Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything here except Wrath.
A/N: An alternate version of the X-Men and X-Force from Earth 730.
Apocalypse has been defeated, but the Millennium War has cost the X-Men dearly. With the Xavier Institute reduced to ashes and only two surviving psychics, the X-Men have been forced to relocate to the X-Force base in Dallas Texas. Headmistress Storm is preparing to open a new school for young mutants in the hope of salvaging Xavier's dream and uniting the teams, but the growing conflict between Cannonball's X-Force and Cyclops' X-Men has put the future in jeopardy.
This Issue:
X-Force: Sam Guthrie-Cannonball, Tabitha Smith-Boomer, Theresa Cassidy-Siryn, James Proudstar-Warpath, Rahne MacTaggart-Wolfsbane
X-Men: Ororo Munro-Storm, Katherine Pryde-Shadow Cat, Scott Summers-Cyclops, Emma Frost
Faculty Members: Danielle Moonstar-Mirage
Students: Sophia Mantega-Barrett-Wind Dancer, Josh Foley-Elixir, David Allen-Prodigy
X-Men - Guardians # 1: Coming Home
Dallas-Ft Worth International Airport
"Dani! Sophia! Over here!" Kitty yelled as Danielle Moonstar and Sophia Mantega-Barrett emerged from the airport's baggage claim area. Danielle had accepted Ororo's offer to become a teacher at the new Jean Grey School for mutants. She'd been away at college for over three years since she lost her powers, but now she was home again and she'd brought Sophia with her to enroll. Kitty didn't know all the details, but she knew Sophia had lost her mother and didn't get along well with her father so the school was going to be her home now.
"Hey Kitty!" Danielle exclaimed as they hugged each other. "I almost didn't recognize you with that haircut, it looks good on you." She told her. She and Kitty had often disagreed and constantly competed with each other when they were younger, but they'd both grown up now and Danielle was happy to see her after such a long absence.
"Thanks." Kitty said as they walked out to the parking lot. Her formerly long brown hair barely reached the collar of her shirt now, but Danielle was right, it was a good look. Danielle hadn't changed much at all; she still dressed in her familiar western style with Native American jewelry and her long black hair flowed down her back. Sophia was a pretty sixteen year old with skin a little lighter than Danielle's and hair the same color as Kitty's. She was well dressed and it was clear her father could give her everything, except love and understanding.
"Sophia, this is Katherine Pryde, the X-Men call her Shadow Cat." Danielle said as she introduced her young friend.
"Nice to meet you." Kitty said.
"Wow, I've heard a lot about you." Sophia said admiringly. "You're the one who broke into the Pens and stopped Mr. Sinister right?" She asked.
"Yeah, but that's really not something I like to talk too much about." Kitty told her.
"I'm sorry." Sophia said. She'd read about how horrible the Pens were and she knew she shouldn't have talked about it. Kitty was probably still traumatized by what she'd seen and Sophia felt bad now.
"Hey, it's ok." Kitty said reassuringly. There was no way for Sophia to understand what she'd had gone through in the war and Kitty didn't hold it against her. Besides, Kitty had been just as guilty of hero worship when she'd first arrived so she tried to be as gracious as Jean and Ororo had been.
"Yeah…so how have things been?" Danielle asked awkwardly. There was nothing she could have done without her powers, but she still felt really guilty that she hadn't been there to fight beside her friends. New York City and much of the northeast had been devastated and the Xavier Institute had been completely destroyed.
"Bad, we lost almost everything when the Institute burned and rebuilding hasn't been easy." Kitty said. The state of New York had placed so many new regulations on the school that they couldn't have rebuilt it in Westchester even if they'd had the money. If it weren't for Forge's generosity and the state of Texas allowing them the freedom to operate, they'd all be homeless and kids like Sophia wouldn't have anywhere to call home either.
"Ro's doing a good job as headmistress, but it's just not the same without the professor." Kitty told her. "She's trying to bring everyone back together, but Scott fights with Sam all the time and now the teams don't like each other; I don't know what we're going to do." She sighed.
"I'm sorry; I wish I'd been there." Danielle said as they finally arrived at Kitty's car.
