Marvel/HP: A Third Path to the Future

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At the same time this cordial meeting was going on, another meeting was taking place back on Earth that was far more vociferous in tone.

"Who the fuck does this Guardian think he is, dictating terms to America!" the President of the United States Ian Johnson roared, pacing the room where he was meeting with the two senators who had taken part in the meeting, General Murphy, and Fury. They had interviewed the others who had gone, save the turncoat Admiral Whitaker, but none of them had anything really important to add to the discussion at that point.

Once more Nick Fury found himself in the uncomfortably new position of havingto defend Potter's actions. "He is the only one in the game, as he told us in no uncertain terms during the meeting, Mr. President."

"He's also the one that that has led this escalation between us and the Kree. If he and the Fantastic Four had let well enough alone, the Sentry that had first appeared would have taken their prisoner back and that would've been the end of it," Senator McGuire of Texas said sharply.

"No, it wouldn't have," his fellow, the senator for Pennsylvania, disagreed. "Mar'vel and that nurse they called in, Una, I think her name was? Those two and their other witnesses made it very clear; the Hellion's captain was going to bombard the planet whatever happened with Mar'vel. The Fantastic Four and Guardian saved a lot of lives taking that ship."

Fury nodded agreement while watching McGuire out of the corner of his eye as the other man tried to get around the security spell or whatever it was that Potter had put on them all. Nothing happened, his mouth opening and closing, his hand still twitching from his attempt to write out the fact that Harry Potter was Guardian. I wonder if he'll keep trying until he loses his voice entirely. Hmmf, might make this meeting go more smoothly if he did. Even so, it's interesting to see that spell activate in person. Magic's powerful stuff.

"Do we have any recourse but to give in to his demands?" Fury asked, his eyes twitching over to the NSA director, who had been brought into this meeting for some reason. "As director of SHIELD I don't know of any, so if we do it would be a surprise."

"It's supposed to be your place to find solutions to problems like this, Fury!" the president roared, but Fury looked at him disdainfully before looking over at the Pennsylvanian native whose name was Jeffery Robertson.

That worthy sighed loudly. "I stayed up half the damn night and the entire trip back thinking about this, and I am still not certain how the American public would react to the idea of us loaning out troops, especially that many, to another group besides the UN. But if we want to be a part of this, I think we need to go in whole hog. If the Brits are the first to free up officers to serve with Potter to organize things, then America has to be the first to meet the full manpower requirement, and then some. We can do that easily enough."

America did, after all, have the largest and most powerful navy in the world at some three hundred thousand souls, with only the British coming close in terms of power, if not in size. "But I can tell you this, whatever doubts we might face about starting to shunt that manpower around now from the Senate and possibly the public if they learn of it, none of the public will concern themselves about Americans serving under Guardian once his meeting with the UN is concluded," Robertson said dryly.

Fury chuckled, knowing exactly how popular Harry Potter, as owner of Magical Minds, was in both America and in many other countries. Despite the fact that he still couldn't sell his medicine in America because America hadn't yet cleared it for distribution, his stance on free access to his medicines for veterans who could make it to the UK, the number of jobs he offered, and the pay scale for them had made him exceptionally popular in the public eye. And for some reason PNN had showed him in a positive light from the beginning, giving him a shield against CBS and NBC who didn't like him for various reasons. Fury supposed that made sense, since Potter and Seville were both supposedly part of the Hellfire Club, something he had discovered while ripping Buckman Enterprises and Shaw Industries to pieces for their part in the creation of the Sentinel Program.

"That's all well and good, but Guardian still isn't a known entity," Johnson said, now slouching into his chair, his somewhat tantrum like explosion over with for the moment as he returned to his normal despondent state. With only another year in office and not having made his position on the mutant issue clear one way or the other, plus all of the rest which had occurred: the Sentinels, the Hulk, the Abomination, the Hulkbusters, and several other disasters, his tenure as president had effectively ended months ago. He was now a figurehead, a lame duck whose own party would not follow him. He had some respect in the economic circles, but that was all.

"America needs to be in the lead in this, I agree with that. If Guardian is an American citizen, could we use that?" he asked, looking at the others.

"No, I don't think so. He's not from around here, as you might say," McGuire replied ,recovering from his attempt to bull his way through the magic protecting Potter's identity. He leaned back in his own chair, his eyes far away even as he replied the president's point. "There is a way forward though. We could take over through sheer manpower eventually, Robertson's right on what. The more people we order to sign up for the Earth Defense Force, the larger our voice in its running will be, until eventually we can simply set Guardian and his policies aside."

Fury and Robertson shared a look, but said nothing. It wouldn't work, but if it got more Americans into the EDF and defending Earth from the Kree and other threats out there, who cared?

"That sounds doable, so long as the Chinese don't join up with him," the president replied dourly, not noticing the look the other two men shared. "I still don't like dealing with a complete unknown like this, like he's an equal, but we can work with him for now, I suppose."

"And of course some of the people we assign will be agents. A shotgun approach might be best, Mr. President, not just in number, but type," said the chief of the NSA, nodding to himself as he made plans to plant agents in the men and women assigned to join up with the EDF. "Try deep cover agents, hypnotized agents, agents who have entire personas embedded into their minds only activated through a single code, or others with embedded scanning equipment who don't know anything about it."

"All of which SHIELD has tried already to get a spy into Guardian's faction. It hasn't worked," Fury cut in, rolling his one remaining eye at the man's idiocy. "We do know our business, Lester."

Lester Lighter, who hated his first name, glared at his fellow director angrily. "We don't know until we try. Besides, whatever security Guardian has used in the past will surely strain to accommodate so many newcomers at once."

"Do it," the president ordered, ending the argument before the two senators or the strangely silent general could choose sides. "We'll go forward with the idea of taking over via manpower, but I want agents in place to move against Potter the moment he shows himself to be a threat to America or if the opportunity arises to take over the EDF entirely. No other power in the world can be trusted to be the world's policeman!"

Fury, the general, and Robertson looked at one another unhappily, but they nodded their heads, obeying his order. Fury would anyway, what the senator would do was anyone's guess, though he had been included in the meeting with the understanding he could not share what occurred without the president's say so. Plus there were also Potter's magical protections to consider.

Despite that, Fury left feeling somewhat satisfied about how it had gone. He agreed with the president that they needed some eyes on the EDF, just as he had long thought he needed eyes on Potter himself. It hadn't worked out that way, but then again Potter hadn't proven himself a threat. A powerful individual with unknown abilities, but not a threat. Remember that, Fury. There is a fucking difference. You can plan, but you can't move against him unless he proves himself a threat.

To say that watching Potter's people defend Earth from the Kree had a profound effect on Fury was an understatement. So too had talking to his friends Rogers and Dugan. Both of them had pointed out that maybe Fury was jumping at shadows a little too much, and they both trusted Potter too. That counted for a lot now that Fury had begun to second guess himself on this point.

He wasn't jumping at shadows a moment later, however. Coming to his car, Nick used a remote to unlock the door, something that had yet to become common on the civilian market, but which had become wide spread among special service agents. As he did so, he faintly heard a click underneath the normal beep.

Instincts honed from a lifetime in espionage had Fury diving backwards behind a nearby car just as his van exploded, covering the area with shrapnel, some of which impacted his back and the side of his face, hurling him away. Even so, Fury slammed his hand down on his phone, activating his emergency beacon before blacking out from the pain.

OOOOOOO

"So the big man's all right, then?" Tony asked, leaning back in his chair. "That's not what the rumor mill's saying. I heard at least five people saying he was dead just walking from the hangar hay up to here."

