LINKS IN THE CHAIN

Chapter 3b

X-Men fan fiction by Mitch Kelly

The X-Men and all the characters therein are the property of Marvel
Corporation. No infringement is intended. Shadowflash, Stalker and The
Highest Society belong to me!

There is some sexual content (innuendo really) and some of the language is a
bit strong! You've had yer warnin'!


In the communications room, Logan sat down with Shadowflash and initiated a
call to Muir Island. In the moments it took to connect, he told Shadowflash
about some of the times he had had with some of the members of Excalibur.
Suddenly the screen flickered, and a blue, furry face with pointed ears
appeared on the screen.

"Muir Island Research Centre. How can I be of service?" The voice was
pleasant, precise and very, very German.

"Guten Tag, Kurt. Wie geht's?" said Logan. Kurt Wagner, known as
Nightcrawler's face registered shock, then happiness, as he recognised his
former teammate's voice.

"Was? Logan? Meiner alter Freund! Es geht mir gut, immer gut, und dich?"

"Pretty good, Elf. Glad to hear you're OK. How's Kitty?" All of this was way
over Shadowflash's head. He understood the German, but had no idea who
"Kitty" might be. The two conversed for several minutes, laughing and
reminiscing, before Logan cut to the chase.

"It's like this, Elf. We have a guy with us, a Brit, and he uncovered
somethin' real strange, mutants disappearin', people gettin' killed, all
sorts." Logan briefly explained to Nightcrawler the events that had brought
Shaowflash and Stalker to the Mansion. Kurt looked troubled. 

"I am unfamiliar with the "highest society", Logan. But I have a person here
you may be able to help you." Nightcrawler pressed a button, and spoke. "It
might take a few minutes for him to get here. In the meantime, how have you
been?" He and Logan proceeded to explain what both had been doing over the
last few weeks, and while Logan told the blue furry mutant about the latest
stunts pulled by Storm, and especially Jubilee, much to 'Flash's
embarrasment, Nightcrawler spoke at length about "Rahne" and "Kitty" and
several others.

Meanwhile, in the Muir Island recreation room, Pete Wisdom heard the speaker
on the wall request him to go to the communications suite. Throwing down his
copy of the Sporting Life in disgust, he switched the horse racing off on
the TV before stumping out of the room with very poor grace. Pete Wisdom had
not had a good day. His horses had failed dismally to come in, in spite of
his careful examination of the odds, there was bugger-all else on the TV,
Kitty Pryde was busy somewhere else, and to crown it all, it was raining,.
Not just normally raining, but raining so hard that if he went out for a
smoke, as he had to, the bloody things went out as the rain soaked them
before he got more than a third of the way down each cigarette.

"Bloody Scotland!" he groused as he walked along the corridor. "As far as
I'm concerned we can give 'em back the sodding Stone of Scone and let 'em
get on wiv it. The grub's rotten, the accent does me head in, and the
soddin' weather's lousy! They can keep the bloody place!" Not for the last
time, Pete Wisdom wished for the bustle of London. He arrived at the
communications suite and let himself in, to find Nightcrawler talking
seriously with a grim-featured man on a long-distance link.

Nightcrawler looked around as Pete Wisdom entered. 

"Ah! Peter! I do hope you can help us. Those on the screen are Wolverine and
Shadowflash, two members of the X-Men. They have a problem and wonder if we
can help." Nightcrawler gestured to a seat.

"Wassasmatter?" asked Wisdom.

"I wonder if you've ever heard of this bunch," said Shadowflash. "We think
they're involved in something pretty big."

"What are they called?" asked Wisdom, still somewhat disinterested.

"The Highest Society" said Logan. On the screen, he saw Pete Wisdom go
slightly pale.



In another part of the X-Mansion, Storm had managed to comfort Psylocke
enough to stop the flow of tears, and was just starting to get some idea of
the problem.

"It's hard to explain," said Psylocke, her voice brittle. She was breathing
deeply and slowly, forcing herself to stay calm and rational. "It isn't
every day one has to confront a childhood nightmare. I don't suppose you can
understand that. Damned silly of me, all of this." Psylocke sniffled, and
Storm passed her a tissue.

"On the contrary, Elizabeth. I am forced to confront my childhood fears
every time I look at an elevator, or a broom closet. It is not a small
thing, at least not for me." Storm held Psylocke's hand, and the purple
haired woman smiled.

