Chapter 7

Despite Dani's efforts they didn't manage to 'get up' to anything the next morning, but both girls made sure to drag Harry into their beds to get sleep when they realised he wasn't sleeping. Lorna also volunteered.

Eventually Scott and Jean returned, both were very angry. It seemed that the Shi'ar had decided to eradicate the entire Grey family line. They would have succeeded if Jean hadn't been there, as it was there were several casualties that she brought to Harry for healing.

Scott was in an even worse mood as he had been getting angry messages from SHIELD Director, Maria Hill. He had no idea what the real problem was as she refused to say, he just knew she was pissed at Harry.

That same evening Harry received an urgent call on the communicators from Rogue.

"Something took Polaris! It looked familiar, it was a large green… blob." Rogue reported.

"Green blob?" Harry asked in amusement. "Emma, Scott, do you know any large green blobs?"

"It could be Daap." Scott offered.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Actually, we're X-Men." Emma said dryly.

"Unfortunately, that explains a lot." Harry sighed. "Alright, I'm on my way."


"Lorna, what ya doin'?" Harry asked as he found himself in a dimly lit chamber. There were large machines everywhere including one that sat in the centre of the room and seemed to be connected to the floor and ceiling.

Strapped to this machine was Lorna Dane.

Lorna didn't respond though as she was unconscious.

Harry cast an Enervate on her and she groaned as she slowly woke.

"Hi there sleepy." Harry grinned. "We have actual beds at the Mansion."

"That little bastard!" She snapped as events came back to her. "If I ever find that little tub of green jello I am so kicking his arse!"

"At least you remember what happened." Harry muttered.

"Help me out of this thing Harry." Lorna asked somewhat tiredly.

Harry grabbed her shoulders and gently phased her out.

"Who dares invade my domain!" Came a booming voice.

"Death." Harry snapped in annoyance.

This intrigued the voice. "Indeed? You wish to become one of my Horseman, tell me, how did you find me?"

"What the devil are you talking about?" Harry demanded in irritation.

The figure seemed to melt out of the shadows.

"Oh god! Harry, that's Apocalypse! We should leave now!" Lorna began to panic a little.

"Have you forgotten what I am?" Harry grinned.

"What you are will make little difference, it is what I decide you will become that should concern you." Apocalypse intoned.

"Harry, we've tried killing him so many times, he just keeps coming back!"

"Yeah, that tends to happens with clones." Harry said dryly.

"He's a clone?" Lorna asked in surprise.

"He's as soulless as they come." Harry nodded. "He's definitely alive, but he has no soul. Which means that even if I do kill him, he might come back if someone activates another of his clones."

"God, he's like a damned cockroach." Lorna moaned.

Apocalypse, meanwhile, was watching curiously. The woman, he had plans for, she feared him, which was as it should be. But the man had no fear. It was almost as if he didn't believe the woman's tales. He would rectify that.

"I- "

Whatever Apocalypse was about to say was cut off, along with his head, which bounced onto the floor and rolled away. Two seconds later and the body toppled like a building being demolished.

"Harry… where did you get a lightsabre?" Lorna asked in awe.

"I made it, these things cut through just about anything." Harry grinned as he began twirling it around expertly. He suddenly finished in a defensive stance. "Took me years and years of watching the movies before I could do that without cutting something off. Usually my face." He admitted wryly as he dispelled his lightsabre.

A nearby table suddenly collapsed as one of the legs was neatly sliced away.

Harry looked from the demolished table to Lorna and grinned sheepishly. "Ten million years and I still haven't got it perfected."

Any further comments or questions by Lorna was interrupted by Jean flaming in with Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Wolverine, Scott and Emma. Each was in a combat stance.

Each looked at a shocked and dumbstruck Lorna to a grinning Harry who was pointing with a jabbing motion to the corpse at his feet.

"See, I told you Harry had it covered." Jean snapped. "Hank… your getting Apocalypse in your fur."

"Yeeeeeaaaaahhh!" Hank yelped as he kicked the severed head away from him.

Everyone just looked at him somewhat amused. "Why don't we all play a game young Bobby liked to play when we were kids, he called it: 'That never happened'?" Hank suggested as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Hell no, that was so funny!" Harry laughed.

"As amusing as you find my… predicament, perhaps you could explain how you managed to defeat one of the X-Men's greatest foes?" Hank asked. Granted they did need to know, but really it was an excuse to distract them from his… girly screams.

"I cut off his head." Harry declared.

"Well… how did you even get close enough to touch him… and what sort of blade did you use? Even Wolverine has trouble making a mark on him!" Scott asked.

"My blade is very special." Harry whispered conspiratorially.

"It's a damned lightsabre!" Lorna rolled her eyes.

"Hey! Spoilsport."

"We have better things to do than you messing with them, now show them the lightsabre so we can sort this place out, destroy it and go home." Lorna ordered.

"Technically y'are home, this… thing just appeared near the Mansion." Rogue told them.

"Seriously? What the hell did it land on?" Harry asked.

