CHEYENNE, MUTANT, VALKYRIE

Part III

By George Cameron

Heathrow Airport, in London, was one of the busiest international airports I’d ever seen. Not that I’ve experienced all that many airports, since the Blackbird, an Asgardian stallion, and a beat-up El Dorado had been my primary means of transportation for the past several years. But considering that I was currently on a leave of absence from the X-Men, Brightwind was dead, and the El Dorado was retired when X-Force set up shop in San Francisco, I had to take a commercial flight to London. To see the only person in the world that might be able to help me with a problem… and to see an old and very dear friend.

Today, I was attired just as casually as I had been since I left the school, and as it was starting to heat up for the summer, I was glad I’d gone with it. I wore a white collared, button-up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and kept tied below my chest to leave the lower half of my torso exposed, as well as a pair of well-worn jeans and my favorite pair of cowboy boots. To top it off, I wore a tan Stetson and a black leather belt with a very, very large polished gold buckle that bore the ‘X’-logo. I kept my hair braided so that I wouldn’t have to deal with it, and I wore a very delicate turquoise choker around my neck to match the earrings I’d bought in New York. Dressing in such Western American motif might draw stares in the Big Apple, but in London, who’d notice?

I entered the terminal with my carry-on, a tan bag that had definitely seen better days, and proceeded to make my way through the throngs of people waiting to claim their luggage. Unlike them, I hadn’t brought anything other than what was in my carry-on. I hadn’t thought to bring much with me at the time, and I was a light packer anyway. ‘Berto used to tease me about how little I packed when I traveled, but then again, he embarked on trips like he was Princess Vespa from Spaceballs. If you’ve seen the movie, you’d definitely get it.

I felt her presence in my mind long before I actually saw her. But as I began to reach the edge of the crowd, I spotted her waiting for me. And she was a vision. Fiery red hair, having grown long and beautiful after years of stark shortness, cascaded down her back and shoulders, and she’d grown a little in stature since the last time I’d seen her as well even though I was still nearly a head taller than she. But her blue-green eyes still shone with the same optimism and warmth that they always had. After all she’d been through over the past few years, I had been afraid that perhaps she had become jaded. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was the opposite.

“Dani!”

Rahne Sinclair, known during our time in the New Mutants as Wolfsbane, rushed up to me and embraced me so tightly and with such exuberance that I couldn’t help but feel the joy that was radiating from her. And I shared it. Rahne was my best friend, my soulmate, my other self… my heart. And having been separated from her for so long, I wasn’t sure what sort of a reception I was going to get.

Rahne had been through complete and utter hell since I left the New Mutants to remain in Asgard. She’d been forcibly warped into a mindless Genoshan mutate, and mentally enslaved, and it had taken her years to completely recover from that experience. She had been psychically bonded to Alex Summers, Havok, and had become quite obsessed with him, even after having the bond broken. To top it all off, she had been unable to assume a completely human form without reverting to her mindless mutate state, so she’d been trapped in her transitional lupine form until she was cured by an enemy of X-Factor. But from what I had heard, things were looking up for Rahne, and after having avoided her for a time, I decided that now was the best time to reunite with her.

“Rahne, you look great!” I exclaimed as we pulled back from the embrace, still holding each other’s hands. “Your hair is… wow!”

“Och, thank you, Dani,” Rahne replied, blushing almost bashfully. There was a harder edge to her these days than in the past, but the sweet-as-the-days-are-long girl that I had known and loved when we were teenagers was still there. “Yuir not lookin’ too bad yerself there, Dani Moonstar,” she quipped, taking a gander at me.

I smirked at that. “I have ten laps around the mansion’s pool every morning to thank for that, darling.” We both chuckled.

“Are they treatin’ y’alright at the school?” Rahne asked. “I heard that ye were teachin’ now.”

I nodded. “Yeah, but I’m on leave for the time being, clearing my head and finding my center again.”

A look of concern flashed over Rahne’s features, and I knew what she was thinking. She was concerned about me, and ironically enough, protective of me. I had always been the protective one, but that was just my nature. It was interesting to see Rahne in such a light, and it made me think more highly of her. She had grown so much since she was a New Mutant.

“Let’s get something to drink an’ sit. I’m sure you’re pretty tired after yuir flight,” Rahne suggested. So we did just that.

