Chapter 2: "Surprise Attack"

The heroes headed back to Earth had to take several different ships just because of the size of the group. Plus, Peter Quill wanted to show off the Milano II to not only Chance and Scott — who would appreciate the ship as fellow pilots — but to his in-laws. Besides that, he also just wanted to spend more time with Logan and K. After recently being terrified to lose them, he was clearly keen to keep them close.

K had been sure to give him a kiss on the cheek for his nickel tour, and Logan looked to be more interested than Quill had expected him to be — at least at some of the details on the engines. But then, the two of them took John and Kurt and headed off to crash with the little ones, leaving Peter with the rest of the Howlett and Summers group.

"So," Peter said, raising his eyebrows as he tipped his head toward where the two of them had disappeared and dropped into a seat by Sadie. "How are they? Really?"

"Who? Mom and Dad?" Sadie asked, peeking down the corridor. "They're alright."

"Yeah, but what does that mean?" Peter asked. "I mean, 'alright' can mean 'not alright,' and we both know it."

She moved closer to him and gave him a hug. "That means that they're healed up, rested up, in fine fighting and picking form — and other than that, maybe a little quieter, but they're okay."

Peter nodded slowly and let out a sigh. "How 'bout you? I know I was a mess worried about 'em. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you."

"Oh yeah; I was worried sick," she agreed. "Them and James too? Come on. It took them nearly two weeks to bounce back. That's … insane."

Peter nodded seriously. "Yeah. Let's never do that again. For all of our sanity's sakes, huh?" He gave her a hug and then cleared his throat. "Okay, but how are things with you and Howard and Maria? I heard from Celeste you've been dancing again, and I totally feel like a crummy brother not coming to a show yet."

"We're good," she swore before she took her phone out of her pocket and handed it over to him to let him see the newest pictures. "She likes to watch me when I practice."

Peter grinned over the pictures of the tiny ballerina. "Oh yeah. She's amazing," he said, then reached over to ruffle her hair. "Reminds me of you, squirt," he teased.

"She's a sweetheart," she said. "Probably more like Howard."

"Yeah, Nina's a lot like her mom. At least yours looks like you," he teased.

"Well, for now," she said. "We'll see what happens I wouldn't be surprised if she changes entirely." She bumped him with her hip. "Nice ship, by the way. Any reason for the upgrade?"

"Well, the Milano was pretty much unsalvageable after she ran into danger…"

"Just after the thing? Not before?" she had to tease.

He gave her a look for that one. "Hey, come on. That ship had a lot of character!"

"That's a really nice way to say 'old'."

"Don't know if you noticed, sister dear, but based on music alone… that ship was me to a tee."

"Then it's a good thing that you have my family to bring you into the new century — which has to burn when mom and dad are as old as they are and still further ahead on things." She gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "Remember, it's in my job description to tease."

He laughed and pulled her into a hug. "I'm not complaining. I'm loving having a big family, you know."

"Well, good," Sadie said. "Because it's too late to change your mind on that, you know."

"Yeah, sorry about your luck," he teased her. "Stuck with a lord for a brother."

"Oh, we're a little beyond that," she laughed, snuggling in. "You want to snuggle Maria when she wakes up? Howard is in cuddle mode, but …"

"But he gets to see her all the time. My turn," Peter said decisively.

"And in the meantime, I'm sure James won't let the Summerses do anything terrible to your shiny new ship."

"Oh good, because that's a real concern," he chuckled before he pulled her into a hug. "Missed you, Sadie."

"Missed you too," she said, sure to give him the bear hug he was looking for. "Try stopping in before the world is ending, huh?"

"Novel," he teased. "But I'll try it."


For as much fun as the trip to Hala had been, most of the people on the Marvel were ready to be home. The new semester was about to start, and Sying and Krissy's family in particular always loved the fall because of all the birthdays and the wedding anniversary.

And Ariel kept insisting that she had to get home so she and Lily could have Sugar Bombs, because Lily hadn't liked the food on Hala.

The Marvel was responding exceedingly well to Noh, too, with the good mood running through the ship. They had outstripped the other ships on their way to Earth by a good pace simply because the Marvel was showing off — something she seemed to do more and more as she got older. Not that anyone on board was complaining, especially since Phillip seemed to have decided he was done with space travel and had started to get a little fussy.

"Okay, sweetheart, settle down," Krissy said, shaking her head at the fluffball in her arms as he squirmed and glared and generally showed his displeasure at still being anywhere that wasn't home.

Jubilee slipped over to where Krissy was to help out with the squirmy little guy, projecting to him to promise that they were going home soon, so he could stop giving his mom a hard time.

"You are totally just like your grandma," Jubilee laughed when Phillip gave her an unimpressed kind of look at her promises — since, clearly, they weren't home yet.

Ariel giggled as she looked over Jubilee's shoulder. "He's a silly brother."

"Yes, he is," Jubilee agreed, smoothing Ariel's hair.