"A park." Scott told them.

"Jeeze, how many people did this idiot kill just because he wanted a flashy entrance?" Harry growled as he kicked the corpse viciously.

"We need to search this place and destroy all the equipment, it's far too dangerous to leave to governments." Scott explained.

"Scott, this thing is huge, it would take days to explore it. Using explosives would cause untold damage to the surrounding area." Emma reasoned.

"I could always hide it." Harry offered.

"Hide it?" Emma asked. "Maybe you should go outside and see just how big this is."

Harry shrugged and vanished. He reappeared seconds later. "Merlin this thing is an eyesore!" He exclaimed. "If I had the time I'd send it into the sun, I'll just have to hide it."

"How ya gonna hide it?" Rogue asked.

"The original version of the Lily Charm." Harry explained. "It will hide this… thing, and move it out of phase."

"What if someone finds it, what if Apocalypse comes back?" Scott asked worriedly.

"I have an idea, but we need to talk to Magma." Jean offered. "I'll be right back."

"Magma?" Harry asked.

"Amara." Hank supplied absently as he continued to focus on cleaning his furry foot. Harry took pity on him and cast a cleaning spell. "Oh thank you." Hank breathed. "I hate getting blood and guts in my fur." He shuddered.

"Don't you volunteer to work in the infirmary, mon ami?" Gambit asked in amusement.

"Would you rather I didn't and there was no one around to fix you up when a Sentinel bashes your noggin in?" He responded haughtily.

"Non, non, you be the best, Beast." Gambit backpedalled.

At this point Gambit was saved from the ire of Hank by the arrival of Jean and Amara.

"Ok, Magma says this will work, Harry will phase the entire structure into the Earth's core and she will guide him." Jean announced.

Everyone just stared at Jean.

"Wouldn't it be simpler for Harry to send it into the sun, like he suggested?" Hank asked.

"It would take years for it to reach the sun." Harry explained. "Unless you know of a way to get me to the sun in the blink of an eye?"

There was a round of shared looks and glances, but they came to the conclusion that they couldn't do that.

"Will you be able to protect yourself down there?" Amara asked nervously. She still had nightmares about watching Antonio die in the lava as his powers vanished without warning.

"I can't die, Amara. Watch." He conjured his lightsabre, much to the amazement of the others, and attempted to cut off his arm, much to the horror of the others. "See? Can't die, in my universe I actually went into my sun, it did disintegrate me, but I kept reconstituting. Very painful that one." He shuddered.

"Why would you do that?" Lorna demanded angrily.

"I was trying to die, I was the last living creature in my universe, had been for millions of years, I wanted to die and crossover. Apparently, it's something I am not capable of." He said sadly.

Harry found himself in a group hug with Jean, Lorna and Amara… and Hank.

Scott looked at Emma in amusement as she had nearly taken a step forward.

"Alright, this is going to take a few days, so be alert, remember the students are your first priority, in an emergency have Dani or Lorna call for me, we will leave the structure where it is and finish later."

"Before you do this, we should check for survivors." Scott pointed out. "He kidnapped Lorna, we need to know if he kidnapped anyone else."

"That could take a while." Rogue muttered. "We have any speedsters?"

"What about Jamie Madrox?" Lorna suggested.

"Oh god." Scott moaned.

Everyone just looked at him with a smile.

"He's not that bad, Scott." Hank admonished.


In short order Jamie Madrox aka Multiple Man was drafted in, the rest of X-Factor tagging along for the ride.

"You shouldn't be here."

These were the first words out of a young teenagers mouth, she was a short blonde who seemed to have an instant dislike for Harry.

"I've got nowhere else to be." Harry retorted. He was used to animosity but this kid hadn't even met him yet.

"I don't know you."

"You could try and get to know me."

"This is wrong." She stated before wondering off, muttering to herself.

"What the hell did I do?" Harry asked out loud.

"That's Layla. She… knows stuff." Jamie explained. "Almost like she knows the future."

"A seer?" Harry asked.

"Meh, Guido and I don't think so, she refuses to give us any football scores."

"Maybe she just has a strong moral fibre." Theresa pointed out snidely.

"What's a good diet gotta do with making money on the ponies?" Guido asked.

"I think she means-"

"Save it man, it's not worth it." Jamie advised Harry.

"Ah! We have something!" Jamie declared as he received information from one of his dupes.

Quickly they started running down hallways, it took them to the lower levels where they found something truly horrific.

"My god, is that Sunfire?" Hank muttered. The man in a red costume of Asian descent was missing both his legs at half way up the thigh. He had a trail of blood behind him as he had clearly been dragging his body.

"Ah gawd! I thought he was dead!" Rogue cried in horror. "That bitch Deathstrike cut his legs off and imprisoned us, he made me take his powers to defeat her, when I went back for him he was gone!"

"He has lost a lot of blood and he is in shock." Hank reported.

"Remove the bandages from his stumps."

"Harry, that might be the only thing preventing him from bleeding out!" Hank objected.

