Chapter Twelve: Twin Swap
It had been about a week since the failed wedding attempt, and everyone was still on edge about the whole thing. Kurt was trying to get a second wedding set up, while Noh, Scott, and Forge were putting their heads together to seriously step up security this time around — both at the venue hidden away in the forest near K's cottage and at the mansion itself to keep anyone from finding out where they were going in the first place.
So when the intruder alarm went off a few hours before dawn, Noh was awake in an instant, swearing in Kree under his breath as he saw that the alert had been triggered inside the mansion — which meant whoever it was had already managed to get in under the radar and past his perimeter security and outer defenses. And that simply should not have been possible, since his systems kept out anyone with nefarious intent, using psionic tech to drop any ne'er-do-wells in their tracks.
Or at least, that was what he thought he'd set up.
The alert had been sent to Scott, too, and while Noh was faster getting down to the lab, Scott wasn't far behind — barefoot and bed-headed and looking annoyed. But when he burst into the lab, where the alert had been triggered … no one was there but Noh and Hank.
"What's going on?" he asked the Kree fighter with a frown as Hank looked over his lab to see what had been disturbed.
Noh had settled into a seat at Hank's desk and was glaring at the computer. "This was still on when I arrived," he said frankly. "It seems whoever came here accessed several medical files — I'm compiling a list for you as we speak. Multiple files were downloaded; I will have the full details in just a moment."
"Well, who was it?" Scott asked, looking past Noh at Hank, who looked frustrated as he shook his head.
"Our intruder didn't leave a trace behind — not even a foreign scent we could follow," Hank said, clearly annoyed, not to mention how insulted he was that his lab had been disturbed.
"Is it worth waking Logan up for?" Scott asked, already wondering if this had anything to do with the recent almost-wedding — or if this was related to K's missing time — or if it was something else entirely.
"Considering his is one of the medical files downloaded from here, it may be," Noh said with a sigh as he pushed back from the desk. "The list is… unsurprising, given recent events. You're on it, and so is your wife and Charlie …. as well as my Jubilee, Logan, K, Kate, Kurt… it's simply a list of who has been most recently kidnapped, honestly."
"Wait. Charlie and not Chance?" Scott asked with a little frown as the gears clearly started turning.
Noh checked the computer files one more time and nodded. "That's what I'm seeing," he said.
"Then I guess we know who our intruder is," Scott said as he ran a hand through his hair, looking more and more upset as he thought it over and turned to Hank with an almost forlorn look on his face. "And I'm going to guess that Chance doesn't have the X-gene."
Hank looked up at Scott with a frown already following Scott's line of thought. "No, he doesn't," he said thoughtfully. "Only Charlotte has it. After your last run-in with Mr. Sinister, I took a few blood samples to be sure he hadn't changed them in any way."
Scott nodded, and it was easy to see his clear disappointment — not with Chance, of course, though he had to admit to being a little put out that he wouldn't be able to teach his son how to use his powers… but with the simple fact that he knew exactly who would be interested in only his kids with the X-gene. "It's hard to safeguard against someone that can teleport," he said before he let out a sigh and turned back to Noh. "There's nothing wrong with your security, Noh."
"And yet this has happened," Noh said, gesturing to the computer with a look of distaste. "Clearly, we can do better."
"Well if you can make a trap that can catch Sinister, then just tell me what you need," Scott told him from a deep frown.
Noh raised both eyebrows high as he looked Scott's way, though he was clearly thinking it over. "If it is that man, it will be hard to figure out how to stop his teleporting without interfering with Kurt as well," he said with a sigh. "The methods are the same, since he stole it from Nightcrawler… But I can try."
"If you tell Kurt what's going on, I'm sure he'll try to help you," Scott said. "He's got a stake in this too."
"Yes, everyone whose files were accessed should be made aware," Hank agreed. "If nothing else, so they can be careful and keep out of further trouble, take precautions, etcetera, etcetera."
"That's going to be a problem with this list," Scott deadpanned.
