Once they'd gotten back to the mansion and everyone had their uniforms and, in Kate's case, weapons — the team boarded Noh's ship as the former Marvel Boy seemed delighted to show Scott around, pointing out several systems that he already had ideas about integrating with the blackbird's systems. Noh seemed to love the idea of having something that he could contribute to helping the X-Men, and Scott was genuinely interested in the idea of intuitive controls — though when he sat down at them and they morphed into something that looked very familiar to Noh, Noh had to pause.

"That," he said, looking over the display, "is not what I expected."

"Is that a good thing or a bad one?" Scott asked, looking genuinely curious.

Noh turned his attention from the controls to Scott and frowned even deeper for a long moment. "Have you by any chance heard of the Starjammers?" he asked politely.

Scott rubbed the back of his neck for a moment at the question. "Ah, yeah. As a matter of fact," Scott said with a little sheepish grin.

"I very recently had dealings with them when they stormed my ship, and this—" Noh gestured to the controls. "—seems to be much like their ship's controls. With modifications, of course. I can see your blackbird in the design."

"That's ... probably because Corsair is my father," Scott admitted, still with that same sheepish look.

Noh leaned back and crossed his arms with a little frown before he just let out the slightest of nearly disbelieving breaths. "You X-Men have strange ties."

"We really do," Scott agreed before he tried to clear the air. "But ... I grew up thinking he was dead, so if that colors things..."

"Far be it from me to let an accident of birth stop our working together," Noh said quickly, shaking his head. "My former team included a supervillain and a half-Skrull, after all. I was simply making sure I was not letting a pirate see more of my ship than I intended."

"The last person you'd need to worry about pillaging your ship is Scott," Logan commented from a bit further back in the ship where Jubilee was showing him around..

"That is good to hear." Noh leaned back against the wall and nodded to Scott. "Well, if you would like — I can place the coordinates. I see no reason why I can't return the favor and allow you to fly my ship."

Scott grinned at that, and the two quickly fell back into their continuing conversation about the different systems — while the others in the ship just made themselves comfortable for the duration.

"When the fighting finally starts," Jubilee said over Kate's shoulder while the guys were having coffee. "You're going to want to make sure your battery is fully charged, because this is either going to be epicly bad — or epicly awesome."

Kate grinned at Jubilee. "I've already got Billy and Teddy blowing up my phone just from the one picture I've sent so far."

"Well, even if it's epicly bad? They're still incredible working together." Jubilee grinned widely in anticipation. "Seriously. They, like, don't even need to talk."

"Then why the heck don't they do that more often?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow her friend's way.

"Personality issues," Jubilee said with a shrug. "They do it all the time though. Even when they fight, it's like ... poetry."

Kate just grinned at her again. "Then I'll make sure to charge the phone before we leave. Noh still have those ports that do it, like, five times as fast as normal?"

"Yes, I think so," she replied with a nod.

Kate just grinned wider and pulled her phone out of her pocket, crossing over the little dining area to find a port and sitting on the table as she did so — while a few of them bamfs were inspecting some of Noh's food with curious, unsure expressions.

"Are you girls plotting and planning?" Kurt asked as he slid over toward the pair of them as they entered the dining area.

"Always," Kate said with a grin and without a shred of hesitation. "It's a state of being." She jumped up off the table to give him a little kiss. "Don't worry. This time, we're not getting you all twisted." She smiled at him with her tongue between her teeth. "This time."

"What are you planning then?" Kurt asked, a little impish grin starting to spread over his features. "Perhaps I can help in some way — since it's not against me."

Kate grinned. "Troublemaker. This is why I love you," she teased him as she stood on her toes to give him another kiss. "We're just plotting how best to document the beautiful team up that's happening here is all."

"Which beautiful team up? There are a few," Kurt pointed out. "Everyone seems to be breaking off into little groups."

Kate just laughed and pointed Scott's way before she said in a low whisper, "You know. The one with the adorable uncle and his friend the Wolverine."