"There was nothing you could have done then, but you're here now and that's what matters." Kitty said. "We're going to have about fifty kids this first semester so Rahne and I could really use your help." She admitted. Kitty was an instructor now and Rahne was a teaching assistant so they were both really busy trying to prepare for the grand opening in a few weeks.
"Where is Rahne?" Danielle asked as they pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the interstate. She'd expected Rahne to come meet her at the airport and she was hurt that she wasn't there to greet her.
"She wanted to be here, but X-Force got a lead on the Leper Queen and they went after her." Kitty explained. X-Force had carried out several raids against the Sapien League over the past few months and they'd decimated the terrorist group. The commanders had all been captured and turned over to SHIELD or killed, but the Leper Queen was still on the run.
"I still can't believe she's involved in that." Danielle said. She was really worried about all her former teammates; the media had labeled them terrorists and she was afraid they'd all be sent to prison if they got caught.
"Believe it; the war changed all of us." Kitty said. "But don't worry, she's a lot tougher than you remember." She added, trying to reassure her. Danielle wanted to believe that, but she still remembered Rahne as an insecure girl who hated being a mutant and was scared of powers. Danielle knew it wouldn't do any good to worry so she tried to make small talk with Kitty to take her mind off the mission as they drove to the school.
Akron Ohio
"Jamie was right, they're all here." Wolfsbane whispered into the radio as she hid in the rafters of the old warehouse where the Sapien League fanatics were assembling their massive truck bombs. Multiple Man had sent one of his duplicates to infiltrate the Sapien League and he'd called X-Force the moment he'd discovered Leper Queen's evil plan. X-Force had tracked them to an old warehouse in Akron and Wolfsbane had gone in to investigate. There was no mistaking Leper Queen; she'd been horribly disfigured by a pyrokinetic mutant and now she wore an evil looking mask to hide her injuries.
"Hold tight, we're almost ready." Cannonball said as he watched his teammates from his position on the roof of the building across the street. Boomer, Warpath and Siryn were ready to breach the door as Wolfsbane lurked in the shadows, concealed in the darkness by her black X-Force armor. They were about to put an end to the Sapien League once and for all and leper Queen wasn't going to escape this time.
'Time to end this.' Cannonball thought as he flew into the air above the warehouse.
"Listen up!" Leper Queen ordered as she addressed her remaining men. "X-Force thinks they've beaten us, but today we avenge our fallen brothers and sisters by destroying Camp X-Ray!" She yelled as her men cheered. "Thanks to our contacts in SHIELD, our convoy can pass the check points disguised as an aid shipment for the poor mutants." She said sarcastically. "We'll set off our truck bombs at these locations and then shoot the ones that don't die in the fires." She cackled. Most of her followers that hadn't been arrested or killed in the recent X-Force attacks had deserted her, but she still had just enough fanatics to make one last stand against the mutants. She was going to burn the mutants the way they'd burned her and this time X-Force would be too late to stop her, or so she thought.
"Take 'em down!" Cannonball yelled as he blasted through the roof of the warehouse. He slammed into the group of madmen like a missile as Boomer blasted the doors down and Warpath and Siryn annihilated the remaining terrorists. Wolfsbane leaped down from the rafters at Leper Queen as she opened fire on the others.
"Yer're nae gettin' away this time!" Wolfsbane yelled as she chased after Leper Queen. Boomer charged after her as Warpath cut a bloody swath of destruction through the Sapien League thugs with his razor sharp adamantium knives. Wolfsbane was a great fighter, but Boomer wasn't going to let her best friend face anyone as evil and cruel as Leper Queen alone.
Jean Grey School – Dallas Texas
"We're home." Kitty said as they turned off East Mockingbird Lane onto the school's private drive. Forge owned all the land on the northwest shore of White Rock Lake in north Dallas, but he'd given it to the X-Men so they rebuild the school and help young mutants.
"I see the welcoming committees been here." Danielle said sarcastically when she saw the anti-mutant graffiti all over the gate.
"Haters gonna hate." Kitty said as they parked in the driveway.
"Wow." Danielle said as she looked up at the big house that had been built for the X-Men. It wasn't Xavier's mansion, but it was a comfortable home for the team, surrounded by a lovely forest and bordered by the lake on three sides. The student's dorm and classrooms were located behind the main house and Danielle was really impressed by the new school.
