Kitty Pryde, Excalibur and the X-Men are trademarks of Marvel Comics. Doctor Who, UNIT and the Brigadier are all property of 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:
Illyana is currently staying with Piotr and Mikhail at the Xavier Mansion
< > indicates thoughts
Mark Shakespeare presents :
Excalibur Redrawn - 1999 Annual
"Hmph! Bloody costumed heroes, should be a job for proper cops, this should!"
"And it's good to see you again too, Dai. In case you haven't met before, Commander Dai Thomas, this is Rahne Sinclair. Rahne, this is Dai Thomas, an ..... associate of ours. All right Dai, what's the problem?" Brian knew Dai's moods of old, and was not going to let him spend all of the time moaning. The rest of the team knew him fairly well, Betsy in passing, but Rahne didn't, and Brian didn't want her to be put off by his grumpy manner.
The rest of the team looked around curiously. They had been called here, to the Alvingdon Research Base, on a mission which no-one had been prepared to discuss with them over the phone. Brian had informed them that Alvingdon was a Military of Defense establishment, but couldn't tell them what it was for, or why UNIT had called them in - much to Dai's disgust.
Actually, Dai was pleased to see them, though he'd never admit it. He knew, from personal experience, just how good all of them were in a tight situation - the incident at Braddock Manor with Jamie had taught him that. He might have a distrust of 'costumed vigilantes', as he still referred to them, but he knew just how useful they could be where trouble was concerned. He had originally been opposed to even the thought of superheroes, after his wife had been killed in a fight involving Captain Britain, but that anger and mistrust had slowly eroded as he came to know first Brian, then Meggan, and then the rest of Excalibur, as simply people trying to do the best they could. He knew Braddock better than the rest of them, having been the person who first uncovered the fact that Brian was, in fact, Captain Britain (the Captain Britain trade paperback - Author's note), and liked Meggan - as most people did. He also vaguely knew the beautiful Asiatic woman, who was somehow Braddock's twin sister - the policeman had never quite figured that one out. He noticed Katherine's new costume, a blue and yellow number he hadn't seen before, and Meggan's new costume as well, green as before but now with a yellow sash. <You'd think they had better things to do than be bloomin' fashion models!> "Ruddy higher ups, wanted you lot in on this. That Stuart over at UNIT, said he knew how you lot worked, wanted you in on this, just in case."
"That was sweet of Alistaire!" Meggan beamed at him, and Dai felt his grumpiness slip away - Meggan tended to have that sort of effect on people.
"Not Alistaire, he's in charge of their research division nowadays. His uncle's in charge now, Alistair Lethbridge-Stuart." The policeman got on better with the ex-soldier than with his nephew - they both had a background in one of the services, both knew about discipline and hierarchy and the like.
"What, the Brigadier?" Kitty laughed out loud, as Lockheed, draped over her shoulders, cooed in response. She knew him from an earlier adventure, and liked the older man - they had gotten along well, even if he and Pete hadn't. She knew that Alistaire would be happier going back to doing research, and that the older man was probably a better choice to run the agency - Alistaire had lacked the nous to prevent Black Air from muscling in on his territory, but she doubted that the Brigadier would make the same mistake.
"Aye, that's the one. But a full General now, he is. The higher-ups decided, after that Black Air fiasco, that the post needed a bit more clout behind it, so they brought him out of retirement, promoted him, and gave him a hotline to Downing Street, apparently." The Welshman's voice contained just a hint of envy - the thought of having that much influence, of being able to decide which cases to make his own and not have to worry about stepping on the toes of other agencies, such as MI5 or MI6, made Dai just a little green-eyed........
"Danke for the information, Herr Thomas. We will get the details from Katzchen later. But now we are here, perhaps you could enlighten us just a little as to the problem here." Kurt decided that, whilst all of the previous information might be highly interesting, the time had come to get things moving. He had some information on Alistair from Kitty and Pete's adventure, before the breakup of the team, when they had united with UNIT's scientific advisor, the Doctor, to defeat the Autons. The rest he could find out later. The matter at hand was what should take priority now.
Dai put the cigarette he'd been smoking back into his mouth and drew on the glowing stub for a second, then blew out a cloud of blue smoke. "Bloody murder is what it is, boyo. Couple o' ruddy scientists here, they were found last night. Someone, or something, had torn their throats out and stolen their research papers. Forensic boys're there right now, seeing what they can pick up. They had Special Branch protection, because o' their work - they heard nothing. So someone suggested you lot were called in." He took another draw on his cigarette, and stared at the heroes.
Kurt looked round at Kitty, his second-in-command. "Here is your chance to practice your leadership, Katzchen. Recommendations?"
Kitty thought for a few moments. "Rahne to look around and see if she can pick up any scents - maybe Meggan too. Betsy to carry out a psi-scan. We need to find out what the victims were working on, that might give us a clue." She looked over at Dai, to see if he would volunteer the information.
Only to be met by a resigned shrug. "I can't help you there, young Katherine. Apparently, my own security classification isn't good enough. Bloomin' bureaucrats! You could ask the General if he knows, otherwise ..... you'd better start snooping." The expression on the face of the heavyset policeman made it clear exactly what he thought about being assigned a case he didn't have the authority to properly investigate.
The various members of Excalibur all registered surprise. The Chief Superintendent had been involved in sensitive cases before now, so for him to be denied knowledge of what the murdered men had been working on was highly surprising. Brian was the first to recover. "In that case, that just leaves doing things the old-fashioned way. Rahne, as Kitty said, you'd better start tracking. Meggan, perhaps you could help." Then he stopped speaking out loud, but 'spoke' to Betsy mentally, *Betsy, forge a psi-link between all of us, if you please.*
*Done, Brian.*
*Okay everyone, let's keep this secret. Betts, can you mind-probe any of the other scientists, and find out what the men were working on?*
*I can try.*
*In the meantime,* Kitty interjected, *Kurt and I can snoop around, without being seen, and see what we can uncover. Kurt, we'll move a distance away, out of sight, then I'll phase us and we can sneak into the building, try to find out something useful.*
*A plan is forming. Very well, meinen freunden. Let us see what is so secret that Chief Superintendent Thomas is being denied access. Be careful, everyone - it seems that the high-ups do not want the knowledge, whatever it is, to get out.* Kurt, newly back on the team, slipped back into his role at the head of the team without a second's hesitation. It felt good to be back with Excalibur. When he'd been back with the X-Men, along with Kitty and Piotr, he'd started to lose the self-confidence which the years of being Excalibur's team leader had given him. First Scott, then Ororo, and later Scott again, had both been strong field-commanders, giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed without question, instantly. The Professor had likewise expected instant obedience to his commands from his former students - one of the things which, the young German mutant knew, had finally driven Kitty to leave, as she'd become disillusioned with being treated, as she'd confided to him one evening, 'like a twelve year old child needing constant guidance from Father, not an adult who's had more combat experience in the last few years than the Professor has'. Kurt had been just another soldier in the Professor's mutant army - and he hadn't liked it. When he had been in charge of Excalibur before, he hadn't tried to enforce his decisions on the team at all times, he'd been prepared to let others make decisions where their expertise or knowledge or thinking was better than his, and he hadn't liked the strict hierarchical structure the X-Men had - and knew that a few others, such as Logan and Remy, were tiring of the constant demands for unquestioning obedience.
