A/N - Hello readers. It looks like I've gotten the next chapter to you on time after all. This chapter was supposed to be longer but it had reached a good stopping point so I split it off from what comes next. Otherwise this chapter would have been late. That will probably be the case next time as I've gotten to the part of the story where I'm still figuring how to make what needs to occur happen in a way that will take us smoothly to the parts that happen after it (I think I said that right). We'll see how things go.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I also don't own Godzilla and the other kaiju who appear in this chapter. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
19) ALL STAR GATHERING
"Normal Speech"
"Telepathy"
In the days since the Sentinels had come to America Dr. Strange had stayed quiet in his Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village as he considered what would be the best action to take. It was clear that if something wasn't done relatively soon the Sentinels would eventually control the planet barring a few countries that had successfully repelled them so far. But even those places might not be safe in the end as it was clear that the Sentinels were capable of learning from their mistakes and would probably try again with more effective methods. No, the Sentinels needed to be stopped before it was too late.
Dr. Strange considered what was best to be done and decided that it would be a good idea to begin by gathering as many allies as possible. The first thing he did was make a portal to the Temple of the Ancient One to consult with his mentor. Once he was there the two sorcerers decided to hold a meeting with as many allies as they could gather to try to make plans to fight back against the Sentinels.
"It would be best if you hold the meeting here my son" said the Ancient One, "the paths up to my temple are already impassable from the early snowfalls. The Sentinels will not find anyone here."
"I agree" said Dr. Strange, "I will begin contacting people at once."
"Attention my X-Men" Professor Xavier mentally called out through his school to the team, "please report to my office immediately. This is not a drill."
It took less than 30 seconds for all of the X-Men to arrive in the professor's office. As they had been in the middle of a training session they were all in uniform.
"What's going on professor?" asked Cyclops as soon as they were all in the office.
"I've received an invitation for all of us from Dr. Strange" said the professor, "he informs me that he is going to hold a meeting regarding what to do about the Sentinels. He wants us to attend that meeting."
"Just us?" asked Cyclops.
"No" was the reply, "he says that there will be others there but didn't say who. If we're willing to come he'll send us a portal to take us to him."
"I say we go" said Lightning, "Dr. Strange has been very helpful to us in the past – well to me and the wizarding world at least. He was the one who hunted down so many of Voldemort's horcruxes and made it possible for him to be completely beaten. I'm all for helping him."
"So am I" said Mage.
"What about the rest of you?" asked the professor to the other X-Men.
"I say we do it" said Angel, "the Sentinels are a danger to everyone, not just mutants and magicals and I, for one, don't want to live under such a repressive system. How soon do you think it'll be before the Sentinels decide to start killing every mutant and magical they can find to "protect" humanity?"
"I completely agree my fine feathered friend" said Beast. Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Cyclops also voted in favor of meeting with Dr. Strange.
"When will this happen sir?" asked Cyclops.
"It will happen now" said the professor. He concentrated for a moment. The X-Men, knowing their mentor as they did, recognized that he was contacting someone via telepathy. A moment later a portal large enough for a person to step through formed in the room with them. It was even large enough for the professor's wheelchair to pass through it without any problems.
"You all go on ahead of me" said the professor, "I'm just going to take a few minutes to inform the other students that we're leaving the school for a while and they should stay here until we return."
One by one the X-Men walked through the portal and found themselves in the entrance hall of what was obviously an oriental building of some sort.
"Where are we?" asked Iceman as they all looked around.
"You are in the entrance hall of the temple of my master the Ancient One" said a familiar voice. They all turned toward the voice and saw Dr. Strange standing there to greet them.
"Dr. Strange," said Cyclops, "it's good to see you again."
"Welcome X-Men" said Dr. Strange, "where is professor Xavier?"
"He'll be along soon" said Cyclops, "he just wanted to speak to his other students first."
"He's coming now" said Marvel Girl and no sooner had she said that when the professor himself came through the portal which closed behind him.
"Hello Stephen" said Professor Xavier.
"Hello Charles" said Dr. Strange, "please come this way. My master is expecting all of you." He lead them further into the temple and brought them to a private study where they met the Ancient One.
"I am glad to see you all here" said the Ancient One, "welcome to my temple."
"Thank you Ancient One" said Cyclops, "where exactly are we?"
"We are high up in the Himalayan Mountains" was the reply as the Ancient One gestured to a window. Outside they could all see high, snow covered mountain peaks and it was clear that this building was located well up the side of one of the mountains.
