NOTE: Please note that this series works under the premise that Moira actually has a staff and employees on that island of hers. A few of them were showed in an X-Factor issue - the number escapes me at the moment - when Guido accompanied Rahne back to Muir when they were trying to remove the left over mutate programming in her head. You couldn't miss them; they loaded Rahney onto a gurney after she passed out while returning to her human form. With that said - on with the show.
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? (2/?)
Moira MacTaggart stood at the end of the Muir Island dock; arms folded across her chest, one foot tapping out an impatient beat against its ancient weathered timbers, her eyes hard with anger and annoyance as she watched for some sign of the ferry from the mainland. She had been standing out on the dock for nearly ten minutes now, waiting for the ferry, her mind turning over the radioed report from the boat's captain. Trouble with the Southend Hooligans was nothing new, it was nearly routine for the local constables to be breaking up some kind of altercation between the rowdies and her own students.
She smirked a bit at the thought of her own students; they were a motley group made up of the children of her island employees and the handful of mutants that called Muir home. They hadn't set out to form any 'team'; they mainly associated with one another on the island out of necessity - it got a bit lonely on the island at times especially for the children. That inclination to hang around one another tended to carry over to the mainland, where most of the villagers gave them a wide berth for either being the children of one of Moira's employees or for being a mutant themselves. When the troubles started with the Southend Hooligans the little group of human and mutant youths closed ranks, becoming more protective of one another and the whole lot of them refused to be intimidated by anyone.
They somehow picked up the nickname "The Muir Island Mob" one night after a particular rowdy encounter with the Hooligans that resulted in Moira paying yet another visit to the local police department. While the judge ruled that the 'Mob were merely defending themselves when they had been jumped by the Hooligans, it only served to deepen feelings of animosity between the two groups and the village was always cloaked in a thick haze of tension whenever the island kids were on the mainland. 'Na much ah ken do about that,' Moira told herself firmly, 'the brains deserve the right ta go ta school... an I'm na gonna ta forbid them from goin ta town during their free time as long as their behave themselves.' She had told the local authorities as much too, citing the fact that every time one of the 'Mob had been taken into police custody it was because they were defending themselves. It had gotten to the point that as long as the island kids didn't start the fight or cause any property damage and since they did usually go out of their way to avoid trouble with the Southend Hooligans the authorities tended to let them board the ferry back to Muir and let Moira handle them.
Which was what Moira was doing now as she straightened a bit, her foot ceasing its rhythm-less tapping and she squared her shoulders as the ferry began its turn toward the island's dock, the stern look never leaving her face. Nodding as one of the boat crew jumped onto the dock reaching for the tow line to tie the craft up to the side, Moira quickly scanned the assorted people lining the deck of the ferry, noting Charles Xavier's own grim look with a weary smile, 'Ya just had to be early didn't ya Charles,' she thought ruefully knowing he either had of heard all about Rahne's run in with the Hooligans or, lord help them all, actually saw it. 'Ya timing could na have been any worse,' she acknowledged with an inward sigh, this was not how she wanted to introduce the 'Mob to her old friend, however the damage had been done.
The next person to step off the boat drew the Doctor's attention away from Xavier. Rahne Sinclair kept her head lowered a bit and turned away from Moira's direct gaze uncomfortable with the Doctor's critical eye. A gentle hooked finger under the girl's chin lifted and turned her face toward the Doctor for a better look, "ah lassie," Moira said in a soft voice. Her eyes hardening a bit as she watched the cut on Rahne's forehead near the hairline, literally close on its own leaving behind an angry bruise which was also fading before her eyes.
The youth remained silent, her red gaze keeping eye contact with the older woman knowing that once Moira MacTaggart's curiosity had been satisfied that she would be allowed to disappear into the Danger Room and tear something apart until her blood-lust had been sated. Granted with the way her wolf was trashing about inside of her demanding to be unleashed, she would be in the Danger Room for hours destroying everything the room had to throw at her, and it still may not be enough. The blood lust was strong today, almost overwhelming in its need to rend and tear at something, screaming in the back of her mind to hunt... to taste the blood of a fresh kill. But Rahne resisted the urge; there were too many strangers on the island to risk it. Best to remove herself from everyone and cut lose in as safe of an environment as possible until the lust was sated or she passed out from exhaustion.
