"Rachel, do you have to look so good all the time?" Kitty sighed, the brown haired teen pulling on a simple skirt and top combo as she and the other ladies changed for their first night out in a long time. "Sorry," Rachel Summers smiled, the redhead pulling on a stylish green dress that hugged her every curve, "some of us just can't help it." "Rachel," Meggan chided. She wore a modified version of her usual costume, her golden one piece changed by Rachel's telekinesis into a simple looking one piece dress. In fact the blonde shapeshifter hadn't even planned to change, but both young women had managed to convince her, eventually. "Kitty," Rachel moved to hug the other girl quickly, "one of these days you'll learn you're good looking in your own way." "Yeah, right," Kitty sighed, straightening out her dress. Meanwhile in the other section of the battered train Kurt Wagner smiled as he adjusted his black tuxedo. "It was kind of the Crystal Londoners to lend us a clothes replication device," the blue furred mutant noted, adjusting his tie. "I suppose so," Alistaire Stuart admitted, the brown haired scientist having settled on wearing a variation of his Weird Happenings Organization dress uniform for the night's activities, a dark brown and gold design that suited the scholar, mostly. "Worried?" Brian Braddock asked, the muscular blond hero adjusting his suit collar a bit nervously. Despite being from a respected and powerful family, the former scientist wasn't terribly comfortable in such clothes. "No, not really," Alistaire admitted after a moment's thought. "I think I"m just eager to see such a unique future era." "It's certainly a step up from most of the futures we X-Men have seen," Kurt noted as he finished checking his cufflinks. "A utopian rather than dystopian one," Alistaire nodded. "Remind me not to buy a X-men belt buckle," Brian noted with a wry smile, "it sounds rather unhealthy." "Like being a British superhuman champion is?" Kurt teased. "Feh," Lockheed noted with amusement. Rachel firmly knocked on the door then called out to the men inside, "All right boys, you ready to go?" "I think so," Allistaire opened up the door to let them in, his eyes almost automatically falling on the lovely Rachel. "Sorry Kitty.," Rachel murmured as Kitty growled softly in annoyance. "Well," Nightcrawler said briskly, "shall we go?" "Let's," Kitty smiled back, deciding to not worry about how every guy she liked was attracted to Rachel instead. 'Besides,' she thought as they headed out of the train, 'I can understand why, darn it.' Outside of the train, a large car rested on the green grassy field they had crash landed on, the odd yellow cab having no wheels, thought the cabbie himself looked perfectly normal. "Welcome aboard, folks," he said in a thick Yorkshire accent as he popped all four doors open with a gesture, "next stop, Tower of London." "Is that really your normal accent?" Brian asked him as they all climbed in the oversized vehicle, him, Alistaire and Kurt on one row, Meggan, Kitty and Rachel on the other. In a bit more neutral accent the driver grinned as he replied, "Nah, all but the tourists seem to like it." "Hurh," Lockheed muttered as the dragon settled on Kitty's shoulder for the ride. Smoothly the taxi rose up off the ground, then with a soft hum it raced across the grass to a nearby road. As they followed the road into London Kitty and the others gazed out eagerly, almost like tourists. While much of the city had been preserved, ultramodern crystal structures were mixed in with buildings from centuries past, crating a odd patchwork quilt of a city. A gleaming modern hospital rested beside a old apartment block and later English homes mixed with shops of many periods. "So," Alistaire wondered aloud, "the city deliberately preserved as much of the historical structures as possible?" "In between a war or two," their driver noted. "Some o' the structures are replicas, too, but we preserved as much as we could." "Remarkable," Alistaire murmured as he enjoyed the view. They arrived shortly at the new Tower of London, a gleaming structure of crystal that soared nearly as high as the royal palace itself. Explaining that the trip had already been paid for the driver left, giving them a cheery wave goodbye as he drove off. "Welcome," a well dressed door man nodded to then as the group gawked at the massive structure as descretely as possible. "I believe Sir Hellsing is awaiting you." "Sir?" Kurt blinked. "She's a knight," Kitty whispered as they went in, moving forward into a large, circular lift, "and I suppose she didn't want to be called dame." Smoothly they were carried up, the levels of the tower flashing by until they stopped automatically at the right place. Instead of opening into a hallway the lift dropped them directly into the center of a large room, teeming with fantastic figures of all shapes and sizes. "We are honored to introduce Excalibur," a young woman in a militaristic uniform declared as they entered, "adventurers from elsewhen." "Ah, welcome," the white haired vampiress Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing said with a smile, "let me introduce you around." Dressed in a evening gown she looked both sexy and elegant, something everyone on the team noticed. "Thank you for having us," Brian nodded to her respectfully as they mingled with the busy crowd. "We should be thanking you," a older, grey haired man noted, dressed in a stylized red uniform, one that looked like a odd combination of the fifties and the far future, "these parties get a bit dull with the same old people." "Dan Dare," Integral introduced him quietly. Alistare's eyes widened and he stepped forward to shake his hand. "Mr. Dare," he said respectfully, "it's a honor to meet you." "Best leave him alone," Rachel noted with some amusement as scientist and future man fell into conversation. AS they passed through the crowd conversations were struck up, men and women of similar temperments finding bonds of conversation. Time traveller Halo Jones and Rachel were soon talking over drinks, Brian and the head of the city watch, Sam Vimes, shared a cigar and chatted, and so on and so forth. Finally