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Fury grunted again, rolling his eyes, which Natasha took as a cue to get on with it. "And third, I think Potter's a big thinker sir. I think he's thinking a long game. Why keep his powers under wraps? Why ally himself with the King of Britain as Potter seems to have done if he didn't have big plans? And whatever those plans are, I think the King agrees with at least some of them."
"That last bit actually helps a lot," Fury responded honestly. "I've never met William personally, but I know many who have and they all speak highly of him and his ability to judge a man's character. It could have something to do with William's recent stance as 'an individual' he said making little quote marks in the air "about how the rights of mutants should be protected as much is regular people."
"Given his connection to Xavier and his school that makes sense. But if that's the case, is he their new team leader or what?" Nick frowned a bit. Alvers had been helpful during the recent Thor incident a incident that started out poorly for SHIELD but ended well when they were able to contain the battle and evacuate the civilians out of the area without allowing any civilian or agent casualties thanks to Alvers, Hawkeye and the so-called 'Asgardians'. Despite his growing attachment to Clint however, Lance was still singularly unhelpful in determining what the heck was going on in Xavier's school and utterly close mouthed about Potter.
"Sir, may I make a suggestion?"
"Go."
"If we want to know what's going on there, we have two ways of going about it. We could try to sneak a spy in, which given the fact that Logan is there is probably not going to happen. Or we could simply ask. Shield hasn't taken a stance on the mutant issue after all, so Charles and Logan should realize they want us as at least neutrals."
"It's not a bad idea" said Nick thoughtfully. The problem is that Charles is very well-connected. Whether or not he's a mutant is unknown, but regardless someone high up in the government is willing to see if he can convince mutant-kind to get along with the rest of humanity. I can't just barge in their demanding answers, though I could probably talk to Logan, he should remember me.
Nick and Wolverine had met during World War II, running a few missions against both against the Nazi's and the Russians right after, as well as one about ten years ago that had to deal with the young woman in front of him and saving her from the Hand, an ancient order of ninjas who had kidnapped the young Russian cadet to turn her into their perfect assassin. The attempt failed, and though she went back to her motherland after, the good will he had earned from helping her had made Natasha search Nick out after Communism collapsed in Russia.
Logan had been a very odd mix of cool calm professional and rabid animal, able to switch between the two when the circumstances called for it. That was of course before Weapon X, that dumbass (in Fury's opinion) joint American/Canadian program got a hold of him and a few others. What that program did to his mind, well what little Nick had been able to find out about it painted a very ugly picture.
If he remembers me though that could work, he at least could get us an introduction Mr. Wizard. Something tells me if we tried to go the whole official strong man line on him he'll simply disappear, and we don't have a magic user on the roster, hell I don't even know any magic users period. It'll have to wait a few days at least unfortunately.
"Good work on this Natasha. For your next assignment I'm going to have you replace Coulson over at Stark Industries, we'll prepare a full file on you and insert you into the company as a secretary or something. You'll be our covert operative, I'm giving Cole the task of leading several groups that'll move in on places where we think Stane had supporters en-masse. This whole business with Obadiah is one thing, but we still haven't nailed Stark down on how the hell he escaped, or what the hell he used to escape from those kidnappers. It's only a matter of time with a hot dog like Stark that that will come out, but maybe a pretty face can bring it out sooner and in a controlled fashion while Cole and his men handle the cleanup behind Stane."
Recognizing this as a dismissal the Russian woman saluted and left the room. After a few moments Fury followed her, moving up to his regular desk up on the flag bridge of the heli-carrier. He had a few more meetings today, specifically with the budget committee, which was never pleasant. They were complaining (again) about the expenses of Hawkeye's special munitions arrows, but given his efficacy in the fight against the Destroyer, Nick was not going to let them short change Clint on his choice of weapons.
And then Nick would have to once again talk to General Thunderbolt Ross, and quite possibly begin the process to strip the man of his rank. He would have to go through this Senate Armed Forces Oversight Committee, but he might have to get the ball rolling now Since it appeared as if Thunderbolt hadn't learned even the basic lesson. He had apparently tried to create a second monster to battle the Hulk, but the thing had rather predictably gone rogue. Talk about throwing good money after bad, Fury thought sardonically. He sighed. Oh, for the days of actual action rather than all this talk, talk, talk. Why the hell did I take this job again?
As soon as he stepped onto the bridge he saw one of the communication techs moving towards him and he groaned as his instincts told him that whatever the man was about to tell him, it wasn't going to make his life any easier.