"Rahne," Moira called again putting both hands on the young redhead's shoulders trying to get her attention without agitating the child any further. 'What the devil happened in town?' she wondered noting the glowing red eyes seemed to pulse with an inhuman light. The older woman swallowed her fear instantly recognizing just how close the young mutant was to losing control and going into one of her berserk rages. Granted Rahne rarely got violent toward humans during her rages, she tended to tear apart very expensive equipment in all night training sessions, but she usually reframed for attacking people as long as they left her alone. With Charles and his students on the island there was no telling what Rahne would do if she slipped into one of her rages, her wolf half wasn't used them, she could attack one of them mistaking them for enemies, it had happened before. Feeling the redhead shift under her hands, Moira smiled inwardly, 'good I got her attention,' she thought. "Off wit' ya, I do na want ta see ya again until morning," she said slow and evenly making sure she was getting through to her young charge.
Charles Xavier watched the exchange between the two with an unconscious frown his gaze thoughtful as he watched the young girl nod and move off after a moment. "Moira," he greeted once his wheelchair was settled onto the dock his remaining students clambering out of the ferry behind him.
"Charles... ya're a bit early was na expecting ya until tomorrow," Moira said shoving her hands into her lab coat pockets as she gave her old friend a lopsided smile. "I see you met part of me 'Mob' she added dryly arching an eyebrow at the four youths that had come to Rahne's aid in the village.
"It wasn't our fault... honest Aunt Moira," Neville James, the young black man with the pipe from earlier, said raising his hands in mock surrender trying to appear as innocent as possible. Which usually caused a lot of suspicion from all the adults he knew because he did have a reputation for mischief making that border lined on hooliganism at times in his own right.
"We'll talk about that later laddie," Moira said dryly the look in her eyes telling the young man that while Rahne may not be in trouble, she was the one being attacked after all, it didn't mean that the rest of them weren't. While they technically didn't start anything and were only defending their friend several verbal threats were exchanged. And Neville, at least, couldn't afford anymore run ins with the Youth Authority or the boy's grandmother was going to kill him. Or so the 95-year-old woman claimed one night while chewing out her 6 ' tall grandson that towered over her own 5'2" frame after Moira had made one too many trips to the mainland to pick up the 'Mob from the local constable station. "Ya grandmother is waiting in the house... she has chores picked out for the lot of ya... now go on." She directed the four who cringed a bit at the words. No one in their right mind messed with Neville's grandmother, the old woman had practically raised the whole lot of them, Lady Moira included, and still packed a mean swat to the back of the head.
As the four youths shuffled off like a line of prisoners off to the gallows, Moira shook her head before turning her attention back to Charles and his students. "Sorry about tha'... I'm told ya got an eye full of the Southend Hooligans," she said after taking a deep breath. "I wish I could say it was a fluke an' it wouldna happen again, but I'd be lying. For the most part people in Kinross leave mutants be, however we do have our fair share of bigots and just plain fools with nothing better ta do then cause trouble." She explained with a weary smile, "if ya students are going ta be going inta town take one of me 'Mob with ya... they'll make sure ya get back ta the island in one piece."
"They didn't seem to help the kid much," Logan noted from the Professor's left his eyes hard and cold, still ticked off over the whole mess. If it had been just him the kid's attackers would have gotten the beating they so obviously needed and would have thought twice in the future about attacking people just because they were different.
"Ah but they did Logan... they kept Rahne from losing her temper and hurtin' someone," Moira replied, "ya need to meet all of me 'Mob before passing judgement on them we do things a bit differently up here." She finished with a smile, "come now let's get ya all settled in shall we... we have lots ta do." She directed as she turned and led the party down the dock toward the large stone and timber building that served as both home and research facility.
********************
Stuart Palin looked up from the control panel in the command booth of the Danger Room, where he had been finishing up installation of a new training program in the advanced computer system, when Rahne entered the actual training part of the room. Frowning a bit he glanced over at a side panel cringing when he saw a screen flashing a warning, "Oh bloody hell," he muttered to himself, his eyes widening as he read the words on the screen.
