"Henry, are you down here?" Kavita called down the steps.
"Down here, dear," he called back, and Kavita walked down the steps into the lab.
"Things are coming along nicely in here," Kavita said, looking around as Hank unpacked boxes, arranging things in the new X-Lab.
"Yes, it's much more space than before," Hank said, looking around at his handy work.
"You're doing wonderful," Kavita smiled, patting his shoulder. "Where's Ayesha?"
"I believe she's upstairs with Temperance and Christian. Gwen was around here somewhere, but I sent her out for my toolbox an hour ago and she has yet to return."
Kavita smiled and patted his cheek. "She's watching television in the living room."
"Of course she is," Hank sighed, and he went back to work unpacking things. Kavita smiled and helped her husband, and they looked up as Ayesha came down the stairs, holding her fathers tool box.
"Ah, there it is!" Hank said, taking it from her.
"Gwen said to give that to you. She was busy."
"With what?"
"Something about making sure the television quality was ok."
Hank pushed some of Ayesha's blue hair from her face. "Thank you, sweetie."
Ayesha, who was sixteen, had ordinary human features, despite her long hair, which was a dark blue. Her skin was a light tan color from her mother's side, and she had her father's originally-blue eyes.
"How's the Danger Room coming?" Hank asked as he swung himself on top of a shelf, screwing in a light bulb.
"Great," Ayesha said. "Forge and Logan are working on it now. Bobby and Kurt are cleaning Cerebro, and Emma and Jean are rewiring the Cerebra system."
"I still don't understand the point of having both Cerebro and Cerebra," Kavita said.
"It's all about keeping an eye on things, Vita," Hank said.
"Hmm. Well, when will Ororo and Alexander arrive?" Kavita asked.
"They should be on their way," Ayesha said, swinging herself on top of a piece of heavy machinery. "Dad, you missed a place."
"Did I? My mistake." Hank jumped to where his daughter was, and Kavita shook her head.
"It makes me so lonely when you two do that."
Hank smiled, handing upside down from the ceiling. "I'm sorry, are you a huge, blue cat?"
"No, but I married one," Kavita said dryly, but with a smile.
"Henry?" called a familiar voice.
"Ororo!" He exclaimed, dropping down to great his old friend. The two hugged, and Hank looked at her. "You look well."
"I'm very well indeed. Look at this place!" she said with a wave of her arm. "It looks fantastic."
"Hey, Alex," Ayesha said with a wave from where she hung upside down, using a power drill.
"Ayesha," Alex smiled. Alex, who was sixteen as well, had dark skin and hair, but his mother's bright blue eyes. He was a Level Five Omega telepath, and his eyes turned white while using his powers, not unlike his mother's.
"I'm glad you're here, Alex," Hank said. "I need you to see if you can give Cerebra a kick start."
"Sure," Alex said. "Where too?"
Hank led Alex away, and Kavita and Ororo made idle chit-chat. As Ayesha finished her project, she jumped down and made her ways back upstairs. "Hey, Gwen, why don't you get off your lazy butt and –" She stopped in her tracks. Gwen sat in the living room, along with Christian and Temperance, plus some others. She recognized Evalyn and Claus right away, and even Nikita, Jake, and Raquel. She did not recognize three others, though – a girl with long black hair, wearing low rider jeans and a S.H.I.E.L.D. T-Shirt; A girl with long brown hair, whose eyes were hidden behind red sunglasses; and a muscular boy with red-brown hair and green eyes that looked like the second girls brother.
"Um, hi," Ayesha said.
"Ayesha," Christian said. "This is Selena LeBeau. She's the daughter of Rogue and Remy." She gave a nod.
"And this is Andrea and Nicolas Summers. They're Scott and Jeans kids." Andrea gave a curt nod, and Nicolas smiled.
"Nice to meet you," Ayesha said. She turned and saw Alex behind her. "I'm sure you all know Alex Munroe?"
"Most of them do," Alex said, smiling.
"Great. So, is this the team?" Ayesha asked. "The thirteen of us?"
"Guess so," Nicolas Summers said. "So, who's team leader?"
"That would be me," Temperance said, stepping forward. "At least, that's what my father told me." She looked around the room. "I want you all to know, I've been training for this day my whole life – the day I'd become team leader of the X-Men. I know how important this is, and I swear I won't let you guys down."
"So, what exactly do we do, Miss Team Leader?" Selena asked. "Run around in goofy outfits? Come on. How many of you really signed up for this?" She waited, seeing everyone's hand go up, and she snorted. "For real? You guys want to get your asses kicked? Look, whatever blew up this place eighteen years ago was enough to break up the original X-Men. Who's to say it won't happen again? I have a job. I'm one of the few people on this planet that likes working with S.H.I.E.L.D. And, no offense, but I feel like I could put my powers to better use actually helping the world instead of running around trying to stop some robots that don't even exist!"
"Spoken like a true agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.," said a gruff voice from behind the students.
They all turned, and Selena gasped. "I – I . . . Colonel Fury! But you're . . . you . . ."
"Director Fury, it's an honor to meet you!" Nicolas said, shaking hands with him. "I have looked up to you since forever!"
"You must be Nick Summers. I heard one of the X-Men named their kid after me."
"Yes, sir, that's me."
"And you must be Selena LeBeau," Fury said, looking straight at her. "Well. I wasn't expecting you. You're so much . . . well, more than I was expecting."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
Fury paused. "Dugan tells me you're on hell of an agent."
"Not to be arrogant sir, but I've been called the best."
"Now that's spoken like a true agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Alex whispered to Gwen, who grinned.
"Colonel – no disrespect, but . . . what are you doing here?" Nick asked.
"I was asked here by Mrs. Emma Frost-Howlett," Fury said. "Sees you muties need a hand in gaining some political popularity. Now, I may be supposedly dead, but I have some friends in high places – who have more friends in higher places – that can get you that popularity."
"That's very generous of you, sir," Andrea said. "But I think we can manage on our own."
Fury turned to her and inspected her. "Now you have to be Scott Summers kid. Listen, I know how you young kids are – you think you can handle everything yourselves. Well, here's some news: You can't. Plain and simple. I'm sorry, Miss Summers, but you're going to need my help. Understood?"
Andrea clenched her teeth. "Yes. Sir."
Fury gave a trace of a smile, nodded to Selena, and left the room.