Chapter 6: "We Have Questions"

Back in Westchester, at the start of everything, before Apocalypse was killed, as all the X-Men were mobilizing…

In the middle of all of the chaos that always followed Apocalypse showing up and wreaking havoc, Bobby genuinely hadn't noticed that he'd gotten any messages until Kate had called Ororo to fill her in on what the others were planning to do. And it occurred to Bobby that, since Kate was calling from James's phone, there was no telling to whom and how these kids would reach out.

He had expected to see a message from Johnny, who had to have realized something was going down, but so far … no. What he did have was a message from an unknown number:

You gotta know bout the big distraction happening right now. Old man's attention is on the big guy. I know where his backups are. Going down the list; check my work, just in case.

Along with the message was a list of seven different sets of coordinates. And at the bottom was an emoji of a playing card.

Bobby looked over the list quickly, then once more a little slower, before he replied in kind with a thumbs up and a frozen emoji. Might as well keep it simple.

"You okay?" Leslie Ann asked, nearly startling Bobby out of his thoughts - and giggling when she realized she'd surprised him. She waved from where she was in the tree branches overhead. "Sorry; you just looked like you were lost in thought."

"Oh, hey, a sneaky toucan!" Bobby teased, trying to dodge the question as he put on a smile. "I'm great. Just going over messages. You know. Did you hear there was a thing earlier?" He pointed at her with both index fingers. "Were you invited to the supervillain kicking party? Because I was not."

"No, but my soon-to-be-Uncle Scott is paranoid about my safety, so this does not surprise me. At all," Leslie Ann said, pulling a face.

"Yeah, get used to that, kiddo," Bobby said.

"That's what Aunt Annie keeps telling me, but I'm this close to getting everything in order so I can join up."

"Yeah, listen - he's not that much older than me, and he still treats me like I've never stepped out of the house without an escort," Bobby told her. "You're doomed just because you're younger."

"Thanks, Bobby. That makes me feel better."

"Just making sure to keep it real with you."

"Which I do actually appreciate," Leslie Ann promised. "You don't try to talk down to me, which is why you're still my favorite."

"How can I talk down to you when you're up in a tree?"

"Good point." Leslie Ann grinned and waved at him. "I gotta go; my dad is calling me. Bye, Iceman!"

"Bye, Toucan Sam!"

Leslie Ann laughed and waved, but Bobby waited until long after she was gone before he pulled up the message again, looked over the coordinates, and nodded to himself. Whatever Remy was up to, he was right: everyone was distracted, and now was a good time to do it.

"Hey, Kitty, I'm borrowing the two-seater," Bobby called out. "I'm gonna forward you a text; if this goes bad, you'll come get me, right?"

"Oh, man. That's not at all familiar," Kitty drawled out. "Is now the time for … that?"

"Uh, yeah. Remy asked for backup."

Kitty paused and turned to give Bobby her full attention. "Oh?" she asked - interested not just because of how tied-in they all knew Remy had been with Sinister from the start but because Remy had reached out to Bobby specifically.

"Yeah." Bobby shrugged, though she could see his pleased blush, even in the middle of chaos.

"Is this a … do you want backup too, or would you rather, you know…" Kitty gave him a significant look. "Go alone?"

"I mean," Bobby said slowly, "he didn't text anyone else, right?"

"Nope, he sure didn't," Kitty agreed, grinning wider. "So… I'll come get you if you need help, but otherwise?" She gestured outward with both hands. "Have fun."

Bobby shook his head at her… but still, as he headed out, he was blushing.

As for Remy himself, he already had five labs down, with just two more to go. He'd sent the text to Bobby a little bit late, admittedly, but he didn't want to mistime his shot, so he was being cautious.

Sure, he'd run down that lead into Hydra from Sinister, and he'd been helping behind the scenes to get failsafes in Marauders (and to test out those failsafes in combat), but for the past little while, he'd also been making note of where each of Sinister's labs was… and where he had the capacity for cloning.

Sinister was convinced that Apocalypse was finally going to kill him, and he'd gone to great lengths to leave clones of himself for his mind to wander into if that were to happen. He'd half drained Remy dry of blood in the process, too - something about stabilizing the clones that Remy didn't understand and didn't care to understand - but that also meant that Remy knew what he had to destroy.

And that was what he was good at: breaking and entering. This time with emphasis on the breaking.

He was most of the way through destroying the sixth lab on his list - starting with the backup body, obviously - when he heard someone coming down the stairs behind him and spun around, his cards glowing and his eyes narrowed. All of the Marauders had been called away to the fight; a visitor meant that the battle was over and Remy's time had run out, and Remy honestly didn't know who to expect.

