Of Mind and Magic
Chapter 11
Harry stepped out of a portal into Deborah Kinney's backyard. Wind tugged at his dark blue blazer, revealing the pale blue shirt beneath. He looked around him, the grass seeming to glow. Cautiously, he knelt down, morning dew soaking through his jeans.
Reaching out with his mind, he caressed the grass with his fingertips. Apparently learning about the five elements gave him a stronger sensing ability. Plant seemed to be made up of a combination of earth and water.
Using his will, he pulled a bit of the plants energy into him letting it cycle through his body. If he could get a feel for this energy, he could manipulate plants. That would not only help him in fights, but it could also help him help the world at large by growing extinct plants which could provide cures for diseases.
Looking up, he eyed the rectangular bushes that frame the yard hiding their entrance from the neighbors. Leaves from the yard single tree fluttered on the breeze.
Shaking his head, he turned back to the portal, "Alright its safe."
Laura moved out of the portal next. Removing her hands from her red leather jacket, her claws emerged from her knuckles. She moved with grace, her black slip on shoes and spandex pants barely making any noise as she searched for threats.
Harry watched her move, admiring the grace. It reminded him of a wolf stalking its prey, or a tiger hiding in the underbrush waiting to strike.
She looked back at him, giving him a stiff nod.
"I told you."
Sarah emerged from the portal, a black tank top hugging her new frame. Jeans accentuated the curves of her new longer legs. Her long dark hair had been taken out of its bun and shaped into a casual ponytail. She inhaled deeply, causing her chest to swell. A smile spread across her face, "It's good to smell something beyond antiseptic and blood."
Harry faced forward, his hands in his blazer pockets, telling himself that Sarah was off limits, no matter how attractive she looked, "Why don't you lead the way, your sisters already going to have enough questions without a stranger knocking on her back door."
Sarah inclined her head, gliding forward with a different type of grace than her daughter. Laura moved to take up a position behind Harry watching the rear.
As Sarah led the way forward, Harry rolled the energy he'd absorbed from the grass around in his mind, getting its composition firmly imprinted within him.
Once he felt he had the energy composition down, he focused a little bit of water and earth magic into his hand. The water boosted the nurturing aspects of earth and he pushed his will forward, picturing a red rose in his mind.
Slowly, he began to push his will into the image, the green energy wreathing his left hand slowly taking the form of a rose.
After a solid minute, a rose formed in his hand, the thorns pricked his finger.
Laura turned towards him, arching an eyebrow at the rose in his hand.
Flicking his wrist, Harry sunk the rose into the ground now using his psionics to control the new rose. By the time they reached the glass door leading into the house, there was a bed of roses off to the left that hadn't been there before.
"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, bringing Harry out of his thoughts of what other combinations he could create and control with his powers.
"Experimenting."
"Well stop it. I don't want to freak my sister out."
"We're entering through her backyard without any sign of how we got there; I think we're well past not freaking her out."
Shaking her head, Sarah knocked on the sliding glass door. For a moment there was silence then the sound of soft footsteps moving closer reached their ears.
Harry tensed reaching out with his will, wrapping an invisible barrier around Sarah and Laura.
A woman with short black hair appeared on the other side of the door, her green eyes widening as she saw Sarah. She opened the door, her tanned skin stretching as her lips formed into an O, "Sarah? Is that you?"
Sarah's pink lips formed into a smile, "Hi Deborah, can we come in?"
Deborah's gaze swept over the group before she slowly nodded moving aside.
As they moved into the house, Harry's gaze swept over Deborah, taking in the peppermint green scrubs hiding her body, "So, are you a Doctor?"
Deborah glanced at him as she moved by, "No, I'm a Dental Hygienist."
Stopping at the sink, Deborah leaned against the counter, "It's not like you to show up without calling, what's wrong? And why have you grown taller?"
Laura looked around her, a curious expression on her face.
Harry glanced around him, finding the same circular table and fridge framed in a recess that he had seen in Sarah's memories. He shifted, his shoes squeaking on the yellow linoleum floor as he peeked out the window above the sink.
