Flashpoint Mayhem

by TrueHorror88

Another victory for the team, yet someone was unable to celebrate that and chose to make a world-shaking decision. Barry saved his mother from death, changing his past and his present, but it also affected others without him knowing. Seth and his family are just as affected, maybe more. The team faces newer threats, but they're not new to the Lethal Protector. They're threats.

22. Chapter 22: Troubled Adults

Hey, you wonderful readers!

Back again with second part of the Snow-Fury family's vacation on Earth-616.

Ain't got much to say except, how you all have had an amazing New Year's Eve and that the first few weeks into the new year of 2024 have been great. Wish you all an amazing new year.

Now to answer some reviews:

hunter41963801: Who knows, lots of things could lie in store for the Sinister Six. Don't you think, buddy? Happy new year and merry Christmas, my friend.

guest: Know the feeling, buddy. Work and personal stuff makes it hard to keep up hobbies. But if you're still able to keep up your hobbies in-between them both, it's a good thing. Trying to find the image still, buddy. Not working well on my end, unfortunately. But I will keep trying. Glad to know you're enjoying the work so far.

And now…

Without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 22: Troubled Adults

The next day, Caitlin yawned while walking through the hallways with a cup of coffee. While sipping on her caffeinated beverage, she examined her choices of last night. Spending the entire night reading and re-reading Seth's medical journals and some of his books on the curriculum seemed like a bad idea now.

But she was curious where her mate's at?

"Where could he have gone? The girls are getting up right now." She said, thinking he may have gone to check on their children. But when she went to check on them, he wasn't there. Caitlin then looked through the hallways as she walked through them, hoping to come across her mate.

But instead she came across Miles and Ororo, both wearing worrisome expressions on their faces.

Getting up close to them, Caitlin asked. "What's wrong, guys?"

Facing the Earth-1 woman, the mutant said. "We can't find T'Challa."

"Same with Pete, he's gone." Miles added sheepishly.

"So…" Caitlin groaned at the words. "I can't find my boyfriend, the father to my daughters… Miles can't find his mentor… And Ororo can't find her husband… Does this happen a lot here?"

"Unsurprisingly, a lot, yes." Storm said.

Walking up the stairs, Olivia saw the crestfallen looks on her friends' faces. "What's with the moping faces so early on, guys? Someone introducing a flamboyant mutant into our school? Oh, God, I hope not." She admits with a heavy sigh.

"No, we just lost the other halves of our relationships. Well…" Ororo clarifies. "Me and Caitlin have, at least. Miles lost his mentor."

"Lost them as they're dead or you can't find them?" Olivia asked for clarification.

"The last one." Miles replied.

"Ah, same with me, can't find Matty anywhere." Olivia stroked her chin. "Just realized, since we're both here, who's keeping an eye on our twins?"

"You just realized that?" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Yup." Olivia looked to the side, from where a burst of shadows her three nieces jumped out of it. They landed behind their mother. "Morning girls. Ruby, think you can put that new Gravity-Sense of yours to use? Try and find your Dad."

"Gravity-Sense? That's a cool name." Ruby admitted, kinda liking how it's similar to Miles' Spider-Sense.

"That's a really cool name!" Miles vividly shouted.

"Cisco's not gonna be happy about that name." Evelyn quipped.

"Wait, Dad's gone?" Frankie was the only one who listened.

"Along with some other schmucks, including my husband." Olivia shrugged nonchalantly. Miles and Ororo facing the psychic with incredulous looks. "Think you can find them, Rubs?"

Rather than answering with her words, she put her skills to the test and closed her eyes. The gravity manipulator focused on her father, and the fusion of her "other's" senses and gravity spread to their max. She could feel the gravitational pull of the countless people on the schoolgrounds.

But she focused on her singular target, her father.

She finally found him after several seconds. "He's downstairs and he's not alone. He's with Peter, Uncle Matt and that T'Challa guy."

"He's with the Prince?!" Without any of them noticing, they looked down at the ground floor and found the Dora Milaje there with weapons in hand. Okoye was the one who stated the question.

"Yeah." Ruby answered. "Also, have you guys just been here the whole time without saying a peep?"

"We are the Dora Milaje, we do not "peep," youngling." Okoye snapped at Ruby.

Evelyn leant closer to her mother. "Does she think Ruby's some kind of Force-Sensitive kid training to become a Jedi?"

"Good question…" At that moment, Caitlin wondered if Star Wars is extremely popular in Wakanda.

"Downstairs…" Frankie deduced their location. "They're in the Danger Room."

"Got it in one." Ruby nodded.

"Anyone got a bad feeling about what they might be doing down there?" Miles questioned.

"Deeply." Ororo said. "Okoye, you can come, but we can't fit all of your soldiers down in the observation room."

"They will stand outside the training room, ready to deliver the final strike to those criminals and the one who talks too much." Okoye adamantly said, rushing off towards the elevator with her soldiers following right behind her.

Smacking her lips together, Ruby questioned. "Did… Did she secretly want to kill Peter all this time?"

That was a question none of them wanted to answer… Much because of Okoye's words…

X

Inside the observation room looking into the Danger Room, Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy were watching in awe and left speechless at what they've been seeing.

Inside of the Danger Room, the four heroes consisting of Spider-Man, Black Panther, Iron Knight and Venom fight another set of three Sentinels.

"Professor, should we stop them?" Hank questions.

With a chuckle, the professor leans back in his wheelchair and gestures to the control panel. "By all means, if you think you can crack Matt's prevention methods, have at it."

Hank sighed, realizing immediately it'd be a losing battle if he tried to stop the program.

When he arrived to prepare the training room for the spider-heroes' test this morning, Beast called the professor up to the observation room when he learned that the Danger Room had been activated and stayed like that throughout the entire night. When he arrived, Charles was just as shocked as Hank to learn that the four heroes that almost started a brawl in the foyer had spent the entire night in the room, demolishing quite a few Sentinels.

To make matters more difficult for them, Matt installed a program that keeps the settings and controls from getting changed unless preset conditions have been met. And if any outside sources try to change or brute force their way into the program, the parameters are increased, making it even more difficult for those inside of the Danger Room.

They had to wait until the parameters had been met.

"Is the Prince in there?" Okoye asked as she entered the room. She garnered the attention of Beast and Professor X, both of whom watched the others enter the observation room from the elevator. "Get him out!"

"Calm your spear down, Okoye." Olivia told the general of the Dora Milaje.

Ororo stepped out. "Are the guys in there?" She gestured to the other side of the quivering glass panel.

"Yes… And they have been so for the entire night." Hank stated with a sigh. "And they're still fighting."

Caitlin, still not used to the sight of Hank McCoy's bestial form, turned to the professor. "Are they okay?"

Charles nodded his head. "Fortunately… Despite the four of them having already demolished seven Sentinels."

"Seven?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"We struggled with one!" Frankie started. "They got one more guy on their team and they took down seven of them!"

"What kind of bullshit is this?" Evelyn said.

Charles, for the first time since meeting them, felt frightened by the young girls especially as they were all directing dagger-like glares at him. "M-May I remind you girls; you took 23 minutes to take down one. Your father and the others took an entire night to defeat seven to this point."

While his words did seem to calm them down, they were still fuming.

Caitlin looked at the two male mutants. "Wait, Professor Xavier, is this Sentinel the same level as the one my daughters fought?"

"Wait, you put your girls against a Sentinel?" Olivia asked. The Earth-1 woman gave her a dry look. The psychic gaped her mouth in realization. "Oh, my brother did. Well, I might just help the Dora Milaje spear him then."

"We do not require a brute like you on our side." The general of the Wakandan royal guards countered adamantly.

Shaking his head, Charles clarified. "No, each of them are at a much higher level. These ones are more mobile, equipped with various firearms, weaponry and advanced equipment. As well as repulsor technology."

"Repulsor? Like Uncle Matt's?" Ruby questioned.

"Yes…" Charles followed up with an annoyed sigh. "These models are modified by Matt to be far more dangerous and deadlier than any of the ones Hank has constructed."

"Why'd Matt do that?" Caitlin asked.

Using air quotes, Hank recited the nanite mutant's words from the past. "He said, in regard to my designs, and I quote, "I've had more fun trying to sleep-kill Seth.""

Instead of stating more questions, the group turned their eyes to the other side of the glass, turning their attention to the immense fight taking place there.

X

In the heart of the Danger Room, the surreal battle continued. The battleground resembled that of a nightmarish post-apocalyptic city. What were once towering skyscrapers that stood tall and proud after numerous hours of hard work, had long since been reduced to crumbling ruins.

Amongst the wreckage lies the remains of seven shattered, dismembered and dismantled Sentinels. Their bodies were scattered all over the battlefield, half of them laying on the ground and smoking from the damage that left them in their current states. The others were hanging off the buildings that remained standing. This is a testament of the fierce and destructive battles that had unfolded here.

In the middle of the chaotic battle, three Sentinels emerged from the colossal smokescreens that're around the battlefield. Each of their metallic bodies exuded malevolence. Each one coming to a halt when their gleaming crimson eyes settled on the warriors that've taken down their mechanical brethren.

The four warriors took their stand on top of the downed Sentinels that're hanging off the remaining buildings.

Iron Knight, wielding a dented and dust and ash-covered armor, suspended in the air. He landed on the destroyed Sentinel's right shoulder.

Spider-Man, his suit torn in various places on his chest and leg areas, crouched down on the left shoulder of the downed Sentinel.

Prince T'Challa, shed off any of the clothes that he wore into the Danger Room, wearing the Black Panther Habit of his nation. A sleek and advanced vibranium-enhanced suit. It's predominantly black color with intricate silver markings and patterns throughout the suit, all of which have been covered in ashes. Purple light pulsating and glowing throughout the lines on the surface, the suit having gathered up enough kinetic energy. It remains true to its origins, continuing to bear its distinctive panther-themed design. The Wakandan hero stands near the head, placing a clawed hand on the side of it.

On top of the head, Venom remained seated on top of the Sentinel's head. His humongous body was covered in oil-like black symbiotic mass and white skeletal structures, every part of his body covered in ash and a fuel-like substance that kept the Sentinels' operating. Beside him is his crystal sword that's embedded in the mechanical menace's head. Just like its owner, the blade has seen its fair share of battles in this training room, evident by the fuel leaking down its rugged and rock-like surface.

Somehow, despite the odds stacked against the four of them, they all remained standing and ready for another battle with Sentinels.

Spitting out fuel that remained on his teeth, Seth stood up and growled. "So how many do those three make?"

Craning his neck, T'Challa smirked behind his panther-themed black mask. "I believe, with the ones we've already taken down, it's gonna be ten."

Checking his web shooters, Peter questioned. "Really? Ten? Thought we had only taken down six so far?"

Forming a repulsor cannon in his left and right arms, Matt corrected. "Nah, we took down number seven a while back. You know, when we toppled number six on it."

"Ah, yeah, I remember that now." Spider-Man nodded, remembering the event from the night.

"So let us finish this with a perfectly round number." Black Panther suggested, flexing his fingers and ejecting the claws.

"You gonna sit this one out, you hazardous bastard?" Iron Knight threw back at the elemental, pulsing energy into his cannons.

Showing a wide toothy smile, he countered. "Careful, scrapheap." Venom grabbed his sword, yanking it out of the Sentinel's skull. "We may turn our wrath on the other talkative waste of metal here."

"Guys…" The spider-hero got their attention back to the huge big threats in front of them.

Each of them raising their hands, the palms of them shining with red energy as they focused their energy in their hands.

"They're coming!" The Wakandan hero exclaimed.

The sight of their mechanical foes about to strike them felt like a surge of adrenaline shooting into their systems, making all heroes immediately prepare for another massive fight.

The air crackled with tension as the Sentinels launched their laser beams, slicing through the smoke-covered air like deadly blades.

Venom jumped off the head. Black Panther followed the elemental. Spider-Man shot out a webline that stuck to Iron Knight who flew away, carrying the spider-hero.

The four heroes traveling in pairs, made it challenging for the Sentinels to lock onto them.

Venom and Black Panther ran across the side of a crooked skyscraper. The Sentinel closest to them turns its head to the side, faces them and raises its left hand at them. Once again energy converged to the center of its palm, shining with a red glow.

Coming to a stop, abyssal black flames erupted along the surface of Seth's crystal sword. Thrusting it towards the mechanical titan, he releases a column of flames at the hand. The powerful attack pushes the hand away while damaging the core where the energy's converged. While the hand was pushed back, an explosion took place due to the damaged core inside of it.

Black Panther used that opportunity to jump off the building. He moved with not just agility, but also with grace and precision, allowing him to easily reach the surface of the Sentinel's left arm. He ran low, his vibranium claws slashing and cutting the metallic surface. He got closer to its head.

But the Sentinel prepared for that, ejecting launchers from its left shoulder and fired an array of missiles at him. However, those missiles do not faze the hero of Wakanda who easily intercepts them. With precise and deadly swings of his arms, his vibranium tears through the explosive projectiles with ease, one by one till all of them were annihilated by him.

The explosions didn't faze him, he continued running towards its head and he reached it quickly. But a shadow came over his form, the Wakandan hero looking to the source and saw it was the Sentinel's left hand.

Without being faced by it, he lunged at it. While mid-jump he crossed his arms over one another before he slammed into it. The kinetic energy stored in the suit released in one bright purple shockwave, pushing the left hand away with so much force that tears off the metal plating and three of its fingers.

Using the force to his own advantage, Black Panther catapults himself towards the Sentinel's humongous head. With his vibranium claws outstretched, he delivered a series of quick and deadly slashes to its optical receptors, taking out its vision.

With its hands and eyes taken care of, Black Panther saw a chance for the final blow. But since this training session is for the elemental, T'Challa figured it's appropriate for the mutant to put this machine out of its misery.

"Venom. Now!" He shouted at the mutant.

With a snarl, Venom directed to the Wakandan hero. "We already told you this, Panther…" His right hand turned into adamantium. And unlike anything before, it didn't just stop at his fingers.

It was though the adamantium he used on his hand spread over his sword, turning the rugged crystal blade into adamantium. This action alone surprised those in the observation room and left them speechless. Even his own family was left in shock at his move.

Venom leaped from the building, the force of his jump shattering the surface. Holding his sword tightly, he used his other hand and shot out a tendril that stuck to the neck of the Sentinel. Pulling on it, he yanked himself closer to the mechanical titan's head.

And with trained precision and with guidance from his brother-in-law, Seth, with his adamantium sword, cleaves the head off of the Sentinel's body without hesitation. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, echoing and clattering as it collided with the other metal and the rest of the debris on the foundation they are standing on.

Seth and T'Challa landed adjacent buildings, a massive dust cloud coming over them as the Sentinel's body fell to the ground.

"Don't give us orders." The mutant continued his words.

Black Panther chuckled. "Try and keep up instead, and I will."

"Use your eyes, feline bastard!" Venom snapped at him. "You're the one lacking behind us!"

"Say that again, I will claw out your eyes!" Black Panther snapped back, flexing his vibranium claws. "And if that's not good enough for you, I will remove your limbs one by one."

From there the two of them began bickering back and forth, shouting and hurling insults at each other like there's no tomorrow. In the air, Iron Knight and Spider-Man watch the two of them barreling towards a conversation with words unfit for a battle between allies.

"Should they really be doing that now?" Peter questions Matt.

"You know how those two are." Matt sighed while flying over the battlefield.

Peter looked up at the nanite mutant while hanging onto his webline. "Oh yeah, kinda like you and Seth."

"Can it, webhead!" Matt shouted. "Head's up!"

"Already up! How do you think I'm talking to you?" Peter countered.

"No, I mean- Look down!" Matt stammered. Much like other heroes of Earth-616, he's not used to Peter's talkative personality. Nor can he handle his habits.

"Oh yeah, I see it." Peter looked down, seeing the missiles flying their way. "Hope they got a return option for those…"

Spider-Man let go of his webline and fell down towards the incoming projectiles. Shooting out a webline, he stuck it to the first one. With all of his might, he swung it around and hurled it into two other missiles, causing them to explode together violently.

He dove through the smokescreen and shot two weblines at the Sentinel's forehead. Pulling on them, he thrust himself to it and he landed on his head. "Hey, I think I see a pimple." He jokes, looking at the machine's forehead.

"Oh, goddamn it, Peter! Just blind that fucking thing!" Matt exclaimed at the spider-hero whilst releasing an array of repulsor beams at the missiles flying after him. "Just fucking blind it!"

"Just making conversation, trying to give a not-so-friendly killing machine some advice on skin… metal-care?" Peter said before adjusting his web-shooters, making sure they're shooting something else than webs with his next shots. "Can't I help a fellow-"

"That's not your fellow anything! Just do your thing so I can blow its fucking head off!" Matt snapped, launching himself towards the incoming hand with a massive repulsor energy blade and cut off its fingers.

"Alright! Don't blow a fuse… In your suit." Peter quipped.

"ARGH!" Matt groaned loudly at the quip.

While he did so, Peter jumped off the Sentinel's head and fired off a series of electrified web shots in its eyes. The piles of electric webs on its eyes got bigger and bigger till they couldn't handle more before exploding, taking out its eyes.

"Wait a second. Isn't Seth supposed to take it out?" Peter asked as he shot out a webline to a building and swung away.

As he flies towards the Sentinel's head, Matt crosses his arms over his chest and his arc reactor in the middle charges with energy. "Like I'm about to let that stupid parasitic bastard win!"

"Okay, he completely forgot about this being for Seth's sake…" Peter then recalled how T'Challa tore into the core of one of the Sentinels. "And so did T'Challa… And so did I!" He remembered, thinking back to when he pulled an Empire and tripped the anti-mutant killing machine onto a building, impaling its core. "Wow, we really went off-track here."

"Die you stupid piece of junk!" Matt exclaimed, uncrossing his arms and releasing a powerful unibeam aimed at the Sentinel's head. The immense repulsor beam melts through its metallic skin, burrowing a hole through its skull. The red shine that came from its eyes before now diminishing as it lost its life.

Much like the one that the Wakandan hero and the elemental defeated, this one fell to join its brethren on the foundation of their battleground.

"Come on, Peter! We're not gonna lose to T'Challa and Seth!" Matt exclaimed.

"Not a competition, dude! We're literally here for training… Which is what the room's for to begin with!" Peter exclaimed back.

"Shut your pie-hole and come on, webhead!" Iron Knight shouted, flying towards the last Sentinel.

"No need for name-calling… Unless we're talking nicknames or superhero names. Those are more important, and accurate." Spider-Man ran across the surface of a building, leaping from one to another.

Facing the last Sentinel with steel-like gazes, both Venom and Black Panther readied themselves for this final battle. Taking on the two of them, missile launchers eject from the machine's shoulders and all of them take aim on their foes.

"Panther! Stay back!" Seth reeled back his sword, wind gathering around the blade. "Or don't, we don't care if you get hit by a deflected missile or not."

T'Challa scoffed. "As if you're that lucky."

The Sentinel fired off ten missiles at the heroes. They flew towards them at high speed, but the warriors remained stationary.

Venom smiles, the wind around his blade looked akin to a raging cyclone. With a mighty roar, he swung his sword and the massive wind he had gathered around his blade released with a single swipe. The intense wind hurled towards the array of rockets, and when they met, the opposing weapons were scattered in various directions.

Flashes of red shine over the warriors, each of them watching as the missiles collided into one another and brought forth bright explosions in the air.

Black Panther stood still, unfazed when a missile flew past him and collided with a small house behind him, destroying it on impact. "You are making a terrible mess, Seth."

"Jealous much?" Venom smirked. "No surprise, really. Those tiny claws can't do anything against a big thing like this."

"Why would I be jealous of a big fiend making a mess like you?" Black Panther's claws extended. "And make no mistake, these claws will cut your life to shreds in an instant."

"Yeah right. Use them to butter your toasts, Royal Cat." Venom threw back.

"Bastard giant." Black retorted.

"What are you guys waiting for?!" Both Venom and Black Panther swung their heads backwards, both seeing Iron Knight flying towards them. "Let's bust that thing open!" He shouted, flying past them.

"He's in a…. Mood." Black Panther deadpanned.

"Big time!" Spider-Man jumped in as he… jumped over their heads.

"Let's finish this!" Venom leapt from the building.

The Sentinel's head swung left and right, trying to lock onto the four targets but struggled with it.

It eventually settled on Iron Knight who flew towards its face. The anti-mutant killing machine releases another wave of missiles at them. But from his shoulders, panels opened up and revealed missiles that flew towards the ones coming from the giant robot.

When the two sets of missiles met each other, they caused a vicious explosion that covered the machine's vision. Using that chance, Iron Knight flew down between its legs. He flew down to the ground, thrusting out both arms and nanites enveloped them both, transforming them into a pair of repulsor cannons.

Quickly gathering up repulsor energy into them both, he takes aim on the back of the Sentinel's knee. Two massive repulsor beams release from his cannons, converging on his target. The beams converging on that single area tore through its weak armor.

The energy beam to its knee tore off its leg, causing the humongous technological menace to fall down to a crouch-like position.

Looking up, the nanite mutant watches as the others take on their own measures to keep it from moving.

On its left hand that's on top of a building, Spider-Man unleashes a hailstorm of webshots at it. Every inch of its surface was covered in webs, preventing it from moving especially as the layers of silk-like substance increased with each shot from the spider-hero.

Shooting out weblines to either side, Peter forced down several huge rooftop antennas on top of it the webbed hand.

"And that's how, boys and girls, you web a Sentinel's hand!" Peter joked as he continued to web up the hand and the antennae. "Well, if you're a spider-person. If not, run the heck away!"

Black Panther kicked several iron poles into the air. When high up in the air, he jumped after them, using a wrecked rooftop entrance as a springboard to leap into the air. Coming up behind the iron poles, T'Challa saw that he was able to look directly at the right hand through between the poles. With a series of strikes of his hands and precise kicks, he launched the poles into the knuckles of the Sentinel's right hand. Each of them pierced through easily, taking advantage of the gaps in the armor.

With kinetic energy spreading throughout his suit, Black Panther ran like a bolt of lightning till he slammed down his body on the back of the hand. Upon impact, he releases a powerful purple shockwave that completely caves in the Sentinel's hand.

The force is strong enough to embed it into the rooftop surface of the building.

Landing back on the surface, Black Panther smirks behind his mask. "Wonder if this is enough for the hazardous plague to deliver the final blow."

"Can it, Prince Feline." Venom retorted, getting the attention of the other warriors as he engulfed his entire body with thunderous lightning. Having done this before, he enveloped his sword in a powerful veil of thunder.

He jumped off his location and landed on the chest of the giant robot, digging his feet into its chest plates. Spinning his sword around above his head, lighting sparked violently around his blade. The Sentinel looked down at its chest, taking note of the flashing lightning and locked onto the elemental.

Opening the lower half of its mouth, a cannon revealed itself and took aim on Seth. Energy gathered inside of the barrel quickly before an energy beam shot out at him.

But without showing any fear or hesitation, Venom roared. On top of the lightning around his body, black flames burst into being and danced along with the thunderous element. Using his sword that he reeled back, he thrust it forward and aimed it at the energy beam incoming. The black flames traveled down to join the lightning around his sword, combining with them.

Much like in the past, his thunderous flaming sword released in a violent discharge, releasing both a column of abyssal flames and shooting strands of lightning. A massive collision occurred when the energy beam met the elemental strikes in the middle. Both attacks only lasted for a second, creating a flash that completely covered the machine's vision.

Using that very moment to his advantage, Seth dug his sword into the heart of the Sentinel. Smirking widely as he felt his thunderous sword dive deeper into the machine's chest. "Join your friends in oblivion!" He exclaimed, generating even more lightning that's erupting throughout the machine's body.

Various plates shot off as the circuits underneath them overloaded from too much power. Soon enough cracks tore open along every inch of it, erupting with flames bursting out of them violently.

"Let's bounce!" Venom shouted before leaping off the exploding Sentinel's body.

Landing on the ground, Venom calmly walks away from the Sentinel. Its pieces were flying everywhere from the violent explosion. Spider-Man landed down next to him, walking alongside him with his arms behind his head in a relaxing manner. Black Panther scaled down the side of a building, jumping off it and landed next to the other two. He walks with them calmly too. Iron Knight lands next to the spider-hero, walking with them nonchalantly.

Meanwhile the Sentinel had finally exploded completely, sending its flaming parts scattering all over the battlefield.

"Well, talk about fireworks." Peter said as he pulled off his mask, turning around to watch the pieces fly into the buildings around them.

Matt's helmet turned into nanites that retracted into his suit. "Your idea of fireworks suck, Parker."

T'Challa's own mask dismantled next into nanobots. "That is something we all agree on, indeed." He chuckled.

Slithering out of his alter-ego's form, Seth cracked his neck. "Guess there's a lot we can say about Peter's humor." He said, shooting out tendrils from his back to wrap around his sword like a scabbard.

"What are you talking about? My humor's top-notch." Peter quipped. Turning his head around, he watches as the battlefield's disappearing as their battle has come to an end. "The simulation's over?"

"This is a surprise." T'Challa admitted. He turned to the nanite mutant. "What parameters did you set for the program before?"

"Five Sentinels of the highest level, armed to the teeth with weapons and tech that aren't used for normal simulations. But considering we faced off ten of them, some with repulsor technology like my suit, means Hank or the Professor must've tried to shut down the program while we were in here." Matt argued.

"And I'm guessing…" Seth chuckled, turning his head in the direction of the observation room. "I'm pretty sure it's not just the Professor and Hank in there now."

X

"That was absolutely wild!" Miles exclaimed.

"And they went on like that the whole night?" Ruby followed up, in awe of her father and uncle's skills and stamina. "No way, they're not even tired."

"They look like they've barely broken a sweat." Okoye said in an equal amount of shock. She has seen her Prince perform numerous actions that left her speechless, but this is a whole new feat to add to the collection.

Charles sighed. "Whenever I see these four together, I always fear that not even the school can handle their rampages."

"Rampages?" Miles questioned, shocked by that statement. "That doesn't sound like Peter. Not in the least."

"Nor would it sound like my husband, but thankfully, I know better than that." Ororo added.

"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked, fearful of what the answer might be. But knowing that it involved her mate, she was sure she had an idea of what they're talking about.

Hank coughed, getting their attention. "I'm sure you all know how Seth and Matt are together when they're in the same room, correct?" Every person in the entire room nodded their heads, knowing full well what calamity the two of them bring when they're within arm's reach of one another. "Well, unfortunately, they have a similar relationship with Mr. Parker and Prince T'Challa as well."

"You mean they bring out their competitive sides and they just want to brawl?" Evelyn questioned.

"Would've preferred different wording, but yes, indeed. That is an apt way of putting their relationship into words." Hank nodded. "They tend to get into fights when they're together too much."

"I've never seen that side of Peter…" Miles admitted.

"It may be a bit difficult to fathom, yes." Charles understood the young spider-hero's struggles. "But brothers tend to bring out other sides than others can. When the four of them are in proximity to each other, they fight a lot. Years ago, it worked in the school's favor when I had them fight in the Danger Room when it needed to be calibrated."

"I wouldn't say that, Professor." Olivia argued, remembering that time and how much damage the room itself took from the four of them destroying the machinery and projectors inside of the training room.

"I just remembered something…" Caitlin got their attention, her eyes watching as her mate and the others were walking towards the exit. "Will the… Dora Milaje end up killing the guys?"

Good question indeed.

X

Inside of the Danger Room, the guys moved closer towards the exit.

But Seth stopped when his "other" picked up several presences on the other side of the door. "T'Challa… Did you inform Okoye about our late night activities?"

"How could I've…" Realization dawned on the Wakandan hero. "Oh Bast."

"Wait, you're saying…" Peter trailed off, receiving a nod from the elemental that told him everything. "Oh crap."

"… We're screwed." Matt admitted.

Choosing to face the music, Seth opened the door and stepped back just as they called out.

"Our Prince, are you unharmed?!" Came the united shouts of the Dora Milaje guards except for their general. Each one of them had their spears raised, aiming them at the three warriors their prince trained with.

"Does this mean I'm getting my own wanted poster in Wakanda, too?" Peter directed to Matt, who does have a wanted poster of himself in the powerful nation of Wakanda.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to, Pete." Matt countered.

"Challa." Seth nudges the Wakandan hero. "Mind doing your whole princely thingmajig, so we don't get drawn and quartered?"

"Not the way of Wakanda, but yes." He says, turning to his guards. "Lower your arms, Dora Milaje. I am unharmed. My companions and I have merely just trained, is all." Thankfully, his words got through to his guards and they lowered their spears.

However, Seth's next words would make them wanna raise their weapons again.

"Wait, you trained? Since when?" Seth shot at him. T'Challa groaned with gritted teeth. "Thought you just stayed in a corner to lick your paws like a housecat."

"You do realize I've killed more Sentinels than you have." T'Challa said.

Snapping his head towards him, Seth shouted. "You gone mad or something, Prince Feline?! I killed more than you!"

"Half of the honor goes to me; I helped tear through their armor for you!" The Prince retorted.

"Half, my ass!" The Lethal Protector shouted back. "Every kill in there is mine, and mine alone! Can it!"

And just like that, Seth and T'Challa went back and forth, bickering and complaining to one another.

Peter, Matt and the Dora Milaje sighed as they did so. But the bodyguards were embarrassed by their Prince's behavior, his antics not becoming of a future King.

Course, none of them dared to say anything.

"Boys." Once again, the four men flinched when the Professor's telepathy reached into their minds to speak to them. "While I do appreciate you four spending time together so much, even if it's for an entire night… I have to say you're being very extreme about it."

The four of them knew what was coming next…

"Prince T'Challa, I'm sure you would like to know your wife has requested some private time with you."

T'Challa lost all color in his face, worried what his wife might have set for him disappearing without saying a word to her. He'd rather face the wrath of his royal bodyguards than deal with his wife's rage.

"Peter, Matt, I'd like you to stay behind and help Hank with taking care of any damage the four of you did to the Danger Room." Charles instructed them.

The two powered men in question turned their heads backwards, seeing that several panels had fallen off the ceiling and landed on the ground without them noticing. On top of that, several of their attacks had exposed the circuitry in the walls.

They weren't given an easy task either.

"Seth, with Hank busy with his task, I will have you take over the Chemistry class he's supposed to teach in an hour."

"Get ready for the students to run away screaming for explosive experiments." Seth smirked.

"Good thing I prepared for that outcome." Seth's smirk fell and he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I've spoken with Caitlin and she's agreed to let your children into your class this one time. As will Miles, seeing as his mentor has joined your little training session and will be busy with his own task."

"Are you seriously using my girls to keep me causing students from having meltdowns in class?" Seth exclaimed.

"Yes." Charles deadpanned.

"Damn." Seth let out in mild shock.

