I don't own Harry Potter or the marvel universe. One is too cliché even for me and the other too damn depressing at times.
Some reviews I would like to mention:
Mist shadow: the FF have been operating for a few years, but they don't have as many connections as you seem to think. I do have the idea of another person to act as a full time trainer for Harry's group (once he puts it together), but he won't appear for a while. And yes Harry still has mental issues, in point of fact he would fit in far better with Gryffindor now than he ever did in his old dimension.
Bub23453: the wards and why no one knows about Hogwarts (and no one does) will be explained in other chapters, though there is so much going on right now that Harry might not get free to go and study them for a while.
Plums: YOU ARE THE MAN! I love both wizard Runemaster and Last Second Savior, simply fantastic stories, and you updated both! Awesome. In terms of Harry's actions, he wanted to try out his car, and what better way than in a race? He also didn't need a lot to beat these guys, none of them were a threat to him. Hogwarts and everything about that will be explained in the future in bits and pieces. I will not officially add more girls for a while, but Emma will show up soon. Backups will come, but I am wondering if I should have them be part of the romance or just backups.
Cj-cold: love the review, hope you enjoy this chapter too.
I am debating how to emphasis spells, i have to different methods in this chapter, tell me what you think. And now on with the show.
Chapter 7 A Third Path to the Future has Opened
Kitty grimaced as she continued to run beside Kurt, thankful that Logan had forced them to do endurance training for so long, as without it Logan and Sabertooth would have caught up with them by now. Ironic that. The fact that her day had gone south so quickly was even more ironic. When I thought to myself I'd go to another country if it gave me a quiet place to work on my letter I really didn't mean it, and it's not like we've had much quiet since we got here. Stupid, stupid brainwashing, stupid, stupid Wolverine and his trying to handle his problems alone, and stupid me for thinking the x-Jet was a good place to get some peace and quiet!
Next to her Kurt bamfed again, then not even a second later was back, the smell of brimstone from his first teleportation reinforced by his return trip. "There's a clearing about five more minutes run in front of us, how much time do you vant me to buy you?"
Kitty let her legs carry her forward as her mind worked over what she would need. Wolverine was resistant to magic, so she'd need a lot more than a single stone with a simple 'hold' rune, like Teach used on his breakfast war with Jean. And then there was the other controlled idiot, but in his case she could be a lot…. firmer. She wasn't looking forward to it, but if anyone deserved what she might be forced to do, then Sabertooth did. "Can you give me about ten minutes or so?"
Kurt looked back over his blue furred shoulder to the two wild men that were chasing after them so single-mindedly. "Jah, I can hold them off for that long, but not longer. Hurry as you can ya?"
Kitty nodded firmly. "Don't worry I'll be as fast as I can." With that Kurt turned back and Kitty raced on to the clearing.
Kurt bamfed immediately behind Sabertooth his fist slamming into the man's ear hole rattling his head and then teleporting away to stand in front of both of the mind-controlled wild men. "Logan I know you can't hear me but this vill be painful to one of us that much I can promise you."
Wolverine didn't even so match as twitch, he simply charged at Nightcrawler snarling, his claws out to slay as Sabertooth joined him. "Don't tell me I didn't warn you." Kurt said, then began to dodge and bamf around, keeping them both busy. The easiest way to do this was to get them to hit one another as for a few seconds they would ignore him and move to attack one another before turning back to him, and Kurt quickly became an expert at it. He also made heavy use of his prehensile tail to trip both of them, and the martial arts Logan had taught him. Still it was only the fact both were moving rather predictably despite their speed and skill that allowed him to survive.
Even then he took a few slashes along his suit and body, a few of which would require stitches later. He only hit back when he could target their heads, the better to rattle their brains, but he wished he had brought one of the tazer wristbands Harry had designed, though of course to do that they would have to have already been built. He was quickly growing tired, only his teleportation ability keeping him alive. I might not last the full ten minutes at this rate!
Thankfully, a little less than seven minutes after he turned at bay a voice shouted out from behind him. "I'm ready Nightcrawler, let 'em go!"
With a groan of relief Kurt bamfed away to join Kitty in the clearing, leaving the two berserkers to chase after him. Kitty grabbed his arm as he staggered bleeding from several cuts along his arms and sides. "You did good Kurt" she said as she pulled him up and propped him against a nearby tree. "Now leave it to me."
Kitty had worked faster and better than she had thought she could, but it had still taken all the stones from the pouch she always carried with her just in case (a gift from Harry to his apprentice, the stones grew from tiny pebbles to palm sized stones when you took them out of the pouch, though Kitty had put the runes on them all) to make the binding array on the ground of the clearing as well as the little surprise she had put into it and even then it was in a very small area. She just hoped it would be enough because she couldn't recharge the things, only use them. this was a one shot deal, if it didn't work they'd have to retreat and maybe figure out how to fly the jet back to get some more help before the doctor operation the mind control chips decided to pull up shop, a forlorn hope at best.
Logan burst out of the trees to charge straight at Kitty who was kneeling now in the center of the clearing. Logan, like the beast the chip in his head had made him, charged forward to be caught in the binding array. Ropes of magical power rose up around him holding him in place. However, thanks to his skeleton being laced with adamantium Logan had a very high magical resistance and the binding could only hold him for a few seconds. But it was enough to hold him in place long enough for Kitty to shout "Activate!", while touching a rune on the ground with her hand. The second half of her trap sprang, the dozen shock runes, a specialty of the Potter family that he had passed on to her as his apprentice and because they were actually simple runes to learn and etch into stone, activated all at once. The shock, being magical in nature, had a bit more oomph to it than normal electricity, and the chip in his head that was controlling him didn't have any of Logan's immunity to magic, and the thing shorted out as he was knocked out for a few minutes.
Sabertooth came out of the woods into the clearing as Logan fell to his knees. Sabertooth snorted seeing his weaker friend down. "Not bad frail, but if you think that'll stop me you don't know me too well! And I might not be able to hurt you, but blue boy, him I can hurt!" Unlike Logan, who had fought with all his considerable willpower to not be controlled by the control chip Victor had given in easily, thus retained most of his personality.
He stalked forward and Kitty frowned. "Stay back Sabertooth, I've got other tricks to deal with you, that's your only warning." Sabertooth scoffed and ran forward aiming for Kurt. Kitty scowled, but ran forward to meet him, phasing out so that her body phased through his, but instead of just going through, she left behind one of her pebbles, one that didn't have a rune on it, and she grimaced with effort as she imparted some impetus to it as it passed through Sabertooth's shoulder. When she left it there, his arm exploded just like the tree and all the targets she had tried that maneuver on since, though they never blew up so bloodily, with blood bits and bone and other things spraying everywhere, nor did even the most realistic Danger Room target yowl as loud as Sabertooth did when his entire shoulder blew apart, dropping his arm to the snow.
Sabertooth stared at the frail that had just taken his arm, the shock and pain of the injury actually overloading the mental control from the chip in his head (not that it had been really controlling him all that much, just influencing him). He backed away, waiting for his healing ability to kick in, but with this kind of injury it would take hours, and he was already feeling faint from blood loss. Sabertooth knew though the instant Logan was up and about he'd come for him and try to finish him off in his injured state. So without even a backwards glance he ran off through the woods.
For her part Kitty stepped back, her gorge rising at the amount of damage she had done. After a moment Kitty controlled her gorge for now, she could throw up later. Though the fact that Sabertooth at least seemed to think his healing power could fix that was reassuring. She had just realized that she wasn't as happy about this whole fighting thing as she had thought. She turned from watching her, not opponent, victim worked better run off, to look over Logan. "Wolverine, are you alright?"
Logan shook his head, sparks and smoke from his magic induced shock coming off his hair and he waved off Kurt, who was hovering over him, ignoring his own nicks and scratches. "I'm fine kid that shock of yours knocked out the chip, but didn't do any other damage." He looked behind Kitty at Sabertooth, who was now practically out of sight into the woods. "Nice job, that should keep him busy for a few hours at least before it heals." Kitty resolutely did not look, and Kurt too looked a little green, though his gaze was steady on Kitty and he nodded respectfully. Logan got up and scowled. "Let's go. We've got a laboratory to smash."
Kurt smirked and nodded, and Kitty came back to the here and now with something to concentrate on. As Logan led the way through the woods back to the Weapon X lab she sighed. I hope the others are having a better day than we are.
Jean had a rather nice, calm day at school until the classes actually ended. Her problems began when she began to change with the rest of the cheerleading team. Even with her belsham-trees protecting her from actual thoughts she began to get impressions of envy, jealousy and even hate as she began to change. When she pulled off her normal bra to switch it with a sports bra, revealing her perky C-cup breasts with their dark cherry nipples, those feelings skyrocketed and she frowned. I really hope the soccer team doesn't have this envy issue or I may just have to quit. The feelings came back again as she switched out of the loose fitting jeans she had been wearing to the cheerleader's uniform, but subsided as her body became once more hidden. She looked around at the other girls, a few of whom were already dressed, and followed them out to start stretching.
The football team was exercising in its field while the cheerleaders began to stretch close by because the marching band was practicing on the other field. The wave of uncontrolled lust from the football team that got through her belsham-trees was disturbing, even more than the feelings that came through from her fellow cheerleaders. She was thankful beyond words that her belsham-trees kept out actual thoughts, if she had to hear what those hormonal teens thought about her and the other girls, well she would have been forced to fry a few of them. She stopped mid-stretch at that thought, wondering where the idea of using fire had come from, not that she couldn't do it of course, but no, the idea of breaking their pelvic bones was much better. She looked over as she finished that exercise at the few kids, both boys and girls who were here to watch one team of the other practice. Lance and Pietro of the Brotherhood were among them and she frowned.
Almost as soon as she thought that the two surprisingly didn't broadcast as much lust as the football team she felt the ground tremor under her. She scowled then sent out a brief stab of power, a telepathic shout that hit both boys. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! They both winced and the tremors stopped and she suddenly smirked, realizing she could use a traditional feminine weapon to get them to back off for a few days. I'm just starting my monthly, and you do not want to know what I'll do to you if you bother me! She wasn't, that would be next week and she would be staying home those days as normal, she always did as the emotional chaos PMS caused effected her powers. Thankfully Rogue and Kitty didn't have the same problem, but Ororo did. The weather queen isolated herself for those days, and everyone else was thankful for it.
Her two targets flinched then looked at one another and got up hastily, not really knowing much about that time, only enough to fear it. The rest of the training went alright, after that, but as Jean was leaving the gym after her shower to meet up with her boyfriend to maybe go out on a date but certainly for a ride home her day tanked again. She rounded a corner of the gym to take a shortcut around its back to the parking lot only to find Duncan and a group of his friends surrounding Todd Tolansky and another boy wearing glasses who looked like a prototypical geek that she didn't recognize. She wondered how he knew Todd, who she didn't think was into computers or anything like that. However despite that minor question there was no mystery involved in what she was seeing. "What is going on here?"
Duncan flinched a little guiltily and her friends all looked down at their feet or away. Being caught by Jean like this was like being caught by their mothers for some reason, though thankfully none of them had ever been stupid enough to actually say so. "Er, nothing Jean, just, um, we found these two skulking around the gym," Our territory was implied there, but it wasn't actually stated, "And we were just asking them what they were doing here."
Jean looked at the boy with the glasses who looked rather rumpled and terrified and Todd, who looked rumpled (normal for him admittedly) and shifty. "I see, so it took four of you big strong football players to ask two younger boys who would barely make one of you together what they were doing here?"
"Little dweebs shouldn't be around here, we were just teaching them their place," one of the football players muttered stupidly under his breath, then froze as eyes the color of jade locked onto him with a disapproving gaze that made him feel about an inch tall.
Jean's frown deepened as she looked at her boyfriend. "You know what, I think you should all go before I report this." Duncan made to protest but she held up a hand imperiously. "I don't want to hear any excuses, this isn't the first time you've been caught bullying someone Duncan, and you know it. I don't want to be around you if you want to bully other people like this. Think about that, and I'll see you tomorrow. Now get out of here, all of you."
She glared at them and the football players, cowed moved past her shuffling their feet. Duncan paused and asked, "So I guess we're not going out tonight?" Jean turned to him and glared and he mumbled, "But how'll you get home?"
"I'll find a way." Jean said coldly, pointing off, and Duncan joined the other boys who were now muttering to themselves, angry at being talked to like that, but none of them were willing to try the redhead's anger. She turned to Toad and stared. "And what were you doing around here anyway?"
The two smaller teens looked at eachother. "We-were going to try and sell answers to the next math test to some of the football players, you can't be on the team if your grades fall below a certain point, so we thought we could make a lot of money." The nerd replied.
Todd took over the tale. "And then big, blond, and over-muscled decided they didn't need to buy when they could just take, and I objected. Thanks for the save Red."
Jean flashed out with the telepathic equivalent of a slap that hit Todd's mind. "Don't call me that!" As Toad flinched she glared at them both. "And if I hear that nickname around school or any rumors of you two trying to sell cheat sheets again, I will come looking for you myself, understand?" Both boys trembled under her stare and she nodded firmly and they ran off.
Why am I feeling like an adult among a bunch of brats these days? She sighed and pulled out her phone. To her relief Ororo answered quickly. "Ororo, I'm sorry to impose, but could you or Mr. Logan come and get me?"
Within a half hour thanks to not hitting any traffic Ororo pulled up in the now nearly empty parking lot in the mansion's van, a farcry from Duncan's Dodge Viper, but the company was better. "Rough day?" Ororo asked sympathetically.
Jean sighed getting in next to her and leaning back, closing her eyes. "Yes, a mix of my mental defenses not blocking out strong feelings in large quantities, my boyfriend being a typical teen jock and a few other little things." She opened her eyes and looked at Ororo, who also looked out of sorts, possibly because Harry hadn't come back yet, and Jean smiled as an idea struck her. "I don't suppose we could head out into the woods and have some flying practice?"
Ororo brightened up at the idea. "Well, if you think that will make you feel better?"
"I think it will make us both feel better," Jean said eyeing Ororo shrewdly.
Ororo smiled, "Yes, I think that is just what the doctor ordered." Her smile turned mischievous, "If for no other reason that watching your attempts at flight can be hilarious."
Jean pouted then joined the other woman's laugh. After a moment Jean said "I wonder where Harry is, and what the heck he's up to." And if his day was as irritating as mine.
Ororo shrugged, but was wondering the same thing. "By the way, have you seen Kitten or Kurt today?"
Harry and his new acquaintance Emma had already finished the most irritating part of their day. While Emma followed Harry's request of erasing all knowledge of the fight from the boomerang users brain Harry went and got rid of the goons truck by transfiguring it, then went over to the one named Taskmaster who he had first killed. Emma came over to him then, looking down at the contorted pain filled face of the man, whose mask had fallen off at some point during his death throes. "And what happened to this one?"
"Poison, venom actually, from a very poisonous snake. My sword was soaked in it at one point, and it took on the properties of the venom." Harry shook his head. Poison like that was not his preferred method of killing, but then again it wasn't the worst he could have used either. After all, he wasn't about to use a lot of his tricks in front of a telepath he just met, no matter how fetching. And even together this group of bully-boys wasn't really worth anything more interesting anyway. With a brief moment of concentration and a pointed finger the dead body was transfigured to a rock of equal mass, which he then levitated over the side of the cliff and let fall.
Emma's eyebrow rose. "And you couldn't have transformed them all like that before?" She asked, fishing for information about her new acquaintance's abilities. She knew they were formidable but how much so eluded her.
"No, I can't transfigure living matter like that, well not something that can think anyway. If you can think you have a sense of self and I would need to fight that sense of self on it's home turf so to speak." It wasn't impossible, but it was damn tough, and Harry thought rather cruel. "So did you find anything in that Australian bloke's brain? Well, something we could use anyway?"
Emma frowned. "It seems as if it was a shot across Frost Corps' bow so to speak. We recently have begun to get into the weapons manufactory business, and another company didn't want the extra competition. They met with a man who identified himself as a Hammer Industries rep. Whether that was true or not I can't say, that could just be a way to throw someone off the real person behind this." Of course that new business had been taking a loss, going up against Hammer Industries, Stark Enterprises and the other larger and already entrenched companies. Her father had already been thinking about selling it off.