"He'll live, but he is in critical condition. How the hell he was able to even activate his emergency beacon I don't know, but I've gotten used to the boss being tougher than stone," Dugan said with a chuckle, shaking his head. Currently he sat at Fury's desk, but found it an uncomfortable fit, which made him glad Nick would return to duty. Soon, if he had anything to say about it, which he did.

"Maybe, but stone can crack. Is there any clue as to what the attack was about?" Steve asked seriously, sitting down next to Tony and rolling his eyes at Stark's laid back attitude.

"There was a report the day after that space battle that the Red Skull might be activating sleeper agents the world over," Dugan replied, noting Steve stiffening at the name of his nemesis. "We assume one of them was involved because we can't figure out anything else. It was a very professional job. No evidence left behind, no pictures of anyone being near the car despite the area being both patrolled and under constant video surveillance. Hells, we don't even know why or how it exploded with such force! I have Pym down there examining the debris now. Hopefully he'll find something."

Stark huffed a little at that, but nodded. When it came to explosives at least, Henry Pym was a little better than he was he was, and Tony was man enough to admit it.

"So why haven't you quashed the rumors that Fury's dying?" asked Steve shrewdly.

"Because his location is completely secret at the moment to anyone not involved with SHIELD, and this attempted assassination has all the earmarks of an inside job. I want to see if anyone else tries for Nick, then nab and break them," Dum-Dum said coldly.

Nearby Hawkeye nodded, touching his bow meaningfully.

It turned out, though, that no one tried to attack Fury further. Realizing this, Dugan used his magic mirror to call in Harry a few days later. After a few minutes spent ragging on Duggan good-naturedly Harry came by to heal him via the healing spells Ororo had taught him several weeks ago. Harry had gotten a lot of experience using those spells after the battle above Mars. And this time he didn't even have to talk to Fury, the man being sedated at the time.

OOOOOOO

Harry was holding Jean in a one armed hug as they exited into the Hall of Doors after their meeting with Powers, where he took a moment to once again kiss the redhead tenderly on the lips. Jean returned the gesture eagerly but eventually they exited the room out into the rest of the Castle. From there they went up to check in on Ororo, finding her still unconscious of fourse. Although it might have just been Jean's imagination, but she thought that Ororo's color looked quite a bit better today.

That makes sense. The reports about weird weather systems have been decreasing dramatically with every day that passes, the storm fronts up north in particular. That one weatherman from CBS looked fit to tearing his hair out about it this morning, Jean thought, hiding a chuckle as she sat down next to her friend/lover's unconscious form.

Emma was quite happy to see them and stood up quickly. "I have three meetings I need to get to this afternoon, two of which deal with making moves against Osborne, so are rather important, I'm afraid to say. I can't even stay for lunch if I'm to get the first one in time."

"Remember, in two day's time I'm going to be meeting with the representatives of my workforce," Harry warned. "I'd like you or Jean there, which means someone will be have to be here to watch over Ororo."

"We can get the kids to do it, Harry," Jean said with a smile as she took Ororo's hand. "They sometimes sneak up here to look at Ororo anyway."

Harry nodded, smiling at the idea of the kids. "I actually have time for a lengthy lunch break, so I'm going to go see what they're up to."

"And you have that meeting with the Mandarin in Vietnam this afternoon?" Emma asked, though her tone made it more of a prod to make certain Harry didn't forget.

"Yep. Should be quite 'interesting', possibly in the Chinese curse meaning of the term," Harry said dryly.

Jean rolled her eyes then settled back into the chair. As Harry left, Jean began to talk quietly to Ororo. "You're missing out, Ororo. I'm beginning to get those weird cravings that pregnant women are supposed to get. The only problem is I think that having a magical husband sort of defeats the purpose of having those cravings in the first place. He could just conjure up everything, and it won't even have any calories! How the heck is he supposed to prove his undying devotion to me if he can just conjure food from the air! Mind you, not having to deal with morning sickness thanks to a few of the female house elves knowing how to make a potion to get rid of it is beyond compare."

It could have been her imagination, but for just a moment Jean thought she saw Ororo's lips twitch into a smile.

While Jean was having her one-sided conversation with Ororo, Harry had escorted Emma down to the Hall of Doors, given her a kiss for good luck, and then headed further down to the dining hall. There he found almost the entire castle present save for Hela and Shiang Chi. Harry knew that Hela had wanted to get some unarmed combat training today, so supposed that their training had gone over time.

Putting that thought to one side for now, Harry moved into the hall. Coming to a table, he gently pushed Melody and Illyana to either side, sitting down between them. "Budge over there. You've got one hungry wizard here."

After giving out hugs to the two girls and head pats to the other kids, Harry allowed himself to drift for a bit on the happy chatter all around him. The kids' discussion centered on what they were learning in the form of a group language arts project, a fantasy story they had to write along with the fact the teachers were trying to organize another field trip. This time it was going to be a historical field trip to Athens, and then from there to Paris for a trip to the museums.

Harry shook his head, looking at Ms. Brown. "Do it the other way around. The trip to Paris is a day trip, all well and good. But the trip down to Athens should be an overnight thing. Buy a hotel down there for the night, hit up the tourists things in the morning, then head to…Anavaissos, I think it is. And spend the rest of the day there."

That idea brought a cheer from the kids, and Ms. Brown rolled her eyes while Harry went on. "In fact if you put it off until after the UN meeting, myself and the ladies might actually be able to join you."

"That would be a help," another teacher said with a laugh. "I can't imagine that the beaches near Athens would be as well organized or as friendly to large groups of kids as that Althing was."

"I've heard this Althing mentioned before, though I understand that you went there in part to gather information?" Hela said, thumping down to one side of the table. Gone was her normal immaculate appearance. She looked sweaty, her black as night hair matted to her face and mask, and she moved as if she was in some pain.

Even so, Hela was very aware of her surroundings, and when Illyana tried to subtly point a finger at her she waved the younger girl off. "None of that, Illyana. While I enjoy your attempts to prank me and my reprisals against said, you have to be in the right mood for it. I've been told a good prank has to not only make the audience laugh, but the individual it has been perpetrated upon. If it does not, then the prank must serve a purpose beyond humor, or else become malicious in nature."

Illyana nodded thoughtfully, the color changing spell she had been building up fading from her mind. "That makes sense."

Then she looked over at the young, white-haired boy sitting across from her, kicking him under the table. "Besides, our friend here has something to say."

Harry looked at the young boy kindly. They had not been able to spend as much time as Harry could have wished together, but he had still gotten a decent enough appraisal of the kid's character while watching him interact with everyone else. "Yes?"

"I've chosen a name, Einzahl. It means singular. I, I might be this Magneto man's clone, but I don't know him, and I'm not him. I'm not some kind of remnant or second chance! I'm my own person!" the boy said with a shout.

"You are your own deeds, not that of the person who created you for his own purposes," Hela agreed, reaching over to fondly ruffle the boy's hair. She generally wasn't very good with children. It wasn't something she'd ever had practice with; children's souls were a slightly different matter. But she had enjoyed getting to know the majority of the children living in Camelot since her arrival. Hela wasn't certain she'd deal so very well with all children, and there were a few of the newcomers who had been brought in recently by Wendy and her teams that grated on her. But they were in the minority.

"I approve too. In fact, I'm glad to hear that you have decided to cast off any connection to Eric. He was in many ways a great man, but a terrible man too," Harry said, thinking about what Ollivander had once said about Voldemort. Magneto might not have been Riddle's brand of evil, and his cause might have been just at one point, but his actions in the pursuance of that goal were undoubtedly evil.

As the kids returned to their own conversation, Harry addressed the question Hela had asked when she sat down. "Yes, we did go to the Althing to gather information, but it was also a lot of fun, and everyone liked how well organized it was and just how much stuff there was to do. It was a mix of a park, a sports competition, and a Viking themed historical re-inaction."

