Notes from CC: Yeah, K isn't trying to get Thor's blessing … or whatever euphemism you prefer. So the furs and leather aren't going to be making an appearance outside of costume parties. As far as that goes, the 906 is currently undergoing an extensive editing wash. So. You may be surprised at how that looks by the time I'm done with it. ALL of that story went up with no editing done to it - it was all rough draft form, so it's getting fixed where I don't like things anymore, and you may see some arcs in there just … *poof*.

And … we're not going to push the X-Force angle. That team is disbanded, and shall remain as such. They are trying to keep the whole … 'not a terrorist organization themselves' going, so that means no Scott sanctioned murder if they can avoid it.

But - this story is written, and is not a choose your own adventure, so I'm afraid that 99% of the helpful suggestions or the 'this should happen now' are not going to be addressed within the story itself, though we'll be more than happy to answer your questions.

Notes from robbie: Right now, this universe's Scott isn't really going to be thinking much about re-forming X-Force, to be honest, because he's still trying to put behind him a lot of the 'terrorist' label that he was running from when he met Annie? So… no.

That's not to say that the "X-Men don't kill" doesn't go totally out the window when it comes to Sinister or Azazel or people like that, though. Pay attention and you'll see several times when Scott lets Noh, K, Logan, even Kurt go off the leash and just… let loose. You don't need X-Force for that. It's already happened a few times in this story, and it will happen again. People will die, lines will be crossed, and we've already got several volumes written *but not edited* so believe me when I tell you that there are some ROUGH fights ahead.

But we want to let them take on those fights as the X-Men, in the light as much as possible. Especially because, well, they're trying to get back a lot of their image and to shake off the 'dangerous terrorists' label, as the mutant population is growing in particular.

Just because this is a brighter universe doesn't mean we're avoiding the fact that people can be and are often evil, though. We're just making our HEROES their best selves, and that, honey, is where their morals have to stay solid. Evil is evil, as Kurt says (often), but how you choose to respond to it is what defines you. ((thank you, inner Scott, for that sentence.))

Chapter 3: In Cahoots

It was obvious to anyone in the kitchen that morning that Noh was on edge — though honestly, most of the mansion residents were a little anxious that morning as well. Daken had been true to his word and actually called ahead to let his father know he would be coming by this time, and the very idea of Daken being in the mansion seemed to be distressing Noh to no end as he took great pleasure in triple-checking security measures for the interior systems.

When Logan and K made their appearance in the kitchen, ahead of Daken's arrival, Logan paused for just a moment before he put his hand in the center of K's back and pushed her toward Noh. "You stick with him for now," he said.

Noh looked surprised but didn't hesitate to move a bit closer to K as she sat at the kitchen table, sipping her coffee, as usual. His head was tipped to one side before he nodded. "If he comes within ten feet of you, I may have to break my promise not to start anything," he told her in a low tone.

"Nothing is going to happen," K replied almost wearily. "But you are a darling boy."

"That's right it isn't," Noh said with a serious nod before he slid into a seat and seemed content to focus on keeping half an eye on her and half an eye on his sharpening claws.

K gave him a sideways glance and went back to her cup of coffee with a sigh. "You guys are really something else putting on this little show," she muttered under her breath.

Noh simply tipped his head at her for a second and then shrugged openly as the kitchen fell back into silence ahead of Daken's expected arrival.

Kurt was the one to answer the door when Daken arrived and though it wasn't entirely necessary, he escorted him to the kitchen were the rest of the available and interested members of the team were waiting for him. Daken smirked as he stepped through the door and took in the gathered group, and then smiled outright toward Noh for a moment, though the smile fell when he looked at K.

For an instant Daken, wrinkled his nose at her and pulled a face before utterly ignoring the entire side of the kitchen where most of the team was, turning his back to them to talk with his father about the impending problem that had come up with the Hand.

His problem was a fairly cut and dried issue. The Hand was plotting to make a move not only against Daken — which no one really seemed too bothered by, including Daken — but also against Tyger Tyger, which Logan did have a serious problem with.

"As substantial as I'm sure you think you are, you will need to bring help with you," Daken said. "The Hand is strong."

Logan nodded and looked around the room quickly to see who was up for it. "Volunteers?"

