The Excalibur Alternative (part 24 of 29)

a Non-Anime Fanfiction fanfiction by Shanejayell

Back to Part 23
Kate Pryde smiled to herself slightly as the
helicopter came down, the wind stirring the hair of
her companion. Her own silvery metallic form was
largely unaffected, though she used her holographic
systems to make the illusion that she was fittingly
messy.

"Hope that the Weird Happenings Organization knows
what it's doing, transporting him like this," Rachel
murmured, her red hair falling into her eyes.

"It's a combat chopper," Kate noted, "armed and
shielded. Of course if the Marauders hit it, all bets
are off."

"Which is why I'm shadowing them once they leave,"
Britannia said, standing nearby. Lisa Garrison had her
helm off, her blonde hair flowing in the breeze and
dressed in the stylized union jack designed mystical
costume.

"You sure you're going to be all right?" Rachel asked
her, feeling a flash of concern for her teammate.
Since they still didn't know each other all that well
she was a bit surprised that she felt that worried,
honestly.

"Widget," Lisa nodded to Kate, "rigged me up a
holographic cloaking system, just for this mission.
They'll never know I'm there."

"Here they go," Kate called their attention to the
scene not far away. Dani Moonstar and Rahne Sinclair
escorted the bound Bezerker over to the vehicle, both
of them very wary as they passed him over to the
government troops. He was loaded on, the door slid
shut then with a almost eerie silence the copter was
off.

"The pilot's nervous," Rachel softly murmured,
accidentally catching a stray thought from the man at
the controls.

"I'm off," Lisa pulled her helm on after giving the
vehicle a chance to get some distance. Britannia
smoothly rose as she added, "I'll use the radio if the
Marauders hit, but Rachel, could you maintain a
telepathic link as well?"

"No problem," Rachel reassured her.

Pressing a control on her wristband Britannia seemed
to become almost semi transparent.. then she was
simply gone, only the soft noise of her passage
through the air remaining. "Don't worry too much,"
Kate calmly offered as they walked back into the Muir
Island Research Station, "the suit's forcefields
should protect her."

"I guess I just don't like the idea of one of us
shadowing them all alone," Rachel conceded, using her
keycard to open the door.

"I don't entirely disagree," Kate agreed, "but the
cloak gets less effective with the more people it
covers. Pete made the best decision he could, just
sending one of us."

"I know," Rachel sighed, "but I still don't like it."

"That's one of the things I love about you," Kate
murmured as she looked down at her adoringly, "your
compassion."

"Kate," Rachel blushed.

The two entered the main meeting room where various
team members waited, curious to see what might happen.
Lisa's elven lover Llyan paced in one corner while
Dani and Rahne sat at the table, drinking coffee.
Jackie Crighton was by the main screen, the helicopter
and Britannia represented by glowing icons as Pete
smoked away, watching for trouble.

"Grr." Lockheed the dragon grumbled softly, landing on
Kate's shoulder smoothly.

"Rahne, did you scent anything unusual on them?" Pete
asked thoughtfully, the black haired man stubbing out
a cigarette.

The redheaded werewolf shook her head. "No," Rahne
said, "though my senses in my human form aren't much
better than yours."

"You're worried about something with the WHO copter?"
Kate asked, frowning slightly as she walked over to
the table.

"Just running through the possibilities," Pete
admitted, "thinking of how I'd try to pull a breakout
for someone like Bezerker."

"Like replacing a member of the police?" Dani asked,
her long black hair flowing down her back. The native
American woman was in her team uniform, as was Rahne,
the similar clothes making them look even more like a
couple.

"I actually pulled that stunt a few years back," Pete
said mildly, "when I had to help bust a Black Air
operative out of the United States facility, the
Vault."

"So what do you think they'll try?" Jackie asked, her
white hair shining. She smiled, "Assuming they're as
evil minded as you are."

"If they really intend to bust Bezerker out they'll
have to hit the copter on the way there," Pete said as
he considered the problem, "the WHO secure facility is
a too tough nut to crack. The biggest question is
where they'll try."

"Not over the water," Rachel said flatly, "too risky."

"So somewhere over Scotland," Rahne mused as she
looked up at the map on the video screen, "or on the
way over England?"

"Too bad there's no way to narrow it down much," Dani
frowned, "even knowing the copter's route won't help
us much."

Kate stopped, the oddest look on her face. "Rachel,"
she said softly, "when you said the pilot felt
nervous, did you think it was unusually so?"

Rachel blinked, then her eyes visibly widened a
little. "Oh hell," she muttered before asking, "you
don't think...?"

"You think they got to the pilot somehow?" Pete
figured it out a second later. He turned and studied
the screen once again before asking, "Is the pilot
following the flight plan WHO sent us?"

"No," Jackie realized as she used the keyboard to run
a quick comparison, "they're veering off to the left."

"Sorry Kate, but it's days like this I wish we had a
jet," Pete growled softly, glaring up at the two
slowly moving blips.

Kate wasn't really offended, she understood what he
meant. As a teleporter she could get the team
wherever, but they couldn't do things like tail an
adversary as a group. Instead they had to wait until
they got somewhere before they could act.

"Britannia, do you read me?" Jackie decided to risk
breaking the radio silence, picking up a headset and
speaking into a microphone.

"Yes?" Britannia answered crisply.

"We believe that the Marauders may have compromised
the helicopter pilot," Jackie reported their
speculations grimly.

"Crap,." Britannia said softly. There was a moment of
silence, "Then tailing them still makes sense, I
think."

"Just be careful," Jackie cautioned softly.

"If anything does happen with the 'copter," Pete spoke
up, "do not engage whoever might be attacking, just
radio us your location. If this is the Marauders
doing, trying to stop them on your own would be just
foolish."

"Understood," Britannia answered before signing off.

Jackie seemed to disappear, then in a burst of speed
returned dressed in her new team uniform. It looked
much like her old Spitfire costume, with a simple gold
bodysuit and bright red gloves and boots. In addition
she wore a simple black jacket with red flame trim
over it, an 'X' patch on the shoulder. Seeing the
curious glances of her teammates she smiled, "I figure
if there's any trouble, I'd better be dressed
appropriately."

"Looks good," Kate gave her a thumbs up.

"M'lord," Llyan bowed to Pete, the willowy figure
laying a hand on the sword she wore at her side, "if
these foul brigands do attack, I wish to join the
battle."

Pete reflexedly opened his mouth to protest, then
closed it thoughtfully. He had run into the sidhe in
battle once, and barely lived to tell the tale... more
importantly, Llyan had a very personal stake in any
fight. "All right," he said, "but you obey orders in
the field, Llyan. I don't want a Marauder dead because
he looked at Lisa wrong."

"As you wish," Llyan bowed once again.

Onwards to Part 25


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