"WARNING: PROGRAM 64 IN OPERATION! AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY"
Only one person used program 64 and that was Rahne and she used it for only one reason - she had lots of excess energy to burn off and wanted to destroy something. Which was the polite way of saying that the young mutant in question was either in a blood lust induced rage or was very near going into one. Since she did have remarkable control over her wolf-half, as her team-mates insisted on calling it, she rarely used program 64, after all it did take a lot for her to feel that out of control that she just had to tear something apart or she was going to kill someone. "Bugger... must have been trouble in town again," the young mutant in the command booth thought running a hand through his hair in frustration. 'Rahney must have used the remote to program the room,' he thought pretty sure he would have noticed an irritated Rahne Sinclair walk into the command booth, reach over him and access the desired program. Sure he tended to get wrapped up in his work a lot but he didn't get THAT wrapped up in it. Reaching over he flipped a switch on the master control panel, "Hey Rahney - I'm got work up here... am I going to bother you?" he asked unconsciously wetting his lips with his tongue, he tended to make it a point not to tick off irritable werewolves, especially ones he lived with.
Rahne gave a half snort as she readied herself, "nah lad... ya fine... although ya ken keep out the others if ya do na mind," she said her voice becoming deeper and harsher as she finally gave into the urge to shift. Her body flowing like quicksilver from human to the so-called 'werewolf' form, a large russet coloured furry monster standing at nearly seven feet, thick corded muscles wrapping around its large frame, strong hands extending long and deadly claws as it howled out its delight at finally being let lose. "BEGIN!" the creature snarled the command leaping for the first thing that appeared before it care of the Danger Room's advanced holographic and computer system.
"Sure... no problem," Stuart said jumping a bit at her howl sending a silent prayer to whoever was listening that he wasn't the one that had ticked off the werewolf in the first place.
*********************
End part 2.
One final note: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated with the New Mutants or any of their sister teams, they belong to others and are used with permission. Stuart Palin belongs to himself - as far as I know - and was shanghaied to be in this fic... he was just sitting there minding his own business and then bam! I grabbed him. ;-) The continuing butchering of Rahne and now Moira's accents were brought to you by the mad little Deutschlander... namely me. Hoped you all enjoyed it.
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? (2/?)
Moira MacTaggart stood at the end of the Muir Island dock; arms folded across her chest, one foot tapping out an impatient beat against its ancient weathered timbers, her eyes hard with anger and annoyance as she watched for some sign of the ferry from the mainland. She had been standing out on the dock for nearly ten minutes now, waiting for the ferry, her mind turning over the radioed report from the boat's captain. Trouble with the Southend Hooligans was nothing new, it was nearly routine for the local constables to be breaking up some kind of altercation between the rowdies and her own students.
She smirked a bit at the thought of her own students; they were a motley group made up of the children of her island employees and the handful of mutants that called Muir home. They hadn't set out to form any 'team'; they mainly associated with one another on the island out of necessity - it got a bit lonely on the island at times especially for the children. That inclination to hang around one another tended to carry over to the mainland, where most of the villagers gave them a wide berth for either being the children of one of Moira's employees or for being a mutant themselves. When the troubles started with the Southend Hooligans the little group of human and mutant youths closed ranks, becoming more protective of one another and the whole lot of them refused to be intimidated by anyone.
They somehow picked up the nickname "The Muir Island Mob" one night after a particular rowdy encounter with the Hooligans that resulted in Moira paying yet another visit to the local police department. While the judge ruled that the 'Mob were merely defending themselves when they had been jumped by the Hooligans, it only served to deepen feelings of animosity between the two groups and the village was always cloaked in a thick haze of tension whenever the island kids were on the mainland. 'Na much ah ken do about that,' Moira told herself firmly, 'the brains deserve the right ta go ta school... an I'm na gonna ta forbid them from goin ta town during their free time as long as their behave themselves.' She had told the local authorities as much too, citing the fact that every time one of the 'Mob had been taken into police custody it was because they were defending themselves. It had gotten to the point that as long as the island kids didn't start the fight or cause any property damage and since they did usually go out of their way to avoid trouble with the Southend Hooligans the authorities tended to let them board the ferry back to Muir and let Moira handle them.
