Chapter 25 - Tommy And Mia Have Grandfather Issues
Only about a week had passed before Annie finally spoke up over breakfast to see if James would take a little time to help her practice. He'd all but abandoned the apartment he and Billy were sharing in favor of sticking close to the school, and enough time had passed since Storm had gotten injured that Annie was worried about losing the edge she'd been gaining. It was high time she got back into the swing of things.
And naturally, as soon as she asked, James agreed to it - even going so far as to have her pick the time, since he wasn't working around anyone else's schedule.
They got down to the gym - not the Danger Room, because James insisted they didn't need an audience or a recording until she was comfortable with that - and James had made sure that there weren't any spectators or peanut galleries to contend with even though Scott, Craig, and Storm had wanted to join in. James just knew how much pressure they could lay on without meaning to, so he wanted to let her take her time before letting in a crowd.
They did still end up having a peanut gallery, but Annie couldn't see them. But several of the original X-Men on the other side wanted to see Annie take her first steps onto the team. It wasn't just that they were all rooting for her (and Scott); it was honestly a new situation anyway, since Annie hadn't even had powers until she was in her late thirties.
Annie was a little nervous to get started, mostly because she was used to Ororo and Scott, but James took his time going through warm ups with her and making very sure that her hand wraps were done properly.
"Okay," James said once it looked like she was relaxing a little bit. "Why don't you show me what you usually do, and then, we can figure out what you want to do next?" He held up both hands. "I don't know what Dad or Storm like to do with you."
But when that seemed to draw forward another anxious response, James tried a different tactic. "Okay. Let's … alright. Staves? Just to get moving?"
Annie brushed her hair behind her ear, smiling a little more genuinely when she realized he was actively trying to help her calm down. "Sorry. I know I'm nervy."
"Don't apologize; you're used to stressful, serious sessions. We can do that, but I want to know what you've got down already and try to make it fun. I like this kind of thing."
"Well, my daddy taught me a few things," Annie said with a proud smile. "Ororo has been teaching me more about how to work within a team, but I can hold my own in a decent bar fight," she added.
"Oh, I knew I liked her," Jubilee said, kicking up her feet beside Jean as they settled in to watch the show.
"That would be when I'd usually ask someone to attack me, but I don't want you breaking anything," James teased with a little smirk.
"Well, I'm still a bit of a beginner with staves, but…"
"It's just to warm up," James said as he handed her a set, then slow walked her through his favorite warmup for that - which was just a simple alternating right to right, left to left with each other until she started to relax. Then, they sped up the pace until she was smiling at the quick clack-clack of the sticks. "Okay, so - now, can you show me what they taught you? Whatever you're most comfortable with."
"Most of it's self-defense, so… you come at me, and I'll go from there."
"Self defense is good," James agreed. He frowned, a little uncomfortable himself at playing the aggressor, but … if that's what she wanted, he wasn't going to argue it. He started with a simple grab for one of her wrists to give her a chance to break the hold or strike back. It was a basic attack that most people in rioting crowds liked to do - and she did beautifully breaking out of it, so James shifted directly into grabbing a hold of her from behind - just moving the attack from one area to another to let her work through the most common things that people did. And for all of it, she did pretty well.
"She's gonna need to get comfortable attacking and not just defending," Pietro said, and Jean instantly waved him off.
"Hush. She's doing great," Jean said, one hand propping up her chin. "You should have seen the team in its early days."
"You should have seen you in your early days," Jubilee teased, and Jean stuck her tongue out at her.
"Okay, what have you got for an offensive counter?" James asked. "Defense and blocking is great, but if you get a jerk in your face, what are you ready to do to make them back off?"
"That's what Ororo and I were working on when she broke her wrist," Annie admitted.
James nodded. "Do you know how to throw someone?" He set himself up in front of her, doing his best to ignore the gathered heroes, since that would only get Annie more anxious.
"Half the time," Annie admitted, wincing into a shrug. "I'm still working on that."
"So … your dad taught you a lot, right? I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet that most of that had to do with handsy guys?"
Annie nodded. "He wanted us safe. He also taught us how to handle guns, and Craig taught us a few things after basic training."
