Old stomping grounds *Mystic War tie-in*

[Wolverine]

While others were busy setting things up inside the new Grey School for Higher Learning, Logan did what he usually did. He took a walk to set himself straight.

Things had seemed off since the whole Selene-fueled drama at Miri and Sean's wedding, and the holidays seemed to fly by faster than usual. The new school was getting ready to open for what could only be called a practice run. Half the team was staying in San Francisco, and God only knew how many students would actually make it here when the place was up and running for good. 

Jean and Emma were still walking on broken glass around each other, and Kari had been pulling away from everyone but him, a few teammates like Jubilee and Kurt, and her family for weeks. He didn't want to press, but it wasn't good. Logan knew part of it was the nonsense with the Avengers, but it was more than that.

As Logan made his way toward the lake, he looked up to see one of Malachi's dragons flying overhead. The neighbors still called the cops every once in a great while when the big beasts flew over town, but today seemed to be one of the more quiet days. He stopped and took a drag off his cigar as he tried to figure out where the thing was going to land. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the dragon's resting spot.

Across the lake and just beyond the first group of trees, a spire made of cut stone, multicolored glass and wrought iron rose through the pines and maples that dotted the woods. "Shit. She did it," were the only words Logan could utter as a bridge emerged from the water so he would not have to circle the lake to get to the building on the other side.

Kari had said to Logan one night while they were in Japan a few months back that, if the school ever reopened, she would work with the mystics to build a safe haven for all the new magically-inclined and preternatural beings that were making their way into the X-Men's fold. Buckland's would still be a mystic safe haven in the UK, but she had thought the kids needed something a bit closer to home.

It also served the express purpose of keeping Emma off Kari's back. When it came to other studies, Kari would defer to Emma, Jean, Sean or any of the other staff members. When it came to magic or mystic battle training, Logan distinctly remembered Kari telling Emma she could go f*ck  herself. That was some afternoon.

"Wait'll they get a load of this," Wolverine chuckled as the dragon flew back out of one of the towers that rose behind the central spire. "Hogwarts on the Hudson."   

[Roslea MacFeorais]

Roslea was outside when the bridge to the other side of the lake raised itself so Wolverine could cross over. She still could not get used to calling Logan her brother-in-law, nor could she fathom the idea that he took this all in stride. As far as he was concerned, the man seemed to think this was all quite normal.

"Herself is inside," Roslea said cheerfully to Logan before she noticed his cigar. Kari tolerated them, but Roslea was not a fan of the things at all. She wrinkled her nose and made a funny face, hoping that Logan could tell her displeasure without her having to say a word. "I think they are putting the wards on the armory. That nutter Leo Sumner was supposed to help, but he seems to have been eaten by a Balrog or something. You want the 50 quid tour? I had to send that Quire boy packing earlier. I don't trust that lad one bit. Given the right circumstances, I fear he'd try to use magic to take over the world. He's a bit dodgy with his own gifts."

Roz noticed Logan shaking his head as she mentioned Quentin Quire. "He worries you too, eh?"



 

[Wolverine]

"Quire? Yeah, sure," Logan said as he rubbed his cigar in the palm of his hand to snuff it out. The wound healed quickly enough, but he was not happy he had to douse it in the first place. "He can be a pain. He's also a loner, and I understand that part. For all we know he's got the hots for one of the mystics now. That might be why he's been sniffing around."

"Goddess, I hope not!" Roslea replied as she shook her head. "I do not want to explain to an unhappy mage that his daughter was deflowered by that boy or was coerced into doing something illegal that could land her in jail. I did see him talking to Axl's daughter before..."

"I am sure Axl's daughter can handle herself. She is one of those Shadowhunters, right?" Logan asked as Roslea nodded in reply. "Thought so. She'll have him running away from her fast enough if he does something, what was the word you used?"

"Dodgy? That's the word. Dodgy," Roslea answered. "So, want that tour now?"

[Karenza]

The winds started to pick up, but this time it was not Ororo Munroe that was making the breeze blow. "Roz, is he here yet? And I don't mean Logan," the redhead said to her sister as she came out of the main doors of the building. "Sumner needs a new watch. Yesterday."

