Chapter 28 - Early Summers


March rolled around with no further sign of Azazel. It was frustrating knowing he was out there, but in the meantime, they really couldn't do anything but continue living.

They stayed busy, of course. With most of the second generation team members in school, it was hard work balancing schedules. The older X-Men were getting more involved as they ran rescues; Kate and Nate were juggling being parents and being the only ones not in school. There was a lot.

But that didn't mean they forgot to celebrate the things that made life worth living. Like David Summers having his first ever birthday.

Annie had been having contractions again and was basically praying her way toward her due date, so she couldn't make the smash cake she'd hoped to make for David. What she did instead was give Nate the instructions telepathically.

The decorations weren't as perfect as Annie would have done, but the cake tasted good, and that was what mattered.

They'd even made two, because the smaller one they gave to David got picked up and thrown at America, who dodged and laughed and applauded his aim.

"Just like your mom," America said, and Kate gave her an affectionate huff.

Once David was cleaned off, Nate and Kate both had to change clothes as well, because it had been a sticky job. And Scott was first to volunteer to hold David… but Natasha got there first, scooping him right out of Nate's arms.

"Mine," she said, waltzing off with David, who was giggling madly.

Scott stared at her for a moment before he burst into a laugh, shaking his head as he sat back down by Annie and kissed her cheek.

"Disappointed?" she teased him.

"She needs this," he said easily.

"Who are you and what have you done with my husband?"

He laughed and kissed her again. "What, I can't be in a good mood celebrating my own grandson?"

Annie shook her head at him. "I guess I'm just used to a certain level of stress…"

Scott dropped his shoulders and his head to move closer to her. If I'm stressing you out…

No, just the opposite. I'm not complaining, but when a demon is out there?

Scott nearly smirked. Okay; that's my fault. You don't actually have to be worrying all the time to be on the team, Annie. And… He sighed. I've scoured everything I can. Called everyone I can think of. I can't find him. And the first time we did this, the team still managed to have families - to have lives - even with villains at large and people calling for our extermination. I'm just… trying to remember that.

Annie smiled and stole a kiss. Remind me to thank my brother.

Oh sure, give him all the credit, he teased and stole a kiss right back.


Annie was to the point that she was negotiating with the baby in her body, pleading with him to wait just a little bit longer to make his debut. Hank had warned her that she was still too early and that he'd have to give her a shot to help lung development along if the little guy came too early, and she had developed an aversion to medical intervention since meeting Sinister.

Her brother was already teasing her about it, of course. She'd been on a grand total of one official mission and she already had a complex common to hero work. But after everything she'd been through, she felt like she was allowed a little complex.

Even still, she was just shy of thirty-six weeks when she had another round of contractions, and nothing she did could alleviate it. Not a warm bath, not any position lying on the bed or the couch, not any of the tricks Hank had suggested or that her sister had told her. Nothing.

The baby was coming, whether she liked it or not.

By the time things got rolling, she was, of course, a mess of nerves - and then, suddenly, she wasn't. She didn't know which of her telepathic stepchildren had stepped in, but she wasn't put out by the intervention, either, especially since Hank did end up giving her a shot… and she did want an epidural once things got moving, and that was even more involved.

Really, it was already stressful as it was, so she was glad she wasn't swearing up a blue streak at Hank, who was the best doctor she'd ever had - considering she'd called him at three in the morning to get there.

A few hours later, she and Scott were holding a brand new little boy in their arms, and Scott's kids were there pretty quickly - the advantages of telepathy coming into play yet again.

Kate, of course, slugged Hank lightly in the arm as she passed him on the way to see the new baby. "Decided to brush up on how to do this after Sinister delivered mine, huh?" she said in a low tone that was mostly teasing.

"I doubt you could find a physician who would be worse than he was," Hank said darkly, turned slightly so Annie didn't see the look on his face before he was back to warmth and showing the family in.

Annie was absolutely thrilled so see all of them, even if it had been a long night, because having people around was a comfort to her - and the kids knew it, so they made sure she had that visible support, along with Craig and Evie. And Alex got there shortly after Rachel and America arrived, making a bit more of a crowd than usual for this kind of thing, but Annie seemed so delighted no one was going to say anything about it.

"So," Evie said, grinning as she practically bounced in place waiting for Craig's turn holding the baby to be over, "you never did tell us what name you picked out."

"Well," Annie said with trouble glinting in her eyes, "he's being born into a team without Sinister, with the Avengers' backing, with everyone together - so we thought it would be fitting to name him 'Chance.'"

"Sounds sappy, just like you," Craig teased.

"It was Scott's idea," Annie shot back, and Scott nodded to confirm it when Craig looked his way and looked almost robbed of the chance to tease his sister if not for the crooked smirk he was wearing the entire time he was holding his nephew.

"You're hogging the baby," Evie declared, scooping Chance up for herself and prompting a small round of "pass the baby" for everybody to say hello, including a sweet moment when David seemed confused about the new little one and started leaning to get Kate to put him down so he could toddle over to whoever was holding Chance and tug on their pant leg so he could be part of things too.