X

"Intro to States of Matter." Seth reads the title out loud from the curriculum as he makes his way to the classroom with his children and Miles. Closing the folder, he states. "I covered this last time I taught Chem to these kids."

"Before you leapt into Earth-1?" Frankie wonders.

"Yeah, well, maybe. It was a while back." Seth answers. "Usually, I'd handle experiments, especially in Chem and Bio, but lectures are something I had done before."

"How do you feel about teaching again like this, Dad?" Evelyn asks.

"Strange at first, but feels good. Nice to re-experience this old way of living of mine." Seth admits with a chuckle.

"Bet the sound of students crying again is like white noise." Ruby chuckles cruelly.

"Well, it calms the mind." Seth says.

Miles comes to a halt. "Sir, you've racked up a tally of complaints, haven't you?"

"Should be reaching the atmosphere any day now." Seth smirks. He turns to the young heroes and asks. "You guys sure about joining the class?" They nodded their heads immediately. Opening the door for them, he gestures to the classroom. "Let's get going."

They walk into the classroom and the students immediately freeze up when they see Seth walking to the front of the class. "Good morning, class. Hope you're ready for a journey into Chemistry, specially into the states of matter. But before we get to that, I'd like to introduce some important people who will be joining the class today."

He gestures to the four beside him. "My daughters, Frankie, Evelyn and Ruby will be joining the class, along with Miles Morales." They wave their hands.

Bobby starts emitting icy mist from his head while he gulps. "Oh, they seem nice."

Seth gives the ice-user a blazing glare and states. "Heard you met them yesterday, Bobby. Hope you were on your best behavior. I find out otherwise, you're stuck the whole semester writing an essay on every topic in Chem."

The young ice mutant sweat dropped at the teacher's words, each drop of perspiration turning to ice and falling onto his desk.

"Dad." Frankie scolds her father.

"I know, I know. Be nice. Take a seat, guys." Seth tells his daughters and Miles. They oblige and walk to the vacant seats, taking place in them. The elemental starts by writing on the blackboard, writing the states of matter on it.

"Solid." Seth points to the first state of matter on the board. "When we talk about a solid, we characterize it by a definite shape and volume. Question for you guys." Most of the students snapped their heads up at the teacher. Evelyn wondered if any of them broke their necks at that speed. "Why do you guys think that solids have a definite shape? Anyone?"

He looks between the students. To his surprise though, Miles is the first and only one to raise his hand. With a small smile on his face, Seth points at the spider-hero. "Miles."

"Solids have a unique shape because their particles are tightly packed and are held together in a fixed arrangement by really strong forces of attraction." Miles answers.

"Correct, and that particular structure provides stability and rigidity to the substance." Seth adds. "And in regards to their properties, how does the structure of solids affect them?"

Ruby raises her hand and before her father gives her permission, she answers. "It influences their properties such as hardness, brittleness and conductivity. Like how metals' solid structure allows them to conduct electricity."

Seth chuckles. "Nicely done, Ruby."

As the elemental continues the lecture, Kitty Pryde leans towards Ruby and whispers. "So, you're, like, Dr. Rogers' kid?"

Ruby glances in her direction and answers in a whisper. "Me and the two others. Miles is my boyfriend."

"Cool." The phase-shifter points to herself. "Kitty."

"Ruby." She introduces herself. "What's it like having my father as a teacher?"

Kitty scratches her head. "Horror movies are a joke compared to him."

The elemental looks over his shoulder at the phase-shifter. "Compliment appreciated, but anymore chit-chat down there, we're skipping the lecture and going straight to chemical experimentation. Protection, optional." They stop talking, returning to listen to the lecture. He points to the second state. "Second state of matter, liquid. They have a definite volume, but their shape? Well, we all know liquid doesn't have a shape. They take the shape of their container. Particles in liquid can move around more freely. Kind of like people mingling at a party."

Rogue raises a finger. "What about the liquids' viscosity?"

"Excellent question, Marie." Seth states. "With liquids, the movement of particles in them determines their viscosity, which is a measure of their resistance to flow. The more movement there is between these particles, tends to result in lower viscosity and makes the liquid flow easier."

Bobby, shakingly so, raises his hand and asks. "Dr. Rogers, didn't you mention in another lecture about a way for matter to go between these states?"

"You can relax, Bobby. And what an excellent question, too." Seth looks at Evelyn with a smile. "Evie, what is the way for matter to go between the different states that Bobby here mentioned?"

"Transition." Evelyn answers.

"Correct and Frankie, mind talking a bit about transition between matters?" Seth asks the ferrokinetic.

Frankie smirks. "It's a way for different matter to change through different processes, like melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation. They're changes that are driven by energy."

Seth nods proudly. "Exactly. Like, if we add heat to a matter, particles within gain energy and start moving more, resulting in a change in state. Now some substances can undergo certain processes like sublimation, where they transform directly from, say, a solid to gas without passing through the liquid state. It's an essential part of understanding the behavior of certain matters…."

From there, Seth continues his Chemistry lecture. Surprising his daughters and Miles Morales with his knowledge and experience as a teacher, and petrifying his other students with his lecture as he dives deeper into the realm of chemical states.

X

A little while after, while Seth was teaching his class, Caitlin was sitting on a table in one of the examination rooms. The Professor wanted to examine the Earth-1 woman's powers, knowing she's a powered being that's similar to mutants from another universe.

At the end of the table, is a machine that's built into the wall, appearing similar to a large scale MRI scanner.

Jean, with her telepathic abilities, senses the metahuman's apprehension and her nervousness. She turns to her with a smile as she puts patches on her body. "Don't worry, Caitlin. It's nothing you haven't done before yourself on others."

"It's merely to help you understand and control your newfound powers." Ororo said as she checked the settings on the machine.

"I know. It's weird being on the receiving end, though." Caitlin admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Gotta know how it feels at some point, right?" Jean chuckled.

Charles wheels closer to Caitlin. "Caitlin, understand this, please. Our goal is to ensure your safety and that of those around you. It's a simple examination of your powers. And considering what you showed previously yesterday, this should be simple enough."

"I understand, Professor." She nodded.

Ororo said. "We'll begin with testing your ice powers. Focus on something calming, shouldn't be hard with those special ones in your life."

With a smile on her face, Caitlin focused on something that calmed her…

Her family.

She took a deep breath as she focused her concentration. From her hand, a faint icy mist began to emanate. Her necklace is on the nearby table, within arm's reach, so she could easily retake it and put it back on if her powers were too much for her to control.

She already knew the telepaths knew of her fear, feeling it. She doesn't want to introduce Killer Frost's evil ways to these great people who are trying to help her.

"Good." Jean nodded, her eyes going to the monitors that showed Caitlin's physiology and her physical state. The patches on her body shine as they measure and scan her body. "Your body's response to these powers are really something."

"Thanks." Caitlin chuckled. "And thank you for all the help you're giving me. It means a lot."

"Of course, Dr. Snow." Charles told her. Jean and Ororo continue their examination, the former continuing to use her powers to examine the metahuman's mental state and the latter making sure Caitlin's powers don't spread with her own powers. "And besides, we're the ones who should be thanking you."

"What do you mean? For what?" Caitlin questioned.

Charles showed a grateful smile. "My dear, it's thanks to you, I get to see Seth again as he once was." Caitlin looked confused. "I'm sure you've already learnt of events that led to Seth… becoming emotionless." This time Caitlin nodded her confirmation with a saddened expression. "I didn't think I'd ever be able to see him again as he was before. Seeing him now pleases me greatly."

"How was… How was Seth as a kid?" Caitlin wondered. She rarely learnt anything about her mate's upbringing as a kid.

"He was… very protective as a child. Especially of his little sister." The professor admitted. "He cared a lot about humans and mutants equally." Despite knowing of his telepathic abilities, the metahuman from Earth-1 narrowed her eyes at the way he spoke those words and her thoughts were blurred. "He always wanted to help people; he was also very curious as he grew up."

"Whenever Liv was in trouble or crying, Seth would drop everything to come to her rescue…" Charles chuckles. "But I'm sure you don't need to know about that."

"No, I don't." Caitlin nodded with a chuckle. "He did jump through an unknown portal to find her."

"That's one way of putting it." Jean said, holding a tablet. "Your body's response to these powers is really intriguing."

"But the fear of them is still very strong in you." Charles said, knowing how she feels of her powers. "Caitlin, remember this. It's important to know that your powers don't define you, they're part of you. It's part of your entire being. Embracing all of you is a crucial and valuable step in this journey."

"You've ever met anyone who didn't do that? Embrace their powers?" Caitlin said.

"The thing is, Caitlin. Many have." Charles admitted. "You see, this school is founded by the mutants, like me, who've embraced their powers, their mutant side, for the good of the world. To use their powers to protect those that don't have any. But, unfortunately, there are those that have embraced their powers as well, but choose to use them for their own beliefs, many of which show little to no care at all for the innocents. Others realize their powers, but choose to not accept them. The paths everyone takes after this form of embracing are as different and ever-growing as the branches of an oak tree."

"But you don't believe they'll stay on their path?" Caitlin said, almost knowing his response.

"Something along their path will show them the errors of their way. I'm positive." Charles gave the woman a compassionate and caring smile. "And, my dear Dr. Snow, trust me, you are not anywhere near a wrong path."

Caitlin didn't know how to argue with that. She only felt like she was standing at a crossroad. She wants to remain on the path she's chosen, the one where she keeps her humanity and is herself. It's the path she chose to walk her whole life, the one she chose when her friends and her started to protect her home of Central City. It's the one she walked on… When she met Seth… Learning of a future where she'd become…

Caitlin Snow-Fury… Wife to the person she loves the most in the entire multiverse.

But even the thought, the possibility of the second road is what terrifies her to no end. A path of not darkness, but frost. A frost that's similar to that of a parasite, intending to take control of her. And once enveloped by the icy cold, the future she hopes for… The family she loves… The path that she's walked her whole life…

All of that will crack and shatter into a million tiny pieces… A path, a future… A life that will forever be lost to her if Caitlin Snow were to lose herself to the path of ice that Killer Frost walks…

Caitlin Snow-Fury would no longer be there…

"Caitlin?" Jean got her attention, seeing and sensing the Earth-1 woman in distress. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just… pondering to myself." Caitlin sheepishly answered.

"Oh, okay. Mind if I ask something, though?" Jean questioned.

"Yeah." Caitlin nodded.

"What's wrong with Seth?" The telepath asked.

That question left Caitlin stumped, but she knew she couldn't hide anything from them. Nor would she choose to.

So with that, she told them everything about their latest adventures on Earth-1…

X

With a groan, Frankie stretches out her arms above her head. "My God, Dad's lectures are boring."

"First time I've ever seen a whole class scared shitless." Evelyn said.

"I actually thought it was a good and great lesson." Miles admitted.

Ruby nudged his shoulder. "Still trying to get on my Dad's good side?"

The four of them, as the professor promised, attended Seth's Chemistry class. It was an uneventful class, but not dry as most classes in high schools are. But the four of them had hoped to see Seth perform an explosive experiment in class, but that didn't happen per Professor X's instructions.

But the three snow-Fury daughters did find it hilarious when they saw the entire class scared out of their minds and shivering in their seats.

After class, the four of them walked together towards another library that Caitlin told them about, the four of them wanting to check out the journals Seth left behind. But as they walked across the platform on the staircase, they looked up and saw…

Caitlin Snow.

The daughters of the woman stopped in their tracks, looking confused why their mother's there when last they heard she is still downstairs in a lab for testing.

"Did Mom get up from another entrance or something?" Evelyn questions, wondering why their mother's walking back into the library she spent the entirety of last night in.

"Is there another entrance or something?" Frankie questioned, directing her words to the spider-hero who seems to know more about this school.

"I don't know. Place's like a maze to me." Miles admitted sheepishly. The spider-hero turned his eyes to the ferrokinetic's sister. "Rubs, what's wrong?"

"Something about Mom… doesn't seem right?" Ruby admitted confusedly, narrowing her eyes. Her "other" picked up something else from her mother.

"You felt it too?" The ferrokinetic notes.

"Not the only one then." The metahuman of light and darkness said.

Wordlessly agreeing with one another, the four of them went towards the library room.

When they got there, they saw the woman looking down on a table with opened books and journals. Her hand is trailing over the open pages while standing over them.

Stepping past the threshold and towards the middle of the room, Frankie looked at her mother. "Mom?"

Turning around, Caitlin faces the ferrokinetic. But the expression on her face shocked them, appearing to be a mix of confusion and curiosity. "Oh, hi guys. What are you doing here?"

Evelyn narrowed her eyes. "Mom, why are you here already? Shouldn't you be down downstairs?" Without the woman seeing her, she reached behind her back.

"Oh… I'm done with all of that, guys. Don't worry." Caitlin gave a smile. "Why are you guys here? Shouldn't your class be going now? Skipping classes ain't gonna look good on your records."

"Maybe…" Ruby narrowed her eyes too. "But you know Dad's classes are always so boring."

Caitlin laughs. "Well, never heard of a Math class being exciting before."

"Wait, that doesn't-"

Cutting Miles off, Ruby pushed "Caitlin" back with a gravity wave, pinning her to the wall. "Who the hell are you?"

"What are you doing?!" "Caitlin" shouted.

Evelyn pulled her hands out and revealed a bow and arrow, using both to take aim on the woman. "She asked first!"

"And I asked second!" She bellowed.

With her eyes burning brightly with magenta colors, Frankie raised her hands and forced up a number of metallic objects into the air. "You're not our mother! She knows our dad better than to make a mistake."

"And she knows he doesn't teach Math." Ruby continued.

"So who the fuck are you?!" Evelyn exclaimed, pulling back another arrow.

"Caitlin's" smile disappeared slowly. "Wow…. Never thought I'd see so… vigor. From kids like you." Then the white skin on her body morphed, even the clothes disappeared, shifting into something else. It was a sight to behold. The white skin turned into a shocking shade of azure blue, looking like scales.

A cunning intelligence emanated from her piercing yellow eyes. Her full lips curve into a knowing smile, hiding mischievous intentions. Her flowing hair cascades down her back like a waterfall of fire.

The clothes that the girls' mother wears disappears, replaced by a white dress with subtle patterns. She wears long white leather gloves that look akin to opera gloves. Her thigh-high boots are clad to her legs, accenting her already towering height.

"What the…" Ruby's shock got the better of her, making her lose focus and her control of her gravity powers fell.

At that moment, the mutant fell to the ground with a soft thud. "Oh thanks, kid. Also, for the record, the name's Mystique."

Before they could get a response in, Mystique kicked the table into the air, knocking off the journals and books. The pages and notes scattered in the air, clouding the heroes' field of vision.

Frankie, forcing the metallic objects to her right palm, before thrusting it up towards the airborne table. The sphere of metal tore the wooden table in two, allowing the heroes to see again. They saw the blue-skinned redhead run on the shelves on the left side before jumping off it.

Landing in a roll, Mystique lashes out her legs upwards and kicks the arrows away from Evelyn's bow. While the strike disoriented the archer, allowing the mutant a chance to do a handstand and front kick her in the stomach. The strike knocked her back and into a bookshelf.

"You're gonna regret that!" Frankie swung her hands forward, trying to strike her. But Mystique jumped backwards in a backflip, avoiding the attacks from the ferrokinetic.

Mystique landed on her feet. "Oh, that's cute. Right back at you." Like a blue blur, she shot forward like a bullet and slammed her knee into Frankie's stomach. The quick and powerful strike to her abdomen caused her to cough up bile. When the leg was removed from her body, the ferrokinetic fell down to her knees with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

"What's next? No more funny words?" Mystique arrogantly said.

"Damn, bitch!" Ruby thrust out her hand, releasing another powerful gravity wave towards the mutant.

But using another nearby table as a springboard, Mystique grabbed onto a lamp, swinging out of the gravity attack's range and towards another lamp. When she let go of the first one, she performed a somersault and grabbed onto another lamp…

With her feet!

The action alone was enough for Ruby's eyes to go wide and she dropped her guard, giving the mutant the chance to grab her by her shoulders and throw her towards another bookshelf.

But before any collision could take place, Miles jumped forward and grabbed Ruby. In the process of it, he delivered a kick to Mystique's face, knocking her off the lamp and landing back on the floor. She grunted upon impact.

However, looking up at him from the ground, Mystique smirked when seeing how tight Miles is holding Ruby to his body. "Try that again, you're not gonna like what I'm gonna do next."

Mystique jumped up into a crouch, examining her jawline and twisting her jaw. "What, your mother never told you how to treat a lady, kid?"

"She did, and she also taught me how to treat a bad one." Miles snapped back in rage, holding Ruby tightly to him.

"Guess I'm gonna have to show you how to teach you how to speak more properly." Mystique stood up, clenching her fists. She took off like a white blur again, sprinting towards him like a bullet.

However, dozens of pitch-black tendrils traveled into the library room from the door, enwrapping Mystique's arm and lifting her up in the air. Before she could try and force her way out, even more tendrils ensnared her body, leaving her head alone.

Rushing into the room, Seth revealed himself with his right arm outstretched and releasing tendrils that've wrapped around the mutant's body. "On a very, very long list of mistakes and dumb actions you've done, Raven, fighting my daughters takes the top spot."

Raven Darkholme groaned in her restraints. "Seth. Good to see you again. Daughters, huh? Not ba-" She choked on her words when the tendrils tightened their holds on her body.

"And you hurt them. Huge mistake." Seth reaffirmed with another squeeze. "Nice job there, Miles." He praises the spider-hero.

"Thank you, sir." Miles said, letting go of Ruby.

As he spoke, Caitlin and Olivia ran into the room. The psychic crouched down, picking up Evelyn. "Evie, you okay?"

"Honestly, I feel great but also ashamed." Evelyn admitted to her aunt.

"Frankie, honey, you okay?" Caitlin cupped her daughter's face, looking into her eyes.

Frankie coughed, looking at her mother. "Mom, that's you, right? Not some freaky… Athletic mutant ninja shapeshifting she-lizard, right?"

"What?" Caitlin said. "No, it's me honey." Frankie, despite the pain in her stomach, remained skeptical. "Honey, I'm your mother, I adopted you while your father was… stuck on another Earth. And I know you kept picking out the pickles of the sandwiches I made you for after-school snacks."

"Okay, in my defense, those pickles were nasty as hell." Frankie smiled. "And you're my mother."

"The one and only." Caitlin hugged her.

"Wait, why'd you-" Seth stopped questioning his daughter, wondering why she doubted her mother's identity until he remembered the other mutant's powers. He faces her with a look of disbelief. "You turned into my girlfriend and tried to sneak your way in."

"Well, guess I couldn't pull off the brunette act. First time for everything." Raven chuckled. "And girlfriend, huh? Thought you were into blondes."

"One word… One word is all the excuse I need to tear you to pieces." Seth reminded him with a growl, releasing more tendrils from his body.

"Seth!" Olivia got her brother's attention. "If she's here then so is he."

"Fuck." Seth's face lost all color. "Cait, how are the girls?" He turns to his mate.

"Slight bruises is all, thankfully." Caitlin answered, having checked their bodies over. "They're okay."

"Good. Miles, how many times have you been at this school?" Seth questions the spider-hero keeping his eyes locked on the shapeshifting mutant.

"I don't know, at least a dozen times or so." Miles replied.

"Go to the downstairs labs now. Take my daughters with you, including Caitlin. Liv, go with them." Seth orders.

"What? Why, Seth?" Caitlin wondered, seeing the look of fear on his face. "Who's coming?"

"One of the biggest villains in this universe…" Seth sneered, symbiote mass slithering under his clothes. "Stay down there, while I figure out why he's here. Please, go."

Hearing the worry and resolve in his voice, Caitlin nodded. "Be careful."

"I will." He assured his mate.

But with the threat that's about to enter the school, he feared what might befall them all.

X

"Scott, are the students still in class?" Charles questioned the mutant with optic lasers. He rolled in front of the staircase in the lobby, similar to how he did so when he arrived to greet T'Challa and the Dora Milaje. He was with Scott and Hank, both of them standing ready for a fight.

"Yes, they are." Scott nodded.

"The ones that aren't are being taken care of by Jean and Storm." Hank answered, loosening his tie. "I hope this doesn't get ugly."

Scott scoffed. "Ever heard of his arrival spelling anything other than ugly?"

"I meant, for the students, Scott." Hank clarified in his defense. "If anything happens, if a fight breaks out, you really think the students here will be safe from any collateral damage?"

"I agree with Hank." Charles clenches his fists, his mind already finding the presences of several familiar mutants that don't fight for a peaceful future. "I truly fear what Erik's bringing here to our doorstep. But, Scott…" Professor X got his attention, seeing Cyclops' fingers on the side of his visor. "Remember, our first and biggest priority is our students. We protect them first and foremost; we do not instigate a fight unprovoked, not at the risk of them getting caught in the crossfire."

Scoffing again, Scott countered. "Wrong guy you're telling that to, Professor."

"But he's not wrong." Hank added.

The booming sounds of heavy footsteps echoed from the outside, shaking the ground that the X-Men are on. The air itself got thicker, the tension getting larger and larger by the footsteps.

The Professor clenched his handles, his knuckles turning white. "They're here."

As if on cue, the hinges on the doors began to shake…

An invisible force taking control of the screws and every inch of metal on them. The force overwhelmed the metallic objects, forcing them off the doors immediately.

While Hank and Scott flinched at the sight, covering their eyes even, it did not faze Charles. The telepath has seen this happen many times and none of the numerous times left him impressed and neither did this display of power.

With the hinges lost, the massive doors fell down with a heavy thud.

But it went unnoticed by the sounds of booming footsteps again, this time much closer.

Stepping through the now doorless entrance of the school, the familiar and yet all-imposing figure of Erik Lehnsherr. His body clad in a regal and sleek suit. Hues of dark metallic all over his suit. Behind a cape billows, flapping in the air as he steps forward. It wasn't his powers keeping it afloat, it was as though his presence was making it rise. His silver hair slicked backwards and his blue eyes narrowed.

The source of the booming footsteps arrived, revealing the hulking form of a Cain Marko. The massive and towering man exuding an aura of unstoppable force, having bulging muscles and a physique that would forever remain unrivaled. He's cladded in a heavy, durable suit and his bald head covered by a distinct deep-crimson red helmet.

The sound of a lighter flickering open and closed repeated, revealing itself to be John Allerdyce. The young man was wearing a black shirt and pants. A gray hoodie over his shirt, covering his blonde hair and his green eyes. He gave a dark smirk, looking between his old teachers, flickering his red-painted zippo lighter, sparking a bright flame into being.

The primitive and rugged attire is clad to the body of the final person entering the school, the tall and muscular man known as Victor Creed. He's a wild, unruly mane of blond hair, reminiscent of a wild animal. He's got glowing yellow eyes, perfectly matching his sharp canines and razor-like claws. He's wearing a long coat, crafted from the hides and leathers of all the creatures he's hunted down. He's got leather straps and belts adorned with bones and teeth.

A mask of concern is etched on the faces of the X-Men, especially Charles Xavier. He rolled forward in his wheelchair, his psychic powers reaching out to the minds of his unexpected visitors. He also felt Cyclops doing his utmost to keep himself from unleashing a destructive red beam at this moment. It wasn't just him. Beast was sharpening his claws and clenched his fists with immense strength, one strike enough to deliver a fatal blow to an ordinary citizen.

Charles knew they'd jump to his rescue if the Brotherhood of Mutants tried anything. But he feared what might happen if that took place now.

"Charles." Magento said, locking eyes with the telepath he's known for years. Without even knowing, he already knew the school founder was using his telepathic powers to probe for the truth behind his unexpected visit. "You look well."

"Erik." Professor X sighs out the name, interlocking his fingers in his lap. "I would say the same, but I find that hard to do considering my front doors have mysteriously fallen asleep. I assume you're not gonna put them back in place?"

"Know me too well, Charles." Magneto smirked. He glances at the two other mutants on his old friend's side. Sighing, the mutant stated. "Tell your colleagues to stand down, The Brotherhood didn't come here as adversaries."

"Excuse my skepticism, Erik. But I find that highly unlikely, given our history and… Our differences in certain standings." Charles argued.

Pyro chuckled, examining the flame in his lighter. "Told you we didn't need them."

Charles sighs, facing his former student. "John, I really, really hoped you wouldn't have turned out like you have. It's my fault, and I am sorry. But you will not now nor ever light that thing in my school. Put it out, now." He demanded, getting John's attention. "I will not ask a second time, young man."

Growling like an animal, Sabretooth snarled. "We don't need him." He told his leader.

"Small man… No need for him." Juggernaut growled, not seeing the need for his brother's help.

"Erik, with your own words…" Charles recites the ferrokinetic's words. "Tell your colleagues to stand down. This is a safe place, a school for learning, not another place for them to cause havoc."

It's rare but even the professor's known to have a short amount of patience, especially around the Brotherhood of Mutants.

"Think we both know they're quite the…" Erik smirked. "The unruly bunch. They don't listen well, even to me."

"Want me to take a page out of their books?"

That familiar voice got the Brotherhood's attention, as well as X-Men, their heads swinging towards the staircase. At the top of it is a familiar face that Erik didn't think he'd see here again.

Standing at the top of the staircase with his arms crossed, Seth remained stoic and determined. Black tendrils from his right shoulder are still restraining Mystique, holding her suspended in the air.

"Magneto…" Seth said, hints of disgust in his voice.

"Seth…" Erik chuckled hollowly, walking towards the staircase, stopping when he stood in front of it to look up at the elemental. "May I ask you to release my pretty associate from your grip?"

Acting as though he didn't hear or recognize the question from the mastermind, Seth slowly turns his gaze to the pyrokinetic. "Hey, Pyro-boy!" John looks at him with a gulp. "The professor told you to put that light out. Do it."

"W-What? No way." Pyro countered with a stammer.

"…Going once…" Seth started, stepping down the staircase.

"What?" John stuttered.

"Put. That. Lighter. Out… Going… Twice." Seth growled, smoke emanating from his mouth to exude a demonic presence.

"I…" John's hand shook violently.

"Going…" Seth slowed down.

But a simple flicker of Magneto's finger, closed the lid of John's lighter. The action shocked the pyrokinetic. "Put that thing away, Johnathan. It's unbecoming of a young man, not to mention a bad influence on other impressionable young minds."

"Oh, now you care about young kids? I find that unconvincing." Seth countered. "So how about you tell us why you're here and I may consider letting your associate here go… in one piece? Or at least with her neck still intact."

"… I require your help." Erik states.

"You? Need our help?" Scott scoffed. "Anyone calling bull here?"

"Big time." Seth agreed with the other mutant.

"Seth." The elemental turns to face the telepath. "Let go of Raven and let's escort our guests to a separate room." Seth sighed, using his tendrils to throw the shapeshifter away who effortlessly landed on her feet with the grace of a ballerina. While she rubs the sore areas on her body, Charles tells the ferrokinetic. "Unfortunately, Erik, not all of your colleagues can come with us."

"Oh, what does that mean?" Juggernaut growled.

"I'm confident, you already know what I mean." Charles shot back.

"You bald freak!" Juggernaut clenched his fists, stomping on the ground.

Pyro flexed his hands, revealing his wristed-flamethrowers under his sleeves.

Sabretooth sharpens his claws, taking a battle stance.

Magneto's fingers outstretched, the entire lobby shaking from his powers affecting the metal.

Seth widened his eyes…

A set of three blurs appeared, appearing from different sides like bullets. Moving together with a fourth blur, each of them struck like bolts of lightning in broad daylight.

….

….

Charles, Scott and Hank were left with open mouths in awe, shock, and disbelief…

They always knew the four of them would be undoubtedly fast and strong…

But this was the fastest they've ever seen the four of them move.

Standing in front of Erik Lehnsherr with symbiote-covered claws aimed at his throat is Seth, tendrils spouted from his back. Most of them have sharp icicles at the tips of them, others have blazing red flames on them and the rest have thunderous lightning sparking on them.

Holding himself up over the head of Juggernaut with a pair of repulsor cannons aiming down on his helmet is Matt Stark. The nanite mutant's clad in his Iron Knight suit, holding himself up in the air with the thrusters on his feet.

Light shines down on the sharp, long vibranium claws that are in front of Sabretooth's face belonging to the Wakandan hero, Prince T'Challa. Black Panther's entire suit is brimming with kinetic energy, ready to release it at a moment's notice and willing to take off his head if the need for it comes.

With both of his hands aiming at Pyro's flamethrowers, Spider-Man stood adamantly and remained ready to shoot webshots or weblines at the pyrokinetic. The spider-hero knew he was quicker than the Brotherhood mutant and would strike him quicker than a bullet.

Seth tells the leader, elongating his claws. "One wrong move…"

Matt continues, energy converging in his cannons. "Your head goes off…"

T'Challa continues, inching his claws closer to his foe's face. "Your eyes get clawed out…"

Peter adds, putting his fingers on his web-shooters. "You… You will…" Spider-Man looked unsure. "Damn, I got nothing. Guys, give something! Quick, I'm losing here!"

Snapping his head towards him, T'Challa suggested. "String him up!"

Snapping his head towards him, Matt suggested. "Tie him to a jet!"

Snapping his head towards him, Seth suggested. "Draw and quarter him!"

"Yeah, seriously, why are all your options violent! Except T'Challa's! But seriously, why so violent?!" Peter questions them. The two mutants with the violent suggestions shrugged their shoulders. "Of course."

Erik looked between the elemental and the three heroes beside him. "Of course, the four of you are together, as always. If I didn't know any better, Charles, I would think you had them prepared for our arrival."

"And you do know me better, Erik." Charles stated. "Boys, while I am appreciative of your actions, your desire, your determination to protect me, and truly, I do appreciate it…" The four of them turn their heads, facing the telepath. "If Erik says he's here for our assistance, I'm inclined to believe it involves the lives of mutants. So please, let us take them in…"

He watches as the four heroes look between each other, sharing a look. None of them trusts the Brotherhood of Mutants, not a single one of them have been shown themselves to be trustworthy. That goes double- If not, triple for their leader, Magento.

But regardless, the professor trusts them to listen to him and to respect his words. They accepted his words and lowered their weaponry. Matt lowered himself back to the ground. "You sure about this, Professor?"

"I am, Matt. But as I mentioned before, it's gonna be impossible to fit everyone into our rooms. So my brother will have to remain here." Charles said.

"Pyro-Brat and Fucker-Naut stays put." Seth orders the Brotherhood leader, both he mentions growls.

"Me and the Spider will remain here, keep an eye on them." Black Panther tells the elemental.

"Dude, we've been over this, it's Spider-Man. Plus, I'm not even the only one now." Peter reminded him.

"Small stuff." T'Challa quipped.

