Cheshire ... Canuckle ... not sure what else I got to say except big thanks for ... well ... everything : )

Also, everyone should check out checkout the amazing artwork Cheshire is starting to post at /blog/906universe. The current artwork is really the perfect artcover for last chapter so ... do yourself a favor and check that out.

Also, in case I forgot, Vanyss is based on the character from Soulfire. In case you want a better idea of what she looks like.


Apex was meditating in the forest when his ear gave the slightest twitch at the sound ... but otherwise he didn't move.

Greer held her breath, focused on keeping her tail from swinging, and when nothing else happened she slowly stalked forwards, taking time to feel the earth shift beneath her claws. She grinned. As far as she could tell ... she was stone cold silent. When she finally ran out of cover bolted towards the giant panther. She was about to let out a roar of triumph when in a whirl she found herself once again on her back and staring up into amber.

"That was better."

Greer rolled her eyes at the rumble but purred as she felt the hands that had been holding her wrists start to drift downwards and Colton's muzzle find her neck.

"You keep ... saying that ..." Greer managed out but Colton seemed otherwise occupied to give an answer. Greer smirked as she slowly moved her tail around Colton's.

"I am gonna get you ... you know that ... right?" Greer fought to keep herself together as a claw flitted around her waste.

"Course you are." Apex almost sounded patronizing.

"But that doesn't mean," Greer braced her legs, "that you'll ever catch me!"

With a yank of her tail around the base of Colton's Greer managed to catch the panther by surprise as he slipped backwards and with a roar he gave chase after the laughing tigress as she flitted between the trees. She slid at the last moment as Colton hurtled above her and changed direction towards the lake and cut to her left just in time and soon found herself laughing hysterically as Colton glowered at her as he slowly stood up dripping about a dozen yards into the water.

"H - Hold on ... I think I need a pic - crap!" She'd barely got her phone out before she was running again, her laughter filling the forest until she finally relented and bounding off a tree hurtled herself into the oncoming Colton and when Greer once again found herself underneath him ... but this time she didn't complain.

As the two finally headed back Greer mentally congratulated and kicked herself at the same time. The congratulation part came from deciding to politely but firmly convincing her mom that as much as she loved spending time with her ... it really was time to head back to the city. If what she had in mind was really going to work she needed her mom far away ... both for her own sanity and to get Colton to lighten up. Though she had to admit the hug-filled goodbye between Marie and Vanyss had been a bit of a surprise ... but right - back to congratulating herself. The second part of her plan had been to actually steal a bit from the now absent Mr. and Mrs. Howlett.

She'd tried and tried to get Colton to catch the hint that she wanted them to be more serious and had finally just ... well ... playing games with him. She didn't know how else to describe it but it just ... it felt natural. At first she was pretty sure Colton had thought she was testing him, or even a bit crazy - hell she thought she was crazy the first time she lept at him out of the blue - but a little stalking, pinning, and trying to get him to catch her seemed to work wonders. It didn't take long for the panther to get into it and just as quickly Greer was getting the attention and signals she'd been waiting for. She'd even been the one to instigate a number of nuzzling sessions in public ... though she did try and get the growling down from Colton whenever anyone got close to her when they were together.

It was sweet but she unnecessary.

The part of her scolding herself was just wondering what had taken her so long ... and annoyingly that particular voice liked to sound like a very smug K.

Grinning Greer slipped next to Colton who wrapped an arm around her waist. School would be starting by the end of the month and both knew they wouldn't have as much time like this ... but seemed committed to making the most of it while it lasted.


He was pacing again. He'd picked the luxurious Soho penthouse before he realized it belonged to that celebrity who was currently standing in the corner in one of the bedrooms silently counting to a million. She'd been fun for the last couple days but now he was bored. He hated when he was bored ... because then he thought of her.

Jessica

He hated her ... and wanted her.

She really thought she could just kill him? That he couldn't place the idea in her head all those months ago ... just in case? To make her see what he wanted when he was this powerful? She'd come back to him ... Of course she would ... She needed him ... He would make her need him ...

"Everyone does what I say ... Everyone!" His English accented yell seemed to echo around the luxurious penthouse as he panted but quickly pulled himself together, fixing the knot on the silk robe he'd taken from the closet and carefully pushing his hair back into place.

"Everyone listens to me..." He hissed.

He was about to go back to his pacing but came up short when seemingly out of nowhere the single most bizarre thing stepped from the shadows. And he had seen plenty of bizarre.

