Chapter 24 - Annie's First Real Mission
Craig had been pulling his hair out trying to keep up with everything going on. For one thing, his sister had the hare-brained idea to volunteer to be in the mission to take out what was truly one of the most terrifying organizations Craig knew of, and Craig felt like he could hardly relax for how much he was waiting for a call saying his sister was hurt or worse.
And on top of that, he was trying desperately to help a bunch of superheroes who didn't want to be helped. James was avoiding him again, Tommy had been in one session before Craig clocked that he was suicidal - and Tommy was now avoiding him now that Craig knew. Billy was isolating at the worst possible time, and Rachel was so worried that speaking her fears out loud would set her on fire that she just didn't.
The only one Craig managed to see with any regularity was Nate, and only because Kate made him go. Kate knew how much help could, well, help during a spiral, and she was determined to keep her young husband from falling apart.
But when he could see his clients, so many of whom were way too young to have seen the kinds of horrors they had seen, Craig was stressed on their behalf. Because he cared about them. Because they were part of his family. Because he didn't want to lose them to themselves either.
And all of this was on top of the damage Apocalypse had done. Craig had barely gotten Mia to talk to him - once - about losing Noh before all this had happened. He'd been able to keep up their sessions after everyone had been snatched, and she was doing well, but she hadn't had space to truly mourn when she was so scared to lose Tommy.
And that was on top of Tony Stark's heart attack. May Parker's panic attacks. Bobby Drake's PTSD. Alex Summers' false mourning. Tyler Creed's total shutdown. Cassie Lang's newly developed trust issues and trauma. Kate Summers' ongoing postpartum anxiety. Scott Summers' ongoing depression and anxiety. And every single hero Craig had ever seen had complex trauma that he was only even beginning to skim the surface of.
He had never been so busy. He had never felt so needed. And he had never been so blown off.
He had spent most of his morning trying to chase down the kids he was most concerned about - but "chasing down" Tommy was impossible, not because of his speed but because he was with Billy or Mia most of the time. And James fully blocked him. As usual.
Craig tried to refuel with some coffee, but… even he had a breaking point of exhaustion. He had only closed his eyes for what felt like a few seconds, but instead, he ended up asleep at the kitchen table in the middle of an alien pirate ship.
Kate was the first to find him, because David had woken up early, and she moved his coffee away from him so he couldn't accidentally knock it over. She couldn't do much more than that because David needed her, but she did telepathically reach out to Nate and Rachel to let them know what she'd found.
Rachel came down soon after and simply sat herself down with some food, looking out for him so no one could bother him.
Should we move him? Rachel texted the group - not just her family but everyone he had taken it upon himself to help. The new, youngest Avengers; the original X-Men with them; her family members; Tyler; everybody.
If you give me half an hour, I can wish him where he needs to be. I'm drained right now, though; just did some work with the tether spell, Billy texted.
I could carry him, but if he wakes up, I don't know how I'll react if he wakes up swinging. Does he wake up swinging? Tyler texted.
I'm not sure, Rachel replied. I think … maybe for now we just take turns?
I need a break anyway. Dad and I finished everything we can do from space to get Tommy's arm ready, and I've been quadruple-checking out of stress, so I need to get somewhere else, Mia texted.
I'll bring you both some blankets. Space is cold and the kitchen chairs aren't comfy, Kamala offered.
I can sneak a pillow under his arm and then make it grow so he's not face down on the table, Cassie offered.
Do that, Rachel replied. We'll figure out the rest. We just need to make sure he's halfway comfortable and not being pick pocketed by the space grand-pirate.
Got it, came the response from Nate.
For the next couple of hours, unbeknownst to Craig, every one of his clients took turns making sure he was safe and comfortable. By the time he woke up, he had two blankets over his shoulders, a pillow under his face - and he could smell a new pot of coffee brewing while Kate and Kamala chatted.
Craig frowned as he took in his new situation, then sat up straighter, clutching the blanket around his shoulders. "What…?"
Kate grinned crookedly. "Couldn't let our favorite team therapist sleep on a table, come on."
"Yeah, you've done too much for everyone here," Kamala said, her smile so genuine and warm that Craig couldn't help but match it.
He got to his feet and then saw the extent of all they had done and found himself smiling even more, and not just in response to Kamala. "C'mere," he said, holding his arm around, and Kate immediately came over to hug him, though Kamala had her hands full pouring the coffee and was slow on the uptake. Still, he pulled Kate under his chin in the hug with a small, whispered, "Thank you."
"Got your back," she said in a similar whisper. "You're part of the team now."
Billy was exhausted. Strange had lifted the magical tattoos so he could help follow the thread of the tether he'd created, and then, he and his mother had worked on trying to weaken it so that James wouldn't get dragged anywhere he wasn't supposed to be. The problem was that someone on the other side was actively working to thwart their efforts, and they seemed to have the powers of Hell itself behind them.
Someone really, really wanted to switch places with James, and it was pissing Billy off.
Not to mention he was still shaken from realizing how close James was to the other side. Seeing his grandfather again, after the trial, after everything, after the message… And then there was the auction…
Like he'd told James, a lot was going on. But hearing his grandfather disparage James had very suddenly clarified things for him - about that much, at least.
So, tired as he was, depowered once again, he went looking for his boyfriend.
He had good timing, too: James was just slipping out of the room where Forge, Mia, and Tommy were finalizing designs for the new arm. They were ready to finish it once they got home; they just needed access to Forge's workshop. And that meant everyone there was in a better mood than before.
It was the perfect place to catch James.
Billy took a deep breath and set his shoulders when he saw them, then closed the distance to reach out and grab James' hand. "Mind if I steal you away for a minute?"
