"Okay, that's eleven mutants airlifted out, Dr. MacTaggart. If you just sign off on the rollcall for me.." the leader of the Weird Happenings Organization (WHO) team removing the mutant villains off of Muir Island told the Doctor.Dr. Moira MacTaggart, owner of the small island off of Scotland, and the research complex on it, paused as she saw three figures coming towards her. One man had a bloody nose, and a gag over his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back. Moira recognized the other two as Catherine Pryde (Former X-men) and her boyfriend, Peter Wisdom (former member of the secret British Black Air agency); both now members of the British hero team, Excalibur. Cat waved to her to stop.
"Here's the one we were missing from the holding cells, Dr. MacTaggert." Pete said, holding the bound man.
"Is this one on the list? I didn't realize you'd lost one." the WHO agent said.
The doctor rubbed her head, trying to come up with an explanation for this extra man. She knew he wasn't a mutant that they had held in her complex.
"Och, him, The... uh... The Crimson Goatgouger, an obscure super-villain from, uh, Aberystwyth. Very slippery customer, like two other folks I could mention..." she said, staring at Cat and Pete.
Pete held up a folded sheet of paper and said with all seriousness "It's vital you keep his mouth covered. He can control your mind by voice, if you remove the gag, you're doomed. Don't worry, he breathes through his fingers. The Yanks have expressed interest in this one, Alistaire might want the, um, Goatgouger sent to them. Give him this note, it explains everything..."
"Fine, right then, Sonny Jim, let's get you caged up and away..." the WHO agent lead the gagged American agent to the waiting choppers.
The three stood and watched as the choppers took off and headed towards the mainland. As soon as they were over the complex, Cat and Pete collapsed laughing.
"Right, they're gone.... So let's have an explanation out o'you two, or d'ye want your slapping now?" Moira said, staring down at the two, hands planted firmly on her hips. It took a few minutes before Cat and Pete composed themselves enough to start complaining.
"Well, it's like this. Pete and I had just finished breakfast on the mainland. We were just leaving, when two armed men and three unarmed men attacked us. We stopped them, and found their leader, that man you just saw. He's a US agent, who came over here to leave Excalibur a message... In a nutshell, Excalibur is no longer welcome in the states. Well...." Cat started, walking towards the complex with Moira, still fighting a case of the giggles.
Pete left his girlfriend, and searched for his pack of cigarettes. He remembered that he had smoked his last cigarette en route back, so he headed to his room to pick up one of his spare packs. As he got closer to his room, he noticed that the door was ajar. Already expecting the worst, he entered the room and went to his stash.... It was gone.
"LOCKHEED!!!!" he roared, running back to the entrance. Looking up and down the hall, he saw a familiar purple dragon just going around the corner. Pete started running after.
"When I get my hands on that dragon," he gasped out, leaving the threat hanging in the air, but his hands glowing with rage. A familiar shape flittered across the corridor in front of him, and he increased his speed to chase it.
"Hello Peter..." Meggan said as he ran past her and Brian Britain in the garage. Peter ignored them, all of his attention centered on the dragon flying out the door.
"Pete, running?" Brian asked, looking up in surprise.
"He's chasing Lockheed. Lockheed has probably hidden his cigarettes again, or maybe his liquor." Meggan said, laughing. "We may never get him into the training routines, but at least we can count on Lockheed to keep him in shape!"
Brian says nothing, but returns his attention to the adjustments he was doing to the Midnight Runner.
A bluff outside the lab "How's the painting going, big guy?" Catherine 'Shadowcat' Pryde asks Pytor 'Colossus' Rasputen. She had just finished explaining to Doctor MacTaggart about the American agent she and Peter had brought in for shipment back to the States, and had seen Colossus standing on the bluff.
"Dah, it goes fine." the big Russian replied, patiently applying paint to the canvas. Cat looked over his shoulder and sees the seascape he is painting, including a small sailboat. Looking out to the sea, she spied the boat out there.
