Chapter 13: "Why Aren't You Panicking?"

Scott's 'attack' on the general had the guy spitting mad, but of course, when he pointed out something so glaringly obvious, there wasn't a lot that the man could do to argue live, or even privately. Particularly when the president had stepped in to tell him to stand down, according to Rhodey — who was incredibly entertained by the whole thing.

So, they enjoyed a rare couple of weeks where the X-Men weren't getting bad press for simply existing. James had ended up getting the free time to get together with Jan and take a few pictures for her book when his schedule cleared up after the general canceled a consultation that was set to last several days. As usual, he'd spent some time coming up with a few ideas that had turned out very well. She had some thoughts of her own, and James bent over backward to make it happen. But the real magic didn't come into play until they were just at the Tower and she was watching the younger members — and James was sure to catch some seriously thoughtful expressions on her face as she watched over them.

He was in the middle of editing them at the kitchen table when Jayce and Celeste came over and dropped into the chairs on either side of him.

"So, how come you're so calm?" Jayce asked. "Because if I knew the world was ending, I wouldn't be editing fan pictures of the Wasp."

James had to laugh at that. "First of all, Annie burning banana bread isn't a global catastrophe, and secondly, I was actually hired to do these."

"Uncle James," Celeste said, shaking her head with a little smile, "we're not here for any bread burning, come on."

He frowned and turned to look at each of them more carefully, noting that both of them were in full Guardian's uniforms. "Wait. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Umm, the impending explosion that is probably going to engulf the planet?" Jayce said.

"How do you not know about that?" Celeste asked, her eyes wide. "We thought you were just putting on a calm face so no one panicked around here while the big guns plotted how to deal with it."

"Dad's got, like, as many Ravagers and Nova Corps as he can get on standby in case we have to do a planet-wide evac," Jayce said.

James stared back at her for a moment, but didn't' quite react, since he knew they weren't lying about it. "No," he said, shaking his head. "Show me." He pushed back from the computer and headed off with the pair of them, though he changed direction when he heard Peter Quill frantically telling Scott and Logan what was going on.

"You guys can't tell me you didn't know about this," Quill was saying, sounding incredibly stressed. "It's been building up for long enough for me to get my butt here from the other side of the freaking galaxy!"

"We don't globally monitor for that kind of thing," Scott pointed out. "What … what exactly is this? Some kind of attack?"

Quill shook his head. "I don't actually know. I know it's centered in New Mexico — close to a military training base, as I understand it. And it's been growing. I figured you guys would have noticed something relatively close to home that could wipe out all life on Earth!"

James stepped back and pulled out his phone as it started to buzz — texts from Tony that were worded in such a way that it was clear they were only the warning shots before Tony called — and as he read it, the call came through. He didn't even get a greeting out before Tony started up.

"We have the US Military wanting a secured line with the X-Men," Tony said. "We got big problems, guys."

Quill gestured grandly as if that was all he needed to say before Scott turned to James and nodded. "Sounds like we found the problem," he said in a clearly annoyed tone.

"It'd be quicker to set up if we come to you," James told Tony. "Be there in a few. Go ahead and get it going." He hung up and looked over to Scott. "So, if it's that bad …"

Scott nodded. "You said they've got a subatomic mutant," he said. "Do you think this is the worst-case scenario here?"

James nodded. "He thought he had the potential for subatomic explosions," James said. "He wasn't operating on that level, but if that's what the trouble is, then … yeah. He could be going critical, or he might melt down. He doesn't require unstable materials to make his explosions, either. He was throwing off radiation when he was detonating chalk."

Scott scrubbed a hand over his face as he considered it. "Alright," he said at last. "I need you to set up a relay; I'm not sending in anyone who can't take the radiation. The rest of the teams — junior and senior — will be on standby for if we can't contain this. I want at least one ship prepped for space flight. If we have to, we'll get him off-planet."

James nodded at that. "Right. In the meantime, you're going to need to go with me to SI. That's the quickest route to a secured line. If we do it here, they'll make you jump through protocols just to do it."

"Got it," Scott said, already at his comm. "Logan, if you can get K, Elin, Chance… Noh and Sying as well."

