A Rumble of Frost (Ultimate Marvel OC)

by MalcolmTent6730

William Frost is sick and tired of his mother telling him what to do. Of anyone telling him what to do. So why let them? Now he's all alone in New York City, trying to start a hero team of his own so he can show them all how it's done.

5. Chapter 5

February 15th 2001, 177A Bleeker st. 10:30 AM EDT

"Cat, sweetie. Are you SURE this is the direction we should be going?" I did my best to keep the annoyance out of my voice, because pissing off the only one of us with ANY sense of direction in the endless hell maze of interlocking stairs would be bad, but I was pretty sure we were lost. I could hear the explosions from Strange's fight with Xandu, but I'd been hearing that for about half an hour and that shit wasn't any closer.

Felicia whirled on me with a glare. "Are you saying I don't know where I'm going? Do YOU want to decide which stairs we take? Because you can be my fucking guest, this is giving me a headache already."

I shrugged. "I'm just saying I'm pretty sure that I've seen that weasel statue before." I pointed off to the side into an alcove where a golden statue of a weasel was striking a bodybuilder pose.

Peter shook his head. "Nah, the other weasel statue was doing the splits. Similar design but the poses are way different."

"No." I disagreed. "It's the same statue. It just moved. There's a knick on the left foot near the third toe. Looking at the statues helps calm down my vertigo so I've been focusing on them as we walk by. That's definitely the same one, it just switched poses to fuck with us."

They both turned to look at the thing incredulously. Peter narrowed his eyes. "Ok, I'll say it. Why are there even alcoves with statues in this place? Is it just to mess with us? Because based on this, I kind of feel like all the statues might be able to move and just be there to throw us off. Like how many nearly identical weasel statues are sprinkled around this place to make this harder. This Doctor Strange guy is the worst."

He wasn't wrong. "It's not ideal. I'd just start punching and try to bust us out, but these steps go in a LOT of directions, and some of them seem to be upside down. I'm worried the space here is unstable and if I break it we might all fall into a bottomless abyss or some shit." I turned to Felicia. "Which is why I asked if you're SURE we're going in the right direction. No blame here kitten, just trying to get an idea what's up."

She groaned and buried her face in her hands, flopping back down onto the landing, resting one head on a step. "No. I'm not sure. I haven't been sure for a while. My head hurts from looking at these stupid stairs. Why are there so many stairs? I wish I could find the guy who invented stairs, and then push him down these stairs, and then his legs would be broken and he wouldn't be able to climb stairs anymore, and his wife would leave him and go be with the guy who invented

elevators, because everyone knows elevators are much sexier than stairs, and oh my God we're never getting out of here."

Peter snorted out a laugh at that, but wilted as our incoherently babbling teammate turned to glare at him. I chuckled and stepped between them before she could lunge at him. "Alright kitten, got that out of your system? It's fine. We just need to take a minute to think this through." I smiled reassuringly at her then turned to Peter. "Spider-man, as team leader I'm delegating the task of thinking this through to you. Good luck, we're all counting on you."

Now it was Felicia's turn to burst out laughing. I couldn't see Peter's face under the mask, but I could hear the universal huff of offended disapproval that all teenagers made when forced to do something we considered unfair. Seeing both of us looking at him he just groaned and massaged his temples. "I swear I have to do everything." He muttered to himself as he turned to try to look over the steps again.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small notebook and a pen. I saw Felicia open her mouth and reached down to pinch her ass. She yelped and gave me a 'what the fuck?' look, but I just shushed her. She rolled her eyes and leaned back on the steps. In the meantime, Peter had started doing some kind of equations on the paper. He measured the individual steps under our feet, then started counting the numbers in each staircase, then started sketching out models and doing complicated math formuli.

I watched with interest, and noted that I probably should have considered doing this ten minutes ago, but live and learn I guessed. Finally, after five straight minutes of muttering and pen scratching I decided to ask. "Any chance you'll share with the class? It's your nerdly duty to let your jock friends copy your homework you know? And in return I make sure nobody shoves you in a locker."

He rolled his eyes at me as he looked up. "Hardy har har. But sure, I can tell you what I'm doing. I'm mapping the whole structure. This is some kind of puzzle. I thought it was just a set of Escher stairs at first, but the structure isn't stable. There's a loose thread, a spare staircase that probably leads out of here and prevents it from being a closed system. I assume as an exit for the owner so they don't get stuck in here by accident. I'm just having some trouble figuring out which one it is."

"Well that's...good news." It was also gibberish to me. I wasn't sure how math was telling him the way out, but I couldn't give less of a fuck if I tried. As long as we could dip out of here I didn't care if he found the exit with fucking tarot cards. "So, is there anything we can do to help narrow it down?"

He opened his mouth to dismiss me and then...stopped. "Actually. There might be. Cat." The blonde was snoring lightly off to one side, having fallen asleep from boredom while we were waiting, but at the sound of her name she jerked awake, smacking her head on the stone step behind her and yowling in pain. She cradled her head, glaring at Peter, who shrugged apologetically. "Sorry. But I need you two if we're going to get out."

Felicia wiped some drool from her lip. "You could have woken me nicely. But fine, I hate this place. What do I need to do?"

Peter pointed off in one direction. "You need to go that way. Cataclysm will go in the other direction, and I'm going to web each of you to make sure we don't get separated. With three data points I can triangulate out location related to the other staircases and use that to calculate the overall structure of the steps. That'll give me the last variable I need to find our exit staircase."

She shrugged stepping over to where he'd pointed and waiting as I did the same on the other side. Peter shot a stream of webbing at each of our backs, then gave us precise directions on where to go and how to get there. I followed the instructions carefully, not wanting to mess up our way out, and when I turned back to look at him I had to hold down the urge to vomit.