On that Boat "See, I knew you would enjoy sailing DougLock. Now pull in that sail a little before we're blown against the rocks." Rhane "Wolfsbane" Sinclair ordered Douglock. She was in her 'werewolf' form, and enjoying feeling the cool sea breeze blowing through her fur.
"{Understood, Rhane.}" Douglock replied, adjusting the sail as she turned the rudder. "{I am happy that you seem to be enjoying this outing.}" the Techno-organic being added.
"I just wish that we could've gotten the Doctor out here. She's been spending so much time in her lab lately, I don't think she'd recognize the sun if she saw it again. At least she needed to come out to send Spoor and the rest off to Rory." Rahne said quietly, letting the winds and the current carry the little boat through the bay.
In the kitchen "So there was no sign of Margali at her home?" Kurt "NightCrawler" Wagner asked his girlfriend, Amanda Sefton.
"Not a one, except for a laugh. We came back right after." she replied. Both look up as a purple streak flies past them. Peter follows close behind it. They watch the man and dragon fly out of the room and exchange amused looks.
In Moira MacTaggart's Lab Moira rubbed her eyes and tried to pick up where she had left off in her research. She had been interrupted with the helicopters arriving to pick up the mutant criminals, and was having a hard time getting back into her work.
"Ach, Who am I kidding. My research has been going no where for weeks lately." she mumbled, sipping from a cold cup of her coffee. She looked back at the screen. Her vision blurred slightly as a wave of dizziness passed over her. She was going to ignore it, when she heard a male scream of terror coming from close by.
"That was Peter!" she exclaimed, shoving her chair back and running to the door and upstairs. She finds the living room deserted, but not for long.
With a BAMF and a thick cloud of sulfur smoke, NightCrawler and Amanda Sefton appear in the main living area of the lab complex.
"<COUGH COUGH> I wish there was some way you could transport without the smoke and stench." Moira said, waving the smoke away from her face.
Brian and Meggan run into the room, concerned looks on their face.
"Where's Pete? Why'd he scream?" Shadowcat asked, phasing through the wall next to the door. With a crash, Colossus, all steeled up, smashed through the door, ready for a fight.
"We saw him running down that hall earlier, Cat," Amanda said, pointing down the hall.
"Where's Douglock and Rhane?" NightCrawler asked, realizing the other team members were still missing.
"Out sailing off of the bluff." Colossus replied, pointing out the direction.
"Find Pete, I'll be right back." NightCrawler ordered before disappearing in his cloud of smoke. Everyone else runs down the hall that Meggan had pointed out.
On the Boat "Oh! Did you feel that Douglock?" Rahne asked, holding her head after the dizziness had passed.
"{Feel what, Rahne?}" Douglock asked.
"A wave of dizziness..." <BAMF!> "Kurt! What are you doing here?" she asked as the blue skinned acrobat appeared on the boat.
"Something's happening in the complex. You guys better get back to shore as soon as possible." NightCrawler informed her.
"OK, we'll head in now. Douglock! Watch the sails!" Rahne said, adjusting the rudder hurriedly.
"Rahne, perhaps we could get to shore faster if I took the rudder and you watched the sails.}" Douglock said, moving to the back of the boat.
"What? Oh, OK. Got you 'lock." Rahne replied, understanding what Douglock was doing as he lowered himself into the water at the back of the boat. Morphing his lower body into a propeller, he added some speed to the boat's already fast pace.
"We'll see you in the OH!" Rahne said as another wave of dizziness overcomes her and NightCrawler.
"{You all right?}" Douglock asked in concern, stretching his neck out to examine both of them.
"I'm fine 'Lock. Just get us to the shore." Rahne said, shaking her head.
"I better get back to the complex. Get up there as soon as you can." Kurt said before disappearing again.
"What is going on here?" Rahne asked quietly, watching the approaching shore.
"I do not know. I would like to point out to you that I noticed some small changes in NightCrawler.}" Douglock commented from the back of the boat.
"Hmm, interesting, didja notice any changes in me, Douglock?"
"{No changes to Rahne that can not be attributed to sea air and salt water and other environmental factors.}"
"Curiouser and curiouser..." Rahne commented quietly, returning her gaze to the fast approaching shore.