A very brief walk later, we were seated in an airport café, the Café Nero. The advertisement stated that it was an authentic Italian coffee bar, specializing in exceptional espressos. I didn’t know about all that, because having coffee with Vange Whedon had been my first experience in such a place, but I’d developed a taste for it. Besides, sitting down and relaxing with a warm drink sounded kind of nice.

Rahne and I sat at a table near the edge of the café, watching the airport’s patrons passing through security and reclaiming their luggage. After taking a long drink of her coffee, Rahne decided to break the ice.

“What’s wrong, Dani? Are ye feelin’ alright?” Worry creased her youthful features. “We heard about Apocalypse… an’ I’m so sorry that I dinna come t’see ye.”

“It’s okay, Rahne. I wasn’t much for visitors anyway, not for a while.” I sighed as I sat back in my chair. Rahne was one of the only people with whom I would let down my guard and bare my heart and soul to. Probably because I knew that she was the one person I could trust above anyone else, besides my parents. “And after what Cassandra Nova did…” I trailed off.

“That hateful… we saw her on television with all of her lies an’ deception,” Rahne spat. “Me mum wouldn’t believe any of it… an’ neither did I.” I noticed that she was hesitant, and I decided to call her on it.

“Is there something you’re not telling me, Rahney?” I’d called her by her old nickname, which only I had ever used, to emphasize how close we once were. But I could feel the beginnings of mistrust.

“She’s trying to tell you that none of us are sure that the X-Men can be trusted at the moment,” came a voice from behind me. I turned around to see a man that I hadn’t seen in years: Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man.

I knew what was going on even before Jamie pointed it out. “I’m here to make sure that “Rahney’s” okay, and that you’re not a threat to her or to Moira.”

I laughed at that, because if I didn’t, I might hit him. “I respect what you’re doing here, Jamie, but you don’t have anything to worry about. Cassandra Nova is quite dead, and out of our lives for good.”

“Just the same, Dani,” Jamie replied, “it pays to be cautious, as you well know.” Jamie Madrox was such a Tom, Dick, and Harry in appearance that you might not even notice him if you didn’t know him. He crossed his arms over his chest, and regarded me with just a hint of suspicion. I don’t think that either of them really thought that I was some mind-controlled slave of Xavier’s bitch of a sister, but I’d have to be extra careful.

I turned to Rahne, my gaze even and forceful. I held it for a few moments, before I allowed a crooked smile to snake its way onto my face, even if I was feeling nothing but turbulence in my heart because of this about-face. “I wouldn’t have thought it possible, Rahney. You know me better than anyone.”

“Do I?” Rahne regarded me with a different sort of concern. “Last time we spoke, ye were working for the Mutant Liberation Front, an’ ye’ve been mind-controlled by two o’the most soulless, godless spaleen in the world! Gimme a good reason why I shouldnae have m’guard up!”

Rahne knew firsthand what it was like to have one’s mind taken from them, to be made a slave to another. And because of this, I knew that she was in the right on this. But I didn’t like it. And I didn’t like seeing her rare occurrences of anger directed at me, because for a moment, I felt guilty. But that passed quickly, and I felt my own anger starting to well up.

“I understand, Rahne,” I stated with formality. I wasn’t normally the sulking type, but I was officially pissed off and I didn’t feel like dealing with it. “Should I just leave, then?”

I felt guilt radiating from my best friend, and remorse clouded her features. “Y’don’t have to leave, Dani. We dinnae mean to come off so harshly, but me mum’s afraid of Cassandra an’ of what she did.”

“We didn’t want her to spread her infection to the new research center,” Jamie added. “We all witnessed the United Nations conference, and we’ve seen surveillance photos of what the X-Men did to Genosha.” He sighed. “And with Charles’ suicide…” He trailed off, none of them meeting my gaze.

“Cassandra is gone, Rahney,” I assured her. “And life at the mansion is relatively back to normal… well, as normal as it ever gets.”

“Ye would swear to that?” She was coming around, but she still had her doubts. However, I was calming down, and I was willing to give her something to go on.

“I swear it on Black Eagle’s name,” knowing full well that Rahne was aware of how significant an oath that was for me to make. Black Eagle, my grandfather, had been brutally murdered by the Hellfire Club, and Xavier had promised to help me bring his killers to justice. That was back when I had first met Rahne. By the widening of her eyes, I could see that she knew.

