Disclaimer: Danielle Moonstar, the members of X-Force, 
M.L.F. all related characters mentioned, or
appear here belong to Marvel Comics. 
They are used for entertainment reasons only. 
Note: This takes place around X-Force Annual #3 
and before X-Force #41 
  
              "Colors of Belief" by Karen 

               The Balkans, early 90's 
   
   "Touch a man's religion, and you take away his soul." 
    Danielle Moonstar couldn't remember where she'd heard that 
    phrase, but it sent shivers  of ice down her spine. 
   It sounded  familiar, like a quote from a lecture during her 
   days as a member of the X-MEN's trainee team, the New Mutants. 

   The chill she'd felt  had nothing to do with generator going 
   off-line again. 
   The Mutant Liberation's Front hole-in-the-wall base had 
   once been used as a grain storage facility, now abandoned.  
   It was located near the capital city's docks. 
  
   "For Lord only knows what reason," Dani thought. 
   "Or maybe the owners were forced out."
    She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the lingering smell. 
   "Hopefully we won't be here long enough to become 
    accustomed to it," Dani said. 
       
   Picking up the television cables, she fiddled with the 
   hookups before plugging them into an available outlet. 
  "I hope Forearm is having better luck rigging the power relays 
   to the generator than I am. I wish he'd get the generator 
   up and running again, soon." 
  
  *************** 
  Dani learned back in the metal folding chair, staring at the 
  flickering screen of the black-and-white television set. 
   She picked up the remote control and zapped 
   through various news channels recapping highlights of the 
   mounting Serbian conflict. 
   Her attention riveted on a familiar face in the sea of strangers. 
        
   It was a live broadcast from Bosnia, the news anchor 
   was none other than Trish Tilby, from the Global News Network. 
   Dani recalled that Trish had helped the X-MEN in the past, 
   and that once she'd been involved with Hank McCoy, the Beast. 
   Trish Tilby had a reputation for taking high-risk reporting 
   assignments. Dani also knew that she was a journalist that 
   took pride in being fair and impartial. 
   As these thoughts went through Dani's head, she gave 
   her full attention to the report: 

  ***********
        "This is Trish Tilby, I 'm standing here live in front 
         of the American Embassy in Bosinia, where President 
         Milosevic, backing the Bonsian Serbs 
         and Frano Tudjan have agreed to meet to discuss the 
         mounting tensions between both ethnic groups. 
         As of last month, Bosian forces have seized as much 
         territory as they can, most of it in eastern Bosnina, 
         with an eye to a future union with Serbia.  
         With about two thirds now in Serb 
         hands, all sides make allegations of "ethnic cleansing". 
         There is evidence that all parties are guilty, but most 
         accounts hold Serbs responsible for the majority. 
         Reports say Serbs routinely rape Muslim women, imprison 
         the men in concentration camps, or execute hundreds at a 
         time, throwing their bodies into mass graves. 
         To alleviate the tension, Milosevic and Tujan have agreed 
         to meet tomorrow at noon. This is Trish Tilby, reporting." 
         As her last words were garbled out by static. 

    Dani's attention was drawn away from the screen as 
    the team's leader, the man called Reiginfire, entered the 
    room. He then collapsed into a moth-eaten leather chair. 
    He held a paperback book in one hand. 

     "What are you watching?" he asked, glancing absently in her 
      direction. 

    "Just switching back and forth through the news channels. 
     It's always good to know what you're up against,' 
    Dani replied, hoping he wouldn't notice how her hands shook.

   "Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer," 
    he quoted.  "Can't remember who said that, but it's good 
    advice, especially for our mode of operation," Reignfire said. 

    "What are you reading?" Dani asked. 

    "The Good Terrorist," he replied, his long, curling black hair 
     eerily haloed in a sphere of black solar energy. 
     It played along the backs of his knuckles, threatening 
    to singe the book's fragile pages. 
     A faint, acrid tinge of smoke from the singed paper wafted 
    to Dani's nose, making her cringe in distaste. 
  
    "Wish I was standing downwind," she muttered. 

    "I'd shred it, if I were you," Feral growled, having heard 
     the tail end of the conversation. 
    The cat-like mutant pounced into the office, 
    as she went to the refrigerator that leaned 
    up against the back wall. 
  
