A/N - I'm spoiling you too much, way too much. At the end of this chapter is a very important rant, one that will explain a lot of things to you as some characters will appear and without reading it you won't understand much. Read and review.
Lucius Malfoy frowned as he looked at the letter he was holding, he once again looked at the content of it and shook his head. I've seen idiots perform better than those, they got caught on the most powerful line of wards that exists short of Hogwarts. Good thing is that there is nobody of importance among the caught, but even than, it is a painful strike. They were a gift given by Fudge to Fury, he winced and ran his hand along the limp that Fury had left him, even if I hate Fury he is extremely good at what he does and there is this blasted Wisdom. One that removed almost every single supporter of Dark Lord that wasn't a magical one. Each and every one of killed by him was a dangerous and powerful people, some gave even him some reasons to fear them, yet now all of them were dead.
Shaking his head he cut his musings short and looked out of the window of his study, his gaze ran over extensive gardens and his son playing in them. He enjoyed the mansion, but he knew that once Draco was at Hogwarts, he would need to disappear somewhere darker and deeper. God bless Fury's reluctance to cause collateral damage, he thought, if not for Draco or Narcissa he would have bombed the mansion and killed me in the process. With them here, he won't dare to move openly, but once Draco is at Hogwarts, he might do anything and he seems more vicious than he was.
He picked up a fresh sheet of the finest parchment and dipping his quill into the inkwell he started writing, he needed to push some things forward and lack of reply from one Inner Circle member worried him.
o-0-o
Emma Frost looked at the letter that was delivered to her and tried not to laugh at its content. She poured herself a glass of wine and sat on a bed in her quarters inside of Xavier's.
"He is either insane or he doesn't know that I'm not a suicidal one," she said to himself and looked at the letter written on a parchment out of all things.
Her Majesty White Queen of Hellfire Club New York Branch
I, Black Bishop of London Branch beg you for help in removing a common obstacle in our plans. He is a new player and an inexperienced one, so he will be a vulnerable target and we better remove him now, than let him grow in years and wisdom that comes with age. I will cover all the expenses and the only thing that I humbly ask you for is to create a window of opportunity.
One that I speak about is a son of the previous White Rook of London Branch, his presence is a big issue for my business and I would be grateful if you have helped me in removing him out of the way.
Black Bishop of London Branch,
She folded the letter and drunk almost a whole glass of wine before she was ready to think seriously about the problem.
"I help the Bishop and I'm dead, I do not help him and do not mention the letter I am dead," she said to himself and sipped wine, trying to calm her racing heart, "I tell Him and I'm in better standing than he is and have a good chance to be his heir."
She picked up her phone and looked through her contacts, now she was glad for rising so high, it certainly gave a lot of perks. She found the number she was looking for and called it. "My Lord Imperial, there is a problem," she said formally.
"What is it?"
"Black Bishop of London Branch aims to take out son of Thor and we both know what is going to be the reaction of his guardians and family."
"Indeed, thank you for informing me about his plans. You did well, White Queen."
She ended the call and smiled, if everything went the way she hoped it would go, Black Bishop would be no more and she would have a chance to rise in rank. Now she only needed to wait for the fruits of it to be born and ready to harvest.
o-0-o
"Harry is avoiding us," Oliver Wood said as Hogwarts students gathered in one of their rooms. It was late and they were done with their homework.
"Would you really expect anything else?" Tonks asked as her hair changed color to vivid red. "You just stomped onto his feelings and do you really expect him not to be sore or angry because of it?"
"No... I guess not." Oliver shoot accusing glare at Cedric. "If it was not for you, he might have not avoided us. Thank you very much for it."
"What? He deserves that title."
"Maybe he deserves it, but he told us not to use it as he doesn't like it." Oliver said and reached out to his trunk. He pulled out of it a small, thin package wrapped in a plain, brown paper. "Dumbledore asked me to give it to Harry, it is supposed to be a thing that belonged to his father when he was at Hogwarts and was of great use to him."
"Any idea what is it?" Charlie asked as all of them looked at the package.
"It is light and if it was kept by Dumbledore, it must be pretty valuable," Cedric said as he picked up the package.
"We need to apologize to him and hope that we can get him to stop being angry at us," Tonks said. "He seems like a nice person, but he is angry and annoyed because of our behavior."
"Who is going to give it to him?"
"You," she said and Oliver almost felt sorry for Cedric when he saw glares sent by Tonks towards Cedric. But than, he deserves every single ounce of it and maybe more, he thought, he was the one that started the whole things and glares of some students are even worse than her is.
At those words Cedric shuffled his feet uncomfortably, but slowly nodded. "I guess that I don't have a choice."
"You don't have, at Hogwarts you would lose points for it, so be happy that here you didn't lose any."
"Yeah," he said, picked up the package. "I will do it now." He walked out of the room and closed doors behind.
o-0-o
Harry was trying to understand what he was reading when he heard someone knocking on the doors of the room. He closed the book and looked at them, just to make sure that they weren't behaving strangely. He heard it once again and with a sigh got up from his bed.
"What?" He asked opening doors and looking at one of those Hogwarts students that stood outside. He recognized him as Cedric, one that started the whole thing with Boy-Who-Lived at this school.
"I want to apologize for my behavior, I didn't know that you didn't like your title of Boy-Who-Lived," Cedric almost sputtered. "Also Headmaster Dumbledore asked us to give it to you." He said, handing Harry a plain package.