"Perhaps we should organize a trip to he other one in Norway you said was going on to coincide with the American one ending," Ms. Brown said thoughtfully, exchanging a glance with the other teachers and the principal of Avalon. "As you know, we have a series of tests coming up in language arts, mathematics, and social studies, our equivalent of the standardized tests for the UK."

Harry nodded, understanding what that meant. The fact that most of the students were scoring well above the normal percentile was a mark in Avalon's favor, but they still had to have a standardized set of tests which could then transfer over into the larger educational realm.

"Going to another Althing like that would be a fantastic treat, but if we do that we shouldn't also do the trip down to the beach," another teacher cautioned. "We want to reward the students, not spoil them."

"I suppose that's true," Harry said, frowning thoughtfully, though his first inclination was to give all the kids anything they wanted, something he knew was his reaction to the chance to make things right vicariously for what he went through growing up. "How about we push the beach idea back to Halloween. Say, in October? That'll allow us to use it as a present for the next round of testing, won't it? And if we do that, we might be able to also book an entire beach somewhere. Then we can bring in the families of some of my workers, the X-Men, and some of the parents too."

There weren't many actual parents around, but the few that were had become all the more precious. Ms. Brown and the other teachers had made it a point to communicate with them, especially with Kitty's parents. The elder Prydes had stepped into the role of parents for a lot of the kids, and Harry could see them even now talking to a few of them at a nearby table, working with them on some of their homework. Both of them had left their old jobs behind to make a full time commitment to the school and the kids here, and Harry truly appreciated it, as did their daughter.

"I too would like to go to an Althing. It sounds like a fantastic amount of fun," Hela said with a chuckle. "And what better way to see for my own eyes what our followers believe then to mingle with them in person like that? Seeing them in action after that ugly business in America did not sate my curiosity on that point. Their deeds were good but it has only sharpened my interest into who they are as a people"

Harry looked over at the teachers who all nodded, though the principal interjected a word of caution. "I will need some more money to book a beach like that. I presume we'll make it an overnight trip? The budget we're working for doesn't have any space for something so extravagant."

"We'll also have to make certain about security at the site, just in case. As for money, I'll have Cory drop off one of my credit cards to you when you get around to booking it."

The conversation continued from there for a time, with all of them catching up together. Harry decidedly kept the conversation on the light side of things despite Hela's efforts to draw him out on the meeting the other day and how it went.

Eventually Harry stood up, shaking his head as he glanced up at the clock set up above the main doors. "I, unfortunately, have to go. Hela, would you care to walk with me upstairs for a moment?"

Hela did so, having finished her own meal, and was eagerly looking forward to taking a bath. The private bath, or rather the adult's only bath, was a thing of wonder to her, making her own hall's copper bath and even her bathing area look small in comparison. And the shampoos and soaps humans have created, they are truly divine!

"Apologies for not answering your questions in there," Harry said as they ascended the stairs. "I wanted a small break from thinking about all of the many different balls I'm currently juggling."

"Ah, but you are such a magnificent jongleur, I mean, juggler" Hela quipped, a smile on her lips, her eyes twinkling with amusement behind her half-mask. "But I am truly curious in how that meeting went. You declared yourself to the representatives of the world's major powers, how they reacted to your efforts and requirements is of great interest to me."

"Would you like to see it from our perspective? I know you've shot down the idea of looking at our memories of our interactions with you, but the pensieve can be a useful tool. I was planning to do the same thing for Ororo when she wakes up," Harry said, the last few words coming out more tartly than he had hoped. He wasn't enjoying the feeling of being helpless to do something for his first love of this world and it was getting harder to keep under control.

"She is doing what she feels is best for the world, Harry Potter. Do not denigrate that sacrifice," Hela said sternly but not unkindly, able to empathize with the loathing of feeling helpless more than most others could. "You're not the only one suffering here either."

"I know I'm not, and I know she is, but that doesn't make it any easier," Harry muttered, in a manly display of discontent, which wasn't a pout no matter what anyone else said.

The two of them stopped for a moment then hearing a noise behind them. Turning, they saw Garm once more hauling the reluctant Rahne out to go hunting with him by the scruff of her shirt like she was a disobedient puppy, complete with sad expression and big tearful eyes. This time the Scottish lass had actually tried to bolt up the stairs, only to be grabbed by the back of her shirt and pulled back with ease amid gruffly amused chuckles from the guardian beast.

Seeing the two of them at the top of the stairs, Rahne shouted out, "Help me, Mr. Potter! He keeps on trying to get me in touch with my wolf side, but I…"

"I agreed with him, Rahne," Harry interrupted, his voice kind and comforting. He shook his head once at Garm, who narrowed his eyes in what was clearly a scowl despite his mouth being 'full', before letting the girl go to stand on her own feet. "You can't keep running from a portion of yourself. It's no different than Shiang Chi training you physically; you need to train yourself mentally and to an extent emotionally. Don't let the fear of the beast conquer you, Rahne," he said, whispering words into her ear as he pulled the young girl into a brief hug even as she stiffened at the unexpected touch. "You're better than that."

Rahne's body eventually relaxed, and she nodded hesitantly. But the young girl still wore a hangdog expression as she followed Garm out the door.

Hela nodded approval at what she had just seen, then turned back to their earlier conversation. "As to viewing your memories of it, that will be acceptable, I suppose. Tonight?"

"Yes," Harry smiled at her winningly. "And after that, perhaps you would care to join Jean and I for dinner?"

Hela smiled, eagerly in turn. "I would dearly like that."

Harry paused on the sixth floor, watching Hela walk off toward the communal baths, his eyes trailing down her form for a moment before he was interrupted by the sight of Dr. Druid stumbling towards him from his lab. The sight made Harry frown, thinking about how often he had seen the other man around the castle, coming up with a bare few minutes here and there over the last few weeks.

With that in mind Harry moved toward Dr. Druid, taking the older man by the elbow as he seemed to stumble. But before Harry could say anything Dr. Druid turned and grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "I've done it!"

"That's great Doctor. Done what exactly?" Harry asked, a little worried now by how sleepless Dr. Druid looked given his bloodshot eyes and trembling limbs.

"I did it, I solved it," Dr. Druid said again, almost letting out a manic chuckle for a moment before getting control of himself. "I did it. You told us once about how you wouldn't be able to produce Veritaserum here because some of the ingredients were made from bits of magical animals from your home universe, which our world doesn't have."

Harry nodded, his eyes beginning to gleam. If this was going where he thought it was…

"Well, I've been working on finding out ways to replace those ingredients. And I finally did it! I tested the serum on myself and had one of the house-elves ask me questions, and it worked!" Dr. Druid nearly shouted into Harry's face, his normal self-control long gone buried under lack of sleep and living off coffee or some other form of caffeine.

"That's excellent Dr., I will be happy to see your notes on the matter in the future. That could be a major boon to both our bank account and the future in general. I also have to applaud your ability to stay on task with everything that's been going on recently, I'll be sure to add a bonus for your work."

"What's been going on?" Dr. Druid asked, cocking his head and nearly causing Harry to stumble as he turned to stare at the ball man in frank astonishment.

Leaving Dr. Druid in his quarters, Harry headed up to take a shower, ignoring the wistful thought that he wished Jean could join him for a moment. I know where that'd lead, and I certainly don't have time for it. With a sigh, Harry set such thoughts aside, getting changed into a suit and teleporting up to Babylon after giving Jean one more kiss for the road. From there he adjusted the asteroid fortress's place in orbit to over Vietnam and flew down from there, enjoying the breeze and the sights until he arrived at Hoi An.

