Chapter 37:

…...

In the Capitol

…..

For an instant, before America took a swing at the medic, Jubilee just … gaped at the screen. "Noh ...she won."

"She...did," Noh had to agree. He hadn't torn his gaze from the screen, and it was obvious he had no idea what to do. He'd never had a tribute win before; Black Bolt had been before his time. And he'd been on his way out….

Jubilee broke his stare of disbelief with a hug and a kiss to his cheek. "Hey. Smiles, remember?" she whispered.

He blinked at her before he seemed to realize what she was saying and nodded, a faint smile finding its way to his expression. "I'm — I really am glad for her…" he started to say.

"I know," Jubilee replied. "Really, I know."

"Jubilee," he whispered, meeting her gaze with wide eyes. "My Jubilee… I don't know what to do."

"I know, sweetheart," she whispered back. "We'll figure it out."

While Noh hugged Jubilee and used it for a cover for his utter loss as to what to do next, across the room, the victors had been much faster to start up the congratulations, even if Black Bolt didn't want to hear any of it and simply went right to Logan to put a hand on his shoulder.

Robbed, he signed out, his body blocking the main cameras so he could speak freely.

Logan shook his head lightly at that and offered Black Bolt his hand in congratulations. "Yeah, she was."

Black Bolt nodded his way before he went back to the other victors so they could all congratulate him, though it wasn't long at all before Jubilee made her way to where Logan was, with Noh still doing his best to follow her reminders to smile — despite the fact that he was obviously shocked.

"Noh, you look like you could use a drink," Logan said quietly. "Privately."

"That may be," Noh had to agree. "But there… there's so much…"

Logan's eyebrows went up at that. Never had the man been at a loss of words that he'd seen. "Okay, then one publicly — and we'll get you to privacy as fast as we can."

Noh nodded and gave Logan a very small smile. "I'll let you lead the way."

Logan looked between the two stylists and then to where Black Bolt was with a few victors then made his decision. "Okay, come on. Let's just … they'll come looking, I'm sure so do your rounds and then we can get you the hell out of wherever you're expected to be."

"Well, I am expected to be anywhere but where there is peace and silence," Noh said, finally regaining some of his composure with a plan of attack in place. He clearly had no guidelines, but following Logan's lead would work.

While Logan let Noh freak out and nearly lean on him for support under the guise of friendly congratulations, they waited for Black Bolt, who was with several of the other victors as they tried to calm down Peter Quill from the panic attack that had set in as soon as the shock of America's win had worn off and he realized that the Games were over. Which of course, meant that he was on the chopping block, and Groot had to help the young man put his head between his knees to get his breath back from the massive panic attack.

When it was clear that Groot and Drax had Peter at least flanked by support on either side, some of the victors seemed to back off, and Logan gave Black Bolt a look "You need a translator?"

Black Bolt considered the offer. You or Jess?

"Me, but only if she's preoccupied, I suppose," he said with a smirk. "Noh is a little … overwhelmed right now, so I wouldn't count on him. And I've heard stories about your escort."

The line? Black Bolt signed, matching Logan's smirk for a moment.

"Yeah, that's what they're calling it."

Black Bolt nodded and searched the crowd for Jessica Drew, though he came up empty - and the reporters were pressing toward them. Then let's field the questions.

Thankfully though, as the four of them headed toward the press, Jessica Drew quickly made her way over to them. "You trying to get started without me?" she asked as she stopped next to Black Bolt.

You were too slow, Black Bolt signed her way with a little smirk.

"Didn't realize there was a race," she replied, looking over the little group. "You an apprentice interpreter, then?" she finally asked Logan, unable to stop from grinning outright.

"Yeah, I only know one sign right now, but I think it's pretty universal," he shot right back. "Involves one finger … wanna see?"

"Save it for later," she said with a chuckle as she pulled her arm through Black Bolt's.

Logan looked at Black Bolt, and then gave him a little nod. "I'll talk to you later," he promised before he turned to Noh and Jubilee. "Just stick with them; come find me upstairs when you can."

"You aren't staying?" Noh asked, looking genuinely disappointed.

Logan let out a sigh and leaned closer to him so he could be sure the cameras were blocked well. "Jess is the one that knows how to sign, I'd be playin' charades out there for as far as they'd be concerned. But you know Jess is a good friend and she won't lead you wrong."