"Up," David said, looking determined when James was holding Chance. "Up, Dames."

James glanced down at David and simply crouched down before he shifted how he was holding Chance to help David get a little closer and get a better look. "You sure you want up - or just to say hi?"

David leaned over to inspect Chance, wrinkled his nose, and then laid his head on James' shoulder, obviously not sure what to make of the new kid.

"That's okay, bud," James said, wrapping one arm around him to hold him right where he was as he stood up and made his way over to sit down with both of them. "You can think it over for a while."

"I can take him. He's just jealous," Kate offered.

"He's not jealous," James said. "He's not sure. Jealous smells bad. Give him a minute."

"Stinky," David said, grinning at James - because that was a new word and he was thrilled to use it.

"You're not stinky," James said, bumping foreheads with him. Then, he switched to project to Nate. Maybe just a little scared.

Yeah, he's used to everyone carrying him around and playing with him, so this is new, Nate agreed.

That's why I'm not handing him off yet. I don't want him thinking he doesn't get his usual treatment.

Big brother experience or something? Nate teased.

Something. Sure. James gave David a chance to get comfortable - making a point not to change anything so the little guy could have a moment to think it all through, even with Chance that close and half snuggled into his other arm.

When it was pretty clear David was just going to hang onto James while he was still unsure about the whole situation, Billy scooted over - mostly prompted by Kate shoving him in the small of his back. He was bright red as he mumbled, "I can hold Chance if you want."

"What do you think, David?" James asked quietly.

David nodded, but as soon as Billy went to pick Chance up, he switched gears instantly with a loud "no go!" that had Billy freezing and then backing up, since, well, how was he going to argue with that?

Hey, the kid wants to figure it out, and you're safe, so… Nate shrugged but didn't look the least bit sorry as he snapped a picture on his phone.

"Aww, look how red Billy is," Kate sang as she looked over Nate's shoulder at the picture.

Meanwhile, James absolutely didn't know how to handle the situation he'd managed to get into, so he shifted how his arm was around David to pull him a little closer so he could whisper to him. "Do you want to look at his hands? See how big you are compared to him?"

"Otay."

James had to figure out exactly how to help him with that, but after a few moments, he'd rearranged enough to pull the blanket back just a little - and Chance lifted both arms out quickly in an awkward stretch. But it gave David a peek at how tiny he was. "He's gonna need a lot of help to get big like you."

"Uh-huh," David agreed, wide-eyed.

"Do you want to help him a little bit - once he's a little bigger?"

"Uh-huh. Goooood helpin', Davey!"

"You sure are," James agreed and pulled him over to kiss the side of his head. "Is Chance a lucky kid?"

"Uh-huh," David said, looking a bit more relaxed and starting to squirm a bit.

James looked up at Scott for a moment, though he was speaking to David. "Let me know if you want to try and hold him and I'll help you."

"I think Billy wanted a turn," Scott said, with a crooked, troublemaking smile.

"True," James said, though he kept his attention on David. "What do you think, kiddo? Can someone else take him now? You good?"

"Uh-huh," David said, wriggling again to be let down so he could go back to Nate, who was still staring at his dad and trying to keep from laughing outright at how relaxed his dad was to lob a tease like that at Billy.

James let David down, then handed Chance off to Billy before he got up from where he'd been sitting, stretched a little, then took the handful of steps over to his Dad and Nate - then silently slugged his dad in the shoulder without looking his way.

"Hitting a new father?" Annie teased him under her breath.

"Not my idea," James said. "I was told he looked like he needed to be hit."

"Well, he did," Rachel said, smirking from where she was sticking to the outskirts of the whole thing. She was absolutely thrilled for her dad and for Annie, but babies made her nervous - and not the way they made Billy nervous. She just didn't know what to do with something so fragile when the consequences for messing up were so big.

"Want me to hit him for you, Rach?" James asked, drawing back a little further just for effect.

"Nah, save up a comical one for the next time I need a laugh," she said, still smirking.

I thought that was a tackle, he projected to her. And it's not off the table if you need it.

Let's not send Dad to the floor when he's in such a good mood, she projected back. Maybe when he's not expecting it, though….

Say the word, James replied, smirking her way.

While Rachel was steadily grinning wider dealing with everyone in the family being in such good moods, Billy was steadily turning a shade of purple as he held Chance - until he suddenly and quickly handed the little guy off to Alex.

"You feeling okay?" Alex asked, though his wide grin told Billy he knew exactly what was going on.

Not as exactly as Rachel did, though, seeing as she had seen the bend in reality Billy had started to unconsciously make - which then snapped back into place as soon as he reasserted his concentration on trying very, very hard not to wish himself and James into the cute family he saw in their future.

You catch that? She projected to Nate, who blinked at her. He was a more powerful telepath than she was, but he didn't have reality-altering powers at his fingertips. But once he got a whiff of what she'd seen, his eyebrows shot up, and then, he had to hide his smirk.

