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Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
 
 
 

The Companion Picture - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Dandelion
Last updated: 12/03/2009 06:26:08 PM

Chapter 25

Kurt Wagner glowered at Mystique's letter. He didn't like one thing about it, of that he was certain. He was also certain that he needed to do something about it, but he wasn't sure just what. He got up from the desk he was at and wandered the halls aimlessly for awhile. <If what she says is true, and it certainly seems to be, since I can't get any response from Forge's emergency links, then I have to find out if there is any danger for Rahne, or the rest of us,> Kurt scowled at the floor. <The Department of Defense has no jurisdiction here, and they certainly have no authority over Rahne either, but I'm sure they won't bother about anything as trivial as international law if they want to get their hands on Rahne.>

Kurt paused in the hallway, scratching his chin as he pondered his dilemma. <Of course, it's very likely that they would want to enlist the services of those who *do* have jurisdiction here,> he reasoned. <We've already had trouble with Black Air, but luckily, we also have an authority on their dealings.>

At that moment, Pete Wisdom came around the corner, whistling to himself. He nodded at Kurt, fully prepared to pass idly by. Something about Kurt gave him pause though, perhaps it was the look on his face. Kurt looked far too much like the cat who ate the canary.

"Wisdom," Kurt's rich baritone, touched with his German accent, almost purred. "Have you ever heard the term 'serendipity'?"

Pete Wisdom hated Kurt Wagner. At least at that moment. Pete had already found himself annoyed at the German-born mutant's irritating ability to be a good leader and be right far too often.

Granted, the sun rising in the morning sometimes annoyed Pete Wisdom for the audacity of being 'too predictable.'

When Kurt had waylaid Pete in the corridor and told him of the rather bleak semi-news he had received from Mystique, well, that was it. "You're bloody annoying, Wagner, you know that?"

Kurt folded his arms and stared down at Wisdom. His eyes clearly asking, "What of it?"

"So what do you want from me?" Wisdom continued. "And how can you even trust Mystique? I've heard of her, she's one of the best back-stabbers in the intelligence game."

Kurt didn't blink, "She happens to be my mother."

Pete paused and gave Kurt a serious once-over with his eyes, "Is that so?" He tapped his bottom lip with his index finger. "*Is* that so? My opinion of you has just gone up a notch, Wagner."

A slight tick lifted one side of Kurt's mouth up, "Really. I'm touched, Wisdom, truly. If I were not already covered with fur I'd feel all warm and..." he chuckled softly and Pete didn't fail to catch the sarcastic inflection in Kurt's voice.

"Well, *you* know." He spun the chair Pete was sitting in until it faced the computer console. "Can you tell me anyone in the department that would be interested in working with the Department of Defense?"

"How do you know it's the Department of Defense?" Wisdom challenged. "You said yourself that Mystique was vague."

"The Department of Defense is the administration responsible for X-Factor," Kurt replied. "It's an educated guess on my part. At this stage, it will have to do."

Wisdom stared at Kurt for a moment, unsure whether or not to assist in this. He had figured Nightcrawler for a strait-laced type, not one to bend rules. He had learned recently, both through the other man's actions and Kitty's words, that Wagner was not someone to toy with.

"This is going to be very dangerous, Wagner. If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting.." his voice trailed off.

Kurt clapped a hand on Pete's shoulder, "I've got a plan."

"What d'ye mean by a 'situation'?" Rahne's lilting Scottish accent belied the stern expression on her face.

Kurt folded his arms across his chest, "I've heard from Mystique --"

"Aye, *that* one," Rahne's disgust was obvious. "As if I'd believe a word that came from that woman's mouth. Did I ever tell you how much time Forge spent runnin' us through encounter after encounter to prepare us for her sneakin' ways?"

Kurt sighed inwardly, "I can understand your apprehension, Rahne. But the situation is rather puzzling. For one thing, Forge isn't available anymore. So I can't confirm this information one way or the other. And I'm certain you can see where I would be suspicious."

Rahne turned away slightly, "Aye, I do. If you can't get a hold of Forge then you'd rather prepare for as bleak a situation as that woman alluded to. But why me? Wouldn't you be more at your ease if you took Kitty along or Meggan? Or even that Wisdom?"

Kurt smiled at her, "You, Rahne, because you would know if something was amiss in what we plan to be looking into."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Just what are we looking into?"