"Not Noh and Sying," James said, shaking his head. "He's throwing large levels of gamma too. That'll fry their nanites."

Scott let out a breath but nodded his understanding and relayed that to Logan. "Alright. Then it'll be you five that can go in," he said. "Do you think the radiation will put the Shanghai on the fritz if we have to send him to space?"

"As long as you stay out of the direct blast, it'd be fine," James said.

"Alright. I'll let Chance know he's pilot. You know this guy the best, so I need you guiding your parents on how this is going to go."

James nodded. "You don't know what they want yet," he pointed out as they headed to the lab, and as he watched Scott, he fired up the portal.

"James, the Guardians of the Galaxy are ready to do a planetary evacuation. If they're not calling about containment, then we're going in anyway," Scott said.

He tipped his head at that. "I'm just saying: knowing this guy, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a play to see if we have tech to disable mutants over a large area. Depending on what exactly is happening."

Scott didn't say anything, but he was clearly chewing over that thought as he took his first trip through the portal into James' other lab. The two of them headed down to the conference room, where the general and half a dozen others were on the big screen, clearly in crisis mode.

Tony turned toward James with a look that portrayed exactly how serious this was — and there wasn't a bit of 'told you so' that normally would have been there as he caught the two of them up. "The general here wants to know if you have an inhibitor collar or something of the sort that might stop his man from overloading."

James frowned but held up a hand toward Scott before he could react to it. "First of all: no," James said, turning toward the camera for the general. "And second of all: if I did, it wouldn't work on a guy that throws off EMP's like confetti. It doesn't work that way."

"Then what about some kind of portable — we need a way to contain him," the general said — and for once, he honestly looked like he was trying to work toward a solution.

James was looking over the readings with Tony and already shaking his head. "How the hell would you deliver it if we did? Anything you fly near this guy isn't going to make it in and out without killing your pilot. If you could even fly close enough."

"How long has this been building?" Scott asked. "And how close is he to going critical? If we're looking at a situation this bad, a timeline would be helpful."

The general let out a breath as he clearly focused on Scott. "He started having more potent flares ten days ago."

"He's already critical," James said. "That's why they can't get him to stop. He can't stop the reaction."

Scott nodded very slowly and didn't take his gaze off the general. "The time to call us was ten days ago, at the very latest," he said. "You need to have someone on location who knows how to teach these men to harness their powers." Before the general could say anything, Scott held up a hand. "It's neither here nor there right now, but General? I don't like the options I'm looking at here for your man, and I know you don't either, especially when this was preventable."

The general bristled. "We thought we were getting the training we needed. This was an unexpected turn. Now, we're just looking for a way to keep this from spiraling any further."

James was at the computer with Tony, and the two of them were talking fast and low, comparing notes as the newest stuff came in. "Don't try to just drop a bomb on him," James said suddenly. "He's still alive, or it would have been hotter than this. You don't know what's going to happen to those materials once he lets go."

"I'm going to send in my team," Scott told the general. "I have team members who can take the heat — at least long enough to get there. And if we can't contain him, we can at least get him off-planet or, worst case, stop him."

"This isn't your-"

"General, I have the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy knocking on my door ready with a planetary evacuation plan. This stopped falling under your jurisdiction a long time ago and is now a global crisis. I'm sending in my team."

James was clearly working things through in his head, and he looked up at Tony and grabbed his arm. "I need your hands," he said, leaving Scott to handle things as he and Tony rushed to the lab.

He was working fast by the time Scott caught up to the two of them — and Tony was rushing along with him as they tried to pull together a collar that could be shielded. "If this works — if," James told him when he stopped to watch, "it'd only work for a few minutes. But it might be enough to stop things."

"Or … it won't," Tony said, frustrated with his compressed timeline and what little he could do to stop things.

"I'm going with Mom and Dad," James told him — just in case Tony hadn't caught the insinuation Scott had dropped. "I'll do what I can to get it to work right. You need to get Pepper and the others and load up with the rest of the family."

"Hey, wait, I'm in this too," Tony said.