"I told you not to rely on that twit, Kiki. I know Grandmum wants him to help Finn, but he is as dodgy as that Quire boy. Quentin was here again and being a nosy git about it all," Roslea said as Kari walked over and kissed Logan. "I was going to give Logan the 50 quid tour. Is the armory still off-limits?"

Kari rolled her eyes as she thought about Quentin Quire. "If Quire comes back around, I want to speak to him. He's either here about Faith or Eden. Axl will have his head if he does something stupid with Eden, and the thought of Quire being around Michael Priest because of Faith does not sit well with me at all."

"Why are you stirring up the winds?" Roslea asked before she saw what was making the area a bit too breezy at the moment. "Merlin dropped off the green one, did he?"

"Not another dragon?" Logan chuckled as he looked up to see the tiny green dragon was no longer so small and was holding its own with the other three. "Is this one named Puff?"

"Our new beasts expert will be here in a few days, and I'm sure he has names at the ready. He's going to take some getting used to, but he is a nice enough soul. Just very protective of his charges," Kari added as she watched the dragons circling overhead.

 

  

[The Winter Soldier]

As he got closer to the X-Men's Westchester base, all Bucky Barnes could do was wonder if he should turn around and go back to Brooklyn. Steve had said Logan's wife would be happy to help him out now that they had built their fancy mystic school behind the one for the mutants.

Bucky had his doubts. The fact is, Bucky always had his doubts. About people, his own memories, places he should have remembered all too clearly.

Once his bike hit the nicely paved road leading into the old Xavier compound, he knew this was a mistake. Bucky also knew he needed answers.

"Hey! Geezer! Watch it!" Quentin Quire yelled at Barnes as the Winter Soldier continued to make his way toward the lake. Then he pulled his bike up sharply before he actually went into the lake.

"Hey! How am I supposed to get across this lake?" Barnes yelled before a green dragon landed near him. "No. No way in hell I'm flying over on that!"

As Barnes stood there, the bridge across the lake rose again from the water. The dragon snorted as the Winter Soldier finally made his way across. "Very funny!" he shouted as Roslea started to laugh loudly. "That thing could have eaten me!"     

[Karenza]

Kari looked between Logan and Roslea as Barnes made his way across the lake. "That dragon is not going to eat you!" Kari shouted as her patience grew thinner and thinner. "Steve called ahead. I'm not sure I can help you, Bucky, but I'll try."

{{I'll take care of this}} Kari said to Logan as he stared at the man who had killed his wife Itsu years ago and caused the chain of events that led to Daken's evolution. While Logan might have technically looked past Barnes' deeds because he was under the control of others, the deed had still not been truly forgiven, nor would it ever be. Kari understood that and hoped, in some small way, that helping Barnes piece everything together would give Logan a better picture of why this had happened beyond the very central theory that Romulus wanted it to happen.

"We can go inside," Kari said as she looked at Barnes and motioned for him to follow her, but the man stopped in his tracks. "If you don't want to do this, then you might as well head out of here, Bucky."

"I'm not here to have you help me piece this all back together," Barnes said as he tapped the side of his head. "And I'm not out here to talk to you about the past, Logan. I know one day the bill will come due. I came out here to give you a warning about Tony Stark."

 

[Ravenheart]

Cormac, one of the legion of Kari's family members that had been working to help build the mystic center, walked out of the main doors, beer in hand, and headed right toward the group. "Logan! If you want to check the armory, come with me." He then saw Bucky Barnes standing there and grunted at the man. "Not you. I don't trust you and that flag-waving friend of yours."

"Mac, cool it," Kari said as she turned toward her brother to judge just how drunk he might be, gritting her teeth as he took a slow drink from his amber long neck bottle. "This has to do with Stark, and I know you have more issues with him than you do with Steve or Bucky."

With more than a bit of drama tinging his actions, Cormac spit on the ground and moved to stand next to his brother-in-law.  "Do tell. What is the tin-suited despot planning now? I told you we need to get Adaryn and her children away from that madman. This Stark is not their father."

"Let the man speak," Kari said as she looked from her brother to the Winter Soldier once more.  "I thought Tony had calmed down. What stirred him up this time?"
 