James didn't hesitate before he nodded his agreement, even if he was incredibly unsure about how this was going to work … or not. The truth was that while Billy had been processing everything, James had been overthinking everything and had all but convinced himself that he didn't want Billy to try to wish anything regarding him when he was convinced that it just wouldn't work - because Billy had to want it to come true. But James barely heard himself speak even while he was overthinking. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Oh. Um. My room okay? It's private, seeing as Tommy's occupied," Billy said, thumbing over his shoulder to where Tommy was laughing at something Mia had said.
"Sure. Lead on."
Billy nodded, bouncing on his toes with his nerves, before he simply wished them both there. He was low on reserves, but… he kind of wanted to show off. And James didn't have to know that he could only really manage that small teleport because it was, like, less than a hundred yards.
He dropped down to sit on the edge of the hanging bed on the right side of the room, watching James closely. He'd had an idea of what he wanted to say when he had marched over to get his boyfriend, and now that they were in the same room, it was all gone. "So," he said, hoping that by starting to speak, he would prompt his brain into words. It absolutely didn't work, so he tried again. "So, um. Crazy day, huh?"
"That's par for this tug," James replied, half shrugging his shoulders to his ears as he stuck his hands in his back pockets.
"I guess you'd know." He was too tired to pretend he wasn't trying to smile, so he let that drop, too. "Okay, so… I …" He trailed off. "Okay, this is harder than I thought it was gonna be," he admitted, and then quickly held up both hands. "That sounds really bad. I'm sorry. That's not-" He put his head in his hands. "I am really bad at this."
"Don't sweat it," James said, "It's fine. You don't have to force anything, okay?"
"I mean, honestly, I was kinda thinking I'd just … you know… ask for space until everything settles, but then my futzing grandfather was there…." Billy made a curving motion with both hands that tried and failed to show how off-balance he was feeling.
"Take the time you need, Billy."
"Yeah, well, that's the thing, though, is as soon as he was snippy about you, it was like… everything was easy in that moment because of course I was going to stand up for you because of course I love you and of course I don't want you to go anywhere and of course he should keep his nose out of who I want to marry or whatever and I can't believe he thinks he has a say from the other side but that's so not that point and I'm getting sidetracked again, aren't I?"
"Maybe," James said. "Or maybe not." He wasn't about to say out loud that he was now wondering if all of this wasn't more out of rebellion than anything else. That just wasn't the jar he wanted to open at all.
"I dunno. Anyway, the point is…" Billy ran a hand through his hair. "The point is that I'm still really hurt, and I still need some time, but I don't want to be apart. Does that make sense? Like, I still need time to process, but I kinda want to do it while we're, I dunno, sitting together and just being normal. We haven't been normal boyfriends in a long time; can we do that? Just sit and watch a show and not try to die or break magic or something?"
James didn't want to overthink it more than he was, but that ship had already sailed. And still, the idea that this was likely limited term was looming a little heavier with every stupid complication. "We could try it," he said after a long moment.
Billy felt like all of the air - and the stress - left his body at once, and he half crumpled into himself. "Thank you," he said in a breath. "I really, really want to try to make this work, you know?" He swallowed. "Really, really."
"And I don't want you to feel like you have to rush yourself," James said.
"I may still, I dunno, ask for some time to myself every once in a while, but I just…" He took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't want to lose you. And I'd feel like a total idiot if something goes wrong, and our last memories together are of me hiding in my room."
"I get that, but I hurt you? So I really, really don't want you to do anything because of my stupid timer."
"Yeah, maybe not, like, as fast as we normally take things, no, but… d'youwanna cuddle at least?"
"That's not what I meant," James said. "I was talking more about even wanting to look at me when I know you're still mad and hurt."
Billy pressed his mouth into a line and shrugged. "I sort of vented to Tommy, and it helped just to be immature about things for a while, you know? To yell and stomp and stuff. I've always had to be the mature crown prince, so it's nice to go to Tommy and be, you know, twenty years old and dramatic."
James looked past Billy for a moment, and nodded. "Sure. Still doesn't change things. I'll give it a shot, but it can't be just because I might stop breathing again. If this doesn't work, I don't want you dragging yourself through it in slow motion."
"If this doesn't work, I'll be dragging myself through life in slow motion," Billy said honestly. "I don't want to lose you. I'm hurt, but I'm not hurt enough to want to leave."
"If you change your mind at all-"
"I'll let you know," Billy promised. He looked up again, searching James' face. "But… are you okay with this? Us still trying to be, you know, us. If you moved on enough that your feelings have changed, I can cope. Badly, but I can cope."
"That's just it," James said with a sigh before he looked around the room to find somewhere to sit and not crowd Billy. "I didn't move on. At all. I only went along with Noh because I couldn't breathe when I saw I was stuck there. There was no way to get a message to you, the world was basically burning, you know?"
"Yeah. And I do understand. If it had just been simple like you stepped out or something, this would be a different conversation. We're just, you know, in totally different places because to me? I got grabbed, panicked when I found out who had snatched me and who all they had, and then slept for a month, woke up to you being dead, panicked for a few more days, and then broke the connection to the afterlife. It's feels like it's just been a week for me since this all started. I'm still processing being grabbed in the first place!"
"Yeah, I can get behind that," James agreed. "Physically, everything hurts, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon."
"I'd offer to wish that away, but…"
"You've stressed out your magic too much for me already. And I kinda feel like I should just sit in it."
"Nah, you should come cuddle with me so I can go to sleep," Billy said with a slow smile. "I slept through a whole month; I kinda panic when I fall asleep, you know? Might help if someone else is there too."
"I do get that, actually," James agreed.
"Okay, well, we can work with that, right? Solidarity on sleep being scary," Billy said with his best winning smile. "And we still want to make this work. That's also a point in our favor."
James nodded. "There's a working theory on why my time moved so slow," he told him, though he didn't move from where he was yet. "Not my theory. Charles's. My theories are garbage."
