Bubbles gurgled up in the healing pod. As the life-support fluid slowly drained away, Alex Summers shakily removed the oxygen mask from his face.
He had meant to walk out of the cylindrical treatment pod on his own, but when the hatch opened, his body still gave out, pitching him forward.
"Damn, you brat."
Alex's face was deathly pale, his cheeks sunken.
Faint blue-black bruises still marked his chest and back. He let out a breathless groan, then rolled his eyes at his younger brother, Scott.
Cyclops caught his brother before he could fall, helping his shrunken body into a careful seat and draping a blanket over him.
"If you keep—if you keep staying here, how am I supposed to flirt with the base's nurses? Quit getting in my way. Go do something else. Get lost."
Scott Summers wore a pair of casual energy-suppressing glasses. In the dimly lit treatment area, he was practically blind. He rubbed his nose and folded his arms, his face drooping as he fell silent.
Alex, wrapped tightly in a gray thermal blanket and looking gray and half-dead, was in much better spirits. He blinked at his brother and grinned.
"Weren't you always curious how much Wolf Gold I had? Heh. I won't have much use for it anymore. Check your account when you get back and you'll see. From now on, your big brother's going to live life to the fullest, surrounded by beautiful women. That'll be a fine retirement."
Havok, Alex Summers: an early and important member of the Howlett Family, Magneto's student, one of the first core members of the Order Whip, and one of the Sirius Legion's "generals."
Ten days ago, during the war in Asgard, Alex had been frozen and frostbitten by Loki Odinson, who wielded the Casket of Ancient