're a supervillain."

"The world according to an eight-year-old."

"Nine." Clint glared up at the guy. "I'm nine."

"I'll adjust my notes."

Clint let out an unimpressed noise at that, though he couldn't say what he wanted to say about how if he was a real doctor, he'd know things like that — because he saw further into the lab that Jean and Scott were asleep, and K was groggily coming out of it.

Sinister redirected Clint and Rachel to a quiet, well-lit section of the lab and carefully picked her up to do the things he'd promised. Clint was surprised to see that the creep was gently handling Rachel as if she was his own, though the diamond on his forehead was glowing a little bit brighter as he looked her over. When he finally handed Rachel back to Clint, Rachel was even smiling a little — though Clint noticed that she had a Band-Aid on her finger.

Clint bit his lip and then gave Rachel a little kiss on her forehead. "I gotcha, Rach," he said before he looked up at Sinister. "Okay. You did your thing. So can we all go home now? Please?"

"When I'm done with the others as well," Sinister replied. "And you, young man ... " He reached out and rested his hands on either side of Clint's head as the diamond glowed and he took a quick, more in-depth look into Clint's mind. When he saw all he could, he took a moment to more or less freeze him into place to take a blood sample, though it was a bit more than the pinprick Rachel got. "Further study is required."

Clint was almost shaking by the time the freezing command let up, and he held onto Rachel a little tighter, though this time, it was more for his own comfort than out of protectiveness. "I'm not a mutant," he whispered. "Leave me 'lone."

"You're more than human though, Mr. Barton," Sinister said as he took the vial of blood to his workbench and gently put it into a machine. "And that has my interest piqued." He turned back to him with a satisfied look. "Not like your three friends here, of course. But interesting nonetheless."

"You kidnapped pregnant ladies," Clint said. "That's not okay."

"Oh, I won't hurt them either," Sinister said. "For them, this is entirely about making sure everything is developing nicely."

"That's… real different from last time," Clint said, his tone clearly distrustful, though he was starting to edge his way toward his mom, if he could.

Sinister tipped his head up as he made his way across the lab, effectively cutting Clint off at the pass. "Different circumstances require different approaches. And for her, I needed a baseline."

"She's doin' fine," Clint said. "I'm getting a brother. There. Now you know stuff. Go 'way."

"Yes, I saw," Sinister said, looking almost proud to hear it. "And he's taking after his father already."

"Good, then he can help me kick your butt."

"I doubt that," Sinister said with a little smirk.

Clint frowned, though before he could say anything, he heard a hoarse voice say, "They'll both be the death of you if I don't get there first, Sinister," and turned to see that Scott was starting to wake up.

"Must you wake up with nothing but empty threats, Mr. Summers?" Sinister said, sounding almost bored. "You know that's simply not the way this will play out."

"Keep telling yourself that," Scott said, though with Sinister working on monitoring K, Clint was inching toward Scott instead — if for no other reason than to feel slightly safer. "And leave my kids alone."

"Normally, I wouldn't tell you any of my findings," Sinister said, totally ignoring Scott's outburst. "But this one will need to be watched carefully." He looked over to Scott as he paused his examination. "Adamantium was never meant to be inside the body like this."

For just a moment, it was clear Scott was torn between wanting to know what was going on and wanting to screw Sinister. Finally, he settled on, "Logan won't let her hurt."

"Yes, well, at any rate, the heavy metal poisoning will be harder to stave off during the pregnancy if what I'm seeing is correct. And it is."

Despite himself, Scott couldn't help but be concerned. "What about the baby?"

"As I said," Sinister replied with a well-hidden smile, tickled that Scott was, as always, easy to manipulate into his plans. "She'll need to be closely monitored and the levels dealt with. If it gets too high, the child will suffer for it."

"I won't let that happen," Scott said. He paused. "Keep out of it."

"We'll see how it goes," Sinister said. "It's fascinating, truly. His claws are already developing …"

"You're late," Clint cut in. "Dr. Blue already saw those and told us about 'em."

"Yes, but what McCoy sees and what I see are two different things," Sinister said in an irritated tone. "My equipment is much more sensitive, for one thing … better suited to more than a simple peek."

