Chapter 3: This Is It

Nate knew that this was it. They were about to face the fight that Sinister had been training him for. And it was odd, just waiting to find the fight. He found himself second-guessing his own abilities as soon as he knew what was coming, purely because there was so much riding on this.

But then, as soon as he felt even the beginning of Sinister's telepathic touch reaching out, he locked down that self-doubt and stuffed it into the very back of one of the tents in his mind. He kissed Kate and then slipped away somewhere no one else could see him and gave Sinister a strained but polite nod when the man teleported in, looking more stressed than usual.

"Where's the fight?" Nate asked.

"To be determined," Sinister said tersely. "For now, it's imperative that you meet up with the rest of your family."

"Kate and Annie and David are already here on Genosha for safe-keeping," Nate said.

"Then we wait for your uncle to respond to your father's message," Sinister said, hoping that he was being clear in that he himself couldn't know too much and not compromise all the work they'd already done. As it was, he looked more worn than the Summers boys had seen before.

Nate nodded, already reaching for his phone. "I'll get there. I'll bring Rachel too. Anything I need to know in the meantime?"

"He's already taking Horsemen," Sinister said.

Nate took a visible step back, his mouth slightly open. "What?"

"I don't know who they are either," he finished. "It seems he has deviated from my recommendations." He gestured lightly. "I'd tell you to look, but that might be hazardous."

"Damn." Nate took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay, you can't be here. I've got a future brother-in-law to coordinate with, and you don't need to know where we're meeting up."

"I will need to know when it comes time to fight," Sinister said.

"Yeah, yeah. But not this part," Nate said, already texting Billy.

Sinister thought about it for a long moment. "Use your brother." He paused. "Unless you find that he's changed course on who he's taking for Death."

"That's not ominous at all," Nate said under his breath. "Look, I'll have Billy-"

"Keep Billy away from this - at all costs," Sinister hissed.

Nate blinked as he realized he was hearing fear. "You're scared of what happens if Billy becomes Death."

"That is a horrifying thought," Sinister agreed. "But Apocalypse is already considering your brother. In either case, should he turn Billy, or use James as bait for him, there will be no chance."

"Yeah." Nate nodded. "Okay. Well. Okay. I'll just… yeah." He stretched out his hands and then clenched them in fists before he simply sat down and crossed his legs.

It was time to check in with James.

Scott had fallen back asleep with the help of the anti-anxiety meds despite his best efforts to fight through it, and this time, as he woke up, he could feel all that he'd gone through. His head was throbbing, and where his cybernetic eyes had been felt raw with building pressure that seemed to echo not only where his eyes should be but at the back of his head, too. And that hot, raw pain didn't take long to shift into a throbbing, sharp pain that Scott couldn't quite compare to anything before.

For just a second, while he was still slightly groggy and disoriented after being moved from the lab to … somewhere … Scott could have sworn he was back in a cell with Jean. When he'd first lost his sight, the only help he'd been allowed to receive had been bandages and his wife; he'd bled and itched for some time before they'd been rescued.

But, no, he wasn't there. He couldn't have been there.

The more he woke up, the more he knew it had been years since that had happened, and still, he could swear it had just happened.

And his eyes were killing him.

He raised a hand to his head, and James caught it before he could rub his eyes.

"Take it easy; I'm still here," James said in a low, soft rumble. "I know the drugs are wearing off, but you can't rub them. It won't stop the itching or the throbbing. Just .. give it a little bit and breathe."

Scott held his breath but nodded. "Yeah. Right. No touching…" He tried to shift the way he was seated and clasped James's hand in his. "God, this is worse than when I'd run out of power. At least that was just a headache."

"Yeah … maybe try to focus on something else?" James suggested. "That's what I usually end up doing, anyhow."

"Yeah." Scott locked his jaw as he racked his brains. "Okay. Tell me what's going on with Noh. With Apocalypse. What's the current situation?"

"I really don't know," James said. "I haven't left you, and I don't plan to, but …" James looked around the room just to be sure. "We're in a different place - and you're healing well enough, according to the last check." James was quiet after that, with nothing he could think of to add that wouldn't stress his dad out more.

Scott seemed to be thinking it all over, too, a muscle in his jaw working. "James," he said slowly, but he must have decided against whatever he was going to say and instead said, "We'll have to figure out what Ororo's put into motion with the response to Apocalypse before we do anything else."

