Age Of Magneto

Judge, Jury, And Executioner

Even with Jean putting the loudest arguing to sleep, it had still been hard to get the team weeded out to head up to Avalon for Scott. The truth was, Charles had too many volunteers that wanted to go raid Magneto's place - all of them for good reason, but he had to draw the line.

There were other things to consider than simply who wanted to avenge friends or who was out to make a statement ... or the rather impressive number of his team that had been present for a hand off of one kid or another. After Logan had been particularly troublesome about hearing 'no', Natasha was quick to volunteer to hang back and keep an eye on her 'little uncle', and Charles knew that as soon as Logan woke up, the bulk of the smaller kids would be clamoring for his attention. Which meant that Logan would have his hands full. It was trying. But somehow, Charles managed to keep this team small.

If nothing else, in the event that they ended up returning with more than they were anticipating, then there would be room on the blackbird to accommodate them.

As it was, Charles had taken Jean with him, as well as Henry, Steve, and Pietro - who had insisted on coming to be sure his sister was safe too - and that was the extent of it. They were ready for a fight, and he was sure that Erik was more than prepared to make life miserable for them given half a chance. But still ... the group of them were determined to get Scott back at the very least. Jean was ready to go get him all on her own if need be.

But they weren't expecting a friendly reception when they reached the docking point. Erik's followers had made a point to be downright welcoming of the three X-Men (though Pietro had hung back and slipped out to go find Wanda) and were glad to guide them to where Erik was waiting for them. They were even halfway cordial to Steve.

When they arrived, Erik was reclined on a metal throne. On one side, Scott was partly wrapped up - but it was a much neater job than before. And on the other side, K was simply floating with her arms at her sides, looking entirely resigned.

Hi, Jean, Scott projected toward her. Knew you were coming.

Don't you 'hi, Jean' me, she shot right back. I can't believe we had to come all the way to Avalon. What were you thinking?

To be honest, I'd hoped you'd be right behind me, Scott replied, sounding tired even in his mental voice.

We weren't that late, were we? Jean asked. What happened?

Scott frowned at her for a moment before he shook his head. It's just been a long night.

Jean narrowed her eyes on hearing that. You're going to ... can you just ... I need to know now. Was your cellmate that horrible in close contact?

Scott shook his head. No, but we do need to get her out before a literal demon deal gets more involved. He met her gaze. Like I said. Long night.

She gave him a little look for that and then glanced around the room at the other players in attendance. Though when she saw the smug sort of gloating look on Emma's face, she narrowed her eyes and touched Emma's mind, only to back off with fire dancing in her eyes when she got the gist of what Emma had tried to pull. I'm going to kill her.

Jean...

Don't even start, Jean projected back to him. If the shoe was on the other foot, would you be calm?

Well, no-

Then no. I will not be calm. The fire started to flicker around the edges of Jean's hair, and though she didn't realize it, she'd started to float a few inches off of the ground, which was earning her a concerned sort of look from Steve.