Paper Training

Sneaky Ferals

For the most part, the mansion residents who had stayed over the summer were enjoying the chance to relax now that the school year was out, but that simply wasn't the case for Scott.

He had been taking a hard look at the school and the team and everything else in front of him ever since he'd spoken with Kate at the beginning of the year. He absolutely believed her when she told him that Charles Xavier had spoken with her, but... he wanted to deserve that kind of praise.

Still, it was nice to know he had that support, even if it wasn't totally deserved. Yet.

But it had gotten the wheels turning in his head, and shortly after the school year ended, just a few days after Jubilee's wedding, he had made the first diplomatic overture.

It was just a simple message. He wanted to meet with Captain America — he'd even come to the Avengers if they wanted him to — and anyone else they felt he needed to meet with so that they could start to repair the relationship between the X-Men and the Avengers.

It was obvious that the Avengers didn't know what to make of his request, but Cap had agreed to it, if nothing else because he was curious.

As Scott got to the Avengers mansion, he had to shake off the feeling that he was walking into enemy territory. He was there to mend fences, after all, though it didn't stop the adrenaline all the same. It wasn't like he could exactly help it. He didn't have the best track record with these guys, and he was sure they probably thought the same thing about him, if he was being honest.

Still, it wasn't like things weren't improving. Since Kate had joined the X-Men, the other Hawkeye had been over often, and through a combination of asking about K and having Logan on the team, the Black Widow, of all people, had become a recognizable face at the mansion, something that Scott could never have predicted. Then there were Kate's Young Avenger friends, several of whom were now fully-fledged Avengers...

Yes, things were improving. But that didn't change the fact that the Avengers met Scott with their heavy hitters. Cap was there, along with Iron Man, Thor, and Captain Marvel.

There was no small talk as they headed inside, and it wasn't until they were all seated at a large table that Scott cleared his throat to speak. He had spoken in front of world leaders before, so this wasn't entirely new, but the idea itself was new enough that he had to admit to being a little nervous.

"I have a proposal," he said as the four heavy-hitting Avengers watched him carefully, "to try to bridge the gap between our two teams." When he didn't seem to hit any resistance yet, he nodded. "The Avengers have had X-Men on their teams before, but until recently, the X-Men haven't had any Avengers join their team."

"Kate speaks highly of all of you," Steve said with a slow and measured nod.

"She's great," Scott agreed with an honest smile. "And having her on the team has been a learning curve for us as much as her. Our teams travel in such different circles that we had to start an entirely different training regimen for her so she could deal with our brand of trouble." He glanced around the table and took a breath to hold it for a moment. "And I realized — as long as our teams stay that separate, we're going to keep having a hard time understanding each other. It's hard to empathize with something you don't experience personally."

"So, what are you proposing?" Carol asked, her hands folded in front of her as she leaned forward in her seat. "What, are you recruiting?" she asked, sounding almost insulted by the idea.

"Not exactly," Scott said, shaking his head. "More like... an exchange program."

The Avengers around the table looked dubious and in various states of suspicious, but Scott was relieved to see that Steve, at least, was nodding along, entirely serious as he thought it over. "That's not a bad idea," he said, and Scott let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Usually, there was a lot more yelling at this stage when it came to reasoning with the Avengers, so this was going well.