"You can thank Forge for all of this when you see him." Kitty said. "He had a secret research center underground here, but he gave it and the land so we could rebuild." She explained. The facility was so well hidden and well-fortified that X-Force used it as a base during and after the war. The whole peninsula was protected by Forge Industries best security technology and there was no safer place to build the school.
"I'll get our bags." Sophia said as she opened the trunk.
"Welcome home Danielle!" Ororo exclaimed as she walked down the front steps to greet them. She'd always had a special relationship with Danielle and she was so happy she'd come back to the school to teach for her.
"It's good to be home." Danielle said as she hugged her. She felt her whole identity had been ripped away when she'd lost her powers and she'd left to try to find herself again. She'd found acceptance with a group of mutant rights activists at her college, but she still felt out of place. She realized now how wrong she'd been to run away from the institute and her friends and she was very grateful to Ororo for giving her another chance.
"Rahne and the others are going to be so happy to see you again." Ororo told her. "They wanted to be here, but duty called." She explained.
"I know." Danielle said. "Hey Sophia, come and meet…"
"Storm!" Sophia exclaimed as dropped her bags and ran to greet her. Ororo was a tall, blue eyed African woman with a snow white mohawk so Sophia instantly recognized her as the famous heroine, Storm. Sophia had admired her ever since she'd mutated and she was really happy to meet her.
"Pleased to meet you too Sophia." Ororo said. "I know this is probably going to be a big adjustment, but I think you'll be happy here with us."
"People are starving where I'm from, I'll be fine here." Sophia said. She'd grown up in Venezuela; her mother had been killed for speaking out against the socialist government and she'd nearly starved before her father could bring her back to America. She was truly thankful for the comfortable life she had now and she didn't let minor inconveniences bother her at all.
"Well then, I'll help you two get settled." Ororo said as she escorted them into the house.
Akron Ohio
"Cut that mongrel in half!" Leper Queen yelled as her men opened fire on Wolfsbane. The little werewolf took two rounds in her armor vest, but her superhuman reflexes saved her from further harm as she scrambled behind a forklift to avoid the gunfire.
"Suck on this!" Boomer yelled as she hurled a bomb into the midst of the terrorists. The deafening blast shook the whole warehouse and sent the Sapien League thugs flying as Wolfsbane leaped into action again. Leper Queen opened fire on her, but she was no match for the little werewolf's speed and strength. Wolfsbane raced up the side of the wall using her sharp claws to avoid Leper Queens bullets; then she leaped and slammed a kick into the side of her face, shattering her mask and sending her flying.
"Filthy mutant bitch!" Leper Queen groaned as she spat blood and tried to get to her feet. She could barely stand after such a vicious blow and Wolfsbane was on her again in an instant.
"It's over!" Wolfsbane yelled as she rammed her fist into Leper Queen's hideous face, sending her crashing into a stack of ammo cans. "Ye'll never burn another baby again ye damned sadist!" Wolfsbane growled. Leper Queen had murdered many young mutants, but she was beaten and Wolfsbane wouldn't kill a defenseless enemy. She wasn't an animal and she'd never allow herself to be ruled by her baser instincts like Wolverine.
"Maybe not, but I'll burn all of you." Leper Queen said as she held up the detonator she'd just armed. She knew she was finished, but she had no intention of going quietly and she was going to take them all out with her.
"Ye'll kill yer own people!" Wolfsbane yelled as Leper Queen sat there laughing at her. She was on a suicide mission anyway and the lives of her followers were certainly worth sacrificing to destroy X-Force.
"She's got the place wired!" Boomer yelled into the radio.
Jean Grey School – Dallas Texas
"Once you've gotten unpacked, I'll give you a tour and introduce your squad." Ororo said as Danielle hung her clothes in the closet.
"So what's the deal with these training squads Ororo? You told me we weren't training X-Men anymore." Danielle asked.
"We're not training them to fight; we're just teaching them to use their powers to help people as the professor intended." Ororo told her.
"So why isn't he here to help?" Danielle asked. Public opinion had turned against super humans in general and mutants in particular after the war with Apocalypse. Mutants needed Professor Xavier now more than ever and Danielle resented his decision to leave.