"Hmm, well whatever, if you're done I'll let the idiot loose and we can finish our ride, and then have a dinner meeting to discuss your forfeit of information shall we say."
"I thought you'd never ask," Emma smirked a little. "Best two out of three?"
Harry laughed and agreed, then released the still comatose Boomerang from his cocoon of earth, after which the two got into their cars and raced off again, leaving him behind with his new mental disorder and .
Again Harry's astonishing reflexes and the speed of his Huayra won over Emma's experience, telepathic radar and Ferrari 458. As they entered the city of Devos though Harry signaled she should lead the way and she did so, heading toward an extended stay hotel she knew in the city that had excellent security.
Harry still put up his own precautions after they parked of course, after which he cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at the young girl. "What are we doing here may I ask?"
Emma smiled a butter wouldn't melt in her mouth smile. "We are going to get the penthouse suite, it has two bedrooms and a lounge area where we can have our discussion."
Harry smirked a little at her presumption but nodded all the same. "Sure, but after we check in I want to walk around and see a bit of the city before we have our talk."
"That's fine by me," Emma agreed. "We'll probably be talking into the wee hours anyway." The way she emphasized the word 'talking' and looked him up and done made him roll his eyes. So since the innocent seductress didn't work she's going for the full-on seductress? I wonder if it's simply habit, because she finds it amusing, or because she's actually interested in me?
Even with Emma demanding the penthouse suite they checked in quickly enough using the Frost name, though they split the bill. After that they went up and looked at the room, finding it indeed had two bedrooms, a sitting area, a large balcony and a kitchen, which made Harry smile. The suite came complete with cooking utensils as well.
As the clock struck eight the pair went out to see the city. They were interrupted by a white streak coming out of the night sky to land delicately on Harry's upraised arm. Hedwig perched there, checking on her human now that he was done with his irritating business things. "Hello girl, have a good time hunting?" Hedwig precked affably and Harry smiled. "Two rabbits, very nice indeed, though try not to eat too much. Wouldn't want you to get a stomachache, would we?"
Hedwig's answering preck was rather stuffy, and she nipped at her Harry's hair for a moment before turning her eyes and head to look at the blonde haired human standing beside him who was looking at them in amusement.
"I thought it was only witches that had familiars." Emma had loved fantasy books as a child, though she thought the legend of Camelot was far too biased against women and Tolkien had far too few female characters, though the character of Galadriel nearly made up for that on her own.
"Heh, no, wizards can have them to, well they did where I come from originally. This is Hedwig." Emma nodded raising a hand to touch the owl's feathers, noting that Harry had just admitted that his powers were magical in origin, and had again mentioned that he came from somewhere else presumably given his first mention of it, another dimension. "So, where's the market around here?"
Emma shrugged ignorance but the two still set off through the streets, Hedwig flying up to the balcony of the hotel to nap for a few hours before going out hunting again late that night.
As they walked through the streets, looking around at the sights and the architecture, sneering at the few other tourists in the city who were all taking pictures, going around in large groups and speaking loudly in Americanized English to one another about how quaint everything was.
Emma took this time to watch Harry and learn as much as she could about him, though her observations at this point had far more to do with his personality and bearing than his power, enough to tell her about his character and thus important to her to predict how he would react in social situations, which could often tell you just as much about someone as watching them handle a crisis.
For one thing he radiated a certain amount of charisma, which seemed to get people to notice or not want to come near him one or the other depending, Emma supposed, on their own temperaments. He made acquaintances easily, able to strike up a conversation with all of the market people as he looked around. Animals liked him too. Several times during their walk they walked past dogs all of whom wagged their tails and moved toward Harry to be petted, even random cats came out of alleyways for a good scratching. Harry also moved with complete, utter confidence, as if he knew there was nothing out there he couldn't face, though given his magic that was probably true. His presence was commanding, dominating the area he was in, a surprising feat for a boy who looked the same age as Christian, her older brother.
A familiar pang of sadness went through her at the thought of her brother. He was really the only family member she had that acted like a normal family member. Christian was nice and kind and thus was utterly unsuited to be part of the Frost family. Unfortunately Emma wasn't the first to notice this, and their father had made his life a living hell in dozens of ways large and small, especially since finding out he was gay. Nowadays, Christian drowned himself in drugs and alcohol to deaden the pain.
After walking around and seeing some of the produce and ingredients on hand he convinced Emma to let him cook, which Emma acceded to just to see if he was any good at it. By the time it was nine o'clock he had bought enough ingredients to make something for them for dinner, and they went back to the hotel.
As Harry started to cook Emma went and got her small trunk out of her car (small both because she hadn't planned to be in Switzerland for long and because her car didn't really allow for more) and brought it back up to the suite. After that she changed into her normal around the house attire, tight shorts and a grubby and short t-shirt, white of course, with no bra underneath. She was interested how Harry would take it, more she needed his help, so if she had to flash some skin, well it wouldn't be the first time she used her wiles for her own gain.
Harry looked up from where he was chopping small tomatoes, dicing them fine while behind him a pan of pasta simmered. His eyes widened and he smiled appreciatively at what she was wearing for a moment, but that was all before he looked back down at what he was cooking.
Emma frowned a little internally, wishing she could sense what he was thinking but then she shrugged, moving on to the meat of the discussion. "So you were saying you had a lot of actual gold. Well the first thing you need to know is any single citizen having that much gold will face a certain amount of scrutiny. You said you had what, two and a half tons of gold…." She rolled those words off her tongue and shivered a little at the sheer pleasure of it. "That will bring down a lot of scrutiny, circumspect or forceful depending on the country. You were right to create an account in Switzerland, as long as they don't think you're doing anything in their country they'll leave you alone, but gold will still catch the attention of those who watch such things. The richer you are, the more most first world governments will look at you, especially if you don't have a visible means of income. The best way would be to forge some documents that say you own an old abandoned mine somewhere and you're working it by yourself. Put a little into your account every month or so, or better yet randomly so it looks as if you're simply following a vein or whatever they call it. Now, what are you going to be doing with that money?"
Harry nodded to indicate he was listening as he finished slicing the tiny tomatoes and went to mince up some peppers, wondering how much he should tell the younger girl. After a moment he decided on a bit of the truth but no real details. After all, it's clear she needs my help, which I'll be more than willing to give when she eventually opens up, but she's also ambitious, and we've known each other for not even half a day. She seems trustworthy, but she is obviously in a dangerous situation, and she'll look out for her own interests first. "I have several ideas long term. One of them will be in the clothing industry, for a start anyway. The other will be pharmaceutical in nature, but it will require a large chunk of farming land." He paused, "Huh, I'll need to look that up actually, I can't remember offhand how much or what kind of land those ingredients will need. So where would I go to buy large plots of land or get access to a cheap but excellent work force to create clothing? For now I just want to create a few prototypes."
Emma's eyebrows rose in surprise at that, and she took a moment to think of her reply. Frost Pharmaceuticals was one of the family's biggest earners, and the only one she was even remotely interested in. If this product he's thinking of could actually sell, then the fact FP has a brand name already established and shipping and distribution system already in place would make it far easier and far more profitable to sell it through us. Yet it was clear there were some things Harry didn't want to share, and the exact nature of this item was one of them. So should I try to get him to open up or back off for now until we know each other better? Hmmm, wait I think, I can't sacrifice the personal aid I need now for the good of the company in the future, that would just be stupid. "That's interesting. If you want to buy land I would recommend in Greece, its having a recession right now and the government will be willing to sell large clumps of its land in return for cash, gold especially would be good for them, their currency is sinking fast. Watch out for buying too much land from private citizens as that can open a can of worms you really don't want to deal with. In terms of clothing, for single products Vietnam would be the place to go. They have clothiers there who will create whatever you want out of whatever you want for a very nice price. Also no unions an excellent point if you want to keep prices down."
Harry nodded thoughtfully at that as he finished putting together his special creamy dressing to go with the pasta, then moved on to put the finishing touches on his side salad. Both those suggestions dovetailed with his desire to use resources from the less powerful nations for his business in the future. I'm willing to work with the big powers eventually but there's no way I'm going to be tied to them or controlled by their policies. America especially with how none of their leaders have spoken out against the anti-mutant movement pisses me off. Not that the UK is any better, but still, for the supposed 'land of the free and home of the brave' it doesn't speak well of them. "Hmm, okay, so can I use Vietnam as the central, I don't even know the word for it, where my company is based for tax reasons?"
Emma smiled, then leaned in to smell the food, her eyes widening appreciably. In her family's house of course the staff did all the cooking, but this looked as good as any of their chefs could make. Though that wasn't all that made her smile. "I believe that was your third question Harry! And yes Vietnam has a very company-friendly tax code, not the friendliest in the world but up there. And the bakshish, the gifts they will give you if you do use them that way will be much more than most other countries."
The two brought the food out to the table, with Emma going out of her way to bend over and stretch, but Harry earned her respect by only glancing at her, if she said it herself magnificent, rear once and then ignored her rather blatant flirting. He shook his head as he brought out a local bottle of wine and chilled it with a spell before pouring it into two glasses. "The brazen seductress fits your personality better, but I'm afraid it's not working on me."
Emma pouted a little but shrugged, deciding on a bit of honesty, wondering where it would take her. "You intrigue me, and I'm not used to meeting people I can trust without in some way manipulating them. Plus the more people look at my body the more they underestimate my mind. It may be the only thing that lets me keep any power going forward, I'm frankly desperate for any lever I can use, and my looks have always been one such."
Harry took a moment to take a bite of the pasta as he looked across at the girl, his eyes, which had been snapping with good humor, now dimmed visibly. Despite her self-control, which was so complete it reminded him almost painfully of Daphne in her ice queen persona (though far different in type, Daphne was simply cold and aloof, Emma could change from an icy hauteur that made Daphne look like an amateur to a very outgoing and brazen flirt, neither of which let her real emotions be seen) something far too close to distress had leaked through there. He wasn't blind to the fact she was still trying to manipulate him, but the fact she was desperate wasn't a lie. His lips twitched as she took a bite of the pasta and made that little 'mmmm' sound that a cook lived for and he asked "Why don't you tell me more about your problems, and we'll see what I can do to help? After all it'd be a shame to leave such a lovely lady to face the wolves alone, and we still haven't discussed a deal for some of your company's scanning equipment."
Emma smiled, but continued to eat silently for a few moments, the food was simply divine. After a moment however she took a sip of wine to clear her mouth and began. "My father is part of a group, sort of a gentleman's club called the Hellfire Club…."
Harry listened as he ate slowly, taking it all in, her family's lack of emotional connections, the issue with the Hellfire Club and this Sebastian Shaw. Emma let a bit more in the way of emotions show than she might have wanted, but it told Harry more than just the words she used. There was real hate, almost loathing toward her father in the way he talked about him, and fear, not a lot but some when talking about Shaw. It wasn't just the fact that by the rules of this club he would have control over her, though that was bad enough, but something else as well. It was as if she knew enough about him to be scared, but not enough to know why. There also seemed to be a problem with her older sister, truly quite a lot of hate there, but the reasons for it weren't clear. And the ways her father had tied up her own bank account to keep her from running went right over his head.
Emma paused as she finished her pasta, surprised that she had talked for so long and worried she had let out a little too much. Harry however simply looked at her compassionately, and decided to share a bit of his own past to show he understood where she was coming from. "I lived with my mother's sister and her family until I was twelve. They hated me because I was smarter than them and because of my magic, and none of them were shy about showing me verbally and physically they hated me. Trust me I know about living in a loveless home. Even going to a school where my life was in almost constant danger was better than that." He let that sink in a moment before moving on. "In terms of your specific issue with this Hellfire club, I can provide you with a bit of defense there, a two pronged defense actually, just in case."
He leaned back sipping from his wine. "But first I will need your word to not divulge where you have gotten the charm if it ever comes to light. I don't want the heat that would cause if my abilities become well known, not yet."
Implied in that statement was that he didn't want her to share anything of his abilities with anyone else, a sign of trust that made Emma's eyes widen, then she actually grinned a little at the amount of faith it showed in her and she vowed to prove worthy of that trust, which simply showed she too could be effected by Harry's charisma and good nature.
Harry put his wine glass down briskly. "Now, the defense I can provide is in the way of a charmed item. When you wear it, men will find you attractive as usual but not feel the desire to actually make a move on you. It is subtle but powerful and will target any man within a certain range. I will warn you however it will feed off your own body's energy to power it, so you will be eating more than you have previously as long as you wear it." The item would actually have a rune to take power from Emma's bio-field, much like the ward he had devised for Ororo, but it would have to power the charm which meant it would need to draw more energy almost as much as the ones in his present crisis suit design. The charm was designed to target other people, rather than a ward which was designed to target the person wearing it. It had been designed by Hermione who had designed it after studying the arithmancy for the notice me not spell/ward scheme, and had tried to see if it could be modified in specific ways. It turned out it could. Indeed it was her notes on the changes to the notice me not spell that allowed Harry to create a target specific confoundus spell like the one he had used on the Brotherhood kids.
"The next one is a ward designed, um, well it's designed to protect virginal daughters really." He coughed uncomfortably as Emma's eyes bore into him, and he hunched his shoulders. "Um, let's just say the society I was forced to be a part of back where I'm originally from was rather patriarchal in their thinking."
One expressive eyebrow rose as elegant lips twitched, and he went on hurriedly. "Um, anyway I had a few friends who had views about things like that. So what the modified runic array does is rather than simply making a man unable to stand to attention" Emma giggled at that then put a hand to her mouth, surprised that she had let that out. Harry simply grinned at her unabashed. "As I was saying, the ward will attack the wedding tackle of any man who touches you sexually, I.E. down there or up on your baps."
Now Emma did laugh aloud. "Baps?! Is that what you call them in Britain?"
"Personally I'd call them magnificent myself," Harry said letting his eyes slide down to her chest, which was shown off to maximum effect by the short shirt she was wearing.
Emma giggled again, preening just a little. "Well said Potter, so you can play the game."
Harry shrugged. "I can, but someone else has a prior claim I'm afraid."
Emma shrugged in turn, and was amused to see that Harry kept his eyes firmly on her own. "I would like meeting this other woman at least, after all" she smirked a little, "It's not as if I haven't had a few fantasies along those lines."
Harry gulped then shook his head shoving the idea of Ororo and Emma sharing a bed out of his mind. "Moving right along, the effect will be based on a three strike system. The first person to touch you like that will only lose his hard on, the second will have effect last far longer, and the third, well that will last for a month, and the ward will stay at that level, it can't differentiate from one man to another, only the intent. I could use another charm, one that would be far more offensive and a lot less subtle as well but I don't think you want that?" Plus there was no way even with feeding off her bio-energy that it wouldn't dissipate after one use, it was simply too energy intensive.
"Tempting but no," Emma said shaking her head. "How much time would you need to create something like that?"
Harry frowned, cursing the fact he hadn't thought to bring any of his rune kit or anything else. "About a day to get it right and make sure the bio-energy part doesn't suck too much to harm you or too little to work. Can you meet me somewhere in New York in the states?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "My family's mansion is right outside Matinecock New York, trust me if you want to meet anywhere in the state I can do that so long as I have the, ward did you call it? Or charm? Whichever it was I'll need it before the end of the school year. I'm to be presented" she spat the word, her emotions plain to see, Harry having won her trust by trusting her in turn and agreeing to help her, "to the Hellfire Club over the summer at some point."
"Then I think we should talk about the price for some of your scanners." Harry said, getting up to clean the plates.
