I slept in.

Well, it didn't really matter if I got up before dawn this morning or not. The house was already in chaos by the time I made it down stairs, but that was normal in a large household. However, a few things weren't normal for just a chaotic morning.

Nico wasn't on the field like he usually was this hour, instead both him and Christin were standing in the living room, dressed in formal mutant clothing. Detailed tight, almost leather like jackets and pants were worn, with long high collared capes flowing down their backs. It was honestly shocking seeing them in capes. Neither brother was fond of them.

In fact, capes had fallen out of mutant everyday fashion a long time ago. According to Kate, who was pretty much my guide into clothes shopping whenever we went to Nexus, capes were once nearly as common as masks, but they were more of a safety hazard with little benefits for certain mutants depending on their abilities. Eventually fading out to just formal events and the odd exception when a young child is having trouble stabilizing in flight.

"You can stop gawking, James," Nico said.

My eyes zipped to the floor, "Sorry, Sir."

"You are finally awake," Nico said.

"Yes, sir," I mumbled quietly.

"Lay off him Nico," Christin cut in, "You're giving him a free day today anyway."

"What?" I spoke.

Nico sighed, "You're only assignment for today is to care for your young charge. Christin and I have more pressing matters to attend to."

"Is that why you're wearing fancy clothes? It is some kind of holiday?" I spoke.

"Not a holiday," Christin said, "A political expedition! We'll be talking peace treaties with Atlantis."

"For the third time," Nice said flatly.

"Hey, third's time the charm," Christin said.

"There's being a glass half-full. There's beating a dead horse. Then there's you, little brother," Nico said, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you for having such great faith in me," Christin replied.

"We've tried this three times in the past decade, I believe it's best we take the hint and not accidentally start a war for annoying them. Their king is known for his temper," Nico stated, "Besides, Nexus has nothing to lose if we aren't in alliance."

"That's where you're wrong big brother. Without allies Nexus will fall like the homeland did. Who will we turn to if we're attacked?" Christin said.

"Attacked from what? The only nations who rival Nexus in technological weaponry, are Wakanda, Atlantis, and Latvaria," Nico said.

"I don't know, but if it ever happens, Nexus will be far more stable with outside help. If we seal ourselves away, we choose to stay blind to the wonders and dangers that the outer world has to offer," Christin said, "If I hadn't taken a look around, I would have never gotten married. Besides you think any of the other Clan Leaders are looking for allies?"

"No, they aren't. I'll admit, you found a rare gem in the rough outside, but I still doubt you will finally be able to convince that salty sea spouge to enter a peace treaty," Nico said.

"Don't worry I got my charms," Christin gave a very bad smolder.

Nico groaned and shook his head.

I tried not to laugh at the brothers' banter. I honestly agreed with Nico, if Namor's…family? descendants? Or whoever was in charge of Atlantis were like good old Subby Christin would need a lot more than just charms to get a treaty out of them.

Speaking of Namor, I wondered what happened to him. It wasn't that hard for to find out what happened to the rest of the Invaders. Jim vanished in the 60s, and Toro was proclaimed dead and buried not long after. I knew what happened to Steve. But Namor? The fishman dropped off the grid not long after the war, but he made random appearances in spots around the world since. Though they had gotten more infrequent as time went on. The last one being almost eight years ago in the north Atlantic. For all I knew he was still alive, but you can't really look through an entire ocean for a friend who has probably already moved on.

"Breakfast!" Taiga called from the kitchen (it was his turn to cook that morning).

That thankfully put an end to the Atlantis discussion for the day.


"Okay, when we go into the store, what are the rules we follow?" I asked.

Black Sheep seemed to think about the question before answering, "Stay close?"

I nodded, "That's right and?"

"Nothing touch!" The little boy said enthusiastically.

I laughed, "That's right."

"Alright you little rascals," Kate chimed in, herding the elder two mutant children into the store, "Time to shop, and Shawnen no superspeed. I don't care if it will make the trip faster. We're not leaving the store in a mess due to your shockwaves."

The new school on Nexus was almost completed. Classes would start next week as a matter of fact. And of course, all members of the farmhouse household who had not come of age were going to attend. However, Shawnen would only be attending until the summer, as by the end of it he would be old enough to join one of the training programs for his final three years of education.

This meant today's mission was school supplies.

They weren't so different in terms of items compared to the 40s, but in terms of choice everything was different. Backpacks were in all sorts of colors, covered in pockets and with plastic zippers instead of the single pouch that closed with a little loop and button that I had. Now you could buy boxes of crayons with over 250 different colors, while you had to be really lucky to even have a small box so long ago.