Noh looked visibly disappointed but nodded all the same. "Then ... I shall see you tonight. When perhaps Jubilee and I will figure out what… to do with our line…"

"Your line is safe," Logan promised. "Might be a little delayed, but don't worry about it."

"I never thought I would say this to you, Logan, but you are too optimistic in this case, I think," Noh said, looking honestly down about it.

"And you know damn well I'm not an optimist," Logan countered.

"Then we'll just have to see, won't we?" Noh said, one eyebrow raised, before he left with Jess, Black Bolt, and Jubilee in tow to play to the crowds.


Tahiti Wing

Somewhere under the Capitol


The rec room was completely silent as the Games footage came to an end. Everyone had gathered for the end, to see who would win - but no one had really been expecting it to be America. Scott or Kamala, sure, but… America had been so determined to see someone good to the end….

Kate and Cassie in particular had fallen into complete silence, not quite sure what to think. It was good that America hadn't died, because like Coulson and Charles kept saying, there were no guarantees — but that also meant she wouldn't be there, with them. And it meant she'd go right on thinking Billy was dead even if they brought him back in Tahiti, which was completely unfair.

"So…" Peter glanced around the room, the first to break the silence. "Now we just… wait and see who comes back?" he asked tentatively.

Cassie nodded. "Last year, Carol came back a few days after the Games ended," she said softly, though her gaze hadn't left the screen.

"But this year, there will be the wedding to contend with," Kurt pointed out.

"And that's going to occupy Hank and Reed's time for a few days," Steve agreed, though he didn't look happy about the delay.

"But we'll get to see how that whole circus goes down, I'm sure," Peter said. "Because nothing is more important than feeding a tyrant's ego."

"I'm sure we'll get to see everything: the wedding, the celebrations… and then the victor recap for America," Kurt said.

"And all of it before they can send the victors back again," Peter pointed out with a frown. "How long are they okay before things are not okay?"

"There's never been a push like this," Jan said with her lips pushed out in a frown. "Usually, they get a few days to reckon with everything… recover… Charles could tell you better."

"Well … that's good then, right? I mean. If it's a big push, then they have to have been prepared for this kind of thing," Peter reasoned, though everyone could see it was more a desperate wish for everyone to be okay. He cleared his throat and quickly tried to change the subject. "But I still want to see the list of who they're going to try to bring back. I mean, they're here already, right? Somewhere? In the vampire's lair?"

"Yeah, the transports have been coming in since the bloodbath," Carol said. "Don't know who they brought, and we won't until they simply … show up here … walking around."

"After all the grief we've been giving Coulson, if the kids being worked on right now don't at least include friends and family of this little group, I'd be surprised," Clint said, seeming to think it over. "I mean, I can see if I can sneak in and check…." He glanced Kate's way with a little smirk.

"You figure out how to break into the vampire's lair?" Peter asked, genuinely surprised.

"Ah, not quite," Clint admitted. "But I've been working on it pretty much since they woke me up, so… I'll figure something out."

"In the meantime, we just… wait, then?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Jan said softly. "I mean … they might get started on the prep work if it's not done already; that's all Dr. Essex."

"So the vampire's down there unattended with all our friends. Why doesn't that inspire me with confidence?" Peter grumbled.

"The vampire is the reason we're all here," Jan pointed out. "He is a medical genius."

Peter let out a long and dramatic sigh. "Fine. We'll wait. And go slowly insane. Gah." He threw his hands up to illustrate how particularly helpless everyone felt.

"Well… I'm sure in the meantime, we'll be plenty busy. Missions… eventually introducing the first few kids…" Cassie offered quietly. "That's how we always do it. Just… stay busy."

"Alright. That's … just the way it is for now, right?" Steve said. He set his shoulders, clearly trying to settle in for the duration. "We have to just … keep going, hope for the best and cross our fingers that it works out." He looked around the room. "And if it doesn't, we fix it," he added, to several murmurs and nods of assent.


Fitzsimmons' Lab


The two SHIELD scientists in the lab had watched the end of the Games with wide eyes, almost unable to tear their attention from the screen. The giant black widow that they had created had done its job beautifully — it was supposed to be big enough to kill at least one tribute, and the way Kamala and Scott had killed it was masterful. But they were not at all excited about their success in this regard.

"I can't believe he decided to send it in after all," Simmons whispered through the fingers of the hand she had pressed to her mouth.

