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Leaving Ororo to handle the destruction of the Abomination's body and Dr. Banner's public apology letter, Harry moved on to meet with Dennis. The man had incorporated the few analysts that Harry had already vetted, though most of them were still irritated about working for someone once removed as it were, only communicating via very heavily encrypted electronic texts. However Harry was not going to allow any of them onto Camelot property. Before anything else Camelot was a haven, a school. While he couldn't do anything right now to stop it from being one of the two centers of his growing faction that didn't mean he wanted it open to people he didn't completely and utterly trust.
Already with the extra help the man was turning up interesting little facts here and there the world over, mostly to do with the mutant issue. Yet a few were such that Harry put them aside to pass on to the British monarch in their meeting next week. With his new employees' aid however, Dennis was putting together some evidence of a single group being responsible for some of the more pro-mutant superiority violence breaking out the world over. There wasn't much, but it was there, even if there was no clue about their agenda, or who they actually might be. Still, for less than a week of work that was an excellent return on Harry's investment.
Next Harry checked in with the team, who had returned from their four-day sabbatical. All three of them were much more centered now, and eager to get back to work. So he had Shiang-Chi work them all to the bone for a few hours including Harry, before leaving the trio there to keep working along with Wyatt and Johnny who had shown up through the new doorway Harry and Madame Harkness had installed between the Baxter building and Camelot.
After that, Harry talked to Father Garnoff going over the list of names he had compiled for the next students to be brought in. From what Ororo had reported and Harry's own observations, the school was completely ready to open for the school year now. All the kids they had were now placed in the correct classes, though for some of them it was a mixed bag like Melody for example, or Sergei who used sonar instead of eyesight. Illyana had a math issue too, but her reading and writing skills were actually at least a grade ahead of where her age indicated it should be.
He then talked to Nikolai's sister, Illyich, Rahne and Ichiki, all of whom eagerly agreed to be placed on what Harry would term the Intervention team, the group that would go in to get mutant children out of dangerous situations the world over that weren't dangerous enough to assign a Custodes to. It would not be easy at times, and at times it would possibly involve combat, but it wouldn't be nearly as violent or as deadly as the battles the Custodes would be dealing with. The Custodes Mundi would be sent in to rescue mutant children who were in the orange or worse. The teens would be sent in if they were in the yellow and sometimes even green if the country or other factors warranted it. Shiang-Chi would be team leader, who Harry had already talked to about it.
By that point it was early evening, and Harry decided to head up to the headmaster's quarters to get changed for dinner later that evening with Emma and Ororo. He had booked them at a famous restaurant down in Paris (at Emma's behest), and the three of them were going to go for a bit of a drive before teleporting the rest of the way. He stopped walking however when he noticed that he was not alone in the room. Gaea stood there, watching him placidly for a moment. "Defender," she said inclining her head slightly.
"Goddess." Harry replied smiling slightly as he matched the inclination of her head. "How are you?"
"I am as well as can be expected." Gaea smiled slightly. "You humans seem to have so many who would despoil the land, yet just as much who would preserve it with their lives. In all it seems to balance out for now. And your plans for your generators might tip the balance against those who would ruin the earth they depend on. But that is not what I came to talk to you about. I have finished going over your plans for your defensive array. I find them good, and will aid you in their emplacements."
She flushed coquettishly looking away. "But when you are pulling your magic back out of me, please be gentle."
Harry flushed in turn, but by then Gaea was gone, a whisper on the wind saying, "I will return with the dawn, be ready to work your magics upon me then." Then even that was gone, leaving Harry still flushing slightly in the center of his quarters.
Dinner that evening was a spectacular affair, and all three of them enjoyed it immensely, though they got some very odd looks seeing as all three of them flirted with one another with impunity. "Do either of you want desert?" Harry asked as the meal drew to a close.
"I'd like some," Emma said, though a certain look in her eyes indicated she wasn't speaking about anything to be found on the menu.
Ororo however simply shook her head. "Nothing for me, thank you Harry. I should actually be getting back, I promised that I would watch the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe with the children tonight." Melody and Illyana had begun to read some of Lloyd Alexander's books together, and both girls really liked the Black Cauldron series, so watching the movies based on Narnia would be great treat for them.
"We'll drive back together then now." Harry said standing up and signaling the waiter for the check. They drove out of Paris, but from there they pulled off to the side of the road quickly. Once it was clear of traffic Harry shrunk his and Emma's cars then teleported them all back to Camelot.
Lemon Start:
While Harry and Ororo went off to talk to the kids, Emma moved up to the Headmaster's quarters, then began to pull off her dress, a slinky white number with thin spaghetti straps on her shoulders, before tossing it carelessly to the side. She stood there in white lace bra and panties, which were crotch less, along with garters and pantyhose. Sorry Jean, I wish you could be here for this, but I refuse to wait any longer for this.
She stood there facing the door as Harry came in, and he gasped at the sight of her. "Emmmmphh"
By that point Emma had crossed the distance between them, and pulled Harry down into a kiss, opening her mouth immediately and questing for his tongue with her own. Harry returned the gesture, his arms going around her, and Emma lifted one leg to wrap around Harry's middle. She pulled back slightly, breathing in deeply as she stared into Harry's emerald eyes. "I don't want to wait any longer Harry."
Harry smiled softly and leaned in kissing her gently. He wondered absentmindedly if Ororo knew that Emma had planned this. Or maybe Ororo had been in on it, since she had hustled him out of the living room quickly, which was odd since she knew that he loved spending time with them all. He leaned back still smiling. "If that is what my lady wants, that is what she will get."
With that Harry's hands which had been on Emma's softly curved back, stroking the skin there reached down to her rear, grasping it firmly and lifting her up into the air slightly. Emma squealed and her other leg went around his waist, rubbing her uncovered pussy against his still clad crotch. "Take off your clothes Harry!" she commanded mentally through the small connection Harry kept open for her and for Jean.
Harry chuckled into the kiss before deepening it, pawing at Emma's magnificent rear for a moment. Each small half globe of flesh fit his hand and then some, her skin feeling so smooth it was like silk, so pliable it was amazing. After a moment he commanded his magic to vanish his clothes, still kissing and fondling Emma hungrily.
Emma moaned aloud as she suddenly felt Emma's Harry's bare chest against her bra clad breasts and stomach, while below his already erect cock was standing at attention rubbing insistently at her pussy. "That's handy," she moaned aloud.
"You have no idea," Harry laughed. With that Harry began to move them back towards the bed. He continued to walk along slowly even while the two of them ground against one another, and Emma's moans began to fill the room. They parted lips reluctantly when Harry set her down on the edge of the bed, while Emma reached behind her and made to unclasp her bra.
"Leave it." Harry ordered in a deep, throaty tone. "And the garters and hose. Somehow they make it sexier."
Emma nodded with a smile, reaching down and pulling at Harry's cock with both hands for a moment looking at it avidly. It wasn't the first she had seen, and she had actually gotten to third base with a few of her past boyfriends before her father put the fear of death into them and her for a time. But Emma knew that she had never been as wet as she was right now. "I don't need any foreplay Harry, just please…" she said, her voice becoming softer and unsure. "Just go slow."
"Of course Emma," Harry said leaning down to kiss her again, one hand grabbing at her hair and pulling her head back gently but insistently. Emma leaned back, while one of his hands found her breast and began to fondle it, playing with her nipple.
She squeaked and moaned into his mouth, while Harry moved between her legs. Harry leaned back, his tongue still out and dancing with hers in midair for a moment while the hand that had been playing with her breast moved down to guide his cock into her entrance.
He held there with only the tip pressed into her for a moment, then slowly he began to work his hips against her, inching his cock into her tight wet vice. She wasn't quite as tight as Jean had been, which made sense when she whispered "I got rid of my hymen weeks ago with a vibrator Harry, it's… mmmm… it's just your size I'll need to get used to. I wanted thaaahhh!" Her voice broke off in a low moan as the tip of Harry's cock found an extra sensitive spot deep inside of her. "I,I wanted our first time to be special in another way since, mmm… since most first times are always supposed to be bad, or so I'vvvmmphh!"
"No need to explain yourself to me Emma." Harry replied pulling back from the kiss that had interrupted Emma's words to lean down and lap at her nipple for a moment before going back up, the hand that was in her hair once again pulling Emma's head back allowing him to dominate the kiss. For some reason that turned Emma on even more, not Harry dominating her so much as the knowledge that she could give him that control and he would never abuse it.
