"Come on Rahne!" Teresa called as she dragged her through one of the lower corridors of the Research Centre. "We've got to get to the meeting room – Da's finally going to tell us what's going on!"
Sean had returned from London the day before – without Jonathon Starsmore. Tight-lipped, he'd refused to answer any of the girls' questions, saying that he had to wait for all of Excalibur to be present before he could tell them anything. But apparently that time had finally come.
Sure enough, by the time Rahne and Teresa arrived at the sub-basement room which had become the headquarters of Excalibur, the others were already there. Sean and Moira were seated at the head of a conference table, while Betsy was lounging at the other end. Rahne looked around in vain to try to find Betsy's brother but no one else was in the room. However, glancing back, she noticed a blonde couple walking down from the other end of the corridor toward the door.
The man stood aside politely to let the girls through. "Hello. You must be Rahne," he said politely, shaking her hand. "I'm Brian Braddock." Rahne felt her bones grind together beneath his grip and after he released her hand she surreptitiously tried to massage some life back into her fingers. "This is Meggan," he continued, oblivious to the effects of his strength.
His companion nodded at her with a friendly smile. Rahne looked back at her, speechless. The green-eyed woman was impossibly beautiful, but what caught her attention wasn't the delicate features – it was her ears, which were pointed like an elf's. "It's… I'm… pleased to meet you!" Rahne managed eventually, realising that she'd been staring.
"We just flew in," Brian informed the group as they took seats on the other side of the room. "Sorry we're a tad late."
"You flew? But I didn't hear a plane," Rahne asked, confused.
"No, we flew here," he repeated. There was a rather uncomfortable moment's silence as they stared at one another, each confused by what the other had said.
Finally Betsy broke the spell by explaining: "Bri and Meggan don't need planes, Rahne. They can both fly – as in, under their own steam."
"Oh," said Rahne, feeling a little stupid.
"Don't worry about it," Meggan told her, seeming to read her thoughts. "It's not important anyway."
"Meggan's right! What about Jonathon Starsmore? Did you find him? Why didn't you bring him back here?" demanded Teresa, who was almost bursting with impatience over the whole affair.
Sean waved a hand at her, asking for silence. "Auch. We found Jono yesterday."
"Then why…?" she began.
"Hush, cagaran, I'm getting there," he told her, and then addressed the rest of the group. "He was holed up in the corner of an Underground Station a couple o' blocks away from the girl's house. All turned in, practically out o' his mind – didn't know any of us from lamp-posts, it seemed. Anyway, I tried t' get them t' let me take the boy back here with me, but Cooper said no, he was a criminal, and he'd ha' t' go inta police custody."
"What?" cried Moira, outraged. "But he's not a criminal! He's just can't control his powers! He's just a boy, Sean!"
"I know, Moira. I told Cooper that, but he insisted – said the boy killed that girl and he'd ha' t' stand trial fer that." The idea of being put on trial for being unable to control your powers made Rahne feel sick to her stomach.
"But it was an accident, wasn't it Da?" asked Teresa. "They'll let him go to us. They can't convict him of murder or anything - can they?"
"They shouldn't be able t'," Sean replied. "But it gets worse."
"Mutants on trial for their powers? It'll be a bigots' field day" Betsy commented. "How can it possibly get worse?"
"Y'll see." And with that Sean clicked a remote at the screen behind him, revealing another news story.
On the screen a well-groomed man in a suit was talking. "…Recent worldwide events have exposed our apathy," he said. "There are threats to world security everywhere, but we have become complacent in our efforts to control and turn them. And now, almost under out noses a new threat has emerged – mutants. These so-called 'super-beings' have already caused havoc throughout the USA, and the recent events in Mexico and China show us that it is not an isolated phenomenon but a global movement."
The man's speech was fluent and measured. He didn't raise his voice. It was never strident, simply coolly collected and somehow compelling. Nevertheless, Rahne was reminded of another man, another sermon on the supposed mutant threat.
"Who are these mutants? They live in our societies, hiding amongst us – most of them can even pass as human. But despite their appearance, they cannot be thought of as ordinary: they are walking weapons, dangers to us and our children. It is understandable – no, it is right to fear them, because they can destroy our buildings, our lives, even our minds with a single thought."
