A Third Path to the Future Chapter 9: Villians Always Have to Make Their Speec, a Harry Potter + Marvel Crossover fanfic

I don't own Marvel or Harry Potter.

For those of you hoping for full lemons btw, they might not be coming for a while. The people in this story are much more mentally all there than in my other stories, there is no alien/human bond or a zombie danger powering a speedy courtship, nor are they martial artists who make extremely quick connections with those like them. Ororo and Harry will take their relationship to second or third base quickly, but they'll probably stay there for a while, probably until a bit after Harry sets up his own faction. The other girls may get to that point with him faster after officially joining in, but then again maybe not… Heh.

Nor will I think of making this a DC/Marvel/Potter cross. There is already one of those out there, and I am not going down that road just to add girls to the harem. STOP FUCKING ASKING! I won't name names, but sending me a PM to do that every day since Thanksgiving is fucking harassment!

Some reviews I'd like to mention:

Marky802: More violence, I can do that. Heh.

Mind liger: That won't be happening. He and Charles will have a cordial, if slightly strained relationship at times, but Magneto will not be redeeming himself for a long while. Harry will forge his own path, with his own allies and bringing in his own followers. Wanda will not be in the harem, but there might be plans for her in the future to be paired with someone else… Sif won't appear for a while, and I am debating even that honestly, that and Betsy Braddock and Amara, it depends on how it goes moving forward.

Brother Cavalier: Not certain that I understand your position. In my opinion a harem only really works if the women involved are almost as devoted to one another as they are to the male in question. Not quite, but close. Best of friends at the very least, and maybe more. Anything else isn't healthy.

Narsil: thank you for the great review as usual! Scott will begin to redeem himself a little. He will also backslide again quite badly in this chapter, but it will be for the last time. He is making progress though, and by the time Harry leaves will be ready to be a decent field leader for his team, as well as a much more humble and centered soul, and may be in a decent relationship that will keep him grounded even further. Comparing him to Harry is unfair though as Harry is much more like Charles, a leader in his own right, whereas Scott was never more than the field general for the X-men. When he tried to be more he screwed up badly. You looking forward to the next Hobbit movie? Don't understand why Legolas and random elf girl are in it, but meh.

One-village-idiot: Magneto's whole shadowy megalomania is canon for both Evolution and how he acted in the old time X-men comics, but was never really dealt with to my satisfaction/knowledge. I am going to figure out a way for that to change but it will be a long way in the future. And no, Mystique running off to save Irene was not canon at all via Evolution, but in the comics it was shown a few times that her relationship with Irene was very important to her and extremely deep.

So I noticed that the X-men outclassed the Brotherhood in numbers and ability. I mean honestly, Rogue and Jean alone could overpower them at this point. So to combat that I introduce two characters from the rest of the Marvel/mutant continuity, hope you like their inclusion.

I've also been thinking about the general timeline and the time this story is set in. I would say it is a few years after the fall of Communism in Russia so much of the tech will be at that level, but not all of it, simply because of geniuses like Reed, Tony and others pushing things forward harder than in real life. The car for Harry will stay, simply because it is the most fantastic car I have ever seen. But cell-phones are not common just yet, and computers have only become common in the last few years for the common man. There will be significant changes to the history of the world, but as this is the marvel universe that shouldn't come as a surprise. Oh, and any music I mention will be from this decade.

And I have decided that several of the minor heroes and villains will not be appearing in this story, I'm sorry, but the marvel universe is just too damn huge, and I am but one man who is not getting paid for this. Honestly I spend too much time on this as it is, though my grades aren't suffering, it's just my social life that has taken a hit. I am trying out another way to separate spells from normal typing, tell me what you think

Chapter 9 Villains always have to make their speeches first

The next day Harry was amused to see Rogue and Kurt looking decidedly anxious as they sat at the breakfast table, and he nodded at Jean and Ororo who had just come in chuckling about some animal or other they had startled the night before, then turned and smirked at the two teens. "Guys, come on, I know Mystique can be scary, but I really don't think she's going to do anything to make you distance yourselves from her again."

Charles nodded as he pushed himself up to his place at the head of the table. "That is true. I've never really been able to get a read on Mystique, but I can tell you that she is at heart a very lonely woman. Regret and sadness sometimes pour out of her." Charles had seen one example of such when Charles challenged her about her relationship to Kurt at the school.

The two teens looked at one another startled by that idea, but they eventually relaxed. Rogue put her headphones on and began to play some punk rock to take her mind off things. Kurt did what he always did when faced with food and began to scarf it down as fast as possible, ignoring the good natured ribbing coming from Evan and Kitty.

Jean and Ororo started a conversation on where they could go over the summer while Charles engaged Harry in conversation with Logan and Scott. As the meal wound down he asked, "By the way Mr. Potter, I was wondering if you would mind joining me on a little road trip today. I believe I once mentioned meeting someone with power similar to yours to you? I think arranging a meeting between you two would be most beneficial." In point of fact he was uncertain of that, but really he had made so little progress with the patient in question he was willing to grasp at straws now.

Harry looked up sharply at that, his eyes narrowing for a moment then he nodded. "I'd be delighted Charles." He smirked a little, "So long as I drive of course."

Charles wondered why Ororo's and Kitty's eyes had grown so big for some reason at that declaration, but nodded agreement all the same.

Scott frowned a little. "So what do you want us to do visa-vi training Sir?" None of the adults made a big deal about it, but Harry had pretty much taken over their training schedule. Logan led the physical endurance training and Ororo trained those she could in power projection (and flight and languages) and the girls in martial arts. But it was Harry and his team exercises that controlled the training schedule.

"Yer with me Summers," Logan growled. "You and all the others are mine this morning and afternoon."

Ororo smiled a bit. "I think I will lead some exercises this afternoon Logan, I have a bit of shopping to do but after that I'm free."

Jean's eyes narrowed at the beatific expression on her older friend's face. "Why does that idea worry me?"

"Because you're smarter than the average Red," Harry said absent-mindedly, looking at his girlfriend's little smirk and wondering what it meant. I might have to get back in time to watch those exercises, they sound… interesting.

Jean scowled and used her powers to try and pull Harry's seat out from under him. She only succeeded in pulling it out though as he used his flight ability to stay where he was. Another thought however set the chair ablaze in a sudden and fiery conflagration. She smirked at him as he waved one hand gently underneath him, causing the fire to go out. "And twice as dangerous, something you'd best remember."

"Duly noted… Red." Harry smirked at her and Jean couldn't stop herself from laughing a little, while beside her Ororo and Kitty both giggled. A cough from Charles reminded Harry of the wreckage underneath him, and with another gesture and silent REPARO the chair reformed from the burned remains of Jean's prank. Throughout this the others watched on, wondering if they had just seen the birth of Pranks Mistress Jean with decidedly mixed emotions.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Charles looked askance at Harry's Huayra, wondering what it would be like to ride in before Harry came up behind him and opened the car doors then lifted Charles easily into the passenger seat, since his car wasn't fitted with bars to allow Charles to lift himself up. "So exactly where are we going on this fine Saturday morning?"

Charles looked around interestedly at the interior of the car, finding it rather fascinating how retro yet futuristic it looked. "As you know I am a licensed psychologist, I work with several clinically insane mutants and other empowered individuals who have been locked away in a high security institution. Many of them have been there for years, and all of them are deemed too dangerous to their fellow men to ever be released."

He paused as Harry got in and started the car, pulling out of the garage and onto the driveway. "The patient I mentioned when we met, the one with powers like your own, is one such and honestly I haven't made much progress with her." After that he gave Harry the address and Harry punched it in his GPS.

He gasped as Harry suddenly accelerated, the car going from zero to sixty in under five seconds and they reached the front gate in a blink of the eye. Just as he was wondering why Harry was trying to kill them the gate opened and they sped through. "M-Mr. Potter, I, I, that is to say, we're not in any special hurry, there-there's no need to rush."

"Oh, I'm not rushing old boy, this is my normal speed. Now if you want to go fast I can oblige you." Harry smirked a little as the Huayra left the housing area and entered the two lane street that would take them eventually up to the highway.

Charles' voice rose up an octave as Harry maneuvered his car around the traffic. "Th-that's quite alright Mr. Potter. Please don't hurry on my account."

Harry chuckled a little and the two drove on in silence for a time until they merged onto the highway taking them west, at which point Harry broke the silence, his voice much more serious than it had been. "You were right in a way Charles."

"Excuse me?" Charles looked over at him from where had been gripping the sides of the chair in a death grip. "I was right about what?"

"I'm talking about Jean and the entity in her mind. The phoenix was very much an alien entity, both as in not being from around here, and not being totally from this plane of existence."

"So I understand, yet at the same time I was also wrong." Charles replied, seeing where Harry was going with this and why. "Even two days has been enough to tell me how much the mental blocks I put in her mind had seriously stunted her personality and her mental growth. And I have you to thank for helping to correct my mistake."

Harry nodded, but they both knew that wasn't even half of the story. If Jean had kept going on with her emotions bottled up until the blocks gave way under the strain, well, the outcome would not have been pretty. "It's alright, I was happy to help. We're both on the same side Charles, just because I question some of your decisions doesn't mean I don't believe in many of the same things as you do."

"But not all of them," Charles replied shrewdly. "You don't believe in Homo Superior and Homo Sapien coexistence do you?"

"I think your dream is magnificent Charles. I also know it's about as likely to occur as that Jesus character coming back to life and bringing us all to heaven without something else backing it up."

"So you think war is inevitable, is that why you're so set on training the X-men as much as you can?" Charles asked sadly. He knew Harry had a lot of bad experiences in the past yet to see someone so young be so cynical was depressing. He had initially objected to the amount of realism Harry insisted on putting into his exercises, but had seen their efficacy, and knew that some of the missions he had the teens run were very close to some they might well be called upon to do in the future. "Surely you must see that as long as we can prove that once trained to control our powers we're no threat to them?"

"And there we start to disagree. You're relying on two things that are in very short supply from the mob that is humanity. First is you think they may be intelligent enough to see that point, and second is for them to have enough common decency to care. That's not even mentioning the fact that the ones most likely to side with you are also the least likely to stand up and fight for you. You're trying to appeal to the good in humanity, and that's it. No, when I strike out on my own I'll eventually start to appeal to something far more powerful than that."

"And what would that be?" Charles asked. Harry had mentioned wanting to go off on his own, but had never shared any of his plans after doing so with him or with any of the others as far as he knew.

In point of fact Harry had shared quite a few of his long term plans with Ororo, but she hadn't shared any of it with anyone else.

Harry smirked at the older man, then began to step on the peddle a little more seeing a distinct lack of traffic in front of them. "I'm going to appeal to their monetary self-interest."

Charles looked at him wondering what that meant then barely bit down on a yelp as the car accelerated well beyond the speed limit. They zoomed past a parked police car and bit of Charles' mind was wondering how the hell he had missed them zooming past (a notice-me not ward, the policeman's radar might see them, but the policeman wouldn't see anything there and would think it was just a strange system error) but the rest of his mind was too busy whimpering in terror to really think about such things.

It took them about an hour to cover nearly the entirety of the length of the state but eventually Harry slowed down and exited the highway, which allowed Charles to regain control of himself. Within another ten minutes the Huayra was coming to a large building that simply screamed prison. The walls surrounding it are a definite clue, as are the guards on the walls, thought Harry then said dryly,"Interesting institution you've got here Charles."

"I did say they were her for the safety of others as much as themselves," Charles said sadly. "To put it in perspective, besides young Wanda, the patient I want your help with, my brother Cain is kept here in isolation as well as several other super-powered convicts. This is the Vault Mr. Potter, half sanitarium, half penitentiary."

Harry nodded thoughtfully at that as they drove up to the massive guarded entrance. He stopped there and let Charles hand over some kind of ID, and then they were let in. Harry wondered suddenly whether he should have come in a disguise, but seeing the number of cameras around he decided against trying to disguise himself now.

Charles led the way inside and was stopped at another checkpoint by a large friendly looking black man with an easy smile on his face despite his stern eyes.

Those eyes tracked to Harry for a moment, but Harry had assumed as nonthreatening a stance as he could and the black man's eyes returned swiftly to Charles. "Professor Xavier, good to see you again as always. It's been a surprisingly quiet few weeks since your last visit. No troubles on either side."

Charles smiled. "That's good to hear. Is my brother's state still unchanged?"

Captain Stone's eyes narrowed a little at the reminder of what had happened to Cain Marko, but let it pass knowing Charles would be as unresponsive at this point as he had been the first time. "Yes, he's not regained any of his previous strength. He's still far stronger than a normal human, but nowhere near what he had been. Do you want to see him before patient Wanda?"

Charles sighed. "Not this time I think. I'm afraid after this recent setback any kind of reconciliation between us is impossible. Depressing, but even if we could reconcile he would still need to serve out his time for his crimes."

Stone nodded and led the way deeper into the building.

Harry noticed almost immediately that this section was much nicer looking and somehow more medical rather than prison-like, and the rooms he glanced in were much better looking than the prison cells. They still shared the high tech defenses though, and there were cameras facing into each cell and others in the cells.

The singing he began to hear was an odd discrepancy though. He cocked his head, listening a little amused at the song, 'Message in a Bottle', sung by a girl from the sound of it.

They soon came to the cell where the singing was coming from and the singing stopped, a cheery voice speaking out happily from a shut padded door. "Oh Professor sir, you're song is as calming as always! Hello Captain Stone, your song is brighter today, did you have a nice night with your wife?"

Harry and Charles very politely did not look at Stone's blushing yet smiling face. The voice went on not waiting for an answer. "Oh, and who is this, oh my, so many songs all playing at once, that's fascinating, even better to meet someone new, who are you?"

Harry couldn't ignore his curiosity any longer and he tapped gently on the door glass partition in the door. Inside he saw a small, elfin girl of indeterminate age, possibly as young as ten or possibly as old as in her twenties, with long wild hair a riot of colors and thin, pointed ears waggling about on either side of a thin face dominated by wide, vibrant eyes that looked at something he couldn't see. All in all she reminded him almost painfully of Luna, and he wondered briefly if he was cursed to always run into people who reminded him of his dead friends. He shook off the maudlin thought and said pleasantly, "Hello there, my names Harry, what's yours?"

"I'm Melody. Do you sing? There's so many songs going in and around you, it's amazing!" Not once did she look at him, it was almost as if she didn't see him, just the 'songs' she kept mentioning.

"Hmm I don't sing alone, but I suppose I could sing a duet for a bit," Harry replied grinning, leaning against the door and smirking at the two other men. He waved them on, utterly ignoring the fact this was a maximum security prison and he was probably under surveillance even now.

Stone went a little reluctantly while Charles simply smiled and continued down towards the meeting room at the end of the hall, where prisoner W would be brought to speak to him. Unlike Melody, prisoner W, or Wanda, as Charles and captain Stone thought of her, was a maximum security prisoner as well as being a patient. As such she was under guard at all times when out of her specially created cell even with the amount of medication they had her under her.

"Oh, that would be lovely, what song would you like to sing?"

"How about Little Talks?" Harry chuckled, having heard it a few times from Kitty's walkman while teaching her runes.

"Excellent choice!" Melody giggled.

Harry smiled, though inside he was wondering why such a nice sounding girl was here. As nice as this part of the sanitarium is, it's still a prison after all. "We'll both sing the 'hey' bits and the chorus okay? Just don't make fun of my voice, I know it's horrible. On three ready, one, two, three!"

Their voices rang out through the sanitarium, drawing amused, angry, confused and irritated reactions from both nearby guards and the prisoners in the surrounding cells as Melody took the lead. "I don't like walking around this old and empty house…"

Harry took up the song, tapping out the time on her cell door and very slowly gathering his magic, wanting to do something for this vulnerable girl who reminded him so much of Luna. Let's see what I can do to make her stay here better, she looks far too much like Luna for me to just walk away from. "So hold my hand, I'll walk with you, my dear."

"The stairs creak as you sleep, it's keeping me awake."

"It's the house telling you to close your eyes."

"Some days I can't even trust myself." Melody seemed to stumble over those words.

Harry sensed this and frowned a little, but kept it out of his voice as he took up the song, still slowly gathering his magical power, hoping that whatever sensors they had around here couldn't tell what was going on somehow. "It's killing me to see you this way."

Then the two went into the chorus and harry looked around, not having detected any reaction to his gathering magic, not from the electronics shorting out or anything else and he grinned internally. "'Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore. Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Melody began to sing solo again, and Harry looked up as a few frowning and a few smiling guards looked down the hallway toward him. He waved at them with one hand and pointed down toward the meeting room, trying to indicate he was here with Xavier. "There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back."

He ignored them after that though, concentrating on trying to shape his magic to do what he wanted without actually seeing it in front of him as well as singing. "Well, tell her that I miss our little talks."

"Soon it will all be over buried with our past."

"We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love." With that line Harry had visualized what he wanted and began to slowly, ever so slowly, let his power reach out and grasp reality.

"Some days I feel like I'm wrong when I am right." Melody seemed to feel something happening, but didn't stop her singing.

"Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear." After that line the two of them took up the chorus again while Harry's, not spell he couldn't call it that far too complex, enchantment maybe, continued to build and prepare the matter of the outer wall for the change. "'Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore. Hey! Don't listen to a word I say. Hey! The screams all sound the same. Hey! Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore!"

"You're gone, gone, gone away, I watched you disappear. All that's left is the ghost of you. Now we're torn, torn, torn apart, there's nothing we can do, just let me go we'll meet again soon!" Melody's voice turned melancholic for a moment as she sang that line, then rose in an almost transcendent joy as Harry's magic began to work. "Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around, I'll see you when I fall asleep!"

Harry grinned as he felt his magic take hold and shape reality to suit his design in a very localized space and they entered the last refrain. "Hey! Don't listen to a word I say! Hey! The screams all sound the same! Hey! Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore! Don't listen to a word I say! Hey! The screams all sound the same! Hey! Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore. Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore! Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore."

Melody's voice trailed off as she and Harry finished the final refrain and she stared wide-eyed at what he had wrought. "Thank, thank you Mr. Harry, thank you! Oh, how did you have the song to do this?"

Harry smiled. "You're very welcome my dear." The two guards who had kept walking toward him smiled not having heard what she had said to him, thinking he was just talking about cheering up the girl by singing with her. Melody was a favorite of several of the guards of the Vault, thought certainly not all of them. Most of the guards were afraid of the prisoners, and many had begun to hate them all for being so different, but captain Stone kept a lid on such things as much as he could.

After another farewell to Melody and a promised to see her again, the two guards 'escorted him on to join Charles and prisoner W in the meeting room.