"Oh, I can believe it. It was brilliant, but I still don't like it," Fitz said as the cannon rang for Kamala and he simply started pacing, hardly paying much attention to what was going on on the screen. They both kept it playing long enough to see who won, of course, but after their huge black widow had been crushed… honestly, they had other things on their mind than which girl in the intense wrestling match on the screen would come out the winner.

"Perhaps… we could have argued the venom we received from Dr. Essex was too potent?" Simmons said, her hands clasped together now as she started to fret.

"A bit late for that," Fitz said with a grim look on his face.

Simmons let out a sigh but had to nod her agreement as she continued to rub her hands together, still with that same nearly destroyed expression. "Oh, he's going to be so mad," she whispered.

But when someone did come bursting through the lab doors — it wasn't Logan, since the victors were busily getting ready for the big wedding bash while America got herself stitched back together.

The two of them had never seen Skye look so livid before as she stood in the doorway, glaring at both of them. "That thing was yours, wasn't it?" she demanded of the two of them as they shared guilty looks that gave it away before she could even press them any further.

"Skye," Simmons started to say, looking torn. "There's no way we could have known…"

"...tried to recall it last week," Fitz mumbled at the same time.

"I can't believe you!" But Skye wasn't hearing any of it. "Do you know how close he was? Do you even realize…" She let out a loud noise of frustration and knocked over the nearest stack of paper.

"We know, Skye," Simmons said, trying to calm her down. "He did amazingly well."

"Do you know what this is going to do to Logan?" Skye asked, not calmed in the slightest. "That kid… he was a good kid. And you two sent a giant spider in and just…. He was a good kid!"

The two scientists gaped at her silently for a moment. "But we didn't send it," Simmons said.

"And Logan doesn't know anything about it," Fitz added at a hushed whisper.

"You think he's not going to figure it out?" Skye asked. "He figured out what I was doing easy enough."

"Well you probably left a window open or something," Simmons said, though her expression showed even she didn't believe that one and Skye's glare was enough to wilt her further.

"The only thing he doesn't know is what's going on downstairs," Skye said pointedly. "So his dead tribute? As far as he's concerned…" She let the sentence dangle in the air and looked pained. "I gotta… I should check in on the cameras. Find out who he's drinking with…. You know he's drinking."

"What good will that do?" Fitz asked. "It's not like we can do anything about it from here."

"You might not be able to, but I am not just leaving this as business as usual," Skye said in a huff, glaring as she leveled her index finger his way for a good, long moment before she turned on her heel and stalked out.

And, a few buildings over and a few minutes later, Logan's tablet chimed with the first of her messages.

But Logan didn't bother to look at the tablet, since he had other things on his mind at the moment — like the fact that Jubilee was trying to get him 'just so' for the wedding prep. Or the fact that Black Bolt looked like he was smirking at the entire display — since Noh had asked if he and his victor could prep with them so he could stay by Jubilee.

"I understand you needing to make me miserable, but do you really have to restrict my booze while you do it?" Logan asked her, batting her hand away from his hair. Again.

"You really want to be drunk around Nebula?" Jubilee replied without missing a beat.

"Might make the whole affair a little easier to handle," he shot right back.

"Just sit still, and I'll make this as painless as possible," she ordered him — not that he was really moving too much anyway.

"Too late for that," he muttered under his breath for her alone to hear, and Jubilee stopped, leaned forward until she was nose to nose with him, and pinched him, just to get him to swear.

The tablet chimed again, but again, it was left unanswered, and Noh glanced toward it with a look of curiosity before he shrugged. "I'm glad we don't have Mary Jane's job right now," he said, glancing at Jubilee.

"High profile, but she's going to have to corner him to finish the job," Jubilee agreed. "Ugh. Can you imagine getting him to hold still while he's that fidgety?"

"Not to mention the work ahead of her to make him look less… pale and sickly," Noh said with a little nod. "I don't envy him in the slightest. The whole thing is…." He trailed off, knowing if he finished the thought, it would only get him in trouble.

"Stupid?" Logan offered.

"Cataclysmic," he said in a breath of a whisper.

"Still nicer than the truth of it," Logan replied. "And the truth requires alcohol."

"Yes, well, since I'm no longer on probation, I can drink to that," Noh said with a small attempt at a smile as Logan's tablet chimed again. It was enough to get Noh to momentarily step back. "What is that? Black Bolt's tablet doesn't do that."

"It's just a message," Logan said, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it."

