Chapter 41 - In And Out of the Spotlight
The news got out of Billy and James' elopement overnight - to no one's real surprise. The only real frustration was that the rag who picked up the story first was known for spreading the worst gossip, skirting the lines of slander. Someone had been trawling the public record and picked it up as soon as Toby had filed the paperwork.
More legitimate papers picked it up once they verified it, and by the morning, the big party and its clear significance was the topic of morning talk shows.
Tony had written the official SI statement on the matter the night before and sent it on to Pepper, who distributed it fast; it was out before Tony was even actually awake that morning. Wanda's statement was carefully worded, congratulating the couple while still noting that the royal family "looked forward to recognizing James as part of the family once his legal requirements are completed."
Tommy was grateful for the way that was worded, too, because it gave him something to fall back on when he and Mia were back in Genosha and got rushed by a few paparazzi, all of whom wanted to know what he thought of Billy running off to get married… and all of whom wanted to know if he and Mia were going to follow the same route.
"Hey, hey, guys," Tommy laughed, standing in front of Mia. "You think I am going to say anything bad about spur-of-the-moment romantic gestures? Me? My brother gets to be spontaneous sometimes, huh? You act like we're not twins, seriously. He's a romantic goober; let him have this."
"Romantic goober, huh? That's the quote you want to give?" one of the reporters asked.
"Uh, yeah. He's my brother. I gotta give him a hard time at the same time I'm defending him. That's in the twin brother handbook; didn't you know that?"
"And what about the two of you?" another reporter asked, gesturing to Mia, and the others in the group started nodding fervently, obviously also curious.
Tommy looked back at Mia and then shrugged easily. "What, you fellas in a rush? I'm twenty; she's not even nineteen until next week. Maybe let us be college kids first, huh?"
"Your brother didn't wait."
"Do I look like my brother? Wait, don't answer that," Tommy said, which got some laughs. "Seriously, guys, they've been married for a day. Lay off the pressure, huh?"
"What do you want to say about-"
The next thing Tommy knew, he and Mia were at the waterfall he'd shown her, and she was laughing as she let go of his arm. "I'm not sorry; they were swarming you."
"They've been swarming me since Mom let press on the island."
"Thank you, Mia, for getting me out of there," Mia said, and Tommy laughed.
"Thanks, gorgeous." He pulled her into a kiss. "Seriously, though. If they start hounding you, let me know. Please?"
"Aww, you're looking out for me," Mia said and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He picked her up so that her legs were hooked around him. "Well, you know the rules about this place, so…"
"So let's go back to yours," she agreed, already kissing him as she teleported them away.
Kate always looked grayer than usual when she had to talk to Hank, and Nate was prepared for it when she came out of the medical wing looking tired. She knew Hank was looking out for her, but none of this was easy, even if Hank was so careful with her. She wouldn't have trusted any other doctor, but she did feel bad that she'd had to take a break to cry halfway through his checkup. He was good about it, but she felt rotten.
No matter how many times Doc Hale kept telling her that she couldn't rush herself toward "normal," she just wanted to time skip.
Thankfully, Nate was there waiting for her and held out a pair of inducers. "If you want," he said, "I called Tony and got us a private dinner. No one around; no one has to recognize us."
Kate let her shoulders drop, and she nodded quickly. "You're gorgeous. You're wonderful. I want to leave now."
"Got it," Nate said, tossing her the keys to her car. We haven't been out on a date in forever anyway.
Kate laughed as she played with the keys. You saying I'm neglecting you?
More like I'm neglecting you.
Lies. You're perfect.
Even got Lexi on babysitting duty. She needed a job to do.
You're such a good older brother-in-law. Do I need to go after Sam?
I think if you or I do it-
Yeah, yeah. Kate rolled her eyes. I still want to, though. Not for the stuff he said about me. I'm a big girl. I can handle it. I deal with the reporters that hound our teams all the time.
But Lexi's upset, Nate put in, and she nodded.
But Lexi's upset. And that's not okay.
Your mom is giving him an attitude adjustment, and so is Doc Hale.