"No, you really need to make sure you're set first," James said, carefully emphasizing without spelling it out.

Scott frowned. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing I can say in here," James admitted, then shifted to get Scott more comfortable. "Any better yet?"

"Little bit," Scott said. "I don't feel like scratching them out anymore, which is nice."

"That's on track," James said softly.

Scott let out a quiet breath but didn't say anything for a long time. And then, he ventured, "With Viper…"

"First … five or six times, my eyes grew back pretty quick. Faster than you, anyhow."

"That part doesn't surprise me. The timing." Scott nodded and shifted again. "I didn't have time to call ahead to anyone - I don't know where I'd find an old visor."

James hesitated. "I … can text Hank?"

"He'd probably know," Scott agreed.

"Okay," James said in a breath, then took his phone out to text, but it took him a long while to even decide what to say. "He's gonna be so mad…he wasn't exactly happy with me before."

"He'll be fine," Scott said in a sigh. "He'll be too busy yelling at me for keeping secrets."

"You were on Genoshan lockdown. You had no choice."

"Still." Scott smiled tiredly and shifted how he was seated. "We need to reach out to the others."

"Okay," James agreed. "I don't know where we are, though."

"Then start with Rachel. Have her find us on Cerebro, and then she can send Nate and Alex our way."

"One Marco Polo text coming up." James sighed, wondering how much of this was going to work when so much was up in the air - but he texted Rachel a simple 'Marco' all the same, knowing that she'd understand quickly.

"And now," Scott said, "we wait."

Nate truly did have every intention of keeping Billy out of things, but the problem was that Tommy was a Horseman. David had called for help as soon as he and Tommy had been attacked on their date, and Billy had come in the aftermath to find his brother's distraught ex describing Apocalypse taking his brother away.

And really, once Billy knew his brother was in trouble, there was no way to keep him from getting involved.

Billy had promised not to do anything that could result in him accidentally trading his own life to extinguish another's - or his own sanity for Tommy's - or anything similarly self-sacrificing like Wanda was worried he would do. But that didn't mean he had any better hold of himself, so Nate had taken him aside to go over what he knew they could do.

Once Rachel had pinpointed James and Scott, Billy was actually instrumental in gathering their family anyway. All it took was a wish, and not only were Scott, James, Rachel, and Billy wished to Nate, but also Alex and America, who were in the loop at that point because America had been with Rachel when Nate called out to her and Alex had gotten the call from Scott that things were going down.

Their timing was excellent, too, because Scott had just finished unwrapping his eyes and was reorienting himself, wearing an old visor because he simply didn't have time to learn how to use his powers again, and all he'd ever known how to do before was narrow a full-force blast through a visor.

"Woah," Billy said, momentarily distracted from his worry about Tommy.

"Hey, Billy," Scott said with a wry smile.

"Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but … you really shouldn't be here, handsome," James said from where he was sticking close to Scott, still frowning as he kept tabs on his dad.

Billy shook his head; his feet weren't touching the floor. "Tommy's missing."

"What?" James said, turning toward him fully. "How can he just go missing?"

"He's not missing," America corrected him. "He's been taken. By Apocalypse. We just don't know where they are right now."

"Probably sifting through Sinister's labs," James said under his breath, mostly to Scott.

"So, what's the next step?" Billy asked, turning to Nate, whose eyes were glowing blue. "W….what are you doing?"

"Letting Sinister know where we are so he can get here and I can rip Apocalypse's spy glass out of his head," Nate said, perfectly calmly.

"Can you do the ripping first?" James asked. "I'll buy you a car."

"I don't need the bribe," Nate said, though he was smirking. "I can do it if Rachel gives me a distance boost."

"You got it," Rachel said. She might not have agreed with his plan to get Sinister there, but at the very least, not giving Apocalypse a way to control Sinister or spy on them was a mutually beneficial goal.

It didn't take Sinister long to respond to Nate's ping once he'd gotten it - though since he and Rachel had teamed up to break up a very old telepathic link, he tried to err on the side of caution - and had teleported to several labs before he finally caught up to the Summers family. And then, when he got there, he took stock of who was where and made sure to get close to his one partial ally.

"Where's my brother?" Billy demanded as soon as Sinister appeared, his eyes flashing with power.

