Of Mind and Magic
Chapter 17
Harry stood in the center of the danger room, the black T-shirt over his frame curving around the new muscles he had acquired over the past month. Icy blue eyes flicked to his trainers that formed a triangle around him.
To his left was Ororo Munro, the mocha skinned beauty wore a skintight leather body suit, the golden zipper halfway down her chest showing off some cleavage. Her long white hair cascaded down her back. Her usual blue eyes were now a pale white as she prepared for battle.
To his right stood his Aunt Jean her dark red hair tied in a ponytail, a blue and red bodysuit hugging her like a second skin. Pale fingers flexed at the ends of the fingerless gloves as she rose just an inch above the ground in preparation for his final test, her eyes taking on the barest hint of a glow.
Logan stood at his back, his hairy muscular arms splayed out, three metal claws emerging from each of his fist. His thick chest covered in a blanket of black hair rose and fell, one corner of his mouth rippled, showing off a pronounced canine, "Begin."
Harry's body shifted. Over the past four weeks he had learned how to shift his body into its magical Psionic form. His body transformed becoming made of luminescent blue energy. His eyes burned like stars as he stared at his opponents.
Jumping forward, he thrust a glowing blue hand out fingers splayed.
A portal opened behind Ororo, showing off the vast African plains. With a little push she was through. It snapped shut and instant later.
He spun at Logan's roar, the hairy Canadian falling down from above, his claws poised to stab into his chest. He raised his hands, only for a pink blast from his aunt to send him rolling across the metal tiles that covered the floor.
He slammed into one of the metal squares that made up the domed walls of the danger room denting it.
Shaking his head he climbed to his feet, thanking whatever deity existed that he didn't feel pain from physical blows. His gaze flicked between his crimson haired aunt and the narrowed eyed Logan.
Logan was only dangerous if you were in reach of his claws, at least for the moment. His aunt had to be his next target, but how to neutralize her.
Logan charged his arm drawn back, his three claws shining.
Catching Logan's arm as he drove it forward, Harry spun on his heels, slinging the claw wielding Canadian towards his aunt.
As Jean froze Logan in midair, Harry phased into the floor, becoming one with the bedrock beneath the school.
–XX –
Jean thrust her hand forward her eyes glowing a luminescent pink. A pink outline surrounded Logan stopping his momentum and gently lowering him to the floor. She looked around her, her mind expanding outwards to search the room and beyond. Her bright red lips curled upwards when she didn't find her nephew.
Over the last month, Harry had been able to give her something she missed out on with her own children, Charles Nathaniel Summers, Nate Grey, and Rachel Summers. She loved all of her children, but she was only able to raise Charles, the others having been raised by Mr. Sinister and an alternate version of her.
Even with Charles, she didn't get to pass on her skills as a telepath or a telekinetic. Harry had been able to give her those teaching moments she missed out on with her own children.
The sound of screeching metal snapped her out of her thoughts. A tear appeared in the middle of the danger room as the thick metal pried itself apart. Earth poured through the gap, forming into a large 10 foot tall humanoid skeleton made of tightly compressed earth.
Bits of rock floated up coding the skeleton, before more soil floated over the rock.
With a roar, Logan charged forward, he leapt into the air, only for metal plates to peel off the walls and crash into him. They carried him high into the air before slamming him into the ceiling and fusing with the plates mounted there.
Logan thrashed against his bonds, his muscles straining, but the luminescent blue glow around the metal told Jean they were being reinforced by Harry's will.
Willing a bubble of Psionic energy around her, she peered out at the world through her shell of Psionic power, watching through a pink tent as the earth took the form of a golem. Plants began to grow over the stone body, and within moments she was looking at a humanoid man made of what look like Moss.
Jean floated down, "It's going to take more than a Moss man to beat me, Harry."
The Moss man said nothing. It just lunged forward, launching a fuzzy fist at Jean's barrier. The fist slammed into the barrier with enough force that it pushed Jean backwards.
Jean flared her power. Psionic energy rippled in waves. In the blink of an eye, the psychic waves slammed into the outstretched appendage. The arm exploded, sending bits of greenery in every direction.
–XX –
Harry sat cross-legged deep beneath the earth in a double layered bubble of translucent blue Psionic energy. His face scrunched up as the limb of his moss creature exploded. In his mind's eye he could see the entire danger room. He looked down on it from above, like some omnipotent being.
Logan struggled against the metal and power that held him in place, but that was barely a pressure on his mind. He surveyed the bits of Moss scattered around the room.
With his aunt's reaction, there was not a spot in the room that didn't have at least a little of his moss.