Charles was smiling having been able to hear the impromptu duet, and captain Stone was shaking his head with a smile on his face as he walked out, leaving Charles and his associate alone with their patient.

The girl that was being moved into a chair across from Charles, her arms strapped to her side by a straitjacket did not smile. Her lips were twisted into a sneer.

Harry took a moment to study this girl, already sensing something… off about her, he wasn't certain what yet. She had black hair cut haphazardly that fell to just above her shoulders, and was even more pasty white than Melody though on her it looked less like a product of her confinement than simple skin tone, and her dark blue eyes were locked on Charles and Harry, showing none of the spacey attitude of the song seeing girl.

"Hello Wanda, how are you today?" Charles asked, while Harry looked around and saw a video camera in one corner, but no audio recorder. He tapped his ear for a second surreptitiously looking meaningfully at Charles who shook his head slightly.

Harry didn't believe this however and used the same spell he had to find the listening device when he had the dinner with Mystique and the others. There was indeed one listening device, but he killed it the same way as the one from that night.

As he was doing this Wanda responded to Charles' pleasant greeting with her normal grace. "Like you really care horse-fucker, you're just here to try and twist my mind around again! Well you can go to hell, and take your new asshole friend with you!"

Charles sighed. "Harry Potter, this is Wanda, Wanda this is Harry Potter."

"Charmed," Harry said dryly, leaning forward, his eyes flaring subtly as he activated his mage sight. "Interesting, she has a magical core… But it's... odd. I've never quite seen anything like it."

Wanda's eyes widened in shock then she backed away as far as she could in her chair. "Wh-what the fuck are you talking about, what, magic, that shit doesn't exist!"

"It does," harry muttered, most of his attention trying to puzzle out why her core looked so odd to his senses. "Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. After all, you can't see gravity can you?"

As Wanda sputtered at his nonsensical response Harry kept analyzing her core.

Most wizards back home radiated a certain amount of magical power throughout their bodies, which they called their magical core. The aura around them could tell you quite a bit about any preferences for Light or Dark spells they had. Voldemort and Bellatrix for example had auras so dark they were painful to look at due to how deeply they had delved into the Dark Arts, many of which permanently stained the soul and magic of those that used it.

Steven had said something about necromancy and demon summoning doing the same here, so that would be true with a magic user in this dimension as well. Steven and Madame Harkness both had cores, though their cores were more centered, only defined around the center of their bodies rather than permeating their entire being.

Wanda's was centered around her head and her center, and seemed… almost out of phase with the rest of her. "It's almost like its artificial… like it was joined to her at some point in the past. It's part of her now though..."

And if I try to drain it there's no telling what the effect on her will be. Magic users needed their cores to survive, they were interconnected with their bodies on a fundamental level. Harry didn't know if that was the case in this dimension, and was in no way prepared to take a chance on something like that.

But that wasn't the strangest thing about her core. The aura of her core was the most utterly fucking chaotic thing he had ever seen. Not only is the shape and power of her core pulsing and shifting, but it's fucking changing color! One minute it was pure, almost glaring white, then it was orange then black, then yellow, then green, and then a multicolored rainbow or colors that none of the books he had studied on magical auras had ever mentioned! It hurts my brain just to look at it!

With a wince he leaned back, deactivating his mage sight and rubbing his eyes with one hand. "You were right Charles, she's a mage, but why she's a mage I have no idea."

"Could it be connected to her mutant power like yours?"

Wanda growled at being ignored and yelled, "Hey fuckers, don't talk about me like I'm not even here! And what is this talk about magic and shit, it's just my fucking mutant power!"

Harry looked back at her. "You know you're remarkably sane sounding for someone in a straightjacket." Wanda scoffed at that, but Harry saw her lips twitch just slightly. "And I don't know if it's your powers or something else entirely, but you have a magical core."

Charles saw it too and shook his head in amusement. "Unfortunately it isn't her sanity that keeps her locked up here, but her powers and the fact they are effected by her anger, which as you can see she still has trouble controlling."

"In answer to your question I'm a mage, well a wizard actually." He gestured for her too look below the table out of sight of the camera and he created a small figurine of an otter in his hands underneath the table then made it cavort and dance around a bit before making it disappear.

Wanda's wide eyes tracked back up to his face, the surprise of meeting someone who could use magic startling her out of her normal anger. "S-so… Am a sorceress or something?"

"That is indeed the question. I don't know if you are a natural one, and you're certainly not my kind of wizard, or witch in your case. What can you do with your powers?"

Wanda looked over at Charles then back again, wetting her lips slightly before replying. "I, I can use these things, I call them hex bolts, they're kind of bluish arrow shaped things that when they hit something stuff happens."

Charles took up the tale there. "Wanda's hex bolts somehow effect the laws of probability. If they hit something like a lock for example it will open, or if she hits another mutant with it their powers will backfire on them or become unusable in some fashion, whichever is most helpful to her. If she hits something not living it can change shape into something else entirely, or change from a solid to a liquid or even a gas. That is why I was so worried when we first met Harry, because you used the same powers she has, though with a far higher degree of control."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Well I can tell you she needs to start getting some training right away. The more time her core is uncontrolled the more it will become unstable, and the greater danger to herself and to others she will become." He frowned a little. "She also needs to see someone who knows more about magical healing and magical cores in this dimension than me. Her core is… well I've never seen the like and her lack of training can't explain everything I'm seeing."

"But surely you could teach her how to control herself?" Charles asked. Wanda despite herself was also looking hopeful.

Harry touched his scar briefly in thought. "I don't think I should actually. My magic is different from hers, and I don't think she would find it something she could learn easily or at all." Steven had mentioned this, that he could get some of the same effects from his spells as Harry could, but the way the spells worked were very different. "But I can start her off on occlumency and maybe contact someone who would be willing to take on an apprentice."

Wanda gulped then mumbled something. Charles looked over at her quizzically. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Wanda glowered at him then looked at Harry. "Please," she whispered. "I can't take it anymore, my power, I can feel it going all wonky sometimes, and this place, it's not helping, I'm feeling more and more trapped here! I need to get out!" Her voice had risen with each word and by the end she was nearly screaming hysterically.

Harry made a calming motion with his hands and Charles looked on sympathetically. "I'll get in touch with who I have in mind in the next two days alright? Just hold on until they can get you out. I'd leave you some books to study about a mental discipline called occlumency, it would probably help you control your emotions, but it wouldn't work right away, it would in fact make it worse for a bit as you came to grips with them, and I doubt you'd be allowed books in here."

Wanda looked at his face, searching for any sign of duplicity, but she saw nothing but concern there. She looked away scowling angrily. "Fine, but if I don't hear from you in a few days, I'm going to figure out a way out of here and then I'll hunt your ass down."

'Fair enough," Harry said, chuckling.

Charles took up the discussion then, talking quietly to the young teen for a time, calming her down even further, then alas their hour was up and the two had to leave.

As they left Charles eyed Harry askance as he whistled jauntily. "Alright, I've been around young Kurt long enough to know the signs of a prankster after a successful prank, what did you do?"

Harry simply smirked as the two left the sanitarium and moved through the security checkpoints. "What was that Melody girl in here for? I can't see her as being a threat to anyone." Then again, I couldn't see Luna being dangerous either, and she was a truly frightening duelist.

Charles sighed sadly. "Ah, Melody… her mutant power allows her to see aspects of a person's mind and soul in the form of songs, she sees everything around her like that, animals, trees, anything alive, but it blinds her to the person and to reality. She is utterly unable to be function in the world at large. It is indeed a shame because she is a genuinely happy, kind girl."

Harry frowned sadly. He had known that there were mutants out there whose mutant powers were a curse, but this was the first time he had met someone whose powers had no upside at all. "I see, well at least she will be a little happier now." That will have to hold her until I have my own secure place of power to bring her to. No way am I leaving someone like that alone, no matter how strange her powers.

As he helped Charles into the driver's seat Charles continued to stare at him. "What did you do Mr. Potter?"

Harry merely smiled and got into the driver's seat, which suddenly reminded Charles of something he had forcefully ignored up to this point, that Harry would be driving them back to the mansion. Despite any rumors to the contrary Charles most emphatically did not whimper as that thought hit him.

Behind them in the sanitarium they left one hopeful yet still despondent girl and another who was humming happily to herself, looking out through the giant window that used to be her cell's outer wall. Harry had transfigured it to be as clear as crystal so she could see the forest beyond the outer wall of the sanitarium, and to let in the smell and wind as well, but only for the resident in the cell.

Melody looked out at the world around the sanitarium for the first time in years, and her heart filled with the songs she saw, causing a gurgle of delight to bubble up out of her. "Oh, the hills are alive, with the sound of music…"

OOOOOOOOOOO

Jean, Evan and Scott looked at one another as they entered the danger room, wondering what Storm had in store for them. While Kitty was out on her date with Lance, and rolled and Kurt out with mystique that only left the three of them to work with Storm and Since Harry had helped her come out of her shell Ororo had become a very dangerous yet excellent teacher.

What she was not however was predictable. Jean put this down to the fact that all three of their teachers were trying to get the kids used to thinking on the fly in combat situations, something which all the teens had begun to do far better than they had previously, even Scott.

Scott looked over at Evan. "What do you think she's going to have us do?"

Evan shook his head. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't know what she's thinking these days not at all."

That thought was a rather disturbing one, honed by the fact that when he called his mother and told her about Auntie O dating a younger man he'd not gotten the response that he wanted to. Rather than being concerned or surprised or shocked his mother, Ororo's older sister, had been amused and ecstatic. To her it was simply a good sign of her younger sister finally coming out of her shell. When Evan tried to point out that it was a bad thing to date someone that much younger she had taken offense at the idea that her younger sister could not handle herself. She forced Evan to face the fact that it wasn't the fact that Harry was only a few years older than Scott and Jean that bothered him, but the fact that his aunt was in a relationship at all and she had bluntly told him to get over it. It would be a few days more until Evan was comfortable seeing the two of them together, but he was prepared to make the effort at least.

He turned to Jean and asked, "Do you have any idea?" All of the teens had noticed that Jean and Storm had begun to act more like friends than teacher and student, and were wondering how that change had come about.

Jean thought for a moment then shook her head. "I would assume some kind of battle, but keep your eyes open for tricks. Something to test our situational awareness and making us think fast in crisis situations, something as real as she can make it."

"So in other words," Scott said, "stick together, work together and overcome right?"

Jean looked at him approval for the first time in a while. "That's pretty much it, yes. Much easier said than to do of course."

They opened the door to the danger room and walked in, to see what looked like a vast playing with spires of rock spread out everywhere, each of them at different heights connected by thin rope bridges. The door opened onto one such spire, and there were two rope bridges leading out in different directions.

Jean looked at this and frowned. "She's trying to limit our maneuverability."

Scott frowned as well. "Now would be a very good time for Mr. Potter to have finished those flight arrays or whatever they are."

"You'll get no disagreement from me," Evan muttered, looking around worriedly wondering what else his aunt was going to throw at them.

Jean on the other hand had already turned and stared up at the artificial sun in the sky, one hand shading her eyes "Hello Ororo, this is interesting but what exactly are you going to make us do in here?"

Storm flew down from where she had been hiding in the glare of the sun in her normal X-Men attire and hovered about 20 feet above them. She smiled impishly a Jean. "I should've known that you would be able to find me."

Jean shrugged a little. "Your static clingy sort of mind is rather distinctive," she said dryly.

Storm chuckled a little then became serious. "This is a little exercise of situational awareness, teamwork, and endurance, both physical and of your powers, as well as a few other things. Scattered around here I have some of Harry's mage soldiers, armed with stunners, low powered cutting spells and a few other surprises. Your objective is to get to the other end of this room through them and through me. You will be able to use this spot as a planning ground for 5 minutes, any long and I will have them start attacking you here. If you fall off the cliff edges, then you are mission killed, if you take what would be a life threatening injury in real life, then you are mission killed, any questions?" There were none, and with a final, somewhat impish smile she turned and flew off.

Scott frowned as he looked around. "We're going to be limited in maneuverability no matter what we do here. Evan, you and I will have to take one route. Jean you'll be on guard above us against whatever Storm throws at us from the air. I think Evan and I can handle any of the mage troops that pop up, but handling them and Storm at the same time, no chance."

Jean nodded thoughtfully. "Ororo's the real threat here," she said, a statement that had both boys nodding fervent agreement. The older woman's stand against Juggernaut was fresh in their minds even now, and the fact that she handled them all easily with kid gloves in one-on-one exercises and even in knife fights with Scott was just icing on the cake. "I should probably rush forward and disrupt the mage soldiers as much as possible and draw her out, then you two follow up and take out the mage soldiers where you can and we'll gang up on her."

Scott scratched his chin thoughtfully. Normally he would've simply said to go with his plan, but he'd been learning lately that other people really did have some good ideas from time to time, and had started to take Harry's advice about how a leader needed to take his team's opinions in mind to heart. It wasn't natural to him yet, but he was getting there. Jean's idea of moving forward and disrupting the mage soldier's prepared positions was a good one even if it meant she would draw Storm's assault down on her, he just needed to trust that Jean could hold the older woman off until they reached her.

He looked around thoughtfully then pointed ahead at one particularly large rock spire with what looked from this distance like four rope bridges leading from it to other nearby spires. "We'll use that as a reference point, but instead of taking one of these two rope bridges, Jean, you'll carry us to a random location then you can go wild and the two of us will move forward in tandem. That should throw off any of the defenses the mage soldiers have set up."

"Never do what your enemy wants you to," Evan said, nodding agreement. After a moment of thought Jean nodded as well, and after the boys indicated they were ready grabbed them both in a telekinetic grip and flew forward carrying them.

As little as a month ago something like this would've been impossible for her, but now it was almost second nature, and Jean smiled a little at how easy it was.

They zoomed past two positions where they saw mage soldiers below them, and Evan and Scott fired down with their respective powers taking them out before they could realize they were under attack from the air.

A moment later, Jean set the two boys down on a random spire to a diagonal from their original position by the door and grinned a little wildly. "I'll see you two boys later!" With that she jumped into the air again and sped off throwing fire and telekinetic blasts everywhere.

Scott gaped a moment at the sheer destruction she was raining down on the crags, watching some of them collapse in ruin, others simply bursting apart somehow. He was still having issues with the fact that Jean had bonded with his Phoenix thing, but the power up having her own mind be solely her own again had given her was something to see. After a second however he shook it off his surprise and got down to business. "I'll go first," he said indicating the rope bridge in front of them. "We'll leapfrog, trying to make for the target spire for now, but keep loose we might have to double back and around to flank the opposition."

Evan nodded, having already forced his bone armor out encasing his body as well as a sword he held in one hand, his other hand empty but with his fingers splayed so that he could fire off his small bone shards at will for a long a range weapon. He'd never joined his aunt's target lessons of course, not having any need of them since his time on the basketball team had given him excellent hand eye coordination.

The two teens moved swiftly for the next two bridges, then, as they were moving toward the third spire in their target direction, one that was about two stories taller than the one they were on, they ran into an intact prepared defensive position with four mage soldiers holding the high ground.

Evan used his sword to cut into the floor of the spire they were standing on it and use it as cover while Scott backtracked and running to the last spire and from there made his way around their position to take them from the side. Once the mages turned to fire on him Evan shot out from his defense and ran up the bridge to take them on in hand-to-hand. Between the two of them they made short work of the four mage soldiers.

This was not going to be the last time they ran into trouble and within an hour both boys were battered and sore. Evan was limping from a cutter that got through his armor and his bone armor was dented, scorched even missing in spots. Scott was protecting one arm, the Danger Room having downgraded his shoulder, his ribs were bothering him, and the back of his suit was missing, his back scorched by a low powered bombarda that went over his head.

They backtracked a little away from the spire that was their target to rest for a bit. "Evan," said Scott as he wiped the blood off his shoulder. "Don't take this the wrong way, but your aunt can sometimes be a bit of a bitch."

Evan shrugged tiredly. "You won't get any arguments from me, man. I'm just glad we haven't run into her yet."

Scott was about to nod fervent agreement with that idea when a crackle of lightning and a blast of telekinetic force rocked the Danger Room and they turned and stared at the spire they had chosen as their target position. "I think we just saw why we haven't." Evan nodded ruefully and the two wearily pushed themselves to their feet and started to move forward again.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Jean had blasted about seven or eight defensive positions to rubble and ruin before she had to duck out of the way of a lightning bolt that nearly clipped her in the head. She was able to keep flying and looked around trying to find where the bolt had come from then dodged to the left as another bolt of lightning sizzled past her former position, then another and another.

This went on for a few minutes, then hurricane force winds began to batter her, making her have to try far harder to stay in the air, nearly pushing her into the path of another bolt of lightning. A particularly powerful blast of wind almost pushed her head first into one of the rock spires if she hadn't ducked and rolled, and as she came to a rest she shook her head. "Okay," she muttered to herself "No more Miss nice redhead."

With a thought she encompassed herself in a telekinetic shield they could absorb the hammer blows of the wind and lightning, then began to use her telepathy to try and find storm. Should've done this sooner she castigated herself. Find her quick, knock her out and then join the boys to wipe out the mage soldiers. Get your head in the game Grey, you're not just a telekinetic. Acting like a brute force idiot isn't going to get you anywhere.

One of her arms snapped out, and telekinetic force reached out in the form of a hand, shattering the top off one of the spires of rock and throwing it in the direction where she thought Ororo was. The makeshift rock spear hit nothing, and after a moment almost freezing rain began to pelt the area around her.

Jean scowled a little, then, secure in her telekinetic shield, she pushed off the rock spire she had been standing on and into the air again, hammering down at any likely spot where her telepathy was telling her Ororo might be hiding. Eventually she came upon an spire, thin but even taller than the one that Scott had designated as their target point. She zoomed up the side of it to land on the top and stare at Ororo, who was simply sitting there calmly, her legs crossed underneath her.

Storm opened her eyes and smirked at the younger woman. "So you have found me. The question is what are you going to do now?"

Jean frowned a little wondering where the other woman's confidence was coming from, and took a step forward. She was stopped as she realized that her breath was puffing in the air. Why is it so cold up here? Oh sh-!

Before she could even finish that thought a hammer blow of even more powerful wind, far more powerful than any of the ones she had dealt with before this, slammed into her shield pushing her back and off her feet, the ground slick with ice underneath her. Before she could recover another blast of lightning slammed into her shield and she was nearly pushed off the spire's edge. She crouched down, reinforcing her shield and digging into the ground to keep on her feet.

Ororo came out of her kneeling posture like a striking snake, wielding her power with both hands against the younger woman. Caught flat-footed from this sudden and almost overwhelming onslaught Jean was hard-pressed to counter and with the air around her growing ever colder was forced to use more of her power to keeping herself warm and able to move.