"A lot of that's something you can still use," James pointed out. "I know Dad and Ororo don't push it, but that basic kick 'em in the nuts as hard as you can works on most of the people you'll run across."
"Or break their nose," Annie said with a smirk. "If they're protecting their jewels."
James tipped his head. "Yeah, that can do it." He smiled. "Alright. How much do you want to knock them for a loop?"
Annie leaned forward, a twinkle in her eye. "I think Ororo is holding back. I want to surprise them, please."
Jean let out a delighted noise, and Jubilee elbowed her in the side. "Your husband has a type," Jubilee teased her.
James nodded and held up his hands. "Show me how you hit. I don't want to screw up your form; I want to give you some more things you can do with your natural responses."
Annie nodded and settled into a stance, reminding herself of the tips Ororo had already given her.
When she'd thrown a few punches, James relaxed with a grin. "Alright. You're overthinking a little bit. Totally normal. You're doing well, but I think you can get there quicker without thinking at all." He took her hand and started removing the wraps. "This is easier without this in the way, and you don't have to hit me full force. Save it for the bags, okay? Just … don't bother making a fist. Keep your fingers together and hit me with the bottom half of your palm." When she hit his hand a few times, he nodded to encourage her. "Okay - now, don't go for a classic punch. You can use this up the nose or use the flat of your arm and hand to hit someone in the throat. Like those bad karate movies. You'll get the most momentum from the hand, but anywhere along your arm will work, and you don't have to aim."
He gave her time to get comfortable with it, then started suggesting different hits and strikes, letting her move through palm strikes, edge of palm strikes, punches, and even slaps until she was clearly more relaxed with the different modes.
"Great," James said as he came up behind her. "When I reach over you, grab my arm with both of yours. Reach up to do it -" Annie did exactly that, looking nervous as James kept talking her through it. "Great. Now, drop down fast, using your weight and momentum, drop your shoulder and pull me over as hard as you can. Don't think about it."
As Annie followed through, Jubilee whistled loudly, at that point being obnoxious just to try to distract James.
As soon as James hit the mat, he looked up at Annie, still steadfastly ignoring the others in the room for Annie's sake. "So … you got the creep down. Take him out before he can grab your ankles. Punch, palm strike - or just stomp him. Yeah? Someone attacking you might also be asking you to kick them in the head. That's all fair game."
"I dunno, I liked when she broke Emma's nose when she had her down," Jubilee said with real relish that was barely audible over Jean loudly snorting.
Annie nodded and offered him a hand up, and they kept practicing until it was obvious Annie was starting to get tired. Finally, grinning, she slid down the wall and cracked open a water bottle from the cooler near by.
"Thanks," she said as soon as she'd drunk half the bottle.
"Sure," James said as he made his way over to sit next to her - cross-legged on the floor.
"I've been working with Betsy on being a bit more aggressive with the telepathy, too," she admitted. "It's easier to be aggressive that way, for some reason."
"I think most people think a lot meaner than they'd act," James said.
Annie chuckled at that. "Ain't that the truth."
"Do you feel any better about any of this, or did I just repeat everyone else's stuff?"
"No, no, I really appreciate this," Annie promised quickly. "Some of it was repetition, but I liked the way you explained it. Easier to understand, if that makes sense."
"I figured a lot of the jargon wouldn't be useful, so I dropped it where I could," he admitted.
"Thanks. I think your father forgets that he ran the team for as long as he did, and I was an Army brat, not an actual veteran like Craig," she teased lightly.
"You can just go ahead and toss your brother the next time he annoys you if you want to make a point," James said with a smirk. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it."
"I just might," Annie laughed. "He's trying to talk me out of joining the team, you know."
"I'm not surprised," he said. "And I understand it, too."
"Oh, so do I," Annie said quickly. "But…" She trailed off and leaned her head back. "This team means so much to your father, and I love him. I really do. And I want to be part of it with him."
James shook his head at that, though. "Yes, but also no. Family outranks anything with the team, even if he counts the team as family. It's a little different, and the only reason it's happening now is because we were going to do it with or without him."
"Yes, I know. But he's so much happier; haven't you noticed?"
"You mean when I'm not giving him fits over something monumentally stupid coming down?"