Harry looked at the package and tore it open, his eyes widened when he saw a silky, light fabric slip out of it. He caught it with his hand and looked at it. It felt magical and he could tell that it was an old artifact, he threw it around himself and heard Cedric yelp in surprise.
"Your body disappeared, that's an Invisibility Cloak."
"Yes," Harry smiled. "A good one, thank you for it and apology accepted."
Cedric nodded and almost disappeared from Harry's view, so fast that he only managed to see him get away. Harry closed the doors and threw the cloak onto his bedside table, he would need to learn more about it.
o-0-o
Cedric Diggory sipped some water and looked around the Quiet Lounge, he came to like Xavier's, even if it was a strange place, it was strange in a good way. He also came to like its inhabitants and didn't mind their company, he smiled when he saw Tonks change the color of her hair and the shape of her nose, just to amuse some people.
"Shape-shifting?" Harry asked, bringing Cedric out of his musings. He was surprised by the Boy-Who-Lived, he expected him to be someone completely else.
"Yes, you are not surprised?"
"No." Harry shook his head. "It is one of few things that almost every Æsir can do without too much trying."
"Other being?" Charlie asked.
"How to fight and use various weapons, if you think that I am a good one, you should see some of my tutors or cousins when training. It is much more impressive than what I can do."
"You make Asgard look even better than it is already looking," Warren said and frowned "What made you come to Earth and to the Institute?"
"I wanted to escape the noise of Asgard and meet you, and some other mutants as well as to have some fun," Harry said and laughed at their expressions "What? Can't I be tired of living in the capital city of one of the biggest realms?"
"You can, it's just that who wouldn't like to live in such place," Cedric said "Also for wizards Asgard is a realm of wonders and gods, so when you will be at Hogwarts a lot of people will wonder why you had decided to come to Earth."
Harry chuckled and looked at them. "After time you have enough of seeing gems and precious materials, it is not that I dislike them, but I want to rest in more normal place for a time. Place where I don't see everybody bow to me like they do on Asgard."
"Everybody?" Warren arched an eyebrow.
Harry only roled his eyes in a very undignified manner. "Most of them, only my friends, tutors and family doesn't bow to me. Also guards for most of the time, but still it annoys me, not as much as using His Highness with my name, but still."
"You are Prince, so you should get used to it," Cedric said "You will see a lot of such formality, but only to a certain degree at Hogwarts, we, that is wizards, love our customs and most of pure-blood ones are stuck up idiots that don't have half of a brain working. So when they will hear that you are an Æsir, well, they will show you respect, when they will hear that you are a Prince, they will try to gain your favors and will bow in front of you."
"Not all of them," Charlie said "Generally some pure-blood are trying to be more normal and not so formal, but a majority of really old families are crazy on this and they love scheming and plotting."
"Seems lovely," Harry snorted. "No wonders that my uncle has so low opinion on most of wizards."
"Meaning?"
"He treats them as annoyance that are in his path and need to be removed when they become an obstacle," Harry said with a grin. "He also is baffled by the fact that runes are not a compulsory thing to study at Hogwarts."
"Harsh," Warren said. "But than, Loki is not known as a merciful one in Norse myths and he doesn't have a lot of qualms with killing."
"Yes," Harry smiled.
"Why does he complain about runes?" Cedric asked.
Harry was silent as he looked at the fireplace, he diverted his gaze from it and looked at Cedric. "Let's say that a lot of things that he had shown me and much more that he didn't, yet, has theory based on runes which allow a better understanding of the topic."
"Such as?"
"Almost everything when it comes to magic and runes are also fun."
"Fun?" Rahne asked as she joined them "It blew a good chunk of a street, taking with it everything that was there."
"I didn't even know that it would work," Harry admitted "I improvised with this one, but other than that runes are nice and you will see a lot of them on Asgard."
"Good," she smiled "It makes me even more eager to see it."
Cedric smiled as he saw those interactions, at first he was a bit reluctant about the Institute, but now he loved it and enjoyed every minute they spent inside of it.
o-0-o
Atalanta sat on the floor, her eyes closed as she reached out with her mind to a small pebble that was laying in front of her. She focused on it and willed it to move upwards. She heard it rattle and than the noise ceased. Opening her eyes she saw it suspended in the air, kept there by the power of her mind.
"Good work," Frigga smiled when she saw that Atalanta was done with the task. "I have suspected from the beginning that your empathy powers were something more than they appeared to be."
Atalanta frowned at those words and looked at her aunt. "Aunt, what do you mean by that?"
"Olympians in general are more magically inclined than we are," Frigga said, smoothing out her robe. "Your empathy was a thing that suggested a great potential for developing more powerful magic even telepathy and telekinesis." She stood up and looked at Atalanta. "Follow me, there are some things that shall help you."
Atalanta nodded and followed her aunt through the maze of corridors and hallways, she looked curiously when they entered into gargantuan chambers that housed parts of library that was only for royal family usage and nobody else. She saw shelves piled high with scrolls, books and tablets, ceiling high and vaulted.
"Aunt, where are we going?" she asked, trying to see where they were walking, yet she didn't have the slightest idea.
