Fifteen Minutes of Torture

The planned wedding for Logan and K was in only a few days, and by then, Kurt had just about everyone they knew doing something or other to get it together. After all, even a teleporter with a small army of demons was bound to have a little trouble getting everything perfect in just a matter of a few weeks after the first one was derailed by Viper.

Honestly, most of the preparation work that had gone into the first one could be kept the same. Where the real work was — was the security arrangements. Everyone was determined not to let another abduction or another supervillain or anything like that crash the wedding for a second time. Once was quite enough.

Noh and Jubilee were already up at the wedding site so that they could scout it out and keep an eye out for any unwanted guests — and Noh had brought just about everything he could think of to set up perimeter alarms in the area for the day of the wedding. And when Natasha had heard the extent of the situation, she had disappeared for a few days and didn't reemerge until she had walked into Fury's office with Viper's most recent location to be absolutely sure that woman was dealing with SHIELD and not trying to wreck a wedding for her 'little uncle.'

Scott had also been working like mad trying to figure out a way to keep K from being snatched by Sinister again — though for the past few weeks, she hadn't lost any time, and there had been nothing out of the ordinary at all. It was a reprieve, and they were all glad for it, but they weren't about to rest on their laurels and just assume that their good luck was going to hold, either.

Their fearless leader had been having the team run down leads on possible Marauder sightings that K had been sifting through — intelligence reports, rumors, anything. Most of them were nothing but smoke, and the few that were solid were months old. It was discouraging, but the whole team kept right on doing it, because it was something to do.

Even the little bamfs were doing what they could to help. They were behaving for Forge and Noh as the two of them tried to put their heads together to figure out something to keep Sinister from teleporting into the mansion, and the bamfs were, once Kurt explained what was going on, more than happy to be the teleporting substitute for their attempted security measures. They even looked appropriately put out every time an experimental measure failed to stop them from teleporting wherever they wanted to go.

But still, they weren't any closer to being able to stop Sinister. They still had no idea where he was, or where he was taking K for 'study,' or anything else.

And Kate… Kate was half-convinced that she had a good idea on how to fix that.

That creep was super interested in the ladies of the X-Men lately, and he was really interested in futzing breeding… So… Kate figured she might give him something new to focus on. Try and draw his attention from K for a little while at least, so K could have a honeymoon….

Kate was staring into her coffee mug thinking about the plan and, honestly, working up the nerve for it. She hadn't meant to look so serious — because she didn't want anyone to ask what she was up to. But she must have totally failed at her 'calm' poker face, because as soon as Kurt got off the phone with Jubilee, who wanted his opinion on something wedding-related — Kate hadn't really been paying attention — he sat down beside her with his head tipped to one side. "Is there something on your mind, liebchen?"

She tried for a little smile. "I was just, you know ... thinking about the wedding. Really hoping it works this time."

"It will," he said, firmly. "In three days' time, they will be happily married, and we can move on to other things," he said with a little smirk her way.

She grinned at him and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Of course. How could I doubt you?" she teased, still grinning before she took a deep breath. "I was just… I think I'm going to make a quick shopping run for shoes and jewelry and… I have some ideas."

"I'm sure you do," he said, smiling her way, though he had his head tipped to one side as he watched her. She was pretty sure he didn't entirely believe her. Which didn't surprise her, considering how well they'd come to know each other since they started dating.

She met his gaze and then broke into a little sheepish smile as she tried to cover. "Yeah, well ... maybe I'll also do some Christmas shopping while I'm out. Buy some presents before we spend our December otherwise engaged," she said, the smile growing into something a bit more mischievous as she leaned over and landed a kiss at the base of his ear — and then just kept going for a bit. It wasn't just a way to keep his attention occupied, either; she was having fun.

Finally, she pulled back the slightest bit so she could grin at him. "I think K and Logan's little one needs a teddy bear to match Mom and Dad," she teased.

"And that's what has you looking so serious this morning? Trying to decide on teddy bear designs?" he shot back, shaking his head at her.

"Well…" She bit her lip and shrugged. "I don't know if it's a boy or girl? So I'm trying to think of something… perfect without much to go on. The itty bitty is still itty bitty, you know."

He broke into a grin as he leaned forward to kiss her nose. "I'm sure you have a guess, though."

