Chapter 10: ... And Into The Phoenix Fire
Back in the Shi'ar capital city, Thor had gotten hold of Mjolnir again, and as soon as that happened, he and K were fighting underneath Rachel's rising form to teach the Shi'ar a lesson for daring to capture him.
K hadn't ever seen Thor so mad before. Usually, he seemed to enjoy battles and was full of words of encouragement for his companions, but the Asgardian prince had not taken well to the attempted public humiliation, and he was letting it be known as he sent his hammer through dozens of soldiers at a time. And once he had a little better grasp of the atmosphere around them, he was also calling down lightning, the sparks reflected in the fury in his gaze as well.
K was keeping pace with the angry Asgardian, too, slashing and stabbing through Shi'ar soldiers left and right as, above them both, Rachel was just getting warmed up.
Last K had seen, Scott was on a rooftop, waiting for Rachel to get to a height that he could reach her, though she wasn't entirely sure that he was even conscious still. He looked pretty pale when they'd parted company.
"Thor, if you can't get there ... you know what we gotta do, right?" K called out. The fire was starting to tear apart the buildings around them, and no matter where they stood, the wind seemed to be in their faces as they looked up at her.
"Aye, I've clipped its wings before," Thor said with a nod.
"Just don't take too much out of yourself that you can't get me up there."
"Don't worry yourself on my behalf, my friend," Thor said with the beginnings of a confident little grin. "Worry for our friend Rachel instead; it is a much better placed use of your energies."
"You are my favorite Norse God, you know that, right?" she teased as she turned to go see if Scott was alright. The Shi'ar were already falling back en masse, so all they really had left to concern themselves with was Rachel.
When K did find Scott, he was still pale but determinedly trying to get Rachel's attention, all but pleading with her to get the Phoenix back under control before she went too far. "Rachel, please!" he shouted her way. "I know you can fight it — better than anyone. You're stronger than it is — stronger than me or anyone else. Fight it!"
"You're gonna need to get out of here if this keeps up," K tried to tell Scott gently as she crouched down next to him.
He shrugged away from her and shot her a glare. "I'm not going anywhere," he told her before he went right back into half-pleading with Rachel, shouting aloud and telepathically as well.
K let out a little breath and got a bit closer to him. "Then at least let me help you stand up straight so she can see you," she told him.
He regarded her for a moment and nodded the slightest bit, though he was sure to repeat, "I'm not going anywhere,"as an extra means of emphasizing his point.
"Neither am I," she replied. "And I'm perfect crutch height for you."
He couldn't help but give her a bit of a dry look at that. "She can control it," Scott told her confidently. "She's been able to for so long."
"I know," K agreed. "I was the one making that argument earlier to Logan and Noh."
"Just remember that," Scott said her way as he leaned on K a bit to get closer to Rachel, still shouting for Rachel to get control, to fight against the Phoenix force, and anything else he could think of. "It's done — you're safe; I'm safe — we can go home!" he shouted Rachel's way.
Finally, Rachel turned her head their way, all fire and fury and what looked like little to no recognition as she sized the two of them up.
"Look what you're doing to your father, Rachel. He's ready to drop," K said to Rachel in a softer tone than Scott had been using, even as Scott glanced her way with a look somewhere between disbelief and wounded pride. "I can understand wanting to pay these creeps back — but you're going to kill him too if you do that. You don't want your little brothers and sisters to grow up without him, do you?" As Scott looked torn between staring at K and trying to catch Rachel's eye, K continued. "Would you do that to Charlie?"
If nothing else, it was clear that K and Scott had Rachel's attention. Her gaze hadn't left the two of them, raking over the details more carefully — from K underneath Scott's shoulders to the still-bright bloodstains on her father. For a moment, something flickered in her expression, and then she turned her face heavenward... and the fire burned that much stronger.
When the concussive blast hit Scott and K, they both tried to tuck in and keep from sustaining more damage. Scott had managed to stay awake even after they'd hit the rooftop, but K was on her feet fast. The last thing Scott saw was K's fist as she knocked him out.