Kitty and Integral stopped by a window, gazing out as the sun set over London. "The view is incredible," Kitty confessed after a moment, seeing the flying cars zipping in between the towers of crystal and steel visible from this high up. "I'm more interested in hearing about your adventures," Integral admitted, smiling charmingly at Kitty. Hesitantly at first, then with more confidence Kitty sketched in their adventures, both as X-Men then later with Excalibur. Some of their more humorous adventures even had the serious looking Integral chuckling, and Kitty felt a odd surge of pleasure from that. Finally Kitty chuckled in embarrassment, "I'm babbling, sorry." "No," Integral shook her head as they moved to a smaller room with less people, "I find your life fascinating." Maneuvering over to a couch they sat down as Integral studied Kitty a moment. "I might be rude in saying," she said as a server dropped off glasses of wine, "but you seem oddly unaware of your beauty." Kitty actually blushed a bit, "I'm not..." Integral pushed up her chin carefully as she met Kitty's eyes with a tender gaze. "Very beautiful," she said, "though I wish I could make you see that." She drank a bit as she speculated, "Feeling a bit overshadowed?" "A little," Kitty admitted, "Rachel..." "The blonde?" Integral guessed. "Redhead," Kitty shrugged. Integral sat back, crossing her legs and not incidentally letting her skirt ride up a bit. "To be honest she's not my type," Integral admitted. She swirled the last of her wine around her glass, "Obvious has never been my style." Kitty drank some of her own glass of wine, surprised at how comfortable it felt sitting there with her. "So what is your style?" Kitty asked curiously, even though she suspected she knew the answer already. "Quiet intelligence," Integral answered as she leaned forward, "coupled with remarkable beauty." Giving Kitty plenty of opportunity to back away Integral moved to kiss her, and smiled when Kitty met her, lips pressing to lips. "Hmm," Kitty purred softly as Integral kissed her lingeringly, her lips tasting of red wine, Gently the other woman rubbed her shoulders, pressing their bodies together tenderly... "Get away from her, fang face!" a voice roared, and the moment was suddenly shattered. BOOM! In a burst of telekinetic energy Rachel ripped Integral away from Kitty, the fire like energy signiture of the Phoenix crackling around her. But before she could press her advantage a blonde raced in and hammered her away, then Seres Victoria pulled out her pistol and fired away. As people ran away screaming the other members of Excalibur raced in, seeing the growing chaos. "Look out," Brian threw himself in the way automatically, his invulnerable flesh blocking the bullets easily. "How dare you," Integral picked herself up from where she had been thrown, her eyes glowing a eerie red. With a gesture her body shifted, arms becoming eerie black extensions of night that she used to tear at the startled Rachel. Before Brian could invole himself Seres was there, the smaller blonde cracking her knuckles after putting her gun away. "I'm your dancing partner," she said, racing in to attack. "Kitty," Meggan hurried over even as Kurt bamfed in, "are you all right?" "I'm fine," Kitty waved off a offer to help herself up, "but we've got to stop them." "Eh?" Kurt looked surprised. "She wasn't hurting me," Kitty growled, "Rachel overreacted!" "Oh dear," Alistaire winced as a lamp broke, the four super beings clawing at each other with dangerous intent. Halo Jones lit a smoke as she watched the fight with some interest and suggested, "Best just let 'em wind down." "Can't do that," Kitty said, watching the combat warily.Phasing to protect herself from crackling black energy or telekinesis Kitty raced into a opening, got between them and yelled, "Break it up!" "Kitty?!" Rachel stopped, surprised. "Ray, she wasn't doing anything to me I didn't want her to do," Kitty gave Rachel a hurt look then turned to Integral. "I'm so sorry," she said. Integral reformed her arms, her expression more amused than anything else. "Your friends' loyalty does you credit, Kitty," she said as she lip up a cigar. Rachel gave Kitty the oddest look as she turned to Integral, "I'm sorry, ma'am. Obviously I misunderstood." "We'll repair the damage and apologize to the owner," Brian added a bit stiffly. "Don't worry about apologizing," Dan Dare looked amused, "this is the most fun we've seen in years." 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Nearly a week later, and a much recovered Excalibur prepared to go. Their battered train had been repaired and reinforced, as well as outfitted with a few gifts of technology from their hosts. Sir Integral and Seres arrived to say goodbye, much as when they had greeted the team. "I'm sorry the Queen couldn't be more help," Integral said gravely. Alistaire shrugged slightly, "They did their best." He smiled slightly, "I think Dr. Mizuno wanted to take Widget apart at one point." "Eager scientists," Seres looked amused. Integral gently drew Kitty aside. "It's been good to meet you," she said seriously, "and I wish you could stay longer." "Me too," Kitty blushed faintly as she pushed her hair back revealing a red mark on her neck, "but Ray's rested up and I can't selfishly keep everyone here." "I understand," Integral nodded. "Maybe someday we'll meet again." "Considering you're a cartoon character where I come from," Kitty sighed, "it's not likely." Seeing a odd smile flit across Integral's face she asked, "What...?" "In the old days, we kept the Royal Order of Knights a secret by hiding in plain sight," Integral informed her, "including releasing records of our exploits as fiction." She winked, "It could be I exist on your world after all." "I hope so," Kitty kissed her gently then drew back, "good bye." "Until we meet again," Integral stepped back, watching until they boarded the train and disappeared in a flare of light. End Notes: Integral and SEres are obviously from Hellsing. Dan Dare and Halo Jones are both from various British comics and Sam Vimes is visiting from the Discworld. lol
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