(no subject)

[suyari]

Title: Every heart that beats
Author: Phoenix Angel Suyari
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Billy/Teddy
Summary: Loki was serious about fixing everything.
Archive: Just ask.
Disclaimer: Despite my deepest wishes, the Young Avengers do not belong to me, and so I can only borrow them.
Notes: Spoilers for Young Avengers Series Two Issue four.



"Will you STOP shooting people in the head?!" Teddy shouted over the din.

Noh-Varr didn't even look at him - hell he wasn't looking at half the people he was managing to blow to sick alien chunks - as he replied, "It's not as if it isn't working."

"Can we not do this now?" America cried, punching another overzealous zombie parent in the face and sending them flying several feet into a wave of oncoming parents.

Kate drew back her glowing energy bowstring, hitting a larger man at the back of the mob square in the chest. "Of course we can," she replied. "It's what we do best."

"When I get my hands on Loki-" Teddy growled, tackling a line of zombies. He was hitting perhaps with a little too much force, but at least he wasn't tearing through people. He was doing his best to keep Billy - now very much powerless, at least for the next nine minutes or so - behind him, out of harm's way. It was difficult because the mob was enormous, and Billy had a frustrating habit of getting hijacked even when Teddy was looking.

"It's all my fault."

"Billy, I love you, but now is really not the time."

"Shut up works just as well, I've found," Noh-Varr commented helpfully.

"I save shut up for when he does really stupid things and tries to justify them."

"I am standing right here."

"Would you not count this as really stupid?" Noh-Varr asked, shooting in one direction and looking in another. Three bodies went flying from the force of the shot. Teddy really hated that sort of mindless accuracy. It was just too damn cool for real life combat situations - handy as a bitch, but real showy. And pretty telling, honestly. In a completely badass way. "Because, I'd be comfortable with rating this exceptionally stupid. Imbecilic even."

"Hey!" snapped Billy.

"SERIOUSLY!" America shouted in frustration. "Surrounded. By regenerative zombie parents! Can we reign it in and focus, please?"

"Don't worry," Kate soothed. "You'll get used to it."

There was a green flash of light. Teddy checked his watch, relieved to find Loki only had control of Billy's powers for another five minutes. Still, five minutes was a lot of time. And it was a whole lot of phenomenal cosmic power in the hands of Loki. The sooner the clock settled into zero, the better.

A sonic boom had him reeling in the next moment. As he gathered himself, turning to look for Billy, he noted that nearly everyone had been sent flying - with the exception of Noh-Varr, who was standing still, gun poised at a fixed point.

"I leave you alone for six weeks," Tommy drawled.

Bits of goop rained about them and it took Teddy's brain a full minute to realize that it was formerly humanoid. His nose wrinkled, but he endured it as he sloshed over to Billy who was already getting to his feet.

"Did you know they'd regenerate?" Noh-Varr asked the newcomer.

"Regenerate?" Tommy asked, one brow raised. Then he shrugged. A second later, he was wiping at the sleeves of his uniform with a disgusted face.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" Kate asked.

"This guy said you needed help," Tommy replied, hooking a thumb over his shoulder at Loki.

"Tommy, that's Loki," Billy hissed. "You just went along for the ride with Loki?!"

Tommy looked at Loki, who looked back at him impassively.

"Looks like. So, what's going on?"

"There's no time to bring you up to speed, I'm afraid," Loki said.

"Abridged version is fine."

Teddy was startled as a buzzing sound came from Noh-Varr. Tommy was startled as well, but it was just a short, quick jerk. And then he nodded. "Wow, I really can't leave you alone for anything."

"What just happened?" asked Billy.

"I brought him up to speed," Noh-Varr replied, closing the distance between them in an effort to regroup.

"What'd you tell him?"

"Everything." Tommy turned to Noh-Varr. "Thanks."

The Kree nodded.

"I..."

"Three minutes, Loki," Teddy growled.

"I can do a lot in three minutes," the shorter assured.

"It better be helpful or I'll-"

"Oh it'll be helpful, in the best way. Trust me."

"Why am I not reassured?" Billy drawled.

"Guys, they're reforming," America interrupted. "Whatever we're doing, we better do it quick."

"Nonsense, there's still plenty of time left."

"Loki, so help me-!"

Loki sighed. "Fine, fine. But, really-"

"Two minutes!" Billy glared at him.