Black Sheep picked out a purple backpack, a bright red lunchbox, and of course the largest box of crayons they had. The little kid being so excited throughout the whole thing. Honestly, I think it came from the fact that in the system Black Sheep couldn't have anything of his own. So, when given the chance to have something of his own, the kid jumped in head first. And of course, no first day of school arsenal would be complete without sparkly glitter glue.

Once all the shopping was done, Kate and I took the kids to the park. Taiga was at the hospital that afternoon, Jenette was working with her trainees, Timothy was living in his dream job of being a carrier, and I have no idea what Arrow was doing today, so we didn't need to be back at the farmhouse anytime soon. I watched the kids with a smile on my face. Seeing Black Sheep run and laugh with other children, rather than tremble and cling to my leg gave me a wonderful feeling. I had barely had him for six months and the kid had already grown so much.

I could watch him play forever…then my eye caught something.

"Black Sheep come here!" I called out, standing up from the bench I was sitting on.

Black sheep toddled over to where I was sitting, the young child had smile on his face, but it was his eye I was interested in. I tried not to appear worried as I kneeled down to get a closer look. His eyelid was turning black. It was like someone had splattered ink over Black Sheep's eye lid, then air sprayed paint in-between the splatters. I tried to rub the black away with my thumb, but it stayed stuck. It didn't even feel like ink underneath my finger print, it felt like skin.

"Kate! Can you come look at this?" I asked.

The bespectacled woman stood up and wandered over to us. Her face remained neutral as she looked over Black Sheep's eye.

"Well, would you look at that," Kate commented.

"Somet'ing wrong?" Black Sheep asked his dark eyes shining almost frightened.

"Nothing's wrong baby, you're just so handsome. Go back to playing," Kate said ruffling his hair.

Black Sheep gave a soft smile, then ran off squealing with delight.

"So?" I asked.

"It's nothing to worry about. Kid's powers are just growing and manifesting in a physical trait. It happens all the time."

"Really?"

"Timothy didn't always have his swirlies. They started to come in after he turned ten."

"So, he'll be alright?"

"Usually, sometimes when kids start growing fang or their senses go haywire it can be uncomfortable. But I don't we need to worry about Black Sheep too much. Though if the black starts to flow into his eye, will probably want to do a vision exam just to be safe."


The house was mostly quiet. Well, at least the first floor was. Black Sheep was napping. Sable and Shawnen were playing video games upstairs, and Kate was taking a shower. Christin and Nico still hadn't returned from their diplomatic quest, and all the adult children were at work.

Well, almost all of them.

I was in the kitchen getting a snack when I heard a raddling coming from the living room closet. A moment later the white painted door flung open and Arrow tumbled out on to the floor.

She had changed her hair again. This time bleaching her whole head, but it didn't look like a normal blonde. Her natural brown always had this very slight red tint to it. It wasn't noticeable if she was inside or if she was in shadows, but if sunlight hit it just right it the brown turned into a molten auburn red. As such when all bleached out the blonde was also red tinted, making it into a pretty strawberry gold.

"Hey," Arrow said picking herself up from where she tumbled.

"Hey," I said confused, "What were you doing in the closet?"

"Research," She walked into the kitchen grabbing two chocolate chip cookies from the large plastic container on the counter.

"Research?" I raised a skeptical brow.

"Yep."

"In the closet?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"It has what I'm researching in it."

"What are you researching? Coats?"

"There's more in that closet than just coats."

"It's a stairwell closet how much more can it hold?"

"It's bigger than you think."

"Oh really?"

"Yes," she said stuffing her last remaining cookie in her mouth and grabbed my arm.

Turns out the closet wasn't just a closet. Hidden behind the boots and coats was another door that opened outward to a small vertical tunnel with a ladder, that led to both an upper and lower levels. Arrow slipped through the closet gripping the ladder and a started to descend.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Hidden rooms. Up the ladder is the attic, well was the attic until we got the third and fourth floors installed now it's just storage. Down leads to the heavy duty storage, and bomb shelter," Arrow answered.

"Bomb shelter?"

"My great grandfather had it installed in the 60s, right in the middle of the cold war. Had a bunch of them built in Nexus too. I never knew him, but everyone said he was a little paranoid. Can't say he wasn't prepared though."

