A/N - Laid back and relaxed chapter, not much happens. Mostly gearing up for future conflicts and troubles.
o-0-o
Beta - eri1551
o-0-o
The doctor disappeared and moments later the door opened once again and three people walked in he didn't expect to meet. He noticed Bobby and Jean, but that was all he was able to see before a black blur pushed them aside and flung itself at him. He felt something press against him and arms embrace him, when he was able to look at it, he saw that it was Atalanta, pressed against him.
"Harry," she said softly, her hands moving through his wings. "You are alive."
"It's hard to kill me," he said as he embraced her, his hands on her back.
He held her in his embrace and felt at ease, for the first time in something that felt like centuries for him all of his worries and troubles were washed away and replaced by calmness and peace. The horrors of Weapon X were silenced. He heard Bobby mutter "Love and teens." But he ignored it and focused on enjoying the moment.
"Harry," Atalanta whispered. "Don't ever do this to me again, we were all worried about you."
He was silent for a long moment, simply enjoying their closeness, her hair touching his skin and her fingers buried in his wings. "I won't," he said and switched to Ancient Greek. "I missed you and it is good to be free."
"Yes," she said and placed her hand under his chin, making him look into her eyes, eyes that were like wells of molten gold. "How bad was it? Jean and uncle mentioned some things about it, but not in detail and I would like to know."
He looked at her, thinking how to explain his ordeal. "They did something to me since I'm a telepath now and there are things that I don't want to talk about," he said and paused. "I want to erase that part of my memories and not think about what they did to me."
She nodded and pulled him into a kiss, he was shocked a bit by the gesture, but after a moment he accepted it, as she kissed him he felt his worries go away, and his fears being replaced by some weird calmness that washed over him. The kiss felt for him as good as their first one had, warm, pleasurable and showing how close to each other they were.
"I am allowed to stay on Midgard," she said as she pulled away. "Your uncle said that it wouldn't be a bad decision and I think that you agree with him."
"Yes," Harry said and looked at her. "I'm glad that you are here and with me, I don't mind an opportunity to spend a lot of time with you."
She chuckled and he could see a flicker of amusement in her eyes. "Yes, it will be a good time for both of us."
He nodded and felt his legs go numb from the weight on them. "Can you move so that I can feel my legs once again?" He asked her and glanced at Bobby and Jean. "Also they might have something to say, not that I mind you being here."
"Sorry," she mumbled and moved so that she wasn't laying on his legs. "Better?"
"Yes," he said and flicked his gaze to Jean. "Do you want something?"
"I missed you," she said and looked at them, with Atalanta half-sitting, half-laying to his side. "But I think that she did more so and that we will have an interesting time ahead of us at the Institute."
"So, is she your girlfriend?" Bobby asked and made Harry growl.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "She is just... a friend."
"A friend?" Bobby laughed. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, she is just a friend."
Bobby laughed for a moment, unable to control himself, it took a nudge from Jean to stop him. "Sorry, it's just so hard to believe."
"You can annoy him later," she said. "Now I think they want to be alone and have fun."
"Yes, please," Harry said as Atalanta laid by his side, her hands playing with the feathers of his wings. "Will you do it?"
"Yes," Jean said and dragging Bobby walked out of the room leaving them alone.
"Can you speak more about it, in detail, now that we are alone?" Atalanta asked softly and he saw her eyes focus on him. "I want to know what you were forced to endure."
He looked at her and felt that she cared about him. "Will you be happy if I tell you when I feel ready? It is still fresh and hurts when I think about it," he asked.
"Yes, I can accept that," she said and smiled. "I will be there for you, you probably already know, but I'm telling you once again, I will be there for you when the darkness will try to consume and destroy you."
"Thank you," he whispered as her form pressed against him. They spent the next several minutes laying against each other and enjoying their company as well as talking about random, unimportant things.
o-0-o
Harry smiled when he saw the familiar form of the Institute from the windows of the car driven by Jean, he was sitting in at the back with Atalanta close to him. Since she had arrived and he had woken up they were almost inseparable, the only bit of time when he was alone when he changed from the hospital gown into the clothes bought for him by Bobby, but other than that moment she followed him almost constantly.
"You know that people will be jealous, right?" Jean asked. "I mean, you are one of the hottest guys at school and Atalanta doesn't lack anything either."
"Hottest?" Atalanta frowned, her black eyebrows arching in question.
"The best looking one," Jean said with a smile. "It's a curse to be a telepath and a good looking one at that."
"Why?" Harry asked. "I mean, you behave completely normal."
"Because I learnt how to keep my powers under control, but the two of you lack the training and self-control to do the same," she said and Harry could feel some amusement in her voice. "Also I can tell that you think that I am attractive and you had certain rather interesting dreams about me."
Harry blushed at those words, his cheeks turning to beat red. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said after a moment. "I like you as a friend but nothing more."
"Good, as I have the feeling that a certain friend of yours might have been a touch unhappy had you given any other answer."
"She is right," Atalanta said, placing her hand on his. "You would have made me a very unhappy person if you had given her any other answer."
"I like her," Harry said and looked at Atalanta. "But I like you a lot more."
"The next few weeks will be interesting," Bobby muttered. "I just hope we do not kill each other."
"We shouldn't," Jean said. "We haven't for the past few years, so we won't now either, besides you know how to control your temper."
Harry snorted at those words and smiled at the usual banter between Jean and Bobby, it was good to be here. The rest of the ride passed smoothly and before he noticed, they were unloading their bags and were in front of the Institute. He grabbed his bag when he saw a brown wolf charge towards him, it pounced on him and pushed him to the ground. He felt its paws rest on his shoulders and its green eyes look at him with amusement and happiness.
"Easy, Wolfsbane," he said as he felt the wolf's tongue move across his face. "You don't need to lick my whole face." He broke into giggling when he felt her tongue tickle him.
"Should I kill it?" Atalanta asked from his side, a dagger in her hand.
"No," he said as Wolfsbane moved off him. "That was a friend just getting a bit too happy."
"Shape-shifter?"
"Yes," Rahne said as she changed from her wolf form. "Don't need to kill me, At."