    "The big lug actually managed to get the generator 
    working again," Feral commented. 

    "Thank you, Maria," Reignfire said, returning to his book. 

     Cracking the door open, absently noting that the light did 
     stay on, she shoved containers around until she found what 
     she was looking for, a vanilla milkshake. She took it over 
     to a table and  collapsed into another metal folding chair. 

    "Stupid meat. They call themselves terrorists," Feral
    muttered, sipping her drink, tail twitching angrily. 
    Once a Morlock refugee who sought asylum with X-Force, 
    Feral had defected from the team when Reignfire offered her 
    the chance to cut loose against any and all whom would stand in 
    their way. He'd also given her the opportunity to let her 
    savage nature full rein. 
    "And hunting season, is open," Feral thought. 

    "Maria, these people having been fighting their "jihad" 
     a Muslim word for holy war, far longer than mutants appeared 
    on the scene. In the same way that we've demanded 
    freedom from oppression, the right to be left alone, 
    so have they.  We, on the other hand, have the power to take 
    our places as the dominant race on this planet," 
    Reignfire explained. 

    "You got a point, jefe?" Feral asked, somewhat mollified. 

    "Yes.  The Mutant Liberation Front, in its various 
    incarnations has had its day. 
    However, our presence here is strictly in the 
    interest of revamping our organization. 
    We have to make the world see that we intend to be 
    taken seriously," Reignfire stated. 

        "If you say so, boss," Feral said, getting up and 
         leaving the office. 
  
  Dani waited a few more minutes before she went to her own room. 

    ___ 
      Later 

 "How can I explain to them, my friends, the New Mutants, X-Force, 
  my reasons for being in the M.L.F, when I can't even explain 
  it to myself? she sighed, rubbing her temples to 
  soothe a lingering headache.
  She lay down on the folding cot that served as her bed. 

   "Here I am, cut off from everyone and everything I care about. 
    In the eyes  of X-Force, I'm a traitor and I'm powerless to 
    correct that assumption," Dani said.
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

    "Oh, Bobby, what happened to you?" 

  "Was it wrong to try to help out an old friend?" she thought. 
   "I'd just returned from the dimension of Norse myth known as 
    Asgard.  During my time with the New Mutants, I gained 
    the title of Valkayrie.... 

  "Time passed differently there then it did back on Earth and 
  sometime later I reappeared with the Mutant Liberation Front. 
  And the first time I meet up with my old friends, 
  I'm forced to fight them for the sake of keeping up 
  appearances. 
   We'd kidnapped Henry Peter Gyrich, director of the 
   National Security Council, and one of the most
   ardent anti-mutant crusaders. 
   When the dust settled,.... Dani trailed off. 

  "I'm not here because I believe in what the MLF stands for.
   I never did. I'm just here because I want to help out an 
   old friend, save him from himself. It's Locus's fault, 
   if she hadn't, if Sunspot's powers hadn't collided with her 
   phase shifting portal,... If only."
   Dani sighed, unable to come resolve her ambivalent feelings 
   this night. 
   Hopefully things would be clearer tomorrow morning, 
   after she'd gotten a good night's sleep. 

  "I quite literally fell from grace. Like I once told Tempo, 
   after that throwdown with X-Force on that Caribbean island. 
   I fell screaming from the skies.  An angel cast out of 
   a heaven I didn't belong in. I've held life in my hands. 
   I've stared death in the face.  I got tired of never knowing 
   which was the better alternative," Dani said, 
   staring at the wall before she fell asleep.
__ 
      Next morning 
  
    The motorcade rumbled up the avenue leading to the 
    American embassy. The long, black limo, centermost,
    escorted by troop carriers and the local police. 
    It pulled up to a parking spot along the esplanade in front 
    of the marble building. Both the man in the limo and the man 
    he'd come to see, emerged at the same time. 
    The latter stood at the lowest step leading up to the building 
    flanked by his bodyguards holding semi-automatic weapons
    and an escort of NATO soldiers.
    He descended the last step and greeted him,as the other 
   got out of the limo. 
    
   "Glad you could make it, old adversary," Milsoevic greeted. 
  