Peter, or rather, possibly I, was upside down. The gravity on this staircase was different to the one he was on, and I could see the webline waver slightly as the changing gravity took effect on different parts of it. We hadn't run into any problems with this so far because we'd stayed close together, but I was glad he'd used the lines, because we absolutely would have gotten separated and died here if he hadn't.

For his part, Pete was ignoring us as he scribbled quickly in his notebook, muttering to himself even more than before. He did that for ten minutes before finally shouting. "HA!" I jumped, and Peter looked up at me with a grin. "Alright guys, follow the line back. I know how to get us out of here."

It took a minute or two to get out bearings and get back to where he was standing, but finally we made it to the landing outside the weasel alcove. "Ok. So we need to do this carefully. It'll be easy to get lost if not. I'm going to send one of you to the staircase we need, then when you reach the end of the webline, I'll follow halfway. Then you'll head to the end and step out of the trap to actor as an anchor, and the other one will follow to the bottom of the exit steps."

He pointed down. "These landings are anchor points that hold the space together, and we need to make sure we keep at least one anchor point connected to all of us at all times, or we could get completely turned around and fall back into the trap all over again." Cutting off the weblines, he kicked them into the void of steps before having us spread out on the landing and webbing us again. "I've calculated the lengths of the steps exactly, and these new lines should be the exact length we need."

Once that was done, I volunteered to be the one to head out onto the steps first. Felicia looked worried and tried to convince me she should go because of her luck powers, but I just shook my head. "Not this time. I need to take the lead. My ability to break space is a bigger asset now that Spider-man has taken all the luck out of things with his giant nerd brain. Plus I'm sturdier." I winked at her. "Can't let anything happen to my cute little kitten."

She actually blushed at that, looking away with a pout, and I chuckled. Felicia liked to vamp and play the bad girl, but once she decided she cared she was an all in kind of person. I was important to her revenge, so she'd let herself get attached. I trusted her word, but if I hadn't I still wouldn't have been too worried she'd bail after we finally took down kingpin. She was one of us now. Even if she didn't know it.

Peter clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Alright man, just follow my instructions exactly and we'll all get out of here fine." I nodded to him and he started giving me exact steps to take. In a literal sense. As in, 'walk five steps forward, turn thirty degrees'. The landings connected to a whole bunch of staircases and most of them came off in a weird direction or strange unnatural angle to help make the overall trap structure, so it was important for me to walk exactly how I was told so I didn't accidentally end up on the wrong staircase. Some of them were close together, and with the clusterfuck that space was here even a slight misstep would have fucked us.

When I mounted the staircase, I followed it easily enough until Pete called me to a halt, then I waited for him to ascend to the halfway point. He'd had Felicia take up a position at the bottom of the steps, and when he reached the halfway point I climbed the rest of the way to the top, finally stepping out of that warped space and through a door a lot like the one we came in through. Once I made it to the top I called back down to him and he started his climb up, with Felicia following behind him step by step, both of them using me as an anchor. It looked fucking weird because the steps seemed to be a vertical drop from my point of view but the lines weren't pulling at all.

Finally, they both stepped out and spun to slam the door behind them. We all slumped against the wall in relief as out brains readjusted to linear space. "Just to be clear." I said with a grimace. "I'm absolutely planning to jump out a window to leave rather than go through that clusterfuck again. That was fucking nightmarish."

"Well." Said a voice from off to the side. "It isn't really supposed to make intruders feel welcome." We all froze, and it was around that time I realized I hadn't heard any explosions or cackling in quite a while. We turned slowly to see a tall dark haired man with a receding hairline and a fu manchu mustache floating across from us, a large red cloak billowing behind him.

I looked him over skeptically. "The nineties called, and even they don't want that popped collar back. Seriously, your head looks like a satellite dish." Felicia giggled madly at that and Pete jabbed me in the ribs with a finger. I winced and glared at him, but then decided he was right, and with a sigh decided to backtrack. "Sorry. My head still hurts from your awful stairs. We're the Wreckoners. We came to talk to you but heard your fight with Xandu and figured we could come help you out." I looked him over. "Doesn't seem like you need it."

He grimaced. "I'd ask how you knew his name, but considering he kept shouting it at the top of his lungs that question doesn't really need to be posed. Seems like you all just walked in my front door, but that's honestly more expected than anything these days. I suppose whether I help you depends on what you want. Though I have to ask." He pointed at Peter and I. "You two have about as much mystical potential as bottle of water, and she clearly has zero training. How did you get out of the mobius steps?"

I pointed at Peter. "We don't need magic. We have the power of nerd. Spider-man calculated your whole spell out with his massive super brain and guided us to safety."

Strange actually looked impressed. "I...hadn't realized that was possible. That's a five dimensional spell construct. You must be extremely intelligent." He shrugged, which was weird to see since he was floating a foot off the ground by his shoulders. "Alright, follow me. I suppose I can make you some tea or something while you tell me what you want. If nothing else, you've impressed me enough to earn a few minutes before I toss you out."

Ignoring the implied threat I grinned and slapped Peter on the back as Felicia mussed up his hair. He lowered his head a bit, clearly embarrassed, but I was pretty sure he was smiling under the mask. Good. He deserved it. I was already glad I decided to get him onboard, having a genius around was pretty damn useful. Now, we just had to get through tea with a wizard and get the information we needed. I wondered if he had any chamomile?