And then, when he saw Sinister almost stumbling down the stairs, obviously injured and reeling, Remy saw his chance and let his cards fly, blowing Sinister and most of the staircase into rubble. Remy hadn't done everything he wanted to, but at least the clone body was dead; he'd have to be satisfied with that even if the technology in the lab and all of Sinister's notes were still standing.

When Sinister didn't immediately pop back up, Remy smirked to himself. "Looks like you were right, ol' man," he said, pulling four more cards out to throw. "He was done wit you." He let the cards fly - but not toward Sinister. Instead, he grinned as Sinister's lab blew up before Sinister's eyes. And just for good measure, he blew another four cards up across the lab, making sure none of the equipment was usable.

Sinister was exhausted and had decided to let Remy have whatever tantrum he was trying to have, but when he peeked into Remy's mind and saw that this wasn't the only place he had wrecked, when he realized that there was only one body left, Sinister let out an angry sound that turned into a furious scream, and he teleported to Remy, backhanding him hard enough to send him flying into the opposite wall.

Remy chuckled to himself and wiped his mouth as he picked himself up. "What's wrong?" Remy laughed. "Didn' see it comin'?"

"You - this is my work," Sinister hissed - the tone slightly different than what Remy was used to hearing - even after all this time. "How dare you?" His lip was curled up as he rounded on Remy, looking positively murderous.

Remy held his bo staff out between them. "You on your way out, ol' man," he said - and he didn't realize it, but he looked almost exactly like Sinister in the way his lip was curled up to match him. He gripped his staff tighter and rushed Sinister, taking full advantage of how tired the man was to thwack him.

At first, Sinister deflected the blows with his arms, but then, as Remy had expected, Sinister grabbed the staff to wrench it from him. But Remy let it happen, and Sinister noticed at the last second that the staff was glowing.

The resulting explosion blasted them away from each other, and Remy let out an oof when he hit the wall. But he scrambled to his feet again. And since Sinister was unconscious, Remy took his opening and ran, jumping over much of the rubble.

He was almost out of sight when he felt a sharp, deep pain just below his right shoulder blade that nearly dropped him where he stood.

"I'm disappointed," Sinister said as he stalked forward, his eyes narrowed. "You had potential, but you refuse to understand, you refuse to try to see - and all you're good for, in the end, is this."

Remy groaned, shook his head, and tried to get back up. Failing that, he glanced up at Sinister and gave him the best smirk he could. "Remy always knows what he's doin'," he said, though he had no power to his voice.

"What you're doing is bleeding in the street like the worthless little rat that you are," Sinister hissed. "Everything I gave you - everything about you - I made. And you've squandered my gifts to you."

"Don' that make me your failure?" Remy shot back.

"Yes," Sinister said, sounding far too serious. "One that I should have terminated years ago."

Remy let out a wet-sounding cough. "Too bad," he said softly. "You de one who blind."

Halfway over to Remy, Sinister picked up a discarded length of pipe, then took a swing specifically to break his knee before he took the comm at his side and crushed it. "And you're the one that will die here in the trash. If by some chance you manage to weasel your way out of this, I'll take you apart myself." He turned on his heel and stalked off, leaving Remy to listen to his own labored breathing and the dripping of water somewhere out of sight.

Scott was entirely distracted after having checked on all of his kids. James was in surgery; Nate was with Kate and David; Rachel was with America, Craig, and Annie - with both Hales working hard to get Rachel to settle down to talk. Every little thing that was going on had Rachel more and more upset and trying to control the Phoenix as it pushed to get her to let go. The fact that Nate was barely hanging in there, visibly traumatized, with his upper lip stained bright red, wasn't helping her at all. And though she wasn't surprised that James had to go under to have bones rebroken and properly set, that wasn't helping either.

Everything seemed to be focused against his family, and he couldn't decide where he needed to be most. He was worried that being too close to Rachel would only make things worse, because he knew that he was reliving killing Apocalypse on a loop in his own head. He knew she could hear him doubting himself and whether he should be back on the team when he kept breaking the rules he was supposed to embody. And she didn't need that. She needed Annie's unshakeable positivity and Craig's pragmatic approach to mental health and David's sweet smiles.

So naturally, that was when his adoptive family decided to step in and try to redirect him.

Scott was sitting like he'd always done before on hard missions with the team - in a chair far from the others so he wasn't in the way, one hand in his hair as he propped himself up with the other on his knee. And when he saw shoes in front of him, he straightened up, somehow not at all surprised to see Warren.

"You alright?" Scott asked first - trying to preempt the questions he knew were coming. "I know you had to have felt the reverb when he died."

"I came over here to ask how you were doing. Screw the reverb … what about everything else? The whole …" Warren gestured at Scott repeatedly. "How?"

Scott glanced toward the closed surgery doors where Hank was working on James and toward Rachel and Nate and their respective support systems. "Take a walk with me, huh?" he said.

"Seriously?"

"You think I want to talk about that when Rachel's still got fire in her hair?