Walking through the same town that he and the X-Men had visited those many months ago made him shake his head in wonder. My God, it's only been, what, five months barely? How much has changed!

He was broken out of his reverie when he saw his target setting in an open café, his hands folded in front of him, his eyes closed as if he was meditating. Though Harry had never seen him in person before, Harry recognized the Mandarin instantly from numerous security files he had read, thanks to Banshee and his Interpol connections as well as Sir Dennis's work in setting up this meeting.

The Mandarin was a middle-aged man with coal black hair lying straight down his back to a little below his shoulders and a high widow's peak. He had a somewhat austere looking face and a short, immaculately cared for goatee. He had long powerful fingers and for some reason nails done up like claws, which Harry could see as they were folded in his lap at the present moment. Harry wondered why, then remembered that Dennis had mentioned that the Mandarin liked to affect the style of an ancient Chinese nobleman, and in ancient times the Chinese noblemen sometimes had their nails done like that during times of peace.

On each finger was a single ring, each of them a different color of metal. They were all simple in design, but Harry could feel the power off them even from several dozen yards away. It didn't feel quite like what he would call magic, or if it was it was from a school of magic he was unfamiliar with. He also couldn't get a read from one or two of them at all, indicating that they were either something other than magical, or somehow hiding their presence from his senses.

Harry idly wondered what the effect would be if he asked for a handshake and let his magic draining power loose on those rings, but decided against it. The Chinese did not shake hands during meetings like this, and frankly, while the Mandarin was a criminal, he was a criminal with sharply defined rules. He was more of a Chinese patriot than anything else, and as such, Harry could work with him.

With that in mind Harry wordlessly sat across from the other man, leaning back and steepling his own fingers together as he looked at him.

The Mandarin's eyes had opened as he sat down, and the two of them stared at one another for a short time. Then the Mandarin spoke in Putonghua. "Would you have tea with me?"

Harry nodded his head slightly, and the Mandarin waved one bejeweled hand in the air. A server quickly appeared carrying a small ornate pot of tea which she sat down on a small burner on the table, then delicately poured two small cups of tea before bowing as she retreated just as quietly as she had arrived.

The two men took the cups, nodded their heads politely to the retreating server, and sipped lightly before looking up at one another again. There was silence once more, the two of them feeling one another out for a few moments.

"Normally an individual of your station would not deign to meet with such as I like this. Do I not have a bad reputation in the West, especially in America? A criminal overlord they call me in the news, I believe," the Mandarin said delicately, setting the cup down in front of him to once again look at Harry. "And yet you were the one who initially reached out to me. Curious."

"I take a very pragmatic view on crime," Harry replied in the same language, causing the Mandarin's eyes to narrow for a moment. "Crime will always be with us, so it is best to simply mitigate the damage it can do to the innocent. If you peddled drugs, especially to teenagers or young children, we would not be having this conversation. If you reveled in murder or rape, we would not be having this conversation. You're not above killing, of course, but you don't seem to take any pleasure in it. And while you do deal in drugs, I think and my analysts agree that you do so to only the rich, and you also keep other crimelords out of China."

Harry paused, cocking his head thoughtfully. "Is it true, by the way, that you executed a general Coy Manh recently?"

The Mandarin raised a black eyebrow at that. "You are well-informed," he said somewhat admiringly. "Yes, he had decided to muscle in on my operations in China and actually brought a large number of mercenary groups to do the muscling. They're gone now, as is he. Such conflicts will always be with us, in particular since the lawless city state of Madrippoor is off of the Chinese coast."

"And it serves you and your government just as well as it serves other governments in the world, having a place with where there are no laws in which they can conduct business freely like that," Harry replied dryly.

"Indeed."

The two men fell silent for a bit, and then it was Harry's turn to speak, bringing the conversation to one of the reasons he was here. "I am interested in purchasing those anti-smog devices you have developed. I will, of course, probably have to redesign the packaging, but I think I can reach markets with them that you cannot. I am also interested in…opening up further inroads into the Chinese markets. As a businessman, you could advise me on this."

When Harry said 'advise' he gave the word a particular slant. The Mandarin translated that to mean he would be acting as either a local ally or consultant and would be paid for the service.

"You want more than that now, however, as does my government. Northern China was able to see the light show that one of your Custodes put on to defend this planet from an extraterrestrial threat," the Mandarin said calmly. "It caused quite a bit of concern, and then there was Susan Richards's little interview. It told much, but revealed little. Little about your plans going forward, little about what you really faced, it gave an outline to this threat but gave no true understanding."

"How connected are you with the Chinese government?" Harry asked. He waved his hand slightly, causing the Mandarin to tense until a large portfolio appeared in his hand.

The Mandarin's eyes, however, widened in appreciation. "Sleight-of-hand, Mr. Potter?" he drawled, amused.

Harry nodded. The movement of his hand had actually been to cover his other hand dropping down to his waist where he had pulled the portfolio out from his moleskin pouch. "Sharp eyes you have."

The Mandarin looked down on the portfolio for a moment, noticing that the name on the portfolio was the Kree Threat, and scoffed slightly. "Is that a copy of the information sent to the United Nations after the second space assault?"

"It's an updated version, but on the discs are actual copies of our sensor data from this latest battle." The discs did not contain anything anyone could use to reverse engineer the technology involved. Jean and Sage had gone over it with a fine-toothed comb to make certain of that. It would, however, show the threat, what they had done to combat it, and some data about Fortress Mars.

The Mandarin made no effort to take the portfolio, instead leaning back in his chair once more. "What are your plans?"

"A coalition of the worthy," Harry smirked. "Generally speaking, anyway, to serve under me as commander-in-chief. Every man or woman who is seconded to the Earth Defense Force will serve for five years, during which time they will follow my orders as their commander-in-chief as they would an order from their own nations' governments. I intend to build the Earth Defense Force into both offense and defense given time. If a first or second world country is unable to meet my demands in terms of manpower or materiel, they will no longer be protected if it comes down to prioritizing what parts of Earth to defend. Priority will be given to those nations who have decided to pony up in the only way they can to help defend themselves, then those countries who cannot, and last those countries who have chosen not to."

"That sounds imminently sensible. No true nation should expect to be defended by another without some form of recompense, after all," the Mandarin approved. "Yet how can we actually hurt the Kree? From my reading of the portfolio the UN already has, they are too large a threat for us to truly hurt."

"That's true, but hurting them can also enrich us."

"And so the mystery of how you have space-based ships is solved," the Mandarin replied with a chuckle, leaning back once more. He pulled at his goatee, then nodded slowly. "In any event, the government has asked me to discuss with you what they would need to do in order to join this 'coalition of the willing,' as you put it.

"In your opinion how hard would it be to get the Chinese government and society to buy into the social reforms that I am pushing as Harry Potter, owner of Magical Minds?" Harry asked quickly.

"We would not do so via laws and ordinances as other nations have. We would see to it on a societal level: a word whispered here, a mention there, a public program of welcoming our mutant friends and denouncing violence against them, while coming down hard on any vigilante-ism on either side. We've already begun that last. Chaos such as that sparks is not a pleasant thing for China to contemplate. Indeed, that process has already begun. It is a slow one, of course, given that there have been tragedies on both sides, including one mutant going up like an atom bomb when his power was discovered, but we are making progress."

That this allowed the Party to induct mutants whose gifts could be useful into the military or government was something else entirely.

Harry nodded reluctantly at that, though he too understood what the Party was doing. Still, that was a problem for down the line, and at least whis way the mutants in question were being trained and treated as well as the normal soldiers were. Again, pragmatism rather than pushing for a one hundred percent solution had to be followed. With that in mind, Harry explained the three levels of cooperation he wanted to see.

