"Deathstrike," the voice said quietly. Yuriko turned to look at the blonde maid, only to see her form shift and blur, becoming a dark skinned, red-haired figure that she instantly recognized. "Mystique," she nodded regally, bracing herself subtlety for any possible attack. Raven Darkholme nodded slightly, "I come in peace." Yuriko looked a bit skeptical, but seemed willing to wait and see. "What can I do for you?" she asked the mutant curiously. "Stryfe has returned," Raven said simply. "What?" Yuriko growled, her surprise causing her finger blades to extend involuntarily. "Just thought you should know," Raven turned to leave. "And his agenda this time?" Yuriko asked coldly. "We don't know," Raven said simply, "we've only tangled with his agents so far." "When you do know," and Yuriko's voice came out in a deadly purr, "contact me. I have a score to settle with the one who attempted to violate me." "We'll contact you," Raven nodded firmly before slipping out of the room in the maid's form once again. She made her way down the Sydney hotel's hallway before finding a private room that was empty. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, with a tap of her fingers activating her com- badge. "Did you get all of that?" she asked. Ororo's voice came through loud and clear, "It seems that Deathstrike still bears a grudge against Stryfe. I just hope we don't need to use her against him." "So do I," Raven admitted. She had been the one to suggest approaching Yuriko, but from what she had read, she didn't actually trust her much. Still, if Stryfe did try to pull something big, they might need all the allies they could get. "Jean will be contacting me soon," Ororo added, "so collect Heather and Sage and get them back here. I don't want to risk any of us being attacked solo." Raven felt a sudden surge of jealousy at the very idea of Ororo talking with Jean, a woman she felt certain had been Ororo's lover once. But she quelled that response, answering evenly, "Then I'll see you soon, love." "See you," Ororo cut the connection as she felt the slight tickle at the back of her head that signaled an telepathic contact. She saw a bit of haze first, a slight shimmering, then the image of a redheaded telepath appeared in front of her. "Ororo," Jean smiled slightly, "it's good to hear from you again. How's Raven?" Ororo found herself blushing slightly. She had finally admitted to Jean that yes, she and Raven were lovers, so she certainly expected to get some teasing. "She's fine," she answered with as much dignity as possible. Jean smirked, "Just fine?" "Any luck with the search?" Ororo tried to change the subject. "No joy," Jean shook her head with a sigh. "Both I, the Professor, and Emma have been scanning, but we've come up with nothing. They must be operating from a facility equipped with powerful telepathic screens," she explained. Ororo frowned, "You allowed Emma Frost to assist with the search?" Jean smiled back at her wryly, "I know that there's no love lost between you, but she's a X-man now. You need to put it behind you." "She is no X-man, not in my eyes," Ororo shook her head firmly, thinking of the abuse that she had suffered at Emma Frost's hands. It would take far more than simply donning an X-man's uniform for Ororo to extend any trust to her. Jean decided to abandon that argument for now, knowing that it was pointless to continue. Quietly, "We'll continue to do random searches, in the hopes of catching a flaw in their shields, but there's no guarantees." Ororo nodded gravely. Trying to lighten the mood a bit she smiled, "There's been some progress on the romantic front." "Oh, really?" Jean smiled. "Sage has become involved with a lifeguard here," Ororo said. "So who is he?" Jean asked eagerly. "She, actually," Ororo smirked, "Heather Cameron." Heather sighed softly in relief as Raven's disguise form came down the stairs. "About time," she took a step forward only to be stopped by Sage's gentle hand on her arm. "I think that's the actual employee that she copied," Sage explained as the pretty blonde maid fell into talking with other members of the hotel staff. "Then where is she?" Heather asked her black haired girlfriend plaintively. "Right behind you," the amused voice said from behind them. They turned to see Raven in her usual dark haired human form shaking her head with a smile, "You two really aren't very suited to this sort of covert work, are you?" "Oh yeah," Heather agreed, "I'll quite happily leave that sort of stuff to you and Sage, thanks. Not my style at all." "I'd much rather have you saving me anyway," Sage smiled up at the blonde lifeguard, taking her by the arm possessively. "And you've very good at it," Raven agreed, remembering assisting Heather on a lifesaving adventure a few weeks ago. The three women left the hotel together, climbing into the jeep outside manned by Kitty and Rogue. "How did it go?" Kitty eagerly asked as Rogue started up the jeep and then pulled them into the heavy morning traffic. "She'll be there to help