   "Being rather pleasant this afternoon, aren't you? 
   Last I heard your own people wanted to remove you from office," 
   Tudjman replied 
  
      "You know what they say about rumors. Shall we go 
      inside to discuss this cease-fire?" Milsoveic asked. 
  
   "That's what I've always depended on you for, your ability to 
   go straight to the heart of matters," 
   Tudjman replied, as they both entered the marble building. 
  
   ____ 
    Meanwhile 

    Reignfire gathered the MLF in the main office and proceeded to 
    outline his plan of attack. 
    It was essentially  a blitzkreig attack that comprised
   taking out any armed opposition.  
   The other part of the plan involved getting into the Embassy 
   and sabotaging the negotiations.

  Interlude 

   Inside the embassy, said negotiations preceded apace. 
   Several hours into the meeting, the ruckus from outside, 
   that  grew steadily louder. 

   "What's that?" Milsoevic asked, frowning. 
   He glanced up from a pile of documents on the table. 
 
   A gust of hot air blew the papers to the floor knocking 
   bookcases and everything on them down with a loud crash. 

  Above, the marble ceiling began sizzling. 
  Everyone craned their necks and looked up. 
  The gap expanded, and a coal-black figure leapt through it, 
  It came to a stop, hovering five feet in midair. 

  "Reignfire!" Tudjman gasped. 

  "So pleased you remember me," Reignfire said. 

  "You know this?" Milosevic stammered. 
  "Who are you? What are you?" Milosevic  asked, as he
  turned  to face the hovering figure. 

  "I am the future! I am the coming storm. I am the harbinger 
   of the mutant liberation! Even if it must be sequestered from 
   the clutches of humanity's clawing fingers one drop of 
   blood at a time!" Reignfire shouted. 

  "But? Why? You were supposed to aid our cause, fight the 
   armies, not turn against us!" Tudjman said.

  "I will foment anger and disaffection within the human race. 
   I will use that disaffection to create an army dedicated to 
   my cause.  That army will rally in unision to strike a claim to 
   one place, one country we can call our own. And only after we 
   are safe within the boundaries of the very laws you have 
   created, only then will we seek to overthrow oppressive rule 
   on the rest of this world!" Reignfire shouted.

  "So, all this time, all your posturing, promises, the 
   bargain we struck were nothing but hollow lies?" Tudjman said. 

   "Life's tough, you're a politician, deal with it," 
   Reignfire shrugged.
   "Even as I speak, my troops are carrying out their orders.
    You may watch as your fragile alliance crumbles around you,"
    Reignfire finished. He raised himself, exiting the same way
    he'd come. Then flew off toward the docks and the MLF's base.

   ___________________________ 
  
   Meanwhile, in just a troop carrier, designed to carry several 
   units with ease, there was more than enough room for every 
   member of the MLF,  even someone as bulky and muscled as 
   Forearm, who drove. 
  
 "I wish Wildside would shut up. 
  All he's done so far is paint in gory detail how many soldiers 
  he's going to kill," Dani thought.
  She sat in the shotgun seat, blessing the invention of seatbelts 
  as the troop carrier hit every bump and rut in the road. 
  She heard Tempo quietly counting to ten backwards,sititng
  next to Wildside, sidle to the far side so she wouldn't 
  have to listen to him. 
 
  Feral, however, listened raptly, occasionally purring in 
  time with the more gory details. 
  Having lost his 'audience, Wildside finally shut up. 
  
  Dani heaved a sigh of relief. 
  "If only it were that easy,"she thought. 

  "Hey, Dani, you okay?" Forearm asked, swiveling his head around 
   to face her, without risking taking his eyes off the road for
   too long. 

   Dani didn't feel like replying, because they'd reached their 
   destination. 
  
   "Ladies, and I use the term loosely, gentleman, we're here,"
   Forearm commented, maneuvering their transport alongside 
   others so it would blend in. 
  
   "So far so good," Dani observed.
******************* 
    
  Everyone got out of the vehicle. 
  
  "Why does 'our fearless leader" get the easy part of this 
  mission?" Tempo griped, pulling on her metal helmet, then 
  leaned against the vehicle. 

