Dimensional Warrior
Chapter 12
Jean grey floated through the air, the wind pulling at her lavender shirt and khaki pants as she headed towards the explosion at the edge of the property. Her red hair flowed behind her like crimson ribbons. Her Emerald eyes narrowed on the black smoke drifting into the air.
She had sensed Harry's mind nearing the property just before the explosion.
Things between her and her otherworldly son were strained. Unlike the other children, who were hers and Scott's. He was a reminder of what could've been, or could be.
It also didn't help that Scott was threatened by his presence. Sometimes she wondered if they should've gotten back together after his return from death. They had originally broken up when she found out he had a psychic affair with Emma Frost.
His death and resurrection along with the emergence of an extra-dimensional daughter named Rachel drew them together once again but there was still that spark with Logan. The Avenue never traveled.
Landing in front of the car, Jean reached out with her mind, feeling for her son's presence.
Fear slithered down her spine and her stomach clenched as she found nothing.
Taking a step forward, she twisted out of the way as the driver's side door of the 1969 Dodge charger exploded off its hinges. Harry Warkiller, known to the world as Harry Howlett stepped from the car, an aura of sea-green energy coating his body.
For a long moment, Jean just stared at him, her mind going back to a conversation she had with the Phoenix not long after they first met.
–XX –
Jean grey Summers sat cross-legged on her bed, soft snores coming from her husband as he slept. She ran her hands down the curves of her waist to smooth out her Black nighty, trying to use the normalcy of the action to soothe her nerves.
Realizing she was as relaxed as she was going to get, she closed her eyes and exhaled while reaching out with her mind.
'Phoenix, can you hear me?'
Warmth filled Jean's body as her consciousness was pulled upwards.
–XX –
In moments she found herself floating in the star-filled void of space, a giant Firebird hovering before her. Its white eyes stared at Jean, seeming to peer through her.
'Jean Grey, have you come to be my vessel again?'
Jean looked down at herself, a little disconcerted that she was floating in space in a black nighty. Shaking her head, she focused on the Phoenix, 'No, I've come to ask you a question.'
'Then ask.'
'What do you know about a man named Harry Warkiller?'
The Phoenix just floated there, flapping its wings.
After what felt to Jean like a long time, she pushed her thoughts forward. 'Phoenix?'
'You have met the youngling?'
'Youngling?'
The Phoenix bobbed its head.
'He is one half of a force that created a new cosmic element, one that is closely tied with my own?'
'And did he really save my life when you were about to commit suicide.'
'Yes.'
'How?'
'At that time, I was overwhelmed by human emotions for the first time. He used our connection to help me work through those emotions and convinced me to let you free.'
–XX –
Jean moved forward eyeing the smoke that ran off her son's body. After hearing the truth of the Phoenix's words, she had searched the house, and found symbols hidden behind the paint. She assumed the symbols were what created the barrier that protected her family during the Shi'ar attack.
A trip to England later, and she thanked Harry for what he has done. He waved off her thanks, telling her that they were family and he would always protect them no matter what. After that, their relationship had gotten better, but she sensed he still had trouble being around her, she reminded him of the mother he lost.
"Are you all right, Harry?"
Harry glanced back at the car, the aura of sea-green energy fading, "I'm fine, someone just tried to kill me."
"And why would someone want to do that?" Logan asked, emerging from the trees, yellow spandex stretched taut across his stocky frame. He tilted his head back, his nostrils flaring as he took in a breath of air. He shook his head, "All I smell is smoke."
Jean scanned him over, her fingers twitching as she suppressed the urge to touch him to make sure nothing is broken. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Harry locked eyes with her, "I've been through worse."
Jean shuddered as images of what the Shi'ar death commandos had done to him flashed through her mind.
Logan moved to stand beside Jean, crossing his arms over his chest, "You never did explain why someone is trying to kill you."
Reaching into the inner pocket of his blazer, Harry removed the silver card with the Skrull's face etched onto it.
"Some time ago, I was contacted by an acquaintance who wanted me to investigate an alien agent hidden in their government. The alien agent was masquerading as a magical law enforcement officer."
"Throughout my investigation, I was able to determine that this Skrull agent had been bonded with technology, unlike anything I've seen before. I managed to use my own equipment to construct a card that could hold a mental impression."
"With the help of another telepath, I was able to gain the mental impression of the agent. It is my hope I can use Cerebro to find any other hidden agents." He glanced at the burning car again, apparently, those hidden agents don't like that idea."
