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Despite his last name, Nick Fury wasn't one to rage and scream when unexpected things occurred. No, he would be calm, like an eye of a storm, letting everything happen around him while controlling it as much as he could. Now, if a subordinate screwed the pooch, well, there he would chew your ass off. Nick was death on incompetence and had very high standards. Thankfully for Dum Dum, who even though an old friend would not be exempt from that, this whole situation fell under the first example.
After Duggan had called him, Nick had flown out late last night via a routine supply run, not wanting to give anyone who might be watching the base in Pakistan the idea that anything had happened and also needing to throw off anyone who was watching him before heading out. About fifteen minutes after he had arrived, Nick found himself in Duggan's command center, watching a video while Duggan and two of his sensor techs gave commentary.
Eventually the video ended. Nick sat there for a moment, one hand rubbing at his eye patch in thought. "You were right to shut down the bases communication Duggan, well done. I don't think it would do the current international scene any good for news of a new superpowered threat to get around. Still, this shows me where Mr. Wizard stands, even if his face is obscured somehow we can tell who it was, and it sure as hell isn't on the side of the law. Hell, it looks like he's decided to follow Magneto's creed more than Charles'."
"I don't think you can say that, really," Duggan cautioned. "Not after what we saw after the battle ended."
Fury brought one hand down to smash into the table in front of him. "Don't give me that crap, Duggan! Mr. Wizard, Harry Potter, just flew into a secret Russian facility…"
"A base where mutant children were being experimented on…" the Brooklyn born SHIELD captain tried to interrupt.
His boss however ignored him. "A secret Russian facility and wiped it out! Judging by the video, he can conjure up an army of stone giants at need, throw more spells around than I've even heard of! We need to find out what his game is and no more damn runaround! My god, if the Russians decide to play it that way, they could see this as an act of war! And who do you think they are going to blame for it? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count."
"I don't think we need to worry about the Russkies being open about this, after all, if they come out and say they were attacked, Mr. Wizard can trot out the kids he rescued. Would be one hell of a PR coup worldwide, if they forced it. And in terms of trying to get a handle on Wizard and his group, I don't think its really necessary just yet. He seems cut from the same mold as the FF. I think he's firmly on the side of the angels even if he's concentrating on fighting for mutant rights. He's fought Magneto, right, and he fought against that sorceress in London. Phoenix helped us here by dropping off Talmud, even if the fucker found some way to kill himself."
"He's a god-damned loose cannon, is what he is. The FF don't go looking for trouble, the trouble comes looking for them. Potter needs to learn to see the big picture, he can cause a hell of a lot more problems than he can solve if he does shit like this." Fury snarled, the image of another world war prominent in his mind. "Its not his place to go around playing Robin Hood like this."
Duggan, however, had always been more of a people person. "I'd hate to have to tell that to the kids he saved, Nick. A few of them looked as young as ten, for God's sake! Besides, there's nothing to connect the attack with anyone else."
Nick frowned, but conceded the point. "That is true but I still don't like Potter acting out like this, this and that shit in London."
"Hah!" Duggan barked a laugh, though there was no humor in it. "You're just angry because that is the kind of threat that SHIELD is supposed to handle, and you hate not being able to plus not having enough info to do the job. We don't have anyone on our payroll that can handle the magic shit and SHIELD still doesn't have enough money, men, or even permission to cover the rest of the world like we should."
Fury snarled, but eventually had to concede the point. "You know me far too well, Duggan, but that doesn't change the fact that Potter is going to start as many problems as he solves with these ham-handed tactics. We need to figure out a way to counter him when he becomes a threat."
Duggan frowned, not liking the way his boss was assuming that Potter would be a problem in the future, but he didn't say anything and Nick went on. "Anyway, at least the Ghosts work, even if we've run into a dead end with the HYDRA/terrorist connection. Stay here for another two weeks, if you can't find any leads on HYDRA by that time, we have other fires I need my best fireman to put out. We've had a few setbacks recently and SHIELD needs to step up even more."
OOOOOOO
The next day, Harry woke up between his two ladies, with Ororo's arms hugging one of his own and Jean's arms over them both, her head tucked against his other shoulder. Unlike Ororo, Jean was not exactly comfortable just yet sleeping naked in the same bed with Harry, so instead she had worn a silk chemise with matching panties underneath. Harry smiled, pulling Ororo closer and letting one arm wrap around Jean who murmured and snuggled deeper into his chest.
Harry loved this. Above and beyond the sexy times and their being able to support each other, it was moments like this that he truly enjoyed, just him and his two loves, snuggling together, away from the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, Harry also knew that real life would intrude all too soon; they had a lot to get done today. He looked up through the transparent stone that separated the top of the headmaster's tower from the outside world, something he had done for Ororo when they moved in. He noticed that the sun was just peeking over the horizon and smiled faintly. For a moment, Harry lay there, mentally going over what he wanted to do today, then slowly he began to move, trying to get out from underneath his two ladies without waking either up.
This failed. Jean smiled groggily at him, leaning up to meet his lips in a kiss for a moment but then pulling back pouting a little. "Morning breath, ugh." She muttered, sticking her tongue out.
Harry quickly hit his mouth with a breath freshening spell and, before Jean could pull her tongue back into her mouth, captured it between his lips. He twirled his own tongue around Jean's, causing her to moan aloud in surprise, her eyes widening for a moment before she gave into the kiss, her tongue beginning to move with his.
Ororo woke up quickly, as usual. Looking around, she smiled faintly at the rather sexy display on hand with the redhead losing herself to a kiss. However, she shook her head, lightly tapped both their heads with a finger, before leaning in to kiss them both quickly on the lips. "I believe we have too much to do to get too caught up in one another, my loves."
"True, Ororo," Harry said, though this didn't stop him from gently tracing one finger down the side of Ororo's face and between her breasts for a moment, marveling once again how these two magnificent, utterly gorgeous women, had fallen in love with him. He shook it off, with difficulty, and gently sat up.
Jean allowed him to move out of the bed, pouting slightly. After pulling on a shirt, Harry turned and looked over at the two of them. Then he promptly looked away. The sight of Jean, sitting up now on her knees in the bed, her silk negligée bunched up around her waist, her panties showing and Ororo stretching as she lay on the bed next to her, like some kind of huge cat, unconcerned with her nakedness, threatened to grab his attention once more.