Soon Harry was fully sheathed inside of her, and he began to rock his hips back and forth. Emma collapsed into a mini orgasm then, followed by two more minor ones while her nails clawed at Harry's back. "Oh god Harrrryyyy!"
Harry moved them onto the center of the bed, still thrusting his hips incessantly into Emma's own which she raised slightly less energetically against his thrusts. "Yes more! Harder, I'm not made of glass!"
Harry obliged, pounding harder and deeper into her, causing Emma to go over the edge again this time much more seriously. Her eyes fluttered back, and her grip on Harry's back loosened as her body arced for a moment, her lips opened in a soundless cry. For his part Harry held still within Emma's wet vice, his teeth gritted as he tried to control his instincts, as well as put off his own orgasm for bit. He wanted to give Emma at least two more before finishing himself.
Emma's head lulled for a moment but she got control of herself, opening her eyes and staring at Harry's own as he she leaned up to kissed him gently. "More?"
Harry obliged, picking up speed yet also rotating his hips slightly, giving each thrust just a slightly different angle. Emma howled again, in more ecstasy than she had ever felt, even in comparison to the few men who had been able to go down on her with any skill. Before this experience she would never have believed that actual sex could be better than cunnilingus, since even the vibrator she had recently used hadn't been able to give her much pleasure. But she was a believer now!
Harry couldn't sustain this pace for much longer and he groaned aloud "I'm going to come soon Emma!"
"Pull out Harry!" she exclaimed, she had heard about his contraception spells, but Emma didn't want to chance it and besides she always liked watching a man cum. It gave her a feeling of power like almost nothing else. "Come on my tits!"
With a groan Harry did so, pulling out quickly and moving up her body resting his dick between her breasts. They were smaller than Ororo's, but a little bit larger and much fuller then Jean's, and were more than adequate for the task at hand. Emma brought her hands together on either side of her breasts pressing them together while Harry thrust into the crack between them licking the head of his cock is it appeared. "Mmhpph, that's right Harry, paint me!"
Harry didn't last more than a few seconds of this, and with a roar of "Here it comes!" he blasted his cum all over Emma's face and breasts. Looking down at her, it looked as if she spilled a milk carton over herself. Emma opened one eye blearily, raising a hand to wipe away at the cum that had gotten onto her eye and nose licking around her lips before licking her fingers one after another as she stared over to where Harry was now sitting on his haunches beside her head.
"Tasty." She reached out with one hand, daintily rubbing the top of Harry's cock, which hadn't flagged. "And it looks like you've even got more for me…"
OOOOOOO
The next day Harry awoke between the two women, shaking his head and smiling in happiness as his arms went around them. Ororo had joined them after the second round, though the two girls had been oddly conspicuous in not touching one another. Harry had asked why that was during a small break in the action. Emma had replied that she wanted the first time she truly made love to a woman to be with Jean, which Ororo knew about before this evening.
Harry had smiled and nodded at that, knowing it wasn't anything personal. Of course the looks of desire they gave one another even after we begun to slow down should've told me that he thought to himself laughing quietly.
The laughter woke up Ororo, who was always an early riser in any event. Emma however slept on, her body splayed out as her head rolled to one side, utterly dead to the world. Ororo leaned in, rubbing her cheek against Harry's. "Last night was wonderful my Harry, every bit of it."
"Marry me." Harry said suddenly, looking at her in the eyes. Ororo's eyes widened in shock. "Seriously, marry me. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I know this isn't, you know the most romantic moment to propose, but we can do that later when I get you, Emma and Jean rings. What I do know is I love you all, and I want to spend the rest of our lives together. We can find some way for me to marry all three of you, maybe go to a country that allows polygamous marriages, or go to separate countries one after another and marry under assumed names or something."
Ororo laughed tapping his head with both hands her eyes glistening with tears of joy. "Of course I will marry you, my love, was there any doubt? We'll have to think of what we want in terms of weddings of course, and I expect a romantic proposal somewhere down the line. But yes I'll marry you gladly. And I know Jean will as well."
One of the things Ororo and Jean had talked about was weddings in general at one point before Jean had joined the relationship. Jean had confided in Ororo that she had wanted to have what she called the perfect wedding, somewhere exotic, with friends and family, not a lot of people, but with everything else perfect, white and pristine. Though she technically wouldn't really be able to wear white at her wedding, Ororo knew that Jean would still want to have one.
For herself, Ororo wanted that physical show of the love between them. The wedding itself wasn't as important as the wedding bands that she and Harry would wear to signify their lifelong commitment to one another. And when we say lifelong we mean a much longer time than most she thought to herself happily, still staring into Harry's eyes as they got lost in one another.
After a moment Harry reluctantly pulled out of the silent communion, turning to wake up Emma by shaking her shoulder. However, when he asked her about it, Emma did not want to get married. "Not now, not ever." She replied firmly. "I am my own woman and I will stand alone. I don't want to be married, I don't want to be in any way tied through matrimony to anyone. No offense Harry, it's just a thing to me." She had a sort of knee jerk reaction against marriage caused by the ones she had seen in her life, most particularly her parent's and the wreck it had been.
Harry sighed, then shook his head. "I understand Emma, but will you at least wear a ring to signify our connection?"
"That I will do, just make sure that it has diamond and it is perfect." Emma drawled, waving him and Ororo away as she closed her eyes again. "Now can you two leave me alone for a bit, I need my beauty sleep. You two wore me out last night."
"Best get used to it," Ororo laughed. "Last night was actually not nearly as vigorous as a few of the nights we've spent together." Emma cocked an eyebrow looking at Ororo to make certain that she wasn't joking, and when she realized Ororo was serious shuddered a little. Either in pleasure or fear Emma didn't know herself.
OOOOOOO
Later that same day Stephen, Ororo, Harry and Clea stood around the array Harry and Stephen had designed, while Gaea appeared in front of them. "My body is prepared for your efforts Mr. Potter," Gaea said smiling widely as Harry again looked away shaking his head whilst Stephen and Clea both smirked a little at his discomfort. "Shall we do this?"
"Are all the, I suppose you could call them outlets, ready?" Harry asked as he and Gaea made to move forward into the circle above the Camelot portion of the array. It was as good a starting point as any, but thanks to the nature of the spell there was no real central heart to it like there would be in a ward zone, the center of which normally was a Hearthstone or centralized ward stone.
Stephen and Clea nodded. "It was an interesting experience setting them all up, but thankfully we started weeks ago. All we had to do was go back and erase the spell we added on top of the arrays to erase them in case Lady Gaea had turned us down." Stephen said bowing profoundly to the goddess. While he dealt with Elder Gods of magic on an almost daily basis meeting the spirit of Earth itself was still a profoundly spiritual event. Clea too seemed in awe of her.
Stephen smirked a little. "And some of the places proved very difficult indeed to get to, but with Wanda's aid it was actually rather simple. Her powers to control probability are growing in leaps and bounds. As, I am happy to say, is her magical and emotional control. We think she'll do very well once we allow her to go to Bayville with the X-Men."
Beside him Clea huffed angrily, and Stephen's smirk widened into a small smile. "Clea thinks that we should keep her at home for at least another year, but I think that is just a bit of the master-apprentice bond talking."
Harry laughed, but made a mental note that he needed to talk to Charles at some point. Ororo had talked to him after the incident up in Montréal, but it appeared as if Charles wanted to talk to him personally. It wasn't something important apparently, or at least not immediately important, so Harry could at least put it off for a bit but it was something to keep in mind.
Putting that thought to the side Harry closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply as he called up his magical aura, moving to stand in the center of the array across from Gaea. "Are you ready Lady?" He asked respectfully.
The Mother Goddess had closed her eyes during the discussion, her hands held out to either side. Small sun yellow, earthy brown and grass green tendrils of magic made their way down from her palm and finger tips and up from below meeting in midair to entwine together to make two small pillars of magical power. Now she nodded, and Harry stepped forward, entering the last circle of the array.
He closed his own eyes, his own aura flaring out, bright gold interspersed with red, blue, and striations of white. After a moment he reached out, placing his hands on Gaea's shoulders. By that point the magic under her hands had grown, enclosing both of their lower bodies. Small tendrils of Harry's own magic began to intersperse with it, heading down into the ground as Stephen and Clea watched.