K leapt off the building after she'd hit Scott. Something was definitely wrong. The fire had burned magnificently hot for a while, but now…. Everything was pitch black. Even the artificial lights of the city were off for as far as she could see. She held back from calling out for anyone, unsure of what this meant, but half a block from Scott's building, she heard Thor's heavy footfalls up ahead.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, though her sense of smell was totally burned out amid all the smoke and smoldering rubble.
"Tis nothing but a few scratches," Thor assured her as he made his way over. "And you? What of Cyclops?"
"I didn't know what was going on, so I gave him a little love tap," she said before she hit her palm with her fist. "Didn't want him to see his daughter stabbed if need be. So. Where is our little firebird?"
"I have her," Thor said, and K could see now that he wasn't wearing his cape but had draped it over the girl in his arms. "I caught her before she could hit the ground, but she will require our attention."
"Yes, she will," K agreed. "Let's get her up by Scott. Noh knows where Scott was — they'll be back soon after that little display."
Thor nodded and adjusted his grip on Rachel the slightest bit before the two of them made their way back to where Scott was still out cold — and sure enough, it was only a few moments later that Noh arrived, looking a bit winded and badly singed as he let out an obvious breath of relief on seeing Rachel with Thor.
"Is she…?" he asked carefully.
"She's alive," K said as she knelt down by Scott. "Scott talked her down."
Noh breathed out his relief and leaned down to scoop Scott up. "Everyone has evacuated to my ship ... as soon as we saw the Phoenix…" He sighed and shook his head. "We should move quickly."
"I'll be right behind you guys," K said.
Noh raised an eyebrow her way and looked between her and Scott for a moment. "If you're not opposed to holding onto my shoulders, I could hoist you on my back. I don't like to leave anyone alone in Shi'ar territory," he offered.
"You're worn out; just go," K said. "I'm on my way. He still needs medical attention, and I don't want to jostle him."
Noh and Thor shared a look for a moment before Noh sped off with Scott toward his ship and Thor followed — though K knew the moment Noh had arrived at the Marvel, because he must have sent her little bamf buddy back for her. The little guy appeared in a poof of smoke and chattered at her for a moment before teleporting her to where the others were, dropping her off right beside Logan.
"So pushy," K said before she pinched the little bamf's arm.
The little guy rolled his eyes at her and giggled before he settled into a snuggle on her shoulder, nuzzling into her cheek and letting out a little exaggerated yawn.
Forge was at the helm of Noh's ship, and he waited long enough to see that everyone was on board before he put the ship in the air, screaming past the Shi'ar ships surrounding the planet as Clint manned the weapons systems to shoot back at anyone who managed to get close enough even with Forge's fancy flying.
But everyone else on board needed to get patched up, and so even though the battle was over, there was still a flurry of activity on the ship. Every single person on board had at least sustained bruises, cuts, and scrapes, though the members of the rescue team were in far better shape than the former prisoners, all of whom had been roughly used both during their capture and after.
Tyler was seated beside Kate and Kurt, with one of Kurt's hands clasped in his as Kate watched close by, the tear streaks on her face telling everyone around them just how badly Kurt had been hurt. When Tyler did release Kurt's hand, Kate didn't hesitate to simply fling her arms around her husband's neck and shoulders as she whispered in both English in German in his ear that if he ever scared her like that again, she was going to make him pay — somehow.
Hank meanwhile had been looking over Storm and Bobby when Noh brought Scott to his attention, and he did what he could for the badly injured Cyclops until Tyler was done with Kurt and could come over to help with that as well. The two men had set up a triage of sorts on the bridge of Noh's ship, prioritizing those that were hurt the worst as Hank would work to keep them from getting any worse until Tyler could help — though it was clear the young man was wearing out fast from the constant use of his powers as well as his own healing from fighting the Shi'ar.
Natasha had stepped in to help as well, directing Tammy and Sophia through what supplies she would need as she helped to try and lighten Hank and Tyler's workload, cleaning and wrapping wounds and even whipping up a few stitches for those who needed them.
She was a surprisingly good nurse, the junior squad found, and she was perfectly sympathetic to their injuries even if, they knew, this was probably nothing compared to what she had seen.
