A Third Path to the Future

by Vimesenthusiast

Rescued from the Negative Zone by the Fantastic Four, Harry Potter discovers he is a mutant and decides to take up the cause of equality between mutants and humans (among other causes). How will a dimensionally displaced Harry Potter, one who is extremely intelligent, proactive and not afraid to get his hands dirty effect the marvel universe? Pairings: Harry/Jean/Ororo/others pos.

18. Very Well, I, Victor Von Doom

I don't own Harry or Marvel.

I want to give a shout out to Jessolt, who really helped me in this chapter fixing a lot of the little things that were wrong here.

Other than that, let's get this show on the road.

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Chapter 18 Very Well I, Victor Von Doom…

Despite his last name, Nick Fury wasn't one to rage and scream when unexpected things occurred. No, he would be calm, like an eye of a storm, letting everything happen around him while controlling it as much as he could. Now, if a subordinate screwed the pooch, well, there he would chew your ass off. Nick was death on incompetence and had very high standards. Thankfully for Dum Dum, who even though an old friend would not be exempt from that, this whole situation fell under the first example.

After Duggan had called him, Nick had flown out late last night via a routine supply run, not wanting to give anyone who might be watching the base in Pakistan the idea that anything had happened and also needing to throw off anyone who was watching him before heading out. About fifteen minutes after he had arrived, Nick found himself in Duggan's command center, watching a video while Duggan and two of his sensor techs gave commentary.

Eventually the video ended. Nick sat there for a moment, one hand rubbing at his eye patch in thought. "You were right to shut down the bases communication Duggan, well done. I don't think it would do the current international scene any good for news of a new superpowered threat to get around. Still, this shows me where Mr. Wizard stands, even if his face is obscured somehow we can tell who it was, and it sure as hell isn't on the side of the law. Hell, it looks like he's decided to follow Magneto's creed more than Charles'."

"I don't think you can say that, really," Duggan cautioned. "Not after what we saw after the battle ended."

Fury brought one hand down to smash into the table in front of him. "Don't give me that crap, Duggan! Mr. Wizard, Harry Potter, just flew into a secret Russian facility…"

"A base where mutant children were being experimented on…" the Brooklyn born SHIELD captain tried to interrupt.

His boss however ignored him. "A secret Russian facility and wiped it out! Judging by the video, he can conjure up an army of stone giants at need, throw more spells around than I've even heard of! We need to find out what his game is and no more damn runaround! My god, if the Russians decide to play it that way, they could see this as an act of war! And who do you think they are going to blame for it? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count."

"I don't think we need to worry about the Russkies being open about this, after all, if they come out and say they were attacked, Mr. Wizard can trot out the kids he rescued. Would be one hell of a PR coup worldwide, if they forced it. And in terms of trying to get a handle on Wizard and his group, I don't think its really necessary just yet. He seems cut from the same mold as the FF. I think he's firmly on the side of the angels even if he's concentrating on fighting for mutant rights. He's fought Magneto, right, and he fought against that sorceress in London. Phoenix helped us here by dropping off Talmud, even if the fucker found some way to kill himself."

"He's a god-damned loose cannon, is what he is. The FF don't go looking for trouble, the trouble comes looking for them. Potter needs to learn to see the big picture, he can cause a hell of a lot more problems than he can solve if he does shit like this." Fury snarled, the image of another world war prominent in his mind. "Its not his place to go around playing Robin Hood like this."

Duggan, however, had always been more of a people person. "I'd hate to have to tell that to the kids he saved, Nick. A few of them looked as young as ten, for God's sake! Besides, there's nothing to connect the attack with anyone else."

Nick frowned, but conceded the point. "That is true but I still don't like Potter acting out like this, this and that shit in London."

"Hah!" Duggan barked a laugh, though there was no humor in it. "You're just angry because that is the kind of threat that SHIELD is supposed to handle, and you hate not being able to plus not having enough info to do the job. We don't have anyone on our payroll that can handle the magic shit and SHIELD still doesn't have enough money, men, or even permission to cover the rest of the world like we should."

Fury snarled, but eventually had to concede the point. "You know me far too well, Duggan, but that doesn't change the fact that Potter is going to start as many problems as he solves with these ham-handed tactics. We need to figure out a way to counter him when he becomes a threat."

Duggan frowned, not liking the way his boss was assuming that Potter would be a problem in the future, but he didn't say anything and Nick went on. "Anyway, at least the Ghosts work, even if we've run into a dead end with the HYDRA/terrorist connection. Stay here for another two weeks, if you can't find any leads on HYDRA by that time, we have other fires I need my best fireman to put out. We've had a few setbacks recently and SHIELD needs to step up even more."

OOOOOOO

The next day, Harry woke up between his two ladies, with Ororo's arms hugging one of his own and Jean's arms over them both, her head tucked against his other shoulder. Unlike Ororo, Jean was not exactly comfortable just yet sleeping naked in the same bed with Harry, so instead she had worn a silk chemise with matching panties underneath. Harry smiled, pulling Ororo closer and letting one arm wrap around Jean who murmured and snuggled deeper into his chest.

Harry loved this. Above and beyond the sexy times and their being able to support each other, it was moments like this that he truly enjoyed, just him and his two loves, snuggling together, away from the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, Harry also knew that real life would intrude all too soon; they had a lot to get done today. He looked up through the transparent stone that separated the top of the headmaster's tower from the outside world, something he had done for Ororo when they moved in. He noticed that the sun was just peeking over the horizon and smiled faintly. For a moment, Harry lay there, mentally going over what he wanted to do today, then slowly he began to move, trying to get out from underneath his two ladies without waking either up.

This failed. Jean smiled groggily at him, leaning up to meet his lips in a kiss for a moment but then pulling back pouting a little. "Morning breath, ugh." She muttered, sticking her tongue out.

Harry quickly hit his mouth with a breath freshening spell and, before Jean could pull her tongue back into her mouth, captured it between his lips. He twirled his own tongue around Jean's, causing her to moan aloud in surprise, her eyes widening for a moment before she gave into the kiss, her tongue beginning to move with his.

Ororo woke up quickly, as usual. Looking around, she smiled faintly at the rather sexy display on hand with the redhead losing herself to a kiss. However, she shook her head, lightly tapped both their heads with a finger, before leaning in to kiss them both quickly on the lips. "I believe we have too much to do to get too caught up in one another, my loves."

"True, Ororo," Harry said, though this didn't stop him from gently tracing one finger down the side of Ororo's face and between her breasts for a moment, marveling once again how these two magnificent, utterly gorgeous women, had fallen in love with him. He shook it off, with difficulty, and gently sat up.

Jean allowed him to move out of the bed, pouting slightly. After pulling on a shirt, Harry turned and looked over at the two of them. Then he promptly looked away. The sight of Jean, sitting up now on her knees in the bed, her silk negligée bunched up around her waist, her panties showing and Ororo stretching as she lay on the bed next to her, like some kind of huge cat, unconcerned with her nakedness, threatened to grab his attention once more.

He coughed, manfully ignoring the gurgle of laughter from Jean, who could easily see from his profile that he had enjoyed the view very much indeed. "Ahem, anyway, we've got a lot to do today. Ororo," Harry went on, now much more seriously, looking into Ororo's eyes and ignoring her body with some difficulty, "after breakfast, I want you to first head out to grab that den-mother/teacher you mentioned. I'll hit her with a few spells later to make certain she can't talk about whatever she sees here, if you think it necessary, but at this point, we've got too much on our plate to let you be bogged down watching and teaching the kids we rescued. After that, I want you to head over with Cory to the X-Men's mansion. Tell Charles what happened, though no details, if you don't mind. I don't think he'd like how violent the battle was and I don't think right now we need to deal with that."

Ororo frowned, looking as if she was about to say something, but paused and seem to think better of it for the moment, merely nodding silently.

Harry went on. "If you can, borrow one of those medical beds he's got. We can use that to check out the kids. Also, see if you can find out who sold them to him so we can buy our own. Jean, I'd like you to start looking over the weapons we grabbed from the base, think of creating weapons for the rest of the team, including you, me, and Ororo. If necessary, Kitty and I can create pouches or pockets to hold them."

He looked up as a sharp preck sounded behind him. Hedwig glared at them from her perch in one corner. Well, it wasn't really a single perch so much as it was a series of perches that Harry had created, sticking out from the floor and corners as well as the ceiling. All different sorts of perches made from different trees, an owlish sort of heaven. Nonetheless, it seemed as if Hedwig was feeling the effects of a long night, her feathers were ruffled, one eye was still closed, and she was leaning from one perch onto another rather than sitting upright.

"Hey, Hedwig," Harry said, striding over to gently stroke her plumage for a moment. "We'll let you get back to sleep in a bit, though I will need you later today. Did you run into any trouble dropping off the note for Dr. Doom?"

Hedwig precked at him with somewhat more mellow tones, nipping at his fingers, though Harry could tell that his question had angered her. "Did the not-so-good doctor try anything?" Harry paused for a moment after saying that it should then shook his head. "Silly me, of course he tried something, what precisely did he try?"

His familiar looked into his eyes, and Harry felt some of her memories through their link. It turned out that Dr. Doom had tried to set up scanners to figure out how Hedwig popped around. Harry was actually a little intrigued by that, because he knew Hedwig's method of travel was a different style of teleportation than the house-elves or magic users used, but he never seemed to have the time to try to figure it out. Apparently Dr. Doom hadn't succeeded, or at least Hedwig didn't think he had, but getting through whatever he had set up without being 'caught' had irritated the snowy owl immensely.

"I'm sorry about that Hedwig. Hopefully in the future we won't have to use you as our go-between, but I can't promise that. Did you actually see Doom?" Hedwig shook her head, and then with finality in every inch of her body Hedwig ducked her underneath one wing turning away.

"Right, well that's fine." Harry muttered, turning away.

Ororo chuckled, standing up and moving to grab a towel before heading down to the bay bathing area. But her voice was serious when she spoke. "When you meet with him tomorrow, you must be careful my love. Dr. Doom may possess a certain sense of honor, but he is cunning, ambitious, egotistical, and possibly one of the most intelligent men in the world. That is a dangerous combination and I think he is one of the few people in the world who could eventually figure out scientific methods to negate or offset your magical powers."

"You're not saying anything I don't already know Ororo." Harry replied, kissing her on the forehead as he moved over to grab a pair of pants. "I wouldn't put it past him to have already figured out a way to duplicate a lot of the stuff I can do or, at least, to combat what I used in that battle against Selene in London, since he purposely mentioned having seen footage of it, somehow. I'm not going to underestimate him. In fact, I'm going to be loaded for bloody bear the entire time."

Jean cocked an eyebrow at him and Harry shrugged, then began to count on his fingers. "Sword of Gryffindor ready at my side, Magia Erebea activated before I get within a mile of Barcelona, my invisibility cloak ready to be pulled over me to disappear at need, and several subtle but nasty defensive wards ready to go that I'll lay out with the notice-me-not ward I'll put up on the place were going to be meeting. I have no doubt he'll come with his own preparations but I hope that it doesn't come to a physical confrontation. But I'll be ready for it even so."

Jean nodded then moved onto another topic. "After I'm done looking over the weapons, will we be able to get up to High Note to create enough Orihalcum to create a reactor prototype?"

"Yes," Harry replied firmly, "but before that, I have to warn you about one of the people we rescued, the priest. His name is Father Garnoff, I think. He has a telepathic power of some kind, possibly based off eye contact though I'm not certain. If he tries anything, shut him down hard. I don't like the idea of him being able to get into our minds."

"He found your mind?" Jean asked sharply.

"Oh yes, he was able to find it but he couldn't get through my mental invisibility cloak. It was like his power acts like some sort of telepathic equivalent of sonar. I wouldn't put it past him to be able to use some kind of hypnosis effect as well. Until I talk to him and we clear him, we'll treat him as a guest but not an ally.

Jean nodded thoughtfully. "All right, that works."

"I'll want Shiang Chi to start working with Piotr and Nikolai." Harry went on, not noticing the smile Jean and Ororo shared. As much as Harry wanted to think he was simply one among many, he had a take charge attitude that came out easily. "I'd also like both of you to take some time to get to know them. As soon as possible, I'd like us to start using them as backup on our missions, especially the ones to Selene's last caches. While you do that, I'll head out to survey the land where I want to put up the office building for our company, and later send Hedwig out to see the King and call Emma to see if she can open up some time."

Ororo nodded. "I think that is enough for now Harry, best not to make any more plans ahead of time when something could always come up. Especially in our lives, yes?"

"Yeah," Harry muttered shaking his head, "Fate's bitch, that's me."

"Well, either it's contagious or it has something to do with the spandex." Jean laughed, dragging him into a kiss before pushing him towards the door. "Now get out, us ladies are going to go take a bath. We'll see you down at the breakfast table."

Harry chuckled but left willingly, moving down the spiral staircase into the castle proper. Now that he was away from the rather intoxicating presence of his two ladies, Harry could feel the castle practically thrumming with joy, causing him to smile faintly. The castle knew that it had been created to be a school and it knew that it had not had students before. But now there were children, not just Melody but many children in the castle, and the castle's happiness was permeating every stone.

He frowned for a moment, wondering about one of those children in particular, Illyana Rasputin and how Hedwig liked her so easily, then shook it off. He had other things to worry about today. Eventually, I am damn well going to be looking into that, as well as some other discrepancies I've noticed. "Dilly?"

The house-elf majordomo appeared, bowing creakily. "Master asked for Dilly? Breakfast bes ready down in the hall."

"Thank you Dilly but it wasn't that. As you know, we've got more people here now. I just want to make sure that you know to assign house-elves to each of them, especially the children. But remember that they shouldn't eat too much, it will be a few days before they're able to eat what we think as their fill"

The house elf nodded. "I have already assigned elves to the kiddies, master, and the old man all in black, and the others. Most are still asleep, but the large person whose sister slept in Miss Melody's room, he bes already awake."

Harry blinked at that, then smirked. "Of course, he's a farm boy. Probably used to getting up with the horses or whatever the phrase is. Anyway, I would like for Cory to be assigned to Ororo. She's going to be popping over to the mansion and elsewhere. I'd also like four of the house-elves that are best at measuring areas and construction to come with me after breakfast. Jean may also need some help, so assigned two of your fellows to her, okay?"

"I will do so, master," the house elf bowed creakily once more before popping off.

Harry smiled, closing his eyes for a moment, checking to see if the translation spell he had cast on the castle as a whole was still holding, then made his way down the stairs and to the dining hall. He found Piotr sitting at a table, sipping at a cup of strong tea, apparently waiting for everyone else to get up before having breakfast. He looked up as Harry walked in, frowning for a moment. Harry wondered why but still nodded agreeably to him and sat down.

Almost immediately, two plates of hash-browns appeared in front of the two men, as well as a plate of sausages between them. The elves were also ready and waiting for Hedwig to appear for her rasher of bacon, but that wasn't going to be needed just yet.

"I'm surprised you were able to wake up, given the time difference and the battle yesterday." Harry said, before taking a large bite of hash-browns.

"Farmers tend to develop internal clocks, Mr. Potter, that react to where the sun is in the sky rather than any human made device. The land does not care if you are tired or not." He looked at the older man thoughtfully for a moment before beginning to speak somewhat hesitantly. "I -I am bothered by what happened yesterday."

Harry cocked his head then frowned. Thanks to how well he had fought, Harry had almost forgotten that Piotr was a combat cherry before yesterday. "Are you bothered by the fact we had to kill yesterday during the battle?"

Piotr slowly shook his head. "No, not that. I do not think I personally killed anyone yesterday, but if I have to at some point I will not shirk from it. Life can be harsh, and combat more so, and if it is the difference between myself or a friend living and an opponent dying, then I know that is a choice I will make. No, it is the ruthlessness you showed afterwards." He paused for a moment then went on more firmly. "Understand me, Mr. Potter..."

"Harry." Harry interjected. "You earned that yesterday."

Piotr nodded, then went on. "Harry, I am not second guessing your choices during the battle. I do not have the experience to do so and it was a life or death struggle. What you did afterwards, however, was not." Harry cocked his head as if he didn't understand and Piotr went on. "You did not have to kill everyone still alive in the base. That was a choice and it was an evil one. You said you wanted to send a message but the kind of message you send in such an act is not one I wish to be a part of. There must be limits on what we may do, both in the defense of ourselves and other mutants, and in anything else."

Piotr frowned thoughtfully for a moment thinking of his words then went on. "You must understand that, particularly in places like Russia, the Army is made up of conscripts, people who do not particularly want to be there but join up to have a job that can put food in their mouths. That unit we destroyed wasn't comprised of such. I recognized the unit insignia as one of the elite units, part of the 5th Gvardiya army. That unit is, or was anyway, connected with many battles both against foreign powers and in the post-Communist turnover. But it could've been. In any army, there will be people who don't want to be there and painting all of them with the same brush would make us as bad as the people who believe that all mutants are evil. There were still people alive in the base when you did whatever you did after we left, almost certainly the people not involved in the fighting, the people who might well have been innocent of wrongdoing against their prisoners. Two wrongs do not make a right, and if you think they do, then I will have to rethink my decision to join up with you."

The wizard leaned back, rubbing one eye as he thought. Harry had actually never dealt with a regular army unit. The SAS he dealt with were all volunteers, of course, all elite and well-trained, though he had he ever fought them. The Death Eaters he faced, the forces he fought in the Negative Zone, none of them were fighting because someone else forced them to. He wasn't used to thinking in terms of people simply following orders like that. The Death Eaters in particular were all precisely where they wanted to be. You couldn't be a Death Eater, couldn't have Riddle's mark on you, without first marking your soul in one vile manner or another.

"I have to admit that hadn't occurred to me." he said, looking a little sick now that he thought of it. "The idea that my enemies could be comprised of other people in the background that are blameless is a new one, I'll be honest."

He leaned back again cocking his head. "I'll also say that I sometimes err on the side of caution and simply kill my enemies because dead men don't tend to come back again. Not most of the time, anyway. I realize that my saying 'I'm sorry' won't bring those lives back, but I will say this. If at any point, we can open discussions with those in positions of power in Russia, then I will own up to my part in the destruction of that base. I will pay whatever reparations I must to the government and to the families of those killed, if the government in turn will admit to what was going on there before we arrived and also prove to us that that base was the only one conducting experiments on mutants."

Piotr frowned thoughtfully, then nodded. "In hindsight, that is perhaps the only thing we can do but I am more concerned with preventing us from going down that road again."

"Well, that's where you come in." Harry smiled grimly, pointing at the young man. "You not only noticed the problem, but you had the guts to actually say was wrong to my face. If you see me do something that you think is wrong, stand up and say it. Stand up for what you think is right, Piotr Nikolaievitch, even if it puts you against me and what I want to do. I'll always listen and I will never ask you to do something you find morally repugnant."

"He's right, my love." Harry turned and saw Ororo moving towards them, her hair mostly falling down loosely along her back as her hands began to bunch it together for a braid to form into a bun. She was wearing what Harry thought of as her teacher's outfit, a professional woman's suit, a bit baggy on her, the better to erase some of her natural sexuality, which, in Harry's opinion, was pointless. She strode up to the table, sitting down, whereupon a plate of muffins and fresh fruit appeared in front of her.

Before she ate, however, she looked over at Harry, her eyes grim. "I should have said something yesterday. I was not happy with them and I am very unhappy with myself, looking back on it. At the time, I was too sad and too angry at what happened to the children to speak up as I should. I will not fail to do so again. We cannot, as Piotr says, paint all our enemies with the same brush or we will become as bad as they are."

Harry nodded and reiterated what he had just said to Piotr, that if either saw him do anything that they felt was morally wrong, then they had the right to call him on it. "I'll always listen, Ororo," he reiterated, taking one of the African woman's hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss gently, causing Piotr to flush a little and look away.

After a few moments, the conversation turned to what was going to be happening today and Harry asked Piotr watch the kids if they woke, then told him to work with Shiang Chi, who would get a feel for Piotr and the combat style he should use if he was serious about joining up with the team.

Ororo interjected here. "I'll also be giving you a series of tests, to see where your educational level is. Regardless of whether or not you are on our team, you will be taking lessons, particularly in English and other languages, as well as the three staples, mathematics, language arts, and science."

Piotr chuckled a little wryly. "Schooling like that is not the norm in Russia at this point, though I was educated well enough up to the senior high school level, yes? Still, I would like to continue my education as you had mentioned." He looked down bashfully for a moment, more than a little embarrassed. "Particularly in painting."

"Oh, are you a painter? Or is that something you wish to do?" Ororo asked.

The boy blushed and looked away but behind him the voice of his sister interjected her own opinion. "Piotr can already paint very well! All of the paintings in our old house were made by him."

Melody and Illyana were racing towards the table, bright beaming smiles and both of their faces. The two of them were now firm friends after only a day of knowing one another. Melody had woken up and moved immediately to wake her new friend, who had quickly agreed to come with her to start a new day exploring. She had enjoyed watching the Disney movies and positively loved Melody. She was bright funny, and the songs Melody said she saw sounded really cool! She loved the castle and being here in general, she liked the fact that her big brother had finally made a few friends, and just knew he would be doing great things.

Melody, too, had enjoyed her time with the other girl, being around another child that didn't look at her strangely because of her appearance or because of her power. She also loved one other thing that had happened last night. She hugged Harry around the middle beaming up at him. "Morning, father!" she said, her eyes wide and her grin almost splitting her face.

Harry smiled, while hugging her back around her shoulders. He looked over at Illyana, who began to talk about how Piotr had did the two paintings that they had in their house and had even sold four others to another family in the community. Throughout this, Piotr simply sat there blushing and looking away embarrassed.

Soon, Dennis and Shiang Chi came down to join them. Harry nodded at the two men. "Shiang, do you think that you could run Piotr here through his paces today? I want him up and running soonest. We've been lucky so far that we haven't run into anything we couldn't handle going off on our own like we have but that luck is sure to run out. Nikolai too, when he gets up."

Shiang nodded, looking over at the large Russian, trying to think what martial art style would be best for him. "I understand the other young man has been trained as a soldier? I will warn you I am not very good with ranged weapons so you might wish to bring in someone else for that. Can I ask what his, his mutant power is? I have never trained with mutants before so I am uncertain what to call it without giving offense."

"I am not offended, my power allows my skin to turn into metal, it adds to my height, strength and of course durability." Peter replied. "However it only comes when I call it up, so I should be safe enough to train in the martial arts, yes? Though I have no idea if what I can do in my normal body will translate to my armored form."

"Well, that is one thing we're going to have to find out." Harry said firmly. "Still, I think it will, although we will have to see. Dennis, I'd like you to start doing what you can in terms of information gathering. We should have a vetting office set up soon, but until then you'll have to make do with what you personally can find out."

"I can begin work by myself, obviously. You have a good, secure, and encrypted connection here so I can connect to the Internet. From there, I can see what is going on in the world at large and all that rot. Though, of course, I won't be able to access anything that is off the net, as it were. Also my abilities to hack what I can access from there, yet is protected, is severely limited both in terms of my own skill and our abilities here. Moreover, even when I do get fully set up with all of my contacts the world over that are willing to work with us, we will still need a team of field operatives, one we can trust."

"What would such a team be used for?" Harry asked, though he had a pretty good idea. Still there were some things he would not have any truck with.

Dennis waved his hands vaguely. "Mostly infiltration, as well as information gathering and possibly agent retrieval, if any of my contacts are found out. Perhaps some demolition and um…." he finished hesitantly, "wet-work."

Harry frowned. "We don't have people just yet for that kind of thing and I wouldn't be willing to trust just anyone with it. They'd have to pass a really rigorous series of questions and pass it with flying colors. I'm not going to train up some wet work team and then find out later they were taking actions that I want no part of. Until then," he smirked and bowed slightly from the waist, "you have me. While I'm not exactly trained in it I have the tools, shall we say, to be very good at infiltration if I put my mind to it. Until then, get set up to start bringing in information and give Jean your list of your first group for us to bring in that are willing to work with us full-time."

Dennis nodded and turned to his meal.

Harry looked around when he felt a magical signature moving towards him, very weak, but still visible in the background hum of magic of the Castle. "Dr. Druid, how are you feeling?" He asked, turning and looking at the older man.

The bald Dr. Druid smiled wanly at the younger man, inwardly marveling at the response of even a simple wizard-styled transfiguration spell. He could probably have easily done it before he had to put so much of his own power into his magical hand but at the moment that was scant comfort. His field days were truly behind him, whatever he could have wished. "I am well enough, although I understand that guests arrived while I was out of it yesterday?"

Ororo smiled at the man, filling him in on the two children she had rescued. When she was done, Harry, rather more grimly, filled the man in on what had happened in Russia, with help from Piotr.

After they were done, the older man tapped his fork against his now empty plate thoughtfully before speaking. "The teens, the young miss, and her new friend will be a major help, I think. Understand, I am not an expert in child care but as a psychiatrist, which was my major line before history, I have worked with them a time or two, including children from… families that were not worthy of that name, Jesse and Christopher. In many ways, they will be more mature than children their age normally are, much more wary of course, possibly more violent. Making them feel at ease will be a necessity, which you have already made major inroads into, thanks to rescuing them, healing them as much as you could, and feeding them. But when we look the Russian youths over, that will possibly cause some flashbacks to their treatment by this… this vile worm that worked on them at the facility you demolished. Ororo, you will definitely need to be there and a few house elves, as well. The little creatures can help us a lot, I think."

The weather witch smiled grimly, standing up. "In that case, I will head out now to try to convince the one teacher I remember having a elementary education degree. I've looked over my information on her and Miss Fay Brown will do very well as a den mother, as well."

Harry jolted a little at the last name and hoped the woman didn't have a blond daughter who was a born again flower child. That would be a little too weird. He had very carefully not looked for any doppelgangers that his muggle born friends might have here, though he had been unable to stop himself when he first arrived from looking to see if he could find anything about a Hermione Granger. Thankfully, while he had found her parents easily enough, they didn't have a daughter, they had a son. His name was Leontes, and the one picture he could find via the internet looked very much like a male version of Hermione. That had made him laugh aloud when he found it, and he had stopped looking after that

He came back to the here and now, standing up himself. "In that case, I have a little project here I want to get done right away. Melody, Illyana, would you two like to help me?" Both girls looked over at him from their own conversation quizzically, while the breakfast group began to break up, only Piotr and Shiang Chi remaining at the table, talking quietly and exchanging stories form their lives.

Harry spent the next hour working with Illyana and Melody on putting in a bathing area for the ladies and one for the boys. The boys' would simply be shower stalls and a bath area but they spent most of the hour working with the hearthstone to change the layout of the castle to add the single women's bathing area on the fifth floor as well as one, much more utilitarian version, in the basement for both genders. Another one for couples was put in on the seventh floor. Luckily, the water closets were already numerous enough.

After that, the two girls left the castle heading down to the lake and Harry left the castle with his house elf helpers to look over the area in the Thames valley that they could use to house the visible home for their corporation, at least at first. Eventually, Harry had other plans but for now, it would work.

OOOOOOO

Calling ahead, Ororo was able to get Miss Brown on the first try and found the other woman, who had not only been her choice as den mother but was also the only teacher she interviewed with an elementary certificate as well, was amenable to meeting with her again. With Cory's aid, she could set up a meeting soon, which probably warned Fay that something was going on but the other woman didn't seem too put out by it. So at around nine in the morning, she met Miss Brown at the local café where they had met before. Since she had been to the cafe and called for him from there before, Cory could teleport her directly there, or at least to the alleyway directly behind it.

As she walked in and saw Fay already there, Ororo reflected that Fay Brown was a sort of monument to motherhood. She was a blond woman in her early thirties, somewhat plump, but in all the right places, with a pleasant looking face which hid a very sharp mind. She looked at Ororo and stood up in welcome as the black woman strode toward her. "Ms. Munroe, I take it, how to put this, circumstances have changed?"