Kurt was home again, and had no intention of leaving his friends, his family, again.
*******************************************************
Rahne sniffed the air. There was something registering with her hypersenses, something familiar which she couldn't quite place, something which made her flesh crawl. She shifted from her wolfen form into a full wolf, to try and see if that made the sensation easier to identify. The scent became stronger, but she still couldn't place it, and growled deep in her throat with frustration. Finally, she decided to track the scent as far as she could, to see where it led.
*Miss Braddock?*
*Betsy, Betts or even Elisabeth is fine, Rahne. What is it?* The mental 'voice' came through crystal clear.
*I have a scent. I'm going tae try tae follow it back tae wherever it might lead.*
*All right, Rahne. But be careful, and keep in constant contact, okay?*
*I will.* With that, the red-furred wolf trotted out of the door, ignoring the startled exclamations of the policemen outside. The scent led along the corridor, up a flight of steps leading eventually to the roof, and into a complex of rooms which were, at present, unoccupied, the lights out. The Scots weregirl sniffed the air again. The scent was stronger here, and she shifted into her bipedal wolfen form, in case she needed to fight.
Slowly, cautiously, she made her way into the first room.
*******************************************************
The men stared appreciatively at the beautiful, purple-haired woman in the revealing costume who walked purposefully into the dining hall where the remaining researchers were all congregated, whilst the women's looks were more resentful at being upstaged by the stunning ex-model. Betsy ignored the hostility she encountered, and accepted the appreciation as being nothing more than her due - she'd spent too long being drooled over by men for it to faze her anymore, though at times it could prove useful - men in the grip of overactive hormones were less likely to be on their guard against her mental probes.
She quickly scanned the room, and soon found the man she was looking for. Adrian Harley was quite distinguishable - at over six and a half feet tall, but painfully thin, he could hardly be mistaken for anyone else once a person had a description. The aristocratic Englishwoman strode over to his table, noting with satisfaction how his eyes started out at the sight of her full, lush body in the skimpy costume. <This should prove quite easy. Guarding his mind against intrusion is not exactly high on his list of priorities at the moment.>
"Mister Harley?"
The thin man blinked as she stepped up to his table, then his face split in a smile. It was obvious to the telepath that he was someone not much in the habit of smiling. "Yes, Miss. How can I help you?"
"Well, I'm investigating the deaths of the three men who were murdered here last night. I believe that you worked with them, so I was wondering whether you might be able to tell me something about them - whether they might have enemies, whether they had something in common in their past, that sort of thing." Even as she spoke, Betsy was slipping into his mind, easily evading his virtually nonexistent mental defenses. The surface thoughts were nothing of any great interest to her, so she began to delve more deeply, all the time carrying on a superficial conversation with the man, who was obviously hiding something, as he tried to avoid any reference to the work being done here.
<Weapons research. Specifically, unconventional weapons - bio-weapons and the like. No wonder they don't want this place publicised, he himself is working on biochemically based weapons capable of preventing a person from producing testosterone. A weapon like that could be the perfect pacifier. How do you keep a population in check? Prevent them from getting angry at anything. Of course, it could have beneficial uses, such as riot control, or pacifying homicidal maniacs and psychotics, but the possible uses by authoritarian governments!> The more she delved into Harley's mind, the more agitated she got.
*****************************************************
"Okay, fuzzy-elf, we're in. No-one around, let's see what we can find." Kitty unphased herself and Kurt, and the two of them looked around the lab cautiously. Due to the police forensic personnel having been through the room earlier, it was quite clean. Yellow police tape closed the doors, and white marking on the floor indicated the position of the corpses when found - the bodies having been removed for the autopsies. Kitty hefted her portable computer, retrieved from the Midnight Runner. "You look around, I'll do the computer records - I've got some new security-cracking and decryption software I wrote, hopefully that should be enough." She strode over to the lab's PCs without waiting for an answer - not that Kurt had expected anything else from her. Lockheed landed atop a PC and sat there, watching his beloved mistress.
"Ja, Katzchen, that's the best approach, I agree. Just make sure you don't set off any alarms - I'd rather not have to try to explain what we're doing in here......." Kurt headed over to the desks, which were covered in papers, and began to sort through them. The papers were all in scientific jargon which the German mutant couldn't understand, as well as being covered in dozens of small, handmade sketches sprinkled with mathematical formulae. It was all way over his head. <Maybe Moira or Hank might understand all of this, but it is way beyond me. My knowledge, limited as it is, is in electronics. I can understand a circuit diagram, I have no knowledge of biology or biochemistry whatsoever. Still, I will record all of this - just in case.> He produced a small digital camera, and began photographing all of the papers.
He had all but completed half of them when Kitty's voice came to him, sounding grim and strained. "Kurt, I think you'd better take a good look at this........"
*******************************************************
Rahne looked around, her hackles on edge. Something was in here with her, something she knew but couldn't quite recall, something evil. She strained her eyes peering into the darkness, holding herself in readiness for whatever might be there.
At least, she had tried to make herself ready. But the bolt of energy which leapt from the shadows caught her by surprise, hitting her a glancing blow in the side and slamming her against the wall. Fortunately for the Scots girl, her mutant power also included a fast-healing factor which began to knit her wounds back together as soon as they were dealt. Desperately, she sent out a mental call for assistance, rolling to one side as another blast burnt a hole in the wall where she had been lying just a few seconds before. The shadows moved, and now she could see her attackers.
"THE BROOD!"
"Correct, mammal! You thought to track us to our lair, but all you have done is to guarantee your own death!" The two Brood warriors levelled their blasters at her.
*******************************************************
*Brian! Meggan! Rahne's being attacked - the Brood! Over at the main complex, first floor! Hurry!* Betsy's mental voice was loud and concerned - she'd felt the flash of pain from the Scots girl when she'd been hit.
*On our way right now!* The two heroes took to the air, flying as fast as they could towards the location Betsy had indicated. They'd already been airborne, having heard the sound of the first shot being fired. They reached the outside wall of the room where Wolfsbane was under attack, and Brian raised a huge fist. "Knock, knock!" His fist went through the wall with ease, opening a hole big enough for them to fly in, then the big man had to hurl himself to one side to avoid a shot from within. Meggan reached out with her control of the electromagnetic spectrum, found the power source of the Brood weaponry, and extinguished it.