"That would be bad," Harry said, sat up and looked at Atalanta. "Hide that dagger, a lot of people here don't like weapons out in the open."
"Sorry," she said and slipped the blade into its scabbard. "I prefer to be safe than sorry, especially now."
"No problem," he said and looked at Jean. "Do you have any idea how the rooming arrangements look this year?"
"No idea, sorry," she said. "Talk with the Professor. We have all of those freed from Weapon X and most of them got rooms with one of the older X-Men."
Harry nodded and getting up glanced at Atalanta. "Follow me and we will get this sorted out."
"You want me to share a room with you?" she asked, a flicker of amusement in her eyes. "Or is there a different reason?"
"I wouldn't mind," he said and sighed. "Normally I wouldn't even think about it, but now I want someone that I know the longest and is a telepath close to me."
"So that they can help you survive the nightmares and panic attacks?" she softly asked.
"N-Yes," he said and looked at her. "I still have the feeling that I will wake up and think that this, all of this is an illusion."
"It isn't an illusion," she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder and sent some magic into him. "Calm yourself and relax," she said, her voice ringing with power.
He felt a wave of warmth wash over him, calming his mind and dispelling his worries. He had known that this kind of magic was possible, but he had never seen it being used. "When did you learn that?"
"Aunt showed me how to do it a few weeks ago," Atalanta explained with a smile. "It seems as if she knew what would happen to you."
"Yeah..." Harry agreed as they walked into the building, it took him only a moment to find the Professor in his office. They stepped inside and found him waiting for them.
"How are you feeling?" Professor X asked, his keen eyes focused on them. Harry felt as if they were able to gaze into his soul.
"Physically I feel fine," Harry said and shook his head. "Mentally I feel as if something shattered in me."
The Professor nodded and his gaze switched to Atalanta. "I guess that your uncle decided that she should stay at your side as you recover." he said and then looked back at Harry. "I will be setting up therapy sessions for all those that were freed from Weapon X's hands and I would appreciate your presence there. Normally I disapprove of both genders sharing one room, but in your case I'm willing to make an exception and allow you two to share the room. Take one of the free ones since there are a few on the third floor."
"Thank you," Harry said with a bow of his head.
"Just don't do something foolish," Professor said and made Harry laugh, while Atalanta only nodded.
"We won't," Harry said and with a look at Atalanta walked out of the room.
"Are you aware of how powerful of a telepath he is?" she asked once they were away from the office.
"I knew that he was powerful," Harry said. "But I was not aware how truly powerful he was until my telepathy woke up."
"He is incredibly powerful," she said and he looked at her. "Not as powerful as Jean or Heimdall, but easily in the top three or five most powerful telepaths that I can name."
"It's good that he is on our side then, and not our enemy," he said quietly as they made their way up the wooden stairs that lead to the Institute's upper levels.
"Yes," she agreed and looked around curiously. "It feels warm and homey, it isn't as suffocating as the Citadel can be."
"That was my first impression when I arrived here," Harry said and opened the door of their new room. "This one can be ours."
She entered and looked around. "Not too shabby."
Harry followed her into the room and nodded, it was one of the usual rooms, but they had all they needed and maybe even more. Compared to their own palatial chambers on Asgard it was small, but he didn't care about that. "Yes," he said and she looked at him. "We should have what we need and besides, we only really need to sleep here," he explained.
"Common areas take care of the rest?" she asked, dropping her bag onto one of the beds.
"Yes," he said with a faint smile. "But I guess that now they will be a bit more crowded."
"Which doesn't need to be a bad thing," she said and looked at him. "Harry, can you simply forget about everything for a moment and enjoy your life?"
He sighed and looked at her. "At, I wish I could, but those memories of Weapon X flash through my mind continuously," he said and shook his head. "It is like a nightmare that doesn't to go away."
"So maybe when you are among people you will forget about it?"
"Maybe," he said and felt her drag him by his hand. "Where are you going?"
"Common area," she said, not missing a beat. "You will drive yourself insane here and being with people will help you."
He surrendered and followed her, unsure of how time would pass. Normally he would be over the moon to be with people, but now he was a bit afraid of crowds and huge numbers of people.
o-0-o
Wolverine growled and looked at Cyclops. "Banshee is in the UK, Black Eagle is an emotional mess and Angel is healing his bones, we have all of our teams messed up."
"We got this Gambit in return and according to rumors and the tests done by Beast we have two Omega mutants in the group," Cyclops said. "So it isn't that bad, it's not like we lack people."
"We have our three best fighters out of commission, Angel might be able to start training in few days, but it is still weeks before he is ready for combat," Wolverine said and paused. "We might not be in that deep of a cesspool as we thought."
"What do you have on your mind?"
"Two of Thorson's friends, his girlfriend and Colossus," he said. "While his friends lack training, they will learn quicker than Angel will get to his peak performance or Eagle gets over Weapon X and what it did to him."
"Carol knows how to fight and Beaubier is rather fast," Cyclops said. "Though his girlfriend is here to help him recover so she isn't an option, but those two and Colossus should be more than enough to solve our issues, at least for a moment."
"It can work," Wolverine said and nodded. "If need be we could probably ask White Queen to join teams."
"Do we trust her?" Cyclops asked. "Her loyalties were always murky and she might have issues with Black Eagle or Angel as they don't see eye to eye and there is competition inside Hellfire Club."
"She knows where the cookies are and she knows what will happen to her the moment we think she betrayed us," Wolverine said and extended his claws. "So she will play ball and won't do something stupid that can endanger us since she has such a fine survival instinct and doesn't want to get killed."
"I will talk with Carol, Jean-Paul and Colossus," Cyclops said. "You can do the same for White Queen and Thorson's girlfriend."
Wolverine grumbled and nodded, he left the room and went on a hunt to find those two.
o-0-o
Harry entered the common area with Atalanta and looked around, it was certainly more packed than he normally remembered it. There were more people, and some of them huddled into small groups, while some mingled with the rest of the student body.
"Easy," she whispered and he looked at her. "Don't be scared of everything, last time I remember you were more brash and harder to drag away from danger."