Better give her the middle name 'Rachel', Rachel projected to Billy, who nearly yelped.

STOP.

I'm just saying…

If you give me details to think about, I'll lose my very, very hard earned concentration. Please stop.

Okay, okay, Rachel backed off - but she didn't stop smirking, either.

Eventually, Chance had been passed around the whole group and made his way back to Scott and Annie. Which was good timing, since Chance started rooting as soon as he was with Annie, and Scott kicked everyone out from there so they could go back to their room and enjoy some peace and quiet with the new baby

"All that noise and almost everyone has class in the morning," James said with a stretch as they headed out.

"Yeah. Class," Billy said; the red tinge hadn't faded at all.

"You need a distraction," James said, careful not to draw attention to Billy's understated responses.

Billy nodded quickly. "Please. I can't… not until we're ready, you know? But Mom said she could feel her wish for us building for a long time and, wow, yeah, uh-huh, it's built."

James nodded very slowly, trying to decide how best to distract him. He knew how serious the situation was, even when his family was making light of it. "What can I do to help? I'm torn between suggesting sleep, breakfast, or just tackling America."

"Oh, that third one for sure. If I sleep, I'm worried about dreams, not even gonna lie," Billy said, though he did at last look a little less red.

"M'kay," James said with a nod, then darted off without further prompting to take America clean off her feet in a rolling, protective tackle that barely even messed her hair up, though they did a solid four somersaults. "Billy said. Not sorry."

"You can't just tackle me and blame Billy," America laughed, shoving him at the shoulder hard enough that he had to move back a bit.

"Yes I can," James said, looking utterly shocked, even if she could see it was put on. "It's the truth."

"Yeah, it was a royal decree or whatever," Billy said, laughing from a few feet back and looking much more like himself.

"See?" James said, grinning her way. "Toldja." He got to his feet and pulled her up, too - just before he wrapped her up in a bear hug that also took her off the ground as they went down the hallway. "And I haven't seen you, Miss America." He was obviously trying to bait her into playing a little bit - and he wasn't worried about getting hurt if she got irked.

"Yeah, worried you're out of practice getting your ass handed to you?" she shot back, grinning.

"By my count, that's all that's happened lately," James said. "I just get my ass kicked all the time. But you're my favorite ass kicker."

"Damn right I am." She shoved him hard enough to send him careening toward a wall.

"Aww, you do like me. You didn't send me though it," James teased as he fell into step with Billy again.

"'Course I like you. You'd have been thrown into orbit by now otherwise," she teased.

"By my ankles or my hair?" James asked after a moment.

"Ankles. You'd bite me," America laughed.

"I wouldn't bite you," James argued. "Hell, I'd have to fight you for that to happen. And I wouldn't fight you."

"Makes it less fun for me."

"If you're raging, the last thing I'm going to care about is how much fun you're having," James pointed out. "So … super early breakfast or …?"

"Yeah, I've been up long enough I'm hungry," America said, throwing her arms around both of the boys.

"Am I buying?" James asked.

"That's a given."

"Then…" he looked toward Billy. "... ladies choice? Been a while since we did anything with these two."

"Fine by me," Billy said, and America grinned.

"I got the perfect place. You'll smell the sausages cooking a mile before you even walk in the door," she promised, already steering them along, with Rachel laughing the whole time.


Everyone at the school had gone out of their way not only to make sure that little Chance Summers felt welcomed into the family but that Annie was getting the support she needed, especially during the first ten days, when Chance was under the bilirubin lights a few times. But eventually, the little guy started to get bigger and stronger, and Annie noticed that Remy wasn't around as often.

And only then did it occur to her that Remy had been keeping her calm through the whole process.

At any rate, with Chance past that much, a new normal was starting to descend on the group as a whole. Scott and Annie were occupied with their little guy, David was getting more independent (and was half the time laughing delightedly being chased by some mansion resident or another), and the team was dealing with relatively normal missions, for the most part. Nothing like the department or Apocalypse. Not that it didn't keep them busy, but it wasn't beyond their ability to handle, either.

Which meant that they were actually living life again instead of living in a constant state of one bad thing after another with just enough time for recovery. Tony had actually followed through with what James had talked to him about and was getting the new kids more involved; the college-age kids were knee-deep in classes; and Leslie Ann was even back to trying to get on the team before the age cutoff - which was made even more difficult by the fact that both Scott and Steve wanted to raise the age to eighteen after what had happened with the department.

James was deeply into the work needed to get his doctorate. The one thing he could say was that he'd done a lot under Sinister's eye, and he had plenty he could use for papers and presentations. He was just working on his dissertation for his theory on secondary mutations and the projection of mutation in family groups when someone knocked on his and Billy's door.

James glanced up to see what Billy was up to, then got to his feet to take care of it, knowing that Billy was half swearing under his breath at the paper he was writing, himself. He wasn't sure who to expect - outside of the fact that he assumed it would be someone in their friend group. But he still wasn't expecting to see Franklin. "The hell…"

"Hi, sorry. I just… I was serious about how I think it sucks that our teams don't talk more? So in the spirit of that… help?" Franklin looked every inch like he knew he was putting James in a weird position, but he stood waiting to see what James would do all the same.

