Chapter 16 - Overprotective Grandpa
The work on the mansion progressed quickly, and within a few days, everything was already cleared and the foundations were nearly finished as well. Plenty of heroes from several different teams had come to meet up and help, so lunchtime was always interesting, especially as Annie's sister had offered her place for the youngest among them to spend the day — and Annie would bring them up to see the adults and the progress during lunch with water bottles and food for those that were working.
Chance and Charlie were of course favorites of everybody there, especially because they were the smallest but determined to keep up with both their Hale family cousins that came to help as well as Gerry and Dani. They could be seen carrying little water bottles to people, hand in hand, and making sure to watch until whoever they had brought the water to actually drank their water, as Annie had likely asked them to do.
One of their favorites was Thor, who could always be depended on for piggyback rides and other rowdy games after they delivered their little bottles, though of course, their first visits were always to Scott and Logan, in that order. Once they'd had their fill of dad snuggles, they rushed over with shouts of "Wogan!" to clamor for him to play with them, all but attaching to his legs if he wasn't fast enough to respond.
But to the surprise of several people there, they were also incredibly attached to "Ewik," who was completely and totally enamored with the two of them and gave them nothing short of his full attention every time they came to see him. Anyone who had dealt with him as Magneto couldn't help but be a bit surprised at seeing the two Summers twins cackling with pure glee as he played games with them, even letting them scoot around in the air on low-flying metal discs — though very clearly and securely strapped in so they couldn't possibly get hurt.
Erik was still playing with the little ones when, under the noise of loud squealing laughter, Steve Rogers' comm link directly to Director Fury came to life, and Steve stepped a bit away from the noise of the playing kids before he answered with a quick, "Fury?" He had half an eye on the group of heroes and family members, sure that if Fury was using the direct line, it was bad news.
"I hate to break up the party," Fury started out. "But I need all available heroes ready to fight immediately."
"I thought the Kree were retreating," Steve said with a deep frown — though he was already doing a headcount as to who was available and what they could do.
"They are," Fury said easily. "The problem is that they weren't entirely full of crap when they said the Shi'ar were planning to attack. The invasion fleet is set to arrive within the hour. I'm sorry, but we're not out of the woods on this yet."
Steve let out a long breath, and after a beat, drew himself up, clearly ready to dig in. He hadn't forgotten the Kree's claims that they were 'protecting' the Earth by invading it, but he had hoped… He looked toward the group of little kids playing with the heroes who had come to help rebuild and sighed again. "Right. I'll get everyone prepped here. We'll scramble whoever and whatever we have available." With that, he put away the comm and looked toward the others. A few people had already stopped what they were doing — those with enhanced hearing were already ready to move.
"Tony, can you take the kids somewhere?" Steve asked.
"Kurt can take 'em to the girls," Logan suggested. "Annie too. No one will bother 'em there."
"I thought they were just staying at someone's house," Tony said. "Not exactly top shelf security if it's just suburbia, right?"
"It's not suburbia," Logan said with an amused sort of expression on his face at Tony's assumption. "The only people that know where it is are there now — and Kurt, Scott, and I." He looked at their disbelieving expressions for a minute. "It's on a lake. That's all I can tell you without bringing down hell."
"Whose place is it, anyway?" Laura cut in — she'd overheard the whole thing, and it wasn't like they were being quiet about it.
"It's K's cabin," Scott said before Logan could answer. "Very tucked away and well hidden."
"Sounds cozy," Gabby said brightly, and Logan couldn't help but give her a little wink at her enthusiasm.
"It is," Kurt agreed with a little smile before he directed the bamfs to get everyone who wasn't a hero to safety — including Scott's family, who went to K's cabin to join in the fun with the girls there.
"You'll get a chance to see it one of these days, I'm sure," Logan said to Gabby when she made her way over to stand by him as the group said their goodbyes to the little ones.
"Chance is going to get so spoiled," Forge told Storm under his breath, and she couldn't help but laugh and nod her agreement at his assessment.
