Rhane Sinclair was standing in the front of the classroom,
sorting out a pile of papers. Without looking up she asked, "Dani, did
the protesters leave?"
Dani Moonstar smiled slightly as the Native American said, "Not
exactly. It seems that our guests scared them away."
"Good," Rhane looked up with a grin, meeting Pete's eyes. "Mr.
Wisdom, it's good to see you," she walked quite sedately up to him to
offer her hand. It was obvious from the bounce in her step that she
wanted to run, but was restraining herself.
"You've been keeping busy," Pete looked around at the school
while he shook the redheaded werewolf's hand before adding, "And it's
Pete, remember?"
"I try," Rhane grinned. She looked past him, "Hullo, Rachel."
Her eyes widened when she saw Kate, "Kitty? Did something happen to
you?"
"It's Kate," she shrugged as she explained, "time travel thing."
"Ah," Rhane nodded, having been in the X-Men long enough to take
that sort of thing quite calmly. She petted Lockheed, then looked over
at Lisa, "Have we met?"
"Not yet," the slim but muscular blonde smiled, "Lisa Garrison,
also known as Britannia."
"Captain Britain," Rhane murmured softly. She gave Pete a
piercing gaze, "You're reforming Excalibur, aren't you?"
"You got it," Pete nodded, and he included Dani in his look as
he said, "I was coming here with the intention of asking you to join."
"It's up to Rhane," Dani said simply. She smiled, "I'm still a
reserve X-Man, so I consider myself on-call anyway."
"We'd be honored to join," Rhane smiled happily.
"But," Rachel waved about the school, "what about this place?"
Rhane smiled gently, "I founded this place using moneys that
Moira set up, as part of an educational trust. But now that it's soon to
be up and running, I'm going to become more of a liability to the school
than a benefit."
"The protesters outside," Lisa said sourly.
"Exactly," Dani agreed. "We were planning to be out of here soon
anyway, to take away the lightning rod we represent to them," she
explained.
"Then it's good to have you," Pete grinned.
There was a round of greetings and congratulations as they
welcomed their new teammates, then Rachel gently put her hand on Pete's
shoulder. "Would you mind if I take Kate outside for a few minutes?" she
asked him.
Pete shrugged slightly, "Sure, just as long as Kate's going to
be ready to transport us all back to Muir Island, anyway."
Rachel stepped up to Kate, "Would you mind? I want to talk to
you a minute."
"Sure, Rachel," Kate followed her out with a slight frown on her
face. It was obvious that the older woman wasn't quite sure what was
going on, and it bothered her a little. They moved away from the door to
the side of the building, where they both stood silently for a bit.
Finally, Kate just had to ask Rachel, "What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rachel asked softly.
"Tell you what?" Kate blinked.
"How you feel about me!" she snapped. At Kate's stunned look
Rachel took a deep breath, "When I was passing the location information
from Pete to you, I caught on."
"I'm sorry," Kate said quietly, "I'll try to guard my thoughts
better."
"That's not what's bothering me," Rachel said in much more level
tones, "why did you never tell me about how you felt?"
Kate reached up, running a hand through her short brown hair,
and Rachel marveled at how realistic the illusion surrounding Kate's
metal form was. "I started to fall for you not long after we broke out
of the concentration camp together," she said to Rachel quietly, "and
you were still in grieving over Franklin at the time."
Rachel nodded reluctantly, "I remember." She looked over at Kate
curiously, "But once your mind reformed in Widget, why didn't you tell
me then?"
"My memories were still shot full of holes," Kate said with a
wry smile, "something I could feel you trying to fix when we were
mindlinked."
"When we reprogrammed the Sentinels," Rachel agreed. Linking
organic with cybernetic minds, Rachel and Widget had invaded the core
mind of the Sentinels, reprogramming them into a protective force for
both man and mutant.
"It wasn't until you were all gone back to the past that I began
to fully recall my feelings for you," Kate said to Rachel softly.
Another wry smile, "So I built the most humanoid body I could and
followed you back here."
Rachel smiled back, "And when were you planning on telling me?"
"Once I got my courage up," Kate shrugged. At Rachel's odd look
she elaborated, "You have been one of the most relentlessly heterosexual
women I know."
"A point," Rachel admitted, "though there have been times..."
"Oh?" Kate looked at her curiously.
"Kitty and I, once," Rachel admitted, blushing faintly, "back
when we were roommates in Excalibur's old lighthouse base, we flirted
quite a bit."
"So what do you want to do now?" Kate asked Rachel softly.
"For now, I need to get used to the idea," Rachel admitted, "not
just to the idea of a woman being interested in me, but also the fact
that you're technorganic, more or less."
"I can understand that," Kate agreed. Quietly she added, "I
won't mention any of this to Pete and the others, either."
"Thanks," Rachel smiled. Before Kate could move off she stepped
forward, gently kissing the older woman on the cheek. "No matter what I
decide, you'll always be my friend," she said simply.
Pete watched the two women walk in, and frowned slightly. There
was a slightly different vibe between them, but it didn't seem to be a
romantic one. 'Damn, I was hoping that Kate told her,' he thought to
himself grimly.
"So where do we go now?" Rhane came out from the back of the
school. Both she and Dani carried a duffel bag each, likely stuffed with
clothes.
"Muir Isle," Pete said. He smiled, "The Prof. said we could use
it as a base, and from what I understand Lady Moira might have liked
that."
"She would have," Rhane agreed with a sad smile.
"Then let's do this," Kate shed the illusion, reverting to her
metallic form. Waves of light emanated from her middle, and in seconds a
portal shone in front of them.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Dani looked at it warily.
"Ridden it three times, haven't lost anything yet," Pete
offered.
"It's the 'yet' that worries me," Lisa said as she stepped
through the portal. The rest soon followed, Rachel, Dani, Rhane,
Lockheed, Pete and finally Kate herself.
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