Loki huffed, but turned and headed off toward the crest of fallen drone army.

"Will you move faster?!" snapped Teddy, quickly running out of patience.

The god of mischief turned around and crossed his arms. "This is really complicated and it'd go a lot easier, in a more timely manner if you stopped distracting me."

"LOKI!"

Teddy was glad he wasn't alone in the yelling.

"Fine!" Loki looked confused for a moment. "Where was I again? Oh, yes."

"Fifty-five seconds!"

"I am never loaning you my power again!"

Loki held up his arms, hands high and fingers splayed in a dramatic gesture. Then he swept both hands back and paused. "Huh."

"Huh? What do you mean huh?!"

"Let me try again."

"Loki, if you're screwing with us-!"

By the third time, the seemingly youngest member was grumbling to himself, a hand to his chin.

"Ten. Nine. Eight," Noh-Varr counted down.

Teddy could feel his nerves jangling. Why had they ever decided to trust Loki of all people?! And furthermore, why had Billy ever thought consenting to a power transfer was a good plan of action?

He sighed as Loki turned to the now twitching, regrouping sea of bodies. Noh-Varr hit 'one'. Everyone but Loki settled in their stance, prepared for a fight.

Billy looked down at his hands, fingers twitching. His powers were returning. Good! Now they just needed a plan.

Laufey materialized behind them, which Teddy only realized because he'd been looking back at Billy. His eyes widened, but he knew instinctively in that horrifying moment, he wouldn't be fast enough.

The cleaver swung down in agonizingly slow motion. And then Billy wasn't where he'd been standing. He was next to Teddy.

Teddy swept Billy up in a tight hug and clutched him close.

"Don't you ever-"

But Billy's eyes had gone painfully wide.

Teddy turned to look and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Tommy pushed up against the ground, arms straining, but he wasn't going to be getting anywhere. Not anytime soon. If ever again.

"Thank you for your assistance," Loki said.

Teddy turned to look at him, but his attention was drawn to the group around them. Something was different. Something was wrong.

"TOMMY!!!"

Billy was free of Teddy's arms without the blonde ever releasing him and at the speedster's side, gathering him into his arms.

Tommy smirked, but ruined it by coughing. "You're welcome," he croaked, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His hand closed in Billy's t-shirt and he smiled at him, even as his eyelids began to droop. "Really...What would you do...without...me?"

Before Teddy's mind could catch up with the turn of events, blue exploded around them, lighting the sky, casting over the ground and swallowing up every other color. Squinting, and with a hand to his brow, Teddy could just make out Billy's silhouette as he clutched Tommy close and gave a sob.

"Loki, DO something!" America yelled.

What Loki could do, Teddy hadn't the faintest idea. But, then, he wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment.

"I don't have to," Loki replied. "Laufey did it for us!"

"What?" Her voice sounded far away.

Loki pointed as all sound seemed to be sucked into a vortex, away from them.

They watched as the swirling mass of power began to spiral about Billy. About them, nothing moved, nothing made a sound. The enemies they'd been so hard pressed to ward off frozen in time.

And then Billy screamed.

It wasn't a scream of pain or fear or even frustration. It was a sound born from pure agony and despair. A scream that broke Teddy's heart and ripped everything in two.

It was several long moments before Teddy realized that it had had some sort of effect. For they were all standing in an empty patch of park. No passerbys, no horse drawn carriages, and no divets, dents or scorch marks. More importantly, no sign of their enemies.

"What just happened?" America said, eyes sweeping the landscape slowly, assessing.

"Billy fixed everything," Loki explained with a hint of smugness in his tone Teddy didn't quite care for.

"How?" asked Kate, eying him warily.

"Well, you were against killing him." Loki sighed. "So I had to improvise."

"By bringing Tommy?"

He nodded. "Reality warpers always love someone more than you." His eyes met Teddy's, and though they held for only a moment, it felt like a year. Turning back to the group he held out his arms. "Reality warpers with twins...Well...that's just easy."

"So you brought Tommy here to kill him." Kate's voice was steady. So was her grip on the Kree bow.

"I didn't kill him!"

"No," agreed America, taking a step closer. "You just conspired to kill him."

"Remember when we were talking about Game of Thrones before?"

"We don't plot to kill our own team members!" Kate shouted.