But with the kids squared away, that meant the heroes could get geared up for the new fight — and Tony was the first to notice a distinct absence in the Avengers' numbers that he simply hadn't accounted for, not with how everyone was coming and going from the work site.
"Anyone seen Widow or Hawkeye?" Tony asked suddenly.
"About that," Logan said as he and Kurt shared a look. "They're on their honeymoon. Not to be disturbed."
"Ha ha," Tony said, clearly not believing him.
"I performed the ceremony myself," Kurt said with a nod.
Half of the people present — and close enough to hear — sort of paused on hearing it. Steve was smirking to himself, but Tony still seemed to be in disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait," he said, holding up both hands in front of him. "You mean they actually… you mean they finally… what?"
"He's now Mr. Romanoff," Logan said with a smirk.
"That's an accurate description," Peter chuckled, shaking his head. "Go Mama Spider."
"When did this happen?" Steve asked. He didn't seem quite as shocked as Tony or some of the others — if anything, he looked honestly amused.
"When we started clean up," Logan replied. "That's where we took off to for a little bit there."
"And here we were figuring it was party time at the house you were hiding your ladies at," Tony muttered out, shaking his head.
"We didn't say it wasn't," Kurt replied with a grin.
"It always is," Logan added, smirking crookedly.
"We can come up with appropriate wedding presents later," Steve suggested. "Right now — we have Shi'ar to deal with. Let's make them turn around before it gets to the point we have to call those two from their honeymoon, huh?"
The group as a whole fell into agreement as they gathered up to find out what Fury could tell them before the first wave of invasion came in. The director had decided to leave the helicarrier and come to them so they could see the full force of his annoyance with yet another alien invasion so close on the heels of the first, and it was plain for everyone to see when he stepped off the transport that brought him to the half-finished mansion that he was just done.
"I'll give the Kree this: they weren't lying. At least not entirely. But that's all I can say for 'em," Fury half spit out. "Their advance forces to slow down the Shi'ar didn't do more than give them a bloody nose — they were too tied up here trying to beat us into 'protection' instead of doing their jobs stopping the Shi'ar."
"How big of a force are we looking at?" Scott asked. "We can give you tips on how to stop them fastest. We've had enough dealings with them."
Fury gave Scott a dry look for a moment before he explained, "It's about the same size as that first fleet of Kree — but SWORD says they're better armed than the Kree."
"Which made their push to take over Earth that much more a waste of their time," Scott muttered to himself.
"How long have we got, Nick?" Logan asked.
"Forty-five minutes, best case scenario," he said frankly.
Logan swore loudly and colorfully, his hands on his hips as he started to pace, with Gabby following suit just because she could.
Steve frowned and turned to Scott. "Anything we have left, let's get it in the air — see if we can convince them it's not worth it to keep coming."
When Scott nodded his agreement, the two team leaders made a quick assessment of what jets and craft they had at their disposal, as well as what heroes were available — and very shortly after that, half of the teams were in the air, with the other half making a rush to defend Earth from the ground if the aerial assault didn't work.
Logan couldn't help but take to the comms to try and inform the less exposed young heroes on how best to quickly dispatch the Shi'ar in detail enough that Noh was even smirking and nodding in grim agreement and anticipation. It was obvious the Kree fighter, too, was itching for this fight — and glad to be fighting back an invasion that wasn't his own people, though he didn't say as much out loud.
The mad rush to get spacebound was how Tony found himself in a Quinjet sitting next to Magneto, of all people. He was still trying to figure out how that had worked out or if Steve was screwing with him on that point. It was subtle enough and obnoxious enough that it sure sounded like one of Steve's set ups, anyhow.
He stayed well away from the metal-manipulating mutant, perfectly aware of the fact that he was sitting in a suit that the man could twist and bend to his will without a second thought — and praying the X-Men were right when they said he was on their side.
"You're sure this craft is sound for space travel?" Erik asked, his expression almost critical as he looked at the way it was put together, then turned with an interested look Tony's way.