"Don't worry, limb replacement was one of the first things I learnt to do." Harry said with small smile.

Having seen everything Harry had done so far, Hank barely hesitated. He began removing the bandages, he was shocked to see blood being held back by an invisible force. A quick look at Harry assured him that he was responsible.

Once the stumps were free, Harry knelt down and began to focus. The gathered group watched in amazement as the bones began flow out and reform, followed by the muscles, veins, arteries, flesh and skin. It was like watching water flow.

"That was an odd contrast of the beauty of creation from the horror of his injuries." Hank said in complete awe.

"Thank you Hank. No one has ever said anything like that before." Harry said sincerely.

"Where they blind?" Emma asked in disbelief.

"Actually, they are usually too busy revelling in the fact that they were being made whole. It's not the same sentiment, but very fulfilling." Harry explained.

"I can understand that." Scott agreed as he absently rubbed around his visor.

"You only have to ask Scott." Harry pointed out. "Lorna, would you take him to the infirmary, please?"

Lorna just nodded before touching the newly healed man's shoulder and vanishing.

"Ok, there is a corpse lying in a corridor, a stone man trapped in a room by my dupes and someone who looks like he has been tortured and experimented on." Jamie reported.

"Last one first, lead the way." Harry ordered.

What they found made their blood boil. Scott and Hank were able to identify Gazer, but only barely.

"This is weird, he has his physical mutations but no x-gene or the energy to power it." Harry mused.

"He's been brain washed." Emma informed them. "Apocalypse was re-creating his four horsemen and Gazer was to be War."

"Can ya fix him? Erase those memories?" Rogue asked.

"I can, but it will be a lengthy process."

"Nah, it'll take me about five seconds." Harry told them.

"Five seconds?" Emma asked incredulously.

"Well, maybe two."

"TWO!"

"Magic, Emma." Jean reminded her.

"Yes, of course." Emma sighed.

It was a bit of a surprise when Gazer started changing colour and looking more human. Pitch black hair with olive tanned skin, still fairly short though.

"His body was dying, severe radiation poisoning." Harry explained. "I would have had to do something regardless."

Lorna suddenly appeared again. "Another one?"

"It's Gazer." Scott told her.

"Oh, how did he get down here?" She wondered. But it was mostly to herself, she didn't wait for an answer before she grabbed his shoulder and teleported out.

"Ok, Jamie, can you lead Jean to the corpse and have a dupe lead the rest of us to the stone guy?"

"Sure." Jamie stomped his foot and they went off.

The stone guy, called Ozymandias, was on one of the upper floors. He had tried to escape but Jamie had simply overwhelmed him with numbers.

"What do we know about Ozzy, here?" Harry asked.

"He's always been with Apocalypse and usually works for him. He's just as bad, just not as powerful." Scott explained.

"He's also a bloody horcrux." Harry commented blithely. "Well, in that case, bye bye Ozzy."

"My master will rebuild me, he always does." Ozymandias spat.

"Sure, but your soul will not be around for it." Harry shrugged. The blast of green light caused the stone to disintegrate, all except Scott, Emma and Hank were surprised to see Harry's hand snap forward and a misty visage of the soul appear and then dissolve.

"I've always wondered what that looked like." Jean commented in hushed tone. "But never wanted to see it."

"What was that?" Monet St. Croix asked.

"That was Harry destroying the soul completely. When you die, your soul crosses over to the afterlife. But Harry can erase it completely from existence." She explained.

"But… Sunfire? You're a healer!" Theresa blurted.

"And sometimes, death is the ultimate form of healing." Harry said softly.

That caused Theresa to consider it.

"Man… that's…. " Jamie tried to think of the right term.

"Deep?" Monet suggested.

"Fuckin' morbid."

"Got go with Guido on this one." Jamie nodded vigorously.

Theresa looked about to lay into him when she noticed Logan, Remy and Rogue all agreeing.

"Yeah, I'm a real morbid guy." Harry grinned happily.

They suddenly found themselves looking up at the huge sphinx like structure from outside.

"You take care of those kids and remember to have Lorna or Dani call me if things get… funky." Harry ordered as he grabbed Amara around her waist and floated them up.

"I like him, think he could come join our team?" Guido asked cheerfully.

This did not please Layla who stomped off with an inarticulate growl. The others stayed to watch as the Sphinx began to sink into the ground, they left the clean up to SHIELD who had finally turned up. Hill was not pleased that she had lost all that technology.


X-Factor returned home despite Layla's ranting that they needed to lock up and interrogate Harry. Most of the Mansion residents just laughed at the thought of actually containing Harry, especially Hank and Emma who had witnessed Harry walk right through the armed guards of the sanctuary.

Sunfire refused to leave, stating that he owed a debt of honour to Dr. Potter for making him whole. No one would miss him as he had no home back in Japan anymore.

Gazer was still struggling as he had made his peace with dying and now found himself alive and completely healed and human. He spent much of the time with Nightcrawler in the chapel.