"Ah," Kurt replied with a deep understanding suddenly. "Well. If you want to keep it safe for all audiences, I would recommend not mic-ing them. He doesn't look it, but once he gets angry with Logan, Scott swears just as badly."

"See? That's good advice. You're helping already," she said and kissed his cheek again.

"Just pointing out the obvious," Kurt replied with a little chuckle. "So what is your big plan to document this — and for what purpose aside from historical reference?"

"Oh, nothing big and devious this time — just cell phones and giggling on the other side of the camera," Kate admitted.

"So it's for Teddy and Billy then?"

Kate just grinned widely at that and nodded. "They just about died at the picture of those two hugging. I'm going to kill them dead with this."

"I'll be honest, I think the only one that wasn't on the verge of sudden heart failure was Scott." Kurt shook his head. "That has never ever happened."

"And he only avoided heart failure because he knew it was coming," Kate laughed.

"You know, I don't think he did," Kurt pointed out, looking a bit thoughtful. "He looked a bit shocked at himself."

As Kate laughed at that, Noh poked his head into the dining area with a bit of a frown and a concerned expression. "It seems Earth's Skrull infestation is a bit more than we realized."

On the other side of the dining hall from where Kate and Kurt had been quietly talking and flirting, Scott looked at Logan for a moment. "You ready to get to work?"

Logan just nodded, and the two of them stood to follow Noh and see what it was they were dealing with — without a word more spoken.

"So it begins," Jubilee said with a significant look Kate's way, and the younger woman burst into giggles. "They're strategizing together. Ooooooh. I'm putting my money on epically awesome."

Noh took the two senior X-Men toward the observation deck to show them the readings from the Skrull forces gathered at the poles. "They're not just concentrated around your planet — they are positively swarming on the one next door, sending secret messages... an old code but still difficult to unlayer," Noh explained as he showed the two of them the relays he'd managed to intercept.

Both X-Men looked concerned, and where Scott was looking at the messages, Logan was watching the readouts — and between the two of them, it didn't take long for them to get there. "They're staging," both of them said at once before they shared a look and nodded.

"Do they have any breaks in their communications?" Scott asked. "Or is there a spot we can loop it for them?"

"Both are good options," Noh said with a bit of an approving smile. "But there are significant enough breaks that we can slip in; that is how they were able to stay under SWORD's radar for so long - the long gaps in communication and lack of an obvious pattern."

"Is the break long enough to clear out their backup?" Logan asked. "So we can hit Mars first and let them think they have backup coming when we wipe them out at the poles?"

"If we move quickly," Noh said, nodding. "I would suggest waiting another hour before their next transmission, and then we would have much time to work with."

"Let's do it," Scott agreed. "When we come back to clean out the poles, they'll be a little more reckless thinking they have a swarm to join them."

Noh paused for a moment and looked over the two X-Men. "I should warn you both — when I say they are swarming on Mars, I did mean that in a literal sense. Their numbers are surprising, given the fact that the Skrull population has so diminished recently."

"Well it's about to diminish a whole lot more," Scott assured him before he took in a deep breath. "We'll head to Mars, clear out what we can — and make sure that you can loop that message on time. We don't need them sending the order to jump before we finish with them."

Noh grinned back at him. "Have no fear. When it comes to fighting Skrulls, I have yet to make such a mistake as letting them know I was coming."

"Perfect," Logan said with a nod. "I'm headed back for coffee. You comin', Slim?"

"Go ahead, I think I'll run through everything Noh's collected so far," Scott replied before he turned to Noh and stepped a bit closer so Noh could explain a few things in the message to him while Logan just headed back to where everyone else was waiting.

When he got there, Jubilee had to try and see if she could rile him. "He kick you out?" she asked with a grin.

Logan just chuckled. "He wishes. No — they're going over intel." He tipped his head toward Kate and Kurt. "Got about an hour before we attack a whole planet."

"Only one?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow. "We don't want to take on a solar system?"

"We might need a few more people for that," Logan said with a shrug. "So I'm told."