Ororo nodded, frowning internally. They were taking a rather large chance here, but Fay wouldn't have been her choice for this if she hadn't already cleared the first round of questions about her feelings towards mutants and the 'mutant question'. "It has. I am afraid to ask you this, but during our initial interview, I spoke to you about assuming the role of a den mother for our boarding school Your resume shows you have both an elementary education degree and experience at that level. We decided to move in and rescue several children from bad home situations after learning how bad they were but this has caught us with no one to watch over them 24/7. If you can come with me immediately or, at least quickly, we could really use the help. For the inconvenience, I am authorized to pay you for two weeks' worth of salary for the rest of this week."

Ororo had come up with that partial lie. After, all it wasn't a home life in most of the children's cases, but it was believable so she hoped Fay wouldn't question it. Fay however simply nodded. "I understand that, most especially considering the subject matter of our initial discussion. I need to head home to prepare some clothing but other than that, I am more than willing to go with you now. Where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there," Ororo replied, then asked "Would you like some help?"

That caused Fay to blink a little before her eyes narrowed but she nodded, evidently realizing that the problems the African woman was talking about were much more immediate than she had previously thought. "That would be nice, thank you. My apartment is about a ten minute walk from here. This is actually pretty good timing, I was going to have to renew my lease next month anyway."

As they were walking, Ororo paused outside a small bookstore. "Excuse me a moment." She went inside, found the sections she was looking for quickly, and returned carrying a small bag. At Miss Brown's wordless question Ororo replied, a small but warm smile on her face. "One is for a child who we have taken in who is blind, a book on Braille. The other is for a little girl-child that is dear to my heart." Fay nodded, not asking questions.

With that, the two women started walking again. They soon reached Fay's apartment, which was on the third floor of a five story complex. It was small but clean although it didn't have much furniture in it. Fay was all set to go through her clothing but the moment they were inside and the door closed behind them, Ororo addressed the air. "Cory?"

Cory popped in, causing Fay to gasp in shock, but she didn't take immediate offense, shriek, or faint. Ororo smiled at her and introduced the two of them, before asking Cory if he could transport them and the furniture to Hogwarts. The house elf looked around, calculating. "I's could do it miss."

"Very well, could you take us home please? Don't worry Miss Brown, it's perfectly safe."

Fay looked a little dubious but reached forward to grasp the little creature's hand. A moment later, they were standing in the center of the dining hall where Dr. Druid sat, drinking some coffee and looking over a small book, whose title Ororo couldn't see from their current position. Fay's reaction to the sight of the magic user, however, was telling. "Anthony? Well, that explains some things at least."

"Fay Brown? What are you doing here?" Dr. 'Anthony' Druid got up from his chair, looking a little self-conscious.

"I take it you two know one another?" Ororo asked, before directing a few house-elves to take the furniture from Fay's apartment up to one of the teacher's living quarters on the seventh floor.

"We used to date for a year or so when we were both at college but then he decided to transfer to another college because he was getting into the occult at the time. So, does that mean you're the mysterious leader of this endeavor? And where are we, anyway? This doesn't look like any school I've ever been in." Fay said, looking between her old friend and current employer.

Ororo watched Fay closely as she, with the aid of Dr. Druid, explained what was really going on here. Surprisingly, Ms. Brown was alright with have been misled and was perfectly fine with staying in the castle, as well as everything else. Though of course, Ororo didn't tell her everything and a look sent his way made certain 'Anthony' didn't tell her anything he shouldn't about their extralegal activities that didn't have to do with the school, either.

Through it all, Fay was calm and accepting, though Ororo became more certain as the discussion went on that her acceptance had more to do with Dr. Druid being there than anything else. Eventually she nodded. "I will want to meet this Mr. Potter but despite the fact you misrepresented some things, you told me as much as you could without knowing me beforehand. I am happy to work here, although at some point I'll want to head out for supplies for my classroom. I also will be making a list of books for the kids but that can wait until I get a handle on their developmental level."

Ororo nodded, frowning in thought for a moment before summoning up another house-elf, a little female named Tabby. "Tabby, do you know where the gold that Harry has cleared of magic is?"

"Yes miss, it bes in the room next to the training areas in the basement."

Hearing this Ororo frowned further in thought, then sighed. "We really need to look into building our own jet or having Charles procure one for us. If Harry asks, tell him that I've gone out but should be back by lunchtime. I'll have to fly down to Sweden and then I will call in Cory to bring the gold to me. Have some of the unmarked gold ingots and bars in two large briefcases please, I think we have two that have rollers on them." The mokeskin pouch was of course being used by Jean while she went over the stuff they had taken from the installation in Russia the day before.

Tabby nodded and popped away while Cory popped in and said that he would be waiting for her call.

She turned back to the other two. "Since you two know one another, I will leave now. That way I might get back by the time the rest of the children are up. Melody, Mr. Potter's daughter, and Illyana, a student from a supportive family, are down by the lake if you wish to meet them. Illyana's grandparents are still asleep, but they might be down later, and Piotr, her older brother, who is also a mutant, is somewhere around here." Illyana might not be a mutant, though her power just might activate later, yet she was still going to be a student here.

As Ororo turned away to head outside, Fay had already leaned forward toward a suddenly nervous Dr. Druid, her smile turning somewhat predatory. "So, what have you been up to lately, Anthony? And what's with the wooden hand?"

OOOOOOO

Shiang Chi cocked his head thoughtfully as Piotr and Nikolai entered the training area. This wasn't the Room of Requirement, which would be used for full on combat and team exercises. The training area was a separate section in the basement where the Slytherin dormitories had been in Harry's old dimension.

"You're a big one, certainly." he said looking up at the other young man, not having noticed how tall he was when they all sat at the breakfast table. Shiang Chi was tall for a Vietnamese but Piotr topped him by a good five inches and was even broader across the shoulders than Shiang Chi was, after a lifetime spent learning martial arts. "Still, simply being big is not enough. We will see what we can do with you."

Behind Piotr came Nikolai, looking around with interest and smiling with approval at what he saw. It was homey yet serious, an interesting combination, with none of the brutal utilitarianism that he was used to when training as a Russian Super-soldier.

Shiang Chi turned his attention to Nikolai sizing him up in a glance. "I believe you were trained as a soldier, so that probably means you know Samozashchita Bez Oruzhiya, or Sambo for short?"

Nikolai nodded. "Yes, though it actually isn't as useful against someone who is far stronger than you are as you might think, if the opponent is strong enough they can break out of the hold techniques." He grimaced in memory, then smirked. "On the other hand, the initial strikes served me very well when we fought for real, even if my opponent was so strong a lock or hold wouldn't have worked. I am also a brown belt in judo and a black belt in karate." At Shiang Chi surprised expression, Nikolai shrugged. "I was one of their supposed super soldier candidates, trust me I really am very well trained. Sambo would do very well for Colossus here, but for myself, I suggest we concentrate on armed forms."

In fact, Harry had mentioned getting to know Nikolai and maybe turning over some of the team training to him. Specifically, Harry wanted everyone to be able to fall back on small group tactics regardless of their powers, just in case. Harry could lead such training himself but he had other demands on his time that only he could deal with. Nikolai would do very well in that, having been trained as a soldier and to be the leader of the Super Soldier Program, it was to be him or Alexei, the most normal, human ones in charge. He was eager to prove his worth to the man who rescued him and his sister. It'd been getting harder and harder, with every passing day, to protect his sister from the attentions of the soldiers at the base. He knew it was only because the officers had stamped down hard on any such issues that it had been possible at all so getting away from such had earned Nikolai's loyalty.

Shiang Chi nodded thoughtfully. "I am told you have some kind of superpower? Will it get in the way of our sparring?"

"That, I do not know." Nikolai answered honestly. "I haven't figured out how to control it, after all, it only activated yesterday during the battle."

Shiang Chi shrugged philosophically. "Well, we can only do what we can do. Now, we will begin with some light exercise, then have a few rounds of sparring where I will use various forms against you both. This is to check your reflexes as well as instincts, Piotr, and your actual skill level, Nikolai. No offense intended, but I prefer to make my own evaluation of your skills. After that, we will go out for a run, then back here for some cool down exercises before heading into the instruction portion of the day. By that time, I should have a good handle on both of your abilities and know what kind of training you both should do. Now, start with…"

OOOOOOO

Sergei had never, in his admittedly short time on this earth, woken up feeling so safe, let alone warm and comfortable. So he woke up slowly, reveling in the feeling, nuzzling into his amazingly comfortable pillow and ignoring, for the moment anyway, the urges of his bladder. Eventually however, he was forced to get out of bed.

Using his mutant power of echolocation with the ease of long practice, he was able to move out of the large circular room he shared with his fellow former prisoner Ivan and to the bathroom. Coming back he was unsurprised to sense Ivan waking up, stretching in place.

After a moment the other boy, his face split by a grin that showed his teeth were normal despite his lizard skin. "So it wasn't a dream?"

"I do not think I would have such a pleasant dream if we were still prisoners under the ground." Sergei replied, turning his head toward the boy despite having no eyes to see him. "I am feeling hungry again, how about you?"

Suddenly, one of the little creatures they had been told were called house-elves, popped into the middle of the room. "Young sirs, breakfast be ready in the main hall whenever you wish it. Do you need Grimbly to show you the way?"

Ivan and Sergei exchanged smiles, but replied in the negative. They exited the room, finding their fellow prisoners, Father Garnoff, Illyich, and Mikhail walking down the stairs toward them with two black children, undoubtedly, the two that they had been warned were already asleep when they came in last night. Sergei still didn't know what Mikhail's mutant powers were but assumed they had something to do with his hands, since they had been locked in the same kind of cuffs that Anechka, the girl who had been with them, had her hair clamped into.

Illyich was smiling widely, transforming his normally fearsome catlike face into a much more friendly visage, looking around with more energy and interest than he had before, while Mikhail was talking quietly to the two black teens. Father Garnoff still looked wan and sorrowful. It was Illyich who spoke first when they all met up. "Hey you two, heading down for some food?"

The two younger children nodded at their older compatriots and the group moved down the stairs into the tower's common room, introducing themselves to the black boys, whose names were Christopher and Jesse. There they found Nikolai, Laynia, and Anechka waiting for them, the two siblings conversing quietly while Laynia brushed out Anechka's black hair. The young girl was humming in contentment, her eyes half closed.

Nikolai looked up and smiled at the former prisoners. "I think I know the way down to the dining hall, I take it everyone is hungry?" he was answered with a murmur, and soon the group set off.

When they reached the dining hall, after stopping several times to just look around the castle, they found a new woman they hadn't met before sitting with an older bald man they hadn't seen before either, along with Piotr, who looked a little exhausted for some reason. He was sitting next to the young Vietnamese man they had all seen briefly the evening before.

The woman was the first one to notice their entrance and she stood up with a smile on her pleasant face, something about her manner immediate putting the five youngsters at ease. The teen quartet was somewhat more wary and Father Garnoff had to stop himself from trying to get into her head. Laynia was much less wary while Nikolai was dismissive, seeing immediately that the older woman was not a soldier of any kind.

When she spoke her voice was kind yet also somehow demanding attention. "Good morning all, I am Miss Brown, I was brought in to watch over you and as a teacher. I would like to talk to you all and get to know you, but we can do that while eating. The man behind me is Dr. Druid, who will be looking you over later to make certain that none of you have wounds or injuries from your time as a prisoner of those…." Her face scrunched up comically, and the children from Russia, who had tensed at something that sounded far too much like being subjected to tests, relaxed when the older woman tried to very visibly change what she was going to say. "Bad men."

The teens looked even warier at the teacher part, but the others took her words at face value and moved toward one of the tables en masse, with Miss Brown sitting down with them quickly. "Now, why don't we start with everyone's names…"

OOOOOOO

With Cory's aid, Ororo was able to transfer in the gold, which would have been much too heavy for her to carry physically and without notice-me not wards on them, if she had flown, carrying them in the air, they might have been seen. It took her a little over an hour and a half to get to Sweden plus forty minutes to find the city she was looking for, the bank Harry had an account with, and a landing place where Cory could pop in with the briefcases. After she entered the bank, however, she was able to drop off the gold into their account easily enough. In fact, she was treated like royalty the moment she gave them Harry's account number, even more so after they saw what her briefcases contained.

After that, rather than go back to Hogwarts straight away, Ororo had Cory pop her to the X-Men's mansion in New York. Thanks to the time difference, it was breakfast time by the time she arrived and, this time, Charles and the students were all there. Logan wasn't, having got a lead from one of his contacts about his supposed daughter late the evening before that he needed to follow up on immediately.

Charles felt Ororo's arrival in Harry's workroom. He smiled as he looked around at the others, who were busily looking at the designs for the new revamped basement of the mansion spread over the dining table. What surface wasn't covered by blueprints was covered by plates of simple fare here and there. Like most of their other meals, they had been made by the house-elf Harry had assigned to the mansion (read, Kitty). Today's was named Kirby, a name that had made Kurt and Evan both laugh aloud, though the others hadn't gotten the joke.

He had wanted the teams input on the defenses, both on the basement itself and the mansion as a whole. He found that Scott was just as good at this as he was at leading the team, having already spotted several areas where the defenses of the mansion could be updated to be more all-encompassing and reactive rather than passive. Charles was of two minds about that but was more than willing to foot the bill for it, despite his concern of having possibly lethal automatic defenses covering the entirety of the mansion's grounds rather than just the basement.

For now, however, he put aside their current work with a smile. "I believe Ororo has arrived, though I would have thought she would just be sending one of the house elves to pick you up, Kitty." Charles said looking over at the brunette.

Scott looked up too, frowning. "I would've thought that, as well. I wonder if something happened."

Ororo came in then, smiling pleasantly at them all, if a little harried. "How are you all doing? Charles, Scott, I need to borrow one of the medical beds, we ran into issues."

"That demands some explanation." Charles replied, though he nodded at Scott who promptly stood up moving to join Ororo at the doorway while the others moved as well, Kitty moving over to give Ororo a hug which the woman returned.

"It is a sad tale." The weather goddess shook her head before filling them in about what Harry had run into in Russia while they followed Scott into the medical area. She did so very loosely of course, no need to tell them what Harry had done to the base afterwards or how many men he had killed.

Her listeners however still could discern the lethal nature of the battle. Charles frowned at the deadly measures Harry used as well as the idea of him leading his own team but he understood the necessity of having another team out there to handle issues abroad at least. He wasn't particularly in favor of Harry's proactive stance or the fact he was so at home with dealing out death but, especially when there were mutants truly being experimented on out there, wasn't going to complain. So long as Harry preached co-existence and didn't take it too far, Charles was happy having him as an ally.

Scott, while glad there would be another team out there, was angry at the necessity and the fact the X-Men weren't currently taking similar missions. He knew the X-Men were soon going to be busy, once the repairs to the basement were completed (in particular Cerebro) so that they could go out and find/defend mutants again, but until then they were at loose ends. Kitty, Kurt, Rogue, and Evan, however, were all horrified at the idea of anybody experimenting on children like that and were grimly satisfied that Harry had come to the rescue.

While directing Evan and Rogue on how to disconnect the medical bed, Scott looked over at Cory, who had followed Ororo in. He hadn't had much to do with the house-elves so he didn't really know their capabilities. "Can you really teleport this thing all the way to Scotland?" They all knew where the castle was, in general terms, and that it was a castle where Harry and his group are setting up, although that was all Harry had shared.

Cory huffed indignantly. "I's can pop anywhere with anything," he boasted, exaggerating just a little. Still, he could easily pop with this amount of weight over to Scotland, even with Kitty and Ororo added in.

Kitty raced up to the runic workroom, grabbing her book bag which was filled with notes on different runic arrays, as well as her personal scribe set. When she came back, the table was completely disconnected and Ororo was finishing talking to Charles, with a small pad of paper in one hand. "So I can reach Dr. Pym using this phone number?"

"Yes, if you give him my name he'll build one of them for you but be warned; he will charge you through the nose. He hasn't found a trustworthy company to sell them yet. It was more of a intellectual pursuit than anything else but he needs the money now more than ever. He seems to be close to a breakthrough of some kind but he was laid off from his job as a biochemist and refuses to search for another full time job until he has finished whatever he is researching. It has to with a new type of particle he has found; that is the only reason I can think of that he is so emotionally connected to it but I cannot determine what else. Incidentally, I have found a language teacher as well as someone who will double as a live in housemother and a science teacher. They will both be moving in here in August on the fifth. Would you be willing to meet with the language teacher and discuss the kids and what they have already learned?"

Ororo nodded and smiled faintly as Kitty came up to them. "I would be delighted. Are you ready to go, Kitten?" Kitty nodded excitedly, eager to get to work. Ororo nodded over to Cory and, with a final wave of farewell, the trio disappeared along with the diagnostic table.

Charles stood there for a moment then shook his head chuckling. "I wonder which will prove to be more efficacious, magical or scientific means when it comes to finding young mutants?"

"Well to find that out, Professor, you'd need to have Cerebro up and running again." Scott said, with an expression somewhere between a smirk and a scowl. He absolutely hated not being able to get out there, fighting the good fight. There were reports of the Friends of Humanity becoming even more organized, going after mutants with physical mutations who couldn't defend themselves and other reports about random mutants acting out against the public, both of which were things they should have been able to handle but, without Cerebro warning them, finding mutants was impossible unless they acted out first. Luckily, Charles had made a list of the next group of students and none of them had run into any problems but that was scant comfort to Scott or the others.

"True, let's go and work on that, shall we? Scott, you and the others do what you can to prepare the basement for its renovations and go over those designs. I think I need to look up a certain young man of our acquaintance. He's had long enough to get used to the current culture, now we need his aid. With Forge, we can be up and running far more quickly, and I think we all agree that we need to be."

The others all nodded and went to work with a will.

OOOOOOO

Dennis joined Jean in her lab to go over the items that she and Harry had gathered from the ruins of the secret base, although, in Jean's opinion, calling it a laboratory was a bit of a misnomer since it didn't have nearly as much equipment as it should. Jean didn't want to look at the weapons in the Room of Requirement, however, because she wanted to use the hard-light network to aid her and couldn't in the RoR.

The duo first went through the material that Harry had gathered from the base in Russia, separating it into two different groups. The first was computers, notebooks, and other potential information sources, which Dennis took with a look of glee on his face to another room to work on. He would relay any information on the abuse and testing of the freed mutants to Dr. Druid for possible medical implications that would need to be dealt with.

Jean looked at the weapons Harry had gathered with an equal amount of interest. Unfortunately, she had to discard two initially, simply because they were too damaged for her to immediately use.

She first concentrated on an energy-based sniper rifle Harry had taken that was actually fully intact. In her opinion, this weapon had a lot of implications both for their own team and for how weapons might be changing in the near future.

The first thing she found out after running a few tests and actually firing it, was the rifle wasn't really a laser-based system as Harry had first thought, rather it was a plasma system. Short, incredibly hot slugs of highly energized material, which had quite a bit of stopping power but it didn't have enough energy to also be penetrating as Harry had mentioned the Crimson Dynamo's weapons were able to do. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to find enough parts of that system to take when she went through the base.

There were several problems with the system that would probably make regular infantry or even snipers wary of using it. For one thing, the recharge time between shots made it unusable to lay down suppression or cover fire. Single shots were the only thing the weapon could do. That was not just because it was supposed to be a sniper rifle but because of the recharge time of the plasma system in its entirety.

The next problem tied into the first and that was the heat of the thing. If anyone was using any kind of infrared goggles, the shooter, no matter how well hidden would be spotted easily even if they weren't firing. While firing it was even worse.

The third problem was weight. While the weapon was robust, tough, and durable, the rifle was almost three times as bulky as a regular sniper rifle, making it hard to set up and take down, which would negate any ability to move around that a soldier armed with it would have. "Forget about shooting this thing on the move, you'd have to be as strong as Piotr is in his metal form to do that."

After looking over the three rifles she had grabbed from the base with spectroscopic analysis and several x-ray based tests, Jean felt the system was made robust because quality control was so bad. "Cracks around the casing, the metal not of the right quality, the energy coils are rough and the spacing a little too wide. The quality of the build seems to be good, but the actual parts… I knew Russia had a major quality problem with the quality of their cars, tanks, and other mass produced stuff, but this was a secret installation! Shouldn't it have gotten the best quality stuff they could? Or is the graft that bad in their military procurement office? Something to ask Dennis later."

"Still,..." Jean murmured as she leaned back in her specially bought rolling recliner chair, something she had fallen in love with a moment she walked into the store. It was all padded leather and with wheels on it, so deep and comfy you could almost sleep in it. It was sort of the ultimate mix of La-Z-Boy and a mad scientist's chair. "...those aren't insurmountable problems."

She reached forward, moving her arm with the computer command bracelet on it, controlling the network through the hard light system she had set up everywhere in the castle. Then she logged into Harry's laptop, which she had basically taken over the past few weeks, simply because it was the only computer they had they could do high-end 3-D design work. Soon they would have enough money to buy more high-end systems but that wasn't going to happen right away, not until Harry could clear the gold she had taken from Selene's cache in Pakistan. "Now, setting aside the quality issue, let's work on miniaturization then heat dissipation…"

OOOOOOO

Upon arriving back in the castle, Ororo found that the children she had rescued from Sudan and the people they had rescued from Russia had woken up. Most of them were still sitting around the table listening raptly to Miss Brown. Laynia was off to the side, apparently reading a book with Dr. Druid sitting on the other side of the table from her doing the same. Nikolai wasn't there, nor was Piotr or Shiang Chi. Father Garnoff sat alone at one table, lingering over a late repast.

Ororo smiled when the children and Fay looked up at her. "Good morning, in case you do not remember, I am Ororo Munroe. This is Kitty," she said, waving one hand toward Kitty waved at the younger teens with a smile on her pretty face. They all waved back at her shyly, even the child with no eyes.

"She and I are going to set this table up," Ororo went on, waving at the very heavy looking table, behind which Cory was gasping a little from exertion. The thing had weighed much more than he thought it had. "And then we are going to ask you one at a time to lay down on it while the two of us and Dr. Druid look at the readings we get. Note that this table is not going to do anything to you. It is simply going to allow us to see if we caught all the problems last night the," she paused and controlled herself with difficulty, "vile people we rescued you from caused."

"Er, does that include us?" Jesse asked, looking between Ororo and his older brother.

"I would like you to use it, yes, but that is your choice." While the Sudanese siblings looked at one another, Ororo went on, looking over at Father Garnoff. "Father, could I ask you to go first, just so the children can see that it won't harm them?"

"I'll do it." said Illyich, though he looked a little apprehensive.

However, Blind Faith shook his head at the boy, reaching over to touch his shoulder gently before turning to Ororo. "I will agree to go first, though I would ask, do you know if there is a chapel in this castle?"

Ororo frowned and after a moment shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't. I would not think so but you could ask Harry when he returns."

In order to put the children more at ease, Ororo and Kitty set up the table in the dining hall, along one wall by an outlet that Harry and Jean had created during their initial efforts to put in power receptacles throughout the majority of the Castle.

Beyond a few old wounds, including a gimpy knee, the potions the Father had taken the evening before had fixed the majority of the issues that he had so the first test went without hitch. The children, encouraged by this and wanting to get it over with, moved forward one at a time. As she took her place in line, Nikolai's sister, engaged Kitty in small talk. Laynia was two years older than Kitty but the two were of similar disposition in many ways, both in tastes of clothing and outlook on life.

When it came time for his turn, Sergei was by far the most apprehensive but Fay and Ororo both did their best to put him at ease. The young boy, who had been born with his bat-like powers and had never known the love of his family or anyone before Father Garnoff had found him, moved forward hesitantly, and nearly flinched when Miss Brown put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Sergei, no-one here is going to harm you."

Sergei gulped, turning his blind face up to the teacher/den-mother. "You, you promise?"

Fay smiled gently, her hand gently touching his face. "We promise, don't we Ms. Munroe?" Ororo nodded firmly, reiterating Fay's promise, and the boy moved forward to lie down on the table. Despite this emotional moment, however, the children had nothing life threateningly wrong with them. Jesse and Christopher had a few old bruises but, to Ororo's relief (and shock if she was honest), had no old broken bones or anything that would point to physical abuse to go along with the mental abuse she knew they had suffered.

The children from Russia were worse, but still nothing major. A few old broken bones as well as numerous, as in over a dozen surgical scars on each of the five of them, surgical scars that the potions could not deal with, although Harry had once mentioned a salve for scars that could help. On Anechka and Ivan, the placement of the scars was particularly troubling but the damage they had covered, a missing rib and a bit of thigh bone, had been healed by the potions the evening before. Sergei, for all his fear, was much better off.

Dr. Druid, having a surprisingly good bedside manner and a face that the children seemed to trust, had helped throughout the procedure. Now he looked up from where he had been taking notes on a pad of paper, shaking his head. He kept his voice low as he talked to Ororo. "What these children went through is abominable. If I had known such was going on…" He paused looking down at his wooden hand which moved and flexed as his normal one would have. "I don't know what I would've done. I just hope that nothing like this ever happened in the United Kingdom."

"I have no doubt it has not, if only for the fact that King William would come down on it like the wrath of God," Ororo said dryly, "but regardless of the type of government, Russia has always been known to play fast and loose with the rights of the individual, as well as general humanitarian law. Given your area of influence there was nothing you could've done about this evil, even if you could have somehow found out about it in the first place."

"I know that, but it doesn't make me feel any better. I'll get to work on creating that essence of… whatever the name was of that salve Harry told me about a few days ago. I've looked at the ingredients and we have them on hand, thanks to Harry raiding that one particular dark zone. It doesn't look as if it is that difficult to brew. Besides, I will need the experience before starting to create the potions that Magical Minds is going to be selling."

Ororo nodded, and after a moment of conferring with Fay, decided the kids could have a few hours out by the lake before the two of them began to test their developmental levels.

At that moment, Harry apparated in with his house elf helpers, coming back from surveying the land in the Thames Valley. While they hadn't begun work on the building, the house elves had been able to tell him that the ground would be able to support a lot of development. They had also helped him survey the area for places where he could place ward stones as well as telling him where best to put the foundations of their new building. Once they had enough material, the four house elves, who were experienced with construction, would be able to help Harry put up the building, so long as he handled the wiring and other electronics. Plus, with the ley lines right there and the extra hearth stone, it would be foolish to not use it. All in all, it was a prime location.

Harry walked from the main hall into dining hall once more, only to be greeted with a bushy haired hug that reminded him so much of Hermione that Harry actually had to stop and blink away tears for a moment before looking down to where Kitty was hugging him across the chest grinning up at him. "Hey, Kitten." he said smiling a little wanly as the memory of being hugged like this right here in the Hogwarts of his birth reality more than a few times. "You, you ready to get to work?"

"You bet, Teach!" She frowned a little, looking over at the kids who were still gathered around the table, as Ororo gave instructions to a few house elves who nodded and popped off for a moment coming back with several different bathing suits for the kids. "You did a good thing there, Teach. I just wish the X-Men had Cerebro running so we could be out and about, fighting the good fight too, but it will be at least a another week before its up and running."

Harry shrugged, "Sorry, but my repair spell can't fix things if there are parts missing. Besides, I have no doubt that the X-Men will find more than enough to do in America once you lot are active again. Now, while Ororo's busy with the kids, let's go find Jean to see if she and I can find a way to protect your mind from outside threats."

He led Kitty through the castle to Jean's lab, where the redhead looked up from trying, and failing at the moment, to find a way to miniaturize the plasma blaster's heat sinks enough to be usable but maintain the needed level of efficiency while Country music, of all things, sounded in the background. "Oh, thank god, a respite! Hey, Kitty, you ready to get to work?"

"Yeppo, but Teach here says you need to figure out a way to protect my mind. Not that I, you know, mind that idea. I don't mind you or the professor being able to contact me telepathically but the idea of someone entering and, and just rummaging around scares me."

Jean nodded. "Let me tell you, it scares me too." She said this with considerable understatement. Especially after finding the mental blocks Charles put on her, the idea of anyone else messing with her mind gave Jean nightmares. That was why she had so many defenses to her mind, not just the outer layer of belsham trees, but an inner wall and even a third layer of defense in the form of another wall. "So, let's see what we can do."

Over the next few minutes, Jean placed a large mental wall around Kitty's mind. It wasn't permanent or perfect but it would do for now. Harry also informed Jean that she, as part of her journeyman test, would be coming up with her own runic array to defend her mind from intrusion. How long that project would take was very much up in the air, given all the work Harry was going to dump on her, but the very idea already had Kitty thinking up ways that could be done.

