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It did not take long for Agnes to follow Rebecca’s lead, emerging sheepishly from the bedroom to help prepare breakfast. The topless redhead was mildly disappointed to see her paramour wearing a shirt, but her logic was undeniably sound: bacon was going to be necessary. Rebecca knew firsthand the ramifications of shirtless bacon cooking, so she had to accept Agnes was taking one for the team so they could have delicious greasy breakfast treats.

Rebecca was already looking through the fridge for essentials when Agnes joined her. She was not struggling with locating items; the longer she looked through the fridge, the more the layout felt familiar from when they shared a fridge. Her mind was thinking about what she could do with the ingredients at her disposal. Fruit… butter… bacon (of course.) She was just missing…

”Ooh!” she purred in reply to the unexpected greeting of Agnes’s body embracing her from behind. It all felt so right… she felt the back of her body instinctively press against Agnes. Of course, she could not just let the woman drape over her like some object, no matter how sexy and comfortable she was. Rebecca put up a half-hearted fight, squirming while in Agnes’s grasp before she was given some freedom and direction to the item she was looking for: milk.

Her left hand reached over her left shoulder, using the back of Agnes’s head to pull her close enough that Rebecca could leave a kiss on her cheek. ”Ay coorse. Ye a’ays lae th' milk oan th' door.” It was easy to tell who last drank from the milk by whether it was on the door shelf or the fridge proper.

Grabbing an armful of ingredients, she laid the items on the counter so she could return to Agnes. She ran her hands under the oversized shirt, running her fingernails lightly across the back beneath the clothing. It was tempting to remove the shirt, but it had a job to do—a bacon related job. Instead, Rebecca lightly kissed Agnes’s lips and smiled. ”If ye make bacon sae Ah dinnae burn mahself… again… Ah’ll take care ay th…” She leaned in close to Agnes’s ear and spoke in a breathy, sexy whisper, ”banana pancakes.” They were both great cooks, so when there was time to make real meals, they always enjoyed treating each other to delicious meals. When it came to breakfast, banana pancakes were an easy meal that never failed to please.

Welcome back, Ambersaurus!

Devon was apologetic, but it was unnecessary. He was a good man (she was hoping) who happened to struggle when someone surprised him with a thick accented voice. Being on the internet, where many saw her voice as an opportunity for mockery or caricature, she would gladly accept well-intentioned honesty.

Rebecca opened the window for Devon to make a statement, and since it would have been rude to pull out her phone and record the response, she made a point to commit it to memory. She would not need to directly quote him in her brief overview of the night—she might pull him into an interview for that. For the moment, she was just looking to get general impressions and insights to share with her followers, and perhaps generate some hype for Haven’s introduction.

The message was promising: community outreach, education, and betterment. All excellent focal points for an organization looking to make a difference. He intended to work with schools to shore up resources and give children a better chance, which of course sounded appealing to Rebecca as a teacher. He even touched on work they were putting forward for the benefit of discriminated classes, including mutants and those struggling with gender identity issues, both matters being personally close to Rebecca’s heart.

Honestly, the pitch sounded ideal to Rebecca. She was unsure if this were the overview he was giving anyone who asked, or if he had done his homework on Rebecca’s stances, but regardless, she was impressed. He spoke of a mission that, while flexible, would look to keep core values intact. She could positive spin the hell out of this organization.

”Flexibility is important, efter aw. Th’ world’s a’ays changing, reit?” Who was to say what new struggles and injustices might arise in the coming years? She liked that Haven was not looking to pigeonhole themselves. ”A still look forward tae seeing whit comes next with Haven, but Ah think Ah hae mair than enough tae gie mah followers a taste.”

Pleased with the content she could put into an upcoming video, Rebecca still wanted to generate excitement until she found the tie to record. Pulling out her phone, she smirked at Devon, who, for all his clout and accomplishments, was still younger than her. ”Ah hope ye dinnae mind; mah job is tae appeal tae millennials, an’ naething daes that loch a good selfie. Especially with a handsome philanthropist,” she added, hoping the compliment was in good taste.

”Would ye induldge me?” she asked, gesturing to her phone, already open to its front-facing camera.

Rebecca should be more concerned with what was on her plate than what her teammate was doing, but she was the veteran of the course, with a power that gave her an advantage over the enemies they were dealing with. It was Kendra who, for all Rebecca knew, was entering into her first combat situation. For that reason, it was hard not to keep an eye on the hovering hammer that suggested the placement of her companion. The battle-cry did not hurt, either.

