Chapter 21
"Where's Harry?!" Peter demanded as he teleported into Scott's office. "I can't teleport to him and we have a major emergency!"
"Peter, calm down." Jean said soothingly. "Now calmly describe the emergency."
"Skrulls."
"You found a Skrull Cell?" Scott asked as he stood up and rounded the desk to join Emma, Jean and Peter.
"Err… no, just the one."
"One?"
"It was disguised as Elektra!"
"The assassin?"
"And even Wolverine couldn't tell the difference."
"If you couldn't tell the difference then how-"
"A new acquaintance killed the Skrull and it reverted back to its natural form."
"You're thinking it's an invasion?" Jean asked.
"All I know is that the Avengers are about to turn on each other. They don't know who to trust."
"Where's the body?" She asked.
"There was an incident. Spider Woman took it to Stark."
"Stark? How do you know he isn't a Skrull?" Emma asked. "It would explain his recent actions."
"Let me rephrase: She stole the body and took it to Stark." Peter scowled.
"This is very bad." Jean said quietly.
"This needs to be kept quiet." Scott said as he rounded his desk and pulled out a vial from his desk. "Harry gave this to me. It is the strongest magical serum he knows of. Three drops on the tongue and we will answer anything asked with complete truthfulness."
"You want me to dose the Avengers?" Peter asked sceptically.
"No, as I said, we need to keep this quiet. We four will take it so we have some peace of mind that we are not Skrulls. Then we will decide how to proceed."
"Wait… where is Harry?"
"Some where in the distant past." Jean winced.
"I thought he hated time travel?"
"He does, but apparently this was all supposed to happen so he would meet Brunhilde and Odin and learn more about himself." She explained.
"Can we call him back?"
"We could see if Brunhilde could fetch him. She could petition Odin to send her back." Scott suggested.
"Let's focus on the here and now." Emma interrupted. "Is there an antidote? I really have no desire to start spouting all my innermost secrets in front of others."
"There is, and you will only respond to questions asked. We will ask the basic question of 'Are you or have you ever been a Skrull' and then apply the antidote." Scott explained.
Fifteen minutes later the office was filled with three individuals with various levels of amusement and one hacked off Spiderman.
"Really? Underwear? Is that part of some bizarre X-Men hazing ritual? Do you ask all the students if they wear underwear underneath their costumes."
Jean had what only be called: A Shit-Eating Grin.
She was the one who had slipped that question in as Peter was the last one to go.
Emma was smirking and Scott was trying not to laugh.
"You should be grateful that I didn't get to ask my next question: Have you ever ripped your costume so much and flashed anybody in a fight?"
Peter just glared at her. "Tit for tat. You three answer the same question." He demanded.
Scott just shrugged. "When Professor Xavier had our original costumes made he had special undergarments created as part of them, for extra protection. Most of us kept the idea as we are subjected to various forms of radiation."
Jean nodded in agreement.
Emma snorted when he looked at her. "Darling, do you really think I could fit any form of underwear under these?" She asked as she stroked her white leather pants. "The panty lines would be disastrous!" She said completely scandalised.
"Huh."
"What?" Scott asked.
"I think I know why MJ was always missing when she was staying with you guys." Peter said as he eyed Emma suspiciously. "It would explain Emma's ever changing costume styles."
"I didn't notice any changes." Scott frowned as he examined Emma's costume.
"Dude, I married a fashion designer, if I don't notice I sleep on the couch… and considering I rarely get to sleep in my bed anyway… you get the idea."
"Ahem… Skrulls?" Jean prompted with a smile.
"Oh yeah. So what do we do?" Peter asked.
"We need that dead Skrull. We can't trust Stark at the moment." Scott mused.
"What are we going to do with it?"
"Give it to Hank and have him try and figure out a way of detecting Skrulls."
"Lorna too." Jean added. "Whilst they were in the future Harry taught them various magical skills. Lorna was skilled in charms work. I can also help in the magical side of things."
"We need to consider bringing in Richards and possibly even Banner, if the Hulk will let him out." Emma said.
"Anyone we bring in has to take the truth serum." Scott said firmly.
"What about the rest of the Avengers?" Peter asked.
"No. As much as we want to, we can't bring anyone else in until we can positively identify the Skrulls. Essential personnel only."
"Does that mean you want us to break into the Hellicarrier and steal back the body?" Peter did not look pleased at that prospect, especially after the last time he was there and they tried to read his mind.
"It shouldn't be too hard." Emma said dismissively. "We are all fairly well trained in magic. Invisibility, phasing and teleporting."
"Are we planning on just stealing the body, switching out or making it look like it self-destructed?" Jean asked.