OOOOOOO
The next morning the two lovers slept in, intent on heading back to the mansion for breakfast and at Ororo's insistence to give the kids their support during this testing time. Since he was mostly self-taught in terms of non-magical it education Harry didn't really care about high school one where the other. He knew that schooling in general was important, but he just didn't see the point of high school. Now if it was organized more like college that would be a different thing.
They found Melody already having eaten a plate of pancakes with what looked like gooseberry syrup. Harry chuckled. "Your name should've been Grape with all that stuff you eat."
Melody giggled then looked at them closely. "Oh my, your duet is so bright and loud today, did you have fun together? And where is the third person, it looks like it is for a trio rather than a duet. I think Ms. Jean?"
The two exchanged a glance then Ororo shrugged. "Yes we had a fine time my dear, and yes Jean should be here but at the moment she has other demands on her time." She knew the young girl didn't mean that like it sounded, Melody just did not see the world in the same way as she did.
The three of them spent some time together, with Melody regaling the two people who had taken her into their hearts with the end of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, saying it was just like the time Harry had enchanted a few cleaning items to move around on their own.
When she was done Ororo looked over her work and praised Melody's progress in learning math, noting the style of learner her mutant power forced her to assume for future lessons. She then assigned an audiobook to listen to and write a summary about, and then sent Melody off to help (really play with) the house-elves that were working in the farming area.
After that, Harry teleported the pair of them down to the mansion and straight into his workroom. He held his weather goddess around her waist as she got her bearings. Ororo shook her head, trying to get rid of the wooziness she felt. "Don't take this the wrong way my love, but I much prefer traveling via house elf 'popping' then versus your apparition."
Harry shrugged apologetically. "Sorry. I used to get the same thing with port keys and flue travel and side along apparition as well. Teleporting myself however doesn't bother me."
"Lucky you." she said dryly and the two laughed before going downstairs.
The kids were already up and sitting at the table, waiting for Jean to cook them breakfast.
As they walked in she was saying over her shoulder "You seriously have to get a maid or cook in here Professor, after all the three people leaving are the only three people who can cook. Unless Kitty has learned how to make things other than cookies," she teased.
Kitty grinned. "I still maintain that you can live your life on cookies and cupcakes."
"If you wish to be the size of the house I suppose so," said Harry ruffling her hair affectionately as he moved in to take over cooking duties from Jean.
Jean took a brief second to squeeze his hand with one of her own before moving off. While she was in no way embarrassed or guilty about the relationship, that didn't mean that that she wanted to deal with all the questions and irritations that having everyone at the mansion know about it would entail.
She could tell that Logan hadn't forgotten his little comment from the day before, though something else looked to be bothering him more this morning. She was very thankful for that, but he wasn't the only one who seemed to know something was up between her Harry and Ororo. While Scott appeared to have missed the comment yesterday (Jean had her doubts about that, her friend had become much more circumspect and thoughtful lately) Kitty was much more perceptive, and the thought had started her thinking. Kurt might be thinking something was up as well though in his case it was probably because they had spent so much more time around him this past weekend. Rogue and Evan were really the only ones who appeared completely clueless.
Harry didn't seem to care about what people may be thinking, asking all the kids "What tests do you guys have today."
Evan replied for him and Rogue, since they were both juniors and took all of the same classes. "We have language arts today. The seniors I think have their chosen sciences today and the sophomores…" he looked over at Kitty and Kurt.
Kitty answered for the both of them. "We've got history today."
Ororo set next to the younger girl, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I'm certain that you will do well, all of you," she said putting one arm around her nephew in a hug. "You certainly all did well on my language lessons."
Indeed that was understating the case, only Kurt and Evan having issues getting more than 85%. Kurt was easily explained, after all English wasn't his primary first language. All of them had done very well. Evan had been at the Institute for a little under a year now, and could speak fluent Chinese and a smattering of German. He had a atrocious accent which was why she took points off, but he could easily understand the verbal form. Kurt had been at the Institute for the same amount of time and spoke both of those language as well as English where before he had to rely on Professor Xavier translating for everyone in their minds what he was speaking.
Rogue had been at the Institute for a much shorter amount of time. Despite this she could still speak Chinese well enough, and Ororo was going to recommend the next language are teacher move her along to German soon.
The two oldest teens Cyclops and Jean had been at the Institute the longest. Both of them could speak Spanish, Chinese, and German while Scott could speak Japanese. Jean could also speak Italian and Greek.