The teleporter was using her power to her advantage, and Rebecca could finally follow along with the visible weapon showing where she was blinking off to and from. It was an interesting and useful power, and with proper training, could likely do her a world of good. Hell, it could possibly do the world a world of good if she found the right group to help her along the right path.

She was at the Mansion after all; the place where X-Men were made.

Rebecca just caught the downward descent of the hammer smashing straight through the shielded skeleton before she had to turn her attention to the large beast she was fighting. The sword it carried was massive, but as such, it was very slow. Even without her powers, a nimble fighter like Rebecca could dodge and duck the titanic swipes. That was not to say she was not using her powers; slightly altering the course of a weapon’s movement was an easy and effective way to appear untouchable. It was one of her favorite tricks in a combat situation because it made her seem more intimidating without tipping her hand as to her power set.

…Of course, at this moment, her swirling bone shield did that. Two of the bones she had under her control were spinning behind her so she could use them to intercept crossbow bolts that were still getting fired in her direction. The other two bones were circling her target, waiting for a moment to strike.

She would get that chance when the skeleton swordsman took a strong swing downward. The attack was sideswiped by Rebecca, and the weapon hit the metallic ground with a loud clang. Immediately, her bones flew downward at full force, slamming into the metallic metacarpals of her foe. She timed her axe kick to slam down on the same spot, applying more force to the impact of her attack, and with that area of “bones” being so loosely connected, the whole hand shattered from the beast’s arm.

Smirking, Rebecca wasted no time lifting the sword from the ground, using her powers to aid her in holding the massive weapon. Without magnetism, the impressive weapon might be too large for her to even lift, but her gifts allowed her to carry it as if it were a shortsword.

With her foe now weaponless, Rebecca took a downward swipe of her own. With the weight of the sword and the additional force of magnetic waves guiding it, she was able to cleanly shatter the shoulder, rib cage, and hip bone on the way through the body of the monster.

While Rebecca had been busy, Kendra found her way into more trouble, dropping a chandelier into a mass of enemies. If it was intentional, it was damn clever, but it did result, from what Rebecca could tell, with the young woman in the grasp of a crawling enemy. Her hammer was out of her grasp as well, which was never an enviable position.

Kendra was able to improvise, and that was important in its own right. A shield hovered off the ground, presumably in the dreamwalker’s hands, and it was quickly used to bludgeon the crawling skeleton to death.

The newbie was being put through her paces, but her invisibility thankfully kept most attention off of her. There were still two crossbow skeletons, a skeleton with a dirk, and one with a spear eyeing Rebecca, but if the AI knew fear, it might have known they were walking into a losing fight. Rebecca had a bone shield; she had a person-sized weapon she had full control of; heck, she had an invisible companion. This was basically a geared-out Rebecca, and as her gamer girlfriend would say, they were just trash mobs.

Almost on cue, a circular shield appeared at Rebecca’s side, (which she made note of to keep the swirling bones away from accidentally making Kendra collateral damage.) There was a twinge in her voice that suggested she might not be in tip-top shape, but it was hidden well by her enthusiasm and fighting spirit. Also, she might have just made a life pun in the face of their undead enemies, and that was its own brand of admirable confidence.

She nodded and advised, ”Ah’ll take th’ knifey one an’ th’ tois marksmen; ye can hae th’ spearman.” Honestly, Rebecca could have dispatched all four with her current equipment, and in terms of priority, the dirk skeleton was less of a challenge than the spear-wielder, who was physically larger and had a reach advantage with his weapon. The decision was less about practicality and more to see what Kendra could do.

Worst case scenario, Rebecca would help patch up any spear-related injuries.

With the heavier question out of the way and plenty of time before they had to give thought to their selfishness, Agnes was ready to satisfy a growing appetite for Becca. The redhead felt curious hands moving over her body, awakening her with each new region graced by the slender fingertips. Had they not been so adorably interrupted, they would have likely picked up where things left off the night before.

However, there was something endearing in its own right about cuddling with Agnes and her kitten. It was a nostalgic callback from the days when they lived in their own, with Domino finding a place of his own to curl up amidst the two content lovers. Now that Agnes had added a new fur baby to their lives, it was only fair for Lilith to christen the new… whatever Rebecca and Agnes were now. Hopefully they would find the time and place for more intimate endeavors soon enough, but for now, they would rest peacefully a moment longer.

The idea of shared parenthood seemed easily accepted by Agnes, which made sense; being a single cat mom was tough. River had not been around, so she had never met the young kitten, so she held no claim on Lilith.

Unlike the apartment that Rebecca stayed in for the night. Or the bed she slept in. Or the fiancée she made love to all night.