"Come on, Brian, their guns won't work anymore!" With that, she flew in through the hole he'd made, leaving her husband to fly in after her.
Rahne got to her feet. She'd spent the last few seconds rolling about on the floor, desperately avoiding the shots being fired at her. And right now, she was in the mood to give the Brood attackers a taste of their own medicine. With a snarl of rage, she leapt straight at the nearest Brood warrior, her claws outstretched, then swiftly ducked as its tail swung at her, the envenomed tip narrowly missing her.
Meggan wasn't so lucky. Though possibly the most powerful member of the team, she was by no means the most combat-experienced of the Excalians - her nature was that of the gentle healer, the empathic lover, not that of the fierce warrior. The second Brood came straight for her, its tentacles grasping her arms and whipping her into the wall with stunning force. Before the blonde elemental could gather her wits, the Brood raised its tail over her. "And now, mammal, you die!" With that, it drove its tail-spike downwards.
Straight through Meggan into the floor, without harming her. "'Scuse me, but that's no way to treat a lady!" Kitty's head popped through the floor to grin at the dumbfounded alien, as she phased Meggan so that the attack passed harmlessly through her insubstantial form. Kurt bamfed into the air above the Brood warrior, guided by Betsy's telepathic projection, and dropped straight onto the vicious alien, slamming it with both feet to the head, then flipping gracefully over its wildly flailing tentacles.
Enraged, it came after him, intent on destroying the mammal who had caused it harm. Straight into Brian's fist, driven by all of his huge might. The resulting 'crunch' was satisfying in the extreme, Brian not caring about hurting the alien, only about preventing his beloved wife from being harmed. The splattering of sticky ichor over the floor made it certain that he had succeeded.
The first Brood warrior, meanwhile, was locked in fierce combat with Rahne. The two opponents were evenly matched in strength and speed, Rahne's healing factor making up for the Brood warrior's greater viciousness. Then the opening came. Kitty threw herself at the warrior's back, slamming both feet into it, then doing a graceful handstand away to avoid the counterattack. Rahne took the opportunity to slash her claws across the alien's neck from behind, ripping its head clean from its shoulders before it could recover and defend itself.
Silence descended on the scene of battle.
"Is everyone okay?" Kurt looked around, but could see no evidence of wounds on any of his team apart from Rahne, who was healing even as he watched. Brian was helping Meggan to her feet. The elfin woman seemed stunned, but not seriously hurt. Kitty, Brian and Kurt himself didn't have a scratch on them.
"Fine, Kurt. I need tae heal a wee bit, but I'll live. Thanks, Kitty, 'twas a fine distraction ye provided there, Ah'm grateful."
The slender brunette grinned at the redheaded girl. "Any time, Rahney. What are friends for, after all?"
Then the young weregirl looked at the headless body in front of her with shock. Normally, no matter how fierce the fight, she never used lethal force. Never. It was wrong to kill, her Christian upbringing told her that. Killing demons was one thing, 'killing' the undead was acceptable, but an intelligent being, no matter how alien, no matter how hostile and dangerous?
"Rahne? Liebchen, I think that when we return to the manor we should talk." Kurt gently placed a hand on her shoulder, and the Scots girl turned to look at him.
"Aboot?"
He gestured at the Brood corpse in front of them. "As one Christian to another."
*Is everybody okay?* Betsy's mental call broke in on all of them, crystal clear. When everyone answered in the affirmative, she went on, her mental 'voice' sounding grim, *good, we need to discuss what I managed to find out - and anything else the rest of you managed to uncover.*
*Ja, we do. Katzchen and I uncovered information which you all need to know about.* Kurt's 'voice' was no happier than Betsy's.
*********************************************
"So, what's the story here?" Brian looked at the grim faces of his sister, Kurt and Kitty, knowing from their expressions that whatever it was, it was bad news.
Betsy was the first to speak. "Basically, Brian, everyone, they're working on biological and chemical weapons here. Specifically, they're working on weapons which can accurately target given genetic groups, such as specific races, or genders, or whatever. Mr. Harley, for example, was working on a chemical weapon which targets testosterone producers - it could be used to kill men in a population but leave the women and children intact." She paused at the horrified expressions on the faces of the others - though she noted, with disquiet, that Kitty and Kurt didn't look too surprised. <Just what have they found out that they're going to tell us about?> "Others are working on weapons which could target a specific race, such as blacks, or Arabs, or aboriginal peoples." Meggan's face was by now completely white at the thought, and Rahne looked totally stunned by the revelations. Brian was horrified at the thought of such research being done in Britain. <One day he's going to have to admit that the British government is as corrupt and greedy and venal as other governments are. He just can't accept that Britain isn't a moral paragon, and never was.> She waited a few seconds, then stared at Kitty and Kurt. "Okay you two, of everyone here, you're the only ones who don't look surprised. So, what did you find out about our deceased friends?"
Kurt hesitated, then looked at Kitty. "You found it out, Katzchen, so I'll let you tell them."
"Thanks, Kurt, I needed that. Like a hole in the head, I needed that. Okay, here's what I found in their computers. They were working on anti-mutant weapons. Two in particular were near to completion - I've copied all their files into my own PC, and removed their hard drives, we can destroy them later." Kitty ignored the shocked looks on the faces of Brian, Meggan and Rahne at her act of theft - as far as she was concerned, destroying research into such weapons was a moral imperative. She took a deep breath. "The first of these is a weapon whose effects are similar to that of the Legacy Virus - specifically, it stimulates the target's mutant X-chromosome to cause the mutant's power to activate in such a way as to harm the mutant him- or herself, just as Legacy attacks the victim's body by using the mutant gene. Secondly, they were working on a technique to inject mutant chromosomes into a target, not into the cell nucleus as normal but into the rest of the cell, to become part of what is called the 'mitochondrial DNA'. This would give the recipient mutant powers, but because the nuclear DNA was untouched, they wouldn't register as mutants, or pass on their genes to their children if the person receiving the mutant DNA was male, given that males don't pass on mitochondrial DNA at all."
Brian's eyes were wide. "My God! That first device could be used to wipe out all mutants in any given location whilst leaving ordinary humans untouched! It would be the ideal weapon for a preemptive strike in a war of genetic extermination!" The others faces showed varying degrees of horror as they realised the enormity of what they'd uncovered. Betsy was the first to react. "I can understand why the Brood would be interested in that sort of weapon - they could use it to eliminate humanity's mutant defenders, such as ourselves, the X-Men, and powerful mutant opposition such as Magneto. But why would they be interested in the second line of research?"
"Because, as Katzchen and I discussed when we found out about all of this, they could use it to give themselves the powers of various mutants, repeating the technique to give the most useful powers to all of their warriors instead of having to rely on getting hold of mutants for use as egg repositories. At present, their ability to obtain mutant powers is limited by the number of mutants they can capture. With this technique, that is no longer the case."
