Kitty Pryde, Excalibur and the X-Men are trademarks of Marvel Comics. Alistair Lethbridge-Stuart belongs to the BBC. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copyright to me.
Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at mshakespeare@callnetuk.com
Notes:
< > indicates thoughts
Mark Shakespeare presents :
Excalibur Redrawn - Part 19
The whir of the helicopter blades was starting to get on Rahne's nerves. With her senses still keyed up after their earlier fight with Lever, the constant noise was proving to be something of an irritant to her. She looked over at Meggan, staring out of the window. The young Scots girl didn't need to be a telepath to realise that the blonde Fay was pining for her husband, off with the rest of the team rescuing Amanda from the clutches of N'astirh. "Dinna worry, Meggan, they'll be back before ye know it, wi' Miss Sefton, and yuir man'll be wanting tae show ye how much he missed ye."
Meggan looked round at her, and started giggling at the thought, the younger woman joining in. Though Rahne might not have a boyfriend, she knew what couples got up to, and had made the comment to lift her companion's spirits. "I know he will, Rahne, and thank you for the thought. I know we've been separated once or twice before, but it doesn't get any easier for me. I know I should be more independent, like Betsy and Kitty are, but I just can't do it, it's not in my nature." She sighed, and looked out of the helicopter again. "I hope you're right, and that they're all okay. Brian's getting his power back, Kitty and Betsy and Kurt all know how to fight, much better than I do, but I can't help worrying if something - "
"Dinna start making problems where there are none, that'll drive ye crazy!" The short redhead's tone was sharp. She didn't want Meggan getting herself screwed up with worry over the others, not when they themselves were soon going to be in combat, against a man who had once already defeated them, and had shown that he was ready to kill if necessary. She was afraid that if the older woman kept worrying, she might be distracted during the forthcoming fight and end up getting hurt. Rahne decided that the short, sharp shock treatment would be the best way of getting Meggan's mind back on their immediate situation. "'Twill do ye no good getting yuirself all out of sorts wi' worry, Meggan. Whatever's happenin' where they are, 'twill happen and ye canna do anything about it. Brian and the others can deal wi' whatever they find!" <I hope.>
Meggan blushed. The sharp tone had come as something of a shock from the normally shy weregirl, but, she had to admit, she'd deserved it. She'd been worrying about things over which she had no control, and she'd been showing little faith in her friends and teammates. Before she could respond, however, Alistaire came back from the cockpit.
"We've got more information on the whereabouts of our friend from Sellafield. It seems he was detected by French air-defense entering their airspace north of Rouen. We'd already alerted them as to his powers, so it seems they decided to engage him with Mirage fighters using cannon. Apparently, his power doesn't work against kinetic energy, only electromagnetic, and he turned back rather than fight them. He's currently heading north towards the south coast of England - but he's also on course to reach London. The RAF is scrambling fighters to intercept - I just hope they're successful .... "
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The van pulled up outside the sprawling old country house. Four tall, muscular women came out of the front door, and helped to carry the unconscious man inside. The van was driven around the back, into a barn to conceal it, as the man they'd snatched was taken to the underground complex which now lay beneath the sixteenth century building.
Sat-Yr-9 was waiting impatiently for news, riding crop tapping against her boot. She turned as there was a knock on her door. "Enter!"
The man stepped in and saluted. "Ma'am!"
She waved to him to relax - a little. "Well, was he recovered intact as ordered?"
"Yes, ma'am. He's being taken to the medical centre right now, just for a checkup, and to make sure that the prison authorities' drugs are neutralised. We left no witnesses." The man's Irish lilt came through strongly, as it always did when he wasn't trying to conceal it.
The smile which crossed the face of the platinum-blonde woman was one which gave even the hardened killer in front of her a momentary pang of unease. Even when on active duty with the Real IRA (a radical splinter group of the Provisional IRA - author's note), he hadn't met someone as in love with violence and death as the beautiful woman who stood before him.
Of course she noticed his reaction, it was what she'd been aiming for. Opal Lun Sat-Yr-9 believed in keeping subordinates off-balance, just in case they got ideas into their heads about making a play for power .......