"Stealing it." Scott stated. "We have nothing to switch it with or stage a scene. If we steal it then they will be forced to begin investigating."
"Do we really want them investigating?" Emma argued. "Do we want the Skrull's tipped off? I vote we wipe the knowledge of the Skrulls from Tony's mind and anyone he told. If word gets out of an infiltration then it will make it that much harder to stop."
"Not to mention the mass panic as everyone begins to suspect everyone else. The Avengers already had a falling out over this. Hell! I want you to remove my memories!" Peter said as he got worked up slightly.
Jean began humming, it was a soothing song of a Phoenix and it helped to calm Peter down.
"Thanks." Peter muttered gratefully as he sank back into his chair.
"Peter, how long has it been since you slept?" Jean asked.
"I don't know. We were in Japan and there was this whole deal with the Hand, Silver Samurai and don't even get me started on the time zones. They wouldn't let us teleport, insisted on using the jet so… I really don't know."
"If you go home now will you be able to sleep?"
"I hope so. But I doubt it." Peter admitted.
"Go and sack out in one of the spare rooms, Pete, I'll go and let Mary Jane know where you are whilst Emma and Scott retrieve the Skrull."
"I have one last question, why didn't you suspect Harry of being a Skrull?" Scott asked.
Peter just smiled tiredly. "You ever seen a Skrull actively go out of his way to give power to someone else? Or bring back the dead and talk to the souls of millions of genocide victims? You think a Skrull would be able to reason with the Hulk?"
"That doesn't even take into account his ability to create soul bonds." Emma added. "With Harry's gifts and training, the X-Men could hold off the invasion on their own."
"Let's not test that theory." Peter said as he noticed the eager gleam in Emma's eye.
"That is a Skrull."
"As always, Henry, your powers of deduction are astounding." Emma drawled.
Hank decided to ignore her. "Why is it here?"
They were currently in the depths of the Greymalkin Industries, the new home of the X-men. The room was a special lab that Harry had protected with the Fidelius and made Scott the Secret Keeper for.
"It was posing as Elektra." Scott explained. "The worst part is that even Logan couldn't tell the difference."
"Oh dear."
"Quite." Emma snarked.
Hank glared at her. "I suppose you want me to discover how they managed this and develop a new detection method?
"You realise this would go much better if Reed was working with me on this. He is the planet's foremost expert on Skrulls."
"Reed has his head so far up Tony's-"
"Em'." Scott said warningly. He turned to Hank. "As you know there are complications involved when it comes to Reed and Tony. We are actually wondering if they have been replaced as well."
"How can I be sure you aren't Skrulls? How can you be sure I'm not one?"
"We three, along with Spiderman have all taken Harry's truth serum. We're relying on that for now and praying it works." Jean explained. "You need to take it as well." She said as she brandished the vial.
"Couldn't we use this on Reed as well?"
"We'd still have to deal with him running to Tony." Scott said shaking his head.
"If it comes down to it we will just have to… sequester him." Emma said. It was obviously a euphemism for 'kidnapping'.
"Can I at least bring in the rest of the X-Club?"
"Harry is going to kill you when he hears that name." Jean giggled.
"It wasn't my idea! It just came to be." He said defensively.
"I might have called it that when talking to Dr. Kavita Rao." Scott winced in shame.
The looks of disgust aimed his way were merely a taste of what was to come when Harry found out.
"Cyclops, tell me you have that Skrull detector ready?"
Scott was sitting at his desk when the mental question from Spiderman came through.
"No, the X-Club ar-"
"Dude, we have a crashed Skrull ship in the Savage land. Inside are a whole bunch of duplicates, everyone from Jarvis to Wolverine… hell! I can see me!"
"Calm down Peter, you need to be the voice of reason."
"REASON?! I am the voice of quips and jokes! I am never the- ok, I'm usually the voice of reason… but lets face it, nobody tends to listen to me."
"Peter, relax, I'm coming now with Jean."
Scott switched focus to Hank.
"Hank, it's begun. Do what you need to."
"Understood." Came the reply.
The arrayed heroes stood facing each other, each side waiting for the other to make a move. Nobody knew who was the imposter and who was the genuine article.
"Everybody stand down!"
All heads snapped up to see Cyclops and Jean hovering above them.
"First one who starts something will find themselves in a very dark and lonely place. We can sort this out peacefully or I can throw the lot of you into a dark and lonely place… I will then proceed to throw away the key and forget I ever saw you."
"Pretty bold words Slim, you got the balls to back it up?" The Wolverine from the crashed ship challenged.
Cyclops just ignored him. "We are developing a way to determine who is the real article and who is not. If I have to I will kill all of you if you make me. Then I will definitely know who is the imposter as the Skrulls revert back to their true form when they die."