"What the bloody hell are you?" He slowly backpeddaled and braced himself on the marble island but the - the giant panther standing on two feet just looked at him, it's tail gently swaying. The man worked to remain in control. He was always in control. It wasn't like he was in any type of danger after all.

"Well don't just bloody stand there ... tell me what you are."

He waited for an answer ... but nothing happened.

"You have a name don't you? Did- did Jessica send you? Tell me - wait ... what're you - stop!"

Panic started to set in as the beast stalked towards him and didn't slow down.

"I said stop! Butler jump off the roof! All of you jump off the roof!" He screamed, expecting the panther to be like those other 'heroes' and stop to go save those precious lives. But as the first body fell by the window it didn't slow down. The only change was a low growl that made his heart rate spike. Soon he was trapped in a corner and was babbling, caught between begging and threatening.

"What do you want?! I - I can get you whatever you want ... Don't - Don't you know who I am? I'm Kilgrave! I'm bloody fuckin' GAAAAAAHRRR! -"

...

"Was that really necessary?" Widow looked with a mixture of disinterest and contempt as a team of medics swarmed around the armed guards that led the bloodied but still irate and unintelligible Kilgrave onto the SHIELD transport.

Apex didn't seem interested in answering as he pulled out the sound-cancelling earplugs he'd had in.

"You ripped out his tongue." Widow's tone didn't sound pleased.

"All Fury said was that he wanted him off the board. He never specified he needed to talk."

Widow fixed him with a look as she crossed her arms. She was never really comfortable dealing with Apex. Men she could read ... hell even men who thought they were gods she could handle. Women were sometimes even easier. Being able to read people was an advantage she could always rely on. But Apex ... she could never read that face. Personally she blamed the muzzle.

Widow shook her head.

"You should give me more credit ... unless that 'dumb beast' routine really works on other people."

There was a dull thump as Apex's tail hit the darkened tarmac that didn't exist on any map.

"He's one of the most powerful command inducement mutants I've ever seen."

Now Widow could smirk a little. Maybe she gave herself too little credit.

"And you didn't trust him with us?"

Apex snorted.

"I don't trust you at all."

Natasha nodded her head as if agreeing with him.

"Fair enough," she made a gesture and a soldier from the plane ran down and handed her a file, "Fury said this should be what you were looking for."

Apex didn't open the files when he took them from Widow. Fury knew better than to give him bad intel. He valued Romanoff enough not to want him to kill her over something that trivial. Besides ... he had a sense Hawkeye was out there somewhere.

"What's K doing with Stark?" Apex called out as the plane's jets came alive. This time Natahsa gave a real smile.

"Afraid you'll have to ask her yourself!" She yelled back over her shoulder.

Apex watched the jet rise and fly off into the night, slipped the folder titled under his kevlar and headed home.


"I can't believe it ... It just - it defies all logic."

Greer slowed on her way past one of the living rooms to see Jean, Betsy, Kitty and Rogue all standing behind a pretty good sized amount of students all staring at the TV. At this point there was only one thing that could mean.

"Are they really out again?" Greer slipped next to Rogue who simply pointed at the TV.

"Look for yer self." Rogue sounded clearly amused.

Greer saw they were watching some entertainment channel but lost track of what the host was saying as the image of Tony Stark and a very well dressed K popped up on screen. Stark's arm was wrapped around K's waste and K was looking at him like she had been for the last two weeks ... like she was enjoying it.

"What the hell is going on? I thought - aren't her and Logan supposed to be lost someplace on their honeymoon?" Greer mumbled out what had been said at least a hundred times as Betsy let out a laugh and Jean simply made a face.

"She marries Logan and now she's shacked up with Tony Stark and that dress isn't even supposed to be released for two seasons. I know ... I checked the mind of the designer."

"Wait ... no one's at all confused as to what K is actually doing with Stark?"

It was a well established fact that Tony had a thing for K and, as more pictures of him and K showed up on screen and even in some magazines, the fact that he wasn't dead might mean Logan was clawing his way up from some sea trench. But the room gave a uniform shrug and rehashed some of the more popular theories. Greer noticed some of the guys walking but and while most of them stopped to catch a look at the screen Greer raised an eyebrow as Scott gave the screen the briefest of looks before frowning and quickly moving on.

Greer gave Jean a glance and followed Scott's scent to his office. She was about to knock when her ears flicked straight up as she could hear Scott speaking to someone.

