Chapter 5 - "What Are Your Intentions With My Stepson?" or "What Are My Stepson's Intentions With YOU?"


Charlie was at it again trying to help the people she loved, and so, the morning after the Marvel had been attacked, she reached out to Chance and Krissy to arrange a group outing with them and their significant others. The grandparents were more than happy to watch the kids for them, and, Charlie argued, they needed to blow off some steam after something like that.

And even though everyone could see through the transparent ploy to find a way to help, Sying still did want to get out, so they all agreed to it.

Which was how all six of them ended up at the local ice skating rink. It was exactly right for Sying in particular, because it meant he got to just skate around holding Krissy's hand and listening to music. No pressure, no one trying to make him talk about it, just a good, old-fashioned date night.

Exactly what the empath ordered.

So, Charlie was feeling pretty good about herself — right up until she skated past a couple that looked for all intents and purposes as if they were on a date, but their emotional songs didn't match up with that at all.

She narrowed her eyes and did another loop, but when she passed them again, she realized she knew exactly what it was. She'd felt the same malicious intent when she'd been trying to keep Gerry safe and when she was younger and had picked up on those people who fixated on Krissy's grandfather. These were people on a mission to do harm, and she couldn't ignore that. Not after everything her loved ones had been through lately.

She let go of Gerry's hand to quickly skate over to Elin, her eyes wide. "See that couple over there?" she whispered, trying not to draw too much attention as she nodded in the couple's direction.

Elin followed her gaze and nodded so slightly that Charlie was the only one to see it. "Noted."

"It's a special kind of malicious excitement that usually goes along with an attempted snatch," Charlie continued at a low whisper. "And the music picks up every time you skate past. You and Chance."

Elin nodded again, scanning the rink. There were families with kids there, so the last thing she wanted to do was start anything. At least not on the ice. So when Chance came back from grabbing some water to join her, she squeezed his hand and told him low: "We're going."

Chance instantly recognized her tone and straightened up, looking for whatever he'd missed. "Got it," he said, letting her lead the way.

Once Charlie saw that Chance and Elin were on the way out, she fell back and let Gerry catch up to her. He had his game face on, but he put his arm around her waist and pulled her into a kiss all the same.

"You're cute when you're like this, Lottie," he told her when the kiss broke.

"When I'm like what? Trying to keep weapons programs from grabbing my brother and wiping his mind again?"

"That exactly."

Charlie shook her head at him. "Stop flirting; I'm trying to keep track of the bad guys."

"What, you can't multitask?" Gerry asked, even as his powers made the lights look like the power was flickering, which prompted the rink to make the announcement that everyone needed to clear off the ice while they investigated what was going on.

"Something going on?" Krissy asked before the smoke of her teleport had cleared as she and Sying appeared outside the rink at the same time Gerry and Charlie got off the ice.

"Could be," Gerry said.

"Trying not to let it happen, more like," Charlie said, tipping her head toward the couple she'd seen before, who were exiting on the opposite end and were glaring toward them, so they clearly knew they'd been spotted.

Sying narrowed his eyes when he saw the weapons the couple were carrying. "They've got those dampener tags."

"Great. And they were trying not to make a scene, so they're probably not a strong enough program for a big confrontation," Gerry said.

"Trying to get bigger nailing one of us," Krissy said, her tail twitching; she didn't handle weapons programs well either, not after how Australia had handled her.

"Good thing we've got our 'bad intentions' alert," Gerry said, knocking Charlie's shoulder with his own.

She shook her head at him, but she didn't relax until they were all in the car and on their way home. Then and only then did she lean back against the seat and run a hand down her face.

"Hey," Chance said when he saw how stressed his sister was, "it was a great date night anyway, huh? People are gonna be evil everywhere."

"Chance…" She shook her head at him. She knew better than anyone that she couldn't break him of his habit of trying to cheer her up by being ridiculous. So, instead, she simply smiled at him. "Love you too."


Scott had intended to go to the War Room to look into the group that had come after the Marvel, but he was surprised when he arrived to see that he wasn't the only one with that idea — and that Jana was there pouring over intel with one hand in her shock blue hair as she read.

Of course, when he thought about it, he really shouldn't have been surprised. Before she had been taken over by Sinister, Jana had expressed a real interest in learning to lead the team, and she'd been at the top of his classes when it came to strategy. It had been something for her to focus on when her powers weren't geared for fighting. Now, it looked like she was rekindling that interest.