"My master and I thought it best for us to meet here" said Dr. Strange, "it is as remote a location as you might wish for. The trails up here are already covered deep in snow and will remain so until the late spring comes. The only non-magical way to reach here would be by air and that is very difficult indeed. We are as safe here as we can be."
"Who else will be coming here?" asked the professor.
"Several others who will hopefully be able to work with us" said Dr. Strange, "many of whom you will know. With that said I believe another portal has activated. Our next guests have arrived and I must greet them. Lightning, would you join me? I believe you know them while your teammates have not met them yet."
"Um, okay" said Lightning looking over at the professor who nodded. Lightning followed Dr. Strange back to the temple entry hall and was surprised to see King T'Challa standing there along with his younger sister Shuri.
"King T'Challa of Wakanda and Princess Shuri" said Dr. Strange, "welcome to the temple of my master the Ancient One. I am Dr. Strange the Sorcerer Supreme. I believe you know my companion Lightning of the X-Men?"
"I do" said T'Challa nodding at Lightning who gave a shallow bow of respect in return.
"It's good to see you again your majesty" said Lightning before turning to Shuri, "and you as well your highness."
"I'm sorry" said Shuri, "have we met?" Lightning felt like slapping himself. He'd forgotten Shuri didn't know who he was as she hadn't seen him as Lightning when he had been in Wakanda that summer.
"My sister is trustworthy" said T'Challa sensing Lightning's concern, "she will not betray your secret, will you Shuri?"
"As my brother can tell you" said Shuri sounding a bit proud as she made her statement, "I've worked closely with him on important classified matters. I'm very good at keeping secrets. Whatever you wish to tell me will stay with me."
"Thank you your majesty" said Lightning. He took a moment and began speaking to Shuri again.
"We have met" he said, "though I understand why you don't recognize me right now as you didn't see me like this when I visited Wakanda last August." He reached up and pulled off his mask.
"Harry Potter? Earl Killigaer?" Shuri said in surprise upon seeing his face.
"That's right" said Harry before pulling his mask back on, "I fought alongside your brother against Klaw when he tried to invade the palace." Shuri took this in before turning to her brother.
"That's why you invited him to breakfast that day" she said to T'Challa, "and why the two of you were suddenly acting like comrades in arms."
"That is correct" said King T'Challa with a smile, "Shuri you are only the third Wakandan to know Lightning's true identity. The only other one to know besides you and me is one of the dragons."
"He recognized my scent" grimaced Lightning.
"That's not surprising" said King T'Challa, "dragons are very good at recognizing people and that goes extra for our Warrior Dragons. I'm glad to see you again Lightning. Now perhaps we should take ourselves to the main meeting room for this gathering?"
"We should" said Dr. Strange, "this way please." the Sorcerer Supreme led them back the way he and Lightning had come but instead of taking them to the Ancient One's study he took them to large meeting hall that was arranged for the upcoming meeting. It contained a large round table that had seats for about 30 people making Lightning wonder who else had been invited to this meeting. The Ancient One and the other X-Men were already there when Dr. Strange led in King T'Challa, Princess Shuri, and Lightning. Dr. Strange quickly made the introductions and soon left to greet the next group of arrivals. That turned out to be the Avengers, this time including the Hulk whom Lightning had never met but did recognize. They were quickly followed by the members of the Fantastic Four.
The identities of the Fantastic Four were publically known. Lightning had met Reed Richards and Susan Storm before – Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl respectively – and he'd met Johnny Storm, Susan's younger brother, who was the Human Torch once when he was out flying over the city. Johnny's flame was off right now so he didn't burn anything. He'd never met Ben Grimm, alias the Thing, though and he was fascinated to see the orange member of the team who looked like he was made out of some kind of rock yet still was able to move and function with ease. Lightning briefly wondered who would win if the Thing and the Hulk were to fight but quickly decided that he didn't need know that.
"Stephen, how many people did you invite?" asked Xavier breaking Lightning out of his thoughts.
"The majority are here but there are still several more to arrive" said Dr. Strange as he left the room again. Professor Xavier wheeled himself over to where Mr. Fantastic was and greeted him as the two of them knew each other. It was Mr. Fantastic who had shown Professor Xavier the Unstable Molecules from which the Fantastic Four's team uniform was made and had taught him how to use them to make the uniforms for the X-Men. As the two scientists talked Dr. Strange came back into the room, this time with Spider-Man and Daredevil. Lightning broke off from where he'd been talking with his teammates and went over to meet Spider-Man.
"It looks like almost everyone is here" Spider-Man said to Lightning, "do you know what Dr. Strange has planned?"
"No" said Lightning, "just that it involves dealing with the Sentinels although I don't know how yet."