The little bamf on K's shoulder had disappeared when Logan finally woke up with his head in K's lap. He'd startled a bit but had settled down as soon as she rested her hand on his shoulder and shifted so that she could lay down with him. "What happened with Rachel?" he asked quietly as she curled up into him, her head on his shoulder.
"Scott talked her down, we all got out... Tyler is patching up who he can before he passes out from exhaustion. Headed back now … and I think that's about it," K told him before he turned his head her way and kissed the top of her head.
Nearby, Natasha was just finishing stitching up Jana's shoulder from where she'd been hit at the very tail end of the fight, and the young girl was wincing and had her eyes tightly screwed shut through the entire experience until Natasha just had to let out a breath of a laugh and pat Jana's other shoulder consolingly. "You're finished here," she said, packing up her supplies to move on to her next patient.
Jana looked over at the stitches and made a face, though she put on a bit of a braver expression when Natasha looked her way again. "That wasn't so bad," she said, and Natasha just smirked.
"First time getting stitches?" she asked.
"First time getting stitches while I'm awake," Jana corrected her, looking over Natasha's work. "Can I help?"
"Why don't you just stay here and rest that arm until we get back? You've done more than enough," Natasha said kindly, already headed off to the next person who needed her attention as Jana pouted the slightest bit.
As Natasha passed the curled up Logan and K, though, she made a point to sneak a little kiss to Logan's temple. "It's nice to know you have such a fierce defender when I'm not around," she whispered to Logan, tipping her head at Jana with a twinkle in her eye.
"Oh, really now?" Logan asked with a low rumble. "What did I miss?"
"Those young X-Men of yours really stepped it up — you'd be proud," Natasha told him with a widening smile.
"Scott put a lot of work on 'em," Logan replied. "Tell him."
"He's not conscious right now — but I'll get to him next," Natasha promised. "But you — you put in work too. I recognized some of those moves that little one was using," she added, still smirking a bit Jana's way. "Can't hide that."
"Required class," Logan explained away with a wave.
Natasha rolled her eyes and smacked him in the arm with the back of her hand. "You're so stubborn," she said with obvious affection before she kissed his cheek again. "She did well; she didn't let the Shi'ar get to you while you were out."
"Good," Logan said with a little sigh. "I'm glad to hear it. Kid tries."
Natasha's eyes sparkled a bit more as she leaned forward. "Oh, and be sure to ask Tony about the little blonde who scooped him out of the sky."
"He's probably half smitten," Logan muttered.
"Who wouldn't be?" Natasha chuckled before she gave Logan another affectionate kiss and moved on to try to wrestle Remy into letting her look him over.
"You know that's what he was hoping for," Bobby teased. "That you'd manhandle him a little."
Natasha smirked Bobby's way a little before she turned her best stern expression on Remy. "I'm a married woman," she said, though she was holding back a bit of laughter.
"K's not hurt; if you want to get bent into a pretzel before you get looked over ... or maybe pick up another injury or two … pretty sure she'd help you," Bobby said. "You know. Since the Widow is playing the good cop right now."
Remy was chuckling both at Bobby's teasing and Natasha's barely concealed laughter. "Seems Iceman tinks ol' Remy needs the attention o' two o' de most beautiful women on de ship, non?"
"I'm game," K called up with a little smirk. "But only if I get to stay bad cop."
"Oh, that's a dealbreaker," Natasha said, still with that same concealed laughter.
"Okay, you take bad cop; I'll take worse cop," K chuckled, which got Natasha to laugh out loud.
"Both of you knock it off," Logan said with a little growl. "You're gonna give every guy on this can either nightmares or really damn good dreams."
Natasha met his gaze with her most unconvincingly innocent expression. "You mean we don't do that already?"
"Couple of us don't need to pick," he replied.
She smirked his way as she finished up with Remy. "Only the ones crazy enough to marry us," she replied easily before she moved on to her next patient.
"Mispronounced 'lucky'," he called back, which had her smirking and shaking her head his way.
"And with that, I'm going to cross the treaty lines and go check on Scotty," K said as she gave Logan a long, slightly involved kiss as he sat more upright. "Take a seat if you can stand to be by people; otherwise … I'll be back."