"What plot?! I didn't plot! I merely brought Tommy here - for his assistance. Laufey followed me for the same reason we were all followed!"

"Tommy just happened to get in the way, right?" Teddy growled.

"I had absolutely no control over what happened."

"I'll bet you didn't!"

Kate held out a hand, fingertips to Teddy's chest. But he backed off. "Why did you need Billy's powers for something you could have done yourself?"

"It isn't easy," Loki replied. His shoulders hunched and he kicked at the dirt, hands in his pockets. "A reality warper's twin...they're like the prize at the heart of the maze. Billy's not going to let just anyone have access to him!"

"Tommy's his own person," Kate beat Teddy to saying.

Loki rolled his eyes. "You really don't know their history do you?" When he wasn't immediately forthcoming, America snapped, "Well?"

He shrugged again. "Suffice it to say they're more tied to one another than they look. I mean, really, look how long it took you to find Tommy to begin with."

"Billy didn't even know he existed then," Kate explained.

"Sure he didn't." Loki took a few winding steps, but avoided Billy and Tommy all together, whom for the moment, seemed oblivious to the goings on of their companions around them. "Look, it's a tried and true method, and it worked! See? No harm, no foul!"

"Why didn't you just use Teddy?"

Teddy looked to Kate, surprised. He hadn't thought of that, but then, he'd have never thought to use Tommy against them. Not in this way at any rate.

Loki shook his head. "Wouldn't have worked. Not the same."

"But Billy loves Teddy!"

"Mayhaps he does," Loki conceded. "But it still wouldn't have been as potent."

"Why not?"

"Because, love him however he does, he thinks too much. Billy was only going to fix things one of two ways, and you wouldn't agree to the first. So, we were stuck with the second."

Noh-Varr had been suspiciously quiet. When Teddy turned to look at him, he noticed him frowning at the twins.

"He would have done it for Teddy," Kate insisted.

"No, he wouldn't have."

"You don't know that!"

"I do. It isn't all that complicated. Teddy could very well be the love of his life, but that blinds him. He'll only ever do the wrong thing."

"But-"

"Kate," Teddy sighed, wearily. "Just leave it. Please."

"He would," she grumbled, mostly to herself.

Honestly, Teddy wasn't sure. More to the point, he didn't think he wanted to ever find out.

"So, Tommy is Billy's weakness," Noh-Varr said as if filing away the information for later. Given he'd once beaten the crap out of and abducted half their team, Teddy wasn't all together comfortable with that.

"No," Loki replied, pointing helpfully. "Teddy is Billy's weakness. Tommy is his strength."

Teddy walked away from them, crossing over to the pair still on the ground. Tommy was conscious, but a little dazed. And Billy was refusing to let him go - not that Tommy was trying to escape the embrace. Not with the way his hands clutched Billy's arms.

"Everything okay?" he asked, dropping a hand to Billy's shoulder gently.

Billy jumped anyway. "Yeah..." he replied after a moment, blinking. "Yeah, we're okay." He looked down at Tommy, who seemed to be recovering - or was just uncomfortable with the attention; Teddy couldn't quite tell which.

"Just peachy," Tommy drawled. His legs gave weak pushes, as if he either wasn't sure he wanted to move yet, or couldn't for the moment. Teddy hoped for the latter. With a smile, he reached down and squeezed Tommy's arm. "Good."

Both twins frowned.

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Nothing," they replied in chorus.

He helped Billy up, inadvertently helping Tommy up too as Billy still refused to release him. For his part, Tommy had yet to try and get away.

"Everything all right?" Kate asked.

"Yeah," Teddy called back. "They're fine."

"Of course they are," Loki responded. "Why wouldn't they be?"

America settled a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to have a nice, long talk, you and I."

"Must we?" Loki replied, sufferingly.

She didn't reply. But then, she didn't have to.

"I'd offer everyone a ride home," Noh-Varr said. "But I have to do engine repairs before I can even move her."

"I can take a cab," Kate said, eyes still on her teammates. She was holding back. Teddy was grateful. Now was really not the time.

"I can take everyone home," Billy offered.

"After everything that's happened tonight, maybe we should just walk," Teddy suggested.

"UGH, walking," Tommy groaned.

Teddy noted he didn't seem to have any notion of leaving. He had a feeling it would be a while.