Noh picked up his head almost immediately. "You will need someone to be sure you are not double-crossed," he said. "I'll come."

Logan nodded his head in agreement. "Thanks," he said. "I'm not gonna say no to back up."

"Hey, if there's going to be ninjas, count me in," Kate said quickly, her gaze on Logan and Noh more than anything.

"Oh, me too," Jubilee said with a nod. "I feel the need to blow up some ninjas. Fireworks over Tokyo and all that." She was grinning as she said it. "It's been forever since I was in Tokyo."

"Tokyo's just a pit stop," Logan pointed out.

"Oooh, more trouble then if we're going to Madripoor!" Jubilee looked delighted at the prospect, and Logan had to keep from chuckling at her. To date, she was still the only one that wanted to go to Madripoor with him, though K had yet to be initiated properly.

"You know you can always count me in," Kurt added with a smirk.

"I need you to stick around here," Logan said as he turned toward Kurt, who looked obviously surprised. "As much as I'd like having you with, Weapon X isn't out of the game yet." He turned his head toward K at his side as she gave him a dry look. "Keep her out of trouble."

Kurt looked put out at being left out for a moment before he looked toward K and nodded his understanding. "Don't worry — I'm sure we won't have any trouble."

"Not sure why, but she didn't much care for Japan last time we went," Logan said, glaring Daken's way.

"I'm sure if we looked into it, we could find the reason for her distaste," Noh said, his glare Daken's way far more intense than Logan's.

"Well whatever it was is going to get stabbed a few dozen times if anything like that happened again," Logan assured Noh, who looked perfectly pleased by that answer.

Daken, however, looked bored by the whole affair. "I'm sure whatever it was has learned how disgusting that option can be. Though the threats are precious. Really."

"None of you are subtle. At all. And PS — go to hell," she directed to Daken. Logan smiled her way until she turned back to him. "And I'm more than happy to do my own stabbings. Thanks, love."

"Pretty sure the pissing contest wasn't supposed to be subtle," Kate said in a low whisper that she knew half of those present could hear anyway.

"Can we get moving, you know, before the Hand makes its move on Madripoor?" Daken said with a bored tone as he tried to flat ignore the commentary from the women.

"Yeah, keep your shirt on," Logan rumbled. "I wanna get this over with just as much as you do."

"I'm sure you do. Things to get back to," Daken drawled out.

"Right. I'll fly. You boys just keep… doing that," Kate said, rolling her eyes as she pointedly stood up from the table and grabbed her bow.

"See you in a couple days," Logan said to Kurt before he leaned into K for a kiss from his not entirely amused-looking wife. "Try to keep out of trouble."

"Keep your own advice," she countered. "I'd hate to have to swoop in with Kurt and save your sorry butt."

"Oh yes, that wouldn't be fun at all," Kurt said with a little smirk.

"So we'll plan on swooping in … say … two days from now?" K teased toward Kurt.

"Oh, at the very least," he agreed as the smirk turned into a grin.

"I can't imagine us finding anything that would cause a lick of trouble," K said before Logan shook his head at both of them, and the little group headed off to go handle the issues building in Madripoor.

…...

Kate had made good on her promise to fly them out to the tiny island nation off the coast of Japan, and what's more, she and Jubilee had shared a little look before Kate made it a point to assign Noh to be her copilot, making it incredibly clear that he had absolutely no say in the matter. He was going to be her copilot, whether he wanted to or not — because she and Jubilee were making it a point to watch his back around Daken, considering the way the guy was around Noh.

Kate was watching Noh out of the corner of her eye and waited until Jubilee was chatting with Logan so that she was mostly sure she couldn't be overheard over Jubilee before she very carefully whispered low, "You know, if he bothers you that much, you don't have to come. You could have switched jobs with Kurt; I'm sure K wouldn't mind having her sparkly moon prince around." She was smirking at that last bit, but she was entirely serious as she tipped her head at him.

He looked surprised before he shook his head the lightest bit and replied just as quietly. "I admit that we have our differences — and have since we were in the Dark Avengers together. But my friends are dear to me, and I would rather endure his ridiculousness than fret while you are out with him."