February 15th 2001, 177A Bleeker st. 11:00 AM EDT

I took a long sip of the chamomile tea in my cup, savoring the taste, my eyes closed in appreciation. Opening them, I found my teammates staring at me dumbstruck. We'd removed our masks, since Strange would have been able to identify us with magic if he really wanted anyway, but I suspected the shock was more the image of my giant ass gingerly sipping tea. I noticed my pinky was out and quickly tucked it away, forcing myself not to flush. My gods damned mother and her fucking etiquette lessons.

"This is...good tea." I said lamely. And glared at Pete as he desperately tried not to dissolve into a fit of giggles. My menace was apparently ineffective, but he was at least polite enough to turn away and disguise his laughter as a cough. I sipped my tea again with dignity and looked back at strange, above such childish antics.

"Thank you." he said with a smile. "I have a private garden where I grow German Chamomile, as well as several other useful plants. I find taking care of living things relaxing, provided those things don't break into my house or try to sell me car insurance." This was said with zero heat or accusation, which made it even more bitchy somehow. I extended another finger when I sipped my tea this time. It wasn't my pinky.

Strange smiled slightly at the display. "To business then, I suppose. What exactly do you need my help with? I would guess, but requests tend to run the gamut from saving the world to helping people find their keys, so I'm not inclined to go over every possibility."

I shrugged. "Ironically, I think this particular query would count as both. We ARE here for help with a key. It's called the Zodiac Key. We aren't sure what the fuck it does, but we know Kingpin was trying to get his hands on it, and SOMEONE blew up the warehouse he had it shipped to with my team inside. They got out, but a bit worse for wear, and I absolutely refuse to let some punk bitch get away with trying to off my crew."

Strange sipped his own tea with an understanding nod. "A fair response. Let's see." He closed his eyes, humming in concentration. "Zodiac Key. Ah, yes. Extradimensional artifact, spent a few decades under the control of the Zodiac Cartel, from whence it got its name. Mystery is only exceeded by its power, blah, blah, blah. Ah! Right. Psionic blasts and flight, I'd say it was nothing worth killing over, but the Zodiac are...ornery. If it's one of them trying to reclaim their property they wouldn't hesitate."

That was so...banal. "Are you sure it's one of them? It IS a key, doesn't it...open something?" If my team almost got wasted over a magic jetpack I was going to be so pissed.

His brow furrowed as he delved deeper into his memories. "Maybe. I did hear a rumor once. About the key having other properties. Nothing concrete you understand, but an old friend of my father mentioned it in passing at a family function some years ago. Nick Fury told me a story about how it healed his brother after he was mortally wounded. I was young though, he might have just been entertaining me."

Eyes snapping open, he stared off into the distance uncertainly. "Hold on." He stood up from where he was sitting cross legged in midair and turned to float across the room to a bookshelf. He started digging through a series of old notebooks. "My father was interested in the subject and I think he might have dug deeper into it. I'll just need to search through his notes."

He started flipping through the volumes, speaking as he did. "Apologies, I took over this office only a few years ago. Sorcerer Supremes usually have decades of training. My father was the least prepared of the last dozen and he left me even less so when he vanished." His up to now calm voice was bitter as he flipped pages. "Luckily he kept copious notes, or I doubt I'd have managed to fill the position even as well as I have."

I raised an eyebrow because I was here for information on a magic whatsit and not cape guy's life story, but I figured if I was bitchy he might make us leave so I just smiled and said comfortingly. "Hey, you must be doing something right. We heard about you. Plus you chased off that Xandu guy." He stopped flipping and turned to stare at me blandly and I just shrugged. "Ok, maybe not a huge accomplishment, but still, you clearly aren't incompetent."

He rolled his eyes. "Your transparent attempt at pandering aside, I appreciate the vote of confidence, large thuggish teenager whose name I learned ten minutes ago."

"You know." I said archly. "You might be the mouthiest search engine I've ever worked with." That brought a smile to Strange's lips, though he tried to hide it.

"Not me." Chimed in Peter. "You'd be shocked at how contrary some of the search engines on the dark web can be." We all looked at him and he just shrugged. "What, it's a thing. Lots of finnicky AI's that don't like to listen when they're told something."

Strange stopped flipping and shouted. "Hah!" Causing all of us to jump as he floated back over to where we were sitting. "Found it. I'm just lucky I remember the year we had that party. It was the year my mother made me take violin lessons, I remember because they had stuffed peppers at the party and the oil kept getting under my bandages." He shook his head to clear it. "Regardless, this is the information you needed. My father DID look into the origins of the device, and managed to find several oddities."

He passed me to the book, snapping his fingers and causing a bright light to surround a few of the paragraphs, like a magical highlighter, and I set my cup down on the table as I took it. Felicia leaned over the arm of my chair, trying to see the book, and I eventually rolled my eyes and shoved her away. "You don't have to commit so hard to the Cat motif you know. I could do without you getting in my way when I'm trying to read stuff."

Felicia glared at me before reaching down to put a finger on my cup. Looking me dead in the eye she started to push it slowly towards the edge of the table, and I grabbed her wrist and pulled it away, laughing at her nonsense. "Oh fine." I yanked her into my lap so we could both read, ignoring the sub audible purr as she settled in (which I did NOT think was on purpose), and the two of us started poring over the book.

Strange's dad had gone to quite a bit of trouble searching for any sort of information on the key after he heard Fury's story, but he hadn't been able to dig up anything concrete. Before the Zodiac Cartel had gotten their hands on it, the thing had floated around Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, never staying in one place for long. It seemed to thrive on conflict, appearing in areas of turmoil and causing everything to get worse.

Strange senior noted that he wasn't sure if the thing CAUSED conflict, FED on conflict, or possibly both, but whenever it appeared shit usually got bloody real quick. The Zodiac Cartel had seemingly had some way to suppress that, though Strange theorized the suppression might not have worked as well as they might have thought, since members of that organization died and got replaced A LOT.

