"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU CAN'T BE SEEN HERE."

Nicky was gripping on his backpack strap, gawking at Terran who was standing at the bottom of the steps with sunglasses and a leather jacket, looking everything like the mid-twenty-something he was, attracting a slight amount of attention, what with his large height and pretty face.

"I'm a citizen and a teacher, can't I come and visit the high school?" Terran asked, laughing as he pulled Nicky into a hug, the teenager immediately trying to jump out of his grip, looking around furiously, heart pounding.

"Hey," Terran shushed, keeping him in place, but giving him his space, stepping back and putting his hands in his pockets after being sure Nicky wouldn't run, "Listen, there's no need to freak out. We live in plain sight. It's not like I'm some kind of runaway, this is fine."

Nicky took a deep breath, dropping his head and squeezing his backpack straps. "I just—I don't want people asking questions why I'm getting picked up by some random blond guy on the street."

"But I'm not a random blond guy, I'm your friend," Terran said, and Nicky blushed, scuffing his shoe against the pavement, "But if you want me to leave, I can."

"No," he said quickly, snapping his head up, eyes wide, "No, no, it's okay. I-I want you to stay. Please."

Terran smiled and slung an arm around his shoulder, ruffling his hair, the two starting to walk. "Well, I'm glad you're letting me stay because we're gonna have a guy's night out."

"Yeah?" Nicky asked, moving so Terran's grip was less around his neck and more around his shoulder, "What're we gonna do?"

The man pulled two movie tickets out of his back pocket. "We're gonna watch an R-rated movie, then you're gonna come back to the complex and marathon all the chick flicks no one else will watch with me."

Nicky rolled his eyes. "Don't you have better things to do with your time? Like grading papers or dating?"

Terran shrugged, just look around at the bright world around them. "I'm a cool teacher and, though it's a Friday, there are no available men or women to take out for a passionate night of romance and possible lovemaking, so I've decided to get the next best thing."

"The underage disappointment you decided to take in?" Nicky snorted.

"Well, that's one way to look at him, but I like to think he's the little genius I'm choosing to exploit, but to each their own I guess," Terran hummed, still not looking at Nicky as he smiled and led him towards the movie theater.

Nicky just smiled and wrapped his arm around the man. Truth be told, he would follow him anywhere.

º º º

Nicky was awoken by the sound of his burner phone buzzing and Rhett shouting for him to wake up and answer it, the smell of bacon wafting through the crack under his closed door.

Groaning, Nicky stood up and rifled around, pulling the phone out of its hiding spot and pressing it against his ear. "It's me."

"I need your help," Hank McCoy said, but it wasn't rushed, so there was no reason to panic, "Did I wake you?"

Nicky coughed. "Yeah, you did. Hey, I'm gonna get myself some breakfast, jump onto the video call and we can get started, yeah?"

"Thanks, Nicky," Hank said, and, before the man hung up, added, "I've gotten some more people helping me search for him, by the way. You can trust them, they're good kids, and they want to help."

He smiled tightly, heart clenching as he remembered his dream, remembered how Terran had held him during that movie because his younger self couldn't handle scary movies to save his life. "Tell them I say, 'thanks.' I'll see you in a sec."

With that, he hung up, dropping the phone back into its hidden drawer, making his way out of his cold room and out into the warmer main room, catching sight of Steve standing behind Rhett, kissing the back of his neck while the other man tried to tell him off.

"Do you ever go to your own home?" Nicky asked, moving to sit on one of the stools, raising his eyebrow at Steve, not unkindly.

Steve had the decency to look embarrassed, stepping away from Rhett, coming to lean against the countertop, facing Nicky. "Less than half the time, but people aren't surprised that I still live there, so I think I'm still fine. Are you okay with me being here?"

Nicky rolled his eyes. "Steve, if I wanted you gone, I would have just asked." The blond raised an eyebrow, and he deflated. "Okay, I would have silently suffered from afar until Rhett caught on, but I'm not, so it doesn't apply. I like having you here, you're fun and spend time with me when Rhett's too busy to."