Tony blinked for a moment, confused at the insinuation, before he nodded. "Yeah, I've taken it up a few times to fight the Kree, and she hasn't let me down yet," he said, patting the side of the console affectionately.
Erik made an almost amused sort of sound. "I'll admit, I always wondered why the Avengers never tried to come to Avalon," he mused, practically to himself, before he looked out the window at the bits of debris floating in orbit.
"Yeah, believe me — we've already heard the dressing down on that one about a dozen times," Tony muttered nearly as quietly.
Erik turned his way with a smile that might have passed for friendly if Tony didn't know what the guy was capable of. "Bygones. You have nothing to fear. Not from me, anyways."
"That's what the X-Men say anyway," Tony said.
"If they, of all people, can trust me even a little, then I'll be sure that trust isn't squandered," he promised.
Tony sort of halfway nodded Erik's way, though he was distracted by the chatter on the comms as the first of the heroes in the sky met up with the Shi'ar forces.
"Thought Fury said this was about the same size fleet as the first Kree wave," Peter shouted in his almost panicked tone from one of the other Quinjets. "This is… it's definitely bigger than that!"
"He did say they were better armed," Teddy pointed out. "If you're scared, Billy and I can take them out for you," he added, the teasing obvious even over the comms. Almost to illustrate the point, Tony could see the small, maneuverable jet some of the former Young Avengers had borrowed from SHIELD zipping in to engage the Shi'ar, scoring a few hits as they were speedy enough to get in under the radar and start to poke at the fleet.
The others engaged as well, not wanting to leave the younger heroes hanging. "Leave some for the rest of us," America teased as she and Noh zipped in as well — in a borrowed SHIELD craft, since Noh's was still MIA.
"I'm sure there are plenty to go around. No need to squabble over dirty alien craft," Tony replied over the comms as he began his mental calculations on the best method of attack from their vantage point. After a moment, he turned to Erik when it was plain that the best thing he could do was to take advantage of his suit's flight maneuverability and blindside them. "You can fly this thing, right? I mean ... I'm going to have to go out there … "
"The last thing you have to worry about is me crashing your craft, Mr. Stark," Erik said with a smirk.
Tony spared him a look for a second before his faceplate slammed shut, and he was about to exit the craft when a mayday from the Young Avengers' craft came over the comms — they'd taken a direct hit. No sooner had the mayday come through, though, then the entire jet burst into flames.
Erik was on his feet, staring out the window in both shock and fury, trying to take in what had happened. It was clear he had barely had time to even register the loss — but still somehow enough time to look much more murderous than he had just been — when both he and Tony startled at a sharp popping noise and flash of light… and turned to find the kids from the craft in their cargo area.
"Somewheresafe somewheresafe somewheresafe," Billy was still chanting with his eyes closed before he peeked one open. He had one hand on Cassie and the other wrapped around Teddy, with Tommy half-clinging to his brother's arm, and all four looked to be terrified and slightly burned — but completely fine otherwise. When Billy saw that they were safe, he let out a long, loud sigh and leaned against Teddy. "That was too close."
Erik looked relieved for a moment, but his expression very suddenly shifted right back to absolutely thunderous. He locked his jaw and, without thinking about, it simply started to levitate as he raised his hands out in front of himself, a sneer on his lips.
Stark had to readjust his stance when the magnetic pull moved him several steps closer to Erik as the ex-supervillain concentrated on the Kree battleship that had fired the shot on the Young Avengers. Tony watched, wide-eyed, as Erik's hand simply closed into a fist — and the entire Shi'ar craft crumpled down into a wad of metal and broken glass.
"Oh, crap," Tony said, his eyebrows up behind his armor, grateful that his expression was hidden; he made a mental note to triple-check with Scott that this guy really was on their side. "Make a note," he said quietly to his onboard computer in the suit. "I want flight data where applicable on all non-metallic material sources capable of being viable armor."
Erik obviously hadn't heard Tony, or even the awed reactions from the Young Avengers as he continued his focus, moving his attention from one Shi'ar ship to another, and taking advantage of his increased power at this point in the Earth's orbit. It was more effortless for him here as he simply condensed the Shi'ar's fleet down to as small of a mass as the material would allow, one after another, without a word spoken.