"So that's implying that you'd want to talk about it if she didn't?"

"I'm saying let's at least take the questions away from my kids on the brink, Warren," Scott said tiredly.

"Sure, sure. Lead the way. As always."

Scott sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. He kept reaching for his face - not to touch his old scars but because he had gotten so used to being able to pinch the bridge of his nose or run his hand down his face when he was tired or frustrated that not doing so was going to need to be a new habit at that point. But he headed with Warren out into the hallway, they had only gotten to the stairwell before they heard Alex's voice as soon as they hit the stairs.

"...damn vampire in his head again, and you know we haven't seen the last of him now that he's gone and given Scotty back the thing he was so damn obsessed with studying!"

"Oh good, we can all get this over at the same time," Warren said.

Scott let out a long, tired, heavy sigh. He should have known Alex hadn't disappeared to find Lorna or check on the twins or anything like he'd thought Alex was doing. "I thought you were with your nephews," Scott said as he and Warren got partway up the stairs and saw that Alex was gesticulating wildly as he talked to Ororo and Kitty.

"Billy's sedated so Ty can heal him fully without him going into shock, and Tommy passed out asleep after he had enough food to start his own healing. What'm I gonna do - stare at 'em?" Alex asked. "I thought you were with your kids."

"Rachel's still fighting the Phoenix; she doesn't need to be around me right now," Scott said simply before he looked toward Ororo. "I'm so sorry. How's Mia?"

"Much like Billy, she's been redirected and is with her father at the moment," Ororo said. "She's asleep and heartbroken - and now that we've covered that, why don't you tell us about how this came to be?"

"Yeah, Scotty," Alex said, his arms crossed as he stood with the others.

Scott shot him a look that would have been far more effective without the visor he was still wearing before he let out another long sigh. "He'd been pushing to try out this technique since he showed up again; just couldn't turn him down with this particular fight on the horizon," he said, his hands held out to his sides. "I needed to be there to help my kids. All three were on the line."

"You agreed to let him do this?" Ororo asked with a frown, only for Warren to follow up on the tail of her question with one of his own.

"Why?" Warren asked - seeming to echo Alex's question in spite of all that Scott had already told them. "Why would you let him … why?"

Scott looked toward Ororo and tipped his head her way. "You know what his backup plan was if we'd failed to kill him permanently today?" he asked her pointedly. "Do you know who his backup plan was?"

Ororo frowned. "I have a guess."

Scott gestured at himself. "I was his first plan," he said. "And when he couldn't turn me into what he needed, he waited for Nate. So yeah, I damn well wasn't going to let him disappear and bide his time and put a third generation through hell if this didn't work. And I sure as hell wasn't going to make anyone else pull out that blade - or do you think Nate or Rachel or James would be handling things better if they had?"

Ororo didn't point out that he was sounding more like Logan with his reasoning, though it was on the tip of her tongue. "That isn't the kind of argument I thought you'd bring," she said instead.

"Yeah, well, I'd been planning to tell him 'no' and had been, successfully, until this morning," Scott grumbled. He didn't want to have this argument and didn't want to deal with this, but here he was, standing in a stairwell with his oldest friends.

"Wait," Warren said, holding up both hands. "This morning? What the hell, Scotty?"

"Yeah, you didn't mention that part," Alex grumbled.

"Look, I'm not happy about it either!" Scott said, gesturing back down the stairs. "You think I don't know how bad this could get?"

"Why don't you walk us through what happened?" Kitty said after a long silence stretched out between all of them. "You know? A good old-fashioned debrief?"

Scott almost chuckled at that, purely because of the way Kitty had phrased it, though he did sit down on the landing where the stairs turned and gestured for the others to join him. "Look," he said softly, "he showed up this morning before Wanda did and told me Apocalypse was coming. I had to make a quick choice, and God knows I still don't know if it was the right one." He trailed off, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Okay, so … Sinister came to you, then Wanda, then …"

"Then…" Scott looked back down the way they'd come. "I know you know James has been dealing with him too, right?"

"Yes, but we don't know to what degree," Kitty said. "And if we're going to be watching out for him - which I want to do - we need to know everything. Was he just stringing the kid along for samples? I can't imagine any other way for you to heal that fast."

Scott let out a soft sound from the back of his throat at the word "samples." "God, I wish it was that simple," he said. "But you're not wrong. And I'm not happy about it any more than you are." He let his shoulders drop. "Sinister wanted … the best word I can find is an 'apprentice,' but 'replacement' might be a better one. I heard him tell Apocalypse as much, but I don't know how sincere he was about it."

"You heard what?" Warren asked.

"This is the part of the debrief that he keeps trying to gloss over," Kitty said toward Warren. "Don't interrupt unless it's to help him get through it."