"I have a wish list," she teased. "I need another little girl around here so we can take over the mansion. Me and Annie and K… Charlie and the little one... and you will all be utterly helpless."

"Not to mention — Logan needs a little girl," Kurt agreed with a troublemaking grin.

"Then that's what'll happen," Kate said decisively, nodding her head the slightest bit as she finished off the last of the coffee in her mug. "He'll be wrapped around her finger, and be a proper hug magnet, all that." With that, she started to stand, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "Yes. Yes. I think this is what has to happen. A little girl… I have ideas for gifts if that's the case… I gotta get on this."

"Then what will you do if they end up with a little boy instead?"

"Celebrate with them, start plotting to turn him into a hawkguy, and put the little pink stuff away for when Noh and Jubilee have theirs. Sparkly little space princess, Kurt. You know it's gonna happen eventually."

"I'm sure it will — but again, it could be a little prince."

She laughed and had to nod her agreement. "Yeah, it could. But you know with everybody we know… I'm sure somebody is having a little girl somewhere. Heck, Billy and Teddy are thinking about adopting … way down the road; they're not there yet. But I'll start seeding princess thoughts in their heads." She waved her hand carelessly. "And I have ideas, Kurt. Ideas that need to be put into action. Clearly." She popped up to give him another quick kiss. "I'll be back in a few hours, I'm sure."

"Perhaps I could join you," Kurt offered.

She shook her head. "No, no — you are running a wedding, mister. And besides, what if I find something for your birthday while I'm out? Oh no. No, you just stay here and be the cutest fuzzy wedding planner the world has ever known."

"If you insist," he said.

She kissed him again for good measure. "Don't you worry — I'm sure you'll love whatever I find for you," she promised, even though she'd already bought his present ages ago. "I'm an evil genius." With that, she gave him a jaunty little wave and headed out the door for the garage — and her little purple car.

Before she started up the car, she went to the trunk to pull out the quiver that she kept there in case of emergencies and pulled the tips off of every single tracking arrow she could find in there, slipping them into the soles of her shoes, into the fold of her belt — even one straight up in her pocket — before she also set up the tracking receiver so it would store the data on where she'd gone. She put that in her glove box and then started up the car.

It was exactly the kind of thing Scott was yelling at her not to do, really. She didn't park underground but found herself some nice spaces on the curb, and she didn't make any attempt to hide the fact that she was totally by herself.

She made a quick stop at the jewelry store to get a couple bracelets she had her eye on that would go perfectly with her wedding dress in December — just so that, if nothing else, she did buy something. And then... she headed for the baby stores.

This — this was the most important part of her plan. The going to the baby stores part. And making it look like she was shopping for herself.

She was grinning to herself as she searched through the little onesies and other things, occasionally resting a hand on her own stomach for a moment as she looked, in particular, at anything purple. Let anyone who was watching her think that she was looking for a little bitty Hawkeye.

She did find a few cute things for K and Logan while she was out, too. The little bib with a smiley face wearing sunglasses was too good to pass up, if only for the fact that she had to get something sunglasses-y for Logan. She just had to. Just to be a pain. And then there were some cute stripey onesies that would work for a boy or a girl that she added to her basket…

She spent hours in the stores. Multiple baby stores. And she made sure each time to rest a hand on her stomach and look at purple things and purposefully looked as distracted as possible, not overtly looking for anyone who might be following her.

Basically, she was doing anything she could to be a walking neon sign — a big, fat pregnant-lady-target to try and draw Sinister's attention, because with nine different tracers in her outfit, she was going to figure out where his hideout was if she had to shove herself as bait right under his creepy pale nose. Nothing else anyone was doing was working, and Kate was just… so done with watching her friend feel helpless. So. Done.

And then she'd take the tracking data and every Avenger and X-Man she could find and trash the place. That would show him.

And she was definitely drawing attention. A few of the clerks were giving her surreptitious looks at the checkout lines, sneaking glances to see if she was showing, that sort of thing. It was a pretty darn good ruse, if she said so herself.

But four hours of baby shopping later, and not even a hint of a Marauder. Kate was honestly disappointed — and a tiny bit relieved, but that was selfish, so she pretended she wasn't — that no one had taken her bait, and she finally had to let out a huge sigh and stuff her shopping bags into her trunk.