"I'm interested," Billy said, scooting over to offer James a place to sit next to him.
James slowly made his way over to fill the space. "So, he thinks that we can't move forward until we accept it. Whatever it is that we have to accept. I knew when the scenery shifted to scenery that I wasn't going to be able to come back, and if I think about it, I saw just about everything that happened from the time I lost my grip on myself. But I hated everything about that place. Including when they tried to help me. It still took me months. And I can't even tell you how many. It just went on and on … for me. It seems as though it didn't feel that way for them. So, his theory I guess leans to I couldn't let go of you or my family, so it dragged on." He blew out a breath. "Which isn't really helpful to anything, I know. But he thought I should share it with someone that might care."
"That… kind of makes sense, actually," Billy said. "I guess if you're going to spend an eternity in a place, time loses its meaning and starts to be subjective anyway, and if you're miserable, distorted time could be… yeesh." He pulled a face, paused, and said, "You should talk to Tommy about that, actually. He experiences time completely differently from the rest of us, and he's been looking into some physics theories about it all. He's the better twin to talk to for that, weirdly enough."
James held up both hands. "Hey. I'm just the idiot messenger boy. I don't get it and it makes my head hurt worse."
"You are so not an idiot," Billy said, carefully and gently knocking shoulders with him.
"I absolutely feel like it. Not looking for sympathy."
"Getting it anyway." Billy smirked softly. "Can't help it, apparently."
James almost smiled, but couldn't quite pull it off when Billy was bringing a little levity to a situation that still left James struggling to breathe. "I have missed you so much."
Billy opened his mouth, closed it, and instead leaned over to gently steal a kiss. It was half experimental, to see how much space he actually needed, but he also couldn't not kiss James when he said something like that. And when he wasn't freaked out, he broke into a grin, watching James carefully. "Missed you too."
Back on Earth, Scott still wasn't sure if he'd made the right call listening to Annie - and everyone else who had ganged up on him alongside her. It didn't help matters that Jan had already made her a uniform to wear, even if she was supposed to remain in the bird and relay communications only. Jan insisted, and nobody could say no to Jan.
And it wasn't that Scott wasn't proud. He was, more than he could say. And he made sure that he wasn't shielding that part of his thoughts - or the part where he couldn't stop thinking about how good she looked in that uniform. Jan had done an amazing job with it. Really.
It was just that this was the department, and she was pregnant, and he hadn't been back in the game all that long, and it felt like there were more risks than he was accustomed to taking.
That was honestly the strangest part of being back with the team. His risk assessment was totally off. He had spent almost twenty years doing everything in his power to keep the risks to his family as close to zero as possible, and now, he was back in the job he loved… taking risks with every single decision.
Jan caught the way he was looking and came sidling up to him to bump his shoulder, and he gave her a tight smile, obviously expecting some comment on her design that he was more than ready to agree with. She was incredibly talented, and he had no problem making sure she knew as much.
But instead, what she said was, "How you holding up?"
He blinked to reassess his approach to the conversation and then bumped her shoulder back. "As well as can be expected. You?"
"Same," she said, stretching her hands out in front of herself. "I'm ready to take these guys down."
"No kidding." He paused and tipped his head down to catch her expression. "How's Tony?"
She let out all her breath, and he watched her deflate. "He's okay," she said. "He's supposed to be resting, so of course he's not, but he's got the best doctors in the world looking after his heart, you know?"
"Yeah." He was quiet for a long time. "I've wanted to get these guys since I was my kids' age."
"I know."
"Feels a little too familiar. Facing these types of threats with a little one on the way."
"Worried about history repeating itself?"
"Hasn't it already?"
"Good point." Jan put her hand on his shoulder. "Rotten way to spend Christmas, huh?"
He chuckled dryly. "Spent most holidays of my life this way growing up. Feels like coming home, almost."
"Yeah, maybe don't say things like that out loud," Jan said, closing one eye and shaking her head at him.
"Bummed you out again?"
"Got it in one." She bumped his shoulder. "You gonna be okay spending Christmas without the kids?"
He paused, frowned, and then swore under his breath.
"Hadn't even done the math? That's not like you."
"Honestly, I was hoping to be done before Christmas, and we will be, but there's no telling where my father will take the ship in the meantime. And I don't think Annie has done that math."
"She'll have to spend the holidays alone with you? Oh no," Jan said, and Scott couldn't help but laugh.
"You've both got to stop conspiring against me."
"Never. We both care about you too much not to tease you."
Scott laughed again and gave her a side hug, in a much better mood now - which was good timing, because Natasha had just gotten done with her call to Coulson tying up some last-minute details. She didn't even need to say anything; she just looked at Scott and nodded.
"Time to move out."
Billy had been sleeping hard lately, because he was putting so much energy into trying to finish the spell while Hell had hold of it and was trying to get even more out of the deal. So he had fallen asleep before James and thought nothing of it.
And he didn't think much of it when he woke up after James, either, because he was exhausted. Except that James somehow had dark circles under his eyes when he shifted to look at Billy, and once Billy was awake enough to realize why, he sat up a little faster.
"What's wrong?" James asked, sounding groggy, even if he hadn't really moved yet.
"Did you not sleep?" Billy asked. He was too tangled in the sheets to sit up smoothly, his hair sticking up in several places from tossing and turning from stress dreams. "Did I keep you awake? I'm sorry-"
"No, you weren't a problem," James said, shaking his head. "Was I bothering you?"
"No, I appreciated the familiarity," he said, though he was frowning. "You didn't sleep?"
James half shrugged one shoulder up. "I … don't really want to."
"Nightmares?" Billy guessed. "I don't mind snuggling if that's the case."
"Maybe," James said. "I don't think that's entirely it. More like … everyone and everything gets very loud."
