That morning, Bobby was watching the news in the kitchen, monopolizing the remote from anyone else who had come down to breakfast, when Forge showed up with the old blueprints from the blackbird, ready to re-hash how to improve on the old design and work in some of the things that Scott had requested before he went back to Alaska. Seeing as the blackbird had been destroyed, they had to rebuild it anyway, so they might as well implement the upgrades he wanted.

"Why isn't he here again?" The tall Native American asked as he unrolled the blueprints that were stained here and there with old coffee rings and grease smudges.

"He's engaged to a nice girl. Doesn't want to screw it up," Logan told him as he went over to join him and Bobby hushed them both.

"JJ's on another rant," Bobby explained as he turned the volume up and the three of them looked up to see what it was that had his whiskers twisted this time.

"It's one thing to go back on a contract with someone who put in years of hard work just because a little girl got twisted around by one of these mutants and wants to hold them to arbitrary standards that weren't in place when the contracts were signed. It's entirely immoral and possibly illegal, mind you, to go back on these lifetime contracts for no solid reasons, but it's one thing to do that to these hardworking writers—" JJ was saying. "—but she can't even tell them herself — she's in hiding somewhere — can't even face the people whose livelihoods she's destroying! We hear about all these contracts being cancelled at Bishop Publishing, but does Ms. Bishop return even a single phone call from the people whose years of hard work are being flushed down the drain? No! Is this really how you run a business? Hiding from your own writers?"

Part of the way through JJ's rant, Kate had come down the stairs in her usual state of morning disrepair, but when she'd heard Jameson's voice, she'd woken up pretty darn fast and just started glaring.

"I was in space in a futzing space mine you lousy rotten little cretin," she growled out.

"Pretty sure if you told that to him he'd try to have you committed," Logan pointed out.

Kate crossed her arms. "For what? Not like he doesn't know aliens exist."

"Just because he knows doesn't mean that he'd ever say anyone outside of SHIELD and the Avengers have had any dealings with them," Forge answered as he went back to his blueprints.

"I have pictures from space on my phone," Kate pointed out.

"Photoshop," Forge said distractedly as he made a few notations. He hadn't even looked up.

"I had an alien boyfriend." Kate glared at him.

"Delusions of grandeur," Forge replied. "That or — you know. Just more proof of your 'poor' taste in men."

"Aww, who asked you anyway?" Kate said with a glare that could have killed if he was paying more attention.

Forge looked up at her and blinked a few times. "I'm not saying I agree; I'm just pointing out how he'd spin it." He frowned and started to carefully and lightly sketch out a new profile for the plane.

Kate glared at him for a while again and then tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I've got to call him now or I look like I'm still hiding. I hate his guts," she sighed, looking through her phone. "I think I'll call all the other networks first though. And maybe drop some suggestions that he look into the way he treats his writers. Jen and Matt made sure I'm perfectly within my legal rights, and he's a cesspool of verbal abuse and predatory low payments for his freelancers."

"Smile when you talk on the phone. I'm told it'll make you sound like you don't want to rip his head off," Logan advised halfheartedly as he started making his additions and writing down his requests to Forge's design.

"If I imagine kicking him in between his legs while I talk to him, it usually helps," Kate said through her teeth.

"If that's what makes you smile," Logan said as he glanced up at her with a smirk. "I'll buy you a new pair of boots."

She grinned at him and then slid over to see what they were doing, curiosity temporarily overcoming her annoyance. "Rebuilding the plane?" she asked over her coffee mug.

"Fury offered to loan us one, but I don't want to use SHIELD equipment," Logan explained. "Price is too high."

"Yeah, he might send you on a space mission and let you get hugged by some new former teammate," Kate said with a smirk.

He gave her a witheringly dry look. "You really aren't that funny."

"I'm hilarious. You're just grumpy," she said, waving her hand at him. She glanced up at the TV again. "I think I'll tell that loser I can't possibly be asked to personally talk to one of thousands of writers on my staff, but if he wants to play numbers, he can tell me about all the writers on the Bugle he's personally fired."