"Most brothers are silly," Sying said, shooting a smirk Ael's way just to get his brother to pull a face at him.

"Older brothers, maybe," Ael said with an imperious look that was so much like Noh that Jubilee had to laugh. "I'm never silly."

"Sure, Ael, whatever you say," Sying laughed, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to Ariel and Phillip.

Ariel giggled as she tugged on Jubilee's arm to get her to play with her. "Uncle Ael is being weird again," she whispered to Jubilee.

"He's just like that," Jubilee laughed, crouching down to play with Ariel.

But the good mood in the Marvel evaporated in an instant when, out of nowhere, an explosion knocked them all nearly off their feet, and the ship went dark except for the emergency lights as the Marvel struggled to stay together.

A second hit sent them into a tailspin, straight for the ground, and by the time any of them were able to process what was happening, Ariel had started screaming in terror — which set Phillip off as well.

By the time the Marvel crashed, the X-Men inside it had acted fast to wrap up the smallest members of the group and shield them from the impact, though they still hit hard, and the Marvel was half buried into the ground. Phillip and Ariel were terrified, and Krissy and Jubilee were the closest, soothing them and trying to determine if either of them were hurt or if they were just scared. Ariel had a tight hold on Jubilee's shoulders, since she had been closest, and she was all but buried in her grandmother's chest, sobbing while Krissy barely held back her tears of relief on seeing that Phillip was okay, just scared.

What happened? Krissy projected to Jubilee, not wanting to say anything out loud when they had two terrified kids on their hands.

But Jubilee just shook her head over the top of Ariel's head. I don't know, but whoever it is is asking to get their butts handed to them.

Krissy nodded, tucking Phillip closer to her chest, though she didn't get to get to her feet for long at all before something else shuddered through the wreck of the ship, and she glanced toward Jubilee with wide eyes at the sound of metal being peeled back. Someone was cutting into the Marvel.

The rest of their family was further into the ship. Noh and Sying both were completely prepared to fight off whoever these people were, but to their surprise and dismay, when Noh went to push back a buckled portion of the ship, he couldn't access his strength.

"Dampener," Noh said in almost a hiss that had both of his sons narrowing their eyes.

All three of them were poised for a fight when the soldiers, all of them with their faces covered, broke through the ship with guns raised, shouting their instructions for all three Kree to freeze — not that any of them were going to listen to that. Sying and Noh both burst forward to take on the nearest soldiers, and even Ael had some training to draw on.

But the fact of the matter was that the soldiers had sheer numbers on their sides, and even with how well-trained the three Kree were, it wasn't long before Ael and then Sying and Noh found themselves heavily restrained. The soldiers made sure that all three of them were secure and tied tight before they collared all three of them and started to drag them off.

And that was the state of affairs when Jubilee and Krissy managed to get to that side of the ship to check on their boys.

"Dad!" Ariel shouted, her eyes wide when she saw Sying being manhandled. She started to run forward, but Krissy caught her. Instead, Jubilee rushed forward to let the soldiers have it while Krissy shielded the little ones.

"Get your paws off my boys, you creeps," Jubilee all but snarled out in a very good impression of her mentor. She didn't need her powers to make life miserable for these soldiers, and she rushed toward the ones holding Ael in particular — since that was her baby boy — breaking the nose of one of the soldiers before they could even react to her presence.

Ael managed to wriggle away from the other soldier and slammed his foot into his shin, though the victory was short-lived when gunshots rang out and they all froze when Ariel started screaming in terror, staring down the barrel of a gun as a few of the soldiers tried to manhandle her to get Jubilee's attention to get her to stand down.

"Cowardly, slimy, no-good chickens," Jubilee hissed, though she stopped flinging plasmoids all the same.

"Stand down," the soldier holding Ariel's arm snapped.

"What does it look like I'm doing, numbnuts!"

The soldier glared at her and then gestured for her to stand by Krissy, who was standing almost completely still, her eyes wide and her tail frozen behind her with her gaze on Ariel, feeling absolutely rotten for letting Ariel get out of her grip. She'd only let go of her for a second to readjust her hold on Phillip, and then, when she'd gone to grab her again, a soldier had her.

"Good girl," the soldier holding Ariel said, directing the others to move the boys out — and the boys were too shocked and worried about Ariel to fight back.

Jubilee glared the guy holding Ariel down, refusing to blink as she made a point to memorize every feature on the guy's face. "Keep cool, Kris," Jubilee said in a smooth tone, quiet and low. "I know just what to do … we just … gotta wait a minute."

"Mom…" Krissy said quietly, her gaze on her little girl.

"We're cooperating for now … it's the after that I know what to do."

Krissy nodded, her eyes still wide as the soldiers all filed out of the Marvel, and the soldier holding Ariel headed toward the exit as well. He kept Ariel close, even as she squirmed with every step, and both Krissy and Jubilee were locked onto him as he headed for the helicopter, finally leaving the little girl behind once he was on board.