She jumped back off the cliff edge allowing her to put some distance between them. Ororo flew after her and the two exchanged telekinetic and lightning blasts, as well as wind shots, spires of rock, and anything else the two could bring into play.

If Scott or Evan had been able to take any time out of their own battles to watch this clash it would have been a magnificent sight to see. One woman almost at the height of her powers using guile, cunning and misdirection as well as brute force against a younger woman, who while not as experienced was even more powerful and versatile.

As the fight between the two women went on Scott and Evan slowly overcame their opponents. It wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination but none of the groups they met could put them down alone, and without an overarching commander to direct them none of the groups moved to one another's aid. They fought their way through the room to the target spire that the two of them and Jean had selected in about three hours only to stop and stare at the amount of carnage that had been wreaked by the two flying women.

Even as they watched a final flurry of ice cold rain hit Jean, going through her telekinetic shield and freezing as it hit her, causing her to gasp in shock and her control to slip just enough for a blast of lightning to slam into her midsection. The impact tumbled her out of the air to land heavily on rock spire below. Before she could recover the rock face she had landed on was reduced to gravel by a massive hurricane 5 force pressure front.

Jean emerged from this, a little bruised and bloody but still game. Seeing the two boys Jean flew over to join them. When she landed she frowned heavily at how badly battered they were, matching her own bloody and bruised form.

While Storm wasn't exactly fresh as a daisy, she was in much better shape than her opponent or the two other teens, and with a graceful flourish of the cape that was part of her uniform she landed delicately on the same spire as the three youngsters and nodded affably at them. "I believe that is enough for today, computer end session." The two boys sags to their knees relief and Jean was so exhausted she would've fallen forward onto her face if Ororo hadn't strode forward and caught her by her shoulders.

"Besides the points I mentioned at the beginning, this session was supposed to teach you all how to pace yourselves, to always use maneuverability against your opponents when you can as well as how terrain can factor into any battle, plan or mission." She said crisply gathering Jean to her with one arm around her waist and leading the way out of the danger room. She nodded at her nephew. "It was also meant to let you showcase to your team leader here," she nodded her head towards Scott, "your new abilities."

Scott nodded firmly. This had been the first time that Evan had used his new bone armor to such fantastic effect (in the last few team exercises he always went down too quickly to show off much), and he was impressed by that as well as the speed and amazing accuracy of his long range attacks, something Evan had been working on to make his bone shots more devastating. He reached out to slap Evan on his shoulder. "She's right, I saw a lot of your new skills Evan, great stuff."

Storm smiled faintly, happy to see that some of Harry's leadership lessons had taken hold.

Evan grinned back at him and nudged Scott in the ribs with an elbow. "What about you, I thought you could only keep blasting off like that for an hour at best, we were in there for four or five." Scott did indeed become exhausted from continually using his eye blasts for long amounts of time, but he had been working on his endurance a lot lately.

You too can keep patting yourselves on the back later," said Storm shooing them off. "Showers for all three of you I think. You two can go to yours and I will take this exhausted young lady to hers."

Jean frowned as the two boys left still talking animatedly about their fights against the mage soldiers complete with waving hands and rude gestures. "This was also for my benefit in another way wasn't it?" She said softly trying to stand on her own and failing before falling back, not that leaning on Ororo was any hardship. "Was I getting too blunt or too big for my britches or both?"

"Not quite yet," Ororo said gently, leading her out of the Danger Room. "I wanted to nip those two things in the bud actually. Remember that you have two powers to call upon Jean, and always remember that your mind is your most dangerous weapon. A telekinetic is as dangerous as she can imagine herself to be, don't get so involved in trying to simply brute force everything like you did in the last team exercise. I also wanted to remind you of something else: do not let your power define you, it is what you do with it that matters."

Jean nodded thoughtfully. "Subtlety is often better than brute force, I'll have to remember that. And as for your other point, I've known that for a while, that's why I put as much into my studies as I do. If I've been acting like I felt my newfound strength made me more important or something, that wasn't my intent."

"I know that my friend." Ororo replied leaning her head against Jean's for a moment. "I just wanted you to be aware of it. Now, let's get a bath hmm?"

Jean nodded wearily and let the older woman lead her off. It was only when they stumbled out of the elevator and up two flights of stairs that Jean realized Ororo was taking them up to the female teacher's bathroom (in other words her personal bathroom) rather than the girl's bathroom on the second floor.

This bathroom was actually a little smaller than the girl's bathroom downstairs, but it was far less cluttered, with none of Kitty's shampoo products or Rogue's makeup anywhere. The bath itself was also larger.

She chuckled wearily as she felt Ororo's fingers at the zipper of her uniform. "I can do this myself you know."

"I know that," Ororo said smiling a little. "But this is what good girlfriends do for eachother yes?"

"I suppose so," Jean muttered as her uniform fell to the ground. "I've just never been that close to any other girl really."

"Nor I honestly, but I also wanted, well I wanted some advice, and you were the first I thought of."

Jean looked at the older woman, and was surprised to see worry there. She shrugged and started the water in the bath, then pulled off her sports bra, letting her perky, C-cup breasts bounce free. "Well, I don't know what help you think I'll be but I'll be happy to listen."

Ororo smiled and stripped out of her own uniform quickly then sighed in pleasure as she sat down at one end of the bath, the water falling down her back. Jean moved to the other end, sighing in turn as the water began to work its magic on her legs. The two girls sat silently as the water slowly filled the tub then Jean looked over at the older woman, nearly preening a little at the approving glance the beautiful black woman sent her way. "So what's bothering you?"

Ororo pulled at her white hair for a moment then looked back at the redhead. "I have been thinking. Harry has done so much for me, and has put so much into our new relationship, I'm wondering what I should do to even things up. Or is that even important? I just don't know enough about relationships to know. I was thinking of doing something sexual for him, but would that send the wrong message so early in our relationship?"

Jean blushed a little at how blunt the other woman was being, but shook her head. "You're asking the wrong person for relationship advice Ororo. I've only had the one boyfriend you know, and lately, lately I'm wondering why the hell Duncan and I are together anyway."

"Because it was expected of you," Ororo stated shrewdly. "You're dating him because it was expected of the most beautiful cheerleader to date the school quarterback, and he is of a social status that fits that image of you. Why you are still together is the question."

"Truly," Jean sighed, ignoring the compliment, even if it came from her friend. "I've been thinking of breaking up with him, but I haven't found the right time to do it. And honestly he has been doing better lately." She frowned then leaning back and letting her hair fall into the water of the bath. "Alright that sounded lame even to me. I think on the whole, I might just be using him as a shield. Everyone knows the two of us are going out so no one bothers me for dates, either at school or here."

"Scott?" Ororo asked turning to grab a bar of soap and slowly working it into her arms.

Jean nodded, her wet hair splashing against the water. "Scott. I don't know how he developed this crush on me that he has, but I, I don't feel that way toward him, not the way he seems to want me to. Maybe once I would have grown to, but not now." She then smirked at the older woman, splashing her a bit with one hand. "But this is supposed to be about you, not about me. Honestly I think you're right, pushing things too far would be bad this early, though I doubt that Harry would think any less of you if you did, if that's what you're worried about. My advice would be to do something spontaneous, like just grab him out of the blue and, what's the British term, Snog? Yeah Snog the hell out of him, or organize the next date yourself or something like that."

Jean frowned a little as a spurt of jealousy went through her at the thought of Ororo and Harry together, but she suppressed it. It isn't like I haven't ever seen them together or have any real hold on Harry, it's just a little crush, I'll get over it eventually right? Right?

Ororo hummed thoughtfully, then smiled. "That could work, thank you my friend. Now, back to your troubles," She smirked as Jean groaned and the redhead in an effort to change the subject splashed her again, starting a bit of a water battle that stopped that line of conversation.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Elsewhere two lunches were occurring entirely different from one another. The date between Kitty and Lance was going pretty well, neither willing to talk about their groups or beliefs or the future, simply talking about normal stuff like sports and TV and actors and having a good time despite that hanging over their heads. On the other hand, in another little pizza shop on the other end of town the conversation and atmosphere was quite different. The conversation was stilted as the three individuals involved tried to figure out what to say to one another that didn't touch on certain topics that one or the other didn't want to talk about.

Kurt in particular was having trouble, wanting to ask about his father and his mother's past, but Mystique was a closed book on that topic, only saying that if he ever showed up that the best thing Kurt could do would be to be near Potter.

Instead she shared several stories of the past, little incidents of his childhood. So the atmosphere around the table oscillated wildly between stilted awkwardness and humor.

Rogue, other than blushing a little at the stories about her as a child, had been studying Mystique since they had sat down, and after about an hour blurted out "You're worried about something."

Mystique frowned and looked at her, then at Kurt was also now watching her. She sighed sadly and shook her head. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you saw something Rogue. You're right there is something bothering me. I realize," she said slowly, looking at them both. "That we just sort of started to get to know one another again, But something's come up and I'm going to have to go away."

"Another new mutant?" asked Kurt questioningly.

"Trying to recruit them for the Brotherhood or something," Rogue said disapprovingly, narrowing her eyes but mystique shook her head.

"Nothing like that. I know I haven't done anything to really prove trustworthy in your eyes, quite the opposite really," she said shaking her head. That was a sentiment that neither child could gainsay so simply stayed silent, as she went on. "But something else has come up and I will be out of touch with the Brotherhood or anyone else around here for a while. I don't know how long yet."

Rogue looked at her for a moment noting the real concern in her voice. As good as Mystique was at dissembling and outright lying, especially considering the fact that she was a shapeshifter, something had bled through there, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what could have come up with her that was so important.

Kurt frowned a little. While he was in no way close to Mystique, he had hoped to have more time getting to know her as his mother. The two teens shared a look then as one decided to change the subject. It was obvious that Mystique wasn't going to be talking about it, and they had already gotten more information than they had honestly expected from her.

The three of them turned the conversation to less serious things, including how badly Kurt was doing and some of his classes at school. The look of disappointment on Mystique's face was hilarious to Rogue, who despite being known as one of the few Goth girls on campus was actually a pretty decent student. The Mystique laid into her about a crush she had on a actor, but Rogue turned it back to Kurt, who had a crush on a new girl at school named Amanda. With that the conversation was permanently changed, and thoughts of whatever serious problem that would soon be taking Mystique away from Bayville, the Brotherhood and the X-Men was forgotten.

OOOOOOOOO

The next day Harry woke up early as was his wont and joined Ororo in her arboretum. He was surprised to see her already there and watering her plants the light rain falling on her and making her already gorgeous skin almost luminescent, the water glistening wetly on her skin. Harry gulped a little as she pirouetted to smile at him, her body moving like a dream. Some look in her eyes told him she wanted him to look in a certain way now, and he let his desire for her show in his emerald eyes, letting his gaze move over her body.

Ororo smiled and raced up to him as fleet as a gazelle. She grasped his head, pulling him into a kiss, then moved away, laughing as she disappeared into the surrounding foliage.

Harry gaped after her for a moment then chuckled. "So hide and seek is it? Alright Ororo, we can play." Harry swiftly divested himself of his cloths and then raced after his girlfriend on quiet feet.

He hunted her through the plants faster than she seemed to anticipate, and Harry leaped on her from behind, bringing them both down gently onto the manmade 'forest' floor. Harry's body was on top of her but she was still able to twist around and Harry suddenly found himself flat on the floor, Ororo hovering over him. She swooped in for another kiss but this time Harry caught her and held the kiss for a time, running his hands down her smooth back, keeping well away from her naked rear but enjoying the feel of her breasts pressing into his chest.

She suddenly ran her hands down his sides tickling him and with a whoop he let go and she jumped away again. Harry lay there for a moment stunned at the sudden turn around, then got up and chased after her.

The game continued for a time, with Harry catching Ororo or vice versa from ambush to steal a kiss. Eventually they had circled all the way around the arboretum and wound up back near the door. There Harry burst out from among the plants to find Ororo sitting down at the table serenely smiling wickedly at him. Before her was a small but decent breakfast of bagels and fruit. "Care to join me Harry?"

Harry laughed a little, shaking his head, but he sat down, taking one of her hands and kissing it lightly. "That was pretty fun Ororo, but where in the world did that come from?"

Ororo laughed a little, tracing his hand with her fingers. "I often liked to run when I was younger, first through the slums and over the roofs then over the savannah. I just thought it would be fun." And it had been, oh my, had it ever. It was only the fact that they hadn't been going out that long that kept her from allowing Harry to take her like a lion would take a female after a chase. It had been exhilarating, and it was obvious by his continual reaction to her that Harry had enjoyed it too. I must thank Jean for the suggestion to be spontaneous. That was most exhilarating!

Harry nodded. "I can see that of course." He prepared a bagel for her handing it over to which she nodded gracefully. "So, how did your exercises with the trio go yesterday? I'm sorry I missed them."

Ororo chuckled a little as the sexual tension left the air, thankful beyond words that Harry had such control over himself and falling for him even more because of it, while Harry was falling further for her because of her wild yet gentle nature. The two continued to talk about this and that until they had to get up and prepare breakfast for the others, something they did together, moving around and blending their cooking styles together seamlessly.

Lat that day Harry, after spending a few hours with Logan and Scott left to head to New York, leaving Scott l in charge of the team exercises with Logan and Ororo as spotters in the observation room. Scott continued to show his progress toward being a well rounded leader, and led the team successfully through several exercises designated by the spotters. While they weren't as tricky as Harry's they were still good team and personal skill building exercises. He ran into issues with Jean unwilling to remain on the defense even when it was a good idea, but the team kept learning and growing in skill.

Harry however was busy elsewhere.

OOOOOOOOOO

Harry decided that the next time he had to travel to New York he'd do it by teleport. The amount of traffic was horrible, and the looks his Huayra was getting were irritating. It wasn't like anyone could steal it after all, not after he'd placed so many protective wards and charms around it, but it was still irritating.

After he finally found a parking area that had a free space he made his way by foot to the area he remembered Dr. Strange's place was. When he rang the door it was answered by the Sorcerer Supreme's manservant Wong. Harry bowed politely having heard more about Wong from Steven when he stopped by, more than enough to respect the mild mannered and self-effacing man. "Greetings Wong, you might have heard of me from Steven, I am Harry Potter and I was wondering if the doctor was in." He smirked a little at the line. "He mentioned some items he wanted me to look at and I have something I want to talk to him about."

A voice over the bald mans shoulder answered him before Wong could. "I'm here Harry, though I didn't think you would come and seek me out so soon after our initial discussion. Has something come up?"

"You could say that." Harry shook his head as Wong ushered him in. Steven stood at the top of a flight of stairs leading down, while behind him a woman with white hair much like Ororo's but done in wild spikes rather than in an untamed main of hair, wearing a nearly skintight suit of purple and dark blue. "I ran into a situation I'd like your help with, and I figured this way we could kill two birds with one stone."

"A most descriptive turn of phrase," the woman said, as if she had never heard it before.

Steven smiled over his shoulder at her than bowed slightly out of the way. "Harry Potter, this is Clea, my … acquaintance." The way he said the last word made the word mean more than it normally would and Harry nodded understanding the message. "Now, what was this situation you wanted to talk to me about?"

He turned and Harry and Clea followed him down into what turned out to be his magical study. Three doors led off to other rooms, two of which were storage rooms for magical devices, and the third led to his viewing room with the Eye of Agamotto set onto a central pedestal.

Harry looked around interestedly, seeing several runes that he didn't recognize off hand, many of them looked like a mix of styles, but the result of them was obvious. This room was as magically defended as his host could apparently make it. Not quite up to his own runic lab's defense in terms of power, but there were some wards here he hadn't even thought of putting up. Despite his sudden desire to examine the runes he saw he kept his mind on the discussion at hand. "It might be best if I show you, I don't suppose you have a memory viewing device of some kind; in my world we called them pensieves."

Steven nodded, and with a gesture a small device flew from one of the shelves along the western facing wall. It consisted of a central clear crystal suspended by what looked like leather (but Harry was prepared to bet it wasn't normal leather) in the center of a circle or gray stone etched with glowing runes. Harry recognized most of them, and had seen them on the pensieves of his home dimension, though of course the style was very different. "Hold this up to your eye and recall the memory you wish to share. It will be projected through the crystal out the other side. Tap the rune at the top of the circle to stop or hold the image."

Harry nodded, wondering how the view of this would be different than the pensieve he had used once in his old dimension. Held the object up to his eye and remembered his time talking with Wanda from beginning to end. "This is a young woman named Wanda, who seems to be suffering from at least one, maybe more magical ailments due to her core being incredibly… chaotic. She is being kept at the Vault, a high security penitentiary/sanitarium upstate."

The two older magic users watched, then as Harry turned on his mage sight in the memory gasped in unison. Clea immediately said "Stop."

Harry did as Steven had said and stood back, watching as the two moved around the still image of Wanda in her chair, her aura flashing through a riot of colors even though the rest of the image had paused.

"I think the reason the core is changing shape like that is because she hasn't been trained and her magic is acting up. I could help with that I suppose, but I have absolutely no idea what the changing colors mean."

Clea frowned heavily. "The only time I have seen something so chaotic was in my uncle's realm." When Harry looked at her quizzically she elaborated. "My uncle is Dormammu, the rule of the Dark dimension." Harry's eyes widened at that, but she went on calmly, "Yet this wasn't from one of his followers, it was at some kind of diplomatic reception once. I cannot place it, but I knew it was from someone who even my uncle was wary of."

She smiled suddenly. "How this child came to be imbued with the same essence I cannot say, but I will take her on as my apprentice if I may. She should be taught by one who knows what she might be capable of, and that is I."

Strange nodded while Harry thanked her, but knew that his lover was holding something back, though why and what eluded him. "Well, I will endeavor to have this young woman's release into my custody. I am certain it won't be hard with Charles backing me. Now Harry, I believe you said you would be willing to destroy certain items for me?"

Harry nodded and Steven went through one of the doors, which Harry only now noticed was made of lead, motioning Harry to follow. Inside he waved an arm at a sarcophagus laying along one wall. "That is one of the items I mentioned in our earlier meeting."

Harry ran a spell over the thing grimacing at what he saw. "It's a horcrux alright, an extremely old one, but it doesn't have any of the compulsion charms or other traps on it old Riddle's had, just something linking the soul shard to the container's well being. Shows a lack of imagination I feel. Well, here goes nothing." Harry reached forward placing his hands on the top of the stylized decoration along the top of the sarcophagus.