"Worse than that, fuzzy." Kitty's voice cut in on everyone's shocked thoughts. "What if they can give their warriors the powers of more than one mutant? Say they captured the X-Men, like they did the first time. They could give every warrior in the Hive the combined powers of all of the X-Men! Imagine a Brood warrior with Wolverine's fast healing factor, Colossus' invulnerability and strength, Rogue's ability to absorb minds and powers, Gambit's agility and kinetic energy abilities, Storm's weather control and lightning powers, Cyclops' optic blasts, Phoenix's telepathy and telekinesis, Polaris' magnetic powers .... they'd be virtually unbeatable! Then multiply that by an entire Hive! You'd need nuclear weapons to stop them - if they didn't use Lorna's powers to shut them down or deflect them. How could they be defeated??"
Silence fell on the team as everyone realised the scale of the threat they were facing. Kurt broke that silence. "Then they have to be stopped. Now."
*********************************************
Some distance away, hidden in a long-abandoned coal mine, was a scene from Hell. Amongst walls encrusted with resinous yellow secretions, flew the hideous insectoid forms of the Brood. Workers went about their tasks, whilst warriors patrolled the Hive tunnels. And, deep in the heart of the Hive, the drones attended the Queen.
She was a young Queen, not yet fully developed, but the undisputed mistress of the Hive nonetheless. A guard of warriors stood close by, or hovered overhead, as she went about the business of running the Hive. Even now, a new generation of workers, drones and warriors were maturing in their eggs, well on the way to hatching, an event which would necessitate a full-scale expansion of the Hive.
And, amongst the debris and seemingly random structure of the Hive, lay the bones of Everett McDonnell, formerly a researcher at the Alvingdon research establishment. An enthusiastic amateur potholer, he and a friend had set out to enter a cave system in the hills nearby, and had, by sheer misfortune, stumbled upon a patrol of Brood warriors before they reached the caves. The Brood, taking no chances, had seized both men and brought them back to the Hive. Utilised as egg-hatcheries, the Brood had thus obtained from the mind of McDonnell information regarding the humans' weapons research program, and the Queen had determined to steal the research for the Brood's own benefit.
Now she awaited the return of the two warriors she had dispatched to destroy the remains of the laboratory, in order to prevent the humans from using the technology to build an army that her warriors would be unable to defeat. They were to plant a large explosive device to level the place, then return. But she was concerned. Like all Brood, she had limited telepathic powers, enough to be able to communicate with her minions, but she could no longer contact her two warriors. Did that mean that the humans had somehow destroyed them? She was prepared to take no chances; the warriors were ordered to redouble their patrols, and the workers set about bringing the next batch of warriors to maturity ahead of schedule.
*********************************************
"... question is, how do we find them? Elizabeth, could you use your telepathy to do it?"
"Kurt, there's no need to be so formal. We're on the same team, even if we haven't worked together too much before. Please, call me Betsy, or Betts, like Kitty does. As for finding them, I can - "
"Hey! Excalibur! The Chief wants a word - seems something's come up. He's at the radio car." The policeman gestured to the white van parked in the drive. The heroes hurried over, to overhear the policeman saying " ...... long as those bomb-disposal boys get here in time, I don't ruddy well care who needs to authorise it! So jump to it, then!" He slammed the radio mike back into its holder, and spun round to glare at the team. "Fine job you lot did of investigating! Those bloomin' aliens left something, we think it's a bomb, and you lot missed it! A really good, clean sweep you made of - "
"Herr Chief Superintendent. I am fully aware that you like to complain a lot, so I will not argue with you. But if you could tell us where this 'bomb' might be found, perhaps we can do something about it." Kurt's voice was polite, but firm, and the older man blinked in surprise.
"Back in the lab where the men were killed. It's in one of the air ducts. Funny looking thing, haven't seen anything like it in my time. In fact - "
"Thank you, Herr Thomas. We will see what we can do."
*********************************************
"Meggan, can you sense anything? Any kind of magnetic current, or other form of electromagnetic energy inside it?"
"Nothing, Kitty. Nothing at all."
"Damn! It must be insulated. Drat! I was hoping you could use your control of the electromagnetic spectrum to simply switch it off. Brian better get back here with that equipment soon......." Kitty's voice tailed off. If Meggan couldn't switch it off, then there were two alternatives.
Firstly, they could cut into the device to try to get at its trigger mechanism, and disarm it that way. Secondly ......... secondly she could phase herself partly into the device, enough to be able to work on it and defuse it. Both approaches carried risks. The first ran the risk that the device was booby-trapped, and would explode if opened. The second risked the device being triggered by her phasing into it and disrupting some part of its mechanisms. Both would also involve her. The first approach would mean herself and Brian using the cutting tools in the Runner to open the device up. The second would mean her phasing partially into the device to get at its workings.
"Relax, Kitty. My brother's coming back right now, with all of the tools you both decided upon. Oh, and apparently the bomb-disposal team won't be here for another good hour or more - the traffic's not clearing - so Dai's sending them back, saying we'll handle things this end." Betsy was calm now, after the initial shock of their discoveries of the work being done here. They had informed both Dai Thomas and Alistair Lethbridge-Stuart of the situation here, as the work being done at the site contravened both International and probably British law. If the powers-that-be didn't shut the place down, Excalibur meant to make sure that public opinion would do the job instead......
"Right, here we are." Brian dumped a large armful of electronic equipment on the bench nearby. "Now we have to decide on our approach. Do we cut, or not?" The big man had taken to placing a wide selection of equipment aboard the Runner, just in case it was needed in the field. Amongst the tools were both thermal and laser cutters, as well as various other pieces of electronic hardware. As a trained engineer, he felt that it should be him who did the work, but if Kitty's phasing power was needed, he would offer any assistance he could.
"Here is my plan, meinen freunden. Brian, you and Katzchen start cutting the bomb open. Meggan, please monitor the situation with regards to the electromagnetic flow within the device. If it starts to show signs of activity, then we will have to fall back on Kitty phasing herself and her tools inside to work on it. In the meantime, Meggan, please cut off all radio waves to and from the device, just in case the Brood decide to send a signal to detonate the bomb whilst we are working on it. Unless anyone can think of anything else, we should begin as soon as possible."
The two designated bomb-disposal engineers looked at one another. "Ready when you are, Bri."
"Right then, let's get started."
They set up the equipment around the 'bomb', activated it, and began the slow, delicate process of cutting through the surface. Or at least they tried to. But even if they pushed the cutter up to full intensity, it made no impression on the surface. It didn't even start to get hotter. "Blast! Whatever this stuff is, it's too tough for this cutter to penetrate. I suppose we could try the laser, but if this one isn't even heating the surface, I doubt that'll be any more effective." Brian sat back on his haunches, and looked at Kitty. "I guess it's up to you now. Betsy can mind-link us, and I'll offer all the advice I can. It's the best we can do now."