Back in the Complex "He's over here!" Meggan called out to the others as she sees their quarry sitting in the hall, his back to them. Lockheed was perched on the light fixture, looking down at Peter inquisitively.
"Lockheed! What did you do to Pete?!" Shadowcat shouted out, phasing through the wall next to Meggan. The others arrived soon after. Lockheed gave her a disgusted look, a small spout of flame slipping past his lips, and he turned his back to the people.
"Don't be too hard on him, Kitty. Besides swiping my cigarettes, he's done nothing." Pete said quietly. Lockheed turned his head and looked at Pete in surprise.
"Then why'd you scream out?" Kitty asked, moving up to him.
"Because of this." he said, holding up his arms. Everyone gasped in surprise. His hands and arms were now covered with green, reptile scales. In addition to that, each finger now ended with a sharp looking claw.
"I- I'm sorry I shouted out like that. The wave of dizziness and then seeing this just caught me off guard." He stood up and faces the rest of Excalibur. "You know, you guys aren't looking all that normal either, except for Meggan there." he said, looking at the team.
Before anyone could react, another wave of dizziness overcame them. Meggan, seemingly unaffected by the dizziness watched them, stunned into silence. When it passed, everyone looked up at each other, speechless. With a BAMF and a cloud of smoke, NightCrawler rejoined the group.
"ACK! Is it just me, or is your stench getting worst, Kurt?" Moira said, breaking the silence.
"What is going on here?!?" Kurt said, eyeing his teammates. He didn't notice the bumps on his back.
Besides the unchanged Meggan, Doctor McTaggart now had equine ears and a slight muzzle. Light brown hair was sticking out from around the cuffs of her lab coat. Colossus's head now looked like a grizzly bear. His feet and hands seemed to have gotten larger too. In his steel form, it was impossible to tell if he to was growing fur. Shadowcat was beginning to live up to her name, with pointed ears and a long tail. Brian's hair had changed to golden mane, and his nose and mouth were changing into a muzzle. A tail with a tuff of golden fur at the end grew out from above his shorts. Peter had changed even further. The scales now ran up his neck, but stopped just below his face. A lizard tail peeked out of the bottom of his trench coat. Amanda's ear's were pointed, and her emerald eyes were slitted, like a cat's. Claws had ripped through her gloves.
"Aye donnah know, but Aye think we should try to call for help." Moira said.
"The communications room?" Cat suggested.
"Aye." the Doctor replied, moving down the hall to the communications room. Everyone followed behind her, silent for the moment. Meggan was holding on tightly to Brian's arm, and Pete and Cat supported each other. Lockheed glided down from the light and wrapped himself around Cat's neck, while giving Pete a dirty look (But not quite as dirty as he usually gave the ex-spy)
Cat reached up and stroked the small dragon's head. "Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this," she said, more to reassure herself than the dragon.
"Kurt, how are Rahne and Douglock?" Meggan suddenly asked, remembering the last two members of Excalibur.
"Huh? Oh, they're fine. Neither of them seemed to be affected by this, though Rahne was in her werewolf form. She did feel the dizziness, but didn't seem to change like you guys. Douglock didn't feel the dizziness at all. They are on their way in now." Kurt replied idlely as they filed into the room.
A third wave overcame them before they could do anything. The Doctor looked at her hands in dismay as her fingers merged together into hooves. By the end of the wave, she was left with three fingered hands. Colossus's hands and feet grew steel bear claws. In addition, a small bear's tail grew out of his back, made of steel like the rest of him. Cat's changes were less restricting. Her mouth and nose extended to a feline muzzle, complete with whiskers, and her fingernails changed to retractable claws. On Peter, the scales overcame his head, but left his hair. His eyes turned to yellow slits, and his tongue became forked. As for Brian, his hands and feet changed, becoming more lion like. Claws ripped through his shoes. Amanda grew a short covering of golden fur, but was otherwise unchanged. It was in NightCrawler that the biggest change occurred. The bumps on his back broke through his shirt and expanded into blue skin covered bat wings.