Of course, that was fine for Erik, who was hyperfocused on the task at hand, but the rest of the people in Stark's ship had all fallen silent as they watched the master at work. There were consequences, of course — though Erik handled them as they appeared, almost as if the hull beginning to crumple toward him was a nuisance rather than a life threatening situation. Anything that looked structural or compromised the integrity of the hull, Erik patched as quickly as it started to bend.
There was a moment in the chatter of the Shi'ar communications where it was clear they simply didn't know what to do against this new, unseen adversary. They had no way of knowing where the danger was coming from, and their ships seemed to go into a confused sort of flurry as they tried to determined which ship to target — or where else they could turn their attention. At least, those ships that weren't crushed as Magneto picked up his pace, crushing them and flinging them into others — using the destroyed Shi'ar craft as projectiles to tear their ships in half almost as quickly as he was crushing them.
The invasion was over before it really began; the surviving Shi'ar ran back where they'd come from with their tails between their legs. They were clearly in a full and panicked retreat; they didn't know what kind of weapon or defense system they'd run up against. All they knew was that they didn't have a defense for it.
Once it was clear that they were headed the other way, however, the sudden magnetic pull that had begun to crumple the hull of Stark's ship simply … left, and Erik wearily slipped back into his chair.
"That's… uh, that's one way to stop an invasion," Tommy offered.
"Likely would have sped things along with the other one had I known it was going to take you all so long to get the job done," Erik replied.
"Yeah, that would have been nice," Tommy agreed, almost smirking now that the show was over. "Though to be fair — for me anyway? It feels like even longer."
"Oh?" Erik said with a raised eyebrow. "Then while we're talking about wasted time … Perhaps you can tell me why you've received several invitations from the X-Men to join their ranks in the interest of the greater good, but yet you continue to waste your talents?"
Billy gave his brother a look. "Yeah, Tommy. Why is that?"
Tommy looked between the others in the Quinjet quickly and realized that they actually expected an answer before he looked down for a second and scuffed his toe on the floor. "Um…."
"We're in the process of rebuilding Charles' school," Erik said, not waiting for an answer. "I trust you know where that is, at least? Or shall I need to draw you a map?"
"No, I've been there," Tommy said, suddenly aware that he couldn't just run away in space.
"Then you'll have no trouble showing up once it's reopened its doors," Erik said. "Unless you want me to have to track you down and drag you back by your ear."
Tommy made a face. "You'd have to catch me first."
He turned to smirk at him for a moment with an almost wicked gleam in his eyes. "If you think that I don't know how to catch a speedster, you're sorely mistaken. But if I'm feeling lazy, I'm sure your brother could help me in that department."
Billy grinned at that. "Oh definitely," he agreed, and Tommy looked betrayed.
"Traitor," Tommy muttered toward his brother, which only had the other Young Avengers laughing.
"It's not a punishment," Erik insisted without even a touch of heat. "It's important for the two of you to be on the right side of history as it's written. Not following in my footsteps or standing on the sidelines."
"C'mon, Tommy," Cassie said in a cajoling sort of voice, almost a whisper. "I'm joining the team too."
Erik looked her way, and saw the expression on Tommy's face. He couldn't help but meter his tone for her. "And you'll do beautifully, my dear."
Tommy glanced around at his friends before his gaze found Erik's. "Are you gonna be weird about it if I join the team while you're living there?" he asked outright.
Erik scoffed. "Cyclops is and will remain team leader unless he comes to an agreement with someone else," Erik said in an almost bored tone. "I have no intention or interest in anything but helping to build the team up to where it belongs. I won't even be a part of it unless there's special cause."
Tommy looked around again and seemed to have run out of reasons to say no, so he let out a breath. "Okay, okay, I'll try the team thing," he half-muttered, holding up both hands in a gesture of defeat that didn't last long when Cassie simply wrapped him up in a hug, complete with a little 'yay!' that had him laughing despite himself.