A White House set across the street, a pinwheel in the yard spinning in the wind.
Sarah glanced at her daughter, before her gaze flicked to Hadrian, "This young man here Hadrian Grey," she gestured to Hadrian, "helped Laura and I escaped from the facility."
Deborah glanced at Laura. Slowly, she moved forward.
Harry moved aside, allowing Deborah easier access to her niece.
Laura tensed.
Deborah stopped before her, offering her hand to her with a smile, "Hello Laura, I am Deborah, your aunt."
Laura stared at the hand for a moment, before slowly encircling it with her own, "Hello," she said softly.
The sound of a door opening rang through the house. "Mom, I'm home and I've brought Desmond with me."
Deborah turned, "Hey baby I've got a surprise," she turned back to the trio, "Come on, I'm sure Megan would love to meet her new cousin."
Together, the small group moved into the living room.
Harry looked around him, beige carpet covered the floor, and an L shape sofa set in the center of the room, a large wooden coffee table with recesses underneath set three feet in front of it.
Lamps stood at the top corners of the L-shaped sofa, and a large TV was mounted on the far wall.
Looking over to the sofa, Harry found a young blonde his age or a year younger. She had short blonde hair, green eyes and an oval-shaped face. Pale skin was exposed thanks to the tight white T-shirt she wore. Dark jeans hugged her legs as they stretched out on the coffee table, showing off curvaceous hips.
"Megan," Deborah spoke, causing the blonde to turn to her, "these are your aunt and cousin, Laura and Sarah Kinney."
Megan's legs dropped down as she stood to her feet, her high-heeled black boots giving her a good four inches, "Hi I am…"
Megan was cut off as the young man rose to his feet.
Harry glanced at him.
He was 5'6" tall with short brown hair that was spiked in the front. His Brown eyes were locked on Laura. In a blink, he reached behind him, pulling something from the back of his jeans. With a flick of his wrist, a glass flew through the air, familiar green liquid sloshing around inside it.
Laura tensed along with Sarah, while Deborah screamed demanding to know what Desmond was doing.
Reaching out his will, Harry froze the capsule in midair halfway between Desmond and Deborah. Wrapping it in a sphere of air, Harry added a spark of blue flame to it.
The capsule vanished in a luminescent flash.
Seeing his attack failed, Desmond reached behind him again, but before he could finish his movement, Harry threw him against the wall with a telepathic push, using his new understanding of plants to cause the wood and paper to form around his body.
He thrashed around, but only succeeded in tearing his black shirt.
Stepping forward Harry allowed his will to sweep over the body. With a curl of his fingers, two guns floated in the air towards him, one was a single shot that had been strapped to his lower leg. The other was a Glock that had been hiding in the waistband of his jeans behind his back.
Ignoring what was going on around him, Harry stretched forth his senses. With what he learned about the plants, he was eager to know if there was anything else his new elements could do. He found that metal was just a composition of minerals; since they came from the earth it was easy for him to manipulate the metal like Plato.
The moment he did so, the ability to manipulate metal with his psionics blossomed in his mind. He now understood Metallokinesis. He wondered why he had to study to gain these manipulations, but Sarah calling his name brought him out of his thoughts before he could take too long to think on the subject.
"Hadrian, Hadrian, are you alright?"
Harry shook his head, glancing at Sarah who now stood in front of her sister, "Yeah, I am fine just discovering something new about my abilities." Turning his attention back to the gun, he broke the gun down into its component parts, slipping the bullets into his pocket before crushing the pieces into small metal balls. He glanced at Desmond, who had a look of fear on his face, "next time bring a bigger weapon."
With a snarl, Laura stalked forward, her claws emerging from her knuckles.
"What is going on?" Megan screamed, "Why did my boyfriend attack my aunt, how did he fly through the air, and why does my cousin have metal growing out of her hands?"
"I'll leave this to you, since they are your family," Harry said to Sarah, his gaze focused on Desmond, "while you're explaining all this I will talk with Desmond to see what he knows."