And once again, it was still too early to give thought to River! She had a beautiful brunette and a precious kitten resting with her, and if River was willing to take this whole perfect life for granted, why should Rebecca be concerned with her?

She banished moral quandaries from her head and chuckled at Agnes’s claims that she owed “child support.” To add some weight to her otherwise empty accusation, she left Rebecca’s side and turned away from her, demanding a lavish breakfast as payment for taking care of their cat daughter for so long.

Rebecca was not going to take that kind of talk lying down! Quite literally, in fact, as she sat up and let Lily slide from her spot on Rebecca’s stomach. The sheet fell from her body, exposing her freckled chest and stomach, with the cloth draping over Lilith, the happy purrito. ”An’ here Ah thocht we were oan th’ same page!”

Agnes had exposed her back, which gave Rebecca a perfect opening to reach both sides of the woman, using her deft fingers to tickle a spot-on Agnes’s ribcage, below her underarm and just shy of her breast. Some things were still reemerging from Rebecca’s memory, lost in the happy haze, but she never forgot the spots Agnes was weakest to tickling.

As much as Agnes would squirm, her torturer would stay on those spots, laughing wildly to herself as she chastised, ”Here Ah am makin’ amends an’ tryin’ tae make us a cat family again, an’ yer jist gonna be a brat!”

Out of breath, still laughing, she finished her assault on Agnes’s sides, pressing her forehead against the base of her lover’s neck. ”We work best taegether, Aggie,” she reminded her in a happy whisper, before finally sitting up and stepping off the side of the bed. As nice as staying there forever might sound, the two did need food, and Lily was not old enough to answer the door to deliverymen.

”Come oan,” she said, laying a light smack onto Agnes’s bottom before locating her panties on the floor. Agnes’s apartment was not near the ground level, so she was comfortable making that her only clothing reacquisition, having no worries of peeping toms. ”Let’s make breakfast.” Agnes did have a perfect table in the dining room for them to make use of.

For breakfast.

Probably.

The table was a gamble, but it was a large, effective gamble. With one last sweeping move, she had pinned or knocked out any remaining guards. She felt bad about taking out men who likely were only following orders, but historically, those were the dangerous ones.

They were not, however, the evil ones. She knew all too well who was in the wrong in their situation. As the two X-Men brushed themselves off and regained their composure, Juliette proposed it was time for them to make their exit. Rebecca agreed, but she had one last thing to take care of. ”One sec, luv,” she replied, before sauntering over confidently to the Senator, who seemed far less confident than he was when he ordered a flock of armed men at two mutant women.

”Listen here, Mandell. Ah knae yoo’re probably feelin’ th’ temptation tae use this evenin’ as part ay yer anti-mutant propaganda. Sae let’s discuss facts: we live in th’ world ay public opinion.” It was true, even if it was not right, but in this case, it was a double-edged sword. ”We still hae th’ video invitation ay yer buddy there,” she said, gesturing at the cowardly man under the table she arrived with, ”Invitin’ us tae this shindig. It’d be th’ easiest sell fur anyain tae paint this as a set-up.”

The senator was looking at her defiantly, but he knew the women were in charge of the evening and the narrative now. ”At that point, yer dealin’ with questions of lurin’ mutant women tae be attacked. An’ as a member of th’ media, Ah’ll be glad tae push ‘at possibility.” She did not specify that she was a member of the “new” media, because fossils like Senator Mandell would doubt her credibility on that front, and her threat had teeth. She would be glad to ruin the man if necessary, taking them both into the dangerous gaze of hyper-critical judgment. ”Yer bread an’ butter micht be anti-mutant policy, bit ye cannae scare off all th’ moderates, richt?”

Pleased with herself, Rebecca walked away from the man, heading toward the exit with Jules. ”Let everyain knae this was a misunderstanding, an’ we’re sorry fer causin’ a stop tae th’ festivities. Thenks fer th’ guid time!”

And with that, the two X-Women made their exit, having unexpectedly, but very successfully put an end to an anti-mutant event. A success like this called for tacos, she was fairly sure. She would propose a post-mission snack run, her treat for causing the ruckus. The night could use a fun turn, and she wanted to get to know Juliette more. The woman seemed smart, fun, and beautiful, and even if she happened to have, say, a boyfriend who also happened to be one of the team leaders of the X-Men, she would still make a great new friend.

Rent on the offices could be worse. Before the X-Men located their operation out of the hospital, the upper levels of the building were being utilized mostly for storage. Most people gave them little thought, assuming they must be some small private business renting out space for themselves. A select few people at the hospital knew the truth, and those were thankfully the people who helped the team secure a preferential rent deal any business would salivate over.