Yeah, I know. But Lex really liked him. And she's supposed to start college in a month, and he's sucked a lot of the joy away.
She still want to be a veterinarian?
That's the long-term plan. It drives her nuts when the animals she talks to get hurt and she doesn't know how to help, especially if they get hurt fighting for her.
Well, Cassie's excited for her to come join her at NYU.
When is she done with school - when we're grandparents? Kate laughed as they got to the garage, though she tossed him back the keys.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, you know where we're going, and I'm still off," she said.
"Alright." Nate slid into the driver's seat and wasn't expecting anything, so it was a relief when Kate reached over and squeezed his hand as he reached for the gear shift. He squeezed back and looked toward her. "You okay?"
"Yeah, Hank says I'm all clear. Antibiotics did their job," she said, letting go of his hand as her expression went tight. "This was just the followup. You know, make sure nothing else went wrong."
"Kate," he said quietly.
She sighed and faced forward as they pulled out of the garage and headed down the driveway. "I'm glad you set up a date night," she said at last. "I miss you."
"I haven't gone anywhere, Kate."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I know." He fell silent and let the quiet music from the radio play for a while before he projected to her: I know your mom has her own theories about his family being predisposed to obsession and about you being the mouthpiece of the team, and I'm not saying she's not wrong-
But you have your own theories. Everyone does.
I think he thought that even if you got away, you'd be isolated enough he could pick you up again and not have lost too much work.
Kate twisted her hands in her lap. Doc Hale said something like that.
I haven't been peeking. At him or you.
I know. She wiped her cheeks under her eyes. "You're both probably right. And I'm working on it, I promise."
"Kate, I'm not trying to pressure you," Nate clarified. "I just don't want you to think I don't get it."
She let out a tired laugh and leaned against the window. "Seriously, you need a medal. And something special. I don't know what yet, but I'll figure it out."
"Not like you're not backing me up with everything you've got all the time," Nate pointed out. "You saw me through a lot before we were even dating, not to mention everything since then." He pulled up to a red light and turned to face her. "Besides," he said seriously, "I'm still just so glad you're alive sometimes that the rest of it doesn't matter."
Kate sat up, frowned, and leaned over to put her hand on his knee. He always let her initiate contact. "I'm here," she said quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Good."
They drove in silence for a while after that, though when they got out, Kate had to laugh when she realized that James must have had a hand in programming the inducers - this time so that Nate looked like he could have been related to her and she looked like a Summers.
"Your brother has a warped sense of humor," she said, shaking her head.
"You've met him, right?"
"Still. I don't think I can kiss a guy who looks like my brother."
"Yeah, I have some notes about how this could be improved," he agreed, laughing.
"Can you just…" Kate gestured toward her head, and Nate laughed and obliged, shifting their perceptions telepathically so that they saw each other as they were and not as they looked.
"Like what you see?"
"Very much," Kate said, pulling him into a kiss without even thinking about it, because the tease had been going on for that long.
And obviously, Nate wasn't going to draw attention to it when he was giving Kate every bit of time and space she needed. But that just made the moment even better when they grinned at each other, and Kate laughed and pulled him into another kiss.
Wanda was trying to be careful about her plans, so she had kept her research into this particular bit of magic out of sight of Billy or anyone else for that matter. But she couldn't forgive Hydra for all their sins, least of all the most recent debacle. And so, they had to pay.
The only real question was how careful she had to be in making them disappear.
Obviously, she didn't want to do a blanket wish. And she knew that Billy was powerful enough that he could, conceivably, do what she was looking to do, but most of the times he had accessed that level of power had been emotional moments for him. No, this had to be precise, careful, and as compassionate as possible while still being utterly ruthless.
She didn't want, for example, to hurt anyone who had been press-ganged into working for Hydra. She wanted to help anyone who had been brainwashed, especially knowing what had happened to her kids. Anyone who was being forced into it, whose parents were Hydra, that kind of thing - she wanted to at least give them a chance.
And anyone undercover couldn't get caught up in the spell, either.