"He's very high maintenance," Rhett chimed in, and Nicky shouted indignantly.

Steve laughed softly and inclined his head towards him. "You talk to Sam recently?"

Nicky perked up instantly, furrowing his brow in worry. "Not since two days ago, why, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Steve drawled, and Nicky narrowed his eyes at the man's sly smile and too casual shrug, "You two been talking more often?"

"Say what you mean, Rogers, you're a soldier, not a spy," Nicky deadpanned, and Steve laughed, walking back towards the fridge, head thrown back, laugh echoing throughout the room.

"He wants to know if he should buy a suit for the wedding," Rhett drawled, dropping a plate of eggs and bacon in front of Nicky, "Now go and lock yourself in your room before he starts bothering you with more questions. But come out when you're finished, you need the sunlight."

Nicky grinned and took the plate, racing back towards his room, calling out a quick, 'stay safe,' to the two men before closing the door behind him and locking it for good measure.

"Are you sure it's smart to be harboring a war criminal?" Hank asked as Nicky pulled up his side of the untraceable video call.

"How about you keep to your jurisdiction and I'll keep to mine," Nicky countered, taking a bite of his egg, pulling up the various blueprints and pictures that Hank had sent to him, "This isn't a suit?"

"No, it's not," Hank agreed, "We're trying to outfit the Danger Room with more equipment, I figured you'd be the creative mind to help. These are just some of the students whose powers aren't being challenged by what we have already."

Nicky nodded carefully, eyebrows furrowed. "You need to promise me that these aren't going to be used as an offensive against anything or anyone. This is only for training purposes."

The older man nodded solemnly, leaning back in his seat. "I promise, this is only for training, and I will be modifying it so it can attach to the walls of the room, meaning they can't be taken out or portable."

Nicky sighed and stretched, nodding. "Good. Okay, yeah, then I'll do it. Wanna stay and watch?"

Hank shrugged. "I don't have a class to teach today, and it is always funny to hear you curse at your work. Reminds me of me."

Nicky laughed and reached out, grabbing his sketchpad and getting to work, writing down the attributes and powers the mutant kids had, mumbling to himself as he thought, eyes scanning the monitors as he searched for Hank's medical files.

"Wow, these kids...you sure they're gonna be okay at the mansion, they could blow it up. Again. Your husband might not be so lucky this time, McCoy," Nicky jibed, though he cast an apologetic look when he saw Hank stiffen.

"Ruth's handling anger management, she seems to know what she's doing," he replied, relaxing somewhat and sighing, adjusting his position in the chair.

"Ruth Dakin? The one that's got the ones based off her emotional responses? She's the guidance counselor?" he scoffed, and he had to wonder why he was being so upfront that day; it might have been a product of the dream, he liked to cling onto whatever he had.

"She's not the guidance counselor, she just helps out the kids. She's gotten better since she was a teenager, Nicky, have some faith," he replied, now rifling through some papers of his own, "Her daughter can control emotions."

"That's hilarious," Nicky quipped, and Hank couldn't help the soft chuckle that escaped him as he nodded in agreement.

He began to fall into his work, barely even aware when he called out a goodbye to Rhett when the man called that he and Steve were going to play baseball with the kids at the park. This tended to happen when he worked, as he had often had to work through the loud noises, first at his own home with his family, second at the complex, filled with the hustle and bustle of people. But he always got his work done, and that was what mattered.

"Tell me about the complex," Hank said, after Nicky had mumbled about it under his breath for the seventh time in the past forty minutes.

Nicky blinked, raising his head, wincing when he realized how stiff his neck was. Stretching and sighing as his muscles ached and joints popped, he spoke, "The complex was this building that no one could really see? I mean, everyone could see it and everyone knew it was there, but no one ever thought to try and go in it, because one of us who lived there had set up this kind of protection that altered the thoughts of people when they came in any contact to the building."

"Was that person a mutant?" Hank interjected, raising an eyebrow.

Nicky nodded. "Yeah, you guys had left them leave to continue their education without the need to be in such a sheltered environment. Anyways, the complex is...it's just gone now. Like, the illusion of the building is still up, but if you walk inside, it's just an empty plot of dirt."