"James, honey, I saw him through every damn thing Emma did to wreck things between us and between you and him. Anything after that feels like small potatoes."
"Sure," James agreed, though he wasn't entirely on the same page; even mention of what Emma pulled with them hit a nerve that James hadn't thought about in a while.
"And anyway, who else gets to say their midlife crisis was getting powers and joining the X-Men?" Annie teased when she saw that she hadn't landed the zinger she'd thought she had.
James smirked but didn't say what he wanted to, because Annie would definitely get mad if he pointed out that's what Emma had done the first go-round. It wasn't the same tone anyhow. And Annie definitely wasn't trying to damage what still stood with Scott and his kids.
"Oh, when she's ready, tell her we're throwing her 'Welcome to the X-Men' parties over here," Jean said, grinning over James' shoulder.
James shook his head over Jean's commentary, but knew it could easily look as though he was shifting focus to anyone not between realms. "You know, I'm happy to work with you whenever you want," James said, blatantly ignoring Jean's offer, since he was very sure acknowledging the extended family in attendance would only blow Annie's good cheer. "And when you're comfortable and don't need coaching through what you have already, I can show you more throws. Getting someone on the ground is the fastest way to end a fight."
"Yes, please. I feel like I'm finally getting into a good rhythm lately. Helps that Chance is actually sleeping more than two hours at a time," Annie teased.
"Well I'm not really doing anything right now anyway. Taking a break from the other crap I was doing."
"Then I'm stealing you," Annie decided.
"Selfishly or to try and save me from your brother?"
"Selfishly," Annie laughed. "Craig has a hard enough time chasing down his hero clients without my help."
"Yeah," James looked at his hands as he took his wraps off, rewrapping them as he did so. "I just … don't really know what to say to him most of the time."
"That's alright. Believe it or not, he got into the therapy business because our dad couldn't ever face his feelings. He's used to dealing with people who can't verbalize it. Don't let him let you think he doesn't enjoy the challenge - or that he doesn't love getting to help in little ways too."
"I don't have a problem with the feelings," James said. "I just don't know how to explain what he doesn't know."
"You're an excellent teacher," Annie said. "And I'd know. It's my profession. Maybe you just need to start with basic explanations and build from there."
"He's already got a lot on his plate," James said. "And I'm not sure I'm up to talking at all, to be honest."
"Almost no one is," Annie said. "Hell, I still have a hard time talking to him about what Emma put me through."
"Right. I think I was going to get you a car for rearranging her face…"
Annie laughed. "That's alright. I don't need one."
"Yeah, I can be your chauffeur."
"Deal." Annie reached over to pull him into a side hug. "Thank you. Really."
"Any time," James said as he rose to his feet effortlessly. "I owe you anyhow."
"Oh, please. We don't keep score in my family," Annie said, waving him off. "We just keep each other safe."
"And you act like you don't know how the team works." He offered her a hand up with an understated smirk.
Annie blushed with pleasure. "Yes, well." She cleared her throat and took his offered hand to get to her feet. "I need a shower. Thanks for helping me." With that, she gave him one last hug and headed out - already mentally reaching out to Scott to inform him that his middle child was amazing.
Kate woke up screaming in the middle of the night, scaring everyone in the hidden pocket dimension awake. Nate managed to get her grounded in reality again, but he was locked in a telepathic conversation with her to do it, promising her she was safe and reminding her again and again where she was.
Tony took David, who was scared for his mom, and walked him up and down the beach so he didn't see his mom crying and freaking out. And when Wanda saw that things were handled in that regard, she saw the sunrise and slipped over to Billy's hammock.
"It's an earlier morning than usual, but … would you like to break that blood enchantment this morning?"
Billy had been staring at Kate, wondering if he should do something… but when his mom proposed something new to do, he nodded quickly. "Yeah," he said. He was eager to fix this. He needed James back. He needed not to be burdened by the blood magic so he had all his power to help his friends and family. He was done recovering.
The two of them found a spot away from the others, and Wanda sat down in the sand with him, offering her power as an aid as he focused on his spell, clearing his mind and his desires as much as he could.