Ariel took off running for her mom, obviously terrified and all but melting into Krissy's arms as soon as Krissy caught her, muttering a quiet, "I've got you, baby."

"As soon as you can port … go get Logan. Don't take her with," Jubilee said.

"Are they even back home yet?" Krissy asked over Ariel's head, her eyes wide. "I can't 'port to space…"

"We'll call and find out, but that's the best way to give. him. the scent."

Krissy's eyes widened with her understanding, and she nodded quickly. Her hands were still shaking as she kissed Ariel's head and face over and over again to get her to calm down while Jubilee called up the Milano II to let them know that they needed to come to the Marvel's position.

As soon as Krissy saw the ship, she let her shoulders drop and simply teleported to get Logan and bring him to Jubilee and her kids, not willing to wait even the few minutes for the ship to land. And as soon as he was on the ground, Jubilee handed him Ariel. Logan frowned when he caught the unfamiliar scent and then he looked over Ariel's shoulder at Jubilee, who was furious all over again.

"Drop your defenses so I can show you," Jubilee said, then projected the image of the guy, complete with how he was threatening Ariel.

A low growl slipped out that definitely did not sound like the playful ones that the little elfling was used to. But that only had Jubilee shifting her weight from one foot to the other and nodding, ready to go and tear into someone.

Ariel picked her head up to look at Logan for a moment and then all but buried her face in his neck. "That was really scary," she said in a whisper, clutching onto him.

"I'll fix it," Logan promised.

"You gonna get my daddy back?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Logan said, nodding. "Think you can go with your Mom and Jubes? Everyone's on the Milano II. Pretty sure the other kids will want to snuggle you while we go find these idiots."

Ariel picked her head up to frown at him for a moment. "Okay," she said slowly.

"Wolvie's the very best seeker in hide and seek," Jubilee promised. "There's no way they can hide."

"Even if they're really really good at hiding?" Ariel asked, her eyes wide.

"No one's that good at hiding," Logan said. "Except maybe K."

Ariel smiled at that. "Grammy K is good at everything," she said, nodding seriously.

Logan turned toward Krissy and started to head for the Milano II with Ariel still snuggled in, and when he got up to the ship, he looked over to Peter and James. "Think you two can look into some satellite history?"

"For sure," Peter promised quickly, already pulling up what he needed on the Milano II.

James fell into step with him, and between the two of them, it was just a matter of time before they were into some of the more questionable satellite feeds. "Some of these didn't even bother to change the codes. Laziness," James grumbled, which really just got a smirk out of Quill as they got into it.

When Howard joined them a little bit later, it was no time at all before they'd found the history they needed — complete with the trajectory of the Marvel as it fell from the sky and the blacked-out helicopters that came in just behind them.

Howard frowned when he saw the choppers. "Yeah, I can tell you about ten countries off the top of my head that use those, and you're not gonna like them," he said. "And get this — that model's a favorite in terror groups. Fun."

"Kid, the nice ones don't try to tick me off," Logan told him.

Howard nodded quickly. "Yeah. Obviously. Sorry. Thinking out loud."

"You're fine," Logan said. "Just narrow it down so me an' the missus can go crack open a few skulls."

Howard nodded, tapping the screen wordlessly so that James knew where to zoom in, before he let out a little 'ha'. "You're gonna want to look in Turkey," he said. "The government likes to use these turrets."

Logan put a hand on Howard's shoulder and gave him a little squeeze. "You're wrong, kid. I am gonna like this one."

Howard picked his head up with both eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Little bird told me that these jokers have been askin' for a visit for a while," Logan told him just before K couldn't help but start to whistle wordlessly.

Howard looked between the two of them with a frown, though it was Chance who clued him in with a whispered explanation: "They're one of those holdouts on the whole weapons programs thing."

Howard made a face. "Oh, that's great," he said, shaking his head before he leaned back. "They don't exactly like aliens, either. Last time I was in the area for a business conference, Dad was adamant that we couldn't say anything about some of our inventions coming from ideas from tech we stole in the invasion. They don't officially recognize visitors from the stars."

"Oh, that's just … the dumbest thing I've ever heard," K said with a low chuckle. "They just kidnapped the emperor's father-in-law? That's just … lovely."

"Yeah, it's like they're asking for war," Chance said, rolling his eyes.

"Well …" K shrugged and turned to change into something a little more form-fitting. "Just gotta ask, right?"

"Pretty sure if we told Melody that someone came after her niece, she'd handle the war declaration herself," Quill said.

"She's honeymooning, leave her alone," K said. "I think we can handle this … keep it in the family."

"Good idea," Quill agreed. "Need a lift?"

"Would you mind?" K said before she gave him a little kiss. "Just get us to Westchester so the kids can snuggle up with Annie and watch movies, then we'll figure the rest out."

Quill nodded. "Whatever you need, Mom," he promised, already moving to get going — and fast.