When Kakashi finally recovered from his chakra exhaustion, he immediately went to his Kamui dimension.
As soon as he stepped inside, he was surrounded by the Avengers, the X-Men, and a dozen confused kids. Everyone pressed close to him. Questions came from every direction at once.
"What's the situation?" Tony asked
"Where is Professor?" a mutant called out with worry in his voice.
"Where is Erik?" another voice added.
"Where are we?" several people asked together.
"Where is Mom?"
"Can I get candy?" a small voice piped up.
"I need to pee," another child complained.
Kakashi was bombarded by dozens of questions. Some of them he was not ready to answer right away. His head felt heavy with everything that had happened. He looked at their hopeful and scared faces. It was hard to meet their eyes knowing the painful truths he carried.
Captain America stepped forward with natural authority. "Everyone quiet down." His calm and strong voice cut through the chaos. People stopped talking.
When everyone had quieted down, Kakashi spoke clearly. "We have successfully arrived back to our reality. The barriers between reality have been repaired and according to Ancient One there are no signs of Incursion yet but that might change if I bring the mutants out of here. Even Ancient One does not know whether it would cause an Incursion or not."
He continued explaining the careful plan. "First the Avengers would leave and then we bring everyone one by one. We would have to see if your presence affects the reality or not. The Ancient One would be monitoring the situation. The second she sees that the timeline is breaking apart, I will have to bring you back to this dimension. Then we would have to think of another plan. But let's hope it doesn't come to that." Kakashi explained everything step by step so they could understand the risks involved. He wanted them to feel safe even though the situation was uncertain.
Everyone nodded in agreement. They trusted Kakashi's judgment after all they had been through together. The shared experiences in the other reality had built a strong bond among them.
Hank then took the kids away to another part of the dimension so that the adults could discuss other important things. The children went with him, some still asking questions about candy and bathrooms. Their voices faded as they moved away, giving the grown-ups space to talk about the serious matters ahead.
"What happened to Erik, Charles and Wanda?" Mystique asked.
Kakashi took a moment before answering. "Erik and Charles decided to hold back Jean so that she could not follow us. Wanda decided to repair the reality barriers from that side to prevent an Incursion." Kakashi said as a heavy weight settled on the mutants as they heard the sacrifice of the three of the most powerful of mutants.
Silence filled the space for several long seconds. Many faces showed shock and sadness. Some of the younger X-Men looked away with tears in their eyes. Mystique's expression tightened with pain. Losing Erik and Charles felt like losing a big part of their family and their hope for the future.
"Now where should we take the X-Men and how do we introduce them to the world to prevent what happened to them in their own Earth?" Cap asked. He tried to focus on the next steps instead of dwelling on the sacrifice that was made not just of Charles, Erik and Wanda but also the billions of lives lost. His sense of duty pushed him to think about protection and a better future for the new arrivals.
Tony Stark stepped in with confidence. "I will take care of this. The most safe place for them would be the Avengers Tower with us then. There they could be protected as well as taught. And their privacy could be easily maintained and I would cover the expenses." Tony spoke as he already had plans forming in his mind about security systems, training rooms, and ways to keep everything discreet.
"Fury would not be happy about so many super powered individuals being brought here. SHIELD would have a lot to say about this," Natasha said. She knew how the intelligence agency operated. They liked to control and monitor every possible threat or new power on Earth.
Kakashi then quipped, "Who said we would have to tell him?" His voice had a hint of dry humor that lightened the heavy mood just a little.
Everyone looked at him confused. Tony raised an eyebrow and said, "Were not you from SHIELD? I mean don't take it the wrong way but we all thought you to be Fury's lapdog."
Kakashi shook his head and explained his position carefully. "I might have been Fury's soldier for a while but when Fury made me Avengers leader, I was now a part of the Avengers, an independent organisation not under SHIELD. Our goal is to protect the interests of Earth and taking in superpowered individuals would be included in that." He spoke with quiet confidence.
Being the leader of the Avengers gave him freedom to make choices for the greater good without waiting for permission from any agency. He believed in protecting people first and dealing with rules later if needed.
"SHIELD has its own ways and its own goals. Sometimes those goals match ours and sometimes they do not. Right now, these mutants need a safe home and a chance to build new lives. Hiding them completely from SHIELD might not be possible forever, but we do not need to announce their arrival like some big event. We can handle this quietly and carefully until then."
"Everyone on board?" Kakashi asked and everyone nodded. The group showed their agreement through determined faces and quiet affirmations.
As Kakashi was about to leave the Kamui dimension, he was approached by two boys, Billy and Tommy. They walked up to him with innocent but worried expressions on their young faces. They looked up at him with big eyes full of hope and fear. Then they straightaway asked him, "Where is mom mister?!"
Kakashi stood there, looking at the two children who had no idea about the sacrifices their mother had made. His heart felt heavy once again as he searched for the right words to tell them the painful truth.
-----Author Notes---------
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