Rahne regarded Jamie with finality, her mind having been made up. “That settles that, boyo.” Jamie nodded grimly, but I wasn’t so sure if he completely believed me. Oh, well, he’d get over it. Hopefully.

As we both stood from our seats, Rahne gazed deeply into my eyes, and before she could speak, I nodded. “It’s okay, Rahney. I understand where you were coming from. In fact, that’s part of the reason that I came.”

“Oh?” She raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “What’s the rest o’the reason?”

“I came to see Moira,” I replied. “I need her to tell me if my abilities are mutating again.”

It turned out that Moira MacTaggert no longer operated her research center at Muir Island, as I had heard from Warren shortly after the formation of X-Corps. The breakaway team of X-Men had set up their European base of operations there, and Moira had opened a new center on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Relatively speaking, it wasn’t that far of a move.

I also learned, from talking with Rahne and Jamie during the flight from London to Skye, that Moira was currently seeing another patient, another old acquaintance: Guido Carosella, formerly Strong Guy of X-Factor. From what they told me, Guido had decided that he wanted to rid himself of his physical deformities, and try to live a relatively normal life. I couldn’t fault him for that, for I knew that because of his mutation and the circumstances in which it manifested for the first time, his body was inhumanly deformed and he was in constant pain.

Jamie had chosen to accompany him when he left to see Moira, which made sense because Jamie had already spent a great deal of his adult life working for Moira anyway. I learned from Jamie that he enjoyed working as Moira’s assistant, a place where he always felt more comfortable, away from the constant life-or-death struggle to improve the lot of mutants back in America as a part of X-Factor or the X-Men. Reading between the lines, I could tell that Jamie was working for Moira because he honestly didn’t know what else to do.

Rahne leaned over beside me, and pointed out the window. “Dani, look! That’s the Isle of Skye Research Center… that’s where we’re going.” Her youthful exuberance was refreshing, I noted to myself with a smile, and took a look out of the plane’s window.

The Isle of Skye Research Center was an asymmetrical building, a multi-level facility that wasn’t terribly large but certainly had a great deal of character. A pair of silos framed the half-circle primary building, which bore many examples of post-modern sculptures and other décor. From what Rahne had told me, I knew that the building was unique in that it was constructed largely from reclaimed materials including telegraph poles, crushed concrete, glass and radiators… an environmentally-sound piece of construction, something that I appreciated. A large flagpole was situated just away from the front courtyard, flying the traditional flag of Scotland as well as the Kinross coat-of-arms.

I turned to Rahne and Jamie, and I could feel the plane begin its descent to land in the airstrip that was adjacent to the center. “Looks like Moira’s doing well for herself, considering everything that’s been going on over the past several months.”

Jamie nodded. “She’s as frazzled as ever, because she’s still getting situated here, but everyone has made the transition as smooth as possible, and soon we’ll be able to see patients on a regular basis. You’re actually our second patient.”

“How is Guido’s condition looking so far?” I asked.

“Pretty good, Dani,” Rahne replied. “He’s a fighter, an’ m’lady Moira’s the best there is.”

“I never knew he felt so strongly about his looks,” I added. “I always thought that he was at peace with his physicality.”

“Everyone did,” Jamie said. “But I know him better than anyone, and I knew he was in a lot of pain, and not just in the physical sense. I think this will be good for him, although I hope he does this for the right reasons.”

“That reminds me,” Rahne started. “How is Alex?”

I noticed a look of consternation pass over Jamie’s features, and I realized that there was still some bad blood between Alex Summers, Havok of X-Corps, and the former members of X-Factor. Being the third party in this situation, I decided to be as diplomatic as I could. “He’s doing well, as far as I know. I’m not quite sure where he is or what he’s doing. I’m not exactly in the loop.”

“How are ye likin’ the X-Men, Dani?” Rahne asked. “I was so proud when I heard that ye made t’cut.” She smiled at me.

“Well, besides my leave of absence, I’m liking it a lot,” I replied. “I get to teach, I get to participate in field missions, and everyone has been very accommodating. It almost feels like I’ve graduated to the major leagues, but…”

“But what?” Rahne asked.