"Good, you've done well. Let me know when the doctors have finished checking him over."
"Ma'am!"
Once he'd gone, she permitted herself a quiet laugh. "So, another piece enters play. The opening is over, next comes the middle game." She crossed the room to where the chessboard was set up. The black pieces were in the forms of herself and her subordinates, the white pieces shaped as Excalibur. Kitty was the King. Sat-Yr-9 picked it up, and turned it in her hand. "This time, Katherine, I'll make you mine - forever!"
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"Target sighted, bearing one-six-five degrees. Over."
"Roger that, Whisky two-zero. Proceed with attack as ordered. Over."
"Roger that, Base One, attacking now. Over and out. Okay people, there's the psycho bastard, let's get him!" The four Harriers swung around into attack formation, pilots switching their cannon into 'ready' mode, as their head-up displays indicated range and trajectory to the flying figure in front of them.
Lever felt the electromagnetic signatures of their aircraft and swore to himself. He hadn't detected them earlier because, like the French planes before them, they had approached with their radars switched off, guided to their target by ground control. He aimed his hand at the lead plane, then had to take evasive action as a hail of cannon shells filled the air around him. He accelerated towards the ground, hoping to lose them amidst the ground clutter. So fixed was his attention on the planes that he didn't see the helicopter approaching on an intercept course.
"It seems that the RAF is keeping our friend occupied. All right, ladies and dragon, it's time for you to do your business. And try not to get hurt if possible - I'd hate to think what Braddock might do to me if his wife got injured with me around...."
"Och, Professor, we were going tae jump in front o' one o' his blasts and get ourselves a manmade suntan, were we no' Meggan?" Rahne hoped that the blonde elemental would be successful in bringing their foe to ground - she herself had no flight capabilities with which to engage him in the air. She took a deep breath, and dropped out of the open door, using the enhanced agility of her half-wolf form to take the shock of impact with the ground below.
Meggan, poised to leave as her companion had, smiled at Alistaire. "Don't worry Alistaire, we have no intention of getting hurt - right, Lockheed?"
"Yah!" The little purple alien flew out of the helicopter, growling a challenge to the man who'd hurt him earlier. He knew that his fiery breath would have no effect on the man, but didn't intend using a ranged attack anyway - this time it was going to be up close and personal!
The first that Lever knew of the new arrivals was when he felt sharp teeth sink into his left calf. "Owww!" He looked down to see a little purple dragon attached to his leg. "You again?! This time I'll kill you, you little - "
He felt, rather than saw, the light around him diminish, the nuclear energy which sustained him dying away, and looked round, momentarily distracted from Lockheed's attack. Above him he saw the curvaceous blonde woman he'd put down earlier in the day, her arms spread wide, and knew instinctively that she was the cause of the sunlight failing. She was dampening the light, cutting him off from his power source!
Meggan was using her power in a totally new way for her - she had reached out to the sunlight coming from above, and caused it to flow away from the area where Lever was hovering in midair. She knew she couldn't keep it up indefinitely - the energy of the diverted sunlight wanted to flow back into the place it was supposed to be, as Meggan remembered Brian saying something about 'Nature abhors a vacuum' - but as long as she was able to cut Lever off from what gave him his power, then they had a chance to defeat him.
Before Lever could attack the blonde woman, the RAF jets screamed in again, firing as they came, and he was forced to evade their fire, though they were deliberately firing wide to avoid hitting Meggan. But, wherever he went, the light continued to lessen, and he felt his strength slowly ebbing away. He screamed his fury at those who opposed him, then flew down to land, deciding that lessening his energy expenditure level would give him more time to defeat his foes. He ignored the little alien dragon flying down to recommence its attack, and concentrated on the flying woman who was the biggest threat to him.
He never saw the russet-furred humanoid figure leap from the bushes just behind him, never saw her swing a muscular arm down at the back of his head, never saw the massive clawed fist which robbed him of consciousness.
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The scientist looked up from his work, and stood up when he saw that his visitor was his employer. "Good afternoon Ma'am, how may I help you?"
