"i made a bad connection
she says i went astray
i jumped ship abandoned my post
i didn't think i lost my way

but oh how the mighty fall
i saw her crack a smile
i don't got a chance for redemption
she don't believe in the miracle mile"

^Indigo Girls^
"Don't Give That Girl A Gun"

"I wasn't aware that your little underground railroad actively sought out refugees to populate Avalon." remarked the blue-furred mutant.

"We don't," admitted Jimaine. "At least, not usually. Call this a mission of mercy, if you will."

"I'd rather call it a funeral pyre of ideals," spoke up Arron, looking at the devastated landscape in which they were camped. "These people were trying to create something much like Avalon in this country."

"Under the very nose of Apocalypse?" Kurt sneered. "These people were not idealists, Herr Hlessil, they were victims of severe dementia."

"We can fault their planning, but not their goals," murmured Jimaine. "Without that sort of idealism, there would not be any sort of resistance to Apocalypse."

"I hardly see how it matters." Kurt was referring to the recent death of Apocalypse, but his fellow travelers tossed it aside as more of his cynicism.

"Perhaps you don't but we do. Anyway an... informant of the Gallop helps us out whenever he can, usually by supplying us with minor technology, such as the wrist-tracker that Wisdom has. It helps us keep a fix on the general location of our allies. With any luck, we'll find them before the Madri or the Infinates do. Then it's my job to teleport all of us back to our starting point in Avalon... in one trip if possible." She smiled bitterly at Kurt's questioning look. "Two trips are a very big risk. Something about my teleport spells and the ley lines... lines of magical force, to you... over U.S. soil sets off the Madri's flatscan-dectection instruments like mad. So if any are in the area..." Kurt nodded, needing no further explanation. The Madri had teleporters of their own and ways of blocking other teleporters, that he'd found out through painful personal experience. From Jimaine's semi- resentful expression, he got the idea that she wasn't probably wasn't going to be allowed to make two trips.

"Women and children first?" he suggested dryly.

"Pretty much."

"So why the large traveling party? Wouldn't one or two people make the return trip easier?"

Jimaine sighed. "Yes, I see your point. Every person I bring with me is one less refugee that can come back to Avalon. But this was the smallest party that could be put together on short notice. Arron scans for those who would cause us trouble, Catseye hunts most of what we eat..." She gestured to the unidentifiable chunk of meat roasting over a small fire. "Pete's an excellent field leader... and Meggan refuses to be separated from him. And I'm the teleporter. So far, we've been getting by all right."

"So far," Catseye's sour agreement was her contribution to the conversation, as she gave Kurt a harsh glare.

On the outside, Kurt looked as unconcerned as usual. Inside, he was rejoicing his good fortune. If he played his cards right, be able to get a ride back to Avalon and his mother with a minimum of hassle. Then he became aware that Arron was addressing him.

"Beg your pardon?"

"I said, 'What's your story?' How did you wind up here?"

"I thought that would be obvious. I was teleporting away from an area which was about to be razed when your Meggan yanked me here in mid- teleport." There. A simple, straight-forward answer. And it was obvious that it was totally unacceptable to those assembled.

Nightcrawler looked up as Wisdom and Meggan walked back into the small ring of firelight. The sullen Englishman glared around at the band, saving the most viscous of his looks for Jimaine and Kurt, but said nothing.

There was a length of heavy silence, perhaps as long as an hour, as everyone ate. There was some talk, but none directed at Kurt. Even Jimaine seemed to be ignoring him, which bothered the demonic-looking teleporter for reasons he couldn't pin down. Finally, Kurt decided that if he was going to get anywhere with these people without being considered excess baggage... or worse, Szardos' pet project... he'd best volunteer some useful information.

"I... don't think you should worry about the Madri. Or the Infinates for that matter." Now he had everyone's attention. "With Apocalypse dead , they'll be in disarray for weeks." His statement was met with looks of shocked disbelief. Then questions came, thick and fast.

"When did this happen?"

"How did you know about it?"

"This plonker knew something like that and just sat on it the whole time?"

The moon had moved to its apex for the night by the time everyone was finally satisfied that Kurt's story wasn't a fabrication... or at least not a total one. But to Catseye, it seemed that the death of Apocalypse paled beside another detail.

"Blue-stink-Kurt-enemy run out on other team like coward. How Catseye- friends not know he not do the same and vanish if we DO run into Madri- enemies or Infinate-enemies?" Kurt rose to his feet in anger, judging the distance between himself and the huge purple feline. He figured that he could skewer her with one of the blades strapped to his back, if he could just get a clear shot. Catseye saw him rise and smelled his anger. With a malicious feline grin, she goaded him on. "And why half-friend Wisdom so quick to trust and let down guard? Is blind, yes? Is stupid, yes? Maybe story is true, but maybe is all bullshit. Maybe Kurt-enemy is all bullshit too, looking for easy way to Avalon and out of hellhole United States."

Kurt didn't know where he found the strength to teleport away instead of trying to kill Sharon, but it came from somewhere. As second later, there was only a whiff of brimstone where he had been standing.

Catseye's ears twitched. "Not gone," she snarled. "Heard Bamf-noise. Is to south by big, dead trees." Her jaw dropped as Jimaine scrambled to her feet. Before the blonde sorceress could follow, Sharon pinned a corner of her traveling cloak to the ground with one massive paw. "Mother-mother Szardos no follow. Bad."

With a look of true anger, Jimaine yanked her cloak free and followed Kurt Darkholme, leaving Catseye to the discipline of her fellow travelers.

To Be continued in part nine