He coughed, manfully ignoring the gurgle of laughter from Jean, who could easily see from his profile that he had enjoyed the view very much indeed. "Ahem, anyway, we've got a lot to do today. Ororo," Harry went on, now much more seriously, looking into Ororo's eyes and ignoring her body with some difficulty, "after breakfast, I want you to first head out to grab that den-mother/teacher you mentioned. I'll hit her with a few spells later to make certain she can't talk about whatever she sees here, if you think it necessary, but at this point, we've got too much on our plate to let you be bogged down watching and teaching the kids we rescued. After that, I want you to head over with Cory to the X-Men's mansion. Tell Charles what happened, though no details, if you don't mind. I don't think he'd like how violent the battle was and I don't think right now we need to deal with that."
Ororo frowned, looking as if she was about to say something, but paused and seem to think better of it for the moment, merely nodding silently.
Harry went on. "If you can, borrow one of those medical beds he's got. We can use that to check out the kids. Also, see if you can find out who sold them to him so we can buy our own. Jean, I'd like you to start looking over the weapons we grabbed from the base, think of creating weapons for the rest of the team, including you, me, and Ororo. If necessary, Kitty and I can create pouches or pockets to hold them."
He looked up as a sharp preck sounded behind him. Hedwig glared at them from her perch in one corner. Well, it wasn't really a single perch so much as it was a series of perches that Harry had created, sticking out from the floor and corners as well as the ceiling. All different sorts of perches made from different trees, an owlish sort of heaven. Nonetheless, it seemed as if Hedwig was feeling the effects of a long night, her feathers were ruffled, one eye was still closed, and she was leaning from one perch onto another rather than sitting upright.
"Hey, Hedwig," Harry said, striding over to gently stroke her plumage for a moment. "We'll let you get back to sleep in a bit, though I will need you later today. Did you run into any trouble dropping off the note for Dr. Doom?"
Hedwig precked at him with somewhat more mellow tones, nipping at his fingers, though Harry could tell that his question had angered her. "Did the not-so-good doctor try anything?" Harry paused for a moment after saying that it should then shook his head. "Silly me, of course he tried something, what precisely did he try?"
His familiar looked into his eyes, and Harry felt some of her memories through their link. It turned out that Dr. Doom had tried to set up scanners to figure out how Hedwig popped around. Harry was actually a little intrigued by that, because he knew Hedwig's method of travel was a different style of teleportation than the house-elves or magic users used, but he never seemed to have the time to try to figure it out. Apparently Dr. Doom hadn't succeeded, or at least Hedwig didn't think he had, but getting through whatever he had set up without being 'caught' had irritated the snowy owl immensely.
"I'm sorry about that Hedwig. Hopefully in the future we won't have to use you as our go-between, but I can't promise that. Did you actually see Doom?" Hedwig shook her head, and then with finality in every inch of her body Hedwig ducked her underneath one wing turning away.
"Right, well that's fine." Harry muttered, turning away.
Ororo chuckled, standing up and moving to grab a towel before heading down to the bay bathing area. But her voice was serious when she spoke. "When you meet with him tomorrow, you must be careful my love. Dr. Doom may possess a certain sense of honor, but he is cunning, ambitious, egotistical, and possibly one of the most intelligent men in the world. That is a dangerous combination and I think he is one of the few people in the world who could eventually figure out scientific methods to negate or offset your magical powers."
"You're not saying anything I don't already know Ororo." Harry replied, kissing her on the forehead as he moved over to grab a pair of pants. "I wouldn't put it past him to have already figured out a way to duplicate a lot of the stuff I can do or, at least, to combat what I used in that battle against Selene in London, since he purposely mentioned having seen footage of it, somehow. I'm not going to underestimate him. In fact, I'm going to be loaded for bloody bear the entire time."
Jean cocked an eyebrow at him and Harry shrugged, then began to count on his fingers. "Sword of Gryffindor ready at my side, Magia Erebea activated before I get within a mile of Barcelona, my invisibility cloak ready to be pulled over me to disappear at need, and several subtle but nasty defensive wards ready to go that I'll lay out with the notice-me-not ward I'll put up on the place were going to be meeting. I have no doubt he'll come with his own preparations but I hope that it doesn't come to a physical confrontation. But I'll be ready for it even so."
Jean nodded then moved onto another topic. "After I'm done looking over the weapons, will we be able to get up to High Note to create enough Orihalcum to create a reactor prototype?"
"Yes," Harry replied firmly, "but before that, I have to warn you about one of the people we rescued, the priest. His name is Father Garnoff, I think. He has a telepathic power of some kind, possibly based off eye contact though I'm not certain. If he tries anything, shut him down hard. I don't like the idea of him being able to get into our minds."
"He found your mind?" Jean asked sharply.
"Oh yes, he was able to find it but he couldn't get through my mental invisibility cloak. It was like his power acts like some sort of telepathic equivalent of sonar. I wouldn't put it past him to be able to use some kind of hypnosis effect as well. Until I talk to him and we clear him, we'll treat him as a guest but not an ally.
Jean nodded thoughtfully. "All right, that works."
"I'll want Shiang Chi to start working with Piotr and Nikolai." Harry went on, not noticing the smile Jean and Ororo shared. As much as Harry wanted to think he was simply one among many, he had a take charge attitude that came out easily. "I'd also like both of you to take some time to get to know them. As soon as possible, I'd like us to start using them as backup on our missions, especially the ones to Selene's last caches. While you do that, I'll head out to survey the land where I want to put up the office building for our company, and later send Hedwig out to see the King and call Emma to see if she can open up some time."
Ororo nodded. "I think that is enough for now Harry, best not to make any more plans ahead of time when something could always come up. Especially in our lives, yes?"
"Yeah," Harry muttered shaking his head, "Fate's bitch, that's me."
"Well, either it's contagious or it has something to do with the spandex." Jean laughed, dragging him into a kiss before pushing him towards the door. "Now get out, us ladies are going to go take a bath. We'll see you down at the breakfast table."