"It's just that I'm shaken up," he said and she smiled reassuringly.
"You are a big boy, you will be alright," she said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah," he said and with more confidence walked into the room, he looked around nodding in greeting to people that waved at him to get his attention, some of them were his classmates and some teammates. However he ignored them and focused on a lone girl he spotted sitting in the corner of the room. "She looks interesting," he muttered to Atalanta.
"The one in the corner? Black hair and a sense of loneliness?" she asked.
"Yeah, that one," Harry said and sniffed the air. "She smells like a predator and there is something familiar to her."
Atalanta nodded and they walked to the girl who heard their footsteps and looked up, revealing that she had eyes as green as emeralds, yet hollow. "Who are you?" she asked warily, almost subconsciously slipping into a more defensive position, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
"Harry Potter," Harry said and glanced at Atalanta. "It will put her at ease better than Thorson."
"Atalanta Heracleia," Atalanta said, a sweet smile on her face.
"Laura Kinney," the girl said as she eyed them carefully. "What do you want from me?"
"To talk with you," Harry smiled. "We do not want a single thing from you." He sat down and looked at her. "I was also a captive of Weapon X," he said quietly.
"You were?" Laura asked, her eyes focusing on him.
"I was and I can tell how you feel," he said and looked into her eyes. "You are not alone here and you will get help and support so that you can forget those things."
She smiled weakly and looked at them, Harry could tell that she would open up, but not soon. The next few hours were spent getting to know her and trying to put her at ease as it was obvious to him that she was still tense and ready to pounce. However by the end of it all she seemed more relaxed and less of a cornered animal.
o-0-o
Oliver Wood sat in the Great Hall eating his breakfast when an owl soared above him and dropped a fresh copy of the Daily Prophet onto his lap. He picked it up and almost dropped it when he saw the text on the front page.
Boy-Who-Lived attacked! Durmstrang destroyed!
By Rita Skeeter
According to yesterday's statement released by the International Confederation of Wizards and confirmed by Supreme Mugwump Albus Dumbledore, the Boy-Who-Lived was attacked by a renegade group of wizards. Those wizards were remnants of Gellert Grindelwald's followers, the dark lord that reigned in the forties. The reason they made a move against the youngest Prince of Asgard is unknown to us and the ICW was unwilling to reveal more data about the attack. A fact that I can confirm is that their base was hidden below Durmstrang and the fate of the school was a terrible one.
The Durmstrang Institute of Magic is no more, it was wiped out by Asgard's furious assault whose forces overwhelmed the defenses of the school and captured every single wizard inside. If that was not enough the whole building was wiped out and there are only ruins left in its place now, ruins that show what happens to those foolish enough to anger Asgard and provoke it into attacking.
According to Dumbledore, students that weren't found guilty by Asgard will be divided between other schools of magic and Hogwarts is supposed to get up to three hundred of them. He said it is done to prevent any other such event from happening and to ensure that they have a chance to finish their education.
When Oliver finished reading the article and looked around the hall he saw everybody looking at their newspapers, too stunned and shocked to do or say anything. Such things were simply unheard of in the wizarding world, yet now it had happened.
o-0-o
Harry sighed as he dressed into his sleeping clothes and slipped into his bed, he had a feeling that this night was not going to be a peaceful one for him. He looked at Atalanta who was already in her shirt and shorts and seemed not to care about anything. She looked as calm and peacefully as she normally did, a serene expression on her face.
"Relax," she said softly, her keen large golden eyes focusing on him. "Don't think about those things."
"You can read my mind?" He asked shocked and surprised. "I thought that you couldn't."
"Yes," she said and smirked. "Only a blind person wouldn't see your mood and the fact that you look like if you are about to commit a suicide."
He blinked at those words and looked at her. "Am I that bad?"
"Honestly?" she asked and he nodded, preparing for the worst. "Yes, you are that bad looking now."
"Damned Weapon X," he muttered and crawled into his bed. "Goodnight At," he murmured, before closing his eyes and hoping for a peaceful sleep.
The moment he went to sleep the nightmares appeared, nightmares about Weapon X and what they had done, their experiments. His eyes flew wide open, glowing gold with power, and he sat up in his bed, a cold sheet of sweat covering his whole body and his breathing quick and uneven.
Looking around he could see the shadows form images from Weapon X, the things and people he hated for what they had done to him and all of the suffering they caused him. The pain that was still there and didn't want to go away
"Nightmare?" Atalanta asked from her bed. "You screamed and now your eyes are glowing."
He breathed heavily for a moment, trying to compose himself and stop the magic he had summoned from being unleashed on some target. He finally caught his breath and looked at her. "Yes," he said, forcing himself to do calming exercises. "Weapon X and all their actions."
"Your uncle mentioned that you might have them," she said softly and looked at him. "You almost lost control of your power and you could have hurt me or the other inhabitants of the building that way."
"Did I?" He asked shocked and looked at her.
"Yes," she said. "Your eyes turned gold and shined with magic."
"I'm sorry," he muttered weakly and sighed. "It's just that I'm scared that this is an illusion."
"It isn't, you are not in their hands," she said firmly and he looked at her.
"The reasonable part of my mind knows that and agrees with you," he said with a tired smile. "But the other part, the emotional one is a mess."
"And this piled up on top of all of the nightmares you had suffered in the past," she finished and he blinked a few times. "Harry, I'm not a fool and I see a lot of things, things that you managed to keep hidden from a lot of people, but not me."
"Yes," he finally admitted, his voice weak and almost breaking. "They haunted me for the past few months, but now it is far worse."
She nodded and looked at him. "Do you want me to sleep with you?" she asked and he looked at her as if she was crazy which made her sigh. "I'm not joking, I want to have some sleep and if me being close to you stops you from hurling beams of power in panic I'm willing to do it."
"Yes, please," he weakly said. "Normally I wouldn't ask you for it, but now I just want to have some peaceful sleep."
She nodded, untangled herself from her blanket and walked across the room to his bed. "Make some space," she said and he moved to the side, she smiled and slipped under the blanket. "Better," she said and looked at him. "Can you tell me about the things they did to you?"