James glanced over his shoulder toward Billy for a second, holding his breath as he did so. "Your timing sucks so bad," James said finally, clearly at a loss. "Phone call? Text? Smoke signals for a heads up? Literally anything?"

"Yeah, I know. But my dad doesn't want to bother anyone about this crap, whatever that's supposed to mean, so I thought-"

Before Franklin could get any further, James decided the only way forward was clear: "Hey, Billy, you've got a visitor."

"Tell Kate I don't want to hear her gloating about not having homework again," Billy called back without looking up.

"Not Kate," James said, then lowered his voice for Franklin. "You gotta go through him."

"Oh. Yeah, you know what, that's probably smart, I guess, thinking about it now, yeah."

"You're so behind on things right now," James said. "We're just now starting to get back to normal. Ish."

Franklin winced. "It's almost Spring Break. I thought, you know, more than half a year since Apocalypse…"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't Apocalypse that was the problem," James said as he stepped out of the way to let Franklin in. "I'll catch you up later."

"Yeah, sounds like you better. I mean, to be fair, we didn't even leave that pocket dimension until last Tuesday, but… yeah." Franklin bit his lip and then slipped over to where Billy was. "So… hi," he said, which finally got Billy to look up from his laptop.

Billy did a visible double-take, then looked toward James, who shrugged, before he said, "What's… going on?"

Franklin rubbed the back of his neck. "So, I keep finding out about bad things that happened to your team way after the fact and secondhand, right? And it sucks. And it's because my parents don't talk to people, you know?"

"Right," Billy said slowly.

"So, well, we've been home for a little over a week and Dr. Doom is already… I honestly don't know what he's doing, but he's asked my mom for her scientific expertise multiple times and not even in the usual creepy flirty way, so, like, I know it sounds like nothing, but I don't think my family sees the red flags, if that makes sense."

Billy glanced again at James, who was already backing out of the room, and let his shoulders drop. "Okay," he said slowly. "I think the best thing to do right now, honestly, is to have you tell my mom what you know and what you suspect. Because he's bugged her a lot lately, and she hasn't been paying him as much attention as usual, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's trying to work something up while she's expending a lot of magical energy."

"Yeah, James said a lot happened lately. Sorry I missed it."

Billy raised one eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, he didn't give me details or anything but… I dunno. It feels weird to offer condolences or solidarity or… something so far after the fact."

"Well, yeah, he's still not in the mood to talk about being dead," Billy said dryly.

Franklin took a visible step back. "...what?"

"Yeah, I sort of accidentally broke some stuff between Heaven and Hell trying to bring him back, and it's got my mom distracted, so… yeah."

Franklin stared at him for a long, long time before he finally blinked out of his thoughts. "Okay, yeah, clearly, our teams need to talk more because… wow."

"Clearly." Billy smirked and shook his head. "Seriously, though, I'm not trying to blow you off, but my mom would love to hear what Victor von Doofus is working on."

Franklin chuckled at that. "Yeah. Maybe sometime we can commiserate over dealing with the guy."

"How pressing is it?" Billy asked, since the guy had just shown up rather than reaching out.

"That's the thing: I don't know. He sounded agitated talking to my mom. More than normal, I mean. Whatever he's working on, it sounds like he's trying to get it done fast. Which makes me nervous, all things considered."

"Want to tell me about it over Chinese?"

Franklin looked like he would melt with relief over the request, because it was so much like how things used to be. "Yeah, please."

"Perfect." Billy was already texting - first James to let him know the plan and then his mom to see if she could get away for a conversation for a minute. And in no time at all, they had takeout on the table between them, with Billy's cell phone in the middle of it with Wanda on speaker phone.

But they didn't have a whole lot of solutions - even between the group - and the most James could offer was to get Tony's satellites paying a little closer attention to Latveria than usual. "That is a whole lot of weirdness with that guy and Tony anyhow," James said once Wanda had made it clear that she wasn't about to tip Doom off that they knew he was acting out of character by using magic.

"Thanks," Franklin said, looking genuinely more relaxed than he had been when he arrived. "I'm sorry I don't have more for you. That's… it's hard to communicate vibes over the phone, and that's really all I have is that something's off."

"Yeah, if you never do it, it's hard to convey," James pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah." Franklin reached for the box of veggies. "I'm allowed to be worried about my mom and lose my head, okay?"

"He's not going to touch your mom," James said, making a point to look toward both Billy and Franklin. "Neither of them."

"I can probably work that into a spell, actually. I've been working more with Doctor Strange, and I saw how he did that alarm spell. I think I can do something similar but something that moves the target away from him instead of bringing security to the target, if that makes sense," Billy said, tapping his chopsticks absently as he considered it.

"Do you need them here, though?" James asked.

"Yeah, and it might take a while, if that's okay," Billy said, still looking thoughtful.