“We’ve already been so through much, ever since we were kids, Rahney,” I replied. “It’s not like any of this is new to us. You’ve been a part of X-Factor and Excalibur. And I’ve been with the Valkyries, the Mutant Liberation Front, and…” I hesitated, realizing in the same instant that not only did I not want to talk about X-Force, but that Rahne would notice my hesitation and would want to know. Fortunately, I was saved from an immediate response as we touched ground, and I felt a gentle bump as the aircraft met the airstrip.

Some twenty minutes later, Rahne and I were walking toward the double doors of the new research center, with Jamie happily walking briskly before us, a spring in his step and a song in his heart. I smirked at him, and remembered how much his irreverence was probably missed back in the States.

But I was stirred from my reverie by Rahne, who wasn’t about to let the previous issue go unspoken. She stood a little closer to me now, and I could feel her concerned gaze boring into me. “Ye trailed off when ye were talkin’ about X-Force, Dani. I thought they were yuir friends?”

Oh, this was going to be a fun conversation. But I hadn’t spoken about my feelings on this matter to anyone, except Xi’an, and she understood how I felt about it. I just didn’t want to get into it… but I owed Rahne an explanation. And a lot more.

“Not anymore, Rahne. Not after they abandoned me.” There, I said it. It was the first time I admitted it aloud, and it felt… well, it felt better.

“They abandoned you? I never heard anythin’ about this!” Rahne exclaimed. “I know that ye were captured by the… Damocles Foundation, I believe it was?”

I nodded. “Yeah, and sold right off to Apocalypse so he could break me and make me his pet telepath!” I took a breath, and looked imploringly at Rahne. “And X-Force didn’t do a damned thing about it! They didn’t even look for me!”

Rahne shook her head vehemently. “That cannae be true, Dani! Sam would never do such a thing! Neither would ‘Berto! Or Rictor!” She looked genuinely upset at the prospect of our closest friends acting in such a matter. But I knew better. Didn’t I?

“They did, Rahney. And I haven’t spoken to any of them since, not even Sam. He was the only one who even bothered to try to get in touch with me once I got settled in at the mansion, and I didn’t take his call.”

“An’ yuir sure that they dinnae try to find ye? An’ maybe they just couldn’t find ye? Because y’dinnae have the resources of the X-Men t’draw upon when ye all packed up an’ moved t’San Francisco.” A direct hit. Congratulations, Rahney.

“They could’ve easily called Jean or Hank or anyone else and worked something out, Rahne. I would’ve done it in their place. I talked to Jean when we were living in China Basin, to get some advice on why my psionic abilities were fluctuating.”

Back when I was with X-Force, right after we settled into our new warehouse home, a conflict between the X-Men and the Shadow King caused severe damage to the astral plane, affecting the abilities of all telepaths and telekinetics for quite some time before it was sorted out. But that was just before X-Force’s encounter with the Damocles Foundation and Arcadia DeVille… and the mess that followed. So I didn’t exactly have time to dwell on that problem. I sighed, and shook my head. “But that’s all in the past now. All I can do is move forward, and learn from the experience.”

Rahne gaze me an inquisitive look. “But have ye really learned from it, Dani? Because it seems t’me like yuir still in a lot of pain, an’ I know you… yuir better at sweepin’ it under the rug than dealin’ with it.”

“What are you trying to say, Rahne?” Because if I understood her correctly, and I was pretty sure that I had, she was calling me a coward. Telling me that I was running away from my problems instead of facing them. And I knew that that wasn’t the case.

“I’m tryin’ to say that th’Dani I know wouldn’t run off an’ sulk just because something bad happened to her,” Rahne replied forcefully. “She would charge headfirst inta battle.”

I took a moment to let Rahne’s words sink in. Was I just avoiding a problem? Or was I doing what I thought was right: letting Sam, Roberto, and the rest sleep in the bed that they’d made? With everything else that had happened since my abrupt “departure” from X-Force, I thought this particular issue was a cut-and-dried one. Now, hearing it as if for the first time from my oldest and dearest friend, I wasn’t so sure.

“Call ‘em, Dani. Give Sam a call. An’ just let it go from there, hmm?” Rahne winked at me. She winked! “Ye might be surprised at where things go, y’know?”

