Not My Magical World

Chapter 19

Harry appeared before Callisto's brownstone, dressed in faded jeans, a well-worn T-shirt, and some scuffed-up tennis shoes. If his plan succeeded, they would go into the sewers, so he made sure to wear something he could burn afterward.

The sun began to set, painting everything in an orange glow.

Stepping forward, Harry froze, his eyes locked on Callisto's home. The door hung in the frame by one hinge, and the scent of blood tickled his nose. Harry appeared in the front room in a blur of motion, his Emerald eyes glowing as he searched for threats.

Furniture was turned over, and the walls were littered with holes.

Blood was smeared around the holes.

Harry's pupils dilated as he focused on it, "Calisto's and someone elses."

Waving his hand, the furniture righted itself, curling his fingers dust, and pieces of sheet rock floated up from the floor, filling in the holes. Flipping his left-hand palm up, he curled his fingers, pulling the blood from the wall and condensing it into a ball.

As it moved to hover above his palm, he separated the two blood types into smaller individual spheres. With a thought, he removed the thermal energy from the blood, flash-freezing both.

Slipping them into his pocket, he moved deeper into the house, more holes littered the walls, and broken tiles shifted beneath his feet as he stepped into the kitchen.

The table was flipped over.

Knives and other cooking utensils lay bent on the floor. His eyes locked in on more blood smeared across the linoleum, "More of Callisto's."

"Callisto," he called, his mind expanding to search the house, "are you here?"

When he first entered, he was concerned about being surprised by the attacker, but given what he had seen of the house so far, the attacker was long gone.

A shiver ran down his spine, and his stomach clenched with nerves. He had not known Callisto long, and they weren't overly close, but he considered her a friend.

A groan sounded from beneath the table, and a spark of consciousness sent ripples through his mind.

With a flick of his hand, the small wooden table flipped over the circular top smeared with blood as the mangled form of Callisto was revealed.

In two quick strides, Harry knelt next to Callisto, taking in her form.

Blood covered her body. From the looks of it, half her ribs were crushed.

Her wrist was broken, her fingers bent at odd angles, and her face was fractured in multiple places.

Teeth lay strewn around her head.

Raising his right hand, Harry placed it over Callisto's body. Closing his eyes, he sent a pulse into her body.

An image of Callisto's skeleton appeared in his mind, and he winced at all the broken bones. Continued pulses gave more detail, revealing the bone fragments that had pierced her organs.

Opening his eyes, Harry moved his left hand beside his right, "I knew you were tough, Callisto, but to survive all of this. That's on a whole new level."

Tendrils of purple energy flowed from Harry's hands and sank into Callisto's body.

Her back arched as the tendrils broke into threads that wrapped around pieces of bone and shifted them back into place.

As the threads moved the bone shards, they released pulses of energy that healed tissue.

Harry's lips formed a thin line as he healed. It'd been a long time since he healed wounds this severe. Maybe he needed to take a few shifts with Nam at the medical center on the island.

Releasing a breath through his nose, he sent a pulse of power through the threads. Callisto's bones shone with a pale purple light through her skin, visibly mending before Harry's eyes.

Harry turned his attention to her head as the bones mended, frowning at the burn-like markings that marred her temples. "What in the world could've caused that?" he leaned closer, sniffing at the marks picking up the scent of ozone and burned flesh, "smells like lightning?"

Moving his left hand to Calisto's forehead, he sent a pulse through her skull, frowning at the broken temple bones. Reaching out with his mind, he found it chaotic with no conscious thought; whatever had been done had severely damaged her brain.

Moving his hands to either side of her skull, he said a silent prayer to any god listening as he did his best to heal the damage.

XX –

Three hours later, Harry sat back, rubbing at his shoulders to relieve the tension. He had done his best to heal the damage. If he were lucky, she would be fine, but he doubted she would remember anything about her attack.

Standing to his feet, Harry waved his hand and set about repairing the room. As things shifted back into place and the damage was repaired, he reached out with his mind.