He didn't realize it, but there was a faint aura of stars around his eyes as he whispered his wish and could feel his connection to Azazel break so easily that he almost wasn't sure it had worked.
"Can you check…?" he whispered, peeking one eye open, only to see that he and his mother were no longer alone. While Rachel had gone to help Nate, America had come over and was watching them with an almost reverent smile, her hands pressed together.
"As far as I can tell, it worked," Wanda said, though she looked just as surprised at the ease of the spell as he was.
"Of course it did," America said, smiling widely.
Billy shot her a smile, not at all prepared for… whatever was going on there. And thankfully, his mom stepped in with a quiet, "And now that we don't have to worry about that blood tie… how would you like to help me drain a demon's soul?"
Billy lit up into a grin. "I'm absolutely down."
"I've been researching what's possible."
"Yeah, noticed your secret reading sessions," he teased her.
"We'll need a focus of some kind."
Billy nodded, thinking it over for only a moment before he grinned toward America. "Hey, want to help me find a gemstone to stick a demon in?"
"Absolutely."
"You know," Tommy said, playing with Mia's hair while they were curled up together in his room, "your dad is going to get back and accuse me of waiting for him to be gone to get you back in here."
"Please. James is covering for us whenever he asks," Mia said with a wave. "Besides, my dad likes you. He's just … doing his fatherly duties."
"Meanwhile, my dad keeps dropping hints that he thinks your last name is prettier just to think he's funny," Tommy said, rolling his eyes. "Our dads are taking wildly different approaches here."
"Well, it's nice to know your dad is kinda in love with us being us."
"Literally since the day we started dating in high school," Tommy told her frankly.
"He is super smart." Mia giggled as she snuggled in.
"And he is blatant about wanting me and Billy to marry geniuses. James and you… kinda fit the bill for him. He's in heaven." Tommy shook his head. "He's, like, fifty steps ahead of himself, but ya know. Parents."
"Yeah? And what are you thinking?" MIa asked with a teasing expression.
"I think you're way too smart for me. Totally out of my league in looks. Got me beat in heroics. It's a good thing I'm hilarious, or you wouldn't have even noticed me," he shot back without missing a beat.
"I dunno; you're awfully cute," she said.
"I mean, I am, but you're a goddess, so no comparison."
"I guess I'll just have to get you to fall as madly in love with me as your dad is for us."
"Won't have to try hard, since I'm already there, but sounds fun," he said, still grinning as he played with her hair.
"Wow," she said in a breath.
"What, too cheesy?" Tommy asked, wincing.
"No, so sweet I don't have a follow up."
"Oh. Cool. That's… what I was going for," Tommy said, though he seemed at a loss for what to do himself.
She picked herself up just enough to kiss him into the pillows though - just because she didn't like the silence, and she wasn't sure how else to express herself when he was being that sweet.
Whatever plans they'd had for the evening fell by the wayside for a while, and they were just starting to doze off a little past midnight when Tommy heard something outside and peeked one eye open.
"If that's a paparazzo trying to sneak in again, Mom's security system is going to send him into Timbuktu," he told her, though he was already grabbing some shorts to go to the window to check, just in case it was something more than a photographer.
And then, suddenly, he was looking down at Mia, who had teleported down to the ground and looked surprised at herself - and then worried..
"Crap." Tommy grabbed his shirt so at least she'd have something to wear and ran down to meet her, though she had already teleported away again. And he didn't like how much it felt like someone was playing keep-away with his girlfriend, seeing as he was still able to see her smoke and try to catch up to her. "Would you just-" She teleported away again, at a different angle. "Would you just let me-" She teleported away again. "I just want to give her a shirt!"
Finally, Mia stopped not far from where they'd last encountered Azazel together, and he threw the shirt over her head, because it was at least one thing he could concretely do to improve her situation. She looked wide-eyed, and he was frankly annoyed by that point, but they didn't see Azazel yet either.
"You okay?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"Obviously not."
"Yeah, stupid question," he agreed, wincing, still looking around for any sign of her grandfather before he raised his voice. "Want a square knot this time? I can get creative!"