"He's old, he's tired and everything he worked for his entire life has been destroyed." Ororo told her. "He's earned the right to live out his final days in whatever peace he can find." She said bluntly. Xavier felt responsible for the events leading to the Genoshan Purge and now he'd lost half his students in a war he'd spent his whole life trying to prevent. He was a broken shell of his former self and he'd decided the X-Men were better off without him. Ororo wished he was still with them as well, but he'd trusted her to rebuild the school and save his dream and that was exactly what she was going to do.
"Do you think these kids are going to accept me as their mentor?" Danielle asked after a moment. "I'm not a mutant anymore."
"You're a hero and a role model Danielle, your DNA doesn't matter." Ororo said.
"It matters." Danielle said bitterly. "I'm not really a mutant and I'm not really a baseline; I hate this."
"I don't want to get your hopes up, but it might be possible to give you your powers back." Ororo said.
"How?" Danielle asked. "Dr. McCoy already tried everything." She said.
"Yes, but Dr. MacTaggart has made a lot of advancements in her research over the last three years. She might be able to repair the damage to your X-gene." Ororo told her. "I know you don't agree with her research, but she's done more to help mutants than anyone besides Professor Xavier and I think you should give her a chance."
"How can she really be our friend when she's trying to cure us like we're some kind of disease?" Danielle asked. Moira MacTaggart might be her best friend's adopted mother, but Danielle was disgusted with her after learning she was part of the worldwide research effort to find a cure for mutation.
"She's trying to save lives Danielle." Ororo said. "She lost her son to an uncontrollable mutation and she's trying to save mutants with similar conditions." She explained. Her son's powers had raged out of control, driven him insane and ultimately destroyed him. She and her husband Joseph were devastated by his death and she'd spent years trying to find a cure so that no other parents would have to go through what they did.
"I thought Rahne was her only child." Danielle said.
"Kevin died about a year before she and Joseph adopted Rahne." Ororo told her. "His powers drove him insane; he tried to kill everyone and Piotr finally had to kill him to stop him." She said.
"I didn't know." Danielle said.
"I know you didn't, but don't be so quick to judge someone's intentions in the future." Ororo said.
Akron Ohio
"I got ya!" Cannonball yelled as he flew in, grabbed Wolfsbane and Boomer and blasted through the roof of the warehouse just as Leper Queen's truck bombs detonated. The tremendous force of the blast obliterated the warehouse and leveled several buildings nearby as Cannonball, Boomer and Wolfsbane narrowly escaped being burned alive.
"Ya'll ok?" Sam asked as they landed on the roof of a nearby building.
"It's just a scratch, I'm fine." Tabitha said. A bullet had grazed her right arm and she was bleeding, but didn't hurt that much and her armor vest had stopped the other rounds.
"Come here and let me patch ye up." Rahne said as she opened her medical kit.
"It can wait Rahne; we need to get out of here." Tabitha said.
"Ah dinnae tell ye how tae hack computers and blow things up, so ye dinnae tell me how tae be a medic." Rahne told her. Tabitha knew better than to try to argue with her anymore; Rahne loved her like a sister and she could be really overprotective sometimes.
"Let her work." Sam said as Rahne started bandaging Tabitha's arm. He hated to see any of them hurt, but they were in love and he took it especially hard when she was injured.
"That didn't go so well." Theresa said as she and James landed on the roof where Sam, Tabitha and Rahne were hiding. There was nothing left of the warehouse but a huge smoking hole in the ground and the whole area was devastated. Several nearby buildings had collapsed and they were lucky there were no civilians in the area.
"No, and you can bet th' press is gonna go nuts over this one." Sam said grimly. Several major news organizations had decided that the only "acceptable" superheroes were the Avengers due to their affiliation with the government and they never let facts get in the way of their narrative that everyone else was dangerous.
"So will Scott." Tabitha sighed.
"Screw him." James said bluntly. "Camp X-Ray would look like that warehouse right now if it weren't for us." He said. The survivors from Mutant Town had been moved from New York City to an aid center for Internally Displaced People set up in Akron after the war. Camp X-Ray was a rough place and a constant source of contention between the mutants and the baseline humans.