Logan nodded, while Jean moved forward and slipped her arm through Harry's.
Harry tensed at the action but allowed it.
They began moving up the road towards the front gates of the estate.
Logan glanced back at him, "If you've got people wanting to kill you, I'm going to want to test you before you leave to make sure you don't get yourself killed."
A small smile lifted Harry's lips, "I would like that."
Logan smirked, "You say that now."
–XX –
Jean led Harry down a long metal hallway, cool air from vents above them chilled the space. Jean turned to him, her blurred reflection shifting slightly.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay using Cerebro? It has burnt out telepathic abilities in the past."
Harry glanced at her, Emerald eyes locking with emerald eyes, his lips curled into a slight smirk, "I'll be fine, I am your son after all."
With shimmering eyes, she squeezed his arm. "You know, I think it would be nice for you to meet your siblings."
Harry tensed. "I'm not so sure about that, they all share the same parents" he glanced at her, "at least genetically."
"Rachel could relate to you, all of them could for that matter." Her eyes clouded over, her expression turning dark. "Unfortunately, your reality, timelines, dimensions, whatever you want to call it. All of them have had similar disasters."
She shook her head, her long red hair whipping back and forth, "Sometimes I wonder if that's all the mutants are destined for, strife, war, and pain."
"I'm actually working on something that could help us with that."
She turned to him, a slender eyebrow raised. "Oh."
"It's not ready yet, there are still a few more pieces that need to be put into place. I'll actually be meeting with one of the final ones tomorrow."
Jean inclined her head as they stopped before a circular door with a metal bar in its center. In the center of the metal bar was another circle, this one contained a glowing blue light.
Dropping to one knee, Jean placed her eyes before the light.
There was a flash of light before a small beam of blue energy came out and scanned Jean's eye.
A thunk echoed down the hallway as something within the door shifted.
The bar withdrew into the door and the metal spiraled open.
–XX –
Striding into the room, Harry found himself on a narrow walkway that ended in a circle in the center of a large globe-shaped room. Lights along the walkway clicked on, revealing the path before him.
The walls of the sphere seem to be made up of square-shaped metal panels that reflected his image almost perfectly.
Reaching the end of the walkway, he stood before an arched table.
On the table was a helmet with an M shaped opening. Wires traveled from the arched to the bottom points and center of the M.
Picking up the helmet, he weighed it in his hand, marveling at how something so light could be so powerful.
Slipping it onto his head, he shivered as he felt tiny needles pierce his scalp.
His telepathic abilities flared, reacting with the machine.
The square panels lit up, showing billions of white dots interspaced with the occasional red.
Instinctively he knew the white dots were normal humans while the red represented mutants, surprisingly he found that magic users were represented by a pale blue Dot.
His fingers twitched, part of him wanted to see exactly what he could do with this machine, it had been years since he fully tested his abilities, and even though Jean warned him about the strain on the mind, he felt nothing.
Shaking his head, he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket pulling out the rectangular card that had the Skrulls mental impression on it.
Laying it on the arched table, Golden filaments spread out from the card, sinking into the table.
Within moments the room began to spin, groups of dots isolating before moving onto another.
Within moments, the machine had isolated over a thousand individuals spread throughout the planet in high positions of the major governments.
Harry focused on the two that were in the United States, reasoning that if his plan succeeded, he could take out the rest easily.
"Maria Hill, and Robert Callahan."
Making a mental note for the other names just in case, he took a step back. Now, it was time for the second reason he was here.
With a gesture, the arched table before him flew into its component parts and hovered in the air. The helmet before him also disassembled, its pieces floating away from his head and off to his left.
Eyes flicking from piece to piece, his mind instantly began working on how to put the machine back together.
After a long fifteen minutes, he had what he needed.
Curling his fingers downward, Cerebro pieced itself back together.
With a thought, the card containing the Skrulls mental impression floated into his right hand.
Turning, he found Jean staring at him arms crossed.
"Do you have what you need?"
"Yes, yes I do, there are two alien agents in America both of them highly placed in governmental defense."
"What did you do to Cerebro?"
"I had a theory that I could create my own using magical technology, but I needed to see how that worked first."
"You're not even going to try to lie to me."
"Why would I, you saw me take it apart, you saw me put it back together. We are trying to build a relationship, me lying to you would be a detriment to that." He gestured behind him, "You are more than welcome to check it. It still works I promise."