Once Jean was done, Harry showed Kitty to the runic workroom, two doors down from the hearthstone room. Once there he showed her the designs for the lie detector ward and detailed how he wanted it set up. His concept was a matched set of a desk and a chair to hold the different portions of the array. The sensing portion would be on the chair and the display portion, which would tell the user what the results were, would be on the desk hidden by something between it and the perspective employee. He went through each rune in turn, describing what they did and how they fit into the whole, then drew out examples of each standing alone. "So, do you think you can handle that?"

Kitty nodded. "It'll take me a while, but I think I can do it, although making the full array will be the toughest thing I've ever done." Harry patted her on the arm with a grin and left her to it. As Harry turned away, Kitty was already bending over the large sand table, writing out the runes, trying to master their forms.

Now that Kitty was working, Harry turned to check in with Ororo before calling Emma about meeting with her in two days. However, his search for his weather goddess was interrupted by Father Garnoff. "Mr. Potter, can I talk to for a moment?"

Harry looked over at the priest, who had come up to him in the stairwell, and nodded. "Certainly, what can I do for you? Does this have anything to do with you being the leader of the mutant railroad or whatever that doctor that was experimenting on you mentioned?"

"It does indeed. I have no doubt that the railroad has moved on, but I would still like to try and get in touch with it. Without my power they are probably having a much tougher time finding young mutants, let alone getting them out of the country."

Harry frowned thoughtfully, leading the way up to the Book of Students as he asked, "What are your powers, exactly?"

"Telepathy based around the momentary control of others or the usurpation of their senses, including hypnotic suggestions. With it, I was able to mask my own presence as well as blind the presence of others. It was particularly useful when spiriting mutants away. I was captured when we were attacked by soldiers who had their minds mechanically protected from my influence. Many of them died soon after, the implants burning their minds out. Phobos once said it had been an excellent investment of an experimental model." The father nearly spat those words.

Harry paused in the hallway leading to the library tower, his face blank as he mentally made certain that his invisibility cloak was covering his mind, once more covering, for the moment anyway, the small corner of it he had allowed to be open for communication with Jean. When he spoke his voice was measured and calm. "I understand that such powers would have been a major help in your fight against the powers that be in Russia, but you are among friends now. So, if I ever even get a hint of you using your powers on anyone here, for whatever reason, I will rip your skeleton out of your body and force it to dance a jig on your soft squishy bits. Do you understand?"

As outlandish and even comedic as the threat was, both the tone of voice and the cold, level stare Harry sent Blind Faith's way told him to take it seriously. So he simply nodded.

After that, the trip down the corridor resumed as did the conversation. "As to helping you get back into Russia, I can do that, though I am not so optimistic about your ability to stay undetected for very long. I highly doubt that Phobos only kept a single copy of your files on his system. In fact, I'd bet the government has multiple copies of your power signature, appearance, abilities, and what have you, as well as your followers. You might bring down more heat on them."

Father Garnoff frowned at that. "Nonetheless, I have an obligation to try to help my fellow mutants as much as I can."

"And is there a reason why you don't want to do that working with me and the others here? I can't promise that we will be concentrating solely on Russia but you might be able to help mutantkind far more here than you could alone. You should have already noticed, but I have a lot of resources and many of those resources are going to be used to aid mutantkind from persecution."

By this point, they had reached the entrance to the library. Harry entered first looking up at the top of the doorway, where a series of tiny runes were placed around a large piece of colored glass. This was a runic array much like the one Harry had tasked Kitty to start making, though somewhat more limited. The glass triangle would glow red if someone in its presence was lying or who was inherently untrustworthy. He watched it out of the corner of his eye as the priest followed him in and it did nothing, causing Harry to smile.

"For instance, there is this." Harry gestured at the monstrous book on the plinth in the center of the circular room, pulling Garnoff from his staring at the towering bookshelves. "This is the Book of Students and it can magically scan the world over for mutant signatures, although it isn't very precise in what it terms a mutant, yet. I think it might be only looking for ones with a noticeable change in energy level, not ones who have permanent physical mutations."

Harry gently brushed the open pages of the book, then frowned a little when he noticed that it had stopped creating names, and there were about five pages worth. The names of the children downstairs, along with Piotr's, were there in green with little 'S' symbols next to them, signifying their student status as well as Nikolai's and his sister's, both with the 'S' of students. However the children's names hadn't appeared before this, nor had Laynia's, which meant the book looked for sudden differences, it wouldn't catch someone whose mutation was just of their normal body form. That wasn't good. It meant either Harry would need to refine the search parameters or find someone else who could do the same thing in another manner. All of the current names in the book showed green, however, which meant that they were safe. He was still going to contact them to offer his services in training them in their powers but if they weren't in danger right away then there was no reason to run off just yet.

"I'll be honest with you Father, I could use your talents here. Moreover, I don't want to send you back to Russia alone, I think that would be as good as sending you to your death. I have no doubt that base wasn't the only one where mutants were being experimented on but we can only do so much without good intel, which I hope Dennis and this book can help us gain." He tapped the big Book of Students. "What I'd like is to offer you a job working here as part of the school and as the watcher of this, once I figure out how to modify the spell array to allow telepathic interaction. With your power and the power of this book, we can find more young mutants and, if necessary, get them out of danger. You can help mutants the world over, not just in Russia."

Blind Faith frowned thoughtfully then with a sigh, nodded. "Very well, I can agree to that. Besides, I'm getting a little old for fieldwork."

Harry nodded, looking up at the runic panel above the doorway and smiling faintly as he saw that it was still showing no change, indicating the man had no duplicitous motives. Evidently the man was trustworthy, despite the fact they had gotten off on the wrong foot when he tried to probe Harry's mind.

"In that case, you can help look after the kids for now. I think Fay and the others will need the help and the two teens that I rescued with you seem to trust you, as do the younger kids."

The older man once more nodded, turning away to head back down the stairs. Harry smiled, patted the monstrous book once more, then conjured up a soft chair for himself and pulled out his communication mirror.

OOOOOOO

"Ms. Frost, you have a call from an unusual individual on line three."

Emma looked up from where she was working at her desk, frowning internally, though at the same time, she took a moment to look around her office in the mansion before replying. She'd decided to work from home as much is possible, not only to spend time with her younger sibling but to also utilize the defenses of the mansion as much as she could. Emma wasn't really concerned about Sebastian Shaw flying off the handle but it was a fact that she was making enemies. Many of them would not hesitate to strike at her physically.

To that end she had taken over her father's office but had completely renovated it, as well. Gone was the large wooden desk and furniture, replaced by new age metal and glass furnishings complimented by the coordinating fabrics on the cushions and window coverings, as well as a few tasteful paintings on the wall rather than a few store-bought hunting trophies. It was much more pleasant this way, but, also more importantly, much more her, simply being another sign of the fact that she had taken over as head of the family.

Of course, she had also done a thorough search of each and every piece of the old furniture, trying to figure out if there were any hidden files anywhere, as well as going over the computer that had been part of her father's desk. While those files had helped her immensely, she had not found anything that pertained to the electronic worms that gave her family an advantage when it came to gathering information electronically. That was one secret her father might well have taken to the grave and it was worrying her more the more she studied them.

As head of the family, she could actually see the worms now as they worked and they were literally light years beyond anything on the open market or available to anyone but possibly Reed Richards or Dr. Doom. Yet at the same time, they didn't have the same feel that she thought that either of those gentlemen would put into their programming. They were almost otherworldly, alien, like she had thought after that one discussion with Harry.

For the moment, she shrugged off that thought, looking at the doorway where Greg was standing. "Unusual how?"

"Unusual as in this person has never tried to contact us before this, in point of fact he, his father and your father had a sort of gentleman's agreement to never even be in the same state at the same time, let alone contact one another." Greg's voice was dust dry as he spoke, not even hinting at why that might have been, even if both of them had a pretty fair idea. "Perhaps the change of management or your little meeting a few weeks ago at that gala you attended in San Francisco has changed things. Whatever the case, Tony Stark is on line three."

Emma smiled faintly, leaning back. "Transfer the call to here, Greg. I've been expecting him to call today, I'm sorry I should have told you." Her faint smile remained on her face a moment later when the video display lit up, showing Tony's face.

The video phone was a new device on the open market but Tony and other 'tech geeks' had been using it for years, though, and it had only recently installed at in her office. Her father had not liked seeing people face-to-face when talking to them on the phone since most of the people he talked to on the phone were underlings. If you were important, he met with you in person, the better to get a read on your body language in its entirety rather than just your voice or even your face. Many people in the business world schooled their facial expressions and voice but very few people were able to control all their body language, giving Frost senior an advantage when figuring out what other people were really thinking.

"Tony Stark, to what do I owe of the pleasure of this call?" Emma allowed her small smile to become an equally small smirk for a moment before hiding it behind the habitual Frost self-control. While she was known already in business circles to be warmer and more approachable than her father, that wasn't really saying much, and she was determined to set the tone early.

"I think you know damn well what this is about." Tony smirked back at her, though his eyes were hard. "So tell me, were you already working with Obadiah before that meeting we had at the Fireman's gala or did you start working with him immediately after. I have to say that it looks very damning to me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Emma replied another, slightly wider smirk appearing on her face before, once again, she banished the expression. "Perhaps you should speak plainly, Tony. I can call you Tony?"

"A lovely lady can always call me Tony," Tony replied nodding his head as if he was trying to bow in place. "And if you're going to play that way I will ask plainly: How the hell did you get a hold of a further twelve percent share of my company on top of the seven percent you had already. You must have known where Obadiah had hidden them to get at them so quickly after his death!"

Now, Emma allowed her face to settle into more amused and somewhat friendly lines. "Not at all, I merely heard about your little run in with Obadiah over by the African coast and immediately had my code monkeys start looking for places where he could have hidden stocks from your company. There is nothing illegal in that. There was no hold on those stocks and, even if they were traced back to Obadiah, you hadn't at that point frozen his stocks either. And may I just say, Tony, really? 'I am Iron Man'? Must you be such a grandstander? Or is that just a guy thing, big guns, suits of armor, and testosterone cutting off your higher brain functions."

Tony chuckled, shrugging. "Pepper said much the same thing. I thought it was a great moment, actually. Besides which, what was I supposed to have said, that he was my bodyguard or something? How many people would really believe that? Honestly, if that's the best the feds could come up with as a cover story, then it's a wonder they have any spies at all."

"True enough, I suppose." Emma chuckled as well.

Tony went on. "So what exactly are you planning to do with those shares? You realize you don't actually have enough stock to really irritate me. I've long since gotten used to ignoring other stock holders."

In fact, Tony was very used to ignoring stockholders because he had been doing it all his life. Still, the new batch of stockholders was much more interesting then his old batch. He was almost certain that Anastasia, at the very least, was a front for someone else. Looking into her background, he had been unable to find anyone who knew her or had even heard her name. He didn't think that Emma was behind the girl. It wasn't her sort of thing really, judging by her personality and what he knew of her and her family. Too showy.

He just wished that he understood the purpose behind the façade that was Anastasia and whether or not she was the one that had slipped him that ever so interesting piece of paper. That selfsame paper was still indestructible but every test he ran on it couldn't find why. Tony felt he was getting closer, energy readings that was the thing. It was just a matter of finding the right frequency to detect something in the paper, but he wasn't there just yet. But Anastasia wasn't the only one who had at opportunity to slip it to him so he wasn't certain of the connection.

Still she was interesting, as was George who was former SAS. Much like Obadiah before him, that was the totality of what Tony could find out about the man. Everything else about George was just not there. And he wasn't about to irritate MI5 or the SAS by digging further. Still, he had recovered and then absorbed the stocks that Obadiah had openly held, giving him a simple majority share of the company.

"On another topic, I don't suppose you'd be willing to share any information you had about whoever is behind that Anastasia girl, would you?"

"You found out that she was fake?" Emma said showing no surprise at all. Tony was many things, obtuse he was not. His particular intelligence might be geared more towards engineering and electronics but he wasn't socially inept as a few other geniuses in the world were. He was in fact very good socially so the Anastasia character had probably been a little over the top, although the fact that it was a little too obvious might've made him hesitant to assume it was, in fact, more than it was. "I thought so at the time, but I was having such a good time with my friend that I didn't want to interrupt the evening."

She watched as Tony's eyes took a faraway look as he tried to bring to mind Emma's companion, couldn't, and almost immediately gave up on the exercise, looking back at her through the video screen, smiling faintly. "Oh yes, she's very fake. She has an electronic and paper trail but no one in her supposed hometown even heard of her and, believe me, she was rather memorable."

"And in oh so many ways," Emma replied dryly. "Still, I can't help you there. It was the first time I met her, as well as that interesting English gentleman. Have you been able to find out anything about him other than he was former SAS?"

Tony shrugged. "Not a bit. Still let's set that aside for now and get down to brass tacks, Emma. You have your own company, which is doing very damn well I notice. Your new weapon designs are most interesting. I don't suppose you'd be willing to share who came up with that long-range taser system of yours?"

The taser gun in question was one of Harry's and was already one of Cold Steel's biggest sellers. It was, without a doubt, going to revolutionize police work in America and beyond. At the moment, only a few areas were able to make room in their budget for them but those orders were from many of the larger municipalities, including New York, Washington, and several other cities along the West Coast and in Florida.

At Emma's amused chuckle and shake of her head, Tony went on. "You have Cold Steel, you have all your other companies, you have no need to go out and buy stocks in my own, and you don't strike me as avaricious enough to simply take them on as a flier to see if you can make another billion. What are you after?"

"Never go into politics, Tony. You're much two blunt and honest for your own good." Emma chuckled, leaning back slightly, the tilt of the screen on her desk following her automatically. "In fact, I am after several things, though I will say that when I bought those shares initially, I didn't have my family's corporation. My father was head of the family and the corporation at that point."

Tony nodded, conceding the point but one of his hands appeared in the pickup waving at her to continue. It was evident he wanted to know precisely what kind of bribe she expected him to pay so as to force her to not make issues. While he was correct that she couldn't really force him to follow her directions vis-a-vis the company, she could, along with George and whoever was behind Anastasia, form a block that could make problems for him down the line and in the media, something he really didn't want to deal with. It was better to deal with things like that before they came out. "So, what precisely do you want?"

"I would like some high-end electronics gear that your company produces, scanners and such like, along with a few computers, the kind that you are well known to use when designing things as well as to run your security systems at your various buildings. Possibly, I might be sending you a few commissions that I want you, personally, to look at. Don't worry, it won't be for anything weapons related. I won't offend your sensibilities like that but I'll have to think of that aspect further. I'm not going to make waves, Tony, if that's what you're worried about. I'm simply going to ask you to pass along certain items, that is all, business as usual."

Emma was actually speaking of the need that Harry had mentioned once for a long-range detection system to detect incoming threats from space. She was also wondering if she should ask for a copy of the program that JARVIS was built around. The program might not be a fully AI but it was so close it could serve the same purposes without all the 'ethical issues'. Still, she knew that Tony wasn't going to be willing to sell that, not without a lot more incentive.

Tony frowned, not liking the idea of handing over the proprietary tech that he had personally developed, but for the price of Emma not making trouble, what she was describing might actually be cheap. "Send me a list via e-mail and I'll look at it to see if I can agree to let some of that go. I will say that I would not be happy with the idea of giving you any of my computers specialized for 3-D design, since I know you'll just turn them to weapon design again."

"You have a suit of armor that is possibly one of the ultimate weapons in the world and you are using it as your personal superpower. I noticed that you were on the news again yesterday, something about a drug ring you smashed down in the Gulf of Mexico? And you're still irritated about the idea of selling weapons?"

"There is a difference," Tony replied sharply, his eyes hardening, "between trusting myself with weapons I make and trusting someone else. It's the same reason I'm not willing to sell my suit to the government. I'm not going to allow anyone to mass produce it. There is a difference between me owning that weapon and turning over all the weapons I have in my head to other people, when I can't control how they use them."

Emma groaned mentally, knowing for a fact that there were at least two secret government agencies in America alone working on re-creating Tony's suit, although neither had been able to figure out how to power the things, yet. "I know you've heard this before but just because you're not making those weapons doesn't mean someone else isn't going to step in and fill the gap. Your personal conscience might be clean but that doesn't really change the facts of the world, now does it? Your work as a superhero works better than your initial response, if that is your real goal. In any event, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind for those computers and programs of yours, but you really have no need to know what I do have planned for them. Is that all you want to talk about?"

Tony nodded then abruptly cut off, causing Emma to frown. Tony was still showing small signs of PTSD and he was still far too hands off in terms of his company for her liking. That was her personal belief of course. Tony had always been heads off but Emma would've thought that a smart man like him would've learned from the mistake shown by giving Obadiah so much power and stepped up to the plate. Instead, Tony was leaving more and more of, well, everything to do with the company to Pepper Potts.

Emma wasn't concerned about the choice of individual there. Pepper was a very good manager, not brilliant exactly, and she didn't have the social or business connections a president of a company as large as Stark Corporation should have, but still a good manager. Yet, it was a fact that Pepper wasn't as good at the job as Tony could have been, if he cared about his company at all. That offended her sensibilities and opened up Stark Corporation to attacks from other corporations and companies that Pepper couldn't see or handle as easily as her boss.

However, Emma also knew that there was growing pressure in Congress for the government to seize control of the Iron Man suit, which probably was taking up a lot of Tony's time and effort to combat. At least. I hoped it is. If he's so egotistical as to not see that as a threat, it's a very bad sign indeed. Much like the reports of daredevil activity from Tony that the news has begun to cover, not only in his suit but in his driving, in being seen hang gliding, and there was one report a day ago of him joining a Formula One race while inebriated. Is this a new symptom of his narcissism, a holdover of the PTSD, or something else? Emma mused, wondering what was making Tony tick these days.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt her pants pocket heat for a moment. She reached inside, pulling out the small compact that she had been using to communicate with Jean and the others. After touching the screen to activate it, she smiled, pleased to see Harry's face. "Harry, how are you doing? What can I do for you?"

"I'm doing well. We ran into a spot of bother yesterday but nothing too life changing or threatening. However, I was talking to Jean and Ororo. Both of them pointed out that I'm still not taking the business aspects of my plans for the future seriously. I was wondering if we could meet on Wednesday and just sort of spend the whole day going over everything. I think you'll need the entire day to pound the necessity of taking the business aspect seriously into my head."

"Be warned that I'll probably enter into the political portion of what you mean to do." Emma warned, smiling brightly at the idea of spending an entire day with Harry. "And I would love to. I can clear up my schedule for Wednesday, though I would prefer if you can get over here early enough for the two of us to go over and talk to the Sandman in person before starting our discussion, as you mentioned wanting to see Sandman before trying to find a way to control him without my using my telepathy to lobotomize him."

"I haven't really had time to devote to that just yet, but we'll see." Harry replied, waving one hand in the screen in a so-so gesture. "Still, I have no problem with that. Where do you want to meet or is there a place on your property where I can teleport in without anyone seeing? If so, I'll send Hedwig to you and you can take her to wherever you wish me to port in."

Emma thought for a moment then smiled sardonically, looking up at the ceiling and toward her mother's former rooms. They were now uninhabited, the furniture in them having been moved to her new house near the shore but both Emma and Cordelia were very reluctant to use those rooms. They seemed to have a sort of miasma around them, of distilled apathy and despair, but that was probably just their feelings toward the rooms and its former inhabitant. "I do in fact have a place which we could that set up, although we will have to be careful going in and out. Still, we'll see. Send Hedwig to me this evening around one o'clock AM local time. I'll show her where, nothing changes in there so it should be safe."

Harry nodded. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about right now?"

"Tony Stark just called, he seems to be somewhat getting over his PTSD but at the same time, not." She described to Harry the symptoms she had been noticing, as well as the state of Stark Corporation. "I'm not certain what to make of it. I'm not a psychologist of course but still it feels as if he's not all there, yet. And he's also taken up the Iron Man motif as a superhero. Have you been following that?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but given his personality that does seem like something Tony would do." Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I'd like to partner with him, possibly use him as a silent partner even after I get my own corporation going but if we can't trust him to keep things as discreet as needed, I'm not certain I'd want to trust him with anything to do with our extralegal activities. It's a pity because he would be a fantastic person to go to for a lot of the technological issues I can see on the horizon, which would free Jean to work on other issues, but I'll go with you on this one. If you think Stark's still too erratic, then we're not going to even approach him."

"I think that it would be a very bad idea, to be honest with you." Emma replied, smiling dryly. "Regardless of what new mental issues he is dealing with, Tony is an almost classic egotist. I think he's a good man, don't get me wrong, but he likes being the center of attention, he likes being the leader, and if he's not either of those things he is not going to be happy. And like it or not, the two of you would clash far too often."

"That was one of the impressions I got, yes."

"Besides, we don't need to partner up with him openly to get the technology you seem to think you will need. Get with Jean, ask her what she needs in terms of engineering tools and equipment, get with her and see how much money she spent so far on the projects you had her doing in the castle. That'll give me a round number of what we should ask Tony for in terms of buying my becoming a non-issue in terms of my shares of the company."

Harry nodded. "I'll do that. Do you think we could also commission him to make some kind of long-range sensor for space without tipping our hand?"

"No." Emma replied bluntly. "At first, when I was talking to him that was my thought but I realized after he hung up on me that it would be obvious to Tony what we were asking for. If he makes something like that he'll simply either sell it to the government or use it himself. After all he's a hero now, he'd think he could handle that sort of thing." The emphasis Emma put on the word hero was anything but flattering to those with that appellation.

Harry shrugged. "Well, it's not as if he was the only person I could go to for that." The two continued to talk for a time, with Emma informing Harry of what he should bring with him to their meeting on Wednesday and reiterating Ororo and Jean's warnings about trusting Dr. Doom. "Dr. Doom will follow the letter of any agreement," she said emphasizing the word grimly, "but if there is even a chance of not following the thrust of said agreement in the wording, then he will figure out a way to get around it. He's almost a lawyer like that. Also, make certain that any agreement he agrees to he does so in his full name, not just as Dr. Doom."

"I have every intention of wording whatever agreement the two of us agree to in such a way that he won't be able to get out of it, trust me." Harry replied dryly. "I'll be sending Hedwig as soon as I'm off the mirror with you over to the King to figure out a specific time to meet with him. After that, if she isn't too tired, I'll send her on to you so you can show her the area you think I should apparate to."

Emma nodded, eagerly looking forward to that meeting. "Very well, I'll see you Wednesday."

OOOOOOO

Harry nodded and signed off before standing up and making his way up to the headmaster's tower, leaving his comfy chair where it was to fade when the magic ran out. There he found Hedwig still sleeping, exhausted from her evening battle against Dr. Doom's traps, so much so that she hadn't even tried to get to him when he thought about sending a letter with her. A highly unusual state for the post owl, who prided herself on knowing when her Harry needed her.

She looked up as Harry began to stroke the plumage along her back. "Hey, Hedwig," Harry murmured, "are you feeling up to a trip down to Buckingham Palace and back?"

Hedwig precked indignantly, waking up fully to glare up at Harry.

Harry held up his hands placatingly. "Easy there Hedwig, I wasn't questioning you. I just know you had a rough night against Doom's entrapment attempts, that's all."

Hedwig nodded, mollified a little.

After stroking her plumage for a bit longer, Harry gently tied the message that he had prepared for the King to her leg. "Wait there for William's reply, we need to know when he wants to meet with us. I'll have at least twelve pieces of bacon ready for you right here when you get back."

With the ruffling of feathers, Hedwig set off, leaving Harry alone in the room shaking his head in amusement at his snowy owl. "I don't suppose I have to say it out loud, but could someone make certain there is a plate of fresh bacon here ready for her when Hedwig gets back?"

A female house elf whose name Harry couldn't remember offhand popped in, curtseying. "We have already prepared a plate for her owliness, master. We will be keeping it warm until we feel her return."

After thanking the house elf, Harry went down to find Jean in her lab. The redhead was still working on improving the design of the plasma weapon while sitting in her very comfortable looking chair. When Harry walked in, she was frowning intently at the rifle blueprints hovering in midair, with the parts of the sniper rifle laid out on a table underneath. "Hey Jean, you ready to head up to High Note?

Jean frowned as she looked up but eventually nodded. "Yes, it shouldn't take us long, I suppose." She paused as she moved her finger across the display, connecting the laptop system to the local printer, which was set up in the dining hall as a central area. She quickly opened the file with the parts list and specs, then sent it to the printer. "I've got some ideas for some of these weapons but the miniaturization aspect as well as the heating is going to be troublesome, unless we start using Orihalcum for these as well. Even so, it's going to take me a few days to go through all this. I haven't moved past the sniper rifle yet. The power system is good, almost revolutionary, but the rest of the design is too damn bulky for me to want to use any of it and even the power source could be made... tighter, I suppose is a way to describe it."

Jean wasn't a scientist like Reed Richards or Tony Stark or others of their caliber. She would never be pushing the envelope of what is known about the material world. What she was, was an engineer par excellence. Give her something to work with, and she could come up with ways to make it work better than the original in very short order.

Harry shrugged. "I'd prefer not to become too wedded to that idea. Orihalcum is going to become our calling card if we go into the energy business and I don't want it to be in any way connected to our combat team, not for a while anyway. I dislike the necessity but we need to separate our legitimate businesses from the work we'll be doing as… whatever the hell name you and Ororo decide to use for us, at least until we can get public approval and move fully into the open."

"In terms of time, take as long as you need, love. New toys always take a bit of time to get right and it's not like we have the rest of the battle rattle for our team set up either, that belt I made up for you notwithstanding. That's an awfully comfy chair by the way." he said changing the subject.

Jean nodded tapping the arms of the chair affectionately "I like it…" her voice cut off as Harry leaned in quickly, kissing her on the lips. Jean's eyes widened at first then closed as she responded to the kiss, her arms going around him as he moved in, pressing her deeper into the chair. They made out for a few minutes and then Harry retreated slightly grinning at her and kissing her once again lightly on the lips before moving away. "Come on, let's get something to eat and then head up to High Note."

Jean followed him, a little dazed by the suddenness of his passionate assault, her cheeks dusted with red. She shook it off quickly, however, and moved after him, chuckling quietly about how spontaneous Harry could be with his affection at times.

OOOOOOO

Rounding a corner looking for Ororo or Harry, Kitty gasped as she slammed into something with almost bruising force. "OW!" she exclaimed, falling backward toward the floor before two clamps latched onto her arms, lifting her off the ground for a moment until she got her bearings back.

A rumbling sort of voice said gently, "I'm sorry, little one, are you well? I should've been looking where I was going."

Kitty looked up, rubbing her forehead, and wondering what had clamped onto her, to discover that it had been a large young man, a few inches taller than even Harry and very handsome to boot. She gaped a little, blushing slightly, at his square-jawed, chiseled face, black hair, and intelligent kind brown eyes. He was also shirtless, showing off ripped muscles in his stomach, powerful arms, and shoulders, all of which were glistening with sweat at the moment.

The young runic apprentice blushed further after noticing that and stepped back quickly. "I-I'm fine um, w-who are you, and how did you get here!?"

"My name is Piotr and I came in from Russia with the others that you probably have already met. I would've met you this afternoon, I suppose. Harry had asked Shiang Chi to put myself and another Russian man named Nikolai through our paces." He grimaced a little. "I regret to say that I did not stand up to the running as much as my fellows did. The two of them are still out there but I was told to come in and get some water." In fact, Piotr's legs were burning more than he could remember at any other time. While his cardiovascular system was up to it, if barely, his legs just were not used to being forced to run that far or that quickly. Farmers were asked to lift a lot with their legs but not to run, so much.

"Though," he smiled, with a little smirk of triumph, proud despite his self-effacing nature, "I did much better than either of them thought I would in terms of strength, far better than either of them did in point of fact. Even in this." He tapped his still bare chest, though obviously the young girl before him did not understand his amusement.

This caused Kitty to look at the hand and the muscles underneath it before she blushed and looked away again. Idiot, Kitty thought to herself, you have a boyfriend you can't go checking out other guys like that although, she spared a single glanced down at his pecs again, this is one hell of a show… no, stop that.