"I mean, I can talk to my mom, but she's … weird about him," Franklin said, making a face.

James got up from the table and headed off into his bedroom only to come out with a cuff that he handed to Franklin. "Get her to wear this. It'll help to keep her a little bit safer anyhow."

"And it'll work anywhere," Billy said, tapping the cuff as Franklin took it.

"If she gives you any trouble, tell her I'm worried about her and then give her the thirty second update on what I've been up to all winter." He looked over to Billy. "I can probably ask if someone can shadow her, too. There are enough people watching Azazel."

"Put my uncle on it," Billy said, smirking. "If he's gonna bother my mom again, you just know Uncle Pietro wants to stop it."

"Pretty sure he's keeping tight to your Mom," James pointed out.

"Okay, well, what about…" Billy paused. "What about Noh? I mean, he wants to help us, still, right?"

"I can ask," James said with a shrug. "But he hasn't really been nearby when I've looked. I think you chased him off."

"I'm not even going to pretend I'm sorry about that, because that would insult your intelligence and I like how smart you are."

"I'm pretty sure I'm missing context here, but… hey, as long as my mom's okay…" Franklin said.

James sighed as he looked over to Billy. "Should I give him the fast version that leaves more questions than answers that I won't explain? Or do you want to?"

"I mean, it's always fun to watch people's heads explode, but I got it," Billy promised. "I mean, it's pretty straightforward. I broke the boundaries of Heaven and Hell, and you still get messages from Heaven because we're trying to track down the demon I let loose."

James turned toward Franklin. "All that happened after Apocalypse, after we got picked up by the Department, and after they tried to kill me with Adamantium and telepaths. Super straightforward."

"Yeah, could happen to anyone," Franklin said, though he was wide-eyed staring between the two of them. "Do… you need help with the… demon problem?"

"Maybe?" James said. "I almost got him last time around."

"The problem is how fast he is," Billy said. "And we can't seem to find him anywhere. The only time we know for sure we can get to him is if he gets close enough to Mia to set off a magical alarm."

"And even then, it's a proximity thing. I don't know where he is in relation to her until I get there," James agreed.

"He's an ancient demon, and he's got stupid complicated magic to protect himself. So, you know, if you meet the inventor of deception himself, give me a call?" Billy said, one eye shut.

"...yeah, I'll get right on that," Franklin said, still looking shocked and shaking his head at the whole thing.

"Looks like my parents were right … those other teams just can't keep up to the level," James teased with a half smile Billy's way.

"I mean, that's just not normal," Franklin said, finally letting out a disbelieving laugh.

"But being able to say the phrase 'Victor Von Doom isn't himself' is normal?" James challenged. "or 'the way he's skeezing at my mom isn't his normal tone of skeezy' … that's normal?"

"I mean, obviously not, but 'hey, by the way, a demon escaped after I died, could you be on the lookout' feels like a lot?"

"No, it wasn't after I died," James said thickly, rolling his eyes for effect. "It was after Billy busted me out of Heaven. Come on."

"You know what I meant," Franklin said, rolling his eyes right back.

"X-Men problems," Billy said in an almost disinterested tone.

"No kidding." Franklin leaned back and then laughed. "Okay, pass me the orange chicken. I think we need to catch up properly."


Nate's twentieth birthday party ended up being an excuse for half the young heroes to go to Genosha and spend a week at the beach for their respective Spring Breaks. Sure, they took work with them - James was putting the finishing touches on his dissertation, Billy and Wanda were looking into Latverian nonsense, Kate was trying to get past a new code Hydra had - but they spent days out in the sun, and they were better for it.

All except for Tommy, who was in the papers yet again for blowing up at a paparazzo who had been spying on him and Mia and snapped a picture of the two of them sitting practically on top of one another and whispering. Even if they were dancing around the idea of dating again, he hadn't been lying when he said they'd been talking about his arm, and when the paparazzo had made some explicit comments, he'd lost his temper.

It was a mess, and he was technically in trouble with his parents, even if both of them totally understood why he'd blown up. The problem was: the blowup hadn't helped his argument that he and Mia weren't dating… and Mia seemed a bit more distant ever since then too. He knew he'd come out of that whole thing looking like an idiot.

Now that they were back in Westchester for a team practice, though, he was trying to figure out how to ask her if … well … maybe they could give it a go. They'd danced around each other for months now.

But there were only five weeks left in the semester, so maybe now wasn't the best time to drop emotional stuff on her. Or maybe it was and she'd do better not playing in limbo.

Yeah, he was going in circles. Which meant he was back to walking around the gardens as the rest of the team showered off.

He was playing with his fingers as he walked, stretching them out one at a time and then curling them in again. He was used to it by then, but every once in a while, when he was thinking about Mia, every little movement of metal made him think about the hours and hours she'd poured into helping him and her dad.

He was so lost in his head that he didn't even notice he wasn't alone - though to his credit, the man watching him was an expert at staying hidden. He'd evaded detection by the forces of Heaven itself for the past four months, after all.