He hadn't been able to find an origin point, though he had found what he was pretty sure was the earliest noted location, and after digging through a shit ton of records and secondhand accounts, had found out that Gilgamesh had probably had it at one point, and actually got rid of it on purpose from all accounts. Strange theorized the ancient king had probably had some other related artifact and wanted to separate them, but he hadn't been able to find out WHAT, despite trying for apparently years based on the notes.

"Fuck." I said succinctly. "I don't suppose you have the personal journals of Gilgamesh on the reading rack next to your toilet?" I had no clue where we would even begin to get in touch with one of the oldest mythical figures I'd ever heard of, and thought I was doing pretty well processing the fact that GILGAMESH was somehow still alive as of the time this notebook was written less than thirty years ago, at least according to Strange senior.

He shook his head. "I do not. But I may be able to help narrow things down a bit. My father was an excellent researcher, but I have been contributing to the collection during my years in the office. I've amassed a treasure trove of knowledge, and I may be able to cross reference the time frame with some other texts I have on Gilgamesh's movements."

He turned back to the bookshelves, albeit without actually moving from where he was floating in the air, and began to murmur nonsense words that I was pretty sure were supposed to be magic. Sounded like gibberish to me, but his hands and eyes started to glow, so I guessed giving him the benefit of the doubt was only fair. A bright yellow light illuminated the top shelf of one of the bookcases, and then proceeded to skim over the surface of all the books running up and down the various shelves until coming to a stop on one.

Once it landed on one of the shelves the glow began to narrow, contracting until it illuminated the spine of one specific book, and Strange flicked a finger, summoning the book off the shelf and catching it as it flew across the room to land artfully between his unusually long fingers. Seriously, looking at his hands was like watching ET about to phone home. Probably the gloves.

He cracked the book and started flipping, glowing eyes skimming pages until he stopped with a triumphant smirk. "Ah, here we are. That's unusually convenient. I was worried I might only be able to narrow down a region, but apparently he was extremely busy in one spot during a large swathe of the early 19th century. Looks like he was working at the British Royal Museum."

I stared at him. "Ok...and that helps us...how?" I glanced at Peter, our resident brain guy, and he just shrugged. I wasn't sure what we could do with that information.

Strange rolled his eyes. "If Gilgamesh possessed both the key and an object RELATED to the key, and then got rid of the key but was stationary in the museum for that period of time, the logical assumption to make would be that he left whatever that second artifact was in the museum for safekeeping, seeing as the museum is a place where one might leave such an item for protection."

Despite his condescending tone, I had to nod my agreement. That made sense to me. "So, we have to search the entire British Royal Museum? Because there's bound to be a ton of stuff there. And that's assuming that the people who took the key aren't just after the jetpack magic and WANT the mysterious second doohickey that does...presumably something with the key."

He shrugged. "You came to me for information, and I gave it. As for what he was doing..." He flipped through the book a few pages before snapping it shut. "Apparently he was helping them translate the Rosetta Stone. Maybe start your search near there."

Tossing the book back across the room he turned to raise an eyebrow at us. "Now, as I mentioned, I'm very busy, and I gave you a few minutes of my valuable time. Once could say I went above and beyond in fact, so insist you all vacate my property as you were not invited in the first place."

I opened my mouth to argue with him, but his weirdly long fingers flicked again and a fucking PORTAL opened up beneath all three of our chairs, dropping us through the air and depositing us outside the front door none too gently. I was already pretty heavy, and the momentum didn't help, the fucking chair legs snapped as I landed sending me smashing down on my ass on the sidewalk, though admittedly with more cushioning than I might have had otherwise.

Standing up, I turned to glare at the door of the mansion as the chair remnants dissolved into wafting smoke. "Asshole." I muttered, turning to check on the others. They'd stood up before the chairs dissolved, so they were fine, though also looking annoyed. I just brushed it off. I had no desire to play break and enter with Strange again as an actual antagonist. He'd clearly been treating us with kid gloves just then. I just flipped off his door again and turned to the others.

"Alright." I said shortly. "So we have a plan. We need to go to London. If we assume the person who blew the warehouse wanted the key for mysterious magic reasons and not just to be able to fly, which given the number of other things that can do that is probably, then we need to visit the museum and see if we can find whatever the other item is before they do, or at the very least be waiting when they get there."

Peter, who was covered up enough that his costume wasn't showing thankfully (he'd taken his mask off for tea too) nodded. "That seems like a decent plan, but there's one problem. The people who attacked us had tons of resources, there's no way they can't travel quickly. Granted, they don't necessarily have our sources on where the other piece is, but even if they don't know they can find out, and we need to move fast to beat them there. Do you know any teleporters? Because I don't." I sighed deeply at his comment, my head drooping as I faced up to an unfortunate truth I hadn't wanted to acknowledge.

"No." I said disconsolately. "But I do have an uncle who lives near here with a VERY fast jet." The two of them looked pretty flabbergasted, but I ignored them. I walked to the side of the road and held out a hand to flag down a cab, the other two jogging over to catch up. When the cabbie stopped and rolled down the window I leaned in and handed him a hundred, gesturing for the other two to get in. Once I climbed in after them I looked at the cabbie in the rearview mirror, informing him of our destination. "Xavier's school for gifted youngsters." Uncle Chuck wasn't going to let me live this down.

February 15th 2001, Westchester, New York 3:00 PM EDT

The drive to the institute was longer than expected. I'd never actual been to my Uncle Chuck's place. I'd met him a few times over the years, visits mostly, and all I really knew about him was that he was bald, used a wheelchair, was a powerful mutant, and used to bang my mom. That last part wasn't something they told me directly, but the intense dislike that my dad had for him, mixed with the way the two of them interacted, made it pretty obvious, though I gathered that was ancient history.