He paused, still stretching, coming to relax and stare down at his papers, heart clenching when he remembered first realizing that everything—everyone—had just vanished.

"What were the people like, was it just one big dormitory? Like a frat house?" Hank tried, clearly trying to coax him into happier thoughts.

"Kind of," he breathed, "It's almost like your mansion, except a lot smaller, though I'm pretty sure it was a lot bigger than it seemed to be. We all had rooms and there were common areas and study rooms and a kitchen and a dining area. It was just a big...home. When Rhett showed up, he stayed with me, because we didn't really have a room to spare."

"Rhett's from the 40's, yes?" Hank asked, searching for his files, "You had asked me to look into the serum he was given, it had given him the ability to jump in time?"

"Yeah, figured maybe a mutant of yours could do the same," he said, shrugging.

"Yes, we do have one, though his powers aren't the same as what Rhett is capable of, he jumps into the body that he is in at the time, Rhett's entire being travels to that particular time, which was why I wasn't able to help you when you called," he explained, "But everything seems to be fine now? And you still have most of the files on the others from your complex?"

Nicky narrowed his eyes, confused by Hank's prying. "Yeah, why do you wanna know?"

Hank shrugged. "Because, in the event I'm able to come up with something that might be able to do specific tracking, having extensive knowledge of the biological makeup of the people you're looking for could be useful."

He paused, then asked, "You do want to find them too, right? Not just Terran."

Nicky had to think, and the very fact that he had to made him sick to his stomach. He loved everyone in that complex, and everyone had loved him, he should want them all back. He should be looking for all of them.

But deep down, he knew the world wouldn't give all of them back. He knew that he had to choose just one, and he chose Terran. But what he wouldn't give to have all of them back. But he had to save everything just for Terran, because the universe wouldn't be that kind.

Not to him.

He sniffed and turned back to his work, mumbling a response, "I do, but if I spread myself out too much, I'll end up with nothing."

Hank accepted the response with little gripe or judgement, which Nicky always appreciated; the man had been around long enough to understand that people were more complex than the general population gave themselves credit for. Understand that people were willing to do many things for many reasons.

Nicky continued to work until he had finished three prototype sketches and the sun had already begun to set. His back was aching, his hand was cramping, his neck was stiff, and he just needed to lie dow on the ground to straighten everything out, but he was done.

"I'll scan them in and send them to you," he sighed, leaning back in his seat and groaning, "You still with me?"

Hank looked up from where he was doing his own work, raising his eyebrows and giving him a small smile. "I'm still with you, don't worry. Thank you, Nicky, I appreciate this."

"Yeah, of course," Nicky sighed, trying to smile, "You're paying me after all."

Hank laughed and watched as Nicky started to scan in his work, mumbling and cursing as he tried to get it to work. While the younger man disappeared from Hank's sight, dropped under his desk, Hank's attention was caught by a light beeping on the other side of the room.

Raising an eyebrow, he stood up and crossed the room, fiddling with the scanners and screens hooked up to the device, raising an eyebrow at the blinking light on a map, as well as the series of numbers appearing on another screen. Whatever he had hooked up to this, it hadn't ever alarmed before.

Nicky raised his head, finished scanning his sketches, and looked towards his screens, about to ask Hank what that beeping sound was, when he saw the man appear right in front of the screen, eyes wide.

"I think we've got something."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This was a filler chapter, but it showed Nicky doing his design work, it gave information on the complex, and there's a cliffhanger, so I call this successful.

Here's the singular Ruth Dakin reference ya'll are gonna be getting out of me in the Hero of Heroes series. There it is. Ruth is from my book Dexter, but the way, but she's irrelevant at this point.

Just so we're clear, the flashbacks aren't necessarily in chronological order. When Nicky is living in the complex, he's already out of high school, when he meets up with Terran outside of the complex, he's still in high school. It's a little ambiguous and you kind of have to guess what goes where depending on Nicky's interaction with Terran, but it's not really that important in the grand scheme of things.