Emma sat there sipping at her wine and watching him reflectively. "I was thinking of possibly grabbing some on my own and then bringing them with me, but my father is sure to notice something like that no matter how well I try to hide it." And if he doesn't Adrienne certainly will be watching me for anything unusual, any sign of weakness she could take advantage of. Just par for the course with her really. "So what you'll need to do is first set up a dummy corporation which can buy them and then someplace to store them. The price shouldn't be bad, not for someone who has two and a half tons of gold" she shivered again at that and Harry laughed at her over-the-top reaction from where he was cleaning the plates in the kitchenette. "I can walk you through that if you want." She knew how to create a dummy corporation of course, she had learned in an attempt to funnel some of her funds away, but her father's people had found out and shut it down. She had lost Wi-Fi privileges and the money she had already funneled to that particular project. But Harry shouldn't have any problem, after all, no one is looking his way yet, and even if they are I doubt they are looking that closely.
That discussion went for another two hours as Emma walked her keen pupil through this process, then segued into illegal things Harry had done, and he opened up about a few of his more normal (not life threatening) adventures, and the two went to bed, Emma glad she had found a friend to aid her in Harry, and Harry thankful he had found Emma and was able to help her in return for her helping him. The friendship with him went without saying.
The next day they checked out of the hotel and went their separate ways after exchanging e-mail addresses, and making plans to meet up in a few days, the exact time would need to be chosen by Emma, as she didn't know yet when she could slip her watchers, and didn't want to lead her watchers to him. "I'll e-mail you when I get free," Emma said, as she turned to Harry after opening her car door and sticking her car keys in, the compilation CD she had in her player kicking in immediately, playing "I'm a bitch, I'm a lover" which brought a smirk to Emma's face. Reaching out she grabbed Harry's collar and dragged him into a kiss, not a deep one but heartfelt. "I'll see you later Harry." She got into her car and drove off without another word, leaving Harry to shake his head bemusedly behind her.
Harry rubbed his face for a moment shaking his head and chuckling then raised a hand to let Hedwig alight on his arm. "Hello Hed, have a nice night?" Hedwig precked amusedly as if saying 'yes I did, and did you?' and Harry chuckled. "A profitable one at least. Now, do you want to be in the car or meet me later, I want to drive for a bit before teleporting back to the institute." Hedwig ruffled her feathers, amused by her Harry's dismissal of the previous subject. The fact that an alpha like her Harry should have multiple mates was obvious to her and to any other animal, but it apparently hadn't yet occurred to him. Males, always so slow. Still she acceded to going with him in his Huayra, and a brief moment of conjuration created a perch in the front seat for her, looping it around and under the chair. Hedwig precked in satisfaction and hopped form his hand onto her perch. She was actually looking forward to this a little, seeing her Harry's driving from outside was pleasant, she wondered how it felt like on the inside.
Harry laughed a little as she settled into her perch, talons gripping the natural wood he had created out of air, her head twirling all around in interest as she looked at the inside of his car. Harry grinned and got in himself, taking a moment as he turned the key to look around. The speed, power and looks of the outside of the car had been part of why he had chosen it, the inside was the other. It looked like a futuristic attempt to create the interior of a space craft, all shiny metal, leather and diodes and it was obvious Hedwig approved, just as he did.
Harry decided to exit the city and head into Italy, along a road that, while excellent seemed to be almost empty. Perhaps Italy was also having a recession of something. Regardless he was able to gun his car again, and just enjoy the feel of the wind on his face as he zoomed along. Not as frenetic as it had been coming down to Devos the day/night before, but still a lot of fun. After about two hours he decided he had enough, and turned off the road slightly. Making certain no one was around he got out, shrunk his car, placed it into his pocket, and with Hedwig on one shoulder, disappeared with a slight pop.
Ororo was in a bad mood, not having realized how much she enjoyed waking up to her talks with Harry until he wasn't there to talk to. Especially with Kitten, Kurt and Logan missing along with the team's jet, she would have liked to have him here to help find them. Her eye narrowed as she thought of that. If Logan has taken them on some wild adventure of his without telling us I am going to see just how good a lightning rod he makes!
A knock on her door broke her out of her irritated mind state. "Come in." She belatedly realized she was still in her normal morning attire, and it might have been one of the youngsters, or maybe even Logan checking in, worrying thought that almost had her searching for a robe.
Thankfully it was Jean's head that stuck around the door to her arboretum. Jean looked at the older woman, astonished once again that she could sit there in the nude and yet still give of a regal, almost imperious feeling. The many facets of Ororo's personality that had been hidden up till now under her self-control fascinated her. "Still no sign of Harry?"
Ororo shook her head. "No, I wonder what that man is up to. Still I rather miss his presence here." Jean smirked a little and Ororo rolled her eyes, "Not like that Jean, we haven't taken that aspect of our friendship very far just yet. Although I am greatly looking forward to when we do… "No it's his conversation I miss this morning. I hadn't realized how… how lonely I was at times in the morning without someone to talk to." She actually had never realized how lonely it could be until she had a friend to talk to, but now that he was missing it hit her hard.
Jean frowned a little, but then smiled, realizing it was her turn to provide a friend to lean on for the other woman. "Well, I'm awake, and I'm free, so if you don't mind I could try and fill in?" In actuality she was finding that the stronger in the use of her telekinesis she became, the less sleep she needed, no matter how exhausted she was when she went to bed. This was the first time she woke up this early but it might well be her new norm.
Ororo looked at the redheaded woman and smiled. "I'd like that, however," she grinned impishly gesturing at her naked body, "don't expect me to change my attire to meet your American standards. In fact you could join me if you want?"
Jean blushed almost as red as her hair but shut the door behind her as she moved forward to join Ororo at the table. "Not likely, not with the hormonal teens around here, I just don't understand how you can be that, that comfortable not wearing anything."
Ororo shrugged and began to tell the younger woman about her time on the Serengeti plains, and how clothing other than a loin cloth or a rap was very strange to her for most of her teen years. Jean responded by talking about her parents and growing up with them, as well as the shock of realizing her ability to hear voices wasn't her going crazy. Ororo laughed and mentioned how she had blown away the leader of her street gang with a blast of hurricane wind force after he had announced her old enough to learn to whore she became so enraged that she activated her mutant power under her control for the first time. It wasn't the first time she killed someone (a girl as young as she was had needed to defend herself several times before that) but it was certainly the most bloody, the winds had torn into him and thrown him threw a concrete wall. This led easily to a conversation on ethics and how right and wrong impacted how their powers should be used.
This aspect of the conversation carried the two of them through Ororo dressing and the two of them working together to prepare breakfast, by which time the three missing X-men had skulked back in. Once informed of this by a message from Xavier, the two women looked at one another and Jean motioned wordlessly that she would watch breakfast. A grateful Ororo marched down to the underground hanger to greet the trio.
Kitty looked up as she and Kurt followed Logan out of the hanger as the elevator opened ahead of them to disgorge Ororo, striding toward them, her emotions as usual these days visible to see, and she winced at the anger there. "We are so in for it…" Kurt moaned agreement while Logan merely grunted, ready to stand up for the two kids if need be.
Ororo stopped right before the trio, her hands on her hips. "And where were the three of you, hmm? Leaving without telling anyone is something I would expect from you Logan, but I thought you two would have more sense than that." Kurt and Kitty exchanged a look but before any of the three could say anything Ororo reached out and pulled both kids into a hug. "Don't ever go off like that again, either of you! Or, oh I was so worried, don't ever do this to me again!"
Kurt blushed a little, not used to being mothered like that. The gypsies that took him in were not touchy-feely with him with him, saving such things for their own son, not that they were mean or didn't treat him kindly, just not as physically loving as all that.
Kitty however reveled in the hug, knowing that Ororo wasn't angryat her, simply worried abouther. Then too, she was a very huggy girl and had missed having her parents around, both of whom were very physically affectionate. "Sorry Storm."
Logan smirked shaking his head and thankful that Ororo was able to show her emotions these days. If she hadn't they might have just gotten the initial harangue rather than the hugs. "Don't be so hard on the kids Storm, they sort of came along accidentally, and they were a big help. Without them I wouldn't be here now."
That thought brought a shiver to him and Ororo looked at him, one white eyebrow raised. "I see that you all have a story to tell. Well breakfast should be ready soon, so let us go upstairs, you can tell all of us about it all at once."
The kids nodded eagerly, though Kitty looked a little less so than Kurt. Yet when it came to food that was normal and Ororo didn't notice, and she kept one arm around Kitty's shoulder as they turned to the elevator, the young teenager not even trying to move away.
The quartet joined the rest of the X-men and Charles at the breakfast table, where Logan began to give a briefing on what happened. Kurt described his part of the action in detail, as well as Kitty's who kept her head down, eating slowly as she finally finished the letter she had been so anxious to complete yesterday.
Jean frowned a little, looking at the younger girl. She sent out a small telepathic touch to taste her emotions and frowned even more at the chaos she found there. She looked over at Ororo, who was sitting next to Kitty, though most of her attention was on the tale Kurt was imparting. Ororo, the thought was a whisper, but it was enough to get Ororo to look at her. I think something is really bothering Kitty, I think you need to talk to her.
The African woman looked at the young girl at her side and mentally pinched herself for not noticing how withdrawn she was. Kitty would often go through a mood where she would fade into the background, but this was something different. Thank you Jean, I can't believe I didn't see it myself. I'll talk to her as soon as breakfast is over. Jean smiled happily, knowing the other woman would handle it. Ororo nodded back decisively and as Charles mentioned wanting to check the three wastrels down in the med bay she spoke up. "Actually professor, can you simply take Kurt and Logan with you. I think that Kitten and I need to have a talk woman to woman."
Kitty looked at her, her face torn between consternation and gratefulness and Charles nodded. Of course something like this and using her powers like that would have an effect on her, I should have spotted it right away. And such a discussion might be better coming with Ororo than I. "Then I will leave the young Miss Pryde in your capable hands Ororo. I'll meet you two down in the med bay after I call the school and inform them you'll be absent again."
After breakfast while the others went off to school she led Kitty up to the solarium, where she knew the girl was more comfortable than in her arboretum. After a few minutes of small talk they got down to business. Over the next hour she heard from Kitty's perspective their adventure up in Canada, and what she had done and how. Ororo soon learned that Kitty was more than a little disturbed about how much damage she had done with her power. A part of her wanted to blame Mr. Potter for it, but it wasn't like she had used a runic array, just her own power, oh sure the idea had come from him, but it was still her power. The blood and everything had frightened her a lot, showing her what she could do if she tried and she was now questioning if she wanted to remain an X-man at all. Ororo heard her out, not judging her at all and then said "Being an X-man is not something we can force on you if you do not wish to be one, we cannot, I will not make you fight if you do not wish to fight Kitten. If it disturbs you, then do not do it. Not everyone can be that type of hero, and if you decide you want to be the non-violent kind and help the team behind the scenes, or even do something else with your life entirely, I will not be any less proud of you." Kitty nodded then yawned, and Ororo chivvied her off to bed, then went and found Charles to tell him about it. Charles was a little dismayed, but to his credit it was about what Kitty had been forced to do rather than how he may soon be down an X-man.
Kitty woke up around noon to eat some lunch and was going back to her room, talking to Ororo about what she had put in her letter to her parents, when the two girls heard a faint pop from the room Harry had made into a rune lab. Ororo waved Kitty behind her, one hand glowing with electricity and opened the door to see Harry leaning shaking his head, his hands on his knees as Hedwig flew from his shoulder over to her perch. "Ugh, long distance teleporting is as bad as apparating, crud, I am not doing that again anytime soon." Hedwig precked smugly, her own stomach having handled the jump with ease. "Yeah, yeah laugh it up oh so superior winged one. At least I have opposable thumbs." Hedwig's eyes narrowed and she huffed and turned away. Harry laughed and straightened up, looking over at the doorway to find Kitty and Ororo looking at him. "Hey you two, I'm back."
Ororo rolled her eyes at his cavalier attitude but Kitty hurried forward hugging Harry tightly and sniffling a little as she babbled out the story of what happened up in Canada. After a moments shock Harry listened intently, letting the young girl get it off her chest for the second time that day. After the young teen's babbling slowed down Harry looked up wordlessly at Ororo who nodded, indicating with a touch to her lips that she had already talked to the girl. Harry shrugged, and began to talk, hoping his words could do some good when added to Ororo's. "Kitty, Curly-Cat, look at me." Kitty looked up from in his arms to his face and he led her slowly over to the bean bag that had been hers for the last few days as she learned how to draw and use runes.
When she sat down Harry began to speak. "First let me say I'm proud of you Curly-Cat." Kitty looked at him wide-eyed. "You did what you had to do to defend your friends, that's the only thing anyone can ask of a soldier a hero or anyone. Ask people what they fight for, and when the camera's on they'll say reasons like freedom, or belief in the family pie or something." Kitty giggled as he mangled that phrase but her eye never looked away from his. "But most people will say in private they fight for their friends, the man standing next to them in the fight. That's what you did, and that's why I'm proud of you. Now that you're back, and you don't know if you want to be an X-man, that's fine too. A lot of people don't want to continue after seeing their the elephant the first time. I had two friends like that, and I never respected them or liked them any less because of it." Blaize and Padma had both stepped back after the first raid the New Marauders conducted against Death Eaters. They still supported the group and even fought with them occasionally when on rescue missions, but they only used defensive spells to protect them all, neither could stomach the idea of using violence against someone else. Later, when Parvati joined, she didn't have the same problem as her sister, but then again her desire for justice had overrode much or her normal attitude. "If you don't want to be out in the field with the others, that's fine because if you still want to help you can do so in other ways. No one here will judge you because of that choice. Just because violence doesn't agree with you doesn't make you any less than you are."
Kitty sniffled for a bit then looked away over at Ororo, who had been nodding along with Harry's words with a smile on her face. Kitty giggled a little then asked "Did you two somehow practice that or something?"
Ororo chuckled, moving forward to ruffle Kitty's hair. "Not at all Kitten, it's just that wisdom looks the same regardless of the angle." Harry smirked but nodded all the same.
Kitty giggled again, this time a little longer, before a yawn interrupted her. "You, you two need to figure out a single nickname for me okay? Choose one or the other." The two nominal adults in the room looked at one another challengingly and Kitty giggled again, getting up and heading to her room. "Thanks for the talk Teach, Storm, I'm going to go back to bed now."
The two both wished her a good nap and as soon as the door closed behind her Ororo pulled Harry into a hug, which he returned. "The next time you go off without telling me where Mr. Potter," Ororo said sternly, pulling back a little, "I will give you a wind enema, are we clear?"
Haryr gulped and nodded, yet when she leaned in for a kiss he responded eagerly. After a moment they pulled back and one of Ororo's eyebrows rose. "Why do you taste like spearmint with a hint of cherry?"
Harry smirked. "I met another mutant, I'll tell you about it if you want. I want to show you my new toy anyway." The other eyebrow rose to join its fellow and she followed as harry exited the house, waving a flippant hand over at Charles and Logan as they went into the elevator, going down to the med bay, to remove the control chip from Logan's head permanently. Once outside Harry took out his car and enlarged it back to normal, causing Ororo to gasp in shock. "So, you want to go for a ride with me?" Harry wiggled his eyebrows. "I want to find that Mystique chick anyway and get her to agree to a meeting. I want to hear her side of things."
Ororo smirked a little. "It just so happens I know where she is, she poses as the principal over at Bayville High. It allows her to protect the brotherhood to a certain extent from any trouble they cause, and as long as they don't abuse the privilege we have seen no need to try and remove her. Wait here and I'll go get changed."
Harry shook his head as Ororo walked off, taking this as another sign that Charles knew more about the opposition than he was saying. He wondered what other secrets the man was keeping, but shrugged it off for now. He'd take action if the kids got hurt, but until then it wasn't important.
Ororo came back quickly and Harry whistled as he saw what she was wearing now. Before she had worn a nice feminine business suit, now she wore a pair of jeans so tight they looked painted on, and a loose short sleeved button up shirt with several buttons undone allowing a nice hint of cleavage. "Veeeery nice luv, ready to go?" He quickly transfigured his own clothing to be casual, a good long shirt and tie with jeans.
Ororo smirked, pushing past him to get into his car, looking around in interest and finding it as nice on the inside as on the outside. She took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on, throwing her wild main of hair back. "Let's go Harry I suddenly feel the need to shock people. Their faces amuse me."
"Heh, I'll remember to take pictures." Harry shook his head and got into the driving seat and gunning the engine.
