"How is she doing?"
Emma Frost glances up at me from where she's sitting next to the bed Ellie is sleeping in, one hand wrapped around the girls wrist. On the other side are two of the Cuckoos, and...I just realize I have absolutely no idea how to tell them apart. Hell, I don't think I even know any of their names other than Sophie, and- nevermind, not important.
Frost gives me an annoyed look before looking back down at Ellie "Well, she stopped screaming in terror and passed out a few minutes after you left, and what little I can get from her through her mental shields indicates that she calmed down atleast. Of course, it's not as good as if she HADN'T SCREAMED HERSELF INTO A COMA IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"She's not in a coma, Miss Frost" One of the twins says.
"It's more of a healing trance, she's fixing herself from the trauma whatever that vision she had gave her" The other finishes "It's really quite fascinating."
"Unless you were simply looking for an excuse for yelling at Mr Magnusson to cover up how worried you were-"
"THANK you girls, I got it from here!" Frost interrupts, before turning back to me. "Well?"
Jesus christ, how does Summers stand dating this woman? Maybe he just tunes her out, though that probably doesn't work on a telepath "Miss Frost, I'm tired and starving, so if you could maybe specify what you're asking-"
"Why. Did. Ellie. Have. A Vision?!" She says through gritted teeth.
"Because an entity that was capable of massacring every last person in this building, and considering what happened with the Time Gem, might actually have done so once already, had just regained sentience and the ability to reproduce. It would have made Cassandra Nova's attack on Genosha look like a bad hair day in comparison."
She just looks me up and down "...you seem to be in reasonable shape for having just faced something that dangerous."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we just got lucky I managed to think of a quick solution. It could have gotten really ugly. I'm going to set up a LOT of early warning detectors to keep myself from being blindsided like this again, because this was WAY too close."
Frost looks like she's about to respond, when Ellie begins to stir, and she rushes to the girls bedside. Ellie slowly opens her eyes, and looks around. "...M-miss Frost..? Johan..? What happened-" Her eyes dart open and she sits up straight in a panic "OH GOD, I remember! That-that thing! It's coming, we have to-" She startles as Frost puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Ellie, calm down. It's over."
She blinks "It... But I..." Her eyes seem to unfocus for a moment, and I feel a brush of her mind against my own as her powers work "It's... gone? The vision isn't there anymore!" She makes a noise that sounds like a cross between a laugh and a sob "I thought that was it. Like Genosha all over again..." She looks up at me "What was that thing?!"
I shake my head "It's a long story, one that is hopefully over for good. I have to take care of something, I just wanted to make sure you were okay first."
Ellie nods reluctantly "I feel a bit... off, but I think I'm going to be okay."
I nod "Once you feel up to it, you should head down for dinner. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have to go talk to Captain Britain before he gives himself a stroke."
...
"Impossible."
I give Brian Braddock a bored look "There's a box full of scrap formerly known as The Fury right in front of you, Braddock. Or do you not trust your own eyes?"
"I've learned not do when it comes to dealing with reality warpers."
That's...okay, that's actually a good point. One point for him. "Regardless, I'm pretty sure that was The Fury we fought, unless there's another hyper-adaptive android running around that we should know about?"
"Well, technically there's the Super-Adaptoid that The Avengers fought a few times..." Jen adds, but I shake my head.
"I've read about that thing, it was just some random nonsense AIM came up with, if you were being generous you MIGHT be able to call it The Fury on Super Easy Mode. Sort of similar in the loosest terms, but I wouldn't brag about playing it."
"The X-Men fought the Super-Adaptoid once too" Summers cuts in "If that thing was Easy Mode, I wouldn't want to play Normal."
"No you would not-"
"IF WE CAN STICK TO THE POINT PLEASE!!" Braddock half-yells, before clearing his throat "You're telling me that you managed to destroy The Fury, a being so powerful that it not only killed an entire worlds worth of superheroes, but also survived the destruction of it's home universe, and killed a man who was MORE powerful than his already near-omnipotent creator?"
"That's about it!"
"In less than 5 minutes?"