The entwined magics carried Harry's and Gaea's consciousness down into the ley lines, far deeper than Harry had thought they would have to go to retrieve the bits of magic that he had pumped into them so many weeks ago. Even so, finding them was simple. Where the regular magic of the ley line appeared to his senses like a river of different shades of blue, brown and yellow, his own magic was a bright bar of white and red laid out within it, yet not quite part of it.
The two of them concentrated, slowly pulling the magic Harry had donated out of the rest of the ley lines, while Gaea inscribed portions of the runic array where she had to. The two of them couldn't communicate like this, not above a few fleeting emotions, but Gaea had memorized her part of this endeavor, and performed it expertly thanks to the days she had spent learning all she could about the anti-demon array.
With that done she and Harry began to mold the portions of Harry's magic all around them, bringing them together and pushing them towards the surface at dozens of different points the world over. It hovered right below the surface, while back in his body Harry began to sweat, the exertion here wasn't so much draining his magical power as it was draining his concentration and mind, but there was definitely some seepage getting through to his physical body. Gaea was gasping for air as well, a physical sign of a mental and magical exhaustion that was worse than almost anything she had ever felt before.
He retained the control over his magic, hovering it just below the surface until Gaea told him they were ready. Finally she nodded. The waves of magic ready and waiting behind them, the arrays awakened by the amount of magic below them. At her nod Harry said "Activate!" in as a loud and clear tone as he could, and his magic, now a web of power throughout the world carried that command. Not an instant later the Earth was enclosed in a globe of magical power, shimmering with purpose, vibrant with energy.
There should be some kind of physical representation of the array starting to work. Harry thought to himself as he slid to his knees slowly. Some kind of bell-like sound or something, anything to indicate that the momentous occurred. But there wasn't, not to his physical senses. His magical ones showed a brief shimmering in the air all around them, but that was it.
The physical plane didn't show much sign of what had occurred, the magical and dimensional however was a different story. All around the world a few wizards who were attempting to dabble in demon summoning gasped in agony as their spells shattered, as if a door had just gone up their warded areas shimmering then smashing into pieces. Demons who were attempting to cross from one plane to another, only about four of them the world over, screamed in agony as they died, and Demon Lords shrieked then snarled in rage and not a little fear as their connection to Earth was broken entirely. Belasco in particular was incensed, and screamed long and loud as his future plans and dreams died instantly.
Even other beings felt that wall of magical power go up defending the Earth from more demonic invasion. Odin felt it and for a moment wondered if Potter had betrayed them for some reason, and was cutting off Midgard from Asgard. Yet after a moment he discerned the purpose of the ward and smiled thinly. Whatever else he might be, Potter is most definitely becoming a king. Interesting.
Elder gods and other beings also felt it, and to a creature shuddered wondering why it had been done before deciding that in the end it didn't matter, it was a show of force that none of them were willing to contest on the material plane. Earth, Harry's Earth at least, was now utterly protected from further demonic influence. Those demons that were on Earth at the time were now cut off, and without those connections could be killed for all time, something that terrified the otherwise immortal creatures into hiding wherever they were..
And Morgan Le-Fay, who didn't rely much on demons for her magics scowled angrily while the door she had been trying to open to talk to one of the demon lords, whose creature she had noticed in Rome, faded to nothing while her own magical senses told her what had happened. Potter and Strange are allied then… That is not a good sign.
OOOOOOO
Hours later Harry was asleep, recovering from the exertion. Ororo however was up and about, and after speaking to Piotr and the rest of the team for a time, she met up with the now awake Emma for lunch up in the dining hall. The two of them talked together for a time, mostly about Jean and her mission as well as the world's response to the events up in Montreal.
As they were talking on the table next to her Harry's phone rang, which he had left with Ororo just in case.. Both ladies looked at one another across the table and Emma shrugged. "I suppose you should answer it seeing as I doubt Harry's given his phone number to anyone unimportant. If it turns out to be a sales call however, get the name of the company so I can buy it then find out how they found his phone number before I liquidate it." Considering the phone had been designed with three numbers all of them made untraceable by Reed Richards that was not an idle comment.
Ororo laughed then reached over and picked up the phone. Looking at the line she frowned then touched the appropriate button. "This is Guardian's phone, as you hopefully already know though he is away at present. Who is this?"
"My fair lady, this is Tony Stark. I was told to call when my little gift for Guardian was done. It is, but I also want to say he is an utter louse! The arc reactors are my baby! You might want to tell him that it's not exactly a leap to connect Guardian to Harry Potter if you know both personas, whatever he does to actually make the mind try to skirt around that connection for some reason. Interesting trick, but it can be overcome eventually, especially when enough clues pile up."
Ororo laughed. "I will inform him of that Mr. Stark, or do you prefer to go by Ironman at the moment?" She noticed that despite having connected Guardian to Harry Potter he had not connected either persona to Harry's made up identity of George Frederick Weatherby. That probably meant that Jean's and her own identities were also safe for the moment.
"Oh, Tony of course, this is sort of a business deal at any rate. Certainly a repayment of a debt, one I hope to continue repaying." Suddenly having his whole life once again in front of him had rejuvenated Tony, and he had once again thrown himself into every aspect of his life rather than just his Ironman persona with a will, the last bits of his PTSD fading away. "But that still doesn't tell me why the hell, or even how the hell you and your Arc Technologies company was able to figure out how to create an arc reactor. One which, if Jarvis is correct in what he's been able to find out, is actually smaller and better than the initial one? Certainly not up to my standards, but better than the one my dad built."
"I believe that Guardian actually wrote down his response to that hold on a moment." Ororo ostensibly looked around, then turned back to the phone winking at Emma. "Ah, here it is. Ahem, 'Then you should have done something to protect your tech you silly bugger there is a genius everywhere in this world'."
"Just tell me if Reed helped him." Tony said seriously after having laughed for a moment. In point of fact the arc reactor wasn't something he had been prepared to sell to the general public, he didn't trust any kind of security he could place on it. But he didn't have access to magic, and he was prepared to believe that Guardian at least knew what he was doing. "That would be against the rules, sort of."
"There are rules?" Ororo asked incredulously.
"Of course, among the good geniuses anyway though I suppose you could say that it is more a guideline of etiquette. We don't poach, we don't get in one another's way in scientific terms, and if we know one or the other is going to a science fair or other kind of symposium, the rest of us don't show up. It keeps the public arguments down. And, you know, the damage."
"Then I can say unequivocally that Reed did not have any part in our being able to reverse engineer the arc reactors," Ororo replied equally seriously for a moment. "I don't think the person we have as our chief engineer would call herself a genius, so I'm not certain that those rules of etiquette would apply to her."
"Well that's all right then. So long as you know I'm going to try to figure out the security protocols you put on them, you have put security in place, haven't you?" Tony really wanted to be sure about that.
"Magical defenses yes." Ororo replied addressing his concern right away.
"Excellent, that takes a load off my mind."
"When do you want to set up a time for us to come and pick the AI core up?"
"Within the next hour or so would be good," Tony replied. "After that, I'm catching a plane to New York for some work, then to Vancouver, then over to well lots of places. I have a lot of work any to catch up on, and Pepper nagging in my ear to make certain I do."
Ororo laughed, then was about to reply that they wouldn't be able to have someone drop by to pick up the AI core but an arm went around her shoulders just then. She smiled, then shivered a little as Harry nuzzled into her neck before taking his phone from her hand. "Tony, this is Guardian, where are you?"
"At my Hawaii home, can you get here within an hour?"
"Yes, I'll see you in a moment." Harry took a moment to kiss Emma and Ororo in turn before pulling away then apparating directly from there to the same point over Tony's Hawaii home that he had used previously. He startled a few birds, making them squawk raucously at him for a moment, before flying down.
Tony stood just inside his house near the screen door leading out to his pool and the man started as he stared over at Harry where he landed. With a sigh he gestured, and Harry apparated through the glass, whilst Tony shook his head. "Damn that's just weird as hell. I don't suppose that you are the only one that can do that are you?"
"Afraid not, there are other teleporters, though I'm not certain if any of them really use the same method as I do either."
"I'll try to figure out a way to block all teleportation then," Tony said, before holding out his hand. "Thank you again for the work you did on me, not having my health hanging over my head, it's like a new lease on life."
Harry simply nodded shaking the man's hand. "I understand that you finished the AI core?"
"Building and programming yes," Tony said with a nod. "Though I do hope you're a little stronger than you look, the core might be only the size o foot square, but it's really heavy."
Harry chuckled. "I'll be strong enough I'm sure."
