Notes: Yes, well, time travel aside, we're of the opinion that the Summers family should get to be a *family* far more often than the comics are willing to do. Along with most of the other characters that have not been allowed to be families/have families.

And now, after that serious fluff… time to throw a wrench in the works...

Chapter Four: Trouble On The Far Side Of The Moon

The invasion was starting to take its toll on the heroes fighting to defend Earth. SHIELD and SWORD agents were scrambling to cover helicarriers and bases as well as world capitals in concert with the militaries around the world. And then there was the fact that the Kree had an especially strong presence in New York as they tried — multiple times — to take down Avengers Tower as well as the mansion… it had been a long stretch for everyone on Earth.

But no way were they going to only play defense.

Captain Marvel and War Machine were already in the air taking the fight to the Kree fleet, and Noh's ship was right behind them, with Thor and K on board and ready to make the invaders rethink their every decision. It was their third such mission in as many days — with not much time for breaks in between and several days of fighting prior to that — and it seemed like the Kree just kept coming.

The lack of sleep was starting to show through for even the three hardy heroes who didn't need as much as their friends — but then, Noh had pointed out, the Kree were just as tired and likely hadn't expected as much resistance as they got, so now was a good time to strike.

All three of them had coffees in hand, and Noh was surprised at the fact that the caffeine actually seemed to be having an effect on K — though he was also concerned, as it meant that her healing was starting to wear down as well. He supposed, well over a week straight of fighting would do that to a person.

Thankfully, if all went well, the first part of this mission — getting them to the large orbiting station that the Kree had set up that seemed to be a triage of sorts for injured Kree craft — would be simple enough. Noh and Forge had been working together for the past few days to mimic the signature of an injured Kree ship from the correct dimension so that they could hopefully slip in, and then… well, the plan was, as always, to destroy things.

Noh looked over and noticed the way that K was drumming her fingers along the side of her coffee mug and gave her a bright smile. "I can simply catapult you into the station when we are close enough if you find you cannot wait to get started," he teased.

"I could ride on Thor's shoulders too," K replied with a little smirk.

"This would help you to reach those further from the ground," Thor teased her, laughing outright.

"Good thing I keep you around just for opening jars and reaching bad guys when chewing their ankles isn't quite effective," she agreed.

Thor's eyes just twinkled with laughter. "As ever, I'm happy to serve the needs of a good lady and a warrior woman," he laughed. "Even if I am relegated to being a ladder in the process."

"But such a lovely ladder," K chuckled.

Noh just shook his head at both of them and muttered something in Kree, but when Thor responded back with a laugh and something in the same language, Noh looked downright surprised as he turned to face the thunder god. "I didn't know you could do that," he said.

"It's the gift of All-Speak," Thor explained with a scrunched up brow. "When you were an Avenger, you saw it in use."

But Noh waved his hand. "No, I mean — I didn't know that gift applied to dialects outside your own dimension," he said. "I can understand the Kree language here and be understood… but it's a different dialect, and it took some time for me to get used to. You... You spoke my language," he explained, the grin widening with every word. "I thought I would never hear it again."

"I guess it's time you started teaching some of us then," K pointed out with a warm smile.

"I didn't think there was much reason to," Noh admitted. "The Kree in your universe — you deal with them often enough that you should learn their language."

"Who wants to talk to them, though?" K asked with her head tipped to one side.

Noh grinned at her outright. "Apparently not you. Or so I've heard from the reports of the negotiations."

"Well, they … didn't rub me the right way. You could feel the outrage coming off of Steve and Scott," she replied. "No one is allowed to rile Captain America like that. Ever. I couldn't let it stand."

"Or let them stand," Thor supplied helpfully, still grinning wide. "And after their declaration of war, they forfeited the right to stand in your presence."

"Well that's just it," she defended. "They said it was surrender or war. No way in hell was anyone there going to roll over."

"Certainly not with the good captain and the leader of the X-Men — not to mention two of the most stubborn people I have ever met," Thor agreed, still entirely relaxed and laughing the closer they got to the Kree station.

"If they actually would have wanted to negotiate, they would have sent someone other than a damn warmonger," K said with a nod.

"Well, as you are always reminding me — we cannot dwell on would haves," Noh said with a twinkle in his eye before he gestured to the approaching Kree station. "Let us focus on the immediate future, then — which we will be sure to fill with the destruction of our enemies."