"You really need to parade around like that Tony? ... I don't care about your damn social life she's supposed to be there to protect you not up your Q rating ... No I will not calm down ... I want to hear that from her ... Well does Logan - ... I know she can handle herself but this isn't some game Stark ..."

Greer carefully slipped off her heels and silently backed away from the door until she was safe around the corner and let out the breath she'd been holding. She worked her claws through her hair as she worked out what she'd overheard.

OK ... So Scott knows what K's up to with Stark and Logan's in on it. Well that was good news ... it meant she had back up. But what kind of situation was desperate enough that K would even agree to protect Stark? If it was anyone else she'd guess Stark might have paid her but K would sooner lose her claws than take money from Stark ... at least for something like that.

Feeling anxious Greer considered calling Logan but thought better of it. If he'd wanted her to know he would have told her. The important thing was K and Logan were together ... and that was about as safe a situation as she could really hope for. Giving herself a self-assuring nod, the tigress slipped her shoes back on and headed back downstairs.

But she couldn't help but wish those two ferals would just get back already.


The new fall semester was fast approaching and the staff of Xavier's were busy greeting new students, figuring out lesson plans, and taking care of all of their regular X-Men duties ... which included heading out to pick up those kids that needed them even before classes started.

Greer was just as busy as anybody else, the fact Logan and K had yet to come back not making things any easier, but she also had an additional focus ... Vanyss.

She'd never quite gotten out of Colton what he'd said to the girl but over the last couple of weeks the young gargoyle had finally come out of her room and could be found around the Mansion mostly keeping to herself ... though Greer could hear her muttering to herself in French and glaring at the steadily growing student body. But at least around Greer she was showing a bit of the young woman that had lived in Paris. Vanyss could be insanely funny when she was interested in something enough to be snarky about it ... it actually reminded her a bit of K. And the girl was an amazing seamstress. Apparently unhappy with Hanna's alterations, the gargoyles had taken it upon herself to alter her own clothes and had even helped Greer out.

She'd even taken to eating breakfast with her and Colton and the fact the girl could make the most amazing coffee didn't hurt either as far as Greer was concerned. Though things hadn't been perfect ... Vanyss had seemed a bit mad at the giant panther at first, the two of them taking turns muttering across the table.

"Putain de chat… Je viens de vous empoisonner quand j'eu la chance …"*

"C'est impossible" Apex had replied simply and that had gotten very Parisian scoff from Vanyss. But the bickering had disappeared when one morning Colton suddenly turned and growled at some students openly ogling and pointing at Vaynss, which had led to more peaceful exchanges between the two and less of Remy's sudden snickers from the opposite table.

Of course, at first Vanyss wanting to spend time with Greer had been well ... exciting. Greer had always felt like the one latching on to people and to have someone that actually needed her for a change ... well it actually made Greer feel rather put together. Adult actually.

Although if Greer was totally honest ... having Vanyss play shadow was getting a bit wearing. Classes were just a couple days away and she was really trying to spend them getting ready for the new semester and the panther currently waiting upstairs to take her out. She'd finally agreed to head out to some woods or whatever Colton had talked her into when she'd been ... uhhh ... distracted in the shower last night.

But that didn't mean she intended to just ditch Vanyss. Greer had thought of something else to keep the sharp tongued gargoyle occupied.

"Vanyss ... hurry up! I've got a surprise for you!" Greer declared, her tail curling and uncurling rapidly from what she had planned. She had pulled a lot of strings, made a lot of negotiations and kind of sucked up to the purple haired ninja more than she would have liked to admit, but she finally found a way to help the newest resident of the mansion reach greater heights ... No pun intended.

She clasped her hands in anticipation as the oak door slowly creaked open before Vanyss peeped out dressed in some of the new clothes Kitty had bought for her. Greer did her best not to raise her eyebrows to Vanyss once again wearing sunglasses indoors. She chalked it up to a French thing or some personal fashion statement.

"Oui?" the young girl asked slowly and though Greer couldn't see the pupils behind the lenses, she knew the girl was scanning the corridor behind her for people and Greer's excited demeanor ebbed away slightly. That was a familiar sight. The tigress immediately positioned herself a little closer to Vanyss, using her height and essentially blocking her from other people in the corridor.

It occurred to Greer, more strongly than ever that she herself had been exactly like that six years ago. That behind that expressionless facade Vanyss was always trying to give off she was still far from comfortable with who she was. But she did give the girl credit ... when they had discussed inducers Vanyss had played with it for a day or two until declaring that she had no intention of doing something as pointless as deluding herself.

