ax_main | Teddy, Billy, Nick and Lil

A movie night invitation turns into a crime scene, and then an episode of the X-Files. It does not go well for anyone.

"It's going to be a good afternoon," Teddy said firmly, closing the door to their room behind him and Billy. Nick's room was only just next door, so it wasn't like they had far to go to collect him. "Thanks for coming along," he bumped Billy's shoulder with his. Not that he'd expected Billy to turn down a date - even a double-date, of sorts - but Lil had the unfortunate habit of rubbing people exactly the wrong way sometimes, and you never quite knew where she stood with people on a day to day basis. "Getting Nick out of here would be a lot harder if we had to figure out how to get him on the bus."

“Meh. New Yorkers are so absorbed in their own thing I bet they wouldn’t even notice a wolf boy on the bus.” Billy grinned, bumping shoulders back as they walked next door. He had only seen Nick a handful of times since what happened to the guy’s parents. He had to give it to the boy, ‘cause Billy would have probably never bounced back from that. “Where are we going again? Gotta make sure I know the place before I try teleporting three more people with me. Can it be near a pool? Ha! That would make Lil glare at me so hard.”

Teddy paused before knocking on Nick's door and stared at him for a confused beat. "A pool? Why would Lil be mad about a pool?" Then he considered whether he really wanted to know, and moved on. "Anyway, I figured start small. Nick doesn't get out, like, at all, so my place would be a good way to ease into it. We can put on a movie or something."

“Oh thank God. Something I already know.” Billy let out a small relieved sigh.

Teddy grinned and knocked on the door. "If you want a challenge I could say Universal Studios, but I think Nick would have a heart attack as well."

"They're here!" Lil tossed the book she'd been reading on the end of Nick's bad and gave his leg a light swat as she sat up. "C'mon. You make a great pillow, but it's date night. Time to go into boyfriend mode."

"R-right," Nick said, a touch of anxiety in his voice. Yeah, they were just going out. Just... doing a date. Or whatever. No pressure. He sat up from laying down on his bed, where he'd been playing on his PSP before. "It's unlocked," Nick announced, so that Billy and Teddy could come in and not stand outside awkwardly the entire time.

"Right," Lil repeated softly before giving him a reassuring kiss on his cheek. "We're gonna be fine. Teddy's not gonna have anything crazy planned, and I'm gonna be right there with you. Which, I guess, I sorta should be, since this is a date and all." She smiled, took his hand and pulled him up.

"Yeah," Nick said, quietly, glad for her gestures of affection as he stood with her help. "It'll be nice to spend some time with the lovebirds, anyway," he said, grinning just a little.

Teddy'd stolen the chance to brush a kiss across Billy's lips while they waited, then opened the door and headed in. "Ready to go?"

Billy pouted at not getting that kiss to last a little longer, but Teddy was already going in so he didn’t have much time to sulk. He grinned a little when he saw Nick and Lil, a couple that he really hadn’t seen coming but it kind of made weird sense. “Teddy says we are heading to his place which is one of my fortes so I’m like eighty percent sure we’ll all get there in one piece.”

He gave a wink.

"I'll take those odds." Lil tightened her hold on Nick's hand, trying to offer up a bit of her confidence without making a big deal of it.

Nick chuckled, just a little bit nervous and a little bit happy. It was one thing, being seen at the dance and in the halls as a 'couple,' but it was another doing a double-date sort of deal. But it was just to Teddy's parents' place, and they were used to him being a mutant, and he was, what, a shapeshifter? So being a wolfboy probably wouldn't raise many eyebrows, if any.

"I'm not much of a gambler," Nick said, trying to find a joke in there somewhere. "But, uh. I guess I'm feeling lucky?" Oh jeez, had he gone and actually said that? Now he probably sounded like an idiot, or, worse, a pervert.

"He's full of it," Teddy replied cheerfully, dodging aside in case Billy took a swat at him. "He can teleport there with more accuracy than I could drive it. It'll be good," he added, mostly to reassure Nick, who was looking kind of worried under all the fur. "Mom's used to Billy and I popping in and out, and she didn't even blink at Shen's wings. I'm not sure if she'll even be home right now anyway."