Kitty however had both of them beaten, able to speak all those language just as fluently as they could, plus Vietnamese as well. Kitty had chosen Vietnamese because she had several Vietnamese friends when she was younger before they moved away.
The curly-haired teen grinned at her, then looked over at Harry. "So Teach, what do you have in store for us as a gift for the end of the year?"
"You'll just have to wait and see," Harry replied, smiling faintly. In point of fact he had already put some plans in motion for that, though when Emma found out about them she was probably going to be a little miffed that she hadn't been invited along. Unfortunately that probably was not going to happen anytime soon.
After that the meal continued quickly, and after the kids left Harry and Ororo teleported back to the Castle this time using Cory.
Jean had initially wanted to travel with them after the test the back to the Castle, but her work on Cerebro was not going nearly as quickly as she could help. Unfortunately it definitely looked as if it was a programming issue, and she didn't have nearly as good a handle on that aspect as she did on the mechanical engineering.
However she could hopefully figure out what the problem was. She had already deduced that one issue was the fact that the system was not using as much power as it was taking in, and she and Evan were going to take it apart this afternoon to see if there were anything else wrong with it. Of all the other kids only Evan had the dexterous hands and fingers necessary for some of the work.
As they were walking into the school Kitty spotted her boyfriend and ran over, smacking Lance in the shoulder. 'Where the heck've you been huh? I thought we were supposed to hang out this weekend."
Lance shrugged. "Clint took me with him on an assignment to 'show me the joys of boring guard duty.'"
"So what really happened?" Kitty asked shrewdly.
"Can't tell you." He flinched a little at the look his girlfriend shot him at that but he shrugged uncomfortably. "Seriously I can't tell you. It's all really hush-hush stuff." The fact that SHIELD had ordered and actually successfully enforced a media and communication blackout of the battle against the Destroyer which had taken place in a town in Nevada had hammered home how seriously these people took their security. Despite not agreeing with their whole 'humanity isn't ready to know there's a real race of gods out there' belief, he wasn't about to share any of what he saw without permission.
Kitty glared at him and turned away with a huff, leaving him to gap after her. "What did I say?"
Evan patted him on the shoulder. "No idea man, just put it down as one of those inexplicable female things huh? Now, are you prepared for the hell that is exam week?" The skater took one look at Lance's face and chuckled. "Guess not…"
OOOOOOO
Jean exited her physics test stretching languidly and ecstatic about having gotten the hardest test she was going to be taking this week out of the way so quickly. Moreover she knew as soon as she handed it in that she had aced it. No matter what her asshole of a teacher tried to do there was no way he could give her less than 100 on that test.
She was about to make her way down the stairs to meet up with Scott and the others and head home when the principal's secretary ran up to her.
"Ms. Gray, could you come in with me please, the principal wants to speak with you." Since testing was still going on the acting principal had decided to send his secretary out rather than use the intercom.
The acting principal was a youngish man, barely pushing 40 yet despite this was rather experienced at his job. He had been Vice Principal at two public schools before this, and had looked at the job at the private school Bayville high as a definite step up without being too taxing. He had stepped in only last week, since because this was a private school there had been no system in place to take over when Ms Darkholme disappeared so suddenly without any warning.
That week had been spent going over the paperwork, getting a feel for the school and laying down the law in no uncertain terms to the teachers that worked here while causing a minimum of fuss to the students. The principal was determined to keep the job, and was trying to do his best to impress the community as a whole.
When the redhead that was the focus of so many of the more esoteric and immoral rumors came in, for just a moment he forgot her age and the face that she was a student, simply looking at Jean like the woman she was. "Ah, Ms. Grey," he said smiling a little smarmily at the young and incredibly attractive young woman. "Come in and take a seat please."
Jean did not normally use her telepathy consciously because in her case it was more emotion than thought related then either Emma or Betsy. Betsy was more empathic than Emma, but not by much, and both of them could not receive emotion as clearly or as easily as Jean could if she tried. Or even if she didn't try unfortunately, and the spike of lust the middle-aged man front of her had felt when she walked in had almost made her turn around and leave.
Instead she sat straight in her chair her arms crossed in front of her chest and her manner as cold as she could make it. In point of fact she took notes from when she had seen Emma pull off a time or two.
It seemed to work as the man immediately leaned back frowning and wondering what message he had accidentally sent the young woman. He took a moment to recompose himself and he said "Are you aware that you are up for evaluation as valedictorian?"
"I am Sir."