Almost immediately the soul shard stuck in the thing began to attack him an attempt to take him over, but at the same moment it began to lose power, his mutant ability draining the magic away from the soul shard and strengthening his core. It took several minutes, but in the end the sarcophagus suddenly crumbled into dust, the dust spilling out everywhere under Harry's hands. He wiped his brow and turned to Steven. "Well, that was, unpleasant. I am going to seriously need a shower after this. Bleh, it was like my soul was being dipped in a sewer, gah."

Steven nodded gravely. "I understand Harry, and I wish you didn't have to do it this way. But I must ask you to help with one other item."

Harry nodded and Steven moved to a shelf on the far wall. There he bit his thumb and cancelled out some heavy duty wards that Harry only briefly saw before they winked out. Yet again he reminded himself not to underestimate the good doctor just because he didn't know things Harry took for granted. That Sorcerer Supreme title was not just for show.

Steven walked back to the center of the room carrying a small box with the lid open. Inside he saw a pendant, with a large bright emerald cut into a rectangle set into a gold setting inside. It looked like a part of a necklace or something like that. And the thing was giving off more magic than anything else in the room.

Harry quickly reinforced his occlumency and ran several scans over it. "Okay now this is something that Riddle would have loved to have done. I've got compulsion charms, three of them at least with different targets, and another dark charm that'll prey on a person's base desires, something like 'oh put me on I can fulfill all your dreams' kind of thing. All of them are extremely powerful I can feel them trying to find my mind even now. Thanks to my occlumency I can't feel what the charms are supposed to compel but I'd guess one of them is to make you want to wear or use it, the other to think it important and keep it safe, the third I don't know. I've got a fear aura, low key, that'd only effect weak willed individuals or non-magicals, I've got one other spell I can't seem to tell what it does and I've got the soul shard itself and some underlying enchantment that is actually native to the stone. Any idea what this was before it was corrupted?"

"It was part of the Queen of Brittan's regalia, said to imbue the gift of true sight to those of the royal line. She was supposed to be able to discern lies and see through all disguises while wearing it." Steven replied sadly, knowing that Harry was going to destroy it. Yet even knowing what vile purpose it had been twisted to it seemed a precious thing now, perhaps… Steven Strange suddenly shook his head, and swiftly put the box on the floor, moving back slightly to join Clea where she stood in the doorway. "Powerful indeed Mr. Potter, it almost got through to even me just then."

Harry nodded grimly then with a brief twist of one hand was suddenly holding the sword of Gryffindor. He didn't want to drain this things magic if he could help it the first one had been bad enough. "Yeah well, it hardly matters now." Without further ado he brought the blade down and an overhand swing impacting on the gem. Yet instead of shattering as it should have Harry was thrown backwards slightly. "Huh."

Harry looked at his sword and found it unmarked then looked down and ran another scan on the gem. Steven frowned a little as he watched the other magic user work, but didn't interrupt him. "Well it seems as if the spell I couldn't figure out is a defense spell, it looped all of the other spells together and it's now protecting the gem from contact with anything." He gestured and looking closely Steven and Clea could see that the gem was actually slightly off the velvet cushion of the box and was giving off a slight reddish glow.

Harry sighed and un-summoned his sword, something that both Clea and Steven watched curiously, wondering where the weapon had come from. Summoned items should not have been able to pass the wards of this place after all, and another ward would have warned them he was carrying a weapon long before this.

"Only one way forward I suppose," Harry muttered then reached out one hand to touch the glowing sphere around the gem. Immediately his mutant power went to work, and slowly the sphere died out and he was touching the gem itself.

The soul in this horcrux was stronger, more powerful than the last, more powerful even then all of Riddle's save the first, and Harry grimaced as the thing tried to invade his soul, scrabbling at his magical core with fingers of death and trying desperately to find his mind. Yet even as it did, his mutant power began to weaken it. Harry stood there stoically simply letting the thing keep trying to take him over as his power sucked it dry. It took a long twenty minutes but eventually the soul gave a last despairing cry and vanished forever.

In a remote mountain town in Europe a woman sitting alone in a tall castle tower collapsed, screaming aloud in more agony than she had ever felt before, so much that she was thankful that not seconds after the pain hit, she lost consciousness. The three magic users would not know it for some time, but when she discovered what had happened they would find they had gained a new and implacable enemy.

Steven and Clea knew nothing of this just then, instead more concerned with catching Harry as he fell to his knees. "Are you alright Harry?" Asked Steven, helping the younger man to his feet as his lover ran what few medical spells she knew on him.

"I'm fine," Harry said, standing up on his own after a moment, shaking his head. "But I so do not want to do that again. That thing put up one hell of a fight."

Steven nodded then cast his own version of mage sight, both curious and wary of any change that might have occurred to Harry after absorbing the power of such evil things. Luckily it seemed that none of the taint had crossed over, yet Harry's magical core was now at least a fifth stronger than it had been. It would appear he can indeed power himself by touching something else magical, fascinating and very dangerous at the same time. "I think," he said aloud, leading the way back out the door, "you could use some tea my young friend, and then we should sit and talk, not just about Wanda but about other things as well."

Harry grinned a little as he followed the older man out, with Clea bringing up the rear. "I have nowhere to go today, so that definitely sounds like a plan."

The trio of magic users talked for two hours, mostly talking shop about magic and their own exploits before Harry decided it was time to go.

The moment Harry left Steven turned to Clea. "You know something else about that young girl's aura that you didn't want to share with him, what is it?"

Clea frowned a little. "I didn't want to say anything because I am not certain but it looks as if young Wanda was touched by a god of chaos somehow, and not just any god but the Elder god of chaos, or as he is better known the Demon Lord Cthon."

Strange frowned at that. Cthon was one even he would not wish to cross save in dire circumstances. "When we are certain we will have to tell Harry this. He will not like it, but for now I will start the process of getting young Wanda released to our custody.

Clea nodded. "That would be an excellent idea."

Outside Harry had made his way back to his car, pausing momentarily as he got in it. For just a second he thought he saw something red and dark blue zooming past overhead. He looked around then shrugged it off and continued on his way, ignoring the groaning and moaning would-be thieves around his car, whistling a little as he drove off.

OOOOOOO

It was a few days after Mystique had left that the brotherhood realized that she was gone. She routinely disappeared for a day or so, but three days in a row with no call or anything? Until recently the idea of letting Pietro, Fred and Todd alone without any kind of supervision would have made her shiver in terror. Even Lance wasn't exactly the most subtle of individuals, even if he was more controlled about using his powers in public than the others.

Lance however was ecstatic about her being gone. This way he was in charge of the Brotherhood and he immediately began to force the others into training with him. However they had only been training in the first place because they were frightened of Mystique, without her around Lance had to use his own power to force them into line. It worked to a degree for a few days, but by Friday with no Mystique around there was a certain amount of rebellion in the air.

This was compounded by the fact Mystique had been the one to pay for all the food, water and electricity, and after three days the food they had on hand in their dormitory was gone and since it was coming up to the end of the month the bills were looming large.

Pietro finally got fed up, and called their boss.

OOOOOOOOOO

"This had best be important Pietro," said a cold, commanding voice from the other end of the line and Pietro gulped a little.

"Si-sir," he stuttered, "it-it might be. I, um did you send Mystique anywhere? We, we haven't seen her since Tuesday morning, and um, the school says the principal took a sudden leave of absence for a family emergency and might not be returning this year."

The leader frowned from his position inside his fortress. He had been a little busy lately preparing for the festivities that he planned in a few days, and hadn't bothered to look in on Mystique or the Brotherhood she led in that time. He had however checked in on Monday, and had not detected anything wrong. With a frown on his face he activated the tracking system to see if he could find the little tracking device that he had long since placed on Mystique and all of his other operatives. The one on Mystique was missing from her supposed location, and was moving around erratically over in Maine for some reason.

"Wait," he commanded and then left the com. screen.

Using his powers he was able to open a wormhole that he used to carry him to the location of the tracker. Once there he stared at the number of birds in the air around him. However that did not dissuade him and with a thought he forced the one that had the tracker towards him. The metal of the tracker allowed him to pull it towards him easily, but he frowned. The bird wasn't giving him any sign that it was Mystique it all, and after a moment he let it go with disgust, wiping his hand on the grass. It wasn't Mystique at all even she wouldn't go that far to keep in character. She had somehow found out about the tracker he had placed on her and had disappeared from his sight entirely.

Has she truly betrayed me, he thought as he ported back to his fortress. Another look at the tracking screen and he suddenly realized that one other tracker was missing as well, the one on Mystique's friend, the weak pre-cog Irene.

He scowled angrily and teleported himself to the last position where Irene had been hiding and he appeared in the air a mile above the place. Realizing that to enter the house might be folly he waited outside activating the security cameras inside and linking them to a small monitor set into the gauntlet of one hand. None of them showed any life and he frowned angrily. It would appear as if the two have flown the coop for some reason.

He shook his head in bemused wonder and anger. Despite his threat and his concerns about Mystique talking to two of the X-Men he had never truly expected that she would turn her back on the cause of mutant supremacy.

This showed he had underestimated the power of friendship, corny though that would have sounded if Mystique had put it into words. Because if there was one thing Ravene Alegamoria Callisa Darkeholme cared for more than The Cause, it was Irene and keeping her safe.

With another brief moment of concentration he teleported himself back to his fortress and scowled angrily through the communicator at Pietro. "She has gone on a mission," he lied, not wanting to share the fact that Mystique had done a runner with anyone, not until he knew why the two women had disappeared. "She left quicker than I had expected that is all. You will be sent someone else to lead you in the interim as well as a new member. The festivities are going to start shortly Pietro," he ended grimly. "I expect you to be prepared."

Pietro nodded rapidly and without another word the Brotherhood's mysterious backer cut off the communication leaning back in his chair and wondering what the hell Raven was playing at before looking through the list of his other tools and wondering who to send to Bayville to take her place.

OOOOOOOOOO

The week had passed largely uneventfully for the X-men and the others at the Institute. Jean had not made good her threat of becoming a prankster, simply repaying all such by Kurt and Harry in kind and pranking Harry in small ways whenever he called her Red, a nickname he continued to use despite this.

Offsetting this, the two of them could often be found in the solarium, with Harry helping Jean to start to learn college level engineering and mechanics.

This peaceful time was interrupted at the same time Pietro was being a little snitch by maniacal laughter resounding around Harry's workroom. "MWHA-Ha, MWHAAHAHA, MWAHAHAHHAHA!"

Harry looked up from his own work, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "I'm so moved, my little Kitten's first mad laughter, it makes me feel like a proud papa."

Kitty stopped laughing and looked over at him pouting a little. "Oh hush Teach. Yeesh, ruining my fun."

"Heh, just returning the favor Kitten. So what prompted your little outburst?"

Kitty triumphantly gestured to the sand table in front of her. "I did it! I made my first full array, the kind we could use on our uniforms!"

Harry stood up and made his way over, walking around the sand table and looking at the array written in the sand there. Kitty had moved into working on full arrays, figuring out what worked and what didn't what she could and could not use about three days after Harry returned from his trip, and he looked at the work she had finished shrewdly. This looks good, she's made a simple notice me not war, low powered so you could see them, but not be able to describe them in any detail later. A really good job for a first time array, the bio-energy portion of the array doesn't take too much power, and the notice-me-not portion could run for… I'd say about six hours before the person began to feel the strain. Good stuff.

He looked up at Kitty, noticing her bright, proud smile and returned it in full. "Well done Kitten, this is very good work. So good in fact that I'm going to turn over all the work on the X-men uniforms to you."

Kitty gaped in astonishment and made to protect but Harry held up a hand. "That doesn't mean I won't help, I'm still here for you to run ideas by, but I have a lot of other projects that I want to work on, taking that project off my hands would help a lot. I want to finish Rogue's ward in another week or so, and I've got another job I'm doing for someone else I want to finish up this weekend."

Kitty frowned a little but nodded. "Alright Teach, where do I start?"

"Well, you have a good start here, I'll give you what I've worked on so far, and then it'll be up to you to figure out how to work all the different protections you want to have together. I'd talk with the others, they might each want something different after all, though your notice-me-not ward should be standard for everyone, it's possibly the most important part of the whole thing if you all want to keep your identities secret, which I think is a good idea, at least until you all graduate high school." He reached out and rubbed her head, something which made her blush and pout in turn.

The two of them put their heads together for about an hour, after which Harry went back to his own projects with a smile on his face. Good, that's one less job holding me here. If I can fix the wards for Rogue and Emma, and figure out how to create Harrytanium, then I'll be able to move on with a clear conscience. My other projects are for me alone, and I can keep working on them after I move out.

It wasn't that Harry didn't like the X-men, he had come to like most of them a lot, but he wanted to be moving on with his own plans, and he couldn't do that and remain here. Charles may believe in the goodness of man and be willing to let the world go on as it is, but I'm not. I want to form my own side to this mutant question, and then shove it down the world's throat, so hard they choke on the hypocrisy of their bigotry. But to do that I need to be a power in the world in every sense of the world, and for that I need to leave, soon.

With that thought he bent over his own worktable with a renewed purpose, while behind him, Kitty continued to look over his notes and scribble some of her own about her new job.

OOOOOOOOO

Saturday morning was a thing that none of the Brotherhood ever really saw. Well At least they didn't see it in the way that people waking up would, Pietro and Todd would stay up watching late-night movies (the XXX type if they were alone, marathons if together) and sometimes would see the sun rising but that was more of an accident than anything else really.

So it was a very grumpy Lance that answered the door after five minutes of constant ringing at around seven in the morning. He opened the door and was about to shout at whoever the fuck was on the other side when he stopped suddenly, arrested by the glare coming from one of the people standing there.

The glare came from a blonde woman, taller than he was as tall as Storm he would estimate, in a business suit and with an imperious stance. The glare she was giving him was worse than even Mystique's had been and was more than enough to stop his voice for a moment.

Next to her was a teen about Lance's age or maybe a little older, with blonde orange hair and a look in his eye that told Lance he wasn't all dare. It was almost like the looks he sometimes saw in his old school from druggies who were between hits, not quite at the stage where they needed another hit, but getting there. It was not a look to instill confidence.

Before Lance could get his bearings back from the glare the woman was giving him she spoke and it did not surprise him that her voice was as commanding as the rest of her. I am Centra, Mystique's replacement." The way she said the word it was obvious she felt it was an upgrade. She lifted one hand and pushed him aside, and the strength he felt in that single push was enough to give him pause again. The two came inside and she turned to Lance again after closing the door. Where is the rest of your local Brotherhood?"

"Asleep," he said tartly getting a little of his equilibrium back. "It's Saturday, we sleep in. It's the only day Mystique lets us."

Candra scowled, obviously this was not the correct answer. "Get them up now," she ordered. Then she reached down to her waist and touched something there. Suddenly the image of her business suit flickered and went out showing what she had been wearing underneath was very different. She wore red and maroon armor, tight around her legs and forearms with the shoulders slightly spiked to the sides and down toward her arms.

Lance backed away slightly and decided that following her orders was the best thing he could do right now. Without another word he turned and went up to wake up the others, having to use his powers a little to shake Fred and Pietro out of their beds. Pietro didn't want to wake up when he heard it was Lance waking him up, their arguments over who was in charge had begun to be truly acrimonious, but wasn't quite there yet. Fred was just not a morning person and his bulk allowed him to sleep through practically anything Lance could do save use his powers. It was a very surly group of teenage boys that gathered in the living area on the first floor, but when Pietro looked at the woman he smirked a little, realizing this was the woman that was supposed to replace Mystique.

Unknown to him Lance had seen that smirk and he began to wonder exactly how much control he really had here if Pietro had a line straight to their leader, whoever the hell that was.

The blonde woman wasted no time in grabbing their attention. "I am Candra," she said imperiously, "I am here to lead you against the X-Men today."

That brightened up everyone's appearance. They were always willing to throw down the X-Men but Lance had to bring up a point. "Um, I don't know if you know this but we got this sort of truce going on because of one of the X-Men's teacher's is kind of…"

Candra cut him off angrily. "There is no truce here. This is evolution at its finest," she said her eyes gleaming with fanaticism. "Today you will be chosen based on your performance who will go on to become the elite of mutant kind, the leaders of the revolution to come."

Lance gulped a little thinking, Shit this is sounding more and more like some kind of cult all the time. Chosen, and based on our performance rather than loyalty? I realize there might be a revolution coming but this is… the madness I see in her eyes, what the hell did I sign up for?

The woman didn't notice his wary look, and the others seemed to be lapping her words up like candy. They had always been into the whole mutant superiority thing more than him, oh he felt they were different and had to protect themselves, and was fine with being proactive doing it, but that was the extent of his belief these days. Lance's idea of mutant superiority had taken a major blow when he read the books that Harry had given him on group tactics and the Marines small unit tactics guide. He knew that a well-trained unit of Marines who knew what to expect could easily defeat most of the Brotherhood, after all none of them but Fred were bullet proof, though Pietro would be very hard to hit if he was expecting it. And maybe they could even take out Fred, since his invulnerability hadn't exactly been proven yet against bazookas or claymore mines had it?

In point of fact the Blob would be immune to such things, but that wouldn't stop them from hurting. In reality a mutant's powers could give them an edge over most military organizations in the world, provided that they knew how to use it. The Blob could in fact destroy a large regiment if he really wanted to, a certain green haired monstrosity with somewhat similar abilities did it all the time, but most mutants were not bullet proof so his ideas on that score were correct.

"Whoever survives whichever the side they were originally on will be taken and modified further, strengthened more, their mutant power brought to its fullest potential in order to better serve mutant kind as a whole." Candra continued and the Brotherhood of minus Lance ate her words up like candy.

Lance groaned internally looking around and realizing that he wasn't going to get out of this. Well, he thought to himself, if I'm going to have to do this I'm going to do this properly. "If I can make a suggestion," he said and Candra looked at him coldly but he went on. "The X-Men specialize in teamwork far more than we do, it would be better for us, a better way to prove that our powers are superior to theirs, if we could take them out in small groups." Sorry Kitty, he thought sadly then went on. "Two of them I know are going down to the beach today, one of them just got her license and they'll be driving a jeep."

Kitty had told him that the day before. Rogue had just gotten her license and Logan had agreed to let her borrow his Jeep to take the two of them down to the beach to celebrate since the southern gal apparently really wanted to get a tan. Lance had idly wondered at the time what would happen if someone hit on her or accidentally touched her, but Rogue wasn't worried about such things, showing for once the egotistical nature of teenagers everywhere.

Pietro spoke up thoughtfully in a surprising show of support. "I remember that, Kurt and Evan were supposed to go with them but they lost a bet or something Thursday and had to go shopping for food for the mansion instead."