Tony nodded slapping his shoulder, and gestured for him to follow him down into his lair. In the center of his work area stood the square of circuitry, with leads heading off in every direction. It wasn't as large as a server farm, but its circuitry looked even denser from what Harry could tell and the tech didn't look like anything he had seen on the market.
He asked Tony about that and Tony laughed. "Sorry, but that I am keeping a secret. I've no doubt that Mr. Fantastic, who I know you have some kind of arrangement with, has his own equivalent, but come on. Let me have some secrets."
Harry laughed, then asked him some questions about activating the AI, and its computer requirements.
"So long as you have input devices to install into it, the computation aspects and everything else happen in the core itself, and I have a sheet prepared for you to use to activate it."
"This will be a tremendous help thank you," Harry said sincerely, moving over to pick it up which he did relatively easily not even needing to use his Magia Erebea.
"Not as much help as you gave me," Tony said shaking his head.
Up above the two men a voice spoke up from one of the speakers. "Sir, Ms. Potts has arrived. You indicated at one point that she was ambivalent at best about someone else having access to the computational power of myself or the equivalent."
Tony paled a little then nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes thank you for stopping by Harry, now take that and get out quickly."
Harry laughed but nodded, and suddenly disappeared with a faint pop along with the AI core. Staring at the place where he had been Tony nodded his head while above him he could hear the faint tic-tac of high heels. "Yes, definitely need to figure out how to block that sort of thing."
Despite his wish to install the AI immediately, Harry was cognizant of the threat that it could pose as well as the threat any bugs or hidden programs that Tony had added could pose to his faction's ability to remain hidden for the most part. So he was forced to leave it in High Note for now, unconnected to anything and with every square inch of the gigantic bit of circuitry that was the AI scrubbed just in case for tracking devices and other bugs. While he was doing that however, other events were happening down on Earth.
OOOOOOO
Nick Fury leaned back in his chair, rubbing one hand over his remaining eye wearily, but with a faint smile of accomplishment on his face. It was now two days since the video of Banner's apology had gone out, and the fallout had been huge, but thankfully only a bit of it had fallen on SHIELD. Sanders had fallen under some official censure for being a dupe and taking part in it, but he'd done enough to keep the accusations from becoming too pointed.
That hadn't stopped Ross from being stripped of his rank and placed in solitary at an FBI run prison however, and several other generals in the pentagon were under investigation as well. The army in general was being very strongly investigated, every black ops project being opened and aired out, which Fury was ecstatic about, even if he had lost a few resources of SHIELD's for now.
Even better his Avengers Initiative had finally been given the green light. The councilors, though not really bowing to public opinion, had been forced to recognize that America and its allies had to have their own superhero team, one that they could depend upon to uphold their laws against those that might break them. That such a broad example would obviously cover the Custodes Mundi and whatever they did had been an unspoken but very powerful message in the debates.
Hawkeye, Natasha, Avalanche, and last but not least Giant Man, with Iron Man and Thor as possible inclusions. Tony's already on board with the idea of at least supplying us with transportation and any other gear we need bar weapons. And given the following that Thor's developed, his inclusion might be a good idea on a PR level, if he actually agrees. That wasn't as certain as Fury had thought it might be at one point, though he hoped that Thor at least would agree to remain in contact with the rest of the team.
A decent starting force, though they lack someone to lead them. Hopefully operation Zamboni will turn… something… up there. While Hawkeye and Natasha had the training and skill necessary to be a leader, they didn't have the experience or the necessary level of charisma or frankly clout with some of the others that he was planning to bring in. SHIELD had also shut down Weapon Plus, an American run program to create super soldiers, adding two of its members, codenames Kestrel and Maverick, to their agency. They would join the Avengers eventually, but had to pass psych screening first.
Giant Man, or Henry Pym as he was known in his civilian life had been picked up on a raid against an AID facility deep in the Rockies. The good doctor had been attempting to break out on his own, having ingested something he called the Giant Serum based on the subatomic particle he had discovered that bore his name. AIM had been forcing him to work on it for them, wishing to use them to create an army of giant soldiers. He had agreed to come aboard the Avengers team in return for funding for some of his experiments, and brought both an incredible intelligence and decent amount of strength and subtlety to the team, given the other side of the abilities his serum gave Henry.
Letting his hand fall from his eye Nick turned back to the screen he was studying, the map of possible AIM bases the world over glowing on it. With the hammering Doom is giving HYDRA they're funneling so many resources back into their strongholds in Eastern Europe I doubt they're going to be able to plan anything offensive here in America or in any of our allies. Italy, Greece, most of South America, and even portions of Asia had finally joined the SHIELD Protocol, giving SHIELD freedom to act in those countries against problems that fell under their remit, which AIM or HYDRA certainly would.
I wonder what the hell HYDRA did to piss Doom off. Fury thought to himself shaking his head. It's lovely to watch one of the baddies do your work for you, but I still have to wonder about it. He was also concerned because Doom wasn't just smashing HYDRA, he was taking out any government that HYDRA had its fingers in, adding their lands to his own countries. Yet most of the time the people of those countries had welcomed him in with open arms. Latveria had the highest living conditions of anything from the Eastern Block, hell it was even higher than Russia or China for the most part, equal to Germany and the United Kingdom in many ways. It was hard to argue with that kind of success, even if it came under the reign of a tyrant.
"Not my problem," Nick said to himself yet again. "Anything to do with Doom's the Fantastic Four's bailiwick and if they're content to let this all go, I'm not going to argue." Nick did not want to tangle with Dr. Doom, in any way shape or form. Maybe after the full Avengers team was brought together then they could go hunting for him, but not before.
No, our best bet will be to go after AIM. Now that I've finally convinced the higher ups that our time shouldn't be spent going over the same territory that other spy agencies cover, we can really hammer them under if we try. And using those missions for further training for the Avengers is an excellent idea, plus field testing our weapons before we have to take on anyone else. He looked at one AIM base in particular, and thought to himself and maybe gain a not insignificant ally and member as well.
Nick looked up when someone buzzed the intercom on his office door. "Come in."
Agent Danvers walked in, carrying a small stack of papers in one hand. "Yes Danvers what can I do for you? Is that the research I asked you to do?" Nick had ordered Carol to look into how to get out of the gravity well and start building some kind of defense up in space, not so much against aliens but against someone who was already building something up there.
"No sir it is not, in point of fact I haven't done any work on that beyond crunching a few numbers. These are my walking papers." Carol said firmly, slapping the papers down on next desk, before putting her hand gun down next to them, along with her SHIELD badge.
"I transferred from NASA into SHIELD on the tacit statement that we would be pushing into space to deal with the threats I could see coming from that arena. Instead, I've been placed on project after project which doesn't call for someone with my knowledge or skills. Worse, now that there's someone doing that job, we're planning to fight them? When they haven't done a single damn thing to show that they're untrustworthy?" Carol shook her head, her blonde hair swaying slightly. "I refuse to be a party to that."
Nick looked down at the badge for a moment then back up to her. "I can't say I didn't see this coming," he said coolly, shaking his head internally. He always disliked seeing people go, but he wasn't about to try to dictate to the woman's conscience. Truth be told, he felt a little worried about the idea of taking on Guardian in space if it turned out he was there already, after all he wasn't part of any previous agreement to not militarize up there was he? And he certainly did seem to at least be trying to do the job that Carol had wanted SHIELD to be doing all along.
But deep down Fury was a spy, and he didn't trust easily, which was why he was still researching ways to shut Potter down. Guardian was too powerful, too unknown, too disconnected from known power structures. All that made him a wildcard and such people were dangerous no matter their morals or track record. So he had been in full agreement with his employers when they had ordered him to look into that concept, as well as other ways to curtail his growing power. "Can you at least recommend someone else to take over for you on this job?"
"Dr. Pym I suppose," Danvers replied with a shrug. "Or Tony Stark if you could get him to agree to it without sharing your reasoning with him, good luck with that. The problem of getting out of the gravity well is the big issue, well that and funding, like I said I cracked some numbers. Putting together some kind of industrial center up in space will take trillions. And that isn't an overstatement or hyperbole. Unless we have access to robotics or something of that nature at a far higher level than I'm aware of, even attempting something like that would quickly bankrupt America in short order. Hell, it would probably bankrupt America, China, Russia and the United Kingdom combined, if we could even figure out a way to get out of the gravity well with enough industrial capacity to start the process."