“You’re full of it.” Billy replied easily, sticking his tongue out before giving a smile to Nick. “Yeah, don’t worry. I got this and Teddy’s mom is super cool if we run into her. She’s where Teddy got all his sugar and spice from.”

Lil rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, it's gonna be a whole night of comedy with these two. C'mon Lucky -" Lil hooked her arm in Nick's - "I'm gonna need you right by my side to give me the strength I'll need to deal with them."

"Yeah, super lucky," Nick replied, squeezing Lil's arm a bit closer to himself. "I'll be your shield."

Anything close to an offer of protection from Nick, even if it was from a couple of dorks, was all it ever took for Lil to melt. She leaned down, gave him a not-so-quick kiss and smiled. "My hero."

It was ridiculously cute, and good to see them happy, and Teddy couldn't help the smile on his face even as he turned away to ostensibly give them privacy. What was the point of having friends dating if he couldn't tease them both at once, right? "Anyone need to grab anything, or are we ready to go?"

“Grab what you need and then all aboard the Kaplan express.” Billy pumped his fist to mimic pulling a train whistle and grinned.

"I'm all set," Nick said, though he was wondering in the back of his head if he should bring any drinks or anything like that. He still had his snack stash in his closet, after all, but Teddy's mom's place was probably fine, if she was anything like his had been. The thought gave him a bit of a pang in his chest, but he pushed past it. These were happier days. He deserved to be happy.

“Me too! One question though.” She poked Teddy in the shoulder. “Your mom know about the new jewelry, or are we gonna get to watch her chew you out over that?”

Teddy reflexively poked his tongue at the still new-ish ring through his lip, making it wobble. "She saw it during break last week. She rolled her eyes at me and that was about it. Other than muttering about how at least it wasn't a tattoo," he amended with a sheepish grin, because she hadn't been entirely thrilled with the whole thing. "Sorry if you were looking forward to the show.”

Billy grinned, having been in the room for that one. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

He rubbed his hands together and then closed his eyes as he pictured the apartment living room he had visited over a hundred times now and that wasn’t an exaggeration. Billy took a deep breath as he remembered the smell of it and the colors on the wall before figuring his wording.

“IwantusalltobeatTeddy’splace.IwantusalltobeatTeddy’splace.IwantusalltobeatTeddy’splace.” Billy flowed blue and soon the three of them did as well before they vanished with a bright flash.

----

The living room resolved around Teddy like it always did, the cheerful pale-yellow walls and the old blue couch facing the tv, the afternoon sun spilling in the second-story windows that overlooked the street. The Christmas tree and lights had been down for months now, the Santa hat on the ridiculous live-sized ceramic greyhound statue replaced for spring with a fake flower wreath.

At least usually.

This time, though -- the couch had been tipped over backwards, the greyhound was on the floor in broken pieces, the wooden chairs that normally tucked in to the small (occasionally wobbly) kitchen table tossed across the room as though there'd been some disaster, a break-in, a fight? Teddy spun around, his eyes wide, adrenaline spiking. "What the - Mom?" He took off running for the open door to the hallway, the family photos on the wall askew on their nails, some on the floor, glass shattered. "Mom??"

It took Lil a moment to process, but after giving Billy and Nick a startled glance she nodded toward the tiny kitchen. "I think... I'm gonna check in there, in case... " She let that comment die, not sure what exactly she was getting at. In case Teddy's mom was hiding in there? In case she was hurt, or worse. Oh god, poor Teddy.

The kitchen was tiny, half the size of her mom's, and there wasn't a blessed place an adult woman could tuck herself away. Lil open the cupboard doors anyway and tried to stay away from too much of the mess because, maybe there'd be police later? Her stomach twisted. Nick had just lost his parents' the same things couldn't happen to Teddy too.

Nick's breath caught in his throat. He glanced around, looking something like a frightened animal. He was shaking, he realized, looking at his hands. Oh god, was he going to start hyperventilating? Was he cursed? Did this happen because of him, for some reason?