It was two days after Harry and Amara had left that the X-Men realised they needed Harry back. Dani hadn't hesitated when she heard the news and practically screamed for Harry to return. Her mental call had been so desperate that she accidentally called all the magicals, Peter and MJ were put to use in dealing with a traumatised Leech, Sofia, David and Kevin who had seen the horror in the infirmary.

"What the hell happened here?" Harry demanded angrily as he took in the sight.

Jay Guthrie was laying, bleeding on the bed with his wings amputated.

"We found him on the door step like this." Scott said, his voice was clear and calm, but his jaw was tight, his emotions heaving against his control.

"God dammit!" Harry growled. "Remove the bandages and flip him over."

Hank and Jean immediately moved to comply.

"Scott, I need to know everything you know." Harry said calmly, but the seething anger was clearly audible.

"We don't know anything." There was a hint of desperation and grasping in his voice. "Jay literally showed up on our doorstep, Emma and I found him, had Dani transport him here and called in Hank and Jean."

"Emma, Jean, can you tell me anything, his thoughts?"

"There's far too much pain, but, it's almost as though… Oh god, he's waking up!" Emma cried.

"Like hell." Harry snapped, a bolt of blue light shot out of his hand.

"I can't sense him, what did you do?" Emma asked.

"Put him in a coma. I can revive him later, I just find it easier to operate when the patient isn't screaming in agony or completely hysterical." Harry explained, the bandages were off and Harry was already at work.

"You can do this with mutant appendages as well?" Hank asked, despite the horror of the situation this was still an incredible learning experience.

"As long as it's a natural part of him, in his DNA so to speak." Harry answered absently.

He soon stood back to reveal the peach coloured wings that defined Jay Guthrie as 'Icarus'.

"Incredible."

Harry didn't recognise that voice so he turned towards it to see Sunfire standing there gaping in amazement.

"It's good to see you up and around." Harry said with a subdued smile.

"I owe you a great debt, Potter-sama." He said with a deep bow.

This shocked them all, most of the older X-Men were familiar with Japanese customs after spending time in Japan.

Surprising them all, Harry returned the bow but only slightly less deeply. "It was my honour to restore you, I have faith that you will continue to uphold the traditions of the samurai."

"I would swear my allegiance to you, Potter-sama. It would be a great honour."

"If that is your wish, then you would bring honour to us both." Harry returned. "We will speak of this later, for now, I would request your aid in defending the children who live here. This one has suffered, but we must ensure the rest may sleep peacefully."

"I shall stand guard, Potter-sama." With that Sunfire marched out.

"For god's sake, someone tell me his name!" Harry groaned.

"Shiro Yoshida." Jean said with a slight smirk.

"Kid, do you know what just happened?" Logan asked, he was very familiar with the Way of the Warrior.

"I just won the loyalty of a powerful samurai."

"Do you know what that means?"

"He and any who follow him will look to me for advice and leadership, as well as expecting me to see to the safety prosperity of their fiefdoms should they fall on hard times." Harry looked up at Logan and smiled. "Back in my world I was known as a fierce warrior but a noble king. I eventually ruled the world, I learnt a lot about the cultures of the planet."

"The whole world?" Amara asked sceptically.

"Every single millimetre. People liked having a leader who didn't make promises he couldn't keep and never lied." Harry turned business like. "You lot shouldn't be here, Jay could have been a message. Jean, take to the skies and keep a look out, Emma, get in that Cerebro thing and do the same, Logan join Sunfire, Scott, get on the line with Cooper and tell her to up the security, also tell her to expect a bollocking from me, Jay should have been noticed long before he reached the gates."

Everyone looked at Scott expectantly. "Understood." Was all he said before spinning on his heel and heading off. The others shook their heads in disbelief but left to do the same.

"That was… unexpected." Hank said, still in surprise at Scott's acceptance of Harry giving orders.

"Well, he couldn't exactly object, nothing I said was anything that shouldn't have been said." Harry shrugged.

"Still, he might confront you about you giving orders later." Lorna advised.

"I have a secret weapon against him." Harry grinned evilly.

Nobody dared ask what.

"Now, lets wake Jay up and see what's the what." Harry stated as he cast an over-powered Enervate at Jay.

"What… NO! Don't touch me!" The instant he realised where he was he began screaming.

Then he noticed his wings and became hysterical.

"NO! NO! NO!" He kept screaming over and over again.

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD PUT HIM OUT AGAIN!" Hank yelled over Jay.

Harry, however was looking straight into Jay's eyes. What he gleaned enraged him.

*SMACK*

The sound of Harry's hand impacting Jay's cheek echoed through the now silent room.

"You bastard." Harry growled. "Do you know what you've done? Do you know how many people you've hurt and traumatised?"

"Harry!" Hank whispered in shock. He was usually such a jovial appearing young man, but something had enraged him to the point he treated him like a malevolent creature. But Harry rarely showed emotion, he simply did what he had to and moved on. Only showing compassion for the witnesses.