"Well said," Thor agreed, his hand on the hammer at his side. He smiled at his two companions. "And perhaps when we are finished here, we will find more to do. I believe I enjoy having you both at my side. The destruction you sow is far-reaching and astonishing."

"Quite the compliment, considering," K said toward Noh. "You're trouble — you hear that, moondust?"

"I have always been trouble," Noh said with a smirk as he double-checked the readings their ship was putting out. No alerts had been triggered, and they were fast approaching the station — but he was ready for when something inevitably went wrong. "And you, my friend, have always been moreso."

"Only since I started hanging with these guys," K answered. "I had ten years of quiet."

"It sounds dreadfully boring," Thor declared. "I for one am glad they pulled you from it."

"It was a nice break, considering how the twenty or so before it went," she replied as she watched their approach.

Thor raised an eyebrow, already drawing out his hammer as Noh started to set them down in the station. "I'll want the names of any who bothered you so that, when this is over, you and I can continue our destructive paths through those who deserve it."

"We'll make hit lists later," she said as she reached over and patted his arm.

"After we deal with my wayward and prideful people," Noh agreed as the wristbands he wore formed guns, and he saluted them both with one. "Until then — after you," he said, stepping back with a smirk and a slight bow as the wall to his ship pulled back and the three of them rushed out into the station to begin their work of destruction.

Despite the sheer numbers of the Kree — most of whom were soldiers itching for a fight while they waited for their crafts to be fixed — it was clear that the three heroes of Earth were exactly the right team for the job. Thor was gleefully smashing through soldiers and ships and equipment alike, and K was putting every dirty trick to use on any Kree who came close to Noh while her little moonbeam man was running from ship to ship and either tearing them apart or disabling them as only another Kree would know how to do, taking important components and upsetting delicate engine balances that resulted in the most spectacular explosions.

When they were reasonably certain that none of the ships in the hangar could be used to fire on them, the three of them turned their sights more toward destroying the station itself and had managed to set fire to at least one large bank of equipment before another injured craft arrived, unsteady in the air but unmistakable in its markings — an Accuser ship.

The ship itself was badly damaged and barely made the landing, but Thor was there almost as soon as it touched down to slam his hammer into the side of the ship with a laugh and jam the ramp that would have let the Accusers exit the craft. The loud clang that was the ramp trying unsuccessfully to open echoed in the bay and drew the attention of the other two, who both looked less than pleased to see that more Accusers had decided to join the party.

"Oh, eeew," K said with a little sneer. "These jerks don't know how to play right."

"Then let's ruin their day," Noh suggested just before he finished tearing out some equipment that looked important — and that had, until then, been embedded in the walls.

K followed Noh's cue and started tearing into one of the power sources for the ships and then moved on to the engines as well — to make sure they were properly miserable.

Thor, meanwhile, was fairly amused by the attempts of the Accusers to get out of the craft through side exits — bottlenecked and vulnerable to his lightning. He almost lazily kept them trapped inside, even occasionally turning his attention elsewhere to strike more equipment inside the station. He studied the two side exits for a moment and then nodded before he moved to block them the same way he had done with the ramp. "If you can continue to disable their power, perhaps we can simply leave them to their own devices in the prison of their own making," he suggested.

Noh looked to K and nodded as the two of them simply tore out everything important that could be reached from the outside — and with Thor blocking the exits, the Accusers were well and truly stuck, leaving the three defenders of Earth open to continue on their way through the station.

Most of the resistance had been down in the bay where the injured ships came in, so as the three of them moved through the station, they did significantly less fighting and much more sabotage. Several fires followed them like breadcrumbs to mark their paths as they did everything in their power to make sure that the station would be inoperable — and irretrievably so. From lightning to slashing and stabbing to simply exploding or smashing things to bits, the place was well and truly wrecked within half an hour.

K was glad to see the destruction, but she was fairly worn out by the time that half hour of heavy trashing and thrashing was over. "I should have brought my weapons," she said to Noh with a grin. "Didn't even think about it until now."

"Had you done so, you know we would also have needed to bring a camera of some sort for photographic evidence for Iron Man," Noh pointed out with a grin to match hers.