"We will talk soon" said Dr. Strange coming up to them, "Lightning, will you and Mage join me in greeting the next group?"
"Okay" said Lightning, "who is it this time?"
"You will see" said Dr. Strange as Lightning and Mage followed him out of the room. Once they were in the hallway the Sorcerer Supreme told them that he was expecting some former teachers that they knew well. Lightning and Mage looked at each other.
"You don't suppose – " began Mage.
"It must be" said Lightning.
It was. When the three of them reached the entrance hall they saw Professor Dumbledore stepping through a portal. He was quickly followed by Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Lupin.
"Albus" said Dr. Strange greeting his friend, "thank you for coming and bringing your colleagues with you."
"Of course Stephen" said Dumbledore, "if it comes from you I know it's important and the ICW agrees with me on this. All of my staff wanted to come but some of them had to stay in the Underground Realm with the students."
"Hello headmaster" said Lightning, "what's the Underground Realm?"
"Hello young Lightning" said Dumbledore seeing him, "and Mage too. If you're here does that mean the rest of your team is here?"
"Yes" said Mage, "if you follow us we'll take you there." Lightning and Mage greeted the other teachers too before they all moved to follow Dr. Strange back toward the meeting room. Lightning walked next to Dumbledore who explained to him what the Underground Realm was and why the Hogwarts population had gone there.
"Are my – " began Lightning in a low voice.
"Everyone is all right" said Dumbledore before Lightning could finish the question as he was mindful that while Flitwick and Lupin knew who Lightning was McGonagall didn't.
"That's good" said Lightning, "I hope you don't all have to stay there too much longer. Is there any way to visit?"
"Maybe" said Dumbledore, "but before that can happen I will have to report to the ICW about what Stephen is planning. He asked me here on their behalf. The other three came along at my request."
Meanwhile Mage was talking with Lupin as they walked together at the back of the group.
"I'm surprised to see you here Moony" said Mage, "I thought you'd stay back to protect the students."
"Most of the time probably" said Lupin, "but Dumbledore asked me to come with him and he mentioned you and Lightning would probably be here along with the team. How could I say no?"
"Of course you couldn't you old wolf" said Mage with a grin, "it's all of the superheroes who came to defend Hogwarts plus more you haven't met. It's quite the group our esteemed Sorcerer Supreme is gathering."
"So I see" said Lupin as he and Mage stepped into the meeting room and Lupin got a good look at everyone there. In addition to his friends the X-Men he also recognized the Avengers although not the Hulk having never met him although he knew who he was. The same went for the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Daredevil. He'd never met any of them either but he knew who they were.
Dr. Strange had gone over to confer with Ancient One and now he called for everyone's attention.
"Our last guest will arrive shortly and I need to greet him" said Dr. Strange, "when I bring him here please stay calm and keep your minds open."
"I'm sure we can do that" said Professor Xavier, "who is it?"
"It is someone whom I would not normally invite here for such a meeting" said Dr. Strange, "but he is someone who has knowledge and expertise that may be very helpful to us when dealing with the Sentinels as he knows more about robots than almost anyone else in the world."
Mr. Fantastic looked over at Dr. Strange with an odd look on his face as if trying to figure out something that he knew ahead of time he wouldn't like.
"I sincerely hope you're not talking about Dr. Doom" the leader of the Fantastic Four said.
"I am indeed talking about him" said Dr. Strange who raised his hands to stop the protests that he could see were about to erupt from the Fantastic Four and some of the Avengers, "we're in a crisis that affects all of us. I know that Doom is an enemy to a lot of you here but we really could use his help. I think he will have much to say about the Sentinels and I'm sure he wants to get rid of them as much as we do."
"At least until he learns to control them himself" growled the Thing "and tries to use them to take over the world."
"That may be" conceded Dr. Strange knowing that the Thing was probably right, "but in times like these if we can't put aside our differences for just a little while then there is no hope for any of us. If Dr. Doom does try to do as you say we will stop him. For right now we need him."
There was silence in the room for a few moments. Lightning understood how the Fantastic Four felt about working with Dr. Doom. He wondered what would have happened if it was Voldemort coming to help them instead. He honestly didn't know if he'd be able to put aside his personal feelings and work with the man who had killed his parents and had tried to kill him several times.
"No promises" the Thing finally said and refused to say any more. Dr. Strange grimaced and left the room to fetch the last guest.
"Professor" Lightning sent to Xavier, "have you ever met Dr. Doom? Do you know what he's like?"