At that, Logan sat up enough to lean on the wall of the plane, while K slipped further back to where the more serious cases were all laid out on stretchers away from those well enough to sit up and relax in the seats. Scott was toward the very back and had his face turned toward the wall, eyes closed and still enough that it almost looked like he was still unconscious — though of course K wasn't fooled in the least.
"Mind if I clean him up a bit, Henry?" K asked, already gathering up the gauze and alcohol to wipe up the dried blood.
"Please, go ahead," Henry said with a tired sort of smile.
She knelt down next to Scott and simply started cleaning the blood off his face, biting her lip a bit since she knew that was her mess and he couldn't possibly be happy with her about it. She leaned down low and whispered to him. "Everyone is fine, by the way."
It was a while before he finally let out a breath. "At least there's that," he said very quietly, still not looking away from the wall now that he wasn't playing at unconsciousness.
"You're a real doofus, you know that?" she said. "Rachel is across the aisle. She's fine. No stabbing involved."
He went even more still than before and was half holding his breath as he turned to look first at K — and then beyond her to where Tyler was with Rachel. K was the only one close enough to see the pure relief that washed over his expression before he closed his eyes again, this time to try and hold in something else entirely.
"You talked her out of it — the fireball was the eviction of who was in charge," K explained. "I'm pretty sure she's just exhausted. And you'll be happy to know your junior squad did one hell of a job saving your heavy hitters. All of them."
"Of course they did. They're good kids," Scott said, with a slight shake to his voice.
"Yeah, I just thought you'd like to hear it."
"I'm sure the debrief later will be interesting," he said with the beginnings of a smirk.
"Yeah, it'll be interesting alright. From what I've heard already," she agreed with a little smile. "Tyler did a good job at fixing your face."
"Yeah, don't do that again."
"I really didn't want to," she said. "But if we couldn't stop it ... you really didn't need to see."
"Wouldn't have been the first time," he said quietly.
"Would have for me," she said. "And I wasn't going to stab her first anyhow."
"I'm just glad it was you and not—" He paused and seemed to reconsider. "I'm glad she had control of it."
"I know. I figured she would." K gave him a little kiss on the temple. "She just needed her dad."
"I wasn't going anywhere," he pointed out, though she could see the pride just behind his expression as he was watching Rachel sleep off the Phoenix exhaustion.
"Yeah, she got all that stubborn from you, clearly," K said, trying to break his mood.
"It's a family trait." He smirked the slightest bit and then tipped his head at K. "She's got more of it than me, honestly, if she can keep the Phoenix in check."
"Maybe," she said with her head tipped a bit. "You need to rest too. What can I get for you before I utterly abandon you for greener pastures?"
He shook his head. "I'm fine here," he promised.
"Right, well. I have some of Annie's stress baking a few doors down. You will eat it, or I'll tell your Southern belle you insulted her banana bread," K warned. "You need it to heal."
That got an honest chuckle out of him. "I know better than to turn down Annie's stress baking."
"Then I'll be back in a few. Sit up when you're ready," she told him before she headed off to collect some food for most of those that were more severely injured.
While K was with Scott, Logan had been watching some of the junior squad. It was the first big fight for most of those kids, and it was plain to see that it had shaken up some of their younger members, though they seemed to be taking care of themselves well enough. Sophia was half tucked into Brye's side as Brye regaled her with stories of her new pet and the damage they'd done, and of course Rico just thought the whole thing was one big adventure, while Tyler and Tammy were helping out with the injured. But Jana was just sitting by herself trying not to get noticed with her knees tucked underneath her further out from the others.
"Hey kid," Logan rumbled her way. "Why don't you bring a bottle of water over here?" He was staring to get upright, and as soon as he was, he moved to the nearest seating area to drop down and wait for her.
She glanced up quickly and, seeing him drop down, rushed to go get a bottle and bring it over to him without saying a word until she got there to hold it out. "Here."
"Have a seat," he said.
She blinked at him and then climbed into a seat, still holding the water out.
"Drink it, I don't touch that stuff unless I have to."
She wrinkled her nose a bit. "That's unhealthy," she muttered even as she unscrewed the cap.
"I need a few vices," he said dryly.
She took a little gulp of water, still watching him a bit warily. "Is that all you wanted?" she asked at last after another quick gulp.