"We missed our shot," she agreed with a little laugh that trailed off when she tipped her head for a second on hearing something beyond them, and Noh stiffened when he heard it as well — approaching soldiers.

"I thought we dealt with all those in this station," Noh said with a frown.

"Apparently not," she replied at just over a whisper. She slid her claws out slowly, and the two of them turned to head toward the source of the noise. Thor watched their backs as K and Noh finally split up to circle around the disturbance — when K swore loudly as one of the Accusers glanced a laser off her shoulder.

Noh spun to see what the problem was and started to echo her sentiment, swearing in several languages as a couple Accusers leveled their sights on him as well. The bulk of them seemed to be occupied with Thor, but the Accusers had managed to move quickly enough to separate Thor from the other two, and Noh was concerned for his big blonde friend — being separated was never a good sign.

He needn't have worried, though. As one of the Accusers got close enough to Thor to try to use a stasis field on him, Thor responded with a look of deep offense and plowed into the Kree, knocking him backward into three other Accusers. The group of them hit the wall with a resounding and echoing set of cracks that had nothing to do with the wall or equipment but with bones breaking.

Still, Noh had to wonder — why use the stasis fields at all? Those were weapons to subdue, not to kill — and seeing the Accuser try to use it, even if it was unsuccessful, had Noh on edge.

He turned to warn K of his suspicions but was surprised when he saw that she was slowing down, barely managing to dodge a follow-up blast from one of the Accusers that wasn't facing down Thor. It seemed she really didn't need the warning about the stasis field; it was plain to see the Accuser nearest her was trying to sneak up on her from behind to pull that very trick.

She had one hand on her hip as she half-caught her breath, and Noh watched as her gaze tracked to her left when the Accuser drew closer. She kept her body language relaxed right up until he made a move, and she turned with such speed that the Kree simply didn't have time to react before she sunk her claws in his chest and drew them straight down to his navel.

Which was just enough time for the Accuser that was hidden behind a smoking, smoldering craft to hit her with a stasis field anyhow — while her claws were still dripping in blood.

Noh let out a shout of dismay and frustration on seeing his friend in trouble and rushed toward her. He was well enough worn that he didn't quite have the energy to jump into a white run at that point, so he knew he wasn't operating at his peak — but no way was he going to let that Accuser get away with K. And Thor was still occupied with what seemed to be almost the entirety of the ship full of Accusers and elite soldiers. Thor was winning — but he wouldn't be there to back Noh up in time either.

Noh made a rush for K and wasn't surprised in the least when the Accuser stepped into his path, though the Accuser was likely shocked by the force of Noh's hit. He was, after all, no ordinary Kree — and he could hit much harder than they could.

"You will not touch her," he snarled out at the Accuser as he threw the man into the nearest wall and hoisted him by the shoulders of his armor, smashing in the helmet to prevent him from firing any lasers as he did so.

He tossed the now limp Accuser aside and rushed toward K again, though he had only made it a few steps before another two Accusers made a break for him, trying to tackle him from behind. He dodged away from the first, but, unfortunately, the motion only brought him right into the path of the second, and the two went down in a tumble. Noh lashed out with a snarl as he abandoned the guns in favor of his own nails, one of which he broke off in the Accuser's neck — though the Accuser returned the favor by jamming the stasis generator into Noh's side, freezing him in place.

Of course, what the Accuser didn't realize was that Noh's nails were explosive, and by freezing the former Marvel Boy in place, he'd just ensured his own death. There was no way for Noh to delay the explosion that followed as the embedded nail detonated and took out the Accuser, a chunk of his buddy — and left Noh pretty burnt up too.

Even though their initial attackers were down for the count, though, that still left Noh and K frozen in place, and despite his best efforts, Thor was still fighting off far more Accusers at once than anyone should have had to deal with. By the time he had successfully flattened enough of them to break free and dash after his friends — it was clear he was too late. As he arrived at the bay, he saw a couple Accusers take off in the one good ship left in the bay — Noh's.

The helicarrier was smoking — but still in the air — after a successful route of three different Kree warbirds that had come after SHIELD, though admittedly, most of the SHIELD staff were still on high alert, half expecting a fourth attack after so many in quick succession.