"Good luck, whatever you tell him," Forge said. "Get him."

"Good luck with your plane stuff," Kate said as she headed out the door, her phone already to her ear. "Can't wait to see the new model."

Forge and Logan just shared a look before they went back to their planning - only for a new visitor to crash into the kitchen as well. It was Noh-Varr, and he looked to be carrying all sorts of odds and ends in a little bag at his hip. He was looking over his shoulder as he came in. "I have never been terrified of one of Kate's smiles before," he said in a slightly disbelieving tone as he crossed the kitchen.

Logan just half snorted to himself and waved him over. "What's on your mind? Didn't expect to see you back so soon."

"I felt bad about the loss of your craft," Noh admitted. "It was the Accusers who destroyed it, and as I said — they are my problem." He set the bag down on the table with a small smile. "Besides, I told Cyclops that I would help him update that cumbersome Shi'ar technology."

"Well now I guess we can start from scratch," Logan said. "If the Accusers hadn't wrecked it, someone else would have. It's been rebuilt a few times."

Logan straightened up when Forge cleared his throat and gave him a significant look. "Right. You two haven't met. Noh — this is our usual designer. He goes by Forge. Forge—" he waved to Noh. "Jubilee's newest ... friend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Noh said with a sincere smile Forge's way. "I hope you'll forgive my saying that your plane designs were severely out of date."

"Oh, no forgiveness needed. It needed updating before Charles died," Forge replied. "And - yeah. Out of date is a really polite way to put it. But that — that's kind of what you get when you merge Shi'ar and whatever was top of the line at the time. Shi'ar parts weren't exactly easy to find, so I modified."

Noh nodded thoughtfully and then gestured toward the bag. "I've brought a few odds and ends you might find useful. They are far more intuitive than Shi'ar technology, and, I hope, more easily merged."

Forge didn't wait for further invitation before he stepped around Logan to the bag and frowned at the contents before he picked up the closest hunk of machinery. "Oh," he said, tipping his head to the side. "This — this is an auxiliary control," Forge said as his brows drew together and he turned it over in his hands. "We don't have anything that will integrate with this power source though."

"I had a few ideas about that," Noh said as he slid into the seat between the two of them.

Logan handed him a pencil and just gestured to the designs. "Have a ball."

Noh grinned as he started to scribble, then paused and looked at Forge. "Can you read Kree? It would be easier for me to explain in my native language."

"Yes, go ahead," Forge replied with a nod. "If I come across something beyond me, I'll tell you."

"Marvelous." Noh went back to scribbling. "I saw the way you integrated Shi'ar technology into your ship, and while the design was outdated, the merging tools were very nearly genius," he muttered as he did so. "I thought we could use the psionic output of my ship's piloting interface to do something similar."

As the two of them got more excited and started bouncing ideas between them, Logan very quietly slipped away from them and headed to the garage to work on something a bit more worldly. The motorcycle had been begging for a tune up, and he knew the business with the jet was in good hands.

He'd been working on it for a good couple of hours when all hell broke loose. A high-pitched scream that sounded far less like one of terror and far more like a Shi'ar battlecry echoed all the way to where Logan was suddenly forced to abandon the bike and rush inside.

There, in the kitchen, Warbird was making a rush, sword drawn right at Noh, who had squared up and drawn his own weapons, both of which were leveled at her chest. Logan didn't waste the breath telling them to stop — simply because he knew better - and instead, he just rushed in between the two of them and put up a set of claws toward both of their faces.

"There will be no fighting between the two of you here." He looked at Noh for just a moment before he concentrated on Warbird, knowing that she was the instigator in this would-be scuffle. "My threat remains. Anyone in these halls that is clearly a welcome guest is under my protection. I will remove that head of yours and boot it into the lake. Am I clear?"

The Shi'ar body guard glared venomously at him for a moment before she looked past him to Noh. "But he doesn't receive the same threats?"