"Wow!" Cat said quietly as NightCrawler flexed his new wings. Meggan helped him disentangle the remains of the shirt from them. Kurt did nothing else but twist his head around to look at his new appendages.
"These are really going to screw up my moves," he muttered quietly.
"Phone links are all busy, I can't even get through to the village!" Colossus reported, putting down the phone. This shakes the rest of the group out of their stunned stupor. The Doctor moved over to the satellite uplink console and tried to push the keys with no luck.
"Allow me, Doctor," Kitty said, moving away from Peter and gently shoving the doctor away before her temper blew.
Kitty pushed some buttons and stares at the screen. "The link is still active, but it is overloaded. That satellite is passing a lot of data."
"Can yea contact the Beast?" Moira asked.
"I'm trying... OH!" Another wave passed over them. Kitty put her hands down on the console to steady herself. She lost her concentration for a moment and accidentally phased into the console. It blew up in a shower of sparks as her phased state shorted out the electrical systems. Smoke filled the room and the lights flickered out.
Outside Rahne quickly tied the boat up to the dock as Douglock pulled himself back together. Another wave had overcome her before they had docked, and once again, Douglock was unaffected. She was becoming worried about what was happening to the rest of the team.
"Come on Douglock, we need to get to the complex fast!" Rahne said, shifting to her full wolf form and running up the foot path. Douglock kept up with her, even on two legs, and they soon reached the labs.
Inside the main living area, Rahne shifted back to her middle form and sniffed the air cautiously. "I can smell everyone, including Kurt's transport smell, but something seems wrong. Meggan and Lockheed still smell normal, but there is something different about the others. There is no one else in here." she said, moving slowly through the room, looking for any sign of trouble beside the broken door that had Colossus's smell all over it. Before she could explore further, another wave overcame her, and, inexplicably, the power died.
"I donnae know how I know this, but I think that was the last one," she said, holding her head. She sniffed the air again and smelled something that alarmed her. "Smoke! I'm smelling smoke, coming from towards the communications room!" She broke into a run towards the room, with Douglock following behind her. En route, she grabbed a fire extinguisher, just in case.
She stopped outside the open door of the room, trying to peer through the thick smoke.
"Gawd, I need a smoke," Pete's familiar voice with an unfamiliar hiss to it came out of the smoke.
"With alla this smoke in here, you wanna add more? You are crazy!" Moira's voice came out too, slightly deeper than normal.
"Brian?! Are all right?" Meggan's voice shouted out, unchanged, to Rahne's relief. With all the slight changes she was hearing in people's voices, hearing an unchanged voice was comforting.
"I'm fine, I think," Brian responds, with a change that Rahne couldn't place, kind've like a growl or a purr.
A moan came out of the room.
"Kitty! Are you all right?" Kurt called out, no change in his voice that Rahne could hear.
"She was over here, at the uplink console!" Colossus's deep (deeper?) voice shouted.
"Hello? Is everyone all right?" Rahne called into the room.
"Rahne? Is that you? Is Douglock with you? Meggan, we need to be able to see. Can you get rid of this smoke? How about some light Doug?" Kurt ordered.
"I'll try. Just a sec." With a little effort, Meggan contacted the powers of the Earth and convinced the smoke particles to leave the room. Soon, a dark smokefree room was left.
"The lights, Douglock?" Kurt called out, everyone's shapes still hidden by the darkness.
"{Working on it.}" Douglock replied, Rahne can see in the dim light coming down the hall, that he had plugged himself into the light switch and was trying to do something. With a click, the bright lab lights came on. Rahne blinked her eyes rapidly as she adjusted to the sudden brightness. When she finally could see clearly, she froze.
"All right, who are ye guys, and what have ye done with me friends!" she shouted out angrily. The only normal person she can see in the room is Meggan. Everyone else had changed. She could see a horse-woman, dressed in a lab coat, a steel grizzly bear, a lizard dressed in a trench coat, a lion man, a blue skinned bat man with a pointed tail and a catwoman who was half phased through the uplink console. Lockheed, the only other 'normal' thing in the room, was perched on the edge of the console, watching the catwoman carefully.