Billy frowned and then suddenly let his eyes go wide as he understood. "Sleep is close to the veil…"
James nodded at that and relaxed a little. "I can rest without sleeping, though. It's fine."
"It's not fine," Billy said, trying to get his hair to lie flat.
"You're already busting your ass," James said. "It'll do."
"I'm really close to figuring out the wording on how to finish the spell without giving Hell more power," Billy said. "And Doctor Strange is almost done with the preparations."
"That's great," James said. "Make it easier when I wake up to know where I am, then, yeah?"
"I'm so sorry it's that hard for you," Billy said earnestly. "I can just sit there with you in quiet or hold your hand or-"
"Please don't apologize," James said, though his focus drifted even as he spoke toward a point across the room. "You're doing all you can."
"I can always do more," Billy said. "Seriously, you can sleep here and I'll keep everything quiet while you wake up. Whatever you need. Let me help."
James smirked. "It's not noise here that's getting to me. And you're already wearing yourself out."
"Well, tell them to shut up so you can sleep." Billy raised his voice. "Do you hear that? Shut up!"
"Sweetheart -" James sighed. "Our side knows and is quiet about it."
"Oh. Oh." Billy went pale. "Oh."
"Oh … I broke you. Not what I was going for."
Billy shoved James but couldn't quite find something to say until he had cleared his throat a few times. "I'm going to fix this."
"You're already on it," James said before he gave Billy's hand a squeeze. "You're not going to make any progress if you're all stressed out worse. I'll just … I can handle it."
"Yeah, I know, but I want to help if I can. We're trying to make this work, right? Something something til death do us not ever freakin' part?"
"Are you leaning that way then?" James asked with a crooked smirk that wasn't as bright as usual as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "As long as it's not stress induced-"
"Yeah, I mean, we've got a little over a year to get there, but that's the track I'm on, right?" Billy said, shrugging and blushing.
"Love you too," James said, then frowned. "Do you need anything from me?"
Billy took a deep breath, held it, and nodded. "Yeah, actually, having you around will help the spells. Mom's just been keeping you out of it until we have to bring you in, because you've already been through the magical wringer. Which I'm sorry about. Again. I know you said not to apologize, but, you know-"
"It's unbecoming," James said, doing his finest Magneto impression. "Distasteful and undignified."
Billy snorted. "Okay, you're too good at that."
"I've practiced," James said with a smile. "He hates it."
"Yeah, well." Billy held his breath. "Tommy would hate to hear me say it, but I'm glad he made it to heaven. It's nice that the afterlife takes into account your, you know, mental state when it measures your deeds."
"There weren't a lot that didn't," James said. "That I know of anyhow. Tyler's dad obviously didn't make the cut, and honestly …" he paused and tried to remember if he'd even seen Kate's parents. "There were a few."
"Yeah, I wasn't gonna press for information, but I was kinda wondering if my grandmother was there. Mom's got stories about her, but seeing Grandfather with Charles Xavier…"
"First off, Charles spends lots of time with the original Katherine Summers and Jean Grey. But I'm pretty sure Magda was there, she just wasn't as involved with the group that was trying to help me," James said. "If I saw a picture of her, I could say for sure. There were a lot of people in the peripheral that didn't want to engage - or didn't feel like they were needed." He laughed under his breath. "Or they thought I wasn't going to be able to stay and it would have been a waste of time." He swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Who knows. Give me a chance and maybe I'll be confirming who went the other way."
"Think you can re-kill a few people?"
"That would be a good use of my time when I go to hell, sure," James agreed. "Maybe I should take a nap - just … do it by someone with super strength just in case."
"I'd suggest Tyler, but Tommy will never let that die."
"He's not up to it," James said. "I talked Amadeus into bunking with him."
"What? I thought you two were getting along."
"We are, but - he's pretty traumatized from the kidnapping and second brain take over. He's ready to have a panic attack and I don't think he could handle it if I dropped dead in front of him." He held up his wrist to gesture at Tony's cuff. "This is programmed to shock me, but I don't have the interface to alert anyone here that's strong enough to intervene or help me breathe if I need it."
"Tommy said…"
"You want to give Tommy the opportunity to give you a hard time about kissing me more than you have since I got back?" James deadpanned.
"I'll just have to kiss you more to even it out," Billy said easily.
"I wasn't fishing," James said with a quiet laugh.
"Too late!" Billy sang out and leaned over to steal a kiss - just to get a laugh out of James.
James looked past Billy when the kiss ended, and rolled his eyes. "Leave if you don't like it," he said, then refocused on Billy. "I guess that applies to you, too, honestly."
"Staying right here. But I have to admit the voyeurism angle is killing the mood," Billy said, sticking his tongue out at whoever he couldn't see.
"Your uncle thinks we should be bothering your mom and your Strange."
Billy let his shoulders drop and sighed dramatically. "Yeah. If only because my plans are now interrupted by the peanut gallery being peeping Toms."
"To be fair, he's not watching," James said. "He's a creep, but not that much of a creep."
"Good." Billy stole one more kiss and then groaned dramatically as he got up. "Okay, I guess we should do things."
"Crime? We are on a pirate ship. And crime is a thing we can do."
"Perfect. I'll practice my supervillain float."
"You've got that down solid," James said, though he swayed when he stood up. "Lead the way."
The days leading up to the auction had been some of the busiest Genosha had seen in ages, because the department and both the US and Canadian governments were trying to recoup their losses and needed to get their hands on anyone they were claiming they had access to. From what Natasha could tell, the auction had contingencies, with "assets" in custody fetching a higher price than "access to the assets," which was essentially a promise to turn someone over as soon as they were in custody.
Since Westchester had been cleared out of any of the targets on their lists, it made sense that they would turn to Genosha to find them next. So, before the X-Men and Avengers could break up the auction, they had to make sure Genosha didn't get overrun.