Listening closely, the Mandarin nodded thoughtfully. "We will have no issue meeting the manpower requirements. The emphasis on Navy personnel may become a bottleneck in a few years as we tend to pride ourselves on our army, but we can still meet the initial requirements easily. Your overall plan of having that many of our troops under arms could be an issue eventually, but then again, there we come back to the fact that you're asking for naval personnel, not army," he said almost as if to himself before nodding sharply. "Very well. While the Party members will no doubt wish to meet with you in person once you have come out into the open, they will agree to these conditions, I feel. But in that spirit, I have two people I would like to introduce you to."

The Mandarin held up a few fingers and two young Chinese, a man and a woman, came out from inside the café. They were both wiry of build and of middle height. They also looked enough alike that Harry pegged them as twins the moment they came into sight.

"These are Lisen Ko and Riang Ko. They are twins recently of the PLN, though both were also trained to become part of the Party's space program before it was abandoned in light of the Fantastic Four's folly. Riang was a captain of a frigate, and Lisen had just made lieutenant commander on a cruiser. They have recently come into my employ after an…embarrassing moment in their naval careers. Their mutant ability is a kind of limited telepathy between the two of them, along with the ability to see what the other is seeing instantly. They can even record what one sees through the eyes of the other. I would like you to employ them in some fashion."

"I can think of numerous ways I could use their mutant abilities, but is that what they want?" Harry asked, directing his words to the two twins.

"What we want is to get out of China," said the twins as one, before the young man, Riang, took a step forward. "We pissed off some very high level people, who were after my twin and my abilities to use for their own gains. We refused."

"Such personal honor does them credit, thoughts it does not fit in with the Party First ideology of China. They were under an incredible amount of pressure to conform to their superior's wishes, and at one point that pressure turned decidedly ugly. Their father, however, had done a significant favor for me past, and I agreed to remove them from the Party's influence."

And win points with me at the same time, Harry thought, but he was too pragmatic to make a point of it. The Mandarin was right. Harry could employ them. A captain and a lieutenant commander who had experience running their own ships? Oh yes, he'd take that. "You realize you will be under suspicion for a time until you prove yourself?" Harry asked, looking at the twins intently. "That kind of ability, coupled with my current desire to keep as much of my space-based programs under wraps as I can… You have to understand that's a big concern."

"We understand, and we'll be willing to accede to any security requirements. We are naval officers; we refuse to be put out to pasture. We are not spies! Or at least, we do not wish to be used as such," Lisen said, moving to stand beside her brother.

"Very well. Then if you will wait there for a moment, I'll take you with me now. I'll introduce you to your superior officers, and they'll slot you into the training cadres." With that dealt with, Harry turned back to the Mandarin, his face going cold and serious. "This brings up a point that I wish you to pass along to the Council. I fully understand that you and every other nation will try to slip in some spies. That's fine. I don't like how the game is played, but I will at least acknowledge that I can't honestly expect you to stop playing it."

Harry tapped the glass of tea in front of them, which shattered at his touch then reformed an instant later, the tea not having had enough time to pour out. "However, that is where my indulgence ends. If anyone is caught actually attempting to steal technology, is caught trying to return technology to the world as a whole to use it to bolster their armies, I will have them deported. But if anyone tries to steal a ship, or make trouble in any way larger than simple spying, I will see them as mutinying in a time of war and execute them on the spot. No matter who they are or how many there are. Do you understand me?"

The Mandarin's teacup paused halfway to his mouth as he watched Harry's little demonstration, and his eyes sharpened as Harry spoke. That is either a sign that Potter understands my nation very well, or is simply a statement of purpose that is rather terrifying. I wonder which it is?

In China the individuals really didn't matter to those in power. It was the Party above all, and all too often people as individuals simply didn't factor into the Party line. It was the welfare and the expansion of the state that was important. But a statement like that would get people's attention for certain.

"I will do so," he said mildly. "Now, about my anti-smog devices…"

OOOOOOO

That evening, after a full day of exercising with their new acquaintances, Mystique slowly slid out of the bed she and Morph had to share, a small device in one hand flashing green as she swept it around the room. The device had two LEDs on it, one of which was glowing green to her surprise, and the other was blank at present. Whatever else, the MLF at least allowed the rooms of their recruits to remain free of bugs, which she would not have assumed given how security conscious they were elsewhere. The other would have lit up if she could have gotten a radio signal out without being noticed.

Behind her Morph swiftly shifted his body to have two heads poking up out of the bedding. The second head quickly morphed to look like Mystique's current persona while she worked with her device. Once she was finished, Mystique nodded at him, and he nodded back, as she swiftly shifted her body into that of Riptide. They'd spent a lot of time around him during the day, and Mystique now had a handle on his mannerisms and accent enough to fool anyone who didn't know the man intimately.

And given his attitude and the fact I'm currently one of only two women here, I don't think I need to know what he looks like under his clothing. Mystique thought, the flash of humor going across her brain like a lightning bolt on the surface of her cold professionalism as she moved to the door.

Exiting the room, Mystique moved towards the meeting hall, nodding to a few of the MLF she knew Riptide was somewhat more respectful towards than the others, who all nodded back as she passed them. None showed the confusion they would have if they had seen Riptide elsewhere in the base, which she had assumed would be the case. Riptide and Scalphunter were definitely the leaders here, but they weren't locals by any means and no doubt had special quarters elsewhere, separated from the rubes.

Nearing a grate high on a wall, Mystique glanced down into one hand, seeing the red light on the device in her hand before moving on. No visible cameras, but possibly hidden cameras or more likely listening devices. Damn. She continued on her way, eventually coming into the commissary, where the device finally glowed green. Makes sense. Too large a space, and far too open. Still, it had that grate in one of the corners...

So thinking, 'Riptide' entered the kitchen, grabbing a midnight snack, which would be the cover for anyone who was looking at the possible hidden cameras, before reentering the commissary. She paused then, listening to some voices from out in the hallway, waiting until they moved away before moving swiftly to the grate she had noticed earlier that day. Pulling out a screwdriver from a small pouch that Potter had given her hidden under several levels of magic, she undid the grate, then shifted into the body of a skinny but tall boy she had seen once before, pulling herself up into the grate and lifting the grate after her.

Redoing the grate's screws from the inside was hard, but Mystique was able to do so via another shapeshift. After that she took the form of a small girl, the better to move through the shafts, and then, her device strapped to one shoulder now, moved through the ducts.

It took her at least an hour of silent, nervous movement through the ducts before she found a portion of the base where she could send out a signal without being noticed, or worse, overheard. It was right by the exterior entrance to the base's air intake, a massive heavy grate none of Mystique's shapes she could take inside the ducts could have moved.

She smiled at that, a grim little smile that looked really out of place on her current form, before she pulled out another device from her hidden pouch. The team had been given two means of communication. One was a radio device, used for normal check-ins. The other was a magic mirror, to be used only when she needed to call for immediate extraction. Harry and Dennis both feared that whoever was behind the MLF knew about Harry's magic, and wanted to keep its use as secret as possible.

So it was the radio Mystique used now. "This is agent M. Backup team, do you read?"

"We read you, M," said the voice of Anne Marie Cortez. She, Neophyte, and Banshee had been assigned as backup for Mystique and Morph. If they needed to be extracted, this team would head in immediately, while Mystique called in further backup from the Custodes via her mirror. They too were in Cairo, but unlike Mystique and Morph they were posing as normal humans rather than mutants.

"Did Destiny get extracted?" Mystique asked, eager to get that out of the way immediately.

"She is fine and back at the castle," Anne Marie replied. "How are you two holding up?"