Today, his disguise was as simple as he could manage to do … he looked exactly like himself, but minus the fur, tail, and pointed ears. It was always easier to keep it close to perfection, after all. He looked like most of the other people around Genosha, and when he got to his feet to pass the white-haired prince by, it raised no alarm bells. The boy was so lost in his own thoughts he didn't even feel it when Azazel picked his pocket of his phone. As soon as he was out of view, he teleported to the far reaches of the island - a mountaintop overlooking the city with a well worn trail that those who lived there frequented. And it seemed to be the perfect place for him to look through the boy's interests.

The code was bypassed with a simple spell, and after trying to orient himself a bit, he started looking through the various texts, messages, emails, and contacts to determine who was who and what the connections were. THere was so much to be considered. Jokes and ridiculous commentaries told only via pictures, intellectual questions that made the jokes and whatnot look all the more asinine, and reminders about team practice. Just reading those had Azazel making a low noise of irritation. The boy fancied himself a little hero … as did all of his little friends. It was disgusting.

But the insight into who was who, who the boy was closest to, who he took to asking advice from - particularly about young Mia … most of which were to his brother, but barely. Kate was incredibly high on his list of esteemed friends.

It was all so telling. Especially the blatant encouragement for the lovestruck boy to pursue his interests. All of which seemed incredibly deep compared to all that was being written about him in the press.

Then, because the temptation was simply too great, he couldn't help but to open the phone app and scroll down to the entry for Mia … and hit call. He had to know what she would do in response to what appeared to be a commonly called number.

"Hey, Tommy," came Mia's response after a few seconds of ringing. "I thought you were still officially in trouble for yelling at the cameraman?" she added, obviously teasing him - and if it had been Tommy on the other end, he would have been relieved to hear it, because her initial reaction had been annoyance with him for losing his temper.

"I'm sure no one believes that to truly be the case," Azazel said, smiling to himself.

Mia was silent on the other end for several long seconds. "Who is this?"

"Are you sure you can't guess? I took you to be a rather clever girl, after all."

"Where's Tommy?"

"You mustn't worry over the boy. I'm sure he's fine."

Mia let out a frustrated sound that bordered on a growl. "How did you get his phone?"

"Now, my dear girl, that's no way to speak to a long lost relative."

"How did you get his phone?" she repeated herself, the growl more obvious in her words. "If he's hurt-"

"Why on earth would I hurt him?" Azazel asked with a laugh. "You've chosen well, it seems. It's overdue for you to find a throne for yourself. I'm sure that will do. For now."

"That's not - we aren't -" Mia sputtered. "What do you want?"

"There's not anyone in your friend circle that believes that. And neither do you, for that matter. I simply couldn't resist taking the chance to speak to you."

Mia was quiet on the other end for a minute, though Azazel didn't know that she was quickly pulling up the location information for Tommy's phone. "I didn't ask you to approve of him. And I'm not going after a throne."

"Oh. Certainly not," he said in a thick tone, as if he were playing along with her.

There was another pause on Mia's end before, in a poof of blue, she appeared a few feet from him, one hand on her hip and a finger pointed at him. "Where's Tommy?"

Azazel looked positively delighted to see her, too. He was grinning broadly - and reached into his back pocket just a moment before, as expected, James appeared closeby - responding with the alarm spell Mia had on her. But, this time, before James fully oriented, Azazel teleported just behind him and did his best to try and take his head off with a string of piano wire.

James had reacted as quickly as he could - and had managed to get a hand up near his neck before he was trying to push the wire for some room to breathe, a little too focused on the immediate instinct to stop it than he was to get his claws out, but it was a nasty struggle right from the start. Azazel pulled him backward off his feet, and stuck tight while James tried to get a bit of room while the wire dug into his hands and throat.

"Stop it!" Mia cried out - and thunder from a suddenly-forming cloud boomed over their heads.

"Why?" Azazel asked, jockeying to get a little more leverage, but he couldn't get the traction he should have at that point for as hard as James was fighting back… hands involved or no. "He attacked me last time. It seems only fair."

"He's my best friend and he's allowed to protect me," Mia said, the cloud deepening and darkening.

"Yes, well … I feel as though an equal injury is fitting to what I sustained last time."

"So, this seems bad," Tommy said, zipping over to investigate what could only have been Mia's storm and stopping short of the fight, obviously trying to gauge how to help without also hurting James. Seeing that James couldn't do anything but keep his hands between the wire and his neck - and seeing how badly cut James already was and how much blood there was - Tommy bounced a few times before he threw out a concussive wave ahead of him and rushed to where they were, hoping to catch Azazel as he was thrown off balance and get some leverage on him to force him to let go of the wire. He was quick enough, too, that he got there before Azazel could right himself or teleport, and from there, it was just a matter of grabbing an arm and concussing the bones.

Before Azazel could heal, James had enough leverage to break free from there, and that gave Mia the opening she was looking for. The clouds opened up and drenched all three men, washing away the blood they all had on them and making her lightning that much more potent when she struck.