"You can get messages on these things?" Noh looked surprised and then annoyed. "That would have been helpful to know — we could have used that to communicate…"

But Black Bolt was shaking his head, giving Logan a sort of raised-eyebrow look.

"What?" Logan asked, frowning Black Bolt's way.

Personal upgrade? Black Bolt signed with a raised eyebrow. A gift?

I have no idea what you're talking about. I thought all of them did that, Logan signed back with a frown.

No. They don't. Black Bolt shook his head lightly, though he was smirking Logan's way which had Noh letting out a sigh as he reminded the victor to be still so he could get his hair done.

News to me. Logan said before he let out a breath of his own and looked a bit more pensive.

The tablet chimed again, and Noh glanced toward it, hesitating. "Do you want to read them? I can grab it for you."

"I'm sure it can wait," Logan said, not really wanting to see a string of warnings that he was sure was waiting for him.

"That many messages?" Noh asked, sounding surprised.

"If it's a problem, someone will come get me," Logan answered before he turned toward Black Bolt again. "They really didn't give you that?"

Black Bolt shook his head. Would have been nice.

Logan scrubbed a hand over his mouth, trying to figure out why in the world they wouldn't set up Black Bolt of all people with something like that. It was such a simple solution — and clearly within their power to do for him.

You must have a friend at SHIELD, Black Bolt said with a small smirk.

"Yeah, maybe," he answered. "One or two."

The tablet chimed one more time, and Noh and Jubilee glanced at each other before Jubilee broke into a little sly smile and waved Noh toward the tablet. "Just read it to him. You're almost done with Black Bolt anyway," she instructed Noh, who looked a little hesitant to read someone else's private messages even as Jubilee kept waving him on.

"Are you sure that's not… impolite?" he asked, his gaze on Logan.

"She told you to do it — you better do it. Don't want the line to suffer," Logan replied indifferently. "I don't care. Go for it."

Noh raised an eyebrow but crossed to the table to pick up the tablet and look through the messages, most of which were along the same vein: Don't get too drunk around idiots and dangerous people. And Don't make any bad decisions like LAST time you gave me a heart attack, and Noh's personal favorite, If I wake up to the news tomorrow that you had a drinking party with all three royal kids, that's it - you've officially topped out on the stupid meter.

"Who is this person?" Noh asked, unable to hide his amusement.

"SHIELD agent," Logan replied without looking his way.

"A SHIELD agent who worries over you… you must be close," Noh said in as disinterested a tone as he could manage — which was not a very disinterested one at all, really. And he wasn't doing the least bit to hide the smirk.

"Guess she's not a very good agent," Logan deadpanned, sure not to look Noh's way.

"I'd think getting secret messages to you under the very noses of everyone in the Games would say otherwise," Noh said, the smirk widening with every word. "She's very bright, I assume?"

"Do you want her to coach you on how to be sneakier?" Logan asked dryly. "Obviously, she's got some free time if she's messagin' me."

"Well, she must not be attending the wedding. Not many SHIELD personnel will be there, as I understand it — not outside of guards and security."

"Keep talkin', Noh," Logan said with a little smirk. "Makes me wanna sign up."

"I don't believe you qualify," Noh laughed.

"Yeah," he had to agree. "Not too many uses for lumberjacks that don't wanna give up their blue-jeans and flannel shirts."

"And a high-profile victor likely wouldn't help in a secret organization," Noh said, still smiling to himself.

"Nobody cares about that, Noh," Logan said.

Noh laughed lightly — the first lighthearted thing out of him since America's win was announced. "I'm sure you'll find other things to do. Like teaching Jubilee and myself how to continue our line," he had to tease. "You seem to know the rules inside and out."

"If you need lessons in that, I'm not sure you should be starting a line," Logan teased right back. "Otherwise …. Don't worry about the rules."

"Yes, why would I worry about things like that?" Noh said with an airy wave. "Surely there won't be any consequences."

"Hopefully not," Logan agreed before he tipped his chin to Noh. "Respond if you want the messages to stop. Tell her ... 'Tea with the twins is at two'."

Noh raised an eyebrow but was too curious not to send the response — and then had to laugh when the quick response was I hate you sometimes.

Noh glanced up at Logan, but when Logan didn't give him any response, he smirked to himself and decided to answer for Logan — prompted or not. No, you don't, he typed out in response and sent it, setting the tablet aside as he went back to finishing off his work on Black Bolt ahead of the festivities and only halfway watching to see if this mysterious concerned agent was going to respond to that.