"The training isn't all that hard in comparison to what I've done in the past, and they don't seem to have any way to tell what our real mutant powers are, which is good. But Morph, between making semi-serious passes at me, commented on how alike this MLF is with the brotherhood, and I want you to make certain that you and the big boss know this might be a long-term operation. This place is only one of their recruitment centers; it's not a main base of any kind," Mystique warned.

"Understood," Anne-Marie replied, sounding little amused. "This isn't my first time round the bend, M, and you know it."

"I know that about you. I just want to make sure that the big boss isn't getting antsy or thinking of coming in, guns blazing. The MLF is so compartmentalized I doubt even a mental scan would get us any closer to their boss or any of their other bases."

"I'll pass that on. Honestly, I think he will be happy to know he won't have anything to do on this front for a while. I got the distinct impression when we talked after he extracted Destiny that he had enough on his plate already," Anne-Marie replied.

"True that. Did Destiny give you the details on our recruiters?" Mystique asked.

"Yes. I recognized Riptide from her report. He used to work for Magneto, then betrayed him for a share of some kind of bank robbery or something like that. It was a few years ago, and I only ever heard about it through my brother. But the thing is…" Anne-Marie hesitated, then went on. "Fabian reported, or at least I thought he said, that…Eric…killed him for that, since his betrayal had led to a pogrom against a few mutants in the city the robbery occurred in."

"If he did, he didn't do a very good job of it," Mystique quipped, wondering what that could mean. "You might want to have Sir Dennis look into that bank robbery if you can remember any details. I also have numerous other local members whose names and descriptions I'd like to pass on now. After this, we probably won't be able to contact you again for a while."

"Understood. We're ready to record here."

Mystique nodded and began to describe what she had seen of the numerous mutants here. She trusted that Destiny had already given a description of Mr. Sinister, however, so did not mention him or the speech he had given via computer. Eventually she finished and signed off, heading back to her room without running into any further issues.

There she got into bed as Morph slowly shifted back into just his own current persona, and then put one arm around her waist, whispering "Darling, I don't suppose you're up for…"

He was silenced by an elbow in the stomach, and Mystique rolled her eyes, rolling away from him in the bed as much as she could. This was going to be a long mission, she could tell.

OOOOOOO

The attack on Fury was but the first such terrorist attack that the world saw over the next five days. Some of these were suicide attacks. Men and women with bombs strapped to them shouting slogans straight from Hitler's Mein Kampf, blowing themselves up in crowds here or there with no rhyme or reason. Others were surgical in nature like the attack on Fury, though Dugan was not pleased that said attack hadn't been followed up on.

Some of these attacks were ineffective, stopped by local police or anti-terrorist forces warned of someone suddenly acting unusually out of character. Others took their nations completely by surprise, despite the fact that the various secret services of the world had been warned by MI6 to be on the lookout. The UK itself saw several terrorist attacks, but thanks to the warning Harry had passed on they were prepared for them, though it didn't stop the death toll from rising to over three hundred people dead or wounded.

Thanks to Harry's warning, however, the world governments had been prepared for this. Acting as one for once, they all touted these attacks as the last gasps of an organized terrorist group that SHIELD had been hammering, not willing to acknowledge that Dr. Doom had played a large role in slowly strangling HYDRA.

Or rather, America and a lot of the democracies of the world did not. Many of Doom's neighbors, on the other hand, praised his actions, as he had loaned some of them some Doom Bots to combat suicide attackers, and because of that had saved numerous lives. That this in turn had allowed him to stop several such in his own conquered territories was a bonus.

But such attacks could not always be stopped. There was literally no way that an open society could protect against suicide attacks, and sleeper agents were even worse. A bomb was planted on Broadway in New York, and it would have killed thousands if not for Spiderman somehow finding the thing and tossing it into the air before it could go off. With his aid the police had even found the perpetrator and actually arrested him.

Other places were not nearly so lucky. Fort Lauderdale, for some reason, was targeted by three different suicide bombers, one of whom blew up a high school full of students, killing hundreds. It was the worst of the attacks on American soil by far.

Other attacks the world over, however, were even worse. One of them exploded a bomb in Paris, badly damaging one of the Eiffel Tower's legs almost to the point where people were afraid the entire thing might come down. Harry slipped Lorna in on the fly that night to help repair the thing, though the French had still made no move to open back door discussions with Harry yet.

Other French cities were also blasted. Belgium saw seven attacks, Norway four, Greece and Italy several. Dennis kept reporting them whenever Harry woke up, and it made for grim reading. The death toll the world over was now in the thousands, and yet the public and the governments in question had reacted well to it for the most part, clamping down as hard as they could, and sharing the news about what was going on.

At the same time, Doom launched his assault into Ukraine, his army rolling forward over any resistance as his Doom Bots went before him, searching for the Red Skull himself, with the nations of the world, even the democracies, cheering him on. The only nation that didn't share in this was Russia, and their subtle moves on the borders of Poland and Ukraine continued apace. Whether or not they were going to try to defend the Red Skull or simply take advantage of his puppet governments collapsing was up in the air.

Doom had also moved in enough anti-air artillery, his own version, to keep any planes on the ground. The Red Skull was not going to escape the country unless he fled entirely into Russia, which was doubtful in the extreme. Whatever their own plans for Croatia after this, Russia had even more reason to hate (though hate was such a small word) the Red Skull than most.

Harry had Thomas Wallace announce that Magical Minds would be willing to pay for the medical expenses of anyone injured in such attacks gratis at any hospital in any nation that it was supplying with its brand of medicine. It was a sign of largess that won Harry and his corporation still more points in the public eye.

Nor was all the violence going on that week coming from the Red Skull's efforts. There were clashes the world over between the Friends of Humanity, the group Harry now knew called itself the Mutant Liberation Front, and actual pro-equality groups along with police. The UK saw several and the Netherlands more, though there the pro-equality groups had quickly ascended into the most powerful position. The idea of blood gifts was taking hold faster and faster there like a rising tide.

With the number of people who had guns in America, the clashes there were shorter, yet sharper, and far bloodier than in most other places, though they didn't actually see as many deaths there between the various groups as they did in South America, Africa, or the Middle East. The police clamped down hard on any violence, having had just about enough of this shit from the various groups, in a sign of nationwide solidarity that was actually surprising...

The X-Men were in action during that time, Scott leading them in several actions to rescue mutants from abuse or assault. And the extraction teams, now led openly by Wendy, were at work constantly. The students dorms in Gryffindor tower were slowly filling up, and Laynia had formally moved out and into the mansion in New York, which took in several other mutants whose powers did not lend themselves to combat or anything else useful. This included the two mutants that Ororo had rescued along with Douglas Ramsey. They would now go to school with the expanded X-Men, covered by the same illusion that Kurt used.

Yet despite all that, Harry and the Custodes were not actually involved as a group in any of these clashes. Colossus and the others became involved in helping the retrieval team in small groups, but they weren't fielded as a team against any dangerous threat during that time.

And Harry, Jean, Emma and even Hela were kept busy elsewhere. Hela's work in the Savage Land continued, fostering more connections and friendships with the tribes there while at the same time seeing to her duties as Goddess of Niflheim via Garm as needed. She also worked with Amara in creating a new set of rules and guidelines in what she called the Speaker's Hall.

It wouldn't actually be used for some time, but it would allow people to bring up grievances directly to Harry or his representatives, bypassing the elected councilmen/women if need be and ensuring that bureaucracy could not create a wall of red tape to separate Harry from his people in this new realm. Hela believed it would get a lot of use until the laws of the country had been filled out enough, and possibly even after. Hela like many of her people believed that laws were meant to be a measure to protect the people they followed them and a privilege to be able to call on, and that required 'feedback' as the term apparently was known, to ensure that was made a reality.

