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Nick Fury stood resolute, ignoring the blathering from the current president Ian Johnson, just as he ignored the fact it was pushing one in the morning here in D.C. In Nick's mind Ian wasn't up to the job, hadn't been up to the job when he was elected, and hadn't done anything since being elected to disprove that theory. Johnson was a politician down to his toenails who knew a lot about the economy and should have been a cabinet member at best, because outside of that realm of expertise he had proven unable to make a decision on his own to save his life.
He also didn't seem to realize a fundamental point: that Nick had answered his summons as a courtesy, more to the office than the individual. SHIELD answered to the councilors which held its purse strings, not the president of the nation that had created the agency. They didn't make a point of that, but it was true. No, Nick didn't answer to Johnson, but he could use him.
As the man wound down, Nick decided it was time to point out another fundamental point. "Mr. President, I realize you're angry, and you have every right to be. But SHIELD isn't responsible solely for anything that happens in America, our remit covers America, South America, the Philippines, Australia, parts of Africa, and several European countries. Nor do we yet have penetration in all those countries to actually cover them equally. This kind of thing, it's precisely what the FBI or CIA should discover, not me. Not until the Sentinels were actually online did it become an issue for SHIELD. We were not the first people to drop the ball here."
"But you did drop the ball!" President Johnson shot back triumphantly, his heavy jowls moving from side to side as he spoke. "The moment even a hint of the Sentinels being constructed reached you, you should've been the one to find out everything there was about them, and then shut them down! Instead, not only did they blindside you and everyone else, but you weren't the ones to shut it down!"
Johnson slapped a hand down on a newspaper, where the front page was declaring "Custodes Mundi saves the day!" The article so titled was based around an interview with some of the kidnap victims ending with one from Professor Xavier himself.
Nick tried not to scowl at that reminder. Charles hadn't answered any of his questions, and while Nick could have held the man, in fact they could've made Charles disappear with ease, he knew that would've brought more trouble than it was worth. He hadn't even mentioned the combatants involved, simply stating again and again that there was a fight, and the number of Sentinels involved.
He'd been more forthcoming about the Master Mold and its overall plans, and when asked what he felt about the ordeal as a whole by the reporters he'd jumped at the chance to air his coexistence agenda again. He'd done it so eloquently and powerfully that, with the Sentinel's as a sort of horrible example of what hatred and chaos theory could do, that even Nick had been impressed.
I think I even saw a Charles for President bumper sticker, he mused. But no, to get some real answers, if only for his own state of mind, Nick knew he'd have to make overtures to Potter. But he would be damned if he was going to be the one doing the legwork on that.
Right now however he concentrated on the angry man in front of him. "Mr. President, the Avengers could have handled the Sentinels, if they weren't already engaged against AIM down in Venezuela. Frankly we should be grateful for the Custodes Mundi stepping in as they did, though it hurts to say it." And boy did it hurt. He hated that Potter, the loose cannon, was doing his job better than he was at present. And that doesn't even consider what might be going on in orbit.
"'Hurts to say it'," Johnson mimicked, shaking his head. "What hurts is that this government now looks like a lame, no a blind duck which allows its citizens to create what amounts to their own private armies with technology so far beyond the norm it's insane! We need to be seen to do something, not just to try and find out who the real perpetrators behind this project was, but to make certain that it doesn't happen again!"
Nick's eye narrowed, while behind his mask of a face he smiled grimly. Let's see if I can lead this idiot in the right direction. "Mr. President, I am aware of several other long-term projects of a similar nature. Those operations have heretofore been protected by connections to the federal government in various forms, just like this one, which was, if not spearheaded by a legitimate member of government, at least endorsed by one. But I can't say that the stated goals of the others are their real ones, nor, in today's… tumultuous political climate would they even be advisable if so."
Just because Nick wasn't a politician didn't mean he couldn't play the game, and as Johnson paled at the idea of further PR disasters he went on smoothly. "If you want, SHIELD could move against those easily enough. We could then be seen as being proactive, stopping what could be seen as private armies with private agendas built, in some cases, with taxpayer money, from rearing their heads in the future."
President Johnson frowned, tapping his hands on the newspaper. The sight of that newspaper, the picture on the front cover of the rescued kidnap victims and the others at that had been taken back to Texas seemed to galvanize him, and he nodded firmly. "I don't care what toes you step on, I don't care what your so-called counselors say."
Like much of the American government Johnson thought the councilors were simply an oversight committee by another name, not realizing how much independence they and SHIELD had from the Federal Government. "You have my permission to go after any such group, no matter who they're connected to or what their supposed mission is. America can no longer afford to look the other way when it comes to such. Just keep the collateral damage to a minimum that's all I ask."
Nick smiled grimly. The president was making this decision for political reasons, but that didn't matter much to him, all that did matter was he was going to nip several problems in the bud right the fuck now! "In that case, I'll take my leave now Mr. President and put together a few teams this very day."
The moment he was on his personal helicopter and in the air heading towards the helacarrier Nick pulled out one of SHIELD's specially made ultra-secure phones.
The other end picked up on the second ring, and Clint Barton's voice answered, sounding harried. "Boss, I know you want some progress here, and Avalanche is doing the best he can but it's going to take him days to break through the hardened magma that's filled the bunker or whatever this place was. He also doesn't think we'll be finding anything but small trace elements of anything anyway. The Custodes Mundi did a damn good job of policing this battlefield let me tell you."
"Agreed, in fact I was going to pull you and Avalanche off of that anyway. No, I'm going to send you two to see the Fantastic Four. The Custodes Mundi and the Fantastic Four are friendly, so we can hope that Ben will introduce you to Guardian, and we can ask some questions straight up that way. Potter's proven amenable to the direct approach before, much as I dislike having to ask for answers rather than demand them. Pull your team out, we'll let the computer techs continue to follow their trails for now."
"Won't have an argument from me boss, but after I talk to Ben and get those answers for you, are you switching us back down to rejoin the rest of the Avengers?"
"Not yet, no, though you can send Avalanche down there after he helps you make your introductions. I just got a go ahead to go after some other projects, and we're going to go for them as quick as we can, you Kestrel, Maverick and a heavy team, we'll keep Avalanche and the others out of this."
Clint breathed in slowly, on the other end, hissing 'yessss' under his breath, not really thinking about the implications of not bringing along most of the Avengers. "The Hulk Busters and the rest?"
"All three of them," Nick said with a grim smile on his face, staring up out of his helicopter's cockpit as the helacarrier came into view. "I think it's about time that we get ahead of the curve for a change when it comes to potential disasters, don't you?" And maybe get ourselves some weapons that might prove useful against… other threats.
OOOOOOO
Early the next morning found Ororo waking before Harry for once. Smiling slightly she slipped out of bed, smiling at him, before frowning thoughtfully as she stared at Emma, and the empty place beside her. Oh Jean, you are sorely missed my love, hurry home Jean, please. Most of the time she could ignore the hole in their relationship Jean's absence had left, the sheer joy she took in Harry and now Emma banishing it. But sometimes, like this, it snuck up on her.
Her smile came back when she looked out into the small forest to Melody's room. Melody, Illyana, Piotr and Amara were all sprawled out on conjured beds down there. They'd had a movie marathon last night, a simple, homey affair despite it occurring up here in High Note.