She watched amused as Nick winced. The United Kingdom had pulled out of the SHIELD Protocols entirely, stating very firmly that they were not wishful to be tied to SHIELD any longer. That had been a heavy blow, but it thankfully hadn't stopped other countries from signing up after the debacle in Montréal.
"Very well," Nick said shaking his head. "You'll have to be processed out of course." With a few taps on his computer he sent a message to the paper pushers down in accounting, as well as security. A moment later one of the helacarrier's security men entered, and Nick nodded at the man. "Take Ms. Danvers here down to out processing, then prepare one of the pelicans to take her down to the nearest airport."
He stood up, holding out his hand across the desk. "Good luck Danvers, I get the feeling you'll need it."
Carol shook his hand, not saying a word then turned to follow the guard out.
Nick stared after the woman, sitting down slowly and brooding quietly about the reasons the woman was leaving, and how much of it dovetailed with his own dislike for the counselors and their separate agendas. I wanted us to start looking into space nearly half a year ago, but the budget just wasn't there, and I couldn't convince anyone of the necessity. Now it might just be too late, and I just lost the only operative I had with any experience in that area, possibly to our, our competitors in that area! While I don't agree with her that Potter hasn't done anything for us to be suspicious about, the rest of what she said was bang on.
His brooding was interrupted by a call on his secure phone line. He picked it up noticing absently that it was Dum Dum calling. "This had better be good Duggan, I just had one hell of a shock to my system."
Duggan's voice sounded ecstatic as he answered. "I think it's the best news possible boss, we found him!"
OOOOOOO
Out processing took hours, mostly spent writing down her initials on different pieces of paper which all amount to the same thing: don't talk about this, don't talk about that, don't go to the press and of course don't divulge state secrets. Each paper also listed the possible repercussions for doing said of course, which at this level amounted to either immediate execution, or long term imprisonment followed swiftly by execution, or more probably someone slipping some poison into your food. Carol thought that it said something that those who deal with secrets were always so damn suspicious of one another.
Maybe I just wasn't cut out for this kind of life anyway, Carol thought to herself as she walked off the pelican, turning to exchange a salute with the pilot before moving away from the small troop transport as it rose back up into the sky. Too many damn secrets, too much distrust, and way too damn much red tape. That was SHIELDs problem right from the start. I wonder what Guardian's budget is?
As a small cart drove her from the edge of the tarmac to the base's entrance where she would be able to pick up a bus heading into town, Carol frowned thoughtfully. Should I go home, or not? After a moment she shook her head. Home after all was a small house in officer's country in a small base in Wyoming. Not only was she in Maine right now, but there really wasn't anything there that she'd care enough to go and get. All the small personal possessions she owned she carried with her in a large duffel bag on her back at the moment. And she'd never been much of a clotheshorse in any event.
Once on the bus, and indeed it's only occupant, Carol opened her cell phone and called the number that Guardian had given her to call after he gave that impromptu speech down in that small town with the Guthrie clan. On the second ring she got a response. "Who is this?" Asked a female voice that Carol recognized, though she couldn't quite place a face with it.
Chalking that down to the protections that Guardian was apparently able to add to his team's suits Carol began, "This is Carol Danvers, I'm calling about a job offer? I hope it's still on the table because I just quit my old one."
Moments after getting off the phone and telling Storm were she was going to be in a moment Carol was at the local bus stop, which was almost empty of people. There were only five people in there, a boy and his father, who was wearing off duty Air Force muftis apparently talking to one another by the reception desk, two men sleeping on some of the benches, and a woman on a cell phone who was eyeing the father in a manner that made Carol smirk a little. Girls do love a man in uniform. Mindful of the fact that Storm was apparently going to come and pick her up soon Carol moved away from the small bus stop itself, which had a video camera near the door, moving around the back toward where there were a dozen parked buses.
For all that she really wasn't cut out for being a spy, Carol still retained a spy's situational awareness. That was why she was aware of the fact that one of the men who had been sleeping had woken up and had followed her out. Frowning she wondered if this was some kind of pickup attempt or something more. I don't think Fury would send a wet work team after me, but better safe than sorry.
With that thought Carol moved around one of the buses, dropping her duffel bag and reaching into it quickly to pick out personal handgun, it wasn't exactly a powerful gun, that it was hers, and she had a gun license too, so was allowed to carry it while off duty. She turned moving back the way she came, only to hear a sound from behind her. "FWIPP!"
Ducking instinctively, she rolled underneath one of the buses, hearing a cruse as something whizzed through the air where she had just been. Seeing two booted feet, she took aim, and about second later a bullet ripped the calf out of one of the boots, sending the man sprawling with a howl of agony. "Ahh…God damn bitch!"
Even in pain the man rolled around to bring up his own weapon, some kind of small boxy thing with a palm grip on it, pointing it underneath the bus at Carol. She desperately rolled to one side, dodging whatever it shot again, coming out from underneath the bus. Getting her feet under her Carol raced off, leaving the wounded assailant behind for now, intending to circle back and attack him from behind while he was hampered by his wound.
However the man had friends, four of them in fact moving through the parked buses at the back of the bus stop towards her now openly. Two of them came around one of the buses in front of her, raising similar weapons to the other man's, but she ducked aside, moving between two more buses to get away from them.
Out of the corner of her eyes she saw one man on top of a bus taking aim at her, and she ducked at the last second, while another strange projectile went over her head. Kneeling down she took aim and fired two rounds, hitting him high in the chest and underneath the chin throwing him back in a welter of blood. "GAHh!"
The man's partner seem to think at that point that using whatever weapon they had, some kind of taser maybe against Carol wasn't going to cut it. He moved around the back of one of the buses throwing a grenade at Carol's position. "Catch bitch!"
But Carol had already moved, ducking back around the front of the bus. Even so she still caught some of the shrapnel from the explosion, which cut a small rivulet through one of her cheeks and a few more on her arm on that side, which unfortunately was her shooting hand. Cursing, Carol decided to make a run for it now, and ducked away through the buses.
Behind her Carol heard a voice shout, "You moron, they want her alive! No more fucking grenades, stick to the tasers!"
"Even after she killed number eight and wounded number five?" Said an incredulous voice.
"Team one and agent one are still out here, remember the last time someone when against orders around him? And besides do you want to explain to the bosses why you didn't capture her?"
That seemed to shut the second voice up, or maybe Carol had moved out of hearing range. She really didn't care which frankly. Being captured didn't sound any more pleasant than being killed, and she was determined to see that it didn't happen.
For the next few moments it was a game of cat and mouse the three remaining upright attackers moving towards her, trying to box Carol in. The crowded nature of the back of the bus area worked in Carol's favor, allowing her to stay out of sight of whatever weapon they were trying to hit her with. But she couldn't throw them off her trail entirely thanks to the blood she was dripping everywhere from her arm.
Carol found herself at the back of the bus area, facing a tall fence that cut it off from the surrounding scrubland. It was a metal fence but it didn't have any barbed wire on the top, and Carol hesitantly began to pull herself up it.
"There she is, nail the bitch and let's get out of here, Intel can't hold back the local response for much longer!"
Carol turned, her eyes narrowing but knowing she was caught. She dropped back to the ground, picking up her gun from where she had dropped it and pointing it at the trio who had appeared from three different directions, but she knew she would only be able to get one before they got her. Even so Carol took aim, firing. She caught her target high in the thigh, spilling into the floor even as he fired back. She ducked, but even so whatever strange little disk thing he was firing hit her in the shoulder, causing a spasm of electricity to go through Carol.
"Taser the bitch two more times just in case!" said one of the men, moving towards Carol from the left. "Just to make sure."
"AYIEEE!" Carol screamed, her body spasming, but even so she only fell to one knee, not unconscious. That was why she was still alive when the cavalry arrived from two different sources.
The sound of a Glock firing as fast as it could rang in Carol's ears from one direction, and the man who had been approaching her from that direction danced as he was hit by several bullets at once, throwing his body forward. A second later the off duty Airman from the bus stop was standing there, his handgun held in both hands as he surveyed the area.
From the other direction an African woman dressed in jeans and a T-shirt suddenly shimmered out of the air behind the last attacker standing. Before he even registered her presence the woman's arm was around his throat locking in a knockout hold.
The man gasped, trying to throw his head back to hit her own, but Storm expertly dodged it, tightening her grip. Feeling his consciousness beginning to fade, the man made a conscious decision and bit down hard on one side of his mouth. There was a loud crunching sound as a false tooth gave way, filling his mouth with cyanide. He gurgled, shaking and shivering as the poison did its work and Storm let go of him in distaste.