This was going to require a lot of nuance. And she had to be careful that her own emotions didn't seep into the spell and make it bigger than she was prepared to handle. She knew how easy that was, and she knew how she could lose herself.
So, she was going to take this in pieces.
First, to stop the spread of the cancer…
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, picturing in her mind's eye the emblem of Hydra. And this was the tricky part. She didn't want to erase it from historical artifacts. She didn't want history forgotten. The warnings of history needed to ring true.
So, carefully, with every ounce of her concentration, she crafted a magical taboo. The emblem of Hydra could never be used again. It simply didn't exist except on historical artifacts, and even images of those could only be shared to break the magical taboo in genuinely historical settings.
With that, Wanda opened her eyes and dabbed at her face with a towel. The precision necessary for this spell was exhausting. But when she was done with every last piece, it would be worth it.
When Rachel had picked up the school phone and heard about the young mutant in trouble who needed a pickup, she was pretty sure this was the perfect chance to get her new stepmother involved. She could hear Annie practically torturing herself going back and forth and trying to decide if she really was ready for the team or not, and a simple pickup without any world-ending consequences seemed like exactly the thing for her.
And then, when she asked the girl where she was and realized how close they were to Annie's home town outside of Memphis, there was no question this was the perfect mission.
She didn't even bother trying to keep a straight face as she projected to her dad: Hey, got a mission I think you and Annie should go on with me.
Just the three of us?
If you think we need more muscle than just you and me, I can bring my girlfriend. Make it a family outing.
Scott's laughter rang through even when he was projecting. You're in a good mood.
Hey, Annie's been going back and forth for forever. You and I both know she needs to figure herself out before school starts and she has even more of an excuse to put it off.
She's already lesson planning.
See what I mean? And you're not helping things when you're so anxious about it all!
She's anxious about it.
Yeah, well, you're both officially going to get over it and come with me. We're heading for Memphis.
Rachel could practically hear the gears in her dad's head turning, and she smirked to herself as she waited for his response. I'll let Annie know where we're going.
You do that, Rachel said, still smirking as she went looking for America - who was there pretty quickly when she could feel Rachel projecting pure amusement her way.
"Let me in on the joke?" America said as she met Rachel in the hallway, picked her up around the waist, and spun her into a kiss. "We've got to take advantage of your good mood," she added, keeping Rachel in her arms so that Rachel had to hook her legs around her to give herself some stability.
"As soon as we're done taking Annie on a mission," Rachel said, and America laughed.
"Girls night with the new stepmom?"
"You know, that was my first instinct, but my dad-"
"So… we need to have a girls night after the fact," America decided. "Make sure we properly induct Annie Hale into the X-Men."
"Just tell Mia you want to throw her a party," Rachel said, laughing when America kissed her again.
"I'll tell Kate."
"Tell both and it'll end up being ridiculous."
"So we'll tell both."
"Obviously."
America smirked but didn't let Rachel down, more or less carrying her to the jet. Since they were going on a mission, she had decided to project to Rachel what she wanted to do when she was in such a good mood, and they were totally caught up in each other until they got to the jet and America finally set her down, her tongue between her teeth as she gave Rachel a meaningful look in the seconds before Scott and Annie arrived to the hangar as well.
"Decided to bring the muscle after all or did you just want to finish what you were doing?" Scott asked dryly as he passed Rachel.
"Dad."
"If I'm wrong, I'll admit it."
"I can't even look at you right now."
"And just think, you wanted your old man back on the team. I'm not cramping your style, am I?"
"Why are you like this?" Rachel groaned, but she was grinning all the same. It was a good sign that her dad was joking around this much; it meant he wasn't anxious about Annie being in the field but anxious for her. James bringing Annie on that last outing seemed to have helped a lot, even if Scott wouldn't admit it.
"Oh, ignore him," Annie said. Even though Rachel could hear her anxiety, it was obvious that everyone's good moods were helping her out. That and the fact that they were going to her hometown.
Think anyone will recognize you? Rachel asked.
It's possible. I've got a mask; I have too many old students who might recognize me, and I don't want to get dragged into anything much bigger than this right now.