"Well, perhaps for one of the names," Noh said, shaking his head. "But I believe her intended will be sure to step up security measures," he added with a small smirk. "Kurt will too." He ran a hand through his hair and then let out a sigh. "For now, though, let them sleep. There's nothing we can do with our intruder gone via teleportation. I cannot track him."
The three men made one last fruitless sweep of the labs — but it seemed that the only thing that had been disturbed was the computer and the files, and there was simply nothing to be learned there that they didn't already know. It was still well before dawn, so they were headed back to sleep when another of Noh's alarms went off — this time a perimeter alarm that meant someone was at the front door.
But it likely wasn't a hostile — since whoever it was rang the doorbell an instant later.
When they got to the front door, both Noh and Scott were surprised to see that one of the Accusers was standing there, in full armor, but with clearly relaxed body language.
"Can I help you?" Scott asked with one eyebrow raised.
"It is I who came to help you," the Accuser — who they now recognized as Sinta, the Accuser who had worked with them fighting the Shi'ar last time, as he took his helmet off — replied easily. "I've come with a warning: your planet is in danger of invasion."
"From whom?" Noh asked carefully, his arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe.
"The Shi'ar," Sinta said frankly. "We've been monitoring their movements since their assault on Hala, and it seems with Kree defenses still weakened and the Skrulls scattered, they've decided your Earth is ripe for the picking."
"Why don't you come on in," Scott said, stepping back. "You can tell us all about it inside." He looked at Noh for a moment. "I'll call the Avengers and Kitty — maybe the Guardians will get involved if it's big enough."
"I'll make sure to work with Tony Stark so that he has access to the intelligence from our ships on the Shi'ar forces," Noh said carefully. "I'd prefer to do that myself. He has long been interested in my technology, and I don't want it to infect Earth's development."
"Whatever you say, Noh," Scott said as he walked off, shaking his head at Noh's priorities.
With the Avengers as well as the Guardians alerted to the danger, then, Sinta was quick to share what he knew about the incoming forces — which was actually incredibly helpful, since the Kree had spotted the cloaked fleet well in advance of their arriving anywhere near Earth, so they would be able to cut it off at the pass. Still, the fleet was fairly impressive, and by the time everyone had made their way down to the War Room, Sinta's holographic maps were already up to show just how much they had to work with.
"We'll need all hands on deck," Scott said as he looked down the table full of X-Men once they'd began to outline the general plan. "We can rendezvous with the Avengers on the way — if we play our cards right and hit them hard enough, this shouldn't take too long."
K nodded to herself, ready to join in, when Scott specifically turned her way. "K, you'll need to stick with Annie and the twins. They shouldn't be alone." For a moment, Scott very nearly felt bad from the expression on her face, but he also wasn't going to back down. "I'm sorry, but we can't afford to let the mansion be too vulnerable," he told her frankly.
But when K still looked downright dejected, Scott made sure after the briefing that he pulled her aside for a moment. "Sinister was here last night pulling medical files, and I don't want Annie here alone to find out what he wanted those files for," he told her quietly. "I need you here, K."
She looked back up at him with that same totally betrayed expression on her face and her arms crossed. "Sure. Sit. Stay. Got it."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "I really appreciate you looking out for her," he told her honestly. "She feels safer when you're there."
"Don't get Logan killed," she said before she simply walked away, clearly shutting him out as much as she could.
Scott stared after her for half a second before he shook his head and turned back to the rest of the gathered X-Men — and got them all moving for either the blackbird or Noh's ship.
Scott had set up a feed for K and Annie to listen to so they could at least hear what was going on while they were in space. Annie was listening to it nervously, anxiously awaiting news and incredibly grateful for something to do with her worry — until K came through and just flipped it off before she took a seat on the far side of the room. She knew he'd meant it to be reassuring, but it only rang in her ears as a reminder of how positively unhelpful she was to them.
"Don't you want to know what's happening?" Annie asked as she helped Charlie wipe off the mess that Chance had thrown at her over lunch. Her brother, meanwhile, was crawling around the floor happily — Annie had cleaned him up first because he'd gotten more of the mess on himself than on Charlie.