"I-I-I..." Nick stuttered, looking around, nervously. Any reassurance, at all. His eyes were pleading but he knew he shouldn't be focused on himself but this was just, this was too close to what happened to him. He wouldn't, he couldn't live through that sort of thing again. He needed to sit. Or stand. Or not be here. Or vomit. He wasn't sure. So he stood there, wringing his hands. All he could do was let out a soft, keening whine from his throat, a sound he only made in the throes of real panic. It wasn't a human sound, it was an animal sound, and it sounded like a dog that had been whipped.

Billy took in the wreckage with wide eyes and his heart trying to hammer its way out of his chest, he watched Teddy run towards the hall and moved to follow when he heard Nick. Fuck. He turned towards the boy and tried to think of the best thing to say while he himself was about to explode from panic. “C-clam down, Nick. Don’t panic. It’s okay.”

He reached out to take the boy’s hand and turned back to the hallway. He tried to keep his voice in check, but when he called out to his boyfriend his voice was loud and panicked. “Teddy?!”

Please let Mrs. A be alright!!

Teddy hadn't quite made it to the hallway when the still-upright table jerked suddenly, seeming of it is own volition, and began to ... shift. The stained wood changed both color and texture, contracting and rising, rearranging its basic structure until it became a bipedal, upright form. A form as strange as anything any of the teens might have seen at school--it wore a form-fitting, mostly purple bodysuit that gave the impression of a military uniform of some kind, and a black skullcap which contrasted only slightly with its dark green, scaled skin. Its ears were overlarge and sharply pointed, and its jaw broad and peculiarly corrugated in structure, its eyes narrow, dull yellow sclera blending into only slightly darker gold irises. It brandished something in its left hand that resembled a pistol, but of no conventional design. A second being, all but identical to the first, appeared in the hall before Teddy, and gestured for the boy to back into the living room, barking a gutteral, unintelligible command.

The two creatures exchanged a look, and one and the first spoke. Its voice had a quality that alternated between sibilant and croaking, and the emphasis it placed on particular words were strange, but the words were terrestrial in origin. "¿Hablas español? Parlez-vous français? Do you speak English?" It waited a few moments, body crouched, though it was difficult to determine if that were simply its normal posture, or if it were preparing itself for something. Both were obviously tense, and eyeing the four teens warily--sparing no particular attention for Nick, despite his appearance.

"What the hell?!" Teddy actually swore, skidding to a halt and backing up at the sight of a ... blaster? A phaser? A something gun-like, anyway. First calculation - protect the others. He could take a couple of hits, Billy and Nick couldn't. Teddy made sure he was backing up at an angle to put himself physically between the green dudes and the other guys.

Second - how to get an advantage? Lil was his ace in the hole, still in the kitchen out of sight. Okay. Time to see if all those runs in the Danger Room had actually been useful for anything. Teddy lifted his hands to show they were empty. "Stay back," he said loudly, even though they hadn't moved. Pick up on it, Lil. Stay hidden. "English," he repeated, buying himself some time to figure this out, if nothing else. It wasn't the Friends of Humanity, not unless they'd started working with shapeshifters.

Green shapeshifters.

Something tickled way in the back of Teddy's memory, something he ought to know but didn't, but that didn't matter now. What mattered was figuring out who they were and making sure his mom was safe. "We speak English. Who are you? Where's my mother?"

All Lil could think when she heard Teddy’s ‘stay back’ was thank Christ I took my meds this morning. If not, she would have been out in a flash and the thought that those words were meant for her as much as anyone else would never have occurred to her. As it was she took a very careful peek around the door frame to see... fucking Martians? God damn it, what the hell was going on? Murderous crazies kidnapping her one months and now green Star Wars rejects threatening three of the people she most cared about? The impulse to leap out and take them down was strong, but again, bless the meds.

She snuck a glance at Nick. He didn’t look good. Hopefully Teddy had a plan because if those fuckers touched one hair on Nick’s head, all the pills in the world couldn’t keep her from ripping their heads off.

Nick swallowed, looking with obvious fright at the two shapeshifters. This had gone from a possible break-in to what Nick could only assume was either strange, uniform mutants (twins, maybe?) or, hell, possibly aliens.