"You will see," Frigga said as she pressed her hand against massive doors engraved with a sign that Atalanta rarely saw, Triskelion held by a pair of roaring crowned wolves. Her eyes widened when she realized what was behind those doors. "Yes, this is King's Library," Frigga said, looking at Atalanta. "Telepathy and telekinesis in the hands of a rogue one is a dangerous tool and weapon, so your uncle decreed that all of it is to be placed in this library."
She nodded, a bit pale. Gritting her teeth she nodded and looked at her aunt. "Won't he mind me using those things?"
"No," Frigga shook her head as doors opened and they walked into a smaller chamber, it's walls inscribed with hundreds, if not thousands of runes. "It isn't banned from being used to teach things, but only limited and you are a part of the family, even if a distant one."
Atalanta nodded and followed her aunt through the maze of shelves, watching her pick up and collect various scrolls and books. Most of them dusty and ancient scriptures, as they passed through the library she saw a bow, a pair of daggers and a sword hanged on one of the walls. She saw one of gems placed in the guard of the sword flash green for the briefest moment. She frowned at it, but than ignored it as she knew that they were here for a really good reason and she wouldn't learn much about them.
"Those scrolls are about basic training exercises and how to control your power," Frigga said, handing three scrolls to Atalanta. "The rest is about the usage of it, how to use it, how defend against usage of it against you and how to develop it. I want you to study them and learn as much as you can."
"Of course, I will do it."
"I shall start teaching you magic as it is a necessity as of now, you have magical potential, probably bigger than your father and mother combined."
Atalanta smiled at those words and looked at the pile of scrolls in her arms, she would enjoy the next couple of days very much. At least it is better than another book or scroll on other pantheons, she thought, her gaze running over the names of scrolls, I wonder how he will react to my new power once he is back. If I'm right he will be mostly surprised and maybe shocked, but he shall get used to it. She walked out of the library and headed for her room, to get started on studying books she was given.
o-0-o
Harry folded his wings and entered a steep dive as he chased after Warren, his older cousin was getting away and he tried to catch him. Wind was furiously whistling in Harry's ears as he dived, ground getting closer and closer with each second. He could see everything on the ground with perfect clarity, not a single detail escaping attention of his eyes.
His wings unfolded as he almost crashed into the ground, he leveled out his flight and looked at Warren who was hovering in the air, his massive white wings slowly moving. "How did I do?" Harry asked as he joined Warren and landed on the ground.
"Quite good," Warren smiled. "You know how to fly and you can think, not many would dared to do such dive as you risking crashing into the ground and that's ain't nice."
"You did it?"
"More than once," Warren winced. "At first a couple of broken bones in my legs and during the second attempt a lot of cuts as I stopped in a nasty evergreen shrub."
"You did what?"
"Landed in the middle of one of those shrubs." Warren indicated one of few dozens of shrubs growing around the Institute. "Advise for you, if you think that your life is precious, do not land in them."
"I will try," Harry said and looked at Warren. "So when are we going into the Rockies? As it is getting pretty close."
"It's still almost two months away and you wanted to show us Asgard so I thought right once the break starts," Warren said as he jumped onto the roof of the building and sat down, Harry only looked at him and did the same thing. "Since this family mansion is mostly an escape from loud life in the city and its bustle, Wolfsbane, Mirage and whoever else you want to take to Asgard can go with us there."
"Your father won't mind it?"
Warren only laughed at those words and Harry cocked on eyebrow. "As much as I respect my father, let's say that we do not see an eye to eye on a lot of things and I do a lot of them just to annoy him."
"I like it," Harry said with a mischievous smirk. "I like it a lot."
"Why do I have a need to run away from you?"
"Because you know me well or maybe because you aren't stupid? Take your pick, but be careful."
Warren shuddered and looked at Harry. "You are joking," he said after a moment.
"No, I am not joking... too much."
"You are getting worse than Wolverine is at times."
Harry threw back his head and laughed. "I will take it as a compliment, but that's an effect of having as an uncle a God of Lies and Mischief, you don't know if you should trust him or not."
"He corrupted you?"
"I didn't fall that low, I still have some honor and I use my brain to think," Harry said and looked at Warren. "Don't you think it is too silent and that nothings is happening sounds strange?"
"Yeah," Warren nodded, all of his previous good mood gone. "There is a storm brewing on the horizon, storm that will strike soon and viciously."
So I'm not the only one that feels the storm, Harry thought as he looked at his cousin, he also feels it. Ororo from what she had mentioned during those training sessions, feels it and the girls also mentioned a thing or two about it. There is something going to happen and this is going to be a big thing.
"You also feel it?" Warren asked, bringing Harry out of his musings.
"What?"
"The storm that is in the making."
"Yes, I don't think that it will happen now, but it should happen soonish."
"Yes," Warren nodded and with a smile he got up. "But enough of brooding, for that you can have time with Cyclops or girls. What about some more flying?"
"I like it," Harry said with a smile as he spread his wings and took off into the air, not waiting for Warren.
o-0-o
Ulf grimaced as a powerful strike slammed into his chest, he wasn't fast enough to move out of its way and felt as if a mountain crashed onto him. His eyes narrowed as he focused on Atalanta, he knew that she was good, but he didn't suspect that she was that good.
"How are you so good?" He asked her, his fist flying towards her body, only to hit the air.
"My father is one that created this martial art," Atalanta said with a smile and forced him to think about defense. "So don't get surprised by my knowledge of it."
