Cecelia Renes paused a moment in her paperwork, the
African-American former X-Man standing in her labcoat
in front of one of the main computers. "It's about
time you got here," she looked up to say, "Polaris."
"You do know the risks I'm taking just being here,"
the green haired young woman said with a frown. "So
what was so urgent you needed to call me?" Polaris
asked.
The taller, brown haired woman behind her looked
around warily, clearly ready for a fight. "Considering
I'm a wanted woman," Plasma said, "this is the last
place I want to be."
"Plasma, Polaris," Cecelia smiled, "there's a good
reason, trust me." She waved towards the computer,
"When the Brotherhood attacked Muir Island they left
the records in disarray, and I've been working on
sorting the DNA files."
"And?" Polaris raised an eyebrow.
Cecelia gave her a frown, "In trying to find out
which sample belongs to who, I had to do a great deal
of DNA cross-matching, and something unusual has
turned up." A deep breath, "You and Magneto are
related, possibly even parent/child."
There was a moment of dead silence then Plasma spoke
up, "You're sure?"
Cecelia nodded, "The similarity in their powers
doesn't account for what I found, they're clearly
closely related."
"God," Polaris limply collapsed, Plasma moving to
catch her girlfriend, "I'm related to HIM?!" A moment
of silence then soft, bitter laughter, "Well, maybe
Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and I can compare
notes, or something."
"You'll be all right," Plasma murmured softly,
"you're tough."
"If there's anything I can do to help," Cecelia
started.
"I think you've probably helped enough," Polaris cut
her off. She softened her tone a bit, "In a way I'm
glad to know, but still...."
"I almost wish that we had a genetic sample available
from the villainess Zaladane, too," Cecelia said
thoughtfully, "it would be very interesting if we
could actually confirm her claim that she's really
your sister."
"Who?" Plasma blinked.
"A villainess who stole my magnetic powers at one
point," Polaris said to her grimly. She looked to
Cecelia, "It'd be very ironic if we were both the
daughters of Magneto, considering that he killed her
in battle years back."
There was a sound by the door, then Jackie opened the
door. "All right," the white haired woman said
irritably, "I'm here for my next round of tests." She
blinked in surprise at the two women, "Sorry, am I
interrupting?"
"We're just visiting from the mainland," Plasma
improvised quickly, "for a short medical
consultation."
"Sorry," Cecelia went along, "we'll be finished
shortly."
"Take your time," Jackie said heartily, quickly
leaving the room with a smile.
"We'd better get out of here before the rest of
Excalibur arrives," Plasma frowned, reaching out to
gently take Polaris' hand.
"Thank you for the information," Polaris looked at
Cecelia as she and her partner went to go, "if there's
anything we can do in return, let us know."
"I'll do that," Cecelia nodded.
Plasma and Polaris slipped out of the other door into
the genetics lab, going the way that they had come in.
Both were wanted by the law because of their past
involvement with the latest incarnation of the
Brotherhood, though thankfully the former X-Man and
her lover seemed interested in turning over a new
leaf.
"Now I need to track Jackie down for her next series
of tests," Cecelia murmured, walking out to try and
find the reluctant young woman. Heading over to the
personnel wing she found herself smiling slightly,
feeling oddly glad to be here.
"Healer," Llyan stood in the common are with a sword
in her hands, moving smoothly through the patterns of
combat. The elven woman looked surprisingly delicate
but there was a core of strength to the alien beauty.
Cecelia nodded her greetings, "Did Jackie run by?"
"Like one fleeing for her life," Llyan gave her an
amused smile.
"Great," Cecelia chuckled. She watched Llyan move,
the sword swinging gracefully through the air and
said, "You're really good at that."
Llyan reached the end of her pattern, sliding the
blade into it's sheath with a soft hiss. "Someday my
life may depend on these skills," she explained
simply. She looked thoughtful, "I think Jackie said
she was going outside for a run."
"Thanks," Cecelia waved as she moved on, deciding to
stop in to the monitor room before she headed outside.
Dani Moonstar sat at the communications array, her
long black hair falling in a glossy wave down her back
while Rahne Sinclare padded about the room in her wolf
form, the reddish fur matching her short hair. They
seemed deeply comfortable with each other, this human
and wolf, almost like some kind of soulmates.
"Cecelia," Dani looked up with a smile, "did Jackie
escape again?"
"Curses, foiled again," Cecelia agreed.
Rahne's form blurred slightly, her wolf body
stretching out and swiftly changing until the young
Scottish woman stood there dressed in her familiar
yellow and black uniform. "Is everything all right?"
she asked curiously.
"Fine," Cecelia nodded. She looked over at Rahne
curiously, "You haven't been having any difficulties
with your powers since they returned?"
"Everything seems to be working fine," Rahne smiled.
"So did you talk to Pete yet?" Dani asked Cecelia.
"Trying to track him down is fun," Cecelia made a
face. "All I want is to run some physicals on the
team, so that we're ready in case of another
emergency."
"I'll try telling him," Dani shrugged, "but we'll
probably have to wait until he gets back from the
Wolfshead pub."
"This has to be one of the only superteams where the
leader goes looking for information by hitting a pub,"
Cecelia said wryly as she excused herself.
There was a storm raging outside, another of the
seeming endless stream of storms that hit the island
during the fall. Standing near the building Cecelia
tried to pierce the gloom, the cold wind biting
through her coat and clothing. Finally she saw a flash
of fire and Jackie emerged from the storm, trailing a
bit of flame in her wake.
"Ah, you found me," Jackie said, coming to a halt in
front of Cecelia. Steam rose up from where she was
standing, the friction of her passage having generated
incredible heat.
"Once again," Cecelia agreed wryly. They walked
inside together, the slightly taller Jackie leading
the way. "I've got a new theory on your thermal
problem."
"Oh?" Jackie looked over at her curiously.
"From what I can tell you absorb the thermal energy
from friction," Cecelia lectured, "and convert that
into extra energy for your running."
"With you so far," Jackie agreed.
"So it's possible that your body has become more
efficient and is no longer needing so much energy,"
Cecelia continued, "and is releasing that energy as
fire."
"So what do we do about it?" Jackie asked.
"That's the question," Cecelia agreed. She looked
thoughtful, "But if you could consciously access that
thermal ability, it would certainly come in handy."
To be continued....
Authors Note: this is a direct tie in with my
'Adventures of Shadowcat and Rogue' series, set after
the end of that title. The recent revelation in the
comic books that Polaris was Magneto's biological
daughter was something I just had to address in some
form.
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