Now Cyclops was bluffing. If Harry was around he would actually consider killing them all and leaving it to Harry to sort out… but Harry wasn't available.
"Scott, I have identified several imposters, but some of these duplicates truly believe they are who they say they are." Jean told him telepathically.
"I want everyone to back away from each other, form a circle so no one's back is to anyone else's." Cyclops ordered.
"I ain't taking orders from you kid, for all we know, you are a Skrull!" The new Wolverine snarled.
Cyclops opened his mouth to speak only to have a shield appear in front of him as several blasts of energy impacted it.
"I don't think they want to talk dear." Jean remarked as she maintained her shield.
"Get Spiderman clear, I want to find the imposter." Cyclops ordered as he began firing optic blasts and stunners into the fray. Some of the people down there were immune to that type of magic, especially the ones like Iron Man. Only Harry had the level of power and skill required to mess with the armour the way he did."
Jean began transmitting telepathically at the first Spiderman she saw. "Spiderman, what was the awkward question we asked you a few weeks ago?"
"Who the hell is in my head?"
"Found the imposter Scott."
Cyclops immediately blasted the fake with all his power. Scott was capable of destroying mountains with his optic blasts, but since Elixir has healed his brain damage he found he could focus that power into a tight pin-point beam.
This beam could literally cut through Adamentium.
The imposter of Spiderman fell to the floor with his heart missing.
He levitated the corpse above the battle before grabbing it and vanishing back to Hank and the X-Club.
This left Jean to stand helplessly and watch as the battle raged. She then realised that she could at least take out the Skrulls she knew about so she dived in heading straight for the imposter of herself.
"Hank, any progress? We have a huge battle going on and some of the Skrulls are so deep into their covers that even Jean couldn't read them as Skrulls." Scott asked as he appeared with the fake Spiderman corpse.
"We have some, but Scott, you should know, the invasion has begun. I received a distress call from Abigail Brand, Dum Dum Durgan was a Skrull and he blew up SWORD. We rescued the survivors and put them in holding but there is an immense Skrull fleet in orbit and they are already beginning to land."
"Dammit! Where is Harry?" Scott cursed.
"You called?" The aforementioned Master of Magic asked with a grin.
Scott spun around to see Harry Potter standing there in the flesh.
He was then engulfed in a crushing hug. "Damned good to see you again Scotty! It feels like it's been… well it has been centuries." Harry shrugged after he released Scott.
"Hank! Get over here!" Harry called cheerfully.
The Beast was suddenly a little frightened.
"This is the so-called Death?" Dr. Nemesis, the arrogant yet brilliant member of Hank's new X-Club scoffed. "He doesn't look old enough to wipe his own arse!"
Harry scrunched his nose as he examined the man. "Son, you ain't got nothing on me. I'm older, smarter, wiser, stronger, more powerful and most importantly, better looking than you."
He then turned to Hank. "Who is he?"
"Why you-!"
"You remember the group I was looking to form to work on the mutant problem?" Hank prompted as he magically silenced the annoying scientist.
"Oh… right, it's coming back to me. You'll have to forgive me, I spent the past five hundred years living like a Viking!"
"Harry, we have a major problem." Scott interrupted.
"There is always a major problem, Scotty."
"This one involves an armada of Skrulls about to land and destroy or enslave us all."
"Then blast them out of the skies." Harry said with a dismissive wave.
"With what? We don't have ships that can do that. We barely have ships as it is!"
"You have plenty of allies with ships. Why didn't you just call in the Breakworlders?"
"Oh yes." Hank muttered from behind them. "I'll contact Colossus and send him over."
"Let's deal with the more immediate issue." Scott said as he grabbed Harry's shoulder and vanished.
"Shall we get back to work?" Hank asked his fellow X-Clubbers.
"Are you going to remove your charm work Doctor?" Kavita Rao asked as she indicated Dr. Nemesis The geneticist who worked with Ord to create a serum to remove mutant powers had jumped at the chance to work to make up for her past mistakes.
"I believe we have more important things to deal with." Hank purposefully ignored Nemesis as the Doctor glared at him.
"Doctor McCoy, we have a problem." Maddison Jefferies called out. "All our equipment just died."
"Is it a Skrull attack have th-"
"Hold on… it was an attack on Stark Tech only!" Jefferies was surprised as he learnt more as he communicated with the technology around him. "Some sort of virus."
"Looks like we'll be sticking to magic and what we can build ourselves then." Hank sighed.
"Whoa, that's a freaking mess!" Harry whistled as he and Scott hovered above the carnage of the Savage Land Battle Field.
There were several Skrull bodies lying on the floor in the costumes of the heroes they impersonated.