The air around them was thick with ozone after the lightning strike, and though Tommy was ready to make another rush, James was just on his hands and knees trying to breathe. Somehow, Azazel was managing a steady, thick smoke even in the deluge.

"Do you want me to take the guy to Doc Strange or…?" Tommy asked Mia, frowning down at Azazel.

Mia nodded, swallowing hard. "If we can keep him contained," she said, and Tommy didn't need to hear the rest.

"Gotcha," he said, crouching by what he'd thought was a smoking corpse. And then, a second later, he had a handful of red smoke. "For real? I thought you'd smoked him."

"I'll hit him with two next time for good measure," Mia said, her eyes flashing still.

Tommy shook his head and then went to go check on James, who had a hand over his throat as he healed. "What happened?" he asked.

Mia was almost shaking with rage. "He called me."

"Creep," Tommy said.

"From your phone."

Tommy's eyes went wide, and he reached for his back pocket. But of course, the phone wasn't there - and wasn't on the ground, either. "Oh."

"Yeah. You okay?"

"I mean, yeah. I didn't even know…"

Mia let her shoulders drop and reached out to grab his arm. "Just… be careful, okay?"

"I… am? I don't know how he got my phone," Tommy said, still wide-eyed.

As soon as James was feeling halfway alright - or at least could take his hand from his neck without bleeding freely, he got to his feet and simply started to walk down the path. He was pissed, and he was already thinking over what he wanted to do in retaliation, and it looked to him like MIa and Tommy needed a minute alone anyhow. He wasn't up to talking himself, anyhow, but he wasn't exactly expecting Mia to let that happen, either.

"You okay?" Mia asked, teleporting to James.

James turned her way and nodded, trying and failing to smile a little so she knew he wasn't mad at her.

Mia sighed and then rushed forward to wrap him in a hug. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you. I knew he was there; I could have given you a heads up."

He shook his head at that, though. They had no idea where James himself was going to appear … there was no way to judge or plan ahead. Not when teleportation was factored in, anyhow. He gave her a little squeeze and kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, I know. I just… I panicked?" She winced and glanced over at Tommy. "He called me from Tommy's phone," she said in a whisper.

James swallowed hard and tried for a whisper. "I'll handle it."

"We need to figure out a better something, because he was basically congratulating me on my play for the throne, and that's not okay."

James smirked and shook his head. "I got it."

"Can I help?" Mia asked, her tail finally starting to move again after being stiff with fear that whole time.

He shrugged openly. "My lab."

"Okay, I'll meet you there. I'm just…" She glanced toward Tommy.

"Go." He held up his phone and pulled up Billy, so she knew he'd manage his own way home.

She nodded and gave James one more tight hug before she teleported back to Tommy and kissed him.

Tommy grinned and pulled back just for a second. "What was that for?"

"I was worried about you," she said.

"I'm fine," he said. "I broke his arm, and you fried him. I think we're a good tag team, aren't we?"

"Yeah, when we know he's there," Mia pointed out.

Tommy frowned and then dipped his head to look at her. "I'm okay," he promised.

"Good. Stay that way," she said, blushing purple.

Tommy watched her for a second longer and then pulled her into a longer kiss. "So… dinner tonight? I've been meaning to ask you out for a while now."

Mia nodded. "Yes, please."


Almost as soon as Billy got the text James sent, he wished to get him home - not at all expecting him to show up soaked to the bone, muddy, and almost mute. The white shirt he had on showed the half washed out blood that had been there before Mia's downpour and all James could manage to do to explain himself was to sigh as he tossed his phone onto the couch with a softly whispered out 'thanks' before he immediately started stripping off all his wet things.

He was already plotting out his side of the chess game - and after thinking about it for a few moments, he knew he was going to ask if Billy or Wanda or someone could reinforce his tech with a spell to keep the jackass from wrecking it. Which he was sure the guy would pull once he figured out James had made a device that would stop teleportation. Or … that was the plan, anyhow.

"So… you look like you're plotting," Billy said. "And wet."

"He tried to take my head off with a wire," James said, knowing that would stack the deck a little bit.

"Oh, okay, so he wants to die a horrible death, noted," Billy said.

James smirked at that and nodded. "Your brother needs a protective spell. Immediately."

Billy's expression fell. "What happened?" he asked, even as his eyes and hands were glowing as he started to work something up.

James cleared his throat as he started dropping the wet clothes right where he stood - he didn't think he could use his voice just yet, but he could say a little more, anyhow. "Stole Tommy's phone to bother Mia. So he was close enough to lift it, and I do not like that one bit."

"Neither do I," Billy agreed, glowing eyes narrowed. "Okay, hold on. You heal while I figure out how to word this right." He sat down, his fingers moving as he worked through it. He could wish Tommy into protection, yeah, but adding some actual magic he'd been learning from Strange would help…

"And I want you to think about how you can reinforce a new piece of tech I'm going to make to stop him from teleporting as soon as I show up next time."

"Okay. I'll think about that in a second."

"Haven't made it yet, so you have time," James said before he walked over to kiss his cheek on his way to wash up. "Give your brother some time if you need him in front of you. Pretty sure Mia was going to make a move."