What little interactions I DID have with him were supposed to have ended when the X-men became public, which was when things between him and mom really broke down, but I wasn't associated with her shitty academy anyway so that didn't really matter.

"Wow." Said Peter. "Fancy place." The cab had dropped us off at the entrance to the mansion grounds. "This your Uncle's place? Who is Xavier?" It dawned on me that I'd kind of defaulted to my old way of referring to him when I decided to come ask for a favor. I guessed I was subconsciously preparing to use the bond we had when I was a kid to my advantage.

"Charles Xavier owns this school. He's a Professor of..." I paused, thinking about it carefully. "Actually, I don't really know what he teaches. People just call him Professor X sometimes."

Peter's eyes widened. "Wait, your uncle is CHARLES XAVIER? Founder of the X-men? I mean, I knew they were nearby, but not THIS near." He started staring around in fascination. "This place is where they train? Do you think we could sit in on some of their exercises?"

I rolled my eyes. "Tape down your nerd boner Pete, they're just people. You've been going on actual missions with a mutant way stronger than any of the wannabe's here." That wasn't shit talking either. I was pretty much the strongest member of the next generation of mutants I'd heard of. At least last time I checked. As far as I knew, my uncle's star pupil was some dude who could shoot lasers from his eyes, and he couldn't even control them.

Felicia giggled. "Good to know you have a healthy sense of self worth even when dealing with people from your childhood. I half expected the whole 'macho badass' persona was just an affectation for New York."

"Nah." I said casually. "I don't really do affectations. I kind of just act however I want. If anyone has a problem with that they can blow me." I paused. "Though depending on the person I guess they could blow me if they don't have a problem with it too. You certainly did."

The laugh this time was much less giggle and much more purr, but it was interrupted by Peter clearing his throat. "Down, you two. We're here for a favor remember? I don't much feel like standing here like an awkward moron while you two flirt, or worse, go fool around in the bushes or something."

He wasn't wrong, so I just shrugged. "Fair. Anyway come on, lets head inside. I'm sure someone here will know me. I doubt Uncle Chuck will answer the door himself in a place this size, but I know he has a bunch of minions. That big hairy guy who always follows him around is probably here. Maybe it'll be him."

We strolled up the picturesque path to the front door of the massive mansion, and I knocked politely, waiting for someone to answer. No one did. I frowned, then knocked harder. There was a slight creak from the door, but no answer, and I started getting annoyed until Felicia put a hand on my arm. I looked at her quizically and she just smirked. "Perhaps we could try the doorbell before you blow the doors off. I know you enjoy that kind of thing, but this may not be the place."

Peter nodded. "Ah, the doorbell. I'll get that." He reached over and pressed a button to one side. I sulked a bit because that had been kind of stupid, but in my defense I was a little tense being here. I was pretty sure my uncle was going to try to recruit me. I would turn him down, obviously, but I wasn't sure if he'd pitch a fit and refuse to let me use the plane. If he did I'd have to steal it or something. Hopefully Peter could pull some supergenius shit and fly it for us.

There was no answer again, and Peter looked annoyed this time. He moved in front of me, deciding to try knocking himself, and raised his fist to do so even as the door swung open and a girl glared out. "Shit, can you guys chill?" She said in a frustrated tone. "It's a big fucking house, it take a second to get down here."

Peter froze, hand raised, and then cleared his throat. "Ah, right, sorry." The girl didn't seem impressed, and our resident nerd held out his hand for her. "Seriously, I AM sorry. I'm Peter. Nice to meet you." The girl looked dubious but took and shook his hand before her eyes strayed to Felicia and I.

"Kitty." She said disinterestedly. She stared at us for a second. "Well? You came to our door, I assume it wasn't to introduce yourselves. What do you want? I've got stuff going on." I smirked a bit. This girl was all of five feet tall and was the shortest person here by far, but she had plenty of attitude. Most people were intimidated by my size, but she was staring me down without a problem, maybe Uncle Chuck's team wasn't so pathetic after all.

"I'm here to see Professor Xavier. Tell him Billy is at the door." I didn't give my last name, I doubted my uncle had many gigantic visitors named Billy, and there was a decent chance his team members would recognize the name and start trouble, given my mom's antagonistic stance toward the X-men.

She looked at me suspiciously before muttering something about not being a maid and turning to stalk back into the house, slamming the door behind her. I was amused to note Peter watching her ass as it closed, though to be fair her yoga pants had the word tasty printed across them, so I could understand why he would look.

He saw me catch him looking and blushed, and I let a grin stretch my face as I threw an arm over his shoulder. "I was beginning to think you didn't have eyes for any girl but your redhead. You interested? You should get her number." I winked at Felicia. "It's not like you and your neighbor girl are actually dating. Nothing to stop you from playing the field."

Peter scoffed. "I doubt she would be interested in me. I'm just the nerd, remember?"

I frowned because that sounded almost a little bitter. I pulled back. "Whoa. Pete. The nerd stuff is just teasing. You know you're an important member of the team. We'd still be stuck in those damn stairs for one thing. Assuming we'd even gotten there because Felicia would probably have died in that explosion. You know we don't actually think less of you for being smart right?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Sorry. That wasn't fair. I'm just a bit on edge. Things are getting pretty out of hand. I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man. All this international magic shit is a bit heavy for me." He'd turned to face me, and was so lost in introspection that he hadn't noticed the door opening as Kitty came back. I'm sure he wouldn't have even said anything if we hadn't been at the X-men's headquarters, everyone here was a superhero anyway so it wasn't a big deal if someone knew who he was. Still he must have been pretty upset to miss that we had company.

