"Raven Darkholme. Mystique. Taking care of my boys," Raven stated crossing her arms, glaring at the one way mirror.
"How… how did you do that?" the Voice asked in a most confused tone.
-Brotherhood Front Lawn-
Raven Darkholme, the shape-shifter known as Mystique, stood on her front lawn in her business skirt surveying the destruction that beheld her beloved house and her beloved idiots.
"Before she showed up…" Fury trailed off shaking his head, "This was supposed to be a textbook extraction and pickup…" Fury sighed out, "How could it go so wrong…" he reached for his comm. link, "Cancel pick up."
"Oh you are dead!" Regan exclaimed a smile gracing her lips, "You are so dead I don't even want to be near you!"
Raven made her way to the only two conscious members of her family, "Do you understand how many of these girls are pregnant?" she asked in a most sinister tone.
"I'm okay Mom! They gave me some juice!" Amara exclaimed taking several sips from her cup.
"Yeah and aside from watching Lance get beaten into a past life, I'm fine too," Regan chimed in.
"Good," Raven said turning her attention to the trespassers, "Now, which one of you is going to get his balls handed to him by a woman one third your size?" she asked with a small smirk.
"I'd stay out of her kill zone if I were you, you steroid induced freaks," Regan quipped without missing a beat.
Thor walked toward the woman, "How much of a threat can she be? She is but a tiny blue woman," he said placing a hand on Raven's shoulder.
"Thor don't!" Fury exclaimed an instant too late as Raven picked up the Thunder God and threw him across the lawn and into a brick wall.
Raven clapped the dust off her hands and turned to face Fury, "Care to tell me why my boys are laying in a smoldering heap?" she asked in a violent tone.
It was at that very moment the ground began to tremble.
"Thor, could you knock off the elemental crap?" Fury turned to face the Thunder God.
"This is not my doing," Thor responded swiftly getting to his feet.
The ground began to ripple like water.
"Did you make sure he was out!?" Fury exclaimed looking to Tony.
Tony shrugged, "Damn thug wiped out all my sensors with those vibrations," he stated defensively.
And with that Lance got to his feet by sheer force of will, "Before I bury you all face down I'm gonna ask you one question… What do you want, Fury?" he asked the ground calming ever so slightly.
"I have a proposition for you and the Dream Team," Fury said crossing his arms in a manner that stated he would not be leaving without the answer he wanted to hear.
Finally, as if to add insult to injury, the third floor of the mansion exploded, "Is my life just a lightning rod for bullshit and black eyes!?" Lance exclaimed to the Heavens as the rest of the Brotherhood slowly began to shake themselves into consciousness.
"Fat government paychecks, tax exempt status, full benefits, employment and disability pension and the best retirement plan in the world. You and your families will be taken care of indefinitely," Fury stated gaining the attention of the boys, "It can all be yours if you decide to be sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D."
Lance's vibrations suddenly stopped.
"He means if we decide to be government lackeys, yo," Todd said now sitting on the ground, "Newsflash Fury, we ain't lackeys for no one anymore."
"I don't wanna be a lackey again, Lance," Freddy said glaring at Fury.
"Oih can't even spell lackey!" St. John exclaimed trying to stand up straight.
"Johnny we talked about this… the courts said you're not allowed to spell anymore," Pietro quipped stretching out his back.
Lance could only look at his brethren with an expression that was far from reassuring but not quite hopeless.
Fury reached for his comm. link, "Extraction required," was all he said into the tiny microphone.
Suddenly finding his voice, "What happens if we refuse? Gonna throw us into some third world prison?" Lance asked staring Fury dead in the eye.
Fury chuckled, "Believe it or not Alvers, you and your little friends are an asset. One I hope to mold into an elite Mutant Strike Force, a strike force that the average Joe can see every night on the five o'clock news…" he trailed off for a moment, "But if you do refuse… I will do everything in my power to make your lives a living hell," he stared into Lance's eyes, "Darkholme, the Allerdyce couple, the Maximoff twins and their children… I can deport every last one of them and make it so they can't step foot in this country again without a cavity search their ancestors will feel," he said with a small nod.