Kate smirked his way before she just tucked her arm around Kurt's waist with a little smile and a whispered in his ear, "A whole hour to kill. Whatever should we do?"

Kurt just grinned back at her with one eyebrow quirked as he lifted her other hand to kiss it, instead of speaking — and she broke into a little giggle before they teleported away.

When the group of them approached Mars, both Scott and Noh made it a point to double check the loop they'd put into the Skrull communications as they got ready to make their raid. It would be straightforward enough — just fight Skrulls and make sure to destroy their base — and all six of them were itching for a good fight. Kurt had even given instructions to the bamfs to stick to everyone and help as they were asked — and they were growing more excited as they saw their friends prepping for the fight.

Noh had been right to describe the group of aliens as a swarm — there was practically a sea of green by the time they made their landing, after having very nearly been shot out of the sky by several close shaves. And as soon as the ship opened up to let the group of X-Men out, the Skrulls were already charging.

As they dove into the fight, Noh was in his element, shooting through, kicking, and just downright destroying any Skrull that got within his reach with a look of concentration and a small sort of smirk. The little bamf that was sticking with him was holding on with both hands to his hair and cackling as he bamfed the Kree fighter into clumps of Skrulls so Noh could just keep right on firing and fighting even after he'd plowed through one group.

Kate was having a blast with her pair of bamfs, one of which had his own little bow and arrow — with suction cup tips, because Kate was very careful about weaponry around them. She'd been around the bamfs long enough that it was almost second nature to line up a shot, fire, and then just immediately reach for another arrow as the bamfs got her to the next shot. She didn't have to look for more to do — the bamfs were keeping her in constant supply of destructive shots.

The bamf on her shoulder shot a little suction cup arrow at the same time she shot an explosive arrow, and the two shared a quick high five at the resulting explosion before they bamfed away again.

Jubilee was enjoying her bamf and had even given him a piece of bubble gum and had a splitter on her headphones so both she and the bamf could listen as they blew up Skrulls. The two of them were teleporting around and paffing massive clumps of Skrulls — straight out decimating them, though she wasn't concentrating nearly as hard as she had been with Bastion, so the ground was littered with bits and pieces of Skrulls. "Slippery when wet!" she called out before she and her bamf disappeared away from where Kurt had just appeared, three swords swirling and slashing as he grinned maniacally.

But Scott and Logan were in absolutely perfect form. They fought back to back, with Logan handling everything nearest them while Scott blasted back waves or shot those trying to attack from farther back. They were moving together — and protecting each other as they did so.

Even at that close of range, and with the time apart, Scott still knew exactly where to stand to keep out of Logan's way while his old teammate very nearly lost his cool. Logan just seemed to almost sense the right time to dodge out of the way for Scott to blast their opponents — and the whole fight was caught on film by a little bamf holding Kate's purple cell phone and giggling delightedly at his assignment.

Not one word was spoken between the two of them — yet they really were incredibly efficient in getting the job done. When Scott started to wear down, still out of practice, Logan ramped up his attack so he could catch his breath, and when Logan got a little too close to a group that was trying to drag him down, Scott simply annihilated them.

"I believed I was familiar with most of the team's powers from Jubilee — though perhaps I missed a telepathic bond somewhere?" Noh called out to Kurt as the two of them were fighting a particularly thick knot of Skrulls.

Kurt grinned broadly but shook his head Noh's way. "Whatever you do, don't say that near them," Kurt advised. "There is nothing like that going on between those two." Kurt paused and almost couldn't resist a bit of a tease: "Not that anyone could ever find, that is."

"Then I shall keep my theories to myself until they are proven or disproven one way or the other," Noh said with a little smirk as he blasted through a couple Skrulls on either side of him with a bit of a twirl and a look Jubilee's way.

She grinned at him, totally aware that he was showing off for her, and popped her hip a bit as she waved just before she and her bamf disappeared for one of the thicker clumps of Skrulls to blow up.

Meanwhile, Kate and her bamfs had been bouncing around just finding interesting things to shoot at when they came across a couple of ships — and the three of them, in perfect sync, broke into wide grins. "Feel like sabotage, boys?" she asked the bamf on either shoulder before they teleported inside to start causing mayhem.