Well, if nothing else, maybe I baited the hook. Just… gotta wear some tracers all the time, in case this worked and he's just slow…. Kate sighed and shook her head before she made one last stop to pick up the stunning set of twin rapiers she had custom ordered for Kurt's birthday — and then headed home.

She spent most of the drive home a bit frustrated, because she'd really been hoping to wrap this Sinister thing up neatly with a bow for a wedding present. Sure, that was a bit optimistic, but it would have been the best wedding present ever to kick that guy's butt and stop the snatching, so she'd take a little starry-eyed optimism. But her frustration only worsened when she pulled into the garage and saw that Scott was there looking somewhere close to livid with her.

She all but kicked the door open and tried to cut him off at the pass. "Yes, I took the car. No, you can't yell at me about it. Go away, Scott."

"Where do I even… It's not just the car, Kate!" Scott said, shaking his head and clearly drawing himself up to just get started. "You went out alone, in the most recognizable car this side of New York, without telling anyone where you were going — no backup, no contact… Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No!" Kate shot back, loudly, her hands on her hips. "I was trying to get myself noticed, thank you very much."

But that didn't diffuse Scott in the least. In fact, he looked even madder. "Noticed? Who by, Hawkeye? Because if half the people trying to kill you 'noticed'—"

"Oh, come on," Kate cut in. "I wasn't trying to get killed — I'm getting married in like, less than two months. I was just trying to — look, I'm just trying to get us a decent lead so K can stop worrying!"

"Sinister?" Scott looked at her nearly open-mouthed as he put it together. "You were trying to get noticed by Sinister?"

"It's not like he's not already creeping on me," she tried to defend. "And I was wearing, like, nine tracers. I'm just trying to find his hideout!"

"You can't possibly — why would you — you do not want to draw Sinister's attention!" Scott was beyond livid, hands in fists at his sides, eyes red and nearly shaking. And any other time, that would have been enough to set Kate back a step, since he never stumbled over his words like that, and he was never that mad — not toward her, anyway. But Kate was so done with all of it, with worrying about K, with watching her friend spiral into depression — so much like Clint had done — and this time, she was going to do something about it. Anything.

"No, I don't want his attention, but I've got it, so why not use it?" she argued, starting to match Scott's pitch and volume as she turned a bit red herself.

Their shouted argument was starting to attract attention, too, because the door opened, and Kate saw her friend poke her head in with a frown. "What's going on here?" K asked as she stepped up behind Scott, making sure to gently grab his arm and give him a little squeeze to calm him down.

"Scott's pissed because I had a plan he didn't think of," Kate snapped out.

"What was the plan?" K asked with a frown.

"She's trying to get herself caught by Sinister. It's not a plan — it's suicidal!" Scott said, clearly still upset but not trying to pull away from K either.

"How and why?" K said, frowning Kate's way as Kurt and Logan both joined the gathering group.

"Look, I was wearing, like, nine tracers. I had my comm hooked up so it would alert anyone if I didn't check in every fifteen minutes, and it's not like he hasn't gone after me before," Kate tried to explain. "The second I was gone, you would've had GPS coordinates — and we'd be done with this stupid crap."

Both Kurt and Logan were staring at her now, and Kurt looked somewhere between upset and just… mad. "Kate... " he started to say, but he couldn't quite find words.

"That's not all together a terrible idea," K said. "Except for the whole baiting him part." She put her hand out. "Gimmie one. We know he'll get me sooner or later."

"Forget it," Logan spit out. "No."

"That was the whole point of my going out," Kate said, though she was already pulling out the tracer tip from her pocket to toss it K's way. "So you wouldn't have to. He's screwed with you enough — let me take a fifteen-minute hit."

"And he's not going to stop until he has everything he wants," K replied. "I'm a sure thing."

"We're not letting him get hold of either of you," Scott argued, arms crossed. "That's — that's not something you ask for!"

"I'm not asking for it, Scott. But you and I both know I'm right on this one," K said. "He will come back for me. Why not give him more than he was bargaining for?"

"See? Good plan," Kate said, matching Scott's arms-crossed posture. "We'll have coordinates before he can even get started on his stupid 'testing' or whatever. Just teleport right over and tear him a new one."