Lance smirked a little. That left Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and of course Harry Potter all at the mansion. In other words the heavy hitters would still be there. "If I can make another suggestion, I think we should split up too. Fred and Todd should handle Kitty and Rogue easily, Rogue's not strong enough to do much against Blob if he wears enough clothing, and if you catch them off guard Kitty won't be much of a threat either." Again he winced and sent a mental apology his sort-of-kind-of girlfriend's way.

"Pietro and I should take out the two shopping teens and then meet up with the two of you at the mansion. I wouldn't recommend attacking it alone though you'd be outnumbered, just wait outside for anyone who comes out."

Candra nodded thoughtfully. She could see the boy had some other motivation for suggesting all this, but it still sounded good considering what she knew about the X-men's powers. Of course her information on those powers hadn't been updated since Rogue had absorbed Juggernaut' power, and only Lance had realized she was actually stronger than the Blob now. Fred and the others thought he was stronger because of how easily Blob had handled her in their short battle when Mystique tried to reconcile with Kurt.

And while she had been told about Harry and his ability, being told about it was one thing, understanding how diverse they were was another. Besides this dovetailed perfectly with her own desire. I will soon have back from you what you stole from me thief, she thought coldly, remembering a time more than a dozen years ago in Cairo when she had returned to her presence domicile to find her most treasured possession taken.

It had taken weeks to hunt down the gang that had done the deed, and even more time to figure out who the thief was. The young black girl had since left the city out journeyed out onto the savanna disappearing entirely into the wilds of Africa, a place Candra could not follow her into. She was no tracker, she intimidated people and got her way that way, if there were no people around she could not find any clues to the thief's location. "Very well, we will do it that way."

Blob raised a hand. "But we do have time for breakfast right? Only the last of the frozen food ran out Thursday, we've been sort of making do with what we could get at school…"

Candra glared at him coldly and even the blob, a being who was pretty much invulnerable to most things, whimpered a little at her look. She relented however and said "fine we have time for a late breakfast before we attack."

Pietro zoomed out of the room and came back swiftly with a takeout menu. "What kind of pizza do you all want?"

While the new teen didn't seem to be unhappy with this, Candra looked revolted.

Todd sidled up to the new guy. "You know, you never said your name, what's your name and what's your power?" He was hoping that the kid wasn't much so he could lord it over someone, right now Todd knew that he was the weakest member of the team.

The new kid looked down at him grinning a little evilly. "The names St. John, my codename's Pyro." He took out a small lighter and flicked it. Suddenly the small flame shot up forming a snake whose mouth snapped at Toad. Todd backed away quickly, looking a little sick. "That's my power mate, I control flame, now let's get some fuel in us huh, then we can go on a rampage!"

OOOOOOOOOO

At about midday at the mansion Scott was called down into Cerebro's control room. He found Logan and Storm and the professor there. Xavier had the helmet unit on his head. "You called for me Sir?"

"Yes Scott," Charles said, looking up at him. "We seem to have found a new mutant, his powers just activated off the coast of Florida."

The Cerebro satellite zoomed in focusing on the mutant it hand, and Scott gasped. "That's Alex, my younger brother, I'd know him anywhere. I thought he died in the plane accident with our parents!"

"Indeed, that is why I called you down here. If we hurry we can be there before he leaves." And before someone else try's to recruit him to their cause, he thought to himself.

Scott grinned and nodded, still cursing himself internally for not realizing his brother was still alive and searching for him. Yet perhaps it wasn't too late. Scott and Logan left the room quickly, followed by Xavier in his wheelchair.

OOOOOOOO

Rogue and Kitty grinned bopping their heads to the music on the jeep's stereo as it the former drove them down to the beach. "It's ah pity that none of the guys could come," said Rogue, looking over at Kitty.

Kitty grinned a little. "Well that will teach Kurt and Evan not to bet against Harry won't it?" The bet in question had actually had something to do with Hedwig. The boys had downplayed the owl's intelligence, and had been so idiotic as to do it in her hearing. Harry had set up two challenges and to their surprise Hedwig and hunted the boys down through the forest, then beat them both at checkers. Their faces had been a sight to see after that.

A few songs later Rogue looked over again. "So how far along are you with that runic array for our uniforms?"

"Well, I'm making progress at least," Kitty said wryly. She stared out over the expanse as they turned off the main highway and onto a empty road at the moment. "I'm having trouble figuring out a way to make all of the bits work together, but I finally got the bio-energy portion ready last night, as well as a notice-me not field, but whenever I add anything else to the array the array either doesn't work or sucks too much energy. And when I say too much energy I think if someone activated it they would collapse in about five minutes of strenuous activity. I need to either think about another fuel source, and what could we carry that wouldn't weigh us down too much, or figure out what I'm doing wrong, or not having much of anything else added to the array."

Rogue nodded, dreams of flying and smacking Jean upside the head a few times dancing in her brain. As much as she liked most of the people on the team she and Jean haven't got along before Jean was released from the mental blocks, and they didn't get along now. They were cordial and respectful to one another, but not friends. Then again, Jean seemed to be a little distant to most of the team members, spending more and more time with Storm and Harry or Cyclops, and even the last didn't spend much time with her out of team exercises.

Rogue frowned a little. She had thought that Jean's can-do, straight A student manner would've disappeared when the blocks were removed, but in fact it had been heightened. She studied and researched and learned on her own as if she was a woman possessed these days, and Rogue wasn't the only one who was wondering why. In some classes she was just going through the motions and barely keeping her grades up like Language Arts and world history, but in physics and mathematics she was pushing ahead of even the AP courses. Indeed she had grabbed several college level books on engineering and she had been having long discussions every night with Harry about computer science and engineering, things that he had studied in his all dimension and taken up again with the help of Reed Richards, one of the world's leading scientists and inventors.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a massive rock came out of nowhere to slam into the road right in front of the car.

"What the hell!" Rogue exclaimed, twisting the steering wheel wildly to avoid it. The jeep went off-road for a moment skittering through a grassy field along the side of the road. Another rock impacted right beside it, and she swerved again and kept going straight. "Fuck!"

Another rock flew through the air, and this time she couldn't dodge fast enough, the rock slamming directly into the ground in front of her. She tried her best, but the rocks still clipped the side of the jeep's front, and both girls were thrown around in their seats. Kitty immediately went into ghost mode, moving straight through the jeep's front as well as her own seatbelt. Road however slammed her head into the side of the windshield with enough force to crack it. She wasn't hurt or even dazed, as shown by how quickly she got out of the ruined jeep cursing luridly. "Logan is going to kill me!" she said, looking at the wrecked jeep. She scowled angrily. "Whoever did this to my ride is going to pay!"

Who it was came into view a moment later as Fred and Todd of the Brotherhood scrambled out of hiding places along a rock edifice that the larger of the two evidently had been using as ammunition for his attacks. The two girls immediately turned to face them, moving away from the jeep. "Well, well" said Todd, leering a little at the two girls, "if it isn't the X-girls."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Rogue shouted angrily, pointing back at her jeep. "Do you have any idea what Logan is going tah do tah me if I return with his Jeep like that?"

"You got other things to deal with now?" said Fred clenching and unclenching his huge fists.

Todd grinned flicking his tongue in and out. "That's right darling. It's the time of choosing, and I'm going to prove I'm a champ, not a chump." With that he raced forward, jumping into the air like his namesake and lashing out with his tongue.

Kitty had never gone back to normal and the tongue zoomed right through her. She shook her head sadly. "I can deal with a toad boy," she said to Rogue, "do you think you can deal with Fred."

Rogue pulled on a set of gloves and cracked her knuckles, she wanted to do this without relying on her draining powers, she wanted to make this count! "Just try and stop me!" She charged forward and the Blob waited calmly, trusting in his immobility.

While Rogue didn't have the invulnerability field that the juggernaut had when in motion she had most of his strength and a bit of his durability, though not as much as she would have if she was wearing her new armor. But she also had a mind that had been trained by Harry and Logan and who had been ordered to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Brotherhood. The blob is essentially an immobile object she thought to herself, he's got a lot strength, but not as much as others, and he may be immobile but not invulnerable, get him off his feet into the air or down the ground where he can't fight back and pummel him in the brain box, knock him out.

Fred swung wildly at her and she grunted as she raised a hand to block. The punch stung and lifted her off her feet for a moment but she grabbed the fist while in motion and twisted around. With her own strength she was able to lift him off his feet a little, dragging him in and hammered him with an elbow into the gut. That lifted him up further and the look on his face as he lifted a little off the ground from her punch was comical in the extreme.

Rogue swiveled around, slamming knife chops and punches upside his head again and again staying within his range so he couldn't hit her. She ducked and moved, using her mobility against him, glad he was wearing a near full body uniform even if it was skintight. UGGH!

In desperation Fred jumped up and tried to do a belly flop, but Rogue moved to the side placing her hands along his side as he fell, pushing down and adding even more impetus to his fall. Before he could get to his feet she was on his back and locking in a choke hold.

Fred was able to grab her and lift her off his back before she had it fully locked in and threw her away, now getting a little panicky. "This wasn't supposed to be so hard!" He looked over to where Toad and Shadowcat were fighting only to see Toad go down like a puppet without a string as Kitty slapped something against his back.

Rogue came back quickly and again began to hammer his face. Despite his invulnerability those blows were beginning to hurt, and his nose broke under one causing him to cry out.

One ham sized fist caught the center of her chest flinging her away but she rolled with it, wincing only a little. Even without the armor of the Juggernaut her durability was up to this, and she grinned, elated at how well she was doing in this one-on-one action.

She grabbed a tree ripping it out by its roots and charged forward using it as a battering ram. Fred matched this, slamming the tree into flinders with both fists but Rogue jumped forward over his fists and slamming both of her hands into the side of his head again.

Here she made a mistake. As she was in the air Blob was able to grab her in and pull her into a bear hug. He began to squeeze and Rogue winced a little as she felt her breath leaving her body. This didn't stop her from thinking however and she quickly started to rain blows down on his head from both sides into his temple, trying to rattle his brain box. It was a contest as to who would give out first, her durability and then her air, or his brain and durability from the constant pummeling.

About ten minutes later the outcome was decided as Blob began to feel woozy and collapsed to his knees. His grip slacked just a little, and Rogue grimly went on pounding away at his head. Soon enough the Blob released her entirely and she spun away bringing her leg around in a full powered round house kick which sent the blob slumping to the ground unconscious.

She looked over elated at her victory to see that Kitty had finished with her opponent rather easily. The ugly toad was down, paralyzed somehow though it didn't look as if the other girl had used her power on him, just using it to make herself immune to his attacks. "I take it yah used your runes, sugar" said Rogue, striding over to the younger girl.

Kitty pushed back her hair from her for head tapping her forehead in amusement. "These guys are really idiots. Why the heck did they fight us, and what the heck was this 'choosing' thing they were talking about? Out of all of the Brotherhood Blob and Toad match up least with me, neither of them can do anything that could hurt me. And if they took into account your strength the Blob isn't a match for you now, even if you don't use your mutant power."

"Ah don't know," said Rogue thoughtfully, looking around. "But ah…. what's that?" she said, interrupting herself and staring up at the sky.

Kitty turned that way and was astonished to see two balls of metal streaking down towards them. They landed gently, not touching the ground, hovering above it right in front of the two girls. "Why do I think this is something to do with what toad boy said?" said Kitty.

Rogue nodded. "You think these things are supposed tah take us tah who's doing the choosin'?"

Before Kitty could answer the two orbs opened up, and the girls looked at one another. "Run," said Kitty instantly, and then turned and sprinted off. Rogue did too, but it availed neither of the girls much. Before either had gone 15 paces the globes followed swiftly, and metal tentacles reached out grabbing Rogue and pulling her in.

It couldn't grab Kitty, but several tentacles shot gas into her face, and even as a ghost Kitty still had to breathe. She tried to phase into the ground, but couldn't make it before she was overcome by the gas. A moment later without her mind active to control it her power deactivated, and the orb closed around her. The moment it closed the two orbs shot up into the air and away.

Toad had regained consciousness by this point, and stared after them and he cried out angrily, "No, no, it should have been me!"

OOOOOOOOOOO

Kurt and Evan were muttering to themselves disconsolately as they put down another four bags of food, adding it to the pile in a vacant corner of the loading area behind the local Acme. As neither of them could drive Kurt would be forced to teleport all the food to the mansion in easy trips. That had been Harry's idea, adding a bit of exercise to the penalty from the bet. "Stupid stinking bet," Evan muttered.

Kurt nodded rueful agreement. "That'll teach us. Missing out going with the girls to the beach for this? That's just all kinds of sad."

"Yeah but who would have thought that damn owl could play checkers?"

"Don't call her that mine fruend," Kurt hissed, staring up into the sky. "I personally don't vant to be hunted down by her again, vhich incidentally I found more surprising then the whole beating us at checkers thing." He would never forget teleporting away from her dive-bombing his former position only to realize Hedwig had somehow followed him. Looking at her talons a bare centimeter away from his eyes was one experience he never wanted to go through again.

Their moaning was interrupted however by a very specific but extremely powerful earthquake going off right underneath them. Cracks began to form in the concrete of the parking lot, and both boys were flung to the ground momentarily.

This didn't mean they stopped thinking, and Evan immediately began to form his bone armor around him, rolling around so as to not be a sitting duck for a follow on attack. Kurt on the other hand simply bamfed getting away from the disturbance. He reappeared on top of one of the lampposts in the parking lot, staring around and hanging there by one hand and his tail. "Come out Lance, we know you're out here!"

Evan stood up now nearly covered in his bone armor. "Yeah man, what's the big idea?"

Lance came out from hiding behind a bunch of bushes at the far end of the loading area. He was wearing his normal brotherhood uniform minus the idiotic visor thing, and shook his head sadly. "Sorry guys the big idea isn't mine, I'm just going along with things for now."

Pietro made his presence known by streaking forward, zooming up the side of the lampposts to slam his fist into Kurt's stomach. The teleporter moved with the impact shooting out into space but then teleported halfway through his arc to appear right next to Pietro where he had stopped moving and slamming his own fist into the speed user's face. "Right back at you," he growled.

Pietro recovered quickly though, zooming away out of sight then back faster than Kurt could react and hitting him in the shoulder, but Kurt had anticipated the punch enough to dodge most of the power behind it, wiping his tail around to trip the speedster, though Pietro swiftly went into a high speed roll along the ground moving away.

After that the fight was on. Lance tried to keep his distance, using lampposts and anything else he could as cover to keep from being shot by Evan's bone splinters, using his power to keep the other boy off his feet as often as possible and making a hell of a mess of the loading area while keeping him away from Kurt, making this two one on one battles rather than two on two. The sound of bamfing resounded around the area along with small sonic booms as Kurt and Pietro exchanged punches and kicks. Pietro would zoom in and take his shot then keep going, but Kurt's teleportation ability allowed him to keep up slightly. Pietro struck harder, but Kurt's punches were aimed far more deliberately, having taken his martial arts training from Logan very seriously.

All in all it was a stalemate none of the teens able to land a knockout punch, neatly keeping each other busy and neutralizing all four of them in terms of the other battles going on between their teammates, just like Lance had intended.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Jean and left the mansion around two in the afternoon to meet up with her friend Taryn for a late lunch, only to get there and realize that her friend just wanted to mooch off of her Language Arts work. She sighed at that but agreed and handed it over so long as the girl promised this was the last time. Taryn then filled her in about how dating Scott was (even though Jean hadn't actually asked). Apparently the boy did actually know how to date, and had been a perfect gentleman, something that didn't surprise Jean so much as his knowing where to take her and stuff like that, but they hadn't kissed yet.

Jean grinned at her, seeing this as another way to wean Scott away from her. "If you want my advice I would take the initiative there. He's a bit slow and sort of has a low opinion of himself sometimes, so you're going to have to push him a bit."

Taryn looked at her, head cocked to one side. "So you're not jealous or anything? I mean the whole school knows he's got a huge crush on you."

Jean shook her head amusedly and said tartly, "The feeling is not mutual. We're friends, nothing more. He may've had a bit of a fixation on me, but I think that's just because we were at the institute for so long together, he'll get over it."

I hope for his sake that's true, Jean thought. I certainly don't feel that way towards him. He's too needy, too self centered even now. He's gotten better, but he's still a little too emo for my tastes, and not quite as… as thoughtful as I would like in his world view, he's a follower at heart, not a real thinker. She ignored the image of Harry, smiling at her as they talked about some engineering problem that popped into her head at that, as well as the odd flash of Ororo in the bath from last weekend. Jean refused to be a home-wrecker, and the budding love the two shared was something to see.

"Thanks Jean" said Taryn. She went on a little more hesitantly. "There have been some rumors about Duncan you should probably know."

Jean shook her head for firmly. "Don't bother, I really couldn't care less. If the rumors prove false that's all to the good, if the rumors prove true I'll find out soon enough myself."

Taryn nodded, wondering about the strange apathy her friend was showing toward her boyfriend, but chalking it up to Jean being Jean. The conversation segued into other things, with Taryn dominating the discussion, talking about clothing, some famous actor being caught cheating with a much younger girl, the fact that Tony Stark had been found but hadn't yet rejoined the public scene, and a lot of gossip about what was happening at the high school.

Jean smiled fixedly throughout it, not really taking part just nodding at appropriate places and hoping that their brunch would be over soon. She hadn't realized it but talking to Taryn was like talking to the quintessential teenage girl, and Jean had almost nothing in common with her anymore. She had a dream for the future, a goal she was working towards, a duty she had taken up willingly and was interested in politics and the world around her, something that Taryn entirely lacked except in the realm of tawdry gossip.

The meal could not end quickly enough for her and she excused herself swiftly, not even taking up Taryn's offer to drive her back to the Institute. While she had a license Jean didn't have a car, but it was a nice enough day and they were only about fifteen to twenty minutes walk from home.

About five minutes later she was passing through a strangely empty park on her way into the residential district where the mansion was when a fireball came out of nowhere, missing her by inches as she jumped backward.

Without even having time to think she dodged to the side as another swiftly as another bloom of fire went by, then summoned up her telekinetic shield just in time as another fireball in the shape of an elephant slammed into her. Her telekinetic shields sprang dissipated the fire to either side and she stared at the man who had attacked her, her voice cold and angry. "Do I know you?"

"Shame babe," said the blonde in the odd uniform. "I'd have liked the chance to get you to know you real good, but it's the time of choosing, And I aim to be a winner." He formed another fire creation above his head in the shape of a Tiger and then threw his hands forward, and the tiger bounded forward at her.

Jean growled a little and slammed the flame Tiger away as if with a giant hand of telekinetic force. The thing dissipated swiftly dissipated. The man scowled a little and then shot out several dozen different fire creations at her all at once.