"Ah'll never understand tha' kind of hate." Rahne said as she looked at the ruins of the warehouse. Rahne certainly wanted the terrorists to be punished for their evil and cruelty, but she was disgusted by the senseless loss of life.
"That's why yer're th' best of us." Sam said as he put his arm around her. Rahne was the team's moral compass; she fought only to protect the innocent and to give the next generation of mutants and baselines a better life. She never gave in to hate or revenge and the others respected her even if they couldn't always live up to her example.
"What the hell Sam?! I thought you were going to take her alive so we could find out where she got her money." Jamie's duplicate said indignantly as he climbed onto the roof from the fire escape.
"She was on a suicide mission Jamie. If you thought you could have done it better then you should have done it yerself." Sam told him. He'd had every intention of capturing Leper Queen, but once she'd armed those bombs, he wasn't about to risk Rahne and Tabitha's lives for hers.
"I just hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass." The duplicate said as he turned to leave. "You guys better get out of here before SHIELD shows up." He warned as he disappeared back down the fire escape.
Jean Grey School - Dallas Texas
-Later-
"This new school is amazing; it has everything we need." Danielle said as she and Ororo stepped out of the student's dorm and began to walk down one of the nature trails toward the boathouse and docks.
"Yes, Jonathan has been very generous." Ororo said they stood beneath an oak tree looking out over the waters of White Rock Lake. She and Forge had never been particularly close before the war, but now they were starting to find themselves attracted to one another despite their differences in philosophies. Forge supported X-Force completely, but Ororo had serious misgivings about their actions even though she loved her former students.
"So when do I meet my students?" Danielle asked after a moment.
"David and Josh were supposed to meet us here." Ororo said. "I hope they haven't gotten into trouble again." She said, sounding worried.
"They probably just lost track of time." Danielle said.
"We'll give them a minute; I'm enjoying being out of the house." Ororo said as she sat down on the bench beneath the tree.
"Yeah, its really beautiful here." Danielle said as she sat down beside her. "So what's down that trail?" She asked pointing to the west.
"The cemetery." Ororo answered solemnly. "Everyone who died in the war is there; so are Illyana and the Hellions if you want to pay your respects." She said.
"You moved Yana?" Danielle asked, confused.
"They belong here with us." Ororo said. She didn't want to tell Danielle how Jean's grave had been desecrated by Mr. Sinister. They'd been best friends for years; Ororo still missed her every day and she didn't want to relive such a horrible moment again.
"I'm sorry I'm late Ms. Munro, I can't find Josh anywhere." David interrupted as he joined them. They'd both been assigned to Danielle's training squad and David had been looking all over for his wayward roommate since they were supposed to come meet her.
"Danielle, meet David Allen, we call him Prodigy." Ororo said as she introduced them. She'd warned the few students she had not to leave campus alone since there was at least one gang of Reavers in Dallas, but Josh never listened.
"Wow, I've heard a lot about you and the New Mutants." David said as he greeted Danielle.
Really?" Danielle asked.
"Yeah, Ms. MacTaggart told us how you all fought a demon bear and The Hellfire Club and about that time you guys stopped N'astirh from opening a portal to hell in New York City." He said.
"Yeah, we had some wild times back in the day." Danielle sighed.
"Cerebro, locate Joshua Foley immediately." Ororo said as she activated her communicator.
"Joshua Foley is located at 375 Cicada Street in Dallas Texas." Cerebro informed her. Cerebro was the schools advanced artificial intelligence, similar to Tony Stark's assistant FRIDAY. It could do everything from training the teams to finding disobedient students and Ororo was grateful for its assistance.
"His parent's home." Ororo told Danielle. "I'll send Paige and Jubilation to retrieve him." She sighed. Josh had been giving her a lot of problems since he'd arrived and he didn't seem to be getting any better. He'd recently manifested and been sent to live at the school by his parents. His family had been forced out of New York by the war and now his world had been turned upside down again so he was acting out and rebelling.
"Let me go." Danielle said. "I can see I'm gonna have to lay down the law with this one." She said.
"Very well Danielle, but don't be too hard on him. I seem to remember you and your classmates having some "wild times" when you were his age." Ororo remined her.
"Yeah, and look how we turned out." Danielle said, half serious.
"His parents' home is on the far side of White Rock Park, just across the lake. You can take one of the boats to the marina." Ororo said pointing across the lake.