Her voice echoed in his ears, "It's going to take more than a Moss man to beat me, Harry."
Reaching out with his mind, he changed the moss ever so slightly.
Once that was done, he reached out his will, coating every opening in the danger room in a thin layer of Psionic power. With the stage set, he turned his full attention to his moss creature, letting a bigger part of his consciousness seep into it.
The double layer Psionic bubble that hid him from his aunt psychic probes flared at the shift in power.
–XX –
Jean tensed as a large amount of Psionic energy suddenly flowed into the moss creature. Vines sprouted to replace the arm she'd blown off. Nail like thorns sprouted all over the vines glistening with some type of liquid.
Two orbs of luminescent blue light shone in the creatures head.
"So, you finally decided to become an active participant in this fight."
Jean forced her will outward, Psionic spikes emerged from her bubble.
The moss creature jumped back, green sloughing off its frame. Landing on the ground, it raised its left arm, the appendage morphing into a wooden shield. Thrusting its thorny right arm forward, the vines spiraled, transforming into a javelin.
It sprinted to the left, more moss falling off its frame. Circling around the redhead, the creature thrust its javelin arm forward.
Jean raised her free hand, pink Psionic tendrils flashing into existence and snaking their way around the appendage. With a twist of her wrist, the tendrils squeezed, shattering the javelin.
White pollen mushroomed into the air as the javelin exploded, hanging there like dust mites.
"Jean!" Logan yelled in warning from his spot pinned to the ceiling.
With a thought, the powder froze, glowing pink as it was held in place by her power. However, something was wrong. She was breathing heavy, her movements were slow, and her thoughts were sluggish. Before she knew it, her eyes were drifting closed.
–XX –
Jean's eyes snapped open. She sat up, the soft cushion beneath her giving under her hand. She was in one of the mansions sitting rooms, a wall of windows letting in lots of midday sun. She leaned against the curved back of the antique couch, her head heavy and full of fog.
"What happened?"
Logan's gruff voice answered from a wicker chair off to her left. A cigar pinched between his teeth and a beer in his hand, "The kid outsmarted us. He pinned me to the ceiling, teleported Ororo as far away as he could without putting her in the Arctic, and put you to sleep."
Ororo spoke up, her white hair shining like strands of moonlight in the sun, "I have to say it was nice to see my village again."
Harry pushed off the wall, "I'm just glad it worked, I thought about Siberia, but then thought that would just be a dick move, so I went with the familiar but far enough away to where you wouldn't be able to interfere in the battle," he glanced at her, "I mean you never did tell me exactly what your range was?"
Ororo leaned forward one hand resting on the arm of her chair, the other one reaching for a porcelain cup on the coffee table in front of her, a single blue eye locked on him, "I didn't did I."
Wrapping a finger around the handle of the cup, she lifted it off the saucer. Leaning back, she brought the cup with her, cupping it in her hands and enjoying the drink without ever answering his question.
"So," Jean began eyeing her nephew, "how exactly did you put me to sleep?"
"I changed the moss covering my golem so that it degraded fast. When it broke down, it would release nitrous oxide. The real trick was making sure you didn't realize what I was doing, so I had some clumps of the moss release a flowery scent."
"Even then, Logan almost caught me at the end."
Jean glanced at the Canadian, "I thought you were warning me about the pollen."
Logan took a pull from his beer, "I think that was the point."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Jean rose to her feet, "So, what are you going to do now."
Harry shoved one hand into a pocket, glancing at Logan, but the Canadian was focused on his aunt. "I was hoping I could use Cerebro to find Mount Joy."
"I don't think that would be a problem," Ororo replied, "but I still wish you would let one of us come with you on your quest, I don't like the idea of you going alone."
"He won't be going alone."
Laura strode into the room over the last month, she had filled out. Leather pants hugged her shapely legs. A black tank top hugged her frame, showing off muscular arms and just a hint of cleavage.
She stopped beside Jean, her light blue eyes resting on her father, "Harry got us here safely. One of us needs to repay the favor by going with him to finish this quest he is on."
Harry closed the distance between them staring into her eyes, "You don't have to, you've been on enough missions for a lifetime."
Laura raised her shoulders the ponytail draped over it shifting slightly, "School life isn't for me. I need some action. I'm getting a bit antsy just spending all my time here."
Harry inclined his head, "I don't have a problem with you going, if they don't," he jerked his head at the others in the room.
Logan pulled the cigar from between his teeth, "I understand the need to get some air. Just watch each other's backs and I'm fine with it."
Jean leaned forward, her green eyes full of concern, her red hair falling to frame her face, "I still don't like the two of you doing this alone."