"And on the way you can tell me more about this other mutant, and what that has to do with your lips tasting of spearmint and cherry." Harry laughed, and the two exited the mansion at speed.
Mystique sat down in her lounge chair in her office, sighing tiredly and relaxing back into her swivel chair, still wearing her disguise of Raven Darkholme. If I knew there was this much work involved in being the principal of a school, I would never have chosen it as my cover. The paperwork and the showing the flag crap of walking around and just be seen was irritating. Training the kids before and after school was also irritating as hell, but they were all getting stronger, better at using their powers, even if their teamwork wasn't up to snuff yet.
She was still a little confused though by the newest X-man, Harry Potter. His mysterious message to Lance had yet to come to anything, but neither had he shown up anywhere. I still have no idea what his powers are but at least he seems pretty neutral in our little conflict here. I have to wonder though what his opinions on the bigger picture are….
Her thoughts were interrupted as her private cell phone rang in her pocket. She frowned, only a bare handful of people knew her number and none of them would use it lightly at an unscheduled time. Indeed the one who was mostly likely to be calling would only call if he couldn't come speak to her in person, which would indicate something had gone wrong elsewhere. Worriedly she picked up after the second ring. "Hello, this is Raven."
"Hello Mystique. How is the world of education?" A woman's voice speaking in calm, soothing tones came over the line and Mystique relaxed.
"Irene" she said tiredly, yet with a smile on her face and in her voice "how are you my friend?" Irene Adler was normally called Destiny most of the time, and was a mutant like Mystique. She was able to see into the future, though how far varied from a few seconds (very useful in a fight, making Irene deadly when pressed, though she wasn't anyone's idea of a front-line soldier) to years, sometimes even decades, though the farther she looked, the less useful her power was. Any prediction made within the next few years was almost guaranteed, but any beyond that became far harder to interpret in their wording. They were still accurate, but not very useful far in advance of the prediction itself.
She was also Mystique's closest friend, indeed her only real friend all the others were merely acquaintances at best. More than that, Irene was the only person in the entire world Raven trusted completely. Most people trust other people in little ways all the time, but not her. For Mystique, her power was a curse as she knew that enemies could be literally anywhere, could find her any time. Add to that the appalling number of times she had been betrayed, betrayed by friends, fellow soldiers, and her employers, and you had a person whose paranoia was beyond extreme. She handled it most of the time by simply being in disguise herself, but even under that she never let anyone close. Irene was the exception to that rule. They had known eachother for so long, ever since they were young adults back in 1903 when the daughter of a well-to-do merchant family hired Mystique, a young independent detective at the time, to help her figure out her visions and what they meant. The two of them had been friends ever since, and never had Irene proven less than a true friend.
Over the years, as Irene suffered her own betrayals, her own horrors, the two had become closer, even lovers at times, until that trust was one of the main foundations of their personal worlds. Both of them felt strongly about the need to defend mutant kind from exploitation and bigotry, and it had been both their choice to side with their current leader as the best chance to see that through. Mystique shook her head, but the smile on her face didn't disappear. "You realize you nearly gave me a heart attack calling out of the blue like this, our scheduled check-in isn't for another two days. What's wrong?"
"A third path to the future has opened." Irene said her voice deepening a little, become a little more otherworldly as she relayed what her power had informed her when she used it a few moments ago. "You will soon be meeting the fulcrum of it face to face, what you do then will be up to you."
Raven frowned, not understanding. "What does that mean Irene?"
"It means that before, there were only two paths dominating the future of mutant-kind, intertwined and so muddled as to be impossible to discern where one ended and another began." Raven nodded thoughtfully, understanding this probably meant Xavier's theories of co-habitation and peace and Magneto's idea of isolation and conquest. Obviously they would be intertwined, some mutants would choose one or the other, and they would just as obviously be at odds. "Yet now a third choice is part of the equation. Where the others twist and turn, signifying changing of the people involved, this one lays there like a bar of solid steel, as if the people who become part of it never deviate. It is… astonishing. It is not an easy path, I can see war and battles, but it is a third choice, and it will involve the wizard with the emerald eyes. More, all my predictions set more than a few years into the future are gone. Some are changed, others are simply not going to occur at all."
"Wizard? Emerald eyes?" Raven was very intelligent, and there was nothing wrong with her memory, she could remember quite easily a person with emerald eyes. "Potter, you mean Harry Potter? Wait, he's a wizard?! Son of a…." she trailed off, knowing her friend's distaste for vulgarity. "That explains, well that explains his powers and why none of the Brotherhood could explain what they were." Mystique and Irene had run into one real wizard and one wannabe wizard in the past, and Mystique had run into two wanna-be occultists during WW2 when she was working for the allies. Baron Struker had dabbled in the occult at one point, and she had worked with the allies forces to stop him. Another madman had tried to open some kind of portal to another realm, and she and Irene had both worked with a real wizard to close it and kill the idiot. Doctor Voodoo had been an odd character, but powerful. Though his powers were based more on fighting the undead than the living at the time that was just what they needed. She had also heard about a 'Sorcerer Supreme', but there was no way Harry Potter could be that individual, he was far too young. "But does that mean he's also a mutant or did Xavier bring him in as a combat consultant or something, that wouldn't be like him at all. Can you tell me anything about Potter's powers?"
Irene chuckled tiredly. Using her power to look into the future was draining and the further into the future the harder. She had been so fascinated by what she saw she had expended a lot of her energy looking. She was in fact going to conk out for a while very soon, whether she wanted to or not. "You know my powers don't work like that, the images are so confusing its impossible to tell, I just know he is from elsewhere, and different than any sorcerer from our dimension, powerful in odd ways. He is center of this path, the fulcrum, and will be joined by the power of nature, of the cleansing flame, of the diamond frost, and others, though I cannot make them out, Russian steel is one, and others, a flame from the Orient, some others. He will be important and you have a chance now to meet him and possibly join him if you wish, though the outcome of is so affected by others that I cannot see if it will be good or bad." The fact Irene would follow her didn't need to be said it was so obvious.
"I'm sorry Irene, you must have exhausted yourself. Go to bed my friend, I'll call you tomorrow afternoon. Let me handle it from here." Raven said, her voice gentler than most who knew her ever heard, a note of actual apology in her voice. Irene sighed in weary assent and hung up, leaving the shape-shifter to wonder what she was going to do, when she should expect Harry Potter to contact her, and how he would do it. This would be answered momentarily.
Jean stretched contentedly at the back of her last class of the day, world history (which was more American rather than World but still interesting), having gotten there early enough to get a seat in the back where she could relax. She was a few weeks ahead in the reading anyway, and the teacher for this class didn't assign many assignments, simply lumping all the information into the unit tests and two papers per semester, the next of which she had already begun. She wasn't complaining though, she had physics right before this, so a nice lazy class right before having to deal with the errant emotions of her fellow cheerleaders was just what she needed. Ugh, only ten more minutes, I feel like a child wanting to pair the time down to smaller and smaller increments to put off getting out of bed. As she finished stretching she felt someone else's eyes on her and turned to look as Scott looked away from where he was sitting a few place over. She frowned a little, but then shrugged.
The fact that Scott had the same class was a mixed blessing. While she was still friends with him, the way he had been acting lately had soured their friendship and she couldn't bring herself to care much. Scott refused to think he was in the wrong pushing Potter, not learning as well as he could and playing favorites (which they had a massive row about earlier), and until he did she wasn't willing to be the one to bend. Really the similarities between Scott and Duncan are amusing as hell. One is opinionated because he's been chosen as our leader, the other because of his family's money, one thinks he's entitled because of how good he looks and his football skills, the other because of the 'tragedy' of his power.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a few of the kids on the outer side of the classroom looked out the window, whispering excitedly about something in the parking lot. Since this class had a side facing the lot and was on the second floor they had a good view of the parking lot, one that was normally uninteresting in the extreme. She cocked an eyebrow, wondering what that was about. Suddenly a wave of envy and lust hit her from both the boys and girls who were looking out the window, and several others gasped. One of the boys even muttered, "Damn who is that fox?"
Her friend Taryn, who was one of the most boy-crazy girls she knew despite having a good head on her shoulders, hissed a reply from where she was sitting between the windows and Jean. "That looks like Ms. Munroe, you know, the foreign languages teacher from over at the Xavier Institute, looks like she's had a bit of a makeover though. Never mind that, who is the hotty next to her? Look at that suit, and that smile, and are those green eyes?"
Hearing that Jean was torn between banging her head on her desk and laughing. Guess Harry's back, wonder what he and Ororo are doing here. There goes my normal day.
BY the time the pair had parked they had garnered quite a lot of attention and the school day had ended, letting out hundreds of kids to meet their parents/friends/buses, all of whom were looking at Harry and Ororo. "You think we made an impression?" Harry laughed as he closed his car door.
Ororo laughed too, walking around the car to sit on the front of it, her legs crossed languidly. "I believe so, and it is indeed a pity I forgot my phone, my nephew's face in particular is amusing, and would make a lovely photo to send his parents."
Harry laughed again touching her lightly on the shoulder. "You want to come in with me?"
"I think not, Raven will look at you with suspicion anyway, my presence would needlessly aggravate that response. Besides," she cocked her head, smirking a little, "I think my nephew and I will need to talk here for a moment."
"Have fun breaking his mind," harry said waving one hand and moving off towards the front of the school. He walked in and asked the first teacher he came across, a woman in her late forties who looked at him as if he was candy that she wanted to eat up, much like several of the teenage girls he could see, something he pointedly ignored. He knew they weren't actually attracted to him, just to the fact he was good looking and had a fantastic car. "Excuse me, can you direct me to the principal's office please?" She did so, strangely hiding one of her hands in her pocket as she leaned forward unnecessarily, pointing out the way. Harry simply nodded, thanked her and moved on, shivering a little as soon as he was around the corner.
He nearly bumped into Pietro and Lance, who were coming the other way, but he dodged around them easily. "Hey lads, nice day huh?" Before either of them could react he had moved on, leaving them both behind to stare after him along with dozens of other students, wondering who the man with the emerald eyes was.
Lance however knew who he was and he turned toward Pietro. "That's the Potter guy right? Wonder if he's here to meet with Mystique like he said he would."
Pietro shrugged, looking back at the older man, a little angry at how many admiring glances he was getting. "I don't know, but I don't like him." Maybe father should know about this, nah, whatever the punk can do I can handle, well me and the rest of the losers anyway.
Harry moved on and soon found himself at the principal's office on the third floor. After a brief discussion with the secretary in the outer office he was ushered in to see the principal, leaving the impression he was an alumni of the school just stopping by for a chat. The principal stood up, a rather severe smile on a rather severe face, thin, high cheekbones with a pair of glasses with red rims, and a deliberate, if Harry was any judge, unattractive female body covered by a serious business suit. As soon as the door shut behind her secretary however her smile disappeared. "So, Harry Potter, wizard, and mutant?"
Harry refused to let any of his surprise show, wondering internally at how she had figured it out. But he realized that the time was fast approaching when he would no longer be able to hide. He was determined to not show all his cards anytime soon though. "I see my reputation precedes me madam. Harry potter at your service, and my mutant power is rather a minor one. However, I came with a bit of a proposition."
Mystique sat back in her chair, keeping her eyes locked on the man in front of her. The very dangerous man, she realized, one with the eyes of a veteran soldier, and the way he carried himself told her he was an officer of some sort. It made her remember what Irene had said mere moments ago, about this man representing a third path for mutant-kind. It remained to be seen what kind of future it was however. "I'm listening, though what one of Xavier's people could say to me that I would find interesting is beyond me."
Harry barked a sharp laugh. "Well, I'm not really with him rather I'm more there to help the kids. What I'd like is to hear your side of this issue of mutant-kind's place in the world. But rather than just listen to you alone, I want to set up a bit of a debate, give you a chance to use your words to convince me and a teacher and student pair from the institute and let them do the same to you."
Mystique blinked in shock. The idea of a rational debate had never occurred to her, and she wondered if she should agree to this idea. To buy more time to think she asked "And where would this debate happen exactly?"
"Somewhere neutral, a public restaurant somewhere this Friday say, any recommendations?"
Mystique decided to see what kind of resources this man had, only realizing after she spoke that she had tacitly agreed to the idea. "Then how about the Spogeo, the new Italian restaurant that just opened in town?"
"Fine by me, say eight-ish?" Mystique nodded, cursing a little and wondering who to bring along. The idea of Blob or Toad in a fancy restaurant like that boggled the mind, so the choice was really down to Lance and Pietro, but the choice between them was a tough one. "Excellent, I'll see you then, now if you'll excuse me, I want to make certain none of your students tried to touch my new car." And with that Harry left, leaving behind a very confused shape-changer, who was wondering what this discussion would bring.
"A-auntie O, wh-what are you doing here? And why are you wearing… wearing that?" Evan asked, his face stuck somewhere between furious and confused.
All in all Ororo thought it rather cute. "Well Evan, I am wearing this because I feel like it. And I am here because Harry came home and wished to relay a message to the principal." She spoke circuitously, having noticed the dozens of people around in hearing range. Indeed she was now receiving even more admiring glances than Harry's Huayra. She rather liked the name, and felt the Incan god of wind it was named after would find it a most pleasing avatar. "After that he and I will be taking a bit of a drive together." Many of the boys who were staring at her turned away at that point seeing she was taken though a few, two of whom she recognized from going to football games where Jean and the cheerleaders performed, didn't and began to make their way out of the crowd toward her. She shook her head mentally, as if she would ever be interested in little boys.
"B-But, what will people think of you dressed like that?"
"I care not of other people's opinions," Ororo said coolly, "Storms have many different faces, nephew. So long as I stay true to myself I see no reason to apologize for how others perceive me."
Evan gaped at her, trying to reconcile the change in his aunt that had been going on the last few days. Rogue however who had joined them at this point grinned. "Ah think yah can call that part o' bein' a woman sugah."
Ororo chuckled. "Perhaps." She looked over at Evan, her manner challenging, regal and aloof despite her clothing. "I am who I am nephew mine, the shell I was before was just that, a shell, barely scratching the surface of my full self. Accept it and move on."
Evan scowled a little, not really used to thinking of his aunt as this outgoing, this vibrant and, well sexy. It was disturbing the hell out him given how she had always been this calm, almost self-effacing and quiet person before. Rogue took one look at his face and giggled while Scott, who had come through the crowd with Jean, simply patted him on the shoulder in commiseration.
Jean on the other hand walked toward Ororo, wondering again how the other woman could look so sexy and yet so regal and commanding at the same time. It never occurred to her that she often gave off the same appearance when she was angry, like she had been the day before at Duncan and his fellows. "I take it you're feeling better Ororo? Harry had the medicine for all that ails you?" She said, causing the other X-kids to gape at her in surprise, wondering where that came from, and why Jean felt so comfortable talking that way to the older Storm, who despite her new looks and attitude was still one of their teachers.
Ororo simply laughed holding out one hand while the other rubbed her temple. Realizing that the weather witch wanted, Jean reached out and squeezed her hand, even as Ororo replied to her previous comment. "Yes well, he convinced me to get out and about and that seems to have done the trick for my little funk."
Jean sent a bit of her power through Ororo's hand, the physical contact making it easier. As soon as she did Ororo's mental voice said, I want to thank you again for pointing out that Kitty was having a problem this morning. She was, well her problem is her own to share, but I think my talking to her helped. She was close to a complete breakdown, and if you hadn't told me about it, well it would have been much worse than it was.
Jean gripped her fingers firmly saying, Don't worry about it Ororo, I was just happy to help. We all need shoulders to lean on sometimes.
Ororo smiled again and the two women let go of one another's hands. Jean looked over the car now, whistling appreciatively. "That is one hell of a car. Where in the world did Harry find that thing?"
Duncan forced his way through the crowd of interested kids as the crowd thinned with many of the kids heading over to their rides. "Fancy piece of nothing Jeany, European crap, all flash and no power."