As I climbed down the last of the ladder, I saw the open room before me. The walls were made of smooth unpolished metal, and the ground was hard grey stone. Lining the walls were several cases made up of thick clean glass and light up with cool white lights. In each case on the right looked to be some from of weapon or gadget; knives, two-headed spears, and other kinds. The only one of the cases on the right was empty. On the left the cases were larger and held suits. Full body, tight, in colors and matching masks. Though one of the female mannequins seem to be missing it's top piece; probably a jacket of some sort.

I wandered over to one of the cases on the right. Inside rested a pair of beautiful daggers. The blades were forged of a silver that seem to gradually gain a blue tint closer to the hilt; sharpened to perfection. The spine was a deep navy blue, with silver etching that resembled a thin lever of frost. Between the front and heel bolsters, a handle of black leather was tied. My servo reached to the touch the glass; I felt drawn to them.

"I thought you said this was a bomb shelter?" I said, not looking away from the blades.

"The hatch to that room is somewhere in here. This is another storage room for some of the more dangerous items Baba and Uncle Nico have come across," Arrow said, digging through some of the file cabinets on the back wall.

"So, what are you looking for down here?"

"Old student files. I need to find out how many gifted technopaths that graduated in the past couple years."

"Aren't all those, you know, digital?"

"The newer ones are but we didn't get the palace network up until a five years ago, and we didn't start putting identifying information on it until recently."

"Why?"

"Code is slippery. Paper may degrade, but it's easier to keep track of. Not until we set up our own network and internet web, did people feel safe going digital."

"Every now and again I forget how paranoid you people are."

"You live a life time of being hunted like it's a sport."

"Fair enough. You still don't know who stole the files?"

Arrow sighed, "No, I'm checking every lead I can get but there all leading to dead ends. Who ever is doing this, covered their tracks well. It's like they had access to everything."

"You mean like a mole?"

"That's my leading theory at the moment. Who it could be I'm not sure. That's why I'm looking into all the Technopaths registered in our clan, its most likely what the thief is."

"What about the other clans?"

"I'm still waiting for approval to go through their archives."

"Really? You think they would want you to investigate, doesn't the stolen weapon specs affect them too?"

"Not as much as it does us. It's mostly my clan that deals with the missions from the trafficking system, and interactions and alliances with the outside world. With Antisha as the exception, though that's because of where their territory is."

"I thought the counseling was in charge of the missions?"

"The Counseling approved of the missions. Their still mainly run by my family, and clan. The other clans are either too scared or too angry to do anything more."

I nodded, "Still I thought they would support you."

"Yeah, we all think the people in our lives will do that," She growled out harshly.

"Something wrong?"

Arrow paused, "It's nothing."

"It's obviously something if it's bothering you. Come on, what is it?"

Arrow sighed, "Junia and I, we're kinda having our first fight."

"Oh," I nodded, "What it's about?"

"He doesn't want me to continue the investigation. Says it's 'too dangerous', I mean, seriously?! I'm trained to stop bullets with compressed atmosphere! Kill a man in seven different ways! Metal steel with my bare hands! I think I know what's too dangerous for me!"

I tried not to flinch at her raised voice. Arrow was usually a very calm individual, but her temper was fit for her fire abilities. However, she wasn't prone to shouting, she'd let the rage stew until it was simmering and eventually forget about it. Yelling was not her usual style.

She shook her head and bit her lip, "Sorry, for losing it. I'm just really annoyed by him. I know my limits, he shouldn't tell me what they are."

"Don't worry about it. I think you needed to vent. And you're right it's not his job to tell you what your capable of, but Arrow you just got out of the hospital. Your scars are still pink. He's probably just scared that you'll get hurt again."

Arrow paused, "I didn't think about like that," she huffed, "When did you become such a good relationship counselor?"

"I might have had a girl on my arm or two once upon a time," I smirked.

Arrow raised a very skeptical brow.

"Alright, it wasn't anything serious like you and Junia, but I'm not clueless when it comes to love. Steve was a mess when it came to dames, and any time Agent Carter came around he turned into a bumbling idiot. Someone had to help him."

Arrow started laughing, "Well, good to know you can be a wingman. Now could you grab the files from the drawer labeled 'late 90s to early 2000s' please?"

"Sure," I said, walking over the wall of file cabinets.

The files went back until the late 80s. Though with a quick tap, it was pretty obvious that the drawers earlier in the timeline weren't as full as the ones that came later. They sounded hollower. I pulled out the drawer Arrow asked for, and looked over the many manilla folders.

"Which ones do you need?" I asked.