She looked up for just a moment when he came in and then smiled lightly. "I figured you would be busy with Noh's crisis, so I stepped in to get started," she explained, gesturing to the two laptops she had up in front of her. "If you want to take over…"

He shook his head with a proud sort of smile. "No, no," he said. "I could always use an extra set of eyes."

Jana smiled a little wider at that and then gestured to her notes. "Then you should know these guys aren't an isolated group. They're not the only country interested in … well, the best way to explain it is that they're looking to get their hands on healing powers ever since the Howletts walked into a nuke, but they don't want to go through the trouble of tracking down a healer who isn't, you know, an X-Man…"

Scott frowned at that. "That's… a little different than what we're used to seeing," he said as he leaned over to look over her notes a little closer, his eyebrows knit together.

Jana nodded and scooted over so he could see what she was looking at. "It's not that different," she pointed out. "It's the same thing programs the world over have been doing for ages; they want to copy the success of Captain America or Wolverine… but honestly, programs like Department H? Killed off so many healers." She rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously. "It… um… it was something that Sinister would get frustrated about. The… the fact that the programs were interfering with the natural course of mutant progression and more or less killing off an entire branch of evolution."

Scott's frown deepened as he watched Jana for a moment. He knew that she hardly ever brought up anything that had happened while she was playing host to Sinister, and he never pushed, but he also couldn't help but be glad that she was progressing to the point that she could talk about him.

Jana cleared her throat again and seemed to straighten up a bit. "Right… so… the point is, the whole world saw what our healing friends are capable of, and they want that kind of power. But … they know better than to try to steal Logan or K … well, most of them do, anyway. At this point." She smiled a bit to herself, shook her head, and then nodded. "Anyway, they know that Noh and Sying heal. I guess they didn't know that Ael isn't enhanced… But they're interested in the nanites, the artificial healing. And I wouldn't be surprised if we see more interest in Wade and Chance, seeing as, well, they weren't born healers."

Scott nodded. "That explains why they were taking Noh apart, at least."

"Yeah, they don't really know how the nanites and the healing work," Jana said. She glanced up at Scott with a serious frown. "But that doesn't mean that someone who does have an idea isn't going to get a hold of one of them and cause problems for us." She gestured with one hand. "Even a blood sample in the wrong hands…."

"I'll make sure Sying and Noh are aware — and let Ael know to watch his back, too."

Scott watched her for a moment before he put a hand on her shoulder. "I can take over this side of things — but I know for a fact that K will have information that's not available to you here," he said, gesturing to her research. "If you bring her what you have, I'm sure she'll be able to piece together a few places we can move on."

Jana blinked at him for a moment and then broke into a smile and nodded. "I'll do that," she promised, gathering up a few of her notes before she headed down to K's office, close by the dance room — where K was just coming back from setting some things up for when the semester started and a new crop of dance students hit the school.

"Hey, can I borrow you?" Jana asked when she saw K.

"What for?" K asked, just pushing mats across the room so that they could try something new when the regulars came in feeling too full of themselves.

"I'm working on looking into that group that came after Noh — and the others like them," Jana explained. "It wasn't isolated, you know."

"No, it wasn't," K agreed before she drew in a breath and turned to watch her. "How many have you found?"

"About half a dozen countries, and at least twice that many when you look at the militarized groups and extremists and stuff," Jana admitted.

She smirked. "You're just getting started then," she said with a little shake of her head.

Jana frowned hard when she heard it. "Can we compare notes?"

"Seventy-eight that want to use mutants or mutates in some capacity or another — either willingly or not. About thirty of those want to weaponize people generally — as much as they can be weaponized," K said off the top of her head.

Jana's frown deepened, but she was nodding along to everything K said. "I was looking at the group that grabbed the Kree boys in particular… and the fact that people are looking at ways to get healers without getting healers."

"They've been trying to do that for decades," K pointed out. "There are almost two dozen that are still working on formulations that would give them a healer or a Captain America. They all have several factions; a third of all the groups are tied in one way or another …" She shrugged. "It's very … interactive."

Jana nodded. "Well, would you be willing to help me? Show me what it is you have?" She gestured to her own notes and laptop. "I want to be able to look into this."

K paused at that and slowly walked over. "I can see what you're looking for and fill you in on who you're missing," K said. "But for what I'm digging into, I'd rather keep my circle where it is."

Jana nodded. "I just… don't want someone to end up like me," she admitted in a breath.