"Because you're a supervillain and he's a doctor," Clint said, which got a sort of snerk out of Scott even with how mad Scott was.

"Exactly," Scott said, smirking Clint's way.

"Oh, so that's the kind of thing you teach at that boorish school," Essex said, totally invested in his work as he finished a long list of measurements and whatnot before drawing out several vials of blood … and moving on to Jean to do the same.

And while Essex worked, Scott turned his attention to Clint and Rachel, knowing that Clint was more than a little freaked out, even if Rachel didn't understand what was going on and was jabbering at Clint. He tipped his head to catch Clint's gaze and then mouthed out, "There's a lever under the table."

Clint's eyes widened, and then he nodded, clutching Rachel tighter for a second before he glanced at Essex, who was still working on Jean, and then ducked under the table quickly. And as soon as Clint found the little lever, Scott sat up fast, removed his glasses, and simply blasted Sinister through two walls.

Clint let out a little whoop as he popped back up and rushed toward his mom to shake her awake with the hand that wasn't holding Rachel, while Scott was quick to do the same for Jean, gently shaking her awake… with a lot more success than Clint was having with K.

"Mom, c'mon," Clint said, shaking K's shoulder harder when he saw Jean sitting up. "Please, c'mon."

"I'm just tired," K said thickly.

"We gotta get outta here," Clint told her, though the seriousness was underscored by Rachel, who giggled and waved at K.

"Hi, hi!" she called out to K. "Cereal!" she added, in the best way she could, in her limited vocabulary, say "good morning."

"Where's your mom, sweetie?" K asked, her eyes still closed, though she was at least going along with Clint pulling on her to get upright.

"She's over there," Clint said, tipping his head toward Scott and Jean. "I'm just babysitting until Miss Jean feels okay."

"What's wrong with her?" K asked, cracking an eye open.

"Same thing as you," Scott said. "Drugged." He had a shoulder under Jean's arm as he pulled her upright as well. "Clint's right; we need to get moving. Do you think you can get upright?"

"Okay," K said, though it didn't sound convincing to Scott as she slipped off the table and held onto it and Clint.

"I can help her if you can hold Rachel," Clint offered Scott's way. "I'm not super strong enough to do both, though. I only got two hands, and I'm still nine."

Scott smirked at that as he came to scoop up Rachel. "You're doing great, Clint; you really are. Can you help your mom until the team catches up to us? Jean's going to contact the professor."

Clint nodded. "I got it."

"Good. I know you do," Scott said, giving Clint an encouraging smile before he led the way out — not willing to risk waiting any longer.

When Scott and Jean were a little ahead of K and Clint, K turned toward him. "You gonna tell me what's going on or are you gonna make me wait?"

"That creepy doctor grabbed you an' me an' Miss Jean's whole family, but Scott blasted him, so we're running away before he gets up again and puts us all to sleep."

"Okay, sure," K said, nodding.

"You really don't feel good, do you, Mom?"

"I just want to go back to sleep," K admitted. "In a softer bed." She took a deep breath at that. "You and the girls can watch movies if I can just … sleep. If you guys don't mind, that is."

"I'm totally okay with a movie night," Clint promised. "Let's just get out of here."

Notes: For anyone who hasn't read the 714 Universe (and if you haven't, you really should :P), this concept of Clint being a little bit different to a normal human actually came from something we noticed in the comics: Clint has, canonically, been affected by power dampeners and inhibitors.

Now, we didn't want to take away from Clint's mad skillz by attributing his archery to some kind of superpower like super sight or something. But then we got to thinking… what if the power that's being inhibited in moments like that is a healing power? Clint is, after all, a walking disaster. He takes the hits that super soldiers do and manages to keep coming back (albeit with a hospital stay). It wouldn't be something as massive as Logan's, obviously… but what if he bounced back a little faster, had a little better immune system, had a little better pain tolerance? If that was taken away in mid-battle, he'd be hurting and slowing down, and that would definitely affect his aim.

He's still the squishy little human we all know and love; he's just a little more durable, that's all. And thus, he wakes up from gas a little faster. We'll explain more as we go in this story, but I wanted to leave a note explaining where this was coming from, why we're doing it, and quietly pointing toward the 714 Universe lol.