Jean stared at him for a long moment before finally shaking her head, "No, I don't believe I need to."
She took a step forward, "In the spirit of honesty, I had Hank record your brain waves while you were using Cerebro to make sure you are all right. As far as I know, you are the only mutant with a divine lineage, I want to make sure everything is okay."
Harry inclined his head, "That's fine, let me know if you find anything interesting."
"You don't mind?"
Harry began moving down the walkway, "Why would I, we both seek to improve mutant's lot in life, I just happen to include the magical community in that category." He paused over the threshold, glancing back at her, "I trust you will not let him do anything untoward with the information he discovers."
Jean stared at him for a long moment, she wanted to say that Hank wouldn't do that, but he had made some questionable decisions in the past that had come back to hurt them, "I'll watch him closely."
"Thank you, now, I think I have a sparring match to get to."
Jean watched him go, he certainly is different than any of the other children she had. He had the drive to make the world a better place and to fight for what was right, she just hoped it didn't lead him down the path of self-destruction like it had for her in the past.
Unlike her other children, he wasn't willing to sit idle waiting for something to happen, he used his knowledge and acquired knowledge to improve the world, a smile curled her lips, he had to get that from her side of the family. However, she sensed a hunger for battle in him that was pure Logan.
–XX –
Harry stood in the center of a domed room.
He wiggled his toes against the dark blue tile floor.
Large rectangular pieces of metal formed the dome.
Glancing at the half-circle of metal and glass emerging from the ceiling in the left corner of the room, he could sense Jean there along with another presence. Pushing deeper, he discovered the presence was one Hank McCoy.
Shaking his head, he rolled up the sleeves of his button-down to his forearms.
Logan smirked at him, one canine poking out from his upper lip, "You sure you don't want to change? I wouldn't want to mess up such a nice suit."
Bone blades emerged from the bottoms of Harry's hand, a single drop of blood running down the blades to drip onto the floor.
"Suits can be replaced."
Raising his right hand, he pointed the blade at Logan. He curled his fingers until the tips touched the bottom of the blade, "Now come."
With a roar, the Canadian close the distance between them, the sound of his claws emerging from his knuckles echoing in his wake.
With a few quick steps, Harry was before him.
Twisting his body, he aimed the blades of his left hand at Logan's chest.
Dropping low, Logan rolled forward, punching his claws towards Harry's chest.
Stepping back with his right foot, Harry pushed off skating backward across the floor.
A breeze caused him to look down, he found three puncture marks in his abdomen, the wounds had already healed, leaving only the holes in his button-down stained crimson.
Knowing his blades put him at a disadvantage, Harry curled the fingers of his hands, touching both blades with his fingertips.
With a force of will, the blades transformed into a white liquid that flowed over his hands. Forming bone gloves with 3-inch blades protruding from the knuckles.
Flooding his body with Psionic power, Harry shot forward.
His right arm blurred forward.
Logan ducked the incoming blow but missed the foot coming for his chin.
With a loud thwack, he was lifted off his feet.
Capitalizing on the momentum of his attack, Harry through his right arm forward, only for Logan to twist out of the way.
Landing on the ground to Harry's right, Logan withdrew all of his claws except the one extending from his pointer finger. With a twist of his wrist, the blade curved through the air aiming for Harry's neck.
Harry's right hand snapped out, catching Logan's wrist.
Shifting his weight, Logan maneuvered inside Harry's guard, bringing his knee up into Harry's chest.
Off-balance, Harry released Logan's wrist and stumbled backward.
Closing the distance between him and his opponent, Logan swept a kick at Harry's legs.
Harry fell.
Catching himself on his hands, Harry spun his lower body clipping Logan in the jaw and sending him rolling across the floor.
With inhuman speed, both combatants were on their feet circling each other.
Before they could continue, a feminine voice cut through the room. "That's enough, You should've been able to test him by now Logan."
A grin spread across the Canadian's face as he closed the distance between them, "You did good," his claws withdrew as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "but remember, you're not alone, you do have help if you need it."
Harry shook his head, "I'll keep that in mind, but like you," he inclined his head, "I can regenerate. I'm not going to endanger others if I can help it."
Logan's grin widened into a smile, "Reincarnation or not, you do have that Howlett stubbornness." He squeezed Harry's shoulder, "Don't die, I want another match soon."
"Of course."