'Nam, can you hear me.'

'Yeah, what's up?'

'Lock on to my location; I've got an injured mutant that needs some attention.'

Harry felt the shift in Nam's attention and heard the seriousness enter his voice, 'What's their status?'

Despite himself, Harry straightened as he took a seat at the table. 'I've healed most of her injuries, but it's her brain I'm worried about. Her signals were in disarray, and there were wounds to her head I'd never seen before.'

Nam hummed. 'Can you open a portal? Nadira says she'll come through and take a look.'

Harry glanced to the side, and an oval-shaped pale purple portal opened. Its edges turned dark as Nadira stepped through, and Harry took a moment to take her in. This was the first time he'd seen her since their joint effort on the island.

Nadira of Juru has changed a lot since she helped found the island. With her people either working on the island or experiencing the world, she could focus on her true passion, the study of magic. While she loved all magic, she was focused on using magic to heal the mind to help her husband.

Her 5'8" frame glided across the floor as she stopped before Harry and bowed respectfully, her short wavy, shoulder-length black hair swinging.

After a moment, she raised her head and looked around the room, her eyes instantly locking onto Callisto's still form. Moving towards her, she raised an eyebrow at Harry, "You just left her lying on the floor?"

Harry shrugged, taking in her red blouse with golden trim and white pants. "I always heard you weren't supposed to move someone injured. Besides, I was more concerned with healing her injuries and getting her the help she needed."

"True," Nadira knelt beside Calisto, her white high heals giving her a good inch or two more height. After a moment, she shifted into a cross-legged position and rested her hand on her knees.

Closing her eyes, the air seemed to waver like a heat Mirage around her before moving to Callisto's head and blurring her features.

Being careful not to disturb Nadira, Harry moved beside her and dropped to one knee.

Now that Callisto is getting the treatment she needs and out of immediate danger, Harry considers why someone would attack her.

Was it a case she was investigating? He shook his head. If it were something she was investigating, the attacker would've probably been more subtle. He looked around him at the repaired kitchen. After all, a bullet from the shadows is less conspicuous than a destroyed house.

With the damage to the house, whatever they wanted, Calisto obviously refused.

"You did well with your healing," Nadira commented, bringing Harry out of his thoughts, "she shouldn't have any lasting damage, thanks to your treatment and her healing factor."

Harry turned to look at her, "Any idea what they were after, and have you ever seen an attack like this before?"

Nadira shook her head, shifting into a crouch before sliding her hands under Callisto's body and rising to her feet, "I can tell that whatever tried to invade her mind accessed old memories and was electronic in nature."

"Electronic? It left blood all over the house," Harry reached into his pocket, pulling out one of the frozen blood spheres.

Nadira looked at it before shaking her head, "I'm just telling you what I saw."

"Old memories," Harry mumbled, his gaze going distant as he tossed the blood sphere. That narrowed down the information they were looking for but not by much. Turning, he called to Nadira as she approached the portal, "Any idea how old of memories they were looking for?"

"Nothing concrete, but by the psychic impressions left, ten years or older."

Nodding, Harry launched the blood sphere he'd collected at her with a flick of his wrist.

They froze before her, held aloft by her telekinetic power.

"Have Andromeda study those. One belongs to Calisto; the other belongs to her attacker."

"What are you going to do?"

Moving to the table, Harry sat down, "there are other ways for me to find out information; they are just more time-consuming." He stared into her eyes, "If someone is attacking mutants, we need to know."

Nadira gave a firm nod before turning and stepping through the portal.

Leaning back in his chair, Harry crossed one leg over the other and closed his eyes. Releasing a breath, he allowed his mind to sink into the environment. Rivers of energy appeared around him in his mind's eye, each a different color and shining with a different intensity.

This was how his mind adapted to see his psychometric abilities. He didn't use them often. While he could gain a lot of information from the power, everyone left psychic impressions wherever they went, making it a hassle to sort through it all and find anything useful.