He looked at her, feeling her so close to him, her body almost touching his. "At, I'm barely out of this and you know how uncomfortable I'm with it, so can you let it go?" He said apologetically.
"Yes, sorry," she said and he felt a small trickle of her magic enter his body. "It should help you sleep."
"Thank you," he said and closed his eyes, hoping to have dreamless and calm sleep. The moment he did, sleep took him and for the first time in a really long while he was able to get a dreamless sleep that allowed him to rest and didn't haunt him with nightmares.
That night he slept like a baby, not a single nightmare preventing him from resting and his mind was at peace. When he stirred he felt something warm sprawled over him, he opened his eyes and they almost got out of their sockets when he saw Atalanta laying sprawled on him, her head using his shoulder as a pillow and her arms on his chest. Her body even if heavy made him feel safe and comfortable, he didn't mind her presence and she looked cute laying so carelessly on him, not caring about a single thing.
He felt her stir and move, still asleep and not fully awake, opening her eyes and looked at him. "How did you sleep?"
"Better," he said as he sat up. "No nightmares and I was actually able to get some rest."
"Good," she said, smiling. "So you don't mind this arrangement?"
"No," he said and looked at her. "I think that it will stay like this for a long time."
"I won't mind," she said. "Besides, I'm mostly here to help you survive without any nightmares and be able to relax."
"Thank you," he smiled, feeling her weight snuggled against him. "It means a lot to me as you are one of the few people I trust the most."
She only smiled and touched a small beaded braid to the side of his head, there were only two clay beads. "When do you plan to get more of them? What is next?"
"Saklausskaoi*," he said thoughtfully. "Probably during Yuletide as it is the best time for me, you?"
"Don't know," she said and smiled. "Probably around the same time as you, Ulf won't let us live in peace since he did his around equinox."
"He was always quick, so I don't really care about his opinion," Harry said and touched her braid. "I want to do it at my own pace and when I feel comfortable with it, and not in a hurry, so he can stuff his opinions up his ass."
"There is also that approach," she said, laughing, and paused, thinking. "What do you think about Laura?"
He blushed and looked at her, unsure how to approach it. "Do you expect an honest answer or one that will make you happy?"
"Honest," Atalanta said and chuckled. "Harry, I'm not the monster you think I am and we both know that our races aren't paragons of virtues."
He blushed at those words and looked at her, noticing her beauty which until this point he mostly ignored, but recently he was getting rather interested in it. He had seen her naked on multiple occasions thanks to their training, but then he was oblivious to her good looks, but now it was far harder not to notice them. Her golden eyes, so full of compassion, understanding, intelligence and kindness, in sharp contrast to her black as night hair. Not to mention that her body was nothing to sneeze at, she was almost as tall as he was and had the body of a warrior with muscles wrapped in coppery skin, her breasts hd started to develop as well and he couldn't divert his gaze away from her.
"Don't drool and focus," she said, punching him lightly. "Drooling won't give me an answer and will turn your bed into a mess."
"Sorry," he said, diverting his eyes from her body. "She doesn't look bad and I have a feeling that once she has time to heal she will be a nice person."
Atalanta smirked and he could see playful amusement in her eyes. "I reached the same conclusion and she seems like a person I'm actually interested in."
"What about me?" Harry pouted.
"I like you, Harry," she said and looked at him. "But I also like her and Asgardian law on marriages was always blurry, besides, lovers are common and it seems that both of us are drawn to her."
"Fair point," he said and smiled, trying to hide his embarrassment and move onto a safer topic. "You know that today is Saturday which means we have nothing to do?"
"No, so you have no classes on this day."
"Not a single one, so if you want we can spar, I should have my armor and gear somewhere here and you have your own."
She looked at him and he could see her think. "Well, well, well, it seems like a nice way of spending time and an enjoyable one," she finally said and he could feel her fingers move through his wings. "Would you mind introducing me to some of your friends after our small spar?"
"Why not," he said and she grinned. "Take a quick shower, dress and we can have fun."
She growled and playfully punched him in the arm. "Shower is not a thing to be hastened, so if you don't want to wait take yours first."
He rolled his eyes in amusement and untangling himself out of the blanket and her limbs he got out of bed, grabbed what he needed and walked into the bathroom. He quickly stripped and, stepping into the shower, set the water to the coldest setting possible, he winced when a freezing stream of water hit him, but then the feeling went away and he felt his worries wash away along with the water.
o-0-o
Tony Stark looked at the schematics of the Blackbird used by the X-Men and frowned, even if it was a fine plane according to his godfather, that could serve them for a few more years, for him it was obvious that it needed to be replaced, sooner rather than later.
"Jarvis!" he called. "Show me the schematics for Project Brave Eagle."
Almost momentarily schematics of one of the many prototypes he developed for military appeared on one of the several large displays placed on his desk. He frowned looking at it, some things would need to be replaced and some added, but it was a solid base and should work.
"The main issue is power," he muttered. "The jet engines are good, but need fuel, a lot of it, and unless I go for a bigger hull I need a better power source." He looked at his own chest where the arc reactor was implanted and his eyes widened. "Jarvis, calculate the power output of an arc reactor fueled by a vibranium core with a total diameter of ten inches."
"Estimated power output is two gigawatts of power," Jarvis said and he whistled.
"So it should have more than enough power to easily fly at Mach 3 or more," he muttered and smiled. "The same alloy that makes the outer shell of my suit's armor and the newest electronics." He made some changes to the design and after several hours he nodded happily. "Jarvis, start construction of two of them in our facility in New York."
"Yes, sir."
He nodded and looked at the displays, he was in the mood to design things and it meant a lot of gifts for the X-Men, not only those two Blackbirds, but also several other things that they should have gotten a long time ago. Including a smaller design that could be used when Blackbird was too big of a plane and would cause too much ruckus, while those smaller ones could pass as an experimental vehicle used by one military or another.
o-0-o
Odin entered into the Vault and quickly walked to the pedestal on which the Cosmic Cube, the tesseract that housed one of the Infinity Stones, the Space Stone to be exact, was placed. He picked it up, slipped it into a leather pouch, summoned his magic and on the pedestal appeared an ideal copy of the cube appeared on the pedestal. Nobody would be able to tell them apart and the exchange should go unnoticed.