I sighed, and nodded my head slowly. Wiser heads prevailed here. I reached out and stroked Rahne’s face affectionately, offering her a wry grin. “How could I refuse anyone with that face?”

As we picked up our pace and finally entered the building, I found myself wondering why I had caved so quickly to Rahne. Maybe I was getting soft in my old age? Or maybe, she was just right. While I was always a person willing to admit my mistakes, I had really believed that I was in the right here. But hearing Rahne’s perspective immediately made me feel as if I were being selfish and pouty, and I found myself agreeing with her. If the conversation had occurred with anyone else, I’m sure that I would’ve been as classically stubborn as ever and brushed off what they were saying, but I could never do that with Rahne. She was right, and I knew it. Maybe it was time to give Sam a call.

But not today.

After a brief phone call to Warren to let him know that I’d arrived at the research center, Rahne decided to give me the grand tour. We took our time, both of us playing an abbreviated version of catch-up, and asking each other for advice on various matters. After Rahne finished telling me about her and Jamie, and the romantic developments on that front, I decided to surprise her for a change.

“I’m seeing Warren, Rahne,” I stated bluntly. “What do you think?”

“Och, are ye serious, Dani?” Rahne asked. “When did this happen?”

“Just two weeks ago, actually. The night before I left the school to find myself again.” I sighed. “I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I’m already starting to miss him. I might not get to see him all that often anymore because of his obligations to X-Corporation and his bid to become a senator. And I don’t even know where I’m going to be a month from now… or when I’m going back to the school.”

Rahne looked at me with concern. “D’ye love ‘im, Dani?”

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, I nodded. “Yes, I do.”

She smiled. “Then things’ll work out for ye, Dani. If it’s worth it, then yuir gonna find a way t’be together, plain an’ simple.”

“You’re right,” I agreed.

“Now that we’re talkin’ about yuir love life,” Rahne continued, “how did you an’ Warren come t’be together? The two o’ye aren’t exactly birds of a feather… no pun intended.”

I could count on one hand the number of times I could recall Rahne crack a joke, and I couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Well, we became close after the X-Men freed me from Apocalypse, and he was at my side continuously during my recovery. Since he’d been through the same experience himself years ago, he knew what I was going through, and he was the only one who really got through to me and helped me find myself again. And things just… evolved from that point.”

“Does he make ye happy, Dani?” Rahne asked.

Again, I didn’t even hesitate to nod. “He does. He’s the first person in a very long time to make me realize that I don’t have to go through my pain alone, and that I can always rely on him for anything if I should so desire.”

“An’ his playboy past dinnae bother ye?” Rahne made a good point there. Warren had been quite the dilettante in his heyday, and he still reverted to type during times of stress. And not that I was at all insecure about him or the nature of our relationship, but there were times that I wondered if he were off “entertaining” himself while I was out finding myself. I knew better than to believe that, but even I had my private moments of minute paranoia. Who didn’t?

“It does, at times,” I answered honestly. “But I can either get over it, or let it rule every moment that we’re apart. And I’ve got enough on my mind without worrying about Warren. I love him, he loves me, and we trust each other to do right by each other.”

Rahne nodded, apparently satisfied with my answer. “I’m so happy for ye, Dani. Ye deserve someone who will treat ye right, and who is mature enough ta handle ye.”

“Not like Sam, huh?” I asked with a slight snicker.

“Actually, I was thinkin’ more along th’lines of ‘Berto,” Rahne replied.

I couldn’t help but laugh again. “Me and ‘Berto? Spirits, no, we’d kill each other!”

“Or at least, ye’d kill him,” Rahne said.

We both laughed. “You really think ‘Berto and I… ?” It was certainly a thought that I’d never personally entertained, even if he was quite a dish.

Rahne nodded. “Just look at what ye did when ye thought he was Reignfire. Ye sacrificed everythin’, alienated yuir family and friends, and put on terrorist airs… all for ‘Berto.”

“I’d have done that for any of you,” I told Rahne. “At the time, I thought I’d known the truth about Reignfire… that he was really just a future version of ‘Berto that had come back in time with Locus. I think that even he wanted to perpetuate that belief, because he knew what I was doing. I never fooled him, and he knew that I didn’t join the Front to help further his goals.”

“Ye certainly had me fooled, girl,” came a rich, familiar voice from behind us.