"Oh, joy!"
*********************************************
"Chief! General Lethbridge-Stuart on the phone, wants to know what the situation is down here."
"Right, son. Give me the mike." The burly Welshman spoke for a few moments, listening intently to the voice on the other end of the line, then replaced the mike. "Bloody politicos!", he snorted to himself. "Give a poor bloody bobby a heart attack trying to do his job, then complain about the lengths he had to go to in order to do it! At least Lethbridge-Stuart's a bit better at keeping the bureaucrats off our tails than Stuart was, but it's still tying my hands behind my back, what they want me to do!" He glared at the policeman standing next to him, before yelling at the poor, innocent man, "Well? How are them lot doing in there then?
"I-I don't know sir? Shall I go and find out for you?" The man was stammering, he really didn't like having to deal with the formidable Dai Thomas in this mood.
"Yes! And bloody well ...... no wait, here they come now. I guess they must have been successful."
The team emerged from the building looking tired, Kitty and Brian especially. Betsy had a headache from all of the telepathy she'd been forced to use recently, Brian was tired from trying to see through Kitty's eyes and aid in deactivating the bomb, and Kitty was exhausted from having to stay partially phased, whilst solidifying enough to work on the bomb's interior mechanisms. Lockheed was hovering in the air over Kitty's head, and the team were discussing their next move.
"So, is it safe now?" Dai asked them as soon as they drew near.
"That it is, Dai. Kitty deactivated the device, and it's totally safe now." Brian rubbed his head, then looked at the policeman. "One thing. We've been trying to work out just how the Brood came to know about this place. It's not exactly public knowledge, either its existence or the work it does. So, how did they know?"
"Ah, I have a theory there, Braddock. The only way they could know is if they obtained the knowledge from someone who worked here. I doubt anyone would work with them voluntarily, so that leaves them snatching someone. And I had the head of research here do a quick check, and one of the men is missing. One Everett McDonall is missing. We tried contacting his home, no response. So I was planning to take a bunch of my lads over there, and try to find out what's happened to him." Dai lit another cigarette, and inhaled gratefully.
"Danke, Chief Superintendent. We will go there ourselves, and find out whatever we can."
"Fine, but if you find out anything important, let me know, okay?"
*********************************************
McDonall's house was about thirty miles from the base - a few minutes flight in the Runner. They flew overhead, and Kurt put the plane into 'hover' mode directly above the roof. Then, the drop hatch opened, and the team stepped out into the void. Meggan and Brian flew down, Meggan holding a tired Kitty, whilst Kurt, Rahne and Betsy dropped onto the roof, before they all linked hands and Kitty phased them down through the roof into the house. "Gut, Katzchen. Now, Kameraden, search for anything which might indicate where Herr McDonall might have gone when he went missing. For I wager that wherever he went, is where we might find the location of the Brood."
The team split up and went through the house from top to bottom. A laptop in the spare room attracted Kitty's attention, and she logged on to see what it might contain. Brian and Meggan began looking through his paperwork. But it was Rahne who made the first breakthrough.
"Kurt! I think I've found something!" The Scots girl's voice came from downstairs, full of excitement. The blue-furred leader of Excalibur was soon down the stairs, to find her in the kitchen, pointing at the calendar on the wall, a big smile on her face. Since the incident with the bomb, she'd felt that she hadn't being doing much for the team, that Kitty and Brian had done a lot more. But now she was the one who'd made the discovery. "Ye see! There, four days ago, there's a mark sayin' 'climb w. PAV'! So, if we can find who this 'PAV' is, an' find where the two o' them went, we can find the Brood lair!"
"Well done, Rahne! Good work!" Kurt mentally 'called' Betsy, who passed on the information to the rest of the team. Now they knew what to look for.........
It was Meggan who found out the name they were looking for. Going through McDonall's address book, she suddenly started upright. "Oh look, Brian! Here's a name - 'Patrick Allen Ventura' - PAV! That must be who he went climbing with!"
"Is there a phone number?"
"Um - yes, here!" She passed the book over to Brian, who took the phone from its cradle atop the work desk, and dialled the number. After a few seconds, a woman's voice answered him. Brian spoke to her for a while, then replaced the phone. *Betsy, please link us all.*
*Done, oh mighty brother of mine.* The huge man grinned at that description.
*Okay everyone, Meg's just found out the name of the person who went off with Mr. McDonall - one 'Patrick Allen Ventura'. I rang his home address, and spoke to his wife. Apparently, the sort of climbing they like is actually potholing, and that's where they went four days ago, on a tour of various cave systems not far from here. So, everyone look out for anything which might give the name of the cave systems they planned to visit - according to Mrs. Ventura, Mr. McDonall was a meticulous man who liked to plan everything in advance, so there may well be plans somewhere showing their itinerary. So we'd better start looking.*
*Hold on, Brian. I think I spotted something earlier.* Kitty's mental voice came through crystal clear. There was a few seconds pause, then *Got it. You were right, Brian. There's a couple of scanned maps in here, showing a couple of local cave systems and marked with possible entry points and routes. I can't see that they show which they planned to visit first, but these are our best leads.*
*Good work, all of you. Back to the Runner, everyone, We'll alert Chief Superintendent Thomas once we're airborne, and he can alert UNIT.*
*********************************************
The sleek, black aircraft slid down from the sky, to land outside the gaping mouth of the cave. The team disembarked, Rahne shifting into her wolfen form immediately, in order to sense any danger which might await them. They had belt lights attached to their costumes, part of the equipment box on board. Betsy had her katana in the sash of her costume, Kurt had two swords over his shoulders, and Kitty held a solid wooden fighting staff, or bo staff, something she'd spent time practicing with against Logan whilst she'd been back in the States. A katana was in a scabbard on her left hip, but she had decided to use the staff, to keep fresh her recent training in the weapon. Lockheed took to the air, and Kitty spoke a few words to him. She intended to let Lockheed try to find the Brood - after all, he'd spent enough time hunting them back on the Brood homeworld, that had been how they'd met. The little purple dragon cooed his agreement, and flew into the cave as the team made their way towards it.
"We must move fast, meinen freunden. If this is the wrong site we could lose a lot of valuable time searching it - perhaps enough for our enemies to complete their plans." Kurt 's voice was troubled - like Kitty, he had plenty of bad memories of them facing the Brood the first time. Indeed, both had been implanted with Brood embryos, and had only been saved by the intervention of Carol Danvers, who had used the power she'd gained since losing her memories to Rogue to free the soul of the Acanti, purging it of the Brood influence, the soul subsequently purging the X-Men of the implanted eggs. The thought that such ruthless and evil beings might have access to technology which would enable them to destroy all mutants, having first taken their powers, horrified him.