Still smiling Ororo left the bedroom, heading toward the control center where she began to watch the news. The aftermath of the Sentinel Rebellion as some 'wit', and Ororo used the term very loosely, had coined it was quickly becoming widespread. There seemed to be something about the way the giant robots had gone about their business, so matter of fact, logical and dispassionate that disturbed most people at a fundamental level.
The fact that it had been broadcast from the beginning, which won the camera crew a lot of praise from their fellows, was even worse. That camera crew had paid for it though, one of them dying in the crush as the crowd fled. There were in fact over 30 dead, police and security guards, but more than half of those victims had died in the stampede of the crowd.
Ororo flipped through the news channels, trying to find anything new among the many programs other than reiterating statements about the attack or showing the footage. She finally stopped on Fox, listening to an announcer say "SHIELD, the security agency devoted to beyond the norm security threats, has assured the public that the Project has been shut down and no long poses a threat. For more on this, we turn to Jane down in Austin, where the kidnap victims, and apparently several others have been returned to Austin, released from questioning. Jane can you give us an idea of what happened?"
"Well Terry, no one has issued an official statement yet. But after speaking to a few of SHIELD's personnel, it appears as if SHIELD was able to track the Sentinels to their main construction base. We haven't gotten any clear hint as to what happened there, but the project itself does seem to have been shut down permanently. I say this because some of the recently released individuals were actual workers on the program, taken captive by their very creations when something they call the Master Mold went crazy."
"Master Mold, any idea what that is, and why does everyone seem so certain that the project was shut down permanently Jane? That's the question lots of people are asking, that and what went wrong."
"As to what went wrong, the workers I've been able to question, albeit briefly given the man's recent trauma and his need for medical evaluation was quite clear on it. The Master Mold was the, call it the queen bee I suppose of the Sentinels, he followed his broad orders to a conclusion that could only seem logical to a computer, it believed that humanity needed to be guarded, segregated and controlled in order to make certain that no new mutants would be born."
"That is another question some of our more astute listeners are no doubt asking Jane. Indeed, we just finished listening to Major Custer, who stated unequivocally that there was no way to analyze an individual's DNA with any kind of scanning equipment. Do we have any idea how the Sentinels thought they could do this?"
"None at all, apparently the scanning and most of this mad project was the brainchild of a Dr. Trask. He was one of the first victims of his creations when the Master Mold went rogue. We'll probably never know how the Sentinels were able to do this, given that Dr. Trask is dead, killed during the action at the Project's home base."
"Has Senator Kelly been released from the hospital, and if so is he well enough to give a statement?"
"Not yet Terry, but I'll report back as soon as he, or the other kidnap victims do. The last thing I can tell you for certain right now though is that SHIELD wasn't the first group to reach the Sentinel's secret installation. That honor goes to a group that's been in the news recently, the Custodes Mundi. Evidently they were the ones to shut down the project, though at present no one knows precisely how they did this."
"I see… well thank you Jane, we'll come back to Jane as soon as she has more to report. For now, we go back to former Major Custer. Major, can you tell us anything about this Dr. Trask?"
Ororo changed the channel, stopping on CNN as a newscaster covering the business section said, "One such name is Edward Buckman, renowned philanthropist and business mogul, owner and sole shareholder in Buckshot Technologies. Stopped at the airport as he tried to escape the country, Edward is among those who are going to be asked some very pointed questions about the Sentinel project. Authorities were led to look at him closely thanks to an anonymous tip, whose providence is yet to be verified. Yet judging from the fact he tried to leave the country, at present he is being held until it is proven that the tipster's information is false."
On another channel was a political analyst. "At an emergency session the Senate has begun to call for a massive security overhaul of its own members, declaring that there should have been no way for the Sentinel project to get so far without someone in the government turning a blind eye to them. President Johnson hasn't issued an official statement, but the word here in Washington is he's already called several security directors onto the carpet…"
At that point Ororo turned it off, knowing that it would be a while before more specific information began to come out to the general public. Sighing she went to get a shower, coming back to find that Emma had arrived and joined Harry at the table, bringing fresh New York bagels and cream cheese. "So they did catch Buckman dead to rights leaving the country. I didn't think it would be handled directly by SHIELD though," Emma said, nodding her head to Ororo as she sat down with them, exchanging brief but heartfelt kisses with Harry.
Leaning back from Ororo, Harry shrugged. "They're the agency that would have to deal with the Sentinels, so it makes sense. The ironic thing is, since Sage set it up so that the tip seemed to come from him, Sebastian could end up being looked at as a heroic whistle blower who was killed to prevent the word from getting out, only to have the last laugh."
"No," Emma replied firmly, tearing her eyes away from Ororo's panja ring, not for the first time. The workmanship was exquisite, and it just seemed to glow with something beyond its mere physical form. I want one, but I don't want to marry Harry. Or do I ugh… so confusing, I want to keep my independence, but I also want to fully join the trio. Even if Jean hadn't been given her ring yet, Emma knew she would be the moment she returned. Damnit shelve that for later.
Not giving voice to those jumbled thoughts Emma went on. "Now that he's dead and gone, I predict a lot of his other business dealings will come out, including his personal life, his part in the murder of his ex-girlfriend because she spurned him, how he treated his workers, how he initially made enough money to start up his company..."
The telepath shook her head, twitching in remembered revulsion. The information in Shaw's mind had already proved its worth. He'd had spies even Sage didn't know about, most of which were now working for them. Added to what Sage did know about, that doubled their information network. Ororo had already liquidated his emergency caches, adding several hundred million dollars total to their accounts via various untraceable means. Not to mention the weapons factory, which again Sage hadn't known about, at least not its location.
Or the fact Shaw had bribed one of her mansion's maintenance crews into bringing in a bomb. A bomb that Sandman had dealt with, earning him a nice bonus. The maintenance team would be let go of course, fired with cause, though no charges would be brought against them, unless her security head could get them to confess, and Emma was leery of doing so even then. After all, how could Emma show she had known about the bomb in the first place?
Yet none of that helped the feeling of having swum through sludge when Emma liquefied his brain, especially the parts about her. I didn't make his demise nearly painful enough. "Trust me Harry, once enough of his dirty laundry gets aired he won't be a hero any longer."
"Have you contacted Paris?" Ororo asked softly, looking at Emma.
Emma winced again. "Not yet. I'll wait until she makes a public announcement about Edward, after all it only recently came out that the two of them had split up, it was big news in the social circles for a few days. She might be called in on the investigation to Edward, heck he might still have had her designated as his successor, I know they had both signed some kind of pre-nuptial about their businesses."
"Agreed, we're in a holding pattern for now on the Hellfire Club side. Let this pot simmer a bit, then I'll move in and take over the Hellfire Club's New York Branch, just as we did the London one. In the meantime I think it's time to start pushing Arc Technologies further, and I want to look into opening dialogs with some of the world's militaries just in case."
"In case of what?" Emma asked cocking her head.
"In case of full-scale invasions." Ororo said softly. "We know that the Kree and the Skrull and Shi'ar all have special forces, and we're confident in our ability to handle them. What if they send in special forces and regular forces at the same time? And the time limit Mar'vel gave us for the follow up to the Hellion's disappearance is coming up in another few weeks."
"Earth has other heroes you know," Emma said, but her tone was thoughtful, even worried. More than anyone else Emma had a good idea of how huge the Kree Empire was thanks to delving into their former prisoners minds.