Hurrying forward she ignored the man in the Air Force uniform, going to one knee next to Carol. "Carol, are you all right? Stupid question." She shook her head. "Why do people automatically ask that anyway? Better, can you tell me what's wrong with you?"
Carol tried to laugh, but her teeth chattered too much for any of the humor to actually come through. "Some, some kind of taser thing, fading already, I'll, I'll be all right."
"That's good to hear ma'am," said the Air Force soldier. "But a better question might have been what happened here, ma'am?"
"I d-don't know," Carol said, her voice already sounding stronger. She was still unsteady on her feet however, and leaned heavily on Storm. "I don't think I want to stick around to find out either, one of them said there was another team around."
The Airman gulped a little, not used to fighting up close and personal like this, but his face firmed resolutely. "I'm going to head back to the bus stop ma'am and call this in, someone should have done that already, but I headed out the door before they did. But my boy's back there."
"I'll take it from here soldier." Storm said smiling faintly at the man. "Family is important after all." The soldier nodded gratefully and headed back that way while Storm smiled at Carol. "A good man there. But you don't have to worry about their second team, I took them out upon my arrival. Keeping hidden doing so was a little more difficult, though I'm sorry I didn't arrive in time to save you from being tased like that."
Even as she said this, Storm was surreptitiously casting several spells Harry had taught her recently on the woman, checking for tracking devices or anything else. But Carol was clean, inside and out. SHIELD had put a small tracking device in her duffel, but she didn't have her duffel bag on any longer, and frankly from SHIELD's perspective Carol wasn't really that important enough to keep track of.
By this point Carol had all of her faculties back, and she frowned. "Was there something special about one of them? They said something about an agent one, and sounded scared. Just wondering."
"No not really, I would assume he was simply a psychopath of some kind that the others were wary of. Still, I would like to stick around and see if we can find any clues as to who they are. Are you up to that?" She asked solicitously.
Carol nodded firmly. "If you can stop me from bleeding, then yeah."
Storm did so easily, then magically covered them both with her equivalent of the disillusionment charm, before the two of them moved soundlessly towards the place where the one agent Carol had wounded initially should've been. Carol was still wobbly on her feet and by the time they arrived they could hear sirens in the distance. The man however was dead, having taken the same kind of cyanide pill that the man Storm had attempted to take alive had ingested.
At the sight Storm frowned shaking her head, her hair moving against Carol's cheek where she was leaning heavily on the other woman. "Fanatics of some stripe anyway. Indoctrinated heavily, if they're willing to kill themselves rather than be captured."
"Actually that's not as unusual as you might think," Carol said shaking her own head. "A lot of countries have secret agents trained to that level. And even besides that it could be a posthypnotic suggestion of some kind, or a mental command implanted in them during sleep that they don't even know about. I've seen both in my time working with SHIELD."
Storm looked down at her one eyebrow raised as she asked a question there. Carol understood and shook her head again quickly. "No, at least not from the top. Fury wouldn't do that and besides which, I don't know anything that would really be worth killing me over from SHIELD's perspective. Or capturing me of course, or anyone else's frankly, at least I don't think so." The capture thing was bothering Carol somewhat.
"So this could be an overreaction from someone within SHIELD or above it, or someone else thinking you know something that you actually don't, lovely," Storm groaned.
The two of them fell silent for a moment then Storm teleported them up to on top of one of the buses as evening began to fall and the local response arrived. They stayed there, watching intently while the bodies were examined, and statements taken from the soldier. During that, a team from SHIELD arrived, looking around anxiously.
One of them brought the soldier sharply to task about leaving Carol with an unknown, but the man replied hotly, gesturing back towards the bus stop where his young boy was standing, staring out at the goings-on avidly, holding the hand of the woman as she too was watching the activity. "Besides, the two women seemed to know one another, and the Major said it was all right." Carol had, and was still wearing her Air Force muftis, complete with rank.
The SHIELD agent still looked irritated, but since they couldn't find any sign that Carol had continued to fight, had to conclude that Carol at least had left the scene willingly. They tried calling her on her cell phone, but Carol had left her duffel bag were the first attacker had been, which gave them no clue as to her current whereabouts.
"Do you want to say something to them?" Storm asked from beside her. At Carol's raised eyebrow she shrugged. "They won't be able to hear us."
"That's handy, and no, I don't. I don't know any of those people down there, SHIELD was too large for you to get to know everyone of course. Still, I would've thought at least a few of my team would've come down to see since it involved me. Unless this is a fast reaction team or something. Anyway, I think I'm done with SHIELD and that part of my life. I'm ready for something new."
Storm laughed and got to her feet, pulling the other one up with her. "Well, seeing as we haven't learned anything that could point us in the direction of who was after you, I think we're perfectly ready to get on with that life of yours. But first you have to read this." She held out a small slip of paper that contained the words of the Fidelius charm on High Note.
Carol read it, her brow furrowed as she wondered what it meant. "Trust me, it's better than the alternative." Carol shrugged and when the woman held out her hand took it. A second later they disappeared from on top of the bus, and reappeared somewhere else.
As the teleportation faded Carol gasped but shook her head, getting over the fact that her stomach had moved several miles in less than a second far faster than most thanks to her astronaut training. "That was odd, somewhat unpleasant. Where are we?" She asked looking around then gasping in wonder as she stared out at Earth as seen from on high, with the dark of space and the stars in the distance all around it.
"Hello Miss Danvers, welcome to High Note." Said a male voice from behind her and she turned rather unwillingly from the vista in front of her. "I'm Harry Potter, otherwise known as Guardian." Said a young man, younger than Carol anyway with the greenest eyes she had ever seen. "And as you can see, we have a lot to talk about."
An hour later Carol Danvers was still standing in the control room of High Note, staring around her in wonder, while Harry concluded a brief overview of his space based holdings. "This view is, it's everything I've, I've ever imagined…" she said aloud, stammering a little. After a moment spent simply staring out of into space just taking in the view, she looked closer at some of the objects in orbit nearby. "So you really have already begun to hollow those out? What are you going to do with them?"
"Point defense for the most part, we'd need hundreds of bases to completely cover Earth, but if we put them at equidistant points all around, we might be able to defend it anyway." Harry smiled slightly from where he was standing beside her, well pleased. Carol had been standing on what Kitty had taken to calling the 'trust-check array', much like the one they had put in Banner's quarters, and it hadn't flickered even once. "The works pushing a month old at this point for some of them, but it's going full tilt now that we've got another hundred worker robots, and of course my own magical additions are doing their normal magnificent job."
Carol stood there, shaking her head as she stared out at the asteroid's all around. "And you say these things won't be picked up on radar?"
"Not at present no. If they started offensive operations, that kind of thing would be too much for even the most powerful Fidelius charm to cover. But for now yes."
"What do I have to do to stay up here?" Carol asked eagerly. "Seriously I will do anything!" This, this was what she had wanted to be involved in from the very beginning, no namby-pamby rockets, no months long planning and operations, no fucking paperwork! Just getting up into space, she didn't care how, and start building things! Well actually that was secondary, what Carol really wanted to do was go exploring, but one thing at a time, one thing at a time.
Guardian laughed, shaking his head. "I have a few projects I'd like to throw you at actually, mostly military related it's got to be said, but one of the first is I'd like you to look at some of the problems we've been having in figuring out how to really build the asteroid bases. Then possibly suggest companies and even a few names if you've got any that we could go to help on those. Then I'd like you to start working with a small think tank I've begun work on, to sort of put together a training regimen for working in space. After that…"
OOOOOOO
For all his fears about the man's activities Sebastian made a point of being cordial to Edward whenever they were in the club at the same time. It behooved them to do so as Kings after all, and in the club was the one place where their resources were entirely equal. For his part, Edward suspected that Sebastian had something to do with Donald's fall from grace, and was perhaps a little too ready to resort to violent methods even in business, but he too felt it was common courtesy to remain cordial with one another.
"Have you been following what is going on in the market?" Edward asked, while the two of them sat in the King's room, staring out over the club behind the hidden windows. "I noted by the way that your construction company has recently expanded tremendously into the Canadian market, well done."
Sebastian dipped his head slightly to acknowledge the other man's congratulations then replied. "Yes I have it's… interesting. Stark has certainly changed the civilian technological market, and the news that some other company might have come out with its own version of the Stark arc reactor is interesting. As is the fact that they aren't going to be selling the reactors themselves but the energy from them. I imagine Lester, Nathan and Baxter are all apoplectic about it."