While Kitty was conducting her inner monologue, Piotr was examining her in turn. Kitty's brown hair was as wild and curly as ever, extending a little past her shoulders. Her body was coltish, yet still feminine, looking like she was a sprinter or possibly a dancer. She also wore clothing that, despite the fact that it was probably worn more for comfort than anything else, showed off her body to good effect.

Piotr looked away, frowning a little at how he had noticed such things. They didn't know each other after all and he had been brought up to respect women. His grandmother was not one to let such thoughts enter her grandchildren's heads, after all, and it was many a time that he, and his older brother years ago, had been smacked upside the head for their attempts to join the other farmers in their bawdy humor.

"Um, ahem, anyway," Kitty stammered, "do you know if Teach, I mean Harry, is around? Or maybe Ororo?"

"I'm afraid not, I have not seen either since I reentered the Castle, though I believe that Ororo, at least, was still with the children a little while ago. She might have turned that over to Miss Brown, the, what did she call it, the den mother?"

Kitty grinned, and nodded. "Yep, too many hats make a very unhappy Ororo. Well thanks, um, I'll uh, I'll see you around." With that she raced off, trying to cover her blush. "Idiot," she muttered to herself aloud this time, "you have a boyfriend, although to be fair that… it isn't going so well lately." Lance had, in fact, been training with his mentor, Clint, every day and hadn't had as much time for her as she had hoped they would be able to have during the summer. He was also becoming much more secretive, although she understood the reasoning behind that now, which made it little better all around.

Still, she thought to herself now much more seriously, he's becoming more loyal to Clint, who is part of SHIELD. While I'm loyal to Ororo and Harry and the professor, and, judging by what Ororo told me about Teach's meeting with that Fury guy… I don't know what's going to happen there, but we might find ourselves on opposite sides.

That was, in fact, her list of loyalties. Ororo first, a personal loyalty that was built on their affection for one another and the fact that the older woman was Kitty's role model as much as she was a sister figure. For some reason the two of them simply clicked, something that had deepened over time since Harry had helped Ororo let out her emotions more. Then Harry, as her runic teacher and, in her opinion, the best hope they had for peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. Then came the professor, for it was his dream that had grabbed her, his teaching that had helped her when her mutant power first activated.

Kitty wasn't blind to the tension that had been ratcheting higher as long as she had been known she was a mutant. She had followed the stories of mutants turning on people and mobs attacking weaker mutants, like that poor boy in Ohio whose only crime had been to have insect eyes. The professor's dream was an excellent one but he wasn't proactive enough for her tastes or, frankly, any of the younger set's. She had actually talked about that with Scott and been surprised that even Scott would follow Harry rather than the professor if forced to choose. It wouldn't be easy for the younger man but it would be a choice he would make willingly. Thankfully, the professor and Harry were on the same side, and it looked as if they would remain so.

As she finished thinking that thought, she came upon Ororo with several of the younger children on a bench in front of her in a classroom on the first floor. Miss Brown was standing in front of a table near the back of the room with a faint smile on her face as she worked with the two male teens on something. Ororo seemed to be smiling on the surface, but to Kitty's eyes, something was bothering her, though what that was she had no clue.

Laynia, the teenage girl Kitty had met earlier, sat alone at another table. The blonde waved at her and Kitty smiled, moving over to join her, pulling over another chair. "What are they working on?" she whispered.

Laynia shrugged her shoulders, pushing across a stack of papers she had been working on all morning since the end of the physical tests on them and the children. "I've been working on translated placement tests that Ms. Ororo and Miss Brown gave us older teens from Russia, they downloaded them off the internet somehow. They're trying to place where our educational levels are." Laynia frowned, then shaking her head as she looked at the younger teens who were working with Miss Brown. "Two of the youngsters came from peasant background or what you would call the bottom rung of the civilization, yes? Dirt poor in other words, no education beyond very basic reading, so when it comes to be their turn… Ms. Ororo is teaching them how to speak English right now. I am uncertain how, but over there, the translation spell that is everywhere else in the castle is being blocked." That had been done by Harry at Ororo's request that morning, and had been relatively simple to do.

The American teen nodded, noticing a small runic array on the table where the kids, including Jesse and Christopher, were sitting. She wondered how such a thing could have been done and what kind of array that was. She smiled as Ororo made her way over to her, leaving some of the children to draw on what looked like a educational coloring book, while others took out small books with pictures of animals and words in them. Sergei, on the other hand, was given a cassette player and a learning tape. "Was there something you wanted, Kitty? How are you doing with the project Harry gave you?"

"I think I'm done working on drawing the individual runes but I wanted Teach to make certain that my copying skills were up to snuff. If they are, I might be able to put one or two of these 'trust me, trust me not' array things up tomorrow." Kitty grinned. "It's a great idea and it makes me happy that Jean put in some defenses to protect my mind. I don't like the necessity or the way she needs to redo it every-day but for now it will do."

Ororo hugged her gently, grateful for the young girl's support. "Thank you for this, that will be a major help in the near future."

Kitty smiled, returning the hug, then stood up, saying she was going to go back and work on the full array until she could talk to Harry. Ororo nodded and turned back to the children, her smile now somewhat more forced as she looked at them. Despite that she moved forward, touching a shoulder here and a head there with a smile on her face as the children recited what they were reading aloud to her.

OOOOOOO

King William laughed, looking at his son's gob-smacked face and the faces of his guards who had immediately reached for weapons when the snowy owl flew in through what should've been a closed window. Both guards thought better of it, however, when the owl turned two beady eyes toward them, her glare giving the impression of her saying 'go on, make my day' in some undeniable fashion.

The owl flew around in the air of the King's sitting room for a second, then slowed to alight easily on the table between William and his son. His granddaughter was practically vibrating in her seat eager to touch the beautiful bird, but had more sense than to do so without an adults okay. Her baby brother had no such self-control and was reaching forward with his little chubby hands. In response, the owl glared at him before backing away slightly.

That caused William to chuckle again, although this time he kept it much quieter, not wanting to offend this rather intelligent bird. "I take it that you are here from a certain wizard of my recent acquaintance?"

Hedwig turned her head entirely around to look at him, then turned her body as well, holding out a leg with a message on it.

William took it, looked at the note, and smiled faintly before turning it over. He turned to his secretary, who was staring at the bird as well. "Could you get my daily planner, please?" Once he had the large black bound book in hand, he took a few minutes to look through it for Friday and Thursday, then nodded. "Friday will work better, around three o'clock."

He wrote this down on the back of the note, then retied it around the snowy owl's claw before nodding cordially to her. "Thank you very much, could you please return this to your master?

The owl glared at him, somehow making him understand that she didn't like the word master. Still, she turned away and flew up off the table, zooming out of the window quickly. When the owl was gone, King William turned back to his secretary. "Could you please inform the privy council that we will be having a short meeting in about 30 minutes? I think we're ready for this but I want to make certain everyone knows their part in this little play."

OOOOOOO

Harry and Jean spent the next several hours up in High Note, working on creating the magical metal Orihalcum to Jean's specifications. The spell itself came much more easily to Harry these days but working with the finished metal to shape it into the different forms Jean needed was much more difficult. The connector pieces, the equivalent of nuts and bolts, were the simplest part. The helix design that was the central part of the generator was by far the hardest.

At around five in the afternoon UK time (1700 hours), they were joined by Ororo, coming up to take a bit of a break from watching the kids. Besides Illyich, who was out exploring the woods with Shiang Chi, they were all, including Illyana and Melody, with Fay, the two Rasputin grandparents, and Father Garnoff, watching a movie in the small family area.

She said so as she stood in the small area of the room separated for the creation of the Orihalcum, which served as a sort of control area. It was protected so that Jean could watch Harry work and make certain that he was following the directions she had printed out, which were floating in front of his head as he worked on the metal in front of him. And it was a good idea, since he had already nearly messed up on the tougher shapes needed for the helix structure of the reactor, making the segments of the helix too far apart and without the appropriate openings.

"I never would have thought I'd say this, but thank the goddess for TV," Ororo murmured, nuzzling into the area between Jeans shoulder and head, sighing happily as Jean's arms went around her. "I really wanted to get away."

"I thought you liked kids?" Jean asked, looking down at her for a moment before her eyes tracked back up to watch Harry work.

"I do, in fact it's one of my joys in life, teaching and guiding kids like Kitty and the others, like you used to be." She emphasized that part with the kiss to Jean's cheek and another to her neck causing Jean to gurgle a little and turn to give her a kiss on the cheek as well. Yet, when Ororo went on she was much more serious. "It's just, those kids had been treated so badly, all of them, not just the group from Russia. Only one of them, the young girl, came from a happy family and even they turned on her the moment her power activated. Peer pressure, societal pressure, whatever you want to call it that is at work in Russia to make them hate mutants as much as they hate gays, is a powerful and immoral thing. And Jesse and Christopher were, in their own way, even worse off, their parents always saw them as a burden. They never had anything but the clothes on their back to their name. None of them had very many good memories and the way they act so happy at the smallest bit of kindness, almost overwhelmed by what we've done for them, it just emphasizes how much evil there is out there."

Jean tightened her hug, her face grim. She hadn't seen the kids that often just yet, having only greeted them and gotten to know their names. "Is the Father or Dr. Druid any help, or is it all you and that teacher you brought in, I haven't met her yet."

"Somewhat, Father Garnoff doesn't have as good an outgoing manner as I would prefer, but Dr. Druid does have one and is a surprisingly likable fellow once the kids got over their awe at his wooden hand. According to Miss Brown, the story about that was most definitely an icebreaker this morning. Piotr was a help, but he and Nikolai were busy with Shiang Chi from this morning on. I only saw them at mealtimes but I must say, Harry was right about that young man. There is a very good mind behind that farm-boy exterior. I think he and Nikolai, too, will prove to be valuable additions."

Jean nodded and turned back to watch Harry. Ororo stood there for a moment watching with her, then left, deciding she wanted to fly around for a bit in the Arboretum. Jean called after her, "Don't make any plans tonight, it's my turn to cook, and I'm looking forward to another date." Ororo laughed aloud and waved back at her before moving on, wishing to fly around for a bit with no one else around, just her and the air.

OOOOOOO

Magneto looked at his two spies, smiling faintly, as he glanced at the proof of their successful mission laying on the table between them. It had taken them over a week to get here, seeing as they couldn't head directly here, both because they might be followed and because there was no set path to the Savage Lands but, even so, they had been successful and made pretty decent time for all of that.

"You did very well." he praised them now, nodding his head at both of them, though he wondered why X-23 had such a surly expression on her face. "With this, I can build my own version of Cerebro and I have several telepaths working for me now that can use it to find more mutants to gather to our cause."

He stared out through the windows of his command center, imagining what he could do with that device and the resources of the Savage land behind him. I thought this place would simply offer me natural resources, a secret base, possibly some man power, but I was wrong! It isn't some random natural event that allows this place to exist but technology, alien technology so advanced as to seem like that of a race of gods! And soon, soon I will be able to call upon that technology as well as all the rest of the resources of this magnificent land.

Oh, it wasn't all Eric's just yet, but his conquest of it was continuing apace. At the moment, he controlled more than half of it. Several of the races here had been turned to his cause, many tribes of the so-called ape-men, many of the more animalistic groups as well as a few others, leaving only the ones who had reverse-engineered the technology that kept the Savage Land warm and separate from the rest of the Antarctic.

The Aerians and the savages led by the human Ka-zar are undoubtedly the most powerful remaining factions in the Savage Land allied against me. The others with high technology are too proud to band together, and they will all thus fall to me one by one. However, they are forced to face both me and the Sun People, another faction that uses advanced technology, al-though their lower castes are superstitious in the extreme. Against them I have several tribes of animal-like races, as well as the Swamp Men, who are taking well to my mutagenic treatments.

The last group of them should be done with their treatments soon. After that, I'll turn over the continued conquest to Exodus, I believe. Yes, Exodus is the best one I have here in terms of command ability, as well as power. Certainly he will be able to deal with the other inhabitants of this land, not a one of them, outside of possibly Garokk, can match him. We will leave the Sun People for last. Ka-zar is the more dangerous, as he knows about the outside world and might be willing to expose the Savage Land's presence if it could gain him aid against me. Still, Exodus will handle him with ease.

With that thought in mind, Erik looked down at the helmet and the data disk that Fatale and X-23 had stolen for him. And with this, I will build my own device to gather my fellow mutants to me. At the same time, turning over the continued expansions here to Exodus will allow my attention to the world at large. I wonder what has happened in my absence from the world stage?

OOOOOOO

After a very long day for all three of them, it was with a sense of relief that the trio met up that evening. While Ororo helped Fay put the children to bed, excluding Illyana, Melody, and Anechka, who were having a sleepover in Melody's room, Harry talked with Kitty, giving her the okay to start on the full lie detecting array tomorrow before taking her back to New York. Jean, as she had told Ororo, took this time to do the cooking. What she made was a minestrone soup with small, extremely tasty meatballs plus some surprisingly good rosemary and garlic bread to go with it.

The trio met up again in the little dining hall, exchanging kisses and lingering hugs before sitting down to the meal and diving in eagerly. For the next few minutes, comments about the food dominated the discussion as the trio did the meal full justice. Eventually, they began to fill one another in on the bits of the day that they hadn't been around one another for.

Jean leaned back, chewing a last bite of bread before asking. "So Emma will be able to talk to you on Wednesday? That's good, though I'm not so certain about her idea of using an ex-con as a project. I have no doubt she'll be happy to see you but try to make certain that the man she's chosen for her project really wants to turn over a new leaf."

"She is more than willing to meet up with me, although she definitely misses being around all of us. The mirror doesn't really cover it. Emma's missed hanging out with you in particular, Jean, though she said she owes you for some joke you pulled on her?" Harry cocked an inquisitive eyebrow.

Jean laughed, bright and loud for a moment. "Oh yes, I imagine she'll be getting me back for that one." she laughed again remembering how Emma had actually fainted when shown, through the mirror, the gold of Selene's cache that Jean had raided.

"Good." Ororo said keeping her attention on the main topic of conversation. "I definitely think we need to talk with her before meeting up with the British King and I think we need to make stronger, physical ties with her between here and wherever she lives. Though, I trust that any attempt to make a more physical tie between you and her will not occur, Harry?" That last was asked rather archly, with a very level stare directed at Harry.

"Agreed," said Harry firmly, showing no discomfort, "on all your salient points there, my dusky lady. What did you think of Piotr and the others by the way?"

Ororo smiled now. "I like Piotr, honestly. I think he's a good, kind young man and I think he will be a very good asset." She looked at Harry her eyes somewhat more serious than her tone now. "I also believe that he would make a very good friend for you. I believe that men and women both need companionship of their own gender at times, although I haven't noticed such a need in you just yet. Still, a close friend that you are not involved with might do you some good and I think it already has, given our discussion this morning."

Harry nodded a little glumly, remembering that and his own overreaction the day before while Jean simply shrugged. She, also, had been too angry at what had been done to the children they rescued to really worry about overkill Looking back on it, she realized the others were right but didn't want Harry to kill himself about it.

Now, the redhead changed the subject, knowing Harry had a tendency to beat himself into the ground about his mistakes, if given half a chance. "Anyway, I had a question, Harry. I'd like to use your memory device, whatever it's called. Something's been bothering me about that trip I had where I met with Duggan and dropped off the terrorists with his men in Pakistan. I can't bring it to mind though and figured seeing it in the third person might help."

Harry nodded. "We can go down after dinner. This is too good," he smiled at her, "to waste by eating too fast." Jean smiled and leaned over kissing him gently on the cheek.

About an hour later, the three of them stood in front of the Room of Requirement. The two ladies watched as Harry walked three times in front of the room muttering to himself. A moment later they entered, finding the room with blank stone walls with a single dais in the center holding what looked like a giant metal bowl with a lot of runes around the bowl's edge.

Harry cocked his head thoughtfully looking at Jean. "I'm uncertain how this is going to work, to be honest. I'm uncertain if the spell or the pensieve will work on a non-magical, but we will see. Think of the memory you want to share, bring it to the forefront of your mind. I'll do the rest."

Jean nodded, closing her eyes for a moment before indicating that she had the entire memory ready to go. Harry gently touched her forehead with a finger, concentrating and then bringing out the memory as a shimmering silver wisp before he plunged it into the mists of the bowl. Then he cast a spell on the pensieve, gesturing at the wall with his other hand.

The memory began from when Jean came back from raiding Selene's cache to pick up the terrorists, then sped forward through the time she was flying until she was attacked. Right then Jean shouted, "Stop!" For a moment, all three of them could feel what Jean felt in the air, the sense of sudden anger then purpose that filled the man who was about shoot her.

"That was no accident." Harry, said frowning. "That was deliberate."

But none of the others were feeling that, just him, so it wasn't something they were ordered to do on the sly." Jean said looking at the other soldiers. The memory sped up again at a gesture from Harry. They paused it again when Jean was on the ground talking to the redheaded Duggan. To one side, the man who had tried to shoot Jean's prisoner stood in the far back of a group of soldiers being reamed by a sergeant. Despite the fact he looked apologetic, his eyes kept tracking over to the group around her prisoner, tracking him as he was led away.

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I think that we might need to inform Duggan of this. Get some good will with someone in SHIELD at any rate. There might be more to this than we can see."

"Yes." Jean replied dryly, shaking her head as she stared at the man who had tried to kill her prisoner. "Just add it to the list of everything else we're up to at the moment."

After that bit of excitement, both Jean and Ororo retired for the evening while Harry, fueled by his magical power, was still good to go physically and mentally. He went back up to High Note, where he spent the rest of the night putting up the runic arrays to speed up time in the farming areas.

OOOOOOO

The next morning, Harry joined Peter and, now, Nikolai at the breakfast table. While his sister was willing to once more fall into civilian habits and was embracing the opportunity to do so with both hands, Nikolai had been trained for too long to really be happy about sleeping in unless he was truly exhausted. Shiang Chi soon joined them, though Dennis, Miss. Brown and Dr. Druid were nowhere to be seen this morning. As the group shared a plate of bagels and a bowl of fresh fruit, they talked quietly to one another, though nothing deep or really interesting was said so early in the morning. Nikolai, in particular, needed caffeine in large amounts to truly get his brain up and running.

Soon Ororo and Jean came in. Spotting her lover sitting at the table when he had been absent from their bed all night, Ororo moved in, sitting next to Harry and leaning forward to kiss him very thoroughly. Harry returned the gesture pulling Ororo into his lap and nuzzling into her neck for a moment sighing happily as he took in her scent.

Ororo was always affectionate in the mornings, possibly a holdover from their time at the mansion where it had been their mornings together simply getting to know one another had fueled their growing regard for one another. "You did not come to bed last night, my Harry," Ororo said into his ear as she leaned against his shoulder, breathing in his own, masculine scent.

"Sorry," Harry replied quietly, looking over at Jean who was smiling at him from his other side. "I was up in High Note emplacing the time dilation array for the farming areas. The array on the house elves uniforms work and I think the ones on the farming areas themselves will work but, no pun intended, only time will tell. I'll head up tomorrow evening to check, if they're working then at least two weeks of growth should be visible in the crops."

A slight cough from the other side of the table caused Ororo to sigh and get off of his lap moving to sit beside him.

Piotr was still blushing faintly at the show of affection between the gorgeous African woman and the wizard. Next to him, Nikolai was wearing a very broad smile at his countryman's embarrassment. It would take the rather innocent Piotr quite some time to get used to how affectionate Harry was with both of his girlfriends, let alone Harry, you know, actually having two of them. Nikolai, however, was torn between manly chagrin and awe, wondering if he should build some sort of shrine to Harry for having two such gorgeous, powerful girlfriends.

Jean chuckled at him but, rather than lean in for her own kiss, gracefully changed the subject, asking. "So, how are your grandparents fitting in, Piotr?"

Piotr shrugged. "They are still having trouble getting used to the time difference but they are enjoying the fact that they can sit around all day. My grandmother says it is like having a retirement. For farmers, retirement is a pipe dream."

Harry chuckled, then asked the three younger men how training had gone, not having seen either of the Russians or Shiang Chi the evening before.

Piotr replied with another Slavic shrug. "It went well enough. My endurance in terms of my legs needs to be greatly enhanced, though my overall strength seemed to gain his approval. My cardiovascular system needs some work but I am never going to be a sprinter. My strength and reaction time were much better than Shiang Chi thought they would be. We have not yet begun to work with my mutant power of course, but today he is going to start training me in a martial art."

Shiang Chi nodded. "Nikolai and I both believe Sambo will be an excellent starting point. He has very good reaction time and hand/eye coordination. I will also be training him in several styles from pencak silat, which is the term used to describe many different styles of the art developed in Indonesia, both armed and unarmed, though the weapons styles will wait for a while. I want to give him an eclectic set, so that he can use his strength against equally strong or weaker opponents and use mobility against those stronger. To that end, I will be working with him to build up his leg strength as well as his footwork and recovery. For Nikolai, it will be the opposite. Other than some aikido, I will be concentrating on armed forms with him."

Nikolai shrugged when Harry turned his gaze on him. "I was already trained to a very high degree in several martial arts, including Sambo and judo, plus I am as fit as a soldier should be overall. Of course, I will continue to exercise. If you stop you lose your edge, but," he shrugged again, unconsciously mimicking Piotr's earlier responses.

"Mostly what master Shiang and I will be doing together is sparring, as well as, as he said, him teaching me various hand-to-hand weapons. In return, I will be teaching Shiang and Piotr the use of ranged weapons of all sorts. You don't have that many of those yet, however, unless Jean is willing turn over some of your booty from the sacking of my former domicile to us?" The last was asked with an arched eyebrow towards his fellow redhead, though really their two hair colors were as different as night and day. He was a ginger hair, the normal color people assumed when they thought of redheads. Jean's hair was as red as sunset, almost like a fire given form.

Jean tilted her head up for a moment, then nodded. "I can turn over two of the plasma rifles to you, the last I took apart. I'm nearly done with my own design, just have to run it through one more time. We won't be able to build them for a while but I can say my version is lighter and, while the muzzle velocity will be slightly slower, the rounds will be much more devastating and the fire rate much better." That caught the attention of all the others at the table, save Harry, who merely grinned at her, holding up an imaginary glass in salute.

The chief engineer of Magical Minds ignored that, going on. "Other than a crew served heavy laser, which I don't see you needing, a laser gun taken off a tank, and some other kind of crew served beam weapon, maybe fusion beam, haven't looked at it yet, that's it. For anything else, you might want to head to America." She shook her head. "You'll be able to walk into a gun store there and buy several types for us, which is kind of sad really when I think about it, but the freedom to own a weapon is so inbred into America's psyche I doubt it's ever going to change."

"That is not our first priority, however." Ororo interjected. She handed a plate of bagels, cinnamon raisin, multigrain, blueberry, and honey nut, over to Jean, who accepted it eagerly. "I dropped off much of the gold you had collected, my Jean, and we are back in the black and will be so for several months now whatever you wish us to buy. But if you continue to expand the number of rooms that have hard lights projectors, we may burn through it quickly."

Jean nodded a little morosely. She hadn't realized until going over the books last evening (while in bed with Ororo) but the parts for the hard light projection system for her laboratory, three of the teachers' classrooms, and the dining hall had actually cost more then everything else they had put together. She hadn't realized it at first because she had bought the parts in several lots, but she still blamed herself for spending so much money.

"Hold off on that project for now." Harry ordered. "It will be nice to have that system in every room, but we don't need it anywhere else, yet. We don't have enough kids here to need more than two teaching rooms at most and I think we can hold off on that, as well as bringing in more teachers and staff for now. I want to push the team organization forward plus get the kids we already have up to snuff. Ororo, since she's not here, what do you think of Miss Brown, can we leave the kids in her care?"

Ororo nodded, brightly. "Yes, I was very impressed with her manner both as a teacher and caregiver. Dr. Druid also surprised me as well with his manner with the children."

"Good, but I don't think we need to put it all on them. I'd like us to make time to spend with the kids at least during meal times, maybe organize some kind of movie night once a week, let them get to know us and vice versa. I'd say we could do something out on the lake but it won't stay warm for long here in Scotland, so making plans like that might be premature. Don't push them or anything like that for a few days and then only start them on learning English until the regular school year is set to start. Get them used to that format. My translation spell is only set for the castle and its environs. If they go elsewhere they'll have to know the language. And so will you all." He finished, looking over at Piotr and Nikolai.

Nikolai shook his head, but it was Ororo who answered. "Nikolai and Piotr can already speak English, although their accents are horrible, and Piotr cannot read it. I will teach him how to read it at the same time I teach Laynia, who cannot read it or speak it outside of a very few greetings and questions. For the others, children learn languages much easier at a young age so it should be relatively easy to get the quartet of youngsters up to speed, though the teenagers will be a little bit harder. However, your goal of getting them fluent in it before the school year begins is doable. I'll take a week or so to write up full learning units and turn them over to Miss Brown. But what do want me to do when it comes to the team itself?"

"I'd like to start working on team exercises soonest. We have a few jobs I'd like to get done as soon as possible. I don't want anything of Selene's left out there for much longer, for example, especially since at least one of them is another gold cache, which will allow us to fund ourselves for at least another year, even if our potions, for some reason, doesn't start earning in that time. But our company will be going public this summer. I'd estimate sometime in the next three weeks, though I can't give you a specific time frame until after our meeting with the King, and I determine the time it will take us to build the complex that will serve as the public face of our corporation. In terms of you personally, Ororo, you'll lead the team exercises when I can't for now, and I'd like you to follow up on Banshee. Jean, I'll ask Hedwig to help you this weekend so you can follow up on the girl you met down in Brazil, who you said might want to join our team as well as become a student here?"

Jean nodded, while Nikolai and Piotr looked lost, but Jean made a motion with her hand as if to say 'I'll fill you in later', to which they merely nodded. Ororo was watching Harry, nodding silently to his points, while Shiang Chi had leaned back, his eyebrows furrowed as he mentally put together a training schedule. Piotr and Nikolai were going to be run ragged mentally and physically that was for certain.

"I would like us all to spend a few hours this morning together working out in the Room of Requirement, just to give me a feel for your abilities, Nikolai, as well as how we could mesh as a team."

"One question about that." Nikolai said chewing a bite of bagel heavy with cream cheese, something he hadn't ever tasted before and found to be very good indeed. He swallowed quickly before going on. "During missions how are we going to be communicating? And do you have a set uniform or something like that?"

"Not yet, if you have any designs you want to use in your combat attire, tell me, and I'll send it over to the group that is making our clothing for us. Unstable molecule outfits aren't exactly off the rack, after all." Both younger men nodded, though they didn't understand what made these clothes so special. They were merely thinking about what kind of costume they'd like to wear as Harry answered the next question. "In terms of communication, we have Jean here who can connect us via telepathy, but otherwise we will be using earbuds on deployment."

Jean interjected. "I had some thoughts about those, actually. I think if we all wear at least partial helmets or masks, I can work the earbuds and mikes into them, which will make them much harder for them to be knocked out or damaged. Although, if we're ever in an area where we're worried about our radio emissions being detected, we'll have to fall back to telepathy."

Piotr merely nodded at that, not having a problem and trusting Jean while Nikolai frowned, not liking the idea of anyone else in his head but eventually he nodded.

Harry caught his look and addressed the topic bluntly. "I've got my runic apprentice working on something that will, hopefully, be able to protect your minds from mental intrusion but it will take a long time for her to get it ready. Until then, we'll have to trust Jean to be able to emplace temporary protections. Needless to say, if you're leaving the Castle, you'll have to tell her and she'll put them on your minds. Otherwise, she won't enter your head. And I will say also that communicating telepathically with someone isn't the same as…." he faltered and looked over to Jean.

The redhead chuckled and took up the explanation. "It isn't as if I'm trying to 'investigate' your mind or anything. There is a very thin layer right on the outer edge of your mind where I can send my mental voice and you'll hear it but my voice won't be a probe, as it were. That's about the best explanation you're going to get."