"My car can outlast and move faster than any dinky yank made car boyo. It's a Pagani Huayra, and it is one of the fastest cars in the world." Harry moved through the crowd, which parted around him naturally. He was about to use his regular nickname for her when he saw Jean standing there but something dangerous in her green eyes caused him to change his mind before the word came out. "Grey, you're looking your usual fetching self, how are you doing? Any new breakthroughs?" He asked, obliquely questioning if Charles had spoken to her.
Jean, her jade eyes caught by his emerald ones flushed a little but shook her head, a smirk on her lips. "You're looking good too Potter, who knew someone so scruffy could clean up so well." She then addressed the second half of what he said, thinking he meant her occlumency training, and worded her answer as if he had asked about a history paper or something. "Nice car, and no, no new breakthroughs, though the source you gave me is still helping a little."
Harry frowned a little as he patted her shoulder, which caused Duncan to scowl a little at the familiarity, even as he wondered how a shrimp like Harry had bagged a sexy thing like the older black chick. "Pity that. Ah, well, Ororo and I are off for a bit, so I'll see you lot later." Ororo nodded and got into the passenger side of the car as Harry got behind the wheel, ignoring the jealous looks from the guys and the longing looks from the girls. The two drove off living a bit of chaos in their wake.
Taryn glared at her friend. "You live with that Hotty and Scott both, god how lucky can one girl get?"
Jean shook her head, moving off toward the gym. "Harry only moved in a few weeks ago, and if you're interested in Scott…."
Ororo and Harry drove around for the rest of the late afternoon, stopping in to grab a bite to eat before heading out into the under populated mountains. Ironically they wound up near the endurance camp that the youngsters had gone to, and they pulled off to the side of the road in a little secluded area that had a wonderful view of the surrounding forests and meadows. The two ate slowly, sitting close to one another and leaning up against the side or Harry's car, telling one another in more detail about what they did yesterday.
Ororo had known since the beginning that Harry was making long term plans, plans that might not include staying with Charles and the X-men. He believed in equality between homo-sapien and homo superior (a name he never used actually) but he and Charles had very different views of how to follow that dream. More there was still a tension between them whose origin Ororo couldn't quite figure out. She was worried for the day when they would split, but from what Harry said of his plans it was a few months in the future, something which she was very thankful for. Right now though she had other things on her mind. "So this Emma girl, you honestly believe she was in a very dangerous position?
"Oh yes," Harry said rather grimly, wiping at his mouth with a napkin. The food was sandwiches, turkey clubs, and they were in his opinion mediocre, but filling. "She let a little more of her emotions slip than I think she wanted to, and she was very afraid of this Sebastian Shaw character. I want to see if I can find any information about him and his business, but whatever the reason the fear was real, just as much as the loathing she felt toward her father. Are you… are you irritated she came on to me so strong?"
Ororo took the time to finish the last bite of her own sandwich before replying, giving her time to think. "In all honesty I am not. We have not formalized our relationship, in fact we barely have a relationship so it would be….."
She was interrupted by Harry pulling her into a kiss. The kiss started rather chaste, but quickly became deep and hungry on both their parts. Ororo pushed off the ground and slithered into Harry's lap, neither disengaging from the kiss as Harry's hands fell from her shoulders to cup and fondle her rear. Ororo moaned into the kiss opening her mouth and their tongues began to twirl and slide along one another in her mouth. Her own hands went into his hair while she ground her core against his rising excitement. After a moment they had to pull back for air and Harry began to attack her neck with little nips and licks between words. "Let's change that then…" Ororo let out a deep throaty moan that was among the sexiest noises Harry had ever heard.
He decided right than he wanted to hear that noise as often as he could for as long as he could, and as Ororo continued to grind herself into his lap, he gripped her jean clad rear with one hand, bucking up beneath her as his other hand trialed up her back and around her side, gently touching the side of her breasts before just as gently playing with one of her breasts through her shirt. Even with the shirt in the way the sensation was incredible, and Ororo moaned even loader. After a moment, as their movements began to get even more frantic Harry latched onto her neck, using one of his personal tricks, parseltongue. Snakes didn't communicate with sound, but with vibrations and when Harry was speaking it his tongue vibrated. When Ororo felt that sensation against her collarbone, which was a sensitive part of her, her moan turned into a throaty yell of pleasure that rose to the sky as she came down hard on his lap, her love juices leaking through her panties. Harry moaned aloud in turn as he finished as well from the friction caused and they both fell back, with Ororo letting out little gasps and moans as she leaned on his shoulder.
It had been five years since Harry had last even seen a girl, and a bit longer since he been with a girl. This was a woman whose beauty exceeded that of any girl he had been with back in his former dimension was it any wonder he found himself out of practice and shooting a little too quickly? Ororo, despite having had a boyfriend in college a scant two years ago, had never felt anything like that with either of the men she had been with, an orgasm when she was still fully clothed? Her last boyfriend couldn't even give her one when her clothes were off and they were having full on sex! And the older tribesman she had been with as a teen had good endurance and size, but hadn't really cared about foreplay or her own needs. That had simply been the best orgasm she had ever had, her legs felt so weak that she knew she wouldn't be able to stand up. "What," she half moaned, half gasped, "Was that?"
"Heh," Harry chuckled, as his hand flashed in a very specific version of the scourgify, cleaning his pants and at her nod her own jeans, which had a very small dark spot on them. "It's called Parceltougne, a magical ability that gives me the ability to speak to snakes. Snakes talk using vibrations you know?" Ororo looked at him in shock, her grey eye wide at the implication, a shiver going through her at the idea of feeling something like that on more sensitive bits of her. "So, just to make it formal, will you be my girlfriend?"
Ororo chuckled throatily, leaning up and kissing his neck gently. "Oh yes, I definitely think you are a, what's the phrase, a keeper? Yes, you are a keeper." Harry grinned and the two kissed and simply sat there together for a time cuddling before reluctantly getting up and heading back to the mansion.
When they arrived all the girls took one look at Ororo's flushed face, wobbly gate and lightly bruised lips and began to giggle wildly to one another. Jean simply grabbed her and led her off for a talk, with Rogue and Kitty following eagerly. Harry simply smiled and walked away, ignoring Evan's glare and Kurt and Scott's looks of admiration.
At the same time that Harry and Ororo were having their moment together Emma Frost had arrived home. She first caught a flight on the family's personal jet then drove home in her Ferrari, uncertain of the reception she would receive. After all, she knew that her father knew she had gone to Switzerland to see if she could somehow free up some of her money and get away from his control, but on the other hand he knew that would fail, and she had been gone a little longer than she said. But on the other hand, she had called ahead about the kidnapping attempt.
After checking in with the mansions outer security and being let in, she parked her car in the huge garage next to one of her father's armored limos and then made her way into the foyer. Emma found her father and her older sister, the only two in her family really interested in the business, waiting for her there. Her brother wasn't for various reasons, and her mother, well those few hours where she wasn't on her prescription drugs were becoming more and more infrequent. Her younger sister might eventually be interested in the business but she was too young, too flighty, to be a part of any decision making now.
"Hello daughter," Winston Frost said, his voice controlled, measured and highly upper class, without a hint of actual care or concern for Emma showing in either stance or tone. Winston was a man who lived for one thing, to make more money and expand his family's business empire. He saw all of his children as tools to that end, with him holding the strings even as he officially retired. His son was a major disappoint in that, though both his oldest daughters showed promise. His middle daughter was cold as she should be, controlled and finely tempered with a ruthlessness that he had carefully cultivated over the years in various ways. Her mutant power was a major asset as well, though one he was careful to call upon rarely (and one he was secretly glad she was unable to use on her family for some reason, their shared genetics gave them all immunity). But her independent and headstrong nature worked against that. His oldest daughter however, while as cold and calculating as he could want, reveled in cruelty large and small. She was also far too egotistical and her own powers of psychometry, the ability to discern an item's past as well as how to use it, were not nearly as useful as Emma's own.
"Sir," Emma replied, her face as hard and blank as she could make it. That was the rule of this household, be cold, be frost to protect yourself from the rest of the family, reveal nothing to outsiders, and always remain in control. It was a lesson Emma had learned very well indeed.
Without another word Winston led the way to his office, a place of extremely expensive, well chosen pieces but as little actual character as the owner himself. He waved Emma into one chair while Adrienne took another to the side of the desk as he sat down in his padded chair. "You phoned ahead about some kind of issue, a team of kidnappers?"
Emma nodded, then briefly summarized the conflict, leaving out Harry's involvement as much as she could. She described him as a mutant with the power to caste illusions with an incredible car she wanted to race (one of her well known hobbies, and something her father could see easily) that she had met by chance, a cover she felt would protect him from further interest, and one who could also be used to cover her involvement with him in the future, useful but not useful enough for her father to take a closer look at.
The ruthless dispatch of three of the four attackers, with the fourth 'running away' impressed Winston, though Emma could tell Adrienne found something was off about the tale, her usual intense dislike and rivalry with her sister making her immediately suspicious of anything that Emma said. That and the fact she showed no surprise at all when Emma talked about her attackers and their various powers made Emma wonder how exactly the team of super powered kidnappers and Hammer industries had known to expect her in Switzerland. After all, it was sort of a spur of the moment thing, with only my family knowing I was gone, let alone where I was going….
Winston asked some questions about the battle, mostly focused on how effective Harry's 'illusions' were, but Emma downplayed them as much as she could, saying they worked best on someone who was already concentrating on something else, like say one of her telepathic pain blasts. She made certain he knew it was mostly her use of her own power that saw her through. Well, that and the fact they were fighting alongside a handy cliff.
After a moment Winston leaned back, his fingers tapping on his armrests thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I will have to think of some way to tweak Justin Hammer's nose for this. Business is business but such an overt move is in poor taste, rather graceless, though obviously we'll need confirmation he was behind it first. You will of course be going to school tomorrow, let no one see any weakness in you. I trust you can come up with your own excuse for your absence. Now leave me." And with that he turned to some paperwork on his desk, dismissing his daughters. Both Adrienne and Emma stood and left. Not once had Winston mentioned any concern for Emma's safety or how she was coping with having killed someone. In this family showing concern for one another was seen as weakness, and it wasn't as if Emma hadn't killed before.
Adrienne turned to her younger sister as soon as they were in the hallway. "Such a pity that you weren't kidnapped Sister dear, after all you've been wanting to get away from the family ever since Father named you his successor." The words came out precise, clipped and cold yet filled with venom. Adrienne absolutely hated the fact their father had passed over her to choose Emma to succeed him. More she had always hated Emma anyway, since the moment Emma's powers had awoken and outstripped her own.
Emma let a little smirk appear on her face. "It would have been if I had set it up myself, yet I wonder who informed Hammer Industries of my movements. It's almost enough to make one paranoid don't you think?"
Adrienne's eyes narrowed slightly but she shook her head. "Clumsy Emma, clumsy, you should be more careful in 'subtly' questioning someone. I didn't have anything to do with it. After all, if I had it would certainly have been organized enough to overcome any random passerby's involvement. After all in such things you can only be guaranteed a few such opportunities, you should take that to heart for your own dealings."
Emma's smirk widened a little, knowing that Adrienne was lying as soon as she spoke. She only tried to condescend to her when she was trying to cover something up. "Oh, don't worry Adrienne, If I get even one shot at anyone that will be all I need."
After seeing the kids off to school the next day (with Kitty, Kurt and Rogue all asking him for rides in his car) Harry spent the time until they got home tinkering with his new toys. First he added a ever refilling rune on the inside of the fuel tank, something that took quite a bit of doing given he couldn't exactly remove it, he had to inscribe it where it was. Thankfully he had picked up a few devices for that purpose, including a crystal of quartz that allowed him to funnel his magic through it easily enough, as well as a set of long pliers to hold the crystal in place. A small light set at the bottom of the tank allowed him light to work with.
After that he warded the Huayra to give it an anti-theft protection. If anyone touched the car with intent to steal it, they would be shocked badly. After that he cast an unbreakable charm on it, then drove it for a bit to make certain the spell hadn't had an untoward effect on its performance. It hadn't and after that Harry had a car that could survive smashing into a brick wall without a scratch.
Next he began to put together what he would need to inscribe what amounted to a tattoo that would allow him to fly. Harry wanted it a part of his own body, as that way even if his Crisis suit was damaged, ripped or whatever, he could still fly. The problem was that he had never tried making a magical tattoo. Magical marks like the late unlamented Corpse Botherer's had were tricky, part runic creation, part permanent charm and not something he had ever looked at, well except for ways to identify them. Normal runes were inscribed on a non-magical object, like a rock, piece metal or what have you then were infused with magic after that. But a wizard's body had magic already in large amounts. This meant that using runes on his own body might have odd effects that he didn't want, so he had to be very careful.
Figuring out what he wanted to do and how to do it took him the rest of the day, by which time the kids were at home.
Harry then led them through a team exercise. Everyone showed improvement from when Harry had arrived, but none more so then Jean and Rogue. Jean's power had risen beyond anything Charles had ever thought to see from her, and Rogue's permanent absorption of Juggernaut's powers had made her go from someone with limited utility to the team powerhouse. Even Scott, who still wasn't willing to really listen to Harry thanks to the tension between him and Charles, had gotten a little better at using his powers and at leading the team, becoming a bit more flexible in his tactical thinking. Unfortunately he still wasn't really willing to listen to others in the field and was still playing favorites, but Harry thought that Jean would handle that eventually on her own.
After that Harry made the reservation for the next day at the Italian restaurant that Mystique had named.
The next evening however he ran into problems when he asked the kids who wanted to come with him and Ororo. After explaining what he wanted to have happen, and getting Charles to endorse the idea (Charles was certain that any reasoned, well thought out argument would back his own position when it came to mutant integration in normal society) he asked "So, who wants to come with us?"
Jean frowned. I would really like to but… "Sorry Harry, I'm going out tonight on a date with Duncan." Duncan wanted to make up for his recent gaffes, and she had agreed to let him try. They had after all been going out for a while now, and she didn't want to let that die just yet.
Rogue shrugged, not at all interested. "ahm going tah New York City with Kurt and Logan for some errands after school, so not me, sorry." Kurt nodded agreement.
Evan shook his head quickly. "Not interested Harry, besides there's a skateboarding competition going on down town after school, me and some of my friends have been organizing it for weeks.
Scott frowned. "I was going somewhere, but this sounds more important so"
"Oh no you don't!" Jean interrupted, glaring at him from where she was sitting next to Ororo. "Taryn's my friend, and you're not going to stand her up on your first date. You are going to take her out and show her a good time, am I clear?" Scott nodded cowed and she sat back with a pleased expression on her face.
Kitty grinned. "Well I'm free, so where are we going for this shindig?"
Harry chuckled. "An Italian place by the name of Spogeo, do you like Italian?"
Kitty gulped. "Um, I like Italian well enough, but I don't have anything I could wear to a place that fancy here. Er, I suppose we could take a trip to my folks though?" She finished a little hopefully. She hadn't brought her full wardrobe when she moved in, and they had never gone back to get more.
Ororo and Harry looked at one another, Ororo raising an eyebrow and Harry first cocking his head then shrugging. After that Ororo nodded and turned to Kitty. "We'll pick you up after school Kitten and go shopping, I don't actually have something that fancy either after all."
"Or I could always transfigure something for the both of you." At their scoffing glares Harry shrugged, "Just a suggestion." With that sorted breakfast broke up and the kids left for school.
Rogue walked through the corridors of the school to the principal's office during the lunch period, and nearly ran into Principal Darkholme walking out of her office. She fell back and would have fallen if the older woman hadn't reached out and grabbed her by the elbow and halted her progress. That brief skin to skin contact activated her power momentarily, but Mystique let go before anything could happen. Rogue shook her head, and as quickly as her power activated, it went away. "Thanks," she muttered, looking at a window to make certain her appearance hadn't changed or anything.
"Not a problem Rogue," Raven replied a little breathlessly, before she shook it off. Rogue's touch was powerful, but that small a moment had thankfully not been enough to drain her more than, say running up two flights of stairs. "Were you looking for me for some reason?" She asked, and then cursed at how hopeful her voice sounded. She wanted to reconcile with her adopted daughter, but on her own terms, not when she was still following Charles and his foolish dream of coexistence.
