Chapter 8: Defend Your Family

Erik was waiting for word from Rachel, who was working with Cerebro to try and find where Billy had disappeared to. He was seated beside his other grandson, his hands clasped underneath his chin as the very gentle whirr and click of the machines next to him told him that the equipment was doing its job to keep Tommy Shepherd alive.

It was, he knew, a miracle that Tommy was still breathing. He had flatlined, and according to Henry, the young man had been without a heartbeat for a few minutes as he and Tyler had scrambled to get him back. He had died — but they'd brought him back.

It was, Erik reflected, the worst kind of timing. To lose one grandson and save him — and then lose the other.

Erik was sitting far from the excitement, keeping a careful vigil over Tommy, since the young man wasn't yet out of the woods. Tyler and Henry both were wary of trying to do any further healing after all the stress they'd put the young man's body through — at least for the moment. But Erik could still hear Hank working with Jubilee, and he could hear the moment that first cry sounded — and then the second.

Despite everything, Erik found himself smiling at the sound. For everything that had happened, there was still hope in the future.

Still, the sound brought back the memories of a few short years ago when he had been present for Magda's birth. It was, he reflected, the only time he had actually been around for a grandchild's arrival. He remembered then how perfect little Magda was — and then remembered the terrified little girl that he had only just an hour ago rescued from Weapon X's clutches.

All of three years old, and Weapon X thought it was acceptable to take her from her parents, lock her up in a cell… Erik felt his temper rising at just the memory of it.

He had absolutely destroyed the facility, the soldiers, and the equipment where they had been holding the children and the X-Men who had been captured as well — and already, he thought that he should not have stopped there. The whole program needed to be eradicated, wiped from the face of the earth. One facility, no matter how large, was not sufficient.

Without realizing it, Erik had risen to his feet and began to pace beside Tommy's bed, fury flashing in his gaze. These people had been allowed to operate for far too long, and as soon as Rachel returned with a location for Billy, he would tear apart whoever had come for his grandson — and then keep going, as he should have done before.

He was done playing defensively.

"Don't let my dad see you like that — or he'll have a heart attack," Rachel's voice rang out from the doorway, and Erik spun to see her leaned against the frame, watching him with her lips pressed together.

Erik paused in his pacing and glanced up at Rachel. "Have you found William?" he asked, ignoring the light jab entirely.

The expression on Rachel's face answered the question for him before she even opened her mouth to let out a long sigh. "I can't find him," she admitted. "I'll keep trying, but…"

Erik frowned her way at that answer before he simply nodded, once, and left the room, with Rachel watching him with a look that was just like her father. It took her just a second before she decided to follow him, though she didn't get far before Lorna met her.

"Don't stop him."

Rachel stopped when she heard it and turned to face the green-haired woman with one eyebrow raised, though she couldn't stop the smirk as she said, "I thought I was the mind-reader here."

Lorna almost laughed as she lightly shook her head. "No, I just… I could feel it," she said simply, and when Rachel looked even more like her father at that explanation, she let out her breath. "I've spent enough time around my father when he was angry to know what that feels like."

"But you don't want me to stop him?" Rachel shook her head. "Lorna, he's been great to have around lately. Really, the kids love him, but—"

"But he has threatened the entire planet before."

"Yeah."

"And you want to stand in his way when he want to tear apart not the entire world but one horrible institution that has plagued mutants for decades?" Now, it was Lorna's turn to raise an eyebrow in a look that was reminiscent of her father.

"We already tore apart—"

"Rachel, they took my daughter," Lorna said, in such a tone that Rachel almost took a step back. She turned Rachel's way and seemed to make an actual effort to soften her expression. "You were there, I know. You saw. But please, don't tell me it's enough to tear down one single base of theirs when they took my daughter from me, locked her up, and likely planned to turn her into a mindless drone the way they did with Logan and K."

"The problem isn't just that…" Rachel let out her breath. "He's going to get himself killed if he goes out there alone."

"He won't be," Lorna said.

Rachel stopped to stare at Lorna before she broke into a disbelieving laugh. "You know, most people can't surprise me anymore."

Lorna smiled slightly. "I've been dealing with a Summers for a very long time now," she said before she reached over and put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "I'm taking Alex. He won't let me anywhere near gunfire. But I think I have a right to be angry, and Weapon X hasn't seen anything like my family when we're angry."

"Regular Hulks," Rachel said with a smirk.

"Was that a crack at my size, Rachel?" Lorna asked.

"No way," Rachel said, holding up both hands. "I know better than that."

"I'd hope so." Lorna smirked for a moment before she paused. "Would you look out for Magda while we're gone? She does love Scott and Annie, but she seems to adore you."

"Yeah," Rachel said, nodding softly. "I can do that."

"And if you wouldn't mind, please don't tell your father where we're going," Lorna said.

"If I did, he'd be right after you."

"Which is why I'm asking you not to." Lorna turned to leave. "If we find Billy, I'll bring him home. But Rachel… if they've killed my nephew…." Her eyes flashed. "...there won't be a scrap left to prove that Weapon X ever even existed."