"Rahne, I don't know what's going on, but believe me, we are the same people you know and love," Moira says, walking slowly to her.
"Stay away from me!" Rahne shouted out and ran out of the room.
"Ohhhh, What hit me?" Cat asked, sitting up. Most of her body was still phased into the uplink console.
"Meggan, could you go after Rahne, try to see if she needs any help?" Kurt said, moving over to help Kitty.
"No!" Moira shouted out, stopping everyone dead in their tracks. "Rahne needs to deal with this by herself, for now. She'll ask for help when she's ready for it. For now, lets see about getting the power back on."
"Fine, whatever you say doctor. Kitty, are you all right?" Kurt asked, reaching down to give her a hand up.
"I think I'm fine... What the hell happened?"
"You collapsed during the last wave and fell through the console. Somehow, you managed to short it, and most of the rest of the power." Kurt said supporting her gently.
"What?!? How did I do that? The circuit breakers always managed to prevent my accidental phasings from doing more than shorting a console or two!"
"{I have examined the island's power grid. It would appear that a huge power surge, originating from the Satellite uplink console has overloaded the system.}" Douglock offered, still connected to the light switch.
"Can you get the power back up to the communications systems, Douglock?" Kurt asked, handing Kitty off to Pete.
"{Trying now... Succeeded. Main power coming back on-line.}" Douglock reported as the computers whirled back to life. Within a few minutes, everything was running again except for the main uplink console.
Kitty left Pete's arms and walked over to the secondary uplink systems. "I'm going to try and reestablish the link." she said.
"Are you sure you should do that? We do only have one back up to the uplink." Pete said.
"I know what I'm doing. As long as we don't get anymore dizzy waves, I'll be fine. And besides, we need this link to find out what's going on." she snapped back.
"Hey guys! Look at this!" Meggan shouted out. Unnoticed to the rest of the team, she had turned on the TV. Everyone turned to see a Walrus giving the news.
"So, we weren't the only ones changed!"
"Shhhhh!"
"-entists are baffled by the change that swept across the world. They are still examining everything they can, but they haven't determined a cause yet. Sadly, Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four and the world expert on the weird and incredible, was killed, along with the rest of the Fantastic Four, the majority of the Avengers and an unknown number of other heroes due to the recent battle against Onslaught, in New York City.
Police and other experts are urging people to remain calm and to try and stay at their homes, until this is sorted out. If you discover that you have a new power, please be careful with it, and try and avoid using it as much as possible. They are also asking that people spend as little time on the phones as possible, so lines may remain clear for emergencies.
Reports have come in from the ravaged New York City of the change having a calming effect on the general populace, helping to ease the burden on the already taxed emergency services workers. There are further reports that other heroes, not involved with Onslaught, are trying to help out as much as possible. Spiderman, Darkhawk, as well as the super team called the New Warriors have reported being seen, but their current nature is still unknown.
The mutant team X-men, and other mutant teams disappeared after Onslaught; their current whereabouts are still unknown.
Here in England, authorities are coping with the change as much as possible. Their main concern is the airports, by landing the airborne planes as fast as possible. Heathrow airport is said to be overloaded at the moment, with extra traffic being diverted elsewhere. England's own super hero team, Excalibur, seen here after the recent incident at the London water front, has yet to make an appearance..." Kurt hit the mute button on the remote.
"There's nothing we can do stateside, so we should try and see what we can do to help out around here." he said, looking around the rest of the team. "I want everyone suited up, as much as you can, and in the Midnight Runner in 5 minutes. Our first goal will be Heathrow. As long as there are planes in the sky, there's a danger. Douglock, I want you to gather up all the information on what's happened that you can. I also want you to try and get the satellite link and phones working again. Doctor, do your best to try and contact Hank, or anyone else stateside. I'd rather have a better view of what's going on than what the news reports. And if you get a chance, could you talk to Rahne?"