Tommy waited, and when he heard the sound of the teleport, he dodged again. He figured Azazel would see it coming, so he dodged by several yards before he doubled back around again, skidding to a stop in the sand to wave at the demon king. "Hi again. As you can see, we were once again in the middle of something. If you have comments or concerns, please leave them at the front desk with my mom's secretary."
Azazel let out a cry of frustration and teleported again, and again, Tommy was faster than the teleport. Azazel couldn't guess where Tommy would run, just like Tommy couldn't guess where he would teleport. But Tommy had less-than-split-second reflexes giving him an edge, which meant the two of them chased each other until Tommy's speed had blown half the sand away from the metal base of the growing island and the waves were lapping at their feet as both of them stopped to glare at each other.
…and Tommy held up a rolled-up blueprint that he'd snatched from Azazel one of the times he'd gotten close. He'd learned from Storm, after all, and he couldn't resist antagonizing the guy who thought it was okay to mess with them.
"Oooh, what's this?" Tommy unrolled it, zipped to the other side of the beach before Azazel could snatch it back, and then zipped a few more places as he kept reading it. "Interesting. So this is why you want my almost-brother-in-law, huh?" He zipped away again and tore the blueprint to shreds. "Oops."
With a snarl, Azazel looked as if he wanted to tear Tommy to shreds as well, but instead of the teleporting that he fell back on so heavily, he reached out to telepathically freeze him in place. He suspected that the witch's influence had destabilized his magic, so something non-magical would have to do … for the moment, anyhow. When Tommy was stuck tight, Azazel strolled over, taking his time and knowing for certain that doing precisely that would be enough to infuriate Tommy. He hadn't even opened his mouth to gloat, though, when he reached out to rest his hand on Tommy's metal arm - and wished he hadn't almost immediately.
The security measures Mia had insisted on when she'd been helping design the arm kicked in, shocking Azazel so badly that he flew several feet away from Tommy and skidded in the sand. And once the shock had been expended, a blue light indicated that a distress signal had gone out.
Mia couldn't help but let out a delighted "ha" as soon as that happened. "Don't touch my boyfriend," she said, and even stuck tight, Tommy managed to grin her way.
"Fine," Azazel said before he teleported to her and put his arm around her neck. "Take me to your attack dog, then."
Mia's smile dropped immediately, and she shook her head, even though she could feel herself being compelled to obey. "I can't. He's on the other end of the world right now."
"You just need a little help, my dear," he said, reaching into her mind to find where exactly they had to go - and then boosting her teleportation with his own to get there fast.
The only problem was that Mia couldn't possibly know what James was doing at that moment or where exactly he was … just that he was most likely at the school. Somewhere. But that only ended up meaning that she was rapidly teleporting around the grounds - and she tried to go to the least likely spots first, hoping that it would raise some red flags for someone if they were paying attention.
As it was, James was working with Leslie Ann, trying to coach her much like he'd worked with Annie. For Leslie Ann, though, they were out on the trails where she could relax a little with the forest around her while she found herself getting upset when she wasn't moving fast enough - or when the idea of what she wanted to do seemed too big and unattainable.
And as things had been with Annie, James was trying to tailor it to Leslie Ann. They'd been joking around, and she was almost to the point of throwing him - though he wasn't helping her to make it happen, insisting that she could do it on her own if she did it right. So that was how Mia and Azazel happened upon them … with James halfway across Leslie Ann's back as the young lady tried to figure out how to follow the steps to toss him.
"Holy crap," Leslie Ann said, the shock of a sudden audience apparently just enough adrenaline to get her to throw him to the ground - and she immediately felt bad about it when she realized that meant he was on the ground in front of a demon.
"Button - hit your button," James called out to her, though he couldn't put space between himself and Azazel when he could just teleport right to him. Azazel grabbed a hold of James with both hands - and James reached out to return the favor in kind, going for a straight up fight and entirely missing the dagger Azazel had a hold of with his tail. The grappling was solid, but since Azazel didn't know what had gone wrong with his work, the logical reasoning in the moment was more blood this time.
Leslie Ann and Mia both screamed when they realized what was happening as Azazel dragged his dagger across James' throat - and Leslie Ann hit her panic button several times over, scrambling backward.