"I can see various souls in the jungle, including Peter and Kazar." Harry told Scott. "By the way, where are the girls?"
"Busy, probably dealing with the Skrull Ships that are about to attack." He replied tersely.
"Would you relax, you have reinforcements on the way. I even put a telepathic call out to Caiera, she's bringing Hulk and his Warbound brethren."
"Harry! Good to have you back, Husband." Brunhilde smiled as she appeared.
"Good to be back. Also good to be on the same page as you." He smirked.
"You are needed for a special mission."
"We've got a situation going on here!" Scott interrupted.
"Which you are more than capable of handling. But the gods of the various pantheons are about to embark on a mission to take out the Skrull god. Harry would be of more use there."
"Can you at least give us a method of determining who is a Skrull and who is not?"
"Erm… not really, but-" Harry suddenly teleported them and they found themselves standing with Spiderman, Kazar and various other Savage Land natives. All of them were surrounding two Captain Americas.
"That one is the Skrull." Harry declared pointing at the one on the left.
"You're back! Thank god!" Spiderman cried.
"I am not a Skrull! He is!" The imposter argued.
"I know you believe that, but I can see your soul. Speaking of which, I now know that several people I met are also Skrulls." Harry mused.
"How come you didn't know this before?" Spiderman asked.
"I'm still relatively new to this universe. I just thought that they were supposed to be that way. Like Spider Woman, she's a Skrull. But you guys were fine with her so I didn't see a need to question it."
"Spider Woman was a Skrull?" Spiderman asked warily.
"She wasn't human."
"A green skinned, wrinkle chinned, rubber headed alien?"
"If that's how you want to describe them then sure… Pink Skin." Harry smirked.
"Oh my god! She knows all our secrets!" Spiderman turned to Captain America. "What are we gonna do?"
"Easy, soldier, we will-"
"I was talking to the real Cap, not you ya imposter." Spiderman snapped at the fake. "Seriously, can't you do something about that?"
Harry rolled his eyes and was about to cast some magic when-
"Harry, wait." Cyclops interrupted. "He might be more useful to Beast in this form. He might be able to get some readings to better determine who the Skrulls are."
Harry just shrugged. "I guess I am off to kill a god then." Harry said as he linked arms with Brunhilde and vanished.
"He says that so casually it's scary." Spiderman grimaced beneath his mask as he sent a stunner at the imposter.
"Death walks among us!"
"You fool! You bring him here?"
"Greetings My Lord."
"I will take no part in this, do not call on me again!"
"SILENCE!" Harry roared over the annoying rantings of the gods of the various pantheons.
There was instant silence.
"Thank you. Now, I was asked to come here as my wife said something about killing the god behind this invasion… someone care to explain?"
A woman in ancient Greek armour stepped forward and kneeled reverently. "Lord Death, I am Athena Parthenos, daughter of Zeus and Goddess of Wisdom and War.
"We have been alerted to the Skrull infiltration and looming war and we realise that we must aid the humans or our own kingdoms will be at risk. We plan to confront the Skrull gods: Sl'gurt and Kly'bn.
"We humbly ask your aid in this matter."
"Whoa, I never thought I'd see the day Athena bowed to anyone!" Amadeus Cho, mortal companion to Hercules muttered.
"Hush Amadeus, Lord Death is no mere god. He is an aspect, he is death and he is the only one who can truly kill a god." Hercules chided.
"What?"
"We gods, though we can be killed, will merely be reborn again at some point. But like any souled being, we fall under the authority of Lord Death, he can erase our souls to the point that we can never rise again."
"Ok, I can see why we want him along." Amadeus nodded with a hint of awe. "And why won't he just kill us all? I mean, he's Death, isn't that what Death does?"
"Have you not been watching your mortal news shows?" Hercules demanded. "He has given many interviews with the lovely maiden Trish Tilby. He has explained that he works to ensure death does not come too soon or too late. He is the balance."
"Well excuse me!" The seventh smartest person on the planet said sarcastically. "I was just a little bit busy trying to gather you lot together to help the Hulk!"
Hercules just snorted. "And a fat lot of good that did, Lord Death dealt with that situation quite admirably. Far better than we could have."
"Are you saying you preferred not having to go toe-to-toe with the bastards who exiled him?"
Hercules shrugged. "I would be lying if I said I found the lack a fight pleasing. But the lack of innocent deaths was worth it."
Amadeus couldn't argue with that.
"If you two are finished, we can begin?" Came the irritated voice if Athena.
Both turned to find the assorted gods and Lord Death staring at them with varying levels of annoyance and amusement.
"Come young Cho, let us talk and see if I will be taking your soul this day." Harry boomed in a god-like manner. When Amadeus paled Harry had to hide his smirk. It was fun to mess with people.