Emma threw herself into planning a full on economic and computer based assault against Osborn. This was a quiet war of acquisitions, money moving here and there, and the very rare outright computer assault, but Emma was fully involved in it to the extent that she rarely showed up in the castle during that time.

With the ban on her going out in missions firmly in place and now even agreeing with it, Jean stayed mostly in the castle watching over Ororo with the help of the kids. She handled what she could on the educational side of things, helping there as she knew Ororo would have been; handled meetings with a few designers at Saab; and worked via her computer with the designers in space, going over what they were learning from the ships as teams worked on them.

For Harry this time was spent in meetings upon meetings. He met with Sage about her handing over power to Admiral Powers in terms of the organization of the ongoing work in space. He met with Admiral Powers, discussing issues there. He met with the Hellfire Club's members where he brokered agreements through which he would be given access to various work crews to come in to create roads and put down wiring and plumbing and such like in the Savage Land. The agreements on that were a little difficult to write up given that Harry didn't want the teams to know where the Savage Land was, but the transportation would be simple enough given that they had captured the submarine Magneto had been using to ferry in supplies.

He also met with Kitty, which as a much more pleasant meeting.

Looking at her hard work, Harry slowly walked every inch of the massive cavern with a fine-toothed comb, looking at each rune in turn and how they interacted. With time dilation arrays any mistake could be quite literally disastrous, and this was the largest project Kitty had ever worked on.

Eventually he moved back to where Kitty stood by the brand-new metal door leading into the massive cavern. "Good work," he said, pulling her into a brief hug and ruffling her bushy hair for a moment. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say excellent work. I don't see any area here I need to correct. How long did it take you?"

"You don't want to know," Kitty said, chuckling and pushing him back lightly. "Let's just say if you were paying me an hourly wage I'd've been doing overtime on it, and leave it at that. Both me and Polaris, along with Wanda. They were a major help configuring the whole cavern, and, as you can see, they were also helpful in gathering a lot of raw material," Kitty said, gesturing to a mass of ingots and raw ore stacked along one side of the large corridor leading into the far larger cavern.

Through their efforts Wanda and Polaris had been able to pull a lot of iron and other ores out of the rock that the cavern had previously been, while also configuring the cavern's walls into a solid mass that made concrete look weak in comparison. Indeed, Wanda was going to be doing the same thing to the rest of the tunnels and inner workings of the fortress. Harry had been ecstatic with that idea, and had offered her the same amount of pay he was giving Lorna for her work.

"You might want to do something with Alex, though. I think he's feeling a little left out given how much time Lorna has been spending here on Fortress Mars with us," Kitty said warningly, shaking her head.

"I'll pass that on to Scott. If Alex is willing to follow Scott's orders he can join the X-Men. He's certainly got the personal training and experience needed. Not quite up to the X-Men's team standard, but close enough." Harry said, clapping his hands once, the sound thundering in the massive cavern, "Now, let's activate this bad boy."

"Um, I'll just be out there," Kitty said hurriedly, shaking her head and backpedaling toward the doors. "I've looked over the arithmatic equations to power this thing, and they are way out of my range."

"That's what I'm here for. Just call me a magical battery," Harry replied, walking with her for a moment.

"Oh, is that what Ororo and the others call you?" Kitty quipped, before ducking out the door before Harry could retaliate.

Rolling his eyes, Harry moved over to plant his hands against the wall at a very specific spot by the door. Here several runes were worked into an even more intricate pattern then the rest of the runic array, around two larger 'intake' runes. Setting his hands down on them, Harry channeled his power into the array, powering it up slowly but surely. Magical light began to glimmer in the array in a spiraling pattern out from his hands.

It took over an hour, the power slowly moving out to cover the entire array in vari-colored light. The power versus area ratio of any expansion runic array was difficult, but the time dilation arrays took that example to an even higher level, and it was actually exhausting even for Harry. It was like trying to teleport from Earth out to Pluto and back several times, which made no sense to Harry's mind when he thought of it later. But he decided that it was simply down to the whole moving time thing and decided to not investigate it further at this time.

Wiping sweat from his eyes, Harry moved over to the door, opening it to find that Kitty had already called for several dozen of the worker drones, lining them up against one wall directly across from the piles of ore. Harry nodded at her, then looked at the group of robots. "Verbal command: You are to build a factory within the environment beyond this door to create further worker droids via the designs implanted in your memories of your own forms. When you are finished, you will call for resupply and be supplied further with more material to feed into the factory."

Thinking about it for a moment, Harry went on, a faint smirk on his face now. "You are to ignore any internal dysfunction between your internal clocks' sense of time and the time of the computer of this fortress. Further, you are to be aware of a light over the doors. If that light goes out, halt work and call for me. Do you understand these orders and can comply with them?"

One of the worker drones was marked by a red slash of paint across its chest, indicating that it was one of the slightly more intelligent droids that had been designated the leader type when Dr. Doom had first introduced them. That, and it was the only type of worker droid that had a voice-box.

"We cannot comply completely," it said in its robotic tone. "There are aspects of our construction that we do not have designs for. Further, we are not purposed to build the smaller, more…colloquialism…fiddly bits of a factory that can create further worker droids."

"Build what you can, then request human aid. However, do not allow any humans into this segment of space until you get an okay from me. There are…call it safety concerns there," Harry ordered.

"We understand and will comply," the droid replied, before leading the rest of the droids into piling into the ore and carrying it into the massive cavern without another word. Harry stood for a moment watching them work before turning to look at Kitty. "Now, let's get you back to Camelot. I think you've earned yourself some time off before school starts."

Kitty blinked, then nodded, her internal balance coming back on line after a bit. "Right, the real world. Don't suppose you could see your way to simply ignoring the fact that I don't finish high school and just hire me full time now, could you?"

"Not a bit, luv. You're going to finish high school and smash records just like we know you can, and then you're going to take college courses online and finish that too! So say your parents and Ororo. I am not nearly brave enough to face that triumvirate when it is united on such as this."

Kitty laughed and linked her arm with Harry, the two of them disappearing an instant later with the crack of apparition.

Harry also met with the new X class, if somewhat accidentally. He had teleported to the mansion to speak to Charles for a few moments on what he had thought was a sensitive subject before he and Emma had to head into New York for, yes, another meeting in New York with Paris Seville.

Having started to date Dr. Doom, Paris had begun to push for at best a neutral and even sometimes a positive outlook on Doom's activities. This was easier to do now with the Red Skull having begun his terror campaign.

She had also begun to paint the Custodes and Magical Minds in a positive light. Admittedly, in Harry's case this was a lot easier for the public to swallow, given that Magical Minds didn't have any negative history, but the Red Skull's recent activities the world over had actually helped in reinventing Dr. Doom's public image. Many people on the street and in power had begun to think that he had attempted to nip the Super-Nazi's terrorist attacks in the bud, but simply hadn't been able to find the man while seeing to the recovery of the nations the Red Skull used as pawns. There was no basis in fact for that belief, but that hasn't stopped people from making the connection.

Harry, however, had wanted to stop by and talk to Charles about an offer he had made the man while they were in the time dilation room. He had asked then if Charles wanted him to try and repair Charles's legs. Charles had told him that he had to think about it, having lived with his legs as they were for so long.

"I still have not decided, Harry. I have had my legs examined by some of the best doctors in the world. Even Steven looked at them, and he could not make me walk. I am not saying you could not heal my legs," Charles said, his voice a gusty sigh. "I am saying that something else is keeping me from walking. Some psychological issue that I have not been able to overcome."