"He was ready to defend," Logan replied. "You were attacking." He turned toward Noh with a meaningful glare. "You were just defending right? Or do I have to threaten to take your head off too?"

Noh glared past Logan at Warbird. "I was defending myself," he said very carefully. "I didn't come here to fight Shi'ar."

"Good," Logan said before he turned back to Warbird, though he didn't lower his claws. "Start it up again and I'll let him kill you."

Warbird glared venomously. "I will not start anything," she said at last.

"Then run along," Logan growled out her way.

When Warbird finally, grudgingly, left the room, Noh let out a sigh and shook his head at Forge and Logan. "You keep strange company."

"She came here as a bodyguard to one of the kids at the school and just stayed even after the kid was gone," Logan told him. "He was a pain in the ass."

"It must be an important child to have such a..." Noh paused, searching for the word. "Distinguished Shi'ar in your ranks."

"Emperor's son," Logan admitted. "Charles arranged for it through his old alliance — the Emperor more or less kicked her out of the Imperial guard. Said somethin' about serving a higher purpose. She's been kinda teaching art ever since."

Noh didn't bother to hide his astonishment as he gaped openly at Logan. "The emperor's son?" he repeated, then shook his head.

"Coming here was supposed to be a punishment for him. For destroying half of their capital city for fun." Logan gave him a look.

"And she teaches here." Noh let out a clear noise of derision.

"Drawing," Logan said. "Apparently that's taboo for Imperial Warbirds. But old habits die hard."

"That's encouraging, then, that she is pursuing new things." Noh just ran a hand through his hair and tried to look more relaxed.

"She said it was something she did when she was a kid — in secret. Burned them once she'd finished them. Thought it was disgraceful."

"It is disgraceful — for the Shi'ar to keep art from blooming. Even in my universe, my people recognized the importance of creative endeavors." He paused and smirked. "Even if there were no tight harmony groups." He paused, made a few notations in the blackbird specs, and then picked up his train of thought again. "And in the meantime, you have this former Imperial Shi'ar wandering your halls?"

"She usually sticks pretty much to herself," Logan admitted. "Unless she's trying to talk Bobby into performing mating rituals."

Noh looked at him a bit open-mouthed. "And... does Iceman...?"

"There is no way in hell," Logan replied. "Doop on the other hand ... well. I'm just glad he's outta here if he's going to do stuff like that. Place needs to have some standards."

"That's a relief." Noh leaned back and sighed before he admitted, "It already feels a bit like enemy territory just looking through your technology. I would hate to think there were.... Familial ties with one like her."

"No. Not going to happen," Logan assured him. "Ask Bobby if you want to ease your mind, but she freaks him out. I'm pretty sure she's never gotten past second base with him."

Noh made an obvious face at that. "And what does she do around this mansion when she is not bothering your guests?" he asked as he sat back down.

"Like I said," Logan replied as he joined Noh. "Teaches art and terrifies Bobby. Otherwise she likes to say she's our security but that just amounts to her thinkin' she's hot shit and bothering guests from time to time."

Noh chuckled. "Perhaps you need an actual security officer to protect you from her."

"She's not a real concern but — it would be nice to upgrade that too." He shook his head and let out a breath. "I'm always up for new ideas."

"I'd like to look at your security measures as well, if it's not too much to ask," Noh said thoughtfully. "I don't like to think my friends live anywhere without the best of security measures — not outdated Shi'ar technology."

"You're a guest," Logan said with a little smirk. "So — make yourself at home. If that means adding to the security? Go for it."

It was a few days later when Kate finally had her moment with J. Jonah Jameson. And everyone watching was entertained.

"Kurt, you gotta see this," Logan said with an amused smirk as he stuck his head in the door of Kurt's room. "Kate is having a ball on national television and I think Parker might have an aneurism from laughing if he keeps it up." He turned his head and lost the smirk completely. "What the hell is going on in here anyhow?"