  "Because he's initializing the other part of the plan. 
   You'd know that if you'd paid attention during the briefing,"
   Dani replied, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sunlight. 
  "There's the signal", noting the thick cloud of smoke rising 
  from the roof. 

  "Well, I have to agree with Tempo, but at least all we're 
   facing here is the locals," Forerarm said. 

  "Take another look, big guy," Feral growled, pointing 
   towards the balconies lining the building on all sides. 
  "About time we had some real action." 

   "NATO soldiers," Wildside growled. "Big diff. After all what's 
    one less flatscan, except a good start?" as he 
    gave critical inspection to the length of his nails. 

   "Tempo, go airborne," Dani ordered, levering a psychic arrow 
   into place.  She watched the woman in the yellow metal costume 
   rise into the air. She came to a stop about even with the 
   highest balcony. Using her ability to create 
    a temporal energy flux field around her and her targets, 
    Tempo slowed down the soldierrs perception of time. 
********* 


  "Blast it, Tempo! Twist some more time!
  "We need to slow these guys down!" Forearm shouted, 
  barreling into a cadre of soilders armed with pulse laser rifles. 
  He wrapped  his huge limbs around them, then tossed them aside 
 like so much kindling. 
  "How long do we have to keep this up?" 

 "This was only supposed to be a hit and run operation,' 
 Dani replied. 
  
 "I'll try,  but you've got no idea what's involved when I do 
  this," Tempo gasped, sweating underneath her helmet, 
  teeth clenched in concentration, still hovering in midair.  
  The bullets and lasers spun around her. 
  None of which found their target. 
******* 
  On the other side of the tarmac, Wildside, overeager, rushed into 
  another cadre of soldiers, dispensing them by using his mutant 
  ability to distort reality, if only temporarily. 
  Instead, he went for the most vulnerable spots, the jugular, 
  long-nailed hands raised to slash.

 The soldier he faced raised his rifle, palms sweating.

 "Go on. Be a hero. Give it your best shot, little man. 
  I dare you," Wildside goaded, but he was cut off. 
  Glancing up  from his blood-streaked hands. He opened his mouth 
  to add something more; but whatever it was, was lost. 
  Suddenly, a glowing arrow of pisonic energy struck him right 
  between the eyes. 
  The shock to his nervous system sent him reeling, long enough to 
  scream, right before he hit the ground. 

 "Hey, Moonie, what'd ya do that for?" Feral growled. 
  "Your aim must be off, you hit Wildside inside of this poor 
  excuse for a GI," Feral added, grasping the soldier by his lapels. 

  "Not at all," Dani replied. "Feral, scoot around, tell 
   the others we're clearing out  NOW!" 

  "On it," Feral replied, dropping the soilder, running 
  off to relay the message. 

  Dani watched Feral leave, then silently noted the whereabouts
  of the others. Glancing up towards the embassy roof, she saw
  Reignfire rise up through the hole, headed back to their base.
  "It's not like we're cutting it too close here, or anything,"
  "The sooner we're outta here, the better I'll feel."
   
 
   Aftermath 

   Upon their return, Reignfire dismissed the rest, 
  then grabbed Dani's arm. It would have singed 
  her skin even underneath the fabric of her sleeve, that is 
  if he'd been using his powers. As it was, 
  the strength in his grip left bruises. Forcibly steering 
  her towards the office's leather chair, 
  he threw her into it.  Crossing his arms over his chest, 
  he glared at her. Knowing the game he was playing, 
  Dani glared silently back at him.
  Someone had to break the silence and she'd be damned if she 
  was going to do it 

    "Well?" Reignfire demanded, black solar energy crackling 
     around him. 
  
      "Well, what?" Dani replied, leaning back in the chair. 

   "What do you have to say for yourself? Why did you stop Wildside,
    with his ability to alter his victim's perception of reality, 
    it's no wonder he sees things in his own bloody light," 
    Reignfire said. 

    "It wasn't necessary to eviscerate those soldiers.
     Besides he acted against my explicit orders.
     They weren't even supposed to be there. I thought our 
     contact with Tudjman indicated that U.S, troops would be 
     kept out of the conflict," Dani stated. 