Those three were members of the club who either owned outright or large portions of energy companies. Of course most energy companies did do things that were not in point of fact related to their base product but even so the idea of arc reactors becoming commonplace might slowly but surely drive those companies out of business.
"Not so much as their British counterparts I imagine," Edmund murmured, smiling thinly. "The testbed project has already been completed, and is apparently supplying all of Devonshire with a single reactor running at what amounts to low output. That city is isn't a large one, but the output is a factor there."
"What interests me is how Potter got the technology in the first place." Shaw frowned thoughtfully. "Did he get it off Stark somehow, or did he really reverse engineer it?"
That of course had been the real reason why Stark had never patented his company's arc generator design. If he had patented it after the patent expired he would've been forced to put the plans for it out for the public to see, allowing other companies to attempt to build them. Instead he had not patented it, and could protect his proprietary designs. But that didn't stop someone from reverse engineering it, which had evidently happened.
"I have not been able to discover who is head of his research and development program." Edmund replied honestly. "I have the names of the new managers for Elemental Energies , and even the name of the manager for Magical Minds. Stephen O'Cairn is a respectable, decent sort, a thorough going professional who I imagine is loving the challenge. And Saab has always been almost open book before, but even there, I don't know what they are building or who came up with the design."
"That matches with what I had found. I have to wonder though, what is his long-term goal?"
Edward laughed. "Does he have one? Do we have one? More money more power, that is every man's objective, do you honestly think he has a long game?" Even as he said so however, Edward was surreptitiously watching Sebastian's face. Edward knew that Potter seemed to have a soft spot for mutants, but how far that went and what it might be based on or make him do was a different question. Yet he had already done enough damage, and his public stance continued to erode the idea of forcing mutants to register or to treat them as a separate species.
"I can't say I like his social program," Sebastian said mildly. "So long as he only pontificates on it however, I can't rightly stop him. But I would prefer to know something more about him on a personal level. He's only ever been here a few times since his introduction, and I can only point to once being for social reasons." He smirked suddenly. "Emma seems to have scared him off after that."
"Yes they are interesting to watch aren't they? Two powerful young people too alike to really get along," Edward smiled faintly. Neither of them thought to say out loud that it was probably a good thing the two of them didn't get along. "Unfortunately I am a bit too busy with my own projects and other issues as well." He scowled somewhat theatrically. He had recently laid off the president of his tech company, and had not yet hired or brought up his replacement.
Edward had allowed some of Sebastian's spies to figure out that he had fired the man due to some issues of stolen money, and had stepped up to take the man's place for now. Indeed, this was the only time he'd been at the club for a while. That and his falling out with Paris was enough to convince Sebastian that he wasn't spending his time on anything else. Instead Edward was preparing funding to back Senator Kelly's presidential campaign, removing what little bits and pieces of his empire there or in China thanks to the pressure continuing from certain sources there.
"Then I think it would befit me to extend a cordial invitation to him, one king to another. I'll have to make certain that Emma isn't here of course, or else we won't get anything done. The two of them will just snipe at one another oh so delicately over the canapés."
Edward laughed again, and the two of them went back to people watching.
Sebastian was good as his word, and the very next day he invited Harry to lunch. Not to the Hellfire Club just in case, but at a restaurant he was part owner in downtown. Thankfully Harry's face wasn't so well known yet that they were mobbed despite his ongoing public push for mutant and human equality so they weren't swamped by reporters looking for interviews.
Throughout most of the meal the two of them exchanged stories, anecdotes of their childhoods and other things of minor nature, until they were nearly done eating and the waiter had disappeared once again to get the check. Then Sebastian broached the subject he was truly wondering about. "You certainly made an impression with your speech on PNN a few weeks ago. And you have continued to make waves since with your aggressive hiring policy. No one can say that you're not putting your money where your mouth is."
About 62% of Harry's workers for Magical Minds and Elemental Energies were mutantsand even Saab now had mutants on the payroll. He hadn't yet extended that to the other companies he had bought shares in or outright purchased of late, but that would come in time. Most of those mutants didn't have powers that anyone could truly fear, they were simply disfigured in some ways, much like the two children that Ororo had saved. But even so thanks to their looks and the fears it engendered most of those people hadn't been able to get jobs, whatever their educational level.
"Loyalty is an interesting commodity," Harry replied blandly. "You can't really buy it for love or money, but you can earn it. And that earning can be difficult or hard depending on the situation." He smiled thinly. "Capitalizing on other people's idiocy costs me nothing, and gains me the fierce loyalty of my workforce."
"True. But I have to ask, do you really think that humans and mutants can coexist? Humanity isn't very good at coexisting with those they fear or are so different than them. And never before has a minority like mutants been so widespread across the world and yet so obviously different for many of them."
"For many of them," Harry replied with a nod, smirking internally when Sebastian's eyes narrowed at that oblique response. "However, I believe that there are bigger fish to fry. The incident up in Montréal points to that at least, doesn't it?"
Sebastian was forced to nod his head at that, yet he went on anyway. "Even if mutants and humans can coexist, that won't make many of the problems society faces go away. There will always be the haves and the have-nots, those on top of the social ladder and those beneath them."
"Of course," Harry replied with a nod. "But what should that matter so long as the right people are the ones on top?"
For a moment Sebastian tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table thinking how interesting a response that was. Could it be that he's simply going for the soft sell? He doesn't really believe in mutant and human equality, just not outright violent war between them? But how to get to that point?
As the waiter was coming back with their check Sebastian decided to table that bit of discussion. "Well Mr. Potter, this has been a lovely meal, and it certainly has given me food for thought as well. I hope to see you more often at the Hellfire Club. Try not to be too scared of our Ice Queen. Whatever did occur between the two of you to set yourselves so against one another? You have so much in common after all."
Harry laughed a little sheepishly looking away. "Let's just say that the relationship between Ms. Frost and I did not go nearly as well as I had expected. And we might have a little too much in common to really get along together if you take my meaning."
Bingo, Sebastian thought to himself watching Harry's eyes lock onto his for a moment, and he allowed a faint smile across his face. "Oh I do, indeed I do."
As Harry walked out of the restaurant and got into his car, he smiled thinly. The hook's set, now I just need to play the little fishy.
OOOOOOO
Later that day, Harry continued his hiring binge, this time in Mumbai, India. He was here hoping to hire what would amount to a medical think tank, as well as a lot of tech people across the board. The first one was the most promising, an up-and-coming medical student who was even now thought of as a genius in her field named Kavita Rao. She was more than willing to sign up with Magical Minds, especially given the hints Harry dropped that the medicines he had already released was but the tip of the iceberg.
Harry sighed, leaning back in the soft chair of the room he had commandeered in the hotel for these interviews. Seventeen out of the 25 was an excellent harvest, and he only had two more to interview. The Indian people seem to be remarkably accepting of mutants he thought to himself. I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense given how many religions there are in India, and what religious intolerance has done here before. Still it is surprising and a hopeful sign in the long term.
Harry knew that for his future plans to work he would have to have America, India and possibly China on board. Indeed, he was already making plans to woo America further. His hiring binges there had already done so in many ways, and his stance had won him some public accolades, but the government was obviously leery of 'Guardian' given some of the statements he had seen of late.
That in fact was the general public reaction from governments the world over. Guardian wasn't quite being vilified, which would have been impossible after the way the Custodes and he had fought against the Hulk, Abomination and Thanos and especially how much the team helped out afterward. But it was a near run thing, and his alliance with the FF, and the deep well of respect they had gained since their adventures began, was possibly the only thing stopping people from doing so.
Even so public opinion was all over the place, though a surprising amount of people were willing to, not forget, but overlook the destruction Harry had wreaked on Mars. The response was 'better there than here' and was an almost universal one. People understood the battle could have been far worse, and cost hundreds more human lives, so outside the scientific community a lot of people were willing to forgive Harry for Mars.
On the other side of things, the UK's government had been approached by practically every other first world country in an attempt to open up clandestine discussions with Guardian, but William and his government was stonewalling everyone for now while Harry and Emma pondered how to handle that, and indeed if they really should at all.
One of the country's most persistent in trying to open up backchannel talks with Guardian and Harry Potter, his public persona, was of course America. They wanted Guardian under their control, but the government was so torn on the Mutant Issue there was no way they would be able to meet his demands there. The senate and house were both sharply divided on that issue, while many of them were willing to completely ignore the space-based threats. Those that weren't felt building a military presence was necessary, but didn't want to sacrifice anything to do it, and were leery of Guardian in general.