White Rock Marina
"So what's the story with Josh and his parents?" Danielle asked as she docked the boat at White Rock Marina across the lake from the Jean Grey School.
"His family was displaced by the war." David explained. "They used to live in New York, near the Institute, and I guess you know how hard that area got hit." He sighed.
"Yeah." Danielle sighed. The mass evacuation from the war zone in and around New York City had caused a lot of problems all over the country. Everyone form Westchester and the surrounding counties had been relocated to the Dallas area after Apocalypse burned the Xavier Institute and most were still there. Josh's family, like many others, had decided to make a new start in Dallas so they'd purchased a home and begun rebuilding their lives.
"His little sister has all kinds of psychological problems because of it and his parents hate mutants now." David said. "When Josh manifested, they sent him to live at the school." He told her. "They weren't getting along very well before, but now they've basically disowned him." He added.
"I guess that explains him acting out like this." Danielle said as they walked through the park. The sun had begun to set and she wanted to get Josh home before it got too late.
"Josh is trying to figure out who he is right now." David told her. "He hated mutants, but now he is one and he was basically nobody as a baseline, but now he's a Class 5 super mutant." He said.
'That would screw with anyone's head.' Danielle thought as they continued toward the Foley's home.
"Somebody's in trouble!" David exclaimed as a cry for help rang out through the darkness and they raced down the nature trail into the clearing by the a small pond.
"Shut the fuck up you little bitch!" Duncan snarled as he rammed his cybernetic fist into Josh's stomach and he cried out in pain. "I'm gonna have fun nailing your skinny ass to a cross!" He said as a sadistic grin spread across his face. He'd lost his family, one eye and both arms in the war and he'd joined the Reavers to get revenge. Donald Pierce had furnished him with advanced, illegal cybernetic enchantments, but he was eager to prove himself and earn some upgrades.
"Duncan…" Josh gasped. "What happened to you isn't my fault…please don't do this!" He choked out.
"Quit showing off kid!" Angelo Macon barked as he emerged from the darkness near the pond. "Tie him up and lets get the hell out of here before we're spotted." He ordered. The former soldier turned mercenary had become a cyborg after a fight with Wolverine and he was Donald Pierce's most experienced lieutenant. He hated training these new recruits, Kevin, Duncan and DeAndre were too angry and undisciplined to follow his orders.
"Get out of here David! Call for help!" Danielle ordered as she charged into the fight. She knew she didn't stand a chance; Macon was 6'4" 240lbs of muscle and steel with three goons to back him up, but she couldn't stand by and let Josh be tortured and killed. She just hoped the X-Men would arrive in time to help them.
"Leave him alone!" She yelled as she ran, leaped and slammed her boot into DeAndre's face. He didn't have any cybernetic enhancements yet and she knocked him out cold with one blow.
"Danielle Moonstar." Macon said coldly as his facial recognition software accessed the Reaver database and brought up all the data Donald Pierce had collected on her over the years. "You must be crazy to take us on without your powers." He said as he scanned her with his ocular implants.
"Must be." Danielle said as she stared him down. She was scared, but if this was going to be her end, then she was determined to die trying to protect a fellow mutant.
"What are you waiting for?! Kill her!" Macon yelled as Duncan and Kevin stood there gawking. Danielle didn't act scared of them at all and she'd just taken out their friend with one kick. Kevin came at her with a bat, but Danelle quickly disarmed him, snapping his arm and ramming him face first into the dirt. She might not have powers, but she had years of experience and two of Macon's new recruits had just been outclassed.
"You want some too?!" Danielle yelled as she grabbed the bat and squared off with Duncan.
"Bitch, please." Duncan scoffed as he charged her. She swung at him as hard as she could, but the bat shattered against his cybernetic arm and he sent her crashing to the ground with a devastating punch.
"Finish her off kid and the boss upgrade you to full Reaver." Macon said as Danielle staggered to her feet. She felt like she'd been hit by a bus, but she wasn't about to give up and die. Duncan came at her again and Danielle hit him as hard as she could, but she just wasn't strong enough to stop him with all his augmentations. His ocular implants substantially increased his reflexes and his superhuman strength was just too much for her. Duncan rammed his knee into her stomach and drove his elbow into her back, slamming her into the dirt face first.