"You're sick, yo," Todd stated from the ground.
"Asked for the rest of you…" Fury turned his attention to the young amphibian, "You won't be able to jaywalk without one of my Avengers landing on your head. I just may move them here to make sure you punks don't get out of line," Fury responded with a smirk.
"You're just gonna rain down on us like that?" Freddy asked readying himself for another fight, "We didn't do nothing!"
"And that's your problem Mr. Dukes, you're a victim of your own success," Fury said crossing his arms.
"What success?" Pietro asked eyeing the general warily, "We can't even buy tacos without something exploding."
"How bout when you punks stepped up and beat Magneto? Or the time you killed that demon in the middle of the park? Or the not one, but two times you went up against Sinister and his Marauders? Or, now this one is my personal favorite, how you took down the bigot church of your leader's son," Fury said his smirk growing ever wider, "Face it, you punks were made for stuff like this."
"So, basically, we're the only ones stupid enough to try and tough enough to come out on top?" Lance asked shaking his head.
"You can be cynical on your own time punk, when you're on my time you're playing hero," Fury said reaching for his comm. link, "We need pick up, scratch Brotherhood containment," he then turned back to face Lance and the Brotherhood, "Don't go skipping town on me."
Lance stared at Fury mulling over the one word that had always caused him turmoil… 'Hero.'
Could the Brotherhood Boys of Bayville shed their thug image in order to help the population at large or had thug nature landed them in the exact situation they were ill prepared for?
A helicopter slowly descended from the sky and touched down on the lawn.
"Consider the offer, it'll only be on the table for seventy-two hours," Fury said as he signaled his team to board the chopper, "Avengers, we're moving out."
"So we don't get to keep the kids?" Henry asked still holding onto the twins.
"If I could move, you'd both be dead…" Wanda groaned out, "And I don't mean that as a generic threat, I mean six feet under, dead!"
"That would be a no," Henry said with a small nod handing the twins to a disgruntled Pietro.
With that Fury and his Mighty Avengers boarded the helicopter and rose into the sky.
Lance's gaze only left the aircraft after it was out of sight over the horizon, "Boys… we got three days to come up with an exit strategy or take Fury up on his offer…" he said with a small sigh, "I got the feeling I've just been out thugged."
"We don't get out thugged Lance!" Todd exclaimed hopping to his leader's side.
"Yeah! We do the thugging!" Freddy shouted, slapping Lance on the back sending him tumbling to the ground.
"Oih got a degree in thuggenomics," St. John said holding up a diploma.
Lance rubbed his head and looked at his brethren, "Yeah… thuggery is our best skill," he said with a nod that did little to betray his inner turmoil.
"I don't know whether to be proud or wonder how you people made it through high school English," Regan said in a dry tone.
"We don't have time for snip, we have to figure out a way to get out of here," Wanda said finally getting to her feet.
"Get out of here? We're legal citizens, we shouldn't have to just pick up and leave," Regan said squaring herself in front of Wanda.
"You're legal citizens," Wanda corrected her, "The rest of us are here on piss poor circumstances."
"Why do we have to run? Can't we fight them? The X-Men could help us," Amara said still sipping her juice.
"We can't fight them, they tore us apart," Karima said with a sigh as she rubbed her temple.
"Not to mention, half the X-Men wouldn't mind us being broken up and the other half would get thrown out of the country with us," Wanda said quietly.
"Well we can't run to Magneto's island kingdom either," Regan said returning her attention to Wanda, "We have lives here."
"Great lives. Beating up the X-Men, rebuilding our house and a bar that's failed every health inspection known to man," Wanda quipped crossing her arms in frustration.
Lance stayed dangerously quiet, allowing the argument to wash over him.
Pietro walked to Lance's side and just stood next to him, "What do you think, Lance?"