Kitty, instead of being derisive or surly, was staring at Peter with wide eyes, pink rising on her cheeks. "Did...did you just say you're Spider-man?"

Peter froze, finally realizing we weren't alone, and then turning to her with a look that couldn't have confirmed her question more definitively if he'd had 'definitely spider-man' tattooed on his forehead.

"I...I mean. I'm not...not, Spider-man?" He said lamely.

The blush on the brunette girl's face got darker. "Oh. Wow. Um. I'm sorry for being such a bitch earlier." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm kind of a fan. Like, I know you don't do stuff at the same level as the X-men, but that kind of makes you even cooler you know? Like...you care about New York." She blushed harder. "And I sound like a complete blithering idiot." She covered her hands with her face. "God, just kill me now."

"No!" Peter said emphatically. "Not at all. I'm super flattered. I just feel stupid for blurting it out like that. Plus I didn't know I even had fans. I kind of assumed I was just tolerated. Like I haven't even really gotten any press or anything, how did you even hear about me?"

"Message boards." She said sheepishly. "My parents only let me come here on the condition I didn't participate in any X-men stuff, so I spend a LOT of time on the internet. You're kind of a big deal on some of the local New York boards." She flushed again. "Though, I didn't think you'd be my age. Like...you handle yourself so well I thought you would be older." Her eyes widened. "Not that I would prefer you were older. Or that I have a preference." She buried her head in her hands again. "Why am I still not dead yet?"

I kind of wanted to get us back on track, but this was way too cute to interrupt, and Pete deserved a little ego boost. Kitty was kind of adorable and Peter clearly thought so too based on his own blush. Felicia, who was looking like a cat about to play with a pair of very unfortunate mice, grinned at the two of them. "Well, maybe you should exchange numbers. Kitty, you're going to be on the X-men eventually right? peter could give you some tips, tell you what it's like out there."

Nodding along, I chimed in. "It's true. He's the most experienced of all of us. He makes all the plans for our team. I couldn't think of a better person for you to learn from." I bumped Peter with my elbow, jarring him from his reverie.

"Oh." He said frantically. "I mean. Yeah. I could do that. Help you out." He reached into his pocket, fumbling with his phone a bit, passing it to her. "If you want I mean. I'm always available. To talk about anything." Kitty blushed even harder (I was beginning to worry about her getting an aneurysm) and swallowed, typing in her number and then texting herself to get his before handing his phone back.

Then she just stood there. And so did he. For like three minutes. I had to literally stop myself from face palming. "Hey Kitty, you were going to pass that message to Professor Xavier?" I prompted.

Her eyes widened in embarrassment. "Oh! Right. Yes. I did that. He said to come on in. He's in the downstairs study and he said to bring you to see him directly." She glanced shyly at Peter. "He only said to bring Billy though, I'm sure he would have wanted to meet you too if he knew who you were Peter."

My uncle was an Omega class telepath. I was pretty sure he knew the deepest secrets of most of the people within a ten mile radius, and he DEFINITELY knew Peter was Spider-man, but I didn't correct her. I'd only needed to announce myself at all because my mind was pretty much impossible to read. Part of the durability powers I got from my mother, who is immune to telepathy in her shifted diamond form. My durability is more meat based granted, but I got the mental protections anyway, something I've always been grateful for.

"How about." I said with a smile. "You just tell me the way, and I'll head back myself. You can stay and keep Peter and Felicia company, since this is their first time here. Maybe show them around? I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind."

Her face lit up at the idea. "I could do that!" She grabbed Peter by the arm. "The mansion is SO COOL. You'll love it. We have the best training room." A match made in heaven, I swear. I was also amused that she was so enthusiastic about showing him around she didn't even question Felicia's presence. The irony of the superhero showing a professional thief around their home was pretty thick. She pointed down a hallway, giving me hurried directions, then dragged Peter away, Felicia trailing behind them in amusement, and left me alone.

I assumed that Uncle Chuck must have told her I could be trusted and to make me welcome, because there was no way she'd have left me alone otherwise, crush or not, but it didn't matter much. I headed in the direction she told me, wandering down a long hallway in the direction she'd mentioned. She said It would be the third door off the left turn (this place was stupidly large) but when I got to the hall I realized there were doors on both sides, which mean there were two third doors.

Picking at random, I grabbed the handle of one and pushed it open, hoping this was the study. It was not. Or at least assume it wasn't, since my uncle wasn't in here. The only person who WAS in here was a toned and mostly naked girl with long white hair and coffee colored skin trying to squeeze an abundant ass into a pair of tight leather pants. She froze when she saw me, and I did too. I noticed her eyes were brown, at least for a second, before they faded to an eerie glowing white.

I held up both hands. "Whoa there, sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I'll just be go-" I didn't have time to finish speaking before she lashed out a hand and a fucking BOLT of LIGHTNING smashed through the window from the previously clear blue sky and slammed into my chest, sending me hurtling across the hallway and right through the door on the other side.

Groaning, I lay there for a second trying to get my bearings, and once I did I noticed the impassive face of my uncle sitting at a desk in the room I now occupied. I looked down at the shattered door under me and wanted to say something, but my whole body was still locked in a rictus of pain.

His eyes flicked up across the hall, then out into the mansion, and then he rolled them. He focused on the pretty black girl as she stormed into the room, sadly dressed now. "Peace Ororo, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. I'll have to apologize on my nephew's behalf." He clicked his tongue at me. "Still a magnet for trouble, eh William?" Well, this could have gotten off to a better start.