"Fine." Erik nodded. "But Mystique and Sabretooth will still join me…"

"I swear, if you say emotional support, I'm gonna deck you with a bookshelf." Seth groaned.

"For companionship, rather." Erik countered.

"Oh, yeah, cause you're so lonely." Matt scoffed.

Seth and Matt follow the telepath who escorts Brotherhood mutants into a separate room along with Hank and Scott. Rolling into the room, Charles glances at the open door with narrowed eyes. Giving it no more thought, he looks back up and at the ferrokinetic. "What is this issue, Erik? Must be urgent if you're coming to us."

"One word: HYDRA." Erik states.

That single word changed the atmosphere in the room, leaving them all tense and angry. HYDRA has been active since World War 2. An organization solely devoted to world domination, founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. They'd resort to any means, no matter how nefarious to reach their goal. HYDRA's interests extended to humans, but also to other groups, including mutants, intent on using them for their means.

HYDRA would not hesitate to exploit the powers of mutant-kind for their own purposes, whether it's to increase their own ranks or use them to develop advanced weaponry. And when it came to use mutants, it wasn't always by the mutants' choice.

"What's happened? What have they done now?" Seth jumped in.

Directing his words to the entire company, Magento stated. "HYDRA has enlisted someone they could make sure to sniff out the mutant safehouses."

"You know who?" Seth inquired.

"Unfortunately, no." Erik admits with a shake of his head. "Whoever they are though, they're quite the skilled tracker."

"Under HYDRA's payroll, it could be anyone. But what have they done?" Charles asked with crossed arms.

"HYDRA has performed raids on Underground Railroads for mutants. I've found networks of safehouses empty. Mutant children and adults were no longer there." Erik admits.

"How'd you know HYDRA is behind this?" Matt said. "I hate to admit it, but mutant safehouses have been found before and they've been raided before. Mostly by military but also by ordinary citizens."

"Raven." Erik faces the shapeshifter.

Reaching into a pouch on her belt, Mystique pulls out a torn-off badge. "Found this when I checked out one of the safehouses."

Handing it to Seth, he grits his teeth at the familiar awful logo. The green logo, reflecting the organization's origins. The logo consists of an octopus with its tentacles outward in all directions. At the center of the logo, where all the tentacles converge, is a prominent skull motif.

This very logo represents death, defiance and the organization's willingness to resort to extreme measures in pursuit of its goals.

"Cut off one head, two more takes its place." Seth noted their slogan as they passed the logo around. "And what about this tracker…?" He glances at Sabretooth. "Your house pet didn't recognize it?"

Victor growls, but Erik raises his hand to stop him from charging the elemental. "While Sabretooth's nose is far more keened than any known beast, he does still have limits."

"New smell…" Sabretooth snarled. "Never smelled it before now."

"And you've proven how useful you are right now, exactly none." Seth hollowly stated, getting an angry snarl from him. "But even so, you know where they are?"

"Seth is right, unless we get a location on their whereabouts, we won't be able to find those poor things." Hank says.

"Unfortunately, you two may not think much of Erik, but I'm confident that Erik would not have arrived here asking for our help empty-handed. Least of all, without the right information." Charles said.

"Again, you know me far too well, Charles." Erik chuckles. "But yes, I have found their location. Three Mile Island."

"Three Mile Island? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Seth admitted.

"A former associate of you and Matt's used that. One William Stry-"

"Finish that sentence, I will puke." Seth groaned, even the reminder of that name makes him wanna vomit. Gagging to himself, he then questioned. "How do we even know for sure this is a HYDRA base?"

"It is one."

Hearing that voice, the group turns their eyes to the open door and finds Ruby standing there. Seth and Matt show widened eyes of concern at her presence. Worry comes over the professor. The Brotherhood Mutants, however, seem surprised at her sudden presence.

"Ruby, what are you doing here?" Seth questions his daughter, concern and worry dripping from his mouth.

"Dad, that's a HYDRA base. Trust me." Ruby said confidently.

"And why…" Erik turns around, facing the girl. "Pray tell, does your daughter know for certain that this is a HYDRA base?"

The gaze aiming at her petrified Ruby, making her shake in her boots. His look was similar to that of Zoom's, completely and utterly cold. The evil speedster looked at her like he could use her powers for his own gains, but now…

Magento's eyes are different, steel-cold and deadly. His gaze alone told her he demanded answers and nothing but the right ones.

"I used to be a HYDRA assassin." Her fear got the better of her, making her blurt out the words.

"A HYDRA assassin…" Erik's hand clenched, causing the metal in the walls and in the tables to shake. The entire room began to shake, pulsating as though it's following the ferrokinetic's heartbeat. "So someone that young on HYDRA's side… Your kind has done much damage to mutant-kind… Destroyed their lives and took them without a second thought…"

"…Perhaps, I should return the favor…" Magento raised a han-

But his action came to an abrupt stop when a massive crystal sword was raised, pointing right at his throat. The blade was a crystal but immediately became engulfed by an eruption of abyssal pitch-black flames. The heat was unlike anything Erik felt, making him flinch and even his control of the metal came to a halt.

Mystique and Sabretooth wanted to help, wanted to jump in to help him, but Iron Knight's cannons aiming at their heads prevented them from aiding their leader. Much less thinking of it.

Erik's eyes ran up the abysmal flames, taking in their hollow and haunting blaze, before they settled on the hand that's wrapped around the handle. Then his eyes traveled up the hand, up the arm and saw the determined face of Seth Fury.

His determination roared inside of him and resonated with his abyssal flames, his anger exuding from his entire being. Even though he isn't standing as Venom now, his eyes are red-hot.

Moving slightly, Seth Fury stood in front of his daughter and tightened his hold on his sword. "You even think of hurting my daughter, there will be no force in this universe, not even the professor, will be able to stop me… from destroying you and razing your entire organization to the ground."

Erik narrows his eyes. "You wanna protect someone from HYDRA? Seth, how far you've fallen, my dear boy."

"My daughter's not HYDRA!" Seth bellows. "She's not part of their organization nor should she pay for the crimes that they've committed! Even think of hurting her, I will end you right here and now."

"Erik, I agree with Seth." Charles rolls around till he's in front of the elemental, standing between Ruby and Erik. The ferrokinetic shifts his eyes down to his old friend. "You and I may have history, but I will not now nor ever allow you to hurt someone in this school. This young woman's past does not define her, her upbringing does not reflect who she is now. Seth is right, she is not HYDRA. She was someone amongst their ranks. But she's a child, a young hero. She will not be harmed in my school, not by anyone while I am here. Not now, not ever."

Ruby wasn't surprised by the determination her father's showing right now, he's done this many times in defense for his family and those that are innocents. But for Professor X to go this far for her… Especially when she knows about her life as a HYDRA assassin…

How could they be doing so much and going so far for her…

Looking between the two of them, Magneto sighed and lowered his hand. "Oh, how low the two of you must think of me. Think I would ever hurt a child? You must think the worst of me."

"I think the worst of you any day you're still breathing." Seth snarled.

Magento made eye contact with the elemental once more. "Besides… Even I do not dare to incur Seth's wrath again, knowing that if I were to hurt his child…. His wrath would be nothing like from our last meeting."

"Meeting?" Ruby's mind worked immediately, pieces of an old article she read coming back to the forefront of her mind.

"You don't know that about your father…" Erik shifts his eyes back to Seth. "How your father here soaked his hands with the blood of not one, not two, but seven of my lieutenants… Perhaps massacring them would be more accurate…"

"That's enough, Erik!" Charles shouted at him.

"Magneto." Seth got his attention. "You, Mystique, your Kitty Cat…" Sabretooth growled. "And me."

"What?" Erik says. "What are you talking about?"

"You leave your Pyro-Brat and the Giant in Iron PJs here at this school, I will go with you and the other two to rescue the captured mutants." Seth elaborated.

"What's the catch?" Mystique questioned for her leader.

"The mutants, every child and adult… They get dropped off here in the Professor's care." Seth inches closer to the ferrokinetic. "Take it or leave it…"

…

…

What felt like eternity to everyone in the room was in reality a few seconds, but it was an eternity to those waiting for the Brotherhood leader.

With a final sigh, he finally stated. "Fine. We leave in an hour."

"Make it 30 minutes." Seth countered, he moves towards his daughter and brings her out of the room.

Once they were out of earshot, Ruby faced her father. "Dad, I'm sorry-"

He cuts her off when he puts his hands on her shoulders and turns her to face him. "Are you okay?" Ruby with a surprised face nods her head. He pulls her into a tight embrace, holding her close. "My heart almost gave out when I saw you walk into the room with the Brotherhood in there."

"As a doctor, you should know you are not near the age where that becomes a thing and you know you're beginning to sound old." Ruby quips back while in the hug.

"Speaking of, you're grounded." Seth says while hugging her.

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "For walking into the room or for the joke?"

"Both." He pulls out of the hug, patting her on the back. "Go down and fetch your mother and sisters. I need to get ready." Ruby accepts with a nod and walks away to get her family out from downstairs. With a small chuckle, Seth looks up. "Miles, you can show yourself now."

"Seriously?" Much like on Earth-1, Miles' form began to reveal itself quickly. The spider-hero is crouching on the ceiling over the elemental's head. He releases his hold on the ceiling and lands in front of Seth in a soundless landing. Rubbing the back of his head, he says. "Sorry for spying like that."

"Apologize for wanting to protect someone again, I will deck you so hard you will see spiders spiraling around your forehead." Seth looks at him seriously, crossing his arms. "You bring a smile to my daughter's face; you save her from Mystique and retaliate too and now you're even watching out for her from the shadows?"

"I know you and Mr. Stark were there, but when I saw Ruby disappearing, I just…" Miles couldn't find the right words to describe his feelings and actions.

"You acted." Seth continues his sentence, knowing the feeling himself very well. "Thanks, means a lot to know you'd have Ruby's back like this, especially against the likes of Brotherhood. Shows character. Great character."

Miles smiles. "Haven't dated her long, but even now, I know I'd do anything for Ruby. Fight any battle and plow through an army if I have to."

With the look of conviction and determination of a veteran on his face, Seth had little doubt. He could see Miles doing that to protect those he loves. And he is happy to know his daughter is high on his list.

X

"Are you sure this is the right thing, Seth?" Caitlin asked him in the room that he and she shares during their stay at the school. She and their daughters are watching as the elemental's put on a bulletproof vest, strapping on arm guards. "And is all of that necessary?"

"HYDRA has tangled with SHIELD before, I was on the frontlines a lot in those battles. One time, they used sonic weapons that actually forced Venom back into my body with one shot. I was incapacitated for almost three hours." Seth taps his vest. "Matt and Hank made this tactical gear for me, able to suppress most sound damage. Unless they aim for my head, of course." He jokes, tapping his head.

"Not funny." Caitlin stated.

"Copy that." He nodded.

Frankie crossed her arms. "Dad, shouldn't we go with you? The more the better."

Seth walks closer to his daughters. "Honey, I appreciate the support. It means a lot. But this one here… It's personal. Mutants are involved."

"What about me?" Ruby asked. "It's HYDRA, I'm involved. Plus, what if the scanners over there require biometrics?"

"Mystique is there for a reason. She can mimic the bodies and biology of anyone she wants, fool a lot of biometric scanners." Seth states. "And Ruby, I meant what I said in there." He puts a hand on her shoulder. "You're not HYDRA anymore, you're on the other side now. Besides, you're needed here, along with your sisters."

"What do you mean, Dad?" Evelyn questioned, tilting her head.

"You've seen and heard of Ororo, Jean and Scott's powers, right?" They all three nodded their heads, Caitlin joining their daughters' nodding heads. "Okay, how well do you think they'd go up against someone like Juggernaut?"

"They're more in the lines of long-range and mid-range…" Having received a rundown of their powers and capabilities from her sister, Frankie's eyes widened in realization. "The three of us are good in close-range."

"Precisely." Seth nodded. "And that walking wrecking ball is a huge idiot, but he can tear this school down to bedrock if he feels like it. I want you three to stay here with your aunt, your uncle and the rest to protect the school."

"You sure about this, Seth…" Caitlin said, stepping forward and taking his hands. "You don't seem to be on the best side with this guy."

"Magneto's a horrible bastard, trust me. He's nothing like the villains we've faced on Earth-1. Part of me thinks he's on the same level as Carnage." Seth admitted, not easily. His words makes Frankie and Caitlin shiver. "I'm not like the Professor, I'm not gonna trust that guy no matter what. He'd kill humans, good and bad, without hesitation. Mutants are the only ones he's looking out for."

"Doesn't explain why he'd need help then? With his powers, he could get anywhere, right?" Ruby questioned.

"I think I know why but I'm not gonna make any assumptions until I'm on-site." Seth said, kissing his mate's hands. "I'll be fine."

Caitlin watches her mate walk up to the exit. "I really don't feel good about letting you go with them."

When they came out of the bedroom, a voice spoke up from over their heads. "Good thing he won't be going alone then." Looking up they see Spider-Man giving a thumbs up from the ceiling. His action was something that the Snow-Fury family had to tilt their heads to better perceive. "We'll be coming along for the ride." He said, his mask in his hand.

"We?" Evelyn said.

"Yes." Seth and his family turned their heads, coming face to face with Black Panther whose helmet is gone. The Wakandan prince is leaning against the wall with a smile. "Me and The Spider will go with Seth."

"No way." Seth shook his head. "It doesn't involve or concern either of you. Magneto wouldn't dare to try something on me, not with our history." He admits, ominous thoughts erupting inside of the heads of his family.

"Even so…" T'Challa leant off the wall. "Lehnsherr is not a trustworthy person, much less a suitable travel companion."

Peter dropped down and landed on his feet beside Black Panther. "Exactly. In case he tries something, you're gonna need backup. What better reinforcement to ask for than us?"

"… Guys, it's a mutant matter." Seth sheepishly said.

"And how many times haven't you helped in matters in Wakanda? Or in human situations?" T'Challa raised an eyebrow. "We help each other."

"We fight for each other." Peter smiled. "Besides, you're a friend. You'd do the same for us. Also…" The spider-hero's smirk widened. "We didn't ask."

"…Sometimes I really hate you guys." Seth admitted. "But what about Miles?" He directed to the senior spider-hero. "You're gonna be leaving your protégé behind if you're doing this."

Jumping in before Peter could answer, T'Challa quipped. "Told him he was to stay here to protect the students and his girlfriend." Ruby blushes at the word, Seth wondered about his daughter being used as a means to get Miles to protect the school. "Honorable boy."

"Should I be concerned about you using my daughter as a way of getting Miles' cooperation?" Seth said and the Black Panther smirked. His smirk fell when the elemental stated. "Could've just offered him the Wakandan tech I've stolen."

"You did what?!" T'Challa exclaimed.

"More importantly…" Peter jumped in. "How's your private guards feeling about this little trip to an enemy stronghold? I mean, not my first pick either but hey, I'm flexible."

"I know how to handle my own bodyguards, thank you very much." T'Challa countered before returning to face the elemental. "Provided Seth returns the tech he's stolen."

"Get pigs to fly then I will." Seth smirked as he walked past the spider-hero and the Wakandan hero.

Peter scratches his head. "Don't give Shuri any ideas, man."

"Their relationship is complicated." Caitlin admitted.

"Caitlin Snow, that is a big understatement." Spider-Man revealed. "Heck, I fear for the outside world and Wakanda whenever these two are in the same room."

"Funny, the professor said the same about you joining the mix." Frankie smirked.

"…You get to use my web-shooters if you keep that on the DL." Peter tried to negotiate, not wanting to suffer from another lecture from MJ.

"All of us get a turn, then we have a deal." Ruby cut in.

"Deal." Peter nodded, rushing up to the others.

Caitlin turns her head, facing Evelyn with a raised eyebrow. "You already got them?"

Pulling her hands out of her pockets, she reveals the web-shooters in her hands. "Yeah, I'll return them now. Sorry. Peter!" Evelyn called out to the spider-hero as she rushed after him.

X

Standing outside the school, everyone watches as the departure's about to happen.

Magneto, Sabretooth and Mystique face the Wakandan jet that T'Challa's preparing inside of the cockpit. Per his orders, the Dora Milaje are to protect the school and its students while also keeping an eye on the Brotherhood mutants that remain here.

But Okoye was greatly displeased with her prince's decision. However, she knows it will be impossible for him to prevent him from going once his mind's set. While many of the members of both the school and Dora Milaje praised their prince for his choice to help the innocent mutants, the general reminded him it wasn't a good choice as she will convey the information to the royal family.

Prince or not, even Black Panther stands no chance against his own parents.

Peter has a talk with Miles, telling him about staying behind to protect the school.

Seth stands cross-armed, watching every member of the Brotherhood of Mutants with unflinching focus. "You're still not okay with this plan, Professor?"

Beside him is Charles Xavier, shrugging his shoulders unsurely. "I do believe Erik wants to protect and rescue these innocent mutants."

"But…?" Seth looks at the professor.

"But I don't think I like this mission." Charles admits.

"You mean it's too easy?" Seth realized. Charles turns his head away, facing the jet again. "Why do you think those two decided to jump on?" He gestures to the spider-hero and the Wakanda hero. "I'll have some good backup with me." He turns, facing his mentor with a determined look. "Charles, I promise I will bring them all back and in one piece. You have my word."

"I know, my boy. Never a doubt in my mind." Charles nods his head.

Seth turns his body, facing him with undivided attention. His attention and his words are also directed to the rest of the members of X-Men. "Charles, everyone… Regarding everything that Ruby said-"

"Seth." Ororo stopped him. "We know."

"You already knew?" Seth turned surprised.

Scott scoffed. "You forget who your sister is?" Seth immediately accepted that. "Not just her, Matt gave us the rundown too."

"But unlike Matt, Olivia's revelation involved numerous threats of various kinds if we were to show any disdain, hostility and animosity towards your daughter." Hank followed up uncomfortably.

"That's my sister." Seth smirked, unsurprised by her behavior towards those that've been their family for years.

Jean laughed. "Look, we never expected you to come back. But even if we had, we would never have shown any animosity towards Ruby. She's your daughter, after all."

"Which is why you got our word that no bad fate will befall your children here, not while we're still breathing." Charles assured with a smile.

Seth smiled, nodding his gratitude. Much of his entire being feared that his old friends and colleagues, his old family would be angry at Ruby, blaming her for all the actions that HYDRA's done. But thankfully, they knew better and never directed their hate towards her.

He was misguided to think that they'd unjustifiably put all the blame on his daughter. And now he loathed himself for it.

"Thanks… I mean it. Thank you all." Seth said.

"Don't get sappy on us, Seth." Scott shot back.

"Bite me, Summers!" The elemental snapped back.

"My, my, my, Charles." Erik walks towards them slowly. "So even the X-Men forgive HYDRA assassins. Perhaps your ideals have polluted their ways of thinking."

"That or you're too stuck in your ways." Caitlin jumped in, walking angrily towards the group.

Erik gives her a look. "And who might you be?"

"Babe…" Seth whispered loudly, seeing her have an expression that'd make a bloodthirsty mother lion stand down.

"Caitlin Snow, the mother of the girl you threatened to hurt." Caitlin stated, standing in front of the ferrokinetic mutant with a hardened cold glare. "And that is the last time you ever threaten to hurt my daughter. One more word like that from you, I'll show you Seth's not the only parent here you have to worry about here. She's my baby girl, you're not laying a hand on her again."

Unbeknownst to her, her eyes flashes with coldness coming over the surface of them both but they dissipate quickly. Gushes of icy mist emitted from her hands but quickly vanished.

"…" Erik was shocked, left speechless. He chuckled after a few seconds. "Interesting, this one." Turning around, the ferrokinetic mutant walked back towards the jet.

"Frosty." Charles quipped.

Caitlin gave the man a look. "What can I say? He threatened to hurt my daughter. Threaten one, he threatens us all."

"So, somehow Magneto managed to get himself on the bad sides of not just one, but two parents." Ororo laughed. "Gotta be a record."

"Funny." Jean chuckled.

Seth got closer to his mate, putting his hands on her waist. He whispered. "Is it bad I got a bit turned on by that?"

"Try and keep yourself on a leash, control yourself." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He nodded his head. "And promise you come back too." Caitlin stated. "You come back in one piece, to this school, to the girls… To me."

"Or die trying." He put his forehead up against hers. "I promise, I will come back. You're not getting rid of me that easily, Snow."

"Good, I'm not done with you." She said, nuzzling foreheads with him. "But please… come back."

Pulling away from her head, Seth leant closer to her lips and his met hers. She reciprocated immediately. The two of them stood in that passionate embrace for a few seconds that felt like eternity. They stood together in a world that made everything else fade away.

A world that is theirs alone.

Their world slowly came to an end when they pulled their lips away. The mutant looked into the eyes of the woman he loves. "I will come back. I promise."

"Seth." Peter called out to the elemental. "Jet's ready for take-off."

"Good." He turns to face her. Seth looks past him, seeing the Brotherhood mutants and Black Panther in the cockpit. "T'Challa's flying?"

"Yup. I mean, I offered to take his job, but he seemed against it. Don't know why." Peter quipped.

"Wonder why?" Seth sarcastically said, knowing of his history with flying. Specifically how it mainly involves him freefalling from unknown heights.

"Coming?" T'Challa called out for the opening on the back of the jet.

"Let's go." Seth walked up, tapping on the spider-hero's back. Together they walked up to T'Challa.

"Peter! T'Challa!" Just before Black Panther was about to close the door, Caitlin called out to them and Seth turned to face her too. "Take care of yourselves… and take care of Seth."

Those words made a smile form on Seth's mouth.

"Of course, on both." Peter nodded his assurance.

"Yes and no." But T'Challa has other thoughts.

"By Bast, what are you doing?" Ororo asked her husband.

"Yes, I will take care of myself and the Spider." Peter gives the prince a dry look. "No, to taking care of the walking plague."

"Don't be childish." Ororo scolded her husband.

Seth called out. "Don't worry about me, Cait. I'll take care of T'Challa's lazy ass. Might use those sonic grenades on him." He smirked, walking into the jet.

"What?!" T'Challa rushed after him into the jet when hearing the name of his sister's weapons coming out of the elemental's mouth.

"Gonna be a long ride." Peter let out, walking back into the jet and closed the back.

Thrusters lit up with energy, bursting out with flames and pushed the jet off the ground. It levitated and turned around in the air, blowing immense air on the ground. Once it had reached a high enough altitude, it took off with a powerful burst.

Watching it fly away, Caitlin put a hand to her chest, feeling her heart beating a thousand miles. "Seth…"

Olivia walked up to her side, nudging her shoulder. "They're gonna be fine, Cait. Trust me."

"They're gonna come back." Matt said comfortingly.

Slowly turning her head almost mechanically, Olivia asks her husband. "Honey, if we're both here… Who's been keeping an eye on our twins?" Matt glances at her, sweating bullets. "Don't tell me it's your father?!"

"No! Of course not!" Matt assures her. The glare from his wife is too much and he confesses. "It's Jarvis."

A vein popped in Olivia's forehead.

X

With his sword out, Seth has both hands on the pommel and keeps the tip of the blade pressed to the surface of the floor. Even with the jet rumbling from the jet engines roaring and the turbulence, his gaze remains focused on Magento who's seated on the opposite side of the jet, seating a few seats ahead. The Brotherhood leader was seated between Mystique and Sabretooth.

Much like the elemental himself, the ferrokinetic's eyes are fixated on him. They've been flying for forty-four minutes since departure, yet they've never looked away from one another once.

"If looks could kill." Seth turns his eyes upwards, looking up at Peter, fully equipped as Spider-Man. "You know glaring at the guy won't magically send him freefalling out of this jet."

"A guy can hope, can't he?" Seth quipped. Peter fell down, landing on his feet. "I don't like this."

Spider-Man took a seat next to him. "That's why we- me and T'Challa are here with you, man."

"Thankful for that as I am, it's not what I mean." Seth shook his head. Peter listened as he continued. "You've fought Magneto before, I've fought Magneto. You've ever seen him unwilling to fight someone, even if it was HYDRA? Something about this doesn't seem right."

"Maybe he can't get inside of the stronghold?" Spider-Man said. "Don't get me wrong, man, he's powerful. But he's not invincible. Even he's got his limits."

"Not gonna argue with that." Seth nodded. "But I'm not sure…"

Tapping his shoulder, Peter reminded him. "The professor and the big evil M have a long history, man. And their ideals align when it comes to the protection and safety of mutants. And HYDRA may know about their relationship, which is why they extra prepared this base. Not to mention, after Stryker's last sitch there, it must have left it a massive mess."

"I hope so." Seth states.

"Skeptical, Seth?"

Looking up with disdain in his eyes, Seth makes eye contact with Erik Lehnsherr who sits down directly opposite of him. "What do you want?" He tightens his hands on the pommel, his fists turning white and the blade flashing with blazing colors of a flame within.

"Calm yourself, boy." Erik raises a hand. "I merely wish to talk to you."

"Feeling's not mutual." Seth admitted bluntly.

"I wonder why." Erik chuckles hollowly. "Seth, while you and I may have our own history, one soaked in blood, we both care about the safeguarding of mutant-kind."

"You only care about mutants when they're on your side, against your side you wanna do everything in your power to bring ruin. And you wanna ruin humans, even the good and innocent ones, without a moment's hesitation." Seth snapped back.

"After everything that happened to you and your sister…" Erik sighs.

Seth's eyes ignited with black flames, dancing over his eyeballs. "Finish that sentence, you won't even be able to regret it."

"Hey." Spider-Man taps the elemental's shoulder. "Don't let him get under your skin, he's not worth it."

Erik laughs to himself. "We'll be reaching our destination soon enough…" He stands up. "Prepare for exit." He walks back towards his original seat.

"You know he'd make a horrible flight attendant." Peter said, getting wide eyes from Seth. "I mean, he forgot to ask if we're comfortable or not, not even offering us snacks or drinks for the rest of the flight. Heck, I'd have settled for a neck pillow."

Despite how intense and serious any situation is, one could always count on a spider-hero's awful jokes to lighten the mood.

But also horrify those hearing the jokes, cause right now Seth briefly imagined Magneto wearing a flight attendant's uniform.

"We're here!" T'Challa shouted from the cockpit.

"Thank Bast!" Seth let out, saving him from a further deep-dive into his thoughts of Magneto cosplaying.

Now their mission's about to happen.

And new mutants would hopefully find new homes at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters…

X

(Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters)

This felt different.

Way different.

Caitlin's heart was beating frantically in her chest, unlike anything she's felt before. Standing inside of the lobby all alone, she was thinking to herself about this feeling. She's seen Seth gone off to multiple missions alone or with their children before. But this event felt different in so many ways.

Was this because she saw him take on a mission with a known supervillain of this universe?

Or because she heard Stryker's name and knew of his horrific influence on Seth's life?

She didn't doubt that he'd come back safe to her… But she fears the worst now when he is within arm's reach of a horrible villain now.

"Mutie!"

"Freak!"

Those words shocked Caitlin out of her trance, her head snapping up and looking out the doorless entrance.

Her eyes widened at the sight.

A young girl was on her knees by the small staircase by the entrance, covering her head with both arms as rocks flew at her.

Caitlin's instincts kicked in, making her sprint towards the entrance. As she ran, she saw three boys at the gates, throwing stones. "Hey!" She shouted, rushing down and crouched beside the poor girl. She shielded her from the flying rocks. "Stop that!"

"Stop yourself, Mutant scum!" A boy shouted, hurling another stone.

Using her arms, Caitlin immediately covered the young girl's head. With her arms occupied as a makeshift shield, it left her head vulnerable and a rock hit the side of her head. Blood seeped down the side of her head from the bruise dealt to her.

"Piss off, you're not wanted here!" Another boy shouted.

"Hey!" Another voice shouted, this time from inside of the school and Scott came out. "Piss off yourselves, brats!" He shouted, shooting a glare at the boys through his visor.

The glare at them had the boys dropping their stones and ran away quickly.

"Damn pissants." Scott scoffed.

Coming out of the doorless entrance, Charles and Ororo come out and see the situation. "Scott, was it those boys again?"

Facing the professor, Scott answers. "Unfortunately, yeah." Wasn't first time he's seen those moronic boys preaching their parents' wrongful teachings. "Fortunately, Caitlin came though."

"And unfortunately, she did not come out unscathed." Charles turns to her. "Are you alright?"

"Not important right now." Caitlin said, cupping the young girl's face. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

The young girl, Sonya Simonson, nods her head slowly, moving it too much hurts her. "I'm… I'm okay." The young girl with orange-red hair with pale skin and green teary eyes clutches her small orange dress. "I'm okay."

Caitlin saw her strange cough, revealing some kind of pink mist. She already knows the mutants here are different from her world's metahumans, but the powers here are still throwing her for a loop. Focusing on the previous actions, she turns to Ororo. "She was hit in the head by one of the rocks. I don't know if anything before that hit her there. But bruises on her arms shows she was hit on them both and from the slight bruising on her leg, she fell on the steps."

"We got medical supplies inside the school." Ororo lifted up the girl. "Sonya, let's get you inside. Don't worry, I'll get you fixed."

Dreamer nodded her head, getting up on her feet and she followed the elemental into the school. Scott follows them.

With the two of them alone, Charles recites his question. "Caitlin, are you okay? Should we have you inside as well?"

"I'm fine." Caitlin pulls up the hair on the side, showing the wound filling with ice. It quickly thaws away when the wound is fully healed.

"Some form of cryokinetic healing… Intriguing." Charles admits. She sees the metahuman immediately swing her head towards the gates. "May I ask what's on your mind, my dear?"

"Those kids… Those boys called Sonya a "mutie" and "freak." Why?" Caitlin questioned; shock riddled all over her face.

With a heavy sigh, Charles said. "Ah, that boy… Had a sneaking suspicion he didn't fully explain everything to you, and unfortunately, I'm correct." He rubs his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Caitlin said.

Looking into her eyes, Charles started. "Caitlin, you've already come to understand that the powers of mutants of our universe and the metahumans of yours are similar to a margin." Caitlin nodded her confirmation. "But there is another way they differ greatly: Their social status."

"What do you mean, Professor Xavier?" Caitlin asked again, with concern.

Giving her his undivided attention, Charles explains. "Mutants have a unique status in society, differing from one country to another based on their local laws. Discrimination varies as well, from one community to the next within the same country. Generally, mutant-kind is a feared and ostracized fringe minority in many countries. Many of the rights for mutants have become quite restrictive."

Continuing, he gestured to his surroundings. "In the U.S. here, mutants have been oppressed in many ways, too many for my liking. Simple employment discrimination is a big factor that many mutants face. When mutants' powers manifest, they mainly start at puberty, causing many young children to run away from their homes, living on the streets or always on the run. Some don't have a choice even, being disowned by their own family. Many of them turn to crime and theft just to survive."