Kurt's smile deepened, "We aren't acting alone. Between Kitty and Wisdom we'll have a sufficient technological advantage to get us where we want to go. Meggan and Amanda will be standing by as emergency back-up. What we are doing is playing the point. We go in to key locations that Wisdom has highlighted for us, and we delve into any kind of link between Black Air and X-Factor or the United States Department of Justice."

Rahne looked thoughtful, "I admit I'm a wee bit nervous about Mystique singling me out as being in danger."

Kurt nodded but remained silent, waiting for Rahne to voice her unease on her own.

"But I'd also like to find out exactly *why* I'm being targeted. I didnae think I was that important to X-Factor."

"I'd say somebody disagrees with that idea."

"These are the schematics of the department you're going to," Kitty said as she scanned a projected blue-print from the computer. "Lucky for all of us this is an office building and not some military base like last time."

Kurt studied the layout of the building carefully, ignoring Kitty's dry humor for the moment. He had to be absolutely certain of the space inside in order to be prepared for teleportation.

Kitty continued to describe what would be necessary for her to complete her part of the mission, "When you get to the server, hook this little device to the modem hookup and that will let me dial in. That way, you can download anything you want to our computers and you don't have to worry about their printers or anything like that." Kurt nodded, "Good, good." He looked at the group gathered before him. He was a little surprised at the sudden regularity of these missions that Excalibur had begun taking. He would have liked to have blamed Pete Wisdom for it all, but he knew it wasn't that easy. Excalibur's connections to Britain's Weird Happenings Organization had set them up for dealings with the company that had taken over for WHO. Kurt hated to admit it, but he would rather have Wisdom on the team now that he knew that Black Air was going to be a problem.

There wasn't anything like knowing a situation from all sides, and Wisdom's greatest strength wasn't his hot-knives, powerful as they were, but his knowledge of the system.

"This is meant to be a quick, in and out procedure," Kurt explained seriously. "We'll all be linked via transmitters. If I say 'abort'," he looked to Amanda. "Amanda will teleport Rahne and myself out. If I say 'emergency abort'," he shifted his gaze to Meggan. "Meggan comes running and Amanda 'ports in magic guns blazing. Understood?"

All heads nodded.

"Let's move out."

A few hours later, Kurt and Rahne were looking up at a glass covered office building in the midst of London.

"Are you ready, Rahne?" Kurt's voice was low. Even though it was the middle of the night he preferred not to draw undue attention.

"Aye," she said, her voice slightly far away. She sniffed the air, searching for any hints of something suspicious.

Kurt spoke into his comm-link, "Back-up check in?"

Amanda's sultry voice came through the speaker, "Steady on."

Meggan's musical voice followed after, "Steady on, too."

Kurt nodded to himself and looked back up at the office.

Rahne looked at him silently. She was still a little uncertain as to why Kurt had chosen her to accompany him. Perhaps he was giving her the chance to stand up for herself. If Mystique's letter was true, and Rahne had yet to make up her mind on that, then Rahne had a very personal stake in the success of this mission.

She remembered that she had been deathly afraid of Kurt during her early days with the New Mutants. She had been raised by a narrow-minded, fire-and-brimstone minister who believed only in outer appearances. And only years later she had found herself living in the same house with a bona-fide demon.

Rahne had learned very quickly that appearances were most deceiving. Kurt had certainly looked like he was visiting on a day off from hell, but he smiled and laughed and carried with him a strong faith in God. By the same token, the most beautiful girl Rahne had ever clapped eyes on had actually lived half of her life in hell and was part demon. Even so, old habits died hard, and Rahne sometimes had to squelch the feelings of her youth when Kurt was around. The others helped immensely, though they didn't know it. Everyone turned to Kurt, even her beloved Lady Moira. Rahne had quickly come to accept that Kurt was a leader and all else was secondary. He turned to her, "Ready?"

"Aye."

Kurt wrapped one arm about her waist and envisioned the schematics of the building. Then, with a sharp intake of breath and a sift burst of brimstone, he and Rahne teleported inside. As soon as they were in, Kurt melted into the shadows to disable the cameras situated about the rooms and Rahne went directly to the mainframe and attached Kitty's splitter to the modem. Kurt checked his connection to Amanda and

Meggan as he continued to disable the security devices, "Clock's ticking, Rahne."