Which was what Moira was doing now as she straightened a bit, her foot ceasing its rhythm-less tapping and she squared her shoulders as the ferry began its turn toward the island's dock, the stern look never leaving her face. Nodding as one of the boat crew jumped onto the dock reaching for the tow line to tie the craft up to the side, Moira quickly scanned the assorted people lining the deck of the ferry, noting Charles Xavier's own grim look with a weary smile, 'Ya just had to be early didn't ya Charles,' she thought ruefully knowing he either had of heard all about Rahne's run in with the Hooligans or, lord help them all, actually saw it. 'Ya timing could na have been any worse,' she acknowledged with an inward sigh, this was not how she wanted to introduce the 'Mob to her old friend, however the damage had been done.
The next person to step off the boat drew the Doctor's attention away from Xavier. Rahne Sinclair kept her head lowered a bit and turned away from Moira's direct gaze uncomfortable with the Doctor's critical eye. A gentle hooked finger under the girl's chin lifted and turned her face toward the Doctor for a better look, "ah lassie," Moira said in a soft voice. Her eyes hardening a bit as she watched the cut on Rahne's forehead near the hairline, literally close on its own leaving behind an angry bruise which was also fading before her eyes.
The youth remained silent, her red gaze keeping eye contact with the older woman knowing that once Moira MacTaggart's curiosity had been satisfied that she would be allowed to disappear into the Danger Room and tear something apart until her blood-lust had been sated. Granted with the way her wolf was trashing about inside of her demanding to be unleashed, she would be in the Danger Room for hours destroying everything the room had to throw at her, and it still may not be enough. The blood lust was strong today, almost overwhelming in its need to rend and tear at something, screaming in the back of her mind to hunt... to taste the blood of a fresh kill. But Rahne resisted the urge; there were too many strangers on the island to risk it. Best to remove herself from everyone and cut lose in as safe of an environment as possible until the lust was sated or she passed out from exhaustion.
"Rahne," Moira called again putting both hands on the young redhead's shoulders trying to get her attention without agitating the child any further. 'What the devil happened in town?' she wondered noting the glowing red eyes seemed to pulse with an inhuman light. The older woman swallowed her fear instantly recognizing just how close the young mutant was to losing control and going into one of her berserk rages. Granted Rahne rarely got violent toward humans during her rages, she tended to tear apart very expensive equipment in all night training sessions, but she usually reframed for attacking people as long as they left her alone. With Charles and his students on the island there was no telling what Rahne would do if she slipped into one of her rages, her wolf half wasn't used them, she could attack one of them mistaking them for enemies, it had happened before. Feeling the redhead shift under her hands, Moira smiled inwardly, 'good I got her attention,' she thought. "Off wit' ya, I do na want ta see ya again until morning," she said slow and evenly making sure she was getting through to her young charge.
Charles Xavier watched the exchange between the two with an unconscious frown his gaze thoughtful as he watched the young girl nod and move off after a moment. "Moira," he greeted once his wheelchair was settled onto the dock his remaining students clambering out of the ferry behind him.
"Charles... ya're a bit early was na expecting ya until tomorrow," Moira said shoving her hands into her lab coat pockets as she gave her old friend a lopsided smile. "I see you met part of me 'Mob' she added dryly arching an eyebrow at the four youths that had come to Rahne's aid in the village.
"It wasn't our fault... honest Aunt Moira," Neville James, the young black man with the pipe from earlier, said raising his hands in mock surrender trying to appear as innocent as possible. Which usually caused a lot of suspicion from all the adults he knew because he did have a reputation for mischief making that border lined on hooliganism at times in his own right.
"We'll talk about that later laddie," Moira said dryly the look in her eyes telling the young man that while Rahne may not be in trouble, she was the one being attacked after all, it didn't mean that the rest of them weren't. While they technically didn't start anything and were only defending their friend several verbal threats were exchanged. And Neville, at least, couldn't afford anymore run ins with the Youth Authority or the boy's grandmother was going to kill him. Or so the 95-year-old woman claimed one night while chewing out her 6 ' tall grandson that towered over her own 5'2" frame after Moira had made one too many trips to the mainland to pick up the 'Mob from the local constable station. "Ya grandmother is waiting in the house... she has chores picked out for the lot of ya... now go on." She directed the four who cringed a bit at the words. No one in their right mind messed with Neville's grandmother, the old woman had practically raised the whole lot of them, Lady Moira included, and still packed a mean swat to the back of the head.
