"Damn it," Dani muttered, the native American forcing herself to
sit up, hissing slightly as her stiff body ached.
"Dani," Rahne scolded her, trying to push her partner back down,
"you need time to recover, to let the toxin leave your system."
"We don't know if those Marauders are going to try to hit here
next," Dani answered seriously, shaking her head so that the long black
hair swept around her like a cape. "We have to be ready if they do," she
said.
"She's got a point," Britannia said crisply. She pulled her helm
off and Lisa ran a hand through her short blonde hair before asking, "Do
you have a plan?"
"The start of one," Dani answered with a smile.
"I suppose I can't keep you all in your beds where you belong?"
Cecelia demanded, the dark skinned doctor putting her hands on her hips.
"Doesn't look like it," Rahne conceded with a sigh, the little
redhead looking visibly worried.
"So what's the plan?" Rachel asked, the slim redheads walking
into the medical bay while pulling on a simple bodysuit. It was mostly
green with gold gloves, boots, belt and a mask that was resting against
her neck.
"Aerial patrols," Dani nodded to Britannia, "while Wolfsbane
does ground, keeping in touch with me via mind-link. The rest of us run
to help anyone who gets into trouble."
"Simple," Lisa smiled as she pulled her helmet back on, "but
sometimes simple is best." She looked over at Rachel, "Can you maintain
a mind-link with me?"
"No problem," Rachel said before adding, "and in this outfit you
can call me Marvel Girl."
"I would also like to help," Llyan said, the redheaded Sidhe
hefting an impressive looking sword in her hands.
"I'll keep that in mind," Dani smiled wryly.
There was a flask of rainbow light, a displacement of air and
Widget reappeared from one of her teleport gates. "Pete sent me back,"
Kate Pryde reported, "he was concerned that the Marauders might try..."
she trailed off.
"Dani's one step ahead of you," Rahne said proudly before the
group quickly filled her in on the tentative plan.
"Then let's get to work," Kate nodded to Dani, "you're in
charge, Moonstar."
"I'm gone," Britannia was out the door, flying down the corridor
then out of the building and up into the cloudy skies.
Right behind her Rahne Sinclair ran, her form blurring from
human to half wolf then fully to wolf mode. 'I'm outside,' Rahne's
thoughts rang in Dani's mind, 'no strange scents so far.'
'Be careful,' Dani sent, knowing that her love was coloring her
tone. She turned to the group, "Let's head to the command center."
"Coo," Lockheed the dragon commented, flying around the group of
young women.
"Nice costume," Kate murmured to Rachel, looking over the
skintight uniform admiringly.
"Thanks," Rachel blushed slightly under the metal skinned
woman's gaze, "I thought it was time I made a step forward. I just hope
that Marvel Girl doesn't sound too hokey."
"You can carry it off," Kate smiled.
"I'm surprised to see you coming along healer," Llyan said to
Cecelia softly.
"I was an X-man once," Cecelia answered dryly, "if we are
attacked my forcefield talents may just come in handy."
"Let's hope that we're not," Dani said as they entered the
command center, "but I'd rather be too prepared than surprised."
"Amen," Cecelia agreed.
Dani sat down at the main monitor screen, putting a headset on
and hitting a few buttons. She heard a cellphone ring, then a clearly
irritated voice answered, "Yeah?"
"Nice to talk to you, too, Pete," Dani said dryly, "We've got
patrols around the island in case the Marauders try anything. How are
things on your end?"
Pete fought back a smile as he thought, 'I bet Dani came up with
it on her own, too.' Aloud the black haired man said, "Jackie and I are
about to go in and see somebody in charge down here, we should have more
information shortly."
"We'll hold down the fort until you get back," Dani said before
disconnecting.
Jackie raised an eyebrow as the white haired English woman
watched Pete sliding his phone away. "Trouble back on the island?" she
asked.
Pete shook his head before saying with a smile, "More like
trouble avoided, I think. Looks like Dani has the situation well in
hand." They reached the end of the hallway and Pete knocked firmly on
the president's door.
"Come in," the clearly nervous voice called out and the two
headed in.
"Mrs. Crighton," the older man stood up, adjusting his tie as he
continued, "I'm so sorry you have to be visiting us at such a difficult
time..." The man got a good look at Pete and trailed off, his face going
ghostly white.
"Well, well," Pete took a smoke out and lit it, looking at the
man with a carefully blank look, "if it isn't Mouse. Thought we put you
out of business years ago."
"Wisdom," Mouse muttered, mopping up his sweat covered brow,
"what the hell are you doing here? I thought you went down with Black
Air!"
"A friend of yours?" Jackie looked between Pete and the man he
called Mouse.
"Not exactly, no. Mouse here was one of the best hackers in the
business," Pete drew on his cigarette calmly before continuing,
"probably still is. It certainly explains why that strike team went for
the hard- drives stored here first."
"We weren't involved with anything illegal," Mouse protested.
"Somehow I doubt that," Pete sighed. He put his hands on the
man's desk, glaring down at him as he said, "Now do you want to tell me
what's going on or do I have to take steps?"
"You're not with Black Air anymore," Mouse said to him
defiantly, "you spook, so I don't have to do what you say."
"Maybe," Jackie spoke up, "but you're running this place as a
publicly owned company." She smiled dangerously, "I'm sure if I started
putting the word around to some of my fellow stockholders about illegal
activities here, they'd sell."
"You wouldn't dare," Mouse whispered.
"Try me," Jackie said, her voice like iron.
Mouse gulped. "After Black Air caught me," he said, "they made
me a deal: go to work for them and avoid jail time. It seems they were
interested in superhuman genetic data, especially from the Avengers, the
Fantastic Four, that whole New York mob."
"You didn't," Pete murmured.
"We found a back door into Reed Richards' records," Mouse said,
"probably back when he and the F.F. went missing. We downloaded the data
he had on New York's superhumans but it was at that same time Black Air
was taken down."
"So you were left with all that data and no superiors to give it
to," Jackie murmured.
"Exactly," Mouse nodded glumly, "we were planning to auction off
the data privately, but it seems that someone beat us to it."
Pete looked at Mouse thoughtfully, "So how legit is this
company?"
"It was originally created as a cover for the hacking," Mouse
admitted before saying, "but on the business side it's entirely legit."
"If you shut them down," Jackie said to Pete softly, "a lot of
innocent employees who knew nothing about the hacking are going to be
hurt."
"I know," Pete answered. He studied Mouse a moment, weighing the
man before saying, "We're leaving you, but I want you to understand
something." Pete's voice dropped to a deadly purr as he continued, "If I
so much as hear a whisper of illegal activity coming out of here, I'll
make sure you're tossed into jail and they throw away the key."
Mouse nodded, his face bone pale as he stammered, "Never, you'll
never have trouble."
"Good," Pete said coldly, the two of them turning and leaving
the office. As they went out into the hall Jackie dialed her cellphone
then put it to her ear. "What?" Pete blinked.
"Calling my accountant to sell all my Endteck stock," Jackie
said.
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