"I don't know," Sinister replied, and was quick to yank James over in front of himself. "I didn't have your brother on my list - I'd sent him to an Acolyte." Then, he glared at Nate with a hiss. "You are trying to destroy all of us by bringing him into this!"

"I'm not the one using his boyfriend as a human shield," Nate shot back, even as Billy took a deep breath for a spell.

"Just … hold on, sweetheart, please don't," James said, holding both hands up toward Billy. "Like it or not, we need his help - and believe it or not, he kept me away from Apocalypse."

"I don't believe it," Billy said flatly, though he didn't finish his spell.

"I couldn't leave him out of this with Tommy involved," Nate told Sinister. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of why Apocalypse picked him. We know Noh's involved, and Noh's scared of Billy."

"I'd be surprised if that wasn't a factor," Sinister said. "He's as unstable as his mother when she's at her worst when exposed to the same pressures."

"I'm standing right here, you know," Billy said, his arms crossed.

"Yes, and if he manages to get close to you, then all of this will be for nothing," Sinister said.

"That … that part is true," James said. "When Sinister blocked him from taking me, just being close, I couldn't move. Dad saw."

Billy frowned and glanced back at the others, but even America was nodding along. "You have the power of a god, Billy," she pointed out.

Billy sighed and held up both hands. "I won't get close to him. But I also won't let my brother hang. So what's the plan?"

"The only hope you have is to separate Apocalypse from his horsemen," Sinister said. "Keeping his attention won't be simple - and if he is unhappy with his selection for Death, he'll simply find one he is happy with." He rubbed his temples with one hand as he turned toward the Summers family. "One of you won't be enough. He's too strong for that. But all of you attacking in concert? You should be enough to put an end to Apocalypse and free the horsemen," Sinister said, then tipped his head. "I would suggest killing those you aren't overly attached to, however." James looked up at him with his nose scrunched up and Sinister continued. "And the rest of your chosen team cannot let him or his horsemen get a hold of your boyfriend."

Billy glanced toward James. "I mean, that's a given."

"I'm supervillain catnip," James whispered to BIlly, trying to get a positive reaction out of him when he needed a touch of levity. "Should I worry?"

"Always," Billy said. He gave him a tight smile and gestured at himself. "I'm halfway there myself."

"I'll try to refrain from telling you it's a good look - whatever it is," James shot back, to Nate's irritation.

Nate was still itching for a fight, and he didn't at all trust the fact that Sinister had gotten so nervy now that Billy was there. Yeah, he understood it, but something about Sinister had shifted as soon as Billy arrived, as if he was already moving on to his backup plan for if this one failed.

And considering the fact that Nate knew David was part of that backup plan, Nate couldn't wait any longer and simply dove into Sinister's mind. It was genuinely one of the easiest fights he'd ever had with him to get in - Sinister was powerful enough that he could keep out just about anyone, but his mental defenses had been positively wrecked by removing the connection with Apocalypse.

And Nate saw everything.

He saw how long Sinister had been searching for someone to stand up to Apocalypse. He saw how Sinister had been plotting to keep James on as his assistant and co-conspirator long after his doctorates were finished. He saw that Sinister did, genuinely, believe that he and his family could handle Apocalypse… but he also saw that Sinister planned to keep David in reserve for a second chance if Nate died. He saw Sinister's decades-long backup plan in place. He saw his dad and his brother being used.

And beyond that… he thought he could see, in the echoes of the connection Sinister had once had to Apocalypse…

Nate slipped out of Sinister's mind and went to one knee, panting heavily, before he looked up at James. "Katarina is at the top of the list to be Death," he whispered hoarsely. "And Mia is Famine."

James blinked at him a few times, stuck somewhere between frowning, shock, and pure denial. "No. What?"

"That's the name he gave Apocalypse. That's where Tommy is right now, causing a massive distraction so Apocalypse can grab her."

James started to shake his head, recoiling back a few steps, though he didn't realize it. "No. That's not …she's dead."

"She was revived by the Hand," Sinister said gently from where he was still standing right next to James - and James turned toward him with an expression of open shock as he shook his head 'no'.

"I'll wish her dead again," Billy offered instantly.

"You can't," James said, looking more upset at that. "It's not worth the price."

"Yeah, you don't know how to tap into that demiurge power," Nate pointed out. "That's how you did it the first time."

"I'll figure it out," Billy said, waving his hand.