They moved slowly forward, lamps lighting up the darkness. And unfortunately giving away their presence.
************************************
*Brood Mother! Mammals have intruded into the caves! And, Your Majesty, two of them match descriptions of mammals who took part in the destruction of our original home amongst the Acanti!*
The psychic alarm of the Brood warrior broke in upon the Queen's planning. Immediately, she sent out a call to her warriors to attack the mammals, and take them alive. The fact that two of them were mutants meant that the rest were almost certainly mutants. And six mutants would be a great resource once their development of the stolen human technology was complete...............................
***********************************
Rahne led the way. her keen nose soon picked up the scent of the Brood lingering in the cool, damp air. *Och, they've been here, and 'twas no' long ago. I dinna ken where the scent is coming from, but 'tis fairly recent. Miss Bradd - Elizabeth - can ye sense them with yuir telepathy?*
*No, unfortunately not. They must be shielded in some way. Meggan, can you pick up anything?* Betsy's grip on her sword tightened briefly, before she took a deep breath and relaxed her hold, gripping the hilt loosely, as her 'training' had taught her.
The blonde fay wrapped her arms around herself, and shivered. She could sense something, something hungry, something evil, hiding in the darkness. "Meggan? Are you alright?" Brian's arm slid around her, and she gratefully leaned into his warmth. She nodded.
"I'm all right, Brian, my love. It's just - they're there, I can feel them out there. The Brood. They're hiding in the darkness."
*Meg, Bri, try to remember to use telepathy - the Brood won't be able to hear that. Meg, can you use your powers to illuminate the cave, so we can see them?* Kitty's 'voice', relayed by Betsy, broke in on them, and the pair of them started.
*O-of course, Kitty. Here, let me ................* And with that, the elemental raised her arms, and a wave of bright light leapt out of her, lighting up the cave like a powerful searchlight, white fire blazing from the wet stone around them.
And the Brood attacked, knowing their presence had been detected.
Their highest priority target was the human female who had lit up the cave, as she obviously had some sort of electromagnetic generation powers. The blasters they were armed with had more than one power setting - they could be used to kill, or they could be used to stun, and the latter setting was the one being used at present.
Rahne had already been moving when the aliens attacked, as her senses had told her, as Meggan had also known, that the Brood were out there are getting ready to attack. The young Scots weregirl had decided that the best form of defense was attack. But she was beaten to the punch by Kurt, who teleported into the midst of the Brood and began to lash out at them, using his tremendous agility to avoid their counter-strikes, as he bounced from one to the other, keeping them off-balance by his speed and power.
Betsy struck with the fighting chain given to her by Kitty during the incident with Morgana, striking out with it whiplike, hitting two of the Brood heading for Meggan, wrapping it around their wings and causing them to tumble out of control and crash into one another. They thudded to the ground in front of the purple-haired aristocrat, who wasted not a second in removing their heads with her katana. Then she threw herself to one side to avoid the blasts fired in her direction by another warrior.
Meggan spotted another trio of aliens flying towards her, and aimed her light power in their direction, blinding them with the tremendous intensity of the light generated, so that they swerved off-course, one hitting the cave wall, one ending up on the floor, and one crashed into a stalactite, breaking both it and its neck.
Another Brood fell to Brian's mighty fists, its tough carapace no defense against his massive blows. Two more Brood were slammed into each other with stunning force, before being thrown away as more flew at him. A blast hit home, but his forcefield deflected much of its effect, his suit absorbed yet more, and the rest was not strong enough to inflict any real harm on him. The massive Englishman was promptly submerged under a wave of attackers.
More Brood flew in at Meggan's back - but Kitty blocked their path. The first attacker was struck in the neck by a blow from her staff, hard enough to break its neck and kill it. Three more headed for her, firing as they came. She phased to allow the shots to pass harmlessly through her, then unphased as they came close, striking out at them with the tip of her staff, before dodging between them and phasing again. As they fired at her, they proceeded to hit one another.
But the odds were too great, and the Brood had weapons specifically for use against humans. As the battle raged, a small group of Brood warriors flew up bearing canisters on their backs with tubes leading from them - gas projectors. Kurt was the first to fall to the new attackers; executing a rolling dive into the shadows, he was overcome by the knockout gas before he could sound a warning to his friends.
Betsy found the Brood telepathy interfering with her own, preventing her from tracking them as she normally would have done, and so she was unable to detect the aliens taking aim at her. Caught in a crossfire of stun shots, she quickly fell, soon followed by Meggan, who never saw the attackers coming at her from behind. Her unusual biology meant that multiple shots were needed to down her, but struck half a dozen times, she fell nonetheless.
Rahne's fast healing factor was struggling to deal with the stun shots which had struck her - mainly grazing shots, but effective nevertheless. Brian's defenses were deflecting most of the energy which hit him, and the power flowing through his body meant that he was able to shrug off the worst effects of the Brood weapons. But they stung nonetheless, like bee stings, and their cumulative effect was starting to affect the big man.
But it was Kitty who fell next. Attacking a Brood warrior, she didn't phase in time to avoid a shot fired in her direction. It wasn't enough to put her down, but it staggered her, enough to allow her attacker to shoot her twice more and render her unconscious. Her fall enabled the remaining Brood to concentrate their fire on Rahne and Brian. Desperately rolling and diving to avoid their fire, Rahne never saw the gas cloud squirted in her direction, and it swiftly rendered her insensible.
Brian fell last of all, caught in a crossfire, hit more than a dozen times, and finally enveloped in gas. Silence fell on the battlefield. The heroes had accounted for more than a score of Brood, but they now lay unconscious at the feet of their enemies. Triumphantly, the Brood warriors picked up their prizes and carried them away.
So exultant were they that they failed to see the small, purple figure flying after them..........
***********************************
Lockheed wished that his beloved mistress had allowed him to join in the fight, but she had been most emphatic; 'stay out of sight. If we're beaten, follow the Brood and do whatever you have to do to get us free'. For once, he had done as she had asked him. Now he flew behind the enemy, silent and unnoticed, as they headed deeper and deeper into the Hive.
Occasionally he had to hide as Brood passed him in the opposite direction. But, he noted, most of them were workers, not warriors, and they were quite infrequent, making it clear to the little alien that this was a new Hive, that as yet had not had time to expand and mature. But, passing egg chambers full of imprisoned humans - taken from the homeless and runaways so as not to arouse suspicion - it was clear to the little dragon that the Brood intended to expand their base in the near future. He swore that, no matter what, he would come back and destroy those implanted eggs.
The trail led deep into the mineshaft, passing branching tunnels as they went. A greenish-yellow glow up ahead told Lockheed that they were nearing their final destination.