Rogue frowned a little then shook her head. "Ah was just told tah tell you that Mistah Potter and the others will meet you at Spogeo's downtown at seven."
Raven looked around and seeing that there was no one nearby nodded understanding. "alright, myself and one of the others will meet them there. Who is it?"
"Kitty, Storm, and Mistah Potter," Rogue recited then the two looked at one another. Rogue had never been all that close to Mystique, she was a hard woman to care for, so standoffish and stern, but she had been the only family Rouge had ever known, and the distance between them still hurt. Yet at the same time it was Mystique and her attempts to manipulate Rogue that caused that rift, and Rogue refused to be the first to reach across the divide. "I, I'll see ya round Ms."
Raven opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and nodded and the two turned away from each other, neither willing to take that first step to reconcile or even knowing how.
After school Ororo and Harry did indeed pick Kitty up from school causing another commotion but neither cared about it this time. Kitty got into the car and was surprised that there was enough space in the back for her to sit comfortably. She looked up at Harry who winked and whispered "Space expansion charm." Kitty nodded, awed anew at what magic could accomplish.
The three of them drove to a rather high class clothing shop, the kind Kitty had never been to and that Ororo would never have cared to go to. She was a woman who cared not at all for fripperies, clothing styles, what was in or what wasn't, she simply dressed appropriately in something she liked and was comfortable in, and that was all.
With Kitty gleefully leading the way the two girls soon lost themselves in the strange world of shopping while Harry simply took out a paper on different metal classifications and plunked himself down in the waiting area.
After the two picked up a few dresses to try on and went into the dressing rooms, Ororo asked, "So, have you come to a decision Kitten? About whether or not you wish to remain with the current, setup, shall we say?" They had to speak obliquely of course as they were in public.
Kitten sighed. "I… I was able to work out with the team when we were training the other night, but, but every time I think of it being real I just seize up. I, I'm afraid that if I was asked to go out for real I'd refuse."
"Remember what Harry and I said Kitten," Ororo said, pulling the shorter girl into a one armed hug. "No one will judge you if you choose to no longer play in the real games. You can help your team in other ways. Your mind can be one of the best weapons in your arsenal," she leaned in to whisper in the younger girl's ear, "Even if your name isn't Jean." Kitty giggled and Ororo pulled away, holding up one of the dresses she chose to her body and Kitty nodded firmly in approval, but Ororo's mind was still on the conversation. "Have you asked your parents for some advice? I know you prefer to write to them, but still for something like this calling them would be a good idea."
Kitty bit her lip worriedly. "But, but should I really talk to them about, about that kind of thing, I can't, I mean, would they even understand, could they give me real advice about it?"
"Kitten," Ororo said firmly, turning and dropping the very expensive dress on the ground uncaring as she reached out to grasp the younger girl's shoulders. "Your parents love you, and they agreed to have you join us. Do not ignore them or try to compartmentalize your life like that. Ask them for advice, and I am certain they will take it seriously and help you make a decision you can live with."
Kitty smiled back at her and the two went back to trying on clothing. After a time they came out and made their purchases and the trio went back to the mansion to prepare for their night out.
Harry had a quick shower and then put on his crisis suit and his regular clothing over that, transfiguring it into a suit much like he had in Switzerland, not really caring to buy any new clothing just yet. After that he tried to comb his hair, but after a moment it went back to its normal unmanageable mess so he sighed and went to wait in the main hall for the two girls. They obviously took far longer than he did, but when they came down they looked a lot better too, at least in his opinion.
Ororo was dressed in a slinky black number with silver lines on the edges that went down to her ankles that was cut high up on the side but hugged her in all the right ways, including her chest and shoulder, being tight around the upper arms. She disdained any makeup, but then again she didn't need any, nor had she done anything with her hair, which fell to her shoulders in its normal wave. The sight of her coming down the steps was almost enough to make Harry decide to cancel the night out and simply grab her and go back to bed, but he manfully refrained.
Kitty was dressed in a far more chaste dress of white that had wide straps over otherwise bare shoulders that flared out around her ankles. Her hair still looked a little frizzy but she had obviously done something with it, and he saw a hint of makeup in the form of eye shadow and pink lipstick.
Harry looked at the two of them and whistled aloud. "I think I'm going to have guys dying with jealousy tonight, sitting with the two most beautiful women there."
Ororo chuckled at his compliment while Kitty blushed a little, wishing again that Harry was her age (and y'know not with Ororo).
Charles too added his compliments and Logan looked at Storm and groaned aloud at missed opportunities, a sound that had her chuckling just a little louder. After that the three left, and drove to the restaurant. Harry dropped the two ladies off at the entrance to the truly ritzy restaurant, and then went to park his own car.
Mystique showed up in the body of a drop dead gorgeous blond bombshell, wanting to keep this meeting separate from her Darkholme persona, as well as put a distance between it and her relationship with the Brotherhood. She wore a strapless white and black stripped dress that was tight up top and hugged her hips, coming to a little below her knees. After all, it wasn't often that she had the opportunity to dress up.
She had chosen to bring Lance with him, not trusting Pietro to not pull something or keep his cool. He was dressed in a suit that was a little too big for him, but it still looked good on his spare frame. His hair too was combed for once. All in all he dressed up pretty well, and Kitty looked at him approvingly. Lance too looked at her with interest. Ororo was hot, but also older and with the Potter dude, and Mystique, well the whole shape changing thing sounded great until you got to know her, then it was just freaky.
The four of them looked at one another a little awkwardly, not knowing what to say to one another in a public setting like this or any situation like this. Harry joined them swiftly, and the five of them went into the restaurant. Lance sidled up to Kitty and, after making certain Mystique was concentrating on Harry, whispered, "Um, you look fantastic Kitty, really great."
Kitty grinned a little. "You don't look so bad yourself Lance." The ice broken the two fell into a discussion about school, a safe topic for now, and the two followed the adults to the table.
Ororo and Mystique eyed one another warily, but neither were willing to be the one to start something and made do with talking about their dresses. Well Mystique did, Ororo just let her talk.
Harry set at the head of the long table, waving his hand discretely with a spell that pinpointed anything odd, and unsurprisingly there was a small something on the side of a flower pot in the center of the table. Another slight hand wave hit the flower jar with a muffilatio, which would make it unable to hear anything. As everyone sat down, getting some odd looks from other patrons since they were an odd group, he whispered, "Let's order before we get to talking. I'll use a notice-me-not spell to cover us after the food arrives."
At the word spell Lance's eyes widened then narrowed angrily as the confoundus spell Harry had hit the Brotherhood with after the battle with Juggernaut failed. Kitty however grabbed his arm and made him sit down before he could cause a scene. Once Lance set down though his eyes locked on Harry and he growled out "You asshole what the…"
"You were an enemy at the time kid, and I figured an aimed Confoundus was better than killing you out of hand." Harry's voice was a whisper but it carried to Lance very well, and his emerald eyes were hard over his smile, causing Lance to flinch and look away.
After that the conversation turned to safer things as a waiter came by first with their menus and after that to take their order. The group made small talk in two groups, Lance and Kitty talking at one end and the adults at the other, mostly discussing the economy, and the big news at the moment, that of well-known industrialist Tony Stark's disappearance in the Middle East on a routine marketing trip. Harry had heard of Tony from Reed Richards, the two weren't close, but they knew eachother from Reed having sold a few of his patents to the industrialist, and Harry wondered if that would be enough to get the FF involved in the search for him, but he didn't expect so.
The food soon arrived and when the waiter retreated Harry nodded to Mystique and waved his hand in the air. A brief shimmer moved across the floor underneath them and he nodded. "No one can hear us now, everyone in hearing range think we're talking about schooling, sports and other random things. No one will notice anything different, in fact they'll find our table very hard to notice at all."
Mystique frowned a little, she hadn't seen Dr. Voodoo using spells like that, and certainly the wannabe's she had seen hadn't had something like that. But she nodded. "Very well, do you want me to start my, what did you call it, my shtick?" Harry nodded and Ororo leaned back, willing to listen even though she knew she would never agree with her opinion.
"Well first let me just point at humanity's history with minorities. Homo superior isn't the first minority in the world. Look at what happened to the Christians when that religion first began in ancient Rome. Look at the persecution gypsies have to deal with in Europe even today, or blacks in America in places, and gays everywhere, let alone the Jews, who have faced persecution since, well, forever! It is human nature to fear, to hate and to persecute those that are different. I have seen it hundreds of times, have felt it myself dozens of times." Most of those were obviously because she was a mutant, though two of them occurred when she was openly in a relationship with Irene. Some things never changed. "When Hitler started his campaign he used the Jews as a scapegoat, a visible enemy that was just different enough for people to latch onto. How much easier would it be to do the same thing using mutants who are often visibly different who have powers beyond the understanding of normal humans? No, mutant kind must stand together against homo sapien aggression, which will be coming! We must be ready to protect ourselves, and if necessary to conquer them before they can subjugate us!"
By the end of her speech her voice had changed from calm and deliberate to passionate, and she took a moment to collect her self-control before going on. "You can see it already happening now. How many hate groups have already latched onto mutant kind as evil simply because we exist? The Friends of Humanity may be the loudest, but they aren't the only one, and has there been a single nation that has said 'no this is mindless bigotry', no there hasn't. Russia already has pogroms going after mutants, and there have been a few incident in America, especially in the south that were just ugly." She knew that as her leader had gathered another group like the Brotherhood from the south; she knew of the group though that was all, as he believed in compartmentalization, something she agreed with. "No, it will be up to mutants to protect mutants, because no one else will."
For a moment Harry lost himself in a memory from when he was leading the New Marauders, right after Voldemort had slaughtered the last of the Order of the Phoenix that still followed Dumbledore. He had decided to attack Diagon Alley to parade the old man's broken body to show the masses, and Harry had been there on a date (having escaped from Hogwarts). The girl was a Gryffindor named Alicia, not as close to him as the other two of the Flying Foxes, but still a nice girl. When Voldemort appeared everyone was running away, but Harry moved toward him and his forces, determined to do what he could (though not in a head on charge, he was a Ravenclaw after all) and Alicia had tried to stop him, saying he should let the Aurors handle it. When he pointed out that the Aurors had swiftly retreated into the ministry building she said to let the adults handle it. He pointed out that they weren't and that they never had. She asked him why he had to be the one to do it, and he had answered 'because no one else will.' The battle after that, with Harry keeping to the shadows and striking out at them from hiding with lethal spells, had been just enough to keep Voldemort and his followers occupied while the crowd ran for it before he apparated out too. Within a week Alicia was pulled out of Hogwarts and her family moved to France a few days after.
He shook himself and came back to the here and now as Mystique finished up. "That defense must be organized, it must be trained and it must be ready. That is the reason behind the Brotherhood, behind everything. Because the only way to protect a population as diverse and spread as we are is to show the norms that we are too strong for them to mess with. That will mean war, and us being possibly being the one to start it, because if we do and we get a hard enough initial blow off, we might not need another one."
Ororo spoke up then, not able to stand it anymore, "And that is the reason you used your own step-daughter so badly? Why you tried to sour her towards us the moment we tried to recruit her in such a underhanded manner?"
"Yes," Mystique answered simply. "I wanted her to join the Brotherhood and get the training she needed to know when homo-sapiens begin to turn against us, and I knew that as young and naïve as she is that Charles' dream would sound much better than my own side." She looked at Harry. "That worry about training has gone away since you arrived Potter, but I still think she's on the wrong side of things."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, taking a bite out of his lasagna, which was too excellent to ignore. On the surface, especially with the history she sited to back her position up, it makes a lot of sense. But then she sort of ruins it by her methods and using that that phrase 'conquer'. Still he had given his word she could try and persuade them, and he wanted to hear from one of the younger set.
"Lance, what do you think about all this?"
Lance chewed at his chicken parmesan, which was very good, wondering how to say this in such a way that he didn't alienate Kitty or get him in trouble with Mystique. Kitty was immensely hot all dressed up, she was cute normally but dressed up she was, wow. Lance was incredibly happy Mystique had chosen to bring him over Pietro. "Um, well, I would say that most of us in the brotherhood know firsthand about discrimination. My family was poor, my dad left us years ago, and everyone looked down on me because of that. You know how that works, a poor kid in a good high school. My powers give me something to say, 'hey I'm special, I don't have to be pushed around', and let me push back. What kids like Fred and Todd, who look strange thanks to their powers, what they go through is pretty bad at school, what'll happen to them when we go out into the rest of the world? Nothing good I bet."
He sighed, looking down at his plate. "If you're talking about war, that I don't really know about. I'm all for protecting ourselves, maybe even taking out any of the hate groups or anyone else who want to threaten us, but going after someone else first, that I don't know about. Maybe a preemptive strike sort of thing if we knew they were going to come after us, but not as part of a whole world war. I just don't see how mutant kind could win something like that, there's not enough of us. Not yet."
Mystique frowned but didn't say anything. She knew with her boss's powers such a war was winnable, but she didn't want to mention him or his powers here. Kitty though asked "But do you want to really, y'know, let your power be the only that defines you? I don't want to be defined just by my powers I want to make a difference with my mind too."
Ororo beamed at the younger girl proudly. Lance looked thoughtful, while Harry nodded too, giving her a thumbs up. "Yes, that's it exactly, you need to be defined by your deeds and your sense of right and wrong, not just by your powers. If your powers are the only thing you define yourself by, then that is a very sad life indeed. Magic is something I can do, it does not define who I am, nor should you let your powers do that to you." Harry turned to Ororo. "Your turn luv."
Storm nodded, finishing up a sip of wine. They had ordered a bottle that Mystique recommended for the table, and allowed the two teens two glasses each. "I understand where you are coming from yet I think you are looking at things through the looking glass of your own experiences. Yes, it is human nature to want to hate that which is different but not every human thinks like that. Not every German believed Nazi propaganda, not every Roman wanted to throw a Christian to the lions."
"No," Mystique retorted, "They just wanted to watch on the sidelines, not caring or worse simply enjoying the show. I fought in that war and I was betrayed, not be the so-called bad guys, but by the good guys. First it was everyone looking at me like I was some kind of exhibition at a circus, then it was my superiors, looking at me as if I would turn on them, then putting me in a position to be killed as often as they could. I saw firsthand that humanity is untrustworthy, ask Logan if you don't believe me. The weapon X program would have used him, Creed and the others until they died if they hadn't broken the indoctrination. Humanity cannot be trusted to deal with us fairly, not as a race and not as individuals."
"Perhaps," Ororo said sedately, "And I am not saying this to belittle your experiences. My own childhood wasn't exactly peaceful, and I could see myself in your position far too easily after how badly I was treated as a random street urchin on the streets of Cairo. Yet even after my power manifested and before I left the city I saw the good in humans as well as the bad. For every Hitler we have a Schindler who works against them, for every Stalin there is a Gandhi, that is a fact of humanity, we are such a diverse species we are impossible to quantify. Nor do I see us a distinct separate species as you seem to because of our power. We are all human, it is just we have certain added abilities, and we can get over this, like humans have learned to ignore our differences for thousands of years. If we work with them, work to police ourselves and to protect ourselves and them from super powered enemies such as the Juggernaut and others we can earn their trust. If we earn their trust groups like the Friends of Humanity and others will become marginalized and looked at like other hate groups. If we work toward the betterment of all not a just few with our powers and our minds we can create a better future for everyone."
Kitty nodded firmly. "That's what I want most, I want to make a difference, I always have, my power doesn't change that, it just gives me another tool to use to do it."
Harry nodded, stapling his fingers on his lap and leaned back looking between the two women, gathering his thoughts before speaking. Out of the side of his eyes he noticed Lance frowning in thought as he sipped at his second glass of wine. Sales pitches can go both ways after all. "You are passionate about your position Mystique, but you do not persuade, not me anyway. You might have if you hadn't said you wanted to conquer humanity to make it so humanity couldn't do the same to you. That reminds me too much of the Pureblood Supremacy I fought back in my old dimension."