"It really isn't like that Ororo." Psylocke blew her nose again. "To be told
that a nightmare from your childhood is real ,and is killing people, and
kidnapping them, and planning to become a world power, is rather different
from claustrophobia." Storm said nothing. 

"After all these years of trying to convince myself they do not exist, now
this!" Storm was silent for a moment. She did not wish to push Psylocke over
the edge into another bout of tears, but she needed to know more.

"When you say a 'childhood nightmare', what exactly do you mean?" asked
Storm. "Did you dream of them as a child?" Precognitive dreams were not
uncommon, and after all, reasoned Storm, Psylocke was a telepath, and
perhaps unusually sensitive to such things.

"No. It was when I was at school. I was about eight or nine, I think.
Perhaps a little younger. One of the girls, I was quite close to her, went
home for the holiday, then never came back to school. No warning, no news,
no anything. We asked the teachers and they couldn't - or wouldn't tell us
anything. Carole used to telephone me often when we were at home, then
suddenly she had stopped calling. Then -" Tears started to form in
Psylocke's eyes. "Then we heard that Carole and her whole family had been
killed. Not in an accident, it was deliberate. And it was done so that
people would notice it. One of the girls said her father had crossed the
Highest Society, and that they had killed Carole's family as a warning."

"She told us that the Highest Society could get any of us, any time they
felt like it. And it went after people just because of who they were, just
for the sake of it. I had nightmares for months and months. As I got older,
I told myself the Highest Society did not exist: if it ever had, it did not
any more. Such a thing could not exist nowadays, and it must be a fiction,
and what Amanda had said was just a sick joke to frighten us. I convinced
myself too. Until Shadowflash came back with Stalker, I really was convinced
that the Highest Society didn't exist. First I thought that someone was just
using the name, but everything they said, it fitted too well with what
Amanda had told us."

"And now you must reappraise all of that in the light of what they have
found." said Storm, softly, still holding Psylocke close to her.

"Yes. I now have to face the fact that my friend really was killed by them,
and what I thought was like the Big Bad Wolf is as real as Apocalypse."
Psylocke buried her head in Storm's arms. 

"Do not worry. We have overcome worse than this, you and I " said Storm
comfortingly. "It may be that this is a chance to confront your fear, to
make your peace with it at last."

"And if I have to go up against them, and those nightmares make me freeze?
What then?" Psylocke looked hard at Storm. "What if my fear gets someone
hurt, or even killed? You, or Warren, or Jean? What then? How could I deal
with that?" Psylocke burst into tears again.

"We WILL find a way, Elizabeth. We will find a way" Storm simply held
Psylocke, thinking that she really needed Jean Grey's help right now. By the
Goddess, she and Psylocke both needed that help.



Pete Wisdom said nothing for several long moments. The name was immediately
familiar to him. It was like an old horror that lurked at the edge of
reality. He took a deep breath and composed himself before answering.

"Yeah, I've 'eard of 'em. Before I joined Excalibur, I worked for a bunch
called Black Air. Ever hear of THEM?" Shadowflash and Wolverine both shook
their heads. "Well, they're British Intelligence, supposedly don't exist,
answerable only to the Prime Minister, and then only sometimes. We had
penetration agents in places you wouldn't believe. But there was always
these rumours, of a group called the Highest Society, that had its OWN set
of agents, in all sorts of places. Well, the challenge was too much to
resist, as you can imagine. Black Air tried to set up a penetration. We got
nowhere. Word was, several of the people we tried to put in came to very bad
ends. Then, someone thinks that maybe THEY have infiltrated US, so there's a
big internal security flap, checking WE don't have a mole in our lot. Then
all of a sudden word comes from on high, and I mean VERY high, that we are
to "Cease and desist". WE did a little more snooping, and it turns out that
one night the Prime Minister gets a visit from a group of MPs, from all the
parties, and they tell him, not ask him, tell him, to pull Black Air off the
Highest Society."

"So what?" asked Shadowflash.

"So these MPs should never even have HEARD of Black Air!" Pete Wisdom
sighed. "The Highest Society does exist, and it has more bloody resources
and assets than you can guess. The rumour is all o' that lot that lean on
the PM was Highest society, born and raised to it. Like something out o' the
Middle Ages." Pete Wisdom carried on talking for a long time, going into
some detail of the rumours that he had heard about the group. Shadowflash
took notes, while Logan occasionally interrupted to ask for more detail.
Pete Wisdom confirmed most of what Psylocke had said, and some of what
Stalker's data files had suggested. Wolverine then explained to the
Englishman what Stalker had uncovered, and what the Highest Society's long
term aim seemed to be.