After a moment Nikolai nodded, and the conversation continued. None of the others showed up, however, but Harry was fine with them all sleeping in, though he wondered why his daughter hadn't appeared. He took a moment to savor that thought, smiling and staring off into the distance before shaking his head and asking "Where's Melody? She's usually awake by this point."

Ororo giggled at his expression, kissing him tenderly on the cheek, knowing precisely what had caused his smile while Jean merely nodded in turn, her own eyes rather faraway for a moment. "She, Anechka, and Illyana had a sleepover last night. I would imagine they stayed up quite a bit later than is normal, even if Jean and I turned off their lights for them. The stone walls, after all, do tend to keep the sound inside and Melody has a TV in her room as well as dozens of children's movies.

Harry nodded, chuckling a little but determining that he would see the youngsters this evening.

As soon as they all finished eating, the group made their way down to the RoR, with Ororo kissing Harry on the cheek once more as the window he had created just for her followed them down the staircase into the basement. When they arrived, the two Russians looked on perplexed as Harry paced in front of the doorway three times, while Jean and Ororo merely shook their heads in fond irritation. As he finished his last round, Harry opened the door, letting them inside.

The RoR had taken the form of desert, only there was no real heat to it despite the fact that there seemed to be a sun in the sky above them. Looking around them Nikolai cursed in shock, which for some reason didn't translate. "Oхуеть!"

"It is impressive, isn't it," Ororo murmured, stretching her hands up over her head and enjoying the sunlight for a moment.

"The Room of Requirement was the brainchild of four of the most powerful, knowledgeable, and inventive wizards to ever exist in my home reality. It took myself and several other students months to figure out how it worked. That was reverse engineering it, to put in a normal parlance, not actually coming up with it from scratch. This," Harry gestured around, "took me over a week of hard work and you do not want to know how many wards and runic arrays go into this thing. For now, however, let's get some training in."

Piotr was about to activate his mutant power but paused, looking a little sheepish. "I don't suppose we could go shopping at any point for clothing? It is just that my family and I only brought so much clothing with us and my clothing tends to fall apart rather quickly."

The others all chuckled except for Nikolai who nodded. "I didn't bring any clothing with me either."

"Well in that case, I suggest all three of you prepare for a shopping expedition. I know you need clothing as well, Shiang Chi. Just be thankful I'm not going to sick Kitty on you." For some reason that phrase from Ororo caused Harry and Jean to laugh, yet the trio so addressed both shivered for some reason.

After that, the group spent the next few hours working out as a team while Harry took the measure of their two new teammates.

Nikolai's power was still intermittent, the young man not having as much control over it as he would like but it seemed to reflect any and all force directed at him back at the person trying to attack him. It was a fantastic defensive power, which coupled with his training and skill was a game changer in many ways.

Piotr was much more maneuverable and flexible in his metal form than Harry had thought. He also saw what Shiang Chi had spoke of earlier, the former farm boy had incredibly good hand/eye coordination as well as body control.

After Harry had a handle on the two younger men's abilities, all five of them began to work out, first against constructed enemies that the RoR created, large rock golems as well as contrived enemies like Selene from Harry's memories, though not quite as lethal. Then after about an hour and a half they spent thirty minutes with Jean, Ororo, Piotr, and Nikolai against Harry.

Unfortunately for Harry, Ororo had predicted something like this and had made plans through use of Jean's telepathy with the others. The moment Harry said 'start', Piotr and Nikolai closed the distance quickly, with Nikolai moving in front of Piotr to take any attack spells Harry threw at them. Meanwhile, Jean got behind him and began to throw out telepathic attacks, both subtle and not, while Ororo created a fog around Harry alone, slowly freezing the air.

Harry responded by heating the air around him but was unable to fight Ororo's power on her 'home field', much like he had lost to Magneto in trying to take control of the metals when they fought in the asteroid base, so the fog stayed, clinging to Harry and blinding him. However, Harry enhanced his hearing, enabling him to hear Piotr and Nikolai closing in as well as Jean's telekinetic attacks moving through the air.

He conjured up a shield to protect him from the attack from Jean, which hammered it into it nearly shattering it, causing him to whistle aloud. "Wow, Jean, hold back a little why don't you!" He turned quickly, flinging Piotr aside with a wordless Wingardium Leviosa.

However, Harry couldn't hear Jean's subtle attack, which was a snake of telekinetic energy moving around the ground. The rope of energy suddenly grabbed his legs and pulled them out from under him. Despite being surprised, Harry responded quickly. Assuming that Piotr and Nikolai were once more moving in and Jean and Ororo were now throwing their own long-range attack said and shouted out "Bombarda Maxima!" before apparating away, appearing next to Ororo.

Jean desperately tried to pull Ororo out of the way as a spell from Harry's hand flew towards his African lover, but Ororo was forced to try and repel it, matching the spell with a lightning bolt which caught it in midair.

Then Harry wasn't there anymore, appearing next to Jean and tapping her lightly, a lightning spell of his own shocking her and flinging her to the ground. She wasn't out of it by any means but that was as much as he had time for before hurricane force winds caught him, flinging him aside tremendous power.

Nikolai caught him then, racing around a boulder to slam one fist into the back of Harry's head before trying to follow up with a hold.

Harry caught his arm then flipped the younger man over, his knee hammering into Nikolai's back before Piotr arrived, trying to grab him in a choke hold. The hold failed as Harry pushed more power into his Magia Erebea, grabbing the metallic Colossus' hands, forcing his arms apart before teleporting them both high into the air and throwing Colossus straight down at Nikolai.

It was only Jean's quick thinking and grabbing the falling metal giant with a quick kinetic grab that stopped both of the younger men from being put out of the fight right there. At the same time, Ororo flash froze the air around Harry, freezing him just long enough to slam him with another lightning bolt.

The freezing spell didn't hold long enough and Harry was able to block the following lightning strike but by that time both Piotr and Nikolai were back up and Jean was throwing out telekinetic blasts, including compressing the air right behind Harry's head and imploding it like she had in the tunnel with Selene's first cache. That blow slammed Harry down into the ground far below. It was only because of his Magia Erebea that he was still in the fight. But even that wouldn't have helped him if he hadn't thrown up a hasty shield against the blow.

"Okay, that was just damn nasty, Jean! Permit me to respond in kind!" Harry raised one hand and threw out his own high-end attack. "Latinium Malleus!"A massive hammer made of green and gold lightning zoomed toward Jean. The spell impacted the ground right in front of Jean, flinging her through the air, but her telepathic shield protected her from the majority of it, though one of her arms fell limply to her side. The next spell he shouted out however caused all four of his opponents to gasp. "Shi Jundai!"

About twenty minutes later, Ororo paused and held up her hand. "I think that's enough for now." she said smiling slightly.

Piotr immediately came out of his metallic form dropping to his knees and gasping, touching a few spots on his body where he had been scorched and burned in his metal form but thankfully it didn't seem to carry over. Nikolai, too, leaned against another boulder, looking utterly exhausted. "Now," he gasped, "I can see another reason why you were able to overrun my former domicile so easily."

Harry shrugged. I wouldn't call it easy, but I suppose so, yes." Despite all the exertion, he was physically only a little tired but he could already feel his magic working to combat it and his magical reserves were almost untouched. "You nearly got me there a few times and, if not for my magical strength, you would have won. Your teamwork was great, all of you. Especially that last push, where you lifted Piotr over me and let my attack hit Nikolai, bouncing it back at me. That was impressive."

Like Harry, Ororo and Jean were not nearly as physically exhausted as the two younger men, although Ororo was mentally exhausted. She had not used that much of her power in that many different ways in so short a time for some time now. Ororo resolved to get back to exercising regardless of her other responsibilities.

Jean on the other hand was, despite her numerous injuries, still good to go. Every time she used her power, she felt as if she was simply gaining strength in it, becoming more and more powerful. It scared her a little but then she realized that she still had a long way to go before she reached Harry's level and the fear receded.

With a thought, Harry conjured a timepiece, frowning as he read the time. "I'm going to go grab a quick shower and then head out. I want to get down to Barcelona as quickly as I can to set up some surprises for my meeting with the not-so-good doctor. If he attacks for whatever reason, I want to be prepared."

"Very good, I will be standing by with Cory here. If you do run into problems with Dr. Doom, I expect you to call me in." Ororo emphasized these words by reaching out and tenderly cupping Harry's face before squeezing his ear lightly. "Is that clear, Harry?" Then she diffused her scolding tone by leaning in and kissing him tenderly.

Harry laughed against her lips hugging her briefly, then leaned over to Jean pulling her into a hug as well. After a second, he moved back, slapping both of their rears lightly and rushing out of the room as they both squawked and made to follow him, with Shiang Chi trailing after, looking down at some notes he had written.

This left Piotr and Nikolai alone, staring after them before turning to one another. The ginger haired former Soviet Super Soldier candidate shook his head. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to life here."

"True," Piotr chuckled, "but it will be fun trying."

"Indeed." replied Nikolai and the two of them shared a laugh.

Not fifteen minutes later, Harry left the Castle, pausing along the way to hug Melody, kissing her fondly on the forehead before telling her to have a fun day. He waved at Miss Brown, thanking his lucky stars that she looked almost nothing like Lavender and had never had a daughter. As Harry left the castle behind, he zoomed into the air, moving faster than anything but the fastest jets could move, racing down towards Barcelona, covered with a very powerful Notice-Me-Not Ward, as well as a disillusion spell, just in case. He couldn't fly while wearing his invisibility cloak. It flapped around too much so there was a danger of it not covering his entire body at times. About an hour's steady flight later, Harry was over Barcelona, moving down towards the city.

He took a moment to look around, whistling appreciatively at the amazing looking buildings all around. The cathedral La Sagrada Familia was just magnificent, the many spires rising into the sky, the architecture that made the building look as if it was a mix of various styles, yet, also somehow alive, made it different from any other building he had ever seen. The area around the shore was equally fantastic looking, both around the aquarium and around the other buildings, all of whom stood out. There were small parks here and there with water playing around in them. Then there was another area that looked like a cross between a small village within the city, with the buildings within constructed to look like a romantic version of a medieval village, and a painters wet dream, with several areas of wildly colored tiles. Then there was the Casa Mila, which despite being built out of stone, looked almost organic with its wavy lines plus its lack of straight edges and corners. I might have to come back here with the girls some time. This place looks like it would be fantastic to just bike around and see the sights.

He settled down on the roof of Casa Mila, noticing even here that there were no straight lines in the building and there were little details everywhere, enhancing the beauty of the complex. Harry shook his head, however, and quickly got to work etching a few runes here and there on the rooftop, which took him about forty minutes. By which time, the bells around the city were tolling the noon hour, and he stood up, conjuring a table, two wooden chairs, and finally two crystal goblets, before setting down the bottle of very old fire whiskey he had among his things from his old reality. The fire portion had long since faded away but the taste would only have gotten better. With another spell, he chilled it and set it on the table before standing up and looking around. Looking around in satisfaction, almost automatically summoning the Sword of Gryffindor to his side, Harry wondered if Dr. Doom would arrive with some kind of fanfare or just suddenly show up.

Not ten minutes later, something caused his senses to tingle and he looked up into the sky. A moment later, a small dot in the sky started to descend and he frowned, wondering how Doom was going to be hiding himself from the eyes of the common people of the city or if he was even going to bother. He didn't know if Doom would simply be uncaring how the masses looked at him, seeing them beneath him, or if he would simply see their awe and fear as his just due. That question was answered when he didn't hear any hue and cry from below and felt some kind of low powered field, in his opinion anyway, covering an area around the descending metal-clad 'super-villain'.

Soon enough, Doom stood on the roof up opposite him. Clad as always in his iron seeming armor and full face mask, a green cloak about his wide shoulders, large, powerful, and gauntleted hands flexing slightly as they stared at one another. For a moment, neither spoke, then Doom opened the conversation. "Mr. Potter, or should I call you Mr. Wizard? Have you figured out a new name for yourself, yet?"

"Mr. Potter for now, I suppose, and no, I haven't. I have far more important things to do." Harry said with a chuckle, waving his hand to chairs. "I'd ask how you knew about my issues with that, but I figure you caught something from that battle in London. On another topic, Hedwig, my owl familiar I've used to send messages to you, has decided that she doesn't like you. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and I will say that my familiar can take that to unholy levels so if we continue to use her as a go between, might I suggest that you stop trying to analyze her mode of transportation? Else she might find odd and unusual ways to get back at you."

Doom waved that off, moving to stand by the table. As he did, Harry tracked him with his eyes, not moving from his current position until Dr. Doom was done moving. There was something off, something niggling at his senses about the man in front of him. "I take it you have covered the roof with a spell to keep us from being seen? I did something similar electronically, but it doesn't work as well on the ground as it does in the air."

Harry nodded, his eyes narrowed in sudden supposition. "I did indeed, so, shall we get down to brass tacks?" With that he moved forward as if to sit down at the table, but before he pulled the chair out his hands flashed quickly toward Doom. "Arresto Momentum!"

The metal clad Doom glared at him through his visor, though Harry had no doubt that his suit was already figuring out a way to break Harry's magical control of it. Harry quickly hit the man with several more spells, freezing and immobilizing him. The ease with which he did this proved Harry's instincts had been correct and he spoke firmly. "You probably did this just to needle me for not getting back at you as quickly as I should have Doctor, so consider the message received. Now, I only talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey, so let us stop playing games!"

With a wave of his hand and a brief overpowered spell he froze the figure before him like he had been dipped in liquid nitrogen, then brought around the Sword of Gryffindor around in an overhand blow, shattering it. If that had, in fact, been Dr. Doom or, indeed, anyone living inside that suit he would not have been able to freeze them like that, not without pouring far more power into the spell.

A chuckle reverberated in the air and, above him, suddenly a portion of the air that had been empty a moment before shimmered as if a heatwave had suddenly sprung up there. A moment later, the real Dr. Doom stood in midair, hovering by use of some device hidden in his suit, staring down at Harry.

Harry stood silent as Doom touched down lightly onto the rooftop. His feet crunched against the shards of the Doom-bot he had sent in his place. He had done so for the reason that Harry had mentioned, as well as wanting to see how Harry would react or if he would notice. However, what he wanted Harry's aid with was important enough to him to force Doom to be on-site, in any event.

"You have amazing magical powers, Mr. Potter," the ironclad King said, glancing down at what little remained of his Doom-bots head before crushing it with a single step. "What gave it away, might I ask?" Doom watched as Harry carefully set down the sword he held on the table.

Harry shrugged and sat down, gesturing Doom into his seat. Harry didn't address the first portion of what Doom had said, since he knew for a fact that such a spell would never work on the real Doom. He could already tell, even without actually attempting anything, that Doom had some kind of defense going through his armor that would make any attempt at a spell like that impossible or, at least, very limited. In fact, his first spell probably wouldn't work either. "Not to stoke your ego, but you have a sort of presence, a commanding air to you even through a hologram like you had in our first meeting. This one," Harry gestured to the remains of the Doom-bot, "didn't. There was also the fact I could sense a spell had been cast on it but it didn't feel as if the spell was holding as well as it would if it had been cast on the caster himself."

As Harry sat down, Doom had frowned behind his mask, but allowed the younger man his momentary act of insolence, sitting down before his better. At Harry's reply, however, he chuckled, sitting down and smiling faintly behind his mask as the apparent wooden chair didn't even creak under his weight.

He glanced around, idly trying to find what defenses Potter had put up before he arrived and could only find a single rune that he recognized. That made Doom frown once more, since he had made a study of sorcery and didn't like to think that his study had missed anything. He was certain that there were sorcerers out there with more knowledge than him of course but he should at least have been able to recognize all of the runic languages someone else used in their arrays. Instead, Harry seemed to be using several languages unknown to sorcery in this world, one of which looked powerful to his senses, yet jagged, almost barbaric, while the other seemed to have a hint of the orient, with sharp curves and delineations that looked somewhat like kanji. Considering that Doom had hypothesized that Harry had come from another reality entirely, that made sense but it still irked him.

The two of them were silent as Harry poured the whiskey he had brought into the two glasses, handing one over to Doom first. After sniffing at the whiskey, the Latverian King bowed his head, wordlessly acknowledging that the liquor was good and raised it to his lips, pausing for a moment as his mask analyzed for poisons. Finding it to be clear of such taint he took a sip calmly waiting as liquid fire moved down his throat staring across at Harry had done the same and was looking back at him.

There was a tension in the air; a crackling of potential danger but there was no hint of it suddenly exploding into violence from either one of them. It was simply the meeting of two incredibly powerful, dangerous, and, each in their own way, ambitious people.

After a few minutes talking about politics, as well as Doom hinting that he knew something had happened in Russia, but didn't know what, the conversation moved into the reason why they were here.

"I have made a study of sorcery and eldritch power, Mr. Potter," Doom said, lacing his fingers in front of him. "This was not only with the intent to enlarge my own power base, my own knowledge and strength, but for a specific purpose. My mother's soul is being held by a demon lord and I wish to free her." He finished bluntly watching Harry's expression closely.

For his part Harry didn't overtly react, merely leaning back and bringing up one hand to his chin as he leaned against the head rest of his chair. "You have my attention."

"My mother was a magnificent woman, Mr. Potter, a queen among women, She was a leader who wanted something better for her people, a group of gypsies called Zafiro that lived in Latveria, where they were not welcome, persecuted by those in power. To combat this she searched for power, and eventually thought she found what she sought in a Latverian mystic, whose name my research has not been able to tell me. Unfortunately, the mystic took his power from his agreement with a demon lord by the name of Mephisto. She used her powers for good for many years, until the persecution became too much and she needed more to combat it. The mystic convinced her to make her own agreement with Mephisto, never hinting at his own deal with him. She did so, made a bargain and, as with all such agreements with such beings, Mephisto was able to twist it for his own amusement. She soon died from wounds taken in a battle her out of control powers started and her soul has been Mephisto's plaything ever since."

"Several years ago, I was able to create a device that allowed me to communicate with her, only to find my mother was not in heaven as she deserved, but being tortured by a hell lord. Since then, I have attempted through scientific and magical means to breach the barrier wall between dimensions. I have failed every time." He paused then shook his head. "Say rather, that I have succeeded in part but not in the whole. I can send probes through but not myself or anything living through scientific means. Moreover, the probes I've been able to send through fail almost immediately. That means even if I do find a way to remove the wall and home in on my mother's position, I will be almost powerless, unable to gain her release."

Doom's hands clenched in an unconscious gesture of barely restrained rage, yet his voice was still level as he went on. "I have slaughtered every demon I could find, studied their abilities, their powers, but I cannot find a way to keep my abilities when I go through the portal. Not without many more years of research and experimentation. I will not allow my mother's soul to remain in that realm for one moment longer than is necessary!" He glared at Harry, who looked a little sheepish raising his hand in apology. "The only reason I am not far angrier with you putting off our meeting was the reason you stated for doing so at first. I respect the desire to not make bargains from a position of weakness. Also, the fact that I had thought, at the time, that I might have found a back door, as it were, that would allow me to enter the demon's realm without losing my electronics, but that failed."

"You tried to go to another demon realm and get to this Mephisto's dimension from there?" Harry asked shrewdly.

"You are astute and yes. Yet, I was mistaken. The demon realms have no trade or contact with one another beyond the barest minimum. Indeed, they are more aggressive towards one another than they are toward humans or other truly living beings."

Harry nodded, not commenting on the last portion of that statement. He had long suspected that demons were not, in fact, truly 'alive' in the sense of a human being alive, being able to learn, to imagine, build, grow, and then propagate their species. He wasn't certain where they came from but he suspected they were some kind of old experiment, or possibly created by the gestalt thoughts of those humans and other beings in the real dimensions, or possibly created, as was hinted in a book he had borrowed from Dr. Strange, by something that occurred eons ago in the wake of the Big Bang. Regardless how they began, it was obvious that they had taken control of their 'lives' since and Harry had no problem whatsoever with slaughtering every last one of them.

Doom moved back to the original discussion. "I want my mother freed. Alive or dead, I will not allow her soul to continue to be a demon's toy! To that end, I am… willing to agree to follow in good faith any agreement we may reach today." He didn't mention the Doom-bot, they both knew that if Harry had fallen for that, then in Doom's opinion he would not have been liable to any pact reached and Harry would have been rewarded for his lack of attention.

"Agreement, we may reach." Harry murmured sipping at his drink for a moment and staring across at Doom, trying to figure out the true nature of the enigma that was the King of Latveria. He sat forward abruptly, all his former calm nature disappearing as he glared into Doom's eye-slits. "Understand me Lord Doom, I fully sympathize with your plight. I never knew my mother but if I ever found out that her soul was being held as yours is, there would be nothing I would not be willing to do to see her freed. And I am willing to agree to help you. However, this is an agreement between equals, not a king and a talented individual who has an ability the king wants to make use of. I will deal with you as an equal and you will deal with me in the same manner or we will not deal at all."

Doom glared back at him, not used to being so addressed. He also hated the idea of dealing with anyone like they were equals. But he needed Potter's help, there was no other way to say it. He had tried for so long on his own, but gotten nowhere. And the idea of leaving his mother in that demon's clutches for even a moment longer filled him with fury. So eventually, begrudgingly, he nodded. Part of that was the fact Harry freely acknowledged he was a king, not, as many people the world over thought, a usurper.

Harry leaned back again. "That being said, I have a bit of a psychological question for you."

Doom cocked an eyebrow behind his mask, wondering what the younger man would say before nodding his head regally.

Taking this as a signal to go on, Harry leaned back and sipped again at his whiskey, thinking for a moment how to put this. It was a question Daphne and Hermione had thought up, to see the true nature of those in Slytherin house. If Doom wasn't a natural born Slytherin, Harry was a monkey. "In your hands you have a pie. It is a small pie, but you control it, it's all yours. And yet to the side is a larger pie. A far larger pie, so large that your small pie wouldn't even equal a single slice of that pie. Yet to have that slice, you will have to share with others. The pie itself will not be yours, because it is too large for one person. Yet, if you do take a slice of that pie, you may even enlarge that pie further, enriching all those, including yourself, who own the pie. So what would you do?"

Doom shook his head resignedly. "A rather childish and roundabout way to ask me which is more important to me, my control of those around me or my own personal ambition."

"Not quite what I was going for, but I'll accept that non-answer for now." Harry chuckled shaking his head. He looked up at the sky, his thoughts moving past the blue of the atmosphere and out into space shaking his head. "I will not insult your intelligence to think that you haven't made a study of your enemies. You know the threats that the Fantastic Four have run into and dealt with."

Doom stiffened slightly at the mention of the Fantastic Four but not overmuch and he too turned his gaze up into the stars. "The Kree, the Skrull, who knows what others are out there." he murmured, then looking back at Harry Potter. "Is that the direction that your ambition lies, Mr. Potter?"

"One of the directions." Harry replied blandly, once more sipping from his whiskey. "Though ambition and an urge to defend humanity, in this instance, move in the same direction."

Across from him the armor clad King of Latveria did the same, drinking from his own glass. The two were silent for a moment, sipping at their whiskey and looking at one another calculatingly. Doom, for his part, was impressed. There was a self-control and charisma to the younger man that he had rarely seen in other individuals. Nor was he as black and white in his worldview as Reed Richards was or, at least, pretended to be. Doom had his doubts about that. "Leaving the gravity well and getting out of atmosphere undetected has always been an issue," Doom mused, as if to himself, while watching Harry very carefully indeed.

Harry smiled very slightly. "That is not a concern that constrains me."

Doom frowned at the non-reply, wondering what spells Harry could use to get out of the gravity well and atmosphere without being seen. To teleport, you need a specific location, which implies that Potter has something in orbit, though I wonder where exactly his ambitions in that area will take him. He frowned thoughtfully. Of course, I know about the enemies that my enemies have faced, they aren't exactly subtle about it, yet I have not heard of any government pushing any kind of defense strategy. He remembered his own thoughts in that direction and how his first experiments in had failed. He had promptly changed focus to something else.

He put that thought to the side, however, but he did not forget it, determined to look into this once more. For now, however, he looked across at Harry. "Space is called the final frontier for reason, Mr. Potter, and of course it interests me but what precisely does that have to do with our current conversation?"

Harry set his glass down and stared at Doom, his gaze unflinching. "I will have two agreements from you for my aid in rescuing your mother. I will say that it sounds more like your mother is trapped there, not just her soul, though there is very little difference, and, if push comes to shove, when we rescue her I can easily enough create a body for her as part of our agreement."

Doom waved that off. "If it comes to that I can create a body for her myself. What are these two agreements?"

"First a personal one. I have no doubt that you have realized that I am going to be starting up a corporation..."

"In Britain possibly, with your potions first and foremost, I have no doubt that you will spread into other areas of interest." Doom said waving his hand.

"Indeed. So the first agreement is for you to swear on your name to deal fairly with my companies, to not steal, analyze, undermine, or take the secrets of those companies for yourself. Note that this does not in any way inhibit the companies I create from making deals with you or with Latveria through you. This is simply making certain that you do not try to steal or duplicate proprietary knowledge. Frankly, the last portion of that statement is the most important when it comes to someone of your intellectual prowess as I don't think you would stoop low enough to actually steal but I still wish for both of those terms to be included in the agreement, just in case you have some underling that does not share your sense of honor." After all, while Doom would undoubtedly punish the underling, he would already have the knowledge the underling stole, so no onus would be put on him to not use it.

Doom ignored the obvious attempt to pander to his ego. To buy himself time, he took a sip from the whiskey once more, enjoying the flavor and murmuring aloud "You must tell me where you got this brand, it is most excellent."

"It's a wizard's drink called fire whiskey, though the fire that gave it its name doesn't last for very long, the flavor of it keeps getting better as the years go by. I'll bring along several bottles when next we meet, if you wish."

That had bought Doom enough time to think through his reply. The potions by themselves were a game changer, there was no doubt, one Doom knew for a fact he would not be able to replicate. Potions were a very minor aspect of magic use in this dimension and what potions there were, were of very limited utility. Elsewhere, so long as he could deal with Harry's companies, he could gain whatever they were doing that way. Besides, he had no need of other's scientific or magical secrets. He could come up with his own, on his own. "I will agree to that, what is the second part of this pact?"

To this Harry replied, now much grimmer. "When, exterior threats to the world, such as an alien race or trans-reality invasion show up, you will stand with me and mine to defeat it. In return, any advancements in space technology will be yours to use and build upon so long as they're not then used to threaten myself, my interests, the world, or the individuals in it."

Doom was amused that Harry was merely making certain any knowledge he shared wasn't used in such a manner, rather than trying to control Doom's ambitions themselves.

Harry somehow realized what Doom was thinking and addressed it. "I know I can't convince you to stop your ambitions and the neighbors around Latveria are such that you expanding its national borders might benefit the people involved. Your scientific endeavors are your own concern. I also know I can't stop your feud with Reed Richards but I can make certain you won't use anything I come up with against him or the other Fantastic Four members."

"And by this agreement you give me another target for my ambition, space itself." Doom murmured.

"That as well." Harry replied nodding his head.

Neither of them commented on what they both knew. Regardless of this agreement, someday, possibly soon or possibly in a few years, the two of them would be facing one another in battle. This agreement might stave off that event but it was still inevitable. Yet Harry was correct in the fact that if Harry aided Doom in getting space-travel specific technology, then Doom would turn his attention to space. There were the planets in the solar system itself to research, there were the alien races out there, there was endless knowledge and scientific discovery, far more than could be seen on Earth alone.

"How long will it take you to research a way to transport us to the demon dimension?" Doom asked abruptly.

Harry frowned, touching the lightning bolt scar on his forehead as he thought. "I have a business meeting tomorrow but, other than that, I will devote as much of my time as I can to researching this. I'd estimate that by Saturday, I will be ready to go. I will prepare a place for us to create a true portal, one that will allow you to keep your electronics intact and I may bring along one of my associates with us when we go. Killing demons isn't the sort of thing you want to keep to yourself after all. I will also want to research this Mephisto before then. He may have some weakness that we could exploit."

"That quickly? Excellent. Very well, I agree then." Doom said brusquely as if it was of no moment.

Harry however wasn't fooled. "Say it Lord Doom. On your full name agree to my terms and I will swear to help you regain the soul of your mother."