"Because of this huge job discrimination mutants have faced, many of us have often taken on whatever employment they can get, often low-paying or dangerous jobs most humans wouldn't want to even think of. Even greater number of mutants have historically served in the military since the second half of the 20th century."

"And you've probably already surmised this, but there is a significant divide among mutants between those that can pass for humans in appearance and then there are those whose physical mutations are so drastic it's impossible for them to be seen as humans. Many mutants can pass as humans, but do display mutative differences."

"Like Seth, he appears human, but his blood and his physiology is heavily affected by countless elements from his mutation and Stryker's experiments." Caitlin chimed in.

"Precisely." He nodded. "Mutants are seen differently than humans, many even don't accept their existence in this world. And those children you just saw, they're prime examples. I've spoken with the parents many times, but they don't think of mutants as true living beings, stripping them of their basic humanity, and they've passed their prejudiced beliefs onto their children. I can't count the number of times I've seen them here, like this, hurling rocks and hurtful words at innocent mutant children who've never done so much as badmouth them. It's a heartbreaking testament to the depths of unfounded fear and unjustifiable hatred that can take root in the hearts of humans, poisoning the very essence of empathy and understanding."

"I've… Never imagined mutants would face this kind of ordeal." Caitlin admitted. She had no idea that mutants would face such adversity. In their city and in their homes, their communities, their country, everywhere around them is a potential enemy. Even the laws are against them.

Never in her thoughts could she ever think that the idea of powers manifesting in a certain percentage of the popularity would cause this kind of split and cause this eruption of hate and adversity, affecting even the laws.

"It goes both ways, doesn't it?" Caitlin said. Charles sighs, nodding his confirmation. "I can understand that, being repeatedly rejected by society, their home, their city and becoming subject to this kind of cruelty, some mutants would find themselves unable to swim in that sea of animosity."

Charles nodded. "When only shown nothing but fear and disdain by humans, it's a tragedy that mistreated mutants choose to mirror the very hostility they've been shown."

"A twisted response to the injustice they've faced." Caitlin admits. "When only exposed to resentment, resentment is given right back, even towards innocents."

"A cycle of bitterness, born from the seeds of prejudice, maintaining a tragic cycle of animosity and hate, reminding us all that the ripples of baseless hatred can stretch far beyond their initial source." Charles stated.

"How did Seth take this?" Caitlin couldn't help but ask, wondering if his experience with mutant experiments affected his beliefs.

"Surprisingly, I had the same fear you have now. That Stryker's experiments on him and his dearest ones would affect his beliefs, turning him into someone suited for the Brotherhood of Mutants led by Magneto." Charles admitted, surprising the metahuman. "But, perhaps somehow, my teachings got through to him and he remained someone that would fight for a future for humans and mutants to live together in harmony."

"A future like that…" Caitlin said, hints of skepticism showing itself. "Does that still seem viable, professor? Possible even? With the way it is now, do you really believe it's possible for that to happen?"

"What are your thoughts on botany, my dear?"

Caitlin blinked her eyes rapidly at that random question coming out of the blue. "Um, what?"

Rolling down the ramp, Charles waved the metahuman over. "Have you ever done any gardening before, Dr. Snow?"

"Only for research purposes and projects back in school, not once since. Got a few plants at home, who could use a little more TLC though." Caitlin admitted.

Reaching a patch of dirt, a single flower still in the process of budding further sticking out of the ground. Charles points to the dirt. "It's not often I get my hands dirty, but I do find it calming and inspiring to watch my students, humans and mutants alike, putting in the time and effort into planting and making sure the flowers are growing properly. Some of them even asked if they could begin growing their own vegetables."

Caitlin looked confused. "Where are you going with this, Professor X?"

Turning back to the dirt, the telepath states. "The seeds of prejudice planted by an old generation, by those always believing in this hatred for mutants, they can be replaced." Charles started. "Even if they've fully grown and have become these gnarled trees of bias, they are not invincible. Like all life, they wither, and new young seeds can be planted. These new seeds, untainted by old values… planted by a new generation is what this world will need. A generation that will take new seeds and plant them. Giving these seeds, that are full of new life and new hope… That's what will take place and root out the hate left by those that came before us. The new hope will bud and make it stronger for new life and new ideals, beliefs to breathe into the lives of those that are now. This is a task that the new generation does not know yet, but they're already working to embrace this sacred task."

"They're gonna plant nascent seeds…" Caitlin said, feeling herself inspired by his words.

"Carried by youthful hands, carrying the promise of a new harmonious future." Charles looks down at the dirt. "Each seed planted requires a resolute commitment to fostering empathy. The previous foundations of hate, constructed by predecessors, will begin to crumble as these seeds take hold and grow. It's a transformative power and a blessing to witness, watching as new hope blossoms from these seeds."

"You're still hoping?" Caitlin smirks.

"Absolutely." The telepath nods, turning around in his wheelchair. "I have to… For their sake." He nods his head in a certain direction.

Turning around to face the same direction, Caitlin sees him gesturing to the school he has built. The X-Mansion, the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters…

The symbol of hope for mutants… The symbol of unity for both mutants and humans…

A place where both species can embrace their powers, learn to control them and work together under the mission of protecting them both unconditionally.

"Your hope is what keeps this building standing, keeps your faculty going, and your students coming and staying." Caitlin realized.

"Yes." Charles nodded. "I believe this place is the first step towards a harmonious future for mutants and humans." He sighs. "Caitlin, your children are dealing with some issues of their own, correct? Not just Ruby?"

"How'd you know?" Caitlin questioned.

"Well, I am telepathic and do have a few decades of teaching experience. Pays to learn when young ones are hiding something or holding something close to their hearts." Charles admitted. "Come with me, let's take care of their issues then I will… reveal some of Seth's actions with the Brotherhood from the past."

X

"Quit watching us!" Juggernaut shouts at Frankie with a growl.

Both she and her sisters are watching from the staircase, each of them sending a glare at Juggernaut and Pyro, both watching with contempt in retaliation.

None of the sisters were requested to watch them, but none of them trusted the remaining Brotherhood mutants showed any indication of being worthy of trust.

And none of them would let anything happen to this school that holds a special place to their father and is a place that's helping their mother.

"Quit throwing a tantrum." Ruby calmly said back. "God, you're the worst babies we've ever had to babysit."

Evelyn, while sitting on the railing, turns to face her sister. "Okay, first, we're not babysitting, and we've never done it before. Second of all, I don't think any parent except relatives would let us watch their children."

"Considering our track records, you're right on both." Frankie admitted, glancing back at the two mutants. "Hey, Pyro-Kid, lose the lighter!" She shouts at the blonde mutant who's flickering his lighter again.

"Like you can make me." John chuckled, closing his lighter again.

However, the ferrokinetic raises her right hand and purple lightning sparks around it, and with a wave of it, the lighter in the pyrokinetic's hand flew out of it and into her hand. John widens his eyes with anger. "Professor's orders."

"Thank you, Frankie." Charles said, rolling back into the lobby with Caitlin beside her. "And John, I may not be able to give you detention anymore, but disregard my words again, I'll have to ask Olivia and her husband to teach you discipline and manners. And you know their methods are anything but orthodox."

That threat left the pyrokinetic sweating bullets.

"And Cain, please understand that these girls merely want you to be on your best behavior." The telepath stated, his words making his half-brother growling. Turning to face Ruby, Charles says. "Ruby, if it's not too much trouble…"

Ruby chuckles, seeing him pat on his handles. "Sure thing, Professor." With her gravitational powers, she lifts up the telepath and her mother up to their level. Placing them on the level, she holds out a hand. "50 bucks."

"Funny." Caitlin smiles, ruffling her daughter's hair. "Where's Miles?"

"On the roof, thinking to himself. Figured I'd let him deal with that on his own." Ruby stated.

Charles turns in his chair, facing the children. "Now, your mother told me of your latest adventures on Earth… Earth-1." Even the professor's still learning to deal with the idea of the Multiverse.

"You know everything?" Frankie questioned. Charles nods his head. "Then you know our latest enemy is a speedster god and a symbiote-bearer who was like an aunt to me."

"Must be incredibly difficult for you especially, my dear." Charles said, gesturing to the pyrokinetic on the ground with a nod of his head. "You've seen how I've only directed words towards John?"

"I have." Frankie nods. Following up, she adds. "He's a former student of yours, right? I've heard the words you've used on him."

"He is. Very good deduction." Charles smiles. "Against the wishes of my younger students who knew John as their classmate, I've been treating the young man with "kid gloves," so to speak." He turns to face in the direction of the young pyrokinetic. "I find it hard to face that young boy, who, like the other students in school, is like a child to me with any animosity."

"Why?" Frankie walked up to him. "Don't get me wrong, I understand he was your student before, but he's been showing nothing but attitude and hate towards you and this school."

"From all the things he's experienced in his life, including the influence of Magneto, John finds himself a "god among insects." With the powers he has, the power of fire, he thinks himself above humans." Charles sighs. "A trait he shares with many members of the Brotherhood."

"So why? Professor, why do you still not see him as an enemy?" The ferrokinetic questions.

"I find it hard to do that with someone I once considered family." Without facing her, Charles knows the young metahuman's eyes are widening when realization hits her. "Same situation with this Eliza Harmon that you considered an aunt in the past. Wouldn't you say?"

"Mom really told you everything." Frankie noted. "I've… I've been struggling with the fact that she is… was family and now I have to fight her. I've seen all the horrible things she's done, the people she's hurt… I can fight her, but..."

Hearing her trail off, Charles continued on her behalf. "But you're unsure if you can defeat someone who was family to you once." Frankie nodded. "My dear, the fact that you're even able to take a stand in front of her is an impressive feat all on its own. You're already taking on a huge task, fighting a battle not many would be able to fight. I commend you and I'm proud of you being able to do this."

"Thank you, Professor. But what do I do from here? Against Eliza?" Frankie questioned.

"You… Fight, Frankie." Charles said. "Fighting family is never easy, unless you count your father and his sister. They jump at each other's throat at any given chance." He says, the Snow-Furys didn't argue with that. "And you may be facing the toughest challenge of your life against someone you considered family once. But I have no doubt in my mind that you will be able to come out the other side of this challenging storm standing strong and proud."

"But unscathed?" Frankie asked.

"I've seen your skills and fighting prowess first-hand, my dear. I'm not naïve enough to say you'd be uninjured by this fight." The telepath said honestly. "And you know this. But you will fight…"

"Cause I won't let anyone else be killed by Eliza." Frankie said with a confident smirk.

Charles nodded. "Exactly." He then turns his attention to Evelyn. "So, I hear you've been having quite an adventure yourself, Evelyn."

"Yeah, fighting my doppelganger of Earth-1. Definitely a milestone to make note of." The metahuman quipped. "She hates me, because… Unlike her who lost everything and fell to despair, I fell into despair on my Earth but got so much more when I came out of my rabbit hole. And she blames me… I don't know how to feel about that."

"This Evelyn you've met, her last name is Sharp?" Charles questioned for clarification. Evelyn nodded her head. "And what is your last name, Evelyn?"

"Evelyn Fury… Or Snow… Or Snow-Fury." Evelyn looks at her mother. "Mom, I need to look at my adoption papers back home."

Laughing to himself, Charles says. "I hope I'm not the only one who did not hear the name "Sharp" in the list Evelyn provided." He faces her again. "My dear, you're completely different people altogether. She may direct her hate to you, but it's completely unjustified. You are not her; she is not you. You merely bear the same face and you once had the same name. But she is now Agony, someone who wants to destroy your city, you and those you care about. You are Eclipse, someone who will prevent all threats."

"Yeah… I am." Evelyn nodded. "Thanks, Professor."

"Glad to have you here to help my daughters, Professor." Caitlin said gratefully.

"Any time and any day you're in the mood for traveling the multiverse, you can find me right here in my chair." Charles quipped, making the family smile and laugh. "Now, I do believe there is something you've been wanting to learn." This time it would not be a lesson to aid their troubles, but to enlighten them.

"About Seth and Magento's connection to one another." Caitlin said. "Please, tell us what happened, Professor."

"Dad killed some of the Brotherhood's members… Why?" Ruby asked. Even though she's looked up to Seth for most of her childhood, she's never read about a fight between him and the Brotherhood of mutants that ended with casualties on the enemy's side.

Was it out of the media's hands to get coverage on it?

Or was the fight so gruesome it stayed out of their wheelhouse.

Charles sighs, not fond of the memory. "You're his family, so I can assume you know of his late fiancée and his son, Bucky, and the cruel fate that befell them." He looks at their expressions, all of them forming looks of sorrow. "What you probably don't know is that Magneto and his Brotherhood have tried many times to try and recruit Seth into their ranks. They wanted to feed on his hatred from the experiments done on him… Their efforts increased when he lost his family, trying to trick us into letting him into their ranks and also directly trying to recruit him. It was a dark time for Seth, mere weeks after he lost those loved, and the Brotherhood wanted him more, thinking he was vulnerable and exploitative enough for them to use."

Continuing, Charles says. "The ranks amongst the Brotherhood's were stronger and Erik came to talk to me personally at this school. Only me and Ororo were present to meet them, both of us were there to hear Erik's… boasting of his new members, his new force. He came to show it, hoping to squander any ideas the X-Men had if they were to fight against them in the future. He told me that they'd go after some new areas, some populated with humans at separate places simultaneously. And, distastefully and disgusting as it is, Erik's new lieutenants made the joke of commencing an attack on a children's hospital, using it as an example to show the superiority of the Brotherhood of mutants. Seven of them repeated this joke, laughing about killing humans, young ones… One of the vilest things I've ever heard from the Brotherhood. I demanded they leave, and thankfully Erik accepted that and even apologized for the disgusting jokes on his companion's part."

Frankie clenched her fists. "Joking about killing children… How could they?"

"Seven new lieutenants?" Ruby realized what it was about. "There was an article about seven members of the Brotherhood of Mutants found dead in an area outside the city. I thought that was the other Venom."

"A benefit of two symbiote-bearers bearing the same name, the actions of one Venom can be blamed on another." Charles said without any humor. "When they left the schoolgrounds, Seth intercepted their drop-off on the outskirts of the city and Seth's rage… It was downright demonic. He killed seven members of the Brotherhood and had wanted to do the same with the rest. I barely managed to stop him before he tore out Magneto's chest."

"So does Magneto hold a grudge?" Evelyn questioned.

"He may, but the fear he has of Seth may end up being stronger." Charles said. "You think he might have something planned for Seth?"

"You don't?" Caitlin questioned back.

"I know that there is bad blood between them… But Erik desires the protection and safety of mutants above all. He would not jeopardize that by making himself a bigger target. If he did something that could threaten the lives of one of our own… Erik knows he will never again have our support and the X-Men would not hesitate to strike back if given the chance."

The way the professor spoke his words with such conviction and determination shook the family members. But it showed how the telepath cares about the elemental and it also shows the fear that is in Magneto's heart, fear of incurring their beloved elemental's wrath.

Something that might be more dangerous than anything else.

X

Having crossed the ocean that separates the mainland from this island, the Wakandan jet came to a halt over the airspace of Three Mile Island. The ramp opened up, giving the three heroes of Spider-Man, Venom and Black Panther the chance to look down from high above.

Despite looking directly down at the island, it looked completely different from what they'd expected. It looked completely abandoned. Even the current state of it was something bewildered them all, all of them seeing three silos toppled down and partially destroyed from tremendous battles that've long-since passed.

Spider-Man chuckles. "Wow, definitely gonna be a destination spot for-"

"Nothing!" Venom cut him off. "No one would touch this place with a ten-feet pole."

"Except for us." Black Panther quipped. "We're low enough."

Seth nodded his head, grabbing the Wakandan hero around his waist. He picked him up before he and Peter leapt off the ramp. They landed on the ground, their weight strong enough to crush the rotten vines and hardened moss clinging to the ground.

Letting go of T'Challa, Seth looked around and took in the massive toppled silos around them. Looking at them, he felt like an ant facing a mammoth. But his expression frowned with anger when he felt an awful smell come over him. "Stryker was definitely here."

"Did the Professor not say it's been years… Decades almost since he was last here." Black Panther crouches down on a knee, examining the ground. "How could you know?"

Spider-Man faces the elemental. "Bad feeling, right?"

"Bad? Try gut-wrenching." Venom argued. "Call it a hunch or a feeling, whatever you wanna call it, but we can feel if that monster has been here or not."

"You gonna okay?" Peter asked in concern for his friend.

"Gonna be fine. But thanks." He nods his gratitude to his friend. He looks upwards. "Let's wait on those…"

With his arms stretched out, the ferrokinetic levitates himself and his fellow Brotherhood members down to the ground. "Pleased to know you're waiting on us."

"Don't read too much into it." Venom said. "Sabretooth, smell for the mutants."

Growling at him with all of his teeth revealing, the Brotherhood mutant snapped back. "You do not… order me."

"Our goals are the same for now, so yes, I can." Venom snapped back.

"Sabretooth." Erik got his attention. "Do as he say. Venom is correct, our goals align at the moment. We are allies."

Sabretooth scoffed but obliged, nonetheless. He sniffs the air a few times. "This way." He ran ahead of them, Mystique following him.

Black Panther turns to the elemental. "You believe he can still smell the mutants from the safehouses?"

Spider-Man, while crawling on an abandoned building, said. "The scent of any living being can persist in an environment for a long time depending on different factors. Like, type of scent, species and diets."

Continuing for the spider-hero, Venom said. "But environmental conditions also affect that. The temperature, humidity and airflow can determine how long a scent remains in a place. If it's warmer, more humid conditions tend to make scents remain longer, whereas windy conditions can cause them to disperse quicker."

"And considering there's no good airflow here and the area is certainly unclean, the mutants' scents remain longer." Black Panther realized.

"Exactly, also some mutants can secrete a bodily fluid that could remain much longer than any normally created body fluid from humans." Seth says, walking on the same path as T'Challa and the Brotherhood mutants.

Hearing their discussion, Magneto adds. "Those are good factors, but there is another one: Familiarity." The three heroes narrow their eyes in confusion. "We've spent much time in various mutant safehouses, providing supplies and other needed essentials to them. Sabretooth has long-since memorized the smell of several mutants, and that is what he is following right now."

"Let's just hope your guard dog picks up any other scents in there that might give us problems."

Coming towards a big building with a rusty door, Sabretooth sharpened his claws and delivered a quick, vicious slash that sent it flying off its hinges. "In here." He growls, entering the abandoned building.

Looking around, the Wakanda hero looked surprised as he examined the room. The floor and tables clean as though they're new. "Interesting."

"What is?" Mystique asks, leaning against the wall close to the door.

Gesturing to the ground outside the door, Black Panther said. "The ground outside is covered in vines and moss. And a number of buildings are destroyed or have crumbled to rubble already."

"Your point?" Sabretooth questioned angrily.

Peter stuck to the ceiling, looking down at the ground. "The floor in here is squeaky clean, not a single piece of moss or vine here. Even the small appliances here are clean."

"Means this building is the odd man out." Venom crouches down. "Dust isn't even covering the floor. And if there's nothing here, where we can see…."

"Then perhaps we should turn our attention to where we can't see." Magneto said. He twisted his hand, causing metal shake around them. His eyes scoured the room, looking around for something specific.

"What is Maggy doing?" Spider-Man dropped down from the ceiling, landing on Seth's shoulder.

"Searching." Venom said.

"For metal that's shaking but remains out of eyesight." Black Panther realized.

The ferrokinetic's plan bore fruit when a few floor plates shook in the middle of the room. "Underground it is." With clenched of his hand, he forced the underground metal up and brought up the floor panels, sending it all in different directions.

When they looked down in the direction of where the panels once were, they saw a staircase leading downstairs and underground the building. The staircase fit HYDRA's image, having made it completely out of metal, consisting of black and red colors.

Peter jumped off the elemental's shoulder, pointing at the entrance. "Anyone else ever think about why HYDRA keeps sticking to the same boring old colors? I mean, can't they choose something else? Whole spectrum of colors out there and their patterns are the same as always."

"Give them some tips while we're bashing their heads into every surface down there." Seth shot back.

Magneto and his Brotherhood mutants lead the way down the stairs. The other warriors followed, walking slowly till they came to see that a long hallway awaited them.

"Gonna be a while down here. Especially back here." Black Panther scoffs.

"Jump on." Seth crouches beside the Wakandan hero who nods his acceptance and leaps onto his back, digging his claws into his back. The elemental jumped onto the ceiling, digging his claws into it and traversed across the upper surface with Spider-Man. "We can get quicker ahead this way."

The Wakandan hero nodded down to the untrustworthy ones in their group. "You really think we should trust those to behave themselves behind us?"

"Making a lot of assumptions, Panther." Seth countered.

"It's better to stay ahead of them, especially since we're all pretty good at reacting quickly." Peter added. "Let's see what HYDRA's got planned for us."

"Expect the worst." Black Panther said.

While walking along the surface of the ceiling with Venom, Spider-Man asks him. "You remember when we went to that island and saved Sandman from AIM?" The elemental nodded. "Remember we immediately met gun turrets and guards."

"This is too easy in comparison." Seth growled. Peter nodded his agreement. Having come ahead of the Brotherhood mutants, the elemental dropped down and expanded his "other's" senses to their limits, hoping to catch the presences of any foes.

Standing in a crouch on Seth's back, T'Challa turns to face Sabretooth. "Does your nose pick up any scents?"

Sniffing the air reluctantly, Sabretooth stated. "One… Coming this way." He growled.

"Panther, get off our back." Seth instructed him. He obliged, jumping off his back. "Spider-Man, on me. Let's go." Taking a few steps ahead, he disappeared into thin air as he enabled his invisibility.

"Oh, a little Spidey and Scare? I'm up for that." Peter said, increasing his pace on the ceiling.

The spider-hero rounded a corner, coming into the eyesight of a soldier in a red and black uniform, bearing a military-issue hat. He's issued with an energy rifle. The soldier looks up, eyes widening at the sight of the crawling hero.

"Hey, you know where the bathroom is in this place?" He jokes.

Aiming his rifle at the hero, the HYDRA soldier shouted. "Intruder!"

Before he could pull the trigger, the soldier was pushed up against the wall by an invisible force. The force knocked the rifle out of his hands. "Too slow." Venom growled as his form reappeared and he leant closer to the HYDRA agent's face.

"Impressive. Quick, precise and effective." Magneto praises the two heroes' tactics. He turns to the agent with a glare. "So… You are a member of this organization. I do hope you will be useful."

"H-Hail HYDRA!" He shouts in retaliation.

Seth snarled, igniting flames around his fangs. "We're not here for your stupid cheering, we're here because you and your organization kidnapped mutants from safehouses! Where are they?!" The soldier shook in his grab, trying to fight his way out of Venom's hold. "Answer the question… NOW!"

He bellowed in the soldier's face, breathing out smoke into his face.

The soldier shook even more, removing his hands from his hand. "Th-They're at the end of the hall. Cages. You won't get through the biometrics scanners." He said back.

"Oh, trust me, we will." Peter jumped off the ceiling, giving a nod to the elemental. Seth got the hint and released his hold on him, allowing the spider-hero to shoot out a series of webshots. Each of them pinned his hands to the wall and covered his mouth. He also webbed up his feet and…

His crotch.

"Got you!" Spider-Man exclaimed victoriously.

Mystique faces the spider-hero. "Why his crotch?"

"For… You know…" Peter was left speechless. "Uh, habit?"

"Stop his release?" Seth stated with a smirk.

"Questionable." T'Challa coughs sheepishly.

"Oh damn you guys! Come on!" Peter walked past the others and stuck to the wall again.

The elemental chased after him, staying ahead of the others. "How's Miles' training going?"

"Going good… I hope." Spider-Man said unsurely. Seth faces him with a serious and wanting look, his expression alone is enough to tell him he expected more. "It's going… I've been helping MJ with some of her assignments in other countries and I've left Miles to handle the city on his own."

"Big city to protect on his own. Even bigger shoes to fill, considering his mentor." Venom chuckled. "How'd he do?"

"He faces all new things and new villains all the time, and it looks like… I don't know, it's like he's got his back against the wall. I mean, he handles the fights as he should, fighting how I've been and also better than I would have." Peter admits. "But it's like he's…"

"Doubting himself." Seth cut him off. Peter nodded his confirmation. "Miles is further ahead than most heroes, he's not far from where you're standing. Give him some time and he'll be clear of any doubt or whatever is stuck in his head."

"I hope so." Peter turns his head, looking down at the elemental. "What about your daughters? You told me they were fighting on their own for a long time, even without you being there with them."

"For better or for worse, they learnt how to fight on their own without our guidance. But to improve themselves, they went to us and trained harder and harder each and every day." Venom tilts his head. "Not to mention, those girls of ours, they struggled on their own, getting better on their own and even started their paths as protectors before we even were there."

"Miles is good. Me and Jessica are still working with him, hoping we can get rid of his doubt." Spider-Man said.

"Time will tell." Seth said with a smirk. His smirk fell when he saw the door the soldier told them of. "We're here." And the soldier was right in regard to the biometrics scanners.

"My turn, then." Mystique stepped forward. Walking past the male heroes and going to the door. "Simple biometrics and retinal scanners." With a smirk, she uses her powers, transforming into the soldier they met earlier. "Leave it to me." "He" says.

Leaning down, "he" looked into the retinal scanner and let the laser pass over the right eye. While that happened, "he" put "his" right hand on the biometrics scanner.

"Prepare for a battle. Through this door, we may face off against a battalion of HYDRA soldiers." Magneto says.

"You'd want that?" Venom glares at him. Magneto looks at him. "Why did you want our help, Magneto?"

"Is it really that hard for you to believe me, even now, Seth?" Erik questions. "For me to want to help the innocent mutants that have fallen into HYDRA's hands."

"That's the outcome and hope we have… But remember." Erik turns his head, facing the elemental. "The mutants are dropped off with the X-Men."

"I am a man of my word, Seth." Erik said.

"We'll see…"

"Bingo." Mystique said, speaking through the voice of the man whose body she's mimicking. The door split open, allowing passage for the group to continue on their quest. She returns to her original form, facing the group again. "Don't tell me, ladies first?"

"No." Black Panther steps ahead of the others, getting to the room. What they all met shocked them completely.

They all looked down from a higher level, standing on a mezzanine bridge, one of the many in this room. And from their position they looked down at the numerous gritted cages on the ground floor, each of them containing countless mutants from different ages. Many of them are young, some are adults…

Some were even parents, cradling their infant babies.

And around the many cages, walking between the small gaps between them are HYDRA guards with high tech rifles, appearing even more advanced than that of the guard they met in the hallway.

"Disgusting and sickening…" Erik says, clenching his fists in anger.

"For once we agree with you." Seth admits. "Why aren't they using their powers?"

"Because of that." Mystique nodded her head to the ceiling, following the direction of her gesture, they saw what is there.

On the ceiling is a strange satellite-like device with different prongs sticking out from around the disc's rim. Erik says. "When we went to the safehouses, we found small versions of that disc above our heads, and when I tried to move it…"

"It didn't. It neutralizes your power." Peter realizes.

Black Panther turns back to face the magnekinetic. "This is why you wanted us here? You knew they'd have this contraption put in place as a countermeasure."

"Only in thought, yes." Erik nods his head. "But did not expect HYDRA to have constructed a large-scale version capable of suppressing the powers of so many mutants in one place."

"Then you must have counted on the X-Men's technology to bypass that suppressor, which is why you wanted their help." Spider-Man deduces, sitting crouched on the railing. "You three won't be able to free them."

"No." Erik says calmly, facing the elemental mutant. "Which is why you're gonna disable that machinery for us."

"Figured as much." Seth growled in annoyance.

"And you're gonna help us fight these HYDRA goons?" Peter turned to them; they nodded their heads. "No killing. I don't like these HYDRA thugs any more than you, but we're no better than them if we stoop to their level."

"You can't begin to fathom our feelings for them, Spider-Man. And it's an insult for you to even try so." Erik said in anger, utterly enraged by the spider-hero's words.

Black Panther was about to jump in, but Venom beat him to it. "We're not killing them. We're knocking them out and that's final." Erik shots him a glare. "You're not in a position to refuse, Magneto. Without us, you'd be serving yourself on a platter to HYDRA. Understood?"

"… As you wish. No killing." Erik admits. He found it curious that Seth was able and willing to kill his members for a bad joke and yet didn't want to raise a hand against these miscreants. "Then what is the plan?"

"Venom and the Spider will join me in dispatching them and then we take out the dampener." Black Panther got looks of agreement from them. "After that, you can join us." T'Challa leaps off the bridge, Spider-Man and Venom follow immediately.

Landing on the ground, Venom's humongous form immediately got the HYDRA agents' attention as well as the captive mutants. Peter chuckles behind his mask. "Maybe you should have chosen a stealthier form."

"Like hell!" Seth roared, thrusting his hand out at a near HYDRA agent. He morphed his entire arm into oozing tendrils, ensnaring the foe and slammed him into a wall. Retracting his tendrils, the agent fell to the ground.

Another pair of agents revealed themselves from the side, aiming their weapons at the elemental. But Spider-Man prevented any potential attacks, shooting weblines at their weaponry and yanking them out of their arms. The spider-hero slams them into each other, scattering their parts in different directions.

Black Panther, moving like a bullet, jumps off the wall and grabs one of the two agents by their collar, hurling him into the other and knocking them both into the side of a cage. Behind his mask, the Prince of Wakanda smiles widely. "I had forgotten our missions together tend to leave piles of bodies."

"Mostly alive!" Venom smirks, stretching out both arms. He elongates the claws on both hands, each of them grabbing hold of them and retracting them both. "How many of you are there?" He asks them both.

"Hail HYDRA!/ Hail HYDRA!" The two of them say at the same time.

"Thought so." Venom leaped into the air, landing on a cage. He turns his head, seeing another agent aiming the weapon at him. As though he's a soft ball the elemental hurls the agent in his right hand towards the armed one.

They both met each other in a collision that knocked them both out. Roaring out loud, Venom threw the other agent away and into the locked side of a cage, surprising the mutant within when the agent fell down to the ground unconscious.

"Fire!"

Following the firing order, a number of energy pulses came out and hit the elemental. The combined force of them forced Venom off the cage, and he landed on the ground. "The hell…" He said with a growl, turning his head to the five agents aiming their weapons at him.

"Keep firing!"

The agents listened to the command, unleashing another array of energy pulses at Venom. But the elemental tore into the floor, forcing up several metal plates as a makeshift barricade to block the energy shots.

Jumping over the mutant in one impressive leap, Spider-Man and Black Panther came to Seth's rescue.

Peter lashes out his arms, shooting weblines at two of the agents' chests. Pulling on them both, he pulls them into the air and delivers a quick strike with his clenched hand, knocking the agent to the ground. With the other he delivers a swing of his leg, forcing the agent onto the top of a cage.