"I don't want you anywhere near her," James said. "Too tempting for you, and you know it." He spun to look at Sinister accusingly. "You knew "

Sinister looked honestly upset to admit it, but he held up both hands. "Yes. I knew."

"I bet I can-" Billy started to say.

"Let me," James said as he took Billy's hand. "You keep your focus on keeping your brother in one place. If we know where he is right now…"

"That's not a bad idea," Nate said.

"Any option is a wretched idea if it brings him anywhere near the battle," Sinister said, looking exasperated.

"We'll keep America close to him, and she'll put him in another reality if need be," Nate said. "But you're forgetting that I've just been in your head. I know you think Tommy bends reality too; his power is just more focused on physics. How do you think Apocalypse is using that already? We need someone who can match that."

"This is going to end badly," he said under his breath, sounding honestly panicked.

"Not like we can turn back now," Scott pointed out as he came to join the two of them with a hand on Nate's shoulder. "The second Nate severed that connection, we declared war."

"We knew we'd have to improvise," Nate agreed. "Dad'll make assignments; America won't let anything happen to Billy. She swore to the Demiurge himself she'd protect him. We'll be okay."

As Sinister was talking with Nate and Scott, James zipped over to Billy and took a hold of his hand before he stole a kiss. "Are you going to be okay going after your brother?"

"I know how to stop him," Billy said.

"That's not what I asked," James said with a smirk.

Billy took a deep breath and then let it out again. "I… would rather I do it myself than let anyone else try," he admitted.

James nodded. "So … if you can get him down first, I'll … grow my hair out," he teased - even though he was already looking fairly shaggy - and his cowlicks were showing pretty clearly in twin points.

"Deal," Billy said, surprised into a smile.

"You hate it that much, huh?" James laughed.

"I miss the old look," Billy admitted. "You still look great, but…"

James leaned in for a kiss. "I miss it too. I was just trying to get a smile."

"Mission accomplished," Billy said, kissing him back.

While the kids were distracted, though, Alex had gone to sit beside Scott, frowning at his brother for a long time without saying anything. But then, under the cover of the ongoing plotting and planning happening with the younger generation, Alex knocked shoulders with Scott. "You tried 'em out yet?"

Scott let out a hollow laugh. "When you first showed up, I was only just starting to see shapes. I'm waiting until everything stops looking so fuzzy."

"I get that. But…" Alex took a deep breath and let it out. "I want to make sure he didn't screw you up, you know?"

"James was there."

"And Sinister doesn't always just do physical stuff when he works," Alex pointed out. When Scott fell silent at that, Alex's tone turned pleading. "Come on, Scott. I've had to bat cleanup for you too many times. I thought you'd appreciate me trying to do some information gathering ahead of time, huh?"

Scott finally cracked a smile at that. "Fair enough," he agreed, turning toward a far wall.

"Here." Alex stood in his path. "You won't hurt me, and I want to actually look at your eyes."

Scott nodded and took a deep breath before he took his glasses off. There was just a split second during which Alex and Scott wondered if the procedure had worked at all, but then, Alex could see pinpricks of red in the center of Scott's eyes - and a blast just as strong as he used to make when he took his glasses off before hit Alex, blowing his hair back but otherwise leaving him unharmed, as he'd known it would.

And all the other conversation in the room stopped as the kids turned to see Scott let loose. Rachel barely remembered it, and most of the others had never seen it. So that… that was something else to behold.

"Mr. Howlett," Sinister said crisply while the group was collectively holding their breath. "I'd like a word."

"No," Billy said, one hand on James' shoulder. "The word you're getting is 'no'."

"It's okay," James said to Billy, then took exactly one step before Billy asserted his grip on him. "It might be important." But almost as soon as James reached Sinister, it was clear that Sinister wasn't pleased with him.

"What did you do?" Sinister hissed out in a low whisper as he took a tight hold of James' arm and pulled him closer.

"Just what you told me to," James replied, but that wasn't the response Sinister was after, and in his anger, the diamond at the center of his forehead began to glow. "You said you wanted him up to full power as soon as possible. All I did was stick to the original plan you showed me before Apocalypse got in your face."

At that, though, Rachel, who had of course been eavesdropping the whole time, couldn't help but push a little harder on Sinister's mind when she heard the accusation inherent in James's tone. And when Sinister pushed back, she narrowed her eyes and pulled Nate in, bursting through Sinister's defenses with a bit of fire as well as raw power.