Doom smiled faintly behind his mask, seeing once again that Harry had an amusingly accurate picture of his personality. Much like with the Doom-bot, if Harry had not asked for him to swear on his own full name than the agreement would not have been binding. "Very well, I Victor Von Doom, in return for his aid in freeing my mother's soul from her bondage, will agree to the two conditions that Harry Potter has put forth on this day, to wit that I will not attempt to either through guile, subterfuge, or scientific endeavor to steal the secrets of his corporation, as well as agreeing, so long as the scientific knowledge between us is shared, to help against any space-borne or extraterrestrial or extra-reality threat that threatens humanity as a whole. Does that satisfy you?"

Harry smiled, his mage sight allowing him to see a faint ring going about Dr. Doom for a moment. Evidently Doom had some magic in him, which reminded Harry that he desperately needed to look into the strange nature of magical cores in this world, since Doom hadn't been born with magic, yet had seemingly gained it, much like Dr. Strange might have. Regardless, whatever was there was now bound by that oath.

So he nodded, and held out his own hand across the table. "In return for his agreeing to my terms, I, Harry James Potter, agree to aid Victor Von Doom in the retrieval of his mother's soul from the clutches of the demon lord Mephisto, by my life and magic I swear it." There was a rush of magic from him, and Doom's eyes widened behind his mask, wondering what had just occurred but his sensors couldn't tell what that had been only that some kind of energy had passed. Nothing in the material world had changed.

Before he could ask however, Harry replied for him, not wanting Doom to become suspicious of him. "That was a magically binding oath, Dr. Doom. Now, even if I wanted to, I cannot renege on it. That is how seriously I take my word of honor."

Doom frowned thoughtfully behind his mask, having never heard of a magically binding oath, possibly because it was such a normal thing that it had never been copied down into any books that he could access or, possibly, because it was such a big thing people knew not to take it for granted. He frowned further, wondering if his own limited magic was now bound to his agreement with Harry but realized that frankly it didn't matter. The agreements were good enough that he would agree to them anyway, and his word was his bond no matter what anyone else thought. Behind all of his subterfuge and subtlety, once Doom gave his word, he would keep it.

Without further ado he reached across and clasped Harry's arm by the forearm with his own metal clad gauntlet. "We have an agreement, Mr. Potter. How will we get in contact again? You mentioned your owl disliking me and I refuse to back down from trying to figure out how she gets around. Her method of teleportation is simply better than any other method I have seen, nor is it covered by our agreement just now."

Harry chuckled, having expected that. "We can use this place as a drop-off point for messages, I suppose. I would prefer that method as I do not think the world as a whole would like the idea of the two of us working together, even after I move onto the world stage, as it were, in a few days."

"I look forward with anticipation to the chaos that your arrival onto said stage will cause." Doom replied dryly, still staring into Harry's eyes. The magical oath had surprised him but he was still looking for any duplicity, any hints that Harry would not give his all to retrieve his mother from her captivity. There was nothing and Doom finally released his grip and nodded. "In that case, I will look for a message here Friday evening, leave it with a beacon of some kind, preferably a technological message rather than magical, but it matters not which. Until then, I will bid you ado."

With that, Doom stepped back and, with only a faint gust of air from the thrusters in his feet, soared into the air. A moment later, whatever kind of camouflage he was using activated and the steel clad Doom was gone, disappearing behind it as he traveled further into the sky.

Harry shook his head, gesturing with his hands as he cast aFinite Incantatum on the table and chairs, grabbing what little of the whiskey remained in the bottle as he moved over to begin to erase the runes he had emplaced. He was no fool, he knew that despite their agreements he and Doom would clash in the future at some point, it was just the way of the world.

"Still," Harry murmured to himself as he finished cleaning up his runes, "that went as well as I could expect. Much better than I had anticipated actually." Once finished cleaning up, he leaned over the side of the rooftop looking down at the busy streets below as he sipped the remainder of his whiskey smiling faintly at the fire going down his belly. He laughed, finishing the last bit of whiskey and then pushing himself off into the air, flying back to Hogwarts. It was a lovely day out and he wanted to have at least an hour to enjoy it before getting back to the grind.

OOOOOOO

Harry spent the rest of that day researching dimensional travel as much as he could, which caused a bit of an argument with Dr. Strange since Harry had to ask for permission to raid his library. Wizards had no truck with demons or other dimensional beings, while sorcerers did, both good and bad in every sense of the words. Dr. Strange, in fact, knew of Mephisto. He was one of the oldest and most powerful Hell Lords in existence, in fact there was some speculation that he might be the oldest. As such, he was insanely powerful as well as immortal and of course, as a Demon Lord, he would be even more powerful on his own ground.

Steven had been appalled by Harry's desire to find a way to his dimension and tried to talk the younger man out of it, right up until Harry had told him about swearing a magically binding oath to that effect. After that, Steven had reluctantly decided to aid him, loading him down with scrolls that mentioned the King of Evil that Harry would read over the next few days. The two of them quickly found a ritual to open a gate to Mephisto's realm, but spent the rest of the day figuring out how to, basically, change the rules, so that the individuals who traveled through it wouldn't then fall under the rules of the realm.

This meant Harry, Doom, and whoever else Harry decided to bring with them, wouldn't be effected by anything the realm itself did to invaders. It would allow Doom to use his mechanical devices and would protect them against magic embedded into the realm itself designed to mess with their minds and senses. Such mental traps included but were not limited to, simply removing an invader's sense of direction, weakening their willpower, making them forget little things, heightening their anger and hate.

Harry wondered aloud what his mutant power would make of being in such a magic rich environment. He had to touch something physically for it to activate, but since the entire dimension was saturated in magic, what would touching, say, the ground do? It was a question that he was going to need to think about further. Still, by the end of the day Steven and Harry had created a ritual that would enable the party to enter Mephisto's realm on their own terms.

The next day, Harry put that aside to spend time with Melody and the other kids. Thanks to the time difference, Harry was able to have a good half day with them, getting to know the newcomers and spending time with his adopted daughter, before heading over to talk to Emma.

One of the house elves, he wasn't certain which one but he was very thankful to whoever it was, had gone out and picked up several different outdoor toys, including Frisbees, several kinds of balls, and other sports equipment. Harry had quite a lot of fun with the kids trying them out. Football in particular was a major hit with all of them regardless of age, so much so Harry was thinking of making a permanent pitch for it. Miss Brown joined them, while Ororo began to create detailed lesson plans for the kids. This would be an ongoing project for her, but she could do a few lessons today for Miss Brown to use to help the majority of the children learn English when Ororo wasn't around. She would of course still be teaching the lion's share of those classes, as Miss Brown didn't speak Russian or Sudanese.

Piotr and Nikolai joined him in spending time with the kids because, rather than training, the two of them were going to go on a mission later today with Jean and Ororo. Harry and his ladies had decided that they needed to clear out those caches of Selene's before anything else. The gold would be a fantastic help, yet the cache down in Greece also worried him because it was the place where Selene had put items she didn't know what to do with.

When Death slipped the information of those caches to him, Harry hadn't gotten the impression that it was all dangerous stuff or even inherently magical items, just odds and ends that the immortal woman either didn't want to take the time to figure out, didn't know what to do with, or was simply wary of. That last reason for an item being there was his main concern with it. Ororo had suggested the evening before that she and Jean take Nikolai and Piotr out to raid the second gold cache, which was once more in the middle east, this time in the Taurus Mountains, in Turkey.

Eventually, however, Harry's time with the kids ended. Hedwig flew down towards him, making a beeline for his shoulder. He looked at her and nuzzling his head against her body for a moment and asked "Is it that time already?"

Hedwig gently pulled out his hair with her beak for a moment, then looked around at the kids all having fun. She had spent the night previously over at Emma's then came back to Harry when the time came for their meeting, having memorized the place Emma wanted Harry to apparate to.

"Ah well," Harry muttered, "to business then." He waved over Piotr and Nikolai, and after making their excuses, the trio of men made their way into the Castle, the two younger men moving off to get their temporary uniforms on. Harry meanwhile communed with his familiar, getting a sense of the area he was going to be teleporting into.

He looked up as Nikolai and Piotr returned along with Ororo, Sir Dennis and Jean, the two women both wearing their uniforms. Jean's phoenix was emblazoned red on the golden background of her chest and she was just putting on the mask which had a Notice-Me-Not spell on it. Ororo wore the same uniform she had worn during their battle against Selene and her followers, which also still retained the Notice-Me-Not spell Harry had cast on it. Harry made a mental note to spend some more time adding Orihalcum scale mail to all of their uniforms. It would be irritating to do, but it might not be that time-consuming beyond the first portion of creating the scales in the first place, and it would certainly help the toughness of his team.

With reluctance he turned away from his two ladies to look at their two new team members. Piotr had opted for simplicity, a pair of loose shorts, coupled with a tight spandex outfit that went from his stomach up to his shoulders and flared out there but let his arms free. Nikolai had opted for a spandex suit that covered him from head to toe, including a full-head mask that he could pull over his face, all of it in black lined with red. Since there was no doubt his face would be well known by the Russians and possibly other countries who had followed Russia's work on a super-soldier program, this was a very good idea. On his back he carried the shield he had taken from his fellow super-soldier, still covered with the Russian star (which would need to be changed, Harry noted) and resting over one shoulder was one of the sniper rifles, the one that jean hadn't taken apart just yet.

Harry was going to hit them all with Notice-Me-Not and Disillusionment charms before they left, but didn't comment on Nikolai's paranoia. After all, spells sometimes failed and Nikolai's presence would bring a lot of heat down on them from Russia, if he was recognized, which, you know, the shield would make so much easier it wasn't even funny. Instead, he merely nodded approvingly. "You four look ready to go."

They all moved from the entrance hall into the dining hall, which they were still using as a command center. Eventually, Jean would be going back to work on adding hard light projection systems in all the rooms, especially the one in the basement which Harry had set up for this purpose, but until then this place would do just as well.

Jean handed Harry one of the command bracelets with a smile. Harry manipulated the hard light system, calling up a map of the world from the Internet and then placing a dot in Turkey. "Alright, like the cache Jean raided in the Hindu Kush, this one is deep in the mountains, specifically the mountains of Turkey."

The redheaded telepath winced a little seeing that, while the two newcomers merely nodded, having been filled in on the 'adventures' their seniors had run into before they showed up. "I really don't want to think about how many international laws we have already broken. Let's just hope we don't get seen this time. Turkey actually has decent relations with the rest of the world."

Harry nodded firmly. "That is important, I don't want us to make any more enemies than we have to. Try not to be seen by any of the locals and keep any explosions or anything like that to a bare minimum if you can."

As the most experienced team member, Ororo would be team leader on this one and she agreed with Harry's sentiment with a nod. "Agreed, let us get in and out as quickly and silently as we can."

Jean nodded. "If the defenses there are anything like at the other caches that might not be possible, but I suppose I could do what Charles does when the X-Men run into trouble, cloud the minds of the individuals nearby, if I have to." She frowned distastefully at that, messing with someone else's mind, even a little, didn't really sit well but she was willing to do it in very limited circumstances.

Harry frowned as well and the two of them looked at one another communing silently until Harry shook his head. "Morality among mutant-kind is going to be an interesting discussion." As will our laws, eventually. "But you're right, that should do. You won't actually be mentally or physically harming them, simply covering your presence."

The redhead nodded with barely concealed relief that Harry agreed with her on that one and Harry went on. "We don't know what kind of defenses will be set up here. This is a monetary hoard, not anything else. Jean can fill you in on what she ran in to at the other one. Growing giant stone and sand scorpions, wasn't it?"

"You know damn well it was!" Jean scowled now, remembering running into the golems in the tunnel of the first reserve she raided. "They weren't much of a threat so long as I kept to the air. Still, Selene never struck me as the sort to reuse the same kind of defense. I think that we'll run into other things, although almost certainly some kind of golem will be involved. That seems to be a favorite of hers."

"Yes," Harry said blandly, "creating golems and adding them to an existing warding scheme is always an amusing move." He gestured over to a few of the suits of armor which were situated at the entrances into the dining hall.

Both Nikolai and Piotr looked at them with a renewed respect, connecting them to the golems Harry had summoned during the battle in Russia. Ororo and Jean however merely smiled, knowing that such golems were only a small part of what made Hogwarts one of the most fortified areas in the world. "Dennis will guide you all in." Dennis merely nodded as Harry went on. "Jean and Ororo will fly down, and one of the house elves will go with to teleport Piotr and Nikolai down. I'm going to head over to Emma's now. I'll see you all when we get back."

Ororo coughed delicately. "Before we do, you need to let these two in on a certain secret and hit them with your translation spell, yes? Neither of us can do it after all."

Harry nodded, overcoming a momentary bit of irritation, fighting a bit of himself that wanted to keep High Note a secret just between the three of them and Melody. "Harry Potter possesses the asteroid fortress known as High Note." he said clearly looking at the two of Russians. Of course, neither had known of High Note before this, so there was no rush of information or anything like that, they merely looked at him blankly and Harry laughed. "I'll fill you in later on why that was necessary but, trust me, you needed to hear me say that."

Both younger men simply shrugged their shoulders, Nikolai looking rather eager to see some action while Piotr merely looked interested.

Harry then cast a single Dissillusion spell on the group while they held hands, then a Notice me Not spell on both Russians. He followed this up with a translation spell, smiling at Ororo having been the one to mention it. Her irritation at that spell was truly a thing of the past.

With that Harry leaned in, kissing Ororo briefly on the lips before pulling Jean into a hug and then moved away slightly, waving at them before apparating away.

Jean chuckled and looked around. "Do you have a preference of Cory or Clare?"

Ororo laughed, linking her arm around Jean's and called for Clare, who had recovered from her exertions teleporting the two of them up to High Note from Scotland to its position over Russia a few days ago. Soon enough the dining hall was empty save for Dennis, who smiled and pulled out a book, waiting to be called.

OOOOOOO

Harry appeared in a dark room. Not dark as in without light, dark as in very gloomy and oppressive. It had very heavy blinds covering the windows, letting in a little bit of light but not a lot, casting the room into gray. The furniture around him did not help this impression, the few pieces that were still there being covered with cloth, giving the room an aura of disuse to go with the gloom. He frowned faintly, shaking his head. There was a faint smell in the air, of old vomit or the scent that comes from a long illness. He quickly moved toward the doorway, not wishing to spend more time in than necessary.

Outside the door he ran into Emma, who was waiting for him. She was wearing a very feminine and extremely attractive business suit that showed off her legs and chest without putting either on display, her blond hair falling loosely to her shoulders.

As he opened the door, she smiled, happily pulling him into a hug. She had turned off the video cameras for this corridor and the only servant in the house at present, outside the security teams on the first floor, was her secretary. With no witnesses and after not seeing him in person for a month she was damn well going to greet Harry with a hug.

She smirked, nuzzling slightly into his chest. "I don't suppose Ororo neglected to tell you to not allow anything to happen between us?"

Harry shook his head, but still hugged her back before gently releasing her. "Afraid she did. But don't worry, I'll be installing a transportation doorway in there." He jerked his head back into the door he had come from. "I put the first one in Hogwarts last night. I was sort of on a runic roll at the time, you might say. I had initially thought to give that job to Kitty but she's going to be busy creating the lie detector array for a bit, then the defensive runes for the team's uniforms, and then she might be helping me set up a warding array at a new installation that'll be the front for Magical Minds. She also has, well, just call it some homework, which will elevate her to journeymen status in runes once she finishes it."

"Actually, emplacing the other side of the door here will actually be an experiment, of sorts." Harry laughed. His magical senses were telling him that, like Charles' mansion, this place was nowhere near a ley line. The state of New York was actually unusual in that it only had one ground ley line passing through it, though it was one of the largest that Harry had ever seen, if not the largest, and it passed right underneath Dr. Strange's place. But neither the Frosts nor Charles lived on its path. "We'll see if the doorways power one another once they're connected, or if they both need to be in a magically rich environment."

"I certainly hope it is the latter. I've missed you." Emma pulled him into another hug in a very rare display of emotion. "And I've missed hanging out with Jean, just as much." While Emma had determined over the past few weeks that she wasn't quite as attracted to Jean as she was to Harry, that didn't mean that the redhead hadn't become one of her better friends, and like she had said the day before yesterday, talking on the mirror alone wasn't cutting it.

Emma was never really a touchy-feely sort of person. She had grown up in an environment where emotions were discouraged, after all, but having found a friend she could trust and the man she was both intensely attracted to and respected as much as she respected Harry, the floodgates had opened, so to speak, before being closed abruptly thanks to their various duties. The distance had been rather painful in many ways, something that had only been held at bay because of how incredibly busy she had been.

Harry once more returned the hug, gently running his fingers through Emma's blonde locks, earning a murmur of appreciation from the girl. Harry had to admit to himself that the idea of Emma… joining Ororo, Jean, and himself in their relationship was appealing and not just for the physical aspect. He had felt attracted to her the first time they met, or at least near enough, and it had very little to do with her beauty. Her mind, will, and personality appealed to him greatly and it had only grown since.

Despite that, he wasn't willing to see where that could go without Ororo's okay. Even if Ororo was moving in that direction, she wasn't there just yet. Jean was attracted to Emma as well, though by her own words at this point it was only attraction and friendship whereas she loved Ororo and Harry. She was willing to see where it went, to see if Emma could join them, but only if Ororo agreed. Until she and Emma came to some kind of agreement, be it affection or something else, Harry wasn't going to let anything beyond moments like this happen.

Eventually, he pulled back, patting her head slightly. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

Emma reluctantly pulled back but soon enough she was once more in control of herself. "You said you'd want to meet Sandman in person the other day so I've made an appointment to interview him this morning. You can become invisible, correct? You can follow me into the prison complex…"

"It's not the Vault, is it?" Harry interrupted. He hoped not, that would be a little strange. He also felt somewhat guilty about the Vault, since Charles had passed on that the previous warden, along with several of his staff, had lost their jobs thanks to Steven and him breaking out Melody and Wanda. Of course no one knew it was them, but still.

"No, it's not the Vault. The name of this place is the Abnormal Criminal Penitentiary. It's actually quite new but it's already been somewhat filled." She shook her head, amused. "New York seems to have developed something of a magnet for superpowered types. Have you heard of this Spider-boy fellow? He's a rather interesting case, a hero obviously, who tends to solve small crimes and is trying to clean up the streets or something. He has filled the Vault up with low powered types or criminals that have found new and interesting ways to give themselves powers above and beyond what could be considered normal. What amuses me is that he's only been on the scene for a year or so and that, despite all the good he's been doing, he also has some kind of feud with one of the local newspaper owners."

At Harry's raised eyebrow she elaborated. "He apparently uses spider powers: webbing, super-strength, that kind of thing to save people and fight crime. But the Daily Bugle calls him a vigilante, who is as much of a problem as the super-powered criminals he sometimes fights, in an attempt to try to turn public opinion against him. The Bugle's owned by a little man named Jay Jonah Jameson, whose only claim to fame is the newspaper he runs, which is small change, really. It doesn't have national dispersion, it doesn't even have statewide dissemination. There are a few other newspapers and news agencies that listen to him, but that's all. Still he seems to hate the costumed hero, although I'm not certain why."

In actual fact, Jameson did have a few more businesses to his name other than the Daily Bugle, all of which were centered on the news. But in comparison to Paris, Emma's acquaintance/comrade on the inner circle of the Hellfire Club, that was indeed very small change. Paris owned a worldwide conglomerate that was connected to almost every telecommunication network, several news agencies, and dozens of newspapers in the Americas and Europe.

Harry nodded, and the two moved through the mansion, with Harry quickly Disillusioning himself as they moved. He didn't want to use his invisibility cloak for this, because he wanted Emma to be able to see him. With the disillusion spell it traveled to other people you were touching at the time, and even if you canceled it on the other person they could still see through to you.

His eyebrows shot up at the sight of the limousine waiting for them in front of the mansion's main entrance, as well as the three very well-armed bodyguards. Each of them had what Harry recognized as one of his long ranged knockout guns on his hip. Two of them carried submachine guns, even here.

Emma saw his look, smiling internally as none of the three guards reacted to Harry's presence of all. She waved her fingers at him, trying to indicate that she would explain later, to which Harry nodded.

Two of the guards got into the front of the limousine while the last, their commander, simply bowed his head to Emma. "When should we expect you back, miss?"

His employer shrugged. "It will take us several hours to get there and the same back, though thankfully we should miss traffic both ways." Indeed it was nine o'clock here, well after rush hour, and there was no way this trip was going to take them into the evening rush hour.

The head of her security forces nodded, then turned to reenter the mansion, heading towards the command center, moving with a very noticeable limp. He was a relatively new man who took his job very seriously, and the command center was a new addition to the mansion. In it, the commander could watch the progress of the limo, which had a small locator device on it. The devices signal was changed on an hourly basis, which helped keep other people from tracking her using it. Whenever Emma was out of the mansion, there were two teams of four security guards ready to go in two helicopters, just in case. They hadn't been needed yet, but this man believed in being prepared.

Emma explained this to Harry the moment they were in the limo with the security separator up between the back and the front of the limo. Harry, for his part, raised a Mufilatio around them. "You seem to have found yourself a good man there."

"Yes, he is very good. I recruited him after he was medically discharged from the American Special Forces. He's revamped our security protocols and seems a good judge of character."

"You mean he simply agrees with your judgment." Harry chuckled.

"Of course, what else could I mean?" Emma replied disingenuously. She went on more seriously however. "I had him look over the dossier for Sandman. He agrees with me, that if the man is serious about reforming, he has a good chance to become a law abiding citizen. Needless to say, he would also be a fantastic asset to my security teams."

Harry nodded and the conversation turned to what had been happening in their lives lately. Emma frowned throughout the tale of Harry's intervention in Russia, though she smiled appreciatively after he finished. "That was well done, both in terms of gathering more members for your combat team, whatever you decide to name it, and for helping the children." Emma really wasn't that good with kids herself, she would never even think of being a teacher or anything like that, not in this lifetime anyway, but the idea of children being experimented on still made her see red.

She didn't comment on the whole morality question. She was of the opinion that the overkill was a good thing, sending a very strong message that if you treated or mistreated mutants poorly then you would face retaliation, but she knew she was at times too ruthless to really have a considered opinion there.

In turn, Emma shared with Harry the things that she had been up to, including the sales of them weapon designs he had given her. "I've been astonished at how quickly the various police forces have embraced the stunners, for one. Normally, it takes years for them to approve a new weapon but it's only been a few weeks and Cold Steel has already had several large orders placed for the stunners. Eventually, I might very well corner the police weapons market."

"That's good! And my cut will be arriving when, exactly?" Harry asked, rather amused. Those were his designs after all. He had also begun to realize that money truly was a very important aspect of his overall plans.

"I'll send you the first check after the shipment for the Washington police forces head out. I'll wait a few weeks after that, to make certain that they are happy and will not be returning it, then transfer the funds to you. Will that suffice?"

"Perfectly." Harry replied, shaking his head. "I have some more resources coming in today, but I've realized you can never really have enough money for this sort of thing. I'll be setting up headquarters of my corporation in the UK, I presume." At Emma's raised eyebrow Harry shrugged. "That won't be a final decision until we meet with the King this Friday at three but he definitely has the inside line, for reasons of magical defense if nothing else." Emma nodded at that and Harry went on. "He got back to me the same day I sent Hedwig off and the meeting has been set for Friday at three. Will that do for you?"

"Three o'clock in the UK is ten in the morning here correct? That's fine. I can disappear for a few hours or just tell people I wish to sleep in until one. No one is going to bother the boss except for emergencies."

The rest of the ride passed companionably, the two of them simply talking about small things for the most part, with Harry refusing to talk about long-term plans until they were back at the mansion and had discussed the business aspect.

When they reached the prison, Harry found that it was situated on a small man-made island in Lake Erie. It took them forty minutes to take a boat out to the island and they were stopped twice along the way. Both times, Emma's information let them through, though her bodyguards were given the evil eye from the prison security team and rather politely, but firmly, told they would be staying on the boat once it reached the island.

As they reached the prison, which was a brand-new edifice like the island it was on, Harry took the time to himself with a cooling charm, and started to levitate an inch off the floor. He also pulled out his invisibility cloak, showed it to Emma and, in the brief moment before the doors to the prison opened from the moment they got off the boat, told her what it would do before throwing it over his shoulders.

Emma shook her head, amused by all the ways that Harry could personally make himself invisible. She determined that he had been correct when he said that he could do this spy thing rather well.

Seemingly alone the blonde telepath continued on, moving through the prison with six prison guards all around her and Harry, all of them unconsciously not moving towards him thanks to his Notice-Me-Not spell. She was soon greeted by the prison warden, a fat old man with a walrus mustache that gave Harry a bit of a flashback to a far less appealing time with a fat man yelling at him, calling him a freak, and abusing him. He shook his head, however, throwing off the memory with the ease of long practice.

"Ms. Frost," the man said smarmily, eyeing her up and down, his thoughts obvious, "It's nice to see you again. I understand you want to meet prisoner sixty three in person. I've prepared a meeting room for you, already. Though I have to say, he would not be my first project of reintegration, if I was so inclined." He sneered a little. "Most of the people here are here for good reason, they're mutants, freaks, and criminal degenerates: dangerous to themselves and all those around them."

At the word 'freaks', Harry's fingers twitched unconsciously. It took all his self-control not to fry than irritating man right there, which was not helped by the look he was giving Emma. Despite the fact that Harry and she were not actually involved, that look made the hackles on the back of his neck rise.

Emma's response, however, made him smile and cooled his anger. "I was under the impression that a prison facility was not only to keep the inmates from the outside world but also to rehabilitate them so they could eventually rejoin it. If that is not the case, I'm sure it will come as a great surprise to the tax payers who paid for this facility, warden. Many of them are under the impression that prisons actually perform some kind of service beyond being a rather weak deterrent against crime, after all."

The warden flushed a little at her tone but Emma went on smoothly. "Regardless, there are many things in this man's background that tell me that he can perhaps be rehabilitated and it is to be hoped he will respond appropriately."

"I'll believe it when I see it," the man muttered, but led her on anyway.

Soon they came to a room on the first floor of the prison, with a door on the far end and two simple wooden chairs. The warden let Emma in not realizing that, as he held the door open and looked at her derrière, that he allowed Harry to sneak in right behind her. "The prisoner will be escorted in soon. You'll have forty minutes to spend with him. After that, he will be returned to his cell."

As soon as the door closed, Emma nodded to Harry, indicating that there were no people around, though she indicated with a slight twitch of one finger and eye gestures that one wall held a one way mirror.

Harry nodded, and quickly cast a Mufilatio once more, moving forward and pulling his old trunk out of a pocket. Since Jean had taken the mokeskin pouch on the gold raid, just in case anything they found had any curses, Harry had been forced to fall back on his old and weathered expanding trunk. He had a rather whimsical moment after he pulled it out where he wanted to put some magical legs on it. He wasn't certain if he could figure out a way to make it alive like the Luggage but he could get it to move and act a bit alive. He was certain that Melody and the other kids would get a kick out of it, even if they had never heard of the source.

He shook that off, however, as he saw Emma's raised eyebrow as the trunk suddenly grew. He reached inside, his full hand disappearing inside the trunk before pulling out a wooden chair and a piece of crystal, shaped like a hand-sized pyramid. He set the crystal object on the table, and then switched the chair across from where Emma had sat with the chair in his hand, which Emma now noticed was covered with runes of some kind. Then he covered it with an illusion, an illusion so good that even when someone sat on the chair, they wouldn't be able to tell if it was real or not. "Ingannare Omnes Sensus."

Like the spell he had used to dispel all the illusions being cast by the magic user in Russia, the base of this spell came from Blaize, modified with some bits and pieces he had picked up from a book he had read from Dr. Strange's library. It wouldn't last very long and it couldn't be made to last longer, even if he poured more power into the spell, because it wasn't conjuration, but it would work for now.

The runic array he just put down was to analyze the form of the being sitting there. It was based off an array that had been designed to figure out the true form of a Boggart. The readings from the array set into the chair, like that of the lie detecting array, would be sent to a corresponding piece of crystal. In this case, however, the crystal, once Harry tapped the top of it, would project words into the air above the pyramid, telling him all that it had been able to discern.