Black Panther jumped off the side of a cage with lashed out claws, easily slashing off the barrels of three agents' high-tech rifles. Performing a spin after a jump, he grabbed hold of the collars and slammed them both down on the ground with enough force to crack the ground.

The last one revealed a blade in his hand, swinging it for the Wakandan hero's chest. The blade shattered immediately upon contact. Kinetic energy gathered in the area of impact spreading to join the rest. With an angry look behind his mask, T'Challa said. "You made a mistake in kidnapping the innocents."

With a spin kick, he knocked him to the cage where he fell to the ground. T'Challa sends a glare at the agent. A glare that is quickly joined by Venom and Spider-Man. The agent shivered under the gazes of the three heroes in front of him.

"The key..." Venom growled.

"What?" The agent asked.

Showing his claws, Seth clarified menacingly. "The key to the cages. Hand it over now."

"Oka- Okay!" He shouted, frantically looking for the key on his body.

"Finally someone who doesn't scream out their motto like a broken record." Peter said in mock gratitude.

"Agreed." T'Challa looks up facing the disc over their heads. "What do we do about this?"

"This." Peter takes aim at the center of the satellite dampener, shooting an electrified webshot at it. The electricity from it spreads across its surface, short-circuiting it instantaneously. "Perfect. Back to full strength, buddy?" He directs to Seth.

Focusing on his right hand, Venom ignites a flame on his palm. Smirking widely, he clenches his fist and puts the flame out. "Definitely back at full strength."

T'Challa scoffed. "Then you are back to being a full pain in the rear."

"Can it, Cat-face! Or you're gonna have a catnap!" Venom snapped back with a glare.

"Well done, gentlemen." Magneto's voice irritated their ears as he used his powers to lower himself and his fellow mutants to the ground floor. "You've managed to protect the mutants in these cages. Well done."

"Whatever." Seth said with a scoff.

Peter crossed his arms. "Feels like saying "Another easy adventure" here would definitely screw us over."

Black Panther slaps his face. "You just cursed us."

The agent finally found the key card to the locks, holding it up. "Here. Take it and leave."

But before any of them could grab it, a metallic grappling hook came out from the side and grabbed onto the agent's chest. The HYDRA agent shouted and screamed in surprise when he was suddenly yanked into the air. He flew through the air unlike anything, and he tried to follow the rope on the hook.

However the only thing he caught a glimpse of…

A shining red laser blade-

PIERCE

The group of six on the ground widens their eyes at the sight.

On the mezzanine bridge on the far side in front of them, the agent was impaled from his chest and through the back. Sticking out through his back is a spearhead, shining bright red from the laser-like energy around its head. The energy hums as the weapon is turned on. The agent's body went completely limp, blood running down the shaft and coating the fingers of the man's hand that was wrapped around his weapon.

Both Peter and Seth as well as members of the Brotherhood are very familiar with the man that just killed the HYDRA agent. Kraven the Hunter, a man known for many things, including the presence he brings to the table. The tall muscular man with the rugged appearance has long dark hair, a prominent beard on his face.

His sleeveless vest, made from animal pelts, continues to bear its original look, resembling a lion. From the ground, they can see he wears dark pants and boots. He's got several animal-themed accessories, such as the lion's help belt buckle and a necklace made from the claws of animals he's felled.

The well-known hunter smirks as he easily gets the attention of the group of rescuers. "I'm sorry…" Kraven casually takes the keycard slipping out of the dead agent's hand. "Did you need this?"

"Kraven." Peter sneered, taking a stance. "Not enough that you caught these mutants for HYDRA, you're also their guard dog." He says, realization coming over them all when they saw him.

This hunter is the one who kidnapped the mutants from their safehouses.

"A prey does not choose the hunter; the hunter chooses the prey. And this prey…" Without a single care in the world, he flung the dead agent's body away as he forced it off his spear. He twirled his spear around, pointing at the array of cages on the ground. "Pays a lot of money for capture."

"They're innocents." Venom growled.

Sergei chuckled. "Oh, Venom. The thrill of the chase and challenge of a capture of a prey does not concern itself with such small trifles. But to think after this, my collection will include the heads of yours, Spider-Man, Black Panther, two Brotherhood mutants and their leader. Quite a collection it will become." He smiles widely.

"You!" Sabretooth roared, immediately leaping up the side of a cage. He remembered the times that this specific hunter toyed with him so many times as though he was a mere animal that didn't stand a chance against him and his specialty and his equipment.

"Sabretooth stand down!" Magento shouts at his member.

With rage blinding him, the order from Magneto fell on deaf ears. Sabretooth jumped off the cage and onto the bridge where Kraven is standing. The well-known hunter smirks as he makes eye contact with the mutant. "You should listen to your master, pet."

"I have… NO MASTER!" Sabretooth ran on all four, rushing towards the hunter and pouncing on him.

But Kraven, who has seen similar approaches from numerous predatory animals, saw it coming and easily parried it with his spear. He slams the side of it into the side of his face, forcing Sabretooth's head into the wall. But the mutant jumped off the wall and tried to deliver a slash to the hunter, who blocked it with his spear and delivered a roundhouse kick to his face and pushed him back.

"Have you forgotten, Sabretooth?" Kraven stands proudly and powerfully over the Brotherhood mutant, his spear directly over his face. Sabretooth sweats immediately, both from fear and from heat emanating the laser-charged spearhead. "I am the hunter; you are the measly prey. Waiting for its inevitable end at the hands of a true predator."

"Mystique." Magneto instructs the shapeshifter.

Mystique pulls out her guns, taking aim at the hunter.

But from within his vest, with his free hand, Kraven pulls out a wooden boomerang. Without even facing her, he throws the boomerang towards her. Spinning through the air, it accurately knocks the shapeshifter's guns out of her hands. It returns to his hand immediately, the hunter smirking. "Pathetic."

"Oh yeah…" Mystique ran towards the nearest cage, grabbing the edge of it and spun onto the top of it. "How about I get close and personal?" She ran towards the hunter.

But with the smirk aimed at her, distracting the shapeshifter, allowing him the chance to throw a pair of energized bolas. Mystique slid to a halt, and the bolas bounced off the surface she's on and wrapped around her legs and her torso, electricity flowing throughout her body.

She fell down on the surface, the electricity continuing to stun her and making it difficult to move.

"Enough!" Magneto bellowed out. Using his magnekinetic powers, he lifts himself up and clenches his hands. Immediately the railings around him tore off the bridges and flew towards the magnekinetic. The metallic objects orbited around him. "For the crimes you've committed against mutantkind, Kraven, I will be your judge and your executioner."

With another clench of his hands, he forced the rails into several spears and aimed them at the hunter.

But another confident smirk made its home on Kraven's face, showing that he has other ideas. "I have some thoughts on that." Swinging his hand out, he opens it up and hurls several small metallic balls towards the Brotherhood mutant.

However, with mere flexes of his fingers, Magneto stopped the spheres mere inches from his body. "And mine exceeds yours."

"No, they don't." Kraven smirks, pressing a button on his left palm.

The spheres reacted to the action, shining with red lights before releasing a powerful soundwave.

"ARGH!" When the soundwaves hit Erik, his control of his ferrokinetic powers wavered and he fell to the ground. The mutant landed on his back withering in pain, the numerous rail spears on the ground. The spheres fall near his body.

While the Brotherhood leader is writhing in pain and on the ground, Sergei jumps off the bridge and lands on top of the nearest cage. "You underestimate me too much. Much like the rest of your companions…" He gestures to his fellow Brotherhood mutants with his spear, both of them wrapped in electrifying bolas. "Now…" He holds his spear up, taking aim at the ferrokinetic. "Your heads will be in my collection!"

With great strength put into it, Kraven hurls his spear towards the leader of the Brotherhood mutants. It pierces through the air with speed that puts a missile to shame.

But a series of adamantium tendrils swung towards the spear, knocking it off course and into the ground near Magneto's feet.

Erik turns his head up, watching the elemental assimilate his tendrils into his arm again. Venom looks down at him. "Don't flatter yourself, we didn't save you." He snaps his eyes back to the hunter.

Erik looks down at the ground, seeing the sonic spheres webbed up and smoke coming out of them all. "Why?" The ferrokinetic questions Venom.

"Get the cages open, we'll handle Kraven!" Black Panther shouts, running on top of a cage.

"Get the mutants out and see if there's anything that can transport them out." Spider-Man says, leaping up off the ground and onto the side of the cage.

Venom looks down on the ferrokinetic. "The professor considers you a friend, despite everything you've done. And your goal is for the safety of these innocents, that's enough for us. Stay true to your word, we'll take down Kraven."

"Time will tell, perhaps…" Magneto says, dusting off his front.

"Hate this guy!" The symbiote said.

"Absolutely agree." Seth agreed. He turns to the ferrokinetic again. "The key Kraven has to be universal; it can open any doors in the compound."

Meanwhile Kraven smirks as he watches Black Panther charging towards him. Sergei imagined how the habit would look in his collection. The very idea made him break into a smirk. He spins his spear around.

But his action came to an abrupt halt when a webline shot out from the side, connecting to where his hands are holding the spear shaft. Spider-Man landed on the same cage, yanking his hands down and forcing the hunter's hands down to the surface, making him grunt in pain.

Black Panther uses that opportunity to step on the hunter's hands, delivering an upward kick into his chin and grabbing his shoulders. Spiraling over the hunter's body, the Wakandan hero throws Kraven away. "You will regret your actions, Kraven." He says while his claws sharpen.

Kraven twists the shaft, detaching his spear into two short spears and uses the spears to decrease his momentum with his blades piercing into the surface. He stands back up, twirling both weapons in his hands. "Promises you speak of will never come to be."

"Good thing he's not alone to make good on his word." Spider-Man says, taking a stance and ready for combat.

Growling like the many animals he's felled; Kraven runs towards the two heroes. Taking aim at him, Spider-Man shoots several webshots at him while Black Panther runs towards him. The hunter, while running, effortlessly and precisely cuts the webshots to shreds.

However, it allowed a window for Black Panther to appear and swung his claws. Using his two weapons, Kraven blocks the claws. "You will be another beast to put down, Panther!"

Using that opportunity, Spider-Man shoots weblines at the hunter's left knee and forces him down to a knee. Another webline shot out and connected to the surface behind Kraven, which Peter used to propel himself to deliver a right hook to their enemy's face.

Kraven is disoriented from the strike, allowing Black Panther to punch him in the stomach. With the additional strike to him, the Wakandan hero saw a chance to force the two short spears out of the hunter's hands and forced him back with another kick.

"Guess someone's disarmed." Peter weakly quipped.

"You know me better than that…" He pulls out a pair of daggers from his west. "Don't you, Spider?"

Black Panther with a sigh, says. "You really had to open your mouth." He breaks the two short spears over his knee. Looking at the two daggers, he examines the metal of the weapons he's twirling between his fingers. "Those are Vibranium weapons."

"They are." Kraven smirks. "I've sought out many sources of Vibranium around the world. And with these…" He holds up both daggers. "I will carve out your hearts."

But before he could see anything else, tendrils wrapped around his body and yanked him down to the ground. Kraven uses his blades, cutting the tendrils off his body and spins to a stand. He comes face to face with Venom who's donning a massive crystal blade.

"Forgetting someone?"

"Never!" Kraven charges the elemental.

With his left hand tightened around the handle of his sword, Venom thrusts out his right arm and splits it into tendrils. The hunter slashes through the tendrils with precision, cutting off the tips and cutting into the middle of them.

Seeing the crystal sword swinging down on him, Kraven raises his daggers over his head and blocks the attack. But the force behind the attack pushes him to the ground, cracking the ground. Sergei gritted his teeth at the attack.

But he stopped when Venom ignited flames around his right foot and kicked the hunter away, searing the rims of his vest. "Argh!" He cut out the seared areas when he was kicked into the wall. Looking up again, Kraven sees a series of web shots coming his way.

Rolling forward, he avoids them and jumps onto the side of an open cage, running up the surface and coming up to meet Spider-Man's attacks. But instead he came face to face against a tackle from Black Panther, who followed up with an upward roundhouse kick that knocked him into the air.

Seth jumped to stand between T'Challa and Peter. "We got the numbers advantage."

"He knows how to handle us individually." Peter nodded.

"But not together, and we're stronger that way." T'Challa said.

Raising an eye, Venom said. "Cringe." Black Panther glares at him, his look telling the elemental he was more than willing to test the number of lives he's in possession of. "Go!"

Both Black Panther and Spider-Man leapt off the surface, rushing towards the hunter who charges them. The Wakandan hero swings his claws, the spider-hero swings his clenched right hand. Kraven crosses his arms, holding out the knives.

He blocks T'Challa's claws with his left dagger while his right dagger holds off Peter's fist. But his decision to blow their united attack with his weapons backfired when both heroes delivered a united knee strike to his stomach and pushed him away.

Spider-Man releases a series of webshots at the hunter's feet, webbing him and preventing him from moving. And before Kraven can think of removing it with his weapons, Black Panther punches him in the face.

Sergei reorients himself, delivering a slash which the Wakandan hero countered with his claws. He delivers another swing with his other blade, but a thick web ball from Peter knocks the blade out of his hand.

Kraven growls in anger, and swings his remaining blade. But the weapon never came to touch either of them as they avoided the attack, allowing Venom's three adamantium tendrils to shoot between them, slamming into the hunter and lifting him up and slamming him into the wall.

Bile came out of Kraven's mouth along with drops of blood rolling out the corner of lower lip. The tendrils retracted, releasing the hunter who fell down on his hand and his knees when he landed on the bridge. Despite the blood and bile leaking out of his mouth, he smiles to himself. He looks down and sees the three heroes glaring at him. "It's been a long time since I've had this kind of challenge."

"Give us the key. Now!" Venom demanded.

Standing up to his full height, Kraven spat out some more blood and wiped the rest off of the corner of his lip. "Over my dead body."

The three heroes leaped onto the bridge. Black Panther shoots to him and tries to deliver a slash with his right claws. But Kraven avoided it, dodging all of the attacks that followed. He readied his dagger, ready to stab the Wakandan hero.

But Spider-Man's webs connecting to his forearm and his weapon prevented that. With a fierce pull of his right arm, he pulls out the hunter's blade out of his right hand immediately. "Can't use another disarm joke here, man." He quips as he catches the Vibranium weapon.

"Then don't!" Venom said, standing on the wall and looking down on the hunter. He lashed out a hand, stretching out his claws and ensnared Kraven. Violently, he slams him into the wall.

Peter, while watching Kraven grunt and shout in pain, shoots a webline that connects with a specific something which he pulls back.

Venom smirks, seeing the spider-hero's actions and pulls Kraven out of the wall and into his hand. "You've lost." He hurls him onto the top of the cages. "Take a look around, Kraven!" He gestures to the cages with his sword. Kraven didn't seem to care about the open, empty cages. "The mutants are gone, you're done."

Spider-Man crotches down on the bridge. "I got the key, Kravy." He holds the keycard between two fingers. "We're getting out of here with the mutants. Give up already."

"If you do, then we might leave you in one piece." Black Panther says.

"A prey does offer salvation to the hunter!" Kraven exclaims. Reaching behind his back and the back of his belt, he glares at them with a smirk. "A hunter takes down the prey without hesitation!" He reveals his hand, holding onto a remote.

"Oh crap." Peter sighed.

Kraven smirked. With a swift press of the concealed button on the sleek, black remote, whirring sounds emitted over their heads. Ceiling panels opened up, three ceiling turrets from the hidden compartments above.

HYDRA provided the hunter with new toys, cutting-edge technology.

One turret is sleek and menacing. Its matte black exterior is adorned with crimson accents. Mounted on a flexible mechanical arm was a multi-barreled railgun, each barrel humming with deadly energy as they spun to life.

The second turret is different from the first one. It has an eerie, iridescent glow surrounding its shimmering silver surface. This turret's equipped with a high-energy emitter, appearing to be able to pierce and cut through anything with precision that is only known to machines.

The third and final turret blazes with pulsating energy. Its outer casing seemed to shift and ripple like liquid metal, metal that appeared to not be of this world. This turret is equipped with a trio of advanced plasma cannons.

The three turrets are aiming at the heroes.

"Anyone else think this is on par for Kraven?" Peter questioned.

"Yup." T'Challa nodded his head and Seth agreed with a nod of his head.

The railgun turret took aim at Peter firing off high-speed projectiles. "Oh crap!" Peter jumped onto the nearest wall, running across the surface. The turret tried to follow the spider-hero, but its bullets never hit its mark, only leaving a trail of holes on the wall as he managed to outrun it.

Peter shot a webline from his right hand connecting to the ceiling, swinging towards the turret. He maneuvered around the bullets and avoided them till he got closer to the barrels. The turret stopped shooting for a minute, giving Spider-Man an idea. "Hey, Kravy! Hope you got insurance for these." Reaching down to his belt, he pulls out web bombs and hurls them at the barrels. The spheres enter the barrels, exploding inside of them and plugging them up with web.

When the turret began to fire again, the bullets fired away in the barrels. But they met the adhesive wall of webbing in them, filling up with the bullets and showed no sign of stopping. The barrels began to creak immensely from the amount of bullets increasingly getting bigger. Smoke emitted through the cracks that appear along the surface of the barrels.

The smoke immediately increases when barrels couldn't hold anymore, causing a massive explosion and sending its parts scattering in different directions.

Meanwhile Venom and Black Panther were dealing with the remaining turrets. The laser turret follows the heroes with a continuous high-energy laser beam, one that is powerful enough to melt through walls and vaporizes the metallic bridge.

"These cannons are challenging!" T'Challa exclaimed.

"Agreed!" Venom ran across the wall, avoiding the turret's superheated plasma bolts. Each bolt, upon impact, releases devastating heat and explosive force, causing widespread damage to the wall. The elemental didn't want to imagine what would happen if that hit him or his friends.

Kraven smiles as he watches the heroes run away from the turrets' attacks. Even if one is down, the other two are more than capable of occupying the heroes. Spider-Man's webs stood no chance against the plasma bolts and it was his agility alone that spared him from a dreadful fate at the end of the laser turret's barrel.

Venom and Black Panther avoid the plasma bolts coming their way, running and leaping various surfaces to avoid the laser turret.

"This will keep them occupied." Kraven says.

"And this will keep you occupied."

The hunter turns his head around-

PUNCH

Only for a fist to meet his face, breaking his nose, sending him flying and into the side of an empty cage, knocking him out.

The man of 5'3 feet with a stocky and heavy build took out the cigar from his mouth, exhaling smoke while watching the three heroes avoid the attacks. He laughs to himself, seeing them fumble a few times. Running a hand through his jet-black feral-like hair, he chuckles as he puts the cigar back in his mouth.

"Idiots are the same as ever."

Looking up at the two turrets focusing on the heroes, he exhales smoke again before throwing away the cigar and clenching his fists. Tearing through the gaps of flesh between his knuckles, his gleaming razor-sharp claws that are housed within his forearms extend.

Six claws in total… Virtually indestructible… Able to cut through anything with ease…

Roaring his presence, he got the attention of the three heroes while he ran towards the cage where Kraven is napping.

"Is that…" Peter trailed off.

"No way…" Seth said in surprise.

He jumped onto the cage, using it as a springboard and leapt towards the turret with plasma bolts. He dug his claws into its undercarriage and managed to tear it off its hinges with ease. With a spin as he descended, he hurled the turret towards the remaining one.

The two met in a fiery explosion, sending their burning parts in numerous directions as they fell to the ground and landed in a flaming pile.

The man landed on the floor again. Smoke emitted and covered the area where the man stood, but he walked through the smokescreen calmly. As he does so, he sees the other heroes land down and he retracts his adamantium claws. Stepping out of the smokescreen, he reveals his common lumberjack-like outfit, wearing a plaid flannel shirt and blue jeans. His sturdy brown leather boots echoing as they stepped on the ground.

Reaching into his pouch on his belt, he pulls out another cigar. Coming close to a flaming piece of metal stuck in a nearby cage, the feral man uses the flame to light his cigar up before putting it into his mouth. Standing in front of the other heroes, he inhales deeply before exhaling smoke.

"Sup morons." James Howlett greeted them.

"Logan?" Venom chuckled. "Wow, didn't think we'd see you again."

Raising an eye, Logan takes out the cigar and gives the elemental a surprised look. "Seth, that you? Heck, kid, how you succeed so spectacularly at getting uglier every time I see you is something else."

"Bite us, fossil!" Venom snapped back at the comment.

"Princess…" T'Challa groaned at that nickname from Logan. "You still get your undies in a knot when you see Hazard?" Now Seth groaned at that nickname from Logan. Wolverine looks at Peter. "Spidey."

"Wolvefy." Spider-Man greets him. "How'd you find us?"

"The Professor told me to babysit you morons for a smidge." Logan revealed. "Charles sure loves bossing me around for such a brat, I was in the middle of another beer." His tenth beer at that. He looks down at the downed Kraven. "Didn't expect this bastard to be here, but works for me." He says with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Good to see you again, Logan." Venom smiled widely at him. A tendril shot out from his shoulder, picking up Kraven and threw him into the air.

"Guys, just realized something important and big." Spider-Man said, shooting webs at the hunter and webbing him up till he was held within a cocoon of web.

"What is it?" Black Panther asks, catching the webbed-up hunter and holding him over his right shoulder.

"Your jet is too small for all the mutants we rescued here." Peter told them. "How are we gonna transport them to the school?"

"Good thing I got you covered." Logan smiles and walks away. "Also, you morons owe me money."

"That guy never changes."

X

Seth couldn't stop smiling as he and the others followed Logan in the hallway. He hadn't seen Logan in forever and seeing him now brought back all the memories he has of the caveman-like mutant.

All the hunting trips he and Matt spent with him in forests were amazing and fun…

They involved an obscene amount of him and Matt being thrown into cold bodies of water.

Seeing the fading sunlight from the outside coming through the door at the end of the hallway, Peter groaned. "Damn, Logan, you didn't treat that door good."

The door in question was severed into pieces, even the hinges were torn off and cut in half. "Well, "Open Sesame" didn't quite cut it." Logan says as he walks through the remains of the exit. "Figured I might just do it instead."

"You missed a few times, right?" T'Challa asked, pointing at the claw-shaped holes in the walls.

"Calm down, Princess. Managed to get in and saved your asses in the nick of time." Logan shot back.

"Logan, how did you get here? We're pretty far off from the city." Venom raises an eye in question. He wondered if there was ever a need for them to get the key. "How'd you even get to this island first-time around?" He asks, referring to the mutant's first adventure on this island.

"Jumped out of a plane, skipped across the water like a stone." Logan calmly says. The others groaned at the image. He chuckles at the groan. "I'm the best at what I do, and what I do ain't pretty."

"He so stole that from a comic!" Venom argued.

"Don't care." Seth said as he came out with the others and widened their eyes with shock and disbelief.

Logan stops, taking out his cigar. "Yeah, figured this way was better."

What Logan had brought to this island is a massive plane, one that was used for military transportation. It was humongous, easily fitting all of the captured mutants that were waiting outside the plane's lowered cargo ramp. The mutants are waiting, standing on their feet or sitting on the grassy grounds.

"How did you get this?"

"How did you fly this?"

Both Peter and T'Challa stated very good questions.

"Won it at poker and I had a few flying lessons back in the day." Logan turns his head to the wide eyes of his friends. He focuses on Seth. "Surprised you decided to come with Magneto and those other morons." He nods to the Brotherhood mutants. The leader was walking amongst the sitting mutants, barely giving them any attention except for glances. Sabretooth stood under a tree, growling at Logan. Mystique is sitting in the shadow of another tree, relaxing a bit. "Figured you'd had Magneto's head on a plate by now. Extra bloody."

"Trust us, we know." Venom nodded. The symbiote around his body slithered back inside of him. "Logan, I'll fly with you in the plane. I wanna check on the mutants' welfare and health. Cargo is big enough to fit us all."

"Fine with me." Logan says. "Princess, Spider, you take care of Erik and Kraven in the meantime on your jet."

"They may do so…" Erik jumped in, walking towards them. "But the jet will not include me. I will go on the plane." Both Logan and Seth give him angry looks. "Before you start shooting off your complaints, know I can move the plane without ever stepping into the cockpit."

"Why the hell would you want to fly with us? We're literally two of the people who want to gut you, cut your intestines into pieces, and email your innards to Wade so he can use them in a Build-A-Bear store." Seth reminded him.

Logan sighed. "You jinxed us, Seth."

"Vivid, as always." Erik hollowly said. "But this is merely the return… for Seth answering this question." Seth looks at him with surprise on his face. Logan stepped away, mostly to check on the other mutants. Black Panther and Spider-Man move away as well, despite the latter wanting to stay and listen to Magneto pop the big question.

The Brotherhood leader faces the elemental with undivided attention. Seth returned his look with a glare. "What is it, Erik?"

"Seth… You've made it clear, clear as the sky over our heads, that you despise me and my Brotherhood with every fiber in your being. And you almost killed me during our last encounter. I know for a fact, that if it wasn't for Charles, you'd have killed me immediately. Despite all the hate and fury you hold for me, you had the chance to let Kraven end my life and you'd be free of me, but you still chose to save my life. Why though?" The ferrokinetic asks the elemental.

"Didn't I already answer you back there?" He points to the stronghold they escaped out of.

"You did, but not a good enough answer." Erik states. "Why did you interfere in what could have ended in my impalement?"

"… Your goal for this entire mission is protecting them." Seth points behind the Brotherhood leader, pointing at the numerous mutants behind him. "I can appreciate that, and I know you wouldn't want to let anything happen to them. Your goal is rescuing and protecting them. And yeah, trust me, I have an enormous amount of hate for you, and yes, it's still burning inside of me like a freaking wildfire."

Erik doubted his words, seeing that behind Seth's eyes the hatred in him is nothing short of an inferno. A blaze that nothing could extinguish… But the size of it is different from their previous encounter. Not bigger as one would expect, but smaller by a smidge.

"But…" Seth sighs. "I owe Charles so much for raising me and my sister, especially how he found us, and for better or for worse, there's a part of him that still sees you as the friend he once had. Despite all the crimes you've done and the bodies you've racked up, he still hopes for a future where you will help in his goal of a peaceful world. Where the two of you can stand side by side, watching mutants grow up and stand on equal grounds with humans."

"That is a future I do not think is possible." Erik admitted.

"But he does." Seth says, walking up to the side of the ferrokinetic. Standing side by side with him, but both facing different directions. "Last thing I'd ever want to see is the professor sad or depressed."

"You care that much about Charles, do you?" Erik asks, turning his head.

Facing his eyes, Seth says. "Before I knew anything about anything, before I understood anything about it, before I was adopted by the man I can happily call my father, Charles Xavier is the first person who ever showed me fatherly love and the care of being a parent. He showed me what a good future is and gave me and my little sister a family…" He finalizes. "I don't ever wanna see the professor in pain."

Once again Erik was left speechless at the elemental's conviction and his desire to help Charles. The love of a child and the child's desire to help the parent is something he'd perhaps never be able to understand even if spend his entire life searching for it.

With a chuckle, Erik says. "And you sure it doesn't have anything to do with my companions destroying the school if I weren't to return?"

"Please, if you think those morons stood a chance against my daughters, you're dumber than I ever thought possible Erik." Seth smirked. "Not to mention, my sister and brother-in-law would kill them in a heartbeat." He walks away towards the transport plane.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Erik didn't doubt that for a second.

"Plus, you really owe us now…." Erik narrows his eyes at Seth's words. "You knew Kraven was gonna be here the whole time. Let us walk in without a single word of warning. Bet your housecat had already gotten a whiff of him when you checked out the safehouses."

Erik smirks. "You know me too well, Seth." He says as he walks away, going towards the other mutants.

"Guy really gets under my skin…" Seth says. But he pushes his thoughts of disgust away when he decides to focus on the health and welfare of the previously captured mutants.

X

The entire night went by in a flash. The next day arrives and brings with it the light of a new day, shining sunlight over the entire world. The sunny shine washes over every inch of the big city on Earth-616. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is no exception, basking in the morning light.

Caitlin stood outside, leaning against the doors that've been put back up again. Juggernaut and Pyro were inside of the lobby, dealing with glares from her daughters. All of them waited for the rescue team to return to the school along with the captured mutants.

The Snow-Fury family struggled to sleep, every one of them worried about the elemental that is a huge part of their life.

They weren't the only ones to remain awake throughout the night, members of the X-Men joined the Snow-Fury family and waited for the arrival of the new mutants from the HYDRA stronghold.

Charles, without even using his powers could feel the worry and concern emanating from the family that Seth has. He rolls over to the mother in the house, coughing to get her attention. "Dr. Snow? A cup of coffee?"

"No, thank you, Professor." She tells him. "I think I'll wait until Seth comes back."

"You seem confident he will return?" Charles says teasingly. "Perhaps a sixth sense stronger than Mr. Parker's and Mr. Morales'?"

"Don't quite have that… But my boyfriend did escape death by impalement, a colossal Singularity and an alternative Earth full of evil versions of his nearest and dearest. Not to mention, being almost erased from a timeline resetting." Caitlin said calmly as though it was a normal occurrence for Seth to escape deathly scenarios. "So my money's on him."

"The number of near-death escapes that boy has had are staggering, even for me to fathom." Charles admitted.

"He will have a certain death…" The two turn their heads, watching Okoye walking out with the Dora Milaje till they are outside the school, standing on the same ground as the others. "If he does not return with the Prince in one piece."

"Okoye, your company, as always, is lovely. But I must ask you to limit the number of threats you sprout, please. This is a school after all." Charles told the general…. Which wasn't the first time for him.

"Yeah, he's also the father of my daughters, so please…" Caitlin asked politely.

Okoye faces Caitlin. "You could do so much better." Caitlin blinked in surprise at those words.

A shadow came over them all, appearing suddenly and covering them from the sun's light.

And it wasn't just one huge shadow… It has a companion of a smaller shadow.

Looking up, everyone then looked directly at the undersides of the familiar Wakandan jet and a much bigger military transport plane.

A broad smile broke across Caitlin's face, knowing what it meant. She wasn't the only one smiling widely at the sight, as is Charles. Caitlin's girls smile as well, coming out of the school to watch the planes lower themselves to the ground.

"Good thing I had the front yard widened." Charles really had to pay the gardeners more.

The bigger plane landed on the ground, the backside facing the school entrance. A second later, the ramp lowered itself and revealed countless mutants inside of it. They immediately came out in a flood, the other X-Men members came out and met the mutants.

Some of them were placed on gurneys being carried out by the invisible force of ferrokinetic prowess by Magneto who was one of the first to come out of the transport plane behind the former mutant captives of HYDRA.