"You can tell me how your work is coming along, Fredericks." Sat-Yr-9 used her riding crop to gesture at the complex machinery which stood in the centre of the laboratory. The machine, a transparent dome festooned with cables and coolant pipes, dominated the room, standing nearly nine feet tall.
"Very well indeed, Ma'am. We're still a little short of some of the raw materials we need, but the next delivery from the States is due in about two hours time, Once we have that shipment, we'll have all we need to complete the device."
"And testing what has already been completed?"
"Very satisfactory, Ma'am. The bio-readouts you gave us were sufficiently detailed to allow us to run a simulation at seventy-five percent of maximum detail, and all calculations seem to be accurate to within tolerances. Once the specimen is provided, we'll be able to start modifications as per design."
"Excellent, Fredericks. Once the specimen is available, she'll be provided as soon as possible - I want her ready for employment in as short a timescale as can be managed."
"Understood, Ma'am."
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"Well done, all of you! You managed to bring him down without killing him, and without causing too much collateral damage during the engagement."
"Collar-what? Sorry, Alistaire, but I don't understand that word." Meggan's brow was creased in a frown. It was at times like this that she regretted not having any sort of formal education. True, the other members of Excalibur had helped her to read and write, especially once they'd had access to the computers on Muir Isle, and she could now do as well as a young teenager. But when Brian, or Kitty, or sometimes Moira, used long, complex words, she didn't comprehend what they were saying. Now Alistaire was doing the same. It was most frustrating!
"Collateral, Meggan. Basically, it means parallel, in this case being taken to mean damage which occurs to objects other than the target of the attacks, such as houses, cars, roads and such like. From what Kitty and Kurt used to say, the X-Men have a reputation for causing a lot of damage to the fight's surroundings whenever they go into action. What was the phrase she used? Oh yes, 'you can tell where the X-Men have been by the trail of damage they leave behind'." <So do Excalibur, though I get the impression that the X-Men are felt to be worse in that regard....>
Rahne started laughing. She'd fought beside the X-Men long enough to feel that the phrase summed up what happened around them pretty well indeed! Meggan joined in, and even Lockheed started chortling his amusement. After a minute or so, Alistaire sobered. "I think I'd better start getting someone to investigate just how Lever got hold of the powers he had, and whether there's any possibility of anyone else having undergone whatever treatment he went through. Given his part in the project you uncovered when you fought the Brood Queen (in the 1999 Excalibur Redrawn Annual - writer's note), the best would be to get all the names of everyone who participated in that project, track them down and check them out - which is going to stretch our manpower, given the current state of the organization. I wonder if Dai Thomas could lend a hand....... "
"Mebbe so, an' remember, Professor Stuart, if ye need help, ye know where we are."
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The plane, the voice announced over the intercom, was now cruising at thirty thousand feet at a speed of six hundred and twenty miles per hour. The estimated time of arrival was at 17:35 Greenwich Mean Time, right on schedule.
Most of the passengers made no response to the announcement. They'd just watched the in-flight movie and were mainly relaxing, listening to the music over the earphones provided (at least, those which were working!), reading books, or else simply sleeping, their seats down to allow them to stretch out as much as possible.
One person who wasn't relaxing was the man in row G. Rubbing a hand against his unshaven chin, he studied the folder in front of him carefully, memorizing the details, before putting it in the lockable case next to him and pulling out the next dossier. He snorted when he caught sight of the word Excalibur emblazoned on the side. <Bet I know the details o' th' team better'n the git wot wrote this!> Skimming through, only one detail caught his eye. <Oh, the twin sister's in now, is she? Fine, a telepath's always good to 'ave around, especially a first-rank one like 'er. A gorgeous bird to go with it..... God, ter think I'm back in Intel work, even if only short-term! Oh well, the job needs doin'.> With that he slid the folder back into the case, locked it, and took a swig from the hip flask he'd brought with him, intense blue eyes thoughtful as he pushed the flask back into his rumpled black raincoat and ran a hand through his unkempt hair.