He walked towards the middle of the room and in the thin air directly in front of him a portal that first started as a thin black line, but then formed rectangular shape appeared. Holding the Cube he stepped through it and when he left it he was on Nidavellir, home of the greatest craftsmen across the Nine Realms. Beings that were able to make marvelous things and knew how to work with every material in existence, including Infinity Stones.
He walked quickly, using his perfect memory to navigate through the stone corridors, their walls adorned with relics and paintings showing the dwarves' skill and perfection. As he approached his target the temperature of the air increased and on the walls he could see red and orange reflections of flames, followed by roars of working bellows, hammers striking metal, and liquid metal being poured into casting forms.
He entered the forge in front of him and waited patiently for the dwarf to finish hammering the piece of metal on which he was working. Forging was a delicate process and even the slightest disruption could destroy the metal. For one last time the dwarf struck the metal, placed it on the table to his side and wiping the sweat off his brow turned around.
It was a massive dwarf, even if small in size compared to Odin, as he was only four feet tall its arms were massive and covered in muscles earned through days, upon days of working with metal. It's beard was white, covered in soot in multiple places and there were rings and pieces of metal woven into it.
"Your Majesty," he bowed. "How may I help you?"
"I need a new greatsword forged," Odin said bluntly. "I know that you are the best smith of Nidavellir, King Eitri."
Eitri looked at Odin and smiled. "Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty, may I know for whom this sword is supposed to be and if you have any special wishes?"
"For my grandson, for his coming of age gift," Odin said and pulled out the pouch with the Space Stone. "Could you work this into the pommel of the sword?"
Eitri took the pouch from Odin and his eyes widened when he opened it and saw what was inside. "Do you entrust him with one of the Infinity Stones?" He asked harshly. "Your Majesty, it is a dangerous idea and he might not be ready to be entrusted with such a responsibility."
"He should be ready," Odin said and looked at Eitri, his sole eye looking into Eitri's black as night eyes. "Besides we both felt the disturbances caused by the Orb being used , he is coming and they are his pawns."
"The Realms are moving into position for the event to happen?"
"There is also that and we both know that things will be woken by the event," Odin said. "Now then, will you forge the sword and work the Space Stone into its pommel?"
"I will," Eitri said and placed the Cube on the anvil. "But I will need to rework on its container, as this is too large."
"And you want me to open it," Odin said, seeing Eitri lock the Cube in place. "So that you can remove the Stone and place it in a temporary containment."
"Indeed," Eitri nodded and grabbed a pair of mithril pincers.
Odin focused his magic into a thin beam and launched it at the Cube, cutting diagonally across it, it left a clear cut in its wake and the container almost immediately started to glow blue. It fell apart and in the middle a small blue gem glowing with power was visible .
Eitri grabbed it with his pincers and quickly moved it into a safe fashioned into the wall. "It will be done," he said, closing the door shut and walking to a pile of ingots of mithril. He started to rummage through them, looking for those suitable to forge a blade out of. "When I forge it I will send a message to you, Your Majesty."
Odin nodded and stepped into a portal leading to Asgard, letting Eitri work and hoping that this little bit of subterfuge would pass unnoticed.
o-0-o
Professor X nodded when he saw Jean enter his office, he finished reading the text and looked at her. "Did you feel the new power Harry has?"
She looked at him and frowned, thinking deeply. "There is something new to him, but I don't know what it is exactly, it feels like telepathy, but it might be something else," she said and sighed. "Weapon X did it and now he needs to deal with it, regardless."
"That's why Atlanta is here," Professor said and Jean looked at him. "She is one of the precious few people he trusts completely and know how to keep him calm. I much more prefer them sleeping together than having him lose control of his powers when in panic and killing everybody around him. But that is not the reason I wanted to see you for, he has telepathy and needs someone to teach him."
"Professor, do you want me to teach him how to utilize his powers?"
"Yes, he trusts you and it will be a good way for you to develop your own powers even more, as well as refine your understanding of them," Professor said and smiled. "He will be more willing to let you to see his memories and feelings as you worked with him on his control last year and you taught Atalanta a thing or two."
"I see," she said in understanding. "You want me to teach both of them and help them develop their own powers?"
"Indeed," he said. "She has the full spectrum of them as you probably know and he is a telepath, so you should have a good time teaching them."
"I will try," she said. "If they pay attention to me and what I want to tell them it should go smoothly."
"Good," he nodded. "I would have helped you, but it is a good way for you to see how it is to be a teacher and I have more important issues to deal with."
She nodded in understanding and left his office, leaving him to deal with his own growing pile of headaches and issues. A pile that only got bigger with each passing moment and didn't want to get smaller, thanks to Weapon X it grew even faster and Fury had dropped Jeanne-Marie onto his lap, Jean-Paul's sister and she was a problem to deal with on her own.
o-0-o
Harry looked at Jean and had trouble believing that what she was saying was true. "What?" He finally asked. "You will be teaching me how to control my telepathy?"
"Yes," she smiled. "You and Atalanta as you both have the gift and it needs to be developed, since the Professor can not do it, he asked me to do so. Do you want to learn?"
He grinned and looked at Jean. "Yes, please."
"Then follow me," she said. "We will find a free room and I will show you, a lot of it will be based on what I have taught you already."
He nodded and with a glance at Atalanta he followed Jean through the Institute, they passed into the part of it reserved for X-Men and he saw Atalanta look at him. He murmured, "Later," and focused on following Jean, she entered some room, nodded approvingly and looked at them.
"It will work," Jean said, sitting down on the floor, she looked at them in a manner that told them to join her on the ground. Once they were seated across from her, she smiled and looked at them. "Telepathy is probably the most dangerous of mutations, you can read minds, influence the way someone is thinking and what he does," she said and focused her gaze on him.