Following behind him are the two mutants that are more familiar with the school. As always Logan is smoking a cigar and Seth is looking through the mass of mutants, stopping when he sees Caitlin and the rest of his family with wide smiles on their faces.

With skills and strength maneuvering his way through the mass of mutants, Seth rushes up to Caitlin wrapping one arm around her and pulling her into a hug. His other arm wrapped around his children, using tendrils, pulling them into a good old-fashioned family hug.

"Welcome home, I guess." Caitlin says into the elemental's ear as she hugs him back.

"Thanks." Seth says back, kissing his mate. "How'd you guys do?"

"Good." Frankie raises a lighter. "Got a lighter."

"That's mine!" Pyro shouted as he came up to them.

"My daughter." Seth's voice made Johnathan shake and shiver. "Shout at her again, I'll rip off your arm."

"Save some for me." Frankie showed a dangerous smirk.

"Johnathan." Magneto walks up to them. "I assume this child of Seth only took it because you showed hostility, unbecoming of a guest and former student of this establishment." When Pyro didn't answer, Erik got all the answers he needed. "Say you're sorry and I'm confident she will return your belongings."

Johnathan resisted the urge to sigh and turned to the female ferrokinetic. "I… I'm sorry." He says through gritted teeth.

"Don't strain yourself." Frankie throws his lighter back to him.

Erik gives the young girl a look. "From what I've understood, your powers are similar to those of my own. It will be intriguing to see how far you will go, young one." He says. His words made the younger ferrokinetic shake all over.

"That will not happen in the foreseeable future." Charles says as he rolls to them.

"Always the one to spoil a good opportunity, Charles." Erik says with a scoff as he turns to face the professor. "Why, oh why don't you seem surprised to see me in one piece?"

Charles immediately replies. "You were grouped together with some of the finest heroes of our universe…" He turns to glance at Seth. "Including one I helped raise into the man he is today." The elemental smiles. "I knew you'd be in safe hands."

"Perhaps." Erik doesn't even faze as both Pyro and Johnathan walk past him and towards Mystique and Sabretooth. "Looks like my associates are eager to return home. This is where we must part ways, Charles."

"I'm sure it will not be our last encounter, old friend." Charles says.

"On that, we can agree." Erik says. He turns, facing Seth again. "Seth, pleasure to see you again, dear boy. May fortune shine on you and your family for the foreseeable future."

"And may you never end up on my operating table on any of the Earths I'm familiar with, and I hope a shit ton of misfortune darkens your days to come. Also, fuck off and get out of this school, like right now." Seth finalizes by flipping the bird.

"Classy as always, Seth." Erik says, walking out of the school to join his fellow Brotherhood mutants.

"Seth." Charles turns in his chair, facing the elemental.

"What? You gonna tell me and the others we did good?" Seth wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. It's one of the Professor's go-to moves after a mission such as this one.

"The others, yes. They'll get such news and praise. But frankly I'm disappointed in you." Charles said, surprising the elemental and his entire family.

"The what? Why?" Seth raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh, someone's in trouble!" Peter teases as he walks past the family.

"About time." T'Challa pitched in.

"Your kitty litter is in the basement, Prince Useless." Seth snaps at him.

"So is the toilet you surfaced from, Plague." T'Challa snaps back at him.

"Logan." Charles faces the man with the look of a lumberjack. "Please, help Peter and the Prince with the mutants. Dr. Snow, would you and your daughters like to help if you're free? I need to have a little talk with Seth."

"Ominous." Logan says sarcastically. "Well, all right. I'll keep the two boys company and I can tell his family all about Seth's first time on a hunting trip with me."

"Logan, you better not tell them about the incident!" Seth sneers through gritted teeth.

"Try and stop me." Logan says. Seth's family smiles widely and follows him.

"Come with me, young man." Charles garners his attention as he rolls to the hallway in the side.

"Oh what now…" Seth feels like he's getting detention again.

X

"Take a seat." Charles gestures to the window frame, which Seth takes a seat on. They are far from the others, inside of the hallway, allowing them to speak privately.

"Why did you bring me here, Professor? This have anything to do with your disappointment in me?" Seth questions.

"It does." Charles nods his head. "To my surprise, despite the relationship you have with Caitlin, I had to have a difficult conversation about the social status of mutant-kind in our world." Seth widened his eyes. "She seemed completely oblivious to that fact, which surprised me." The elemental ran a hand through his hand. "So tell me, my boy, why have you neglected to shed light on the matter for Caitlin?"

"I…" He sighs heavily. "I was trying to protect her. The way metahumans are treated on Earth-1 is different from here. Most of them are in hiding, only coming out when an evil Earth-2 speedster showed up and sounded off the rally horn. Most are evil, willing to fight for their own greed. I can count the number of good metas on my hands. The way mutants are treated here… It's a cancer and I didn't want it to infect Earth-1."

"I understand your desire, Seth. Caitlin is a metahuman herself, she's your girlfriend and the mother of your children, it's only natural you'd want to protect her from all things that seem threatening towards her or your lives." Charles said. "But…." Seth turns to him with undivided attention. "Deciding what's best for her is not protecting her… That's controlling her and masking the importance of the differences between these Earths from her is a part of it. And I know, you're much better than that."

Seth nods his head. "I'm failing as a boyfriend, keeping this huge part of my life from her. I know, Caitlin deserves my honesty. Not hiding things from her as a coward."

"Seth, you are many things, but a coward is certainly not one of them. Many couples, both parts most times, keep some aspects of their lives to themselves." Charles tilts his head. "And, given your different lives, it's only natural you'd hide some of the harsh elements in yours, even from someone you love."

"Feels like the harsh elements of my life are rubbing off too much on Earth-1." Seth says with clear hints of sadness and regret.

This doesn't go unnoticed by the professor who asks the elemental. "What's wrong Seth?"

"Things lately…. Feels like it's my fault." He starts. "This next gaggle of villains have symbiote-powers, harvested from Venom. From me. They have powers similar to my own, elemental powers and they're using them for evil." From the look on the professor's face, Seth knew he already knew about this. "Feels like if I hadn't-"

"If you hadn't been there, things could have gotten much worse, my boy." Charles cuts him off, rolling closer to the elemental. "Seth, had you not been there, Caitlin would probably never feel the love she feels now. She may have distanced herself from that altogether. Frankie would have remained in foster care, a not-always-nice system for young ones. Ruby and Evelyn would've faced horrible fates at Zoom's hands. You brighten their days, your friends included. Even Detective Joe West."

"You know Joe hates me with every fiber of his being." Seth reminds him, not surprised that Caitlin and his family have divulged everything to the professor.

"His reasons are sound, but he will come to understand why you did what you did and he will forgive you." Charles confidently says. "Seth, I told you a long time ago that some things are just out of your control. Villains, people with vile intentions, they will exploit whatever chance presents itself when they get the opportunity. This is one of the things that are out of your control. You need to accept it, and the only path that remains is…"

"Ever the teacher…" Seth knew Charles was waiting for him to finish his sentence with words he used in the past. "The only path that remains is moving onwards, tackling any problems and threats as best as possible. It takes bravery to take that step on the path, and even more so to rush through a muddied path that will make you fall."

"One may and always fall, yet you will overcome it and rush ahead on your feet towards the goal that is the protection of the innocents. I've never been… a particular fan of it, but you are able to wield darkness and light together as though they're your fists." Charles said. Many members of the X-Men, despite knowing Seth most of their lives, were against having him on the team as he is willing to shed the blood of his enemies with his own two fists.

Stryker's experimentation exposed Seth to not only cruelty but also to darkness and evil of humanity. But despite that he managed to stay true to the teachings of this school. Granted, Seth learnt to accept that it took bravery to take the lives of his enemies for the good of the innocents. Many would not accept it, but some would.

"Just remember, stand strong and fight for the innocents. That's all we all want, my boy." Charles finalizes.

Seth stands up. "Guess you're right. I will tell everything to Caitlin from now on. Every piece of my life I will unveil to her honestly. Every spec of it is gonna be shown."

"Including the detentions you've had here?" Charles teases.

"That's gonna be a maybe." Seth chortled.

Charles turns around. "Now, there's another person who'd like for you to come and see them." He starts rolling away.

Raising an eyebrow, Seth questions. "Who?"

"Someone who shares your fashion sense. Granted, you did adopt it from him." Charles says as he rolls out of sight.

"No way…" Seth chuckles and runs out of the hallway, entering the lobby. He sees it's empty and rushes out of the open entrance. The mutant chuckles at the two aircraft planes in front of the school as he walks past them. He chuckles as he gets out of the gate, closing it behind him.

Instead of running now, he now walks calmly and slowly. He reaches an occupied wooden bench and takes a seat beside the hobo who's reading his newspaper. With a sigh and a chuckle, Seth says. "What, you got time for reading a newspaper and not meeting your granddaughters? Or say hello to your son?"

Closing the newspaper, the dark-skinned man leant forward. He cups his hands, both of which are clad in gloves. His bald head covered by a grey beanie. Under a brown trench coat, he wears a black turtleneck and has black pants along with combat boots…. His left scarred eye, lifeless from the Flerken scratches many years ago, covered by a pair of tinted sunglasses.

Unlike before, he's not wearing an eye-patch this time and shows his son a big smile.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury says. "Well, figured I needed some one-on-one time with my son after so long. Unless you're against it, of course?"

"No way in hell, Dad." Seth says, leaning closer and hugging his father tightly. "I missed you, Dad."

"And I you, son." Nick says, hugging his child tightly.

The two of them hugged each other tightly on the bench… both happy to embrace like this again.

X

In a park not far from the school, children and adults were enjoying themselves. Some children were walking along the paths while holding their parents' hands. Others were playing together on playgrounds. Other families were having picnics, enjoying good food and making great memories on the grassy grounds.

Meanwhile at a hotdog cart, surrounded by the smell of both grease and oil, attracting many couples and families. But the first ones in row are a father and son duo.

The man behind the cart handed them their dogs. "Two Chicago-style dogs, one with chili, fries and sauerkraut and one with onions, jalapenos, coleslaw and cheese."

"Thanks." Seth says, taking the hotdogs and hands the good man his money plus some extra. "Keep the change." The man nods his head with a smile. The mutant walks towards his father who's waiting with a suitcase in hand. "Your dog, Dad."

"Thanks, son." Nick takes the hotdog. "You're still putting fries in your dog?" He says with a chuckle.

"Hey, you introduced me to this incredible gift from heaven, Dad. You're responsible for this addiction." Seth chuckles, nudging his father. The two of them began walking, both beginning to eat and relish in their hotdogs. "How's life as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Or is that why you're dressed as a hobo? You lose your standing with the council?"

"Like they could find a good reason to get rid of me." Nick nudges his son back with his suitcase. "And hobo? Son, please, this is hiding in plain sight."

"Yeah, if you're hiding under a bridge." Seth quips.

Nick chuckles. "Still got that trademark Fury humor. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s good. Much better… Especially after hearing my son is alive." The two of them stop, facing each other. "I mean, first you disappear from this Earth, jacked-full of poison, ending up another one. Then you blow yourself up in a black hole of all things, I hear you're dead and you end up on yet another Earth. You come back, I wanna visit when your sister comes back, but no dice. Your Earth's closed off until our portals start popping like weeds on your turf. Miss anything?"

"Alien invasion, but the Chitauri was a little more exciting to be honest." Seth chuckled. His smile faded when he spoke honestly. "Dad, I'm really sorry for putting you thr-"

"Stop it." Nick puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not expecting you to tell me you're sorry, cause that means you're regretting it. You're not. I'm telling you this cause I'm proud of you, son. You're so strong and you've grown into the kind of protector who's willing to put everything on the line for his family and his world. I'm proud of you for that, son."

The pride in his father's voice made the elemental smile widely. "Thanks, Dad." Nick smiles back, removing his hand from his son's shoulder and picks up the suitcase. "What's in the suitcase?"

"Gifts for my future daughter-in-law." Seth almost choked on his hotdog. He managed to swallow it and faced his father with a surprised look. "Don't give me that look, your fault you haven't taken that step yet. Also, what the hell did you expect, kid? Your girlfriend gets kidnapped too much."

"On that…. Yeah, you got a good point." Seth sheepishly agrees. "Wait, what did you make for her?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stark tech to protect her." Nick says. "So how about we finish our dogs, take a lap around the park, go to the school and I can say hi to my new granddaughters, the one I know and the girl you need to get down on a knee in front of soon?"

"Dad!"

X

Disbelief came over Caitlin and Frankie, both of whom had previously met Nick and they were incredibly excited to meet him again. Once again Caitlin was able to meet her future father-in-law and she greeted him with a wide hug. She was immensely happy and overjoyed to reunite with him, but she was left perplexed when she was handed a suitcase by him. The lid of it bearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo., which definitely left her with some questions. Frankie, after her mother, went to her grandfather and hugged him tightly. A hug that Nick returned and the two of them smiled. She always hoped the two of them would meet again, not just always settle for a single meeting. Meeting her grandfather on her father's side always brought a wide smile to her face, meeting more of the family always excited the young ferrokinetic.

And this time it wasn't when her father and her family was in danger and he didn't have to show up suddenly with a massive firearm made from an Asgardian sentry from a place that most would think is mere myth…

The more Frankie thinks about her father's side of the family…

"The weirder we realize they are." Magenta finishes her host's thoughts.

Ruby and Evelyn were left anxious as they met the father of their father. Evelyn knew about him from Frankie's stories and the photos her parents have shown her. It was another thing to meet the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D in real life and she was very nervous to meet him and actually have a conversation with the man. But she was really excited to talk and hear about her father's upbringing from the man himself. Ruby was anxious and nervous but for different reasons. She doesn't know how much her grandfather knows about her and her own upbringing, an assassin of an enemy organization of the S.H.I.E.L.D. What if hates her for being a HYDRA assassin and being the child of a general of their organization?

She wonders how his reaction will be to her especially. But inside of her, she hopes his reaction is much like Professor Xaviers and he would not direct any anger towards her from his hate of HYDRA.

"It's good to see you again, Nick." Caitlin says, getting out of the hug. "It's been too long."

"Too too long, yeah." Nick says. He strokes Frankie's head. "Good to see you again, sweetheart. It's been a long time."

"Dad." Seth gets his attention. The elemental is standing behind Ruby and Evelyn, a hand on their shoulders while they're showing nervous expressions. "These are your granddaughters, Evelyn and Ruby."

The already big smile on Nick's face widened even more as he settled his lone eye on the girls. Happiness came over him in a way that rain itself couldn't do. "The family is getting bigger."

"It is." Seth smiles.

Returning his gaze to them, Nick beckons the girls over. "Come over here, you can't escape a hug with Grandpa unless you're dealing with an alien invasion."

"Careful, Grandpa…" Evelyn walked over first, hugging him. "You're gonna jinx us."

Ruby walks over to him. "Hey, Granddad."

"Hey, sweetie." Nick pulls Ruby into a hug. While hugging the two of them, he looks up at Seth and Caitlin. "You've just made this old man that much happier." The boyfriend and girlfriend interlock their fingers at the Director's words. "Wait, how long are you gonna be here?"

"Probably another day or so." Caitlin said. Miles clenched his fists, his mind going off with tons of thoughts.

"Yeah, a little concerned about leaving the team without any real muscle." Seth says. His family gives him a dry look. They aren't the only ones, the others being Nick and Peter. With a sigh, he clarifies. "Fine, I'm concerned about leaving most of the team without any real muscle. And the city, of course."

"You're leaving?" Charles gets their attention as he rolls up from behind. He's with Olivia who's wiping off smog from her face with a towel. "I had hoped you'd stay a while longer."

Olivia chuckles, facing the telepath. "You sure you like having students come to you and complain about the whole class getting Fs every day. Your schedule's gonna be packed, Professor." The professor mulled it over, wondering if he could handle any more student complaints.

"Where's Uncle Matt?" Frankie questioned.

"He's… rethinking about our little argument." Olivia innocently says.

Caitlin narrows her eyes. "A marital dispute?" Olivia nodded.

Seth turns his gaze to the professor. "Danger Room?" Charles nods his head in confirmation. "Of course. So by "rethinking about your little argument" you mean "He's tending to his wounds.""

"Ah no biggie." Logan says, bringing attention to his presence behind the telepath and psychic. "Knowing Scrappy he's fully healed by now." He said while taking out a cigar and put it in his mouth.

"Logan, no smoking on school premises." Charles reminds him.

Before the mutant can take it out, T'Challa quickly snatches it and twirls it in his hand. "Respect the school rules, Mr. Howlett." Logan growls.

"Where are your guards, T'Challa?" Peter asks. "Don't tell me they're inspecting the jet."

"After I told them you flew it on the way back, yes. They're inspecting it thoroughly and they may bill you if there's even a scratch on it." T'Challa half-joked, but knowing the Dora Milaje and how they are, nothing is impossible.

"Um sir… Seth." Everyone turns their heads, including Seth, and they all face Miles. "I…" Miles inhales deeply, steeling himself for his big question. "I have something to ask you, sir."

"Okay." Seth chuckles sheepishly. "What is it? Something important?"

"Something… really important to me." Miles looks at Ruby briefly, both Caitlin and Seth saw that, and their eyes widened immediately. Olivia hears their thoughts and her face loses all expressions. "Seth, I was hoping I could-"

"NO!"

The way Seth immediately cut off Miles with a bellowing roar practically shook the entire floor. Even Charles feared he would be hurled out of his chair by the voice. Peter almost jumped up on the ceiling. T'Challa and Logan raise an eyebrow.

Caitlin shook her head. "Absolutely not, Miles Morales!" Hearing their mother bellow out a shout of her own at Miles, her three daughters share a look of confusion.

Seth points at him. "You're way too young! Both of you! I respect you and know you're good for it, kiddo, but I have to say NO!"

"I have to agree with Seth on this, Miles." Caitlin admits.

"But…. What?" Miles was confused as hell, his darting from left and right between the parents.

"Wait, this is Ruby's boyfriend?" Nick asks, getting nods of confirmation from his son and Caitlin. He turns to the younger spider-hero. "Alright, I'm on the same page as my boy, heck no. Mostly because it's the first time I'm meeting you and this is one heck of a way to break the ice."

"Again, I'm gonna say "what?"" He says, his eyes going to Ruby for assistance. But a shrug of her shoulders told them she was just as in the dark as the rest.

"Oh, fuck's sake, this is why I hate being a psychic." Olivia mutters loud enough to get the others' attention. "Miles." He turns to face the psychic, despite the looks from the others.

Speaking as simply as she could, she started. "These three…" Olivia points to her father, her brother and Caitlin. "Thinks that you…" She points at Miles. "Are asking for Ruby's…" She points to her niece. "Hand in marriage…"

…

…

As though an alarm clock blared away in his mind, Miles's eyes expanded in realization as though it's raining down on him in a downpour. As though they are synchronized, both Miles' and Ruby's heads turn bright red and could easily be mistaken for tomatoes taking their heads' places.

"Wait what?!" Ruby asks, snapping her head to Miles so fast it was a miracle it still remained attached to her body. "You were gonna ask that?" Her heart beats a thousand miles a second.

"No! No! No!" Miles shook his head. "I mean, I really do hope our relationship goes well, like super well! Cause you're great! And I hope you think I'm great too! And our relationship is magic, even though we're like 600 Earths apart! But it's great!"

"Dear Bast, Parker, you've turned him into a miniature version of you." T'Challa says, directing his words to the mentor spider-hero.

"Yup, the kid's screwed completely." Logan quips.

Charles chooses not to say anything.

"Sir! Seth!" Miles indecisively states. "I'm not asking about that."

"Okay, fine. I'm listening, what is it?" Seth crosses his arms over his chest.

Miles steels himself again, inhaling deeply. He looks at the elemental with a sharp gaze, unflinching and revealing a blazing determination behind his eyes.

"Seth… Will you fight me?"

Despite his words raising both eyebrows and widening eyes around him, Seth's eyes didn't do the same as he held eye contact with the younger spider-hero. The blazing intense fire in Miles' eyes demanded his entire attention, and it left him quite shocked.

He didn't seem to waver, neither of them did.

"Miles." Peter put a hand on his shoulder. "Why would you ask that? Seth is outta your league in a fight."

"Why would you wanna fight my Dad?" Ruby asks next.

"Peter… Ruby… Please…" Miles inhales deeply, continuing to hold eye contact with the elemental. "Don't fight me on this. I want this."

Seth didn't say anything, his eyes peering into Miles' and once again none of them wavered.

"Kid's serious." Venom admits. "Impressive."

Seth fights the urge to smirk, succeeding and turns around. The others watch him curiously as he walks away from the group, putting some distance between them. Miles lowers his head, thinking that his idea was squashed.

But the elemental's answer became clear when he stopped and asked Charles. "Danger Room is available now, right Professor?"

Charles chuckles in a closed mouth. "Indeed it is. You're free to use it."

"Hear that, Miles?" Seth says, turning his head over his shoulder and facing the young spider-hero who's smiling widely. "You're getting your wish fulfilled. I'll be waiting downstairs inside the Danger Room." Turning his head away, he resumes walking away.

"Really?" Miles smiles as the elemental rounds a corner. "Yes!" He clenches his fists excitedly.

"Miles, why do you wanna fight my Dad?" Ruby asks her boyfriend persistently.

"It's…It's personal, Ruby." He says honestly. "And honestly… I think your father's the only one to help me."

"Better bring your A-game, kid." Olivia gets his attention. "He won't be holding back against you."

"Got it." Miles nods his head.

"It will be interesting." T'Challa smirks.

"Better bring popcorn." Logan says.

Everyone has the same thoughts as the others, wanting to watch the fight about to unravel inside of the Danger Room. Thankfully, their observation room has the best seats in the house.

X

With a sharp inhale, Matt grabs his two fingers on his left hand and pushes them back in place. "Damn it, that hurts!" He shouts out loud, not having to hold back since he's alone in the observation room of the Danger Room.

"Wimp."

Matt snaps his eyes to the glass with a glare. He presses down on the microphone and exclaims through the speakers. "Screw you, dumbass! One word from you like that, I'll change the terrain into a magma field."

"Oh no, so scared of magma. Whatever am I gonna do against a highly realistic 3D field of magma." Seth says sarcastically from within the Danger Room. "Get some better material, moron."

"Eat me, bastard!" Matt shouts into the microphone, his voice echoing throughout the dome-like room. With a chuckle, he asks. "You ready to tangle with Miles?"

"Told him I would be." Seth says.

Looking to the screens, he sees Miles waiting outside the Danger Room entrance. "Looks like our contender has arrived and is ready to enter the ring." He can see that the spider-hero's wearing his suit, appearing ready to fight.

"Would have gone with Thunderdome." Seth argued.

"Better than "Fight Club," at least." The nanite mutant mutters. "Let him in?"

"Wait until the others are in. Think it's best if everyone's here to watch it." Seth tells him.

"Good idea." Matt turns his head, hearing the sound of the elevator opening up once it reaches his floor. "Speak of the devils…" He quips as a big group of people comes into the room. The first being Caitlin and her daughters, followed by Peter and Charles. T'Challa and Logan come next and Olivia is the last to exit the elevator. "Hey, honey."

"Hey, babe. Every organ in the right place?" Olivia jokes, referring to their marital argument.

"They are, thankfully." Matt raises his hands. "I promise I won't leave our kids with an A.I. again. Already called Pepper, she's taken over childcare."

"Thank you." Olivia says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "And sorry for going overboard with you in the Danger Room." Her husband shrugged it off.

"What is exactly "going overboard" in her book?" Dusk questions her host.

"Don't ask! Don't ask! Don't ask!" Evelyn shot back rapidly.

However Olivia looks over her shoulder at her niece. "That's a long list, girls. You sure you got time for it?"

"No/No." Both host and symbiote say, one sweating bullets and the other mentally sweating. The psychic nods her head with a smile.

"I'm really not sure about this, man…" Peter bit his fingernail.

Matt removes his finger from the microphone. "Sorry, Pete. But this is between Miles and Seth now. They've made their choices."

"He's right, Bug-Boy." Logan says, leaning against the wall. "We can't stop this no matter what. They're their own men."

"I know. I know. Just wish I knew what is going through Miles' head, though." Peter says nervously.

"If you haven't figured that out yet, you're not thinking enough Pete. The answer's right in front of you." Matt says. He presses down on the microphone. "Seth, I'm letting Miles in."

With that said, he presses a separate button.

X

Miles stops breathing when the doors finally open up in front of him, sliding to the sides and revealing the insides of the Danger Room. He's been inside of this room multiple times, fighting together with Peter in dozens of scenarios that brought hell to reality.

But this time felt completely different. It felt like he was entering the belly of a whole other beast…

A beast he respects just as much as he does his own mentor…

Taking a step into the training room, Miles immediately felt the air hit him like a gust from Hell. The presence and atmosphere is heavy, making him feel like he was weighing a ton. His knees buckle, almost making him fall but he manages to remain standing.

He looks ahead and makes eye contact with Seth. The singular elemental who's received the respect and friendship of his mentor. A slight breeze enters the room, making the back of Seth's coat blow up.

With an exhale, Miles walks further into the training room. The doors close behind him. "Seth, I'm really thankful for this. It means a lot." He tightens his grip on his mask.

"Let's get a few things straight before we get down to business, Miles." Seth tells him. Miles nods his head as he continues getting closer to the elemental. "You and I are gonna fight on a terrain of my choosing. I could choose something that's gonna be so harsh, it could kill one of us or both of us. You fine with that?"

"Yeah. A field can be an advantage to me or a disadvantage." Miles accepts. "Same as real life."

"Good man." Seth praises him and his understanding. "Second, I won't be using my sword. So it's a straight-up fistfight on my part. On yours, though, it's another story. Which brings me to… Three. Miles, you can use anything on your person. Webshooters, gadgets and whatever else Pete and you have come up with. Use it all, as long as it's your A-game."

"Okay. What's the last thing?" Miles questions.

"Before we get to that…" Seth turns his eyes to the glass in the observation room. "Matt!"

X

Inside of the observation room, Matt turns on the microphone. "I'm here. What is it?"

"What is Dad gonna do?" Evelyn asks.

"Your old man's gonna set the field." Olivia smiles.

"What kind of field?" Frankie questions next, wondering if the field is gonna be another one that shares similarities with a hellscape like the one she and her sisters fought in.

Seth, without even knowing the question from his ferrokinetic daughter, says. "Midnight Skyscrapers."

Peter clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I had a feeling he'd choose that field."

"Why wouldn't he?" Matt says while opening up some programs to find the requested terrain program. "You and Seth had the idea for it."

"And the three of you constructed it together." Charles adds. "It's an impressive template you've made and I'd have liked to apply it to the rest of the students at the school."

"But Scrappy's firewalls here prevented that. Heck, Hank's been losing hair trying to break through them." Logan chuckles at the memory, recalling the ocean of blue hair on the floor every night Hank was found in the observation room wracking his brain trying to get the template.

"Blame Hank, please. Because of him, I had to upgrade my firewalls and make new programs when he broke into them the first seven rounds." Matt says. "Had to get real creative."

"Midnight Skyscrapers…" Ruby looks at her grandfather. "What kind of field is that?"

"It's one of the fields that your father and uncle made when they had too much time in the school or if they wanted to be properly challenged in an environment that put their skills to the test, something that made them wanna tear down their limits." Nick tells his granddaughter. "And my boy, he chose the right field for this fight with your boyfriend."

"Why?" Frankie asked, listening to their conversation.

Caitlin looks at Peter while thinking of her boyfriend, deducing quickly what the idea of this field is. "It's because this field is designed for spider-heroes and symbiote-bearers." She gets a surprised look from the spider-hero and Matt. "Guys, come on, you're not the only scientist here. I have a PH.D, two doctorates and I helped build a particle accelerator."

Frankie turns her head to her mother. "Which did end up blowing a hole in the sky, Mom. Good accomplishment, bad result."

"Pardon?" T'Challa asks with a raised eyebrow.

Caitlin throws a mock glare at her ferrokinetic daughter. "Young lady, we're gonna have a talk in a bit."

"And with this…" Matt presses a button. "Let the battle begin."

X

Just like what happened before, a geyser erupted out of nowhere. But no steam or smoke came out of it…

It was a shadowy darkness coming out, plunging the entire dome-like training room into total darkness.

Unflinchingly, Seth let himself be enveloped by the holographic darkness. Miles staggered back when it came near him, trying to outrun it but it didn't work and it immediately ensnared him.

The thick darkness dissipated quickly; a sea of towering skyscrapers revealed themselves. Darkness continued to remain in this perpetual night, remaining to the lower halves of the buildings, making it impossible to peer through to where the would-be streets be.

A moon hung over their heads, shining down its moonlight and illuminating the sprawling and shadowed metropolis.

"Wow!" Miles half-screamed as he fell, lashing out his right hand he stuck it to the building on the side. This action allowed him to halt his descent. "This is definitely not what I expected." He says, looking around and not finding anything other than darkened towering skyscrapers slightly illuminated by the glow of moonlight.

"Peter and I had designed this with Matt's help…" Miles swings his head up, looking up with wide eyes when seeing Seth standing on top of a skyscraper. The moon behind him shining behind him and illuminating his form. "We made this field together, so symbiote-bearers like myself and spiders like you and Pete could hone their skills here. A training field where we can push ourselves beyond any limits."

"Is that the last thing? The battlefield?" Miles questions.

"No… This is." Seth says. "Miles, this battle between us… It ain't between two heroes, not between two friends and it's definitely not between my daughter's boyfriend and me, her father… It's gonna be between a hero and an adversary." He smirks.

Miles' smile falls. "You want me to treat you as a villain, Seth?"

"Yup." Seth cracks his neck. "I'm not Peter or Jessica, and you may be my daughter's boyfriend, but maybe no mistake, I will come at you harder than any of them. If you think they've come at you hard, I'm gonna give you merciless." From his vantage point, he can see the spider-hero clench his free hand. "If you're not up for it, we cancel this entire thing right here and now. Your call, Miles."

"I already told you, Seth." Miles reaches into his pocket and pulls his mask over his head. With his white lenses, Spider-Man looks determinedly at the elemental who smirks. "I want this. I'm not getting out."

With the smirk widening on his face, Seth beckons him over with his right hand.

Miles, with a fierce fire in his eyes and soul, leapt from the building he stuck on and shot out a webline. It stuck to the side of the skyscraper that Seth is standing on. The young spider-hero swung around the tall building, letting go of his webline and swung towards the mutant with outstretched legs, intent on kicking him.

But Seth merely jumped backwards, avoiding the attack. He watches him land on a satellite, using it as a springboard and launches himself towards the elemental with a fist lashed straight out. However, his fist was grabbed easily.

"Thought I told you to fight me all-out, Miles!" Holding him up high, Seth delivers a strike to his stomach. Miles gasps at the sudden blow that hurls him backwards, making him skip across the surface of the rooftop.