"There isn't a point. It won't change anything." she had snapped before tossing the arm band back into the box Greer had given her. Though Greer had noticed how sullen she had been for the rest of the night and opted to skip movie night with Jean and instead just kept the girl company outside on the deck for most of the night.

"C'mon…" she said gently and noticing the look Vanyss was giving her… She held out her arm with a grin, allowing the little gargoyle to hold onto it tightly as she was led out of the safety of her room.

Apex looked up expectantly as he heard Greer approach the kitchen, but before he could get up, he stopped himself and could only give a resigned wave at his girlfriend as she strolled past with Vanyss practically clinging onto her. He watched a little sullenly as the two of the headed towards the danger room ... Greer was supposed to be heading out into the woods with him today but that didn't seem likely to be happening anytime soon.

Listening closely, Apex caught the sound of Remy and Piotr playing pool. With a shrug, he headed in their direction. Looking back over the last few months he knew he had done his best to keep to himself and had ... neglected most of the other people in the Mansion. He didn't feel bad about it per say but knew some form of apology was probably expected. Annihilating Remy in pool would at least give Piotr something to laugh about.

Downstairs, Greer and Vanyss stepped out of the elevator and headed for the Danger Room. Vanyss trailed behind a bit as she looked around ... she hadn't been allowed down here yet.

"So are you excited for classes to start? Get a chance to sign up for any extras? I bet you'd kill in Betsy's fashion design class." Greer said brightly but Vanyss quickly shook her head. She'd signed up for classes ... wasn't that enough?

"That's OK ... you still have plenty of time. Did you make any new friends? Chloe said you two talked for a bit the other day in the library." This time Vanyss gave a noncommittal shrug of her wings as she kept her eyes elsewhere, taking her sunglasses off to get a better look at things.

Greer meanwhile was trying to keep the enthusiasm for her surprise and reminded herself that this was exactly why she was doing this. Vanyss had been in the mansion for over a pretty long time and Greer had never seen the girl show any remote interest in … anything. Or anyone for that matter. I mean sure, Xavier had a pretty flexible teaching schedule to allow the more… traumatized students to settle in properly but Vanyss seemed to just refuse to settle.

"No this will work. She has to learn to like something," Greer assured herself as the two reached the danger room. Greer grinned at the younger girl before gesturing for her to enter.

She tried to keep from smiling to when she heard Vanyss gasp.

"Vanyss, this is Professor Warren. And he's going to teach you how to fly." Greer had thought about this a lot. She knew that Vanyss could fly but having seen her a couple times she wouldn't say the gargoyle was exactly good at it. And at a school full of gifted kids Greer knew that Vanyss would have way more confidence if she could fly comfortably before classes got underway. Not to mention the whole falling out of the sky thing ...

But when Greer turned to look back for Vanyss's reaction she was gone. One minute Vanyss was standing next to her, looking at Warren who had spread his wings as he stepped forward to say hi, and the next she was bolting out of the doors as Warren dropped his hand. The three instructors stared at each other in confusion before Warren coughed uncomfortably.

"Did I do something?" he asked sheepishly.

"Just ... don't move. Gimme a second." Greer said trying to not get flustered as she went after Vanyss who was headed straight for the elevators.

"Hey! Vanyss what are you -"

"Why?" Vanyss growled as she whipped around with her arms crossed. Greer was a bit lost for words.

"Why what?"

"Why did you get another instructor for me? I thought you were going to be my instructor!" Vanyss shouted accusingly, the spines on her back pointed menacingly upwards, "You just want to get rid of me don't you? You're growing tired of me ... again."

Greer shook her head as if the teenager had slapped her.

"What… no! Of course not Vanyss," Greer tried to reason, simply at lost as to why this girl was reacting so violently all of the sudden.

"Then why are you getting other instructors for me? And why… WHY THEM?!" Vanyss spat.

"Them?"

"Yeah them! Professor Braddock and Professor Warren! I don't want them to teach me ... I want you to teach me!" and the gargoyle once again headed for the elevator as her wings flared out in agitation.

There was a pause as Greer's mind tried to grasp the situation at hand. Why was Vanyss acting like this? It was ... frustrating. What did the kid expect ... it wasn't like she could fly or spend every second with her. She needed time to breathe, spend time with Colton ... hell spend some time alone. And Vanyss needed to learn how to get along with people other then the her and nail the flying stuff. This whole business of Vanyss getting upset and storming off to her room for the rest of the day was getting old.