"Nope," she replied, leaning back a bit in her chair. "If they wanted to share, they should have had us go. Screw it."
Annie let out a sigh and shook her head. She knew that K was having a hard time being left behind, but Annie couldn't go with the team, even if she had been invited. She didn't know how to fight Shi'ar. And she wasn't going to bring her babies to a space battle. "Turn it back on, please," she said, though she was sure to be gentle about it. "I don't want to find out someone's been hurt after the fact."
K watched her for a moment before use the remote and flip it on again and started to rise to her feet. "Let me know if you need anything."
K didn't get very far, though, because Chance had crawled his way over to her while she was seated, and when she moved to step around him, he looked fairly obstinate. "Pees," he said, big brown eyes staring up at her as he opened and closed his hands in a clear sign that he wanted to be picked up.
She let out a sigh as she looked down at the little boy then over to where Annie was very clearly busy with Charlie. "Fine, come with me then," she said before she picked him up and set him on her hip, intent on getting away from the stupid feed.
Chance jabbered happily at her as soon as she picked him up, in his own little baby language, gesturing with pudgy hands as if K could understand him with an occasional giggle. He was in a good mood, apparently, even if K was still annoyed at the situation in general by contrast.
She sat down with the little guy in the living room as he continued to 'talk' to her, and she just nodded along and pretended she was following whatever story he was trying to tell her — until very suddenly, it wasn't Chance that she was holding.
She wouldn't have known that anything was wrong otherwise, because she wasn't aware of having missed anything. But it was unmistakably Charlie in her arms, and she did not look happy. Her big, brown eyes were wide, and she looked like she was on the verge of a screaming fit, her lower lip jutted out.
"No, no — don't do that," K said quickly, trying to shush the little girl, bouncing her a bit and snuggling her when that didn't work as Charlie wriggled and fussed and asked for 'mam' over and over again.
K headed right for the War Room, sure that Annie would be upset if she also had the wrong twin — and of course, when she arrived, Annie was in there with Chance, who was having a screaming fit, clearly terrified and unable to stop crying despite Annie's best efforts.
When K entered the room, Annie looked over Chance's head and looked visibly relieved when she saw that K had Charlie with her, though when Charlie saw how upset her brother was, she followed through on her earlier threat to start crying. And then, both of the twins were having a screaming fit.
It took a long time for the two women to get the twins calmed down — and when they finally did, the little ones had tired themselves out. Charlie started to fall asleep on K's shoulder, though Chance was reluctant to fall asleep despite how tired he was until Annie took him over to K so he could see his sister and give her a sloppy baby kiss. He fussed a bit more until Annie fed him, and then, at last, he was asleep, one little hand holding tightly to Annie's shirt the whole time. Still, the twins were fussy even in their sleep, and Annie and K had to be perfectly still and quiet for some time before the two little ones entirely settled out.
Once the twins were deeply asleep, Annie looked up at K with clear terror in her gaze that she had somehow managed to hold back for her kids' sakes. But now that it was just the two of them... "What happened to us?" she asked, her voice shaking the slightest bit.
K frowned. "What do you remember?"
In answer, Annie looked up at the screens, which were still set up to view the battle that was occurring in space. "Before… they had just signalled that they were about to engage the Shi'ar," she said carefully, and K followed her gaze to see that not only was the battle well under way, but all the indications were that the Shi'ar were in full retreat, though the volume was muted.
K frowned deeper at that but shook her head, not wanting to scare Annie any more than she was already clearly worried. "And then you noticed the switch with the twins?" she offered.
Annie looked like she might burst into tears at that as she nodded. "What happened to us?" she asked again. "What happened to my kids? Chance was inconsolable before you got here… I found him on the floor… I had just been cleaning Charlie up…." Her breath hitched, and it was obvious that the only reason she wasn't having a sobbing meltdown was that Chance was still curled up with her.
"I don't know," K admitted, though that didn't exactly help with the wide-eyed and terrified look on Annie's face.