We both turned to face the direction of the voice, and there stood Dr. Moira MacTaggert, clad in her familiar pantsuit and white lab coat, glasses perched on her nose and a wry smile on her face. I couldn’t help but return a smile to the woman that we New Mutants thought of as our surrogate mother, she who helped bring us together. In many ways, like Rahne, Moira was the heart and soul of the New Mutants. Which made her estrangement from the Xavier Institute that much more disturbing to me. It shamed me to think that this kind and generous woman would ever regard me with suspicion or resentment.

As Moira stepped over to join us, I extended my hand to her in an effort to establish my good intentions. And much to my surprise, she took my hand and drew me into a warm, maternal hug. I sank into her embrace, and I could almost feel the tension draining from my muscles. She was letting me know right off the bat that she harbored no ill will toward me.

“So,” Moira began, “Hank McCoy is runnin’ the school now?”

I nodded. “Yes, and they’re doing a very good job, considering that we have over two hundred students enrolled now.”

Moira smiled, and I noticed that her emotions fluctuated oddly as we discussed the school. “And yuir teachin’ there, too!” Her smile grew wider. “Your parents would be so proud, Dani. And so would Charlie.”

I wasn’t entirely sure if this was a topic that either Moira or Rahne would want to discuss, so I decided to shift gears. “I have something to ask of you, Moira.”

Moira nodded sagely. “Ye aren’t losin’ control of yuir powers, darlin’. But in case yuir worried still, I’ll be happy t’perform a scan on ye.”

A few hours later, I found myself doing what I always did to clear my mind: physical exertion. I had already ran a good ten miles through the rolling hills that lay to the north of the complex and down the western shores, which were a little rockier than the beaches back home. I was just now able to see the complex again as I was close to completing my run… but I hadn’t really worked anything out.

Moira’s tests put any normal medical MRI to shame. The tests themselves lasted nearly two hours, and when they were over, I was glad to finally be free of scanners and sensors and able to move freely again. And despite the fact that I was nervous about what her tests were going to come up with, I wasn’t about to dwell on that. My thoughts were still in my dreams, the dream I had dreamt the night Warren and I had hooked up. And more importantly, why I had had that dream at all. Even though I hadn’t been dwelling on my time as Apocalypse’s servant at the time, it was perfectly normal for me to continue to have nightmares about the repercussions.

What bothered me, more than anything, was that I was so completely not in control of that dream. Due to a combination of my mental training under Professor Xavier and my own remarkable willpower, I was able to control my dreams to a large extent. The fact that I had been led around by the nose in this dream bothered me enough to come speak to Moira about it. She’d told me pretty much what I had expected her to tell me: not to worry, that everything was fine, et cetera. Still, it made me wonder if perhaps Apocalypse had done more to me than I was aware of. Considering Warren’s own experiences, and the experiences of Caliban, it was a rather sobering thought.

As I rounded the perimeter of the building itself, approaching the front doors, I found myself colliding solidly with someone. I braced myself as best I could as I fell backwards, landing on my rear but bracing myself enough so that it didn’t hurt as much as it should have. I looked up to see a rather handsome, well-built Indian man clad in a white pantsuit, lacking a tie and leaving the white dress shirt beneath unbuttoned to reveal his well-toned, richly-dark chest. His hair was cut short, not for style but for practicality, I guessed. He wore white leather loafers without socks, which I knew because the barest hint of dark flesh peeked out from where the pants didn’t cover the tops of his feet entirely.

He gazed down at me with eyes so dark that they almost seemed black, and a smile creased his chiseled features. “My apologies… I didn’t see you coming.” He offered me a hand.

“No kidding,” I replied as I hoisted myself to my feet, brushing myself off in the process. Then I realized I was being rude, and adjusted my attitude. I wondered for a moment why I had refused his offer for assistance. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Something to think about.

“No, no, I’m sorry. I should’ve been paying attention.” See? I can play nicely when I try.

“I’m Neal Shaara,” the man said, extending his hand to me. As he was left-handed, I noticed the simple yet beautiful wedding band around his ring finger, and I met his grip with my own.

“Danielle Moonstar.” His handshake was a bit unsure, but firm. Some people still sized up other people with a handshake. I wasn’t one of those people, but I did consciously notice his.