"We're watching it," K promised. "And anyone that has been digging into outright augmentation … well. They're not anymore."

Jana looked honestly relieved to hear it. "Good," she said. She bit her lip and tipped her head K's way. "This… is kind of personal for me."

"Kinda personal for me too," K pointed out.

"Probably why Scott sent me your way," Jana said with a little smile.

"I've been taking down these programs for decades," K said. "Keeping them where they belong."

"Nonexistent?" Jana said with a smirk.

"That is where they belong," K replied brightly. "But I've been taking down people trying to undo the X gene too. Or those that have developed drugs to enhance it — though that's a little harder to squish when Viper already had it saturated and any idiot with a chemistry set can make some."

"Yeah, I doubt that's going to stop," Jana said with a sigh. "I went on a mission just last week with Leslie Ann to bust up another boost distributor… that's just almost par for the course at this point."

"They all used to say the same thing about the weapons programs," K pointed out. "And they're all fading, one by one." She smirked. "And I would take particular pleasure in erasing anything that ever carried Viper's fingerprints."

Jana couldn't help but let out a breath of a laugh at that. "That's how I feel about this kind of experimentation. I want it gone."

"You're not the only one, but no reason for you to focus your efforts on what's already been done," K said before she gestured for Jana to show her what she had. "I'll give you what you probably couldn't find on these, and then, I'll give you a flash drive with everyone you're missing in the same business."

Jana nodded. "Thank you, really," she said, breaking into an honest smile K's way.

"It'd save me some trouble, honestly," K replied. "If I can keep my guys focused on the more direct problems, then it'd free their time up."

"Hey, I'm more than happy to help," Jana said. "And I think I really needed a project. Something to focus on. I used to have this laser focus when I was gonna lead the junior squad, but this gives me something that's mine again."

K started looking through what Jana had, shaking her head lightly. "Well, looks like you and I are going to have to spend a little time on your spy work," K said almost distractedly. "If you want into this kind of thing, you're going to need to know how to get in and where to look beyond what they're too stupid to hide." She kept looking through it for a moment with her eyes narrowed. "How are your Thursday afternoons?"

Jana broke into a delighted grin. "I'll be there. Just tell me where you want me," she said, sounding more excited than K had heard from her in a while.

"Logan has a dedicated secured line in his office," K said. "No one will bother us, and he keeps me supplied in coffee."

"All the important things, then," Jana said with a smirk.

"Mmhmm," K agreed. "Good-looking guy to make me coffee, quiet … yes. Check and check. He even helps from time to time."

Jana's smirk seemed even wider as she nodded. "Yes, I know the type."

K smirked and turned her way. "Yeah … about that …" She bit her tongue and drew in a quick breath just to hold it. "What's the story there?"

Jana couldn't help but smile as she shrugged up both shoulders. "What can I tell you? I like him."

"Obviously," K said. "I'm kind of enjoying this, honestly. I don't have to tell you to watch out, since I'm pretty sure that you can deal with him if he gets to be a pain. And I know I don't need to tell you how scared he is."

"He's … actually, he's a good listener. Which seems to surprise just about everyone asking me why I'm with him."

"I know," K assured her. "I don't mind him. It took a lot of time, but I think we do alright. I don't know how serious you want to be? But if he panics and turns into a giant pain in the butt, he's just being a little scaredy cat that's afraid you're going to ditch him first. Heads up."

"That's actually really good to know," Jana said, nodding thoughtfully.

K shrugged. "I've seen him do it a few times. Things get serious, he panics and pushes the people he wants near him the most away. If you decide you want to deal with his particular brand of superiority complex-daddy issues crazy … just don't listen to him."

Jana nodded. "Believe me, I think this whole thing started because he's so much fun to pick on with that complex. I don't think I'm going to stop anytime soon."

"Which complex?" K laughed. "The daddy issues, the superiority thing — which is a BLAST next to the inferiority thing — or the abandonment issues?"

Jana laughed. "Yes. All of that," she said. "You should have seen him the first time I got a tattoo and I told him he was like his father."

"That is no way to make friends," K chuckled.

"I'm a very good kisser; it evens out," Jana said with a wave and a crooked sort of chuckle.

"Good. He needs lessons," she said easily.

"He does not," Jana laughed.

"He must have learned something in the past twenty-some years then."

"Why do you even know about your stepson's kissing abilities?" Jana asked, her nose scrunched up.

"He kissed me," K said, shrugging. "Ended up getting Noh all riled up … it was a mess."