"Should we… Hank went with the others..." Annie said softly, obviously still shaken and worried. "What… what do you think happened to the twins? We were gone…"
K watched Annie's terrified expression for just a moment before she took in a deep breath and let it all out at once. "Come on," she said, standing carefully so she didn't wake the sleeping little girl in her arms. "The good doctor might not be in right now, but we can find his apprentice to take a look at the kids, I'm sure."
When they did find Tyler, he and Tammy were neck-deep in reading Beloved for their literature class. Tammy had a bowl of potato chips to snack on as she let the book hover in front of her face rather than get the pages oily from the chips, and Ty was reading the book one-handed, his other hand resting on the couch between them as his focus didn't seem to be on what he was reading at all but rather on trying to work up the nerve to bring his hand a bit closer…
But when he looked up and saw the distressed look on Annie's face, he quickly stood up, folding down the corner of his book as he asked, quickly, "Are you okay?"
Annie shook her head hard, looking again like she might start to cry as she seized Tyler by the hand. "Please," she said softly. "I need you to tell me that the twins are alright."
Tyler didn't hesitate when he heard the shake to Annie's voice as he indicated with a little tip of his head that they should go somewhere private, and as soon as they were seated in one of the classrooms that were currently not being used — what with all the teachers up in space fighting a huge invasion — he laid a hand carefully on Chance, frowning the slightest bit when he opened his eyes again. "He's fine," he assured Annie, who looked rather relieved but didn't quite relax.
"Can you — can you check on Charlie, just to be sure?"
Tyler just nodded. "Of course," he promised her as he did the same thing, carefully putting his hand on Charlie's little bitty one, though as he closed his eyes to perform his own scan of the little girl, his concerned little frown turned into something like a scowl until he pulled his hand away and looked up at Annie, who was watching him with both expectation and terror in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asked, though she sounded like she already knew the answer to her question.
Tyler let out a breath and shared a quick look with K — who was sure she also knew the answer — before he met Annie's gaze. "Nothing's wrong," he told her. "But ...outside of the bump on her head from hitting the table yesterday morning, and the scraped up knee - someone… recently put a needle in Charlie's thigh. Sorry, but ... I don't know what for. I can't find anything else."
Annie looked like she might cry as she held Chance just a little bit tighter. "Just Charlie?" she whispered out, and Tyler nodded.
"I couldn't find anything on Chance," he assured her, though that didn't exactly seem to comfort Annie, who was settling into more of a glare than the wide-eyed terror look she had been wearing before.
She was shaking just the slightest bit, though it seemed to be more out of anger than anything else as her mouth opened and closed — she was apparently trying to find the words to express her frustration. "That… that man," she all but hissed out. "That horrible… that cruel…."
Tyler looked to K, clearly looking for an explanation, but K shook her head, and Tyler let out a sigh. "Can you tell me what happened? Maybe I can help," he offered, which got Annie to soften her glare only the slightest bit as she looked over at him.
"It's the same thing that's been happening a few times before now," Annie told him, tipping her head K's way for a moment. "We lost time."
"Both of you?" Tyler prompted, and Annie let out a sigh and nodded.
"Yes. It's… disorienting," she admitted, glancing K's way. "It's the first time it's happened to me, though. K, on the other hand…"
Tyler looked between the two of them before he held out his hand for Annie. "Can I…?" he asked politely, and when she nodded, he took her hand and did a similar scan for her to the ones he'd done for the twins.
"Well?" she prompted when he opened his eyes again.
"You've got a few more pinpricks than Charlie, but… that's all I can tell you," Tyler admitted. "Sorry ... I wish I knew more."
"No — thank you for trying," Annie said, putting a hand on his shoulder with a little bit of a smile despite the fact that she was clearly fighting against a heavy glare.
"Can I ask… what's going on here?" Tyler asked hesitantly. "I thought we didn't know what was going on, but it sure sounded like you had an idea."
"More like a suspicion," Annie admitted, glancing once more at K. "Scott's suspicion — after the break-in last night."