"Lord Odin! We have received a call from Lord Death! He requests our aid in the battle against the alien scum!"
Odin ducked a blow from the butt of a weapon he had only just split in two and rammed the blade of his spear into a second Skrull. He quickly head-butted the Skrull trying to hit him with his broken weapon.
"Are you blind?! We are engaging the enemy!"
"What should I tell Lord Death?"
Odin wanted to smash his head against the wall at the idiocy of some of his people. He settled for head-butting another Skrull.
"Come on Match-Head! We gotta get back, you know Harry's gonna have a whole mess of Skrulls to pound on and I want to get there before the Hulk or Thor turn up!"
"I'm going as fast as I can! You might not remember this but I am not the brains of this outfit." Jonny snapped.
Ben Grimm grabbed his partner by the shoulders and turned him to look in his eyes and said compassionately: "No Johnny. I always remember that."
Johnny glared at him. "Flame on!"
"Are Uncle Ben and Uncle Jonny fighting again?" Valeria Richards, youngest child of Reed and Susan Richards, asked her slightly older brother, Franklin.
"Did they stop?" He asked, genuinely curious.
Valeria just shrugged. "I fixed the Negative Portal. Do you think we should tell them?"
There was a loud smash as the side of the room was torn away revealing the vast emptiness of the Negative Zone beyond. Standing in the opening was Lyja, Johnny Storm's sort of ex-wife and current Skrull invader. She was also the one who had trapped them in the Negative Zone.
"Maybe we should see if Uncle Johnny and Lyja are gonna make Kissy-face?" Valeria said excitedly.
"EWWWW!"
"Husband, we have received a call for aid from Earth." Caiera Oldstrong, wife of The Hulk informed her husband as she teleported to the fields where he worked. She truly enjoyed the gift of magic Harry Potter had given her.
"Who called?" He asked warily. He was still uneasy when it came to dealing with the puny humans. He knew that the future versions of Stark, Strange, Blackbolt and Richards were back on Earth already and Stark was a nightmare already after several months.
"Cyclops. He says Harry has gone on a related mission but that the Skrulls are invading. He offers you the chance to 'hit something'." She quoted with a smirk.
The grin that spread across the Hulk's face was terrifying. "Call forth my Warbound Brethren! We have some Skrulls to smash!"
"Powerlord Colossus, you honour us with your presence!" The now deposed Kruun greeted the armoured mutant.
"I come with a task for your warriors. A fleet of Skrull ships are invading Earth. I trust you are up to the task of showing them how true warriors fight?" Colossus challenged with a slight smile.
The bloodthirsty expression on Kruun's face was all the answer he needed.
"I've got it! I've got it!" Laura screamed excitedly as she ran through the halls of the Greymalkin compound with a large book in her hands.
"Whoa, what you got?" Cessily asked her now substantially older friend as she tried to calm her down.
"The spell to reveal who's a Skrull!" She smiled victoriously.
"Shouldn't you be telling Mister Summers?"
"That's where I was going!"
"When you were in the future doing whatever it was you were doing, did you happen to forget how to do magic?" Cessily frowned.
"Huh?"
Cessily rolled her eyes, grabbed Laura's arm and teleported.
"What are you girls doing here?" Kitty asked as she noticed them.
"Laura says she figured out the spell to reveal the Skrulls."
"Excellent!"
"Well, I didn't figure it out, it was in one of the books Harry conjured for us."
When they had been in the future Harry had started conjuring all the spell books he had memorised in his lifetime. The average witch or wizard had no need for these spells but some spells were ideal for specific situations. Like the spell Laura found.
"Homenum Revelio." Laura said proudly.
"My Latin is a little rusty, but doesn't that mean 'reveal people'?" Scott asked.
"Yes, but Harry told us that some spells are easily modified. The 'revelio' part is what we are looking for, we just need to replace 'homenum' with something like 'Skrull' or alien."
"That's actually one of the first classes he teaches." Cessily nodded.
"Perhaps we ought to attend these classes ourselves?" Emma asked pointedly.
"A topic for later, after we turn back the invasion." Scott said dismissively. "Laura, head to Beast and test this out with the Skrulls we have. If it works begin deploying the information to all known magicals, once we have a decent pool to work with we will send liaisons to all the fighting groups. Army, Navy, Air Force, Avengers, Defenders and so on."
Word spread quickly, as did the magic users with the spells. The Avengers and the Defenders were easily dealt with as most of the Avengers were already magical and Brunhilde was still in touch with the Defenders.
The problem came from the military aspects. No nation's military was trusting of Harry Potter and his claims of being Death. This also made them wary of his offers of magic. Military personnel in general where not fond of magic as standard weaponry relied on basic science and physics.