James gasped - and the hand grasping Azazel's shirt sent a fistful of claws through his chest on impulse. While Azazel was still reeling, one of the trees near them grabbed Azazel around the neck and hoisted him up and away from James, too, while another tree whipped out a vine to drag James away from the demon.
James fell back as soon as Azazel was off him - and covered his throat with his un-bloodied hand - trying to heal up before he bled out enough to go down.
The sky overhead crackled with thunder and lightning, signaling to all of them that Ororo had seen the distress signal. Mia grinned - and then gasped when she saw the clouds start to turn red as Azazel cut himself free of the tree, one hand pressed to his chest but the other weaving magic in the air.
"Okay, don't like that," Leslie Ann said, trying to snare him again, though he teleported away from the trees and vines.
"Run," James told her as loudly as he was able, which at the moment wasn't very loud at all.
"Where?" Leslie Ann shot back, pointing at the red sky.
James gestured toward the house, blatantly ignoring the sky as he started to get to his feet. He wasn't steady, but he wasn't going to just take it if he could help it at all. And then, when he was trying to focus on how to move forward, he heard his mother giving advice from right next to him.
"See if you can fake him out," she suggested. "Probably won't work, but … just look like you hate him and grudgingly do as he asks. Until you can make it blow up on him, anyhow."
Mia could see her mother and Angel flying their way well ahead of anyone coming on foot from the house, and she glanced back at James. "Both of you should get out of here," she said, knowing she couldn't leave but that backup was close.
Again, James looked toward Leslie Ann for an instant. "Go."
"Okay, okay," Leslie Ann said, nearly tripping over herself as she tried to listen to his advice to scramble away.
But even though Azazel had more than enough blood to work his magic, James didn't feel very different at all. Except for the growing anger that his mother was beautifully helping him to build up and focus toward Azazel - whispering suggestions on how to move forward and how to make it hurt.
It seemed like Azazel realized that he didn't have the control he wanted, too, because one moment, he was grinning toward James - and the next, he let out a deep growl.
"Can't play when the field's level?" James rasped out.
"You stand there with a gift from your godling and speak to me of level fields?" Azazel growled out, teleporting to Mia instead, already considering how best to use what leverage he had to force obedience that blood magic couldn't do.
"You call yourself a king, but you can't even face me one on one?" James snarled out - this time loud enough for the approaching X-men to hear.
"I mean, sounds right," Tommy's voice rang out as he skidded to a stop, carrying both Alex and his dad over his shoulders and looking slightly winded for the trip but otherwise okay. "Oh, hi again."
"Get outta here, Tommy," James growled, his hands now in fists with one bloody set of claws dripping on the grass.
"What, and miss the chance to get rid of the guy holding puppet strings on my girlfriend?" Tommy asked, watching as Storm heard that and responded with rolling clouds that, despite their red color, were clearly under her control.
"I have little patience," Azazel said, glaring back at them. "Blood or not, I will kill the girl if you continue to be so obstinate." To prove his point, he pulled Mia closer to himself, the dagger in his tail waving underneath her face as her eyes went wide.
"Hey, no, wait a minute," Tommy said, holding both hands up as soon as he heard it.
"What do you want?" James said, still where he'd been the whole time and refusing to take his eyes off of Azazel.
"Just behave as your best friend takes you to complete one little task," Azazel said. It was a simple enough threat, and James was angry enough that he wasn't going to do anything to risk Mia … though he didn't know how to get her out of danger when he also knew Azazel absolutely would kill her.
James didn't answer, even when Mia teleported to him to quietly take a hold of his arm, looking both scared and apologetic. But when he saw how upset Mia was, James simply closed his eyes an instant before she teleported them out of there … along with a hitchhiker.
Tommy had waited until the last possible second to grab hold of Mia before she teleported, since he now knew that Azazel could boost her teleporting powers to take them wherever he wanted. He was aware, briefly, that they were on an island somewhere before he yanked Mia behind him and zipped her away from everyone else, apologized profusely, and then knocked her out and laid her gently in the sand.
Azazel hadn't anticipated Tommy showing up with them - and that was all the prompting James needed for as pissed off as he was. Almost as soon as Tommy zipped off with her, he grabbed a hold of Azazel's fur and yanked him over to start the fight - opening it by lopping off his tail the moment he raised it to strike out.
