Dani Moonstar stood on the rise, the brown and gold clad woman holding a bow at the ready. Her black hair was tied back into twin braids, leather cords holding them fast, and her eyes were attentive. There was a flicker and a arrow of psionic energy materialized, ready to fire. The first combat drone swooped down and Dani fired, the device exploding in a shower of sparks. Another fired, the laser cutting the stone she had been standing on but she was already on the move. Again and again she drew the bow until the twelve drones were all destroyed. "Good time," Rahne Sinclair congratulated her as she offered a towel, the redhead's red and gold costume matching the other's design. She smiled gently, "You shouldn't push yourself so hard." "Reaper nailed me like an rank amateur," Dani took the towel with a softly murmured thanks, "that tends to annoy me." She raised her voice, "End simulation." The rocky outcropping they were standing on faded away, replaced by a metal lined room, roughly twenty by twenty foot. The Danger Room on Muir Isle wasn't as sophisticated as that of the X-Men but it did the job quite nicely, holograms and combat drones providing a challenge. Originally intended to help patients recover their mutant abilities it hadn't taken much modifications to make it a training center for the team. "It's been a week since the Marauders attacked," Rahne said as they walked out into the hallway together, "has they been any progress?" "Pete's still hopeful that he can get a lead on them through his contacts," Dani sighed, "but it's beginning to look like we'll have to wait until they strike again." Rahne made a face, "I hope not." The two young women walked into the command center where Lisa Garrison sat, her girlfriend Llyan nearby. "Good morrow," Llyan called out, the willowy redhead giving them a welcoming smile. Her elven ears were only one of the many ways you could tell she wasn't human, yet her gentle friendliness had won most of them over. "Yo," Lisa waved, the tough blonde had her Britannia uniform on but the black helm sat on the counter beside her. "Been pretty quiet so far," she offered, "the Knights of Pendragon were involved in a dustup in London but they declined our offer of aide." Dani nodded slightly, "Guess it's better not to push." "That's pretty much what I thought," Lisa agreed. She smirked and asked, "Did you two hear about Rachel and Kate?" "What?" Rahne raised her eyebrows questioningly. "They're sharing a suite now," Lisa confided with a impish grin, "Kate moved into Rachel's room just yesterday." "Well isn't that interesting," Dani blinked. Rachel had confided to her and Rahne about not seeing someone being in love with her, but she hadn't quite been expecting it to be Kate, somehow. Rahne's cheeks colored slightly and Dani looked at her questioningly. The little redhead smiled slightly, "I was just wondering how they'll manage, one flesh and the other metal." "Love finds it's way," Llyan said simply. "Anyway," Dani shook her head, "where are the others?" "Pete, Rachel and Kate took off to a pub," Lisa shrugged, "and Jackie is in another session with our resident mad scientist, Cecelia." "Pub?" Rahne blinked, "At a time like this?" "From what I've seen of Pete," Dani said thoughtfully, "I doubt it's a pleasure visit." "Hump," Lockheed the dragon complained from where it was curled up on one of the computers. It looked up irritably then went back to sleep. There was a bright flare of rainbow light then the sound of a soft thump as the group arrived in the alley through a Widget generated teleport gate. "Sorry about that," Kate Pryde offered her silver hand to help Pete up. "Right," Pete Wisdom picked himself up from the ground, his black suit only slightly mussed. "And here I thought I had the hang of these landings," the black haired man muttered. "I'll try to make sure I catch you next time," Rachel Summers laughed. The redheaded telekinetic reached out to brush something off his shoulder, "So why are we going here again?" Pete just shrugged. "It is one of the best places I know to get information," he explained, "and just about everyone ends up there eventually." "Well," Kate said as they set out, "let's see who's at the Wolfshead today." The Wolfshead pub was something of an institution in London. Having been established sometime during World War one, it had originally served a more normal sort of client. But over the years, the strange, paranormal, and just plain odd had slowly begun to frequent it, until it became the watering hole of choice for that sort of person. As long as you didn't mind a few unidentified bits of protein floating in your beer or the fact that most of your barmates weren't entirely human, it was a great pub. Thick smoke hung in the air, the usual non-smoking rules only rarely enforced there. Rumor had it the last inspector had been eaten, but most thought that was an exaggeration, at best. "So who do we want to talk to first?" Rachel asked as they cautiously made their way through the busy crowd, careful not to step in any puddles of beer. As Pete gave a friendly nod to a few of his old friends, and a scowl or two to some old enemies he said, "The person who knows just about everything in a place like this, the barkeep." The three continued on to the bar, shouldering aside a few patrons to get to the battered oak counter. The redheaded woman nodded slightly to them as she polished a glass, the body armor that covered her from the neck down gleaming beneath the apron she wore. "Dark Angel?" Kate Pryde blinked in surprise. The superheroine Dark Angel had fought against the villainy of Mys-Tech a few years ago, and even came to the attention of Excalibur and the X-Men. Once the organization of Mys-Tech had been defeated the Angel had dropped out of sight, and it appeared she had retired to be a bartender. "Friend of yours, Wisdom?" Dark Angel asked, giving Pete a suspicious look. She smiled slightly, "Suppose she won't be paying off your tab?" "You guessed right," Kate spoke up quickly and Dark Angel laughed softly. "Heard about your little tussle with the Marauders," Dark Angel noted as she pulled three beers for them, "bad business, that." "Part of why I'm here," Pete nodded. He took a drink of his beer then continued, "You've got a good feel for what's going on, they still in London?" "Some of them," Dark Angel said calmly, "this is home territory to a few of 'em. The rest seem to be contract mercs, working for money." "Fits with their boss's usual pattern," Rachel noted, "he hired most of the original team from the ranks of mercenaries, too." She took a drink of her beer and shuddered slightly. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Pete encouraged her. He turned back to Dark Angel, "Guess you can't tell me where?" Dark Angel shook her head, "You know the Wolfshead has to stay neutral, there's no other way we could stay in business otherwise." "Fair enough," Pete agreed. He turned to look out at the bar crowd casually as he asked, "Is there something you want to tell me, Kate?" "Huh?" Rachel blinked. "I don't think Kate knows about Codex just through being a time-traveler," Pete said casually, "am I right?" Kate took a drink of her beer, her metallic face shadowed in the dim light of the bar. "Codex runs an information gathering service on the side," she explained casually, "I hired her to help me track you and Rachel down, Pete." "Damn," Pete blinked. He smiled a bit wryly as he asked, "Guess you didn't know that she was connected to the Marauders?" "No," Kate said with a sigh, "but she has a good reputation in the underworld for maintaining client confidentiality." She gave him a amused look, "Sadly we made contact in public locations, not in some secret headquarters or something." Rachel shook her head, "You still manage to surprise me, Kate." "Sorry," Kate sighed. To be continued.... Authors Note: Another appearance of the Wolfshead pub, a creation of my one of my favorite comic authors Warren Ellis. The character of Dark Angel (originally Hell's Angel before the lawsuit) was created as part of a line of comics for Marvel UK to publish in the US. This along with all the other UK titles disappeared when the 'implosion' of titles from Marvel and DC happened a while back.
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