"I've noticed it," he winced and sent a powerful strike towards her chest. His eyes widened in fear when she easily caught his hand with his own and slammed him into the ground. He barely got a chance to get away from her when into the spot where he was slammed strike that would have knocked him out.
"You are getting sloppy," Atalanta smiled sweetly. "Or did you expect me to be easy on you."
"No." He shook his head and started second round of their spar, this time trying to avoid getting to hit and attempting to score some hit on his own. His attempts allowed him to survive for a longer time than he hoped for, but she still sent him onto the ground.
He landed on the sand of the arena and looked at the sky as he tried to deal with annoying ringing in his ears and few dozens sources of pain. In his mouth he felt slightly metalic smell of blood, he blinked a couple of times as he tried to focus his sight. His look of the sky was cut off when Atalanta's face appeared in his view, wide grin on her face.
"I think that I won," she said.
"You did," he admitted grudgingly and used her offered hand to get up. When he stood up, he wiped blood from a cut lip and spat some of it onto the ground.
"Not bad," Sif said from the spot from where she was watching the whole spar. "Though you had a lot of luck as she didn't go that hard on you and she could have beaten you more easily."
"Could she?"
"Do you want to see it for yourself?" She asked and looked at Atalanta. "What would you say about another spar? This time you going all out."
"If he wants," Atalanta said, he was always surprised by how different she was when in fight and outside of it. In fight, she was a bundle of energy, almost impossible to stop, outside she was quiet, but not shy.
"Fine," he grumbled as he felt Sif's gaze land on him.
He moved into the opening stance of one of few martial arts style used on Asgard, he managed to see her first strike and that was it. The next thing he felt was a powerful blow crash into his sternum, even before he has a chance to move his arms into the way of it.
He crashed against the ground. It hurt so much. The pain wasn't a thing new to him, but for the first time it was so strong. He felt as if all of his ribs were broken and shattered into multiple pieces.
He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to see if all of his ribs were in their proper places. Groaning he sat up and looked at her, she seemed to be afraid of the power she just used.
"Did I hurt you?" Atalanta asked as she looked at him with concerned look on her face.
"I will get over it, sooner or later," he said and got up from the ground. "It just surprised me, a lot."
"She's a daughter of Hercules, what did you expect?" Sif asked. "If she develops it to its fullest, she will be able to kill you with just one strike and that is without trying."
"Nasty," he winced and rubbed the sore spot. "Just don't use it on me as I want to have all of my ribs intact."
"I won't use it, I promise." Atalanta said.
"Get checked with the healers as she might have damaged something inside of you," Sif said, looking at him. "I know that you are tough and you claim that you are fine, but I saw a lot of such strikes and they tend to cause damage."
"Fine," he huffed as he walked out of the arena and towards the healers halls. The thing that was more damaged than his physical body was his pride as it was almost trampled by Atalanta. It was not that he didn't liked or respected her. No, in fact he had a lot of respect for her as she tended to make him and Harald work together. But he had never suspected her of having so much strength as to almost kill him.
o-0-o
"You know that mutations don't need to manifest in a really flashy way?" Kitty asked as he looked at Oliver Wood. He is a mutant, question what kind of it, she thought, her gaze slipping over him.
"What do you mean?"
"That they don't need to be as visible as Black Eagle, Beast, Angel. They can be more subtle," she said and looked at him. "You can live without noticing it, but if I'm right you are also a mutant."
"How do you know?" He asked. "I'm a wizard, not a mutant."
"Yes, you are a wizard, but Harry is also a wizard and he is also a mutant." She said, placing her hand on his shoulder to ease his tensions. "I and a couple of other students were watching you at the Institute and we think that we know what is your power."
"What is it?"
"Telescopic sight, you can see farther and better than human is going to see," she said and stood up. "Let's see the Beast, he should be able to confirm it."
o-0-o
"Yes, you are a mutant," Beast said looking at the screen showing sequence of Oliver's genome with highlighted X gene. "Probably around Beta class, but you are a one."
"How sure of it you are?" Oliver asked, his eyes wide and his face pale a bit.
"As sure as I can be," Beast said and frowned, his fur moving in a peculiar way. "You are a wizard and it threw me away for a moment, but you are a mutant. I know that it is a shock for you, but it is a thing as natural as hair or eye color."
"Easier said for you than for me, in the UK most of wizards that are different aren't liked and mutation means that I'm not the same as the rest is."
"You can stay here or attend the Ilvermorny, it's not that Hogwarts is the only school of magic out there."
Oliver sighed, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "I know, but the family tradition was to attend Hogwarts and I would like to follow it."
"As long as you do not mention your mutation, not many will see or spot it," Kitty said and he looked at her, lines on her face were soft and she seemed to understand him. "Do I look like a mutant?"
"No," he said, shaking his head.
"Exactly," she smiled. "I don't mention my powers and nobody looks at me."
"So if I don't show my powers openly and train them in secret, I won't be pointed out by people?"
"Yes." Kitty looked at Beast. "I guess that we are free to go?"
"Yes," Beast said. "Just be careful, especially you, Oliver, telescopic vision can be distracting and annoying."
o-0-o
"Fury called and he needs our help," Tony Stark said as he entered the living room of the Tower where were Hawkeye, Captain America and Rhodey. "Affair in Russia and we need to be there in two hours or so."
"What does he want?" Captain asked, he was their de facto field leader.