Scott smirked lightly. "I get it," he said. "I wasn't expecting it either. I'd just agreed to the damn procedure when Apocalypse comes waltzing in, more or less tells Sinister where he can put his Horsemen suggestions, and Sinister defended James as his replacement to keep him from being Death." He tilted his head back. "It's been a helluva day. But Apocalypse knew Sinister was trying to move against him. That's why he grabbed the Horsemen as quickly as he did. That's why he was moving so fast. And that's why I didn't feel like I had time to consider any other option but to let Sinister do what he wanted so I could get in there and help. And considering how that fight went…"

"Yeah, looked like you've still got it," Kitty said with a half-hearted shrug, though she was frowning as deeply as everyone else.

"Yeah, we'll see if that's true. James thinks I might eventually ditch the visor, considering how this happened, but…"

"How involved was he?" Hank asked from the bottom of the stairs - late to the party but knowing enough already to know which questions to ask.

"Very," Scott said simply. Heavily.

"Voluntarily?" Hank asked, adjusting his glasses before he came to a stop and leaned on the newel post.

"As voluntary as can be when he felt like he couldn't trust the man alone with me." He looked toward Hank and frowned lightly. "I know that look."

"What look is that?" Hank asked innocently.

"Hank, don't go looking for a fight with Sinister," Scott said. He started to get up, but now that he was seated, that was a harder proposition than he'd realized as exhaustion settled in on him.

"I would do no such thing," Hank said deeply, though he certainly wasn't going to ignore the fact that they all knew Sinister would be back for his unwilling assistant if he'd been that involved. And Hank was perfectly willing to stand watch so he could rip the man's limbs off himself.

"Uh-huh." Scott shook his head even as Alex offered him a hand up and put an arm around his shoulders. Alex was turning black and blue in several places, too, but he had been in the game this whole time, even if it was only fighting Acolytes, and wasn't as out of practice as Scott was.

"So that's it? We don't get the play-by-play of what you saw? What about how the heck you woke up? Did he have you in a cage like usual?" Warren asked. "I'm just … I have trouble equating whatever happened today with anything close to consent."

"Warren, I'm fine," Scott said firmly. "What's done is done, right?"

"Clearly, you're not!" Warren argued, his feathers ruffling behind him. "You can't just … waltz back in here with your visor on and act like … like nothing happened! Have you even looked in the mirror?"

"I haven't had time-"

"Take a minute," Warren said seriously. "I hardly recognized you. And it's not the visor."

When Scott was suddenly standing taller and holding his breath, Alex put in, "Don't worry. No diamond. Normal skin color. I know it's a concern."

"Maybe one of you should clue me in, then, because you're all looking at me like…" He gestured between them. "That."

Betsy had been silent through the entire discussion, but when none of them looked willing to speak up, she was the one to step forward with a compact from her purse. She didn't say a word - instead, she handed it to him and stepped back, still silent as ever.

Scott frowned her way but then opened the compact - and found himself staring when he couldn't see any evidence of the long scars that had touched his face for nearly twenty years by that point. But he'd aged enough in that time that he didn't look like the Cyclops his friends remembered, either, with enough gray in his hair to be noticeable. Sinister must have reopened the wounds that made the scars, so that they healed along with his surgery wounds.

He didn't look like Scott or Cyclops.

"Easy," Alex said and held onto Scott a little tighter, which was the best indication the others had to how Scott was taking it when his expression was hidden by the visor again. "O-kay, we're sitting down again," he said, and Scott didn't argue.

"I'm fine," Scott said, almost automatically.

"Sure. We believe you," Warren said, though now Scott could see they were all wearing similar expressions - and had been from the word go.

"Seriously, Scotty, none of this is okay," Alex said.

"I'm aware."

"So, let us help," Kitty said quietly. "But tell us everything so we can help. Not just for you, either."

"I'm fine," Scott said again, more firmly. "I'm not going anywhere. The kids need help. Mia, Tommy - you know they're not okay," he added, looking directly at Warren. "Rachel's barely holding the Phoenix back. Nate was trapped in Apocalypse's mind with him. I'm fine."

"Scott," Ororo started to say, but he cut her off.

"You should know more than anyone I'm not going anywhere. Not now," he said. "I'm fine. I'll adjust. I'll tell you what I can about Sinister, but the kids should be our focus."

"They are," Ororo said just as firmly. "But we're not going to ignore what's happened to you either."

"Not like I can change it," Scott said.

"That wasn't what I was implying," Ororo said, crossing her arms. "This seemed like a good time to get your full story while the kids were otherwise being cared for."

"Yeah, you can't expect us to ignore you when you do crazy stuff," Alex teased him lightly. When Scott shook his head at him, he smirked and bumped shoulders with him. "Oh, and hey, welcome to the X-Men, right? Not that you ever left but - well, you know what I mean."