Harry chuckled but left willingly, moving down the spiral staircase into the castle proper. Now that he was away from the rather intoxicating presence of his two ladies, Harry could feel the castle practically thrumming with joy, causing him to smile faintly. The castle knew that it had been created to be a school and it knew that it had not had students before. But now there were children, not just Melody but many children in the castle, and the castle's happiness was permeating every stone.
He frowned for a moment, wondering about one of those children in particular, Illyana Rasputin and how Hedwig liked her so easily, then shook it off. He had other things to worry about today. Eventually, I am damn well going to be looking into that, as well as some other discrepancies I've noticed. "Dilly?"
The house-elf majordomo appeared, bowing creakily. "Master asked for Dilly? Breakfast bes ready down in the hall."
"Thank you Dilly but it wasn't that. As you know, we've got more people here now. I just want to make sure that you know to assign house-elves to each of them, especially the children. But remember that they shouldn't eat too much, it will be a few days before they're able to eat what we think as their fill"
The house elf nodded. "I have already assigned elves to the kiddies, master, and the old man all in black, and the others. Most are still asleep, but the large person whose sister slept in Miss Melody's room, he bes already awake."
Harry blinked at that, then smirked. "Of course, he's a farm boy. Probably used to getting up with the horses or whatever the phrase is. Anyway, I would like for Cory to be assigned to Ororo. She's going to be popping over to the mansion and elsewhere. I'd also like four of the house-elves that are best at measuring areas and construction to come with me after breakfast. Jean may also need some help, so assigned two of your fellows to her, okay?"
"I will do so, master," the house elf bowed creakily once more before popping off.
Harry smiled, closing his eyes for a moment, checking to see if the translation spell he had cast on the castle as a whole was still holding, then made his way down the stairs and to the dining hall. He found Piotr sitting at a table, sipping at a cup of strong tea, apparently waiting for everyone else to get up before having breakfast. He looked up as Harry walked in, frowning for a moment. Harry wondered why but still nodded agreeably to him and sat down.
Almost immediately, two plates of hash-browns appeared in front of the two men, as well as a plate of sausages between them. The elves were also ready and waiting for Hedwig to appear for her rasher of bacon, but that wasn't going to be needed just yet.
"I'm surprised you were able to wake up, given the time difference and the battle yesterday." Harry said, before taking a large bite of hash-browns.
"Farmers tend to develop internal clocks, Mr. Potter, that react to where the sun is in the sky rather than any human made device. The land does not care if you are tired or not." He looked at the older man thoughtfully for a moment before beginning to speak somewhat hesitantly. "I -I am bothered by what happened yesterday."
Harry cocked his head then frowned. Thanks to how well he had fought, Harry had almost forgotten that Piotr was a combat cherry before yesterday. "Are you bothered by the fact we had to kill yesterday during the battle?"
Piotr slowly shook his head. "No, not that. I do not think I personally killed anyone yesterday, but if I have to at some point I will not shirk from it. Life can be harsh, and combat more so, and if it is the difference between myself or a friend living and an opponent dying, then I know that is a choice I will make. No, it is the ruthlessness you showed afterwards." He paused for a moment then went on more firmly. "Understand me, Mr. Potter..."
"Harry." Harry interjected. "You earned that yesterday."
Piotr nodded, then went on. "Harry, I am not second guessing your choices during the battle. I do not have the experience to do so and it was a life or death struggle. What you did afterwards, however, was not." Harry cocked his head as if he didn't understand and Piotr went on. "You did not have to kill everyone still alive in the base. That was a choice and it was an evil one. You said you wanted to send a message but the kind of message you send in such an act is not one I wish to be a part of. There must be limits on what we may do, both in the defense of ourselves and other mutants, and in anything else."
Piotr frowned thoughtfully for a moment thinking of his words then went on. "You must understand that, particularly in places like Russia, the Army is made up of conscripts, people who do not particularly want to be there but join up to have a job that can put food in their mouths. That unit we destroyed wasn't comprised of such. I recognized the unit insignia as one of the elite units, part of the 5th Gvardiya army. That unit is, or was anyway, connected with many battles both against foreign powers and in the post-Communist turnover. But it could've been. In any army, there will be people who don't want to be there and painting all of them with the same brush would make us as bad as the people who believe that all mutants are evil. There were still people alive in the base when you did whatever you did after we left, almost certainly the people not involved in the fighting, the people who might well have been innocent of wrongdoing against their prisoners. Two wrongs do not make a right, and if you think they do, then I will have to rethink my decision to join up with you."
The wizard leaned back, rubbing one eye as he thought. Harry had actually never dealt with a regular army unit. The SAS he dealt with were all volunteers, of course, all elite and well-trained, though he had he ever fought them. The Death Eaters he faced, the forces he fought in the Negative Zone, none of them were fighting because someone else forced them to. He wasn't used to thinking in terms of people simply following orders like that. The Death Eaters in particular were all precisely where they wanted to be. You couldn't be a Death Eater, couldn't have Riddle's mark on you, without first marking your soul in one vile manner or another.
"I have to admit that hadn't occurred to me." he said, looking a little sick now that he thought of it. "The idea that my enemies could be comprised of other people in the background that are blameless is a new one, I'll be honest."
He leaned back again cocking his head. "I'll also say that I sometimes err on the side of caution and simply kill my enemies because dead men don't tend to come back again. Not most of the time, anyway. I realize that my saying 'I'm sorry' won't bring those lives back, but I will say this. If at any point, we can open discussions with those in positions of power in Russia, then I will own up to my part in the destruction of that base. I will pay whatever reparations I must to the government and to the families of those killed, if the government in turn will admit to what was going on there before we arrived and also prove to us that that base was the only one conducting experiments on mutants."
Piotr frowned thoughtfully, then nodded. "In hindsight, that is perhaps the only thing we can do but I am more concerned with preventing us from going down that road again."
"Well, that's where you come in." Harry smiled grimly, pointing at the young man. "You not only noticed the problem, but you had the guts to actually say was wrong to my face. If you see me do something that you think is wrong, stand up and say it. Stand up for what you think is right, Piotr Nikolaievitch, even if it puts you against me and what I want to do. I'll always listen and I will never ask you to do something you find morally repugnant."