"If you wanted to be human you could have come and asked me and no one would have batted an eyelid. But no, you went and had horrific acts committed on you and sold out your friends."

"It's what God wanted!" Jay retorted angrily. "Witch!" He spat.

"It's 'Wizard', little boy. But for you, you will continue to call me by my true name, from now on, you will call me 'Death', and you will forever be known as 'Icarus'." Harry told him with pure venom as a glow settled over Icarus before vanishing into him.

"Let me tell you something about yourself, Icarus. Your healing power makes you immortal. There are several mutants I've met whose bodies are immortal. They can be killed, but if left to their own devices, they will never physically die. They will have to rely on me to send their souls on."

This news stunned Beast, he and Professor Xavier had always suspected that Logan could potentially live forever, but that there were others was amazing.

"From this day on, your wings can never be hidden. You will learn to embrace your mutant abilities, you selfish bastard." Harry stepped out of the curtained area and after Hank followed he closed the curtains behind them and moved to Hank's office.

"Times like this I could use some Firewhiskey." Harry groaned as he conjured a pair of reclining armchairs for them.

"Harry… what happened?" Hank was very concerned, not just about Jay, but the effect it had on Harry as well.

"That bastard went to Stryker, well, Stryker found him in fairness. Convinced him to let him cut off his wings and tell him everything he could about me and the kids, I don't know how the hell Stryker knows about me yet." Harry considered.

"My god." Hank murmured. "We need to tell Scott, the Institute is in danger."

"The institute is already in danger. Icarus didn't know anything relevant, everything was out of date." Harry assured him. "But I can use what Icarus told Stryker against him."

"Was it really necessary to be so rough on the lad?"

"He was going to sell Sooraya out to them."

Hank began to growl. Jean and Logan would be very angry, they had been pivotal in bringing Sooraya to the Institute, Logan had rescued her from a devastating massacre.

Their discussion was interrupted by Dani teleporting in.

"Harry, I think Emma's gone off the deep end, she's having the students fight each other, it's like Battle Royale in the Danger Room." She said worriedly.

"For the love of god!" Harry groaned. "Tell Jean to get in Cerebro, I'll deal with Emma."

Harry vanished leaving Dani and Hank wondering what else would go wrong.


When Harry appeared in the Danger Room, it was utter chaos. Everyone seemed to be attacking everyone.

Harry was already in a bad mood, his dragon side was desperate to come out and do something. So he changed.

"ENOUGH!" The dragon roared.

Everybody froze. They had all heard of the huge dragon that Harry could become, but seeing it was something else, especially when it was angry and facing you.

"Everybody assemble in the dining hall, I want every student and professor there who hasn't had prior orders from me. And I mean every student; human, magical and mutant."

The students looked nervously between Emma and the dragon, a small part of Emma's mind was both insulted and pleased that they thought she was just as scary as a dragon.

"MOVE!" The dragon roared.

The dragon was now officially scarier.

Harry teleported Emma down in front of him from the control room, still in his dragon form. He didn't have access to all of his magical abilities but he could do the basics in this form.

"What were you thinking Emma?" The dragon growled.

"War has been declared. They need to learn to defend themselves, they need to know how to fight."

"No, they need to learn how to live! We are the warriors, we are the defenders of the children."

"And what if we fail? We failed Jay." She finished quietly.

Harry realised that she wasn't just in shock, she was blaming herself. Harry shifted to his human form.

"Emma, he chose that." Harry said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "He willing went to Stryker, Stryker did manipulate him, but he went there willingly. Furthermore he willingly gave Stryker more information and agreed to help him get to the students."

Emma's head shot up. "Why?"

"He was bought up Christian, Stryker is a 'Reverend', combined with his natural naivety it wasn't very hard for Stryker to use him." Harry explained. "He knew a lot about Icarus, my guess is he was watching him and the others for a long time."

"I'll kill that bastard!" She growled.

"Icarus or Stryker?" Harry asked.

"I'll get back to you."

"I have Icarus' punishment well in hand." Harry assured her. "But we still need to talk about you."

Emma's head snapped up to look at him.

"Let's forget the fact that you endangered the students by having them fight each other. They are still learning control and could have seriously injured each other.

"More importantly, we are in a crisis, a state of emergency and you abandoned your post at Cerebro and left a huge hole in our available defences."

It had been a conscious act of rebellion on her part. She felt she had failed a student, felt that Harry had lied to them, if he was so powerful then why hadn't he saved Jay from horrific mutilation?

So she had ignored the orders given and sought to protect her students by having them protect themselves.

"I see." Harry sighed.

She looked up at him.

"It's written on your face… and you are practically broadcasting it." Harry told her. "Come, we will talk more later, we need to address the students. Rumours will be bouncing around and it is better if they have the truth, they will trust us more in the long run."

Harry teleported them up to the dining hall where the students and adults were assembled.

"Give them the outline, I'll fill in the details." Harry said as he gestured for her to address them.

