Excalibur #2 (1988)

In a deserted factory complex near Loch Daemon in the Scottish Highlands, Colin McCay plays "tag" with Widget. The boy is hiding from Vixen who payed a lot of money to get the orphaned boy into custody. Vixen's armed troopers search the facility and try to lure the hungry boy with Fish'n Chips. Eventually, they surround the child, but before capturing him, Widget opens a dimensional portal and Colin happily disappears. The soldiers return to Vixen with empty hands. In the meanwhile, in the London Underground, the Warwolves appear at Hob's End Station, together with the captured Kitty Pryde. They steal some more skins, push a woman onto the rails and disappear into a dark tunnel. The woman's life is threatened by an approaching underground railway, but Captain Britain manages to save her in the nick of time while Rachel stops the train with her telekinetic powers. The civilians celebrate the super heroes, but when Nightcrawler appears at the scene, they get afraid and panic because of his demonic appearance. Eventually, the police enters the station and tries to sort things out. Captain Britain demands that the police officers inform Scotland Yard special agent Dai Thomas, who will vouch for Excalibur. Excalibur is inhibited from following the warwolves into the tunnels until the situation is sorted out. Nightcrawler notices that one police officer shows a very odd behavior - he is smiling to himself and seems to be very amused. The mutant secretly follows him into a tunnel. There he is ambushed by the policeman who turns out to be a warwolf. Nightcrawler is captured and taken into their secret underground headquarter. In the meantime, Kitty Pryde's kidnappers reach the headquarter. Some warwolves are waiting for new skins and are provided with the latest stolen bodies. One warwolf tries to steal Kitty's skin, but after finishing the procedure, only the skintight Rachel suit is left - no sign of Kitty's body. The other warwolves mock their colleague who becomes quite depressed about the fact that he is the only one without a proper human skin. In the same moment as Kitty's life is at stake, Rachel Summers feels her pain due to their PSI link. She changes into her Phoenix form, leaves the subway station by tearing a big hole into the ceiling, and flies away. The police demands that Captain Britain will pay for the destruction of public property. In Fraser's Bank, Thamesside, Nigel Frobisher is amusing himself with his secretary when he sees the Phoenix in the sky. He immediately looses his interest in the woman and decides that he and Phoenix are meant for each other. Courtney Ross, who is sitting in her office, reflects about her time with Brian Braddock while watching the Phoenix rising. Rachel telepathically reports to Captain Britain and Meggan that Nightcrawler was attacked. The two leave the subway station and run into the tunnel in order to find the secret headquarter of the warwolves. In the headquarter, the warwolf who just tried to skin Kitty Pryde, shows a very odd behavior. Another warwolf, carrying the captured Nightcrawler on his back, enters the headquarter and offers him to take the mutant's body instead. The skinless warwolf is disgusted by Wagner's appearance, but his companions force him to take the body without complaint. While trying to suck out Nightcrawler's life, the warwolf suddenly starts beating his comrades and then begins to grow long hair. Soon all warwolves begin to melee with each other while Nightcrawler uses this situation for an escape attempt. He is captured by one of the warwolves, but then Captain Britain and Meggan enter the headquarter and save him from being skinned. Together they defeat all warwolves and capture the one with the long hair who shows a strong resemblance to Kitty. Meggan is confused because her scent is a mix of warwolf and Kitty, but suddenly two human hands open the warwolves mouth from the inside and Kitty Pryde fights her way out of the alien's body. She phased into her opponents body when he tried to kill and skin her while Rachel helped her to keep her conciousness cohesive. From the inside Kitty could control the warwolves' actions and used him to fight the other warwolves. Excalibur is clueless about what to do with the captured warwolves - they are aliens and can't be arrested or put on trial. Eventually, Excalibur donates the Warwolves to the London Zoo.