***********************************
The heart of the Hive was a vast cavern, a natural cave in the rocks which had been breached during mining operations in the Twenties. Here the young Brood Queen had set up her throne, the heart of her empire. Grotesque columns of yellow resin climbed from floor to ceiling, wrapped around natural rock formations or freestanding. The floor was covered with strands of the stuff. And in the centre was a large, ugly-looking machine, constructed of a mixture of Brood and human technology. Here the Brood were attempting to put into operation the technology they'd stolen from the humans, technology which would allow them to conquer this world. And to this device the members of Excalibur were carried - watched by the eyes of a very small, very unhappy dragon.
**********************************
Brian was the first to awaken, to find himself strapped into a complex device of metal and crystal, set in a web of yellow resinous material. His hands were clasped tightly in manacles, as were his ankles, and around his neck was a collar of some sort of crystalline substance. To either side were imprisoned the other members of the team, similarly restrained. One by one, they clawed their way back to consciousness.
"I guess we didnae make a good go of that, did we?" Rahne glanced around, her eyes widening when she saw where they all were.
"Nein, we did not. I think we need to practice more if we are to be a team again." Kurt was somewhat downheartened - his first mission back as team leader, and they had all been captured. The fact that the X-Men had similarly been captured by the Brood when Storm had been leading was of little consolation to him. "We should have done a much better job of reconnaissance before we all came in, I think." He tried to teleport, without much hope of success, and was not surprised to find that his power was being jammed in some way. <Well, what did you expect, that they would leave you here easily able to escape? The Brood know we have powers, and from past experience they must have a good idea exactly what Katzchen and I can do with our mutant powers They would take steps to ensure our continuing captivity.>
The rest of the team had come to similar conclusions, though they had all nevertheless tried to utilise their powers to escape - with no more success than Kurt. It seemed to the heroes that there was no opportunity likely to present itself for them to escape. Only one of them was not down-heartened by the situation.......
Kitty glanced upwards, and suppressed a smile as she saw the small, winged shape almost invisible in the darkness at the top of the cave. It was precisely in case of a situation like this one occurring that she had told Lockheed to avoid getting involved in the battle, but to watch and follow if they were taken prisoner. "Maybe, Kurt, but I think we didn't do too badly. After all, it's not as if the X-Men never got taken prisoner, is it? Remember our first meeting with the Hellfire Club? Or Magneto, when we confronted him after he sunk that Russian nuclear submarine? Or indeed our first meeting with the Brood, after Deathbird ambushed us? Our problem was, we didn't have enough of us with long-range firepower. Only Betsy and Meggan could - "
"Your problem, mammals, was that you faced the greatest hunters in the Galaxy! You tried to defeat us on our own home ground, but you failed!" The voice of the Brood Queen was triumphant, as she emerged from the shadows to gloat over her captives.
"Home ground?? I don't think so, you ugly - " Betsy's voice was harsh and furious, but she had no further opportunity to express her feelings, as the Queen's tentacle lashed out, striking her across her mouth. Blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth, and Brian strained against his captivity.
"You bitch! If you've hurt her - "
"You will do nothing, mammal! You can do nothing, any of you! You are our captives, and we will use you as we see fit! And that is to provide us with the genetic material which will enable us to conquer this planet! Your fates are already sealed!" And with that, she gestured to some of the warrior Brood nearby. The aliens moved forward, and seized the first member of Excalibur to become the test for their genetic extraction system - Meggan.
"Meggan - NOOOOOO!" But Brian's struggles were futile. His powers blocked, he might as well have been trying to move Mount Everest. The Brood took Meggan to the device in the centre of the complex, and fixed her securely to it.
"Now, begin analysis!"
For Kitty, things had gone quite far enough. She whistled, two notes then four ascending. The rest of the team looked at her in astonishment, and the Brood Queen spun to face her. But before the Queen could utter a word, the device holding Meggan prisoner melted under a jet of white-hot fire.
*ROOOOOAAARRRRRR!!!!*
"Flee! Flee, my brethren! It is one of the Hunters!"
"Go, Lockheed, go!"
The little purple dragon swooped down out of the darkness, his next breath of fire being directed at freeing Kitty, who immediately jumped clear of the burning device and kicked the nearest Brood warrior in the neck, stunning it and making it drop its blaster, which she snatched up. "Torch the other Brood, Lockheed! I'll free the rest of the team!".
In the throne room, all was pandemonium. From all sides came more and more Brood warriors to defend the Queen, whilst Kitty freed the other members of Excalibur using her phasing power, first Rahne, who changed into her bipedal wolfen form and jumped at the nearest warriors, then Kurt, who leapt onto another Brood, stunning it, and seized the blaster it dropped. Kitty handed Betsy her blaster as she freed the telepath. The agile young German promptly joined the purple-haired English aristocrat in turning the Brood's own weapons against them.
More aliens poured into the room, the majority of them workers or drones, but dangerous nevertheless. By now, however, the rest of the team had been freed by Kitty's actions, and, seeing the wisdom of countering Brood firepower with their own, had also seized the opportunity to take up the blasters dropped by defeated Brood. Meanwhile, Lockheed was adding to the aliens' confusion by torching any and every Brood he could see whilst roaring out his challenge. The little dragon's presence was spooking the Brood, who had not expected to encounter one of their ancient enemies on this world.
Kurt quickly picked up a third blaster in his tail, and began firing it, all the time moving as fast as he possibly could, in order to avoid the Brood's return fire. The volley of fire he directed at his foes began to drive them back from the throne room. Kitty's fire joined with his, as she phased out to avoid return fire, then solidified just long enough to shoot more Brood.
Betsy was wielding her sword in one hand and a blaster in the other. She began running up a quite impressive tally of kills, the confusion of the heroes' assault preventing the Brood from putting together properly effective defenses against them. Meggan used her electromagnetic powers against the blasters still being used by the alien attackers, who were surprised when their weapons suddenly stopped firing for no apparent reason.
Brian and Rahne had independently decided to revert to physical force, up close and personal. His strength and her claws proved highly effective against an enemy unable to coordinate their response, and the Brood warriors still standing were soon lying beaten. Rahne this time restrained herself from using lethal force - but only just, as the odds were so heavily stacked against them
The Queen saw that her Hive was beaten, but she was determined that the mammals would not escape. Flying over to the machine's control panel, she hit a number of buttons in quick succession. The control panel lit up across the board, and, from somewhere in the machine, came a shrill siren, announcing the imminent destruction of the device. At the same time, around the machine there fell a huge, translucent dome, trapping the team and the surviving Brood warriors, drones and workers. Before anyone could react, the Queen had fled down one of the tunnels, heading for safety.
"After her! She mustn't - ooof!" Brian tried to fly through the material of the dome, but whatever it was made of, it withstood all of his great strength. Behind him, the genetic analysis device was humming loudly and glowing in a most alarming manner.
"Everyone hold hands! I'll phase us through!"