"Yeah, and if you want to live through it, you'll go," James pointed out. "You saw the numbers and how fast it's rising. There's not enough time to argue it."

"And you and Steve need to coordinate with Chloe and Annie. Chloe is the junior squad head, and she'll handle the team, but Annie will make sure the families are all accounted for," Scott told Tony, announcing his entrance and looking like he was nursing the headache that he only had to deal with when politicians were in play. "That's the priority — that and making sure that there are plans in place for the broader civilian population as well, without causing a mass panic." He smirked at Tony. "See? I leave the hardest jobs for you."

"And in this scenario, what are you doing, Cyclops?" Tony asked.

"Getting out," James said. "We won't have comms once we get close, so there's no reason to stick around."

"I'm going to stay in touch with the military leadership here and make sure they don't decide it's easier to bomb you guys if they decide you're taking too long," Scott argued.

"You going with Rhodes?" Tony asked, crossing the lab to get a little device. He fiddled with it for a moment before he handed it to Scott. "This will get you out — and into orbit if you need it."

Scott's eyebrows shot up before he nodded once. "Thanks."

"Don't' get excited," James teased as he gestured for Tony to close up the collar. "We use them every time we see the general. Just in case."

"Smart," Scott said, sparing Tony the smallest smirk before he nodded to James. "Alright. You know this guy the best; you're in charge of this operation."

James grabbed the collar and headed for the portal. "Dad knows what this mess is, right?"

Scott nodded. "And James… make sure they know: if one of them wants to stay behind with the kids, that's an option."

James gave him a dry look. "You really think they're going to let anyone else back them up?"

"James, I never do, but I have to put it out there," Scott said. "I'm not going to ask anyone on my team to take on a mission like this and risk leaving their kids without their parents without that option. You know that's a possibility with this."

"I'll ask, but you know they'd knock the crap out of anyone that tried to step in," he pointed out.

"Ask anyway," Scott said with a nod and a sigh that said exactly how much he didn't expect Logan or K to go for it.

James nodded, then gave them both a little smirk that was clearly just to do it. "Good luck." He didn't give them the chance to reply before he stepped through — and then broke into a run with the collars in one hand as he headed off to change.

It didn't take any time at all for the rest of the small team to gather — especially when they heard what the problem was and how compressed the timeline was. The Howletts met Chance at the Shanghai, where the hangar was already pretty busy, with Chloe directing traffic on getting everyone still at the school for the summer to safety.

James had his parents pulled to the side, where they were discussing the big plan, as Elin gathered up medical supplies that she knew would be needed if they could get through the mess, and Chance was going over final preflight — when Peter Quill came up to watch him with his arms crossed.

"How's your shielding on that thing?" Quill asked.

"Pretty darn good," Chance said, patting the hull affectionately.

"Has she been near an exploding star?" he asked. "Because that's kind of an important threshold to know."

Chance frowned. "Well, no…"

Quill shook his head and then turned to shout at Logan and K "Hey! You're taking my car!" He didn't look Chance's way before he tossed the keys to the ship at him. "Don't scratch it."

Chance looked surprised for a moment before he shot Quill a crooked grin. "Oh ye of little faith," he said, rushing off to go get the MIlano prepped.

"Hey, I heard about your pirate-ness," Quill shouted back. "Drive it like you stole it isn't what's going on here."

"That just means you might not get it back — not that I'll scratch it! I'm a pilot!" Chance called over his shoulder.

Quill shook his head and started directing people into the Shanghai to evacuate the mansion at least and then pointed the ferals toward the Milano when they came looking for their ride. "Better ship all around, really. And it'll hold up against your mess. Might not be useable for anyone else for a long time, but … it'll hold together anyhow."

Logan nodded at that and turned to change course. "Good luck with the kids," he called back.

But that just had Quill pausing before he rushed to catch up to the ferals and grabbed both Logan and K by the arms to pull them into a multi-person hug. "Don't. Die," he told them seriously.

"We try to live by that rule," K pointed out, though both of them took a moment to return the hug. "It's kind of high priority."

"Good, because I think you need to be around for my kids too," Quill said. "You know, when Jayce figures out how to buy a ring."