Harry had wanted to do this because Sandman was the first individual he had ever heard of that could literally change his entire body structure. Colossus could change his body into metal, but that was all. Torch turned into flame, but couldn't change his body's shape like a real flame could. Neither of their base forms changed. Hopefully something he could get from the readings of it would tell him ways to shut down this morphing power if necessary.

Emma, on the other hand, was having a bit of a crisis, staring at the trunk. Spatial manipulation!? Oh… my… god… I am creaming just thinking about what that could be worth on the open market!

Harry canceled the Mufilatio as well as the spell he had used to block the two cameras in the room just in time for the far door to open.

The warden walked in first, followed by two guards escorting a prisoner, who was wearing a clear body suit over regular prison clothing, between them. It seemed to be completely full of some clear liquid, water possibly, which made sense given what Harry knew of the Sandman's power.

The warden gruffly pushed the prisoner into the chair, then turned and left without another word. This gave Emma enough time to shake out of her momentary stupor. When she sat down she was all business once again. "Hello, Mr. Baker, how are you doing today? I am Emma Frost, head of Frost Corporation."

William Baker, AKA Sandman, was a large man with broad shoulders made broader by the fact that he could exercise somewhat in the prison in fact it was one of the few things available to him to pass the time, especially since he was in solitary. He had been a boxer and a football player before falling in with several gang's after aiding a friend in rigging a football game and being kicked out of high school for assaulting his coach who had kicked him off the team for it. It was as a criminal on the run from breaking out of prison that he had been exposed to the chemical byproducts that had given him his power. He had made a short career as a super villain, before running into Spider-Man and being captured in the rather ignoble way of being sucked up in a vacuum cleaner.

That had been two months ago and since then he had become a sort of model prisoner. He had never truly been what most people call the villain. He had been a criminal, yes, but he had stolen for money that was all. He wasn't evil or anything, he had simply fallen into crime and couldn't get himself out.

While he wasn't extremely intelligent, he was in no way stupid. As such, Baker's eyes narrowed, staring at Emma, wondering why she was here. "I am fine I suppose, for a prisoner anyway. I've heard of the Frosts, though the last time I got real news, your father was the head of the company."

"Times change and one of his enemies got to him eventually, or at least that is what the police have told me." Emma replied blandly, nothing in her face or tone hinting at anything but a low key, well controlled remorse. Regardless of anything else, she was never going to take Baker completely into her confidence. She probably wouldn't even tell him about her connection to Harry, but that was knowledge he might prove worthy to learn in the future, if all went well. "I have some questions, Mr. Baker…"

As Emma began to question the man before her on his past and reasons, Harry watched the small pyramid, frowning. Unfortunately, the runic array wasn't getting a reading off the super-powered prisoner. After a moment though, it seemed to get something. To his senses the crystal filled up slightly with a smoky white color. That seems to be it, I wonder what it can tell me.

He thought for a moment, thinking of how he would stop someone who could transform into sand without killing him. Extreme cold, water as they use here, but how to do it? Obviously placing an array on his body isn't going to work if he can just dissolve himself and get rid of it. Hmm… Japanese runes then, they're less powerful but can be used on paper and can be used as one shots easily. Hmm…

Harry set that aside for now, listening in for a few moments on the question and answer session, paying attention to Sandman's tone of voice and watching his body for tells. He wasn't so egotistical as to think he could read those things better than Emma but he wanted to form his own impression of the man. So far, his impressions were… so-so. The man had a lot of anger and angst in him but seemed sorry, for the most part for, what he had done as a criminal.

After about ten minutes, Emma glanced over at where Harry had once more disappeared under his invisibility cloak, one eyebrow raised, making the act seem as if she was cracking her neck. As she turned back to Baker, Harry moved over to her and leaned in to whisper directly into her ear. "I'm done, don't promise anything just yet, simply tell him you might be able to work a deal for his release but don't go into any details. I want to make certain I can devise something you can use and carry on you at all times to defend yourself just in case."

Emma shivered, feeling Harry's breath on her ear, but did as he suggested. "Well Mr. Baker, I believe I might be able to secure your release. Don't quote me on that, but…"

OOOOOOO

Both of the younger men had been rather awed by High Note, both the interior and the fact they were in space. In Piotr's case, the view in particular grabbed his attention. In contrast, the magical aspects, the massively enlarged farming area, the hidden nature of the asteroid, and the implications of Harry's ownership of it, made Nikolai realize two things: one, that he was definitely on the right side if his leader could plan this far ahead, and two, that Harry might have other irons in the fire beyond promoting the dream of human and mutant coexistence.

Ororo showed the two Russian nationals around while Jean directed High Note into position over Turkey. After that was done, the two fliers left Nikolai and Piotr behind with Clare while they flew down through the atmosphere. Jean put up the same field around Ororo as she used when flying through space and the upper atmosphere, providing Storm with propulsion until they were in atmosphere and she could provide her own. The two of them made their way quickly through the atmosphere, heading down toward Turkey.

With Sir Dennis guiding them, Phoenix and Storm soon came upon the valley where the second gold deposit Selene was hid, and, truly not surprising either woman, found trouble. "Called it." Phoenix murmured mentally to Storm, the two women landing lightly on the rocky ground behind a large boulder and peering out from around it.

The cache they were here to raid was set into the side of a small gorge with steep sides and only one entrance to a larger ravine which ran down the mountain side. There was little grass, a lot of large rocky outcroppings and very little in the way of flat ground save the valley floor. None of this was trouble of course, no the trouble was what was already in the basin with them.

Below them in the valley were three disparate groups, although it was obvious one group, the smallest, were definitely there against their will, since they were tied up and captive of one of the other groups. That group was comprised of over two dozen gangsters of some kind, or at least that was what Jean thought they looked like. They didn't look like terrorists or militants. More than half of them looked like they wouldn't be out of place on an American street. Behind the gangsters were what looked like three medium-sized helicopters. Though they didn't actually have rotors so how they got around was an interesting question to Jean.

This group was led by three obviously 'superpowered' individuals, if their get ups were anything to go by. One of them was dressed in red with gold boots, gloves, and what looked like some kind of gold bug on his chest as well as a golden plated gun at his side. A golden disc hung from his other hip but that was all the duo could tell from here.

The next wore a black costume with white stripes along its cuffs and shoulders in a triangle shape plus what looked like a bull's-eye in white on his forehead. He carried a large bow and quiver on his back, had a small pouches on both his thighs, as well as white belt with a holster at his waist.

The last stood in the center and seemed to be the leader of the group. He wore a skin tight green suit that covered him from neck to toe, what looked like metal claws, like those of a hunting bird, on his hands, visible thanks to his arms being crossed at present across his chest. He also seemed to have feathered flaps of some type folded under his arms. He was bald, signifying age, but was also clearly the leader of the trio.

Along with this crowd stood a far larger group of terrorists, standing in front of the tents, possibly indicating that this group was the ones who had been leading this trip. Nothing down there indicated to either Jean or Ororo that this was a permanent or even semi-permanent base of operations so it was possible they were here just to raid the cache. In front of this group was a hulking man, nearly as tall as Piotr and even wider in the shoulders, with arms that were corded with muscle, possibly aided by steroids. He wore a normal soldier's slacks, a black muscle T with the image of crossed bones on the chest, as well as a black mask with white line down the center covering his nose. He carried several dozen pouches, and had a machine gun slung from one shoulder.

There were over a dozen wooden crates, one of which was open. Three of the terrorists were looking through it, and pulling out rifles and machine guns, thankfully the regular kind rather than high-tech versions. To the side, the one man in red and gold was pointing towards where the cache was, saying something to the man with the black and white mask, though his voice didn't carry up to where Jean and Ororo were hiding.

Behind the group of gangsters was several of what appeared to be prisoners and Storm looked at them closely. All of them were somewhat injured and two of them were unconscious or possibly dead, it was impossible to tell from here. One of the ones who were awake was a woman with blond hair. She was glaring around her angrily. Their uniform, however, was what interested her, not being one she was familiar with herself. "Jean, are those prisoners dressed in the same uniform as Duggan was? It looks a bit familiar from what I recall from that memory of yours."

"Yeah, those are SHIELD agents." Jean groaned. Great, just great. Why can't one fucking mission go off without a hitch for us? Is that too much to ask?

"You were the one who said that being, what was it Harry called himself, Fate's bitch, you were the one who said that was contagious. I'll call in Clare, you call Dennis on the radio and see if he can give you some information about the odd individuals down there." Ororo ordered.

Jean nodded, hoping that the Notice-Me-Not spells Harry had cast on them held when she began to talk into the microphone that was now part of her mask. "Gian-Diep-Chu, do you read me? I need an ID on four costumed individuals, descriptions are as follows…"

While she was doing that, Ororo called for Clare to bring in the other two directly behind them. Thankfully both of them were also covered by Disillusion spells and, because of the boulder, even Clare wasn't seen before she popped back out. Storm did not want the gentle house elf anywhere near the coming conflict.

Colossus looked down at the group sadly as Storm described what they thought was going on. I realize that both the gold and the lives of those prisoners are important, but I had hoped not to face the threat of killing someone so soon into my career as a superhero. He was about to voice the thought that there might possibly be a way to simply scare the majority of the people down there off, but Dennis began to give them all a rundown on the two below.

Dennis's tone was somewhat rueful but also rather worried as he filled them in. "The one in black with a bulls-eye on his forehead in point of fact goes by the name Bullseye. Past unknown, career assassin, believed to be trained originally by the American Secret Service. Deadly with any kind of, gun or any ranged weapon, and anything that he can somehow throw. Bullseye uses tiny throwing knives, playing cards, and arrows as lethal weapons. Highly dangerous, don't assume that your invulnerable or anything. He can hit literally anything so long as he can see it. Known to have killed at least fifty people in the past year, connected to organized crime."

Piotr's face stiffened and his hands clenched. That news hardened his resolve and he was now wishful to help wipe a murderer off the face of the world.

Back in Hogwarts, Dennis had no way of knowing how the peaceful, yet honorable and determined farm boy had taken his words, and moved on. "The next one is named Goldbug or some such, known to be obsessed with gold. I suppose he's the reason they're here. Connected to several dozen violent burglaries in America and is also connected to organized crime, specifically some group called the Maggia. Has some very odd guns, known to coat people in temporary paralyzing gold spray, among other things."

"Last, and certainly not least, is the Vulture. Thief, killer, and, surprisingly, inventor, uses an exoskeleton that enhances his strength and speed tremendously and allows him to fly like a bird, method unknown. Known to be somewhat honorable, has never killed a woman for example, well respected by the criminal community, and very deadly indeed."

Jean nodded, that might explain how there was a woman down there surrounded by terrorists and gangsters, yet, seemingly hadn't been abused yet. Her good mood however evaporated as Dennis went on much more grimly. "On the terrorist side, we have a real piece of work, Crossbones, terrorist for hire. No known real affiliation to any specific dogma, save perhaps the skinhead movement. He's an Expert hand to hand combatant, expert marksmen and expert bomber both placing and creating. Killer without scruples who takes joy in his work, known to use explosives in busy streets to kill off his targets, if possible, so as to kill more people. He was connected two weeks ago to a bombing over in China, wiped out a group of smugglers trying to muscle in on triad turf and killed over a hundred civilians along with the targets. Another bombing down in Nairobi, killed over two hundred, target unknown at this time. Crossbones is on the International Most Wanted List and has a standing dead or alive order, one of very few who have received that second designation."

Jean frowned reaching forward with her telepathic powers trying to see if she could use the same method against this lot that she had against the terrorists around the former cache in Pakistan. She pulled back quickly, however, when screams began below.

Three men came rushing out of the cave that led into what she assumed was Selene's cache, one of them armless, followed rapidly by several golems made of stone and sand that looked like an odd amalgamation of scorpion and man. They had wide pincers, the low slung body of a scorpion, although that raised for the front half of their body, which was human, making them look like a centaur based around a scorpion instead of a horse. Behind the body was the tail, which looked as deadly as you would expect. Each of them carried metal blades in both their hands. Like the scorpions Jean had dealt with before, these creatures began to grow as they came out of the cave.

Bullseye astonished her with the speed of his response, turning quickly and beheading one of the scorpions with what looked like a thrown playing card made out of extremely sharp-edged metal.

However, the now headless scorpion kept on coming and she shook her head. "Those things aren't going to discriminate between the terrorists, the Maggia, and the prisoners. We're going to have to get it stuck in now."

Storm nodded, leaning over the boulder for a moment, then began to issue orders crisply. Nikolai might well have done the same, but he lacked the real-world experience of Storm, and as had mentioned a few evenings before, Storm was a consummate tactician. "Colossus, your job is going to be to get in there and free the prisoners. Jean, you're our heavy hitter, with the way Selene's golems always keep coming unless you totally destroy them, that will have be your job. While the prisoners are still in the danger zone, concentrate on taking as many of the terrorists and gangsters out as you can while keeping the golems off the prisoners until Colossus gets there."

"I'll take out Vulture myself then join you." Down below, the elderly man known as the Vulture had already taken to the air and was now swooping down at the scorpion-men, so it made sense for Storm to take him on alone. "Vanguard, stay here and lay down some cover fire, though you might be forced to join us later. Concentrate on trying to pin down Crossbones and Bullseye."

Nikolai, who had chosen the codename Vanguard that very morning with no help at all from Harry (who thought the name Lone-star, after Nikolai's shield, was perfect), nodded, laying down on the rock to provide as little a target as he could, pulling his sniper rifle around and aiming down into the basin below.

Below the four newcomers, Crossbones cursed wildly as the things came out of the cave that was supposed to lead into some kind of hidden treasure. His current employer had ordered him, along with a group of local dupes, to meet with a band of gangsters who had somehow captured a small fire team from SHIELD. For some reason, the gangsters, a group from the Maggia, had opened up discussions about trading away their prisoners for being guided to this point, deep in the rugged mountainous region of Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The trek had been aggravating for Crossbones, especially with such a lovely… distraction nearby. But that prissy old man, Vulture, wouldn't let him or any of his boys near the prisoners, let alone the one woman among them.

Crossbones had been looking forward to having the blonde SHIELD agent under his control but evidently Goldbug and his friends had held out on what they could be running into, if the giant freaking scorpion-men made out of stone were anything to go by.

His head whipped around as a 'Fizz-zap' noise was heard behind them. A small streak of bright orange zoomed towards Bullseye. It was only because someone from his own group stood up at just the right moment that Bullseye didn't die right there. The terrorist's chest exploded from the blast and he went down, dead before he hit the ground.

Bullseye dodged to the side, his reflexes allowing him to immediately return fire, throwing a playing card of all things, with such accuracy that Crossbones whistled a little. Crossbones had heard about the guy and thought him a bit of a fruitcake, even by his standards, but his accuracy was nothing to sneeze at.

It caused the man firing at him, who was dressed all in red, to roll and keep rolling as more playing cards were thrown at him. It was only because of the rocks all around him that he remained alive, so good was Bullseye's aim. At this point, Crossbones decided to join in and began to fire up the mountain at the sharpshooter with his machine gun, a weapon that was normally a crew served weapon but which he used with one hand, the other holding the belt of bullets feeding into the gun.

He changed targets, however, as out of thin air, it seemed, a huge metal-clad man appeared rushing towards them. Uncaring of his erstwhile allies or comrades who got in the way of his fire, Crossbones opened up on the metal-clad behemoth. It didn't seem to slow the armored giant down though, and he watched in growing alarm as men were punched or thrown aside.

"Damnit, just what we need, some kind of costumed hero types butting in! These two are new, though, they ain't covered in the database the boss has been collecting. Wonder where the hell they came from?" he muttered to himself, retreating to one side, trying to keep away from the metal giant until he realized where the guy was going. "Shit, he's after the prisoners!" He made a fast command decision. "Bazookas! Concentrate on that metal man!"

Colossus skidded to a halt, bringing his arms up to block in front of his face as two of the men dressed in dessert camo, who had been about to fire bazooka rounds at the onrushing scorpion-men, turned and fired on him instead. He cursed for a moment, irritated that his turning into his metal form had apparently canceled the Dissolution spell on him, and now that he was doing so much the Notice-Me-Not wasn't holding either.

A moment later, there was no more time to think as the two rockets sped toward him. Jean, coming in from above, caught one and twisted it aside to land in among the tents, killing and maiming several people and panicking the rest even further when it exploded. The other impacted, pushing Colossus back a few steps but that was all. As the smoke wafted away from him, the shining metal clad giant appeared unharmed, save for his clothing, which was ripped and torn.

Crossbones cursed again, beginning to fire at the armor clad man again, but his armor piercing bullets didn't seem to be doing anything.

Bullseye, too, was not pleased. He had tried to turn his attention to the metal giant, noticing several of what looked like seams in the man's metal skin that might allow him to get a card in there. There were also his eyes, which, while still metal, probably were much less durable. The second assumption proved false when one of his thin throwing knives actually bounced off Colossus's eye and he had to dodge another blast from the sniper rifle. What is that thing he's firing anyway, it looks almost like something that Iron Man twat who showed up a few weeks back would use, but he doesn't shoot to kill like this guy!

He next tried to take aim at the redhead, who was flying through the air above them, only to watch as she grabbed his knives and playing cards out of the air and threw them back down towards him. He dodged them only to nearly get hit by a blast from the sniper, forcing him to roll and hide behind a large boulder for a moment.

This distraction allowed Colossus to close the distance between where his charge had begun and the prisoners, smashing aside their guards, who, though nervous, had stayed put even as the scorpion men moved from the cave up in the side of the vale toward the campsite. Colossus ignored their fire and smashed into them, his hands along with his legs flashing out, kicking and punching gangsters and terrorists away until he stood alone over the prisoners.

At this point, the scorpion men completed their own charge towards the makeshift camp that the two groups had set up and were now rushing through, killing and spearing the invaders as they could.

Vulture had taken to the sky as soon as the scorpion men had charged out of the hole and he had been swooping down on them trying to find a weakness. But he turned aside and began to make his way towards the sniper after he heard the distinctive noise of his energy weapon firing. However, he was stopped by a lightning bolt nearly decapitating him. Only his enhanced reflexes and ability to change direction on a dime saved him from a very painful wound, at the very least.

From out of the blue above him flew a gorgeous African woman wearing a black formfitting suit along with a cloth headdress. She was flying in the air easily, a short black cape fluttering in the wind behind her. "I would ask you to surrender." she said, her voice carrying easily along the wind for some reason, despite the clamor of battle and the shrieks of the wounded below them. "However, I don't think you would and I prefer not to waste my breath."

Vulture nodded, smirking a little. "I'm afraid I wouldn't, you know. The amount of gold that is supposed to be here is going to fund my retirement and I'm afraid that is one dream I'm not willing to give up, even to a beauty such as you." With that the battle in the sky was joined, with Vulture zooming forward trying to close the distance quickly.

As fast as he was, Storm was faster and she ducked to one side easily, blasting back with a blast of ice and wind. The latter of which caught the Vulture and threw him backwards but he was able to ride with it, dissipating most of its force. He came back in from the side, trying to use the wind to power his momentum.

Goldbug had immediately moved towards the scorpions, thinking that if he could use his gun to halt their movements that they could then shatter them at their leisure. His gun was designed to immobilize by covering the target it hit with a very thin layer of gold-colored paralyzing agent. Of course, he wasn't certain if that would actually work on creatures that weren't technically alive or had skin that the agent could seep into, but it was all he could do.

His information about this place hadn't hinted at defenses, certainly none like this but, then again, it was only legend and rumor of a witch using this place as a dumping ground for her ill-gotten gains that had led him here. That and the mention of said witch being real from Silvermane, one of the oldest and most respected leaders in the Maggia, the criminal cartel he worked for.

He ignored the battle going on behind them, though he wondered where this other group had come from, if they were part of SHIELD sent to rescue the agents he and Vulture had captured a few weeks ago or if they too were treasure hunters. He'd gotten the drop on the agents, who had been following some other Maggia members through the city of Istanbul as they were doing a gun deal with some of the locals.

Seeing that his gun was doing nothing against the scorpions, he pulled back, running away from them and moving towards the armor clad Colossus. He raised his gun and was about to fire at him when the redhead, who had been attacking the scorpion men with telekinetic blasts above them, suddenly grabbed him with the same telekinetic force, hurling him back towards the scorpion men. He had time to scream "AGGGHHHH HELP!" Then one of them caught him with its tail, piercing his armor straight through the chest, killing him instantly.

Jean grimaced a little at that, but not so much. In her opinion, if you killed someone you should be prepared to face the same level of violence.

The scorpion men were now in amongst the earthbound terrorists and gangsters, confusing the issue and making them forget all about their prisoners. They even made most of them even forget about Colossus standing in their midst, since he was just standing there defending the prisoners with his body against their bullets and using his fists and feet to smash any that came too close. The scorpion men, in fact, were proving even more deadly than the attacking superpowered quartet.

Within minutes, the scorpion men had killed off about half of the mixed group of gangsters and terrorists, the screams of the wounded and dying resounding around the valley. Crossbones had retreated to the side, in fact, he was apparently trying to run away entirely. Bullseye was charging, trying to take the fight to Nikolai, while at the same time staying away from the scorpion men. His bow was off his back now, and he was firing arrows rapidly at Vanguard with his usual unerring accuracy. This forced the red clad Vanguard to bring his shield off his own back to defend himself from them, still firing around it with the sniper rifle occasionally, though his shots were nowhere near as accurate now.

Phoenix, concentrating on keeping the scorpion men away from the prisoners and Colossus, was forced to dodge suddenly as Bullseye turned from firing at Vanguard to shoot up into the air at her. His accuracy was amazing, despite running in a different direction and her being so high up in the air, something she thought would have taken his attention away from her.

Even taken by surprise Jean was able to dodge the arrows successfully, but one of them was an exploding arrow. The blast impacted her telepathic shield with as much force as one of Harry's Bombarda spells, causing her to curse luridly. "Son-of-a-bitch!"

The blast pushed her down to the ground. A few of the scorpion men had, by this time, grown twice as large as normal men, something that became evident when they reached up with their blades and tails in an effort to slash at her. Dodging one such, Jean found herself being pulled down and thrown to the ground by the pincers of another.

Three more scorpion men closed in, their blades stabbing towards her, but she raised a telekinetic shield around her with one hand even as she thrust forward with her other hand to throw them away. Four more scorpion men turned from slaughtering the terrorists, who were now in full retreat, encircling her. Somehow, the things could tell she was the most dangerous of their opponents and they looked to overwhelm her with numbers.

She looked over at Colossus, even as she poured more power into her shield. From her other hand, she began to throw the scorpions around with telekinetic projections in the form of large fiery claws, which, surprisingly, caused the stone scorpion men to writhe in pain. "Get the prisoners out of here!" she ordered. "I'm going to cut loose soon!"

Colossus nodded. Turning he quickly ripped apart the bindings holding the woman, and gathered up the other four still living prisoners to him, throwing two over each arm, not wanting to take the time to free them where they were standing. "Grab onto my neck please, miss, we are getting you out of here, da?" He was glad that Storm had remembered the necessity of hitting himself and Nikolai with a translation charm before leaving Hogwarts or else he doubted the woman would understand him.

The woman blinked for a moment at the rather out of place formality in the giant metal clad man's voice. Still, she nodded quickly, wrapping one arm around his neck even as she reached down to grab up an AK-47, which one of the terrorists had dropped in their hurry to get away, with her free hand.

Colossus rushed away from the center of the battle, all five of them in his arms for the moment. He raced back up the steep gradient of the mountain towards where Vanguard was.

Even as he was running away, Crossbones saw the metal giant and his burden running off. Deciding that his employer would be angry enough with the results of this little endeavor, he concluded he wanted to at least inform the man that SHIELD hadn't gotten its men back, at least. He raised his two handguns, pulling them out from their holsters at his thighs, firing at the armor clad giant and the former prisoners. The shot was difficult, since only about half the body of the four prisoners in Colossus's care were visible from where Crossbones was, draped over the armored man's shoulders and arms. Crossbones tried to overcome this with weight of fire.

A few of his bullets found their marks, causing one man to cry out in agony as he was hit in the back. "ARGH!" Another was hit in the shoulder, and one hit in the head killing him. "Aw Fuck, Felipes, down, get us under cover, big man!" Colossus cursed, and complied, dodging around as best he could while still heading up the mountainside.

Vanguard saw this and cursed, turning wildly and firing a blast towards Crossbones which hit the ground right in front of him, causing him to stop firing and dodge to the side. Unfortunately, this allowed Bullseye to range on him and an arrow nearly hit him in the eye. It was only his raising his shield at the last minute that saved him, knocking the arrow up enough so that it grazed over the top of his head, tearing away a bit of his mask and furrowing his hair.

Colossus reached a small place of safety on a ledge above the main battle. He dropped all of the wounded behind a large outcropping of rock, which could shield them from fire from below, then looked into the woman's eyes. "Will you be all right here?"

The woman nodded grimly. After examining the rifle, she began to fire down toward the ongoing battle, thankful that this gun had a full clip.

Colossus nodded, tapping his communicator. "Vanguard, try to cover me as I move towards Bullseye. Then I think you should switch off to Crossbones, he's getting away."

Above them Storm was battling Vulture but it wasn't taking nearly as much of her attention as the others were forced to put into their own battles. Despite his skill, strength, and metal claws, in the air Vulture was no match for one who could use the very air against him. She was simply more maneuverable, her weapons were longer-ranged, and she was faster as well. She overheard this communication and nodded, opening up a team wide communique, one hand bringing out her microphone from where it had been hidden in her hair behind her ear. "We don't want any of these people to get away if we can help it and Crossbones has definitely cut his losses at this point. Get after him Vanguard, we'll send Colossus after you when we're done mopping up here."

Vanguard nodded even as he began to fire as quickly as his plasma based sniper rifle could handle. The whine of the capacitors built quickly next to his ear as he overrode the parameters for it.

Below nearer the center of the ongoing battle between Jean and the scorpion men, Bullseye had to dodge even more wildly, though he returned fire just as accurately as before. One almost idly thrown card almost killed the woman from SHIELD who ducked back just in time to miss getting the card stuck in her forehead. Instead, it ricocheted off the rock behind her, nicking her upper arm as it came back towards her.

She flinched as she felt the blood running down her arm but returned fire gamely, catching several more of the fleeing terrorists, though there were few enough of those now. They were small fry, however, and she frowned as she noticed the red clad sniper, who had been doing such a good job of pinning Bullseye down and taking most of his attention, switch fire to Crossbones. She knew Crossbones. He was connected to several dozen terrorist groups and, while that wasn't the division she was assigned to, capturing him would be a major intelligence boon. With that in mind, she looked over at her one awake, if injured comrade, throwing him the AK-47. "Cover me, I'm heading up after Crossbones."

The man nodded, almost catching Bullseye as he was trying to open the range between him and Colossus, throwing dozens of knives and cards at the metal-clad Russian with little success. This caused Bullseye to dodge aside at the last minute, but it was enough time to allow Colossus to close.

Before Bullseye could do anything else, Colossus was on him. One of the giant's hand clamped down on his arm and Bullseye screamed as he felt his arm crushed in a metal vise. Even so, he reached down with his free arm grabbing a knife and stabbing the metal clad titan in the eye. However, Piotr eyes were also metal and the knife skittered off them. It was startling but not painful, yet Colossus still flinched, releasing his grip on the master assassin.

This allowed Bullseye to pull out a small limpet mine from one of his pouches, which he clamped onto Piotr's chest. He wrenched himself away from the large metal man, ducking behind a large rock as it went off. The blow threw Colossus off his feet while further disintegrating his clothing but did not do any other damage.

Bullseye, at this point, decided to partake of the same thought as Crossbones and choose the better part of valor. With that in mind, he reached into another pouch at his belt, pulling out several small smoke pellets, tossing them around everywhere. With that done, he raced away towards the entrance to the small valley, heading down the mountain. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Crossbones already exiting the tiny valley out into the larger gorge leading down the mountain.