Her response didn't give him any openings, and he said rather awkwardly "Well there have been some questions about recent rumors about you Ms. Gray that could if at all substantiated, negate that."
Jean shrugged. "Fighting rumors is a difficult thing sir, one that I do not have the patience or desire to do at this point in my life."
"So is there any substance to those rumors that have been swirling about you?" he asked bluntly.
"Sir, those rumors were all started by my ex-boyfriend who is it cheating SOB and his friends. You might not have realized it but here at this school the high school jocks tend to run the show." The principal nodded grimly. He had noticed that in fact, and if he kept this job that was going to change in the years to come. "He didn't like the fact that I didn't put out, and when we broke up after I found him cheating on me at a local discotheque, he decided to put out all these rumors about me."
"So you are not in fact a lesbian?" The principal asked, wanting to know the truth.
"Should that really matter to for this discussion Sir?" she asked sharply, deciding not to make things easy for this man.
"Why would my personal preferences matter to this discussion? They shouldn't, after all that would be discrimination under the law and even private schools are answerable to that. I've told you all I want to tell you sir, you need to make up your own mind on whether or not those rumors are enough of her recent not give me that valedictorian slot. Frankly it's no skin off my back either way." With that she stood up stiffly and without waiting to be dismissed swiftly walked out of his office.
Behind her the principal rubbed his face thoughtfully then shrugged and decided to let the young woman's grades speak for themselves. This community needed a good kick in the ass anyway, and if it came to it, that young woman was wearing the boots to do it.
OOOOOOO
Harry and Ororo waved goodbye as the teen's left for school, then after a brief but heartfelt kiss separated to work on their own little projects for the rest of the day. While Ororo went up to high note to spend some time with Melody, Harry went back to Hogwarts. For the next several hours he continued to work on the runic arrays for the Room of Requirement, then decided he had enough of writing, rewriting and staring at runes for the day, and decided to pop back over to New York and visit Dr. Strange.
Having learned his lesson however he popped back to the mansion and called ahead, and got Stephen himself this time. "Ahh Young Harry, I was just about to call you. If you have time, please come by, I think we have much to talk about."
Harry did so, and not 20 minutes later found himself sitting at a table sipping tea with Stephen while he recounted what had occurred in London.
During this summary Stephen was astonished, worried and guilty in turns.
Despite the fact that he could never have known what was going on, especially given the interference he had been picking up because of the dimensional instability in the walls between dimensions around America at the time, this definitely sounded like something that the Sorcerer Supreme should've handled. "I have to apologize to you Harry, if I had known that it was going to be that big an event, I would never have allowed you to handle it alone."
"Selene herself was not an issue," Harry replied. "It was her plan and her forces that I would've had trouble with if I had been alone." Even that was actually understating things.
Harry could've overcome the numbers difference by simply spawning more golems, though he probably would not have been worth much after the battle if he had done so enough to cover the entire city. But fighting Selene and her lieutenants all alone would have been much more difficult, possibly impossible even for Harry.
"Nonetheless, this sort of thing, with magic users using their magic to control, dominate or otherwise take advantage of normal people is what the Sorcerer Supreme is supposed to block. This Selene is known to me from the files and accounts of past Sorcerer Supremes, specifically when civilization was beginning in China, and again in ancient Rome." Now armed with the library spells Harry had given him, Steven regularly spent a few hours a day reading the accounts of his master and the Sorcerer Supreme before him. Some of them were truly fascinating, and many warned of possible magical threats that were still out there that he would have to be on the watch for.
"She was that old, really?" Harry was surprised, since he had not actually been impressed by Selene's fighting ability. She hadn't used her own mobility well, she seems to wish to overpower or overawe him with major spells rather than subtle ones, and didn't seem to be able to handle some of the spells he threw at her in turn.
He voiced those thoughts and Steven chuckled. "I believe she spent most of her time hiding after a few initial losses against other sorcerers including one of my predecessors. And I do not know how much of that time was spent in stasis healing after her losses. I know that at least once her body was burned to ash by a spell. That would cut into that time considerably I imagine."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "That would do it I suppose." I went from fighting Masters and journeymen to fighting all the time in the Negative Zone, against opponents all over the spectrum of power and skill, he thought to himself. That probably shaped my abilities much more than I would care to admit. Her abilities were made to combat normal people or swiftly kill other magic users she had an experience advantage over rather than in a prolonged engagement. She was also probably used to having a power advantage, and she sure as hell didn't have that against me.