"He means we all missed you," Kitty said.

"Yeah. Been a long year, huh?" Scott said with a tired smirk her way. "Missed you too."

Kitty didn't wait for a clearer invitation before she slipped through everyone and slid over to give him a side hug right where he was. "Hell of a way to leave Genosha, fearless." She tipped her head from one side to the other. "And then … come back. Victorious."

Scott pulled her tighter in a hug. "I don't think Genosha agrees with me much," he said in an attempt to break the gloom for the others.

"It's like that sometimes," she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, speaking of - any reason Bobby isn't here to give me a hard time?"

"He … is …" Kitty searched for an excuse, then let her shoulders drop. "So, he's looking for Remy."

Scott frowned at that. "I haven't seen Remy in a while; does he have a lead?"

"He does. And he said he'd reach out if he needed back up," Kitty swore with one hand over her heart.

Warren smirked. "I'd hope not."

"You don't get to be like that just because he doesn't think you're the pretty one anymore," Kitty said, pointing at Warren.

"Wait, when did this happen?" Scott asked, more than happy to have a new topic of conversation.

"Warren not being pretty?" Kitty asked. "Probably about the time he let himself go to be Betsy's house canary."

"No, Bobby and Remy," Scott said with the first hints of a real smile.

"Technically, it hasn't yet," Kitty said. "They're circling."

"They'll figure it out," Alex said easily. "Kinda obvious when I'd help Bobby get down to the prisons to check on Remy."

"That was totally different," Kitty argued. "This is new."

"Maybe," Alex said. "Feels like it was building, though."

"You think everything is building," Kitty said with a dismissive wave.

"He just wants to say he was there when it started," Scott said, knocking his brother's shoulder. "C'mon. I need to hunt down some glasses," he said, letting Alex help him back to his feet.

"I'll have Wanda arrange for them," Hank said. "I still have a few lenses in my desk. It won't take long to adjust to some frames."

"Great. Then if it's alright with everyone here, I was actually thinking of heading to the kitchen. Borrowing James's healing gave me his appetite, apparently."

"That seems like a reasonable side effect," Hank said with a laugh. "When you get done, we can discuss the next steps for your middle child. I'm heading back down to keep watch - I'm keeping him sedated for now."

"Probably a good idea." Scott took a deep breath. "He knows more about what happened than I do," he admitted, gesturing to his eyes. "But don't… press him. Please."

"Not without you there," Hank said, though he fell short of agreeing to play soft ball.

"Thanks." Scott glanced at the others and pressed his expression into a smile before he and Alex headed upstairs.

Tommy was the first of those who had been sedated to wake up again, since he could heal quickly and wasn't in a dampener. But he didn't stay in his room long at all before he headed out, grabbing some food and then checking on Billy on his way to bring it all back to his room. And once he had a good stash that he could eat in privacy without having to answer any questions or deal with anyone looking at him… he took a few things down a different hallway and peeked in another room.

Forge was sitting beside Mia, who was still under sedation, but he looked up when he saw Tommy.

"For when she wakes up," Tommy explained, nodding down at the food he had in his arms - most of Mia's favorites. "I was in the kitchen and… you know… solidarity… or… something."

"Solidarity?" Forge asked quietly.

"Yeah, just… one Horseman to another… healing sucks? This isn't nearly enough, but it's what I got?" Tommy offered, then simply set the food down on the nearest surface he could find and started to back out.

"I'll let her know you checked in," Forge said after a moment - which was more than he would have done in the past.

"You don't have to," Tommy said. "I'll just… go." He thumbed over his shoulder, though he didn't zip away, either. He was honestly too tired to use his powers anyway.

"She'll want to know," Forge said. "Unless you're off to check on any others that need some of the same."

"I don't really have a good answer, so I'm just going to leave now," Tommy said, pointing the direction he was going before he did, in fact, leave - and walked almost right into his mother, who was walking the other direction.

"There you are," Wanda said, pausing to brush the hair out of his face. "How is Mia?"

"Sleeping," Tommy said with an easy shrug and a smile that would have fooled anybody but Wanda. "Just about everybody is right now."

"So I've noticed," she agreed as they started down the hall together. "Have you checked in on your brother yet?"

"Also sleeping. Ty healed up his arm, but he's still pretty bruised and sore, and Tyler's only healing the big stuff when there's so many people who need help, you know?"

"That makes sense," Wanda agreed. "Why don't you tell me what you've come to know with all your second nature snooping?"

"Oh, well, I haven't, you know, been awake that long myself," Tommy said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes, but you're observant."

"Yeah, I guess." Tommy stuck his hands in his pockets - wearing comfortable clothing again instead of his Horseman getup. "I'm kinda surprised the kitchen isn't fuller. Looks like someone raided it recently. Probably Tyler, all things considered. But it's… quieter than it usually is after a fight. There isn't much rallying, you know? More like people are sitting in the misery and keeping each other propped up, or it would be louder. You'd never know we had most of the original team here."