"I didn't hear about that," Tyler said, his eyebrows raised.
"Well, it was the middle of the night — and then everyone went off to go fight aliens," Annie said. She looked almost apologetically his way. "I'm sure Hank would have told you if he hadn't left for that."
"Well, I mean ... I'm not part of the team yet," Tyler pointed out with a sheepish smile, and Annie just shook her head.
"No, no, it's — the break-in happened in the lab," she tried to explain. "Someone stole the most recent records for… well, just about everyone who was snatched by that horrible Sinister man before."
Tyler frowned at that and was just working up to something like a glare before K spoke up, "Not yours, though, Kitten Whiskers," which relaxed his glare for all of a second before he looked more concerned for the two of them all the same.
"And you think he came back this morning for you guys?"
Annie let out a sigh, her gaze hard as she looked down at the sleeping little boy in her arms. "That man… he isn't interested in Chance," she explained. "He only wants to study mutants."
Tyler's eyes widened for just a moment in understanding. "And since Chance doesn't have any marks on him…"
"That man is just… ugh." Annie slipped into a full-on glower as she looked up to meet Tyler's gaze. "I hate him."
"You can't be insulted that he's not interested in him," K said with a frown, as reasonably as she could.
"No," Annie said quickly. "No, I'm relieved, to be honest. I wish he'd leave them both alone." She let out a long breath. "But there's something wrong with a man who… last time, he was so…"
"Invasive? Possessive?"
"Yes, that," Annie said with a nod. "And condescending." She shook her head hard as she looked over at K. "Don't get me wrong. I'd rather he wasn't interested at all — but he… I just hate that he…" She threw her hair back and let out a loud noise of frustration. "There's nothing wrong with my little boy."
K frowned as she watched Annie get more and more upset, and she let her shoulders drop. "Sorry," she said. "I blew my shot."
"At what?" Tyler asked curiously.
"Taking his head off," she replied. "I didn't finish the job."
"From what Scott's told me about that man, you came closer than most," Annie said.
"Close didn't get the job done."
Annie reached out to put a hand on K's arm. "Next time," she said with a tight smile.
"Yeah, I won't be on that detail," K muttered whisper quiet under her breath.
Tyler looked between the two women for a moment with obvious concern. "Can I… do you need anything else?" he offered at last when the two of them seemed to simply be sharing a moment.
Annie shook her head at him, smiling sweetly. "No, thank you — you've been a big help, really." She squeezed his arm quickly. "Don't let us interfere with your studies. I'm sure you and Tammy have plenty of homework to get to," she said, though her smile had her eyes twinkling at that, and Tyler looked a bit pink.
"Just, um, let me know if you need anything," he said, still slightly pink, before he headed back to the living room.
Annie looked after him for a moment before she turned to K with the beginnings of a smile. "I'm glad he's joining the team," she said.
"Don't try to fix him up," K told her with a frown.
Annie just laughed and shook her head. "If I tried to play romantic counselor to all the teenagers in this school, I'd be far busier and stressed out than I am now," she promised. "I just think it's... sweet."
"I don't think you want to do that for all of them. Just the one. But let him figure it out on his own."
"I won't push," Annie promised, still smiling. "I'll just… tease. It really is sweet."
K shook her head at Annie, not believing her in the slightest. "Are you okay now, or do you want company still for the next twenty minutes or so?"
Annie thought it over for a moment before she simply nodded. "I think … until the others get back… maybe it would be better if neither of us was alone, all things considered."
K let out a breath, nodded, and sat down with her. Charlie was still trying to cuddle with her in her sleep anyhow, so she might as well get comfortable.
After the battle with the Shi'ar, most of the ships involved — both belonging to the X-Men and to the Avengers — docked for a short time for repairs, simply because the battle had left its mark on their ships, and everyone was interested in making it home in one piece. And of course, this meant that just about everybody had a chance to recover, stretch their legs, and get a breath before heading back home, so the very large group of heroes was taking the time to do just that.