"America has enough heroes, China and Russia might have, well I wouldn't call them heroes exactly, government-sponsored hit teams in one and a rather dangerous crime lord with several local mutants working for him in the other tied obliquely to the government. Japan has a few too, but for its size Europe doesn't have many, certainly not enough to cover the entire continent. Africa doesn't seem to have any except some vague rumors of a man in a black cat suit of some type, and the less said about the Middle East and the rest of Asia the better." Ororo replied.
"Exactly. Worse, when they come we're going to be surprised, unless we're up in High Note for some reason. I've set up the computers to warn us the minute they pick up something but even so, they'll have the element of surprise whatever we do." Harry replied. "I've an idea there, a magical one, but actually pulling it off is going to be difficult in the extreme."
"That brings up another point Harry." Ororo said taking his hand in hers on the table. "We're still spreading ourselves too thin. We need to start delegating more especially on the business side to other people, along with anything else other people can handle."
"I already talked to Charles about Sage, I'll give her a trial period but she should be able to help us on the business and spying side of things."
"But that won't cut down on enough Harry. You need to step back from the business side of things almost entirely, as I have done in terms of the school. We need to also set up…" From there Ororo went on to describe a few more areas they, not just Harry, needed to hand over to others. Weapons manufacture, overseeing the continuing work up in orbit, the team's training, and continuing to bring in mutant children in danger.
That last process would be handled by Father Garnoff for now and the teens who had not been allowed or not interested in joining the Custodes Mundi. The two teens Illyich and Mikhail in particular had wanted to be out and about making themselves useful for a while, but their English hadn't been good enough until recently to let them without a translation spell. On top of that Illyich had needed a personalized image inducer, which Johnny Storm, using Reed's equipment, had finally said was ready, along with several others for the other children, a few days ago. The two of them, Douglas when he returned, and Garnoff would handle that.
"But there is one place which, even if Sage proves as good as we hope, will still be a bottleneck for our space-based industry: magic in general and runic arrays in particular." Harry said, sighing. "Kitty and I have a lot of team related things on the back burner thanks to pushing my business needs first, and I know besides being under a Fidelius the defenses for the various asteroids selected to become future Ravenspires, even the Forge and Banner's home, don't have enough magical defenses set up. I need to come up with a way to cut down on the workload there too, which would allow you and Kitty to do more magic-based research. Which doesn't even mention the fact I'm the only one able to use the Orihalcum factory."
Ororo hummed thoughtfully. "I think there you need a new perspective, maybe simply ask Kitty or one of the other magic users for help in finding a solution. But you're right, that's a bottleneck we need to remove."
"That might not be a bad idea." With that Harry stood up, pulling Emma to her feet and kissing her languidly on the lips before releasing her, turning to look at Ororo. "But for now, I think I promised the kids a day off, and I need to talk to Johnny about some tech gear. I say we kill two birds with one stone, and have a day at the beach."
As Ororo nodded, he turned to Emma. "Do you want to come with us Emma?"
Emma shook her head. "Sorry I need to keep an eye on the start of the Fed's investigation into Buckman and Shaw. I want to make certain that no hint of my involvement with Shaw pops up, nor any hint as to who really blew the whistle on Buckman." Harry frowned, but nodded, leaning in to kiss Emma again before pulling away reluctantly to find his communicator.
OOOOOOO
"What do you mean no?" Mr. Sinister asked, staring across the dining table at his dinner partner. This time he and Morgan had agreed to meet on neutral ground, a small, hole in the wall restaurant in downtown Rome, a city Morgan remembered somewhat fondly, and in which neither had any contacts or power to speak of.
The meal had been exquisite for all the small nature of the restaurant, but Sinister had no mind now to concentrate on that. Not given Morgan's abrupt foray into the reason why they were meeting and the nature of the response.
Morgan sipped at her wine before putting it down with some distaste. "That is not a claret, that is vinegar! Honestly." She sniffed audibly then looked up at the visibly irritated Sinister, smirking internally at his look of irritation, but her humor fled quickly. "I mean, no. I have decided that I want no part in this little scheme anymore Sinister."
She paused, turning her eyes away for a moment. "I've studied what I could from the video of the battle in Montreal, the rumors of what happened in London months back, and I have come to several conclusions about Guardian. Selene Gallio, an… old time compatriot of mine, older even than I, is dead because of him, her caches around the world raided and empty now. I knew of one, and I could not have gotten past its defenses, yet this Guardian did just that."
"In magical combat, power matters only a bit in comparison to knowledge. Before looking into Guardian further, I had thought I would have the edge there, if I could control the battlefield, prepare it as a place of power for myself. But I have since decided that even if I did that, I would have a less than even chance of defeating Guardian when it came to it. No, it is a smart predator who knows when to hide instead of lash out. Guardian's star is on the rise, now is the time to be cautious and hidden."
What Morgana did not say was that what she had found out about Potter through analyzing what she could about the battles in Montreal and London was but a small part of this decision. Morgana was not primarily a demon summoner, being far too intelligent to not realize who had the real power in any such bargain. However, she did have a few contacts in other dimensions. And what those contacts told her about the balance of power in the Hell Dimensions was… disturbing.
For several hundred decades the Demon Lord Mephisto had slowly been gaining power, his realm growing. But now Mephisto was dead, his essence and dimension parceled out among his fellow Demon Lords who had descended upon him after Mephisto had been brought to near death after a battle with a group of invaders to his realm. A group which included the one the Demons referred to as 'The Sword of Light'.
No, Morgana had no wish to tangle with Guardian now, nor even do anything to bring his attention to her at all. Especially given the ruthless way he dealt with enemies, so unlike the normal 'hero' types she'd had to deal with occasionally over her long life.
"Or it could be a time for decisive action!" Sinister replied, his voice intense. He had been watching the news of late, and hadn't liked what he had seen. With Magneto still silent taking the most strident Mutant Supremacist out of the equation, the Sentinel debacle and Potter's outspoken support for equality, that notion had gained far more traction than Sinister, or HIM, had ever anticipated.
But even that is a secondary concern to me. I need Jean Grey, or at least a copy of her DNA, and to get it, I need to take out Guardian, force her out into the open, in a place and time of my choosing.
"No. I have lived far longer than even you Sinister I know when I'm overmatched. Oh," Morgan waved a hand airily, but there was nothing dismissive about her eyes.
They were hard, black rocks, those eyes, the hate in them would have sent a shiver down many a lesser man's spine. "Make no mistake I will not forget the affront that Guardian dealt me." Or that the current Sorcerer Supreme aided him in destroying my phylactery! "But now is not the time."
Sinister frowned, looking down at his hands for a moment as he thought deeply. "Will you be willing to at the very least aid me in the realm of knowledge? You know I know next to nothing about magic, what is and isn't possible, how to protect myself and so forth."
"I will send you an analysis of the information I've been looking at yes. But I won't furnish you with anything in the way of magical items or anything else that could possibly be traced back to me." Morgan nodded. "But after that we are done Sinister. I want no part in your scheme or to even see you again. If I do, I will destroy you, are we clear?"
"Perfectly my dear," Sinister said, smiling with his mouth though internally he was sneering at the ancient crone before him. Oh yes, Sinister knew how old Morgan was, whatever she might look like. And whatever Morgan's powers Sinister was confident enough in his own abilities to not fear her.