Jean grinned a little wildly. "That's not how you play with fire!" She called up her power and used a trick that she she'd learned somehow from the phoenix. A giant bird of flame appeared behind her and she hooked her hands forward. The phoenix soared forward, gobbling up the fire animals that the man had created in its gigantic beak. "This is how you play with fire!"

The man screamed in fury, angry beyond belief that the girl in front of him had stolen his shtick and summoned more fire creatures sending them forward at the redhead.

By this time Jean had seen that the man wasn't actually creating the fire himself, merely manipulating it after it came out of hoses attached to his hands and from there to a pack like a flamethrower would have along his back. With a thought she sent a tendril of power along the ground sneaking up on him, keeping the teen's attention on her by sending another few blasts of telekinetic power against his flame creations.

Once the tendril was in position she sent it up under his arms, splitting it to grab the tubes under his arms ripping the tubes apart and sending the volatile fluid everywhere.

The man shrieked in surprise, but had enough presence of mind to grab control of the flames and create a sphere of flame over him. The fire rose away from his body into the air above him.

However this allowed jean to summon a ball of telekinetic force around him and then sucked all the air out of it creating a vacuum which snuffed out the flames. The man grabbed at his throat unable to breath, but Jean held it, waiting until the man fell forward in a faint before releasing her control. The last thing the man saw was Jean standing before him, her hair floating in the air above her head, her jade eyes flashing with power.

"Idiot," Jean muttered angrily, slowly controlling herself. "What the hell was that about?"

With another wave of her hands she lifted the remains of the backpack off the man and threw it to the side, then ripped off the man's legging below the knees, and tied him up with his hands behind his back, then blindfolded him with what was left. Another thought and his body contorted his arms and legs behind his back. Another thought grabbed a loose piece of wood off the ground, and she looped the unnamed teen's limbs over it, hefting him into the air like a hog for the fire, an ironic touch that brought a smile to her face.

She was about to take to the air and fly the rest of the way with her prisoner, trusting on her telepathy to ward off other people from seeing her when she looked up and suddenly saw a sphere of metal had suddenly appeared in the sky above them. She had been concentrating on the man so much she hadn't seen it arrive.

She frowned at the thing, and then with another hand wave slammed it to the ground with all her considerable telekinetic power. The thing was crushed and shattered but swiftly reformed as if it was made of rubber rather than metal.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't a good thing," said Jean dryly then tried again this time grabbing the thing and trying to rip it apart. As soon as she stopped however the pieces flowed back together and reformed before coming after her.

She was so engrossed with trying to take out the one in front of her that she didn't notice that another one had come down directly behind her until metal tentacles reached out and grabbed her from behind.

She gasped and turned trying to blast them off her, but the two globes moved in swiftly, working together and trapping her between them. One of the tentacles zoomed up right in front of her face and suddenly a plume of gas hit her and she couldn't stop herself quickly enough to keep from breathing in. Her vision became blurry almost immediately and she felt her power slowly give out.

Now I know how Xavier felt when he ran into my belsham-trees, was her last thought as tentacles wrapped around her pulling her into the hollow sphere.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

To the side of the battle that had just taken place hidden among some trees agent Barton stared up into the sky where the metal sphere had just disappeared. He had been frustrated in his attempts to follow Potter when he left the mansion, but had realized something was going on when he couldn't monitor the mansion at all, every time he did he turned away and found something else to do. So instead he had followed the kids to school, taking a job as a janitor in order to spy on the kids and see if they let slip anything about the target or anything else he felt his boss might want to know.

It hadn't worked very well, the kids seemed to understand the need to keep some things secret, but he had learned that Munroe, Pryde, and Grey were closer than the others to him, so he had taken to following Ororo Munroe or Jean whenever they left the mansion just in case something happened. Then too, they were both easy on the lines, and while Jean was still in high school she was eighteen and hot as hell.

Now however his mind was focused entirely on the mission, his stomach a hard knot of worry, and even a little bit of fear. That metal ball, someone was controlling it, and the only one who could make it do all the things it just did, let alone do it from a distance…

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, dialing in a very special number. "This is Agent Barton, call sign Hawkeye, pass-code 26195. Connect me to Director Fury ASAP."

A moment later a gravely, preternaturally angry voice came in from the other end. "Barton this better be important, you know you're only supposed to contact us at scheduled times, hell this signal is barely encrypted." It was actually very well encrypted, but Director Fury was a follower of the idea that nothing was ever too secure.

"I have target MM sighting." Barton replied harshly.

A brief intake of breath was all he heard from the other end for a moment then "Tell me."

Barton described the battle that had taken place, sighting his orders to stay incognito as the reason he didn't interfere, then the appearance of the metal balls and the way they acted.

Fury came to the same conclusion Barton had, and reacted quickly. "Get to the extraction point beta; it's the closest one to your present position. Something's going on, and I want you and agent Romanov ready to respond if needed. I'll have a capture team sent to your present position to pick up the fire user." With that he ended the call and Barton turned and ran off as fast as he could move.

OOOOOOOOO

Candra frowned as she stared at the mansion from her new, closer position after sending Pyro after the redhead. They had seen the redhead leave with her friend, followed by the Potter boy driving away in an admittedly interesting looking car, then they had seen the jet leave, her willpower able to ignore the telepathic suggestion that nothing was there. That meant that the thief was alone in the mansion.

Yet now that it came to it, something inside of her was telling her to turn away, that there was nothing interesting here, but she recognized the effect and could overcome it. "A magic user," she murmured, "so the rumor about this Potter boy is true. Still a low power ward like this will not stop me."

Even as she said that though she had trouble moving forward, and it was only her strength of will that allowed her to push forward with her plan to attack the mansion. Still once she was on the mansion's ground the feeling dissipated quickly. Soon enough she stood in front of the mansions main entrance. She reached out grabbing a dozen trees along the driveway, pulling them into the air with her telekinetic power and throwing them all at the front of the mansion.

Ororo had been enjoying a quiet day of reading. Just because she had more control over her emotions and could show her emotions now hadn't changed the fact that she enjoyed having some quiet time to herself, which was why she had turned down Harry's invitation to go driving with him despite the temptation to have some more time with him. Harry had taken the opportunity to go off on his own in his car, wanting to just have some fun speeding around a bit. It had been tempting, but a new book by one of her favorite authors had come out during the week and that had tipped the scales. Harry had taken this in stride and the two of them had cooked some munchies for her and a lunch for him that he could eat on the go, leaving Storm all alone.

So it was with a frown of annoyance and consternation on her face as she looked up to the noise of several loud booms echoing through the mansion. Her eyes widened in shock as a tree smashed through the window of the solarium, and it was only her swift thinking and control of the wind that battered aside the shards of the glass before they could hit her.

She scowled then marched downstairs angrily. She found that the doors to the mansion had been blown apart by the impact of two other trees, and a blond woman in red armor was floating through the opening, held in the air by telekinetic powers if Storm was any judge. In one hand she held what looked like a glowing sphere of light, and she hurled it at Ororo as soon as she was visible.

Storm rose into the air using her own powers to dodge the blow and slammed a heavy wind into the woman throwing her outside despite her telekinetic shield. She followed swiftly then hovered in the air in front of the as yet unnamed attacker, her hair billowing around her head with her fury. "I don't know who you are but you will pay for your destruction of our home!"

Candra scowled angrily. "Return what you stole from me thief!"

Storm glared at her imperiously. "I don't know what you're talking about, I may have been a thief when I was younger but I kept none of my ill-gotten gains! Whatever you are searching for you will not find it here. Seeing as this seems to be a misunderstanding I'm giving you this one chance to walk away. But if you continue I will fight you with all my power!"

Candra scowled a little at the other woman's arrogance, but could see no reason why the other woman would lie, and she wasn't wearing the gem which she obviously would've been, the thing was priceless after all, a ruby of that size! Still that didn't dissuade her from her other mission here. She could still have the personal satisfaction of killing the thief and earn her reward.

Candra made several more telekinetic spears and hurled them all at the woman but Storm dodged them adroitly. "Then your death will serve my cause well enough! It is the day of choosing, and I will be one of those chosen to enter Sanctuary and claiming the reward!"

"So be it!" Storm shouted angrily, shooting a blast of wind and water at the woman.

Candra scowled and used a telekinetic shield to block all those blokes returning fire swiftly, but Ororo had moved around her attacking her from behind, and forcing her to shield again for a moment before bringing her own assault around.

While Candra wasn't as powerful as Jean she had none of her hesitance to use lethal force and had far, far more experience using her powers. She didn't fall into the trap of just using brute force as Jean had last weekend her battle against the weather witch, instead channeling her power sometimes into small sticks lying on the ground and hurling them at supersonic speeds at the weather which. She tried other things too grabbing onto Storm's legs or arms and hurling her around whenever she could, but it availed her not.

Storm dodged most of her attacks easily, using all of her quickness and speed to from being struck more than a glancing blow from her opponent's assault, merely responding by blasts of wind and rain. She was concentrating on something else however, allowing the other woman to take the initiative or apparent initiative at any rate.

Candra suddenly realized what had once been a clear sky above them had darkened perceptively until it looked as if a massive storm was about to burst overhead, then she looked down suddenly as her legs, soaked from Storm's constant rain attacks, and slowly freezing where they were. Witha thought she heated up the air around her enough to offset that but then looked up in shock as a monstrous bolt of lightning came out of nowhere slamming into her shields.

Her shield held momentarily, but then Storm added more and more power into her assault forcing Candra onto the defense for the first time in the fight and then Ororo suddenly darted forward.

This was the last thing her opponent expected, and she looked on in shock as Ororo closed into hand-to-hand combat range.

Candra was no slouch in hand-to-hand combat however, and even as her shield failed under repeated lightning strikes she struck out with one armor encrusted hand trying to slam the other woman's head in.

Unfortunately for the blond woman, Storm had anticipated her attack and dodged her punch grabbing her arm right behind the elbow and pulling Candra in to slam her other hand across her throat in a wicked chop. The armor there wasn't very thick, and the blow succeeded in crushing her throat.

She then backed away, sighing sadly as the woman slid to her knees, grabbing at her ruined throat. Ororo shook her head sadly "Normally I would not condone the use of lethal force against an opponent I did not know, but your murderous intentions were clear, and the damage you did to our home tells you had the power to do it. I could not take chances and for that, I'm sorry."

Yet even as she watched the woman's throat seems to heal itself and a moment later Candra got to her feet shaking her head and laughing. "Fool girl," she said staring at the younger woman, "I am immortal,you cannot kill me!" Candra had a limited healing ability, but she could use her power automatically on the cellular level to heal herself.

"Just because I can't kill you," said Ororo grimly as another lightning bolt suddenly came from behind Candra to slam into her back throwing her back to the ground, "Doesn't mean I can't hurt you."

Candra recovered quickly and got to her feet again lashing out with telekinetic force, but Storm took to the sky again dodging her blasts and returning with several hundred high-powered lightning bolts slamming into the ground all around Candra, then a monstrous pressure built up in the air around the blonde woman slamming her once more into the ground with crushing force in carrying into her.

What Storm had done was concentrate the wind speed of a level five hurricane into a small space concentrating it and making it even more powerful. It had ripped straight through Candra's telekinetic shields and slammed into her chest ripping through the armor there in turn and tearing her chest to pieces.

Storm landed and then strode forward and watched as the other woman began to heal herself.

Ororo scowled and remorselessly slammed even more power into her, another dozen lightning bolts slamming into the blonde's body before she could recover enough to protect herself. Storm spoke taping the side of her head, her voice soft yet somehow carrying over the sound of the lightning slamming down, her eyes white chips of ice. "Just because you are immortal, does not mean you cannot die up here! I wonder how many deaths you need to suffer before whatever it is that is healing you gives out?"

Ten minutes passed thus, with Candra desperately trying to heal herself, trying to get a defense up to stave off her attacker, but Ororo was remorseless and unstoppable.

At last Ororo pulled away gasping at the expenditure of power and unwilling to continue to look at what had once been a blonde woman's body. The body however did heal itself back to its other form, but when she looked into the woman's eyes it was obvious her mind hadn't healed as her body had. Whatever soul had been there was gone, leaving only a shell behind.

She looked up in surprise as a metal sphere suddenly plummeted down out of the clear sky to land in front of her. She backed up swiftly, her eyes hard and one hand summoning another lightning bolt and in her other hand a sphere of water formed out of the moisture of the air.

Suddenly the sphere opened, and metal tentacles zoomed out at her, but storm was prepared and ducked away keeping her distance and slamming them aside with wind as she tried to hammer the inside of the sphere with lightning.

Another however shot out of the sky to land beside her and help its fellow.

She ripped the first one apart using the same technique she had against Candra only far less powerful, but her exhaustion caught up to her and she stumbled in midair a bit, falling down toward the ground for a moment before she caught herself.

The other one took advantage of her momentary weakness and tentacles shot out grabbing onto her legs and pulling her in. Another tentacle hovered in front of her face for just a second and gas blossomed out catching her unaware and she could feel herself succumbing to darkness when something else much more powerful grabbed her and pulled her out of the grip of the thing.

"No one," said a voice that she had come to know and cherish, "uses tentacles on my girlfriend!" She succumbs to the darkness with a smile on her face, knowing that Harry had returned.

OOOOOOOO

Harry had felt it the moment his intent ward had been broken by Candra and turned for home. He hadn't been in a rush, thinking that Ororo, Logan, Charles and Scott could handle things, not knowing that three of those people had left on a mission. So he returned just in time to see the second sphere come out of the sky and attack his girlfriend, which naturally made him quite irritated.

He had pulled her toward him out of the thing's grip with a near full-powered ACCIO then caught her gently, slapping a NOTICE-ME-NOT charm before gently laying her down on the ground. "You did good luv," he muttered, stroking her hair gently as he looked around at the devastated mansion and grounds, not missing the body of the blond, who despite her shredded armor appeared uninjured but catatonic.

The spheres turned and, losing sight of their target attacked him, thinking he was their quarry. "Oh, no, attack of the tentacle aliens, whatever will I do?" Despite his tone and the words, Harry was utterly enraged at this attack on his girlfriend. Someone is going to die for this, he vowed. Before they closed Harry cast a BUBBLEHEAD charm to protect himself from the tentacle's gas.

"Let's see how magical resistance you are," he said as he used a levitation spell to send one of them soaring away into the sky from whence it came and another Earth molding spell to trap the other and holding it in place. "Now whatever you are, just stay still, I have thousands of spells I want to use on you. And remember this is for science!" A moment later the thing was torn asunder by earth spikes. "Hmm, no resistance to earth, fascinating, let's see what the other elements can do to you. And again, this is for science."

The thing he had sent the sky came back with friends, but Harry kept on using different spells to immobilize or destroy them, using spells that were too messy to use on living people most of the time, spells that scattered and ripped and tore, but his face never changed from a slightly analytical, curious look despite the amount of power he was throwing around.

He continued taking out his anger on what he was rapidly realizing were mindless drones for nearly an hour, until eventually there were over twenty of the things, and they all formed into one enveloping him from all sides.

They tried the gas but he did not succumb to it. Despite this the giant sphere raised into the air with him in it still batting aside tentacles as they tried to get a grip on him, but he stopped trying to destroy the entire thing. I'd bet anything that this thing is taking me to whoever is really behind this, so going along with things will let me… show my displeasure for this assault.

The sphere shrunk slowly, more and more tentacles attacking him until finally he was forced to retreat behind a full bodyPROTEGO, surrounding him in a shield. The shield stopped them from attacking, and the sphere stopped shrinking but shot further into the air, whatever intelligence was driving it having assumed that because he wasn't fighting back any longer he had been beaten.

"Ah, so nice to be proven right," Harry muttered, staring at the tentacles now wrapped around the outside of his shield. "Now, should I attack immediately after the thing opens or wait and see what happens? Choices, choices."

OOOOOOOOOO

Across town at the acme the battle between the two boys continued as a stalemate until Pietro happened to look up to the sky as he was zooming in for another punch on Kurt. "Hah, we did it!"

Lance looked up too, but unlike his 'friend's' face his was more grim than expectant.

Evan frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?" Kurt took advantage of the lull in action to bamf next to Evan, standing and staring at the almost jubilant Pietro and the somewhat resigned Lance.

Pietro turned to them giddily and the two X-men finally saw what he had been looking at. Four metal spheres had appeared in the sky. "Don't you get it, this means we passed! We won, and now we get to enter sanctuary and claim our reward!"

Evan and Kurt looked at one another, wondering what the hell was going on, but deciding to go along with things for now.

Moments later the spheres touched down and Pietro stepped toward one. It opened and he willingly entered, not getting the tentacle and gas treatment. The others looked at one another, then Lance moved forward resignedly, getting in another of the spheres. Kurt and Evan again exchanged a glance, but curiosity drove them on, and the two of them also entered the metal spheres willingly. A moment later all four zoomed back into the sky and away.

OOOOOOOOO

In geosynchronous orbit above the state of New York was a massive asteroid, named, rather unimaginatively by its owner, as asteroid M. It was about four kilometers long, but was hollowed out for about a third of its length. Now such a massive orbital object would have been found immediately by several dozen governments the world wide, nervous as they were of anyone but them having control of the orbitals, but this asteroid was hidden behind extremely high-tech ECM and visual camouflage.

Charles was not in the mood to be impressed however, despite the grand tour. He stared at his companion, shaking his head. "All this Eric and it is all ruined by the purpose you put it toward."

The man so addressed was tall and moderately broad shouldered, standing about 6' 5'', wearing sleek red armor with purple highlights and a purple cape that flowed down over his shoulders behind him and a strange, bullet shaped red helmet with no face guard. His hard blue eyes looked down at his old friend and intellectual rival. "Yet here we stand, on the cusp of a new age of my making Charles. You have long mouthed the words of coexistence between Homo Superior and Homo Sapien, yet what have you done to achieve it? Nothing, as the riots begin, as world opinion begins to solidify against us, you wait and hope and train your vaunted X-men, but you do not do! No, it is time for mutantkind to stand together, and together we will move toward the future."

"With you as our leader, and mutantkind lording it over Homo Sapiens? Can you not see how wrong that idea is Eric?"

Eric Magnus Lensherr, Master of magnetism, shook his head. "I can see it as the only way to secure the safety of mutantkind. You can see it now, the hate and the fear. No, the only way we can survive is if we are the ones with our boot on their throats, not the other way around. And of course I will be the leader it is my vision, the vision of Magneto which will lead us to victory."

The two of them entered a room where Scott and his estranged brother Alex stood talking to one another happily. The two of them had met after Logan and Charles had retreated to the Blackhawk after Logan had smelled that Magneto had been there. Then they saw that the mansions security had been breached and the two of them had lifted off, leaving Scott alone to find his brother.