Kitty phased the whole team, including Lockheed who had flown down to land on her shoulders, as the noise from the machine began to reach a crescendo. Then they all moved forward. It was not as easy as they'd all thought. The material, whatever it was, was as dense as Adamantium. Everyone felt like their body was being passed through a shredding machine, the pain was so intense, but for Kitty it was worse, with the added strain of keeping everyone else intangible. They got through the barrier though, just moments before Kitty collapsed. Inside the dome, there was a blinding flash, and everything inside - machine and Brood alike - was reduced to the finest ash.
Kurt bent over the prostrate figure of Kitty. "Rahne, Brian! Get after the Queen! She mustn't be allowed to escape! Betsy! Maintain contact between us! Meggan, help me with Kitty!"
Rahne took off at a fast run, using her hypersenses to track the Brood Queen. Brian readied himself for the coming fight.
********************************************
The corridor was black, unlit - their belt lights had long since been removed, and were lost in the Brood Hive somewhere. Rahne, using her wolf's senses, was able to have a good idea as to where she was, but Brian was blind. He had to listen for the soft patter of furred feet on the wet floor and follow it, trying not to fly into anything too solid.
"Rahne? Do you know where - "
"Hush! I canna hear anything if ye - "
From beneath her a huge, slimy tentacle lashed out, wrapping itself around her, in a grip she found impossible to break. It lifted her into the air, as if to pull her back into the ground. Before it could do so, Brian was on it, grasping it as best he could. Its strength was frightening - at least as great as his own. From the shadows came laughter.
"Fools! Did you not think I might lead you into an ambush? So now, foolish mammals, you die!" The Brood Queen turned away, laughing still.
With a massive effort, Brian wrenched the tentacle from Rahne's body, as the rest of the creature burst through the floor. A five-armed monster, covered in glistening grey scales, and with a huge parrot beak in the centre of its body, it was the size of a locomotive, and reeked of rotting seaweed. It grasped at Brian with three of its arms, using the last two to anchor itself. "Rahne! Get after the Queen! She mustn't escape! I'll deal with this!"
The Scots girl didn't argue, but simply tore after the Queen. Brian faced the monster. "Now, you ugly thing, let's see how strong you really are..........."
***********************************
* Kurt! Brian's battling something, some sort of monster, but it's too big and fast! Here's the image of the place - can you teleport us both down there?"
"Ja, but what about - "
"Get going, fuzzy-elf. I'll live."
At Kitty's words, the German mutant teleported himself and Betsy to the cavern where Brian was still fighting. His power suit was torn in a number of places, and blood oozed from cuts and scrapes. This beast, whatever it was , seemed to possess power equal to his own. As hard as he'd fought, he'd been unable to defeat it.
"Mein Gott! It looks like some form of huge mutated octopus! Look out!" Kurt threw himself to one side, and Betsy dived the other, as the creature swung an arm at the two of them, whilst trying to pinion Brian with the other two - it seemed to recognise him as the biggest threat. Betsy raised the blaster she still carried, and fired into the beast's body, but with no effect. Kurt teleported onto its back and struck it two-handed with all his might - but he might as well have been hitting a concrete bunker for all the good it did.
But Kurt's words had given Brian an idea. To the horror of the other two, he suddenly stopped resisting the creature's attack, and instead allowed himself to be captured and pulled towards its beak-like mouth.
"Brian! What are you doing??"
He ignored his sister's cry, and waited. Waited as he was pulled ever closer. Waited as the beast raised him to its mouth. Then he saw what he was looking for, and with a supreme effort, lunged forward to slam his most powerful blow into the beast's head. With a shriek of pain, the beast, released its' grip on him, and slowly subsided to the ground. Brian pulled himself free of its dead embrace.
"Brian? What did you do?"
"It was Kurt's suggestion. He said it looked like a mutated octopus, so I hazarded a guess that it was just that. Octopi, and squid, have a vulnerable point - a nerve bundle just between the eyes. So I let it pull me close, and hit it where I saw the telltale bulge. A lucky gamble, I guess, but - Rahne?"
The weregirl trotted dispiritedly back into view, and changed back into human form. "She got away. I trailed her as best I could, but she could fly faster than I could run. I'm sorry."
Betsy walked over to the young girl. "Don't worry, you did your best. We'll catch her some day - before she can do any real damage." <I hope.>
***********************************
"Right then, the alien base is gone, and the bomb disarmed. Oh, and I got a call from the UNIT boys. Apparently, your bloomin' Queen got chased by a couple o' their attack 'copters, and took refuge in a building at another mine, in use this time. They blew it up with missiles and cannons and rockets, and let it burn. Turns out the place was an old store for fuel oil, and it went up like an inferno. They're checking the rubble now, but they don't promise to find anything. I'll see what I can do about this place, but if the powers-that-be want it kept, then only public opinion'll change their minds."
"Thank you, Herr Thomas. I would feel better if they could recover the body, but in the meantime, perhaps we, or UNIT or yourself, need to keep an eye out for any further 'disappearances' in connection with this sort of technology. I have to wonder where she came from ....... "
"Well, my lad, how about this. One of the people who went missing around here recently, about nine months ago, used to work for your old friends, Black Air. He left to take a Sabbatical. And guess where he used to work? Dream Nails! We're checking back through that lot's records to see if they knew he was infected, and were keeping tabs on him."
Kurt's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I think not, Herr Thomas. Nine months ago, Katzchen and Herr Wisdom blew up Dream Nails. Perhaps there was a Brood being held there, and it escaped and infected this man? Whatever, I think their files need closer investigation, to find out what else they were up to." His face turned grim. "And if you don't close this place, we might have to do it ourselves."
"Now listen here, mate! You can't - "
"Herr Thomas, this place is working on weapons which might be used to commit genocide! They could be used to destroy a single ethnic group in a first-strike attack of a race war! My people, the Gypsies, were sent to the death camps by the Nazis! Katzchen is Jewish! "Kurt's voice was rising, fuelled by righteous indignation, and some of the policemen were turning to watch their Chief being spoken to in such a way. Kurt was oblivious to them. "If you think laws will make us stand by and let anyone commit such acts again, you are wrong! I hope that you can shut down this place by legal means, and prevent research of this nature from being performed in this country again. But if you cannot, then be advised, we will! Auf wiedersehen!" With that, he teleported into the Midnight Runner, and it lifted into the air.
Dai Thomas scowled at the departing plane. But he knew, deep in his heart, that the blue-furred German meant every word. And, if he was being honest, the policeman knew that sometimes, when vested interests wanted something so badly they were prepared to flout the law, then breaking those laws might be the only option left. As a policeman, he hated the idea, but he had been in the force too long not to have become a realist. He took a deep drag on his cigarette, then turned back to his men. "Right you lot, we've got a cleanup job on our hands now, so jump to it."
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