"Check on some weird activity, he suspects that is doing of HYDRA."
"I've thought that they were dealt with."
"No," Rhodey said, making everybody look at him. "Tony, do you remember ones that kidnapped you all of those years ago in Afghanistan?"
"Yeah..."
"They were working with HYDRA, it was a faint connection, but still there and it is technically classified so that almost nobody knows about it. I know about it from General Jackson, who is current Chief of Staff of the Air Force," Rhodey said and shook his head. "If Fury is worried about them, than he has a damn good reason to be."
"So should I call Loki and Bruce?"
"No," Captain said. "We will do it on our own and we do not have time to wait for them."
"JARVIS, prepare the Quinjet and my armor," Tony said walking to the room where he kept his armors.
o-0-o
Professor Xavier nodded when he saw Sean, Warren and Scott enter his office, all of them looked at him in a way that knew why he had called them. He waited for them to enter and take their seats. "There are two new mutants, brother and sister if I am right, in Russia, near Lake Baikal to be exact."
"Russia?" Sean Cassidy asked, scratching his chin. "A nasty place to be and all kinds of organizations with rich sponsors have a free reign there. Corruption there is almost in every single town and finding an honest bureaucrat is almost impossible. I wasn't there for a long time, but if it is as bad as it was, it is going to be tough."
"Dad mentioned that you need to pay a lot of bribes to get anything done," Warren said. "So we can expect whoever is hunting them to have a lot of people and equipment. Probable thing is some support from local authorities and access to military-grade weapons."
"As I said, it will be tough," Sean said, scratching his chin, as if thinking about something. "Scott, what are you going to say about it?"
"That we need to come in force and that normal team won't work, especially if they have support from local authorities," Scott said and Professor could see some sort of a plan formulating in the head of one that was the most common leader in field. "I would take my full team, plus Phoenix, Banshee and Black Eagle. This mission needs a lot of striking power and whatever you say about Black Eagle, he has one hell of a punch."
Professor sighed and looked at them. "Are you sure that he is ready for this kind of ordeal? After all he is twelve and he still can be considered to be a child."
"He is twelve in our years," Sean said and Professor looked at him. "But he spent last four years on Asgard where he trained how to kill and one of the very first lessons that you get is to be responsible for your actions and behavior. So I think that he should be fine and he is a tough person, so he will get over the things he sees in a couple of days or weeks at max."
"Very well, if he is willing, he can go." Professor X said, knowing well that Sean was right, even if he disliked arguments used by him he knew that they were true and arguing against them was pointless.
"Good," Scott said. "I will gather them and tell them about the area where we are going. If we add right about it, we will need to hurry."
"Yes," Sean grimly nodded. "Also most likely we won't be the only one that goes there."
Professor nodded and watched them walk out. The moment they were outside, he sighed and shook his head. He disliked the fact that Harry could be forced to kill or at least fight in an actual combat. While X-Men were taught how to defend themselves, there was a huge difference between fighting in a spar and in an actual skirmish or a battle.
o-0-o
Lucius Malfoy looked at the two guards that escorted him into the audience chamber of the Lord Imperial deep inside of the Hellfire Club Building of London Branch. They seemed tense and ready to fire at him at moment notice.
"Black Bishop," said man that was sitting on the throne in the middle of the room, his face was hidden behind a black veil and only were visible his eyes. They were blue, but Lucius Malfoy knew that the real color was different. "You placed the whole club in danger with your petty and foolish games, you should not have done what you had done."
"Your Imperial Majesty, what do you mean?" Lucius asked, kneeling in front of the throne and keeping his gaze glued to the floor.
The only reply was a short burst of cold, emotionless laugher. "Black Bishop, do not play with me, you know to what of your actions I am referring to. It was a stupid move and you know what's a penalty for a failure..."
He didn't show any sign of fear, but a cold ball of ice started to appear in his stomach.
"Yes, I think that you had realized the severity of your crimes and how dangerous they could have been to the whole Club," said Lord Imperial and paused for a moment. "But you have served us faithful and we do not believe it was a prudent move to have you removed from our ranks. At least not yet."
"Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty, for your grace and mercy," Lucius said and after a curt nod from the Lord Imperial he stood up and walked out of the room.
"All of them will pay, sooner or later," he swore to himself the moment he was alone.
o-0-o
Harry was about to enter the Blackbird when he felt Sean's hand stop him. He looked backwards and saw Sean standing behind. "What do you want?"
"It is about the mission ahead," Sean said, his blue eyes dark. "Stay close to me and do whatever I will tell you to do. You are the least experienced one and you do not know what to do."
"But-"
"You have a lot of power and you will have even more, but now you do not know how to use it wisely and you do not know how to behave in an actual combat."
Harry opened his mouth, but than closed it and nodded. As much as it hurt him to admit it, Sean was right about the fact that he didn't know how to behave.
"Good," Sean smiled. "Will you do what I want you to do or do we need to leave you behind?"
"I will do whatever I need to do."
"Than you are flying with us, go and join Cyclops in the cockpit," Sean said and smiled. "You are natural in the air and it will be a good opportunity for you to fly more."
Harry nodded and walked into the Blackbird. He walked through the passengers compartment and into the cockpit where he took the only free seat. In other Cyclops was waiting and going through preflight preparations.