That was actually one of the reasons why he was rushing forward with his plans for the Room of Requirement. He needed to get a handle on how his magical numbers equated to power, and the RoR was one of the few places he thought he might be able to go all out without doing some permanent damage to the environment. He also wanted to practice with wielding raw magic rather than spells, and his common sense told him that would be both loud and tough on himself and the area around him.
Those two things had made him prioritize the Room of Requirement over other projects, like hunting down the 'Dark Zones' that William had mentioned. His other major project, the artificial eyes for Betsy, was one he was hopefully going to turn over to Dr. Druid, since in all honesty he hadn't the foggiest notion of where to start on it, and didn't want to get the young woman's (she was actually two years older than him, but Harry didn't know that) hopes up.
"Still," Stephen said standing up and moving to one of his bookshelves. Here in his sitting room it looked like a normal bookshelf, full of medical books, a few fantasy books and dozens of history and nonfiction texts. However when Steven's hand came within an inch of it there was a slight shimmer in the air and the illusion of a regular bookshelf faded, leaving in its place a bookshelf made of dark wood and iron holding only a few large tomes as well as quite a lot of what Harry recognized as paraphernalia for rituals.
Harry smiled internally. Now if Selene had known how to create wards like that, ones I couldn't detect, the battle would've gone quite differently. Every-time I'm here I'm reminded that Sorcerer Supreme is not just a position that gives its bearer greater power or even control, it comes with that most dangerous of magical power-ups, knowledge. If only Stephen didn't need to make all these deals with Elder Gods for some of his power, calling on them for so many of his most devastating spells… That still bothers me a lot if I'm honest.
Steven continued "Still, I should've gone with you to handle it. Young Wanda and Clea could have handled things in Chicago easily enough."
"Really, Wanda is that powerful already? I notice they aren't here right now. And did you ever find out what was causing the weakness in dimensional wall?"
"Oh yes, an… individual from a pocket dimension that is connected to our own came through a few weeks ago, and several more came through a few days after that and then there was another one a few days ago. None of them were demons of denizens of the Dark Dimensions however. I believe they fought a battle over in Nevada somewhere, and are all gone now." Stephen shrugged unconcern. He was rarely interested in anything outside of his own purview, and while the Asgardians were certainly other-dimensional, they were not invaders. More like fellow Earthmen returning for a brief visit after having moved on.
"I see," said Harry frowning thoughtfully, and wondering what that was all about before shrugging in turn. Like Steven he had his own issues to see to, and was not inclined to go around picking fights when he didn't need to.
He took the book on air ley-lines and their used from the older man thankfully, smiling faintly at how large the thing was, as big across as both of his hands put together. On the cover was the words Magic of the Ether, a treatise on the leylines of the Air.
"That book should help you do whatever it is you wish to do with the air ley-lines, but I would urge you to read it entirely through before performing any experiment, And again I am in your debts for what you did in London, and if you ever need my aid, don't hesitate to ask."
Harry shook his head smiling faintly. "I could use some help right now, but most of the reasons why would take up a lot of your time and I'm not willing to do that. If I do need help in the future however, I'll call you."
OOOOOOO
In that pocket dimension that Steven Strange mentioned a conversation was going on between a father and son. Nothing unusual in the normal course of things, but t in this case the father was Odin King of the Asgardians, and the son was Thor, God of thunder.
Despite being an ancient and powerful being however that would not be the first impression someone from Earth would have upon looking at Odin. With his untamed gray beard falling down to his stomach, his gray hair falling down his back, the eye patch over one eye, and wearing what would appear to be ancient armor to any human covering his chest, a child looking at him would rather call him a rather well-to-do pirate the was able to get out of the business than a king. Thor on the other hand, despite the armor that he carried in the hammer at his side and the cape on his back, looked very much like a surfer boy crossed with one of the more serious sorts of body builder.
"I realize that it seemed over-harsh of me in your eyes my son, but Loki was too dangerous, too arrogant and too power mad, never could I have approved of him, even if I knew my refusal to do so would be the cause of his willingly falling into the abyss. His machinations have us on the brink of war with the ice giants, a war I have spent eons attempting to postpone. Worse, they have allied with the trolls of the nether realms. We are ill for war on this scale, yet Loki's provocation of them have them near to storming the gates. If they join with the dark elves, it will be even worse."
"I realize that father," said Thor heavily, "yet he is still my brother. Whatever his actual parentage we were raised together, and it strikes at my heart knowing that he is now lost in the abyss.