After giving her the address of a drop box to send the information to, Sinister watched as Morgan left, thinking. So, it would seem I must go it alone. Very well, that might make it more dangerous, I suppose it was inevitable, old bitches do tend to be more bark than bite.
Still my plans for Genosha and my preparations therein are going much more satisfactorily. My tools within AIM have given me enough in the way of weapons, and the military is entirely onboard, the civilian government is also coming around nicely.
The current batch of Reavers is also proving satisfactory, despite the need to hasten the aging process from the incubation period. They, the mutant enforcers, and the Genoshan military will give me enough military might to make Genosha's new vision for the future stick, at least in the eyes of the UN. Which will force Guardian, if he follows that fool Xavier's ideals, to step in.
Yet… yet I had hoped for Morgan's aid in this. I might need even more firepower than I am already gathering to combat a magic user of Guardian's power and resources.
Sinister frowned, sipping at his wine, before putting it down when he realized that Morgan's opinion on it had been spot on. Paying his bill quickly Sinister left the restaurant, and soon Rome, heading to the airport and his personal plane.
A plane ride and several hours later he slipped into another persona entirely, his features shifting slightly thanks to his limited shape changing ability. He walked out of his personal apartment home, complete with a private VTOL landing pad, nodding his head solemnly at the armed guards who bowed their heads to him, greeting him with "Good Evening Genegineer."
As he moved into the receiving room where several men, mutants and not, awaited him, Sinister at last came to a decision. I don't want to contact the Askanison clan directly yet, no doubt they are anxious enough given how religiously they follow HIS ideals, but they are linked too much to HIM. But the Dark Riders, they are wilder, easier to control. Yes, they will do nicely when added to the rest of my firepower. But first, I think I need a way to find out more about Guardian and his team, and reverse this trend towards peaceful coexistence.
"Gentlemen, I trust you've had time to look over the economic and social data I shared with you all at our last meeting. I also hope that the field tests of my little toys proved the efficacy of the Grand Plan."
The heads all around the table nodded, and Sinister, nee-David Moreau, the Genegineer as he was coming to be called, smiled grimly. "In that case, I think we can start putting our pieces into motion for the changeover. I realize that process will take some time given our need to hide it from our more narrow-minded fellows. But if we start now, I think we can be done, and our vision of the future, of humanity ascendant over this upstart offshoot, within another three months..."
OOOOOOO
While Ororo and the other adults were getting the children ready, Harry called ahead to get Ben to lower the anti-teleportation defenses, noticing Ben sounded rather harried when he replied in the affirmative. When Harry arrived, he found that the Fantastic Four already had guests. There were at least two people screaming in the background as he arrived, with Johnny of all people, raising his own voice in an effort to play peacemaker. "Ben, if this was a bad time you could've said you know."
"Nah, our problems shouldn't hold you up, don't worry about it really." Ben said, reaching forward to grasp the other man's hand in a firm grip with one rocky paw before waving his other hand toward the noise. "That's Thundra you hear right now. She's from some kind of alternate reality where women rule an're locked in battle with another planet ruled by men. She came here to beat me in a one-on-one fight ta prove women are stronger than men."
Ben's craggy face widened into a smile at Harry's shocked expression for some reason. "Since I beat her, Thundra's been kinda tryin' to get into my pants. She thinks that Medusa, Crystal's big sister who's here to play chaperone, is here to put the moves on me, and doesn't like the competition."
Harry shook his head, staring at Ben. "I don't even know where to, how, wh, how'd that even happen!"
"You're askin' me?" Ben asked with a shrug, still smiling at his younger friend. "Welcome to my world, it's been weird ever since that flight up into space."
"I'll say," Harry replied, then began to laugh. "You know, this might sound petty, but I think I'm actually happy to know that weird shit happens to other people, not just me and mine."
"I'll remember you said that Potter," Ben replied, but he was smirking as he did, and his heavy stone hand patted Harry's shoulder. "Saw the Custodes mentioned in the news recently too, nice going shuttin' those robots down. We've had enough trouble with Doom's bots in the past, we don't want that kind of crap to spread."
Harry shrugged modestly then paused, looking at Ben more seriously. "How's Alicia taking you being, wooed stalked whatever you want to call it, by this other-dimensional woman?"
The tank of the FF flinched a little, looking away. "We, we broke up a few weeks ago. She was kidnapped again by one of our enemies, I, I decided I couldn't keep putting her in danger like that. And to be honest, I think our, our connection was sort of fading before that, we were just moving away from one another in life y'know."
"I'm sorry to hear that Ben," Harry said, reaching out to lay a hand on Ben's rock-like shoulder. "I thought you two were a cute couple, but I can understand both your points." And at least this Thundra seems to be both interested in him and maybe strong enough so that when you cave in to her, she'll survive the experience. He thought sardonically.
"Yeah, well, it ain't like we ain't friends still. In fact, Alicia's volunteered ta test out the first cyber-eyes Reed made from analyzing the ones that English ninja-girl has." Ben said, waving Harry off, never comfortable about talking about emotions and such.
The two walked on in silence as Ben lead him further into the FF's suite of rooms. The two entered the main living room, and both women stopped, looking at the newcomer, while Ben waved one hand towards Harry. "Ladies, this is Harry Potter, a friend of the family, and Franky's future teacher. He and a few friends're gonna be passing through for a bit." Ben said, gesturing to the kid, who had been watching everything with wide eyes, his ears muffled magically by Agatha.
He now began to move towards Harry, walking quickly on his little legs. "Hey little mate," Harry smiled, kneeling down and picking up the toddler, while Agatha dissipated the spell over him. Harry took in looking over at Ben's still harried appearance, Crystal's wearied look of resignation and Johnny's controlled but rebellious air, and shook his head. "I only came by for those image inducers, but I'd planned for my team and the X-Men to have a day at the beach. And you guys look as if you would like one too."
"What is this day off you speak of?" said the woman who Ben had said was named Thundra. She was tall, taller than Ben by a good foot, with orange hair that fell loosely down to her shoulders. She was extremely well-built, with visible muscles covering her body.
Which was easy to see given what Thundra was wearing: Tight red pants with a yellow lightning bolt going down either side, and a top that was long-sleeved on one side, and then only wrapped around her upper chest on the other side, leaving her shoulder bare on that side. Around her waist Thundra wore a heavy chain with a weight on the end, and some kind of tiara made of metal sat in her hair.
The other woman, whose name Ben had given as Medusa was shorter than her but taller than Crystal. She was an older looking woman around Sue's age possibly, with gorgeous red hair that flowed down to her ankles. She at least was dressed in normal seeming clothing, much like Crystal, but she was sitting between Crystal and Johnny like a living wall.
"A day off, where you ignore the fact that you are part of a superhero team, just go somewhere and laze about a day." Harry replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I had been hoping to start teaching this one how to swim," Agatha said. "It would be nice to do so with other around, especially people with young legs to keep up with him."
Johnny and Crystal were staring at one another behind Medusa's back and both of them nodded as one. "Works for us."
Medusa frowned a little, but eventually nodded. "So long as no one gets any ideas about sneaking off alone I would be fine with that."
The inhuman Inhuman community were still not happy with Johnny and Crystal being around one another, but given how Johnny had been helping Crystal get over her nightmares from her ordeal as the alchemist Diablo's prisoner even better than her family, Black Bolt had decided that letting them see one another might be a good idea. That didn't mean he was willing to let anything physical happen between them however.