"Well, it felt longer. And I did have help!" I motion towards Jen and David, who give an awkward wave, while Braddock gives them an unimpressed look.
"And how, on all that is holy in this world, did you manage something that the heroes of an entire Earth couldn't do en masse?"
I smile and shrugs "Because I realized that the answer to finding something the damn thing hadn't adapted to yet was looking AWAY from Earth. So me and David just threw it at the biggest dog in space I could think of, and that was that!"
"What do you mean by "dog" exactly?"
"The kind of dog that eats planets, lives in space, and wears a giant, purple hat."
There's a long moment of silence. Finally, Xavier speaks "Are you...referring to Galactus?"
Jen gapes "Wait, that's how you handled that creep? You fed him to Galactus?!"
"Oh, I didn't tell you. Nah, we didn't feed the Fury to him, he was busy blowing up a bunch of other space weirdos, it was this whole big thing, so we just made sure The Fury was added to the casualties."
"Impossible!"
I sigh "Seriously, you're like a broken record, man. We cleaned up your mess, can you atleast make sure you haven't left any other Fury bits around this time, because I'd really rather not have to go through all this again!" I snatch the box out of Braddocks hands "Now, me and David are going to teleport these fucking things into the sun, then I'd like to have my turkey dinner if you don't mind!"
.....
"Hold up a second, guys."
I stop Jen and David in the hallway to the dining room, after remembering that we don't exactly look our best at the moment. A quick burst of my power, and our burnt and torn clothing knits itself back together, the blood and sweat disappears from our skin, and our hair moves back into place. I even take a second to readjust Jen's makeup. She gives herself a lookover in the wall-length mirror by the door to the living room, and gives an approving nod.
"Nice work, I was worried I'd have to give up this outfit for a loss, it's a bit of an occupational hazard, especially for us Hulks." She smiles and hooks her arm around mine as David walks ahead of us into the dining room. The conversation dies down as the guests, seated around the long table taking up most of the room, notices us coming in. They seem a lot calmer than I expected them to be considering the commotion from just a few minutes ago, but apparently Xavier has managed to explain the situation. I spot Rogers, Michael and Sharon sitting near a few empty seats by the head of the table and lead Jen over to them.
"Sorry about all that, guys." I say as I pull the chair out for Jen "I hope it won't make dinner too awkward."
Michael snorts "You've never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before, have you? As far as drama goes, this is actually pretty mild. Nobody has even been disowned yet."
"Just be glad my Uncle Cain isn't here, or you'd be seeing that too." David says with a smile.
Rogers chuckles "I wish I could disagree, but I have to admit, some of the Avengers old holiday get-togethers could get a little... rambunctious..." His expression turns serious "If you don't mind me asking...?"
I shake my head "I'll tell you in detail later, but I fixed the problem. Hopefully we can get through dinner without anything else popping up."
Michael groans, covering his face with a hand "Aw dude, why do you have to tempt fate like that?"
Before I can answer, there's a tapping noise from the end of the table, and I look up to see Xavier tapping a fork against his glass "Dear guests, as I was saying before our get-together was so rudely interrupted, I want to welcome you all to share our Thanksgiving feast. Let me assure you that the unpleasantness has been dealt with, so please, do not let it further cloud this joyous occasion." He nods towards one side of the table where many of the mutants I resurrected earlier are sitting "People thought lost forever returned to us. Even today, after a lifetime of wonders, it's still not something I will ever take for granted" He smiles and places a hand on Davids shoulder "It is a true joy to share a meal of thanks with you all."
The double doors to the kitchen open, revealing Logan and McCoy carrying two large dishes, both of them containing a roasted turkey with what looks like roast carrots and corn surrounding them as garnish, which they place among the sidedishes already spread out over the table. Jen leans closer to me and whispers "Hope he wore a hairnet when he cooked that."
"Which one of them?"
Jen giggles as Logan shoots me a dirty look "Yer a real comedian, bub!" One of his claws pop out of his hand "White meat or dark meat?"
"...how about you cut it with something you haven't used to kill someone?"
He snorts "Ye'd be surprised how much that'd limit my options in this house."