Magic threw those out the window.
Instead various wizards and witches waited invisibly casting the detection spell and taking pot shots and removing the hidden Skrulls via teleportation.
High in orbit, the leader of the Skrull Armada listened to the report his subordinate was reading.
"Our forces on the eastern continents are proving quite successful, though our infiltrators were quickly discovered. The mutant, Sunfire, seemed to poses an unknown power that allowed them to detect us. The battle could go either way at this point in time."
"This was decreed by the gods, it can only go one way." The Commander chided his aide.
"He loves us." Came the reverent response.
The Commander nodded before returning to business. "What of the African continent?"
"Disturbing news, the entire battalion was wiped out. Most distressing is that security recordings show that they used our own methods of infiltration against us. They disguised two of our agents as the King and Queen, we captured them and tortured them. They died in great agony before the true King and Queen revealed themselves as disguised Skrull agents and killed everyone on board. The ship was set to return to us with a message: 'This is what happens when you invade Wakanda' painted on the walls in Skrull blood."
"The arrogance of these humans." The Commander spat.
"Indeed, but they are spreading out across the continent and our forces are falling swiftly."
"Then prepare to send in a squadron of bombers. We will wipe them out from orbit if need be."
"As you command."
"The Americas, they were deemed to be the greatest threat. How fare our forces there?"
"There is mass confusion."
"Excellent, it will make it-"
"Sir, the confusion is ours. All of our infiltrators have been discovered. Their heads are mounted on the street lights."
"What!? What of the Super Skrulls? The Fantastic Four, are they at least-"
He was interrupted as the whole ship shook and small fires broke out.
"REPORT!" The Commander yelled.
"Commander, a large fleet has appeared off our bow and they are firing on our ships!" Came the reply of a Skrull at a nearby console.
"Then fire back!"
"We are, but our weapons are having no affect. Our energy based weapons seem to be bouncing off their hulls and our projectile weapons are being shot down before they reach the target."
"Then order our ships to ram them!"
When Harry had taken control of Breakworld he found it to be a true dictatorship. There was one ultimate leader and nobody questioned him. That leader was now him.
The beautiful thing about a dictatorship is that the people, or 'sheeple' as his dad often called them, always looked to and obeyed the strongest person without question.
The Breakworld was a warrior culture with strong educational and career institutions. Harry had spent a fair amount of time making magicals out of everyone. It really wasn't a hard process, he would sit down for a day and people would walk up to him and accept his word as law.
The Humans of Earth were stubborn and suspicious so they rarely volunteered.
After the first day he easily had one thousand new magicals. On his second day he began teaching them how to make magicals themselves. Harry's word being law meant that he showed them how, told them to do it and they did.
Humans are greedy beings and rarely do anything for free.
So in the many months since Harry had left the Breakworlders with magic and standing orders to share the magic and learn from the books he had left for them, the entire planet was filled with loyal magical warriors with a strong desire to please their Powerlord Potter.
The smarter individuals learnt the art of arithmancy and runes that led to them improving their own warships. Their fighting methods now included battlefield teleportation and field medics which had their warriors up and fighting before they had lost more than a pint of blood.
So what it all boiled down to when the Breakworld armada appeared off the bows of the invading fleet was:
The Skrulls were boned.
The X-Club were on a mission. Harry had assured Hank that Reed Richards was not a Skrull so they decided to recruit him to the club in order to defeat the Skrulls.
Hank had teleported them all to wherever Reed was. Which appeared to be a Skrull ship.
"They captured Reed Richards?" Maddison Jefferies, AKA Box, said in surprise. "How would they get past all his defences?" The Inorganic Psionic Transmutationist wondered.
"The same way through any man's defences." Kavita snarked. "His pants."
"Wasn't this teleportation of yours supposed to take us straight to Reed." James Bradley asked irritably.
"I believe it has, Doctor Nemesis." The now formerly elderly Doctor Yuriko Takiguchi commented. He was surprised to find his youth restored soon after his brief encounter with Harry Potter. Hank McCoy had just shrugged it off as Harry being Harry.
"Is that some sort of tapestry to depict the Skrull's invasion?" Kavita asked.
"Like the Bayeux Tapestry?" Hank asked. "Oh my!"
"Oh my indeed, Dr. McCoy." Dr. Takiguchi said gravely. "Mr. Maddison, that is Reed Richards, I recommend you use your abilities to get him down quickly."
"Good god! Were they torturing him?" Hank wondered.
They quickly gathered him up and Hank teleported them all to the infirmary where Elixir would be put to use.