February 15th 2001, Westchester, New York 4:00 PM EDT

"So, you're saying you walked into my room because Kitty didn't give you proper directions?" Her eyes were narrowed at me, but more in suspicion than hostility. I had to admit it MIGHT have been because I saw that fat ass of hers bare, but her accent was seriously hot. Sort of a softer french that I really enjoyed listening to.

I gave her a dazzling grin. "Is that really such a shock?" I glanced down at me mostly bare chest where the lightning bolt had scorched my shirt away.

She rolled her eyes, but I noticed them skimming over my well developed abs. Apparently I wasn't the only one who enjoyed getting an eyeful, not that I'd be bringing it up right now. Maybe if I was lucky though Uncle Chuck would be sending her with us. It was unlikely, but the mental image of a threesome with her and Felicia on the ten hour plane ride to London made any annoyance at the mild burn marks vanish like the smoke wafting off my slightly singed chest.

"As amusing as this is." Uncle Chuck said dryly. "I don't suppose you came here to flirt with my students. Perhaps you might share your purpose for the visit. Not that I mind, but your mother and I are hardly on good terms these days. It seems odd that you would defy her like this."

I snorted at that. "You know why I'm here perfectly well. I can buy that you might not be aware that I left home, there's no way she would want it leaked to you, but if you want to tell me you didn't read my team members as soon as they showed up with me I call bullshit." Uncle Chuck loved playing games. Some of them were 'politeness' and some of them were manipulation (read, the same thing but less nice) but knowing what almost everyone thinks is less of a gift than most people think.

It was why he and mom got together. Her diamond form made her immune to telepathy (something I inherited and he liked having someone around who wasn't an open book. Of course, she had been young and impressionable and hadn't much enjoyed being a shiny novelty for a man she genuinely cared about. They still interacted of course, but now it was more cat and mouse than Romeo and Juliet. It was baffling to me frankly, but they seemed to enjoy it so I just left them to their own devices.

Despite my tone, he smiled at me widely. "I didn't expect that." He leaned back in his chair, eyes shining. "See, this is why I've always been fond of you William. You're one of the few who can surprise me." He glanced wryly at Ororo. "For better or worse. Yes, I am aware of your request. The question is, why should I grant it? The X-jet is an integral part of our operations. It seems nonsensical to lend it to you for a quick jaunt to London."

I rolled my eyes. "Except you know it isn't. You know we need it to track down something potentially very powerful to stop literal terrorists from getting their hands on it. I don't know Fenris, but I'm pretty sure you do. You're telling me you have no stake in making sure they don't get their hands on a superweapon?"

"A POSSIBLE super weapon." He said calmly. "You don't know what the Zodiac Key opens any more than you know what the object they're going for is. This isn't enemy action, it's a wild goose chase." He spread his hands expansively. "So, go ahead. Convince me that I might enjoy some roasted goose."

Groaning, I let my head slump to the desk. "Gods you people are exhausting. Can't any of you ever just say what you want? Why all the games. You're clearly leading me somewhere."

Ororo, who had been sitting quietly to one side, was watching us like we were a tennis match. Finally, she cleared her throat. "Excuse me professor." She said in that gorgeous accent. "Perhaps you might share with those of us involved in the team what exactly is going on. It IS our means of transportation up for grabs here."

Uncle Chuck sighed, nodding slowly. "Yes. I suppose that would only be fair." He raised his voice. "Jean, Scott, you might as well come inside. If we're going to have a team discussion it would be best for us to have it out in the open."

I turned to look as the door creaked open, admitting a pair of people I'd never met, but at least one of whom I knew. The sexy little redhead with the punker hair cut was Jean Grey, Uncle Chuck's golden girl. The brown haired douche in the red tinted sunglasses and the perfectly pressed polo wasn't familiar to me, but I knew there was a guy on the team that shot eye lasers. This must be him.

Jean cleared her throat guiltily. "Oh. Professor. We...were just coming to talk to you about inventory. We were light on pop tarts this month so we figured we would try to get the order bumped up by ten percent. That should cover us. They're pretty popular with the students."

Raising my eyebrow I smirked at the girl. "Really? Pop tart inventory? I'd have thought the old man would have you trained to lie better than that. Not that there's a point. He can read your mind, and I'm not stupid." I shot a glance at Ororo. "I get the feeling she isn't either, but you know her better than I do."

The white haired girl sneered at me. "And here I was just starting to like you. Shame you had to go and undo all that good will."

"Good will?" I said archly. "You were only starting to like me because you blew my shirt off."

She grinned at me. "Your point? I won't apologize for a nice view. You certainly didn't." She bit her lip, raking her eyes down my chest again.

That got a laugh out of me. "Oh I didn't want an apology. I was just going to say if you like me after you get my shirt off I'm not to worried about your high regard. If that was all it took I can't wait to see how much you love me when you get my pants off."

"Well." She said wryly. "It WOULD make us even. I just wonder if you have as much to show as I did."

Jean gasped. "Ororo! You can't just SAY things like that. William is a guest of the Professor. He doesn't know any of us well enough for those kinds of jokes." Despite her shock and 'outrage' I saw her own eyes lingering on my abs and chest and a slight flush on her face.

The storm manipulator shrugged. "Maybe not. But he's seen my bare ass, so I'm not too worried about breaking the ice." She raised an eyebrow. "Besides Jeanie, I hardly think you're in a position to throw stones. I think we all like to go a little...wild, sometimes."

The redhead paled a bit, but didn't address Ororo again. I wondered what that was about. The douche looked at her curiously, but he shifted his attention back Uncle Chuck. "Fine. Professor we'd like to know who this person is and why he thinks he can just waltz in here and ask to borrow our jet."