"Nope," he replied. "Looked like you could use some company, and from what I was told, you did pretty damn good today."
She flushed a bit with pleasure and tried to cover for it by taking a long drink of water. "I did okay," she admitted. "I could've done better."
"That's not what Natasha said," he replied. "And she has yet to lie to me."
Jana flushed again, though this time she didn't bother to try and hide it. "Yeah, well… thanks then, I guess," she said, a bit flustered.
"I don't hand out compliments too often — and never from a second hand source — so take it as a win," he advised.
She glanced up at him for a quick second and broke into a little grin at that. "Okay. Thanks," she said as the grin widened a bit more the longer she weighed out the compliment in her mind.
It wasn't long after that that K returned with a little basket of food from the baking stash. She didn't even consider it before she handed Jana a chocolate chip muffin and dropped down next to Logan. "Scott's fine. He was hardly even mad I broke his face," she said with a little sigh before she got into a muffin of her own. "Probably because Tyler fixed it already. But … whatever."
Jana turned the muffin over in her hands a couple times as she watched K curiously. "Why'd you break his face?" she asked, honestly confused.
K looked up at her with an open expression. "I thought I was going to have to kill Rachel. Didn't want him to see it. So I knocked him out."
"Oh." Jana looked back down at her muffin and took a quick bite out of it to chew over her words and her thoughts.
"I was going to try and shock her out of it first though," K said with a little look. "Still not sure what I was going to try, but claws were not at the top of my list." She turned to Logan with an amused expression on her face. "Scott's trying to pretend like he's not starving to death back there. I left him with a whole loaf of banana bread and a king-sized Snickers, because he's grumpy when he's healing."
Jana snorted at the joke into her own muffin. "Did you get the Look?" she couldn't help but ask.
"I always get the Look," K said with a chuckle. "But it just makes it that much better to deliver it to him like that."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't have to kill Rachel," Jana said quietly.
"Me too," she replied. "There would have been no reason at all for him to ever want anything to do with either of us otherwise."
Once the worst cases had been seen to, Hank had time to check over the rest of their teammates. Everyone had come out of that fight worse off in some way or another, and he simply couldn't relax until he was sure that he'd seen to everyone.
He knew that Storm and Bobby had been hit by the electrifying stasis field, and he wanted to be sure to check them over for burns or other injuries related to being electrocuted. What he wasn't expecting, then, was the change in Storm's scent since the last time he had seen her.
He hadn't noticed it before, because he had himself been ill-used and because there had been other concerns at the time. The scent of misery had been too overwhelming.
But now? Now, he wanted Tyler to come help him with Storm. Because he would prefer not to tell Storm what he had scented if the electrocution had harmed the little one as well. He would rather not lift her hopes or raise her concerns until he was sure.
"Tyler," Hank called out to his stepson. "If you have a moment…"
Tyler looked up and, seeing the look on Hank's face, immediately nodded, despite how exhausted he was from all the healing he'd done. He crossed the room to Hank, though Hank put a hand on his shoulder before he could do anything more.
"She's not aware of her condition, and I don't want to stress her unduly," Hank said in a low tone only Tyler could hear. "Look at the little one first."
Tyler frowned but nodded all the same. He could do a scan much more readily than healing, but with that kind of directive, he was also ready to pour everything into healing Storm's baby if he needed to.
So it was a relief when he took Storm's hand and let his shoulders drop. "Okay," he said quietly. "You're alright. And…" He paused and looked over at Hank. "And everything looks alright with you and the Maker's newest little project, but you're going to need to stay on bed rest for a little while."
Storm frowned at Tyler. "I'm sorry; I don't think I—"
Tyler held up a hand with a small smile. "I was trying to be sneaky, but…" He let out a breath. "You're a little more electricity-proof than average, and I think that's the only reason that the stress of electrocution didn't damage your baby. But the severe stress is going to put you at higher risk of a miscarriage if you don't give yourself time to rest and recover, so… bed rest."
Storm simply stared at Tyler for a longer moment before she broke into a warm smile and pulled him into a hug. "Far be it from me to argue with our youngest doctor," she said, still with that same smile. "I'd just ask you to get my husband for me, if you please…"
"Oh, yeah, sure, absolutely," Tyler said, already scooting off to do just that.