And just as James had said, Sinister had wanted Scott healed up as quickly as possible. But then, Apocalypse had seen Sinister trying to rebel - again - and had nudged him in the opposite direction. Not so blatantly that those Sinister had already recruited would automatically know something had happened, just enough that Sinister gave James the wrong measurements… which James then corrected so that Scott would be healed in plenty of time for the upcoming fight.

But when she came out of the psychic plane, she saw James helping Sinister up, and she let out all her breath and rolled her eyes. "Really, James?"

"What do you want from me?" James countered. "I've been working with the guy for months. Believe it or not he has taught me a lot. About the subject at hand. Stop looking at me in that tone of voice, Rach."

"I will look at you in exactly the way I please," Rachel shot back. She hadn't used the Phoenix this much in a while, and it was flaming at the ends of her hair and in her eyes. "And even if he's been helpful, you don't have to go above and beyond for a kidnapping son of a bitch like him."

James raised an eyebrow at that. "He was helping us, Rach. Sounds like you just went above and beyond, too."

"Apocalypse made Sinister throttle Dad from the start; I wasn't exactly holding back when I found that out. Sinister looking at Dad as a kid made him a target, okay? I'm mad about it!"

On hearing her explanation, and finally getting a grasp on himself, Sinister looked livid at that little tidbit and started muttering and swearing under his breath about all that Apocalypse had forced him to do over the years. It was the most reasonable Scott had ever heard from him considering the circumstances and the players. But the rage was entirely familiar - even if it wasn't pointed at him or his kids. For now.

"You had to have suspected something like that," Scott said, watching the blurry shape he knew was Sinister as he paced.

"Not this … intrusive," Sinister growled out, looking like he'd love nothing more than to strangle Apocalypse with his bare hands.

"God, what must it feel like to have someone map their own intentions onto your mind," Scott said dryly.

Sinister spun toward Scott with his eyes flashing. "If I didn't want him dead so badly, I'd leave you to struggle through it unaided."

"Yeah, you're not getting anywhere near him," James said. "He'd just turn you into his asspuppet again."

Scott ignored James for the time being to grin toward Sinister. "Sucks to be on the receiving end, huh?"

When Sinister glared at Scott, Rachel stepped in. "We're wasting time," she said. "If Apocalypse is moving faster than usual, there's a reason for it. We have to make a plan and move before he can get the advantage he obviously wants."

"I can get us where we need to be," Billy said immediately. "And I can stop Tommy."

"If you're going for Tommy, I'm going with you," James said. "He was going for Katarina - and no one should get close to her and the poisons you know she has. If we get lucky, maybe I can kill her before he gets to change her."

"I can handle Noh," America said, pointedly cracking her knuckles. "He can't hurt me as easily as he can you guys."

"They'll all have their powers turned up much more than you're used to seeing from them," Scott told them. "It won't be the fight you think you're going into."

"Then I'll take Rach," America said with an easy shrug. "He's scared of her too," she added, smirking over her shoulder at Rachel.

"We'll need her to go after Apocalypse," Sinister argued.

"That still leaves Mia," Alex pointed out. "I can probably knock her out of the sky, but I'd rather stick close to Scotty."

"We'll likely all be close enough that the fights will be nearby," Scott said. "Once he gets all four, he's always put on a show of strength. Maybe we'll end up with some overlap. Do you know where they are now?"

"Ask one of the former horsemen," Sinister said dryly. "They must have felt the pull."

America looked toward Scott. "Any clues?" she asked pointedly.

"He wasn't a horseman," Sinister said.

Scott nodded his agreement. "I haven't felt …" He paused, because that wasn't true. "I've felt a weight, but I don't feel a pull. I don't feel called to him."

"You wouldn't," Sinister said. "As I said, you weren't a Horseman. You were a vessel."

"It was worth asking," America said, but Billy already had his phone out.

"Angel says he's been helping Storm and Mom get everyone in the school that needs to get out to safety, but he definitely feels a pull. He's gonna sit down with Betsy and see if he can translate that to directions for us beyond 'go this way'."

"Make sure he doesn't try to follow it," Sinister said. "He'd only be painting a target on his back - and he's in no shape to stop an attack like that."