Dad's idea?
Mine, actually.
Rachel reached out to grab Annie by the arm and give her a reassuring squeeze."How many hours have you logged in flight training?" she asked with a sly smile, totally ready to call her dad out if he didn't get possessive over the jet like he did with everyone else.
"Oh, um," Annie started to say.
"Maybe not this time around," Scott said.
America snerked. "At least the man's consistent."
Annie looked between them, and Rachel could see the moment she cheated telepathically to figure out what had happened, because she went from confused to smiling, though she didn't bust Scott out either.
With Rachel and America in the cockpit, then, Annie came to sit by Scott, who reached over to grab her hand.
"Hey, we need someone who speaks the local language," Scott teased her.
"You're ridiculous today; you know that?"
Maybe you're just missing the fact that Rachel is blatantly looking out for you. My girls are getting along; I'm allowed to enjoy that.
Annie blinked at him and then shook her head. That and you love being Cyclops again, especially when it's not an end-of-the-world crisis.
It's…
Exactly what you imagined doing with your kids when they were first born.
Well, yeah.
Then I'm sorry it's taken you so long to realize that dream.
Not even remotely your fault.
Yes, but you know what I meant.
Scott sighed and reached out to take her hand. Love you too.
Rachel smirked toward America as she put them in the air. They're not nearly as subtle as they think they are.
Oh, yeah, and you're a model of spycraft, gorgeous.
That's right I am.
Between Rachel and America in the cockpit and Scott and Annie behind them, the flight was looking like it would turn into a lot of quiet, telepathic flirting, but about halfway there, Rachel got a call from Westchester to let her know that the girl who had originally put in the call had called the school again. Apparently, she'd been staying with a friend, and some people who took exception to her being a mutant had figured out where she was staying.
"Heads up, guys," Rachel called back to Annie and Scott. "Sounds like there's an active mob being whipped up down there."
Scott swore under his breath. "What's the story?"
"Sounds like our girl had a friend willing to take her in, but word got out."
"Does the friend need help too?"
"Mia didn't say; my impression was that the situation is still evolving."
"We'll give her the option, at least," Scott said, nodding to himself.
Rachel nodded, falling quiet as she flew. She could hear her father already going through possible scenarios in his head, and she found herself doing the same - preparing contingency plans so that, whatever the situation was when they arrived, she had something to fall back on.
Rachel put the jet down at a small airport near where the girl had called for help and paused when she telepathically picked up the jumble of thoughts from the few people who worked there. Two were enthusiastic X-Men fans… but the third was a virulent racist and was the shift supervisor, so the other two had kept their mouths shut and tried not to draw his wrath.
The air traffic comptroller was internally freaking out - apparently a huge fan of America in particular. Rachel could hear her projecting about it … and about the pride pin on the inside of her jacket that she didn't flash in public for fear of getting backlash.
I think if you talk to her, she'll die of happiness, Rachel projected to America, along with the details of what she'd already gleaned.
Do you one better, America shot back and blew a kiss to the girl as she got out of the jet and immediately flew into the air to get her bearings.
And, as expected, the girl looked like she could hardly believe it, her eyes wide and a permanent grin affixed to her face.
"Where to now?" Annie asked as she got out of the jet - and Scott offered her his hand down the stairs, which had Rachel smirking to herself.
"How are you with heights?"
Annie shrugged. "Haven't had a problem yet."
"Great," Rachel said, telekinetically lifting Annie and Scott so that the four of them could fly the rest of the way to where the problem was.
It was easy enough to find the problem, too, because they could see the gathering mob well before they got to the house. And that alone had Annie swearing under her breath.
"I can't believe people still form mobs in this day and age," she muttered.
"We see it all the time," Rachel pointed out.
"Oh, I know. I just meant… you know what I meant."
"Give 'em a piece of your mind, then," America said, grinning widely. "Literally." To make her point, she shifted the trajectory of her flight, heading straight down so that she could land in the middle of the mob, forcing most of them to scatter to avoid being hit by the meteor that America had become.