This situation, however, was different. With this being Callisto's home, only her psychic presence would be here, and anything else would be fainter. Except for recent events, given their violence, they should shine brighter than anything else.

Eyes still closed, Harry rose to his feet. Out of habit, he turned his head, eyeing each energy strand across every surface.

Following the grey tendril of energy to the front door, he grabbed it, stiffening as his mind was pulled into the past.

XX –

Calisto sat on her gray couch in a pair of tight jeans and a white T-shirt that showed off her stomach, her arm resting across the back of it as she stared at the wide-screen TV mounted on the wall.

A heavy knock on the door snapped her head around; she watched the door shake in its frame. Slowly, she rose to her feet. Her body tensed on reflex as her toes dug into the carpet beneath her feet.

She shook her head, forcing her body to relax, "You're not in that life anymore," she muttered. Turning, she strode towards the door, confident in every step.

Pulling it open, her eyes widened as she stared at the 6'9" gray man in her doorway.

His red eyes moved up and down her body, his broad frame barely fitting in the doorway.

"Callisto Jones," he asked in a robotic tone.

"Yes."

"Where are the Morlocks?"

Callisto's blue eyes narrowed, and tension filled her body, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong woman; I can't help you," she began closing the door.

A large hand shot out, wrapping around the door and stopping it in its tracks, "Where are the Morlocks?" The man repeated in the same dead tone.

With a sharp shove, the door flew open, and Callisto jumped back.

The door slammed into the wall, the handle burrowing inside as Callisto landed with her knees bent.

"Listen, buddy, I don't know who you are, but you've picked the wrong woman to extort."

The man stepped into the house, his red gaze never leaving Callisto.

In a blur of motion, Callisto shot forward, her fist slamming into the guy's jaw. His head turned sideways, but it was Callisto who grimaced.

She stepped back, cradling her right hand, "What are you?"

The man stepped forward, "Where are the Morlocks?"

"Not much of a talker, huh," Callisto shook her hand as her wrist healed, a broad smile spreading across her face, "good, it's been a while since I've had some action."

As Callisto lunged forward, everything froze, and Harry appeared in the living room.

Moving to stand beside the lunging Callisto, Harry took in her opponent, "Well, at least he won't be hard to miss."

With a flick of his hand, everything blurred as events sped up. Even with everything moving in a blur, Harry watched how the creature fought because that's what this was.

It definitely wasn't human. The way it moved, talked, and fought was more mechanical. However, it bled, so maybe it was some cyborg.

As the fight entered the kitchen, Harry slowed things down.

He watched whatever this thing was slam Callisto into the ground repeatedly; tiles broke, and splinters flew into the air.

His hands curled into fists as she finally went limp.

Kneeling beside her bloodied body, the gray-skinned humanoid stretched forth it's left hand, its fingers transforming into tentacles that shot out and attached to her temples.

Callisto's back arched, and a scream echoed throughout the room as her assailant drilled his tentacles into her brain. Callisto went limp, and the red glow in her assailant's eyes flickered.

After a moment, the flickering stopped, "Location found," the humanoid said, his voice having a touch more life in it now. Standing to his feet, the thing that looked like a man strode towards the front door.

Glancing one final time at Callisto and reminding himself that she was safe, Harry followed the man, watching as it left the house and entered the sewer.

XX –

The vision faded, and Harry moved onto the stoop, pulling Callisto's door shut behind him. Stepping onto the Street, he walked a block from Callisto's home and stopped before the manhole cover the man had entered. In his mind, he could see the gray psychic impression the man left behind from his touch, but he didn't bother reading it.

He knew where the man was going and what he was after; he could use the psychic impressions to follow his trail.

He shook his head, "This isn't exactly how I wanted to meet the Morlocks."

With a thought to remove the cover, stepping forward, he dropped into the darkness to fight a creature he didn't understand, for people that probably wouldn't appreciate it.