Neal nodded as I replied. “I’ve actually been looking for you. Rahne told me that you wanted to get some fresh air, and I had just stepped out to find you.” He looked me up and down before returning his gaze to my own. “Looks like you’ve been seeing the sights of the island, eh?”

“I went for a run,” I replied. “Helps to clear my head, find my center. Why were you looking for me?”

“To give you this,” Neal answered as he handed me the manila folder he held in his other hand. I took the folder, and opened it up to examine the contents. But I knew what the folder contained before I even opened it: my test results. Neal must have noticed my hesitation, because he caught my gaze and offered me a smile, showing dazzling white teeth that contrasted deliciously with his dark skin. Were I a single woman, I’d be flirting my ass off right about now. “It’s okay, Miss Moonstar. You have nothing to worry about.”

“And how the hell would you know that? Did you read my file?” I asked angrily, even as I glanced down momentarily to confirm what he’d said. He was right: all of Moira’s tests showed that my genetic sequences contained nothing anomalous.

Neal nodded sagely, and met my fiery gaze with his own. “I’m the head of security here at the center. It’s my job to make sure that you or anyone else who comes here isn’t a threat. We’ve had some problems.”

My anger dissipated rather quickly, replaced with concern. “Moira and Rahne didn’t say anything. What’s been happening?”

“Well, ever since the Xavier Institute went public,” he started with an almost disapproving look, “Moira’s had to deal with a number of protests, demonstrations, even a few threats to her well-being. There are a lot of people on this island, and in this country, that want her to leave and take her ‘lab rat muties’ with her.”

“I didn’t know,” I said, even as I turned away slightly to consider what he was telling me. Surely, with Rahne, Jamie, Guido, and Neal here, Moira was more than safe. And even if she wasn’t, she always had the X-Me—

And then I realized that Moira had broken ties with the X-Men. Cassandra Nova had managed to sever the Xavier Institute from one of its most valued and treasured allies. One more of that bitch’s goals accomplished. Moira had already endured a great deal, when it was discovered that her relationship with Sean Cassidy had been telepathically engineered by Emma Frost. She was probably feeling vulnerable as it was, before Cassandra coerced the X-Men into serving her interests.

Moira and her people here were isolated from the rest of the mutant community, at a time when those people connected to the Xavier Institute were very much thrust into the spotlight. No wonder Rahne and the rest of them were suspicious when I first arrived!

“I know I don’t have anything to worry about with you here,” Neal started. “Moira and Rahne both vouched for you, and that’s good enough for me. I came here not that long ago to have some tests run myself.”

“Oh?”

He nodded. “I learned, not that long ago, that I was a mutant. I can turn myself into solar plasma, and generate a hell of a lot of heat and energy doing so. Since my parents were good friends of Moira’s, I knew that this was the best place to come to figure out what to do about my mutation, and to learn how to control it instead of it controlling me. And since I didn’t have anywhere left to go after my mutation manifested, I accepted Moira’s offer to stay on as head of her security.”

I had been empathically reading him ever since we’d met, just to ensure that he wasn’t a threat, and I noticed then that when he spoke of the circumstances of his arrival here, he tended to grow sad. Not a depressing sad or a grieving sad, but more like a dull, resigned sad as if he had come to terms with some loss and had moved on as best he could. Something about him made me curious, so I decided to probe a little. If he was resistant, I wouldn’t press the issue. “Are you happy here?”

He waited a moment or two before responding. “As happy as I can be. At least here, being a mutant doesn’t get you blacklisted.”

I nodded in sympathy. My own ‘coming out’ as a mutant had led me to frighten all of my friends and family, and to live in solitude in the mountains for several years. It wasn’t until Black Eagle, my grandfather, had told me that he was sending me to Xavier’s that I had any hope of living a normal life. “Or cast out entirely. When my powers first manifested, I pretty much scared everyone in our community except for my parents, and my grandfather. My parents disappeared when I was ten, and I went to live with some friends of the family until my powers screwed that up, too. So I lived for a few years in the mountains, with only my grandfather and the animals for company. Black Eagle was pretty much the only person in my life that accepted me, until Moira and Charles Xavier came along.”