"I doubt he's going to tell you anything."
"I wasn't planning on asking." With that, Harry went stock still his eyes glowing blue, and Desmond stop struggling against his bonds.
"Right, telepath," Sarah muttered.
Glancing at Laura, who was standing less than a foot away from Desmond, her claws raised, "Laura, don't kill him, Hadrian's getting information. Watch the door while I explain what's going on to your aunt and cousin."
For a moment, Laura just stood there her claws raised. Eyes still narrowed, she lowered her arm. With one final snarl, she spun on her heel plopping down in a chair closest to the door so she could watch out the window.
With the situation handled, Sarah backed into a white wingback chair sitting at a left angle to the couch. With an exhalation she began, focusing her attention on her sister, "You know how I told you I worked for a government facility, who was responsible for Laura's birth," she glanced at her daughter.
"Yeah," her sister said moving to sit beside her daughter.
"Well…"
Over the next hour, Sarah explained everything that happened at the facility, from her meeting Hadrian to their appearing in her backyard.
After she was finished, Deborah sat there, looking her sister over with a critical eye. "So he, she glanced at Hadrian, "is some kind of magical mutant," she glanced at her sister, "you have been changed to some superwoman, and the rest of the facilities assets are going to come after you, one of which appears to be my daughter's boyfriend. Is that about right?"
Sarah leaned back in her chair, "That's the important bits."
Deborah shook her head, cupping the glass of water in her hands, "And people said I was the troubled sister growing up."
Sarah snorted, "I'm just a late bloomer."
Sitting her glass on the table in front of her, Deborah grabbed her daughter's hand, "So what happens now?"
Sarah glanced at one out of two of the only males in the room, "we wait till Hadrian gets done going through Desmond's mind, then we continue on with the plan."
"Which is?"
"Going to the Xavier Institute, there is enough mutants there that the facility wouldn't try to attack us because they would lose too many assets."
"Are Megan and I in any danger?"
Sarah looked away, "You were in danger the moment I started working for the facility, I just didn't realize it," she glanced back at her sister, "I'm sorry."
Deborah stared at her sister. When they were younger, her sister had told teachers at school about their father's abuse. However, when the police came by to investigate the allegations, she and her mother did not backup her sister story, resulting in Sarah being abused even worse.
This had caused a rift to grow between the sisters. They had started getting closer again after Laura's conception. With how dangerous the world was, she didn't want her sister separated from her again, they would be stronger as a unit than they were separately.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Hadrian moved and Desmond's head fell onto his chest, drool coming out of one corner of his mouth.
Sarah turned to the right, "What did you find out?"
Harry moved over to another white winged high-back chair sitting between Sarah and the large screen TV. Plopping down in it, he leaned back the metal orbs from the gun slowly revolving around the palm of his hand. What little plastic was in the gun floated up, taking its spot in the center of the rotating orbs before shifting into a stylized sun.
"From what I was able to get from Desmond and Kimura's minds all the different facets of weapon X compete with one another to create a better weapon." he glanced at Laura, "the X twenty-three program was meant to be used as a base for something bigger."
"So where does that leave us?"
"The easiest way for Laura and yourself to be protected would be to join the X-Men," he looked to Sarah, "With your new abilities that shouldn't be a problem."
"Where does that leave me and my daughter?" Deborah asked sitting her glass down on the table.
"Well the way I see it you have two options. One is to move away and forget you ever had a sister, the other is to join the X-Men," he shook his head, "they say they're all about mutant and human cooperation, so they shouldn't have a problem with you living at the Institute," he smiled to her, "I'm sure the Institute could use an on-site dentist, which you could get with a little more schooling or a telepathic download."
Deborah looked at the young man before her, maybe a year older than her daughter. She was surprised at the power he possessed, the way he spoke with such certainty and his answers. She looked at her sister, could she abandon her sister again to live a life under an assumed name always having to look over her shoulder. Would it even be safe, what if these people found her?
Exhaling, Deborah's gaze locked with her sister's "We'll go to the Institute for now."