   "And Feral? X-Force saw her as a wild thing, a shape-changing 
   Morlock. She was tolerated, but never accepted. I showed her the 
   paradox of protecting humans who'd want her dead. I let her 
   feel the anger that was her birthright as a mutant," 
   Reignfire said. 

     "What? You want to pick apart the entire team's performance? 
     That's what field training sessions are for," 
     Dani replied, shrugging. 

     "What about Tempo?" he asked, shaking his head. 
    "I should not have freed her from Whitman Maximum Security 
     Prison. She never truly believed in the violent 
     necessities of our cause for mutant liberation." 

       "You got a problem with her, why don't you discuss it 
        with Tempo. I'm pleased with her performance as I am 
        with Forearm's. Why don't you come out and tell me what's 
        really on your mind," Dani asked, irritated with the 
        dramatics. 

    "You hesitated, you held back during a critical moment.
    That's inexcusable for a field commander," Reignfire growled. 
    "I think you test me, old friend. I think you still try to 
    play the role of revolutionary and conscientious objector. 
    If I ever find out that you were responsible for leaking 
    information that brought those NATO troops here,
    you know what will happen." 
    With that, Reignfire pivoted on his heels, and left the office. 

   "I know," Dani whispered, as she watcehd Reignfire go. 

   Dani waited ten minutes, then pulled a phone from underneath
   her cot. She dialed a number she'd been waiting for the right
   moment to use. It was long distance, and it was a risk that
   could be her in serious jeopardy if the MLF discovered she'd
   contacted. She knew it was a chance she had to take.
   ******
    
 
   New York, Present Day 

   Sam Guthrie and Nathan Dayspring left the NYPD precinct.
   They'd just seen both Maria Callasantos and Lucia Callasantos 
   carted off to Ryker's Prison upstate. 
   Feral and Thornn had revealed they'd been responsible for 
  the murder of their family. 
  Sam shook his head, wondering that Cable had an attorney's 
  license or that Thorrn, Lucia, would have used her one phone 
  call to contact him. 

  "How did you know Feral would show up here, Sir?" 
   Sam asked, trudging along side.
   "Standing over six feet had its advantages" 
   he thought, "especially when trying to keep pace with Cable,
    Wearing a pin-stripe polyester suit, he looked nothing
   like the gruff team leader of X-Force.
   
  "A little bird told me," Cable replied. "Besides, 
   Officer Hidalgo did his homework.  Even without his help 
   we had someone on the inside who helped set Feral up. 
   Don't think it doesn't bother me that one of my soldiers, 
   on my team...," Cable trailed off. 

  "It's the fact that Feral was completely unremorseful about 
   what went down in that dingy two-story house,"
   Sam added, shaking his head. 

  "It wasn't an easy problem, Sam," Cable said, as they paused 
  outside an electronics shop where a news report was running. 

 "It's bad enough she betrayed us by defecting to the 
  Mutant Liberation Front, but blaming them for what happened, 
  that was a neat trick," Sam said. 

 "I can't take all the credit for that. The idea came from a 
  young woman who tipped me off when Feral first arrived in 
  Manhattan. She also happened to feed Feral the information 
  which brought her to the Bronx," Cable explained. 

  "But who would benefit from helping' us out, makin' the 
   MLF look bad, and gettin' Feral and all that?" Sam asked, 
   utterly confused by now. 

  "Dani Moonstar!" Sam cried in shock, turning around to see
   a familiar face, sitting on her winged horse. 
 
   Dani emerged from the shadows of an alley. 

  "Sam, Cable. Things worked out just fine, didn't they?" 
   Dani asked, grasping the reins in a white knuckled grip. 
  
 "But you're with the MLF now... Aren't you? Why would you help 
  us?" Sam demanded. 

  "Maybe because, like you, I've always been, and still am
   someone who cares about the truth and about family," 
   Dani explained, right before she disapearred  back into 
   the shadows. 


   Finito 
   Updated: 7-17-99

  Please note: the e-mail (kareng1@uswest.net will eventually
   be changing to kareng1@wqwest.net,  messages can still be sent
   to the previous address, but sometime by the end of this year,
   it will be replace by the qwest instead.  ...Stupid merger 

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