"What do you think you're-" a man started to say, and America immediately decked him, knocking him out instantly.
"Anyone else want to be stupid?" America asked, her fists at the ready.
And almost immediately, a couple men rushed her, probably thinking that they could take her if they ganged up on her. Obviously, that wasn't going to work out well for them, but Rachel was almost laughing as she brought herself and her father and stepmother in for a landing.
She loves when they let her play.
Annie shook her head, though she was watching the brawl America was already well into. Should we…
You go ahead with Rachel, Scott projected to her. I don't think America needs much help, but if she does, I'll back her up.
Have fun, Rachel said. Enjoy the show.
Let Annie take the lead once you get there. She's ready.
I know. That was my plan, too, Rachel said, not pointing out that Scott's plan made sure Annie was safely inside and not in the fight. He was still anxious, still protecting her, but every baby step toward being okay, every moment he wasn't freaking out like he had with Jan, was a win in Rachel's book.
I had a feeling. Scott shot her a smirk before he turned toward the mob, jogging over to join the fray - though he was mostly letting America go to town, since she so clearly wanted to teach everyone there a lesson the way only she could.
Annie, meanwhile, stuck close to Rachel as they climbed the stairs to the front porch of the house the mob had surrounded. She kept looking over her shoulder toward the fight, frowning the whole time. It felt strange to be approaching this house so casually.
They'll be fine, Rachel projected to her.
Yes, I know. I'm not worried about them. It's just a bit of emotional whiplash.
Welcome to the X-Men.
Annie smiled at Rachel, though just as she raised her hand to knock on the door, someone inside opened the door and practically yanked them inside, revealing two young women with wide eyes - along with a little boy and a mother and father who looked stressed beyond belief.
"You came," said one of the girls, who was sporting a black eye and whose hair was floating around her head; she didn't seem to be able to stop it.
"We said we would," Rachel said.
"Besides," Annie said with a warm smile, "we can't let people get away with actin' like it's the 1700s. Whippin' up a mob? In this day and age?"
"You can't be that surprised," the other girl said. "I bet you see crap like this all the time, right?"
"Doesn't make it right," Annie said. She held her hand out to the girl with floating hair. "You all packed? Got a feelin' you want out sooner'n'later."
Rachel smirked as the girl nodded and projected to Scott: Your wife has been here two minutes and her accent is deep.
Surprised she made it two minutes.
How are things over there?
The press is on the way, so America has started goading idiots into saying something stupid on camera so the press sees the threat level and they can't downplay it later. Was that your idea?
Rachel bit her lip and looked slightly away, knowing her expression would give her away to anyone who looked her way. She knows if they get their faces on the news saying something like that, if they go beyond anti-mutant rhetoric, it'll ruin them, she replied and didn't add that it was incredibly sexy of her girlfriend to do that.
"Okay, I'm ready," the girl with floating hair said, drawing Rachel's attention back. The girl had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, while Annie looked to be deep in conversation with her friend's parents.
"I'll call you, okay?" the girl's friend said, reaching out to take her hand.
"You'd better," the girl said and looked quickly at her friend's parents before she gave her friend a quick kiss, blushing brilliantly.
Rachel broke into a grin as she put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Come up any time you want," she said, and both girls looked like they wouldn't stop blushing anytime soon.
They got to the door, and the girl with floating hair paused. At first, both Rachel and Annie had assumed that she was reluctant to say goodbye, but then, she said, quietly, "I can see a lot of news vans out there."
"Yeah, they tend to come when there's a big fight. They're not looking at this house, though."
"Ah." She tucked her hair behind her ear - and it immediately started floating again. "I … I don't want my face all over the local news."
"Let me handle that," Annie offered, surprising Rachel until Annie looked over to meet Rachel's gaze. "Prestige can walk with you, and while you're with her, no one will even notice you're there."
Rachel nodded, already concentrating to do exactly that. "You go first. We'll slip out with you," she told Annie once she was ready.
Annie nodded and headed out down the street, taking her time and not bothering to hide, her head held high as she sauntered along the sidewalk before, with a polite smile, she was close enough to one of the reporters that she was able to call out a warm, "Mornin', y'all."