"He's right, my love." Harry turned and saw Ororo moving towards them, her hair mostly falling down loosely along her back as her hands began to bunch it together for a braid to form into a bun. She was wearing what Harry thought of as her teacher's outfit, a professional woman's suit, a bit baggy on her, the better to erase some of her natural sexuality, which, in Harry's opinion, was pointless. She strode up to the table, sitting down, whereupon a plate of muffins and fresh fruit appeared in front of her.
Before she ate, however, she looked over at Harry, her eyes grim. "I should have said something yesterday. I was not happy with them and I am very unhappy with myself, looking back on it. At the time, I was too sad and too angry at what happened to the children to speak up as I should. I will not fail to do so again. We cannot, as Piotr says, paint all our enemies with the same brush or we will become as bad as they are."
Harry nodded and reiterated what he had just said to Piotr, that if either saw him do anything that they felt was morally wrong, then they had the right to call him on it. "I'll always listen, Ororo," he reiterated, taking one of the African woman's hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss gently, causing Piotr to flush a little and look away.
After a few moments, the conversation turned to what was going to be happening today and Harry asked Piotr watch the kids if they woke, then told him to work with Shiang Chi, who would get a feel for Piotr and the combat style he should use if he was serious about joining up with the team.
Ororo interjected here. "I'll also be giving you a series of tests, to see where your educational level is. Regardless of whether or not you are on our team, you will be taking lessons, particularly in English and other languages, as well as the three staples, mathematics, language arts, and science."
Piotr chuckled a little wryly. "Schooling like that is not the norm in Russia at this point, though I was educated well enough up to the senior high school level, yes? Still, I would like to continue my education as you had mentioned." He looked down bashfully for a moment, more than a little embarrassed. "Particularly in painting."
"Oh, are you a painter? Or is that something you wish to do?" Ororo asked.
The boy blushed and looked away but behind him the voice of his sister interjected her own opinion. "Piotr can already paint very well! All of the paintings in our old house were made by him."
Melody and Illyana were racing towards the table, bright beaming smiles and both of their faces. The two of them were now firm friends after only a day of knowing one another. Melody had woken up and moved immediately to wake her new friend, who had quickly agreed to come with her to start a new day exploring. She had enjoyed watching the Disney movies and positively loved Melody. She was bright funny, and the songs Melody said she saw sounded really cool! She loved the castle and being here in general, she liked the fact that her big brother had finally made a few friends, and just knew he would be doing great things.
Melody, too, had enjoyed her time with the other girl, being around another child that didn't look at her strangely because of her appearance or because of her power. She also loved one other thing that had happened last night. She hugged Harry around the middle beaming up at him. "Morning, father!" she said, her eyes wide and her grin almost splitting her face.
Harry smiled, while hugging her back around her shoulders. He looked over at Illyana, who began to talk about how Piotr had did the two paintings that they had in their house and had even sold four others to another family in the community. Throughout this, Piotr simply sat there blushing and looking away embarrassed.
Soon, Dennis and Shiang Chi came down to join them. Harry nodded at the two men. "Shiang, do you think that you could run Piotr here through his paces today? I want him up and running soonest. We've been lucky so far that we haven't run into anything we couldn't handle going off on our own like we have but that luck is sure to run out. Nikolai too, when he gets up."
Shiang nodded, looking over at the large Russian, trying to think what martial art style would be best for him. "I understand the other young man has been trained as a soldier? I will warn you I am not very good with ranged weapons so you might wish to bring in someone else for that. Can I ask what his, his mutant power is? I have never trained with mutants before so I am uncertain what to call it without giving offense."
"I am not offended, my power allows my skin to turn into metal, it adds to my height, strength and of course durability." Peter replied. "However it only comes when I call it up, so I should be safe enough to train in the martial arts, yes? Though I have no idea if what I can do in my normal body will translate to my armored form."
"Well, that is one thing we're going to have to find out." Harry said firmly. "Still, I think it will, although we will have to see. Dennis, I'd like you to start doing what you can in terms of information gathering. We should have a vetting office set up soon, but until then you'll have to make do with what you personally can find out."
"I can begin work by myself, obviously. You have a good, secure, and encrypted connection here so I can connect to the Internet. From there, I can see what is going on in the world at large and all that rot. Though, of course, I won't be able to access anything that is off the net, as it were. Also my abilities to hack what I can access from there, yet is protected, is severely limited both in terms of my own skill and our abilities here. Moreover, even when I do get fully set up with all of my contacts the world over that are willing to work with us, we will still need a team of field operatives, one we can trust."
"What would such a team be used for?" Harry asked, though he had a pretty good idea. Still there were some things he would not have any truck with.
Dennis waved his hands vaguely. "Mostly infiltration, as well as information gathering and possibly agent retrieval, if any of my contacts are found out. Perhaps some demolition and um…." he finished hesitantly, "wet-work."
Harry frowned. "We don't have people just yet for that kind of thing and I wouldn't be willing to trust just anyone with it. They'd have to pass a really rigorous series of questions and pass it with flying colors. I'm not going to train up some wet work team and then find out later they were taking actions that I want no part of. Until then," he smirked and bowed slightly from the waist, "you have me. While I'm not exactly trained in it I have the tools, shall we say, to be very good at infiltration if I put my mind to it. Until then, get set up to start bringing in information and give Jean your list of your first group for us to bring in that are willing to work with us full-time."
Dennis nodded and turned to his meal.
Harry looked around when he felt a magical signature moving towards him, very weak, but still visible in the background hum of magic of the Castle. "Dr. Druid, how are you feeling?" He asked, turning and looking at the older man.
The bald Dr. Druid smiled wanly at the younger man, inwardly marveling at the response of even a simple wizard-styled transfiguration spell. He could probably have easily done it before he had to put so much of his own power into his magical hand but at the moment that was scant comfort. His field days were truly behind him, whatever he could have wished. "I am well enough, although I understand that guests arrived while I was out of it yesterday?"
Ororo smiled at the man, filling him in on the two children she had rescued. When she was done, Harry, rather more grimly, filled the man in on what had happened in Russia, with help from Piotr.