Emma steeled herself and stepped forward. "Approximately half an hour ago, Jay Guthrie was found on the Mansion doorstep, his wings had been amputated and he was dying. We took him to the infirmary where Dr. Potter was called in and he healed him, he now has his wings back.

"Before you run off thinking this was an attack, please listen to what Dr. Potter has to report."

She stepped back and gave a nod to Harry.

"Healing Icarus' wings was easy. I had him physically healthy in minutes. Due to the fact that we didn't know what had happened, we deployed various X-Men to patrol and guard the Mansion. They are still out there. The O*N*E has been informed and should have also heightened their security."

Harry sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. He had been up for a long while, he had to stay awake to keep the structure he had been phasing… phased.

"Now, the reason for Icarus having his wings removed..." Harry said. "I read his mind, he went to Stryker. Stryker manipulated him by using his Christian upbringing to convince him completely that he was cursed by God and that he needed to have the wings removed. It was Stryker and his people that surgically removed his wings."

There were various mutterings and whispers going through the hall.

"Silence." Harry ordered firmly. "You need to hear all of this.

"Icarus didn't just do this and have his wings removed, which I would have accepted, but definitely not approved of, he also gave Stryker information on us. On our movements. Granted, Stryker spun him a tale of doing God's work and helping bring them to Jesus, but it was all lies.

"Icarus is to be stripped of his birth name. Joshua 'Jay' Guthrie is no longer his name. He will be called 'Icarus', his mutant codename. Icarus will keep his wings and be unable to hide them, this is his punishment for the crimes he sought to commit against the rest of us. He colluded and gave information to a terrorist who has made it clear he wants to eradicate mutant kind.

"For the next few days, the Institute will be on complete lockdown. Only Dani, Lorna and myself will be heading in and out, though I may take people with me. This will be for two days at the most. After that, I should have things sorted so that you can have your freedom back, and more.

"Now, head off and discuss things if you want, you've got two hours till lights out."


"He made it all the way down the road and your people couldn't see?" Harry was nearly screaming in rage at Val Cooper. "There is a trail of blood half way up the road, what the hell where they doing that they couldn't identify him… didn't identify him?"

"We are looking into it Doctor, but it will take time." Val tried to reassure him.

Harry just looked at her. "What exactly is going to take time?"

"We need to find out who was on duty…"

"This is a military outfit, no? Don't try and pull this bullshit with me, Dr. Cooper. I have served at nearly every rank imaginable."

"No, the military knows who was on duty, I don't." Val explained quickly. "They aren't telling me. It's Lazer, he was the one who wanted to put the tags in people. I didn't find out till later that they actually had a tazer like function built into them."

"If you actually care about the work you do, the people you are trying to protect, then I suggest you quit the O*N*E and find someone to work with who shares your views. The Xavier Institute could always use more help. By the time I am done, the O*N*E will be a shambles and General Lazer will find himself in a whole heap of trouble." Harry didn't wait for a response, he just vanished.

"He's not joking, or making idle threats." Val commented as she hit a button on her keyboard. The large monitor on the wall opposite flashed on revealing the image of General Lazer.

"The United States does not give in to threats." He spat. That little runt thought he could actually touch him. He would see just how much power Potter had compared the United States.

"He isn't threatening the United States, just a branch of the government and military that seems to be failing to live up to its mandate." She retorted.

"I decide the mandate, Doctor. Potter will discover that all his threats mean nothing when set against the full force of the US military."

"And the President supports this?"

"The President listens to me. He knows just how dangerous mutants and super powered beings are. They threaten our way of life. Just one of them could destroy our economy, our loved ones. They need to be stopped before they can start. Even if that means killing them all."

"General, you can't be serious? That's genocide! You'll be lucky to make it to The Hague alive!"

"Mutants will make a mistake sooner or later, and when they do, we'll cleanse the human race once and for all."

Val and the General were both startled when Harry materialised in the room. "I suggest you run and hide, General. I will be coming for you." He blasted the monitor with a Reducto.

"I will be showing this to Captain America and Dr. Strange. They will help me get it to the highest reaches of government, like I said a minute ago, you might want to jump ship now." With that, Harry vanished properly.


The students mournfully boarded the bus. They had been told that they needed to leave for their own safety. They weren't mutants and they had no place in a mutant school. Others would leave later, making their own way.

They travelled through sewers and Morlock tunnels to avoid being spotted, their mutant friends accompanying them as far as they could, exchanging hugs and promises to keep in touch as they climbed aboard.

As the bus pulled a way, a bright flare erupted behind them, a rocket launched into the air homing on the bus, the students in the bus began to panic as both they and their friends on the outside watched on helplessly.

And then the rocket hit.

The bus went up in a ball of orange flame, it took up to thirty seconds for some of the debris to crash back down to Earth. The mutant students rushed to aid who they could, but the flames were too hot for them. Their friends were dead or dying. They were beyond help. All that remained was fire, death and tears.

"It's all clear!" Came a voice.