"Yeah, I'm texting Betsy too," Billy said, waving Sinister off. "Bobby isn't answering, though."

"I'll try Aunt Nat," James said as he took out his phone and started texting as well. "Maybe more conventional means might do the trick. If there's a disaster, SHIELD will know about it - and if it's mutant-caused, they'll be watching with popcorn."

"You're not wrong," Billy said darkly.

"Do we want to add anyone else to this posse?" America asked, holding up her own phone.

"I've got Tony already," James said. "The Avengers need to know, even if they can't do anything about it. Maybe they can triage or pull civilians."

"Steve just offered to triage," Rachel said, looking at her own phone. "And he says Tyler's ready to help whoever needs it. Pulled him out of his classes and everything."

Alex smirked and bumped shoulders with Scott. "Saving the world by texting. Should I start making 'feeling old' jokes…?"

"Only after they actually save the world by texting," Scott shot back, smirking. "Besides, it's kind of nice to have the backup. We never had that," he pointed out, the smirk dropping as quickly as it had appeared.

"Scott?" Alex said when he saw the look his big brother was wearing.

"I'm okay," he said, though his tone was faraway. What had started as a melancholy for the lack of support they'd had when they were younger was turning into something… else.

"Dad?" Nate asked softly. "What's wrong?"

Scott was quiet for a long moment before he seemed to blink back to reality and glanced toward the others. "They're all in place," he said, softly, surprising even himself in the moment he knew what he was saying.

James and Billy both reached out to take each other's hands while they all processed what, exactly, that meant. "So are we," James said after a moment.

"Do you know where?" America asked, already stretching out her hands and ready for a fight.

Scott was pale enough that Alex reached out a hand to steady him, but he nodded. "They just left Madripoor," he said. "All four - and anyone else who heeds the call - will meet him in Australia. They'll be on the beaches near Sydney in a matter of minutes."

James nodded to himself. "So we all know what we're doing. But who's got Mia again?"

Alex glanced at Rachel. "You or me?" he asked.

"I can do it," Rachel said. "If it gets to be too rough on you guys, I'll be listening and ready with the Phoenix. You should focus on Apocalypse."

"We'll back Nate up," Scott agreed, putting his hand on Alex's shoulder. He turned toward James. "What did you do with that sword?"

"Gave it to Billy for safe keeping," James answered almost shortly.

"Oh, right, it's in my Reeses dimension," Billy said, which had Rachel snorting under her breath.

"You need it?" James asked, turning toward Scott with a frown that seemed to deepen the more he tried to prepare himself for the disaster that was coming.

Scott nodded. "It's one of the few things I know will put a permanent end to him - so long as Rachel and Nate can keep his consciousness contained to that body."

"And we can," Nate said, nodding seriously.

James nodded for a long moment before he agreed out loud with an understated 'okay'.

Scott nodded even as Billy reached into his pocket dimension. "I'll call Storm and let her know where we're headed. The team can handle the fallout of the fight so we can focus on the Horsemen and Apocalypse," he said.

"And I'll let my mother-in-law know Hydra's missing one of its heads. I'm sure that's throwing things into chaos on that front," Nate said.

"Unless she's directing them," James pointed out. "I doubt Katarina was forced into this."

"Either way, Mom needs to know."

For just a moment, everyone there took the time that they needed to inform the leaders they were in contact with what the story was. Scott talked to Ororo, who was just finishing up sending everyone to safety with Wanda. Nate called Natasha to tell her Hydra was massing to help Apocalypse at Katarina's direction. Rachel directed Steve where to go to help civilians and where to send Tyler. Billy checked with his mom and confirmed that Kate and Annie and David were all safe. Alex confirmed with Lorna that some of the defenses Lorna had been working on for months were up and operational. And America stood back with her arms crossed, focused in the same way James was as they waited for the coordination to stop and for the fight to begin.

And once everyone was ready, Billy looked around the group, took a deep breath, and held out his hands. "Okay," he said before he did a quick, wordless spell that put everyone in uniform - even Scott, who hadn't worn one in a while.

"IwishwewerewhereApocalypseis," Billy chanted… and then held his breath.

When nothing happened, James leaned over to steal a kiss. "Just remember that we're gonna win before you make the wish, handsome."

Billy let his shoulders drop but smiled and returned the kiss. "Right," he said softly before he tried again - and this time, they all vanished together.