Either prospect wasn't particularly comfortable for him. But he managed to keep from fainting, at least. This was, at least, something he could identify. Something he could pin this on. His fists tensed, and he shifted his feet very subtly beneath himself. If one of these things started shooting, he wanted to at least try to jump in and tackle one. This was part of what he and Lil had been practicing for.

Billy had to stare really hard at the two creatures that had followed Teddy out of the hallway because doing a double take would mean taking his eyes off him. Green men! Green men who had broken into Teddy’s home and done who knows what with Mrs. A. They had a weapon and Teddy was right in their range! It didn’t matter that he could heal and Billy panicked a little, electricity sparking from his hands as he made the move to step closer to his boyfriend. “He asked you a question.”

He licked his lips, ready to try and verbally throw up three shields quickly like he had last time if they attacked.

The creatures shifted anxiously at the electricity that flashed around the teenager's hand, but neither answered right away. One continued to keep the room covered, while the other touched a finger to a polished metal band encircling its left wrist. "I have alerted the others," it said in its odd, hiss-croaking accent. It seemed to be speaking to the other as much as answering Teddy's question. "The Handmaiden may have eluded us, but the greater prize remains. If the general has deduced correctly the hatchling's identity."

"Hatchling?" Teddy repeated, utterly bewildered. Handmaiden?? Who were these creeps? "You didn't answer me," he tried again. Get the upper hand, throw them off-balance with something they didn't expect. Right? Sure. He took a step forward, hands still up even as he closed a little of the distance between himself and the green guys. A couple more steps and he'd be close enough to hulk-out and tackle at least one of them. "Where is my mother? Why are you in my apartment?"

Teddy was clearly possibly going to start something, and Nick was tuning into it. Call it pack instinct, call it whatever, but Nick felt himself tense, almost unbidden. If Teddy, or anyone else for that matter, sprung into action, he'd be ready to try to punch, claw, or hell, even bite if he had to. Teddy's mom was possibly in a lot of trouble, and this was why he was trying to join X-Force. Nobody was going to lose any parents on his watch. Not if he could help it.

Nick's lip curled ever so slightly. He didn't make a sound, but the display of his sharp teeth would hopefully be intimidating enough to maybe cow these ... green ... guys... into giving an answer.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Lil was betting on some sort of signal from Teddy but didn't know what to expect. At least those three had the intruders' full attention so she could scope things out with a few more quick peeks. She could probably take out one with a tackle and then just lay into beating the crap out of him. Billy was already sparking so maybe he'd be going for one too, but a little electricity wouldn't hurt Lil so maybe they could tag team it.

Nick though, he was starting to look serious, like he'd shaken off whatever had gripped him a moment before and committed to causing some harm. Lil's own worries about him faded just a bit and she smiled. Wait 'till those shitheads got a load of him.

These assholes were ignoring Teddy’s questions, meanwhile they had done who knows what to Mrs. Altman and Billy grit his teeth and sent out a sharp spark towards the face of the one speaking into his wrist. “Hey, dipshits. It’s rude to ignore people, especially when you’re breaking and entering.”

The intruder Billy had targeted recoiled, more startled than pained, and hissed something unintelligible that--based on its tone--was most likely a curse. Seemingly by reflex, it snapped off a shot at the teen with the sparking hands, but its flinching back combined with its previous distraction caused it to go wide, burning a hole in the wall just behind its target. The other was more careful, and better positioned, and apparently took the attack as indication hostilities had been initiated, as it almost immediately fired on Nick. Both began falling back toward the hall.

"The hatchling must be recovered intact!" barked the first.

Teddy was ducking to the side to get between Nick and the ray gun - or whatever it was - before he even had time to think about whether it was a good idea or not. he changed as he went, growing taller, broader, bigger, his wings spreading out to cover more space and protect the guys behind him. "Stop!"

Well, the shit had hit the fan so there was no use hiding in the kitchen anymore. Besides, they'd shot at Nick. Lil jumped out to tackle the one closest to her and hopefully force him down before he could fire off another shot.

