Sentiment

-Earth 616-

-The office of Howard T. Duck-

"I want to thank you."

Walt looked up from his drink. "I'm pretty sure that's my line, bud."

Howard the Duck laughed. "Nah. You know what I mean."

Walt smirked and nodded. "Yep... but the job ain't over. Just moving into another 'phase'. I still need you and your skills. I'll still be around but I'm going to be moving on to other worlds these S.o.B.s messed up. You and several others are gonna be helping me work on maintaining this'n... make sure the wheels don't come off."

Howard sips his drink wetting his beak. "Yeah... I can live with that. And thanks for everything you done for those two."

Walt smiled. "Thank you for the tip! Linda and Shocket... I'm going to take care of them. Like family." He gestured to the cards he'd handed him earlier too. "Same goes for Ms Potts and Elyia." He finished his drink and grabbed his hat standing. "I promise, Howard... I'll see you sooner or later and we'll have drinks again... might even throw a party."

Howard laughs. "You do and I'll be there! Later, Boss!"

Walt smiled leaving. "See ya around, Howie!"

-Later-

-The Baxter Building-

"We want to thank you."

"Speak for yourself, child," Dr Doom said his arms crossed imperiously glaring in Walter's direction. "Who gave you permission to be so blatant in your annoucing-"

"Oh, hush, Uncle," Valeria Richards said. "You're pleased at how things have started to turn out as well. There's no point in denying it. Even eith the mask on your not fooling anyone."

"It's true," Namor said chuckling sipping at his drink. "He's acting. I've known him long enough. Mmm... more tea anyone?"

"Not tea," Thor said seeing Elyia bring him another large glass of beer. "Yes, please! So he's only protesting for show? Does that make him Dr Tsun- whatever it is?"

Storm laughed. "Tsudere? Ohohoho! Ah, yes please, Namor. Thank you!" She passed him her tea cup. "That would only work if Victor were secretly in love with, Walter... which I seriously doubt, Thor."

"How dare you?" Victor started but Walt cleared his throat.

"I lnow it isn't like that," Walt said. "Please let's all remain a bit serious for the duration and maintain a tiny bit of decorum?" He sees them smile but nod. "I dared Victor. The more we light we shed on publicly working together the bigger the shadow we cast. It's stagecraft 101. I recently did a good turn for Atlantis and Asgard both... and even more recently uncovered a plot against the Mutants and dissidents and plotters in Latveria and Stark. Some of whom have been turned over to you, others to the mutants and some for myself. The rest have been dropped off to Shield and other global agencies."

Storm nodded. She'd lived as a pickpocket as a child. "Misdirection."

Valeria nodded selecting a cookie to break in half and eat. "Fury isn't the only Spymaster around. Well played, Walter."

Walt shrugged. "I have to deal with Fury eventually... I was much gentler in handing over his assets to him... But that will have to wait for later and another time." He looked at some empty chairs they'd hooed to fill. "Tge same goes for Wakanda. Im not sure why they're being cagey-:

Storm sighed. "I might be partly to blame. They're a bit upset with me personally. I borrowed and returned something recently but it ruffled some feathers. Since you're now "pro mutant" that might not have helped. There's also inner tormoil and unrest in Wakanda over other factors as well but I'm not at liberty to discuss it. You understand."

They all nodded including Walt. "If they want to participate it's best to wait for them to come to us. As long as their problems are internal we mustn't interfere until then." He looked around at all their faces. "Now any further points to bring up? Otherwise I think we can agree on these points for now and close out this particular meeting..."

"I want-"

Wakt sighed. "Please don't say 'Thank you'. I heard that too many times already the last couple of days."

"Ok," Logan chuckled. "I want another beer, then."

Walt grinned and reached into the cooler next to them as they watched the girls play and lounge by the pool. He tossed Logan a cold one. "Here ya go bub."

Logan smiled. "Swanky joint."

Walt nodded looking around. "It was Tony's. The idiot built secret stuff into every damn thing! I had to buy them all! Pain in my ass..."

Logan chuckled. "What like a suit of armor under the pool?"