The reporter spun toward her and then, seeing her yellow X-Men uniform, tapped his cameraman. "Where did you come from?"
"I'm actually from this area, originally," Annie said, still with that same sweet smile that she knew would mean a lot to anyone watching from home. "And I can't abide a lynch mob this close to home."
"Is that how you'd characterize what happened here?" the reporter asked.
Annie looked toward where Scott was talking to a huge gaggle of reporters while America was dusting herself off and giving curt quips to anyone who tried to get too close to her (which was why the reporters had swarmed around Scott, Annie was sure). Annie couldn't see much of the crowd that had come to hurt the girl they'd picked up, though she could see splashes of blood here and there that spoke to the fight that had happened.
"I think anytime a huge group like that is looking for a minor, nothin' good's gonna come of it," Annie said, crossing her arms. "How much did you see, exactly? Or did you only get here after my good friend Miss America scared them off of their attack plans?"
"We saw a half dozen men screaming obscenities to start, yeah."
"Only a half dozen? You missed most of the show, then."
"Then tell me about it."
Annie glanced toward Scott, who was caught up in what he was doing, though she did hear him project You got this to her even with how busy he was. And that, more than anything, had her smiling to herself before she took a deep breath and let that local reporter know exactly where the X-Men stood when it came to sticking up for kids in need.
It had taken a bit of time for Franklin to get up the courage to take the younger heroes up on their invitation to come over. But seeing as James and Billy were on their honeymoon, he figured this was as good a time as any to try to make friends beyond those two.
He was, if he was honest with himself, kind of hoping that Lexi would be there. They'd gotten to talk at the wedding, and she was easy to talk to. He still felt awkward around her, but he felt awkward around everyone, as if everyone had been taught how to socialize and he'd skipped a lecture on accident.
The person who came to the door wasn't Lexi - but Cassie was just as warm and welcoming as she beamed and pulled him into the school.
"I thought you were taking a break from the team for school," Franklin said.
"Where'd you hear a thing like that?" Cassie asked, smiling as she pulled him toward the living room. "My mom only made me swear I'd stay off the team during the school year. Nothing says I can't be around during the summer. Besides, I can't let all my friends have all the fun without me, can I?"
"Obviously not," Franklin laughed.
Cassie beamed at him and pulled him into the living room, where Lexi and Leslie Ann were at the tail end of a Scrabble game; Kamala and Mia were watching a movie, and Miles and May were theoretically watching a movie but were obviously moving toward a makeout session that Mia was totally ready to teleport them away to privacy to continue if they kept it up.
"Hey, guys, our favorite member of the Four stopped by," Cassie called out, to enthusiastic waves.
"Hey, long time no see," Miles said, waving Franklin over, though May stayed where she was.
"I'll … sit over here," Franklin said. He didn't know enough about the two of them to know if he wanted to be that close when they were acting like that.
"You can come play with us if you want," Leslie Ann said. "We're on the last few tiles."
"We're all going in for pizza later, too," Amadeus said from the door as he arrived with a big bowl of popcorn to bring to those that were watching the show.
Franklin couldn't help but let out a soft laugh when he realized not only that everyone was inviting him in but that there was so much going on. "Is it like this all the time?"
"You came at a good time, actually. Wait 'til the students who go home for the summer get here and this place is really overrun," Mia laughed, teleporting over to put her arm over his shoulders. "Glad you took me up on the invitation."
"I didn't think it was actually optional," he laughed.
"The invite came from Mia, so… no, it wasn't," Kamala pointed out, looking at him backward with her head resting on the couch.
"We've got a stack of games you can pick from," Lexi said, nodding toward a cabinet nearby. "We were gonna play Battleship next, but if you want to join in, we could play something else. Are you a Risk man or Uno?"
"Those are the only options?" Franklin asked.
Lexi laughed. "I was trying to illustrate the spectrum. You can pick whatever you want. We're just trying to enjoy some downtime."
"Busy time for the team?"