Noh's ship was well on its way to being in perfectly fine shape, given the huge crowd filled with all sorts of emotion that fueled its psionic circuits, and he had promised to take anyone who was antsy about getting home faster home on his ship rather than waiting for repairs on the blackbird and Quinjet — though a few of the psionic circuits on the latest model of the blackbird were speeding along its repairs as well, to Tony's obvious jealousy.
It was clear who among the group was ready to get home, as Logan was sitting in a corner with his arms crossed and simply waiting to get the show back on the road, while on the other end of the spectrum, Kamala and Miles Morales seemed to have made it their life mission to talk with all of the people involved, or to at least say hi, because it was their first big teamup like that. All of Earth's heroes — or at least, a huge chunk of them — in one place? It was pretty much heaven for the two youngest Avengers.
Thankfully, there seemed to be plenty of energy to share with Thor, who took one look at Kamala and Miles and decided to take them each under one of his arms and to start regaling the story of the battle they'd just seen with them as they got more and more excited about it, seeming to feed off of his enthusiasm as well — though it was slightly self-contained now that they had a target for all that energy.
As for the others, well, most of them were helping with repairs — both on the ships and the medical kind of repairs. Natasha had dragged Clint over to get himself seen to after he'd been manning the weapons during the fight when the Shi'ar got in a good hit that blew half his station. She had her arms crossed over her chest and didn't seem to be in any mood to put up with his "I'm fine"s as she ignored his protests to start wrapping him up in bandages.
Kate had also found her way over to the other Hawkeye to 'help' Natasha, which mostly consisted of her teasing Clint as Natasha threatened to cut him out of his shirt if he didn't let her see the damage to his chest. Kate, of course, had her own bandages — so there was plenty of teasing about matching Hawkeyes to be had — but it was much more fun to mess with Clint, and she told him so outright.
Cap had come over to congratulate Scott and Noh on their hot-shot flying during the battle (as Kamala told it), though the three of them weren't much for conversation as Scott seemed to be firmly in the camp of "get back home as soon as possible" and was more focused on getting the blackbird fit to fly without worrying about making the trip home than he was on Captain America — a first for him — while Noh was trying to help with the Blackbird, since his own ship didn't need his personal attention at the moment.
Tony seemed torn on what to focus his attention on, because Billy had offered his help fixing up the Quinjets — and Tony hated having to rely on magic for his tech. But, he couldn't resist trying to wheedle Noh into please sharing some of that Kree tech with him so he could upgrade his ships too. So he seemed to be trying to do both, giving Noh his best impression of a business dealer while keeping half an eye on the floating Wiccan above the Quinjets muttering "Goodasnew goodasnew goodasnew" over and over again.
Finally, Noh ran a hand over his ship and looked out over the assembled X-Men and Avengers to let them know his ship was ready to go if anybody needed a ride sooner than later. Kamala was quick to raise her hand at that, then sheepishly explained, "I sort of have a microbiology final tomorrow morning — or… you know. In a few hours? So I'd like to be physically present for that."
Hank was also sure to insist that he wanted to get most of those who were fairly injured back as well — including, of course, Clint, but also Bobby, who'd gotten part of a good blast, and Rhodey, who had been close by Clint when their weapons system blew.
Logan and Scott shared a look, though Scott was at a bit of a disadvantage since he didn't exactly want to leave the blackbird behind. "I've got it covered," Logan told him.
The only indication that Scott was relieved was the fact that it was obvious in his eyes — before he nodded and turned back to the blackbird. "I'll be right behind you."
"I'll let Annie know."
Scott smiled a bit at that and nodded once. "Thanks. Tell K hi for me."
"Will do," he replied as he headed for Noh's ship.
A few others came along as well just so that the other two ships wouldn't be too crowded — Miles came with Kamala as they kept up their companionable squeeing over the whole thing, and Natasha stuck by Clint. Not, she insisted, because he was in danger of falling over dead but because she wanted to make sure he didn't do something stupid to pull his stitches. Kurt and Kate also came along, with their army of bamfs, which meant one of them was in Natasha's face with a look that had Logan smirking to himself as Natasha told Clint to stay still while she got some shrapnel out of his arm.