Rachel considered this for a long moment, her head tipped to the side, before she nodded once and put a hand on Lorna's shoulder. "Do you mind if I tag along?"

Lorna blinked at her in surprise. "What?"

"Well, it'll probably be easier if you have someone on your team who can tear Billy's location from people's heads so you don't have to pause in your pure destruction if he's note there," Rachel pointed out. "And if I can find him, I can direct you."

Lorna considered the offer for a long time. "This isn't just because I'm pregnant, is it?"

"Lorna," Rachel said with one eyebrow raised, "I'm not my dad. And in case you didn't notice, those guys grabbed me too." She stretched out her hands in front of her to crack her knuckles. "I kind of have a bone to pick with them."

For the adults, things were still rather hectic. Everyone was trying to recover from the raid as well as everything else that had happened. But as for the kids in the mansion, things were mostly back to normal, even if both Chance and Magda seemed a little quieter than usual.

As was quickly becoming the case whenever anything bad happened, a bunch of them had gathered in one place for a giant snuggle pile and sleepover, and since his parents were occupied, Sying wound up with the Wagners, getting snuggles from both of his favorite elflings. And since Kurt had been there to meet Sying's new little sisters, when the little guy woke up properly, he offered to take him down to see them — and of course, Kari and Krissy had to come with him.

Krissy was even holding Sying's hand as he was practically bouncing with excitement, little giggles bubbling out past his lips that he just wasn't able to keep to himself as Kate helped all three of them get dressed. When finally both Kate and Kurt had deemed them ready for the day, all three little ones disappeared with Kurt, only to reappear moments later in Hank's lab.

"Hello, sweetheart," Jubilee called out to Sying as the little boy turned suddenly very shy, his eyes wide as he looked at his parents, each of whom had a little one in their arms. "Do you want to meet your sisters?"

"Can I?" Sying asked shyly, which had all the adults in the room smiling at each other.

Noh readjusted the way he was holding Celeste so that he could sweep Sying up with his other hand and hold the little boy up to look down at the sleeping little girl. "This is Celeste," he explained gently.

Sying looked almost reverent, pressing the gentlest kiss to Celeste's head that anyone had ever seen. "I love her," he said.

Noh beamed at him and kissed the top of his head. "And they'll love you, of course," he promised the little boy, who giggled and nodded.

"Uh-huh." Sying gently reached out with just one finger and brushed back the wispy white hair from Celeste's face. She scrunched up her nose for a moment before she settled out again, and Sying gasped slightly, turning to Noh. "Did I bother her?" he asked, alarmed.

"No, sweet boy," Jubilee said, sitting up a little better so that she could see her two favorite men.

"Sying, your baby sisters have white hair just like Amadi," Krissy reported as she looked over the side of the bed to see Melody.

"I knew they would," he said happily, drawing himself up to his full height as Noh chuckled quietly. "My sisters are so pretty."

"Just like their mother," Noh agreed.

"How come they look the same?" Krissy asked Jubilee, her tail swishing lazily behind her. "How you gonna tell them apart like me and Kari or Chance and Charlie?"

"I'm sure they'll act differently and be their own people," Jubilee explained to the wide-eyed little elfling.

"O-kay," Krissy said, looking a little dubious but nodding all the same.

"Can we play?" Kari asked shyly as she peeked around her big sister at the little ones.

"They're too little," Krissy explained, shaking her head.

Kari seemed to think about this for a moment and then shrugged and grabbed her sister by the hand. "Okay. Let's play, Krissy," she declared, trying to pull her away from the half-Kree cuteness that she was officially done with.

Krissy hesitated for a second and then looked toward Sying. "Merry Christmas present, Sying!" she called out to him, giggling, and Sying grinned at her before the two little elflings disappeared — along with half the bamfs — to go play.

Most of the kids in the mansion were gathered up with the Howlett clan watching Fractured Fairytales, nibbling on popcorn, and snuggling in with their best friends and favorite stabby adults.

Chance had climbed directly into Logan's lap with a Chance-sized bowl of popcorn and was watching the swashbuckling heroes with his head tipped to the side until he tipped himself halfway backwards to look at Logan upside down. "Is it hard to learn how to be a hero?" he asked very suddenly and completely sincerely.

Logan frowned for just a moment and then shook his head. "I'm not sure that it's hard," he replied. "As long as you do what's right and help people."

"Do you think I could learn how to do it?" he asked, still upside down and wide-eyed.

"Considerin who your family is, I think you'd be really good at it," Logan replied.

"Can I learn how to do it now?" he asked.

"What is it you think you need to learn how to do, kiddo?" Logan asked, unsure what the little guy was onto.

Chance rearranged himself a little as he thought about it, eyes narrowed and a dramatically thoughtful look on his face. "I wanna learn how to protect people and maybe how to hit bad guys," he decided. "Like ... like bad guys who made Magda cry."

"Okay," Logan said slowly. "But you're a little small to hit grown-up bad guys yet."

"I am not," Chance said with his chin thrust out. "I'm the biggest! Except when Gerry comes over," he amended quickly.

"You're still small against a grown-up," Logan pointed out.