What had previously been a desk now looked like it was simply the centerpoint of stacks of books and legal files and boxes. "What did she do? It looks like a law office and a used book store vomited together with the leftovers of a busted up archery range."

Kurt let out a sigh and shook his head. "She's trying to reorganize the entire company, I think. From this little desk." He laughed just a bit as he gestured to the piles. "I'm afraid it's going to take over my room if something doesn't happen soon, but she is just so determined that it's almost a shame to ask her to move anything."

Logan stepped in a bit further, carefully avoiding the stacks of papers and picked up the book on the top of the nearest stack.

"Don't," Kurt said, rushing over to put the book back. "Don't alter her 'organization', and don't bother reading that tripe."

Logan nodded and just watched Kurt for a moment. "You think you can 'port this crap somewhere else — you know. More or less how she left it — just not here?" Kurt frowned and looked up at his friend.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked as he watched the smirk on Logan's face.

"I think our crackshot editor needs an office. Pretty sure we have a spare one or three." He tipped his head toward the door. "Come on, I'll help you. We'll even put in a coffee maker so she doesn't have to mess with that too."

That afternoon, Noh had come back to the mansion with a few more ideas for security upgrades that of course he wanted to show Forge first before presuming to make the changes himself — though he arrived in the middle of a class change and somehow ended up heading toward the art department.

He couldn't help being a bit curious, really. Shi'ar were known for being scavengers of technology and better ways to kill — not for art. So what was Shi'ar art? And as soon as he overheard one of the students talking about their art class... well, he'd been told that the staff often visited each other's classes. He assumed he could just sit in the back of the class and observe. Just to satisfy his curiosity.

"Why are you here?" Warbird asked with a glare when she saw Noh in the doorway.

"Curiosity," he said, carefully. "I heard you teach here and wanted to see for myself."

"I don't know what you're trying to learn about my fellow warbirds, but I won't divulge anything to you." She had a bit of a sneer on her face, though she didn't drop her gaze in the least.

"You presume a lot to think I'm interested in you as a case study when you are here on Earth teaching art," Noh said, his arms crossed. "There are warriors I could look to instead."

Her hands gripped the swords at her side as she clearly took it as an insult. "Get out," she said. "From one failed warrior to another — you wouldn't be here either unless you'd been banished. I am still welcome on my home planet — can you say the same?"

He glared at her openly as it was obvious the blow struck home, but he quickly recovered with a low hiss. "I can — though you'd be executed on sight in my universe. It's a shame this one is so... lax about your kind."

"Unlike the Kree, we Shi'ar do tend to make use of even the most worthless trash before it's thrown out. I wonder what uses I could find for you?"

By that time, both of them were clearly taking up fighting positions, nearly circling while still keeping from outright confrontation. "I cannot think of a single use for you," Noh sneered. "But then, space debris is useless even to Shi'ar."

"Yet I hold a position here ... so even the X-Men can't find a somewhat decent use for white-haired space trash that your own people could not."

Noh let out another low hiss at that, taking a step forward with his teeth bared. "Don't speak of what you don't understand."

She just smirked his way. "Oh, did I touch a nerve? Do you need to cry about it? I thought even Kree warriors were supposed to be made of tougher stuff than that."

His glare deepened as he took another step forward, and the mesmerized students watching the show watched as he pointed a finger her way, one long claw extending to nearly dagger length and inching toward her as he hissed out, "Do not test me."

"Ah, something we can agree on — at least, in my homeworld, only superiors would do the testing."

With a cry, Noh sprang forward and simply dragged his claws along one side of her even as she had already pulled out her swords to drive one into his side, and it wasn't long before they were both scrambling to get the edge on each other as the students very quickly exited the classroom to get somewhere safe from the fight. If the chaos of the students wasn't enough to let the other teachers nearby know something was wrong, the Shi'ar war cry was — as Warbird let out a piercing shriek that had Noh gasping at the frequency the Imperial Shi'ar were trained to know would best rupture tympanic membranes and not just irritate Kree.