"You bitch." Duncan said as he wiped the blood form his busted lip. "I'm going to enjoy this." He said as grabbed both her arms and put his foot in the middle of her back. Danielle screamed in agony as Duncan broke both her arms with his superhuman strength. He was about to snap her neck when the sudden roar of jet engines overhead startled him.
"What the hell?!" He exclaimed as the PACRAT roared overhead and Wolfsbane, Warpath and Boomer leaped from the rear hatch. X-Force was returning to the school after their mission when they'd heard David's call for help and they'd arrived just in time. Wolfsbane slammed into Duncan like a missile, knocking him away from Danielle and ramming him into the ground.
"Watch our backs Boomer!" Warpath said as they landed next to Danielle and he charged Macon like an angry bull.
"Get off me you freak!" Duncan yelled as he tried to fight off Wolfsbane. "I'll rip you apart!" He yelled as two wicked looking blades shot out of both his cybernetic arms. Donald Pierce had an extensive file on Wolfsbane and he knew he was in the fight of his life against her.
"C'mon then ye bastard!" Wolfsbane growled as she tore into him with her claws. She was stronger, faster and more experienced than anyone he'd ever fought before and she was giving him a brutal beating. He slashed at her wildly, but she dodged and flipped, landing a devastating kick that sent him flying backwards as Macon opened fire on Warpath.
"Oh Shit!" Macon yelled as his bullets bounced off Warpath's thick armor as he charged him. Warpath slashed his rifle in half with his adamantium knives and rammed his knee into Macon's midsection sending him flying.
"I'm gonna finish what Wolverine started." Warpath growled as he stalked toward him.
"Come on then chief, let's do this." Macon said as he popped a wrist blade and gave him a look of pure hate.
"Yer're finished monster!" Wolfsbane snarled as Duncan slashed at her. She seized his cybernetic arm and ripped it out of the nerve interface in his shoulder with her superhuman strength. Duncan screamed in pain and slashed at her with his left arm, but she was too quick and smashed him in the face with his own arm, knocking him out.
"Pick on somebody your own size!" Warpath snapped as he slammed his fist into Macon's face send him crashing into a tree. He staggered to his feet, but Warpath plowed into him unleashing a vicious ground and pound assault on the evil cyborg. Macon might have superhuman strength and reflexes, but Warpath was a Class 4 mutant; completely out of his league. After a beating like that he'd be lucky to walk again and he definitely wouldn't be threatening Danielle or the students anymore.
"There anymore of 'em out there?" Warpath asked as Wolfsbane sniffed the air. Her senses were so acute when she was in her hybrid form that it was almost impossible to sneak up on her.
"No, tha's all of 'em." She answered.
"Rahne! Get over here! She's hurt bad!" Boomer yelled. She'd stayed back to protect Danielle, but she was really worried now that she saw how badly injured she was. Wolfsbane felt sick as she ran to her friend's aid. She already felt guilty about not being there to meet Danielle at the airport and now she felt even worse because of what just happened. Danielle was a real mess, both her arms were badly broken as was her jaw and at least four ribs. Her right eye was swollen shut and she was bloody, bruised and unconscious from the savage beating she'd taken.
"Och, this is bad." Rahne said as the PACRAT landed nearby. "Jimmy, go untie Josh." She told him as she checked Danielle for more injuries. She was in rough shape but Rahne was confident she would make a full recovery between Josh's Class 5 healing powers and the Shiar healing pods in the medical bay.
"Rahne, I can help her." Josh said as Warpath freed him. His healing powers had already healed his injuries and he wanted to help the woman who'd saved him.
"Ah've got tae set th' bones in her arms before ye try anything, now give me some room." Rahne said as Josh ran to her side. She shot Danielle full of pain killer to keep her unconscious while she worked to set her broken bones.
"Josh! How did this happen?!" Sam asked as he and Theresa joined them. "What are ya'll doin' out here at night?!" He asked.
"I came to see my parents and those cyborg freaks jumped me." Josh admitted.
"Yer're nae supposed tae go off campus alone Josh!" Rahne yelled. "Dani nearly got killed protectin' ye!" She yelled as she fought back her tears. "Come here and make yerself useful fer once!" She ordered.