He then went on to explain the war he fought against Voldemort, the problem with the Ministry, and the beliefs espoused by the extremists, Dumbledore and those in power. All four of them even Ororo listened enthralled at the story, as she had only heard brief blurbs of this story before, never the whole thing at once. All four of them reacted to the story differently. Mystique looked at harry with respect plain on her assumed face. Kitty cried for the friends he lost and that a boy her own age had to take a stand like that. Lance looked at him with shock and respect, wondering inside if he and his fellows were being set up as the Purebloods or the New Marauders.
As he finished his eyes nailed Mystique to her chair, hard, and unyielding, full of passion, the very air almost throbbing with his power. "What you talk about is the same general idea, the the privileged few ruling over the many, chosen not be election or money or anything but simple random genetics. And I will fight that with every spell, every thought, word and deed that I can, that is a promise. Do you understand?" Mystique nodded, not scared exactly, but very worried about what this wizard could do if he wanted to not just to her but to the cause she followed. "If on the other hand mutants are persecuted, I will help them. I don't care where, or when, or about borders or laws, I will help them with all I can however I need to with as much force as I have to. That too is a promise." He leaned back, calming down and the other people around the breathed easier with the pressure lifted. Ororo was looking at him with desire in her eyes, loving this passionate, commanding side of him, and she promised herself sometime that night for the two of them.
Mystique saw his charisma and his power and shook her head. "No wonder there is a new path to the future." She muttered. She wasn't certain though if she is willing to work with him just yet, after all his powers came from his magic not his mutation. More her leader was a certain bet, with his plans for the future already set and a worldwide network of agents and followers while Harry was alone and hadn't shared any certain plans with her.
Harry looked at Ororo wondering how she took his speech, and his eyes widened at the look in her eyes, and he looked rapidly away to keep from losing his cool, then his eyes narrowed as what Mystique muttered registered. "Wait, what? What do you mean a third path to the future?"
Mystique frowned realizing she had spoken aloud and wondering what to say. In the end she decided to share a bit of the truth. "I have a friend whose mutant power can see into the future, not very far" she lied, "but my friend can see paths into the future."
Harry's breathing eased back to normal as no prophecy was mentioned, and then his eyes narrowed. "This person is a real proven seer? How is she defended? Good god, do you have nay idea how powerful an asset a seer could be in the wrong hands!"
Mystique's lips twitched and her face hardened into grim lines, an unusual look on her assumed face. "Oh yes, we've seen several people over the years that would misuse her power. I killed them all." She said it blandly but her eyes were hard as she stared at Harry. Indeed, she made certain that only her leader out of all their organization knew her powers, and even he didn't know their full extent, how specific they could be or how far. No one knew that but her, and Irene was defended by that anonymity just as much as by Mystique's guile and her own power.
Harry relaxed further. "I'd offer to give you some magical defenses, but I doubt you'd trust me enough to take them." Mystique laughed and nodded agreement so Harry just shrugged. "Anyway, I won't go out of my way to fight you but I will stop you if you use your powers to attack mundanes. The school is off limits and you keep the fighting in areas without any bystanders if you want me to keep to that neutrality. And that will go for the X-men I'll come down on them if they start anything too." Ororo shrugged, knowing that the students and Charles would follow that idea easily enough. "In return, I'll give your team leader some pointers on leadership and team tactics, as well as a few pages worth of ideas of how to use their powers from what I saw when we fought Juggernaut."
Mystique frowned, but since she didn't actually want the Brotherhood to pick random fights with the X-men, which was one thing she and Charles agreed on, keeping a low profile was necessary for mutant kind right now, she saw no reason not to agree. "Alright, I can agree to that. I'll make my group tow the line if you make good with your end."
Harry nodded firmly. "Done, now Lance, you're the team leader right?" He had seen the others in action after all and only Pietro seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, and he was far too egotistical to be in charge of anything. Frankly from what little he had seen he reminded him of Draco Malfoy a little too much.
Lance nodded in reply, pleased Harry had picked that out, and Harry rattled off a few book names Lance should look into and then the talk turned to other things and Harry removed the notice me not spell so the waiter could approach and they could order some dessert.
During the rest of the meal the adults made small talk and shared a few stories about mishaps, with Harry dominating the discussion with stories about his pranks. Lance and Kitty flirted a bit, causing the trio of adults to smirk a little to each other. Thus the evening ended on a high note for all of them, even though Mystique hadn't persuaded Harry to join her side.
As they were leaving, Lance pulled Kitty to a stop a little bit of a blush on his face. "Um, look, I had a lot of fun, I, um I was wondering if you might want to have a night out on our own sometime?"
Kitty looked at him, giggling a little and blushing slightly. "Sure, I'd like that a lot, just, um just make it pizza or something simple okay, I saw the bill for this place and it was scary."
Lance nodded firmly. "Deal."
Mystique paused on the walk to the parking lot, looking over at Ororo. It was obvious to the weather goddess that the shapeshifter wanted to say something, and she stopped as well, looking at her. After a moment of wrestling with herself Mystique spoke. "My, my daughter Rogue, please, I, tell her I still care about her? Look out for her please. I doubt she wants anything to do with me anymore, but I still want her to know I care. I'm not the best at showing that, but it's still true."
Ororo nodded, inwardly wondering how Mystique could have ever thought that manipulating Rouge as she had was a good way to show she cared, but the woman in her wouldn't let her say it. "I will." She looked at the other woman and decided to throw her a bone. "If you truly care for her, Rogue may come around eventually, and eventually you tow can reconcile. These things tend to pass, and the fact that you're on opposing positions on the future of mutant kind will only get in the way if you let it." Mystique frowned, looking away with sadness plain on her assumed face before leaving without another word. With that the night ended, the two groups going their way.
In the back of the restaurant a man with close cropped dirty blond hair cursed inventively. Thanks to bugging the Xavier mansion's phone they had found out about this little shindig, though who the blond woman was they didn't know. It was pretty clear she had something to do with the so-called Brotherhood of Mutants, but what was a mystery, just like the identity of their leader. That secret was one Fury would cheerfully murder for, the known objectives of the brotherhood was a threat to national, indeed international security.
If only he had been able to overhear what they talked about, but the mini-microphone he had placed on that table (it had been easy to keep that table clear and shunt the group to it, basic spycraft 101 that) but it had failed right before the group sat down. Maybe one of them had some kind of power that did stuff like that to electronics? He didn't know. What Agent Barton did know was that his boss was not going to be happy.
Saturday morning started out a very bizarre day for many of those at the mansion. To start off everyone's normal morning routine was interrupted by a scream from Rogue's room then a loud crash. Everyone (Save Ororo who Harry told to wait and get dressed before joining the rush) congregated in her room, shocked to see she had lashed out in her sleep and destroyed the outer wall which her bed rested alongside. She was now sitting up with Kitty and Jean carefully giving her hugs on either side of her laying their arms along her pajama clad shoulders. "It was just ah nightmare," Rogue muttered, "but it was so vivid, like ah was really there."
"what was it about?" Scott asked, patting her knee, which was under the blanket.
"I, I was a woman, and I was carrying ah baby, runnin' away from some castle, but soon some wolves started tah chase me through the woods. They somehow got ahead of me and pinned me on a rope bridge over a river between them. They attacked, I tried tah hold 'em off, but I got bitten on my arm and forced tah drop the baby down into the river. The dream ends there."
"Was there anything unusual about the scene other than how vivid it was?" Charles asked, wheeling himself towards the bed, his face concerned yet inquisitive.
Rogue thought for a minute then nodded. "Ah couldn't make out any of mah own features, but the baby, the baby had blue fur!" She looked up sharply at Kurt whose eyes widened. "Ah think it was Kurt!"
"Me? But who could have been carrying me vhile running away from a castle? Especially vhen I vas a baby, from what they said the Roma found me about that time. I wonder vhat relation I had to this woman."
"Hmmm," said Charles. "Perhaps later today we should look into this further, it might be possible if I probe your mind we can see more detail." Rogue nodded agreement, and Kurt looked on hopefully, wanting to know more of his birth family.
"Well then, I think I'll go and start breakfast, waffles I think." Harry said with some finality, leaving his hand and using a reparo spell on the wall.
Swiftly the wall was back to normal and Rogue smirked a little. "You're an awfully useful man tah have around Mr. Potter."
Ororo smirked. "Indeed, in so many ways." Harry smirked back at her while the guys rolled their eyes (except for Evan who frowned) and the girls giggled a little. None of the kids noticed Harry stare hard at Charles, this being the last day of his ultimatum to the older man. Charles sighed a little then nodded and mouthed the word later. Harry walked off with Ororo, satisfied for now.
After breakfast the kids were handed over to Logan for endurance training, then had free time until a lesson with Ororo for the girls that evening and with Logan for the boys. Harry would take them on in his team challenges all day Sunday. He wanted to start on his runic flying array/tattoo today.
After lunch however Jean's free time was interrupted by Charles asking him into his office. Wondering what this was about, and wondering why her instincts told her it was going to be about something important, she knocked and when told to entered the third story office. "You wanted to see me sir?"
Charles sighed, wheeling his way around his desk to take up position close by one of the chairs facing it. "Yes Jean, please sit down." Jean sat down, now certain this was going to be something either important, unpleasant or both. "I, I have a bit of a confession to make. Do you remember when I first found you?"
"Yes sir," Jean said slowly, "It was about two weeks after my powers woke up in me." That had been caused by the traumatic effect of seeing her best friend as a child die, run over by a car after just playing with her in her backyard. "You stopped by every now and then until my parents allowed me to move in here two years ago." In actuality they had been just as worried about how it would look if they let their young pre-teen daughter move into a full time boarding school as they had been about her wellbeing, perhaps more so. After all, there was a reason they never bothered to initiate contact with her now that she was away, anything outside the norm was something they couldn't really handle.
"I told you at the time that it was your own power that alerted me to your presence, but that was not the whole truth. I felt something else as well, a powerful alien entity that had, when I investigated, taken up residence in your mind." Jean froze in shock at that and he went on, "When I investigated I found that the entity had bonded with your mind and I could not force it out no matter what I tried. I then made the decision to seal it there, locking it way from the rest of your mind, so that it could not influence you in any way."
Jean shook off her shock and began to get angry. "I, I've got an alien entity in my mind, you've known about this for years and you never told me!?"
"Jean please calm down, I kept it a secret because I wanted to let your mind fully mature before learning or your unwanted guest. I also wanted you to have a normal childhood, Mutant children have a hard enough time having a normal childhood without knowing there is something else odd about them." Charles said placatingly, his hands making calming motions.
Jean stood up angrily beginning to pace around the room, trying to keep control but her power began to spark off her, picking up random items around the room and toss them too and for aimlessly. "Oh that's just great, never mind the fact that I'm a fucking telepath and my mind should be sacrosanct! Why the hell did you think it was good idea to still keep it from me when I began to mature? It wasn't your damn call to keep something like this from me, this is my head we're talking about here! Mental blocks, foreign mental blocks in my head, no matter the reason that is just, wrong, just I can't tell you how this makes me feel! Good god professor, this is why I've been having problems with occlumency isn't it, this thing inside my head is interfering somehow!"
She froze for a moment as she thought of the tension between Harry and Charles, which had started right after she showed his mental projection around her mind…. "Potter found out didn't he? He wanted you to tell me, that's what the countdown and the tension between you was about, wasn't it?" Charles sighed but nodded and Jean's eyes narrowed angrily. "So if he hadn't been pressuring you, would you be telling me about this entity in my head even now?" Xavier looked away, not willing to meet her accusing gaze. "I see. If you'll excuse me professor, I think I'm going to go now. We will be talking again later, after I've calmed down." Charles nodded sadly, wondering how badly this had hurt Jean's trust in him, and where they would go from here.
Jean knew where she wanted to go, and stormed off to find the other target of her ire.
Harry had placed a mufilatio around his workroom so he wouldn't be bothered as he tattooed the runic array that would let him fly onto his back. When he was done it would be a circle of runes around the middle of his back, then he would cover it up by tattooing a design around it to look like a sun or something, he wasn't sure what just yet. He had solved the problem of not letting foreign magic impact the process by using two carefully tilted full length mirrors, one at an angle in front of in front of his face as he laid face down on a table taken from the medical wing, and the other directly above him. This way he was able to see what was going on while he used his magic to direct the half iron (which did not conduct magic) half regular metal pliers that held the crystal (an unused one) he was using to carve the design.
It was lucky he had when Jean barged into his room without knocking for a second time. "You knew, and you didn't tell me!"
When she saw he was lying down half naked and apparently very busy with something that looked very tricky she paused, tapping her toes angrily on the ground.
About ten minutes later, time which did nothing to appease her anger, Harry finished the rune he was working on and allowed the leviosa spell to slowly fade, reaching out to catch the pliers as they fell gently to the ground. He stood up from the bed, looking at her quizzically as he negated the Mufilatio spell. "You really need to work on knocking don't you Red?"
Red flushed a little at the sight of Harry's chiseled abs and his oh so interesting scars then shook it off. "Never mind that, you knew about this, this thing in my head, and you never told me about it, why!?"
Harry sighed a little happily. "So baldy really did get up his courage to tell you, huh, that surprises me, in a good way admittedly. I'm not used to leaders who admit their mistakes. And if I had mentioned it when I first saw it, would you have believed me?"
Jena frowned a little. It was true she hadn't known Harry that well at that point, but… "I would have at least brought it up with the professor if you had told me. Gah, the idea I have some foreign thing in my head is just… brrr. Still, I guess I can see why you didn't want to be the one to tell me. But that and the idea of someone else's mental blocks in my head, that is just wrong. It feels almost like, well almost like a rape, something precious has been defiled, my mind has been changed without me agreeing to it or even knowing about it!" She stood there hyperventilating for a moment and Harry simply waited, letting her recover from her outburst. "Have you, have you run into anything like this before?"
Harry frowned heavily but then nodded. "I've run into two such. One was on my godfather, we were never certain what the reason was, but the effect was to make him extremely impulsive, almost to the point of being suicidal." Dumbledore had put a mental block on Sirius at some point well before he was sent to Azkaban to enforce loyalty. Unfortunately for the meddling old coot, Harry's mother and father had insisted Sirius take the old version of the godfather oath, which demanded the man do all he could to protect Harry with all of his magic, consciously or unconsciously, meaning the man's own magic would work to protect Harry even if the rest of him didn't. When the block and the oath came into conflict, he became incredibly impulsive and almost manic whenever he knew Harry was in trouble, his own magic pushing him to do something, anything even if it went against his trust of Dumbledore, hence why he finally broke out of Azkaban when he saw Peter with Weasley. When Harry began to show Sirius how to use occlumency the block was easy to find when the man organized his mind and they broke it then. The other block Harry had seen was on Narcissa Black, and was part of the marital agreement between the two families, and it disappeared when Sirius, as head of the Blacks, annulled the marriage. After that she willingly helped them lead her former husband and son into an ambush. One had been a rapist and abuser, the other nearly his carbon copy, and she had shed no tears for either. Harry had often wondered why Dumbledore had never tried to place a block on him, and had never found a satisfactory answer. He supposed that such a step was a dangerous one, and by the time Dumbledore realized he needed it on Harry he had already learned to defend his mind with his imagined invisibility cloak.
"So they can have an impact on the person well beyond what was intended?" Jean asked, biting her lip worriedly.
"Oh yes," Harry said grimly, comparing Sirius before and after the block was removed. Before Sirius was almost childish, wild and impulsive and far too trusting of Dumbledore in every way except about how to help Harry. Afterward he resembled the dangerous and very competent Auror he had been before being sent to Azkaban though admittedly more manic, and his love of pranks didn't change. "I honestly can't tell you if Charles' block is more efficient or has a limited effect, but I am a little worried about it, hence why I wanted you to know about this alien entity in your head and the blocks both."
"Could you maybe try and get rid of this thing in my head? Without it there the blocks can be removed."
Harry looked at her hopeful face and sighed. "I don't know. Charles said it's a foreign entity, but I'll be honest, I never saw any indication of that. I just saw it as another part of your mind. Why that is I don't know, but if it is a foreign entity, maybe we should try to talk to it. After all, even if it couldn't communicate when Charles first found it, it has been in your mind for years and it might have picked up human speech in that time."