Harry felt as if a hammer slammed into his mind and through the protections he had around it, he knew that she was insanely powerful, but not that strong. He felt his hand move on its own and he watched in terror as it pulled out a knife out of a scabbard on his belt, then it moved it and pointed at the carotid artery.
"That's only a small part of what I can do with your mind," she said, releasing her control of his mind. "So do not abuse the powers you have, whatever you do, do not abuse them."
He breathed heavily, trying to shake off the feeling of having a hammer slammed into his head, he closed his eyes for a moment and quickly evened out his breath, making it even and slow. Having done that he opened his eyes and looked at Jean. "I won't abuse it," he said and looked at the knife he was holding. "You scared me enough not to even think about it."
"Good," she smiled. "That was my goal," she said and looked at him. "We will start with something you should come to love, speaking in thoughts. Be careful what you want to say as too much and you can end up sending what you didn't want to say."
He nodded and for the next few hours he tried to learn how to use his telepathy to send messages, the first couple of his attempts ended badly with Atalanta or Jean being knocked out from sensory overload caused by him underestimating his power. After few more dozen such attempts he was able to successfully send messages, not as easily as Atalanta or Jean, but it would come with time and sending messages was handy, no matter how long it would take.
o-0-o
Rick Gardner was a sixteen year old teen with unsettling gray eyes and a mop of brown hair. He looked around the room at Xavier's and had trouble believing that he could have it and that he was able to sleep in a soft bed, for the very first in a long, long while. The fact that he wouldn't be forced to watch out for danger was nothing to sneeze at. Fitting and comfortable clothes on top of that seemed like a dream come true.
"You are weirdly silent," his roommate, Bobby da Costa, said. "I mean that while I know that you can have issues with talking after the whole Weapon X thingy, but we are supposed to be roommates and with your altitude one of us might not survive."
Rick sighed and looked at Bobby. "I don't like to talk about the past and the things that happened to me," he said and shook his head. "I want to forget and get over it."
"I know how you feel. Yet the truth is that you won't be able to bottle down all of those emotions and memories, they will come out and destroy you," Bobby said quietly. "If you are worried about trust, I won't tell anybody a single thing you tell me."
"Thanks, I guess," Rick said with a snort. "If you really want to know I was able to evade them for days, but somehow they found me. I don't know how, but they managed to catch me."
"They tried to kidnap me once," Bobby admitted. "And my friend was kidnapped by them, so I know how do you feel."
"You know nothing!" Rick snarled. "So don't say that you understand how do I feel."
"Sorry," Bobby said and looked at him. "I'm just trying to help you as you won't escape from it and you will need to confront those memories, sooner rather than later."
He growled and looked at his roommate, as his anger built up light vibrations shook the room.
"Powers based on rock movement?" Bobby asked and Rick looked at him. "You made the whole room shake."
"No," he said quietly. "I can manipulate all of the elements, earth is the easiest one for me to work with."
Bobby blinked a couple of times and when the message got to his mind he whistled loudly. "An Omega-class mutant."
"What?"
"One of the strongest mutants in existence," he said. "There are three main classes of mutants, Omega, Alpha and Beta. Omega's powers are limited by their imagination and creativity, Alphas are powerful, but below Omega, and below them are the Beta. I'm around the lower crust of Alpha, my last roommate is between Alpha and Omega."
"You got me interested," Rick said and focused on Bobby.
Bobby only smiled and for the next few hours they talked about nothing and everything, trying to get used to each other, otherwise they might end up killing each other.
o-0-o
Harry stood on the edge of the terrace with Atalanta by his side when he felt someone approach him, he glanced in that direction and saw Jean-Paul walk to him. "Your lover?" Atalanta asked, reaching for a dagger.
"More of a friend," Harry said and rolled his eyes. "He is an interesting person, but for now I am happy to not care about any relationships, so be kind and hide your dagger."
She looked at him, later at Jean-Paul and left her dagger in its scabbard. "I will trust you, but behave, both of you."
"I'm harmless," Jean said with a smile. "So you don't need to worry about anything." He walked towards Harry and looked at him. "Mon chéri, what's wrong?"
"Jean," Harry said with a sigh of exasperation. "Why does everybody assume that something is wrong with me? I'm fine and there is nothing to worry about."
"Then why are you allowed to share a room with Atalanta, when it is prohibited, many have tried and failed, yet you are an exception?" Jean asked. "Or why did you wake up with a scream in the middle of the night?"
Harry looked at Jean, wondering what to do with him. "I'm more interested in how you learned those things," he finally said. "So I'm curious, where did you hear this gossip?"
"I protect my sources," Jean smirked. "So were they right or wrong?"
"They might have been right," Harry said and sighed. "Jean, Weapon X caused those things and I really don't want to talk about it."
"Okay," Jean said. "If you want I will leave you alone."
"You can stay, it's just that I don't want to divulge on that topic."
"Fine," Jean said and glanced at Atalanta. "Do you mind my presence here?"
"As long as you behave, you will remain alive and whole, if you cross the line, something might happen," she said with a sweet smile as she polished her dagger.
Jean gulped and looked at Harry, a pleading look in his eyes. "She is territorial," Harry said with a shrug. "So you need to tread carefully or something will happen."
"I noticed," Jean said and moved closer to Harry, well into his personal space. "But you don't have any issues with me?"
"If I had issues with you, you would be missing your head and you would be dead," Harry cheerfully said. "So, no, I don't have issues with you or your behavior, just don't make her angry and everybody will be happy and well."
"Uh, sure," Jean said and looked into his eyes. "So how are you?"
"Well enough," Harry said and sighed. "Jean, I like you, but you have started irritating me and I've already told you I don't want to talk about what I suffered, is it clear?" The older boy nodded. "So be a kind person and leave me alone as I want to have some peace, and besides, Atalanta might murder you."
"Okay," Jean said. "I will annoy someone else then, but if you want to have some fun you know where to find me."
"Thank you, Jean," Harry said softly and looked at Atalanta. "You are not angry at me for flirting with Jean, are you?"
"No," she said and smiled. "You told him no before going too far and betraying my trust, so I'm not mad."
"Thank you," he said. "I try to control myself, but you know who we are and that our urges are strong."