Walt shook his head sipping beer. "More like 50 of them."

Logan blinked then laughed. "Sounds rough!"

Walt chuckled. "A bit... the girls wanted to see the sights so we came out here and Krakoa's not too far so I figured you and Jeanie might like getting away for a bit-"

"Vatch this!" An excited Kurt said as Piotr and Jen tossed him and Jubilee high in the air! Jubes started setting off a bunch of pyrotechnic displays as Kurt telported them around midair before they finally finished diving into the pool.

Water splashes high catching the display of sparkling fireworks as people cheer and clap. Walt chuckles. "I wasn't expecting you to come by blue elf transport but hey the more the merrier!"

Logan smiles. "Some stuff went down recently and Kurt needed to let loose a bit... speaking of... we got solid intel on Orchis. Gonna hit them hard soon. You in?"

Walt nodded. "You want me, I'm with you. I even got a few of their Stark prototypes reprogrammed to "return to sender". Figured it was a good way to get rid of the monsters they were going to create... soon?"

Logan nodded. "Soon. Tomorrow work for you?"

Walt nodded. "Yeah. We're going home first... finally set up the gate permanently to my home base. This time displacement... it's been rough. I'm looking forward to a few days off. A semi-normal workday and a few days at home... but I will definitely come-back tomorrow to help out."

Logan shook his head. "You don't have to. You done enough."

Walt nodded. "Yes, I do. It's important to me. I need to make sure that everything we done keeps making a difference. That stuff the other day? That was just the tip of the iceberg. Orchis along with Nimrod and all the Sentinel stuff and the Friends/Church of Humanity? They're weeds in this garden and it's time they were removed permanently." He nodded. "For my family and friends sake as well as the worlds. Mutants are finally starting to get a fair shake in this world and I ain't gonna let that slide on my watch."

"Preciate it," Logan said. "You got a lot of pokers in your fire."

Walt finished his beer. "Yep. That's why I gotta blow off steam when I can!" He stretched and stood then grabbed a ball. "Who's up for some volleyball? X-folks vs the rest of us?"

Linda blinked. "Dude how's that fair? We're so much smaller."

Walt grinned and jerked his thimb at Jen. "We got big green and beautiful and me. Plus I don't judge anyone by their size! Adding in Gwen and Pepper We'll kick their asses!"

"Oh no!" Pepper said. "Leave me out of this! I just want to sit by the pool and relax. My new boss is already a task master."

Walt mock frowns. "Aww... alright fine. You referee instead. One of y'all X folks gotta sit out."

Storm smiled. "Gladly. I just want enjoy the sun myself too. It's different being here rather than on Mars. Besides my powers would make it a bit uneven combined with Jean's and Kurt's."

Walt nodded. "Fair point. And another excellent point. Same rules as we used back in the day. No telekinesis or teleporting over the net or out of bounds you two! Jean no reading your opponents minds but you can use it for communicating with your allies."

"That is fair!" Kurt readily agreed. "Please do be hurrying up Logan!"

"Bah, I didn't agree to nothing," Logan grumped. "You know I hate pool games. I weigh a lot more than some of you and I ain't as big as Pete... "

Jean smiled and bent over in her bikini putting her hands together. "Please..."

They all cheered as it's super effective and Logan, grumbling, gets in the pool.

[Walter Stark Penny Polendina F.R.I.D.A.Y Neopolitan Pyrrha Nikos Nora Valkyrie Yang Xiao Long Blake Belladonna Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Willow Schnee Glynda Goodwitch Zwei Ahnassi Lifts-Her-Tail Senko Sayoko Shinozaki Roberta Cisneros Haruna Sasha Blouse Ilulu Rachel "Raven" Roth Manami "La Brava" Aiba Tsuyu "Froppy" Asui Haruhime Sanjouno Anastasia "The Baroness" Cisarovna/DeCobray Demona Mystique Pirotess Lydia Aela the Huntress Serana Mission Vao Curie Ada PAM KL-E-O Merida Gwen "Gwenom" Stacy Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee and Jennifer "She-Hulk" Walters

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