"What!" Megan exclaimed jumping to her feet, "These people just show up, and you're willing to uproot our lives, my boyfriend just pulled a gun on someone who is supposed to be my aunt and cousin. How do we know they are the good guys?"
"Megan," Deborah began, but Harry raised a hand.
"There are no good guys in the situation, but I can show you the things the facility did to Laura, if you want."
Sarah shot him a look, shaking her head.
"Desmond Alexander was placed in your lives just in case something like this ever happened. The personality he showed was a fake, the green capsule he threw at Laura was something called a trigger scent, it would've caused her to go into a berserker rage and kill everyone in the room."
He looked to Sarah, "Remind me to fix that later."
Tears began to stream down Megan's pale cheeks, causing her mascara to run, "So," she whispered, "he didn't love me at all." She sat down, her mother scooted close wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Harry could have answered her question, but kept his mouth shut. Desmond Alexander did have some affection for her, but his mission always came first, that was something Zander Rice reminded him every time they met. The consequences of him getting too involved was his death and the death of his family.
Granted he and his family are probably going to die now anyways. Since the Kinneys escaped and exposed this branch of the facility.
For a minute the group sat there letting Deborah comfort her daughter. When Megan's tears finally stopped, Sarah looked at Harry, "Can you transport us directly to the Institute?"
"I probably could if I had a picture of the grounds, but my mental abilities haven't gotten strong enough for me to sense if there's anything in the way of where I'm teleporting, so we could end up inside a bystander."
Sarah winced. "Driving it is then," She looked back at him. "but how did you know there was no one in the way when you teleported us into Deborah's backyard?"
"I used your memories of the property to create a good mental map, so that allowed me to be more precise with the portal, plus given the time of day, I thought everyone would be at work. Once we get closer to the Institute, I should be able to spread out my senses and create a portal there."
Sarah looked to her sister, "Pack what you need, will leave as soon as possible."
–XX –
Harry walked down the pale concrete that made up the Kinney driveway broadcasting a do not pay attention impulse throughout the neighborhood. A twinge of pain flashed through his brain as he reached the limits of his telepathic power, but at least no one would see what he was about to do.
Stopping beside the family SUV, he placed his hand on the hood, frowning as he realized the outer shell of the car was made of some type of polymer. This would make things more difficult. If it was metal, he could've used his metal manipulation to change its composition and make it more durable, but since the polymer was a man-made product, there was very little here for him to manipulate.
That only left him with one option. Tendrils of fire snaked out from beneath his hand, carving minuscule runes into the metal around the Windows as well as the lug nuts that held on the tires before snaking into the car and writing more on the axle. When the axle was done the tendrils moved to the engine carving more runes.
Once the runes covered every bit of metal, he reached out with his new Metallokinesis pulling minute amounts of metal from the ground to fill in the spaces left behind by the runes. With the runes filled in, he focused on the metal inside changing the composition to match the metal of Laura's claws.
Work done, he pulled his hand away from the roof, wincing at the blackened handprint he left behind. Using his telekinesis he slipped his will underneath the dent and lightly pushed up until the handprint disappeared, leaving behind a blackened section.
Lightly, he slipped his will underneath the blackened paint slowly peeling it upwards. With the blackened paint floating in the air, he grabbed the edges of the space he had made and slowly sealed the hole shut. Using transmutation to change the air molecules into the pigment of paint needed.
With his work finally done, he stepped back. Eyeing the car to make sure his runes weren't visible. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but this may actually work out better, since the runes would give the car whatever durability was inside them, so the vehicle now had the durability of one of the strongest metals on earth, without the added weight.
Sarah emerged from the house, "They're' ready."
Harry opened the door, allowing Megan to get in. Closing the door, he opened it for Laura, but she shook her head, indicating she wanted to ride close to the door, so Harry slid in.
Within a few more minutes, everyone was in and the things loaded.
Deborah pulled out of the driveway, and Harry withdrew his psychic command, heading with the Kinney family into the unknown.