"Aye," she replied. Rahne tapped at the keyboards and then Kitty took over from her remote location and Rahne let her wolf-form develop more so she could sniff out any potential danger.

So far, there was none.

Amanda waited silently, her comm-link pressed into her ear, her nerves on edge as she waited for Kurt to call for an abort.

So intent was she on the well-being of her lover that she scarcely felt the prickling touch at the back of her neck.

She shut it out, listening instead to Kurt's voice as he spoke quietly to Rahne.

The feeling intensified. She shook her head in the attempt to clear her mind before focusing once again on her lover.

An icy feeling washed over her, causing her body to shudder involuntarily.

"Amanda?" Meggan looked concerned.

Amanda met Meggan's worried gaze with a perplexed one, "I'm getting a very peculiar

feeling."

Meggan looked thoughtful as she considered Amanda's words. She ruled out nerves and anxiety. Amanda was no stranger to tense situations and Meggan remembered her having a very cool head in a crisis. Of course, she had to be worried about Kurt, that was to be expected. Meggan would have been far more concerned if Amanda had shown no burden in the case of Kurt's well-being. "Well, what is it?"

Amanda was about to say she didn't know but thought better of it. She didn't want to look like too much of a rookie. She listened to the steadiness of Kurt's breathing through the comm-link and, satisfied, turned her attentions to whatever was nagging at her. She closed her eyes and followed the impression. She used her magic to pull into a visual sense. She grabbed a hold of it and looked at it carefully. It sparkled and shimmered like a mirror in the sun but it was hard and cold as well. And suddenly, it was gone. Disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

She opened her eyes.

"Well?" Meggan looked curious.

"It's arcane in nature," Amanda replied. "And familiar, but not very."

"It's magic?"

Amanda nodded, "But it isn't the magic of the Winding Way, it's very, very different." Her brow furrowed, "The thing is, I've touched that magic before and for the life of me I can't place it. It was so fleeting I wasn't able to get a real solid grasp on it."

Meggan didn't say anything, unsure of what she could offer.

"Next time," Amanda said firmly. "Assuming there is a next time, I'm grabbing it and holding on to it so I can get a real good look at it and see what it is."

"Was it local?" Meggan asked.

Amanda shook her head, "No, which is another thing that has me interested. To get my attention, when it's not my sphere of magic..well, it's something to look into. I think it had a significant base of power. It felt distant. So it's a little concerning, all of these things together."

"Maybe your mother would be able to help?"

Meggan suggested.

Amanda flushed deeply and bowed her head slightly, counting to ten until her temper abated and she figured out what to say. <Meggan's only being helpful,> she reminded herself. <She doesn't know about the situation between my mother and I, so don't bite her head off.>

"My mother," she said carefully, "is not an option. I will consult my mother only as a last resort."

Meggan nodded and, again, didn't reply. Family dynamics were beyond her, having never had one for herself. She left it to Amanda to know what was best concerning Margali. Still, Amanda was concerned and Meggan felt that the situation needed to be looked into somehow. "Maybe I can help."

Amanda nodded, smiling slightly.

"But I think for now we had better concentrate on Kurt and Rahne," Meggan went on. "We'll have time enough later."

Inside the office, Rahne looked up from the terminal with a concerned look on her face. Kurt appeared out of the shadows looking at her curiously. "Was?" he asked simply. "I smell someone comin'," she whispered, gesturing towards the door.

The handle of the door began to turn, Kurt disappeared in a puff of brimstone and caught the woman around the neck as she came in. Rahne felt a growl rumbling deep in her throat, but forced herself to remain content to let Kurt handle the situation. Her nose tingled, and her eyes went wide as she recognized it. Kurt was about to knock the woman out but Rahne leapt forwards and grabbed his arm with both hands. "Kurt, no!" She shook her head vehemently. "I know tha'smell! It's her!"

Kurt glanced over his shoulder at Rahne and then turned his attention back to the woman he had in his grasp. She was shifting, from a pale skinned brunette to an auburn-haired, blue-skinned shape-shifter.

Kurt grimaced, but didn't let go, "You," he growled. "I should have known."

Rahne unplugged Kitty's splitter as it finished downloading the files they selected.

"We're finished, Kurt."

Kurt continued staring at the silent Mystique, his expression dark and angry. "We aren't the only ones."

 

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