"He's not going to do anything to me," Kate pointed out. "Or Kurt for that matter. So maybe-"

"He promised not to use his powers. That is not the same as promising not to bother you," Noh returned, shaking his head. "I'd rather stay and help. Besides, Logan asked Kurt to remain behind to watch over K."

Kate shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. "You're an idiot."

"You usually call me that when I'm right."

She reached over to muff his hair and rolled her eyes again before she set her sights back on the flight.

In the body of the plane, silence had fallen after Jubilee's attempt at a friendly chat with Logan, and nothing was happening at all. No conversations. No friendly banter. No rest. Just tense, tense silence.

Jubilee wasn't about to say anything that she wanted to say to Logan in front of Daken, Daken was taking the same stance about speaking to his father in front of Jubilee, and Logan and Daken both were almost in a stand off anyhow. Daken wanted to pick at him, but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut — at least for the time being, even if he did have a few false starts where he opened his mouth and then thought better of it.

Which, honestly was more amusing to Logan than Daken could have known. But he too, was sure to keep his mouth shut, since he took Daken's restraint as an actual attempt to be more reasonable with him.

….

Alex and Lorna had finally been forced to head out — other commitments, other places they were needed. Not to mention the fact that Alex was convinced that Scott had the tools he needed, but that he was simply not applying himself. So the idea of more sessions was a painful and inefficient way of convincing him to stick around and watch Scott flounder.

As a result, Scott was bound and determined to get a better handle on his abilities without Alex as a crutch. But now he was following his own rules, and he had Kurt as his failsafe in the booth in case things got too hairy.

Scott was fighting back old members of the Brotherhood — a favorite program — and was even making strides with his control, though his beams seemed to be stuck at 'stun' and not 'major damage', even without the glasses on at all. And it was clear he was getting incredibly frustrated.

The door to the booth opened silently as K slipped in to watch the show. "How's he doing?" K asked Kurt as she slipped behind him, her hands in her back pockets.

"Well, he's winning," Kurt allowed diplomatically.

"That's good, right?"

Kurt leaned back and tipped his head her way for a moment. "Usually, this program takes him about ten minutes. We've been here for half an hour," he admitted.

"So. Not so hot," she said as she took the chair next to him. "I'm going to guess that if I go down to help him, that will not help."

"No, it wouldn't," Kurt agreed, though he had the smallest of smirks. "Though… maybe if it was Logan, he might get angry enough to bring up the power on the beams."

"Logan in danger or Logan ticking him off? I'm not entirely sure which way would work best."

Kurt had to laugh at that. "They're both good options," he agreed.

"What about you? I know where the kill switch is. I can hit it if you want to pop down and irritate him. Or, you know, play damsel in distress."

Kurt laughed and shook his head. "I think after this program, we might just wrap things up today," he admitted, tipping his head toward the Danger Room as he added in a lower tone, "I think the frustration is only making it harder for him to focus. Let's not add to it."

"Okay, sounds good to me," she agreed. "I had to slip away from Annie. She was getting … frustrating."

"I'm sure she'd say the same about you," he said with a little smirk.

"Absolutely," she agreed, smiling his way a bit. "That kind of thing tends to happen in pairs at least."

"She means well," Kurt said, still smirking as he kept half an eye on her.

"I know. That's why I'm not mad. Just … getting out of her way for a little while."

"Well, you're welcome to take a turn in the Danger Room if you like. I think Scott's nearly done," Kurt offered.

"That actually sounds great," she agreed. "What'cha got for me?"

"Depends on what you want to do," Kurt said with a growing smile. "Kate has an excellent program for lifting your mood — though Logan has a few good ones if you're simply out for destruction."

She shrugged. "I don't know. What about a third option? You think Scott might want to 'help' me? Might boost his spirits if he's in charge of something again. For a minute."

Kurt had to laugh at that. "It just might," he agreed. He tilted his head back for a moment to think it over before he nodded at last. "We'll set up some soldiers for you to be… threatened by."

"I hear you, Troublemaker," K said with a nod. "Point me." She waited until the sim met its natural end before she stood up in the window and pressed the comm button. "Hey Scott? Can you help me out? I'm still a little mad about those stupid soldiers getting in my face in the middle of the night, and Logan's being stupid about letting me run anything alone."

Scott looked a bit surprised as he glanced up at the booth and pushed his hair out of his face. "You sure you want me and not Kurt?" he asked.