The current President was a bloody sock puppet who didn't seem to have any spine so far as the big issues were concerned. He'd been elected on the strength of his economic knowhow, and was at sea on anything else. He was willing to open a dialogue on that issue and on dealing with space-based threats, so long as Guardian agreed to be bound by the UN charter and 'work with existing powers for the betterment of humanity'.
In terms of his public persona, there had been attempts to block Harry's purchasing of some American based companies, and indications that he needed to release his potions to America at cost for those attempts to go away. Harry however wasn't budging, and indeed was going to begin putting more health and PR related pressure on America very soon, once the new gardens came online.
Yet India had an even larger population to call on than America, and if Harry could help India bring its industrial base up to match its population and tech level? That would go a long way to dealing with any worker shortage he might run into in the future, though the nation's stance on human rights wasn't anywhere near where he would have liked.
My first think tanks are already producing a result. First was the group he had hired in Norway, looking into separating fact from myth in the light of Thor and Balder and all the rest being real. It wasn't easy, but they were making some headway, basically by looking at everything that was written or noted about them after the coming of Catholicism to Norway as being false. That this chopped off much of the legend of Ragnarok was, to Harry's mind, an intriguing datum, and he was looking forward to what else they could tell him.
His second think tank however was even more satisfying for all that it had only been on the job for a few days. Training in zero-G is going to be a must whatever types of suits we come up with for mass production, as will a simple list of do's and don'ts, suit maintenance, how to move in space, how to keep fit if you spend X amount of time in zero-G, always needing to check air pressure… The team of divers, miners and underwater specialists Harry had hired to think up plans for that along with Carol were working hard on the issue, and Carol in particular was a godsend in that area, not two days after work began on it.
Still, what mattered was that the world was settling down once more after the Montréal Disaster, and the waves from it had finally had time to settle down as well, along with much of the first, gut/emotional responses. The incident had calcified the two different points of view on mutants and indeed on superpowered individuals in general. And it had expanded to all superpowered individuals both heroes and not, which was interesting.
But where some nations had responded like France, giving mutants fully legal rights under the law so long as those with dangerous powers were trained to use their powers for the betterment of all, other nations were still waffling. America in particular was oscillating wildly between following the UK and France, and going in an entirely different way like Russia and China were doing, if in very different ways.
Russia continued to push for the eradication of anyone found to be a mutant, unless their powers could be used to aid the state. Harry, Piotr and the father had talked about it, and they decided that this probably meant that the government Super Soldier program was still continuing. There had to be other installations of course, but what to do about it eluded them.
Father Garnoff and Harry had a long discussion on that subject, and Harry had reluctantly decided to allow the father to return to Russia soon to restart his mutant underground railroad. But he wanted to wait for a bit. With the battles in Croatia pointing to the fact that that government was highly involved in the HYDRA terrorist group and Doom's ongoing campaign against them, Russia might well decide military intervention was necessary to keep Doom away from its own borders. If that happened, the chaos that move would cause along said border would allow him to sneak Garnoff in much more easily than otherwise.
China had cracked down hard on mutant deaths, but was just as stern about mutants with powers being trained to serve the state. But they extended that well beyond the military, and were open about it. Moreover those mutants with powers were treated well, and would be taken care of and educated on the state's budget. But the government came down hard on any mutants using their powers for personal gain without its approval. Dennis had tried to explain the social structure of China to Harry, but much of it went over his head. He did however understand that the community was all, and that there might be room there for an alliance down the road. As soon as Harry figured out how those mutants with non-profitable/usable powers were being treated.
Africa was of course a mixed bag. Egypt, Syria, and the other countries where Islam was dominant were all staunchly anti-mutant, but other countries where the population wasn't so monotheistic were either divided or coming down on the pro-mutant equality side. The new power in the region, the previously hidden country of Wakanda was pro-mutant, and it had even allowed mutants to join what was called it's King's honor guard, a visible and very respected group that was in charge of his safety and the country's borders. Wakanda's level of technology and its sheer wealth thanks to its vibranium mines meant it was a force to be reckoned with in the rest of the continent, and Harry was thinking about opening talks with its king in the future.
South America was again a mixed bag, while Canada had quickly followed Britain and France's pro-equality stance. And according to what Dennis could discover they were even going to push to open dialogue with Guardian as an ally in the future.
Yet for all the good news there are some worms in the works, and that's not even considering the Sentinel program. He thought shaking his head sadly. And one of them is getting larger every time a day goes by that we don't hear from him, unless of course the mutant Nazi is involved in all of these incidents worldwide.
He put that talk to the side however as the intercom buzzed informing him that the desk had another individual here for an appointment with him. Glancing at the clock he nodded, smiling slightly at the promptness. He frowned however when not one but two people entered, both women, and with one decidedly older looking than the other. Their faces looked enough alike as to be mother and daughter or older sister and far younger sister at best.
Behind them was another person, a young girl apparently who only came up to their waist. All of them were wearing those burqas or whatever they were called that Muslim women were supposed to wear, so it was impossible to tell. But the young girl was also wearing a thing over her face as well.
Before Harry could speak the first one held up a hand, closing the door behind them quickly as she pulled off the burqa from her head. "You'll have to excuse the deception Mr. Potter, I realize you are here meeting with Assia Soreduka but she doesn't actually exist. I need your help Harry." Midsentence her voice began to change, and she asked. "Are we safe here?"
Harry recognized the tone now and smiled blandly even as his fingers began to twitch in readiness to cast spells just in case. He noticed that the wards he put up to spot deception hadn't spotted this, which was not a good sign in the long term. "We're safe enough Mystique, though I have to say I didn't expect to see you here."
"It's been a while since I've felt really safe, comes with the territory I suppose." Mystique quipped, pushing her burqa back off her face while her two fellows did the same. The smallest figure showed itself to be a young boy with purple skin and an irritated expression, possibly by the cross-dressing he'd been forced to do. "This is Irene, I mentioned her at that dinner we had, and the young boy's named Paras. We rescued him from a vampire along with a magic book that…"
Throughout the tale Harry sat, frowning heavily at the talk about the book, which he immediately took possession of and sent back to Camelot with Cory to be placed in the real vault with Krakaan's gem, though he ordered Cory to first place it, bag and all, into an iron box. After that he simply sat and listened until Mystique finished, then looked at Paras first. "Well lad, I can see you've had an adventure, but the Avalon academy will welcome you as a student easily enough. As for you Mystique, I think I can find a job for you as well. And trust me, if it's Irene's safety you're worried about, Camelot is the safest place on the planet."
He then turned to Irene. "I can also say milady that I really have no wish to make use of your powers beyond what you volunteer. I have bad experiences with prophecies before this, and no wish to become dependent on them." With that he turned back to Mystique. "Did you ever deal with this person who would give you a choice to take the other path Irene saw?"
"Yes, but the author wasn't very appealing to me given the news worldwide. He wanted me to join a team who were going to assassinate Senator Kelly, the one from Texas who is the voice of the Mutant Registration Act. But given the rest of the world's mixed reaction, frankly Kelly didn't seem as important anymore," Mystique shrugged. The man in question had been an odd sort anyway, his features so bland and unassuming that it stood out to a trained spy like her. And his shtick, while possibly tempting, hadn't told her enough about who was behind this plan for her to agree to it.
Harry nodded, but put even that bit of information aside in his mind, since it did add to the growing bits of information showing that there was indeed someone trying to instigate a race war between mutants and normal humans. After that however, Harry made certain all his new hires knew how to get in contact with him and how to travel to the UK, particularly Kavita and a few of the others he intended to second into his medical think tank, then teleported the trio to Camelot.
While some of the house elves got Irene and Paras situated, introduced Mystique to Dennis. Then he gave Mystique her first job. "Find Magneto! He's been silent for too long, and I mean there hasn't been any sign of him or his cabal, unless he's the one behind your mystery offer and the violence here and there worldwide, though there is no indication we can find of that. His silence is making me very nervous, and I don't want him to suddenly show up and toss all the work I've been doing down the drain with some megalomaniacal display!"
Mystique nodded. "I know a few of his hideaways, and I think Irene can help us further with that." With that she turned back to Dennis, while Harry left, intent on getting some food and wondering if they could possibly get ahead of the disasters for once before the next one dropped on their laps.