While Jean had no attention to spare for this, busy as she was with keeping the scorpion men at bay, nearly all of whom were now concentrating on her (not being quick enough to capture the fleeing humans), as well as dealing with the explosions from their destruction of the three helicopters where some gangsters had tried to take refuge, Storm did notice. The Mistress of Weather willed into being two air blasts, one after another which caught Vulture, throwing him away from her again. This gave her enough time to turn and her hands slashed forward, dropping multiple lightning bolts towards Bullseye.

The man heard the crackle of the incoming bolts and turned trying to dodge but he could only dodge two of them. The third caught him in his arm and he screamed as the electrical energy surged through him, instantly giving him third degree burns on that arm as well as sending enough electrical current through his body to kill any normal man instantly. He fell to the ground, smoking and screaming. "AHHHHHH….."

At this point, he was put out of his misery as Colossus floundered out of the smoke, almost blind, trying to find him. Bullseye's life ended as an errant foot found his head, crushing his skull like it was a watermelon. Colossus looked down and saw that he had stepped on the man's head, crushing it, and he winced a little but shook it off. The man had been a contract killer, a death in battle was probably too good for him, really. He'd have time to think about having taken a life later. With that thought, he turned and raced after the woman and Vanguard chasing after Crossbones.

Meanwhile, Crossbones had made it quite a ways down the canyon which had lead him and the others to the supposed secret cache of the ancient witch. His steroid given speed and natural agility allowed him to cover the rocky and steep ground of the ravine's sides easily enough as he raced downwards.

He jumped to the side, however, as a red and white streak flew through the air he had just previously occupied. When it ricocheted off the ground in front of it and back the way it came, the streak resolved itself into a large shield, the same kind Captain America had made famous during World War Two. This shield was red with a white star on it, rather than the famous red, white and blue of the Captain's, however.

Crossbones recognized it from a few briefings as belonging to Russia's attempt to combat Captain America, the Red Guardian. Apparently, Russia was trying to train up a new one, though what the hell he was doing here, Crossbones didn't know.

He turned around, raising his pistols, and firing back. This forced the man behind him to duck as well but he still caught his shield on the rebound from the rocks below. This was what Crossbones had wanted, however, and he closed the distance quickly, dropping one pistol and pulling out a long trench knife which he used to slash at the man. Vanguard barely dodged the strike, wincing as it ripped his costume across his shoulder and marked the skin underneath, then winced some more as Crossbones' leg caught him straight in the diaphragm throwing him backwards with a oof of released air. "UNG!"

Vanguard snarled, rolling with the blow as much as he could, falling down the side of the steep canyon. He barely got his feet under him before a blow smashed him in the face from Crossbones' pistol.

Unfortunately for the steroid abuser, Nikolai's power, which he had only barely begun to really control over the past few days, activated at this threat to his life. The blow rebounded, throwing Crossbones off balance. Vanguard took advantage of this, kicking out quickly to throw Crossbones off balance even further, then ducking in to get him in an arm lock, twisting the man and slamming him mask first down to the rocky ground.

Far from finished, Crossbones was even stronger than he looked. Before Vanguard could finish putting his arm in a lock, Crossbones broke out of it, turning quickly and smashing an elbow into Vanguards side, a blow that got through despite Nikolai's attempt to activate his power. The blow cracked a rib and threw the Russian off balance enough for Crossbones to trip easily, though he rolled to his knees just as quickly. Crossbones sneered under his mask, readying his trench knife. "I don't know who the hell you are, but a shield does not a Captain America or Red Guardian make."

When Crossbones came in again, Vanguard blocked it with his shield, bum-rushing the man and trying to take him off his feet. That failed when Crossbones, using his greater strength, held him and punched over the shield with his other arm, slamming him once more to his knees. This, however, played to Vanguard's strength. Still on his knees, Nikolai smashed upwards with his full strength behind the blow, catching Crossbones in the crotch. Even with the cup he wore, that was painful enough to make Crossbones step back, vulnerable for just a moment.

Vanguard followed up swiftly. Without getting up, he grasped Crossbones' leg and knee in a grip taken from Sambo. He wrenched, shattering the man's knee and continued to grind his fist into the side of it, causing Crossbones to scream in pure agony. "AHHHHHH!" There was a bundle of nerves there that if they were hit with enough force would make any fighter simply forget about anything but being sick and screaming in pain, even one like Crossbones, who had taken so many drugs that he had nearly killed off his ability to feel pain.

Nikolai remained on the ground but flipped his legs out, grabbing the other man's leg in both of his. He continued to wrench the knee around with his arms, causing Crossbones to scream even harder.

Even that though wouldn't have been enough to put Crossbones out of the fight. If Nikolai had let up for just a minute, his greater strength and pain threshold would have allowed him to break out of the battle.

It was at this stage that the woman in the SHIELD uniform came upon them. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the man in red had taken the terrorist prisoner, swinging up Vanguard's rifle onto one shoulder. Vanguard had discarded the rifle in his haste to go after Crossbones. if he had carried the heavy sniper rifle he couldn't have moved as quickly down the valley as he had to catch the other man. "Good work, I don't know who you four are, but thanks. That guy is a gold mine of information. I'll…"

At that moment, the sky to the side coming from deeper in the valley illuminated with a bright flare of an air explosion. Nikolai chuckled a little, even as the flare took on the shape of a monstrously huge phoenix, the bird of flame arching its neck to the sky. "Methinks Phoenix has had her say, much like fat lady only with more fire and less fat, yes?"

Back at the main battle, Storm took the time out from battling Vulture, while still forcing him to remain where he was rather than completely retreat and fly away. She blasted downward, freezing the air around many of the scorpion men, shattering several of them with wind blasts before racing after Vulture once more, not wanting the man to get away. This gave Jean enough time to gather her power to perform the same compression and ignition of the air trick that she had done to Harry during their practice and, before that, in the first cache she had raided. This time she didn't hold back so much and a massive explosion occurred, so massive it would have registered on any satellite that was in the correct position to see it. "KERBOOM!"

The rumble and booming sound carried for miles around, causing a few groups of people elsewhere in the deep mountains to turn and stare in that direction. The wave front from it picked up the few remaining fleeing gangsters and terrorists and flung them around like rag dolls, killing most either by the sheer force of the shockwave or when they impacted the mountains sides. Even crouched behind the boulders and as far away as you could get and still be in the same valley, the SHIELD agents screamed aloud at the sudden crashing force. Colossus was very nearly smacked off his feet, though he was otherwise unharmed as he was well away from the epicenter of the detonation.

Jean grinned. "Damn, that felt good! The only thing that would've made it better would be if those scorpion things had been demons. Still, I'm beginning to enjoy smashing everything that bitch Selene left behind." She looked around with her powers, sensing, searching making certain that none of the scorpion men shaped golems were going to be reforming.

Above her Storm used the distraction of the explosion and the resultant shock wave, which had thrown Vulture around but which Storm had easily ridden out, to finally take out the Vulture. The old man had surprised her several times. His agility making it hard to catch him with most of her attacks, hampered as she was by a desire to capture him rather than kill, although her own speed and her attacks allowed Storm to evade Vulture's attacks easily.

Before the old man could control his flight, the air around him suddenly thickened, growing cold enough to nearly freeze him solid in seconds. Storm didn't keep the attack up for long, merely long enough to target his wings and rip them apart with knife sized air bullets. This caused the Vulture to crash in a heap on the ground, his descent slowed by Storm's power.

She landed well away from him, one hand whispering with the small, powerful tornado attack she had created months back. "I would suggest you surrender. I have nothing against you personally, but your position is untenable."

The man gulped, looking around at the wreckage of the former battle zone, the stone and rocks under him and all around actually bubbling a little from the heat of the explosion that Jean had set off. He slowly raised his hands, pulling them out of the metal claws he used as offensive weapons, letting them flap loosely against the outside of his forearms. "I believe I'll take you up on your generous offer, my dear."

"Please remove your wings and your backpack." Storm said calmly. "We will probably knock you out momentarily but it will not be painful or debilitating in the long run. She looked over at the redhead for a moment before quickly looking back at Vulture to make certain the old man hadn't moved. "Phoenix, if you please."

Phoenix, had been concentrating on pushing her thoughts out as far as she could, obscuring and erasing any interest her light show had garnered in any nearby minds. but once she was finished that, she knocked the old man out in the same manner she had used against the terrorists in Pakistan. Then Phoenix leaned briefly against the older woman's shoulder, smiling. "That is the most useful telepathic trick in my repertoire. Anyway, this was fun and this was supposed to be the easy run. Makes me worry about that last one all the more."

Storm nodded grimly but called for Clare to bring in some healing potions, before moving up the valley to the injured SHIELD agents. Moments later, she was administering the potions to the man who had been shot in the leg. The man who had been shot in the back had died of his wounds, joining his fellows. This left only three of the six man team that the Maggia had captured alive but that was more than any of those captives had ever really expected.

At this point, Colossus came back leading Vanguard and the SHIELD woman with the large Russian holding Crossbones in a constricting grip, so tight the man had no chance of breaking out. Strong he might be for a normal human, Crossbones was no match for Colossus who measured his strength in tons rather than pounds. Phoenix grinned at him, amused by the look of hate in Crossbones' eyes behind his mask. "Say goodnight, murderer." With a single wave of her hand and a burst of telepathic power the terrorist collapsed into unconsciousness.

At the redhead's nod, Piotr unceremoniously dropped his captive to the ground, making a big show of wiping at his arms as if he was trying to clean them of filth. Vanguard chuckled weakly, not wanting to irritate his ribs any more than he had to, while the others all chuckled as well, even the SHIELD man trying tend to his friend's wounds.

The blonde woman in the SHIELD combat uniform nodded her head, seeing that they had taken Vulture captive. "That was a good move, he was the only reason I wasn't raped." she said, rather matter-of-factly. Every woman in the Armed or Intelligence Services knew that was what happened to a woman who was captured by terrorists or gangsters. There are very few gangsters who had any sense of morals and, to most terrorists in the world, a woman fighter was anathema and any woman who thought otherwise was a mere whore.

"So we had supposed." Storm said, smiling slightly at the woman. She motioned her over to the other agents then looked at Jean, tapping her head.

Jean got the message and initiated a telepathic link between them. "So, let me think… We're not trusting these agents even if we saved them, I trust? Remember, I told Duggan that we were cleaning up after Selene's death. Given the scorpion men doing just as much damage to the gangster and terrorist here as we did, that will be even more believable."

Yes, but I think you need to clear that cache now, before any of the SHIELD agents think of exploring it themselves. They must already be curious of what brought the gangsters out here. Storm replied, even as she led the blond and Vanguard, who was now dragging the comatose Crossbones up the mountain, taking care to let the man's head bounce off every rock he could. Take Colossus with you, just in case. If there are any more traps, his steel body should be immune to most of them. But still be careful, my Jean.

Jean smiled at her, then turned and made her way toward the large slit in the mountain side that led into the cavern. She paused for a moment outside, sending her thoughts probing inward but didn't sense anything living down there. Next, she did the same with her telekinetic power, sending in a low powered burst that filled the small entrance way to trigger anything along the floors, ceilings, or walls. There were several "FWIP!" sounds as if from blow darts, then silence.

She nodded at Colossus, who took the lead, very firmly pushing Jean behind him in a protective gesture that brought a smile to the redhead's face. "No wonder you and Mr. Wizard get along so well," she said teasingly smacking him on the shoulder, "same protective instincts."

Piotr blushed a little, though it didn't show up on his armor. "I am well aware that you and Storm can handle yourselves, Phoenix, but my metal form can protect me better and last longer than your shields, with nowhere near the effort."

That was actually debatable but Jean merely nodded, motioning him onward.

The large Russian moved forward into the cavern, gasping slightly a moment later. "It's…it is safe but Svyataya Mariya Bogoroditsa… this is… magnificent."

Jean entered the cavern at that, then stopped, looking around in awe despite herself. This cache didn't have as much gold as the other one did but what it did have was several life-size statues, made out of silver, gold, and stone festooned with jewels. There were carved and shaped jewels in tiny alcoves set into the walls, many made to look like animals, some to look like roses. Then there were several paintings hung up on the wall, all of whom looked, well Jean was no art enthusiast, but they certainly looked amazing. One of them looked like a Picasso, another one (she had to hold her breath for a moment at this) looked like it said 'van Gogh' in one corner.

The paintings are magnificent, she thought sardonically, save for the one that looks like a portrait of Selene sitting in pride of place. That painting hung on the wall directly across the entrance with two large statues of lions on either side and a few golden candlesticks set into the floor in front of it. What made this show of egotism worse was that, in one corner along the very edge, the painting had the signature of 'Rembrandt' on it.

Piotr however had gone to his knees, looking at a section of one wall near the painting of Selene. Inside it on a small alcove, as if placed with even more care than the carved jewels elsewhere, there were four eggs made of gold, exquisite jewels and precious metals, with the work looking so fine it was amazing to think it had been done by human hands. Jean looked over and gasped aloud as well. "Faberge eggs!" she said incredulously. "How the..." she broke off. "I'm beginning to wonder if Selene was more of a thief than a sorceress."

She looked around her frowning and then nodded. "This place wasn't just a cache…" Piotr looked up at her and Jean shrugged. "Everything here is in a way beautiful, even that self-portrait, much as I hate to admit it. There's no gold ingots or coins here. It's all worked pieces, even the jewels are like that. This was Selene's personal art exhibit. The place where she could go and have a quiet chuckle or gloat, I guess." Jean shook her head, not really understanding the idea of someone keeping all this beauty to herself. She frowned thoughtfully, then looked over at Piotr. "Could you go outside and ask Clare to come in here. I bet that Storm's already finished with her."

Jean didn't know why the house elves didn't respond to orders from her or the others when they weren't on Harry's property but she wasn't about to make a point of it. Nor was she about to just toss all these magnificent paintings into the mokeskin pouch willy-nilly. She didn't know anything about the properties of the pouch but she didn't want to take chances.

While Colossus was doing that, she pulled out her compact and called Harry. She got Harry quickly, sitting next to Emma, apparently traveling to somewhere in a limo going by the movement of the image behind them through a window pane. "Harry, we ran into some issues here and I had a question about what we should do, as well as about the mokeskin pouch." With that she panned the mirror around showing then the interior.

Emma responded as she did before, gasping and literally moaning aloud at the sight of all the jewelry and worked statuary. However, one thing caught her attention and made her gasp even louder. "Holy hell, are those Faberge eggs? Is that the 'Lovers: the Poets Garden IV'!?" Without another word she turned and pulled Harry into a kiss, groaning aloud as she ground against one of his legs before pulling back and huffing. "Oh, my, God!"

Harry chuckled, wiping up at his mouth for a moment to get her lipstick off his lips then turned to Jean who was smirking at Emma's reaction. "What kind of situation and what's your question? You know, I trust all of you to handle whatever you ran into on your own."

"Well, this time you might want to decide what we do." She briefly outlined what had happened, then looked around at the treasures. "Before we deal with the SHIELD agents, though, is it safe to stop this stuff into the mokeskin pouch?"

Her lover frowned thoughtfully, then shook his head. "Best not chance it. Ask Clare, she's the house elf the one you're using for teleportation?" Jean nodded and he went on. "Ask Clare to take the paintings to Hogwarts and put them somewhere safe. You can handle the statues and gems by putting that stuff into the pouch, but not the paintings. You probably should do the same with the Faberge eggs. I understand they're rather fragile."

Emma put her face into her hands. "Rather fragile he says. Ten of those eggs are missing worldwide, and I'm looking at four of them, oh my God. That painting has been missing since World War II and, again, is priceless. There's another 'van Gogh' in the back I see and a Picasso, I don't know as well as a 'van Gogh'! It could be Le Pigeon Aux Petits Pois, I think. I'd have to check."

Harry shrugged unconcerned. "I'm not an artist and I never studied art so I wouldn't know. They are just money in the bank to me. Still, I'd be willing to sell them to you, I suppose, at market price of course."

Emma moaned again but then shook her head. "MMMHHH, good God, you two are not good for my heart."

"Not going to apologize." Jean chirped then began the process of pulling the statues and other worked gems towards her via telekinesis, opening the pouch in the same manner.

With that over with, Harry thought for a moment then grinned. "I think it's two birds with one stone time, love. You say this woman and the others are from SHIELD? I'll be there in a bit, then we can drop them off with Duggan and can pass on the message about the man who tried to kill your prisoner, maybe gain some good will in another way." He looked over at Emma. "Would you mind if I left for a few hours?"

Outside, Storm, Vanguard, and the two conscious SHIELD agents had finished healing their wounds and those of their fellows, though the man who had taken a bullet to the leg had fallen asleep after downing his potions as Clare pulled the bullet out of the wound, with him wincing all the while.

"Might I ask your name?" Storm said kneeling down next to the blonde woman, nodding cordially at the other SHIELD agent.

"Carol Danvers, formerly a colonel in the US Air Force." The blond woman responded leaning back against a boulder, wincing as she felt the last of her adrenaline leave her system and being a bit more open than she would otherwise have been thanks to that and her recent brush with death and worse. "I joined SHIELD in the hopes that we would be forming an extraterrestrial response unit, simply because NASA couldn't find its own ass if you gave them a map. Unfortunately, any plan to do that was scrapped due to lack of funding and I was assigned to our anti-crime division. We were trying to figure out if the new Maggia had some terrorist ties to a group called AIM. A few of the 'families' have gotten some weapons that are beyond anything available on the open market. We thought we were busting in on a sale of said weapons to them. Unfortunately, it didn't quite go as planned."

"Plans rarely do when they contact the enemy," Storm replied dryly, getting a laugh from Carol.

Colossus came up and asked Clare to head towards Jean to help her, which the house elf did at Storm's nod. Storm meanwhile stared down at Crossbones distastefully. "You're not thinking of just locking this creature away are you? Surely he'll get the death penalty."

"Eventually, I sure as hell hope so," Carol said fervently. "At the moment, he's a treasure trove of information, if we can break his indoctrination."

At that point, Storm's mirror quivered in the small pouch at her waist. She reached down, pulling it out to see Harry's smiling face. "Hey, Storm" he said, "Jean called me for my opinion on your little rescued problem and I think it's two birds with one stone time…"

About ten minutes later, Harry, with Hedwig following him, zoomed down out of the sky. His face was fully covered in his crysis suit, while also being covered in the same sort of spell he had used on Ororo and Jean the night of the fireman's gala. He could be seen, but the moment someone looked away, they would forget everything about his features.

He landed lightly next to Storm, nodding to her and the others. "Well done, both finishing off this last cache of dark magic and for rescuing these three." Harry nodded his head to Carol and her two fellows, one of whom was still moving his legs and arms, as if surprised they still worked, which he actually was.

The potions he had been given, and the house-elf's removal of the bullet, had healed his spinal damage. He felt a little light headed due to lose of blood, but that was about it, and even that was fading after the last potion he had been given kicked in.

"Vanguard, Colossus, you two did good. I think you deserve the rest of the day off." So saying Harry reached down and picked up a foot long shale piece, murmuring, "Portus," under his breath. The stone glowed blue for a moment then Harry handed it over to the two young men.

Colossus, knowing how this worked, took one end of the rock, motioning Vanguard to do the same. He did, looking a little dubious, then flinched as Hedwig alighted on the rock between them.

"Say activate, and you're on your way, oh and Colossus, if you want to talk about what happened here, I'm available." Hedwig of course had to go with them, to get them through the powerful wards around Hogwarts.

Piotr nodded his head at Harry's invitation. He would probably take him up on it, but at the moment he was sort of numb, not really feeling anything despite having had to take a life today.

The black clad Vanguard still looked a little dubious, but said 'activate' along with Colossus all the same. The two men and their accompanying owl disappeared with a pop of displaced air, causing the trio of SHIELD agents to gasp in astonishment. Harry turned to them with a smile. "Now, let's see if we can get these wayward chicks home, shall we?"

OOOOOOO

Once more, Duggan was roused from his command center by a report of a large group of people moving through the air without any visible mechanical means of doing so. This time, however, only two of the collection was unconscious, one of which in particular brought a grim smile to Duggan's face. The rest were held in a large energy field of some kind in the shape of a sphere around what looked like a wooden raft for a floor, with Phoenix, standing in the center controlling it, or possibly Mr. Wizard, who stood next to her. There was also a woman he recognized as Storm, a follower of Xavier's belief in coexistence, though for some reason, Duggan couldn't remember what they looked like if he looked away from any of the three. Beside them, there were three people dressed in SHIELD combat gear.

This time, they were not fired upon and the group came to rest on the ground without incident, the bubble of telekinetic force disappearing with a pop. Carol Danvers, who Duggan had worked with a time or two before, stepped forward and saluted. "Sir, good to see you again. I don't know if you heard, but my team and I, well there's no way to sugarcoat this, we screwed up badly and were captured in Istanbul by the group we were there to apprehend. We were going to be traded to a terrorist group led by Crossbones," the blond gestured at the comatose Crossbones, whose knee, Duggan noticed with interest, hadn't been healed or taken care of "but Storm and the others here saved us."

"You come barin' gifts again Phoenix, are ya goin' to be makin' a habit of this ma'am?" Phoenix laughed, shaking her head while Duggan turned to the man standing next to her, his emerald eyes locked on the SHIELD captain, though Duggan could tell that he was also watching their surroundings. "And you must be Mr. Wizard, heh."

Harry laughed. "Alright, fine, yes, I need a new name and as soon as I don't have a dozen other demands on my time, I will look into that." A wave of his hand sent the two prisoners to land right in front of Duggan. "We're still cleaning up after that incident in London, the bitch behind it was an immortal sorceress and had lifetimes to collect magical items that in the hands of non-magicals would be catastrophic, so we've been searching her caches out and destroying them ever since."

Duggan nodded, not really caring about why they had been in the area, only the results. "Crossbones, damn he is one hell of a find, if we can break his conditioning. A big if with this bastard, but still…"

"I actually might have something that can help you there. It's called veritaserum and it's as close to a truth serum as there is." Harry said, looking at Duggan contemplatively.

All of the SHIELD operatives, and Duggan had very firmly made certain there were no regular soldiers nearby, not even the base liaison, around gaped in shock. After a moment, however, Duggan remembered he was a spy and that people very rarely just walked up to him bearing gifts. "Okay, so what do you want in return Mr. Wizard?"

"Well for one thing, we were never here, understand? No personal, no official records, not even in your personal database. I haven't really formed an opinion about your agency as a whole, but I distrust those who hide themselves for no reason for it, and worse those who have hidden agendas. I want nothing to do with SHIELD's backers and I'm not certain about Fury, either. He's too much part of the system, part of the status quo, which to my mind isn't working, for me to be happy about him."

Dum-Dum nodded, he could easily agree to that, he didn't particularly trust the 'council' either, who seemed intent on using SHIELD as their own fiefdom, regardless of the remit that that SHIELD was formed to meet. He glared around at the other operatives, all of whom nodded with varying degrees of acceptance, with Carol being the most, which wasn't exactly surprising, given why she had wished to work for SHIELD and what had happened since. It wouldn't keep rumors from spreading, but it would keep the higher ups from learning about it.

"In return for administering the veritaserum, I want to leave a method of communication between us. I'm not going to ask you to spill any of SHIELD's secrets nor will I offer you any of ours, but I want to open a dialogue between us. As I said, you lot work too much in the system and that system is controlled by those above you too much for me to trust. I give my trust to people and, from all I've heard, you're good people, Duggan. If either of us hear anything, such as me hearing about a gun deal, an imminent attack on someone, or something of that nature, I will let you know. In return, you pass on anything you hear of a magical persuasion or anything world threatening that you can't handle."

That Dum Dum had to think about it for a moment. Having such a communication would be against regs in about a dozen ways he could think of, but it would also be useful in more than a dozen and it wasn't like he couldn't pick and choose what information to share. It was also true that they didn't have anyone on the payroll, at least to his knowledge, that could handle the mystic side of things. And if push comes to shove, I trust people more than organizations too. It might be a good idea to have someplace to bolt if the Security Council becomes even more controlling than they already are. "I won't tell you anything I don't personally have a hand in. I won't send you rumors or anything that Fury has put under a security lock but, other than that, I'll provisionally agree to keep a channel open for dialogue."

While Storm gave him one of the communicators, not the magical but the technical kind, Phoenix smiled. "In the interest of sharing things, there is something you should know. When I dropped off Talmud, I was fired at by a man in one of your helicopters. At the time we all put it down to nerves, but…

After a few moments, Phoenix finished telling Duggan all they had figured out by watching the memory of that aborted assault on her, as well as the feelings that had proven it was deliberate. "Find that man, and you might be able to figure out many secrets."

All the men who stood with Dum-Dum and the man himself exchanged glances, then at his nod four of them left immediately to consult with the liaison officer. Two more men, who had been working on handcuffing Vulture and Crossbones, stood up, with Crossbones between them. They quickly tied him to a chair, then removed his mask. The face below it was pasty-white, as if he had spent far too much time wearing it rather than getting some sun. It also had a scar running right under one eye over the nose and down to the other side of his jaw, jagged and nasty looking. Even without that scar though, the face was ugly, with deep set eyes sallow cheekbones.

Harry chuckled. "Ah, now there is the original face only a mother could love. Open his mouth, I'll administer the veritaserum, then Phoenix can wake him up, might keep him from spouting off." The others all nodded and one of the men who had tied him to a chair pulled Crossbones' mouth open. Harry poured in the clear, crystalline liquid, three drops on the prisoner's tongue. Next Phoenix moved forward, her hand on the man's head for a moment.

Crossbones jerked in the chair but before he could do anything, the effects of the veritaserum kicked in, making him lethargic, almost half-asleep. Harry nodded grimly. "It should last two hours or so. The timing is a bit uncertain since in most cases, instead of waiting for it to wear off, you would administer the antidote. Make certain only one person questions him though; too many questioners can confuse the issue and can give him a way to avoid answering the really important questions. Ask him a few nonsensical questions at first to make certain it works."

Duggan nodded then did so, confirming that Crossbones was under the influence of the potion. After that he nodded again, sending off a few of his men. "No offense, but I want to bring in a few officers from the base for this and you three can't be here when they arrive."

The trio nodded and, after Storm bade farewell to Carol, Harry conjured up a stone, muttered the Portus spell, and, in seconds, they were gone. As Harry and the others teleported away, Carol and Duggan had already begun to question Crossbones.

End chapter

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For the first time since I began this story, I had real problems writing this chapter. It just wouldn't flow well, it wouldn't come to me, my muse deserted me, whatever you want to call it. The meeting with Doom, did I get his nature right, was the deal believable both from Harry's perspective being a good one, and one that Doom would abide by? The first day, with everything going on there thanks to the rescue of the kids, did it flow well, did I miss anything? Questions plagued me. The only sections I didn't have trouble with were the combat scenes. Combat is so much easier than business stuff it isn't even funny. I hope that I don't run into the same issue with the next chapter, but can't promise that. It will however, once more cover only a few days, but after that, we will have a chapter which progresses the time in the story far more.

The next chapter will be the meeting with the king, I won't go into detail about Harry's continued meeting with Emma, but will show how he takes her learning to heart. I also included the part with the king in this chapter because I wanted to show how serious he was about the upcoming meeting, as well as show a flash of how he views it. When they start making deals he will be doing the utmost to get the best deal he can for his nation, and he will surprise Harry a little bit. In the end however, I intend for all involved to be happy with the agreement reached.

For those of you who are marvel purists, I apologize, but the Savage Land and the events that happened there will be forever changed. Magneto will be much more methodical this time as well as ambitious, so the land will never be the same after his involvement. I won't explain anymore however, you'll just have to wait and see, though that will be months of in-story time in the future.

Now, a question I know people will ask, will Kitty become romantically entangled with Piotr? I refuse to answer. Guess all you want, I'm not going to go there, sorry.

I also hope that any readers who live in Barcelona will forgive me: Please note that I have been to Barcelona only once. It was magnificent, fascinating, and above all beautiful in places. It is a city I would love to visit again, but my memories are 15 years old, so I know I got things wrong, but I wanted it to sound as if Harry was basically seeing everything there with only the minimal of knowledge about any of it. If someone living in Barcelona is able to give me a better description of the sights, I will gladly correct that section and give him or her praise.