As the ship of the gods (or 'Godmobile' as Amadeus had christened it) sailed through the Dreamtime to face the Skrull gods, the crew of deities, boy and coyote sat down to discuss their mission.
"First things first, lets get some information out of this Skrull impersonator." Harry said as he grabbed the coyote pup off the floor from where it sat patiently next to Amadeus.
"Hey! Give him back that's-"
"A Skrull. Trust me, I can see souls and this thing is not a coyote. It's a Skrull impersonating a coyote." Harry said as he began weaving his magic on the imposter.
"Then what happened to my coyote?" The boy genius wondered.
"Probably replaced at some point. Your pup probably died a long time ago." Harry said with a compassionate look.
A few moments later and there was a Skrull before them.
"Ok, anyone here know how to read minds?"
There was a collective shake of the heads.
"I should have brought Jean along." Harry sighed. "Oh… wait!"
Harry suddenly vanished.
"If he can teleport back and forth like that then why can't he just take us straight to our goal?" Amadeus asked.
"Lord Death-"
"Can we not call him that?"
"It is his title child. You would do well to respect one as powerful as he." The Eternal warrior-scholar, Ajax warned.
"You saying he's more powerful than you?"
"Foolish boy!" Amatsu the Demogorge god-eater snarled. "You call yourself a genius yet you don't see what's in front of you! He was invited for a reason! He is the only one who can truly kill a god."
"Then why are the rest of you here?"
"Amadeus, killing a god is no easy thing. Lord Death could do so on his own but the battle could take thousands of years. With our help it could be reduced to hours." Snowbird the Inuit demigoddess and member Canadian superhero team, Alpha Flight, explained.
They were interrupted by Harry reappearing without the Skrull. "Right, took the bastard to Jean, she says he didn't have any useful information for us but he'll be put to use in the battle back home."
"Listen, you can teleport back and forth at will right?" Amadeus challenged.
"Cho!" Hercules hissed angrily.
"Yep. Benefits of being the Master of Magic and Death."
"Then why don't you just come and get the rest of us when you get there and we can stay back home and help with the actual invasion?"
"You dare challenge-"
"DAMMIT!" Harry yelled at the stars.
This caused all the gods, demi-godesses and Eternals to look at Harry in surprise.
"What? He's right! You lot could be much more useful back home. I just need someone to stay here and help be an anchor for teleportation."
"I will stay." Snowbird declared as she stood. "I am the weakest and my abilities of flight and shape-shifting may be of more use to Lord Death."
"The boy should stay." Amatsu argued.
"No, his mind is more useful back home."
"'Tis true. I have seen the whelp take out villains with nothing but a well thrown pebble." Hercules grinned proudly as he smacked the boy on the back causing said boy to go flying across the ship and into the far side rail.
"So it's settled. You lot can head off. Snowbird and I head on and we will get you when we get there." Harry stated firmly. "Amy, you stay put for the moment."
"It's Amadeus." The genius groused as he pried himself off the rail.
Harry ignored him and started grabbing the various gods and vanishing with them.
America had always been the primary target of the Skrulls. It was the home of most of the super heroes, the major military forces and most importantly: Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four.
With this goal in mind the invasion assault forces were backed by a large contingent of Super Skrulls. Skrulls who had been given the powers of various Earth heroes and villains. Each Super Skrull was designed to take out a specific hero or team of heroes.
The one thing they hadn't counted on was the intervention of the Earth gods. They had prepared for Asgard and the Asgardians but not for the most powerful gods of the Greeks and other pantheons. So when Hercules and his little 'god-squad' (again, named by Amadeus) landed in New York and began tearing into the Super Skrulls, the rest of the regular Skrull forces began to falter. No matter how much their commanders were screaming 'He loves you' into their ears.
The humans quickly rallied.
"These foolish mortals think to take away what is rightfully ours!" Amatsu screamed in rage as he tore the limbs from a nearby Skrull.
"Prove them wrong then." Ajax retorted as he dodged and weaved around a Super Skrull.
There was a sudden pinging noise that seemed to echo through the wide streets and off the high-rise buildings on either side. The gods paused as they watched a wave approach them through the sea of Skrulls.
It soon reached them and they realised that the wave was actually row after row of Skrulls collapsing.
"Did they all fall asleep in the middle of battle?" Hercules wondered.
"I do not believe so. It would appear that Lord Death has given your mortal boy an upgrade." Ajax smirked.
True enough, Amadeus Cho could be seen walking on the bodies of the Skrulls towards them.
"That bastard chucked me down here and all he said was magic bounces." Cho growled. "And if he calls me 'Amy' one more time-"
"Complain later boy, you may have thinned the heard, but the bulls are still stomping." Hercules warned as he gestured to the Super Skrulls, many of who where flying above them.