"Still neet to try to avoid it," Logan muttered, though he looked more resigned to it than anything.

"It's not a bad idea to wear tracers. Just ... don't go trying to bait him," Scott said with a glare Kate's way.

"We don't need to bait at all," K said as she gave Scott's arm a little squeeze again, then walked over to Logan and stole a kiss, though the older feral didn't look happy in the least. "Just have to wait."

Scott ran a hand over his face for a moment and let out a long sigh. "Right. Well. If nobody else has any ideas about trying to ping Sinister's radar, I think Bobby's finished burning water, and the pizza's on the way," he said at last, obviously trying to get a better hold of himself, but he was still wearing his glasses, so it was clear he was still mad. "Let's just… keep the tracers on and lay low." He added that last part Kate's way, and she jutted out her chin for a second before she purposefully turned away from him to unload the bags from her trunk.

She could hear Logan muttering something to K that she couldn't hear well enough to know what he was saying, though she thought she at least recognized the tone, and the body language the two of them were putting out as Logan curled halfway around K protectively was hard to miss. Scott wasn't far behind them as they headed into the house.

Kate heard the telltale bamf that meant Kurt was right behind her, but he didn't say anything for a moment as he watched her gather her things. It wasn't until the door was safely shut behind Scott and the ferals that he got started, and even then it was just to take a hold of her arm and teleport them both somewhere a bit more private — back to their room.

"What were you thinking?" he demanded of her as soon as they were alone, in a furious tone that he had never used with her.

She pulled her arm out of his grasp and glared at him for a moment. "I was thinking this is supposed to be a happy occasion, and we're all sitting here just trying to figure out how to keep K from getting snatched. If I can help, that's what we do, right? Help?"

"Not at our own expense," Kurt said, his eyes wide as he took a step closer. "Not unnecessarily."

"It was a good plan!" she insisted stubbornly.

"You're just lucky he didn't take you, Kate," he shot back. "We've been lucky nothing has been permanent thus far, but Kate — we don't have that guarantee!"

"You'd have known in fifteen minutes."

"A lot can happen in fifteen minutes," Kurt argued, and she just blew out all her breath.

"But then we'd have caught him. Sic Noh on him — and Logan, and the whole team, and just be done with all this… this stupidity."

"Kate." He shook his head at her, looking somewhere between upset and stricken. "Kate, you don't know that."

"It's the first real plan anybody's had—"

"Kate." He shook his head slowly, suddenly still and quiet. "Vögelchen, please."

At the change in his tone, she paused and took a step closer to kiss him, though he still looked thunderous when she pulled back to look at him again. "He wouldn't've tried to kill me or anything. I was making it look like I was expecting too. To take the heat off K before the wedding," she explained in her most soothing tones.

That didn't quite have the soothing effect that she wanted it to as he stopped for a moment and stared at her. "And what was your plan when he realized you weren't?"

"You'd be there by then."

"Kate." He seized her by both arms and turned her to face him. "You can't ask me to stand idly by while someone I love is being tortured." He looked her right in the eyes. "That on its own is torture."

"That's not what—"

"But it is," Kurt argued. "To allow him to take you, knowing that he would take pieces of you…"

"That's what he's been doing to K, and we haven't been able to stop it. Maybe I can help. I just… we can't just wait around, Kurt," she said pleadingly. "She's getting married in three days. I just don't want him to screw it up for them."

"He won't," he swore. "With everyone on the team — even some who aren't on the team… He won't get to her."

"We can't guarantee that. That's the whole problem," Kate argued. "Look, I'd gladly take a hit or two if it meant this creep went down for good. It was a good plan." She shook her head at him. "It still is. K's got a tracker now too. It's a good plan."

"It's a good precaution," he said with a sigh. "And hopefully, we never have to use it. I'd rather we were simply able to stop him before he takes anyone." He took both of her hands in his. "We'll figure it out. We always figure something out."

Kate held his gaze for a moment longer before she finally dropped the defiant sort of expression she'd been wearing since talking with Scott and nodded. "I didn't mean to scare you," she said at last, very softly.

Kurt reached up to cup her face with one hand and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "I love you, Kate," he said softly. "Please… be safe."