That's when the alarms went off. "Now what?" Pete demanded, the black haired man turning to the monitor screen. The icons for Brittania and the WHO chopper remained undisturbed, instead a emergency beacon blazed red in the heart of London, flashing away ominously. Spitfire was accessing the board before anyone else could move, the white haired woman moving at a blur. "Superhuman conflict reported," she read, "and according to this it's some of the members of the Marauders." "So they're NOT hitting the copter?" Kate raised a metallic eyebrow, the silver skinned woman looking curious. "Or this is just a distraction," Rachel suggested quickly, the redhead frowning. "Is it the whole team or just...?" "Police reports say it's Sienna Blaze and Rusty Collins," Dani Moonstar said as she stepped up to the screen, the native American continuing calmly, "I'd bet on them trying to draw us away." "But we canna' ignore it, either," Wolfsbane murmured with a grimace, Rahne Sinclair standing close to her lover. Pete crushed out a cigarette, eyes hard as he thought. "Rachel, you Dani and Rahne get to check it out," he said seriously, "that way we hold me, Kate, Jackie and Llyan in reserve for when the rest of the Marauders hit the copter." "Coo!" Lockheed protested, the dragon swooping down at him. "You too, you handbag," Pete growled at it, "stay here." Kate rose up into the air, her metallic body glowing then in a burst of rainbow light opened up a teleport gate. "Be careful, love," she said to Rachel softly. "Always," Rachel gave her a grin as she stepped through with Rahne and Dani. The sounds of sirens wailed as the three figures materialized on the road, cobblestones broken beneath their feet as fires raged in the background. The buildings were battered, a few shops wrecked and all around them panicked crowds raced along wildly. Dani took charge almost immediately, the black haired woman's voice determined, "Marvel Girl, scan for Blaze and Thermal, Rahne..." "Right," Rahne nodded. Wolfsbane shifted from reddish haired girl to red-brown furred wolf, nose sniffing the ground. 'No trace of their scents, but there's something else here,' her voice echoed in Dani's mind through the special mental link they shared. Dani knew that tone of voice meant trouble. 'What?' she asked. 'I recognize the scents of Scalphunter and Harpoon,' Rahne's mental voice was grim, 'from the original Marauders.' "Oh shit," Dani muttered aloud. "Got 'em!" Marvel girl pointed west as she added, "They're badly panicked, I don't think they're faking that." "Let's go," Dani ordered and the three raced through the rubble even as she quickly reviewed what she knew about their foes. Scalphunter was, like her, of Native American descent but that was where the similarity ended. A semi-professional killer he had been a friend of Gambit's before being recruited by Mr. Sinister, who provided him with physical enhancement and a remarkable modular weapons system. Using various components attached to his uniform he could assemble weapons for a variety of targets, from human to super human. Harpoon was a Inuit fisherman before Sinister got a hold of him, tinkering with his DNA. Using his namesake he had the deadly ability to convert matter into energy, throwing harpoons of deadly energy against his enemies. In the X-Men's first battle with the team he had nearly killed Rogue and had trapped Kitty in her phased state for months. 'The problem is,' Dani thought, 'they've both been reported dead.' Of course that didn't mean much when dealing with a geneticist and expert on cloning like Sinister. In a raid on a New York lab of Sinister's Gambit and Beast had fought against a Sabertooth clone, one still wet from the cloning tanks. It seemed that the Marauders had achieved a kind of serial immortality, new clones being released each time the last ones died. They came around a corner then all three jerked in surprise before leaping into action. Thermal and Blaze were back to back as a group of black clad figures tried to attack them, full face masks and armor sealing the troops bodies away. Thermal threw waves of flame to drive them back but they seemed unaffected, even as Blaze casted energy bolts. "Damn it," Blaze yelled, the blonde looking clearly frustrated, "these things aren't human!" "Keep going," Thermal yelled, his reddish hair falling into his eyes as the pyrotechnic ignited a foe ahead of him. "Where are..." Rahne asked as she shifted to her half human, half wolf form. "There!" Rachel pointed up to a rooftop where Scalphunter and Harpoon watched all the goings on coldly. Dani assessed the situation quickly then made up her mind. "Wolfsbane, try to help them," she nodded towards the desperately fighting pair then looked to Rachel, "Marvel Girl and I'll take Harpoon and Scalphunter." "Be careful," Rahne said to Dani softly then raced forward, her claws raking across the back of one of the faceless goons. "Got a plan?" Rachel asked as they ran forward. Dani drew her bow and fired, a psionic arrow soaring unerringly into Scalphunter. He screamed, clutching his head as it reverberated in him, sending him to his knees. "Get us up there and we'll improvise," she answered. "As always," Rachel gabbed Dani telekinetically and they soared up to the roof as Harpoon threw. As soon as the spear left his hands it flared to life, a bolt of energy whizzing across to Rachel before splashing on her shields. "Damn," Harpoon muttered before raising his wristband to his lips. "Sir, we have X-Men ion scene, please advise." "Shit," Rachel cursed, trying to grab him telekinetically but to her shock her grip slid off. Some kind of protective shield kept her power at bay, and even more shockingly his mind was like a blank wall to her. "You failed to eliminate Codex's operatives," the voice was cold, purely emotionless, "you know the cost of failure." "Sir, you don't need to..." Harpoon sounded frightened. BOOM! "What the hell," Dani breathed out in surprise from where she had reflexedly ducked behind Rachel's telekinetic shield. Only a crater remained where the two villains had stood, smoke curling up from broken concrete and stone. No tatters of uniform or anything else was there, the force of the explosion had literally wiped them from the face of the Earth. "Moonstar!" they heard Rahne call and both young ladies quickly joined her on the street. The faceless minions seemed to be dissolving within their uniforms, the black cloth and armor sagging as whatever was within them turned to slime. "I'll be damned," Rachel nudged the empty costume then looked up warily at Thermal and Blaze. "That was closer than I'd like," Thermal sighed, running a hand through his hair. He gave Wolfsbane a faint smile, "Thanks for the help, by the way." "I'd ha' done it for anyone," Rahne said a bit coldly. Once upon a time they had been teammates in the New Mutants, and it was clear she was unhappy with his changing sides. "A falling out among thieves?" Dani asked with a raised eyebrow. "No," Blaze said to them crossly, "it looks like Sinister has decided to eliminate anyone that connects him to the raid here. I think he's decided to kill us new Marauders with the original versions." Rachel gave her a skeptical look but said, "I'll pass that on telepathically to Wisdom." "Come on," Thermal nodded to Blaze and they moved off. Dani summoned another psionic arrow as she said, "Hold it right there." Thermal didn't turn to her as he said, "I've got teammates in trouble, they may even be killed by Sinister's creations. I'm not sticking around." With a gesture he flung a burst of flame at them, using the distraction to get himself and Blaze away. "I can follow," Marvel Girl offered, rising off the ground telekinetically. "Let 'em go," Dani stopped her. She smiled grimly, "I may not like it, but I can respect why they need to go."
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