Harry stood shoulder to shoulder with Laura, "Each X-Man goes on an adventure that changes their lives. This one is ours. Strange Fate was somehow involved in the facility that created Laura. He brought my parents together and then took them away. I need to put him down so I can put this part of my life behind me."
Harry turned to Laura, "Pack the things you need, tomorrow we look for Mount Joy."
With a stiff nod Laura turned to leave the room.
"Wait, one more thing I haven't seen your family over the last month how are they doing?"
"Mom is helping Hank McCoy devise new ways to help young mutants control their abilities, aunt Deborah has gotten a job at a dentist office nearby, and Megan is interning at The Daily Bugle."
Tension drained from Harry's shoulders, he hadn't meant to forget about the Kinney's, but once he arrived here everything kind of spiraled out of control, he released a breath, "That's good, I'm glad they're doing well."
"Me too."
–XX –
The next day, Harry and Laura took the elevator down to the sub levels of the school.
Harry leaned against the railing lining the center of the elevator, his dark T-shirt sticking inside a rough groove that ran up the walls, "So you would really rather go on a mission that could end in our deaths then stay at the school?"
Laura raised a hand watching the way her fingernails caught the light, "Like it or not, the facility taught me the basics of what I needed to know. I feel on edge here, just waiting for the other shoe to drop," she glanced at him blue eyes meeting blue, "I need to be out there doing something."
"I understand that, this place was never meant to be my forever home. I appreciate what your father and everyone here has taught me, but their philosophy doesn't sit well with me."
"What do you mean?"
"I understand wanting peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants, but I believe it would be a better use of our time to create a place where mutants and those that sympathize with us could be safe and warn everyone else to stay away or else."
"Sounds like the Magneto way of thinking."
"Magneto attacks to prove his point. I would only attack if I was attacked. There have been times in the past magneto has followed that philosophy, but the man has too much rage to keep on the path forever."
A smile split Laura's face, "Sounds like fun, you need any help?"
Harry's lips curled, "I could use all the help I can get," he stretched one hand forward.
As the elevator slid to a stop, Laura stretched her hand forward, slipping her slender hand into his larger one. They shook once and then the elevator doors slid open.
Laura stepped out of the elevator and together they walked down the sleek metal hallway filled with doors set into arched recesses. "You know," Laura started, their footsteps echoing around them, "the X-Men aren't going to take kindly to your way of thinking. They go after anyone who causes violence to normal humans."
Turning a corner they stopped at a circular door.
Harry stretched his hand forward letting his mind meld with the doors electronics. After a moment it hissed open revealing a large circular room made of ebony square panels.
A walkway led to the center of the room, wear a helmet set on a curved blocky device.
Harry took the lead, "The difference is I'm not going to leave my base of operations to retaliate. I will stay exactly where I'm needed, with the people who choose to live under my protection."
Sitting down in a chair that shifted to the curves of his body, Harry reached for a silver helm sitting atop of what he now recognized as a control unit. Cables trailed off the helm like octopus tentacles.
The moment the device touched his head, his mind expanded outwards. Almost instantly he lost himself in a sea of voices. He gritted his teeth focusing on one thing, the psychic impressions his father picked up from Mount joy during the battle, the psychic impressions he had inherited from his father's memories.
The noise quieted, for a heartbeat he floated there in a sea of blackness. Then, the world around him zoomed forward in a blur of motion. His mind stopped in a vast mountain range in the Canadian wilderness.
From high above, he watched the Carmel haired murderer walk towards the mountain, looking almost board. His crimson eyes flared with power and hidden doors buried deep within the mountain exploded outwards, sending rocks across the picturesque landscape.
Harry hovered there, unsure of what to do, this machine boosted his power to incredible levels, but he didn't know what other powers Mount joy had acquired over the years since his father's death. If he attacked and failed to kill him, he may lose him forever, ending his chance for revenge and finding out more about Doctor Strange Fate.
In the end, he took a risk just barely touching his mind long enough to get his current location.
Ripping off the helmet, he turned to Laura, "Looks like were heading to Saint Elias." He rose to his feet.
"What's in Saint Elias?"
"AIM has a base there."
"Didn't orange Hulk still some plans from Shield that belonged to AIM?"
Harry thrust his hand forward, "Yeah, I guess were about to find out why."
A circular portal opened in the air behind Cerebro.
"I put the portal about a mile away from Mount Joy."
"Good, it gives us a chance to come up with a plan."
Wrapping an arm around Laura's waist, Harry lifted into the air shooting through the portal.