"Yes," she nodded and placed her hand on his shoulder and looked towards the forest. "Can you show me the grounds around the Institute? That forest in the distance and the places you like?"
"I could, the question is if you want to."
She chuckled and looked at him. "Harry, don't you want to have some time with me, alone from other people?"
He blushed, but nodded in agreement. "I guess that I do," he finally said.
"Then what are you waiting for?" she asked, as she jumped, made a somersault and gracefully landed on the ground, where she turned and looked at him, amusement in her eyes. "Come on."
He smiled, opened his massive black wings and gracefully descended onto the ground. "I'm here, no need to hurry," he said and she smiled.
"I thought that you were the eager one," she said as they walked towards the forest surrounding the Institute. "Not the considerate one."
He only smiled and led her into the forest, showing her interesting and nice spots, things that you only learned after spending weeks, upon weeks of time in close proximity to something. It was also one of his favorite escapes at the Institute, places where he knew he would be alone and able to brood.
o-0-o
Warren growled at what Beast told him. "Six fucking months of doing nothing?"
"You spent over two months in bed, survived an assassination attempt and before that you had holidays when you didn't train as extensively as usually," Beast said and shrugged. "Be lucky that you are alive and they didn't amputate your arm, a normal human would just be happy to have survived."
Warren was gobsmacked by those words. "What?"
"I didn't have time to thoroughly read your files from the hospital, but I had more than enough to take a good look at them. You had every single major bone in your left arm broken, pieces of metal embedded in it and a few other things that would qualify it for amputation," Beast said and looked at Warren. "I know that you want to help the mutants, but if you charge into battle now you will be a hindrance to your team and you need to get back in shape."
Warren narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.
Beast didn't even acknowledge the glare Warren was giving him. "Your muscles were doing nothing for months, how hard is it to understand that you are out of shape and need to start slowly?"
"Or what?"
"You will end up being useless for even longer," Beast said bluntly. "So pace yourself and you should be fine."
Warren nodded and stormed out of the room, a furious scowl on his face. He felt fine and someone was telling him to pace himself. He stopped on the balcony where Jean was working on her homework, she heard him approach and looked up, the sunlight was reflected by her hair and it made them glow and shine. As he looked at her, he once again realized why he loved her so much, no matter where she was she looked beautiful, but not shallow.
"What's wrong?" she asked him. "You seem irritated by something."
"Beast," he said, leaning against the railing. "He said that I need to pace myself and that I'm banned from being an active X-Men member for the next six months."
She put her pen away and looked at him. "Warren, I love you and I want to be with you, but sometimes you think that you are indestructible," she said and he arched an eyebrow. "I was worried that you would die and you think that you cannot get killed."
"Jean," he said softly.
"Don't Jean me," she said harshly. "Pull your head out of your ass and stop behaving like an arrogant brat that thinks he cannot die.
He looked at her, those words hurt him, he turned away and walked out of the terrace, it hurt even more as she stomped on his ego and didn't leave a single spot undamaged.
o-0-o
The sound of a pencil moving on paper filled the room as Harry sat on his bed and focused on one of the passions he had developed when on Asgard. Drawing, when he was forced to live with the Dursley's he used to draw on whatever he could. When he arrived on Asgard he was able to spend more time doing it and had people that were actually willing to help him develop his abilities.
His face was pulled in an expression of deep concentration as he looked at what he had created, he was quite happy with it, but he knew that he was able to draw something better. He heard the door open and, glancing in its direction, saw Atalanta enter the room.
"What are you doing?" she asked, before noticing his drawing supplies and a sheet of paper on a pad laying on his legs. "Drawing once again?" she asked, hopping onto the bed to his side.
"I'm trying to," he said with a smile. "My muse seems to be willing to work, so I want to enjoy the time and do something productive. Also, I haven't had the opportunity to do it for the past few weeks and you know that I enjoy it."
"Yes," she said with a nod and she leaned closer to take a look at what he had drawn. "What is it?"
He looked at the drawing he had created, it showed a pair of massive wolves laying on a stone shelf in the middle of a forest. Even if it was done only with a pencil so far and lacked shading to show the depth it should, it looked quite well. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked with a wide grin.
"Your large furballs that mostly sleep and eat?" she asked, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Or a pair of wolves that you saw somewhere?"
"Your first idea was a good one," he said and smiled. "Those are Freki and Geri and sometimes they do something other than sleeping or eating."
"They also play or beg for treats," she pointed out. "Which qualifies for doing nothing for a whole day or even more."
He only chuckled and focused on drawing, slowly adding more and more details as well as smoothing out the first rough lines that he had used for sketching their shapes. After that came time for playing with shading, something that always took him hours upon hours to finish. When he was done with it he realized that a couple of hours had passed and the day had turned into night. "It's done," he finally said, placing his pencil to the side.
"Not too shabby," Atalanta said as she took a look at the finished version. "I actually like the way you did it and it seems realistic."
"Thanks, At," he said and yawned loudly, showing his elongated canines in all of their glory. "As much as I like drawing, it is tiring," he said and looked at her, uncertainty visible in his eyes. "Will you sleep with me?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said and hopped of the bed. "But I think this bed needs to be expanded a bit."
He looked at her, later at himself and finally at the bed, having done that he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it was kind of uncomfortable the last time we slept together."
He hopped off it and the moment he was away from it her eyes glowed and the bed enlarged itself, just enough to make the two of them comfortable. "It should work," she said. "I didn't want to make it bigger as it might not fit in the room and we wouldn't like to block the door."
He looked at her and later at the place where the bed touched the wall and nodded, it was almost on the door frame and it fit quite tightly. "Yes," he said in agreement. "It is already cramped enough and we should have enough room."
She nodded and looked at him. "Are you tired enough to go to sleep?"
"You?" He asked back.
"Yeah," she said and yawned. "Mirage wanted to see how good of an archer I am and we spent half of the day chasing each other and shooting."
"Change in the bathroom and I will do it here," he said and once she nodded and walked into the bathroom he quickly dressed into his shorts and a t-shirt that he used to sleep in at Xavier's. "I hope that I will have a dreamless night," he said as they tugged in, blankets covering their bodies.