And like that, it had just started, and all so quickly. It was his first real fight, and Nick was surprised at himself that he'd tried to duck low from the ray-gun shot, and when Teddy's wing covered him, Nick pushed forward with his feet, trying to maneuver around the green--green?--wing toward the enemy. Because he'd be damned if anyone fought any of these punks alone.

He was moving to back up Teddy, and hoping to put pressure on their foe by getting into a flanking position. He lunged, claws out. First priority, he figured, was to target the... green person? was it male? female? neither? in the arm.

When Billy saw Teddy get between Nick and the gun he felt his throat close up in panic, electricity sparking brighter as he quickly muttered that he wanted shields. He glowed blue and wanted to scream when his magic made shields around Nick and Lil (Really?!?), but neither him nor Teddy. He grit his teeth and tried to send a strong current of electricity towards the thing Nick was attacking.

Lil's attack proved immediately effective, as the first green-skinned creature went down with a gutteral shout of alarm. But even before its body hit the floor, it was shifting, lengthening, scaly skin and impossibly pliable uniform hardening into a segmented carapace. Suddenly, she was grappling with an enormous, centipede-like monstrosity, at least seven feet long, that snapped at her briefly with its fanged mouthparts before attempting to wriggle away and resume its retreat into the hall.

The other took Billy's jolt of electricity with a strained snarl, but did not fall; it was apparently protected to some extent from direct energy attacks. It continued to fall back with its altered comrade, though the arm not holding its pistol shifted into a massive club of tough, thorny scales and pure bone as Nick struck. The creature swung its modified appendage back, the movement wide and clumsy, intended more to force his assailant back than actually connect--this time. It fired another shot as it backpedaled, though this one went wide of any viable target, and simply left another smoldering black patch on the Altmans' living room wallpaper.

"We have to stop them or we'll never find her!" Teddy couldn't get any kind of air in the apartment but he beat his wings once and that sent him hurtling overtop of Lil and the centipede-thing (gross). He landed hard, stumbling and falling to one knee on the other side, between them and the door between the living room and the hall. He whipped around as soon as he got his feet back under him, hands out. "Who are you?" he pleaded. "What do you want?"

Lil had absolutely no faith that Teddy's appeal, no matter how much it hurt her to hear, was going to have any effect on whatever these things were. She held on tight to the body, trying to drag her way up to its head where she'd have a chance of laying into it and doing some real damage. No fucking way was it getting away.

Nick's snarl had become something more akin to a yelp as he was pushed back by... an arm? Thing? He kept his guard up and rolled with it, as best he could, and Billy's electric shield thing seemed to work, because it didn't hurt too bad. He kept his footing, ish, as he stumbled back, and he was going to try to keep himself protected, rather than attack, for right now.

Billy watched Teddy move, letting him and Lil focus on the...centipede man and turned his attention back to the one that still looked vaguely human. He had an idea and since Nick wasn’t attacking he went with it, closing his eyes tight and muttering quickly. “Iwantthisguyinabox. Iwantthisguyinabox. Iwantthisguyinabox.”

His body went blue and the green man was quickly shut inside a large blue see-through box. So large that it took up almost the entrance to the hallway, digging into the wall and busting off a large piece of drywall. Billy winced, but he’s apologize later, right now they needed answers. “What do you want?!”

The creature inside the box sneered, touched its belt, and an arc of energy streamed from its wrist into the shield, disrupting the blue field enough for it to dart through. The centipede-like life-form, on the other hand, had begun to exude a slick slime from between the plates of its armor, which it used to help it slither away from Lil and follow the other into the back bedrooms. Its body shifted again even as it fled, returning to its near-human, bipedal shape.

Teddy ducked aside as the creatures hurtled past him, too caught off guard to think about tripping them until they were already past him. But they were heading for his mom's bedroom and then what? Maybe she was in there -- he hadn't gotten far enough into the apartment to find her before they'd appeared out of nowhere. Teddy shifted shape, using Nick as inspiration. He couldn't go full-wolf, not without getting all tangled up in his clothes, but wolf-man worked and he'd be faster that way, could leap further, and see in the dark room without bothering to look for a light. He hurtled after them in mid-change, hot on the creatures' heels. "Okay, now I'm pissed!"

Arms and front covered in slime, it took a couple of frantic tries before Lil could push herself up. Then she was racing after Teddy, not even bothering to glance back at Nick and Billy. They could take care of themselves back there, and anyway, throwing herself at these things seemed to be as good a way to keep their attention off the others as anything else. Her only stray thought was to wonder why, when the monsters seemed to want to get away from them, they were headed for the back rooms. Escape out a window? Or lure Teddy and the rest of them into a trap? Well, she was about to find out.

Nick's hands were shaking, but he glanced to Billy. "Sh-should we go with?" he murmured. Was there even enough space back there for all of them without tearing down walls? He was at least glad nobody seemed hurt, yet. Except maybe Teddy, but... Teddy healed quick, right? He was following close behind Lil and Teddy anyway, though he was still glancing to Billy for guidance as he went.

Shit. Shit. Shit! That dude cut through his magic box like it was fucking nothing!! Did that mean that all his magic wouldn’t do a thing to these guys? He watched everyone run to the back of the apartment, seeing the look Nick sent and felt so useless it was ridiculous.

“We have to make sure they don’t leave. Go in there with them. I’m going outside to the window. Be careful, okay?” He made a motion to send Nick back in there and quickly muttered he wanted to be outside. He vanished and reappeared with a heavy drop onto the fire escape right outside Mrs. Altman’s window. “Alright, don’t let them go.”

The following creature dropped a pellet behind it as the two reached Mrs. Altman's bedroom, which quickly erupted into noxious black smoke. Without missing a stride, the leading one crossed its arms before its face and crashed through the window, a pair of by-now familiar wings erupting from its back as it overshot the fire escape entirely, only to catch itself in mid-air as the muscular, scaled appendages unfurled.

Teddy couldn't stop in time and crashed face-first into the wall of smoke, the noxious stuff stinging his nose and throat and making his eyes water enough that he could barely see. Moments came to him in quick flashes of information rather than anything coherent - mom wasn't in the room. The creatures were strong. They had his wings.

Teddy forced himself to keep moving, ditching the wolf and shifting to full-Hulkling again to follow the intruders out into the late afternoon sky. There was no way to hide anything from the street, whoever was going to see anything had already seen it. So when they bailed out, he followed, slowed by the burn of the smoke in his lungs and the unfamiliar air currents swirling around the apartment building.

Jesus, they weren't making this easy. Lil pulled her sweater up over her nose and barreled through the smoke just in time to see Teddy launch himself out the window and just beyond him, one of the monsters trying to pull away up into the sky. She didn't stop. She could make it. One good jump and she'd have that shithead's wings in her hands and she could tear away at it until it cried uncle. That was the plan at least, as much of one as she could formulate in the time it took for her to get to the window, and once she was there, even the plan evaporated and there was only the space between her hands and that motherfucker. Too much space. Whoops.

It hadn't occurred to her to ask Teddy what floor they were on, and now she was about to find out the hard way.

Nick skidded to a halt upon seeing the window busted out and Lil plummet out of the apartment. His breath caught in his throat and he was about to scream when he remembered that Lil could survive any fall. But he couldn't, so he turned around, looking for Billy. "They-they're gone," Nick called back to Billy. Where'd he gone? Was he all alone? Worse, was he not alone? Were more of those things lurking around? Suddenly he was kind of concerned about every piece of furniture in the place...

“Are you fucking serious right now?!” Billy yelled as he watched the men and his boyfriend take off into the air, then Lil coming running out only to plummet towards the ground quickly. Without even thinking he reached in to grab Nick’s arm and jumped off the fire escape after Lil. He stretched out with his free hand, Lil a good two feet below him and yelled as his body shined blue and so did Lil’s, her body hovering still in the air.

Billy moved so one of his arms wrapped around Nick’s waist while he floated closer to Lil and did the same with his other. “Okay...I’m done with these guys, come on.”

He pushed off the brick wall of Teddy’s apartment, moving at a pace faster than he had ever tried in practice to get caught up with the men and Teddy. As they caught up, Billy tried to focus all his energy on keeping the three of them in the air and this next move. “I want the green men to tell us what they are doing here! I want the green men to tell us what they are doing here! I want the green men to tell us what they are doing here!”

All three of their bodies shone blue, then they dropped about four feet only to steady again.

The creatures squawked at their sudden drop in altitude, but seemed to quickly recover ... and begin talking over each other.

"The Princess' Handmaiden, disappeared for almost two cycles--"

"--anomalous life-signs on the planet's surface--"

"--the General suspects the hatchling is in hiding here--"

"--key to the Empire's future--"

"--must find it--"

"--if others become aware--"

"--the Handmaiden can tell--"

"--must recover the hatchling!"

Still speaking at once in a barely semi-decipherable babble, the two creatures beat their wings furiously, gaining altitude with each sweep.

The Handmaiden - there was that term again, the same one they'd used inside the apartment. And 'hatchling,' whatever that meant. Teddy struggled to keep up with them but the intruders outpaced him. Shouts from the ground meant they'd all been spotted, but Teddy couldn't let himself get distracted. He had to catch them, had to find mom, had to- had to do something that wouldn't let the day end with him being all alone. "Stop!"

Lil's stomach only just managed to behave when Billy suddenly stopped her fall and left her floating in midair. She was flying. Fuck, she was flying, and holy fuck, she wasn't sure she liked it. As weak as her sense of touch was normally, having absolutely no kind of sensation and just sort of hanging out in midair was really freaking disturbing, so it was a huge relief when Billy grabbed her arm. She was grounded again, at least a little. Then the monsters started blabbering, and she forgot all about the flying bit.

Whereas Nick had been screaming the entire time.

Yeah, okay, it wasn't dignified. It wasn't maybe as deep as it should have been, but he'd just been yanked out of a window with no explanation. "The fuck are we doing?!" Nick yelled, at the top of his lungs, even once Billy grabbed onto him. He grabbed at Lil, feeling somehow more secure if she was touching her. And yeah, he swore. For like, the first time with people around. But fuck it, this was worth it.

Billy grunted as Nick swung to hold onto Lil and screamed, his center of balance messing up completely as he dropped another few feet. This was a disaster and it didn’t help that people were for sure looking up at them, green flying guys and a heap of floating teenagers. Great.

Billy tried to strain his ears to hear what they were talking about, the words handmaiden and hatchling coming up again. What the hell did any of that mean? They were searching for a hatchling? What the heck even was a hatchling?

The two creatures continued to gain altitude, rising in a criss-crossing, spiral pattern, the execution of which suggested long years of drilling in similar aerial maneuvers. They also continued to chatter, though their voices grew fainter as they soon outpaced the teens.

"--will report to the General--"

"--General was right! The hatchling--"

"--find the Handmaiden, she will confirm--"

"--return to the Empire as heroes ..."

As they cleared the roofs of the nearby buildings, the two green-and-purple, winged forms shimmered, rippled, and vanished from sight, even before their harsh voices faded from hearing.

"NO!!" Teddy shouted at the now-empty sky, wings beating hard to try and push him up to where they... where they had been. But they were gone, and with them his best chance of finding out what had just happened. He stopped chasing air, sirens wailing in the distance, and Teddy let himself fall back down towards the roof. Now what? That was the only thing repeating over and over in his mind. Now what do I do?

Oh, Teddy.

"Billy, we need to get up there." And what a stupid thing to say because Billy, of all people, knew Teddy was going to need him in a moment. Guilt was already starting to try and worm its way into Lil's thinking - she'd had a hold on that one creep and let him get away - so she took it for granted that Teddy was going to be dealing with the same feeling in spades.

"No, no!" Nick yelled in protest, still clearly not okay with flying. He'd probably torn into Lil's shirt with his claws, maybe even Billy's, though he was trying to be mindful. "Down! Not--not public!" he said, eyes down rather than up.

Billy didn’t need Lil to tell him that they needed to get to Teddy, his heart squeezing painfully as he picked up speed towards where Teddy was, wincing a little when he felt Nick’s claws dig in a little too hard. They landed on the roof very ungracefully, Billy tripping over his own feet and then Lil a little bit because of how they were all mashed together, but he quickly picked himself back up and ran towards Teddy.