After Thor and his friends had defeated the Destroyer armor they had, with the aid or Heimdall the all-seeing returned to Asgard, aiding in the defense of the city against a group of the Frost Giants that had seemingly been let into the city by Loki. With his plans to take the crown laid bare Loki was forced to fight Thor on the Bifrost bridge, where they both fell into the abyss that it spanned. Thor was saved by his father coming out of his Odinsleep in time to rescue him. Yet when Loki had declared that everything he had done was to get Odin's approval, Odin rejected him. This last act of seeming callousness was enough to make Loki scorn their father's aid and willingly fall into the abyss, disappearing into the never ending darkness below.
Yet it was not only the fate of his brother that bothered Thor. "Father," he said hesitantly. "I would like your permission to travel back to Midgard."
Odin looked at his son with his remaining eye, smirking slightly. "Your infatuation with that mortal woman Jane Foster? Heimdall told me about it. Mortals can be comely tis true, but they are not for wooing overtime my son, only bedding in the moment, get you gone the next."
"But father I…"
"No," Odin said abruptly. "For in truth, I will need your strength here. Did you not hear me a moment ago? The danger of war has not passed, the Frost giants are still making allies and preparing for war! Besides" Odin went on, laying one hand on his son's shoulder. "She is a mortal, with their minuscule lifespan in comparison to our own. Your Jane Foster will age, grow old and die and you will remain as you are unchanged in the same span. She will come to loathe you, come to hate you rather then feel affection for you as she sees the flow of time effect you not. Such as it always been, such it will always be. Mortals are but blinks in the eye to beings such as us. Tis better, as I said, to take what pleasure you can in the moment, never giving thy heart to such."
For a moment Thor looked rebellious but then he sighed remembering all too well where his headstrong attitude had gotten him recently. As you say, father."
"Good." Odin clapped his hands down on both of his son's shoulders. "Now, be off with you. The Frost Giants will not test our defenses this night, but who knows what the morrow will bring? Go and rest while you can."
Thor bowed his head again turned and left, smiling internally. He had learned at least a few things from Loki, the art of dissembling for instance and the need to seem to be obedient at times. He would bide his time, but he was certain there would come a moment when he could slip away to see Jane again. While it was true that in time Jane would grow old and die and he would remain young fit and powerful, the future mattered not at all to him. It was the present that did and making it as sweet as possible.
OOOOOOO
Odin and his son were not the only beings from the realm of Asgard whose conversation revolved around the planet Asgardians called Midgard at that moment.
Hela was the as Guardian goddess of death, she who judged the dead of Asgard and sent their souls to Niflheim or Hel. Yet it was not by her own power or even Odin that she had this duty. No, it was to another that she owed her allegiance, a being from which her power was taken. And it was to this being, that she had gone to meet after the recent events on Midgard.
The battle against the destroyer armor had brought to her attention that it had been nearly two thousand years since an Asgardian had died on Midgard. What was more, when she looked closer she noticed that there were still a few thousand or so believers in the Asgardians. So she had come here to make certain that her age-old agreements with her mistress was still intact despite the fact that eons had passed since it had been needed. So Hela appeared in Death's castle, resplendent in her red and crimson armor showcased her magnificent body.
She was dressed in a black and red leather corset with a diamond shape cut out of the center allowing her taut stomach to be seen behind crisscrossing leather bindings. Below that she wore a leather belt below with these central symbol of a skull connected to more leather straps that travelled down her thighs to her boots. On her back she wore a cape of red, clasped between her breasts by a clasp with a skull motif on it, letting quite a bit of skin be seen between the cloak and the top of the corset which pushed her breasts up and out. On her hands she wore gauntlets of black leather with long claws added to her fingers made of black metal. She wore a mask which covered her face from her eyes to the back of her head. It had wings fanning out to either side of her head, framing her flaming red eyes. Horns rose from the back of it in an intricate pattern. Her lips were the red of flesh blood her skin was white, and she was altogether beautiful.
Despite being the local personification of Death, Hela was one of the most beautiful goddesses the Asgardians boasted. There were some that said that Sif was more beautiful, and others who said that Amora the enchantress was more beautiful, but those who had seen her in person all said that Hela was the most beautiful.
Hela also had brains and intelligence to go with her beauty, and she immediately realized that something was going on. She had been in Death's domain in person to speak with the avatar of the eternal end many times before. Usually she was there to argue about jurisdictional issues with Pluto, that stupid fool who was never content with his lot, or the other now faded aspects of death. Every time lady Death would always be looking at them the moment they arrived, those bottomless blue orbs set into her skull face staring at them, boring into them with the promise that someday, they too would meet Death in truth. It was very disconcerting, and made certain that none of their arguments ever lasted very long. True immortals like Pluto or simply long-lived beings like Hela never liked being reminded that they too were not immune to the eternal end.