All the crying stopped.

The dead, injured and grieving… they simply vanished.

O*N*E personnel suddenly moved out of cover and began clean up.

"Creepiest damned thing I ever saw." Logan commented quietly.

Several hundred metres away, beneath several layers of shields and concealment charms, the entire population of the Institute was arrayed in a single line with a perfect view of what happened.

Harry stepped forward to stand in front of the spectators and addressed them.

"I let this play out just so you would see the truth." He told them. "Early plans, post M-Day, were for all non-mutants to be sent home, Icarus gave Stryker these plans and this is what he did with them."

All of the students were in shock, many were crying. Some had seen themselves horrifically killed or injured, others saw their friends dying as they watched helplessly.

Icarus was on his knees, heaving his stomach contents. But nobody helped him.

"I showed you this for another reason, to show you just how much power I have, how much control. I originally created these… golems, I guess, as a means to foil assassinations, but towards the end of humanity's existence in my world, when there were only a handful remaining, despair set in, so I used the golems to trick them into believing they weren't the last.

"I will do everything in my power to protect you and ensure your safety and happiness. Tonight Fawkes will sing for you whilst you sleep. Phoenix song aids in making us feel better and lifting our spirits. If you need to talk to anyone, we'll all be available tomorrow."

With that, Harry waved a hand and the students vanished leaving Scott and Harry standing there.

"Come on, let's go see if Val actually managed to track them down." Scott sighed as he turned and headed off. He was really hoping Fawkes was as good as Harry said, he was already having flashbacks.

Harry just shrugged and teleported them out.

Scott stumbled as he nearly walked into Val, he wasn't aware Harry was going to do that, he turned to glare at Harry, who just grinned.

"Dr. Potter, Cyclops. Next time would you mind appearing a few steps back, it's very disconcerting." Val said tensely. It didn't matter that it was fake, she just watched terrorists blow up innocent civilians, she was pissed. Not to mention her recent orders.

"You have the data for us, Val?" Harry asked.

And here was what Val was dreading. "I have been ordered not to give you the data pertaining to tonight's operations."

"Because the O*N*E is going to arrest them?" Harry asked badly affected fake hope.

"Because they wish to take a 'wait and see' approach." She breathed out, she tensed, waiting for the blow up.

"Wait for what and see what?" Cyclops asked, he was very confused.

"I… I honestly don't know." Val leaned back against the military humvee she was standing next to. "It seems that Lazer managed to avoid any fall out over the tagging issue, he is still in command. If I could give you the information I would, Lazer be damned! But he ordered Reyes to confiscate it and bring it to him immediately."

"Sounds to me like you are not liking your job." Harry smirked.

"Dr. Potter, if I don't stay here and keep an eye on things someone worse will come along." She snapped.

"Meh, call me Harry, and whoever comes along is irrelevant." He shrugged. "The O*N*E is only allowed to participate because I let them participate."

Val looked at him sceptically.

Harry just laughed. "Quit your job, come work for me and I will not only pay you to ensure law, order and safety amongst… well, I guess 'powered-humans' will do, but I will also give you the powers and abilities to get the job done."

"You want me to just walk up to my boss, say 'I quit' and expect them to say: 'we're sorry to see you go' and expect them to let me leave?" She asked incredulously.

"I was thinking of writing a letter or an email." Harry offered.

Scott just snorted a laugh. Harry was about as serious as Bobby or Peter Parker. He seemed to have very little respect for authority, but he definitely knew how to wield it.

Val scowled at Scott.

"Just take his offer, Val. He'll only bug you about it and you'll eventually kick yourself for not accepting sooner."

"Fine, but if this falls through-"

"There will always be a place at the Institute for you." Scott assured her.

"Sweet!" Harry crowed, only for Lorna to appear next to her.

"Lorna, Val is joining us."

"Joining us, joining us?" She asked curiously.

"Huh?"

"Oh, never mind!" She backpedalled quickly. "So, is she powered up or…?"

"Not, yet, I'll do it tomorrow when I have some spare time. Just take her and give her the demo."

"Sure Harry." She smiled before hooking her arm in Val's elbow and vanishing.

"So what do we do now? Just wait for the next attack?" Scott asked morosely.

"Buck up, Scotty!"

Scott groaned, he was hoping Harry wouldn't try using that nickname.

"I am going to open the eyes of the world to the plight of the mutants." He grinned as he caused them both to vanish.


Jean was skipping down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. Emma had relieved her from monitoring Cerebro. She had been very insistent. It was about as close to an apology as she was going to get from Emma.

She was just pouring some coffee when she heard Emma practically scream into her mind.

"JEAN! SNIPER TARGETTING WALLFLOWER IN THE COURTYARD!"

Jean didn't wait, she simply flamed out and appeared between Laurie and the open space behind the Mansion just as the bullet was fired.

But she wasn't quick enough, the bullet penetrated her heart through her back, killing her instantly before bursting from her chest and crashing through Laurie's forehead blowing out the back of her skull in an explosion of gore.