But by this time Magneto had already convinced Alex to come with him, showing the boy his powers and explaining their mutant status and what would happen if people learned what they could do. Alex in turn convinced Scott to come with him after the two of them found one another, the two of them taking a single sphere up to the asteroid.

The Blackhawk was nearly back to the Magneto had then attacked the Blackhawk, removing Charles and taking him with him back to the asteroid, leaving Logan behind. Logan swam ashore and found Sabertooth waiting for him and the two immediately attacked one another, but then Charles had told Logan to throw the fight and make his way back to the mansion, worried about the other students.

The two brothers had just been joined by Pietro and the others, and were all now talking quietly about the power up that Magneto had promised the winners and how such a thing could be achieved. The X-kids were wary, but were willing to listen, especially Scott, who was hoping that a power up would allow him to control his eyes without the use of his ruby visor.

"Scott, Evan, Kurt, what in the world are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, they are here to see what I can offer them Charles." Eric turned to the teens, looking around at them all. "What I can offer you is perfection, your mutant powers evolved as far as they can go. You are here because you have proven yourselves worthy of this gift, worthy of being the leaders of mutant kind. We will work together to seize the future for Homo superior, to protect our fellow mutants from the hate and fear of Homo Sapien."

The passion and power he put into those words gripped all the teens, even the three X-men, and they found themselves nodding along with Pietro and Lance. Charles stared, then shook his head. "Children, remember we are working towards peace with normal humans. War is not inevitable unless we make it so. His words are poison, do not listen to them."

Scott frowned at him. "But aren't we supposed to listen to other's opinions before forming our own sir? Surely listening won't hurt anything?"

Charles frowned but had to relent, seeing as the other two teens from the institute were both nodding along. This was what made Eric dangerous just as much as his power. The man was undeniably charismatic, passionate about his flawed positions, and could convince other people of his point of view without anything but his words at times.

Eric smiled, laying a hand on Scott's shoulder than motioning them all to follow him through a door that had heretofore been guarded by Sabertooth. A Sabertooth in fact that had somehow become even larger, more feral and ripped then a few hours before. "Come then, and I will show you what I can offer you."

The group entered another room, though this one wasn't a sitting area or anything like that, it was very obviously some kind of lab, which had several tubes filled along the side of it. In each one was one of the winners of the battles on Earth that had tried to get away from his spheres. Kitty, Rogue, Jean, and in the last one was Harry.

Charles and the others stared, surprised and worried at the fate of the four people in the tubes. Charles spoke to drive it home in no uncertain terms. "And are they here just to listen Scott? I wonder how they're supposed to listen to anything given the state they are in thanks to our host."

Eric chuckled, raising a hand as the X-men moved away from the brotherhood, even Scott looking at him angrily, his eyes flicking between Jean in her capsule and Magneto despite Alex trying to calm him down. "Calm down please, they are like this because they did not enter the spheres willingly, it is merely a defensive measure."

Magneto stopped in front of that one, looking a little angry at how Harry was there rather than Storm. "I must admit this one surprised me though. I would have been prepared to bet on Candra beating Storm. But to have her lose and to have Potter somehow replace her, that was a shock."

Scott growled a little, his visor beginning to glow. "Let them out, now!"

"They will be released soon," Eric soothed. "After we have had a chance to talk."

He was interrupted by a force slamming into his armor from behind and sending him flying. Despite the fact he hadn't been prepared for it he had summoned up a magnetic forcefield in anticipation of his needing it against Scott and the other. It took the brunt of the force of the attack, but he was still flung down the room.

He looked up at where the attack had come from to see Potter somehow awake and glaring at him, with one arm raised pointing at him through the now shattered glass of the container. "That was for trying to tentacle rape my girlfriend you bastard!"

OOOOOOOOO

Harry hopped out of the tube, glaring around at everyone. "So, is this a private party or is anyone invited?"

Magneto glared at him, then stared around at the others and calmed himself, not wanting to start a fight that might irreparably damage something. Then the words registered, and he gaped at the man. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Your little tentacle in a ball things attacked Storm, my girlfriend."

"The spheres were designed to transport the winners of the matches up to my asteroid, where we are now, so unless you can breathe vacuum I would watch throwing your power around." That statement made everyone pause and look around warily, but Harry kept his eyes on Eric and vice-versa. "And if you think metal tentacles can do anything to your girlfriend other than restrain her you have my pity, and I would ask you to keep any further thoughts to yourself for the good of our collective sanity."

Harry snorted, amused that here was a villain who actually had a sense of humor, no matter how brief a glimpse it was. He stared over at the other prisoners then flicked hard emerald eyes back to the man in red. "Let them go, now."

"This is my sanctuary Potter, and I will not be browbeaten by you or the other youths. They will be released after we have had a chance to talk."

"Of course, villains always have to make their speeches first. Well, say your piece, I'm all ears."

Eric twitched a little at that but relaxed. Scott and the other teens let out breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding as the prospect of imminent and terrible violence left the air.

"We mutants are different," Eric began staring around at them all. "We have power, some of us look different and we can do things beyond the comprehension of normal humans. But throughout human history there has been one constant: that humans hate and fear those that are different. We have our powers, but how can we stand divided against the numbers of humanity? We must stand united to have a chance, and our powers, ours skills, must be brought to the highest level they can be."

He saw he once more had the teen's attention, though Harry was simply looking at him, his face blank. Magneto knew however not to turn his back on the magic user again. He might not have fought a mage before, but he had a good idea of what he was capable of, and felt he could offset most of his spells.

Magneto moved over to a device that was connected to another doorway leading into a small circular area, the walls sloping inward to a point. What grabbed Harry's attention however was the disturbingly familiar gem that was stuck at that point, a dim yet still ominous glow coming from it, and harry went very still all of a sudden.

Eric didn't notice, staring proudly at the device. "This is the Genetic Enhancer. Through shooting gamma rays through the gem you see I can enhance the power of the mutant in the room to its full potential. You see it now in Sabertooth." He turned and once more the teens were intrigued, always willing to gain a power-up. "Do I have any volunteers?"

Scott immediately stepped forward with his brother, which caused Charles to gasp in shock. "Scott, what are you doing? The machine, it won't do just what he says it will, think very carefully about this. Why in the world would he keep the others captive for this, it makes no sense!" That seemed to sway Evan and Kurt, who looked at one another than moved slightly away from the Brotherhood duo.

Scott looked back at Jean, his expression wavering, but after a moment he looked away. "I'm tired of seeing the world in ruby colors professor."

Harry broke off from staring at the gem to gape at him. "Seriously, that's your complaint?"

Scott whirled on him, his face angry at Harry belittling what he saw as the curse on his life. "You don't know what it's like, to always wear this thing," he gestured at his visor, "or glasses like it, to never see colors, only shades of red, knowing that if you tried to see the world without it your gaze could kill."

Harry shook his head and was about to reply to this when Scott and Alex entered the Genetic Enhancer. He instead groaned and put his head in his hands. He turned to Charles exasperatedly. "I swear to god, I don't remember being that self-centered or emo when I was a teenager. When we get out of this I am going to prank him so badly it's not even funny."

Charles' lips twitched into a smile despite the seriousness of the moment. "I may even join you."

A minute later the door opened and Scott and Alex walked out. Their physical appearances had changed greatly. For one they now both looked like college age men rather than high school teens, built almost along the same lines as Harry, a little broader in the shoulders, but that was the only real difference there. They now had tanned skin for some reason, and white hair. The most surprising thing was that Scott had removed his visor and his eyes were open, staring around in wonder. His eyes soon locked on Jean and he stared at her almost hungrily. "So her hair really is red, wow."

Yeah, that's not creepy at all. Harry thought than shook it off he had other things he needed to concentrate on now.

Alex, who had been pretty silent up to this point, shook his head, looking down at his body. "I feel… different, I feel powerful. If this is what you have to offer sir, count me in."

Scott nodded, still looking at the girls in their tubes. "This is, I don't even know how to describe it, having full control of powers like this, able to see normally like this, it's a dream come true."

"The problem with dreams," Harry quipped, "Is that when you achieve them they're often not what you thought they were." The two brothers stared at him impassively, but he ignored them, locking eyes with Magneto. "Leaving aside the idiotic duo, that crystal is a magical one. It's the same kind of jewel that gave the Juggernaut his power, and if there is one thing that I know about magic, it's that there is always a catch to items like that."

Magneto scoffed. "I have run more than enough tests to satisfy me on the safety of using the gem Potter. And as you are not a mutant you're presence here is an aberration, your opinions were not asked for nor are wanted."

"And there we run into another issue I have with you. What you are doing sounds very much like the rule of the few over the many, chosen not by merit or election but by change genetics. I've fought that before, and I will do it again. The fact you're using a magical item in a way it was not intended for is just icing on the cake. That gem is a portal, a connection to an elder god named Cyttorak, and elder gods, especially one such as him, always play their own games. Nothing you do with the gem will be free of his taint. It needs to be destroyed, to cut off another connection he has to this realm." He flipped his hands down at his sides, loosening his fingers and wrists, the wizardly equivalent of pumping a round into a shotgun.

The teens and Charles all stared between the two men, feeling the tension rising in the air. Lance frowned a little then began to back away, joined by Evan and Kurt. The three looked at one another, then Kurt nodded toward the door they had come in from, and the other two nodded. None of the trio wanted to be in the way of the clash that was almost certainly going to happen. Pietro glared at them but they could all see he was worried about the gem thing too now.

Magneto could not feel or see the magical aura around Harry, it hadn't built up yet to be visible, but he could feel a change in the air, and knew something was going to happen. "You are in the center of my power Potter, don't be foolish to think because you can intimidate children with your parlor tricks you will do the same to me. And as for the gem, you'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead fingers."

"If that's a prerequisite," Harry said nonchalantly, then without even twitching or in any way giving his intent away, Harry struck. He didn't bother with a REDUCTO, a STUPEFY or anything low powered like that, he struck with a full powered BOMBARDA MAXIMA straight at Magneto.

Like he had halfway expected despite the element of surprise Magneto was ready and the spell struck a magnetic force field around the man, dissipating to both sides, but by then Harry was already moving. He ducked to the side, sending a SHATTER-SHAKER into the ground beneath Scott and Alex, who had fired at his former position with their powers.

Alex shot circular beams of force from his fists, while Scott had his eyebeams, though they were more purple than red now, apparently a visible reaction of his power-up. Their attacks hit the far wall, demolishing it and continuing for a, then both were dumped to the ground by his shatter shaker.

Magneto however took the time to attack Harry, the metal of the walls around him coming alive and attacking him as Magneto grabbed him with his power, halting his movement.

Harry transfigured the metal around him as fast as it could touch him, then sent a high powered LUMOS spell straight into magneto's eyes. The man cried out in pain and threw him away like a ragdoll, but Harry arrested his movement and summoned up a dozen illusions that attacked the Summers brothers, Sabertooth and Magento.

Lance decided to contribute to the general mayhem at that point and used his own power full force, shaking the entire asteroid. Sabertooth, who had thanks to his nose been able to tell the illusions for what they were, had charged forward, but a rift opened up in the rock below him and he fell through it to a lower level, snarling in fury.

"Lance what the hell are you doing!" Pietro shouted.

"Staying alive with my mind and my will intact," Lance replied grimly. "You saw what that thing did to the Boy Scout and his brother, I don't want any part of that!"

"If you're not with us, you're against us!" Alex roared, and turned his power on Lance only to be interrupted by Kurt bamfing right behind him and laying him out with a piece of pipe. Whatever had been done to him had heightened his durability, but not enough to overcome a blow from a metal pipe swung with all the power of Kurt's body behind it. Alex fell boneless to the ground.

"Kurt damn you, that's my brother!" Scott turned his beams on his friend and this time they weren't at his lowest setting like they normally would have when training against one another, they were full power. It was only Kurt's bamfing away that saved him.

Scott stop this at once, Charles shouted telepathically, can't you see that gem has changed you, you would never turn on your friends like this!

"Blood is thicker than friendship, professor!" Said Scott out loud then tried to tag Evan as he turned on him.

Harry didn't have much attention to spare for the side fights going on, Magneto was taking his full attention. The man had recovered from his blinding attack, and now his shield kept out similar attacks on his eyes and other senses. He also seemed to know somehow which of Harry's conjured animals were real and which were illusion. He ignored the illusions and batted the real ones aside easily.

The very ground attacked Harry as Magneto used his power, then grabbed a bit of metal pipe and accelerated it like in a rail gun, shooting it at Harry.

Harry countered the ground attacks easily, solidifying them or transfiguring the bits and pieces but his PROTEGO was shattered by the hypersonic metal shard, and it was only his Magia Erebea and his crysis suit that kept him from losing his arm at the shoulder. As it was the shoulder was broken and the impact threw him backwards. He still had the presence of mind however to respond with his own shouted "RIFELA!"

The magical attack pierced Magneto's shield shattering against his stomach and he went to his knees with a grunt of agony. It was only because of his power reinforcing his body's strength and durability that that hadn't finished him. So some magical attacks can penetrate my shield in a specific area, interesting. He stood back up and glared around at the hole in the wall where the Potter brat had been sent.

His glare was interrupted as over a dozen rock golems ripped their way out of the walls all around him and began to pound into his shield, while at the same time a massive impenetrable cloud of darkness appeared all around him, blocking his sight. "This will avail you not Potter, I will find you eventually!"

He glanced up as a warning in his helmets ear piece told him of intruders in the hanger, and he frowned. "If it isn't one thing it's another." He quickly ordered his defense robots into the attack, wondering who the hell had been able to get up here.

Harry grimaced as he sent another healing spell into his ruined shoulder then twisted it around. This guy is good, master of magnetism, hah, electromagnetism more like, a human able to control or at least manipulate one of the four most powerful forces in the universe, shit, and that shield is now blocking out all my status change spells. I can't afford to do anything but my best against him. Which means getting the kids the hell out of here, oh and Baldy too I suppose, though he and I will be having another little talk later about keeping secrets, it was obvious he and this asshole knew one another.

Harry conjured several crystal golems then sent them into the darkness he had previously created with the simple order to lead the asshole in the bucket helmet away, then silenced and disillusioned himself, moving back into the room with the prisoners and the teens.

The idiot Harry hadn't met before, A-something or other, was down but Sabertooth was back and he and Pietro were working together against Evan and Lance surprisingly, while Kurt was popping in and out, keeping Scott's attention centered on him while Charles, rather predictably in Harry's opinion, was trying his damndest via telepathy to calm everyone down or break whatever mental control had been placed on the emo.

First things first then. Harry ignored the fighting for a moment, moving over to the side of the room and shooting a DIFFINDO straight down the row of tubes, taking the tops off them all. "ENERVATE!" Shot out next, and all three of the girls woke up.

Jean woke up and immediately flared her power, blasting the container she found herself in apart and striding forward, her eyes crackling with fury and power. "What the fuck is going on!" Rogue and Kitty woke up more sedately, Rogue even stretching and yawning in place, before they too exited the tubes.

Sabertooth made the mistake of trying to attack Kitty on sight, still furious about his humiliating defeat at her hands before and hoping to catch her before she could phase out. This failed and he walked right into a full powered punch from Rogue. Sabertooth didn't have the Blob's immovability, and the punch lifted him off his feet and sent him through several walls behind him.

Scott turned from attempting to fry Kurt to stare at Jean. "Jean You're alright! But, Magneto said that opening the tubes like that would kill you…"

"I have no idea who that is or why the hell you believed him," Jean said bluntly. "And why the hell are you trying to kill Kurt? He hasn't even pranked you lately."

Pietro tried to blindside Harry, who had disabled his disillusion spell so he could talk to the others, but Harry negligently hit him with a frictionless spell, and the boy fell down and despite his best efforts could not get up. "He's been sort of brainwashed, but it was his own choice because he's an emo. Listen, we've got a bit of a problem…"

Harry was interrupted as the wall behind him blew in and Magneto hovered there, sending out shards of metal at him and all the others, causing them to scatter. Harry ducked and dodged, grunting as one of them hit him then sent out a high powered "CONFRINGO!" Unlike the bombarda spell, which simply exploded on target, this spell set anything it touched on fire. Magneto's shield still blocked it, but the resultant fire blinded him a little, to Harry's next spell, "SECTUMSEMPRA!"

Regardless of Harry's personal hatred for Snape, the man had created a powerful cutting spell, and Magneto cried out as once more his shield couldn't stop the power behind the spell. While his durability could withstand significant injury, what set this spell apart from other cutting spells other than the power needed to cast it was the fact it caused dozens of little to medium wounds, the intent of which was to bleed the opponent (or cut him to ribbons). Magneto's chest and shoulder armor disappeared and his skin was covered in dozens of little slash marks, the pain of which cut into his concentration just long enough for Harry's next spell to get through, sending magneto back through the hole he had made for a moment.

Yet despite this his powers struck out, and everything metal in the room began to attack the X-men and Harry.

Harry groaned aloud as he cast protection spells on all of them save Kitty who had remained in ghost form and just used one of her paralyzing runes on Pietro, sending him down for the count.

She glared over at Lance, a look that said 'we will be talking later' to which he shrugged uncomfortably but resignedly.

"Accio sexy redhead and bald guy!" Harry shouted, ducking as Scott turned his beam on him, but this allowed Kurt to once more sucker punch a Summers, and he went down to join his brother in la-la-land. To the side Sabertooth had returned and was fighting Rogue and Evan, and seemed to be holding his own by dint of his reflexes and experience as well as his size.

Charles and Jean were pulled through the air to land in front of Harry. Well Charles landed in front of him, Jean found herself suddenly in his arms, and she smirked a little through a light blush. "Sexy Redhead, really? What would Ororo say about that?"

"She'd say it was an apt description, but that's beside the point right now," He said staring down at her then up to where Magneto had disappeared for a moment. "I need you two to get the others out of here."

"We need to get Eric's helmet off him, if we can I can use my power to knock him out." Charles said, not making a comment on Harry's presumably adrenaline driven flirting with the young woman.

"Yeah that's nice and all, but that's not going to be easy, and after this we will be talking again about keeping secrets, it's obvious you know this guy from somewhere. Just get the hell out of here Charles, and take the kids with you. I can handle this, if…"

Harry set Jean on her feet suddenly and then summoned up a huge PROTEGO MAXIMO which blocked some kind of beam that had just shot out of the hole, a massive blast of power. The shield shattered but absorbed it, and Harry raced forward.