if we need her," Raven smiled. "Good," Sage murmured, "I thought that she might still bear a grudge over Stryfe's trying to use her advanced cybernetic systems to reactivate the Prime Sentinels." "And you didn't have any trouble?" Rogue asked. There was an odd tone in her voice as she said that, a tone Kitty instantly recognized. Rogue had been worried about her mom, even though she wasn't going to show it. Kitty gently rested her hand on Rogue's arm, giving her a comforting smile. "No problems," Raven quickly reassured her daughter, also knowing her daughter pretty well. "She extended her claws once, but more out of surprise than anything else," she added. "Good," Rogue nodded firmly, "because if she had actually tried to hurt you, I'd..." "We'd," Kitty corrected, tossing Raven a grin before adding, "I gotta watch out for my mother-in-law, after all." Raven smiled back, "Thanks." She looked thoughtful, "If I'm your mother-in-law, and I'm involved with Ororo, does that make her your mother- in-law, too?" Kitty had a distinctly odd look on her face, "I hadn't thought of that." Heather chuckled softly at the expressions on both Kitty and Rogue's faces, and even Sage had to smile slightly. "Somehow, I'm not too surprised," Jean remarked. "Why is that?" Ororo raised her eyebrow. "I always thought that Sage had a bit of a crush on you, actually," Jean pointed out to her with a little smile. Ororo blushed, unsure if Jean was teasing her or not. "Elizabeth and Neal are still firmly together," she said, "and Kitty has been working with Elizabeth to develop her fighting skills." "Kitty's?" Jean blinked. Ororo chuckled, "No, Elizabeth's." "They're WHAT?!" Elizabeth Braddock burst out in honest surprise. Her tone of voice had her boyfriend Neal sitting up in alarm, and she gave him a reassuring smile. "Sorry," she said more quietly into the phone, "you just startled me. Thanks for the intel." Once she put down the phone Neal asked, "Is something wrong?" "Sorry about that," Elizabeth smiled. She got up from beside the phone and went over to sit down beside Neal on the livingroom couch, "Just some old business that I had thought was dead and buried a long time ago." "Do you want to talk about it?" Neal offered gently. "It seems that there's a new Captain Britain in England," Elizabeth said quietly, "and she's using the uniform that I once wore." Neal looked surprised, "You were Captain Britain?" "For a little while," Elizabeth smiled wryly. "At the time, I thought that it would be best if Captain Britain worked directly for the government. Brian disagreed, and I tried to guilt-trip him into doing it by wearing a spare uniform and calling myself Captain Britain." Neal's eyes widened, remembering something he had read in her file, "That's how you were blinded for awhile, wasn't it?" With a grim smile Elizabeth said, "I was called out by Slaymaster, a old enemy of mine and Brian's. He beat me easily, then in a final gesture of contempt blinded me." Softly, "Brian killed him for what he did, a few moments later." "If that happened to me," Neal shook his head, "I don't know what I would have done." Quite admiringly he added, "I certainly couldn't see myself putting a costume on again." "I got lucky" Elizabeth smiled, sounding pleased by his words, "Anyway, it seems that uniform fell into the hands of Black Air, and is now being worn by an agent of the Weird Happenings Organization." "What?" Neal blinked. "No, WHO," Elizabeth smirked. Neal groaned softly. "And how's Bishop?" Jean asked cautiously. She knew the man had once harbored feelings for Ororo, and was hoping that they weren't causing any trouble. Ororo laughed softly, "There's a policewoman pursuing him, actually. Sadly, he's remained oblivious so far." "That's our Bishop," Jean chuckled. Lucas Bishop approached his partner's desk warily, knowing the she had been getting a bit waspy lately. Though why rather escaped him. Looking down at the normally perky blonde he asked, "Any luck with the search?" "Lots," Cat shook her head ruefully, waving a thick sheaf of papers around, "I've gotten hits from all over the world." Bishop took the papers from her with a smile, "Thanks." As he rifled through them he commented, "I really owe you one for this." "You could," Cat said with a dangerous little smile, "take me out to dinner tonight in thanks." Bishop blinked in surprise, about to open up his mouth to explain that he just couldn't, when he say the disappointed look on her face. 'It's only dinner,' he thought to himself before saying aloud, "All right, dinner it is." The grin that lit up Cat's face made it all worth it, somehow. "Great," she laughed, "we'll head out after work then." "Shouldn't I go home and change?" Bishop asked. Cat chuckled, "I'm not giving you a chance to change your mind." Jean's mental image began to fade out as she said, "We'll do all that we can to find Stryfe. That, I promise you." "Thank you," Ororo got out before she completely disappeared.
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