Tommy double-checked to make sure Mia was far enough from the fight to be safe before he nodded to himself. "Hey, Mom? Help," he muttered, knowing Wanda and Billy had been working to strengthen that spell so it would work even across dimensions.
Which meant that a star portal opened up just as Azazel started to scream his anger and pain as his tail fell writhing into the sand.
"Well, this looks fun," Billy said, and Wanda shook her head at him and reached over to take his hand, already working on their prepared spell with him.
By that time, both K and Logan were coaching James and cheering him on on how to make it hurt worse, including the ever-important advice not to let go of him for anything, since he could teleport. And James, for his part, pounded on him with everything he had - the whole time keeping a hand knotted into Azazel's hair.
Wait to kill him until my signal, Nate projected to James as he stepped through as well. Billy and his mom have a plan.
"Be quick," James gritted out in a growl, teetering on the edge of a red line.
I'll relay the message. But I promise it's worth the wait - they've figured out how to bind his magic outside of his soul and make him mortal. So he'll stay dead.
At that, James shifted gears to twist Azazel up into a pretzel, though he was fighting back hard, and keeping a hold of his hair was harder with every punch or kick thrown both ways.
"Now, that's weird-looking," Tommy said, pulling a face as he realized Azazel was bleeding color, like Billy and Wanda's spell was taking the paint off of the walls of his body. The color snaked its way toward America, who was standing in front of Billy and Wanda while they had their focus on the spell. She set a gem down in the sand, and the color seeped into that gem, causing it to glow ominously red - the same deep shade Azazel had been.
The fight between James and Azazel was too close for anyone to join in, but Tommy was just waiting for if Azazel got the upper hand, ready to help. It was obvious to everyone watching that James was losing way too much blood, and Tommy was worried he'd be too hurt to finish up if Billy and Wanda weren't fast enough.
So, it was a relief when everyone heard Nate in their minds: Now!
As soon as he got the all-clear, James shifted into another gear entirely - as if he'd been just holding it back the whole while. With a vicious snarl, he started hitting harder, faster - and with the claws out with every hit. And once he knew he'd done the damage he needed to, he took it a step further and took off his head … just because Logan had advised him to do so from the start.
And then, breathless, he sat backwards hard - though he hadn't yet let go of Azazel's hair.
"O-kay, big guy," Tony said, stepping through the portal and wincing when he saw what had happened. "Let's get you away from the demon remains, huh?" By that point, James was actively losing steam - and close to losing consciousness, and Tony swore as he rushed to his side.
"I got it," Tommy offered - and in a second, he had gathered enough wood to start a fire to throw the body on. "I know the drill, right?"
"Yeah, good call," Billy said, though he and Wanda both looked exhausted as they sat back in the sand, visibly pale and worn out.
"Can you get this to Strange?" America asked, handing Tommy the gem. "He knows how to destroy it. That should be the last step."
"You got it," Tommy promised, zipping away with the gem as Forge went straight to Mia to check on her.
"So… we did it, right?" Kate asked, poking her head out of the still-open portal but not coming through all the way. "I'm trying not to bring a baby into a bloodbath, so how safe am I?"
America let out a soft chuckle. "Here, Princess," she said, waving Kate over. "Let Rachel let him see something else past the fire."
"Good call," Kate said, making a face when she saw the blood in the sand.
James leaned on Tony, doing everything he could to stay awake, but between the blood loss, the fight, the stress, and the fact that he'd managed to trip into the red toward the end - even with his parents coaching him - he just couldn't do it. So, before the others had figured out how to move forward or gotten the fire anywhere near big enough to do the job, he'd passed out cold.
"Oh no," Billy said, but Tony was already moving to make sure James was at least comfortable where he was - and Billy was so tired he couldn't even get up to check on him. Which he hated.
"He's at least healing, right?" Kate asked, handing David to Nate, since Nate knew what illusion David was seeing to keep him from being traumatized, and she didn't want to blow the illusion on accident.
Tony scanned James quickly but didn't answer her until he got a positive response on the scans. "Looks like."