"Just can't keep your hands off him, can you?" Logan teased.
Natasha shot him a dry look and rolled her eyes. "If you know how to get shrapnel out without touching anyone, be my guest."
"Too bad we left Rachel with Scott," Kate said, wearing almost the same smirk Logan was.
"Deny all you want to everyone else," Logan told her. "Can't lie to me. This is your favorite part of the mission."
"For spacebound missions where I don't get to get my hands dirty?" She smiled sweetly at him. "Of course this is my favorite part. I'm involved."
"And for earthbound ones. Any excuse to touch him and act like a little mother hen."
"'S okay, Nat. You can admit I've got a good — ow!" Clint winced as Natasha pulled out a more deeply embedded piece of Quinjet from his arm.
"Oops," she said innocently, and he rolled his eyes at her.
"You know the mean little girl on the playground?" Logan said as he leaned toward Clint. "This one never grew outta that phase."
"Don't gotta tell me," Clint grumbled. "We used to date."
"Maybe you oughta double check that you're not again," he replied.
"Hey." Clint shook his head as Natasha looked slightly pink. "I may be an idiot, but I think I'd notice if I was dating Nat." This didn't seem to have the effect he'd intended as Natasha looked that much more like she wanted out of the conversation.
"No you wouldn't." Logan leaned back with his arms crossed, then tipped his head toward Natasha. "Or you'd notice her blushing like that."
"Prekratite draznit glupuyu," she muttered through clenched teeth, shaking her head at Logan.
"Nyet," he replied easily as one of the bamfs hovered over his shoulder and shook his head fervently in agreement with him.
Clint looked between the two of them for a second before he got a little grin on his face and looked Nat's way. "So .. dinner and a movie later?" he asked, only half teasing.
She raised both eyebrows at him like she could hardly believe he'd just done that. "Chto ty delayesh."
"She'd love it," Logan said with his eyes closed.
"What I'd love is for everyone who's not currently being treated for injuries to leave — before I start inflicting reasons for you to be here," she said half under her breath and clearly looking at Logan in particular.
"If that's what you gotta do to feel better — go for it." He cracked one eye open in her direction and waited for her reaction.
She held his gaze for a moment before she simply yanked out the last piece of metal from Clint's arm. When he yelped, she smirked at him for a second and handed him a small box of Band-Aids with a straight face. "You're all done. Which means you can leave now. Try not to pull anything on your way out the door."
Clint smirked as he took the Band-Aids and hopped up to his feet. "Yeah, love ya too, Nat," he teased before he shot her a little two-fingered salute and headed for the door.
Logan nodded his way and then gave Nat a little smirk. "That wasn't near as hard as you were makin' it out to be."
"You're stirring up trouble just to do it," she accused him, shaking her head, though she had a little smirk of her own.
When she walked past, he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to sit with him for a second. "Yeah. So what if I am?"
She couldn't help but give him a little smile at that and squeeze his hand. "Stop doing that," she told him low.
"But you like it," he said back, just as low.
"Only sometimes," she chuckled quietly.
"You're a horrible liar."
"Oh, yes. Professionally," she said, smirking a bit now before she leaned over and pinched his arm, the smirk wider as she spoke in her lowest whisper. "But for the record — I know what I'm doing with this one."
"Then get on with it," he countered. "He ain't gettin' any younger."
She laughed and shook her head at him before she gave him a peck on the cheek and stood up to leave, still smirking to herself, though once she was gone, Logan could distinctly hear Kate humming on the other side of the room — to the tune of "Matchmaker." She was grinning at him impishly when he looked her way and simply hummed the slightest bit louder.
With most everybody patched up, the party seemed to move from the med bay to the main deck, where the rest of the passengers on Noh's ship were chatting, or drinking coffee — decompressing from the big fight on the way home.
Kate shared a look with Kurt before she winked at him and slipped over to where Kamala and Miles were sitting together to whisper something in Kamala's ear that had her turning bright, bright pink and scooting a couple inches away from Miles, who scrunched up his nose at Kate and looked betrayed.