As the four youths shuffled off like a line of prisoners off to the gallows, Moira shook her head before turning her attention back to Charles and his students. "Sorry about tha'... I'm told ya got an eye full of the Southend Hooligans," she said after taking a deep breath. "I wish I could say it was a fluke an' it wouldna happen again, but I'd be lying. For the most part people in Kinross leave mutants be, however we do have our fair share of bigots and just plain fools with nothing better ta do then cause trouble." She explained with a weary smile, "if ya students are going ta be going inta town take one of me 'Mob with ya... they'll make sure ya get back ta the island in one piece."
"They didn't seem to help the kid much," Logan noted from the Professor's left his eyes hard and cold, still ticked off over the whole mess. If it had been just him the kid's attackers would have gotten the beating they so obviously needed and would have thought twice in the future about attacking people just because they were different.
"Ah but they did Logan... they kept Rahne from losing her temper and hurtin' someone," Moira replied, "ya need to meet all of me 'Mob before passing judgement on them we do things a bit differently up here." She finished with a smile, "come now let's get ya all settled in shall we... we have lots ta do." She directed as she turned and led the party down the dock toward the large stone and timber building that served as both home and research facility.
********************
Stuart Palin looked up from the control panel in the command booth of the Danger Room, where he had been finishing up installation of a new training program in the advanced computer system, when Rahne entered the actual training part of the room. Frowning a bit he glanced over at a side panel cringing when he saw a screen flashing a warning, "Oh bloody hell," he muttered to himself, his eyes widening as he read the words on the screen.
"WARNING: PROGRAM 64 IN OPERATION! AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY"
Only one person used program 64 and that was Rahne and she used it for only one reason - she had lots of excess energy to burn off and wanted to destroy something. Which was the polite way of saying that the young mutant in question was either in a blood lust induced rage or was very near going into one. Since she did have remarkable control over her wolf-half, as her team-mates insisted on calling it, she rarely used program 64, after all it did take a lot for her to feel that out of control that she just had to tear something apart or she was going to kill someone. "Bugger... must have been trouble in town again," the young mutant in the command booth thought running a hand through his hair in frustration. 'Rahney must have used the remote to program the room,' he thought pretty sure he would have noticed an irritated Rahne Sinclair walk into the command booth, reach over him and access the desired program. Sure he tended to get wrapped up in his work a lot but he didn't get THAT wrapped up in it. Reaching over he flipped a switch on the master control panel, "Hey Rahney - I'm got work up here... am I going to bother you?" he asked unconsciously wetting his lips with his tongue, he tended to make it a point not to tick off irritable werewolves, especially ones he lived with.
Rahne gave a half snort as she readied herself, "nah lad... ya fine... although ya ken keep out the others if ya do na mind," she said her voice becoming deeper and harsher as she finally gave into the urge to shift. Her body flowing like quicksilver from human to the so-called 'werewolf' form, a large russet coloured furry monster standing at nearly seven feet, thick corded muscles wrapping around its large frame, strong hands extending long and deadly claws as it howled out its delight at finally being let lose. "BEGIN!" the creature snarled the command leaping for the first thing that appeared before it care of the Danger Room's advanced holographic and computer system.
"Sure... no problem," Stuart said jumping a bit at her howl sending a silent prayer to whoever was listening that he wasn't the one that had ticked off the werewolf in the first place.
*********************
End part 2.
One final note: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated with the New Mutants or any of their sister teams, they belong to others and are used with permission. Stuart Palin belongs to himself - as far as I know - and was shanghaied to be in this fic... he was just sitting there minding his own business and then bam! I grabbed him. ;-) The continuing butchering of Rahne and now Moira's accents were brought to you by the mad little Deutschlander... namely me. Hoped you all enjoyed it.