Rahne heard a low threatening growl at these words, then realised with shock that it had come from her. The other Excalibur members seemed similarly disturbed – the scents of anger, disbelief and indignation were almost palpable to her, and her friends' faces were universally wearing angry scowls. Meggan seemed even more affected than the rest – only the merest traces of her beauty remained, the once delicate features twisted into a grotesque visage which strongly resembled some of the pictures of devils which Rahne had been shown as a child. She looked away quickly, scared of the woman's transformation before she remembered that Betsy had mentioned that Meggan was a shape-shifter whose moods were reflected on her face.
"Thus far, here in Britain we have been mostly isolated from these troubles," the man on the television continued. "But as recent events have so tragically shown, we are not safe from the mutant menace – mutants are among us too, and they are dangerous. We must be on our guard in our lives and in our communities, to protect ourselves from the impending danger; to ensure that we can prevent further deaths like that of Gayle Edgarton. This tragic event must and indeed will serve as an example of the dangers posed by allowing mutants to roam unchecked in our society. For everyone's safety, including their own, I believe mutants must be contained, negated. This is why I have agreed to take the post as Crown Prosecutor in the trial of Jonathon Starsmore."
On screen, this announcement was met by an enthusiastic round of applause. In the headquarters of Excalibur on Muir Island, it was met by stony silence. With a deliberate 'click' Sean switched the screen and its orator off.
"Who was that?" Teresa asked finally. Rahne shook her head, finding herself unable to speak. To her it didn't matter who the man was – what he was and what he stood for was enough to paralyse her with fear. The words and the delivery might be different, but she recognised the sentiments behind them – this man was a better-educated, softer-spoken version of Reverend Craig – and his speech terrified her.
"His name is Edward Carson," Moira told them. "He was at Oxford at the same time I was – he studied Law. Quite brilliant: graduated with full honours and became a rising star in the legal system."
"Aye, well he's aiming a bit higher now," Sean grumbled. "I reckon yer boy's got political ambitions – thinks this case is going t' make his rep." Rahne suppressed a shudder at the idea of that man in Parliament. Apparently the others were thinking the same thing too; she caught whiffs of revulsion and apprehension in their scents.
"Carson," said Brian, wearing a thoughtful expression. "Is he any relation of Francis Carson?"
"What, that scientist who works with Dad?" asked Betsy.
Rahne turned to Teresa, giving her a querying glance – what were they talking about? "Brian and Betsy's father, Professor Braddock, is one of the pre-eminent researchers in molecular biology in the UK," her friend whispered. "Not quite up there with Moira, of course, but he's the head of the big lab at Oxford."
"Lots richer than old Moisy, too," Betsy added with a conspiratorial grin on the other side of Rahne – it was as though she'd read their minds. Actually, being Betsy, she probably had.
"Yes, Francis Carson," Moira mused. "The younger brother… Always in Ed's shadow… positively worshipped him though. Took up science instead of law – he ended up in the same field as me; he's been studying the molecular signalling pathways involved in activating mutations – published some interesting results recently, they…."
"Well, as fascinating as I'm sure all the biochemical stuff is," Brian interrupted rather loudly, "it's not really the point is it? The question is – if he's studying mutants, why's his brother suddenly coming out and denouncing us?"
No one had any answer to that.
NB: Two canon characters this time. First, Brian Braddock, Betsy's twin, also known as Captain Britain. He's got quite a few powers, but the most important are flight, super strength and a force field, I think. Second, Meggan, also known as Meggan who is an empathic shapeshifter who flies and shoots force blasts and does any number of other special things. Seriously, her powers just do not end.
Edward Carson is not a canon character in any way at all, but I did steal his name from a real person, since I'm lazy. Sir Edward Carson was a prominent English lawyer in the late 19th century, famous for prosecuting Oscar Wilde and being important in the Ulster Unionist movement. I like to think I see parallels. Anyway, there's the history lesson for the day, folks. I'm sure you were fascinated.
Far less importantly, Francis Carson was named after Francis Crick, who co-discovered DNA (he was the smart one).