Oh look, my read on his was accurate. He WAS a douche. "I'm Ken U. Gofuckyourself, sunglasses at night. And it's none of your damn business what I use the jet for. It's HIS jet, not yours, freeloader." Something about this guy instantly pissed me off. Even before his douchey goody-goody question I hadn't liked him, and opening his mouth hadn't done him any favors.

"Enough, William." My uncle said tiredly. "Scott is simply concerned about the productivity of the team, which is his place as one of the leaders. There is no need for such animosity." Scott smirked at me, but it dropped as Uncle Chuck's eyes snapped to him. "That said, Mr. Summers, William is correct. Who I choose to share my resources with is none of your concern, and letting you be present at this meeting is already showing you the respect you are due."

Prep shitbag gave a slow nod. "Apologies professor. I should have kept my concerns to myself." Which was the most passive aggressive bullshit answer I'd ever heard. I was pretty sure he already had a grudge, based on the way his eyebrow twitched them peppermint patty gave me the once over. Prep douche had a crush on the little redhead, and he didn't like her eyeing the scenery.

"In any case." Uncle Chuck said firmly. "William is my nephew in all but blood. His mother and I were colleagues when we were younger, and I've been around him his entire life." His eyes flicked to me. "Which does NOT, as it happens, entitle him to free air fare. So as I asked before. What exactly do you have to offer?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not joining your little club Uncle Chuck. I have my own crew, they're waiting outside. WE have a mission, and I'd be happy to bring your little mutant justice pals along with us for the take down, but I'm my own man. I don't work for mom and I won't work for you, no matter how annoying you think she would find it." My tone wasn't harsh, because I didn't really care about their bullshit, but it WAS firm. I wasn't giving on this.

Douche prep and the redhead bristled at my dismissive form of address, but it was none of my business what crawled up their asses. Uncle Chuck just waited, because he was hardly stupid. He could read people even when they were immune to his mind game bullshit, just not as well. He knew I wasn't done. He'd asked for an offer, not a rejection.

Sighing, I rolled my eyes. "I MIGHT be open to working for you once. Maybe. Depending on the job." He didn't respond and I snorted. "You knew if I wouldn't work for mom I wouldn't work for you. So lets cut the bullshit and you tell me what you DO want instead of trying to lead me there. I don't have time for the runaround."

He sighed. "So much like your mother at times. She can be blunt when she needs to be. Very well. I want you and your little group to look into some people for me. Have you heard of the Church of the Shi'ar Enlightenment by any chance?"

"I...I'm sorry." I said dumbly. "You're saying I need to FIND JESUS for you to let me use your jet? Because I'm gonna be honest, asking me to join a religion is a bit beyond the pale, even for the use of a jet that nice. Maybe you could ask me to check out some literature? Volunteer on the weekends. You're supposed to ease people into this kind of thing Uncle Chuck."

Jean giggled, Ororo smirked, and Scott sneered at those two reactions. My uncle just scoffed. "They are NOT a religion. They are a cult. They are ALSO a threat to my operations, going out of their way to undermine my finances and attempt to suborn my potential recruits."

It was my turn to sigh. "Which is why you need me. They'll be watching you, but my crew and I are independent and our relationship isn't common knowledge. Hell my EXISTENCE isn't common knowledge. You want us to join up and do some recon on the crazies so you can find out when to spike their kool aid." It sounded irritating, I hated recon, but if it got us on the plane I'd still do it."

That got me a sad shake of the head. "You see? You have a perfectly functional brain William, I have no idea why you insist on forgoing its use to lumber through life like some sort of thug. You're capable of so much, but all you do is resort to violence."

I snorted. "If violence isn't your last resort you've failed to resort to enough of it. Punching things solves problems faster than talking or plotting. I CAN do things your way, it just annoys me. That's why I have a team. We've got a guy for that. I'll get your job done though, I assume that means I can use your jet? I'm burning daylight here."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. You may use our means of transport." I exhaled in relief and went to stand up. "But." He said quickly. I groaned but stayed standing. "You'll take Logan with you." I started to protest and he held up a hand. "Non negotiable. You're going to be using my transport, and as such may be linked to me. I want a representative there to corral your more...destructive tendencies."

"And that's LOGAN?" I said incredulously. "The surly fur trapper with metal bones and knuckle daggers? Because I can't see any scenario where Logan is the voice of any reason aside from a reason to knife someone in a dark alley. He's like a particularly angry dog, but not as well trained." I saw Jean flinch at that, weirdly, but ignored it. Logan was the big hairy asshole that acted as my uncle's lumberjack esque henchman, and I didn't fucking like him at all.

Sadly, it seemed I was talking into the wind. "You will take Logan." He said firmly. He glanced over the room. "You may also take Ororo and Jean. Ororo can be as impulsive as you are and Jean is the voice of reason in many situations." The redhead pouted, and he chuckled. "Not ALL situations. I'm aware you have plenty of gumption Jean. But I trust you." He smiled at her kindly.

She blushed a bit, and I wondered if he was banging her too. He'd certainly been with mom as a student, at least based on the timeline of my birth. I didn't care much honestly, I was just annoyed about having to deal with her. Weirdly she seemed EXCITED to go with me, not sure what that was about.

I turned to Ororo and shot her another grin. "Looks like we're going to get a chance to know each other better. Maybe you'll like me better after our plane ride."

She batted her eyelashes at me coyly. "I suppose that depends on whether you're planning to wear pants on the way over?" I barked out a laugh at the girl. I liked her already.

I turned to my uncle. "Send me the info on the Church to go over on the ride over. No point working for a telepath if I don't get a cheat sheet." Then I stood up and headed out of the room. We'd delayed long enough. We needed to get going.

As usual pat-reon has four advance chapters totaling 10k words at that site /malcolmtent . Hope everyone enjoys.