"I'll try, Kurt." Moira said. Nodding his head, Kurt disappeared in his puff of smoke, unaware that everyone wrinkled their noses up in disgust. The room quickly emptied, except for Douglock and Moira, as the rest of Excalibur left to get changed, and make some quick alterations to costumes. Seven minutes later, NightCrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat, Wisdom, Lockheed, Amanda, Meggan, and Brian were in the air heading towards London.
"That reporter mentioned new powers... Could it be possible that I've gotten some new power?" Kitty asked softly as she piloted the runner. Blank looks of confusion looked back at her. "Well, those circuit breakers should've been able to handle any short that I could cause with my phase power, yet I managed to trip them all without a thought. Seems strange, doesn't it? I don't know, maybe I've got some electrical jolt to me now, on top of my phase."
"Could be. We'll need to test it after we get back, otherwise don't do any experimenting and don't depend on any new powers you may find; we don't know how stable they are." NightCrawler said, looking at each member of the team. "In fact, I want all of us in the training room after we get back, including the Doctor. We're going to need the training to get used to our new bodies. Guiding planes in will be relatively easy, but I don't want to go up against the Phalanx or the Brood like this." Silent nods of agreement answered him.
"Coming up on Heathrow, and boy, is it a mess!" Cat said. "I've already contacted Air Traffic control, and they'll appreciate any and all help we can give them, especially for clearing the runways." She circled the runner quickly over the runways, and everyone could see planes of all sizes had landed haphazardly, making it extremely difficult for other planes to land. The situation wasn't helped by the emergency crews and other airport crews who were scattered everywhere, trying to clear the runways. Flying around the runways were numerous bird morphs, and even a flying cow.
"I never thought I'd ever see a sight like this," NightCrawler muttered to himself before raising his voice. "Meggan, Brian, Colossus, I want runways cleared as fast as you can. Toss them off the runway and double park them if you need to. Try and order some of those fliers out of here too; we don't need them flying around, getting in the way. Cat, Wisdom, Amanda and I will be helping to empty the planes. Some of those planes will have people that can't get off of them. Kitty, set the runner to land in the parking lot there." Kurt ordered. "Everyone got their communicators? Then, everybody out!"
The hatch on the Midnight Runner opened up and Excalibur jumped out. Meggan grabbed Amanda and Colossus (still in his normal form) and eased them to the ground, at which point Colossus steeled up. Brian glided down to the ground using his own power. Instead of teleporting, Kurt spread his new bat wings and glided down to the ground. He landed with barely a stumble, to the annoyance of some of the other bird morphs.
"Are you sure you won't shock me?" Pete said a little nervously as Cat approached him to phase them enough to float down.
"Only if you want me to," she replied, a wicked grin on her feline face. She grabbed Pete and planted a kiss on his scaly lips as they phased through the closing hatch and floated down to the runway. Lockheed gave a disgusted snort, slipped quickly out of the hatch and followed them down. The preprogrammed plane landed in an empty corner of the parking lot.
NightCrawler didn't spare the couple a second glance as they landed a short distance away.
"There's a humpbacked whale morph stuck in the door of that Canadian Airlines jet over there. See if you can get him out, Kitty. Pete, that small Air France plane came down hard. Control is saying that they can't get any of the doors open; everyone on board has changed too much to open the doors from the inside." he shouted out to them, making his way to a British Airways plane on the other side of the runway.
Back at the island Moira MacTaggart came back to the communications room from the kitchen, a fresh cup of coffee in her hoofed hands. She briefly considered checking to see if the legacy virus in her had changed, and decided against it; she wanted to enjoy the relative calm she was experiencing now before restarting her work. {Besides, these hands aren't the greatest things to do experiments with. I'll need to remember to order some new equipment...} she thought, smiling slightly.
"How's it going, Douglock?" Moira asked.
"{I have completed repairs and am now attempting to reconnect with the satellite.}" Douglock replied, one hand hooked into the cable coming from the TV satellite dish while the other merged into the computer.
"Try and open a link to the X-men as soon as you can, " she said, sitting down, wincing as she accidentally sat on her tail.
"Living with a tail takes some getting used to," a voice said quietly from the doorway. Moira turned to see Rahne standing at the door, still in her were form.