"Kurt ..." She looked at Kurt and let out a breath. "Kurt is following Logan's requests, and I think they're wrong. Not to mention, you're my hero anyhow. Lil' knight in shining … yes."

Kurt looked equal parts betrayed and amused even as Scott was starting to smirk despite his best attempts not to. "Come on down here," he called up to her. "No sense in you getting rusty just because they're in cahoots."

"Thank you," K said with a grin, sounding entirely relieved. "I'll be right down." She shot Kurt a little wink before she turned off the comm. "You might want to argue with him when I'm changing. Defend your position, sir."

"I'll try to be convincingly angry and not the least bit entertained," he replied with a grin.

…...

Logan and Daken led the way to where Tyger Tyger had set up shop. They had barely gotten inside and already, the two of them were discussing things in quiet Japanese while their companions more or less shared wary looks. As they got to her center of operations and simply walked past her security unbothered, Jubilee had to tap Kate on the arm to get her attention as if to tell her the trouble was about to start.

Kate gave her a look that read 'of course' as they stepped into Tyger's office two steps behind Logan and Daken. As soon as the door closed behind them, Tyger was on her feet and quickly made her way over to say hello with a broad smile before she grabbed Logan by the head and gave him a quick kiss then welcomed them all to discuss their problems with the Hand.

"See, this is why we should start making guys wear engagement rings too," Kate muttered under her breath to Jubilee.

"It wouldn't matter," Jubilee promised. "When he was engaged to the second most powerful family in Japan, she still did it. And she knew about that one."

"Well that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy toward her. Remind me again why this is a meeting and not a fight?" she grumped.

"Matter of honor," Logan told her. "Old promises I need to keep."

Kate looked his way for a second and then sighed and crossed her arms. "If she respected honor, she'd respect boundaries."

"It's just how I have always said hello," Tyger defended. "I don't mean it as a sign of disrespect."

Kate just raised her eyebrows Tyger's way for a second. "Uh-huh."

Tyger shook her head and took the three steps over to Daken to do exactly the same thing before offering them all a seat. "Any other concerns you might have?"

Kate pulled a horrible face and shook her head, though Jubilee was looking incredibly entertained at the expression on Kate's face while they started discussing the ninjas and the trouble they were causing.

"I told you … things are weird in Madripoor," Jubilee sang under her breath. "And apparently, she has a thing for this family …"

"Just eww." Kate scrunched her nose up hard. "Eww."

The meeting after that was mercifully short and to the point - since the Hand's aims were fairly straightforward this time around. It was obvious they were simply making sure that anyone who tried to claim any sort of power in Madripoor was met with resistance not only in expanding but in maintaining their influence — and several lieutenants of Tyger Tyger, Daken, and even the likes of Viper had 'disappeared' recently.

"So the plan is to follow the ninjas back to wherever they came from," Logan summed up as he turned toward Kate, who he was convinced wasn't listening.

"Easy peasy," she said with a light shrug and a grin. "Try not to slow me down."

"Yeah, because that's going to be the problem," he said dryly.

She leaned over and patted his arm consolingly as she signed out 'grampa' to him.

He glared at her and flipped her the bird as he whispered 'five-year-old.'

Noh shook his head at their antics before he tipped his head Logan's way for a moment. "It seems that we have several options to begin looking — do you have a prefered location?"

"We don't need to begin looking," Daken argued. "That will just make them realize what we're up to. We just need to set out our bait."

Noh raised an eyebrow but did nothing else to acknowledge Daken. "Do you have a prefered location?" he repeated, looking toward Logan.

Logan shrugged openly. "Figured I'd head down to the bar and see what happens. Still got a pretty hefty bounty on my head. They'll come."

"Bar fights in Madripoor," Kate said with a sidelong glance at Jubilee. "Pretty sure that's how I got roped into the Crazy Train in the first place."

"You're not the first," Tyger assured her.

"Would you like company at the bar?" Noh asked Logan, though now he was looking Daken's way. "Or would you prefer all of us stay in the shadows."

"I was going to go with him," Jubilee said with a grin. "It would look better that way."

Kate had to chuckle at that. "I dunno. Noh's a pretty cute catch," she teased.