"Yes ma'am." Josh said sheepishly. He knew he'd really screwed up this time and he felt terrible that Danielle had been so badly hurt defending him. Rahne had told them all about her and she was every bit as brave as she'd said.
"Tha's good Josh; it's working." Rahne said as he began to heal her friend.
"Sam, what happened?" Ororo asked as Sam's communicator crackled to life. Even though she knew how skilled Sam and his team were, she was still really worried about her students.
"Th' Reavers tried to grab Josh, but Dani jumped in and held 'em off till we got here." Sam explained. "She got beat up pretty bad, but Rahne and Josh are working on her now." He said.
"What about the Reavers?" Scott asked.
"We've got Macon and three baby borg gift wrapped fer ya." Sam said as Jimmy finished tying up the two normal ones. "Ya'll better call SHIELD on this one, they'll want to see what Pierce has been up to." He said looking at the illegal augmentations on Duncan.
"Understood Sam, hurry..." Ororo said as she was interrupted by Emma.
"Sam, this is odd, Cerebro just detected a new mutant near you!" Emma exclaimed as every screen in the lab lit up like a Christmas tree. Emma and Monet were the only psychics to survive the war besides the professor, so even though Emma was a former enemy she'd been given access to Cerebro.
"It must be broken, there's nobody here but us." Tabitha said as they all looked around.
"It's Dani!" Rahne exclaimed. She was still in her hybrid form and she could feel her friend through their psychic link once again.
"Ah can feel her again! It's really weak, but Ah can feel her." Rahne said. Danielle had a psychic rapport with animals and she was able to form a psychic link with Rahne when she was in her hybrid and werewolf forms.
"How?!" Sam asked.
"Josh must have healed th' damage tae her X-gene when he healed her injuries." Rahne explained.
"Ya'll get all that Doc?" Sam asked.
"Yes, It seems Mr. Foley is even more powerful than we suspected." Hank said as he studied the data on the screen in front of Emma. "Rahne, keep her sedated and get her back to the psionics lab as soon as you can." He said. "Emma and I need to run some tests and take precautions before she wakes up." He told her. Danielle's powers were dangerous and he didn't want to take any chances since it had been so long since she'd had to control them.
"A' ight, let's get our girl home." Sam said as James picked Danielle up they all headed for the PACRAT. This certainly wasn't the reunion he'd expected, but Danielle was safe now and she had her powers back; which he knew would make her happy. He was starting to feel a little better about the day until Kurt teleported into he park with Scott and Logan.
"I want to talk to you about that mess in Akron." Scott said angrily.
"I got nothin' t' say t' you." Sam said as he pushed his way past him. He was sick of fighting with Scott and this wasn't the time or the place for another argument.
Psionics Lab – Jean Grey School
-Later-
"How is she Doc?" Sam asked as Dr. Hank McCoy emerged from the Psionics Lab.
"She's stable now, but we're going to keep her overnight for observation." He explained. "Her fear conjuring powers could wreak havoc with everyone's traumatic memories of the war." He said. "She's going to have to learn to control her powers again and it isn't going to be easy; she's experienced a great deal of psychic trauma herself." He warned.
"She didnae feel like Dani." Rahne said sadly. "She felt so dark and cold and angry when Ah was in her head." She said as Sam put his arm around her. He'd known something was bothering her since they'd gotten back.
"Rahne, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to suppress your link with her." Hank said as he came to her side. "Any prolonged psychic contact is likely to be very dangerous for both of you. You're strong, but her powers could trigger your PTSD and cause you to relapse." He said. "She's never received the proper treatment and she's just too damaged right now to cope with the trauma you endured in the war." He explained as Rahne nodded and wiped her eyes. She didn't want to have Danielle in her head again; at first she'd been happy, but the longer they were linked the worse she felt and she'd quickly reverted to her natural form to get away from her.
"You can all come see her in the morning if everything goes well tonight." Hank said as they all headed upstairs to bed. His scans had revealed that Danielle was suffering from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and he was very concerned about her mental health. He hoped now that she was home with her friends again she could get the help she needed, but he knew it wasn't going to be easy for any of them.
Next Issue: Danielle is finally reunited with her friends again.