Now however lady Death was standing at one of the windows staring at something in her hand, turning it this way and that. It was a small green thing, a soul Hela saw, steeped in evil and ancient power that was all she could tell from where she stood. That and the fact that it screamed every time death moved her hand slightly. Disturbed by her mistress's lack of attention Hela spoke up far more hesitantly than anyone would normally hear from her. "My, my lady?"
Death seemed not to hear her and Hela moved closer, "lady," she said again, "I am here to…"
Death looked up at her now, and Hela found herself spit upon those light blue orbs of power and cold. She froze, then sighed in relief as the look faded to the normal (still intimidating but not blood freezing) look. Death's free hand waved slightly, two fingers in the air as if pointing up and around
Hela bowed. "Thank you lady."
Death very rarely talked, but her servants knew how to interpret even her tiniest of gestures. That gesture Hela took to mean that she could take the souls of any Asgardian that died on Midgard, but that any believer would not be subject to her unless they died in battle. Little nuances like that were what Death used to communicate, and it was not as if Hela was new at interpreting these things after all.
In fact Death had only spoken to Hela once. She and Pluto had been having an argument after a battle between their pantheons in which a few on both sides had fallen in battle. Hela had maintained that the winner should get the spoils, and the Asgardians had won the day. Pluto had decried this, saying that winning or losing did not matter at all in their line of work, it was simply who or what pantheon they belonged to or believed in that mattered.
Death had solve the issue by simply shouting them down with one word, 'Enough', and then informing them with a single gesture that would keep their own believers but that the difference between the two would go entirely to her rather than passing through their realms. It had been the perfect solution, one that neither of them were happy with. But arguing with Death in her anthropomorphic personification was as futile as it was when death actually came for you.
With her questions answered Hela made to leave, but Death raised her free hand again stopping her. "My lady?"
Death held up the hand that contained the soul she had been mildly tormenting a moment ago. Hela looked at it obediently and one eyebrow rose behind her red mask in surprise. "Selene, one of the self-made immortals? How did that come to pass?"
Death did not answer merely raising her free hand in front of Hela space. Suddenly Hela could see as if from of view of a God a battle, a battle that would have been worthy of a song in the halls of Asgard between two magic users. One was swift and nimble, powerful too by the spells employed, using tactics and guile against his older and more experienced opponent.
She watched as the younger male sorcerer, with eyes the color of green emeralds sparking with magical power slowly overcame the ancient sorceress, and called upon a kind of fire spell that Hela could almost feel was connected to her and Death in some fashion.
She gaped at the power and majesty of the young man, for she could see beyond his mortal shell into the magic that wove about his very being, she saw the power there. If there was one thing that any female goddess was turned on by, it was power. The fact that he was fate touched to her senses, more that he was a winner of a fate sometime in his past made him even better in Hela's opinion. Hela decided then and there that she would have to find out more about this mortal, he was simply the most intriguing specimen she had seen in a long time.
The image ended after Selene's death, and lady Death's hand fell from before Hela's eyes. As her Asgardian servant looked at her she spoke a full sentence, something that Hela had never even thought she would ever hear. "What does Death get a defender of life for performing such a boon?"
Hela now understood. Something that had always irritated Death was the fact that there were so many beings that were beyond her purview in one fashion or another. She had no problem with the other eternal forces being beyond her power, such was right and just and if they were not then there would be no point to her being around either. But when individuals, especially normal mortals figured out ways to become immortal in some fashion, that irritated Death because it wrecked havoc with the paperwork. She actually also had issues with the Asgardians considering their whole death and rebirth cycle, but she wasn't about to tangle with The ones Who Watch Above that had set it in motion. Not yet at any rate. She knew even they would fall eventually.
"I-Um," Hela said stuttering a little at the sheer shock of being spoken to in a full sentence by Death. "I would have to think about that lady." Obviously it didn't matter to Death that Harry didn't know that he had gone her a boon by taking out set so much of the paperwork, but the gift would have to be appropriate.
Something drew both of the women's attention to the window again, and Hela looked out one eyebrow raised behind her mask in amusement.
Somewhere elsewhere in the universe a planet was sacrificed, not just killed or conquered or wiped out, but sacrificed. And not sacrificed to any particular god, not sacrificed to the hunger of a being such as Galactus. It was simply sacrificed because it was there, and a being had decided to kill everyone on it and send their souls to Death.