"Excellent," Harry said, then called for Cory to take a message to Ororo to tell her to come ahead with the others. Moments later the teams and the teens and children from Camelot started to arrive in groups. All of them were eager to hit the beach, especially Kurt and Evan, who wanted to work on their tan and surfing respectively.
Melody raced up to her father, hugging him around his chest, before reaching up to take little Franklin's hand, giggling happily. "Are we really going to the beach again father? It was so much fun last time."
"I think we all deserve it," Harry said with a nod, while noticing that Thundra had started at the girl as she said the word father then at Harry in surprise. Huh, maybe families are different where she comes from? Not my problem.
Melody however had cocked her head, looking over at Benjamin Grimm and the others who she had never met before. "Oh, that's interesting, you have the same sort of song going through you as father does."
Ben cocked his rocky head to one side then kneeled down to look at the black-haired girl closer. Harry had mentioned Melody a time or two, but this was actually the first time he and she had ever met. "And what song's that little miss?"
"It's kind of hard to put into words." Melody frowned, her eyes far away as her head moved from side to side. "It sounds like, like the beating of a blacksmith's hammer on an anvil, coupled with, with bugles and drums." Like in Harry, Melody could see in Ben Grimm the beat of the defender, the steadfast hero, immutable and unchanging deep within him. "I just call it the beat of the defender." She smiled then, reaching up to take Franklin from Harry before hurrying over to Illyana to introduce the two of them.
Ben stood up, his shoulders straightening almost without thought and he smiled slightly, nodding his head at Harry who simply nodded back. After all after hearing something like that, what were you supposed to say? To one side Thundra smirked, taking this as a sign that she had chosen well, though wondering what these 'songs' were the girl mentioned.
By this point the rest of the children and teen had arrived and were eagerly trooping through the FF's suites toward the doors where Kurt and Evan were waiting to guide them out to the rest waiting by the elevators. The only two not there were Scott, who was busy picking up Charles as visibly as possible, and Kitty, who was with her family for the day.
"I've never been to the ocean before," saidAnechka. Even though she sounded interested, her face and body language showed her anxiety. The girl's hair began to wiggle, the ends transforming into small cutting edges as she lost control over her powers for a moment thanks to her anxiety. The others all looked equally enthused but subdued, happiness at the opportunity merging with natural wariness of what the rest of the public would act like given their physical deformities.
Medusa stared at the little girl, watching as her hair moved this way and that, her eyes widening at the transformation. "Interesting." With that she knelt down next to her. "Tell me child, has anyone tried to train you in your powers yet?"
The girl shook her head. "I'm too young yet so I don't get specific training, just self-control exercises, and some dexterity ones that my teachers have designed for me. Why?"
"My name is Medusa child," the woman replied, and her own hair began to move, picking the girl up easily along with four of the others children, trailing them behind her as easily as if her hair was just a large hand and they were all small balls she was balancing on it, while the children whooped in surprise. "And I think you and I need to talk, I've never met anyone else that had powers similar to mine, it could be fun."
After the image inducers had been given out to those who needed them, the troupe made their way from the Baxter building to the same beach Harry and the others had enjoyed before. They used Harry's magic carpet this time rather than a teleportation spell given their numbers. Once there the group swiftly split up, racing away this way and that.
Ben, Harry, and Ororo stayed away from the water sitting under some umbrellas, watching the others play with the children or simply sunbathe. Or flirted, like Kurt and Evan, hitting on a group of girls that had come over. Melody, Anechka and Franklin were building a monstrous castle with Medusa of all people which surprised Ben somewhat, not having pictured the red-haired inhuman as the sort to enjoy that kind of thing.
Watching them Harry was amused to note that whenever the waves threatened the castles, Franklin would glare at them, and they would recede quickly before they could swamp it, almost turning in on themselves. "I think I'm going to have to start training that youngster sooner than I expected, though I wonder what his power actually is. He definitely has got some kind of telekinesis, but not quite like Jean's in its effects."
"I know that Reed and Susan had hoped to wait until he was at least finished with the first grade before asking ya about that but sometimes you have to deal with life as it comes. And it ain't like Camelot's that far away or unsafe," Ben said with a shrug. He laughed suddenly watching as Evan and Kurt dunked Johnny in the water, as Johnny had tried to show off for Crystal on a surfboard.
Eventually Ben woke up enough to go and grab some food, coming back to find Harry awake. "So, you going to tell me what happened with that so-called Sentinel Project? From what little the news has shown it looked pretty hairy."
Thundra looked up from where she was laying out in the sun nearby, her interest piqued.
Harry shrugged, surreptitiously checking the area only to stop and stare as Lance Alvers of all people began to walk towards them from the edge of the beach. He was followed by someone else Harry had only seen a few times, the SHIELD agent that had been watching the mansion a time or two.
That man was carrying a case of something. As he came closer it became clear that it wasn't a weapon, or at least not in the conventional sense.
"I come in peace," Clint said as he moved over towards where the adults were, holding up the crate, which was filled with beer of several different labels. "And I bring gifts."
Ben looked at the man, then waved his hand at him. "If you don't already know Potter, this is Clint Barton, code-named Hawkeye the last time I saw him, a decent man with a gun."
Behind Clint, Lance nodded at Harry then made a beeline towards the ocean. He stopped as the X-Men noticed him, coming over to greet him like an old friend, past conflict completely forgotten in the intervening months.
"So," Clint said holding out a beer. "They're a little warm, but…"
Harry waved a hand, and suddenly the beers were all ice cold. Ben guffawed, ripping the top off one with a flick of a finger. "You're a handy man to have around Potter. L'Chaim!" He said, before chugging half of the bottle in one gulp.
"You've said that before and it still sounds better coming from the fairer sex my friend," Harry said, leaning back with his own beer. "I take it you're Nick Fury's man, here to get the low-down? I have to say, this kind of approach will work with me far better than trying to strong arm me, or intimidate me and mine."
"Nick doesn't like the fact that you're upsetting things. He's willing to admit that you seem to be fighting the good fight for now but he's not ready to say you're not a threat. That's as far as you're going to get with my boss frankly. Fury's a spy, it's part of his personality to be untrusting. But we really would like at least an idea of what went down with the Sentinels."
Harry nodded, and leaned back thinking what he wanted to share for a moment before beginning to speak. He told Clint about how they had gotten a hint of something going on with Bolivar Trask, and how they had trailed some of the money thanks to a few spies from Harry's business enterprises, giving no hint about Sebastian Shaw and what happened to him, or about Emma's involvement at all. He went into detail on the battle, but didn't mention the fact that they'd walked away with prisoners, or that there had even been another team involved at all.
Clint of course realized that Harry was still holding back, but he shrugged, pulling at his beer. He'd already got enough to satisfy him, which would hopefully be enough to satisfy his boss too. After all, we've got other fish to fry. "Good enough for me," he said aloud. "And since my offerings nearly done, I think I'm done too..."
He looked over and stopped, staring. By the time Harry had finished his tale over an hour had gone past, and Franklin and the others had not stopped work on their castle for more than a few minutes. Now it was practically a story tall, big enough that Franklin and the other younger children could actually move around inside of it, and it was still there, the sea not daring to come near it for some reason.