Not that Genosha was desperate for help, but they couldn't leave the island to its fate without jumping in. If nothing else, it would help cripple the department further ahead of the planned auction if they had a bigger fight than expected on Genosha.
With Lorna stepping in while Wanda was unraveling the magic mess her son had made, and with Vision running some last-minute upgrades to the island's defenses (with Tony's help, remotely, while he was being forced by Jan and Steve to take care of himself), as soon as the first wave hit… there really wasn't much left. What hadn't been shot down had every bit of metal inside crushed, including and especially anything any soldiers had been wearing.
Underneath that first wave, too, was a wave of attempted infiltration, much more subtle, trying to take advantage of the defenders' distraction. But Genosha had the largest population of telepaths in the world - even if they weren't to the level of the Summers siblings and Betsy Braddock. About a half dozen telepaths, several of whom were employed by the courts as lie detectors, were assigned to keep the stress free of department infiltration, with the rest of Genosha's guard on notice to stop anyone the telepaths pointed out.
It was the first time Annie had gotten an assignment on her own, too. And this felt like it was completely in her wheelhouse. The hardest part was to stay out of people's heads. Scanning for ill intent just meant opening herself up. It was loud, yes, but it was doable.
When all was said and done, three waves had been repelled and about thirty infiltrators arrested, with Genosha's defenders regrouping at the palace, nursing wounds. The auction was just hours away, so they needed to rest and rally, but first, they had to check on each other.
Annie was looking for Scott, but Lorna found her first, looking untouched but still furious, though her expression softened slightly when she saw her future sister-in-law and redirected to check on her.
"How is everyone?" Annie asked before Lorna could ask about her. She looked past Lorna; everyone was still trickling in, since they had been spread out all over the island.
"Fine," Lorna assured her, brushing herself off of some rubble from a plane she had crushed into an explosion toward the end of the assault. "If anything, that was a great way to blow off some steam."
"I believe it," Annie said, shaking her head. She glanced pointedly at a long trail of soot on Lorna's hair that she had missed when she'd tried to clean herself up. "How's Alex, by the way?"
Lorna met Annie's gaze, let out a soft laugh, and shook her head. "How was your first mission?" she asked. They both knew Alex was still dealing with what the department had done. They didn't need to rehash it.
Annie couldn't hold back her smile or the slight bounce in her step. "I … I think I like this job," she said, starting out in a whisper and then all at once.
Lorna laughed. "I'm not surprised," she said, gesturing for Annie to join her as they walked deeper into the palace.
It didn't take them long to catch up to the others. Annie had been looking for Scott, but he saw her first, so when she did spot him, he was already bounding her way and had picked her up, spinning her to look her over as well as in a greeting.
"Well, you're smiling, so I'm going to guess this went well," Scott said, and Annie laughed.
"Look out; I'm coming for your spot on the team," she teased him.
"You can have it," he said without missing a beat. He set her down and looked her over again. "We're leaving in two hours to hit the auction. You should try to get some rest while we fly."
"So should you."
"I'll be flying."
"I'd sleep better if you were sitting by me."
"Maybe on the way back."
Annie shook her head, smiled, and stood on her toes to kiss him. "Thanks for letting me stay."
"I'd like to hear all about your first mission," he said, though he was looking past her to where the others were gathering.
I'll project to you, she promised. Go on; be Cyclops. I'll just workshop my superhero name while you're plotting and planning. Just tell me where you want me to go.
I don't suppose 'home' is an option?
That ship sailed, Mr. Summers.
Kinda figured. He shook his head, straightened up, and went to join the others. This was just the first part of the fight. The second part, hopefully, would be the crushing blow.
There was precious little that anyone on the Starjammer could do to help with the auction - and Corsair had been sure to get the group well out of reach from any entity that might be interested - including SWORD and SHIELD. So they were well away from anything even remotely Earth-related when the auction itself was slated to start.
Most of the kids didn't really seem to register what was happening, even if they knew that the team and family they'd left behind were fighting on their behalves.
Alex had been pacing, or jiggling his foot when he forced himself to sit down with his kids - and Corsair was soaking up time with Chris and Suzie while trying to ignore how tense Alex was. But he had to stick with them or he knew he'd be going back to Earth before Scott gave him the all clear - and that would only end with an attack from space on whoever really had it coming.
Nate and Kate were taking some time to just play with David with Hepzibah hovering nearby and making David laugh at some of the feline-like sounds she made as part of her language, and Rachel and America would occasionally poke their heads in to check and see that everyone was where they should be.
They'd been in space for well over a week before it occurred to Corsair that he hadn't actually seen James more than in passing once or twice. It wasn't enough to raise his alarm bells, but it got him wondering why.
And while Tyler had joined the video game tournament - and Tommy had taken Mia to a scenic overlook of a nebula on the far side of the ship to discuss some options on his new prosthetic, Billy had finally brought James along for the magical meeting.
Strange, Billy, and Wanda - when she was there - honestly couldn't get a complete handle on what to do with the tether without him there, though they had tried hard to do exactly that.
James didn't know what they expected him to do - other than simply be there, so he wasn't sure if it was helpful or not that he was exhausted to the point that he wasn't sure how long he could stay awake while they did their magic.
He blearily listened to Strange telling him to relax as he took a seat and tried to stay awake. Not that he had much of a shot at that working. But - the room filled with magical light as Strange and Billy got to work, and James watched the light show, rubbing his temple as he did so. It didn't help his concentration, though, when the magical light seemed to be casting shadows off of those that James could see beyond Strange and Billy. His parents had shown up to see what could be done.
Which was when James realized he was badly losing his battle to stay awake. His ears began to fuzz out as the sounds of Strange being bossy faded out to be replaced by the low thrum of Hell - accented by the sound of chains clinking, whips cracking, and screams. It was incredibly hard to drift off into - and even harder to relax into. And yet … he couldn't stop his body from sliding into that relaxed state.