Seeing both Harry and Emma's surprise at that idea, Charles changed the subject, unwilling to dwell on this further. "In any event, I have had progress elsewhere. Ms. Steed should be near to waking up soon, though if she will truly have all her faculties I cannot say at this time. Lorna and Wanda have both worked through the last vestiges of their self-control issues, and Alex is no longer psychologically dependent on Lorna, which makes for a much more healthy relationship."

"And Roberto Dacosta?" Harry asked.

"There, I am afraid, I have only begun work." Charles quirked his bald head from side to side, chuckling quietly. "I only have so much time in any given day, Harry, and before you ask, no, I will not let you set up a time dilation room in the mansion. Scott would not be able to stop himself from abusing it until someone truly hurt themselves, and I am still suffering from headaches occasionally from our time there."

Emma nodded furiously, gesturing to one hand which held a pair of high quality sunglasses, white, of course. "Exactly. I do not want to be involved in that kind of thing again, Potter. In fact, I'd refuse whatever we were working on or discussing. I have had migraines several times since then that almost completely shut me down until they faded, and no amount of medicine helps. Worse, I even had Una and Dr. Druid look at me yesterday, and neither could find anything wrong."

"I know, Emma, and I wasn't going to offer. You're not the only ones complaining of headaches; Piotr and the others are too, occasionally, though Piotr and Amara are strangely enough able to work through them, while Sage is nearly as susceptible as you are. I looked at them when they first brought it to my attention and found nothing I could discern as wrong, or else I would already have offered to try and heal you both."

As the two telepaths nodded at that, relaxing noticeably (migraines were serious business to telepaths), Harry frowned in thought, remembering the 'discussion' he had with Banner a few days ago. "I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to start work with Dr. Banner as soon as you finish with Ms. Steed. We can keep Sunspot under with that Draught of Living Death I gave him, but we need Banner's brain power working for us in full rather than under protest, as he puts it."

Charles winced. "I, I will agree with that notion, I suppose. I don't like it, but I do agree with your priorities." A year ago he wouldn't have, but then the Kree hadn't launched planetary assaults at that point.

As the three of them finished talking and began to exit Charles's office, they heard Scott's voice from the entrance hall. He stood there with a new group of teens, while James Proudstar alias Thunderbird, sat on the staircase leading up, his eyes hard and evaluating. He shot to his feet as Harry came out of the professor's office, nearly saluting for a moment as he did so.

Scott turned nodding his head respectfully to Harry, being slightly more formal at the moment than he normally would have been in front of the newcomers. "Mr. Potter, how are you today?"

"Scott. Are these your fresh meat?" Harry asked, a playful smile flitting across his face as he looked at the group.

"I don't like that label," one of the girls said, popping a large bubble of bubblegum and chewing noisily. "It makes us sound like we're either joining a military or a sorority. I don't like either idea."

Harry looked over at Scott, nodding his head slightly to indicate that Scott should handle this.

Scott turned back to the girl. "You're here because you want to learn how to control your powers. If that's all you want, that's all you'll get out of it. If, however, you want to help defend the rights of other mutants, then you will indeed be joining a sort of military group. We're not soldiers. We don't have a lot of spit and polish, we don't salute, but we do have rules and obligations. Your mutant gifts gave you power. We're going to show you how to use them responsibly."

The girl, who Harry recognized as the one called Boom-Boom, scowled angrily, one of her hands beginning to light up for a moment. "That sounded like it was sent my way!"

"It wasn't," said James, moving to stand beside his commander. "And if you finish creating that bomb I'm going to put you through the wall!"

The girl twitched and seemed to be thinking about doing it anyway, but Scott diffused the situation quickly. "Enough," he said simply, and James backed down. He looked at the girl thoughtfully then shook his head. "I know about all of your pasts, good and bad. But you're here rather than still out on the street trying to use your powers. That means deep down you don't want to use your powers like that, you want to find a cause worth your talents, or perhaps you have a dream worth living for?"

The girl twitched again, but the power gathering around her hand dissipated and she nodded once.

Scott smile warmed at that and he patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we don't hold your pasts against you. That line was actually for everyone here not just you. We've all had a time or two when we were younger or just growing into our powers where we used them without thinking, or we thought they made us better than the people around us. We X-Men have learned that that doesn't make it so. It is what we use our powers for that truly matters."

"I just want to be clear on this," the second girl, who Harry recognized as Jubilee, said. "We can try this X-thing out, right? Try out for the team, and if we decide we don't actually like fighting we can back out later?"

"Yes, your participation is up to you up to a point," Scott replied. "We have an older member named Kitty Pryde who decided that blood and violence wasn't for her. She has since gone on to not only use her powers, but her mind to help our cause. You don't even have to do that. So long as we are certain you can control your powers and know when not to use them, you're welcome here."

"So, in terms of demerits or whatever, are we on some kind of three strike system or something?" said one of the two boys, a snowball suddenly appearing in his hand, flicking over his fingers and up into the air before he caught it. This was Bobby, or Iceman as he was known.

"No," Scott said together with Charles, but Scott gestured to Charles to continue. "Good afternoon, children. In answer to your question, Bobby, if we were on some kind of three strike system several of our members would not be here any longer. Their penchant for pranks alone would have made me think twice about keeping them around."

One of the other boys, a tall handsome young man with blond hair and more of a patrician appearance, had been looking at Emma Frost intently, and she finally rolled her eyes, stepping fully around Harry. "Yes, Worthington? Do you have something to say?"

"I thought I recognized you. Emma Frost, right? We've met a few times," Warren said, gliding around Scott and James and bowing grandly from the waist. "It's enchanting to see you here."

"Yes, and each time we've met you flirted with me, and each time I put you down as bluntly as possible." She looped an arm around one of Harry's, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "If you are going to start down that path again, I hate to break it to you, but I'm already taken."

Harry chuckled and took his cue, putting an arm around her waist.

To his credit Warren quickly backed off, holding up his hands pacifically. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. I was just curious. I never thought you were the joining type."

"It depends on what position I'd take when I joined. As it is, I joined the top," Emma retorted.

"If you head upstairs you'll each find rooms. Boys and girls have separate rooms of course. Get your stuff stowed, then come back down here," Scott ordered, once more taking charge of the meeting. "Today we won't be doing much, but I would like to get a handle on the control you currently have over your powers and your physical fitness and introduce you to your teammates: James, his brother, and Sam Guthrie. After that, Professor Xavier will talk to you for a bit about the rules around here in terms of education and how you have to keep your rooms and such like. I handle the X-Men stuff, the professor handles everything else. Understood?"

"Great. Exercise," Boom-Boom muttered sarcastically, bumping her thigh against Jubilee's who nodded agreement. Despite that, the two of them willingly followed the two boys up the steps.

Chuckling at their attitudes, Charles turned his chair around, entering his office once more. This left Harry and Emma alone with Scott and James.

Harry nodded at them. "Good to see the two of you getting along, though I'm sorry we haven't been able to talk lately, Scott. I understand your pure combat missions have slowed down while retrieval missions have gone up? Have you been working with Wendy on that? Would maybe setting up another X-team specializing in that make sense?"

"Wendy and I have already started talking about that. Or rather she, me, and Rogue have. At least, some of their conversations are on that topic…" Scott finished hesitantly. "Sometimes they just stop talking and giggle when I come into the room."

"Run," said both of the other men in the room, after which they looked at one another as Emma rolled her eyes. Harry went on. "When women giggle like that, and especially if they stop and look at you when you enter the room, that is a danger sign."

They all stood for a few minutes talking until the youngsters came back. At that point Emma and Harry headed down to the garage, where he pulled out his Huayra and they set off.

Behind them, Scott looked at James and said dryly, "So, should we throw these kids against your brother for a few hours, or just make than try to tag Nightcrawler? I don't want their spirits broken, just a little humiliated so they know how much more work they have to do in the future…"