"Even when you're trying to be normal you just can't be anything but extraordinary." Clint laughed shaking his head.
"I've tried normal, I much prefer to be extraordinary." Harry said, smiling as Ororo moved towards him, her panja ring glinting in the light, the chains tinkling as she sat next to him on his beach chair. The only thing that could make this better is Jean being here. Yet even that thought faded to the back of Harry's mind as Ororo leaned in for a slow kiss.Bliss.
It didn't last.
OOOOOOO
It was a sad fact that extremists could twist reality to fit their world view, regardless of the reality in question. So it was with the Friends of Humanity. Many of their members, much like the general public in America, were appalled by what had occurred with the Sentinels. Some of them even began to look at their own actions, and began to think truly and deeply where such could lead them.
But not all of them. The vast majority of the group which called itself the Friends of Humanity were not rational people. They were extremists, racists of a stripe that would recognize the Skinhead Movement as its spiritual cousins, if not in terms of target then at least in terms of philosophy.
Worse, in the past few months the Friends of Humanity had begun to reinforce their diatribe with religious overtones. This was something Dennis had missed entirely when analyzing the threat the Friends of Humanity could be. As an agnostic himself he didn't really understand the religious mindset, and so didn't recognize how dangerous it could be when paired with the kind of racism the Friends of Humanity represented.
Pastor Jeff Gordon was one such man who had risen to lead the local Friends of Humanity chapter. He denounced them in sermons both in public and private to those who listened to him, a group of around 75 pulled from all walks of life. That hatred had begun to backlash against him however in the church. His nominal superiors ordered him to tone it down, the Pope and the Church not having come to any consensus about mutants as yet.
But that had only made him more vociferous in private. He also had a simple answer to the Sentinel Uprising: It was a mutant trick, it was that simple, and now a mutant group had those giant robots and would turn them on the rest of humanity.
He had just finished a diatribe on this when one of his parishioners called him. The man in question had spotted Kitty Pryde and her family walking around a park together. He was a janitor at the school Kitty had attended before her powers activated, and had seen both her and Lance Alver's powers in action. Xavier had erased them from his memory for a time. But seeing Kitty use her power to phase through a tree as she was walking and talking to her parents brought it back.
It hadn't taken long for the pastor to rustle up a posse or to find out where the Prydes lived. This was precisely the kind of threat mutants could be, a nice gentle-seeming girl like Kitty, being a mutant, hiding among normal people like she had no shame! Who knew what kind of dark deeds lurked in her mind, who knew how she used that power of hers?! So now, a group of around fifty men and women converged on the small suburban neighborhood where the Prydes lived.
OOOOOOO
One moment all was fine. Kitty had enjoyed the day out with her parents, walking around their small town, having lunch, seeing a movie and just generally spending time together.
Then her father was down on the ground having taken a beer bottle to the back of his head. There was no blood thankfully, an analytic part of Kitty's brain noted, the part that had been trained by Harry, Logan, and Ororo in countless training exercises. But even as that thought went through her, Kitty was already reaching down, grabbing her father and lifting him halfway onto her shoulder screaming, "Mom, run! Get into the house!"
Kathleen didn't have a single dangerous bone in her body, she had never been a fan of watching violence on TV and had never been close to anything like this in real life before. She stood there gaping down at her husband and around at the crowd coming down the street and even through peoples yards, unable to process what was happening.
The mob behind them came closer, more thrown bottles tried to hit them, some of them phasing through Kitty's body, which caused the crowd to roar their blandishments even louder.
"Get the mutant bitch!"
"Taze the ghostly freak! See what she thinks about some electricity!
A few of them were even shouting to kill her parents, saying that since they had her, they couldn't be allowed to live to have more children. It was such a sign of hatred that for a moment even Kitty couldn't deal with it for a moment.
But thanks to her training it passed quickly, then she grabbed her mother, pulling her along. "Come on mom, we've got to get out of here!"
Thankfully not everyone in the town felt that way about mutants, not by a long shot. Moreover, the Prydes were both well-known and liked in their own neighborhood so even those who wouldn't have cared one way or another about a mutant on TV being attacked, they did care about this.
Several dozen of those neighbors heard or saw what was going on and called 911 as the mob tried to chase down the Prydes as they raced towards their house. A few of them even opened their windows and shouted at the mob to stop. One of them took it a bit further.
Thomas Findarson was a former Marine gunnery sergeant who had retired several years before. He'd gone through two wives, and seen three children off to college, including one daughter from She-who-must-not-be-named. He was well-respected in the neighborhood and had lived there even longer than the Prydes and knew all three very well.
He'd also recently been going through a quasi-religious crisis, caused by the arrival of Thor and the sighting of Balder on earth. For he was a Þórsman, a follower of the god Þór. He never made a big deal about it, his religion was not one that was at home with proselytizing. But it was a warrior's religion, and it had helped him through the first few years of his life as a marine.
Like others among the Asatru Thomas had been astonished at seeing their gods come to life, and dismayed by the differences between what they had historically been and what they seemed to be now. Thor in particular looked much more like the Germanic, or Aryan depiction of the Thunder God than the Norse version.
The god of the common man, the warrior defender of family and the storms was supposed to have red hair, and Mjölnir wasn't metal but stone! Yet despite this and some odd blind spots in relation to his own history, Thor acted like Þór was depicted as: a defender, a warrior, a bit dense, not someone who'd you go to for help in solving a problem that couldn't be solved with your fists, but boisterous and friendly.
Wishing to see this Thor for himself, Thomas had recently made the decision to move to Arizona to see him in person. He was packing when the ruckus began outside. Looking out the window his eyes narrowed, then Thomas moved over to his gun collection. Thank God we live in Virginia, he thought to himself, reaching forward and pulling out a shotgun from a triple-locked gun safe.
Then he moved to his front door, opened it calmly, and just as calmly raised his gun and fired at the feet of the crowd as they raced past his house after his neighbors. Dozens of them stopped, with the rest of them moving around them, drunken anger fueling them in their rush.
"I don't know what has gotten into you all but if you don't stop some lead's going to join it!" Thomas shouted.
A second after those words were out of his mouth however there was a loud voice, Pastor Jones, Thomas thought, recognizing the voice. A whack job by any man's measure. "Damn mutie lover! Don't let her escape who knows what she's using her powers for! Someone pin that mutie loving old man down too!"
There were a few people out there with guns, and they raised them now, firing at Thomas where he stood in his doorway. Thankfully they were also just as drunk as everyone else, and their aim was off. Still Thomas backed away into his house then reloaded his shotgun before leaning out firing back quickly. Two men went down screaming. The buckshot didn't have much range but it had enough to wound, and he aimed for the legs of the crowd, thinking to hit some of them.
Thomas' attack had given the three Prydes enough time to get to their house. Kathleen and Kitty had helped her father into their house, and as soon as her mother was locking the front door behind them Kitty raced ahead of them, slapping her hand on the doorway that had been to a walk-in closet but was now the runic doorway that would take them to safety. "For the Pryde!"
She shouted, then rushed back pushing her father and mother through the doorway. "Tell one of the house-elves to get Harry or Ororo here!" The idea that she could have done that herself would later occur to her, especially since Clare had bonded to her, but at the moment that thought had left Kitty's mind.