There was a bit of trepidation when one of the agents spotted something fast headed right for them — until their long-range scanners identified the Asgardian signature, and a very worn-looking and slightly singed Thor came to a stop on the helicarrier, looking urgent. "I must speak with the director," he told the nearest agent. "Tell me where I can find him — this is not a request."

The slightly balding agent looked him over for a second — he'd obviously been around SHIELD long enough that he wasn't starry-eyed around displays like that, which was, of course, why he was assigned at the helicarrier. But he could also clearly see that Thor had just been in a battle, as his armor was still smoking, and the agent finaly nodded. "I'll take you there," he said. "And let the director know you're coming."

When they arrived, Fury glanced up, looking half irritated at the intrusion while he was going over incoming data on damage and how attacks around the globe were resolving or starting up. "Don't you have somewhere to be that doesn't have anything to do with flyin' up onto my helicarrier and pushing around my agents? You just about scared that poor old boy to death just now."

"It's never my intention to send your agents to an early grave when they do not deserve it," Thor told him with one eyebrow raised. "But I believe we both know that had I any other transportation, I would have used it to avoid that very thing."

"Where's the rest of your group?" Fury asked with a deeply set frown. "I thought you were destroying Kree ships with Noh-Varr and Logan's better half."

The slightest of smirks crossed Thor's face at the description of K before he settled into a more serious expression. "We were indeed destroying Kree ships — until the Accusers overran us. They have taken both my companions and Noh-Varr's ship — I know not where."

Fury let out a curse not well-hidden in a weary sigh and turned from Thor to the massive amount of data readouts going up on the screens on the bridge. "Quartermain," Fury called out in a somber tone. "See if you can track K's beacon. All the X-Men have them. I'll give Summers and Logan a call, let them know they need to be ready to head out after them. They won't want to leave one of their own in Kree custody for longer than necessary."

"On it, sir," was the quick response from Clay nearby as Thor kept his expression of relief well-hidden at not having to tell Logan that he'd lost his wife — temporarily, of course.

Quartermain worked for a few moments while Fury settled into a glare before he got his answer: "Far side of the moon. Looks like there's a heavy concentration of Kree forces gathered there, too."

"We'll need to take a few volunteers," Fury mused, mostly to himself. "But I want to keep most of them earthbound — where they're needed." He looked over to Thor and broke his professional tone. "How did it happen, anyhow?"

Thor let out a long breath. "It was an unlucky combination of exhaustion, surprise, and sheer numbers," he admitted. "For myself, I was occupied with dozens of Accusers and their ilk, and I could only see part of the fight — though I do know the Accusers employed their stasis fields to detain them. They tried the same trick on me, but I was fortunate enough to avoid the same fate as our friends."

Fury watched him for a moment once the story was over before he let out a sigh and made the call. He managed to catch the X-Men in a lull, and he could see from the screens that they'd done well in their battle — though they were clearly worn out from all the fighting. "Summers, how's it looking down there?" Fury said as he watched them on the feed.

"Right now? They've got their tails between their legs," Scott said with a small smirk. "Never been so grateful for the upgrade Forge and Noh gave the mansion. Anything new, sir?" he added. "I doubt you're calling just for an update."

"Things didn't go so good at the repair checkpoint," Fury said frankly. "They took prisoners."

Scott's eyes widened, and his eyebrows went straight up to his hairline. "Who?" he asked quickly.

"Noh-Varr and K."

Logan had been standing near enough to Scott that he didn't need to be told, and for a moment the two X-Men shared a glance. Then, all at once, Logan snarled in frustration and kicked a piece of debris.

"Do you have a location?" Scott asked over the sound of the debris clattering behind them. "We'll send a bird up as soon as we've got coordinates."

"We followed her beacon, and they're stationed on the dark side of the moon," Fury replied. "I'm gathering up a team to join you. They're heavily fortified."

"They won't be for much longer once we get there," Scott promised, glancing over at Logan, who was still beyond words and clearly shrugging off his exhaustion and ready to fight. "Have your team ready to go when we get there" he suggested.

"Will do," Fury agreed before he turned off the comm and let out a heavy sigh. "I want status reports on everyone."

Quartermain nodded at that. "Yes sir. I'll make sure they're sent directly to you."

Fury nodded and couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as he watched the readouts of the fight. This invasion was wearing them down — and a rescue mission on top of it was only going to complicate matter.