Life has a somewhat irritating tendency to go on no matter what, and it usually manages to drag you along with it. And so over the next week Rahne discovered that she became integrated into the regular routine of life at the Muir Island Mutant Research Centre without any deliberate effort on her part. Natural curiosity led her into the laboratory where Moira spent most of her time, and Rahne found she could gain a certain amount of peace from helping her new foster mother carry out the necessary but mind-numbingly repetitive procedures involved in deciphering the mysteries of mutant genetics. Moira for her part seemed to enjoy having some company and an extra pair of hands, and while Rahne understood not much above half of the scientific explanations, she found she could still follow the instructions with reasonable ease. It felt good to be doing something constructive again, and it also kept her from dwelling obsessively on her worries.
Most of Rahne's contact with the Island's other inhabitants consisted of this time spent helping Moira in the lab, as Sean was often away on Interpol business and Teresa spent large amounts of time buried under masses of schoolwork despite the fact that it was the middle of June, although she always managed to take time out every day to hang out with her new 'sister'.
When Sean was present he often took his daughter down to one of the lower level basements so she could work on further developing her vocal powers. At those times Rahne found that she had to retreat out to the moors – although the basement was fairly well sound-proofed her hearing was now superhumanly acute even in human form - possibly because of her prolonged time as a wolf according to Moira. In any case, she now had to be outside before the muffled sounds of sonic screams completely faded.
Betsy came and went as she pleased – she seemed to divide her time between the Island and whatever life and commitments she had back in England. She always managed to be present when Moira was busy elsewhere, however – Rahne suspected this was part of a deliberate scheme to make sure that she had a babysitter present in case she broke down again, which irked her, although she could understand their reasoning at some level.
Whatever her reservations about being constantly watched, she couldn't deny that Betsy was good company. The purple-haired girl constantly had some dryly amusing observation to make, and despite being four years older than Rahne and Teresa she always treated the younger girls as equals.
Tonight Moira was away at a conference in Oxford and Betsy had managed to coax Teresa away from her studies to help cook dinner – although the English girl was talented at many things, her cooking made Rahne miss even Kitty's attempts at cuisine. Thus the three girls were sitting in the kitchen watching the BBC news.
"Not that they ever tell you anything you want to know," Betsy remarked, but even she fell silent as the first headline flashed up: 'Mutant Kills'
"In breaking news, residents of Kensington, London, are still reeling after the tragic death of one of its residents. Gayle Edgarton, aged 17, was killed in a freak explosion believed to the work of a mutant. Police are refusing to comment on speculations that the victim's boyfriend, one Jonathon Starsmore, might be the cause of the explosion, but are asking the public to treat Starsmore, shown here, with extreme caution if encountered, and are also urging them to avoid antagonising or approaching him."
The face of the boy in the picture on screen didn't seem to be that of a murderer to Rahne. Jonathon Starsmore appeared to be not much older than her, and his youthful features and slightly shaggy brown hair made him look more shy than too dangerous to be approached. She felt an odd sense of kinship with the boy, who must surely be alone, scared and confused by whatever it was he had done, and in a familiar environment which would nevertheless now be completely hostile to him. She knew the feeling only too well – but this was central London, not the remote highlands – things would be different, Jonathon wouldn't be facing a lynch mob – would he?
"So that must be what Da got called away to this arvo," Teresa commented. "Poor thing, being on the run like that." She noticed Rahne's discomfort and tried to reassure her. "It'll be okay. Da will sort this all out and help the boy – just like he did for you." Rahne nodded at her 'sister's' assertion, but she couldn't help wondering if it was right. Sean had been there to help her, but she hadn't actually killed anyone. 'Are you sure about that?' asked an insidious little voice in her head. 'What about your parents? They died because of you.' Despite constant affirmations from Moira and Betsy that what had happened in the village wasn't her fault, Rahne couldn't quite get rid of the sense of guilty responsibility which still haunted her over the events of that night. All the same, this time she made a deliberate effort to silence the accusing voice so that she could concentrate on the next report.
"In related news, a pyramid in southern China has been engulfed by an energy dome similar to those recently discovered in Egypt and Mexico. The pyramid, which experts say dates back at least 3000 years, is located in the Shanzi province not far from the border with Thailand. The Chinese military is mobilising itself to attack the so-called 'force-field' surrounding the pyramid, although many world leaders are counselling caution after the fiasco with the pyramid's counterpart in Mexico. The Prime Minister announced in a joint statement with the US President that they believe this to be the work of mutants…."
There was a loud click, and the anchorman's voice was cut off – Betsy had switched off the television. "That's about all I can stand to hear about how dangerous we are for one night."
Teresa nodded, looking thoughtful. "I wonder if this is the end of the honeymoon for us now. I mean, mutants in the UK have been pretty lucky so far, compared to places like America – we've been treated more as a curiosity than a threat."