With that she turned around, determined to help their neighbor, fearing what would happen to him if they all just disappeared. Thomas was just one man, he couldn't stop the large crowd which had been on their heels as they raced in to their house. As she turned around again, the front door banged open. A large man stood in the doorway shouting "come out wherever you are mutie!"
He was answered, by Kitty racing forward, grabbing him as her hands went tangible for just a moment before going intangible with her entire body, pushing him down into the ground. "GAH, what, let me, no!" He screamed, then only his nose and up was sticking out of the floor of her house's doorway, and she was moving on.
She grimly ignored his continued screams as she left him there, moving on quickly.
Two doors down from Kitty's home Thomas grimaced, ducking away from the window he'd taken to using as a firing position, feeling his heart pounding and his arms beginning to ache from the recoil. I'm too damn old for this. Too damn creaky. Worse Thomas knew he wasn't doing enough to keep the mob's attention on him. He had seen at least half the crowd ignore him in favor of racing after Terry and his family.
Looking out the window Thomas' eyes widened as he saw the young girl, Kitty he thought was her name, she hadn't been around often lately but he remembered her well enough. More importantly though she had just come through the wall separating the next house over from her own like a ghost! So she really was a mutant, he thought, shrugging. It didn't matter right now, but at least it looked like she would be making it out of this in one piece.
He grimaced however as several of the mob began to toss Molotov cocktails into her house, smashing the windows open. Several of them even raced forward with kerosene containers tossing them into the house as well before tossing makeshift torches after them.
"What is it with mobs and fire?" Thomas said aloud then pulled up his d shotgun, pushing himself to his feet with a grimace before firing out his window once again, catching several of the bastards as they tried to get to his door. He did so three more times as Kitty ran towards them, pushing people this way and that into the ground, trees, parked cars or other things, sticking them there, screaming. That was kind of freaky, Thomas admitted, but no reason to attack her like the crowd had. Violence like that only beget more violence, he'd seen that in his time as a marine.
Thomas suddenly grimaced in agony as something hit him in the shoulder and a feeling he had known before stole over him. I've been shot. Again! He'd been shot twice before in the line of duty, and once by she-who-must-not-be-named. Ironically she-who-must-not-be-named had come a lot closer to killing him than anything in his time in the field had. Fourth time I've been shot, he thought am I cursed or just lucky to survive?
Switching his shotgun to his offhand he fired again, catching another man who was about to use a tazer on Kitty. With that she made it to his doorway. Turning aside he looked at her as she came in, then another explosion of pain hit him, and the world for Thomas Findarson's world went dark.
Kitty stared down aghast at her longtime neighbor, hit by a bullet ricocheting off the windowsill, the bullet had taken him right in the back of the head, killing him instantly. She'd never been close with him of course, but she knew Mister Thomas as a nice old guy, she had also known his youngest son fairly well before her powers activated.
"He, he fought for us, for my family and me. He didn't deserve this!" She said aloud shouting it turning to stare angrily at the so called Friends of Humanity. "Why?! Why!?"
In the crowd a young man looked down at his gun as if for the first time. It was a hunting rifle he'd used several times before on animals, but now, staring between it and where the old man had stood in the window, it felt so much heavier, and so foreign. He dropped it, backing away and shaking his head, suddenly horribly, terribly, sober. "N, no, no!"
In the distance the sound of police sirens began, and the crowd moved restlessly before Pastor Jones's voice barked out. "Leave my children! Flee, the powers that be are under mutie control, they will not understand the good we tried to do here!"
"Good!?" Kitty shrieked, tears running down her face as she raced forward, her body intangible as various makeshift weapons going through her. "Good!?" She reached Pastor Jones, her hands becoming tangible for just a moment as she grabbed the lapels of his priestly cassock, twisting and turning, bringing him down to the ground and pushing him into it as he screamed, burying him up to his eyebrows in the solid concrete of the road. "Good?! You call killing a decent old man like that good! You call attacking my family like this for no reason good?! You don't know what that word means!"
She came out of the ground, her eyes flashing, and she reached for her ever-present pouch, where she kept small stones embedded with different runic arrays, filled with a fury she had never known before. It scared her deep down, but right now that didn't matter. What did matter was making these people pay!
Before she even opened her pouch the crowd was already scattering in the face of her powers and the approaching sirens. A part of her was tempted, oh so very tempted, to hunt them down, put all of them in the ground as she had several of them already. But she didn't. Instead she turned, moving over to Thomas and reaching down to close the old man's eyes as the tears began to fall while her house, the house she had lived in for her entire life, began to burn.
At that point Harry and Storm arrived, bursting out of the runic doorway like hell's own furies. Harry quickly began to put out the fire, while Storm raced on, heading out the door. She slowed her headlong race as she noticed the lack of moving enemies and the number of people stuck into inanimate objects here and there. "Kitten where are you?!"
After a second Storm noticed a hand waving from a window in the next house over and raced in that direction, uncaring of the police who had begun to arrive. She vaulted over the windowsill, landing next to Kitty her face anxious though it became somewhat less so as she realized that Kitty herself wasn't hurt. An old man lay next to her dead, the back of his head shattered by what looked like a rifle round of some kind. "Kitten, are you hurt?" Storm asked softly, kneeling next to her.
"I'm not," she said shaking her head slowly. "But Storm…" She gestured at the body and said softly "why just, just why?"
"Mean-spirited mindless hate child. Don't try to understand it, it is impossible for those of us like you and I to understand the thought process of such as they."
"That doesn't make me feel any better." Kitty almost snarled.
"Nor should it," Storm said, gathering the young girl into a hug. Kitty turned from where she had been gently stroking the old man's hair to bury her head in Storm's shoulder where she began to cry great racking sobs.
Outside Harry had finished putting out the fire, and moved to glare angrily at the police, who had first tried to order him to surrender. When he simply ignored them going about his business they had even tried to fire at him, until the bullets bounced off his Magia Erebea enhanced crisis suit.
His contempt of them seemed to finally get through, and one of them, an inspector of some kind pushed forward, while the other policemen raced off to help apprehend those members of the mob that had taken to their heels. About a dozen people were still stuck here and there in the ground however, and the police didn't know what to do with them.
"Your Guardian right, I've seen you on the news. What the hell happened here?" asked the inspector, frowning angrily. "Did you do this?" He went on, gesturing at the bodies all around.
"No I didn't," Harry replied coldly. He then tersely reported to the policeman what Kathleen had been able to tell him, trying to do so in a way that didn't hint at any previous involvement between him and Kitten, that he and Storm had simply been in the area and that the two parents had been running away down the street. It wouldn't hold up for very long under any kind of scrutiny, but by that time Kitty and her family would be safe in Camelot, and he doubted any of them would want to come back here after this.
"So, do you know how to undo this?" the detective asked, shivering as he stared at the bodies stuck in the ground or in various objects. It was scary, one of the scariest things he'd ever seen. He wasn't going to immediately believe that those Friends of Humanity psychos might have a point if a mutant could do something on this. But even so it was fucking terrifying especially considering what he knew Guardian could do.
"For that I think we'll have to ask the young lady who did it." Harry/Guardian replied shrugging his shoulders. He continued to look at the policeman, who shifted uncomfortably under that cold gave, wondering what kind of man was behind that matte black mask and red goggles. "And what will these people face in the courts?" Guardian asked softly.