"Yeah… good luck with that," Logan said. "We'll be done before you know it."

"Yeah, work fast," Quill said before he quickly rushed off before he could look any more worried.

There were a few more hugs like that from several of those in the know, but it really just served to get the five of them moving faster. Before long, James was patching in Rhodey's channel so he could hear what was going on from them — to get the latest numbers and then tap into the satellites that had cameras on them to see if he could get some eyes on the Marine in trouble before they got closer.

And while they were circling out to find the Marine's precise location, Peter Quill was simply standing at the foot of the stairs that led into the Shanghai, making note of who was headed into what ship. And while Noh and Sying both had their ships loaded up with students and their own families, Kurt and Kate had to stop when they saw Quill there. At the wrong ship.

"I know you like the pretty ship, but yours is the old one over thataway," Kate teased as she pulled Chelsea and her favorite doll along.

"Nope," Quill said. "This one is mine today." He did his best to hide the panicked look on his face as he tried to tease. "I went and shanghai'd the ship of a space pirate. Arg."

"It's 'yarg'," Chelsea corrected him with a little giggle. "You gotta do it right!"

"Sorry. Accent," Quill said. "It's Arg in space."

"Oh, okay," Chelsea said, patting him on the arm. "That's okay. You'll get it."

Kate had to smirk at the look on her little girl's face as she ushered Chelsea in, though she looked at Quill with a pointed raised eyebrow. "Any reason for the change?"

"Yep. My ship is being used elsewhere."

"By whom?" Kurt asked.

"Ah … the … team that is going to fix this problem."

"You know you're really horrible at not answering questions, right?" Kate said with an obviously amused little smile.

"I can tell you about it once we're past the moon's orbit."

"Uncle Peter is a secret keeper," Kate sang to Chelsea, who giggled delightedly.

"I was sworn to secrecy," Peter told her, though the strained look hadn't ebbed in the least.

Kate frowned at him for a moment before she decided he needed a hug more than he needed teasing and threw her arms around his neck. "Hey, it's going to be fine," she said.

She wasn't expecting him to hold on quite so tight for the hug, though. "Yeah, sure," Peter said. "Absolutely. Just … let's move a little faster, huh?"

Kate blinked in surprise before she made sure to hug him tighter for just a second — and then tell the bamfs to help speed things along and report back so that Peter didn't worry himself into an ulcer.

And in short order, they were up and out, with Peter leading the charge and Noh following the group out to where the Nova Corps and the Ravagers had decided to be a safe zone for the time being — though it didn't slip by the X-Men's notice exactly how many ships were holding position around the planet. "So, I'm pretty sure we're far enough out now," Peter said to himself before he reached over to the comm and reported back. "The mansion is evacuated and to the safe zone," Peter said and let out a breath when Scott replied with his thanks.

"So, are you going to tell us what's going on…?" Kate asked with a frown.

Peter let his breath out in a woosh and ran a hand through his hair. "Sure … it turns out that there is a mutant losing control of his abilities — which happen to include subatomic detonation. He's been flaring long enough to draw our attention, and if they don't stop him fast … you can say goodbye to Earth." He looked up at them with a forced smile. "Surprise."

Kate stared at him in obvious shock, and Kurt wasn't far behind her with his tail still behind him. "Oh. Is that all," Kate said.

"Who's 'they'?" Kari asked from behind her mom, though the look on her face said that she had a pretty good idea.

Peter made a face. "There's a very short list of who can live through that level of radiation."

Kurt swore in German under his breath. "Of course," he muttered, his tail starting to move again — this time in irritation. "Is there any way we can know what they're up to?"

"They didn't exactly have time to talk about it," Peter pointed out. "But James had promised to patch in to a channel we can listen in on."

"Good," Kari said, quickly sliding past Peter and looking suddenly more strained than before. "Show me where."

"Probably the communications panel," he said, tipping his head toward the handful of monitors and comms.

That was where Kari found not only the channel but the feed that James was patching in: the satellite view of the flares that were obviously getting worryingly worse. She put a hand over her mouth and sat down, staring at the feed, and the rest of the group gathered around her. They were all worried, of course. But all they could do was wait.