"Some politician gave a speech. Running for president and calling for mutants to be regulated," Leslie Ann said, every inch of her expression saying what she thought of that.
"He's a fringe candidate," Kamala said.
"Doesn't mean people aren't listening," Lexi said. "And he's not that fringe."
"And… this guy's speeches are keeping you guys busy?" Franklin asked.
"More the aftermath when the big groups leaving his speech go out looking for someone to take out their rage on after he gets them all worked up," Kamala said, her eyes narrowed.
"You should run with us one of these times," Amadeus said.
"Yeah, what can you do, Mini Fantastic?" Miles asked crookedly. "I don't think we've gotten to see you in a fight yet."
"Yeah, you're usually off in some other dimension," May agreed.
"I'm not usually off in another dimension," Franklin said, shrugging his shoulders up. "Usually it's space, if we're being honest. Lately. I blame my sister."
"Usually a good call," Leslie Ann said, smirking, and Lexi rolled her eyes at her.
"Seriously, you should come train with us sometime," Lexi told him. "We do a lot of 'rescue the mutant' practice. Good crowd control techniques, that kind of thing. "
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea, really," Franklin agreed.
"I'm kind of surprised your family hasn't sent you and your sister over by now."
"They are totally paranoid and super family-centric, or hadn't you noticed?" Franklin asked.
"I come from literally some of the most paranoid stock known to man," Lexi pointed out. "And my mom still sends me here to learn how to defend myself."
"So ... most of it's my dad?" Franklin said. "He was way more concerned that I get the academic challenges I needed - and was kind of pig-headed about pointing out that none of them got any help controlling their powersets."
"None of them are mutants," Mia pointed out. "It's different. And he knows it, even if he won't admit it. How old were they when they got powers again? Definitely wasn't from birth like some of us."
"They were old. So old."
"You should run a spar with me or Lexi," Cassie offered. "I'm not to Lexi's level, obviously, but I could show you some stuff on self-defense. I don't know how much you've practiced without your powers…"
"I mean, not a whole lot, to be honest," Franklin said.
"Don't you move things with your mind?" Leslie Ann said.
"Yeah, that's the biggest thing, really," Franklin said. "I can astral project, but that's not something I'm super comfortable with, and the little bits of precognition are like … super unreliable."
"So, you go out with your family and don't move your muscles much?" Leslie Ann raised both eyebrows. "And you're a mutant? You're, like, a sitting target, and you don't seem stressed about it."
"Well … I mean, most people assume I'm not a mutant," Franklin said. "My parents didn't get their powers like that; it was cosmic radiation. So, I think most people just assume that it's from that - just second gen." He shrugged. "And it may be. It may also be that the cosmic radiation triggered a dormant X-gene, too. This has been talked to death with James."
"You do have a list of powers and not just the one," Kamala said thoughtfully. "Could be a mix of both…" She trailed off and blushed. "Anyway, we're not trying to interrogate you, sorry. Just trying to invite you, you know?"
"It's fine; no one really talks to me about this side of things, you know?"
"What do they usually talk to you about?" Kamala asked, turning around on the couch to face him better.
"Um … all the science?" Franklin said. "I've been fixing my dad's errors on his designs, so … that kind of seems to eclipse the whole powers thing."
"What kind of errors?" Amadeus asked, instantly interested.
Franklin laughed. "If you heard anything at all about some of my dad's design flaws, you wouldn't have to ask." He was grinning brightly. "Dad's the guy for brainiac-level thinking, but sometimes, he gets too far ahead of himself in execution of the designs. LIke … a lot of the time, that's what's up."
"I get that, though," Miles said, nodding.
"They're talking science now," Leslie Ann whispered to Lexi, and Lexi laughed.
"So… Battleship?"
"Yeah. If it's not botany, I can't keep up with the geeks over there," Leslie Ann said, and the girls went back to their board game marathon while Franklin found himself in the middle of a group of science geeks all wanting stories.