"Rahne! Are ye all right?" Moira asked, standing up again, setting the cup down on the table beside the keyboard.
"I.. I cannae change back to normal!" she cried, running into Moira's arms. "I've tried, and I've tried, but this is as close as I can get!" she sobbed in the Doctor's lab coat.
"There, there, child, Do not worry your head too much over it. We are all in the same boat in this case, mutant and human alike, and we will all get through this, together." Moira comforted her.
"I- I wonder how the reverend is taking this..." Rahne said quietly, a slight laugh in her voice. The Doctor remains silent, glad Rahne was starting to accept the change.
"{Excuse me, Doctor, but I think you should see this,}" Douglock interrupted them. They look up at the screen as he activates it, On it, the Walrus is still giving the news.
"This is an emergency message to Excalibur, from Alistaire Stuart of the Weird Happenings Organization. Spoor has escaped. He broke out during the change, and is now on the loose. Contact Alistaire ASAP.
From our records, we have discovered that Spoor is a mutant serial killer.He was being held on Muir Island, off the cost of Scotland until today. Today, he was scheduled to be transferred to the new Weird Happenings Organization complex. It would appear that he has escaped and is now loose. We will bring you more as this story develops."
"Douglock, are the phones clear yet?" Moira asked, heading to the comm system to contact Kurt.
"{Negative, phone lines are still blocked. Our link to WHO hasn't been set up yet either.}" Douglock replied.
"Hmm, I'm calling Kurt, letting him know now." Moira said. "Muir Island to Excalibur, come in NightCrawler." she said, activating the radio link.
Back at Heathrow Kurt teleported over the air and started gliding to get a better view of the crowded runways. Colossus and Brian were busy shoving planes off of the runway. Meggan was flying around, convincing the fliers to leave the airspace. Kitty, Peter and his Amanda were busy pulling people out of landed planes and leading the confused morphs off of the runway. Slowly, but surely, order was slowly returning to the airport.
"Muir Island to Excalibur, come in NightCrawler," Moira's voice comes out of his communicator.
"NightCrawler here, Doctor, What's happening?" he answered, after teleporting to the roof of the airport.
"Bad news, I'm afraid. Alistaire just sent us a message through the news. Spoor has escaped and is loose on the countryside. Our phones are still down, so we can't contact him for more information."
"OK, Doctor, we'll look into it. Talk to you soon." NightCrawler said. He teleported into the Airtraffic control room to speak with the main controller, surprisingly, another bat morph.
"NightCrawler! I'm glad you and the rest of Excalibur showed up; we'd never have been able to get things straightened up around here without you." the bat said.
"No problem, but I'm afraid I'm going to need to pull Excalibur out. I've just gotten word that Spoor has escaped, and we're going to need to go and recapture him." NightCrawler replied, after shaking the controller's hand.
"That serial killer? Don't worry, things are back under control here. Most of the planes have landed, and there is enough room for the few that are left, and once again, thank you for your help."
NightCrawler teleported to the Midnight Runner and contacted the rest of the team. "Meet me at gate 12. We've got a bigger problem to take care of, guys."
A few minutes later, the team had boarded the plane and were heading for the headquarters of WHO.
"So, we have to find Spoor, in new bodies that we aren't even used to, with new powers we aren't even used to?" Kitty said from the pilot's seat.
"That's pretty much it," NightCrawler replied.
"Well at least Spoor is in the same situation that we are," Pete said, taking out a cigarette. Instead of lighting it with one of his power, he blew on the end. A short burst of flame came out of his mouth, igniting the end.
"Interesting trick, isn't it?" he said, puffing on the cigarette as the rest of the team look at him. Lockheed turned his back to Pete with a harumph.
"WHO HQ, every body out." Kitty said, guiding the plane down to the parking lot near the front door. "Alistaire's waiting for us inside."
"OK, let's go get the full story on Spoor." NightCrawler said, leading the team out. The new Excalibur walked up to the front door, ready to get the information they would need to fight their first villain in their new bodies.
To be continued... Maybe.