After they were done, the older man tapped his fork against his now empty plate thoughtfully before speaking. "The teens, the young miss, and her new friend will be a major help, I think. Understand, I am not an expert in child care but as a psychiatrist, which was my major line before history, I have worked with them a time or two, including children from… families that were not worthy of that name, Jesse and Christopher. In many ways, they will be more mature than children their age normally are, much more wary of course, possibly more violent. Making them feel at ease will be a necessity, which you have already made major inroads into, thanks to rescuing them, healing them as much as you could, and feeding them. But when we look the Russian youths over, that will possibly cause some flashbacks to their treatment by this… this vile worm that worked on them at the facility you demolished. Ororo, you will definitely need to be there and a few house elves, as well. The little creatures can help us a lot, I think."
The weather witch smiled grimly, standing up. "In that case, I will head out now to try to convince the one teacher I remember having a elementary education degree. I've looked over my information on her and Miss Fay Brown will do very well as a den mother, as well."
Harry jolted a little at the last name and hoped the woman didn't have a blond daughter who was a born again flower child. That would be a little too weird. He had very carefully not looked for any doppelgangers that his muggle born friends might have here, though he had been unable to stop himself when he first arrived from looking to see if he could find anything about a Hermione Granger. Thankfully, while he had found her parents easily enough, they didn't have a daughter, they had a son. His name was Leontes, and the one picture he could find via the internet looked very much like a male version of Hermione. That had made him laugh aloud when he found it, and he had stopped looking after that
He came back to the here and now, standing up himself. "In that case, I have a little project here I want to get done right away. Melody, Illyana, would you two like to help me?" Both girls looked over at him from their own conversation quizzically, while the breakfast group began to break up, only Piotr and Shiang Chi remaining at the table, talking quietly and exchanging stories form their lives.
Harry spent the next hour working with Illyana and Melody on putting in a bathing area for the ladies and one for the boys. The boys' would simply be shower stalls and a bath area but they spent most of the hour working with the hearthstone to change the layout of the castle to add the single women's bathing area on the fifth floor as well as one, much more utilitarian version, in the basement for both genders. Another one for couples was put in on the seventh floor. Luckily, the water closets were already numerous enough.
After that, the two girls left the castle heading down to the lake and Harry left the castle with his house elf helpers to look over the area in the Thames valley that they could use to house the visible home for their corporation, at least at first. Eventually, Harry had other plans but for now, it would work.
OOOOOOO
Calling ahead, Ororo was able to get Miss Brown on the first try and found the other woman, who had not only been her choice as den mother but was also the only teacher she interviewed with an elementary certificate as well, was amenable to meeting with her again. With Cory's aid, she could set up a meeting soon, which probably warned Fay that something was going on but the other woman didn't seem too put out by it. So at around nine in the morning, she met Miss Brown at the local café where they had met before. Since she had been to the cafe and called for him from there before, Cory could teleport her directly there, or at least to the alleyway directly behind it.
As she walked in and saw Fay already there, Ororo reflected that Fay Brown was a sort of monument to motherhood. She was a blond woman in her early thirties, somewhat plump, but in all the right places, with a pleasant looking face which hid a very sharp mind. She looked at Ororo and stood up in welcome as the black woman strode toward her. "Ms. Munroe, I take it, how to put this, circumstances have changed?"
Ororo nodded, frowning internally. They were taking a rather large chance here, but Fay wouldn't have been her choice for this if she hadn't already cleared the first round of questions about her feelings towards mutants and the 'mutant question'. "It has. I am afraid to ask you this, but during our initial interview, I spoke to you about assuming the role of a den mother for our boarding school Your resume shows you have both an elementary education degree and experience at that level. We decided to move in and rescue several children from bad home situations after learning how bad they were but this has caught us with no one to watch over them 24/7. If you can come with me immediately or, at least quickly, we could really use the help. For the inconvenience, I am authorized to pay you for two weeks' worth of salary for the rest of this week."
Ororo had come up with that partial lie. After, all it wasn't a home life in most of the children's cases, but it was believable so she hoped Fay wouldn't question it. Fay however simply nodded. "I understand that, most especially considering the subject matter of our initial discussion. I need to head home to prepare some clothing but other than that, I am more than willing to go with you now. Where exactly are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there," Ororo replied, then asked "Would you like some help?"
That caused Fay to blink a little before her eyes narrowed but she nodded, evidently realizing that the problems the African woman was talking about were much more immediate than she had previously thought. "That would be nice, thank you. My apartment is about a ten minute walk from here. This is actually pretty good timing, I was going to have to renew my lease next month anyway."
As they were walking, Ororo paused outside a small bookstore. "Excuse me a moment." She went inside, found the sections she was looking for quickly, and returned carrying a small bag. At Miss Brown's wordless question Ororo replied, a small but warm smile on her face. "One is for a child who we have taken in who is blind, a book on Braille. The other is for a little girl-child that is dear to my heart." Fay nodded, not asking questions.
With that, the two women started walking again. They soon reached Fay's apartment, which was on the third floor of a five story complex. It was small but clean although it didn't have much furniture in it. Fay was all set to go through her clothing but the moment they were inside and the door closed behind them, Ororo addressed the air. "Cory?"
Cory popped in, causing Fay to gasp in shock, but she didn't take immediate offense, shriek, or faint. Ororo smiled at her and introduced the two of them, before asking Cory if he could transport them and the furniture to Hogwarts. The house elf looked around, calculating. "I's could do it miss."
"Very well, could you take us home please? Don't worry Miss Brown, it's perfectly safe."
Fay looked a little dubious but reached forward to grasp the little creature's hand. A moment later, they were standing in the center of the dining hall where Dr. Druid sat, drinking some coffee and looking over a small book, whose title Ororo couldn't see from their current position. Fay's reaction to the sight of the magic user, however, was telling. "Anthony? Well, that explains some things at least."
"Fay Brown? What are you doing here?" Dr. 'Anthony' Druid got up from his chair, looking a little self-conscious.
"I take it you two know one another?" Ororo asked, before directing a few house-elves to take the furniture from Fay's apartment up to one of the teacher's living quarters on the seventh floor.
"We used to date for a year or so when we were both at college but then he decided to transfer to another college because he was getting into the occult at the time. So, does that mean you're the mysterious leader of this endeavor? And where are we, anyway? This doesn't look like any school I've ever been in." Fay said, looking between her old friend and current employer.