"Fuck me sideways!" was all Pete Wisdom could say. After a few moments,
Shadowflash and Wolverine broke the com link, and silently walked back to
Hank McCoy's office.

Several minutes later, Wolverine, Shadowflash, Storm and Hank were all sat
down together in the office.

"There's no point in callin' another formal meeting, Hank," said Wolverine.
"We can go over what we found out, tell the others we're workin' on it, then
wait  'till Charlie gets back. This ain't real urgent, and I for one don't
wanna be the one that causes him to blow a gasket if we just wade in without
his say-so."

"I agree." said Storm. "At the moment, people are a little tightly strung,
and I feel it would benefit us all to have the Professor's counsel. I have
managed to calm Elizabeth down, and tell her that we will overcome this
latest difficulty, but I would like to have the Professor here, just for
reassurance."

Hank nodded. 

"Perhaps I have been overly hasty," he said, "in acting as I have. A
scientist should assemble his data and critically review it, contruct a
hypothesis and then attack its weakest point. Not simply go barreling in
without a moment's reflection. That reminds me, did Elizabeth say anything
that might shed some light on her reaction to our current problem?" Hank
looked at Storm.

"Yes Henry, she did. But what she said does not add anything to what we knew
already, and I certainly will not discuss such confidences without
Elizabeth's agreement."

"Naturally," said Hank quickly, "and I did not wish to imply that you would.
I merely wondered if she had added any detail to the statement she made
earlier."

"What we found out confirms most of what she said, and what Stalker told
us," Shadowflash put in. "A guy at Muir Island, Pete Wisdom, told us he'd
had some dealings with them, and that the Highest Society were as old and
powerful as the stories suggested." Shadowflash consulted his notes and went
over what Wisdom had told them, supported by comments from Wolverine.

"And what did Mr Wisdom make of our estimate of their plans?" asked Hank.
Wolverine told him.

"Ahem." Hank looked slighly abashed. "I see. And did this, to your mind
suggest surprise or disbelief?" Logan smiled tightly.

"Surprise. Or shock maybe. Not disbelief. Not other than the desire NOT to
believe it."

"I can understand his reaction." said Storm. The four sat silent for several
moments, before leaving the room and going off in different directions.

Later on, Shadowflash was walking along the corridor toward his room,
oblivious to everything, when he was suddenly struck by a fast-moving
object. He hit the ground, the breath knocked out of him, dazed, and then
suddenly felt a weight on his chest.

"Where the hell have you been? Didya find anything out? Are you gonna take
me to England?" Shadowflash groaned.

"Jubilee! I've been with Logan and Hank, talking on the video link. As for
what we found out, Hank will tell you soon enough." Jubilee snorted.

"Some help you are, mister! What's the good of a gal having a guy on the
inside if she STILL can't find anything out ahead of the rest of the gang?"
When Shadowflash said nothing, Jubilee gave him a dig in the ribs. "Well,
what IS the use? Aw, what's the use of asking you THAT. OK, big guy, let's
start with a real simple simple question: did - you - miss - me?" Each word
was punctuated with a dig in the ribs. Shadowflash said nothing for a
moment, and Jubilee was about to dig him again, when she suddenly felt
herself being lifted into the air as Shadowflash flipped himself onto his
feet. He flung his arms around Jubilee, and kissed her passionately.

"Hey! Quit pawing me!" she yelled as Shadowflash's hands moved lower.

"You were the one as was sat astride ME in the corridor!" he said with a
laugh. "What's good for me is good for you, too!"

"That was different." Jubilee giggled, pushing Shadowflash back against the
wall. "You could always take me somewhere more private..." The two walked
toward Shadowflash's room, just in time to meet Gambit and Logan coming the
other way. Shadowflash and Jubilee entered the Englishman's room.

"You t'ink there still somet'ing dere, ami?" said Gambit, with a grin. Logan
didn't seem to know whether to encourage the two or act like a suspicious
parent, and Gambit knew it.

"Ah shuddup, Gumbo!" said Wolverine, walking back the way he came, pursued
down the corridor by Gambit's laughter.


Mitch Kelly,
Analytical Chemist
mk00nf@csl.gov.uk
"I'm the very best at what I do, but what I do ain't very nice..."
- Logan