The little blue imps nodded enthusiastically and simply waited for her direction, little tails swishing behind them as they crouched down as if to spring.

"Let's see what happens when half this equipment gets 'ported out of the walls," Kate suggested, pointing at whatever looked important as she kept up a steady stream of arrows for any Skrulls that looked like they might try and stop her or the bamfs.

With delighted little giggles, the bamfs set to work teleporting out anything she pointed at — and a few things she didn't — as they ran rampant through the Skrull ship. The Skrulls couldn't move fast enough to stop the little imps, and the ones that did manage to get close enough to bother Kate either found out what she'd learned from Logan or grabbed nothing but smoke as the bamfs kept half an eye on their sabotage partner.

Jubilee popped up next to Kate before the Skrulls really had tried to concentrate their forces on her and blasted through several that looked like they were planning to stop Kate's fun. "Do you need more explosives?" Jubilee asked.

"Always," Kate said with a grin as she punctuated her point with a splodey arrow into a group of Skrulls.

Jubilee just responded by sending plasmoids toward the ships and then to the Skrulls themselves. "Have you seen the thingy that Scott and Noh wanted exploded?" she asked over the edge of her sunglasses.

"Not yet — but we've been 'porting around looking for explode-able things."

"I think the guys have the carnage covered?" Jubilee shrugged up one shoulder with a very troublemaking look. "Wanna go looking for the other crap? We can be the big heroes that save their sorry butts."

"Typical," Kate said with a laugh. "Let the girls do all the real work."

"Yeah, but we make it look good," Jubilee replied with a smirk.

"We make everything look good," Kate countered, grinning wide before the girls' bamfs just teleported them out of the ship and around the Skrull base camp, in and out of trouble as they looked for anything that might look big and important.

"Even if it doesn't look flammable? I can make it burn anyhow," Jubilee promised as they looked, which just got a huge grin out of Kate. "Or ... vaporize it or whatever."

"And that, my friend, is why you're fun to work with," Kate laughed. "I love a good explosion." She looked around the base for a while, lips pursed and nodding to herself. "Let's try somewhere else, buddy," she told the bamf at her shoulder. "Doesn't look like the thingy's here."

"Um. Okay," Jubes said before she reached for her comm. "Hey, super cute alien boy," she half sang out. "Kate and I were out sightseeing? And I was wondering if you could point me to the big thingy you wanted blown up. We're taking selfies." She waved Kate over and pulled out her phone just to make sure she wasn't lying accidentally and snapped a picture with a pile of burning Skrulls in the background just to send to him.

"It should be at the center of this ramshackle establishment," Noh replied, and they could hear the loud cackling of a bamf over the line for a moment as well as the sounds of Noh's guns before he added. "And it is an accelerator, not a 'thingy.'"

"An accelerator is a thing," Jubilee pointed out.

"Strictly speaking, this is true," Noh admitted. He paused for a moment, then added, "I would suggest a little north of your position. That seems to be where the readings were concentrated as we came in."

"That sounds like a splendid suggestion," Jubilee sang out. "Don't get your cute self in trouble, we're off to blow things up. Toodles!"

Kate laughed at Jubilee's antics and was still giggling when the bamfs teleported them to the position Noh had pointed out — a large device in the middle of a group of Skrulls just waiting for them to destroy it. "Looks like we're here to do the heavy lifting," she teased.

"Yep, as usual," Jubilee said with a nod before she just sized up the accelerator and nodded to herself. "Okay. I'll just bet that if you can cover me long enough I can vaporize like ... half of that with one blast." She turned to Kate with a bright smile. "I had two bowls of sugar bombs this morning."

"And I had three cups of coffee. Sounds like we're both fueled up," Kate teased as she pulled out a smoke arrow. "Got you covered, Jubes." She fired the smoke arrow to give them both cover before she dove in and just started to shoot or kick any Skrull that even looked at Jubilee sideways.