Bruce raised an eyebrow slightly. He wasn't sure there even was a way for her not to have to give up something or other. And if she wanted to stay with the X-Men, he would let her. He'd miss her like hell, but he would let her.

Kae flopped over on her back, glowering up at the sky as she tried to figure things out. Because she liked Xavier, and she wanted to help him, but she wasn't just going to leave the Avengers, either.

"Maybe I could do part-time teaching?" she asked, looking up at the other two. "Spend a few days a week here?"

"Traveling back and forth?" Bruce asked. It was an option, albeit a time-consuming one.

Kae nodded. "Stay here two, maybe three nights a week, teach classes, whatever else he wants help with, spend the rest of the week with you guys. And if whatever happens is close enough I could go in as back up for the X-Men."

"It could work," Bruce said slowly, thinking about it. "It won't be easy, but it could work."

"I still have my car, I could drive back and forth," Kae pointed out.

"And if you would learn to fly that would probably be even faster," Tony pointed out. "You could probably even fly yourself here by the time the team is ready to go wherever they're getting deployed to."

"That would be you in your suit, Tony, not me flying."

"And why would there be any difference?"

"Tony may have a point," Bruce admitted. "It's possible."

"Not currently," Kae said. "I can't fly, I can barely jump off an eight-foot wall."

"We can fix that," Tony said with a grin. "Let me just hail the good professor."

"Tony, you should let her learn on her own," Bruce chided.

"She won't learn on her own, she's as stubborn as I am." Tony sent out a mental call to the professor, thinking straight at him that they were giving Kae flying lessons if he wanted to help. Meanwhile, he opened his suitcase armor.

"Tony..." Kae sighed. She knew that look. Tony wouldn't rest until he'd at least tried. Damn. Although she did have to admit it would be very useful to know how to fly.

Xavier heard loud and clear, and he sighed. Yes, this was something he probably should supervise.

"Tony, really," Bruce said. "It doesn't have to be right this second."

"Well, I've taken the day off, and she's trying to make up her mind anyway," Tony said with a shrug as he got the armor on. "And we're right here where there are other mutants in case anything goes wrong."

Kae just groaned and closed her eyes. This was so not going to end well.

Bruce sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tony..."

"Relax, Bruce, she'll be fine." Tony checked his armor over quickly before he flipped the faceplate down. "Right, come here."

Kae sighed but moved over cautiously, eyeing him.

"Now hold on." Tony grabbed her and took off, albeit slower than normal. The suitcase armor didn't have the power of the Mark VII or the Mark VIII, after all.

Xavier came outside just in time to watch Tony carry Kae up.

"Ah, Professor," Bruce said as he saw Xavier. "I, uh, apologize in advance if things go a little... green."

"No apologies necessary, Doctor Banner," Xavier replied. "So long as no people get smashed, as you put it, anything else is easily repaired."

Kae managed to cling to Tony for a minute until he got her properly established, letting her feel how the repulsors worked and letting her (mostly) control their flight path for a few minutes so she'd get the hang of it.

Once she was finally relaxing, he zoomed around a bit more and then dropped her towards Bruce. She screamed briefly and flailed before forming a wall under her, as her first response. She hit the solid-feeling not-really-there wall and groaned.

Bruce had to check the impulse to rush over to her, and managed to restrain himself to a more sedate pace.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, reaching to help her to her feet once she made it to the ground.

"Ow." Kae still looked a bit dazed. "I'm okay. My mental walls need to be softer. That was not a nice landing."

"Weren't you practicing something like a trampoline, or a mattress?" Bruce asked, steadying her.

"I was but I panicked and all I could think was making myself stop before I hit the ground and." Kae sighed. "Ow." She leaned against him for a few moments, shaking just a little.

"It's alright," Bruce soothed. "It's understandable. And nobody would let you hit the ground, I-- the Other Guy would catch you."

Kae nodded, slowly calming down. "I know, but I just." She sighed. "I want to learn how to fly, it would be very useful and really nice to show off and all that, but I'm too scared of the falling part."

"We won't let you fall," Bruce said. "We'll be here to catch you until you learn."

Tony landed next to them again easily. "Ready to go again?"

Kae looked at Bruce for a few moments before she took a deep breath and nodded. Time to try again.

Bruce let her go, kissing her forehead quickly as he did.

"You'll be fine," he said.