Rahne looked at the golden-haired girl in disbelief. Mutants were lucky in the UK? Treated as a curiosity? What she'd faced in Ullapool had been worse than any reports she'd heard from America. To Reverend Craig, she'd definitely been a threat.
Betsy picked up on her distress and smoothly changed the subject. "So this new dome is what your mates at the Xavier Institute are all caught up in then, luv?"
"I think so," Rahne replied. Roberto and Sam hadn't known much more about it than she did, as the New Recruits had been kept mostly out of the loop as always, but they'd mentioned that the adults and older students had been on edge since Apocalypse was released back in May. "They're always off saving the world, or using their powers to help people."
Her words must have been delivered with more regret than she'd meant to reveal, because she noticed Betsy looking at her with a tinge of concern in her scent. "You missing being there, luv?"
"Well, a bit, but…," Rahne trailed off, not quite sure of what she meant. "I suppose part of what I miss is being able to use my powers to do something – to help people." As a New Recruit, she hadn't gone on many missions with the X-men, but there was the time in the Redwoods where they'd helped Dr McCoy and scared the poachers – that had felt good, somehow right.
"Missing the superhero lifestyle, eh?" Betsy teased good-naturedly. "There's plenty of time for that later though, isn't there?" On hearing those words Rahne found herself bursting into tears, much to Betsy's embarrassment. "I'm sorry luv," the older girl said quickly. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, it's what you said about plenty of time," Rahne managed to gulp through her tears. "That's… that's what my mother used to say." It was the first time she'd actually cried for her parents – wolves can't cry, and then so many other things had been going on that she'd never got to dwell on what happened. Now she felt slightly ashamed to be shedding tears over something so trivial, but she couldn't make herself stop.
"There there…" The other two girls caught her up in a three-way hug and they stayed there until Rahne had cried herself out.
"Still, if it's superheroness you're after, we're not completely deficient over here in Britain," Betsy remarked as she went back to washing potatoes.
"Huh?'
"You know, Excalibur and all that." Rahne stared at her. "Oh, you don't know? I thought old Seany would have told you all about it, first thing."
"We had a few more pressing concerns at the time, if you remember," Teresa pointed out. Betsy shrugged.
"What is this Excalibur?" Rahne asked, intrigued.
"We're the X-men, but British," said Betsy. "And with more style, of course."
Teresa rolled her eyes at the English girl's assertion and proceeded to explain. "Excalibur is a group formed to defend Britain from various threats, mutant or otherwise. So far, we've only got five members: me and Da, Betsy and her brother Brian, and his girlfriend Meggan; but Moira's kind of an honorary member and you'd be welcome to join too." Rahne found that prospect cheered her. "Brian's in charge mainly – they call him Captain Britain, he's got some kind of sacred covenant to protect the Isles which I don't really understand.…"
"Like I said, we're pretty much like the X-men, but cooler," added Betsy.
……
Rahne spent much of the rest of the evening lost in thought. None that had any real lasting meaning – her mind was sliding from idea to idea without ever engaging any, but there was a general sense of press and urgency in the whirl. Suddenly she was overcome by a need to get out of the building which seemed to be caging her.
She instinctively began to walk to the door that led outside, but Betsy barred the way. "Where are you going, luv?"
"To the moor. I need to get outside for a bit."
"Human or wolf?'
The question caught Rahne off guard. She hadn't transformed since Logan's visit, and now she found herself flinching at the idea. Fear of losing herself as a wolf again was part of it, but the news report about Jonathon Starsmore, coupled with finally crying for her parents had brought back all the memories of Ullapool back to the surface. Like Jonathon, all her powers had done was hurt people. Her transforming had led to her parents dying and she could also recall the feral rage her wolf side had summoned when she'd attacked the villagers. She couldn't trust herself to transform. "Human."
Betsy stared at her searchingly for a long time, but in the end she nodded briefly. And so Rahne sat on the easternmost point of the island, knees hunched up to her chest, and stared out across the black waters as the bitter wind whipped around her. She couldn't see anything in the overcast black night in this form, but she knew she was facing the mainland and all it had meant – recollections of both pain and happiness. It was a moment to howl for the memory of her parents, but she couldn't bring herself to do that - so she had to settle for brooding over them in the comforting emptiness of the highland night until Betsy came to drag her back inside before she froze to death.
NB: Jonothan Starsmore is yet another canon character, whose power I won't go into just yet. You'll find out, if you don't already know. The back story I've given here is semi-canon - except over in the comics, his girlfriend didn't actually die.
Excalibur is also canon, although the line up is a bit changed (originally in the comics it was Brian, Meggan, Kurt, Kitty and Rachel Summers). And they did work out of Muir Island, and they were like the X-men but cooler (at least, I think so).
And that dome is the one that turned up in that Season 4 episode… Uprising, I think. Yeah… I haven't just totally disregarded the show, really!