There was heat and darkness accented by blue flames that gave no sense of depth or distance - and then it was very very bright. Almost painfully so.
The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, with an incredibly stressed-looking Corsair kneeling down beside him with some kind of alien technology in his hands - the equivalent of an alien AED. And he was swearing in one long, constant streak that only broke up when he had to breathe.
Corsair had listened to everything Scott and Alex had told him about what was going on with James, and he had understood, in theory, that his grandson was on the verge of leaving the family behind. But it was one thing to know it and another thing to see it. And it was a damn good thing Hepzibah had been listening better than he had and insisted that if he was going to be around James, he had to keep that device on him. She was smart enough to know CPR wouldn't work well with the metal and she'd come up with a solution.
He seemed to have a knack for finding women smarter than he was. Katherine and then Hepzibah; they always had outstripped him.
God, he hadn't thought of Kat in forever. He really had freaked out when he'd thought James was going to die in front of him. He didn't even remember getting there with the AED.
He looked up and around to see that the others had gathered around them, though thankfully, they had their attention on James as he started to come around. So, clearing his throat, he got to his feet and made room for Billy to rush to James and throw his arms around him in a desperate hug. He didn't know that Billy was a little less physically affectionate than before because the boys weren't spreading it around, but when it was something like this, he had to make sure James was okay for himself - and that included tackles.
After a moment of realizing where he was, James ended up taking a great, deep breath that knocked the cobwebs loose on what exactly was happening, though he carefully returned the hug that Billy had started. "I'm fine. It's okay," he said softly.
"It is now," Billy agreed. He pulled back just enough to look at James. "Can I ask where you went this time or is that weird?"
"Wasn't Hell this time, surprisingly. I thought it would be," James said. "But they looked pretty irked anyhow."
"Oh, that's such a relief," Billy said, letting his whole body slump.
"That was a real worry?" Corsair asked and then shook his head, throwing both hands up. "I thought Alex was exaggerating."
"Usually that's the case," James agreed.
"Not about stuff this important," Billy pointed out.
"Sliding scale," James said, then tried to find a comfortable position. "Did I screw you guys up?"
Strange shook his head. "No, if anything, because the spell and the tether activated as you teetered between realms, it illuminated the path. I believe that, within a matter of days, I should have the right protections in place to allow Billy the safety net he needs to finish this spell."
"Yeah?" James asked, not sure if he believed him. "Because … that wasn't what I usually see."
Billy perked up immediately. "You think you got lost or, like, was it a message or…?"
"No, nothing like that," James said. "But I don't know. Maybe because I'm seeing everyone anyhow … that was all angels. Pissed off angels."
"Mad at you or…?" Billy winced.
"I don't think so," he said slowly. "They weren't really talking to me."
"Hmm." Strange watched James closely and then shook his head. "I need to look into this," he said, waving his hand as a book appeared in front of him. "But if I'm right - and I usually am - you may no longer have a choice."
"I didn't think I had one before," James pointed out dryly.
"Yes, well, it seems Heaven may have seized the tether the way Hell has. We'll need to reconfigure the spell to divorce the tether from your soul. If the two sides are determined to go to war, I'd rather not let your soul be the battleground."
"Yeah, no," James agreed. "No thanks - but also why?"
"You're a bridge. And a bridge can be crossed both ways." Strange shook his head, already flipping through pages in his book. "Ah yes," he said, floating away as he read.
"I've already got ideas; don't worry," Billy promised and kissed James. "Mom and I talked about it. Strange is building me a safety net, but I think Mom and I can handle it."
James was still frowning, though. "Yeah, sounds like I don't have anything to add here other than just proximity if you need to do something."
"Yeah, I just want you for your body," Billy said without missing a beat, blatantly teasing just to get a smile.
"Well that's one," James shot back. "Everyone else just wants real estate apparently." He thought about it for a long moment, but couldn't quite censor himself. "So … if you can't separate my soul from the tether, what should I expect? Because I am starting to get the feeling that if you can't manage that, I won't really have to worry about either direction winning."
Billy took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, that's why Mom didn't want me messing with soul magic. But, um, if I can do what I'm trying to do, even if I can't fully separate you, I can make it so there's only a piece of you connected. So you might, you know, see or hear the other side even after you're solidly here. I'm not sure how long that would last, but … like I said, if I do it right, if they overload the tether, you'd stop hearing them anyway. And I'm hoping," he said, raising his voice, "that anyone listening might maybe tell some angels that they could blow the bridge up after them if I can do this right, so James can get his sanity back, huh?"
"They're pretty much always listening," James said. "And the family's kind of on a rotation for the show, looks like."
"Well, good."
James looked past Billy to where Corsair was still staring at the group - silent and clearly concerned. "Sorry if I messed up whatever you were up to. I'm not exactly sure how long I was down or … why you were near this room?" He gestured to the cuff that Tony had made and he and Tommy had adjusted. "Looks like my tech isn't cooperating again. Don't know if it's cosmic radiation or me."
"Likely both," Strange said distractedly before Corsair could react.
"Well, I mean, adamantium," Corsair said, shrugging easily as if it was obvious. "Combine that with any number of radiation we'll get just passing through and I'm not surprised nothing works. You're putting out low-level radiation anyway."
"Yeah," James agreed, though he didn't look pleased about it. "Probably ought to tell Tony to go with the other plan either way."
"I'm gonna fix it," Billy insisted.
James forced a little smile and kissed his cheek. "Okay."
Billy sighed. "Your lack of faith in me is disturbing," he said in half a tease.
"Oh, I have faith in you," James said. "I'm just irritated that I can't keep a simple stupid piece of tech working right. And I'm a little irritated that Alex spilled all the details when Dad did such a great job of keeping it more general."