"What the heck?" he asked her, though she only reached over to ruffle his hair affectionately.
"Oh, nothing — just warning her about some of the residents on this flight. She's so innocent, and some people have dirty minds."
"He-e-ey," Kamala said. "That's not—"
"Have fun, kids," Kate said with an impish grin as she all but skipped back over to Kurt, who was shaking his head at her.
"Must you tease them like that?" he asked, even though he was clearly grinning.
"Like you weren't thinking about doing the same thing. I just had to warn them about the Matchmaker," Kate said with a grin to match his. "He's on a roll today. And he's got a good record, considering you and me."
Kurt raised his eyebrows at her as his tail wrapped around her leg. "I'd like to think I had more to do with it than he did," he teased.
"Well…" She paused and pretended to think about it for a good, long time. "You were dashing with the mid-air rescue," she allowed at last, which got a low chuckle as Kurt started to kiss her gently — just to prove her wrong about who exactly was to blame for their getting together.
Of course, while Kurt and Kate were occupied with their 'argument,' Logan had settled down with a mug of coffee only to find that Kamala was looking his way wearing bright red across her cheeks — and then looking quickly away to pretend she hadn't been caught staring. There was about a foot and a half of space between her and Miles at that point, and the poor kid looked utterly confused.
"You can relax," Logan said in a low, drawn-out tone. "You're actually acting your age. They're like ... 40 and still acting like third graders."
"Which ones?" Miles asked, genuinely confused and curious as he tipped his head to one side, though he was clearly wearing a smirk under his mask.
"Fair point." Logan tipped his head toward Kurt and Kate. "Those two are more like lovesick puppies though."
"They don't ever stop," Kamala said with a little bit of a giggle. "I thought they would stop — outside the mansion — but they don't."
"They started outside the mansion," Logan pointed out.
"Fair point," Miles said, the grin obvious. He tipped his head a little further until his ear was practically against his shoulder as he looked over Logan. "So ... you been babysitting the third-graders? Is that why you've got the Parting of the X-Seas going on over here?"
"Something like that," Logan said as he frowned at his coffee.
"Hey, what's up?" Kamala asked, leaning forward a bit. "Not used to people avoiding you for reasons other than you might stab them?"
"You haven't been around much then," he said with a bit of a smirk, though it was certainly forced.
"Well, we're not scared of your babysitting powers," Miles assured him earnestly. "You're probably easier to deal with in that regard than Cap anyhow."
"Yeah, you can sit with us if the grown-up kids are bothering you," Kamala offered with a wide grin.
"You know. If you want to," Miles added hurriedly.
Logan paused for a moment before he lightly shook his head. "I'll leave you two in peace for now."
Miles broke into a bit of a grin. "Ooh, we got a 'for now.' Very enigmatic," he whispered to Kamala. "Foreboding even."
"Do you want me to pick?" Logan asked as he looked right at Miles.
Miles held his hands up in front of him. "Hey. I," he said, drawing himself up even as the grin spread, "am just acting my age."
"Careful. Last time that happened, Katie spent about a week as a four year old," Clint called out. "You probably only rank at two."
"Pshaw. I'm three at least," Miles said easily, brushing off his knuckles on his suit as Kamala shook her head at him with slightly widened eyes.
"Please ignore him. He's just… like this," Kamala said Logan's way.
"A spider?" Logan offered. "They're all like that."
"I did start practicing my witty banter in my head after I got my powers," Miles said, resting a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe it's part of the whole Spiderman gig."
"Must be," Clint chuckled, shaking his head. "The other Spiderman doesn't know when to leave Wolverine alone either."
With that, Logan tossed Kamala one of Jubilee's candy bars and decided to ignore Miles if possible. "Rest up," he advised, heading off to at least try and find some peace and quiet in the meantime.
Translations from Russian:
Prekratite draznit glupuyu - Stop teasing the stupid.
Chto ty delayesh - What are you doing.