"I'll take off and get us to the altitude, after that you can fly," Cyclops said. "Take off is the most dangerous part and I do not trust you enough not to crash it."
"Uh, sure," Harry said, sitting down in the co-pilot seat and looking at the instruments. Sitting in the real plane was a completely different experience than being in the simulator, here he was sitting higher than in the simulator and the feeling was completely different. He felt tremors pass through the hull as Cyclops activated Blackbird engines and jets roared with power.
SR-71 Blackbird was a venerable, even a legendary plane that saw a lot of missions and flights through the second half of the twentieth century. One used by the X-Men shared with its original only its name and shape, the rest of it was heavily redesigned and upgraded, making it one of the most advanced planes of the time.
Harry looked out of the window and was shocked by how fast the ground below them was passing. Everything looked like a blur and was passing too quickly for him to see a lot of details, even with his Æsir genes.
"What do you think about the plane?" Cyclops asked, his sight focused on the controls and radar readings.
"It's fast and agile," Harry said. "And I like it, on Asgard I mostly was flying in the void of space. This... This is something much, much better and nicer."
"We are far above the sea and I think that you can take over," Cyclops said as he switched few things on the controls board and looked at Harry.
Harry's fingers slowly wrapped around the controls. When he fully gripped them he felt the power course through the plane. On his face appeared a smile as he slowly pushed throttle forward, bringing the speed up.
"Be careful with speed," Cyclops said. "You can't push it too much as even it has some limits and high speed burns a lot of fuel, I mean a lot. While we have enough of it for flight to Russia and back and even more, be careful as we might need to do a lot of corrections."
"Or to get away from something chasing us?"
"Among other things," Cyclops nodded. "Tell me to change you once we are over the Ural Mountains."
"Ural mountains?"
"You will see them, long and wide strip of mountains that looks like a border."
"Okay," Harry nodded as he brought up a map of the whole world with their course marked on it. His eyes swept over it and he nodded when he saw the mountains to which Cyclops was referring to.
o-0-o
"Well, this is truly amusing," Fury said as he looked at the list of names of the arrested ones, he didn't expect to end up with a lot of Death Eaters. He was expecting at least a real, good auror or two. She is dealing with trash that she doesn't want to have in the Ministry, he thought and on his lips appeared predatory smile, if she is that willing to work, we can deal with them quite easily and we will get them into the prison before they will realize what's going on. Now we just need to catch their leaders and hopefully they are neutered.
"Indeed," Loki said with a smile. "But than, wizards are the least of our common worries."
"Next time I will shoot you," Fury said as he pointed at Loki his gun. "And I highly doubt that you would live with a hole in your chest."
Loki tilted his head, not sure if Fury was joking or not. Than he started to laugh, making Fury narrow his eyes. "You could have tried, but the most you would have got would be annoying me and causing some pain."
"Do you want me to get creative?" Fury asked. "I have one of the best and the biggest R&D on the planet. They can develop something to stop you."
Loki's eyes narrowed, but than he nodded. "It won't be a terrible idea, as much as it hurts me to admit this, not everybody on Asgard is good or has good intentions towards Earth. So a weapon to injure us on a more permanent basis wouldn't be bad."
"Can you name them?"
"Tyr, Amora and all of their underlings and supporters," Loki said with disgust. "They are the worst of the worst and they want power and nothing will stop them. The problem is that we left a lot of our artifacts behind on Earth."
Fury nodded and looked at Loki, only to see a straight face. "Let me guess, they are dangerous and everybody wants to get them back."
"Yes and nothing will stop them from getting back those artifacts."
"Just wonderful," Fury sighed. "I have moles in my own agency, enemies on Earth and threats coming from Asgard. Should I know anything else?"
"No," Loki said, shaking his head. "Those are all the threats you are facing, but we will help you with ones' hailing from Asgard. They are also threat to our stability and we will do everything to accomplish it."
"Very well," Fury said. "When I will hear about anything related to Asgard I will contact you if the threat level is big enough."
"Fair enough."
Fury nodded and focused back on the data that he had gotten on Death Eaters. Wisdom was as good as he expected him to be, maybe even better and knew how to plot. And actually made him worried about his own safety, as he had a feeling that his apprentice might be also using him in the game all of them played.
o-0-o
With a roar of the engines Blackbird slowed down above the pristine boreal forests surrounding the Lake Baikal. It was so peaceful and quiet that nothing suggested that the hell and more was going to be unleashed here in a matter of minutes.
Sean's gaze swept over a small clearing, not far away from the town that was their target. He was looking for any unpleasant guests that could have spotted them land. He nodded and turned to the rest of mutants that stood behind him. "Wolverine, take Cyclops and Phoenix and walk in front of us. Storm, Rogue, Black Eagle and I will follow you."
He let the first three move forward. While he was a cautious when in field, it also allowed him to take a better look at Black Eagle. He tried to read this teen and he had failed miserably as a helmet worn by him revealed only his eyes and a part of his mouth. Hiding the rest of his face behind thick plates of mithril and steel. Even if that wasn't scary enough, those plates were shaped to give one wearing them a demonic, dangerous look.
"Let's go," Sean said the moment Wolverine got fifteen or so meters ahead. It was enough to trigger any traps without hitting the whole group and they could easily support each other. As they walked, he tried to think where the mutants could be hiding. He was at ease, with gun slung over his chest, but that didn't mean that he wasn't focused on their surroundings. "Can you call your wolves?" He asked, looking at Black Eagle.