"Uncle Alex is the worst person in the world to keep a secret, and I think we both know this," Billy said dryly.
"Still sucks and I can be mad about it."
"Fair." Billy shifted and glanced toward Strange. "So, I think we're done for the day. Want to go join that video game tournament? I'm tapped out, but I still wanna hit something, so it might as well be virtual."
"Not really," James said. "You can drop me off in my room and I'll just crash I guess. I'm still wiped and I don't think I'm going to get away with staying awake."
"Okay. I'll make sure to send you a babysitter," Billy said, nudging shoulders with him.
"I've got it," Corsair said, though James didn't even bother hiding his distaste at hearing it.
"You're just gonna sleep anyway," Billy said under his breath. "I mean, I know a thing or two about grandparents you don't see eye to eye with, right?"
"Yeah, but this one usually avoids me," James replied almost as quietly.
"You kinda died in front of him and he got the look I've seen on your dad's face when he thinks he's going to lose someone, so, like, it's clearly genetic, for one thing…"
"Yeah, but … nevermind." James gave Billy a quick kiss and got upright with a groan.
"Have fun with grandparent bonding time," Billy said brightly, already backing out toward the doorway.
James watched him go, then turned to Corsair. "You don't have to."
"Pretty sure I do. Rule is you need someone around, right? C'mon, I wasn't doing anything anyway, just came 'cause I was curious."
"Don't you have a ship to captain?"
"Come on, Squirt, let's get you to bed," Corsair said, trying and failing to fling his arm around James' shoulders.
"So you know, this is weird," James told him frankly.
"So's you dying, so here we are," Corsair said just as frankly. "Quit doing that, and thing will go back to normal, I'm sure."
"Not my call to make," James said, though he let Corsair steer him down the hall all the same, leaving Strange to go through his book and start working on a plan.
No one was surprised that the department's auction was taking place in Madripoor. Tony had been monitoring a lot of their setup - and utilizing some programs that James had set up to flag and track buyers.
The program had already flagged anyone who had reached out with interest, but now, with people actually arriving, Tony was catching anyone who hadn't been caught up in that first program. This big, coordinated effort to stop the auction was one thing, but it was even more helpful to have an actionable list of people to hit to stop mutant trafficking. Plus, the program was going to devastate those people as soon as the auction was over. Tony was just waiting to hit them until afterward so they wouldn't realize they'd been hacked.
And while Tony was doing that, Annie was doing her best to relay messages. She had never done a big linkup, so she didn't know how to do that, but she could reach out to Steve and Scott and Natasha and relay messages between them.
Those three were heading up three different angles of attack to stop the auction, with Natasha's very small group ahead of the other two to address any power dampeners of telepathic shielding and Steve taking several Avengers and a few X-Men with him to deal with the huge Hydra faction that was coming - which promised to be a big problem.
Scott's group, then, was going to hit the auction directly, once Natasha had cleared the path for them. He had a lot of heavy hitters with him, including Storm and Thor, who were already conspiring.
Include yourself in that list of heavy hitters, Annie projected to him as they approached Madripoor.
We'll see.
He could practically hear her rolling her eyes, even telepathically, but he was glad that even after getting her feet wet with a mission, she was in a good mood - even if he could hear how tired she was too. She'd never stretched this much.
Natasha just checked in. She and Matt found a few dampeners. Dani wrecked the telepathic field generator, so we might want to go fast before they notice that, Annie said.
"Got it," Scott replied, already angling for a fast descent. "Thor, Storm-"
"Time to go? Good," Thor said, swinging his hammer around once with a grin before he leapt from the jet before it was on the ground.
"Be safe," Ororo said before she left too, and Annie knocked Scott's shoulder with a closed fist.
She was talking to you, she said.
Sure, Annie.
She smirked and sat beside him, watching the quick landing, but before he could get up, she leaned over to kiss him. "Really, though. Be safe."
"I'll be fine, Annie," he promised.
"That's what I'm worried about," she muttered under her breath as she watched him take off at a quick run.
By the time Scott and the rest of the heroes who couldn't fly caught up to those who could, the ones running the auction were in a panic. Annie relayed to both Scott and Steve what the problem was: Carol and Peter Parker had placed the necessary bugs for Tony to get around what little was left of their cybersecurity, so they couldn't call for backup or an exit even now that they knew they were screwed.
That was exactly where they wanted those guys.
For the first time in a long time, it seemed like everything was going exactly to plan. The sellers and the buyers were surrounded and isolated, the whole event was hacked, and everyone who had come was bringing even more than their A Game.
Which was, naturally, when Annie broke into the fight, not five minutes after it had broken out and things were going well:
I'm hearing some kind of telepathic SOS, she projected to each of the team leaders.
Can you send it my way?
I … don't know how to do that yet, but I can repeat it as best I can… Annie paused. He just keeps shouting SOS and asking if his favorite spiders are around or if he can, and I quote, "at least be rescued by a big strong muscle man of my choice."
Scott let out a long, long, tired breath. With a message like that, he knew exactly who was calling for help. Can he give us coordinates - or even a rough idea of where he is?
He just keeps asking for someone to "follow the sound of my sultry voice." Annie paused. Natasha says she thinks she knows where they'd be keeping him. She's sending you coordinates now, because your team is the closest.
Thanks, Annie, Scott said, shaking his head as he went to his comm. at least the inevitable wrinkle wasn't too bad. He could redirect to grab Wade; he knew his team could handle the rest.
Still, he made sure to send a message to Natasha: I know I don't have to tell you, but if you find anyone else, let me know.
You got it.
"You guys got this?" Scott called over his shoulder to Storm, already shifting directions to go where Natasha had pointed him. "Annie's got an SOS from someone inside."
"We've got it," Storm called down. "Go."