"Give it a moment," Wanda said with a smile. "They never were as loud as the Avengers after big battles."

"Okay, I'll take your word for that," Tommy said. They were headed along the path back to his room, and he didn't change course even once they got there and he let her in and sat down on the end of his bed with a bag of snacks.

"How are you feeling about everything that happened, sweetheart?" Wanda asked. "I know none of that was easy for you."

Tommy glanced up at her and then looked back down at his food. "I'm okay, Mom," he said quietly. "I'm alive, so I'm okay."

"I believe there's more to it than simply being alive or not."

"Well, I very nearly wasn't, so, yes, actually, that's a big part of it."

"Are you and Billy okay with each other?" Wanda asked. "I was told some of those fights got pretty nasty - and I don't want you boys bickering."

"We're always bickering, Mom," Tommy pointed out. "If I don't give him grief, who will?"

"You know what I mean, honey."

Tommy's smile got tighter, and so did his grip on his bag. "It's not his fault he's everyone's favorite," he said and shrugged.

"He's not."

"Sure."

"It's true even if you don't believe it."

"Yeah? I think your dad, the teams, and Apocalypse himself disagree," Tommy said, no longer bothering to try to smile - or meet her gaze.

"They're all wrong, then," Wanda said, crossing her arms.

"They're not, though," Tommy pointed out. "Look, you don't have a favorite, because you figured out, despite Grandfather's influence, how to actually be a good mom. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Love you too, sweetie, but you're focusing on the wrong things and the wrong people's opinions."

"Right, so I'm not the spare heir-"

"No, you're not."

"Sure, Mom. Except that's literally what it's called when you're not the one inheriting the throne."

"Nonsense," she said, frowning deeply - not only because she hated the phrase, but because both of her siblings had felt the same way, and that made it much more detestable. "I've never liked that idiotic phrasing."

"Okay, but that's just you, Mom," Tommy pointed out.

"And the people that use that phrase are just a bunch of … onlookers," she said after a little too long of trying to find a palatable word.

"Okay, Mom," Tommy said, shrugging both shoulders up to his ears as he went back to trying to inhale a bag of pretzels.

"What can I say to make you realize that's not how it is?" Wanda asked.

"Mom, I love you, but you can't change it, okay?" Tommy said.

Wanda raised one eyebrow. "Want to bet?"

"Okay, you can't change it without doing a lot of unnecessary magic," Tommy clarified. "And I don't want to have Billy's powers, for the record. I didn't like bending reality when I got a taste of it. I don't actually want to be the dangerously powerful, reality-bending twin."

"Well, that's just hurtful."

"Truth hurts," Tommy said with an almost smirk.

"Wow," Wanda said, then she made her way over to sit next to him and wrap him up in a hug, even if he was staying busy trying to eat. "I was worried about you."

For just a second, Tommy tensed up as soon as she touched him, but he relaxed into the hug after that moment passed, still holding his bag of pretzels but not eating much out of it anymore. "I'm alive, so I'm okay," he said again.

"I know. I am grateful for that. But I was also worried. And in some ways, I still am. For all of you - just so you don't accuse me of hovering."

"You kind of are, though," Tommy said.

"Hush. I need to."

"Okay." Tommy leaned his head onto her shoulder and was quiet for a long time. "I wasn't supposed to live through it, you know," he said after a very, very long pause. "That wasn't his plan for me."

"What makes you say that?" Wanda asked.

"As soon as he got hold of the better twin, he sent me to fight James while he was berserking," Tommy said softly.

Wanda sat back to look at him more clearly. "How did you … how did that work out?"

"Well, James, it turns out, isn't a fan of killing his future brother-in-law. And Billy, it also turns out, got some kind of magic blessing from the Other Him that meant Apocalypse couldn't have him and had to settle for me instead. Lucky for me, huh?" he added, twirling one finger.

It took a moment, but Wanda's smile finally returned, and she reached out to tap the end of Tommy's nose. "Told you."

"What, that I'm not the least favorite? I literally just told you-"

"I don't care what Apocalypse thought," Wanda said with a wave. "You just told me a lot more than you realize. You just need to work it out for yourself when you're not still in an Apocalypse misery spiral."

"Okay." He leaned into her again and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Can I ask you a question?" Wanda asked after a while.

"Sure, but only the first one's free."

"Deal. How are you feeling after Noh?" she asked quietly. "I know you weren't the biggest fan of his, but … all things considered, how are you doing?"

Tommy went very still beside Wanda - quiet for longer than she was used to hearing from him. And then, he sucked in his breath through his teeth. "It's pretty screwed up, right?" he said, sounding almost small.

"It is. That's why I want your take on it."

"I didn't see it happen," he admitted. "I was out of it by then. I knew… I knew because Billy did, but I didn't see it." He was quiet again, obviously sorting out his thoughts. "I guess I wish I was more surprised, but after he sent me to die, knowing he'd kill Noh just for being brainwashed by someone who wasn't him isn't even shocking."

"Is that what happened? Noh got brainwashed by someone else?"

Tommy was again trying to search for the words. "Kinda," he said. "The whole reason Apocalypse was pissed was that he was loyal to the whole 'Kree solidarity above all else' thing, right?"

"I find it hard to believe that Apocalypse was surprised by that."

"Yeah, but it extended to James, who was human, and that's weird, right? The whole thing was weird."

"I guess I don't understand that part, either," Wanda agreed.

"Yeah, you'd have to ask James about it, and he probably won't talk. And no one else knows what they said, so… all I've got is this connection to Apocalypse that says he was pissed."

"I'll get him to talk," Wanda decided.

"Okay." Tommy shrugged, and Wanda could feel his shoulder move against hers. "Anyway… it's pretty screwed up. Mia lost him, and … I don't know. Feels like he shoulda lived, right?"

"Not if it meant losing you. I'd be fine with losing the rest of the Horsemen if that were the case."

"I wouldn't."

"Yes, well, in this scenario, you're brainwashed anyhow."

"Oh, right. Good point. Well, the un-brainwashed me says I'd rather she be happy and, you know…"

Wanda smiled, then leaned forward to bump his forehead with hers. "You should make sure she knows that when she's had time to heal up and adjust."

"Nah, she doesn't need the reminder of which one survived just looking at me, you know? That's… that's a bad idea," Tommy said haltingly.

"We'll see."

"Okay," Tommy said, falling silent and leaning into his mom, closing his eyes and doing his very best not to think about anything. At all.

Hank had done his very best work, all things considered, to make sure that James was patched up properly. More properly than usual, if he was being honest - because this time around, he wasn't about to let the boy wake up, turn off the dampener, and let him simply heal so he could disappear without answering some hard questions. This time, he wanted to know some of the things that James would be unlikely to share, and that meant the best avenue Hank - and the others had - was to lower the sedation slowly and question him as he became alert enough to answer questions.

He didn't trust one bit that Sinister hadn't done something to James' mind. The chances of him not abusing a long-term position of power like that was absolutely nil. But he wasn't about to let it stand, either. Yes, it was a slightly different abuse of medical power, but James had proven time and again that he was far too tight-lipped when it came to his own well being. This was a necessary move in his mind. And that's exactly what he told Scott when he called him down to join him.

James was only half aware of what was going on around him when the sedation started to lighten up. He could feel the splints and stitches that normally weren't a big part of Hank's work on him. And when he tried to scratch his nose, he found himself coming up considerably short as Hank had taken all the right precautions and restrained him where he was, too. Not that James was troubled by it in the state he was in.

Hank glanced toward Scott, then made his way over to sit down next to James, who looked his direction sleepily. "How are you feeling?" Hank asked, and once again, James tried to raise his hand, then fell short and quickly gave up.

"Sore," James answered, raspy and quiet. "Tired."

"The surgeries went well," Hank said, and James barely nodded before Hank went on. "And while you were unconscious, Betsy took the liberty of removing the subtle influences Sinister and Apocalypse left behind in your mind."

"Okay," James said quietly. "Yeah." Again, he tried to move his arm - and again, he seemed to have forgotten that wasn't going to work. He leaned his head back deeper into the pillow, turned his head toward Hank with his eyes still closed, and jumped onto a totally different train track. "Are you going to do what I asked, or should I ask someone else?"

"James," Scott said gently, "the bones are set."

"I'll bet America will help," James muttered.

"James, no," Scott said in a sigh and tried to pinch the bridge of his nose - but then remembered he was wearing a visor.

"Tommy." James nodded to himself. "Tommy would like it. He broke them the first time. He hates me."

"It's not necessary," Hank said firmly. "Your bones are set; the surgeries are completed."

James frowned at that, tried to change his position, then gave up and laid back. "Oh."

"I need you to tell me everything that's been going on this past year," Hank said, his arms crossed. "Whatever command Sinister had over the rest of your family is lifted; we're all well-aware of their part in what happened. But you? You spent so much more time with him."

James frowned and shook his head. "You won't like that." His volume tapered off, but Hank managed to catch a little of what he was mumbling - that he knew Hank was going to be so mad at him.

"I want to know," Hank insisted.

"It's not a secret," James said. "Just … all the studies. I kept them. In case he lied to Dad."

Hank glanced at Scott, whose eyebrows were high above his visor as he leaned forward and nodded for Hank to continue. "I'd like to see those," Hank said.

"Okay." James nodded, then paused. "Wait. No. The database is not … no."

"What's wrong with the database?" Scott asked, frowning.

"It's too much." James shivered to himself.

"O…kay then." Scott sighed. "We'd still like to see what he was working on. He's not dead; we need to plan ahead."

James was slowly waking up a little, but no more than the level of sedation Hank was keeping on line. "You can't just kill him," he said, the sleepy tone still clinging to his words.

"Sure I can," Hank said.

"No, there are precautions. He knows you want him dead, but he won't let that happen, and he won't kill you."

Hank and Scott shared a look. "Me?" Hank repeated. "Or Scott?"

"He's jealous of your work," James said at just over a whisper.

Hank chuckled. "Obviously," he said.

"He won't kill Dad either," James said in a sigh.

"Wonderful. Then we'll still be alive to end him."

"I don't know how," James said off-handedly. "He's got too many powers. Too many clones." He again tried and failed to sit more upright. "He's been working on a … sort of gene virus … or something that acts like a virus that's only applicable to certain specific gene sequences once it's activated ... I don't know."

"Then I'll definitely want those notes," Hank said.

"Oh, it wouldn't hurt anyone," James said. "It's not like the legacy virus or anything like that. And it's nowhere near ready." He grinned up at Hank. "I rearranged the figures and statistics on that."

"Good man," Hank said, smirking at how openly James was grinning while he was still slightly sedated.

"No." His expression twisted as he gently shook his head. "I'm not."

Scott frowned at the immediate change in James's demeanor. "James," he said gently, but then couldn't find anything else to say. He knew James was drowning in guilt, and he knew nothing he could say would fix it. Not this soon after all that had happened. So instead, he just rested his hand on James's shoulder and gave Hank a little nod to let him up - Betsy had said his mind was clear of Sinister's influence, so now, they only had to pick up the pieces of James's mind again, not worry about any hidden agendas.

"I'll bet Mom can wish his stuff here," Billy said, cluing them in that he had been listening in, not sleeping off his exhaustion as they'd assumed. "Might be easier for you to just… look."

Hank and Scott shared a look, and Hank simply nodded. They didn't need to speak to know that Hank would take care of that - freeing up Scott to look out for his obviously spiraling son in the meantime.

Annie wasn't at all surprised to find that Scott had fallen asleep in a chair beside James. He had to have been exhausted, all things considered, but he always prioritized his kids.

She crouched in front of him and put her hand on his wrist, reaching up to run a hand through his hair as she said, gently, "Come to bed."

He stirred lightly, which was the only indication she had that he had woken up. She couldn't see his eyes anymore; she couldn't read his expression, and his mind was locked up tight.

"Scott," she promoted him gently, and he let out a sigh and stood up.

"Sorry," he started to say, but she was already shaking her head.

"You have every right to be upset and worried and distracted and whatever else you're feeling right now," she said. "Let me take care of you while you're coping with all of that."

Scott looked her way with his head tipped slightly to the side, but he let her pull him to his feet and lead him upstairs. "Are you okay?" he asked once they hit the hallway.

"Hank is watching me like a Hawkeye; I'm fine," Annie joked. "Stressed, obviously, but that's understandable. I'll be better if I can take care of you without you trying to redirect my attention, though. I've got a therapist for a brother, Mr. Summers."

"I'm fine," Scott said in a rote response, and Annie sighed.

"You're not. And I think you and I both know that that answer means nothing coming from you."

"It's the only answer I have."

Annie bit her lip but didn't say anything - not while they were still walking back to their room. She doubted she would get much emotional honesty out of him anyway, but trying to do so when other people might overhear them was folly of the worst kind.

Eventually, though, they made it to their room, and Annie closed the door firmly behind them, leaning on it as she studied Scott. He was holding himself tightly, but his expression… She shook her head. "I miss seeing your eyes," she said, reaching out for his hand. "I can't read anything in those glasses."

Scott let his shoulders slump as he took her hand. "If I could have seen another way-"

"I know," she said before he could fall too deeply into blaming himself. "I know this wasn't your idea. And I don't blame you." She squeezed his hand lightly. "Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing you become Cyclops again. It's so obvious that you miss it. That part of things, I actually like. It's just…"

"Yeah," Scott agreed tightly. He reached up to brush some of her hair away from her face. "I'm going to miss seeing you in living color too," he said. "I still know you're beautiful, but-"

"Yeah," she agreed, just as tightly as he had done before. She reached up to cover his hand with hers, holding his hand in place at her cheek. "We'll get used to it," she said. "And I look forward to seeing you coordinate those glasses with a snazzy tie at our wedding."

"I'm sure Jan has ideas," Scott said, smirking.

"Some things never change," Annie agreed, settling into a hug with him and clinging on, glad to have him there, in person, with her again … but somehow missing the Scott she had left behind only weeks ago.