“My family are all pretty devout Muslims, and they didn’t accept me being a mutant at all. They… didn’t accept a lot of things. They disowned me. I was a detective for the Calcutta police, and I wasn’t even able to clean out my desk before they fired me. And my wife, she broke it off with an e-mail. So you can imagine if Moira’s offer was a most welcome one,” he stated with resigned anger and sadness. I wondered for a moment why he had chosen to share something so personal with me, a complete stranger until five minutes ago. Perhaps he, too, had his personal issues weighing on his mind. I could certainly understand that right now.

“I’m sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with your mutation, Neal,” I said. “Believe me, I know where you’re coming from. More than you could possibly know. Do you miss your wife?”

I caught an odd emotional reading from Neal, something I couldn’t quite lay my finger on, as I asked the question. “I miss her, but I don’t love her. Our marriage was prearranged between our two families, and though Karima and I were very close growing up, I was never in love with her. My heart belonged to someone else… and my family wouldn’t accept it, couldn’t accept it.”

I smiled then, a wry grin that I was hoping would take some of the mood out of the air. “Who did you love, the Whore of Babylon?”

Neal laughed then, a deep, rich sound that was one of the better laughs I’d ever heard because of its normalcy. “An American gentleman.”

Neal had certainly surprised me by outing himself to me, but it wasn’t as if I weren’t an accepting person. A Cheyenne mutant who’s stood in the halls of Asgard was certainly one of the most well-rounded individuals a person could hope to meet. Besides, I always had Xi’an to teach me what I needed to know about homosexuality. And Bobby Drake… but don’t tell him I said that!

To prevent myself from laughing out loud at my own internalized wisecrack, I smiled warmly. “You won’t get any of that here, Neal Shaara. The X-Men champion the concept of toleration and acceptance. Unless you’re out dissecting puppies in your spare time, we’re a pretty accepting crowd.” Except for Rahne. Rahne might not be too thrilled about working so closely with a homosexual man, and if she were still the same girl she was a few years ago, she’d have no problem telling him so. But I could be wrong.

He returned the smile, and nodded sagely. “So I’ve gathered. I haven’t been spending a lot of time with Rahne or Jamie or anyone else here. In between working for Moira and finishing up my bachelor’s at university on the mainland, I haven’t had a great deal of free time. But everyone here seems like they are genuinely good people.”

I nodded in return. “They are. Except Jamie. There’s something wrong with that one. Guido, too, come to think of it.” We both laughed, and I knew then that he’d already discovered the indescribably wonderful antics and pranks of the mutant Penn and Teller. If Jamie ever found that he couldn’t hack it as Moira’s assistant, he and Guido could make a bundle taking their act on the road.

Suddenly, Rahne came bursting through the front doors of the research center, not ten meters away from us, and made her way toward us at a very brisk pace. I could see the worry on her face, and I could feel the worry radiating from her empathically. Something was wrong.

“What is it, Rahney?” I asked. All I could do at that moment was silently appeal to the spirits that nothing was wrong with me. Selfish, but true.

Rahne stopped in front of me, and Neal reached out a hand to steady her. “It… it’s Allison… “

“Who?” Even as I asked it, I knew who she was referring to.

“Allison… Amara!”

Author’s Notes

Well, after getting off to a rather rocky start because of a very grueling school and work schedule (as well as other personal entanglements), Moonstar is finally really beginning to flow… and just in time, because the debut of New Mutants grows very, very close! I originally conceived this series as a four-part limited which would serve as a sort of prelude to New Mutants, but the beginnings of a truly epic story involving the inimitable Danielle Moonstar began to form in my head, and thus the limited was extended from four to twelve issues.

Just to give a taste of what’s to come, the next four-part story arc, entitled “Trials and Tribulations,” Dani is going to begin to truly realize her considerable potential… and just in time, as an otherworldly conflict to end all conflicts begins to reveal itself to her. Guest appearances by Forge, Puma, Archangel, Thor, and others abound, as Dani slaps on her war paint, readies her weapons, and prepares to march into the gaping maw of hell itself to fulfill an old debt… and to resolve her own inner demons once and for all!

I hope everyone is enjoying the evolution of Danielle Moonstar as much as I am… she’s an awesome character with potential by the truckload, and I guarantee that everyone is going to be surprised (pleasantly so!) at the epic struggle I have planned for the woman formerly known as Mirage!

-George