"Why… what?"

K gave her a dry look. "It's … Akihiro. It's best not to ask why on things like that."

"I'm still going to, because… what. His own stepmother?"

"I think let's just … say that his issues were a lot more pronounced back then."

"No kidding," Jana said, shaking her head. "That's just…. wow."

"Yeah, let's not … delve into bad guys that have laid one on me, okay? We're talking about weapons jackasses, aren't we?"

"Yes, I'd much rather talk about people who want to forcibly experiment on innocents than you having kissed my boyfriend, thanks," Jana said, making a face.

"No, no," K said. "There is a very important distinction here. I did not kiss him."

"Okay, while that is an important distinction, it does not make me feel better."

"Would you feel better if I told you it was before I was his stepmother?"

"Yes," Jana said, looking honestly relieved.

"Well, it's your lucky day," K said with a shrug. "First time I met him, really. Before I married Logan or … anything else permanent."

"So, what, was he trying to win you over for himself?" Jana asked, her nose still scrunched up.

"I doubt that," K said. "Probably more like just to screw with his Dad."

"Now that does sound like him," Jana nodded. "He's still convinced the next one you have will be another boy. He talks about his favorite brother if I mention Kurt."

"He's such a jackass," K growled out.

"Maybe, but I think I'll keep him anyway."

"Please do; you're already better for him than the FBI agent." K laughed to herself. "She shot him, you know. Honestly tried to kill him when his healing was burnt out. He was heartbroken."

"I didn't know that part," Jana admitted. "I just knew he was single and I jumped on it," she added, this time with a more troublemaking smile.

K nodded slowly, smirking wider and wider. "Go get 'em, girl."

"James nearly had a fit when he smelled it."

"James likes to make a big deal out of it just to be a pain too," K said. "The two of them are just oil and water."

"They are. But you know he genuinely cares. He was ready to follow James if he was going to be stupid not that long ago," Jana said.

K nodded. "Yeah, and he came to check on him after Apocalypse," K agreed. "He didn't come to see him when he was awake, but the anxiety on him was pretty clear." She looked both ways and smirked — trouble sparkling in her eyes as she switched to project just to get her to laugh. I think he was genuinely worried about Logan.

Jana grinned and let out a little laugh. I know he was genuinely concerned. Even if I can't read your family, I know how to read body language, especially when it comes to fear and worry. Saw it often enough.

"Knew it," K said. "He's not nearly as slick as he thinks he is."

"Oh, that's a given, considering how slick he thinks he is," Jana giggled.

"So when are you seeing him again? Or do you just wait for when I have him by?" K asked with a little smirk.

"Oh, no I've been going to his place… how often is he here?" Jana asked, both eyebrows raised high. "He hasn't mentioned anything to me."

"We usually meet up for coffee elsewhere," K replied. "Noh still has issues. It's easier to just … skip it."

"You know, if Noh would stop being so easy to bother, Akihiro would back off," Jana said, shaking her head.

"Noh ... " K sighed heavily. "Noh has taken too much of what Akihiro has said to heart."

"That would do it," Jana said. "You have to ignore him to get along with him."

"Or just … get to him right back," K agreed.

"That's definitely more fun," Jana agreed. "But he usually just points out that I just want in his pants and then it just… doesn't work for me anymore."

K chuckled. "Yeah, but see what happens if you just shrug and turn to walk away. See how long he can hold out."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say 'not at all'," Jana laughed outright.

"Not at all," K agreed. "Expect a tackle, I'd guess."

"Oh no," Jana said in a falsely worried tone. "Not tackles. No…"

"I know …" K said, as wide-eyed as she could be before she started very quietly mock screaming. "Oh, help. Oh no, whatever shall I do? Aaaaa."

"No, no, it's weirder when you do it because you have history with him," Jana teased.

"I was not referring to the cheap knockoff," K pointed out. "But you go ahead and think what you want."

"Oh good; I'm sure he'll love to hear that you've given permission," Jana had to laugh.

"Oh no, I'm banning it outright," she said before she spun with a snarl and stuck her finger in Jana's face. "You keep away from that boy, you hear me?" Then of course, she relaxed. "Just so you can not lie when you tell him I snarled at you and forbid it."

Jana was laughing outright by that time, holding her stomach and grinning widely. "Oh yeah, you're the best … mother of my boyfriend or whatever," she said, shaking her head and taking just a moment to get a hold of herself before the two of them dove back into their work.