By the time Forge was settled in with Storm — completely unable to say or do anything but look at Storm in reverent awe — Tyler and Hank had gone through just about everyone that needed their attention and were ready to get some rest themselves. So of course, that was when they got one more sheepish visitor.
"I can come back," Noh said, clearly already not looking forward to talking to either one of them, though he had a hand on his side and a hitch in his step. "You're both busy and exhausted. I'm sorry; I should just leave you be…. I don't know what I was thinking…"
"Don't be ridiculous," Hank said with a frown and a wave. "Come, let's see how badly you've torn yourself up this time."
Noh let out a bit of a sigh as he removed his hand so Hank could see where he'd torn his stitches. "It must have happened during the battle, but this wound is old; I wasn't thinking of keeping off this side. It should have healed by now," Noh explained with a deeply settled frown.
Hank just looked at him over his half moon glasses as Tyler took a seat on the other side of Noh and offered his hand. "I'm not sure what I can do to heal, but I can see if there's deeper damage," Tyler offered.
Noh looked more sheepish still as he nodded and took the proffered hand. "Perhaps I should help you to learn more of Kree anatomy while I am here," he said with a bit of a sigh.
"That would be good," Tyler said. "If you have anything I can use to study on the way back, I promise to put it to good use."
"I have an extensive library on this ship. I'll set you up with the codes for the reference material you need," Noh said with a little nod. "If for no other reason than I have a little boy who is only half-Kree and may not have quite the same constitution I do."
Tyler gave him a little smile and nodded his head "I'll memorize all that I can," Tyler swore as he started his scan of Noh. Tyler concentrated hard, but it was clear that the young man was taxed pretty well by that time. "The stitches will need to be re-sewn. I think your nanites are putting most of their effort on the burn damage to a few of your organs. One of the lobes of a lung is singed … nothing we can do, but it's probably hard to breathe. There's no infection, though, so that's good."
"I don't get infections," Noh said with a small smirk. He let out a sigh and rested a hand on Tyler's shoulders. "And you should rest. Thank you for your help, but you shouldn't overburden yourself. You look positively worn."
"That's not any different than you right now," Tyler replied. "What can I get you while Hank works on the stitches?"
"Don't worry about it; I just need food and rest, just like everyone else on this ship," Noh promised him with a dismissive wave. "Perhaps more rest than I anticipated, but I doubt my Jubilee will mind," he added with a creeping smile.
"I'll let her know you're looking for food and attention, then," Tyler said with a little smile before he got up and headed toward where the bulk of the team members were.
While they were waiting for Tyler to bring Jubilee back, Noh watched Hank work with a quiet frown as he re-stitched Noh's side. "I thought I had at least another five years before anything like this, but I suppose being on this team, being on Earth…"
"I beg your pardon?" Hank said with a raised eyebrow.
Noh looked up in surprise and then flushed a bit. "I'm sorry; I was just thinking out loud," he said.
"What's this about five years?" Hank asked with a clear frown. "I wasn't aware of any expiration date on Kree."
Noh let out a little breath almost like a laugh. "Not in this universe, no — but mine was far more structured," he explained. "And at any rate, I wasn't expecting to slow down so soon. Most make it to at least another five or even ten years before they hit their decline."
"Young man, I take exception to the gross misstatement that you are on the decline," Hank said frankly.
"Oh? Then what do you make of my slowing healing system?" Noh replied, matching his raised eyebrow look from earlier.
"I would say that you have a bit of an issue following doctors' orders, for one thing," Hank said. "You rarely if ever allow yourself the full time needed to heal before you dive headlong into another scuffle. Perhaps that's our fault, though. We tend to bring down that kind of attention that comes in waves, it seems."
Noh waved his hand. "I enjoy being on this team; I can defend Earth that way," he said dismissively. "But I have worn down faster than I expected, and that is my fault…" He trailed off and let out a sigh.
"Perhaps you should explain to me a bit more thoroughly," Hank said. "We have time while I properly bandage you up."