Ororo watched Fay closely as she, with the aid of Dr. Druid, explained what was really going on here. Surprisingly, Ms. Brown was alright with have been misled and was perfectly fine with staying in the castle, as well as everything else. Though of course, Ororo didn't tell her everything and a look sent his way made certain 'Anthony' didn't tell her anything he shouldn't about their extralegal activities that didn't have to do with the school, either.
Through it all, Fay was calm and accepting, though Ororo became more certain as the discussion went on that her acceptance had more to do with Dr. Druid being there than anything else. Eventually she nodded. "I will want to meet this Mr. Potter but despite the fact you misrepresented some things, you told me as much as you could without knowing me beforehand. I am happy to work here, although at some point I'll want to head out for supplies for my classroom. I also will be making a list of books for the kids but that can wait until I get a handle on their developmental level."
Ororo nodded, frowning in thought for a moment before summoning up another house-elf, a little female named Tabby. "Tabby, do you know where the gold that Harry has cleared of magic is?"
"Yes miss, it bes in the room next to the training areas in the basement."
Hearing this Ororo frowned further in thought, then sighed. "We really need to look into building our own jet or having Charles procure one for us. If Harry asks, tell him that I've gone out but should be back by lunchtime. I'll have to fly down to Sweden and then I will call in Cory to bring the gold to me. Have some of the unmarked gold ingots and bars in two large briefcases please, I think we have two that have rollers on them." The mokeskin pouch was of course being used by Jean while she went over the stuff they had taken from the installation in Russia the day before.
Tabby nodded and popped away while Cory popped in and said that he would be waiting for her call.
She turned back to the other two. "Since you two know one another, I will leave now. That way I might get back by the time the rest of the children are up. Melody, Mr. Potter's daughter, and Illyana, a student from a supportive family, are down by the lake if you wish to meet them. Illyana's grandparents are still asleep, but they might be down later, and Piotr, her older brother, who is also a mutant, is somewhere around here." Illyana might not be a mutant, though her power just might activate later, yet she was still going to be a student here.
As Ororo turned away to head outside, Fay had already leaned forward toward a suddenly nervous Dr. Druid, her smile turning somewhat predatory. "So, what have you been up to lately, Anthony? And what's with the wooden hand?"
OOOOOOO
Shiang Chi cocked his head thoughtfully as Piotr and Nikolai entered the training area. This wasn't the Room of Requirement, which would be used for full on combat and team exercises. The training area was a separate section in the basement where the Slytherin dormitories had been in Harry's old dimension.
"You're a big one, certainly." he said looking up at the other young man, not having noticed how tall he was when they all sat at the breakfast table. Shiang Chi was tall for a Vietnamese but Piotr topped him by a good five inches and was even broader across the shoulders than Shiang Chi was, after a lifetime spent learning martial arts. "Still, simply being big is not enough. We will see what we can do with you."
Behind Piotr came Nikolai, looking around with interest and smiling with approval at what he saw. It was homey yet serious, an interesting combination, with none of the brutal utilitarianism that he was used to when training as a Russian Super-soldier.
Shiang Chi turned his attention to Nikolai sizing him up in a glance. "I believe you were trained as a soldier, so that probably means you know Samozashchita Bez Oruzhiya, or Sambo for short?"
Nikolai nodded. "Yes, though it actually isn't as useful against someone who is far stronger than you are as you might think, if the opponent is strong enough they can break out of the hold techniques." He grimaced in memory, then smirked. "On the other hand, the initial strikes served me very well when we fought for real, even if my opponent was so strong a lock or hold wouldn't have worked. I am also a brown belt in judo and a black belt in karate." At Shiang Chi surprised expression, Nikolai shrugged. "I was one of their supposed super soldier candidates, trust me I really am very well trained. Sambo would do very well for Colossus here, but for myself, I suggest we concentrate on armed forms."
In fact, Harry had mentioned getting to know Nikolai and maybe turning over some of the team training to him. Specifically, Harry wanted everyone to be able to fall back on small group tactics regardless of their powers, just in case. Harry could lead such training himself but he had other demands on his time that only he could deal with. Nikolai would do very well in that, having been trained as a soldier and to be the leader of the Super Soldier Program, it was to be him or Alexei, the most normal, human ones in charge. He was eager to prove his worth to the man who rescued him and his sister. It'd been getting harder and harder, with every passing day, to protect his sister from the attentions of the soldiers at the base. He knew it was only because the officers had stamped down hard on any such issues that it had been possible at all so getting away from such had earned Nikolai's loyalty.
Shiang Chi nodded thoughtfully. "I am told you have some kind of superpower? Will it get in the way of our sparring?"
"That, I do not know." Nikolai answered honestly. "I haven't figured out how to control it, after all, it only activated yesterday during the battle."
Shiang Chi shrugged philosophically. "Well, we can only do what we can do. Now, we will begin with some light exercise, then have a few rounds of sparring where I will use various forms against you both. This is to check your reflexes as well as instincts, Piotr, and your actual skill level, Nikolai. No offense intended, but I prefer to make my own evaluation of your skills. After that, we will go out for a run, then back here for some cool down exercises before heading into the instruction portion of the day. By that time, I should have a good handle on both of your abilities and know what kind of training you both should do. Now, start with…"
OOOOOOO
Sergei had never, in his admittedly short time on this earth, woken up feeling so safe, let alone warm and comfortable. So he woke up slowly, reveling in the feeling, nuzzling into his amazingly comfortable pillow and ignoring, for the moment anyway, the urges of his bladder. Eventually however, he was forced to get out of bed.
Using his mutant power of echolocation with the ease of long practice, he was able to move out of the large circular room he shared with his fellow former prisoner Ivan and to the bathroom. Coming back he was unsurprised to sense Ivan waking up, stretching in place.
After a moment the other boy, his face split by a grin that showed his teeth were normal despite his lizard skin. "So it wasn't a dream?"
"I do not think I would have such a pleasant dream if we were still prisoners under the ground." Sergei replied, turning his head toward the boy despite having no eyes to see him. "I am feeling hungry again, how about you?"