Taking a calming breath, Greer once again walked after Vanyss and leaned on the wall as Vanyss waited impatiently for an elevator.

"Vanyss… Listen to me…" and Greer gently ran a hand across Vanyss's back, smoothing down the spines, "I'm not trying to get rid of you. Honest. It's just - I mean you have to know I'm not the one equipped to teach you how to fly. That's why I got Professor Warren. They're much better at it then I am ... for obvious reasons."

"I can fly fine." Vanyss argued feebly and Greer tried her best to keep the even tone of her voice.

"Because we all need to learn how to use our powers here. It's what makes this school what it is. Besides who doesn't want to fly? I'm kind of jealous that you get to learn that kind of stuff while I'm stuck down here on the ground." that got Vanyss to look over a little, her eyes flickering to her wings before she sighed.

"Yeah I guess so. But ..."

"But?" and the gargoyle paused, looking embarrassed.

"I just don't like Professor Warren and Braddock. They're so ... Ordinaire," Vanyss scoffed, "Better then normal. She's like a model and he's a literal l'ange ... and look at me," the gargoyle hissed at the end as she lifted a wing.

"You know what I think?" Greer's tone got Vanyss to look over, "I think normal is overrated."

Vanyss rolled her eyes as only teenagers can. That line was cliche in France as well. But Greer shook her head and slipped in front of Vanyss as the elevator opened.

"I'm serious. It took me a long - and I mean long time to get where I am. And I never had the confidence that you do right now ... I know it's tough for you to see it but I do. And Vanyss ... Vanyss you can fly. You can just ... escape whenever you want. That's something special and it's something the other students here are going to admire you for. So what if some of the 'normal' kids want to be stupid? Let them. Cause I got news for you ... if you're here you're anything but normal."

Vanyss had to laugh a bit at that. It was a good point. And Greer quickly pounced on it.

"The thing that matters around here is whether you can handle what makes you different. Whether you embrace it and flaunt it for the rest to see. That's what matters."

Vanyss gave Greer an appraising look, taking in the tail ... the fur ... her face ... and slowly shifted to herself, giving each of her wings, blue skin, and clawed hands a careful look. Vanyss liked Greer ... a lot. Part of that was cause of how she carried herself despite looking - well different. Like her. And then Vanyss thought of who she used to be in France ... her friends and her confidence and flirting with boys and nights out ... and let out a sigh as the elevator doors closed.

"Fine ... I'll give the l'ange a chance." Vanyss relented, but smiled a bit as she looked up at Greer, "if he's single." Greer laughed and quickly wrapped an arm over her shoulder and headed back to the Danger Room.


Clint felt the bead of sweat crawl down his back as he stood frozen in the doorway to his darkened kitchen. His wife, pregnant and beautiful and thirsty upstairs, had asked him to grab her a drink. It didn't matter if it was the middle of the night ... when she asked for something he got it for her. That was the deal.

He just hadn't been expecting to find Apex waiting for him.

In his home that no one was supposed to know about.

With the family no one was supposed to find sleeping soundly upstairs.

His kids were upstairs ...

Clint's shoulders dropped and he put on his usual smirk.

"Sorry bout that ... used to seeing you couple hundred yards away. Bit different when it's that close." Clint made to step into the kitchen but a very low growl brought him up short. The knife set was only a few feet in front of him on the island. Silverware in the drawer less than a yard to the right of that. If he could just ...

"OK ... no kitchen then. But you're gonna have to deal with my wife." Clint said easily.

"The next time Fury tells you to aim an arrow at me ... remember that I know where you live too."

Clint chuckled.

"You know you didn't have to come all the way out here just to say hello to me. A simple threat over the phone would work too."

Apex narrowed his eyes.

"I didn't come here for you."

Clint's face went slack and quickly rolled to his left and grabbed the bow and precocked arrow he kept behind the couch but when he turned back into the kitchen ... it was empty.

Breathing heavily Clint flicked on the lights and quickly checked the kitchen and then the entire house before he was satisfied that Apex was gone. Letting out a shaky breath, he scowled as he went over to reboot the SHIELD/Stark tech security Fury had personally set up.

"Piece of shit." Clint grumbled as he put in the final code before heading back to his kitchen. Laura was still thirsty.


* stupid cat, should have just poisoned you when I had the chance

** angel