Noh seemed to size Hank up for a moment before he nodded carefully. "You know I'm not from this universe. Where I am from, the Kree rule, and there is peace and order, but very little choice," he said softly. "Everything is in service to the Empire, and so when we are no longer useful, we give our bodies to the scientists to research and serve the next generation of Kree." He gestured at his stitches. "And I am declining. At home, this would mean the end of my expedition, and I'd report myself to complete my service as soon as my affairs were in order."
Hank looked properly shocked by the order of events. "But that's a bit wasteful, don't you think?"
"Not at all," Noh tried to explain. "Everything is used — every tissue, every cell — to improve the next generation. Genetic markers are used to grow the next generation to be better and stronger than the one before. It's considered the best service to the Empire."
"Oh, my dear boy," Hank said in a terribly weary, heartbroken tone. "You are so much more than the warrior you've become. To lose such a light would be criminal to whatever dimension you might be in," he said with a shake of his head. "Our species — subspecies, that is — don't generally find our second mutation until we've hit our late twenties to early thirties. It's the final extension of our genetic potential — and were you a mutant like us, you'd just be finding your stride. With many, many long years ahead of you."
"But I am not a mutant," Noh pointed out gently.
"No, but you are married to one who cherishes you deeply," Hank countered. "I would not advise saying anything about being too old to exist around her unless you wished to come to that end."
"No, I know better than to say something like that," Noh promised. "And I do look forward to many more years with her. I just… find I don't know what to do with those years." He looked properly sheepish at the admission.
"You'll spend them watching your son grow," Hank said. "And teaching him all that he should know. You'll spend them with her."
Noh smiled the slightest bit at that and had to nod. "I do enjoy the family I have here, more than anything else I've ever seen across many dimensions. Though I'm still not sure I know what I am doing."
"No one does," Hank replied. "No one ever does."
"So … what's the story here?" Jubilee said as she bounced into the medical area where Hank had been working so diligently. "Did he kiss your boo boos — or can I still do that?"
"You can always do that, even if he had done so," Noh assured her, sitting up a bit straighter when he saw Jubilee.
"Well … where can I start?" she asked with a wide smile.
Noh glanced over at Hank for a moment before he slid to his feet and swept her up to press a kiss to her nose. "Anywhere you like," he told her.
"Then we shall need some privacy, ," Jubilee replied as seriously as she could. "Or … we shall need to get the heck away from the smell of antiseptic."
"I can do one of those things," Noh promised her, shooting a small and grateful smile Hank's way as he just carried Jubilee off.
When Rachel finally woke up, she did so slowly, blinking in a very tired, worn manner until she realized that she was in a spaceship — and then she sat bolt upright and looked around herself. She couldn't help but panic until she saw Scott — and then she scurried over to him with a look of concern on her face.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking him over carefully. "You've got a lot of blood on your clothes …"
"I'm fine," he promised her quickly, though that was all he got out before he just pulled his arms around her shoulders and drew her up in a big hug. "It's just on my clothes."
"But you looked so … hurt," she said as she wrapped her arms around his middle.
"Ty fixed it. I'm fine, really," Scott promised, drawing her still tighter and not showing any signs of letting her go anytime soon.
"I'm sorry," Rachel said, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder in the hug as she breathed out the admission. "I almost lost it."
"But you didn't," Scott said, speaking just as softly and gently as Rachel had ever heard. "That's all that matters right now — you got it back under control. You didn't lose it. You're okay."
"Only because you're okay," she muttered.
"I wasn't about to leave you," Scott said with the slightest of smirks, though she couldn't see it when he had her head underneath his chin.
"I know," she said. "You were pretty clear about that. I'm just sorry you had to … freak out like that. Because I know. You were …. Projecting a lot."
"I'm sorry. I was trying to reach you any way I could—"
"It helped," she said. "And Thor and K had plans that didn't involve any claws at all. They … might have worked if all else failed."
"Then I had good backup," Scott said. "But I knew you could get it under control."
"Believe it or not?" she said, picking up her head a bit. "They all did."
He broke into a bit of a smile. "Of course they did. We all know what you can do." He paused and very gently and almost hesitatingly pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm proud of you."
She honestly didn't know what to say, so instead, she just burrowed into him and let out a sigh. "Love you too, Dad."