"You have a suitor?" Hela asked, feeling a little bolder now that she had heard that voice, and for some reason thinking that this was a moment of camaraderie between the two of them. In fact she had always felt closer to Death than Pluto and most of the others who had since faded simply because they were both women. Or at least that Death had shaped its anthropomorphic personification of Death into the shape of a woman.
Death shook her head resignedly shaking one hand in the air as if in a throwing away gesture and turned back to their conversation.
The interrogative look she gave Hela was just as eloquent as it always was and the death goddess of the Asgardians shrugged. "If you wish to simply send him something that says a job well done, sending something in the form of some sort of apparel of some kind would be the normal thing."
Death frowned thoughtfully. Hela understood of course, just as much as she could tell that Death had frowned despite the fact that her face was that of a unmoving skull. "If not that milady then perhaps a dream of some kind. Send him a dream of something this woman had, items of power she had gathered or knowledge of that nature."
Her mistress cocked her head to one side for a moment and nodded. She then waved one hand and Hela knew she had just been dismissed so with a final bow turned away.
As she teleported away Hela frowned thoughtfully. It was quite obvious that Death did not have any emotional feelings towards this human, but her interest in him was something akin to a moth and a flame. Yet lady Death was intelligent, ancient beyond all reckoning, Hela was certain she would get over it eventually. Still Death had aroused Hela's own interest in this young mortal, and she was interested in finding out more.
With that in mind she reappeared in her own realm, and made her way to her scrying room to see what she could find about this young man with wild hair and eyes the color of emeralds that flashed with such power and majesty.
OOOOOOO
After having come home from their separate tests Jean and Evan went right to work on Cerebro. Since Evan had history, and he knew he could at least get a passing grade in that he didn't need to rush off and study, and besides this was interesting. For Jean the only test she had been remotely worried about had been the physics exam. Now that it was over she was going to devote as much time as she could to her various projects.
Yet despite her hopes about an hour into their work Jean stood back and shook her head. "I think we've solved all of the mechanical issues we can. The power issue is done and the weird issue with it not being able to connect to the satellites too."
Evan scowled a little, standing back in turn. "By your tone I'm guessing you don't think that will be enough to solve the problem."
"No I don't. I think the search parameters in the programming is faulty. The professor and I can still use it to find other mutants well enough if they are actively using their powers. But using Cerebro to find them when they aren't, or to find mutants before their power activates? That's not going to happen."
Jean was not happy with how clunky this system was. What the system did was separated into two parts. One portion searched the world using hijacked satellites to look for 'mutant signatures'. That was the part Jean felt needed to be revamped badly. In her opinion it was only a few steps up from simply having a computer skim the internet, magazines and newspapers for mention of odd happenings or strange sightings. Not at all up to the task.
The other portion of the system was connected to the helmet that was part of the system which allowed a user to connect to it mentally. That part of the program allowed a telepath to send his or her power over a far wider distance then they would have normally, allowing them to skim over the surface thoughts of individuals in the area, sort of like sonar looking for something in a specific area. For someone like Jean, that could allow her to cover the whole of the United States. For someone like Charles, it could allow him to search the entire world.
The problem was that unless the first program caught something and drew it to your attention, a telepath had to be hooked up to the system to find anything it wouldn't. Thus it came down to luck far more than she was willing to admit. There was also something else wrong with the actual program that was niggling at the redhead, but she couldn't bring it to mind just yet.
"Let's hope he's got some ideas on how to fix it then." Evan said. "Did you hear by the way? The Prof said there's going to be another group of mutants moving in with us here sometime this summer."
"That's cool," said Jean. "I bet Scott is chomping at the bit to get them into training."
"Not so much really, he's mellowed out a lot lately you know."
"I do know," said Jean smiling faintly and leading the way out of the room. In one hand Jean cradled a copy of the machine's programming, which she wanted to look over. She wasn't nearly as good at programming as at mechanical engineering though, so she wasn't certain what she could do there. "Scott's matured a lot in the past few weeks. I'm proud of him, and I think he'll make an excellent team leader for you all, and for the new kids."
Evan nodded. There had been a time when he chomped at the bit under Scott's leadership, but they had both grown up a lot in the last few months, and Evan knew now that he wasn't leader material. He was a good fighter, innovative and flexible, but he didn't have that grasp of empathy, situational awareness and small group tactics that a field leader needed.