"Uh, sure," Black Eagle said and loudly whistled, his whistle rattled Sean's body. But he didn't mind it as at the same time to their sides appeared Freki and Geri. "What do you want them to do?"
Sean looked at the wolves and later at the forests surrounding them from all the sides. "Can you command them to look for troubles?"
"Sure," Black Eagle said and muttered few things, too quietly for Sean to catch their meaning. But the reaction from the wolves was enough for him, they looked at Black Eagle and than disappeared into the forest. Only sign of their passage were moving twigs and branches. "They will make sure that nobody sneaks on us."
"Good," Sean said as he saw first buildings came into the view, he winced when he saw what they were. It looked like a small town with several huge grain elevators. "Not this," he muttered.
"What?" Storm asked and followed his gaze. "Grain elevators in the middle of town?"
"Yeah, remains of the Soviet Union, lovely sight and waste of funds as well as a perfect place for an ambush."
"Or to hide and lose chase."
"Among other things," he grimly nodded and tapped his earpiece. "Wolverine, wait for us. Black Eagle has his wolves running around and they should keep enemy at bay."
"Okay, you want to play safe this one?"
"Exactly." Sean said as he quickened the pace and joined up with Wolverine. He had a really bad feeling about this whole thing.
o-0-o
Natasha slipped from shadow to shadow in the corridors located deep beneath Lublyanka, she didn't want to be seen by anybody and if she was spotted, she would be immediately killed, assuming more merciful approach. If assuming less merciful, she would be stunned and interrogated in a rather gruesome way. She stopped at the intersection of corridors and took a look into other corridors. All of them were the same, bare walls, sparse lights and pipes being visible.
"No one," she whispered and immediately tensed. Her senses picked up a sound that didn't fit here. It was a sound of heel hitting the concrete.
Her gaze darted backwards for a moment and than she looked into the side corridor. Onto her lips crept up a small smile when she saw pipes running in a way that allowed her to hide these. She jumped up and grabbed the lowest one, using her strength she managed to slip her whole body there. She waited. For a minute. For five minutes and she didn't hear a single sound.
Holding the pipe with her legs she tried to bend her body in a way that would have given her a better view. She saw nobody and decided to jump down. Than she heard clapping coming from behind her. Slowly turning around she came face to face with a hulking man.
"Well, well, well, infamous Black Widow caught into a simple trap," he said and before she had a chance to react pulled out of his holster a gun and depressed its trigger. Small dart flew through the air and slammed into her body.
She tried to fight the poison, but she failed. As her body fell onto the floor through the last working parts of her brain passed a nagging sensation that she knew this voice. Yet her mind couldn't function well enough to guess who it was.
o-0-o
Sean's eyes were darting across the fringe of the town as they slowly entered it. Weapons in hands and ready to be used. Than Black Eagle said "We have company coming." Making all of them jump up and look at him.
"From where?" Sean asked as he brought up his gun, ready to shot anything that was coming in their direction.
Black Eagle glanced at the wolves that appeared at his sides, emerging from the forest, their fur bristling and fangs bared. Sean could tell that they were talking in one way or another. "One group is somewhere in the city, two people are trying to get away from them and the Avengers are lurking along the other edge of the city."
"Two are the mutants we try to rescue," Wolverine said and Sean looked at him. "The group in the town are ones hunting them and the Avengers are probably on Fury's orders."
"Yes," Sean nodded and glanced at Black Eagle. "Can you take us to those two, hopefully without getting into the path of other groups?"
Black Eagle glanced at Freki and Geri, for a moment they seemed to be talking. "Yes," he said, looking up. "I know how to get us there, but we need to hurry."
"Wolverine, take the lead, Black Eagle you will follow him, Phoenix behind them, Cyclops and Storm you will be hind them and I and Rogue will be at the end. Is it clear?" He saw them nod and looked at Wolverine. "Try not to kill everybody, is it clear."
"Yes," Wolverine gruffly said as he walked into the town.
As Sean walked into the town he had a feeling as if he had moved over thirty years in the time and landed in the late eighties in Yugoslavia. It looked the same, falling apart buildings, windows missing glass and walls covered in writings and dirt. His gaze darted forward and he could see Freki and Geri with their noses close to the ground, trying to find ones that were their targets.
In the past he worked with a lot of different things, but huge wolves that could understand complicated commands and were able to find whatever they were asked to find was... a new thing to him. Not a bad thing, but definitely a new thing.
o-0-o
Piotr Nikolaievich Rasputin was a tall sixteen years old teen with black hair and blue eyes, normally he was a calm person and hard to anger. However today he had a really foul day as some weird people came to the Collective and wanted to kill him and his little sister, Illyana. He looked at her and breathed out in relief as he saw that she was calmer than she was before. Even when she was as scared as he was she looked like a miniature angel, blonde hair and blue eyes.
They were hiding from those who were coming after him and his powers, he knew that he was a different one, yet at the Collective nobody said a word about his strength or metal body. But those strangers came for him, because of that power.
He breathed out in relief as they were able to find a peaceful spot inside of one of massive warehouses, hidden behind crates of equipment and spare parts. Suddenly there was a noise, doors leading into the warehouse creaked open. Beam of light flew into it. He froze in place, waiting to see what it was when he heard low, rattling howls of wolves.