"But not his type," Jubilee laughed. "You know. Being a boy and all that."

"And here I thought it was the sparkly moondust that was offsetting," Kate laughed.

"Jubes is a known travelling companion," Logan said wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "If they see the two of us, they'll know it's really me."

"Won't the eyepatch give it away?" Kate couldn't resist teasing.

"Shut up," Logan shot back.

Kate laughed and leaned back, smirking widely his way as the group of them got set to head down for the bar and set out their 'bait.'

….

K's simulation with the Weapon X soldiers had gone swimmingly for just about everyone involved. As she'd predicted, giving Scott something like a protective role had done wonders for his focus, and by the end of the sim, the light 'stun' beams were a problem of the past as he'd finally gotten a few seriously powerful blasts in on a couple soldiers who ticked him off.

They were just about through all the soldiers when K stumbled back, which had Scott there in a second to catch her and blast through the last two soldiers with a more destructive beam than usual, ending the sim as he helped her stand upright again.

"Thanks," K said as she brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I needed that."

"Yeah, well, so did I," Scott admitted with a small grin.

"Same time tomorrow while Logan's still gone?" K asked with a smile of her own.

"I'll be here," he promised, his grin widening as he headed for the showers with a little wave.

K bit her lip and waited for him to go before she peeked up at the booth where Kurt was watching with a wide smile.

He teleported down to her as soon as he was sure that Scott was gone and had to laugh. "The slip was a nice touch. I think you might have been overselling it, though," he teased.

"Yeah, I'll work on that next time," she said with a tiny frown.

Kurt tipped his head her way. "Really, you did magnificently. I don't think our fearless leader has had a session like that since Alex left."

"Well, good," she said with a little nod. "He needed someone new to play with, I think. I'm sure he'll have it covered tomorrow even without me."

"Are you bored of playing the damsel in distress already?" he teased.

"Not for a good cause," she replied. "He's a good cause."

Kurt nodded his agreement and offered K his arm as they headed out of the Danger Room. "What are you thinking as an excuse tomorrow? Perhaps some other soldiers from a different shadowy organization?"

"I thought 'Logan didn't want me to' would work well enough on its own. Let him pick the next baddies."

Kurt grinned. "I may have to bring popcorn," he teased.

"I'm sure it'll be that much more entertaining when my sweetheart gets back," K said with a bit of a strained smile. "Practicing with the Scott. It's like treason."

"Yes, I've been told I'm in cahoots with your sweetheart," Kurt laughed. "Perhaps I should act more distressed about the whole affair."

"Yeah, sorry about that one," she said, leaning toward him a bit. "He needed the extra push. I was going to have to try BS'ing about team work if that didn't work."

"And that is not your strong suit," he teased again, shaking his head at her. "I didn't mind," he added quickly. "It was a low, dirty trick, but I didn't mind."

"Well I guess that's one back at you. Finally," she replied. "You still owe me a couple."

"I think as long as I'm around, you'll find the scales will eventually even out anyway," he promised with a wave of his hand. "Logan and I stopped keeping track, really."

"Good to know. Still, I hate to feel like I'm taking advantage of such a sweet, darling little blue..." She grinned as he pulled her to a stop and gave her a look. "You know the rest, stud muffin."

"I'm just grateful you waited until we were out of the Danger Room and its recording equipment," he replied, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling.

"I wouldn't do that to you," she laughed. "Someone else, sure. But never to you."

He grinned at her. "Well, I know you were avoiding Annie, but it is her night for dinner. Do you need someone to sit between you two?" he teased.

"That depends on if you're going to conspire with her or not," she said. "I may skip dinner if that's the case."

"That depends entirely on how tempting her arguments are," he said with an impish grin. "If she's not too subtle, I may be persuaded."

"Of course you would," K said, shaking her head before she let out a dramatic sigh. "She's pushing to go big. Very, overly big. And I just can't."

"Ah, well." Kurt shook his head and grinned her way. "I can talk to her, then."

"Buffer or proxy? That's interesting either way." She nodded slowly. "That might work, you know."

….

Logan and Jubilee sat at the bar for hours, joking around and chatting between themselves — but no ninjas came. No bad guys at all, actually. At least nothing outside of the bar's usual clientele. Nothing was going on.