Except the X-Men were not a business, or at least not one that generated revenue. The team had money once, but that became a reserve fund which became an emergency fund which was soon to become a memory of a fund. Rebecca’s employees would often joke that she must be doing alright for herself with what she had done to stabilize the Rock Bottom Pub, but they were unaware she was bringing that money back to keep her family stable and work towards team expenses. Rent, medical treatments (which, to be fair, they also received at a phenominal discount,) equipment, (at least all that was not “borrowed” government issue,) and office supplies.

There was a reason Rebecca would rather fill a cat bowl than look at the budget spreadsheets on her desk.

As she got up from Bijou’s new corner, her ears picked up the jostling of the doorknob to her office. Rebecca’s head jerked in the direction of the door since she had always been trained to assume the worst, but as over-enthusiastic as Cait could be, Rebecca could not call her the worst.

But really… it was too early in the… noon to have Cait around.

This mood was either picked up through Rebecca’s look or her aura or Cait might have even assumed it before entering, (clever girl she was,) because she started apologizing almost instantly. She was apologizing for being late and letting her Leader know she had her reports. Honestly, during the day, Rebecca was not overly concerned about her team’s punctuality; much of what they did during that time was review information gathered from missions and tips, as well as a large dose of police-scanner listening. If she was a hard-a** about Cait’s promptness, it was only to set a precedent so she showed up to actual missions on time.

The report was a nice touch though. Mission and patrol reports were where she could glean intel from half the time, so Cait was smart to lead with this. She was also providing herself as a proactive problem-solver by bringing in two coffees and a slice of devil’s food cake from a local bakery. Rebecca looked from the reports to the coffee to the cake, before her stern mismatched eyes focused on Cait, as she silently stared through her for a few long seconds.

She sighed, and a keen eye would catch that she almost cracked a smile, or at least a smirk. ”Congratulations, Shivs. You live.” Of course, she took the cake as payment for safe passage.

Rebecca was about to advise Cait about the new addition to the office, (feeling she might have a chance of toning down her reaction if she controlled the introduction,) but the door to her office burst open to reveal another member of the team.

Ah, Combatant. Her working relationship with Agnes was… well, combative at times. She was an asset to the team, and as much as she would deny it, she did make an effort to be the team member Impact needed her to be.

But dear. God. What. A. B****.

Most of their interactions were either quipped, snarked, or shouted, seemingly whether they were on the same side or not. Agnes respected her as a leader (she hoped,) but she loved nothing more than to get under Rebecca’s skin, and she was damn good at it.

Thankfully, Agnes was not there to chit-chat or verbally spar, as she entered the room and tossed a small bag of money on Rebecca’s desk. The split lip and black eye made it clear this cash was not earned selling lemonade. The Team Leader had, in the past, chastised Combatant for her habit of joining underground fighting rings. It was reckless. It was stupid. It was a great way to out herself to almost exclusively criminals.

But they rarely argued about it anymore, and that was mostly Rebecca’s fault. It was a particularly high-strung, alcohol-induced argument where she unintentionally came clean with the team’s financial situation. Rebecca did her best not to put that pressure on the team, because the responsibility fell on her to keep things running. She felt nothing would be gained from putting more stress on a team that had two women in their early twenties, a teenager, a surprisingly pleasant insect man, a spouse who lived in another physical realm, a loose cannon, and one Leader who was probably in over her head. Most of them were there because they wanted to make the world better, and that was all she wanted to ask of them.

Except now Agnes new better, and as much as Rebecca wanted to take a moral high ground, she was not in a position to turn down money the team desperately needed. So she would turn a blind eye to Agnes’s questionably legal activities and just appreciate the fighter being a team player in her own special way.

This special way did not include letting her teammates enjoy their coffee, as Agnes wordlessly grabbed one of the cups on her way out the door. Rolling her eyes, just before Agnes was out of earshot, she said, ”Always a pleasure, Agnes.”

With one less X-Woman in the room, Rebecca’s eyes turned back not to Cait, but to the last remaining coffee she was holding. She looked at the drink she so desperately needed, before looking back up at the cheerier redhead. ”That is a ‘thank you for all of your infinite patience, boss’ coffee, right?”

”Prrrri?”

Right! Rebecca had been so concerned with the state of her caffeine addiction, for a moment her memory lapsed and she forgot about Bijou. In that moment, the tabby cat had taken it upon herself to weave between Rebecca’s ankles so she could look up at the new presence in the room, chirping curiously.

Rebecca braced herself for what she could only assume would be all the energy and enthusiasm contained in Cait’s body.