The gods along with Amadeus fought their battle towards Central Park. There they found the bulk of the Skrull forces facing off against the arrayed heroes of Earth.
But they only caught a glimpse as they found themselves teleported back into the Dreamtime to Harry and Snowbird.
"Are you mad? We were about to engage in a glorious battle!" Hercules wailed in despair.
"You still might, remember? We are approaching the palace of the Skrull gods." Harry reminded him.
"What happened to the ship?" Amadeus asked as they floated in the Dreamtime.
"Slight disagreement with some guy named Nightmare and some freaky shape shifting monster."
"Neooqtoq, The Ravager." Snowbird's face was downcast. "I apologise again, I thought it was the only way."
"What?" Cho asked.
"We were a little swamped by demons and the like and Snowbird here decided to turn into some mindless and nigh unstoppable beast: Neooqtoq."
"But you did stop it?"
"Of course! Just had to get her to change back." Harry said slightly offended at being doubted.
"We are here and I can taste the Skrull gods blood already, let us go!" Mikaboshi demanded.
Whilst the war between the gods began, the final confrontation between the humans and Skrulls began. With the invasion attempt on Asgard thwarted, Thor himself was at the forefront of the humans standing proudly at the side of his brothers-in-arms.
But the Skrulls were fanatical. Spurred on by religious fervour and prophecy and the belief that: He loves them.
They fought to the death, willingly sacrificing themselves for their Queen Veranke and their gods. They had spent years infiltrating the humans and putting their plans into place. The Skrull who took over Hank Pym's identity had also prepared a contingency plan. Before parting ways with Pym's wife, Janet Van Dyne, AKA The Wasp, he had given her a method of turning into a giant like himself instead of being limited to just shrinking.
Needless to say it was a trap.
The battle was being won by neither side and someone needed an ace. The Wasp activated the enlarging and she began to grow… and glow.
She began to give off an immense amount of energy.
"Oh god! Janet!" Captain America cried. "Tony, do something!"
Tony's Iron Man Armour was on its last legs. All Stark Technology had been compromised and it had started with his suit. What he was wearing now was something he had managed to cobble together in the Savage Land. It barely had an A.I.
"I can't, my suit is useless." Tony felt helpless.
"Stand back, I will try to contain the energy!" Thor declared.
"I'll try and find the scientists, maybe they can-" Steve had to duck as the Skrulls renewed their assault.
They were now officially on the defensive as Thor was occupied with The Wasp. Whatever the Skrull posing as Hank Pym had given her it was turning her into a MAD weapon, Mutually Assured Destruction.
Everyone with the ability to manipulate power from Dr. Strange to Wiccan tried to help.
But it was too much. Janet tried valiantly to leave the area. To save her friends.
There was only one way to stop the destruction, to eliminate the threat. Thor, the most noble of beings, made the hardest decision and killed the Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, a founding Avenger.
The Skrulls underestimated the nature of humanity. When a friend is struck down like that, they fight back harder they seek out the perpetrator… they seek justice… they Avenge their friend.
One question rang through the minds of the superheroes. Where was Death, where was Harry Potter and why hadn't he saved them.
During the aftermath of the explosion that had occurred during The Wasp's transformation, there was silence. Many Skrulls had died, they were fanatics that would charge into a burning building to kill you just so they could say that it was done by their hand. They cared nothing for their own lives, only for serving their Queen and their gods.
From the rubble emerged a hated figure. Queen Veranke was thought to have been killed when Clint Barton, using the bow and arrows of an injured Kate Bishop of the Young Avengers, managed to hit her. But now she stood before them, she was seriously injured as her jaw was practically hanging off her face and had reverted to her Skrull form unlike the rest of her body.
All the humans saw was the enemy and murderer of a woman they called family.
They charged wanting only her death.
*FZAAAK*
The crowd froze as they were covered in pieces of Skrull Queen brain.
They slowly turned to see Norman Osborne of the Thunderbolts, the former Green Goblin, standing there in his suit and tie holding an enemy weapon. The news helicopters were circling around capturing the moment that he killed the Skrull Queen.
"Thunderbolts, m-make sure none of them weasel away. No loose ends." He ordered, his voice was taunt from emotion. Harry Potter may not have been present at this battle but death had been close for all of them.
And that is how the Skrull invasion ended. The Skrull Queen was taken out not by Captain America, Thor or Iron Man: Not by a hero. She was killed by a former criminal, a man who had murdered without remorse.
The heroes were rallied by Iron Man who ordered them to chase down and bring him prisoners for interrogation.
The hunt lasted for the whole night and there would be various Skrulls popping up in the future who had decided to go underground and hide.
By mid-morning, Death had returned.