"Reckless endangerment, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, gathering with intent to cause assault, accessory to murder," and if we can figure out who actually killed Thomas, first-degree murder," the detective replied grimly. He might not like mutants, and in fact after this episode he didn't like them even more, but the law was the law, and everyone was protected under it. Especially an old man like Thomas, who had fought so hard for his country in the past.
"Good," said Harry softly. "In that case, we might be able to convince the girl to let them go."
That wasn't actually as hard as it could've been. Now that she had gotten her anger out, and her grief had settled down into a simmer Kitty simply wanted to get away from this. She quickly pulled the people she had trapped out one by one, watching with grim eyes as they were each cuffed and led away, shouting, screaming rather, in fear and terror now at her and her mutation. Harry led her off after the last one, father Jones, had been pulled out.
Hidden now underneath a Notice-Me-Not, having no wish to talk to anyone at the moment Storm moved over to the paramedics, shaking her head as she stared at the body of the man who had fought for Kitty and her family and what Kitty had told her of the man. "He deserved better than that. What a senseless death."
"On the contrary, I believe that Thomas would tell you if you could but hear him that he died as he would have wished." Said a female voice she had never heard before, it's voice vibrating with some strange power that she hadn't felt before in any other voice.
Ororo turned and stared. Standing there beside her where no one had been a moment ago was Hela. Harry's description of the woman or goddess rather was spot on, and even in her grief Storm had to nod her head at the other woman, she was quite beautiful. But such a thought could not stay in her head at the moment, because next to the woman stood the shade of the man that was currently being carted away, his body covered by a sheet.
That shade was nodding his head, mouthing words that Storm could not hear and she looked at Hela who shrugged her shoulders. "He says I was correct, that he was a Marine, and he always wanted to go in battle, as his religion dictated. He was a follower of Thor, to die like this in the defense of others is all he could ask."
With a gesture from Hela the man turned, moving off before disappearing between one step and the next. Catching Ororo's look Hela shook her head. "As he died in battle he should have been picked up by Odin and taken to his halls. But fear not, I might be the only one of us able to come to Earth to gather such souls, but he will find a place in Niflheim. It might not be all drinks, songs and… merry making, but he will be happy there for eternity, until his soul is called to serve once again in the Ragnarok."
"That does make me feel somewhat better," Ororo said, shaking her head. "I doubt it will help young Kitty or her parents though."
"Grief is rarely dealt with so easily in the living," Hela said somewhat sadly nodding her head. For a moment the two women stood there, invisible to any of the men nearby, the conversation unheard by any. It was rather awkward Ororo realized, meeting this formidable goddess in such a fashion, going about her sacred business. Yet also knowing that she was after Harry, her, or rather their Harry! She wondered how to broach the subject that she knew kept Hela from following her current charge.
After a brief second she decided to simply come out and say it. "Harry told me of your interest in him. It wasn't exactly flirting, and it wasn't exactly a proposal, but it came close did not?"
"It did, as close as I am willing to come to it." Hela drew herself up shaking her head angrily. "I am not some supplicant nor am I some love-struck young maiden eager to throw myself at the feet of the man who has caught my interest. I am a goddess, and as such I will not debase myself further."
"I can respect that…" Ororo said with a nod. She was about to mention that she herself had been worshiped as a goddess, but decided not to. Better to keep this between two women rather than two goddesses. She stared at the other woman, trying to figure out whether or not she really was interested in Harry, or if it was just his power that caught her interest. It wasn't like she could really be in love with him was it? Again the decision to be blunt won out in Ororo's mind, and she simply asked Hela if she knew what the cause of her interest was.
"I don't know," Hela replied honestly. "All goddesses are attracted to power in a greater or lesser extent." She went on more softly. "But there is more to it… He is a good man, an honest and good man, one who has no need of ulterior motives when dealing with such as I, nor is he frightened or wary of me. He is alluring and unique beyond that power. I know enough to wish to get to know more. I will not say I love him, but I am interested in the man known as Harry Potter, not Harry Potter the near God, but the man underneath the power."
Ororo frowned further, but really given how few times the two of them had actually interacted, that made sense, and Hela's bluntness was much like Ororo's own, and made her respect the other woman slightly more. "I cannot say yes or no," she said at last. "I, given my upbringing I am well aware of how several women can come to love one man and through him one another, but this is not only my decision, and you yourself said you don't know if you love him or are merely interested, not yet."
She waited until Hela nodded and then went on. "I had come to love Jean almost as much as I had come to love Harry before she joined us. I have gotten to know Emma, and come to love her almost as much, had seen the love she has for Harry was true, not momentary infatuation or something that would fade."
Hela eyes narrowed, but she said nothing and Ororo continued. "I am unwilling to make a decision on this point, and I know that Harry would not in any way condone any such thing, but, nor do I wish to shut out any kind of chance in that area. If you and I get to know one another, if you and Harry get to know one another, if you come to believe and show that there is more than physical attraction between you, then perhaps room could be made for you."
Ororo watched as the Vanir goddess of death's eyes narrowed behind her red mask, and her lips clenched tight. "I am not used to being treated like some sort of supplicant," Hela said coldly,
"Then you must give over the idea of persuing Harry," Ororo said simply. "Whatever else, you will be entering this relationship on our terms. Trying to force your way in would be a disaster, and I think you know that."
"True," Hela said between clenched teeth then she shook her head. "And it is that reason why I have not tried to press forward further." That and my own pride, Hela thought to herself.
It occurred to Ororo then that right in front of her was a perfect source of information on the Viking's gods, one that could not be doubted. But the question is, what will it cost to use this source?
Then suddenly Hela laughed shaking her head. "Goddess you might not be, but you are formidable enough for a mortal. I must go. I cannot stay long away from my halls, even with my trusted Garm to watch for trouble. Still, methinks a further meeting between the two of us could be beneficial."
"I believe so as well," Ororo said with a nod and a faint smile of her own. "I have many questions, about you, about the Asgardians in general, about how you rule your realm. Perhaps we can meet on neutral ground somewhere at some point and play 20 questions?"
Hela laughed again, shaking her head. "A rather childish game, but it can be useful. Perhaps, perhaps at some point. I must go but…" Hela said her voice slowing and becoming more thoughtful. "Thank you for your honesty, and for agreeing to allow me the chance."
With that she left without another word, and Ororo sighed, moving off and teleporting away, Harry having removed the runic doorway in the Pryde's former domicile for now.
The attack on Kitty's family was one of many that the extremist Friends of Humanity launched that day and the next. Many times they were fought by pro-mutant supremacist groups, mutants who were able to fight back here and there, or even other people, who saw them as anarchists clothed in the robes of racists.
That didn't matter for Harry and Ororo however, they were simply glad that nothing permanent had occurred to the Prydes. Kitty had of course come through without a scratch, while Terry had a concussion but it would pass quickly. Her mother had wrenched her ankle, and bruised her shoulder heavily when she fell through the doorway, slamming onto the hard stones of Camelot's floor but that was all. For all the violence of the attack they were very lucky, though Kitty of course did not see it that way, nor did her parents after they learned of Thomas' death.
All three of them were happy to move in to Camelot, not wishing to go home to the house that had been so attacked, leaving Claire to gather all clothing and other items they wanted to keep. The three of them were welcomed by nearly every person living in the castle, but still rather shocky for the rest of that day and well into the next.