"Probably best if I start with Baba's and Uncle Nico's yearly summaries, they should be in the front of the draw," Arrow said.

I pulled out Christin's first, his summaries from 1998-2003. Then came Nico's. Though the one form 2003 was over stuffed, and when I pulled it out paper sheets and other items fell out of it and on to the floor.

"Shoot," I muttered, dropping to the floor to pick up the dropped material and stuff it back into the folder.

"Need help?" Arrow said.

I shook my head, "It's fine. I got it."

I really hoped these weren't organized in a certain manner. They were mostly graphs and what looked like timeline notes. All on slightly yellowed standard sheets of paper, all except one. It was the last piece, the one that had been underneath all the others. It was smaller, and it felt far stiffer than the rest. A date and short note on the back of it read, "Nov. 10, 2003. One week out. I can't wait to see you as one of us. You're going to make history, Micha. And I can't wait to see you do it. Love, Dad."

I flipped it over. It was a picture. It was old, the image yellowed, and not perfectly clear like modern photos (still in color). There were two men, sitting on what looked like the farm house's back deck steps. One older, one younger. One man, and a teenager. They looked surprising similar to each other. The older man seemed very familiar.

"Something wrong?" Arrow said.

I nearly jumped at her voice, "Do you know who's in this picture?"

I walked towards her holding out the photo. She leaned forward, her eyes squinting slightly.

"Huh, it's an old photo Uncle Nico and Micha," she said plainly, "I thought he got rid of them all."

I immediately looked back at the photo. It was almost impossible to tell that the older man was Nico. The jaw line and nose were the same, but the differences between this picture and the man I knew were large. His hair was longer and brown, with no grey peppering. He still had the scruff, but the scar through his eyebrow was missing. The stern glare was gone, replaced with a prideful smile. An expression I never thought I would see on his face. Finally, the eyes. The brown was the same, but they sparkled with life. Not as much a Christin's, but they weren't cold in any way shape or form. God, he looked…happy.

The teenager had a bright smile. His brown hair in a short ponytail. He kind of looked like me. The only major difference being that his eyes were the same brown as Nico's, and icy blue.

"Who's Micha?" I asked.

"He was Uncle Nico's firstborn son."

"Nico has kids?" I said in a surprised tone.

Arrow nodded, "He was married with two sons. It was a long time ago."

Married? Two kids? That didn't sound like the Nico I knew. Nor did it sound like the rumors that traveled around the Nexus training arena between the staff and soldiers.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Micha died young at 15, probably not long after that picture was taken. Things for that side of the family kind of fell apart afterward. Aunt Kora divorced Uncle Nico, and took their younger son to live with her family in New York."

"There's a counseling in New York?"

"No. I don't remember much, but Aunt Kora was non-mutant. Both of their kids took after her," Arrow stood up and took another look at the picture, "I kind of forgot about him, especially what he looked like. It's kind a weird that y'all look so alike."


There was the screams and cheers of young children ringing in my ear. The new school house in front of me and Black Sheep. It was a big triangle building made out of silver metal and glass. Parents with their kids walking into the double door on the front.

Yet, Black Sheep clung to my leg, seemingly scare for his life.

"You okay buddy?" I asked him, getting down to the younger child's level.

Black Sheep didn't give an answer.

"You excited?"

Black Sheep shook his head.

"What? Why not?"

"People."

"Oh, crowd is too big huh?"

Black Sheep nodded.

"Don't worry not all of these kids will be in your class. Just a few of them will be."

"What-what if they don't like me?"

"Why would you think that? I like you. Arrow likes you. So, many people like you. I'm sure the people in your class will like you. Sure, maybe not everyone will be you best friend but they'll like you. That's because, you're Black Sheep. You're smart. You're sweet. You're creative. And you're a Barnes. You know what that means?"

He shook his head.

"It means you're stubborn, Loyal to a fault, and will do anything for anyone you care about. And that's a person who is a friend to everyone."

Black Sheep smiled.

A young man called out, and I stood back up taking my little brother's hand, "Alright there's your teacher. You ready?"

"Yep!" He squeaked.

"Alright, go have fun."

I handed Black Sheep off to his teachers. When he was walking into the school the little boy turned back to me, one hand in his teachers, while the other waved good bye to me. I waved back.


A/N:

Yeah, yeah, I know I know it's been way too long, but Here I am! I live! You can thank Black Panther 2 for the Atlantis reference. I'm actually shocked that the MCU included him as Namor is not one of their more popular characters.