He stopped close to his boyfriend, reaching out to touch his arm hesitantly. “Tee...”

In the few seconds between his landing and the others joining him, Teddy'd dropped to sit down on the cold concrete of the roof and pulled his wings back in. The sirens were getting closer now, and any minute he'd have to go down and try to explain -- to the superintendent, to the police -- and he didn't have the first clue what he was going to say. Or where to look next. Or even what to think.

And then Billy was there, and his presence made everything a little less hopeless. Teddy covered Billy's hand with his own - back to pink, smaller and uncertain -- to make sure Billy didn't take it away again. "Did that all just happen?" he asked, finally finding his words, his glance up to Nick and Lil confused and helpless. "Or if I go downstairs- will it all be back to normal, except for you guys looking at me funny?"

Billy bit his lip and moved to wrap his arm around Teddy’s shoulder, giving his now normal sized one a squeeze. He pressed his face to the side of Teddy’s and took a steadying breath so his voice sounded so sure. “We’ll figure out what happened, Tee. I promise you we will.”

The sirens were so loud and Billy needed to fix the apartment unless they were going to tell cops that green shapeshifting men attacked his boyfriend’s apartment. He glanced at Lil and Nick, wondering what exactly to do right now. “Do you want me to go clean up, Tee? I can teleport you guys back so you don’t have to deal with them.”

That seemed like the best course of action to Lil. The more of them here when the police arrived, the longer this would take for everyone, plus she couldn't imagine Nick being at all comfortable with having to talk to them. It wasn't just that he was obviously a mutant, but this all might be hitting to close to home for someone who'd lost his own parents just a few short months before. "That's probably a good idea. Might get complicated with me not being an American and all that." There, she'd take the hit for that decision to make it easier. Lil reached out and gave Teddy's arm a light squeeze. "You guys do what you need to, and we'll be there for you when you get back?"

Jesus, Nick felt horrible. And it wasn't just because of the flying. "B-back to--back home, please," Nick whimpered, more to Lil than to Billy or anyone else. He was worried for Teddy and his mom, but right now, he couldn't help but feel exposed and vulnerable, and it wasn't doing him very well in terms of, well, feeling emotionally stable.

Nick looked awful and Lil made sense, so Teddy nodded at Billy's suggestion. At least someone had a plan. "Yeah," he said, his mouth dry. "Get them back, that's a good idea. I've got -- I've got to call her. I can call her. Maybe she's fine, and this is all some weird mistake." He scrambled to find his phone, pulling it out of his pocket and hitting his mom's number on his speed dial. Teddy caught Lil's eye, his own fear visible on his face. "Tell the Professor what happened? He can help, I know he can."

Lil wrapped an arm around Nick's shoulder and pulled him close - she had already decided that she'd either be taking Nick's spare bed or curling up with him for the night, because she had no doubt his nightmares would be back - before nodding at Teddy. "I'll make sure he knows everything, and where-ever this takes you, Teddy, I'll be right beside you, okay?"

For long, long seconds, Sarah Altman's phone only rang. It stopped just a half-ring shy of going to her mailbox, and the familiar voice on the other end was strained by labored breathing and the vague noise of hasty, desperate motion. "Teddy? Is that you? Tell me you're still at the sch--" She broke off as a deafening crash sounded somewhere in the background, and a guttural voice bellowed something incomprehensible--something that sounded like language, but nothing that would have been immediately familiar to Teddy.

Much more shocking was when his mother answered, her human throat somehow fitting around that ugly alien alternation of sibilants and low, glottal growls, just before her connection to Teddy cut out entirely.

Shock hit him first, cold in the gut, and it wiped away the indecision and fear and everything except for the certainty that Teddy needed to save her. Now. "Change of plans," he said firmly, on his feet in an instant. "Billy, get us to the school now. I know Kitty can trace the call and find her but it's gotta be fast, before mom moves."

Billy jumped a little when Teddy shot up, but nodded quickly, closing his eyes to mutter his spell and they were gone in a flash.

With many thanks to John for playing the Skrulls!