Jean's last thoughts as she flamed where a scream of panic to Harry.

Harry and Scott teleported in to find Josh cradling a dead Laurie and a naked baby lying in a pile of ashes.

"Laurie! Laurie! Wake up!" Josh cried frantically.

Harry's eyes snapped around as Scott skidded to the floor and began checking over the body, there was no hope. Most of her brain was dripping out of the back of her head.

"Ah! You, get over here, Missy." Harry ordered to the air.

"Harry, she's gone." Scott said in despair.

"No, no, no, no!" Josh wailed.

"Nah, she's just having an out of body experience. Josh, would you try fixing up her body so I can put her back in?" Harry asked.

"Wha- What?"

"They don't call me Death for nothing ya know." Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, look." Harry reached out and grabbed at the air before pouring magic through his hand. Scott and Josh looked on in wonder at a very scared looking Laurie Collins.

Scared and naked.

Laurie had her hands in strategic places but she was yelling at Harry… not that they could hear it.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Harry apologised as he focused and a replica of her skirt and sweater appeared on her ethereal self.

At this point Logan and Shiro came barrelling out of the Mansion followed by Dani, Lorna and Val."

"Oh my god." Val whispered as she took in the sight of Laurie's broken body.

"Ah, erm, Ladies, could you take Jean inside and take care of her. Treat her like a regular newborn.

"Logan, Shiro, the shot came from the hills track this person down, but do not apprehend them yet, just follow. I have a larger plan in the works that will end this today."

"Of course, Sensei." Shiro said with a quick bow before running off, Logan just grunted and followed.

"Wait, this is Jean?" Val asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, she must have tried to take the bullet for Laurie but didn't understand that a bullet of this calibre would make it through several people before stopping."

"But she's a baby." Val stressed.

"Well, that's what happens when a Phoenix dies, it's reborn from its ashes." Harry said patronizingly. "Can we argue about this later? There's a newborn lying in the cold night air!"

Lorna winced at the realisation before darting forward and carefully scooping up the crying baby.

She and the other two ladies headed inside to try and calm the traumatised infant.

"Josh, whilst Laurie isn't going to get any deader, she definitely isn't getting any… alive… er."

"I-I-I… I've never done anything like this before."

"You've never tried either. Now seems like a decent time to experiment. Laurie's not going anywhere."

Josh looked at the ethereal image of Laurie, who was pantomiming something as she wasn't able to speak.

"What's she saying?" Josh asked.

Harry just snorted as Laurie threw up her hands in aggravation.

"Here's an idea, heal her body so you can ASK HER!" Harry shouted.

"Oh, right!" He placed his hands on Laurie's chest… which caused Laurie to start pantomiming, but Josh was too focused to notice, Harry tried not to laugh.

Scott, Harry and a disembodied Laurie watched as her body started to glow, the back of her head was hidden from view but the hole in her forehead sealed up. Eventually the glowing stopped.

"She's healed, I think her heart is beating." He said in wonder.

Scott nodded as he checked her pulse.

"How can her body be alive if she's not in it?" Josh asked.

"It's just a shell, without her soul in there it will never be more than a piece of meat."

Laurie started waving her hand through Harry as she tried to slap his shoulder.

"It's not my fault if it's true!" Harry said defensively. "Now get in there."

Scott and Josh could clearly see her mouth the word 'how'.

"Just lie down! I'll do the rest. You know, you are one of the more difficult patients I've had to deal with."

Laurie glared at him but stomped over to her body and began to lie down. Josh almost backed away at her aggressive demeanour.

"About bloody time." Harry muttered as he walked over and placed a hand on Laurie's chest, letting his magic flow into her.

Laurie suddenly breathed in deeply. Her eyes fluttered open. First she smiled happily at the three men, before frowning and then glaring at Harry and Josh.

"Why did you have to touch my chest?" She demanded.

"I-I-I-" If Josh could have blushed he would have.

"Because ya heart is behind ya left boob." Harry grinned.

This caused the two teenagers to blush, it also caused Laurie to realise she was still lying in Josh's lap.

Scott meanwhile was trying to remember when this was mentioned as part of his duties as a professor and X-Man. He was also fighting the urge to bash his head against the wall.

It didn't help, that Emma, who was watching through his eyes, was laughing her head off in his head.

"Right, now that Laurie is sorted, I need to put an end to all this crap. Josh, take Scott down to the Infirmary and fix his head. Have Dr. McCoy supervise. The idiot should have come to you ages ago."

"I thought-"

"Your visor is a liability. You could be more than twice as efficient in the field. Are you going to let your insecurities put the students at risk?" Harry interrupted Scott.

"Josh, you have your orders, Laurie, go and let everyone know you're alright."

Harry vanished leaving the trio behind.

"You heard him professor. Do as Professor Death orders." Laurie commanded.

"Professor Death?"

"Better than what Professor Logan calls you." She shrugged as she turned and marched off.

"Wait… what does Logan call me?"