Suddenly, one of the little creatures they had been told were called house-elves, popped into the middle of the room. "Young sirs, breakfast be ready in the main hall whenever you wish it. Do you need Grimbly to show you the way?"
Ivan and Sergei exchanged smiles, but replied in the negative. They exited the room, finding their fellow prisoners, Father Garnoff, Illyich, and Mikhail walking down the stairs toward them with two black children, undoubtedly, the two that they had been warned were already asleep when they came in last night. Sergei still didn't know what Mikhail's mutant powers were but assumed they had something to do with his hands, since they had been locked in the same kind of cuffs that Anechka, the girl who had been with them, had her hair clamped into.
Illyich was smiling widely, transforming his normally fearsome catlike face into a much more friendly visage, looking around with more energy and interest than he had before, while Mikhail was talking quietly to the two black teens. Father Garnoff still looked wan and sorrowful. It was Illyich who spoke first when they all met up. "Hey you two, heading down for some food?"
The two younger children nodded at their older compatriots and the group moved down the stairs into the tower's common room, introducing themselves to the black boys, whose names were Christopher and Jesse. There they found Nikolai, Laynia, and Anechka waiting for them, the two siblings conversing quietly while Laynia brushed out Anechka's black hair. The young girl was humming in contentment, her eyes half closed.
Nikolai looked up and smiled at the former prisoners. "I think I know the way down to the dining hall, I take it everyone is hungry?" he was answered with a murmur, and soon the group set off.
When they reached the dining hall, after stopping several times to just look around the castle, they found a new woman they hadn't met before sitting with an older bald man they hadn't seen before either, along with Piotr, who looked a little exhausted for some reason. He was sitting next to the young Vietnamese man they had all seen briefly the evening before.
The woman was the first one to notice their entrance and she stood up with a smile on her pleasant face, something about her manner immediate putting the five youngsters at ease. The teen quartet was somewhat more wary and Father Garnoff had to stop himself from trying to get into her head. Laynia was much less wary while Nikolai was dismissive, seeing immediately that the older woman was not a soldier of any kind.
When she spoke her voice was kind yet also somehow demanding attention. "Good morning all, I am Miss Brown, I was brought in to watch over you and as a teacher. I would like to talk to you all and get to know you, but we can do that while eating. The man behind me is Dr. Druid, who will be looking you over later to make certain that none of you have wounds or injuries from your time as a prisoner of those…." Her face scrunched up comically, and the children from Russia, who had tensed at something that sounded far too much like being subjected to tests, relaxed when the older woman tried to very visibly change what she was going to say. "Bad men."
The teens looked even warier at the teacher part, but the others took her words at face value and moved toward one of the tables en masse, with Miss Brown sitting down with them quickly. "Now, why don't we start with everyone's names…"
OOOOOOO
With Cory's aid, Ororo was able to transfer in the gold, which would have been much too heavy for her to carry physically and without notice-me not wards on them, if she had flown, carrying them in the air, they might have been seen. It took her a little over an hour and a half to get to Sweden plus forty minutes to find the city she was looking for, the bank Harry had an account with, and a landing place where Cory could pop in with the briefcases. After she entered the bank, however, she was able to drop off the gold into their account easily enough. In fact, she was treated like royalty the moment she gave them Harry's account number, even more so after they saw what her briefcases contained.
After that, rather than go back to Hogwarts straight away, Ororo had Cory pop her to the X-Men's mansion in New York. Thanks to the time difference, it was breakfast time by the time she arrived and, this time, Charles and the students were all there. Logan wasn't, having got a lead from one of his contacts about his supposed daughter late the evening before that he needed to follow up on immediately.
Charles felt Ororo's arrival in Harry's workroom. He smiled as he looked around at the others, who were busily looking at the designs for the new revamped basement of the mansion spread over the dining table. What surface wasn't covered by blueprints was covered by plates of simple fare here and there. Like most of their other meals, they had been made by the house-elf Harry had assigned to the mansion (read, Kitty). Today's was named Kirby, a name that had made Kurt and Evan both laugh aloud, though the others hadn't gotten the joke.
He had wanted the teams input on the defenses, both on the basement itself and the mansion as a whole. He found that Scott was just as good at this as he was at leading the team, having already spotted several areas where the defenses of the mansion could be updated to be more all-encompassing and reactive rather than passive. Charles was of two minds about that but was more than willing to foot the bill for it, despite his concern of having possibly lethal automatic defenses covering the entirety of the mansion's grounds rather than just the basement.
For now, however, he put aside their current work with a smile. "I believe Ororo has arrived, though I would have thought she would just be sending one of the house elves to pick you up, Kitty." Charles said looking over at the brunette.
Scott looked up too, frowning. "I would've thought that, as well. I wonder if something happened."
Ororo came in then, smiling pleasantly at them all, if a little harried. "How are you all doing? Charles, Scott, I need to borrow one of the medical beds, we ran into issues."
"That demands some explanation." Charles replied, though he nodded at Scott who promptly stood up moving to join Ororo at the doorway while the others moved as well, Kitty moving over to give Ororo a hug which the woman returned.
"It is a sad tale." The weather goddess shook her head before filling them in about what Harry had run into in Russia while they followed Scott into the medical area. She did so very loosely of course, no need to tell them what Harry had done to the base afterwards or how many men he had killed.
Her listeners however still could discern the lethal nature of the battle. Charles frowned at the deadly measures Harry used as well as the idea of him leading his own team but he understood the necessity of having another team out there to handle issues abroad at least. He wasn't particularly in favor of Harry's proactive stance or the fact he was so at home with dealing out death but, especially when there were mutants truly being experimented on out there, wasn't going to complain. So long as Harry preached co-existence and didn't take it too far, Charles was happy having him as an ally.
Scott, while glad there would be another team out there, was angry at the necessity and the fact the X-Men weren't currently taking similar missions. He knew the X-Men were soon going to be busy, once the repairs to the basement were completed (in particular Cerebro) so that they could go out and find/defend mutants again, but until then they were at loose ends. Kitty, Kurt, Rogue, and Evan, however, were all horrified at the idea of anybody experimenting on children like that and were grimly satisfied that Harry had come to the rescue.