"Yeah?" Billy said without looking up. "We think it's a good idea for them to trauma bond after all the weird dancing they're doing?"

"How are you going to stop it?" James asked. "And they had a real bond to start with."

"Point." Billy worked his fingers a few more times. "Okay, I think I've got it. Come explain the thing you want to make when you're clean. I'm just gonna wish a demonic repulsion ring around my brother."

"Careful it won't push Mia away, too," James teased. "He'll never speak to you again."

"Yeah, that's actually what I'm working on," Billy admitted with a crooked smirk. "I need to set it to the level of greater demons or… something."

"I can bring back a piece of him next time," James said.

"Would you?" Billy asked, genuinely. "It would help the focus of the spell. Right now, I can do a rudimentary 'ill-intentioned people can't come close' but it's too wide and could be broken by demon magic."

James nodded and took off the last of his wet clothes before he headed off to shower. "Unless I kill him, yeah. I'm off to de-mud."

"Have fun." Billy sat there for some time weaving the spell before he sent it into the ether. He knew a stronger, more directed spell would stand up better against Azazel, but… it was something. And while James was still cleaning up, he quickly drew up another spell that would let him know if the spell broke. So that was something else.

But if this guy was coming after Tommy too… they needed to step up their approach.


"So," Tommy said. He had his hands behind his head and was looking up at the stars while Mia had her head in the space where his shoulder met his chest. "At the risk of messing things up by talking too much…"

"You're already off to a bad start there," Mia said, but she didn't pick herself up, either.

"Yeah, I know. I just…" He took a breath deep enough that it moved Mia's head. "You didn't kiss me just because your evil grandfather threatened me, right? Because I get it, and I'm protective of you too, but I actually don't want us to mess this up again. I want to get it right," he explained, and the more he talked, the more Mia's ears perked up until she was grinning at him and turning into him.

"Love you too," she said - and kissed him silly.


As soon as the group had gotten back from Nate's birthday break in Genosha, whenever he wasn't dealing with Azazel hunting, James had turned in his final paperwork and papers to get his doctorate. He had it halfway in mind to take on finishing one more every year or two simply because it would be easier that way, and he was tired of theories and projects were almost entirely done anyhow.

And yet … even though he'd rushed his work to get it done, he still wasn't expecting to get his package by courier quite that fast. Perks of being part of Stark. Billy was working on his classes - studying hard for a nasty test when the courier showed up, and James was reasonably sure that he didn't hear most of that little transaction at the door.

He definitely didn't look up when James dropped down on the couch to open the box, so as soon as James realized what he was holding in his hands, he stared at it for a moment, closed the book it came in, then waited for Billy to take a study break before he nonchalantly slid it over to him.

He didn't know what to say to warn him … and he wasn't really prepared to admit he was still processing himself how he'd managed to squeeze all the work he'd done into such a short span of time. So, instead of saying anything, James just … let out a long, weary sigh and leaned back in his seat.

It took Billy a moment to pick up the folder, but he was frowning as soon as he realized that this was an official thing, not just … some random thing.

"I've still got like … three years to finish the others before I time out," James said - because of course he'd started out with several focuses. "But I think it won't take nearly that long." He shrugged, then snapped a picture of the paper simply to text to Tony and his dad without any explanation.

Billy stared at the paper for a long time before he grinned up at James. "So, Doctor Howlett, how's it feel?"

"I dunno." James chuckled even as he got a text from his dad. "You gonna say it that way every time?"

"Obviously."

James shook his head at that before he read his dad's text:

Proud of you. Fair warning that Annie is already prepared to throw you a party. I know you have more to go; I'll defuse her if you want me to.

Billy leaned over James' shoulder and smirked at the message. "She has a point. We should celebrate."

James smirked crookedly at him, but he wasn't going to argue when Billy was genuinely in such a good mood. Instead, he just shot off a quick response:

Billy already called dibs.

"That's right I did," Billy said.

There was no time at all before Tony was calling - skipping the text in favor of his good news, too. James glanced at Billy before he hit the button to accept the call.

"This is great news, kid," Tony was saying. "And just in time for that tour I told you we had to do."

"You didn't mention it," James said - which was partly true. He'd mentioned it in passing, but it hadn't sounded to James like it was something required for him to go on.

"Whatever, you're going. You've been ignoring me for too long," Tony said flatly. "And you need a break after all that. Besides, it'll just be a few weeks - and that'll be plenty of time for your sweetie to study in peace so he can catch up on some of those degrees."

James smirked at Billy. "Is that true? You need to have me get out of your face so you can catch up in degrees? Going for some big letters to go after HRH?"

"Oh totally," Billy said straight-faced. "You're too distracting, handsome."

James smirked wider. "Better get out of your way then."

"In a minute. Tell Grandpa Tony I called dibs first. You can go on tour after we celebrate."

"Not arguing with you," James said just before Billy leaned in to steal an involved kiss that had James tossing his phone aside.