Annie had gotten plenty of calls from her siblings after she'd made first the local news in their hometown and then national news, so she had headed into the city to go talk to Evie and Anton. Craig had already picked her up and spun her around the second she got home and told her he was proud of her facing her fears and trying the team on for size, and she was sure Evie and Anton were about to hit her with the "concerned older sister and her husband" combo punch, since she was nearing forty and becoming a superhero. It did kind of look like a midlife crisis.
To her surprise, though, Anton started in on telling her to make sure she looked out for herself, but then Evie spoke over him and practically spent the whole lunch gushing about how proud she was.
"You've spent your whole life looking out for kids, volunteering at school for all those clubs - it makes sense you'd find a way to look out for kids in need around the world." Evie was beaming by the time she finished. "Seriously, when do we start buying stuff with your name on it? I didn't see them reporting any name, either."
"I… haven't picked one out yet," Annie admitted. "I've been lookin' at a thesaurus lookin' up things about thought and mind and mentality… I'm sure I'll find somethin'. Eventually."
"Yeah, you been down to Memphis," Anton laughed. "They must've really pissed you off; you've still got the accent."
"There was a literal lynch mob!" Annie said, and Anton held up both hands.
"I wasn't saying you didn't have call to be pissed, just that you sound like home," he laughed.
"Oh, hush." Annie pointed at him. "Y'all better get used to it, seein' as I've been workin' with your little girl gettin' her ready to join up once she's eighteen."
"Traitor," Anton said, and Evie laughed.
"Oh, like you're not going to be telling everyone we know about your baby the hero. You know she's got her name picked out?"
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah, it was May Parker's suggestion, actually. She wants to go by Amazon."
Annie grinned delightedly. "Oh, I like it."
"She's been getting those older kids to help her out," Evie said. "May and Miles-"
"Those spiders helped her sneak out over the weekend and do some friendly neighborhood heroing," Anton said, trying so hard to look like he didn't approve even though he was smirking.
"Stopped that robbery; I saw it on the news," Annie said, smiling. "Good. That's how Miles's group got started, you know. And there ain't nothin' in the rules that says she can't be helpin' where she can. Just that she's not old enough to be facin' the world-endin' stuff just yet."
"Are you ready for that?" Evie asked, finally getting around to the protective big sister routine.
Annie blew out all her breath. "Well," she said carefully, "I got to help Genosha in their big push against the people who took the kids. I was doing a lot of support work, but I was still there. And it was stressful, but…" She bit her lip. "I like doing the smaller things more, but I can't ignore the bigger risks. So… yeah, I think I'm there."
"Just so long as your husband knows it's his head if you get hurt," Anton grumbled.
Annie laughed. "Oh, he knows." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "But seeing that girl come home with us… seeing how relieved she was to be safe…"
"You got the bug," Evie said, grinning.
"I got the bug," Annie agreed, smiling easily as, now that she'd admitted to it, she knew she was in for plenty of teasing - and then, eventually, she knew, they'd start to ask for pictures and video of Chance, too.
Emma couldn't quite escape the news regardless of where she went or what she was doing. The X-Men were making headlines again - and this time, it wasn't just for the second gen that was popping up and irritating her to no end. She still hadn't come close to forgiving any of them for the humiliation that they'd handed her when the Maximoff brat stripped her of her powers. So, it was that much more of an irritation when the little Southern tramp that had bewitched Scott out from under her suddenly appeared in a uniform that she had no business wearing on television. Flaunting a powerset that most certainly did not belong to her.
Emma's businesses had all but dissolved. Her school had never quite rebounded - though the funding for its resurrection had been handled, she'd lost control of it. Everything she'd spent her whole life curating had been stripped away from her, and now? Now, that cheap little wannabe had taken everything Emma had always been convinced was hers. If the bitch turned into diamond form, Emma was going to find a way to strangle her with her bare hands.
But that wasn't likely to be shown in public. Not right away, anyhow.
Now that she'd lost literally everything of any kind of importance to her, Emma found herself without an abundance of wealth but instead with an abundance of free time. Which meant it was now long overdue for her to find a way to get a little payback. Hellfire Club or not, she would return a few favors. Harshly.