His body changed into one of steel and he looked in the direction of those howls, preparing for a fight so that he could survive.
o-0-o
Wolverine stopped at the entrance of a warehouse where according to Black Eagle's wolves were hiding the mutants and inhaled the air. He easily spotted their scent and looked at Banshee. "It is here, their smell is all over the air and wolves also agree."
"Than let's go, but hide your claws," Banshee said. "We might otherwise scare them and we don't want that. Our powers are dangerous at the best of times, when in danger..."
"Got it."
Wolverine walked into the room, his gaze sweeping over hundreds of shapes and things that could be laying in ambush behind them. He had served through more than one armed conflict where fighting was vicious to know that enemy loved to hide in such places. Even if he hid his claws, he still had tensed muscles and his gaze was darting across the whole space. He glanced at Banshee and saw that he was as tensed as he was.
"Easy," Banshee whispered. "They will as scared as we are, maybe even more. If there were any hostiles, wolves wouldn't let us live and Phoenix would mention them."
"True," Wolverine nodded and relaxed a bit. His gaze darted towards a crate that slightly moved. Normal human wouldn't spot it, but he had seen too many battles and ambushes not to spot it. He ignored it and walked forward and around it, when he walked onto the other side of it into him slammed a metal fist that sent him flying. Wolverine sight got blurry as he crashed into the container, crushing it's wall under his weight and falling into it.
o-0-o
Piotr looked at the man that he threw away and barely had a chance to block a strike that came from person he didn't see. He blocked it, but the strength behind pushed him backwards. His gaze darted to that person and he saw that armed and out of all things armored stranger was a tall, hulking person with massive wings on his back.
Gathering all of his strength and anger into the strike Piotr punched that person, only to find that his strike did almost nothing. As it was stopped well before hitting stranger.
"You are strong and angry, but against me that doesn't work," Stranger said with a smile. "So be a good boy and consider listening to us, as our common enemies are coming here."
"Who are you?" Piotr asked, eyeing stranger and the group that joined them up. There were also two huge wolves that guarded the stranger.
"X-Men," One of them said. "We try to help mutants all over the world. If you want you can come with us and you will have a safe place to stay, away from those that are coming for you."
"Who are they?"
"Purists, Friends of Humanity, HYDRA, they have many names, but the goal is the same. Hunt us and use for their goals whatever they are."
Piotr was silent for a moment and glanced at Illyana who joined him, while her English wasn't as good as his, she was able to get the gist of the talk. "What do you say, little one?" He asked her, switching to Russian.
"I think that we should come with them, especially if they are right about what is going on and I think that they are right."
He nodded and looked at them. "We will come with you."
"Good, than let's go," one with a visor over his eyes said. "I'm Cyclops and those are Black Eagle, one sent by you into that container is named Wolverine and the rest you will learn on board of our plane as you will have a lot of time to talk."
As they ran across the town and into the forest behind it, Piotr had a feeling that the episode of his life that just begun was a much better and certainly much more interesting than the last one.
A/N - Large rant ahead.
Russian naming conventions that will become increasingly more important as more and more Russian character will appear. Generally speaking Russian name looks like this 'Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin' or 'Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina'. It can be broken down into three parts:
Given name - Piotr, Nikolai, Ivan, Illya, Illyana, Natalia, Anna, Olga and so on. They are the same as names in almost every European language.
Patronymic - Nikolaievitch, Nikolaievna, Ivanowich, Ivanowna, Vladimirovitch, Vladimirovna and so on. They are created based on the name of one's father, Nikolaievitch, Nikolaievna mean that father's name was Nikolai. -evitch and -evna depend on the gender of child, -evitch is for sons, -evna for daughters.
Surname - Rokossovsky, Rasputin, Romanov and so on are obvious and I don't think that I need to explain them.
There are generally three forms of addressing someone:
Name + Patronymic + Surname - the most official and respectful form possible, used rarely and in documents. It can be used to annoy someone, it's the same difference as between Your Highness and Your Royal Highness.
Name + Patronymic - the most common form, it depends on the form of the name, but that isn't that important and you should see the meaning of it when it is used with diminutive. Also it is the form that should be used when speaking to someone that has a higher standing than you have. So let's for example take Illyana and Harry, if he was showing her magic, she should use Harald Iakovich just to show him respect.
Name/diminutive/patronymic/informal patronymic - least formal and used when people are familiar with each other and NOT during any official function. Unless you want to insult someone and do it quite badly.
Surname - it's rather obvious and the most common usage is teacher speaking to student.
I think that it explained everything and it should be the only rant about naming conventions, unless I will decide to go completely crazy with names, but I will avoid doing so.
End of rant.
Reviews:
TimothyB - Nobody from HP is being considered, maybe two but highly unlikely. Also would he really consider them worthy of his attention, whatever you say about his team and he doesn't yet pay too much attention to it, but they aren't the worst looking ones. Also he can choose from plenty of them on Asgard and there are I think two or one more than he will meet soonish and her looks generally make everybody follow her with their gazes.
shugokage - He needs to deal with them and it will take him quite a lot of time to do it, also with some he doesn't really want to deal. Holding grudges is a famous trait of his family and some of them are really well cultivated. The best one is one that Odin has with Tyr, remember that well over four years passed and he is still persona non grata on Asgard or one that is slowly building up with certain wizard.
*Beware of Greeks bearing gifts