Scott nodded and took off at a quick run, blasting a few soldiers who got in his way, but most of them were focused on the big groups - and big guns. He did find more resistance as he got close to the coordinates, but even those numbers were spread thin, especially when Thor and Storm combined had shorted out the power in the building where this whole thing was supposed to be run, so a lot of their usual tools were dead.
The attack on the auction wasn't just a matter of running and stopping those running it. They were fighting an uphill battle in spite of all they'd done just to get those innocent or nearly innocent mutants and mutates out of danger. The truth was that there was an uncomfortable number of unknown mutants and people of interest there that weren't simply listed as a promise of ownership. Once the fight to stop the auction started - every single one of those people in attendance to be sold were suddenly in even more peril.
It wasn't like the Department had any qualms about trying to salvage anything they couldn't keep or profit from, either, so once the teams started infiltrating the perimeter and the building itself, gunfire started ringing out from deeper into the complex - accentuated by high pitched screams that absolutely didn't belong to any soldiers.
Scott swore under his breath and ran as fast as he could, speeding himself along by blasting through two doors and at least a dozen men. He was already on the comms swearing freely. "I need more people on my position. They had more people down here that weren't on the auction list."
He skidded around a corner and barely had time to register the scene before he blinked, his eyes went red, and he had flattened anyone holding a weapon. Not that it did any good for the people who had been in the five cells full of "assets."
"Damn," Scott whispered before he rushed over, shooting off the locks first of all so anyone who could move could at least try to get out, but he didn't see anyone who could move without help. Swearing more colorfully by the second, all of the blood out of his face, he tried to run a quick triage, as fast as he could go. But it was bad. Several of the people in there were bleeding heavily; every last one had at least one gunshot wound. Few only had one.
Several of those that had been shot were clearly dead before anyone could get there to help, and those that hadn't outright died were slipping badly by the time Natasha and Scott could even get into the same room - let alone deal with the soldiers that had been tasked with cleaning up.
"Damnit, Natasha, why didn't we know there were this many in here?" Scott demanded, barely looking up at her before he went back to what he was doing, trying his best to cover and bind wounds that might maybe be salvageable. "There's no reason we should have been caught off guard here."
"They just didn't make the list," Natasha said, though she was trying to secure the room. "They didn't stop looking for our kids. They just found others."
"Damnit all," Scott said. He didn't try to wipe the blood off his hands until he was sitting in front of another kid… and then swore and shook his head. "Tell me we've got more people coming. Where's Hawkeye? I thought he was close."
"On the way," Natasha said. "And of course we have back up."
"Yeah." Scott shook his head but didn't say anything, still working. He and Natasha went through the group together, running triage until Clint got there along with Bobbi, who he'd pulled from Steve's team. She took over on the triage, and that freed up Scott enough to make one more sweep
There was one more door, though when Scott opened it and smelled the amount of blood in the air - so much that he could smell it without any heightened senses - he didn't have high hopes. But he saw the single prisoner there and frowned when he realized who it was.
"Got your message," he said in a halfhearted whisper as he knelt down to assess Wade, who was oddly quiet, barely taking in breaths on his own, obviously out of touch with reality and unable to focus. What was worse was that he wasn't even restrained - he was just in that poor of shape. And it was pretty clear he wasn't healing. But that also gave them an up close look at what the Department had decided to do in order to deal with uncooperative healers.
"Can we get an evac with anyone who can make it out?" Scott radioed Natasha, hoisting Wade up over his shoulders to move him.
"On the way," Natasha replied shortly with more gunfire in the background.
Scott frowned and rushed to rejoin them, glaring when he saw that a few soldiers were trying to pin down the small group of heroes trying to save what was left of the prisoners - and shooting at anyone who had been triaged, too. Bobbi, Clint, and Natasha were doing their best to shield them, but that made it harder to hold back the soldiers, too.
"We don't have time for this," Scott muttered, blasting a wide beam through the soldiers - and taking most of the wall with them.
And in the background, once Scott had gotten done showing everyone how it was Done, they could hear the sound of approaching quinjets signaling that SHIELD had decided to come down from the sky after the hard part was over.
"I'll let them land, but we have our own evac arranged for all of these injured kids," Lorna said over the comms. "I am not allowing SHIELD to pick up these traumatized mutant kids."
"Good," Scott said shortly.
It took no time after that, with SHIELD batting cleanup and rounding up anyone that had tried to escape before, before the path was clear. Bobbi and Hank were already working to get the ex-prisoners what medical care they could on the Quinjet, though only five had made it to that point. Scott took Wade separately to the blackbird, setting him up with an IV as well as plenty of monitors before the rest of the team got back. There was a solid collection of cuts, bruises, and a few broken bones from the other teams, but thankfully, no one on the blackbird needed involved medical attention.
That just meant that all Scott had to do was get them back to Genosha so he could figure out why Deadpool wasn't healing. "Lorna, let Vision know we've got severe medical emergencies on board," he said over the comms.
"Got it," came the reply.
"I can try looking at his memories," Annie said, frowning as she stood at Scott's shoulder - though she hadn't done as good a job hiding the fact that she'd overtaxed herself as she'd thought she had; Scott had spotted the half-empty tissue box even if she'd destroyed the bloody tissues.
"Absolutley not."
"Scott-"
"Even if you weren't pushing yourself too hard, I'd still say no. He's insane, and there's no telling what peeking in there would be like."
Annie frowned but didn't argue it, sitting down and checking her reflection in a hand mirror, wondering if there was any blood trail still visible there.
"For the record, you did great," Scott said. He was still focused on flying, but when she looked up at him, he shot her a little smirk. "Really."
Annie smiled and looked down at her hands. "I think I might get why you couldn't leave this life alone."
"The adrenaline rush is something else, isn't it?"
"You said it, not me."
Scott smirked and reached out to squeeze her hand before he went back to making sure they made very, very good time to Genosha.