While directing Evan and Rogue on how to disconnect the medical bed, Scott looked over at Cory, who had followed Ororo in. He hadn't had much to do with the house-elves so he didn't really know their capabilities. "Can you really teleport this thing all the way to Scotland?" They all knew where the castle was, in general terms, and that it was a castle where Harry and his group are setting up, although that was all Harry had shared.
Cory huffed indignantly. "I's can pop anywhere with anything," he boasted, exaggerating just a little. Still, he could easily pop with this amount of weight over to Scotland, even with Kitty and Ororo added in.
Kitty raced up to the runic workroom, grabbing her book bag which was filled with notes on different runic arrays, as well as her personal scribe set. When she came back, the table was completely disconnected and Ororo was finishing talking to Charles, with a small pad of paper in one hand. "So I can reach Dr. Pym using this phone number?"
"Yes, if you give him my name he'll build one of them for you but be warned; he will charge you through the nose. He hasn't found a trustworthy company to sell them yet. It was more of a intellectual pursuit than anything else but he needs the money now more than ever. He seems to be close to a breakthrough of some kind but he was laid off from his job as a biochemist and refuses to search for another full time job until he has finished whatever he is researching. It has to with a new type of particle he has found; that is the only reason I can think of that he is so emotionally connected to it but I cannot determine what else. Incidentally, I have found a language teacher as well as someone who will double as a live in housemother and a science teacher. They will both be moving in here in August on the fifth. Would you be willing to meet with the language teacher and discuss the kids and what they have already learned?"
Ororo nodded and smiled faintly as Kitty came up to them. "I would be delighted. Are you ready to go, Kitten?" Kitty nodded excitedly, eager to get to work. Ororo nodded over to Cory and, with a final wave of farewell, the trio disappeared along with the diagnostic table.
Charles stood there for a moment then shook his head chuckling. "I wonder which will prove to be more efficacious, magical or scientific means when it comes to finding young mutants?"
"Well to find that out, Professor, you'd need to have Cerebro up and running again." Scott said, with an expression somewhere between a smirk and a scowl. He absolutely hated not being able to get out there, fighting the good fight. There were reports of the Friends of Humanity becoming even more organized, going after mutants with physical mutations who couldn't defend themselves and other reports about random mutants acting out against the public, both of which were things they should have been able to handle but, without Cerebro warning them, finding mutants was impossible unless they acted out first. Luckily, Charles had made a list of the next group of students and none of them had run into any problems but that was scant comfort to Scott or the others.
"True, let's go and work on that, shall we? Scott, you and the others do what you can to prepare the basement for its renovations and go over those designs. I think I need to look up a certain young man of our acquaintance. He's had long enough to get used to the current culture, now we need his aid. With Forge, we can be up and running far more quickly, and I think we all agree that we need to be."
The others all nodded and went to work with a will.
OOOOOOO
Dennis joined Jean in her lab to go over the items that she and Harry had gathered from the ruins of the secret base, although, in Jean's opinion, calling it a laboratory was a bit of a misnomer since it didn't have nearly as much equipment as it should. Jean didn't want to look at the weapons in the Room of Requirement, however, because she wanted to use the hard-light network to aid her and couldn't in the RoR.
The duo first went through the material that Harry had gathered from the base in Russia, separating it into two different groups. The first was computers, notebooks, and other potential information sources, which Dennis took with a look of glee on his face to another room to work on. He would relay any information on the abuse and testing of the freed mutants to Dr. Druid for possible medical implications that would need to be dealt with.
Jean looked at the weapons Harry had gathered with an equal amount of interest. Unfortunately, she had to discard two initially, simply because they were too damaged for her to immediately use.
She first concentrated on an energy-based sniper rifle Harry had taken that was actually fully intact. In her opinion, this weapon had a lot of implications both for their own team and for how weapons might be changing in the near future.
The first thing she found out after running a few tests and actually firing it, was the rifle wasn't really a laser-based system as Harry had first thought, rather it was a plasma system. Short, incredibly hot slugs of highly energized material, which had quite a bit of stopping power but it didn't have enough energy to also be penetrating as Harry had mentioned the Crimson Dynamo's weapons were able to do. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to find enough parts of that system to take when she went through the base.
There were several problems with the system that would probably make regular infantry or even snipers wary of using it. For one thing, the recharge time between shots made it unusable to lay down suppression or cover fire. Single shots were the only thing the weapon could do. That was not just because it was supposed to be a sniper rifle but because of the recharge time of the plasma system in its entirety.
The next problem tied into the first and that was the heat of the thing. If anyone was using any kind of infrared goggles, the shooter, no matter how well hidden would be spotted easily even if they weren't firing. While firing it was even worse.
The third problem was weight. While the weapon was robust, tough, and durable, the rifle was almost three times as bulky as a regular sniper rifle, making it hard to set up and take down, which would negate any ability to move around that a soldier armed with it would have. "Forget about shooting this thing on the move, you'd have to be as strong as Piotr is in his metal form to do that."
After looking over the three rifles she had grabbed from the base with spectroscopic analysis and several x-ray based tests, Jean felt the system was made robust because quality control was so bad. "Cracks around the casing, the metal not of the right quality, the energy coils are rough and the spacing a little too wide. The quality of the build seems to be good, but the actual parts… I knew Russia had a major quality problem with the quality of their cars, tanks, and other mass produced stuff, but this was a secret installation! Shouldn't it have gotten the best quality stuff they could? Or is the graft that bad in their military procurement office? Something to ask Dennis later."
"Still,..." Jean murmured as she leaned back in her specially bought rolling recliner chair, something she had fallen in love with a moment she walked into the store. It was all padded leather and with wheels on it, so deep and comfy you could almost sleep in it. It was sort of the ultimate mix of La-Z-Boy and a mad scientist's chair. "...those aren't insurmountable problems."
She reached forward, moving her arm with the computer command bracelet on it, controlling the network through the hard light system she had set up everywhere in the castle. Then she logged into Harry's laptop, which she had basically taken over the past few weeks, simply because it was the only computer they had they could do high-end 3-D design work. Soon they would have enough money to buy more high-end systems but that wasn't going to happen right away, not until Harry could clear the gold she had taken from Selene's cache in Pakistan. "Now, setting aside the quality issue, let's work on miniaturization then heat dissipation…"