"Good." Kate sat down in the sand and put her head in her hands. As much as she'd appreciated the break to recover, she wasn't far enough out from what had happened to be okay with even the possibility of loss.
And that seemed to be the case across the beach: everyone there was sitting in various levels of shock. Billy and Wanda were once again tapped out of their power. Nate was keeping his son from seeing anything he shouldn't. And Tommy went to check on Mia, who was staring at the fire Tommy had built, watching it lick at her grandfather's remains.
"You okay?" he asked and then pulled a face. "Okay, that's a stupid question. Forget I asked it."
Mia let out a choked sort of sound and then leaned into him. "I have no idea how I'm even supposed to feel about all this."
"Yeah. I get it." Tommy shrugged and then put an arm around her. "It's not quite the same. I mean, my grandfather wasn't a demon, but he needed to be stopped … and it's weird, right? To not mourn? I get it."
"I wasn't going to mourn him anyway," Mia said. "I just - I guess it was weirdly a way I could see my father - and the angrier that demon was, the more I knew we were doing it right? So … I don't know. I don't think I can quite believe it's really really over."
"Yeah, fair," Tommy agreed. "I mean, it feels over, but I'm not opposed to, you know, sticking close to make sure you don't go wandering unexpectedly?" He shrugged. "Sorry. Thought you were doing the whole… 'I'm blood related to the guy my friends just murdered.'"
"No, it's more like … if we did it right -and I hope we did - then I won't get to say goodbye. Again." Mia shrugged, holding her elbows. "So I guess …eh."
"Ah." Tommy chewed on his lower lip and looked first toward James and then toward his mom and his brother. "Wait here," he said and zipped over to sit next to Billy and Wanda. "Can we, like, check in with the other side real quick and make sure this is really, really over? For Mia's peace of mind? And mine?"
"We probably should," Wanda agreed before she ran a hand over Tommy's hair.
"I know you're tapped, Mom," Tommy said, but his tone was hopeful all the same.
"I'm not entirely out," Wanda argued. "Most of this wasn't as bad as it could have been with your brother helping."
"Great, so… we can check in?" Tommy asked, breaking into a grin.
"As long as the connection holds," Wanda said, frowning as she thought it over.
"Perfect. We need a win. Let's do this fast before anything fades." Tommy looked up at the sky. "Just hang in there a minute longer, okay?" he told the clouds. "Be nice to us; we just fought the King of Hell!"
Wanda couldn't quite manage a smile, but she did pull up her spell to allow them all to see who from the other side was there and sticking close. It had always been whoever was close to James at the moment, though. So, she was a little concerned when neither of his parents were there with so many of the others.
Tommy didn't seem to notice the absence, though, instead zipping over to Mia to scoop her up and deposit her in front of Kurt. "Ta da!" he said, presenting her to Kurt and taking a step back as she let out a disbelieving laugh.
"You were brilliant, Schatzi," Kurt told her.
Mia beamed and reached for him before she remembered she couldn't touch him. "So, we did it?" she asked instead.
"Yes, you did. They are already celebrating," Kurt told her, obviously beaming.
"Oh, good." Mia stared at him, visibly trying to drink in the moment. "I… I don't know what to say," she said at last. "I'm almost sad the fight's over."
Kurt's smile warmed deeper, somehow. "I doubt your fights are entirely through - just on a less celestial scale, I hope. And perhaps with a bit more seawater and rigging."
"I'm dating the prince of an island nation. I'd say some pirate fights are due, right?" Mia offered with a soft smile.
"Only if you decide it's necessary," Kurt laughed. "Merely a suggestion, of course."
"Maybe I'll pick a pirate fight and give you something to watch," Mia said, her tone teasing but too sincere to quite make it.
"I don't need a pirate fight to keep watch," Kurt promised.
Mia smiled again. "It… it's been fun to meet you, Dad," she said, and the smile faded. "You're just like Mom said."
"And you have grown to be every bit the goddess she has always been," Kurt promised.
"She always says I take after you," Mia said. She took a deep breath, held it, and let it out again. "I love you, Dad."
"And I will always love you, little one." Kurt stepped away from the group with Mia, where the two of them could chat quietly in more privacy - though for the most part, they truly wanted to be there together for as long as they could.