"No, I've never met him" said the professor, "I only know him by reputation. He's a brilliant and ruthless man who has fought the Fantastic Four and some of our other hero friends numerous times. However from what I've heard he rules Latveria well and really cares for his people. He seems to be an example of someone who will do anything to get power but once he has it will use it well and do the best job he can rather than abuse it. People like that are rare. He is not to be trifled with but if we don't make an enemy out of him he won't bother us either."
Lightning was thinking over what the professor said when Dr. Strange returned with Dr. Doom. Lightning took a good look at the man's appearance as he'd heard a lot about him. He was wearing armor of dark grey that completely covered his whole body including his face. Over that he wore a green tunic belted at the waist with a cape and hood of the same color over that. He was an intimidating figure and the room fell silent when he entered it and looked around. Dr. Strange presented him to the group and made another appeal for everyone to work together against a common foe.
The tension in the room had shot up with Doom's arrival and now it rose even higher as Doom looked at everyone else in the room and they all looked at him. Some of the other guests, like the X-Men, the Hogwarts professors, King T'Challa and Shuri had never met him before and looked at him with more neutral and curious expressions as if waiting to see what he would do although they were still wary about him. The Avengers were more wary and the Fantastic Four looked at him with genuine hostility, particularly the Thing who looked like he was winding up to say something very nasty. Even though he couldn't see Doom's face behind his mask Lightning could tell that Doom looked at the Thing and his teammates with contempt. Lightning hoped this wouldn't turn bad really quickly.
Before that could happen Dumbledore attempted to break the tension by stepping forward and holding his hand out to Dr. Doom.
"Lord Victor Von Doom?" he said, "I'm Albus Dumbledore. We've never met but I was acquainted with your mother Cynthia Von Doom. She was a fine witch who died much too young."
"I know who you are Supreme Mugwump" said Dr. Doom shaking Dumbledore's hand, "thank you for your kind words about my mother. She told me about you when I was very young and of course I learned about your defeat of Grindelwald during my schooling at Durmstrang. It is good to meet you."
"Oh, are you a wizard Lord Doom?" asked Lightning from his place near Dumbledore before looking a bit embarrassed as Doom turned his way, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry."
"That's all right Lightning" said Dr. Doom, "and in answer to your question, yes, like you I am, among other things, a wizard. By your age I'd guess you're still in school?"
"When I'm not with my team, yes" said Lightning feeling a bit wary that Doom was speaking to him without any hostility. True, they'd never met but he was supposed to be a super villain who would automatically hate people like him – shouldn't he? What Doom said next made things even more ambiguous.
"Ah, your team, the X-Men" said Doom glancing over to where the rest of the X-Men were, "we've never met, and I have a feeling that we'll probably be enemies if we do cross paths again someday but for now let me congratulate you on defeating that no-good, disgusting excuse of a wizard Voldemort."
"You heard about that?" asked Professor McGonagall in surprise.
"I am a wizard" said Doom, "and I follow the magical news just like anyone else in our world." McGonagall took this in for a moment.
"Yes, I imagine you do" she said with a nod, "Voldemort was such a big part of magical Britain's recent history it's easy to forget the rest of the world might be watching him too."
"You shouldn't forget it" said Dr. Doom in a serious manner, "he tried to recruit me to his cause you know."
"I heard" said Dumbledore, "the ICW talked about it for a while. We all felt you handled that about as well as anyone could."
"I didn't hear about this" said Flitwick.
"Neither did I" said McGonagall "when did this happen?"
"This past February" said Doom, "he didn't come to see me himself. He sent a few of his flunkies in his place. I wasn't interested in his cause as I recognize that it takes all types of people to make a healthy society. I wouldn't take his mark either. That would have meant handing control of my country over to him and there was no way I would do that."
"Why do I get the feeling that he didn't take your refusal well?" murmured Professor Flitwick.
"He didn't" said Doom, "he sent more of his minions to 'punish' me and my nation. Let's just say it didn't end well for them and leave it at that. The magical world is better off without him."
"Amen" said Lightning thinking of all of the times he'd had to deal with Voldemort. Maybe he and Dr. Doom would be enemies and wouldn't agree on much but where Voldemort was concerned Lightning felt that Doom was absolutely right. The magical world was better off without Voldemort.
With the tension having been broken – for now although it was clear that the Thing and the other members of the FF didn't like the situation any more than they had when Doom first arrived Dr. Strange now got everyone's attention.
"Now that we are all here" he said, "if everyone could sit down we can begin."
(To Be Continued)
A/N - That's all for now. Until next time, which I'll try to get to you next week but with the way things are going please don't count on it. All I can say is I'll get you the next chapter when it's done and hopefully it won't take too long. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone.