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The next few days were peaceful but busy for Ororo and Harry. At around seven Harry and his lady would get up have breakfast with Melody and spend time working on the castle. Ororo had decided to put down strips of carpet on the top three floors, different types each, and was busy trying to figure out which she liked most, as well as continuing her work on giving the house-elves lessons in pronunciation, as well as working on enlarging their vocabularies. The first task was unpleasant in the extreme for her, since she really had no idea about interior decorating.
Harry on the other hand busied himself in figuring out what he wanted to add to the castle, and working with the castle to bring those changes about. Hogwarts was unlike any normal castle could ever be, it was almost alive in a way, and it worked with its headmaster. For one thing, Harry had decided to make a communal bath on the seventh floor like that the prefects had access to back in his own dimension. There was a regular bathroom on that floor, and he had to redesign it from one wall to another. Yet when he was finished with the giant bath, a rocky bowl in the center of the room with seats along its edge, the castle somehow immediately hooked it up to the water supply, creating pipes to lead into it. A central island of rock with holes on its side began to pour out water immediately after he finished transfiguring it.
Another time when he was trying to figure out how to change a classroom on the seventh floor into a bedroom, the windows changed shape and shortened, and the whole room grew slightly smaller, with the blackboard disappearing from one wall. A moment later two of the house-elves began to pop in with Jean's furniture. The same thing happened again when he went into Melody's room. And again when he was connecting the two classrooms in the basement to one another to make a larger room he could convert to a lab, though of course he didn't have any equipment to put in it just yet. What he did have was far too precious (expensive) to use his family's runes on to just run them once or twice before they burned out. He was still leery of the long term effect of a magical dwelling on technological devices, but so far it seemed okay.
There were limits of course. The castle couldn't do anything that would change its outer appearance, nor could it do anything outside its walls, it was the castle itself, not the totality of Hogwarts that reacted like this. Nor could it do anything truly major, like the Room of Requirement. It turned out that it didn't exist in this world and recreating it would take him days of intricate work. He was tempted to see if he could instead use similar technology to that used in the Danger Room, but wasn't certain he wanted to ask Charles for that large a favor.
Other than at meal times, Melody spent time with Ororo and Harry for a few hours then after the two of them left her to go work on their projects went to explore the forest. Another child might have felt sad or angry that her parental figures weren't spending time with her, but not Melody, not after everything Harry had done for her and with the excitement of being the first to explore a huge castle and the surrounding lands. This she did rather gleefully, with one of the house elves with her for protection. The little creatures had been astonished when Melody knew they were following her, which was something no wizard could do. Not even Harry knew how to detect a house elf if it was following him and trying to hide, but Melody somehow knew. So one of them simply walked beside her watching openly as she ran through the forest.
The group came together for dinner, cooked by the house elves from the ingredients Harry and Storm had bought after shopping at Harrods. Then while one of the house elves stayed with Melody playing games with her inside the castle Harry and Ororo would head to the institute. Ororo stayed the night there. Not having Harry's ability to use magic to sustain her she would spend some time teaching the students their finals lessons in the languages they were currently on then head to bed early, her body already acclimatizing to the time change from New York to Scotland. Harry would remain up and cook dinner for everyone else before spending the rest of the evening with Kitty working on runes, both looking over her current task and helping her learn more then head back to sleep in Hogwarts.
Kitty had decided after a bit that she simply couldn't put everything she wanted into a warding array for their uniforms, and had decided to ask the others what they wanted. The only thing other than the power absorption part that every one of their suits would have was a low powered notice-me-not field. It wouldn't stop people from seeing them, but it would stop anyone from noticing anything about their features or voice that they could use to identify the X-men later.
Rogue didn't want anything but the notice-me not field since in her case the suit would go on under the armor taken from Juggernaut. That armor gave her a lot of protection, and her own toughness and strength gave her even more. With the ability to fly she would be even more effective. Cyclops wanted some more protection as well as the flight array, but mostly wanted a way to open up the distance between himself and his opponent just in case. Evan wanted armor, speed enhancements, and the most ridiculous thing of , a small, energy expanded pocket so he could open it up and bring out milk cartons to regain calcium and therefore his ability to make bone weapons. Jean had waved off the entire idea, happy with the notice-me not field, but not wanting the younger girl to work on her suit, since she and Harry would be making some of their own later.
Nightcrawler was another matter entirely. He didn't want his strength enhanced he wanted the notice-me-not ward strengthened. If it was he felt he would be able to bamf in without anyone noticing him before he could disappear. Something to maybe negate the smell of brimstone when he used his teleportation ability was a good idea, but it seemed a natural part of his powers he couldn't reduce. A speed rune for his arms was something else he was interested in. He had started learning sword work from Logan, who had proven adept at the katana of all things, and Kurt had started to use a cutlass of all things.
Now the bio-energy draining array could power one primary and one secondary thing, and the notice-me not ward was the secondary item for all of them. She wanted to see if she could work out a sort of reverse cutoff, something that could be activated even by non-magic users, but that was something that would take her a while to figure out how to do.
For now she had created three sets of flight arrays and had strengthened the notice-me not ward for Nightcrawler into a primary, then added a secondary speed enchantment array. Evan's was tougher, and for that she decided on three equal secondary arrays since he didn't want to fly. Scott was a little unhappy about that, wanting the whole team to have that maneuverability, but acceded to Evan's wishes after the other boy confessed to being a little afraid of heights. Instead his array was able to strengthen his armor and his speed on top of having the notice-me not portion.
The third flight capable array was for Kitty. She still hadn't made a final decision on if she wanted to be a field trooper or just a researcher, and wanted to have a suit on hand she could use. She also still exercised with the team, and was getting a lot better at using her powers offensively. Yet now their enemies in the Danger Room were as lifelike as possible, including blood and gore much to Charles' sadness. Though he actually didn't object, as unlike a certain ancient wizard he knew they would eventually have to kill to protect themselves and others. Every time Kitty saw one of her opponents go down, blood gushing and a limb missing, she had flashbacks to when it was real with Sabertooth and she froze up, proving she was correct in wanting to move to a support role.
Harry had looked over her plans in the practice sand table, and had judged her skills at drawing the runes to be good enough, and the array workable, enough to start her on practicing writing into metal. The metal plates, about the size of her hand, would be added into the X-men's uniforms, but the final product would take weeks, maybe months before it was at the stage the arrays could actually be woven into their uniforms.
Friday evening found Harry and Ororo having dinner with Melody, joined this time by Jean. Jean had been avoiding both of her friends over the past few days, not wanting to be around them as she grappled with the issue of actively attempting to join their relationship like Ororo had offered. She hadn't come to an answer just yet, but today she just needed to get away. The redhead had called for an elf to come and get her, and had arrived in a bit of a mood.
The rumors at school had finally begun to die down, and the idiots had finally gotten the idea she wasn't interested in any of them. Yet Taryn, Duncan and their friends were still harassing her in little ways whenever they could, not able to let things go. Added to this was Logan of all people hitting on her twice in the past few days! Once was after breakfast this morning and the second time was after a training session. He had waited until she was alone and heading up to Ororo's bathroom on the third floor before appearing behind her and starting to flirt with her. The idea of being with someone so much older than her was bad enough, but the guy was so fucking hairy the idea of being near him even with just his shirt off was enough to give her the willies.
When she relayed this to her two friends, she was astonished (and pleased) to see the flickers of jealousy and fury in Harry's eyes at the idea of the older man flirting with her before it was hidden again. Ororo was simply angry. Yet neither offered to deal with it, trusting her to handle it herself unless she asked, simply welcoming her at their table and talking to her about her studies and when she would be ready to move in with them, treating her like an adult and a member of their family. One more week, then waiting for her grades to arrive, after that she was out of there, and she could finally move in with these two, a time she found herself looking forward to.
Their meal was interrupted by Harry's cell phone going off. As it was powered by batteries initially it hadn't been necessary to power it via one of his families lightning wards, and it worked okay in Hogwarts. Not great, but enough to get an intermittent signal in. Harry idly wondered how long the other person had been calling to get through at all as he looked down at it then over at a house elf who was standing by the table, having won the rock-paper-scissors competition (started by Ororo after she had found the elves didn't have enough work to really go around and had taken to fighting about serving their masters at mealtimes) and waiting to serve them. "Could you take us to the edge of the woods please? And ask one of the others to bundle this up as a picnic for us."
Melody clapped her hands gleefully as the house elf snapped his fingers and transported them to about two miles into the woods that surrounded the castle and the lake it overlooked. The night was chilly at this point, this being Scotland the time where it was actually warm out was short indeed. But before the others could get cold Harry hit them all with a warming charm then summoned up a few bluebell flames, which hung in the air around them. Jean telekinetically grabbed a fallen log about twenty feet away, then plopped it down for a makeshift seat for the trio. For some reason she just had a feeling Harry was about to provide them with some dinnertime theater.
Harry looked over at her anticipatory expression and shrugged, then looked down at the phone. He sighed as he saw which of the two numbers Reed set up for him it was then cast a spell on himself. This was another Marauder special, designed to help with pranks, but the ability to sound like a girl had far more applications than just that. With that done he finally answered the phone, somewhat amused it had kept ringing in the background this whole time. "Like, hello, this is Anastasia!"
On the log Jean brought up a hand to clamp over her mouth to keep her from laughing loud enough to be heard at the other end of the line, while Ororo grinned, now sensing the same thing Jean had earlier, while Melody just looked on, sipping her grape juice. Around them several elves popped into being and began to lay out the dinner on a table they had brought along before making them all sit up and putting down small pillows for them to sit on.
A male voice came in from the other side, sounding more than a little disturbed for some reason. "Uh, hi, is this Anastasia Ambrosius? I'm Obadiah Stane, vice president of Stark industries…"
Harry interrupted the man, putting a little breathy tone into his voice, as he did so. "Like, Stark Industries, then, like does that mean you've actually met TOONNNYY?" Harry drew out the last name, then went on in that same breathy tone. "Like, ohmygod, he is so dreamy! Oh, I've got so many pictures of him, and ohmygod, this isn't about, like, those shares I bought is it? I bought 'em cause, like I thought I could use 'em ta meet him!"
The disturbed tone in the other man's voice was far more noticeable now. "You, you bought seven percent shares in our company because you wanted to meet Tony?"
"Well, *giggle*, not just meet, if ya know what I mean. I'd, like rather a lot more than just meeting him. But yeah, like that's why I bought 'em after my grandpa left me some money. Like, why else would I have? And besides, its not, like, y'know, I know much about money and handlin' it anyway."
Now the man on the other line was barely hiding his contempt, as well as more than a bit of rage underneath it that Harry could barely detect. "Well then, I think I could arrange something like that, if you can get to a gala event in Los Angeles in eight days. I'm certain I can arrange for you to meet, at least for a little while."
He said that last with an even darker tone to his words, and Harry's eyes narrowed, wondering what the hell the other man's game was, that he was clearly planning to have 'Anastasia' killed, maybe with Stark at the same time. Still the ditzy character he had come up with for this persona wouldn't have notice the other man's tone. "Like, really that'd be great! But I don;'t know if I'll be able ta get ta Los Angeles like that. Um… but tell me the address and stuff, and like, I'll try my best. Anything to meet Tony!" The man did so and then hung up as fast as he could.
Harry looked at his audience who were now rolling around on the ground, laughing but with no sound coming out. Harry looked over at one of the elves who replied "Mistresses and missy were making noise but didn't want to be heard by the strange man in the small speaky thing, so asked us to silence them."
Harry nodded at that and the elf removed the spells on the trio, letting their laughter be heard. "Alright that's enough you three."
Harry had neglected to remove the spell changing his voice, and the sound of a stern ditzy voice sent the trio into gales of laughter again. Harry sighed and canceled the spell, then sat down on the log and bit into a sandwich, waiting for them to get control of themselves. Eventually the two adults got control of themselves, but Melody kept on laughing and going on about Harry sounding like the character from the song 'I Don't Like Your Girlfriend'.
"What," Jean gasped as she sat down once more, "Was that about?"
"Just a way to separate me from anyone looking for who owns stock in Stark Industries. Apparently it might be a good thing too." He related the tone and words Stand used, and both women nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, that's that, now, pass the lemonade."
The rest of the meal passed quickly with the three adults trading ideas on what Stane might be up to, and when they would have to start dealing with it. Afterward Jean volunteered to read with Melody before putting her to bed (both out of a desire to and to put off going back to the mansion as long as possible). This allowed Harry and Ororo to walk back.
Or they would have, if Ororo hadn't started to shuck off her clothing after the others disappeared. Harry gulped, watching her do so, and thus was completely surprised when she suddenly turned away and bounded off into the woods. He gaped after her retreating rear for a moment, then laughed, took off his own clothing and set off after her. The hunt lasted some time, but in the end both predator and prey were satisfied by the outcome.
OOOOOOO
Harry looked up from where he was inscribing another ward on his workrooms walls when someone knocked on his door. He had been reworking some of the warding array to take power from a few of the magical batteries he had designed rather than any ambient magic, so that they would continue to work rather than fade after he moved out. He would still need to come by every month or so, but it would allow the work room to retain the majority of its magical protections. Kitty would still be using this room after all, and he wanted to make certain she was protected by any accidents.
He smiled when he saw Ororo standing in his doorway all thoughts of his work leaving him. "Hey luv, what's up? Need my help moving something?"
Ororo shook her head, smiling faintly at her lover. "Not right now Harry. Kitty's parents showed up about fifteen minutes ago, and Charles wants us to introduce ourselves to them. Even if we're moving out we're much more teacher-like than Logan, and he hopes to use us to reassure them. She's told them practically everything, because she wanted their advice to help her decide whether she wanted to keep being an X-men or not, but at this point I have no idea what that advice will be."
Harry nodded moving over to join her but was stopped when she leaned in to steal a kiss as he reached her. He returned it chuckling a little and the two broke off only after enjoying themselves for moment. Since they had begun to be together more regularly Ororo had taken to springing these little surprise make out sessions. He found it remarkably endearing and spontaneous, as well as a lot of fun. Luckily Ororo didn't wear lipstick save on special occasions so there was no visible sign of their brief moment when they went downstairs.
They found Kitty and her parents in the living room sharing the sofa. The father was a middle-aged gentleman with a short goatee mustache, graying hair and kind eyes behind a pair of round spectacles wearing a decent shirt and jeans. The mother had hair the same color as her daughter cut to a little below her shoulders with the ends done in a strange poofy manner. Or perhaps it's the rest of her hair that's been forced flat? Given Kitty's own hair that's a distinct possibility, thought Harry.
Kitty was sitting between the two adults, and their arms were around her in a sort of continuous hug, which Kitty seemed to bask in, leaning against her mother's shoulder with a happy grin on her face matched by her mother's. In contrast her father's face was much more serious, and his arm around the young teen seemed as protective as it was loving.
Kitty looked up, her eyes shining happily. "Hey Teach, Storm! These are my parents, Terry and Kathleen Pryde."
Harry bowed grandly, taking a seat on the smaller sofa, with Ororo moving gracefully to join him. Logan as was his wont was leaning against a wall while Charles sat at one end of the coffee table between the sofas. "Pleased to meet you sir, ma'am. I probably don't have to tell you this, but you have a very bright daughter there."
Ororo nodded firm agreement and the two parents chuckled, hugging their daughter even tighter as she blushed at the praise. Terry however wasn't in the mood to be flattered and came to the point quickly. "We both are proud of Kitty and her scholastic and personal achievements of course, but we're not here to talk about that. We're here to talk about this X-men business. I was under the impression that they would be training for several years before deciding if they wanted to become part of your group full time. What is this I hear about my daughter being forced to fight for her life against some madman with claws?" His shrewd gaze went from Harry to Logan to Charles and back again looking for any clues.
Logan frowned a little. "That'd be my fault. The kid and Kurt were caught up in a personal feud between me and another old soldier." There was no way he was going to try and explain the whole Weapon X Program bit to a civilian, and he went on, making certain his language was as polite as he could make it. "I will say yer daughter did darn well, driving him away when I was out of action."
Terry frowned but Kitty spoke up at that point. "Since then I…, I've chosen to step back from field work. I still train with the team, but I still haven't decided what I want to do in the future. That's why I wanted to talk to you two in person."
Kathleen frowned a little. She had never been very happy with the idea of her daughter joining some vigilante team, no matter how good the cause they fought for. But she wasn't about to make daughter's decisions for her. She wanted her safe, what parent wouldn't but she knew she couldn't make those choices for her. "I understand you've taken up some kind of new research or other? I hope it hasn't taken away from the time you spend on your academic studies?"
Harry answered before Kitty could, waving one hand in the air. A serving of tea on a tray appeared in the air landing gently on the coffee table. "Actually, she's been learning how to use runes, the easiest and some would say the most ancient form of magic. Tea anyone?" Showing off now was alright, he fully intended to confound both parents about his abilities before he left.
He began to make up a few cups of tea, handing one to Charles with a bit of milk in a little saucer on the side and one to Ororo, extra sugar no milk and very hot, just the way she liked it, ignoring the looks of surprise and scorn on the two guest's faces. It wasn't like they hadn't seen a telekinetic at work before after all.
Kitty spoke into the silence. "Um, see, Harry is a wizard, he uses magic and can do, well, a heck of a lot with it, and he's been giving me some instruction on using runes, which are like written out forms of spells. Easy ones only have single rune and difficult ones have more. I've been figuring out ways to help us, to power shields on our suits and keep our identities a secret and a lot of other things."
She reached into a pocket and brought out her ever-present bag of pebbles and pulled one out to show her parents, who began to believe this might well be magic when the tiny pebble grew into a palm sized flat stone as she pulled it out of the bag. "See, this is the hold rune, it paralyses the next person to touch. And this one," she held out another, "is a lightness rune, it makes things it's carved on lighter. Well, as long as the power lasts anyway. Because I don't have a magical core I can't power them, but I've been working on using runic arrays, that's what you call a long string of runes, that feed off bio-energy to do a lot of things."
Terry leaned forward interestedly, looking at the scrawled inscription on the stones, which had enlarged to the size of Kitty's palm the moment she pulled them out of the little bag on her belt, proving that this was something other than a mutant ability. He'd thought that was an odd fashion accessory when he saw it, learning that it was in fact utilitarian made him smile a little, and he decided to give his daughter and this emerald-eyed young man the benefit of the doubt. "I see, and there aren't any downsides to any of this?"
"None at all," Harry informed them. "Oh, they aren't something she should play around with out and about on her own, but I've got a room upstairs set up with as many defensive and protective arrays as I can put on it, and most of the time I'm in there too, working on my own projects." It stood up to Red and her little issue alright, he thoughtamusingly, it should stand up to any accident Kitty can do.
Kathleen however kept her mind on the important part for her. "That's well and good, but it isn't really something she can take real collegiate classes in is it? We've always wanted our daughter to follow us to college. Even if it will be expensive," she mumbled under her breath, so softly that even Kitty sitting right next to her couldn't hear it.
Harry did hear it, but Kitty spoke up first. "College is something I want to think about down the road, I'm only a sophomore after all. Right now I wanted your advice on what I should do about the X-men." She took a deep breath, moving out of her parent's arms for the first time since they had shown up at the mansion's front door. She turned to look at them one after the other, her face unusually serious. "Should I quit the team entirely? I, th-the idea of going on mission where I might be called to, to hurt or even kill people makes me queasy. Should I remain on the team and move entirely to a support role? Or should I, should I give it up entirely?" She paused, reaching forward and hugging both her parents tightly before moving back. "I've missed being around you both soooo much! I don't want to go back to just being a regular girl again, even if I could, but, but it would be safer, and I could move back in with you…"
Charles kept his frown off his face with difficulty. He hadn't even known that Kitty had been thinking of quitting the team entirely. That wasn't good for either the team of Kitty herself. After all, just because she wasn't an X-men anymore didn't mean that other groups wouldn't target her. Kitty's powers were among the most useful non-combat related power he had seen in a while, and Magneto and perhaps others would be quick to scoop her up, regardless of her own preferences if she was no longer protected here.
Terry frowned a little then leaned over to gently lift his daughter's chin so he could look into her eyes. "Kitty, I won't lie to you, I'm, unhappy is putting it mildly with the idea of you fighting and more importantly killing on these missions for the X-men. I knew when you showed us your powers that you wouldn't be able to have what most would call a normal life, but knowing you're already fighting like this when you're still a teenager, that is even harder to stomach." His eyes flicked up to stab at Charles who had the grace to look away, and then to Harry, who simply met his gaze steadily.
"But that doesn't mean I'm going to force you to come home with us right now or anything like that." Terry continued, returning his eyes to his daughter's face. "You were given this power for a reason, and I feel that you need to continue to use it, to continue to be with the X-men. If you're not comfortable with going out on missions don't, move to a support role. But I do want you to keep training just in case, as that can stand you in good stead if the unexpected happens."
Kitty grinned, glad her father had just given her advice that dovetailed with what her own thoughts about the matter had been.
While Terry had been talking his wife had been glaring across at Charles and Ororo. Harry hadn't been here when her daughter agreed to join the X-men so was spared her ire. Now Kathleen leaned forward and tugged her daughter's hair lightly. "I am not at all happy about my daughter fighting for her life, regardless of the cause, but as long as it is your decision Kitty I won't try to persuade you otherwise. I agree with your father, moving to a support role is best for you. Indeed given your character I would have thought that right away if it had been an option." As Kitty smiled at her Kathleen said brightly "And this will give you more time for your studies! Maybe if you can get your studies high enough then you can get a scholarship."
"I wouldn't worry about that." Harry said blandly, not even hinting at the fact he had heard the woman's complaint about how much college would cost. It was obvious that money was an issue in this household, not tight maybe, but close to it. "I was telling the truth when I said you had a bright daughter there, that kind of mind would be a horrible thing to waste. So long as she keeps her grades up I have no problem with paying her way through college, especially considering back in… I mean in wizard terms she is my apprentice, paying her way would normally be part of the bargain. I may even have a job for her eventually, once certain issues in my own life clear up."
The bit about a master paying the apprentice's way was an outright lie of course but it sounded good. Back in his old dimension an apprentice had very few rights, a holdover from when apprenticeships were the only way to learn spells outside the family structure. Regardless the look of gratitude in Kitty's face made the lie well worth it.
Charles smiled too, wondering if Harry could be talked into becoming the X-men's financial backer. His own financial position was more than secure of course, book sales, his work as a psychologist for the government and other things allowed him to pay for everything. But keeping the team running was a major drain on his accounts, so having someone else help to pay for the X-men would be excellent. "Well, if that is all, I think we can let Kitty show you around for a bit, and if you are free for lunch, please feel free to stay."
With that Harry and Ororo left the parents and their daughter behind, following behind Charles out of the room. As they left Ororo chuckled, hearing Kathleen ask "So, what's this I hear about you dating that Alvers boy?"
OOOOOOO
Emma was almost tempted to laugh maniacally as she sat down at one of the tables in the Hellfire Club. She had, within a mere week, made enough connections and deals with the individuals in the club that she had expanded the family's business by at least twenty percent, a considerable amount since she hadn't made any business deals with the rest of the Inner Circle. Those deals were with her, then Frost Corp, her father was a distant memory even to Shaw and the Inner Circle.
In Buckman's case it was probably because of her tentative friendship with Paris. While not as enamored of him as vice versa, his feelings for her were genuine, and he approved of the two women spending time together (if he had designs on a threesome a time or two when he was out of ranger of Harry's charms, that was alright by Emma. He obviously was intelligent enough to know not to actually bring it up).
Shaw too was welcoming her for his own reasons, but in his case she still had the feeling he was accepting her over her father for his own reasons, and only about a third or less had to do with the fact she was better eye candy then Winston. She felt it had something to do with her being a mutant, but that was only part of it. Her feeling that the man had some plans involving mutants like him hadn't gone away.
In fact she was now just as concerned about Shaw as she was about Buckman's secretive Sentinal Program. Still she knew once school let out she would start working on his spy issue. She had already cleared his holdings within a day trips distance, which wasn't much admittedly, but they would be heading out into the rust belt after she graduated from High school at last. Which would provide her with a truly excellent alibi…
Her plans for her older sister had also progressed to the point where she was simply waiting to trigger them. Adrienne had become too complacent, too certain in her own power and wealth, too certain that Emma was too busy protecting herself and her new duties to strike back. Adrienne's meetings with the Hammer Tech head spy had been easy enough to track thanks to her power, and she knew where the next one was going to happen, and she had already planted a few little traps there.
She had done so between her jobs with Leland, and the lawyer was well pleased with her aid. Leland was a very good lawyer, but outside the courtroom and his specialty he was by far the easiest of the Inner Circle to read. Unlike Peirce who merely played the part, Leland was truly a voluptuary, addicted to sex, good food, sex, wine, sex, a few designer drugs the Hellfire main room kept on hand. Steering his thoughts was relatively easy.
She looked over toward the stage, where Pierce sat right next to the stage. While the man's appearance might make one seem he was totally concentrating on the stacked black haired woman on stage currently jiggling her obviously fake breasts into the face of one of the other members, she knew there was more going on under the surface. There was a darkness there that reminded her all too well of Adrienne's sadism and cruelty. Unfortunately unlike Buckman's mechanical mental defense, his was constantly being upgraded, and the last time she had invaded his mind it had shown a marked improvement, so she had backed off and determined not to tempt to invade his mind further.
She had determined that even with the mystery of Buckman and Shaw's plans, Pierce was the more dangerous member of the Inner circle because he had an unpredictable streak, and she leaned back, tapping one finger against the table gently as she wondered how to find out more about the man without using her powers from now on.
OOOOOOO
Later that day Harry returned to the mansion for a few hours to spend some time with Cerebro. He felt that if he could figure out how the machine found mutants, he could improve it, and figure out how to do the same job magically using the Book of Students. Of course he hadn't figured out how the book worked just yet, but he figured it would be much easier to reverse rune-gineer it than it had been for the group that had created it.
That was for later however, now he had just finished making dinner and putting it away for the kids when his phone rang. He looked down at it and saw that thankfully it was the second identity he had created to buy SI stock. He still cast a spell on himself, but this time it was simply to make his voice sound a little older before speaking. "Hello, Hello, This is George Frederick Weatherby may I ask whose calling me? Rather new phone don't you know?"
"Mr. Weatherby, this is Obadiah Stane of Stark Industries." The other man's voice sounded somewhat relieved for some reason. "You're a hard man to contact."
"Part of a holdover from my former trade shall we say, old boy. Was there something you were wanting, say to inform me about some shareholders meeting? I must say I was surprised that so many of the former shareholders jumped ship like scalded rats. Frightfully unsportsmanlike of them. Seemed odd to me, but not something I was going to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, when you buy a weapon you buy from the company, not from one young brat, no matter how bright." Since his other persona had been such a fan of Stark, Harry had decided to see if he could trick Obadiah into sounding him out a little more about his plans if he sounded like he didn't care for Tony.
As he finished speaking Jean came in from her daily run to grab a bottle of water. Harry's wordless nod of greeting stopped halfway as he took in the sight of her.
Jean wore a very short pair of exercise shorts, simply because they were comfortable to run in rather than any reason to show off, yet that was one of the results. Her long, white legs were on display for all to see, hence why she had come back in the back way in an attempt to avoid Logan, who was making her feel rather uncomfortable. She also wore a tight exercise shirt that only barely covered her chest, under-which she wore a sports bra. This ensemble showed off her body to great effect, resulting in Harry's rather dumbstruck expression.
Jean paused, staring wide-eyed at the man who had come to dominate about fifty percent of her dreams, her hands, one of which held a towel, moving in an attempt to cover herself up more, without much success. She hadn't expected anyone to be in here and was surprised to see Harry here at all. On the other hand Jean felt a rush of pleasure when she saw Harry look away, trying to hide his physical reaction to her, visible because of his loose pants. Once again her mind went back to whether or not she wanted to join Harry and Ororo in their relationship, but for the moment at least her Christian upbringing still trumped her desires.
Harry rather weakly motioned to the cellphone by his ear, mouthing the word 'Stane' which Jean nodded at and moved over to grab a bottle out of the freezer, leaning in to listen in as much as possible.
Stane's voice sounded even more relieved now. "You have no idea who good it feels to talk to someone who understands that. Can I take that to mean you'd vote to continue to make and sell weapons at the next shareholder meeting?"
"Oh you can definitely take that as a given old boy. Whatever he may think Stark isn't the company, whatever his shares may say. Weapons manufacture is much more profitable and much more of a dependable revenue stream than anything the lad might be able to start building/selling I can think of offhand. Of course I realize it isn't the only thing Stark Industries does, but it is the company's major money maker. Just because the boy didn't like being out on the sharp end is no reason to stop making weapons."
In point of fact Stark owned only 45% shares, more than any other single shareholder, but not a controlling interest. Stane had previously owned 7%, allowing the two of them two work in concert and browbeat the rest of the board. Stane had been able to gobble up 15 percent before Harry pounced, and had been infuriated that his attempt to grab controlling interest of the company hadn't worked, along with his other plan, since, unfortunately for him, Stark was still alive. Of course the means of his escape were still unknown, but the energy resource for it alone was going to revolutionize weapons manufacture.
Still this Weatherby fellow sounded like someone Stane could work with, so long as he didn't really care about the day to day business of the company. Of course if he proved bothersome later, then he could always fall back to tried and true methods of conflict resolution.
"Excellent. Listen, there's a bit of a soiree being held for investors, the public, stars and all that jazz for Firefighters Family Fund next week in downtown Los Angeles." He gave the specific address and then asked "So will I see you there?"
"Sounds like a fine idea Mr. Stane, I will see you there." Harry hung up after that, looking over at Jean and cancelling the spell on his throat. "So what do you think of that?"
Jean frowned, playing with the cap of the water bottle thoughtfully. "He definitely sounds like he's got major problems with Stark and his current direction. How far he might be willing to take that, I can't say." She smacked her shoulder against Harry's with a grin on her face. "Speaking of business and companies, how far along are you with your plans for yours?"
Harry looked a little sheepish. "Well I actually have no idea on how to go about creating a startup company like that, I mean we've got a lot of ideas for stuff to make and sell, but the legal ends and how to go about hiring people; that I have no idea about. I was thinking of contacting Emma about that. Seeing as she probably got the same kind of call, I was thinking of inviting her to the castle tomorrow. Now that I have my own public place of power I thought it would be safe enough."
Harry hadn't introduced either of the younger girls to High Note just yet, but the time was coming when he would in Jean's case. Emma he was still going to wait a bit longer. He knew she was still in a precarious position, and as much as he liked her knew she would look out for her own well-being first and foremost. But he had already shared some of his plans with her, and she was a magnificent resource that he was willing to call upon. And after all, just because she knew he had a castle didn't mean that she could give up its exact location or let other people in.
Jean nodded agreement eagerly. She was anxious to see her new friend in person again. The e-mails they had shared were just this side of cryptic in terms of actual information about each other's lives, and she had become increasingly concerned about Emma and the brevity of her e-mails. "Say about three o'clock local time?"
Harry nodded and Hedwig suddenly flew through the doorway, carrying a letter and envelope. Harry wrote a brief message on the letter, then his name and concentrated for a moment, then intoned "Portus." The envelope glowed blue for a moment then he folded it up and put it inside the envelope, handing it to Hedwig. "Remember to be discrete girl, you'll fit right in with Emma coloration wise but I don't want anyone to twig to the fact you're bringing her any messages."
Hedwig precked at him, pulling at his hair for a moment for questioning her abilities, then flew off without another word. He shook his head, reminding himself to have the house elves prepare a few extra slices of bacon for her then looked up at Red. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world Potter," Jean laughed, bumping her shoulder against his again before she pushed herself up from where she had been leaning against the counter next to him. "I'll see you then." She walked out, and for the first time in a while enjoyed having the feel of someone's eyes on her as she did so.
OOOOOOO
Emma looked up from her bed askance as a familiar snowy white owl suddenly appeared in the air above her bed. Hedwig landed on her shoulder, briefly rubbing her head against the blond human female who always smelled of spearmint and flowers , dropping her burden into Emma's waiting hands.
Emma opened the envelope and looked at the missive inside, which said, 'Emma, plans have proceeded apace. I have a new domicile, and am ready to move forward with creating my company and was hoping to consult with you on that topic. Of course if there is anything you wish in return, you need only ask. Please touch the circle mark on the bottom of this letter at around ten o'clock eastern time, and you will be transported to the meeting point. Harry.'
Emma smiled faintly. Even here in her own room that was the only emotion she would allow herself. But inside she was positively giddy at the idea of seeing Harry again. She had never realized it before but after having been around other people who she didn't have to guard herself against, being surrounded by enemies on all sides was tiring as hell, and she could use some time around some people whom she could let her mask slip.
And since it was Sunday tomorrow it worked well for her. Her father was down in Florida this entire week at a board of directors meeting, and Adrienne was gone this weekend at a 'friend's'; read crony's, place.
The Club was always closed on Sunday, not for any religious reason but to restock its beer, wine and drug supply. It also allowed the Clubs 'independent' (only answerable to the Kings and Queens of the Inner circle) security team to sweep the club for listening devices without anyone else around. Of course they swept the club hourly every day, but the Sunday sweep was much more thorough.
She looked at Hedwig and gently laid a kiss on the top of the owl's head. "Please tell your boy that I will see him tomorrow."
Hedwig precked cheerfully at the human female's knowledge of who was in charge between her and Harry, then hopped off her shoulder before flying into the air disappearing seconds later. Emma chuckled quietly then turned back to her reading.
OOOOOOO
At the appropriate time on Sunday morning Emma left her family's mansion on her exercise bike, something she did every Sunday she could, so it wouldn't arouse any suspicion despite the morning hour. About fifty minutes later she was in the bike trails through the woods and pulled off into a small clearing. After looking around to make certain there was no one to observe her, she pulled out the letter from her backpack and touched the circle at the bottom of the letter.
She felt a tugging sensation, then suddenly the familiar surroundings of the woods around her family's mansion disappeared and she found herself standing on a grassy clearing facing a huge stone and wood castle that looked like something out of the Victorian era.
She looked around in shock, taking in the castle and the lake it overlooked, before turning to the forest. If you took the castle away, you would think this place had never felt the touch of man. She could see no paths through the forest, nor any road or any sign of phone lines or power lines. It was also colder here, and she noticed that the majority of the trees were coniferous. The mountains visible in the distance were also unknown to her. "I don't think I'm in New York anymore. I wonder where the hell that thing took me?"
She shrugged and began to walk toward the castle when she suddenly noticed a little creature with large eyes and big ears had just popped into being in front of her. Before she could get over her surprise or reach forward to get a feel for the thing's mind, it spoke. "Be you the mistress Emmie?"
Emma's mask slammed into place and she glared down at the thing with all the hauteur at her disposal. "I am Emma, not Emmie, am I clear?" The thing paled and nodded quickly. "Then yes, lead the way."
The thing nodded and moved toward the castle, then into a main hall. It was obviously meant to simply be a foyer but a table had been set up in the center of the area, and Harry, Ororo and to Emma's surprised pleasure, Jean were there, with a young girl who was dressed in jeans and a heavy jacket that looked about two sizes too big for her, with elfin features and a strange, unseeing gaze. A veritable feast was laid out in front of them, consisting of the same kind of pasta and salad Harry had made for the two of them in Switzerland.
The three of them had been talking, laughing at something the young girl had just said, but they all looked up at her, and Emma felt her mask disappearing at their genuine and open pleasure at seeing her. Harry got up and bowed in her direction, while Jean simply stood up and moved toward her friend.
Emma held out her hand but Jean surprised (and pleased) her by ignoring it and hugging Emma around the waist. Emma returned the gesture swiftly, her own arms around the redhead. Not that I'm complaining," Emma murmured, "But what brought this sudden affection on?"
"Do I need a reason?" Jean asked archly. "Besides that whole ice queen persona might fool other people, but I can tell you're a little frayed around the edges." She stepped back, looking at her friend, worriedly. "And I noticed your family's name in the newspaper a few days back."
Emma stiffened a little, but Harry and Ororo had come around the table by this time and the emerald-eyed man put an arm around her for a moment. "I noticed it was about your brother Christian, and I remembered you mentioning that he was the only one of your family that you liked. I'm sorry."
Emma looked around at their concerned faces and forced back tears, wondering why these three, who she barely knew really, had become so close to her, why they cared about her more than her own family had ever done.
The moment ended a moment later and she followed the trio back to the table. As they sat down Harry commented casually, "I notice that your brother's personal preferences also came out at the same time, and the way he died seemed to indicate that he was driving drunk, something I found rather odd considering you said once that he rarely if ever left the mansion, and never drove."
"Yes, very odd." Emma said flatly, rage and remembered sorrow visible on her face. "Someone wanted to send me a massage, to hurt me for being a little too independent. My response to it will be in like coin shortly."
Ororo looked troubled, but Jean simply frowned in worry while Harry nodded unperturbed. "Indeed, I hope you have taken precautions."
"Oh you may be sure of that," Emma's lips twitched into something no one would ever be so foolish as to call a smile. "I have been nothing if not thorough."
Ororo made to speak, but took a good long look at Emma, her glittering hard eyes, glittering with remembered pain but coldly calculating and purposeful, then sighed and looked away. She wasn't happy that the younger woman was obviously contemplating murder, but given what she knew about the woman's family, she could guess what the two were implying had happened to her brother, and who might have been behind it. In the end she simply said, "Please don't do anything for the sake of vengeance alone. Such things weigh upon your soul."
Emma looked at her then shook her head. "It isn't just because of a desire to avenge Christian, but also to protect myself. Trust me, I've thought about this for years now." She refused to share anymore of their family's dirty laundry her friends didn't need to hear that.
To change the subject she took up a fork and bit into the food in front of her. "So tell me what the hell is this place? And what are these little creatures?" She asked, indicating two house elves that were standing by the table like miniature waiters, complete with overlarge towels on their arm.
With a soft sigh Harry shook his head and filled Emma in on what had happened to core wizards in this universe, and was gratified to see that it appalled her as much as it had Ororo and Jean.
There was a lull in the conversation for a moment as the quartet looked down at their food, each of them lost in their own thoughts and sadness of those who had died here so horribly in a last ditch attempt to stand for something. Emma was not in the habit of feeling sorry for anyone else however, and she looked up from biting into her pasta, and across at Harry. "So, not that I don't enjoy seeing you all, but exactly what do you wish to accomplish during this little meeting of ours. I won't lie and say that there are several things I would like your help with, but specifically what do you expect to get out of this?"
"Well first," answered Harry leaning back and looking at her, "Were you contacted by Stane?"
"Yes, I was." Emma's eyes narrowed dangerously at the memory of the call that had so precipitously interrupted her debut with the Inner Circle. "He seemed to think he could get away with threatening me. Not quite sure why, my last name should've given him a clue that I'm not exactly new to playing the game at this level, but he did."
Jean chuckled. "He called Harry too about the stocks he bought using those two personas he made up." She filled Emma in on what happened, and Emma chuckled behind her hand at hearing of Harry using a valley girl persona to make Stane think one of his made up characters was a fan-girl.
She looked over at the little girl and asked "Before we go any further, what's up with this one" she said reaching out and poking the young girl in the head. While she wasn't a fan of children, that didn't mean she intensely disliked them like Adrienne. But neither was she wholly comfortable with them.
"This is Melody," said Harry reaching over and gently rubbing the girls head to which she replied by closing her eyes in pleasure, soaking up the positive attention like she always did, smiling happily. "I rescued her from a sanitarium in New York." He went into a bit of detail on the little girls powers. It turned out that her mutant powers were based off a chemical change in her brain, something that changed what she perceived with her eyes on a daily basis, into song.
The fact some of it changed all the time meant that she really couldn't really interact normally with the world around her. She had no concept of numbers for example, she just couldn't perceive them, and her ability to interact with people was dismal at best outside people like Harry and the others, who were able to deal with her oddities. Moreover her power seemed to directly impact her mental growth. Her body was that of a twelve or thirteen year old, but portions of her mentality wouldn't be out of place with a college age or older woman, but other parts were stuck in her pre-teens.
Emma shook her head sadly. Having something like that and having no control over it was her idea of a nightmare. But she was curious about one thing. "So, what do you see when you look at me?"
"I'm A Material Girl" said Melody promptly bopping her head to the music that only she could hear. "As well as something that goes 'man I feel like a woman'." She pouted a little. "I don't like that one, too western sounding."
Emma chuckled as Jean smirked. "She's got you there Emma."
"I wouldn't dream of saying otherwise. I am indeed a woman who likes the finer things in life. Now, back to more important matters yes, Obadiah called me, and he invited me to some kind of soirée next week." She looked over at Jean inquisitively. "You want to be my date?"
Jean looked a little bemused at that idea then paused, thinking. Her parents would pitch seven kinds of hell at the very idea of her going out with another girl, but at the moment it appealed to her, especially since Emma wasn't the sort to take it the wrong way if they simply went as friends. "So long as you don't try dressing me up like a doll I'm fine with that."
Emma nodded. "I'll help you choose out clothing of course, I doubt that you've ever been to an upper-class party like this, and I'll pay for them but I won't try to force anything on you if that is what you mean." Those words had at least two means, and Jean nodded acceptance of both messages, and Emma smiled in return.
Ororo smiled at both the younger woman, as did Harry, his emerald eyes crackling with humor and other emotions that Jean could all too easily put names to. The redhead found herself flushing, wondering if she should mention to Emma that Ororo was serious about being willing to share. She had noticed the interest Harry watched Emma with, and had seen him look at her that way more than once. Jean had at first thought it was her own imagination, but after Ororo had mentioned it, she realized that Harry had to… care for her as much as Jean had him. The idea of all four of them in a relationship however was so beyond anything she had ever dreamed her life would be like, and yet she found the idea very appealing for many reasons…
She shook off those thoughts to concentrate on the conversation in time to catch Emma saying 'Yes, I can walk you through the phases and steps to start up a company, but what exactly are you going to sell, you never went into specifics save that one will be pharmaceutical in nature."
Harry looked around at the three women sharing the brunch table with him, and suddenly grinned. "I think we should all lay our long-term plans on the table here. I'll start. My long-term plans, the two dreams I am working toward, are to get humanity into space, and to promote mutant rights to the greatest degree I can. In the short term, or possibly middle term would be more accurate, my plans include starting my own company to distribute goods. Those goods will start with potions, magical in nature but the magic is in the potion and ingredients, they can all be used by people without magic, but impossible for anyone else to reproduce."
Jean looked up sharply at the idea of getting into space. When she was younger she had always wanted to be a astronaut and go into space, and that feeling had only grown when she merged with the phoenix shard in her. the idea that Harry shared the same dream brought a smile to her face.
Emma however concentrated on the short term. "What sort of potions?" She asked, leaning back and holding a glass of wine. She looked at it quizzically than nodded gratitude at the little house elf that stood by the bed. The house elf grinned and bowed in reply and Emma turned back to Harry. The other women too were listening intently, though Melody was now trying to read a book Ororo had bought her.
"Healing draughts mostly, things for spinal injuries, re-growing missing or broken bones, other things like that, some that can help with nerve damage for example. They aren't miracle medicines of course, they can't grow limbs that have been cut off for example, but if you still have the limb there is a potion that can force the bone muscles and tissue to reassemble. Eventually I may supply trusted allies with others, some that might be useful in law enforcement, but for now it will be healing potions. I have enough samples to prove their efficacy and start the process, and should have my first crop in two and a half months. How much that will be, I have no idea at the moment, this is the first time I've been involved in the farming process for these potions."
Emma tried to grasp how much something like that would be worth if it actually worked, and her mind boggled at the number she came up with. "That, that would do for a start," she mumbled then shook her head. But I think you'll find that demand will be far greater than supply if you're relying on a place like this," she waved her hand at Hogwarts "as your primary farmland."
"Let's just say I have other resources," said Harry smirking a little. Jean looked over at Ororo who chuckled but motioned to her that she would learn later. Harry had decided to wait and tell the redhead about High Note once she graduated high school as a graduation present, and Ororo wasn't about to spoil the surprise.
"Ooh, I like a man of mystery," Emma answered, smirking back in turn. "I can help you figure out the distribution once you have that first crop, in fact once I take command of my families companies I can sell one of our shipping companies to you, or we can make a deal for me to handle the distribution and you handle the creation. We'll have to work up a lawful contract for that, but I think that could be profitable from both sides."
The conversation for a moment delved into how Harry could go about setting up his own company, as well as where he wanted it to be set up. Emma still thought that setting up in Switzerland or Vietnam or some other tax haven would be a better idea, but that was until Harry said. "The company is only part of what I want to do remember. I also want to use it and the money it earns me to promote mutant rights. And for that I need political capital. If I set up a company here in the UK that can give me a public face here, and the taxes I'll be paying on the company to the government will make them very happy with me. Besides, Hogwarts is in Scotland and it's going to become our public face eventually. We're not quite ready for that just yet, but we'll get there."
Emma nodded, noting that Harry had again referred to having hidden resources. Rather than being angry or saddened that he didn't trust her with them, she simply thought it good sense to keep some of it back from her. Despite all she had done with the Hellfire Club in the past week and a bit, her position was still precarious until certain individuals were taken out of the equation. The time was fast approaching when that would happen, but until then Emma's situation remained unsecure. And she knew herself too well she knew she would use anything she had to, any scrape of information or power, to protect herself.
She decided to take advantage of Harry's comment to change the conversation slightly "So what is this place going to be? A school, like you said it was once or just the head of your company?"
"Eventually both," said Harry, looking around thoughtfully. "I still need to figure out a way to find mutants, magical, technological or otherwise, but a school like that open to the public plus my own position and certain points I want to raise about the anti-mutant groups should have a reaction." He smirked, looking forward to the day when he could tell mutant racists what he really thought about them in as wide and public performance possible. "I also think setting up a country in the same way as Israel has been set up to defend mutant rights and give them a place to go, will be in the cards in the long run, but that will take a lot of money."
Harry also had a plan to create his own team like the X-men, but unlike that group, he would practice what he preached, bringing in regular humans both as trainers and team players. That was a plan he wasn't going to share with Emma just yet, not out of distrust, but because of her position at the moment. He wanted that group to be tied into but separate from the intelligence communities of the world. He wanted them able to head anywhere and deal with threats the local forces were unable to do, but not be answerable to them. How that was to be accomplished he wasn't certain, and he knew it wouldn't' be without its ups and downs, but he had confidence it was doable.
"Potions though will only be the start, we've" he looked over at Jean, "got other ideas of things we'll eventually be selling, possibly far more lucratively too." Jean grinned at the reference to their ongoing plans for a smaller version of Stark Industries' Arc reactor and game him a thumbs up.
Emma looked over at her wondering what that was about but shrugged, figuring she would learn in due time. "If you want your opinion to be heard like that, you're going to have to become one of the richest people in the world. I'm not talking about the top 100 I'm talking about the top 10. For instance my family is in the top 100, probably somewhere in the top 50, though not that high if you're just talking liquid capital. The only person in the top 10 that is part of the Hellfire Club is Edward Buckman, and he's not at the top of that list. Stark is in the top five, and the stocks for his company we've got should give us a nice chunk of ongoing capital, but not enough."
"My long term goal," she said looking back at Harry, "besides neutering or taking over the entire Hellfire Club, is to be the first woman on that top 10 list. Your deal with the potions will help you get up into maybe the top 100 and my own machinations at the moment will move my family up a few tiers. But other than that, I also want to do something for mutant rights much like you do."
She shook her head. "This is not something I would share with anyone else, I have an image to maintain after all, but I've watched the news. I've seen what's going on both in public and in secret, and the amount of hate being leveled at mutantkind makes the ongoing race and sexual orientation issues, even the anti-Semitic movement, seem insignificant." She shook her head, wondering if she should mention the Sentinel program, and deciding not to as she didn't really have any concrete evidence about what it really was, and Harry seemed busy with his own issues right now. She also had a bit of a plan going forward to deal with it anyway.
Emma frowned thoughtfully than decided to share something she hadn't ever shared with anyone else. "There is one other thing that I would like, and this is what I would ask your help with Harry. I am more than fine with working with you to get your company up and running. And I have no need of help with my own problems or with my plans for the Hellfire Club." She stated this firmly, proudly, unwilling to take anyone's help with her own issues. "But there is something else. My family, indeed most companies have begun to use computers to search out information on our enemies, not just to store information or make transactions. But we were among the first to do this, and we have remained well ahead of the curve. Indeed our programs are possibly better than anyone else's, even Tony Stark's, or other geniuses, and I have never been able to find out where they have come from. Yet something Adrienne said once make me think they have, have otherworldly origins."
Harry cocked his head to one side. "You mean alien don't you?"
"Yes," said Emma firmly. "What I don't know is if he found something, was given something or what, but it worries me what the price might have been."
Harry drummed his fingers for a moment, thinking hard. "That, that isn't the kind of thing I can just wave my hands and find a solution for milady."
Emma found herself flushing slightly at the affectionate form of address, and looking over to Ororo, but found the black woman looking back at her, head cocked to one side.
Ororo could see the affection and attraction the blonde woman and Harry felt for one another, but she wasn't certain yet that what Emma felt was love, unlike the redhead sitting across from her. Jean and Harry were obviously in love, but Emma wasn't quite there yet. That was probably because they had spent so little time around one another in comparison to Ororo or Jean and Harry, and because of Emma's automatic emotional control. The seed was there though, and Ororo was amused to find she was looking forward to this acerbic, tart and sarcastic young woman joining them. It would certainly be an interesting experience.
Harry continued. "But I can figure out if how often there have been alien contacts with humans. The FF keep files on all their adventures; that will make for a good start, and legends and other things of course. For now the charms you've got already should protect you from anything a nonmagical can throw at you, or at least get you the hell out of dodge." He frowned suddenly. "Remind me to change the landing point for the portkey on your necklace. This place is actually more protected than the safe house I originally set it up for."
Emma immediately lifted the necklace off her neck for the first time since Harry had given it to her and handed it across. "That will be a help certainly. And I think any more formal alliance between us should wait until my own position is more secure." She smiled a wintry little smile. "Give me a little over a month for that." Harry nodded agreement.
Jean and Ororo joined the conversation at this point, and the quartet hammered out some long term plans for the group, which they decided would meet again in a month's time to compare notes again. During the next two hours Emma swiftly learned the other two women were there for much more than the fact Harry trusted them.
The fact Jean had been able to come up with at least a preliminary design for a smaller, cheaper arc reactor was astonishing, and showed she was just as bright as Emma had thought. She hadn't yet begun to build a prototype, needing to move out of the Institute and join Harry here full time before doing so, but that prototype would power the electronics of the castle here. She would also be working on other electronic devices. When Harry expanded to include building and seeing the generators, Jean would take over that task. Until then she also filled in as Harry's aide-de-camp and political advisor. Her telepathy gave her the ability to figure out what other people were thinking even more than Harry's own ability to read people and she had a very good grasp of the world politics.
Ororo could speak dozens of different languages, and would be able to conduct business deals in Russian, Chinese, Italian, Egyptian and a dozen other languages. It was startling and implied that Harry's company would be spreading far faster than she supposed. Indeed he hoped to open several different branches in dozens of countries. She would also become the interim headmistress of the school once they began to assemble a staff and students. Once the school was set up she would take over from Jean and become one of the public faces of the company along with Harry, letting Jean concentrate solely on leading the engineering division and recruiting aid for it.
There were other parts of the long term plan that Harry hadn't shared with Emma just yet, but he would eventually. Jean had been informed of his idea for forming his own team, and approved of it along with Ororo, but he was waiting for an opportune moment to inform her about High Note. He wanted to see her face when he did, he just knew it would make his day.
Despite this lack Emma came to the conclusion that no matter how odd the circumstances behind the quartet's meeting, this group was among the most capable that she had ever met. All of them would fit in with the Inner Circle in strength of character and ability, and it was that thought that caused Emma to laugh suddenly. "So, what are we exactly, three queens and one king?" she asked archly.
"One king, two queens and a goddess if you please," said Ororo, and they all chuckled.
"Still, Emma's right," Jean said, putting a hand around her friends shoulders. "We need a name for this little think tank." Harry opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Jean said, "And you don't get to try to come up with one Potter, we want a name that actually sounds good, not one that sounds like a five year old came up with it. Your choice and stalwart defense of 'Harry-tanium' prevents you from naming anything. Ever."
Harry pouted outrageously, and the others chuckled. Ororo touched her lips briefly in thought. "How about Magical Minds Incorporated?"
Jean, Harry and Emma all looked at one another, then nodded.
About 20 min. later the group broke up, one of the elves returning and led to the park where she had disappeared from, Jean disappearing with another elf with a shopping list of mechanical parts, Ororo to look after Melody and Harry, to go search for some political allies.