Miles pushes himself up to a knee. "I will!" He launches himself in another leap, running like a speeding bullet towards the elemental once again. This time yellow lightning emanated from his body, covering every inch of him. He focuses his bioelectricity to his hand, ensnaring his fist with his element.

But before he could come near the mutant, black tendrils shot out of the surface and wrapped around his form and pulled him to the ground. Miles grunts in pain as he feels restraints push him down on the hard surface. "Didn't expect that."

"That's surprising, honestly." Seth says, moving towards the restrained hero. Crouching down on a knee in front of him, he says. "Didn't think you'd fall for something simple like that. Your Spider-Sense would have kicked in."

"Well, even a sixth sense has an off day, right?" He quips.

"Trademark of a Spider." Seth hollowly says. He tabs the side of Miles' head with his right finger. "Unfortunately, I think I know the answer."

"What?" Miles asks with a heavy pant.

"Let's have a talk." Seth removes his finger from Miles' head and clenches his fist. He turns it into adamantium. "Somewhere private."

With all of his strength, he delivers a strike down on the surface the two of them are on. Cracks erupted across the surface like veins popping on the flesh of a living being in anger. The cracks spread all over the surface, even under the bodies of the two fighters.

CRACK

"Wow!" Miles screamed when the surface under him finally cracked and he fell down into the building. Seth unflinchingly follows and allows himself to fall down alongside the spider-hero. He landed on his feet while the younger hero landed on a table, smashing it to pieces and grunted when he collided with the hard floor. "Ow! This place is way too realistic! And painful!" He was sure more than a few splinters had dug their way into his flesh by now.

"Whole point of the Danger Room, Miles. Not to mention, why didn't you land?" Seth asks him incredulously. "It's one thing to be Peter's protégé, it's a whole other thing if you end up becoming Peter."

"That happened ONE time, Seth!" Peter screamed through the speakers.

"Hope so, Pete." Seth raises his right foot, reeling it back and enveloping it in wind. While he was down, he kicked the spider-hero into the air. The force poured into the attack, combined with massive wind, knocked Miles into the ceiling, causing it to crack.

Miles fell but never reached the ground when suddenly Seth delivered another kick that knocked him away. But this time he was hurled into a chair, landing with a grunt and painful stomach. "Ah, think you broke something there." He holds his stomach in pain.

"You'll heal." Seth raises a hand; from his palm a tendril shoots out and sticks to the spider-hero's mask. With a yank of his hand, he pulls the mask off of Miles' head. Snatching the mask, he starts questioning. "Miles, why did you want this?"

"What?" Miles asks, still checking his face for his mask.

Leaning against an office desk behind, Seth crosses his arms. "Miles, you could have asked anyone for this fight. Jessica, Peter… Any of them have access to this field. Not to mention, both of them have powers similar to yours. They would have trained you and fought you here. They're the ideal fighters for you, yet you're here with me. Why? And be honest."

"…" Miles sighs heavily. "Seth, have you ever felt like you weren't supposed to be how you are now?" Seth listens, giving the spider-hero his undivided attention. "Peter was on some assignments with MJ outside the city, he stayed with her. Jessica worked a bit with S.H.I.E.L.D. so the two of them left me to protect the city for a while. And…" He clenches his hands, not able to bring out the words.

"It's been downhill." Seth stated rather than inquired, knowing the spider-hero's untold feelings. Miles nods. "And because of that you've been beginning to doubt yourself, not just as a protector of the city but also for someone calling himself Spider-Man."

Miles stands up. "I've been struggling in so many fights lately, Seth. I've… I'm not good at fighting alone. Peter and Jessica have much more experience than me. They were both bitten by spiders way before I was in the picture."

"All the fights he's struggled with have affected him greatly." Seth says in his mind. "It left him with a serious case of doubt. Doubting himself, his ability to fight, to hold his own…"

"Combined it has all drilled a hole in confidence as both Miles Morales and Spider-Man." Venom says.

Seth realized this a while back. The Miles before him now seems different from the one he fought alongside against Anti-Venom. He didn't seem like himself, not like someone was fighting to protect those he cares about and the city he loves. This one seems like one who's held down, like he's weighted down by an enormous force on his shoulders.

And he doesn't know how to handle this weight, leaving him damaged and in pain.

Worst of all, it's left him with doubt and he doesn't know how to move forward from that. Not knowing if he is who he is truly meant to be now.

"Miles." Seth leans off the desk. "You… are stupid."

Miles looked up in surprise. "What?"

A smirk on Seth's face surprised Miles, who's surprise only magnified when black tendrils shot out of the elemental's stomach and struck him, sending him flying through an array of office tables. They all tore to pieces from Miles smashing through them.

"Miles, kid, that was stupid!" Seth said with a smile as Miles stood up, pushing off pieces of wood and other office supplies off his body. "You think you're NOT supposed to be a Spider?" He laughs. "Miles, you're talking like the world has a plan to follow to the letter, that everyone's fate is set in stone. It's not!" He bellows. "No one's life is predetermined. Life is a… It's a web of accidents."

Miles laughs at the pun.

"Life is choices, Miles. It's an accumulation of choices and accidents. People working hard towards a goal is a choice. People getting bitten by a random radioactive spider is an accident." Seth points a finger to the upper corner, pointing in the direction of the observation room. "Everyone in that room, no one had a fate that was predetermined. That includes you and me. Miles, ever thought that maybe Pete and Jess weren't supposed to become Spiders?" Miles' silence was all the answer that the mutant needed. "Exactly. But it's a good thing you're feeling this, Miles."

"What? Feeling like I'm not good enough and doubting myself as a hero is a good thing?" Miles questions.

"Yes! Cause all of us have gone through that!" Seth exclaims with a smile. "Miles, you think we haven't gone through the same thing you're going through now, then you're in for a world of shock."

"You've gone through the same thing? Everyone has?" Miles questions.

"Miles." Seth holds the spider-hero's mask up with a tendril from his shoulder. "Powers are accidental. We get them, and our lives are forever changed by them. We're like babies all over at that stage of our lives. We crawl first, we try to stand, we fall and then we stand back up stronger than ever, and we finally get to running. We get there, and we fall again. Well, not once or twice, we fall a lot. It's part of the process, part of life. We doubt ourselves, wondering if we're making the right choice. If we're really the person we're supposed to be. If we're really heroes."

"Never thought about it…" Miles says, realization dawned on him.

"What we tell ourselves is so much worse than what people outside tell us." Seth says. "You've been berating yourself this entire time, without ever asking for help or anything of the sort from Pete or Jess, cause you were afraid of looking weak in their eyes. But to me…"

"Jess and Pete have saved me dozens of times. They've shown me the ropes on how to be a better spider-person." Miles looks at Seth. "But you… I don't know. I guess I have the same respect for you as I do for them. You're… Different I guess."

Seth heard his words and let them sink in with a smile. He wasn't the only one listening, thankfully.

X

In the observation room, silence fell over them all.

Peter Parker was left especially speechless by the words he heard from his protégé's mouth. "I had no idea Miles felt like this."

"Miles did some work, keeping it under wraps from you and Jessica." Matt says. He turns to the elder spider-hero. "Don't blame yourself, Pete. Miles wanted to keep it under wraps until now."

"Yeah, but…" Peter sighs. "If he can't come to me about his doubts, am I doing something wrong as a teacher?"

"No. Peter, you're a great teacher. You know how to teach and pass on the right knowledge to your students. Miles is a prime example of that." Matt tells him. "You choose an excellent successor." His nieces looked at their uncle curiously.

"But…" Peter asks, knowing there is more.

Matt continues. "Miles knows who you are and how you operate, man. So do I. I bet when you were training him, you were going easy on him. You never once told him to fight you seriously without holding back." He says. Peter nods his head. "It's rare for you to pit Miles up against you, someone with the same powers as himself. It's a situation Miles would've struggled in, going up against someone he respects and idolizes. Miles wants to push past his limits and he wants to prove that he is good enough to be the next Spider-Man, both to himself and you."

"That's why he goes up against Seth now." Peter said in realization.

"Miles knows Seth is the kind of person who'd go full force on anyone he respects. He knows the burden of powers and the mindset of heroes, especially young ones like Miles, and he will work until Miles is confident again." Matt says. "On top of that, Seth and you have fought countless times. He knows spider-powers like the back of his hand. He knows what to expect and will be able to counter it accordingly."

"I thought I was going easy on Miles after he struggled with protecting the city lately, that's why I didn't ask him into a fight with me. Thought I'd be ruining it for him." Peter says.

Matt nods his head. "It's understandable, Peter. You were trying to protect Miles, but sometimes, challenges are what makes a hero stronger. On how to challenge him so he can move forward from this doubt he's chained by. It's not about ruining it for him, it's about helping him grow. Miles is resilient, and he needs to know he can handle tough situations."

Peter sighed, reflecting on his actions. "You're absolutely right, Matt. I should have given him a chance to test his limits. I'll talk to him and let him know he can come to me when he's in doubt like this again… Let him know I believe in him."

"Good answer, Mr. Parker." Charles says.

"Depends on if you get the chance though…" Matt smirked evilly. "Remind you, Miles is fighting Seth, who doesn't hold back. Chances are Miles would end up as mincemeat."

"Unc, still my boyfriend." Ruby reminded her uncle who shot her an apologetic look.

"Uncle Matt, you said Miles is Peter's successor." Frankie asked, but her tone was full of questions.

Taking the reins for the nanite mutant, Charles answers on his behalf. "Every hero has a life, my dear. And life always reaches an end. For heroes, for those fighting against villains to protect the innocents and even the police going on patrols every day, every day we don our suit and venture outside, we run the risk of never returning."

Logan, while fiddling with a cigar, continues. "And when we do end up kicking the bucket, someone has to fill our shoes. Keep up the good fight so the mob can sleep better at night. We train someone like that to fight in our stead once we're gone."

"A successor…" Evelyn says.

"Precisely." Charles nods.

Ruby narrows her eyes, facing her uncle and aunt. "Does Dad have a successor?"

"Nope." Olivia shook her head, facing her niece and her sisters. "He's got three."

"Wait, you mean us?" Frankie asks with surprise, gesturing to her and her sisters.

T'Challa tells them. "Your father may be invincible in a fight, ferocious like an animal with the personality and attitude of a dumpster on fire…" His dislike for their father was not hidden at all. "But he will one day pass away… and when that happens, his daughters are gonna be the next protectors if they decide it."

"Always knew he trusts us with a lot of responsibility." Frankie smiles. "Never thought he'd want us to be the next Lethal Protectors."

"Your father trains you to be yourselves in the field and to fight in a way that protects innocents." Olivia tells them. "It's the way we were taught by our dad."

Nick steps up behind them and puts a hand on Ruby and Evelyn's heads, ruffling them as he continues for his daughter. "And like your father is doing with you three, I only give the training, knowledge, love and support he needs. But he decided to fight out in the big city, fighting hard battles with bravery and courage."

"That's Seth for you." Caitlin lovingly says.

From within the Danger Room, Seth continues to the younger spider-hero. "You know what powers and life have in common…"

X

"They go hand-in-hand together?" Miles questions sheepishly.

"Lot of kids would disagree with that." Seth quips with a faint smile. "But no… It's that our lives and powers are defined by what we do with them next." Miles' eyes widened as he realized the gravity of the elemental's words. "Our choices define us. We live with the accidents. And our choices and accidents may get worse from our powers. But it's our responsibility to live with…"

Miles smiles. "With great power… comes great responsibility."

"Precisely. Good creed Peter's taught you." Seth tells him, his voice carrying a sense of mentorship and getting into the younger hero's mind. "It was a radioactive accident on eight legs that gave you your powers, Miles…" He walks up until he's beside the spider-hero. "But it's what you do with your powers that matters the most."

"…" Miles smiles. "I won't do it any other way than what I'm doing now…"

"Good." Seth stands behind the spider-hero. He once again surprises Miles when he delivers an immediate strike with his leg, knocking him off his feet and towards the wall on the other side of the office. "So what is it gonna be?"

"Ow!" Miles grunts, his body sticking to the surface upside-down. "When are you gonna quit it with the sneak attacks, sir?" Cracks spreading across the wall.

"Never. More importantly… Who are you?" Seth clutches the mask in his hand. Clenching his fist, symbiote mass ensnares it and he thrusts it out, blasting three massive black tendrils that travel at the speed of light. They slam into Miles' body, forcing him through the wall and out of the building.

But they continued onwards, slamming Miles through the side of the opposite skyscraper. Pieces of steel and concrete shot in multiple directions. Some of them even reached the building that Seth is in.

Miles falls down to a pile of steel pieces, coughing and grunting in pain. He pushes himself up and looks down on the surface in front of him, his eyes growing wide in surprise. His eyes looked down into the eye lenses of his mask. He chuckles.

"I'm asking you again, Miles." The spider-hero snaps his head up, looking up and seeing Seth standing in the hole of the opposite building that he made. "Who are you?!" He demands with a bellowing question.

With a smile on his face, Miles stands up. Pieces of metal falling off his body as he straightened himself. With a webline from his shooter, he retracts his mask back into his hand. "My name is Miles Morales…" He looks up at Seth, the mutant who's smiling widely at the expression on the spider-hero's face. "Like you said, sir, I was bitten by a radioactive spider… From that moment on…" He pulls on the mask, covering up the confident smirk on his mouth.

"I became Spider-Man."

Cracking his fists, Seth takes a fighting stance. "Prove it."

Shooting weblines from his wrists, Miles has them attached to the ground that Seth is standing on before pulling on them with all of his might. He slingshots himself towards the opposite building, lashing out a foot. Digging his feet into the ground, Seth turns his legs into adamantium and does the same with his right forearm. The elemental blocks the incoming kick from the spider-hero.

The force from the attack pushes the mutant back, causing pieces of concrete from the floor to push up. But Seth anchors himself to the ground with tendrils spouting out of his back. With his left arm stretched out, he clenches his fist and enwraps it in lightning.

He thrusts it towards Miles. But with a smile on his face, Miles avoids the attack by falling down on the ground. Spiraling back to his feet in a crouched position, he releases bioelectricity from his entire body and focuses all of it into his right fist. With a warcry, he delivers a thunderous uppercut into the mutant's stomach.

The strike to his stomach sent the elemental flying through the ceiling, catapulting him through the concrete surface and into the upper floor. Miles follows him quickly, using bioelectricity to shoot towards him. While Seth is still in the air, Spider-Man thrusts out both hands forward vertically together and wide fingers as he focuses his electricity into the palms, violently and powerfully releasing energy.

After a while of gathering energy, Miles discharges the combined bioelectricity in a thunderous bolt. The powerful bolt hurls Seth through the wall, sending him out of the building. The pieces of concrete and glass fall into the dark abyss at the bottom of the buildings.

A smile is on Seth's face as he falls. "Nice job, Miles." Tendrils shoots out of his sides, digging into the surface of the skyscraper and he pulls on them, forcing him to stand on the surface. He smirks, looking ahead and seeing Miles come out of the building to stand on the same surface as him. "Not bad, Spider-Man."

Even with the mask on, Spider-Man was smiling widely.

"How about we take this up a notch…" Seth grunts, symbiote mass flowing out of his body like a violent stream. The symbiote mass enwraps his entire body, enlarging his body and turning his body into something straight out of a horror movie.

Miles has seen his form multiple times, standing as Venom in numerous fights on separate Earths. But standing in front of the Lethal Protector as an opponent is a whole different beast. The white skull mask over his face, his crimson blood-red eyes, the spine-like extensions around his forearms that've dug into the back of his hands, the claws that've torn dozens of villains to shreds and the fangs that've crunched off heads of so many villains.

"Tell us, Spider-Man… You afraid?" Venom snarls.

"No." Miles answers honestly. "I'm excited."

The two are staring at each other without a single word. Their fight doesn't need any words, not the time for it. Spider-Man shoots weblines towards the mutant. But Venom grabbed them and pulled them, forcing Miles into arm's reach, allowing him to ensnare him with his hand wrapping around his body before slamming him down on the surface, shattering glass and concrete.

"You know, I expected kind of more, Seth." Miles says with a chuckle.

"Never said we're done, kid." Lightning sparks around his entire right arm before he lashes it out, throwing Miles into the air. The arm that was launched out split into tendrils, swinging for the spider-hero.

But despite being mid-air, Miles didn't let the lightning-ensnared tendrils attack him. Shooting a webline he sticks it to one of the incoming tendrils. Before it burns off from the lightning, the spider-hero pulls on it and lands on a tendril. With the skills and agility befitting of someone with his powers he jumps from tendril to tendril with ease, each jump getting him closer and closer to the elemental.

However, foreseeing this tactic from the spider-hero, Seth closes the distance between them with a leap. Miles widens his eyes in surprise when he appears in front of him. His surprise intensifies when his entire torso is ensnared by Venom's huge hand. "You wanted our worst…" Flames ignited around the grabbing hand. "Here it is!"

Thrusting out his left hand, he digs it into the building behind them through several floors till he tore his claws into a pillar. With a tighter grip on Spider-Man, Venom pulls on his left arm and sends them both hurling into the building.

Miles tried to turn his head to face the direction of their flight path, but his vision was filled with concrete and glass which he was slammed into when they collided into the skyscraper. The two of them smashed through a floor, the spider-hero taking the blunt of the strike.

And this continued, Venom bulldozing his way through multiple floors with Miles still tightly enwrapped in his blazing hand. Each time they were smashed through a floor, continuing to go downwards, Spider-Man felt his entire body scream in pain.

But despite the continuous waves of pain flowing through him like violent torrents, Miles was still smiling behind his mask.

And Seth knows it.

Venom stops on the next floor he lands on, retracting his hand from the pillar. He holds Miles up, giving the spider-hero the chance to look up and see the massive tunnel they had created. Pieces of debris continued to fall through the tunnel. He was sure that there is a piece from every floor on their surface.

"Had enough?" Venom grinned. Miles shook his head. "Thought so…" He reels back his other hand, turning it into adamantium while lightning and flames cloaks it completely. Behind his mask, Miles was pale in fear. "Let's continue the fun…"

He throws the spider-hero into the ceiling, who grunts in pain before gravity does its work and Seth swings his arm for a brutal uppercut.

X

Those in the observation room grimace when they watch the result of elemental's element-infused uppercut as they watch the upper part of the skyscraper fall to pieces on top of the building.

"Mom?" Caitlin faces Ruby. "Do I need to remind Dad that is my boyfriend he may or may not be pummeling in there?"

Caitlin tilts her head a few times. "That might be necessary, honestly. Scary thing… it is necessary."

"Remember how I said Miles might end up as mincemeat…" Matt questions Spider-Man who nods fearfully. "I was kidding before, but I'm pretty sure you can fit what's left of Miles in a meat pie."

"Oh God, his parents are gonna murder me." Peter says. He flinches repeatedly when he watches several explosions appear from the sides of the crumbling skyscraper top. "They are definitely gonna murder me."

But a surprising chuckle from Charles Xavier gets their attention. "I'm rather confident that Miles would jump to your rescue, Peter." He smiles widely, listening to the thoughts in Miles' head. "He is quite a lot like you, Peter."

"In what way?" Peter questions.

"The desire for combat, the kind that doesn't require the protection of the innocents or the salvation of their planet." Charles watches a smile form on Matt's, T'Challa's and Peter's faces. "It's a sensation that most of our heroes here in this room and in the Danger Room have felt many times. Rankings such as strongest and second strongest are what they want to surpass."

Black Panther chuckles. "Of course we want to overcome those titles. They only reflect a moment in time. Once that moment has passed by, it's nothing but history."

"A feeling that Seth, Peter, Matt, you Prince T'Challa, and Miles himself share now." Charles smiles.

Logan chuckles himself, getting the others' attention as he says. "Here, our morons can easily just immerse themselves in battle without a care in the world, and pummel each other into the ground."

"So in here…" Caitlin chuckles as she says for a lack of better word. "They're just battle-crazed idiots."

"Precisely." Charles nods as everyone turns their attention back to the panel.

X

On the skyscraper that no longer has a top section, a massive layer of debris has taken its place on top of what remains of the tall building. Smoke rising from the layer. Debris in various sizes scattered in various directions. Cracks had erupted and are still doing so around their feet.

Crushing big pieces of concrete with his footsteps, Venom walks ahead with a smirk. "What's wrong, Miles? Tired already?"

Pushing himself out of the debris that kept him buried, Miles reveals himself with a tattered suit. One of his lenses is broken, revealing his eye and it showed appreciation despite pain aching all over his body. "Not at all, Seth."

He straightens himself. He clenches his hand, focusing all of his bioelectricity into his fist. The amount of electricity in his limb is releasing so much power it was akin to him holding a bolt of lightning.

With a grin on his face, Venom clenches his hand, lightning bursting to life in his fist. The force of his lightning in his life is so strong it was burning and crushing pieces of debris around them. Much like the spider-hero it looks like the mutant is harboring pure thunder in his hand.

"I'm gonna finish this in one move." Miles says with a smirk.

"Try it…" Seth says back with a wider smirk.

The two of them are glaring at each other, watching one another carefully. This next move would be the deciding factor of this fight.

Their eyes met and it was time to go. Both of them leaped at the same time, crushing the ground underneath their feet. The two of the reels back their fists at the same time before their thunderous hands met. They met, resulting in a massive explosion of lightning.

Bioelectricity and lightning met each other, a clash of destructive thunder appearing in the Danger Room. Those in the observation room struggle to look at them due to the massive flash, each of them covering their eyes.

But despite the violent electricity and lightning in front of them, appearing from their fists, neither Miles nor Seth looked away. They had their eyes focused on each other, not daring to look away from their opponent no matter what.

However, Miles's eyes refocuses and his electricity responds to his feelings… Turning from a bright yellow color… to a bright blue burst of electricity.

"New trick, huh? Haven't been all-out yet, Miles?" Seth smirks.

"Haven't completely mastered this one yet, Seth. Takes some time to get it out." Miles's azure bioelectricity intensified, allowing him to push back against the elemental. "But when I get it out, it's more than enough."

"Not gonna argue with that…" Venom grins. "But… You've already faced off against Jessica…" Miles nods. "Then…" With another clench of his fist, his entire arm became enwrapped in pure lightning, allowing him to push back against the spider-hero's blue frantic power. "Our power isn't electricity, it's LIGHTNING! A roaring element of nature… And it can't be overcome by electricity!"

To prove his point, the lightning from the mutant's arm ensnares his entire body completely and it gives him so much more strength than before. With the lightning greatly magnifying his power, Venom puts all of his might into his fist and completely overcomes Spider-Man's strike.

Miles' eyes expanded instantly and his arm was pushed away and the thunderous arm thrust down on his entire body. The strike from the elemental met his chest, releasing lightning throughout his entire body and he was slammed into the ground under their feet. The force from the attack sends cracks across the surface beneath Miles' body.

The thunderous element follows the mutant's attack, releasing it all into Miles' body and causing it to travel through his body, traveling across the surface and creating more cracks. Miles grunted in pain from the strike and the lightning that followed.

But it was the lightning that knocked him out, making him pant out in exhaustion. "Damn…"

"Thought as much." Miles raises an eyebrow in confusion at that sudden statement. "With you being able to generate bioelectricity, your body has a natural resistance against lightning and electricity attacks."

"…That…" Miles chuckles to himself when he realized what that attack meant. "You were finally going all-out right now…" Venom nods, moving his fist away from the spider-hero's form and he steps back. He stands back up. "I can still…" He sways on his feet. "Figh-" He cut himself off when he fell forward.

But he never touched the ground as Seth puts a hand on his chest, preventing the spider-hero from ever falling. The elemental smiles while the symbiote mass retracts. "You did well, Miles Morales… Spider-Man." His voice morphs as the symbiote flows back his body from his face. With his free hand, he gestures to the ones in the observation room to close down the simulation.

As the various skyscrapers around them dematerialized into nothingness, Seth places Miles down on the ground so he's sitting. Spider-Man shakes his head left and right, regaining consciousness. "I… lost the fight, didn't I?" He says as their field is shutting down.

"You did." Seth says. "But the purpose was still fulfilled."

"What do you mean?" Miles tilts his head.

"Miles, the real reason I said yes to this match, sparring if you will, it was to make you realize whatever was holding you back were shackles and just your mind clouding your judgment. It's why you lost the match unfortunately. I wanted to help you get out of that state of mind." Seth says. Miles looks distraught. "Which is why this isn't some fight but a match. Sparring is probably more accurate though. This sparring doesn't count."

"Cause neither of us were using all of our strength." Miles realizes.

"Precisely." Seth nods his head. "And you were so distracted by your thoughts you weren't at your best."

"So next time…" Miles clenches his fists.

"Next time, it's gonna be a real fight." Seth assures the young hero. "But Miles, do remember this: People are never gonna be mistakes. What they do can be mistakes."

"Thanks, Seth." Miles said excitedly.

"Forget it again, I throw you up against an army of Sentinels in here." Seth says, turning around from him and his back is facing the spider-hero.

"Of course, Seth." Miles nods his head. "Um, Seth?" He stops and looks over his shoulder to look at Miles again. The spider-hero looks uncomfortable, tapping the floor nervously. "I'm… In the future… If I were to ask for Ruby's ha-"

"Let me stop you right there, kid." Seth fully turns and faces him. Miles gulps in fear. "You and Ruby have just started dating. I can count the number of dates you've been on one hand." He raises a hand to empathize his point. "Not to mention you're both still very young and neither of you visit each other much." Miles nods his head. "For now, I'm gonna say… Wait. Until you're ready again. For now… Ask Matt for an extradimensional travel device. Be better for you two to hang out more, without the risk of my daughter visiting this Earth." Miles nods his head. "Also, do me a favor and keep some tech for me. It's from Wakanda, use it to make a toaster or something. The Prince ain't gonna mind."

"For Bast's sake, Seth! Give back the tech you stole from my country!" T'Challa shouts from the observation room.

"Give me a good reason, Catman." Seth smirks.

"Miles, I believe you've forgotten something today." Charles says next, garnering the spider-hero's attention. "Did you not already plan something for today?"

Now Miles' face pales completely, losing all color with another gulp. "My parents are gonna kill me. I forgot they're visiting the school today so we can have lunch together. They're gonna kill me."

"Because you forgot they're coming today?" Seth raises an eye; he didn't have to worry about the same concerns as Miles growing up in the Fury household.

"That and I'm sore all over my body with bruises!" Miles exclaims. "My parents are gonna kill me!"

"You already…" Miles didn't let him finish, running off past him in a hurry in a manner that put Barry and Wally's speed to shame. "Said that…" He finally finished when the spider-hero ran outside the exit. "Damn."

"Seth." Peter gets the mutant's attention. "Miles' folks don't know about his… "other life.""

"Figured." Seth says with a sigh.

X

Miles, having changed into his normal clothes consisting of a black t-shirt under a yellow shirt along with red baggy pants, ran his way past and through the different students. He even displayed his agility openly when he jumped over a mass of students.

He landed on the ground, rolling on the floor till he stood back up and continued to run. He closes in on the platform in the lobby. He stops, almost falling as he's forgotten to check on his face. He still has bruises from his bout with Seth and they were still very fresh.

"Oh, I'm so dead." He states with another gulp.

"Miles, Dios mío?!"

Hearing those words from a very familiar female voice, he slowly turns, realizing mid-turn he's on the platform, and comes face-to-face with the two people he feared would see him in his current state.

Rushing up the stairs first is Rio Morales. The nurse of Spanish heritage with black hair and brown eyes has an average build but with eyes of surprise and concern. The nurse is wearing her hospital scrubs under a leather jacket.

Following behind her is Miles' father. The African-American police officer has black hair and brown eyes with a muscular build. His eyes are riddled with surprise, concern and anger as he sees the state of his son. Much like his wife, he's wearing his work clothes consisting of his police uniform. He's fully equipped for the uniform, with everything from pepper spray, handcuffs, and a baton to a Taser and his standard firearm.

"Miles!" He says in an exclaim. "What happened?"

When he is within her arm's reach and before he could say anything to respond to his father, Rio immediately embraces her son into a tight hug. "Miles, madre mía, what happened to you, mijo?"

"Son, you look like you've been in a brawl. What happened? You say you've been in a brawl; you're grounded for 3 months! So tell me what happened?" Jeff demanded with a flurry of questions.

"Dad! Mom! Tranquilízate." Miles shook his way out of their hug. "I'm okay."

"Miles, you're covered in bruises. What exactly is "okay" about that, mijo?" Rio asks sarcastically while maintaining a stern expression.

"Mom, I'm… It's…" Miles struggled to find an answer, sweating bullets under his parents' awaiting eyes.

"Miles!"

Thankfully, another voice came from the side, getting the whole Morales family's attention. They see Seth walking up to them, and much like the younger Morales member, he is also bruised. This shocks Miles as any damage done to him should have long since healed by now.

"Jeez, kid you got out of there like a bat of hell." Seth says as he comes up to the family.

"I'm… I'm sorry, sir. But I had to meet my parents." Miles gestures to the two with confused eyes. "Mom, Dad, this is Seth… Um…" He trailed off, not knowing what name to use in front of his parents.

"Really?" Seth feigns surprise, raising an eyebrow to sell the part. "Your memory get rattled from one tussle with a few files boxes? Jesus, kid. You need to strengthen up, man." He turns to the parents with a nod and stretches out his hand. "Name's Dr. Seth Rogers. You're Miles' parents, right?"

"Yes. Rio Morales." The nurse shakes hands with him. "This is my husband, Jeff." She gestures to her husband after retracting her hand.

"Officer Jefferson Davis." The officer shakes hands with the elemental next. "And how, Dr. Rogers, do you know my son?" He asks suspiciously.

"Seriously, Miles?" Seth looks back at the secret spider-hero. "You're dating my daughter and you don't even tell your parents about me?"

Rio looks wide-eyed. "Daughter? You're Ruby's father?" Seth nods his head in confirmation. "Really?"

"Mom, Ruby's adopted!" Miles reminds his mother in an embarrassed whisper.

"Oh right, sorry." Rio nods her understanding. "Now, is it you I have to shout at for my son's bruises?" She asked bluntly as she crossed her arms.

"Same." Jeff says as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Endangering a minor isn't gonna look good on you, Doc."

"Ah, well, bit of yes and lots of no." Seth says, the Morales' parents giving him strange looks at that vague explanation. He answers. "I was a teacher here a long time ago, my office had been collecting dust for a while and I had left a heaping pile of boxes in there. I was gonna take care of it myself, but Miles insisted he help me. He still thinks he has to work his way into my good graces." Miles blushes at that statement. "He also wanted to know if it was possible for me to give him some different assignments for Biology and Chemistry. I was under the impression he wanted more "challenging" assignments."