"You will," she said and left a peck on his forehead. "That's why I'm here."
He smiled and closed his eyes, feeling her comfortable warmth snuggle against his side, even if they kept some distance from each other, she was still close and he could feel her body touch his. When he finally drifted off to sleep, for the second time, he was not haunted by nightmares.
o-0-o
Ullr arched an eyebrow when Sif entered his study, she was one of the few people he didn't expect to visit him. They were friends, but not overly close and her visit was a surprise, especially without any prior announcement. He finished reading a letter from one of his stewards who was reporting that the harvest was done and the profit should be quite a lot, not the biggest one he had seen, but still good.
Before he acknowledged her arrival, her gaze swept over his room, her eyes taking into account every single detail, the wooden floor and the furs covering it, the hunting trophies on the walls, a large fireplace in the corner, his bow and quiver hanging on the wall and neat stacks of papers placed on his desk, a couple of comfortable armchairs and a small table by the fireplace.
"Lady Sif," he said, getting up from behind his desk. "How may I help you?" He asked as he walked to her.
"I need to discuss a couple of issues regarding your son, the son of Thor and Hercules' daughter," she said. "They are getting close to the age when they become adults."
He nodded in understanding and indicated to the armchairs by the fireplace. "Perhaps we can discuss it there," he said, his lips curling up into a smile. "As I doubt we will enjoy standing in the middle of my study."
"No, we won't," she said and once she was comfortably seated she looked at him. "Maybe you don't remember it, but it is a custom that any child that enters adulthood be granted a gift by their tutor or tutors."
He nodded and hummed quietly, thinking about his youngest son and his friends, they were similar to each other and at the same time different. Ulf was the biggest one out of the three, a few inches taller than Harald or Atalanta and with a more massive frame, he looked like a mountain. Harald was thin, but it wasn't that visible and had wings that set him apart; Atalanta is the shortest one, at least at the moment, but she was also the most agile and had the grace of a cat, a dangerous predator that looked cute until it ripped someone's throat. It was also shown by their choice of weapons, his son preferred axes, Harald swords, while Atalanta settled for daggers, twin weapons that could cause more damage than a sword or an axe.
Even if they were so different, all of them shared some similarities, all of them were deadly and all of them were eager to train as well as to have fun and enjoy their time. At the last thought his lips curled into a smile, that was a trait of the Æsir as a whole. Finding gifts for all of them would be a challenging task and he could see why Sif wanted to get his opinion.
"All of them are different, so each one needs to get a gift that will fit their style," he slowly said, poured mead into a pair of golden goblets and picked up one of them. "Ulf is a brute when it comes to fighting, Harald is more of an endurance and finesse fighter, while Atalanta is waits and strikes when she thinks her opponent is vulnerable."
"Yes," she said and slowly sipped her mead. "I was thinking about getting Ulf something similar to Megingjörð, as you said, he is a brute and a twofold increase in strength won't be a bad idea for him. For Atalanta I thought about something that will make any archer happy, a bow that never misses and a quiver that never runs out of ammunition and can supply runic arrows. Harald is a tough one, he is a versatile person, so finding something that will make him happy and will be useful is a challenge."
"What about a helmet that is charmed to allow its user to fly at the speed of sound," he suggested and she looked at him. "While I know that he can already fly, what I suggest will be even more useful for him, especially in combat."
"It has some merits," she said and looked into the goblet. "Do you want to ask the dwarves to craft the gifts or should I?"
"I need to get them to check the Nordmark Mountains for veins of ores, so I can also ask them for the gifts," he said and finished his mead. "How is the training of my youngest son going?"
"Well enough, since our business is done, I guess we can talk about his performance."
"I would appreciate it," he said and made himself more comfortable in his armchair.
o-0-o
Wolverine looked at Laura and sniffed the air. "So Charles wasn't lying," he finally said. "You are my daughter."
"Yes," she said. "And I guess that you are thrilled to see me."
Wolverine laughed loudly. "You have spunk kid, so while not amazed by them using my DNA, I don't have any other choice but to accept you as my daughter."
A smile appeared on her face, an expression that was so foreign to her until very recently; previously she was more of a robot, now she was slowly adapting to being a human being. "Thanks, dad," she said.
"Don't expect any special treatment when training," he said and added after a moment. "I know about that scent they used on you and I will help you with controlling yourself."
She nodded and looked at him, everything was so foreign for her, even those simple gestures and reactions humans had were a strange thing she needed to learn. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me," he said and she looked at him. "You deserve as much, now it's time for your first class, here, at the Institute," he said as the rest of the group joined them.
Laura looked at him and later at the rest of the group, some curiosity in her eyes, but then she shrugged and followed them into the room. At first what Xavier did seemed like something that wouldn't change her life, but now she could see the impact it had on her and it seemed like a great adventure was unfolding in front of her.
*Loss of innocence
o-0-o
A/N - There is a limit to how badly you can stretch usability of a plane and while SR-71 is a good plane upgrading it gets too expensive and when it was being designed a lot of things wasn't known. So they have two decent options rebuild it from scratch, while adapting whatever can be adapted or get a new plane and a plane powered by an arc reactor gives a lot of options. This way of generating power means that you don't need a lot of fuel and because of that you have around fifty percent more weight to be used, which is a lot and which can greatly increase its capabilities. You have room for more and better sensors, ECM systems, you can carry more cargo, fly faster and so on, though acceleration will remain the same as we, humans, are squishy things and not much is needed to kill us.
Harry getting Infinity Stone, Loki has one and their purpose is to be used, not to lay on a shelf and collect dust, also coming of age means titles and gifts and what's a better gift than an extremely precious sword that is more than a sword. At the moment out of the whole family he has the lamest weapon and he needs small upgrade. Finally, it is a great sword, which means that for most of the time it will be in the armory as it is too big of a weapon to be used casually, blade is around four to five feet long and another feet is for handle. Which gives a six feet long chunk of metal, which can only be reliably carried in hand as it is too big for carrying it on the belt or strapped across the back, not to mention that in second case arm could be chopped off.