Jean frowned, the idea of talking to something inside her own head was a really odd idea, but she sighed. "Can we do it now please?" She asked plaintively, and Harry looked at her again, looking past her anger about being lied to and saw her fear this time.
Jean was desperately afraid of whatever this was in her head, and with good reason. If I had something in my brain that wasn't me I'd be terrified too. Sure, let me put on a shirt and we can start." Jena nodded, looking away at this reminder that Harry was shirtless.
A moment later Harry came back and conjured two comfy chairs for the two of them. They sat down, and after a moment Harry nodded, indicating he had pulled back a corner of his invisibility cloak. Jean came into his mind and, like last time, transported his mental projection into her mind, bypassing the belsham-trees which caused Harry to chuckle and wonder what Luna would have thought of them while Jean merely smiled, her worry about the rest of her mind not letting her take pleasure in her defenses.
Jean looked around her barely organized mind, frowning in concentration, then shook her head. "Even knowing something is there I can't see them, Charles hid them too well."
Harry nodded, then grasped her hand and pushed it at the place where a locked down book was held on its pedestal. She resisted at first, then as their joined hands came into contact with it gasped as suddenly she could see the chained book and the fissure below it on the mental ground of her mind. She looked around and saw two other books set along the fissure, and the large staples of some kind that were trying to keep the fissure closed. "This, was all in my mind and I never knew?"
Harry shrugged. "I guess so, though the books might have grown out of the original block, the metal bar thingies. Whatever the thing it's supposed to keep under control is inside that fissure."
"According to those occlumency books you gave me, the further down you go into your mind the more emotions and elemental thoughts you'll find." Jean frowned, now really wondering what was down there.
"That's the way it normally works until you force your own organization on your mind, but regardless, we'll need to go down and find this entity, whatever it is."
Jean nodded and looked at the hole, then with a deep breath reached out and forced the block apart, just enough to let them down into it. A flash of heat and flame shot out, and for a moment they both could feel something stirring below them, but then it settled down, as if waiting for them to make the first move. The two looked at one another then Harry smirked and bowed grandly. "Allow me to go first milady, I shall brave the dragon's cave first, taking all the danger onto myself before I let thee come to harm."
Jean shook her head, but there was a smile on her face as she did. "Nay good sir, we will face this danger side by side for I cannot send someone else to face this danger without me."
Harry, still smirking held out his hand as if asking for a dance at a fancy ball, and Jean looped her own arm with his and together they stepped forward over the fissure, and jumped down into the fire.
They fell for a few seconds through the fire which burned, but did not injure. A moment later they touched down, seemingly floating above a pool of fire which spread endlessly in every direction that looked like the surface of the sun, roiling and pulsing with heat and fire and power. "Hmm, this is not what I was expecting."
Jean looked at him askance and stepped away, looking around. "You were actually expecting something in particular?"
"No not really."
Suddenly a voice reverberated around them, shocking in time, shocking in its power. +You who are my container, my human half, you have come at last. You have come, accompanied be a he who also carries my power+.
Harry and Jean watched in awe as a shape emerged from the flames in front of them. the shape was first an amorphous blob of fire but soon seemed to settle on two shapes, changing back and forth between them constantly. One was that of a woman, her body a replica of Jean's except made of fire, and the other was that of a majestic bird.
"A phoenix," Harry breathed in surprise. "What in the world is a phoenix doing inside someone's mind?" More, this phoenix was giving him an impression of such power he felt dwarfed by it, not overwhelmed, just as if they inhabited two different planes of existence. Harry had never gotten a feeling like that with Fawkes, power yes, and the sense of a powerful immortal mind in those eyes, but not this powerful, this ancient and all-knowing. He groaned a little as he remembered what he said to that guy in the death's mask and conjured a wall momentarily to slam his head against it a few times.
"I, I have no idea. What did it mean when it said you carry also carry its power?" Jean asked, looking a little wild-eyed at the entity and then to Harry and back, not really wanting to know why he was hitting his head against a wall that hadn't been there a moment ago.
Harry stopped what he was doing and closed his eyes concentrating, and his wand, which Death had infused into his very being, appeared in his hand. The piece of Yggdrasil surrounded and encased what Death had called a shard of the M'kraan crystal, and inside that was a piece of flame, an eternal fire that burned without any fuel, forever and eternal. "This is what she meant I think, but what she really is I have no idea. Nor why she is in your mind, care to enlighten us on those points milady?" Harry refused to be awed, it wasn't the first time he had faced something that could crush him like an ant, and he'd be damned if he backed down.
+A Defender should have the tools to do so+, the being stated, in the shape of a bird at the moment, its voice strangely amused. +Though you can only wield it because you met an avatar of my power in your home dimension. And I am here because I found one who was willing to give her all to defend life, that which I serve and create, one who had tried to give her all to bring back a friend from the endless+.
Harry shrugged off the part about tools, he knew what he was after all. The second part though, that interested him quite a lot. "Of course, fire, the power of rebirth and renewal, life and destruction in one."
Jean nodded, understanding suddenly dawning and she stepped forward, moving closer to the being until they stood a bare arms length from one another. "Those dreams I had the week after Annie died, the ones before Charles showed up, they weren't really dreams were they?"
The phoenix nodded, now in the shape of its fire based clone of Jean. +You had telepathically linked your mind to the mind of your friend in an attempt to keep her soul from moving to the afterlife. In doing so, your mind was being dragged to Death's realm, something I could not allow after seeing how hard you fought to sustain the life of your friend. I joined my power to your mind and broke that connection, yet in so doing I forged a connection with you. The meddling of the bald fool occurred before I could remove that connection, and his blocks cut off this portion of my power from the whole+.
"So the you in front of us, it's only a part of the whole?" Harry asked, a little freaked by that idea. The being in front of him was powerful as all hell, but he felt he could still fight it if he had to. Probably wouldn't win, but he could fight it. If it was part of another even vaster entity though, that was terrifying.
+Is the flame in your soul-wand different in appearance than the flames around us? I am phoenix, I am immutable, all parts connected and representative of the whole+, the being said haughtily, not breaking eye contact with Jean. +I was old when this dimension was created, I will be here when it returns to the flame. That is my charge, destroyer and renewer+.
"yet this portion is still trapped in me," Jean murmured. "You couldn't escape without hurting me?"
+I would not kill you in such a fashion, regardless of the fool's idiocy it was through no fault of yours+. The being paused then looking away before looking back at Jean. +Then too I became interested in actually living rather than simply being+.
"So what will happen when we remove Charles' mental blocks?" Harry asked, looking from the redhead to her fiery counterpart.
+This aspect of my whole will merge with the container+ the phoenix said simply, still seemingly staring at Jean, who was staring back.
"You get something out of this though, it's not just because of what I tried to do." Jean said. "My emotions, they fascinate you?" She said it like it was a question, but somehow she knew that was it.
+Yes,+ said the being, not even trying to hide it. +I have lived for a passage of time that you cannot comprehend, yet emotions and feelings are utterly new to me. I wish to feel more, but I know that I cannot afford to actually feel them, else I would be unable to pursue my duty. Thus this portion of my flame will be separated from the whole, separate yet the same. I will learn of these feelings as if I were seeing them through that human invention called a TV. They will not influence me or my sacred charge, yet I will still learn of them+.
"And I get my whole mind back," Jean said, realizing suddenly what she had been missing for years. "My passion, my imagination, my anger. They were all somehow chained down with you by the mental blocks Charles put on us." Those and much of my other emotions, she thought suddenly. That was why she never could sustain a single emotion for very long, why she came off as cool and distant so often. Duncan had often complained about it both to her face and behind her back, and even the other X-men had always thought she was sort of standoffish. Rogue had even called her a spoiled princess because of her attitude (though admittedly also because of Scott's favoritism, something Jean could not do anything about). That had faded lately, but that was because her harsher, more powerful emotions had begun to leak out of their 'books' into the rest of her mind.
Harry nodded thoughtfully, though inside he was questioning whether or not this was a good idea. "So will Red here" they both turned and glared at him but he merely smirked back un-phased, "Will Red here have a connection with you other than showing you her emotions like your very own soap opera."
The being actually wrinkled its nose somehow in distaste at that idea. +I hope it will not be a soap opera, I would prefer some stability in certain areas+. For some reason Harry knew that was directed at him somehow, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what the being meant, though from her rather startled look Jean seemed to understand. +In answer to your question, Jean will become an avatar of my power, her own abilities enhanced and empowered beyond what she could achieve on her own. It will be a gradual process, the power she wields from me will grow as her control does. I will not be able to influence her mind or emotions in any way that is why this aspect will be cut off from the whole, with just enough of a connection for me to view her emotions, not effect them+.
Jean nodded in agreement to the idea of merging with this entity but Harry frowned a little, realizing that Jean would also need to relearn how to control her emotions if the mental blocks had blocked out so much of them. What is it with the women in this dimension being cut off from their emotions? There's Emma because of her family, Ororo because of her connection to weather, and now Jean thanks to Charles' meddling and Ms Flame here. And I still don't know if this is a good idea, but whatever, it's better than anything else, at least this way Jean's mind will be her own, and whatever happens in the future that's worth it right now. "Alright, how do we do this?"
+You need do nothing Defender+ the being said warmly, now back in the shape of a bird. +It is for Jean and I to do this+.
Jean nodded and stepped forward, now within a foot of the entity. "Let's do this!" She raised her arms above her hand and to the side, and with a trill of joy the bird dived into her chest and disappearing into her astral projection. All around them the flames pulsed, becoming hotter, the light they gave off brighter, becoming almost blinding, then beginning to funnel into her from all directions, encasing her in fire that slowly sank into her skin to join the original shape the phoenix had taken to speak to them. Harry watched in awe for a few moments, than with a jolt found himself back in his own body in the physical realm.
He shook his head then looked across at Jean where she was sitting in her chair. She was glowing with power, her body lifting off the chair he had conjured for her to hover in the air, her eyes glowing with phoenix fire. Harry leaped up reaching forward to grasp her hands and hold her in place as flames began to spiral around the room, activating his protective warding array.
The array began to flicker wildly under the power of this assault, and he let go with one of his hands and reached for the wall slapping his hand onto the array there and pushing as much of his magical power as he could into it. "Come on Red, get it together, control this we really don't want you two to merge only to find you've blown up the mansion," he grimaced as the wards flickered and he pumped in even more energy into them, "Or, you know the state of New York or this continent."
Hammering on the door warned him that others in the mansion had sensed this build up, but Harry paid them no mind, all his attention on the beautiful utterly magnificent young woman who was trying to merge with an entity whose power was literally incomprehensible in an effort to finally call her mind her own. "Come on Jean, work through it, get it together!"
Metal claws slashed into the door frame, and a moment later the other X-men rushed in only to pause in shock at what was going on. Harry ignored them keeping all his attention on the girl whose arm he was gripping so tightly, knowing somehow that if he let go, the being known as Jean would be gone, the body would remain, but the soul inside it would no longer be hers, not because of any malice or evil intent, but because of the phoenix just not understanding what its power could do to her. "Come on Jean, you can do this!"
Ororo looked on in shock for a moment then strode forward, wincing a little as the aura of flame around Jean burned her a little, but she ignored it, grasping her young friend's hand firmly. "Yes Jean, whatever this is you cannot allow it to beat you!"
Jean clung to those hands like a lifeline as her very soul was bathed in a vast power unlike anything that any mortal had ever felt before. Then as more of the X-men piled in, adding their hands to Ororo's and Harry's, the power began to recede as the phoenix retreated, the aspect stuck within her mind merging with her and finally disappearing entirely. The aura around her disappeared and she fell back onto her chair, her eyes closed, but her breathing deep and regular.
Harry took his hand away from the wall, absently noticing how badly damaged the warding array was, he would have to redo the entire array later, but the specialized ward around the property seemed to have held, which was a blessing. Now though he concentrated on something more important. He gestured everyone else back and they gave way reluctantly to allow him to however over Jean in her chair. "Red, you okay in there? How are you feeling?"
Jean opened her jade eyes to gaze up into his emerald ones, then over to Ororo's worried face and around at her friends, smiling happily. "Whole." She yawned, then shook her head very slowly from side to side. "Tired, very tired."
"Well that at least is to be expected," Harry laughed a little, then leaned in and lifted her into his arms easily. "Bed I think for you."
Charles coughed a little and the two green eyed individuals looked at him, one frowning unhappily the other simply with a raised eyebrow. "May I inquire as to what happened in here? If jean is injured in some way we should take her down to the medical wing."
"I'm not injured sir, just exhausted. The problem you finally got around to revealing to me is gone now." She glared a little at him and he frowned and looked away sadly. The other X-men wondered what that was about but didn't really care at the moment, simply crowding in as Harry made his way to the door, Scott and the others adding their own voices of concern and worry. Ororo didn't bother with words, simply reaching forward and grasping her younger friend's hand, allowing her to feel her concern, worry and affection before reaching up and pushing some of her red locks out of her face.
Jean smiled brightly at all their concern simply saying she would be fine after some rest and tell them what happened later. Then she frowned up at Harry. "I can walk you know Potter."
"Can you?" Harry asked impishly letting her down enough to set her legs on the ground and she put her arms around his neck in surprise as her legs nearly gave way under her.
"Okay so maybe I can't walk right now." Harry smirked a little and she smacked his chest, but he merely chuckled and picked her up again, not noticing or caring about the frown that appeared on Scott's face during this little bit of interaction.
"I think you should let Harry carry you to your room Jean," Ororo said as the other X-men moved out of the way. "We don't want you hurting yourself in an attempt to tough your way through your exhaustion."
Jean frowned but resigned herself to being carried, not like it was exactly a hardship to be held against Harry's ripped chest. She flushed just a bit at that thought, but didn't pull away and soon found herself sitting on her bed. At that point Ororo shooed out all the men and she and Kitty went to work changing her for bed despite her protests that she could dress herself. The look of appreciation on Ororo's face as she looked at Jean's body while changing her shirt for a pajama top did more for Jean's ego than any amount of envy or lust from the cheerleaders or footballers though and she soon found herself tucked into bed like a little girl. The last thing she felt was Ororo caressing her check gently, then she was out like a light.
Outside Harry fielded a few questions, giving out just enough information for them all to stop questioning him, then changed the subject and ordered the rest of the X-men to report for a training session.
Jean remained asleep for the rest of the day and well into Sunday, though the others checked in on her occasionally to see how she was doing. Harry however received a surprise on Sunday.
Charles had felt a presence he hadn't felt for many years approaching the mansion and had wheeled himself down to answer the door and see his friend again. As the tall, distinguished gentlemen ran the doorbell (having noticed and ignored both the normal and magical defenses around the house) the door opened and Charles sat in his wheelchair looking up at him with a smile. "Steven, how are you doing my friend? I haven't seen you in years."
Steven strange looked down at his friend, frowning ever so slightly at the man's still crippled legs, a sign of not one but two of his life's failures. Charles had taken that injury while fighting a alien that called itself Lucifer, a name that had mystical/religious connotations and thus had been brought to Strange's attention. He arrived too late, with Lucifer beaten and retreating from the telepath only after crippling his legs. With the aid of a young mutant named Sage hwo had responded to Charles' psychic cry for aid he got Charles to a hospital in time to save his life but not in enough time to save his legs, the tendons in them having died by the time he got there, beyond even Steven's original medical skills. "It is good to see you as well Charles, but I am afraid I am not here to just see you. I believe you have a Harry Potter living here?"
End chapter
I am not totally happy with the Phoenix section, but I needed to have it happen soon, or else I couldn't move the story forward. I hope I pulled it off and the rest of the chapter in such a way that everyone enjoyed it. Next chapter will be a bit of a down time, as Harry deals with Kurt and Mystiques connection and some other things. then the next chapter will have the Cauldron episode plot, and Harry meets someone who can push him even with all his abilities. I've already written a portion of that fight, and I hope to get it right by the time I post that chapter.
As always read and review