"Bobby says you are too, but you do stuff all the time," Chance shot back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm just a tiny bit taller," Logan said with a smirk. But when Chance kept right on holding Logan's gaze, he let out a breath. "Do you want to learn karate?"

"Is that gonna help me fight bad guys?"

"It's a start," Logan said. "But it's for more than just fightin'. It's good for self control -—so you know when you should fight and when you shouldn't. And …" He leaned closer to the little guy. "...you'll have to learn a little Japanese."

"That's okay. I know some Kree and some German and lots of other things. I can learn that stuff easy," Chance said confidently, though by that time, a few of the other older kids had started to peek into the conversation curiously.

"Mostly it's just countin'," Logan admitted.

"I know numbers," Sying offered with a big grin. "And my dad knows how to teach control. We work hard. Can I play too?"

"We're not talkin' about playin, kiddo," Logan said with a little smirk.

"I'm gonna learn how to fight bad guys," Chance told him seriously. "And sometimes how to not, which doesn't really make sense, but Logan says so."

"You'll have to ask your folks," Logan said. He turned back to Chance, sure to look the little boy in the eyes so he knew he was serious. "And if I teach you, you can't use it on the other kids."

"No," Chance agreed quickly. "No, only for bad guys."

"How old are you now?" Logan asked. "Go?"

Chance tipped his head to the side. "No, I'm five." He illustrated his point by holding up one hand.

"Go is Japanese for five," Logan said.

"Oh." Chance nodded seriously. "Okay. Yes, I am go years old."

Logan nodded seriously. "Talk to your dad," he said. "If he's okay with you learning karate, I'll teach you."

Chance nodded at that and then threw his arms around Logan's neck in a quick hug. "Thank you lots, Logan," he said, still wide-eyed and sincere.

"Anytime, kiddo," Logan replied, giving him a quick squeeze in return.

With that, Chance hopped down off of the couch and tore through the house in search of his dad, on a mission now that he'd gotten the okay from Logan.

"Where's Chance going?" Krissy asked.

"Lookin' for his dad," Logan replied. "He'll be back before you know it."

"Okay." Krissy giggled. "He's gonna miss my favorite part. Silly Chance."

"Pretty sure everyone will be mostly asleep when he gets back," K said. "You can replay it for him."

"Good, because it's my favorite part," Krissy repeated, seemingly content with that answer as she handed a handful of popcorn to her favorite bamf.

In the meantime, Scott had been trying his best to minimize damage when it came to the four rogue members of his team out on a world tour of trying to destroy Weapon X as if it could just be done in a weekend.

Still... the way they were going, Scott almost wouldn't be surprised if it could, especially with the heavy damage reports he was getting after the fact. (Never before. He'd asked Rachel to give him a heads up, but…) He let out a long breath and rubbed a spot over his eyes as he got the latest reports and started immediately pulling up contacts in the area — official and otherwise — that he could notify before they started calling it a terrorist strike. Which they probably still would anyway, all things considered.

He was so wrapped up in what he was working on that he didn't notice Chance slip into the room until the little guy was standing by him and had grabbed one of his hands to hold and grin up at him with a wide-eyed, expectant sort of look.

And when your kid was looking at you like that, there was really nothing for it, so Scott paused and put aside the phone to pick Chance up and pull him into his lap. "Hey, Chance. What's going on?" he asked.

"So-o-o-o," Chance said, twisting a little bit and bobbing his head. "So, I was talking to Logan, and he said there's this thing called karate, and I wanna learn karate, Dad. Can I, please?" He was grinning full-force with his eyes as wide as he could get them. "Please oh please?"

Scott was taken aback; he had no idea where that had come from. "Why do you want to learn karate?" he asked.

"Well, I want to learn how to be a hero like you and like all the X-Men, and Logan said karate was good for that, so can I pretty please?" Chance asked, getting up so that he was inches away from Scott.

Scott stared at the determined little boy as he tried to work out an answer to that. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was probably a good idea for the kids to learn at least something for how often they were getting pulled into the X-Men's problems — despite their best efforts. But at the same time, Chance was just… so young.

"What did Logan say?" he asked at last.

"He said if you said yes, he would teach me how to fight and also how not to as long as I promised not to use karate on any of the kids, which — obviously." Chance looked offended at the thought, in a look that was so much like Annie getting upset at the bamfs that Scott almost laughed.

"And you really want to learn karate?"

"Really, really."

Scott sighed. "Alright," he said at last, and that was as far as he got before Chance threw himself into a huge hug that nearly knocked Scott backward in his chair. "I'd like to come too," he added when Chance finally let go.

"Okay," Chance said, nodding quickly.

"And if Charlie wants to learn karate too, you have to share."

"Okay," Chance said, just as quickly. "But Charlie doesn't like hitting."

Scott smirked. "Then maybe you won't have to share."

"Okay." Chance beamed up at him and then threw himself into another hug before he wriggled down to the floor. "Thanks, Dad!" he called over his shoulder as he rushed out of the room just as fast as he could, probably in search of Logan.

Scott stared after his little boy for a long while before, finally, he scrubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. And tried to get his focus back to get to work.