He suddenly clutched his head, grimacing in agony as somehow Magneto began to do something that made his skull rattle around like it had been hit by a shatter shaker. He sent more power into his MAGIA EREBEA, which cancelled the attack out, but left him open to a spear of earth and metal that caught him in the center of the chest and carried him up and into the ceiling.

He used a bombarda pointed behind him to blast open the ceiling, allowing him time to push himself off the spear. He could feel he had cracked a rib though, and decided to respond in kind.

With a both hands he reached out magical and grabbed the metal around the hole Magneto had just stepped through again, sending out hundreds of spears of earth and metal. They slammed into his shield but then Harry shot out two quick RIFELA's catching Magneto in the hip and the chest, making him wince and nearly lost control of his shield.

"Get them out of here damn it, I can't cut loose with you all here!" Harry shouted, leaping down to stand next to the downed Summers brothers. He reached out and was unsurprised when his mutant power activated, draining the excess energy out of them and returning them both to normal. He then slapped them both with an INCARCEROUS and IMMOBULUS spell each, but was then blown back by a fist of metal coming out of the wall to slam with concussion causing force into the side of his head.

Harry rolled with the blow wincing as it opened up a cut on his temple. He retaliated by sending a ten-spell chain at Magneto, but Magneto had learned by this point what to watch out for, and he blocked the majority of them.

By this time Storm and Wolverine had appeared and Harry looked over at her grimly. The two of them looked a little ragged around the edges, though Wolverine was in far better shape than his lady.

The two of them had taken the X-men's experimental all-plastic plane from the mansion up to here, following the vector of one of the spheres, but been forced to fight their way through the asteroids defenses once they set down.

Other than Jean the other teens were battered or exhausted or a combination thereof and Magneto was still good to go, which didn't even consider that the gem was still here. He smiled grimly as a lightning blast slammed into Sabertooth sending him skittering away down the corridor. "Jean, Ororo, seriously, get out of here and take all the others with you, this guy is dangerous and I need to destroy that gem!"

Magneto roared back in, and the two went at it again with low power stuff as they both looked for an opening to launch a more devastating attack. Hordes of little conjured animals struck at Magneto's shield along with blinding and sound attacks, but none got through. In retaliation anything metal zoomed toward Harry at varying speeds, but Harry blocked most, banished others, and dodged the ones he had to.

Ororo looked around grimly. Rogue was scratched and bleeding from several cuts from Sabertooth, though her Juggernaut taken endurance had kept her from enduring more damage. Evan had lost some of his bone armor ripped off apparently, and was nursing one of his legs, where she could tell he was bleeding, not like an arterial vein had been cut, but bad nonetheless. Kitty looked like she was going to collapse soon, the strain of staying in ghost mode to avoid the attacks crisscrossing the room even now sapping her strength. Jean looked alright, but Ororo herself was still dealing with her exhaustion from fighting Candra. And Charles' power was apparently useless against Magneto unless you got his helmet off.

Lance grabbed up Pietro's unconscious body. He might not like the prick, but he was still a member of the Brotherhood, and he wasn't going to leave him behind. "He's right, other than Grey we don't have the firepower to take him on, and even if we did, we're all too battered now to be much help."

Jean scowled and angrily charged forward, but her powers were blocked by Magneto's shield just as much as Harry's magical attacks were, and she had to protect herself from his retaliation.

Harry took the opportunity to change his position slightly, then gathered his magic and shot out a pure magic bolt the same size as his own body. The attack crashed into Magneto's shield, searing through the first layer and throwing him backward for now, but he ripped metal out of the walls forming a barrier in front of him. The magic seared through it like a high-powered plasma bolt, but stopped it from hitting him and he retaliated by forming a large artillery shell out of the metal and using his electromagnetic power to send it forward like his previous rail gun shots.

The thing hit sending a shockwave everywhere but harry had swiftly transfigured it into a mass of soft rubber. Even so the momentum hit him and threw him right where he wanted to go. Magneto didn't realize that and turned his attention to Jean. "Enough child, your impudence is at an end!"

"Bite me you megalomaniacal asshole!" Jean shouted back, throwing another attack at him, and she saw him wince and pour more power into his shield. She smirked a little, but still kept up her defenses, hoping to hold out until Harry did whatever he was planning. She had seen him move very deliberately in front of that door, and wondered what he was up to.

Ororo had seen it too and after motioning the other teens to grab up Charles and the downed Summers brothers began to hammer Magneto with her own power.

Eric scowled angrily, pouring even more power into his shield. "Your resistance is futile, you cannot beat me!"

The two women shared a momentary glance then renewed their assault, taking turns to defend but continuing to keep Magneto's attention on them while Kitty and Logan kept Sabertooth busy. Rogue grabbed the two brothers like sacks of grain while Evan dragged Charles along, wincing occasionally as they followed Lance and Pietro down the corridor to the plane that Logan and Storm had flown up to the asteroid.

Harry looked up at the gem set in the ceiling above him, smirking a little as he heard the roar of combat outside. Jean and Ororo versus Magneto, heh, fun. If they were both fresh and ready to go I'd almost bet on them, but not now. Still they should hold him off for long enough for me to do my thing.

He activated his flight array and zoomed up to the ceiling, slamming his hand onto the glowing red gem. He could feel his mutant power activating, and the power of the gem flowing into him, then suddenly, just as before….

OOOOOOO

He was elsewhere. The being known as Cyttorak stared at him angrily. "You! Wilt though destroy all my tethers to your dimension?"

Harry grinned, baring his teeth. "One can only hope." He then lunged forward and the being teleported away, cursing, knowing that allowing the human mortal (and even that was debatable given what his senses were telling him) to touch him would drain him. "Away damn you! I will not contest that dimension further, destroy the other tethers, I care not, merely leave!"

OOOOOOO

Harry found himself back in the chamber, watching as the gem shattered under his hands. He laughed aloud, feeling his new strength powering his MAGIA EREBEA and his magical core even further. "Crysis suit, when I first built it, about 500 galleons, tattooing my flight array onto my back, 2,000 Euros. Pissing off an inter-dimensional entity of war and running a megalomaniac's day, priceless."

Outside the chamber Magneto saw his machines begin to show warning lights, and the power from the gem suddenly cutting out. He waved a hand and the floor erupted under Jean, throwing her back into Ororo with a badly broken arm, allowing him to turn and stare as Harry came through the door, a small smile on his face. "What have you done Potter, by god what have you done!?"

"Cutting another tether," Harry replied then had to shield himself as the walls all around him crushed inward. There was no spear of metal or anything like that, it was the entire wall, the ceiling and the floor rising up to engulf him, Magneto's fury powering his mutant ability but taking away some of his control.

Harry shielded himself however, using pure magical manipulation to wrest control of the attack from him, halting it. The two men strained for control of the attack and Harry stared over at Ororo and Jean. "Get out of here you two, this is gonna get wild!"

He sent a pulse of unaimed transfiguration magic forward, changing the floor to many different things, frowning as that was supposed to change it to a giant snake. Evidently his power up had messed with his control a bit. It still worked to distract Magneto however, since the floor under him had just changed into custard. The man disappeared into it with a squawk or surprise.

Harry floated forward, sending BOMBARDA's down into the custard as Ororo and Jean looked at one another, then nodded reluctantly and flew down the corridor, leaving Harry behind.

Charles had been tucked into one of the chairs in the jet. He looked up as the two women wearily clambered aboard, followed by Rogue and Logan. Rogue had gone back to help and used her power to knock Sabertooth out, but when Logan moved into to finish him the ground gave way under him having changed into cookie dough. Logan had gaped at that, and decided that getting as far away from Harry as possible was a good idea. "Where is Mr. Potter?"

"Taking Magneto on, he did something that pissed Magneto off, and I don't think he'd let us go if Potter was with us," Logan said grufflly having seen what had happened, but not knowing the significance of the room Harry had exited prior to Magneto's furious assault.

Charles frowned a little then sighed sadly. His control over Harry was non-existent, and Eric had proven willing to kill before this. Whatever happened he was in no position to stop it. He couldn't even send out a telepathic plea for mercy. Harry's mind was still invisible to him, and Eric was defended by his helmet. He shook his head, looking down wearily. "Get us out of here."

"And when we get home professor," Jean said, her jade eyes hard as she stared at the man, "We are going to have a long talk about keeping secrets. Don't even try to deny it, I heard Harry, you knew that asshole and you never warned us about him." The other teens and Ororo looked at him sharply at that. Charles sighed, but nodded, knowing that the conversation would not be pleasant.

Moments later the plane took off as the asteroid was rocked by some kind of explosion.

Back with Harry, the two combatants had stopped holding back, and were no throwing everything they could at one another. Harry dodged around, using his power to shield him only when he had to, evading as much as he could and Hammering back at his opponent with as many high-end spells as he could, using his power to grab control of the world around him and twisting it to attack his opponent.

Magneto did the same thing, using the metal and ferrous rock in the asteroid to great effect, throwing his power into every attack. He stayed put, disdaining moving around and simply putting more power into his shield and attacking the mage with everything he could. Sonic booms of rail gun shots resounded every second, he tried to grab control of the man's molecules but failed, and he did the same on a few of the physical attacks sent his way, turning them around.

The asteroid creaked and groaned around them as the two powerful men bent the matter around them to their purposes.

Harry reared back as a small piece of metal went past his head so fast it broke the sound barrier, nearly shattering his ear drums. He screamed a little, but he gathered his magic and poured his power into one of the deadliest spells that weren't on his Bloody Insane list. "BLACK-FYRE!"

Black-Fyre was a step above Fiend-Fyre, the spell that almost had its own mind and will that almost seemed alive in its desire to burn everything it could. Black-Fyre was much the same, only it burned everything, rock, metal, nothing could stand the Black flames, and it was even harder to cast, and almost impossible to control. If you weren't a Black, then it was impossible no matter your magical power, it was a genetic trait of the blacks that let them do it. Luckily Harry was a black both by adoption and by his grandmother on his father's side.

The roiling wall of black flame shot towards Magneto, and he gaped at the strange images in the flames, of demons and fiends and beasts out of myth charging toward him. He braced himself and the spell crashed into his shield like a megaton nuke going off on impact. His shield held, but the fire swept around him burning everything in its path. Rock, metal, it didn't matter and he gasped at the destruction it wrought.

Before draining Juggernaut's gem and Cyttorak of a bit of his power Harry would have struggled to control the spell. Now, he kept it going easily, forcing Magneto to defend himself against it while he prepared what he hoped would be his final attack.

Magneto smirked suddenly realizing where they were, and that the last spell of his enemy had weakened the walls of his hollowed out fortress. With a laugh of triumph he reached out and wrenched open a wall next to him, opening the interior of the asteroid to space. "You're too dangerous Potter, I can't live you alive to challenge my dream! Mutantkind will take their rightful place! So, I can survive in vacuum, the question is, can you!?"

The sudden vacuum began to suck out all of the air in the asteroid, snuffing out the Black-Fyre in a way that had never been accomplished before then the vacuum began to pull everything loose along the battle zone out into space.

Magneto held himself in place easily, and his shield did indeed allow him to survive in space. Harry grimly used a sticking charm on his feet to stay in place then cast a Bubblehead Charm on his head. The charm would last long enough to finish this, or so he hoped.

Magneto stared at him triumphantly, knowing Harry only had a limited amount of air, and began to attack him again. But Harry batted his attacks aside, then raised one hand pointing at the powerful mutant. "DRILL OF LIGHT!"

The DRILL OF LIGHT that shot forward wasn't just one attack, but over a dozen, each one a mix of lightning, light and physical force in a drill shape, flaying anything it hit. Harry could only have done three during his time in his birth dimension, but now he sent as many of them forward as he could.

Magneto's shield could block the first few, but not the others. His instincts cut in, forcing him to dodge wildly, but he couldn't dodge them all, and one of them stuck him in the chest, and another in the leg, taking a chunk out of it. He screamed as his bones shattered and his skin was flayed under the blows, the magical force of the attack overcoming his empowered body. Another clipped his head, ripping off his helmet and opening his check, shattering the bone underneath.

The pain was overwhelming, and Magneto halted his attacks, barely able to keep his shield up. He looked up at Harry through bleary eyes and saw him readying another spell. A wave of fury took him at the sight, but his self-preservation instincts overrode that. He had been defeated yes, but staying to fight would avail him nothing. He was sorely wounded now, and his power was waning badly, but Harry, despite being battered was still obviously willing to continue. He looked down suddenly as he felt metallic objects moving up the atmosphere towards them.

Several jet fighters were streaking up the ladder as pilots would say toward them, and Magneto scowled. The computer controlling the ECM and camouflage must have been damaged, and that means asteroid M is no longer a viable sanctuary for me. No matter I have others.

He turned back to stare up from his present position to where Harry was standing in the open side of his asteroid. "Another time Potter, and next time, I will be better prepared for you and your magic." With that he turned and raced off as fast as his wounds would allow. A moment later he changed his shield just slightly to make himself invisible, and Magneto, the master of Magnetism, was gone.

Harry leaned back with a sigh of relief. While he had been winning the fight, that didn't mean the outcome was certain if it had continued. Damn, I would have preferred ending him now, fighting enemies again is always irritating and far more dangerous, but this at least lets me have enough power left for other things.

He reached out and constructed an elaborate illusion, slowly spreading it out around the asteroid. A notice-me-not won't work at this point, I need to do something more permanent, something they can go back and tell their superiors about and be believed.

Below him two of the jets still sped toward the asteroid, the other two turning to chase after Magneto, but peeling back to join their fellows and race toward the asteroid.

A second later they entered the range of Harry's illusion and it went to work on their senses. The illusion was designed to make it look as if the asteroid was breaking. Not exploding, as that was tougher and something that should register on a lot of different sensors down on earth, just breaking up. Then he grabbed as many of the broken pieces lying around, the shattered remains of the battle zone, and ejected it and conjured as much junk as he could, rock, concrete, metal, anything that he could conjure. It wouldn't last for long, conjuring never did especially in large quantities, but it didn't have to, in fact it would be better that it didn't, since that would make it appear as if the bits had hit atmosphere and burned up.

The spells worked, and a moment later the jets turned away, heading back down. Harry barely breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he was rapidly running out of air. He reached forward and touched the edges of the hole and poured his power out into a REPARO spell, and the hole slowly resealed. A strengthening spell struck it a moment later, then Harry raced inward, looking for a room that might still have air even as he felt his magic go to work trying to sustain him.

He found one moments later, what looked like Magneto's private chambers was closed, and when he opened it swiftly ducking inside, he felt air around him. Closing the door he cancelled the bubblehead charm then went to his knees, breathing in deeply. "Air, ah, you only know how important it is when it's gone." He rested for a moment then looked around.

The room actually had a terrace and he stared out over a large hydroponics area, whistling appreciatively. "Mad the bastard was, but this is phenomenal. Still, I don't want to damage anything in here just yet."

A moment later Hedwig appeared in front of him, swooping around him anxiously. "I'm alright Hedwig, just sore and exhausted."

Hedwig precked at him irritably, as if saying 'well of course you'd say that', then landed on his shoulder, pressing her head into the side of his face. He smiled a little, wincing as his shoulder pained him, but the healing spells had done their job, and his magic would heal him up automatically in short order.

Preck," Hedwig said, staring at him from a bare centimeter away.

"Ah, well, soon you can go back and tell Ororo I'm alright, but I've got something else to do first, need to make certain no one else can find this place." Hedwig precked at him, then hopped from his shoulder to the bedpost.

Harry redid the charm on his head and exited the room, then made his way around the depressurized areas of the asteroid until he found the hanger bay. There he then created a shield around him and exited out into space, using a magic tether to tie himself to the asteroid. Then he placed his hands on the outer shell of the asteroid and gathered his magic power to pour it into a very specific spell. "FIDELIO!" He shouted, his voice echoing around his shield, unheard by any but him.

The world over a few people reached up and grabbed their heads, including one extremely battered and nigh crippled Eric Lensherr. He looked up, his face a grimace of agony from his wounds as one of his medical bots went to work on him, his anger at being bested derailed slightly as he lost all sense of where the battle had taken place only that it had happened.

Even the X-men and Charles felt the effect, but only Ororo realized what might have happened, having the memory of the battle but not where it had occurred. Harry had told her about the spell that had hidden his parent's house when he was a baby, and how he had later used it on the headquarters of his New Marauders. It was proof he was safe, and that he might well have won. With her worries assuaged she turned back to work on her nephew while Jean and Logan worked on the others. The Summers brothers slept on, still under the influence of Harry's spells, but when they woke it would be a wake call on many levels for both of them.

Harry wearily turned, and then slowly made his wake back to the pressurized areas inside the asteroid. There he was met by a irater Hedwig, who had been most affected by the fidelius casting. It was like being surrounded by nothingness, unable to figure out which side was what, unable to see, just grey everywhere.

Harry soothed her and informed her of the secret quickly, which settled her down immediately. She still nipped him on the ear a few times of course, but that was all. After that he spent a few hours exploring and re-pressurizing the outer areas. He threw out REPARO spells like they were going out of style, but even then it was hardly safe and barely livable given how much junk he had pushed out to help his illusion along.

He did find an observatory however, a wall of some see through rock, made of quartz or something far tougher, that let him stare out over the curve of the Earth. A seat was also there, turned so the person sitting there could take in the view, and along both sides was some gear. Harry fiddled with it, and realized that it was a communication device of some kind, but it must have been bounced elsewhere before the final target, because right now all he was getting was static. He cast a REPARO on it, and was able to get some TV channels from a nearby satellite, but that was all.

With a shrug he turned it off and sat staring down at the Earth. Hedwig hopped down from his shoulder, which she had not moved from since he cast a fidelius, to the chair's armrests then looked out the window as well.

Harry gently stroked her feathers as he rested from his labors, a little too tired to make the trip back down to the mansion right away. "One can see why Magneto became such an egotist. With a view like this one truly would feel like the king of all he surveys. "

Hedwig somehow was able to make her next preck sound somewhat caustic, and she pecked his hand sharply. "Yow, okay, right, thank you, I too am human, ouch, mortal, there, happy?" Hedwig huffed a little, then stopped attacking his hand and allowed him to continue stroking her feathers. "Still, this place is a resource. An asteroid base now hidden from anyone's eyes and known only to me and those I let in on the secret? Oh the possibilities."

End chapter

Hope you all like this. I think I may have made the speeches from Magneto a little too short and not powerful enough, but meh. I'm actually pretty happy about the rest of the chapter though, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always read and review, and I'll try to get another chapter out before New Years.

The next chapter will see a repentant Scott, and he will at last begin to change more than his leadership style, as well as Harry continuing to distance himself, and gather resources for his eventual breaking off as well as the aftermath of this chapter. Hope you all enjoy that too.