"Challenging?" Jeff raises an eyebrow in question.

Seth smirks. "Back in the day, most of my students were left screaming for mercy after my Bio tests."

Jeff mulled over the words for a few seconds before settling on. "I can… respect that."

"Jeff!" Rio scolded her husband who shot her an apologetic look. "But how does that explain the bruises on my son? And on you, for that matter."

"Miles was a bit overeager as he helped me with the boxes, which ended up with a landslide of them falling on top of him and myself." Seth gestures to their bruised faces. "Glad you didn't drop my boxes with vials on top of us, kid. Otherwise, I'd be pulling shards outta of you right now."

"I'm sorry, Seth. Again, I'm really sorry." Miles apologies again. "And sorry I left you in the mess too, I just had to come and see my folks."

"No worries, I'm good." Seth assures the spider-hero with a pad on his back.

"So you're the father of the girl who makes my son smile so much…" Rio smiles and her son blushes up a storm. Seth chuckles and gives the nurse a nod. "Well, any chance we get to meet her and the rest of the Rogers family?"

"Um…" Turning their heads around, the group of four came face to face with Ruby. The young gravity manipulator was standing nervously, holding her left shoulder as she walked forward to meet the Morales parents. "Hey, I'm Ruby. Um… Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Morales. Officer Davis."

"So this is the girl you've kept talking about huh, mijo?" Rio continues to tease her son who's already gone through tomato-red and is approaching crimson. She walks past her son and the girl's father to approach Ruby herself. "Nice to meet you, Ruby." She surprises the young girl with a sudden bear hug.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Morales." Ruby was shaking like a leaf in her embrace.

"Officer Davis, are you and your family gonna be here long?" Seth asks the officer.

Jefferson faces him. "Think we're gonna be here till evening. Why you ask?"

"I was hoping we could have dinner tonight here in the school?" Seth suggests. "School's faculty room is often empty since most of the teachers eat with the students. How about it?"

"Sounds like a plan." Jeff nods his head. "Honey?"

Rio turns her head, never removing her arms from her embrace with Ruby. "Absolutely, I wanna know everything about this little chica."

Ruby had many fears about this dinner…

X

The next morning the whole Snow-Fury family save for Seth are there, standing in front of Xavier's school in the glow from sunshine. Everyone stood there, ready to give their farewells to the Snow-Fury family who were ready to return home to Earth-1.

They've long-since readied their bags and suitcases, and now are now having their final talks with the teachers at this school. Ruby is talking with Miles, talking about last night's dinner with his family. Evelyn and Frankie are conversing with their uncle and aunt, Peter and the Wakandan royal guards who are around their Prince.

Speaking with Professor X and Storm, Caitlin shook hands with Charles. "I can't thank you enough for everything you've taught me, Professor Xavier. It means the world and so much more."

"Please, Dr. Snow, I didn't do anything of importance." Charles tells her. "I merely imparted the same teachings to you as I have done with so many of my students here."

Ororo looks at Caitlin, seeing the power-dampener hanging from her neck. "You're still wearing your necklace."

"I…" She puts a hand to it. "I think I can live with my powers. In the comfort of my home, around my family." Caitlin sighs. "But with my team, I wanna be on the safe side. I can't risk their lives and safety with my powers. I care about them deeply, every one of them. But… Despite some of the issues I have with some members of the team, I don't want to risk their lives."

"It's understandable." Charles tells her. "It's your choice, my dear. But I'm confident you will find a path that will allow you to welcome your teammates into the… Frosty side of your life."

"Professor X…" Ororo sighs heavily at that pun.

Caitlin, used to worse on her family and her teammates' words, smiles at the professor's joke. "I hope so, yeah. If not, I'm sure Seth wouldn't mind another trip back to this Earth."

"And we would love to have your whole family here." Charles says with a wide smile on his face.

Ororo adds. "And I will try and make sure my husband isn't here for that trip, otherwise he and your boyfriend might destroy our school."

"I'll try and calm Seth down if it ever comes to that." Caitlin assures them. A question mark popped over her head and she looked around in search. "Speaking of…" The others are looking around in search, following the Earth-1 metahuman's actions.

Ruby groans as she recalls the conversation with Miles' parents. "How do you think the dinner went last night?" She asks her boyfriend.

Miles laughs. "Well, I could have gone without my baby stories, but I think you're my parents' favorite second child. Heck, they're hounding me about having you over for every future holiday now. Also, please forget the baby stories."

"Anything in particular?" Ruby smirks. "Personally, I liked the one where you short-fused your house from making a faulty computer."

"Mixed up a couple of wires!" Miles exclaimed in his defense, using the same argument from last night.

Ruby chuckles and wraps her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, but it was very nice to meet your parents. They're great. See who you take after."

"Likewise." Miles wraps his arms around her body and leans his head forward, till their foreheads touch one another. "You know, your uncle gave me an extrapolator. Means I can come by, pay you a visit."

"I think I can fit you in my busy schedule. Clear a slot for you." Ruby smirks.

"Am I that special?" Miles asks.

"Just a tad special." Ruby says, rubbing foreheads with him.

"Well, you're more special to me." Miles says back with a smile.

"That makes two of us." Caitlin interrupted them, both jumping away from each other in an instant. She smiles at their behavior. "Miles, Seth and I had a talk last night and we would love for you to swing by our Earth whenever you wanna see my daughter."

"Thanks, Dr. Snow." Miles smiles.

But instead of smiling herself, Ruby bears a suspicious look. "Why do I feel like you're not coming clean, Mom?"

"What? You think I'm hiding something?" Caitlin questions. Ruby gives a deadpan look. With an eyeroll, she admits. "Fine. Miles, Seth said if you and my daughter are in her bedroom behind closed doors, he will tear down the door and chase you into a breach. Or throw you. Or kick you. This rule is not going anywhere until you're both 18. Or 21. Or 30."

While Miles is sweating bullets, Ruby chuckles. "Sounds like Dad, alright. Speaking of, where is he?"

"I don't know. I was gonna ask you, but looks like he's gone. Haven't seen him this whole morning." Caitlin admits.

"I believe I know where he is." Charles admits, getting the others' attention. "And so do Matt and Olivia as well."

"He told us before he left this morning." Olivia said, hints of sadness in her voice.

"After saying goodbyes to all of us." Matt gestures to his wife and the others around them. "He spoke to you two as well, right?"

"He did." Charles nods his head. "He wanted to visit them."

"Who and where?" Caitlin asks.

"The Cemetery." Olivia answers.

"Can we…. Join him?" Frankie asks, hearing the statement.

"Yes, you should be able to." Matt said. "All of you can." He tells the entire Snow-Fury family. "It's no problem."

"Awesome. Let's go!" Evelyn says.

Before anyone could question her, the others heard Jean shouting from the open entrance. "Guys, Scott's lost his goggles! We can't find them anywhere?!"

Peter, while subconsciously checking his wrists, realizes. "I'm missing a webshooter."

T'Challa, checking his neck, realizes. "Where is my Habit?!"

Immediately, the Snow-Fury family turns their gazes to Evelyn who looks sheepish at their united glare. Caitlin sternly tells her. "Evie, empty your pockets."

"Mom, I swear I didn't steal anything." Evelyn says, raising her hands and pulling out the insides of her pockets.

"…Dusk, empty yourself." Caitlin follows up.

"Dammit! I hate your mother! She knows us too well!" Dusk exclaims.

X

With a heavy burden in his heart, Seth walks through the wrought-iron gates of the cemetery. No matter how blue the sky is over his head, he always felt gray inside. He's been through this place multiple times and yet he didn't feel any different than from his previous visits.

Even the trembling in his hands as he holds a bouquet of fresh lilies and a small pack of sand haven't changed at all. Not as he walks through the terrain of cold gravestones.

He still felt off now. Every step was heavy, like the weight of the world is pressing down on him, reminding him of the lives he had lost... Failed to protect despite the title he had earned…. Lives that were taken from him….

With each footfall, he felt the gravel path beneath him crunch, echoing the crushing finality of that fateful day when he returned to his home and found them… in an awful state…

He clutches his items tightly, his knuckles white from the strain, once again making the bag of sand and the bouquet of flowers shake. Seth feared that if he held them any tighter, he might ruin them, and he'd be unable to make good on the promise he had made to his fiancée and their son.

"Let us…" Venom told his host, spouting out tendrils and they took the items out of Seth's hands.

"Thank you, Venom." Seth says with a weak smile. His smile instantly fades as he nears the desired spot.

He approaches their resting place… Two perfectly sculpted gravestones… One is a gravestone with an engraving of a book and below it is another engraving of two small hands holding, signifying his late fiancée's work and the passion she has for books… The other one is a gravestone with an engraving of a palm tree on the front above his son's name…

Starting with his fiancée's grave, he kneels down in front of the headstone and uses his tendril to put down the flowers in front of it. While he does that, his fingers trace the engraved names and the other engravings. "Hey, honey… Been a while, hasn't it?"

Turning to the grave next to hers, he faces it with teary eyes. With a tendril, he puts the bag in his hand and opens it. He tilts the bag, pouring the sand from a very special place on the ground. He knows how much this sand alone means to his son. As it's all emptied onto a pile on the grave, he smiles as he says. "Hey. Goofball… Bet you're already rolling in Hawaiian sand. Giving your mother grief."

Saying his greetings to his beloved ones, he bows his head in prayer. His "other" joins him, silently offering his prayers to their family members. He stated as such for a while. Minutes passed by in silence, remembering the good times he had with Stefanie Panes and Bucky Rogers. Remembering all the times they laughed together, enjoyed quality family time and spending time together in various environments.

The times when Stefanie tried to prank only for him to never fall for them…

The times when Bucky played so recklessly bordering on ruthlessly with his sand globe…

He holds those times closest to his heart…

Tears rolled down his face as he remembered the worst and bad times… The time when he found them in states that were so unspeakable any other nightmares would pale in comparison…

He hates himself and will forever do so, his family were killed when he wasn't here to protect them from his biggest nemesis, Carnage. He wasn't there to save them… To protect them… To live up to the name Lethal Protector and protect them no matter what….

Knowing that prayers aren't enough for those he holds dearest in his heart, he opens his mouth and admits. "Bucky… Stef… I haven't seen you two in a long time. Two years… Almost three. I've been on different Earths; I haven't visited this one in so long… But know this, I always remembered you both… Kept you guys close to my heart at all times. You have both meant so much to my life that I've never forgotten you. You're that important to me."

He wipes away his tears. "Stef… When I fought Carnage all those years ago… It's because of your words back then that I was able to come back…. Move on… Stronger than ever and have a future…. With Caitlin… The love of my life… You gave me strength which I didn't think was possible, honestly. Thank you."

He turns his eyes to Bucky's grave. "Bucky… Hearing your laughter all those years ago… It was something I never thought I'd hear again. It was amazing, hearing you call me "Dad" again was so much, it shook me away. Lightning and a defibrillator got nothing on you, son… You're gonna be happy to know, you have three big sisters now. Frankie… Evelyn… Ruby…. You'd love them, just as I know you'd love them back. Without throwing sand balls at them, please. Your sisters might find creatives of retaliating…" He chuckles.

"Carnage is dead… I made sure of it myself. I promised you both a long time ago, I'd avenge you both. It was a promise I would do right by even if it killed me… Which it did, actually." Seth sheepishly says. "Carnage isn't here to take any more lives… Not like he took yours. You can both…."

This was the hardest thing he'd ever tell them, but he knew it had to come out.

"Rest in peace… Stef… Bucky…"

He stood up, his legs still shaking from re-meeting his lost loved ones. "You doing okay?" Venom questions.

"I'd be lying if I said "yes."" Seth counters. His ears perked up when he heard several footfalls behind him. He chuckles to himself, knowing who the feet belong to without even turning to face them. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." Caitlin answers, she walks up to her mate and puts a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Not really." Seth said. His daughters walk up to their parents' sides. "It's been years since I saw these two and I just… Had to see them." The girls hugged their father tightly. "But honestly, compared to the past, this time has been much better than previous times."

"You avenged them…" Caitlin smiled. "They're able to rest in peace."

"Yeah." Seth smiles. "You would have all loved these two."

"Think Bucky would have liked us as big sisters?" Frankie asks her father.

"No… He'd have loved you all." Seth says, ruffling her hair.

"After hurling sandballs at us?" Evelyn raises an eyebrow.

"Your brother loves sand, especially from Hawaii." Seth admits.

"Can we talk with them?" Ruby asks. Seth nods his head. His daughters immediately rushed to the graves.

Caitlin wrapped an arm around her mate's waist and put her head on his left shoulder. Seth reciprocated with his arm wrapping around his mate's waist. "Heard what you said before… You said you got strength from Stef."

"When Carnage jammed that sword through my heart…." Seth flinches at the memory, still recalling how painful it felt when that sword tore through his flesh and bones before finally piercing through his heart. "I felt myself die in that moment… But it was more like I closed my eyes and I went away to Hawaii… I saw Stef and Bucky again. I knew it wasn't real, but it didn't feel like a dream. I was there, with them. Everything felt real, even the words I heard from Stef. She told me to stop holding back, stop hanging onto the past and to get out there again, wake up and save Frankie… Get back to you." He turns to face his most beloved.

"Guess I have to thank her for coming back to me." Caitlin says, she leans forward and kisses him on his lips. "I'm happy you're able to talk to them again."

"So am I… Even more so that you and the girls are able to see them for the first time." Seth admits. He smiles widely when his daughters are talking to Bucky's grave. Caitlin walks over to Stefanie's grave and begins talking to her. "Think they're happy now?"

"Happy and at peace, brother. We made sure his carnage would never swallow up another innocent life." Venom says. "Bucky and Stef would be happy for us and proud of us both."

"Yeah…" Seth smiles. He looks with a smile at the graves, past his family…

The sunlight raining over them and illuminating the writings carved into the surfaces:

Stefanie Claire Panes. Fiancée and Beloved by Many – A soul that has touched many on Earth and many more in Heaven.

Bucky Rogers. Loved Son – A soul taken away too soon, but is forever treasured on Earth and in Heaven.

"You guys got your bags and suitcases in you?" He asks his girls who are returning and they nod at his question. "Cait, what about you?"

"Behind you." Caitlin points at the bags behind him. Seth shoots out tendrils and pulls them into his symbiote's pocket dimension. "You wanna leave?"

"Yeah, I think I do. Plus, Stef is gonna hate me for standing around like a statue." Seth smirks. "What about you guys?"

"We're ready." Caitlin nods, her daughters nod as well in agreement.

"Let's go then." He pulls out the dimensional device he's using and presses a button on it, opening up a portal. "Let's see if Central City's still standing."

"We left the team alone with not one, but two Wellses." Ruby smirks. "City's probably doing a Purge now." She finishes off before walking into the portal.

"Ruby needs therapy." Evelyn says as she follows after her sister.

"Like you're one to talk." Frankie counters, following her sister.

"Think therapy would be a good idea, though." Caitlin wraps an arm around Seth's waist.

"For all of them, maybe. Or the whole family." Seth smiles and walks into the portal with Caitlin beside him.

But the portal…. Someone else saw it… Someone who stepped out from behind a gravestone with white eyes of joy. The person who inches towards the portal with a new goal in mind.

X

(Earth-1, S.T.A.R. Labs, Breach Room)

The portal opens up in the Breach Room, alerting the entire facility of its creation. The first one to come down there is Cisco and Iris. Both of them are smiling when the Snow-Fury family all come out of the portal with smiles on their faces.

"We're back!" Evelyn announces with glee.

"Snow-Furies are back again!" Cisco announces back with an exclaim of his own.

"Welcome back, guys." Iris walks down to greet the parents, giving them both a hug. "It's been weird without you guys."

"That your way of saying you missed us, Iris?" Caitlin laughs into her shoulder.

"Busted." Iris says, pulling out of the hug. "Thought you and the girls were the lie-detectors." She aims at Seth.

"Caitlin learnt a thing or two." Seth chuckles.

"More importantly…" Cisco garners their attention. "Did you guys bring souvenirs?"

Seth reaches behind him and pulls out a big bag of various items. "Got some S.H.I.E.L.D. tech blueprints for you. Had to wrestle my Dad for it, so you better appreciate them. Including some pastries from some of my favorite shops." His daughters turn their eyes to him with narrowed eyes. "Don't worry, I got some for us. Same for you, Iris. Including some newspapers from a reporter I know. She's much like you."

"In what way?" Iris questions.

"Going all the way for a story." That was the only way Seth could describe Mary Jane Watson.

"Sounds good to me." Iris asked.

Evelyn turns to her father. "Dad, forgot to ask. Did you really steal from T'Challa?"

Seth smiles widely. "Considering the good mood I am in from such a wonderful vacation… Honestly, I-"

"Finally!"

Everyone else in the Breach Room watched Seth's happy expression disappear immediately and all color drained from his face. And one sentence from his mouth empathized how horrified he is now.

"Why does the world hate me?"

"Believe me, Seth, I've been asking that same question for years, kid." The bearer of the voice said as he dropped his two duffel bags.

Slowly turning his head as though he was trying to not face that direction, Seth widened his eyes in absolute terror when his worst fears were confirmed. The others watched as well, watching the man carefully.

"Not too carefully, I hope. Guy's gotta have his privacy, especially around the naughty parts of the anatomic neighborhood." The suited man says behind his mask. The lamps over their heads shine light down on his skin-tight blood-red suit that dons black stripes over his body. On his back are two long swords in their sheaths, held by straps. The utility belt is adorned with gun holsters on either side of his waist, several grenades of various colors for some reason and a small plushie that bears a striking resemblance to the man himself. On the straps on his chest are several ammunition clips. His mask is red, featuring black outlines around the eye openings and two large black oval shapes that resemble eye patches.

Wade Wilson turns his head to Seth and smiles widely behind his mask. "My baby boy!" He stretches out his arms, awaiting a hug.

"Wade, the fuck are you doing here?!" Seth asks, stepping in front of his family and Iris but keeping a safe distance from Deadpool.

The red-suited mutant says. "Well, I got tired of waiting for the X-Men to screw up another mission, so they'd have to call me, like when Wolvefy almost stabbed someone, if someone poops in Maggy's headdress, or if a warlord needs to decapitate the Tooth Fairy…"

"What?" Frankie raised an eyebrow.

"So I decided to widen my horizon a little… Wet my feet in the water… In another universe, to see my boy!" Deadpool shouted in Seth's direction, giving him a shiver running down his spine. "Besides, the author was away from his computer. Swooped right in. Picked up some words from TFS, too."

The author, in his defense, needs sleep.

"Sleep later, you sleep-deprived mook." Deadpool says to the side. "Now then, Seth! Give your pappy a hug!" He thrusts out his arms.

"Wade, for the last time, you're not my Dad!" Seth shouts at him.

Ruby points a finger at him. "Dad, that's-"

"Yeah, Deadpool." Seth answers his daughter.

"Oh." Ruby nods her understanding. "Oh…" She lets out in realization.

"Yup." Seth nods his head.

"Oh, my granddaughter knows about her grandpappy." Wade Wilson sniffs, wiping a tear from his eye. How did he cry through his mask? "I'm so proud, and here I promised myself not to cry."

Seth felt like slapping himself at the mercenary's words. "Wade, she's not your granddaugh-"

"Oh, hey!" Wade turns to Cisco. "You!" He points a finger at the viber. Cisco gulps, pointing at himself. "Anyone who tells you to cut that majestic mane of yours, I will personally cut them down myself and gift-wrap their nuts and Boom-Tube them to Santa's stable so Rudolph can bash their ribs in with his antlers! Or whatever he's packing."

"Um… Thanks, I guess?" Cisco sheepishly says.

"I got your back, gorgeous!" Wade shows a thumbs-up.

WHOOSH

For better or worse, a blur of yellow lightning ran into the Breach Room and stopped on the platform, revealing Flash's form. Barry looked around before settling on Iris. "What's happe-"

"OH MY FUCKING DARKSEID IN A THONG WITH A TRAMPSTAMP AND PIERCED NIPPLES!"

Deadpool was always one for drama and flair and one could never predict his words.

"Hey, author! Shut your mouth for a minute or two, I gotta deal with THIS…" Deadpool swung his arm, pointing a finger at the Scarlet Speedster. "Pervert…"

"What?" Barry asked.

"What?" Iris asked next.

"What?" Cisco asked next.

"Shit's finally getting interesting." Seth says with a chuckle, recalling all the times he's called Barry "Flasher."

"For once, I agree." Caitlin says immediately. Her daughters snap their heads in their mother's direction. "Your Dad's been rubbing off on me."

"Seth, why are you working with his nasty pervert?!" Deadpool demands to know. "I hereby forbid you from being friends with this disgusting monster!"

"Wait, what?! How am I a pervert, exactly?" Barry asks defensively.

Deadpool shakes his head scoldingly. "Oh, how dare you. Don't pretend those holes in your masks aren't gloryholes!"

Caitlins eyes shot wide open. "Seth!" She snaps her head in his direction.

Thankfully, despite the increase in children, Seth remained the worried and overprotective parent he is and had already covered his daughters' ears. For Evelyn he uses adamantium hands and made additional adamantium tendrils for Frankie and Ruby. All three of them were immensely annoyed, wanting to hear what else came out of Wade Wilson's mouth.

"Glory- What?!" Barry shouted in dismay.

"Oh, don't act like you don't know what those are, Sebastian Smythe!" And now Deadpool's throwing out random names. "You can lie to people as much as you want, saying, those are for breathing and for seeing, but I know your true colors, Smythe! You ruined "gay" when you hurt Blaine!"

"Who's Smythe and who's Blaine?" Iris asks.

"Your boyfriend, future-husband and soon-to-be-dead husband has a second life and it's so much worse than what you thought!" Wade exclaims angrily. "He threw… a slushie with rock salt in it."

"The fuck, Barry?" Seth wonders about that, Barry didn't seem like the bullying type. And why a slushie, of all things?

"I don't know what he's talking about." Barry says in his defense. "Also, why is Slade Wilson here?"

"Really, author?" Deadpool looks upwards. "Of all the things you could have this patsy doing and saying, you're sticking with my DC rip-off? Why not talk about something else? Like that quack who turns his son into an over-sized and overrated toaster with alien tech. Or how about the kid who gets a blue bug taking a dump in his spine and making a nest in there. Chances are that blue bug gonna meet another blue bug, then they can start a family of blue bugs inside of him. Or choose that guy with a ponytail, you know the gothic moron who drives a motorcycle through space cause of an existential crisis."

"Again, what?" Caitlin says.

WHOOSH

"What's going on?" Kid Flash asks when he arrives.

This time Deadpool's eyes widened even more than before. Somehow. "Oh my Dungeons and Dragons Gods in bikinis! You even dragged in a young impressionable boy into your sick games, Smythe!" He says when he sees the three holes on Kid Flash's mask. "Wasn't it enough that you ruined "gay," now you have to go and destroy a young boy's life like this! You monster! You parasite!"

"Okay, I really wanna know what's going on here now?" Frankie says in a shout.

"No." Seth shakes his head, his tendrils spreading and covers their eyes, preventing them from both seeing and hearing the conversation.

"Proud of you, Seth! Good choice…" Deadpool pulls out his swords, revealing both of their sharp blades. "Cause Grandpappy's gonna do what he's best at. And what he's best at ain't pretty…. Unless you of course love gruesome murders, usually-small-holes-getting-enlarged, additional holes getting added and Hollaback Girls. If so, bring popcorns and your grandma. Old baggy needs to get the ticker going, you know. And boy… She's gonna get a show! I'm gonna manslaughter DC's lamest Spider-Man rip-off!"

"What?" Barry said.

"Duck!" Seth shouts.

"Where?!" Barry said and the mutant slapped himself in the face at the idiocy of the Scarlet Speedster. Realizing the meaning of his words, including what's coming his way, he acts. "Argh!" Barry moves quickly, time slowing down to a crawl and avoiding a…

Beartrap flying through the air and hitting the wall beside him.

Time returned to normal. Barry snapped his head back and looked at Deadpool. "What the hell, man?!"

"Barry, if you're ever gonna listen to good advice from me, now's the time: Run, and run really, really far and fast." Seth tells him.

"Oh, he can run… But…. It won't change the fact that I'm gonna take these swords and with these two hands…" Deadpool twirls his swords around curiously and confusedly before saying. "Wait, is it hands? Feet? Eyes? Ass cheeks? Author, help me out here."

Hands.

"I'm gonna go with ass cheeks." Deadpool counters.

Why even ask?

"Shut it, Author! No one cares about you!" Deadpool shouts.

Hurtful and unnecessary.

"Good, that's how Smythe is gonna feel when I remove his skull through his ANUS!" Wade rushes towards the Scarlet Speedster in a hurry. By now Barry is sweating bullets and he ran away in a hurry, through the door right before Deadpool stabbing the platform floors. "You can run, Smythe, but you won't escape my hard steel THRUSTS!" He runs after the speedster in a hurry.

Seeing the mutant disappear and follow her boyfriend, Iris turns to Seth who finally retracts his tendrils. "Aren't you going to save him?"

"Iris, I just got back from a vacation with my family. I'm gonna take it easy for a while and relax." Seth counters.

When he uttered those words, the speakers turned on and Barry spoke frantically. "Guys! I need help! Seriously, he's gonna kill me!"

Then Wade's voice came. "Really? Do I like Deathstroker, Smythe?! I can do so much more than just "kill you!" I can do things to you that poser could never even dream of. Heck, give me one month, I'd have you bringing me my guns and calling me papa. Wait, is that insensitive? Doesn't matter, no one cares about the soon-to-be-dead. Okay, who ordered a chainsaw?" As he asked that, the sound of a saw buzzing emitted loudly.

"Oh, fucking hell! Fine! I'll take care of him and save Barry…. Like usual." Seth says with annoyance as he walks up the platform and through. His mood is officially ruined.

"Um, Dad." Frankie gets her father's attention as she looks at the duffel bags. Following her eyes, he sees what garnered her attention. The reason being the duffel bags…

Vibrating mysteriously…

"Oh, come one! Wade, not THAT!"

X

Meanwhile… While Seth was hunting Deadpool…

In one of the most abandoned areas of Central City…

Eliza Harmon, Evelyn Sharp, Joey Rose, Rajeet Kumar and an unconscious Griffin Grey were watching from what remains of the red ship container. After all the events that happened here, it's a miracle anything was still in piece.

And the sight before them was still a surprise, all of them were still taking it in.

The final body hit the ground, completely knocked out before getting kicked away by a massive foot. His body joined the other four so the number in that pile is now five. A sixth one is behind the Thunderbolts.

"Damn… Boy's bulked up." Rajeet smirked, knowing that the number of this being was getting bigger.

"Sets the right mood." Joey grins, feeling a rush of adrenaline coursing through him.

Evelyn looks at Eliza's passive and emotionless expression. "Thought he helped you."

"He did." Eliza says nonchalantly.

"So why did you do this?" Evelyn says, turning to face her.

Sighing, Eliza looks at her. "Cause I had a previous agreement to abide by."

ROAR

Before came a thunderous and monstrous roar… Now it was a bellowing, destructive and atrocious roar… Able to quake the skies above and the ground below….

Eliza turns to face the owner of the sound. "Looks like he's ready to tussle."

"You're not asking me and Joey to break him in like we did with this one." Rajeet lifts up Griffin's unconscious body.

"Oh no… This time…" Eliza starts walking towards the owner of the voice. "It's a group assignment."

"Oh, I like the sound of that." Rajeet says with a smile, following their leader's footsteps.

"I can get in on that." Joey follows.

"You coming, Arty?" Eliza asks Evelyn without even looking at her.

"Stop calling me that." Evelyn follows the rest of the Thunderbolts.

"Good." Eliza smiles while lightning sparks around her body. "Time to have some fun."

Fun is not what one would think when facing this crimson-eyed demonic beast…

"Well, that's fucking ominous!" Screams Deadpool from the other side of Central City while he's contemplating what part of Barry's anatomy is able to be used as furniture…

Or something he can use for self-pleasure.

"AUTHOR, STOP MAKING ME SOUND SO DIRTY!"

To be continued….

And that's a chapter, peeps!

Hope you all enjoyed this second part of the Snow-Fury family's vacation on Earth-616. It probably won't be the last time we're gonna have a visit on Earth-616, we still have the rest of S03 and the remaining seasons as well.

The family wakes up, only unable to find Seth who has disappeared along with Peter, T'Challa and Matt, all of whom were found fighting against towering mutant-killing robots in the Danger Room by the X-Men, Dora Milaje and Seth's family.

After which, Seth teaches chemistry to a class of his in Hank's stead and his class is joined by his daughters and Miles Morales. But after the class is done, the girls and Miles are left to their own devices but they then see Mystique revealing herself to them when she is in the library that Caitlin spend much of her time in as she dove into the medical treatments performed by her mate.

Mystique faces off against the girls and Miles but before the fight can progress any further, Seth intervenes with his tendrils ensnaring her body. Her presence is an omen, the first sign of a walking and breathing catastrophe entering their premise.

And their fears are confirmed when Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants enters the schoolgrounds and gains their attention of the X-Men. Reluctantly, they accept an audience with the leader and his lieutenants. They hear his request for help and found out that HYDRA has raided several safehouses and kidnapped mutants.

Instead of the entire X-Men team deploying to their aid, Seth goes in their stead and Prince Challa and Peter Parker joins him. They travel to the location, confirmed by Ruby, and after dispatching the HYDRA agents, the three warriors on the side of goodness face off against Kraven The Hunter.

While that happens, Caitlin learns of the harsh reality of mutants' social status and what they have to face on a daily basis on Earth-616. A reality he had hoped to spare Caitlin in fear of it spreading like a cancer to Earth-1, his home.

But she knows now, something he learnt when he and the others returns to the school and the elemental knows that he has to have a difficult conversation with his mate sooner or later.

And when he arrives home, with Logan Howlett, Peter and T'Challa and the kidnapped mutants, he is surprised when his father, Nick Fury pays the school a visit to reunite with his son and the rest of his family.

Following the visit from his father, Seth announces that their stay at the school will only be for a while longer until they have to return. Spurred by the words and his own self-doubt, Miles challenges the elemental to a fight which Seth accepts.

Though he wanted a fight, Seth made it into a lecture to rid the spider-hero of his doubt and his disbelief of whether or not he's good enough to be Spider-Man.

The young hero needed it.

Following that day, Seth pays a visit to the cemetery to pay his respects to his late fiancée and his son. His family joins him afterwards and they pay their respects together. After that, they return to Earth-1 through a portal.

But someone else follows them… Someone determined to revenge Blaine…

And yes! I watched Glee!

Meanwhile, Eliza's plans progresses further, and she fights whatever defeated the Sinister Six along with her Thunderbolts.

Once again, happy New Year everyone and hope you're enjoying yourselves.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!