 

[The Winter Soldier]

"Your dust-up with Jean Grey," Barnes said as he looked at the group and seemed to steel himself against the railing of the bridge. "And the fact Niamh's powers are all over the map. He scares her. A lot."

"Exactly why we need to get her and her brother and our beloved Little Bird out of that madhouse!" Cormac shouted as he glared at Barnes. "Up here no one would think to question her evolving powers like that. Train her? Hell yes! Prepare to lock her away in the Negative Zone? No way in hell!"

The Winter Soldier looked at Kari and her sister as they both seemed to lose all the color from their faces. He'd hit a nerve. He could see that clear as day.

"Tony gets in his own head and doesn't come up for air, and you know that's true, Logan," Barnes added as he looked up to see the dragons--all four of them--circling overhead. "And your neighbors don't complain about that? Really?"

"Back on topic, boyo!" Cormac snapped as he moved closer to his sisters. "What is Stark doing to keep Niamh in check? Power dampener? Binding spell courtesy of that pansy Stephen Strange?"

"Would he ever do something that simple?" Barnes asked as he shook his head. "Or that low tech?"
 

[Karenza]

Kari rolled her eyes and wanted to do nothing more than scream so all of Annwyn could hear her, but raising an army of the dead could not be on the list of things to do today. "What did he build now?" she asked Barnes as she shot Logan a look. "And does Steve know about it?"

"That flag-waving..." Mac started to say before Logan waved him off. "Fine. Does the Captain know, or is it that he sanctions the action?"

"As far as I know, Steve is as in the dark as most of the other Avengers. Banner might know, but I know he won't like it. He thinks highly of your sister. He would not be in favor of doing anything to hurt her children," Barnes replied as Kari leaned back against the opposite railing. "And I am fairly certain Strange isn't in the loop. I heard Stark muttering about it being wiser not to let him know."

"And that is all I need to hear," Kari said as she looked at Logan and shook her head. "Someone is going to have to talk Tony out of this before Niamh gets hurt. He got it into his head again that he can control magic. The two other times he tried ended in disaster." 

[Wolverine]

((Darlin, what do ya need me to do?)) Logan asked Kari in their link as he could sense her anger growing by the second. ((Roslea and Mac can mind the store while we go visit Tony. I wish Stalik were here. I'm sure he'd give Stark a piece of his mind and then some))

{{He'd slam him against the wall of Avengers Tower for starters}} Kari replied as Logan looked over at Barnes and shook his head. {{What is it?}}

((Why the hell did Barnes offer up this info anyway? We aren't exactly pals)) Logan added as  he turned to see Cormac setting down his beer bottle. ((Your brother might be a problem))

"Mac? We can handle this," Kari said as her brother kept getting a bit more fidgety. "Is this about Laurel? Marcas? They don't go near Stark. Laurel has expressed her extreme dislike of the man more than once."

"He's going to use that thing again and end up killing one of us, and I don't mean Strange. He wasn't born to it like we are. Makes it easier for Stark to pass him over for execution," Cormac said as he pressed, once again, the party line of "mystic by blood is better than mystic by book" that Logan knew drove Kari nuts.

"Mac, why don't we go inside for a bit," Roslea said as she started to guide her brother back into the building. "Let Kari and Logan do what they need to do."

"Barnes, keep talkin'," Logan said as he got out another cigar. He knew his wife wouldn't object to it like her sister did earlier.

[The Winter Soldier]

"Not much else I can say," Barnes replied as he looked overhead at the dragons again. "Tony thinks he can see the future and fix it. Not see. Figure out patterns by what is happening now. Natasha and I talk about it sometimes. Makes my head hurt."

"I can only imagine how figuring out anything Stark does would make your head hurt," Kari said as she looked back at Roz and Mac as her sister tried to get her brother inside. "Mac, please, we will get Adaryn back home with the kids. I promise."

"Do not let any of them talk you out of it," Cormac said as he pointed at Barnes. "Avengers my ass! Haters and warmongers is more like it!"  

"Cormac! I will handle this!" Kari shouted as the bridge started to shake. "Sorry. I'm just as scared as you are, Mac. Guess I'm not holding it together all too well after all."

"Why in God's name would you?" Barnes asked as he leaned back against the railing once more. "She is your niece."