"Either they know what we're up to, they're going to attack tonight, or they're waiting to see if it's really us," Logan told Jubilee as he picked up another beer. "What's your take?"

"I think they want to see if you can get drunk," Jubilee said with a little giggle. "So they can have a fighting chance."

He just gave her a little look then smiled at the thought "That might actually be it," he agreed. "So that means it's either gonna heat up in here or we're off for the night." He tipped his head toward his comm. "How's it looking for everyone else?"

"I'm still waiting for you to get drunk enough to burst into song," Kate replied dryly.

"Yeah, that's not happenin' anytime soon," Logan laughed.

She laughed sweetly. "Oh, but it would sure convince them that they've got you drunk."

"They don't want him drunk," Daken corrected. "They want to see if he can be drunk. He can't. Not at this rate — though a normal person would be on the floor by now."

"I still say that's plenty of reason to fake it and sing for me."

"And it would wreck the whole point," Daken half growled. Jubilee was giggling, though.

"You have a request, Kate?" Jubilee asked with a smile.

"I don't think he'd sing 'Buttercup' for me, but maybe something older."

"I've heard him do that one," Jubilee giggled. "Under his breath."

"Okay. Now I'm jealous." Kate laughed. "I'd settle for Glenn Miller or Bing Crosby, though."

"You're not gettin' Bing," Logan told her with a chuckle. "I don't think I can whistle that well."

"Tommy Dorsey?"

"I'm not singing for you, Kate," Logan laughed.

"Not now you're not. Right now, you're laughing and being obstinate." Kate was clearly grinning. Even if he wasn't looking her way, he could hear it over the comms.

"We can leave if there's not going to be music," Noh agreed, also clearly smiling.

"Yeah, I think if it's gonna happen, I'm gonna need to leave," Logan agreed, though on his way out of the bar, he peeked up and shot a wink Kate's way before he started to whistle an old melody that Kate was not familiar with.

"Keep close," Jubilee said with a grin.

"Best. Stakeout. Ever," Kate whispered right back.

They were three blocks away from the bar when the ninjas began to melt out of the shadows. The three that had been watching over them in the bar stayed back as Logan and Jubilee started to defend themselves, though Logan was sure to keep his attacks non-fatal, and Jubilee was knocking them out.

Kate had a handful of tracking arrows, and when it was clear that she had a good shot without risking being seen, she stuck a few ninjas with those. Of course, they didn't take well to being shot, and they recognized the trackers, but it was also a good idea to let them think that was the plan for tracking them — and not letting the rest of the team loose instead.

The fight was relatively short — considering past ninja fights — and when the smoke cleared, Jubilee, Kate, and Logan all headed off together back to the hotel, while Noh and Daken found their own way back — having spent their time in the fight setting actual tracking bugs on the ninjas after Kate's misdirect.

Noh made it a point not to talk to Daken the entire way back until they got back to the others, at which point he broke out into his usual wide grin Jubilee's way and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Well. I think we can safely say we'll soon know where the Hand has stationed those that came after you and Wolverine. I'm already looking forward to a victory celebration," he said, grinning wider as he kissed the top of her head.

"It might take a little while," Daken admitted. "There aren't any ninja hideouts anywhere near here."

"That is sometimes the case," Noh said with a shrug. "We're no stranger to long missions."

"I'm well-aware," Daken said with a nod. "I simply thought it wise to warn you that you're not quite done with me. Sorry to say."

Kate raised an eyebrow at that and shrugged Daken's way. "Yeah, well, as long as you promise there's not more of you and your dad kissing the same person ever, ever again? I think I'll be okay, at least."

"Never, ever, ever again," Daken swore with one hand over his heart.

Kate couldn't help but grin at that as she nodded his way. "Good. I don't think any of us want more fuel for the therapy annals," she said before she looked toward the others, brushed her hands off on her knees, and stood up. "I'm gonna turn in. But you're all welcome to try and get Logan drunk if you want. Wake me if he starts singing."

"Oh, he'll wake you up himself if he starts singing," Jubilee promised. "It's not like he's quiet."

"Not gonna happen," Logan said with a shake of his head.

"He lives in a land of denial," Kate said with a little grin and a wave.

"Says the girl pushin' for a serenade," Logan muttered as he settled in for the wait.